Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Homemade Bread

I finally got around to making bread today and it was so delicious I had to make another loaf after the kids were asleep.

The recipe calls for a baking stone, which I don't own yet. I floured a cookie sheet, let the bread rise on it and then stuck it in the oven. I greased the cookie sheet for the second loaf and think I like flour on the bottom better. 

I will probably be baking a loaf a day it's that easy. 

Friday, April 24, 2009

It's in the Thighs

I am 23 weeks pregnant and have only gained 12 pounds. This is an amazing feat considering I gained a little over 50 lbs with each of my other pregnancies. Maybe I'll go crazy this time and stay within the recommended 25-30 lbs weight gain.

Busy, Busy, Busy

I had a minor mid-pregnancy crisis and decided to switch midwives. The midwife group that delivered both of my children has grown to five midwives. The level of care received is that of an OB's office, or so I assume. The midwives have so many clients and a seemingly incompetent front office staff that I was finally fed up and needing to go else where. I found a new midwife group that I so far adore. There are only two midwives in the practice and one of them is a nurse practitioner as well as a certified nurse midwife. I am very excited to have a fresh start and work with them. 

The garden has also been taking up my time. We planted the rest of the onions this week and spinach and potatoes. We still have to make a new spot for the tomatoes and peppers and I'm hoping we can get it done in the next few weekends. I also have broccoli and corn to plant and am waiting for my sweet potatoes to sprout so I can plant some in a pot. 

Our terrible dog, Bridget, has been giving me a headache lately. The morning after we planted our fruit trees, she ate one of the apple trees. We were not at all pleased and are not looking forward to replacing yet another chewed thing. Bridget no longer gets to be outside unsupervised. What this means for me is that I have to wait by the door for her to do her business. Unfortunately, our house is set up in such a way that the only way to let her out is through the garage. I have to stand in the garage while the children stay in the house and silently torture one another. I am hopeful that one day soon Bridget will grow out of the puppy stage and be able to be trusted alone in the yard. 

Is is finally garage sale season! I spent $27 the past two days and was able to get almost all of Finn's summer clothes, most of his winter clothes, summer shirts for Maeve and some things for baby #3. I also scored a free huge bag full of 0-3 month baby boy clothes. Many of the clothes were in great shape and nice. I took what I needed and am passing the rest on to my sister and sister-in-law who are also expecting.


Saturday, April 11, 2009

Real Gardeners Wear Flip Flops

We managed to get carrots, lettuce and two varieties of peas planted today. They took up a lot more room than I had originally planned, but we are going to expand the garden anyway so it's not a big deal. I still need to get the onions, spinach and potatoes planted. I am nervous about planting potatoes because I've never grown potatoes and don't know quite what to expect. 

I started the peppers and tomatoes from seed this year and am hoping to plant 20 tomato plants and maybe 10-15 pepper plants. We will also plant sweet corn, green beans and a few other things I might pick up.

I love having a garden and being able to go outside in the summer and grab stuff for dinner. Everything tastes so good and the kids have fun eating veggies right off the vine. 

Friday, April 10, 2009

What We've Been Doing


We've been busy getting the garden weeded and ready for planting. Maeve found this magnificent worm and carried it around for two days before reluctantly placing it with the mama night crawler under the swing set.

Maeve picked our first flower! We were surprised to see it.

I've been busy sewing newborn diapers. They are so cute and small. I really like sewing fitteds and appreciate those who make diapers for a living. Snaps are time consuming. 

Growing a baby has been taking up a lot of my time too. I'm 21 weeks. 


Photographic Evidence





The first, and most important, picture is of my wonderful new dryer. I was a bit worried when they were being stacked that I wouldn't be able to reach the buttons, but I can without too much trouble. And if you're curious, no it doesn't bother me that my washer and dryer don't match. I found my washer for a steal last year because the color was being discontinued. 

The second laundry room picture is what it looks like almost organized. The laundry room is the only place we have to store sheets, blankets, pillows, etc. I am also using it to house all of the bigger baby items like the exersaucer, bouncy seat and boppy.

The final picture is of the room we are currently using as a dining room. The tall pile of totes will all be going out to the garage, the blue desk will go up to Maeve's room, the exersaucer will go into the laundry room and all of the other junk will, I hope, fit back into the closet. 

