Happy Christmas Eve

We got back from a 36-hour trip to Maryland yesterday, where we had a lot of fun celebrating Christmas with that side of the family and having a baby shower for my sister and her husband with a bunch of friends. Unfortunately, Jack was sick while there, so he didn't get to make use of his brand-new snowsuit and boots in the 21 inches of snow that were on the ground. It's supposed to snow (and rain and ice) on our way to Wisconsin though, so maybe he'll have a chance when we get there to break them in. Right now, we're hoping we don't have to postpone our travel plans because of bad weather.



Tay is going to join us tonight, since he's also not going home for Christmas. We'll have our own little celebration here before a marathon car trip with the kids. I'm having Mike load up the laptop with some different movies. I can recite Nemo, Horton Hears a Who and Monsters Inc. by heart. Made some holiday bread last night, and we'll finish decorating our cookies this evening when we get back from Mass.

ribbed baby jacket

Don't have a little baby to model this, but here's the ribbed knit jacket I finished last week (before I added little ties). It was the first project I've done that I didn't have to take any stitches or rows out- and the hat I just finished would have probably been the same way, had little girl fingers not snatched the unfinished project off of the dining room table (not a great place to leave it, no) and taken the working needle out, unraveling some of it.



I got the free pattern for the jacket here (you can get a better idea of what it would look like on here too, from the little cute girl in the picture).

I forgot to take any pictures of the hat before I gave it as a gift for my soon-to-come niece, but I thought it was dear. I sewed little ribbon flowers on it.

18 (1/2 months)

This girl loves to eat (cereal). All day long... "Eeeiiooo! Eeeeiiiooo!" (cereal). She's just a bit put-off sometimes that we make her eat other things too. Not that she's a bad eater. She eats fairly well. And she's a good sleeper too (fiiiiinally). Can't wait for newborn sleep days again! It's always worth it though.

prayer request

We just found out that our friend (and Abigail's Godmother) Jess, who is 25 weeks pregnant, will be at the hospital through Christmas because the doctors are afraid she will deliver early, and they want her to be at a hospital that can support a very pre-term infant. She has been having some complications all along and could really use prayers for her and the baby's health- and that the baby would get a little stronger/more mature before birth.

first flutters

I first felt the baby move on Tuesday night-- 1 day short of 16 weeks. It was very faint that first night, when I first laid down in bed, but I could tell very clearly what it was. Last night and the night before, I could also feel movements around bedtime- a little stronger this time, but definitely still very faint. I don't even remember when I first felt Jack or Abigail, but I'm sure it was later than this- probably closer to 17 weeks.
If I press around, I can feel the firm uterus, but there's still no bulge- no tightness in regular jeans yet. For the past couple of nights, when I'm lying down at night, I have felt something very hard, which I assume is the baby, but I could be wrong. According to the book I have, the baby's about 4 1/2 inches now (I'm 16 weeks, 5 days today).

snowed in

Watching A Charlie Brown Christmas and The Snowman while making sugar cookies tonight....





Tonight, we made the dough and are baking some-- tomorrow, we'll decorate them- and hopefully make a few loaves of cranberry walnut bread.

'twas the week before Christmas...

...and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, except for this one, typing and sipping green tea. Her babies (and husband) are nestled all snug in their beds (and the couch) while the snow continues to come down outside.

One week until Christmas, and it's hard to believe how much we'll have accomplished by this time next week. The biggest things- going to and from Maryland next week and throwing a baby shower for my sister and her husband Rob while there, having our own little Ryan family Christmas here in Pittsburgh- just the four of us- and driving to Wisconsin on Christmas day to spend a week or so with Mike's family (and to FINALLY meet the newest Ward on our way back home).

I crossed the last Christmas gift off of my list last night, though the cards are a different story. I've sent two. Three others have been waiting by the front door in hopes of being sent, but I forgot to put them out in time for the mailman to get collect them. I also failed at compiling a photo card, like I had hoped, but I'm surprised we did manage to print some pictures of the kids to include in the ones I have sent (or have readied to send). The last time we had pictures printed was right after Halloween 2008, and that was a humongous order. I managed to keep it to $6.48 this time. I have a feeling #3 and thereafter will be slighted in print photography.

