Friday, April 15, 2011

A few thoughts...

I went to look at houses today, again.  I know, I know!  I have probably seen every house in our price range in a 30 mile radius from here.  I liked the one we saw, but the taxes were twice of any house we have seen!  I think I want to look where Steve is working now.  I'm still torn though because I wanted to live here.  I guess this is God's way of teaching me patience.  I know in my head that we'll find the right place, at His time; but sometimes its just really hard to wait.  He has always come through before....how quickly I can forget!

Two of my jobs are coming to an end soon.  Yay!  It's not that I don't like the work that I do, and it's important too; I just feel like my place is to be at home with Jack, new baby, and taking care of my husband.  I am still teaching my piano lessons (by the way, if you want lessons, just email me!)  and will have one client I work with at ASN.  I think that's plenty for now.

Steve is doing well.  He is competing in a bike race this weekend.  We're praying the rain doesn't make the trail too nasty for him.  His ADD is getting well under control by the simple diet and exercise changes he has made lately.

I wrote this post a little while back but never had a chance to post it:
I’ve been keeping a list of things I need/want for our new little bundle of joy.  We don’t really need much as I will be able to use all of Jack’s old things.  I have two big ticket items I need: a car seat and double stroller.  I’m going to get an identical car seat for the new baby that Jack has which is a Sunshine Kids Radian.  It is the ONLY convertible car seat I could find that would fit rear facing in my car.  It’s somewhat pricey, but it will fit the new babe until s/he only needs a booster seat(which are cheap compared to this one!)  My second big item is probably more like a “want,” but I figured if we move into town, we would walk more than ride in the car.  I’ve looked for used double strollers on Craigslist, but I haven’t really found any that don’t look like they’ve been through both World Wars.  I was going to check out a local consignment sale coming up at the end of the month to see if I could find any.  I have it narrowed down to three strollers that I would want if I need to buy used.  I really want a side by side because the tandem strollers are so hard to push and maneuver.  I’m thinking either the Maclaren double (I’ve seen a good price on it!), Combi double, or I found a Joovy that looks nicer than the other two.   I usually look for nice wheels for ease of pushing since our singles have horrible wheels! 
I want to pick up a few plain onesies too, but I’ll probably get those at the consignment sale.  The last thing I want (or rather, need) is new dipes!  I’m going to buy two different kinds to try out on Jack, my little water hose.  I want to switch to wool covers with either a prefold or fitted inside. I’m going to try out a Loveybums and a Sugarpeas to see which I prefer.  The nice thing about wool is that you don’t need as many covers since you can reuse them and only need to wash them about every two weeks.  I haven’t decided about the insides though.  I’ve seen a way to make a prefold into a fitted, but I don’t know if I could do it.  I have a few more months to decide.   I’m hoping to have Jack out of dipes by the time the new babe arrives, but he won’t even be two by then, so I am not going to count on it.  We’re going to start our potty training as soon as the weather turns warm.  I figured it would be easier to do if he can be naked.   I plan on using all of my ABA training to get this kid into undies!
There are a few other things that I plan on making for the new babe.  I want to make a blankie, booties, hat, wipes, bibs, and spit cloths.  I’ll have to post a picture of these as I make them all.  Since we don’t know the gender of the baby yet, most things will probably be green which is my favorite color anyway.   I figured I would crochet a few flowers to put on the hat and such just in case it’s a girl.  I also want to appliqué a few onesies with non-gender specific things.  Lastly, I was going to crochet a little pinafore in case it’s a girl.  If it isn’t a girl, I at least have a nice gift for someone who does! 
You know I can’t leave without a picture or two:

A delicious Apple Pie I made with a new crust recipe.  It was divine!  My secret weapons: Ida Red Apples and Rum!

He was headed out the door with momma's purse.

How cute!

Friday, April 1, 2011

Updates...

Jack has been changing so quickly lately.  He has been more talkative and overall busy.  He has been sleeping better though; which has been great for Steve and I.  Here are some things he's been "learning:"

Playing outside 2 weeks ago when it was 70 degrees!

Awww....we found flowers.

a boy and his stick

He loves the dirt...

....and water!


more flowers!




He loves playing in his car.  He gets in, shuts the doors and shakes it.  He then kicks the door open, comes and gives me a hug, blows me a kiss and gets back in!

this is how you use the big funnel!

The little stinker found my stash of baking apples and decided he'd eat one...

....it must have been really good...

....because he ate half of it!

And some videos!
When we went for our hike, he tried to go over a branch/tree on the ground and couldn't step over it.  So he did what any little boy would do...play with it!

Yikes...he's turning into a monkey.  Notice the unzipping of the sweater.  He insists upon his zippers being undone!

And once he's in the chair, it's Jack story time.

We're still looking for houses. We went to look at a few today that were promising.  We also looked at one that we walked back out of as soon as we entered it!  I'm sure we will find one in God's time...it's just hard to know when that is!  Keep praying for us!

Here's my yummy bread I made the other day: