Favorite/Useful Links

Here's a honkin' list of some of my favorite links or pages I visit frequently. I know that's probably pretty annoying for a post, but I can bookmark this post and have easy access to these sites. Pretty useful for me and maybe you'll find something you like too.

Computer stuff:
Color Scheme Generator 2
Color Blender
Zefrank Flower Generator - feed your creativity
Cool Effects:
Jonathan Yuen Graphic Design
phatterism
Human Clock
Jackson Pollock by Miltos Manetas - my kids have fun with this one
Elastic Tightrope Girl - a fun time waster
Fluid Effect - Photo enhancement that'll knock your socks off
Cheat Sheet Roundup - cheat sheets for developers
Webpage Dev Best Practices - good stuff for me to try to remember
Forestasia Screen Resolution Preview
Seamless Tile Tutorial - make your own wallpaper/backgrounds
Leaves of Time - pretty pen & ink wallpaper & seamless tile tutorial
Photoshop Matte Painting - neat effect
The Web Developer's List
Resources For Web Design
Ohloh beta - Open Source
OSSwin project Open Source
Open Source Wiki
The X20 Dimension - Open Source
Open Source Windows

Humor/Fun/Misc:
Florida Bird Flu
Chalk Drawings
Human Camera
Virtual Bubble Wrap
Dodecahedron calendar
The Cool Hunter
Web 2.0 computer parody
Strange and funny gadgets
Build Your Memory

Knitting/Crafts:
Knitting Help - how I learned to knit Continental
Recycling Yarn
Knitty.com - tons of great patterns
Marnie MacLean
Craft Ideas

Homeschool:
Teacher Xpress
Hunkin's Home Experiments

Thrifty Living/Housekeeping:
$10 Grocery List
Thrifty Fun
The House Keeper's Compendium

Progress Bars

Well, I think I've found something I can be happy with as far as my progress bars go. It's still based on the Bare Naked App code, but I altered the percentage bar image to allow for different images of what I'm working on. I still think it might be possible to get Indigirl's idea to work with CSS using a sliding door technique, but I can't figure out how to make the doors slide up and down as opposed to left and right.

TV free

Well, no more Rachel Ray or Good Eats or Caillou and I won't find out who wins Project Runway... our satellite service has just been cut off. That's the next domino I guess after our phone. Wonder what the next one will be? My company doesn't have work for me right now which isn't great. I'll have to see what else I can come up with.

Testing

I'm trying to get some of those nifty knitting progress bars to work on my page. So far I've been able to get the ones from cogknition to sort of work. For some reason Blogger isn't wanting me to move the page elements around or I'd move the status bar to the bottom of the sidebar. It also won't let me embed the javascript into the HTML of the page. I have to host it offsite somewhere. That is less convenient for me. What I'd really like is to get Indigirl's status bars to work in Blogger (anyone know how?). Hmm, it's dawned on me to try hosting Indigirl's script in a .js file offsite and see if that works.

[later that day...] Nope, didn't work, or at least I wasn't able to figure out how to make it work. So for the time being, I'm using the status bar css code from Too-biased. I also have an idea in my head of making progress bars similar to the pregnancy/TTC/children's ages/aniversary ... tracker bars that are out there, except the little knitting project images would move across the bar. I'll have to look at them a little closer to see if I can figure out how they are done. It's probably way over my head, but it sounds cool.

10/7/06 - Ok, well, now I'm on my 3rd experiment, this time going with Bare Naked App's %-age bar. Now just wish I knew what he meant by "In our case a PHP script handles all the math for us." Wish I could figure out an easier way than to figure it out in Excel.

The Sling Thing

Here's a pic of my 2nd Beth Mei Tai. My first one was quite a bit smaller and also ended up with a lopsided flap so I made sure to make this one big enough for Eli and made sure the top straps are where they are supposed to be. The floral material is some I got from Freecycle and the denim was from a thrift store denim skirt. It's very long, but if I roll it once on the bottom, it fits Eli ok. I really like how it turned out.

First food

Up to this point, we've been waiting for signs of readiness before giving E "real" food (not that breastmilk isn't real) and I think today was it. Up to now we've just let him lick certain fruits (banana, pear, apples), but he never really got more than a taste. I had E on my lap while I was trying to eat my lunch (vegetarian chicken noodle/vegetable soup mostly made by G1 and cornbread fritters made by me) and every time I brought my spoon up to my mouth, E tried to grab my hand and corral it over to his mouth. So I mashed up a little banana (like one slice), added a little breastmilk and started feeding the hungry baby bird. He lasted a few bites before the novelty wore off, but at least he felt like he wasn't missing out on anything.

The fritters turned out ok, were very quick and I'll make them again if I need something to go with soup and don't have time to wait for muffins to bake. I threw together some a.p. flour, corn meal (didn't measure), salt (was closer to 1/4 tsp. but needed to have been 1/2 tsp. at least), 1 tsp. baking powder, some oat milk, oil (a ratio of about 3:1), 1 egg, mixed it all together, added some flour coz it was too thin, didn't want pancakes, and poured into an oil sprayed pan. We had them spread with a little jam and they weren't half bad.

New home away from other home

I think I'm going to give Blogger a try, my free hosting will be running out for my other blog next month so need to find a new home. This is as good as any I suppose :) I'll see if there's any way I can migrate all of my old posts over here for the sake of simplicity. Also curious to see if I can change the look of the page (template). Guess we'll find out. So here goes nothing...

Cargo woes

I really want to love these pants, and the legs look great, but I haven't enjoyed them much since I switched to circs and started knitting the hips. I'm double stranding this section and now I'm thinking maybe I should have decreased a few stitches at first as it looks like the hips/bottom section is going to be too big. I don't know if I should frog back and do that or if I could just try shrinking the top part of the pants when I'm done... I just don't know. I'll have to take some pics of them. I'm really thinking that if I did these again, I might like to try knitting them from the top down. I know I'd have to hand stitch the leg hems, but that is the least of my concerns. Yup, I think I just decided it for myself, there's frogging in my future (grumble grumble). The pants legs are measuring at the medium size, but the hips are measuring extra large. Oh sad... I'll see what gauge I'm getting on my needles double stranding (just checked, it's 4.5 stitches / inch as opposed to 6/inch of single stranding... quite a difference!) and figure it out from there. I'd rather that than get them finished and end up hating them. I know this sounds almost certifiable, but I've actually had the crazy thought of doing the soaker part from the top down and then grafting the legs on. Would that work? I wonder...

Change in schedule, change in life

E decided a few weeks ago to start waking me up at 7:30 am instead of the usual 8:30. He doesn't want to nurse, but usually needs to go potty and just can't get back to sleep (or can't stay asleep). So one less hour of sleep a night for me. I really must condition myself to go to bed around 10-ish so I can handle the diminished sleep!

Our lives are about to take an interesting turn I think. We have been not even making enough money to qualify as subsistance living for the last few months. Before that (going back 3 years), we've been trying to get our Curves franchise up and running and living on credit/savings/stocks/retirement... till it started to make money. Well, it was starting to do that when Katrina hit. That put a dent in the economy and led to a mass Exodus of our members. Our club started losing money each month and made us bleed red ink at a faster rate. Now, we're at the end of the road. We have no money, are starting to sell anything that we might have with any value (anyone want a dining set, entertainment center, antique dresser & dressing table...?) just so we can eat and pay a few utility bills. We've given up paying our credit cards and our mortgage payments (the house is about to be foreclosed on). Our phone is off, we're behind on our auto insurance, our elec. bill is coming due in a few days and we don't have the $$ to pay it. I'm working part time from home doing data entry and that money would really help if we got to keep any of it, but it has to go into the club. DH stays busy from morning to night trying to make the club work and can't work a 2nd job into his schedule. There are several scenerios that might happen. One is that we'll get foreclosed on, but the foreclosure proceedings will take several months in which time we'll be forced to declare bankrupcy so DH can get out from under the Curves contract and get a regular (paying) job, 2) some friends of ours who run a motor home business might loan us a used motor home which would allow us to sell our house and avoid foreclosure, 3) we're still holding out for a miracle, 4) these same friends might be starting up their weight-loss bar production business in January and if they do, would offer DH a job which would probably lead to us moving up to upstate NY. We'll for sure have to sell off a bunch of stuff (fine by me) and whittle our stuff down to just the necessities. I'm cool with everything as long as we can still manage a place to live and don't ever have to go to a shelter. That I would like to avoid. I wish there was an easier way for DH to get out from under his Curves contract, but I don't think there is. In spite of it all we are at peace, we feel very thankful that we've gotten this far and that we are healthy. I know that no matter what happens, God will still be with us. It could be that He is sharpening us and strengthening us for a greater purpose. Anyhoo, I think I'll end my novel now before it ends up taking up the whole page.

Oh la-la, fritta-ta

We watched Rachel Ray (30-Minute Meals) last night and she was making some kind of veggie soup and an olive frittata and since I didn't have anything else planned, I decided to chop right along with her. Well, needless to say, she's a way better chopper than I'll ever be and I was behind even tho I didn't have zucchini and I wasn't making the fresh ginger tea. Oh well, the frittata turned out not half bad (tho I made my own addidions/omissions) and the soup was pretty good too. Here's a pic of the frittata, fresh out of the oven.

It was basically 6 eggs, 1/2 tsp salt (maybe a little less), a couple handfulls of pitted green (not Spanish! these are homestyle and very mild) olives, sliced, a couple good sized scoops of cottage cheese, and a sprinkle of parsley on top. I cooked it on the stove till it just started to set. Then I transferred it to a 425° oven till puffy and toothpick-done. I don't think the kids were as impressed as I was, but I liked it. Then again I'm fairly easy to please when it comes to food and I do have the added advantave of having adult tastes. Her recipe called for roasted red peppers which would have been really nice if I had had them. Oh well... I have to work with what I have.

Kids' room

(Eli just urped over me big time...yuck!)

Well, something had to be done with the kids room, it was taking my life into my own hands just to go in there at night to check on them before I went to bed. Land mines everywhere, what our housekeeper (from when we lived in Africa '84-'90) called "bombs and missiles"... anyway, the kids and I got down to business yesterday. I had G1 crawl under Gigi's bed and push everything out from under it. Then I was on the outside, chucking things as quickly as I could, putting some things in the "toys" box and other things in the "dirty clothes" or "things that aren't clothes, trash or toys" box. We put all the stuffed animals on their beds. I got the trash out and the dirty clothes out. Then it was time to vacuum. The room looked much better at this point. Then I went and got a bunch of empty shoe boxes and we started sorting their toys into them. Cars into one, animals into another... Then last night I made up some labels for the boxes and their drawers... I hope I can remember to make them stick to it! I also put a box in their closet for them to put their dirty clothes in (instead of strewn all over their room).

These are the boxes under Gigi's bed now. I covered the labels with clear contact paper so that even if the boxes change, the labels won't have to. I used double-sided tape to attach them onto the boxes.

I also labeled G1's drawers so that hopefully he'll be better about putting his clothes away and knowing/remembering where everything is.

















Gigi even got a place for her myriad of purses.

Roll over, roll over...

Well, I guess E is now officially a roller-over-er. I haven't actually witnessed it with my own eyes, but DH said that he rolled over two times this morning when I was at Pilates class. How cool is that? Makes me a little sad tho coz it means little boy is growing up. Too fast for my liking!

The first bite

Well, E finally tried to bite me a few times a couple of days ago and I think he was sufficiently impressed by my response. He hasn't tried it again...yet.

Ugh, these cargo pants are being super tough on my fingers. The legs worked up really quick and easy, but joining the two (with gusset in between) and trying to work the first few rows on a circular needle, ... just not working all that great. I know it will relax up and get easier. Hope it happens quickly. I figured how I'm going to do the gusset. I cast on 10 stitches between each leg (instead of 5) using a crochet provisional cast on. Then I decreased 2 stitches on each side for the next 2 rows (leaving 6 instead of the called for 5). This gives me 2 extra stitches, and my gauge is going to be a bit bigger because I'm double stranding the yarn in the soaker part of the longies. I'm thinking that if it's too big, he'll either grow into it, or I can dip that part in boiling hot water :o) I'll figure it out. I'll add a few more rows to the crotch to match up both sides.

Apple Season

Some friends of ours, who live just down the road, brought us a 1/2 bushel (or so) of lovely upstate New York apples yesterday. They are absolutely lovely. This came on the heels of G1 (5) attempting to shoplift an apple from the grocery store the day before because we didn't have any money to buy food (we were there for WIC) and he really wanted apples. I had a heart-to-heart talk with him about how that's not ok, we can't take things that don't belong to us... yada yada. I think God's grace poured out on us via our friends and their apples. I really hope thru this that DS learns that God cares for us and provided us more apples than we'd maybe have been able to afford, but in His time. Here's a card that the kids and I made to give our friends at church tomorrow:

It says: "You two are sweet as pie..." I cut out the holes of the pie so that the apples that the kids drew would show thru.

Here's the inside of the card with all of their apples. I hope they like it!

Me and my forgetfulness...

I was going to make bread last night so DH could have some to take to work with him this morning. I got as far as mixing the ingredients together, then forgot about it. Ugh. At least I hadn't added the yeast (I don't proof). So I went ahead and warmed it up this morning, added the yeast and finished making it. If I had added the yeast yesterday, it would have been a lost cause. As it is, the bread has little blobs of dried pre-dough here and there throughout, but most of it is edible. Just glad I didn't waste a whole batch, that's always painful.

E is definitely teething. He's getting much more animated in his movements, jerks around, he doens't stay content as long as he used to. I wish there was something I could do for him other than let him knaw on my fingers/shoulders, his sling, or his little chewy toys (or whatever else makes it in his mouth), but not sure what would help. I think they are almost thru so hopefully he'll feel better soon. I'm very pleased that he so far hasn't bit me while nursing. If/when he does, he'll just lose his oxygen supply for a startling second or two while his face gets smooshed into his food supply. Worked like a charm with G2, but I can hope that it won't come to that! :)

I've started the cargo pants from Knitty in black wool. I have one leg finished, now I have to see what I need to do next. I think I'm supposed to work the next leg (maybe put the stitches on holders or something unless I have the same size needles). The legs go so quickly which is nice. Hope to be ready for the body part of the longies this weekend. I'm using size 4 needles instead of 7s called for because my yarn is either DK weight or light worsted and I wanted the stitches to be nicely snug. I'm making the largest size, but it's coming out like the 2nd smallest size which should be just a smidge bigger than E which should hopefully tide him over till spring.

I'm so impressed

We were at church yesterday from about 9:30 am till 6:00 pm (Sabbath School, church, potluck, children's choir practice, Adventurers (G1 is an Eager Beaver & Gigi is a Little Lamb) and E didn't poop anything significant the whole time we were there. He just held it. I did take him to the potty during church, but the potties were too busy for him and strange looking and the folding potty seat that I had brought just wasn't working. So he finally did pee and pooped a tiny bit, but that was it. Of course I put him on is potty as soon as we got home and he very gladly went. Poor kid. He could have gone in his diaper, it would have been completely understandable, but I'm just so impressed that he chose to, and was able to, hold it. If we have any more days like that, I'm trying to figure out how to take our potty seat to church. There's an old house near the church which is used for the pastor's office... so maybe I could take my potty seat over there. It would be a lot quieter and I'd have a private bathroom to clean out the potty seat in.

