gross!

there are many things that i love about living in st augustine in the summer: walking downtown in the evenings, beach volleyball on monday nights, cookouts every week. but there is one thing (besides the unbelievable heat) that i simply do not like...

it starts in may with the little black grasshoppers. they are everywhere and on everything. literally hundreds on our little citrus trees and on my green bean plants (which they eventually ATE, by the way!) and all over the fence. they hang out all over the place until about mid june when they seem to disappear. only, they are not gone. they are just hiding away, waiting for the moment when they can reemerge as this...



YUCK! and in case you cant tell, this thing is the size of my palm! i cant stress enough just how gross these things are, and they are everywhere. not quite like they were when the were babies (many of them got eaten, and still countless others got squished by me for eating my precious bean plants), but still a large number. today there were two taunting me just outside the house while gabe and i were at marley's. those things are just no good.

nothin' like a good cuddle...

today, gabe and i were at renee's watching marley. all day, all he wanted to do was cuddle, which he almost never wants to do these days. he was very cute and a little mopey all afternoon. i could resist taking a picture of him.


also, tuesday was gabe's fourth month with us. i cant believe that it has been so long already! i never understood just how quickly they seem to grow until now.

sweet dreams (part II)

...and then there are the nights (too may of them lately) when i am up at three again (after being up at one, knowing full well that i will be up at four and five as well) and all i want is to sleep a whole night because i cant remember what that feels like. and then i realize that these times are precious, too, and even though they are not quite at the time that i would like them to be, they are still a chance to cherish my son, and in a way, i should be thankful (there will always be time for a nap tomorrow).

sweet dreams

it is easy to forget how wonderful little things are. i find that i get caught up in the small annoyances of the everyday and i forget to notice the things that, when i really think about it, i know i will miss when they are gone. like putting gabe to bed at night. there is something so sweet about laying your child down in their bed, singing a short song, praying a prayer, wishing him sweet dreams, and watching him drift sleepily away. sometimes i forget how blessed i am.

happy birthday, sarah!

today is sarah's birthday. she is one of the most wonderful people i know, and has been a great friend to me for almost 5 years now. i love her like family, and feel so blessed to have her in my life! hope your day was amazing!

i love birds

another ADORABLE giveaway from my favorite new blog. i know what you are thinking, and no, i dont have a little girl, but it is just too cute, and maybe one day i will! if not, i will hang it up in my closet and use it to inspire me to make great things.

Reverisble Bird Seed Skirt GIVEAWAY!!!!

rainy afternoon

today has been a lazy day. it has been raining for a while now, and we have been hanging around the house. gabe loves to watch the rain. we stood on the porch for a little while and watched until steve suggested we might want to come i since it was lightning. one day, i wat a porch with a swing where i can sit and listen to the rain (and hopefully sip sweet tea, because it seems to fit, ad because i love sweet tea).



then, steve and gabe worked out for a little while. gabe loved every minute . he smiled and giggled the whole time.

naps and safari shorts

i feel like i am always blogging about gabe and his napping struggles, but i want to remember all of it one day when we have another baby who stinks at sleeping. after all that work a few weeks ago letting him cry and figure out how to sleep, it only worked for a week or so. then, we were back at square one with a very angry baby. this week, debbie suggested that we try some white noise. this was an idea that i have been thinking about for quite a while, but was hesitant to try. i think that i get nervous about trying things that will make gabe reliant on a noise or a certain amount of light, as this will almost certainly insure that i spend the next few years hauling around noise makers and hanging blankets in widows every time we travel. but at this point, i am willing to try whatever ensures that gabe is getting a healthy amount of sleep. so, steve and i made a white noise CD full of sounds like waves, air conditioners, and rain. the first day, it did not help, but every day since, gabe has been napping like a dream. it may not last much longer, seeing as we will be at renee's house four days a week from now on to watch marley, but for now, i am loving it.

since gabe is once again napping well, i have a lot of time to spare. this morning i have wasted a good portion of it reading random blogs and i stumbled upon one today that is just the cutest! she makes adorable outfits for children and then gives them away bi-weekly! here is the giveaway for this week:

African Safari Shorts GIVEAWAY!!!!

tenth pint

i love patty. she is one of the nicest, most thoughtful people i know. at community group on tuesday, she brought me flowers from her garden in a tiny bottle that she found in her yard. the bottle is marked "1/10 pint". the fact that she thought of me made my night.


the bottle is also just the right size for gabe, and i couldnt resist letting him play with it. dont worry, there's no booze in it.

marley

steve and i are both working very hard to make it possible for me to stay home with gabe as long as possible. part of this is my new job... watching marley. a friend who is a teacher needs someone to care for her 6 month old during the school year (and a little during the summer). her daughter, marley, is a precious girl, and very sweet. yesterday, i watched marley for a couple of hours, and it was fun to see her and gabe get to know each other. sure, gabe didnt seem to notice her for most of the time, but it was still neat. i think that it will be fun to see gabe and marley interact over the course of the year, and i am really looking forward to it.



also, we let gabe try out the exersaucer. he is a little wobbly still. but he LOVES it. and i think that it is really helping him strengthen those chubby legs. its been a while since i have posted a video, so here is one of gabe with his new favorite toy! he really does play with the toys, but of course, they are not as interesting as the video camera.

jam session II

after church today, we had a few college and high school ladies from coquina over to play guitar hero III. it was a great time, and we really rocked. okay, so we were not particularly good, but we had a great time trying and laughing.



also, last night, sarah was over when gabe woke up for his last feeding. he suddenly got the urge to stick out his tongue... over and over and over for about ten minutes. it was fun and oh so unusual. you just never know what new skill he will feel like perfecting.

jam session

well, last night sarah and i made the strawberry lime jam that i blogged about last week. it was a messy but fun time! neither of us had ever made any kind of jam before, but for a first try, i think that it went well.

i like the recipe's very specific and slightly odd directions for how to know when the jam is ready to be put in jars. i personally dont like when jam has such big chunks of fruit in it that it is hard to spread. so, we chopped our strawberries really tiny, and it was worth the work. the recipe also doesnt call for pectin (the gelling agent usually used in jams and jellies), but it works without it. it is a little watery when it is at room temperature, but once it is refrigerator-cold, it is about the consistency of regular jams with pectin.















i had the finished product on toast for breakfast this morning, and it was perfection! it is very sweet, but just a little tart (from the lime; great combo!). i HIGHLY recommend this recipe and will definitely use it again!



okay, okay, so i didnt actually wear the apron while we were making the jam... it is vintage (thanks liz!!) and i didnt want to get it stained. but it sure is cute, isnt it?

footies

those of you who know me well know that i LOVE it when babies are dressed like grown-ups. (although after almost 4 months of caring for a newborn, i can see the value in a onesie, provided it is in a grown-up color as often as possible). there is, however, one baby clothing item that i cant get enough of: footie pajamas! maybe it is because i can fondly remember myself and my sister adoring our footies when we were little. whatever it is, i think that footies are about the cutest thing ever, and i try to get gabe in them as often as i can so he will love them as much as i did.

oh mordy...

gabe and i were playing on the floor in his room this morning when mordy decided that it was time to join in. of our two dogs, mordy is certainly most interested in gabe (mainly because mordy LOVES lotion and gabe always has some on). gabe doesnt seem to mind mordy's interest in licking him, and in fact seemed to enjoy their little game.


after a little while, though, i thought gabe ought to have a little space and made mordy lay down. he did so grudgingly, but it wasnt long before he was trying to sneak up and lick gabe some more.



eventually, i made mordy leave the room. he did, but he sat at the door and waited for me to let him back in. oh mordy!

my thoughts on cloth diapers

i have been using cloth diapers almost exclusively for about two months, and i now feel that i can evaluate the process as a whole.

so, this is how i make it all work...

