Sunday, September 28, 2008

Balanced Budget!


Susan, Geagen & Mischka in the recliner

Well, Jon and I survived our very first budget summit ala Dave Ramsey. The good news is that the budget is balanced- the bad news is that it took over 2 hours to get it balanced.

Geagen, Mischka and I were in the recliner while Jon was crunching numbers at the desk. This arrangement worked out well for all parties concerned.

Wednesday, September 24, 2008

The Ballad of Geagen and Woolamina


Geagen and Woolamina at 5 weeks

Geagen and Woolamina at 11 weeks

Geagen in her cap and booties from Great-Grandma Wood

Hanging out in the vibrating chair

Today I took long overdue pictures of Geagen and Woolamina. Woolamina is a life-sized Merino lamb from the Pendleton Wool Company- she is made of wool and for this reason we have to hide her from Badgley (he REALLY likes wool....) for her own safety. She lives in the nursery where she fits in with the other barnyard animals and also serves the purpose of picture-taking prop. I think it's really neat to take pictures of her Geagen together and compare how much she's grown. For the record Geagen was 11 lbs. 8 oz. and 23" long at her checkup on September 10. I'm sure she's bigger already. There will be more pictures and I'm sure that with time Geagen will dwarf Woolamina.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

Football Season Has Officially Begun!


Nyssa Bulldogs vs. Marsing Huskies

Jon in the box calling plays for Nyssa

Geagen at her very first football game

Daddy and Geagen on the field together

Geagen and Nyssa Bulldog Dillon Mitchell

Last night Geagen and I went to our very first Nyssa Bulldog football game with Robin. It was Homecoming and we were playing the Marsing Huskies. We played a really good game and ended up winning 25-0. Jon is the junior varsity head coach but calls plays up in the box for the varsity game so we didn't see much of him until after the game. Geagen also caught her very own Nyssa miniature football (they throw them to the crowd after touchdowns) and even had her picture taken with on of the players. We had lots of fun at the game and hope this season will go well. We are already looking forward to our next home game.

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Free At Last!


Geagen and her daddy before her surgery

All smiles before the big event

Having a bottle with Mommy after her surgery

Daddy and Geagen napping together at home

Monday was a traumatic day in the Wood household. Geagen underwent surgery to correct her attached tongue (also known as being tongue-tied). Previously she had not been able to move her tongue past her gums and stick it out of her mouth. Thankfully her ear/nose/throat specialist was able to fix this at 10 weeks instead of having to wait until she was older. She had problems eating before her surgery and has already improved despite being both sore and groggy. She was a very brave girl in the hospital and was a model patient. The hardest part was sending her off to the operating room and then the wait for the surgery to be over and come out of the recovery room. It was a very long hour and fifteen minutes but she came through just fine. She is now discovering her tongue and moves it around a lot. It's like a new toy to her so we see it a lot when she is all smiles and giggles.

Saturday, September 13, 2008

Happy Birthday Mischka!




Mischka 8 years old

It's hard to believe that Mischka has reached the ripe old age of 8. It seems like just yesterday when she was a tiny kitten playing in my closet in my apartment in Bend. I know that no one really believes that she was a little abandoned creature left to fend for herself since everyone knows her as the lovable 23 pound cat that she is now. Mischka still loves her kibble even though I have become a kibble counting nazi who measures all food to be consumed. The cats are slowly learning that wasting kibble is not tolerated any more now that we are following Dave Ramsey's budgeting guidelines- there isn't any allocation for spilled kibble. Anyway- Mischka also loves to lounge in Jon's recliner and is becoming quite adept at dodging Badgley's antagonistic behavior. She even fights back on occasion which is quite an accomplishment considering her sweet temperament. I am glad that Mischka is still healthy and happy and hope she will be around for many years to come.


Geagen with her uncle Mike

We went out to dinner with Jon's mom, sister Robin and brother Mike and his wife Kim. We had a fun time visiting with each other and Mike and Kim really enjoyed seeing Geagen since they hadn't seen her since she was blessed in early August. It was also really nice since I didn't have to make dinner- that's always a bonus.

Friday, September 12, 2008

To Grandma's House We Go!


Geagen and her Great-Grandma Wood

As you can tell, it has been a somewhat eventful week around here. In fact, we’ve been so busy that I’m just getting around to posting for yesterday. We went to go see Jon’s Grandma Wood out in Adrian, Oregon (even further out into the middle of nowhere- approximately 13 miles south of Nyssa). Geagen and I went with Jon’s mom Jeanne to go and visit Grandma Wood. We were going to pick up some peaches that she had picked for us but apparently we had gotten there too late- she had given the peaches away to neighbor in fear that they would spoil before we could come and pick them up. We did have a nice visit in spite of the whole peach debacle. I brought the camera and figured it would be a good time for little Geagen to get to know her Great-Grandma Wood who still loves babies. I got some cute pictures of the two of them together. Geagen made sure she turned on the charm and the two of them visited- Geagen cooed and smiled and studied Great-Grandma’s face intently. I also made sure Grandma had some pictures of the baby to put on her fridge and that they were properly labeled with her name and birthday to avoid any confusion- I guess it comes with the territory when you’re 96!

