Playing in the Snow (before it melts)

What must you wear outside in the snow when it's 30 degrees & I'm your mother?


2 pairs of socks
tennis shoes
jeans
long sleeve t-shirt
heavy sweatshirt with hood
heavy coat
hat
2 pairs of gloves

She's Growing!

Eve is growing! Now, you might be wondering why this is SO exciting for me. When David had his 2 month well visit with our pediatrician he had lost 3oz. 3oz doesn't sound like a lot but when you're a newborn it isn't good. So, the doctor suggested we begin supplementing him with formula. In hindsight I think this was a really bad idea. It began a vicious downward spiral of my milk supply. He ended up getting more & more formula & by 6 months old most of my milk had dried up. So, the fact that I'm exclusively breastfeeding Eve & that she's thriving is very exciting to me. Here's proof that's she growing. I don't know how well you can really see it in this picture, but her feet are straining again the ends of this sleeper that was a little big on her when we left the hospital. Also, the Pampers Swaddlers newborn diapers are getting a big snuf. We're going back to the doctor tomorrow. I'm excited to find out how much weight she's gained in the last 3 weeks. Eve is also beginning to smile & trying to make sounds (besides crying).

Evelyn Rose

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Sharing

This morning David tried to share one of his blankets with Eve. If you know David & his blankets you know that this is a very big deal. He's a great big brother.

(I'll try to get more pix up ASAP.)

Welcome Evelyn Rose to the world
1:15 pm
7lbs 14oz
20.25"

Momma and baby are doing great.

I'm helping!

So, last night I came home from Bible study to find this:














David was helping Poppa put together the cradle for baby Eve. Very sweet. I just had to snap a couple of pictures. This was my cradle when I was born & David slept in it, too.

David the Dragon

David had a great time trick or treating this year. We started preparing a couple of weeks ago by checking out The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and a couple of Halloween books from the library. He learned that after ringing the doorbell he was supposed to say "trick or treat" and after they handed out the candy he was supposed to say "thank you." Well, instead of going door-to-door we ended up at Judson Baptist Church for their Trunk or Treating. We had a lot of fun & he got a lot of candy. He did okay saying "trick or treat" & really well saying "thank you."

David the cute dragon.



























Nana bought him this great dragon costume. Thanks, Nana!



























Our friends', the Murphy's were having a little Halloween party, so we decided to stop by for a few minutes. Here is David & his friend, Jackson, who was a train engineer.

And the sleepy dragon. He actually fell asleep between the church & the Murphy's.



























The loot! Look at all this candy from Trunk or Treating.

Baby Eve FYI

If Baby Eve doesn't make an appearance before Thursday morning, November 6 we will be heading to Vanderbilt Hospital for a planned c-section. For those who may not know or remember, I ended up with a c-section when David was born. So, the doctor who is over my midwife has recommended a repeat. We're excited to know when the next phase of this journey will begin. Please continue to keep us in your prayers.

Question

I was just looking through some of the Toys R Us Big Book & I have a couple of questions:
Since when does a toolbox (Home Depot) need to talk?
And why do need TinkerToys need to be pink? What's wrong with the primary colors? And they're plastic instead of wood. Why is that better?

Pregnancy Now & Then

Throughout this pregnancy I have been wondering how women did it in the "old" days. I'm talking about women as far back as Jesus' day & beyond. I realize that many times these women had multiple generations of family living with them who probably helped a great deal. But you know there were women alone, with other children to care for, while their husbands were gone for long hours every day or even gone for days, weeks, or months at a time trying to make a living for their family. These women HAD to cook from scratch or they didn't get to each. I'm sure many of them had to slaughter their own meat, milk their own cows, & grind their own flour. My first trimester I was so tired & sick that I didn't know what I wanted to eat. During my second trimester my back hurt so much that if I did one thing wrong it would hurt for the rest of the day; this includes standing on my feet for too long trying to cook a meal. Now, in my third trimester my belly is in the way of me bending over or getting to close to the counter.
During this pregnancy I have let my house go & we have been eating more convenience foods. I don't know how many times Geoff came home from work & I would announce that I had no idea what was for dinner. He's pretty good at whipping something up when I need him to, even if it's as simple as breakfast for dinner (thanks, honey). I'm sure it's going to be a while before we find our new "normal" but I'm ready for the next phase of our life to begin.

Update on "Blessings"

As it turned out the $10 wasn't lost. I had completely forgotten that I'd given it to Geoff to pay for David to get into the play area at the pumpkin patch. Then we didn't even need it because our friend Sandy paid for him to get in (Thanks, Sandy). Geoff just forgot to give the money back to me. Talk about pregnancy brain. It's still a blessing because since I didn't have it to spend on goodies I ended up using the money for groceries like I needed to.

