W.I.P Wednesday

I finally finished the last baby quilt I needed to for the year! Now, don’t think that means I’m done or have no other projects to do. I still have to make both girls’ quilts, and a quilt Peter {which will be the same as the big boys’ sailboat quilt}, and I’m sure there are a few others, but at least none of them are as pressing as the two that I did finish.

I had planned on making the most recent quilt from my stash, but I just didn’t have the brain power to think about all of it. Then I was sitting there thinking about what pattern to use, but didn’t really have the brain power for that either. Obviously, I knew I didn’t have a lot of brain power for anything.

Then I came across JediCraftGirl’s quilt on Instagram: Come Sail Away with Me….and I loved it! It looked simple, but awesome…and I like simple but awesome! I then headed to the quilt shop down the street {can’t tell you how huge a blessing it is to literally have a quilt shop down the street from your house, especially when it is the ONLY one within an hour’s drive}. I walked around a bit and settled on Fig Tree and Co’s Somerset line.

I did figure this was an easy enough pattern that I could come up with it and alter it, as needed, on my own…and I was right. Opened up my trusty Electric Quilt 6 and got to work! I managed to have the top together pretty quick, but then I was procrastinating about pinning the whole thing, because I didn’t want to sit on the floor at 39 weeks pinning the quilt and go into labor while Matt wasn’t home.

It only took me a week past when the recipient was born…I thought that was pretty good, considering the last quilt was given 8 months after the baby was born. I really just wanted to have it done before our little one was born, so that I didn’t have to be trying to finish it with a newborn.

I loved how the rounded edges came out…it makes binding a touch easier too, when you don’t have to miter every corner and worry that things are pulling too much one way or another.

Voila! There it is, all done and ready to gift!

Introducing…

So I’m a little late in posting, it’s been busy around here!

Peter Andrew

Born Tuesday, June 16, 2015 at 4:35pm

Weighing 9lbs 4 ounces and 21 3/4” long

We’re all absolutely smitten with him…especially the kids.

More details soon…If you follow me on Instagram you can see lots more pictures of our newest addition.

He Knows

You can find this post on my new blog JessicaMWhite.com; I'd love for you to join me over there.

Dear New Mom: A Baby isn’t the End

You can find this post on my new blog, JessicaMWhite.com: Click HERE.

Why We Chose a Homebirth?

Lots of reasons and no particular reasons at all. We have not been very open about where this little one is being born, because frankly, we haven't wanted to hear people's opinions about it. It has only been in the past few weeks that I've even mentioned to certain people that we're having a homebirth.

People have a wide variety of opinions about homebirths, from: “you’re stupid, why would you risk your baby’s life like that” to “only ignorant people give birth in hospitals”. Obviously, I’m not either of those extremes.  Where do I fall? Smack dab in the middle, you do what you want, I’ll do what I want. This isn’t a decision that we’ve just decided to randomly make, it was with a lot of thought, care, consideration and research {do your research!}.

Avelyn’s birth was completely textbook, no surprises, no problems. The triplets' birth was pretty much the same, other than the obvious of there being three of them. Both times it went pretty fast. Fast enough the first time, that the second time our doctor insisted we get to the nearest hospital and be transported via ambulance {big waste of $2000 in my opinion}.

Before the triplets were born, my usual OB {and several of her colleagues} left the nearest hospital’s practice {the hospital was a 45 minute drive away}, the doctors that were there I did not like: The next closest hospital is an hour away.

I have to admit we really never sat down and made a list of pros and cons as to the why or whether of a homebirth. It was something we discussed, found a midwife to talk to, and kind of just went with it. Now before you think that we’ve entered this whole thing rather brashly, we haven’t.

Since Ave’s birth I’ve read articles online, books, personal experiences, medical journals etc about the risks and joys of a homebirth {find my pin board here}. We’ve taken into consideration my own labor and delivery experiences and our own comfort levels with not being in a hospital setting. It has been something that we have, in our own way, discussed and thought about at great length over the past few years.

Reason #1

I have very smooth, pretty quick labors.

I have never had a complication or issue during labor and delivery that resulted in any sort of emergency situation. That said, we do realize that anything can happen, things can go wrong. Which is why we have done our research with our midwife and feel comfortable in her abilities and care. Also, we literally live 1500’ from our local hospital, and while they don’t do deliveries, they are completely capable of handling life and death situations.

