Mama and Other Fun

Can you smell it in the air? The smell of snow is being replaced with none other than the smell of soil. Wet, cold soil as it warms... The smell of SPRING!! And what did spring bring to the Vollers? Celia seems to have officially attached her first word to something...

ME!

I hear many babies say "dada" first, but our lady now mumbles "mama" or "mummum" when she wants me or wants to nurse. Lucky me! Now whenever I hear that little voice call out "mamamamamam," I'm an absolute sucker. I stop whatever is going on and run over like a child that hears the ice cream truck on a July afternoon. She just talks talks talks! It's hilarious! And although she seems to run wild verbally these days, phyisically, well, she really wants to crawl, but not enough to bother too much. Standing -- well, that's just not any sort of fun, says Celia. Here's a video of her babbling away!



She has also taken to clapping her hands this week and waving! She has been copying us for a few weeks, but this is especially fun! Check out video 2 of copying daddy smacking his mouth.



Celia had her first illness this month too. Luckily, it wasn't so bad. She started to not keep down solids for a day and then I noticed a small temp. (and yes, took my first journey into rectalville -- woo hoo...) What did I do? The only thing that made her happy: Kept her close, went to liquids only and laid around with her all day. Her she is, too big to really be in the sling this way, but right where she wanted.



We are also happy to report that in general we are getting 6ish hours of sleep in a row!! This is HUGE!! I look back to January and the 6 months of intense sleeplessness and I don't know how we made it. But you do, right? You've seen Celia playing guitar with Steve... well, clearly I caught another special moment between dad and daughter. Celia is always in smiles when dad is around. They are quite the pair!



She eats like a little piggy too, loving her mama made food. Although it looks as if she may be ready for some finger foods, would you say?



On the Steve and Jeannie front, we have started our first indoor seeds for our expanded garden to get back to our local eating goal. We are excited to hop back on the locavore train, toot toot. It's been a bit of a bother to me to buy greens and tomatoes, but next year at this time I hope to be using up the last can of tomatoes from the garden, the last onion from storage, the last frozen peas bag. YIPPIE!

Jeannie has spent most of her time with the garden endeavor while caring for little Celia. Steve has been really enjoying his new job and he is BUSY BUSY BUSY! Every day we thank the Foremost gods for giving Steve this promotion! Now I get to stay home with babe and he gets to be happy. I'd say two invaluable aspects of life, yes?

We've had our share of trials as well. Our mortgage situation has hit the fan, as they say. Deep up to our gullets in payments for the adjustable mortgage, we have been close to drowning in the preditory lending scandals we are all hearing so much about. Yet, hazaa, we are now out of our "penalty period" to get a new mortgage and can do so without forking over cash up our wazoo to do so. Relief! But wait... everything was in the works. We were finally able to breathe. This month all savings has been depleted, the 401K cashed out to pay for our mortgage and medical bills for the birth is gone. Just in time...

Except... House value down 10,000? What? 100% loan to value ratio? No banks will refinance those 100%-er's? Explitives erupt.

This is our current head mess. Steve and I try daily to grab a broom and sweep away the fudge of confusion to see clearly as to the right path. We send out for help and guidence. We sit in silence for the magic voice of reason to speak. We smack a few bats that are making homes in our brains, only to come out at night and flutter us awake in panic... Soon, is all we can say... soon.

We are thinking of finding some people that have land or know someone that has land and seeing if they want to sell, rent or make a trade with us. We'd like to build a sustainable one room cabin with loft for around 4,000. We can grow food or cook and clean or mow lawns or shovel snow in turn for a space to practice building skills and try out a rain water shower in the cabin (rain water caught by barrel, heated with solar, and pumped into a small shower... in turn this water would be "gray water" and could be used for the garden, or even pumped back in for toilet water... I digress) as well as try to get out of debt and get our savings back and running. When done, we'll take the cabin with us, or you can buy it for a guest house. Sound fun?

We don't know what will happen here, but we are glad to be together, glad to be warm on frosty spring mornings, glad to open a fridge and have food. I think this face says it all: