We did it! Our first WHOLE day in the same diaper!

Now, I have to admit - when I first read about this EC (EC stands for Elimination Communication), I really had my doubts.  It made so much sense and it really did click with me, but I honestly never in a million years thought it would work THIS good.  I figured I would catch the potty's when he first wakes up, and probably after he eats... the in betweens were going to be tough and if i missed them, no big deal.  Well today we finally made it through the entire day in the SAME diaper.  I actually did change one diaper first thing this morning but it was my fault completely.  As I have stated before, I don't do EC at night purely because I am too lazy :) (when Wes wakes up at night, he is barely awake... he nurses and falls right back to sleep.  I worry if I undo his swaddler blanket, undo his jammies, take off his diaper A) he's going to cry, and B) its going to wake him up enough he won't go right back to sleep!) So this morning when we woke up, I changed his diaper of course.  Within minutes he had pee'd in it.  Now my mistake was thinking since we had been lying in bed snuggling for a while this morning, that he had already gone potty and wouldn't need to go.  Well - I was obviously wrong!  so I changed that one right away, and preceded to catch EVERY single potty's alllll day INCLUDING a poop!  This EC thing truly does work - at 3 months old my son knows when to go potty.  It is now my job to catch those communications and signs he gives me he has to go.  Obviously he cannot get up on his own and go to the toilet - that's my job.  But it is obvious that Wes knows what his job is!  There was even one time today I thought he might have to go potty, and we sat there for a few minutes without anything... then there were a few tiny drops of pee.  To me, that was a sure sign he was trying to go but just didn't have too!  At this point, if we miss a potty it truly is my fault - for not picking up on the signs that he has to go.  He knows how to communicate with me that he has to go, and he also knows how to hold it until he gets on the potty to go.  Do you realize how much money we are going to save in diapers alone?  My goodness this is going to be AMAZING.  I can really see how using cloth diapers using this method would be the way to go - you really want them to be able to feel the wetness so they learn the difference.  With the new technology of diapers, it wicks away the moisture so much they can't even feel it.  I wish we had better access to laundry all the time and I would do cloth in a heartbeat.  But then again, If I could catch every potty every day, I would never have to do laundry HAHA!  Now I do realize that it is impossible... but we are getting close.  It is going to be so much less confusing for Wes to learn to go potty in the toilet by starting this so early - instead of training him to go whenever he feels like it in his pants and then trying to re-train him later to use the toilet.  Now I just have to hope at my sons first sleep over, he doesn't go to the kitchen pull out a plastic bowl and go potty in the bowl haha! (for those of you that may have not read my early posts on this yet - I am currently using just a plastic bowl for our potty because he can't sit up on his own yet... it is easier to hold between my legs and support Wes over the top).  My wonderful, endearing husband of mine did inform me today I am teaching him bad habits tho... the man who thinks the whole world is his toilet is worried when I let him go potty on the ground outside that he will think its OK to that anywhere.  Jake was helping my dad do hay all day so Wes and I hung out in the barn with the boys this afternoon.  When he had to go, I just held him in between my legs and let him go on the ground... why not? all the rest of the boys do!

First Family Vacation

We went our very first family vacation! (Even though our life is kind of like a permanent vacation with getting to travel with daddy - this time daddy got to enjoy himself too!)

It started of fathers day weekend, we went fishing with Grandpa Milo and Grandma Joy, Grandpa Dan, cousins Jim and Zach at Diamond Lake.  Fishing was HOT and so much fun.  The weather couldn't have been better and the mosquito's didn't come out until the last day we were there (even tho the last day we were they, they of course - as always - ate me alive.  I'm surprised I didn't need a blood transfusion from blood loss!) We caught a ton of fish, and some pretty nice ones too, 19" was the largest.  Both new grandpa's got to spend some good quality time with Wes, and Jaker got to really enjoy and relax on his first fathers day.

 Grandpa Milo

Grandpa Dan

Teaching Wes how to fish

Mt. Thielson

After we left Diamond Lake, we spent the night in Roseburg and had dinner with my mom and her boyfriend Ruben.  We stayed at this really neat campground - too bad it wasn't on a Thursday night! It was an old drive in movie theater turned into RV park and on Thursday nights they show old time movies on the screen!  Our spot had a GREAT view of the screen too.  Bummer! 

From Roseburg, we traveled down hwy 138 towards the coast.  We past an elk refuge and got to see some pretty large bulls, still in velvet drinking water close to the road!  If it weren't for hauling the trailer, we would have stopped to take pictures... but there was no room for us to park.  We had lunch in Florence at this awesome Hawaiian spot, had some yummy sushi and terriyaki...mmmmmm :)  We stopped at the Sea Lion Caves and got to see a grey whale too!

"PU mommy, it's stinky in this cave!"

We stayed the night at Sea and Sand RV Park in Depoe Bay - we scored a great spot right on the water. It was so neat to fall asleep to the sound and smell of the ocean.  The next morning we went on a great little family walk on the beach (minus Jack :(  We decided to leave him home, and regretted it - especially once we got to the beach!  He looooves the ocean), then we packed up and headed for Paradise Cove.  We camped at Paradise Cove for the weekend with our friends Nate and Amy, took Wes swimming for the first time and introduced him to his great grandparents!  Grandma Meg and Grandpa Dan came down for the weekend too.  It was quit eventfull! 

He loved being in the water! He did so good, I was very impressed :) He kicked and waved his arms like he was a natural!

Great Grandma and Grandpa just adored him - it was love at first sight!

4 generations of Keller boys!

All the Keller Grandma's and Grandpa's.





Huntsville, Utah - a little piece of heaven on earth!

June 7th we traveled from Ely, Nevada to Huntsville, Utah (sorry its taken me so long to post, we've been busy!)  Huntsville was one of the prettiest, most spectacular places I have ever seen.  It was sooo beautiful and pristine, the air was so clear and the scenery was amazing!



We stayed near Lake Pineville.  It was a gorgeous, quaint little lake.  It was such a neat setting in the middle of this quiet little ski town.

Farms galore surround the country side.

This was the job site the boys scaled... It was a short job. I was pretty disappointed, I could have definitely spent some more time here!

 
Near the job site was a neat little park with tons of hiking trails, camping and all kinds of fun!

(sorry, can't for the life of me figure out how to rotate this!)

On our drive, I saw a sign for a waterfall.  The sign said .4 miles, so I figured it would be a great little hike for Wes and I.  It followed this beautiful creek up the mountain.

While it was quit the little hike for this outta shape mama - steep as all get out! It was so worth the hike! The waterfall was stunning!

Our pretty little picnic spot we found... Well Wes had lunch anyways haha.

The houses in the area were just absolutely amazing!

Only a day and a half spent here, but I am in love! It was close to Salt Lake City which I was really hoping to explore as well, but we just didn't have enough time.  After 6 weeks in Ely we were anxious to get home to our families. 

Traveling and ECing

Well, we did it! A successfull road trip with a DRY diaper!  Granite, the trip was only 4 1/2 hours... however we managed to keep our routine and make it a success.  The real test will be tomorrow and Friday.  We are starting out on our 12 hour treck home tomorrow early afternoon. 

We are lucky with Wes being so young he sleeps most of the trip.  This works out perfect for our EC schedule.  He went potty right before we left, fell asleep pretty quickly and slept for the first couple of hours.  We stopped in Wendeover to get something to drink - he pottied there (in the parking lot hehe... I'm sure the truck driver parked next to us thought I was absolutely NUTTS).  We drove for about another hour and a half, then stopped to get gas.  I was quit surprised to find a dry diaper then because Wes did not sleep the entire time... Most of it, but he was awake for about 20 minutes of that treck. (in case you are wondering, this time I took him inside the trailer hehe).  This is how I know he is getting it - I unbuckled him (which woke him up), walked to the trailer, got inside, to the bedroom, took off his pants and diaper and got him to the toilet before he went potty.  My point being, he waited to go! After we fueled up and started up the hill to Huntsville, he fell back asleep again and when we got here - you guessed it! DRY DIAPER!

I am very excited to try this on a longer trip tomorrow.  It will be interesting!  On a dirtier note - I did have to change my first poopy diaper today in 3 weeks.  Now granite, 1 week of this he didn't go haha.  But other then that, I have been catching every poop... which has been every other day or so.  This morning though, I spent some lazy time snuggling with my little man in bed.  If I had put him on the potty right when we first woke up like I SHOULD do, I probably would have caught it.  I must say though, rinsing out our "toilet" and flushing it is MUCH nicer then changing a smooshy gooshy butt!

I still haven't attempted the night time pottying... so I don't know for sure if he wakes up at night with a dry diaper.  One of these days I will... It is just so much easier when he wakes up to pop him on a boob and fall back asleep :) 

He did get to pee in the woods for the first time today... something I'm sure he will do more then in a regular bathroom as he grows up (boys have it so easy!)  We went for a little hike to a beautiful waterfall.  Stayed tuned for pictures!

Final days in Ely

Our trip to Ely, Nevada has come to a close.  I have enjoyed our 5 weeks here, the peacefulness of the area has forever stamped a special place in my heart.  For here it was where we spent a big part of Wes's "newborn" phase.  It seems he is growing in front of my eyes and changing so much every day.  I will cherish these days we got to spend together, learning and growing together as a family.

In our last weeks in Ely, we were able to check out a few more of the area attractions.  We drove about an hour outside of Ely to the Great Basin National Park.  Unfortunately the day we went it was pretty overcast, making for a very foggy trip up to the top.  You could see thru the clouds that the scenery was spectacular, however we couldn't see much that day!  We had intentions of taking a cave tour at Lehman caves, however the 1:00 tour was full and they wouldn't allow children under 5 years old anyways.  The next tour started at 3, and with the weather the way it was, there wasn't much to do to occupy us for 2 hours.  We did enjoy a nice leisurely Sunday drive though!

The following weekend we traveled to Garnet Hill.  The rumor is, after a good rainstorm, you can actually find stones laying on the ground.  We had a nice little picnic, watched a huge storm roll in and hiked around for about 10 minutes before it started to snow!  We decided with baby it was just too cold to keep going.  Back at the truck we ran into another couple that had found a few small stones, but they had rock picks and hammers.  Oh well, we still had fun!

*Pictures to come - check back soon!*

Our last attraction in Ely was the Historic Ward Mining district and the charcoal ovens.

The white pine county school district had developed an interpretive trail around the charcoal ovens, supposedly outlining some of the historic landmarks of the area.  However the trail was very unclearly marked.  Their was another couple about my age their and asked if Wes and I wanted to tag along on the hike.  Somehow we missed the 3/4 mile interpretive trail loop and started up the Riparian trail.  Not sure how far we walked the trail, but it was uphill and we walked for about 30 minutes before we decided we were on the wrong trail :)  30 minutes uphill may not sound like such a bad deal, except when you are at 7,500 feet elevation, wearing flip flops, COMPLETELY out of shape and packing around a 10lb sack 'o potato's on your chest.  Needless to say, it was a beautiful day and we did enjoy ourselves!  

 

On Tuesday, June 7th, we packed up and left the KOA of Ely and headed east towards Ogden Utah.  The next job has brought us to the beautiful ski town of Huntsville located in the Ogden Valley just outside of Salt Lake City.  Come back soon to learn more!

Pasta Salad

Ingridients:
1 box whold wheat rotini pasta
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 tbls mayo
1 tbls grated parmesan cheese
1 tsp basil
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic powder
Salt and Pepper
1/2 cup salami
1/2 cup pepperoni
1 container feta cheese
1 can sliced olives
1 red bell pepper
handfull of cherry tomatoes
peppercini's



In a large pot, fill with water and bring to a boil.  Add some salt and pasta, cook for 9-10 minutes.  Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking process.

In a large bowl, whisk together the vinegar, a splash of some of the peppercini liquid, basil, oregano, garlic, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese.  Slowly drizzle in the olive oil while continuing to whisk.

Dice up the salami, pepperoni, and bell pepper.  Cut the tomatoes in half and slice the peppercini's. 

Combine all ingridients in large bowl, mixing to incorporate vinegar/oil mixture over all the pasta.

