Laundry Day

As soon as I finished getting these hung up, it started to sprinkle.

Luckily, it didn't last long.

Signs of Spring

It was 80+ degrees here today. I think we skipped spring and went right to summer! I'm not complaining though. I am happy to be able to take baby E outside and give her a change of scenery. I spent a good bit of time (for me) outside over the past few days, and I noticed all sorts of signs of life! My hydrangea is sprouting new leaves. The hostas are poking their tips out of the ground. The tulips have grown (and gone actually).

However, the most exciting things I saw were birds building in my birdhouses! I saw a tufted titmouse flying in and out of my bluebird house. Tuba noticed it too, but he didn't bother him (or her). Then today I saw that my wrens are back!! I like to think it's the same pair of wrens every year. They were very busy cleaning the old nest out of the birdhouse and replacing old stuff with new stuff. It's amazing to watch them fit long twigs into such a small hole. I look forward to watching them this season!

I also did a little bit of cooking today. I found and made this recipe for homemade granola bars a few weeks ago. They were very yummy, but got really hard after a day or so. That didn't stop me from eating the entire pan myself though! I decided to make them again, but this time I only cooked them for 23 minutes instead of 30. Oh.My.Goodness! They are extra tasty and chewy. Perfect! John liked them enough to take some to his coworkers :)

The granola bars will not be helping me get back into my pre-pregnancy clothes. Neither will the peanut butter filled pretzels that I inhale all day long! I bought the economy size at Sam's a few days ago. Not good.

Speaking of pregnancy. My baby is 7 weeks old today. Where has the time gone? I only have 2 more weeks of maternity leave left :( I don't know how I will ever be able to get up and get ready for work AND get there on time! It's usually 1:00 p.m. before I can ever seem to get in the shower these days! I better start practicing soon.

Fluff Addiction

I am addicted to fluff...and no, I'm not talking about the stuffing that Tuba keeps ripping out of my patio cushions. I'm talking about cloth diapers. Who would have known I would rather buy adorable cloth diapers instead of adorable clothes...for me :)

I am enjoying our cloth diapering journey. Washing diapers every other day is not as bad a I thought it might be. It's not too gross either. Yet. I'm not really looking forward to the day E starts eating solids, as that will change what lands in the diaper (if you know what I mean!)

I spend a lot of time on the Cloth Diapering board on BBC. I also spend a lot of time on various cloth diapering blogs. There I enter numerous giveaways hoping to win a free diaper, but it has not happened yet. Maybe one day soon...

Here is my cute little E's tushie all wrapped up in an adorable diaper :)

The De-Stuffer

This is what I saw when I looked out the window the other morning...

How did I feel? Very unhappy. That used to be the seat cushion to our outdoor loveseat.

See, we have been having a major de-stuffing issue around here.
And a hole digging issue.
And a barking issue.

The culprit?



It's a good thing he's so cute.
Stinker!
(you can see the remains of the towel he chewed up scattered around him)

Any advice???

She's here!

My sweet girl decided to make her appearance early!

Born February 19, 2011
6:14 p.m.
7 lbs 5 oz
20.5 in. long

We are all in love!

Especially her sister :)

36 Weeks

Here I am...in all my glory...36 weeks pregnant tomorrow. I went to see my OB today, and he said I could go into labor any time now. Let's hope this baby holds off until my scheduled c-section date. I'm not quite ready yet. Everything looked and sounded great though!



See - I DO have feet! :)

I know I look worn out. These were taken after a long day with my 20 Kindergartners.

Baby Belly

I realized it's been 10 weeks since I posted a belly picture! Well, let me say, things have changed dramatically. My belly has taken on that oblong watermelon shape, and it.is.large. However, I don't need to hear people tell me that. I am aware of it. I promise. The last picture I have is from about 3 weeks ago. I am now 35 weeks and 3 days pregnant.
Here I am...

I will get John to take a more recent picture sometime this week. I tried to do it myself in the mirror, but it didn't work out. BTW, I do have feet. They just always seem to get cut off in these pictures :)

Oh! I discovered something new about Tuba today. We have noticed he's been eating the pecans from our pecan trees, and we were worried he was eating the shells and all. I was outside with him today, and he doesn't eat the shells! He very patiently cracks the nut and only eats the meat. Pretty talented I think!

Our Newest Addition

We finally did it.

We got a dog.

He is a rescue from a family who just didn't have enough room or time to devote to him. They were very grateful to us for taking him in. We are very happy to have him! His name from his previous family is Tuba. Tuba. We thought it was a very odd name, but somehow it has grown on us. We had thought about changing it, but we kept it. I call him Scuba Diver :)

Tuba is an 8 month old Great Pyrenees/Golden Retriever mix. He's very pretty! He has had some obedience training, and we've been pretty impressed with him so far. He's great with kids, but a little shy of men. He's been good with my elderly Kramer kitty so far. When Kramer hisses, Tuba goes to hide in his kennel :) Although today he stood his ground until I dragged him away!

Anyway, he's been a fun addition so far. AK loves him...or she loves to order him around at least :)

Welcome home Tuba!



Oh, I forgot to mention, Tuba loves to chew...he especially likes to de-stuff his stuffy toys. We have gotten rid of all of them, so he moved onto this...



We gotta work on that!