PIcs de jour and thoughts about clothes

Shannon is an angel and starting to look more like an older baby then a newborn. She weighs 13 pounds and is 24.5" long. And she actually slept a whole 6 hours (in a row) last night. Wow- that means I got to sleep 5 1/2 hours in a row last night!

I noticed today that the little dress she is wearing is about the 2nd most worn item she has owned. I like analyzing what clothes people actually wear and why they do. To me, designing a piece of clothing that people will wear until there is nothing but bare threads is the ideal. It means that my clothes was loved while it was on.

So anyways.... this is about the 4th or 5th time Shannon has worn this striped pink dress. And the there are several reasons why it has that many wearings. 1. It is cute and very girly. 2. It was bought used for $.99 off of eBay so I don't have to worry about staining it or wearing it out. 3. It fits, at first as a dress, and now as a shirt over pants.

So in general it is the design of the dress and then the lack of worry about it.

Kinda fascinating.... kinda says a lots for pre-used clothing.

And on that same line of thought... I talked with Karen of Wild Rose Farm and she was telling me that she is going to change business, do more food farming and less clothes sewing. And one reason why is because at many of the art fairs so goes to, she gets people in her booth her stop by and say "HI, I already have a jacket and a rug and love them." But they don't buy more, because the jacket and rug don't wear out.

I have a nice handful of jackets from her, and they do not wear out. I have, however, worn some of her skirts and pants enough to literally wear them out- after 5 years of hard use.

Come to think of it, about 1/2 my wardrobe is from Karen. More then 1/2 in the maternity suitcase.

It is so humid, my clothes won't dry on the lines.
It is 70 outside and the dew point is 66.

Also known as "The Learning Curve."

Baby Development- The next face.

perfecto

I am sorry. I have taken no pictures of Shannon today, even though she wore a very cute little pink bubble with a turtle attached to it. I spent all day driving my kids crazy. You see, turn about is fair play.

I brought my oldest boys to Italian Camp today. After a nice little 2.5 hour trip. They got to show off their passportos and choose a namo Italiano. Galen at this point was looking downwards and muttering that he wanted everyone to speak English. But with enough coaching he ended up with the namo of Galileo and Ewan choose Vittorio. Rochester, who also is at camp with them instantly picked up on the non-verbal cues and choose Italo for himself.

Then we had to go through all the signing in including nurse's check, painting namo tags and customs- looking for anything in English.

Grandpa Nathan helped Galen settle into his bunk and make his bed. By the time we were ready to leave Galen and Ewan felt comfortable enough to kiss me good bye and then run off to play.

I can't wait to hear more about camp. I hope it is a shear and utter blast for all involved.

a natural model

Look at that beautiful baby girl, showing off 100% organic clothes, as only a cutie could.

First Shannon is modeling an outfit that is so new it is not even on my website yet. Next she is wearing a pink striped organic cotton footie.

And then she sports the soft and lovely organic cotton fleece Sunny Footie and hat.

Beautiful Dreamer

Shannon is looking more like an older baby. She is adding a little layer of fat and another chin. And before you freak out (in this thin obsessed culture) you should remember that babies are supposed to be fat. It is inherent to their neurological health to put on weight and gain the fat they need to create the wonder coatings that covers all nerves and helps the brain to grow.

She also loves to spend awake time looking around at all things.

Today she was a little fussy, and so were mommy and daddy. I think we had a little bug. However, she (and us) have mostly been happy the last few hours. Maybe it was that caramel cake I made for scripture study that worked the magic.

great little article

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-stein11-2008jul11,0,258677.column

living doll

basket case

My boys thought this was worth taking pictures of

A Day in my Life

I am the subject of an article in a new magazine called "Raw". for the article they wanted a typical day in my life. Here it is:

A day in the life of Raya

30 year old Mom of 5.

Tuesday July 8^th

4:30 am- diaper change and feeding of baby- in a sleepy haze

6 am- diaper change and feeding of baby- in a mostly sleepy haze. Baby sleeps in a bassinet right next to us at night, when she is not in our bed. She is often nursed in bed- especially at night and is happiest being next to Mommy all night.

7:25- alarm goes off- snooze is hit

7:30- alarm goes off- snooze is hit

7:35 ect

7:40 ect

7:45 alarm goes I, I finally pull myself out of bed enough to turn it officially off and go and wake up the boys. Get dressed, find the granola bars I hid in the closet. Wake up boys again and remind them that if they can’t get up they will miss this morning’s activities. Ewan is the first awake. Galen follows. I check my email and respond to new sales and questions.

8:00am give Ian one last chance to wake up- I leave him in bed. I kiss Daddy good by and tell him I’m taking the boys in.

8:09 we pull out of the driveway and drive to town.

8:15 chiropractor visit.

8:25 go to fabric storage in town and cut a yard of fabric a customer ordered. Galen has to go potty.

8:30 We are back in the car and Galen informed me he couldn’t find the potty- so we stop at Grandma’s for a quick potty break. Grandma shows me a new pink sweater she got for Shannon baby. She sends some movies home with me.

8:45 I drop the kids off at the activity in town, They will go bowling and make some homemade icecream.

9:am make it home- Daddy meets me was I walk in the door with a hungry baby girl. I change her and feed her.

9:30 check my email- finish calculations on the sales I shipped yesterday.

10- go through my cedar chest- pulling out clothes to get rid of (mostly very worn out clothes that really need to be replaced).

10:30- I change and feed Shannon again – while writing a proposal on graphic design work for my husband.

