June Baby Preparations

June was not quite so eventful as May for getting lots done. We had lots of early heat, some illness, a business trip, and something every Saturday but one.

We are continuing to work towards our goal of having everything but laundry done by August 12. Our due date is September 19, so this is actually a month and a week early, I decided to pull it in a week!

But here is what we did get done:

1. Learned that once again it looks like we will not know if baby is a boy or girl before the delivery room, so we are planning a nice generic room right now. We have one more chance to find out July 1. We are healthy, but the doctor does want her favorite ultrasound tech to check something (I cannot remember what, but it might be the placenta because it is migrating like crazy).
   
2. Decided we did not like any of the paint chips we brought home for baby's room. Back to square one on that one.
   
3. Picked up 2 jumbo packs of diapers and wipes at Target on a great sale.
4. Worked very hard to find a new home for the futon that is in baby's room. (A couple hot leads still to pan out, if not we are calling a charity).
5. We looked into book cases that will fit into Miss Pear's closet to improve storage and help support our book habit (and get a few things out of baby's room), but decided to wait on that as the one that fits the best and maximizes space is a bit more expensive that we expected. This is something that is not a rush, but made the list of preparations as we were not sure how much energy we would have after! We think we can just put a second row of shelving above the shelving in there now to tide us over.
   
6. We figured out that there is a set of sheets that is very hard to change on the crib mattress, so is like brand new, and we will use those at first so that we can order the color we want when baby arrives. (They are so tight that literally, Mr Pear has to take the mattress out of the crib to change it - not possible for a mommy recovering from a C-section, but possible for a Daddy home for 3 weeks on vacation, and a grandma to help!)
   
7. I looked through our baby supplies that I have been picking up on sale for Miss Pear (her skin is so sensitive that we have not really switched yet), and found that I need very little!
8. We picked out the Bible and bookmark that will welcome baby home. When Miss Pear was born we could not find a Bible storybook that did not seem really light to us (as in missing key points!), so we opted to get her an NIrV Bible instead, it was important to us that she have her own Bible. And we have always been happy with that decision! So we are doing it again. (Plus, we never did order Miss Pear a bookmark, she commandeered one of mine, so when I found a beautiful Noah's Ark one with 4 ribbons, I was sold!) I will be ordering it in July or August, but just picking one was a big step!
   
9. Miss Pear finally found the sunshine night light for baby - the top priority for her and baby preparations, so it was very important to find this! It is a long and very special story that I will tell later.
10. Sorted through some hand me downs to see what we could use and it was all of it! (Toys and play yard sheets!)
11. Continued to talk to Miss Pear about baby's arrival, and she is excited! She loves to talk to baby and give baby hugs and kisses.
    
12. Ordered more supplies at my monthly stamping class to make cards (we make 3 or 4 projects each month, and instead of paying a fee for the class we commit to a $15 order each month. Rather than just order stuff randomly I have been ordering stuff to make some thank you cards! I have a rough idea of what I would like to make, so we will see. I think I may have everything except the brads, assuming I do the punch out flowers....
    
13. Selected the invitations for our church shower - we are just waiting for our appointment July 1 to confirm the color. They are so cute!
14. Begun serious work on the Freezer Stock Up plan (just the plan, not the cooking). Because my MIL will be here for the delivery it is not as urgent as she will help, but I still would like a well stocked freezer to make my life a bit easier and make sure my family is well cared for. With Miss Pear it was really 6 weeks before I felt like myself again, just with less sleep.
15. Completed all the stuff I wanted to get done for Miss Pear's hope chest. Just because I said it was going in for a specific birthday does not mean it was in at that time!
16. This past weekend Mr. Pear emptied the baby's room and moved the two remaining pieces of furniture down to the garage (disassembled). (Important because we got the call saying the furniture is in!)
17. I will be calling today to schedule the delivery of baby's furniture, so that technically counts as a June accomplishment!
    

And I think that possibly the most important preparation was a mindset shift for me. Miss Pear was breech at birth, and despite numerous things done to turn her (ECV, soaking in the pool daily to make more amniotic fluid to make more room to turn, exercises), she did not turn. I am petrified of surgery and needles. But a healthy baby was more important to me that my convenience. So over time I realized that the Lord was protecting me. I don't know from what, but He gave me His peace about it, that it was His will and provision for me.

So this time around I had hoped to avoid a C-section, but that is looking less likely with each appointment for reasons I don't want to get into here because frankly, I cannot emotionally handle the discussion. But, be assured that we are VERY well educated in this from a variety of sources, and have one of the few ob/gyn's who actually will do VBAC's and are scheduled for a hospital that supports VBAC's, so it is not like someone is trying to talk us out of it, and we are still in a wait and see mode, but things are becoming clearer.

