Driggs Family News

Warm again, but also about to snow

2011-02-18T08:47:00.000-07:00

It's been really nice the last couple of days, but it's also supposed to snow this weekend. We apparently live in a "front formation zone," which is fancy pants talk for "it's impossible to predict the weather here." I'm trying to get the kids to play outside as much as possible.

On another note me and Mark have been called as the ward Provident Living specialists. Woo? While I do indeed know quite a bit about preparedness, I'm under the distinct impression that we got the calling because I have demonstrated knowledge about sheep and wool. Not exactly preparedness skills unless you own a flock, but ok. Last night I taught a class about 72 hour kits and succeeded in not once referring to it as a BOB (bug out bag).

The paperwork is in for the kids to be registered for school (Elspeth in kindergarten and Wenna in preschool), now we're just waiting for our confirmation of placement letter so that a) we know if we got morning slots or not and b) we can trek out to the district office with their birth certificates and shot records. Everybody pray that we get morning slots for both girls, as the early schedule we must be on due to Mark's work (he goes in between five and six!) plus afternoon preschool is driving me mad. I just don't know what to do with them for six hours in a row that doesn't also tend to make us late for school.

When did I move to the Arctic, again?

2011-02-08T15:53:00.000-07:00

It is bitterly, bitterly cold outside, and there are snow drifts taller than Wenna. Oh yeah, and it's still snowing. I have to go to an HOA meeting tonight (hey, somebody had to volunteer... except apparently thanks to me we have a full board for the first time in years). We are very busy, to say the least! Plus registering Elspeth for kindergarten and Wenna for preschool. Woo!

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-21T11:10:00.000-07:00

In case I'm too busy to remember later. My brothers are staying with my parents, it's our first year living in the same state as them, and I just realized that Elspeth is old enough to remember Christmases from year to year, so maybe we'd better get with the tradition-making. Also, Mark's security clearance finally went through. Fortunately his supervisor is a kind, understanding soul and will not have him start working on site until the third. Yay!

The blessings of Visiting Teaching...

2010-12-14T15:04:00.000-07:00

Mark took both littles with him to pick up Elspeth from school, because I need to be here when my VT companion picks me up. That means twenty whole minutes of being the only one in the house. Sometimes, it is little things that are most refreshing, especially after the hullabaloo that was the post office this afternoon. YIPES.

And I forgot about this blog.

2010-12-06T22:24:00.000-07:00

Something about moving across state lines, buying a house, suddenly deciding I want to be a designer... yeah, we've been busy. Elspeth is in preschool, Sophina is way more advanced in her motor milestones than the average baby, as well. Nuts to the blog. :D But, if you care to hear me ramble about fiber-related things, you can go to my other blog, Maru Designs.

The pictures,

2010-09-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

Flickr has them. We are BUSY... new house, things broken in house, I suddenly decided that I really and for really want to design crochet and knit patterns... it just never ends. :D

Bugs

2010-05-05T11:59:00.002-07:00

I have now seen my first adult variegated carpet beetle. This is not something you ever want to see. The adults are indeed fairly harmless, but their larvae eat EVERYTHING. Wool, leather, feathers, crumbs, lint, hair, everything. Those of you who follow me on facebook will know that I had a bit of a run in with them a week ago, but I had not seen any sign of them since about Friday. Curse you trojan fleece but we thought it was over. Apparently not. So now the futon is outside and has been sprayed with the "child and pet safe bugkiller" we got from home depot, and I am washing just about every article of clothing I own. You know, just to be safe. We are going to have some very clean closets. Also, if I find any in my yarn or fiber stashes, I'm going to WEEP.

Also, Sophina's hair is hilarious

2010-04-19T11:34:00.001-07:00

IMG_3624
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

She looks like a tiny gregorian monk, except not bald in the back. Or a tiny Romulan. Babies come out with the best haircuts.

Not much else to say.

Busy

2010-04-17T20:15:00.002-07:00

We went to get alpaca fleece today. I thought I was going to come home with one bag, maybe two, but man howdy did that woman cut me a screaming deal. I think I have full blankets from six shearings in the back of my van, three of which are already processed into roving. Two of the unprocessed bags are first shearings! How was I supposed to say no! The fleece lady also had a litter of tiny puppies at her house. I think they were yorkies? Anyway Elspeth wanted to take the littlest one home. Then we went to visit my cousins. Then we all went to Cabellas to look at the fish. I am one tired lady, hopefully the kids are too!

...also, I have a lot of alpaca fleece. Maybe that was not such a fabulous idea. But, come on, screaming deal. It is very soft.

Lots of pictures

2010-04-12T21:23:00.001-07:00

IMG_3579
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

On flickr. I seem to have completely given up on tagging and labeling them, mostly because there is absolutely no time. That being said, it cuts down on the random moments of "who are these kajillionty one people looking at my pictures?" Which isn't a bad thing either.

Ta-dah!

2010-03-15T09:07:00.001-07:00

IMG_3409
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

We had a baby, for finally! Sophina Grace Driggs made her (overly dramatic) entry on March 9, at a whopping 9 lbs 7 oz. No stitches were involved, but the hospital and the NICU were. She gets released tomorrow, unless something weird happens. There are about a kazillion jillion pictures on Flickr.

Fears the serger

2010-01-18T12:54:00.001-07:00

I borrowed a serger from my buddy Pam, with which to sew more baby wipes, and I think I am a little afraid of it. Something about "four thread feeds, two needles, and some weird sideways thingies that I'm not sure if I should call them needles or not" is a little intimidating. Maybe someday I will be rich, and thus be able to justify just buying the darn things.

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T00:57:00.002-07:00

My sauerkraut balls disintegrated in the pan, but hey, new year! Sleeping children! Mice in my house! Well, maybe... we caught four on the first day, and haven't seen any sign of them since, so maybe we caught them early and there were only four. Here's to hoping there are no fuzzies hiding in my walls.

Wow... long time.

2009-12-13T17:29:00.002-07:00

Being pregnant is extremely distracting. The summary for those who are not family, and don't get here through Ravelry or something (who are you?), due late February, girl, and looking good in there, altho she is extremely high so I can't eat, which sucks over the holidays, and yet somehow also compressing my nerves such that my legs don't work right. But such is life. Also, uploaded something like six months of pictures to the flickr account. They are not labeled or anything, nor is the last batch, but hey, they are there. I also received an enormous box of yarn on Friday. Mmmmm, purewool.

Bonnets for the NICU

2009-06-21T12:09:00.006-07:00

So, as some of you may have noticed, I have been making things to donate to the local NICU and bereavement program. In particular, I love this Ravelry pattern for tiny bonnets. It is however knit, and my skills of a knitter are less than fabulous. So I have written my own crochet pattern for tiny bonnets! Here it is!

Use soft baby yarn (I have been using Bernat Softee Baby, but anything similar will do) and a 4.25 or 5 mm hook, give or take. You want the fabric to be soft and flexible, but guage is not overwhelmingly important. The NICU needs all kinds of sizes!

Ch 6 (7, 8) (Instructions for alterations for ch 9, 10, and 11 at bottom.)

Row 1: starting in second ch from hook, sc in front loop of each ch to end, DO NOT TURN, sc in back loop of each ch for 10 (12, 14, 16, etc) sc in a U-shape. Ch 1, turn.

Row 2: 2 sc in each sc around for 20 (24, 28, 38, etc) sc. Ch 1, turn.

Row 3 thru 7 (8, 9): SC in each sc around, ch 1, and turn. Basically, do one less row than the number of ch you started with after the increase row.

Row 8 (9, 10): do some sort of tiny lovely edging. I like eyelets (ch 2, skip one stitch, sc 1, ch 1, skip stitch, repeat from around), but anything will work. Sc ch3 in each stitch around also looks really cute. Finish and weave in ends.

If you want, you can also put eyelets around the bottom of the bonnet for the ribbon to thread through, but I find it unneccessary, personally.

Weave a length of thin ribbon around the bottom of the bonnet to make a tie. Do not tie any knots or sew it in, just weave it through (in case the councilor needs to remove it).

These are very small – the 6 ch version will fit a head about the size of a golf ball. For larger sizes:

Ch 9 (10, 11)

Row 1: Starting in second ch from hook, sc in each ch to the end. Sc one in middle of last ch. DO NOT TURN, sc in back loop of each ch to make a U shape (17 18, 19 sc).

Proceed as above, except do one more row of sc in each sc (i.e., do the same number of rows as you did chains, instead of the number of chains minus one).

The ch 11 version comes out about the size of a small apple.

