by Heather
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Baby it’s cold outside

Winter isn’t done yet, but it got up to 37 today so we bundled up for a walk. I normally wear Ben in the Ergo carrier which I LOVE, but today I decided to try out our new stroller. It was on our baby registry, but this is the first time I’ve used it. We were told by a few friends to not go the giant/heavy duty stroller system route and I’m glad we took their advice. This one is so light, handled really well and Ben seemed to enjoy it.

Andy makes fun of his little hat :-P I’m sure he’s just jealous and wishes HE had a lion hat.

The past few days Andy’s been collecting sap from our maple tree. It’s a silver maple (not a sugar maple, which is what you’re supposed to tap) so we’ll see how it turns out. We received gallons and gallons of sap from friends who tap trees on their land and have been boiling that the past few weeks. It got Andy curious about what would happen with our maple tree.

PS – Andy’s also updated his blog with a few new projects, you should check it out!

by Heather
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Downstairs bathroom sneak peek

by Heather
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Wrong side of the bed

I think I woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. I was so tired that I slept through my exercise class and was mad at myself when I did get up. Then all I could think about was how exhausted I am all the time. The house, work, Ben, Andy…something always needs me. I felt like the energizer bunny, just going and going and going. I’m always “on” and can never just “be.” Always planning, making lists, figuring out how long we can be out before Ben needs to eat, sleep or get changed. Will he get cranky and start screaming in the middle of the store? You can’t just abandon your cart and call it quits…you worked too hard to get him napped, fed, diapered, snow suited up and strapped in to not actually finish the shopping task.

Me, me, me…you get the idea.

Then I stopped, asked God to help change my perspective. And it started pouring in how blessed I am. With a house in a nice neighborhood, little bit of land to enjoy, Andy who loves me and works hard for us, my job and that I can contribute a little bit to our student loans, Ben the super cute awesome baby who’s definitely added another dimension to life.

So suck it up buttercup, you’ve got it good :)

by Heather
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Visitors

Leslie and Gabby stopped by on their way to see Danielle’s Junior Voice Recital in Mansfield, PA.

by Heather
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Vanilla beans

A few months ago I went in with some friends to buy an order of whole vanilla beans. They’re so expensive in store, but if you get a big batch of them online it’s much more affordable. The first thing I made with them was vanilla extract. It’s so easy, just vanilla beans and vodka. I used this recipe and it turned out great!

Tonight I made instant vanilla pudding mix. It turned out, meh. It did have a truer (more true?) vanilla taste than the boxed variety, but tasted kind of floury, even though there wasn’t any flour in it :-/ It was fun to experiment though. I used this recipe which included powdered milk. I really didn’t care for the pudding, but it got me thinking what else I could do with this giant box of powdered milk we now have. This site had a bunch of interesting ideas, might have to try them out. Some are a bit more extreme than others, but again, it’s always fun to experiment!

At least it looks pretty :)

by Heather
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Army man

Did I mention how excited I am he has blue eyes? I figured there wasn’t a chance with Andy’s brown ones. Looks like he also received my pasty skin too ;-)

Anyway, Ben’s started to scootch himself along army man style. I wouldn’t really call it crawling, but he’ll definitely get there. This morning when he woke up I found him in a push up position in his crib. The same thing happened after his nap, except this time he was at the opposite end of where I’d laid him down, his butt up in the air and his little head was shoved in the corner. Poor guy had gotten himself stuck and didn’t know how to go in reverse.

I’m excited for him and the new things he’s learning! And slightly terrified! I feel like I finally have things down and for the most part know what I’m doing and now the game is starting to change again.