Nathan Karl is here :)

Last Sunday, October 25, we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy! Nathan was born at 7:17 am, he weighed 10 lbs, and was 22 3/4" long! A very healthy size ;) He is eating and sleeping well so we haven't had too many break downs yet! Hopefully we will get more pics of Nathan but we usually are too busy snuggling and nursing to remember to grab the camera. :P

Nathan at 1 week old...


Oh, and I got to have my home birth! :) I will definitely be doing that again. My midwives were fantastic and it just seemed so right to be in the comfort of my own home when Nathan joined our little family. He just seems so happy to be here with us.

Abby came and held mama's hand during contractions...


Snuggling and nursing...


A very eager helper...


More snuggling...

3 years old

I really can't believe how fast the time has gone! She is such a "big girl" now. :)

So so cute!

There are so many wonderful handmade items on etsy, but this shop has got to have some of the cutest stuff ever! Ok, so maybe it's hormones combined with my slight obsession with anything "natural", but really, they have sheep, they have squirels, they have adorable little alpacas!!!

book giveaway!

If you are interested in healthy eating, check out this blog, and sign up for a free book giveaway. :) I've read the authors previous book "Real Food: What to eat and why." and it was pretty good. I'll definitely be checking this one out from the library if I'm not one of the lucky winners. ;)

It's music!

Every parent wants their kids to be at least a little polite, so we've been encouraging Abby to say please, thank you, and excuse me, at appropriate times. She does pretty well. Only... her excuse me sound very much like 'It's music'. It's so hard not to burst out laughing when I hear her pass major gas and then cheerfully say "It's music, mama! It's music!"

The Madison Train Show

This is the second year we have gone to the train show with Grandpa Wollman. Abby really enjoys all of the model trains set up and also the kiddie train :)

Butterscotch and Fudge

Baking Cookies

I've been meaning to create this post for quite a while now. There is a particularly tasty (and large!!!) cookie recipe given to me by a friend that Abby really enjoys making as it involves lots and lots of measuring and lots of sneaking nuts and coconut while mom isn't looking. :) As you can see the dough is almost overflowing in my mixer and the cookies are huge! They really are pretty healthy though and are more of a breakfast bar cookie that is great for a snack.

Tracey's Protein Cookies (but my way... )

1 cup butter

2 cups peanut butter

2 2/3 cups packed brown sugar

4 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

2/3 cup milk

2 cups whiteflour

2 cups whole wheat flour

4 cups quick oats

1 cup wheat germ

2 teaspoon cinnamon

4 teaspoon baking soda

2 cups chopped nuts - (I use any combination of pecan pieces, chopped walnuts, sliced almonds, and sunflower seeds)

1 cup shredded coconut

1/2 -1 cup ground flax seeds

Preheat oven to 350

Beat butter, peanut butter, packed brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Beat in eggs and milk

Mix flours, oats, wheat germ, cinnamon, and baking soda.

Stir in nuts and flax seed

Drop by icecream scoopfuls 2 1/2 inches apart and flatten slightly.

Bake for 18 minutes.

Cool on sheet for 2 minutes then cook on wire rack. Freeze in pairs in sandwich size ziploc bags.

So Excited!

I currently ave one half yard of scrumptions cotton velour sitting in a dye bath of delicious butterscoth and hot fudge colored dye. :) I haven't dyed anything since my last post about LWI dying and I am very very excited to get started again. I placed a HUGE order at Dharma including a 25 yard bolt of quilting fabric. So hopefully there will be many colorful posts in the near future...

Snuggles

... the newest member of our family :)

Christmas shopping in January

I have officially started my Christmas shopping! No, not my shopping for next Christmas, (I am a complete procrastinator so there is no way that is happening) I mean the spending of $$ that I recieved as gifts. :)

My first purchase was a subscription to Ottobre magazine. :) It is a sewing/pattern magazine out of Finland that is so much fun! I've also been eyeing up wonderful online fabric stores like Sewzannes and the Fabric Fairy, and also the wonderful unique creations by artisans on places like Etsy, and will hopefully be able to post some adorable hand made clothes in the upcoming months.

Sledding!

I just wanted to share a couple pics of our sledding adventure the other day. I did go down the hill once with Abby, but she much preferred daddy since he would drag his hands the whole way down the hill so they wouldn't go so fast. :)

ready to go down the hill...

"the gully" in Portage is a pretty big hill!

getting a ride back up the hill... (I've made her a better hat since then :) )