adventures in sourdough

so i recently became obsessed with making good sourdough bread. its supposed to be healthier and all that, so i set out to make it. dor got me on to no knead bread, which actually is what started this thing, then belinda gave me some sourdough starter. so here's the first semi success, after many, ok three, failures, all of which were still edible. i think the flavor is a bit mild, i'll have to work on it some more. i'm pretty sure i under proofed it a bit, thats why it cracked beyond is slashes.


also, here is my improvised equipment. the bowl is pampered chef stoneware. i got it from goodwill yesterday. the lid is from my crockpot with the handle taken off so it wont melt. the basket is for proofing. i dusted it heavily with corn flour. i even managed to find that we had some new straight razors for a scraper in the closet, i used this for slashing the top.

i read a lot of blogs, but this site was the most helpful. http://northwestsourdough.com/

more pics

.Simeon loves to play with his toys from Gramma and Grampa. He can almost sit up unassisted, but he loses his balance when he goes to put a toy in his mouth.

Simeon has been sleeping better these days. Here was a rare morning that I woke up earlier than he did. You can see his bear from Heather. He always sleeps with it, it gives him something to hold so he doesnt take out his paci while he falls asleep.

short video

new pics

Auntie Belinda held Simeon a lot while I was cooking. He is most fractious at about 5 pm.
Simeon in his ducky jammies from Gramma.
Simeon and Daddy reunited over Philippes french dip sandwhiches.

More of Simeon

simeon in a few videos. he goes nuts about water in a sippy cup. he borrowed a space ship from some friends. simeon had a facination with his tongue for a few days, and with shrieking.

simeon swims, sort of

Simeon Laughs at Daddy

simeon at 4 months

Our boy is growing up. Simeon is so much fun, I love mothering him.

Things are going well here. Shawn has been working on sermons lately. He preaches for the first time this Lord's day, both AM and PM services. I dont think that I blogged the fact that he's now able to work one day a week, and study the rest of the time. God blessed our plan and made it happen!

So we're on a pretty tight budget, especially since we want to go to Jody's wedding in May. I'm so excited to see my last sister married.

I hope to finish knitting a pair of socks this week. They were for me, but they fit Shawn, so that's nice that they are brown and non girlish. I plan to transfer my new skill to making some for Simeon, they should go faster right?

a couple pics

our friends lent us this bumbo. simeon doesnt really like it yet. he's still in love with the rocking chair that crystal gave him.
here is the beautiful crib that gramma and grampa stull gave to simeon. its convertible to a toddler bed. you can see that he uses it for a changing table at the moment (not sure what i'll do with the diapers after he's more mobile). also, take note of his own personal tv (thats what we call it). simeon watches it when he's super cranky, as a distraction.

simeon smiles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NvxLrWn99TM

snowsuit

I just realized that I have a bunch of pictures with gifts from a bunch of people, but not ones showing all the lovely gifts that Simeon's Gramma gave to him. So here's a start. Simeon loves this snowsuit. It's so easy to get his arms into it, I love it too.

sleeping

I finally did a mini photo shoot with Simeon. On purpose I left off his pjs after a diaper change and set him up for a nap in a nice knit hand-me-down blankie that my friend Heidi gave to us last week. Simeon sleeps in this bassinet (also a gift from friends) during nap times.
Last night we made the big change from him sleeping in the bassinet, next to our bed, to sleeping in his crib in Shawn's library/office. He started out fine, but woke up in another hour, cried for 10 minutes, then slept another hour. At 10p he woke up and wouldn't be consoled to go back to sleep. I would go in and comfort him periodically, but to no avail. At 11pm, I was about to give up, but I thought I would try feeding him first. So I did, and put him back in the crib and he went right to sleep (he doesn't usually fall asleep nursing, which is another story) and stayed asleep until 2a (!) , when it was time to eat, and then slept again until 6a for prebreakfast breakfast. Yay! More sleep for both of us!

more simeon pics

Simeon and I went for a short walk today. He looked like this. Yep, cute. This is the little hat the Auntie Amanda sent for him. He seems to like it. He's also wearing a lovely crocheted sweater, one of three given to him by his friend MaryAnn. He loves it, he likes wearing the hood and eating the ties at the neck.

Simeon's Auntie Dor made him this hat. My guess is that it's a rabbit hat, a rabbit with small ears. He actually likes it, sometimes. Simeon is not a fan of hats, usually he screams when I put them on him.
We usually go for walks with this new sling that I made. It turned out to be a bit big (for me) as fleece stretches so much. I should add a little seam to it. It's very comfortable and spacious for Simeon. My other ones got too small (for him) really fast.
Simeon's great Auntie Peggy sent him this lovely sweater that she knitted herself. It's a bit big just now, but it won't be for long.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5u_7CqyLpk

Simeon

Apple picking, or not

So today we went with the Kamps to an apple orchard to eat cider donuts and drink apple cider. We were kind of disappointed to find a mini disney world when we got there. There were a MILLION people, in a million line ups. So after fighting the crowds we got our donuts and cider and sat under tent. We had fun. We decided that their apples were too over priced and didnt pick any in the end. Oh, and Shawn is wearing his man sling on his head as he forgot to wear his toque today. Oh, and Simeon was very sad as his belly was full of bubbles, but he was very cute in his bear suit from his great Aunt Dot. Shawn wore Simeon unconventionally in his sling as he wanted to be held on his belly.

New Simeon Pics

Oct 12
See? Twin toes like mine. Only his left foot.
Oct 15 sporting one of his new gro baby diapers from Auntie Amanda.

Simeon Oct 16

Simeon Oct 9 in monkey suit from Aunt Dot. Last time wearing it, off with newborn, on to 0-3m cloths.





Simeon Oct 11 wearing red longjohns from Auntie Amanda