Hurrah for Terrah!

She's here!

Rachelle with her new baby Terrah (pronounced like Tara). I love the name and the spelling is just beautiful. What an ordeal to get that little one here. Rachelle can hold over her head for the rest of her life, "I was in labor with you for 36 hours!!" I cannot even imagine.

Commercialized birthday

There was no talking Tessa out of a Littlest Pet Shop birthday party. My ideas were more along the lines of an art party or a ballet party -- you know, something she likes and something not so specific. But no. I was shocked and somewhat appalled at the plethora of LPS party stuff there was out there! Guess she's not the only kid demanding this. I succumbed and bought LPS cups, a table cloth, some stickers and tattoos, and goody bags. But that was it. The other stuff had to be normal party gear.

It actually turned out great for the cake, though. All I did was bake a few cakes (one 13x9 and one small springform pan), stack, lightly frost, and apply my marshmallow fondant (that I have left over from a wedding about 4 months ago - the stuff lasts forever!). I forgot to tint the fondant so then I just painted it with green food coloring and all was good. The rest of the decorations were simply candy and LPS figures! Sweet deal. Took less than 2 hours, and that included putting the baby back to sleep several times :)

The giraffe (named Giraffaroo, in case you wondered) came later as a gift so we added that on.

She loved it, and her whole party. I didn't get many pictures since Dave decided to abandon us birthday morning for L.A., and with 13 kids and a baby I did not have picture-taking capabilities. But thanks to my friends Jo and Bianca who stayed for the party and saved my life! And Tessa's cute friends were so good and so kind. She got 10 new LPS figures when all was said and done, plus fun arts and crafts stuff, a My Little Pony that is being well loved, a Wii game, and more. It's fun to be 5! But next year, we're doing ballet.

Born to shop

My parents decided to become shopping sponsors and sent me some money to take Betsy shopping for some maternity clothes on their behalf. (I'll never tell her that they actually sent $500. Mwaaa haa haa.)

I decided she needed a special envelope so she wouldn't accidentally spend her money on something unexciting like dog food or postage stamps. And I thought I'd make said envelope as eye-catching as possible so that, A.) Everyone would make fun of her, and B.) People would talk to her about her baby. Because there is nothing more enjoyable than an unsolicited belly pat from a store clerk. Or people asking what you're naming your baby and telling them you have no clue. She must be part of all that fun. 

That weird gray blob is supposed to be a belly sillouette (sp? I don't care). I had just seen a picture of one sis-in-law Heather had taken and it inspired me. Too bad I'm not an artist. It just looks ... gross.

This shirt was a keeper! Sooo cute and comfy. I tried my hardest to get frugal Betsy to splurge, and she did pretty good by getting several outfits with plenty left in the envelope for the future. We also found a cute baby onesie that was the steal of the day -- except she found the same one cheaper the next day, but she got it worked out so it was really the eventual steal of the day, in hindsight.

By the way, I really didn't swipe her money. I did make her buy me dinner, and endure some exposed breastfeeding, but I gave her all her money.

Mmmm ... tootsies

Baby is a toe-sucker. The truth is out.

He could do this all day.

Really, I got bored taking pictures of it before he got tired of it.

And these are just cute jammies on a cute kiddo.

I'm so glad I'm not a dad

My kids don't even bother asking ME for this kind of thing.

Turkey Lurkey

Early one morning we got a call letting us know there was a noisy package waiting for us at the post office.

Inside:

15 turkeys, 2 days old! Caden's primary teacher happened to be at the post office at the same time. He told her what we were doing and she said, "Seriously? OK, I'm waiting. I have to see this." I guess turkeys don't arrive by mail every day. The post office worker held the package by the corners and wouldn't let me open it on her counter so she could vouch if any had arrived dead. I'm surprised she didn't pinch her nose and hold her breath until we left, sheesh.

In case you wondered, chicks absorb the remains of their yolks right before hatching, and so have stored energy to survive a 2-day postal delivery without food. Even baby chicks born to mother hens often won't eat for the first day. They all arrived alive, vocal and hungry! We took care of the latter right away!

Tiny, fluffy little things. Who would have known the headache they would be?

First, we noticed one who seemed facinated with the others' eyes and kept trying to peck at them. His attacks got a little too intense so we had to section off a corner of the bin and give him his own food and water. I hoped that he'd grow out of it, but after 2 weeks and dozens of attempts, he would not change. It was time for him to go.

