Easter Brunch Plans

While we've lived here in WA, we've found some great people to call our family!! They have us over for Thanksgiving and Christmas (if we're here in town) and then invite us over all the time during the year. Although our home isn't as large to hold the total of 12 (that there are when we're all together), we do like to have them over a couple times of year. We got together at Christmas this year, and have done a New Years day thing before and Mother's day occasionally, and Finnegan's birthday is always a given! But another holiday that we traditionally have them over to our home is on Easter. It started a couple of years ago and I think this will be the third year in a row we've had the group over from brunch.

Because I'm better at making brunch and relying on meat to turn out properly, I base my meal around a late breakfast idea. I usually make a breakfast casserole and other items. This year, I'm taking some WONDERFUL help from some cooks who blog... Here's what's on the menu...

• Blueberry Scones
• Quiche Lorraine (just as pictured and then a second with bacon and spinach)
• Fruit Plate with Strawberries and pineapple and grapes
• Caprese Spears (toothpicks with cherry tomatoes, motz cheese, basil and olives)
• Turkey Sausage Links
• Lemon Cake with a Homemade Strawberry Sauce ** Haven't decided if I'll make a homemade lemon cake or a box yet...

Should be pretty yummy! I love to cook for people and have people over. Can't wait until we have a bit bigger home so we can do it more often!!

6 month stats

For those of you out there who might care... P went to her 6 month check up on Thursday last week. She got 2 vaccines and had a CBC done. All went well... She didn't cry for either of the shots, but did give out a loud wale when the nurse got too close to her face. She is so in need of her personal space, and when she doesn't know you and you get too close, she freaks! I find it fascinating as F was never like this!!

She is 14lbs and 15oz. She is 26 inches long. Her height is about 50% for her age and her weight is between 10 and 25%. So she's on the small/petite side. Which is fine. She even still fits in her 3-6 months clothes, and we have a ways before she'll jump up to the next size.

She's a happy baby, and loves to hear music and loves to watch her brother. She sleeps well, most of the time. She's been up early every so often since my previous post about her sleep, but nothing excessive as she was at that time. She's quiet for most of the day... unless she's hungry or wants a change of scenery. She does squeal more than F ever did. And loves to use her vocal chords that way. She seems to be less excited to use her voice as F was. But I am sure that will change as she grows up.

Her hair has mostly fallen out, and is now being replaced with new budding locks. I was looking at it today, and she'll probably have lighter hair like F does. She has the same side cowlick that he does, and two on the top of her head that each go a different direction. I'm hoping long hair will correct it. :) She has striking blue eyes, very similar to her daddy's, but much more bluer.

She is starting to enjoy the paci but just to get herself to sleep and then she spits it out. She'll onl take one kind and we only allow her to have it in her bed or carseat (or now). She tends to be a tummy sleeper, as she's learned to roll over and is too tired to flip back over herself onto her back.

She's a spirited girl. Her nickname is sassafras. She's like any girl, she expects things to go her way. And we're all learning together that it doesn't always work out that way :)

My baby is 6 months old!!

Six months ago, my sweet baby was born... And oh how time has flown by! Here are a few photos from a last 6 months together!!

(photos above by Amanda Kay Photography)

October 2009

(Photo above by Amber Sheree)

November 2009

December 2009

January 2010

Feb 2010

March 2010

And here's one of our first born, with his first experience with Starbucks... yes, we start them early around here (no, no, no!! it's just a steamer - no coffee - although he does ask for it!) :)

Update

Well, it's been a few days, and of course, the day after I posted this, Sweet Pea is back to sleeping till her normal time!! Of course! But I am not complaining! Not having to get up early isn't bothering me any! Thanks for all of your encouragement and suggestion, ladies. I have decided (at least as my next course of action) that I will let her whine a bit in her bed, before I rush in for her. This morning, she actually did wake up around 6:30am and talked for a few minutes before putting herself back to sleep. So, we will continue to try this. I have also noticed that her nose is running a bit more these days, and she's tending to be a bit more "oral" than usual. So she may be teething too! You know, our kids are the ever experiment!!

One of my last commentors mentioned how she doesn't do scheduling because it doesn't jive with your personality... and I just wanted to say, that I am so glad to hear that!! For me, I HAD to do scheduling when my son was born. The structure allowed me to KNOW what needed to happen next. I am such a "made-mom" that I had no natural instincts as to what should happen next and what was normal behavior and etc. So the scheduling works for me. I am so glad that there are parents that do it differently, and that I can learn from the wonderful things that they do too! Oh, I just relish in the differences, especially when we can learn from each other!!

