A Sewing Update

A few of you have been asking how the sewing was going for the diapers and pads I am making to donate. Mentioned here in case you missed it. I am so excited with the progress I have been making. So far I have 12 complete diapers done, and supplies for a couple more. I also have found myself really loving working on the shields and liners for the girls in Africa. It is such a rewarding experience because with just a little bit of my time I know that it has the power to completely change the course of some girl’s life. Where she once felt shame and was forced to either drop out of school, or do horrible things to be able to take care of herself, now she will be empowered, and confident and able to better her life for herself. It is amazing to be able to be a part of that. I have made a total of 10 shields so far (each kit has 3 of these) and 21 liners (each kit has 10 of these) and 5 wet bags (each kit contains one of these). I don’t need to worry about making complete kits, as It’s Our Mission: Period! assembles the kits and makes sure there are the right amounts of everything included. A few other ladies have asked to help partner with me in sewing, pinning and assembling the materials. We are going to try to have a Sewing Bee this weekend! I am so thankful for the support I have received in this project. I look forward to helping as much as I can in the future too. Here are some pictures of some of the things I have been working on.

five diapers in the newborn/small size
seven diapers in the medium/large size
(over $125 worth)

examples of three different waterproof shields

five examples of reusable flannel liners

Thanks so much to everyone who has donated money, fabric, and time to help. We are making a difference!

Our New Backyard

A while ago I posted that we were doing some work in our backyard. Rather, after four years we paid someone else to finally do something to our backyard. Now, it isn’t completely finished how we want it yet. Later in the year we will be adding some flagstone step stones and a few other small plants. When Russell gets home he and I will move the kids’ sandbox and we still need to get our pool set up in a week or so, but for today our landscaping project is complete. I absolutely love it. It is clean, we have our trees, smaller rock, and a small grass play area for the kids. It feels like there is some purpose back there!

Here is a before and after panorama. (Click on them to see them full size)

I think you’ll agree it is already a drastic change. I’ll post again after a few more things come along. Until then, we’ll be outside!

Proposing A Partnership

In the past few weeks I have stumbled on two charities that really speak to my heart. One is called Giving Diapers, Giving Hope. Here is a little about them taken from their website:

“Giving Diapers, Giving Hope is a non-profit organization that provides education, support and cloth diapers to low income families in the continental United States. This enables families to conserve money that would have been spent on disposable diapers and use it towards other necessary expenses. It also reduces the environmental impact that disposable diapers have on landfills. We are devoted to a greener planet and empowering families and thus, primarily focus on cloth diapers.”

The other non-profit organization is called It’s Our Mission – Period! This group of women sews economical, earth-friendly, washable & re-usable cloth menstrual shields and liners. These are then distributed to girls in countries like Kenya, Nigeria, Haiti, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Uganda, South Africa, Ghana, and more. Girls in these places face many problems when it comes to enduring their periods. For us in America it is simply and inconvenience. For these girls the situation is so horrific that they will sometimes find used pads in garbage dumps and try to wash them out to reuse because they can not afford anything better. Others turn to prostitution to pay for supplies.

“What if there were no toilets, no toilet paper, no pads, no tampons, no water?  Can you imagine the emotional and mental discomfort counting the days until ‘that time’ came around again?  Consider this:   Globally, 100 million girls currently enrolled in school may drop out — because of their period.”

Both organizations need support. I have decided to sew donations for both, but I do need help. Please consider partnering with me to help pay for the supplies I will need to sew diapers, wet bags, shields and liners. If everyone gives a little we can make a big difference! Because I will be sewing everything myself nothing will get caught up in operating expenses and 100% of what you give will go to the cost of supplies. Just a few dollars can help. For around $8 I can make one complete diaper, and around $15 can provide about 24 menstrual shields. If you prefer your donation to go towards one charity vs. the other please let me know. This isn’t anything formal or fancy and I can’t provide any tax deductible offers for you, but if you feel drawn to help please consider it. I’ll do all the work! I will keep you updated on what we will accomplish together.

Click here to send money via Paypal. The email address is anina duren @ gmail . com (remove spaces)

Backyard Project- Part 1

I mentioned yesterday that we were having some work done in our backyard. It started with wanting a pool. We’ve been talking since last summer that we would like an above ground pool. Vegas gets so hot in the summer, it is already in the 80′s and it is only the first week of April) and with three little ones getting out, even with family helping, can be a big production. We didn’t want a house with a pool when we were shopping around because of safety reasons, but above ground pools are much easier to childproof. We have a small yard so we need the space to do double duty, so the pool will be taken down during the winter months and we are going to get a portable fire pit to put in its place. All of this is to say we needed a landscaper to come out and level the area for the pool to go. We also have hated the rocks back there since we bought the house. They are too big for Rusty and too big for the little feet and knees that hit them too often. We are going with a much smaller, kid friendly rock. We decided to add some trees, which evolved into fruit trees (yay!) and a small patch of artificial grass to add another play area on the side. I am so excited and can’t wait to see our plans actually come to fruition. The first issue was getting rid of the old rocks. It is almost as expensive to remove rock as it is to buy new rock, and I didn’t want to spend our entire budget simply hauling away rock. I listed it on craigslist and we were able to get rid of 8-10 tons of it. That is easily $1000 worth of work for free. Here are some pictures of our project so far.

step one: removal of rock

of course the girls wanted to sit in the little truck

Kylie being shy

step two: let the girls play with the old irrigation lines

step three: put those kids to work!

step four: attempt to transplant the big rose bush to the front yard

I’ll keep updating as the progress goes on. The landscapers will be working around the end of the month and things should go really quickly at that point. I can’t wait to see our new backyard. The first night I get to put the kids in bed and head out to the pool with my husband and a nice cold beer… ya. That’ll be nice.