Then we found another who was a little to interested in the other's behinds. After a few sharp squeals of pain we found it had pecked 2 of the turkey's little rears enough to make them bloody and swollen. So then we got to section off another corner of the bin for him, plus get out a new box for the two injured turkeys to recover in (because the others may potentially peck at the blood if they noticed it, and it's a little hard not to notice it when they bend over to eat. I mean, it's right there at turkey eye-level). Getting a little high-maintenance, don't you think? That one found a new home along with Eye-Pecker. We debated leaving the two together in a box and letting them duke it out. Maybe the new owners will.

Then 2 died. No apparent causes. Tears were shed by all and good death discussions were had.

Then last week we noticed a turkey was "spraddle" legged, meaning their hip joints were not developing properly and they were basically doing a wider and wider splits. As we looked, we were like, "Hey, that one has it ... and that one ... and that one ..." Yeah. Eight in total. The spraddle toll is now at 10. We only have one normal turkey.

You can fix the spraddle with a simple application of wrapping a Band-aid around one ankle, leaving the gauze between the legs to created the proper distance, and securing the other leg with the adhesive of the rest of the Band-aid. This aligns the bones properly so they grow right and straighten out, eventually correcting themselves. It also efficiently hobbles the poor things so they can hardly move and decide they'd rather sleep then try to stumble over each other. So we've been up several nights until 1 am, securing bandaids and re-attaching them and basically being amazing poultry physiotherapists. One has a leg that is turned though and at a 90' angle to what it should be. Perhaps this will be our ballerina turkey? Hmmm.

So yes, this was TMI about turkeys.

All in all: If you are interested in poultry, get some chickens and buy your turkey frozen :)

Follow the prophet

Koen was completely enraptured by this talk. And they say TV isn't good for babies ...

Aw, too bad ...

Poor little baby has a bum knee. (And that paw needs a Satin Hands treatment.)

Toothless

One day at the end of February I was brushing Tessa's teeth after being out late with her, and there was her bottom tooth, wiggling in all its bottom-tooth glory. I was shocked and wondered if she'd maybe hit her mouth on somthing at a birthday party earlier that day or something. But no, no one could remember any instances at all. She was so excited, dancing around, thrilled to pieces. We warned her not to rub it in Caden's face, because he's older and has not yet lost a tooth. The other kids were in bed already, and as she said her prayers that night she said, "Thank you for this thing that is happening to me. And please help the other kids to be happy for this thing that is happening to me, and that some day it will happen to them too."

I completely expected her to lose it that night, or the next day ... but no. Some how she became frightened of "this thing that was happening" to her, and she refused to touch or attempt to wiggle her tooth, and she'd burst into tears if we suggested we try. For 7 days she let it just dangle there in her mouth. I can't imagine how annoying that must have been. Finally, the next Saturday night, I was again helping her brush her teeth, and I said to myself, 'This is crazy. It's time to come out." So I took the bristles of her toothbrush and pressed on that tooth, and with no effort at all it popped out into her mouth. She bolted up and grabbed it, shocked and amazed, then the glee returned and she was so happy to have lost a tooth! She immediately began listing all the people she must tell immediately. Too bad it was already 9 pm.

So we're trying to get to bed, but it's just too exciting. Tessa decides she doesn't want the tooth fairy to take her tooth, she wants to keep it. But she also wants money. So the clever girl decides to leave a note:

Under the pillow it goes.

I'm sure that night the tooth fairy was wondering what the going rate for teeth was. I think she used to get a dollar when she was a kid, but she was also older when she lost her first teeth and had a better concept of money. Then I think she realized she only had a one and a twenty dollar bill. So I think that's how it came to be one dollar.

The next morning ... thrilled with that dollar!

Sewing updates

I haven't been able to create much since the bebe was born, but I have squeaked in a few projects through late-night marathon sewing sessions. Here are a few things I've worked on the last few months.

Christmas pillowcases for the kids ... and a bunch more for their friends.

Throw blanket for Steve and Betsy's Christmas gift (using fabric left over from the blanket we made for Rachelle).

One of two car seat covers I've made recently. I was totally not feeling the whole green/shamrock theme at first, but I am really pleased with how it turned out!

Car seat cover #2 can be revealed once Rachelle gets her baby package! Fly, mail, fly!

True love

Davin loves you ... from the heart of his bottom.