Milk

We are so excited about our new milk mommy, Julie!  I mentioned previously ( insert the Lost announcer guy's voice: "previously, on kristin's blog!") the milk share website and how we were hopeful to find someone to give us milk for Ezekiel.  Well we found someone, and her name is Julie.  She was a surrogate mother to twins who were born about a month and a half ago.  She has been giving her milk to the milk bank, but decided she would rather give it to someone "for free" instead.  (did I mention it costs $3.50 an OUNCE to buy milk from the bank?  And the donors do just that- donate- they don't get paid.)  We drove up to Austin yesterday to meet her and see if we would like to get milk from her.  We decided that this was a perfect opportunity, as she has been fully screened for any diseases/problems by both the surrogacy program AND by the milk bank- so we know that her milk is uncontaminated.  I am so thankful.  I can't even put it into words.  She is making 400 ounces a week!  Ezekiel takes less than 200 a week!  Julie sent us home with 300+ ounces which will last us for quite a while.  I am so so happy!  

I think I need to start actually writing about our farming endeavors again on this blog.  That's what it was originally intended for... of course we no longer have an awesome backyard farm.  But we do still want to farm and plan to do so in.... 1 year and 4 months.  We can't wait :) :)

Have I mentioned that I hurt my tail bone?  I don't know what I did, but it happened around the time Ezekiel came home, and since then I haven't been able to sit/stand/sleep/go down the steps without a lot of pain.  It's getting really old.  I don't know what exactly is wrong, but my legs are always stiff/falling asleep now, and I hobble like an old lady.  I mean going down the stairs is torture (up is ok).  :(  I think maybe I should go to the doctor.  I know there's not much they can do... it almost feels like if I could just crack my back that low, it would feel better.  Anyone else ever had this problem?  What did you do?  I already have a blow-up doughnut :)

May I say something about the new picture at the top of my blog?  (Yes, I may!) This picture was the background on our computer for a long time.  One day, I got on the computer and it was gone, replaced by a still lovely picture, but not my picture (I took this picture a few years ago driving to California).  I asked Daniel why he had moved it- and he said, "Because it's just a picture of some powerlines.  Why would you want that picture up?"  I had to laugh... my husband is so good at having different perspectives.  I, of course, see it as a lovely sunset.  

We need to go do something fun and interesting this weekend so I have something to blog about! :)  I hope you all have a great weekend!  

LOST!!!!

I am sooo about to watch the first episode of the new season of Lost!  I am sooo excited!  It started over a week ago, but we haven't had time to watch it yet.  Daniel has to work all night and I will be all by myself today, so I think I will watch one hour now and one hour tonight when I am all super lonely.  I feel so LOST deprived after months and months and months of no Lost.  For those of you who DON'T watch this exciting, engrossing, exhilarating show, you can watch every single season for free on ABC.com!!  YAY LOST!

Skip the first paragraph if talking about breast milk makes you queasy.

I warned you....

I found this today, and I am so excited.  I wonder if it will work for us.  I've been pumping since Ezekiel was born, and for a while I was getting a lot of milk and storing it up in the freezer.  Now I only make a few ounces a day (today was 3) AND our freezer-stash is almost completely gone.  I've been so sooo sad about this, but what can I do?  I've tried EVERYTHING to get my milk supply up, to little avail (so far).  We've only got maybe a weeks worth of milk left in the freezer.  If you want to buy it from a milk bank, it is a WHOPPING $3.50 PER OUNCE!!  Incredulous!!  Who can afford that??!  Not us.  So I am fairly hopeful about this new milk exchange thing.  Of course, you have to be careful, but I think the website does a good job explaining about making sure you get good milk.  The next time I have a baby I would love to be able to donate milk for someone else- what a blessing!

I've been "tagged" by Nathan to make a bucket list.  The things I want to do before I die... well, off of the top of my head I want to.....

be a conductor of a wonderful orchestra

swim in lakes without fear/paranoia of giant fish biting my legs

knit a lot of awesome things

be an awesome mom/grandma/great-grandma

read more books, learn more things

know God more

learn how to quilt

travel across the country hippy-style

go to Alaska

go to New Zealand

have a sustainable farm with an intentional community

live a sustainable/frugal lifestyle

birth my children at home

learn to be more disciplined

get a pedicure (can you believe I've never had one?!!)

fall in love with my husband... over.. and over... and over...

Read Ezekiel (my son's namesake is the only book of the bible I've never completely read!)

learn to build things (furniture, houses, etc)

live in a YURT!!!

hike the Appalachian trail

learn to garden well

I know there are more things... but Daniel says it's time to go to bed.   

I am tagging ALL of you! :)

Goodnight! :)

I'm going to write a good blog today

OK Ezekiel is taking a nap, family is all gone (tear & sniffle), and I decided that today is just a knit/pump/take-care-of-zeke day, so I am going to write a good blog finally!  With lots of pictures!  Yay!  

First of all, we had a great time with family.  Lots of fun, lots of bananagrams, lots of yahtzee, unfortunately no scrabble, though.  Lots of cheesecake (oops), lots of laughing, lots of love.  My mom was here last week until thursday, and then Daniel's family was here Thursday until this morning. 

 Here is Ezekiel with his Grandma Luanne!

Mom started this quilt when she was pregnant with me.  She finnished the cross-stitching for Ezekiel, and then I sewed it together (this is before it's finnished).  It is so cuddley and nice!  I love it!Here is Ezekiel with Obama!  I must say, although I am not thrilled about Obama's plans for our country, it is very exciting to have the first black president.  What a momentous occasion!Mom worked on our wedding scrapbook while she was here, too.  Then Daniel's family came.  Here is Ezekiel with his Grandma Teresa and his Aunt Jasmine.  Daniel, Jasmine, Grandpa Winston, and Ezekiel.

This is our new little sister, Sophia.  She joined the family in July from Khazakstan.  Why is this underlined??  We were so glad to finally meet you, Sophie!

Here is Ezekiel with his Aunt Martina.  This is the first time she's ever fed a baby!We had a wonderful time with all the family!  We miss you all!  Come back again soon!  

And finally, of course, this is my current knitting project.  The sweater with the flowers is the one that babies keep outgrowing (it's now for Mercy, although I forgot to send it back to KY with the family).  The one on the needles is London's new sweater.  I think it's going to turn out super cute!  I plan to have it done this week.  THIS WEEK, darn it.  And mailed by FRIDAY!!

Alright that's all for today!  

He really wants to crawl

Why oh why do I take so long to post?? I seriously form all these cool blogs in my head, thinking, "oh I can write about such and such or this and that..." and I think about what pictures I will put up, and how I should link to whatever random page.  And then I don't do it.  By the time I DO blog, I forget all my cool ideas and feel like I have nothing to say.  It's so sad!

We have Daniel's family here now, and we're having a lot of fun.  My mom flew back to Ohio Thursday, and then just a few hours later his family pulled in with their giant RV which is now parked in front of our house.  They are so happy to see their first grandson!!  

So I made this adorable sweater for my friend Sarah's new baby, Aleah... when she was born, it was all finnished except for the buttons weren't sewn on.  Then we were sent to Houston with Ezekiel, and by the time we got back she was already 10lbs-ish and was too big for the sweater!  "That's OK," I said to myself, "my brother-in-law and his wife are having a little girl (London) in a few weeks, I will give it to her."  I then made Aleah a sling instead of the sweater.  Meanwhile, I complete the buttoning of the sweater.  But I don't take it to the post office and send it... and now she's outgrown it, too!  Come on Kristin!!  It is still ok, though, because our friends Kim and Jordan just had a little girl, Mercy (Ezekiel's future wife?).  Now it's Mercy's sweater.   And it WILL get to her on time because I'm sending it back to KY with Daniel's family.  Meanwhile, I am casting on for the same sweater in a bigger size for London.   This is such a great example of ways I can learn to be more responsible!  ;)  

Have I mentioned that I am sitting on my knees in front of the computer?  The chair is downstairs.  I had no intention of actually writing a blog right now, but upon seeing how desperately  I needed to do so, I plopped down to say a quick hello, and now this video is taking FOREVER to upload so I keep writing...  Ok w'ere finally done!!! 

