herdutchness

Free Pattern: Fortuny Baby Leggings

2009-05-28T07:03:00.000-07:00

Fortuny Baby Leggings Pattern

A simple and pretty pair of leggings for any baby girl.

The leggings feature a traveling twisted stitch that spirals up the leg. Increases are worked in such a way that the traveling stitches gradually grow further apart as you knit up the leg. There are 15 rows of twisted stitch rib on either end of the leggings.

Fits a 3-6 month sized girl.

Knit using fingering weight yarn on 2.75mm needles. Gauge 7 sts = 1".

KEY
k1tbl: knit on through back loop
cn1tbl: slip on st onto cable needle and hold in front. Knit one st. Knit st on cable needle through the back loop.
m1: make one st. I used the KLL increase found here.

Pattern:

CO 42 sts
Work in twisted rib (k1tbl, p1) for 15 rows (1 1/2").

SET UP ROW: * k5, cn1tbl. Repeat from * to end.

ROW 1: knit all knit sts and ktbl all of the twisted sts.
ROW 2: * knit until you reach a twisted st, cn1tbl. Repeat from * to end.

Work rows 1 and 2 until piece measures 2 1/2", ending with row 1. Work an increase row.

INCREASE ROW: * knit until you reach a twisted st, cn1tbl, m1. Repeat from * to end.

Work rows 1 and 2 until piece measures 3 1/2", ending with row 1. Work increase row.

Continue on in such a fashion, working increase rows at 4 1/2", 5 1/2" and 6 1/2". Then work rows 1 and 2 until piece measures 7 1/2". Work 15 rows of twisted rib and bind off loosely in rib.

While you are working the leggings, you will eventually find that as your twisted stitches travel up the leg, there will come a point when a twisted st reaches the end of a round. When this happens and you have to cn1tbl, do so in such a manner so that you always have the same number of stitches on each needle. In other words, move the twisted st (the last st on the last needle) so that it becomes the first st on your first needle and the k st that used to be the first st on the first needle will now become the last st on the last needle.

Happy Knitting!

Out With Dad

2009-03-03T11:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday Nialle took the day off of work to nurse a sore foot. It was a real treat for the kids to have dad around for the whole day and they decided to take him to C.H.I.P.S. (an indoor playground). We actually haven't been to CHIPS that often, but we should try to make it a habit because Liam just loves it and I find it's a fun excuse to get out of the house.

Liam really likes this motorbike...

...here Nialle is teaching Liam how to pedal. He can go backwards really well, but has yet to pedal forwards!

Liam demonstrates one of the many ways children strengthen their immune systems - by sucking on germ infested steering wheels.

Making me a batch of chocolate chip cookies. My kid knows me well!
Spinning in the saucer. Seeing him wobble around after he got out was pretty hilarious!

Whee!
There was lots for Ada to do as well...
She loves to play with balls!
She likes to goof off for the camera too!

Such a pretty little red head!

After CHIPS it was off to the library for some new books. The rest of my day was wonderful because Nialle helped me with the kids cooked a fabulous dinner: perhaps the best chicken I've had in quite some time - he cooked the spices under the skin! Along with the chicken was Nialle's famous twice baked potatoes stuffed with Berkshire bacon and cheese. Yum!

Who knew sick days could be so much fun?

Nialle also made me a great dinner on Saturday night. We had some Berkshire tenderloin in our freezer (a Christmas gift from my parents) that Nialle butterflied, stuffed and served with a Dijon reduction. Amazing. Here's the recipe for the Stuffed and Rolled Pork Tenderloin with Dijon Pan Jus.

Look, Ma, No More Paper Towels!

2009-02-26T12:42:00.000-08:00

It's official: the Travnik household used up their last roll of paper towels six weeks ago and haven't bought another roll since.

There wasn't really any particular reason why we stopped using paper towels. Well, Ok, maybe there was. Being the frugal zealot that I am, it's always thrill to save a buck here or there....Anyways, we ran out and I didn't really feel like buying more, so I thought we'd give a paper-towel-free lifestyle a try.

In place of the paper towels, we're using old receiving blankets. Some receiving blankets were quartered while others were cut into sixteen smaller squares. I then zig zagged around the raw edges.

The larger squares are used for cleaning the bathroom and the smaller pieces are used for spills or wiping out our cast iron pans after they are seasoned.

I use newspapers and a vinegar/water solution to clean our glass and mirrors at home. I've always done this because newspapers give the best streak free shine!

You know what? At the end of these six weeks, I haven't missed the paper towels once. I'll be making a trip to the second hand store sometime soon to pick up used receiving blankets to make into more wipes for the bathroom. Thanks to a potty-training, I have learned you can never have too many rags for bathroom cleaning.

I know that Kindra has also cut up old receiving blankets to use as baby wipes.

Now, I just have to convince Nialle that it would be really cool to make up our own reusable "toilet paper" out of receiving blankets! :)

Growing Triumphs and Pains

2009-02-25T10:27:00.001-08:00

We haven't been up to much lately other than the regular routine, but, regardless, life just seems to be passing by at breakneck speed. Both kids are growing up before my eyes and seem to learn something new skill each day. There's new challenges to be had and with each challenge there is the opportunity for a new triumph.

Ada is developing at a ferocious rate. Since last Wednesday, she has learned to clap her hands and is now officially mobile, doing the commando crawl around the house. At 7 1/2 months she is even (heaven help me) trying to pull herself up. It just feels too sudden and too fast for her to be doing these things! Where's my baby girl going?

Here Ada proves that diamonds are a girl's best friend as she crawls for my ring.

Ada is also proving to be quite the party animal, preferring to socialize rather than take naps. Liam, at this age, had two naps a day lasting anywhere from 2 -3 hours. Ada, on the other hand, has only one nap a day that lasts 2 or 3 hours (yesterday her nap was only 1 1/2 hours long!!) This leaves me wondering if she might cut out her naps even earlier than Liam did. If that's the case, you can bet we won't be having any more kids for a long, long time. I'm exhausted from trying to keep up with the two I have.

Ada is now a seasoned pro at sitting up. Her favourite pastime is to sit in front of our toy bin, taking toys out one by one, looking them over and then tasting them before finally moving on to the next toy.

Here she looking pretty in the midst of the toys that have been strewn all over the floor.

I've wryly concluded that I would be a much better mother if Liam would only nap...and not get up before 7 in the morning. The combination of early risings and long days without naps can be miserable. Most mornings go well, but around 3pm, things kind of get crazy around here. At that time of the day, Liam frequently bursts into tears over the smallest of things and often becomes very defiant. More often than not, I find it hard to keep my cool and miss my opportunity to gently train Liam in a godly fashion.

Thankfully, I recently read a copy of Dr. Kevin Leman's book Bringing Up Kids Without Tearing Them Down which has really helped to calm things down around the house. It's given me some strategies to use with Liam so that we aren't constantly in a battle of wills. Dr. Leman is refreshingly practical and simple in his approach to child rearing and his book is one that I'm sure I'll read again and again.

Sometimes motherhood feels like a broken record because you're doing the same things day after day. Other days motherhood feels like a marathon race; you just hope to have the endurance to make it to the end. Some days you feel like a failure and other days like the best mom in the world. At any rate, I'm glad I have two snugamuffins like Liam and Ada and a great dad like Nialle along for the ride with me.

My Kinda Valentine

2009-02-20T11:46:00.000-08:00

This Valentine's, I had to laugh at how much Nialle and I have changed since we have had kids. Back in the 'old days' we would have thought it a disappointment to stay home on Valentine's Day - as though we weren't having a meaningful celebration if we weren't out at some interesting restaurant.

But times have changed and, thankfully, so have our attitudes. Since I'm still nursing Ada and she's only had the bottle...um...three times (and I'm too much of a wimp to leave her), Nialle and I rarely get out alone these days. But, I'm a homebody by nature, so I really don't mind staying in. I think both Nialle and I are grateful for any uninterrupted time alone, no matter where it happens.

Needless to say, we decided to have supper at home this Valentine's Day and splurge a bit on some ingredients for a tasty dish. Both Nialle and I were excited for our "just for mommy and daddy meal". We made Liam a simple supper of eggs and toast and then put both kids to bed early. Nialle started on dinner, I lit some candles and then we sat down to our own romantic dinner without children.

You know, with the quiet house and the candlelit dinner, our meal reminded me of one we had before we were married. Nialle took me to a little place called Hemingways on 109 ave in Edmonton. The restaurant was an old house that had been converted into a restaurant. The whole place only had about 10 or 15 tables which made for a really cozy atmosphere. I remember the food being really great too...I think I had pork.

Nialle's a wonderful cook and this meal was just as good as the one at Hemingways. We had a pasta dish with roasted red peppers and onions topped with sausage and fresh parmesan cheese. Simple and delicious.

We had some of my mom's homemade herbed butter on a french roll.

Egads, can my mom make good butter!

The wine was really interesting, if not for the taste, but for the bottle. It had been made to look like an old dusty bottle from a pirate ship - very cool.

We don't get out as much as we used to, but having our special Valentine's dinner gave us the idea to try and make such a dinner a regular weekly occurance. Sort of like a mini-date night at home!

Morning:Noon:Night

2009-02-14T17:57:00.000-08:00

Morning:Noon:Night

2009-02-13T18:53:00.000-08:00

Catching Up...

2009-02-11T09:22:00.000-08:00

Why not make yourself a cup of tea and visit for a while? I know that I've been neglecting the blog lately, so today is another "catch up" post where I try and relate everything that's been happening over the last month...

ADA

Ada is 7 months old and continues to blossom into a pretty little girl. She can sit up on her own now and is very interested in playing with all of her toys. I know I've mentioned this before, but this is one happy little girl! Ada has also started to learn new consonants (like the 'd' sound) and babbles happily to herself while she plays.

But don't let her cuteness fool you; this girl likes to get her own way. She lets out a horrific scream any time Liam takes one of her toys away and if you set her down on the floor when she'd rather be carried, she lets you know!

Ada is now onto fruits and vegetables. Her current favourites are pears and apples with peas finishing a dead last. We'll keep working at getting her to like those peas!

LIAM

Poor Liam is sick of been cooped up all day in the house. We've had some warm weather lately, so I let him out to ride his bike around on the sidewalk. I sit by the window with a tea and watch Liam play in the snow - doesn't he look like Elmer Fudd in that hat?

Last week, Liam spent a day at the farm and Grandpa and Grandma Farm took him skating for the first time. Way to go, Liam!

Liam is now fully potty trained. He even can pee standing up "just like daddy". He's pretty proud of himself.

AROUND THE HOUSE

I have become a lean, mean bagel making machine. Unfortunately, none of my subsequent batches have ever turned out as good as the first! At any rate, we're really enjoying homemade bagels for breakfast these days.

My mom also passed on some sourdough starter to me and I have been experimenting with sourdough baking. I love it, love it, love it! Here is my starter that I feed 1 c of flour and 3/4 of water everyday.

There are many sourdough recipes out there to try and my mom has posted some of them on her new website. By far, sourdough waffles are the best waffles I have ever tried.

I'm ready for spring and have put in my order for this year's seeds. I've been looking through my usual gardening books - here's my favourite.

It has great vintage photos, but even better, it's a really great resource for those who want to garden organically. This book taught me all about crop rotation in the garden.

And it inspired me to garden in my Sunday best...

...if only I looked that good in the garden...

This year I hope to can some of my veggies. I've tried canning before, but with limited success...I prefer to blanch and freeze veggies for winter storage. However, I'm hoping to can things like spaghetti sauce, relishes, chutneys and jam this year. Who knows, maybe some of these items will turn up in your christmas stocking!

Nialle's great aunt and uncle own an acreage near Devon and are planting potatoes, tomatoes, squash and carrots for me in exchange for my labour. I will go out and help them in their massive garden about once a week and get to take home extra veg that I can't grow in our yard. I'm pretty excited about this and am looking forward to learning new things from some gardening masters.

I've been very unmotivated to knit these days. I think trying to do a handmade christmas this year really burnt me out. But I've tried to remain disciplined and have managed to knit the body and sleeve of a new sweater.

...here's the back of the sweater...lots of texture that feels great under your fingertips...

It's green. I'm really nervous about knitting with colour...I prefer more muted, natural tones, but this was the only colour I could really find locally that suited this pattern.

I've also been spinning a bit, experimenting with bamboo...

and some merino from a flock belonging to a couple that goes to our church...

I've also designed and knit a simple pair of leggings for Ada to wear. The free pattern is over here.

Liam doesn't like to wear sweaters of any kind, so I don't think I'll be doing much knitting for him this year. Thankfully, Ada's too young to complain about wool yet, so I'll be keep busy knitting for her (if I ever feel motivated to knit again).

Yikes! Long post...and there's still more I could write about. But your cup of tea is probably done now, so I'll save other news for another day!

Six Months Old

2009-01-07T16:24:00.001-08:00

Ada Babes is about to turn six months old. I can't believe that half a year has flown by already. I know it's cliche, but it seems like just yesterday I gave birth to our baby girl.

Ada is bright and sunny: full of laughs, smiles and snuggles. She is definitely the apple of her Daddy's eye and has him wrapped around her little finger.

We started solids on Monday and Ada is taking just fine to her rice cereal. She tries to 'nurse' the spoon, but isn't having any problems swallowing the pablum. I'm looking forward to introducing her to some nummy fruit in the months ahead.

Our little girl has discovered her hands and is reaching out and grabbing for things. Anything, really. Glasses, hair, noses, forks and cat tails are all fair game and go immediately into her mouth. But the best thing about Ada learning to use her hands is that she'll gently touch our faces when we hold her, or she'll play with my hair and rub my arm while she nurses. I remember Liam did the same thing when he was this age...it was heart melting.

Ada is becoming more mobile. When put on her tummy, she can push herself around in a circle with her hands. She can also push herself backwards too. I didn't think she could move as well as she could until I felt her gnawing on my pant leg while I was making lunch today. She had moved half way across the kitchen floor to where I was standing!

Ada's two favourite things are still her brother and her cat; seeing either will send her into spasms of laughter.

I am truly blessed to have great kids and a happy home. Here's to the next six months ahead. Cheers!

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2009-01-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

This morning, Liam was watching a Bobcat clear the parking lot across the street. When the bobcat had been loaded up onto the trailer and driven away, he asked, "Mommy, where'd the bobcat go?"

"Well, Liam, he probably had to go to another parking lot to clear the snow there. A bobcat has a lot of hard work to do."

"Yeah," Liam responded with a serious look on his face, "but it sure does impress the girls."

I just about died laughing.

Nap Time?

2008-12-30T12:06:00.000-08:00

Nap Time is a rather loosely used term around here. Liam rarely, if ever, takes naps anymore. His nap time consists of playing quietly in his room for about an hour after lunch. This quiet time is more for my sanity's sake than for his rest.

Ada, however can sleep like a machine during the day (the nights are a whole 'nother story). When she starts to fuss I can just lay her down in the play pen and walk away. No nursing or rocking her to sleep needed. I lay her down, she wiggles around under the covers, gives a smile and promptly falls asleep.

So imagine my surprise when I laid Ada down for a nap today and didn't hear her quiet snores, but instead heard her giggling and squealing.

Can you guess what I found when I went to investigate?

Apparently, Big Brother doesn't think Ada needs naps either. They were having so much fun together, I had to take a video of it...

Ada, thankfully, still took a good nap once I finally got her brother out of there.

Hmmmm, what could this be?

2008-12-19T12:15:00.000-08:00

See that? Looks like a pretty bad rash on the small of Liam's back, doesn't it? Well, it's not a rash.

Nope. That's from the cat.

Liam is forever bugging our cat, Otto. When Liam was younger the cat would just sit and take whatever assault came his way, but now that Liam is getting older, the cat clearly is starting to fight back.

Look out Liam, I think you've met your match.

Domesticity

2008-12-18T12:36:00.000-08:00

I've been feeling very domestic lately. It's probably the snowy weather.

Yesterday, I tried my hand at making some homemade crackers for Liam. They were a lot easier to make than I thought they would be and very tasty too. After his first bite, Liam announced that he "yuvs these."

Sesame Whole Wheat Crackers

1 3/4c whole wheat flour
1/4 c olive oil
1/4 c sesame seeds
1/2 c water
2 t honey
1 t salt

(you can omit the sesame seeds for just a basic whole wheat cracker)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, olive oil and sesame seeds in a bowl. Add honey and salt and mix thoroughly. Add water and mix until you have pie dough consistency (don't over mix or the dough will be too tough to roll out). Roll out dough to 1/8" thickness on some parchment paper. Score with a knife into squares. Bake 10 to 15 minutes until crackers are golden brown.

I found my edges were starting to burn and that the middle was still uncooked, so I broiled the tops of the crackers, then flipped them and broiled the other side to get the crackers nice and toasted.

Soooo good. Original recipe here.

2008-12-17T12:15:00.001-08:00

Oops...has a month really gone by? Let's see if I can remember what new and exciting things have been happening around here lately.

Liam and Ada are now taking baths together. Liam has a great time showing off to his sister how he can 'swim' in the tub. Ada, as always, is quite enamored with her older brother and is more than thrilled to take a bath with him.

Ada shows her love for the water by constantly kicking her legs and pumping her arms when she's in the tub. She now sits in a tub ring, which supports her perfectly.

Our Ada Babes turned 5 months old last week and is turning into quite the wiggle meister. She enjoys rolling around on the floor and is learning how to use her jolly jumper. Her love affair with the swing isn't anywhere close to being over. She could sit in that thing all day if I'd let her.

Just a short update. I promise to be more diligent with posting. Should be lots to write about now that it's almost Christmas.

Sick Days

2008-11-19T06:17:00.000-08:00

Liam and I have been pretty sick since Saturday. Ada, thankfully is feeling OK besides an occasional runny nose. We've all been stuck at home in our pajamas for quite some time now, but that doesn't mean we haven't been goofing off a bit in between sniffles.

Ada is getting very good at holding her head up now.

Brother and Sister each think the other one is pretty cool.

I dressed Ada up in a bonnet. I love bonnets...probably because I read Little House on the Prairie over and over and over again when I was younger.

By this point Ada was tired of posing for the camera.

This picture really cracks me up!

We're slowly working on getting better. Liam is off to the farm today so that I can get a chance to take a nap and try to shake off this cold. I have to go grocery shopping today and I'm looking forward to it. It's Wednesday now and today will be the first time I'll have left the house since Friday!

Keeping the Peace

2008-11-06T17:52:00.001-08:00

Today was one of THOSE days. Liam, though he woke up at 6am, refused to take a nap in the afternoon and when he's low on sleep he becomes a wild and cranky little tyrant. Thankfully, he hasn't done this in a while, but it didn't make today any easier. Ada was up last night until midnight and then woke up twice in the middle of the night to nurse. Since it's Thursday and Nialle has practice tonight, I knew there would be no relief in sight.

So what do you do when you're lethargic, lactating and spending the day with a sleep-deprived kid? You succumb to his every whim just to keep the peace.

It was cold outside today, but Liam really wanted to go to the park so I dressed him up, put Ada in the sling and zipped her up into one of Nialle's big sweaters that I was wearing and then we all trudged off to the park.

Liam had a good time...

He wore his boxers out today...that's only the second time we've been out of the house without him wearing a diaper. He stayed dry!

I was cold and spent most of the time trying to keep Ada's head covered...

...but at least Liam was able to blow off some steam and I got to walk a happy kid back to the house.

More Baby Giggles

2008-11-05T12:36:00.000-08:00

I just couldn't resist to post another video of Ada giggling. She just loves to laugh. Liam, as you'll hear in the background, just wants an apple.

Whatchulookin'at?

2008-10-30T16:04:00.000-07:00

This is what happens when I leave Liam to play with his Mr. Potato head...

Baby Giggles

2008-10-22T18:36:00.000-07:00

As babies go, Ada is quite different from Liam when he was a baby. Liam was one of those kids who kind of motored around contentedly - never quite fussy, but also never showing too much enthusiasm. Liam was an occasional chuckler (is that a word?); Ada on the other hand, squeals, giggles and guffaws at 3 months of age. Case in point:

Sorry the video is a bit dark. I love how she just gets so pooped at the end that she just has to pop her thumb into her mouth!

One of my friends works as a nurse at the Stollery in Edmonton and says that baby laughs are the best because they are so pure and hearty. I have to agree!

Pregnant?

2008-10-14T10:41:00.000-07:00

If I didn't know better (and I hope I do), I'd swear I was pregnant. Even though Ada is 3 months old, I still feel like I'm in nesting mode. I'm obsessing over what we eat, clean with, how we spend our money and how clean my home is...it's really strange.

During my pregnancy with Ada, I obsessed over going 'greener and cleaner' in our house. I read articles and books on how harmful many of our common household items were and made a commitment to making my house and the products we use safer for us and my children to come into contact with. I realized that just because an item is on a store shelf doesn't guarantee that it is safe for you to use. Yeah, I was turning into a hippy.

But my hippy phase didn't end with Ada's arrival; instead, it just keeps going full steam ahead. Of course, discovering that my mozzarella cheese contains talc doesn't bring back my faith in food (I'm not making things up...it was right there in the ingredients) and learning that my mascara contains carcinogens doesn't help matters either.

Since Ada's arrival, I've also gone budget crazy. Everyday at 11am, my household shuts down and I turn on the TV to watch 'Til Debt Do Us Part'. I'm so completely and pathetically hooked on this show. I want Gail Vaz-Oxlade to come to my house and get us going on a better budget. I want to do her weekly challenges!

Even though Nialle and I usually live within our means, I'd like to live below our means so that we can put aside more money for savings, holidays or a new house. I've started reading Your Money or Your Life and it has me thinking about we can relate to money differently. It has me wondering how I can resist the urge to be such a consumer. It's an interesting time in history, what with the financial crisis in the States - everyone seems to be talking about budgeting now. What that means for me is that there's lots of inspiration and ideas online about how to cut costs at home. I'm hoping that in the next few months or so, we can start setting aside more money for retirement or even *fingers crossed* a trip to Europe!

I've also gone cleaning crazy. I started following flylady's zone cleaning and am working on decluttering and cleaning my home. I have a binder with the list of cleaning chores that I complete each week and where I now keep all of my household information such as ongoing grocery lists and other miscellaneous items I need. I'm so organized and so, so nerdy.

I'm a wee bit embarrassed at how nutty I've gone for all these things. Some of them even seem a to sit on the outside fringes of sanity. But, honestly, I hope I'm not going through a phase, because I'm actually having a good time trying all of these new things!

Girls' Day

2008-10-11T13:34:00.000-07:00

Liam went to Grandma Town's this Thursday and boy, was everyone excited! Liam was at my bedside at 6:30 am yelling and jumping up and down, "I SEE UNCLE JOSH AND UNCLE WEDI TODAY!" I was just about ready to jump up and down with joy too because this whole having two kids thing has really been kicking my butt lately.

Ada and I made the most of the Liam-free time by having a genuine girls' day. We opted for the deluxe spa treatment:

A soak in the spa bath. The 'jets' were even turned on at one point.

We had a mani-pedi (I clipped my toe nails and Ada's fingernails. Glamorous)

I ate Krap Dinner from the pan (to save on dishes, you know). I even contemplated drinking milk from the milk jug too.

Because we both had so much time to make ourselves look so darn good, we even had our portraits taken.

Took a video of Ada too

Other than a load of laundry and tidying up the house, I didn't do any housework. And in a symbolic gesture to all the cleaning I could have been doing, I knit the middle finger on my latest pair of gloves. Thanks, Grandma Town!

Seeds for Christmas

2008-09-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

I love a challenge - especially when it comes to penny pinching. While Nialle and I aren't always the greatest at saving money, I particularly make an effort to try and cut costs when it comes to Christmas gift giving. Christmas is one holiday that can not only blow our budget, but can get us into debt.

This Christmas, one of the gifts I'll be giving to acquaintances and close friends alike is packets of seeds. I harvested the seeds from the flowers in my backyard. If this is something you'd like to try, there's still time to go out and pick seeds before the snow flies.

Gathering seeds from your garden is easy and it allows you to give your loved ones seeds from flowers you know do well in your area. As a bonus, it doesn't take a lot of work or money to do either!

First, make sure that your seeds are ready to be picked. Here is a picture of some of my Giant Delphinium's seed pods. When the pods turn brown, feel crispy and have split open, you know they are ready.

If you're worried that your pods will burst and scatter the seeds on your flower bed before you get a chance to harvest them, you can pick the 'green' pods as they form and let them dry in your house.

Here I have done just that and spread some pods from Delphiniums, Onion Chives and Maiden Pinks in a cardboard box.

Handle the box and pods with care to make sure you don't lose too many seeds...and to make sure you don't mix up the pods either - that could spell disaster. Use separate boxes for each type of flower if you want so that the seeds don't get mixed up. I like using cardboard boxes because they absorb moisture and speed up the drying process.

When you're ready to extract the seeds from the pods, put the pods in a spare paper envelope. Here I have placed some dried heads from my onion chives into an envelope.

