The Violet Hours

And we have eggplant!

Ahavati — Mon, 14 May 2012 20:40:22 +0000

I have been watching the big purple one emerge the past few days, but I didn’t notice the striped ones that had shown up! Aren’t they gorgeous? Both are different kinds. I’ve never had eggplant but I thought we’d try it out. They make pretty additions to the garden! I’ve also noticed another purple one coming up on the same plant, and 2 more about to come out on another plant. I can’t wait to try them out. If you have any great recipes, let me know! I’m sure it will be a little while until these are ready though!

My Art!

Ahavati — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:54:50 +0000

My first love of art. When I was about 13/14 or so, I found this book my parents had. And AKC book with all kinds of dogs and it had drawn images. (we used to show dogs) So I just sat down one day and started drawing them. They came out pretty good. A few years later my parents enrolled me in a drawing class, where I learned how to draw with Prismacolor. I then went on later in life to take classes at a bigger school. I did some drawing while getting my degree but had focused more on digital design. Most of this is from ’95 to 2000. I haven’t done much anymore. I mostly do pencil/Prismacolor. I haven’t gotten into painting. I long to do it but can’t find the time. I’d love to do classes again, but I’d rather use it on the kids. So, if I get around to it, I’ll add more. I think that if I could ever put the time into it that I want, I could be pretty good. Maybe when all my kids move out I’ll pick it back up.

So check it out HERE, or look to the left and click on the Drawing category Thanks for looking!

Who needs toys??

Ahavati — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:47:46 +0000

When a water heater box will keep you busy for hours! Papa put in a new water heater at their house this weekend and Avalea made a “house”. Her and Chaiya have been in and out all day yesterday and today. Free entertainment!

DIY: Muslin Swaddle Blanket

Ahavati — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 09:00:20 +0000

My last three babies have loved being swaddled. My first two spent some time in the NICU and I didn’t really know much about swaddling. I mastered the swaddle with my third from birth. I fell in love with the Aden & Anais swaddle blankets. They are so soft, nice and big and universal. After our swaddling days were over, we used them for light carseat blankets, sheets for the pack ‘n’ play, carseat covers, nursing covers for those times we needed one…for just about anything. The only problem is that they are pretty pricey. (I got mine cheaper through a co-op). This time around, the 4 we had have been through pretty heavy use and are starting to wear thin and develop a couple holes. And we tend to go through them quick. I wanted to find a cheaper option.And yes, my 4 month old still loves being swaddled to sleep. It instantly soothes him.

Some benefits of swaddling:

Babies sleep longer: Babies are used to being snuggled tight in the womb. While being wrapped tightly in a blanket doesn’t sound great to most adults, it is for a new baby. Hospital nurses, friends and your mother will all tell you that babies do sleep better when they are wrapped.

Less crying: The movements of his arms and legs cause the baby to startle. This is upsetting to the baby and causes over stimulation. When they are over stimulated, newborns cry in an attempt to block out the stimuli. When they are swaddled, the jerky arm and leg movements are kept to a minimum, resulting in less crying.

Fewer scratches: Newborn nails are sharp and grow fast. Nearly all babies scratch their faces with those jerky movements in their sleep. When the baby is swaddled, she is less likely to scratch up her face the night before you have her portraits taken.

So, my mom and I headed to JoAnns to get supplies for one of the many other projects we were on, and I found muslin fabric!! At the time it was on sale for $4.99 a yard! And JoAnn’s always has awesome coupons. So I snatched some up! And now baby boy has 4 new swaddle blankets for a fraction of the price of the A&A. They even had a few pretty prints. If you don’t have a JoAnn’s, you can find it online as well. Making them is super simple. You need 1 1/4 yard of the muslin. So that you get a 45X45 square. For the seams, you can iron, then stitch, but due to the stretch of the muslin, I found it easier to just roll in 1/4′ then 1/4′ again and stitch while holding. And it came out just fine. Just hem around the edges and you are done. Once washed, they come out fluffy soft and keep getting softer. So simple. I think I may make them as new baby gifts!

How to Swaddle Your Baby

Spread a receiving blanket flat on the bed or other flat surface.
Fold one corner of the blanket over a few inches.
Lay the baby with her head on the corner of the blanket you just folded.
Wrap the left corner over his arm and body and tuck it under the other side of his body.
Take the bottom corner and bring it up over his feet.
Take the right corner and wrap it around his body and bring it around to the back.
Only the baby’s head and neck should be exposed when you are finished.

And you have a happy baby! Now that you know how simple it is, go make you some!

Our Homebirth

Ahavati — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 19:37:11 +0000

I’m going to post our birth story of our 5th baby, Elijah Judah. Not just because I want to be able to come back and remember all the details years from now, but to help make home birthing more “normal”. It’s on the rise, but is still thought to be dangerous and reckless by societal norms. It’s not the perfect situation for all births, but the majority it is. This was our first home birth out of the 5 kids and the only regret I have was not doing it sooner. If we are to be blessed with any more, then we will have another home birth.