Productive!

I was motivated to clean and organize today and got more done than I did all winter. Here's my list:

-swept and mopped laundry room
-organized laundry room (have some finishing to do)
-moved all baby stuff into laundry room for storage
-had husband adjust a shelf and basket so I can put diapers there
-admired new dryer
-separated kid clothes into categories
-0-6 mo boy clothes
-12-24 mo boy clothes
-2T-whatever he outgrows
-future sizes
-future girl sizes
-3T- whatever she outgrows
-cleaned out hubby's van so that he can stop making excuses and sell it
-weeded more of the garden (will finish tomorrow and plant some stuff)
-will clean out closet under the steps (finish when kiddos are in bed)
-move seasonal totes to garage
-move stuffed animals upstairs
-might move maternity clothes to master bedroom closet
-husband is sweeping and cleaning out the garage, but he likes to take several breaks so this could potentially take all summer
-I'm hoping I can talk Mathew into finishing the closet shelves upstairs and putting the handles on the closet doors

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Tonight's Dinner: Chili

Everyone around me seems to always be talking about food so here' s my contribution. This is my favorite chili recipe from my friend Sophia

1 lb ground turkey, beef, etc
16 oz kidney beans (I prefer black beans and never measure)
1 32 oz crushed tomatoes (I use whatever is on hand, usually crushed tomatoes and tomato sauce)
2 C water
1 large onion, chopped
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt (I never add salt)

Cook 45 min, stirring occasionally.

I almost always make bread to go with our chili, but I'm too lazy to find that recipe right now. 

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Nicknames

Maeve has a nickname for everyone in the family. I have no idea where she came up with the names, but she's been using them for a long time now. 

Maeve = Coisons Girl or Sisters Grannies
Finnegan = Poisons Boys
Oren (baby #3) = Lodge
Mom = Moms Grans
Dad = Dads Grans

Monday, April 6, 2009

It's a Boy!

Baby #3 is a boy. 

I am happy about having a boy and think it will be neat that Finnegan and his brother will be close in age. Well, it will be both neat and dangerous. I imagine they will torture me with all sorts of things. Thank goodness Maeve can hold her own. 

The unfortunate part of having boy is that he will require new clothes. All of Finn's clothes are in the wrong season. I am looking forward to garage sales even more now that I have a bigger list of wants and needs. 

I also need to figure out if we should have Maeve and Finn switch bedrooms. Maeve has the bigger room and it seems unfair to make the boys share a smaller room. I'm a bit hesitant because if my sanity can handle a fourth, it could be a girl in which case we'd keep Maeve in the bigger room. Switching rooms would involve re-painting and convincing Maeve that she really does want to move all of her precious belongings. Of course it's sort of dumb for me to even think about making the kids switch rooms because they both sleep in our room. What to do, what to do....

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Bad Carpet

This is what happened when I spent 15 minutes putting snaps on diapers.

The carpet was poisonous or something and everyone received "tickets" if they failed to only walk on the millions of pieces of paper all over the floor.

And yes the walls are two different colors. I am waiting for another nice day so I can open the windows, put on my mask and finish painting. The green is staying and I love it.

Worms Glorious Worms


A wonderful discovery was found in my Bird of Paradise pot. Worms. Baby worms. 

I am okay having worms in my office and I am even fairly tolerant of dirt on the carpet. Unfortunately digging for worms became flinging dirt all over the office and I am not okay with that. The plant has since been removed and the worms...well I think perhaps they got too much sun.

Diaper Stash


This is part of my cloth diaper stash. The top picture contains water proof pads for messy infant diapers, cloth wipes in the middle and unbleached prefolds on the right. 

The second picture is of all of my small and smaller fitting medium sized diapers. On the left are my fitteds (I will be adding eight newborn fitteds as soon as they are finished). The middle and right rows are all of my pocket diapers. 

All of the diapers currently in use are pockets. I keep them in a laundry basket on top of my dryer. The diapers and inserts are in a huge heap and not at all interesting to look at. I attempted to organize them all for a photo, but I kept having to use the diapers. Go figure. I have about 20 medium and large pockets in all sorts of colors.