Full of Blessings

Last night, about 9:30, Jim Becker called to invite us to go to Walden Farm with them this morning. I really wasn't sure about going given that we had all had a long week, I'm almost 38 weeks pregnant, & the list of reasons for not going could go on & on. I knew Geoff wanted to go to Barcamp today & I didn't think I could keep up with David on my own. I felt that Geoff needed to go to Barcamp since it was a free conference & he's transitioning to the IT world. However, after looking at the schedule for the conference & finding out that Walden Farm opened at 9, Geoff suggested that we drive both vehicles, he'd be able to stay for about an hour & a half, & at that point I could decide for myself if David & I would stay longer or just head home.

And this is where the first blessing of the day comes in. I'm very blessed to have such a thoughtful husband. I had given up on being able to take David to a pumpkin patch this year because our budget is so tight & because we're running out of time with Halloween being just 2 weeks away.

I think since my due date is so near I've become somewhat of a homebody & haven't gone out of my way to make time to hang out with friends. This is blessing #2. We saw many friends there. Not that we had a lot of time to chat since we were chasing after kids, but it was so nice to see everyone. We, of course, saw the Beckers, but we also saw the Cherry's. There were several other families from church there too: Shive's, Betterton's, Hollis', Alexander's, &I'm sure I'm forgetting someone.

Even the worst part of the morning I'm seeing as a blessing. I lost a $10 bill there. Normally this would have pretty much ruined my morning. I would have fretted over that $10 for the rest of the day, if not the rest of the weekend. Instead I think God has opened my eyes to see the loss in several other ways.

1. The lost $10 was well spent in the time I had with my family & friends. David had such a good time, which we all needed after such a long week.

2. I think, in a way, I was hoarding the money. Geoff had asked me for a few bucks in case he needed to pay for parking downtown. I had 4 $1's & the $10. Which did I give him? The 4 $1's. Why did I just give him the 4 $1's? Normally I would have said something about using the rest for groceries this week, but what I really wanted was a nice baked treat or two that they were selling at the farm.

3. I think God was telling me I didn't need to use my pregnancy to get yet another treat.

4. I pray that whoever found that $10 needed worse than we did.
Another blessing is that we had already bought a pumpkin. Given our tight budget that was something else I didn't see buying this year.

I guess because I've been reading so many other blogs lately, I've been wishing I would take the time to blog more. I definitely have things on my mind to put down. I don't fancy myself as a writer at all & I think that's one of the things that's been holding me back. I think this may be the longest post I've ever made. So, if some of it doesn't make much sense or if it feels like I'm rambling, I'm sorry. I'll still probably mostly post pictures of my family, but I hope to try to fill this space with more of my thoughts, too.

They don't make things the way they used to.

Why don't they make things the way they used to? When Geoff comes back into the bedroom this morning to kiss me goodbye before leaving for work, he informs me that the coffee pot is broken. I suspected as much. I tried a couple of times yesterday morning to brew a pot & it never brewed. Now, this coffee pot is less than two years old. I don't know what brand it is, but I expect even a generic coffee pot to last several years, say at least five. My mom gave us this one for Christmas 2006. So, for now, we are without coffee at home. I can handle this because I usually drink only one cup a day and I can get by with tea. Geoff, on the other hand, will have to make do with the coffee they have at work.

David's 3rd Birthday Party

Thanks to everyone who came out for David's 3rd birthday party. It was a huge success.

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Row, Row, Row your boat . . .

. . . gently down the STREET . . .

Ba ba black sheep have you any wool?
one for my CAT
one for my DOG
and one for my BED!

These are just a couple of examples of David's creative wording on popular nursery rhymes. And Ba ba Black Sheep can be sunk in a row, over and over and over again, as can Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

And McDonald's is now Old McDonald's as in Old McDonald had a Farm.

Remember that Storm? Remember our Tent?

Way back on July 9, I only know the date because it's on the pictures, we had a pretty good storm come up in our area. Some of you may remember the tent we had up on the deck at the Memorial Day party, well, we never took it down. Since we have no shade on our deck without the tent, we like to keep it up. Well, the storm pretty much took care of it for us. Geoff had to cut some of the branches out of the tree and get up on the roof to get the tent down. Needless to say, we have no more tent. Most of the poles went into the trash and those tarps had seen their better days anyway. So, no tent for now, until we can afford to buy new poles. All the connecting pieces are fine. It's a wonder one of those poles didn't go through a window - with one of us standing there admiring the storm like we tend to do.

 
 
 
 

Whatcha doin'?

Discover Simple, Private Sharing at Drop.io

The Vinegar Institute

Until I found this site I had no idea just how versatile vinegar is. It's good for so many things from household cleaning to recipes. You can find out all about vinegar at this web site. I love it because it's a cheap, natural product that isn't harmful for us.

