We got our first snow on Thanksgiving!! Its exciting, I suppose.. if I didn't HATE snow! LOL Actually I really dislike extreme cold.. Well it really wouldn't be that bad outside if it was 30s and no wind.. But here we get plenty of wind.
Winter means a few things around our house..
1. Gavin's BIRTHDAY. He will be one on the 17th. I really can not believe my precious baby is turning one. I can still remember his birth. Tommy and I were recalling, and decided he was our spontaneous child, with his spontaneous birth! (birth story blogs down)
2. Shayla's birthday! My precious little sister is growing up on me! I can't believe that either! I still remember the day she was born at 2:19 in the afternoon being a whopping 7lbs 13 oz.. I remember all her details!
3. Christmas! A Day of loving and enjoying our family!
And finally we start ground work on our COB house.. That is probably one of the most exciting things about it! I can not wait! We already have the spot picked out, where we will be putting the house, err building the house.
And now you may be asking yourself? What the heck is Cob? Well Cob means a loaf. And a loaf of what you may ask. Well a loaf of clay, sand, water, and straw! Now you may be saying SERIOUSLY?! LOL Yep, we are building a house out of mud!
Now that may sound crazy, but Cob dries to the consistency of concrete! As I once read/heard, you will appreciate cob more when you forget to put a window in and have to knock a spot out! It is tough!
Why? You may be asking yourself, why in the world would we want to do that! Well because it is cheap! Clay is very very common here in Missouri, in fact you can find it 3 inches down! And thats free, we have the equipment to dig it. We need under 100 bales of straw.. (Thats overestimating) And those are around $2/3 each.. so 200-300 for that. Then we will need a couple loads of sand.. And hey guess what thats what we do for a living deliver gravels! So we will spend a couple hundred on sand. Water .. well we have a well. Of course we will need to dig a well where the house is. And the interior will also cost money.
We are really hoping to have a cheap house, but a nice very strong structured house!
Lets do some simple estimated math:
Straw- $250
Sand-$200
Well- $4000 (thats guessing high)
Small Saw Mill- $2000 (so we can cut and use wood off the property)
Concrete Mixer- $300 (This is going to speed the process up)
Plumbing- $2000 (totally guessing)
Electrical- $3000 (again guessing)
Roof- $2500
Bathroom fixtures- $1000
Kitchen fixtures/cabinets- $2000
windows- $2000
Misc.. because I am sure to miss stuff here -$6000
Total- 25,250 (now thats probably low.. but then again we will be looking for deals)
Now that may sound like a lot.. but it can cost anywhere from 40-100 k to build a house.. and it cost over 100k to buy a brand new house!
So yeah this def. sounds like the way to go!
Our plan is to start this winter on clearing the spot, marking it, digging the footer, and then we will let it settle for a few months before pouring the footer and starting. We are planning to work on building it next spring/summer and hopefully have most of the exterior done by winter. We are not sure how long it will actually take. It will matter on how much work Tommy gets this spring/summer, and how much help we get to build this!
Now that you may have a crazy ideal of what these houses look like, take a look at some of them, and you will be amazed at beautiful they do look!
(And its an environmentally friendly home- made from all organic)
http://www.builditgreen.co.za/Portals/0/Images/Cob%20curved%20roof.jpg
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_AG-t89TgS9Y/S8FAvRO7O_I/AAAAAAAAAek/o-uzsvxQEt0/s1600/cobkitchen1.jpg
http://small-scale.net/yearofmud/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/3120264741_5b35f725e7.jpg
Great Resource site
http://www.cobprojects.info/
This blog has a great overview of the process
http://cobinbaja.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=10
Hope you all enjoy!
Monday, November 29, 2010
Monday, November 22, 2010
Nothing really new..
Nothing really new going on.
Last week, we had to go back to the zeroform and gauze, because it had busted open in a couple spots. Couple days later, it healed closed, and we continued wearing gloves.
