Compacting...7 Months In

As of now we have completed seven whole months of Compacting.  First off let me just get this off my chest...we have slipped here and there :/.  Don't quit reading, PLEASE.  I am trying to not have guilt over the purchases we have made, knowing that there would have been many more if we were not on the COMPACT.  Dang it.  I guess I am just too much of a perfectionist.  I only want to do things if I can do them to the highest of standards, and if I don't I think I have failed, I treat myself as though I have failed.  And in this situation slipping up a few times does not deem me or my family failures in the Compacting department.

We have grown so much due to Compacting, more than I ever could have dreamed and the year isn't nearly over.  We spend more time together, less time shopping and just all in all a lot more mindful of our consumption.  We have been recycling everything we can, buying food and household goods in bulk and have cut our "garbage" down by about half.  We started a garden and have seen the fruits of our labor through the likes of carrots, beans, tomatoes, strawberries, plums and we are still waiting on a bell pepper.  I went from a clothing shop-o-holic to actually not knowing what is "in style".  My kids are wearing hand me down or used clothing store bathing suits this year and they all look cute at the river, can you believe it.  I have been spending a lot less time online, even though Nick thinks I am still addicted.  I have been blogging less and selling less tie dye.  My kids have been enjoying the outdoors and I have been enjoying it with them.

A few months ago I spoke at to my MOPS group about our journey into Compacting, beginning at my insane desire to declutter.  I had such an awesome response, ladies wanted to know more about it and more about natural and simple living in general.

We have begun to pray about and talk about how we are going to handle Christmas.  Honestly, I want to pack my little family of six and go somewhere, escape it all and just focus on Jesus.  However, I think that would be considered running away.  I knew Christmas would one of the hardest parts about Compacting.  I also knew I had all year to figure out how we were going to handle it.  I mean, I am totally comfortable in yelling from the mountaintops that we are Compacting, but when it comes to Christmas (gifts) it affects so many more people than just our little family.  If you know me at all, I hate confrontation.  I hate to tell people things that might not be what they are expecting to hear.  (Thank God for email, hehe)  SO pray for me, for us as we embark on the next stage of Compacting.

Live Lightly.

Over a year ago I was turned onto Sara's blog Walk Slowly, Live Wildly...I love reading her blog, feeling so warm by her words, enjoying reading another like-minded bloggers thoughts.  Then she announced that her and her fam would be taking to the road in a veggie-oil powered RV.  I was more than intrigued.  I offered a somewhat flat piece of concrete in front of my home for them to park for a few days, little did I know they would actually take me up on my offer.  Their tour the Live Lightly Tour is traveling the country spreading the word about veggie-oil powered vehicles and sustainable living...

Last week they came our way, stayed for a few days and our lives were changed forever.  Matt and Sara are amazing creation-loving Christians.  From the second they arrived Nick and I felt like we had known them forever.  (We continue to wonder if they have that affect on everyone they meet or if we were *special*, I would like to think we are *special*, but I think maybe not.)  We had an amazing weekend of laughter, scooters, redwoods, photography, raw food eating, veggie buying, worshiping, jammin' (as in Matt and Nick playing music), girl-time, where we squeezed as much into as little time as possible, Thai food, coffee and Borders all before bedtime (thank you Daddy's).  We had such a wonderful time with the Janssen's and we would welcome them back anytime, absolutely anytime!

Welcome to the world Elijah Joseph!

On Wednesday night @ 10:33pm Elijah Joseph was born and I there. My best friend Kristy was so amazingly strong during the whole labor and birth. I am so blessed to have been able to be there from start to finish, only sneaking away a few times to nurse Dillon. Thank you Kristy and Greg for allowing me to be a part of Elijah's birth :)

Where have I been?

