Monday, October 29, 2007

3 months old

So, I didn't get this on here for the actual day but Josiah is now 3 months old. Time is flying! I was looking thru some old pix of me and my sister from forever ago . . . I was 3.5 and she was 2 months old . . . and found this photo of us together:



Now, compare that to these photos of Josiah taken yesterday:

Both Kev and I were stricken . . . he sure looks a lot like her. We noticed right away when he came out that he has her ears . . . small and close to his head . . . she even has to tear off half of a Q-tip before she can clean her ears, they're so small . . . but they even make the same faces! Ahh, genetics!

In other news:

1. I came into the front room the other day and found this:


What is it about the kids always liking the box more than the toy that comes in it? She kept whispering, "You can't find me, Mom!"

2. I finished this for a baby shower this last weekend:

It's called a Raggie Quilt. My mom and Kev both thought that the seam side should be on the inside but I had to explain that it's supposed to look like this. Didn't really take all that long to do, either, if you don't count the thousands of distractions that come up with a baby and a preschooler. My first attempt at a quilt! Maybe I'll make one for Josiah for Christmas. Not sure yet. The good thing is that he'll still be little enough that he won't have any idea what he gets for Christmas . . . he'll probably want the boxes more than the toys, too!

3. Starting the Christmas gifts this week. I have some fantastic ideas for different things that I wish I could post on here but I'll wait until after the holidays so the surprises aren't spoiled. Gotta say, tho, they're gonna be fun!

4. Also doing our Christmas card this week so it can get to the printer's in time to send out. I'm not doing a letter with it, tho . . . I figure people can find out what we've been doing by reading the blog. It's more interesting reading about things when they happen instead of a recap anyway.

Better get on it.

Saturday, October 20, 2007

peepee teepee

So, I just have to show you this. We got a huge basket of goodies for Josiah from Kev's work . . . a bunch of people bought stuff to add to the basket like clothes, diapers, wipes, baby wash, teethers, etc . . . and someone brought these little guys. When we got them out and read the instructions we laughed SOOOOO hard.

In case you can't read it, the instructions say:

Hold feet with one hand so legs are at a 90 degree angle and place peepee teepee on weewee during diaper changes.

They're even camo-colored . . . very manly! And there's five of them in there! I don't want to use them for reals tho because I don't want to have to wash them. I lose socks in the dryer like no other so I can't imagine I would ever find these again once they went in.

But they are soooooo funny!

Friday, October 19, 2007

family portraits




So, with complete disregard for the HUGE list of stuff I have to get done in the next few days, I decided to edit the family portraits Val did for us. Yeah, procrastination! Kev says I'm one of those people who when they have soooo much to do, they sit down and do nothing because the list is so interminable. Blah, Blah, Blah . . . I hate it when he's right.
Val did a great job for us . . . I'm really pleased with them. Thanks, Val! It was freezing cold that day by the water, but fantastic once we walked back up to the parking lot. Bizarre. (oh, you can't tell we were by the water. well, we were in front of those bushes and Val was standing on the rocks with the Green River behind her. "One more step back and I think you've got it, Val!" hee hee) And since we've been having crazy wind with the different storms coming in, most of the leaves are gone and with them the color. Winter is a'comin'. (did I just really say "a'comin'?)
I did the one of the kids . . . funny how one would cooperate and look and the other was either sliding out of his sister's lap or growling or flapping or sneezing. There was a much better one of Gennie but Josiah looked like a mini version of the uni-bomber, glaring away and fists clenched. All he needed was the hood and sunglasses.
Enjoy, family. I'll be using these for our Christmas card so they'll be arriving in early December. As long as my list doesn't get any longer.
Off to vaccuum the dog hair. The kitchen is starting to look like a barber shop. I swear one of these days I'm going to buy that Flow-bee thing and teach her to stop shedding once and for all!

Monday, October 15, 2007

The infamous preschool portrait

So, here it is. The infamous preschool portrait. Apparently the most scary, terrible, "I-can't-believe-you-want-me-to-do-this-mom" experience in her life thus far. Part of me wishes the photo lady had included one of the other shots, before I took the picture. Just for comparison's sake. I found out later that she told the photo lady after I left that she usually smiles, she just didn't want anyone but Mom to take her picture. Now, I appreciate her loyalty and have to admit that I wish all my clients were like that . . . to a point . . . but I'm not always going to be available to "push the button" as she puts it. Hopefully next year she'll do better.