Pressing firmly on the outside of the envelope, roll the pods around to remove the seeds. If that doesn't work, you can also shake the seeds out of the pod into the open envelope. Pick out the empty pods once you think all the seeds have been removed.

Look, there's seeds for some onion chives. Yum

To make sure my seeds are dry, I usually keep them in the envelope for a few weeks and store it in a safe, dry place (away from nosy husbands, children and pets). Making sure everything is dry (and stays dry) is essential as moisture will rot the seeds.

Make sure to label the envelope!

Now comes the fun part! Package your seeds in a creative way - add a personal touch. The simplest of gifts become the most meaningful when the recipient sees how much work and thought you put into their present.

Here I did a watercolor of a Giant Delphinium and added some information on the plant. You can always add more information such as how to plant the seeds, interesting uses or a fascinating bit of history. If you don't like to paint, make up small cards with scrapbooking materials, or download cute labels from the internet.

I stapled a small envelope with the delphinium seeds in it to the back of the card. Include a grain or two of rice in this small envelope to help absorb any extra moisture from the seeds.

Place your seeds in an old basket with some gardening tools, gardening magazines or slip it in a Christmas card and you have a one-of-a-kind gift!

Pink and Purple

2008-09-22T12:41:00.000-07:00

Poor Ada has thrush. So I went straight to the medicine cabinet and pulled out the Gentian Violet to start treatment. But, boy, is this stuff nasty...it stains absolutely everything it comes into contact with.

While we're all sure to wear old clothes, Ada has the worst of it what with having to wear the ugliest sleeper I could find. It's fringed in 3 1/2" of lace that interferes with her latch. Maybe 20 years ago, this thing was the hottest thing in fashion, but not anymore. It's destined for the trash once the thrush has gone away.

To complement the lace absurdity, Ada's lips are stained purple and instead of a soft blanket, she's wrapped up in an old towel. I'm hoping this experience doesn't cripple her future fashion sense.

In spite of looking like The Joker (Nialle's words, not mine), Ada's all smiles. Such a trooper.

Resistance is Futile...

2008-09-21T21:17:00.000-07:00

After a particularly trying week, I passed Liam and Ada off to Nialle tonight and told my poor husband I was taking a bath. I barked out my instructions like a drill sergeant so there'd be no chance for interruptions during my long anticipated soak. "Liam needs supper. Give him eggs and toast. Ada's been fed, so if she cries she probably wants to be held. Put her on your shoulder and pat her back, she likes that. Then, put Liam in his pajamas, read him a story and put him to bed. Please."

With that, I turned my back to my family and saw the light of my deliverance coming through the crack under the bathroom door. The light was beckoning me. It promised me sanctuary and a wonderful, sweet haven where responsibilities didn't exist.

Turning the handle and entering the room, I quickly saw my retreat was anything but. The floor was riddled with towels and socks, the baby tub, the curling iron from this morning and soggy toilet paper (don't ask). Dirty tracks from the cat meandered from the tub, along the floor and out the door of the bathroom. The garbage next to the toilet sat overflowing with toilet paper from yesterday when Liam decided he needed to blow his nose and that he was going to do it 'hisself'.

No matter. I was going to pretend none of that existed. The tub was within view and its gleaming porcelain sides called out to me. Hmmm, those sides aren't so gleaming. In fact, this tub is just disgusting. I couldn't pretend away that grime in the tub and I wasn't going to soak in THAT. I hate cleaning the tub, but this bath was going to happen; I WAS going to have a relaxing night. Out of the bathroom I marched, quickly grabbing some cleaning supplies before anyone saw me and thought that I was free game for a barrage of questions, a favour, or a feeding.

There. The tub was clean. The water was running at just the right temperature and I had selected my bath salts and book.

This was going to be my first postpartum bath since Ada's birth and I was really looking forward to it. I dipped a toe in the water. I was thisclose to my destination when the bathroom door swung open wildly and Liam burst in on the scene. "BUMMY!" he gleefully exclaimed as he pointed at my bare rear end.

My weary and pathetic reply was, "Yes, Liam, Mommy has a bum. Now can you please give her some privacy so she can take a bath?"

"OK, Mommy, I shut the door."

"Thanks."

With that Liam shut the door and I sank slowly into the tub, enjoying every bit of the hot water. I reveled in the unadulterated peace. The revelry was short lived as Liam popped his head in and declared, "Mommy, I shut the door!"

Grumble. "Yes, Liam, you did. Now can you please shut it again?"

This time the door stayed shut and I opened my book. My eyes were on the page, but my mind started estimating how much water I had just poured and how much this bath was going to cost me on our next water bill. Had I been to selfish taking this bath? All of a sudden I was wracked with guilt - this extravagance had cost me $0.30. No self respecting girl of dutch heritage would spend that much on herself! After much deliberation, I thought the cost could be excused away as this opportunity to relax would increase the chances of my son reaching his third birthday.

My eyes were still on the pages of the book, but now my ears were tuned to the drama going on outside the bathroom door. Liam was eating supper finally and kept dropping his fork. I could envision the pattern the falling eggs had made on the floor. Will Nialle clean it up or leave it? I'll bet the cat is helping himself to some of those eggs right now. He better not puke them up on the carpet again.

Then Liam was demanding milk. Then he dropped his fork again. Then he was saying he was done his supper. Then he was declaring he actually wanted to keep eating.

Filled was the sippy cup. Picked up was the fork. Off came the bib and off came the tray to the high chair. Back on went the bib and back on went the tray to the highchair.

Ada started to fuss and Nialle picked her up when Liam decided for the final time that he was actually done his supper and wanted to be washed up. Not wanting to put Ada down, Nialle started the bargaining, "Can't you eat just a little more?...Just this much...how about this?" until finally I heard, "EAT IT!" followed promptly by a loud, "NO!"

I'm not ashamed in the least to say that at that point, I was glad Liam was someone else's problem.

I heard various cries and clatters as Nialle and Liam cleaned up the living room for bedtime. In the commotion, I swear I heard someone step on the cat. I wickedly thought: Please don't need me. Please don't need me. Don't make me get out of here! And then a thought even more wicked entered my mind - After Liam goes to bed, I can sneak out and get some knitting done before anyone notices me!

I heard the story read, the song sung and Liam was put to bed.

I emerged from my refuge glancing cautiously around the house. Was HE in bed? Was SHE with her dad? Could I sit on the couch and sneak in some knitting?

Yes...yes...so far it was clear. No...nope...I don't see anyone. I sank into the couch and greedily picked up my knitting needles. Knit, purl, knit, purl.

Was it true? Had I succeeded in not only a bath, but a night of knitting as well? What bliss! What sheer and utter bliss! A woman happy is a woman knitting! A woman happy is a woman with a toddler in bed, a husband holding her babe and a night of solitude ahead of her...

...well, that is the woman HAD a night of peace until she heard a little voice at piercing decibels exclaim:

"I NEED TO USE THE TOI-LER!"

Dang it.

Buying Your Cloth Diapers

2008-09-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

One reason why I never jumped on cloth diapering when Liam was a baby was because I thought it would cost us around $700 up front for us to start cloth diapering. We couldn't afford to drop that much money all at once. And frankly, I didn't have to because there are a lot of frugal ways you can start cloth diapering. I wish that I knew then what I know now.

Yes, cloth diapers will cost more up front, but think in terms of how much disposable cost for one month (roughly $50). For the cost of 4-8 months of disposables, you can buy cloth diapers that will last your child until they are 35lbs and then you can use those same diapers with your next kid too!

For an overview on the different types of diapers you can buy see this post or bum around (get it? BUM around? Har har) on this cloth diapering blog.

ACCESSORIES

Regardless of what type of cloth diaper you go with, you'll need a diaper pail. Mine cost $15.00 a the LDS (no we're not going Mormon here, we're going to the Local Diaper Store).

You'll also want diaper liners. These look like bounce dryer sheets and catch the poop for you so all you have to do is hold the diaper upside down over the toilet and let the poop and liner fall in to be flushed away. Diaper liners make all the difference for us because it means we don't have to dunk the poopy diapers in the toilet. The dunking process is messy and I find it makes the diaper pail smell worse. Trust me, use the diaper liners because it will make cloth diapering more enjoyable and you'll be more likely to stick with it. For 200 diaper liners I paid $12.99 at the LDS. I've since learned you can get these cheaper elsewhere, but there aren't too many cloth diaper stores where I live, so I'll just have to pay a bit more. I expect these to last us for about 6 months or so.

You can buy a fancy plastic bag to hold your dirty diapers in when you go out, or you can just use a left over grocery bag*. So, your costs for a 'dirty duds' bag will range from $0 - $16.

THE DIAPERS

MAKE THEM

This is what my mom and I did. In order to this to truly save a lot of money, a lot has to fall into place. My mom happened to find flannel on sale for half price, so that saved us a bundle. You'll also want to have a surger on hand because this will make sewing the diapers much quicker. And you'll also need to have a schedule where you can set aside large amounts of time for sewing diapers. It was a ton of work (mostly on my mom's part) and in the end we spent maybe $120-$130 total on the pattern, fabric, thread, elastics and velcro for the diapers.

If you have plain flannel diapers, you'll need covers for the diapers. These are sold in various sizes (small, medium, large, XL) and range in price from $8 each to $30 each. You'll want about three covers for each size range. I only bought for sizes small, Large and XL and that will do us just fine.

36 diapers = $120
9 covers (3 for each size range) = $75 - $270 (ouch! don't go for the expensive ones)

BUY 'EM USED

This option has me really excited. I poked around on kijiji edmonton and there were two pages of used diapers for sale. The prices were considerably reasonable and compared with what I paid to make our diapers. The selection of diapers for sale was impressive and you can choose from the fancy types and the plain jane types too.If I had known I could have bought used cloth diapers so easily, I would have and I could have saved my mom a lot of grey hairs!

Prices vary, but they're dang cheap - even for the expensive all-in-one kind diapers! No more than $100 - $200 to get started (the same cost as 2-4 months of disposables)

GET THEM AS GIFTS

Ask friends and family to buy you cloth diapers as baby shower gifts or birthday gifts

No cost to you, just sheer enjoyment.

SLOW AND SURE

You can always put aside $20-$40/month while you are pregnant to help offset the initial cost of buying your cloth diapers.

WHATEVER YOU DO, BUY OR MAKE ONE-SIZE-FITS ALL

(This is my personal opinion) This will save you money because you can have a diaper that fits a child from 8lbs to 35lbs. You only have to pay once for all the diapers you'll need rather than three times for the three size ranges cloth diapers are sold in.

To take it to the next level, having a one-size-fits all that is also an all-in-one (where the diaper cover is sewn to the outside of the diaper) will mean less fuss for you. Because the diaper cover is sewn to the outside of the diaper, this type of diaper can also save you more money. If you can, go for this type of diaper because they're fabulous. We use our homemade diapers at home, but take the fancy ones out on the town because they're more user friendly when you're visiting or shopping.

The only downside is that on kids under 6 months, one-size-fits-all diapers look huge. So, when Ada wears a fancy dress to church, she does wear a disposable because it looks nicer under her dress (vanity, oh vanity). But on other days she wears one-size-fits-all under her pants and although she looks like she has a "front butt", she's still cute.

I hope this post helps to dispel some of the myths of cloth diapering (mainly the startup costs). Both Nialle and I love that we switched to cloth diapers and haven't looked back since.

__________________________________________________________

*I want to buy a nice plastic bag to put our diapers in, but haven't gotten around to it yet, so we just put the dirty cloth diapers in an old grocery bag when we're out and about. Last Sunday, we were over at our friends' house and the husband actually threw out all of our bag of diapers because he thought they were a bag of garbage. Luckily, I discovered this mistake quickly and our diapers weren't taken out to the street with the trash. The moral of the story is that if you're going to use a plastic grocery bag to store your dirty diapers in, look out for people inadvertently chucking it in the garbage!

Energy Costs of Cloth Diapering

2008-09-13T18:05:00.000-07:00

When we first started cloth diapering before Ada was born, I have to admit I was a little wary of the whole process. I thought it would be a nuisance and an inconvenience and that I would regret ever making the switch. I thought the smell would be awful and the mess disgusting. Kindra's posts on cloth diapering helped me to decide to finally make the switch from disposables to cloth.

We've been using cloth diapers for about 3 months now and the results are in - I love cloth diapering! It is a bit more work than using disposables (and I only mean a bit), but the amount of money we are saving makes it all worth while.

Ada's clearly not impressed with the view

One of my friends remarked that she thought of using cloth diapers, but figured that the amount of water she would use to wash them would make the savings negligible.

Liam...future underwear model. He's wearing Happy Heinys, a brand I was introduced to by a generous relative. She bought Ada some of these diapers as a gift and I loved the diapers so much that I had to buy more!