The other side is that given my speedy deliveries the chances are very good that we would barely make it to the hospital, and quite frankly I’d rather not be in the front seat of our van, pulled over on a back road in the middle of the night, pushing a baby out {most likely having mosquitoes feasting on my nether-regions}.

Reason #2

I don’t particularly like hospitals.

This might seem a ridiculous reason, but I don’t like hospitals…like REALLY don’t like them. Yes, I realize I’ve had 4 kids in a hospital without incident. I also know, from experience, how hard it is to get medical personnel who may have literally just met you to respect and adhere to your wishes. I have been extremely blessed with the medical personnel I have had to deal with, most have been highly considerate and understanding of our requests, but there have been enough of them that fought me and treated me like an idiot because of our desires for our children.

With our homebirth we don’t have to deal with any of that, not yet at least. There’s no pressure from a doctor or any one else to submit to anything that we’re not comfortable with, whether it be my care, laboring, delivery, post-partum, or our baby’s care.

Reason #3

I want to see if I can do this….again.

I know this may defy logical thought and reason for most people: That I would be willing to do something so potentially risky, just to have the experience {FYI bungee jumping is more dangerous than a homebirth}. Avelyn’s birth was over before it began. The triplets were an experience unto themselves. This time I want to be able to focus and enjoy the time of bringing this little one into the world, whether it takes 2 hours or 20 hours, without any distractions or undue concerns about getting to a hospital on time or anything else.

I know my body is strong…I know it is capable of incredible things. It took a triplet pregnancy to really KNOW that. I KNOW what my God is capable of. It’s for these reasons that I KNOW that a homebirth is an entirely reasonable and feasible desire for our birth. I want to experience this last experience to the fullest! No regrets.

~*~*~*~

Honestly, this will be the last child that I birth into this world, and I feel incredibly blessed that we get to add one more little life to our family, that I get to experience one last time what a normal singleton pregnancy and birth is like. However, being pregnant at almost 33 years old {next month} and 28 are two entirely different experiences…I don’t think I have it in me to do this again at 35 or 36, while chasing after 5 kids {it’s the chasing after other kids that makes it hard}. Then there’s also that whole lovely infertility factor which has pretty much rendered this our last, whether we were ready or not. Thankfully God has prepared our hearts for that.

Radio Silence

It’s been quiet around here…I realize that. There hasn’t been a baby. The middle of last week Google {ie blogspot} and Windows Live Writer {ie the program I use to compose posts in} decided to not get along and stopped working, not just for me, but the whole blogging world that used both programs. It was beyond frustrating.

I looked into officially switching to Wordpress.org. I attempted to write in bloggers web-interface. I reinstalled and uninstalled and changed all kinds of things. There were tears. Finally, after 10 days, the programs are fixed and working together once again: Queue Handel’s Messiah Hallelujah Chorus! Yea, it’s that big a deal

One of the things that I learned was that I need to seriously start thinking about a plan. While I haven’t come up with a plan yet for my blog {ie. how to fund switching to wordpress.org and whether it’s worth it given I don’t have a huge following and no income from this space}, I do want to make a suggestion: Sign up for either blog posts or my newsletter. That way if something DOES happen and I have to move my blog, I can at least contact you with the latest information.

I do own the domain name http://LifeintheWhiteHouse.com, so even if I temporarily can’t blog I will continue again at that address. Just so you know. Anyways….I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

5 New Baby Must Haves {from a Mama of 5}

**This post does contain affiliate links, meaning that I earn a few pennies on purchases made through the links: You can read my Disclosure Policy here.**

When you’re having your 5th child and you’ve had 3 of your others at once there really isn’t anything that you need for a new baby. You kind of decide at this point that you have way too much baby stuff and need to purge immediately and for your own sanity. I’ve been going through all of the kids clothes, shoes, toys and paraphernalia that we have; deciding what to keep, what to yard sale, and what to sell on ebay. It hasn’t been easy {my bedroom has looked liked this for the past 2 months}.

All of this also helps me to realize that perhaps I’m a bit of an expert on the necessities for baby. Obviously, there are some things that are absolutely not negotiable…like a car seat, especially if you plan on being in a car, or diapers and clothes. The rest is just an extensive list of things that would be nice, but aren’t necessary. To me, these items are the must-have-end-all-be-all of baby necessities.

A Carrier
I don’t care who you are or how much you love your baby, at some point you’re going to want the use of your hands again, but that little one is probably still going to want to be held. With the rest of our kids we had a Moby Wrap, which both Matt and I loved! It kept them close and warm, it was comfortable to wear, even with the clingy big sister in it.