Church pants

There are 3 pairs of longies that I really want to make for E this winter. Two in Knitty's Cargo pants in khaki color thread and black (minus pockets for Church), and the other is Knitty's Blu jeans in denim colored thread. I still have to get the khaki and denim thread, but I was able to find a sweater yesterday that will work nicely for the black pants. I can't wait to start them!

Ebony and (fake plastic) Ivory

G1 is always amazing me on the piano. Yesterday or the day before he wowed me by playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in 6 flats! He's also trying to harmonize with the left hand and comes up with legit harmonies which is pretty cool! I think we're going to try to start formalizing his piano learning a little, get him a book or start teaching him the notes (flashcards), something like that.

ECing

It's going so well. Eli didn't do much this morning but pee in the potty. Then we were out all morning till 1:30-ish. When we got home I took off his wet diaper, put him on the potty and waited. He didn't do anything at first, probably because I was bustling about trying to make sandwiches for the older two, but when I came over, sat down beside him and gave him my attention, he performed. I praised him when I heard the first "ppptptpt" and he gave me such a big grin and even threw in a giggle for effect. He acted so pleased with himself. I love EC :o)

Teething?

I think Eli is starting to teethe. He's been waking up at 7 - 7:30 every morning when he had been sleeping in till 8 or 8:30 (boo hoo!). He goes potty, he nurses, and then proceeds to get a little crazy. Babbling away, grabbing for my fingers to gnaw on, twisting his body, arching his back, just can't sit still. He's also much more vocal and fussy at night when he wakes up to eat. I always change him real quick (something he doesn't much care for) so I can put him back down as soon as he's done nursing. At least he goes back to sleep nicely as soon as he's done. My last two started teething around 4 1/2 months so he'd be right on track if this is the case. He hasn't bit me yet, but he does this crazy thing when he's almost done nursing where he turns his head, but doesn't exactly let go until I get yanked out of his mouth (um, ouch?). He'll do this several times before I decide he's done. I need to decide he's done a bit sooner, huh? lol

Next project

Now I am on the increase section of the Warm Heart Woolies Plain Wrap using the recycled yarn from the DKNY sweater. The last soaker I made out of it turned out nice, sturdy, slightly stretchy/springy. I think it will work well for the wrap. I hope I'm not making it too small. E is actually more of a medium in most sizes, but for this one I'm doing newborn size because I've heard it runs large, and I want to be able to pull it nice and snug, maybe use snappis... I tried it with some acrylic back in the days before I had any wool, size medium, and it was looking so gigantic.

Doodlepants are Done

I finally finished the Doodlepants this last Saturday evening. I think they turned out quite nice. I wasn't sure how the acrylic would function, but I guess it did ok. I wouldn't use it for night, but for daytime, it was ok and they will be fine as pants with another cover underneath. Just need something to keep bub's little legs warm during the winter. I still need to add a drawstring. I think for the next ones I'll use smaller needles for the waist, then increase a few stitches for the hips. Also, I might make a taller waistband. I think I'm going to add some seed stitch at the bottoms since he's going to grow out of them pretty quickly if I don't. I smile at the short rows because they make me think of a sock puppet. I probably should have spread them out a little more (ya think?), but I kinda like 'em too :) I widened the crotch so that it would be more roomy.

Latest soaker

I really like how this one turned out. I made it from the WoollyBabies shorts/longies pattern that is no longer hosted online. It might just be that the site is temporarily down. I was thinking I might have to frog some of it because I went totally overboard on the short rows (or so I thought). But it actually seems to be just roomy enough and it looks really cute on E. One thing I would do differently next time would be to cast on looser or on larger needles. This was my first attempt at a gansey gusset and I think it turned out nicely. I will probably be adding more of these to soakers I make in the future. I still need to make a cord for the drawstring, but E isn't mobile yet so I have a little time. The wool is from the rescued sweater I snagged awhile back. I haven't even lanolized it yet and it's working great so I know with a proper lanolizing, it should be awesome!































My next project is to start on some Aubrey Doodlepants out of some acrylic yarn that I have (don't have enough wool, boo hoo). I kinda missed out on the WSG knit-along, and would still like to do it. If I run into any glitches, I can always check the messages from the KAL and get help :).

Little throne, little prince

So E's Baby Bjorn Little Potty arrived earlier this week and I've been trying him on it as I think of it and usually inbetween each change just to get him used to it. Yesterday and today he pooped in the potty and not his diapers so I'm pretty stoked! I think he likes it or at least he really doesn't seem to mind it. For the winter, I'm thinking of making some fleece turtlenecks

for his potty so it won't be so !shocking! to his little behind. :)

Love it

I finally finished my pumpkin soaker and I love how it turned out. E wore it to church last week and got tons of compliments. Here are the pics. The color isn't quite as strong/redish as it appears here, at least on my monitor. If I had it to do over again, tho, I would make the rise a bit higher.

Soaker update

I didn't join in on the WSG doodlepants knit-along because I couldn't think of what yarn to use. Most of the yarn I have is KnitPicks Wool of the Andes and I just have enough of each color to make soakers, not longies. So, I've started a WoollyBabies soaker with some yarn I got from a dismantled thrift store sweater. It might turn out big, if it's too big, I think I'd like to shrink it down a bit. It will probably make an awesome night-time soaker. I'm went a little crazy with short rows so we'll see how that turns out. I wanted short row practice and since the yarn I'm using is varigated weight, it really won't show if I don't do it right. I supposed it really ought to do a practice short row swatch and get it right before I do many more :o)

Germies be gone!

Well, after a very long phase of all of us being nice and healthy, G1 has broken the cycle. He was not feeling great yesterday morning, then when I came back from my sewing class in the afternoon, I found him on the floor, cuddled up under a blanket. DH said he had a fever. Poor guy, didn't feel like eating much, was rather listless and was ready for bed with no complaints at 7:00 (SO not like him!!). He woke up several times last night and wet the bed pretty good. Tonight during supper he couldn't get warm enough (this was after a nice warm bath) so he took another hot bath before going to bed. He couldn't get warm so I put about 3 blankets on him and told him he'd get warm and would probably get hot coz that's what fevers do. Well, the next time I went in to put DD to bed, he was out from under the covers and was hot. I told him not to throw the covers too far because he'd likely need them again as he'd probably feel cold again before too long. He didn't believe me, but I'm sure I'm probably right. He complained of a sore throat this evening, but so far no coughing or runny nose (I'm praying it doesn't go any further than this). Also, G2, E and I seem to be ok for the most part (meaning E seems to be a bit snuffy, but not too serious; I think he'll be saved by breastmilk).

Beautiful laughter

I was holding Eli on my lap, helping him stand on my legs and holding on to his chubby arms while I gently rocked him back and forth in a glider at Church a couple of days ago when I bumped him in the face with my nose and he let out a rather uncoordinated laugh, but a laugh nonetheless. It's amazing how something that I've been thru 2 times before is still magical and exciting. Eli is also really trying to sit up. If we prop him in a sitting position, he fights to stay like that as long as he can before becoming the leaning tower of baby. He's now 17.5 pounds (yikes!). He weighs the same as my friend's baby who is about 8 months old. I don't think my last two were this weight till they were 8-10 months old either. This baby is just my super-chunk.

Milestones / Braggy Mommy

Gigi (3 yo) has just started saying her Ls and I'm almost positive I heard some correct Rs come from her mouth. She also pretty much has the concept of rhyming. She sometimes mixes up rhyming with matching (as in she thinks that matching colors rhyme), and sometimes says things like "ice cream rhymes with 'i'" when she really means ice cream starts with 'I'. But she was coming up with rhyming words the other day and really grasped it I think.

