I’ve made reference in the past to using progesterone cream.  I get a lot of emailed questions about this, and my most recent reply to a reader bounced so I’m going to share it here instead.  Tracey, if you’re reading this, here’s your answer. 

I often use progesterone cream several weeks or months post partum to help smooth out the roller coaster of hormones.  My own experience has been to start using a small dab daily when my hair to starts to fall out (do you get that too?  Around 6 weeks after giving birth?) and just use until I start feeling normal, maybe a couple of months.  I apply it to a different area of thin skin each day - this is supposed to aid in absorption.  One day I’ll rub it into the inner side of my upper arm; another day it goes on my throat; another day I might use it on my face or inner thigh.  I always notice a difference in my mood and general attitude within 12 hours or so.  Once I feel better consistently I invariably forget to use it and naturally taper off.
I have always breastfed so never had regular cycles while I was using progesterone cream, but I never used it for long periods.

The theory behind it is that your ovaries, which normally produce your progesterone, go dormant during pregnancy when the placenta takes over. Your progesterone levels during pregnancy are much higher than normal.  When the baby is born, suddenly the placenta is gone, your ovaries are sound asleep, and your super-high progesterone levels plummet over the next few weeks.  Sometime around 6 weeks later, you find yourself running on fumes.

Loss of hair is a common sign of low progesterone levels.  The cream does not entirely replace your natural production but it provides a little help during the time that it takes for your ovaries to wake up and
get back into gear.  It also makes life with a post-partum mom and little more bearable for hubby, who has on occasion threatened to bathe me in it.

Filed under: pregnancy/labor | 5 Comments »

Yep you read right. This…

…is our red-neck-pool. We have no pool, we live in south Texas, and we do have a BIG wheelbarrow, hence our wheelbarrow= our red-neck-pool.

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Besides me, I mean. That would be too easy.

Well, it’s happening again. The Duggars are in the news again for the usual reason, and suddenly people are talking about blanket training. Whenever this happens, my old blanket training post and my more recent follow-up post on the subject get tons of hits. Unfortunately, all the search engine traffic lands at my old blogspot address, but here’s hoping that we can bring them over here to the new digs.

Actually, maybe that’s not such a hot idea. Most of the people who seem to find those posts are just looking to badmouth the Duggars and everybody who bears any resemblance to them. Anyone with a large family of well-behaved children seems to make a good target. Bonus points if you believe in teaching children to obey while they are young, rather than “letting them explore freely and enjoy their childhood. ” Because we all know that the two philosophies are mutually exclusive, right? (tongue firmly in cheek)

Are y’all ready to speak up if they show up?

Filed under: big family, parenting | 20 Comments »

Lately (thanks to the cake decorating video we got recently) Lydia and I have been doing a lot of cake decorating. Yesterday our Aunt asked us to make some cupcakes for dessert at a baby shower/family-get-together. Mom found this book at Wal-mart. It’s packed with all sorts of cute ideas for cupcakes! The picture is an idea we tried out. After looking through it I decided to go to The Wilton website. I looked and put together a list of things we really want (we would buy everything in the store if we could ) and it came to $50! Mom suggested that I post on the blog and ask you readers if any of you have things that you don’t use or need that you would sell for cheaper than buying new off the Wilton website? Here is my list of things we are especially looking for:

1. A 9×13x2 sheet pan
2. No. 230 Round Decorating Tip
3. No. 32 Open Star Decorating Tip
4. No. 105 Specialty Decorating Tip
5. No. 252 Specialty Decorating Tip
6. No. 95 Specialty Decorating Tip
7. No. 100 Ruffle Decorating Tip
8. No. 403 Ruffle Decorating Tip
9. No. 194 Drop Flower Decorating Tip
10. No. 2D Drop Flower Decorating Tip
11. No. 150 Petal Decorating Tip
12. No. 47 Basketweave Decorating Tip
13. Ultimate 3-IN-1 Cake Caddy

But we want pretty much anything that we can get. We are also looking for Wilton books. Does anybody have any recommendations? If you have anything at all that you think we might be interested in let us know!

