Lee Farms

Wednesday, I took Gabe to Lee Farms in Tualatin, Ore. We went with two moms I know that live in Northeast Portland. Gabe looked at baby chickens, a goat (although he didn't really like the goats walking up to him) ran around a pumpkin patch, and towards the end of the trip we got some apple cider donuts. These donuts are sooooo good, and they apparently make them all year around. I didn't get any apple cider (which they make fresh) but Craig wants to go back and get some.












We're still dealing with house stuff. We are a little bit closer to solving our drainage problems. Without getting into boring details, we need to divert the water that gets into our downspouts after the rain and the discharge line connected to our sump pump to another source other than the drywall. In fact, it may not even be going into a drywall, but a trench. Ugh, it is all very convoluted.

Last week, Gabe and I also went to lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory with a mom's group I am a member of. One of the little girls there, who is Hispanic, is very cute and looks exactly like a girl version of Gabe. I thought it was funny, because I have always felt Gabe looked kind of looked Hispanic.

Summer/Fall Update

It has been a pretty hectic two months! First off, we bought a house and closed on September 9 and moved in September 24. It's a 4 bedroom in Beaverton and it was built in 1992. It is in pretty good shape, but needs a few things done to it:

1) There are two skylights that need replacing because the previous owners did not repair them right per our home inspection report.

2) One toilet that is running (but that isn't majorly complicated to fix, if it is indeed just running).

3) There is a sump pump in our crawlspace that apparently needs to be there because water gets in there during hard rains. We suspect that the house is situated lower than the houses around us and gravity pulls the rain towards us, thus the need for a sump pump. The last time it rained hard, the pump was doing its thing, but we heard it working almost constantly for about 2 days. So Craig went down there, however it was dry as can be (the previous owners replaced it after out home inspector found it was not working; it's pretty loud after a hard rain, but broken pump somehow escaped their notice).

4) The kitchen and bathrooms need updating, but everything works fine. Except for the kitchen faucet, which leaks (our home warranty is putting in a new one when the part comes in) and the fridge is OLD and probably on its last leg, but the warranty will also take of that if it kicks the bucket.

5) The outlet for the clothes dryer was 3-prong, but our dryer plug is 4-prong, so we had to buy a 3-prong outlet to put on the dryer. Changing the outlet is very expensive, but that is something that we need to do at some point in the future.

6) There are a few other things I don't have the patience to get into. The former owners, who shall remain nameless, just didn't really take care of the place very well. They did a few things before they put the house on the market and several items outlined after the inspection. But there were a lot of things they dropped the ball on (like mickey mousing electrical outlets) and not because they were broke. They had the money to buy a boat, which sat in the driveway. That's why I don't feel sorry for them. And the husband is supposed to be an electrical engineer for Intel; he must have graduated at the bottom of his class.

Anyway, other than all that (and more) generally the house is in good shape. We want to buy a dining room table for the dining room, since the table we already have was placed in the eat-in kitchen. And we have a separate living room and family room, so our living room furniture and television we have is in the family room (which is situated off to the side of the kitchen), so we have to buy furniture for the living room. So currently, the living room is empty and the dining room is Gabe's play area for the moment.


Living Room


Dining area. Gabe standing there like
he can move objects with his mind, lol.


Family Room


Family Room


Kitchen


Eat-in Kitchen area

The backyard is nice and roomy, but not too big. We have arborvitae (a type of evergreen) trees, two plum trees (one is Japanese, I think), an apple tree, four blueberry bushes, and about 5 or 6 rose bushes. I saw the blueberry bushes giving fruit at the end of the summer, so I know they are cool and apparently don't need much care at this point. The fruit trees need pruning once a year and the evergreens don't really need any pruning, just watering at the proper times. So I am looking forward to getting some fruit for jams, pies/tarts, and just eating. The only thing I am concerned about as far as the plum trees is the mess they will create, when the fruit drops if not picked in time. But that is not real problem; I am hoping that they actually produce fruit and hopefully those previous owners didn't screw up the trees (I am very resentful towards them, in case you haven't noticed).


Plum tree


Other plum tree


Blueberry bushes



Rose bushes (I pruned the first one, have to
get to the others).



Backyard, getting rid of these flowers and will
change this to a vegetable garden soon.



Backyard, apple tree in the corner, arborvitae
on the right.

Craig says, "Homeowning is for people that don't like money."

Anyway, that is our update for now! Hope all y'all are doing well!

Brewster Birthday Bonanza!

My birthday (July 27) starts a narrow succession of events in our family: our wedding anniversary on August 2, my mom's birthday on August 7 (one of Craig's cousins has the same birthday as my mom), Craig's birthday on August 11, and my brother's birthday on August 19 (and if my dad were living, his birthday was August 15!).

Just got tired reciting all that.

We didn't do anything special for our anniversary this year, just went out to family restaurant for dinner (a local joint called Sharis). My mom and brother are coming to visit this coming Sunday for a little over 2 weeks. Yay! Really excited about that. Gabe can have other people to pal around with and I get to see my mommy (and my brother, too, lol).

Craig got me some hair products I wanted to try for my birthday, from Qhemet Biologics. Can you all tell I am disturbingly into my hair?



But I can't wait to try them. I joked with Craig and on Facebook that they smell so good, I want to eat it! However, I mistakenly told Craig to order the 2 oz. Detangling Ghee instead of the 5 oz. The 2 oz will pretty much get used up in one detangling session! But that's ok, maybe I won't like how it performs, who knows. I can always get more.

I got Craig his birthday present early. It's a CD of a band whose music is out of print, The Producers. He has the cassette tape, which is useless. So now, he has the CD!

While my family is in town, we all (including Craig's mom, Deb) plan on going out to celebrate the birthdays. I was thinking of taking them to Philadelphia's, a Portland restaurant that makes cheesesteaks. And they are goooood, okay? Better than cheeseteaks in Philly.

Here is the daily pic of Gabe. He was eating some Honey Nut Cheerios while I was taking pics of the hair products. He has one molar that is almost completely emerged. Another is just slightly poking through and the other two have not surfaced. He has really been a trooper about it because I know at times they hurt a lot. So far, he has not had a lot of trouble sleeping at night, but naps are bit fitful. We can't wait until all the molars are done coming in.

Two year check up, teeth and potty stuff

Hello, hello! Sorry for the gap in posts.

One of Gabe's second year molars have made their grand appearance. Finally. I knew he was teething because for the past couple of weeks, he has had a rather short fuse. He's got the normal toddler frustration going on, but it was definitely taken up a notch. So far, its just the one molar on the bottom left. Haven't taken a good look lately to see if any of the other three have popped up. I can really imagine how painful it is, so I give him some extra cuddling, etc. to get through it all.

Gabe also had his 2 year check-up in June, and I do not believe I posted about it. He weighs 25 pounds now, so his weight is catching up with his height. I think (if I remember correctly) he is 32 inches tall. He is doing really well, no problems.

The main ongoing project with Gabe now is potty training. It seems that physically, he is just about 100 percent ready, but emotionally…not quite there. A while ago, we bought a potty and a toilet attachment. He would pee a lot in it, mostly in the mornings. Wanted nothing to do with the toilet attachment. Then he wanted nothing to do with the potty, either. Then recently, we got some potty books. He likes those a lot and asks to read them while sitting on the regular toilet with the potty attachment. But he has yet to actually go; he will go through all the motions of going to the bathroom without actually doing it. So, we're still working it. Any advice or encouragement is welcome!

Gabe pic for the week:



Craig took this, he was posing with various hats.

Hair and Dough

I found a place in Northeast Portland to get my hair done and I went there a few weeks back. I got two-stranded twists; for those of you not familiar, it's basically like braids, except instead of three strands of hair, you use two strands. I kept them in for three weeks and took them out, which is another hair style called a twist-out shown here (along with my new glasses. Also, ignore the broom/mop handles in the background; I'm in the half-bath downstairs):



Two-stranded twists aren't complicated and despite the salon also offering straightening services (i.e. relaxers, press n' curls) the stylist did a good job. I have to say though, after washing and detangling my hair, when she was about to start twisting it, I got a hot comb flashback and my heart started beating all fast…actually felt heat on my neck…I guess it's Post Traumatic Press n' Curl Disorder!

So the only thing I didn't like were the products she used. They're called Miss Jessie's. A lot of naturals use their stuff and are happy with it, but many don't like them because it has mineral oil in it that can coat the hair and scalp, which in term might prevent moisture from getting in and cause dryness. This happens over time, so I haven't experienced this. But when I washed my twists a week after I got my hair done, it felt like ALL this goop came out. Didn't feel very nice. So I'll probably go back at some point; it's time and effort I don't have to use twisting my hair myself and using those products every now and again probably won't hurt long term, but definitely don't want that stuff in my hair on a regular basis so I won't be trying those products myself.

Some hair products I'd LOVE to try are called Qhemet Biologics. All good ingredients and almost all naturals who have tried them rave about it. My hair is starting to get longer, so it's really important I protect my ends to retain length.

A long post wouldn't be complete without a Gabe pic (although, I'm pretty sure I've prattled on before in a post without adding a photo of Gabe. Sorry, lol.). Here is a picture of Gabe playing with his blue dough. We bought this colored and scented dough from Lakeshore Learning for his birthday. Today he seemed really interested in the containers, versus the actual dough.

Pretend Eating

Here are a few pics of Gabe "eating". His faux diet is pretty awesome!

Teeth, pumpkin butter and parks

Sorry for the delay in posts. Time just got away from me.

This past week, Gabe had a dental appointment that went well. His two bad teeth are remaining stable, meaning they are not getting worse. He got his usual treatment done, with some crying, but it wasn't too bad. Dr. Hsu wants to do a cleaning and filling on them when he is old enough, like around three. I still have reservations about it because they don't seem to bother him and the teeth in question can fall out as early as five years. So, I don't know yet.

Here is a pic of Gabe the day of his appointment. I think he has food in his mouth:



Last Saturday, we went to the Beaverton Farmer's Market. Craig and I got these really delicious pot pies: beef and mushroom, chicken thai green curry. We each got to taste both. Then we bought some pumpkin seed butter from a local place; they are not selling in any health food stores yet because of demand. But boy, is it good with crackers and has a high protein content.



Then Sunday, we went to Peninsula Park where Gabe had fun strolling all over the place. For some reason, Gabe has never been into climbing stuff, so he can take or leave playgrounds (except for the swings, he loves that). Even as a crawler, I'd always watch him near the stairs but he was never interested. So at parks, he is usually more into exploring things he can run on or just looking at trees, grass, dirt, etc.





For Father's Day, Craig wants to go back to Grandma Leeth's for dinner (we went there for Mother's Day). So we're going there tomorrow evening! Hope everyone has a nice weekend!