In other news... We've been busy working on our "living with less" mission. We have downsized almost every aspect of our home. Our garage is cleaner (there is space between the remaining boxes now) and our closet has space. My husband has down sized his wardrobe almost by half. He is much better at this than I am! We have cashed in on all of the items we've posted on craigslist or ebay. I wish that our last final things would sell... We started going through our photographs. We have a HUGE bin of photos and old photo books. We decided that in order to downsize this section we should scan all of the non-digital photos and then upload them to a server somewhere to store them. And then trash the paper copies... So, this has been my project this week. I started on Tuesday and have scanned over 1600 photograph from Jr High, High School and College, as well as our Wedding. UGH! I have several hundred more to go but am more than half way done!! Then the next project will be to categorize them (or complete it, as I did most of this work on the front end) and then begin the process of uploading them.

We made our 4th trip to the GoodWill since we started our quest. I hope to only have to make one more trip. But Ken seems to think we're only about half done. But I think we're getting closer than we think. We'll see though!

BabyWise Question

Hello BabyWise Mommas!

Background: We used the BW method with Finnegan and it worked beautifully. He was sleeping through the night by 7 weeks old and other than a normal pattern that we saw with him during growth spurts did we ever have a "problem". We used the same method with Penelope and she was sleeping through the night by 6 weeks old. Up until now, we haven't been experiencing any trouble.

Here's my question...

Penelope is 6 months old. Around about the time she was 4 months old, she would choose one day every 10 days (or so) and wakeup especially early in AM ( like after 9 hours of sleep or so). As we have worked through the past two months, she seems to be doing this more and more. From her charts (yes, I chart the WHOLE thing) :), I can tell that the pattern is getting closer and closer together, sometimes every three days or so. This week, she's done it every day. At one point I thought that it was the time change as Finnegan was consistently getting up earlier but since the time change this weekend, he's sleeping into his normal wakeup time.

My first thought from my own experience is that the daily routine must be consistent, but as you all know, with 2 kiddos, its a bit harder to have a more consistent day. I work to follow the eat, wake, sleep pattern, but there are times that her wake time goes past her nap time and she hasn't napped, and she's ready to eat again. But then after she eats, she wants to nap. And when she wakes from her nap, she doesn't want to eat, and the schedule is all backwards now.

I also find trouble as I'm using more external help to watch Penelope. So the days that those people watch her, her schedule tends to get off too. And there is just not enough day left to straighten it out... Does that make sense (or does it just sound like an excuse)?

And unfortunately, Penelope doesn't fuss unless she's extremely uncomfortable. So if she has to wait a few extra minutes to be fed, or nap, she's ok with that, and doesn't usually put up a huge fuss. And because of that, it's easy for us to get off schedule.

So, my question is... What do you think is causing her to wake up extra early on those rare occasions? Those of you with 2 or more kiddos, how did you make the BW system work when you are not necessarily on Baby's schedule?? Any tips you can share?

yes, this is a commercial...

So early last week, I saw an "ad" for this on a syndicated television program and thought it was interesting... You, mom's know that smell... the one your clothes get when they sit in the washing machine for a long time, and then you have to wash them AGAIN! I've noticed more and more that it doesn't matter how long the clothes sit in the washing machine, even if it is as short as 30 minutes, they still have that smell. I purchased this product and used it right away, and sure enough, during my every-other-week washing routine (of at least 5 loads or more), I managed to leave the clothes in the washing machine a bit too long... over night, actually. And they didn't smell the next day. They didn't have the musty, old smell. They still smelled clean. Even after a run in the dryer, they still smelled clean.

I plan to continue using it to keep my washing machine clean and without "that smell". I thought you other mom's might benefit from it as well. Also, if you visit the Tide website, you can print a coupon (as the product was about $7 at my grocery store -- regular price).

I'll Take Movie Quotes For 200, Alex!

Finnegan loves his movies. The other night while Ken was getting cleaned up after dinner he looked at Finnegan and said "If I'm layin', I'm cryin'!" Finnegan looked back at him and says, "That's what Mater says!" (This is from a digital short from the Cars Movie).

Yesterday while at the park with Finnegan and Penelope, I was pushing Finnegan on the swing and he was having a delightful time soaking in the sunshine and the cool breeze. I said "Wee!!" as I pushed him and he looked back at me and said "That's what Mario says!" Right, buddy!! That is what Mario says on MarioKart for the Wii! :)

Silly Kid!! We concluded he should go on Kids Jeopardy!

