Big Bro and Little Sis

Here's my big boy. (Don't you just love his cheesy hambone grin?) He's going to be two this winter and I don't know where that time went. Wasn't it just yesterday he was as little as the girl below?


One week old A already showing off her pretty baby blues. Hard to believe that she's almost a month old already!


Proud big brother V holding his little sister A. He would sit like this all day if I let him.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

We gladly welcomed Abigail Elsie into our little family in the wee morning hours Tuesday. At 5lb 15oz and 18.5 inches, she's a little bitty thing but I think we'll keep her anyway. :) All went well and we are home now enjoying the first few days of napping, eating, and getting to know each other. V is in love with his new sister but tends to get a bit jealous since Mommy's lap is usually filled with baby, blanket, and burp rag leaving little room for him, toys, and tractor magazines. However, his new favorite activity is holding his sister and pointing at her nose loudly proclaiming, "What's that? Baby?"

Back in the Loop

It's been a HOT and busy summer. June just flew by and July hardly paused long enough to wave. Now it's August, and I just realized I haven't posted anything since MAY! Ooops... The time just got away from me I guess. So here's a brief update of the happenings in this busy household...

-V has grown. A LOT. Since his 12-month checkup, he's sprouted another 4 inches and added 2 1/2 pounds. He's getting to be such a big boy. Walking, talking, (nearly done) teething...It just amazes me how fast he's suddenly gone from baby to toddler.

-We 'finished' our house addition. I say 'finished' with quotation marks because there's still work to be done (when isn't there?) but we have officially moved our bed and V's crib into the new space. It's now our new bedroom. For the last week, I've been sweeping sawdust, wiring electrical outlets, varnishing baseboards, helping install our new screen door, doing some (minimal) flooring installation, and mostly attempting to keep V out of the dust piles. It's so nice to be able to spread out now. L summed it up pretty good this morning. "It's so nice having that new bedroom. It feels like we have an actual HOUSE instead of just a shack." Now, I just have to get my butt in gear and figure out what else we can move into the new room and where it all will go.

-I am happily (and FINALLY) in my 3rd trimester. After a stressful start (I had a scare at 8 weeks and was diagnosed with a small hematoma that disappeared by 12 weeks but made me worry incessantly until 20 weeks) I feel relieved to have the end in sight. Only 11 weeks left to go!

-I've been trying to find the energy to start harvesting from my weed bed I call a garden, but between the heat, rain, and my sciatic nerve, I'm finding it hard to get out there. L says things are growing but I'm afraid to look for fear that he means the weeds not the plants.

I'm sure plenty more has happened than this, but it's all I can think of for now. I should get back to my sorting and rearranging anyway so I can spend tomorrow out in my poor neglected garden.

Tightwad Thoughts

I just got my latest issue of the Tightwad Round Robin and I must say that I’m a bit disappointed. This issue was four pages long and one page was the cover! The question was brought up by one Tightwadder of what to do with the TRR since there’s been so little participation in the last year or so. Is it time to say good-bye or is there really more interest out there? Should the TRR be changed into something else? I personally would like the TRR to stick around in some shape or form. The letters are fun to read and I always get some new idea for some project but if there isn’t any participation, then perhaps the TRR needs to retire.

So, for those of you who have read (or would like to) the TRR, what are your thoughts? Would it be enough to send a reminder for letters before the due date? Or is the TRR ready to be put out to pasture? Should it be changed into something new and if so, what could it be changed into?

Baby's First: Molar and Standing Up

Poor kid. V was sick with the stomach flu, had a growth spurt, and popped two teeth all in one week. No wonder he was under the weather for so long...Then a few days ago, I noticed a molar had come through too! He's getting a mouthful of teeth. Just another sign my little boy isn't going to be little for much longer...*Sigh* They grow up too fast.

He also learned how to stand up from a seated position without pulling himself up on something. He's THISCLOSE to walking but is still hesitant to take that first step. It'll come soon enough and I'm feeling weird about it. I want him to walk because it's getting harder for me to carry him everywhere but it's another milestone towards independence. Does every mom feel this way or is it just me?

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all the mommy's out there!

Better watch what I say...

V is starting to 'talk'. So far, it's mostly babble but a few words actually sneak in there. So far Dadda or Daddy are tops but he can also say Momma, Numnum, Doggy (sounds like Doddy but I know what he means), diaper, what's that, and right there. Grandpa and Grandma are sort of audible too. He also likes to 'drive' shopping carts. It's hilarious! He grabs onto the handle and goes Brrrrrr as I'm pushing the cart so it sounds like the cart is making car noises. His latest is to Moo like a cow. Unfortunately for me, I asked him where the cow was and he proudly points at me before bellowing like a cow. I should be insulted but it hard to be annoyed at such a cute 15 month old.

