Earth Day 2010

We went to Walmart today and after putting away all the

groceries there was a huge pile of plastic sacks covering

the entire kitchen. So I decided Manni and I needed to

do a little Earth Day project. . . .

I had all of these cute mini T-shirts (from college) in the

Goodwill pile that I can't wear anymore after losing my

flat tummy and finding countless stretch marks.

(Thank you Manni & Soren)

So, we sewed my shirts into reusable shopping bags. Just

sew your T-shirt closed along the bottom edge and then

cut the sleeves off and widen the neck hole. You don't

have to sew the raw edges on the T-shirts if it is the type

of knit that rolls when you stretch it. I actually let Manni

(3 years old) help me sew the bottom closed. He was

ecstatic about learning to use the sewing machine.

This is a way better use of my cute T-shirts than sending

them off to the Goodwill. Now I get to use them forever!

Manni boy

Peanut and Mannix have been dying to play together but

can't while she is in recover from her 2nd surgery to

repair her blown ACL. Just a few more weeks and they

will be able to wrestle again.

Manni loves bugs. Unfortunately most

of the ones he "plays" with end up accidentally squished

or drowned in the kiddie pool etc.

Sobe at 3 months

Here's our fat little Sobe at 3months

This photo is to show my Dad that Mannix is in fact

larger than Soren!

(Okay maybe not around the middle though)

Back in business (the sewing kind)

Hooray! I got my sewing machine back today! I found a smaller sewing machine shop on google and went to rescue my machine from the 100 machine backup at Rachel's.

For all you Lubbock sewing people, take your machines to Darlene's Sewing Etc.

http://www.lubbocksewingmachines.com/

They had my machine fixed overnight with great service at a fraction of the cost of Rachel's.

I am extremely satisfied!

Spring flowers

We don't have much grass but the weeds growing in our

yard are quite pretty! Manni picks me a bouquet every

time we go out to play.

How I turned a bag destined for the Goodwill into a diaper stash

The only thing I ever talk about anymore is diapers. . .

I've been on a mission to start cloth diapering Sorbaby.

To save resources have decided to sew my own diaper

stash. I have been using several designs and have mostly

gotten my ideas from http://diapersewing.com/and

http://fernandfaerie.com/frugaldiapering.html but the

design below was Scott's idea.

Cut a 15x32 in rectangle from an old receiving blanket

Sew a 4x15 in terry cloth rectangle to the edge

Fold so the terry cloth is in the center 1/3 of the diaper

and sew along center edges of terry cloth strip to secure.

Zigzag open edges of diaper and your finished!

So easy and no cost involved if you reuse old materials.

Waterproof cover made from an old Gortex

coat and polyester soccer jersey.

For this cover I modified the Ultrex/PUL pattern from

http://diapersewing.com/to fit my baby.

Okay so here is the bad part of my mission:

The gortex had lost some of it's waterproof ability since it is

so old (bought in 1995 and worn a ton between Alaska,

Snowbird, and Mt. Hood). So I can't really use this cover. :(

I was going to buy some new PUL and repeat this pattern

but then my sewing machine broke so I can't. :(

I decided to just buy some ready made covers from

bummis and proraps so I can start cloth diapering now

instead of waiting for my machine to get fixed (2-3 weeks)

What will I do without my sewing machine if it is too expensive

to fix? This is one of the few machines that Scott can't/won't

work on. BUMMER!

Matching Boys

Thanks Tia Mayra!

The matching outfits are darling!

The boys playing in the new car that I scooped up as a

garage sale bargain. (Don't worry I didn't let Mannix

actually drive while Soren was in the car.)

Luckily Scott was standing right there as a backup

because Manni got tired of holding Soren while I was taking

the picture and just let go!

The boys all ready for church

We have a giggler

Sorbaby at 3 months

Sorbaby has been giving us some darling giggles lately.

Mama and Manni getting some giggles during bathtime

On a serious note. . .

