Stick It!

 I took Elliott to a gymnastics gym out in Moreno Valley with my sister Katherine. It was so fun!

 Even though the parents couldn't go on any of the equipment, I had a lot of fun. It was totally worth $4 for an hour.

Baby Baths & Modeling Babies

 A few pics of my bathing beauties. Elliott helped me give Ferris her first "bath".

Here's baby and Daddy. Sometimes Patrick's pics look like he's in an ad for babies, the next few pics are prime examples.

 This is Pat and Elliott, yet another great model pose.

Notice the fantastic tile work Patrick did in our bathroom. (Sigh) almost done, and only 3 years later.

Snow Day!

Patrick was kind enough to give me a break from Elliott for a day by taking her to the snow a few days after Ferris was born. I got some quiet and Elliott got some much needed Daddy-daughter time.This was Elliott's first time playing in the snow. She had so much fun!

A Chrismas Miracle in February

Two and a half years ago I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl...without an epidural. I'm not kidding you, it was the most traumatizing experience I've ever had in my life! This lack of pain management was not by choice. Apparently emergency c-sections take precedence over women who've been asking for an epidural since they were admitted into the hospital hours before so-called emergency c-section was even necessary.

So when I found out I was pregnant again you can imagine the emotions running through me. Mostly fear. So, I would randomly curl up in the fetal position and cry throughout my pregnancy. Don't get me wrong, I was happy I was going to have a sweet little baby around to take care of again. But at that point the cons out-weighed the pros and I secretly wished I wasn't pregnant. 

Luckily I was blessed with an amazing birthing experience all thanks to my epidural. I say, thank you modern medicine for the gift of no pain during birth! I think women who don't take advantage of this modern miracle are crazy. More power to ya if you choose the all natural route, but I still think you're crazy. Being on both ends of the spectrum I can honestly say that with an epidural I had a pleasant birthing experience that I got to fully enjoy because I wasn't writhing around in pure pain for hours on end. Thank you epidural!!!

Ferris Mae Jackson

Born February 24, 2011

at 5:50 a.m.

7 lbs. 9 oz.

20 1/2 inches long

Gettin Crafty

I ordered some vinyl lettering from my sisters friend a few months ago. Now that I've been on maternity leave I've been looking for things to keep myself and my 2 1/2 year old daughter entertained. So I decided I would actually finish my vinyl sign instead of just keeping the lettering around for a while. I let Elliott do most of the painting for the basecoat because I knew you wouldn't be able to see any strange brush marks once the top coat was applied, so at least that kept her busy for a while. Application of crackle medium and top coat you should do yourself. She also helped peel the paper off of the vinyl.

Here's what we used:

vinyl lettering

wood

sandpaper

paintbrushes

Metallic Antique Gold acrylic paint

Khaki Tan acrylic paint

crackle medium

 1. Lightly sand wood & dust off with a clean cloth

2. Apply a coat or two of your basecoat color & let dry (darker than top coat is recommended) This is where I used the gold
 3. Apply one coat of crackle medium and let dry

4. Apply one coat of top coat and let dry, mine is the khaki color
5. Sand edges & corners to distress & dust off with a clean cloth
6. Apply vinyl lettering

I love these colors because they'll look great with any wall color we change Elliott's room to. And I love the rustic look of it!

Going Green

I've been thinking about homemade cleaners for a while now and decided that some heavy duty cleaning may just send me into labor. False. But I did try something new that worked really well. The designated chair Elliott sits in to eat at the table is absolutely disgusting! She literally gives herself a facial with whatever she's eating and every time her hands make the rounds to her mouth a little more food gets in it. I don't know what her dislike for utensils is but at least she's not a picky eater. So I looked up a recipe for homemade wood cleaner. 

Wood cleaner: 1 cup olive oil + 1/2 fresh lemon juice.

Before: (my camera isn't the best but there is coated grime and nastiness all over this beast!)

After:

It takes some elbow grease, well, maybe only if your child eats like mine. But the results were amazing and my hands felt great afterwords with all of that olive oil.

