What I Did Yesterday - Time Well Spent

So, I mentioned a few days ago that I have joined Weight Watchers.  I don't know if I've lost any weight yet - it's only been a week, and I am not weighing myself at home, since my scale will not be quite the same as their scale.  Why drive myself crazy?  Anyhow, I have really been craving raw veggies since I started it, especially salads.  Healthy salads - not ones laden down with loads of creamy blue cheese dressing and piled high with bacon bits and croutons.  Lettuce?  It's just a vehicle for the tangy goodness of that blue cheese, right?  No?

Ok, so I also mentioned that I went on a produce buying spree.  However, I was passing up a lot of the stuff I'd bought, simply because I was hungry right that second and didn't want to take another 10 minutes to chop stuff up.  I also had some stuff in there to make baby food for #5.  My solution yesterday was to haul out all those fruits and veggies and just deal with them, rather than letting them go bad in my refrigerator.

I didn't get everything addressed before dinner-making went awry, but I did accomplish:

• roasting red peppers
• slicing carrots and peppers for snacking
• chopping peppers, radishes, and carrots to throw in salads
• roasting pears and peaches
• roasting turnips, parsnips, and carrots
• putting the pinto beans (which I made a week ago) into 2 cup portions and freezing them for future meals

The peaches and pears smelled heavenly (the peaches were a little over-ripe and very juicy).  They're in the freezer right now, waiting for me to turn them into a chunky puree for #5.  The roasted root veggies are also in the freezer, for future use.  I'm thinking of maybe adding them to some mashed potatoes some time.  The roasted peppers - they were recently on sale for 99 cents a piece, so I got 7 or 8 of them.  Several of the Weight Watchers recipes I've been looking at called for a jar of them, so I thought - why not roast the ones I've got?  I still need to peel them and all, but they're roasted!

Between other housework today, I hope to finish the rest of what I wanted to do yesterday:  roasting sweet potatoes and butternut squash, chopping/slicing celery and jicama, steaming some carrots for #5, and cooking some white beans.  It's so nice to be able to pull something I need out of the freezer!  I'll have to roast some more fruit for a dessert some time - Super Girl was a bit disappointed to hear that it was already in the freezer!

I'm linking up here:

And also here:  A Bowl Full of Lemons

Made-By-Me Monday: Special Edition!

Ok, so God gets all the credit on this one!

On Wednesday night, I gave birth to our fifth child - #4 this side of heaven. He weighed in at 8 pounds and 9 ounces, and was 21 inches long. I thank God for a fairly easy pregnancy, a safe delivery, and a healthy baby! I have yet to come up with a bloggy nickname for him - I'll keep you posted.

First Try at Sewing Diapers

First off, let me start by saying that I have chosen to do cloth diapers with this baby in order to save money, and also because I believe it is better for the baby and the environment. However, learning to sew has led me into a whole new hobby, which has me buying patterns (on sale or second hand), fabrics, and "notions". My scrapbook supplies are getting jealous.

Here is the first round of diapers I've sewn. I made a few of the pink ones and the orange ones - I got those fabrics at Walmart. The other fabrics I got at JoAnn. I made the most of the blue farm animal print and the white duck & frog print, 8 each, I believe. The outer fabrics are all flannel, except the orange, which is cotton knit. The yellow inner is fleece, and the blue inner is stretch terry. I loath sewing with french terry. These diapers have a hidden layer of PUL, but I know that they may end up wicking because of the way that I constructed them, so I have some newborn covers to use if need be.



They are definitely newborn-sized, as you can see from the comparison to a disposable newborn diaper.



The duck & frog is my favorite! I intend to buy more of it, to make other baby items. I have enough scraps to make a bib, some booties, and some cloth balls or blocks.



When I began making these diapers, I was convinced this baby would come early, like Super Girl did. At 7#, Super Girl wore newborn diapers for the first 6 weeks, since she was so scrawny that she swam in size 1. Now that this child has made it to her due date, I'm not sure I will be using these diapers at all! It's a good thing I have already started on the next size up!

