10ish weeks to go!

I am now 29 weeks pregnant with this Little Miss which means there are roughly 10 weeks until I deliver! I expect to be a little early, since each of my babies was born before their due dates. Amelia was the earliest at 38 weeks, Caley and Wesley were both about 4-5 days early. Of course I practically begged my OB to break my water with Wesley so active labor would actually begin, I was so uncomfortable, so I often wonder if he'd held on a few more days if not "forced" out.

We don't have a name yet, but that doesn't really bother me since we were last-minute namers with each of the kids.

I'm feeling pretty good, aside from the aches and pains that are typical of pregnancy. And thank the Lord it hasn't been hot this summer. Today it's about 78-80, which is about all I can stand!

Here is what she may look like right now in utero:

It's funny what people have to comment when I'm out with the kids. If I had a nickel for every "You've got your hands full" or "Are they all yours" or "I could never do that" and the like, we could pay for their college tuition! Just smile and nod, and walk away. I had one old man tell me "You better watch out for those accidents in the bed!" Nice, classy, old man. Even better, another guy tried to convince me to stock food for the impending polar shift. Um, yeah, I'll get right on that. But there are also a lot of nice comments. Today a lady at church said she's glad I'm having kids. That made me feel good.

It's always an exercise in knowing I'm not here to please man, but to please God. And it doesn't matter how many kids we have, we aim to have kids who love Jesus and to reflect Jesus in my mothering.

Blog changes

Hello faithful few blog readers!

This blog is, once again, public.

My original reason for making this blog private was because I was adding Cost Cutter entries and it was attracting more traffic than I liked. Specifically, blog traffic from countries I had no idea who would be reading and what they would read about my family. That thought made me uncomfortable.

But shortly after the Cost Cutter blog started, the store had to close (sad day for Addie). It made me reconsider the privacy of our family blog and ease up a bit.

So here is the new, slightly improved Gerlach family blog! I hope to post more often, but I'm not promising anything.

Hello again!

18 months

Wesley is nearly 18 months (on July 28th) and is turning into such a little boy! He has developed quite the assertive attitude and if you do something he doesn't like, he will let you know! His language is moving along and he definitely understands more than he lets on. He follows simple directions well, like "Go get a book" or "Get your shoes" and likes to help clean up. He LOVES being outside. He LOVES his yellow, green and brown blankie. He loves his sisters and giving kisses and hugs. He also frequently bodyslams Amelia. Well, maybe baby bodyslams, out of love, of course. He also climbs anything and everything he can find. The girls never did that, that I can remember.

Earlier this week I gave him a haircut and it seemed to instantly make him seem older.

Happy 18 months buddy! We love you!

Chelan!

We took a family vacation to Lake Chelan a few weeks ago! It was very relaxing and fun! We stayed with Adam in his little rental house. We stayed upstairs in the loft, yes all 5 of us in the same "room." The kids did great! I have been very nervous about moving the girls into one room (again) when the baby arrives, and this trip made be feel much better about that. I know that they CAN be in the same room and not mess around. Although it helped that they were exhausted each day from all the fun! We mainly went swimming, lounged, picked blueberries and spent good quality family time together. Here are some pictures from the trip, enjoy!

 The girls did great in the lake and pools because of their floaties!

 At a little market we fed the goats!

 Wes had a popsicle and looked like he'd eaten a piece of raw meat and his hands were stained red!

 We also picked blueberries at Blueberry Hills Restaurant, home of the "Dunlap" the best breakfast ever!

And it's another...

GIRL!

We found out Wednesday this week that Gerlach baby #4 is another girl. We are so excited! Actually it's kind of relieving to have a gender to identify with this baby. With the surprise circumstances in which she was conceived, it's been a little harder for me to feel connected to her. But now that we know she is in fact, a she, I'm having a hard time imagining what another girl will be like! I can only imagine Caley and Amelia! I know this little one will have a whole different look, personality, and we have the privilege of getting to know her over the years.