There's lot of websites out there that talk about how much you can save by using cloth diapers, but I wanted to figure out how much savings we were seeing in our little house each month. That way I can give an accurate account to friends and family and it's always nice to know how much we're spending too.

Our washer and dryer came with the house and by no means are they energy efficient. These beasts use a lot of energy, but in spite of all this, still save us big bucks when it comes to diapering.

Here's how much it costs us to wash a load of diapers at our current energy rates:

WASHER
50 gallons/load of water @ $2.20/cubic metre of water = $0.36 of water/load
(one cubic metre of water is about 264 gallons of water)
959 kWh/year of energy@ $0.1125 per kWh = $0.30 of energy/load
$15.99 for a jug of Ecos laundry detergent (105 loads/jug) = $0.15 of laundry detergent/load

Total: $0.81/load

DRYER
898 kWh/year of electricity @0.1125 per kWh = $0.27/dryer load of diapers

Total: $0.27/hour of drying time

For two kids in cloth diapers, I wash about 27 diapers twice a week. In the summer I line dry our clothes. In the winter I also line dry the clothes, but I expect I'll be popping the diapers in the dryer because I'll have too much laundry to line dry all the time.

Let's look at monthly energy costs of cloth diapering:

SUMMER
(washing + line drying)
$6.48

WINTER
(washing + machine drying)
$8.64

If I had both Liam and Ada in disposables, I'd be spending $90/month. This cost is based on how we used to diaper Liam by using the cheap Superstore diapers during the day and the expensive Pamper diapers at night. If we had only one child in diapers, we'd probably be spending $45/month in diapers. This cost would be significantly more if we used only the expensive disposable diapers. No matter how you look at it, cloth diapers are cheaper!

We see more savings because we have two kids in diapers right now. Once Liam is finished potty training, our savings won't seem as impressive, but we'll keep with cloth diapering. Over the past 6 months our bills (fuel, property taxes, water, electricity) have gone up so much that we are now paying $150 more per month than we were in the spring. I guess what I'm saying is cloth diapering helps keep our costs down.

Look out soon for a post on the costs of starting cloth diapering ...(hint: it's not as much as you think)

Consulting the Book of Toddler

2008-09-11T15:25:00.000-07:00

And Mr. Poopy-Pants-Know-It-All spake and said, "The time is nigh for me to act two-years-of-age. As I biddest, so shall it be done.

"From this day forth shall I utter such abominations as, 'NO' and 'HOLY SMOKE' and 'NO' again. And, when I have said it a million times before, I shall sayest 'NO' again.

"I shall beget much confusion and fury in my kingdom whilst I throwest my toys about and whilst I touchest the things I was bade not to touch. There shall be much wailing and gnashing of teeth as I resist the discipline of my fathers.

"Stiff necked boy that I am, so shall I be done with naps. But though my napest time be gone, I shall rise before the sun at 5:30am.

"I shall push my sister in her swing most vigorously and I shall try to carry her about the house with all my strength.

"So shall I refuse the eating of my vegetables and the cleaning of my ears. So shall I also refuse to heed my mother's warnings. Refusals shall be the name of the game and the name of the game shall refusals be.

"Heartily will I roll my eyes and heave my breast with sighing when my mother dost bid me do as she please.

And Mr. Poopy-Pants-Know-It-All also spake, saying, "I shall fill my diapers with The Great Stink four times a day. Four times a day, no more, no less. Four shall be the number I shalt fill, and the number of the filling shall be four. Five shalt I not fill, neither fill I three, excepting that I then proceed to four. Five is right out. Once the number four, being the fourth number, be reached, then shall I be satisfied with the filling of my pants.

"So shall it be!"

...and so it was.

Ada Two Months Old

2008-09-10T21:17:00.000-07:00

Such a good sleeper. Ada already has slept through the night twice!
Watching Curious George with her big brother (both sans pantalons)...

Daddy's little girl...

Full of smiles and even gave her first laugh on her two month birthday!

She's a doll and each day is better than the last with our little Ada!

Dog Days of Summer

2008-08-21T17:12:00.003-07:00

The summer got away on me and I came to the sad realization last week that there's really only a few more weeks left of sultry weather and lazy days. I probably feel like the summer was so short because Ada was born this summer and because there has been a lot to do around the house.

The garden was quite a success this year. I was pregnant when it had to get started, so Nethanel and the other boys were a big help with rototilling and digging up the garden. Liam loves to help out the big guys, even if the shovel is bigger than he is!

The broccoli had a great start, but a tragic ending. I'll spare you the horrible details.

The peas, beans and raspberries were wonderful. I blanched and froze what whatever Liam didn't manage to eat before I got to it. It was a real pleasure to watch Liam enjoy our raspberries and peas, but it made for some pretty gross diapers!

I also discovered a great recipe for Raspberry Italian sodas. It's sure to be a regular every summer at our house.

Raspberry Italian Sodas

4c raspberries
1c water
1c sugar
Club Soda

Wash raspberries and put them in a pot along with 1 c water.
Bring the fruit mixture to a boil and stir until the fruit breaks down.
Pour the fruit mixture through a strainer and collect the juice in a large bowl.
Transfer the juice from the bowl back into your clean pot and add the sugar.
Bring back to a boil and boil for 1 minute, skimming off any foam.
Remove from heat and cool.
Pour 2 oz of your raspberry syrup into a glass club soda and enjoy.

Liam is turning out to be quite the gardener. He loves to help me pick and wash the vegetables and is very good at putting our waste into the compost. I'm thinking next year he will be old enough to have a garden of his own - won't that be fun?

We weren't the only ones enjoying the food from our backyard this summer. The spider in the picture below lived in our tomato plant for most of the summer and, for the most part, stayed in one spot while he let his food come to him.

We've also decided to paint the garage, garden shed and house this summer because we're hoping we'll be able to sell the house in the next year or two. Thankfully Nethanel came over to help us with this chore.

Here Nialle and Nethanel take a break from the sanding and priming to chat.

I've come to realize that as much as I'd love for Nethanel to marry a certain gorgeous dutch girl at church, having a single and available brother around is very advantageous because we get a lot more work done when Nethanel's around to help. (Don't tell him I said that)

Here's the start of our priming. We're still not done all of the painting, but hopefully I can post pictures of our finished work soon.

Ada has been growing quickly and Liam is her constant companion. Liam is a wonderful big brother and likes to help me out by watching Ada while she has 'tummy time' - something she hates.

Ada sleeps in the living room during the day so that she can get used to our noisy household. It seems to be working great because I can vacuum in the living room and she doesn't wake up at all. She is such a content baby full of smiles and snuggles!

It's been a busy summer and I'm sad it's almost over. But at least with the cold weather I can look forward to lots of knitting!

Death of a Legend

2008-08-21T16:51:00.000-07:00

Today I must say goodbye to an old, dear friend - my running bra. It's pathetic, really. I've had this thing for almost 10 years now and it was a hand-me-down from my sister in the first place. As of late, I've had to resort to wearing a regular bra underneath the running bra just so I could get enough support. Clearly, this thing was being held together by only two running bra molecules.

Why did I hang on to this thing for so long? I don't know! Surely not for sentimental reasons. I put off buying a new running bra for so long because I knew just how much a good one would cost - and with good reason. Today I finally bought a new bra and it almost cost me as much as a new pair of running shoes. But at least I know it will last me 10 years (I hope)!

Anyways, I'm off for a run in my fancy schmancy new running bra....toodles!

Ada: The First Month

2008-08-11T07:04:00.001-07:00

Ada with Nialle, shortly after her birth. Even when she was only a few hours old, Nialle let Ada know she'll never be allowed to get married or have a boyfriend. No, siree!

Ada 5 days old. One of my favourite pictures of her.

Nialle and Ada taking a quick nap together. Ada is a wonderful sleeper. Already she's only waking up once, maybe twice a night and it's only for a quick 5 minute feeding.

Ada before we headed out to the Wetaskiwin airshow. It's proving to be a lot of fun to dress her up everyday. Here she is wearing one of the many outfits her great-aunts bought her.

Ada loves her baths! Grandma Farm made her a whole set of natural, lavender scented bath products that we use to pamper her!

Her first smiled caught on camera! This smile is going out to her daddy.

You can see that Ada has developed a pretty bad case of baby acne. It's on her eyelids, scalp and even in her ears. It looks terrible, but doesn't seem to be causing her any pain. I'm not positive, but I think it might be getting better finally!

Ada's been putting on weight quickly and is developing a double chin! Already I have had to raise the straps on the car seat carrier and I can tell some of her bloomers are fitting much tighter now than when she was first born.

A pretty picture of our little doll taking a nap. We had a great first month with her and here's to more fabulous months in the future.

Cheers!

Dreaming

2008-08-08T13:52:00.000-07:00

Do you have a dream? My latest is to live in an old stone farmhouse where I'd keep sheep on the rolling hills around me. I'd have a little shop in the loft of the barn where people could come to buy my homespun yarn, woolen items and take lessons in knitting and spinning.

Nialle would own his own restaurant. In fact, we could convert the barn into a seating area and we could serve people food right from the garden we'd have on the farm. I wouldn't be offended in the least if our patrons knit while they ate their dinners.

What d'ya think...should we do it? One day? Maybe?

What would you do, if you could?

My Boy Turns Two

2008-08-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

From this at two months...

to this, at two years of age...

I remember when this guy was only two...it didn't seem that long ago.

Liam 'blowing' out his sparklers (on the left, his future bride is looking unimpressed)...

Mmmm...that cake must have been good because it's all over Joel, Josiah and Liam...

Liam opening one of his presents. Oh, look, it's a diaper shirt for Ada. Sorry kid, it doesn't matter if you turned two, the baby still gets more attention.
Grandma Town hogging, I mean holding, Ada. That night, I could smell Grandma Town on Ada after everyone had gone home. Grandma Town is like a cat - she marks her grandchildren with her scent glands.

Happy Birthday, big guy!

Summer Fun For Boys

2008-07-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

Now smile for the camera, Liam. Hold onto your sister real tight, OK, Liam?

Ok, Mom!

Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

2008-07-22T11:23:00.000-07:00

I decided Liam's ready to potty train since he can pee on the potty whenever I ask him to. So we trotted off to WalMart this morning where I let him pick out some new Curious George underwear. I explained that he wasn't going to wear diapers very often anymore and that he'd use the potty so that George didn't get dirty or wet.

Liam has been having his bms in the afternoon lately, so I thought this morning was a good time to start training because we'd only have to deal with the wet stuff. So, when we got home, I had Liam put on his new underwear and we immediately went to the potty where Liam went pee. "This isn't so hard," I smugly thought to myself. After explaining to Liam that he needed to try and let me know when he had to go to the bathroom, I left him to play in the living room while I put away groceries.

It wasn't long before Liam came running up to me saying he had to use the potty. I was thrilled! But my excitement quickly faded as I turned to Liam and noticed his underwear was sitting so low that Curious George now swung from his vine somewhere down around his knees.

And while Curious George dangled there, it dawned on me that Liam had pooped in his pants.

Before I could spring into action and contain this soon-to-be-disaster, Liam ran off to the potty, with that pretty sack of poop swinging to-and-fro between his legs. Curious George, unfazed by it all and still hanging from his vine, smiled while he swung like a metronome from his new vantage point.

If this was a movie, this would be the point where everything would start moving in slow-mo. In this shot, you'd see me running after my son, hands reaching, eyes wide with terror and a deep "NNNOOOOOOOOO" coming from my mouth. Curious George wouldn't be swinging as fast, but he'd still have that stupid grin on his face. And the poop? Well, the poop would eking it's way out of the underwear and onto Liam's thighs, down his calves and onto his socks.

If this was a movie, the punch line would arrive once the camera zooms in on my son and his underwear and socks to show that everything is now a lovely shade of pink. Are you puzzled? Why is everything pink?

Well, we started potty training the day after we'd had beets for supper.

Needless to say,I'm not so smug anymore.

Ada's Quilt

2008-07-15T12:35:00.000-07:00

Although I adore Liam and all his fun 'boy' stuff, once I knew we were having a girl, I couldn't wait to dive into the world of pink.

During my last year of university, I stumbled across a book about antique doll and crib quilts at the used book store on campus. I loved that the author took the time to re-create a pattern for each of the well-loved quilts from yesteryear. The one quilt that caught my eye was called the postage stamp quilt. It was a plain, yet whimsical patchwork quilt and I knew it would be perfect for my little girl.

Sewing the squares together so that the seams matched proved difficult and ironing all those seams afterwards was rather tedious. But the end result was worth it.

The pattern was easy to adapt to fit a crib and I added borders to finish off the patchwork.