It is possible that the pattern will expand to larger sizes, but I have only tested it up to ch 11. If you have comments or suggestions for improvements, PLEASE TELL ME! I have never drafted a pattern before, and while I have tested extensively (thank you testers!) it is always possible I have missed something.

If you want to make some to donate, you can contact your local hospital NICU or send them to the councilor here, at this address:

Utah Valley Hospital
1036 N 500 W
Provo, UT 84606
C/O NICU Common Bonds Heather Walker

Or if you know me well enough to know my address, you can send them to me, or hand them to me if you see me. Happy yarn therapy!

Aaah, enforced vacation

2009-06-06T03:08:00.002-07:00

So those of you who follow me on Facebook may have heard that I found a new job, and also that they moved my start date back by a month, so I am faced with either a) working at the hotel for a couple more weeks or b) taking a month of enforced vacation. GUESS which one I picked. And no, it's not because the hotel doesn't want me... the manager has actually begged and PLEADED for me to stay, and said repeatedly that if Teleperformance doesn't work out, I have a job waiting for me at the hotel. I don't think that's necessarily completely true (what would they do with the chick they hired to replace me?), altho this place does have more turnover than something that turns over a lot. But we are going on VACATION. Like four nights in St. George. Mark even made the reservations. I am STOKED.

On a side note, Byron decided he wanted a pleco to go in the aquarium with his giant snail and my crayfish. I wasn't so sure that was a good idea. He had his doubts but decided to try it anyway. The crayfish had a rather expensive snack. So remember folks... crayfish are predatory. Stupid fish.

Shade garden = planted!

2009-05-19T00:22:00.004-07:00

We have planters all around our driveway. This would be lovely for my wannabe green thumbery, except for the car port. And the neighbor's car port. Yeah, about 75% of those planters get MAYBE half an hour of direct sun. You know, if I'm being generous. Fortunately I have just discovered that many of my favorite flowers are part shade -- hydrangia, bleeding heart, azalia -- and many shade plants have interestingly colored foliage. THERE ARE SHADE PLANTS! This baffles Byron, but some of the things I've planted will die if they get direct sun. So whoever decided that some of the planters were useless and filled them with wood chips can bite me. Whoever filled the remaining planters with ivy and gravel, on the other hand, has a date with my shovel. I mean, seriously, WHO'S IDEA WAS THAT?!

Jen Driggs, call Kim

2009-05-16T00:17:00.002-07:00

Well, you don't have to CALL me, but your blog won't let me read it any more because I am not invited. :( And I don't have your email address, apparently (could have sworn I did, somewhere...). Anyway, I would like it if you added me to the approved readers list. :)

Ravelers are kind, generous people

2009-04-26T14:27:00.003-07:00

This is all the yarn I recieved yesterday. Birthday presents for my girl! I asked for yarn on the Random Acts of Kindness board to make things for the NICU/bereavement program at the local hospital. Ravelry is the awesome!

This is going to be a dead baby post

2009-04-25T02:52:00.002-07:00

So if you are easily depressed, I won't be too offended if you choose to skip it.

Shortly after Emersen was born, I expressed the (to me very understandable) sentiment that I wished I had died, it hurt so much. Everyone around me, panicked, rushed to reasure me that no, I was much better off alive, as if I had died, too, I would miss so much, particularly that I would miss so many things with Elspeth. Her graduation. Her wedding. Nobody realized, I think, that I had already missed all those things with Emersen, and so much more... her birth (the drugged, traumatic ten hours I got does not count), nursing her, changing her diapers, teething, everything. Parents do not realize how lucky they are to stay up all night with a screaming, colicy, teething baby. It is a gift from God, and I missed it all. Today I'm missing her second birthday, and it hurts pretty bad.

Happy birthday baby. I love you.

No job for Kim

2009-03-31T11:25:00.001-07:00

At least not yet, and not the data analyst at SirsiDynix. BOO. On the other hand, I am learning to spin cotton, and as soon as it is warm enough to shear I will be getting my birthday present of POUNDS and POUNDS of llama fleece. Mark is such a thoughtful husband!

Waiting is hard.

2009-03-19T19:24:00.002-07:00

I was really, REALLY hoping to get a call from Sirsidynix yesterday. Would have been the best birthday present ever, because I really, REALLY want them to hire me! I applied to be a data analyst, and it would be such a cool job... the girls would have to go to daycare, but I would make enough more that we would still be way better off, even with the additional expense. Plus I would have health insurance for the first time in a LONG time. Everybody pray, I guess... maybe they will call tomorrow!

Teeth, and I'm not allowed to watch horror movies

2009-01-23T06:37:00.002-07:00

In news that people in addition to me care about, Wehna has finally popped out her first tooth. Lower front left. The one next to it is close too, when she screams at me for trying to look in her mouth I can see it right under the gum, just no sharp nubbing yet.

In news that I find interesting at least, I am not allowed to watch horror movies any more. Yeah, we had movie night in Byron's room and watched Silent Hill. It wasn't bad at the time, I actually rather enjoyed it, but tonight in the silence of hotel graveyard shift I could seriously not stop thinking about the horrible screaming burning things. No more horror films for me. At least not until I get a job with decent hours.

We have been invaded

2009-01-16T04:26:00.002-07:00

Our house is now full of soft, fluffy drifts of WOOL. Sheep mostly. Also llama, and some mohair. Mohair comes from goats, and it is soft and squishy. It has primarily taken over the laundry room, where I am washing it ever so carefully in the washer. The black llama had some second cuts tho, so now there is llama hair (short bits of it, anyway) all over Byron's clothes. And the light grey wool took forever to dry, so the variagated llama had to dry on a towel in our room, where it got kicked under the rocking chair several times. Then there's the big bag of dark grey wool that I'm slowly carding out and spinning in the living room. Except my spindle wandered up into Byron's room yesterday, along with several rolags of carded wool. It may or may not still be there. I do however know that Elspeth and Wehna's spindles are lying in the middle of the dining room, where I tripped on them on the way to work.

There used to be a word for what I'm turning into, but I think "spinster" means something different now-a-days. Just wait until I figure out an excuse to drive down by Lake Powell... there's a guy down there selling raw Navaho-Churro fleece for two dollars a pound.

I am so freaking tired.

2009-01-11T06:03:00.002-07:00

First Mark had a tickley throat. No big. Then he thought he was dying. Girls still healthy, me still healthy. Mark gets better. All is well with the world. NOW I HAVE THE SORE THROAT. It is not fair! Especially given that I got to be AWAKE for the whole part where I was getting sicker and sicker, instead of just waking up half dead, because I had to work that night. Believe me, it really, really is better to just wake up really sick. That was last night, and here I am again on the graveyard shift. And church is in three hours. And I don't get off for another hour. Yeah, I'm not sure how we're going to do this, but I am very determined to get Elspeth to Primary. Pray.

Aaah, the holidays.

2008-12-21T23:20:00.002-07:00

I feel like a massive scrooge, but I hate Christmas. I love Jesus. I love that he was born. I just hate CHRISTMAS. The endless shopping and family and food and EVERYTHING THAT IS CHRISTMAS makes me nuts. Probably partially because Christmas involves long series of surprises, and I have never liked surprises. Definitely partially because Emersen's absense is particularly poignant during the holidays. But you know, on the good side, I was happy that I had to go to work for the first time ever this evening, because it meant I get to escape for a little while. And the girls wore cute matching dresses today, which everybody complimented. Elspeth's is no longer white, but hey, maybe it will come out in the wash. Toddlers are the reason that Oxyclean was invented, I'm sure.

FREE MONEY, woo!

2008-11-27T20:59:00.002-07:00

I just got a bunch of money back on my holiday shopping, yay! Ebates is a website where you sign up, click through their site to get to your favorite online stores, and then they give you money back... plus, you can get a five dollar sign up bonus (and I get a five dollar referal bonus) if you use this link:
http://www.ebates.com/rf.do?referrerid=Zisa046jjHB4QMc0VuPqJA%3D%3D

No joke! No hidden fees or anything, and they will either send you a check or drop the money right in your paypal account, easy peasy.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Bottle problems

2008-11-11T15:16:00.002-07:00

Wena does not like bottles. She seems to think that they are some sort of torture device. Which is odd, because a couple of weeks ago I was relieved to see her take a bottle with no fight, just drank it down. I think the only reason she did so was because she was half asleep. These are even bottles of expressed breast milk, I have never even tried to give her formula. This is creating a problem because I work eight hour shifts! When I worked during the day, she would take MAYBE two ounces... and most of that probably really went down her shirt. Now that I am working nights, she WILL NOT SLEEP. Poor Mark! I am actually handling my first graveyard shift a lot better than he did, because I at least expected no sleep. So, tonight he is going to cuddle her up in the mei tai, and get the bottle nice and warm, and make sure the nipple is warm, and when she's all sleepy he's going to try and sneak it in there. But seriously, she is five months old, I SHOULD be able to feed her when I leave and feed her when I get back. We will figure something out.

