My parents left for a 10 day “vaccation” today. They are going to my stepfathers home town to pack up the ancestrial home. Or home stead? hehe. But in any event it throws a huge wrench in my giving birth plans. Which require my parents nearby to watch Brennan and Conner. As there is NO ONE else i can trust to watch my kids.
But seeing ive gone 9-11 days overdue with both my other boys, i figure this one will go overdue as well. Only problem with that, is then my husband will be out of town for work. What a stressful complication this all is. Everything wants to happen right around my due date!
I guess im just going to have to deal with the idea that im not going to have my husband there when i give birth. If i go into labor now while my mom is gone, he has to watch the kids. If i go into labor when shes back, he will be gone for work.
sounds like fun huh….
Ahhh the stress. which will keep me from going into labor.
i am so ready to have this baby.

Oh Grrr

After several hours and a dr visit. We determined i wasnt really in labor. My contractions were too random, which i figured. Im dissapointed yes, but it gives me a bit of time to get my ducks in a row. Kinda a wake up call. Hello Lina, you are going to have a baby pretty soon, get things together!
So i did lots of laundry today, got the kids room cleaned, and am getting baby things put away, i still had a few strewn about. All thats left is buying some disposable diapers ( i generally use cloth, but like sposies for the first few days) and getting him a new carseat.
When i spoke to my doctor yesterday, he told me to make sure i was ready for the hospital…which i wasnt, so i hastily tossed some clothes in my smallest luggage bag, grabbed my spare deodarant and toothbrush and an outfit for the baby. Made sure all my camera gear was in the bag, then left it all on the couch hehe. So now that im thinking clearly. I need to properly get that ready hehe. Seeing i could always fit into 2 different pair of jeans this pregnancy, put one of those in there, and get an actual outfit or two together for baby. Make sure i actually have socks in there, because i dont think i grabbed any yesterday hehe.

Oh and in other interesting news, I was showing off my hand knit bootie and hat sets ive been making for my baby to some ladies in my August 09 group. And Three different ladies have commissioned hand knit hat and bootie sets. Its pretty neat, it dosent take me much time to make them and if i can get paid for something i enjoy doing, then thats cool too. So now i have 2 more hat and bootie sets to make, But i need pink yarn. And white as conner just chopped up my white yarn, at least 5 different places in the white yarn he cut strands… ugh. Its still useable, but i need more. I have 10 dollers, i sure hope its enough to get 3 skeins of yarn, this stuff can get expensive, and Tony went to work, without giving me money. :/
Who knows, he might be home before i go to the store. Or i can grab out of my quarter stash too. I dont spend my quarters, and 2 years worth is a huge pile in my room hehe.
I dont know. Im excited though. You dont think $15 dollers is too much for a hat and bootie set do you? Thats not much more then the cost of yarn and shipping.
Anyway, i need to get back to cleaning, i got the music going and later ive got Coraline for the boys to watch, i hear its good.
Ok im out. Have a wonderful day!

Maybe Baby

Hello all, just a quick blog update to say, i might be in labor. Woke up after a really uncomfortable night, with some bloody show, and in the 2.5 hours since, ive been having some minor contractions, which while random, seem to be getting a bit stronger.
So MAYBE baby. im 37 weeks, almost, so just about term, which is good. Im hopeful, as my other two went 2 weeks overdue. So a few weeks early is nice.
Keep your fingers crossed for me!

IM an insperation??

The ladies in my due date club were talking about natural vs medicated child birth and i was telling them my expierences. Brennans somewhat medicated and not so pleasent childbirth with minor complications. versus Conners fully natural childbirth without complications and much faster healing times.

Im honest about everything, my thoughts, my feelings, and why i would choose natural again.

After several posts back and forth, several ladies told me what an insperation i was to them, and that it made them not only think twice about ” just getting an epidural” but about how labor and delivery should be. Two even said that they were going to choose not to get pain medication.

I dont know the outcome of my own upcoming labor and delivery, much less theirs, but it was really nice hearing that something ive been through can inspire woman to trust their bodies and themselves in labor and delivery.
Because no one shouldent be able to remember the birth of their first child, except the complications. And it shouldent be a foggy memory. It should be a happy time.

So i hope they get the childbirth they want and hope for. I just hope that everything goes well for them, and me. Because the fear of a c section does always loom over me.

Ever hopeful though. Ever hopeful.

Growing Green Things

Ive been working on growing some green things this year!

Ok, i have tomatoes in my back yard. I have 3 in normal pots, inside a milky plastic tent to see if that helps them grow bigger. VS one in a Topsy Turvy .

I have to say, the one in the topsy turby is curling, but the stem is so THICK, like the size of my thumb! The ones in the pots are quite large and thick stemmed too. AND we have flowers! Which is good news! they are going to make maters here soon! Our growing season is alot shorter then the states, we cant plant outside untill late may. So hitting july and them being a couple feet tall with flowers is great. Ive been taking care of the plants of the lady across the street ( shes on vaccation) and her tomatoes get FULL sun, from about noon untill the sun sets! And hers arent any bigger, but they do have more blooms. But all in all, im happy with mine! I dont like tomatoes, but Tony does, and i just really enjoy growing things. Organics are good.

