This morning... Rebecca woke up at about 5:15 to eat, ate, fell asleep again around 5:45, and proceeded to spit up less than fifteen minutes later... projectile style, a quantity that no child should ever give back after their mother provides such a good meal for them. I had almost fallen asleep... and ended up entirely covered from neck nearly to waist by her! To make matters worse, she got our bed with a patch nearly the same size, plus her receiving blanket as well!
Anyway, after such a pleasant start to our morning, things only could get better, right? Ummmm... sure. By two o'clock we had gone through another four receiving blankets because she did the same thing over, and over, and over again. Oh, and, she didn't bother with any more than about 45 minutes of sleep all day, and none of that was consecutive. She did finally stop giving back in large quantities around three thirty. Now all I'm hoping is that tomorrow isn't a repeat of today's experience.
This evening, the second pair of baby birds left. An older couple took them, and they're wanting a little flock, apparently, so we can allow our little birds to have as many babies as they like, and this couple would take on a few more at least, hehe. They don't know what they're getting into, I don't think! Anyway, now that the birds are down to only two again, we may consider throwing that nest in again next month. I need to make a run to the vet clinic soon to see if I can convince them that my dog needs a particular food that is completely controlled by the clinics, and if we were to order it online it would cost as much again as the food itself just for shipping, so we really need to get it locally if possible. Anyway, I guess that may be tomorrow's activity/battle.
On the development front, Rebecca is starting to babble in the spaces left in "conversations" we have, and there are a few sounds she makes that she seems to think actually mean something, which I find quite amusing. It's not so amusing when she gets mad that we don't respond though! She's also starting to reach out her arms when she's wanting you to pick her up... definitely a method of communicating her desire, which is really kind of cute. Anyway, when I realized she was so interested in these things called communication and conversation, I started looking for information on baby signing... so now, though she probably won't make use of it at all for a while, we're learning to sign. I discovered they have illustrated nursery rhyme books that have signs in them, so right now I have Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, and a first signs book thing aimed at toddlers, and then I have a "communicating with your baby" book on request, so hopefully I'll have that in the next few days as well, and can actually research it. However, we read, re-read, and re-re-read the Twinkle, Twinkle book probably about ten times this evening, because she was just so fascinated by the fact my hands were moving... so maybe she'll learn to say "stars" sometime soon? :) I should see if I can teach her to say "eat" as well... maybe that would solve some of our problems with fussiness in the evenings!
Our Christmas was quite nice. I think Rebecca was given way too much stuff, considering she was only six weeks old! She got clothing, some books, a few toys blankets, and a number of other things... and she's not even big enough to play with much yet. I can't even imagine what her birthday and Christmas are going to be like next year, as I will only have six weeks to find places for her birthday stuff before I have to find places for Christmas stuff as well. Well, I guess that will be interesting, to say the least! I'll have pictures up sometime soon, just haven't had the time to get to that just yet.
I put out word today that I'm looking for piano students. I'm hoping that perhaps I'll get somewhere between 5 and 10 students so I can make a little extra money around here. Perhaps if I can start with that many, in the fall I can increase by a few and have even a little more extra. I think Amelia and Jacob might be my first potential candidates, so all I really have to do is find another three or four students and I've hit my five to ten students. :) All the other students are to be on weekdays in the late morning/early afternoon for now, so basically I'm really hoping for homeschool students. Anyway... I guess we'll see what happens.
And, next month (January) seems to be birthday month. My mum, Justin's mom, Justin's dad, Jacob, Justin... they're all having birthdays next month!! I'm very glad Rebecca isn't sharing that month of birthdays. It seems the birthdays get very overshadowed in January on Justin's side, and I don't really want that to happen. Anyway, that's what the Happy Birthday background thing is all about.
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Thursday, December 25, 2008
We Wish You a...
Hope you're all enjoying your holiday!
And, for your viewing enjoyment, here's Rebecca's Christmas Picture.Tuesday, December 23, 2008
My Garden Grew Dirt!
No, seriously, it did! I even took pictures to prove it. I'm not quite sure how it happened, but there are little columns of ice with dirt mixed in throughout my garden, and it really looks like the dirt just sprouted right out of the ground! I'm not quite sure what to do about it either, so I am just hoping that things still grow...
Okay, pictures of the full chair, and the chair with toys were requested, so here is the rocking chair again. Rebecca is starting to enjoy it, unless she is *really* upset before we try to put her in it, and then of course, it doesn't work to put her in it anyway!
Being very patient as Mummy tries to get a good picture.
The result of the vibration setting-- peace and quiet!
That yellow thing is an elephant, and is the only thing on the chair Rebecca has figured out how to grab so far.
These next pictures (with Rebecca in her car seat) are from today...
This is now the result of the phrase, "Rebecca, where's your tongue? Can you show me your tongue??" It's quite cute!
Here I said, "Hey, Rebecca, there's mail for YOU!"
...Her look kind of says, "There IS???"
She was fascinated by the sparkles on the front of it!
And, she enjoyed watching them glitter for a little while!
Let's just imagine that she's saying "Thank you, Granny!" here. :)
And, these last few pictures are a momentus occasion that truly must be marked by proof. She slept, yesterday, in her bassinet for a straight FOUR hours, TWICE! We have never had her sleep that long in her bassinet before. Of course, she didn't today either... today she only slept two hours, but that is a lot better than the half hour we started out with!
Okay, pictures of the full chair, and the chair with toys were requested, so here is the rocking chair again. Rebecca is starting to enjoy it, unless she is *really* upset before we try to put her in it, and then of course, it doesn't work to put her in it anyway!
Being very patient as Mummy tries to get a good picture.
The result of the vibration setting-- peace and quiet!
That yellow thing is an elephant, and is the only thing on the chair Rebecca has figured out how to grab so far.These next pictures (with Rebecca in her car seat) are from today...
This is now the result of the phrase, "Rebecca, where's your tongue? Can you show me your tongue??" It's quite cute!
Here I said, "Hey, Rebecca, there's mail for YOU!"...Her look kind of says, "There IS???"
She was fascinated by the sparkles on the front of it!
And, she enjoyed watching them glitter for a little while!
Let's just imagine that she's saying "Thank you, Granny!" here. :)And, these last few pictures are a momentus occasion that truly must be marked by proof. She slept, yesterday, in her bassinet for a straight FOUR hours, TWICE! We have never had her sleep that long in her bassinet before. Of course, she didn't today either... today she only slept two hours, but that is a lot better than the half hour we started out with!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
One Month Check-up
Rebecca went to see the doctor for her one month "well baby" check-up thing, and since he doesn't have a pediatrics scale we have to weigh her by deduction. Her approximate weight therefore is about 8.25-8.5lbs when you remove extra weight for the clothing she was wearing. Basically, she's gained about 1lb 4oz in the last four weeks. She's also measuring about 20.25", which is 1.25" longer than she was four weeks ago. He seems to be happy with how she is growing (how he couldn't have been is beyond me!), and said it doesn't look like she has thrush any more, but it does look like she may get her teeth early, as it looks like her gums are already preparing for one or two teeth to break through! I'm not sure I'm ready for her to have teeth too soon though... I think she can just keep them inside her gums for another five or six months! He also said that she is tracking things really well, so I guess that's good.
We've been reading a book called Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown in the evenings, to give us something to do. She seems to enjoy the book, and it's kind of funny, but the first few times I read her the book, I pointed to the various places on the page that the words were talking about, and now when I read it to her, her eyes follow the story, so if it is talking about the barn, she looks at the barn, if it's talking about the horses, then she looks at the horses, etc! I was quite surprised when I realized she was paying that close attention!
Speaking of being surprised... yesterday I was holding her in a standing position, and she took hold of my thumbs, so out of curiosity I let go of her, and she actually continued to hold herself in a standing position! Talk about a shock for me, lol! I guess if she's going to get teeth early she might as well learn to stand on her own early as well, but honestly... one month old and holding herself in a standing position??
I finished all the baking I had planned to do, aside from the gingerbread house portion of the baking, and Justin and I took cookies to all our neighbours this morning. I've got one or two more trays to take to people, but the majority is now done. I'm just curious as to whether we'll get any of the trays back (empty, of course), as we didn't say if we wanted them back or not. :) So far people have been surprised, and very thankful or excited to be getting cookies from us... and seeing as I taste tested every batch, I know they all taste good, so hopefully they'll all enjoy them as well!
This evening Rebecca and I are going to choir practise, but there's something on at 6:30 at the church as well, so I'm not sure if we'll go to that as well or not. It seems it might be a somewhat long evening if we did! We go to the library before we go to choir most Wednesdays as well, so we would therefore have to be leaving here by about 6:00 so we would be at the church for 6:30 after going to the library for 15 minutes or so (hah, that won't be the case when she's a little bigger!). Of course, we also have some things that need to be mailed from the post office itself, so we would have to leave even earlier. Probably by 5:00, because of the enormous line up there almost always is at the post office. Okay... so the more I think about it, the more I don't think I really want to go to this thing earlier than choir practise!!! :)
Anyway, I now need to get back to working on getting things ready for the mail, so they will hopefully all be sent today!
We've been reading a book called Big Red Barn by Margaret Wise Brown in the evenings, to give us something to do. She seems to enjoy the book, and it's kind of funny, but the first few times I read her the book, I pointed to the various places on the page that the words were talking about, and now when I read it to her, her eyes follow the story, so if it is talking about the barn, she looks at the barn, if it's talking about the horses, then she looks at the horses, etc! I was quite surprised when I realized she was paying that close attention!
Speaking of being surprised... yesterday I was holding her in a standing position, and she took hold of my thumbs, so out of curiosity I let go of her, and she actually continued to hold herself in a standing position! Talk about a shock for me, lol! I guess if she's going to get teeth early she might as well learn to stand on her own early as well, but honestly... one month old and holding herself in a standing position??
I finished all the baking I had planned to do, aside from the gingerbread house portion of the baking, and Justin and I took cookies to all our neighbours this morning. I've got one or two more trays to take to people, but the majority is now done. I'm just curious as to whether we'll get any of the trays back (empty, of course), as we didn't say if we wanted them back or not. :) So far people have been surprised, and very thankful or excited to be getting cookies from us... and seeing as I taste tested every batch, I know they all taste good, so hopefully they'll all enjoy them as well!
This evening Rebecca and I are going to choir practise, but there's something on at 6:30 at the church as well, so I'm not sure if we'll go to that as well or not. It seems it might be a somewhat long evening if we did! We go to the library before we go to choir most Wednesdays as well, so we would therefore have to be leaving here by about 6:00 so we would be at the church for 6:30 after going to the library for 15 minutes or so (hah, that won't be the case when she's a little bigger!). Of course, we also have some things that need to be mailed from the post office itself, so we would have to leave even earlier. Probably by 5:00, because of the enormous line up there almost always is at the post office. Okay... so the more I think about it, the more I don't think I really want to go to this thing earlier than choir practise!!! :)
Anyway, I now need to get back to working on getting things ready for the mail, so they will hopefully all be sent today!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Early Christmas Present!
And I'm not really sure who the gift was most appreciated by! My parents gave Rebecca a little Fisher Price Baby through Toddler rocking chair, and she seems to really enjoy it. *I* enjoy it, because I can now put her down somewhere that she isn't going to continue to fuss while I work at my hot stove (as with last night when I was frying fish). I can also put her in it when I'm on the computer, or just when I need a break in general. Most of the time I don't mind carrying her. We have a little mei tei carrier that she really enjoys being in, and actually sleeps most of the time she is in it, unless she's really mad at me when I put her in it. But, sometimes... I just need to be able to put her down!
