Stuff and Things

A little of what we've been up to - Out of order...too lazy and too late to care! :-) Trinity and Summer at the end of their tap dance last weekend. I love to see them get better every year. Great job, girls! Autumn did some great lyrical too, but the camera was out of memory. Go figure!

Auntie Hannah and a very tired Evelyn after Hannah's recital. Two recitals down, one to go. I love dance recital season! Hannah's legs on pointe - holy moley - she is gorgeous!

Evelyn got mama's love of the stage. She couldn't get enough of being up there during intermission!

Evelyn's new hero and obsession - DORA! She saw it once on TV and was enamoured. She knows all the characters already and it is so sweet when she says "D-d-d-da-Dora." Melts me every time! I have almost bought her a backpack twice now but resisted the temptation. Our free cable upgrade disappeared this week so no more Dora on tv. Good thing Family Video and the library will keep us busy for a while with new episodes on DVD. She gets one movie a day. She would watch at least 5 if we let her!!! I was happy to find a little Dora figurine set at a garage sale for $2.50 - score! It is a little pool and greenhouse and she loves them! This pic is at the Mall of America. We took an impromptu trip there last Saturday as it was so cold and windy that I chose not to participate in an outdoor kid's fair for the business. We were on the border and figured why not make a date out of it. If Evelyn wasn't quite so tired it would have been even more fun.

Evelyn's other current interest - stairs. This ramp at the 2nd dance recital led to a set of them. She has "stair detection" and can sense them whenever we walk into a new place. She gives me a mild heart attack every time she approaches them as with everything these days, stairs are in her "self" category. She's going a little unconventional on me and instead of "me" she tells me all day "SELF! SELF!"

Summer and Trinity dancin' it up!

Evelyn is into wearing these boots now. She is still a shoe fanatic. My shoes are still her favorites followed by a close second of her dress shoes that are a size too big (for "tapping") and these boots now. I think the boots tie in with the Dora obsession.

First toenail painting! So adorable!!! She picked pink - just like in the book "Pinkalicious." You should hear her say "Pinkalicious" - it is so precious!

Chillin' before Auntie Hannah's recital. Some big girls were sitting on this ledge so of course she had to too!

Evelyn's first set of wheels. She told me she was driving to the park today when I asked her where she was going.

Let's see, what else? I want to post Easter pics still but I am not on the computer that they are on. We got a laptop!!! Wow, I had no idea how cool it would be to have one! I look forward to doing Punkerdoops Diapers transactions through my website so that I won't have to hand write tickets anymore and take out the inventory from the online store. Just need to do a few more "tweaks" to the cart system to handle the in-store purchases.

We'll leave it at that for now!

We're Still Alive

I am going to just keep it short rather than try to post 2+ months of happenings into one post!

I have kind of run out of steam it seems! My business, Punkerdoops Diapers, is flourishing. This is a great thing for the business, but kind of puts a damper on "other" things. The little computer time I do get, I end up doing all "work." I keep telling myself that once I get my website totally where I want it and I have all of the products and inventory I want, that things will be less busy. But, I am guessing that business will just keep getting more and more of my time... Just what have I gotten myself into!?! It is nice to have something to put my brain power into - the business has reawakened my brain I think! I also enjoy meeting all sorts of new moms and encouraging them to not only cloth diaper, but also breastfeed, babywear, and attachment parent. I try to shine the love of the Lord too and sure hope that people see something "different" in me.

Jason and I also admit that with joining facebook and the popularity of it, we have tended to check that out versus blogs...

But, I want to get back on the blog bandwagon and even start a Punkerdoops Diapers blog, too! One of the many, many things on the to-do list.

My lack of blogging also enduces guilt as it was kind of my way of documenting Evelyn and what she is up to! Kind of my baby book as you will!

Evelyn lately:

• Singing: she does very well with singing. Her favorite is to scrunch up her nose and close her eyes and sing loudly "Ah-WAYYYYYYY!!!!" I am not sure what song that it, but it sure is cute! She also likes to chime in on lots of songs like "Jesus Loves Me" and "Twinkle, Twinkle."
  
