I recently started refurbishing and selling Strawberry Shortcake dolls on ebay.  Just wanted to share with everyone if you are interested check out my store.  :)
https://www.ebay.com/str/strawberryshortcakecentral

Here is an example of one of the dolls I rehabbed.

Updated family photos.

By today's standards 4 kids is a large family.  I never dreamt I would have 4 kids.  When I found out I was pregnant I was not excited.  I had everything planned out and life was starting to get easier.  Having 4 kids is very difficult.  Everything from managing their schedules, homework, playdates, laundry, and feeding them.  I feel like my task list never ends.  With that being said, they are so sweet and so funny.  They make everyday have meaning.  Julianna is a pistol and she is constantly telling everyone what to do.  Polina is a sweet little girl that always wants kisses and to say I love you.  Don't let her fool you though, she would stab you in the back for a piece of candy!  LOL Jaxon is funny, smart, loving and has a way about him that is just peaceful.  Brett is turning into a teenager and can be a little self involved, but I love his competitive nature, his ability to make friends and be comfortable with who he is at such a tough age.  He's funny and you can't ask for a more sincere kid.  All of my kids bring me immense joy and I wouldn't trade one of them.  They are worth all the work that comes with this big family. 

Essential Oils - Do they work?

So it seems like everywhere I turn someone is talking about essential oils.  Do they really work?  Who knows.  I decided it was worth a shot so I will be testing them myself.  I bought the introductory package of oils.  Here is a list of things that I'm hoping essential oils will help with.

1.  My dad has had sleep apnea for years.  It has gotten to the point where he can hardly sleep at night.  Every time I see him he looks exhausted.  I read an article where a lady swore by one of these essential oils.  So I bought the kit and he is now defussing while he sleeps.  I will let you know what he thinks.

2.  My dog has severe allergies.  Nothing outside of a cortisone shot gives her any relief.  Unfortunately the shot only helps for about 2 weeks and then she is back at the scratching.  She scratches to the point of having bloody sores on her body.  I read another post where a lady swore EO for the olny thing that helped her dog.  I will let you know how it goes.

3.  I have sun spots on my face that I use a high dollar skin care line to control.  I read again that EOs can fade sun spots too.  We will see.

I actually really hope this works but I am skeptical.

Here are my "spots".

And a photo of the kids just for fun!

Pregnancy

I was never one of those that enjoyed being pregnant which is one of the reasons why we pursued adopting. This pregnancy however, was the worst by far.  At nine weeks I started to get morning sickness that of course lasted all day.  By the end of the pregnancy I had such bad acid reflex that I was throwing up several times a day.   At one point I even threw up in my sleep.  I had lost the feeling in my fingers by the 7th month (still waiting for that to return).  I was swollen and VERY uncomfortable for the last 6 to 8 weeks.  I was going to the doctor 2x a week.  At 38 weeks they told me that the baby had flipped and I was going to need a C-Section.  With my boys I was induced at 41 weeks.  Needless to say I did not want a C-Section!  At 39 weeks and 1 day my water broke.  They did a quick ultrasound to check on the baby and she had flipped again!  Yeah, a natural birth.  Julianna Lisa was born 12 hours later.  We are so in love!

4th of July

The Baby Shower

 Polina and her cousin Charlotte

Julianna Lisa

 

I got something for Christmas that wasn't on my list!

In October of 2009 I started researching adoption.  I read, watched videos, requested info from several agencies, and made several phone calls.  I had a burning desire in my heart to adopt from Russia.   For many reasons my husband did not share my passion.  So in the Spring of 2010, as a compromise, we went to a fertility clinic to see if everything was still working.  At the time I was 38 so they recommended that we use some fertility drugs to boost our chances.  We never used the drugs but we did try to conceive on our own until December of 2010 when something changed my husband's heart and we decided to pursue our adoption plan.  We quit "trying" and put all of our focus on the adoption.  By December of 2011 we were home with our daughter.  Our family was complete...or so we thought.  Last December I noticed all the typical signs of starting but I never started.  So about a week later I thought I would take a test just to put my mind at ease.  Holy cow! It was positive!  How could this be?  I'm 42 for gods sakes!  I found out on Christmas Eve.  I was so stressed out I couldn't function.  I was one year way from having some freedom during the day.  We only have 5 chairs for our kitchen table.  We are out of bedrooms in our house!  So many things were going through my head.  I'm 14 weeks now and have had time to let this sink in.  I'm starting to get excited.  The baby is genetically healthy.  I'm exhausted and have horrible morning sickness.

Polina is doing well.  She has been enjoying square dancing with my parents.  She goes to gymnastics once a week.  She has preschool Monday-Thursday and most the time enjoys it.  She loves to play and rough house with her brothers and dad.  She also loves to scribble on paper, often asking what you would like from her kitchen.  Over the past several months Polina has been doing a lot of rocking, thumb sucking, and humming.  I don't know for sure why it has increase.  I finally took her for an OT evaluation today so we hopefully will know more next week.  Tomorrow Polina is scheduled for eye surgery.  She has strabismus and we have been patching for over a year so we are hoping this will help.

We'll I better get to sleep.

The animated cartoon Anastasia.

So I ran across this video on Hulu the other day and had to watch it.  The story is based on The Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia.  The animated film was based in St Petersburg and covers her bother Alexei's sickness, Grigori Rasputin link to the Romanov family, Bloody Sunday, and the capture and assassination of the Romanov family.  When the film was produced in 1997 it was still believed that Anastasia may have escaped but in 2007 it was confirmed that she did not.  Anyway, the movie is a bit odd and choppy at times but it does cover some of  Russia's history without too many gory details.  They do show several animated shots of St Petersburg.

Back to School

Our school district offers a Peer Model Preschool program.  This program is for 3 and 4 year old's that appear to be developmentally on target and transition well from activity to activity.  These kids are mixed in with kids that have delays in development in 2 or more areas.  I'm so happy that Polina was chosen to be a peer.  She now attends school at the same grade school as her brothers.  Sometimes she sees one of them in the hall.  I'm also proud that she is doing so well, that she was qualified to be a peer.

And here are her brothers headed to 1st and 4th grade.