Bath Time

We've had a rough recovery from traveling so if you don't hear from me it's only because I am holding, soothing, changing or feeding Lulu.

So onto some real happenings around the house.

While I was away The Other Half* bought a small HDTV to see if we pick up any channels, since our converter box didn't. Nope, no HD channels whatsoever, but I've finally gotten a TV station ABC to come in clear and with sound (we usually have one or the other).

So I've been able to semi-catch up with what is going on in the news. Although ABC isn't the best source (Thank God I can stream NPR online)! It's been all over the news, 'Should we investigate the CIA?' I have some unconventional strong opinions on everything under the sun (as most people know) however I am on the fence about this issue for several reasons.

For fun we decided to perform our own tests on baby Lulu (see video).

We were unable to glean any pertinent information from the suspect, and only seemed to cause more distress to the usually pleasant circumstance.

And on a lighter note...

who knew Daddy* knows the "Rubber Ducky" song?

Growing

I just never knew how amazing motherhood could be, despite her difficult hours.

A side by side compairison of the hops from this year and last.

The pickling has begun, for Gerry of course since I don't do canning.

My sisters, parents and Lulu's neices and nephew all thought she was cute.

I loved to watch Bella play games with her as she just lay and watch. Bella also likes to put her arm around Lulu and watch TV, like the bestest of friends.

Little Penelope, although being very jealous if Ally touched the baby, would come up to her and hug her and say "I miss her so much" everytime she past Lulu laying on the bench. Then every time I would change a poopy diaper she would say, "That's so disgusting!"

And Ezekiel, he's such a sweetheart. Although he didn't pay much attention to her he did hold her one day until she pooped and it exploded from her diaper, that'd be enough for any 10 year old! He did talk to Lulu a lot and she really loved it. She'd coo and he would mimic her and they would talk like that for what seemed like 10 minutes. It never occured to me that she'd enjoy that exact sound being made back to her... a sort of Close Encounters moment.

Aunties just loved little Lulu... always holding her when they could. I of course would let anyone hold her. Nina says Lulu has eyelashes like hers and Bellas. Ally said she looks like Gerry.

Grandparents (Nana, Tata) did much of the holding too.

Then there is Charlie, he's a 'Baby Whisperer' too. I had no idea how good he was with children. Now I see who in the family is the softie (sorry Nin's)!

Ready for a Grandparent Visit

My New Onsie

I failed at making a cute felted name on her onsie. I just wondered if it would work. I think it destroyed the integrity of the material and now see why stiching is always 'back' with a fabric. But whatever, she won't fit this for long.

We're ready for our flight.

Cut (just before she got angry with it)!

A Foggy Morning

The Fog

So foggy you can't make out the hill with trees in the far back, just the tree tops. I like mornings like this, except for the bugs. You can't really see the overgrown garden from this picture, if the wind picks up and the clouds stay I will weed some more.

Then I went to let the chickens out of their coop. Gromit is checking out the corn I threw in the grass, he's nuts. NOTICE: The freshly cut grass! Yes, Lulu slept for about 1 hour and 45 minutes on Tuesday so I mowed the lawn... and proceeded to break off the middle blade on the lawn mower, gosh just when I think I am helping Gerry I actually gave him more work to do! He picked up new parts for the mower yesterday after work.

Gimpy GirlMeet the last bird in the pecking order, I call her Henrietta. One day in Feb/March the other birds singled her out and pecked her to a bloody mess. I quarantined her and until she could fend for herself again. I think an animal must have attacked her because her foot is messed up, see how she folds her talons under? She's a smart bird though, fights of the other girls now, for the most part, she waits in the coop until the others are out. I give her a special scoop of corn and she hangs out awhile until the coast is clear then she goes to the lilac bushes and hangs out by herself mostly.

All Our Eggs in One Basket

A big "Thank You" for Les my 'muddin' friend. He makes cool wood stuff, and while he was chicken sitting for us one week he make us this really cool egg basket. Which is really a great help.

Kohlrabi (sp?)

From the garden, colorabi (sp? trying it on a couple ways). It tastes great. We'd never grown them before. Unfortunately we let these get TOO big, and it's like trying to cut a tree with a knife. So we decided we'd try have batting lessons with them.

Cone Flower

I planted them this year, for whatever reason they didn't come back last year. Pays to buy a larger plant. The chickens don't eat these or the peonies.

Try, try again.

This felted baby rattle has been a lollipop which I thought didn't look so good. Then I made it into a pinwheel which didn't work out so well. Now it'll be a flower, which is shaping up very nicely.

Lulu Button

Also known as Lulu... she was being super cute. But honestly who am I kidding she's always super cute even when she's screaming at me. We had a really rough day yesterday. It was the heat I think? She was exhausting all day. Oh well, only 18 more years of fun, fun, fun. Good thing I love her with every fiber of my being!

Here's My Foot

2 Months

On one hand it's hard to believe she's 2 months old, and on the other hand it feels like she's been with us for at least 4 months, 3 days and 6 hours (joke).

She weighs 14 lbs, and is 24 inches long now. She fits into 3 -6 mos clothes... she might fit into 0-3, but with the cloth diapers they make her longer in the waist so things snap too tightly and she gets angry. I would too!

She's not sitting up on her own yet, but she's growing normally. Her congnitive, socially and motor skills are on track and some things a little ahead of the curve.

HOWEVER, she's still not a napper. Sunday she took 3 10 min naps, and 1 45 min nap, then by night she was so over tired and miserable... and of course so were we!

We were able to get through 3+ hours of Fiddler on the Roof, to listen to Gerry play. There were a couple "episodes" of crying, but I was quick to get out of the auditorium, and she calmed down after 5 or so minutes.

Saturday we're going to try our first airplane trip. Oh boy! I am totally stressed about traveling 2 hours to Fargo, then an hour at the airport, then 2 hours in flight, followed by another hour of travel to my parents home... and then in reverse. BUT It will be nice to go back to CO for a visit and for everyone (dad, sisters, nephew, niece, friends) to meet Lulu. Gerry has to stay and tend the house, dogs, cats, chickens, and finish the firewood.

Really Quickly

Watching the Angels

Why Does Mom Torcher Me?

Morning Smiles

Every morning when I change her diaper she's all smiles, coos and giggles when she sees the baby mobile spin above her head.

While She Sleeps...

The garden has been taken care of by Gerry all summer. We put down a lot of black cloth to keep weeds out, thank goodness, but many of the rows still have none and needed weeding.
I think I got to spend about an hour and a half in the lettus, beets and green beans...

Cabbage always looks so pretty, and this year we are going to try to make sour kraut.
Lulu was not impressed after she awoke and I took her for a farm garden tour.

Happy Birthday Nana!

You're Wonderful!

Love, Lulu, Cat & Gerry

and 15 days later a new post...

She's happy, smiles and coos all the time. This picture was from 24 July she was 6 wks and 13 lbs of wonderful joy, and I am amazingly tired.

My best friend from HS, Geena, came to visit... and held Lulu a lot so I could manage to paint this platter. She left Monday when it was in the kiln, so I took her to the airport in Fargo. It took me from 10 am - 2 pm to prepare this platter for shippment having to hold Lulu crying nearly all day the 28 July. Thanks Gee, I don't think I could have done it without you! And thank you to my neighbor Tiffany who came over JUST as I was putting Lulu in a car seat to ship the pottery... she watched her and I saved about 20 extra minutes it would have taken to bring Lulu along... oh how sweet, Tiffany is her first babysitter!

This is over a week ago getting the RV ready to come home from the wedding in Wisconsin. Gromit loved the Boppy, and I found it was nice to use when knitting (a place to rest my elbows).

We camped at a State Park 15 miles from the wedding site (Camp Manitou) which is a great YMCA camp if you're looking for a fabulous place to send your children.
Lulu and I slept here (the kitchen table/bed) in the RV. She was a trooper.

The Dinosaur (RV) ran great, drove great, and I am SO glad we didn't get a motel room, or stay with family. This was a nice break from being cooped up in a house for the previous 5 weeks!

This is Claire & Matt Tiller! It was a wonderful wedding, although I missed the ceremony because Lulu decided the 30 min of nursing before it was not enough food... so we went to the RV and nursed more. I was a bit bummed, but that little girl is so darn sweet a mom just can't be disappointed!

This is the fired Hand Painted Wedding Guest Book Platter we gave them as a gift (string around finger to pay for it, especially since I ordered glazes today).

Miss Lulu Button Napped!

I had almost 50 uninterrupted minutes where I dug out a tunnel in my studio today! I can now get to the back wall now, and if I so chose I could actually get onto a wheel... but no place to dry bisque yet, which maybe is better since that would require at least 5 lbs of clay to get back into my grove since it's been at least 11 months! What you can't see in this picture is that except that 2 ft path to the shelves the entire floor has something on every square inch and I needed to glaze today.