Nothing beats running your hands along a soft quilt...
Scratch that.

Nothing beats snuggling with your little girl for the first time under the quilt you made just for her.

Welcome, Ada!

2008-07-14T10:20:00.000-07:00

Ada Grace arrived at 4:53pm on July 9, 2008 (her daddy's 26th birthday)! In spite of our IUGR scare, Ada weighed a healthy 8lbs 3oz at birth. She is a healthy and content little girl.

Just a few minutes old...

I felt wonderful after the delivery. I'm glad I chose not to have an epidural - I think it made all the difference with our nursing and my recovery was much quicker this time around.

Liam and Grandma Town meet Ada for the first time...
Peacefully sleeping...

Striking a thoughtful pose. Look at her hair, it's strawberry blond!

The family enjoying a 'quiet' night at home...

Preggo the Grouch

2008-07-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

I'm wholly and thoroughly grouchy. I'm now one week overdue and feeling absolutely pregnant. I really shouldn't complain because at 9 months I only just now feel pregnant. Most women have discomfort right from the very beginning. I don't.

But that doesn't seem to make me any less grouchy.

This kid has dropped in the past couple of weeks which has resulted in the sensation that there's a bowling ball between my legs. I can't bend over and get stuff done in the garden like I used to and seeing all those weeds is starting to drive me crazy.

And, as if I wasn't going to the bathroom enough already, now I have to go almost every 15 minutes because there's a huge head on my bladder. There really ought to be frequent pee-er points for pregnant ladies. I could have gotten enough points for a trip to Europe and back by now.

40 weeks and waiting...

Last night I thought I was in labour; I had regular contractions. Liam was shipped off to the MIL while my mom stayed back and helped me relax and time contractions for 6 hours. And then the contractions stopped.

And that makes me pretty grouchy.

I'm trying to be patient and wait for God's timing, but so far I'm doing a pretty miserable job of it all! I've got to suck it up and remember that one week past due isn't too bad either!

41 weeks and counting...

Along Came a Spider...

2008-07-02T18:43:00.000-07:00

Nialle often recounts how for one whole summer a white spider with pink stripes lived in the peonies at his old house in Calmar. Just last night he was telling me this story again and mentioned how neat it would be to see another spider just like the one he saw that summer.

Imagine my surprise when as I was weeding today I spotted that spider. Well, probably one of the descendants of the spider in Calmar.

I don't particularly like spiders, so these pictures are as close as I get, folks. Every time I put the camera near this thing, it would wave some of its legs in the air menacingly. I think that if it could have had me for dinner, it would have!

A panicky shot I took. It turned out blurry, but you can kind of see the pink stripes.

Another crappy shot, but you can see the spider's 'fangs' in this one. Shudder.

Ready or Not, Here I Come...

2008-06-26T11:43:00.001-07:00

...no I'm not in labour. But the cloth diapers are finally done and that scares me more than labour does! I know that losing the convenience of disposable diapers will be tough, but financially, things might be a little tight for a while, so cloth diapers make a lot of sense.

Since Liam isn't potty trained yet and we have 36 one-size-fits-all diapers made up, I figured that he and the baby could share the diapers. So, before I laid Liam down for his nap today, I slipped on the cloth diaper and put on the plastic cover.

Liam's a big kid, and I can tell that it won't be long before he outgrows the cloth diapers. Maybe, just maybe, he'll be potty trained before that happens. Liam will be my guinea pig for the next while as I learn how to use and wash these things before the baby arrives. I've already practically memorized Kindra's posts on cloth diapers, so I think I'll be OK. Gulp.

But I'm also pretty excited to use these things. We, (my mom and I) have been working on sewing these together for months now. I use the term 'we' loosely because in true mom fashion, my mom did a whole lot more work than I did. Sewing the diapers was tedious, but I estimate it saved us about $500. That's pretty awesome - thanks, Mom!

I've also come across a cloth diaper blog that I've been browsing. It's mostly just a website trying to sell you products, but it's been really helpful to know what other products and accessories are out there for cloth diapering. I'm hoping to purchase or make a wool soaker and see how that works out as a cover. Also, Nialle and I use cloth bags for grocery shopping, so we don't have a lot of old grocery bags kicking around that I can store dirty diapers in, so I hope to purchase one of these puppies too:

The Bumkins Tote Bag isn't just for soiled cloth diapers, it can be used as a clean diaper tote as well. In fact, with its roomy outer mesh pocket, the Bumkins Tote Bag can carry dry cloth diapers within the outside mesh pocket and hold your baby's wet or soiled cloth diapers on the inside.

(I'm thinking any bag made of durable plastic would work just fine too).

Wish me luck!

Veggie Spray

2008-06-25T10:59:00.000-07:00

Vegetable sprays have gained a lot of popularity lately and it makes sense. Buying organic fruits and veggies all of the time can get expensive and I've noticed that it's just not always possible. Vegetable sprays allow consumers to buy non-organic produce while removing most of the pesticides and heavy metals. That being said, organic is still probably the best idea because pesticides and heavy metals also make their way into the 'meat' of the produce as well.

I happened across this vegetable spray recipe while watching Oprah (Yes, I am ashamed. But this spray recipe alone vindicates me for watching Oprah one afternoon.)

1 c water
1 c vinegar
1 T baking soda
10 drops grapefruit seed extract (I just use lemon juice)

I make sure to use natural vinegar and organic baking soda because there's no point in using a spray that just puts more chemicals on top of your produce. You can also use organic lemon juice, although I haven't done that yet...

Mix 1 c of water and 1 c of vinegar in a spray bottle. Using a funnel, slowly add 1 T of baking soda. The baking soda will make the mixture fizz a bit, so add it slowly and in small increments. Finally, add your 10 drops of grapefruit seed extract.

Spray your fruits or vegetables thoroughly. Let produce stand for 5- 10 min before rinsing. There won't be any taste of vinegar left behind and you can simply enjoy!

The veggie spray lasts a long time in your spray bottle. Simply whip up another batch when you run out.

I've read that it's also a good idea to spray home grown vegetables if you live near a busy highway or road because airborne chemicals from exhausts will settle on your produce.

Hankie for Liam

2008-06-19T21:53:00.000-07:00

Since I've become a mom, I can't get over how often kids get sick. This morning Liam woke up with the sniffles not two weeks after he had a terrible fever due to viral bronchitis. Maybe it's just me, but kids' noses seem to perpetually run when they are sick and I go through a ton of kleenex.

I've been thinking about hankies for Liam to use when he has the sniffles because I grew up on a farm where hankies were an extra appendage and were regarded as being next to godliness. If you dared to use even cheap toilet paper to blow your nose, your frugal dutch heritage was put into question.

Anyway, I'll stop rambling now. I had a brain wave this morning as I was sorting through some old t-shirts and decided I could make Liam a hankie of his own. (Kindra inspired me with her t-shirt bibs). I chose an old shirt of mine made from 100% cotton and cut a square out of it.

NOTE: There's lots of cotton shirts out there, but you want to pick the really thin flimsy ones to use for hankies. The thick cotton shirts won't absorb the snot well enough. Girl shirts made of 100% cotton seem to be the best for hankies. Just look in your closet for that shirt that clings to all your rolls and you're bound to get a shirt that's just right for hankies.

HANKIE: THE MAKING OF

I pinned and sewed down the edges.

With a fabric pencil I drew the outline of a truck.

I then put the hankie in a hoop to add tension so that stitching would be easier.

And then I happily stitched away.

Liam loves his hankie and thinks the truck is pretty cool. He's the only kid on the block with a black hankie too - how fabulous is that? Liam's one happy guy and this dutch mom is happy too because we're not wasting toilet paper anymore.

A Wordless Wednesday

2008-06-18T15:25:00.000-07:00

Go Go Gadget Feet!

2008-06-16T06:24:00.001-07:00

This kid clearly won't sit still for the camera.

This one's blurry, but I love that both Liam and I have the same goofy look on our faces!

Old McDonald Had a Farm...

2008-06-15T19:38:00.000-07:00

E-I-cow-in-the-barn

Garden Goodness

2008-06-05T19:55:00.000-07:00

I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden. ~Ruth Stout

last year's garden

One of the things we love about living in our old house is that it came with a huge yard - something that isn't present in modern homes. Our plot is 60' by 100' which provides us with ample space for a vegetable garden. I started this garden last year and learned a lot from my mistakes, so I'm betting this year will be even better. And of course, because I love gardening so much I just HAD to blog about it.

Hoe while it is spring, and enjoy the best anticipations. It is not much matter if things do not turn out well. ~Charles Dudley Warner

I crammed as many vegetables as I could into my garden. My goal by the end of the summer is to have a freezer full of frozen beans, peas and carrots to use in side dishes and soups. I think it's great that I can give my family organic vegetables throughout the winter for a fraction of the cost that we would pay at a grocery store.

I traveled off my beaten path and am experimenting with growing butternut squash, cabbage and beets this year. I'll need to look up recipes for these veggies since I'm not very familiar with cooking them. If you have any suggestions on how to cook these veggies, I'd be most grateful!

If we were planning on staying in this house for quite some time, I would have invested in raised beds, with cedar chip pathways between each bed. My garden functions just as well, but pulling out the quack grass gets old fast.

My nesting got the better of me and I had Nialle, Nethanel and Nethanel's friend Jordan dig me another plot at the back of our yard. Yep, I've got MORE beans, peas and carrots in there. In total, I have planted two varieties of beans, three varieties of peas and three varieties of carrots. I also used up all the seeds in the packets...Nialle's already started to complain about how he's going to be sick of eating all this stuff by Christmas.

My mom's post on tea gardens inspired me to plant some chamomile and mint to dry for teas that I can enjoy throughout the winter. Although, I must say that fresh mint tea in the summer tastes much better than dried mint tea.

Our raspberries came with the house and they might be the one thing in my garden that I am looking most forward to enjoying this summer. Last year we had a bumper crop of raspberries which meant I had bags and bags of frozen raspberries in the freezer. Even after giving some of the bags away to friends, Nialle and I were still enjoying raspberry smoothies up until this March.

I'm even going to try to make my own raspberry soda this year. You should come over one day and enjoy some with me!

The lilac bushes are also another thrill of spring. Who needs Febreze when you have lilacs right outside your bedroom window? Both our bedroom and Liam's bedroom are heavy with the perfume of lilacs. It's very romantic.

It's Spring!

In the spring, at the end of the day, you should smell like dirt. ~Margaret Atwood

Victory Gardens

2008-06-05T19:13:00.001-07:00

Only recently did I learn about Victory gardens, but they have become a bit of a fascination to me. I mean, when else did so many people and towns participate in growing their own food? Yum!

Victory gardens were planted in the US, UK and Canada during WWI and WWII in order to alleviate the demand on the public food supply. It was intended that the money saved on importing food would go directly to supporting the armed forces.

Gardening during the wars wasn't just for the poor anymore, it was a way for the public to feel they were making a contribution toward the war efforts. In many ways, having victory garden was seen as a morale booster.

And what better way to boost morale, than to grow your victory garden in a bomb crater as seen in this picture?

Space that otherwise would have gone unused was put to work for the war. Street corners, public parks and apartment building rooftops were bursting at the seams with vegetables, fruits and herbs.

Maybe I'm just a tad sentimental, but who wouldn't want to plant their own victory garden today? Not you? Oh. Well, I do!

There's lots of great reasons why having your own vegetable garden is a good idea. There's no war effort we're called to support, but food shortages are slowly becoming a reality. Furthermore, in cities there's a lot of wasted space that could be used to provide nutrition for the public. All that aside, we all know that the fruits and veggies we buy at the grocery store are often covered in pesticides and lack nutrients because they are forced into maturity. Having your own homegrown vegetables is an excellent way to enjoy organic and nutrient rich fruits and vegetables. Come on, it's fun! (And it's cheap, cheap, cheap).

But that's just me. I'm a geek. I'm a nerd. And I'm slowly turning into a hippy. But I'm having a lot of fun doing it too - which is why I shared this with you!

Reverse Psychology

2008-06-02T10:48:00.001-07:00

There are days when Liam doesn't want to eat his porridge. Being the clever parents we are, Nialle and I employ the 'don't eat your porridge' tactic. Liam loves it.

Watch and learn...

Tasmanian Devil or Ambitious Toddler?

2008-05-15T18:21:00.000-07:00

Liam has graduated to a toddler bed which means that he has free rein around his room once he is put down for his nap or bedtime. It's not uncommon to find Liam in bed with a small toy or book that he grabbed before he fell asleep. However, today he had another surprise waiting for me...

I hope this same 'surprise' isn't waiting for me again tomorrow morning.