So the mindset shift for me was to stop thinking that I am charge, or can do something to effect the outcome. Of course I pray about this, and try to be healthy, but understand that while this is good for both my and baby's health, the outcome is up to God. I am praying for Him to make His will very clear for us, knowing that if that means a C-section again I am going to have to trust that is best and good (despite the needles!), and that it is again the Lord's provision for us.

Saving drops of water

I have my sick little daughter curled up on the couch watching a favorite video. She was so sick during the night that she was up enough that she is now exhausted, and is too tired to enjoy reading, but is too awake to sleep, so we are in the same room each having our screen time.

But the fever stayed under control last night, and she is drinking stuff well, so I am pleased with that.

So, while I have a quick minute, on to Frugal Friday.

In California we are officially in a drought. I am a little disappointed that the past season's rain was not enough to push us out of this, but will continue to pray for abundant, well spaced rain (if we get too much our canyons have mud slides that are very dangerous).

While we pray for rain, we want to be good stewards of the water we have, including for our garden!

For our garden we have our timers set to what the minimum recommendations are, and we watch to make certain that there is no run off, and indication of over watering. We also check our sprinkler system regularly to ensure that it is working (no broken heads, etc), and we have it run during the night so we do not lose lots of water to evaporation before it can soak in!

We have a newer water efficient dish washer, so I make sure it is full and run it because I cannot wash that many dishes for that little water, and then I try to be very careful with the water for the dishes I have to wash by hand.

When I am running water to wash dishes I discovered that I "waste" over a gallon of water to get hot water! So I keep a plastic jug by the kitchen sink and put all that water in the jug. When it is full I pour it into the garden wherever extra water is needed (hence we can keep our sprinklers at the minimum).

We do enjoy a water table out back and the inflatable pool, but again, we try to reclaim that water for our garden, and Miss Pear loves to help!

We do have a front loader washing machine that is actually rated as water efficient as it adjusts its water level for each load based on sensors. It will adjust down to as small a load as one shirt, but I still try to run at least medium loads so that I am making good use of my water.

Unless there is a good reason not to wait, we shower every second day rather than each day. This also helps our skin to not dry out, and makes my hair cooperate much better (it also means we save on hair gel!)

And the motivation for this? Well, every summer water bills go up in California due to consumption. But as they call for conservation there is the concern that the price per gallon will be upped to make up for lost revenue if we get into a forced conservation situation. So we thought we would begin working on this ahead of time, and then enjoy the benefits now!

Some other things we plan on doing if it becomes to forced conservation is to save the water from starting the showers and baths, and bath water in general.

We are certainly not experts, but are starting to make those baby steps to help us!

The Best Laid Plans...

...Mr Pear is traveling on business, he left this morning and will be back late tomorrow night.

I had great plans of using some time this evening to do the thoughtful post on hope chests - why we started so early, what we are hoping to accomplish, and an excellent resource. (By the way, if you have specific questions that would really help, please post them! Even vague questions!)

I was also going to blog about what we have been doing to save on water in a drought.

But then Miss Pear woke up from her nap with a 100.6F fever - and that was with her continually opening her mouth while I tried to take her temperature, so I suspect it was higher than that, but expect for lethargy and a very short nap there were no other effects. So I gave her Tylenol (which immediately helped) and we had a very quiet day. But those kinds of things drain mommies who worry about their children!

So rather than blog tonight about those in depth things, which will take a fair bit of time, but be worth it, I am going to make sure I have a good rest so I am ready for tomorrow.

Don't send...

... a pregnant woman to the store on a milk and egg when there is a bit of extra money in the grocery budget.

She will not only come home with milk and eggs, she will also come home with Dove ice cream bars, Oreo cookies, French vanilla ice cream, and ice cream cones.

She will walk in the door and cry out (10 minutes before bed time), "Who wants ice cream?" in a voice loud enough to carry through the house and excite everyone.

She will ask follow up questions such as, "Am I the only one having ice cream or does any one want to join me?" just to make sure everyone is nicely riled up as Daddy and daughter come running down the stairs with Daddy doing what he can to rile up daughter even more, just for fun.

And then she will give the three year old sweetie her own Dove bar just because she can, ensuring a nice sugar high as reading time is ending, but every once in a while, you have to do something silly, just because you can, just because your family is there and you love them.

So no particular reason for the treats, just love my family, and if you have to make a milk run, you might as well make it worthwhile.....

(Oh, and all splurge items were on sale, and the budget has been maintained).

