I haven’t gotten rid of anything else but even if I don’t I am already way ahead of the game for me. I am actually wearing all of my clothes which hasn’t happened in years! My closet is still pretty full but I am able to see everything now. How wonderful!

In other news Baby E moved in to her own room last night and slept very soundly in her crib.  I found her this morning diagonal near the bars so she did some moving and grooving last night. Much more space than her little bassinet.

I am almost done with all of my Christmas shopping. Thank you Amazon! We celebrate Christmas with my family since they are Catholic but we obviously don’t have a tree here. Next year we will celebrate Hanukkah in a big way because Baby E will be old enough to understand. This year she is too young to be getting 8 presents and lighting candles.

I have been reading Radical Homemakers and I am almost to the second section. So far it is quite interesting!

My back is killing me!  It is difficult to nurse when you are short and all the chairs in the house are sized to your husband who is 6’4″. I can’t wait until I get my nursing stool I am hoping this will help me.

 

I know I missed last Monday’s post but I was busy due to the holiday week.  Before I left to visit my parents I went through all the clothes and my large linen closet. I am almost finished putting away all of my clothes, baby’s and Seth’s.  I was able to get rid of 2 bags of garbage, 10 bags of clothes/curtains to donate and made 3 bags of rags. I am very happy to say the least.  The next job will be to go through the books and papers I have and get rid of more things. It makes life so much easier without a lot of extra stuff! I am finally realizing this and I think it will help with the quality of my life immensely.

In other news, we roasted a turkey last night and plan to make turkey pot pie and turkey soup from the leftovers! I can’t wait for turkey pot pie my dh is going to make it with me for the first time

Baby E is 10 lbs 10 ozs and 22 1/2 inches long at her 2 month visit! She is tracking and her vision gets better everyday! She is smiling, cooing and almost laughing you can see it in her face that she wants to laugh but hasn’t learned how yet.  She is still sleeping at night and is awake and hungry all day but that gives us more time to read and play together. The dogs love her and protect her no signs of jealously.

We are having a little meet the baby shower for her on Sunday and then Baby and I are going to my parents for most of the Thanksgiving week so she can spend time with her Aunts and Uncles and her cousin! I am very excited!

 

On another note I won Moonlit hill’s giveaway! I am quite thankful because I have been wanting to read Radical Homemakers for a long time and it is always out at the library.  I hesitate to buy a lot of books only because I usually read books one time and then remember what I read so it is difficult for me to enjoy them again and again.   I am very curious about The Rhythm of Family as well I know Baby E is still small but time flies and it is nice to start thinking about fun things to do together when she gets older.

Fun times are on the way! Baby E already loves to read I can’t wait to see what she likes next!

I am on my way.  I went through my cupboard and got rid of a bag of food and in the process updated my pantry log so I know what I have. I got rid of all my excess cardboard in another bag so that is already 2 bags done.  With the clothes I donated I am up to three bags last week so that I pretty good. 44 Bags to go!

I also organized the baby clothes and put away all the newborn clothes that don’t fit the baby.  This doesn’t count as getting rid of anything but they will be put away for the next kid and out of the nursery so that is still helpful.

DH and I also started cleaning out the garage and putting away all the tools and got rid of a bag of garbage so actually I am down to 43 bags!

It is not easy since lately the baby does not want to be put down at all lately but I will keep at it. I feels good to get rid of things I don’t need!

Today is my anniversary! Three years of marriage already I feel like we just got married yesterday.  There have been many changes in these three years we got a new dog, we renovated our house (although there is still more we need to do), we planted some fruit trees, we have different jobs, and of course we have a new baby!

We aren’t doing much today except the DH is going to make me his famous linguine and clams! We will enjoy each others company and have a great dinner which is the best gift he could give me.

Baby E giggled  for the first time yesterday for both me and the DH! We also took her to vote yesterday and she liked it. She loves going new places and is very curious about everything. She loves it when we sing to her and knows when we are talking to her.

I have decided to participate in Moon Lit Hill’s     47 bags and 47 days challenge. I don’t know that I have 1 bag full of stuff to get rid of everyday since I did a purge before the baby came but I do have a lot of clutter and I am going to at least get rid of 1 thing everyday that I don’t need. It can be trashed, donated or sold.  I will be posting progress on Mondays but so far I have 1 bag of clothes to donate that is ready to go!

 

Baby E on Halloween

Baby E is approximately 7 weeks old. She is big I’m not sure how much she weights but she is 24 inches long now in 3 month clothes and has pretty much grown out of her infant seat. We are taking it out of the pack in play tomorrow. We are reading books everyday, she smiles alot and “talks”. She holds her head up with great skill and is starting to build her muscles to sit up. She likes looking at her toys and is starting to grab a little bit.

I have finished my thank you notes and I am finally feeling human again. I have no idea where to start.