He enjoys when he manages to get his splints off. He has found little tricks in aiding him. Like he uses the dogs kennel to snatch the wrap and pulls. Or he recently found my roll of hook aplix, so he will go over there and mess with it, which in turn snatches the fabric and I have to take them off to rewrap. Usually when he does this, I will leave them off for 30 minutes or so and let him have some free time from them. He really loves this! He can do so much more without the splints.
This week is Thanksgiving week. Exciting. We are staying home this year and cooking food ourselves. We believe this will lower our stress level, not carting around 4 children. I hoping to find some activities to do while the kids are home.
I also need to work on some homework, that I just need to do and get it done! I have a group proposal to write for school. Then I also have a paper to write, and make a powerpoint about it! But I am a procrastinator!
I was also really wanting to start working on a pattern soon too. This pattern, unlike my other pattern, won't be for sale, and am hoping to sell diapers from it.
Last week, we had to go back to the zeroform and gauze, because it had busted open in a couple spots. Couple days later, it healed closed, and we continued wearing gloves.
He enjoys when he manages to get his splints off. He has found little tricks in aiding him. Like he uses the dogs kennel to snatch the wrap and pulls. Or he recently found my roll of hook aplix, so he will go over there and mess with it, which in turn snatches the fabric and I have to take them off to rewrap. Usually when he does this, I will leave them off for 30 minutes or so and let him have some free time from them. He really loves this! He can do so much more without the splints.
This week is Thanksgiving week. Exciting. We are staying home this year and cooking food ourselves. We believe this will lower our stress level, not carting around 4 children. I hoping to find some activities to do while the kids are home.
I also need to work on some homework, that I just need to do and get it done! I have a group proposal to write for school. Then I also have a paper to write, and make a powerpoint about it! But I am a procrastinator!
I was also really wanting to start working on a pattern soon too. This pattern, unlike my other pattern, won't be for sale, and am hoping to sell diapers from it.
Thursday, November 11, 2010
We got our stylin new gloves!
Whoop! We got the compression gloves/garments yesterday! They are so little and so cute!
And Gavin has decided he really hates his splints now. And since there is less bulk, he can get out of the splints on one side, and if you put it to tight, he screams. We are hopefully getting them modified tomorrow morning! And hopefully we will be able to get the go to allow him to have periods of not wearing them.
Last night, due to screaming, he went splint-less, and really enjoyed it and was happy. He even was using his hands!
Heres some pictures of the little guy with his new gloves:
I told him "Show me your gloves" And he sure did.. And was so proud of them!
And the back.. We also have a pair of yellow Spiderman gloves
And his cheesy super adorable melt my heart crinkled nose smile:
And Gavin has decided he really hates his splints now. And since there is less bulk, he can get out of the splints on one side, and if you put it to tight, he screams. We are hopefully getting them modified tomorrow morning! And hopefully we will be able to get the go to allow him to have periods of not wearing them.
Last night, due to screaming, he went splint-less, and really enjoyed it and was happy. He even was using his hands!
Heres some pictures of the little guy with his new gloves:
I told him "Show me your gloves" And he sure did.. And was so proud of them!
And the back.. We also have a pair of yellow Spiderman gloves
And his cheesy super adorable melt my heart crinkled nose smile:
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Getting our compression garments tomorrow!!!
Yipppee! I am so excited we are getting the gloves tomorrow. Hopefully, they fit and everything goes great!
It will be nice not to have to change the dressing every day, like they are right now. Now we will be doing triple anti-biotic cream or lotion on everyday. So that is not that bad! I can not wait!
He will still have to wear the splints on his arms to protect his hands. He will wear those for quite a bit, and then we will wean off. We will probably know more tomorrow or in the coming month(s).
He got bronchitis last week.. Totally sucked poor guy.. But he still has had days where he has a fever.. its here and then it goes away.. Totally weird. We will talk with the doctors tomorrow about that.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, we have an appointment with our OT (occupational therapist).. and then we head to Springfield for an appointment with the burn doctors, and we are hoping to have a nice lunch as well somewhere in there. :)
I was thinking today when I was cooling the babe's food, how much this is going to set him back. He was already feeding himself 85% of the time. I would just give him chopped/mashed food, and he would go to town, and pretend to use a spoon. Now, I have to feed him everything. And until he is allowed time without the splints and feels comfortable grabbing food, he will continue being fed. I was thinking how that milestone will be further delayed. As for other milestones, he is still doing well.