11- finish printing out new sale receipts, go to pack new orders and finish old ones at a small storage building 200 feet away. Ian and Clay wake up. Ian cries because he missed the activities.

11:30 head to town to drop off shipping and pick up boys.

12:00 pick up boys and cousin for an afternoon of playing “outdoors”.

12:25 come home, check email, help Clay and Ian to change and dress. Start the mac and cheese for kid’s lunch. And discuss with Mike what we should do for our lunch.

12:30 change and feed Shannon.

1:00 pm finish mac and cheese, feed to kids with baked beans and fruit. Make toasted ham and cheeses for Mike and I (He actually made his own, and I thought it looked good so I made one too).

1:30 clean up kitchen some- sweep office room, pick up trash.

2 pm Shannon is changed- I bring her with me for a feeding and nap.

5 pm Mike wakes me up with the most recent episode of “The Daily Autistic Fit” staring Galen.-Shannon on one side and Clay on the other. wow did I really sleep that long? Check email- respond as needed. Check the dinner menu. Taco salad.

5:30 start dinner by defrosting hamburger. Mike joins me and adds his favorite salsa. I mix up the salad.

6pm Dinner time- all family gathered in for prayer before they can eat.

6:30- change and feed Shannon. Chat on IM with my mother, sister and cousin.

7:pm family movie time “Big Business” with Bette Middler and Lily Tomlin. The boys loose interest in the “girl movie.” And watch pink panther cartoons in the other room.

9pm time to make snack- I make chocolate oaties (also known as unbaked chocolate cookies).

9:15 Family (sans one sleeping Ewan) is gathered to the kitchen table again for Prayer and scripture reading. Once they have read their verse they are allowed their snack. Mommy and Daddy finish off the chapter while the kids happily – and hopefully quietly munch.

9:30 bed time. Time to take care of Ian. He has no nerves to his bladder or bowels and requires some help. I have him sit on the potty for 15 minutes while. I read a Dr Suess book to the kids. Ian can hear and see from where he is. Then I catheterize him to empty his bladder and enema him. This process takes between 30 and 50 minutes. Then I help him dress and send him to bed. Wash my hands really well and feed Shannon.

11pm I check my email and all the blogs I follow. I write my blog for the day (or several days).

12 am turn off computer, and get to bed (brush teeth, floss, and wash face, say prayers and change and feed Shannon.

rant

Hi,
I really need you all to get on over to my website and prove to me that there are ecologically minded people in this world.

Because when people write a post like this http://autismbitestheblog.blogspot.com/
I just want to barf. Apparently they haven't read this http://cbs11tv.com/health/autism.coal.power.2.712702.html

and put two and two together- which in their case equals 6 autistic children. Of course the need to have something now, obviously must outweigh the need to protect our future generations from the same, or worse, things then we are suffering through.

Of course if gas were to drop down to $1/ gallon again I would probably give up hope that there would be future generations- at least of anything other then cockroaches and a few very adaptable weeds. But hey, the need for me to drive a lot in a big SUV outweighs those considerations. But of course, we all know that if we destroy this planet, the Lord is sure to give us a new one. (please notice this line IS dripping with sarcasm)

And while we are on that topic I have come to understand that all the nasty stuff talked about in revelations- all the end times wars, famines, plagues and what not- that we have/ are bringing those on ourselves. The Lord is not sending them. He was just warning us. It is our actions as citizens of this planet that have/are making those happen. Can I say that again? It is our actions as citizens of this planet that have/are making those happen.

That means that we have the power to change it. But first we got to change ourselves.

garage sale list

if any one can find a good baby swing at a garage sale, I would love to pay them back.

eating and pooping

There was a young man with a beard,
who said it is just as a I feared
"marshmallows a toasted and popcorn a roasted
has made me a tricky, sticky beard."

Now for the Shannon update. She weighed in at 11 pound, 6 oz this week. Out of all the things she has to learn to do this next year, she has largely mastered the whole eat and poop and then poop and eat cycle.

Yup, the first thing that happened when we got to church today was a diaper leaking on mommy.

I change a lot of diapers....and seem to spend the rest of the time feeding her. For those rare moments when she is doing neither, somebody else is usually holding her.



And if we are not holding her, she begins to demand it. Although she is happy enough as long as she is part of the action. So we hauled down the old highchair, and she can happily join us at the table without filling our arms at dinner.

These other picture are mostly here just so you can see how beautiful she is.

Solar Clothes Dryer

Mike and I put up a new *low cost* fancy, spangled, solar clothes dryer yesterday. It will cut our electricity bills in 2 ways. 1- saves energy costs of running the traditional tumble dryer. 2- shades the house and saves energy on a/c and fan use in cooling our house.

Isn't it a thing of beauty? I really loves all those pink and yellow baby clothes lined up in a row.

All it costs us was a grand total of $4.95 and 15 minutes in time.

sparklers

Here we see Chester giving up his opportunity for a sparkler. And then Amy and her little Kristin reaching for one and then Clay and his.

fireworks!

Clay is 3 years old!

My Clay baby turned 3 today!

We had a family gathering at my parent's cabin for him, with a BBQ, fireworks, cakes and lots and lots of cousins.

Here is his birthday cake- double chocolate and triple berry.

Notice how Ewan is carefully guarding it.

Next we have Clay in the middle of all his presents. He got a ball today, and because the ball got some frosting on it, Clay refused to have any cake until we had it all cleaned off. And then we see the lineup for sparklers and Galen getting his sparkler.