The Skinny on No Sugar

Well, I wasn't quite prepared for the reactions that the "Sugarless 2011" challenge evoked! So, I'm going to write a whole post outlining just what exactly next year is going to look like.

On a side note, I'm going to be super annoyed if I die next year. I'll be the one kicking and screaming at the Pearly Gates, crying, "...but I wanted one last chocolate sundaaaaaaaaaae!"

Of course, I'm not planning on going anywhere, so let's get on to business. I probably would have done better to call this "Sweetless 2011", because there's no way to avoid sugar in food entirely. It's EVERYWHERE, from your loaf of whole-wheat bread to the ketchup on your hot dog. What I'm doing this year is consciously avoiding sweet things. This means I will eat none of the following:

• Chocolate, candy, cookies
• Anything served as a dessert (ice cream, cake, pie, etc.)
• Muffins, scones, and other sweet breads (besides what I'll make for the Bread Challenge)
• Pancakes, waffles, crepes
• Sweet drinks (pop, juice, hot chocolate, and yes, caramel frappuccinos. This is going to be a long, looong year)
• Non-plain yogurt (Yoplait may as well be a dessert, there's so much sugar in one of those!)
• Jello (not that I eat much, it just kind of popped in my head)

I feel like I'm forgetting something, so I'll probably have to come back and add things as I think of them. I usually don't put sugar in anything I'm cooking unless it's already a sweet food, so that shouldn't be an issue. Oh, and I hate the taste of fake sugar (Equate, Sweet n' Low), so I won't be using those, either. And I've never tried stevia, but I've always thought that was kind of a cheating thing anyways, so that's off the approved list, as well.

Of course, I have a couple sweet exceptions: fruit and honey. Fruit is kind of a duh exception, but why honey? Because I eat oatmeal for breakfast nearly every day, and I need something on top. I'm not out to make myself suffer this year or anything. Besides, I have a pantry stocked with local raw, organic honey that has some nice health benefits, and I'd hate to let it go to waste!

A big reason I'm doing this is because the doctors are 99% certain I had gestational diabetes with Baby D. After all was said and done, I found out that not only did my mom have GD problems with her pregnancies, but her mom did as well, so I'm dealing with some powerful hereditary factors at work here. In fact, when I later read the story of my birth, it was scary how exactly it matched Baby D's! So anyways, I think the Sugarless 2011 will help me get on track for the next pregnancy. Not to mention, help out with the dental side of things!

Are you making any dietary changes this new year? I've always thought going organic was pretty cool, but I'm pretty sure my heart wouldn't be able to handle the checkout counter. I have some friends that are going vegan, and then my husband is cutting out junk food. I'd love to hear about yours!

Not so fast with that Christmas trash!

Remember all that cellophane packaging on your gifts? Well, when you sew a few layers onto a piece of terry cloth...

... add ribbon loops and a flannel backing, and then zigzag the edges...

...you have a texture toy that makes a pleasant crinkle crinkle sound. A visual, aural, and tactile delight!

Apparently, it's also delicious. Look at those little fingers entwined in the loops!

These aren't your Mom's resolutions!

I'm really excited about my New Year's resolutions. Usually, my resolutions have been all about improving existing behavior: exercise more, clean more, read my Bible every day. Usually, it's a giant list. And usually, this happens...

But this year, I'm doing things a little differently.

This year, they are challenges.


And best of all, there are only two things on the list.




1. The Bread Challenge

 I'm pretty horrible at making yeast bread. I can make the Five-Minute Artisan Bread all right, but even a monkey can do that one. Adam goes running the other way whenever I announce that I'm MAKING the sandwich bread for the week, because my loaves are always really crumbly and too flat. So, this year, I'm going to become skilled at making breads and bread-y products by making a variety of breads, one a week. I really, REALLY wanted to do this one last year, but morning sickness hit me right after Christmas and kept me out of the kitchen for the next couple months.

2. A Sugarless 2011

That's right, no sugar in the Year 2011. I already lead a fairly low-sugar life (I never drink pop and hardly ever buy candy), but now I'm going to up the ante. The only exception will be the occasional sweet bread from my Bread Challenge, because I wanted to do that first, and I think I need to do a few sweet breads in order to get the entire bread experience. When I told Adam about this one, he immediately jumped on the bandwagon. Since we got a ton of Christmas sweets, I suggested that we finish up what sweets we do have into the new year so that we don't die trying to eat everything in the next two days, but Adam thinks that's a bad idea. What would you do?