I also have lots of flowers out front. A pot of petunias, a pot of lobilia, 2 pots of violas, 2 pots of wildflowers, 2 pots of pickable kid flowers ( like bachlor buttons, asters ect) , and 2 pots of chives.

My pretty flowers.

The lobilia. This pot was made about 40 years ago by the old man who used to own my moms house. For years before he sold it to her, she took care of him. Took him to all his dr appointments, to the stores, did his landscaping….

Tony bought this for me after Mothers Day. I picked it out. But he paid for it.

Haphazardly tossed out front because i fertalized them last night.

my 2 pots of violas, the third wooden pot ( again, made by the old man) has cosmos and a viola in it.

My wildflowers.

My chives, and the farthest pot has asters and bachlor buttons in it.

Most of my flowers havent bloomed yet. They started from seeds, so they are growing in later. Next year im going to plant them earlier and keep them in the garage or in the window upstairs so that they can grow earlier and maybe get bigger.  But not too shabby for my first year gardening. Im hoping to stay in this condo another year. We always move in a year, but i like this place, despite it being close to the road. I like it here.

We are building a swing set out back for the boys later this week or weekend too. Really feels like home here. The only downside, ( other then a busy road next to me) is that we have our roomates couch in the livingroom, which annoys the crap out of me. Our living room is kinda narrow with two couches.

Anyway, i need toget over to my moms and take photos of her garens, flowers and organics. Its insane over there and looks amazing!

Anyway theres my growing green update. Next year i think im going to plant strawberries in a topsy turvy. Ive seen it done for years. But i would love to hang some up out back for the kids!

Later

Its getting HOT HOT HOT

WOW! We are in the middle of a huge heat wave it seems.
I know alot of places in the lower 48 might not consider upper 70s and mid 80s in the shade to be really hot. But here, in Alaska, where it really is COOL most of the time. Its really HOT. A themometer in the sun shows temps above 110 degrees!
Well as you can imagine, we dont have AC here. Whats the point? In the winter its regularly 10-20 below zero and can hit as low as negative 40. And winter lasts alot longer then our three months of summer. It just so happens that July really is the hottest month of the year for us, and poor me, im pregnant through it.

So ideas for cooling down lol.
I have fans, which i move from room to room with me. Oscalating fans are good, celing fans are better. But i also have window unit fans and a stationary fan which just hangs out, well it goes in the kids room especially at night.
2. unplug and/or turn off all appliances. Even off, appliances generate some heat. And when its allready 80 outside ( in the shade) and getting hotter inside, every little bit counts)
3. Dont cook inside, take hot showers, or wash laundry. All three activites generate heat and humidity which can raise the temp in the house. My exception would be my morning shower and if i get super sweaty ill take a quick shower. I also water my plants almost daily, which does put humidity in the air but it cant be helped. Also in the heat, our fishtank evaporates faster. more humidity. Try to avoid humidity creating activities.
4. Shade the windows where the sun comes in. The sun hits our house on the backside, and wouldent you know it, those rooms, our bedrooms, are cooler then the rest of the house. We put double sided fleece blankets over the windows in the summer to block out the insane amount of light we get. But it also works to block some heat too. Even though those windows are open, it helps.

And when all else fails, a cool washcloth on the back of your neck feels really good!
Hope your summer isnt as hot as mine!

Life

Life it seems, is just taking its toll on me. Im almost 35 weeks pregnant now. ( FYI, 36 weeks is 9 months, is full term, so yeah im close and TIRED) Im struggling just to kepe up with my daily house chores. I have a nice cleaning schedual which lets me clean up the whole house, and actually clean one room a day. Which i spread out and take a good portion of the day to do so, but only in 5 or 10 minute spurts lol. So that i dont get too tired.
This weekend was very busy for us! I had fireworks friday evening. A parade, picnic and playdate on saturday, a birthday on sunday. On top of everything else lol. Im really tired. It might not seem like alot to some people, but for a person who lives a very calm life, its alot to do.

But life goes on right? Today im washing baby clothes. Everything was Conners. and im not liking that actually. When i pick up every outit and can remember when Conner wore it, i feel like im cheating baby3. Sooo i decided im going to get rid of about half of it, and buy some new clothes for him, be they used or what. I think every baby deserves some stuff that his brothers didnt wear too lol.
Ugh, Tony gets paid tonight and we need to go to the city so he can get some new workboots. They dont have ANYTHING out here that would fit his big and wide feet that arent steel toe. Im so tired right now im just not feeling it. Good thing its only 11 in the morning! I have 5 hours to wake up, or take a nap lol. which ever works. My stepfather is in town and my kids are with him and my mom. Those kids love their grandparents. And my parents are so involved. Gosh im so thankful for that…
Lord im rambling arent I? Lol.
Ok im going to go! But first, here is Brennan with Matti, his friend from school. Isnt she adorable! Brennan cant wait to play with her again.