A couple weeks ago G1 (5 yo) was complaining about the gums beyond his last left lower molar (say that 3x fast) so I took a look and discovered that his 6 year molar was peeking through. G1 is really doing great with his reading, surprises me a little more every day. We just got a freecycle piano the other day (I will never accept a full upright piano again, it about killed the guys who agreed to help move it, poor poor guys, "I'm SO sorry!!!") and G1 played a song on it today that he had never played before. He seems to be really good about picking up tunes by ear. I think he definitely has a talent for piano.

Eli is really in loooooove with Mommy and I'm in love with that! The other day I was peeling potatoes in the kitchen and DH asked me if I was looking at Eli. I said "no" then glanced up and saw Eli just looking at me and grinning at me over Daddy's shoulder. He's always ready with a quick and dimply smile and he's such a good baby. I can put him in his swing and he very aggreably lets me run a quick run of laundry or empty the dishwasher before picking him up again. He also goes to sleep without a fuss and doesn't nurse exorbitantly (not so that I get to feeling used up), yet he's quite the chunky little Budda, definitely thriving. He could quite possibly be the perfect baby. :o) Eli is quite the talker too, he's so funny when he's talking, gets very animated.

Christmas in August

I went and picked up a box of "craft items" from a Freecycler and boy did I hit the jackpot. Well, I guess the yarn could have been wool and the circular kit could have been Denise Interchangeables or KnitPicks Options, but overall, I feel like I got a really great present.
Bummer it's not wool, but pretty colors, maybe I could knit some charity items. The white thing is a corner turner or some such thing.

Crochet hooks, circular knitting needles, thread, needles, dpns, a bunch of scissors, some embroidery floss.

Ribbon, lace, picture frame keychains, pliers, wire cutters, gathering tools, latch hook, funky scissors, sewing rulers, manicure kit (?), needle threader, strip of magnetic tape, 3 tweezers, a seam ripper, some embroidery floss, small container of pins, more dpns, crochet hooks, 2 or 3 look like ivory, one even has grain lines like maybe it is, not sure tho. The pic on the right is a closeup of the manicure kit. There was this glass thing in it, I had no idea what it was. That was until I found it broken on the floor (G1 sat on it). I tossed it and then noticed an old lady perfumy smell coming from my fingers. Ugh! A perfume sample from who knows how many years ago is not something I wanted on my hands and in my carpet. Oh well, now I know what it is, lol.
Misc. sewing supplies (ribbon, lace...), large yarn needle, bells, dpns, dpn end caps that look like mittens, stapler, Mary Englebright iron on transfer, some attachments for a Kenmore sewing machine, hot gun glue, metallic gold & silver thread, stitch holders

Circular needles, Boye Circular needle kit only missing 1 size one needle point, stitch holders, crochet hooks, needle case with needles inside, more needles in packaging, small whet stones, very large (curved tip) yarn needles (G1 was duly impressed!), buttons, knitting stitch counter (2). Not sure what this pink and white thing is. The pink part snaps out of the white part. Maybe something for making circular knitted or crocheted things? I just can't imagine. Also, the little ivory looking toothpick thingy next to it... I have no clue.

And here is a 100% wool DKNY sweater that I snagged from the thrift store. The wool is rather chunky and uneven looking with thick and thin bits. I hope it will work well for a soaker. It will be dyable so that will be fun.

Soaker Sack

I just finished a soaker sack for E. I used it last night and it worked great, made diaper changes really simple. It's a Curly Purly waistband on both ends with stockinette in the middle.

Chef Boy R G

G1 has taken to cooking meals or parts of meals. This particular day (last week sometime), he decided on the chinese veggies and tomatoes. He cut the tomatoes (with supervision), put the veggies in a pot and added some salt. I made the rice. He "set" the table with the towels and put the spoons next to the bowls because it looks nicer than putting the spoons in the bowls. I think he did a great job for 5 yo.

Brussels Sprouts, Yum?

I get a certain feeling of glee when I think about how much my kids love their Brussels sprouts. I mean, they think they are a delicacy or something. They call them baby cabbages and ask for seconds and sometimes thirds.

I cook them in a little water, some palm oil (or you could use butter), some nutritional yeast flakes, some vegetable seasoning powder, and garlic salt. Yum.

Post baby hair loss

Aack! My hair is falling out in great gobs. I just brushed my hair and got enough to stuff a dollhouse sized pillow. I think it probably always happens to me after having a baby, but there just seems to be so much of it and I know hair grows back, but I have been growing those hairs for so long. I hope the shedding lets up soon!

Cheepo diapers

I got a glimpse inside my el cheepo box-store variety, most-people-use-them-for-burp-cloths diapers yesterday and I was disgusted to be greeted by a layer of poly fluff. Here I was under the impression that the innerds were just more birds-eye cloth, but no, just a non-absorbant, just to keep it soft, layer. Grrr. I will just have to make some more of my own diapers. Hmph!

Circular Fun

Inspired by Ev's tutorial on making your own circular knitting needles, I decided to try making my own. DH had the car so I couldn't go bopping down to the hardward store so I had to think outside the box. My grandma had given me a bunch of old knitting needles. Some of them were useable, others not so much. I took two of the old (maybe size 10 or 11) wooden knitting needles and chopped them in half:

Then I drilled holes in the flat ends of the DPNs, sharpened them, sanded them with 150 and 400 grit sandpaper, rubbed them with olive oil & wax paper (what I had on hand), cut a length of 50 pound fishing line (100 pound would be better if they make such a thing) folded the fishing line over at the end so it would be snug inside the hole (as the smallest drill bit I found was still too large for my cord), and glued them in. My 5 yo promptly pulled out the line, but that was before it had time to set. I'm hopeful that they will actually stay in once they've had enough time to dry and harden. I also made a set out of some bamboo chopsticks that will be in the range of 8's or 9's. I want to make a market bag with the larger set. I've been needing a set that size for awhile now and can't wait to try them out.Here's the finished product:

Soakers & Slings

The night before last, E slept from about midnight to 7. Probably the longest stretch he's slept since he was born. He was back to nursing about every 2 hours last night tho. He's really starting to "talk" and carry on conversations (well has been since he was about 2 months or so). He's getting really smiley, is very observant, people comment on how alert he looks and that he doesn't look like a baby anymore (he's only 3 months, sniff, guess he's a fast grower-upper). He has strong legs and very good head control.

I put my newly finished Tickle Turdle free crochet wool wrap on him last night, I had heavily lanolized it the day or so before using it (at least I thought I did, it was pretty sticky until it dried), but we still had a bad leak with it this morning. No diapers were peeking out anywhere. I'm hoping that it will start to behave a little better after it's second lanolizing, but I was a bit disappointed. I thought it looked thicker and more "bullet-proof" than any of the others that I've made so I was rather surprised. Right now I'm working on a sleep skirt, basically just the Curly Purly soaker without leg holes or crotch and just keep going to around the calves or ankles with a little ribbing at the bottom. Haven't worked out exactly how it's going to go yet, so far I've got the first 3" or so of the waistband done and have done 2 or 3 short rows and changed to larger needles. Hopefully it will make nighttime changes a little easeir. We'll see.

I made a Beth Mei Tai for him yesterday and I guess I could have gone with a little more height so maybe I'll have to make another one. I also want to try the Man Tai if i can find enough material for everything. I also stayed up later than I should have experimenting with making some receiving blanket/microfiber towel prefolds. I think they turned out pretty good, but now I'd really like to try some old baby towels (is that the same thing as stretch terry?) and microfiber towels after reading Paula's blog.

