The little boy who lives where?

Captured this video of Seth singing "Baa Baa Black Sheep". Listen carefully when he gets to the part "One for the master, one for the dame, one for the little boy who lives down the ____". Yup, apparently the little boy has relocated from down the lane to down the drain. Hey, at least he's good at rhyming.

Snow Lake

Matt took Seth on a little (I use the term "little" very loosely) hike to Snow Lake with a few of the Boy Scouts from church. Matt was the fearless leader, and Seth played the part of comic relief.
It was quite a challenge, between the rocky trail and chilly temperatures...

...but the view at the top proved to be worth the effort.

She's a-growin' and a-movin'

Wow Lydia is nearly 8 months old! I was just going through photos to archive and ran across those of just a few months ago. It wasn't that long ago that I couldn't put her down without her (and subsequently me) crying. This is how we spent pretty much every day all day for her first two months of life. (Never mind the weird look on my face...how do I take a photo of myself without it looking odd?)
And this was my view of her:

So, wrapped up together in the Moby, we went about our day as such. Here's what I found in the process.

Things easily done with a baby strapped on:

• kiss the top of her head
• load the dishwasher
• prep food for cooking
• make bread
• go for a walk
• get a core workout on the big exercise ball (bouncing with baby kills two birds with one stone - gets baby to sleep and strengthens flabby post-baby back and tummy)
• blog/email
• cut out fabric for clothes and quilts
• vacuum

Things that are difficult/awkward but possible to do with a baby strapped on:

• curl hair (carefully!)
• crawl under the desk in the office to plug in the internet cable
• eat (turn sideways to avoid baby being showered with crumbs)
• help pick up toddler's toys/chase toddler/ lift toddler into high chair/etc

Things NOT to do with a baby strapped on:

• drive (obvious, and no I didn't find this out from experience, so please no reports to CPS)
• shower (see above note)
• scale the climbing rocks at the park when toddler makes it all the way to the top and then is too scared to come down alone

Anyway, here she is now...on the move and cute as all get-out. I don't think I could strap her in the Moby if I tried...not because of her size but because of her ridiculous strength and constant need to be busy and on the go.

The makings of a civil engineer, perhaps?

Seth loves his Brio train tracks, and it appears to be a benefit not to have furniture in our living room. He puts together a few of the tracks but mostly likes to play with the trains, cars and buses. That is, until his beckoning me away from the kitchen surprised me with this impressive network of tracks and bridges. No joke we didn't help him with it, and he figured out to put blocks under the "up-and-downs" to support it. Little smarty pants!

The First of a Series of Random posts

Happy Autumn, Everyone! My mental "I-should-blog-about-that" bucket is filling up, so following are random thoughts and happenings over the past month or so...and I do mean random, so don't try and find a connection between them. You've been warned...here goes.

Will the real seamstress please step forward?

Mom found an excerpt from a 1949 sewing manual. Enjoy, and just try not to giggle just a little, if not laugh right out loud.

"Prepare yourself mentally for sewing. Think about what you are going to do...never approach sewing with a sigh or lackadaisically. Good results are difficult when indifference predominates. Never try to sew with a sink full of dirty dishes or beds unmade. When there are urgent housekeeping chores, do these first so your mind is free to enjoy your sewing.

When you sew, make yourself as attractive as possible. Put on a clean dress. Keep a little bag full of French chalk near your sewing machine to dust your fingers at intervals. Have your hair in order, powder and lipstick put on. If you are constantly fearful that a visitor will drop in or your husband will come home and you will not look neatly put together, you will not enjoy your sewing as you should."

How about that? You have a smile on your face, right? You're welcome.

Now what?

After seven years of gainful employment here, I was notified today that I am being layed off. Hmm...my first thought was "what??" and my second thought was "what now?" What does this mean to me and what will it mean for our family? Anytime you put your energy into work, hobbies, church assignments, parenting, or whatever, it's not just what you do but becomes part of who you are. Now who am I? True, we shouldn't define our lives by our work, but as long as working was necessary, I took pride in what I did, made the best of it, contributed value to the company, and yes even enjoyed it.

These days it's so commonplace to hear of layoffs. But believe me, when it's YOU, it's anything but commonplace. Today I allowed myself to just wallow. Tomorrow I'll get up and decide what to do next. I'll learn something from this, as is the case with trials, but for now I'm in a bit of a tailspin, looking for a soft place to land. Thankfully, I can find that very thing at home...a husband's shoulder to cry on, a special boy's infectious laugh and a sweet baby's warm cuddle. Even with the uncertainty in the road ahead, I'll sleep well tonight.

Happy Birthday Seth!

Three years ago, September 26th:

Fast forward to last Saturday, September 26, 2009:

(My best attempt at a Handy Manny cake, as requested)

We love you, Seth!!