Yup, don't post very often.

2008-11-04T14:41:00.002-07:00

Too busy. Byron's birthday was on the sixth, I made a cake (from scratch even, so Elspeth can eat some) and I didn't bake it long enough, so it collapsed in the middle and had a gooey center. But you know what, he asked for a lava cake in the first place, so there you go. Baked the same recipe for Elspeth's birthday, and it turned out much better because, you know, it was all the way cooked. I also discovered that you can't just substitute oil for the butter in my frosting recipe, as it screws with the texture. So, it was tasty, but looked kind of rustic, I guess. Then we had Halloween, for which Elspeth dressed up as a witch. And amidst all of this I was looking for a job. I even got an interview to be an editor for Multiling, but they decided to "keep looking." Blarg. BUT, as of today I have a job! I am going to work graveyard shift at the front desk of the Fairfield Inn, and I start tomorrow! (Somebody please help me be excited about this...) This week I will be working days, so I can get trained, though, so we don't know how it's going to work out with the whole "somebody has to watch the girls." But, that is why I took graveyard shift, because it means I don't have to put my girls in daycare, at which Wena would have to wear disposable diapers, which make her poor skin get all scaley and bumpy and peeley. Blargyay.

New pics on Flickr

2008-09-30T21:47:00.001-07:00

Pengin bottom
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

Lots and lots of them. No titles, tags, or descriptions, but definitely pictures. I'll probably get them labeled over the next week or so, so watch this space, I guess.

I miss Emersen.

2008-09-03T22:50:00.001-07:00

Her due date was a year ago last Thursday, and I'm lonely for her. That's all, I guess.

Secrets of potty training...

2008-08-22T17:14:00.003-07:00

So you remember how I was all confused about how to get Elspeth to night time potty train? Well the answer it turned out was simple... cloth trainers. I just left her cloth trainers on her and VOILA, clean and dry every morning for THREE DAYS! I guess she just figured that she was wearing a diaper, and diapers are for peeing in, so she peed. But trainers are for keeping dry, so now she goes potty.

As a side note on cloth trainers, we are liking the cheap Gerber ones we got at Walmart. They feel more like underwear, we guess. They are also cheap, which is a winning quality all on its own. But we also have a couple of Imse Vimse cloth trainers, and if you have the money for them they are FANTASTIC. They have a layer of waterproofing in the outside, so they have to be mightily full to leak, and the inside is terry cloth so they hold a goodly bit.

Maybe she's going to potty train after all...

2008-08-13T13:56:00.002-07:00

Suddenly Elspeth is dry all day long. O_O And I didn't have to bribe her or anything! We do still have occasional accidents (like yesterday on the tennis court), but mostly only when we're out and about and she's really distracted. Now if only I could figure out what I'm supposed to do to get her to night-time train, we would be set.

Moving still blows

2008-07-31T14:03:00.002-07:00

But it blows slightly less once you reach the point where the old place is completely empty and clean and ready for the inspection. We are living in a box forest and I have no idea where Rouena's clothes are, but hey, at least we are OUT, even if we aren't in yet.

Moving BLOWS

2008-07-20T22:05:00.002-07:00

We are packing up and getting ready to move into the new place, and it is not fun at all. Especially the part where I just had a baby seven weeks ago, and only found out we had to move when she was two-three weeks old. We get the keys on the twenty eighth! We have to be out of the old place by the thirty first though, so we are packing as quickly as we can. Or at least I am. Mark is taking Calculus, so this move is kind of the Kim Show.

I just found the best charity EVER

2008-07-15T12:25:00.002-07:00

Heifer International! They don't just give food or whatever, they give livestock and training to care for them -- so your $120, say, doesn't just give a family food for a little while, but milk for the next ten years, PLUS income from selling extra PLUS the animal's offspring. And, well, I'm broke, but I figured that they might like free publicity, so I'm telling everybody about them. So there you go.

Ok, so I LIKE these internet contests...

2008-07-10T10:42:00.005-07:00

And I just found another one. So sue me, but I think they are fun and it's nice to share.

Win a Bum Genius 3.0 Starter Kit from Nature's Child - Wholesome Goods for Mothers and Babies

Do you babywear?

2008-07-10T10:42:00.003-07:00

Cloth diapers = the AWESOME

2008-06-29T19:00:00.002-07:00

I am just loving them on Rouena, they are so EASY. I never run out of diapers! They are so soft and fluffy! Even the VELCRO is soft and fluffy! The only problem is suddenly when we line dry them, it makes the lair smell like wet dog. The diapers don't smell, just the air in which they dry. I don't get it.

On a side note, we just found out we have to move, but we have a place to move to now unless they find toxic mold or something in the inspection tomorrow. Everybody please pray that they don't find toxic mold.

Rouena is a pudge

2008-06-27T19:54:00.002-07:00

At her two week check (a week and a half ago, I know, lemme alone), she was shown to have gained a pound and a half. ALREADY. She is getting to be quite the little butter ball. On another note, I finally have all the new pics on flickr tagged and titled and everything, so you will know what you are looking at. Also, Mark started his new term this last Monday, which is why I didn't post sooner... calculus sucks.

Baby and pictures

2008-06-20T22:04:00.001-07:00

IMG_1062.JPG
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

Had the baby on June 3, she was 7 lbs, 4 oz, and her name is Rouena Mary Driggs. I have pictures up on Flickr. No titles or tags or anything, but the pictures are there so you can see them. Now I am going to go sleep while the sleeping is good, there will be more later.

Yes, I am still pregnant.

2008-05-21T19:33:00.003-07:00

Three seperate people have IMed me today, certain that I must have had the baby by now. So I'm just letting everybody know, the baby is still firmly inside me, doing well, and not even due until Saturday, gosh darn it, so please don't ask because I also have a toddler with a terrible cold that she so kindly shared with me and I'm a little cranky right now. >.< I think somebody has been spreading rumors that I'm due sooner than I am...

I like sardines.

2008-05-14T15:51:00.002-07:00

We got some the other day at Walmart because, frankly, I was curious. I wanted to know what the heck the difference between a sardine and an anchovy is, because as far as I could tell they are both just tiny fish in a can, except the anchovies cost about twice as much as the sardines. So, I decided to crack open the sardines with lunch. Nothing fancy, just put a bit in the sauce for my ravioli. THERE WERE WHOLE FISH IN THERE. No heads or tails, or I think I would have thrown them away immediately, but otherwise whole, intact little fish with bones and skin and everything. I stared at them for a minute. I put one on top of my ravioli, and stared at it some more. Then I figured, if I put a little piece behind a ravioli, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

And you know what? They are delicious. Better than canned tuna. I have two more from that can still in the fridge, and I think I'm going to try them as a sandwich later tonight. Well, if I'm not too full from the anchovy pizza I'm making for dinner.

Hidden benefits of cloth diapers

2008-05-01T14:25:00.002-07:00

I have to admit, I'm a little surprised at how well this is working out. We even just got back from our mini vacation in Midway, and didn't use a single disposable diaper! There are some things that never occured to me about cloth.

1. Fewer leaks. We have had exactly three leaky diapers since we started with cloth, and they have been caused by not putting the diaper on correctly, diarrhea, and forgetting to change Elspeth for way too long, respectively. With the disposables, we had small leaks more mornings than not.

2. Less smell. We do not use the lid on our diaper bin. Because it does not smell. We aren't doing anything special either -- it's just a five gallon bucked, with a trash bag in it, and a little baking soda sprinkled in the bottom. I guess if you stuck your face in it, it might be smelly, but just being in the room with it, you don't even notice. Our disposable diaper trash, on the other hand, REEKED. Even with the special sealing mechanism that was supposed to keep odors in, when that thing started to get full, you could tell by just smelling, and when you opened the lid, hoo boy!

3. Have I mentioned the incredible amount of money we're saving? We're talking, like, thirty dollars a month, and I was buying the cheapest diapers I could find. The initial investment seems like a lot of money, but seriously, by this time next month the things will have paid for themselves. And I never run out of diapers. Goodbye emergency Sam's runs!