So those are my New Year's resolutions! Do you make resolutions, or do you think they're a waste of time? Have you ever had a resolution that actually lasted the entire year?

I Made a Cloth Diaper!

I've always been really intimidated by the thought of sewing diapers. What if they leak? What if they don't fit? How the heck do you put in the elastic, anyway? But yesterday, mad desire for a free fitted diaper trumped fear of elastic, and I whipped one up in a surprisingly short amount of time. Today, I'll put it to the test! I already have a list of "Things I'll do differently next time", so I may have to make a couple more before posting a tutorial. But here's a sneak peek at my fitted, reversible diaper:

I hope it works!

Destashing Giveaway-- Cloth wipes! *CLOSED*

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you may remember my post about making cloth wipes from old flannel sheets. By the end of the sheet, I had over sixty wipes! But after diapering Baby D for a few months, I discovered that I only use about thirty wipes. There are actually some wipes at the bottom of my stash that have never even been touched!

So here's my Christmas gift to you:

Two readers will each receive a fifteen-pack of my cloth wipes!

They are made with two layers of repuposed 100% cotton flannel. They were originally cut 8"x8", but after several hot washes, they have shrunk just a little bit. Some of them have been used (but they are squeaky-clean, I promise!), and may have some color variations in the thread. I was just making them for myself, so I was all about using up those half-spools of thread. But don't let this scare you-- they really get the job done! I use disposable wipes when I'm out and about, so I can tell you from my experience that one cloth wipe usually takes care of the mess that requires two or more disposable wipes. For those using disposable diapers: if you're looking for a way to cut down on the waste but aren't too thrilled at the prospect of handling poopy cloth diapers, then cloth wipes are a happy medium!

How to enter?
Tell me about one of your all-time favorite Christmas gifts. That's it. I'm making this one nice and easy for you. :-)

Giveaway will end 11:59 P.M. January 6 , 2011. Someone gets to ring in the new year with some free cloth wipes!  The winners will be chosen by random.org.

Winners will be contacted by email, so please leave an email address with your comment!

Christmas Home Tour: Downright Edition!

Welcome, welcome! Here for the tour? Well, it takes about fifteen seconds to walk through my apartment, so it'll be a short one. Let me just open that door for you...

Right inside the door, we have the Christmas tree, complete with the floor ornaments that the cats have successfully knocked off the tree.

Putting up the tree is one of my favorite Christmas activities, because so many of the ornaments are old friends that I have grown up with. Here's an ornament given to me by my life-long best bud, Laura. I think she gave this to me when I was in the third or fourth grade.

This one is dated 1987 on the back. I was one year old when my grandparents gave it to me, making this my oldest ornament!

Yes, that is Ursula in my tree, compliments of a sibling. Don't you wish your tree was as evil as mine. :-)

Adam gave me this one when we were dating. We have a strange relationship.

I painted this Santa at a pottery studio a couple years back, when my youngest brother came to visit. Isn't he the most epic Santa ever?

Adam got this one from our alma mater last year. We wryly call it "Our $100,000 ornament." Shudder.

Adam cut this off the stump of our first Christmas tree and then woodburned it. He definitely has a creative and sentimental side! :-)

I finally bought some nuts this year. Now Christmas is official at the Downright Domesticity. And, no, we  haven't gotten around to actually doing Advent this year, but I am happy to at least get the candles up this year.

Adam and I both have our own little Christmas trees. Adam bought mine for me when we were engaged; and when he discovered post-marriage that NO, I was not going to make the big tree silver and blue, we bought one for him. Here is Adam's:

The Nativity set. The stable is hiding somewhere, so this year, they're going open-air.

In the living room, Mendelssohn puts on his Christmas finery. Even though he was Jewish. Did you know he wrote the tune for Hark the Herald Angels Sing?

The nutcracker ornaments from Adam's childhood have a mafia feel about them. Don't watch too much TV, or you'll be sleeping with da fishes, knowhaddi mean?

In the kitchen, my signature brown sugar shortbread is on its way to fattening a few unsuspecting souls.

My sister Annalynne made me an Advent calendar, a la the one from our childhood. Last night, I accidentally knocked it over on the way to bed. I said, "Whatever!" and stuck them back on any which way. The result was a Marc Chagall Christmas scene: 

My tree got relegated to the bathroom this year.

It's music-themed, with all sorts of mice playing little instruments.

Not even the bathroom mirror is safe from the Christmas spirit!

