You Are Beautiful

Every day I tell my girls they are beautiful, that I believe in them and that they can do anything they set their mind to. Every day I try and bring their self confidence up, to help them see themselves as the amazing people they are. It is so hard though, to teach self confidence, when you have such a small amount for yourself.

It is like trying to teach someone how to make cheese sauce when you have only seen the prep work done and never made it yourself. A rather difficult challenge for sure. How are you supposed to accomplish such a crazy feat?

By telling them exactly what you wish someone had said to you growing up and telling YOURSELF you are beautiful.

Say it when people aren't looking, say it when they are. Make yourself believe it.

A Failure

I am going to admit something, something that has been plaguing me since I had children. I feel like a failure.

A complete and utter failure.

I love my children with all my heart and soul but I feel like I can never do anything right with them. I did all the research before they were born, decided to breastfeed, cloth diaper and co-sleep. Yet I do one thing so often and I want to stop but I just can't: I yell.

This yelling has been happening for a while now and it seems I am stuck in a yelling rut that I just can't get out of. I see how it hurts my girls, I have seen how they are both starting to just yell at me instead of properly communicating. The yelling stresses me out, which in turn makes me yell even more. And then I end up getting to the point where all I want to do is have some time away from my girls. AND THEN I feel even worse because moms aren't supposed to feel that way. Moms are supposed to be perfect, never get frazzled.

I try and do my best but I still feel like Im failing. Im failing my girls, and I fear that when they are older and they look back on their childhood they only remember the yelling, and the stress. Will they remember the good times? Will they know how much I love them and that Im doing the best I can?

What will they remember?...

Style

I have been searching for a style to call my own. Growing up I always wore what was on sale, as tends to happen when you have 5 siblings, or hand-me-downs from my mom. It has been hard to figure out who I am in clothes form.

The style I love the most and am just starting to get into and own is the updated vintage style dresses. Much like the outfits Amy Adams wore in The Muppets. It is now just a matter of finding something that looks good on me.

With breastfeeding my boobs have become gigantic and it seems most clothing doesn't want to fit both my body and my boobs. I am a M in body and XL in boobs size...all dresses look so goofy.

For my birthday I purchased myself a few of these vintage style dresses, one is a mint green, the other a beige. Both fall just above the knee, do up quite a bit up the chest and have "collars" like on dress shirts, and are quite flowy. I love them but wish I had been able to fit my chest into a smaller dress, and even in a large (the biggest available) the buttons on my chest are ready to burst!

But Im happy I can look relatively cute this summer!

Spring!

I absolutely love spring and fall. I'm not sure if it's because of the perfect temperature, the amazing colours or the smell in the air but I can't help but smile at this time of the year.

To bring a little bit of the outside in I have been slowly collecting indoor plants (whether bought at the store or cuttings I'm getting to root). I have planted some sunflowers and can't wait for them to bloom out on our deck. But as of right now they are bathing in sunlight in my kitchen as tiny little sprouts. The weather has been nasty lately and I fear they won't survive a hailing, freezing night outside quite yet.

Another good thing about spring is my birthday, which was only yesterday! I am officially 24 now and loving my life and family. It's great to be young and have such an amazing little family.

The Big Move

Sorry it has taken so long for me to come back and update everyone on our lives. I was at first addicted to those books and then right after that we had our move. We've moved out of the valley of our town to a HUGE (compared to our 2 bed apartment) 3 bed 2 bath townhouse. The kids love it, I love it and even the Cat loves it.



The view from our bedroom window

Cinnamon has almost started walking! I know, I know, just a mere month ago she was learning how to crawl and I was worried about her getting into all kinds of trouble which by the way she TOTALLY has! It's kind of crazy to think of how this is my last baby and these are last firsts of this kind I will be able to experience as a mother.

Pippi has really started to truly like her sister I think. For a long time it was all about the jealousy and how Cinnamon was always getting all of my attention. For her to finally be able to play and enjoy her sister is something that I am so happy to be able to experience...even if she takes it too far and starts to pull an "Uncle" on her sister (an "Uncle" is when she decides UFC is the best way to go about doing things). Earlier today I turned around to watch her body slamming Cinnamon into the kitchen floor...she got a good long time out for that one.

The weather has been amazing here these last few days and we have been frequenting the park, which is just down the street from us actually! Here is a cute shot of Cinnamon just a few days ago.


June is right around the corner and I am almost ready to start school for my LPN certificate. I can't wait to get back into the school atmosphere. I have always loved learning, and had decided that if I had enough money I would probably take a course or two constantly just to expand my knowledge. I know that will always be a dream of mine that I will never be able to fulfill, but that's okay, I just hope that I can pass on my love of learning to my children.

Sucked In

Its been a while since I posted but I have become addicted to a new book series. I am currently on book 4 of the Merry Gentry series by Laurell K. Hamilton. These books are not for the young! There are 8 books in the series and Im hoping that once I have finished them I can finally get back to everyone.

I still have to finish up those bunnies and I have a few more projects (blackout curtains, kitchen herb garden, and a patio container vegetable garden) planned for the coming months. Details will be included as projects get finished.

Now back to my books...

Growing Too Fast

Over the last few weeks I have been working towards Cinnamon sleeping in her crib in her sisters room. We have slept with her in our bed from the day she was born and we now need our bed back for a proper sleep and for...other....reasons. We have been teaching self soothing to go along with this in the hopes she could put herself to sleep in the middle of the night when she wakes. We haven't left her to just cry, I have always been by her side through this.

I truly didn't expect her to catch on so quickly. With Pippi this sleep "training" took months. Cinnamon for the first time fell asleep last night with no fuss...no nursing, only some singing and rocking. I laid her down while she was wide awake and she rolled over and fell asleep.

I know this is what we were working towards, but it feels so bittersweet. Like a chapter in our lives has ended and I know I will miss the late night cuddles with her slowly falling asleep in my arms.

It's hard seeing my last baby grow up and away from me. Not needing me for something she so desperately needed me for before...

Cinnamon at 3 weeks old napping on me

If Zombies Attack...

The Man and I are very avid Scifi fans, we watch Star Trek (all series and movies), Stargate (both series and all movies), The Walking Dead, Lost, Heroes, The Big Bang Theory and A LOT more that would take me far too long to type out, maybe one day I will make a list of my all time favorite movies and tv shows...I really mean a lot, like it's pretty much ALL we watch. We have had plenty of conversations about what we would do if the zombie apocalypse ever happened, and to tell the truth I'm a little worried about Pippi and Cinnamon in regards to this, NOT because of their age, but because of something completely adorable that they love and could be the death zombie turning point for them.

They absolutely LOVE it when we chew on them, of course we aren't hardcore digging our teeth in, more like gumming them in a ticklish sort of way. I can just picture them in a zombie apocalypse laughing uncontrollably as everyone gets chewed on around them and they stand and wait their turn! Let's just hope by the time zombies have come my girls are past the "OH please chew on me!" stage.

Speaking of zombies inheriting the Earth, the Man has already I'm hoping jokingly! expressed his desire to abandon us to fend for himself if and when it happens. I've sure picked a man in shining armor hey? LOL

I can picture myself as the Governor (The Walking Dead series) with a heart of steel and my zombie children locked in a secret room where I can go secretly visit them, surrounded by the countless zombies I've killed and collected their heads in fishtanks. I'm hoping of course that my eye doesn't get stabbed by zombie juice covered glass, but since I've fallen so far into the Governors role, hell why not, poke my eye out too!

Oh the life of Scifi geek and all the things that role through my mind on a daily basis.

You Gotta Do What You Gotta Doodoo...

Now before I get into this post I will say now there may be a couple parts of TMI so you have officially been warned!

It all started with an innocent enough bath, Pippi and Cinnamon were having a blast splashing water at each other. After about 5 minutes nature calls my name, so I remove Cinnamon from the bath...no one wants to be caught fetching fallen babies with their pants around their ankles...and place her standing next to the tub so her and Pippi can continue to converse in their own baby language. I sit down and start doing my business.

 Now here is where the party starts! Cinnamon is giggling away and tumbles backwards, between my legs and hits her head on the floor. I grab her quickly put her in my lap, yes while I am STILL doing my business, and try and comfort her while checking her head to make sure all is well. Don't worry folks, she is fine! She won't calm down though and after a minute just continues to bellow. So I decide to whip out my boob and comfort her in the best way a nursing mama can!

So now I am doing my business, with a naked, wet, baby on my lap and my boob out...YUP definitely sanitary, go me!

Now is the fun part! I quickly finish my business and attempt to try and pull my pants back up with Cinnamon still nursing. Too fully understand the situation you have to fully picture this in your mind....

I'm standing there, with my pants around my ankles, half wet from being splashed by Pippi in the bath, naked, wet baby in one hand who is nursing contently, while I'm hopping around the bathroom attempting to pull up my TOO tight yoga pants around my wonderful child bearing hips... needless to say I'm happy the Man wasn't home or I wouldn't be living this down...

So mamas who find themselves in awkward situations because your kids need you, fear not, for you will probably never be in a situation as embarassing as mine!

Cinnamon is Crawling!

Our little Cinnamon!

It's official, our wonderful 8.5 month old Cinnamon is crawling! She has been on the brink of crawling for quite some time now, and has done a few wobbly crawls over the last few weeks. Very soon we are going to have to get down to her level and see what kind of hazards are waiting for her to chew on...yeah she chews...Now the next thing we have to watch for is her shuffling along the furniture. Oh they grow waaaaay too fast!

I've started a sewing project I will post once I've finished it, a little keepsake for the girls if they don't destroy them. I found it on a wonderful little blog called The Mary Frances Project. I've changed up their pattern a little bit, but kept the basics. I'm also using the girls old receiving blankets as the fabric. Pictures and my experience will be coming soon I promise. Everything is cut out I just need to sew it all together, once I get off my lazy tush and do it!

Intro

Well hello there! Welcome to 3 Gingers, 1 Man & A Cat. I would like to introduce you to us all and I think the best way to do so would be in a little story!

Once upon a time there was a Ginger and a Man.
They fell deeply in love and decided to start a family.
After 2 miscarriages and a lot of heart ache, Pippi (a ginger!) was born.
Now in comes the Cat (also a ginger!) and 2 more miscarriages.
Next was the walk down the aisle with family and friends watching!
And low and behold 2 weeks later Cinnamon (another ginger!) was concieved.

Now with 3 Gingers, 1 Man and A Cat in tow we can hear the rest of the story in blog form.

This blog isn't just about our lives, it is also about my musings, the world and all that encompasses it. I hope you all enjoy what we have to say here and maybe this Ginger will be able to get the Man on here one day!