ERGO GIVEAWAY

Check out Raising Olives for an opportunity to win a free ERGO baby carrier.

Details and a Contest

I am officially counting down the hours until Friday. We have to be at the hospital at 6 a.m. for my induction. First off will be i.v. antibiotics as I tested positive for GBS, so I'm not quite sure how long I'll be on that before they'll start the induction. They want me to have four hours of it before the actual birth and my last labor was only 2 hours, so it'll be interesting to see how they want to time it all.

I went to my regular doc on Monday and I'm 1 cm dilated. I'm hoping to be farther along come Friday, since I'm no longer on modified bed rest and am back to my regular routine. Which means I'm still not doing much since I'm sooo tired all the time. And the contractions are getting more intense.

Anyway, we will appreciate all prayers on Friday. After Caleb is born, they will test his hemoglobin and bilirubin levels via the cord blood, to determine whether he needs a transfusion and whether he'll need time under the bili lights, which is common for antibody babies. I'm praying to have as much contact with him as possible and to be able to get breastfeeding off to a good start. We are planning at this point to bring the laptop to the hospital (and a camera, of course), so we can alert people to his arrival as soon as possible.

AND NOW FOR THE CONTEST PART:

Guess Caleb's birth weight!

You have until we post/email info. about his arrival to guess what he weighs. Please pay attention to what those have guessed ahead of you as I will take the first correct (or closest) answer.

What do you win?

If you know me at all, this is easy to figure out! Homemade dishcloths. Whatever number in his birth weight is biggest (lbs or oz), that's how many I'll send you. So if he weighs 8.6 you get 8 dishcloths or if he weighs 9.12, then you get 12 dishcloths. And to help you in the guessing, here's a little info about my other babies birth weights:

Ethan: 8lbs,4oz. born at 39 weeks and 4 days

Elijah: 9lbs, 3 oz. born at 39 weeks and 3 days

Felicity: 9lbs, 15 oz. born at 41 weeks and 1 day

I'll be 39 weeks gestation on Friday.


Blessings,

And the winners are.....

1. Julie at The Antics of the Three 22nds


2. Heidi at Work and Play, Day by Day


3. Rachael at The Adventures of My Two Peanuts


4. Molly at Ecclesia Domestica


5. Bethany at Now and Not Yet

You're probably wondering if I can count. Yes, I realize there were only 13 comments, but when Ethan picked the first two winners and they were both people I know in real life, Paul declared the contest rigged! So Ethan picked another (since he did all the work of writing the #s out on paper and finding a hat) and then Elijah picked the 4th winner and Paul picked the 5th, to make it "official." Paul really wanted me to send everyone a dishrag for participating. Don't worry - I'm sure I'll have another contest involving dishrags in the future, since they're the only thing I have to give away!

Thanks for playing! I enjoyed reading your comments and laughed at many of them as well as meeting you lurkers and checking out your blogs. Those of you that won need to send me an email with your address at rschwendinger at hotmail dot com. Also, I can pick colors for you based on a kitchen theme/color, or if you request in the email, I'll send you a list of the colors I have. Most of them are multi-colored and yes, I did make them. It's one of the very few crafty things I can do. My grandmother taught me a couple of years ago and now I'm addicted.

The snow is flying again here in MN - unbelievable! Oh, and don't forget to set your clocks back tonight. If you're like me, with children who do not sleep in, you're dreading the consequence of daylight savings. I guess we won't have any excuse tomorrow if we're late for Sunday School.


Blessings,

It's My Party!

Well, I guess the party's over since the cake is gone, but yep, it's my birthday! If you're near my age or older you understand the feeling that birthdays aren't that great anymore. It's pretty much another day. Hopefully one that won't include finding any white hairs on my head - ha!

I tried to get Elijah to agree to a whine-free day for my birthday, but we're still in negotiations. He did sleep until 7 am which was a nice way to start the day considering that I also slept until 7.

And then there was this beautiful pink sunrise right outside my window.

It's hard to believe that this is already my second birthday without my girl. Last year's birthday was spent in an emotional fog. After taking a picture of the sunrise, I found a note/clue on my cell phone from Paul, leading me on a short treasure hunt for some hidden chocolate.

The real reason I'm posting today is to tell you about a GIVEAWAY. I'd like to meet all of you who are reading this. I have a feeling there is many lurkers on this blog who have not commented. Since I added a sitemeter, I'm amazed at where some of you live. I even had a reader from Prince Edward Island - home to one of my favorite authors and favorite fictional heroines. (Lucy Maud Montgomery who also had a stillborn child, a son, and Anne Shirley)

So here's how this works. In order to be entered into this random giveaway, you need to comment. Tell me who you are, where you're from, and why you read this blog. This is obviously open to those of you I have already met as well, just leave a comment. If I have fewer than twenty comments, there will be three winners. If there's twenty or more, I will pick 5 winners. (Winners will be chosen based on the order of their comment by a random drawing from a hat - my boys will love helping with this part!)

And what do you win?

Four of these homemade dishrags - colors to be chosen by you!

Oh, and here's the kind of weather we've had lately in MN. If it's not raining, it's snowing. We've had three days of snow so far this month which is pretty unusual, even for MN. Yesterday was the nicest day we've had almost all month, with sun shining and temps in the low 50s.

Looking forward to meeting you all! Oh, and this contest runs until Friday, since I don't think I'll be blogging again before that.

Blessings,

Elijah and a Winner!

I can't believe I'm giving top billing to the person who woke me up at 5:45 am today. He's just so cute, I can't help myself. Elijah is not quite 2.5 and he is constantly making us laugh or grin uncontrollably at his 2 year old-isms. Two is the age where they become quite verbal and will say whatever comes to mind. I thought it'd be fun to share some of the things that have come out of his mouth lately.

During school time, Ethan and I have been trying to pray for persecuted believers in other parts of the world. Yesterday Elijah was playing nearby when I told Ethan we were going to pray for Algeria. Elijah turned to look at me and said, "Ohhh, is Aldearya dick (sick)?"

One day last week, Elijah walked into the living room and announced out of the blue, "I not frustated."

We are still in the throws of potty training and Elijah does not like to stop what he's doing to go to the bathroom. Once I get him into the bathroom, he offers all kinds of reasons why he doesn't need to go:

"I doe potty at Gamma's yeterday." (translation: I go potty at Gramma's yesterday.)

"I doo dired." (translation: I too tired.)

"I doking." (translation: I choking. He also uses this one when he's supposed to be eating.)

"I need peep." (translation: I need sleep.)

While eating the other day, Elijah looked at me and said something. "Mama, do da ding of deese." I didn't understand him even after he repeated himself. So I turned to our resident interpreter (aka Ethan) who informed me that Elijah said, "Mama, you're the king of cheese." (I guess they've watched "Flywheel" one too many times.)

As for my kitchen contest, I have to say I was a little disappointed with the overall lack of humor. Who knew so many of you cut onions all day and actually knew what this kitchen gadget was. I applaud those of you who tried to use some humor. While I don't have a poodle to comb with this object, I hope I never have to use it to pick lice out of my children's hair. Using it as a meat tenderizer is not a bad idea. And as for my husband . . . he thought it was used to separate spaghetti noodles after cooking. He actually looked perplexed when I told him that wasn't the real usage.

So the winner is. . . . Jennifer! She had both the lice extractor and meat tenderizer ideas. Congrats Jennifer! Please email me (or call me) and let me know your address and what colors you'd like for the washcloths.

What a Crock!

It's my 75th post and I'm not writing about grief or sadness or even my family for that matter. Rather this post is a tribute to my kitchen crock! Odd. . . yes, but it is what it is, so go along with me here. Below is a picture of my crock, and what a crock it is. You see, when Paul and I got married I had a small crock, big enough to hold a couple of spatulas, a small ladle, and maybe a few wooden spoons. I quickly realized that this crock would not suffice if I was going to cook in my galley style kitchen that had only TWO small drawers. I needed big. . . so off I went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond (with a 20% off coupon, mind you) and purchased this beauty. Just so you know, it was the biggest they had. (I haven't checked to see if there is now a bigger size crock, for I fear that if there is, I will get a bad case of crock-envy. Ignorance is bliss in my world.)

I like to cook and I find much satisfaction in finding the cooking implement I need just an arm's reach away, and as you can see I've stuffed my crock full. I still have that pesky drawer full of kitchen tools that I sometimes use or never use, but fear I may need someday if I get rid of them. Here is a picture of an item I use almost everyday from that drawer. It's a piece of that anti-slide stuff you can buy at Wal-mart cut into a circle. I use it to open jars (works every time) and I put it under bowls and pans when I'm mixing something so that the bowl doesn't slide around on the counter. Now, get this, Ethan gave it to me. He found it when he was geo-caching with his dad. When you find a cache, you're supposed to take an item and leave something else. Well, MY SON took this for me, knowing I'd like it. While I can't even begin to imagine why it was put in a geo-cache, I'm happy it's now mine (after thoroughly sanitizing it, of course). It's since been stained, burned, and torn, but it's a keeper.

Anyway, I don't know about you out there in bloggyland, but the kitchen is my favorite room in our house. It is the kitchen of my dreams! After having a galley style kitchen in a small apartment for the first part of our marriage, I felt like I was given the moon when we purchased this house. So, in honor of my 75th post, I'm having a "kitchen contest"

Please leave me a comment and tell me what you think this kitchen gadget is used for (humor is so going to help you win!) I can't remember the last time I used it and because of the sharp points on the end, it sits in the back of my drawer. When we installed our new cabinet knobs and pulls, I found it and it took me awhile to remember what it was for.

I haven't decided when this contest will end. Probably after I write my next post so I'm sure you'll have at least a few days. The lucky winner will get this gem. . .

Okay, I know it appears to be used and not the greatest prize in the world, but I had to stick with the whole kitchen theme thing (and crocks are not easy to mail). This can opener is the BEST and I have two. The reason I have two is because I gave one to my mom for a gift and she gave it back! (Even though she reads my blog, I'm not afraid to say she's in a can-opener rut!)This can opener cuts off the top of the can without leaving a sharp edge on which I'm sure you've cut yourself or ruined a perfectly nice rubber spatula on.

To increase the competition I'll throw in three hand knit dishcloths. You can even pick the colors! (This is about as crafty as I get!) Gals, I'm sure you've got husbands out there that can come up with a humorous use for this mysterious kitchen gadget as well. In fact, I think I'd rather hear what they think it's for. Come to think of it, I'm wondering what my engineer husband would come up with.

It's a Contest - but not mine!

Check out the blog Keeper of the Home for a contest to win a stainless steel storage item of your choice courtesy of The Tickle Trunk. Good way to start replacing some of the plastic in your kitchen that may be potential harmful.

Check out the rest of the blog too as she's got some great information to give!