Our Newest Blessing & More

Our family has been going through alot of changes over the past few months. The greatest being the birth of our precious son, Micah. What a joy he is to our family. Abigail is so nurturing to him and seems to be enjoying having a baby brother. She comes up to him each morning and gives him a kiss on the top of his head. Throughout the day, she strokes his hair whenever she is near him and checks on him often if he is waking up from a nap and fussing. When she wakes up for her nap she checks to see where Micah is before doing anything else.

Another change came when Joe left his OTR trucking job to find local work near home last February. I was having complications with preterm labor and so he made the decision to change jobs. He found work at a store in town, about 10 miles away from home. Most recently, a company that he had applied at before getting the store job called him. They ended up hiring him and he starts that job in about a week. It is another job that will have him home every night. A bonus for us is that he will be home every night, weekend and major holiday. It is a much better situation for our family overall with better income.

We are getting our garden planted. I had already planted part of it but the spring rains drowned all the seeds but one pumpkin plant. We are replanting the garden, but this time the rows are built up higher than the walk path between them to allow for better drainage. If all goes well, the garden should produce very well even if the season has more of the hard rains.

I am starting to get back to sewing again. I am making a few things for the kids and them will be making new headcoverings for myself and also to sell. I am also planning to make aprons and sunbonnets. It feels good to get back to the sewing. Over the summer I am going to be working on a couple of quilt tops for the kids that I can put together and quilt once the canning season is done.

Abigail is nearly ready to start potty training, so I am preparing to start making her training pants. She has been cloth diapered and I love being able to save costs that way. Making the training pants just seems to be a natural progression. I saw the price of the training pants, even at WalMart, and they are very expensive. I can make them much cheaper.

Micah is also cloth diapered. I am needing to make him a few more. I am hoping to find or draft a pattern that will fit for quite awhile and not be out-grown in a few months. Yesterday I made flannel baby wipes for both kids. No sewing required if you have pinking shears. Just buy heavy flannel and cut the wipes to the size you want. Flannel unravels abit so if you don't have pinking shears, you have to hem or serge the edges. We keep the wipes in rubbermaid-type containers and make a solution of water with a few drops of baby wash to moisten them in. This is so economical and you are able to use a soap solution that is gentle on your little one.