Mommy and Sweet Pea

We were in Hawaii for Christmas this year, thanks to Average's mom's generosity. She gave money for plane tickets and reserved housing for her five children and their families. We were only there for five days but managed to fit a lot in, including snorkeling, a luau, visiting a black sand beach, Volcanoes National Park, and the Place of Refuge (a historical site). It was a fabulous trip, and Sweet Pea LOVED playing in the water, or "simming," as she called it. It was hard to get her in the water the first day but by day three we could barely drag her out to reapply sun block. She also loved tagging along with her cousins and getting to hang out with so many aunts and uncles all in one place. The plane ride was a little rough, just because we couldn't afford to buy her a ticket if we didn't have to, and she still technically is young enough to be a lap baby, although when she napped she had to be laying across both her dad's and my lap. She kicked

Tonight we had a lasagna that cost $.79, some carrots and radishes with salad dressing, and home-made (from our trees) applesauce. The whole dinner, for three adults and a toddler, cost less than two dollars. I have been working at getting our food expenses down and this is the cheapest thing we've done yet! I've GOT to get back to the Grocery Outlet for more Buitoni frozen lasagnas before they run out. I think the reason for the sale at the G.O. is that the box is labeled to hold two lasagnas but there is only one inside. We've been doing really well at eating inexpensive dinners since Sunday, actually. I should have been taking pictures! Our menu has been: Sunday night we had pork buns that a friend brought for my husband's birthday the day before, along with green beans that a relative had brought for Thanksgiving dinner and never cooked (frozen). I cooked the green beans with some onion (5/ $1 - and local!) from the Grocery Outlet, and some soy sauce and they

This has been a busy week. On Monday, on my drive to work, I hit a patch of ice as I was coming around a curve and onto a bridge, and slid all over the road before hitting the bridge barrier with the back right side of my car. We just found out yesterday that it is a total loss. Boo. Although Average thought it was a grandma car, I really liked my 98 Camry. It served us well for the past 4+ years and spending time on looking for a new car was not on my list of things I was hoping to do soon. In other news, I had two meetings with doula clients this week. It is so exciting to be working with expectant families as they prepare for the births of their babies! Today is the birthday of my husband, a.k.a Average. He is 29 years old today! He was able to get the day off work, so we actually have a 2-day weekend together, and he is enjoying himself laying on the couch and watching the Civil War. If you don't know what that is then you are not from Oregon. Yesterday afternoon Sweet

I had Sweet Pea draw the number out of a bowl. It took a couple of tries for her to get JUST ONE number, but the lucky winner of the Yo Gabba Gabba t-shirt giveaway is...... #1 Stevie said "I'm in! I hope you guys have fun...I'm so jealous! Rubes is a bit too young, otherwise I might've gone. But that's only because I love the show so much. Heh." Thanks for entering!

Today, I was surprised to get a message that school (work) is canceled. Everyone has been talking about this possibility for days, but I really didn't think it would happen. There was only about an inch of snow at my house, but apparently the roads were quite icy. So, instead of getting up early, dressing up for parent conferences, and commuting to work, I got to head back to bed for an extra two hours! This was just the break I needed -- a day at home with Stella to clean up before Thanksgiving and get a few projects done. This is what we accomplished: Repaired two pairs of Sweet Pea's wool longies that had small seam holes from lots of wear last winter. Finally sewed curtains for Sweet Pea's room: You can see in the above photo that the sheets are stripped off of Sweet Pea's bed. That's another thing I did today: changed and washed all our sheets. We also raked the leaves in the front (photo of Sweet Pea from last week) and used the leaves to put the

My house is somewhat clean, but not as clean as I'd like it. A 6 or 7 on a scale of 1 to 10. I sweep a couple of times a week, do the dishes most nights, and wipe down counters and pick toys off the floor almost every day. I vacuum probably every other week; we only have carpet in the bedrooms and rarely wear shoes in there. Cleaning the bathroom is something that I dread, but I LOVE having a clean bathroom. In my ideal world, the floors would be mopped, the bedrooms would be vacuumed, the sheets would be changed, and the bathroom cleaned, every week. That is a schedule I have never been able to actually achieve though. There is just too much else important going on in life! Last year, my dad's Christmas gift to me was house-cleaning, and he often cleans when he babysits. Coming home from a date night to a clean bathroom is a pretty amazing feeling. I highly recommend it! :) Unfortunately, although my husband, Average, does a good job of cleaning when he does it, he just does

