It's all my brother's fault.

I made Ella a special blanket and I would have loved it, if it weren't for my brother....

In November 2009, Jo-Ann's fabric store started having these amazing sales and coupon deals. I was in the sewing/crafting mode as I had decided that Christmas would be home-made this year. I was also starting to think about getting ready for Ella's birth (what her colors would be and what to make special instead of just hand-me-downs). I found this beautiful fabric that was cream with a thick soft swirly nap. I fell in love with it and was determined that it would be the back of Ella's baby blanket. However, it was $13/yd and I had used all my coupons. New coupons would be available the next week, so, with great trepidation but very proud of myself, I resisted the urge to buy it immediately and told myself to be rational and wait a week when I could get it at half off. The sale on that type of fabric began the day after Thanksgiving.

For the first time in my life, I braved the insanity of shopping on Black Friday. I reasoned I didn't need to get up too early since most people would be shopping for clothes, technology, or toys. How busy could the fabric store be? Wow! was I wrong? Not only was it a 2hr wait for the cut-counter, but my fabric was gone! How could it be gone? It was a full bolt a week ago.

I was obsessed with this fabric and returned to the fabric store at least once every week thereafter and never, ever saw my fabric again. I called other stores; I began hovering around the shelf of fabrics that had been cut but not reshelved; I stalked other shoppers who had bolts of fabric that looked like the one I wanted. I became the scorned lover of this fabric, desperate to have my dreams fulfilled!

As the weeks turned into months with no sign of return, I slowly began to accept my fate - I had had my window of opportunity and had let it slip by. The only rational thing for me to do was to move on - just as there are plenty of fish in the sea there are plenty of soft cuddly fabrics on the shelf.

I moved on with life and redesigned the blanket with different colors and fabrics and even liked the new design. All this time, I continued searching for my fabric but it was gone. I began wondering if I had only imagined my brief encounter with the all-too-perfect fabric.

At the store one day in February, I got the last bit of fabric necessary to make the blanket. On the way to the register I remembered that my brother wanted me to make him a silk bedroll for his upcoming trip to the Ukraine. I had a few minutes, so I detoured my route and went to the Special Occasion fabric to search for silk. While there, I ran into a friend that I hadn't seen in ages. As we chatted, my coveted fabric walked right passed me - not on its own, but the woman pushing the cart carrying the fabric (MY fabric) is inconsequential. While I struggled to not hurdle the shelves of fabric and tackle the receding woman, I remained composed as the bile of what-could-have-been settled in my mind. I had already committed to the other fabric and design; it would be wrong to reject them as I had been rejected by the cream fabric.

I walked dejectedly to the cash register, trying to reconcile myself to my fate. As if to pour salt in my wounds, the woman in front of me for the register was the same with my fabric, only now she had a large amount of my fabric neatly folded and ready for her blanket - not mine. Oh the bitter jealousy of rejection!

Here is a picture of the final product - not using the beloved yet not-meant-to-be fabric.
I would love the big soft blanket, if I hadn't known that I could have gotten the cream fabric. My dissatisfaction is clearly my brother's fault - if he hadn't wanted a silk bedroll for his trip I never would have been looking in the Special Occasion fabrics, I never would have run into my friend and I never would have seen My fabric walk past. I could have been peacefully reconciled to the new design, but no.......

:)

It's A Girl!

Briella Ann Martineau was born Feb 25, 2010.
6lbs 13oz
21 in long
beautiful auburn hair
we'll call her Ella

I know many didn't even know i was pregnant. I'm sorry, the whole year of 2009 was a blur with Lizzie being born in Mar and then getting pregnant 3 months later (no, not planned - I was on birth control).

Our one request for the delivery this time was that a Dr would be in the room (Lizzie came so fast we were lucky to have a nurse there.) Well, that wish was granted since Ella's cord became prolapsed and they had to do an emergency C-section. She was born with blue feet and hands, but started screaming immediately and so, was ok. She is perfectly healthy. I am healing well and very quickly. Many people also haven't known that i had a large blood clot in my leg that was causing complications for the pregnancy (it was superficial and has remained so). It is now receding and I'll be able to treat it 6wks post-partum. I am, however, still on blood thinners.

My brother and sister came down from Salt Lake to help with the kids while I was in the hospital. Then my sister stayed a few extra days to help me as I healed from the surgery. I am so grateful for their tremendous help and kindness.

It has taken a while to see Ella as a gift and blessing, but I have finally gotten there and am truly thankful for her. Considering my medical history, she truly is a miracle. I'm still not sure what to do with 3 girls, but I'm learning to tolerate dolls and princess dresses and nail polish. All 3 girls have birthdays within 7 days of each other, so I'm sure we'll have lots of princess parties and slumber parties and dress-up/make-up parties. Perhaps I'll learn how to be a girl, after all.

I hope you enjoy the photos.

-Becky

Oh, the irony of it all!

When Mike and I first got married I was quite insistent that we wouldn't even start trying to get pregnant for the first year; I wanted time to develop our relationship and enjoy some time as just the two of us. However, I prayed alot about our family planning and, after four months, felt strongly that we would have problems and it would be best to get started soon. So, following that impression I went off the birth control. In the subsequent 2 yrs I had 3 miscarriages, numerous fertility treatments and drugs, and we spent alot of money. The upside was, my headaches and migraines were finally properly diagnosed and effective medication was prescribed.

It took 2 1/2 yrs, but we were finally blessed with a wonderful son, Andrew. Expecting the next child to be just as difficult, we never prevented anything and still required a surgery, multiple treatments and drugs, lots of money, and 2+ yrs. But, eventually, Rachael was conceived and born.

