Meet Oaklee

Oaklee Morehouse

For those of you who haven't heard, our beloved Milo has been gone for over a month :( Our animals have been having a rough time lately. After Milo disappeared, we had a hen that was attacked by a wild animal, then another hen turned out to be a rooster. (Best chicken salad I've ever tasted by the way) So now we have a new female in the house:) This is our new kitty, Oaklee. She is very friendly just like Milo, but doesn't seem to have an addiction to earwax. We're hoping she will learn to like it, hahah! We adopted her from the Lawrence Humane Society, and were thrilled to find out she was de-clawed already. Some of her favorite things to do are: play with feather toys, chase laser dots, and sleep on your chest at night. She's a little smaller than Milo, but she's still pretty young; Only 8 months old or so.

Both boys getting a ride

What else have we been up to you ask? Well, let's see....yesterday we dropped off our friend at the airport. Then we visited the Kansas City Zoo. B loved it of course:) We really enjoyed finding some rocking chairs that overlooked the kangaroo meadow, where they were all grazing and basking in the sun. We watched them as we ate our lunch that consisted of hard-boiled eggs, yogurt, and pistachio nuts, oh and Boston Lagers:) We came home and were all ready for naps.



A few weeks ago we hosted an Indian party. Ted and I started cooking at 2:30 in the afternoon and didn't stop until people arrived that evening. I had some Indian jewerly/bindis/tattos that I set out for the girls to wear. (The guys weren't into dressing up so much) We had pork vindaloo, and chicken garam masala with basmati rice. Ted learned how to make naan bread. Our guests supplied the beers, samosas, and a rice pudding for dessert. Everything was great! We even found Indian themed music on Pandora that we had playing in the background.

Showing off the tats and bindi from the party

Hunting with a hammer and saw?

 Ted and Zeets have managed to build a new duck blind this season, made of wood found on the river bank and grasses to disguise it from above. There is a huge pit dug in the sand inside the blind so that at least 2 or 3 people would be able to crouch down comfortably in there. (Looks warm too, so I might even like it)


The weather has been wonderful these last few days. I was not expecting to see the sun again for 3 months after those couple nights of frost. But we have been busy working outside today. We planted some of our last year's crop of heirloom garlic, and got some more garlic that we bought from the store. I'm letting Ted have 2 of the huge garden beds reserved just for his garlic. I'm guessing we will have to dig up some more yard so I have room for my tomatoes next summer. I've been reading Barbara Kingsolver's book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, and it's been quite an inspiration for my plans in the garden next year.

Organically grown kale $2/bunch

I have been harvesting kale and using it in everything I can think of:) I made a pasta and kale salad that had feta and olives for the girl's night that I hosted. We added kale in our mini omelette/frittata things last night. And kale chips are always delicious. I think the frost really helped to sweeten the flavor because I've never really liked fresh kale until this week!

Next week we're hosting Thanksgiving at our house. We're thinking BBQ sandwiches rather than a huge turkey that can't fit in our fridge. If you've ever been in our tiny kitchen, you can see why making a "traditional Thanksgiving meal" would be overwhelming. Ted's parents are coming for a visit, so we'll have lots of help with the boys:)

Eggs!

Hello all! What a summer:) Now it's already October. Finn is 3 months old...ugghhh time needs to slow down! Let me try to catch you all up on the happenings around here:

June 22nd through July- Spent most of our time adjusting to a newborn in the house. Hosted lots of grill-outs and had friends over to visit. Sometime in this period, Hattie, our eldest chicken started laying light brown eggs, yay! We also found a new church that we really like, so have been going there since.

August- We went on our first big trip with all 4 of us to the cottage in New York for a week. While there, we saw all the family, admired the guest cottage being built, went boating, went to the county fair and watched a demo derby, (Briggs is STILL talking about the demo derby to this day, and crashes all of his trucks like they did) celebrated Lucy and Jason's wedding by having a very fun reception that included gnomes, gingerbread people, and toasts followed by blowing on organ pipes, haha!

Once we were back, it was time to celebrate Brigham's 2nd (really?!) birthday. We met up with my family in Manhattan, and spent the day at the Flint Hills Discovery Center, (neat place!) followed by a pizza party/present opening. One of the gifts Briggs received was a trike with a long handle for mom/dad to push him around until he's old enough to go on his own. So we've been taking walks around the block almost daily so he can practice riding. He's got the steering and feet on the pedal thing down, he's just not strong enough to really pedal himself along unless it's downhill. 

September- Ted's back in school mode, I'm back in my weekly routine of things. Books and Babies started back up again at the library so we do that at least once a week. I started baking again for the geology department's weekly colloquium. Ted had a few interviews with oil companies looking for interns in the future.
Ted flew to Cali, bought his parents' van, and drove it all the way back to Kansas. So we're a van family now!
Another one of our hens, Kiko, (our Americana) started laying! We thought she might lay green/blue colored eggs, but no such luck. Instead she has speckled darkish brown eggs, which is just as interesting!
I also took a watercolor class at the Lawrence Arts Center, which I loved and will take it again if they offer it. In class, we focused mostly on still-lifes. Some that I did at home included a tree across the park that was just gorgeous, as its leaves were turning from green to yellow and orange and red. I tried my best to paint Finn (I'd like to get to the point of being comfortable with faces), and I'm currently working on a chicken series featuring all 5 of our girls outside.

