Soapin'

So, for about a year or more I have been making soap for my family from the Cold Process style of soapmaking... I recently decided to share the wealth (with a little push from my friend Stacey:))

I OPENED AN ETSY!!!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=7449865

I am excited, because I love making soap, so this is a good excuse to make MORE of it. It is like opening a christmas present cutting into a soap block for the first time... you just never know what you are going to get, and are usually pleasantly suprised:)

I recently found a recipe for homemade laundry detergent also, and I believe I am going to give that a shot too... Oh my gosh... I just realized I AM, in fact, a HIPPY...Where's my bra? I'm not ready to give THAT up yet....

Erin is SEVEN:)!

Erin Today!

Erin and Eddie right after she was born.

My oldest baby girl is seven today. Wow, how time flies.
I found out I was pregnant with Erin in November of 2001. I was a high school senior at the time, and Ed, my now husband, was my boyfriend. At first we were scared because we were so young; Eddie being 19, and me being 18. We finally began to grasp the idea that we were going to be young parents, and at that time resolved ourselves to be the best young parents we could possibly be. Ed and I knew that we would like to learn more about homebirth, and were introduced to Laura. We instantly knew she would be perfect. Nine months went by pretty uneventfully, other than me falling down the stairs and peeing my pants at around 5 months along, and me swelling bigger than I did in any other pregnancy. My feel wouldn't even fit into flip-flops by the end of my pregnancy. I swore that I would never have another summer baby again.
The day before my due date was the 19th, and I took that day to do some things I had been putting off, such as get an oil change and such. That night, when Eddie got home from work, we ate dinner and went to lay down in bed. I remember when it hit midnight and my due date had arrived... July 20th... I said to Ed "Well, it's my due date, and there is no sign of a baby!"... which wasn't entirely true as I was having a dull backache. At around 1 am, I had my first contraction... it was painful, but I was not sure what it was. About five minutes later I had another... and then another... I thought I had to go to the bathroom so I headed downstairs to try. That is when I realized I was in labor, as I was bleeding quite heavily. Ed walked in at the moment I realized I was bleeding. I looked at him and said "I think I'm in labor!" He ran and called my midwife who told me that since this was my first baby, I would probably be in labor for a while, and to take a shower and try to get some sleep. I knew the contractions were too close together for my labor to last too much longer, so I told Ed to tell her to come now. He did, and then he decided he would try to get some sleep... while he did that I decided to try to take a bath. The bath felt great, but the contractions were coming harder and harder. It was painful, but bearable. I remember thinking "Hey, this isn't so bad... I don't need pain medications for this..." Every contraction I tried to meet with breathing and low moaning/singing, which really helped me to ride the contractions. Laura arrived, and realized that I was already almost 7 cm, and was glad that we had talked her into coming. She told Ed to go ahead and fill the birthing pool, which he did. When I finally got to get into the pool, it was AMAZING~!!!~ The pain lifted so much. Before I knew it, I was fully dialated (except for an anterior lip). Laura told me to go ahead and push, and she would try to hold the lip back so that the head could pass... this was my first baby so I wasn't really sure how to... and I had no urge, but I did it anyway, and let me tell YOU, that hurt so badly, but at least it helped the head to pass through. Then, I pushed her shoulders through, and she was placed on my chest. I cannot explain how I felt at that moment. For nine months I 'knew' I was growing a baby, but it was never real until that moment... She was mine... I have never had that feeling since, only with my first... She was beautiful... Hardly any hair, born with stork-bite birthmarks between her eyes and on the back of her neck. She had an odd placenta with a velamentous insertion of the cord which happens in only 1% of babies. It is when the cord is attached on the side rather than through the center.

Erin Melody Rittersdorf was born 8lbs, 20 inches, on July 20th 2002 at 7:22 a.m., just as the sun broke over the horizon.

We Just Got Back From Da' YOOPEE!!!

We had so much fun. First we stayed in St. Ignace for the fourth of July and got to watch the Fireworks over Lake Huron... it was great, though cold... The Upper Penn seemed to be about 10 degrees colder than the Lower Penn at all times. We moved on to Tahquamenon Falls where Maelan became a dirt monster withing ten minutes, and we practically got carried away by Mosquitos... but we did get to see the Upper and Lower falls on the Tahquamenon River, plus we got to see a Snapping Turtle laying her eggs, which was very neat. We then decided to skip the Pictured Rocks and go into the Porcupine Mountains... It was beautiful there. We decided to then stay there most of our trip. The shore of Lake Superior was absolutely GORGEOUS. The woods out there are untouched and amazing. I was hoping to see a bear, but saw very little wildlife... except of course the three baby skunks who decided to basically roast marshmallows with us one night... that was a little frigtning, but they didn't spray at all... they were completely unafraid of us... one was sitting right under my chair.... I will tell you that was an uncomforitable place to be:). We moved on from the 'Porkies' as they are called up there and returned to St Ignace where we had Pasties (Google Pasties, they are delicious:)) and bought famous Mackinac Island Fudge for us and the rest of our family. We then moved on and stayed in Petosky Michigan for our last night. We found at least 14 Petosky stones on the Lake Michigan Beach up there:) (BTW, if you don't know what a Petosky Stone is... look it up:) They are VERY interesting). We then returned home, just in time for our 4H fair... so we are still rather busy. Above are a few of my favorite pics from our trip.