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I just have to thank you all for encouraging me to start taking Supermom Vitamins before my trip to San Diego.  I know I’ve complained about being tired, but I was so tired before my trip that I never would have made it through the last few weeks w/o some great new vitamins!

I didn’t experience any sort of “detox” when I started taking them, and I feel confident that I am absorbing them very well.  How do I know?  Well, remember two readers’ neon pee comments?  :)  Obviously they are making it to my kidneys, which means that they already made it out of my digestive tract and into my bloodstream.  I always see these results within just a couple of hours, which seems like a very good sign.

And as I mentioned, in spite of a brutal schedule over the past several weeks, I have felt surprisingly human.  Maybe this is partly because I actually remember to take the darn things but that seems worth mentioning too.  Either my memory has improved on these vitamins (entirely possible, right?) or they’re just so good that my brain is extraordinarily motivated to keep ‘em coming.

Oh, wait.  Hubby has been handing me the vitamins regularly.  That means he’s extraordinarily motivated.  Maybe he has seen benefits too?

At my next midwife appointment, I’ll be having my iron checked (aaaggghhhhh! needles!).  It was borderline low last time and she tells me that although it really wasn’t bad, borderline is not a good place to be going into labor.  Although the Supermom Vitamins don’t provide a full RDA of iron (60% for adults, and I suspect the RDA for pregnant women is higher, right?) I’m hopeful that they provided enough extra to get my levels up where she wants to see them.  Otherwise she’ll probably want to suck my blood again the following time, and we don’t want that.

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Today I took the big van and the little red-headed 3yo on a minor grocery outing. We only made 2 stops and spent ~$150, but I was pretty wiped out by the end.

It’s hot today, I’m 33 weeks pregnant, and I didn’t bring any big helpers. For each stop, I loaded the cart alone; I unloaded it onto the conveyor belt alone; I loaded the bags into the cart; I loaded the bags into the van; I lifted the 3yo in and out of the cart and van 40 or 50 times. I’m not whining and I don’t mind the exercise, but I was beat by the time I headed for the driver seat the final time.

Did I mention that the temperature today was somewhere in the high 90’s and that the a/c in the van has completely quit?

I loaded the last of the groceries into the side doors of the van since the back was full, and strapped the 3yo into her place. But when I walked around to the driver side of the van, I found a big red truck parked so close that I could hardly sidle along the side of the van, let alone open the door and wedge my pregnant self through the opening. I doubt that I could have done it even without the belly. It just wasn’t happening.

Poor little Rachael was baking in the van, waiting for me to find a way to my seat so I could at least get the van moving in a homeward direction and end her torment soon, so what did I do?

What would you have done?

I pulled a notepad out of my purse and began writing. Really, I did.

“Thanks a lot for parking so close. I couldn’t even open my door. Now my kid is baking, and it’s all your fault.”

Nope. That’s what I was thinking, but it wasn’t quite honest. It was mostly my fault that my kid was baking at this point. Anyway, I would feel like a hypocrite if I left a rude letter rebuking another driver for parking rudely. I decided to keep it short and sweet. Just remind them to think of others.

“Please don’t park so close. I’m 8 months pregnant and can’t get into the driver seat of my van.”

That’s all I said. I was out of room on the little page from my memo pad and Poor Rachael’s cheeks were already red, so I tucked it under the offender’s wiper blade and went around to the other side of my van. I crawled into the side doors and hauled myself unceremoniously over the heaps of groceries, trying not to mash the bread and produce or knock 6 gallons of milk out into the parking lot.

But all the way home, I was really wishing I had gone into just a bit more detail:

“…do you really want to see a preposterously pregnant woman haul herself over heaps of groceries to get to the driver seat of her vehicle? Please, park kindly next time.”