• Talking A TON!: She is talking in a lot of short sentences and especially likes to announce what she does - "I sit." "I dance." "I jump!" It is awesome and amazing to see her blossom! My mom watched her the other day while I went to a conference and she said that she could understand almost everything she said - nice that it is not just me and Jason that can understand her!
  
• Jumping: Evelyn loves to jump with 2 feet off the ground. On the bed. In the grass. On the carpet. While she holds our hands. On hopscotch sqaures. In the baby Johnny Jump Up even!


• Bubbles: We must blow them at least 4 times per day. She insists on holding the bubble wand now too. Messy. At least it us just bubbles!


• The alphabet: About 2 months ago it started with her repeating each letter after I said it. Then, it was her saying the next letter after I said one. Now, it is her saying almost the whole thing without prompts. She can also tell you almost every letter when you show her one. Jason is convinced it is all of the Wheel of Fortune she watched as a baby. :-)


• Repetition: We do everything a billion times. Ring around the rosie. Songs. Finger plays. Puzzles. Practice makes perfect, right? We also talk about the same stories over and over. Our trip to see lambs and chicks is sure a favorite.


• Dancing: Especially "tapping." She has dress shoes that have a little heel that are too big that she wears around the house and "taps" with on the floor. A.D.O.R.A.B.L.E.


• Climbing: She loves to be outside (I am learning to like being out there more too) and loves to climb up the playset in the back (It is at least 6 feet up - gives me a heart attack) and go down the slide. Another thing that is repeated over and over.


• Going potty: She goes pretty consistently in the morning and after nap. I need to discipline myself to get her trained all the way before she is no longer "eager to please" and lured by pee pee treats (aka marshmallows and jelly beans).
  
• Being just so darn cute: I didn't know she could get cuter, but she does with age!

Well, I think I will head to bed! I will try to post more often so that it is not so overwhelming!

Oh, and as I bet many of your curious minds want to know, I am not pregnant yet. I know you all are wondering. I know I always wonder as soon as my friends' kids turn one. The wondering begins. We'll announce it. I promise. Hopefully soon! :-)

I realize that I also need to a)take more pictures b)download the millions that must be on the camera c)it is still hard to get decent pics of my busy toddler!

Randomosity and a Talking Toddler

Hammin it up! I need to take more pictures..pretty dismal selection from the past two weeks!

It finally warmed up enough to let Evelyn play in the snow. She liked it a lot. She doesn't have snow boots and I can't get myself to cough up $15 for a pair to wear a few times. She got really dirty and I had a hard time with it but kept telling myself that everything is washable!

I have been CRAZY BUSY with Punkerdoops Diapers. A really great thing for the business, a not so great thing for blogging! I need to catch up on 2 weeks of all of my dear blogging friends' blogs!

Punkerdoops received an awesome article in the local paper - a feature story in the Lifestyles section. It brought in a lot of customers and I am truly, truly thankful. If only I could get free advertising like that every week! :-) I have a few other marketing things coming up and I am hoping that word of mouth about how great cloth diapering is starts to get around in the community!

Evelyn is talking like crazy but is also in some weird funk where she cannot settle down to get to sleep at night and whines and says "NO" a lot... She is more determined than ever to get her way, but unfortunately Jason and I only understand about 27% of the words that come out of her mouth. The rest is in Evelyn-ish...far from English. She did manage to repeat "Gosh" over and over just like Daddy after he exclaimed it tonight in frustration. Our little repeater! Another favorite word is "strawberry" which sounds a lot like "strawberry" now - a few days ago we thought she had an imaginary friend named "Debby" that she talked a lot about while in her highchair. It all makes sense now.

Evelyn prefers to mostly eat various forms of "dips" lately instead of any real food. This consists of a lot of ranch and sour cream with some spatterings of ketchup, mustard, honey, and even Louisiana hot sauce. We found she eats best and the most when we go to Sam's Club for Sunday afternoon samples. She won't eat at home, but she'll chow down there. Her favorites are rotissere chicken and Cup-o-Noodles. Nice...

