Keeping cool and weaning

I remember when I discovered that our house here in Oregon didn't have air conditioning. In fact, most of the homes in our area don't, because it generally doesn't get hot here. I guess they never saw global warming coming, though. Anyways, we had just moved cross-country from hot, humid Virginia, where I lived indoors spring through autumn because I couldn't handle the heat there. I panicked thinking I would surely just melt here in the summer without my a/c. But then, year after year, summer would come and go and our little house in the dense coniferous forest would stay nice and cool...

That is until this summer! Boy, these past few days have been quite toasty. We keep finding out cats sprawled out all over our hardwood floors trying to keep cool. They'll get up, walk a few steps and then flop right back down. Our dogs are even too hot to chase them. I guess we are all feeling a bit sluggish at the moment. We've been keeping cool with endless smoothies and running in the sprinkler. We have been trying to get out of the house as much as possible, too, and took the little ones to an inflatable tiger slide they had been begging to go to. K went down quite a few times and even Little L wanted to do it (with big sister's help). He loved it, to my surprise. He's such a fearless, crazy, lovable boy. C, on the other hand, was a bit too intimidated by the whole thing. She did end up going down once in the end, though.

Speaking of my crazy boy, I would love to seek some wisdom from all of you on a topic dealing with him...night weaning. Shhhhh, I am whispering so he doesn't find out I am even thinking about this. I did child-led weaning with both of the girls and never had any issues. I expected to do the same with Little L but he nurses so differently then they did. The truth is, I haven't slept well in months, the dark circles under my eyes confirm it. I feel like my parenting is being affected as my patience has been running thin. He has been having a hard time sleeping and nurses all night long. Even though he is snuggled up next to me in bed (which I love), I just can't sleep. Plus, my milk supply has pretty much dwindled away, which makes nursing a tad bit uncomfortable. I decided it would be best for us both to go ahead and night wean...now what?! Kevin will be home more this week so we are hoping to have him put Little L to bed and then I will (try to) sleep with the girls. If that works what do I do after that? I always nurse him down to sleep. Will I have to move him out of our bed? I am not quite ready to give up the baby snuggles just yet. As you can see the whole concept of weaning is foreign to me. Any words of advice and even just prayers for us as we try to figure this all out would be so greatly appreciated!

Here's what Little L has to say about all of this weaning talk: "I don't hear you!!"

Keeping cool and weaning

Tumbleweed Adventures

Warning - three days worth (a ridiculous amount) of photos to follow. I can see already that I will need to relearn how to take photographs in strong sunlight once we move. This game was the best road trip idea EVER. The girls' first time seeing a tumbleweed. (and it won't be there last with living in Idaho!) "Tumbleweed" is C's nickname so it was fun sharing this first with her. The quest for anything green in southern Idaho led us to a softball field. A dust storm suddenly picked up sending us running for cover. The only way to include myself in this story (post shower) Three little sleepyheads in a row More searching for green and water, too! Kevin just came back home last week after spending 2 1/2 weeks in Pennsylvania taking care of his Mother. We were so very happy to have him back with us. The day after he arrived, we packed up the van and drove to Idaho to check out the general area we will be living in. It was a longer drive than we anticipated so we ended up only getting one full day there. Not quite long enough to really discover anything but just enough time to take away the fear of the unknown. K loved it there and I admit it is much more beautiful than I expected. The mountains, huge skies and open land were breathtaking.

I think the pictures will show you that the landscape in Idaho is drastically different from our lush, green land here in Oregon. It will take some getting used to, that's for sure, but we'll adapt; we always do. I have to say that I had quite a strong desire to kiss the grass once we got back to Western Oregon! But different landscape means different species of plant and animal life and new ways of exploring. We were even already bird watching finding new birds we had never seen before.

There will be more trips back and forth to find our future home. We really have no clue where we will end up - Kevin's job is in the middle of nowhere where there are miles upon miles between buildings. This is actually ideal living for us, but I just always envisioned forests (and soil!)surrounding our little homestead. Kevin told me today he was thinking of possibly finding a place near a deserted ghost town (literally!!) because the nearest Catholic church is located there. I love him to the moon and back for making that such a big consideration.

Overall, a three day trip - two days of travel, only one day to explore but so worth it!

Tumbleweed Adventures

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}

The act of creating, in one form or another, preserves my sanity amongst the chaos of life. This explains why I always have more than one project going at a time as well as why my housework tends to fall behind. I enjoy seeing what others are working on and keeping calm with, too. What are you creating? What is keeping you going? Snap a picture or two and share it with the rest of us by leaving your link below.


I found myself with quite a bit of free time over the weekend which was just the inspiration I needed to pick up my Multnomah Falls shawl project (you know, the one Beowulf originally destroyed on me). I made a good amount of progress on it, well, a good amount for me - I am a slow knitter.



I thought I'd share a little behind the scenes glance of Little L helping me with my photos above. He felt I needed props such as daisies and bachelor buttons we found growing on the side of the road. I rather like his little additions, how about you?

What are you working on? Happy creating!

If you would like to link up and share your current works in progress (or finished works) please leave your link below. It can now be either to your specific blog post or Flickr photo. There are no rules, only that your link is current and something about a craft project (of any kind) you are working on. Don't forget that there is now a KCCO Flickr group for you to share your crafting photos at anytime.

Please remember to link back here so that others who may want to join KCCO can find us.

It's as simple as that. Remember your post can be from any day of the week, it doesn't have to be today. We all love feedback so if you have a moment please leave a comment on some of the KCCO posts you may visit. I know from my own experience just how much your comments really motivate me! Now please share and inspire us all!

Keep Calm Craft On {crafting on}