A Miracle Just for Us

Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!
Psalm 34:8 NKJV

I have known about this since Monday, and have been trying to find words to tell you. While it may not be big news for most families, and many will not understand why it is such big news for us, I still wanted to share. I wanted to share the goodness of the Lord and how He blessed us in such an overwhelming way.

Most of you know that Miss Pear has some serious allergies. Around the age of 1 she was tested for allergies and was so severe for peanuts that we almost ended up in the ER and carry an Epipen and Benedryl EVERYWHERE! She also tested positive for egg white and later we discovered a potato allergy. And, of course, last fall we discovered Penicillin. So life was a bit complicated in this regard. Oh, and while she was never tested for tree nuts, she tested so severe for peanuts that we were told to avoid tree nuts too. (Even the risk of cross contamination).

As part of Miss Pear's 3 year check up she was retested for allergies, and the results were actually shocking. They did not test the Penicillin.

The new scale is:
0 = no reaction
2 = moderate
4,5,6 = very high

Miss Pear's results:
Tree Nuts = 0
Egg White = 0
Potato = 2
Peanuts = 2
(rest of childhood allergy panel = 0)

We were stunned! This is such a marked improvement! It almost seems impossible to comprehend! And while we still have to manage potato and peanuts, potatoes are not a big deal to avoid, and the peanut allergy is getting so much better that while we have to continue to be careful, it is not as dangerous as it was!

We have prayed and hoped for that Miss Pear would be one of the lucky ones to outgrow some or all of her allergies, and are thrilled to see answers to our prayers.

Miss Pear's Hope Chest - Year 3

This year one very special thing we put away for Miss Pear was a copy of the New Testament that belonged to my great granny who Miss Pear is named for (Great Granny's first name is Miss Pear's middle name).

A Japanese Pink Green Tea cup that was sent to Miss Pear from friends as they returned from 2 years in Japan. It actually arrived during her second year and lived in our china hutch, but when we moved to our new home the china hutch ended up stored in the garage, so we put the cup away - it is gorgeous!

Lady Bug Magnets – Auntie made these for her when we visited Canada in September because she was in love with lady bugs! It was a rather large set, so I kept half out for the lower half of the fridge and put half away.


Happy 3rd Birthday
From Daddy and Mommy – All-clad odd measuring cups and spoons (to finish off the set I started last year and because Miss Pear thinks that baking with me in the kitchen is the best game EVER!), 4 knit dish clothes that I made
From Grandma – to be determined! She wanted to hand down a special family something but had not decided yet. She is also on her road trip so she thought that she might find something on her trip that has been a long dream of hers!
From Grandma and Grandpa – The second petit point picture that is part of the set.

As you can tell, we are showing more restraint! There are some things in her room that I could never pass down or pass on as they have a very special meaning to us such as her night light (story to be told as part of the baby preparations), the quilt on her bed, the prayer quilt that hangs on her wall, a picture that was given to her on her first trip to Canada....Things that are incredibly sentimental! These are the kinds of things that no one else would likely understand, but your family knows, and appreciates!

Fast Cooked Dried Beans

I was talking to my neighbor recently, and she was saying that she loves the idea of using dried beans as they are truly so much cheaper, but with having to plan ahead to soak them and then cooking for so long on the stove top or all day in the crock pot, it is just too much work for her with three kids!

So this brings me to my kitchen tip tuesdsay! (By the way, I do the same thing as Tammy - I store my dried beans etc in glass jars and also the plastic ones from the spices I get at Costco as long as I can get the smell out!)

I cook my beans in a pressure cooker. Pressure cookers have become much more user friendly (and safer) than when our moms were using them. And I can decided I need beans at the last minute and still have them less than an hour later!

If I plan ahead, I soak the beans over night, rinse, add fresh water, bring to a boil, put pressure lid on, bring to pressure, set timer for 12 minutes keeping the pressure between the first and second rings (I have a gas stove so I usually just drop it to low). Then I turn off the heat and let the pressure release naturally (usually takes about 30 minutes).

If I don't plan ahead I soak the beans for what time I have or just rinse them. Add enough water, bring to a boil, put pressure lid on, bring to pressure, set timer for 16 minutes keeping the pressure between the first and second rings (I have a gas stove so I usually just drop it to low). Then I turn off the heat and let the pressure release naturally (usually takes about 30 minutes). If I cannot let the pressure release naturally I will set the timer for 18 minutes.

The joy of planning ahead is that I know better how much I can put in and can maximize the use of the pressure cooker!

I have done this three times in the last week and now have frozen bags of beans in the freezer for all the beans we use! I usually wait until I need them for a meal, then make what I need plus extra!

To freeze them I just put what I consider to be "one can" of beans in a zip top bag, squeeze out as much air as I can and then freeze it flat! It works great!

If you don't have a pressure cooker they can often be picked up cheap second hand!