We did our family portraits today . . . for the Christmas cards, etc . . . and had my friend Valerie, who is also a photographer, take them for us. We have this arrangement where she shoots us and I shoot their family so neither of us have to pay for someone to do it. I think our husbands would kill us if we decided to pay someone to do portraits for us . . . it was bad enough getting Kev to agree to be in the family photos. Both kids did really well, until Kev and I wanted a few of just us. Gennie had a fit, so we let her stand at our feet and Val did head and shoulder shots instead . . . good thing Gennie can't read this yet . . . she thinks she was in all of them . . . hee hee. :) I'll post a few on here when I get them processed. I also did a few of Gennie holding Josiah sitting in a pile of leaves in our yard. Turned out really good, too, so I'll get them on here soon.

And now, just because they are cute:

Happy Monday!

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

the smoking loon and other news

So, as an early Christmas present I treated Kev to a Gourmet cooking class. One of our really good friends, Melissa, is a classically trained gourmet chef. She studied at the Le Cordon Bleu program in San Francisco then moved back to GR, well RS, and has been treating our homegroup to fabulous dishes for about 6 months now. We recently had a special dinner at church and she was the main attraction and did a wonderful job . . . can you imagine sweet corn ice cream with a poached peach half and kettle corn topping, all drizzled in Basil Oil? Amazing.
Anyway, part of her business that she's started is cooking classes and Kev's always been interested in cooking more than just basic American food so we spent about 4 hours with her last Sunday. She taught us basic knife skills . . . we're still not as fast as her but we don't cut ourselves anymore! . . . and then sauces and seasonings for different dishes and meats. We made a red wine sauce . . . very delicious, even by itself with a spoon . . . and for it she told us to buy a cheapish bottle of red wine. This is what we found, and when Kev brought it out to the car, I just laughed and laughed at the label:

Leave it to Californians to give a loon a cigar! Too funny. A side note . . . the adhesive they used to adhere the label to the bottle was like none other . . . it took me 30 minutes with an X-acto blade to get the stupid thing off . . . NASA should use that on the space shuttle, then the panels would stop falling off!

Now I just have to find a knife set for him to complete the experience. We're going to several kitchen supply stores soon to try and find a good set, with the sharpening steel and all.

In other news, lookey what I got:

It's a Bind-It-All machine! For making small books and mini albums and whatever else may need to be bound with O-wires. Like a spiral binding only not . . . much cleaner looking. I got it on eBay . . . well, two of them actually but that's another story . . . and I can't wait for them to get here. Would you believe it will cut thru license plates!!! Well, all except Oklahoma because they use a different type of metal. I'll show you what I plan to use the license plate for when I get it done!

I read Ali Edwards' blog all the time and she is forever taking mini albums apart and adding stuff then rebinding them with her machine so I decided I just had to get one. I'm also going to use it to bind my senior proof books for all my senior clients . . . a lot cheaper than having my lab do it.

Now I just have to get the kids to let me use it . . . . :)

Tuesday, October 9, 2007

what staying warm means to me . . .

Gennie was feeling sick last night and today so she stayed home from school. She kept complaining that she was cold, both today and last night so when she was picking out her outfit this morning I told her to look for something warm. Here's what she came up with:

Oh, the intricate workings of a 3 year old's mind . . . .

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

another new banner???

Yep, i love it! took this photo yesterday. but the line cracks me up! I first saw it as a tag line on an world peace activist poster when i was in high school. of course, i had to have it explained to me at the time but i laughed soooo hard that it stuck with me and i've just been waiting for a place to use it. too bad i couldn't take a picture of the mental image it brings up. did you figure it out right away? :)

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

josiah by the numbers




had his 2 month appt last friday. all good things. here's what we found out:
13 and 2 1/2 -- pounds and ounces. almost double his birthweight in 2 months. i put him on the
scale and the dr said, "it's like weighing a side of ham!" he was also very pink
that day
25 -- inches long now, i think. i wasn't paying attention when he did the height.
16 -- cm head circumference. big noggin!
2 for every 4 -- tablespoons of karo syrup for ounces of water. he's a little stopped up so we
have to clear the pipes for him. he's a lot happier when we give it to him.
2 -- months to go before he gets to eat real food. well, rice cereal at least.
3 -- shots he had to get. 2 in one leg and one in the other. not a happy little man.
1 -- vaccination by mouth. the rotavirus one is now a syrup the dribble in while they cry.
it's fine for them to take but if they spit up or anything in the next 24 hrs you have to
sterilize anything the spit up lands on. causes incredible stomach issues (like, the
emergency room kind) in adults if ingested, even if it's on your hand and accidently
makes it into your mouth.
11:30 -- at night, the one time he threw up after the vaccinations. covered me and my side of
our bed. had to completely strip our bedding, from comforter all the way to the
mattress itself (thank goodness for mattress pads!). nothing like showering at
midnight and then trying to fall asleep.
1:15 -- am, he's hungry again and actually keeping down his food this time.
LOVE THAT BOY!!