at home, i use old fashioned diapers. i fold them myself when they come out of the wash, so i just have a big stack of ready-to-use diapers in gabe's room. and, the folding is pretty easy (in fact, steve and ben steigner folded a load while watching the sopranos the other night). instead of using diaper pins, i use a fastener that works much like the kind for an ace bandage. it is surprisingly easy to use, even on a super squirmy baby. when i finish, the diaper is on, and it looks like this:



next, i put a waterproof cover over the cloth diaper. until a few days ago, i have been using the little plastic pants that most of us are familiar with, which is by far the cheapest way to go. but, i got a new cover to try, and since it came, i have been using it all the time. it doesnt need washing but maybe every few days, so if i had two or three more, i would be set and could use them all the time. plus, it comes in so many colors! one day, i would love to get a couple more and ditch the plastic pants. (although they have done a supurb job... never a leak) once the cover is on, gabe is all ready to go, and he looks like this:



outside of the house, i use a different kind of cloth diaper. it is called a bumgenius, and it is a one-size diaper (it expands to fit him as the grows). it comes in four colors, and i have about seven of them. they fold up like disposables and can just be thrown ito the diaper bag and washed at home later. i also use these at night because they feel a little dryer on gabe's skin. these diapers are so cute and easy to use!

i also have a cloth swim diaper that i have not had a chance to use yet, but when i use it, i will be sure to report back.

these days, i use only the occasional disposable diaper. the only time that i really use a lot of them is when we go out of town. i have been so pleased with cloth diapering as a whole. here are the reasons that i have really come to love it:

1. it is cheap. especially the way that i do it. i cant begin to imagine how much money we would be spending on diapers. (just to give you a idea, gabe has wet 4 diapers in the last hour!) i think that i would estimate at least $50 a month, but what do i know, i have never bought them.
2. it is good for the environment. billions of tons of disposable diapers are added to landfills each year, and it takes years and years for them to decompose. it feels good to know that i am contributing to that as little as possible.
3. no diaper rash. the cotton of the cloth diapers breathes very well. plus, gabe lets me know as soon as he is wet, so his skin is not wet for very long at all. he has not had diaper rash once since i started cloth diapers. also, the cloth diapers are great for his super sensitive skin.
4. easy potty training. (or so i've been told) because gabe will be able to feel as soon as he is wet, he will have a better awareness of what it feels like to go to the bathroom. disposable diapers wic the moisture away so fast that the baby doesnt feel it and doesnt realize that he or she has peed.
5. so cute. i know it is silly, but it is just one more cute thing to out on the baby! i like that! they are fun to buy and fun to use! (as fun as diapers can be, i guess)
6. no leaks. when we used to use disposables, gabe would blow through them regularly. i dont think that he has ever leaked in a cloth diaper. they just hold so much!
7. not as messy as i thought it would be. its actually so much easier and faster than i ever thought it would be. i am certainly happy with my experience and plan to use cloth diapers from now on and with all future children as well.

a scholar

i found this picture on our computer the other day. i honestly dont remember taking it, and neither does steve, but it was here, and i think it is so cute. steve's dream for gabe is that he love to read the way that both he and i did. i dont think that will be a problem; the child already has an extensive library in his room due to all the book collecting i did i college. now, the books that i intended for my future classroom can go to my most important student...

katie and jeremiah!

today, katie came by on her way to pick up a friend from the jacksonville airport. and of course, she brought jeremiah with her! (yay) gabe had an eventful afternoon with his aunt, hanging out and showing her all the new things that he has learned since she last saw him. (and how little hair he now has, which katie found very amusing) i took pictures of katie and jeremiah and gabe (family style... perhaps a glimpse into the future...)


one of the favorite things about when katie and jeremiah come over is that i am almost always guaranteed some awesome piano playing. (which is great for me because i have a piano, but i myself cannot play anything) jeremiah played for long time, and then katie and gabe joined him.


gabe thought that it was pretty fun for a while, but then got scared and decided he'd had enough.


soon, katie will be moving to nashville, where she has taken a job with a radio station. she will be missed, but i guess we will just have to travel to tennessee to see her.

little tom sawyer

i have written before about gabe's naptime struggles. it seems that every time i think that we have the nap thing beat, gabe finds a new reason to be awake. this week, i was talking to debbie raab about it, and she suggested to me that if she had it to do over with her difficult napper, she would just let him work it out on his own.

seeing as i have tried all other methods known to man and they have all failed me (i really wanted to avoid letting him "cry it out"), i figured that i ought to take debbie's words to heart and give it a try. well, as it turns out, i guess i ought to have given gabe a little more credit, because the little guy sure did figure the napping thing out on his own (not without a little screaming along the way, of course, but in the end, it was all worth it because he is getting a TON more sleep these days, and even his nighttime sleep is improving as a result).