October- It's only the 3rd today, but lots to talk about. Over the weekend, Ted took Briggs camping overnight on a trail by Clinton Lake. He loved it! Meanwhile, Finn and I were busy helping decorate t-shirts for the Color Run that is coming up this weekend. A whole group of geology related people are on our team. It's going to be a blast:)

Carolyn is coming out to visit us this weekend, so Ted and I are busy planning on what to do while we have a designated babysitter:) Tomorrow night is the Zombie Walk downtown, which we will probably to see. Friday is the geology picnic. And then the 5K on Saturday. 

The other night we heard Finn laugh for the first time. Now he laughs almost every time we make funny sounds up close by his face. Brigham even got him to laugh by tickling his tummy with raspberry blows/fart sounds.
We took both boys bike riding with us last night. I'm so glad that we can finally all go. Gives us more options for family outings.Ted's going to have really strong legs with all that baby weight he has to carry:) I actually used to have the trailer attached to my bike, and would take Brigs to go get groceries and haul them back to the house. I remember huffing and puffing pretty good, so I know what it's like!

Today, I saw that another one of our hens must be laying. I still have to spy on them to see which one it is, but someone is laying a cream colored/light brown egg similar to Hattie's.

And October 10th will mark our 3rd anniversary of being married:) Not sure what we're doing for that yet. I told Ted that I want a reason to wear a dress/ wear heels, haha.

Finn Connor Morehouse

He's here! Born Friday, June 22, 2012 at 1:40am. Weighing in at a whopping 8lbs 2oz and 19 1/4" long. Finn was actually born on his due date, which is rare (only happens about 5% of the time). He is also going to be forever known as my water baby.

Contractions started around 2:30pm on Thursday. They were mild, but I stayed laying in bed most of the afternoon. I decided that taking a bath might make me feel more relaxed, and it did. Later on in the evening, they were still coming pretty frequent (about every 10 mins.) and getting a little hard to breath through so I got in the bath one last time after Brigs went to bed. I got out of the tub, got dressed, and told my mom and Carolyn I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea to go to the hospital.

Mom drove me to Lawrence Memorial and I got upstairs into a room and hooked up to monitors by 10pm. I was dilated to about a 5 at that point. Contractions were tracking about every 5 mins. I decided to try out the jacuzzi since I didn't have to be hooked up to fluids or anything by I.V. this time. Then, got out so the nurse could monitor the baby and recheck me. I was almost dilated to a 6.

I looked at the clock and noticed it was after midnight and was thinking to myself, "It's his due date!" I bounced on the birthing ball for a little bit, then decided the jacuzzi sounded good again. Mom moved her chair into the bathroom and we were just talking about how we couldn't wait until the moment when they would hand the baby up to me after delivery. As soon as we said that I had a very intense contraction that I almost couldn't get through. My phone was also ringing (it was Ted, who was on his way driving back from Canon City) but neither mom nor I could answer it. He called back a minute later to say he was to Colorado Springs and I told him I thought the baby was going to come very soon. (Going back and checking my phone, this was around 12:50am) Mom went and got the nurse to help me out of the jacuzzi and onto the edge of the bed. I was at a 7, but she said the baby was right there. They called the doctor to come in.

 Lots of nurses started getting things ready and they made me get up on the bed so I'd be ready for pushing. Ted called at 1:26am and stayed on speaker phone the rest of the time. He said later it was super hard to listen to everything going on and not be able to be there. But so glad he got to witness over the phone at least! When Dr. Kimuri got there my nurse went to hand her something, but ended up spilling water all over her instead and said, "You look like your water broke!) I thought she was talking to me, but then a moment later the doctor broke my water (a lot of relief!), and said next contraction I could push.

So I did! Then I remembered I wanted a mirror to help me see the progress so they got one, I pushed and saw the crowing of the head. The next push Finn's head was out (along with a huge gush of water that got everyone I think), the next push the rest of his body was out, and at the same time I threw up. This caused lots of laughter from the nurses and myself. They put him up on my chest and I was describing him to Ted, when all of a sudden Finn peed all over me! This caused even more laughing. Oh Finn, the water baby :) My mom was so excited to be a part of it, she got to cut the cord, which I think made her life!

He is perfect! I'm sitting in the hospital right now, my last night here. It's just me and Finn tonight. Ted decided to stay with Brigs at home and give Carolyn a little break. I'll probably get dismissed around lunch-time tomorrow. I have yet to get some pictures posted online, but this laptop doesn't have a card reader, so looks like you'll have to wait until I get home!

Due date week is here!

