Yay I get my husband back!!

Well, since I've been accused of using this blog to only talk about Jonathan, let me talk about my husband for a post. :)

I am so proud of him right now, he just this week finished up the last of his master's level classes for his Master's in Business Administration!!! He does have one undergrad class to complete, which he will do during the spring quarter, but he is done with the hardest of his classes. He has done an awesome job being a husband, father, working fulltime still and completing his classes this last quarter. - oh and still keeping up with the Huskers and his fantasy teams :)

I am very happy to have him back to not having to do so much homework at night again. It has been so nice this weekend that our schedule hasn't been dominated by his need to get homework and papers done. And might I mention that he has excelled in his classes receiving mostly A's! Possibly due to my help editing some of his papers. :) But, just wanted to share about this and now we can enjoy the rest of this fall and winter not thinking about classes, and no more night classes! :)

He has had plenty of help along the way! We like to call Miles his "study buddy" :)

For the Record....

Apparantly Jonathan knew that I said in my post last night that I didn't mind him waking up early, and he took that to heart! He was up at 5 am!! So, I gave him the binky, and went back to bed thinking he would fall back asleep, well after an hour of crying, I finally got him up at 6, and he was wide awake and ready to go! So, he played hard for about 45 min and then I was feeding him breakfast in his highchair, and I looked at him and he was nodding off, and gave into the need for sleep. IT was really sweet, so of course I took a picture! :) This is really such a rare sight for me, he typically doesn't fall asleep anywhere but in his bed or carseat, and sometimes some people's arms, but not usually.

Big Things Going on Here

Well, I've been debating whether to post this or not, because it seems as soon as I get excited about something, it changes - wow this sounds like I'm leading up to a baby or big move or something, heck no, that's not what I'm talking about, we are very content and happy with where God has us here right now - my exciting news is that Jonathan is sleeping through the night!! This has been an ongoing battle for us for a few months now. He started out great, sleeping through the night young, around 8-10 wks, but at 5 months decided that wasn't for him anymore, so I went along with it, being pulled into a long downward spiral of waking up once, then twice a night and a few weeks ago I was at the end of my rope emotionally, physically and mentally and couldn't do it anymore. So, after some good encouragement from a good friend of mine, I decided it was time for tough love. I had to just let him cry it out. We knew this would be hard, because he is, I would say, strong willed, and will cry for up to 2 hours, that's the longest I had let him go, who knows how much longer he would go. So, when he woke up rather than feeding I just gave him the binky, and kiss, and laid him back down, of course he stood up immediately and stood at the side of his crib and cried, but I left him and turned his music on also. Also, I would turn off the monitor and set my alarm for an hour or two later, to just check. Needless to say, he was always asleep when I would check later. After just a couple of nights, the crying became less and then we even went to no waking at all!! He is going to bed a bit earlier, but that's ok, and waking earlier, which is fine too with me, it actually works better than his 9:00 wake ups. So, we are at 2 weeks of this now, and he has been a happier baby, eats better during the day, and mommy and daddy are happier too! :)

The other big thing that I think I can officially claim now is that we have a walker!!! He started taking steps a few weeks ago, and then got up to about 4-5, then a week ago got up to about 10 steps at a time and then yesterday he just realized that he could keep walking. He still crawls some, mostly what he does is find somewhere to pull up on, then walks as far as he can, then when he falls will crawl some again, pull up on something and walk more, he still hasn't figured out how to stand up on his own. It has been so fun to figure out this new "trick" of his and he gets so proud of himself!

So, those are the big things here :)

Oh, he is also loving to talk on the phone - it's super cute, he will take the phone and hold it up to his ear and babble babble babble, yesterday he was talking to daddy on my cell phone, and just started walking around carrying the phone and talking away - don't know whose behavior he's imitating there :)

He is also trying to climb on things, stairs, he also loves that there is a ledge under the oven, where the drawer is, and when I'm not looking, will get his foot on there, and use the oven handle to try and pull himself up on, needless to say, there is a natural punishment when I don't get there soon enough, as he falls backwards when the oven door opens, yes, I am going to be looking into an oven lock :)

And, the fridge has a great leadge to climb onto and anything else he can find. :)


Finally a picture of a couple of his teeth - he now has four teeth all the way in, and two more working their way in.


This was him talking to daddy and walking with the phone in his hand! haha I love it! :)


Helping Mommy with laundry by pushing the basket around.


ROAR!!!


Everything is used for pulling up on, although we are working on sitting in the tub, he continues to pull up on the side.

In Process

A friend suggested posting what I'm working on right now, well, that's a loaded question, because I have quite a few projects I'm in the middle of, and seemingly making little progress. But I'll get it done at some point. :)


These are the 9-patch blocks I made from the squares my grandma sent me a while back. - I mentioned these in a previous post - It was really fun to put these together. None materials that I would typically choose or put together, but when sewn together, I love how they work together in their own way.


