Sick

These three pictures pretty much sum up the past 3 weeks for us. My kids all got some mystery virus, 4 of them were miserable and felt like crud for about 24 to 48 hours, with high fevers and headaches, and then they got better.

Then Ethan got sick. And he stayed sick... for a very long time. He developed some awful rash, then it disappeared, only to be replaced by some different awful rash, and his fevers where scary high. Like the kind of high where we didn't let him out of our sight for almost three days because I was so worried about febrile seizures.

Then his ankle and wrist joints started swelling up and they hurt him to move. We had to pick him up and carry him to the bathroom, and to bed, or to the couch to watch a bit of TV. He hurt too much to walk, or even hold a book or a glass of water. He was loosing weight. He didn't eat anything at all for almost a week.

We called his pediatrician multiple times, then we took him to see his pediatrician, and she sent us to the emergency room, twice! We had to talk to infectious disease doctors, and specialists. I was really scared. He just wasn't getting any better. We were getting worn so thin, with the worry and constant care that a house full of sick kids needs. (And of course when they all got sick, it was not on the same days but like dominoes...one after another.)

The kids who got over it quickly were being left to their own devices a lot, because I had to spend so much time taking Ethan to various doctor's offices and emergency room. They ate pretty much whatever they could scavenge from the recesses of the refrigerator and pantry for a week, because I hadn't time to go to the store and pick up milk, or cereal, or fruits and veggies. Logan was making sure that everyone was fed while I was with Ethan and his Dad was at work.

I didn't think that what the rest of the children had come down with was the same thing Ethan now had and the doctors were worried that whatever it was was most likely very contagious. (Plus I am 7 months pregnant...not a good time to be exposing myself to some mystery virus!) I became an obsessive handwasher overnight! I was so exhausted and so worried for my poor baby!

The doctors finally decided that what he has is a fairly common virus which usually effects very small children (babies and toddlers mostly) and that since he had apparently never had it as a little one, he was having a much worse case of it that normal. His body was just having a really hard time fighting it off. He had all kinds of test run on him, they checked for everything under the sun. And it turns out it was probably some virus he picked up at the supermarket from the grocery cart. He is still pretty sick, today was day 15. Normally this virus only lasts a few days in toddlers, often with relatively few symptoms. But the doctors said it might take him as long as 2 to 3 weeks for him to start really feeling better.

Thankfully I feel fine, and so does Rodrigo. We figure that we must have been exposed to this thing as small children at some point and now we are immune to it, since we've already passed the incubation period. The rest of the kids are doing fine now too, Only my sweet little Ethan is still fighting this thing off. He is up and eating some now, and he managed to walk a little bit by himself today. But for now he spends his entire day laying on the couch listening to audio-books, watching TV, or sleeping. He hasn't been up to play one single time in weeks. It's awful seeing your child this sick.

That's why things have been so quiet here, I just haven't really done anything at all blog worthy in over 2 weeks. (Other than have the giveaway of the dolls I made. Thankfully I got those finished up just before everyone started getting so sick!) My plans for handmade Christmas gifts are still very much in the plan stage, since other than knitting while at the hospital and doctors' offices I haven't found a moment to do anything at all lately!

Free Shipping and a Winner!

For this week only I am offering free shipping on any of the Waldorf inspired dolls in my Etsy Shop, so if you would like one of these adorable little Autumn dolls now would be a great time to hop on over and get one! Domestic and International shipping are included! Enter this coupon code at checkout:

FreeShipFall2013

The free shipping coupon is good only through September 28, 2013 so hurry on over to my Etsy store now! 

A big thank you to everyone who left all of the sweet comments on my giveaway post! Without Random.org it would have been impossible to choose! :-) 

The Winner of my doll giveaway is Renata! Congratulations! I've sent you an email!

Pickles the pig

**Don't forget to enter the giveaway I'm having right now! You could win one of my handmade Waldorf Dolls! You can enter by leaving a comment HERE!**

Rodrigo (my husband) calls me every day on his way home from work to chat about our days during his drive home. This afternoon he mentioned that he had picked up a little surprise for me on the way home. He often stops somewhere on his way home to buy me flowers, or a little treat to eat or something of that sort, so I said "Oh good! Now I really can't wait until you get here to see what your bringing me!" I mean, who doesn't love surprise gifts from their husband?? He laughed and assured me that it wasn't very big and said that he'd be home in about 15 minutes.

I was outside  petting the emus when he arrived. He got out of his truck and kissed me hello. All of the kids where in the house so it was just the two of us out there for a few minutes. We talked some more, and then I noticed an animal carrier in the back of his truck. I asked if he had brought my parents dog home, since we often doggy-sit for them when they go out of town. No, it wasn't their dog, when I got closer to his truck I realized he had a tiny piglet in the crate! I was shocked!

Let me explain, I've wanted to have a pig (or pigs) for years. And it's always been Rodrigo who said how we either didn't have a good place for them to live, or that they stink, or they break out of fences, etc. So I accepted that and let it go, I mean it's not like we lack either livestock or pets around here! But every once in a while we'd see pigs for sale somewhere and I'd mention again how much I'd like to have pigs one day.