Attending a live show is always a treat. The Yo Gabba Gabba! Live! There's a Party in My City! show last Monday was no exception. We arrived only about ten minutes early, and it felt a little weird to walk into a venue where I normally attend serious plays and musical performances, full of children, toddlers, and babies, many in costume. I had been to see The Color Purple there two days before, and it was quite a different atmosphere! Unsure how Sweet Pea would react to the show before we went, I was a bit overwhelmed at first and so was she, but after the first few acts she settled in to enjoy it and danced along to the music at times. Overall, it was a fun experience for us all and a happy memory to look back on as our first live performance as a family. The show producers, or planners, or whatever they are, included a few extras for the audience that really added to the experience for the kids. There was confetti that shot out over the crowd, a huge balloon d

I know it's a bit early for a Thanksgiving post, but I find I have a lot to be thankful for right now. My sweet, smart, adorable daughter, who makes me laugh every day My loving, talented husband, who changed my car's oil today My parents and all they have taught me, through example and otherwise Of course all the rest of my supportive and warm family All my friends who babysit for me, often on short notice My cozy home -- not quite perfect yet but getting closer all the time My wonderful job teaching high school English Weekends and getting a break from my wonderful job Ice cream Skype, which has allowed me to see my sister several times in the last month even though she is on the other side of the world! Being a doula. Supporting families as they welcome a new baby is just the most amazing and rewarding experience. The fact that my daughter sleeps in in the mornings My health and the ability to go out and run for 40 minutes and feel great afterwards What are

Well, the shirts are here, folks! One lucky winner will have his or her choice of not one, but TWO Yo Gabba Gabba t-shirts! My family will be wearing our own on Monday, November 15 at the live show here in Eugene, Oregon. Look for a review of the show in the next week or so. To give away, I have either pink or grey in size kids 3, pink or grey in size kids 5/6, and grey adult XL. I will be posting this giveaway on my other, specific to Eugene, blog (go to www.eugeneactivefamily.com ) as well, for the other THREE t-shirts. You may enter both, and up your chances. I will email the winner from each blog and the first to reply gets first choice on the colors and sizes. To enter here, just comment below with your email address! You can enter extra times by doing any or all of the following: 1. Publicly follow my blog and comment for one additional entry. 2. Follow @rosepeck on Twitter and comment for one additional entry. You may also tweet once a day for an additional entry.

I was offered free tickets to a Yo Gabba Gabba show at the Hult Center here in Eugene, for next Monday, November 15. I wasn't sure about it at first. We don't have cable and Sweet Pea doesn't watch TV shows yet, so I checked out some YouTube videos and read about the show on a few sites. Sweet Pea really enjoyed the little clips we watched on the computer, and my husband, who loves kids shows for some reason, had seen it before thinks it's pretty good. A hipster friend at the bicycle shop originally showed it to him online. So, after my brief research I decided to go for it. I think it will be really fun! And we are getting t-shirts for a giveaway this week! I think I'm going to get the shirts tomorrow so I'll post the rules and photos of the shirts then. After the show, I'll be writing a review for you all to read. What I like about Yo Gabba Gabba so far is the emphasis on music. Looking forward to the show!

For my birthday this year, my parents got me a new front door. Our door had irritated me since we moved in because it was the wrong direction for the opening (light switches and door stop were on the other sides), had no window or peep hole, and we have no windows on that side of the living room at all, and it was just completely blah. It was a plain synthetic door painted the same color as the interior of the house on the inside and the same color as the exterior on the outside. The new door that we chose is a lovely natural wood, has a dentil shelf, three window panes, and two panels. It was fairly inexpensive compared to other wood doors that look similar to it because the local giant hardware/lumber/home goods store (Jerry's) buys this particular model in larger quantities and stocks them. The price was more than $100 less than what we would have paid at Lowe's or Home Depot. My husband stained and sealed it, and installed it himself, after it lived in our garage for a

This morning (probably closer to early afternoon, actually - we are not exactly morning people) Average and I went out on a run. It was our first run together in about two weeks. The weather was perfect and it felt great! We did a little three-mile loop, and brought Glen and Sweet Pea along with us. I am hoping we can do this on a regular basis over the next six months or so, or until one of us starts training for a longer race and needs to do some longer runs than Glen and Sweet Pea can tolerate. They can only make it for about five miles before becoming too tired and/or bored and needing to head for home. Since I started running last spring, I've lost about 10 pounds, gained a lot of stamina and lung capacity (I have asthma), and a lot of confidence. I have been a runner, sort of, at other times in my life, but this experience is better than any other time. I probably need it more than any other time, too! Running is hard to get started because it just hurts the first couple of

