cooking and running around

I had a huge day doing things in rapid-fire succession up to the point I decided I had probably done too much, and then let myself slowly drift down to going to bed early.  So it's 1:30 in the morning and I'm awake again.  *blinks at self*  

Got up in the morning and made rice for the week - and then took myself off to town to get animal feeds and groceries.  That was a pretty big trip, and a hundred pounds of animal feed that I had been putting off through the weekend (alfalfa oats only cost 12 dollars but they weigh 50 lbs!)....  I've got this thing I do lately where I drive up to the front of the house and then bring the snow sled up to the back of the truck, dump the feeds into it, and push them down the hill with the sled towards the garage.  It works pretty well.  I kind of hate backing up to the garage, even moreso now with the other vehicle down there off to the side.  I'll avoid it if I can... and the sled is a good tool.

Did Japanese and French, and studied Chinese characters.  I'm getting a little better at Clozemaster guessing what the proper Chinese character should be to fill in the sentence - memory from my kanji training I did last year. I wrote up my brown sushi rice article and published it.  I enjoyed some of my rice with soy sauce and wasabi.

Set out butter and played a bit of the game in French.  For some imperceptible reason I'm now playing the 'monsters on at night' mode which I've known was an option for a farm type, but I hadn't done before, and did require starting over again.  This, after I got the meadowlands ranch (which was new) up to the second year. It is tough to play the monsters ranch because you don't even get given a weapon until somewhere halfway through Spring - so you're just getting beat up and have nothing to defend yourself with.  However, fishing down at the sea I got a treasure box that had a trident inside it - and I found out that weapon is excellent for fighting bats that come at you at the farm - even better than the sword.  So my little character is now doing quite well.

Madeleines (again)

375 oven - 4 chicken eggs beat with 1/2 cup little less white sugar and about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar until very frothy, add 1/2 cup (one stick) softened butter and splash vanilla extract, mix again until well combined, add one cup (little less) flour, approx 1 tsp baking powder, good dash salt, combine again with mixer - spoon one tablespoon each into wells in madeleine pan, bake approx 10 minutes until fork pressed on top of a cake bounces back, remove from oven, use spoon to remove each cake from pan (and I put them on a plate like the picture above to stack them until I then place them in a bag with a paper towel to put in the fridge) and if desired, rub the darker sides in powdered sugar (it looks very pretty with the shell pattern) while the cake is still warm, but not hot

I had put butter out on the counter so that I would push myself over the inertia bump to make madeleines.  It is nice to have them and rice in the fridge because they count as real food over the snacks Mark and Esme like to keep - which I find easy to eat as well, and don't need to be eating.  I can taste certain things in them under the sugar that are waxes and oils that I don't really want and wouldn't use in anything I cook.  Real food is better, I just have to make time to make it.  Even so, I've lost some weight in the past months that I didn't intend to lose, and that is okay.  I wouldn't have really realized it because the shorts I wear for my postal route have a belt, and a lot of my house pants have ties at the waist, but the other ones I use for gardening and some of the jeans I have switched back to wearing now are gappy. I only mention it so I can refer back to it in a few months. ((I did finally check the number on the scale, which I do only very rarely because I'll obsess.. and it's 'normal' for me, so that is good, although 'normal' for me is always heavier than the official weight/height chart numbers, because my body insists on carrying around enough muscles to lift a horse and those charts aren't made for someone like me.  They're just average numbers.  I learned that the hard way obsessing over it so many years... and these muscles I have are always needing to be repaired so I understand it from a biological point of view, as well... //these thoughts))

Mark made dinner (spaghetti sauce on garlic cheese toasts), and we watched a bit more of the second season of Rome.  Went out and watered the garden - everything is so dry we're in that late summer stage where things are barely hanging on, nothing at all will start and waiting for the cooler months to put any more greens in.  I had started to knit something while he was cooking, to avoid taking a nap, but told myself after about five rows that my hands and arm already hurt from doing everything earlier, stirring, driving, carrying groceries, putting feed up in the garage, operating the mixer, scrubbing the madeleine pans after baking.. that I was pushing my luck, and needed to stop doing things for the route that I have to do today.

