Ethan in the Snow!

I am so lucky to get to be home with Ethan on a special day like his first snow fall!

It's Snowing in Austin!!

It's snowing!!! I have never seen snow in Austin and we have lived here almost 3 years. I haven't seen snow like this since I lived in Oklahoma almost 10 years ago. I know it's not a lot for some of you but it gets us here in south Texas pretty excited! We woke to a few snow flurries on the ground this morning and I was disappointed it happened over night and we didn't get to see it. But I didn't have to wait long because it started again about 10 minutes after we woke up. It has stopped and started several times but it's really going at it now and we have a good covering on the ground. There's so much more now then when I took these photos. I can't wait for Ethan to get up from his nap so we can bundle up and go play in Ethan's first snow "storm"!!

Ethan's First Hair Cut X 2

Little Ethan's hair was getting a bit too much like a long haired Coyboy so I thought it was time to cut it! I started by just trimming the top because he had a bit of a comb over. But after I trimmed the top I thought I should go a head and even up the back. Before

After take 1

The back is a bit lop sided and still too long compared to the front.

The front is short enough!

Now that's better!!!

Kreativ Blogger Award!

Rose at Mommy and Sweet Pea Make a Blog has given me the Kreativ Blogger Award! When you are given the award you are to tell 7 things about yourself and pass it on to 7 other bloggers.

1. I have a BA in Theatre Arts in Acting. I was only in 4 shows in 4 years of college! I did more behind the scenes: makeup, hair and wig design, sewing lots of costumes, building sets and props, and even hanging a few lights.





2. After college, I moved with 2 friends to Los Angeles and lived there for 5 years. I loved it (and hated it at the same time) and miss it from time to time. That is where I met the love of my life.





3. I worked in retail for 10 years holding every position from part-time to District Manager. During the Holidays in 2008, while pregnant with Ethan, I spent more time at home then I did in a mall for the first time in 10 years. It was great!





4. I would like to work in the Theatre again someday.





5. I would not like to work in retail full time again. Unless I owned my own store.





6. I have a big crush on Patrick Stuart, whom I like to call Jean-Luc. My husband's okay with it because he thinks I will never meet him. I hope he's wrong.



7. I love Funyuns.

Now I'll pass this award onto 7 other bloggers:

1. Elizabeth at Baby Signs with Elizabeth and Cooking for 10. She has such great ideas on both her blogs.

2. Carly at Obsessed Cloth Diapering Mama. I love reading about life with her two boys.

3. Sarah at Rambles and Shambles. She has some great CD reviews.

4. Jen at ReannaLily Designs. And it's not just because she's my cousins wife! She has a very informative blog on all things quilting and sewing. I love reading about and recreating her great ideas.

5. Leslie at Recycle Your Day. So much info on being green and frugal.

6. Kristin at Sweetheart Moments. She has one of the craftiest blogs I have ever seen. I love all her great home decorating ideas.

7. And because she makes me laugh with every post: Brandy at You Don't Know!

Please pardon my "dust" as I attempt to re-design my own blog!

New Shoes = Trip to the Park!

Random Tuesday- More Sleep Training or How to give a Mom a Heart Attack

I was going to post a bunch of photo's of Ethan in his new shoes at the park but google won't let me upload (download?) any pics. So I'll tell you about the heart attack I almost had last night.



Eli and I have been talking about getting the boy to sleep through the night without nursing for about a week now. He has been going to sleep well but waking around midnight, again around 2 or 3 and again around 5 and up for good at 7. That's a bad night. A good night he would wake maybe twice. Each time I was able to successfully put him back to sleep by nursing him, a process that only takes 5-8 minutes or Eli would walk him around his room. I had really been struggling with my own wants of continuing to nurse him at night. After a phone call with a friend and some supportive advice I decided I was ready last night to cut out the night nursing. Eli and I agreed that we would follow our bed time routine and I would nurse him and put him down in his bed. If and when he woke we would not go in the room for at least 15 minutes. Then we (Eli) would go in, tell him it is night time, go to sleep and we love him.



Bed time comes around, I nurse him and he is still wide awake. He really goes back and forth with the bedtime nursing. Most times he falls asleep while nursing and I put him in bed asleep. Sometimes he just doesn't and I put him in bed awake. He will cry a bit and then fall asleep. Last night was one of those nights. I put him in bed awake and walked out. He cried only until I shut the door and I didn't hear anything else from him for a half an hour. At this point Eli and I were done with our dinner, our nightly dose of Deadwood (we're a little behind) and I was ready to go to bed (I'm old). I had to check on him. He has twice gotten his arm stuck in the bed rails and I had to make sure he was okay.



