Some going ons

Well I haven't been able to snap any photos of the things I had hoped to. For some reason my hands seem to be full (hee, hee) and I haven't found the time.

Jed is doing great with eating real food! He is getting an over night feed about every other night. Not on purpose, but because for some reason every other night he has been waking up saying, "Ow" and crying. Poor guy. We are not sure what is wrong. But on the days he has his over night feed it takes him a while to warm up to eating. By evening he is constantly asking for food. The mornings that he doesn't have a feeding overnight he is more hungry from the get go. We weighed him the other day and he actually gained a few ounces. This is amazing. But we have traveled this road now for some time and I know to expect the unexpected with Jed. We will continue to closely monitor his weight and take it a week at a time. He has been doing so well that I can't fathom having to go back. Being on the feedings definitely leaves no room for him to be hungry on his own. This has been a great experience for ALL of us! Jed is loving not having to be "tied" down three times a day. I love seeing him get excited about food. The girls love not having to prime his pump (when I need an extra hand). It has been a win-win situation.

Jed is also doing amazingly well with his speech. Please remember that the previous statement should be taken in perspective of where he started. He still has a long ways to go, but he has made very noticeable leaps forward. We have a meeting with a DynaVox rep next week. I am excited to see the device and try it out with Jed.

At some point in the near future I plan on making some big changes to my blog. So it may get a bit messy around here. Unless I can see if they have a feature where I can hide my blog temporarily so I can get the work done with out everything looking chaotic. I have to take some time to write out how I want things. I have found some sites that have some tutorials on the how-to end. I might need to wait until the resident computer geek---er my dear hubby :-) is home to help me. Seriously, there would be no blog if it wasn't for him! I'm totally computer illiterate!

I have been doing a bit of tomato staking around here. And no, there are no tomatoes involved....just children :-) We've been buckling down as much as possible to reign in some bad attitudes (including MINE), and tackle a lot of ongoing disobedience. I'm taking the tomato staking approach, but made sure to put it in the light of this being an adventure. I am trying to get the girls excited about what the Lord is doing in our family. We've had a lot of changes going on around here and I am sure this is overwhelming them. So I am trying to show them the blessings that can be found in it all. This makes for some very tiring days physically and emotionally. I can really see what the scriptures meant when it says that women will be saved through child birth. I'm thinking it is more of the child rearing than the birth part....because boy children have the amazing ability to bring out the worst in us! But those worsts can then be transformed into a change of heart, forgiveness and victory! I'm still in the part of it bringing out the worst in me. Ha! On a more serious note, whenever I start to reign these bad attitudes in it never fails that we get sick with in 72 hours. It. Never. Fails. And wouldn't ya know....Flannery started getting watery eyes and a runny nose today--a little over 48 hours after I had our pep talk. At first I was thinking it could be allergies. Um, nope, definitely not....she's sick. Oh, you know I'm excited about that! After all who wouldn't want to be sick AGAIN after being sick for a month straight. I guess we just miss being sick (roll eyes!). So do pray for us. This is what does us in every time. When I stand firm, determined not to give up, people start dropping like flies around here. Obviously I am on the right track when this happens other wise there wouldn't be opposition.

Since I don't have pictures to share---soon, really! I'll just tell you what I've been up to. I finished a cape for Isabella. She really loves it and wears it everywhere. Its kind of on the medieval style, so she gets a few looks when we are out ;-) She doesn't seem to notice or mind. With making some cut backs on things---that will be a whole post in itself soon as well--I've been on the chilly side. I am cold by nature, which is one major reason we moved south! We turned down the heat, and so now our bedroom is a bit more on the chilly side. I took to putting the blanket over my head, but that doesn't work to well when you are sharing the covers. So I found this neato hat to crochet. I'm a bit more than half way done. You can see the pattern HERE. I'm making mine with a dark brown yarn, and I might make a border in green. I love how it covers the ears and how you can make it into a cowl. It will be my night cap. I have made up a reading list for the girls and I. We have some interesting reads, again another post. I'll share our book list in that post, and hopefully have it on my side bar. I am almost finished with Saoirse's blanket. I am not sure if I need to put a border on the sides of the blanket to finish it off. I'm not sure if it would look right with the wave pattern. I'm going to see if I can find some other peoples works and see if they put a border on. I realized that Jonah does not have a blanket. (I did make him a blankie, but not a blanket that he could cover up with). So I found this neat hexagon pattern. I was so excited about it that I dug in and made two hexagons. I have boyish yarns-browns, blue, green, white, a rusty orange and a yellow (by Jeremiah's definition, not boyish, but I needed another color). Jeremiah saw it, not knowing what I was planning on making with it, and commented on how nice the 'flowers' looked! Hmmmmm, I was definitely not going for the flower look :-) I am hoping that as the hexagons add up that it will take on a non-flowery blanket. You can go HERE to see the pattern I am using. You can see more of the blanket HERE. I really thought it could like very boyish with boy colors...kind of a 'gears' look. We shall see. Other than that I am trying to keep up with the house work. A big goal of mine if for the cleaning to become more automatic and routine. In the book we are reading for our "science" class, or life skills class they had a great comment on the safety of a clean/or not clean house. I could see the gears turning in the girls' heads with that one!

We have been faithful with our diet. I am excited to make Flannery's birthday dessert. I think I found a topping I could use that we could decorate. With the fudge brownie base (the black bean brownies) I could top it with some vanilla banana ice cream (no milk involved), and then we could use fruit to 'write' out Happy Birthday (think blueberries or cherries). Not traditional by our standards, but some traditions need to change for our healths sake. Her birthday is less than two weeks away!

Oh, duh, I almost forgot to write about my new found hobby...photography! The gift I was talking about in a previous post was a new (to me) camera. We found a great deal on eBay. The couple bought the camera-with the lens I was hoping to get, and decided that they liked their old camera better (they have a very nice old camera). The camera had a large restocking fee, and so they decided to sell it on eBay. It only had 27 pictures taken with it! So it's just about brand spanking new! I now own a Canon 40D with a 50 mm 1.8 lens. I am in love. I have a lot to learn, but am having a lot of fun doing so. I can now take those pictures where one part of the photo is in focus and other parts are not. Ooohhh soooo cooooool! Yeah, I'm excited! ha, ha. I'll have to show you my pathetic trials. Trust me they really are pathetic. But I have to start somewhere!

Ok, it is really late. Off to bed I go.