He has been standing here and there, still a little nervous, but he has been doing it. Although I really don't hold an early walker as the last two didnt walk until 15 months-ish, and they were standing as well.
I just can't believe he will be a year here in a month and half.
We have another birthday coming up soon, my wonderful husband.
The other kids are doing good.
Isaac is as stubborn as they come.. Man I sure hope the kindergarten teachers have lots of patience for him next year! I have really been working on him with his numbers and alphabet, but he is stubborn.
Kahleb however I was counting with him earlier.. I counted to 5 (pointing to numbers at the same time) and stopped. He then pointed to six, and said six! I was a very proud mama at this point!
And Ryan is doing good too, reading a whole bunch and learning. He loves to learn! Always eager to please.
Now to a couple pics...
******GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW********
*****THE LAST PIC IS A PROGRESSION GRAPHIC PHOTO******
Heres what Gavin looks like with the splints:
And what its like to have a bad hair day:
And heres Kahleb and Isaac. (I haven't gotten that many recent pics of Ryan)
And here is a progression... I didnt get any pics of them from the beginning. But this is from week 1 to week 4..
***GRAPHIC
****
***
***PIC
***
Below***
Here is
***
*** Your**
***
****
***Warning***
......
.....
............................
.........
.........
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It will be nice not to have to change the dressing every day, like they are right now. Now we will be doing triple anti-biotic cream or lotion on everyday. So that is not that bad! I can not wait!
He will still have to wear the splints on his arms to protect his hands. He will wear those for quite a bit, and then we will wean off. We will probably know more tomorrow or in the coming month(s).
He got bronchitis last week.. Totally sucked poor guy.. But he still has had days where he has a fever.. its here and then it goes away.. Totally weird. We will talk with the doctors tomorrow about that.
Tomorrow will be a busy day, we have an appointment with our OT (occupational therapist).. and then we head to Springfield for an appointment with the burn doctors, and we are hoping to have a nice lunch as well somewhere in there. :)
I was thinking today when I was cooling the babe's food, how much this is going to set him back. He was already feeding himself 85% of the time. I would just give him chopped/mashed food, and he would go to town, and pretend to use a spoon. Now, I have to feed him everything. And until he is allowed time without the splints and feels comfortable grabbing food, he will continue being fed. I was thinking how that milestone will be further delayed. As for other milestones, he is still doing well.
He has been standing here and there, still a little nervous, but he has been doing it. Although I really don't hold an early walker as the last two didnt walk until 15 months-ish, and they were standing as well.
I just can't believe he will be a year here in a month and half.
We have another birthday coming up soon, my wonderful husband.
The other kids are doing good.
Isaac is as stubborn as they come.. Man I sure hope the kindergarten teachers have lots of patience for him next year! I have really been working on him with his numbers and alphabet, but he is stubborn.
Kahleb however I was counting with him earlier.. I counted to 5 (pointing to numbers at the same time) and stopped. He then pointed to six, and said six! I was a very proud mama at this point!
And Ryan is doing good too, reading a whole bunch and learning. He loves to learn! Always eager to please.
Now to a couple pics...
******GRAPHIC PICTURES BELOW********
*****THE LAST PIC IS A PROGRESSION GRAPHIC PHOTO******
Heres what Gavin looks like with the splints:
And what its like to have a bad hair day:
And heres Kahleb and Isaac. (I haven't gotten that many recent pics of Ryan)
And here is a progression... I didnt get any pics of them from the beginning. But this is from week 1 to week 4..
***GRAPHIC
****
***
***PIC
***
Below***
Here is
***
*** Your**
***
****
***Warning***
......
.....
............................
.........
.........
.......................
...................
..............
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