Ohio Amish

This pic is for Kara: not only do Ohio Amish GO to Walmart, this particular Walmart in Millersburg, Ohio built a FREAKING GARAGE for them! Hilarious! The parking lot just happens to have a connector trail to a hike / bike / buggy trail so it literally can be the highway to Walmart for the Amish community.

So there you have it! One would think Amish survive on just flour and yeast, but they need POP AND CHIPS! IN LARGE QUANTITIES!

This still doesn't beat the Amish teenager I saw at the pig auction texting on his cell phone. ;)

Spring Break

Yeah, I know I'm not teaching so it is spring break everyday at this house, but I still have teacher friends so we've been filling this week with visits, lunch dates, play dates, walks and hikes. Too bad it is snowing today! LOL. Tomorrow we are off to Amish Country (which honestly could be our local Walmart because they all seem to congregate there to purchase Doritos and Mountain Dew)!!

Jamaica Mon

The high school I went to / teach at recently started up a steel drum band. Well it happens I have a little steel drum to start training Blaine on so he'll be ready to join in 2024. ;) Plus the college I graduated from has the 3rd oldest steel drum band in the country. So no pressure on the kid or anything.....

P.S. Steel drums were actually invented in Trinidad if you were wondering! They were invented in the mid-1900's, making the instrument one of the newest if not THE newest instrument out there!

Blaine's Epic Potty Pause

*may be TMI so I'm warning you*

So I've read lots about EC and know that potty pauses can happen from time to time for various reasons. Luckily we've never experienced any until last week. I had to be on an antibiotic for 5 days due to a UTI (my first ever and it wasn't fun). Even though what they gave me was safe for breast-feeding, I had read that side-effects to antibiotics could include diarrhea in the baby. AND DID IT EVER. Blaine did a lot of pooping and almost always in his diap. Earlier in the week the poop seemed normal but for some reason went into diap and not into potty. As the week went on it got runnier and runnier. One day I think he pooped in 7 diapers and had the biggest diaper rash. Frustrating!

To top the week off, Nick was home for only 48 hours between week-long trips and he spent about 20 hours laying on the bathroom floor and 20 hours laying on the couch. He either had food poisoning or the stomach flu. Gah. Needless to say me and baby spent the weekend at my parents trying to stay clear of it.

Good news: we are still healthy and Blaine wore the same diaper from 7 AM until he went to bed tonight! Dry all day! YIPEE!!!!!! Here's to a new week and no more potty pauses. :)

PEAS TO THE EXTREME: how low can you go?

Following a few of your comments about peas, I thought I'd follow it up with a bit of research. I've always known peas can tolerate frosts and freezes, in fact the year before last we had frost on June 3rd (!!), so most of our garden goes in either in cold frames or polytunnels if we want it planted before June. But I was unsure how how low the temps could get with the peas still surviving.

This is a very interesting read!

AS LOW AS 10 DEGREES IF COVERED BY SNOW!! WOW!!

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/vegetable/how-low-of-a-temperature-can-peas-stand.htm

Family Tradition: St. Patrick's Day

This is a tradition of my husband's grandpa: planting peas on St. Patrick's Day. Snow, sun, rain, or hail, the peas must get planted!! Nick's grandpa died a few years ago but would be soooo proud to see Nick continuing the tradition and introducing it to a new generation!

Outdoor Fun

My last post wouldn't let me add pics so here they are in a separate entry. Who knew a broom could be so entertaining? And don't worry, I was right there watching to make sure Blaine didn't eat and choke on the hail. :)

Video: MOM'S IN TROUBLE!

Let's just call this video: "Mom Is Dead Meat".



And I said "holy freak" so don't think I was swearing around young Blaine. Largest hail I've seen here in awhile! The hail on the deck doesn't do it justice; the stuff in the yard was much bigger! I didn't mean to sound so overly dramatic, it is just that Nick has a very expensive truck. ;)


In other news, I went tonight to bell choir for an hour and a half and my babysitters reported that BLAINE TOOK HIS FIRST UNASSISTED STEPS!! I guess he took 2 steps and walked from holding onto my dad's leg to my mom. I believe it! He's been improving his balance exponentially lately and can even stand alone without holding onto anything for up to 30 seconds now.

Germination Station

Well got my germination station rocking and rolling now!! So far I've started marigolds, zinnias, lobelia, tons of varieties of tomatoes, broccoli, califlower, and some herbs. I use a heating pad on "medium" and that puts the temp about 85 degrees. The most intense things I have to germinate are of course my giant pumpkins. One seed I am starting this year is the 1161 Rodonis. A SINGLE 1161 RODONIS HAS AUCTIONED THIS WINTER FOR OVER $500. I received it free but it still puts the pressure on my ability to germinate the thing. I will do practice germinations before starting my pumpkins towards the end of April.

In other news, Blaine has been loving playing outside in this incredible weather we've been having (60's and 70's). Cold is on its way though with snow forecasted for later this week. :(

8 Months

HAPPY 8 MONTHS BLAINE!!

This boy is quick to smile, quick to laugh, but quick to turn on the tears. He is one stubborn cookie! Very much a busy body, the kid definitely wears me out by the end of the day! In fact, I'm out of breath just from dressing him in the morning! He looooooves his ducktub and I can't deny him a morning bath after breakfast because he is just squealing too excitedly to deny him the pleasure.

Blaine is definitely quite a talker but shy in public; just like his parents! He is eating solids MUCH MUCH better now and even took 4 whole bites of green beans yesterday! We are getting there!

