Undiapering Method Hard at Work

Well while GJ & Jess were here Stella did go on the toilet 3 times, so at least they can vouch for me. It does take a lot of time, and I've slacked off on it a bit...as evidenced here:

She gets it though and she's so happy when we get it right and pick up on her signals.
We have tons of apples on our trees. This one is our honeycrisp tree:

Has this ever happened to anyone else?
The UPS driver (his name is Hammer) gets really excited when he sees me in Elroy and he has a package for me. It's happened three times now and each time it's like I'm giving him a package. He's just thrilled he doesn't have to drive out to my house nestled far away in the hills between Hustler and Elroy. He told me at our last meeting that he searches for my car in Elroy just hoping he'll find me there. I told him to look in the library parking lot, and he said, "I do, I do, I look for you everywhere." Maybe that'll give you an idea of how out in the middle of nowhere we are :-)

Stella Update...Reeve Update...Tom Update

Stella went to the doctor on Wednesday for her 3 month check-up. She's very healthy and in the 95% for height (25"...I think???) and weight 14lbs 13oz.

Reeve and Kyle went to the free movie at the Elroy theater yesterday and it was a full house...kids from Wonewoc, Hillsboro, & Elroy. It was announced the Reeve logged in the MOST reading hours for the 1st & 2nd Grade level. He won a plane ride (local I think) or a ride in a motor cycle side car. He hasn't made up his mind which one to choose.

Tom's on Twitter now and has made 8 tweets. You can get to his twitter page by clicking the link I put on this page in the left column...above Raye's links.

I have pics to post, but I just wanted to make this a short update.

Last of June Pics

I'm trying to get caught up!
Here are some pics from our camera from June!
Last year I posted pics of our country jacuzzi...here are some from this year.

It's a HOT tub heated 100% by the sun, and believe me it gets HOT...over 105F on a sunny day (which we haven't had too many of this year!). When they are not in it it has tubes inside it that are heated by our solar hot water panels.

Kyle givin' the ole thumbs up for temperature...it wasn't too hot for Stella.

Stella's giving Tommy one of her Elvis lip curls in the pic above.
It's been one of the coolest summers I can remember, but I'm not complaining. They had to cancel swimming lessons twice b/c temps were in the low 60s.

She loves her Papa!

Stella hanging out in her swing...waiting to grow up so she can help save the planet :-). Reeve and Kyle can hardly wait to help Tom install solar electric and solar hot water panels.
Tom helped finish the remodeling for a new B&B in Hustler, WI. The Innkeeper Barb is holding little Stella in the pic below...

When this was an assisted living home my Grandma Corky lived in this room. It's been widened and a bathroom added. Now it's called the Vincent Van Gogh room. Each of the 8 rooms at the Fountain Chateau has a different theme.

Before the Fountain Chateau was an Assisted Living home called the Fountain Mission Home it was a hotel in 1923. They refinished the original front desk in the pic below.

And here is a picture of the fountain at the Fountain Chateau.

On the first and third Sundays of the month there is a jazz brunch. This pic was taken at a different time but Simply JP heads the jazz music. Kyle had fun playing the piano with her.

Where does the time go?

I've been meaning to post pics for awhile now. The kids have had swimming and tennis lessons for the past couple of weeks, but yesterday and today the swimming lessons were canceled b/c it is too cold! Last week we had temps in the 90's with heat index 95-100, last night when we went out it was 56F and falling.
First off: Some cute Stella pics