This is how I'm going to lay out the quilt, and put the 4-patch squares in between the blocks with the sashing.


These are the materials for the borders, sashing and backing of my quilt. The tans are the sashing and backing and the blues will be the borders.


This is material I have bought for fall bibs for Jonathan, guess I should get going on it, since it now looks like winter is coming :/


I had the brilliant idea to sew Jonathan a winter hat and mittens and found this fun fleece and bought the pattern. Only to be reminded that I have never really sewn from a pattern, so this has been a slow experience for me, but I'm hoping to finish is before the end of the winter. :)


This is a completed project. I saw this on a website and wanted to try it. You just sew leaves onto a piece of leather-like fabric, and then I put a pretty bowl with gourds and small pumpkins, I really like the fall colors.


Some fun fabric finds - I really like the Rudolph material! All will hopefully be finding their way into some fun Christmas gifts ;)


Another fun fall craft! I was really excited about it and telling my mom and she was like "Oh, I think your brother did that in 1st grade!" Well great, I have the crafting ability of a 1st grader, but I enjoyed making these and love them on my mantle, just a nice fresh pop of color. They are jars - good reason to clean out my fridge of expired condiments :) - covered with Mod Podge and tissue paper, then finished with fun ribbons and a candle!

So, there you have it! For anyone wondering what is going on here in crafting world - or not going on. It's fun to look it all over and see what I'm working on, and will be fun to look at when it is all done.

Tough Loss

Well, it was a sad day here, but at least my boys look cute watching the game! :)

A new experiment in baking

Already to go for lunch tomorrow - ie I forgot to take a picture earlier :)


Those are Jeremy's (!!!) fingers in the pan - that NEVER happens! - he is not a sweets guy - especially not cake!


Newest addition to my baking cupboard, I'm excited to try other things with this.

So, I was to bring a dessert for our care group tonight, and I really wanted to be able to make something for one of our friends who has a number of allergies. I saw it as a challenge and wanted to try something new. So, I just googled "dairy, gluten, corn and soy free desserts" looked at the first result and decided to go for it. And I was pleasantly surprised. I have always had a misperception that gluten free means taste free. Totally wrong, and in some ways more flavor! I was telling Jeremy tonight that I was glad it turned out so well and he asked "what was different"? ha! He thought it was great and said it was better than other cakes, so guess I'll be making this again.

I also learned a few things along the way. vegetable oil and canola oil are NOT the same. This recipe called for canola and I thought that's what I had in the cupboard, onlt to find out mid-recipe that it was vegetable oil made of soybean oil that I had! - Big no no! So, went searching. I had bought some coconut oil at Natural Pantry today because I have had friends talking about it on facebook and wanted to try. So, I thought, well, could I substitute that? So, I went on a search, trying to talk to someone who used it, my first attempts were failed but I did talk to a friend who I haven't talked to in probably three years! It was great to hear her voice and fun to hear what she does with the coconut oil, and she told me how it changes consistency, and sure enough tonight when I got home, it was more liquidy that it was today when I baked with it. So, anyhow, I substituted straight across the cocunut oil for canola oil, and I don't think there was any difference.

So, all this to say I enjoyed trying something new, buying new ingredients, all of which are probably better for me anyhow, and am looking forward to seeing what else I can make with them! And here are a couple of pictures.

Here is the recipe for anyone interested.

Gluten-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, Soy-Free, Corn-Free Chocolate Cake
perfect without frosting! but you know you want to frost it

3 cups gluten-free flour
2 cups white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups cold water

Preheat oven to 350F.

Put all ingredients into mixing bowl and beat until smooth and no lumps remain. Consistency will be like a standard cake batter.

Pour into greased 13 x 9 pan OR 2 round cake pans. Bake 35-55 minutes or until top springs back when touched. (shorter for cake pans, longer for the 13×9)

Remove from oven and let cool, if you’re able, until room temp. Frost as desired.

This is the recipe for frosting that the blogger I found used, but I was unable to find "corn free powdered sugar". so I bought a Namaste Toffee Vanilla Frosting Mix and made it with palm shortening and coconut milk.

Basic Frosting
3/4 cup palm shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp peppermint extract, if desired
enough milk to make smooth and creamy

Beat shortening with sugar and flavorings and add milk until desired consistency. Beat additional 3-5 minutes or until super fluffy and smooth. Frost cake when cooled and dig in!

