Pssst.... Mama I've got something to tell you

This is what happens...

...when Papa tries...

to feed me.

And here is what happens...

...when Papa is the videographer...

...oh, wait...

There is nothing to show, because Papa didn't get

the ginormous belly laughs that Mama got out of Piglet today!

He was laughing so hard he had to stop to catch his breath!

You'll just have to take my word for it.

But it's okay because 

this is the tree that Papa cut down this weekend,

And here are some of the branches that he turned

into mulch for my garden.

What do you think Piglet,

should we keep Papa around?

Yeah, I think so too!

Not Me Monday

What is that saying about being a day late?  I mean, who writes a post called "Not me Monday" on a Tuesday, too late to actally get in on the cool McLinky hosted by Mckmama over at http://www.mycharmingkids.net/

Not me!

What kind of parent lets her baby play with a dirty-ol' shoe?

Not me!

And what kind of wanna be photographer has her camera settings wrong and misses an oh-my-he-is-so-gosh-darn-cute-and-that-smile-makes-me-melt kind of shot like this?

Not me! sigh.

My first give-away and its a big one!

It's not Piglet, he's just the model.

Piglet is very excited about the give-away.

Are you ready?

You might want to be sitting down for this...

well ok, if you are sure...

...ta-da!

No your eyes are not deceiving you.  I am giving away six, size medium, Thirsties brand diaper covers and 2 dozen pre-fold diapers!

WHAT?!?

You haven't tried cloth diapers yet?

Make yourself comfortable while Mama gets on her soapbox.

You guys, cloth diapering is so much easier than I thought it would be.  They are just as easy to put on as disposables, travel well, and they cost less (especially when they are free!)--not to mention the whole earth-friendly aspect.  Plus they come in tons of great colors and you can coordinate them with your outfit!  How cute!

The diapers pictured are size medium, 18-28 lbs.  If you are the lucky winner and want a different size, I'll see what I can do.  To enter just leave a comment, and if a different size is needed.  Also, feel free to spread the word!I will ship anywhere in the continental U.S. Entries accepted until midnight Sunday April 18th, winner will be announced on Monday April 19th.  Good Luck!

One final note, this is a self-sponsored give-away for which I am getting nothing but the pleasure of paying it forward and possibly creating a cloth diaper convert!

Now, Piglet wants to give you a hug:

and a kiss:

Snapshot Saturday

look at those thighs!

cuddling with Auntie

more squash please

howling at ... Grandpa?

first flowers of the season

again

thanks for the Twins hat auntie!

watching the Twins game--or at least some or us were

worn out by all the fun

Hello?!

Are you out there?

Piglet wants to know who his friends are.

Don't be shy, say hi!

A sweet Easter outfit and even sweeter Easter cake

I just love this outfit

My friend Kristen sent it to us when Piglet was born.

I don't know if she meant for it to be an Easter outfit, but

it fits now, and its so springy!

Piglet likes it to, he wants to say thank you!

It's a little hard to tell from the pictures, but it is a short sleeve blue bodysuit, with a 3/4 sleeve "coat" that goes over it.  It is made with the softest cotton ever- it made Piglet even more cuddly!

 I love the detail, there is an embroidered old-school baby carriage on it, and it is edged with ribbon.

But my absolute favorite is the hat--Piglet digs it too.

The outfit reminds me of the kind of outfit that my dad wore in some of his baby pictures.  I'm going to try to find one, and display it next to a picture of Piglet in this one.

We hosted Easter for my in-laws at our house this year.  I love hosting!  It is a lot of work, but I love sharing my home and a home-cooked meal with people I love.  We had four generations together, I love watching Andy's Grandpa with Piglet.

Since we had four generations present, I had to make a special dessert to commemorate it.  So, I thought "four generations, four-layer cake of course!"

My strawberrys 'n cream cake goes something like this: white cake, frosting, strawberry preserves, repeat, repeat, cake, frosting, strawberries.

Ta-da!

The easiest way to make a four-layer cake is to make four smaller than usual round cakes and use them for the layers.  Of course, I didn't do that.

Not because, as my husband says, I like to "do things the hard way"--but because I didn't think of it until after the fact.  Instead, I did it the hard way.

Step one: make two very large, over-flowing-from-the-pan layers

Step two: attempt to cut layers in half horizontally

Step three:  make large crummy mess, but end up with very nice cake nonetheless.

Lets talk about sleep training

 Andy and I have put our week off to good use. 

We visited the sculpture garden:

Took a walk around Lake Calhoun and had a yummy lunch at Burger Jones.

We visited Minnehaha Falls.

We planted a spring garden, removed a massive stump, bought two honeycrisp apple trees and two blueberry bushes.

And we did what I swore I would not do.

The Ferber Sleep Method.

For those of you who aren't familiar, it is also known as the "cry it out method" and that is about all there is to it.  You let your baby cry it out until he falls asleep.  I am was very against it.  Until this happend.

I did a lot of research and we tried other methods, but things had gotten really bad.  For a couple nights in a row,

Piglet got up not one,

not two,

not three,

not even four

or five times...but SIX times.

Andy and I were exhausted.  Well, mostly me because it also got to the point were Piglet would only go back to sleep if he nursed.

I slept in a chair in his room, he slept with us.

We were all miserable.

Piglet has never really had trouble going to sleep, but staying asleep, so our adventure began at 2:00 am.


The first night was awful! At first we went in every five minutes, then ten, then fifteen minutes until he finally wore himself out and fell asleep. It took 90 minutes! What broke my heart the most is that little Piglet is just learning to reach up to us when he wants to be picked up. I’d go in there and he looked so sad and would hold his arms up, as if to say “hold me, mama” and oh-my-goodness did I want to!
 At one point we decided to give him a couple of ounces of formula from a bottle because his voice went hoarse and his little mouth was dry.
 Piglet cried, I cried, we both stressed Papa out.
At one point I even curled up in the fetal position on my bed and rocked myself. Then the crying stopped. Piglet made a few noises and he was asleep.

The next night it took 50 minutes, the next night 30. After that he woke up, but stopped crying during the initial 5 minute wait and went back to sleep. The last two nights we only had to get up once!
 Nap time is better too. When he is tired we lay Piglet in his playpen, play with him for a couple of minutes, give him his favorite friend “Ellie the Elephant” and walk away. He plays quietly for a while, which usually looks something like this:

[Ellie and Piglet with their feet in the air]

After ten to twenty minutes:

The Ferber SleepMethod:

just another example of how motherhood as turned me into a hypocrite.