May 14, 2010: A Space Odyssey

Prelude:
Our Space Odyssey started a few months ago. Joe and I had heard on the news that NASA was discontinuing the space shuttle program and was retiring the fleet. Joe and I agreed that we thought a launch would be something we all would want to do.

Fast forward a few weeks ago. I was laying in bed one evening playing with my iPod before going to sleep. I checked out the new apps and found the NASA app. I thought that was pretty cool, so I downloaded it. After it loaded I was checking it out and discovered that the Atlantis was having a launch on May 14th. I quickly checked our schedule and saw that we would be returning from Miami that day. I woke Joe up and asked him how awesome it would be to see that?? So I began inquiring about tickets. They were already sold out, and WAY expensive on Ebay, so I posted a Craigslist ad. Through an awesome guy, Mr. P, we were able to obtain a pass at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's Center(KSC).

The Journey Begins:

Friday morning, we wake up and turn on our hotel tv to the NASA channel. All night the night before, they showed streaming footage of the beautiful shuttle on the launch pad. This morning, it showed the beautiful bird in the Florida morning sunshine. As we begin to remove the sleep from our eyes, we hear an announcer proclaim that everything was going as scheduled and that we were T Minus 3 1/2 hours until launch.

WHAT??????

We jumped out of bed and Joe began saying "I thought it was..." just as the announcer was stating the time of the launch. I grabbed my iPod and went to sit on the lid of the toilet as that was the ONLY place I could get a wi-fi signal. I checked and it was still set for 2:20 liftoff, but it was 7:30 in the morning. Huh? we thought.

Joe grabbed a quick shower while I got the kiddies dressed and finished packing our toiletries (I had packed everything else the night before). Then I heard the announcer state (at 8:00 am) that we were entering into a built in 2 hour holding pattern. Ahhh... So that was it. I then grabbed a shower, we ate breakfast in the concierge lounge and we were driving out of Miami, on schedule, at 9 am.

Our drive went well until we hit the 407 just outside Titusville. As we came off the exit ramp we were immediately engulfed in bumper to bumper traffic. This was at 12:30. It took us approx 20 minutes to get to the 405 and I had Joe call Mr. P to say how thankful we were for the pass and that we were sorry we would not be able to meet him. We exchanged our car types and we said we would look for one another as he passed the traffic going into the KSC.

Well, time kept ticking and we kept inching along. I spotted Mr. P, rolled down my window, honked my horn umpteen times like a crazy lady and waved. I'm quite sure the people around us thought we were lunatics. LOL

So we crept along and crept along and I remembered the radio station that we were listening to was going to broadcast the launch. We turned it back on to listen b/c we had turned it off to talk on the phone. As we listen we hear "Well, if you aren't parked and have a spot by now, you are going to miss it. It seems that everyone in Central Florida has come out to watch the launch today."

OMG.

So it's getting closer, I want to say about 1:30 at this point. And I creep to the left side into the median a bit to see if I can see in front of us. Then I see the bridge is up on one of the causeways. I also see cars being diverted around to the other side of the road and they were parking and getting out.

"Joe! They aren't letting anyone else in! They lifted up the bridges!!"

That my friends, began the THAT moment in a marriage. You know the kind, the "I-Told-You-So" moment. The kind where I start saying how I KNEW we should have left earlier and where Joe states, I didn't think traffic would have been this bad.

At this point we were starting to wonder if we were going to have to watch it from the side of the road like everyone else. I began to observe our surroundings closely. I noticed that all of the people on the otherside of the road did not have colorful placards like most of the cars around us. That gave me hope. I also saw the bridge came down and if I squinted my eyes, I could see cars going across.

Hallelujah!!

Well, we crept along and finally reached a checkpoint, which promptly motioned us forward and off we went (in no traffic) across those bridges. We started laughing and smiling again, as we still had 30 minutes left!!

We arrived at the KSC VC and drove around per our instructions and were able to park very quickly. We even were able to have a potty break, lather up the kids in sunscreen and chekout the lay of the land.


We parked right here beside the Rocket Garden. That is an actual Saturn V rocket! Our van would be just to the right of this picture.



Joshua had just woken from a nap and was tired. We put him in the Becco until he woke up. Joe had the important duty of filming.



Our little redhead, grinning from his shaded spot. I needed my hands free so we opted for the stroller for him.



Joshua was still trying to wake up. We waited until T-5 minutes before taking him out of the Becco so he could see.



"Good luck, godspeed and have a little fun up there," launch director Mike Leinbach told the astronauts just before liftoff. (Mission Control on the Jumbotron)



The "Parking Brake" (per the astronauts) comes off!!!



T - 1 minute and counting!!!!



Engine Start!!



Ignition!!




BLASTOFF!!!!!