Swim

Hey, remember when I used to post like every once in a while? Ya, things have been busy. The girls have been doing swim class at the city pool for the last 2-ish months. We are also in the middle of redoing our backyard a bit. We had three birthdays and all of our parents visit in a short amount of time. Oh ya, and we still have three kids three and under. But I miss sharing what is going on in our lives and want to try to get back to posting a little more often. Like I mentioned, the girls have been doing swim class and today was their last day. They are by no means close to swimming on their own yet, but are much more comfortable kicking, scooping with their arms/hands, jumping in, and putting their faces in the water. (Only sort of on that last one!) An above ground pool is in the works for our new backyard and that combined with doing really well at swim class new suits were in order.

Here they are demonstrating holding their noses. Side note: these swimsuits are 5T. My girls just turned 3.

A Special Day

Today is a special day for a number of reasons. On this day back in 2005 Russell asked me to be his wife. One year ago my brother married a wonderful woman who I am proud to call my friend (let alone my sister!)

And this year something else special is happening, although a little less romantic I am shipping off another cooler of breast milk. I had mentioned last year when I sent off the first cooler that I donated and gave some examples of babies who might receive the milk. You can read that post here. I haven’t talked a lot about it on the blog, but most of my friends know I have continued to pump and donate milk all year. I still have about 5 gallons saved in our deep freezer for Wyatt, and rotate it out to keep it fresh. What makes today’s donation special is that it fulfills a goal I had set for myself months ago. I wanted to donate 50 gallons of breast milk.

50 gallons is 6,400 ounces of milk. For the preemie babies that are most likely to receive this milk just one ounce averages 3 feedings. That is almost 20,000 meals for little babies.

Those are numbers I am pretty proud of. Currently, the woman who holds the Guinness World Record for most breast milk donated gave 87 gallons. When I told Russell that he said “Well, 50 is respectable.” Today’s donation will hopefully not be my last. Wyatt has not started to wean yet, and until he does I will continue pumping and sharing what I am so fortunate to have.

Like Sister, Like Brother

Alyssa November 2010

Wyatt February 2013

Apparently, not much has changed around here in two years.

Three Year Stats

Russell stayed home this morning with Wyatt so I could take the girls to the doctor by myself. Errands are getting so much easier now that they are getting older. No more loading them into the stroller, no more worrying about keeping them entertained while we wait. And just the two of them… that was almost a breeze. The only thing that added a slight amount of time was the fact that this was our first major outing (about 2 hours) wearing only underwear. I took a chance too since they have never actually peed on a public toilet before, and never even attempted to try in a bathroom with stalls. But they both did great and went two times each (once when we first got there and once before we left). The second time I asked them if they wanted to use the same bathroom (since it is a big medical building there are lots of bathrooms) or a different one. They both chose different. They liked choosing which stall they wanted to use, and during both times we only saw one other person so they had the privacy they like.

The doctor checked them all out and says they are doing perfect. We don’t have to go back for another year (unless someone breaks something or needs more stitches out) Here are their three year stats:

Alyssa

Height: 38 1/2 inches, 75-90th percentile

Weight: 33 1/2 pounds, 75th percentile

Blood Pressure: 88/58

Kylie

Height: 38 1/2 inches, 75-90th percentile

Weight: 34 1/2 pounds, 75-90th percentile

Blood Pressure: 98/60

Blood Donation, TV and Dating

Yesterday when I was waiting to donate blood I flipped the pages of a magazine and occasionally glanced over at the TV. We do own a television at home and use it to watch movies and shows on DVD, but we have not had even basic cable in about three years. This certainly limits the amount of time I spend watching commercials. And as an outsider, let me tell you… something weird has happened. Once it was just Match.com and eHarmony. Now there are things like ChristianMingle.com and other dating sites to help further narrow it down to people of your own religion. And yesterday I was introduced to a whole new breed of online matchmaking.

FarmersOnly.com -A website dedicated only to “farmers, ranchers and country dwellers.”

I remember back when Saturday Night Live was really funny. (You know, when the monologue was actually a MONO-logue) Well, they used to do commercial spoofs like this one. That’s what I felt like I was watching yesterday. Seriosuly, what does SNL have left too spoof when the real world comes up with things like “You don’t have to be lonely with Farmers Only”?

So of course I had to come home and check it out. Their trademarked slogan is “City folks just don’t get it!” And their site claims the rest of the country “revolves around four dollar cups of coffee, taxi cabs, blue suits, and getting ahead at all costs in the corporate world” (So maybe FarmersOnly is for me since I am clearly not in that group!) The part I find really confusing is: if you are a farmer/rancher you probably live in a rural sort of area. You probably know the other farmers/ranchers around you. If you have not already met someone who interests you, there just might not be anyone nearby for you. Secondly, say you go sign up and meet your soul-mate. Yay! Except, you live in Texas and they live in Iowa. Now one of you needs to give up your ranch that you love so much and move.

Have I just been out of the loop too long, or is this getting a little out of hand?

Three Years

Happy Birthday to my beautiful little girls! Or as they call themselves, “The Guys”

It is time for my traditional walk down memory lane…

Alyssa:

one month

one year

two years

today- Three Years old!

Kylie:

one month

one year

two years

today- Three Years old!

It is funny how old I thought they were at two, and now those pictures just look like little babies! I wonder what I will think next year at this time.

And to quote from one of their favorite books:

Here’s to two girls who are joyful and clever. Happy Day. Happy Year. Happy Always and Ever.