This time it’s summer though and warm isn’t exactly something I’m looking for. I asked a few friends about the Ergo and the Boba and several others, before deciding that we would ask for a Boba with #5. I need ease of use, comfort, and flexibility…especially going into the summer when we have swimming lessons, the fair, and Matt is gone a whole lot more.

*Ergo Baby Carrier {Borrowed one of these from a friend and I really like it}
*Boba Baby Carrier {I liked the features of the Boba better than the Ergo}
*Moby Wrap {Love this one…it is a bit tricky to get into at first, it’s pretty easy after you get the hang of it, but it can get quite warm}

Cloth Diapers

I realize that specifically cloth diapers are not a necessity. But I love my cloth diapers, if I could wax-poetic about them I would. I’ve missed them, since we moved out last year and the triplets went in to disposables. My whole box of them has been pulled out, lovingly prepped and waiting for use once again. My favorite is still a Bum Genius. {If you’re not into cloth, we’ve always had great luck with Huggies Little Movers and OverNites}.

*Bum Genius {These are my favorites and I have no complaints whatsoever about them}
*Fuzzi Bunz {I love the colors on these so much more than the BG, but the elastic does not hold up well..they do have an awesome repair policy though}.


Swing

Once little one will let you put them down and sleep comfortably some place other than on your person we loved having a swing. I didn’t have to go up and down the stairs to the baby’s room and they slept well. I think we got our’s at a consignment shop for quite a bit less than brand new. Some of them get ridiculously expensive, but a good, basic one doesn’t have to cost tons of money, just make sure to get one that has an AC adapter…batteries get expensive.

*Fisher Price Rainforest {This is the one we have, I think I paid less than $100 at consignment}
*Fisher Price Zen Swing {We’ve borrowed this one with Ave, it’s nice, but way too expensive}

Sound Machine
I know for some people this is an unnecessary item, but for us…they are awesome! I never used to sleep with a sound machine, until I visited Matt at college with his mom {who had one}. Now I don’t leave home without it and each of the kids’ rooms has one. They’re great for creating a gentle sound that can drown out the rest of a crazy house.

*Cloud B Sound Machine Sheep {I don’t like that this one turns off after a while, baby usually wakes up when that happens}
*Graco Sound Machine {This is my preferred sound machine}

Coconut Oil

That’s right coconut oil. It’s great for diaper rash, sore nipples, dry skin, a quick spoonful for energy…you name it and coconut oil is probably good for it. With Ave I just used the lanolin ointment which reminded me of the smell of wool sweaters in Ireland {lanolin is the oil in sheep wool}, with the triplets we had coconut oil for everything.

*Extra Virgin Coconut Oil

Thoughts Before Birth

We’re quickly winding down this pregnancy…tomorrow is 38 weeks! Eeek! I went from stressing about the pregnancy to now stressing about labor and delivery, or more specifically Matthew. He’s on the road 3-4 days a week, sometimes as much as 2-3 hours from home, so I now worry about his making it home in time.

We have done this twice before, and God was good BOTH times, and I went into labor in the evening or middle of the night. For some reason though, I can’t seem to get it through my thick skull that God’s got this…just like He did then. This past Tuesday night I spent most of the night talking myself up and down, worrying {the heat didn’t help}. Why is it so hard at night to remember the Truths we know during the daylight hours?!

I feel so much more vulnerable when I’m alone with my thoughts in the dark. Some people just get up, some people read, I just lay there…waiting for sleep to come {it usually doesn’t} and think. I’d love to say I end up in constant prayer, but my brain barely acknowledges that Gods awake too, then.

Other than Matt’s possible location when I go into labor, there are of course all of the normal anxieties and concerns about labor in general. Yea, I’ve done this before, but that doesn’t mean I know what to expect. Ave was my last “normal” pregnancy and that was 5.5 years ago! I’m sure it’s kind of like riding a bike, but until we’re there…I won’t know that. Am I looking forward to it? Yes, because I want to do this again, Ave’s birth was awesome and so empowering, but I still have all the questions of whether or not I’ll know if I’m in labor or not.

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ll see that I’ve mentioned briefly that we’re having a home birth this time. While I don’t have to worry about getting to a hospital, one of the reasons we’re doing homebirth is because I have a tendency to go quick, this will be an entirely different experience for me and Matt.

Of course there are all the “After” questions: What will it be like as a family with 5 kids? How will life with a newborn be? How will the other 4 handle the newest additional? Will I ever even get the meager sleep that I get now? If we need formula, what will we use?