Halfway through this pregnancy, I'm feeling really good. At exactly 12 weeks, my energy regained and the subtle sickness subsided. And now that the weather is nicer, it's easier to stay active with all the inside and outside work to do around here. We have a fabulous garden that's been about 8+ months in the making, hopefully I can post about that soon. Tending to the garden and mowing the lawn and weeding in various places, along with the usual inside cleaning, laundry and dishes, on top of three kids makes for a busy week. But a GOOD busy. We wouldn't have it any other way.

It's so funny because my good friend Ande is pregnant too, due basically the same day as me, and having a girl too! We both had sons on the same day about 18 months ago. Our bodies and lives seem to be on the same schedule lately. Weird...or just God's beautiful providential hand working in our lives! :)

It's always somethin' 'round here

Today we are pumping out water from under the house. Why? Well because a little visitor, a rat decided to set up shop in the crawl space and chew through the dishwasher return hose. We didn't notice it for several weeks and the little b*****d chewed through the tube enough to cause a bunch of water to squirt in the subfloor and the crawl space. It's caused some buckling of the hardwood floor. Thankfully we figured it out now instead of in a few more weeks. What a pain. Thankfully my sweet husband is a very good "do-it-yourself-er" and it's almost back go normal. And we caught the rat in a trap so hopefully it won't happen again.
Not to mention the list of things to do is already a mile long...oh the fun of homeownership!

Checking in

Today I got to hear the baby's heartbeat, I'm almost 13 weeks. It was strong and steady at about 160bpm. It finally sunk in more that this is really happening. Even with seeing the baby on ultrasound at 7 weeks, I still kind of thought this was all a joke my body was playing on me. (Yes, even with the expanding waistline and flutters of movement in my belly.) Getting nearly out of the first trimester and into the "safe" zone allows me to relax a little bit more.

I wonder who this little person is?

Questions

Today Caley asked me, "Mommy, what's that orange and white circle that people put to their mouth and then smoke comes out?" Smoking. I was kind of taken aback because I never expected her to ask that kind of question and because I had no idea where to start explaining the answer.
I tried to explain that it's a plant called tobacco that grows and makes leaves, then the leaves are baked and crushed then put in the paper, then people light it on fire and smoke it. I told her it's not very healthy but some people don't care if it's not healthy, they do it anyway. I told her it's unhealthy because it's hurts people's insides. I also told her a lot of people start and want to stop, but can't because it's really hard to.

I'm very glad Caley can feel comfortable asking me questions that are difficult. This one is probably the hardest question so far, but I know there will be many more in the coming years. I'm just hoping it doesn't happen sooner than it should, like when we're in the grocery store and she reads "sex" on a magazine and asks, "Mom, what's sex"? Lord, help me. Would it be okay to make her walk around the store with a blindfold on her face?

Thank you, dear Wesley!

Wesley has reached a milestone that I thought may never happen...sleeping through the night! He has been consistently sleeping 12+ hours at night for the last several weeks. It "coincidentally" happened when I weaned him and he started only drinking whole milk from a bottle. I was really hoping to be able to nurse longer, but it was really taking a toll on me being newly pregnant. He's also begun to sleep longer now that he's walking everywhere and using up so much more energy.

One morning this week he woke up after sleeping 12 hours and when I got him out of the crib I told him, "Thank you for sleeping so well, Mommy's life was sad when you weren't sleeping."

True.

This blog is now private

Hi friends!

I started to feel very convicted and well, worried about who is reading this blog. Mostly because now I can track the stats and there are people in a bunch of countries reading this blog and I have no idea of knowing who they are!

This blog will be for family stuff and other random thoughts. If you're looking for Cost Cutter bidness, check out my new blog: www.iheartcostcutter.blogspot.com

With my children growing up and the need for privacy and safety, I decided to make the switch. I hope you understand.

Look who's walking!