4. Fewer rashes. Aside from the hives Elspeth was getting because of her allergy, she is getting a lot less of the regular kind of diaper rashes too. I've come to discover this is pretty usual... more than half of babies in disposables have chronic rashes, while only about 10% of babies in cloth do.

5. The laundry is oddly satisfying. I have been line drying, and it feels really useful to put those diapers up there. Maybe I am the only person on the planet who feels this way, but that big fluffy stack of freshly washed prefolds just says "good job mom!" to me.

So seriously, I think that everybody should consider cloth diapers. Of course they aren't right for every situation (disposables are wonderfully convenient things), but if more people knew how easy cloth is, I think a lot more babies would wear cloth diapers, at least some of the time.

Allergists are nice, but you never want to need one.

2008-04-14T17:20:00.002-07:00

Elspeth is officially allergic to soy now. And milk. And eggs. And we have an epipen in case she accidentally eats some peanuts, so she doesn't die. T_T Fortunately, since we have a letter from a real allergist, the WIC program will give us goat milk for Elspeth, which she should tollerate much better. Which is weird, because I had actually not noticed any allergic symptoms when she has milk or milk products. But hey, live and learn I suppose. The big problem of course being that grocery store goat milk is not so great... any milk you buy is a MINIMUM of two weeks old, and goat milk doesn't have as long a shelf life as cow milk, it starts to taste goaty at about the week and a half point. We are going to have to get some goats some day.

New Flickr pics

2008-04-08T12:14:00.001-07:00

Climbing Stove
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

More pictures on Flickr. Not tons, but some. Also, I finally aquired a carseat! Yay! It is on the floor in Elspeth's room because Mark wants to clean out the car a little before we put it in. I just hope I don't lose the seatbelt clip before that happens.

The adventure never ends

2008-04-04T11:46:00.003-07:00

So, we have decided to do cloth diapers on the new baby, because it only costs about 20% as much as it would to use disposables. Well and good. But the stuff was already here, so I decided to try out my diaper-fu on Elspeth. That is when I discovered the cause of the perpetual rash around her waist and legs -- she is allergic to something in the disposables. We have also proved pretty conclusively that she is allergic to soy. Now the diapers aren't that big a deal (the new one was going to be cloth buns anyway), but the soy, oddly enough, is. Can't use cooking spray. Can't use shortening. No Oreos. Most brands of granola are out too. SOY IS IN EVERYTHING!!! I swear, every time I think I have everything under control, she breaks out again, and yep... soy. The good news about this is it may explain her egg "allergy" -- sometimes they bother her and sometimes they don't, and it's pretty much random. Which means it's POSSIBLE that she isn't reacting to the eggs, she's reacting to the soy that they fed the chickens who laid the eggs. Fortunately, my plans involved raising my own laying flock as soon as I have room anyway. And soy isn't really good for chickens, so hey... healthy soy free chooks, healthy soy free Elspeth. But in the mean time, I am getting VERY tired of reading labels.

Well, I didn't get the carseat.

2008-03-28T11:25:00.002-07:00

I did, however, order the cloth diapering stuff. It seems really expensive up front, but when I keep in mind that this is ALL I WILL HAVE TO SPEND ON DIAPERS FOR THE NEXT FOUR MONTHS, it doesn't seem so bad. Also, the subsequent four months will only cost about a third as much. I have however found another eBay carseat. This time, I swear I'm waiting to the LAST second and I'm going to POACH IT! Less than two days to go tho, and nobody has bid yet, so things are looking a lot more promising than last time.

I freaking hate eBay.

2008-03-24T09:41:00.002-07:00

I am trying to get a carseat on eBay, and it makes me angry. We do need a carseat, and this one IS a good deal (assuming bidding doesn't go too high), but really, I can't stand the suspence! It makes me grouchy and obsessive. So, if any of you are bidding on a plaid rear facing carseat that started at .99, CUT IT OUT! IT'S MY FREAKING CARSEAT! >.<

I don't post very often, do I?

2008-03-17T20:56:00.003-07:00

But then, I question whether anyone reads this blog very often anyway, so there you go. Not much is new in any case... I am officially thirty weeks pregnant with a still-alive baby, my birthday is tomorrow, and my pepper seeds are (finally!) sprouting, and that is about it. Also, Elspeth is trying to wrap my head in a towel, so I have to stop typing now.

It's a...

2008-01-07T14:42:00.000-07:00

GIRL! She is just the right size, has all the right parts, and fought the ultrasound tech every inch of the way. Definitely a fiesty one. I guess I only know how to grow them one way. We even got a free 3D ultrasound (they were trying out some new equipment), and she didn't cooperate for that either! By the end, even the tech thought she was getting mad. Cute little chicky.

Milk is amazing stuff

2007-12-20T12:28:00.000-07:00

We just got on WIC, and they give us about twice as much milk as we can possibly drink, so I have started making yogurt. It is very easy, and I don't understand why more people don't do it, as it is much tastier than the store kind, and you could even make it with powdered milk if you wanted, and then it would be REALLY cheap. But anyway, this last batch I ran out of room in the cooler, so wrapped a tupperware full in towels and put it on the stove to keep warm... and then promptly forgot about it and used the oven to make dinner. Needless to say, it did not set (note to self: find bigger cooler). No problem, I thought. I will cook some lentils in it for lunch. Lentils, a little mushrooms, yogurt, what could go wrong? Well, it turns out that yogurt (or even liquid yogurt) CURDLES when you heat it. So now my lentils are cooking in very, VERY runny cottage cheese. We will see how it is, I suppose. Never know what milk will do next.

Sometimes, paranoia pays.

2007-11-13T17:35:00.000-07:00

We spent Sunday night in the emergency room! Extreme back pain and a fever, no fun at all. But you know, we have good coverage for me right now, so the midwife said "go if you want, can't hurt anything and might be a good idea if it hurts that bad... definitely go if it gets ANY worse!" So off went the paranoid pregnant lady! Good thing too because it turns out I have a RAGING bladder infection. Had? Been on antibiotics since then, and am doing much better, but I do not feel well yet. I slept all day yesterday though and that helped. And the morphine they gave me wore off all the way, and the pain didn't come back. And we got to have another ultrasound! He was so active in there, even the tech was impressed -- "look at that baby go!" he says. "Quit pushing on my head, that's what that baby's saying." We got some great pictures, he's got all his limbs, and a cute little nose and a round little tummy, it was absolutely fantastic, and ALMOST worth spending a night in the emergency room.

So, yeah, paranoia really does pay off sometimes. =)

Mice!

2007-10-07T19:32:00.000-07:00

Or at least mouse. In our house. I've seen a mouse on two seperate occasions now, the first of which could have been a hallucination ("it was brown and oblong and moving fast and I think it looked like a mouse!"), but now I'm SURE. I mean, there I was, minding my own business, and it just wanders out into the MIDDLE OF THE FLOOR, looks at me, then wanders back. YUCK.

Guess what?

2007-09-22T20:03:00.001-07:00

Guess what?
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

Third time this year. But, I have a really good feeling about this one. I am optimistic and everything. And hey, the chances of having three losses in a row are one in a thousand, so I think I deserve a little optimism!

Never Run With Grain

2007-09-20T16:32:00.001-07:00

This absolutly cracked me up. Hehe, goats.

Look what I found!

2007-09-13T12:44:00.001-07:00

Eggs on the glass
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

Snail eggs! I am very excited, I've never had brigs eggs before. I'm reasonably certain that the parents were a striped yellow and an ivory, too, so I may get some red and whites, and more purples. I'm incubating them in one of those Gerber bottle liners with paper towels, using badflash's plastic bag method, for anyone who cares to know.

More pictures

2007-09-12T14:15:00.001-07:00

Found an ax!
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

Not very many, but some, new on Flickr.

I think we're having a turf war

2007-08-05T20:24:00.000-07:00

With our neighbor Rodney, over gardening space. There's this long strip by the driveway that the landlord says we can dig up and plant whatever we want, since it is just weeds. We were starting in on prep on a new patch for spring (I like to get as much work as possible done late summer/fall), and the next day Rodney had staked out the area right next to it. Which made me mad, so I prepped all the way up to his line, though I had originally planned to stop about a foot short of there. I bought some gooseberry bushes to plant at the line (on our side, of course) so he can't decide to take over more space again. Really, he has the lion's share. It is quite irritating, especially as his idea of a nice garden involves great stretches of bare dirt between his plants and mass amounts of chemicles to control weeds and bugs. I plant as close together as possible so my plants shade out the weeds, and will be including catsnip and lemon balm to control bugs (besides, they smell pretty and make nice flowers and soothing teas).

