July 31: Exercise Shorts

Day 82

My mom gave me a pair of exercise shorts a while ago, and I've worn them....but they are not a good look for me. They are like biker shorts. No matter how much you try and tug them down to cover your legs, the spandex in them makes them ride up. I'll stick with my yoga pants thank you very much.

Petie was back on track last night. He went down at 8:30 and didn't get up until 6:30 this morning. The mornings and evenings have been cool and in the mid 60s. It's amazing to have this kind of weather in late July!

July 30: Receiving Blanket II

Day 81

Peter woke up at 3:30 this morning. He's been sleeping through the night for about 6 weeks now and he's only woke up in the night once or twice in that time. I'm not sure what the deal was last night. He didn't want to nurse, he hadn't rolled over and jarred himself awake, and he didn't want to be rocked. I tried to cradle him and he kicked and arched his back like a bronco. The only posture that seemed to calm him down was to hold him with his head above my shoulder and his legs stretched down to my lap. He kept a good grip on my hair and showed no signs of wanting to go to sleep. I finally warmed a bottle for him and he ate a few ounces. He started to get sleepy and I put him back in his crib, where he immediately balled himself up and started to squirm. Tired, I crept back to my room and partially closed our door. He probably only cried for five more minutes before going back to sleep, but it seemed like much longer. It was after 4 AM by this point and poor Clint had to get up at 4:30 AM to go to work this morning.

Because of his early morning wakefulness, Peter slept in this morning. The above picture also serves as my purge picture, because the blanket is my purge for today. Early in this purge, I got rid of another receiving blanket that matches this one. We'd been using this blanket as a head support in Peter's car seat, but he no longer needs it and I no longer need the blanket. I hope last night was just a fluke and that Peter goes back to his hard-sleeping habits tonight!

July 29: T-shirt

Day 80

Whenever I travel I make it a point not to buy too much in the way of souvenirs for myself. In Italy I bought myself a pair of earrings and a scarf. In Ireland I bought myself a pair of earrings, a wool sweater....and this T-shirt. The T-shirt was a mistake. It was the proper size on the hanger, but when I washed it, it shrunk up quite a bit. Now it's completely unwearable. Someone else will get to wear my memento.

I want to say a big congratulations to my brother-in-law, Joe, for his recent appointment to the Kansas Board of Regents. It's a huge honor for him to be chosen and we couldn't be prouder!

Yay Uncle Joe-Joe! Love, Clinter and Petie.

July 28: Book

Day 79

I was cleaning out Petie's closet today and I didn't find much to purge. I am going to go ahead and purge this book on swaddling. It came with a couple of my favorite muslin blankets as a gift. Petie's beyond the swaddle stage now. Interesting note, when I was cleaning out the closet, I thought I heard something rustling around, so I quick shut the doors and made Clint finish taking everything out when he got home. Good news: no mice, no bugs and no snakes. It must have been my imagination.

I call this next series of photos: Little Boy Blue. Please note the adorable "Big Well" T-shirt Peter is wearing.

Little boy blue, come blow your horn! The sheep's in the meadow, the cow's in the corn.

Where's the little boy who looks after the sheep?

He's under the haystack fast asleep.

July 27: Bowl

Day 78

Today I'm purging this pretty bowl. I recently bought a couple of bowls at a thrift shop that match another bowl I have that's about the same size and shape of this one, so I'm purging this bowl...not to mention it has a crack and a chip in it.

On Saturday I went to Abilene, KS for one of my staycations. We went to the  Eisenhower Presidential Library and to the Brookville Hotel, which is famous for their family-style chicken dinners.

I really liked this view of the museum with a grain elevator beyond it.

These are straw shoes worn by a German soldier on the Russian front in WWII. The shoes were supposed to help against frostbite.

This was THE D-Day planning table. This is one of the museum's most prized items.

July 26: Kitchen Utensil VII

Day 77

Today ends my kitchen utensil purge week. I know you must be as glad as I am. My final kitchen utensil is a small scraper, much like the one I purged earlier in the week.