Finally telling my experience with Crohn's

Hey everyone, it's me Pat, I know your like: "What!?!? This is Rachel's blog! get off!" I dont post on here often but I have been meaning to do this for a long time.Ok so I feel bad cuz I pretty much hijacked my friends post on FaceBook to share a quick personal experience and recommend a product that I buy and use personally. So I want to do it right and tell my story here. Here it goes...


A few years back I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. It took over a year, an unnecessary surgury, a plethora of the most humiliating tests and jumping from doctor to doctor due to insurance changes. A doctor finally confirmed it I had Crohn's disease. FYI: Crohn's disease is a chronic illness with no cure read more here, but be warned there are picturs and they are gross.


It is basically an auto-immune disorder attacking your colon and digestive system. Think of it as IBS on crack. Common symptoms are abdominal pain, painful and frequent bowel movements, loss of appetite, rapid weight loss, and it can lead to cancer.


My first specialist put me on a steroid I forget what its called, but it had a huge list of side effects like psychotic episodes and schizophrenia. I took the pills hoping to avoid these effects and it did ok with relieving my symptoms. I was fortunate that a friend spoke up and told me about the possibility of treating my disease with Omega 3 pills. He told me about K48 Plus a highly concentrated Omega 3 sourced from krill. I know you think of Finding Nemo right...


I began taking the pills and I noticed a difference in my energy level and mood first. Then I stopped taking my steroid pills and my symptoms did not return. I now have no major symptoms and I don't have to worry about side effects other than feeling better and sleeping better. My doctor did not tell me about this! Though to no fault of his own as the studies on Omega 3 are new and are still underway on the many benefits they have for our bodies. It has shown significant benefits for people with all kinds of chronic diseases and common ailments.


For more info PLEASE click here


Please feel free to ask me any questions about my experience, this was just a quick telling and there is much more to it. If you want to buy a bottle and try it for yourself please let me know. I became a distributor because I believe in this product so much. Again ask me anything about my experience or the pills. Seriously, I am an open book on this topic, ask me anything. Fire away, haha.

Mmmmm...Cupcakes

I'm really not a cake kinda girl. I like cookies or brownies way better. But Patrick, on the other hand, loves him some cake! He really wanted to make cupcakes tonight so we busted out some mad skills and made strawberry cupcakes with homemade strawberry jam filling and vanilla frosting.

Yeah, they were good. Whenever I tried to put something back into the cupboards the door would hit my belly, haha. Lemme try to re-close that. Sometimes I forget how far pregnant bellies stick out. Anyways, we have both agreed that next time we'll try chocolate cupcakes with banana filling and peanut butter frosting, or peanut butter filling and banana frosting. Either way, it's a win-win situation.

P.S. Don't be jealous of mah gangsta chain! I like it (Candice made it for me for Christmas).

Baby Ryker

Ryker Jason Horn

Born January 27, 2011 at 12:30pm

7lbs 12oz - 19 1/2 inches

 

Elliott was sooo excited to see and hold baby Ryker. Can't blame her, he's a cutie!

Braedyn was holding him and she said to Elliott, "it's your turn now." Elliott squeezed the pillow she was holding and said to Braedyn, "I'm so excited!"

Elliott and Eleanor

Patrick's sister (Candice) and her daughter (Eleanor) came to visit from Utah. Elliott had so much fun helping take care of her cousin. It was great to have them down to visit! And yes, the e-l names get a little confusing sometimes.

 

 And here's Elliott doing puzzles with Grandpa. They both love puzzles...and princesses.

 

Princess

So, my mother-in-law got this dog a while back. It half chihuahua and half something else, maybe Pomeranian. It's small, stinky, and definitely an ankle biter. And her name is Princess. But Elliott was in love with her. Yes, I say was because after a few weeks Debbie gave the dog back. Yay! It was so stinky and trapped in a room all day. What? I didn't have time to take care of a dog AND a kid AND be pregnant. Too hard, not my dog anyways. Elliott would rarely put her down. She'd carry her around like a baby, push her in her shopping cart, make Princess play musical instruments, make her dance, the list just goes on and on. Here's Elliott and her BFF.