I've also started a new pottery blog to motivate myself... much like this gardening blog! Ha, such big plans and then I got pregnant. DO NOT mistake that comment for a complaint I love Lulu and can't imagine life without her or Gerry but I really do wish that I had more time in the garden... soon, when she's a month or so older maybe.

BTW if anyone reads this and knows where I can get decorative fence for a flower garden that doesn't cost an arm and leg, is made out of something other than plastic or bendy wire... please comment!

I have taken a layer off the Lulu's mobile, now it's a little higher. She absolutely LOVES it! Always smiles as she watches Saturn, Wendell and Mazie circles around on the mobile (Wendell is the book worm, and Mazie is the monarch butterfly). I am so glad I made the mobile, I almost scrapped the idea when it didn't turn out like I was imagining.

BTW, another one of my favorite shirts... this is one of the couple things I wish I could tell someone who asks me 'What I do' Astronaut, Astronomer and Rocket Scientist are my top 3 answers. I wonder what she will want to be when she's older?

2 days ago Miss Lulu Button started losing her velvet hair... I am so sad about it and I think she was pretty upset too ( hence the crying hysterically). Ok well maybe she was crying because the frog outfit isn't going to fit again after today. Alright, alright, it was because she didn't want to be put in the bouncy chair for longer than 2 minutes! You got me, I have her attached to me... making my new Mommy job much more difficult. She likes to sleep anywhere as long as some part of me is touching her. Oh boy am I in trouble!

A New WGB Platter

The Guest Book Wedding Platter is my contribution to the wedding we're attending this weekend. I hate to pay for my own work, but I do give myself a good price. All my other gift ideas required that Lulu sleep at least 3 hours solid a day, an preferably NOT at night when I am sleeping too. Since that hasn't happened I haven't had time to complete the other gifts I was going to make for the couple, i.e., felted trivets with stacking serving bowls.



The Violinist* is playing "And I Love Her' for the wedding, here's a snippet I caught while no one was paying attention (don't rat me out or I won't sneak any other videos and he has a couple flaws in here so he'd probably not be so happy to have this out there).

Sugar & Spice

Tummy TimeSmiling, Laughing & Grabbing Toys

One Last Smile for the Camera (then she got angry).

Lulu is now one month old. Where does time go?! What a little personality they are born with too, she's definitely both sugar and spice.

I am hoping to get into the yard to weed today... nice weather (cloudy).

Smiles

What color will my eyes be?

Morning Smiles are the Best!

Moved the Mobile...
More awake time is spent on the changing pad than bed.


No Pressure Lulu

I'd write more... but no time.

Lulu's1st Car

A Valiant for Lulu

This beauty has been sitting at A1A Sandblasting for sale for 2 months. I've been secretly admiring the car every time I pass (on the way home from town, so basically anytime I go anywhere). Several weeks ago I started saying, "I really love that car" to Gerry. Eventually he said it looked like a Valiant his first car and I heard stories of his youth. Then a few days ago he stopped to look at it and found it in excellent condition.

Yesterday we bought the Valiant.

I think it needs a name.

Another Day Passes...

Thanks Tata for the Clothes

An outfit sans the yellow pants with butterflies... she's too hot and the cloth diapers are too cute. Taking picutes of all the girly things she's recieved from family and friends. Although I have to admit the picture taking has been curbed because I spend so much time skin to skin nursing that pictures aren't always a posibility.

With all the new clothes and since we didn't know until it was a girl until she was born we have a lot of non-sex colored stuff... which is great too, but now we have to put on all the girl stuff so people stop calling her a boy (she doesn't even look like a boy to me with her delicate features).

I can't believe that she's nearly 4 weeks old and she's fits best into 3-6 mos already, she's so tall the newborn stuff squishes her legs up.

4th of July - Grandma Betty feeding Lulu.

Good Morning Daddy! A great way to start the day, crying. Poor little one.

Sleeping Beauty!

Can you tell she is angry with me in that last photo?

She cries, I nuzzle with her, change her, nurse her... and we are in love.

She sleeps and dreams of things I can only wonder as she makes faces and squeeks her little noises.

I will miss these things when she grows up...

Today I laid her under her felted mobile and she loved it. Smiled and watched the arms swing around. Yeah!