My computer ate my handwork

I think there's some sort of odd conspiracy to keep these pics off the net for some reason. I have taken pics of these two soakers 2 or 3 times so far and only have these pics to show for it. Currently I'm doing a deep search of my computer with Picasa in hopes that I'll find them buried somewhere very remote, but till then, here are pics of my very first soaker (the striped one, a Curly Purly knit-in-the-round soaker) and a soaker that I rescued. The peach one was a Freecycle hand-me-down that accidentally got into the diaper wash and felted & shrunk up pretty good. It used to fit my 3 yo DD, but now it sorta almost fit E with a little prefold peeking out here and there so I added the green ribbing to provide better coverage. Now it works quite nicely. The peachy orange yarn has wisps of green in it so hence the green color I chose. The Curly Purly soaker is very nice, but also too big for E so I'll probably make a smaller one soon. So far I've really liked that pattern as well as the Ottobre pattern. I'd like to do both of them again, but would also like to try some of the other patterns out there as well. Currently I'm working on a wrap soaker. After that I might try the Tickle Turdle Wrap. Since it's crochet it should work up quickly.

Jackpot

DH has been cleaning in the basement and moving some things over from storage and he brought home a container of clothes that I'm almost positive I looked in, but apparently didn't. Anyway, when I opened it up, I was met with the happy image if a bag full of ex-burpcloth prefold diapers. Hot diggity! I have been here wishing I had a few more and now I'm sittin' pretty with as many diapers as I could ever need. How cool is that? Oh the simple pleasures...

Oh la la... stitch markers!

For the longest time, when my knitting instructions call for placing a stitch marker, I've just used a loop of yarn in a contrasting color... not very glamorous. So, recently I came across the idea of stitch markers made from wire & beads and since I had all the supplies, I went to town. Here are my creations:












The loops are all the same size tho the camera doesn't make it look that way. Now I can knit in style :o)

Crochet Bind Off

Since my first soaker (a Curly Purly out of Wool of the Andes wool), I've been testing out binding off methods. I wanted to find something that had some give to it, and I wasn't satisfied with simply binding off the "normal" way with larger needles. Then I stumbled upon the Single Crochet bind off and some directions (found here) that said to bind off two, chain one and voila... a very nice bound off edge that has plenty of give to it. At first I was trying to do everything with two knitting needles, but when I swapped the right needle for a crochet hook it got very quick and easy.

Finished!

Hooray, finally got the knit-as-fast-as-you-can-along soaker done. I took it to a sewing class this afternoon (went to knit while socializing more than anything) and got it finished up to the point of sewing up the green seams (forgot to bring the green yarn with me). Then finished sewing it up when I got back home. I have to say I don't think I'm very good at joining edges of garter stitch. Oh well, hopefully it won't be too obvious. So, without further ado, tada! Will see if I can get my little guy to model it tomorrow.

Had this bit done before I went to the sewing class at 3 p.m.

Progress Report

I dreamed of knitting soakers all night after finishing up late late last night, er, this morning. Anyway, when I finally dragged myself out of bed this morning, I went straight to knitting (around making blueberry pancakes for the natives) and have finally cast off the front waistband (a little floppy for my liking so I'll probably try another "stretchy" bind off next time). Now just need to knit the legs and sew everything up and I'll be done. All in all, it's been a pretty fast project.

Ottobre knit-as-fast-as-you-can-along

Ok, so I started this knit-along in dead last place. I took my knitting to a church social tonight and knitted through a mango-under-your-neck [chin] relay and at least held the knitting thru a balloon-held-between-two- people's-heads-while-running relay and knit until DH couldn't stay up to watch any more TV with me (when we finally got back home) and it really is a bit late so I'll post my progress so far. At least I've gotten down to the part where I start to decrease for the legs. I'm using some of my birthday Wool of the Andes wool on some dpn's that I bought in Africa and have had for a coon's age. Still some of my favorite needles.

My favorite wrap soaker

Here is my favorite daytime soaker, made from a recycled 100% Wool Marino sweater (using the pattern found here). It's SO soft and cuddly. I wish it held up a little better before getting saturated, but it usually does fine for daytime use. Wish I had 6 of them as Eli's soakers do tend to get pooped on just a little too often. I do have 4 other soakers from this pattern (that I can think of off the top of my head), but they seem to be in constant airing out or poopy rinsing/drying rotation. Can't wait till I can make (knit) some from scratch. Soon I hope. I think the wool fairy is bringing some for my birthday ;)

So Far Behind

Well, the baby's here, my computer crashed, had to reformat twice, and ... excuses excuses. I'm baaaack. Baby E made his arrival on a cool and rainy (I'm struck by the irony of the page name) May morning, in our living room, in a fishy covered inflatable pool. I had possibly the best (albeit the longest) birth yet. My midwife and her apprentice attended and everything went flawlessly. Daddy caught the baby and big brother and sister watched with Grandma from the couch. I didn't have really long or hard contractions for the bulk of the time and things only started to get rough after my water broke, but then about 15 minutes later, E was born, all 9 pounds 1 ounce of him. Big baby! but thank God no tearing. He took to nursing just fine. I had to make myself latch him on properly tho, after the first night, as things were starting to get a little ouchy in that department. But all is well now, he latches himself on and even lets me sleep at night (well, a little more than the last two anyway). He was smiling within the first week of his life though the smiles were very fleeting. He was really smiling by 5 weeks (pretty normal I guess). I started out EC'ing him and he did great at the beginning. I am still trying, but sleep deprivation of late and his getting used to going in his diapers is playing a factor in our success or lack thereof. I want to get him a Baby Bjorn Little Potty as that would ease the strain of holding him while I wait to see if he needs to go. He's my first cloth diapered baby. I was way too intimidated and overwhelmed by all the choices to do it for the last two, but this time finances or the lack thereof, insist that I do. I've had great fun making diapers and wool soakers (so far only out of recycled sweaters). I started out with a bunch of fitted pocket and AIO diapers, but then decided that I liked plain old prefold diapers as well or better than the fancier diapers. I just learned about tie diapers so have made a few of those. We'll see how I like them to see if I want to make any more.

'Tudes

I've been working with G1 on his grumpy and obstinate attitudes and at least in the short term, I'm seeing some improvement. What I do is, when he comes to me with a scrunched-up and miserable-looking face, I tell him he's wearing a really ugly attitude and he needs to change out of it into a cheerful attitude. If he needs help getting the ugly attitude off, I help him with the "buttons" which are just several places on his ribs which tickle ?. Then if that doesn't work, what I did yesterday that worked was to tell him that I was sure there was a happy, cheerful attitude in his room and that I wanted him to go there and look for it and stay in there till he found it and put it on. He did. So that's been a nice discovery. Hope it doesn't loose it's power anytime soon.

G2 is potty trained and only has a nighttime accident 2 or 3 times a week maybe. That is SO nice! Also saves on pullups and we don't have to empty the diaper pail every Monday. She's developed this annoying habit over time of screaming about everything. If she falls, she screams, if G1 takes something from her, she screams, if he says something to her that she doesn't like, she screams. It's really getting old and I don't like it at all. She gets in trouble every time she screams for some trivial reason, but she just doesn't seem to get it. I've told her that she's 1) supposed to ask nicely (if G1 takes something from her) and if that doesn't work to 2) come tell Mom or Dad. Hasn't worked so far, but hopefully it'll sink in before too long.

Did "table time" with the kids today right after breakfast. We learned G1's memory verse and talked about good manners. Then we read two Golden Books. I'd like to do table time every day.

Braxton Hicks, Relaxin, and pains, oh my!

Had a really good Braxton Hicks contraction yesterday, but really I haven't been having many at all. Seems a little strange to me. I'm trying to drink Red Raspberry Leaf tea about 3x a day, but no apparent change. I had tons of them with G2's pregnancy. Makes me wonder if I ought to be contracting more just to tone up my uterus.