After I petted her and oooo'd and aaaaah'd for a few minutes I ran (well, as much as a woman who is 7 months pregnant can run!) into the house to call the kids to come see what their Daddy had brought home. They were all thrilled! Especially Claire, she has been saying for months that this can't be a real farm unless we have a pig. Apparently in her estimation "real" farms must have a pig or a cow. She promptly declared that it would be her pig, and it should be named "Pickles". So that is the story of how Pickles the pig came to join our farm.

Now we can rest easy knowing that our little farm is indeed a bonafide farm! And I have a really awesome husband who instead of flowers or sweets brings me a piglet and totally makes my day!

Doll Giveaway and a fun announcement!

Aren't they adorable? I mean really?! I am so happy with how these little dolls have turned out. And now just in time for the Autumn Equinox I'm having a great big giveaway to celebrate the arrival of Fall! I'll be giving away one of these adorable Waldorf inspired Mushroom dolls! Perfect for playing with or displaying on your nature table! 

I had so much fun coming up with these two designs. I'm not sure which is my favorite. The little mushroom dolls are modeled after some of my favorite kinds of mushrooms which grow in abundance here in the woods surrounding our house, the Amanita muscaria. 

The Acorn dolls have little wool hats, embroidered to resemble the acorns that they are so fond of. Their little tunics are decorated with fall colored Oak leaves and a wool felt acorn. Both kinds of dolls have fully posable arms thanks to a soft wool covered wire armature inside them. They were entirely handmade by me using all natural materials in the Waldorf tradition.

Now for my fun announcement! I've listed two of the Mushroom Children and two of the Acorn Children dolls in my etsy shop!

And now for the giveaway! To enter all you have to do is be a follower of my blog. Either via Google's friend connect or by email using the feedburner widget. Both are found over on the right hand column just under the "about me" section. Alternatively, you can also Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Please be sure to leave a comment here letting me know how you follow my blog (and what email address you use if it's via feedburner) Please make sure I have a way to contact you if your name is drawn as the winner! I'll draw a name from the comments (Only one per person please!) using a random number generator on Sunday September 22, 2013 which is the official first day of Fall! Oh and I'll happily ship anywhere in the world so this giveaway is open to all of my friends everywhere! ♥♥♥

P.S. Feel free to pin the top image and let all of your friends know about the giveaway too!


linking up here and with Linda here and with Nicole here and with Joey here

Handmade Holidays 2013...so I begin

Yes I know...It seems very early in the year to be thinking about Christmas gifts. But folks, my darling husband just told me there are only 110 days left until Christmas. That's less than 4 months! And this year I don't want to be caught unprepared. Plus in my case there are some special circumstances coming into play over the next few months which necessitate my getting things done early or probably not done at all. Not the least of which is the impending birth of our sweet little girl due in November, and family coming to stay from out of the country for several weeks in December!  Since I probably wont get much wood working done after the baby gets here I am trying to get that part of my handmade holiday preparations finished now! Sawdust and baby wearing really don't go hand in hand!

I've wanted to make a wooden Nativity set for the little ones to play with for a couple of years and I just never got around to it for some reason. I have the set I played with as a child, but it's more delicate than these sturdy wooden figures, so I really don't like them playing with it unsupervised. I have, until now, kept it out of their reach and only brought it down to the coffee table for them to tell the story of Jesus' birth and then back up it goes as soon as we're done playing and telling. But my plans for this one are to leave it within their reach all Christmas season so that they can interact with it as often as they desire!

I looked at a couple of  natural toy catalogs I have and different stores online then drew out the elements I liked best from several different wooden Nativity scenes. Next I transferred the outlines of my drawings to the wood, and cut them out with my scroll saw during two afternoon nap times last week. (I try to get the potentially dangerous crafting done while the under 4 crowd is napping in the afternoon!)  Yesterday during nap time I managed to get them all sanded and snapped these pictures outside just as the little ones were waking up from their naps. Sometime over the next couple of days I plan on wood burning details into them, and I'll probably add some nice watercolor washes to them. I haven't decided for sure whether I will paint them or not, I'm leaning towards yes, I will, but we'll see how I feel about it once I get the wood burning done... Then to seal the wood with some kid friendly homemade beeswax wood protector. And I'll be done!

Oh and I still would like to come up with a nice little stable for everyone to hang out in, at least something big enough for the Holy family and a few animals, and as always sturdy enough to stand up to years of play! Or at very least to survive Emmett's toddlerhood! He's rather a force of nature, that one! Kind of like what an insurance company might describe as an "Act of God" :-) That's it, our darling little Emmett~ our own personal Act of God! I read recently on someone's blog that a friend had described her toddler boy as feral, sometimes I feel like that might describe our child too. You'd think after having this many kids (he's #5 for goodness sake!) that we'd have this parenting little ones thing all figured out. Ha! Not really, this kid is so different from any of my other children. He is sweet, and loving, and always happy...until he's not!  He is very friendly and outgoing and extremely high needs all at the same time. At least the fact that he is number five gives me the perspective of knowing that although some days are completely draining and can feel like they last forever, time really does have a way of passing so quickly and pretty soon, he'll be beyond this stage and on to some new and exciting development! :-) That perspective is something that I am very thankful for, that comes from having gone through these years before, and really wanting to mindfully make the very most of them now, because this adorableness, and even this neediness doesn't last forever. At least not in the same ways.

Linking up with Nicole here and Linda here.