Whew!

Jillian is in full crawling mode. She has mastered crawling and pulling up and she crawls faster every day. She has both of her bottom incisors poking through and I think she will have more soon. She has been chewing a lot again and a little fussy. Generally, she continues to be a happy girl. We received all of our cloth diapers a few weeks ago that my friend made for us. They have been great. I enjoy using them in the fact that we're saving money and contributing less to garbage. I don't enjoy them so much in scraping and washing but they are overall great. They have adjustable elastic so as Jillian grows we can alter the fit.

My work has been very busy the past few weeks and Garrett has stayed busy, too. He continues working on the garage. He finished up running the interior gas line, now we need to have the gas company run the exterior line. He finished insulating the walls and has about 1/3 of the ceiling insulated. He has taken a few days off from garage work due to hot weather. I've been staying busy chasing Jillian and trying to get housework done. We've been so worn out we haven't gone anywhere fun in a while. We hope to make a camping trip with Jillian soon. At this point, it will have to wait until fall when it cools off a bit. We bought a nice Kelty pack to carry Jillian in and have been using it some on our walks. It will be handy for hiking when we take a little weekend trip. There are a number of camping/hiking locations within a couple hours from us to choose from.

That's all I have for now. I'll try my best to post photos soon. It's time to pick up my Sugar. Hope you're all doing well.
Our love,
~Chris

AHHHH! Baby on the move!!

Jillian crawled last night! It was nearing bedtime and she and I were playing on the floor in the living room. I had eaten some fruit snacks and set the wrapper next to me. Apparently that wrapper was very interesting to her! She got onto her knees from sitting, started rocking, and moved each knee an inch or so. Then she sat back down. She did that two more times, then didn't stop for a good 3 feet! By then she had reached the wrapper so I sat her back a few feet. I was in shock. I could hardly believe I'd just seen her crawl. She did it again, and again. I could hardly contain myself due to excitement so she and I went out to the garage to get Garrett and he came inside and saw her crawl. I was able to get it on video and will get that posted as soon as possible. I think she was excited because then she didn't want to just sit like she has for the past few months. For the past week or two she'd been trying to go from sitting to standing so I thought she would completely skip crawling. She has been pulling up on things from sitting to up to her knees for about a week. So, today over lunch I drove over to Walmart and bought a couple of gates to go at the top and bottom of the stairs. It has a swinging door so we won't have to take it down repeatedly. Oh my, the exploration has begun! When I picked Jillian up from daycare last Thursday, one of her caregivers predicted she'd be crawling by Monday. She was very close! Not by Monday, but ON Monday! I'm curious to see how she did for them today. It's so exciting, but oh am I nervous now!

Jillian has been eating lots of baby food! She has been eating 3 jars each day in addition to rice cereal and milk. She's also been taking good naps and sleeping most of the night. I think her napping pattern may be changing into a short 15-20 minute nap in the morning and around lunch time, then a longer 1-2 hour nap in the afternoon. She seems to only take the longer nap if she and I both lay down together. She doesn't nap much at daycare other than a couple of 20 minute naps. She continues to grow so fast.

So far we have 3 hummingbirds from what I can tell. We hope to get more but we sure have a lot of other birds. We've seen robins, cardinals. indigo buntings, the goldfinch, cedar waxwing, and some kind of thrush that we aren't sure about. The cedar waxwings are so soft looking. We only saw them for a few minutes one day last week. It was a breeding pair.

On Saturday I was outside walking in the yard and heard a crazy, loud animal noise coming from the crazy neighbor's yard. We left the house later that day to run an errand and saw they now have a donkey. I never realized they were so noisy! Such a big noise coming out of a little animal! I'm guessing they got it to protect the goats (from coyotes). Yikes!

For our 5 year anniversary on June 4, Garrett surprised me with a Kahr K9 pistol. I was totally surprised and excited. We took it out to the range a few miles from our house and put some rounds through it. It shoots very nicely. Jillian had fallen sleep so we parked the car and checked on her every couple of minutes.

We had talked about returning to MO in July but we decided to postpone the trip since most people were going to be busy. We'll try again, just not sure when.

