What's With The Name?

So, I changed the blog. Ya know, for all you 4 readers out there! My real drive for this was to get our last name off of it. I haven't had any bad experiences, I just decided I wanted a bit more privacy and thought that before the baby comes would be a good time for the change. I don't feel I need to actually make the blog "private" (requiring a login) so for now this works.

Coming up with a new name was a bit more tricky than I thought. Apparently (ok, well, I knew this already) I'm not that creative, so everything that I thought of to describe a family blog was pretty much taken already. I finally settled on Custom Mix because, mainly, it was available! But, it does actually have some significance.

While I tend to blog mostly about X (because it's kind of his digital baby book) I do talk about some other things, so it is a "custom mix" of topics. I also thought that our family is a custom mix of people. Additionally, for those that know me well, you know I love to paint (rooms and furniture, not pictures). I've been known to, on several occasions (and just a few weeks ago!), create a "custom mix" paint from stuff that I already have. It's kind of a joke when someone asks "What color is that?" and I say "Oh it's a custom mix". What this really means is I got out a bunch of paint cans from the basement and started mixing to see what I could come up with to avoid spending money on a new gallon of paint!

So is the name a stretch? Maybe, but frankly, I don't care. I like it. This is all for fun anyway, right?

They're Still Hanging In There

Remember my post about these impatients? Well, we've now put up our Christmas decorations and as of this afternoon this is what the flowers still look like.


Can you believe it? I've NEVER had summer flowers last this long. I don't know if it's because they are covered by the porch or because we've had a mild fall, or what, but it's crazy to think that they still look this good. Part of me wants them to just die already because they really don't fit into my Christmas themed front porch. But the other part of me is curious to see how long they can hold out. Will they make it to 2010? Guess we'll see.....

Thankful for Thanksgiving

My uncle Drew and his wife Susie hosted Thanksgiving at their new house this year. It was a big crowd! Their fabulous Victorian home seemed to easily accommodate this large group though. The food was great and we really enjoyed it. That evening we also visited Walter's grandparents and uncles. Busy day, but much to be thankful for! (especially a child that cooperated through our long day -- a blessing indeed!)

Enjoy some pics from the day!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

For Donna and Chuck

Keeping Watch

Mei Tai

Baby carriers are cute...but pricey! I really wanted a Mei Tai for Baby D but didn't want to shell out the $$$ for ones I'd seen on the Internet. I mentioned before that I thought maybe I'd try to make one. Well, I did....and it's pretty neat! It even has a little hood to keep the sun out of baby's eyes! I made it for about 1/2 the cost too.

I found instructions online (ahem...30 pages!) and my mom helped (and fixed what I messed up) me. It took 11 hours of sewing to get the finished product. This would have been shorter if we didn't have to redo the straps (we determined they were too wide for someone my size) and if..well..I knew how to sew faster! But I really enjoyed working on this and would do it again.

A Mei Tai can be worn in front for an infant or in the back for a bigger kiddo. X really likes it. I put him in it and took him for a spin around the yard. He kept saying "Weeeee Mei Tai.....Weeeee Mei Tai!" Like any baby carrier it will take practice to determine how it fits best on your body. These pics are from the first day so some adjustments are still needed.

Mei Tai

Baby carriers are cute...but pricey! I really wanted a Mei Tai for Baby D but didn't want to shell out the $$$ for ones I'd seen on the Internet. I mentioned before that I thought maybe I'd try to make one. Well, I did....and it's pretty neat! It even has a little hood to keep the sun out of baby's eyes! I made it for about 1/2 the cost too.

I found instructions online (ahem...30 pages!) and my mom helped (and fixed what I messed up) me. It took 11 hours of sewing to get the finished product. This would have been shorter if we didn't have to redo the straps (we determined they were too wide for someone my size) and if..well..I knew how to sew faster! But I really enjoyed working on this and would do it again.

A Mei Tai can be worn in front for an infant or in the back for a bigger kiddo. X really likes it. I put him in it and took him for a spin around the yard. He kept saying "Weeeee Mei Tai.....Weeeee Mei Tai!" Like any baby carrier it will take practice to determine how it fits best on your body. These pics are from the first day so some adjustments are still needed.

Deer Camp 2009

Over the weekend we all went deer hunting. Ok, well, Walter was the only one that actually hunted. Me and X hung out at the house with Walter's mom. It was unseasonably warm so we were able to spend a lot of time outside which was great. And of course X loved having all that grandparent attention. He got to ride a 4-wheeler with gma Tina and gpa Tom had him up on the big tractor. X thought he was hot stuff raising and lowering the bucket on the front.

Walter shot a doe just before sunset on Saturday. We were all very excited. I never imagined myself as a hunter's wife, but here I am, getting my picture taken with dead animals. My my, how life turns out!