Peter is dressed in his KU outfit today. I like to sing to him: "I'm a little Jayhawk, Blue and Red. This is my tummy, this is my head." (To the tune of I'm a little teapot.)

This is the cutest Jayhawk I've ever seen!

July 25: Kitchen Utensil VI

Day 76

My purge today is some kind of mysterious spatuala that came with my pot/pan set. I've never used it and I think it looks kind of menacing.

I thought it might look less threatening in Petie's chair.

Speaking of Petie, this is the adorable picture I took of him after his bath last night.

He likes to chew on any material that's close to his face...bibs, onesies, bath towels.

July 24: Kitchen Utensil V

Day 75

Seventy-five days in! Whew. That's a lot of purging, and I must say, I'm pretty proud of myself. My purge for today is a knife. When I got married, I had a few raggle-taggle knives and this is the last remaining one. My sister was kind enough to buy us a really stellar knife set when we got married and I never use my mismatched knives anymore.

The knife looks extra cool in front of this winking wolf picture.

Petie was really concentrating this morning on his mobile. Sometimes you can look at a baby and just tell they're figuring something out. Unfortunately, I have no idea what that something is.

He also looked extra cute in a red, white and blue outfit this morning. Peter loves America.

July 23: Kitchen Utensil IV

Day 74

Metal spoon. That's about all I have the energy to write. My sinuses are firing on all cylinders today.

Here's a picture of Petie from this morning. It's as if he's saying "Yay Mommy! I can't wait to start a new day!" He's actually just stretching. He spends about 90% of his waking hours stretching.

His face looks more grown up in this picture. In real life, he still looks like the chubby little cherub baby that he is.

July 22: Kitchen Utensil III

Day 73

Today I am purging a rubber scraper. I have three that I use most often, so I'm getting rid of the superfluous two this week. This is the first.

Peter obviously hates this scraper, which is another good reason to get rid of it.

Clint loves ice cream. Do you see the tub in the picture below? He bought that last week and in a week's time, he's eaten almost the entire tub. I had two scoops and three bites. The three bites were hard-won. Clint always gives me a withering look and makes me feel like a criminal for asking for a bite of his ice cream...even if it's his second or third bowl.

Petie isn't quite old enough for ice cream.

But I'll bet he loves it as much as his daddy!

In other news, our power went out for 45 minutes last night. I do not fare well in survival mode. I love air conditioning and I do not like it when the a.c. goes out and it's a hundred degrees outside. I'm usually not a high maintenance woman, but that goes out the window when the electricity is out and I start worrying about the myriad of possibilities. What if the air doesn't come back on all night? What if all my breastmilk spoils? What if I never find out what happened on that episode of The Office we were watching? :) Since Petie fell asleep during the outtage, I put him to bed in his diaper. The house heated quickly without any air circulation and I felt he'd be more comfortable. He loved it.

This is his sleep position every night, though he isn't usually horizontally positioned.

Peter must have my hot-bloodedness. When the air kicked back on, I put his sleeper back on, and he didn't even stir. The kid was out like a light.

Thank God for air conditioning and electricity! I was so excited when the power came back on that I celebrated with an ice cream cone...Clint did too.

July 21: Kitchen Utensil II

Day 72

My second kitchen utensil purge for the week is this plastic spoon. Whoop-te-do.

You may notice that this spoon is resting on a strange picture of a dog. This is my latest paint-by-number. Once it's finished it should look a lot like Zoey. If we can ever convince her she's a water dog, it will be almost like a portrait.

Clint is very good about doing home projects at my request. One thing I've wanted since moving into our house is a clothesline. However, before we got a clothesline we needed to re-seed portions of our yard so there wouldn't be so much dirt flying around. Clint's done such a good job at filling out our yard this summer that last week he put up our clothesline and this weekend I got to use it for the first time. I dried my diaper laundry and my sheets on the line and it was so exciting! I have such a pretty view.

We started cloth diapering when Peter reached about 2 months old.

We mostly use prefolds and covers. We also have some pocket diapers where you stuff in inserts.