IT'S A GIRL!

woohoo!!!!!!!!! Thank you, God, for Evelyn Rose!

Geoff: Where's the monkey?

David: In momma's belly.

Did you know?

Did you know that you can receive a FREE Kraft magazine four times a year full of great, kid-friendly recipes?
Publix also has FREE programs you can sign up for including a family magazine with recipes.
On Wal-mart's site you can sign up for FREE samples of products; everything from shampoo to pet food to diapers and everything in between.
Sign up to get emails from Walgreens and they'll periodically send you an email for an offer you just can't refuse like a FREE 8x10 (glossy).
Are there FREE programs that you take advantage of? Let me know about them and I will try to post them so we can all take advantage of them.
Thanks!

That Kid Says the Darndest Things

Things David has been saying lately:

• "Oh, that's clever." We have no idea where he picked that up.
• "Actually . . ." He doesn't use it correctly and most of the time he doesn't even finish the sentence, but it's so cute hearing him say it. I think he got that from me.
• "There, it's perfect."
• "Come on." David says this in the mornings after Geoff has told him it isn't time to get up yet.
• "Of, course."
• "I love . . ." Tonight at dinner it was, "I love eggs."

He also seems to be developing quite a thick accent:

• cauaw = cow
• bayounce = bounce
• theyair = there
  

We've also noticed how he seems to be picking up on a lot more concepts. Of course, I can't think of an example right now.
He's starting to make his own jokes and laughing at himself.
As I was putting his pj's on one night then walked my fingers across his belly to tickle him. He told me not to be a spider. I don't know if someone else told him that or if he came up with it on his own; I know I didn't tell him.
It seems he's beginning to develop some wit.

Mid-South Live Steamers

Our friend, Jill, told us about this awesome FREE event in Columbia. It's a train club, replicas of actual trains in miniature form that you can actually ride. We had a blast! Check out the slide show. Thanks, Jill.

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Hollis Adoption Yard Sale

Our friends, Katie Jo & Steve Hollis, are raising funds to adopt their 2nd child. To keep up with the adoption detail please visit their blog, Hope for the Hollis' . Below is information regarding their yard sale fundraiser. I will be happy to help collect items for this sale so please feel free to contact me if you have items to donate. We would also like to have baked goods, soda, & water to sell.

This is a very sweet, loving family who love God with all their heart, mind, and soul. They want to share this love with a child.

Thank you very much for your help. Lorie

Yard Sale donations are now being accepted.

Donated items will be sold at a yard sale at our house on May 24^th. When we adopted Sophie, our last two yard sales raised a combined total of $1,600!! I can’t wait to work hard and see what God is going to do this time. The neat thing about our yard sales is that other people are blessed by all of your donated items. I sell stuff cheap to bless them and trust that God will supply just the right amount of money for our adoption. If you have never helped with a sale, this is a fun time to come and fellowship with friends. After the yard sale I will distribute left over items to people I know who could use them & then the rest will be donated to Thrift Smart.

Here’s some information for anyone wishing to participate:

• Contact Katie Jo at kthollis@comcast.net
  

• Clothing items must be spring & summer clothing only. (children’s clothing sells the best)

• DROP OFF DAY FOR THE SALE IS MAY 23^th.

• Consider giving items that are random like Clinque samples, or bottles of shampoo you didn’t like. Don’t forget stuff for men to look through. Men love a bargain on tools and gadgets.

• Remember to look through your garage for stuff to donate.

• You could donate cans of coke or bottles of water for us to sell and drink. What about pizza gift certificates for everyone working at the sale? Baked goods are always a hit for early birds.

• Please do not donate any collectible items that you think are worth money. It is unlikely that a yard sale customer will recognize it’s real value.

• If you have large items to sell please arrange for a truck, as we do not have one. Let us know about it ahead of time and we can try to locate one for Friday.

Who is your best friend?

Geoff asked David this question tonight at dinner.
His answer: John Martin, Sophie, and Jackson.

Books From Birth

Books from Birth: Every child in Tennessee can receive a free book each month from they day they're born until they're age 5.

Farmer David

Happy Valentine's Day

So True!

Purity Dairy

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Scrapbooking Tote

For Christmas I got this great scrapbooking tote from my mom. I love it because it holds ALL of my supplies. It's even big enough that I could haul David around in it, if he would just dunk his head down and curl up into a ball I could even zip it closed with him in it! Thank goodness it has wheels and a handle like a suitcase does.

Christmas 07

So I came across this digital scrapbooking site. Some of the services on the site are free and others you have to pay for. The site is called smilebox.com. I would recommend you check it out. You can add slideshows and pictures just about anywhere: blogger, Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo, etc.

Make a slideshow - it's easy!

Free Pancakes

IHOP

Feb. 12!