what to do when you're 9 months pregnant:

go camping, of course! There are SO many pictures we woulda/coulda/shoulda taken, but of the 3 days we were there, the camera only came out once. oops. In a nutshell, we went with a group of about 7 families from the chapel, there was running water, toilets, a makeshift kitchen (I brought the cast iron), plentiful food, an air mattress in the tent at night (woke up on the ground every morning...), s'mores, and sweat. And yes, I did scope out the perfect rock right next to the water, "just in case". tee hee.

one for me, one for you

In every "must-have" list I've ever seen for life with a newborn, receiving blankets are mentioned. New mothers are told to have a generous supply of them and to expect to use them for everything from swaddling to nursing covers and beyond. Last time around, I dutifully followed the rules (I am, after all, a firstborn daughter), and acquired at least 25 of them, either from hand-me-down bags, the thrift store, or the hospital. I might even have received a few brand-new ones as gifts.
Anyway, since I had my baby in MISSISSIPPI in JULY and was furthermore coerced into using a bili bed for lp's first couple of nights home from the hospital, and apparently have no sense of propriety, I ended up using about 6 of the blankets for about a week. From there, the stash was packed up, shipped to Sicily, stacked in the linen closet, and forgotten about.
And then I got pregnant again. Got the nesting bug. Decided sewing was a better outlet for my energy than scrubbing mold off walls (thank you mr. waaz, the bathroom looks great), and made a dent in my blanket stash while growing my shower/hospital bag stash. Did you know that one receiving blanket will make 2 newborn-sized pocket prefolds? Or that the same blanket could alternately make two fitted diapers and 2 wipes?
I plan on keeping one of each and gifting the other, along with the matching wipes. Anyone want dibs?PS: to tell the truth, the camo fitteds are actually not from blankets, but were reconstructed from their former life as contours. microsuede interiors, how cushy :) It's too bad you can't really see the print in the pic. to further tell the truth, a couple of those wipes aren't from receiving blankets either. oops.

twenty minutes ago:

while assembling the ingredients for Abuela's Dr. Cuz's famous key lime pie,

"lp, are you ready for a nap?"
"eh."
"as soon as I finish this, it's time to lay down, ok?"
"mm-kay"

exactly three minutes after that:

the question is, nature or nurture?

ETA: 2 hours after the last shot (and this one totally counts as a belly shot):

toddler nursing

6 weeks old and already have new homes lined up (just waiting for them to be 100% with the litter and dry cat food). They will be missed, at least by the other toddlers in the house.
ETA: 2 minutes after the pic was taken, they were wrestling with each other and being (unceremoniously) dumped from the stool to the ground. Five minutes after the pic was taken, 2 of the kitties were in the closet eating dry food. Yup, definitely toddlers.

OH YEAH, and Happy Mother's Day to all the moms reading this right now :)

UFO sighting #2

terrible picture (turns out standing on the loveseat and balancing a tripod while shooing the cat and laughing at the resident belly contortionist does not result in a clear shot, no matter how many times you try), but here it is: Next step: little hand embroidered somethings in each of the linen center squares. After that: square each square, piece them together, decide whether or not to add a border, baste together with batting and backing, hand quilt, and bind. All before July 12. Ahem.

The nice thing about little tiny embroidery things is that you can pick them up and put them down easily. Comes in handy when your son discovered his birthday present (dived, of course) a few months early and insists on using it every.single.day. At least he cleans up after himself (sort of!)...
Please note the bare feet and short sleeves 8-)

Now, to fix the blog's feng shui...

So if you write a post about grease, metal and grunting, you must follow up with some cuteness. What's cuter than two week old kittens?

A kid in a BK crown and a big boy booster is cuter than 2 week old kittens.

ps: cosmo decided that the dog's crate in our room at 2:00a.m. was the best place ever to have kittens, which is why we haven't taken pics thus far. We successfully moved them to their downstairs abode this afternoon, hooray :)
pss: well, successful for about 2 hours anyway...until the vacuum was started up. apparently the vacuum is scarier than the boy and dog combined.

Bye bye.

There may be some unconfirmed rumors flying around that I have sold the bike. Sadly, this is true. I have found that between working long hours, riding in a car pool, and having no riding partners equals little to no ride time on the bike. I felt bad for it, sitting in the driveway receiving hardly any attention whatsoever.

So... I have let it go to some one who will use it more than me. I also received a new vehicle and some cash in the deal so all is not lost. And for those who were eagerly awaiting my return so we could ride together, don't worry, I'll get another one later. Anyway, here is the replacement vehicle:

This is a Lada Niva, it's Russian.

4 cylinders, 4 wheel drive

No back seat though, so it is just as family unfriendly as the Honda. The dog likes it.

As does the Boy.