New Obsession

Picking up a new hobby while pregnant is dangerous. My brain becomes much more obsessive (I've been dreaming about it), and there are suddenly tons of things I'd love to do "before the baby comes". My latest obsession is sewing. I have wanted to learn to sew for a while, but didn't actually start until a couple of months ago. It all began because I wanted to do cloth diapers with the baby. We can't afford disposables, plus I believe cloth is better for the baby and the environment. The major problem is that there can be a fairly large start-up cost with cloth diapers. My cloth-diapering friends some how convinced me, the sewing dummy, that I could make my own. I have been working on newborn diapers since the end of May. I'm finally finishing them up this week. More on this topic later.

Anyhow, I needed to feel like I was accomplishing something. I needed a completed project. While at JoAnn Fabrics, I came across a bolt of material that was already shirred on the top, and had a fair amount of length underneath that. Super Girl thought it was cute, and asked me to make a shirt for her out of it. Since it was on sale for $1.50 a yard, I thought, "Why not?" I spent at least an hour on Father's Day, "whipping up" this shirt. It took longer than I expected, considering all I had to do was sew it together down one side and make straps. It turned out really well, though - if I do say so myself.

Double digits!

Woo hoo! If you look at the widget of the little floating baby, you'll see that I'm down to less than 100 days officially! I know that it could still be longer, but still . . . WOO HOO!!!

It's a . . .

GIRL! We had the ultrasound this morning, and everything looked good. There were also no boy parts in sight, so . . . I'm planning for another girl! Super Girl is very excited - Wonder Boy is just kinda indifferent. He already knows what it's like to have a sister, I guess.

It was really neat to get to see the baby. However, I was a bit disappointed that Mr. Man and the kids didn't get to watch as long as I did. They only got to see the last 10 minutes or so. It was still a good homeschooling field trip!

Telling the Fam

We decided to tell the kids about the baby on the way to Mr. Man's parents' house for Thanksgiving. It's a 4 hour drive, so we figured they'd be able to get out any questions on the way. I'm not sure how I expected them to react, but thankfully they were both very excited. This is one area where I feel they are different from public-schooled children - they have no one telling them that their mom having a baby isn't "cool", like when my own baby brother was born.

We told the Man's side of the family right before Thanksgiving dinner. The look on my father-in-law's face was priceless! It made me wish we'd been filming it! It was the classic look of shock: round, wide eyes and round, wide mouth. Everyone was very excited. Everyone, that is, except our 3 1/2 year old nephew. His reaction? "That is NOT gonna be my cousin!" That was his line all weekend, whenever someone asked him about his new cousin. We started calling it "the devious cousin".

I had wanted to wait until Christmas to tell people, because I wanted to do something fun for my mom. Like hanging a pair of booties on the tree and seeing how long it took her to notice. Or, wrapping up a tiny pair of baby shoes for her to open, with a tag inside saying "To be filled on or around August 3rd". But, since Mr. Man didn't think I could keep it a secret that long, he wanted to tell everyone right away.

So, after we ate dinner, we called my parents and had them put the phone on speaker. Super Girl got to make the announcement, as Wonder Boy had done it earlier. I knew my mom would be excited, as she had made a comment a few weeks before about being sad that she probably wouldn't have more grandkids (at least not until my brother gets married - and he's not seeing anyone). My dad and brother didn't have too much to say, but my mom and I proceeded to have a nice discussion about being pregnant in your thirties (she was 33 when my brother was born, and I am 31). She told me about things I either didn't know or didn't remember from that time. I'm kind of glad Mr. Man wanted to tell, now that I think of it, because I can't guarantee I won't be sick or showing a little by the time we get to my parents' house for Christmas. I think my mom probably would have figured it out and ruined the surprise.

Expecting!

I am up late because I've been sick with an abscessed tooth and slept WAY too much last night. Not even tired right now, just thinking about Thanksgiving weekend. Also started thinking about the fact that I was due to "start" today, but didn't. I took one test that I had, and it had an extremely faint line. Since I was so wide awake, I decided to go to Walgreens and get a digital test. I took it around 3 am - it said "pregnant"! Now I have to figure out how to tell Mr. Man!