Gaia's Gifts Journal

Organizing my thoughts

Tue, 07 Jul 2009 17:12:54 GMT

When I started out this journal, I thought it was going to be for updates concerning my jewelry business. After Owain was born, it became more of a personal blog, along with updates from my freelance writing.

Even with all of my constant trying to get my business organized again, it just doesn't seem to be happening right now, which is why I haven't posted any news from my studio. I keep cleaning it & organizing it, and then it just gets covered in research for my freelance articles or piles of bills and paperwork that I am trying to organize to get ready for the move to my new studio, which is still under construction, along with the rest of our addition.

I am not saying that I am no longer making jewelry, I am still filling orders and working on designing some Heart Defect jewelry. It seems that my jewelry that comes from inspiration is on hold for the moment as we get ready for our 5th baby & try to get the addition done. I also made the decision that since I can't vend as much & the local economy is so lousy, that I would slow down with my jewelry and concentrate on getting my life organized.

In organizing my life, I have come up with several new blogs over at blogspot, and am working on building several more. I have divided them up into categories that are more cohesive. Like now I have just a family blog, a recipe blog, frugal living, etc. This is what they are:

My family blog, Welcome to the Nuthouse only deals with what is going on in my personal life with my family, with very little mention of my business or my freelance writing...but there is still some there, because my business & my writing are both a huge part of my day.

All of my recipes, helpful kitchen tips & veggie gardening stories can be found at my recipe blog From My Kitchen to Yours. I am proud to say that I just got accepted into the featured publisher program over at foodbuzz. Stop by my recipe blog and vote for my blog for foodbuzz!

I am working to help my husband who works full time while I stay home with the kids and try to make money with my different WAHJs. I am sharing my money saving tips and advice, along with great deals I find on the internet in my newest blog I'm Not Cheap, I'm Frugal. If you want to find out how I juggle our little buget to feed our large family, I have all sorts of info for you.

My kids have managed to accumulate a huge bookmark folder of all of their favorite pages for getting free coloring & activity pages off the internet...we have been organizing them and listing them along on what we consider to be "my kid's website" Activity Pages For Kids With Creative Minds! They love coming up with ideas for topics and helping me get the post together to show off their favorite things. We hope that you enjoy these free coloring and activity pages as much as we do!

All of my articles are slowlying being added to my freelance writing blog Random Thoughts. You can see what I have written in the past and read my latest articles. I just won a Going Green contest on eHow for the month of April in honor of Earth Day. I wrote and submitted several articles on Going Green, I am not sure which one of the articles won...if there was just one, or if they looked at how many Green articles I had and thought I deserved a prize. I won a reusable shopping bag...I am such a sucker for bags too!

I have also joined Twitter and you can follow me there by clicking on one of the Twitter links here on my livejournal page.

Don't write this journal off just yet though. Our addition is getting closer and closer to being done every day & once I move into my new studio and get the rest of my home back in some kind of livable order, I will be back posting all of my crafty new updates here. I am working on some great new additions to add to my website...and not all of them are jewelry.

So stop by and visit any of my new blogs and let me know you were there. I hope that you all find your way over to them!

Cool eHow Widget

Wed, 27 May 2009 00:14:48 GMT

This is a neat little eHow tool. I have been able to add it to my blogspot blogs, but for some reason when I try to add it to the side bar here, it says it is an invalid url...so whatever that means, they don't like it in the side bar I guess. So I will see if I can try it out here and add it as a post.

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ETA:

Well it looks like I got it to work, I tried several times before it came out the way it is supposed to look. Now if I can just figure out how to add it to the side bar. I have been creating and posting on several Blogs on blogspot, so far they seem to be much easier to work with.

Song for a Fifth Child

Wed, 04 Mar 2009 18:29:32 GMT

Some one sent this to me today and I think it is beautiful! So I thought I would share...and yes we are expecting again...and no we are still not trying for a girl, but would gladly welcome some feminine engery around here!

Song for a Fifth Child

Mother, oh mother, come shake out your cloth!
Empty the dustpan, poison the moth,
Hang out the washing and butter the bread,
Sew on a button and make up a bed.
Where is the mother whose house is so shocking?
She’s up in the nursery, blissfully rocking!