EP will miss it too. I will have you know that the wife took this picture, posed the boy and even made some vroomy noises all on her own.(disclaimer: by doing thus, she was not condoning the vehicle, merely attempting to get a couple more minutes to sit on her butt in the warm sun and read a grown-up book. She is shedding no tears about the bike's departure).

fluffy mail

Barnyard Circus theme, sewn by GB for the new baby's butt. How exciting :) You should see the smallest red fleece soaker in real life, it's miniscule! And a special bonus from awhile ago for those of you who care nothing about cushy butts: spidey and his spectacular socks (also crafted by the talented GB):

LunchSupperDinner take 2*

Veggie Spaghetti with several (uber-healthy) secret ingredients. You know it's good when the H comes down the stairs after a morning nap and says, "what is that? it smells really good". Too bad (so sad) for him that he doesn't like either squash or zucchini.

*LSD take 1

Caltanissetta on Holy Friday

You'll settle for pics and just a few disjointed words as opposed to nothing at all, right? Good. Click to enlarge.








It was a bit chilly and threatened to rain the whole evening, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless. That is, until mr. waaz decided there were entirely too many people crowding his American-grown personal space, at which time we purchased some delish pizza and escaped the crowd. There were fireworks, but we were back at the tour bus before we realized it and therefore missed them. There was a tour, which we enjoyed heartily but forgot most of the content of shortly after the guide closed her mouth. oops. I'll have to look all that up again sometime (gotta love the internet).









The parade we went to see featured 4th century floats of the 12 stations of the cross, hand carved and painted and meticulously maintained by the town's residents. Fresh flowers and a band playing beautiful music accompanies each float, along with many many catholic Sicilians. If you're interested in reading more about the traditions, there was an article in the Signature (link in sidebar) about this very event, or just google it like I'm going to. We didn't take many pics because both of our camera batteries were found to be dead mere minutes before we left, but did manage to get one of the actual floats, a couple shots of the miniature versions of the floats that were on display inside a church, a belly/family shot or two, and one of the bands (if you squint) from the balcony of a gothic church.








This concludes the pathetic excuse for a touristy post. I/we'll try to do better next time.

UFO ISO FQS

(Un-Finished Object In Search Of Fat Quarter Supplementation)

Scrappy Log Cabin squares, one of which has been declared a "beauty mark" as opposed to "totally screwed up". Will eventually become a small birthday quilt for lp, hopefully in time for the big day. Made from thrifted cotton shirts and stash fabric from Abuela, Granny Boo, and the quilt instructor lady who was ever so amused that I wanted to purchase her scraps. Machine pieced and hopefully hand-quilted with a little blue embroidered something in each of the linen center squares (eventually). Hoping to have enough variety so that each fabric is used only 3 times (we'll see).

20.5 months? really?

You know what they say, time flies when you're having fun, tee hee.

Some of the things I've been noticing and loving lately about this stage of lp's life:

-The way he lines things up, and crashes them down, and enjoys the container just as much as they toys it contain(ed).
-When he picks out exactly which book(s) he wants to read, and reads them, with or without adult company. (not my favorite: when he gets SO frustrated that he can't fit all the books in his hands at one time, but does NOT want help).
-that he takes himself to the potty, as long as he's not wearing much more than a shirt.
-he loves putting toys away just as much as getting them out.
-helping mom cook and wash dishes is a fun new activity.
-he speaks! words! lots of them! signs for "more please" "bite please" "all done" "down" (sit or get), calls the kitty (psss psss), yells at the dog ("go" or "sit"), says: "bye, dad" "see ya", "no", "yeS" "yeah" "book" "all done". Converses as if I understand him, and knows when I'm not paying attention.
-cuddling is a big part of our day, even though fitting on my lap is getting more difficult! lp cuddles stuffed animals, real animals, Chuck the baby, and his dad with (reckless) abandon.
He also:
-recognizes and can point many facial features
-follows MANY directions and understands routines.
-takes his own socks, jacket, and hat off and understands how to put on/take off shirt, undies, pants, and shoes, but can't quite do them on his own.
-washes his own hands, tray, and teeth.
-recognizes people/things in pictures/books.
-drinks from a cup w/o spilling
-can climb up and down some steps without holding onto anything
-makes the "kiss" sound and blows kisses (but only to the italian waitress at our favorite restaurant).
-can navigate a playground independently, except the ladders (solicits help with those). Loves the swing.

a few pics from this morning:

































PS: Thanks mom, the lounge suit fits perfectly!

