A New Year

Hey everybody! It's been awhile... We welcomed the new year in along with a nasty cold, virus thingy. It was awful stuff. Now we are all finally pretty much better. Gabe is the last one, and he is feeling better today.
We have been having the strangest winter ever! Very little snow and lots of sunshine and warm weather. I would be glad to have some snow, but I'll probably get my fill of that when we go up to Wisconsin :)
I don't feel like I have much to say. I am just living my life and taking care of my family and all those things. One thing that is drastically different in my life, is that Myles has taken to sleeping ALL NIGHT LONG! I did not even try to make him sleep all night. I didn't do anything different really. It is the strangest thing, but I am not complaining. So I moved him in to Gwen's crib, and Gwen sleeps in her little toddler bed and they are doing so well, and I almost don't even know what to do with myself anymore. I don't even have a good excuse to take a nap these days! Now I shall have to find a place to store my little co sleeper bed.
Right now the children are sleeping and I really should be sewing or something....
~jenny

Christmas time

Gabe here.

Well, tonight we had a little Christmas party at our house. We started things off right with a good supper of steak and 'taters grilled by yours truly. It was good, but then maybe I don't have to say that?

The last week or so has been a hustle and bustle with final Christmas preparations, and secretive gift buying and hiding. It may be somewhat of a rarity among spouses (ahem), but Jenny and I actually don't usually know what we will get from one another for Christmas. The main project that has occupied my time over the last week has been the designing and building of these chairs.

It was a fun project, but don't ask me to make any more for awhile. I made them from Southern Pine scraps that were available from the truss shop, and then "caned" them with para cord for the seat. Just another of the myriad uses of para cord. They are a bit big for Gwen yet, but will be about perfect for her when she's wanting to sit and write as she grows older. The plan is to eventually have a table to match. I'm just glad I had the happy inspiration to make two of them at the same time, instead of trying to make another to match next Christmas.

Gwen is very happy with her toybox built by Grandpa, and has been busily putting things (including herself) into it and taking them back out again. Between the new chairs (which she greeted with "Neat chair!") and the toy box, she is quite content with her lot in life. Myles loves to sit on the chair (when someone is watching) or to stand by it. He cried when we took him off to open his other gift. If you want more pictures of our evening, or of our other December activities you can see them by clicking this link.

Merry Christmas Everyone!

My New Job

I found this article interesting. I would venture to guess that most stay at home moms don't sit around trying to figure out how much money they would be making if the got paid to do what they do, because, as this article points out, they are reaping other rewards.

It is easy for me to get caught up in the whirl of work and wet diapers and whiny babies, and forget about why I'm here and what really matters. Does it really matter if the floor didn't get swept today and that the bathroom is long overdue for a cleaning? Is it more important to get the laundry folded or to sew a new dress for my little girls dolly? It is sometimes so hard for my to discern between needs and wants and which priorities are most important.

I would like to live in a calm and clean environment, yet I really would like to get some sewing projects done. Should I even be taking the time to post on this blog? Ahhh.... I wish I had all the answers and was always full of energy and vim and vroom. On gray rainy days like today I just feel like sitting around and sleeping and it seems like I don't get anything done. I really must go check on the babies and put my laundry away.

Sleep baby, sleep...

Here it is... the little bed that Gabe made for Myles. It is so nice, and I have gotten much more sleep since we have this. Gabe made a fourth side for it, that is supposed to be attached with hinges, but it is not on the bed right now. I am so proud of Gabe for doing this for me :)
I love having my baby right next to me, and I love not getting out of bed 5-10 times per night. I know that some people think that babies should NOT sleep with their parents or in their parents bedroom, but this is what works for us, and what we like to do.
Myles is nine months old, and we had struggled and fought and cried and tried to get him to sleep well at night in his own crib. We did try letting him cry it out, although we stayed with him, and gave him his paci every now and then. That didn't work. This mom doesn't do well with that sort of thing. I was so, so weary and out of my head, until we finally got smart, and found this solution.
So... what do you all think? Is co-sleeping a horrible thing? What works for you?