Living with Less Tips

Based on my previous post, Trisha asked for a few more tips regarding Living with Less. Her main concern was with Books and previous occupation items. To be more specific, her husband enjoys reading and researching and can't let go of books. And Trisha, herself, was a teacher before she had children, and so she has so many teach materials that she is finding hard to part with. So, here are the tips that I would offer. If other readers have suggestions, please post them below.

Books:

• For Ken and I, books were a hard thing, initially. We actually have gone through our library about 4 times in the last year, thinning it each time. And i would suggest this. The more familiar you are with what you have, the more you are able to think about what is realistic for keeping and getting rid of.
• The next step regarding books is WHAT do you do with them?? Those who LOVE books, have difficulty throwing them in the trash. But is there a used bookstore that would give you credit or cash for them? Have you thought about half.com or swaptree.com? These are two great sites for getting rid of gently used items. Half.com is where Ken got rid of many of his engineering textbooks. And at great prices too. Swaptree, perhaps is a bit more troublesome because you are not actually getting rid of something, but exchanging it for something else. But perhaps you could exchange it for a child's book, or movie or CD?
• For us, the rule of thumb with our books, especially our text book is, if we haven't used it or don't plan to reference it soon, we get rid of it. If the book is rare or particularly old, we tend to keep it. But if it isn't needed now (or within the next couple of years) we get rid of it. If it is needed, we can always purchase it if you need it again in the future. Just with anything, there is a season for books. After a particular season has ended, it is time to get rid of them. It has been in my experience (although we are not particularly BIG readers) there are very few books that stay with us and must be referenced year after year.

Previous Work Materials:

These are a bit harder for me to address because I'm not a teacher and have not spent hours creating something that is now stored in boxes (ie lesson plans etc). But here is what I think. There must be some way that the amount of things can be thinned out. Just like everything that we've encountered during our living with less adventure, not many subjects are eliminated altogether, but the amount is thinned. Is there a way that you can consolidate your lesson plans or keep digitally combine them so that the paper isn't piling up? What about taking photos of the crafts/project ideas etc to keep with the digital lesson plans? Ken and I have researched a couple of digital document storage options and have found that storing them online is the best option for safety and back up reasons. We were just talking about possibly using a site like godaddy.com as they can store photos and documents for as little as $30 a year. Just an option.

A friend put this idea in our minds a couple of years ago when we really began struggling with the idea of space in our house... She told me that each year you pay property taxes for the amount of space that is in your home. If you take the property tax cost and divide it by the actual square footage of your home, you can estimate how much money each square foot of space you are wasting with the amount of the stuff that we "store" in our homes (and subsequently don't use). Think about that space that could be used for another purpose, something more productive, and used more frequently, allowing you to get use out of that space you pay yearly for. I found that really helpful to relate the space to $ rather than just space. We want to get the most value out of the space in our homes. And how can we do that if we are stumbling over junk that we never use, or if it is taken up by things that we are storing.

Good Luck, busy beavers...

Birthday excitement!

Well, as most of you know, I celebrated my 30th birthday this past week. I've been sort of aprehensive about the big number but as it drew closer and closer, I realized that it couldn't be any worse than any other number that MILLIONS of people have turned years before me! So, our week was carried out as any other week was here in the Morgan home, with crying kids, temper tantrums from the 2 yr old and a lesson in patience from the mommy! Although, we did have a great day at the zoo with a new friend (and her boys), and Penelope started eating cereal once a day to help cut down on the spit up volcano that we experience on an hourly bases.

Anywho - back to the birthday excitement. I didn't take as many photos that day as I would have liked, but Ken and I woke up bright and early as the kids were up by 7:30am. Ken made coffee and then made his first breakfast of any substance for me... He learned and scrambled an egg with toast. It was very sweet. Later in the morning, he let me open my gifts. More on that later.

One of the two gifts he gave me was a trip to the 5th Avenue Theater to see Legally Blonde: The Musical. Oh, I was pretty excited. We arranged a baby sitter for the kids and got dressed up. The babysitter was to arrive at noon and we should have left no later than 12:30. At 11:45, ken and I were not dressed yet, and she was about 5 minutes early. I was running around and Ken was asking me what he should wear! I had planned for weeks what I would wear and thought slightly about what I'd like him to wear. Little did I know he'd gotten rid of the pants I wanted him to wear, my ideas were out the door... Just choose something! Anyway, we were down stairs by 12:05, and 12:10 respectively. And we quickly gave the babysitter the rundown of what would happen, and all the details. Penelope began to cry and NOTHING could soothe her... but we had to go. So we did!! UGH!