When Boy Meets Sidewalk

2008-05-12T06:23:00.001-07:00

Liam took a pretty bad tumble this weekend. He was out for a walk down the block with Nialle when he tripped over his pigeon toes and, as Nialle explains it, "Stopped himself with his face." Of course, this had to happen right before Grandpa and Grandma Farm took him to Calgary to see Thomas the Train where lots of pictures would be taken of the Liam and his uncles.

Obviously, Liam is a tough guy and doesn't look too worse for wear in this picture! He had a blast in Calgary and hopefully Grandma Farm will post some pictures of their awesome day with Thomas.

Sunny Days

2008-05-06T18:44:00.001-07:00

Spring has finally sprung around here! That means hanging laundry to dry outside on a regular basis and airing all of our bedding out for a spring cleaning. Liam has made a game out of running underneath the clothes while I'm hanging them up. He also likes to hand (throw) me the clothespins.

Vanesquatch is in full force as I look around the yard to see what needs to be done. (That garden shed and the garage could sure use a painting). Nialle has a to do list as long as his arm and I'm hoping everything will get done before the baby arrives. It's always nicer to make to-do lists when you know your husband is the one having to do all the work ;).

Liam and I went to see the doctor today regarding Liam's pigeon toes. I think they are the darlingest things in the world, but I know that he might not appreciate them when he's a young man. Our doctor thinks Liam will grow out of his pigeon toes, but is referring us to a pediatric orthopedic surgeon for a second opinion just to be sure.

I love his pigeon toes!

The next picture is a special one just for Grandma Town. Liam misses you while you are away and thought you'd get a good laugh out of this picture. This is how I found him one day after his nap - electrifying!

Giddiup

2008-04-21T11:14:00.000-07:00

We were away in Slave Lake all weekend for Nialle's Grandfather's funeral. It was hard to say goodbye to such a kind, generous and brilliant man and he will be greatly missed by many, many people.

Though the tone of the weekend was somber, there were a few moments granted to us by Liam that gave everyone a good laugh. We stayed at Aunty Kandis' house and she made sure to bring out the fun toys for Liam to play with. Here's a video of Liam showing off his riding skills for all to see...

Springtime Woes

2008-04-21T11:07:00.000-07:00

We were thisclose to spring. The snow had melted, the perennials were popping up, the geese were returning...spring was almost here. Almost. We'll just have to wait a few more weeks for spring now because the dump of snow we got yesterday and today is downright ridiculous. And, as far as I know, it supposed to snow for two more days.

The view from my back door. We had just brought out Liam's basketball net and were playing basketball out on the lawn last week.

I had even brought out my lanterns for summer.

Not even the Jehovah's Witnesses could escape this dump of snow.

I think you'll all agree with me when I say IT'S JUST NOT FAIR!

Look Who's Talking Now...

2008-04-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

One of the greatest things I enjoy right now about Liam is how quickly he is picking up words:

Last week, Liam and I were playing outside and we heard the geese coming back for spring. When Liam heard the honking, he exclaimed, "Beepers!" Uber-cute.

Liam has a few words that he pronounces the same way, so you have to be listening carefully to the context of the word, or else you could be in trouble. For instance, Liam pronounces pizza and penis the same way...sadly, Nialle and I giggle immaturely every time Liam tells us we are having "penis" for supper.

Just this week, Liam used two new sentences. One morning I was engrossed in knitting the start of the thumb of a mitten (hey, they're pretty tricky to do) when Liam started having trouble with his train set. He was fussing and I was telling him I'd be there to help in just a minute. Just a minute apparently wasn't good enough for Liam because he marched right up to me and shouted, "I WANT HELP!!" This was Liam's first sentence he formed all on his very own! I was pretty proud, even if he did have a stinky attitude. After crying at bedtime for what seemed like forever, Liam told me, "I want my bottle." (Anyone else notice that when I am an bad mommy and ignore my son's pleas for help and make him cry himself to sleep, that that's when he uses sentences? Fabulous.)

Here's a cute video of Liam showing me where the different parts of his body are. (I swear that when the camera is off he can do this perfectly...)

Weiner Alert

2008-03-26T18:35:00.000-07:00

I had a professor in bible college who would always say, "Now, love me on this, folks" when he was about to tell you something you might be shocked about.

So, love me on this, folks....

I have a knitting blog.

Did I hear gasps, or mostly just groans?

I know, I know. Some may not understand. But I'm not the only one out there with a knitting blog...there's tons of us...and you won't be able to get rid of us. Knitting is a passion for so many and here's why it's mine:

1. Knitting takes time.
2. Giving a hand knit gift that took hours to make is very satisfying
3. Knitting keeps me sane and prevents cabin fever.
4. Knitting is tactile, warm and delicious!

What you saw your grandmother knit with her WalMart yarn and what you see sold at the farmer's markets is not the kind of knitting I do. I knit cool stuff, or at least it's cool to me.

So check me out and see how awesome knitting really is! www.oldsoulknits.blogspot.com

Trains, Planes and Automobiles

2008-03-11T17:55:00.000-07:00

Liam is officially nuts for trains! He can't seem to get enough of his "choo-choos" - they go to bed with him and they are the first thing he asks for in the morning. We can see the trains go through town from our front window which gives Liam even more thrills than playing with his trains. Even when Liam wakes up in the middle of the night, he likes to look out the window to see if the train is going past.

Liam also likes to give me a running commentary as we drive down the highway. When he sees a semi truck in the on-coming lane he exclaims, "Mama!" and he's not happy unless I say, "Oh, yes, Liam, there's a big truck!" Then I have to wave to the truck as it passes (there must be a lot of confused truck drivers out there). Once the truck is out of view I hear, "Mama!" again and Liam signs that the truck is all gone. We repeat this multiple times per trip because Liam's never tires of it, even if I get weary!

From Grandma Town's living-room window, Liam can see the airplanes taking off from the airport - he's very impressed by these fancy flying machines! Liam also had the chance to visit Nialle at work and watch his daddy drive around in the fork lift. Liam's face lit up when he saw his dad behind such an impressive machine!

Nialle and Liam working hard together!

Second Ultrasound of Second Baby

2008-02-28T18:00:00.000-08:00

Here's the latest ultrasound pictures of Baby #2. On all accounts the baby seems very healthy and is doing quite well. This one is much more squirmy than Liam ever was - more than once I've been woken up at 6am by someone pummeling on my tummy! I'm not complaining at all because feeling your baby move is a wonderful thing. Only four short months until we see this new one face-to-face!

See the alignment of the hands? I think the baby is showing me it will enjoy knitting!

A view of the baby's precious feet.

The Days Are Just Full

2008-02-20T17:51:00.000-08:00

When Nialle comes home from work and asks me what I've done with my day, I often reply, "Oh, not much." But, I never feel like there's nothing to do or that I wasted my day away. Liam of course, is the reason why my uneventful day often feels so eventful...

Nialle has been on-call a fair bit in the past weeks which means that I'm on shoveling duty. Liam is my constant companion during this task and quite enjoys a change of scenery...

Liam has adopted every pair of my shoes and proudly wears them around the house...

Liam enjoys baking with me (especially if he gets to lick the beaters)...

he also likes to pretend to bake muffins...

our tub is under repair so Liam has had to have his bath in the kitchen sink. He thinks his new venue is pretty cool!

Like most toddlers, Liam enjoys rummaging through our cupboards. He has become very skilled in this area and often makes off with various food items. At the end of the day, I often find tin cans in odd places around the house like under his crib and in the tub.

I've also discovered Liam drinking out of the red wine vinegar bottle. (He told me it was "yucky" so I don't think he'll do that again). The stealthy little turkey also unscrewed the cap off on the jug of canola oil and dumped it all over the kitchen floor today. That was a fun mess to clean up.

Yep, life with Liam fills up every day!

Vanesquatch: The Raging, Hormonal Pregnant Lady That is Me.

2008-02-13T18:54:00.000-08:00

In the last week or so, I have really begun to feel pregnant. I hit the halfway mark and my pregnancy brain arose from the ashes and gobbled up my normal mommy brain. I am a pregnant beast driven by primal pregnant instincts. I am Vanesquatch (cue ominous sounding music).

Behaviour

The Vanesquatch is an unpredictable beast prone to unexplained bursts of crying. While she attempts to eat healthy, she has been known to devour an entire bag of Crispers in one sitting. This Crispers binge was followed by the aforementioned bursts of crying and then by a slobbery lament that she was a terrible mother to her unborn child.

The Vanesquatch is driven by compulsion to complete unfinished tasks around the house to ensure her house is well organized by the time her offspring arrives. The compulsion to complete these unfinished tasks is at times stronger than others. Anyone who stands in the Vanesquatch's way while she is cleaning or organizing should remove themselves from the area immediately or risk imminent death.

The Vanesquatch also requires frequent trips to the bathroom, so it is best that one maintains a clear pathway to the toilet at all times.

Use extreme caution when interacting with the Vanesquatch - she is hormonal and very dangerous. Keep children away from Vanesquatch, it is feared she may smother small ones as she increases exponentially in size.

Habitat

The Vanesquatch can be found mainly in her own home nesting and preparing for her next offspring. Though these sightings have not been confirmed, there are reports that Vanesquatch also frequents WalMart, Dollarama and yarn stores.

Food and Hunting

The Vanesquatch enjoys her food. Do not stand in the way of her food and don't you DARE eat her food. If you eat her food, she'll hunt you down.

It's that simple.

Comparisons

While she has a human-like appearance, her frequent pregnancies have left the Vanesquatch with the nickname "The Perpetual Elephant". During her final months of gestation, her mate often compares Vanesquatch's appearance to that of a marshmallow on toothpicks. This comparison is usually met with uncontrollable sobbing; however, it is predicted that soon Vanesquatch will feed on her mate considering his part in the breeding process is now complete and he is no longer of use to her.

A recent sighting of the Vanesquatch in her natural habitat. It would appear she is about 4 1/2 months pregnant. Approach with EXTREME caution.

Napping in Holland

2008-02-12T12:48:00.000-08:00

It's no secret that I'm a nerd for knitting and that I also love to browse through other knitters' blogs. One of my new favorites is by a girl about my age whose name is Saartje. Saartje lives in Holland, is an avid knitter and has a young daughter named Lotte (pronounced Lott-ah).

While browsing Saartje's blog I came across this post. My mom has always told me that the Dutch let their babies sleep outside, but I never had seen one of these "baby hutches". Check out Saartje's post to learn more...I may have to ask my dad to make us one of these!

Smart Fart!

2008-01-22T18:14:00.000-08:00

Here's a cute video of Liam counting to three in order to have a piggy back ride. I have to start him out with "one" and he follows with "two" and "three". Super cute and super smart!

Visitors in the Night

2008-01-20T19:03:00.000-08:00

When we stepped out the door to go to church this morning we noticed that we had had some visitors in our backyard over night! These footprints gave it away...

It appears deer have been by to eat the compost we have been throwing out onto our garden. I certainly never thought I'd have deer in my backyard living in town. But, I think the idea of nighttime visits from deer is charming. (Of course we'll see if they keep up this habit once my garden is planted. I might not be so amused then!)

I wish I had been awake to see them all! Deer are beautiful to see up close - all that's left of their visit are their footprints and tongue marks in the snow. There's plenty of compost to come, so I'm sure they'll be back for more as the winter goes on!

My Little Man

2008-01-17T18:05:00.000-08:00

Liam thinks his dad is the coolest guy in the world. As soon as Nialle comes in the door from work, Liam yells "HI!" and gives his daddy a big hug.

Liam, Joel and Josiah are the Three Musketeers! Joel and Josiah teach Liam lots of important things like how to play with trucks and how to jump on grandma's couch. Today they took Liam out on the farm and showed him the calves.

In these pictures, the boys are in their Christmas pajamas...look out ladies, in 20 years these fellas are going to be the hunkiest bachelors in Leduc!

This is a picture that we will definitely have to save for Liam's wedding. (payback for all those dirty diapers I've had to change!)

Liam's latest fascination is trains. He's glued to his Thomas the Train book and takes it to bed with him most nights. Liam tries his best to say, "Choo-Choo" but it comes out sounding more like "Foo-Foo".

This isn't the greatest picture because the cat got in the way and because Liam wouldn't sit still, but we made Liam a "throne" last week out of his mega-blocks. The chair suits His Majesty! (Nialle also made a cage out of mega blocks for Liam's stuffed Panda. That proved to be a real hit as well).

Well, the cool dude is letting me know it's time to go and play! Just like his trains, Liam goes "full steam ahead" all day! Choo-Choo!

First Ultrasound of Baby#2

2007-12-11T13:27:00.000-08:00

Here's one of the first glimpses we've had of baby#2. It looks like the baby is healthy and growing well! I'm about 3 months now and I feel wonderful now that the first trimester exhaustion is starting to wear off.

