Crafty Fun!

I had the pleasure of creating a diaper cake recently for our friends from small group. It was fun to make and well received. My favorite part was the little sock roses. Ha ha ha, now Lindsay has to unroll 80 diapers before she can use them!

Babies like Milk

Noah has not taken to real food at all yet. That's probably because Brian says, "Babies only drink milk, Babies like milk". The faces this kid makes when presented with a spoon full of other good stuff are funny!

He got his first tooth! Maybe now that he has teeth, he will decide he wants to eat...

Sleep baby

If you asked me 5 years ago about having kids, I would have told you that I'm too much of a sleep baby to sign up for that yet. If you asked me 5 months ago about having kids, I'd tell you that the amount of sleep that Noah allows me to have is just not enough. You would think that with my particular interest in getting enough sleep, I would have planned ahead and read about training your child to sleep well! That's my latest topic of reading, and boy is it great! Noah has increased his sleep by almost 2 hours per day in the past week and we might have conquered sleeping through the night.

RECOMMENDED READING:
Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth
Solve Your Child's Sleep Problems by Richard Ferber

I haven't finished reading either of these, but just the first chapter of each of them gave great information that I was able to implement right away.

Have a good night sleep!
Melissa

Bike Club - First Ride 2009

Yay for Spring! I'm really liking the weather we've had the past few days. Less bundling and less hiding out indoors. Brian wishes it was still ski season, he thinks that the Chariot is easier to pull on skis than on bike. I think that it's easier for him to "keep up" pulling the Chariot on skis than on bike since he only has to keep up with me on skis! We'll probably ride with the Easy Riders when Noah comes with this year, otherwise babysitter?? Dave from bike club took these pictures (thanks!), I stole them from the bike club bulletin board. The first one is from before the ride when everyone was gathering, the second is from near the end when we were coming back into town. Noah's first bike club ride chalked up at 40 miles, and it was a tough 40 miles pulling that load!

Artesian Bread and other baking

You may know that I enjoy baking bread; you may have enjoyed some of my fresh baked bread at a potluck or progressive dinner. I found a new recipe for Artesian Bread that I tried out yesterday. The results were great, and it was a pretty easy one to make. Doesn't it look tasty??

Feeding Noah has made me a VERY hungry girl. On my days off, for fun, I bake. It adds a some interest to a day full of laundry, feeding the baby, and changing diapers.

Last week I baked cookies. I didn't get around to taking a picture of them, so they didn't get their own post. Ever since last summer's family reunion, I've been baking cookies with "Dad's Special Secret Recipe". I don't think he'll mind if I let the secret out to my small handful of blog readers... Here's the story. Mom set out a stick of butter for his cookies, just to be helpful, with the understanding that they use a stick of butter plus shortening for the full amount of "fat" called for in the recipe. He didn't know that she only set out part of the "fat", so he didn't add anything more than the one stick of butter (recipe called for either 2/3 cup or 3/4 cup, I don't know exactly). He thought they were a little different when scooping them onto the tray, but didn't know why. The cookies got rave reviews at the family reunion. They weren't greasy and thin like they can sometimes be. They held their shape well and had great texture. So, now whenever I bake cookies, I round down the "fat" ingredient to the nearest easy quantity of butter. I've been pleased with the results every time.

Let me know if you try the cookie trick, or if you have a great bread recipe that I should try. I'd love to hear from you.