Firework Photography

I touched breifly on firework photography before. NOW i have some new photos to share with you all that can help illistrate how to take good firework photos.

First off, all my images are taken with my Canon Rebel XTI, usnig a 50 mm prime lens. my exposure time was usually 3-6 seconds per image.  I could have slowed it down quite a bit more. I also need a wider angled lens so i can capture more of the images.

Other equiptment i used, which made this work much easier. a tripod, and a shutter cable.

For this first shot, i tried out my Apeture mode. I set the Apeture to 14 and took the photo. It took too long and my image was very washed out. I figured that shutter mode was much better. I set my shutter speed to 3 seconds and eventually slowed it down to 6 seconds. The fireworks show was rather short, or i would have made the speed even slower.

The hardest part of taking decent firework photos in Alaska, is that even at 11 pm when the firework show was on, it was still very light out, My images are digitally darkened in Adobe Lightroom, when i processed my RAW files.

Key points to remember about firework photography.

Set up your camera on a tripod. if you want your images to be nice and clear, the color trails to be solid, you need a tripod.

Use a shutter cable to set off your shutter. Even pushing the button yourself will give off a camera shake. And using a self timer makes for unreliable timing of photos.

Set your exposure for a minimum of 1 second and slow down the shutter speed as you go. They can go up to 10 seconds long during a finalie in order to capture many bursts.

Take as many photos as your camera will let you.  Just keep clicking untill the show is over. You can always toss out. I took over 150 photos in our short show and am only showing you a few.

Use a wide angled lens. I used my 50 prime and was rather close to the show. I missed many bursts going off above my camera range and below. If i would have had a wide angled lens i could have captured many more shots.

I hope you are inspired to take some firework photos next time you get the chance to!

Firework Photos

Well tonight is the night for fireworks! YAY!

Thats going to be fun.

Im not that great at photographing fireworks but this year i finally have all the things i need to get some good shots.And i have learned a thing or two in the past about how to do it.
So here are my tips!

Put your camera on a tripod. Camera shake will kill you with firework shots.

Set a timer or use a shutter cable. Ill be using a shutter cable.

Manual focus is your friend here! Auto focus often goes too slow for decent fireworks shots.

Use a long exposure. If you are using a point and shoot, set it for night photography OR fireworks mode. DSLR user? Set it for shutter priority or manual mode and set the exposure to 3-5 seconds.

Set your camera to burst mode. This is so importaint. If you cant use a longer exposure, and you cant if you are holding your camera in hands. Then set it to burst mode and take a ton of pictures at once!

Take tons of photos in general. The digital era means take and toss photos! Utalize those memory cards.

And if you dont get it right the first time, there are plenty more chances! Peopel shoot off fireworks all night long on the third and fourth here. So i can probably get plenty from just about anywhere. In Alaska its not exactly DARK for fireworks. In fact its not even twilight for fourth of july. SOOO ill have to manage that light task too. Hopefully i can get some cool shots to share!

Ice Age 3

Tony got paid yesterday, and will again today ( woo hoo)

So we Took Brennan Conner ( and Ryan) out to dinner and to Ice age3

The movie was cute lol.

We sat in the top row, with over 150 seats below us in the theater. We were SOO worried about the films being sold out because it was opening day, we went to a mataine bought our tickets for a showing 2 hours later lol. We went to dinner, Golden Corral up here Rocks. OMG its so good. With REAL mashed potatoes lol. Never even got to the desert bar. Sadly though it was at 4 when we got there, Dinner prices and all lol. Oh well.

So the movie. There was maybe 30 people in the theater. So that worked in our favor lol. Conner did…. well i suppose. He kept wanting to escape. Tony and i sat on one side and Ryan on the other of the kids and Conner ran between us, tried to get over the seats to the row below us ect. He had one bit of a meltdown and started crying when i pulled him up from the row. Tony grabbed him and put a hand over his mouth for a few seconds and he stopped crying. Every time music would come on, he would dance. He liked it. It was a 2 hour longmovie which was hard on him. Brennan loved it. No surprise there. The only thing that pissed me off. We had to buy Conner a ticket. Only kids under 1 get in free. God at our dinky theater in town its like kids under 4 get in free! I was annoyed but oh well.

When we got out, it was the first regular priced showing of Transformers. Tony and Ryan pouted, They wanted to see that movie lol. There were massive lines everywhere…

This was the first time i had been in a theater since Brennan was about a year old.

So we had fun. Despite it being 80 degrees out, muggy as hell and we have NO AC in our car. We had to drive to the city with the windows down, which sucked SOOOO bad. But on the way home it was much cooler. About 75 degrees at 7 30 and not so muggy. We hit up a walmart and i bought Brennan some crayons and coloring books for in the car. He was rather.. annoying in his boredom lol. I also got redvines. YUM!

Ok i gotta go!