And Baby Makes Five....

The fifth member of our family was born last Wednesday, September 23rd at 12:30 p.m. Reese Jackson James was 8 lbs 10 ozs, 21 inches long, and perfect! I'll TRY to post more pix in the coming weeks...as he currently has his days/nights a wee bit confused and we are solely breastfeeding I'm not only constantly busy with him but über tired as well.

I'm very thankful, and blessed, that my parents were able to be here for the birth of our third child (and for all the help while I was in the hospital and the days following my return home!) and so very thankful that Ray's parents were willing to watch our older two until we could bring them up to the hospital after Reese was born (and for watching the kiddos those few wee hours we had "false alarm" runs to the hospital).

Proud Dad
Nanny & Granddad ... Grandparents a 4th time (soon to be 5th w/ upcoming birth of Brother and SIL's 2nd child in November!)


Very Proud Big Sis and Big Bro with their new baby brother

What's That Smell?

With the horrid drought we've had this year combined with my being hugely pregnant and not wanting to work outside in the horrid heat (hottest summer on record WOULD be the summer I'm pregnant...LOL) it pretty much goes without saying that most of my garden has gone kaput. ONE thing, however, has not only survived the abusive heat and lack of water but has thrived. In fact, it is about the only thing that has bloomed in my garden this year.

I didn't know/couldn't recall what the plant was so I took the pix, not only to document the gigantic and beautiful flowers but also to assist in identifying the plant. Actually took me several shots before I was able to get some without a gob of flies in the pix. The excessive fly attraction was explained one we ID'd the plant.

Turns out our blooming beauty has a name, and a smell, that is far from beautiful. Stapelia gigantea is commonly known as Carrion Plant, Carrion Flower, or Dead Horse Cactus. Yup...the beautiful blooms smell like dead animal which attracts all the flies which is how this particular plant is pollinated. Lovely... only plant that I have this year that is growing/blooming happily smells like a dead animal. Yuck.

I guess I can stop trying to find that dead squirrel or possum or whatever I thought it could have been that was stinking up things. Turns out it was my plant. HA.

Feast or Famine

After months of record breaking high temps and nary a drop of rain it began storming last night. After a brief intermission this morning, it is once again pouring. Our yard, which had, due to the lack of rain (or watering), turned into a big dirt plot is now a huge mud lake and one could almost tube the rapids roaring down the street. Still though, I'm thankful for the rain!

How-To: Knitting Running Stitch on Eyelets & Ridges Washcloth

The Eyelets & Ridges washcloth is one of my faves not only 'cause I find it a quick and easy knit but I, like the designer, enjoy the contrasting smooth and bumpy sides of this cloth.

A friend recently inquired as to how to knit Row 3 of the pattern. Hoping that either these pix or the mini video (camera got cranky and I couldn't redo the video at this time so tried some pix as well....hope one of these work/help) will help her understand the stitch. It is über easy, IMO, once you understand what the pattern is asking.

Step-by-step pix option. NOTE: To view the pix in a larger format, just click on the picture to enlarge it.



OR try the video option.

Happy knitting, Laurena...and everyone else!

Newborn Nightgown from an Old T-Shirt

Started with an old t-shirt that we couldn't seem to part with but never wore. Ended up with a sleeper gown for the new baby! This cracks me up and is a great way to recycle that old t-shirt and give it one more, albeit brief (as babies grow quickly out of things), life.

I remember going to the Lizard Lounge once my 1st semester of college. Was down for a University Programming Board conference (also the first time I saw Jeff Dunham and Peanut) and we went to Lizard Lounge one night. THAT was a long time ago. Shirt, however, belonged to my DH. It's been a painting/work shirt for some years (hence the splatters and such). Now, it gets to be spit up on.

Instructions and pattern were found on thismamamakesstuff's blog in case you have some old tees that are screaming to have a second life as a newborn gown.

Big Sis & Big Bro

Seeing how applique isn't one of my strengths when it comes to crafting and I'm doing it on my regular sewing machine, I don't know why it is I come up with projects that require it.

Expecting the final addition to our family anytime in the next few weeks, I wanted to make our DD and DS some tshirts announcing their role(s) in the family. (When our 2nd child was born, my Mom had gotten a cute little t-shirt for Hadley announcing to the world that she was a big sister...I wanted to do something similar this time around.) The kids picked out their t-shirt color and the fabric(s) they wanted used on their shirts (okay, so I helped a little...but ONLY a little as this was their thing).

Ever the fashionista, Hadley got a pink tee and three groovy fabrics. Ryan initially picked out a blue tee but then switched to a red one and the only fabric that he liked was Thomas the Tank Engine. He didn't want any other fabrics - "just the train".

Ryan helped a little in the making of these shirts (and I use the term "helped" very loosely...pressing the reverse button when I'm trying to sew forward and such) while Hadley was more into supervising. With that extra "help" and the "supervision" I received, we finished the "Big Sis" and "Big Bro" shirts this morning!

My Ears Can't Breathe...

...was what my DS told me when I asked him WHAT in the world he was doing with a couple of his TinkerToy hoses in his mouth and blowing air into his ears.

The Way It's SUPPOSED to Be?

After almost 5 years the tables have turned...and it feels weird.

We really wanted to be able to have a stay-at-home parent, if at ALL possible, at least during our children's younger years. Before our oldest was born we looked at who had the best job/benefits/etc and those along with the fact that I loved my job at the time kept me in the workplace and my husband to handle the role of Mr. Mom. He has, for almost 5 years managed that role with more patience and sanity than I think I would have.

Unfortunately, with my having been let go from my last job months ago and not finding anything new (and quite honestly not able to just jump on something at this point since I'm now a ticking time bomb about to have our 3rd, and final, baby) we'd pretty much used up any "cushion" we had. We needed something. While not ideal, we are lucky enough that Ray has found some possibly semi-longterm work. That means, however, that for the time being, I'm the "stay-at-home mom". Luckily for the kids I've not killed them this week.

I ran out for a few errands yesterday and SHOULD have been done in a couple hours. I mean, most of them were just pop in/pop right back out things. HOWEVER, with kids in tow there is NO "popping in/out" and a couple hours turned into five.

Anyway, back to the why of the title for this post. So I was up at 6am making lunch for my sweetie before he hit the road for his long commute to work and he walks in and states, "THIS is the way it is SUPPOSED to be. The man going off to work hard to support his family and the wife barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen." Do what? LOL... I'll admit, even I found it funny and good thing too, cause at this stage of the pregnancy there is NO way I could have caught him had he ran after having said that.

So...any and all prayers for my sanity and patience during this time. (HOW did my mom, or my husband for the past few years, do it?) We'll see how long I last after having Reese before I'm begging someone to hire me (although I've been close to that point for a couple months now).