Keep in touch,

~Chris

Growing Girl

Hey everyone. If you have a hard time reading what her shirt says in the second photo, it says "My dad's a geek." Garrett's friend Nate bought us that onesie before Jillian was born. We thought it was quite funny.

Summer is in full swing in Indiana with the growing corn and beans around our house, our growing tomatoes and peppers in the garden, the increasing humidity (blek!) and our growing Jillian! She is so close to crawling I can see it. In the past few days she has been able to keep her knees under her for a good 15-20 seconds. We've seen her also try to get right up to her feet. She pulled up for the first time on our ottoman Sunday, attempting to chew on Merlin. She has been crawling backwards and then gets upset because she's only getting further away from what she wants. She loves hearing stories and looking at books. We're starting to get into a good bedtime routine, which includes reading at least one story before bed. She goes through a stage after being hyper to sitting still but not wanting to close her eyes just yet. That's when we read to her. She pays attention throughout most of the book(s).

Jillian is eating her vegetables and fruits very well. I bought a butternut squash, sweet potatoes and pears and blended them separately. She's been eating so well that she has been less interested in nursing during the day. We still are but I can tell that she isn't craving it as much.

Yesterday she "helped" daddy mow the lawn. She really enjoyed sitting on his lap holding the wheel. We didn't even put her hands on it! She immediately grabbed it and didn't loosen her grip. Garrett moved the mower forwards and backwards very slowly and she just smiled the entire time she sat on his lap. It was adorable.

It's a good thing Jillian is quite crawling just yet. Over a month ago I weeded the flower beds a good bit before having mulch delivered the next week. Since then, my right knee would ache for an hour or so at different times of day, every few days. Well, last week it became constant discomfort/pain so I had an appointment today with the same orthopedic doctor that Garrett saw for his shoulder. I have patellofemoral syndrome. In short, my femur is rubbing on the back of my kneecap tissue and continuously irritating it, causing swelling and pain. He prescribed physical therapy 1-3 times a week for two weeks and the therapist will decide how often after he sees me at my initial visit. I made the appointment for next Monday. If the physical therapy doesn't seem to help, I will go back and get xrays. I sure hope it helps.

For the past few weeks I've been working on validating a method so we can begin production on a new project. It is very tedious work and I'll be happy when I'm done, which should be tomorrow given that the results from my work today looks good. Garrett hasn't talked about any new things going on with his work so I have no news to report.

Two weeks ago we stepped out the front door one morning and found a baby skunk just off of the porch. It didn't have it's eyes open and was just growing fur. It wasn't able to walk yet but Garrett gave it a tap and it wiggled so still very much alive. Where it was laying gets full sun all day so Garrett got a dustpan from the garage and scooted it a couple of feet under a bush. When we returned home that evening it was gone. We are guessing that the mom was relocating the babies, probably under our porch. A few days later, I woke around 3 am smelling the horribly strong skunk scent. We think it sprayed under the porch, as we couldn't smell it anywhere outside the house. After getting ready for work, we were more than ready to leave the house. When G stepped out he saw an opossum with a baby on her back so perhaps the two mommas found each other. We haven't seen either creature since but I'm sure they are around.

Garrett's been working on the garage electrical. He wired to the locations we're going to have lights on the outside, he installed a fan and has been running additional wire for 220 outlets on every wall. He's been working very hard. He thinks he can start putting up the insulation in the ceiling this week. He's tired of working on it and I miss him with him being out there so much. So, Jillian and I venture out to visit for a while.

I'm sure there's more to talk about but I need to get ready to go home. Take care everyone.

Personality

Jillian is really starting to show her personality. Just in the last week she has started letting us know what she wants. She was playing with a cardboard book and when I took it away to free my hand for a moment, she began fussing. I gave it back to her and she was happy again. We have been using a few signs from the infant sign language and we're hoping she begins using them soon. The daycare also does the signs with her and the rest of the children so she is getting good exposure to it. According to the average child, she may be demonstrating the signs very soon.

Jillian had her 6 month check up last Friday. She is 15 pounds 25 inches long and looking great. She had another round of shots so she was very fussy and unhappy Friday night. She was back to her normal happy self by Sunday. Thank goodness.