I’ve got to start keeping a bigger notepad in my purse.

Filed under: humor, pregnancy/labor | 22 Comments »

Each young woman’s turn came to go in to King Ahasuerus after she had completed twelve months’ preparation, according to the regulations for the women, for thus were the days of their preparation apportioned: six months with oil of myrrh, and six months with perfumes and preparations for beautifying women.  Esther 2:12

Meredith raised some great questions about grooming and now I’m wondering too; What does your beauty routine look like? What services do you think are worth paying for? What do you consider to be a splurge, but occasionally worth it? What would you never consider paying for, and why?

I shower, shampoo and shave daily. My hair is long and straight so I usually pull it back or up and let it dry naturally, long and slow. This is a good way to keep cool in a South Texas summer!

I get my hair cut once every year or two; it grows quickly but my long straight style (or lack of style?) doesn’t seem to need much maintennance; am I fooling myself?  I rarely have split ends, and prefer to whack off a foot at once for Locks of Love rather than leaving a small pile of scraps every 6 weeks.

I usually use a light facial moisturizer, and I wear a bit of mascara and eyeliner most days but not every day. Lipstick only goes on once in a while - I like to wear when I dress up, but I rarely dress up for occasions w/o hubby and he can’t kiss me if I wear lipstick; it’s a tough trade so I don’t usually opt for it.

I pluck my brows about once/week.

I keep my finger nails trimmed and on the long side since they are naturally strong and grow quickly. I never polish my fingers because it simply doesn’t hold up: I invariably have chips on the first day; I’ve heard that some people have oily nails that just don’t hold the polish and I suspect that I am one.

I get occasional pedicures from my daughters. For a paltry sum they will take off the old polish, do a hot soak, a lotion massage, exfoliate, and polish. I actually polished my own toes yesterday. This used to be easy at 32 weeks, but these days it’s quite a feet feat.

I’m tempted to pay for a real pedicure some day; would it be worthwhile to a frugal, unpretentious mom?  And what’s the deal about having your brows waxed?  Does it really look different than plucking them at home?

One more question: What are your favorite beauty products to splurge on?  I love Neutrogena’s Deep Clean Gentle Scrub for cleansing and their Oil-Free Moisture combination skin for daily moisturizing.

So tell me: what do you pay for?  What are you tempted to pay for, but never have?  What did you pay for and regret?

Filed under: Uncategorized | 39 Comments »

We couldn’t resist. In spite of our late start and another stop on the way, we also stopped to eat with some friends on our way home, this time meeting them in their home. Do you remember the first time we met them?

We didn’t get home until after 1 AM but it was worth the sweet fellowship! Not to mention the fact that Emily sent me home with a bag of Starbucks Caramel Macchiato Truffles…

While we were still on the road, after leaving our friends’ house, one of the younger children asked what time we would get home.

“Very late,” I answered. “In the middle of the night?” she asked. “Yes, something like that.”

“Midnight, then!” she concluded.

“No, it will be later than midnight,” I added. “Maybe much later.” She was confused. “But isn’t midnight the middle of the night?”

This was where hubby chuckled. He softly observed that midnight is the middle of the night when you’re little. But that doesn’t work in our house. We tend to be night owls, and in our house even the little ones stay up late. I just answered her a little louder: “No, midnight isn’t the middle of the night in our house.”

The house was a little stale and stinky when we crawled through the door, but home was a welcome sight. We let the dogs in, brought in most of our luggage and odds & ends, and collapsed into our beds just before 2 AM.

My hardworking hubby slipped out of bed at some six-ish or seven-ish hour to go to work, leaving the rest of us to sleep late. I love that guy.