Anyway, here's Rebecca with her new chair. :-)
I do believe Rebecca's thrush has cleared up, as we don't seem to have had a relapse as of yet. I don't know how long it takes to know for sure though! Hopefully a week of being clear means we're done! Now we're just working on getting rid of a very odd diaper rash to which only one diaper cream we've tried actually sticks. For some reason, despite the fact that it feels dry to the touch, the creams just don't want to stick to her bottom! Anyway, I think we've about got rid of the rash now too, so hopefully we'll be back to completely normal shortly.
We decorated our Christmas tree this past Tuesday, I think it was, and took Christmas pictures of Rebecca last night. I believe we may be going to "Christmas in the Country" at a farm down on the southside somewhere tomorrow. If I recall correctly, they have free cookies, hot chocolate, candy canes, and a bunch of activities to participate in, so that should be fun... if we go. I'm not sure if Justin only mentioned it for the sake of mentioning it, or if he mentioned it because we could possibly go.
After we do our grocery shopping tomorrow, I believe I will be able to start on a LOT of baking. I need the gingerbread house recipe (please Mum??) before I can work on that one, but most everything else I can work on as soon as we have margarine and butter enough for baking. I baked one batch of cookies that doesn't require either margarine or butter-- it needed shortening, but I think almost everything else needs one of the other two.
I've now put the word out that we have baby birds available, so hopefully in the next few days we'll at least have people claiming them, even if we have to wait another couple of weeks to get rid of them. We're marketing them as a "good Christmas gift idea". :) And, speaking of birds, while we were out for a walk this afternoon (Rebecca, Cinders, and I), we saw a Bluebird! I do believe it is either the first one I've ever seen, or the first I've seen since I was maybe seven years old! At first I thought it was a Robin, but realized that it was too small, and that the bluish colour really was blue feathers, therefore making it a Bluebird instead. We had a very pretty sort of woodpecker in our back yard yesterday as well... I'm really not sure what kind it was, as it wasn't fat like a Hairy Woodpecker, and had too much red on it, but it was about the right length to be one, so I'm a bit curious as to what sort it is.
Anyway, I think that's about all the news around here at the moment. :)
Anyway, here's Rebecca with her new chair. :-)
I do believe Rebecca's thrush has cleared up, as we don't seem to have had a relapse as of yet. I don't know how long it takes to know for sure though! Hopefully a week of being clear means we're done! Now we're just working on getting rid of a very odd diaper rash to which only one diaper cream we've tried actually sticks. For some reason, despite the fact that it feels dry to the touch, the creams just don't want to stick to her bottom! Anyway, I think we've about got rid of the rash now too, so hopefully we'll be back to completely normal shortly.
We decorated our Christmas tree this past Tuesday, I think it was, and took Christmas pictures of Rebecca last night. I believe we may be going to "Christmas in the Country" at a farm down on the southside somewhere tomorrow. If I recall correctly, they have free cookies, hot chocolate, candy canes, and a bunch of activities to participate in, so that should be fun... if we go. I'm not sure if Justin only mentioned it for the sake of mentioning it, or if he mentioned it because we could possibly go.
After we do our grocery shopping tomorrow, I believe I will be able to start on a LOT of baking. I need the gingerbread house recipe (please Mum??) before I can work on that one, but most everything else I can work on as soon as we have margarine and butter enough for baking. I baked one batch of cookies that doesn't require either margarine or butter-- it needed shortening, but I think almost everything else needs one of the other two.
I've now put the word out that we have baby birds available, so hopefully in the next few days we'll at least have people claiming them, even if we have to wait another couple of weeks to get rid of them. We're marketing them as a "good Christmas gift idea". :) And, speaking of birds, while we were out for a walk this afternoon (Rebecca, Cinders, and I), we saw a Bluebird! I do believe it is either the first one I've ever seen, or the first I've seen since I was maybe seven years old! At first I thought it was a Robin, but realized that it was too small, and that the bluish colour really was blue feathers, therefore making it a Bluebird instead. We had a very pretty sort of woodpecker in our back yard yesterday as well... I'm really not sure what kind it was, as it wasn't fat like a Hairy Woodpecker, and had too much red on it, but it was about the right length to be one, so I'm a bit curious as to what sort it is.
Anyway, I think that's about all the news around here at the moment. :)
Monday, December 8, 2008
Having Some Fun
Yesterday afternoon after church, Justin was holding Rebecca, and she kept tipping herself backward quite forcefully, so he would let her flip upside down, and then turn her right side up again and seat her on his lap. She really seems to have enjoyed it, because she was doing the same thing with me today! It kept her occupied for about 1/2 an hour yesterday afternoon as well, which was quite nice. :)
Rebecca got thrush, so we spent this weekend trying to take care of that. Hopefully we're done and it won't return, but I guess we'll know by the end of this week. Anyway, the first treatment normally recommended is this stuff called gentian violet, which stains *everything* purple! I took some pictures of Rebecca with her purple lips... these are probably some of those pictures that people hope won't be shown at their wedding reception, hehe...
And, Rebecca has now met and had quite the discussion with her teddy bear "Ebeneezer" (?) from Granny! She talked to it for about 10 minutes, and kept rubbing it with her fingers. I guess that means he is a hit with her!
I decided to introduce the world of toys to her... I hadn't realized how many toys we had for her until I looked at her blanket! But, she enjoyed looking around at them all, and as already was mentioned, she talked to the teddy for a while. She also talked to her pink flower, which she generally has a few discussions with daily. I guess she likes the bright colours or something.
Rebecca got thrush, so we spent this weekend trying to take care of that. Hopefully we're done and it won't return, but I guess we'll know by the end of this week. Anyway, the first treatment normally recommended is this stuff called gentian violet, which stains *everything* purple! I took some pictures of Rebecca with her purple lips... these are probably some of those pictures that people hope won't be shown at their wedding reception, hehe...
And, Rebecca has now met and had quite the discussion with her teddy bear "Ebeneezer" (?) from Granny! She talked to it for about 10 minutes, and kept rubbing it with her fingers. I guess that means he is a hit with her!
I decided to introduce the world of toys to her... I hadn't realized how many toys we had for her until I looked at her blanket! But, she enjoyed looking around at them all, and as already was mentioned, she talked to the teddy for a while. She also talked to her pink flower, which she generally has a few discussions with daily. I guess she likes the bright colours or something.
Friday, December 5, 2008
Car Registration and a Driver's License
I've been permitted to have a Virginia license for a long time now (since March?) but we weren't quite sure what documents I needed to prove I was allowed to have them, and then after we got my green card we were moving shortly thereafter, so we thought perhaps we should wait until after we moved so we only had to go to the DMV once. When we moved, we had issues getting a bill with my name on it to prove residency. So, finally, at the beginning of October, we had everything we needed. But, we figured we might as well only make one trip to the DMV, so we still had to import my car.
Car importation is supposed to happen at whatever port of entry the vehicle encounters first. That means my car should have been imported at the Calais/St.Stephen border crossing. But, they just handed us the paperwork and said it was going to take like two or three hours, so we might be better to import at our leisure in Virginia. So, after spending a few months trying to find the port of entry in the area, we finally got the car imported this week. Want to know how long it took? All of maybe 15-20 minutes. So much for two or three hours!! Officer Boddie, the gentleman who did the paperwork with me, said that the only reason they didn't do it in Calais is because they just didn't want to, because it really doesn't take long at all to do!
So, today, we went to the DMV and registered my car in Virginia. We're getting "homeschool" plates for my car, despite the fact that we do not, as of yet, homeschool. I left the choice to Justin, and those are the ones he picked. It took nearly 1 1/2 hours to get my car registered down here though! YIKES! And then when that was all done, we had to get them to give me a VA license as well. Apparently there were two application forms I was supposed to fill in, but I was only given one, so when we asked about a license they wanted to know why I didn't have that paperwork... *sigh* Anyway, 15 minutes later we were finally walking out of the DMV with the car title, registration, two temporary plate thingies for my car, and a license!
Car importation is supposed to happen at whatever port of entry the vehicle encounters first. That means my car should have been imported at the Calais/St.Stephen border crossing. But, they just handed us the paperwork and said it was going to take like two or three hours, so we might be better to import at our leisure in Virginia. So, after spending a few months trying to find the port of entry in the area, we finally got the car imported this week. Want to know how long it took? All of maybe 15-20 minutes. So much for two or three hours!! Officer Boddie, the gentleman who did the paperwork with me, said that the only reason they didn't do it in Calais is because they just didn't want to, because it really doesn't take long at all to do!
So, today, we went to the DMV and registered my car in Virginia. We're getting "homeschool" plates for my car, despite the fact that we do not, as of yet, homeschool. I left the choice to Justin, and those are the ones he picked. It took nearly 1 1/2 hours to get my car registered down here though! YIKES! And then when that was all done, we had to get them to give me a VA license as well. Apparently there were two application forms I was supposed to fill in, but I was only given one, so when we asked about a license they wanted to know why I didn't have that paperwork... *sigh* Anyway, 15 minutes later we were finally walking out of the DMV with the car title, registration, two temporary plate thingies for my car, and a license!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
All I seem to do is take pictures now!
I can't decide if I like these first two better with the landscape or portrait orrientation. She was laying down, so really this is the right orrientation, but they kind of look better vertically... so I don't know!
Yes... she's smiling... sort of. This is the best I have managed to catch so far, but she gives lots and lots of smiles when I don't have the camera in my hands. The problem is getting a good picture of her smiling when she is far enough away for my camera to focus properly!
Rebecca is officially three weeks old today, and in the past couple of days she's started reaching ahead, and moving her legs behind, almost like she's trying to crawl. She'd get a lot further if she could actually hold her head up, but at the moment the most she can do with her head is to lift it long enough to turn it one way or the other, or to plant her face straight down... and then she just stays in said position for a while while moving her arms and legs like she's crawling still. Yesterday I noticed she's starting to reach for things that are above her as well, such as this little stuffed flower thing we have attached to her bassinet, and the puppy/music toy thing we were given which is currently attached to her car seat. She's also starting to hold on to things if she's given them, though she doesn't actually *play* with them yet.
We're working on figuring out how to appease my dog, who seems to believe that we should get up with her at night. Last night she didn't bark at all (or we didn't hear her because we were so tired from the night before), but the night before I think I was up with her every hour for about six hours. That didn't really make for much of a restful night. Rebecca kept waking up because I was up so many times as well, so she got a lot of feedings that night!! Hopefully Cinders doesn't keep this barking thing up, but the first bark she makes after bed time is going to put her in the garage for the night, so I don't think she'll be too pleased with the results if she does decide to bark again! We took her for two walks, played with her, and tried to give her some extra attention yesterday, so maybe at least one or two walks a day, plus some play time will keep her happy enough not to bark at night.
Our baby birds are about ready to go, seeing as they are almost seven weeks old now. I just need to take a picture of them, and then send the message out. I think we should be able to get $5 a piece for them... I hope! They're worth $13 in the pet store, so I imagine $5 is a bargain. We ended up losing one of them-- I think it got sick or something, because its breathing started to sound really odd. Then, the day after we moved it to a new cage, we found it laying on the floor of the cage. So far, however, the other four babies are in perfect health. The parents keep laying new eggs, which, since we haven't got a nest in their cage at the moment, are not going to be hatching. We don't want baby birds before Christmas! Maybe we'll let them raise another brood of chicks in a few months, but for now, I prefer the beeping and occasional singing of the creatures.
