...but the food has been great!

In Between the Cries

It's been a couple of rough days at home. It seems we've gone back to her first months behavior, sort of colicy with 2 or 3 short naps 5-30 minutes long followed by some inconsolable crying fits. I tell myself this will pass, and I know that is true since she's already a lot better than she was at 1 and 2 months old.

The Goods

Yesterday I learned that The Cultivator's* garden has yeilded 73 cans of salsa, 3 quarts of chili, and now multiple jars of spaghetti sauce. The load in the 3-wheeler was from yesterday. The garden seems endless to me right now, and although it's wonderful it's a source of stress and arguements between us... but the food has been great! He found a birds nest in the high winds we were having yesterday. Finally 1 shitake mushroom from the plugs he planted yesterday. He sauted it with onions and venison for dinner, and other garden goods.

Here Comes the Sun

We were able to spend a few minutes outside yesterday, but it was pretty chilly... even when the sun was out. I love the sun glasses she wears, and although she hates when I put them on she seems releved once they are in place... and how about that adorable hat that Aunt Reenie knit for her!

I just love my little Lulu Button.

Just Lulu

Lovin' Bath Time

She's too tall for the baby bathtubs so now she's getting a sink bath... she likes to splash!

Episode of the Bad Mommy

I put little Ms. Lulu Button in a swing (not swinging) in front of a Baby Einstein DVD! Oh I was feeling really crummy about it, but I was trying to chop veggies to put into the lasagna... and she was smiling and giggling at the show. I am glad that it gave me 20-30 minutes to get something done. The picture of her smiling were too dark, so this is the look I got when the flash went off and disturbed her!
oops

Another Day...

In the Garden

Who knew brussel sprouts grew like little nodules on the stem of the plant.

After 36 years I finally like them, but with a lot of butter anything tastes good!

Sometimes I look at this thing and wonder what were going to eventually do to have it removed from the property... yesterday it looked kind of neat.

Lulu

What a character that's all I have to say.

For Penelope

Pictures of Gromit for Penelope...

Another Lazy Afternoon

An afternoon at the lake cabin with Grandma, The Brother's* brother Phil and his girls. Oh my how they have grown! They were able to meet Lulu for the first time. Lulu had her first spin on the pontoon. And she was rolling over yesterday... over & over, my favorite part of the video is the drool finale.

Ahoy Matey!

We're decided to go on the account for International Pirates Day!

Me Little Lass

Her deadlights are saying "fair winds me mama, it's time to walk the plank." She's not happy about being in the rocking chair while I type this.

Making Grub

We found this fine artisian loaf goes well with some fine grog. I made enough for 6 loafes, 1 pizza and 1 pan of Pecan Carmel Rolls begad!

Canning Grub

The Cultivator* has been making and canning salsa for a week on and off. I kept saying that I wanted to learn... so the Cap'n in lead all hands were on deck with a catchy chanty. Can now or Kiss the gunner's daughter later!

In Our Neck of the Woods

Wild Turkeys

In my backyard The Hunter* spotted 3 wild turkeys walking around. Now he's wondering if it's too late to get a permit... maybe Thanksgiving at our house?

Watching the Musical Sun Again

She really loves music & books right now. She and I lay on the bed in her room and read for at least 15 minutes at a time as she listens, watches the pictures and coos. So cute.

Yet another video of Lulu. About 4 days ago she discovered that she can make a new noise, which she likes a lot. Her Da-da* isn't so fond of it, call it her 'Strangled Cat.' I think it's more like a pterodactyl dinosaur screech and I like it however deafening it may be! Either way she likes it and whatever makes baby happy makes us all happy!

Yes she runs the house!

3 months old

A foggy morning on the Schermeister farm as our little girl turns 3 months old. Where does time go?!

We are really enjoying her especially when she gets at least one 2 hour nap! Althought it's not an everyday event, it is getting more and more common. She is now 18 lbs and 25.5 inches long. She's maxing out in her 3-6 month clothing, but anything 6 months is still long for her to grow in and roomy in the waist. She's going to be tall.

A Smirk

Getting ready to run errands. Lovin' the Bumbo chair, since she'd rather sit up than lay down. She has great head and neck control (since her first week).

Sideways video of little Lulu Button talking to the musical sun... a toy she's always liked but now she likes it for about 10 minutes at a time! That means a shower, a little cleaning... oh the things I didn't know I could finish in 10 minutes! LOL.

Opal Slippers

Lulu likes this walker loaned to us by our Tiffany & Dan. She likes it for about 20 minutes at a time (more or less) for the last 2 days (so far). As she was standing in this walker yesterday she had on some shoes from Grandmother Betty. The shoes do not have any sort of grip so her feet just slid around.

Now I am not expecting that she's going to figure out walking at just under 3 months... but if she kicks her legs it would be neat if she felt movement forward (or back as it is). So I looked at her shoes again, and found that the shoes from Tom & Shannon (surely Shannon's pick) had rubber soles. NICE! They are like her ruby slippers except pink... Lulu's Opal Slippers. Still big on her but with the elastic & thick socks they stay on pretty well.

Thank you to everyone who has bought or loaned us things for Lulu. We are sincerely grateful.

At the Lake & At the Farm

We spent the afternoon at the Lake Cabin, it was a great sunny, breezy day.

Lulu & her Daddy.

Just before we left the house. I had to show mom the pirate shoes with skull and cross bones, they match the new shorts and t-shirt you bought.

The Cultivator* Harvesting Hops.

Watching Da-da* harvest the hops.

Out and About

Lulu & I ready for dinner at Khans.

Hangin' out while Dad rests his feet after a long day at work (standing).

Another school year has begun, and wouldn't you know it I didn't really quit the Girl Scouts! HA! I must be nuts, but it's hard to see those little faces and disappoint them. After 3 years it's hard to just pull away. Anyhow, this year it's Saturday morning/afternoon meetings so we get serious Girl Scouts and not be the afternoon babysitter. We still need another Leader... we've asked 1 woman, former Girl Scout. If no one steps up to the plate I will have a parent sign up sheet for all the badges and pre-plan the entire year with parent commitments. As for the Juniors, I'll help Sara out since we work well together and it was always the Junior badges that I was personally interested in earning with the girls (more exciting).

I started training for a 1/2 marathon in January. I am REALLY excited. I will be running with my sisters and my best friend from high school. We'll be doing the Rock-n-Roll Marathon in Pheonix-Scotsdale-Tempe. It'll be fantastic. My treadmill runs have been good, and easy (now elevation change), so I pushed it up to an outside 3 miles Wednesday. HA! Lulu and I got 3 miles done in just under 1 hour, so not the best, but not bad for just having had a baby 12 weeks ago and considering I haven't excersised in the prior 10 months of pregnancy.

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.