Me,Oh, My, I'm behind!

But its hard to keep updated on a blog when you have nothing but cellphone data... that's my justification at least.

Well a lot has happened since Christmas!

To start David and I purchased our first home! It's a half duplex in Pleasant Hill, MO. 3bdr & 2 bath, just perfect for our family now and a little room to grow. We were so excited to paint our own place and move in. To be honest we're still unpacking ;)

He found out that horse rides are tons of fun, and I found out they are free at Hyvee

Jacob is growing and growing. Talking and talking. Getting into trouble and more trouble. You could say terrible twos have begun but I realized the other day, after reading a friend's post, that this is the terrific twos. He may be stubborn and defiant but he's showing me who he is. He is asserting his independence and learning many aspects of life. He is my big little helper. He wipes up spills, throws away trash, gets baby brother's binky for him, and so much more. Plus he always makes me laugh even when I'm angry. I hope I can find a way to get angry less often. I often find I regret my anger more than the thing he did that made me mad to begin with.

Caleb was diagnosed with a milky protein allergy at 2 months of age and since has been drinking a yucky smelling formula. Smelly or not he's a happy baby boy and we couldn't ask for more. Hopefully as he reaches a year we'll find a milk that suits his allergies.

This past month of July had some big hurdles and joys for Caleb (now 8 months old). Caleb mastered crawling on all fours, pulls up to stand, cruises, and can climb a few stairs at a time, and cut his first tooth. However, his rough week was the week of the 23rd. He was hospitalized for 3 days for high fever, dehydration, being inconsolable, rash, and an unknown viral infection (later diagnosed as hand foot and mouth). He even had to undergo a spinal tap. That was more traumatizing for Mama than Caleb, I think. Caleb is almost 100% better now, even his rash is gone, but he wont eat solid baby food anymore. He just shuts his little mouth tight and wont let the spoon in!

All smiles now!

I graduated with my associates in teaching in May which was so exciting and thrilling to achieve that accomplishment.

David starts online college courses at the end of this month and that's our newest journey we'll be going on together! Wish us luck!

Photo Card

Merry Montage Christmas

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You know those days when you just want to scream super duper loud...

It's been a whole week of those days.

Monday: OK so I didn't really want to scream on this day, it was an OK day. Except that I couldn't get a hold of anyone (useful) working on our loan process.

Tuesday: Ultrasound day and Jacob's pics. I want to scream at the ultrasound lady every Tuesday because she never gets good pics of the baby and is always so fast, I cant ever see anything. Jacobs pics were great as many of you saw on Face Book so if I screamed about that it would be a good scream.

Wednesday: Again attempting to get a hold of loan people is impossible and this lady never calls me back...ever...literally I have spoken to her 3 times in a whole month. Not to mention today the only reason I got a hold of her is because she sent my identifying information to another costumer and I flipped a lid.

Thursday: Still P.O.'d about the identity issue on Wed. only to find out that we cant close on schedule because she only sent our paper work in yesterday (she had it since last Thursday evening) and is just telling us what paperwork we missed getting to them.

Friday: You're kidding me right? Two of the things on the list of information needed to close, I sent to her already. This lady has asked me for my phone number 3 times in the last week...through e-mail...cant you just look it up?! One thing on the list is our agent's responsibility and the loan lady didnt even tell her about it until today. The other things are proof that the seller has made repairs, but no one working on our loan thought they should tell us how to get them this proof until last night. Come to find out they have to send their appraiser out again, who knows how long that'll take? Our appraisal took 3 weeks! AND to top it all off the appraisal made a hit to our credit...say what?! Why in the world would the appraiser need to hit our credit?!

Forgive me while I scream and thank you for letting me vent!

I got crafty this morning!/ Washcloth Teething Ring Tutorial

Jacob's getting his first teeth and everyone gives me one of  two pieces of advice: "Teething rings are the best!" or "Washcloths in the freezer worked better then teething rings!" So I decided why not have both? And viola a washcloth teething ring.

I'm sure someone else came up with this idea before me but I've never see a tutorial on one so I decided to make one...