So we stayed until the Big red fuel tank was disengaged. This was about 9 minutes in. We started looking around and noticing people heading to their cars. Since we still had approx 9 hours to go, and some very tired kiddos, we beelined back to the car to get a jump on everyone leaving. We were some of the first people leaving the KSC VC and we STILL got caught in traffic. It took us close to 2 hours to get back on the interstate.

Let me tell you, the state of Florida needs to hire the South Carolina State Troopers to direct traffic. If the SCST can clear out a tiny town of Clemson of the million people that descend upon Death Valley for a football game; they can easily clear out shuttle watchers in a short amount of time. ;)

We got home at around 11pm. Exhausted, Happy, and Excited. Everyone that Joshua meets, he has to tell them about the "Rocket Ship" He saw "Blast Off!" And it seems that EVERYTHING in the house now "Blasts Off." The count(up) begins - "1,2,3,4,5 BLASTOFF!!!" (We are working on the counting down for blastoff, he does count backwards, but not for blastoff for some reason).

We are looking ahead and seeing schedules for the next launch in September. Maybe we can take the time and get a room nearby. I will probably be stalking the KSC website for tickets when they go on sale. We would love to be able to tour the museums that were there and to really take everything in. With a whirlwind week we had in Miami, plus the 12+ hour drive home, we just didn't have the energy to really take it all in. :(

All in all, we had an AWESOME once-in-a-lifetime trip!! :)

3:00 Daily Review

So yesterday was a semi-bust. Joe needed to go to the main office in Columbia, so the boys and I tagged along to go to EdVenture Children's Museum in Columbia. It started out as a great morning as we actually left the house on time! (Looking back, I should have KNOWN something was wrong) We got to Columbia, made a deposit at the main credit union branch and headed to DOR. We dropped Joe off and I drove us to the museum (DOR and the Museum share a parking lot). Joe was only going to be there for an hour or two so it would be perfect for us to play while he worked.

We get to the museum, I put John-Michael in the Beco and get Joshua out into the stroller. That's when everything started going downhill. I noticed that Joshua's pants didn't fit right. I looked at the tag and Joe had put on a size 6-12m pants on him instead of his normal 2T. Oh well - no other pants in the car, so they will just have to do. Then I noticed that Joshua's shoes were on the wrong feet. No biggie, I was able to swap them. We go into the museum and NO one is there. That's right, they were CLOSED. Who would have thought they would have been closed???

It worked out anyways because we ended up going to Joe's Aunt's apartment and spending time with her until we went to lunch.So all in all, not a bad day.

It's now Tuesday and I am doing my 3pm review. I am nursing as usual and reflecting upon all that I have accomplished today so far. This is the time when I find myself either deciding to relax a bit, get my rear in gear, or just keep the pace going.

Today I have done:

Gotten Sweet Mustard Pork Chops in the
slow cooker (they are finished and smell FABULOUS!) Now I just need to decide on a veggie to go with our couscous.

Easy Herb Batter Bread is about to be finished with it's first proofing. Then I will put it in it's pan and let it rise again just before baking in time for dinner.

The dining room table is cleaned off from the bags of stuff from our trip to Atlanta. Everything has been put away in it's place, the table cloth is back on the table and the room has been swept.

Dishwasher has been run with a load of dishes and emptied.

Kitchen has been swept once. But will need it again since I have tracked mud all in from clipping fresh rosemary for the bread.

Half of the family room has been swept

A load of diapers has been washed and dried

The boys' toys from the den have been washed, sanitized and are drying and then to be put away in our new organizer.

Joshua and I have had a shower and Joshua is currently taking a nap. John-Michael went down for an early but long nap and is now awake.

I still have to bake the bread, clean the family room, fold some clothes, do Joshua's lesson for today.

I am looking forward to dad being here tonight so that Joe and I can go to our barn burner of a HOA meeting that will happen tonight. Not looking forward to that one.

All in all, it's been a productive day so far.

Baby Shower Gift = Newborn Diaper Stash

So I have an awesome friend who will soon be joining the ranks of motherhood. So for part of her baby shower present, I gifted her the "love of squishiness," i.e. I made a newborn stash of diapers for her.