In all of the rush, I forgot to make Abigail's 18-month well check-up until this past week, and they were able to squeeze her in this morning- right in time for a snowstorm to make getting there a task. I was planning on taking her myself, but with the roads covered, Mike drove all of us. The driving was pretty treacherous, and we saw a few people fishtailing on the main road, but we did just fine until we got back to our neighborhood. We kept sliding backward while Mike stepped on the accelerator up one of the last hills, so we slid back down the hill, managed to get turned around, and went the other way, where we had less of a problem.

Abigail only got one shot this morning, so we were all thankful for that. She weighed less than I expected, but I guess she hasn't been eating as well and has seemed a little lighter just in the past week. She weighed only 22.4 lbs and was 33 1/2 inches long- 22nd percentile for weight and 85th percentile for height.

Because of the bad road conditions, our monthly Teams meeting was canceled for tonight, so we'll probably make Christmas cookies, breads and other treats while watching Christmas movies. I'm excited to not have to go out in this mess again. It's been snowing since last night, and it's supposed to continue all night. Yet it's only managed to accumulate to about 5 inches so far. Wish it would stay white for Christmas (in Pittsburgh, it seems to turn black almost instantly). Off to knit some more (all the gifts I need to have finished are done-- there are still a few hopes.)

overheard

Jack talking, very frankly to a baby doll on the floor, while pointing to a bulldozer he made out of Duplos: "This is my bullsoder, baby. You should never take it from me without asking. That's a nice baby." (pats baby gently on the head).

astrakhan hat

Finally finished the hat for Gail for Christmas. Very simple. But doing anything other than simple with the astrakhan was driving me insane. I tried to do an ear flap for her, but I kept losing my place, and there's no finding it in that gnarled mess. I like the looks of it, but I'll never knit another thing besides a scarf with astrakhan yarn.

La Fiesta de Nuestra Senora de Guadalupe!

We celebrated the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe with a bunch of friends and enjoyed tamales and guacamole and other Mexican foods I don't know the names of at our friends' the Memole's home tonight.

She's never seen a pinata in her life. Somehow she anticipated what was to come.



Treats were falling from the ceiling. Our little girl wasted no time.







Jack did brave the frenzied mill of kids to snag one pair of green sunglasses, which were promptly snatched from his face by another little boy (I think that's what's going on in the picture two down in the lower right corner). This was met with sad and painful screaming. We got them back, in three pieces, but were able to fix them to Jack's almost satisfaction.



She kept going back again and again, filling her Ziploc bag with each trip.





They didn't want to leave when bedtime was nearing.

little girls' aprons

Sewed these during yesterday's and today's nap times. I found a pattern online for one with velcro, but we have a velcro Fisher Price one from when I was little, and it doesn't work worth a hoot. And ties stay tied better so you don't have to keep reattatching them. I suppose there are better ways to make little girls' aprons, but I decided to just go from my head. You can't tell, but there are two different-sized pockets in each apron, and the insides of the pockets and the back sides are the opposing fabrics. Boy, it's a pain to turn those straps right side-out with knitting needles (especially the one thicker fabric I used). More handmade Christmas gifts on my list: check.





And I'm a little bummed because Joanne Fabrics had NO heavier cotton, canvas or denim in blue and white stripes for me to make Jack this hat. He has been pretending to put on a conductor's hat when he drives the "train" in our living room (our couch, which we all pile on and give him "tickets"). I'll have to keep looking.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

I wish I could capture the smell of cinnamon sticks and pine wafting through the air. Alas, here is our house decorated in anticipation of the season. (I'm joining the Hooked on Holidays House Tours Party, so go see more decorated-for-Christmas houses, if you like that kind of thing. I do.)

Christmas stitches

I have a few patterns set aside and some knits on my list to accomplish before Christmas, but I know they won't all get done, as time is running out, quickly. I have a half-knit hat for Abigail and a baby sweater just started. If I could just get two more things completely checked off of my list, I would feel pretty good.

Made this little purse in a half-hour from some scrap fabric. Courtesy of my imagination, but it turned out pretty well.





For Christmas, we're giving Abigail my old wooden doll cradle. I made a new mattress, pillow, and blanket for it from an unused receiving blanket and a leftover piece of foam.



In other non-related musings, Mike and I are excited to have our first night out alone in a LONG time. I've been kind of sick, and while ice skating at the PNC rink sounds like fun, the wind has been ferocious, and I'm freezing with my coat on inside. Maybe we'll just get some hot-cocoa and head to Phipps to see the Christmas lights instead?

14 weeks, 6 days

I had my second midwife appointment today- with the new midwife, Dana, whom I liked a lot. Jack played with the toys in the waiting room while Gail came in to the check-up room with me and sat, munching on a baggie of Cheerios as if she were sitting in a theater while watching a movie, completely still and transfixed. I heard the quick little heartbeat- 160 beats per minute- for the first time. I wonder what kinds of questions people usually have when they go in because the midwives look at me kind of unbelieving when I never have any questions or concerns or things I'd like to address. I guess with this one, especially, I just haven't thought of anything, as most of the time I forget there's even a human being swimming round in my uterus. Maybe in a couple of weeks, I'll start to feel fluttery movements or more of a swell in my abdomen, but right now, there are no real physical signs, except for these blasted varicose veins on the back of my right leg (I had them early on with Abigail too). They're so painful when I've been on my feet most of the day, but I've been trying to remember to where my supports during the day so they're not as swollen. As of this morning, I'd gained 6 lbs, which is probably around what I'd gained by this time with the other two. I've been exercising and eating healthy, so I'm not going to worry about weight.

We'll see if there are any concerns, but for now, we're planning to forego the 18-20 week anatomy scan ultrasound. The only reason we've really done it in the past was to find out the sex of the baby, which we're not doing this time Mike is a little worried (as he should be) that we won't be able to agree on two names by the time of the birth. We had enough trouble coming up with one each time for Jack and Abigail. I'm pretty sure this one will have a name.

photo caper solved

I was thinking it was fishy that my new 4GB sd card only held 17 pictures. Mike realized that the card wasn't all the way in and that it was using my internal hard drive to store pictures, so the pictures (and video) I'd taken previously weren't lost after all. Phew.









(still needs one more beaded garland strand)

small successes

I have been in an exhausted funk lately. Due in part to Mike's work-related absences and my difficulty sleeping as of late- perhaps brought on by pregnancy, but my mind has just been wondering a lot more, and I can't seem to suppress my rampant thoughts at 4:30 in the morning. But Mike's work has settled down remarkably, so I've been able to catch up on a little sleep, even if only in the past day.

Even though I've been worn down, I've still managed to plow ahead with some projects I've been wanting to tackle. While Mike was in California for business (with the help of my brother watching the kids some evenings), I was able to repaint the kitchen, which I've been wanting to do since about two days after I painted it the first time. I'm not a yellow person, and I was envisioning a less-yellow, creamy shade before I covered our walls with it. Now, it is a much more subtle shade of off white, which I like a lot in there. Since we've moved here, that's only the second room that I have repainted my own paint job. Not too bad. I'm finally happy with all of the rooms though and how they flow together. Also in the past week- wet vacced the first and second floors. And were they disguuuuusting. That water was the murkiest stuff I've ever seen. Washing it down the drain and turning on the disposal was a wonderful feeling, indeed.

I had been wanting to make some ornaments for our Jesse tree, but since Mike was away for the first couple of days in December and time got away from us, we haven't done any of the devotionals, and I haven't gotten past making three or so ornaments. I'm really not sure how attentive Jack would be to it all now anyway, now, and while I'd like to go ahead with things and start our own traditions even if we think the kids might be too young to completely understand, we've just turned what was going to be our Jesse tree into a tree displaying tiny nativity ornaments. It's a nice opportunity to talk about each of the figures and tie those in with Advent devotionals, which we also have yet to do. We do have an Advent wreath and a child's Advent wreath, which Jack's Godmother gave to the kids, which will be nice in years to come. Thus, we aren't observing Advent as fastidiously this year. Not too concerning.

