30 Weeks...and more pics

30 weeks (note C showing off her "belly" too):


Some miscellaneous fun from Christmas:

Surprise trip to San Diego

The girls were supposed to fly over to SD on Christmas Day to see my parents for a few days. We arranged for them to fly on Southwest as Unaccompanied Minors (UMs), and arrived at the airport with plenty of time to complete the appropriate paperwork. The plane was delayed 20 minutes according to the board, so we spent some time playing on the moving walkways and getting some energy out:



C took a picture of D and me...a rare sight around here LOL


We finally made our way to the gate, only to be paged and told that all UMs were being excluded from the flight due to a weather advisory! Now I will hold my tongue a little and just say, I have never had such rude service as we had there at the gate podium check-in thingy...

Beyond annoyed, we were told our choices were to put the girls on a flight to LAX (yeah, helpful when we're trying to get them to San Diego!), or rebook for the next day. On the spur of the moment, we decided that instead of ruining this fun Xmas trip and family Xmas dinner waiting on the other end, I would buy a ticket and just go with them! So out came the credit card and ID, the girls and I hopped on the plane, and D went home with Baby L.

So that is how I ended up spending a night in San Diego yesterday...I flew home this morning, as I'm actually on call for a mama who is 38.5 weeks pregnant right now, and I should not have been out of town in the first place!

So the girls are still there, and will get to visit with my cousin and his family (Hi D :)), and meet their second cousins. They will drive back here with my parents and sister on Monday.

Oh, speaking of sister - that is a lovely surprise I hadn't mentioned, as she returned home from India for the holidays as a surprise to the rest of the family.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas (or Solstice, or Hanukkah, or whatever holiday you celebrate).

Happy 5th birthday, E!

Christmas Kids

I kind of like the funny face here:


I'll try for more soon...oh, for comparison, here's last year's version:

This year, L is wearing the PJs E wore last year, and E is wearing the ones that C wore! I love hand-me-downs :)

Family photo...kind of

Since I'm always the one behind the lens, here we have the Bass gang minus mama:


Maybe this weekend I can get a good kid pic...and we'll see, if the stars are right, maybe even a whole family shot. What a thought.

And how could I not share this little gem? Monkey see, monkey do...



I almost forgot: I got some erythromycin eye ointment, and it seems as if my skin is improving! It's definitely not as "angry" looking as it was last week, and my eyes don't seem nearly as red. I have also switched to California Baby calendula cream, and it seems to be good as well. I'm hoping it's for real, and not just wishful thinking...we'll see.

28 weeks

OK, it's been a while since I posted any pics of poor Baby4. This is mainly due to a lovely case of perioral dermatitis (warning: ugly pics there) I'm fighting - I really don't want it recorded for all ages! You can actually see back at my 18+4 picture that my chin looks all broken out. This was sadly not pregnancy acne, but the start of this dermatitis thing. I have these ugly red patches all over my chin, up the sides of my nose, and perhaps most ugly: around my eyes. So yes, for the last 10 weeks it has been getting worse...I'm beyond frustrated with it, and as you can imagine, very self-conscious too. My lame attempts at cover up are rather pathetic, but I do what I can without using toxic thick make-up. Currently I'm treating it with TTO and coconut oil as moisturizer.

Anyhoo...without further ado, here I am today, at 28 weeks from LMP.





Please notice the quick-fix we (being D) made for the fireplace...a mantle! Cute huh?

National Bankruptcy Day?

Have you all heard of the Consumer Product Safety Commission Improvement Act? Those of you who are making and selling kids' items, listen up! If you ever buy handmade gifts, read on!

The Act requires ALL manufacturers - including small business owners who sew their products by hand and artisans who sell to help support their art - to submit each piece of their product for cost-prohibitive government-approved testing. Each component - buttons, threads, fabrics, padding, etc. would need to be tested independently for lead content. The cost and extent of this lead testing would be impossible for any small business to afford.

Info on the Act

(CPSCIA)

National Bankruptcy Day

An article...

The Handmade Toy Alliance

Petition

More thoughts from a WAHM

*and by the way, it sounds as if resale would also be illegal...so good-bye thrift, consignment, FSOT on boards, etc...*


A not-so-funny:

New CPSIA slogan:

"CPSIA: Throwing the Babies Out With the Bathwater, and the Bathtub, Too. Oh, and All the Little Bath Toys. Better Throw Out the Sponge As Well. Just to Be Safe"

A whole new life for Barbie...

Saw these on a forum I happen to frequent...they've taken Barbie to a whole new level:

That's right. Alfred Hitchcock's THE BIRDS Barbie, complete with attacking birds!


Um....

Water birth pictures

A friend just passed this website on to me - the birth pictures are amazing! Probably not work-friendly though :)

Enjoy!

Destruction Days Chez Bass

Oops! To start, our laptop just stopped working. No lights, nothing. Then my sweet, wonderful friend (hi M!) shattered the coffee pot, then I somehow jammed the headphone adapter for the keyboard into the hole so the keyboard won't play...then I went to open a drawer in the kitchen, and the whole thing fell apart! Geez, what's next??