A sneak peek

Today I got an ultrasound for the new baby. Everything looks great! S/he is measuring right on at 7 weeks. I would post a picture but it'd just look like a blurry blob so I'll just have to leave you with my thoughts. 


The baby wasn't moving so much, because it's such an itty bitty and the arms and legs are currently more like flippers. But it's little heartbeat was flickering away and very strong. It's so strange to see a first glimpse of a new little person. More so now that I've been through it a few times and I know that that little blurry blob will grow to be. It's crazy to think that the three children in our house were once a blurry blob. That's what we see on a computer monitor but really the process isn't blurry or blobby at all. I am reminded of Psalm 139: 13-16
 "For you created my inmost being; 
   you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; 
   your works are wonderful, 
   I know that full well. 
My frame was not hidden from you 
   when I was made in the secret place, 
   when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. 
Your eyes saw my unformed body; 
   all the days ordained for me were written in your book 
   before one of them came to be. "

Who is this little person and what will he or she be? 

God's Grace in a Race

About 12 weeks ago I decided to run the Mercer Island Half Marathon again. I literally said to Bill, "If I'm going to run another race before we possibly have another baby, now would be the time." Wow, does God have a sense of humor! I started training and running 8+ miles on the weekends and exercising every day, sometimes twice a day. Then about six weeks later we found out I was pregnant. I would be 7 weeks on race day. I read that if a person's body is used to running long distances before pregnancy, it should be okay to continue. The training continued and I was feeling pretty good (although tired).

But this past week on Wednesday I suddenly became very nauseous and sick, I couldn't keep anything down and I was very weak. On Wednesday I mostly slept, which is hard when there are kids to tend to (thank goodness for TV). I couldn't tell if this was morning sickness or a flu bug. Thursday wasn't much better, and I realized that if I didn't get better fast, I wouldn't be running on Sunday. That thought made me cry! I'd been training, I'd paid the registration fee, and it'd be such a disappointment! I posted on a running group forum at church asking if someone would take my place, but no takers. Really, who can run a half on 3 days notice?
Friday I was feeling a little better but it wasn't a vomit-free day. By then I had kind of accepted that I wouldn't run if I was feeling so yucky and was okay with it.

But thankfully Saturday I woke up and felt amazing, compared the previous days. I was even able to run a little, and feeling God's grace and my friend's prayer. It made me so grateful!
Sunday was race day, and I was so excited and ready! Dang that's a tough 13.1 miles. Rolling hills throughout and some major hills as well. My goal has usually been in races to not walk or stop. With God's grace I was able to do that this time. But my time was much slower than the last time I did the half. No mind, I was just grateful to have been able to run!

There was an amazingly inspirational running team that I ran with much of the time. A man, maybe 60, who was blind with a woman, probably also 60-ish, as his lead. They were tethered together and the man was on the left. The woman would tug on his tether around his hand as he began to wander. It was an amazing thing to see, the course is so curvy this lady sure had a tough job keeping the man on track. It made me think, I wonder what each person's story might be. I have a tiny baby in my belly, I wonder why other people are running? It's interesting being at the end of the race because there are these people who just keep running, even though they're at the end of the pack. The race isn't about winning against others, it's about winning against yourself.

Bill and the kids came to the finish line. I knew I would see them, and when I did I just wanted to be done, even though there was maybe 200 yards to go. Caley and Amelia saw me from far away and ran toward me. The excitement and exhaustion at that point caught up with me and I couldn't catch my breath. The look on my face must have been kind of scary because when Caley got up to me she didn't want to give me a hug and looked kind of scared!

I hope to keep running through this pregnancy and be able to do the Iron Girl in September. I'll be about 25 weeks. We'll see! That'd be awesome. But for now I'm still basking in the feeling of God's grace through this race.

**Update**
If you'd like to see some pictures of me running go here. Be warned, I look freakish. When I saw Caley and Amelia I nearly lost it and my face looks scary. Gimme a break, it'd already been 13 miles! :)

Why do I coupon?