But, I wasn't nervous or concerned. We were leaving her and Finnegan in safe, capable hands. We drove to Seattle and didn't have much traffic hold ups until we reached the city limits... About 6 miles before our exit we were stopped in five lanes of traffic, traveling 10 miles an hour... UGH! But luckily, I still wasn't too nervous or upset. I was mainly calm and knew we would get there when we got there. It was nearing 1:30, and the show started at 2pm. There was no parking at the theater so we would have to park at least 2 or more blocks away and walk to the theater. But still, no IBS or upset stomach. Just calm feelings (well as calm as I could be in traffic of inconsiderate people on their cellphones). About 1:40 we pulled off the expressway onto our exit, and quickly found a parking garage for a great rate. We parked and quickly walked down the stairs and to the theater only 2 blocks away. We were in our seat by 1:49. Nice deal!!

The show was great! Fun, spunky, and had some great music. I laughed, and even Ken laughed!! I had a wonderful time. Ken got us seats in the orchestra section, so very close. We sat in the midst of the older generation who most likely had season tickets to the theater. Not the normal "Legally Blonde" crowd. :)

On the way home, we stopped and picked up dinner at a local Italian restaurant and took it home to Finnegan and Penelope. Ken also got a small cake and a bouquet of flowers for me, so we had a wonderful evening.

Below are a few photos... The last photo is of the other gift that Ken gave me. It is for my 30th birthday combined with my "birth" gift for having Penelope (started with Finnegan's birth, he wanted to buy me something nice for the birth of our children). It is very similar to a ring that my mother has that us girls "fight" over. I just love this ring and love that Ken picked it out. There is a bit of a story involved with it too... So here's the short version... He tried to order it on line and it was out of stock. Ken called a local store to see if they had it, and they didn't but could order it from another store. He arrived to place the order and they had found one in their inventory... they all concluded it was meant to be :)

What a wonderful 30th birthday... Now, I am waiting, as I've heard that the 30's are much better than the 20's! :)

Living with Less Part 3

Well, we are on our way to having less to clean, trip over and store in our small home. Recently, our pastor started a series called "The Simple Life". And it has really continued to fuel our desire to clean out our home and begin to live with less.

Living with less has really moved into many areas of our lives. My recent birthday was nice as I didn't receive all this "stuff" to find a home for. On Sunday, we took more time (several hours) and went through the many boxes in our garage. We went through our TWO rubbermaid boxes of extra notebook paper, pens, pencils and misc. office supplies and reduced it to one small box. (The rest will be taken to an office in town. We went through our dress up clothes for the kids, games, and "junk drawer" boxes. We also organized and packaged up all of our aquarium items, as I am actively trying to sell our aquarium on craigslist. I also have several other things to sell. We even have a "free" pile outside of our home and over half of it is gone in less than 24 hours!!

I've created boxes for my family all over the country... A box for each sister and my parents as well as a few things for some friends in town. I took our second car load of goodies to the goodwill today and BOY, we still have SO many things!!

I have heard from a couple of you that you are working and desiring to do the same thing in your homes. I wanted to offer some encouragement and some "tips" that have helped me to rid my home of the things that are piling up but I seem to not be able to part with.

• The things that are being stored in your home should only be "seasonal" items. These things should be used at least once a year. If you have things that you must "keep" they should have a place in your home that you can access them easily and you know exactly where they are. Keeping loads of cards in a box in the basement, guarantees that you will never remember that they are there, therefore never use them and you've wasted the money to purchase them, and the property taxes that you're spending on your home to store them.
• If there are things that you just CAN'T part with, put them in a pile and allow yourself a "veto". Ken and I allow each other vetos every once in a while. Things that are sentimental to either of us, we can choose to keep them. But these things are few.
• I also have a box designated to "sentimental" things. I have magazines, programs, memory item etc from our dating, marriage, high school, college, kids first years etc. And, although we haven't gotten to them, I will be more discerning to what I keep as the years go on.

Good Luck to those of you who are working towards living lean. If you have 40 minutes or so, I would encourage you to visit Calvary Community's Website and listen to the two sermons from 2/21 and 2/28 regarding the Simple Life. They are MP3 files - no video.