I'm trying to decide when (and where) to put up the Christmas tree. I'm thinking we'll wait a couple of weeks, especially since we haven't much to put under it. Only presents from my parents, and I'm not really sure we're going to have much more to put under it than that. I suppose gifts from Justin's family. The biggest problem, though, is figuring out where in our livingroom. I'd kind of like it to be visible through a window, but the best location for that is occupied by my piano, and there is absolutely no way that I'm moving the piano just to put a tree there, and moving it back after the tree is down again! Anyway, it's what, 23 days to Christmas? Something like that. So, I've still got some time to figure it out.
Yes... she's smiling... sort of. This is the best I have managed to catch so far, but she gives lots and lots of smiles when I don't have the camera in my hands. The problem is getting a good picture of her smiling when she is far enough away for my camera to focus properly!Rebecca is officially three weeks old today, and in the past couple of days she's started reaching ahead, and moving her legs behind, almost like she's trying to crawl. She'd get a lot further if she could actually hold her head up, but at the moment the most she can do with her head is to lift it long enough to turn it one way or the other, or to plant her face straight down... and then she just stays in said position for a while while moving her arms and legs like she's crawling still. Yesterday I noticed she's starting to reach for things that are above her as well, such as this little stuffed flower thing we have attached to her bassinet, and the puppy/music toy thing we were given which is currently attached to her car seat. She's also starting to hold on to things if she's given them, though she doesn't actually *play* with them yet.
We're working on figuring out how to appease my dog, who seems to believe that we should get up with her at night. Last night she didn't bark at all (or we didn't hear her because we were so tired from the night before), but the night before I think I was up with her every hour for about six hours. That didn't really make for much of a restful night. Rebecca kept waking up because I was up so many times as well, so she got a lot of feedings that night!! Hopefully Cinders doesn't keep this barking thing up, but the first bark she makes after bed time is going to put her in the garage for the night, so I don't think she'll be too pleased with the results if she does decide to bark again! We took her for two walks, played with her, and tried to give her some extra attention yesterday, so maybe at least one or two walks a day, plus some play time will keep her happy enough not to bark at night.
Our baby birds are about ready to go, seeing as they are almost seven weeks old now. I just need to take a picture of them, and then send the message out. I think we should be able to get $5 a piece for them... I hope! They're worth $13 in the pet store, so I imagine $5 is a bargain. We ended up losing one of them-- I think it got sick or something, because its breathing started to sound really odd. Then, the day after we moved it to a new cage, we found it laying on the floor of the cage. So far, however, the other four babies are in perfect health. The parents keep laying new eggs, which, since we haven't got a nest in their cage at the moment, are not going to be hatching. We don't want baby birds before Christmas! Maybe we'll let them raise another brood of chicks in a few months, but for now, I prefer the beeping and occasional singing of the creatures.
I'm trying to decide when (and where) to put up the Christmas tree. I'm thinking we'll wait a couple of weeks, especially since we haven't much to put under it. Only presents from my parents, and I'm not really sure we're going to have much more to put under it than that. I suppose gifts from Justin's family. The biggest problem, though, is figuring out where in our livingroom. I'd kind of like it to be visible through a window, but the best location for that is occupied by my piano, and there is absolutely no way that I'm moving the piano just to put a tree there, and moving it back after the tree is down again! Anyway, it's what, 23 days to Christmas? Something like that. So, I've still got some time to figure it out.
Saturday, November 29, 2008
18 Days... Parents are gone, Thanksgiving has passed...
It doesn't really seem like it, but it has already been 17 days since Rebecca was born! Sometimes it feels like a LOT longer (like in the middle of the night when she decides to wake up at 1 and 4 am!), but most times she just seems to be growing like a little weed, and way too fast for the time she's been around!
This is the look she was giving me when I finished getting her dressed for her first day at church at the tender age of five days old. She kept giving this look for the next five minutes or so, which really amused all of us. Then she promptly fell asleep!
Rebecca really likes her tongue. Particularly when she can see it going in and out of her mouth! She's looking at a mirror here, and often times when we put her down beside the mirror she will either "talk" to it, or she'll be sticking her tongue in and out. Though this picture doesn't show it, she usually has her eyes wide open when playing with her mirror friend.
We gave Rebecca her first bath when she was 10 days old. She looks a little leary in this picture, but she did decide she liked it after a few minutes. She's had a few baths since, and after the first few minutes usually decides they are okay things to have. She particularly likes it when she can put her ears under the water, which I failed to make the water deep enough for this evening, and she wasn't too impressed by that! She also likes to "float" in the water, which since her ears couldn't really go under water, she couldn't float very well either! I'll have to remember to put more water in that little tub next time.
Yep... she not only likes to play with her mirror friend, but she plays copy cat with us! She will, if we are patient, stick her tongue out back at us. :)
We took the opportunity to have a "photoshoot" the evening we gave her her first bath, and this is one of the resulting pictures. I'll have to keep working with the flood lights and see what I can come up with for pictures of her, but I think this one is kind of cute.
She was looking at Daddy in this picture. She looks a little unsure of herself... or maybe a little curious as to what in the world he is doing to her??
While we spent our first day alone together yesterday, we had a little fun with my camera, but it sure took work to get her to look toward me instead of the plugs in the wall beside me!
Yeah... when she finally looked my camera in the "eye" I got her tongue! And, she wasn't even really looking *at* the camera! Heh. Oh well, it's cute anyway, and I have a TON of other pictures in an attempt to get one of her looking at the camera, lol!
And, this is yesterday evening. :) It was quite a miracle she was asleep at this time, actually, because I took it around 6:30pm, and she tends to fuss from about 5 until 7:30 or 8, and then she'll crash. I'm not sure if she's just being fussy, or if since she wants to nurse that whole time, maybe she really is hungry... or the other possibility is that she just spends a couple of hours fighting sleep, because when she crashes, it is usually mid cry!
Well, we celebrated American Thanksgiving with Justin's family this past Sunday. His family all came over and Mum and I made pies and all the turkey dinner stuff. For the most part it was enjoyable. On Thursday, "real" Thanksgiving, we went over to our midwife's house for a "Turkey potluck" thing, which was fun. :-)
While we were out for our potluck, we did a weigh in of Rebecca. Okay... her birthweight was 6lbs 15oz. Discharge weight was 6lbs 6.something oz. At 6 days old she weighed in at 7lbs 5oz. This Thursday, at 16 days, she weighed in at exactly 7lbs 8 oz! She's putting on weight like crazy, and in my opinion also seems to be stretching out a lot! But, she is almost three weeks old and only just at the "average" newborn size... which would explain why fitted cloth diapers just fall right off her, any applix cover tabs nearly overlap in order to stay on her little waist, and why I'm currently only able to use old fashioned flat diapers... unless I wanted to purchase premie diapers, LOL! She's still swimming in anything that is 0-3 months sized, so I guess we'll get lots of use out of those things. :)
This is the look she was giving me when I finished getting her dressed for her first day at church at the tender age of five days old. She kept giving this look for the next five minutes or so, which really amused all of us. Then she promptly fell asleep!
Rebecca really likes her tongue. Particularly when she can see it going in and out of her mouth! She's looking at a mirror here, and often times when we put her down beside the mirror she will either "talk" to it, or she'll be sticking her tongue in and out. Though this picture doesn't show it, she usually has her eyes wide open when playing with her mirror friend.
We gave Rebecca her first bath when she was 10 days old. She looks a little leary in this picture, but she did decide she liked it after a few minutes. She's had a few baths since, and after the first few minutes usually decides they are okay things to have. She particularly likes it when she can put her ears under the water, which I failed to make the water deep enough for this evening, and she wasn't too impressed by that! She also likes to "float" in the water, which since her ears couldn't really go under water, she couldn't float very well either! I'll have to remember to put more water in that little tub next time.
Yep... she not only likes to play with her mirror friend, but she plays copy cat with us! She will, if we are patient, stick her tongue out back at us. :)
We took the opportunity to have a "photoshoot" the evening we gave her her first bath, and this is one of the resulting pictures. I'll have to keep working with the flood lights and see what I can come up with for pictures of her, but I think this one is kind of cute.
She was looking at Daddy in this picture. She looks a little unsure of herself... or maybe a little curious as to what in the world he is doing to her??
While we spent our first day alone together yesterday, we had a little fun with my camera, but it sure took work to get her to look toward me instead of the plugs in the wall beside me!
Yeah... when she finally looked my camera in the "eye" I got her tongue! And, she wasn't even really looking *at* the camera! Heh. Oh well, it's cute anyway, and I have a TON of other pictures in an attempt to get one of her looking at the camera, lol!
And, this is yesterday evening. :) It was quite a miracle she was asleep at this time, actually, because I took it around 6:30pm, and she tends to fuss from about 5 until 7:30 or 8, and then she'll crash. I'm not sure if she's just being fussy, or if since she wants to nurse that whole time, maybe she really is hungry... or the other possibility is that she just spends a couple of hours fighting sleep, because when she crashes, it is usually mid cry!Well, we celebrated American Thanksgiving with Justin's family this past Sunday. His family all came over and Mum and I made pies and all the turkey dinner stuff. For the most part it was enjoyable. On Thursday, "real" Thanksgiving, we went over to our midwife's house for a "Turkey potluck" thing, which was fun. :-)
While we were out for our potluck, we did a weigh in of Rebecca. Okay... her birthweight was 6lbs 15oz. Discharge weight was 6lbs 6.something oz. At 6 days old she weighed in at 7lbs 5oz. This Thursday, at 16 days, she weighed in at exactly 7lbs 8 oz! She's putting on weight like crazy, and in my opinion also seems to be stretching out a lot! But, she is almost three weeks old and only just at the "average" newborn size... which would explain why fitted cloth diapers just fall right off her, any applix cover tabs nearly overlap in order to stay on her little waist, and why I'm currently only able to use old fashioned flat diapers... unless I wanted to purchase premie diapers, LOL! She's still swimming in anything that is 0-3 months sized, so I guess we'll get lots of use out of those things. :)
Saturday, November 15, 2008
Friday, November 7, 2008
Baby Birds + Pregnancy = Entertainment at times!
There are five baby birds, four of which have now started flying, one of which is just being a wimp and poking its head out regularly, but not actually bothering to *fly* yet. Maybe today that will happen. Anyway, one of them is four weeks old as of yesterday, the other four are three weeks old as of this weekend. Twig (grey all over), the oldest one, is relatively tame, and considering I've had nearly a week of being able to hold him (I think it's a male, at least), that's not a big surprise. The only problem with him is that he likes to take off flying across the room. He's pretty easy to catch again though, so that's okay... I can deal with it.
The other three fledglings are a little more difficult to deal with. They haven't been held as much, mainly because they only just emerged from the nest a couple of days ago, so they're still getting used to the idea that my hand actually is something safe to be sitting in. So, anyway, Pine and Spruce (both are grey with white wing tips) are pretty much okay with being held, so long as you keep an eye on them. They will fly to whatever cover they can discover if you don't pay pretty close attention though! Pine chose to land on our overhead fan yesterday morning... now that was fun getting him down from!
Birch (white wings with grey back) is another story, however, and the story of yesterday. I had got "him" out, because he was the only fledgling out of the nest at the time, and I like to at least try to get the birds out for five or so minutes each a few times a day. I figure if I have them out enough times they will eventually be tame enough for any one to get them, let alone for me to get them. Birch was happily sitting in my hand, until for some reason he decided to attempt his horrible landing and perching skills (he hasn't figured those out just yet!) and attempt to land on one of the lamps in the living room. That was fine, except that he didn't quite make the landing, and ended up down behind the lamp instead.
