Chair Cover - Before & After

For the longest time, I've been staring at this ugly plastic bag that I put underneath Ethan's booster seat to keep the chair clean. So Ethan went to play with his cousins today, so I finished up this chair cover from some linen remnants I had. Ahh!!! I'm so glad to be rid of the plastic bag!! Now I can just take off the slipcover & wash when needed.

More Pics

a picture from the hospital Our latest pasttime - waving at cars driving down the road. Don't worry - we're holding hands!!

Note to Baby

Dear Baby Girl,

The hours between 5 pm and 5 am are called "nighttime". They are for sleeping. The hours between 5 am and 5 pm are called "daytime". They are for playing & being awake. I guess no one told you. Hope this clears things up.

Love, Mommy.

Baby Side-By-Side

My babies, each at 1 day old. In real life, I don't see many similarities, but here they definitely look like brother & sister!!

Back Home

I'm trying to resist all urges to post the same picture over & over of our little girl in slightly different poses. We are settled back in at home, and we are...umm...Sleepy. Things are good, just your typical new baby sleep deprivation is already kicking in. Ethan loves her & thinks she's pretty great. He wants to give her hugs & hold her all the time. He says, "Her hair is black and Her eyes are black."A few weeks ago, I made the mistake of mentioning a gift that Katie Belle was going to bring. Every time we mentioned KB, E would say, "She has a gift for me?" Finally, we got to give it to him. He was pretty thrilled.

Here She Is!

Katie Belle Brock

Lance here...

Katie Belle was born this morning at 7:10am. She weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz. and is 20 inches long. She has chubby cheeks and black hair.

Carrie started having contractions yesterday (Saturday) at 2pm or so. We went to the hospital at 10pm with pretty regular, strong contractions. They sent us home at midnight because not enough was happening. Oh, and they gave Carrie an Ambien which was a bad idea. We went back to the hospital at 3am with serious contractions and no sleep but of course she was SUPER sleepy (thanks, Ambien). She was a trooper and did it without the epidural in part because they kept telling her the hard part was over (for four hours).

Lance

Singing ABC's

I have NOTHING to say these days, except that I'm growing impatient. Induction is scheduled for Tuesday, so that's when she'll arrive, if she doesn't decide to come sooner. So in the meantime, here's a cute little video that I hope you enjoy. Check back later for baby girl pictures!

Ways to Save

Still no baby...But on a completely unrelated note, Do you know of websites/blogs that offer tips on Ways to Save Money? One that talks about discount days or free stuff or cheap meal ideas, etc, etc? I know there are tons of the web out there that talk about these things, but I just don't know them & I'm looking for new ideas.

I know it's late in the summer, but here are Ms. Cheap's free summer stuff to do in Middle TN. There is so much free fun around here, she had to break it into 2 pieces! So to get the ball rolling, here are 2 links to save you money. Free Summer Fun 2008 - Part 1 and Free Summer Fun 2008 - Part 2

Or, maybe you're so thrifty, you don't need a website to jump-start the brain! If so, What are your favorite things you do to save money?

Funny Things Heard Around our House

Still here. Here are a few stories I've been meaning to share...

Story #1: A few months ago, I got a new Kitchen Aid food processor. Ethan looked at it and said, "It's a Nissan!" Have you ever noticed the similarities? Me neither.

Story #2: While eating french fries, Ethan took a thin fry, folded it in half & said, "Look Mommy. An Acura!" This boy knows his car logos...

Story #3: Today, he said nicely & without whining, "Mommy, I don't want to go to Target." So I said, "Well, maybe we'll go get a bagel after we go to Target." To which he replied..."I don't want a bagel. I want CARROT JUICE!" Of all the things he could request, this was his heart's desire. So the boy got carrot juice...(Although the diaper on the day after carrot juice is not pleasant.)

Another House Update

Since I haven't updated about our house situation lately, here goes...It's been 3 months since the car hit our house. We are still living in it. Still no work has been done. We are still waiting on insurance to get resolved. Meaning...we are waiting for State Farm Insurance to give us what we're owed to repair the house. There is an enormous discrepancy in what they say it will cost, and what our estimate said it would cost. We have no idea when we'll be able to move out & get started on work. We now have a lawyer, and there were some positive signs of moving along, but things have slowed down, all over again.

Up from the Compost

Anyone know what this is? It's the fun part of composting...this was SOMETHING that I threw in there last year, but I don't know what! It looks like maybe a watermelon or cantelope? It keeps growing & growing...

Q Time with E

Counting Down - 9 days until the official due date...We've been enjoying some nice quality time with our boy these days. Over the past week, we played outside,we enjoyed popsicles,we took e for his 1st climbing outing at the gymdad & ethan fixed the car,and they & took some naps.Tonight, we went to see Wall-E. It was Ethan's first time to a movie, and he did great! What cherished memories!

CSA Wraps Up & Bierocks Recipe

This week was our last week of our CSA. I knew there was no way I'd keep up with all these veggies when the baby arrived, so we pre-arranged to cancel our membership early. This week, the 1/2 share had cantaloupe, jalapeno, banana pepper, new potato, garlic, onion, cucumber, green pepper, green onion, eggplant, corn, red cabbage, some herb and (what I think is) a lemon cucumber.

Also, I found a good use for all the cabbage...BIEROCKS! They are a German Meat Turnover (although my German friends hadn't ever heard of them). I used ground turkey instead of beef. And they combine some of my favorite things...
1) Something that our whole family can eat! (as long as the bread dough is dairy/egg-free)
2) Something that can be individually frozen & eaten later.
3) Making good use of CSA Veggies
4) Finally using up food from the freezer! (Frozen Bread dough from these Calzones!)

Noses are Red...

I know I'm biased, but I'm pretty sure my son is a wizard at coloring. And by the way, the nose is always red.

More Pretty from Etsy.com

I love the internet. Such pretty things can be seen from the comfort of your own home. Like these personalized cards, from Sarah + Abraham's etsy shop. Or this little jacket, made from a vintage tablecloth, from Posie's Boutique. Cute cute cute!And while Im on the subject of etsy, they are having online video tutorials nearly every day this month, on a different craft. Next week, you can learn Metal Etching, Screenprinting, Appliques and more!