Another blog-worthy laughable moment was last week when we decided to be all spontaneous and leave the house ON A WEEKNIGHT. Yep, we never go anywhere on weeknights. Anyhow, we wanted a popcorn maker where it is a metal pan that has a turn crank handle that moves around the seeds. We heard that they sold them at a local store called "Farm and Fleet." Well, we had a gift card for $25 to a store called "Fleet Farm" where the closest store is a 30 minute drive away. (I am not making this up. The stores have different names but are like exactly the same store minus the name. Apparently it is due to some brothers fighting as they started a chain of stores!) So, rather than getting our stuff from a store 15 minutes away, we drove to the location that would take our gift card. We got up to pay and found out that the gift card was only for 38 cents. We must have used the rest of it a long time ago and had forgotten about it... So, we drove a half an hour to spend a 38 cent gift card. It was a nice memory though. Evelyn loves to run around in stores and she liked sitting on the big lawn mowers. Oh, and to top it off, we got gas at the attached gas station to the store before we did our shopping and when we checked out we were given a 4 cents off per gallon coupon! :-)

So, there you go, some randomosity and Evelyn cute-ness!

Randomosity

Whoops, I haven't blogged for 3 weeks! Jason did the last post with the videos - some goodies for the grandmas! So, here I am, full of randomosity to throw your way!

I have been keeping nice and busy with a myriad of things; thus, I have neglected both blogging and reading blogs. I have been attempting over the weekend to catch up on y'all's archives, but I have been naughty and have not commented to anyone! Sorry - still love all of you! Part of it was that Jason has the Google account and he changed the password and I didn't feel like looking for it...so, I didn't log in and didn't comment!

A random assortment of information that is either swirling in my head or something we've done lately that I want to share!:

-I could cry at how big Evelyn is getting! What a joy it is to watch her grow and learn! She is working on shaking her head correctly to "yes" and "no" this weekend and she has mastered pretty much every body part including cheeks, knees, and elbows (which apparently my little brother didn't know his elbows until preschool...hmmm :-) I was looking at pictures on our computer and she just looks SO big in them. My baby is growing up too fast!

-Jason painted the living room while I was in MN. It turned out great and I am so appreciative for the hard work that he put in every night while we were gone. I have been working on finding curtains for the past two weeks and finally settled on some. The bonus is that they were on clearance! Woo hoo! I intended on getting these to kind of throw a funky twist in the room, but they were sold out because they had gone on clearance too. I think it is odd that online they are still full price. Oh well, the swirls of polka dots are felt-y and give a nice texture and some modern appeal (and can I say it again - clearance). After I have pictures printed for two frames and hang them, the room will be officially done and maybe we'll even post some pics!

-Speaking of curtains and painting, I found some curtains on clearance for our room too. I have always wanted silver curtains for our room to go with the silver hardware on our furniture and the shades on our lamps. I found some silver-ish gray ones that will work. I know I have complained about Target, but 50% clearances make up for their horrid return policy! :-) We hung them this weekend and I must say, curtains really make a room and complete it. We are going to paint at least two of the walls a rich orange color. Can't wait! Next weekend Jason is painting the entry way a mocha color and our room is up after that. Painting each room just makes the house "ours" even more. I love that feeling.

-I just got a good laugh going through our pics - without realizing it, I wore the same shirt every time I had my picture taken in November and December! Thanksgiving, Advent reading at church followed by an attempt to take a family picture, and Christmas. It is kind of hilarious as you go through the pic archives. I must really like that shirt! I have found myself with a closet full of work attire that is collecting dust, a bunch of zip-up sweatshirts and fleeces for everyday, and about 3 shirts that I wear to get more dressed up. That will just have to do for now! Good thing I was with different people at all three of those occasions, right? :-)

-I am really cold right now. The utility company estimated our bill WAY too low last month. So, we should've known something was up and budgeted accordingly, but instead are stuck with a bill 4 times the amount of last month because they read our meter finally and realized they undercharged us. Jason turned the heat down to 65 starting at 10:30 now instead of 12:30 a.m. Late night blogging and emailing will be cold events! I am not sure if I can feel my feet anymore...hopefully my fingers won't freeze to the keyboard. My hands, toes, and nose are always cold already.