Updated to add: Once I take the lid off (after the pressure is all released) I dump the beans into a colander and give them a quick rinse as we prefer the taste that way. I wish I knew a good use for the bean juice (is it good in a composter?), but until then, we go with this. Because I give the beans a quick rinse with cold water they are a bit cooler before I bag them. I just put the beans in, nothing else!

Miss Pear's Hope Chest - Year 2

Year 2 is a much shorter list!

In her second year we put away:

Mug from first trip to a zoo September 2006

-2 Mugs from Miss Pear's first church home, where she was baptized. They were given to her grandparents the first time they visited the church, and I could not think of a better thing to do with them when I was cleaning out a cupboard!

-green slippers with pink flowers that Miss Pear loved so much that I had to save them when she outgrew them.

- She was given a knit hat for Christmas (actually good to have in Southern California as the nights are cool and she had very little hair at the time!), it was her color, purple, and she loved the pompoms on it! She would literally sort through her drawer looking for it then pull it out and run around the house wearing it!

On her Second Birthday we put away the following:
-From Daddy and Mom-mom (what she called me at the time) – All-clad measuring cups and spoons, a favored toy when we are baking together, cloth napkins to match last years place mats.
-From Grandma – a purple quilt quilted by her grandmother! (So Miss Pear's Great Great grandmother!)
-From Grandma and Grandpa – a petit point picture - part of a 2 picture set that was made as a gift for Grandma.

Miss Pear's Hope Chest - Year 1

Good Morning!

Because it is much too hot to think here today, I thought I would continue the hope chest series with what was put aside for Miss Pear during her first year. I keep track via a Word file on the computer so that I know the who and when of the items. Not exactly scientific, but it works for me! I do try to be descriptive in the list so that items can be matched up. It is my plan that while I am storing in plastic tubs to print the list that goes with that tub and slip it in.


For Miss Pear's first birthday I decided to make a set of 4 French Provincial style place mats. Needless to say they were not done in time! But they are done now, are very cute and are tucked away in the box.

A Pooh Bear rattle was a decoration on a present from us to match the Winnie the Pooh theme of her birthday, so I had to save that once she was done with it.

One grandmother embroidered a set of 7 dish towels.

The other grandmother placed inside an embroidered dish towel and my grandmother's copy of the 4-H cook book from when I was a 4-Her!


Other items placed in during this year were:

• Sleeper that Mommy came home from the hospital in (honestly, I did not know what else to do with it).
  
• Hat that Miss Pear wore in the hospital - it was a newborn hat that we brought with us that was so much softer than the ones at the hospital, and fit better too.
• Shirt Miss Pear was given at the hospital with the hospital logo on it.
• Sleeper and hat that Miss Pear came home from the hospital in (we did not put it away until after she outgrew it!)
• Pink and White sweater that was Mommy’s
• Miss Pear’s Christening Gown – It was made by Miss Pear’s Great Grandma for Mommy to be baptized in. (We had this preserved, so it is in an annoyingly large cardboard box, but it still fits in the plastic tub, and I pray a third generation will wear it, followed by many more!)
• Miss Pear’s First Christmas - Special First Christmas socks from Daddy and Mommy
• Barnyard Dance - Miss Pear ’s first signed book just for her. This was a favorite, as seen by the teething evidence….
• Dusty Rose sweater that Mommy knit for Miss Pear while recovering from a broken foot. It was the first sweater she made.

Baby Blankets Saved for Miss Pear (none in box yet, they still get used occasionally)
- White on white quilt a Grandma made
- Pooh Bear cross stitch Afghan a Grandma made
- Ribbon blanket a Grandma made
- White, pink, and blue afghan Great Great Auntie made
- Purple afghan dear friend made and shipped from Japan


As you can see, an inordinate amount of stuff has been set aside from the first year, but I forced my self to show some restraint. I tried to limit myself to real keepsakes, things that I would be heartbroken to lose, or that were particularly meaningful. I also tried to put a few mementos that were family pass downs.

Lest you think we have to set aside an entire closet for this project, I assure you that the first year is by far the longest list so far! And some items are stored at grandparents homes and will eventually make their way here as there is room in the suitcases! Therefore we have only one plastic tub - although it is full, and another is needed. The tubs will be stored in Miss Pear's closet once I pull the baby stuff out!

Once I am sure I will not need the crib sheets (I am thinking about waiting until baby is born before I order crib sheets so I can order pink or blue, so I might need these ones a bit longer even though they are worn out along the edges) I will be using them to sew protective covers for quilts - more on this later, but the white on white quilt will need a cover, as will at least 2 more known to date. Quilts should always be folded top side in, then stored wrapped in cotton - pillow cases work best. Choose a light color if possible, old pillow cases work great as they will not leach color. As receiving blankets start to fray they will be used for this purpose too.