Okay, so I managed to get him out, and we were contentedly sitting on the couch together, and what does he do? Takes off flying again! But this time he couldn't be good enough to fly to somewhere easy to access! This time it was his intention to fly behind the couch! So, after he disappeared down the back of the couch, I pulled it out from the wall, and looked down on the floor expecting him to be there, and didn't see him. Then I realized, he was "perched" on one of the white flowers (part of the print of the couch) at the bottom of the couch. Now, keep in mind that I'm over 40 weeks pregnant now, and yet need to catch this baby bird before it hurts itself. Right... now how in the world am I supposed to bend over the couch and actually reach him? I don't know! While I may not look big, babies do not exactly allow you to bend at the waist regardless of your size at this point in the game! Hips yes, waist no. Anyway, thankfully he decided to hop off the couch, onto the floor behind, and scoot himself along until he ended up under the lamp at the end of the couch. But, would he be good enough to be within arm's reach?? NO! So, I had to pull everything out except the lamp in order to grab the poor bird who was now entirely flustered over being forced to get out from behind his newest hiding place!
I finally managed to catch him, and thought it might be best to put him back in his cage... and when I put him in, he wouldn't get off my finger. So, I had to stand there waiting for nearly five minutes while he decided to actually hop onto the stick in the cage. I don't think I saw him out of the nest for the next hour or so... but he seems to have recuperated just fine now, so I don't think he was *too* traumatized. :-)
The other three fledglings are a little more difficult to deal with. They haven't been held as much, mainly because they only just emerged from the nest a couple of days ago, so they're still getting used to the idea that my hand actually is something safe to be sitting in. So, anyway, Pine and Spruce (both are grey with white wing tips) are pretty much okay with being held, so long as you keep an eye on them. They will fly to whatever cover they can discover if you don't pay pretty close attention though! Pine chose to land on our overhead fan yesterday morning... now that was fun getting him down from!
Birch (white wings with grey back) is another story, however, and the story of yesterday. I had got "him" out, because he was the only fledgling out of the nest at the time, and I like to at least try to get the birds out for five or so minutes each a few times a day. I figure if I have them out enough times they will eventually be tame enough for any one to get them, let alone for me to get them. Birch was happily sitting in my hand, until for some reason he decided to attempt his horrible landing and perching skills (he hasn't figured those out just yet!) and attempt to land on one of the lamps in the living room. That was fine, except that he didn't quite make the landing, and ended up down behind the lamp instead.
Okay, so I managed to get him out, and we were contentedly sitting on the couch together, and what does he do? Takes off flying again! But this time he couldn't be good enough to fly to somewhere easy to access! This time it was his intention to fly behind the couch! So, after he disappeared down the back of the couch, I pulled it out from the wall, and looked down on the floor expecting him to be there, and didn't see him. Then I realized, he was "perched" on one of the white flowers (part of the print of the couch) at the bottom of the couch. Now, keep in mind that I'm over 40 weeks pregnant now, and yet need to catch this baby bird before it hurts itself. Right... now how in the world am I supposed to bend over the couch and actually reach him? I don't know! While I may not look big, babies do not exactly allow you to bend at the waist regardless of your size at this point in the game! Hips yes, waist no. Anyway, thankfully he decided to hop off the couch, onto the floor behind, and scoot himself along until he ended up under the lamp at the end of the couch. But, would he be good enough to be within arm's reach?? NO! So, I had to pull everything out except the lamp in order to grab the poor bird who was now entirely flustered over being forced to get out from behind his newest hiding place!
I finally managed to catch him, and thought it might be best to put him back in his cage... and when I put him in, he wouldn't get off my finger. So, I had to stand there waiting for nearly five minutes while he decided to actually hop onto the stick in the cage. I don't think I saw him out of the nest for the next hour or so... but he seems to have recuperated just fine now, so I don't think he was *too* traumatized. :-)
Saturday, November 1, 2008
My due date has come and gone...
...and there is still no baby. Maybe this weekend? Maybe next weekend? We'll see. Regardless, no, there is no baby here... yet. Actually, tonight probably would NOT be a good night to be having the baby, as we were just informed that there is going to be a party across the road this evening (to which we are welcome to come... food, drinks... ie, alcohol...). There wouldn't be any parking down at this end!
We're going to try importing my car today so we can *hopefully* get VA license plates on it also today! We'll see. If we can get all that done today we'll be doing well, seeing as it is going to be at least 1 before we even manage to get to a Homeland Security office at this point! I'm kind of tempted to get one of those lovely homeschooling license plates that they have here. I like the "Kids First" ones because of the hand prints, but I don't like the message behind the phrase, because while kids are important, they definitely don't necessarily "come first". *sigh* Oh, and while we're getting things for my car, we should probably be getting a "baby on board" sign, hehe. We still haven't got one of those!
The first of our five baby birds took flight yesterday. It flew 20 feet (yes, it was out of the cage). It's very cute, about 2 inches long from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail. It's quite friendly thus far as well. We're going to try to keep it this tame, as right now it is very easy to catch, and it would be nice to have hand-tame baby birds around! The other babies should start taking flight next weekend.
Anyway, we're about to head off, Justin's had a man here taking a look at his old red truck. We're looking into the possibility of a trade, whether straight trade or trade with minimal expense to us involved. Even if they would knock $1,000 off the price of one of the cars we saw, we'd be able to *probably* swing it. The car *I* like is $1,400, so if we could pay $400 for the car it would be good, I think. :-)
We're going to try importing my car today so we can *hopefully* get VA license plates on it also today! We'll see. If we can get all that done today we'll be doing well, seeing as it is going to be at least 1 before we even manage to get to a Homeland Security office at this point! I'm kind of tempted to get one of those lovely homeschooling license plates that they have here. I like the "Kids First" ones because of the hand prints, but I don't like the message behind the phrase, because while kids are important, they definitely don't necessarily "come first". *sigh* Oh, and while we're getting things for my car, we should probably be getting a "baby on board" sign, hehe. We still haven't got one of those!
The first of our five baby birds took flight yesterday. It flew 20 feet (yes, it was out of the cage). It's very cute, about 2 inches long from the tip of its beak to the tip of its tail. It's quite friendly thus far as well. We're going to try to keep it this tame, as right now it is very easy to catch, and it would be nice to have hand-tame baby birds around! The other babies should start taking flight next weekend.
Anyway, we're about to head off, Justin's had a man here taking a look at his old red truck. We're looking into the possibility of a trade, whether straight trade or trade with minimal expense to us involved. Even if they would knock $1,000 off the price of one of the cars we saw, we'd be able to *probably* swing it. The car *I* like is $1,400, so if we could pay $400 for the car it would be good, I think. :-)
Monday, October 27, 2008
Four Days??
Well, that's what the counter thingy says. Me? I say the baby can just keep staying in there for a while yet. It's kind of funny, everyone around us is asking if there's any sign the baby is coming soon, if we're all ready, and basically displaying their anxiousness for this little one to be born, and I'm perfectly happy for it to not be born for another week or two. Maybe even three weeks! Yes, we're all ready for it (as much as one can be!), but signs the baby is coming soon? Umm... like... the head being engaged? That'd be about it. And, the really *big* drop of the baby only happened a little over a week ago, and with first pregnancies it often is two or three weeks before labour happens from that drop, so I'm not expecting much this week, lol. I do need to go looking for some Evening Primerose Oil capsule thingies, as I was told to start taking some of those every day, so perhaps I will do that today when I take some things to the post office.
While we wait for the baby to come, I have things I can get done. Like cleaning up the frog for my parents to stay in. It needs the bathroom to be thoroughly cleaned, as I haven't had the chance to get to that one since moving in. I also need to clean our main bathroom, as it hasn't been done in a little while (not nearly so scary as the frog bathroom though!). And organizing our bedroom so the baby will actually fit (LOL). Dishes and laundry of course are necessities, and currently I have a load of laundry in the dryer, and will have a load in the washer quite shortly... and then another load for the washer, that third load is going out onto the line though (it's waaayyy too nice today to use the dryer for all of the laundry!!). I've got winter wardrobes to put into the closet and summer wardrobes to put away. It's finally starting to feel halfway like fall in the mornings, but by mid day it is still quite warm, so I'm a little hesitant to change the clothing over already... but if I don't, it will never happen!
I should probably also figure out what to make for supper... I was thinking beans and rice last night, but I never got a chance to soak the beans last night, so that might have to wait until tomorrow. I ended up falling asleep really early. Of course, considering last night was the most sleep I've had in a night for seven days, somehow I doubt it was a bad thing for me to be asleep! Justin wasn't overly appreciative of the 7:15 wake up, but that is also better than the times I've been waking him in the past week! We've had wake up times ranging from 4:30 to 7:00 all last week.
We cleaned all of the kids' stuff out of the frog and our house yesterday, because they are no longer coming here each day. Their mother and grandparents decided to put them in the Christian school down the road instead. We'll probably still find a few things of theirs as we go along for a few weeks (in fact, I KNOW there are still a few things of theirs here!), but the majority is gone. Now I just have to tidy up the few manipulatives and teaching aids that belonged to me, and the frog will be completely cleaned of school stuff, and I will be able to organize it to be a guest room. We even happened to find frog face cloths, towels, and a bath/shower mat to put into the frog bathroom! The only annoying thing about them, to me, at least, is the butterflies on the facecloths are not the same colour as the butterflies on the bath towels, but I don't suppose that is really much of a problem... right? Now we just have to find a shower curtain, soap dish, and toothbrush holder! Of course, seeing as it has taken us... two months? to find the towels, it could very well take us that long again to find the other things. :-)
The baby birds are still thriving. We're expecting to see at least the oldest one attempt using its wings sometime this week. It's nearly the size of its 'parents' so that should mean it is about time to fly, we think! The other babies are getting their feathers and starting to look more and more like real birds, which is quite exciting! We're enjoying watching their development, though the bigger they get the louder they get as well! Last night we enjoyed terrorizing Bamboo (the father), while we turned out the lights and caught him so we could actually hold him. He's soooo tiny under all those feathers, it's like trying to hold on to a squirmy little twig or something! Perhaps we'll be able to get the babies to tame a little better than their parents did.
While we wait for the baby to come, I have things I can get done. Like cleaning up the frog for my parents to stay in. It needs the bathroom to be thoroughly cleaned, as I haven't had the chance to get to that one since moving in. I also need to clean our main bathroom, as it hasn't been done in a little while (not nearly so scary as the frog bathroom though!). And organizing our bedroom so the baby will actually fit (LOL). Dishes and laundry of course are necessities, and currently I have a load of laundry in the dryer, and will have a load in the washer quite shortly... and then another load for the washer, that third load is going out onto the line though (it's waaayyy too nice today to use the dryer for all of the laundry!!). I've got winter wardrobes to put into the closet and summer wardrobes to put away. It's finally starting to feel halfway like fall in the mornings, but by mid day it is still quite warm, so I'm a little hesitant to change the clothing over already... but if I don't, it will never happen!
I should probably also figure out what to make for supper... I was thinking beans and rice last night, but I never got a chance to soak the beans last night, so that might have to wait until tomorrow. I ended up falling asleep really early. Of course, considering last night was the most sleep I've had in a night for seven days, somehow I doubt it was a bad thing for me to be asleep! Justin wasn't overly appreciative of the 7:15 wake up, but that is also better than the times I've been waking him in the past week! We've had wake up times ranging from 4:30 to 7:00 all last week.
We cleaned all of the kids' stuff out of the frog and our house yesterday, because they are no longer coming here each day. Their mother and grandparents decided to put them in the Christian school down the road instead. We'll probably still find a few things of theirs as we go along for a few weeks (in fact, I KNOW there are still a few things of theirs here!), but the majority is gone. Now I just have to tidy up the few manipulatives and teaching aids that belonged to me, and the frog will be completely cleaned of school stuff, and I will be able to organize it to be a guest room. We even happened to find frog face cloths, towels, and a bath/shower mat to put into the frog bathroom! The only annoying thing about them, to me, at least, is the butterflies on the facecloths are not the same colour as the butterflies on the bath towels, but I don't suppose that is really much of a problem... right? Now we just have to find a shower curtain, soap dish, and toothbrush holder! Of course, seeing as it has taken us... two months? to find the towels, it could very well take us that long again to find the other things. :-)
The baby birds are still thriving. We're expecting to see at least the oldest one attempt using its wings sometime this week. It's nearly the size of its 'parents' so that should mean it is about time to fly, we think! The other babies are getting their feathers and starting to look more and more like real birds, which is quite exciting! We're enjoying watching their development, though the bigger they get the louder they get as well! Last night we enjoyed terrorizing Bamboo (the father), while we turned out the lights and caught him so we could actually hold him. He's soooo tiny under all those feathers, it's like trying to hold on to a squirmy little twig or something! Perhaps we'll be able to get the babies to tame a little better than their parents did.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
A mostly finished bedroom
All that is left is to paint the two doors, put the closet door back ON the closet, and paint the trim around the window. Basically, that means this room is done!
Here's the "before" picture, looking toward the closet...
and, here is after looking the same direction.
Here's "before" looking *away* from the closet...
and, this is after, looking the same direction.
So, there you have it, pictures of what we have done with one bedroom, at least. We haven't got our room in an orderly enough state at the moment to have pictures of it up. We should very shortly!!
In bird news... We have one week-old baby finch in the nest, and we now also have four newly hatched babies (1 Friday, 2 Saturday, 1 today). We're getting to listen to a lot of noise now! All we hear is little squeaks and squawks coming out of the nest! It can be VERY noisy at times. They seem to think that we should have to attempt to be heard over their noise, and it's rather difficult to hear oneself think, let alone talk over them at times!
Here's the "before" picture, looking toward the closet...
and, here is after looking the same direction.
Here's "before" looking *away* from the closet...
and, this is after, looking the same direction.So, there you have it, pictures of what we have done with one bedroom, at least. We haven't got our room in an orderly enough state at the moment to have pictures of it up. We should very shortly!!
In bird news... We have one week-old baby finch in the nest, and we now also have four newly hatched babies (1 Friday, 2 Saturday, 1 today). We're getting to listen to a lot of noise now! All we hear is little squeaks and squawks coming out of the nest! It can be VERY noisy at times. They seem to think that we should have to attempt to be heard over their noise, and it's rather difficult to hear oneself think, let alone talk over them at times!
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Diaper Covers and other things
Well, I never thought I would be excited over diaper covers, but... I really like the covers! They arrived yesterday (yay for quick shipping and delivery!), and they are SO nice. Nothing like the cheap Gerber version of the same thing. I'm glad I decided to go with them instead! The bands around the waist and legs are so nice and soft, and the fabric on the actual cover just looks and feels so much more durable!
Now, while I'm very satisfied with my order of diaper covers, I am extremely irritated with Toys 'R' Us. That's where I ordered the only bassinet mattress that I've been able to find that would even come close to fitting our little bassinet. They cancelled the order, because for some reason, even though they list the item as being in stock on their site, their manufacturer apparently doesn't make them anymore or something. So, even though they're advertised as available, they're not available. So now I'm stuck having to figure out how in the world to make one! I seriously have no idea. I guess I'll end up getting some twill or something, and making one kind of in a tied quilted fashion, but I don't know. And, since I have to buy fabric and such anyway, I guess I'll figure out how to make the little bumper thingies at the same time.
My nephew is here on his own today. I think he's a little bored. He normally has his sister to play with all afternoon, but today he was done his school work by 10:30, and now he has a whole afternoon in which there are no play mates! The poor child. I'm not even sure what to do with him, because normally I would be willing to do something like cook with the kids or something, but I don't have any baking that needs to be done, and we're having soup for supper and that doesn't require a lot of cooking... He doesn't colour for very long, he doesn't draw for long, he doesn't do crafts much, unless you tell him exactly what he needs to do and when, and I'm lacking the creativity to make something with him right now. I guess we could go to the library, but that only takes 1/2 an hour of our afternoon. We could go to the park, but again, he'll be bored in 30 minutes. We could go for a walk at the nature park, but that only would take us 45 minutes... I guess if we put all of that together, it would take care of most of the afternoon, but seriously... I don't want to drive all over the city just to entertain the child! He has a ball, he has sticks, there's a tree to climb, but no... he wants to play with a person at all times. Is this the joy of caring for a youngest child? They've ALWAYS been entertained by another child?? *sigh*
Oh, and the baby bird is still alive. I'm impressed. I thought it would be dead by the end of the weekend, and actually, I thought it was dead at one point yesterday, because they had filled its crop soooo full that its head was at a weird angle and it looked like it had a broken neck. Anyway, I suspect the baby may survive, so I've decided to name it Twig, in keeping with the names of its parents, Willow and Bamboo. I don't know if we'll actually be keeping it, but it is quite cute, and I decided it needed a name.
Now, while I'm very satisfied with my order of diaper covers, I am extremely irritated with Toys 'R' Us. That's where I ordered the only bassinet mattress that I've been able to find that would even come close to fitting our little bassinet. They cancelled the order, because for some reason, even though they list the item as being in stock on their site, their manufacturer apparently doesn't make them anymore or something. So, even though they're advertised as available, they're not available. So now I'm stuck having to figure out how in the world to make one! I seriously have no idea. I guess I'll end up getting some twill or something, and making one kind of in a tied quilted fashion, but I don't know. And, since I have to buy fabric and such anyway, I guess I'll figure out how to make the little bumper thingies at the same time.
My nephew is here on his own today. I think he's a little bored. He normally has his sister to play with all afternoon, but today he was done his school work by 10:30, and now he has a whole afternoon in which there are no play mates! The poor child. I'm not even sure what to do with him, because normally I would be willing to do something like cook with the kids or something, but I don't have any baking that needs to be done, and we're having soup for supper and that doesn't require a lot of cooking... He doesn't colour for very long, he doesn't draw for long, he doesn't do crafts much, unless you tell him exactly what he needs to do and when, and I'm lacking the creativity to make something with him right now. I guess we could go to the library, but that only takes 1/2 an hour of our afternoon. We could go to the park, but again, he'll be bored in 30 minutes. We could go for a walk at the nature park, but that only would take us 45 minutes... I guess if we put all of that together, it would take care of most of the afternoon, but seriously... I don't want to drive all over the city just to entertain the child! He has a ball, he has sticks, there's a tree to climb, but no... he wants to play with a person at all times. Is this the joy of caring for a youngest child? They've ALWAYS been entertained by another child?? *sigh*
Oh, and the baby bird is still alive. I'm impressed. I thought it would be dead by the end of the weekend, and actually, I thought it was dead at one point yesterday, because they had filled its crop soooo full that its head was at a weird angle and it looked like it had a broken neck. Anyway, I suspect the baby may survive, so I've decided to name it Twig, in keeping with the names of its parents, Willow and Bamboo. I don't know if we'll actually be keeping it, but it is quite cute, and I decided it needed a name.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Bird Eggs
Those finches that were added to our pet collection are currently sitting on ten eggs. I'm not sure if I should be hoping they all do hatch, or that only the four most recent ones hatch, or that none of them hatch, LOL! The birds are very faithfully tending the nest, and I'm having the hardest time getting them to keep the paper on the bottom of the cage. They keep tearing it into little strips and putting it into the nest, despite the fact that I've given them little strips of cloth/thread to nest in, and they've been plucking their feathers non-stop. Ah well, I suppose in about a week we shall see how many babies we are dealing with (YIKES!). Imagine... I'll be 38 weeks pregnant, and we'll have baby birds having just shown up out of their eggs. This could be a noisy end of pregnancy!! At least the female (a.k.a. Willow) has quit laying eggs. I was afraid we were going to be looking at the possibility of 14-16 babies in that tiny nest! Now that wouldn't have worked at all! I can't imagine that a nest that is only about 4 inches diameter would fit more than perhaps 8-10 inch-long babies, which is how big these things will be when they hatch. I think if they all hatch they're going to be crawling over each other constantly! Hopefully the mass of wiggling bodies won't be tall enough that they end up crawling out of the nest and falling on the floor (ie, possibly breaking necks and dying).
I ordered a matress pad for our baby bassinet. It's the only oval one I could find that was close to the right size, and even so, it is still a few inches too long. We're guessing it will squish in okay though, so it should be fine. It's an awful lot easier than having to make one, anyway! Now I just have to figure out how to pad the edges of the bassinet. Any ideas? I don't even know what one would make the little bumper thingies out of! Perhaps flannelette? Or just plain cotton? There's a lot of really cute stuff out there, or I could just do white, but white stains so easily that it seems it would make more sense to use something coloured... hmmm...
I have also ordered our initial need of diaper covers. Probably a good thing, seeing as currently we only have one cover in the 8-12 lb size range or whatever it is, and then strangely enough, I have ones that will fit a 2(ish) year old. I happened across them in a bunch of stuff we were given... the person who gave them to us apparently used them for panty covers for toilet training though, rather than for cloth diapering. I'm not sure where the little cover came from! Anyway, I ordered one little package of newborn sized ones for the "just in case we need it" thing, and then I ordered two packages of the 0-3 month sized ones, figuring that at that age they are most likely to have very runny messies so probably will need to wash them more often (and thus need more of those!). So, now we have three newborn, and six 0-3 month sized covers on their way, and then we'll see how big the baby is and all that before ordering the next size(s) so we know how many we need of what sizes.
Update on those ten birds eggs as of Thursday morning: There is now one live baby in the nest. Not sure if it will survive, not sure if we're going to have one baby a day for the next ten days... but if it survives, we may be on the start of a very noisy home!
I ordered a matress pad for our baby bassinet. It's the only oval one I could find that was close to the right size, and even so, it is still a few inches too long. We're guessing it will squish in okay though, so it should be fine. It's an awful lot easier than having to make one, anyway! Now I just have to figure out how to pad the edges of the bassinet. Any ideas? I don't even know what one would make the little bumper thingies out of! Perhaps flannelette? Or just plain cotton? There's a lot of really cute stuff out there, or I could just do white, but white stains so easily that it seems it would make more sense to use something coloured... hmmm...
I have also ordered our initial need of diaper covers. Probably a good thing, seeing as currently we only have one cover in the 8-12 lb size range or whatever it is, and then strangely enough, I have ones that will fit a 2(ish) year old. I happened across them in a bunch of stuff we were given... the person who gave them to us apparently used them for panty covers for toilet training though, rather than for cloth diapering. I'm not sure where the little cover came from! Anyway, I ordered one little package of newborn sized ones for the "just in case we need it" thing, and then I ordered two packages of the 0-3 month sized ones, figuring that at that age they are most likely to have very runny messies so probably will need to wash them more often (and thus need more of those!). So, now we have three newborn, and six 0-3 month sized covers on their way, and then we'll see how big the baby is and all that before ordering the next size(s) so we know how many we need of what sizes.
Update on those ten birds eggs as of Thursday morning: There is now one live baby in the nest. Not sure if it will survive, not sure if we're going to have one baby a day for the next ten days... but if it survives, we may be on the start of a very noisy home!
Monday, October 6, 2008
Following my instincts?
