Heirloom Seed Planting

This year I have decided to plant my own seeds for our veggie bucket garden. Better yet, I am using all organic soils and I might even throw in some home grown compost. The best part? I am using heirloom seeds! I have become more and more concerned about our food supply's over abundance of GMOs (genetically modified organism). Many of the foods we eat have been genetically altered to battle disease or ward off pests. The danger? The foods are not pure. There have been studies linking GMOs with human RNA issues. I don't know about you, but anything that messes with my genetic code (RNA is the worker bee that reads/decodes DNA/sends messages to cells based on DNA) is not safe in my book. Adults have been eating these foods with out knowledge or consent for many years, but I am not about to let my kid be exposed to these types of foods if I can help it. The damage has been done in my adult body but I am going to protect his body as much as I possibly can!

So what is on the menu for this summer/fall harvest? 3 different types of carrots (red, purple, and yellow), 4 different tomatoes, salad greens, mini bell peppers, purple bell peppers, a few varieties of jalapenos (including purple), and some herbs. My order also came with a free packet of flower seeds that have been been planted in Europe since the 1500's! I can't wait to see them!

I have started to plant the seeds this week. I had purchased some rotisserie chickens so I repurposed the containers into mini greenhouses! Why buy them when I can reuse these? Not only do they provide a warm, moist environment for my seeds to grow, but they keep Fritz out too! I hope that we have success with these seeds germinating. I have been very excited about this heirloom harvest for a while now and I don't want to disappoint myself!

I purchased my seeds from Baker Creek. You can check them out on the web at www.rareseeds.com!

Check out my rotisserie chicken greenhouses!

Each "greenhouse" contains 6 starter pots.

Up close and personal with some pepper seeds!

Long time no post!

I can't believe that I have not posted a blog update in 6 months. What is wrong with me? Oh ya, I have a baby... errr... toddler who is a non stop gonna break my neck if you don't constantly hover over me kind of kid. His newest success? Finding things that he can turn into step stools so that he can get to the most dangerous places in the house. This week it was the top of the stove while I was cooking!! Good thing I don't care about gray hair because it has been coming in stronger by the day!

First sickness

William was sick last night. While I was at work. Mommy guilt has set in.

William had decided that he wasn't going to eat much on Monday night and all day on Tuesday. I went to work for a closing shift Tuesday evening and when I called home on my break James had said that William had been puking. I asked him to clarify, and William actually clarified for him by puking while I was on the phone. :(

Apparently he puked 3 times, the last time was quite an effort. James did a great job taking care of him while I was gone, letting William puke all over him just to let him feel better. Apparently hoping that William would be sick over the sink, but when that didn't work, he allowed William to be comfy on his shoulder and do as he wished.

Thank you to my loving husband who did a great job taking care of his sick baby... the first time he was sick...

William is feeling much better today.

So it's pink. Who cares.

Someone at work gave me their daughter's old walker thing. So it's pink. Who cares? He loves it!!

Sippy cup success!

Mmmmm... Oatmeal!

First try with sippy cup

Officially really crawling!

William had another milestone!

Little baby boy William sat up on his own today. Of course daddy was actually home, seeing it was Sunday and all... but he was in the shower. So, daddy missed it. :(

We had to lower the crib mattress today as well. William is able to just about reach the railing on the crib and soon enough he will be able to pull himself up. We decided to drop the mattress down to the bottom level so that we could put the crib tent on the crib. We are not satisfied with the ability to control the temperature in his room, so we are going to leave the door open overnight. Unfortunately, Zee likes to get in his crib so we need to keep her out. Hopefully this will work - a warm room over the winter and no kitties in the bed. He will be happy to see Dutch eye to eye first thing in the morning though!

Almost 6 Months!

William is just about 6 months old. What? Yes. My baby is growing up far too fast. He is on the verge of crawling, sitting, and has started to eat home made food. So far, he prefers barley over brown rice.

I was thinking this morning about what I would have done differently if I could have seen the future. For starters, we wouldn't have gotten the MamaRoo swing. I am sure lots of babies love it, but William didn't. In fact he just started liking it. Unfortunately, he can basically get himself out of it to pick up the toy that he drops on the floor. Scary. So, we decided to sell it. Not sure if we will get a swing for the next baby, but we do know that we are not going to store this one.

I also would have gotten a different breast pump. I am not a fan of sitting down at the couch all day either feeding or pumping. To all of you moms to be out there, get a hands free pump. It might save your sanity.

Clothes. Ya, far too many clothes! I think I would have been ok with 10 body suits instead of the 35 that I had for up to 3 months in age. He has outfits he wore once, if that. Towels, washcloths, and pacifiers. The kid takes a bath once a week, so 6 towels and 20+ washcloths are completely unnecessary.

Bedding set. We currently, as of 8 weeks of age, only use the sheet and dust ruffle. The bumper had to come out because William really enjoyed cramming himself into the corners of the crib so he couldn't breathe. Comforters are forbidden from cribs, so ours is now a wall hanging for decoration. We might put the bumper back in now that he is almost crawling. He love to roll over and bang his head. We will not be buying a new bedding set for the next kiddo since we will have this one to use!

Diaper bag. I will either get a backpack diaper bag or a ginormous diaper bag next time. I just recently purchased a wet/dry bag so that I didn't have to lug the whole thing into a store. Diaper bags are really for big trips, like a baby suitcase. What would be great is if I could get a diaper bag that could house my breast pump!

Lotions. Holy cow. I got so much baby wash, lotion, diaper rash cream... you name it... at my baby shower. I don't think I will ever use it all. We are half way done our first small bottle of baby wash. We only used the diaper cream when he was in disposables for a week and got a rash. The cloth diapers really do wonders on a baby's skin. I will be a cloth diaper fan for the rest of my life if not for that one reason!

New parents survival kit- aka the medicine bucket. Completely unnecessary. First off, half the stuff in there you can't give to an actual baby and by the time you can, the stuff is expired. Secondly, I am pretty convinced that most babies never need half that stuff in the kit.

I am still upset about the circumcision, but that will have to just be something I will have to live with. He is fine now, but it was completely unnecessary.

I think that is all I can think about changing right now. I am sure more will pop up as time goes on!

Been a while!

Sorry that it has been so long since my last update! I have lots going on these days! Short and sweet mommy update: back to work part time at TRU in Manchester, Mem (Roxanne) watches William while I am at the store. I am also one of the first sales reps for my favorite cloth diaper detergent! We are just getting started, but if you know of a place that you think should carry this great product line please let me know!

William is doing great at 16 weeks! He is growing and getting really good at becoming mobile! He loves playing "standy-uppy" as we call it. He grabs onto our hands and pulls himself up and with a little bit of help with angles, he makes his way onto his feet! He also can roll across a room in a matter of seconds if you are not watching him closely! This week he has almost succeeded in getting his feet in his mouth, but for now he is really focused on holding his feet while getting his diaper changed. He is also "talking", blowing spit bubbles, and giving open mouth kisses.

Here are some pictures to catch you up!

10 weeks old at a friend's baptism

First time in the pool! 12 weeks old

Dutch wants to make sure I am ok. I love him.

Grammy getting me wet. Ohhh, it was chilly!
Uh, mom? Where's my loincloth?
Airing out at the lake after a week of disposable diaper use.
Thanks for the cover, Mem. I am a modest boy.

I'm a CPST!

Many of you know that I love car seats. I love the concept of them, I love the different designs, and I love the fact that they keep our kiddos safe and sound! So, with the new love of my life arriving and seeing people I love misuse their car seats or using a less than "best practice" choice in their selection of seat and usage of said seat, I decided to take a national certification course.

So I am now a nationally certified child passenger seat tech! This is a certification that I can use to volunteer at car seat checks and inspection stations and to educate the public about proper use of car seats and seat belts when it comes to children.

I am very excited to help keep kids safe, especially those who I love so much! So, if you have any questions about your child's safe travels in the car please just ask! And, for those of you who have a car seat in your car, I will be double checking it when I see you! Just remember, I do this out of love!!!

Before and After

I finally got my hands on the picture from my baby shower of me, my best friend in the whole wide world, and my sister in law. We were all due with in a few weeks of each other! For Megan and Linda this is both their second pregnancies and their first borns are also only a few weeks apart! What are the odds?!?!

Before...

After!! William, his BFF Robert was born 3 weeks later, and his cousin Declan was born 5 weeks later. So, with in a 5 week period we all had our little boys! Watch out world, the three musketeers are here!

Hmmm, can you tell we all have a favorite brand of infant car seats? Perhaps I had a small part in that. Hehe!

Baptism and Father's Day

We had a beautiful day on Father's Day. June 19, 2011 was a big day in this house hold! Not only was it James' first Father's Day, it was William's baptism day! The weather was perfect, the ceremony was meaningful, and the food at the party was tasty!

Dressed and getting topped off.

The actual baptism.

This oil has the most amazing smelling on the face of the earth.

Proud parents and grandparents!

Mommy, Daddy, William, Fr. Ray, Godfather Brendan and Godmother Linda

James made a huge 7.7 lb pork loin using the rotisserie on the grill!

Milestones

Well, it is official. William can easily roll over from back to tummy. He did it once the other day and does it for fun now. He is also at the point where he digs his heels into the floor and scoots around. Ya, that is fun when he does it on the changing table.

I also had to wash his 3-6 month clothes because he is too big for most of his smaller stuff. I also had to adjust the sizing snaps on his diapers. My baby boy is growing up so fast!!!

Cha-Cha-Cha-Chia!

I think this is totally awesome. James thinks I am crazy. There are baby trees growing on our carpet on the porch. You know all of those fluffy strands that fall off of what ever kind of trees are in my back yard? I think this is the result. With all the rain and the carpet being a few years old and collecting dirt and such, the seeds are able to sprout! My suggestion is that we plant grass on the carpet like a giant chia pet! Nice clean grass free of Dutch presents! So, is it an awesome idea or am I crazy?

Big Brother

I have been trying to get a good picture of Dutch with William. So far this is as good as it gets. Thanks for the bandana, Grandma! For the record, it is not easy to get a dog and baby to pose for a picture!!

Dutch age 9 1/2, William 7 weeks

Moving out

At night, William has slept in a bassinet in our room, right next to mommy since he came home from the hospital. While James was gone to Jamaica, William decided that he was outgrowing his bassinet and displayed this new found way to show me - by spinning himself around in the bassinet and hitting his head on the wall of the bassinet. He wouldn't cry, I would just hear him making frustrated noises because he couldn't spin any more. So, when James came home we spent 2 more nights in the bassinet until we got our replacement crib tent. Sunday night William spend his first night alone in his room, sleeping soundly in his crib, only getting up once or twice to eat and to get his diaper changed. Last night was night two and he did well again! He went to bed around 10:30 last night and was asleep until 4:30am! Yay William!

Dishwashers - the truth!

I always believed that there was no sense of prewashing dishes that are heading into the dishwasher. I know some people who do this, quite a few in fact. I don't understand why all these people find it necessary to spend the time and waste TONS of water to wash dishes that are going into a dishWASHER.

I was reading some tips and tricks on saving time and resources the other day and guess what - prewashing your dishes IS a waste of time and resources and may actually leave your dishes less clean! Dishwasher detergent is formulated to stick to and destroy food on your dishes. So, if you wash the food off, there is just soap floating around with nothing to do!

So, save yourself some time and money. Just scrape off your dishes and put them into the dishwasher. Mother nature and your wallet will thank you!

He rolled over!!

You read the title right! William rolled over tonight! He rolled from his tummy to his back! I am sure this was a random fluke, but it is still exciting! He can stand up if we hold his hips and now this! I am going to have a mini-me athlete!!! Track scholarship, here we come!

I think I got part of it on video. Once I get it onto the computer I will post it!!