I ran out of decorations by the time I got to the bedroom, so that concludes the Christmas tour! Have a warm and fuzzy Christmas, and don't trip over the little reindeer on the way out!

Just What I Needed

I'm certain that the people you meet are not accidental. Every meeting, even the small, random conversations with total strangers, are orchestrated by God, I've always thought.  Most times, I can't understand why and maybe never will, but no exchange is meaningless. Anyway, I've been a bit blue lately. Not a day goes by that I'm not struck with sadness about the events surrounding Baby D's birth; and some days, it's a little more than that. A birth story, an article, news that someone's in labor, or even sometimes just looking at Baby D will set me into a deep funk for days. Mainly I harbor a deep bitterness against the current medical system and worry quite a bit about the next pregnancy, and I'm trying to work through all that. Doing some research a couple evenings ago, I wasn't too surprised to learn that oftentimes NICU parents suffer Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome, and I also would not be surprised to learn that I have a mild case.

Anyways, I went to church this morning. Baby D, who normally loves the opening music, inexplicably started wailing halfway through, so I carted him off to the nursing room to calm him down. After I got him all sorted out, I went to wait the foyer waiting to go back in the sanctuary, and met another woman sitting there. Baby D is a conversation magnet, so before long, I found out that this lady had gone through three C-sections, starting with her oldest, who was unexpectedly born a month early. And she was so... normal. Happy, even. It was just nice to see someone a few years on the other side of the trauma of an unexpected birth, a C-section, and a probable NICU stay (I'm just guessing, the baby being a preemie and all). She even went on to have more C-section births, and guess what? Her life went on.

It was a few minute's exchange, but I found it healing. 

Did the lady know? Probably not.

Was it random chance that I left the sanctuary and met her? Probably not.

Sometimes, the Holidays...

... are meant for snuggling with your favorite pal.

Quick Homemade Pizza

Hello, I'm back! I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed your turkey! By now, you have probably used up all the Thanksgiving leftovers (if not, you might want to think about, um, opening that tupperware), so today I will tell you how I made a really quick homemade pizza this past weekend!

The words "quick" and "homemade pizza" usually don't go well together because of two time-consuming tasks: making the crust, and simmering the pizza sauce. So here's what I used: for the crust, the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes recipe; and for the sauce, ingredients (with TONS of spices) that I threw together about thirty seconds before slathering it on the pizza.

Here's what you do: turn the oven to a very high temperature. I turned mine to around 450 degrees. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray, and then sprinkle liberally with cornmeal.

Cut a chunk from the Artisan bread dough and shape it however you want on the cookie sheet- round, square, rhomboid- whatever your fancy! Just make sure that it's thin.

Now, for a super-delicious touch! Mix a few tablespoons of olive oil with a couple teaspoons of basil. With a pastry brush, brush the mixture all around the edge of the crust. Voila, you now have a delicious breadstick-like crust! I keep meaning to try this with Parmesan cheese, but I'm pretty sure the pizza would explode from sheer awesomeness.

Now, for the sauce! Here is approximately what I used:

6 oz tomato paste
6 oz tomato sauce
1 T olive oil
1 T Italian spice mix
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. onion powder
1/2 t. black pepper (I'm a pepper lover, so you may want to use less or skip it altogether)
Dash of salt (depending on your toppings, you may want to add more)
Water, to your desired consistency (don't make it too thin!)

Mix it all together, and put your desired amount on the pizza. Top with mozzarella.

For toppings, I used pepperoni, sliced Roma tomatoes, and sliced garlic. I wasn't entirely sure how the garlic would work, but it ended up being a most delicious addition!

Now, stick that puppy in the oven until the cheese is nicely browned. It took mine about 10-15 minutes.

I wish I had some pictures, but we inhaled it before I even thought of blogging about this. This pizza was even approved by a four-year-old-- the normally picky little guy ate two whole slices! Pretty good, considering that I stuck a cup or so of whole wheat flour into the bread dough. ;-) We ended up with a bunch of extra sauce, so I'm thinking of assembling and freezing some more. Eat your heart out, Red Baron!

And as you can see, cooking is definitely an art to me! How about you? Is cooking more of an art or a science to you?

Snow Day!

Well, today is turning out to be frigid and SNOWY here in New York! I'm excited because this may be the only snow I see this year, with Oklahoma being so unpredictable. And I can finally take the time to blog because everyone's out hunting except for me and my pregnant sister-in-law. Thanks for saving me from freezing my butt off in the snow, Baby D!

I'm having a great time here in NY. Visiting Adam's family is always gives me a strange feeling, because his younger siblings are all the same age and gender as mine, so it's like walking into an alternate universe and seeing how my family could have turned out. My siblings are pretty wild and tend to go off and do their own thing when at home, but Adam's family is extremely cohesive and moral and take much pleasure in doing things together. It's really interesting to see the contrast between siblings, like my brother and Adam's brother, both the same age, but one is a hard-boiled, pack-a-day-smoking ex-Marine, and the other likes leading worship and acting in musicals. At one time, I'm sure they were very much alike, but at some point, their lives took very different turns. It's so interesting to see how the choices people make determine even their personalities later down the road!

So Thanksgiving was fun yesterday! There was a ton of food, and of course, everyone had to say something that they're thankful for. Adam took the obvious one and said that he was thankful for Oscar, so I said that I was thankful to be with family for Thanksgiving. It's a fact that not only do you marry your spouse, but you also marry his family; so I have always been thankful to have such good in-laws. Well, all the hunters should be back soon, so I should get off. I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving!

On (or out of) the Town

This post is coming half a country away from where these posts usually come. We are visiting Adam's family for the rest of the month! Of course, Baby D is not getting any attention at all. :-D

 Visiting with great-grandma

So anyways, posting might be a little scarce for the next couple weeks. Don't think that this is a good opportunity to break into my house and take all my stuff. Well, you can take the dirty dishes and the laundry I didn't manage to do before we left, but Meatloaf and Mel would be so happy if you'd leave everything else for them to destroy while we're gone. I hope you all have a great Thanksgiving!

In Praise of the Humble Flat

No, I am not talking about my apartment. The flat of which I speak is often the subject of scorn in its circle, frowned upon as a last-ditch effort of the destitute, and not well-publicized at that. Of course, I am referring to the flat diaper.

You won't hear much about the flat diaper. The overall vibe I get from the cloth diapering community is that the only people who use flats are either too poor to afford anything else or are embarking to a third-world country. No joke!  When I was first trying to make an informed decision about getting flats, there was little information to be found. Any list of the various diaper types I would come across would just barely mention flat diapers before elaborating on ALL the OTHER types of diapers-- as if flats aren't a real option.

Well, here is one person to tell you that not only are flats an option, but they are a great option! My current stash is a dozen prefolds and a dozen flats, but I much prefer the flats. Here are the reasons:

• Versatility. Flats are only as hard as you want to make them. If you want to feel like an origami master, you most certainly can find all sorts of elaborate diaper folds. Or, if you're feeling lazy, just fold it in halves or thirds until you can stick it in a diaper cover. You can make it fit however you want. These make wonderful gDiaper inserts!
• Drying time. Flats air dry beautifully! This is important to me, since I don't feel like paying $1.25 every time I want something dry around here. If I'm running low on diapers, I can count on having dry diapers about an hour after they're washed!
• Washability. Since they're so thin, they wash beautifully; I've heard that they almost never need to be stripped. They rinse out better, too. Oftentimes, between spraying the diaper and throwing it in the wash, I'll give it an extra rinse in the sink. Guess which ones don't release a whole lot of soap residue? You guessed it-- the flats!
• Size. Flats are the original one-size diaper. They can be folded to fit a baby from birth through potty training! My prefolds are already too small for Baby D, and if they didn't fit so well in the gDiaper, I'd have to buy more in a different size (or maybe more flats instead, ha!).
• Price. Okay, it's true that I'm fairly penniless, so I know all about diapering on a budget. If you are looking for a way to do cloth with the least damage to your wallet, look no further! I bought one dozen for $15. So theoretically, you could start a stash for about $70 (two dozen flats and three $13 diaper covers, which is what I used for the first two months)!

And what are the cons? Well, they are absolutely NOT dad- or babysitter-friendly. But, since I do 99% of the diaper changes anyways, it doesn't really matter. Getting the folds right takes some practice, but you are sure to wow the relatives when you whip one of those out and make some origami! :-D It takes a little more time to fold, which is not fun to do with a wriggly baby (I fold them to be diaper-ready as soon as they're done drying, so I don't have to wrestle Baby D come changing time). I also think they're slightly more difficult to spray than prefolds.

So. I love flats. If I think Baby D needs to go coverless to air out for a while, I reach for a flat first-- I know a fold that puts a gazillion layers between Baby D and the floor. You would think that a flat wouldn't be very absorbent because it's so thin, but once you get a few layers going, it's just as absorbent if not more than a prefold! So that's why I love my flat diapers. As does Baby D:

Many thanks to my cute little model!