-Punkerdoops Diapers is getting some awesome free promotion in a week! I contacted the local paper again a couple of weeks ago and this time they were takers for a story on cloth diapering! A reporter and photographer were out last week for a good hour interviewing me and getting some great shots. The story is going to be the cover of the Lifestyles section in next Sunday's paper. I am thrilled and hope this will be the start of a bunch of new business! I also wrote an article on Modern Cloth Diapering 101 that will be in another local publication and a local woman's paper/magazine is doing a story on me/Punkerdoops in their April "green" issue. I am so thrilled that the word is going to get out there! Thanks again to all of you for your support and prayers as I try to get this business going!

-Tax time...I am trying to decide what to do about taxes this year. I did my own Excel spreadsheet accounting thing for Punkerdoops this year and so I sure hope it will work for filing taxes. Between starting a business where expenses grossly outweighed revenues, selling a house and buying another, and Jason commuting for 5 months (which I hear is a tax deduction...), I am not sure how to go about taxes. We can't afford an accountant and I am trying to decide if going with a tax prep service like H&R is any better than what I have been doing the last several years at taxact.com. Any feedback? I am kind of avoiding this but know I need to make decisions soon. I also should look into QuickBooks too probably. Just another expense I don't want to incur.

-We bought a potty chair today! I am not getting it out for another month or so. Myself and several of my sisters were potty-trained around 18 months and Evelyn will be 17 months in a few days. I plan to take the next month to research the whole thing a bit before we jump into things. I know I need to be home all week the week I do it and that's about it as far as my knowledge goes!

I think I will leave you with that! Happy Monday, all!

Yep, she already can walk in heels!

One of my favorite recent pics!

Look at those curls! She is eating frozen peas - cutting tooth #8!

We play a lot of dress-up! Jason thinks she looks like a gnome in her cone princess hat.

I find she is in pj's when I take a lot of photos...anywho, notice the shoes again! My little girlie girl!

This and That

It's cold and it's beginning to look and feel like Christmas! Christmas always has been my favorite time of year! I look forward to putting the tree up next weekend. I know it will be one more thing to keep Evelyn testing us, but I just love sitting in the glow of Christmas tree lights.

I did some Christmas shopping on Wednesday - Macy's had a great sale. We have a lot of people in our family to buy for - we have 21 IMMEDIATE family members - that is just parents, siblings, and the 4 nieces/nephews (no grandparents included - there are 11 grandparents.) Personally, I would rather skip presents and do just birthday presents throughout the year. Less pressure. Hard to focus on the meaning of Christmas when you're trying to buy gifts on a budget that aren't junk for people who complain they have too much stuff. Don't get me wrong, I love to give and totally understand the joy of giving. But, we all promise to scale back every Christmas and I feel like we do, but then everyone else doesn't, and then I just feel guilty when I realize people spent WAY more than we did. Hope I am not offending too many people with that paragraph... And, who do you buy for? Where do you draw the line? Do you reciprocate with a gift for everyone who gets you something? I have generous aunts and uncles that give to me - do I need to give back?
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Punkerdoops Diapers is going well thanks to supportive family and friends. I have yet to drum up any business outside of family and friends, but hopeful that day will be sooner than later. I went to a business networking breakfast yesterday. I know that I need to have word-of-mouth advertising, but the dues are more than I can afford right now. I will have to stick to my current marketing plan which includes distributing fliers at local natural businesses and clinics, and handing out cards to pregnant women and people with babies. Evelyn is a cute little buffer and I think she helps from too many strangers being freaked out when I approach them in stores or at the library to hand them a card.

I also want to try to get the chance to talk at the hospital's Lamaze/birthing classes and fliers at a local birthing center. I also hope to contact the local paper and check out advertising in some local publications. I contacted the local farmer's market about having a booth, but have not heard back yet. The marketing budget is low. And when I say low, I mean really low! I want to drum up business, but I also need to buy stock so people have choices. Advertise to attract customers with my resources, or buy stock to give customers more choices? Decisions, decisions... Did I mention lately that I take forever to make decisions?

