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[MadiMamacita]

Get ready to answer some questions!

What is the first thing you'll want to do as soon as you deliver?

[judybean]

Originally Posted by MadiMamacita 

Get ready to answer some questions!
What is the first thing you'll want to do as soon as you deliver?

Sleep!!! Or eat! Or maybe cry tears of bliss and kiss on that sweet, sweet tiny baby head! If this baby ends up being a boy, I'll cry tears of disbelief along with joy If this baby is a girl, they'll be tears of joy for the blessing of all girls!

But mostly, I just want to *be*. I really want to relish in the feelings and emotions of giving birth and bringing forth NEW LIFE!! What an awesome, awesome experience it all is! There is truly nothing like giving birth and even though this will be my fifth birth, still... this will be only my fifth experience like this in my life! And even within that, each and every birth is so beautifully unique that it can't be compared to anything! I want to be completely in the moment and overwhelmed with the joy, the rawness, the bliss, the fatigue, the soreness of my body, the beauty of this life I've nurtured for nine months on the inside to now be joining us on the outside!

I really think it's all possible, especially being at my own home for birthing. At this moment, I'm looking forward to being swept away by emotions. I can't wait to meet this new addition to our family!

[Carlin]

What are your hobbies and what do you do for fun?

What sort of music do you like?

What do you like best about being a 'big' family? Did you always want  lots of kids, or was that something that changed as your family grew?

What are your best mama of many survival tips? :)

Are your older girls super excited for a new baby?

You are an excellent writer. How have you cultivated that skill? Or are you just a natural? ;)

[ilovejeff]

If you had a whole day just for you, no responsibilities, no 'work' allowed, what would you do? To make it more fun, let's say that your rich uncle gave you his credit card and told you to go crazy.

How much sleep do you get per day? Is it enough for you? Do you wish you could sleep more or that you could survive on less?

Where have you traveled? What is your favorite place? Where would you like to go?

[judybean]

Originally Posted by Carlin 

What are your hobbies and what do you do for fun?

I'm sure it might be obvious, but I love to SEW!  There's such a beauty in taking a flat, two-dimensional piece of fabric and turning it into three-dimensional wearable art!  It's something I do for ME (because it's just me and the sewing machine and/or serger), but also something that's completely practical!  Lately I've been dealing more in knits (think stretchy fabrics, like t-shirts and such) because they're usually pretty forgiving (i.e. not so exact... since they stretch, there's more wiggle-room when it comes to exact fit ;) ) and with that forgiveness comes less absolute time in sewing the item... and honestly, I don't GET much time to sew, so when I have time, it needs to be for a quick, straight-forward project.  I do love quilting also, but it's quite a time-consuming project.  When I do decide to get in some quilts/quilting, it's usually a made-up or free-form project.  I just don't have time for lots of tiny pieces that need to be really exact.  Thus far, most quilts of mine have been random squares or half-square triangles (just a fun, fancy term for "really easy triangles" because you start out with squares first, but end up with TWO triangle groups when you're done...)

What sort of music do you like?

It's probably easiest to classify my musical tastes by my favorite Sirius satellite radio stations!  My most-often listened to station is, hands-down, The Coffeehouse.  It's acoustic music and I love it.  Plus, I can listen to it around my kids and now feel guilty.  So... when I'm folding laundry in my bedroom, this is the station of choice when kids are here.  ... If it happens to be a Friday when my mom has taken my girls to Riverton to see my grandparents for the day and I'm cleaning up a bit ALL ALONE (yes... that's thrilling ;) ), I'll turn on Octane (billed as "New Hard Rock" by Sirius).  Sometimes I just like some good angry/pissed off music that's full of words I don't want my kids repeating ;)  Or I will also admit a silly guilty pleasure in Top 20 music like on Sirius Hits 1 (silly, usually pretty dumb pop music ;) ).  If I'm not by the Sirius radio in my bedroom.... and I'm cleaning up the living/dining room, I'll turn on one of two Pandora stations (based on my mood).  I have one that's based around the song, "Falling Slowly" by Glen Hansard (I *LOVE* his music... love, love, LOVE) and one based around Pitbull ;)  Depends on if I'm going for mellow or something with more of a beat!

What do you like best about being a 'big' family? Did you always want lots of kids, or was that something that changed as your family grew?

 Hm... I guess the thing I like the best is how this has reall shaped ME as a person.  It hasn't always been fun (I'm not always a self-sacrificing person by nature... and can tend to be quite self-centered, actually), but it's been GOOD.  I'm a much better person overall through this.   ... I didn't always plan on lots of kids.  I grew up with one brother and one sister.  My brother is three years younger than me and my sister is eight years younger than me. My dad wasn't super close to his family and they live all over the country anyway, so I never really knew those cousins... and on my mom's side I have just four cousins (two kids for her brother, two kids for her sister).  But... then I got married and converted to Catholicism and, long story short, we have no grave reasons to limit our family size and are open to whatever life we're given (that said, we'll be at maximum capacity for our Suburban with this baby #5, so that will have to be the limit for at least three years -- that's when the Suburban is paid off! ;) ).  Truly, I never pictured myself with FIVE kids though!  Even getting used to the idea of FOUR seemed sooooo crazy!  but... of course, I wouldn't change it for the world :)

What are your best mama of many survival tips? :)

I feel like I'm still navigating this.  Some days are better than others.  I'm learning to delegate a lot.  I can't be the martyr and put everything all on myself (a bad tendency I have).  As a family, we're all in this together.  I am trying to raise well-rounded children who know that everybody needs to pitch in to keep things working.

Are your older girls super excited for a new baby?

YES!!!!  They are soooooo excited for everything baby and probably just about as curious as I am as to whether it's a boy or another girl!  They're constantly asking how big the baby is and refer to the future "when the baby gets here" for so many things and it's just beautiful.  I'm blessed with their excitement!

You are an excellent writer. How have you cultivated that skill? Or are you just a natural? ;)

Why thank you!  :)  ... I was trying to think of how far back to go with this or even where to go with it.. but, I think much of it is because my dad has always worked at newspapers since before I was born.  And my mom was a grade school teacher before kids.  They're both well-spoken and wordy people.  Grammar, spelling, and good speaking skills were always a priority.  And.. words just come easily to me.  In high school I helped proofread for our local newspaper (of which my dad is the publisher... and my mom works there too!) and then after "taking a year off" from college (um, bad year), I ended up working as the Sports Editor for the newspaper for five years!  Words are just my 'thing'... I love to play Boggle, but dh won't play it with me anymore because I always completely obliterate him ;)

[Worldshakerz]

So you like Boggle - what about Scrabble? I am a Scrabble fiend and my husband stopped playing with me for a very long time because I beat him all the time 

What's the last book that you read?
The last movie that you saw?

The last time you went on a date with DH? 

[judybean]

Originally Posted by ilovejeff 

If you had a whole day just for you, no responsibilities, no 'work' allowed, what would you do? To make it more fun, let's say that your rich uncle gave you his credit card and told you to go crazy.
How much sleep do you get per day? Is it enough for you? Do you wish you could sleep more or that you could survive on less?
Where have you traveled? What is your favorite place? Where would you like to go?

I'm going to just block quote this because I'm writing from my phone (as I try -- again -- to get dd4 to sleep!)!

As for what I'd do with a WHOLE DAY to myself with unlimited resources ... gosh... it shouldn't be hard, but it's such a pipe dream that I'm almost paralyzed by the possibilities!! My first thought was to go on an internet spending spree, gobbling up loads of gorgeous organic fabrics (all that I want but can't seem to budget)... but then I thought a Home Depot spending spree (complete with a hired crew to knock out that kitchen redo in a snap!).. all while I spend the day sewing. And then I thought about going completely crazy and flying to some big city just for a day for a shopping spree!! Living in a town of 5000 quite limits the shopping experiences (heck, even evil Walmart is 90 miles from here!).

As to how much sleep I get... i aim to try to head to bed in time to get eight hours ... but lately my darn alarm (I use my phone) tells me it will go off in six or so hours :/ And within that amount of time dd4 still wakes a lot at night (and nurses) and dd2 has been sleepwalking often... and then, when everybody is quiet and I should get sleep, I seem to be wide awake! As to whether I'd rather live on less sleep or get more... that's tricky!! My gut reaction is to say I want to survive (and thrive) on less because there are never enough hours in the day to do what I want... but... I do love a good sleep when I get it!! But, if the rest of my life remained the same, I'd just like to live on less!!

I haven't really traveled a lot... well, aside from one summer between my junior and senior years of high school. In the summer of '96 I traveled with five other students from my high school on a trip with our German teacher to Europe. In just 17 days we traveled through England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy, Germany, and the Netherlands. A whirlwind trip with lots of bus time. My favorite place might have been London. There's something greatly comforting in speaking the language. Plus, we were part of a bigger tour group and after lunch one day we had free time with our chaperones... but our German teacher and one student missed the bus! That left four kids from a town of five stoplights alone in a city of MILLIONS!! Luckily, our German teacher had taught us how to use and navigate the Tube, so we went around London on our own

Stateside, I've mostly been to Montana (being close to the MT border), but some Colorado and South Dakota tossed in there. I did spend a summer in Illinois (Quincy), living with a boyfriend and his parents. In that summer we traveled to Hannibal, MO (not far from Quincy), to Chicago, St Louis, and to Kansas City! ... Then, about eight years ago we traveled to Conception, MO for BILs graduation from the seminary there.