So, route today, and somehow bring the library books back.  Now it's almost 2 am, the dogs have cycled in and out and in and the cats are back out and I should try to get myself back to sleep.

Note

Esme had her 6 month immunizations on Wednesday. She weighed 15 lbs, 13 oz and was 26.5 inches long. She gets more immunizations when she turns one year old. She had a cold in her eye the other day after the flea market, which made her quite cranky for a few days. It wasn't serious and seems to be almost better now.

Quintuplets

I had a productive night in the workshop. These five dolls came from start to finish very quickly. Two of these are going for a custom order at the toy shop. I'm also giving one to Esme and the other two are the start of a stack of items being made for the MamaMade craft sale in April.

Rant: I had sent this doll pattern to a lady I'm making a MUCH more complicated pattern for. This lady makes baby clothes for her craft business. She said she tried to make a doll and couldn't do it... which has discouraged me on her other pattern some. The complicated pattern has FOUR three-point seams and I'm having trouble with it myself. If she can't do a pancake doll then three-point seams are going to be extremely difficult for her!

Mark even tried his hand out and made a 'frankenstein' doll using the pattern. If he can come out with a relatively doll-shaped creature from those instructions, I have no idea why this other lady can't. Mark doesn't touch a sewing machine often, and he did a fairly good job. After seeing him make his and then making five more right in a row... I'm convinced it IS a simple pattern, even at this small size. Maybe she isn't ready for the complicated pattern at all.

Note: Esme weighs 13 lbs, 2 oz now. She has learned how to make the 'pbbbt' noise and has been cheerfully raspberry-ing us for the past two days ;)

Happy Trails puppies

We said goodbye and happy trails to three puppies yesterday as they went to new homes. We hope they will be loved and show their wonderful personalities to their new owners.

Bob, our big teddy bear
will have three little boys to run with
and a new daddy who has always wanted a big dog to wrestle with

Butterfly went to a farm with two other dogs.
The big dog came along with and approved of him. Even though Butterfly was timid at the giveaway he did well and we hope he shows this bouncy personality to his new owner once he is home and has time to explore.

We think Lassie made an excellent match. I liked the lady that called for her right from the start - she also brought her other female dog to meet Lassie which says a lot about her understanding of dogs. Lassie jumped right into the lady's truck bed and settled down on the dog bed with her other dog. It sounds like they'll get along fine :)

We gave these puppies away for free at a meetup made by emailing. We got a chance to talk to these people first and make sure they knew these were going to be big dogs, they'd need patience and training etc. It was a good chance to make sure they were going to good people, instead of just handing them off to a complete stranger.

I was also away from Esme for the longest time ever while we were giving these pups away. I missed her very badly and spent the first couple hours we were home feeding, carrying and dancing around with her. I was singing to her while I made tea in the kitchen. She gave me the most beautiful eyes and happy noises then :) I know some people have to leave their young babies every day for work or school but it's not for me. I want to have her next to me as often as possible and know I'm there whenever she is hungry or unhappy

Note: Esme weighed 12 lb 2 oz today..

Heads Up!

Esme has been practicing her 'push ups' during tummy time. She doesn't like it much though - and these are the first 'happy' pictures I've been able to get of the process ;)

Mark's parents went to visit his aunts in North Carolina last week, and came home with a bunch of baby clothes and other items for Esme that had been waiting out there for her :) Very nice of them indeed!

That set me to going through all of the clothing we have for Esme, that has come from so many of you (thank you!), our relatives and the flea market. Esme has already grown out of at least a dozen items she fit when she came home from the hospital! They're all too short lengthwise now. It amazed me! The best of those I think I'll pass on to Elizabeth as she will be getting about that size soon.

The other thing I noticed is that sizing is very crazy in baby clothes. There are 6 months clothes I had put away that already fit Esme and things that say 3-6 months that are still obviously too big. There was even a dress that said 18 months that looks like it will fit her and a dress that said 6 months that looks like it is for a toddler! I sat on the floor and pulled things out, holding them over her body and putting them in three piles 'now', 'soon' and 'later.' That made plenty of room to put the new items the aunts had sent as before that all the 'later' was pretty disorganized.