Trying to explain to my brother Joel that I'm pregnant is a little bit tricky...our conversation went something like this...

-Joel, do you know that I'm going to have a baby?

-Where is it?

-In my tummy.

-Can I see?

(I lift my shirt up and explain to Joel that it's very tiny and inside of my tummy)

-Where is it?

-In my tummy.

-WHERE? I want to see it!

-You can't see it - not yet. We have to wait until summer to see the baby. It's in my tummy.

-WHERE?!?!? I WANT TO SEE IT!

After much persuasion, I finally manage to convince Joel that he has to wait to see the baby because I need to carry it in my tummy for a while. Joel then thinks for a while, walks over to the nativity display, picks up the baby Jesus, shoves it under his shirt and says to me with much determination:

-I'm going to carry baby Jesus in my tummy.

You do that, Joel. You do that.

Mommy, I lost my pants!

2007-12-03T12:04:00.000-08:00

Poor Liam has a pair of overalls with a broken strap. The strap that isn't broken just slips off his shoulders and the result is quite funny...for everybody but him.

Home Sweet Home

2007-12-03T12:01:00.000-08:00

Daddy's home! Nialle has been recuperating well at home and even though he can't hold Liam, he's been getting in some quality snuggle time.

Here's Daddy and Liam reading a book together. It's early in the morning, so Nialle still has bedhead. Liam doesn't like to be read to, but he does enjoy books if you point out things in the pictures and discuss it like civilized folks.

Snow!

2007-11-05T06:51:00.000-08:00

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

Nialle and I took Liam outside yesterday morning to enjoy the first snow fall of the year. Liam took one step outside, put his hand in the snow and promptly started to cry. Thankfully, it didn't take long before he was happily tromping through the yard!

...it also didn't take long before Liam had a spill ...

Papa and Liam...doesn't the hedge look so pretty with the snow on it?

...our house...both attic vent covers fell off this summer and we still haven't gotten around to putting them back up...looks like we'll be waiting until spring to do that now!

Only 50 days left until Christmas! Can't you just feel it in the air????

Liam Using Sign Language

2007-10-16T17:35:00.000-07:00

Today Liam used sign language for the second time ever! It was a surprise because we haven't been very consistent with teaching him how to sign. It happened after supper and Liam was fussing to get out of his chair so I asked him if he was all done and he signed that he was! Pretty cool!

This is a great incentive to teach him more sign language!

Fall at Our House

2007-10-15T14:08:00.000-07:00

We moved in around the beginning of November last year, so this year was the first time I got to see our Mountain Ash in all it's glory! After I took this picture, the leaves got even redder...I love it!

Joel and Josiah came over for on their birthday for a special lunch with Liam and me. Of course, all three of them got in some "Wrestle Mania" with my mom.

Nialle's sisters, Carly and Katie, came over for Thanksgiving. Of course Liam was smothered with love from these two! Both of these girls thoroughly enjoy being aunties!

And Liam? Well, this picture sums up his current status around here!

Liam finally has two teeth - he got his top right tooth first and then his lower left tooth! Life has been pretty exciting ever since!

Liam's latest fascination is dropping things down the stairs. At the end of the day, our staircase is riddled with teddies, blocks, pillows, socks and whatever else he can chuck over the side of the baby gate. Liam also has learned he likes to drop things down the heat register upstairs. Fabulous.

The other day, Liam discovered where I keep the treats I take along with me when I go subbing. He is very good at discretely taking the wrapper off of a sucker and happily goes about his business. I'm discovering sticky hand prints everywhere now!

I'm back subbing part-time. It's nice to be out and about again, but it's always nicer to come home to Liam.

That's been our fall so far...and fall always ushers in my favorite time of year - Christmas!

?

2007-09-29T11:03:00.001-07:00

Just checked in on Liam to see how he was napping and this is what I found...

He'd burrowed underneath the pad that lays at the bottom of the playpen. I can't imagine it's very comfortable!

I'm Gonna Getchu!

2007-09-29T07:53:00.000-07:00

Liam loves to get chased around the house! I know this video isn't very good, but I think you Grandmas will love to hear Liam squealing and laughing like crazy!

The idea of the game is that Liam goes looking for Nialle and when he finds him, Nialle makes growly noises and tries to catch Liam. Liam's job is to try and get to me for safety before Nialle eats him up!

September Update

2007-09-14T06:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry we haven't written in a while...

We had our first heavy frost the other night, so now my garden is officially done. On my list is to get my carrots and potatoes in during the next month or so.

I'm on the sub list for the Black Gold district, but haven't received any calls yet. I think that it will be pretty slow until I get better known in the teaching community. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying being home. It's funny how much better it feels being home when you know you could be out working that day!

Liam is growing like a weed and walking everywhere...which includes trying to into the street! He gets away on me pretty quick, so I have to keep a sharp eye out for him The past few days Liam has been playing on his own more and more. He goes into his room and grabs a toy and brings it into the living room where he'll play with it for a while. Then he'll go back to his room for another toy. So far this has kept him quite occupied and I have been getting a lot done around the house (yay!)

At 13 1/2 months, Liam still has no teeth. Sometimes it can be a challenge to get enough food in him because he wants to feed himself, but has problems breaking down the food. To make sure he gets the good food in him, I make a lot of vegetable soups or cook up whatever else he'd like to eat...even though teething sounds pretty miserable, I'm looking forward to the day when I can just hand Liam an apple to munch away on for a snack.

We have a lot of construction happening in our area and Liam is loving it! He stands at the window and watches the backhoes, gravel trucks and skid steers go back and forth along the street. Right now he has his forehead mushed against the window and is trying to get a good glimpse of the guys pouring concrete. He's a boy, alright!

A lot of people comment on how small Liam is for his age. While I try not to make this worry me...the "new mom syndrome" usually kicks in and I think there's something wrong with my kid. Well, yesterday I had to chance to put my fears to rest. My mom and I were looking at my younger brother's health records and found that Liam is actually an inch taller than Nethanel (who is now 6'4") was when he was about Liam's age. It's funny (ok, stupid) the things we woirry about...

I have been knitting whenever I have a spare moment. I'm getting a lot done, but I can't show any pictures because most of the things I'm making are for Christmas. I'd love to post some of the things I'm doing because they are soooo much nicer than anything I've made before...but I guess you'll just have to wait.

Well, Liam and I are going to get our day started now. Sorry there weren't any pictures, but our camera has been a little "iffy" lately...but I'll steal a picture from Grandma Town's blog...hahahaha.

Liam's Photo Gallery

2007-08-08T10:30:00.001-07:00

Our friend Kristi did another photo session of Liam on his first birthday. If you want to check them out go to Kristi's blueframe website. Click on the clients tab and enter in our phone number as the password - 3610350.

Liam has a bug bite on his forehead in all the pictures, thank goodness for photoshop!

Kristi is an amazing photographer who specializes in maternity and infant photography. Kristi has taken photos of Liam when he was in my belly, at 2 weeks, 6 months and now a year old. I truly treasure these photos and if you've been to my house, you know that they're hung up everywhere. So, if you're pregnant and reading this (ahem, Victoria and Kathryn) or if you're related to a pregnant lady, maternity photos are a wonderful gift to have and to give!

Liam Walking

2007-08-07T13:03:00.001-07:00

Liam walks short distances now. Here we are using a tube of toothpaste to lure him from the couch to the coffee table and back!

Happy Birthday, Liam!

2007-08-07T12:49:00.000-07:00

Liam got a very special carrot muffin with a candle for his birthday! He was pretty impressed with the flame! Then it was time for presents...

..oooh, what could it be?

...my very own cell phone! Thanks mom and dad! How many text messages do I get on this thing?

Then it was off to the park with Uncle Jeremy and Aunty Kristi! Aunt Kristi took pictures of Liam for his first birthday and she even made him a very special cupcake. Again, Liam was impressed with the flame! Opening presents was fun - Liam loved to tear off the paper!

Mmm, icing...even Liam's new dinosaur was eating the icing...or is that bird poop on the picnic table???

Liam: Just Mommy and Baby

2007-08-02T17:48:00.000-07:00

I was so excited to become a mom. I found out I was pregnant the same day that I was offered a teaching position. I have to say that the pregnancy definitely overshadowed my time of teaching even though the school and students were amazing.

I had a "Your Pregnancy Week by Week" book which I read religiously. I made sure that I read the new week's installment each Wednesday (my weekly anniversary) and tried my hardest not to peek ahead! Each week I'd see how much the baby had grown and what changes were going on in my body. I remember feeling like it was taking forever to start showing! I really didn't pop until about six months - but I wore maternity clothes before then anyways because I was pregnant darnit!

I definitely had the nesting instinct! Even though I was teaching full time, my house was always clean! I also started looking at houses to see if we could afford to move because the one bedroom suite we were in would quickly be too small for the three of us. I remember feeling like we didn't have enough time to get everything done...even though the due date was months away...so the cupboards got a thorough cleaning when I was 4, 6 and 8 months pregnant!

Feeling the baby kick everyday was a perfect assurance of his growth and health. I remember lying in the tub just watching my belly hop all over the place as my circus performer did his somersaults inside. I loved it! Liam was so protected inside me...no worries...no chance for boo boos...I could carry him around all safe and warm.

When Liam came along it felt both natural and unnatural to be a mom. I admit I had to get used to the new lifestyle. It felt weird to be the mom now...I mean the word "mom" had meant my mom for so long! And moms were these older ladies who seemed to have all the answers - I was young and had no idea what I was doing!

See? I just made him cry all the time!

Breastfeeding was wonderful! I relished the chance to be close to Liam. I'd run my hands all over his little body while he quietly nursed - he was so soft and silky. Mmmm...and he smelled like his Lavender body lotion then. I'd often fall asleep propped up in bed while he nursed. We'd stay that way the whole night and when I woke up he'd still be there, usually nursing away on his next feeding.

I worried a lot about everything. I'd often pop into Liam's room while he was sleeping just to make sure he was still breathing. I panicked the first time he slept through the night because I thought something had gone wrong. Silly me.

There have been days when I didn't think I could handle being a mother anymore. Many of those days have been in the past few months as Liam gains more independence and "spunk". I remember watching a movie in our prenatal class which talked about how there would be days when you'd just want to hand the baby over to the father as soon as he walked in from work and then you'd want to say, "Here, you take the baby. I'm taking the night off!" When I watched that movie I thought to myself, "Oh, that will never happen to us!" HAH!

A few weeks ago, after a particularly hard day, I told Nialle that I'd had it and that I'd do the grocery shopping and errand running by myself that Saturday and I'd take my time doing it too! Nialle could stay home and babysit for once. So I marched off that Saturday morning determined to have some ME time. Well, wouldn't you know that I rushed through the groceries and decided the errands could wait until the next week because I missed Liam and wanted to get home to him.

Being a new sister of two much younger brothers was also quite the experience. I hang out with my mom quite a bit and most people confuse the twins as being my kids.

The Three Musketeers

I love you, Liam! Promise me you'll never get married or move away and that you'll always be my little boy!

Kiss Kiss, Smooch Smooch and a Squeeze on your bum!

Liam: His Proud Parents

2007-08-01T17:27:00.000-07:00

Once Liam came into the world, Nialle was one proud Papa. He told EVERYONE at church all the finer details about my labour. If I had any dignity left after Liam was born, it was certainly gone after Nialle spoke with everybody!

Once Liam came into the world no one was safe from our bragging either! We thought we had the best kid and that no other child had ever done the things our child had done. Thankfully the "experienced" parents humoured us and listened politely to our stories about our amazing kid.

The other day Liam had a play date with a girl about his age. The other mother talked about her daughter the whole time - it was like Liam wasn't even in the room. (LOL, how could she?) At least I know now that we're not the only parents who are so centered around their child!

Of course, we're not the only ones who brag about Liam. I know a certain Grandmother (ahem, Grandmother Town to be exact) who loves to talk about her perfect grandbaby.

And the Great-Grandparents are just as guilty of bragging about their great-grandson!

We'll always be proud of Liam. Hopefully he'll be proud of us and who we are as parents. Having a child certainly opens your eyes to your weaknesses as an individual. But you just pray that your child ends up with all of your good traits and becomes a better person than you ever will be - right?

Liam: The beginning...

2007-08-01T13:06:00.000-07:00

It's almost Liam's birthday and I've been thinking alot about the past year. So, I thought I'd do a "series" of blogs about the past 12 months...more for my records; but you're welcome to walk with me down memory lane!