Oh, I’ve grown as shiftless as Little Boy Blue
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).
Dishes are waiting and bills are past due
(Pat- a- cake, darling and peek, peekaboo).
The shopping’s not done and there’s nothing for stew
And out in the yard and there’s a hullabaloo
But I’m playing Kanga and this is my Roo.
Look! Aren’t her eyes the most wonderful hue?
(Lullaby, rockaby, lullaby loo).

Oh, cleaning and scrubbing will wait till tomorrow,
But children grow up, as I’ve learned to my sorrow.
So quiet down, cobwebs. Dust go to sleep.
I’m rocking my baby. Babies don’t keep.

By Ruth Hulburt Hamilton, 1958

Here is an article that features Owain :)

Mon, 10 Nov 2008 13:49:56 GMT

I wrote this awhile back & published it on eHow, but I just recently republished it on Associated Content

How to Give Your Cardiac Baby His Daily Aspirin a Step by Step Guide

On AC it is a two part article, the first part is the instructional guide & the second part is a visual slide show

How to Give Your Cardiac Baby His Daily Aspirin, A Visual Instructional Guide

Owain is recovering very well & sooo very quickly! I am amazed at how much quicker this recovery is. I did mistake his crankiness with a double ear infection for crankiness because of his surgery...which left me with bad mommy feelings, but I know I can't know everything, so I am working on forgiving myself for that. Now that he is on antibiotics for his ear infection he is even happier. He is turning into a little rollie pollie, every time I lay him down he rolls back & forth. I think he is getting to the point where he wants to go go go LOL. I think that is a pretty good sign that he is feeling much better.

I have never seen a baby so happy to eat bananas before! I gave him his first bananas a few days ago & he giggled & laughed his way through the entire meal. He is one happy baby!

Owain is home :)

Tue, 21 Oct 2008 15:21:19 GMT

I know I should have posted hear sooner, but I haven't had more than a minute or two to try to sit down at the computer.

Owain came home last Wednesday, October 15th. It is amazing that he was only in the hospital for a week and a day after having major bilateral open heart surgery!! He is such a happy guy, you would never know what he went through just 2 weeks ago, he is my hero. We still have to be extra careful when we pick him up & can't pick him up under his arms for another 1 1/2 months, but he loves to sit up on my lap & hang out, like nothing ever happened. Babies are so resilant!

He is finally getting his appetite back & is almost eating as much as he was before surgery. He is also on no pain meds, just a bit of Tylnol when he gets too fussy, which he doesn't do often any more. Mostly he just wants to be attached to me at all times, I swear he is like velcro LOL. I call him my little cling-on.

Pretty much as soon as he came home we all got sick & except for taking care of the kids...a few of whom had to take care of themselves...I have been trying to recover on the couch & pretty much had to tie Milio to the couch so he wouldn't go out & work on the addition.

I have one picture of him in the hospital & one a few days before his surgery. Enjoy!!

We have a follow up appointmen at UVA this afternoon, so that is all I have time for now, but I thought you all deserved to hear from me & see some new pictures of my little guy!

Thanks for all your prayers & support! (((big hugs)))

Owain is recovering slowly

Fri, 10 Oct 2008 01:42:19 GMT

Owain is still in the PICU. We were hoping that he would be out on the floor by now, but his lungs and a high fever have been keeping him here. His fever has been dropping most of this evening. He has some fluid both in his lungs and around his lungs, so his oxygen has been lower than everyone was hoping, but it is still higher than before his surgery. We spent today trying to figure out if they were going to have to add a drainage tube to clear the fluid from around his lungs, but as of now we are waiting to see how things go and we will find out tomorrow after a few more chest X-rays. It seems like he has a bit of a cold that is junking up his lungs.

He was soo cranky yesterday morning, but as gotten less cranky today. He was also really swollen yesterday, but it looks like most of the swelling has gone down and he looks great. He is pink and has lost that dusky gray blue tint that he has had for the past month, it is hard to belive that he just had open heart surgery, you would never even be able to tell by looking at him.

His issue tonight seems to be his blood pressure, it is going up and down and alarming at both the high and the low settings.

He slept for most of the day and started to eat much more tonight.

Already it looks like we will be here for at least another week or more. I was planning on at least a week, and was hoping everything would work out. We finally got a private room tonight, so I can spend the night in the room with him.

Thanks for all your prayers for Owee (((hugs))) to you all.