The Relaxin is here in full force making all sorts of joints in my body ache. My pelvis hurts in the front, my ankle hurts (I have a bad habit of sitting on it when I'm at the computer), my tailbone is sore, my back kills in the morning when I wake up. It's time for an air mattress! That saved me during my last 2 pregnancies.

This baby doesn't have lots of hiccups and I'm not having lots of heartburn (yet). I had quite a bit with G1 & G2, and both had a good bit of hair. Wonder if this baby is going to be bald, lol.

The Weekend

Had quite the weekend. We drove up to my grandparents' house to help them move down to a duplex that my parents built just up the road from their house. My grandparents and great grandma (grandma's mom who lives with them) are all in failing health, well, my 105 y.o. g-grandma is actually doing pretty well for her age, probably better than grandma at this point. Anyway, digressing... They needed help packing and moving as Grandma had a mini-stroke awhile back and then shortly thereafter, she fell and fractured her hip so was definitely out of commission for packing. G-grandma is blind and frail and wobbly on her feet so about all she does all day is sit in a comfortable chair, sometimes dozing, sometimes listening to TV. Grandpa has been suffering bouts of weakness and had an episode last week where he couldn't get up in the morning. We think it was either a stroke warning or flat out exhaustion since he's been the only one available to do any packing and worrying about the move.

My mom came and picked me and the kids up on Thursday afternoon and DH met us later that evening up at my parents' house. We got up at 5 a.m. Friday morning so we could be on the road by 6 (actually 6:10) for the 5 hour trip to the grands'. We had to go about an hour out of our way once we got there to pick up a rental truck for the move. I guess the rental guy knew G&G and had given them a pretty good deal, (good price, extra days, & extra milage). When we got to the house, it was very overwhelming because there weren't very many boxes to pack in. Mom and I got started in the kitchen and started clearing out the cupboards. We got grandma to let go of several glass bowls & muffin tins and such and were able to toss a couple garbage bags full of old food. Poor Grandma has glaucoma so can't see well when food has bugs in it or if mice have chewed on it. I was glad we didn't have to pack it! At one point, I took G1 to the closest town that would have some rope as DH needed some for stabilizing boxes in the van... I was so tired that I felt like I was drifting off the whole way there (about 20 minutes). I decided that if I felt that way on the way back, that I'd have to find a place to park and rest my eyes for a minute, but luckily I was a little more alert. My dad and DH loaded furniture and whatever boxes we managed to pack into the van till around 5:30 or so. The family that we were staying with brought supper over to the house and we all enjoyed the break. After that, since it was nearing Sabbath, we drove up to our host family's house and got showers and crashed around 9:30 (which is very early for DH and I, but we were plumb worn out!).

Sabbath was a relaxing day, we went to church at my childhood church, the pastor's car broke down on the way so Dad ended up preaching. We drove back for a lovely meal and then my mom, the kids and I walked down to the lake (that G&G's house overlooks) too see if we could coax some fish up to the surface with some bread crumbs. But it was so cold, and the fish must have been hybernating so we started back up. My brother and his wife got there around this time. G2 and I took a nap a little later and then we had supper and chatted till bedtime.

Sunday we got over to the grands' house as soon as we could (around 8:30 or so) and packed and loaded pretty much straight till 1:00 when we stopped for some lunch. Then more packing (luckily someone brought a bunch of boxes which came in very handy) and loading till around 3:30 or 4. My mom drove the kids and I back to "our" house and we quickly showered and I started trying to get some of our things together so we could pack up the van and leave when it came back. G1 & G2 played with some toy cups and plates... till they started squabling. I then figured that G2 was probably tired so made her lie down. She was soon asleep, but she only slept about 30 minutes before she woke up crying a sick cry. She didn't feel too warm, but it had that feel to it. DH agreed so I put some peroxide drops in her ears (2 mins on each side) and hoped that would do the trick. Finally the rest got back and showered and we packed our stuff and drove back to the old homestead to pick up the grandparents and say goodbye to everyone who had come to help (quite a crowd had come from the church which was very nice). We left around 6 p.m. and decided to go home a different route that would be less mountainous, but an hour longer, just thought it would be easier going with the moving truck and big van. We had to stop several times for gas/oil/potty/snack breaks so our 6 hour trip was extended to 7. We rolled in to my parents' house at around 1:00 Monday morning. After getting beds made and "midnight snacks" eaten, we all fell into bed at aroun 2:15. DH, the kids and I slept out on the sunporch which had a bed in it that Dad's mom had been sleeping in (she's moving down to the other half of the duplex), but since she's gone for a week or two visiting my aunt, it was available. It was cold out there, but we turned the heat on and had lots of blankets and actually did just fine.

Of course we woke up at the crack of dawn since we were virtually outside, just glass between us and the great out of doors, so we didn't get much sleep. But neither one of us relished the idea of driving another hour 1/2 to get home. Due to dry eye syndrome, DH stayed in bed as long as he could so his eyes could get as refreshed as possible before driving home. We finally got on the road and the kids promptly conked out in their carseats. G2 didn't have any apparent symptoms of being sick, tho I had felt like I might be catching something on the trip down the night before and had put drops in my ears before going to bed. I was a little snuffly, but felt increasingly more normal as the day wore on. Now (on Wednesday), I don't feel any ill-effects at all. Yay! Peroxide does it again. G1 had a cough when he woke up in the morning, (probably because he only let me put drops in one ear), but his symptoms are also pretty mild considering. We made it as far as a favorite Mexican restaurant by lunch/tummy growling-time so we stopped and had a nice meal. It was about 1 p.m. when we got home and we all crawled into bed and siesta-ed for 2-3 hours. Boy, that felt good!

Talked to Mom today. She said they were granted a temporary certificate of occupancy for G&G&GG's stuff so that they didn't have to unload it to the basement first and then bring everything back upstairs. Some kids from a local church school came and helped them unload the stuff so the furniture and labled boxes at least got to stay upstairs. The rest can come up as needed. Hopefully the grands can move into their duplex later this week or early next week.

Checkup

Had another checkup last Tuesday. I had been so worried about my sugar levels from my previous checkup that this whole month I've been so good about staying away from sugar (no more juice, pb&j, chocolate...) so I had my fingers crossed when the midwife went to check the urine, thankfully everything was fine and perfectly normal. So I'm still being cautious, but I know it's not because I'm developing gestational diabetes or anything terrible like that, just something I ate. I had only gained 1 pound since last checkup which raised some eyebrows, but I assured them that I'm eating, eating well actually, I'm never hungry for long and I eat 3 solid meals a day so I'm not worried. I already feel as big as a horse so am sorta glad I'm not gaining tons anyway. I had a hard time gaining weight with G2 also and she ended up being 8 lb, 10 oz so certainly didn't suffer. My fundus measured 28 cm (at 27 weeks), and baby's heartrate was 144.

My kids seem to be getting so loving toward me and the baby. G1 will say "Mommy, I love you, and I love your baby," or "Mommy, I hope your baby is healthy." G2 hugs and kisses me a whole lot (how sweet) and kisses and talks to the baby while she's sitting on my lap. I'm so pleased and happy about her potty training, she's really turned the corner. No more accidents, no more pooping in her pants, so hoorray for G2!!

I'm trying to get my ducks in a row to start a website design company geared at individuals and small businesses. I'm having the hardest time coming up with stuff to say about myself and my company, I should probably give a holler to my friend who's into PR, I know she could help. I want to make a tri-fold brochure that I can send out to some small businesses in the area and maybe distribute on mailboxes in some more affluent neighborhoods near me. We just really need something to augment our income right now. I was hoping to be able to trade services with my midwives and help them build a site in exchange for a lower fee, but that kinda fell thru so now I need to do something else.