I am not as organized in storage as I could be, but that will become an important project in the next couple years.

Starting to think about Hope Chests

Earlier this week or late last week I had posted about my knit dish clothes that I had completed while recovering from a broken toe (I still wish I had a better story on that one!) Any how, I mentioned that 3 of the dish clothes were going into Miss Pear's hope chest.

Vicki commented asking about this and basically what we were doing, and as this is a topic near and dear to my heart I wanted to comment.

It all started when I started saving special things for Miss Pear.

I saved the outfit my mom had brought down that I was brought home from the hospital in. The sleeper Miss Pear was brought home from the hospital in. My christening gown that Miss Pear wore the weekend of my 30th birthday when she was baptized. A sweater I wore that was saved that she wore. And probably a couple other special things. I realized that I needed a place to keep this, hence began a hope chest of sorts.

Then around came her birthday, and I wanted to do something special, but none of the keepsake ideas were really our style. So the hope chest idea flourished, and we decided to put one thing away for her birthday each year. The grandparents have joined us in this, and occasionally we put something in during the year as well if there is a special occasion or something like that.

Also, as Miss Pear out grew them, I put away some special blankets that were made by special people just for her.

So, as she just turned three, next week there will be three posts (God willing and baby in my tummy cooperating). There will be a post for each year of her life and what went into her box. Plus a few resources and ideas I have liked that have helped me, plus some future plans I have for her hope chest, plus our thought process as we select items. Plus, I refer to it as a box because it is currently stored in a plastic bin. (We are so fancy around here! I hope to one day replace it with a cedar chest, but am in no rush!)

As I am starting this, do you have anything you would like me to include in this miniseries? I would be more than happy to try answer questions!

My Little Nanook of the North

Growing up in Canada we were all familiar with the phrase Nanook of the North. It was most likely used in winter when we were bundled up within an inch of our lives to describe how we looked!

Well, this morning I had no choice but to call Miss Pear my little Nanook of the North.

On the hottest day of the year so far she came in wearing her pajamas, a FLEECE house coat with the hood up (the same one she refused to wear all winter), and her bear slippers.

She was so happy.

So I just smiled, called her my little Nanook of the North, gave her kisses and a snuggle, and then helped her get ready to take Daddy to work.

Eventually I did manage to talk her out of the house coat and then the slippers, but first thing in the morning it was not yet roasting!

Where is she now?

We are in the unenviable position of trying to explain to Miss Pear why she cannot call her grandmother whenever she wants. You see, grandma is not home. She is on a bus tour to Alaska.

So we are playing the "Where is Grandma" game. Also known as I lost her, can you find her?

We posted maps to cover her whole trip, and then got bus stickers, train stickers and boat stickers.

Each day we take her itinerary, and see where she is now. On the map of Canada we mark it with a little angel sticker. On the map of the province or state we use a sticker marking whichever mode of transportation she is taking (except the day she toured Denali park - we used bears that day).

So far it is helping her understand - grandma is still not home.

But it is also giving us a chance to talk about maps, things that are en route (we like to color printed coloring pages), and I think Miss Pear is having fun - and seeing as she just turned 3, what more can you ask for in an early geography project! Plus, she has always been fascinated with maps!

Any way, it really is working for us!

Waffle Batches

For my Kitchen Tip Tuesday, I have to confess a long standing short falling in the kitchen which I have FINALLY managed to overcome!

We love waffles around here, and occasionally even have them for breakfast! But usually as brunch, lunch or supper. And it always requires that I make a few and keep them warm while I finish making enough for our family - or more if it is for company! This has always resulted in the one at the bottom of the pile being a "throw away" as the condensation makes it collapse while keeping warm in the oven.

This is always horribly disappointing to me as it is so wasteful, and I make them from scratch!

But this weekend I finally had an epiphany. I took my cooking rack and placed it on my sheet pan. (I have a large cooling rack so it went right across and I could have two piles of waffles). I put it in the oven and set it to 200F. As the waffles were done I started my piles.

And when I was done, every waffle was a keeper.

Even the bottom ones!

But not being directly on the pan no condensation could develop, so the waffles were crispy top and bottom!

I am SO happy! And it was not just the strawberries and whip cream on the waffles that did it!

Making my home a haven

It is abundantly clear to me that I need to get back on some kind of schedule! If you read this post, you will have no doubt as to why!

Last week I dusted off my housekeeping notebook, and then decided to play along with Crystal's Making Your Home a Haven series.

However, our living room was in good shape as we had just had company for brunch Saturday!