Have you noticed what a chunky monkey Sorbaby is?

Check out the double chin and cheeks.

Blessing photos

Thanks for coming everybody! We loved the visit and

miss having you here (Manni is especially missing all of

the attention from his Aunts, Uncles and Grandparents.

Lemon Pies

This is a picture of the lemon merangue pie I made Scott

for his birthday. He made me one for my birthday and it

was so runny and gross that we threw it out. Then he

tried again but used orange instead of lemon juice. . . that

was even worse than super runny! So I conferred with

Aunt Judy on the recipe and then tried my (expert) hand

at it and it turned out delicious!

We made a strange new pie last night. . . I forgot to take

a picture before we ate it though. It was a lemon curd

cheese cake with chocolate grahm crust. Sounds pretty

strange but it just tasted really lemony and creamy. I

may repeat but not with a regualr grahm crust.

I just threw this pic in since he is so cute!

At home studio pics

Scott and I made an attempt to get studio lighting pics at home. . .

we have this swanky camera that we never use to it's full potential

so we decided to try some of the features besides auto. We set up a

shop spot light with a white sheet in front of it and a blue sheet

from Manni's bed as the back drop. The results were darling

but very yellow from the spot light. Dad taught me some cool

photoshop tricks and I got some pretty cute results albeit

a little yellow still. . . pretty good first attempt!

The kids and their Nanny

Soren 8 weeks old

My boys

It is so crazy having two little boys! The strangest thing

is looking at Soren and then having Manni walk up with his

large toddler head and body. Soren looks exactly like Mannix

did as a baby so it is really freaky to see the small and large

version at the same time.

Here I am with my boys and my beautiful flowers from

my midwife Christine. She brought them to me before I

went into labor so I could have them during the birth as

a visualization tool. They were so pretty!

Manni and I made a mobile for Soren. It was a fun project

and they both seem to enjoy it equally!

1 week after Soren was born we realized that Manni hadn't

had a bath since before he was born. OOPS! I guess the

neglect starts immediately. So we got both of our dirty

little boys clean at the same time!

He finally arrived!

After walking countless miles in Walmart, Homedepot,

and Target I finally went into labor 5 days over due on

Jan. 18th at 1am. Hooray!

Scott got up at 4am to set up the birth room

12 hours later we had our baby Soren Lee. I am so glad
that we opted for the home birth so I could relax in the
birth pool through many of those long hours. The water
made the labor a lot more manageable. He was a very big
boy and wanted to start nursing as soon as Scott cut the
umbilical cord.

Soren Lee Fernandez
This little boy was HUGE!
Born at 4:38 pm Jan 18th 2010
8 lbs 14.5 oz, 20in
(the five extra days really helped fatten him up!)

We went to pick up Mannix from our friend Diane's house
and took Soren along for the ride. This is Manni's first
look at his little brother. He was so excited to have his
little brother but mostly he just wanted to go home to
get his brand new train set!

Manni did great at Diane's
house and only cried once. Diane thought he was feeling
lonely but he had actually just accidentally spilled yogurt
on the carpet and was feeling terrible for making a mess!
Diane sent us home with birthday gifts me and Soren
and dinner too. What a great friend! Thanks Diane!

As soon as we got home we started getting out trains.
Mannix was VERY happy. That was a LONG wait for
a 3 year old.

Later I was relaxing with Soren in the recliner and Mannix
came over to check out what we were doing. I asked Manni
if he wanted to hold Soren and he ran off saying "Just a
minute." When he came back he had a favorite Thomas book
that he wanted to read to Soren. I think this will work out
great between the brothers.

This is Christine our midwife getting
Soren's footprints on his birth certificate.

Scott was so amazing through the entire labor and delivery.
He didn't leave my side except once to take the dog outside.
(those were hard contractions without him)
After it was all said and done he needed as much R&R as I
did. I think it is stressful watching your wife labor hour after
hour. Here he is admiring our new little boy.