The kids and I are fighting colds, not real bad ones, but runny/stuffy noses, that's pretty much it really. I was hoping I wouldn't get it and even did the peroxide in my ears trick and sucked on a zinc losenge, but I'm still kinda stuffy myself. I felt actually pretty normal after a nap this afternoon, but I feel it coming back. Oh well, it's really not that terrible and I know it'll be gone in a few days. It could be so much worse!

Hiccups

I was wondering just when I would start to feel hiccups and then just the other day, I remarked to DH that this baby had really great rhythm coz it was kicking every second on the second (or so), very rhythmically. Well, after it happened a couple more times it dawned on me that it was really just hiccups. You'd think that after 2 other pregnancies, I'd be able to recognize hiccups.

I'm 27 weeks tomorrow! Coming along... last night I felt the first serious achy pains. I felt like I had done a huge workout the day before, all my joints were crying out and my back was really sore this morning. Wondering if it's about time to set up the air mattress?

I'm trying to get myself and this house organized well before the baby comes. I'm getting back into my FlyLady-esque daily routines and things are going better. My house is starting to shape up every so slowly. But hopefull it will be in enough time to have the house looking presentable when the baby (and the midwives...) come. The kitchen isn't too terrible, can't say the same for our bedroom, dining table (makeshift office), and guest room.I think it might be time for a room rescue or something like that so I'd better get off this computer.

Ho hum

Being a parent is extra tough work sometimes. The last couple of days G1 has really been testing his limits (tho this seems to be a stage he's going thru, at least I hope it's a phase). He tries to get out of doing things simply because he doesn't want to do them. He tries to do jolly well what he pleases and gets really upset when I call him on it and make him behave or when I put him in the corner or make him sit in a chair. He's quite unmanageable at times, and then as sweet as syrup other times. Told me today that I'm a good mommy and he loves me and he loves to give me hugs and loves me to hug him, yada yada. I've decided that I'm going to try a reward system to see if that does anything for him. We sat down tonight and made a list of things he'd like to do/eat/get... and a list of ways to earn points to be able to do those things, and another list of things that will take points away. Now I need to come up with a visual reference for him so he can comprehend how many points he has and what his negative behaviour is doing to his points. Oh, I hope it works, but I'm not holding my breath. I am praying tho. My mom got me a book called Good Behavior which I'll read and hopefully glean some helpful things from. It was recommended to her by a mom of 2 boys. We'll see.

Update 2/6/08: I finally remembered that I had purchased on clearance some really bright, plastic coins from Oriental Trading Company awhile back. I got a see-thru plastic container for both kids, one with a pink lid, the other blue. Whenever they do things on their chore chart or do something especially nice (I catch them being good), I let them put 1 or 2 (depending on the thing they did, sometimes even 3) coins into their cup. When they get enough (1-2 gets them time on the computer, 2 for the park, 2 for watching the Sound of Music DVD...), they can do fun things. I'm not sure G2 understands the concept of spending them just yet, she just likes to get them. She's even potty trained almost completely because of the coins. She keeps her pants dry at night to get 2, get's 1 every time she pees, 2 when she does the other... She's also liking the idea of wearing "big girl pants" and only has a rare (no more than 1 a day) accident. So things are looking up there. Oh yeah, when either of them does something really bad, they get coins taken away from their bank cups. I think it's working nicely, tho G1s cup is not very full, it keeps getting coins taken away, and he does understand the concept of spending them better than G2 so he spend more of his.

Movement?

I'm trying to remember how much G1 and Gigi were moving at 24 weeks and I really can't, but I can't help but think that this baby is a rather laid back baby. S/he moves several times a day but seems to have long periods of sleep. Also, no hiccups yet and I haven't gotten any Braxton Hicks contractions which I thought I remembered getting much earlier when preggo with Gigi. Oh well, I could be remembering things all wrong.

Gigi kept her pants dry again all morning and in fact she woke up with dry pull-ups which is always nice. She seems to be more and more keen on wearing "Pooh bear pants" or "Princess pants" or "Dora pants." I find that I do a better job of staying on track with her too when I know that she doesn't have a safety net.

"I want my precious-y"

G1 has started feeling the need for privacy, doesn't want his sister to watch him get dressed/undressed, doesn't want Mom or Dad in the bathroom with him when he's going potty... He'll say "I want my preshusee." Makes us chuckle.

I have started reading "A Little Princess" to the kids at night to help them get tired. I've hotsynced it to my Palm Pilot so I can read it in the dark while they lie in their beds and hopefully get sleepy. I know the language is mostly over their heads which I hope will aid in the sleepy factor. It has seemed to work the two times I've done it, tho both times were on a day they didn't get naps and the time was rather late, so the story may be highly coincidental, lol.

G2 is doing better with her potty training, I have implimented something similar to the chart at familytools.com and the first day or two she really seemed motivated to be able to turn her potty circle over, but lately, she's just been going without the circle turning. She kept "big girl pants" dry all day today, and the one accident did have to be the whole shebang in her pants... gross. It's bad enough when she poops in pull-ups, but underwear is just not nice at all!! I did keep asking her this afternoon if she needed to go and she kept saying no. I should have just marched her in there a few times whether she needed to or not. Grrr, well, maybe this will teach me to be more vigilant, ... at least for the next few days till I forget, lol.

We went to the pregnancy place today which had the baby models and we got to see model babies from 6 weeks up to about 30 weeks. It was pretty cool. They let us hold the 26 week baby as I'm 24 1/2 and measured 26 cm fundal height at my last checkup so it is probably pretty close to the right size. The kids had fun holding it and Galena wanted to take off with the new baby doll. The 30 week baby was so tiny, a friend of mine had a baby at 29 1/2 weeks so he was probably close to that size when he was born. Yikes, seems mighty small! One of the gals who worked there told of a friend of hers who had a baby at 23 weeks...and the baby survived! and is a healthy 4 year old now. It's amazing what they can do with premies nowadays.

Mommy becomes Mamma

Not sure why, but G2, who's always called me Mommy or sometimes just Mom has taken to call me Mamma. She must have heard it somewhere and so now I'm a very deliberately said "Mamma." I think it's rather cute and funny.

I'm 24 1/2 weeks with Baby 3, just checked my pregnancy calendar and it says that s/he is now considered viable. Just over a pound and about a foot long. There's a place in town that has models of fetus' of every size and I want to take my kids to see them so we can see just how big this little one is getting. That should be kinda fun. My last midwives' checkup revealed that I was spilling quite a lot of glucose in my urine so this month I'm laying off of most of the sugar that I was innocently consuming till now (jelly in pb&j, honey on hot cereal, juice with meals, hazelnut chocolates that DH gave me for Christmas, chocolate covered cherries, also leftover from Christmas, cinnamon sugar on toast, ...). I admit it, I have a bit of a sweet tooth. Since I've cut back (none of the stuff from the previous list except for the tiniest bit of honey on hot cereal), the cravings have been very intense. Nothing seems to be able to quench my desire for a big glass of juice. But, I'm going to try to be good so that hopefully next month, my readings will be normal again. I wouldn't want to do anything that might jeopardize my chances for the homebirth I'm so set on. I've been really tired lately, probably going to bed too late, but I'm having a hard time changing my schedule to a more sane bedtime since DH gets home from work so late (usually 11 pm or later). Sometimes I wish he had a more normal work schedule, but what's a guy to do when the commute is almost 2 hours one way?

How Gigi impresses me

Her grasp of language is really amazing (well, at least to me, her never to be biased mama [ha!]). Today in the car I mentioned to G1 that he was a very astute young man. Gigi piped up, "Mommy, what's a stute young man?" She knows many of the lyrics to I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas. She does a great job of dressing herself and often picks great color combinations too. She learned that E is for Elephant after I told her just once (well, maybe twice).