She has been helping me pull weeds outside and cut asparagus. She just loves being outside. Soon she'll be crawling through the grass eating everything she gets her hands on. Good thing we take Huntley to take care of business in one far away spot in the yard! We will keep her out of that mess, or do our best! We had 10 cubic yards of mulch delivered last week and have about 2/3 of it spread. We have so many flower beds it takes a lot to cover them. Even then, the weeds are already poking through. Death to the weeds! Since our apple trees produced last season, we are going to grow ingredients for canning salsa. I was thinking we could can pasta sauce as well but I'll need to try a few recipes first. If anyone has good salsa or pasta sauce recipes, I'd love to try them!

We are having a playdate this Friday with my friend Melissa and her daughter Addison. She is in the process of making the cloth diapers for us and we'll be able to get a few on Friday. Melissa also does dress alterations for weddings and dances. She is a very talented person.

My work has continued at a good clip as well as Garrett's. We don't have any major projects going on right now. My company is doing pretty well and we've hired a few more people which is always a good sign. We don't talk about work much anymore because we're so happy to be home and play with Jillian that we don't think much about work. I was sad on Sunday at the thought of having to go to work on Monday and leaving her. I just want to be with her more. My schedule is still working out well though and I'm happy that BASi is being flexible.

The farmers are planting!!! I'm so excited to see the farmers out planting. When Jillian and I got home last night the land directly behind our house was getting planted, hopefully with corn. A farmer diagonally from our house was also planting. I just love seeing the new growth each year. There's something about it that is refreshing, promising. Saturday I was out weeding and Huntley started barking at something so I looked around to see what it was. There was a young deer in the field behind our house leisurly making it's way across the land. I suspect one was in our yard at some point over the winter because there are a few limbs on an apple tree that were chewed.

Until next time,

~Chris

Sheesh

It's already been 3 weeks since I last posted?!! I knew I was slacking but wow, that went fast. Jillian is now babbling a lot. She particularly does it when she has a rattle or her teether in-hand. She shakes her rattle and simultaneously babbles. It's like she singing to her rattle "music". She is continuing to sleep very well. Last weekend she slept 11-12 hours each night again with waking once around 5am to eat, then we all fell back to sleep. She's such a happy girl. She brightens our day and makes everything better. Jillian is now eating carrots, squash and sweet potatoes in addition to her rice cereal. She's had one jar of peas but doesn't care for them much. I mixed them with the carrots and she made a funny face but kept eating. She's catching on that with being put in her highchair, a bib put on, and mom getting out a small bowl, she knows she's about to eat. She zones in on me and has both of her hands on the tray in anticipation. She is a good eater. Daycare is now feeding her the cereal and vegetables in addition to bottles.

Jillian is still working on crawling. She has become strong enough to stay sitting up when we set her upright. She tries to sit up on her own but doesn't quite have the abs. We worked outside a lot this weekend and she continues to enjoy being outside. We set her in the Bob (stroller) and cruise around. I worked in the flower beds pulling weeds and got the bed just outside our back door mulched with mulch we had left over from last year. We haven't been able to buy more mulch yet so I'm trying to keep out those bad weeds as much as possible. Last year I could hardly bend over due to lack of lung capacity so the beds were quite overgrown by Fall. I'm determined to keep them in good shape this summer. Our day lilies and purple cone flowers have been growing. No flowers yet but the foliage is there. Garrett worked on fixing up the Deere and was able to mow the lawn for the first time. It looks very nice and it's great to see all the beautiful green grass. Now, if those farmers could just get that corn started, we'll have our own little oasis. The last average frost is May 9 and with all the rain we've had, they probably need to wait a while. It's supposed to rain more and the ground is already saturated along with giant puddles in the fields. I saw that southern MO is struggling big time with flooding. The Wabash (river) here is overflowing the banks.