So I looked at our days and realized that with being pregnant and not feeling good we were watching way too much television, and were just not doing well at getting important things done!

This morning I printed our new daily schedule and put it on the fridge, all gung ho.....

We had our breakfast and Bible reading.

We got our supper in the slow cooker.

And then got horrible low blood pressure - pregnancy related, and much better than the alternative, but I only felt good sitting or lying down.

We had to cancel our park trip with friends, which I felt horrible about. But could not help.

And I refused to turn on the TV to help me.

So I took the water table, put some of the free dish soap I have stockpiled (I have about 10 bottles, so I think I can spare some!), maybe about 1/2 an ounce. And let Miss Pear hold the hose and filled 'er up. She thought it was great, and all the water got in the table.

When the bubbles were no longer earth shatteringly fascinating, I dumped our ice cube bin in - I like to dump it every once in a while so that the ice on the bottom does not get old, and this is also a great way to keep little ones cool on a hot day, which we are having, hence the blood pressure problem. The ice made it all completely fascinating again!

While Miss Pear very happily played, I read to her. We finished off one Beverly Cleary book, and started another. It was clear to me that she was listening while she played, so I was thrilled! This was a land mark occasion because so far doing read aloud with chapter books has not gone well. The book we finished today was the second one....since before Thanksgiving. And getting read aloud going is a huge goal of mine as we see it as one of the keys to starting our homeschooling!

And when it was time to come in Miss Pear helped me make lunch (okay, she played at one counter standing on her stool while I worked at the other), and she set the table - insisting I sit right next to her - and carefully put everything on the table I gave her.

When I was putting Miss Pear down for her nap I realized that even though I had felt so horrible, our morning had gone very well! I had found a great way to handle low blood pressure, and we had figured out a great way to read aloud!

It definitely made me feel like I was in a sweet haven.

Planet of the Left Socks

Socks have been the bane of my laundry existence this past week and a half!

Last week I was folding the laundry and was missing 2 of Mr. Pear's socks and one of mine (and no, none of the ones that were missing were a matched pair). So we looked everywhere, including where Miss Pear stashes stuff, sorted through all the clothing items that eat, I mean hide socks, sorted through the clothes hamper thinking they got left behind (getting to the bottom of the hamper is not my forte right now), and rechecked the washer and dryer. No socks.

So I decided the way to handle this was to do all the laundry the next day and hope it showed up. We found my missing sock, but Mr. Pear's two socks were still missing.

This resulted in an all out search...again.

Mr. Pear looked in Miss Pear's room again, and found his two socks under her bed. Apparently she had absconded with them. But at least they were found and clean!

I figured I had found all the missing socks!

However, after I folded all the laundry, I discovered that 2 of Miss Pear's socks were missing....

After much searching I did find one of her socks stuck in her dance leotard, so I was only missing one sock, and could NOT find it!

Then that night I went to look for a bookmark in my nightstand. And guess what I found. Miss Pear's missing sock plus two more matched sets of hers.....

I think I have finally found all the socks in our house, and if a whole pair is missing, please do not tell me!

Am I the only one with a laundry assistant who makes off with the socks?

What disappears in your house?

Picture from allposters.com

Knit Knit Knitting Part 4

These are the three dish clothes I will be putting in Miss Pear's hope chest for her third birthday (along with a set of measuring cups).

Another Chinese Waves Pattern (I made one in pinks earlier this year)

This is another Snowdrop Lace

And of course, another Grandmother's Favorite

And yes, I did practice the patterns on the other ones before I made hers! I am hoping that there will be a marked improvement on what I am putting in now verses what I am putting in 15 years from now! Oh, and I did sew in all the tails, it is not a finish yourself project! :-)

Of course, now I start thinking about what to put in for next year. I try to find something that kind of defines our year or something new that she does, so I start keeping my eyes open right away, and by the time we roll around to next year I will have lots of ideas!

Happy Wednesday

Good morning all, did you know it was already Wednesday? Yup, surprised me too.

We had a wonderful weekend that included the welcome to our new church as we said our membership vows. Oh, and a lovely ladies lunch on Saturday where I was blessed to win two months of Gymboree classes for Miss Pear (translates into July and August weekly class in air conditioning!)

Once again I am determined that this be the week I get caught up. So Monday was laundry day, and Tuesday was baking day. Actually every day this week will be baking day to get caught up, but it is worth it! Today is cookies and granola bars, hopefully. Yesterday I decided to try making bagels for the first time. I used this recipe, and was very pleased! I actually made a double batch of whole wheat bagels and a double batch of cinnamon raisin bagels. They turned out great! And doing two double batches really made it worth the work! Needless to say, Miss Pear and I were more than ready for nap time!