Her stash now includes:
~ 16 Green Mountain Diapers (GMD) Green Edged prefolds. These were all hand dyed by moi using Dylon Dyes in the colors: Ocean Blue, Bahama Blue, Sunflower, Tropical Green, and a "Blue jean" colorway that I mixed the dyes for.
~ 9 fitted diapers (sewn using the Darling Diapers newborn pattern. I made two in a Georgia Tech print with black crushed Panne inner, 2 in a Little Sailor pattern with cotton velour inner, 2 in a Zoo pattern with cotton velour inner, 1 in a Alien print with cotton velour inner, and 1 in a Hot Lips print with crushed panne inner.
~ 1 Thirsties XS cover in Ocean
~ 2 NB sized Bummis Super Whisper Pant
~ 1 Medium sized, zippered, PUL wetbag (I got an AWESOME deal on some expensive decorator fabric to use for the outer)
~ 18 Flannel and Terry cloth wipes
~ 1 Snappi Diaper Fastener
~ 1 pair of lanolized newborn wool "longies" using Malabrigo yarn with matching hat

(Sorry the basket was purchased. I have not found a love of basketweaving yet - lol)


Jessi now has enough diapers to last 2 days of cloth diapering!! We wish all the best to the soon-to-be new parents!!

Now, I just have to finish the REST of her gift! That will include 2 nursing covers and at least 1 one-sized fitted diaper. How else am I going to get this Georgia Tech fabric out of my house??? LOL

Snow Angels

So this morning, I awoke to Joe and Joshua talking in hushed voices. Joe was about to leave for work, Joshua was sitting up in bed and I could hear the cooing of John-Michael from the nursery. I asked Joshua to go tell his brother "Good Morning" and I hopped out of bed to help Joe leave for work.

As I was standing on the stairway landing and fixing Joe's scarf and kissing him goodbye, the distinct smell of baby powder flooded my nose.

I rushed the 6 steps to the nursery and found this:


Joshua exclaimed "Look Mommy! John-Michael is a Snow Angel!"

Isn't this the cutest, guiltiest look ever????


Hmm... This one looks pretty mischievous as well.


My "Snow Angel"


Happy little "Snow Angel", although he kind of looked like a white, Australian Aborigine to me. LOL






So, what a start to our morning. Luckily this week is "Zone 3: bathroom and extra room" which is the nursery. So I won't be getting out of routine by having to scrub down all the baby powder off the crib, the hassock, etc....

And we were up, showered, and dressed by 9am thanks to a very early morning shower. LOL

Weekly Grocery Savings

So after I started couponing last year, I became a Publix girl. I used to do 90% of my grocery shopping at Wal-mart because I "thought" it was cheaper. I have found that I was wrong in that aspect.

Now, 90% of my shopping comes from Publix, 5% from Wal-mart, and 5% divided up btween Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly and Bi-lo.

This week is a Piggly Wiggly week. I did no shopping at Publix this week. Why? Because Piggly Wiggly had ground beef at $1.29 a pound. I watch all the circulars and we stock up on meat sales. Bi-lo is a good place to get chicken breasts for 99 cents a pound. Food lion is great for sales on ground beef as well as mark downs on meat. I like to go to Food lion in the morning after they have marked down meat, and stock up on steaks, pork chops and the like. Then I go home and immediately freeze them.

We love our freezer and we like to keep it stocked. This gives me the opportunity to plan out what we are going to have as well as change my mind at the spur of the moment.

So this week, we shopped completely at The Pig. We bought roughly 50lbs of ground beef, and Joe and I have cooked, seasoned, strained, rinsed and froze all of them. Yes, it sounds like a lot of work. Actually, it took him and I about an hour to do the 28lbs he bought this evening. That's all. Two hours worth of work and we now have 50 something pounds to be able to grab and use at a moment's notice. The last time we stocked up was Memorial Day and we ran out just a couple of weeks before the end of the year. Not too bad.

Tonight, I was able to grab a pound, quickly thaw, throw some ingredients together and we had a wonderful Shepherd's Pie for dinner. Joe will also have some for lunch tomorrow. We now have plenty for quick meals of Spaghetti, Chilli, etc...

Here are our grocery savings so far:

Spent: $68.37
Saved: $78.26 (53% Savings)
Paper & coupon purchases to date: $16.14 (6 papers and 8 coupons in the last 2 weeks)

Total OOP: $84.51

Yearly Savings: 48%

Beco Butterfly II = Happy Baby

So, John-Michael LOVES to be held. As in ALL DAY. He crawls after me fussing all the way. My BF Ivy bought a Beco last year. I finally got the money to get my Beco!!



I chose the Lenka pattern and I bought it from Quirky Baby. For $139, I got 2 pairs of Baby Legs: Cayenne and Fern Gully, Plus a $25 gift certificate to Restaurants.com and free shipping.

John-Michael loved the carrier! Joe wore him all afternoon. When I put it on, he IMMEDIATELY wanted to nurse, and I was able to nurse him without taking the carrier off or stop what I was doing. He also took a little nap while he daddy carried him around.

Wool Collaboration

So last Christmas (2008), my parents gave me a I Taught Myself to Knit kit. I played around with it, then had a baby, then finally found some friends to help me with my knitting. In November, I started my first pair of wool longies. I finished those (nb sized) and I began my second pair for my John-Michael.