Stella IS a wonderful baby. Her latest lesson for us was brought to light by a friend we hung out with at the Midwest Renewable Energy Fair that we went to in Custer, WI (a 2 hr drive) over Father's Day Weekend. Anyway she saw me holding Stella and noticed that Stella was cueing me that she had to go to the bathroom. I said "What????," and she proceeded to tell me about the undiapering method. It was fascinating and it really works. I stopped counting, but since we've been home Stella has peed/pooped in the toilet over 30 times! We only do this at home, but she is oh so happy when we read her signals correctly! She just looks deep into our eyes and wiggles and giggles around...looks like she's trying to fly off the bed. I ask her if she needs to go potty and she smiles real big. I take her dry diaper off and we go to the bathroom. We have a child seat insert for the toilet and I just stand her on that and she goes! It is the coolest thing ever. She is just so happy with us when we get it right. We discovered this was the major source of her frustration at night. Seriously...she was getting super duper cranky right before bed AND she kept getting a wet diaper. I swear she likes to go a lot before bedtime b/c most of the time she stays dry until 4 or 5 am if we get to bed by 11pm. Well now when she starts to get fussy we take her to the bathroom. Okay I'm going on and on about this, but for me it's pretty exciting stuff. Ask my folks, I think I called them after every time she went for the first 3 days.
I had posted these pics and then had to go take care of something else...the post continues. Tim did a great job summarizing the pics, thanks :-). Can't wait to get down to FL and spend some time with you...maybe this winter!
Every year the MREA (Midwest Renewable Energy Association) puts on a huge Energy Fair

we love to go and camp at the fair in a little pine forest.

The kids love to play with the "human" power demos.

Stella did very good for her first camping trip.

She was the first one up after Tom left to go volunteer.




We saw Michelle Shocked!




Reeve and Kyle had fun dancing to her song Anchorage.

Stella was sporting her recycling onsie from Lauren & Jess in Georgia.

Tom's sporting his new work shirts.

Reeve and Kyle are taking free tennis lessons in Elroy every Monday.

Video Test, Ant farm, Stella, Moth

I'm trying to upload a video. I've tried before, but failed...hopefully it will work this time.

Reeve LOVES ants and was given an ant farm for his birthday. The green gel was developed by NASA and it's not only their "dirt", but also their food. They're pretty fun to watch. I was completely amazed when I saw that they had created their own cemetary! Reeve said that wild ants will do the same thing.

Stella is up now, so this is going to be a short post. Tommy is comforting her right now, but I know I need to go soon.

She had a great visit with the midwife on Wednesday for her 6week check-up. Her face is clearing up nicely...they said if it didn't then she might be allergic to dairy or wheat...luckily it's pretty much all cleared up and I don't have to cut those out of my diet just yet. Stella has grown 3 inches, she's now 2 feet tall, and she's gained 3lbs to weigh in at 12lbs!

In this post there'll be some pics of Stella going cross-eyed, Stella with her brothers, Stella in a swing...which she LOVES, and a really bizarre and beautifully colored moth we saw when we visited our midwives.

Where does the time go?

I can hardly believe it's June already...where did May go? Stella is 5 weeks old. No pictures from this week because our little Stella is overcoming some "baby acne." This usually happens around week 4 and is gone by week 6. It is getting better, but I'm not going to take any pictures of her that she will be upset by when she's a teenager. Tom and I are still dreading the "teenage" years, we're not too worried about the boys, but a teenage girl is scary to both of us.
A friend of ours sent Stella this adorable little handmade bonnet and felted wool shoes.

I hope to get some better pictures of her actually wearing it outside.


Reeve and Kyle missed out on these shirts because Reeve was born before she started giving them out and when Kyle was born she had run out of the boys shirts and then just forgot to send him one.

I think Stella looks cute in hers.

How has Stella been? She's been great. She still has her moments of angst at night, but there have been several nights where she went to bed without a screaming tirade. The other night she was crying and I'm pretty sure it was because Reeve and Kyle were still up and she could hear them while I was trying to get her to sleep. She was very tired. She was dry, well fed, not too hot...she can't stand to wear uncomfortable things to bed, and had been held more than long enough to work out any burps. I was very patient with her and when my arms were tired from holding her...because she doesn't cry when she's held...I laid her down on the bed....booom! The crying begins. I just put my hand on her belly and tried to comfort her while she wailed in my ear...then, like magic, she stopped. She looked at me, then slowly closed her eyes and fell asleep. She's done this several times now where she'll be really crying hard, then all of a sudden, for no apparent reason, just stop and be totally calm.