Starting "Tot School"

~G is 31 months and A is 12 months~

I happened across Carissa's blog over at 1+1+1=1 a couple months back and I couldn't believe what I discovered. Simply awesome ideas to do with your tot! Also, feeling a little convicted, I realized I was not taking time out for my beloved children! Life had me so wrapped up in cleaning house, making it to functions, planning dinners and more that I hadn't been taking specific time out of my "busy day" to play and teach my own sons. I loved the idea of "playing with a purpose" while enjoying my babies company. This is a glimpse at some of this past weeks activities and games. So, here we go on an adventure through Tot School!

G learning his letter sounds with the help of Leap Frog Fridge Phonics and A playing with the letters!

A staking his blocks for the first time!

This was one of G's Tot trays for the week. It has three different colored counting bears and he had to sort them into the corresponding colored cups.

A got two of his own colored cups and bears and loved putting them in and pouring them out.

Here is G sorting his bears! He would say the colors as he sorted :)

Of course A had to play with G's counting bears because obviously his weren't fun anymore.

G Putting together a smiley face craft from Oriental Trading Company. He absolutely loves "doing crafts!".

Stacking blocks again.

This is a printable I got from Confessions of a Homeschooler. It went well with our Easter theme for the month. He is putting different colored magnets on the circles. He really enjoyed this.

And little bro had to join in on the magnet fun!

This Easter themed tot tray activity was for G. On every Easter egg is a lowercase letter and in the bunny jar are the matching uppercase tops. He had to match the upper and lowercase letters! G did very well and was extremely proud of himself when he finished!

Concentrating!

Do I even have to explain this one AGAIN!

A stacking his sorting rings! This didn't last very long this week because he was teething and SUPER grouchy!

A LOVES the magnets I have been rotating on the fridge. Here he is playing with his Leap Frog matching vehicles.

Honestly, I LOVED every minute this past week. I actually got down on the FLOOR (I know it's crazy) and played, watched my boys play, and laughed! What a special time this is in there life and mine! I feel so blessed!

Showing off some Fluff ;)

Hee hee! I just couldn't help it. This diaper addiction I have is getting a little out of control! Here is Asher in some of his newborn diapers...

Asher in his coming home outfit! (Sorry I couldn't figure out how to turn the pic.)


A fitted diaper made by a very nice WAHM! :)




Super cute Bummis Froggy print cover!

Ahhhhh nothing like Bum Genius!

Ha eh eh! Asher's first ever cloth diaper when we got home from the hospital. Thing 1 and

Thing 2.

My new LOVE!

This is just a quick post as I am making dinner :) but I definitely wanted to share the new love in my life......

Asher Graham born on April 1st (yes I know...April Fools!) at 6:56am weighing in at 7lbs. 10oz. 19 1/2 in. long




I am sooooo in LOVE and in AWE!!!!! I have a squishy newborn :) YEA! I'll try to post more pics later.

35 Weeks Preggo and counting!

YES! I have only five weeks left to go! Whoo Hoo! At this point I am entering into the "I am done" stage. As you know, I LOVE to cloth diaper Greyson and am so looking forward to CD'ing our new little one. I have finally taken pictures of our newborn stash that I have been working on for a couple of months. It is complete minus two dipes I still have on the way. I will post pics of those when they arrive :) Ok so here it is....

This will most likely be baby's Happy Birthday coming home outfit. I am still experimenting on the different hats and shirts but this is what I have so far. The hats are Gerber and the t-shirt is Carters. The Longies are homemade by a very sweet mama I meet online. She hand knit them with wool yarn that I chose :) So, the longies act as a diaper cover and I do not need a cover besides the wool pants. Wool is my favorite! LOVE these!

Just a pic of the Longies.

2 XS Mother Ease Sandies & 3 XS Bum Genius All In One's

3 Newborn Muttaqin's

24 Newborn Prefolds & 24 Infant Prefolds (these are my "Go To" dipes)

8 Kissaluv's Newborn (I will be using these at night time with a cover over them)

Various pul covers and wool covers ( I actually have more but I am thinking these might be enough)

This is my changing station that my hubby set up for me in my laundry room. This makes to SUPER easy to wash and put away :) This is Greyson's whole stash 1/2 of new babes stash.

This is the baby's changing table in our room for night time changing. Half of the babe's dipes will be kept in here and half in the laundry room.







I absolutely "heart" my newborn stash and can NOT wait to use it! I also have organized babes clothes and Greysons clothes. They will be sharing a closet and dresser until Greyson is old enough to move into a regular bed in the spare room, which will then be his room but that will not be for awhile yet. He is still very comfy in his crib :)

The Pregnant Mind

I don't know why but my already obsessive planning personality goes into overdrive when I am pregnant. My mind can't stop thinking about the baby, what I need to get done, the diaper stash, the baby clothes, how Greyson is going to handle the new family member, etc., etc., etc. Don't even get me started on the lists upon lists that I have made and are nicely filed in my home management binder...UGH! I just made another list last night as I was waiting for DH to come home. Thirty one weeks preggo and I already have my "what to pack for the hospital" list. Yes, it is a full page long and I haven't even started on the list for "what to pack for the baby". Just to give you an idea this is a list of my lists so far...HA!

~A list of what to get done before baby arrives (washing baby clothes, cooking, cleaning etc.)
~What to purchase before baby arrives
~Things to collect from sister and sister-in law (boppy pillow, swing, etc.)
~What to cook and put in freezer before baby arrives
~What to pack for the hospital
~What to pack for baby for the hospital
~Cloth Diaper stash list

Yup! And I am definitely not even close to being done getting any of those lists finished nor am I done making lists! My hubby just smiles and nods as I talk his ear off telling him all of the wonderful lists I have compiled together. Yes, he thinks I am a little nutty but he lets my temporary insanity run its course with lots of hugs and an occasional, "I love you". :)

Long Absense

Wow! Has it really been that long since I have blogged? Whoa! Ok, so life in a nutshell...we had major computer problems and thanks to a good friend of ours he has built us a very nice computer that is working much, much better :) Thanks Lance! Also, the best news of the year for us is that we are expecting our 2nd bundle of joy in just a few short months. YEA! No we do not know weather it is a boy/girl. We LOVE to be surprised. It gives me something to look forward to besides the inevitable pain of child labor...ha ha. So April 3rd is the estimated due date. Hence no blogging while I had morning sickness..Yuck! Although, I really was not as sick as I had been with my previous pregnancy. Needless to say I have been hit hard by the nesting bug and have been scouring the Internet for baby diapers, clothes, furniture....anything really and I can't stop thinking BABY. Even though we don't need anything for this new little one its fun to window shop :) So far I have my cloth diaper stash ready for the little one and some of the newborn clothes washed. I have a list that I made about a mile long of things I still need to prep...Hee hee. I'll try to blog more about the end of the pregnancy as time allows.

Gardening & Hiking

Our garden is finally looking like the real thing! This year we have corn, green beans, peas, about four different kinds of tomatoes, an artichoke, burpless cucumbers, lemon cucumbers, pickling cucumbers, zucchini, yellow squash, watermelon, cantaloupe, sugar pumpkins, a few carrots, parsley, mint, sage, rosemary, and my personal fav, basil. Whew! I think I am going to try and can my tomatoes for the first time ever and try freezing the rest of the veggies and maybe the herbs. Hubby's mom found us a food saver at the goodwill for $10.00 that works perfectly :) , so we will be using that to vacuum package our veggies. What our garden doesn't provide enough of, I will buy at the local growers markets and pick out some fresh organics. I have just started studying and purchasing organic foods and yes they taste sooooo much better, expensive, but better.

We spent the day yesterday driving up to one of the many lakes we live near and had lunch with my parents and then went on a short hike. Greyson LOVES riding in the backpack on his daddy's shoulders. It was HOT but so worth every drop of sweat. Absolutely gorgeous!

Update on life

Well, our computer is finally fixed and I am now able to post pics :) Yea!!! Also, we just got back from vacation. We spend four days wheelin on the Rubicon Trail down by South Lake Tahoe, which was absolutly gorgeous!!!! This was our first experience camping with Greyson. The first day or so was a little rough. He didn't take well to not being able to sleep in his own crib and his feeding and meal times were thrown off a tad. But by the end of the trip we were all getting the hang of it, wouldn't you know it :) We rested at home for a day and then went up north to visit my sisters family and their new little bundle of absolute gorgeous joy ;) It was fun to chat with my sister and watch Greyson and his cousins play together. All in all it was a wonderful time had by everyone!

Gabe, Greyson and I at the Rubicon Trail!

Greyson LOVES Wheelin'!

SA-WEET!

Yes this is the trail....and Yes I am driving :)

Beautiful!

My Newest Niece, Reese! Isn't she gorgeous?

My two other gorgeous nieces, Eden (in the front) and Ava!

Crazy Summer!

Holy Shnickies! What a crazy, busy summer it has been so far. Gabe and I finally finished planting our garden last weekend. We have been busy with yard work, baby showers, gardening, bbq's, funerals :( , birthdays and just "life" in general. Both Gabe's sister and my sister are due to have babies within three weeks of each other in about two weeks or so! Not to mention Gabe has been busy working on the 4 Runner to make it trail worthy so we can take our vacation down on the Rubicon trail at the end of June. Whew! I actually think I love all the chaos! Greyson gave us quite the scare yesterday as he got into the ant poisoning, Terro!!! I completely flipped out. He had it everywhere....all over his face, mouth, clothes, carpet, even on his eye lashes. Immediately poison control was called and they advised me on what to do. Into the shower we both went and I had to try and flush out his eyes for 15 min and rinse out his mouth. Thank God Terro is more of an irritant then poison to humans. So, with a lot of prayers, tears, and snuggling we were able to get through the day without any trips to the hospital :)

Sniffles & Bread

We are just about over the sniffles. Gabe and I have had a cold for about a week and Greyson has had it for almost two. Poor little guy. We went and got a cold mist humidifier last weekend and I have been running it every night in the nursery for him. I think he is on the mend though.

On a completely different subject, I have finally found a whole wheat bread recipe that hubby and I both love. The only difference is that I have subtracted one cup of whole wheat flour and have replaced it with white flour. If you would like this yummy recipe click here. It is a recipe by Crystal Miller who has a website called The Family Homestead and let me tell you she has some yummy, easy to prepare meals on her site. Hubby has enjoyed every single meal I have made from her site :) I have made the bread in the oven and I have tried it in my new bread machine. We have enjoyed it both ways, but I need to do some more research and tweak it just a little bit for the bread machine. It comes out tasting just fine but when cut it becomes really crumbly. I'm still learning how to use my new kitchen toy.

Good Times

My sister and her two girls came for a visit for the whole week last week. It was soooo nice to be able to spend some time with her and the little ones. It seems funny that I, being the eldest, am constantly asking her, my little sis, for advise on baby stuff. But she is more of an expert than I at this point ;) She has a three year, a one year old and one baking in the oven. We had a nice time visiting and swapping advise and recipes. Now, I have spent the last couple of days trying to catch up around our house. Lots to do! Greyson is still doing an excellent job of going to sleep at 7pm and staying asleep until 5:30-6:30am. Praise the Lord for answered prayers! Yea! Now I feel much better having been able to get some sleep and I have a lot more energy and patients. Well its Greysons breakfast time and I'm off to get him some rice cereal and some sort of fruit. Have a blessed day!

Success!

Yea! We finally have had two successful nights in a row. Greyson has slept all night long the last two nights in his own room, in his own crib! My sister has helped me immensely. She has helped me get Greyson on a really good eating, sleeping, and nap schedule. This is the schedule we have been using or close to it :)

7:00am~ Wake up time and first nursing of the day
7:15am~ Greyson has a breakfast of rice cereal
9:30am or so~Takes a nap
10:30am or so~Nurse
1:30pm~Nurse
Sometime in the afternoon he takes another nap~still working on this part :)
4:30pm~ Nurse
4:45pm~Has dinner--so far he likes squash and green beans (I haven't tried anything else yet)
7:00pm~I have been giving him a little bit of rice cereal, we put on the night time dipe and PJ's and nurse and then somewhere around 7:30pm I put him in his crib and he goes to sleep :) Yea!

Now, typically we probably should be giving him his last nursing at around 10:30pm but he has slept so soundly the last two nights I haven't wanted to wake him up to eat. Maybe he doesn't need this feeding so I will skip it for now unless he protests and needs to eat.
With Greyson going to bed at a descent time, Gabe and I have been able to have a little time to ourselves....I feel like we get to have date night now, HA! It's been really nice to actually be able to sit down and just reconnect with the hubby again. Not to mention I am better rested and have been able to get up and start following my cleaning schedule again. This morning I have already ran a load of laundry, ran a load of dishes, wiped down all kitchen appliances and washer & dryer, and now I am off to make a loaf of bread. Whoooo Hooo. I love being able to get things done around the home :)

Yea Wednesday!

Yes! We are finally over the sickness that had been going around. I think it was a touch of the flu. I came down with it as well as my father and some friends. Now, I can start enjoying the beautiful sunshine that we have here in the valley! Tonight is Wednesday night and Gabe and I listen to Pastor Jon Courson on the radio. We are studying Revelations! If you would like to study with us here is the web site to log onto it http://www.joncourson.com . What an exciting time we live in today. The coming of Christ is near! I just get so excited to read Revelations and study it, I can't wait! Gabe and I would love to go out to church, but Greyson gets very fussy at that time of night if we are out and about. He needs structure and a schedule. :) So, we are blessed to be able to listen to it on the radio and then we go out to church on Sunday mornings. Have a blessed Wednesday!

Monday Morning

This weekend was very fun as hubby's family came in from out of town. We had a nice relaxing visit with his parents and sister and it was nice to have a little break from the little one once in a while so I could get a few things done ;) Yea! We took a little trip out to the Butte Creek Mill where I bought some freshly ground whole wheat flour and some old fashioned oats. I love going out to the mill to look around at all of the yummy items they have to purchase at their store. Now I can continue to look for the perfect homemade whole wheat bread recipe I've been searching for. I think I have tried about five different bread recipes so far and have not found a recipe yet that hubby and I both enjoy enough to make it our basic "go to" bread. So, now on to getting some things done around the house....

~Wash Bedding Laundry
~Wipe down all Kitchen Appliances
~Wipe down Washer & Dryer
~Make monthly dinner menu
~Excercise
~Start Roomba in Living Room

Sunny Friday

What a gorgeous day it is! The sun is shining and the birds are out. I hope spring is on its way! I don't know why but I tend to be more motivated on nice days verses the rainy, cloudy days. There is an extra spring in my step and my smile is bigger. There is lots to be done today as we are having family coming in from out of town to visit this weekend. Oh, by the way, the turkey, stuffing, and gravy all turned out wonderfully last night. Yea! Now there are lots of yummy left overs for the freezer. I also saved the bones to make some healthy homemade turkey noodle soup at a later date. Ok, so on to today's "To Do List"...

~Make Bed
~Tidy Room
~Start the Roomba running in each part of the house (Got to Love the Roomba!!!!)
~Mop Kitchen Floor (After cooking all day yesterday it could use it)
~Quickly dust furniture
~Quick Clean toilets
~Quick Clean Shower
~Wash baby clothes
~Go for a walk ( it is a beautiful day!)
~Baby needs a bath
~Start Turkey Enchiladas later this evening for dinner

That should be enough to start with today. What I don't get done today I will finish tomorrow morning while hubby plays with the baby. :) Have a blessed day!