While we were in "the country" for the weekend we also celebrated an early Thanksgiving with Walter's family. X got to play with some of his cousins and the food was fabulous! Thank you Tina and Tom for hosting such a great weekend.

So here's the pics. Let me warn you now that there are shots of the deer that might seem graphic to some. But huntin aint for sissy's!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Changes Are Coming

I'll be making some changes to our blog soon. This includes a new URL address.

Family members, you'll be getting an email with the new information. Additionally, there are a few friends I know that read regularly who I'll also include in that email.

So, who else reads, and still wants to, that I may not know about? If that sounds like you, please leave me a comment (click on the bottom of the post where it usually says "0 comments") or send me an email so I make sure to include you.

My hope is to have the changes made by the end of next week.

Going Home Outfits

I've been getting ready for Baby D's arrival for quite awhile now. A little here, a little there. Mostly it's just been pulling things out from the basement and washing them. One of the things that I was anxious to get ready is the "going home outfit". Since Baby D's gender is a surprise I've got to take a couple of choices. When X was born my mom had given me a girl outfit and a boy outfit (both newborn size), and I took along a yellow outfit (0-3 months) too. Good thing I did. Since X was obviously not a girl, the little pink flowers wasn't going to cut it. But, the boy outfit ended up being too small since our little guy was born at over 9lbs and was so long. So, X came home in the yellow sleeper with ducks on it.

And somehow he came home with a pink binky in his mouth too! Talk about gender confusion!!! Looking at the picture above I didn't realize until now that the blanket he's wrapped in is what is now his "blankie" that he sleeps with every night. I never intended to make that "the blankie", but it's funny how that worked out.

This time around I want the boy/girl distinction to be a little clearer. So, I've packed a boy outfit that was X's that is green and navy (size 0-3 months this time -- I'm not messing with the "newborn" size anymore!) and I bought the sweetest little pink and brown girl outfit at a resale shop a few weeks ago. Both outfits have matching hats too! And, just to be on the safe side, I've packed the little yellow ducky sleeper that X came home in as well. Ya never know what might happen.

Now that it's only about 7 weeks away I'm really starting to wonder what this baby's gender is. I'm also very curious as to whether this will be "Baby's First Christmas" or not. We have a little sleeper with that written on it. Will he/she will get to wear it?? Guess only time will tell!!

No Words

I've been trying to write a post for over an hour. I can't find the right words.

I spent the evening with my little boy. Just me and him at home. Nothing extraordinary happened. But, it was wonderful. I can't imagine loving him more.

I can't understand why God chose me to be his mom. It is humbling to be given this gift.
But, I couldn't be more thankful that He did.

Wordless Wednesday - Puppy Love

Halloween Weekend Wrap Up

Talk about a busy weekend! Friday night we had our good friends over to carve pumpkins. X pretty much had no interest in the carving because he was too busy playing in the ball pit with the kids and riding his tricycle all over the basement. But Walter and I were totally into it!! I took a bunch of pictures, but most of them are on my other computer and frankly, I'm too tired to go get them. Here's the finished products though.





The entire day of Halloween was beautiful. It finally stopped raining after what seemed like 15 days straight of rain. X and I decided to get outside and rake some leaves while Walter was inside prepping the hall bathroom to be painted. X was a great helper, although he wanted to put leaves in the bags AND take them back out.



After nap we went back outside to rake more leaves. This time Walter joined us. We ended up with 11 bags of leaves. We're not totally finished, but did get the bulk of them up.


Then it was time to get ready for the Halloween festivities. The grandparents came over to get their picture with Tigger before he went out on his candy hunt!



Once it got dark we snagged a quick family photo and were on our way. We only went to about 10 houses, but it was enough to get the experience. X wouldn't hold his candy bucket, but did like the pumpkin flashlight that gma Debbie gave him and the glowsticks that gma Tina brought for him.





We headed back to our house to hand out some candy. Looking at this picture now, I have no idea what this girl's costume is supposed to be? She looks like she's in normal clothes to me!

Here's Tigger ready to hand out candy. X has not really eaten that much candy, but that night we realized he definitely likes peanut butter cups.


After the trick-r-treaters died down we put X to bed and hung out with the neighbors next door who had a little party with a fire pit going on their driveway. It was nice to have some time with adults, yet still be close enough to home that the baby monitor worked!

Today was a "get stuff done" kind of day. Walter painted the hall bathroom and put in a new toilet in our basement bathroom. While he did that, I tackled a bunch of laundry, some random cleaning, kept X out of the paint, and made us all a yummy meatloaf and sweet potato dinner. We all managed to get in a nap as well!

Busy weekend indeed!