I stick my head in the door and can only see part of his leg. (I usually only check to make sure there are no body parts sticking out of the bars.) I take a few steps in the room and can now see he is laying on his back but can't see his face. He doesn't sleep on his back. When we moved him to his room at 7 months we found that the only way he will sleep and stay asleep is on his tummy. I had to see his face. I leaned over the bed and my baby's eyes are wide open. His mouth is a little ajar and he is not moving. My heart starts racing and I am only able to barely whisper in a squeaky voice "Ethan?". It takes him a second to register that I am suddenly right in his face. He then jumps up and starts screaming his head off. I guess I scared him, too! I quickly leave the room hoping he will lay back down to sleep(yeah, right).



I go back in the living room, almost in tears, and tell Eli of my mistake. He comforts me and sends me back to Ethan saying "We owe him some comforting because you just scared him." So I went back and picked him up, walked him around the room and he was asleep in about 5 minutes.



We were fairly successful the rest of the night. Ethan woke around midnight. Eli let him cry for about 10 minutes and then, following the plan, went in and told him to go to sleep and that he loved him. Ethan continued to cry for another 10 minutes before he fell asleep on his own. I heard him wake at 2:17am. I remember this time because I had to count 15 minutes on my fingers about 5 times in my slumber. I didn't make it to 2:32 and nether did Ethan. We were both asleep by then. Ethan then woke at 6am. We don't get up until 7am in this house. Okay, we (me) don't want to get up until 7am. So I let him cry till almost 7 and then brought him to bed with us to nurse on my extremely over full breast. Hopefully tonight goes just as well or better. The goal is to be sleeping through the night by Thursday when Mom gets here. I don't think she can handle hearing Ethan cry!


Do you check on your baby after you've put them to bed? Do you walk all the way in the room or just stick your head in? Eli seems to be more successful at not waking the boy then I am. I think he can smell my milk when I walk in the room.

Meal Plan Monday

I'm going all Crock Pot again this week except for yesterday (Sunday) and Saturday.

Sunday- Pioneer Women Breakfast Burritos. Yummmy. I made enough to have leftovers. I'm going to wrap them up in tortillas and freeze so we can have yummy Breakfast Burritos when ever we want!

All these recipes come from Make it Fast, Cook it slow.

Monday- Slow cooker Sloppy Joes w/ turkey, oven fries.

Tuesday- Chili, cornbread

Weds- Tamales (w/ leftover pork from last week), Spanish rice. I'm so excited to try this one!

Thurs- Chicken Parmesan, roasted asparagus. Mom's coming to visit! Sorry, Mom, it's not low fat but it will be yummy!

Friday- Sushi!!! Eli and I are going on a date (finally!) while Mom stays with the (hopefully) sleeping baby!

Saturday- Homemade Spaghetti

I made several new things last week.

PW Restaurant Salsa I have been making homemade salsa for awhile now but always use fresh ingredients so I was a little weary of this because she uses canned ingredients. Well, I was wrong to worry because this stuff is great! I will be making all my salsa like this from now on! Beware it is on the hottest side because of the whole jalapeno but if you wanted to mild it down you could just leave that out or remove the seeds. Try it, you won't regret it!

I made my first loaves of sourdough bread. The first was okay and I must say I've been getting better and better! I also made buttermilk biscuits from scratch for the first time. They weren't as soft and fluffy as my Grandmas but I'll work on it! If anyone has any suggestions on improvement let me know.

Cloth Diaper Carnival VI: Get Cloth Diapers on The Ellen Show!!!!

Kim from Dirty Diaper Laundry is on a mission. That mission is to get the Modern Cloth Diaper featured on the Ellen Show!!! She and all the other Tweeters are bombing Ellen with Tweets about cloth diapers. If I was a Tweeter I'd be right there with them. I am not so I will do my part by posting this on my page to help spread the word. What better way to get the Cloth Diaper talk out there but to put it on the most popular day time show?

Run over to Dirty Diaper Laundry and find out the newest and latest info on the mission!

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Wordless Wednesday: Flashback

Do I look like someone we know? (Don't you just love the cloth diaper! I believe it is a flat.)

Fluffy Giveaways!!

Here's a new one: Mommy and Sweet Pea Make a blog is giving away Wollybottoms!! I've been working on making my own wool longies and will post about them soon.

Don't forget the other giveaway fluff: