I'm stll here... and well

Just a quick note to let you all know that, even though it has been over a month since I've written, I am still here and doing well.
I can't tell you everything that has happened here in the past month, but one of the major contributing factors of me not blogging is my laptop crashed the first week of the month and I have been using OLD desktop that seems to take at least two minutes to load each page.

I will try to come back and update more often, but as we all know, I've said that before and look what happened.

Summer is over

SNOW!!!!! It's too early for snow,..... or is it?

Yes, this is the first snow of the season.

I notice little itty bitty flecks of snow in the air when I dropped *Z* off at the sitter's house this morning, on my way to work, and the flakes just kept getting bigger most of the day. As you can see in the photo above, by early evening there really wasn't any accumulation on the ground but the trees on the hills were getting some accumulation.

 

By nightfall it had started sticking to the grass (as you can see in the photos above).

And here is a couple shots take at about 11:30 p.m. these last two were taken from the same places as the first.

I never got a chance to post these pictures when I took them.... someone keeps interupting my blogging time (could it be the little *Z*?).
These are pictures of a cloth book that I made for him last summer. He still loves it... as do I because it cost me nothing to make, I just used scraps of material from my sewing cabinet.

Teething Biscuits from Baby Cereal

I was looking for a way to use up the extr boxes of baby cereal that I have and after doing an online seach I found this recipe.

Teething Biscuit Recipe

2 Tbs Shortening
1/2 C. sugar
1 egg
1tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp water
1 1/2 C. baby cereal

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, baking soda, salt, vanilla, and water. Mix until well blended. Gradually stir in cereal. Knead until smooth. Pat into rectangle. Cut into 12 1" bars, smooth edges so they will not be sharp. Place on ungreased sheet. Bake 20-30 min or until dry. Store in uncovered container overnight.

The New and Improved Homemade Cloth Diapers

I have reworked my original pattern for cloth diapers and this is what I've come up with. They are made of PUL on the outside with a layer of flannel for the inner layer with a pocket in the back to put the soaker in. I am really loving them and wish I'd made them earlier so I could have used cloth from the start.

My first homemade Cloth Diaper

I've been making cloth diapers for *Z* this week, and *T* thinks I'm crazy (what's new). I wanted to use cloth diapers from the beginning but couldn't find any I liked that weren't $15.00 a piece. And like I said *T* thinks I'm nuts, and wont even talk about them. I found the pattern for this one online, but when I tried to sew them I realized my grandmother's old sears sewing machine (it was given to me when she passed) needed some work. I got it back from the repair shop Thursday so now I can sew. One of the best parts of this is I have a bunch of flannel that a friend of mine had given me years ago when I was quilting, so they aren't costing me anything!!! And I really like that I will only have a load of laundry to wash, instead of another bag of garbage to pay someone to take to the landfill.

I just had to share the pictures with someone. When I tried to show *T* how cute they are and tell him how easy they were to make, he immediately started asking me if I could sew him some sand bags for his shooting bench. I had to laugh, just like a guy ....
He didn't even want me to get the sewing machine fixed to begin with because it cost as much as I could have bought a new one for. The repairman told *T* that my 40 yr old machine is probably worth four or five hundred dollars, unlike the cheaper plastic ones that they sell now that wont last very long. I'll be sure to make some things for *T* so he can justify me getting old relic fixed, but for now I have some more diapers to make.

39 Degrees...

WOW!!!
I can't believe that it's 39 degrees and cloudy outside this morning. We are suppose to get a high of 46 today. Maybe *Z* and I will actually get outside just to enjoy the weather, and not have to be so bundled up that we can't move.
I am going through withdrawl.... I have not been to the barn since *Z* was born. When given the choice of setting with the baby or feeding the animals, *T* has been doing all the chores... I guess he figures the hungry animals are the lesser of the two evils.
Yesterday eveninig I did get to do Mom's barn chores because she hurt her back a couple of weeks ago and hasn't been able to get around, my brothers have been coming to feed her animals everyday, but neither of them could make it over yesterday so *T* and I fed her animals yesterday. Mom watched *Z* while we fed, he was sleeping in his carseat so he didn't require a whole lot for the short time we were feeding her animals. I told her to holler out the back door at me if he woke up, because I didn't want her trying to lift him out of his seat and hurt herself all over again. Granted he is only about 12 lbs. but when your back is injured that is a lot. She is also going through withdrawl from her animals.... and from holding *Z*. She says she can't wait to get better so she and *Z* can sit and cuddle in her comfy rocking chair, but she is hurting so bad right now that she can't even sit in her chair alone right now :-(