These are the diapers my mom used on my siblings and I over 20 years ago! Cloth diapering is cheap and line drying is great to save money on a dryer and to get out stains!

July 20: Kitchen Utensil Week!

Day 71

Today begins a week of kitchen utensil purges! I finally made the big plunge and purged my utensil bowl of everything frivolous. Each day for seven days, I'll be purging a different utensil.

My first utensil purge of the week is this metal spatula. We don't use metal utensils anymore because all of our pots and skillets are non-stick and metal can ruin nonstick. I like this picture because it looks like a ray of light is coming from the spatula.

Since my daily purges will be kind of boring in and of themselves this week, I'm going to include lots of human interest pictures.

Clint is basically a human pacifier/sedative. Not only can Clint make Petie laugh like a hyena, but he can also soothe him to sleep in this position.

Peter has grown and learned so much in the last week! He learned to reach out and grab items, he is learning how to use and control his voice, and he's learning to sit-up. It's amazing how much he changes every day. We've also completely stopped using the pacifier. He never really liked it anyway. We were a bit nervous not to have a pacifier in church on Sunday, but Peter was a champ and never fussed.

July 19: Stuffed Animal

Day 70

Today my purge is a stuffed animal, gifted to me by my dear friend Kati. In case Kati ever reads this: please don't be offended that I'm purging this stuffed animal! We already have quite a few stuffed animals for Peter and we're running out of room. I don't want to just keep accumulating stuffed animals indefinitely, so I'm going to say goodbye to this little doggie. I love the accompanying book, we used to own a VHS version of the book that Sammy and I probably watched a thousand times.

I am very tired today. We got back from our trip to the urologist's at about 9 PM last night and I went to bed around 10:30 PM. I had to get up at 5 AM and be at work by 6:30 AM because the library was participating in a downtown sidewalk sale today. We gave away pint glasses, postcards, bottles of water and free books. I am quite ready to go back to bed.

July 18: A Long Day

Day 69

Today, Clint and I both took off work to take Peter to a doctor's appointment outside of Kansas City. Peter had an appointment with the ONE AND ONLY pediatric urology specialist in the state of Kansas. We did stop in Lawrence, KS to eat at Free State Brewing Company, which is one of the best known breweries in Kansas. I had a beer called "Lemongrass Rye" and it was the best summer beer I've ever had, bar none.

It was a long day in the car, but Petie was about as good as a baby can be. He cried once, for about five minutes. Otherwise he either slept, smiled or talked. He's been talking a lot and you can tell he's trying to have a conversation. I'll say something and then he'll say something and we'll go back and forth for quite a while. He also likes to coo when I'm singing, which makes me want to sing all the time!

Here's a picture of our little man in his carseat. I was trying to catch his smile, but darn it, it's hard to catch on camera!

This second picture is on our drive home and he's wearing a different onezie. I like that he has his sock almost kicked off.

My purge for today is a book that I read and enjoyed. It was fluff, about a group of women who get together and read romance novels in a small town. There wasn't any actual romance in the book, which was an interesting twist.

July 17: Lighter

Day 68

My purge today is another donation from my husband, who is a collector of many things. One of his collections - one that I've never actually seen - is lighters, especially Zippos. This is a somewhat strange collection for someone who doesn't smoke, but it's all part of his charm. I think he likes lighters because he is fascinated by the idea that you can use friction to make fire. Yesterday we were having a conversation about how boys are attracted to mechanical things and he told me about his early obsession with TV remotes. He said he would turn the TV on and off as fast as he could with the remote to see how responsive it was. I can just see Clint as a little boy, utterly consumed with the remote until someone finally discovered that the remote was all screwed up because he'd pressed  all the buttons in the wrong combination.

July 16: Floral Skirt

Day 67

I bought today's purge my senior year of college, which means I've been wearing this skirt for roughly five years. I love this skirt probably more than any skirt I've ever owned. I've worn it and worn it and worn it. Sadly, the zipper catches, I have little that matches it and it doesn't fit very well any more. If the skirt only had one of these three problems, I would probably keep it, but since it has multiple glitches, I am sadly moving it to my purge pile.

