You can be honest, it's okay.

Here are the curtains I hung up in our bedroom. I actually made them to go in our dining room while we were remodeling that room. But then I decided I didn't want green in there, so I made others for the dining room, and kept these for the bedroom. Now that we've finally done our room, I was able to hang them up last night.

Does anyone else think that these look like they belong in an old lady's house?

Thankful Thursday

1. Michael's willingness to eat new things. Okay, so he isn't exactly willing, but he does understand that we are not buying any more baby food, and that he has to eat "real food" now. He's doing so, so, so well.

2. Faith's willingness to eat new things. She really is willing, and she eats everything we give her, and screams if we dare to eat something without sharing.

3. Jeff, who has worked really hard on our bedroom to get it done, and not gotten upset with me when I don't get as much done as I should have.

4. Paint and new trim - it's AMAZING what this can do to a room.

5. This cleaning bug I have - I'm totally de-junking, and I love that my sewing room is clean and (mostly) organized. I love KSL and FreeCycle, which help me to get rid of all this stuff.

Shopping shocker

Do you have any idea how much food you can buy with $100, when you aren't spending any of it on baby food? I had forgotten.

So Michael has eaten oatmeal twice now, and today he is going to try some pudding. I know, pudding may not classify as "real food" to many of you, but it isn't lumpy, and it isn't baby food, and it's something he's never eaten before. Jeff and I are thinking that when we have Faith's first birthday party in a couple of weeks, Michael might actually eat ice cream!!! Our hopes aren't quite as high as cake, but ice cream would be nice.

Progress Report

Can I just tell you, I am so so SO proud of my little boy. He has had "real food" at every meal since he "turned four." Yesterday he had apricots and bananas. And today he had apricots, squash (mashed with a fork instead of pureed with water), raspberries, and...... sloppy joes! Can you believe it? He didn't actually eat a sloppy joe with a bun or anything, but he did take six bites of sloppy joe slop (I don't know what else to call it). It was lumpy and thick, and he puked once on his third bite, but then he ate three more bites after that, and did so well!!! He resists trying the new foods, but once he takes that first bite, he does awesome. I can't even express what a blessing this is for us. We still have a long, long way to go, but it is HUGE that he is taking these small steps.

In other progress, our bedroom has now been painted. Tomorrow I will buy the new trim and hopefully paint it, then install it on Tuesday, maybe? Then we can move our stuff back in and get the dressers out of the living room and the dining room, and the bed out of the basement. Although, I must admit I kind of like sleeping in the basement - when Faith cries, I don't hear her as well, so I sleep a lot better. Yesterday morning I didn't wake up until 8:30. I don't know how long it's been since I slept until 8:30. It was heavenly.

I was talking on the phone with Mom yesterday, telling her about painting the bedroom and stuff. After I got off the phone, Jeff pointed out that whenever I talked about something Jeff had done, I said, "We did..." And when it was something I had done, I said, "I did..." He was laughing about it, but to give proper credit to Jeff, here's the true story:

What Jeff did:

• took the wallpaper off
• washed the walls
• painted the ceiling and walls

What I did:

• patched the holes
• sanded the patches
• painted some of the corners and edges

What we both did:

• moved furniture
• watched the kids while the other was working

There, Sweetie, do you feel better?

The "Birthday" Boy

Michael is four today. Not really, but we're telling him he is. That's because he's been telling us for a long time that he'd eat "real food" when he's four. So yesterday, Jeff told him he'd be four today, and what real food did he want to eat first? He chose "arizagna," which we're guessing is lasagna. He and Jeff went and bought a frozen lasagna last night and we will cook it today, and Michael will eat three bites.

At breakfast today, he chose apricots as his "real food." He ate two bites of bottled apricots without fussing about it. He didn't want to at first, but then he said that he "kind of likes" apricots. After his first bite of apricots, we let him eat his baby food. He had three jars there. I was telling him that since he's four now, we can't buy baby food anymore. I explained that it is a rule. He can still eat the food we already have, but when it's gone, we can't buy any more. He thought about that for a minute, then gave me back one jar of food and said he wanted to save it. This could drag out for a while.

Could she be hungry?

Jeff opened the cupboard so Michael could get some food out for himself. He turned around for a minute, then turned back around, and saw....

The Latest Wedding Cake

So I did this cake for a co-worker of Jeff's who got married yesterday. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of it. I think it's because the colors they wanted were all beige-y, and they all just kind of blend into one beige-y blah. If the colors were different, I think I'd like it a lot. Also, they just wanted frosting and not fondant. And icing is impossible to get completely smooth, so it isn't as pretty as I'd like. There, I'll stop pointing out faults now and let you see for yourself.

It's been almost two weeks since my last post - get on the ball, already, Cami!! Here are a few photos of Faith from the last couple of weeks:

In the high chair at Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's house.