We have been strong these days, here are a few things we have done in the past few weeks:

-Dillon and I went to Santa Rosa for my best friend Kristy's baby shower, Nick stayed home with the other three

-Soaked up the nearly 70degree weather in Humboldt County

-Planted seeds indoors

-Spent many hours "spring cleaning" the yard, still in process

-Rearranged the living room

-Spent time dreaming of adding onto this tiny house

-Found out that two family-ish members are pregnant, both have had losses, so lots of prayers going their way

-Dillon started walking, YIPEE!

-Aidan can read pretty much anything that is 6 letters or less, it is kind of crazy

-Téadora is compleltly day time potty trained

-Aidan is completely diaper free, he was day time potty trained at 2 1/2 but has worn a diaper to bed for until now

-We are still COMPACTING and going strong

Alright, I promise I am going to be better about blogging :)

Happy Birthday, Coda James!

Today he turns four. Weird though, he doesn't seem four, I mean he acts four, does things a four year old would do, but then he looks at me and he is a baby in my arms. Only its better now, he doesn't scream all the time. :)

Coda loves being outdoors, loves digging, hammering (he can hammer a nail in better than I can), is obsessed with tools and I mean OBSESSED. He does not love sitting still, reading, watching tv, however his attention span is lengthening. Coda has the most amazing dimples and smile, he has a passion for life and when something doesn't go his way he will let you know.

For his birthday he wanted to go to the beach and fly kites. So we did. He was interested in flying kites on his birthday for FOUR months leading up to the day, the 10 minute drive to the beach and about .2 seconds once we arrived, then he was on to something else...finding rocks and throwing them in the ocean and digging.

After the beach we came home and had a family party. Coda is on a gluten-free, casein-free diet, so everything at the party followed his diet, even the cake and frosting. It was mighty yummy indeed.

Wordless Wednesday

Not a boy, a monkey :)

Wordless Wednesday (a day late!)

All 10, Easter 2007

All 10, Easter 2008

Easter!

What a wonderful and beautiful day. The kids were amazing, considering they were going, going, going for the entire day. Our day began with a Brunch @ Church, then Church, then an Easter Egg Hunt at the Ingomar Club, then a quick drive to pass some time, then an afternoon meal at the Ingomar Club, then to the cemetery to lay flowers on Grandpa Caroll's, Grandma Oma's and Ricky's (Nick best friend who died @ age 15) graves, then back to Nick's parents to open Easter presents from Grandma Lende to the kids. Oh and in there while the adults and the babies were still at the Ingomar, Aunt Nonie (Nick's aunt) took the bigger kids on yet another Easter Egg hunt. And we continued the festivities tonight with a big family dinner, ANOTHER Easter Egg hunt and opening of Easter presents from Nick's parents to the kids.

Sunday morning was beautiful, sunny and bright, just as I imagine it was on that first Easter Sunday. I am so thankful for our Lord, Jesus Christ for coming and dying and rising again so that we may LIVE.

I have come so that they may have life and have it to the full. John 10:10b

Atleast they are all sitting on the same couch, right?!

 

The sun was bright!

 

Just the 10 of us! (Easter 2008)

Amazing Finds

Today Yesterday I made a quick stop at St. Vinny's for a few things. I was looking for some small bowls for the kids, we use to have a bunch, I think they eat them :), a travel coffee mug for Nick, he loses them frequently and a hair dryer, mine is on the outs!

So I didn't find any bowls or a hair dryer, but I did find a travel coffee mug for Nick, a brand new Starbucks Travel Mug for 89cents! And then the Lord truly blessed me. I found a milk crate full of cigarette-lighter adapters, like for to charge your cell phone in your car or plug in your Travel DVD player. We have been without a plug-in for awhile now, even our last trip to Santa Rosa (4 hours away) we went with no DVD player, because we are Compacting and we couldn't buy one new.  So I ran out to the car got my DVD player, brought it into the Thrift Store and started trying different ones, after about 12 tries I found one that fit for $1.99.  (And yes it works, DVD's now play in the car again.)  Then I was walking to the register because I had overdone my "just 5 minutes" by like 15 (Nick was in the car with the 4) and I saw a handheld shower head.  I needed it.  It was 99cents and made me so excited.  See our shower is not really a shower it is a bath with a handheld shower head taking water from the bath faucet and bringing it up to shower height.  Ours was broken, not so broken that we couldn't shower, but broken enough that water sprayed EVERYWHERE!

