Congratulations, Pode!

You went from this:

to this:

In just 8 months.  Isn’t it wonderful??

Video: Kicking and Chewing

J has this crazy leg that just kicks all of the time lately.  Last night, he was trying to chew on his foot and kick his leg at the same time and it was sooo funny!  I promise, I wasn’t touching his leg and making it do that!

Video: Dancing Baby

I took this video last night, J goes so crazy kicking his legs that it’s like he’s dancing.

Owen the Zebra

I made my first toy for baby J!  I was DYING to sew, and Tia had some leftover fuzzy zebra print fabric, so I sketched out a pattern and went to work.  I am SOOO proud!  We named him Owen because his stature is adorably similar to a good friend of mine’s sweet baby. 

A close-up of his hooves, of which I am especially proud:

And a good look at his ears.  Somehow one is twice the size of the other, but I think it adds to his charm:

This Was So Us Today…

Seriously.  It was not our best day.

Breastfeeding Reduces Risk of Breast and Other Cancers

Just in case all of the other benefits of breastfeeding weren’t enough, it also reduces a woman’s risk of developing breast, uterine, ovarian, and endometrial cancers.

The total amount of time that a woman spends breastfeeding over her lifetime is inversely proportional to her risk of breast cancer.

Not only that, but women who were breastfed as infants, even if only for a short time, showed an approximate 25% lower risk of developing breast cancer, compared to women who were bottle-fed as an infant.

Is it any coincidence that the US breast cancer rates are finally plateauing just as the US breastfeeding rates hit a record high?  I think not.  (Sadly, only 11% of those women are still breastfeeding at 6 months, but that’s a whole ‘nother post for another day.)

See these articles for more information about how breastfeeding benefits mothers:

NY Times: Breast-Feeding Benefits Mothers

Dr. Sears: 7 Ways Breastfeeding Benefits Mothers

American Cancer Society: Breastfeeding Can Reduce a Woman’s Risk of Breast Cancer

Breastfeeding.com: You Will Have Less Chance of Breast Cancer and Other Cancers

Cathedral Window Quilt Tutorial

Oh. My. Goodness.

So I’ve added making a quilt to my long list of summer projects that I want to complete. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while and casually browsing for good patterns and ideas online. Then yesterday I somehow stumbled upon the blog Hyena in Petticoats and her tutorial for a Cathedral Window Quilt. I’m in love!

The really cool part about this quilt is that you don’t do the top and then add the backing like with most quilts… as you do it, the pieces you do are finished, and you can make it as big or as small as you feel like doing by just adding to it as you go.

Click here to go to the tutorial.

It looks fun and easy. Now I just have to find some fabric…

Video of Baby Hutch Playing in the Floor

We’ve been packing/moving/getting settled the last couple of weeks so my blogs have been scarce.  We are finally in our parents’ end of the state and have been playing with his Tia’s new video camera.  Here is a short video of J playing in the floor, I’ll try to post more as I get them uploaded… they take forever!

Norwegian Star Earflap Hat

I actually finished this hat for hubs quite a while ago… it was my “trying not to have a baby by sitting on the couch 24/7 during the ice storm” project the last week of January.  Life has been so crazy ever since that I never got around to blogging about it.

I had asked hubs what I could knit for him and he said he’d like a hat that kept his ears warm in the winter.  I fell in love with this hat as soon as I saw the pattern on tiennie knits.  Nevermind the fact that I’d never knitted anything more complicated than a scarf.

It was actually a lot easier than I thought!  I’m absolutely addicted to fair isle now (that’s the name for putting designs in knitting, for my non-knitting friends ).

You can download the pattern here.

God’s Mission in Moldova and Our Small Part

Hubs made this video to help show people the situation in Moldova, what God is doing there, and our small part in all of it. Visit www.gospellife.org for more information.