We also found out that a dear friend of ours has enough Kefir grains that she can split off both milk and water grains for us! We are thrilled! The milk grains will be nice smoothies in the morning, and the water grains should provide a nice carbonated beverage to help with the afternoon heartburn (tums and malox just cannot handle it!) I am so excited!

So the big thing to get caught up on this week besides the baking is my ironing. With the washing of all my maternity clothes to start wearing them, I just cannot seem to get caught up, but I am determined!

The one event I am very excited about is that Mr. Pear is invited out for lunch today with a couple men from work who meet for lunch to talk and pray. It encourages us so much. We have been here for a year on Friday, and it seems like we don't have a whole lot of friends - despite doing playgroup (all the women have been friends for so long it is hard to get in) and BSF (there are two families I am trying hard to keep in touch with). But we are starting to meet people at church, so I am very hopeful that we will have some good friends there.

Well, off to baking!

It's A......

Well, thank you to all who played along in our little anniversary game! We had a wonderful anniversary, and supper was fabulous...oh, that is not what you wanted to know?

Okay, fine....moving on.

The winner is: well, nobody. Except Mr. Pear who said that we would have the mystery baby again, but he did not post an answer, so it doesn't technically count. :-)

Mrs. Amy Brigham came close when she said she was thinking blue because we decided to paint the room an ocean bluey/green color.

But as for a boy or a girl, we have the every popular mystery baby - shy and modest. (Does that mean a girl?)

The doctor has a favorite ultrasound tech who does not work on Friday's, so she wants something rechecked at our next appointment, so there is one last chance to find out, but we have agreed that if we don't find out by July 1, it will be a surprise.

And a surprise will be fun too.

Thank you for the wonderful anniversary wishes - they mean a lot! And thanks for humoring me and playing along, after all, we all know we have to humor pregnant women...... :-)

So we will try (and guess) again July 1.....

What do you think????

So today to celebrate our 9th anniversary we are going for our 24/25 week appointment, and they are planning on finishing the ultrasound they started a month ago. They were unable to finish because baby would not cooperate. So we have one more chance to find out if we are having a boy or a girl.

What do you think?

Will I be announcing:
a) a sweet baby boy
b) a darling baby girl
c) a sweet shy baby (we will let you know the details in September)

Keeping in mind that I have a strong history of babies not cooperating with ultrasounds, but last month the sweet tech did get a quick glimpse, not enough to make an announcement, but enough to heavily lean in one direction. Also keeping in mind that we found out Miss Pear was a Miss when she was delivered!

To be honest, I think I knew before we even conceived what we would be having, but I don't really have a preference, except for a healthy baby!

One way or another we will be celebrating by going out for supper to a great steak house that is actually family friendly! (In fact, they are usually so loathe to rush us that we have to actually ask them too because Miss Pear will linger forever if you let her!) What a great way to spend an anniversary!

Knit Knit Knitting Part 3

This is the set of dish clothes I made for my Mom for Christmas - nothing like being a little bit ahead of schedule!

This is the Lacy Knit Dishcloth

This is another Snowdrop Lace

And this is the Chinese Waves Pattern

Oh, and shhhh, it's a secret!

Knit Knit Knitting Part 2

This is the set of dish clothes that I gave to a friend for her birthday!

The Snowdrop Lace

The Garter Stitch Eyelet

And the Grandmother's Favorite

I cannot link directly to the patterns for some reason, just to the site of the link.

Jen - the other two sets will be coming! All but one pattern came from this same site, but I see now that they added it..... They also have crochet patterns if that is more your niche!

Happy Wednesday

Miss Pear's birthday on Saturday went wonderfully! We had so much fun with the three families that came to celebrate with us, and sure enough, Miss Pear was most happy with the fact that there were balloons, cake, and that her friends came to play - but not necessarily in that order! It was great. And I did get everything necessary done before people arrived without losing my mind again. (Except somehow the kitchen floor did not get swept...oh well.)

Saturday night we took Miss Pear out for burgers and shakes, and she had a great time.

Sunday we left home at 9, went to church, left immediately after (missing Sunday School) to drive down to a friend's house because she was hosting a brunch for other friends who moved out of state and were just here for the weekend (we literally arrived right on time). Funny thing is that there was a table of presents for Miss Pear! They totally spoiled her. These are all women who consider themselves aunts and grandmas, so you can just imagine.

We got home just in time for supper exhausted, but happy.

Monday was a VERY quiet day. We did make it to the park for play group, but even that was too much for my little over tired girl. Monday night I watched game 4 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Actually, I just watched the last 5 minutes of regulation time, and then the three over times. They were 5 minutes short of playing 2 full games that night! Although by the end the only way to describe it is to say that it felt like that old song...."This is the song that never ends....it goes on and on and on...." You could tell the players were completely exhausted, but were still playing good hockey! It will be fun to see what happens tonight!

Tuesday was another crazy day with meeting two families at the park who we met at BSF and want to keep in touch with. But to be honest, I think all three of us woke up yesterday morning, looked at each other wondering why in the world we were awake! Even Miss Pear seemed bewildered to be awake! Usually having one car is no sacrifice, but yesterday it was hard to get out the door to take Mr. Pear to work so we could have the car. One of the errands we were to run was to get cards, and I love Miss Pear to pieces, but I hate taking her to card stores as they are always filled with fascinating breakable stuff! So I dug through my stash and found enough cards that will work that I can wait, plus I found the anniversary card I bought for Mr. Pear about 2 months ago which was the key reason I was going! So we delayed our quick trip to CVS, and counted our errands complete! We were that tired. But it was a good tired from having great things to celebrate, friends who love us, and a baby on the way!

Although this reminds me that in August I should make a list of all the cards I need until the end of the year and go shopping so that is one BIG thing taken care of!

We do have dance today, and a few groceries to pick up (unless I can rework our menu until the weekend, which I would prefer), and that delayed trip to CVS so I am hoping for a nice quiet day.....

Knit Knit Knitting away the time...

Do you remember two months ago when I missed a few stairs and broke my toe? Well, did you ever wonder how I passed the time with my foot up to at least hip level (making working on my afghan, sewing and quilting out of the question)?

I spent some time knitting dish clothes:


There are three bundles of three for a total of 9 completed dish clothes - well, in the pictures they still needed the tails sewn in, but that has since been completed. One set of three is a birthday present for a friend. One set of three will be put aside for Christmas to be a present for my mom. And the final set will be put in Miss Pear's hope chest (we put something away each birthday, and started with her first birthday).

More detailed pictures to come with pattern links. If you would like to learn to knit, these little projects are great - they are not too big, and are very useful! After all, how many things are there that allow you to safely scrub glass?

May Baby Preparations

I was thinking about all the things we had accomplished in May that will help us be ready for Baby's arrival in September. We are planning on following our plan for Miss Pear which is to have everything but laundry done a month early. When Miss Pear was born not one of our friends had a routine pregnancy, with almost half going into early labor or being put on bedrest. It was kind of scary, so we got ready early! (I am a hope for the best, prepare for the worst kind of girl).

Plus I was crazy and decided to finish studying Greek for seminary, finishing about 3 weeks before Miss Pear arrived.

Add to that the discomfort of the last month, and it turned out to be a great plan! So we are going with that again! Plus it let me really enjoy the preparations and excitement and fuss with the little things at the end!

Goal: Finish everything for baby's arrival by August 19 (except laundry so that it is all fresh!)

May's Accomplishments:

• Painted Miss Pear's room while she slept in the guest room that will be converted to baby's room, now we can get rid of the futon in there. (We opted not to share rooms because Miss Pear came home talking in her sleep - I kid you not!)
  
• Ordered baby's furniture - it should be here by the end of June (we obviously already have the crib!) We ordered a chest of drawers, change table / dresser, and night stand
  
• Ordered the Ergo baby carrier as all parts were finally in stock
• Picked up 2 jumbo packs of size 1 diapers on a super sale (there is usually one good sale a month, so I am trying to slowly start picking these up when I can, leaving the smaller sizes for the last minute so I can exchange them if need be.)
  
• Miss Pear picked out a plush rattle and face cloths for baby
• Picked up color samples for baby's walls and posted them to try make a selection - I am thinking a turquoise leaning towards the blue - would that be aqua then? If it is a boy the color will be lovely, and if it is a girl I can accent in pink and it will be lovely.
  
• Picked up one newborn outfit because it was too marked down to ignore! It is sweet and green.
  
• Figured out how to get a book case in Miss Pear's closet so we can move the half storage shelf to baby's closet (Plus have more of her books in her room!)
  
• Figured out how to get more storage in our closet and where to find the shelving for a second row of shelves. (Integral to clearing out baby's closet of all my crafting stuff - clearly not safe to leave in there!)
  
• Determined color scheme of thank you notes I would like to make and have begun slowly assembling the materials at the card class I am taking for fun.
  
• Picked date of church baby shower (August)
• Determined first name for both boy and girl
• Found safety measure for nursery window (which is lower that we would like), and made a careful note of it for when we need it.
  
• Completed list of baby needs
• Found a couple options of how to pass on the furniture currently in baby's room.
• Finalized the furniture layout for baby's room

I am really happy that I made this list - it made me feel very accomplished!