Sewing Away

Hmmm, it's been a while since I've made a real post. The main reason is because I've been a busy bee, working on some projects. Ready for some show-and-tell?


First off is a ring sling that an acquaintance commissioned me to make. She showed me a picture of the colors in her nursery and left me to my own devices. :-D It took me a while to make, because I KNEW that I wanted brown and white polka-dot fabric, and evidently that stuff is the Atlantis of fabric. It just can't be found! Finally, after repeatedly combing through every fabric store in town, I found what I wanted online.

A week later, it came to me, and it was the wrong weight! I had overlooked the fact that it was a duck canvas instead of cotton apparel fabric. Grrr! So I ended up buying a much larger polka-dot print at Hobby Lobby, which, after the fact, actually looks better than the smaller print. Tell me what you think:

She wanted pleats in the shoulder. For extra extra security, I triple-stitched the shoulder seam.

And, of course, it needed a pocket!

 Let me tell you, a lot of blood and sweat and tears went into this sling!

So what did I do with all that duck canvas? Make a nursing cover, of course!

Here's a closer look at the heart applique and rick-rack trim. I bought that rick-rack on clearance several weeks ago, and I was just waiting for something to use it on!

And, of course, it has a stiff neckline so I can what the heck is going on.

I still have a bunch of that fabric left, so I may just sew a couple more nursing covers and try to sell it on Etsy. So that's what I've been up to! Anybody else working on anything fun?

It's Saturday Evening Post time at Elizabeth Esther! So I have to choose my favorite October post. Hmmm... I'd have to say, it's My FAILgarden, if only because of the great picture at the end! :-D Be sure to check out other great October posts by other folks here!

What we were for Halloween

I would have put this up sooner, but my online time has been devoted to The Great Cloth Diaper Hunt. If I were any kind of a good friend, I would not mention it, because it will suck.your.time. If you need proof, consider the fact that I'm putting up Halloween costume pictures up four days after the event. :-P Anyways, on to the pictures!

Some very good friends of ours got married in the summer in Pennsylvania. They wanted a reception for all the Oklahoma friends who couldn't make it, so they threw an event on Saturday and called it a Hallowedding party. All the guests showed up in costume, of course! So what did we wear?

Baby D's real-life name is Oscar. I don't know why I don't just call him by his real name here; it's not like it's a big secret or anything! I guess I just like calling him Baby D. Why does this even matter right now?


Because Adam and I dressed up as the award-winning Actor and Actress who won an Oscar for Best Performance this year. :-D

That is not the best picture of me. If I were a real celebrity, that would land on Star magazine for sure. Maybe if if I put up a goofy picture of Oscar, you won't notice so much...

I took Baby D's costume off because he was starting to get hot. Speaking of hot, this is the most metro you will ever see my husband:

Would you believe all three of our costumes cost about $10 total? Adam and I pulled most of our getup from stuff we already had, and Baby D's costume was cheap to sew because he only needed half a yard of fabric.

So what did we do on the real Halloween night? My husband went out and bought two giant bags of candy because he was certain that we would be inundated with trick-or-treaters. And then we just kind of chilled around the house.  Unfortunately, nobody showed up, so we're still eating candy around here! No guarantees that I'll fit into that costume next Halloween!

7 Quick Takes Friday: the SCAAARY Edition!

It seems that I've seen an awful lot of spooks around lately! What's up with that? I've never been one for scary things, but in the spirit of the holiday, let me tell you about a few of my scariest experiences:

1. Cleaning out my fridge. This is the stuff of horror films, and an ongoing fright. The worst one was finally cleaning it after a trimester... or two... after the morning sickness set in and kept me out of the kitchen for months. I could have sold my fridge to the local university biology department!

2. Being stalked by a cougar... almost. I was twelve and out camping with another family. I was walking out to my tent at night when I heard a low, menacing growl. I froze in my tracks, but the growling continued. All I could think was, Oh my gosh, it's a cougar, I'm going to DIE!!!! A half hour later, still petrified to the spot, I suddenly realized that the growling was from the other family's dad-- SNORING at a zillion decibels.

3. Dreaming that I died. You know how usually, when you have a nightmare, you wake up right before you die? I dreamed right through my death once, and it was weird.