A friend of mine had her daughter one week before we had Jillian. She has been using cloth diapers from the beginning and has been making new ones as her daughter grows. I've been thinking about them more so I started researching. I had no idea there are so many different "systems" and how simple or complex you can choose them to be. I have asked my friend to make us some to use when we have Jillian in the evenings and weekends. She is going to start them in the next few days and I'm so eager to try them. Jillian isn't having as many scary blow-outs anymore so it wouldn't be quite the mess to clean up as it was her first few weeks. I'll have to wash them daily and with a special detergent so the ammonia doesn't stick to leftover detergent residue but I'm excited to try. They will be a chunk of money up front, but then we won't have to buy diapers. We'll keep some disposables on hand but I'm sure we will still use them occasionally. I'll update you on that after trying cloth and let you know how it's going.

We hope everyone had a nice Easter. Sending our love!

Talker

I'm not sure if I'm if mentioned this in another post, Jillian is a talker. Either by herself or with Garrett and myself. She doesn't do it much with strangers and may not for a while but when she gets to hearing her voice, she continues for at least a good couple of minutes, usually longer. She is such a cutie. I'm posting a video of her making cute noises. She can be even more talkative than in the video but this will give you an idea.

Things are going ok. Very busy. Before we can finish one house project, another pops up. We're replacing the carpet in our living room off of the kitchen. With the work Garrett's been doing on the garage, we have been keeping Huntley in this room instead of his ~6X6 space in the garage. Therefore, it stinks. It more than stinks. Or should I say, DID stink. On Saturday Garrett ripped out the carpet and pad down to the concrete slab. It used to be the garage but the previous owners turned it into more living space during one of the remodels. Since the house was built in 1890, it's gone through a number of changes. Sunday Garrett spent most of the day tearing out and recaulking the upstairs bathtub and fixtures because it sprung a leak and we're hoping the new caulk fixes it. I made bread and carrot cake on Sunday so we've been staying very busy.

Above is a photo of Jillian sleeping. Friday, Saturday and Sunday she slept from ~8:30-8:30, and that's with me waking her. She is definitely growing and about to become very mobile. Garrett put the video of her eating on the harddrive and I keep forgetting to bring it to work with me. I promise I'll post it soon.

It's about time for me to pick up my girl. Hope everyone is well.

Food!

Jillian is all about the rice cereal! She tried it for the first time last Saturday. She moved it around in her mouth and most of it came back out. Last night we offered some for the third time and she loved it! I mixed up one tablespoon of the cereal with 4 T water and she ate all of it. She kept her eye on the spoon and followed it with her mouth, leaning as far forward as she possibly could in her bubble chair. She had her hands a-flapping as well. It was fun to watch her be so excited about it. We took pictures and video but I need to get them onto a drive so I can upload them. Meanwhile, I'll post other recent photos. Jillian is doing very well, being her happy self most of the time. She has started going to sleep quickly for us again which is a relief.

Garrett used the chainsaw on Saturday to cut up trees that Neighbor Frank brought us in the fall. It took him a few hours and 2 blades on the saw. Garrett dropped off the blades for sharpening so he can finish the last two trees. Between the trees from Frank and the wood from the tree we had taken down last summer, we should have enough for burning this coming winter. Garrett has been working on his Stryker project that has a deadline of the March 31. Things are on track and hopefully continues. The project consists of a rig he designed and had made by the local machining company that simulates breaking the spindle within the wheel well and collecting the data. I'm sure there is a lot more to it than that and he can catch you up the next time you chat with him. He's almost done collecting the data and will work on analyzing and writing the final report.

I've been busy working on numerous projects at work. The 4 day weeks are working out very well. The 10 hour days are long and the evenings short but having Friday off is great! Tomorrow I plan to make the rounds to the grocery store and Target to find deals on food and household items. I have been looking for sales and collecting coupons to add to the sale items to get awesome prices. Starting today, Payless has the pasta we buy on sale for 0.49. I found coupons that are $1 off of 2 boxes. So, that means free pasta (and I'll make a few pennies also)!! I plan to "buy" 10-20 boxes depending on the stock. I want to leave some boxes for other people, even though I'd like to clean out the pasta shelf! I know we will eat it (whole wheat) and it is shelf stable for a good while. Anyway, I'm excited about finding great deals and hope to continue getting better at it.

This was a quick update and I hope to get those other photos/videos of Jillian eating posted soon. I hope everyone is doing well and gearing up for Spring!

Beginning

After the sawing

I saved the best for last....