Keeping up with Fred-n-Sara

Wednesday, May 11

Mommy's/Daddy's big helper

We’ve been working on filling in our flowerbeds.  This year we added some daffodils and tiger lilies.  Cal has been helping water them!  Of course, Oliver is willing to pitch in and help dig whenever possible.

"Where do you want me to start?"

Thursday, May 12

Jade likes fresh air. We do too. We try to keep our windows open as much as possible around here.

Friday, May 13
Friday the 13?!?

Who cares, as long as there are good cookies to eat!

Saturday, May 14
Date night thanks to 2 of our favorite babysitters; my little sister and her fiance.

Aren't these 3D glasses hot (especially since Fred has his over his regular glasses)?!? We saw Thor. Yes, in 3D!

Sunday, May 15

Lazy Sunday Morning.

Monday, May 16

Just practicing his balance before bed.

Tuesday, May 17

This is a bird's nest. In our garage.

So last year, a bird built a nest in our garage, laid a couple eggs, and they even hatched. I thought it was really neat to have them in our garage. Until the nest fell off the light (it was close to where it is now) and the poor baby birds died on our garage floor.  This year, I’m pretty sure the same bird was trying to make another nest.  This one wasn’t nearly as well constructed because it was on the edge of the light, not nestled in the middle.  Fred made sure there were no eggs laid before he pulled it down.  As much as I’d love to help a mama bird, I don’t think I could take anymore dead chicks in my garage.

Even birds like our place.

Wednesday, May 18

Playing with "cars"

Thursday, May 19
I got nothing.

Friday, May 20

I think I need a clothes line. While this works, it's not the most appealing to look at.

That’s enough for one post. I’ll come back and finish up May later and maybe even start June!

I swear!  I know that I said I wanted to post a few things every week and I’ve not been keeping up with that lately, but I’ve been busy!  As of today, we have less than 2 weeks until my due date.  That means I have probably no more than two and a half weeks left before I am the mother of 2 boys under 2 years old!  Cal was born 2 days past his due date, so I doubt that I will go much past that with this one, although it is possible (please send lots of good thoughts my way… I don’t want to be pregnant for longer than 2 more weeks!!!) that I could go a week or two past my due date still.

So, like I said, I’ve been busy.  Doing what, you ask?  Hmm, some call it nesting while others would simply call it living.  Either way, I (along with Fred and Calvin and even Nina) have been busy getting ready for the arrival of our newest family member:

1. Cleaned up the nursery: Fred and I moved all of Cal’s things out of the nursery (like his clothes and toys) and put all the infant things back in (like the little clothes!).

2. Finished putting together the odds and ends in Cal’s new room (all the decorations are up).

3. Broke Cal of his night time bottle (Yay!! He’s turning into such a big boy!).

4. Washed and stuffed all the new cloth diapers we bought for  Baby J 2.o.

5. Cooking and freezing meals for after our new baby joins us.  Check out this awesome site about freezer meals (aka Once A Month Cooking).

6. Walking and hiking as much as possible (Nina is good at helping with this).

7. Washing all the fabric covered infant accessory surfaces in the washing machine.

8. Working (and making a little money in order to afford living expenses for everyone in our family).

So really, I’ve been busy and haven’t meant to neglect blogging all the updates in the lives of Fred-n-Sara.  I have some other things I’ve wanted to post about, hopefully I’ll get to them soon.  But until then, just know I’m not neglecting my blogger duties on purpose!

Today our baby turns one year old.  I’ve been looking through old pictures and thought I’d post a few from the past year.  You can look through all our pictures here, on our photopage.

Calvin Lee, born at 3:16 a.m. on Monday, August 11, 2008.  Weighing in at 7 lbs, 14 ounces and measuring 19 inches long.

We couldn’t have been happier to meet our little boy!

At home, we had lots of late nights, but they were worth it!

He napped,

laughed

and played.

My little pumpkin!

At 3 months he started cereal and hasn’t stopped eating whatever he can get a hold of since!

Calvin was baptized on November 8th, 2008.

Sometimes he played so hard he didn’t make it to bed!

Christmas was fun!

By 5 months old, Cal had made friends with Casper, one of our cats.

And he decided his toes were quite tasty!

Fred started teaching Cal how to play video games at 6 months old.

Fred and I noticed his eyes were crossing a lot at 6 months also.

Just a month later he got his glasses.

Calvin loved all the eggs in his basket at Easter

Around 8 months old, Cal really got into trying different foods.  Like avocado and black beans!

But food isn’t the only thing he’s been tasting!

In June, at 10 months old, Calvin went through his first surgery, which went very very well.  A day later he was back to his normal self, and even read a book!

As the weather got warmer, we started visiting the local zoos (Cleveland and Akron).

and the lake (Silver Creek)

and even just played at home.

It’s been a busy year, and the next will be even busier as Cal becomes a big brother, but I think he’s going to do great.  I know I’m looking forward to another great year!

Thanks for looking!

This past week has been all about getting ready for Cal’s birthday party that was on Saturday, although his birthday isn’t until tomorrow.  I thought I’d post some pictures from his party…

Cal had a lot of fun with his 2nd cousin, John.

He loved looking at/eating the cards!

Cal got a lot of fun presents.

And of course the cake (I made a sheet cake and smash cake for his party)…

First we sang happy birthday and Cal blew out the candle (with Fred’s help).

Then he got to dig into his very own monkey-face smash cake!

I think he liked it.

The aftermath (his glasses were literally caked! Haha).

After a long day, a little ride around the shelter helped wrap up the party.

The day was rainy, but the party was good.  Thanks to everyone for making Calvin’s first birthday special!

Here’s a link to the rest of the pictures from Cal’s party.  If you have anything to add, just email me!

Call me crazy, but when I find useful things like this, I get excited…

Have you ever realized all the useful ways to use baking soda?  Yes, it’s good for baking, but there are a million other uses!  That’s why I’ve been buying a 5 pound bag of Arm and Hammer from BJ’s when I need it (once every few months or so).  Why so much?  Well, here’s what I use it for:

Kitchen:

• Open box (I use a little jar from Cal’s baby food without the lid) in the fridge to keep odors at bay.
• Sprinkled in the bottom of the trash can to keep odors down again.
• Every once in a while I’ll use it in the dishwasher; just run it empty with some vinegar and baking soda to clean it out.
• I use it as a scrub with my all purpose cleaner to clean the sink out (and fridge when it needs it, or whatever else needs a good scrubbing!)

Bathroom:

• I sprinkle some in the tub, sink, and toilet to scrub out all the stains; soap scum, toothpaste, hard water spots…it really gets everything nice and squeaky clean!  (I keep an old parmesan cheese container, the shaker kind, full of it under the bathroom sink).  It works just like commercial “soft scrubs” only much cheaper and non-toxic!
• Pour some (about a cup) down the drain and follow it with boiling water and vinegar to unclog plumbing.

Other Uses:

• To clean my jewelry I make a paste with baking soda and water and scrub my rings and things with an old tooth brush.  Rinse and I have sparkley jewels again!
• I make my own laundry detergent with it as one of the ingredients.
• Speaking of laundry, if you use cloth diapers, it’s good to throw a little in every once in a while when washing them to keep the stink out.

There are a bunch of other ways to use it too, which I am realizing, here’s a good place to start!

and now back to cleaning the bathroom…