My Title

I just got a phone call from a telemarketer asking if Mrs. S was at home. I had to stop and think. Who could be Mrs. S in this house? Then it hit me-I was Mrs. S!

It's been three and a half years since L and I got married but I still don't think of myself as Mrs. I'm not a Miss or a Ms either. I'm just plain ol' J.

I've just never associated myself with that title. I'm a wife, mother, daughter, sister, cow milker, amateur gardener, half decent short order cook, housekeeper, babysitter, dog walker, and pretty darn good procrastinator but I'm not sure I'll ever be ready to be a Mrs. Sure, it's printed on my mail and I'll get the calls asking for Mrs. S but I don't know if I will ever get used to seeing my name with Mrs. in front of it. Maybe I'm not old enough yet...

Needing a Ride

I have a bunch of meat that needs a ride to the UP of MI. Does anyone know if there is a ride either going that way for Easter or one coming out this way for the weekend? Otherwise, I might just have to break down and make the trip myself. Which wouldn't be a bad thing I suppose. Hmmm...I wonder if that meat could just hitchike it's way there...

Thises and Thats

-V is starting to test his ability to balance on his own. Unfortunately, he usually ends up doing belly flops onto the floor or sitting down very hard. I've discovered that my son is a little ham. He loves to show off his plunks and plops, and will continue to do so until I no longer pay attention to him. Then he gets annoyed and hollers UHHHH! until I look at him again.

-My jam experiment (see Jammin' in the Kitchen post) turned out yummy! The honey'n'berries jam turned out just fine although I did find one jar that for some reason unsealed itself after I put it in the cupboard.

-V LOVES bananas. You can't eat one in front of him without a little boy begging at your feet. We have to hide them because if he sees them, he throws a fit if we don't give him one or distract him with something else.

-After three and a half years of hauling my laundry to my in-laws and 'borrowing' their washing machine and dryer, I finally ordered my own. It's a stackable unit with full size drums so I don't have to do small loads. Come next week (give or take a few days), I will be able to wash my own clothes in my own home. Now, if only I could figure out where I want my clotheslines...

-For those who were at SLW this year, there was one more Lady who could have sat in the front row at the Talent Show to 'reveal' some news. For those who weren't there, I am happily, healthily, and safely three months pregnant.

Baby's First: Sort-of First Steps

V is toddling around now and it's scary for me. I never imagined that I would have a toddler ALREADY! He's not walking alone but he will use the edge of anything he can reach-the couch, chairs, kitchen table, my cabinets, his parents, laundry baskets, and even the dog! (though that only was an attempt...she moved away too quick) Still those first unassisted steps aren't too far in the future. Just another reminder that my little boy is growing up.

Reminder

For those of you who contribute to the Tightwad Round Robin, any contributions for the Spring issue are due in April. I talked to the editor Helen today and neither of us could remember if the due date is April 1st or April 15th so I would guess that letters received in early April will be included.

(For those who have never heard of the Tightwad Round Robin, it's a biannual collection of "tightwad tips, gardening, recipes, etc" sent in by the readers. As the cover always proclaims "NO TIP TOO TIGHT OR TOO TRIVIAL". Cost is $2 and you have to share your tips and tricks. Contact me for information on where to send your tips.)

Busy, busy boy

I had to run to town today and among my lengthy list of errands was to stop at the grocery store. Since we are trying to incorporate more salads into our diet, I stocked up on tomatoes and lettuce. When I arrived home, L needed his supper so he could head to barn and I, being the nice wife I am, neglected to finish putting my groceries away in order to feed my hubby. After L left for chores, I was indisposed for a few moments with feeding the puppies and bringing in the last few bags from the van. When I walked back into the kitchen, V was happily sitting amongst the previously full grocery bags. My salad fixings, tomato sauce cans, and Cheerio box were spread haphazardly around the floor and V had spent a few minutes test-tasting a few things. There are now chomp marks in every..single..tomato.. Not sure if he liked the flavor or not but he tried them all.

I suppose I should be thankful that he hasn't learned how to climb or walk unassisted yet.

Speed Zone Ahead

If you come visit us in the near future, we currently have a speed zone on our driveway. There isn't a sign posted but the speed limit is set at 15 mph. Anything faster and you may end up digging yourself into a mudhole you can't drive out of. I no longer have a driveway. It's a quarter mile swamp and the water level is rising fast in some spots. Another few warmish days and I bet you could go fishing in the 'pond'. Just be careful you don't float away!

Seriously, it's kind of an 'Enter At Your Own Risk' situation right now. I will say that the four puppies we have left are worth the effort of our driveway. :)

Home again, home again, jiggity jig

So we are home. It feels so good to be back in our usual routine and sleeping in our own bed again. I miss AK but MN is nice too. Our trip home was somewhat eventful, filled with mishaps that will make for a good giggle when we tell the tale in the future. A left behind suitcase, a forgotten pacifier, no extra clothes for V, and a flat tire on the plane made for an interesting day to say the least. However, we made it home safe and sound so that's got to count for something. Hopefully I can post some pictures of our vacation sometime soon. While reading my previous post, L pointed out that I forgot to mention that the glacier we drove to was the Matanuska Glacier and the P is NOT a charter captain. He just happens to own a REALLY nice boat. He's actually a contractor.

In other news, we desperately (well, not really) need to find homes for four ADORABLE puppies. If anyone is interested, let me know. They are so sweet and cute and cuddly...You'll love them!

Final Update from Up North

Well, my week vacation is nearly over and done. It went by way too quickly for my tastes but I had a ton of fun! So here's a recap of my weeks events.

-Visited with all of the family in AK. Sis T, hubby B, kids B, K, A. Sis A, hubby T, son O. Sis R. It was so fun to see everyone!

-Got regular updates on the Iditarod. It's cool how much of a following the race has. I would love to be up here for the start of it sometime.

-X-country skiied on Hatcher Pass, L lost his checkbook (luckily an honest person found it), and got some really awesome pictures of the scenery up there. L is currently heading out for some downhill skiing up that way with B. Hope they have fun!

-Toured Palmer and drove up the glacier. It was a very pretty drive and the glacier was gorgeous. Chilly to stand outside but I got some cool pictures anyway.

-Drove down to Homer for a night. We visited P and his family. P captains his own charter fishing boat but blew out his knee so he couldn't take us out on the water. He was able to line up a charter with his neighbor and buddy R, though, so a few of us went fishing Sunday morning. It was my first time fishing for King Salmon and despite only getting one salmon the whole day, the trip was well worth it. I only caught ones that went back in the water, but at least I caught something! I can't wait to go again!

-Enjoyed a yummy breakfast at A's house. She's a wiz in the kitchen and whipped out crepes, waffles, and scrambled eggs. I was stuffed! Wish I could cook like that. Maybe she'll give me lessons sometime...

-Packing up to leave now. As sad as it is, we fly out tomorrow AM. This week went by way to quickly and it'll be hard to leave this beautiful place. I am all the more determined to come back up here sometime. We had great company, tons of yummy food (salmon pizza anyone?), took tons of pictures, enjoyed a few dates without V, had new experiences, and toured a small portion of this amazing state. Still, even though it's hard to leave, I'm glad to be heading back to MN too. It's home-family, cows, farm, chores, and all.

So, Goodbye Alaska. It was fun to visit and someday we'll be back.

But, Hello Minnesota. It'll be great to be home.

Second Update from Up North

We went down to Homer on Saturday and I was in awe of the whole drive. The views are just spectacular up here! Mountains everywhere and the water is so blue...*Sigh* I could stay here for longer than a week. We went and wandered around on the beach, toured a crazy little bookstore with books stacked literally EVERYWHERE, and visited with Phil, a friend in the area. He's a captain but unfortunately, he blew out his knee and couldn't take us out fishing. Instead, he lined up a fishing trip for a few of us with his buddy Ron. It was a blast! I kept catching fish that had to be thrown back but it was great anyway. In the course of the weekend, I learned a few things.

-Mountain views are gorgeous no matter where they are.
-There are still honest people in the world and one of them just returned our lost checkbook.
-Homeade seafood chowder tastes AMAZING!
-I married into a very STRANGE family...but I knew that before I married L.

Update from Up North

We made it to Alaska with little difficulty. V fussed a bit on the last leg of our flight but soon fell asleep. We went skiing and sightseeing at Hatcher Pass today and have a few other fun things planned for the rest of our stay here. It's so beautiful up here...I can see why so many people come for a visit or to stay. Even L has mentioned that he wouldn't mind moving up here and farming! It's not something we are currently considering but it's certainly a tempting thought. I have a feeling I am going to be dreaming of AK for a long time after we get back to MN.

Puppies for FREE!

Yes, Mindy had her annual batch of pups several weeks ago. We currently need homes for five ADORABLE puppies. There are three girls and two boys, mostly black with white on the belly and paws. One female has brown markings similar to Mindy. They are weaned and ready to go anytime. Our camera has dead batteries otherwise I would post pictures.

Quantities are limited so reserve your pup TODAY!

From Our Farm: Demo Day

If you are in town and would like to sample some really yummy yogurt this afternoon/early evening, stop by the local grocery store (J&B) and see me! L, V, and me are all going to be there doing an in-store demo of Organic Valley pourable yogurt. We've got all kinds of goodies and coupons for give-away too.

Hope to see you there!