Which leads to where I got all these plants, the nursery we found in southwest Provo. They regularly have boysenberries, too, which I think I would like to plant along our fence in the spring. Can't do it now because the zucchini is in the way, although I am getting pretty sick of those zucchini plants. It would be wasteful to pull them up now though, as they are still producing like crazy, and I'm not one to waste even potential food.

I love my garden. >^_^<

Lots of pictures

2007-08-02T19:24:00.001-07:00

Snoozin'
Originally uploaded by Driggs family

I spent some time uploading today. Check it out!

The shrimp are HATCHING!

2007-07-20T18:51:00.000-07:00

I found four teensy, tinsy little clear shrimp on the aquarium glass today, and it is SO exciting. I don't know if mama shrimp has hatched them all yet, or if these are just the early birds, as she wouldn't turn so I could see her belly, but still, FOUR. If I'm finding four there are probably more! So, I will have to put the snails on a diet and increase my water changes to keep the tank clean for them, but stop vaccuuming the bottom to make sure I don't suck them up. BABIES! My cherry shrimp tank isn't doomed to failure after all. :D

Snails

2007-07-17T20:46:00.000-07:00

Got some aquarium snails in the mail on Friday, and they are eating/laying eggs like mad crazy. They are cute little striped things, but really, too many is too many. So I now have my morning rounds with the turkey baster removing extra eggs. I am hatching some for Byron and some to try and trade in at the fish store, but we shall see, and really, I don't need THAT many snails. I'm removing like three or four clutches EVERY DAY. That would be lots of babies!

Elspeth loves the snails, she always wants to hold them which worries me as they are fairly small (size of a nickel), and I'm afraid she might mush one even with strict supervision. So, we are thinking of getting her a haustrom, they sell them at one of the local fish stores. These puppies get the size of a tennis ball, so there's no way she could hurt them. They are plant eaters though, so it would need it's own tank. I am thinking a 20 long (we could put it on the Abomination aquarium stand, it's not so bad now that it's in Elspeth's room), with just a filter. Also a rainbow shark for Mark (he REALLY wants one) and maybe some brigs for me, just to fill it up. So, if anybody wants to contribute to the coolest birthday present for Elspeth ever, let me know. ~_^

Announcements = sent

2007-07-11T19:43:00.000-07:00

They are all in the mail. Apparently quite a few have already arrived, which is nice. If you still want one, and have not given me your address, there are still quite a few more, so send me a mailing address!

In other news, Elspeth rolled in the dirt at the playground today. Then she poured ketchup all over herself (and Mark's laundry, groan). Then she found jelly beans and chewed them and spit them all over the house. She was one sticky baby, and I am one frustrated mommy. Gave her a bath though, so at least she's clean. I am still finding jelly beans. >.<

Addresses

2007-07-03T13:23:00.000-07:00

I am sending out the first wave of Emersen's birth announcements. Anyone who wants one, who HASN'T sent me their address within the last month or so, please send me your address now.

Busy day

2007-07-02T21:05:00.000-07:00

First of all, the plants got here, so I spent about two hours stuffing them into the 20H. It was SO MUCH FUN. They sent me so many extra plants, and they were all perfect, even after getting stuck in the post office over the weekend. Elspeth was my little helper, she did a good job with the string and small rocks. Unfortunately though I kind of forgot about lunch, Elspeth was ok because I always have crackers and cheese and raisins out for her (some days, it's the only way she eats), but I was kinda woozy by the time I was done. Low blood sugar is NOT fun. I am hoping the crypts grow in quickly, when they do this tank is going to look AWESOME. There will be pictures.

Today is also the first day of the Freedom Festival on Center Street, we went to that after quick dinner at Guru's (mmm, tasty noodles and rice), and we got to hear Moosebutter. Elspeth loved it, which made Mark proud, I think. Also, Elspeth saw an enormous tortoise, and was a little scared of it. If it was far away, she wanted to look, but she did NOT want to get close! She was very cute.

Kamikaze fish and shrimp eggs

2007-06-30T19:42:00.000-07:00

Francis the betta jumped out of his bowl yesterday while we were out. I forgot to put the lid back on when I changed his water. Mark found him and thought he was dead. Fortunately he landed ON his lid, which made him easy to pick up. I flipped him back in and now he's swimming around like nothing happened. Bettas are tough. One of our shrimp has eggs, too, so hopefully by this time next month I'll have a bazillion tiny baby cherry shrimps swimming around in there. We have completely given up on the red claw shrimp though, and have put our smaller gourami male in the old ten gallon, so that Talbot will leave him alone so he'll color up. Got one more female too, so we have four females and two males. The plants were supposed to come today but didn't. They sent me a bunch of extras to make up for not shipping them sooner though, and they will get here for sure on Monday, so it's ok. Disappointed though, I had been counting on spending my evening planting plants, not sitting around doing nothing.

In news that people other than me (and apparently Byron) care about, we went to the pool today and had lots of fun. Got a little sunburned dispite the frequent slathering of sunscreen though. At least Elspeth seems to be burn free. Me and Mark though are definitely lightly toasted. Apparently I look ok in my swimsuit though (a relief, I don't think I've lost much of the weight from Emersen yet). Also, Mark got called as the move in specialist in our church. Which is funny, because our other calling is as cochairs of the new member committee, so the two sort of go hand in hand.

Ninja shrimp

2007-06-27T13:56:00.000-07:00

Well, I can't find mama redclaw shrimp ANYWHERE. It's only a 10 gallon tank too, either she climbed out (unlikely, I would have found her) or she's a freaking ninja. Not finding any babies in there either. I'm considering just getting a bunch of red claw juveniles from a dude I know in Payson, and growing them out myself, as I went back to Animal Ark and they appear to only have females... that also makes it possible that mama shrimp's eggs weren't fertile in the first place, so boo. I did find a baby cherry shrimp in the other tank though, so at least one made it, maybe more. I have a huge hair algae infested ball of java moss in there, if they climbed in there I'd never find them.

In non-shrimp news, Elspeth now says "yokai" when I tell her to do things... whether she does them or not. Silly baby. But she is learning Japanese, which I had been starting to wonder about.

Stressed out

2007-06-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

We have been having a hard time. We went to visit my family in Colorado for a few days (my mom got a 56 gallon tank, and didn't know what to do with it, which was more than enough to lure me out). Ended up staying a bit longer than planned because Mark got sick, high fever and headache. Setting up the tank was lots of fun, but we were sleeping on the fold out in the basement, and Elspeth decided she was afraid of the basement, so not much rest was to be had. When we got home on Monday Elspeth's schedule was all off. She was mostly on by Wednesday, but then she had diarrhia and diaper rash. That's about when I discovered that she had cut two more molars too, explaining why she'd been so dang cranky. Then on Friday Mark decided we HAD to have a better stand for the shrimp tank (the one we made is an Abomination), and so he got one that would hold the 10 gal for the shrimp plus and additional 20H... yay! But just when we had the shrimp tank settled in place, Elspeth wonked her head on it and cracked the glass from top to bottom. It's ironic that the tank took so much damage as Elsepth doesn't even have a bruise, but if I had to choose I would indeed pick the broken tank. So we were at Petsmart as soon as they opened to get a new tank, which I spent the rest of the morning moving my shrimp into. The worst part is I'd just had a hatch in there, and I don't think any of the milimeters long babies made it into the new tank. I TRIED, I really did, but they are just too tiny to find! It looks like we'll have more eggs within the week though, so everybody pray for my shrimp tank... we don't have many shrimp left, and I don't think I can handle anything else dying on me right now.

In good news, while we were at the LFS in Orem looking for plants, we discovered that they currently have red claw shrimp... and one was pregnant! I totally had to buy her, so I moved all the fish into the new 20 gal so she gets our original 10 all to herself. She's gorgeous too, a good three inches long with very nice markings, and very active. So, hopefully I will have baby macros soon too! But in the mean time I'm changing water like crazy, because the nitrate levels in that tank are much too high for babies! Maybe I'm being paranoid, but it's giving me something to do, and at this phase in my life, that's a very good thing.

Pictures!

2007-05-12T16:13:00.001-07:00

All clean!
Originally uploaded by Driggs family.

I uploaded like a bazillion pictures today... pretty much every picture we've taken since just before Christmas. I told you pregnancy is distracting. >^.^<

Blogger has gone all screwy

2007-05-10T13:56:00.000-07:00

It's not wrapping the lines correctly. I've done my best to make it legible, and Mark is working on fixing it, so sorry if it looks funny and please be patient.

