Ambrosia Creative

Before bedtime the other night, I caught Kai making shadow figures in his room and thought, hey, it’d be real easy to make some shadow puppets out of cardstock.

Kai was pretty darn proud of the ‘t-rex’ and ghost he cut out. He even snuck working the glue gun to attach the popsicle stick when I wasn’t looking. That boy.

It’d be kinda great to have the baby room put together before she arrives. I have about 10 weeks to fill up the empty spaces and move out empty boxes (the vacant room has become a dumping ground of sorts). At least clothes shopping is moving along at a better pace. SO fun.

It didn’t take long for AC addiction to kick in. We’re such homebodies nowadays. Lots of crafting, Lego building, and squabbling between the kids. I need the beach!

Peach and crème fraîche pie, fried pickles (amazing), and chocolate frozen custard atop of cherry Italian ice. Gone are the days I couldn’t keep even a glass of water down!

And I still have a few more months to grow even more! I really should start exercising again, because birthing out big babies is a lot of work.

Lately, I’ve been thinking a lot about my birth plan. Kai was a planned non-medicated hospital birth (with assistance from my doula), but my slow labor was eventually augmented with Pitocin, and inevitably, an epidural. The epidural felt wonderful but it made for a prolonged and difficult pushing phase.

My second delivery was also a planned, non-medicated/natural hospital birth. Labor progressed so quickly, that my doula at the time didn’t make it down from Santa Barbara until after Dax was born. I don’t want to divulge a ton of details because the experience is so special to me, but at the end of it all, I felt that the excruciating pain I had undergone was worth it. Not because it was a pride issue and I felt like a true woman or something meaningless like that. But because I felt like Dax and I worked as a team. And my body rewarded me with a crazy amount of endorphins that made me feel like I was walking on air for weeks.

Despite my wonderful experience, I’m having doubts and starting to wuss out. Contrary to what other mothers say, I have not forgotten the pain. If anything, now that I know what to expect and am no longer naive in my expectations of natural childbirth, I feel that I’m worse off  having this knowledge.

Have any of you experienced multiple natural childbirths? How did you prepare yourself when you already knew what to expect? And where in the world is my copy of Birthing from Within?

My bed and I are reunited after being separated by the country for a whole month. Yeah! Graduating from the air mattress and getting to sleep with my million pillows (instead of the Pillow Pets we stole from the kids) is such a luxury. Ryan and I made a pact to never complain about our mattress again.

And speaking of luxury, why are hot dogs + relish so good to me right now? It’s funny that when I was pregnant with the boys, I had a wicked sweet tooth, but with this baby it’s been all about salty, sour, aaand…water retention. She’s kicking right now as I’m writing this and wants queso dip.

The moment I spotted these vintage wood blocks on Pinterest, I knew I had to make them! I departed from the red and blue color scheme because I really wanted to use gold (a little hard to see the shimmer in the pics) and aqua. I painted 1.5″ blank wooden blocks from Michael’s with acrylic paints, and finished them off with a satin varnish. I’m hoping to feel inspired to add to the set and make it 6×6. But I need a break.

These are a lot of fun to play with and while I was painting, the kids couldn’t wait to get their hands on them too.