Can't wait to see what this month brings our way. :)

EC

Just because this blog has been lacking in the cute-baby-on-potty pictures:

He went potty on vacation very well, even for my parents who watched him during the day while I attended the seminar. For some reason, now that we are home I have him back in cloth diapers during the day and he seems to want to POOP in the cloth diapers?!! This kid has only pooped in his diaper maybe once in the whole last month but then 3 times in the past 2 days. HRMPH. I think it is his way of telling me he hates the thick bulky cloth diaps. That kid is stubborn and knows how to get his way in MANY aspects of life! It is going to be a tough go at parenting him. ;)

MY DECISION

Well if you were wondering how my decision came out, I had a discussion that very evening with my mom and husband. In less than 5 minutes, we all agreed three votes to zero, that I will not watch the other child this spring.

Thanks so much for all your comments! I don't think watching the other baby would empower me or make me feel stronger as a woman, but I do think it would make me GO INSANE! [I'm not a superhuman!]. Money wasn't a factor. Perhaps Blaine would learn a bit from the other baby, [or perhaps the other baby would learn from Blaine since Blaine rolled over, and crawled first LOL], but he already plays with a 10 month old up the street pretty regularly and gets social time that way.

So I will continue to enjoy Blaine one-on-one because my maternity leave is only for two years and then I'll be back to making the big bucks (haha riiiiight) and missing my baby like crazy.

Niagara Falls '11

Every year we go to the International Giant Pumpkin Growers Seminar in Niagra Falls, Ontario. Perfect opportunity for Blaine's first trip out of Ohio! Blaine had to say goodbye to "Stewie," the giant traveling trophy that has been living in our house for the past year.

Blaine loved the "Niagara Falls" part of the trip but HATED the "getting there" part. It is no secret he sucks with car rides. So we armed ourselves with books, toys, grandparents, and planned to leave Friday night around his bedtime so he would sleep. Epic Fail. HE CRIED HYSTERICALLY FOR THREE HOURS STRAIGHT. Gah. I'm so jealous of people who can actually take their babies places because honestly, it will be a very very very long time until I attempt to take him over 40 minutes away from home again. And that is a shame because he really was an angel child once we got there! He had so much fun!

Clivia and A DECISION

MY CLIVIA IS BLOOMING!! YAYAYAYA!! Prettiest flower EVER.

In other news, to all you mom's out there, if you had a 7.5 month old, and a friend asked you to watch her 10.5 month old from April through the end of the school year, and get paid, would you do it?

I'm so torn! Blaine is so needy and needs to learn independence so it could be good. Another child would be good interaction and good entertainment for him. And it is only 2 months until the end of the school year. They have arrangements for next year.

But I feel that I would be leaving Blaine to cry in his crib more to go to sleep (no more nursing, walking, nursing, walking, nursing, walking for 2 hours for naps if there is another baby in the house........which I shouldn't be doing anymore anyways LOL). How would I handle bf'ing Blaine with another baby there? No more cuddling in mommy's bed in the morning if there's another baby in the house. No jumping in the car to go somewhere on a whim. I'd hate to get a double jogging stroller to use for only two months so no more running with baby during the day. Having a baby here whose parents are teachers would expose Blaine to waaay more germs and he's never been more sick than a minor cold. Germs scare me!! AND, how would I handle things like GOING TO THE BATHROOM??!

What it comes down to is that I totally suck at decisions. I just need someone else to make every single decision for me in life and then I'd be set. ;)

PLEASE GIVE ADVICE!

The Week from H*LL

So last week Nick was STILLLL in California for work and things were going badly here. While he was gone for two weeks, we had two major snowstorms (bigger than any others this year, worthy of the snowblower), one big flood, I broke my cellphone and we have no landline, I had a fever for 3 days, was sick for over 1 week (still fighting it), my period came with a vengence, AND I semi-sorta crashed my mom's van into the garage door.

But let's talk about the sickness. I didn't want to post about this, because I'm a GIANT HUGE MAJOR BIG believer in jinxes. However, it is too amazing to go undocumented.

BREASTMILK IS MORE POWERFULL AND MIRACULOUS THAN I EVER IMAGINED.

Yes, I've always read it is great for this and that and this and that and this and that, but until you literally feel like you are lying on your deathbed (my throat hurt for 6 days so bad I couldn't swallow) and you are still cuddling 24/7 with your child, AND YOUR CHILD DOESN'T GET YOUR ILLNESS (???!!!!!!), then you aren't really a believer.

Well, now I'm a believer!

And my dad thought Blaine would surely get sick because breastmilk is a bodily fluid (wow, men!!).

Now, if I could only get my health back to 100%, because I have only run 3 miles in the last week. I'm still only at about 60% today. :(

Blaine sure can rock the MUKLUKS!

It is no secret I have an obssesion with all things Alaska. So imagine my pure joy when I learned I won some baby mukluks from Finnskimo. She made them herself with "Blue Felt and Deer Leather with Beaver trim". She is half Finnish and half Eskimo and lives in Kotzebue, Alaska. Considering my new favorite show is Flying Wild Alaska, I just pictured this package being handled by some of Era Alaska's employees (and Finnskimo's hubby is a pilot; gotta ask her if he works for Jim Twedo!!!!).

THANKS SO MUCH FINNSKIMO! They are so soft and soooo professionally made. I can tell they are 100% authentic Alaskan! :)