I am thankful for the business I have received and for how supportive Jason has been. He sat and cut and adhered tiny stickers with the web address onto 100 business cards in prep for the networking breakfast. What a guy! And, he built me a beautiful shelf and table with storage to display items in my "shop" room. I just sewed up the curtains that hide the storage area - I'll have to post a pic - it turned nicely. I am also proud of how much I have accomplished since starting the business in less than two months. God is great and He has blessed me abundantly. I keep going to Him for wisdom regarding all of the decisions and He is faithful to answer. The Word says He freely gives the gift of wisdom to those who ask! Thank goodness, because I sure ask for wisdom a lot!
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Speaking of the Word. I have never loved a Bible study as much as I love Beth Moore's study on Daniel that I am doing! I am sad to only have one week left. The study is on Friday mornings and is full of many neat women - two my age, the rest older mentoring age. Here comes another decision - should I stay in this study group? I love the women, but have issues with the childcare. Evelyn has never liked the nursery much, but has become so frightened of it that she screams and clings for dear life at me setting foot in the door, let alone setting her down. The ladies love her, but I know she is distracting to the other ladies when she fusses. She likes to run around the room - basically run out of the room, which I don't let her, and then the crying begins. I like to think that the ladies are just glad that I am there and that my desire to learn the Word outweighs Evelyn as a distraction. This is how they make me feel. But, I still worry that they are all secretly annoyed! The same issue is affecting our couple's study that we are in on Sunday nights. We want to be in Bible studies, but we also don't want Evelyn to scream for an hour - I can hear the screaming and I can't concentrate on anything else.

I know some of you think I need to just let her get used to it and deal with that she'll be fine. I just can't do it. She doesn't cry on and off or just whimper. She screams bloody murder. Non-stop. Barely breathes. Face turns purple. All-out rage, horror, and terror in her face. I have gone 15 minutes. That is my limit. It is just not worth it. Anyhow, I am thinking about doing a night study, but that cuts into family time. Also considering a study at my house, but I do like the women I am getting to know and will miss dialogues with them. We'll see...maybe Evelyn will have grown out of her separation anxiety issues by January when it starts again?... Lately, Daddy can't even keep her happy for long. Not even long enough for me to run and get the take-out pizza on a Friday night long. She wanders around the house from room to room looking for me saying "Mama! Mama?" Breaks my heart just thinking about it. Her little bottom-lip-pout melts me.

All of this paired with the whole phenomena of "how many things/studies/choirs/committees can I join before I no longer am helpful in any of the roles because I am spread too thin" has me at a point of making lots of decisions.
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In attempts to stop the rambling, I leave with two of my favorite Mommy tips. I have been meaning to do them as "Works For Me Wednesday," but who knows when I will do it. But, the tips are worthy - here I go!

1) Baby hair washing. My friend Tessa showed me how she dumped a bucket of water over her daughter's head to rinse her hair in the tub. She told me to brace myself before she did it as some people think it is cruel. I kind of thought it was until I really thought about it and saw her do it. Her daughter totally didn't care and Tessa explained how nice it was that there were no tears at bath time due to getting water in her daughter's eyes. As soon as Evelyn could sit up, dumping water over her head with a cup to rinse tear-free shampoo was implemented. She does great with it! She sometimes gets a little in her mouth and it takes her breath away, but she kind of likes it I think! She has never cried at hair washing time. I was inspired to share this after another bloggy mom showed an adorable pic of her son cuddling after getting his hair washed. He did not like it!

2) What to do with baby while you do your make-up? Put her in the bathroom sink! I set Evelyn on a towel in the sink while I do my make-up. She likes looking in the mirror and playing with the make-up - great practice taking on and off little caps and the like. And, I can totally watch her while I am getting ready.
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Have a phenomenal weekend everybody and stay warm! Do lots of cuddling with your favorite people! Mine are playing in the other room!

Check out my new business!!!!

I have officially "launched" the Punkerdoops Diapers website!!!

It is located at www.punkerdoopsdiapers.com. Please check it out!