Happy January 16th!

Is it really already halfway through January!?  Wow!  

I miss blogging.  I haven't been very consistent lately, sorry guys.  But we are all doing well.  We had a great week with Aimee and Nathan- lots of games and talking and cooking and making things.  We made 2 successful batches of soap- one unscented, one cinnamon & patchouli.  I was happy with the way this new scented batch turned out, as the last scented batch I made (vanilla) was kind of stinky and smelled like play dough.  Anyhoo, yes, we had a wonderful time, and now I am lonely without visitors.  But not for long- my mom is flying in today!  Just a few more hours, actually.  I still need to wash the sheets for her bed.  

Ezekiel is doing wonderfully, of course!  Today his physical therapist said he should be the poster-child for the NICU because he is developing right on target.  She was very pleased with his progress in head control, visual tracking, and flexibility.  We're pleased, too.  

Alright I always just stop writing, I never feel like I really finnish a blog- I get distracted, and then just publish it.   

All is quiet on the Pike front

I haven't blogged in a while because we have friends visiting!  Aimee and Nathan!  We are having a blast.  I just love having people over.  I really think I am about 99% extroverted... I never thought I was, but I am learning that I was wrong.  I love being around people almost allllll the time.  Anyhoo, they are here for a week, and we are doing all sorts of fun things.  First of all, Aimee already made us homemade bread AND she is going to make a bunch of casseroles tomorrow to stick in our freezer!! Awesome!!  I am so excited to not cook for a while.  She is also going to make me homemade laundry soap, and I am thrilled!  Apparently this recipe makes 5 gallons at a time-- that's like 150 loads or something-- this stuff will last forever!  I am soo excited!  We are also planning to make homemade soap.  Daniel and I normally make it, but we've been out of it for a while so I'm glad to have it again soon-- it's the best soap I've ever used.  I love it.  We wrote out a whole giant list of things to do-- they have to go to the river walk, and they are going to go over to Corpus Cristi sometime, and other things.  Lots of fun things.  Yay!

After they visit, Daniel's Dad and Teresa are coming down.  Thanks for all the awesome delicious organic pasture-raised chicken, beef and pork you sent down with Aimee and Nathan!  Our deep freezer is almost completely FULL now!!  THANK YOU!!

In other news, Daniel is completely back to work now, and a little sad.  He hasn't been on a proper schedule since May.  Yes, May.  In May/June he was in Peru for 6 weeks (for the military), and then in July he took a few weeks off so we could go to Kentucky/Ohio to visit family and go to camp (where we met as kids!).  Then BOOM right after we got back home (2 days) I went into early labor and had Ezekiel.  Well he had quite a few weeks off when Ezekiel was first born, and then was back to work half time until we brought Ezekiel home on December 5th, at which point he took more vacation days, leading up to Christmastime where he had MORE time off, and then now it's 2009.   I must say, though, for all the time off he had this year, he has waaay more than made up for it in previous years.  The military works you hard!  

Ezekiel is doing really really well.  Last week at the doctor's he was 9lbs 6oz, so he's probably close to 10lbs now!  He's off of his oxygen almost all the time.  He's cooing and grabbing at things, and he's started holding his own hands.  He can push himself up when he's on his tummy, he has good head control, and he can scoot all over the place (but not crawl).  He tries really really hard to roll over but hasn't really made it yet.  He is so sweet, and we love him.  He sleeps well.  He's a little doll!  I'm crazy about him!   I have a lot of pictures that I need to upload from the camera.  I will have to put some more up soon.  Today is his "two month" birthday, as it is two months past his due date.  Tuesday will be his "five month" birthday, as he will actually be 5 months old.  He's so wonderful and I am so thrilled to have him!!  

Happy New Year everyone!!!