One of the common misconceptions about cloth diapers is that they stink more than disposables. Generally, cloth diapers that are thoroughly washed on a frequent basis do not stink. However, particularly with the super-absorbent, wicking, man-made materials used in many modern cloth diapers, there is the propensity for build-up - of soap, bacteria, whatever. And build-up leads to stink. If you read the cloth diaper message boards there are pages and pages of problems, ideas, remedy suggestions, complaints, and so on. The problem is that not every stink is created the same. Your hard water may be the culprit, or you may be using too much soap, or not enough, or the wrong kind. You may need to add vinegar to your rinse cycle, or stop adding vinegar, turn up the temp. in your hot wash, wash more frequently, or spray off poopies before putting the diaper in the pail. You can try bleach, hydrogen peroxide, or oxy-clean. What works for you might not work for someone else with different water,

Goodbye summer. This was a very busy, beautiful, wonderful summer. Some highlights: Sweet Pea eating fresh berries and beans from our garden on a near-daily basis camping in a 2-person tent with Glen and Sweet Pea, Average and me all on one air mattress watching the meteor shower with good friends Garrison Keillor's live show canoeing with Sweet Pea, Average, my brother, and his girlfriend getting the patio cover put up eating vegetables that we grew pickling green beans making applesauce with our own apples blueberry picking my 10-year high school reunion Sweet Pea moving into a twin bed swimming in the Pistol River, my home river running the half marathon running the Warrior Dash swimming at the pool and getting chastised by the lifeguard because my independent daughter would not stay within reach of me. She is a runner! Sweet Pea learning sooo many words! Including: cup, lid, airplane, kitty cat, I want, running, water (wawas), milk (milp), nummies, yes, and s

I recently bought a new type of diaper for Sweet Pea. It is the Flip diaper, and it is exactly what I would have designed if I had been asked to make a new diaper. It is a two-part system, with a shell that can be used through many changes, and three options for your absorbent insert. I chose the "stay dry" insert, which is microfiber on one side (do not put this side against your baby's skin!) and thin wicking fleece on the other side. The reasons this is the diaper I have been looking for: one-size to grow with the baby snapping cover so Sweet Pea can't remove it herself! stay-dry insert keeps my sensitive-skin baby rash free less laundry because the shell can be used through several diaper changes The diaper shell can also be used with an organic cotton insert, or a disposable insert, but I haven't tried those options. I also read in the reviews that some people are using these shells with pre-folds and other inserts they already had, with good success.

I started this post back on June 30. This is what I wrote then: We have been putting Sweet Pea to bed in her crib for naps and night-time for about eight months now. She spent the first nine to ten months of her life sleeping in our room, either in our bed or in the sidecar co-sleeper, then we slowly moved to putting her down in her crib in her own room. Right now, she starts out the night in there, then comes to bed with us (sometime between 1:00 and 5:00 AM) and nurses occasionally through the rest of the night. We aim for bedtime by 10:00 PM, and hang out in the living room with her, nursing, rocking, and listening to her bedtime mix CD, until she falls asleep. Lately, Average has been able to get her to sleep by simply laying down on the couch with and holding her. Sometimes he falls asleep this way too, which pushes back our bedtime to later than we'd prefer. I feel like we could have an easier bedtime routine if we had an actual bed for her to sleep in in her own room. Tha

One day of the class I took this summer (required to maintain my teaching license) was a day of field trips. Some people went rafting, some toured a farm, some visited a lumber company. I signed up to visit a water treatment plant, a hydroelectric dam, my local dump, and a home goods and construction recycling construction center. I learned a lot from each place, but the thing that probably left the biggest impression on me was visiting the dump and watching people pitch perfectly good, or at least recycle-able, items into the pit. Spy Hill Landfill - 4 by D'Arcy Norman We have made many trips to the dump, with broken items and true garbage. But in the few minutes I stood looking into the pit, I saw someone toss in a wheelbarrow, a massive pile of wood, soil, and empty boxes. The wheelbarrow did have a small hole in the bottom, but appeared to be functional other than that. I know it wheeled just fine because it fell off the top of the person's pickup truck when they mad