So for $4.15 Nick has a brand new travel coffee mug, the kids can watch DVD's on long drives (I will be sane-ish-er on our next out of town trip) and we have a amazing new shower head.  Thank you all you Eureka-ians for your donations to the thrift store.

It is March....

and we are still on THE COMPACT. I haven't been to Target in over a month and the last time I went it literally made me feel sick, all that stuff, it was just too overwhelming. We have made some amazing purchases at Lots for Tots PLUS The Clothing Closet, here in Eureka. Cool thing is you take clothing and toys and stuff there, they go through it, tell you what they want or don't want, then you get credit to their store, wooohooo! Also, for Dillon's Birthday, he got a $20 Gift Certificate to Lots For Tots, thank you friends who are support out Compacting. :)

We are what 13 ish weeks in (out of 52) and already our mindset is changing. Something so cool happened just the other day; Aidan and I were having a conversation about him not wearing diapers to bed anymore (yes, he is 5 1/2, we have wetting the bed issues in this family, I was a bedwetter, Nick was a bedwetter, our children are DOOMED!), I asked him what he thought he would deserve if he didn't pee in his bed one night, two nights, forever, he replied "how about a toy at the $ store (for one night), no wait I want a toy from that place I found the Knight toy." That place he found the Knight toy is the St. Vincents Thrift Store. So with two nights of not wetting the bed we are off to St. Vinny's today for Aidan to rummage through the 25cent donated toys, YES! The things that make a Compacting mom's heart melt.

I am so darn excited (an nervous, yes definitely nervous), the MOPS group of Eureka, has asked me to speak about The Compact, about my journey and about how others can benefit and join in.  So I have been researching how The Compact has affected others that have participated and I found an awesome article by Environment Reporter, Catherine Porter, about compacting and consumption, a great read, Catherine also has a blog, The Green Life.  She writes about a one week Compacting Challenge in this blog, check it out.

4 in 1!

A little while back I wrote this post about having three children in one bedroom. Well after thinking about it quite a bit, I decided to move #4 in there also. He doesn't sleep in his crib all the time, mostly naps and for the first few hours at night. But his crib was taking up precious space in our bedroom, so I moved it. So now we have bunk beds and two cribs in one bedroom. So far, so good. And yes, they all fall asleep in there just fine.

Home Remedies.

Some are skeptical of my constant use of homeopathic or herbal or homemade remedies. I have a few friends and relatives that I have brought into the world of little to no antibiotics, no Nyquil or Sudafed or Tylenol Cold or whatever they call it these days. Don't get me wrong we use these things sometimes, we use Tylenol and Advil, and cough syrup and antibiotics (always used with probiotics!) occasionally. It is just we don't run to the "medicine cabinet" the second we feel a little sick and cover up the symptoms. We drink a lot of Emergen-C and Airborne, we quickly run to the cabinet for UMCKA when we feel a cold coming on or have a cold. I have other remedies for sleepless nights, and upset tummy, stress and anxiety. Feel free to ask me about any of the remedies we us.

But then there is the doozy. The doozy of a cold that has since turned into an ear infection or sinus infection or bronchitis. You just aren't getting better and you want to try something else before you resort to antibiotics. I got a call yesterday from my friend Eric, remember the one in the band. He left a message saying he had a 'mom' question, he was sick, had a sinus infection and need a remedy, did I have one? Yes I do. But just as your cold is a doozy, so is this remedy, it is not for the weak.

Mix in a blender or food processor until the consistincy of salsa, then eat with chips or just drink it, whichever you feel is less evil :)

-Garlic

-Horseradish

-Habanero Pepper

-White Onion

-Ginger

-Apple Cider Vinegar

You will be on fire, but so will any infection in you. You might spike a fever and then it will break, making you sweat more than ever before. You might cry or scream. The pain will be over soon and you will feel much better, much much better.