Our house is festive though. We got our Christmas tree today. We looked for a place that didn't look as commercial as the places we've patronized in years past, and while there was still a tiny little shop of Christmas wreaths and ornaments and such and a few refreshments for sale, Allison's Tree Farm was a lot more refreshing. It took us a while to even find someone to fill us in on where to start and where to look for what kind of tree. Soon, another couple with a girl about Jack's age arrived, and a tractor pulling a hay wagon took us out to a field of Douglas and Fraser Firs. Jack was afraid to get on the wagon at first, but he talked all about how much fun it was afterward, as we expected her would. I had Abigail in the Ergo, bundled in a few layers, and she did well, until we had been looking at trees for a few minutes and then started to fuss. Her fuss got louder and more distressed, and we knew we had better pick up the pace and find ourselves a tree, whether it was the best one or not. Poor Jack was such a good sport-- it was freezing in the 20's and snowing- kind of a wet snow. My toes were numb. I finally took Gail out of the Ergo because she was just wailing, and that calmed her. We really did make a rash decision about a tree, getting one that was a bit dead 'round the base, but it was a nice shape. Most of the Frasers looked like like funny little exaggerated decorations- they were SO skinny. We got a thin one (which was nice because we don't have a large space for it), but it looked fat compared to some of them. Once we got home and realized I had mis-measured and Mike had to cut off about a foot from the top and bottom combined, it was nicer than I'd expected because the brown needles got axed. It really does look nice all decorated, entirely with vintage hand-painted glass ornaments, lights and some bead garland. I'll put up pictures later.



We got some hot chocolate and sat in the heated shop for a few minutes while some teenage guys shook and baled the tree and tied it to our van top. I'm sad because sometime while we were out getting our tree, all of the pictures on my camera from the past few days were erased-- including some of Jack on Mike's lap in the hay wagon on the ride out to look at the trees that were really cute- and others that I'm upset about losing.



See the snow starting to accumulate as we were leaving? It never really amounted to much, but it was pretty.

One last thing I accomplished in the past week-- I repainted the hutch that I got for $30 last year. I had painted it a shade I already had after degreasing, but I wanted to try something else with it, so I mixed some other paints together that I already had on hand and made a nice plum-ish color. I was thinking that after letting the plum color dry for a few days, I would put a creamy whitish coat over it and then sand and score it in places to make an antique affect. But after painting the plum, I decided I really liked it that color. So it's staying plum, at least for now.

Should have stuck with the TLL

I was planning on taking the kids to the Toy Lending Library this morning, but once I woke up, I just wasn't feeling up to driving that far, and I asked Jack if he'd be okay with going to the play area at the mall instead. Turns out, he preferred that, so off we went to Simon Kidgets Clubhouse. The kids were playing nicely there, though after the last time we went there, Abigail has been a bit freaked out by any little boys other than Jack. There was one African American boy, maybe a little older than her, who kept hugging her and kissing her, and he just wouldn't let her alone, and finally, she broke down screaming-- for the next minute or two until we hightailed it out.

Today, there was a boy, maybe six or seven, who began agitating Abigail from the moment he arrived. It appeared that he liked getting a rise out of her, so he got closer to her face and started making scary faces. I asked him, very politely, if he would please not do that because she didn't like it. He would hurry to get up the few steps to the slide, past Abigail, and once he got on the slide, he would inch down so slowly that Abigail couldn't go down. He turned and saw her, delighted that she was getting frustrated. So I asked him, again purposefully loud enough so that his mother could hear, if he could please go down the slide so that the baby could have a turn. His mother, not paying a bit of attention to her son or the goings-on of the play area, texted or played something on her phone the entire time. Her son continued to torment the other kids as well, cutting them off and getting in their faces. Each time he would disregard what I'd say, he'd look at me, with a smirk, as if to say, whatcha gonna do about it? I asked him nice and loud about five times to not do this or that to Abigail. His final time down the slide, he hurried past her on the stairs again, almost knocking her down, then he purposefully kept backing up into her, with his elbow jabbing harder and harder into her grimacing face, so I quickly grabbed his arm to pull it away from her face and said, very sternly this time, as I was getting truly agitated with this mindless child and his neglectful mother, to leave my daughter alone.

