Lucy Signing

Here's a short video of Lucy doing some of her signs!

She can do them with Spanish prompting, too - but here they are in English.  I'd like to work on differentiating the signs for "bath" and "diaper" - as she does them almost identically and I can't always tell which one she means.  "Diaper" should be signed by tapping on her hip or leg, but she always taps on her chest instead.  "Bath" should be done by rubbing both fists on her chest, but instead she does more of a tapping on her chest. 

I really want her to sign "mama" - but that one ends up looking a lot like "water" or "eat" when she tries to do it.  I think she can probably see the difference between the signs when I do them, but she can't quite make her fingers do them yet. 

How-To for a Simple Baby Shower Invitation

I'm helping to host a baby shower next month - want to see the invitation?
 

The nursery will be pink and green - sort of a shabby-chic-quilted look.  So I made the invitations to match.  I like these because you can customize them to almost any theme by just changing the papers.



To make them, you need card stock, buttons, patterned paper, and glue.  I textured my card stock using a polka dot embossing envelope and my Cuttlebug machine, but you could also just leave it as is. 



Print your message on a 4x4 patterned piece of paper, and cut out multiple 2x2" squares of patterned papers that compliment the 4x4" piece.



Glue the 4x4 and the two 2x2 papers to a scrap piece of paper, just to give it some more substance and to give yourself something to affix the string or yarn to.



Sandwich the yarn between the card stock and your patterned papers, and feed each end of the string through a button hole.



I used a make shift little button hole threader.  It's just a straight pin with a little kink at the end (I used a pair of pliers to make the kink).



Once the thread is pulled through the button holes, tie a little knot and snip the ends.



Voila.  Simple, cute invitation.  Email me if you have any questions!

Love. That. Face.

The other day, Jack said, "If she got any cuter, I think I would explode of joy!"



And I agree with that sentiment.



It's amazing to me how cute she is.  Is this what God thinks of each of us?



That we are each this wonderful and loveable?  I know He does--and even more so because He actually made us... whereas I just sort of helped Lucy grow inside for a while.

 

But there are so many parts of her that are a mystery to me, and God understands each and every part of each of us - my every motivation, hurt, and joy.


 
I love how much Lucy makes me think of God during the day.



I can hear Him speaking to me through these silent revelations, and I'm so glad I'm not alone.  It's a big deal to not be alone.

Ginnie's Fig Jam

Ginnie is my sister, and she grows figs.



The other day she showed me how to make fig jam!  So now I will show you!



For a great tutorial of the recipe that inspired Ginnie's, click here.  I'm not doing a tutorial - just an overview to give you an idea of the process.



We started with a whole bunch of fresh figs from Ginnie's trees.



Have you ever seen this kind of fig?  It's delicious and so pretty.



Lucy also really likes them.



So to start, we washed the figs, removed the ugly parts, and quartered them.



We combined lemon juice and water on the stove top and added the figs. 



To that, we added organic sugar and pectin (shown below)...



... and we stirred all of that until it boiled.



The pectin comes from fruit (apples, commonly) and helps the jam to thicken.

 

This is what boiled fig-water-lemonjuice-pectin-sugar looks like (above).  It's pre-jam.  It's what turns into jam once you pour it into jars!



So... the jars - here they are (above).



Very important when you're canning anything is to wash and sterilize everything that will come into contact with the food.  



The lids have to be heated as well - partly to soften the rubber part that will seal the jar closed as it cools. 



Keeping the jars hot until you're ready to pour in the jam prevents the jars from cracking. 



You even have to sterilize the funnel -- can you believe that?



Once the jars were filled with jam, we put on the lids and boiled them - the final step.  
Then the jars just need to sit, untouched, for 24 hours - and they're done!



Ginnie wanted to re-do her label, so we worked on it together and came up with these (above).  I took both photographs and then created the label using Photoshop Elements (PSE).  I'm getting much better!  I can do lots of stuff with PSE now - though I'm still learning, of course. 



If you're interested in purchasing some of Ginnie's homemade fig jam, click on the "email" button at the top of my blog!

Baby #2 Update

I went to Baby #2's ultrasound this week.  How fun to see him again!  This was the routine anatomy scan that most babies get between 20-22 weeks... when lots of parents first find out the gender of their babies.  Since our dating ultrasound was so late (15 weeks), we found out the gender then.

Anyways, baby #2 looks great!  All his anatomy looked good.  He's definitely a boy and weighs about 1 lb 3 oz at this point.  He's in the 60th% for weight.  I think Lucy was about that size at this time during her pregnancy.  

I've been feeling good but have had a racing mind a lot of nights, making sleep difficult.  It seems like there's a lot to do to prepare for the changes about to unfold in our lives.

Adventures in Shed Finishing: Part 3

We had a "Shed Day" this weekend, and lots of friends/family came to help us make further progress in the shed.  

We greatly appreciated it and got a lot further along!  Pictured below is where we were at the beginning of the weekend.



Ginnie came over the night before Shed Day to help us re-size the door opening.  We are getting a new door (standard width) -- so, of course, it needs a standard-sized door opening.

The new door will have a window in it to let some natural light into the small office space.  That's important, since we opted out of installing an additional window in the shed.



Also the night before, Daniel and I drilled holes in the studs to allow for wiring...

 

... and Daniel installed the electrical outlet cases.



The ditch for burying the electrical cables is almost complete!




We discovered 4 pairs of PVC pipes belonging to our sprinkler system while digging the ditch, and--I'm happy to say--we only damaged a couple of the pipes during the digging/pickaxing.



Those were easily repaired with PVC pipe.  Michael was a worker bee and managed to dig out a tunnel under the sidewalk.



The electrical cables will go from the garage, under the sidewalk, across the yard, to the shed...

 

...and they will provide all the electricity necessary for 2 exterior shed outlets, 6 interior electrical outlets, the overhead indoor light, and 2 exterior lights that will help illuminate the yard.     



I wish I'd gotten a picture--Becky had Lucy duty, and it was SO nice to know Lucy was happily playing inside while we were working outside.  She's a great Nonnie.



A very yucky job was cutting the insulation into strips to fit between the studs.  Jennifer, Carrie, and I donned the appropriate attire (insulation is made of fiber glass) and went to work cutting and installing the insulation.  The mask, goggles, and long sleeves made for a rather claustrophobic situation, but it didn't take that long to get what we needed cut.



We had hoped to get a lot of sheet rock installed this weekend, but other projects ended up being pretty time-consuming.  So we still have a bit of sheet rock to do, but Michael and Daniel did install part of the ceiling sheet rock - and then Carrie came over the next day to help install another panel of ceiling sheet rock.  It is HARD work.



After we get the rest of the sheet rock installed and seal the concrete floor, we'll be able to move the remaining furniture out of the fourth bedroom and into the shed!  That will free up the fourth bedroom so we can install the floor in there and paint the walls.  So much to do!



Thank you, again, to all who came and helped on Saturday (or ran errands with me beforehand to prepare... or contributed food for our lunch!).  It was much appreciated, and we are thankful for you.