So Eric used this remedy last night and he called. I missed the call, I was putting kids to bed. But I wish oh so bad you all could hear the message he left. His last words were 'call me, I might be dead.' Funny, but not funny. I am happy to report that when I called him back about 20 minutes later he was not dead and he felt much better.

It sounds bad I know, but 15 or 20 minutes of pain is much better than the toll that antibiotics take on our body. Plus, this is completely natural, finding everything (minus the Vinegar) in the produce department at the grocery store. Next time you are in need, give it a try.

Day 3, 4, 5, 6

The past few days have been made up of lots of smoothies or "SUPER FOOD" as my boys like to call them. Any of you who have thought that maybe I am lying and these smoothies really taste like dirt, I have major proof that they really do taste good.

Day 3, 4 and 5 was Orange, Banana, Spinach Smoothie. And today was a Orange, Banana, Raspberry, Spinach Smoothie. Both are yummy!

Oh and I have a new trick. If there is left over smoothie, I pour it into an ice cube tray, freeze it and add it to the next days smoothie.

Day Two.

So this mornings smoothie was not as good as I would have liked it to be. But I am feeling a little under the weather, so that probably attributed to it. It is not that I disliked it, but ummm it was interesting. I have never had a smoothie with kale in it, this morning was the first time. I think next time I will puree the kale first. My blender is pretty junky and it sort of felt like I was drinking thick lettuce. YUCK! So I blended it for about 4 more minutes and it was much better.

However, even though I am on the brink of sickness, I feel pretty good.  Starting the day off with a 'green' smoothie was a great feeling.  I am a diet pepsi addict (an addiction I am trying to kick) and yesterday I drank very little diet pepsi (for me)...My goal is at the end of the 30 days of smoothies, I am completely diet pepsi free.

Here is todays recipe:

2 handfuls Strawberries, 3/4 banana, two handfuls romaine, 1 stalk kale, 1/4 lime and water.

Tomorrow I am going for something more tropical, definitely adding in some wonderful Minneola Tangerines we got yesterday.

Green Smoothie Challenge!

*We have been out of town and I have lots to blog about, but can't seem to find enough time to do it, so I am jumping in here and will talk about our trip and what we have been up to the past 10 days later :)

As of today I am on the Green Smoothie Challenge. Thanks to Sara of Happy Foody, Walk Slowly, Live Wildly and The Live Lightly Tour for challenging us (as in the whole world, hehe) to drink a 16oz Green Smoothie each day for the next thirty days.

This morning I awoke and made a banana, mango, strawberry, romaine and spinach smoothie. It didn't *look* green, but it tasted a little green. It was oh so yummy.

I am so excited to be teaming up with my mom and best friend for this challenge. I am excited to see how we all change over the next 30 days!

It's not to late to join, come on you know you want to!

Birth on the Highway: One Year Later

The title of the this blog would be what I would name the article for the Eureka Reporter, had they called me up and asked to do a follow-up article to the one from last year. But they didn't call me up, ah well.

Happy First Birthday, Dillon!

Your smile lights up my heart. Each day I thank the Lord for you. Our family is blessed to have you. Just so you know, I consider you timing nothing short of impeccable and ordained by God.

If you didn't know us a year ago, why don't you venture back in time with me, to that night that will never be forgotten...