December 22, 2011 I had my 38w appt at 11am. (2 days before, we had celebrated my oldest son’s 10th birthday!) A couple hours later, around 1:15pm, I had started getting some strong contractions. They started out about 10 minutes apart and quickly moved to 2-4m apart within the span of an hour. I was laying down at the time and thought they’d fizzle out like normal. I had been having them off and on for a couple weeks, and the couple nights before started being woken by them. But these were actually a bit stronger than any previous contractions. There was something a bit different to them. I stayed laying down other than getting up to use the restroom and make the kids lunch, in which case they still kept coming. I text Sal to let him know that he may need to head home soon. He was at his office lunch and they were having a half day anyway. He got home about 3pm and I said “lets go for a walk”. I wanted to help things along to make sure it was true labor. I text my MW to let her know what was going on and called my mom as well. So we walked down to my mom’s house for a few. The girls laid down and took a nap and Sal and I went to finish walking the block. Holly (MW) had called while at my parent’s and said she’d call in an hour as I was still able to talk through the contractions. But being that they were already consistently 2-3 minutes apart, she was shocked that I was talking through them. She called about 30m later when we were halfway around the block and said it was driving her crazy that she was going to go ahead and come over.

Laboring in the pool!

We get back to the house and start picking up and setting up the pool and getting things ready. My mom came down and was amazing helping clean everything. I love my momma. I found that being up and doing stuff made the contractions more bearable. So I tried to keep busy. Holly made it over and checked me. I was at 4cm. She had me get on hands and knees for a while to make sure he was nice and anterior. After a little while, I got up and sat on the ball in the living room and folded clothes. I was bored. They were still manageable at that time. After about an hour I guess, she had been watching me and noticed they were getting stronger. She and Sal and my mom started filling the pool. She checked me and I was 5cm. I got in, it felt really good. Had a nice salad while I was in there lol. But they started getting stronger to where even the water didn’t seem to help. I got out because I had to go to the bathroom. Holly told me to sit there for 3 cntrx since it opens up my pelvis more. She wanted to get him to descend some. They were pretty intense at that point. I actually had to breathe more through them and could no longer talk. When I came out of the bathroom, she was getting things set up in the bedroom. So I kneeled on the floor and leaned into the bed when I’d have a contraction. They started picking up strength and I was becoming much more vocal about it. It hurt. But I could still focus on getting through them.

Not sure how much time had passed but eventually they were getting very overwhelming. (ETA: oh it was about 8:30ish) She asked if I wanted to her to check and possibly break my water. I said I want to be checked, I need to know where I’m at and that depending on the results, we could break it. So we get set up, it was insanely painful being on my back with contractions hitting and her checking. I was at 7cm. She said she tried to break the water with her fingers and the sac was SO strong. So she asked if I wanted it broken with the hook. She said it was taut over the cervix and kind of holding him back a little. Once it broke, I could be at 10 pretty quick. So I agreed, even though I was in a lot of pain laying there. She ruptured the membranes, they were clear and she said it instantly opened me to 8. So I got back on the side of the bed and the cntrx were a lot more worse. I was starting to lose it some. I could feel him moving down and slight pressure. I knew once I could feel his head coming out, that it would be over soon. But the time between where I was and that was taking too long, in my opinion. LOL. I know I said a few times that I didn’t want to do it anymore. She asked if I wanted to get on the bed so I did. I tried to lay on my side and it was too intense. She said any position at this point is going to be intense. I got on hands and knees again. I don’t know if it helped or just made me feel like it helped. Sal was in front of me holding my hands. At this point I was extremely vocal. I was slightly losing it lol. My mom brought the kids in. The girls didn’t seem to be fazed but the boys apparently looked a bit worried.

Meeting our son!

Shortly after I felt his head right there. An intense urge to push started happening and I started pushing without even trying. It just happened. I kept pushing and would feel his head come out knowing once I got that out, I could stop for a second. It burned and the only thing that felt semi good was pushing. Mainly because I knew it would be over once I got him out. Everyone says natural pushing is so much different than medicated. I have to agree. Natural, I was pushing ith every muscle and could feel that it was more effective pushing. Once his head came out, she said slow down because the cord was on his neck. However my body had other plans and he fell out onto the bed. He coughed a couple times, no screams. I couldn’t move. I just had to stay there like that for a couple minutes and “recover”. She put him up under me at the moment because I started bleeding a lot. So she gave me a shot of pitocin to avoid hemorrhaging. Finally I was able to turn over and lay down. We put him skin to skin and waited for the placenta to pass. We left the cord until it stopped pulsing then Sal cut it. The placenta came soon after that and I felt free. She said it seemed a bit small but otherwise good. He had a full head of hair! No fussing or anything. Just laid there and cuddled. After about 30m, he started nursing with a very strong latch. An hour or so, she weighed him in at 6lb 13oz and 20″ long. I got up and took a shower and sat in an herbal bath. It made me feel human again. She brought him into the herbal bath and he immediately relaxed and slept. We all got out, got dressed, took some pics and got everything cleaned up. I had no tears whatsoever. After hanging out for a while longer, Holly packed up and left and we all tried to get some sleep. I was still a bit wound up from everything but fell asleep soon after, cuddling my boy.

I loved the experience. I had no issues whatsoever during my pregnancy other than typical aches and pains. I loved that we had visits at home and they lasted almost an hour each time. It was like a friend visiting. I was able to choose what I wanted to do, while having Holly there to keep an eye on things and guide me when I needed to be. I didn’t have my baby taken away for hours after birth. We were all able to immediately bond with him and comfort him. I was able to eat and drink, whatever my body needed. I wasn’t strapped to a bed, not letting my body do what it needed. No wires or machines hooked to me. It was wonderful experience. It was also the best postpartum recovery out of all of them. I actually was up and walking around feeling like normal for the first few days. Although I did over do it and was a bit more bed bound the week after. But I overall felt amazing. I will always cherish this experience.

It’s Back!!

Ahavati — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 18:40:35 +0000

I’m reviving my blog! In an attempt to share more of what I’ve been doing with our life, hobby photography, graphic work and just everything in general. I’m working on getting some posts started so I can just come add my pictures and post. Because life with 5 kids, growing my relationship with God, homeschooling, housework, gardening and a side business as well as a hubby that has been insanely busy with side work, doesn’t leave too much time to sit and blog. But I want to get back into it again.

So look around, check out my stuff and my new design (and I did my theme installation and set up and all almost entirely by myself this time! Only had to rely on the hubby a couple times.) and let me know what you think

Fabric Produce bags

Ahavati — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 03:52:51 +0000

I made this today. It took about 15 minutes or so. (If I hadn’t been distracted by babies then it would have lol) It is made with only a fat quarter, which costs about $1.99 at my Hobby Lobby or JoAnns when not on sale! The longer handle slips into the smaller one to close it. It’s pretty cute! You can find the tutorial here: http://daisyjanie.typepad.com/daisyjanie/2010/12/how-to-fabric-produce-bag-free-pdf-pattern.html

6 months already!

Ahavati — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 07:19:26 +0000

Chaiya Violet is 6 months today. Time is seriously flying. Day by day she”s turning into a little person and leaving my little baby behind. She’ll still be my “baby” but its not the same. This little girl is definitely more advanced than the others. At 5.5 months old she could almost sit by herself unassisted. She’s pretty much there. I think she’s going to be an early walker. She just wants to get up and run with her brothers and sister. Happy 6 months my sweet little Violet.

Obligatory cute picture of the week

Ahavati — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 16:30:32 +0000

With bedhead and all! I love her.

Homemade applesauce!

Ahavati — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 20:33:46 +0000

Or “sauce” as Avalea calls it. Every time she goes to Nana’s house she gets “sauce”. She loves it. So I had a bunch of apples and figured I’d make some up. It’s really simple and tastes so much better than store bought. I got rave reviews from Ava and even Violet who had a couple little bites . And it doesn’t take anything. Apples, honey and cinnamon. You don’t even really NEED the honey and cinnamon, but depending on your tastes, you add them in. Simple as can be. I like knowing exactly what is in the food I give my family!

The recipe is:

4 apples, chopped
3 tbsp. honey
Cinnamon to taste
1/2 inch water

I did a super big batch. I probably used 25 apples lol. You also want to use the sweetest apples. The sweeter the apple, the less honey or sugar you need to use. Red Delicious, Gala and Fiji are all really sweet. I used a combo of the three. Sal says Gala’s taste more like “applesauce”.

So you start out peeling your apples.

After you get them all peeled, it makes it easier to core them and get out all the seeds and hard core bits.(The hubby was a great help here )

Next, chop up the apples really good. You can skip this step but I found they cook faster if you chop them smaller.Add them to a pot with about 1/2 inch water in the bottom. As they cook, the apples will release the water in them. When they are done cooking, make sure you drain of the juice! You can drink it as is or filter it through a coffee filter to make it clear and you have apple juice!

Drain the apples and place in a large bowl. Take your mixer and start at low, gradually moving up to high to get the consistency you desire. You can also use a food processor for this step, but I don’t have one of those so I made due lol.

Last, add in the honey and cinnamon to taste. Depending on the apples, you may not need to use any honey as they may be sweet enough. I only used about 3 tbl for the amount of apples I used and it was sweet enough! That’s it! Simple and sweet and voila! Applesauce! You can then go on to jar it and save. It also freezes really well. I think we’ll go to the farmers market soon and get a lot of apples and make up huge batches to can and put away.

Enjoy!!