I'M BACK!

Sorry I have been MIA lately, we have been so busy getting ready for our camping trip up north and our 4-H fair. To begin with, I will tell you all about our awesome tent camping trip we are taking to the Upper Peninsula Michigan. For those of you who aren't from Michigan, I will start with the basics. Michigan is split into two Peninsulas, the Lower and the Upper. The Lower Penn is where I live. It is generally more Urban than the much more Rural Upper Penn. We are going camping from the 4th until the 10th. We are staying right outside of Mackinac Island on the 4th to watch the fireworks over the Mackinac Bridge. We are then going to Castle Rock and Tehquamenon Falls... Then we are going over to Pictured Rocks on Lake Superior for two nights... then we are staying in Fayette and the Copper Ghost Town, then down to Petosky and home... JUST IN TIME to start our 4H fair... needless to say I am exhausted getting things ready for both... just look at the bags under my eyes in the following pic....
The girls have been working nonstop for their showmanship at fair. They work with their bunnies every day to make sure they know all of the steps to showmanship. They are only Cloverbuds this year in 4H, but it still is good practice for when they are real 4H-ers and compete competitively against everyone else at the fair... Below are pictures of the girls and their showmanship bunnies this year... Erin with Marco, and Abrya with Tater Puff. We also decided to donate a little bunny for the 4H youth auction this year. This gives 4H kids an opportunity to get a really nice show bunny for very little money. It is our feel good project for the year... below is our auction donation bunny, a little Chinchilla Netherland Buck:)

This past week we also got a rare visit from Eddie's older brother Bill. Bill is in the Army stationed in Germany. He has done a few tours in Afghanistan, and is an outstanding man. His wife, Rike was born and raised in Germany, and is probably one of the sweetest women I have ever met:). They are expecting their first baby in September... its a girl:) Here is the picture of them meeting Brynnie:)

This past week we also expanded our animal family by one. This is our new kitty Solstice... Isn't she pretty? The girls love her, as seen in the picture of Maelan below... that is TRUE LOVE on her face!

And last but not least, this week, one town over, a BIG MISTAKE was made. There was a huge concert being put on at the Ionia County Fairgrounds. The concert is located right next to the Grand River in Ionia Michigan (one town over from me). We had gotten some seriously torrential rain over the weekend, and the river had began to flood. Well, Ionia county, without informing ANYONE at the concert released the flood gates, and look what happened....

Those are CARS you see in the river... When they released the flood gates without letting anyone know, they didn't take into account that the Concert staff was using the flood plane as a PARKING LOT:)

There are over 1000 cars in the river!! We have a few cousins that were at the concert, and we are being told that because of a disclaimer on the tickets reading 'We are not responsible for any damage to your vehicle during the concert' they have released themselves from any legal responsibility....

I smell a class action lawsuit o'er here:)

Happy Father's Day Eddie

Eddie, Abrya and Erin
At the museum in front of the world (Erin, Bry, Daddy w/ Mae)
BLAH!!

Brya has the best seat in the house

Daddy N Baby Erin

Erin and Eddie nosies

Ed and 3 of the 4 girls

Erin N Daddy

After Abrya's emergency birth at the hospital (We were transferred from home)

Maelan's first halloween

GRRRRRRRRRRR~!

First born Brynnie

Daddy and Brynn relaxin'

Daddy and Brya relaxin'

Brya eating Daddy's ear

Mad Erin, Happy Daddy

Sleepy girls

Daddy, Brynn and Maelan

Daddy and Baby Mae

Eddie I love you, and I am thankful every single day that you are the father of my four beautiful children:)

No More Newborns:*(

On saturday, Brynn officially became an infant and no longer a newborn... meaning I will no longer hold another newborn baby of my own in my arms...:***(

I will never get used to them growing up so fast....

Finally a day to rest....

We have been running and running and running lately. We have had some of the busiest weekends I have ever had to endure. We do 4H with the girls, and since fair is coming up, we have been working so hard on our crafts, and rabbits, and fair booth and blah blah blah... on top of that, this weekend Erin came down with strep throat...
Did I mention that Maelan has taken to making my life EXTRA hard?;)
Two days ago, I was doing the dishes, and within ten minutes of starting the dishes, these are all of the phrases I had uttered...
"Maelan! Don't eat things out of the garbage!"
"Please don't poke the baby in the eye, be gentile"
"Spit that out of your mouth"
"Don't paint the bathroom mirror with my makeup"
"Put the plunger back!"
"Get DOWN!"
"Get out of the Parmesan Cheese!"
Sometimes she is so exhausting.... I love her so much, but my GOD it takes alot of patience to be the mother of a toddler...