A Visit to the Pumpkin Patch

I love all things fall! I always have! I love crispy crunchy leaves, pumpkins, boots, flannel, fires, sweatshirt and jeans weather, harvest, etc!  Yesterday we went to a pumpkin patch with some friends (we actually went with friends, and family, and friends of ours work there). It was the perfect fall day!

Giant pumpkin ^^^

Face painting fun!

Friends (and yes that cute baby is dressed like a pumpkin;can't wait to see her ensemble for Christmas tree season)

Our little family! I think I need to buy done flannel to fit in!

Bug Off!

We are going camping this weekend. Yes, we are taking our not quite 4 week old camping. If you never see a post from me again, assume we didn't survive!

As I was making my packing list this morning, I got a little new-mom-paranoid about having an infant around Mosquitos. And then I remembered that a long time ago I had purchased citronella and lemongrass essential oils in order to make some outdoor candles. And I remembered seeing a pin for "natural baby-safe bug spray" on Pinterest. So I looked up the recipe.

Most recipes call for a variety of essential oils but they pretty much all agree on 3 things: witch hazel, citronella, and lemon grass. 

My thought process went a little something like this: Bummer! The only witch hazel I had was in the form of tucks pads; guess I won't make my bug spray for Levi! I don't have an empty squirt bottle anyway! But wait! What about bug repellent wipes? That's a thing right?

And so the invention of baby safe bug repellent wipes was created! I'm sure someone else has already thought of doing this, but I'm still pretty proud of my ingenuity.

So here is what I did:

Baby Safe Natural Bug Repellent Wipes

Tucks Pads (however many you'd like)

Citronella oil

Lemongrass oil

Now this is all you need, but you can add other oils if you'd like.  I happened to have lavendar (which is supposed to repel flies) and tea tree oil (which is super stinky but supposed to repel ticks), so I added them in as well! 

The recipe I read said 10-25 drops essential oil to 2 tbsp witch hazel. Since I was using witch hazel pads I really just eyeballed it and kept adding until the pads looked saturated. Since I only had a few pads left I just mixed them in their container and stored them there, but you can always pull out a more controlled amount and store them in a separate container.

So now I just have to test them out this weekend! 

The Camera Debacle and Newborn Photos

So for about two days I really wanted a nice camera. I asked around and did some research on dslr's. It felt like the mom thing to do.

And then we had our baby, and my mother-in-law was so sweet as To let us take her canon rebel with us to the hospital, and guess what. I think I took one photo the entire time. And in pretty sure I only took it because I felt bad that we'd borrowed it and not taken any photos.

So I changed my mind. I've always been horrible about taking pictures. The only reason I'm any good at it now is because it's on my phone and it's convenient!  My mother in law is great at capturing family moments and loves doing it.  My little sister has a nice Nikon and is an impressively self-taught amateur of photography (although graphics is her main thing; you can check her out here).  She has generously taken maternity and newborn/family pictures for us and she does an awesome job, and it's a lot of fun and low stress because she's my sister. 

So getting a nice camera may be a new parent rite of passage, but it's one I'm passing on at least for now.

Here are some pictures taken by my talented little sister:

Nameless Update (because sometime you just can't think of a title)

Sometimes writing about life comes easily, but sometimes life feels like such a whirlwind that writing about it feels, well, a little overwhelming and confusing. That's kind of how life has felt recently, like a whirlwind.

We've had lots going on for starters- lots of tangible life events stacked one right after the other- birth classes, cookouts, my sister's graduation and moving her to a new state for a new job, high school graduation, visits from out of state siblings, baby showers-for me and for others, Mother's Day, and etc. And then there has just been a lot to physically done- at home, for the baby, with my husband and our families, for other people who are having babies, at work in prep for maternity leave, at Ryan's work because for some reason his work decided to be really busy right now, and etc. 

And then finally, my head just sometimes feels like a scary, messy, tornado of a place. Sure some of it can certainly be blamed on pregnancy and hormones but I think my thoughts tend toward the messy anyway- maybe that's why I feel so much need for organization in other areas of my life!  It's like all of the practical thoughts start swirling with all of the emotional thoughts and sometimes the result is that I don't even know how I feel or how I should feel or how I should want to feel. Does anyone else ever feel like that or am I on an island of crazy?  It's like my own thoughts start to overwhelm me and I feel like I am in agisnt game of tug of war that's taking place in the middle of a tornado, AND I'm the rope! One minute I feel steady and stable and equipped and excited about life and changes and friendships that God has given me and the next I feel utterly overwhelmed and anxious and weird about relationships like I'm failing or disappointing people and I just feel sad (sometimes I'm not even sure why). I know that much of this is because my hormones are throwing a crazy, all-out rave in my head and my emotions are taking the brunt of the abuse, but I'm learning too how much I still wrongly need the approval of others in my life. I thought if worked through a lot of thst, and (by Gods grace) I have, but it's still there-that striving to be enough, to measure up. It leads to a lot of pointless striving in my life and then usually to a lot of bitterness. Bitterness that people would expect so much of me and be disappointed with me even when I've done my best (and yes I realize that most of the time I perceive these expectations and disappointed and that they don't actually exist).

So anyway, that's how life has been- good, exciting, fun, encouraging, emotional, confusing, overwhelming, and hormonal. Haha! For all of you moms and expecting moms out there feel free to chime in and tell me I'm normal:)

I guess I will end this post with a few pictures (maternity pictures taken by my little sister Lyndi):

34 weeks

A little glimpse of baby's room behind me

36 Weeks

So Long Second Trimester

We are in the final stretch! Only one trimester to go! I can hardly even believe how fast it has flown by! I am getting bigger and starting to feel the discomfort a little more but still really enjoying being pregnant and feeling little man kick. Here are a few pictures to catch you up:

28 Weeks

27 Weeks and another new fireplace

26 Weeks and a new fire place 

25 Weeks

21, 22, 23, 24 Weeks

17, 19, 20 Weeks