I have a lot of happy memories wearing this skirt, so I should probably say goodbye now instead of waiting until the skirt lets me down.

If this keeps up, I won't have any skirts left in my closet.

July 15: Baby Bottles

Day 66

We recently bought a four-person patio table. Our plan is to move the picnic table closer to the creek and to use the patio table - Gasp! - on the patio. It was only $65 and the chairs had just been recovered in vinyl, so we thought it was a steal. So far we love it. The chairs are comfortable and the glass is shatterproof. It kind of classes-up our patio.

I've also been meaning to include a picture of my tomato plant. I've been picking grape tomatoes for about a week now and they are pretty good. Next year, I might even attempt a small garden!

I'm also growing my own basil. If only I could make my own Mozzarella cheese, I'd be able to make 100% homemade caprese salad!

On to the purge...Today I'm purging a like-new set of baby bottles. I tried using the smaller bottles a couple of times, but Peter just didn't like them. They're supposed to mimic the breast, but I think it's just sort of awkward. I never even opened the bigger bottles. I'm hoping either to sell these or donate them to a drive for young/single mothers.

July 14: Shorts

Day 65

Today is significant because it means I only have an even, three hundred days of purging left! This was a pretty big milestone in my mind. The purge pile in my room is taking on a life of it's own and may actually eat us in our sleep if we're not vigilant.

My purge today is a pair of adventure shorts. I call them adventure shorts because of the material and pockets. They are actually made for fisherwomen. Technically these still fit, I just don't wear them.

In other news, I was finally able to capture a picture of "the face." It's blurry, but it's basically our favorite Peter face, after his smile. We also call this "the lip." Whenever Petie's upset and is about to cry, he first sticks out his lip as far as it will go. It's basically the cutest thing ever. I don't know why he was mad in this particular moment, but it's almost worth it to see the face.

July 13: Dish Towel

Day 64

Today I am purging a dish towel that I've never used. It was a gift when I moved to Kansas. I use the matching oven-mitt all the time, but the towel isn't my idea of a good dish dryer.

Saturday, I went to Greensburg, KS on a trip with the library. I took four library patrons with me, three of whom were elderly ladies. They were nice enough, but on the drive to Greensburg they discussed: 1. Border Control and Immigration, 2. China, 3. Depleting water sources, 4. Being widows, and 5. Wind. It was really an uplifting two hours, let me tell you.

Greensburg was destroyed by an EF5 tornado in 2007. Since then, the community has rebuilt as a "green" community. Everything is very high efficiency/solar/wind-powered/recycled etc. Greensburg is also the home of the world's largest hand-dug well. We took a green tour, visited the big well and also visited a 16-sided "round" barn. The well and the barn are both considered "wonders of Kansas."

The Eco-Home is a model home built by entirely "green" standards. We started our GreenTown tour here.

The Big Well is actually breathtaking. Not for those who are scared of heights...Mom! It was a neat museum too.

The round barn was neat and was set up for a wedding later that day. I wouldn't get married in a barn...too hot and too many flies!

Old against the new.

Flat land + Cloudless blue sky = Kansas

July 12: Cardigan

Day 63

Many moons ago, I bought this cardigan at a thrift store. I've worn the crap out of this cardigan. Lately, though, I haven't worn it so much, therefore it's my purge for today. It's very "Call the Midwife." Even though this cardigan is basically worn out and has a small hole in the armpit, I think there's someone out there who might enjoy it.

On Saturdays when I head to work, Clint gets to stay home with Peter. As I pull out of the driveway, Clint either stands at our front door or on the porch and both my boys wave/blow kisses at me. It's always hard to leave on Saturdays, but their loving sendoff makes it a little easier.

Here's a photo that I took of Petie and Clint this morning. They were in smiley moods.

Good morning!

I wish I was half as photogenic as either one of these guys. Oh well, I'd rather enjoy their faces than my own!