Well, I can't hardly believe it, but Friday is my actual due date! Will baby come before then? We shall see!! So a little update on what's been going on this last month....May 14th Ted left for a 6 week long field camp that started in Utah and moved to Canon City, CO. I kept really busy the first couple weeks he was gone, taking Brigs to play dates, library events, grandparents house, having people visit, etc. Ted's mom, Carolyn, came out the first week in June to stay for the rest of the time Ted would be gone. We're staying very busy with projects around the yard. The garden looks amazing as ever!
Last week I started having some contractions that were a little bit different and happening more frequently than I was used to. I was also having sharp pains that wouldn't go away. After making a call to Ted, he said he was going to come home, and he took the latest plane he could get on to that night. He showed up in the middle of the night. I was soooo relieved to have him back! It had been the longest we have gone without seeing each other since we met!
We thought, "Ok, labor is looking like it's going to start..." But at my doctor's appointment a day later I was only dilated to a 3, with 70% effacement. Measuring quite a bit lower (32? or 34? weeks as opposed to 38 like I should have been) so the doctor ordered an ultrasound to check baby's fluid and other measurements. Everything was fine, so it appears that the baby had just dropped since the previous week. Also, the sono-tech kind of scared me with the news that the baby is probably about 7.5-7.9 lbs already...quite a bit bigger than Brigs was! But, I guess if she's right this babe might not look like his limbs are sticks.
We got some sad news when Ted found out Saturday that he would have to return to field camp and finish the last project or he wouldn't pass the class. Which meant, he would have to do this all over again next summer...and his graduation would have to be pushed back until he completed this class....and that could mean possibly affecting when/if he gets into grad school. So major bummer. It was a very hard decision to make, but after thinking it over, trying to come up with other options, and praying about it, we decided that he should go back today and whatever happens this week, well...he'll be home by Friday at least. :( My mom came down tonight and said she would go to the hospital with me if I go into labor before Ted gets home. We sent a laptop with him and might have to Skype during delivery which will be quite a story to tell. But who knows what will happen. Baby might decide that he will wait until his daddy's back to get here.

May Day

So many blessings to be thankful for as I'm thinking back on what's been going on these last few months! After we came home from Scotland we 'dug' right into the garden haha:P Couldn't be happier with how it's turning out so far. We have quite a variety of new things growing (garlic, onion, basil, watermelon, green beans) and probably just as much work as last summer, but at least we don't have to stress about getting things ready to take to the farmer's market this year. Since the baby is due in June,we decided that we would sell out of house instead. And will most likely do what we did our first year and give away plenty to friends.
Speaking of baby, here's an update on how he's growing:

That was taken at 31 weeks during our visit to California. While Ted attended AAPG conference in Long Beach for a few days, I got to spend some time with my in-laws and have a nice little vacation. Some of my favorite activities included: lounging in a chair on the patio, watching Brigham throw food to the chickens, shopping for baby clothes and mommy clothes with Carolyn, seeing Redlands Farmer's Market, attending a new church, eating fruit, and reading books!
This week is Ted's last week of classes at KU, then on to finals next week. Seems this semester has gone by the fastest of them all! He doesn't have much longer and he will be graduating; A possibility of that happening this December already, my goodness!

Scotland

For Spring Break this year, we traveled to see Raymond and Mary Blake in Scotland. They are living in a cute little stone house a few miles from St. Andrews, where Ray is attending school and MB is working. We were very impressed by the lush green fields filled with sheep, and how everything was so old!
Ted and I took a walk around a small town and found this ancient church (1183) that is still holding services to this day.We also really enjoyed spending a whole day walking around St. Andrews seeing all of the old medieval castles and churches. We even crawled down into a mine, yeah, actually had to crawl because the ceilings were incredibly low!Spent a nice day at a beach town. Took a walk around the rocks by the sea and found a few cute little pubs to hang out in until our bus came to pick us up.
One night MB's friend offered to babysit for us so we had a couples date night and we went to this really awesome Indian restaurant, had the best nan bread I've ever had there! Ted had the hottest spicy dish he's ever had.
Another day, we rented a car and drove around the Highlands for the day. Up the road from one of the towns we found an amazing castle that was still in pretty good shape. Ted and I had a lot of fun walking the trails around the castle, seeing the waterfalls, and walked up to a peak that overlooked the town.

Thank you Mary Blake and Raymond for your great hosting skills, and showing us around to some of your favorite spots!

Baby Chicks

Our four chicks arrived last week, and already they have grown so much. Their names are: Hattie, Lomi, Fira, and Ping. We keep them inside in a cage up on a shelf in the window. They like their heat lamp and we see them piled on top of each other snuggled up several times during the day. Everyone wonders why they are black instead of yellow, but it's just the breed that they are. They're Barred Rock hens and will eventually have black and white polka-dotted feathers. I'm excited for when they can move out into their coop, but the weather is just a bit too cold.Day 1 (above): Tiny balls of fluff

A couple days old (above): 3 sleeping in their food bowl

This was how the coop looked all winter. Since, we've remodeled it a bit and put up a fence for their pen.