Back from the doctor

2007-05-09T20:46:00.000-07:00

I've been pronounced healthy and sound again, and all the blood tests came back normal, so at least I have the comfort of knowing that my body didn't somehow kill my baby. The pathologist's report was fairly useless, as it could find no probable cause of death other than probable chromisomal abnormalities, and possible cord accident. We did learn however that it wasn't a boy, it was a girl. I think I've come to terms with that, though... if you can name a girl Madisen, you can name a girl Emersen. She'll just have to be Emersen Pauline, I suppose. The best news though is that this will have no forseeable effect on any future pregnancies, as it was just bad luck - I had been having irrational terror of being
labeled "high risk" for the rest of my reproductive career, and am feeling quite relieved.

I have, unfortunately, developed an irrational terror of my obstetrician's waiting
room and the hospital, but with luck I should be able to work through that... in
addition, I can go back to the midwife for the next one, hopefully deliver at
home, and if nothing else, I'm sure I can find another backup doctor. It's not that
Dr. Broadbent is bad, he is a wonderful doctor and I'd recomend him to anyone, it's just a little hard to warm up to the guy who told
you your baby is dead.

So, we have some closure, and I'm feeling much better, and trying to get back to work. Wish me luck and sanity, folks, 'cause I'm going to need it.

Sad news...

2007-05-06T15:41:00.000-07:00

Well, for anyone who hasn't heard already, we lost the baby. We found out he was gone last Monday at the ultrasound, we saw the o.b. on Tuesday, he induced me and the baby was stillborn in the wee small hours of Wednesday, April 25. It was a boy, and we named him Emersen Paul.

We're slowly pulling back together, but having a rather rough time, as can be expected. I'm doing well, health-wise. We will going back to the doctor on Wednesday for our follow up appointment, at which we'll get the pathologist's report, and maybe find out what happened. As things stand, they're saying cord accident (the cord was around his neck) and probable chromisomal abnormalities. The doctor doesn't think that having the cord around his neck just once like it was would have caused any harm (a third of the babies he delivers have the cord around their neck, and no problems) unless there were underlaying problems that would have killed him anyway. So what it boils down to is, there's nothing anyone could have done. We'll also be getting the last of the blood tests in -- they are testing for abnormal clotting factors in me, which could have cut off blood to the placenta, but the tests are normal so far so that is unlikely. If it was clotting factors, they can give me medicine next time to keep it from happening again though, so we have to make certain that wasn't the case. Wait and see, I suppose.

You know, I had forgotten I had a blog...

2007-04-21T16:45:00.000-07:00

Yeah, that's about the size of it. I find being pregnant to be incredibly distracting, there are days I'm surprised I don't forget more. We're doing the finals thing just now as well, and I'm learning about what it's like to be a single parent, as Mark is at school from early morning until late at night. It REALLY sucks. Oddly enough though, I seem to be getting more done than usual... I'm calling it "early nesting," as the key manifestation has been an overwhelming urge to vacuum. Of course, we do also have a nifty new vacuum... and you know, you have to pick up before you can vacuum. Elspeth probably thinks I've gone nuts.

For those who have asked, we don't know if it's a boy or girl yet... we were supposed to get the ultrasound this last Monday, but the ultrasound guy got sick or something, so we've been rescheduled to THIS Monday. Hopefully the little guy cooperates, she hasn't cooperated for anything else this pregnancy. The midwife looking for her heartbeat takes for freaking forever, we think my placenta is on the front so the baby is hiding behind it, but we shall see. So, expect emails regarding the gender of our new one in the next couple of days, either way.

SURPRISE!

2007-01-11T22:04:00.001-07:00

We're having another baby! We're due August 28, and are very excited. And nautious. Well, actually I'm the only nautious one, but I'm not nearly as bad as I was at this point with Elspeth. Big relief, that. Elspeth is still breastfeeding, so I'm HUNGRY, ALL THE TIME, but it's not such a big sacrifice to eat more. I like food, and while I'm getting sick of having to find more every two hours or so, I have an excuse to eat more of my favorite nourishing comfort foods. Like baked potatoes. Mmm, potatoes...

In less exciting news, the cherry shrimp I ordered arrived today, and seem to be doing well. They are swimming a lot, which worries me (usually they only swim when they're stressed out, or looking for some action), but it's probably just because they're in a new tank. More than half are hiding, too, so enough should survive to start a nice breeding colony.

My tetras are spawning!

2006-12-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

... That's pretty much all the news right there. They decided to do their thing in the middle of a water change, so I'm afraid I might have accidentally sucked up the eggs, but hey, if they do it once they'll do it again, so I might have baby tetras in the nearish future. Woo!

New tank!

2006-11-28T23:07:00.000-07:00

It's all set up except the filter (which I'm getting for Christmas), and it looks very nice. It's even on a stand that Mark made for me. ^_^ That being said, never buy wood at Lowes unless you know what you want already... because I didn't have a clue what I was doing, and the dude talked me into MUCH heavier wood than I needed. The folks at Home Depot are much more helpful. Anyway, here's a picture:

I'm going to put shrimp and snails in it. I just got the Java moss today, the stuff is harder to tie in there than I thought it would be, I need to rearrange it so that one can see the nice canyon between the two big back rocks that I made. Still, it almost looks like I planned how it would look, rather than just throwing plants and rocks in there.

Anyway, on to the news that people care about, I'm sure. Thanksgiving went well... we went to Mark's sister's place and had vegan thanksgiving, which was wonderful and delicious and we had lots of fun, but it gave Elspeth terrible gas. Then on Friday I decided I wanted turkey dang it so we had thanksgiving again. I know, I'm crazy. Then on Saturday I got really sick! It couldn't have been any of the food, because Elspeth and Mark ate all the same things and are completely healthy, so I must have picked up a bug somewhere.

Speaking of bugs, Elspeth is all over her rash! Just pink spots! What rash you say? Well let me tell you... we thought it was the chicken pox, but it was only in her mouth and on her one arm, so off we went to the urgent care clinic. The nurse there was certain it was chicken pox, so why don't you just take her home so she doesn't infect anybody. I still wanted to see the doctor, even though she made me feel silly for it. Good thing I did! Three doctors later, we were fairly certain it wasn't chicken pox (but it might be), and had looked at the blister goo under a microscope, thus determining that it wasn't fungal. Everybody had a different theory. And you know what it was? Cold sores. Yup, cold sores, herpes virus, just all over her poor little arm, and by the time the test results got back, on one of her legs too. Like I said, it's completely better now though, just where the rash was the worst, the skin is kind of pinkish, and slightly raised. Poor boo. She's just glad not to have to wear mittens all the time though, I'm sure, and THANK HEAVEN IT WASN'T THE CHICKEN POX!

Another fish!

2006-11-03T20:57:00.000-07:00

So, the glolite tetras have been chasing each other around violently and biting each other's fins. Not good behaviour. I talked to Jay at the LFS down the street, he says that he's never seen tetras do that before... but agreed that adding another one wouldn't hurt, and could help. So we have four tetras now, the new one of which is notably bigger than its companions. We're calling it Dartanian, and it's actually doing a pretty good job keeping the original three in line... while they're quite as active as before, they aren't quite as VIOLENT. I win.

Now if only I could get that shrimp tank... if nothing else, Christmas is coming up... >^.~<

My poor shrimp!

2006-11-02T22:36:00.000-07:00

At least one of them is dead (I found a corpse when I cleaned the filter), and I can't find the other two anywhere. I want an all shrimp tank! They were stressed out because the fish picked on them, and I'm sure that that's what did them in. Unless the fish killed them outright. Poor little shrimpies!

In news that people other than me care about, Elspeth had her birthday on Monday, and we had birthday pie. She was very cute, and smooshed it all over the place. Going further back, her party was on Saturday. It was supposed to start at three, but Elspeth fell asleep at freaking TWO FIFTY FIVE, but anyway nobody but my family and the Eastwoods got there on time... so the party REALLY started at about four when Elspeth woke up and the cousins finally got there. It was fun though, I made pinapple upside down cake, but we forgot to get out the ice cream, so now we have LOTS of ice cream.

Elspeth also grew another tooth... on the bottom! So she has three bottom teeth now, and no top teeth. All kinds of snaggle-toothed. But very cute. She's also toddling around really well now, especially when she's around all other kids who are walkers... but if there are any crawlers around, she crawls! She likes to be big, but she likes to be fast too, I guess.

Work is hard...