His mother didn't miss a beat that time. She was standing right by me, yelling hysterically, "He is autistic! I just watched you reprimand my son." She stood and just stared, dumbfounded at me for a few seconds. "He is autistic! I can't believe people like you!" Was this common knowledge? I tried to interject, politely, again, that I was very sorry but I had asked him, so that she could hear five times but that she was paying no attention. She heard nothing I said though as she was reaming me out, shaking with rage. How was I supposed to know? There was nothing about him that said autistic to me- he acted like a bunch of the kids I see at the Toy Lending Library every week, whose mothers simply grab a book and check out for an hour or two. Perhaps I should have gone and jerked the cell phone out of the woman's hand so she could see what was going on right in front of her.

As the lunatic woman collected her son, who had been just fine this whole time until the hyper scene she was making probably scared him, and he started to wail, I said, "Will you just listen to me for a second?" because she cut off everything I tried to say to her. She just barked, "No! I feel sorry for people like you. You just yelled at my autistic son (I most certainly did not yell, but I talked with authority the FIFTH time). He's autistic. People like you! I pity you!!" And the two of them ran out, with the boy wailing and banging the sides of his head. The other people in the play area just watched. They had heard me ask the boy several times to please not get so close to Abigail's face and make scary faces at her, etc. I could feel the hot tears welling behind my eyes, and I just tried to hold it in until we could get to the bathroom. Sure, if I had known he was autistic, that would have completely changed how I responded. Do autistic kids get to do whatever they want just because they have a disease? If I had an autistic child, I sure as heck would be keeping a close eye on him and trying to steer him correctly, and I'd probably want to let other mothers know he was autistic if he continued to do things that warranted apologies.

There's no telling what poor Jack must have thought while that whole scene was taking place. I wasn't really watching his reaction, but he knew something wasn't right, and when I told him that it was time to go, he hurried out ahead of me, when he usually has to say goodbye to each individual piece of equipment. Tears have been coming a lot more easily to me this pregnancy, and once we got to the bathroom, I was a blubbering mess. "Do you not feel really well, Mama? Are you sad? Maybe hugs and kisses will make you feel much better?" And they did.

I just needed more on the way home, when, in my absent-mindedness, I pulled in front of the entrance to some bank parking lot or something while waiting for a stop light. I made eye contact with a woman in a van across the street, who was motioning her arms forward, trying to tell me something. I looked confused and rolled down my window. She rolled her eyes at me, and VERY agitatedly said, "He wants to turn there!" She motioned her arms again, like I should move forward to allow space for the man who was trying to turn into the parking lot (behind me, so I couldn't see who she was talking about). I yelled back, "Oh! Sorry!" and moved forward, but it was too late by then, and traffic was already movng. The woman rolled her eyes so hard at me, again, I thought she was going to snap her neck. "Merry Christmas to you too!"

Rollier's Hardware was on our way home. I was really in need of some Christmas cheer, so I decided that we'd stop in for a few minutes to see the Christmas village display with the trains and lights and moving skiers and ice skaters, etc, which absolutely transfix Jack. We walked back to the huge display, which is about four feet off of the ground. Since my back has been really bothering me lately, I told Jack he could stand in the back of the cart just so he could see the village for a minute of two, but then, he'd have to walk again. We were standing there, perfectly still, just watching the train with Santa go by, when an older woman came by and started giving me nasty looks. So I smiled at her, and she continued her glare and shook her head at me. "You know he could fall out of that cart and break his head. They're not supposed to stand up back there." I told her I was holding on tight to him and that he just wanted to see the train for a minute. But I felt more tears coming, so we booked it out of there too.