When we finally got up, we got busy returning to normalcy:

• we unpacked all the suitcases and hauled them down to the she
• we started laundry; bathed the stinky little Yorkie dog
• we started a crock pot of beans
• we did more laundry
• we sorted through all the odds and ends that came home with us
• we made bread (This will be a post in itself. There’s even a video.)
• we did more laundry
• we paid a couple of bills that just couldn’t wait until normalcy was achieved
• we sorted and culled boxes and boxes of hand-me-downs that we picked up from an aunt on the way home
• we ironed, folded and put away a mountain of clean laundry

Then it was reward time: we called my mom to see if we could come visit her and the kids, my 4 youngest sibs aged 10-13.

Oops. They were 80 miles north visiting the new grandbaby and wouldn’t be back until the next day. We were disappointed but too tired to fuss over it. I let the kids vegetate in front of a movie while I took a much-needed nap. Does anyone else think it’s funny how often my posts mention sleep?

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We’re in Fort Worth, about halfway home. Everyone is tired and cranky and we’re ever-so-ready to be home. I’m glad we did this, but I always forget just how much work it involves and how little sleep!  I should add that most of my work was done from a chair, but just watching everyone else work so hard made me tired.

I could think of a lot to whine about right about, but instead I’ll just pray for a safe trip home. Due to amazing timing and coinciding plans, my mom and 4 youngest sibs (who live in OKC where we just visited them) will be in San Antonio this week, so we’ll get to see them again already!

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I have learned that:

• Moms should wear steel toed boots. I can’t count how many times the girls have stepped on my sandaled toes.
• I shouldn’t have worn sandals. A cold front hit right after we arrived.
• Another reason I shouldn’t have worn sandals: my left foot is swollen again.  I’d much rather have it hidden inside a nice boot.
• The lunch hour is very quiet.
• The 15 minutes after lunch hour is NOT quiet.
• I suspect that I’m scary when I have 6 hours of sleep and a head cold. The readers who stopped by to say hi didn’t stay for long.
• A clean diaper may be good for wiping up spilled coffee on tables full of books and CDs, but I dare you to try it with a straight face.
• A small boy in a large hat will get a lot of second looks.
• With 8 children, you can still get funny looks even at homeschooling conferences. This doesn’t surprise me at the grocery store, but it does surprise me at a gathering of homeschoolers. I guess we really have a lot of kids now.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 11 Comments »

It’s my first time in Oklahoma, and we’re getting the full Oklahoma experience: on our first day here, the sky was dark and rain was falling as we left the convention center. We were heading up to my parents’ house for dinner when they called to encourage us to hurry because there was a tornado warning for the area we were coming from.

Apparently the storm was following us, because just as we pulled into Mom and Dad’s driveway the omnipresent tornado sirens started wailing. We sat down in front of the news report to see what was happening, and my parents told me that it’s like Monday Night Football in Oklahoma. They just watch the weather to see where the tornadoes are.

Later that night, we were awakened in our hotel room by the sound of hail pounding the building. Mom had mentioned that as another Oklahoma hazard. Texas has venomous insects and reptiles, Oklahoma has weather.

Tonight at my parents’ house, the news featured endless photos of funnel clouds and people’s hands holding hailstones of impressive proportions, like the game highlights after a good football match-up.

We turned to the computer for more exciting photos: my newborn niece back in Texas, born just a few hours earlier.

Sigh…my sister is skinny again and holding a sweet new baby girl, and I’ll be getting bigger and bigger for another 8.5 weeks.  So will my feet.  And my hips are hurting a lot lately.  Oh well.  I’m pretty sure that the discomforts of pregnancy are God’s tool for getting us ready to face the discomforts of labor.  At this rate, I will be sooooo ready by late June.

Filed under: Uncategorized | 4 Comments »

Maybe.  Almost.  Any minute now.  Did I mention that we’re sick?  Just a headache/fever kind of crud that seems to pass quickly, so we’re hoping everyone will be well by Friday.

Five of us have already had it so we’re halfway there.  Not halfway to Oklahoma City, but halfway to health, which is even better!

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