2006-10-24T21:01:00.000-07:00

...but being your own boss is nice. I just got done with a HUGE game translation project. It was rough. I had some very late nights. But I made SEVEN HUNDRED DOLLARS in the last two weeks. Go me! Tokyopop has also emailed me, they have a position and want me to do an evaluation. Don't know if I can (or even want to, just now) take on a project, but hey, it's nice to be wanted and we'll see what they offer me.

We've also got our aquarium all the way stocked, and it's pretty nice. Very soothing. And I want another one. I bought some shrimp to go in this tank on a whim, and I'm absolutely addicted to the little critters. I'm trying to talk Mark into letting me set up a shrimp tank, and I'm going to try to breed zebra shrimp... it shouldn't be too hard, and they don't need a heater, so the set up should be pretty inexpensive. Just a tank, a cheap filter, rocks and shrimp.

That being said, I'm irked because I can only find two of the three shrimp we have currently. If I find a corpse before Saturday though, I can bring it in to the LFS and they'll give me a new shrimp, so if I can't find that last one by tomorrow I'm going to turn over the rocks and look in the filter. I don't think it's in there, but hey, might as well look.

Apparently, Elspeth likes fish too.

2006-09-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

She points at them and says "shish, shish!" So yes, my baby says fish (at least sort of) and knows what they are! However she also smudges the aquarium glass a great deal. Silly baby. Also, one of the aquarium bulbs is definitely sprouting. Yay! Happy Monday!

I like fish...

2006-09-23T20:22:00.000-07:00

We got a fish tank, because I found a ten gallon set up (filter, heater, and all) for fifty bucks at petsmart. We also got some gravel and a couple of plants, because I like live plant aquariums and thought I would try my hand. NEVER BUY LIVE PLANTS FROM PETSMART. Having been in our tank a grand total of two days, they were completely covered in hair algae and dying. Fortunately they gave me my money back, for I was filled with unbridled rage. Fortunately there's a place called Jay's Jungle down the street from which we got some Rotala.

That is not our rotala, but that's pretty much what it looks like...pretty plant. We also have a fligree myrio, whick looks rather like green feathers. Of course, the Petsmart algae is still in there, but we got a butterfly pleco who seems to at least be keeping it under control, and today we added some glolite tetras, which Mark picked out. We also have some aquarium bulbs we got from Walmart in there...apparently they'll grow almost no matter what you do to them, and make flowers if you're nice to them, so they should suck up whatever it is the algae is eating. At any rate I got ten of them for three bucks. They've only been in there for two days and are already starting to get some little white roots, so I'm feeling rather hopeful. We also have water lily bulbs, but I'm waiting on those until the "miracle bulbs" are growing. It is going to be a lovely tank.

Teeth!

2006-09-01T14:31:00.001-07:00

Well, tooth, anyway. As in Elspeth has one. Lower front right, to be exact, and it is very pointy even in its current barely-above-the-gums stage. Like, you can only see it from above. Finally teeth on one hand, and on the other hand, she's getting entirely too big entirely too fast. I need a rewind button on the last year.

In other news, I bought a whole flat of raspberries today. It was only fifteen bucks (super cheap!) but I'm not entirely sure what to do with that many raspberries. Eat some and freeze some I suppose. We also got an aroma therapy diffuser and some citronella oil for the mosquito problem (they rebounded...I woke up yesterday morning with five new bites). With luck, that will at least keep them off of us as we slumber. Only about a month of mosquito season to go, I know, but I have absolutely had it.

The last thing is the blog seems to be getting spam comments. So, if you made those comments and are a real person and not a spam-bot, please don't be offended. If you didn't want your comments deleted you'd a) put something in them to make them look like you read my post and b) not have tags for things like viagra in your post. Anyway.

Elspeth is a stepper

2006-08-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

As in, she can kinda walk if she wants to. Altho if it's further than about two steps, she just crawls cuz it's faster. =D So yeah, she took her first steps yesterday and I have mixed feelings about it. What happened to my soft little newborn boo? She's getting so big! Also, she's walking already and she doesn't even have any teeth! I guess I was a little too prepared for Average Baby, Elspeth's just too quick for me.

Family reunion = success

2006-08-08T21:06:00.000-07:00

I won a door prize!
Originally uploaded by Driggs family.

Everybody was happy, nobody got sick or hurt, fun was had by all. Pictures are now on Flickr. Also yesterday we had a Chibi Posse reunion (Spike is back in town, dropping her brother off at the MTC), so pictures of that too. In related news, I PWN Mark at DDR. This is significant because he pwns me at, well, every other game ever made. Well, maybe not EVERY game, but you get the picture.

Sewing up a storm

2006-08-04T15:28:00.000-07:00

Blue
Originally uploaded by Driggs family.

In the last week I've mad a onesie, a dress, and a new sling. I'm sewing up a freaking storm! Probably because we've been having a little extra stress lately and I find sewing soothing.

Anyway there're also some new pictures on the Flickr page. Current advice stands at just check there every couple days, as now that we have a DIGITAL CAMERA which I love so very very much that's about how often I'm posting pictures.

In other news, Elspeth can now go from sitting to standing without pulling up on something. Still can't walk yet tho, and still no teeth. She does these milestone things in whatever order she likes I guess...she pulled herself to standing before she crawled too, so I guess skipping around like this is just typical of Elspeth.

Last but not least we leave for the family reunion tomorrow. Yay! I'm so excited we need a break. Especially me needing a break from my email account. Seems like companies have started to scout me out (yay) but it's rather nerve wracking (boo) to have to do as many test translations as I've been doing lately (yay), especially because then I have to deal with rejection letters (boo). I've only had one of those so far tho so it's ok, and it was more of a "we'll write back when we have something that suits your style." Anyway.

Rest of pictures = up

2006-07-30T15:42:00.000-07:00

Swimsuit
Originally uploaded by Driggs family.

I am totally on top of things lately. Yay me! Not much happening otherwise, but there are tons of new and cute pictures. ^_^

Finally!

2006-07-29T22:03:00.000-07:00

Swordsbaby?
Originally uploaded by Driggs family.

Pictures = scanned! Here's the first lot, should have the rest up in the next couple of days, then we'll be more or less all caught up on the picture front...two whole rolls of film!

In other news, we got a DIGITAL CAMERA! So now, after the roll of film I'm finishing, we won't have to twiddle with the scanner any more so I should be much better about posting recent pictures. Yay!

Boy do I love being a mommy!

2006-07-18T12:09:00.000-07:00

So, Elspeth learned how to flush today while I was plucking my eyebrows. First time was an accident -- then she looked at me, looked at the toilet, and did it again. Smart little cookie. I took pictures. Wasted a lot of water, but boy did we have fun!

On another note, our dentist takes my new insurance YAY~! I was worried I would have to find somebody new, and between that and finding a doctor for Elspeth, it would have been too much. Especially given I'm already due for a dental check (past due actually), and Elspeth needs a well baby check in about two weeks. Still have to find a pediatrician tho, bleck.

American culture is suicidal!

2006-07-07T09:42:00.000-07:00

I found this one today and it made me laugh...I mean, seriously, it's almost becoming a crime to be a white Christian anymore, we're so full of self loathing! Seriously though, I shouldn't be surprised...the worst thing to be if you're trying to get scholarships, into school, or a job is a white male. Lowers your chances of getting accepted for almost anything these days, which leads me to another amusing thing: apparently women are a minority, despite constituting 51% of the population. And you know us minorities, we're just not smart or tough enough to get anything without all those federally required hiring and admissions quotas. Sheesh, it's embarrassing.

In other news (and off the soapbox), Elspeth STILL HAS NO TEETH! I swear, I can see them under there, they're just not out yet...this baby has gums of steel! Altho in all honesty, she might have one and I just don't know it, as she won't let me stick my finger in to feel for them. I've spent too much time fishing carpet fluff out of there I suppose.

Mosquitos suck

2006-06-22T23:01:00.000-07:00

So yeah, we have a mosquito problem. Like in our house. Of course, we don't want to just use DEET around Elspeth, so we're investigating alternative strategies. Namely, we got these little white things that plug into the electric outlets and make a very faint humming noise. Apparently they make some ultrasonic noise that mosquitos (and spiders, and mice, apparently) can't stand. So far they seem to be working...we've only found two this evening, and they were rather sluggish (one was crawling around on the kitchen floor) when previous evenings we find like four, and they still buzz around our ears all night. This has made Mark cutely paranoid about Elspeth and West Nile virus. Here's to hoping these things work...apparently catnip oil repels mosquitos better than DEET even, but I'm not sure how we would use that.