I think it'll be a few days before I can bring myself out into the public again. Unfortunately, Mike will be in California the next couple of days, so I think I we'll have to venture out for me to stay sane. I need some love.

happy thanksgiving to you and yours, with feeling

,It seems I am finally over that mean flu now, without any other takers. I think I may have gotten it from Mike, but his was a lot milder with no vomiting, thank goodness. I managed to lose 6 lbs over the past day and a half, and I've been trying to up my intake, so I hope my stomach will be back to normal by tomorrow. We're packing up our red VW microbus with the shovels and rakes and implements of destruction and heading to Maryland for a nice long weekend with the family and looking forward to yummy food, decorating a big Christmas tree, listening to wonderful music (a holiday tradition- Alice's Restaurant, no doubt), meeting our niece and cousin, Zoe, etc.-- my parents are going to have a jam-packed house, with two kids sleeping in closets (they're big closets). This is only the start of large-family holidays though, as next year, we'll be adding two more, who won't yet require much space.

Mike has been absolutely SWAMPED with his two(+) jobs lately and leaves for a mini-business-trip on Tuesday to California and returns very early Thursday morning. Fortunately, all of the rush on his end wraps up on Dec. 9, and I'm looking forward to that day with stars in my eyes (though still trying to enjoy the hectic days in between). When we return from Maryland-- where we'll help my parents put up and decorate their large Christmas tree-- I plan on decorating this place and getting ourselves ready for the wonderful season of Advent and Christmas.

May everyone have a blessed holiday, with a Thanksgiving dinner that can't be beat.

light-up night, etc.

Jack was so excited to take the train downtown to light-up night last night. "Yay! I get to ride the train!"

We got a little later start because I had to clean up an almost-full gallon can of paint that Abigail had knocked on the wood floor and rug of the dining room (from the dining room table). It was my fault for not putting it right away before I went to get them from naps because I'm always distracted with so many things once they're up. But it cleaned up nicely, so no big deal.

We had dinner at Moe's- a mexican place- and then went to see where the big tree was now lit in the middle of the ice rink. Santa was waving to people, so we put Jack way up in the dirt base of a gigantic potted plant, along with some other little people so he could see better. I wish I'd had our video camera. He was enthralled by the huge lit tree and had a big grin on his face. I had brought my camera, but it's too big, and I have grown weary of adjusting so many settings each time I'm going to snap some photos. So I have no photos. But by the time we saw the tree and I asked what time it was and Mike answered "seven forty," we decided we had to race back to the 'T' station, where we got on the next 47L and headed home. We normally start getting the kids ready for bed at 8, so at 8:30, when we were nearing our stop, we had a tired and fussy Abigail, in need of a diaper change. Little did we realize, we were in the back car, which is, apparently, the wrong car if you want to get off at in-between stops. So we had to get off two stops past our stop. Mike ran back a mile to get the van, while I changed Abigail as quickly as I could on the cold bench of the station (on her mat), and tried to keep her happy. Jack was just thrilled to be at a train station and occupied himself pretending to be a train conductor or something like that.

Other than Mike having a super-high blood sugar, the remainder of our trip home was uneventful, but now Abigail and I are sick. I've been achey and faint mostly, and I think Abigail's might be related to a lack of sleep. I need to get one of those otoscopes so I can see when the kids have ear infections. Gail's nap has been very interrupted by her crying. It's so sad.

I guess seeing my mom's lights and garland on their banaster when we went to Maryland last week made feel like I should start decorating myself. I love decorating the house this time of year and making the house smell like frazier fur and pine, cranberries and apple and pumpkin pies. We also want to start a few Advent traditions this year, since Jack is getting to where he might get something out of it. I think we'll do a Jesse Tree and maybe celebrate St. Nicholas Day. I've gotten some inspiration from Christmas and Advent sites-- any suggestions for activities to do with younger kids?

flickr photos

It's easy to see that we've added pictures, but-- we've added pictures to flickr from pulling up the garden, an attempt at holiday pictures (Gail wasn't having it, and I have since trimmed Jack's hair) and our first Play-Doh experiences this morning (Abigail recoiled every time she touched it, so she stuck with the containers)- just click on the widget on the right. It's more difficult (at least for me to remember the steps) to upload pictures right here, and I will, just not as many.

on weaning, and substitutions

Shortly after discovering we were pregnant, we decided to wean Abigail. I was planning to continue to nurse her at least up to 15 months, and past that, until she wanted to still and we found out we were pregnant. We discovered that when she was 15 1/2 months. She was completely weaned at 16 1/2 months, and it was a whole lot easier than I'd expected. The process was getting kind of tiresome for me, as she would ONLY nurse in her room for at most 5 minutes on only one side, and she seemed more and more frustrated with it too, maybe because my supply had gotten so low.