The sun is coming out now so we do have a good chance of hitting that high of 46 today. I better go get my stuff in here done while *Z* is sleeping so we can go outside when he wakes up.

More snow....

The first picture was taken at 9:11 a.m, the second picture was taken a half hour later. I'm not sure if you can see it but there is a blue plastic milk crate in the first photo, I put it over one of my rose bushes last fall, that is only sticking out of the snow a couple of inches. In the second photo the crate is covered... and that was only a half hour later. At the time I took the second photo it had stopped snowing but now it is snowing again. The weather report for today said we were to get 1" to 2" total today.... we have that and then some... it can stop now. I am so tired of snow... We have had snow on the ground since Thanksgiving, with the exception of about three days the first week of December. I know it is winter time here in Northcentral Pennsylvania, but come on...
As you can see from the buried milk crate, it's not just an inch or two either there is at least a foot of snow covering the ground and that is in an area that isn't drifted. Those areas have two to three times that much snow.

Who knew?

Who knew there were so many different pacifiers on the market? And more to the point who knew that not just ANY pacifier would "pacify" the new baby?

While in the hospital I couldn't get *Z* to take a pacifier, then the evening we got released the one nurse got him to take the teal colored hospital issued one called the Soothie (pictures at left).
After a day or two at home he got so he didn't really like that one but wanted to suck, so I tried the Playtex Ortho-Pro Newborn Pacifier (pictured at left) that I received in the diaper bag provided at the doctor's office. He didn't like that one at all.

The next one I tried was the Gerber NUK pacifier. This one works occasionally, but he doesn't suck on it for long until he spits it out. Now he has decided he likes the Soothie best out of all the pacifiers that we have but, again, he isn't totally happy with it.

The only nipple he does like any wants is the Playtex Natural Latch nipple (pictured at left) from his bottle. I keep telling *T* that I wish I could find a pacifier built like that nipple, but I can't. I was searchin online on Friday and found this one. It is the Playtex Binky Most Like Mom Latex Pacifier.

I ordered one and it should be here tomorrow, I can only hope that *Z* will like it. I actually wish he would find his thumbs again, I know he'd be happier because he wouldn't lose them. When the nurse brought him back to me in the hospital he had both his thumbs shoved in his mouth, sucking away. He hasn't been able to find them since, because he clenches his fists so tight and can't get to his thumbs.
Please wish us luck in finding something to help pacify this child of mine!

Our Baby arrived a week ago

Our Baby (*Z*) has arrived
Born January 3rd, 2009 at 2:05 p.m.
weighed 6 pounds 10 1/2 ounces and was 20 inches long.

Today was the predicted due date, but Zachary decided to come exactly a week early.
He is named after my dad, Lyle.

Here's what we've been up to lately

We have been converting one of the spare rooms into the nursery. The ceiling had been papered and was starting to peel so we had to scrape the remaining paper off before painting it. In the photo you can see we couldn't get all of the paper off but once we started painting, the rest of the paper started falling off the ceiling. That was a mess, but least we were able to get the rest of the paper off and repaint the whole ceiling again. It was definitely an adventure.
The floor was is a fine particle board that had a lot of water stains, so we painted that too. That part of the room was easy.
Here it is before we started.








This is what we've done so far.







I wanted to paint the walls but I haven't decided what color yet, so for now they will stay the dark paneling since I doubt that I will get it done before the baby is born. Baby is due in nine days.