When we spent a few days at a cabin last month we used a disposable diaper product on Sweet Pea for the first time. We knew we were going to spend more than a day driving, and then several days at a cabin with no washing machine, so we thought this would be one time when using purely cloth diapers might be just too much for us. Maybe we are just wimps because Average's aunt had a great story for us about backpacking with a baby in diapers and washing them in a plastic bag in a hole she would dig in the ground. Now that's commitment! Back to our story though. We decided to go with a hybrid system: a disposable absorbent liner with a reusable cover. gDiapers are available at grocery stores in our city, so we thought that would be an easy option, and actually the only option since we didn't leave ourselves delivery time for ordering anything online. I had also read good reviews of the gDiaper inserts. We put the first one on Sweet Pea just before we left our house in the a

A week passed and no one has entered. So, once I get 10 entries, I will draw for a winner. Anyone want a free book? I have always enjoyed participating in and even winning a couple of giveaways from my fellow bloggers, and have had in the back of my mind that I'd like to offer more giveaways to my readers. I have an item that I think some of you might be interested in, here, that a friend recently passed on to me. I already had one so I thought I would share it. It is one of my favorite books and pregnancy and birth: The Complete Book of Pregnancy and Childbirth by Sheila Kitzinger.   This book covers the week-by-week changes of the pregnant body, and includes beautiful photos of home and hospital births. As the name suggests, it is a pretty complete guide to most of the questions that expectant parents encounter, and it couches its answers in non-scary, but accurate, terms. The giveaway will run for a week, so I will randomly pick a number for a winner next Sunday night

A couple of weeks ago we went blueberry picking. Sweet Pea ate every single berry she picked.

Last year I battled with the slugs by putting out beer traps for them. This year, we are trying the copper barrier method. We bought many rolls of Corry's Slug & Snail Copper Tape and have put them down around the tops of several of our raised beds. The idea is that crossing the copper gives the little varmints a small shock, so they avoid it. So far, it seems to be working. I think this product is best suited for container gardens because it takes a lot of copper tape to wrap an entire raised bed! I also read a review that said that after a year the adhesive didn't work any more on the wooden beds, which makes sense as water will seep into the wood. We are thinking in another year or two we will put copper pipes around the top of each bed -- a more permanent and attractive solution, but also more expensive. Just yesterday I was talking with my neighbor, and she told me a horribly sad story that reinforced my commitment to avoiding poisons in our yard. A few years ago,

Sweet Pea has been adding new vocabulary on a daily basis. She can say: jump Nana step boat bike nose eye cheeks knees toes And many others. In the last few days she has started repeating things all the time. This is the point at which we realize "we REALLY need to watch what we say!" I have never been one to throw curse words around, and while Average used to, he doesn't much anymore, at home at least. This new stage of mimicry has just reinforced to me that I need to be mindful of what I say and how I say things to her and to everyone around me. Our children really do learn most from observing us. I am proud that Sweet Pea says "no" sweetly instead of angrily, and enjoys giving hugs and kisses. I think her dad and I can attribute those things at least partly to a positive example, but I cringe when I hear her pretending to talk on the phone with her sharp and to the point "uh, yeah, no, uh" noises. That is pretty much how Average and I so

We are in the middle of World Breastfeeding Week, if you didn't already know. According to the WHO, August 1-7 is celebrated each year " in more than 120 countries to encourage breastfeeding and improve the health of babies around the world."   Breastfeeding is the best way to provide newborns with the nutrients they need. WHO recommends exclusive breastfeeding until a baby is six months old, and continued breastfeeding with the addition of nutritious complementary foods for up to two years or beyond.    -- WHO As a nursing mother, I have seen the benefits of breastfeeding to myself and my daughter continue into toddlerhood. At seventeen months old, Sweet Pea typically only nurses a few times a day, especially when we are busy and out and about. Those few minutes of nursing are a nice time to come back together, cuddle, and relax. The last couple of days, however, she and I have both been under the weather and nursing much more often. During these rough nights

Summer 2010 gardening got off to a late start, due to cold weather here well into June, and late planting from us since it took so much work just to get the beds prepared . We are getting close to having an abundance of food from our garden, just now at the first of August. So far, we have eaten strawberries and raspberries (mostly Sweet Pea ate those because she picked them nearly every time we went outside), some snap peas, zucchini, a head of broccoli, and some herbs. About to ripen are tomatoes, cabbage, beans, a second round of berries, and within the next month we will have apples, plums, corn, carrots, and potatoes. This is what the garden looked like June 11: Here is July 11: Then in two weeks, things grew like mad (July 25): And by yesterday, one week later, you can see that I planted too close together once again: It is so gratifying to see the fruits (and vegetables, haha) of our labor. Every year and every planting is a learning process. This year I might try for