We substituted a pacifier, which she'd never used before, and that seemed to satisfy her. All on her own, she picked out one of the blankets in her crib and made it a favorite, affectionally calling it, "Mimeh." I need to get a video of her self-soothing process-- it is so sweet. She pops her pacifier in and finds Mimeh. Then she finds an edge of the blanket, carefully wraps it around one finger to make a nice, little point and sticks it practically up her nose or in one of her ears and rubs it all around in circles- in her ears and back to her nose, etc.. If we're holding her, she sometimes tries to stick it in our ears. Her breathing gets heavy, and her body gets completely relaxed. She does that every time I pick her up and cuddle with her and her blanket or put her in her crib for bed or nap times. Whenever she's even upset or hurt, she cries out "Mimeh!" I mangaged to steal the filthy thing away for two hours today in order to wash it. She kept asking for it, and I tried to give her other ones, but she'd just cry and throw them on the floor. As soon as it was finished drying, I handled it to her, and she spent a few minutes just lying on the floor with her face barried in it, making small sounds of relief. We need to get a back-up, but I haven't seen any like it. It was one of my siblings' or mine when we were little.

changed my mind

Changing seems to be a theme lately. Perhaps I should have changed my title to something like Girl, Indecisive or The Accounts of a Flighty Mind, or something like that. I give myself permission to change this name or make a variation of it in the next few days, as I only just thought of it as I lie in bed, unable to sleep this morning. My mind has been a cloudy lump of mashed potatoes-- kind of useless as of late.

The kids and I were driving around yesterday, and I saw a store I had never seen before-- who knows how long that specific store had been there-- we drive past it all of the time-- but the sign in front, the name of the store, inspired me to change the name of the blog. It's less than a month old anyway (not that I would do this to a child). The store-- More Than Words-- specializes in "Chic Invitations, Personalized Stationary, Unique Gifts and More." Wouldn't want anyone to be confused, so I'm getting out while I have the chance. I suppose blog names can't really be unique anymore, but at least I won't have to drive past mine at least once a week. One of the first names I liked was "this little life," and I then Googled it and found that someone had not only the same title for their Wordpress blog but the same exact theme with which I was currently experimenting.

I wasn't all that attached to more than words. Maybe that's why I was so glad to have found More Than Words. I feel like all of my life, I have tried so hard to please those around me, I've been far too concerned of others' opinions. More and more on my mind has been the need to please God and not the world-- to let go of the concerns of this passing life in order to find true life. So I think this new title is more personal to me. I'm kind of fond of it.

"Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." ~Matthew 10:39

*update (before even hitting "Publish"!)- I just changed my mind again. The previous title I had was losing life-- sounds too defeated. I'll find it instead. And I like the double meaning of being pro-life. I know there are a lot of things that already have this or similar titles, but for some reason, I'm okay with it this time.

changing diapers

We've used Kushies all-in-one cloth diapers since Jack was born. That was the first thing I was introduced to and never really looked around to see what other options were out there, as far as cloth diapering. Since the Kushies have long been losing their water-proof layering, and the kids (esp. Abigail) have been developing pretty bad rashes whenever wearing them, I decided to seek help, especially since there's another diaper-wearer in the works. Thanks to a couple of friends who have offered advice, Pittsburgh Cloth Diapers and the internet, I think I'm now equipped with a plethora of useful info. And we've to decided to at least try prefolds with covers as our main diapering system, barring I can get the hang of it all.

For covers, we'll use a mix of recycled wool (wool sweaters, mostly from Goodwill that I'll sew into soakers, longies, etc.), homemade knits, and pre-mades or gently used at a discount (I've already scored several on ebay). I may even try sewing some of my own diapers, but I'm holding until some of my motivation returns. I have been EXHAUSTED lately and have been using most of the kids' nap times for that very purpose. Last week, I did manage one productive day of transforming one recycled sweater into two soakers and one pair of longies-- and was surprised to find how easy they were to make. Store-bought wool covers can be upwards of $30 or $40. One $3sweater made three. They are my first, so they're rough around the edges, but they turned out usable and kind of cute (I used the soakers and longies patterns found here). The bottom soaker, I messed up and sewed the waist on the outside of the body, but it's still a clean edge and looks alright. It's not a baptismal gown.

And, to help replenish our new cloth diaper stock, I sold what was still in fair condition (12) of the Kushies (being fully explicit about their stained, worn and leaking condition) and got more than $100. WHO would want these? Just take them off of my hands.

payday

Jack finally earned his reward today: his favorite book, Cars and Trucks and Things That Go. Some of you may know that this means he did his business on the potty. He insisted on calling Mike at work to tell him. And has been scrutinizing the pages since he won it. Maybe potty-training is not as far off as it seems.

goodbye Blogger. for real.

Finally, here is the new blog. I won't be posting on The House of Jack and Gail anymore, so change your links and feeds. The new address is http://sketchbooksnapshots.com/blog/.

gumdrop

Actually, he's more the size of a grape right now (I use "he" generically). We had a date-determining ultrasound this morning, and while the nurse at my appointment on Thursday said she'd estimate I was about 8 weeks, the measurements at the ultrasound suggested I am closer to 10 weeks- 10 weeks tomorrow, with a due date of June 2. So maybe we'll have a May baby, since both of our kids have come early so far-- 5 and 2 (8 if we went by lmp) days. The pictures didn't capture the cuteness that we saw on the screen of tiny arms and legs swimming around and a most-remarkable noggin, but I'll have Mike scan one or two later tonight to add baby 3's first photo here. Maybe then I'll get a walk-through of adding a photo to a post.

hello, wordpress

I've been brewing ideas for this blog in my head for a few months now but didn't actually start anything with setting this one up or even acquiring an address until yesterday-- Sunday. I've been running titles around in my head until this afternoon. I couldn't very well stick with The House of Jack and Gail, as our house is expanding, and I don't think it fits to keep tacking names to the end of it. This was actually one of the first things I thought of, and since then, I've had five or six that I thought were it, but I ultimately returned to more than words, which is inspired by 1 John 3:18-- "My children, let us now love in word, neither with the tongue, but in deed and truth." I hope that the every-day actions of our family speak to the truth and that we can be a light, in our own little way.

After preparing a Wordpress.com blog a few weeks ago and realizing I couldn't have any of the themes I liked advertized as "free Wordpress themes" (I entertained designing my own, but I thought it would be ever-so-much-more practical to find one I liked and take it, since I have no programming know-how), Mike explained to me the difference between Wordpress.com and Wordpress.org. Confusing. More confusing was when he explained to me that I could have a Wordpress.org blog (and a theme I liked) using the same host that supports sketchbooksnapshots.com (which, coninidentally, we do pay for) in terms that didn't stick with me. So I said, "Have at it" and stood back as he typed. And here you have my new blog- thank you, my Sweet. I am already much more pleased with it. Though I have not yet figured out how to upload pictures, among other things, so be patient while I become accostomed to this new interface.

jacks and treats

Jack was fascinated by the pumpkin eating the smaller pumpkin (they no longer represent the kiddos), and he wanted to spoon-feed it its own seeds (toasted) through its eyes.


He came up with a story, which he kept telling of how the little pumpkin tried to run away from the big pumpkin but the big, "shary" pumpkin got it and put it in his mouth.


Fairy Gail floated around the neighborhood, charming all of the older men and women into giving her more candy. She was a sneaky little thing, with her tiny fist-fulls of the stuff. She even tried to steal Jack's.


And Jack was just as sweet, saying "Oh ah. Oh ah," waving his arms for his treats.

The Punks.