awesome water bottle giveaway!!! - ENDED!

  happy birthday to me!! i turn 30 today, so i thought i would do something fun and have my first giveaway! yay! now i know it's a bit silly to have a giveaway on my little bitty barely ever updated blog, but that's ok - i'm a bit silly myself.

so i've got one of these awesome thermos roho hydration bottles up for grabs. i got one for mother's day 2010 and have been pretty much attached to it since then (alice was the other thing i asked for for mother's day, and i've pretty much been attached to her too). a second one followed for christmas so that i can rotate them out. they are stainless steel. they have a really neato lid so you dont have to unscrew the top all the time (i hate that). you can open the bottle and take a drink one-handed. a ring on the lid pops up so you can grab it with just one free finger when you're carrying 20 things, two bags and a baby. plus it fits in cup holders. and looks pretty nice, too.

i love these water bottles!

so all you have to do to win this fabulous piece of hydration equipment is leave a comment telling me your name and something interesting about yourself. everyone besides jeremy can enter (he asked - he likes these water bottles too). i'll pick a random winner on june 23rd.

aren't you so excited?! i am!

doll diapers

oscar has been asking for cloth diapers for his baby for ages. he really wanted me to order him a robot diaper to match the one alice has, but they were out of stock for so long that i decided to make him some instead. i made this at night (finished around 4 in the morning), so the lighting wasnt so great for taking pictures.

i started with gerber prefold that got taken apart, a fat quarter of some cute fabric, and a strip of velcro.

i made a pattern on notebook paper for a diaper that will fit both of oscar's baby dolls.

i cut out one layer of cute fabric, two of the diaper fabric and i also cut a strip of the padding to fit down the middle of the diaper (in case oscar's dolls are heavy wetters)

i sewed the extra padding between the two inner layers


and then pinned the inside and outside right sides together, sewed them leaving a space for turning, and trimmed the corners and edges.


turned it right side out, sewed up the opening in the back, and placed the velcro. i did the soft velcro all the way across the front and the grabby side as tabs.


and here are the babies trying it out! oscar was excited about it and wants a whole bunch of them. i'm working on a second one so that both dolls will each have a diaper and will probably do a third, so that he can have a clean one to change them into.

basket babies

alice in her easter basket - 3 months old

oscar in his easter basket - 2 wks old

not sure what we'll do if we ever have a summer or fall baby.....

zoo!

here are some pics from our trip to the zoo - gramma and grampa pointing out the lemurs to oscar

the alligator was in a great spot for looking at, but was so still that oscar thought it was a statue

oscar and grampa being prairie dogs

a train ride around the zoo

checking out our wingspan. oscar didnt want to stand there and get a picture, so gramma did it first...

and grampa...

and finally we talked oscar into it.

gramma and grampa visit!

gramma and grampa finally got to come visit and meet alice after a couple delays. it probably is best that the trip was delayed, because a 3month old alice is more fun for company than a 1 month old alice.

grampa spent a lot of time entertaining boys. here they are watching a movie and grampa is about to take an afternoon nap. aaron also calls them gramma and grampa - so cute! it works out though, because he has nanas and a pawpaw, but no gramma or grampa.

aunt robyn sent down a bumbo for alice and she loves it! she likes to be a big girl and sit up and observe - no laying down - that's for babies!

i think grampa and alice hit it off alright..

here they are getting to know each other

and here is the momentous occasion - gramma started alice's gramma quilt! i'm so excited! oscar loves his gramma quilt and sleeps with it every night!

we had a little photo shoot on one of the last days and got some cute photos.

3 months

alice is still smiling more and more every day. she has found her hands (and toes) and is grabbing rattles and teethers and hair. she can get toys and fingers in her mouth and already likes to chomp on things. aunt robyn sent down a bumbo and alice LOVES it (when she's in a good mood). she loves sitting straight up and watching everything that's going on. still loves to be worn in a carrier - we're currently favoring our moby for at home and a lil peepers keeper cotton gauze wrap for activities that take us out of the a/c.

have been unable to select text and make links in blogger, and unable to even post (so i may just be wasting my time with this post). any suggestions as to what in the world is wrong with this crazy thing?

rock'm sock'm chili

Lately we've been eating a lot of rock'm sock'm chili based on a recipe from the barleyfoods website. (http://www.barleyfoods.org/) I've added some ingredients to add more flavor and some ingredients to help with milk supply. Like the lactation granola bites, the additions of brewer's yeast and flax seed can be left out, but are healthy additions even if you aren't working on your milk supply.

Rock'm Sock'm Chili

• 2 tsps olive oil



• 1 lb. lean ground meat (we usually use turkey)



• 1 cup chopped onion



• 1/2 cup pearl barley



• 1 28oz can diced tomatoes



• 1 cup water



• 2 Tbs chili powder



• 1 tsp cumin



• 1/2 tsp salt



• 1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne



• 4 Tbs brewer's yeast



• 3 Tbs milled flax seed



• 2 15oz cans of beans (recipe calls for pinto and/or red - i usually do one of black beans)



• optional garnish suggestions: cheese, sour cream, avocado

heat oil in a pot. cook the meat and onion. add everything else except the beans and garnishes. cover and cook 30 min over medium-low heat. add undrained beans (when using black beans i drain and rinse them) and cook 15-20 more minutes. serve in bowls with desired garnishes.

SUPER easy meal!