//Note: Yesterday Esme weighed 11 lbs, 10 oz.

Christmas Updates and a Stegosaurus in the works

Hope you all had a good Christmas, we had a pretty good one here! I can honestly say this has been the best year of my life :)

My niece Elizabeth got to go home this week, much earlier than planned. I am very happy to hear that :) My nephew Benji, who is 8 going on 9 talked to me on the phone the other day. He complained they got lots of snow for Christmas but none of it was sticky so he could't make snowmen. I feel for him, I miss snowmen ;) He also asked if Esme was talking and if she could stand up yet. She's only two months old, remember, and I don't think he's ever been around a baby very long before. He is going to be quite disappointed for a while ;) I'm imagining the conversation already: 'Is that all she does? Why doesn't she do more Mom?'

My nephew also wants me to make him a Stegosaurus toy. I'm trying to prototype one out and see what I can get. Somebody else wants me to prototype a giraffe for them and make a PDF pattern out of it. So that will be on my list as well.

The side effects of that shot have worn off, I think... For a week there I was overtired and not interested in eating much. The last few days things have felt much better - I even took a mile or so walk this morning while Mark watched Esme nap.

Note: Esme weighs 10 lbs, 11 oz this morning and is about 21 inches long. I growled at my sister on the phone Christmas Day because she said Esme looked 'too fat' in the picture she got. Babies are supposed to be fat! A skinny baby is an unhealthy baby!

A Few Developments

We've had a few developments around here, but not much.


Goofy, one of the girl puppies, went to a home.
We hope it is a good one.


Another picture of Esme, looking mischevious
she has begun to make the cutest noises and gurgles
9 lbs, 14.5 oz

We received some more assorted used inventory for our store in, and I'm going through the actions of getting pictures taken, descriptions written etc... I'm also throwing a few random items in my Etsy store every once in a while. We are trying to sell off some scrap metal that has been lying around the yard for years. We've been looking at parcels of land via internet around the areas we were interested in - but nothing to make us jump yet. The main problem is most of the places to rent don't allow smoking or pets, and we don't want to leave any of the dogs behind if we don't have to.

Elizabeth is doing well - and they have moved her up from an eyedropper to a bottle. Wow, to be so tiny you can't drink out of a bottle! Modern medicine really has done a lot to help premature babies who would never have survived before due to problems as simple as getting enough to eat.

We're not planning anything major for Christmas, as this is really our time to start organizing for whatever we are going to do early next year. It will be Esme's first Christmas but I think she is very happy with all of the love and care she gets and wouldn't know what to do with even the wrapping paper ;) She does enjoy looking at colored lights though, and Mark's parents gave him a little red/blue/green LED 'lava lamp' that she has enjoyed staring at several times.

Mark did splurge and got the latest Harry Potter movie 'Order of the Phoenix', which we will probably get to this weekend.

//off to describe modems, adapters and connectors. Have a great weekend!

Esme at one month

First off: Happy Birthday Mark! He is very glad to be home and is thinking of writing up a narrative of his trip. There are a few places he was interested enough in to go back to for a more detailed look. He is really happy to be home and 'no longer rolling' constantly.


Esme at one month
9 lbs, 12 oz.
She can grab my necklace, hair and things off the side of the bassinet now, like when I'm changing her diaper and put a blanket or piece of clothing up there for a moment. She can lift her head up for short periods of time while laying tummy-to-tummy but has a harder time on a flat surface. I think she has begun to recognize both us and the dogs and makes little happy 'Ah' noises sometimes when we come into view.


Pogo among the shipping supplies

Pogo continues to be a great help in the shipping department of our little online store.

More on Elizabeth

My mom and the rest of the family got to see the little one in Minnesota this weekend. She is gaining weight - but still can't come home until she is 6 lbs. The nurses have nicknamed her 'Peanut' and she keeps pulling all her wires out, grabbing their fingers when they tend to her and taking off her hat and mittens. She sounds like an active little fighter ;) My brother and SIL haven't gotten to hold her much yet - as she is in that incubator, but I think the way they describe her grabbing at the nurses means she wants some human contact. My mom also said my brother's voice makes her stop in her tracks and look around - she wants to know where that familiar voice, daddy's voice, is coming from.

