Callum

First day of day care

Today marks the first day that I am officially self-employed.  Sproutlings Child Care will be enrolling two kiddos today (and possibly only for a week unless their mom gets notice that her job is not ending).  I think we have the house ready to go and Everett's excited to have "friends" come over to play.
Meal plan for this week gets to include lunch too!

Dinners for May 30-June 5
Monday, May 30 –  Spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
Tuesday, May 31 –  stuffed green peppers
Wednesday, June 1 – chicken noodle casserole
Thursday, June 2 – freezer dinner
Friday, June 3 – pasties
Saturday, June 4 – leftovers/eat out
Sunday, June 5 – chicken pot pie

Lunches for May 31-June 3
Monday, May 30 - grilled veggie and hummus tart
Tuesday, May 31 – Leftover spaghetti, salad, garlic bread
Wednesday, June 1 – mac n cheese with hot dogs, veggie
Thursday, June 2 –  chicken noodle casserole leftovers
Friday, June 3 – fish sticks, rice, veggies, fruit

You may notice that the effort that goes into the dinners drops off drastically halfway through the week. This is because Brian will be heading off for a guys mountain bike excursion to Copper Harbor on Thursday and I don't feel like cooking while he's gone.

This weekend's camping trip was fun but buggy. We borrowed a pop-up camper but the mosquitoes still got us pretty good. There were swarms of them. It stunk. But Ev did get to go fishing and pull lots of little fishies out of the water and then let them go again. Callum was a perfect little camper the whole time, while big brother had some issues with scary mosquitoes, scary thunder, sleeping alone.....yeah....two year olds....

Anyway. I need to go pull up the "gonkey game!" for Everett on our new snazzy tablet that we got for our anniversary from Bri's parents. Now to decide if I want my new phone to be another android device or go for the iphone...

3 Months

I figured it out.  That time when your squishy little newborn, all wrinkly and funny-looking but infinitely huggable and fit perfectly when they sleep on your chest, disappears.  At 3 months, my tiny (well, if he ever was tiny...) squishy newborn is gone.  Instead, I have a rolly, smiley, laughing baby boy.

His cheeks are now the most kissable things in the world, but I cannot believe my eyes that he is this big already.  Wasn't it just yesterday that he was kicking around in my belly, driving me crazy because he decided he'd give me contractions for a month and come 2 days after his due date?  If I were going back to work, I would have returned this past Monday and I cannot fathom it.  I can't imagine handing over my changing-by-the-minute scrumptious little guy to some other woman to care for, only to pick him up at the crankiest time of day and have a couple hours to get all my snuggles in before he's crashes for the night.  I am extremely grateful that I have this opportunity to stay at home with my boys and watch them grow.  I get to make sure they get good, healthy food prepared from whole ingredients.  I get to attempt to limit their screen time :). I get to change all those really cute cloth diapers.  I'm not sure how I'll feel once I have some kids here in addition to my little guys (starting next week!  eek!), but if we're ever going to be able to replace our 11-year-old car, I kind of need to help out in some way.

Anyways.  Back to scrumptious 3 month olds.  Our little stinkerbug now weighs about 14 pounds (Everett was 15 pounds at 4 months) and is firmly in his 3-6 month clothes.  He's on the second setting of his size 1 diaper covers, about to move up to the highest setting (they're supposed to fit 0-9 months....).  His yellow-edged prefolds, designed to fit up to 6 months and 15 pounds, are getting a bit snug.  He's getting good head control and tries to lean into your face if he's upright and talking to you.  He absolutely adores his big brother and smiles at him all the time.  Just yesterday, he started squealing to get your attention.  Everett was already very vocal by this age, yelling at us and all, so I still think Callum's just going to be more laid back and easy-going.  Huge and calm.  :)
Cally still loves to be worn and I'm looking at a new wrap for my anniversary present.  Ideally, something like a Didymos wrap, but even used, these things sell at a high price, so I'll likely end up with a much cheaper brand.

Well, we need to get moving because we have the last Fun n Run playgroup today and then we're meeting friends at the park for lunch.  And I need to pack us a lunch.  And get the stroller outside.  And it's in 12 minutes.  Ummm....yeah.

I didn't wash my hair for two weeks

Ok, not really, but sort of.  Really, I didn't shampoo my hair for two weeks.  There are tons of articles on going "no-poo" for the health of your hair and I read too many of them and decided I had to try it.  I didn't want to start out mentioning it for fear that everyone would then look at my greasy hair and shake their heads in pity.  But after two weeks of no shampoo, my hair looked better and healthier than it ever has before!
Not shampooing does not mean that I neglected to wash my hair.  I'm not that gross, guys.  Instead of shampoo, I use baking soda.  1 Tbsp of baking soda mixed with warm water is used to clean the hair and you scrub it into the scalp just like shampoo.  Instead of conditioner, I use apple cider vinegar.  Yes, this does make it smell like you're dying easter eggs in the shower, but the smell goes away as soon as your hair is dry.  My hair was a bit more oily for about the first week, but now I'm back to my every other day washing and it really doesn't look bad on the non-washing days.  Yes, there are never any pictures of me, but look!  I found one!
 Shiiiny hair.  And a giant grizzly bear.  You know.
When we were in Grand Rapids, I hadn't felt like packing up baking soda and vinegar, so I just used the hotel shampoo and conditioner.  Icky.  My hair dried to a frizzy, yucky mess.  That made the final decision right there.  No more shampoo unless I run into a problem with the soda/ACV routine.  Upon returning home, I went back to my every other day soda/ACV washing and my hair honestly has more body and shine than ever before.  Hooray for getting more more chemical/carcinogen-laden product out of my life!  In case you're wondering, Brian still uses shampoo for his luscious locks.  The boys will get a weekly or bi-weekly shampooing with either Johnson's natural baby shampoo or Dr. Bronner's castile soap.  Aiming to use up the Johnson's and then be done with that for them too.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming

We're back from Grand Rapids, the laundry is done, the house is picked up, the pets are fed, the plants are watered, and we're ready to get back to our regular routines (plus accepting day care enrollees - eek!  Have to make some calls back for messages left last week....).

We're going to try and get out in the intermittent sunshine today for a walk and do our grocery shopping.  After so much eating out this week, we're trying to avoid a bunch of meat and grease-filled foods, so our meal plan reflects that.

Here it is:

Dinners for May 22-29

Sunday, May 22 – homemade vegetarian pizza

Monday, May 23 –  French dip sandwiches

Tuesday, May 24 – Barley Casserole

Wednesday, May 25 – Grilled vegetable and hummus tart  (make extra hummus for Friday)

Thursday, May 26 –  leftovers

Friday, May 27 – Tabbouleh and Pitas with hummus

Saturday, May 28 – Breakfast bake for dinner

Sunday, May 29 – chicken pot pie