Right after I had Jillian the chickens started to lay eggs. I’ve lost count but we’ve gotten over 20 so far. The 2 Wyandottes started first because we just got brown eggs for the first 2 weeks but slowly the Ameraucanas are following suit and we have some green eggs too (although the picture doesn’t show the colors well 4 of those are really light green). In other chicken news, they are not enjoying the cold that much I don’t think because they keep trying to come in the house and garage. Lola actually knocks on one of our doors pretty regularly and of course I usually give her some food when she does so I’m sure that she’ll keep it up. This morning Fuzzworth was at the front window and the kids thought it was great, they also liked looking out at all the chicken footprints in the snow. Luckily all the chickens have stopped roosting in the trees at night now that its getting super cold!

I think we have reached the point where I can start to relax and enjoy Jillian (and all of the kids again)! Her doctor was pleased with her weight gain when we were there this morning. Last Tuesday she was 6lbs 14oz and today she was 7lbs 7oz. I take her back next Friday for another weight check but I am really glad our doctor was happy with her weight and how she looks (she looks so much better and is a lot more alert now). I am still using the breastpump after most feedings, giving her bottles if she is still hungry after breast feeding and I have to coax her to eat sometimes when its been more than 3 hours but things are looking up and now I can stop stressing so much. I can sleep some more too and that is huge. I will have to get some pictures up on the computer later today but before I take them off the camera I want to take a few more now that she is looking so much healthier.

*Well I added some pictures! Unfortunately there is always something, Ethan had to come home early from school with pink eye AGAIN! Ben and Jamie’s eyes aren’t looking very good either but our doctor changed their prescriptions and I’m hoping that will clear things up quickly since their eyes had gotten better last week. We got our new wood burning stove insert today and it looks great and tomorrow the wood comes so that will be great! In all things are still sooo much better!

Ever get a magnetic photo card in the mail? Thanks to the Parent Bloggers Network and Magnet Street we got these ADORABLE magnetic birth announcements so that all our family and friends can be greeted by Jillian when they get a snack from the fridge! Of course they’d be great to stick up at work too so I’m sending John with one this morning for the cabinet above his desk. This is one coolest ideas I’ve seen to announce a new baby and I’m hoping it catches on. I wish I knew about these when our other kids were born! With Ethan and Ben I went nuts making scrapbook type of announcements and it took a lot of time to do. By the time I had Jamie I just sent a photo that I added text to but even that took me awhile on the computer and it was pretty simple looking. This time I had a ton of fun designing the announcement and I was able to personalize my colors and text. It was really easy to do, I mean really easy! I actually made two different designs online and then had a tough time choosing which to get. There are so many options and lots of ways to customize them. Here is the one I picked, I kept the text the same but I changed the border color and the main color. I was very happy with how I could match the colors to my photos, it really made a big difference when I was playing around with the options and I am very proud of my creation! Magnet Street is not just for birth announcements, what a fun idea for a wedding or party invitation or a holiday card! Honestly I am so excited about these and I am almost done writing out all of the addresses so I can’t wait to mail them and hear what everyone thinks!

*Just a note, John edited out our last name for the blog image so our names are not off center.

I haven’t been taking many pictures with all the craziness around here lately but I couldn’t forget the camera when Jillian had her first real bath on Thursday. She didn’t mind it. She had such fuzzy hair afterward.

I look forward to getting back into the blog too, I have lots of great products to review and giveaways but I’m going to be taking my time putting them up! Actually I am scheduled to review some magnetic birth anouncements for the PBN on Monday so I’ll get that up and I also have another GREAT photo birth anouncement to review with a GIVEAWAY too after that (no, its not overdoing it sending out 2 anouncements! she is my last baby so I need to enjoy all this stuff while I can).

Ingredients

2 PVC 3/4″ x 5′ plain pipe ($1.97 each) 1 PVC 3/4″ adapter ($0.27) 2 PVC 3/4″ caps ($0.23 each) 1 PBC 3/4″ tee ($0.37) 1 plastic garden hose shutoff valve ($2.97) 1 4oz PVC primer ($2.52) 1 4oz PVC cement ($3.24) NOTE: When trying my first test run I discovered I bought the wrong PVC adapter.  I bought a female unthreaded to male threaded adapter when I should have bought a female unthreaded to female threaded adapter.  I’ll need another trip to Lowes to get an adapter before I test it out.

I didn’t see any threaded PVC at Lowes so I decided to try using PVC cement for the first time. As you can see a big chunk of my sale was buying the cement and primer which I used very little of. I’ll have to think of some more PVC projects now that I have the glue :)Test fit everything at the store to make sure you have the right sizes. The adapter should be threaded on one end and fit on a garden hose. The shutoff valve is optional. At right is the picture of all the parts prior to assembly on my dirty garage floor. The PVC cement is foul stuff with lots of warnings so do this project in a well ventilated area.

Assembly

• Cut one of the PVC pipes in half. I also made the pieces a little shorter.
• Start priming and cementing. Follow instructions on jars and put the pieces together.
• Let cement cure per instructions on jar (2 hours in my case)
• Drill 3/32″ holes along top of your T 1″ apart. Lay the T flat, drill down from ceiling towards floor, but be careful not to go all the way through.
• Test it out!

Here are pictures of my finished Zamboni. Excuse the dirty garage floor and the sloppy purple primer. Final dimensions are 5′ wide and 5′ 6″ long.

The next morning we all stayed home from school and work.  I sent the boys downstairs to play while I grabbed them breakfast.  Ethan called up for me to hurry down quick….the chickens are in the trees!  Sure enough, all 7 chickens were roosting in the trees above their coop.  Turns out their coop door must’ve blown shut Thursday so with no way to get into their house they went into the trees.

Ever since then Henrietta, Chickie-Poo, and Hen have continued to roost in trees at night.  The temperatures have been milder so we’re curious if they’ll keep doing this once the cold weather returns.  Our only concern is that the 2 big chickens are roosting in a branch about 15 feet above our back door on a branch that hangs into the fenced part of our yard.  No wonder the dog was going nuts.

So babies are on my mind a lot lately since I just had my 4th exactly 2 weeks ago! I know I am very fortunate at the moment to be able to experience the newborn stage one last time and I will miss it as baby Jillian grows! Its wonderful to have reminders of being pregnant and this newborn time but its hard to find the time to take all the pictures and write all of the memories down. That is part of the reason I was so excited to receive a copy of Amazing Baby to review from the Parent Bloggers Network. I was also interested in the book as a way to help prepare the other 3 kids for Jillian (and John and I too really, it has been 2 years since we last had a baby after all!).

Amazing Baby is a BEAUTIFUL big hardcover book filled with truly “Amazing” pictures of babies and info about their first two years! Its almost too nice to share with the kids but its too special not to let them take a look. I wish I could take these kinds of pictures of my kids (actually I think I’ll try to replicate some of the poses with Jillian but I’ve still got a HUGE amount to learn about taking pictures).

This would be a wonderful baby shower gift and it would be so nice if all pediatricians and OBGYN offices had it in their waiting rooms (it would have made the wait so much nicer during all of my prenatal visits!).