7th Grade Science Experiment

Problem: How to mimic the absorbency of a disposable diaper. Solution: Have a mother willing to sew and push you through the process. Not to imply that Carolyn didn't actually DO the project. . .just that organizing her thoughts about HOW to do it needed some guidance. In the running were microfiber, old t-shirt, cotton velour, hemp, cotton flannel, old birdseye, and old cotton towel. We determined that a small disposable could hold over 16 ounces of liquid (one did, the other less). A learning moment: Carolyn, holding the really soggy goopy icky feeling diaper, says, "Now what?" I said, "Toss it in the trash." She said, "Really? That's all? Now it sits in the landfill?" Later, when we used the cloth alternatives, she wrung each out, put it on the clothes rack, and remarked, "Em will like these. They'll be used over and over." We determined how to duplicate the amount of liquid the disposable could hold, but wondered why anyone would want to! We also determined which of our easily accessible samples held the most liquid for their weight (a lighter weight diaper is generally considered more comfortable). Care to guess?
(While chatting about babies in diapers, Carolyn mentioned that she plans to adopt only pottytrained children, unless there is a really really cute one that she "picks out" that isn't.)

best seat in the house

As some of you know I've been lazily helping lp figure out this potty business for awhile now. He quite often wakes up dry, and will "go" outside or on his potty if the option is presented at the right time, but was still perfectly comfortable with going in his diapers or on the floor if that was the most convenient option available. The little potty we have was purchased for $2.50 or so at a yard sale, and was promptly chewed on by the dog in a most inconvenient location (serves me right for leaving it outside for a week), and was about 2" too tall. I had been seriously considering getting one of these as they come very highly recommended among the crunchy crowd. My goal so far has been to only have one in diapers at a time, and if you'll glance at the ticker on the bottom of your screen there, you'll see we're running out of days to accomplish that goal.

Cut to this tuesday: I was browsing the thrift store with the boy while waiting for a friend. I wasn't expecting to find much and was about to check out when I spotted it: a better option. "Come over here buddy, let's sit on the potty!" I called across the tiny store. Several disconcerted looks and pithy comments from the peanut gallery later, I was at the cash register with a goofy grin on my face, an 18.5 month old on one hip, and the answer to all--ok, most--of my problems clutched tightly in my right hand.

Fast forward a couple more days, and guess what?! He loves it! Gets on and off of it all day long, went once of his own accord (kind of missed because he was standing in it facing backwards trying to turn around, but he did stop long enough for me to assist in repositioning before he finished), and seems to very clearly associate the words, device, and appropriate actions. I have actually lost track of how many times he's sat and gone (with prompting) in the past couple of days. hooray!

Oh, and the icing on the cake:

instant gratification on the cheap

total cost: $1. Hooray for thrift stores.

taste the rainbow

um...so I experimented with kool-aid dye and some fisherman's wool. Let's just say I learned a few things about painting yarn and color combinations, and will be re-dying shortly (mom, any color suggestions?).
On the upside, the pattern I followed was really easy to read, and the entire thing (0-3 m size) only took me two days to knit! Will definitely be trying again with new wool, this time with just two colors. Like maybe blue and white...which is the color the wool starts out in the first place.

don't drink the water

So, what's it called when someone/thing is so empathetic to a woman's pregnant state that he/she/it begins to exhibit his/her/its' own pregnancy symptoms? You know: morning sickness, weight gain, mood swings, that sort of thing? Phantom pregnancy, I think it's called. yeah. Because a cat that's coming up on 7 weeks prego and a mom that's coming up on 7 months prego in the same house just isn't right. Please tell me she's just really fat and has a gurgly stomach:* *and, for reference, here's what she looked like not even a year ago.

Mail Call, Mineo Edition.

The mail is always fairly appreciated around here. It's either a nice note from some one back home or something that we just couldn't find in the NEX here, or didn't want top pay NEX prices. Today is no exception. We received a very fun package this afternoon.
No, it wasn't just because of the size of the box it came in.
Although we did have fun with that, what is more important, of course, is what came in the box.
Drums!!
EP attempted a solo gig on the Rock Band kit. (if you don't know what it is ask your resident teenager or pre-teen, I am pretty sure they can explain)
EP needed some help.
The boy didn't appreciate the help, however, he wanted to do things on his own, so daddy was reduced to the bass drum kicker guy. This was the only thing he could do unnoticed by the newly independent youngster.
This game also comes with a microphone so you can croon along to your favorite tunes.
Also a guitar is included so you can jam out on it if you like. I had to pry the sticks out of the boys hands when it was dinner time so we didn't make it to taking pictures with the little guitar. I think that I will have to buy him a real drum set for Christmas.
So, who wants to build me a soundproof room?

squeaky clean

The latest in crunch: homemade laundry soap. Works beautifully, costs mere pennies, contains no icky additives, smells great (even with vinegar as the softener!). Oh, and looks kinda pretty in the container to boot :)

the recipe: You can do a wet version, known affectionately as "boogers", but so far I'm liking the dry version just fine. Combine one bar finely grated (didn't do the pink soap finely enough) laundry soap (I used a mexican brand from my aunt and pink Zote; Fels Naptha is also highly recommended), 1/2 c each of Borax and washing soda. Mix up and use about 1 T per load size (so 3 if you're doing the biggest load your washer can handle or the laundry is filthy. For diapers I use 1 T). Wash as normal.