I read (and regularly rely on) a coupon blog called This Beautiful Frugal Life. Recently she wrote a post about why she coupons. She told a cute story about how much her son loves Johnson Bubble Bath and she coupons and gets it for cheap because sometimes he pours it all over their carpet. You can read it here.

My reason for couponing is a little different. I enjoy couponing because it allows a little wiggle room in our budget for things I don't expect to buy. Yes, I love being able to score diapers and wipes for cheap (we use a lot around here) and all kinds of cereal (the less sugar kind) and Albertson's doubler deals. But for me recently this un-planned-for item was pregnancy tests. I needed to buy some because I couldn't figure out my cycle. Usually I hate doing this, because they're so freakin' expensive. BUT I had some +UP rewards at Rite Aid that were burning a hole in my pocket so I loaded up three kids to Rite Aid on my non-grocery day (shocking, I know) and bought two boxes, because they were BOGO 50% off AND I scored the boxes with an extra test in each. Six tests and out-of-pocket I paid about $6.
The lady at the cash register asked me how old my kids were. My face turned red. "Um, they're 6, 3.5, 13 months and yes I just bought two boxes of pregnancy tests thank you very much."

So that's why I coupon, because sometimes things just come up.

Oh and the tests were positive. Surprise!

Microwave-free Living

About two weeks ago our microwave finally died, and it died tragically. I was warming up something for dinner when suddenly the bottom of the microwave (it is attached to the overhead cabinets) start smoking! It was a horrible smell that set off the smoke alarm and the smoke hung in the air even though we opened all the windows and doors. After determining that it was un-fixable, we tried to take it off the wall but discovered the genius who built this house had attached the cabinets around the microwave, making it unmovable. So now it's a place to put a picture Caley drew, not a usable microwave.
Honestly, I'm kind of glad it finally died. For the last several months I'd been feeling like a microwave wasn't the best thing to cook my family's food in, but since it still worked I would always go back to using it. But for the last few weeks we've been forced to re-heat foods in other ways and it's actually really easy and tastes much better!
This might not be big news for you, maybe you have lived without a microwave for a while, but for me it is mind-blowing. I did a little research and found a few helpful articles about microwave-free living such as this one.
Here are a few things I've discovered that work for me in warming things without the microwave.

• Adding a little bit of water to the pan while warming things like casseroles and pasta helps immensely.
• Warming soup and other liquid-y foods works best in small batches.
• Warming breads and pancakes works best in the toaster oven.
• Defrosting frozen meats works well in a plastic bag in a sink of lukewarm water. I've been surprised at how well this works, for all kinds of meats, including deli meat. 
• I usually keep a tea kettle on the stove full of water to heat as needed and use for warming Wesley's food.

Probably the biggest difference since not using a microwave is the way reheated coffee tastes. It's so much better! Microwaved coffee use to make me sick to my stomach (whereas fresh never did), but stove-heated is nearly as good as fresh. 

I'm convinced that not using a microwave is better for my family and I hope it can stay that way!

Some Things I Wouldn't Buy, Even with a Coupon

Since beginning to coupon, I've been convicted especially about what I'm feeding my family, not just how much we are spending on groceries. At first I would get pretty much anything if it were way cheap, but there are a few things that didn't sit right with my soul while I watched my kids eat their meals. I'm not trying to pass judgement on these products or people who buy them, but as long as our budget allows, I will buy things that are a little more expensive because they are higher quality.