Esme loves to hear her Daddy's voice as well, and stare at his dark eyebrows and sharp nose. I think she stares harder at him than she does me because his dark hair makes such a contrast. She loves lights too, and will focus on a bright light in the room when she is quiet and happy. As for human contact - besides all of our other mommy and baby time I'm making sure to take a half-hour or an hour here and there (when I can get it) to hold Esme tummy-to-tummy. She watches me for a bit, then curls up like a little frog and goes to sleep very happily.


Esme having 'tummy time' on Daddy last week
She is 1 month old now, and weighs 9 lbs, 7 oz today.

Elizabeth (continued)

Got word today they'll be delivering my brother and SIL's baby girl sometime tomorrow - and she'll have to stay in an incubator until January, at least. My mom doesn't have too much info on it - but so far they've not gotten any 'bad' news. Their youngest boy Benji is 8, and he was worried mom and baby were never coming home - poor little guy they had the hardest time getting him to go to school today... but they were able to calm him down. He really can't wait to have a little sister.

My brother and his wife lost a little girl just a year before they had Benji, so I'm thinking all good thoughts for them - hope this all goes smoothly and the incubator is just routine and not serious. Thanks to all of you for your good wishes too!

It will also be very cool (agreed!) for Esme to have a cousin so close in age she could visit one day. My sister had a boy a year before Benji was born that now lives with his father in Oklahoma, but Benji and his cousin did get to meet once and had a good time together.

---

Developments around Here

I took Esme up to her grandparent's in the truck today. It was my first time driving with her in the car seat. I can lift her no problem in the car seat now, which was still a little difficult on the 13th of this month. She weighed in at 9 lbs, 3 oz. yesterday :)


Esme at 3 weeks

Failed Zoetrope and other recent things...

Esme's hair is getting quite long!
The color (right now) is darker than mine, but lighter than Mark's
Our new postal scale arrived in the mail, and the first thing we weighed on it was Esme. She now weighs 8 lbs, 15 oz, which is quite a bit more than last week!

We brought her up to see Mark's parents on Sunday and she slept almost the entire way through the visit. Mark's mom showed me some of his baby pictures. We were surprised how much Esme looks like her daddy did when he was that age ;) (which is quite a bit different than he looks now *grin*)


freehand paper cutouts taped onto the lampshade draw baby's eyes with high contrast
Esme likes to stare at the lights in the house, and at reflections of light on mirrors, chrome etc...


A failed 'zoetrope' attempt

I cut out a circle, added a strip around the edge to make a cylinder, and cut strips in it at equal intervals. However, when I tried to place images in the places between the cutouts, it didn't really work like I thought it would :( Something larger, and much more exact measurements will be needed... or ricepaper that the light can shine through from the inside (like the lampshade above).

Mark is going to the DMV and getting the vehicle ready for his trip out to Utah and other places West. He thinks he might leave next week if he can get everything ready. I have to go to the DMV as well *yuck* next week, as I still haven't gotten there to change my name on my driver's license. Time is really passing by quickly here!

Update from the Homefront

Me and ' Bazooka' (Esme) sitting in the workshop
Esme had her first week doctor appointment today, and she actually gained weight! Some babies lose weight the first week, but she has gained 3 oz. since her birthday (8 lb, 3 oz.). The doctor did her checkup and said she looks very healthy. She didn't even sqwuak much except when the doctor turned her over in midair (holding his hand under her tummy) to check her back.

The little white bump near Esme's left eye is called 'milia', and should go away by itself. It was there when she was born and we had both wondered what it was when it didn't brush off.

The doctor also said we're clear to do our move with Esme. My physical antibodies should protect her until she is about three months old. As long as we make sure she sees a doctor for her two-month immunizations, and I get my 6 week postaprtum checkup, we should be okay. We don't have to get those here, but we do have to make sure they don't get forgotten in all the shuffle.