I was a week overdue and was induced with Cervidil on August 3rd. Almost immediately, I started having "contractions" which felt like cramps and a very bad back ache. I was informed that these were not true contractions, but they were still uncomfortable and physically draining. I remember having a heat pack on my back to help alleviate some of the pain. Since I was so uncomfortable, I didn't feel like doing too much, so I sat in front of the TV watching season 4 of CSI and waited to go into labor. But nothing happened. We walked around the block hoping that would trigger something. But still nothing happened. I didn't sleep very good that night because I kept having "contractions" and was uncomfortable no matter what position I laid in.

On the morning of the 4th, I was given Cervidil again. Not a nice experience. It's an uncomfortable procedure and I was disappointed that I still hadn't gone into labor. We left the hospital and went back home to watch more CSI and see if anything would progress.

I finally went into labor around lunchtime. Everything was going well and I was dilating perfectly. Only two people at a time were allowed in the room, so Nialle was there with me the entire time while our mothers took turns helping me through my contractions. I was pretty pleased with how I was progressing. Except I stalled once I had dilated to 4 cm. At about 9pm, I was given Oxytocin to help speed things up. Then the contractions really started coming and they came so hard! I was throwing up with some of the contractions and had to lie on my side because I was on the drip. I really just wanted to walk around the room, but had to stay put. I think I was only on the Oxytocin for about 10 min before I decided that I wanted an epidural and I wanted it now! Originally I had been hoping to get through the labor without any pain medication, but enough was enough...I was tired and cranky and just plain scared at what was happening to my body.

The euphoria of the epidural was amazing. After two days of being uncomfortable and feeling every ache and pain, I had the opportunity to lay on the hospital bed and feel nothing at all. My contractions progressed without me having to endure any more pain! Finally, just before midnight on the 4th, I felt pressure - though I had to push. 45 min later, around 1 am on August 5th, Liam arrived in the world - barely making a peep. Because he didn't cry and was very pale, Liam was rushed over to the warming table to be inspected. I remember everyone telling me how beautiful he was- but I couldn't see him at all because my mom, Nialle's mom and Nialle were all blocking the view. I think I finally told Nialle to "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY" so I could see Liam.

It was then that I saw him. There he was! My son! So long and white and perfect! I remember thinking that he looked a lot like Nialle even then. Holding him for the first time was a magical thing...he was so warm and small. He looked right into my eyes and I knew he was mine - all mine.

Liam had to be observed for an hour, so we parted ways and I went to our room to wait for him to return. I was so excited! I had had a boy! I couldn't wait to hold him again and just get to know every inch of his body. Liam was swaddled, but I remember telling my mom that I wanted to unwrap him and just look him over and get to know every bit of my little boy.

Around 3 am Liam was brought into my room to be washed by a nurse. I was resting on the bed, so she brought the basin next to me so I could watch. I was laying down, so I didn't have a very good view. But I did see a pointy nose poking up above the rim of the basin and I thought to myself, "Oh no, what have I done? He has my nose!"

It was an absolute thrill to hand Liam over to our moms and watch them with him. The love on their faces and the happiness they expressed at meeting their grandchild was the best gift I ever got to give both of them.

My dad was very awkward with Liam at first...he held him like he was a china doll. You'd never have guessed my dad raised 6 kids by the way he held Liam! Don't worry, Dad's a natural now.

Nialle's dad was so proud of Liam that if you look back at the pictures from the hospital, you'd think HE was the dad!

August 5th, was my first day as a mom. It's the best job I've ever had!

Liam at 11 months

2007-07-12T11:44:00.000-07:00

Liam took his first steps when he was 10 1/2 months old! Do you think we could get him to take another step since?? Forget it! This kid prefers to walk with his push car.

Liam is a goofy, fun-loving little man. He plays peekaboo by standing around the corner and popping his head out at you (at which point you're supposed to act very surprised). Liam also plays peekaboo like this ...

...we're still working on getting him to cover both eyes.

He also crawls around the house and "growls" at me like a lion (so I act very scared and run away from him). He loves it!

Nialle does the craziest things with Liam. He throws him around in the air upside down and does the general rough-housing that most fathers seem to do with their kids. I try not to imagine Liam falling and cracking his head open when Nialle plays with him...

Liam now says "Mama" for me and "Dada" for Nialle. It's the cutest thing!

Liam still looks forward to bathtime everyday. Sometimes he'll crawl into the bathroom and stand at the tub and make motions and noises to tell me he wants to get in.

As for Liam's health, he is doing much better! We found out last Friday that he has viral pneumonia, so he's been resting a lot and taking it easy. For a while he was taking 3 naps a day, but he's back down to 2 naps, so I think he's feeling like his old self.

Funny Farm

2007-07-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

Raising twins doesn't seem very easy, but I think the funny things they do help to counteract all the trouble they get into.

My mom has a hilarious post on Joel and Josiah! It's sure to make your day!

Summer at My House

2007-07-12T07:59:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't blogged too much lately...partly because I don't really know what to write about.

Seriously, I'm a 25 year-old possessed by an octogenarian Oma - what could I possibly have to say? When most people my age are hanging out at Brewsters, I'm at home knitting in my pajamas. I like sensible underwear. I call teenagers "whipper-snappers". I don't like loud music. I'm considering crocheting doilies for the back of our couch and chairs.

But anyways, this Oma loves summer. When Liam goes down for his nap, I head out to the garden and either weed or water. Let me show you what's growing!

...peas

....zucchini

....Tiny Tim tomatoes

....delphiniums

...maiden pinks

...irises

...daylilies

Here's the full view of the vegetable garden

The herb garden

Side view of the house (just 'cuz)

So anyway, that's what I've been up to lately! I plan on posting soon about Liam...if I can find him under my knitting

Liam at the Petting Zoo

2007-06-18T07:50:00.000-07:00

Liam loves animals (especially our cat) and was thrilled that he could pet the farm animals at the Dairy Congress in Leduc. Aunty Elyse was kind enough to show him how it's done...

Happy Father's Day, Nialle!

2007-06-18T07:26:00.000-07:00

Daddy and Liam have been best of buds from the beginning...

Liam and dad like a lot of the same things.

They like to take naps...

They like to eat...

They like to hang out together...

They like each other's fashion sense...
(Liam is wearing one of Nialle's old outfits here)

Nialle, you're a great dad! It's been wonderful watching you and Liam grow together! Liam and I hope you had a great father's day.

Thanks for all the hard work you do, Nialle. You've succeeded at every challenge that you've faced as a father.

Here's a pic of Nialle facing his greatest challenge yet - poop in the tub!

Vacation in the Rockies

2007-06-01T18:51:00.000-07:00

Ahhh, we're back from a relaxing time in Canmore. Canmore was where Nialle and I got married, so it's always a real treat to go back.

Liam was thrilled because he got to spend every day posing for the camera and snuggling with the fam...

Nialle and I were thrilled because we got to go out on our own a few times!

Liam got the sniffles on the trip...

...but that didn't stop him from being goofy.

One night, Nialle and I were so desperate to get our sniffly little Liam to sleep that we piled into the car in our pajamas hoping the motion of the vehicle would send 'The Dude' off to dream land. While driving around Canmore at 12:30am, we happened to drive past the inn where we got married. We could see that there was another wedding going on, which made us start to talk about our own special day.

Then we laughed and thought how funny it would be funny to crash the wedding in our pajamas and tell the bride and groom that four years from now they too might be driving around bleary eyed, frazzled and grouchy trying to get their baby to sleep.

And now to close -
what's a vacation without some family photos?

Knittin' in The Rockies

2007-06-01T18:47:00.000-07:00

In my opinion, a vacation is not a vacation unless you get some knitting done...

Voila! A nice, masculine scarf...but I can't tell you who it's for (they'll have to find out at Christmas!)

One man's junk is another man's treasure...

2007-05-22T13:09:00.000-07:00

My mom disovered plantain in our lawn last night. I wanted to get rid of all that stuff, but after reading her post, I think I've changed my mind!

I turn my back for one second...

2007-05-16T21:40:00.000-07:00

...and my little barbarian eats dirt!

Now THAT's a dirt-eating grin!

Busy Boy

2007-05-16T21:17:00.000-07:00

Liam's been a busy boy!

He's been helping Grandpa Farm rototill the garden...

He's been playing lots and lots...

He's been practicing for the new Olympic sport which involves diving over the side of the couch and making Mommy very scared...

And, he's been hanging out with his dad!

Cozy Tea Cozies

2007-05-11T19:09:00.000-07:00

Many of my best times with both my moms have been chatting over a cup of tea...so what better present to make them for Mother's Day than tea cozies?

For my fun-loving and vibrant mother-in-law, I picked some bright and equally fun yarn...

Before the felting process, the tea cozy was huge - large enough to engulf a small baby!

Into the washing machine it went to felt. Then, I added retro spider web roses...

Anyone care for a cup of tea?

...except, as the weeks went on, I grew to hate that tea cozy...it was just plain icky. I finally came across some colourful buttons and made flowers instead.

Ahh...much nicer.

Now, with two young boys in the house, I thought my mom might appreciate a soothing and calming colour like blue...

This tea cozy was also very large before the felting process, but not nearly as larg as the other one!
I embroidered a fern leaf on my mom's tea cozy...hopefully it will help her to relax the next time the boys get into trouble...

Family Portrait

2007-05-02T05:58:00.000-07:00

Clap Your Hands

2007-04-28T07:38:00.001-07:00

...everybody clap along!

All in (Another) Hard Day's Work

2007-04-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

Operation Lawn continues to move full-steam ahead.

Today I had the help of my mom, dad, and brothers and we piled up all the branches we'd collected over the past month, raked the lawn and continued to bust sod for my garden!

Of course, you need to take a break and enjoy some fruit with whipped cream and coconut to replenish all those calories you burned!

Liam certainly found Uncle Nethanel to have a comfy lap!

Another one bites the dust...

2007-04-24T06:52:00.000-07:00

We had a rotted tree that needed to come down - so, Bob, a guy from Nialle's work offered to come over and help us take down the tree.

First, they'd tie a rope around the limb they wanted to take off.

Then Bob would cut notches in the tree and the two of them would pull on the limb until it came down.

Chainsaw massacre!
Thanks, boys!

Liam at Lunch

2007-04-22T18:50:00.001-07:00

Liam loves to eat! He'll nurse first, then eat an avocado and then half a banana - it's crazy. Here's a fun video I took of him the other day while he was eating luch.

I'm so big...I'm not small...

2007-04-22T18:16:00.000-07:00

Liam seems to be changing so much these days.

He loves to stand and look out our windows...

As soon as I put him down in the kitchen he "inch worms" his way over to the register and works it loose...

He likes to pick out his own toys from his toy box...
...and he's even been learning to play the guitar!

Lucky Liam!

2007-04-22T18:12:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend, we had our families come and visit. Liam got to have both grandmas and four uncles give him a bath - he's one lucky dude!
Here he is with Grandma Farm and Uncle Josiah and Uncle Joel.
Here's his Sunday night bath with Grandma Town and Uncle Josh and Unlce Levi.

Liam's crawling

2007-04-15T16:24:00.001-07:00

...well, sort of. He's doing the "commando crawl", but you'll never guess what makes him crawl with such determination!

All in a Hard Day's Work

2007-04-13T13:31:00.000-07:00

Our yard looked as though it had been neglected for a number of years...the hedge was well over 6' high.

(sorry the picture is so dark)

So today I rented a hedge trimmer and mowed it all down. I was hoping to employ Nethanel to help me, but he decided he would much rather shoot gophers (teenagers!)

So, Mom was gracious enough to come over and help me by watching Liam. Here they are about to go on a walk...don't you just love his hat?

With Liam being entertained, I was able to finish the hedge...looks a little rough, but leaves should help make it look nicer...

(The yellow thing is a kiddy pool the former owners didn't bother to take with them. I also found two dog toys, a pair of sunglasses, an empty whiskey bottle and a pile of grass clippings that they left behind in the snow! grumble)

After, it was time for me to rest my weary muscles and enjoy a cuppa outside with Mom and my favorite little man...
Thanks for all your help, Mom - I appreciated it!

Liam's Life

2007-04-12T13:26:00.000-07:00

Liam just turned 8 months...here's a typical day for this 8-month-old...

First we start off with some breakfast...broccoli!

Liam likes to play with his truck...when it's not rolling away from him on our sloped floors.

Liam loves to go on long walks. He sings and talks to himself the whole way!
At 6pm, dad comes home and we all have supper...Liam is figuring out how to feed himself with the spoon.
After supper, dad gives Liam a bath...those two have a blast together!

Some days ya just wanna cry

2007-04-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

Mom and Dad had quite the day today...check out my mom's blog to see just how bad it was...

...poor dad!