Thursday, September 11, 2008


Filling the jars

Trying not to burn hands while retrieving green beans

10 glorious pints of green beans! I did them all by myself!

The view while babysitting the pressure gauges


As most of you one of my not-so-secret ambitions has always been to be a domestic marvel. It’s only taken me 32 years, a wonderful husband, a new house, a mini-van (so much for the dream to have a Volvo station wagon with the dog in the back), 3 cats (Badgley, Mischka & Spike), a guinea pig (Trigger), 2 chickens (lovingly named Lucky and Skippy), a new baby and suddenly my dream has taken flight. Not only am I actually building up our food storage from the ground up- it’s a slow process but I add a few things each week and hope to be doing some dry pack canning in the near future to increase our food storage.. I am even learning to can fruits and vegetables. I have started with green beans because that’s what Robin planted in her garden that’s ready to harvest so far- tomatoes will ripening shortly and I have the distinct feeling that we will be up to our ears in tomatoes before the canning process (tomato sauce, spaghetti sauce , pizza sauce, etc.) is over. Thankfully the work is made lighter by working together- I don’t understand how people can do their home canning all by themselves. That’s a massive undertaking! We will also be making freezer jam and have frozen 50 pints of locally grown corn so far as well. Back to the green beans- we have now canned at least 35 (I have lost count at this point so there are probably more than that) pints of green beans to date. I’m really excited about this whole process and am having lots of fun. I’m even planning out garden for next year so there will be even more to harvest and can. Thankfully we have plenty of space (just under 2 acres) so we can plant as much as we want now Jon just has to figure out a way to irrigate it all. Thankfully I have all winter to plan- I know you all are thinking the same thing: she has a list if not multiple lists!


Geagen in her swing


The only other news to report is that Geagen had her very first immunizations today. She had 4 shots and actually came through the whole ordeal remarkably well. I was fully expecting the worst- fever, fussiness, soreness, etc. but we were both pleasantly surprised with no side effects. She only cried for a little while and has slept in her swing most of the day- so it really hasn’t been all that different from any other day. She really loves her swing- she sleeps in it nearly every night and prefers her daytime naps there as well. I’m not sure why she had a falling out with the barnyard animals on her Pottery Barn Kids nursery linens (I promise that I will post pictures of the cutest nursery in the whole world soon) but right now they are not currently speaking. We may have to have some sort of peace treaty signed so we can reclaim the living room. Thankfully she is a very sound sleeper so it really isn’t so bad- we can vacuum and make all sorts of noise- we just can’t turn the air conditioner up to “arctic blast” so we don’t turn her into a popsicle. They generally frown on that sort of thing.

Sunday, September 7, 2008

Baby Pictures- Finally!!


The happy family on blessing day- August 3, 2008

First picture- July 7, 2008
7 lbs., 5 0z 19 1/2" long

Geagen at home- July 11, 2008

Geagen in her chicken outfit- 5 weeks old

Only 11 days and already hiding from the paparazzi! July 18, 2008


I still can't believe that this little baby has been here for 2 months already. It seems like just yesterday when I was as big as a house (my belly was 46" before my c-section) and still in a state of shock that I would actually not be pregnant at some point and also bring a little baby home. I remember our tour of the hospital and seeing the babies in the nursery and it was so surreal. I had the nursery set up and the clothes were washed and in their drawers but I just couldn't put 2 and 2 together. It was a very abstract concept for me to grasp. And then they sent her home like we knew what we were doing. After 3 days in the hospital with Geagen sleeping in the nursery and having her brought to my room when it was time to feed her I was thinking this whole motherhood thing might not be so bad after all. It was like Club Med- except for the food.

Now that Geagen is a little older and we are little wiser as well as completely sleep deprived, we are settling into this parenting thing. Last week she started smiling and cooing so is really a lot fun. Her personality is starting to come out and it's so exciting to see her grow and change. She is growing like a weed and at 6 weeks she was 10.0 lbs. and 22" long already. I'm sure she has grown since then. They will probably measure her when we to get her first vaccinations on Wednesday. I'm sure it will be thoroughly traumatic experience- thank heaven for baby Tylenol!

It's been a little hectic around here lately so it's taken me a while to get these photos posted. I have more to post and will be taking more photos soon.

Friday, September 5, 2008

Greetings!

I have finally made it to the 21st century! I decided to start this blog after I realized that updating everyone about baby Geagen Grace was just too much work and that as long as erveryone gets pictures of the baby, they're happy.

We are super busy here in Nyssa: Jon is teaching middle school science to 6th, 7th and 8th graders as well as coaching high school football (varsity as well as jv). Miss Geagen (otherwise known as Boo-Boo) occupies most of my time. She seems to finally to be settling into a more regular schedule which allows me to get more sleep which I am enjoying. She is a happy baby who loves to coo, make vowel sounds, stare at the clock in the living room for hours on end and smile. We really have a lot of fun together.

I am still learning how to edit and publish digital photos so I hope to have pictures up in the very near future, so please bear with me as I get this blog up and running.