Well, for the last month or so, I've been trying to tell myself that I really don't need many newborn items. Diapers, yes. Those are a necessity, lol. We now have newborn sized disposables to last (hopefully) the first week or so. Then we'll go to cloth. However, on the clothing front I kept telling myself that two sleepers in newborn size was plenty. I didn't need any more than that, because the baby will grow out of the size so fast, and will fit the 0-3 month sized stuff anyway. Well, telling myself that really didn't work well at all. I wound up dragging Justin to a store where I knew you can get newborn sized stuff in neutral colours so that we would have enough for the baby. Strange when I also know that most newborns will fit the 0-3 month stuff, but I really had this feeling that I needed a few more sleepers in the smallest size available (aside from premie sized!). Now I'm happy... I have all the newborn sized sleepers in neutrals that I feel we'll need. And, of course, I feel weird, considering I don't even know how big the baby is yet! For all we know, this kid is going to be an 8 or 9 lb baby, and won't fit the newborn stuff at all! But... for the sake of making my "instincts" happy, we have the sleepers. We also have the receipt so we can exchange if necessary, lol.
Oh, and, we're travelling about 4 hours away from here on Saturday, to Lynchburg, so I have everything (I hope?) we are likely to need for an "emergency birth" if we happen to have to birth while on the road/away from home. Towels, sleeper, onesie, blankets, hats, clothing for me, etc... Am I weird or what?! The only things we're NOT taking on Saturday are the baby seat (oh, we need to get a baby on board sign thingy... hmmm....) and the baby sling. Somehow I doubt we'll need a baby sling even if the baby were to be born en route! I figure if we were pulled over they would excuse us from having the baby in a car seat given the circumstances!
We got the baby's room completely tidied up, so I'm very pleased with that! Pictures will be coming soon. We had to find my camera cards before I could take pictures, and now I just don't feel like spending the time putting the pictures on my computer and from my computer onto here. Soon though. And, our bedroom is almost cleaned up completely as well, so I guess I'll take pictures of it as well.
So, now I'm trying to figure out sleeping arrangements for the baby. I'm a little afraid to try actual *co*sleeping, because I don't want the baby to end up getting squished by accident. I'm not quite sure how to fit the bassinet in, because of space constraints in our room, so I'm really at a loss. How does one do co-sleeping with a baby, anyway?? I would be afraid of the baby falling off the bed if it was on the outside, or being rolled on top of by mother or father if in the middle...
Oh, and, we're travelling about 4 hours away from here on Saturday, to Lynchburg, so I have everything (I hope?) we are likely to need for an "emergency birth" if we happen to have to birth while on the road/away from home. Towels, sleeper, onesie, blankets, hats, clothing for me, etc... Am I weird or what?! The only things we're NOT taking on Saturday are the baby seat (oh, we need to get a baby on board sign thingy... hmmm....) and the baby sling. Somehow I doubt we'll need a baby sling even if the baby were to be born en route! I figure if we were pulled over they would excuse us from having the baby in a car seat given the circumstances!
We got the baby's room completely tidied up, so I'm very pleased with that! Pictures will be coming soon. We had to find my camera cards before I could take pictures, and now I just don't feel like spending the time putting the pictures on my computer and from my computer onto here. Soon though. And, our bedroom is almost cleaned up completely as well, so I guess I'll take pictures of it as well.
So, now I'm trying to figure out sleeping arrangements for the baby. I'm a little afraid to try actual *co*sleeping, because I don't want the baby to end up getting squished by accident. I'm not quite sure how to fit the bassinet in, because of space constraints in our room, so I'm really at a loss. How does one do co-sleeping with a baby, anyway?? I would be afraid of the baby falling off the bed if it was on the outside, or being rolled on top of by mother or father if in the middle...
Monday, September 29, 2008
A Month
Yes, it's been a month. And, it is still a month. Two ways to take that title, I guess.
This past month has been total chaos. We've been trying to get things organized in the house while trying to keep up with two children and their schooling, and a pregnancy.
So, with all we've been doing we have actually managed to do a few things. We've finally got (somewhat) a living room. At least, there's a couch, a chair, an ottoman, and a rocking chair. Oh yes, and let's not forget that we also have the piano in there! I think that may just be a highlight!! We've got the rats in there by the fire place, and Justin made the addition of a couple of finches to our collection of pets. No, I didn't ask for them! Regardless, they are very cute, and quite entertaining to watch. We're not sure if they'll hatch their eggs or not, considering how much we stressed them out in their little move. If they don't hatch them, then we'll just empty the nest and let them start again, I guess. We weren't going to get the particular female that we did, as she was the one with all the eggs, but when we discovered that the male we (I) wanted was mated with that female, and that the females mate for life, we thought we ought to get her instead of the other one we were going to get so she would at least be happy and not die mourning because her mate was taken away!
The dining room is basically our room of disaster at the moment. Our bedroom and the baby's room are starting to look half way to "normal" or whatever you want to call it. Organized? Hah. I don't know if that will ever happen! The kitchen is starting to get there though. Justin hung a bunch of hooks for my pots today, so that gets a large majority of things out of my way. Now I just have to figure out how to hang all my utensils! Then the kitchen will have a floor to walk on!
Oh, and while we were digging things out of the living room and dining room we finally found my school books! Now I can finish my course! Yay!! With the tidying and organizing and various other things that have been going on, I've been quite tired, however, so hopefully I will actually get it done. Most days I'm ready to crash around 7:00pm. That doesn't make it particularly helpful for Justin when he's coming home between 8:30 and 9:00, and I'm so tired that supper just isn't on my list of priorities (I'm normally so tired that I'm not hungry!). So, anyway... I need to really start planning out our menues, so that at least I will know what I'm supposed to be making, and maybe if it's all completely figured out I will actually make it! Most times we have a general "we'll have these seven meals this week" plan, but not a specific day and time or anything like that, which makes it so I don't actually necessarily make all the meals, because I'm tired and don't feel like picking one to make... I'm bad, I know...
I mixed up the dates of when some church stuff was happening, so while I thought we had a games night this past Saturday evening, I discovered it is actually this coming Saturday. That should be fun... it's supposed to be for the 18-40's crowd. I'm not sure just how many actually fit that age range. I know there are at least 10, but who knows how many will actually show up as well! Hopefully there will be at least a decent turn out. Oh, and the minister at the church was just an interim minister, and apparently his interim term was one year, and therefore he is leaving... as of this week. But, it really doesn't make sense to me-- they won't let the people of the church even keep in touch with interim pastors, because it "hinders the next minister's ability to establish himself in the church" or something like that. While I can understand that they don't want people putting things like "Well, so-and-so did it this way instead of that way" or whatever up in the new person's face, I don't think it is reasonable to say you can't contact/keep in touch with the pastor. I can't even think of any biblical basis for it. I mean, seriously, Paul wrote letters to all the churches he had VISITED, let alone ones he had stayed with for a year or more!
Anyway... yes, it is still one month to go until we are officially due with this little one. My prenatal went well on Tuesday, and they say the baby is probably of average size despite my small size. Apparently the baby is sitting very deeply, and so I may not show at all for the whole time. Considering we're only 3-4 weeks away from delivery (most likely... though I guess the baby could be late!), I guess there's a fairly good chance that that baby isn't going be doing much showing at all. All the stuff they measure is perfect, though my blood pressure keeps going down. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I'm going to have low blood pressure by the end of this! Oh, and I haven't gained anything between the last appointment and this appointment. No panic there though, lol. I guess it doesn't matter to them if I gain or not! So... currently we have a whole 8 lb gain, because I actually lost 2 lbs between the two appointments. By the time this little one gets out, I guess I'll be literally right back to my "prepregancy weight", possibly less, and probably still lose. Hmm... this could be interesting. I guess all my regular clothing isn't going to fit?? I'm still wearing it right now with what little baby belly I currently DO have! Sure hope it isn't going to all fall off... I'll have to take things in and buy new clothing... Anyway, all that I have left to do, is to purchase covers for our diapers. I should do that sometime soon, seeing as the baby is due in four weeks, lol!
This past month has been total chaos. We've been trying to get things organized in the house while trying to keep up with two children and their schooling, and a pregnancy.
So, with all we've been doing we have actually managed to do a few things. We've finally got (somewhat) a living room. At least, there's a couch, a chair, an ottoman, and a rocking chair. Oh yes, and let's not forget that we also have the piano in there! I think that may just be a highlight!! We've got the rats in there by the fire place, and Justin made the addition of a couple of finches to our collection of pets. No, I didn't ask for them! Regardless, they are very cute, and quite entertaining to watch. We're not sure if they'll hatch their eggs or not, considering how much we stressed them out in their little move. If they don't hatch them, then we'll just empty the nest and let them start again, I guess. We weren't going to get the particular female that we did, as she was the one with all the eggs, but when we discovered that the male we (I) wanted was mated with that female, and that the females mate for life, we thought we ought to get her instead of the other one we were going to get so she would at least be happy and not die mourning because her mate was taken away!
The dining room is basically our room of disaster at the moment. Our bedroom and the baby's room are starting to look half way to "normal" or whatever you want to call it. Organized? Hah. I don't know if that will ever happen! The kitchen is starting to get there though. Justin hung a bunch of hooks for my pots today, so that gets a large majority of things out of my way. Now I just have to figure out how to hang all my utensils! Then the kitchen will have a floor to walk on!
Oh, and while we were digging things out of the living room and dining room we finally found my school books! Now I can finish my course! Yay!! With the tidying and organizing and various other things that have been going on, I've been quite tired, however, so hopefully I will actually get it done. Most days I'm ready to crash around 7:00pm. That doesn't make it particularly helpful for Justin when he's coming home between 8:30 and 9:00, and I'm so tired that supper just isn't on my list of priorities (I'm normally so tired that I'm not hungry!). So, anyway... I need to really start planning out our menues, so that at least I will know what I'm supposed to be making, and maybe if it's all completely figured out I will actually make it! Most times we have a general "we'll have these seven meals this week" plan, but not a specific day and time or anything like that, which makes it so I don't actually necessarily make all the meals, because I'm tired and don't feel like picking one to make... I'm bad, I know...
I mixed up the dates of when some church stuff was happening, so while I thought we had a games night this past Saturday evening, I discovered it is actually this coming Saturday. That should be fun... it's supposed to be for the 18-40's crowd. I'm not sure just how many actually fit that age range. I know there are at least 10, but who knows how many will actually show up as well! Hopefully there will be at least a decent turn out. Oh, and the minister at the church was just an interim minister, and apparently his interim term was one year, and therefore he is leaving... as of this week. But, it really doesn't make sense to me-- they won't let the people of the church even keep in touch with interim pastors, because it "hinders the next minister's ability to establish himself in the church" or something like that. While I can understand that they don't want people putting things like "Well, so-and-so did it this way instead of that way" or whatever up in the new person's face, I don't think it is reasonable to say you can't contact/keep in touch with the pastor. I can't even think of any biblical basis for it. I mean, seriously, Paul wrote letters to all the churches he had VISITED, let alone ones he had stayed with for a year or more!
Anyway... yes, it is still one month to go until we are officially due with this little one. My prenatal went well on Tuesday, and they say the baby is probably of average size despite my small size. Apparently the baby is sitting very deeply, and so I may not show at all for the whole time. Considering we're only 3-4 weeks away from delivery (most likely... though I guess the baby could be late!), I guess there's a fairly good chance that that baby isn't going be doing much showing at all. All the stuff they measure is perfect, though my blood pressure keeps going down. I'm starting to wonder if perhaps I'm going to have low blood pressure by the end of this! Oh, and I haven't gained anything between the last appointment and this appointment. No panic there though, lol. I guess it doesn't matter to them if I gain or not! So... currently we have a whole 8 lb gain, because I actually lost 2 lbs between the two appointments. By the time this little one gets out, I guess I'll be literally right back to my "prepregancy weight", possibly less, and probably still lose. Hmm... this could be interesting. I guess all my regular clothing isn't going to fit?? I'm still wearing it right now with what little baby belly I currently DO have! Sure hope it isn't going to all fall off... I'll have to take things in and buy new clothing... Anyway, all that I have left to do, is to purchase covers for our diapers. I should do that sometime soon, seeing as the baby is due in four weeks, lol!
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
It's been a while...
Well, it's been a while, and while I do have things to post (such as pictures) I haven't got the time to be uploading them at the moment. They should be coming sometime in the next week though. At least pictures of the baby's room. Our room is still in progress, so maybe next week sometime? The kitchen is just going to drive me CRAZY, because I have yet to figure out where to fit my pots. There isn't a cupboard the right size anywhere, nor is there one near the stove even *close* to the right size. So I'm a little annoyed with that. Oh, and we are using a dresser to put our dishes, cutlery, and storage containers in, because I honestly haven't got anywhere else at the moment to put them!! How irritating! I think things will improve as we start getting more things done in other parts of the house. Right now I just have to finish vacuuming at the apartment, and then the vacuum can come here, and the apartment will be done. I think we may be steam cleaning tonight or tomorrow night, not sure which, as well.
I had my monthly prenatal appointment yesterday afternoon, and it's quite difficult to believe it's already been a month since the last one!
So, yesterday I was 30 weeks, 4 days
b/p: 115/64
pulse: 108
weight: used a different scale from normal, as we were in a different place, it said I've gained 9 lbs... I don't know if that is true, but it doesn't really matter to me, and they were not concerned at all. Everything else is "perfect" so it really doesn't matter.
fundal height: 30 cm. Funny story... she measured me, and said "you're measuring thirty too" and I thought she had said thirty-two, so I was wondering where the additional 2 cm had come from!! So she went back and corrected herself, as she realized that what she'd said was rather confusing, lol!
fht: 130's range resting heart rate, into the 140's when you bother it, which is a good acceleration I'm told, and indicates a healthy baby in there... so I guess that's a good thing.
And, that's basically it. No swelling, no other problems, and no problems anticipated.
In other news... I want blinds for my windows, and I want tiles for my floors. I have a feeling I'm not going to have the tiles for a long time, the blinds... I'm hoping will be sooner!!
I had my monthly prenatal appointment yesterday afternoon, and it's quite difficult to believe it's already been a month since the last one!
So, yesterday I was 30 weeks, 4 days
b/p: 115/64
pulse: 108
weight: used a different scale from normal, as we were in a different place, it said I've gained 9 lbs... I don't know if that is true, but it doesn't really matter to me, and they were not concerned at all. Everything else is "perfect" so it really doesn't matter.
fundal height: 30 cm. Funny story... she measured me, and said "you're measuring thirty too" and I thought she had said thirty-two, so I was wondering where the additional 2 cm had come from!! So she went back and corrected herself, as she realized that what she'd said was rather confusing, lol!
fht: 130's range resting heart rate, into the 140's when you bother it, which is a good acceleration I'm told, and indicates a healthy baby in there... so I guess that's a good thing.
And, that's basically it. No swelling, no other problems, and no problems anticipated.
In other news... I want blinds for my windows, and I want tiles for my floors. I have a feeling I'm not going to have the tiles for a long time, the blinds... I'm hoping will be sooner!!
Friday, August 15, 2008
We Have Water... and it's hot!
We've been holding off on lighting the pilot flame on our water heater until we were much closer to moving in, and then realized, when we went to light it, that not only did we not have any idea where the main turn off was, but there was no gas flowing anywhere anyway! So, we called the gas company, and ended up having to argue our way through the main call centre in order to accomplish talking to someone higher up the chain, but finally in the end we managed to have someone out to take a look for us. It turned out that though records showed that we had our gas turned on, the gentleman who looked at the thing had to uncap it in order to light the pilot flame! So much for having had gas for nearly a month!
On the same day that we got our gas working, Justin also got the water working properly, so I was able to run our diapers through their first couple of washes. When they were done their first two washes, I realized that there really were 12 that just were NOT the same as the others, so I called the company that makes them (Gerber) and asked questions. The weaves just look completely different, and the one package of them simply did not soften up the way the other two packs did! Apparently almost no one calls in dissatisfied with the product, but they want the pack of diapers and they're going to replace them free for me, so that's good news. We were thinking we were just going to have to buy another package that I liked the feel of and have spent an extra bit of money, but this is much better!
We're aiming to have the master bedroom finished, and personally, I'm hoping to have the walls down and repaired, and the new floor laid in the dining room by the end of the weekend. Of course, considering we're trying to figure out where to get people to help us move a fridge (everyone we know has been busy or has a bad back), I'm not sure just how much will actually happen, but anyway... Perhaps, if it doesn't rain all weekend, we'll also get the rest of the trim in the baby's room painted, and the closet door painted and put up. We had run out of trim paint, so needed to get more before we could complete the painting in there, but there is really very little left to be done.
On the same day that we got our gas working, Justin also got the water working properly, so I was able to run our diapers through their first couple of washes. When they were done their first two washes, I realized that there really were 12 that just were NOT the same as the others, so I called the company that makes them (Gerber) and asked questions. The weaves just look completely different, and the one package of them simply did not soften up the way the other two packs did! Apparently almost no one calls in dissatisfied with the product, but they want the pack of diapers and they're going to replace them free for me, so that's good news. We were thinking we were just going to have to buy another package that I liked the feel of and have spent an extra bit of money, but this is much better!
We're aiming to have the master bedroom finished, and personally, I'm hoping to have the walls down and repaired, and the new floor laid in the dining room by the end of the weekend. Of course, considering we're trying to figure out where to get people to help us move a fridge (everyone we know has been busy or has a bad back), I'm not sure just how much will actually happen, but anyway... Perhaps, if it doesn't rain all weekend, we'll also get the rest of the trim in the baby's room painted, and the closet door painted and put up. We had run out of trim paint, so needed to get more before we could complete the painting in there, but there is really very little left to be done.
Monday, August 11, 2008
Oops! What a Learning Experience!
So... we went out to pick up some flooring we'd paid for but it wasn't available at the time we were there, and apparently missed quite the storm. In the 2 hours we were gone, enough rain went through to leave large puddles, and obviously there was enough wind to make a number of large branches and even trees go down! It almost looked like we missed a small hurricane or something! We're not quite sure what exactly we missed, but anyway... it was obviously quite the storm! We got another storm late last night as well, which we were here for, and it seemed to plant itself over us for quite a while!
Now for the oops from the title...
Justin learned something new last night. We had a slight plumbing emergency, when he decided to pull the large PVC elbow pipe thing off the main water-in pipe and discovered, much to our dismay, that it is a 1 inch pvc pipe. Why dismay over this discovery? Well, we found out that it wasn't a very durable piece of PVC... it broke-- just snapped with a little pressure! So, Justin went running to turn off the main water in the front, because obviously when you break the pipe just above the ground where it comes out, there is no other water turn off! So, then, realizing that we had to fix the pipe, and considering it somewhat of an emergency, we headed out for Home Depot to get the stuff we needed to fix the thing despite our not preferring to shop on Sundays. But, let's face it, had the pipe burst and we been living in the house and not brave enough to try to fix it ourselves, we'd have made an emergency plumbing call so we would have water by the next day!
Anyway, as we were figuring out what all we needed to get at Home Depot, we realized that since we already had that portion of the piping apart, we might as well replace the connector they had running through the wall that *was* steel (I think...?) with proper copper piping like the rest of the house's pipes are, so we added a piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe, a 1/2 inch elbow thing, and a little stop valve thingy for a "main" turn off inside the house to our list of things to get just in case something happens to the interior piping, knowing how well everything else has been done (NOT!). Oh, and then we realized that in order to turn the water back on, we also needed a hot water and a cold water stop valve, because one was completely shot (we had to turn off the hot water in order to do anything with the pipes in the first place). Our list, in the end was something like... one 1 inch PVC connector, one 1 inch PVC sleeve, one 1 inch PVC elbow with threading for the 1/2 inch piping, PVC primer and glue, one 1/2 inch threaded copper pipe connector, one (short) piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe, one 1/2 inch copper piping elbow, 2 stop valves for sink stuff, 1 stop pressure valve for the "just in case" main turn off inside the house. So, after we got all the stuff we needed, and some assistance from the guy at Home Depot in figuring out how to put this all together, we also added a soldering tip, and a little kit of soldering stuff to the list of things we needed, in order to put the piping together.
We dropped by Justin's parents house to get the blow torch so that the soldering could be done (we didn't have a torch), and headed back to the house. Justin got the PVC primed, and while the primer was drying, we worked on the yard. He worked on filling the hole in the back yard with the pile of dirt, and I gave the willow a "hair cut". I don't like how the willow looks for the first few days after it's been trimmed... maybe because it just looks unnaturally even or something, but within a couple of weeks it should be back to my "magical" little tree again, so it's not that big a deal. After we got the bit of yard work done, Justin glued the PVC piping into place, and then we went inside to work on the copper piping. That's when we discovered just how much "fun" it can be to solder something together! Justin's first time soldering piping for water pipes actually went quite well. Aside from the learning curve it has, in that you have to learn just how hot to get things, and how high the flame needs to be and everything, it was quite easy, I think! So, anyway, after about 2 hours of working on the piping, and having everything in place, Justin turned on the main water. What a loud bang it made when it hit our turned off pressure stop! Well, it would have worked great, except that one of the pieces of PVC didn't quite stick, so we ended up with having to redo that part of the PVC. Justin went and worked on that this morning, and says that now he just has a small leak in one of the pieces of PVC, and then the water is back to perfect working order... YAY!
The next order of business with the water is to figure out the natural gas stuff. For some reason there doesn't appear to be a gas cutoff. This means we cannot cap things off, because the gas will be leaking out as we work to remove pipes. So, I think Justin has to contact the gas company or something and find out how to remove the piping without having a gas leak occur. Anyway, the gas is what serves our water heater, and currently the pilot flame isn't lit. Well, that needs to happen sometime soon, because I now have 36 diapers that need a minimum of like 6-8 washes (according to the package!) before their first use! I have to say, though the diapers are "thin" I really like how they feel! I know there are a lot of people who don't really like flats, and particularly don't like birdseye cotton flats from Gerber, but having now felt them, I really can't see how they are any different from prefolds, unless you are using like... a lightweight denim or flannel for the prefold! And hey, I can put a flannel diaper/receiving blanket on the inside or outside of these if I need to... or both! Talk about versatile! Initially, I can't see our needing more than these diapers. They feel quite absorbent to me, even without having been washed even once. Though they are "see through" they really aren't that see through once they have been folded properly and are ready for pinning (yes, I tested it out already), and, they are supposed to fluff up quite a bit with every wash and dry for the first 6-8 washes (which is why they need so many washes). They actually apparently don't even necessarily achieve their maximum absorbency until they have been washed like 10-12 times or even more in some cases! Anyway, now I'm excited about washing diapers! I wonder how long that excitement will last... Well, considering I love watching my washing machine, I might just be excited about every load of laundry I have to do, regardless of what its contents are, LOL!
So... there's all the big news from this past week. In case you were wondering, no, we didn't get the other bedroom done, but that is largely because of a couple of things. 1) We couldn't find flooring to match the flooring we already had, so we had to spend an afternoon looking at flooring instead of actually working in the room. 2) Because we had our plumbing emergency, which took over the time that would have been for painting the ceiling and levelling the floor. I think Justin is working on getting a day off either tomorrow, or next Tuesday in an attempt to be able to get that room done by Saturday night (we want to be fully moved by the 23rd, but can't really do much until floors are levelled and that room is done, because we don't want to be pulling the bed out again once it is in!!). Anyway, hopefully we'll have the master bedroom done, and... maybe... the dining room?? done by the time the end of next weekend comes! YAY!