We now felt like we had the routine down and knew how to prevent the miscarriages (2 injections of heparin per day) and we just needed patience as we tried for the 3rd child. Lizzie's conception was quite a surprise, but not entirely unexpected. She was born 2yr and 5days after Rachael.

After Lizzie, we felt like we needed a break. I didn't want to leave anything up to chance, so I got on birth control. Andrew and Rachael are both "high-spirited" and require alot of energy. Lizzie, thankfully, is quite mild and happy. She was the break I needed, and an answer to my prayers. I decided that, maybe, sometime in the distant future I could possibly handle a 4th child, maybe.

So... can you guess the irony? Yup, 3mo after Lizzie was born I got pregnant while on birth control. I didn't know it for 7wks and was so tired without knowing why that I empathized with all the parents who call it quits with 3 kids. I took a pregnancy test just to prove to myself that the exhaustion was more mental than physical. I was so convinced that the test was negative that I almost threw it away without confirming the results.

Anyway, I always said I would be most happy with lots of boys and no girls. So.... I just found out today that I am having a 3rd girl. Oh, the irony. Heavenly Father sure loves to laugh and play jokes!

The due date? Well, Lizzie was born on March 4, 2009. This child will be born no later than March 3, 2010. I have to be induced because I have extremely precipitous labors and because I have to be on blood thinners which need to be stopped 24hrs before delivery or I could have bleeding issues. So... I have gone from one extreme to the other - first unable to have a child, now unable to prevent the next child from coming. Oh, the irony of it all.

Crawling

Lizzie turned 7mo on Sept 4. She is so different from Andrew or Rachael. One main difference is how very big she is - she's wearing 12mo clothes that Rachael wasn't wearing until she was 15mo. Today was momentous, though, because she took her first tentative crawling steps. She's been close for at least a week, but it finally happened today. YEAH!! She is so proud of herself - let the adventure begin!

Birthdays

For the past month, at least, Andrew has been asking some variation about when his birthday is: "Is today my birthday?", "Is it my birthday tomorrow after I wake up?", "How many days before my birthday?", etc. He keeps singing the Happy Birthday song to anything - me, his toys, his food, the pens, whatever.

Today he asked, "Mom, is today my birthday?"
"No, Andrew, I'm sorry."
"What about tomorrow after I wake up? Is it my birthday tomorrow after I wake up?"
"No, Andrew. Tomorrow after you wake up is just Sunday, not your birthday."
"How many tomorrow-after-I-wake-ups until my birthday."
"About 100"
"But, you always say that!"
"Andrew, I'm sorry, but it's exactly 4 months until your birthday - that is 123 days."
"123 days? but what about tomorrow after I wake up?"
"Nope, I'm sorry. You have to wait for 123 tomorrow-after-you-wake-ups for it to be your birthday."
"But I don't want to wait that long.... How about we make today your birthday and then it can be my birthday tomorrow after I wake up?"
"Hehehe, I'm sorry Andrew. It just doesn't work that way. You're just going to have to wait."
"But... I can't take it anymore!"

Insect Salad

Andrew doesn't like to try eating new things, so the other day we pulled a note from the comic Calvin & Hobbes. We had Insect Salad. For the adventurous, you should try it.

Spider Legs stir-fried in Slug Slime
Crushed Grasshoppers
Ground-up Bug Brains

douse it in Snake Blood
top with Beetle Backs

Andrew thought it was very silly, but was willing to try it and found that he liked it. For those of you who are less adventurous, here're the non-insect ingredients, respectively.

Ramen noodles crushed and stir-fried in butter
Shredded Green Cabbage
Ground-up Chicken

douse in: 1/4cp vinegar, 1/4cp water, 1/4cp oil, 1/2cp sugar, 1T soy sauce
top with Sliced Almonds

Thanks, Patricia, for the original recipe. It is one of our favorite summer foods.

Our Garden

I am very proud of our garden this year. We are doing Square Foot Gardens, again. Our first attempt was last year and we had a great harvest of tomatoes, but the other stuff didn't do so well. So, this year we have planted earlier, and I did a whole box devoted to strawberries - yummy! :) Today, I picked the first ripe strawberry and we all shared it by taking small bites. It was super yummy - WAY better than what you get at the store. Here are some pics.

This was the first ripe strawberry, a few days before harvest.



You see tomatoes in the back, then some onions going out of control. You can't see them, but in the back are some green bean plants. There are also marigolds, okra, and carrots. The front row is 3 squares of potatoes and the built-up box is for long carrots that wouldn't work with only 6in of soil.



Here, more tomatoes and onions going crazy. We have a different variety of carrots and also some green bell pepper plants. There is a square of okra and some peas - we can't seem to get peas to grow well, though. We also have some cucumber plants, in the back.



Here are more tomatoes (we like tomatoes), carrots, onions, chili and bell peppers, beets, peas, and the big one is a pumpkin - its leaves are huge.

I didn't know the leaves got that big. They are even bigger now, since taking the picture.

We also have a watermelon growing in a bucket. We didn't know what it was, but it didn't look like a weed, so Mike put it in a bucket for future identification. Now we need to figure out what to do with it since it will definitely outgrow the bucket.

We've had fun with the garden and are looking forward to the harvest. Mike introduced me to beet-greens. The texture was slimy, just as bad as spinach. If you put enough salt and butter, though, it is possible to force them down your throat chased with a large glass of water - I'm not a fan, could you tell?

The kids enjoy helping us water and admire, and haven't picked anything - yet.