boxed up

Don't let the silence fool you--a lot has happened in the past couple of weeks. Our worldly possessions are now boxed up in a storage building, and we are in the condo. Lots of family came down to help us move. The girls started daycare. Shannon turned 34. I have taken lots of pictures, but we find ourselves in a predicament--we can't find anything! It's a miracle we have the computer up and running. The printer is not plugged in because we had to steal the power cord to plug in the TV. I've got lots of cameras in arms' reach--video, digital, 35mm, and APS--but not a USB cord in sight. I found my laptop, but not the power cord. I bought Rebekah a new nap mat for school because I had no idea where to even look for hers. Until the next day when I found it in a duffle bag in the bedroom, in pretty much plain sight. But we're managing just fine. We went swimming in the pool (well, Shannon and Rebekah did--I can't find my swimsuit!), and we plan to rent a boat next week and take a spin on the lake. Unfortunately Shannon can't use the golf course that is literally six feet out our door. It's a private club and there are signs telling us that we are not allowed to set foot "in or near" the golf course, even though the golfers drive their carts right up onto our sidewalk looking for stray balls. But the course does make for a lovely view from our gigantic window. I took special pleasure in watching yesterday as a sudden thunderstorm drenched the golfers. I have much to report, but I have to get to work--school has started!

Some crafty things

Worries over moving have led to insomnia, so what better time to blog? As always, my busy schedule has not prevented me from making little things here and there. Crafting is my favorite means of stress relief.

I've saved all of Rebekah's broken crayons for her whole life, and recently I melted them and made them into new fun shapes. I also made some tractor crayons for James. This is super easy. Just sort the crayons by colors--all the various shades of a color will mix into one shade--and melt them down. I used a pickle jar and set it in a pot of boiling water--they melt fast. Then pour the melted crayons into candy molds that you can get at a craft store for less then $2. Warning--I lost the purple ones because I put too much water in the pot and when it bubbled it knocked over the jar. So not only did I lose all the purple crayons, but I also had to wash them out of my pot.

I have also been saving wine corks for years and I finally did something with them. I painted a plain wooden tray, sliced the corks in half, and glued them down to make a wall decoration for the kitchen. If I were to do it over I wouldn't have cut them--that was tedious--but you'd need a lot more corks.

My favorite crafts lately have been greeting cards. I have found that I spend less time making my own cards than I spend at the store picking one out. I like doing these because if I need to wind down after the kids go to bed, I can just get out my box of supplies and make one. It's nice to be able to have a completed project in one sitting. Here are some I did for Mother's Day. The one with the picture of the girls is my favorite. Click on the picture to see more detail.

Yummy!

Annabelle had her first taste of solids today, and boy was she happy! Rebekah was not interested in eating from a spoon until she was at least seven months old, and she never liked cereal, so we didn't expect much. But Annabelle was raring to go. I made some very thin rice cereal, and at first she couldn't seem to figure out how to close her mouth, as you can she in the picture. Once she got the hang of it, I couldn't get it in fast enough, and I mixed more cereal in to thicken it up. She ate the whole bowl! Her eating habits are so different from Rebekah's. When Rebekah was a baby, she would nurse all day long if I let her. A feeding session would last forty-five minutes, and she was happy to live on milk for most of her first year. Annabelle nurses for five to ten minutes and is done. I fed her a bottle with a stage 2 nipple, and she guzzled it down, but Rebekah cried when we gave her a stage 2 even when she was a year old. Rebekah cried the first time we tried to give her cereal or baby food, but I could almost hear Annabelle thinking, where has this stuff been all my life? The funny thing is, Annabelle is growing at almost the exact same rate as Rebekah did. I guess babies just know what they need and are good at telling us about it.

making lemonade

We're taking our lemons and making lemonade. We are moving into a resort condo on Lake Conroe until our house is done. It's furnished, all utilities included, and a month to month lease, so it's ideal for our less-than-ideal situation. It's on a golf course and it has a swimming pool, so we can pretend like we're on vacation for awhile (except for that whole work thing). All of our stuff is going into storage, so I have the task now of figuring out what we need on hand and what we can live without for an undetermined amount of time. And now back to packing.

Annabelle's stats

Annabelle is four months old today! She is not a happy girl right now because she has a little cold and a bit of a fever, and she had four shots today. She weighs 15 lbs. 10 oz., almost double her birth weight, and she is 26 inches long. Like her sister, she is in the 90th percentile for weight and the 95th for height--we have some big girls. She will not lie on her back when we put her down. She rolls right over onto her tummy before you know it. She tried to roll off the scale and the exam table today. At night I still swaddle her to sleep because if I don't she rolls right over and pushes her head up and looks around. It's like she doesn't know how to be still, even though she is so sleepy. The doctor said that since she sits up so well, we might try to give her solid food. I remember being really anxious to give Rebekah solid food, but the thought hadn't even crossed my mind for Annabelle. Now I'm excited about the idea, and I think we'll try it tomorrow. Maybe she'll spread out her feedings a little--she rarely makes it two hours without wanting to be fed. Of course, she sleeps twelve hours a night, so I certainly can't complain.

look at the tickers

This is only true for a couple of days, so look now. Rebekah is 3 years and 3 weeks old, and Annabelle is 3 months and 3 weeks old. Just thought that deserved acknowledgment.

The Blog has a name

Finally, the blog has a title. In anticipation of our move to the land where everyone has two kids and two cars and all the houses look alike, we give you Suburban Utopia. (Title inspired by a recent viewing of the movie Over the Hedge, which could have been written about our neighborhood. Except in the the movie, they have electricity.)