• Yoplait yogurt- At least for the regular and light varieties, I do not buy these. The regular variety is just way too sweet to call yogurt. And the light variety is sweet in a fake-tasting way. Besides, it's cheaper to get milk on a good sale and use it to make yogurt. 
• Anything but Adams peanut butter- Similar to the yogurt reason, I've found that the other peanut butters (Jif, Skippy, store brands) contain unnecessary sugar or oil. Adams peanut butter is wonderfully natural tasting! The only downside is there are rarely coupons or store deals. :( 
• Lunchmeats- We are blessed to have an amazing butcher/deli close-by, DD Meats, which sells very high quality lunchmeat at less than $4/lb. I have recently seen some awesome deals on store lunchmeat in the deli case that match nicely with manufacturer coupons. I even bring them to the store with me, intending buy it, but when I get there I can't bring myself to buy it! 
• Various canned goods, like Spaghetti-o's- I bought these one time on a great store matchup, but again couldn't bring myself to feed them to my kids. I remember hating Spaghetti-o's when I was a kid, the noodles were just nastified. I ended up donating them to the food bank, which I kind of felt bad about because it's probably not the most nutritional food.
• Microwave meals (a la Weight Watchers meals)- In high school I lived on these WW meals and they were okay. But now, even with a coupon, I can't bring myself to buy them and frequently do the same thing as with the lunchmeats, bringing coupons to the store and then chickening out. The idea of eating something that was frozen 2 minutes ago and was cooked in a plastic dish doesn't sit well with my conscience. 

A clip that made me laugh, especially while I was thinking about what I buy for my family, is a recent sermon about the parable of the Great Banquet. Fast forward to about 44 minutes and Driscoll will show what won't be at the big party with Jesus.

 

Wesley's Birthday Cake Adventure!

Happy *Belated* Birthday Wesley and Caley!

I feel like such a bad blogging mama. It's been almost a month and I've barely mentioned Caley and Wesley's birthdays. I plead being too busy! We had a busy few weekends of birthday parties, family parties, Coffee-Mate and Superbowl parties, on top of our regular schedule. Make no mistake, even though I was silent on this blog about their birthdays, they were very much celebrated here in "real life."
I'm pleasantly surprised at how well Wesley and Caley play together, despite being 5 years apart. They love to crawl around and play peek-a-boo and Caley picks Wesley up and he doesn't seem to mind. At first I didn't like when she picked him up, but it's proven quite useful like when we're in a stinky public restroom and Mommy needs to use the potty!
For Wesley's birthday party we had a joint party with his birthday buddy Magnus. Ande posted some pictures from the party here. We decided to do a Potato Head theme because Max always calls Wesley "Weseley Oval Head" and Magnus "Magnus Meatball Head." We served baked potatoes and toppings, meatballs, potato chips and tater tots. Healthy, I know. I made a cake and Ande made potato ice creams, which is ice cream rolled in cocoa powder and topped with whipped cream. It was a crazy fun morning with lots of friends, presents, and games.

Ande made Wesley a potato shirt!

Magnus is the Potato Head with teeth because he has like 20!

It's funny how when Caley turned 1 I was worried about making a healthy cake with carrot bits and very little sugar. With Wesley he got a box cake, which I accidentally added twice as much oil to.

Magnus really enjoyed the cake and ice cream!

Wesley wasn't too sure about it.

The day after Wesley's birthday we celebrated Caley's birthday at Red Robin. My parents, David, Bill's parents, Erin and family, and Rachel and family. The only ones who couldn't make it were Matt and family and Adam. Considering how big Bill's family is, I was impressed how many people came! What a blessing to have so many people who love us! Caley got an ice cream sundae and the people sang to her. She was a little blindsided by the whole thing!

Wesley eating some of Caley's ice cream from a corndog stick.

For Caley's birthday she asked for an Ariel theme. I made an Ariel cake and we played fishing. She also asked for pizza for dinner. So she invited 10 little girls over and it was a Friday evening party (no I cannot handle a 10-little-girl-sleepover). They played dress up and danced to Disney tunes. It was another crazy fun party!

I felt kind of weird putting a bra on Ariel, realizing she's really not wearing much! What's up with the role modeling Disney?!

Just keep feeding them candy and it'll all be okay!

I cannot believe she is 6! What happened to my little baby girl?

We are so blessed to have friends and family who love us and love our kids! I will post something to each Caley and Wesley too.