Thursday Morning

Well, yesterday proved to be quite productive. Greyson and I went grocery shopping and then came home to put them all away. In the process of dividing where all of the food went I was able to clean out and rearrange two different cupboards! Yeah! Spring cleaning early! Today I plan on roasting a turkey with stuffing and make some gravy and mashed taters to go with it. My parents will be coming over to help us eat the dinner. I am going to go get the stuffing ready right now. Blessings!

Slacking!

Yes, I am a major Slacker! I have not been blogging at all due to just being completely too busy and too tired :) So, I am going to attempt to get back into the blogging swing of things. Ha! Last weekend we had beautiful weather, right up until last night. Then it decided to just pore down with rain. But, until then it was just gorgeous! We didn't even need coats to go on our outings. Saturday we went to the Outdoor Sportsman's show out at the Expo. Greyson received his first autographed book on Black tail deer hunting and was completely taking in all of the people and sights. Then Sunday was church, which he nearly makes it through an entire service....usually I see his number flash about the last 15 min of the teaching and we have to go get him. He just gets hungry. We finished off the weekend with one of our friends kids having a B-day party at one of the local pizzeria's last night and today it is time to start another week. It was a big day for Greyson as we started him on rice cereal this morning. He did very well and ate the whole bowlful! We will try a little more this evening when hubby gets home. Well that is all I have time for today as I hear Greyson protesting his nap time. Gotta go!

Sunny Thursday

I have not been able to blog as much as I had hoped lately, but duty calls as I am now a mom :) Greyson is getting better for the most part. He still has occasional problems with the acid reflux but I think we might be on the mend. We are still working on him sleeping in his bassinet by himself and I feel now that I could be going temporarily insane ;)...due to lack of sleep. I actually caved in and took a nap this afternoon while Grey took a nap. Thanks to my mom coming over, I was able to go grocery shopping yesterday and was able to get some laundry done and some bread rising today. This is experiment #3 with the bread baking. We will see how this one turns out. I am really hoping to get the hang of baking my own bread. It will be much more nutritional and probably even cheaper than store bought bread. Well, I've got to go clean the bathrooms before Grey wakes up for the afternoon. Blessings!

Sleep...Ha...Who needs Sleep!

Well, Greyson is almost 5 months already. I can't believe how the time flies by! For over a month now he has been having issues with GERD which is basically acid reflux. So, needless to say he spits up ALOT and cries frequently because the acid comes up in his esophagus and burns :( At around three months old I had been bringing him into bed with us just because he seemed to be more comforted by being close to mommy and daddy but now that he is on meds for the reflux we have been trying to get him to sleep in his own bassinet again. Ooof! What a task this is! Not to mention he got into a bad habit of "snack nursing" throughout the night. I am still waking up just about every two hours to let him "snack" and change the dipe. I feel as though my nerves are wearing thin as 5 months rolls around with a definite lack of sleep and his only source of food (he is not on a bottle yet). I need some relief!!!!! I pray that the Lord will give me strength and patience to be able to make it through till the little one can sleep on his own at least more than 2 hours at a time. I kind of hoped by this time he would be in his own room. Ha! That is not going to be for a while yet. Sleep...its over rated anyways....right? :)

I just can't seem to get back in the swing of things. Christmas time really threw me off track and I've been days trying to get my house and schedule back in order. So today I am concentrating on only a couple off things.

To Do List:

~Grocery shopping
~Clean off Kitchen counters
~Pick up misc. items around the house
~Laundry (bedding, towels, diapers)

Probably doesn't seem like much, but Greyson has not been well lately. We finally are trying some medicine to see if he has acid reflux. Yup, apparently babies can get it too! So, this is the first day of the new meds. Hopefully this will stop all the spitting up, hoarseness and crying. Poor little guy :( Ok well off we go a grocery shopping ! Yea! ;)