It was about 9pm on Tuesday and I felt a contraction. I thought “whatever, here we go again”. I had been having contractions for a few hours each evening for the past 10 days at least, so contractions weren’t getting me too excited anymore. The contractions continued, and at about 10pm they got a little uncomfortable, so I told Nick this *might* be it (I am sure he was like, uuhhhuhh sure). We decided he should go to sleep, just in case. I folded some laundry, did the dishes, picked up the house. Coda was having a hard night, so I laid with him for awhile, he needed to poop, but wouldn’t so his tummy was not feeling the greatest. It was getting too uncomfortable to lay with him, the contractions were getting stronger, so I told him he needed to poop. He pooped, I changed him and got him back into bed. By this time it was a little after midnight, I needed to wake Nick up, this had to be it, right?! I could still walk around during the contractions, but I could barely talk, so we decided we needed to go. I called my midwife and told her and then she reassured me that I would be leaving the hospital with a baby if I made the trip down this time. Thank God, I couldn’t imagine being in labor again and then the labor stopping and having to go home without a baby again. We called my mom, my sister and Nick’s parents…we would be there in about two hours and then head to the hospital.

At 12:55am we pulled out of our driveway, over the next 20 minutes the contractions got increasingly closer together and stronger. The contractions were about 2 and ½ minutes apart and about 1 and ½ minutes long…that didn’t leave much time in between! Twenty miles after leaving I knew we were not going to make it to Fortuna, but I was praying we would make it to at least Arcata or Eureka (both towns have hospitals). We stopped quick for gas and I stuck my hand down my pants, pulled it out and BLOOD, lots of BLOOD. Crap, I thought, I am heading towards 7cm…

With each contraction I rubbed the tops of my thighs, breathed in through my nose, out through my mouth, and prayed for it to be over. Nick had strict instructions to keep both hands on the wheel, look only at the road and drive as fast as he could without even slightly endangering us. Enya was playing, I was contracting, the kids were all wide-eyed…and we were driving.

I tried to change positions, but I didn’t have time in between contractions to figure anything out…I mean I was sitting in the front seat of a van for goodness sake, how many positions could I really get into?!

I had been praying and I asked Nick to be praying, but I needed something more. I asked Nick to pray aloud, he did. We prayed for safety, for a break in the contractions and to make it to the hospital. We were now about 55 miles from home. As the contractions came I knew the birth was imminent. I kept this information to myself; truthfully I didn’t know how to tell Nick, I think we are going to have this baby in the car. A few more contractions came, I was still keeping pretty calm during them, I tried to picture his face, holding him in my arms. Then a change happened, I felt emotional, overwhelmed, I felt like I just couldn’t take another contraction. I said out loud, “I can’t do this anymore.” CRAP, I knew once I said that that the baby was going to arrive within minutes, it was a comment I had made moments before the birth of Coda and Téadora.


I told Nick we were not making it to Fortuna and to call his parents and have them meet us in Arcata at the hospital. I asked him how long until we would be there…he said 10 minutes. I told him I wasn’t sure we were going to make it. He sped up! A contraction came and I told him again we were not going to make it. The contraction ended and I thought, OK we can make it. The next contraction came and I felt “pushy”, I said “the baby is coming”. Nick said give me 5 minutes, he sped up even more. He told me to check and see if I felt the baby’s head, I felt down there and about 1 inch inside me I felt the intact bag of waters. “He’s right there”, I said. The contraction ended and I felt relief, we can make it, we can make it, we can make it….NOOOOOOOOO we can’t. A contraction began, my last actually, I realized I still had my pants on; I ripped them off and yelled “PULL OVER”. Nick went from 85mph to stopped on the side of the road in seconds. I was pushing, my body was pushing, I was holding onto the handle above the door, I looked down and saw the bag of waters outside of my body, but still intact. WOOOSH, the water exploded, exploded. Nick jumped out of his side, slammed his door, and opened mine. HIS HEAD, was there, I was grunting or was I screaming, I was pushing, his head was crowning, I felt his head, and Nick guided him out and onto my chest. I looked at my baby boy, he was breathing, he was pink, and he was beautiful. Nick began to dial his parents on the cell phone, “we had him, on the side of the road, and we will be to Mad River (the hospital) in 5 minutes". At the same time, I said, “he’s fine; we’re fine, get in, turn on the heater.” I wrapped Dillon in a blanket that I had on my lap. I starred at him; Nick got in the car, turned the heater on full blast and sped off.

All was right in the world, I turned and looked at the three, “we are ok, mommy is ok, and baby Dillon is ok”. Coda who had started to cry when I was pushing Dillon out, was now smiling. We were all ok. The next 5 or so minutes to the hospital are a blur, did I really just have a baby on the side of the road, in the front seat of my car, and was it really that fast?! We were pulled over less than 4 minutes. We arrived to the hospital, pulled up near the ER, a man yelled to us, go further, turn left, they are waiting for you. We pulled up to the birth center, Nick’s parents were right behind us. There was a wheel chair waiting with a nurse. All I could think was, “I am going to get out of my car with nothing but a shirt on.” I did. My father in law wheeled me in, I got up onto the bed, it was bright. I could see Dillon, he was perfect, Nick leaned over and kissed me. And I answered the nurse, “yes, my name is Stephanie Lende, he was born at 2:18, well right there at the North Central Exit, his name is Dillon.”

We proceeded to cut the cord and deliver the placenta a little while later. After that my other three joined us. Everything with Dillon and me was great, I had no tearing, and he received a perfect bill of health. He was 7lbs, 8oz and 20inches, born at 2:18am on Valentines Day!

Something good.

My sister (aka 'E') has told me a few times recently, 'you've come across something good' and I would agree.  When we downsized homes from 3 bedrooms to 2, 2 bathrooms to 1 and 1400 sq feet to 1000 (or so I am told), we had to make a few changes.  The bathroom thing wasn't a big deal, we really only used one anyway, but the bedroom thing was something to figure out, for sure.  We have four children; 5 1/2, almost 4, 2 and 1.  The eldest are in bunk beds, the 2 year old is in a crib and the 1 year old has a crib, but co-sleeps a lot and mainly uses his crib for naps.  So 3 1/2 months ago, when we moved, we put the three oldest in the 2nd bedroom (which is attached to the 1st bedroom) and then put #4's crib in our room (which is attached to the living room and thereby the rest of the house).

*Ok I think I need to upload my sketch of our house plan (that I concocted) so this might be a little easier to understand.*

This situation has proven to work.  In the 'kids bedroom' there are NO toys, only beds and clothing.  We keep all toys in the covered/enclosed front porch and the kitchen.  There have been no problems with them keeping eachother away at night, waking the others up in the morning.  The three old have seemed to enjoy that they all share a room and I like that it is 'everyones' room and nobody can be shut out, yet if someone needs some alone time the room is there for just that.

So this something good I've come across is just this: a room for sleeping/quiet time and a room for playing.  Now it wouldn't take a genius to see the benefits of this, but it takes some faith to act on it.  In our situation we really had no choice.  But we knew God was leading us back to Eureka and to this house and into this rooming situation, so there we went.  And honestly I wouldn't change my current situation for each of them having their own rooms, I think individual rooms for little kids are over-rated.

Buh, Bye!

Make sure you watch the ENTIRE video, it is worth the wait!

It's An Inside Day

It is not necessarily raining, but shhhhh don't tell my kids. I woke up this morning and deemed it an "inside day". The two babies have colds, the other two are on the verge, so I bullied Aidan into staying home from school and told everyone we were staying inside and in our jammies ALL DAY.

I have been scanning through The Children's BUSY BOOK and The Preschooler's BUSY BOOK, I found them at a 2nd hand store for 25cents each. The books have some really fun ideas, nothing you couldn't find on the internet, but sometimes I just like to have something to flip through.

I decided this was a perfect day to make a 'table fort', you know take everything off the table, move the chairs away, throw some blankets over the table and VIOLA, we have a fort. The older boys have decided they are spending the night under the fort, they have already moved in, blankets, pillows, flashlights, snacks, they are READY! Funny thing is, it isn't even noon and they are asking 'how long until bedtime?'. Maybe I could use this to my advantage :)

Wordless Wednesday

Bath time at our house!