I have to put away the baby stuff, I have to put away and organize our clothes, I have to keep the house clean and that is just the beginning.  I have so many sewing projects and receipes to try but I have to get the other things done first. I also want to finish baby Es crossstich.  Fortunately she is sleeping through the night but that means she is awake most of the day so I don’t have time to do much but keep things clean, wash diapers, and cook dinner. I am hoping we will get in a better routine once she gets bigger and then maybe I can start on the projects I want to do.

I also have a mountain of paperwork to do since I don’t have a job anymore and need to look for new jobs/figure out what I am going to do.  This of course is not something I am excited about. Trying to find a job when you can’t type/mouse with your right hand for more than a few minutes is virtually impossible so we will see how that goes.  If anyone has any suggestions please let me know!

Baby E is 3 weeks old and she is 9lb 4oz and 21 inches long. She is eating about every 2 hours during the day and sleeping 6 hours a night! (WHOOHOO!!)  She is a very content baby most of the time unless she is hungry, wet or cold she does not cry. Today she smiled a real smile and she has been trying to pick up her head since day 1. She also tries to “crawl” up the DH.

My digestive issues that I had before getting pregnant are GONE. I am still taking the vitamins that I need so I am sure that is helping. I am extremely hungry and have to eat every 2 hours which is probably a good thing. However, I do need to focus on a whole foods diet. Right now it is tough because my mom and mil have been doing the cooking and I am still recovering from the c-section so I am not the one shopping. Not being able to do much is extremely difficult for me I don’t like seeing people clean my house, organize etc without helping and right now I can’t do any bending or lifting.

DH is a great Dad already and he is really thoughtful to me also. I am hoping he will be able to slow down a bit once he finishes the last detail projects that he wants done on the house so he can enjoy more time with Baby E.

Hopefully I will be able to post more using dragon still cramps my style in the blogging dept.

 

BEANS!!!

I haven’t done much in the past few days due to all the rain we have had.  It was humid, rainy, damp and down right yucky. I had a headache for 2 days.   But as you can see my beans were very happy I just planted them last weekend and they are already up and growing strong! I am very lucky because I started them very late this year.

I am really concentrating on budgeting now that I have written down everything I have bought. I am going to do my best to eat from the pantry, farmer’s market and garden in July and August.  I have a lot of food in my pantry that I have been stocking up so I will have plenty to choose from.

I have put together my baby item list and registry and hopefully will go shopping with my mom soon. We got a great deal on the crib/changing table so that helps. I am trying to get most things used and go with simple space-saving items  since babies grow so quickly and I don’t have room in my house for a lot of things anyway.

Keep your fingers crossed that the baby’s room is done by the end of July so I have somewhere to put this baby stuff!

I have just spent 2 days making jam with my mom. It has been great fun although a little tiring and hot. We made your basic strawberry jam (without a lot of sugar) and strawberry lemon marmalade from a recipe from the Ball Canning book. I wanted to make strawberry rhubarb pie filling and can that also but apparently you need a special starch to do it safely which we did not have. We did make strawberry rhubarb pie though and it is delicious.

I need to work a list of things to accomplish this week. I have so much to do and don’t really know where to start. I still have to keep the kitchen cleaning and house cleaning on my list everyday to remind myself that this needs to get done first. It is not my favorite thing but I feel so much better when it is all clean.
I am hoping I can sew more bibs for the baby and burp cloths. I need to make a list of the things I still need for the nursery.
The next few weeks are going to be busy with the DH doing extra work and 4th of July vacationing I want to try and get some projects finished so they are not waiting for me when I get back from our long weekend.

The garden is finally all planted so that is a big relief. I am not sure how everything is going to do but we have had a good mix of rain and sun so hopefully the plants will thrive.

I have been busy in the home lately getting ready for baby, cleaning, baking and gardening.

1. Finished 5 bibs made from my husband old shirts and some velcro. I still have 1 more to finish sewing I ran out of thread in the middle of it and haven’t had time to finish it.

2.  Baked blueberry muffins (these were not so great) and some blueberry coffee cake which turned out to be very tasty. I like to bake but I wish I knew how the recipes would come out before I made them I hate wasting money on food.

Muffins

 

3. Started a budget and I am writing down everything I have purchased for this month so I can get an idea of any wasteful spending. I already know I eat too much out of the house and have to remember to bring a snack with me when I go shopping since baby and I get hungry every 2 hours.

4.  Concentrating on more dog training with Brownie so she will be ready for when the baby comes. Monkey will be fine she does her own thing and will be curious about baby but won’t accidently jump on him/her.

5. Purchased all my seedlings and hope to be finished planting by the end of this week. DH tilled down by the creek so I will be able to put in all my big squash plants and maybe some sunflowers.

6. Almost finished with my bedroom which was a giant mess once we get the rug out of there and figure out what to do with the floor maybe we can finally sleep up there instead of the small bedroom downstairs.

7. Kept the kitchen in a relatively clean state which is such a relief and makes it much easier to cook in.

I have much more to do and I am looking forward to having the time to finish it before the baby comes.