Another Successful Surgery :)

Tue, 07 Oct 2008 19:05:32 GMT

Owain came out of surgery around noon today,Yippie! He is doing well. He still hasn't woken up yet & is still on a bit of pain killers. We are waiting for his pain meds to wear off and most likely they will be able to take him off the respirator early this evening. He was starting to wake up and wiggle around a little bit, but then they had to give him some more pain meds because he is not quite ready to come off the respirator.

I have been so nervous about this surgery and I am so glad it is over! He still has several months of recovery, but knowing this is behind us is such a relief, I feel like a huge weight has been lifted.

It does look like he is going to be in the hospital for about a week and I am prepared to stay here with him most of that time. He might even be able to move out of the PICU by tomorrow night or Thursday morning. He is in a shared room with two other cardiac babies, so I can't stay in the room with him overnight. We are staying in a hotel tonight, but I hope that he does well enough that he can move out to the Pediatric floor by tomorrow night so I can stay in his room.

I haven't been very hungry the past few days, but I am starving now. I am going to head down to the cafeteria and see if I can find something to eat, I could use a nap too!

Thanks for all of the lovely prayers and support.

If you want to light a candle for a his recovery, his candle page is still here

Owain's Surgery is Next Week

Mon, 29 Sep 2008 18:12:36 GMT

We are getting ready for Owain's next surgery. He is going in for the Glenn Procedure. I was looking for a good definition to explain it better, but I am not finding one right now. I think I mentioned it in earlier posts.

We are going back to UVA Children's Hospital on Monday October 6th for his pre-op appointments, which will pretty much take all day and then his surgery will most likely be first thing Tuesday October 7th. He will be in the hospital for at least a week. I will be spending most nights there with him.

I mentioned his prayer blanket in my last post right before they changed his surgery date, If you want to have a prayer included in his prayer blanket, let me know & I will say your prayer & tie a knot for you.

Owain's Prayer Quilt

Mon, 25 Aug 2008 13:21:39 GMT

My second son EJ has a friend from school who's mother gifted us with a Prayer Quilt for Owain. She & some of her friends from her church made it for him. It came with instructions that reads:

"Each knot tied represents a prayer that was said specifically for you. Notice that the yarn has been left long. This provides others such as friends, co-workers, and family the opportunity to pray for you and to tie a knot. We hope that this quilt will bring you comfort and peace."

There were 16 signatures on the instructions & I only recognize 1 of them, the other 15 were by her friends from church who I never met & may never meet. It is so amazing that there are so many people praying for Owain, when I look at his quilt it warms my heart to know that there are more prayers for him than I will ever know. I feel so honored knowing that my son is in the hearts of so many.

Owain's next surgery is scheduled for Wednesday September 3rd, not sure what time yet though. It looks like it will be an early morning spot though. We wont know for sure until his pre-op appointment on the 2nd.

I realized yesterday while I was looking at my journal that you all have seen a picture of his Prayer Quilt, it is the one he is laying on in my last post. If you look close you can see that there is still room on many of the strings of yarn for more prayers.

I know that he has lots of love and prayers watching over him every day. I am going to be taking his Prayer Quilt to the hospital for his surgery. If you want your prayer to be a part of his Prayer Quilt, let me know and I will say your prayer for him while I tie the knot in his Quilt.

Well I am editing this post, because I just heard from UVA and I guess late last Friday Owain's cardiologist and his Dr that did the Cath procedure a few weeks ago got together and decided that he could wait to have his surgery. I feel like I should be more happy than I am now, but at the moment I am in the middle of an emotional rollercoaster. I was getting ready, and now I don't have to, but I will have to get ready for it again next month, I just don't know when. I was already starting to get stressed about it this morning trying to get all of our plans with the kids & school and schedules and now I just don't know what to think.

Owain had his cath procedure today

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:54:18 GMT

Things went really well!

His heart looks good & he is a good candidate for the next surgery, but we are not in a rush, rush position any more. His doctor said that we might even be able to put off the next surgery until closer to the end of September instead of at the very begining. He only got a few pokes where they put in the cath & didn't do any incisions this time & and will recover pretty quickly. He was really mad for a while after the procedure, but after a few hours of good sleep he is back to being a happy little guy.

One thing that I didn't realize before is that he has an extra vessel that comes down from his head. His next procedure is the Glenn procedure, where they send the blood from his head directly into his main artery that goes into his lungs...he has two vessels so each vessel will go directly into a lung. The Glenn is normally one vessel that goes directly into the main artery that goes to the lungs. It means that the surgery will take much longer, because they are doing the procedure twice. It also means that the blood will be less likely to back up, because his blood does not go to his heart to be pumped into his lungs...(he does not have that valve) Gravity will just send the blood down from his head & into his lungs.