4. Watching the Borgs from Star Trek: Next Generation. I was exposed a very young age to those scary cyber-beings that killed and assimilated everything in their path. They were scary then, but after seeing a feature full-length film all about Borgs at the ago of twelve, I had nightmares and stupid real-life fears about them all the way into college-- until Adam made me watch THE MOVIE again. And you know what? They are a lot less scary to a 21-year-old than to an 8-year-old. Go figure.

5. Finding half a fly in my macaroni and cheese. Even worse, I never found the other half. I took me a looooong time to eat mac and cheese again, and even now, I will give my macaroni a few stirs to check for, um, extra ingredients.

6. Getting a little too close to a mouse. Once again, I was twelve. Wow, that year is turning out to be a little more traumatic than I remembered! I was sitting on the floor, reading, when my cat came crashing wildly into the room. Before I knew what was happening, the mouse that she was chasing dove for the nearest hiding place-- up my pant leg. I was instantly on my feet, screeching and shaking like a madman until the mouse came flying out of my pants. Okay, that one was actually more funny than scary at the time, but I'm sure that the mouse was plenty traumatized.

7. Watching those stupid internet movies. You know, the ones that force you to turn up the volume and concentrate on the screen really intently for several minutes, and then flash a horrific picture and blast a blood-curdling scream! The first time I saw one, I just about destroyed my dorm desk and brought half the wing running to investigate the screaming-- from me, not the computer. Here it is, in case you were wondering:

And that finishes up my Seven Quick Takes! Here's hoping you all have a safe, fun, and fear-free Halloween!

EC Update

Well, for all my recent talk of diapers, you may have thought I threw in the towel, er, prefold with the Elimination Communication thing.

But we're still with it!

This is very much a part-time, whenever-I-think-about-it thing. I only catch about every other time he needs to go. And night-time and going out in public? Forget about it!

But I still consider this to be a very successful venture...

...Because ninety-five percent of the reason I'm doing this is because I dreeeeeeead toddler potty training, and every time Baby D uses the toilet, it's reinforcing the idea that it's totally okay to go somewhere other than his pants! The other five percent? I hate cleaning poopy diapers. So my goals are being accomplished!

Also, I'm starting to think that this should be called "Parent Potty Training", because Baby D totally knew his stuff right from the get-go. Even with my haphazard pottying schedule, he will go almost every time I put him on the pot, as if he's been holding it and waiting for the opportunity. I'm now convinced that babies have better bowel control than we give them credit for! The real training involved in this is me learning to read his cues. I would always wonder why he'd get inexplicable fussy bouts, until I learned to recognize some subtle differences with these bouts-- turns out, Baby D has a full-bladder fuss as well as a hungry fuss.


So here's what a typical EC episode looks like:

Baby D starts fussing. I know he's not hungry, but he's tensing his stomach muscles, grunting, and kicking around.


Me: Do you need to go POTTY? Mommy will take you POTTY. Let's go POTTY!

(I say "potty" a zillion times so that he'll know to hold it for just a few more minutes while I get his diaper off! I think he's making the connection, because sometimes when I say it, he instantly stops fussing, like he knows he'll get to go soon. What a smarty-pants!)

He is now adequately undressed and positioned over the toilet.


Me: Ssssss.... pssssss..... ssssss.... (that's the cue sound)


Adam (walking by the door): Uh oh, there's a couple snakes in the bathroom!!

Me: You hush. Ssssss.... pssssss...

After a minute or so, Baby D does his business.


Me: Good for you! You went POTTY!

Baby D: Goo!



So that's how everything's going on that front. It's pretty fun, but that's because I'm keeping my expectations reeeeeeally low. And what do you know, I'm pleasantly surprised how it's going! Well, both my guys are clamoring for me, so it's time to get off. Adios!

Fun at the Aquarium!

Yesterday was Adam's birthday! He turned the big 2-5. Since he's a big fish enthusiast, I surprised him with a trip to the aquarium! I didn't get many pictures of the actual fish, because it was too dark. But here's what I did shoot...

The birthday boy with the tickets! 

The aquarium was all decked out with spooks!

Notice my finished sling? :-D

The balloon ghouls didn't care that it was Adam's birthday!

How did Adam measure against the Gar pike?

A little better than Baby D did!

The way to the shark tank was fraught with peril.

Here are some fish!

We took a video of a really funny fish.

When we returned an hour later, he was still at it.

All the excitement was just too much for Baby D.

The whole family, on our way out.

And that was our day at the aquarium. I hope Adam's day was fin-tastic!