Sunburn...this white girl should know better

"See what had happened was..." It all started with a Mommy & Me swim class. I was thrilled to read about it on the MWR Aquatics website! I convinced my neighbor to go with me and we were all decked in our swimwear with babies in toe. We decided to be extra healthy and walk through our neighborhood to the indoor pool where the lesson was to be held. We thought we really had it all figured out...Joel would have been proud of our planned early arrival:). The lesson started at 11am, so we decided to meet at 10:15 to begin our walk. The thinking being that we could get there at least 20 minutes before the class started to pay and generally get ourselves and the babies settled, brilliant no? We got there 30 minutes before the class starts and find out that the class has been moved to another pool! Apparently we weren't the only ones that didn't know about the location change since 2 other moms showed up right after us:). Anyway, I have now dreamed about this class and planned a great deal for it so I'm bound and determined to attend! My neighbor, not so much. But poor thing, she still had to put up with our walk back to our house. A walk which I took in true Butler woman fashion, at break-neck speed! I made the walk that took us probably 10-15 minutes on the way there in about 5 minutes on the way back. I quickly got Ethan into his carseat and threw our bags in the back and headed down the road to the other pool. As I was driving I realized that I had switched the sunscreen, which I liberally cover all organic beings with when more than 5 minutes will be spent outside, out of Ethan's bag...Thankfully, Ethan had an SPF 50 rashguard shirt on and a hat, so he was covered. I decided not to turn back, knowing I would get a little burned but it's only a 30 minute class right?!...

Well...45 minutes is all it takes folks. Especially when you're a white girl like me, and I'm talking color not ethnic generalization, that should know better. Also keep in mind, as I mentioned earlier, that this class was at 11am. For those of my readers that are tan and unaccustomed to sunburns, let me enlighten you as to the significance of that particular time of day. between 10am and 2pm the sun is at it's highest point and that is also when the UV levels are at their highest. Hence why I make it a point to wait until after 2pm, especially in Houston:), to spend extended time out in the sun. No matter how much sunscreen I have on, I tend to burn during that time period.

So the moral of the story, enjoy Mommy & Me swim class, but know that you'll pay for it later! Also, keep Vitamin E capsules on hand to slather on burns, that is why I'm so shiny! The burn wasn't awful but it was bad enough and the Vitamin E really helped my body to heal. Also, interesting to note, I may or may not be slightly allergic to the sun. I know, it sounds sad and hermit like...I tend to be rather sickly after extended sun exposure. The morning after this I woke up all stuffed up and sluggish. I'm just sayin'!

There's a monkey an Ethan on your back!

Our next door neighbor was kind enough to let us try out her Sleepy Wrap last week. Ethan LOVES being cuddled up in a wrap and I have enjoyed the opportunity to get more done around the house! Yesterday I was catching up on much-needed vacuuming. You see, Ethan used to sleep through the sound of the vacuum-awesome right? Then he grew out of that, so I adjusted. I would clean while he played in the jumperoo or on a quilt. Then separation anxiety set in and things got complicated. Then the sound of one of the vacuums began to terrify him...So it had been too long since I had vacuumed:).
Ok, so back to the wrap. We had slowly been working our way through different wrap positions. It took some doing on my part, but we worked out the back carry wrap. Ethan giggled, babbled, nuzzled and generally amused himself. While I vacuumed the rug, and all of the floors. Instead of having a full-on panic when the vacuum scared him, this time he just nuzzled in between my shoulder blades:). So sweet. Needy. But oh so sweet!

It looks like I teased my hair and hairsprayed my bangs from this angle...ahh the wonders of being big-haired;)!

Wow, I started this post last week but I needed to go to bed so I saved it...and here we are...

Since I started this post I picked up a Navy cotton interlock remnant of 4 yards for $5 so now Ethan has at least one wrap all his own and maybe 2! Otherwise, I'm using the rest of the fabric to make a nice cotton dress. I don't have any pictures of the new wrap yet but we did try it out and he fit beautifully. If any of you out there are interested in a baby wrap don't spend $40-60 buying a Moby or a Sleepy Wrap! Just buy 4-5 yards of cotton interlock (if you want a fabric with stretch) or a thin, non-stretch fabric. All you have to do is cut down the middle to make the wrap between 25-30 inches wide! I am not currently planning on hemming or finishing my fabric since the how-to's I have read suggest that it was unnecessary for them. I may make a slight modification to the tails so it's easy to tie, we shall see. And if I do chose to make that modification, then I will likely need to finish the edges I taper. Either way, make your own wrap and enjoy! It has certainly made my "cuddly" baby easier to handle and my arms and back aren't quite so exhausted:). In other baby wrap news, I used Joel as my guinea pig for trying other back carry methods I found on You Tube and well...just watch...

Nut butter through the ages

I made a cryptic reference today, in my most recent Facebook album, about how much Ethan is like me in his nut butter messiness, as evidenced in the above picture. As I said there, anyone who is related to me, or has spent enough time around my family to hear stories of me as a toddler, knows exactly what that means.

Alright, prepare yourself, because this is going to be a Rachel story;).

I am the 4th of 5 children, which I love and wouldn't have any other way! However, one of the hilarious, and only sometimes annoying, parts of having my birth order is that EVERYONE was there to note and retell my silliest moments. Not only that, since my brother is 13 years older, and my sisters are 10 years and 5 years older respectively, they were more than likely participants in changing my diapers, feeding me, and helping out with me in various ways. So really there love for me is deep and wide (Did anyone just have VBS/Children's Choir flashbacks because I just did!)...and learned;).