Posing for a photo.

Riding the gator in Delta.

And finally, after church on Sunday, I put Faith down for a nap. A few minutes later, she was jabbering, and Jeff opened the door to find.....

She had finally pulled herself up to standing. Now she pulls herself up everywhere she can.

Some Randomness

Nikki had her baby today! Yeah! She ended up having a C-section because try as she might, Nikki could not get that little girl to behave as she ought to. You're in for a spitfire, Nikki!! Anyway, they are both doing well. Keely has more hair than Faith does (I'm jealous). I'm hoping to see her in the next couple of days, whenever the kids and I go down to Delta. Jeff is leaving for Washington DC tomorrow morning for work, so the rest of us are going to visit my parents for a few days.

Can I just say that I LOVE LOVE LOVE Comet cleanser? Anyone who knows me well knows that my least favorite chores are dusting and cleaning the bathtub. For as long as we've lived in this house, with this old scratched up bathtub, it has been impossible to get clean. I have tried every type of cleaner from CLR to Lime-Away to generic cleansers to bleach to Soft Scrub to OxiClean to Scrubbing Bubbles. And my bathtub never looks clean. Then I bought some Comet. And TA-DA!!!! A sparkling white bathtub!!! Why did I never try it sooner? Well, I did try generic brands of cleansers, but apparently they're just not the same.

And on a cleaning-related note - does anyone know how to get formula stains out of clothing? Jeff's sister gave us a bag of clothes her kids had outgrown, and while I was going through it I found a dress that Jeff's grandmother knitted. I think it was Kari's blessing dress, to be honest. But she apparently doesn't want it. Anyway, it's a darling little dress, but it was badly stained. I sprayed it with a ton of Shout and then I soaked it in Tide with Bleach overnight and then washed it. And it looks a ton better. It's almost white, but there are still a few visible spots. Does anyone have any other suggestions? Laundry is not my forte. I don't mind doing it, but I'm not very good at it. Jeff's brother-in-law once asked Jeff where he got his nice, cream-colored dress shirt. It was a white shirt that I had washed a few times. Yeah, I'm not that good at laundry.

Is that how it happens?

Part One (a Raffi song):

Robin in the rain, what a saucy fellow.
Robin in the rain, mind your socks of yellow.
Running in the garden on your nimble feet,
Digging for your dinner with your long, strong beak.

Robin in the rain, you don't mind the weather.
Showers always make you gay.
But the worms are wishing you would stay at home,
Robin on a rainy day.

Part Two (Michael and me):

Michael: I sit down in the bathtub.
Me: Yes, you do.
Michael: Do you sit in the bathtub?
Me: Sometimes. I like to take showers, so usually I stand up. Someday, you'll take showers.
Michael: Showers will make me gay.

Part Three (just me):

Let's hope not.

Update

Yes, I'm still alive. Were you starting to wonder? I've been busy - Christmas, trip to Delta, trip to Arizona, New Year's, working, having family over, joy school, website. Phew!

Christmas was nice. We did our own thing at home. When I went to wake up Michael on Christmas morning (at 7:30 or so), he said, "I'm still tired" and refused to get out of bed. Then I reminded him that he had presents to open, and he got up and asked, "Did Santa bring a train?" He didn't. But Michael doesn't seem to mind. He got plenty of other stuff. Jeff's parents came over to watch the kids open presents, and they took lots of photos. But I haven't gotten them yet....

The day after Christmas we went to Delta to spend time with my family. We met Mandi and Burke's baby, Abigail, for the first time (she's four months old now), and got reacquainted with Matthew. And they got to meet Faith. They are so fun. We can't wait until they move back to Utah, or Grand Junction, or wherever they end up, as long as it's closer than Texas.

Jeff came home from Delta because he had to go back to work, but the kids and I went with Mom and Dad down to Arizona to visit my grandparents. It was a nice trip. The kids did so well in the car. Faith had a couple of meltdowns, but honestly, if I was a kid and allowed to have meltdowns, I probably would have, too. But it was great to see Grandma and Grandpa, even though it was only for a little over a day.

I've been working a lot on getting photos and things listed on my other site. I changed the name of it to sugaredjalapeno.blogspot.com If anyone is interested, check it out. I still have more to add, but it's coming along. I also have a site at csabin.etsy.com They both have pretty much the same stuff, although I'm going to add wedding cakes to the sugared jalapeno site. Soon, hopefully.

Speaking of wedding cakes, I'll probably be doing another one in a couple of weeks. One of Jeff's co-workers is getting married very suddenly, and they're coming over to my house tomorrow night to go over photos, ideas, pricing, etc. So still no rest. But that's okay. Wedding cakes don't take any more time than most of my crochet projects, but they pay a whole lot more.