Now for the oops from the title...
Justin learned something new last night. We had a slight plumbing emergency, when he decided to pull the large PVC elbow pipe thing off the main water-in pipe and discovered, much to our dismay, that it is a 1 inch pvc pipe. Why dismay over this discovery? Well, we found out that it wasn't a very durable piece of PVC... it broke-- just snapped with a little pressure! So, Justin went running to turn off the main water in the front, because obviously when you break the pipe just above the ground where it comes out, there is no other water turn off! So, then, realizing that we had to fix the pipe, and considering it somewhat of an emergency, we headed out for Home Depot to get the stuff we needed to fix the thing despite our not preferring to shop on Sundays. But, let's face it, had the pipe burst and we been living in the house and not brave enough to try to fix it ourselves, we'd have made an emergency plumbing call so we would have water by the next day!
Anyway, as we were figuring out what all we needed to get at Home Depot, we realized that since we already had that portion of the piping apart, we might as well replace the connector they had running through the wall that *was* steel (I think...?) with proper copper piping like the rest of the house's pipes are, so we added a piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe, a 1/2 inch elbow thing, and a little stop valve thingy for a "main" turn off inside the house to our list of things to get just in case something happens to the interior piping, knowing how well everything else has been done (NOT!). Oh, and then we realized that in order to turn the water back on, we also needed a hot water and a cold water stop valve, because one was completely shot (we had to turn off the hot water in order to do anything with the pipes in the first place). Our list, in the end was something like... one 1 inch PVC connector, one 1 inch PVC sleeve, one 1 inch PVC elbow with threading for the 1/2 inch piping, PVC primer and glue, one 1/2 inch threaded copper pipe connector, one (short) piece of 1/2 inch copper pipe, one 1/2 inch copper piping elbow, 2 stop valves for sink stuff, 1 stop pressure valve for the "just in case" main turn off inside the house. So, after we got all the stuff we needed, and some assistance from the guy at Home Depot in figuring out how to put this all together, we also added a soldering tip, and a little kit of soldering stuff to the list of things we needed, in order to put the piping together.
We dropped by Justin's parents house to get the blow torch so that the soldering could be done (we didn't have a torch), and headed back to the house. Justin got the PVC primed, and while the primer was drying, we worked on the yard. He worked on filling the hole in the back yard with the pile of dirt, and I gave the willow a "hair cut". I don't like how the willow looks for the first few days after it's been trimmed... maybe because it just looks unnaturally even or something, but within a couple of weeks it should be back to my "magical" little tree again, so it's not that big a deal. After we got the bit of yard work done, Justin glued the PVC piping into place, and then we went inside to work on the copper piping. That's when we discovered just how much "fun" it can be to solder something together! Justin's first time soldering piping for water pipes actually went quite well. Aside from the learning curve it has, in that you have to learn just how hot to get things, and how high the flame needs to be and everything, it was quite easy, I think! So, anyway, after about 2 hours of working on the piping, and having everything in place, Justin turned on the main water. What a loud bang it made when it hit our turned off pressure stop! Well, it would have worked great, except that one of the pieces of PVC didn't quite stick, so we ended up with having to redo that part of the PVC. Justin went and worked on that this morning, and says that now he just has a small leak in one of the pieces of PVC, and then the water is back to perfect working order... YAY!
The next order of business with the water is to figure out the natural gas stuff. For some reason there doesn't appear to be a gas cutoff. This means we cannot cap things off, because the gas will be leaking out as we work to remove pipes. So, I think Justin has to contact the gas company or something and find out how to remove the piping without having a gas leak occur. Anyway, the gas is what serves our water heater, and currently the pilot flame isn't lit. Well, that needs to happen sometime soon, because I now have 36 diapers that need a minimum of like 6-8 washes (according to the package!) before their first use! I have to say, though the diapers are "thin" I really like how they feel! I know there are a lot of people who don't really like flats, and particularly don't like birdseye cotton flats from Gerber, but having now felt them, I really can't see how they are any different from prefolds, unless you are using like... a lightweight denim or flannel for the prefold! And hey, I can put a flannel diaper/receiving blanket on the inside or outside of these if I need to... or both! Talk about versatile! Initially, I can't see our needing more than these diapers. They feel quite absorbent to me, even without having been washed even once. Though they are "see through" they really aren't that see through once they have been folded properly and are ready for pinning (yes, I tested it out already), and, they are supposed to fluff up quite a bit with every wash and dry for the first 6-8 washes (which is why they need so many washes). They actually apparently don't even necessarily achieve their maximum absorbency until they have been washed like 10-12 times or even more in some cases! Anyway, now I'm excited about washing diapers! I wonder how long that excitement will last... Well, considering I love watching my washing machine, I might just be excited about every load of laundry I have to do, regardless of what its contents are, LOL!
So... there's all the big news from this past week. In case you were wondering, no, we didn't get the other bedroom done, but that is largely because of a couple of things. 1) We couldn't find flooring to match the flooring we already had, so we had to spend an afternoon looking at flooring instead of actually working in the room. 2) Because we had our plumbing emergency, which took over the time that would have been for painting the ceiling and levelling the floor. I think Justin is working on getting a day off either tomorrow, or next Tuesday in an attempt to be able to get that room done by Saturday night (we want to be fully moved by the 23rd, but can't really do much until floors are levelled and that room is done, because we don't want to be pulling the bed out again once it is in!!). Anyway, hopefully we'll have the master bedroom done, and... maybe... the dining room?? done by the time the end of next weekend comes! YAY!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Getting Ready to Move
I'm trying to decide if I like moving a little at a time, or all at once better. In a way, it is nice to be able to take bits and pieces instead of having stacks and stacks of boxes, but at the same time, it is a real pain to have so many trips to make, and since the kitchen isn't really ready for us to move in yet, we can't really even start taking my pots and stuff over that we are not currently using (due to lack of space).
We've mostly finished the baby's room now, but as there was a piece missing from the book case we have for the room, I'm not quite finished setting up in there. When we have the book case put together and I've been able to finish organizing things, then I'll see about putting up some pictures! It looks really nice, particularly considering all we still need to do to that room! Oh, and to add to all the other baby things we need to be doing, we also need to wash, fold, and put away a whole stack of clothing we were given. Most of what we actually kept was tops, because the things that were bottoms were either too worn out, or just not things we think we would use. We got rid of pyjamas that were "fire resistant" (ie, made of polyester or whatever) because we would prefer cottons and cotton blends over 100% polyesters... plus they were really yucky feeling polyesters! Oh, and most of it is girls stuff, so we're no better off if the baby is a boy than we were before. Now I just have to decide on a container to put the clothing in to store it. Oh, and it's all toddler stuff. The person must think babies grow realllllly fast, lol!
We pulled out the carpets from the master bedroom and the living room, in the hopes that it is going to get rid of some of the smell that is in the house. Personally, I already think it smells a little better in there, but I'm not a big fan of the whole blackish-brown "church basement" tile flooring thing going on now. The entire house was tiled with the exact same tiles! In the process of removing the carpet from the living room, we also discovered a "lovely" thing. There is a crack running straight across the floor. A big enough crack that the floor on one side is about 1 1/2 inches lower than on the other side!! It doesn't go through the structure itself though, as it runs straight out the front door at the front of the room, and crashes into the brick pillar at the back of the room. So, we at least know our house isn't going to crumble and split from the bottom to the top!
This weekend we're going to try really hard to get the "master bedroom" fully finished. We're probably going to have to get some more flooring for it, as it used just a little more than half for the baby's room (we were taking a guess when we said it would probably be enough for the two rooms). I think we're probably going to need like 8 pieces of laminate. That's really not bad. Of course, we're also going to need laminate for the dining room, so I guess we'll likely get it all at once (makes it a TON easier to install the stuff when you have it all there and ready!). We may actually need to just purchase enough for both rooms. I suppose I should probably measure the dining room for that. I know that we need approximately 40 pieces for the bedroom, since it took about that much for the other bedroom, so I'm guessing we likely need about 60 for the dining room, but I'm not sure, as I don't know how big the room actually is.
I suppose another thing on the list for the coming couple of weeks is to tear off and replace walls, and then paint them my nice cheery yellow. I'd really like to be rid of the mint, pastel lime, and aqua greens before the baby comes. I think the kitchen is going to be the worst though! It's so... deteriorated! We pulled off the molding at the bottom, because the last people painted it black and we really don't feel like using a gallon of paint to cover the black on something that probably would cost less to simply replace. Anyway, the bottom portion of the wall came with it! The original plaster simply tore right off. Why, you might ask? Well, because the people were intelligent enough to stick the stuff on using... rubber cement! We don't ask questions about this house... we just smile and shake/nod our heads regarding everything we find, because things are often just that ridiculous!
We've mostly finished the baby's room now, but as there was a piece missing from the book case we have for the room, I'm not quite finished setting up in there. When we have the book case put together and I've been able to finish organizing things, then I'll see about putting up some pictures! It looks really nice, particularly considering all we still need to do to that room! Oh, and to add to all the other baby things we need to be doing, we also need to wash, fold, and put away a whole stack of clothing we were given. Most of what we actually kept was tops, because the things that were bottoms were either too worn out, or just not things we think we would use. We got rid of pyjamas that were "fire resistant" (ie, made of polyester or whatever) because we would prefer cottons and cotton blends over 100% polyesters... plus they were really yucky feeling polyesters! Oh, and most of it is girls stuff, so we're no better off if the baby is a boy than we were before. Now I just have to decide on a container to put the clothing in to store it. Oh, and it's all toddler stuff. The person must think babies grow realllllly fast, lol!
We pulled out the carpets from the master bedroom and the living room, in the hopes that it is going to get rid of some of the smell that is in the house. Personally, I already think it smells a little better in there, but I'm not a big fan of the whole blackish-brown "church basement" tile flooring thing going on now. The entire house was tiled with the exact same tiles! In the process of removing the carpet from the living room, we also discovered a "lovely" thing. There is a crack running straight across the floor. A big enough crack that the floor on one side is about 1 1/2 inches lower than on the other side!! It doesn't go through the structure itself though, as it runs straight out the front door at the front of the room, and crashes into the brick pillar at the back of the room. So, we at least know our house isn't going to crumble and split from the bottom to the top!
This weekend we're going to try really hard to get the "master bedroom" fully finished. We're probably going to have to get some more flooring for it, as it used just a little more than half for the baby's room (we were taking a guess when we said it would probably be enough for the two rooms). I think we're probably going to need like 8 pieces of laminate. That's really not bad. Of course, we're also going to need laminate for the dining room, so I guess we'll likely get it all at once (makes it a TON easier to install the stuff when you have it all there and ready!). We may actually need to just purchase enough for both rooms. I suppose I should probably measure the dining room for that. I know that we need approximately 40 pieces for the bedroom, since it took about that much for the other bedroom, so I'm guessing we likely need about 60 for the dining room, but I'm not sure, as I don't know how big the room actually is.
I suppose another thing on the list for the coming couple of weeks is to tear off and replace walls, and then paint them my nice cheery yellow. I'd really like to be rid of the mint, pastel lime, and aqua greens before the baby comes. I think the kitchen is going to be the worst though! It's so... deteriorated! We pulled off the molding at the bottom, because the last people painted it black and we really don't feel like using a gallon of paint to cover the black on something that probably would cost less to simply replace. Anyway, the bottom portion of the wall came with it! The original plaster simply tore right off. Why, you might ask? Well, because the people were intelligent enough to stick the stuff on using... rubber cement! We don't ask questions about this house... we just smile and shake/nod our heads regarding everything we find, because things are often just that ridiculous!
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