Otherwise I've lived in Wyoming all my life

[judybean]

Originally Posted by Worldshakerz 

So you like Boggle - what about Scrabble? I am a Scrabble fiend and my husband stopped playing with me for a very long time because I beat him all the time 

What's the last book that you read?

The last movie that you saw?
The last time you went on a date with DH? 

I do like Scrabble as well! We just have trouble finding time to play a full game!

The last full book I read was Sarah's Key. An *amazing* book I read as a part of a book club I'm in.

The last movie I saw was The Hunger Games. I really enjoyed it! (I read the book series wuth my book club!) I like movies, but have a hard time dedicating so much time to something like that!

I guess dh and I went out to lunch two weeks ago alone. That's about the biggest date we've had in a while DH works Wed-Sat noon-10pm (on average, some days are a bit shorter and his Saturdays are a bit longer... he works in a youth correctional facility), so we don't get "typical" date nights or times... but my mom will take all four girls 90 miles to the south to see her parents (my girls' great-grandparents!) on quite a few Fridays, so we do get in some alone lunches

[judybean]

I also have to add a silly, geeky thrill -- when I saw the schedule for spotlights poated, I think I probably giggled and squealed like a silly girl on the inside seeing the dates for my week ... because.... *drumroll*…… my birthday is this Friday (June 1st)!!! Somehow it seemed a perfect present! Lol

[MIrandaM]

Hi Judybean,

I'm getting a kick out of reading your Q&As :) 

How did you get started with sewing?  What has been your biggest sewing success?  Have there been any complete sewing/crafting disasters along the way? 

PS I also really liked the Hunger Games!
 

[hyde]

Hope you have a great one, Judy! :)

[judybean]

Originally Posted by MIrandaM 

Hi Judybean,

I'm getting a kick out of reading your Q&As :) 

How did you get started with sewing?  What has been your biggest sewing success?  Have there been any complete sewing/crafting disasters along the way? 

PS I also really liked the Hunger Games!
 

I grew up with a mom that always sewed.  She probably sewed the majority of my clothing until the sixth grade.  I think she did it more for practical/frugal reasons (because then it was cheaper to sew than to buy... not so much now), but still did it and enjoyed it.  I never really learned from her (at least not formally) because I just didn't have an interest in it.

But, fast forward in life to pregnancy with dd3.  With dd2 I used cloth diapers, but had purchased them all .. and it did get pricey (I went nuts... I admit).  And when pg with dd3, after having traded/sold some of my stash, I decided I wanted to sew cloth diapers because it would be cheaper.  I mentioned this to dh and he bought me a nice, cheap Singer sewing machine one day.  I promptly ordered some PUL, some patterns (I think the Very Baby AIO was my first cloth diaper pattern) and away I went.  I read sewing forums like crazy and scoured diaper-making boards to soak up all the knowledge I could.  And... thus began my sewing journey!  It completely exploded from there!  I now have a wonderful, perfect-for-me Bernina 1010 (a craigslist SCORE! It was just $100 in Las Vegas -- I had a friend pick it up then mail it to me -- and it came with so many lovely extras, like a genuine Bernina walking foot... that piece alone has gone for $100 on ebay!!!), a Babylock Eclipse serger (used as well... from a board with other sewing mamas), plenty of fabric to make wardrobes for my girls for the next few years (LOL), and various other bits of equipment that I've collected.  It's turned into something that really brings me such great joy and I'm so amazed and happy that I found it!

I've had planty of disasters along the way ;)  My first diaper attempts were... well... pretty pathetic!  I was pleased with myself, and really, I NEEDED to make those mistakes along the way because it's the only way to really learn, so they were simply steps along my path!  I've thrown away pieces that simply couldn't be salvaged. Probably one of the saddest things was a tiny baby romper I made before dd4 was born.  It was a lovely, bright yellow velour piece and then trimmed at the leg and arm cuffs and neckline in a wonderful, cheery turquoise with white dots knit... turned out just so cute!.... until I realized I had completely put on envelope neckline backwards :/  And there were just too many steps to try to remedy it (and it really wasn't useable without looking like a complete WRECK)..so.. I had to toss it .. So sad because it was some of my favorite fabric!

One of my greatest achievements in sewing?  Gosh... maybe one of the quilts I've made (one for dd3 and one for dd4 in particular).. or dd1s First Communion dress.  To look at the dress doesn't really show the work that went into it (because.. it's just a bunch of white pieces)... but... If I remember correctly, there were SIXTY-FOUR pieces to that dress because it's FULLY lined!!  But it was lovely and I was quite proud of it! 

Okay... and now... for way, way, way too many pictures (and this is just what I chose from my plethora of FB pics I've uploaded of various creations)...

The first communion dress (from two years ago!  I can't believe how much dd1 has grown since then even!!)

The quilt I made for dd3, but dd4 is laying on it here!  (and yeah, I made dd4s outfit too -- one of my favorites! I love red and turquoise!)

The quilt top for dd4.. but I couldn't find pics of it quilted? (must look!)  The fabric is some of my absolute FAVORITE by Heather Ross *swoon*

And then two of my favorite baby outfits... one being modeled by dd4 when she was six months old! :)

I also made the pillowcase behind dd there... two favorite fabrics from Heather Bailey!

[judybean]

Wait!!  I found some quilt pics!  More of the artsy variety (close-up shots and such), but much better than the other pic I posted... (I almost forgot I used to use Photobucket all the time!)..

[mamalovex3]

Happy birthday Judybean!

What is your least favourite household chore?

What's your favourite thing to do as a family?

Do you have any pets?

[judybean]

Originally Posted by mamalovex3 

Happy birthday Judybean!

What is your least favourite household chore?

What's your favourite thing to do as a family?

Do you have any pets?

My least favorite household chore.... oh gosh... I'll confess right here and now that I am one crappy housekeeper.  Really.  I keep a decent enough house... it's not DIRTY, but just pretty much never outside of a state of messy ;)  My biggest chore is either laundry or meal prep/clean-up.  I think the meal prep and clean-up is the worst because it TAKES SO MUCH TIME!  I really, really try not to wait until the last minute (thus, eating out) and really try to make good, whole foods.. and those take time.  So, I'm spending a lot of time just getting things ready, then it seems to take about five minutes for everybody to gobble down stuff (or whine for five minutes that I should knwo they don't like that particular food), and then everybody clears and I'm left with the aftermath of clean-up.  I *could* enjoy cooking.  And I *could* enjoy dishes (it's kind of theraputic... especially washing by hand)... but... I don't. I really try to change my attitude from, "These ungrateful beasts just make more work.." to.. "Wow! What a blessing that I can provide so well and healthily for my family"... but it doesn't work much.  Ever. ;)  ... And then, we currently have six people in this family.  All wear clothes.  The littles wear far too many.  And they all generate laundry.  Adding another little person with clothes AND diapers to wash is a bit daunting... but it's not all that bad... at least when the drain pipe to the washer isn't overflowing *sigh* ... I keep meaning to try to snake it myself, but haven't gotten around to it.  So, every time the washer spins out, plenty of water overflows and I have to suck it up with the shop vac.  You'd think I'd be more active in doing something about it (hello... call a plumber!!), but for whatever reason, I just live with it and haul a full shop vac to the downstairs toilet and dump it there.  Twice.  Every. Single. Wash. Load.  And... I do a lot of laundry.  I just think of it as a great in-home workout ;)

My favorite thing to do as a family... hm... lately, we've been have a Family Game Night on a Monday or Tuesday night and we've been playing a lot of Yahtzee! and it's been pretty fun!  For whatever reason, I absolutely and completely SUCK at that game (how?! it's should just be based on LUCK, right?)... I always, always lose... but, it's still fun!  And otherwise, it's really fun to go up to the mountains, especially a fire lookout tower that's pretty high up and requires a lot of hiking and stair-climbing -- but the view is A.MA.ZING. and so worth it!  We often make a day out of it, taking a picnic lunch and more.  It's a great time had by all!

We have two pets right now.  One cat, a black cat that we got nearly three years ago before Halloween who we named Lucky... and dd1 has a hermit crab named Fiona.  I really like animals, but dh didn't grow up with pets so much (his mom really isn't a fan... they had a couple different dogs, but none lasted long at all).  Growing up I had finches, parakeets, hermit crabs, lizards, guinea pigs, gerbils, hamsters, cats, dogs, fish... but, we'll stick with just the cat and hermit crab for now ;)  Our house isn't very big and we're filling it up with people quite swiftly ;)

[Carlin]

Happy Birthday Judy!!!!! Hope you've had a fantastic day!

[judybean]

Thank you for the birthday wishes!!! It's been a truky amazing day!! My mom picked up all four girls early to take them fishing with he, then as soon as the eye doctor office opened up I had to take my glasses to be fixed (a scew broke) andvran a few other erranss. When I got back, dh suggested going out yo lunch.... to the Japanese restaurant ....90 miles away! I questioned how we'd do that since he was supposed ti work at 1, but he already had called and said he'd be late! Lunch was everything I could hope for! Egg rolls, California rolls, katsu and Thai curry chicken! Then, when we got home, dh decided to take the day off and really cleaned up the living room! My mom volunteered to keep the girls longer if we wanted to catch a movie, so we did!

Wonderful, wonderful day full of such beauty, spontaneity, and awesomeness! I'm pretty sure 33 is going to be an awesome year

[goin' green]

Yay for a great birthday!  I have my ETsy shop, but I quilt also.  and I have a stash of Heather Ross fabrics....  :-)