Cover and refridgerate for at least an hour.  Taste, and add salt if needed.

Weston is 2! (months that is)

I can't believe its been 2 months since our little man was born.  In just this short amount of time, I can honestly say I can't even imagine our life without him.  He has completed this family in so many ways, and our love for him grows and grows every day.  He is such an amazing little boy, so smart and funny. 

Things to remember:
You got your first real boo boo, and although it hurt you bad, I'm pretty sure your dad feels even worse! we cut your fingernails for the 1st time and your poor little pinky finger got in the way of the clippers!  We had to cut a band aid in half to make it small enough to fit on your tiny little finger.

The sounds you are making increase every day, I hear new coo's and awe's all the time.  You are becoming more aware of your surroundings and looking around more.

You have started sleeping for about 7 hour stretches at night, waking up once to eat, then again about the time your papa leaves for work.  He loves it when your awake when he goes to work, it makes his whole day to see you smile at him in the morning.

Our "potty" time is really coming full circle.  Today we even got 2 poo's in the potty!  You know what it means when I set you on your potty and make our special noise.  And when you don't have to go, you let me know :)  I don't always catch every potty, but we are really starting to get this communicating thing down.  I catch almost all of the potty's when you first wake up... You have even gone a whole 4 hour nap and woken up with a dry diaper!  And most of the ones after you eat.  The in-between times are the harder ones, but we are getting better!  You don't really show any signs that you have to go potty so it makes it a little hard, but sometimes I just get the feeling you have to go, we try, and voila! you go!

You aren't too fond of your tummy time quit yet.  While you have the strength to hold up your head (you do it all the time laying on papa's chest!), when I put you on your tummy on the floor, you smother you face in the blanket and freak out.  It's a little easier with the boppy under you, but you kick your feet so much, you slide right off.  I can tell you will be an early crawler tho, when you are on your tummy, you tuck your knee's under yourself and move them back and forth.  Once your arms are strong enough to hold you up, you will be cruising all over this trailer!




We are still in Ely, our 3 week trip is probably going to be about 5.  This last weekend was memorial day weekend.  Unfortunately we didn't get to do much... for 2 reasons.  Mainly because Jake worked all weekend, but more importantly, it snowed! and snowed and snowed and snowed... ALLLL day Sunday it didn't stop.  Almost JUNE and it just piled up! We woke up to about 6 inches of snow on the truck, but it was a really wet snow so it didn't get much deeper.  Plus the ground wasn't cold so it melted off pretty fast.  It made for some really pretty scenery though.

At the entrance to the campground, they have some old railroad equipment.  I wish Wes was old enough to sit up on his owned, it would make for some awfully cute pictures!

It sounds like our next trip will be to Ogden Utah starting next week.  Hopefully it won't take quit a week - Grandma Dolores funeral is the following Saturday.  I'm really hoping I don't have to drive all the way home by myself to make it there!

Until next time...

Pork Chops alla Himmy

I was first introduced to this method of cooking pork chops by our good friend James Baynes in Chicago.  These melt in your mouth pork chops have become a staple in our household and I will never make pork chops any other way.  Here's what you'll need (this is only for 2 pork chops, if your family is bigger, double the recipe)

2 pork chops
1/2 package of Ritz crackers
1 cup of pancake mix
1 egg
2 tbls milk
EVOO
Salt and Pepper
Lawry's seasoning salt
Garlic salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crush up the Ritz crackers.  I usually put them in a gallon zip lock baggy to contain the "mess" - but you can use a large bowl if you chose.  Once crumbled finely, add the pancake batter (dry) and mix thoroughly.

In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and egg.



Heat up a couple of tbls of olive oil in a large skillet.

Put the pork chop in the zip lock and shake it up (kinda like shake 'n bake :) ) - make sure the entire chop is coated.  Then dip it in the egg mixture and back into the pancake mix.

Once coated thoroughly, place in the skillet.  Season with salt, pepper, seasoning salt and garlic.  Brown evenly on each side.

Put the browned chops in a shallow baking dish and bake for 1/2 an hour.  YUMO!