And, I should give credit, I found this at
http://beyondthewheat.com/gluten-free-recipe/gluten-and-egg-dairy-soy-corn-free-chocolate-cake/

Hmmm...sorry, I don't know how to do the cool link thing. Oh well, you can figure it out. :)

And what's a post without this little guy?

And last, but not least....

It's been a big blogging day for me. I always want to put stuff on here, sometimes it is just a matter of having time to sit and do it, and in the evenings when Jeremy is studying I don't get computer access. :(

So, here are some pictures of the little one, I swear he just gets more fun every day!


Hey Dad - do you like playing in these drawers too? They're so much fun!
Little did he know, that Daddy was putting the child latches on! :)


About to take off....


So cool just standing here at the couch, posing for mommy!


Someone (Grandma) gave me whip cream to play with!!


If Mommy leaves the Duplo container in here, then surely it means that she wants me to stand on it!


Bath Time!!


Super Baby! I thought it was funny how he turned his bib around and it looks like a cape!


He enjoyed getting to eat his own chicken leg!


This is how much he enjoyed it!


This is the rubber thingee for opening jars, also one of his favorite finds, he pulls this out the drawer and puts it in his mouth and cruises around the kitchen.

A few things I've been doing...

The one thing I've found you can make for a boy and is pretty easy it bibs! So, I've been perfecting my bib making. After finding some cute Halloween material, it occured to me, that then it would only last a month, but being as brilliant as I am, I thought of to do reversible bibs, with a different season on it, so now it will at least last 2-3 months! If I were really brilliant, I would make like a winter/spring one, but I'm not there yet. :)



So, I've had this idea for while and finally did it. As a baby gift I made a receiving blanket, out of two pieces of flannel, so thicker than the thin ones that are sold in stores, then two burp cloths, and two bibs. I had fun working on this during Jonathan's Sunday afternoon nap and while Jeremy was busy with homework and studying.



I got to use a few different decorative stitches also, which was fun to play with.



My Grandma sent me a bag of scrap fabrics when I started quilting a couple years ago, and I haven't done anything with them yet. BUt I found them in my fabric stash yesterday and started sorting and am excited about putting them into a quilt.



After canning with friends last month and discovering how easy it was, I wanted to do some more, and Jeremy loved the salsa. So, my mom and I had a salsa making and canning day last week. We ended up with 22 jars and she is already talking about making more, it has been so popular at her house! Such a fun way to always have something homemade on hand.



I have been trying new recipes, and last week it was Crispy Chicken Nuggets, I'm not a big fan of frying and Jeremy was shocked to come home and see me doing it, but the result was amazing, so I may do it again!

Yes, I am a Homemaker

So, I've been thinking about this post for awhile, and it's time to get some of my thoughts out. Recently I was filling out a form and it asked for "occupation" and much to my shock, I stumbled over my answer. What am I? What do I do? First I thought "wife", but no, I'm also a mommy. Stay at home mom? NO, I'm more than just that, and then it popped in my head, "homemaker". Homemaker, wow that doesn't sound nearly as great as past things I could've filled in there, baker, that was fun, server, fun, restaurant manager, wow I had really achieved something there. But well, now, I'm a homemaker. Wait Brandy, this is the occupation I've been wanting to fulfill my whole life, I never desired to be those other things, ya I enjoyed it, and I was good at it, but this is what I have been wanting and praying for for so long, and I was struggling to write it down. But, alas I did. :) But, it got me thinking, I really am a homemaker, and I do love every bit of it. Yes, there are definately days when I think it would be so much easier to just drop Jonathan off and go to a job outside of the home, he can get exhausting, and especially in this stage we are in, but but nothing is as satisfying as this. I get to see every little thing that Jonathan does. Recently, I have gotten to see him start to stand and take a couple of steps, just the other day he started to clap his hands a little. He also loves to make noise on anything possible. But, more than that, I get to make this house of ours into a home. I get to see my husband off to work in the morning (I used to leave before him), making him a lunch and talking to him while he eats breakfast, I'm here during the day, cleaning throughout the week so that I don't have one day that I have to get it all done. This is a trick that took me a little while to figure out, but I think I've scheduled my weeks better now. And in my "spare" time, i get to work on fun projects, currently I'm into things that have to do with fall, and trying to find fun things to make for boys - not nearly as fun as creating for a girl, but I'm finding things to do. I truly do enjoy everything about what I get to do as being a homemaker, a stay at home mom. I get to spend time with other moms during the day. I even get to do a Bible study during the day now, something that would've never been possible before. I am truly so grateful for getting to do what I do, and hope that I don't forget it!



My little laundry helper! This is his favorite blanket, he sleeps with it, knows that it means time to nurse, etc., so it cracked me up his persistence in trying to get it out of the dryer.



My guys getting a little rest after a long night - yes, really that means I should've been sleeping too. :)