How I will I manage with 5 kids when I know this is the busiest time of year and Matt’s not around a lot? What things do we still need to get, and do we really need them?

Lots of question are constantly on my mind, and of course there isn’t a readily available answer for any of them.

Show YOURSELF Some Grace

You can find this post on my new blog JessicaMWhite.com; I'd love for you to join me over there.

W.I.P. Wednesday

For the past couple of months I’ve been working on a baby quilt for a friend, but I didn’t dare share it on here…unless she stopped by for a visit. I bought the fabric in February, but it wasn’t until the middle of April that I actually worked up the gumption to start! I went with Folklore by Heather Rosas for Camelot. OH, the reds, the turquoise, the coral! And a decidedly VERY Germanic pattern….perfection!

The next part is never my favorite part…deciding on a pattern. I don’t understand why this is always so hard for me, but it’s definitely my least favorite part. Of course, it doesn’t help when I decide on a pattern that I then have to alter and change it to make it do what I want it to do. For this project, I ended up going with ThimbleBlossoms {Camille Roskelley} Fireworks…it had nice big blocks, that were intricate enough without being over the top, but I had to refigure the cut list for what I was specifically doing.

Then I begun….deciding on what colors would be in what blocks and where…

Which pieces would be fussy cut to make the centers of each block…Cutting all of the pieces out….And finally starting to stitch them together….

I pushed…hard.

This quilt needed to be done before I left on vacation…

Or at least all of the machine work did…

And let me just say, sitting on the floor with a then 34 week bump to pin a quilt is not the funnest thing in the world…

But it was done…ready to stitch down binding and hand tie. I tried this new tutorial on how to cut bias binding..it worked, but I felt rather befuddled by the whole thing…no idea why.

Labeled {which I NEVER remember to take a picture of}, photographed and ready to ship…

It arrived at it’s intended this past Monday. I still love the fabrics…I may just have to buy more so that I can make the girls some fun skirts from it, because it’s just that awesome!

I still have another baby quilt that HAS to get done in the next month, but I have no ideas about it and haven’t even started. At some point I suppose I do need to get the quilts made for my own children…not sure how that will go with 5 kids.

**Linking up with Lee at FreshlyPieced.com

Topsail Island NC

I went for the first time in 1993, and have been back more than a half-dozen times {I honestly can’t remember how many times} over the past 22 years. I’ve never gone again and again to a vacation spot, but this place I have. There’s something so wonderful about the familiarity of a place. It’s always been my favorite beach spot..quiet, beautiful, and relaxing {other than that 14 hour drive to get there and home}.

The last time we were there I was 17 weeks pregnant with Ave, this time 35 weeks with #5. Of course, being 35 weeks I was rather limited in how much ocean-time I could enjoy {being beaten around by waves, just doesn’t have the same appeal} and with 4 kids the relaxation was a bit limited to, but it was fun!

The kids were entirely different about the ocean from last year. Henry absolutely LOVED the beach {he barely tolerated the sand last year}, James, was ehh about it, Ellie could’ve cared less and claimed she was scared of the ocean, Ave was in her glory! We were a bit concerned that Ana was going to put a damper on our fun, but other than Sunday, the rest of the week was decent.

Saturday we drove the 650+ miles, stopping for breakfast along the way.

Sunday we celebrated all of the April and May Birthdays….My dad had just turned 60, my mom had turned 55, and my brother turned 30!

With the storm passing through I ended up going to the store and buying some legos for the kids, so they had something to do inside.

The sleeping arrangements worked out ok. We had a pyramid bunk, so we alternated who was on the top and the other 3 were sideways in the double below.
One morning. The sunrises weren’t great, because of the weather, but they were still beautiful!My mom and my nephew.

My brother and his big catch.Matt and I got to go on one walk sans kids…

We had to have our traditional southern fish fry at least one night. My aunt came over {she lives nearby} and fried up a wonderful meal!

My aunt managed to get a halfway decent picture of this motley crew…the kids barely tolerate pictures anymore.

The one morning we headed over to a nearby park..they loved it! All 4 of them managed to climb the rock wall…I was impressed.

We thoroughly enjoyed our last few days and made every effort to spend as much time on the beach.The kids were up bright and early on Saturday ready to go home. Two of them were asking to go home to their own beds by Wednesday {they take after their mama}.

All in all it was a great trip! We’re hoping to make a beach trip a family vacation, at least every few years.

If you want to see ALL of the pictures from our trip, check them out here.