Cannery!

2006-06-22T11:06:00.000-07:00

So, we got to go to the cannery in Lindon yesterday, and it was very much fun. We bought some stuff, and canned potatoe pearls, rice, and pinto beans. It was even a bit of a workout...reapeated lifting of five pound cans is really tiring!

Megan and Ashley watched Elspeth meanwhile, I'm so proud of her she was such a good girl! This is even the first time someone non-family has babysat her too, and only the second time someone non-Mark has taken care of her without me there. I was afraid she would scream the whole time! She even had a bottle for them and took a (short) nap, I'm amazed. They did give her cheerios whenever she wanted, and there was all kinds of new stuff for her to explore though...so I suppose it's a good thing we took her there instead of Ashley coming here. Though, we're discovering that it's a very good thing I found a way to work from home...I was nervous about leaving her for two hours, I would have a nervous breakdown if I had to leave her in daycare all day long! She's MY sweet baby. =D

I need to whine about our neighbor's dog.

2006-06-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

It is the ugliest, barkingest dog I have ever seen! It's a fair sized dog too. It used to be they'd tie it up to the porch, and it would come charging out whenever anybody walked by -- which we have to do to get in our front door -- barking and growling, and generally acting like he'd bite you if it weren't for that skinny little rope. Our mailman is scared of him even, and you'd think mailmen would be at least a little jaded! Anyway, now they've started tieing him up in the back yard -- better from the point of view of him trying to attack mailmen and small children. The problem is now he barks INCESSANTLY. All day yesterday, until like four in the morning, then for three or four hours today. Constant. Barking. We've been thinking about calling animal control to make a complaint for awhile now (we can't get ahold of the owners ourselves because a) they're almost never home and b) we're terrified of their dog), but this was just it. The officer says he can come talk to them, or leave a "door hanger" that says they have to go talk to him. Freaking dog. Maybe they'll finally do something about it, but I'm trying not to get too hopeful...personally, I hope they move!

Howard's book

2006-06-02T19:36:00.000-07:00

I finally finished reading the new Schlock Mercenary book. All of it, not just the new stuff. It is GREAT. If any of y'all want one, you should go to the Schlock site. There's new shiney there every day anyway. Yay for comics!

Birthdays!

2006-05-30T13:11:00.000-07:00

Mark's birthday was on Saturday, and we had loads of fun even though I feel guilty because I haven't gotten him a present yet (the video game check still hasn't arrived and I have no money until it does). We went swimming at the pool for Mike Hurd's apartment Friday, and played Settlers of Catan. Saturday we went to ARMA, and had dinner at Bombay House. The host (who I think might be the owner) always remembers us, he made sure we got the cooshy chairs and Mark got free mango ice cream. I'm allergic to mangos so I could only have a tiny bit, but it was really good. We went to Megan and Stew's place and played Munchkin with them and Maryanne and Seth, and had birthday pie (peanut butter cup, Mark's favorite). Elspeth was very cute, she chased Megan's cats around. So all in all, a most excellent weekend.

In other news, Elspeth falls down a lot! She crawls like crazy, and can pull her self up on things and tries to walk around them, but she can't quite get back down again so she just sort of falls. She's getting better at falling on her bottom instead of her head, but still. She also likes to push the laundry basket around. She is full of trouble! Fortunately Mark went on a cleaning kick yesterday, so there's less dangerous stuff for her to get into...although she always seems to find more, even when we thought there was none!

Should be more pictures soonish, as I just now realized I have a whole roll of film developed that I haven't scanned yet, and the roll in the camera is almost all the way full. Maybe I'll make Mark set up the scanner here for me, as he insists we have one, but I've never actually seen it.

My baby is getting big!

2006-05-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Ok, so Elspeth stood up in the tub yesterday. ALL BY HERSELF. She's way too wiggly for the baby tub now, she pulled herself up on the edge and almost tipped the whole thing over. I'm very impressed with her, needless to say. Her rashes are mostly better, too, although we did get her immunized yesterday, so she has a touch of a fever today, and has been very cranky. Poor little boo.

Also, anybody with advice on how often and how long six month olds can be expected to nap, please speak up, as it's easy to get her down for her naps as long as I recognize when she's tired before she gets OVER tired, which I'm afraid I'm not very good at yet.

We are very busy bees.

2006-04-21T12:25:00.000-07:00

Independant sitting!
Originally uploaded by Driggs family.

So I developped two rolls of film. First one is totally posted on Flickr now...most of it anyway, as NONE of the pictures from the ARMA event turned out. There's one or two on the second roll that were ok and I'll post those later, but still. The event is CURSED, my pictures of it NEVER turn out, year after year.

As an update, I have learned several lessons. First, Elspeth can army crawl in her sleep. This is significant because I put her in the crib then wake up to an incredible THUNK as her poor little head hits the headboard. Scared the spit out of me first couple times it happened. Also, remember that job with the rediculous deadlines that I learned my lesson about all nighters from? I finally got paid for it, and it's even fishier than it was before...the check isn't from the company, but from the project manager. As in, it appears to be a personal check. Glad I got out of that situation, blessing in disguise, and thank heaven I got paid. Mark is taking finals AS WE SPEAK. Pray for him, his calculus class is SCARY. I finished my video game job yesterday, which is kind of sad and kind of a relief. With any luck the company will have more work for me, or perhaps my project manager (who's leaving the company in three days) will give me work in her new job. Also, I sent in my paperwork for a new client yesterday. Yay! Things are coming together, a little bit at a time.

Long time no post...again...

2006-04-07T20:34:00.000-07:00

We are very busy. I mean seriously, when I'm not working Elspeth gets my FULL attention as now she can roll around all over the place. The only ways to keep her stationary are to put her in her swing, her bouncer, or her crib. She can do flips over the boppy, and kinda skoot around on her elbows by pushing with her feet. If the landlord doesn't call us back soon I'm installing those child safety locks on our cupboards without his ok. Mark is working hard to finish the semester...so, we have very little time. Also, Elspeth sleeps with mittens now so she'll leave her poor little eczema cheeks alone, and it seems to be working. Cross your fingers.

Happy birthday to me!

2006-03-19T19:57:00.000-07:00

So, yesterday was my birthday, and we had LOADS of fun. Went to ARMA. Byron clipped me right between the eyes, so now it looks like I'm opening my third eye. Not too bad but it looks funny. We went to Tucanos for dinner (I'm in their birthday club, so I get a free dinner there in March) with Kris and Byron, and the waiters sung the song and embarrassed me, but I got ice cream. I ate too much. We had a birthday pie (I didn't want a cake, I wanted pie!) but we didn't eat any until this morning because we were all stuffed. I got lots of comic books, and the DVD of Howl's Moving Castle. A most excellent birthday. But Elspeth decided she was NOT sleeping in the crib so we got to stay up until three in the morning trying to settle her. Urgh. With any luck at all we won't have a repeat of that. Heck, she's sleeping NOW, maybe she'll stay that way. I can handle it if she gets up early if she'd just go to bed at a decent hour!

Ok ok, so I forgot the actual UPDATE part...

2006-03-10T20:59:00.000-07:00

Also, I'm too lazy to deal with the html to edit the post from Flickr, so there. Anyway, I seem to be Boris's right hand proofer now...he gives me four or five jobs most days, which at twelve dollars an hour isn't too shabby. Also, he's a lot nicer to me now that I'm doing work that is useful to him instead of creating more work for him. Go figure. I had another job, translating interviews from a business journal, but apparently I made a lot of mistakes (although I don't know what she's talking about) so I got the boot. Now I have to make her pay me for what I already did. Smells fishy to me, frankly, but I learned my lesson both about all-nighters (read: source of any errors there might have been) and getting things in writing. I also have a job editing translations for...a video game! Don't ask me what it is because all I'm allowed to say is it's an adventure/RPG for the PSII. When it comes out I will tell you, so no badgering. Just pray that my translators start sending me stuff SOON or I'm screwed on my deadline. Pray HARD. Remember what I said about my lesson re: all-nighters. Urgh.

Finally!

2006-03-10T20:53:00.000-07:00

Sleepy
Originally uploaded by Driggs family.

I got the pictures developped. I uploaded many pictures. You can tell I'm the one who takes all the pictures, as most of these are just Elspeth doing something I thought was cute. You can really tell she's our firstborn, we take pictures of EVERYTHING. She is a very well documented baby. Also, her hair is turning blond so it looks like she's balding. But she's not! She has lots of hair! Argh!