Anyways, that is just the quick story, I have to find out some more information on it so that I can better explain it. For now you will just have to enjoy this picture of Owain ;) He was so busy watching the Olympics that he wouldn't look at me.

Thanks for all the prayers sent to him, he was truely watched over. I could not have asked for a better outcome.

Moving forward with Owain's next surgery

Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:06:41 GMT

I think I feel OK about this. I knew it was coming so I have been trying to prepare myself. Of course I am sad, I am worried, I am scared, but I am OK with it. It has to be done. At least I am TRYING to be OK with this.

We had an appointment with his cardiologist the other day & they think his sats are low enough & he is big enough to start moving forward.

Friday they are going to be doing the catheter procedure. They will go in through an artery, probably in his neck and look around at his heart to see how much his arteries have grown & basically see how his heart is doing over all.

I thought that they were going to schedule his surgery based on what they found during the cath procedure, but they called this morning and we have the surgery scheduled for September 3rd.

I don't know the exact times that everything is scheduled, they sent out a package by FedEx that I should get tomorrow with all the times & everything else I need to know. I do know that they would like to get him in first thing on Friday morning for the cath procedure so that he can recover from the anesthesia and then come home Friday afternoon or evening. He will be in the hospital for about a week after the open heart surgery in September.

I know I have been a big slacker with the pictures, so I have a little bit of every one here for ya.


Owain, just last week                                                        Avery on his 2nd Birthday!


EJ loves his video games!                             Emil on his 7th birthday!

Wordle

Fri, 01 Aug 2008 21:05:43 GMT

This is a fun site. You enter in text and it turns it in to word art. This one is Annabel Lee, by Poe. http://wordle.net/

Annabel Lee
by Edgar Allan Poe

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee--
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea,
But we loved with a love that was more than love--
I and my Annabel Lee--
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsmen came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me--
Yes!--that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we--
Of many far wiser than we--
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:
And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee:
And so, all the night-tide, I lay down by the side
Of my darling--my darling--my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea--
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Which Female Action Hero Are You?

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:26:20 GMT

Which Female Action Hero Are You?

You are Princess Leia. You are down-to-earth and stick to a rigid sense of ethics. Nerds may lust over you, but everyone looks to you for your grounded logic and intellect.

I was hoping for wonderwoman because she has such a rad costume, but Leia will due LOL

Save Our Starbucks Petitions are Pointless!

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 00:27:37 GMT

I have recently come to the conclusion that I just don't have patience for many things & I find some things to be utterly pointless. The Save Our Starbucks petition is one of them.

...sorry in advance if I offend.

OK People, Starbucks is Just a Coffee Shop!

Owain is OK for now

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 00:24:29 GMT

Well his O2 levels are still low, but they did spend a bit more time in the lower 70s today at the hospital. They did an EKG and an Echo and everything looks good. His usual cardiologist is out this week & he saw another Dr, so I don't really have any answers. She told me that they would get back to me early next week when they decide when they are going to perform the catheter procedure. The have to go in through an artery and check his heart out. It is possible that they are going to be doing this in the next few weeks, but hopfully closer to the end of August. How his heart looks at that point will determine when he will have the Glenn procedure, which is the next open heart surgery. It could be as early as the day after they do the catheter procedure or a month so after that.

I kind of get the feeling that they are waiting until he gets to a certain size & weight before they schedule the next surgery. She didn't say so exactly, she just said that they are going to want him to be at least 6 kilos before they operate. He is around 5 1/2 maybe a bit less, I don't remember now.

So for now I don't have any answers, which is really frustrating, but it looks like this is the beginning of getting ready for his next surgery.

....and I KNOW I still have to get some more pictures posted for all of you! It's on my list for tomorrow, I promise, does that make you feel better lol :)

Taking Owain to UVA today

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 14:20:02 GMT

So if you didn't see yesterdays post, read that first and then come back up here to read this one.

His O2 sats are still low again this morning and his pediatric cardiologists want to see him this afternoon. They are in the 61 to 72 range, mostly in the mid 60s.