As most of you know, I use cloth diapers on Evelyn and have really fallen in love with cloth diapering! There are so many great products that make modern cloth diapering easy and convenient. The cloth diapers of today are not what they used to be! Cloth Diapers now fasten with durable snaps or velcro and some versions are all-in-one - modeled exactly like a disposable diaper - just velcro on and go! Modern cloth diapers are washed in your own home washing machine every other day - no need for pails filled with water or a diaper service for laundering.

We have noticed such a benefit to our family from using cloth diapers! Evelyn no longer deals with diaper rashes, we save a TON of money, she looks so cute with a cloth booty :-), and of course the HUGE environmental benefit - we are contributing to saving the earth by keeping more diapers out of landfills and eliminating the use of natural resources used to make disposables. I am putting a few statistics from the Real Diaper Association at the bottom of this post for your review. You can also find more info on the economic, environmental, and benefits to baby of cloth diapers here.

Punkerdoops Diapers is both a small "shop" in our home as well as a full e-commerce website (www.punkerdoopsdiapers.com) where customers can purchase and have items shipped to them. We are carrying products for all aspects of cloth diapering - prefolds and covers, pocket diapers, all-in-ones, wet bags, pail liners, Snappis, wipes, wipe sprays, flushable liners, diaper sprayers, and more! We also are carrying ERGObaby carriers and organic teething oil. I am hoping to carry more brands of slings and baby carriers as well as more brands of diapering supplies as the business grows. Please let me know if you have any product suggestions!

I know many of you do not have anyone in diapers right now, but please consider taking a look at the site and letting friends and family know about cloth diapering and Punkerdoops Diapers. We all know that it takes word of mouth for a business to grow! Those of you with babies, I encourage you to take a look at the website "Why Choose Cloth Diapers?" and "Cloth Diapering 101/Basic Info" sections of the website to learn how truly easy and convenient it is to switch to cloth. I will be adding more information to the website weekly as I find the time to do so!

Thank you in advance for your support and for passing the word on about cloth diapering and Punkerdoops Diapers!!!



A Few Cloth Diaper Facts from the Real Diaper Association:

National Costs:

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there were about 19 million children under four in 2000. We could probably assume that there are about 9.5 million children under two and therefore in diapers at any one time. Based on previous studies, we estimate that 5-10% of babies wear cloth diapers at least part time. We will average these figures to 7.5% of babies in cloth diapers and 92.5% in disposables. This means that about 8.8 million babies in the U.S. are using 27.4 billion disposable diapers every year.

Based on these calculations, if we multiply the 8.8 million babies in disposable diapers by an average cost of $800 a year, we find that Americans spend about 7 billion dollars on disposable diapers every year. If every one of those families switched to home-laundered cloth prefold diapers, they would save more than $6 billion14, enough to feed about 2.5 million American children for an entire year15. Coincidentally, the 2002 U.S. Census reveals that 2.3 million children under 6 live in poverty.


Environmental Costs:

Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste.

The manufacture and use of disposable diapers amounts to 2.3 times more water wasted than cloth.

Over 300 pounds of wood, 50 pounds of petroleum feedstocks and 20 pounds of chlorine are used to produce disposable diapers for one baby EACH YEAR.

In Our Neck of the Woods

Things are good - just busy!

Last week flew by...I can't even remember the highlights.

The weekend was fun. Friday started off with a bang - I started a new Bible study at a local church. It is a Beth Moore study for women on the book of Daniel. Great study! I am learning a lot and love how the study forces me to become a scholar again - she really focuses on LEARNING the material and synthesizing the information she presents and that we read in the Word. The ladies were very welcoming and I felt like it was a great choice of study. I met another mom with a baby daughter as well as other women in their 30's through probably 70's. It is great to be in the company of wise women who can mentor a young mama. The only thing that wasn't that great was the childcare. There are two young girls and one woman doing the childcare. None of them seemed very enthusiastic... Evelyn was in the study with me after a half hour in the nursery when she had checked out all the toys and kids and decided she was done! :-)