one thing that has come of his new ability to put himself back to sleep after waking up is a new favorite sleeping position for gabe. for the longest time, steve and i have had him sleep with his arms pinned down to keep him from scratching his sometimes itchy face. as it turns out, though, he really likes to sleep in a position that steve refers to as "tom sawyer" because it looks like he is relaxing by a creek. all he really needs now is some cutoff shorts, a straw hat, and a cane pole. he lays this way all the time now, awake or asleep.

laying tom sawyer style while hanging out with daddy...

and while napping...


and while playing...

what a weird kid!

happy birthday, gardner!

tonight, we had a surprise birthday party for gardner's 40th. it was fun to hang out with coquina people outside of a normal church function, and gabe, of course, got passed around all night. he sure is a social guy.


he fell asleep when judith was holding him and got a pretty good nap. also, he drooled all the way down judith's arm.


then, katie gordon wanted to hold him, so we went inside to sit on the couch. he really loves katie and smiles every time he sees her. the whole time she held him, he just sat there enjoying her company. an older woman... thats my boy!

strawberries and raspberries

gabe has learned a new skill, and he practices it constantly. he blows raspberries all day, and i have been trying very hard to get a video of it, but every time i take out the camera, he stops what he is doing and stares at the camera. but, while he was getting his lotion last night, steve had him just distracted enough for me to get a little on video.



also, i was just browsing various sites, and i found this recipe for strawberry lime jam! that just sounds incredible. the directions are wonderfully detailed, which is good for a first time jam-maker like me. i sure have a lot of projects now that i have started this blog.

no fun in the sun

this morning, steve and gabe and i went to the beach. since we live so close, i figured it was about time that gabe experienced the water and the sand for real. when we first got there, he seemed to enjoy laying on the sheet.


however, as soon as he touched the water (for this time of year, i feel like it was pretty cold still), he decided that the beach was not for him. he pouted the rest of the time. but those of you who know me well know that i think its amazing when gabe pouts and so still enjoyed our beach experiment.

sew inspired!

i have been spending too much time lately on craft and sewing websites. the last few days, i have been itching to sew something, so today, i sat down to work on a project. it was inspired by this really cute first aid kit idea that i found on this blog.

i made a little case for a container of travel wipes and a couple of disposable diapers. i thought that it would be really good for times when i dont want or need to lug around a giant diaper bag. i can just slip the little carrier into my bag and go. mostly, i just wanted to sew something to see if i could, but i think that i might actually use this one. i just need to buy some snaps so that i can close it tightly. sometimes it is just so fun to create something!

an afternoon with my girls

yesterday, after we got home from church, i got a call from one of my young life girls, quell. quell just had a baby (on fathers day) and she sometimes comes to the house to hang out and get out of her house. she came over and nene, one of my other young life girls, came by to see quell and the baby. it was a fun afternoon spending time with the girls and the sweet new baby boy. i look forward to hanging out with quell more and seeing the baby grow.

in the picture, nene is holding the baby and quell is next to nene. nene would not put that baby down, she thought he was so sweet!

independence day

after church today, i got copies of all of the pictures that emily so graciously took for me on the 4th. i think that the fourth of july is one of my all time favorite holidays to spend in st augustine. there is just something so wonderful about grilling out at the rohde house and then walking to the fort to play in the grass and wait for dark so that the fireworks will begin. this is my second year enjoying a coquina independence day, and i love it.


this time around, sarah and i planned a few fun things for the kids to do while we awaited the beginning of the fireworks. gabe had a great time hanging out with judith while steve and sarah and i played with the older kids.


we started out doing a variety of races (dubbed by bethany raab "the cheetah show"). there was a sack race and a dizzy bat race. steve raced with the kids, and they had a really good time.


then, we played with bubbles that i got at wal-mart. they came with super big wands and are too fun! i think that patty and i had more fun than the kids making bubbles. gabe didnt even seem to notice them, but that didnt keep me from trying. by next year's celebration, he will be a huge fan, i'm sure! the best part was the the bubbles traveled all over the fort lawn, and all of the people behind us got to enjoy them as well.


when the fireworks finally began, i was shocked to find that gabe was still awake. he was certainly awed by them and watched almost the entire time with his mouth wide open.

it was such a great night, and gabe was such a trooper. i look forward to spending many more fourths here with our incredible church family.