Baby's First: Bear Crawl

It's V's latest trick to get from point A to point B by bear crawling. It's the funniest sight-this little boy on his hands and feet with a bulky cloth-diapered bottom stuck high in the air. It won't be long and he'll be walking on his own. In some ways, it would be nice but I don't know how ready I am for that just yet...

In other toddler news, V now has five teeth. The third top one popped into view just the other day. Gotta watch out cuz he thinks fingers and toes are pretty good for chewing on. With those teeth of his, V can get a pretty good chomp! Ouch!

Free Range Chickens...I mean Children

I've been reading this hilariously common-sense how-to book on raising your children. It's called "Free-Range Kids How to Raise Safe Self-Reliant Children (Without Going Nuts with Worry). Lenore Skenazy, the author, wrote this book after being dubbed "America's Worst Mom". She wrote a newspaper column about letting her then-9 year old son ride the subway by himself. Once the column was published, she was asked to appear on all the morning news shows, where she was lambasted for being a bad parent. Instead of backing down and issuing an apology for an apparent lack of sense, Lenore started a blog (freerangekids.com) and wrote this book.

I love this book because she points out just how much society today has caused parents to wrap their kids in bubble wrap. There are knee pads so crawling babies don't bruise their knees. 14 year old boys are being driven home by the police from a park just a few blocks from home because they didn't have a supervising parent or a cell phone. Some schools are banning hula hoops-a hazardous toy because they can be swung around the neck, arm, or other bodily extremity or rolled on the ground. The purpose of the book is to show parents that it's okay to let your children be children. It's a great read. I'm having trouble putting it down. I'm finding that I'm doing pretty good already as a Free-Ranger. V is allowed to crawl around the house banging a spatula on pot lids instead of watching Baby Einstein videos, learn to walk without knee pads or a crash helmet, and his favorite toy (I kid you not) is a fly swatter. (Of course, we bought him a brand new one that was immediately labeled so we know not to use on flies.) There are a few areas that I could work on, but for the most part I'm there. If nothing else, I get a good giggle out of the antics of overreacting parents out there.

Baby's First: Birthday

It's so hard to believe that V is already a year old! Crazy how fast that time went... This past Sunday, we had a bunch of people over to help celebrate V and L's birthdays. It was fun to visit with everyone and see V playing with his cousins. We got the addition done enough for the kids to play in so that was nice. After a frantic week of building (I helped insulate and sheet the interior of the addition), cleaning, and cooking, it was quite wonderful to simply sit and visit with everyone. V was happy as a clam chasing after cousins and trying to snitch pluggies from them. (He lost his a few days ago.) He even got to enjoy his first piece of cake! I was tired at the end of the day but it was worth the effort. Now all I need to do is have some more company over before the house turns into a disaster area again.

Jammin' in the Kitchen

I was oh-so-exuberantly looking for a ham I thought was in the freezer this morning when I nearly squashed the toes on my right foot with a large bag of frozen raspberries that nose-dived out of my grasp. Not having any luck with the ham hunting, I figured I might have better luck with the berries instead. Deciding to make my very first batch of homemade jam, I ambitiously began setting my kitchen to rights.

With the dishes done, the floor swept, and all of my canning supplies neatly laid out on the table, I was ready to go. My berries were all thawed out, the sugar was measured, and that's when I realized I needed another box of Sure-Jell. Oops. Instead of loading V up and driving the the nearest town (all of two miles away), I searched the internet for recipes that didn't need pectin. Luck would have it that I found a one that called for honey instead of sugar (a plus when your hubby doesn't like to eat sugar), and didn't need pectin. Of course this took me almost a half hour to find so it probably would have been faster to go get the pectin in the first place.

One batch of raspberry jam with pectin- Done
One batch of raspberry jam w/o pectin and with honey- Done
Clean-up the sticky, berry-y mess- Workin' on it

We'll see how my jam experiment turns out. I'll try and remember to share the results when we crack open the first jar.

At least all the jar lids popped so I know they are sealed. I did that right, I guess.

New Year's Resolutions 2011

1. Enjoy life as it comes instead of worrying so much. Things always work out in the end.

2. Get to bed earlier. This means getting V on an earlier schedule again and learning to just put the book down.

3. Drink my water and milk. Gotta prevent more kidney stones, right?

4. Exercise 3-4 times a week. Two down so far... I'm on a roll with this one!

5. Get a better filing system in place. Just tossing everything in a box doesn't work so well anymore.

6. Learn to budget properly.

7. Count my blessings regularly.

8. Eat healthy and use up what's in my fridge/freezer. I'm tired of 'finding' things in the back of the fridge.

9. Keep the woodbox stocked and the fire burning when we are using the woodstove.

10. Take the time to stop and smell the roses.