My mom came to visit on Friday and gave us our FIRST DATE IN OVER A YEAR! I was very nervous to leave Evelyn, but I knew she was in good hands with a woman who has raised 8 kids and taught me all my mothering tricks. Evelyn was in her own home with someone who looks like Mommy and plays all the same games Mommy does. Jason and I left the first restaurant we tried (way too expensive...even with our coupon) and opted for Mexican food. My milk came in several times as I thought of Evelyn and worried. The cell phone sat on the table and I checked it often. We rushed out as soon as we paid for our over-priced dinner (note: ask how much non-alcoholic strawberry daiquiris are before you order or you may pay $7 like I did...argh!) As we pulled up I saw Evelyn in my mom's arms in the kitchen. She was feeding her a few small bites of ice cream (apparently Evelyn indicated she wanted some as they were playing with the fridge magnets). It was so strange to see her on someone else's hip. I rushed in before Jason even parked the car in the garage and Evelyn hardly cared. My mom reported that she never once even whimpered and she is pretty positive she didn't miss either one of us. They played with the neighbor girls, collected leaves, went on a walk, and made and ate all "p" foods for dinner. I was glad, yet a bit disappointed that she didn't miss me! The date was nice, yet we felt so strange without Evelyn. It just didn't seem right.

My mom and Evelyn's fun times have made me think about how I need to play even more with Evelyn every day. I know I too often get caught up in household chores and other tasks and only take minutes here and there to play and teach. I know I could be better at incorporating more teaching and more playing into the day. My mom says she now knows what people mean by the whole grandparenting joy - you just get to focus on the fun of being with the child and don't have to worry about the discipline and daily care like parents do. I am so glad she likes being a Grandma! Thanks Mom for watching her! Most of all, thanks for teaching me how to be a Mommy and for letting me feel so safe and secure leaving Evelyn with you! I love you!

Saturday gave us a lazy morning and fun afternoon at the International Fall Festival in our historic downtown. Evelyn got to have two firsts: a parade and cheese curds! The parade was fun and we were thrilled to see that they don't have any city ordinances about throwing candy at the parade. Our last town was such a downer - no throwing of candy! Evelyn had a third first, I guess - a taste of Smarties! Ah, parade candy! She also scored a hot pink pom-pon and some literature on the local theatre performances coming up. We are due for a theatre performance!

Sunday was church - Evelyn lasted a half hour again in the nursery. We heard an uplifting sermon from a missionary the church sponsors in Chad, Africa. Wow - what a reminder that we need to pray more diligently for the unsaved and for the missionaries and their families who are serving in cultures that are so different than our own.

Sunday night we started a young married couples Bible study at the same church that I am doing my Bible study at (we have been looking for a church since we moved here and haven't officially decided where we are going to attend/join). This was a great experience and the childcare girls we GREAT! Evelyn was in there for an hour and was just starting to get sad at the end, but the middle school girl was so smart and just decided to start walking her around and showing her things to keep her distracted. Way to go babysitter! She reminded me of all of my sisters and their innate abilities to play with babies and kids so well.

Typing all of this sure makes me realize what great strides I am making in entrusting other people to watch Evelyn. I just cover her in prayer and give very specific instructions to call/page/come and get me AS SOON as she cries! I can't let my baby cry!

And, last but not least, I have been extremely preoccupied with something I am calling "Punkerdoops Diapers." Yep, I caught the entrepreneurial bug. I am planning to distribute quality diapers from several manufacturers. I want to take a teaching spirit with this - guiding moms in my area through their choices in cloth diapering through "Cloth Diapering 101" sessions and one-on-one walk-throughs of their options. Things will initially be in the basement with the hopes of one day branching into an online store. This is a HUGE endeavor and there is so much work to be done. I am just in the initial steps of getting my business registered with the state and so on. I am stuck right now - should I be a sole proprietorship or an LLC? Do I need a lawyer? An accountant? Overwhelming to say the least. Most of the manufacturers/wholesalers will not even communicate with you until you have an issued state business ID and in some cases a full and running website. I have so many websites bookmarked about getting this thing launched - I am up to my eyeballs in to-do lists.

That's about it! Hope all of you are well! Maybe I will catch up to reading blogs by the end of the week! :-)