Emil & Eli are a 1/2 hour in the other direction at summer art camp & I need to pick them up & take all the boys wtih me.

There is something wrong with my cell phone & I have not been recieving my incoming calls. I know for a fact that I have missed about a 5-6 calls just this morning! Ntelos said to just bring it in & they will update my phone, but if I don't get to it this morning I might not get your calls if you try calling.

I will post here how things turn out tonight.

This is Soo not what I wanted to post about Owain, but

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 00:55:26 GMT

I have been hoping to get some more pictures of Owain posted here, but the day keeps getting away from me. He is getting bigger, smiling, babbling. He is a happy little guy & he loves to laugh & has finally become ticklish...I love to tickle my little beastie boys! Everything healed well, and he doesn't seem like he is in any pain when I grab him under his arms. He is strong & can hold up his head and look around, he even follows me with his eyes as I walk across the room.

He was doing really well for a while, but now I am starting to get nervous.

When Owain came home his oxygen levels were in the low 80s to high 70s. For the past few weeks they bounce from the low 70s to the low 80s & occationally drop into the 60s. Normal blood oxygen is 97-100%. When he was cyanotic & sent to UVA he was at 42%.

The last time he had a peds cardiology appointment I asked, what are the numbers to watch out for when things start to look bad. They say when he is consistantly in the 60s. For the past 3 days he has been in the 62-70% range.

They also said that if it happens too soon before he is old enough they will have to do an extra open heart surgery to put in a bigger shunt & then still do the next procedure in Sept or Oct.

I sent his oxygen levels to his patient care coordinator & I am just waiting to see what she says. I am starting to get really scared.

I always have a candle lit for him, if you get a minute please light one so that his O2 levels go back up.

A few things I learned when Owain was in the NICU

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:58:34 GMT

Just thought I would share. And I know you all are waiting for an Owain update...I have to pull some pictures off my camera & get them edited & will be sharing soon!

How to Adjust when Your Newborn Ends Up in the NICU

OK, so I am a big know it all

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:22:57 GMT

Looking back at this article I feel like I sound like a big know it all with an attitude. It just seems so simple to me I just can't figure out why some people don't get it. I thought about writing a bunch of different articles, how to save on electric bill, how to save on gas bill, how to save on water bill, but instead I figured I would throw it all into one big up on my soap-box article.

How to Save Money on Your All of Your Utility Bills

ƃuıʇsǝɹǝʇuı

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 20:48:15 GMT

Sometimes I come across the strangest things.

˙ǝʇsɐʍ oʇ ǝɯıʇ ǝʌɐɥ oʇ uǝddɐɥ noʎ ɟı 'ǝɯıʇ ǝʇsɐʍ oʇ ʎɐʍ ʇɐǝɹƃ ɐ puɐ 'looɔ ʎʇʇǝɹd sı sıɥʇ

Information that you hope you will never need

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:37:20 GMT

I figured that since every one is talking about this I might as well write about it.

How to File an Insurance Claim with the FDIC

I hope no one every needs this information!

Its so hot down here I gotta start drinking Iced Coffee!

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 20:44:15 GMT

Ok, so I am waaay to tired these days for just a cup of iced chai, so I had to step up to coffee. I can't just do plain old coffee, I have to make one of those fancy iced lattes. I am really starting to get hooked on these too, Soooo yummooo!

How to Make the Perfect Iced Coffee at Home

This one is published on eHow.com and on Associated Content, I think the link here is for AC.

Enjoy!

Money comes easily and frequently...

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 14:39:05 GMT

I have this posted above my computer in my studio & look at it several times a day. Its a mantra we use on Etsy in the Earthpath Artisans Street Team to start out the daily thread. At this point I don't remember who started it, but it followes me around were ever I go :)

Chanting:

                     Money comes easily and frequently,
                     Prosperity is abundant and harms none.

                     Money comes easily and frequently,
                     Prosperity is abundant and harms none.

                     Money comes easily and frequently,
                     Prosperity is abundant and harms none.

Latest article published on eHow.com

Sun, 06 Jul 2008 21:44:20 GMT

This recipe is so yummy! There are all sorts of ways to modify it so that it just right for you!

How to To Make a Nutritious High Calorie Shake for your Skinny Child

Ragged Old Flag by Johnny Cash

Fri, 04 Jul 2008 18:08:37 GMT

We heard this on the radio this morning & Milio found it to show the kids.

Happy 4th of July!