How G1 impresses me

We were coming out of the road that goes to Grandma and Grandpa's house on our way home today and he piped up that "that's the way to the Fall Festival" (that we go to every year). He was right! Then before we got to their church on our way home, he said "there's Grandma and Papa's church." One day on the way to the mall he asked if we were going to Chuck E. Cheeses because that was indeed the way we had gone the one time we went (for someone's birthday). He has an amazing sense of direction for a little guy (4 3/4).

He has virtually taught himself to play (on his little battery operated keyboard) the melodies of Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Frere Jaques, The First Noel, and a song that his dad taught him. The other day he played one of the songs in a different key, accidentals and all.

Lady song

Today on our way up to Grandma and Grandpa's, G1 wanted us to sing the Lady song from the Maria DVD (Sound of Music). At first we were scratching our head, but it finally dawned on me that he was probably referring to the yodeling song so we had to try to limp our way thru "High on a hill was a lonely goatherd, lady-odle-lady-odle-lay-hee-hoo... Sad to say, even tho I've probably seen it 10 times since Christmas day, I wasn't able to get more than 1/2 a verse out. Sorry G1.

Ah, Kids

Last evening I was doing something in the living room or kitchen (don't remember), and I heard G2 scream a scream of pain and fear. I ran into the kids' room and found her holding her right eye. This is the same eye the G1 managed to hit hard enough (he said he hit her with his finger [?]) a few days before Christmas to give her a black eye. I pried her hands away and saw ... something whitish or beige-ish ... ? Huh? It had an odd smell that I couldn't place right away. My gaze then fell on my makeup bag that G1 had snuck into their room. So I rushed her to the bathroom and wet some TP and tried to wipe it off her eye. Some of it came off, but it was being very stubborn. So DH and I got her into the tub and kept rinsing her eye with warm water (she wasn't too happy!). I went back to investigate the scene of the crime and found most of my makeup (lipstick mostly) destroyed. I then found a bottle of fingernail polish (clear) with the lid off. I finally realized what the smell was...fingernail polish! When I did find the brush, it was covered in concealer (what he'd been trying to paint on her eye). I asked G1 why he did that and he said he was trying to cover up her black eye. He had seen me put a little cover-up on it a couple times (just trying to see if it would help her not look so pitiful) and I guess he was just trying to help. But, oh the mess. He had smeared my lipstick all over G2's back (got all over the inside of her shirt), on his bed sheets, in the bathroom sink (not sure how it got there), on one of our entry-way stairs (???), concealer was all over the headboard of his bed. What gets into kids I wonder? Her eye is fine, she actually calmed down shortly after getting in the bath. I'm sure the crying helped by creating tears to keep the bad stuff flowing out. Poor girl tho. I felt rather sorry for her.

Homebirth info

Since I'm so bloomin' passionate about educated choices and the empowerment of women, I'm going to post a whole slew of links to sites that have info that I have been gleaning from various places, probably mostly the Internet, that helped me make the decisions I've made in the past regarding birth, breastfeeding, and parenting. Hopefully they will help someone along the way. Please read and educate yourself, don't blindly take everything that the medical and/or mainstream community gives you.

My Birth Diatribe

Dangers of Epidurals

Birth Kit Essentials

Midwive Interview Questions

Personal Birth Affirmations

Morning Sickness Remedies

Is Labor Necessary?

Nutrition for Pregnancy

Natural Ways to Stimulate Labor

Dangers of Ultrasounds

Interview with Author Peggy O'Mara

Birth Story Links, Etc.

Homebirth is Safe

Homebirth Q&A

Birth Kit

I'm going to need to start thinking about where to get my birth kit in the next month or two so I'll keep track of places I'm researching here:

These are the one's I researched for G2's birth and the prices for the kits at the time:

• In His Hands – http://www.inhishands.com (my kit to cost compare was approx. $28.65)

• Yalad – www.yalad.com (~$29.52)

• Midwife Supplies – www.midwifesupplies.com (~$31.35)

• Birth With Love – www.birthwithlove.com (~$41.40)

Here's the birth kit as required by my midwives for baby #3:

Now we're truckin'

It seems that my first four months of this pregnancy went by soooooo slowly, but now, suddenly, I'm at 5 months. How did that happen? I guess time flies when you're "having fun." While I wouldn't always categorize my dayly existence as fun, at least I'm feeling much much better now, and I'm feeling the baby move which is so fun and uber-cool. I'm still not at the "big as a whale" stage yet, but I am dealing with a stiff lower back just about every morning when I wake up. I can't lounge in bed anymore. Oh well, got things to do anyway, right? Since I haven't posted anything in a very long time, (at first it was due to just not feeling well at all! and then it was the rapid slide into Christmas that I got caught in) I'm going to try to piece together the things that I didn't post about this baby. I had m/s till around week 16 tho I still had some queeziness in the evenings till around 18 weeks. Sure glad that's over! I think I felt the first little kicks around 16 weeks, but then didn't feel much again (just a flutter or two), till around 18 weeks which really is more normal for me. It wasn't probably till around 19 or 20 weeks that I felt baby moving every day. An interesting note about the movement at 18 weeks is that with the last two, I just felt the flutters at 18 weeks, but with this one, I felt actual kicks. I can feel the baby kicking from the outside now and G1 has been able to feel it move, not sure about G2. That's been going on for a few weeks now. Pretty cool. Baby's already almost the length of my kids' Pooh Bears tho not nearly as chubby or as tubby. The kids are really getting into the idea of having a baby in Mommy's belly. They hug it and kiss it and talk and sing to it. They even fight over who gets to kiss (etc) the baby which isn't terribly nice.

Pride and ... well, pride

Saturday was the last Sabbath of the quarter (from Oct to Dec) and these are always special Sabbaths with special programs put on by the children's classes. My son (G1) is in Kindergarten (ages 4-7) and they all have to say their memory verses from the whole last 3 months (one per week). His was Acts 10:34, "God does not show favoritism." Well, we practiced and practiced until he could say it perfectly, but I wasn't expecting anything because for the last 2 or 3 quarter-end Sabbaths, he's just stood there looking cute, but refusing to say anything. Well, this time, when it was his time, he belted out "God does not...." and I thought he might stop there, but he continued "show favoritism. Acts 10:34" The whole church laughed and applauded. I was afraid that all that attention might have frightened him back into his shell, but I think it had a positive effect on him, he seemed to be ok with it. Lots of people came up and told him how well he did and I'm hoping that from now on, we won't have anymore problems. To say I was proud is putting it mildly ?

A few of my favorite ... sayings

Here are some things that my kids say (or have said) that I don't want to forget so I'm going to write them down here.

G1: Spagarus (asparagus)

G1: DVDD (DVD, "Daddy, that's my favorite DVDD, can I watch that DVDD?")

G2: Bless-you (pronounced bweshoo, what she sometimes calls tissues, "Mommy, I got a bwessoo for my nose")

G1: Used to call a friend of ours named Nichole, "Miss Canole"

G1: "It's really raining out there, Mom, there's little tiny sprinklers in the sky."

G1: He has fallen in love with "The Sound of Music." Would watch it every day, multiple times, if we'd let him. He's memorizing lines too. Yesterday he said "Oh yes you are, Captain" (when the Captain is telling Maria that she is quite finished and that's she's to leave and he gets flustered and calls her Captain). Yesterday, for variety, we put in Mary Poppins and when Mary showed up he said, "hey, that's Maria, is that Maria?" And I had to try to explain actors and actresses to him. I told him that in this movie she was pretending to be Mary Poppins, but in the other movie she pretends to be Maria, but her real name is Julie. I'm sure that must have been a bit confusing!

G2: Flop-flops (for flip-flops)

G1: Last week (2/11/06) he came to me rubbing the bridge between his top lip and his nose and said "Mommy, my lipstache hurts."