Well, they aren't the right size (bangs head). Oh well. I have a super cute pair of wool longies either to gift or to sell. I haven't decided which yet. So today I am going to go get some yarn to knit a Medium size pair that should fit my little guy.

Here is what I purchased to go with it. The longies' collorway is Forest by Patons Classic Wool. The Goodmama diaper is Chandelier and the Gymboree pieces are from the boy Happy Hippo line.

Enjoy!

A Whole New Year

So we have been pretty busy this past year. Joshua is now 2 and John-Michael is 8 months. I don't really like "New Years Resolutions." Mostly b/c I think that just sets you up to fail. Yes, set goals for things you want to change, but it's babysteps that will get you to where you need to be.

One thing I am going to try and do more of is blogging. I am setting a goal to blog at least once a week. hopefully this will turn into blogging more often.

If you are on Facebook, look me up. I usually give updates daily on things that are going on in our lives.

So look forward to more posts from me. :)

Happy New Year!!

Gotta get some Goodmamas!!

I LOVE Goodmama diapers! I haven't tried their Goodmama ONE or the Goodmama Goodnights, but their regular fitteds are the majority of John-Michael's current stash. This is thanks to an AWESOME sale that Goodmama had back in August. We normally could not afford these diapers as they are expensive. But you get what you pay for. :)

These diapers are SUPER cute and SUPER absorbent with Bamboo velour and Bamboo fleece. I LOVE being able to put these adorable diapers on my little guy.

Here is John-Michael showing off his Navy one. I need to get pics of him wearing his others. ;)

Diapering fitting tutorial

So here is John-Michael in various NB diapers. These were all taken when he was roughly a month old and btwn 9 and 10lbs (all of the lower pictures). For some reason I don't have a picture of a KL0. I will have to get that, but he is almost 11 lbs now. He has only worn 1 sposie diaper and that was his very first diaper that they put on in the nursery while I was finishing my c-section. Once we got to our recovery room, that came off and the wonderful squishiness was put on!!

Updated:
Here is his first diaper. It was a DDNB orange. I appliqued a matching shirt for this as well. The diaper was pretty large at first and one reason why I went to the reds to wear. He was 7lbs 9oz at birth.


Here he is in the XS Thirsties AIO on the day he came home. He was 6lbs and 15oz in this picture.


Here he is at a week old and weighing 7lbs and 2oz (roughly). It is a KL0


here he is in a DD NB red diaper. This was taken 2 days after the above picture.


This picture shows the XS Thirsties cover. Taken same day as photo above.


Some thoughts - the Darling Diaper Free NB pattern in the red was my favorite along with KL0s when John-Michael was first born. They were easy to sew up and fit great. I made them with 4 layers each (1 knit, 2 flannel (or one flannel and one sherpa), sharpa (wicking layer) or crushed panne for wicking layer. I also made some lay in soakers for more absorbancy. Once the umbilical cord came off, the DDNB orange was my favorite.

The covers I used were Diaperaps NB (hospital version and regular version) and Thirsties XS. That is a BSWW in Small in the Froggy pattern under the Little Beetle.

He is almost 11lbs now and can still wear all of the diapers I made and all of the ones below. The DDNBs that I made with Aplix don't fit as well anymore then the ones with snaps.

Tootie Tushies Small Pocket



Tootie Tushies AI2



LIttle Beetle Fitted Size 1



XS Thirsties AIO



Unknown white edged prefold (in btwn orange and green edged in size)



Orange edged (NB) GreenMountainDiapers (GMD) prefold



Darling Diapers NB (free pattern - orange)



darling Diapers NB (Free pattern - red)


Bumgenius 3.0 OS, smallest rise setting, regular insert

John-Michael's Baptism

Just before we left the house.


The actual baptism. Presiding priest was Rev. David A. Runnion


My friend Jessica holding John-Michael.


Our friend Sharon and John-Michael in front of the Blessed Mother


Godmother Kay and her two Godsons




Our family - Joe, Me, Joshua, John-Michael, Gigi and Pa

Joshua's First Haircut

So yesterday we took Joshua to Bangs 'N Bows Hair Boutique in Mt. Pleasant for Joshua's first haircut. It was a cute little salon dedicated to children. It was pricey, but for a first haircut, the expense was worth it.












Too interested in the train table to look up at Mommy and show off his haircut.

Joshua's Girlfriend???

Yeah, they are WAY to young for this. LOL. Joshua's best friend is Rowan. Today after John-Michael's baptism, they surprised us with this:



and then THIS happened:



Of course, I was no where around. I was taking John-Michael out to the car and my two friends as one needed to get back on the road (5 hour drive ahead of her).

All I can say is that it must be his Daddy's influence. LOL