One of the favorite family anecdotes about baby/toddler Rachel is how much I loved _____& Peanut Butter. I apparently liked peanut butter on pretty much anything. I had a healthy and adventurous appetite at first and I wasn't shy (I theorize that this anecdote caught due to my extreme picky eater-ways that set in years later). Apparently I really went gaga for buckwheat pancakes with peanut butter and syrup...I know...I will pause while you judge my palate;)...I also spend a lot of time eating cheerio and peanut butter "sandwiches". On our trip to Houston Ashley recounted fondly that it was her job to sit at the ready and assemble "sandwiches" with a deft 2-part swiping motion that she demonstrated for me. The next part of the story, invariably includes the fact that no matter what I chose to pair with peanut butter that day, I always ended up with it all over me! Caked in my beautiful hair (I'm just telling it how I've always heard it:)) and all over everything else. Something, like this, or maybe this, note the JIF jar in the forefront:). So it should have come as no surprise, nay, my heart should have immediately swelled with pride, when my beautiful son slathered himself in cashew butter the first time I served it to him on some Wasa crackers. I know what you're thinking, what kind of hippy dippy trippy mother are you?! Let the boy have some good ol' American peanut butter on Ritz/saltines/graham crackers/bread?! I know, I know. I STILL love peanut butter and Nilla wafers as a meal. But, my nephew has a peanut allergy. And, as many of you know, peanut allergies are scary. And the risk is higher for Ethan since his cousin has it so...no peanut butter for him...until he's 3. As Ashley would jokingly say, at this point, "Poor Ethan!" And just because I've kept you for so long with my story, here are some additional photos from Ethan's cashew butter initiation:

Mama

Today, Ethan said Mama. He has said it 1 or 2 isolated times in the last week but I wasn't sure if he was just making M sounds or not. Then today, he said Mama and kept saying it! Once he saw how excited I was at his new trick he embarked on a marathon of mama's and mamamamama's. He even seemed to be using it with cause (yes I'm aware how INCREDIBLY biased I am) and said it when he wanted my comfort or my help. I'm still a puddle of loving mush as a result of all this.

Another haircut and eating out:)

We are the old folks that went to lunch at 11:15 so we're the only ones on the patio at this point!

Ok, so I really cannot blame our lack of "going out" social time on Ethan. Joel and I were homebodies before becoming parents:). But, we definitely have taken it to a new level since his arrival! We also have a bit of difficulty figuring out what to do and/or where to find things in the Fort Campbell area. So, this past weekend I had another hair appointment with my wonderful stylist in Nashville. Whenever I have an appointment we make a day out of it in Nashville, a lovely city, and one that we do not spend enough time in even though we're less than an hour away. After my haircut we went to this very tasty New York style pizzeria across the street from my salon. And, because I get rather giddy when I get a restaurant experience so I took pictures to mark the occasion:).

Not the sharpest shot but I wanted to show Ethan's setup, his first outdoor restaurant experience, his Mimi will be proud!

Ethan's giving me the crazy eyes because he was sleepy and not interested in his car seat.

And this is the solution we came to, Ethan cuddled up while I ate...yep we're closer than ever these days:).

We had a great time in Nashville and the whole family was worn out by the end of Saturday!

Happy Mother's Day!

Joel's family came into town this weekend and we were able to enjoy sweet time with them. Ethan LOVED holding court on his quilt surrounded by everyone!

Ethan was a doll on Mother's Day and we were glad we could share it with the Hilborns. Here are a few shots as we opened cards and gifts after church:

Happy Mother's Day!

Lets order up some praise today!

Many people in the blog world have been reading about Stellan and I have kept a "Pray for Stellan" button on my sidebar for the last month. Well today Stellan was discharged from the hospital in Boston!!! His mother "MckMama" and Stellan are resting comfortably in a hotel while they wait for a flight home. So many have prayed for Stellan as he went through this harrowing 5 week medical journey. Now we can join in praising God for the work has done on this sweet, 6 month old boy's heart for the second time in his short life.

New Hair

I cut my hair a little over a week ago but the only photos I had of the new do were on my phone. I just realized that I have a mini SD card in my new phone so here are the photos! I LOVE my new do, not my grays that I edited out,but I love my haircut. I am no longer shedding copious amounts of hair everywhere plus I just like the looks. I haven't successfully scheduled a color appointment yet but once I do, I'll be sure to post photos of that transformation.

"Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"

As you may have noticed, I have been tinkering with my blog layout over the last 2 weeks or so. I recently downloaded Paint.net a freeware program with much of the functionality of Photoshop without the hefty pricetag! Paint.net has afforded me the opportunity to create some design elements and backgrounds for the site. So, I am not thrilled with my blog layout quite yet but I've had a delightful time learning about digital scrapbooking free downloads (Sarah Pitts, I'm thinking of you ma'am:)) and editing HTML. I have left the blog as is for about a week. I mentioned to my sweet sister Katherine that I think I want to re-do the blog header and what was her response? "Yeah, well it's a looks a little bit like Buddy the Elf designed it."

Wow. So, I'm sorry blogging friends if I have recently assailed your eyes with my design choices;). I promise I'm getting better...and maybe a tad less colorful...well at least not so colorful all at once.

Also, cute Ethan pictures are on the way. Oh, and he's cutting another tooth. Yep. Right next to the first one. We're guessing, based on the first tooth, he'll cut it by the end of the week, Lord willing! After 4-5 days of blissful sleep Ethan adopted a newborn sleep cycle at the end of last week as this tooth began to surface in earnest. Boy did his Mimi call that one! So, I'm looking forward to the second tooth and some more sleep!