Materials Needed:
A Washcloth (new or old is just fine)
Gross Grain Ribbon (Any thickness is fine but thinner may work better)
A Lighter
Scissors
A Sewing Machine & Thread

This is what I started with, a washcloth and a spool of gross grain ribbon. My ribbon was thick because that's what I had in the house but thin would have worked better.

I cut the tag off the washcloth and then cut the washcloth in half. Then I put the pieces right side together and pinned the two ends.

Here you can see that I sewed just the end. I decided to sew a 1/4in seam from the stitching already on the wash cloth.

This is what it looked like finished and before I turned it right side out. It doesn't have to look pretty, no one will ever see your mess-ups (as you can see I made a few when finishing my stitching because I rushed). Once all ribbons are in place raw edges shouldn't be an issue but if you'd rather play it safe you could always turn down the raw edges and sew them a 1/4 seam (do this before sewing the ends!)

I turned it right side out and scrunched it together. My goal was to make it so that no raw edges would be visible or chewable.

I cut 10 ~4 in pieces of ribbon. In the end I only used 6 (because the ribbon is so thick it took up more space then I anticipated) and ended up trimming an inch or so off after I tied the ribbons but I needed that length to tie them and make sure I could DOUBLE KNOT the ribbon for security from baby hands and teeth.

Originally I used a lighter and singed the edges of the ribbon so no strings would get in baby's mouth but as I previously mentioned I had to cut the ribbons to be shorter after I tied them to the washcloth  and ended up having to singe them all again. I actually found it easier to hold the ribbon after it was tied but whether you do it before or after you tie the ribbons is up to you!

Finished product! It only took about 30 to 40 mins and would be a great baby gift.

If you like the idea and want to use it as a gift I would suggest buying a cheap pack of thin baby washcloths (Mine came from Target but try the dollar store!) and make several at a time. Anytime someone has a baby shower you have an already "made with love" gift to throw in the gift bag!

Slow and steady

Not much has been happening...

Jacob is almost 1 (21 days!) and my last u/s of the new baby showed a very healthy chunky little guy.

I made a frame to put one of Jacob's first birthday pics in by decoupaging a scrapbook paper to a wooden frame I bought at Micheal's. I'll have to load the pic to share with you all but I think it turned out good.

The house process is slow going, we're waiting on the appraisal and the appraiser is waiting on info from the manufacturer of the home, and that could take up to 3 weeks. *Big Sigh*

We'll be getting weekly ultrasounds from now on so be prepared for lots of photos of the new mini coop!

Milestones!

I hit a crafting milestone this past week: I finished my wreath! The tutorial is here: http://www.designsponge.com/2009/12/diy-project-kristens-ruffly-felt-wreath.html

Jacob has started standing on his own, stacking his toy cups, rings, & etc..., and crawling up the stairs! He may be teething too but I'm not sure just yet! I dont have any pictures because I never have a camera handy when these things are happening!

We finally took a picture!

The new baby will be 27 weeks gestation tomorrow and that's great because it means we've hit the 3rd trimester. Due to being induced at 38 weeks we only have 11 more weeks to wait!

Leave Of Absence

Maybe you weren't aware but for the last 8 months I took a leave of absence from our blog. I hadn't done much with it anyway but I really want to get started again, at least doing new post every week.

So here's what we've been up to...

1. Jacob did get on a schedule and now at 11 months sleeps very well and eats like a champ.

2. We got pregnant! Lol well many of you know that I'm sure. Our newest addition is a baby boy and he is due 11.19.11.

3. I'm in the process of planning Jacob's first birthday party. Today I finished making the favors. I don't plan on having a ton of people but I wanted to do something other then cake and singing happy birthday.

4. We're buying a house. We hope. We're currently praying that the seller's will fix many of the issues that our inspector found during the inspection. If they don't we may end up walking away from the home but if God is willing, we have faith it will all work out!

5. Jacob is so big now! He crawls and cruises and goes where ever he can get into things. He's just plain out a happy boy and I am very grateful to be able to spend my days with him.

Our smiley boy!

Crawling

Baby Boy Coop

4th of July