Eva is 4 months old today!

Eva at four months is a whopping 16 lbs. 14 oz. (96%)! She is about 83% for height. The doctor said she is doing great. But we already knew that. :) I told my mom today its a good thing she is so cute or we would send her back and get a better sleeper. No, we would never do that. But we might have her "reprogrammed" to sleep better. Ha. If only.

Nevertheless, we are enjoying her so much. Her newest pasttime is rolling over onto her belly. Or doing the half twist as shown below. She doesn't know what to do with herself once she gets there, however.

We braved taking all 3 girls in at once for their well-child visits. Eva and Sarah both had 3 shots each (poor things!) but now Sarah is all ready for Kindergarten. Sarah weighed and measured in the 40% range, while Abby was her typcial 96% for height and low 70s for weight. Tall and slim.

After the doctor visits we did a little scouting for things for our home—a preliminary look at lighting, tile, carpet, etc. It was very overwhelming. I'm actually quite glad I'm not planning the entire house at the same time. I have a feeling I would make alot of rash decisions and compromises if I had to do the entire thing at once. Hopefully, though, I'll be able to show some progress before too long!

jam session

Today I'm loving this video from here. I sat here holding my baby and we watched it together about 5 times. I love the spontaneity of it all. Beautiful. It makes me want to get my cousins together and have a little jam session.

By the way, I found this on one of my favorite blogs, cjane enjoy it. If you've never read it, you should. This girl really knows how to feel life. She's funny, too.

Atomic Ranch magazine review

As I mentioned before, I received my first issue of Atomic Ranch this weekend. (If you missed it, its a magazine about midcentury ranch houses.) I was anxious to devour it, and I did just that on our 5 hour car ride to Red Lodge last weekend. (How luxurious to have time to sit and peruse a magazine front to back in one sitting!) Anyway, the first thing I noticed was the lighting on the front cover:

They looked pretty familiar. Remember this?

Most of the homes featured in the magazine take a purist approach to preserving midcentury architecture and design. I don't have a problem with that, per say, but most of these homes were also designed by famous architects like Eichler and Cliff May and have beautiful details like post and beam ceilings and hardwood floors. The house on the cover was very well preserved (original double ovens even!) and so they were able to keep the original cabinets and many other features.

I suppose it makes me feel a little guilty about all the things I want to change rather than preserve in my house. But our house was built a bit later (early 70's, whereas this magazine usually features homes built in the 50's and 60's) and really, would they be as game to preserve popcorn ceilings and shag carpets?

Another great home in this issue did show a kitchen that was was almost all new (aside from the original cabinetry which was refinished.) I had to laugh when I saw the original photo though. Bowling-ball blue laminate counter tops! Would you keep them?

The reason they sited for changing them was that they were "falling apart at the seams". I wonder if they would have kept them if they were in perfect condition.

I did really enjoy the magazine and even though I won't be keeping every original detail in my house, the magazine still provides plenty of inspiration for how to preserve the character of our home. I plan to get some of the available back issues to soak up even more ideas.

Eva's announcements

Another project on my list that I finally completed a couple of weeks ago was Eva's announcements and thank you notes. You don't mind if I show them off a little, do you?

 

For the background of both I used the Vintage Wallpaper Textured Impressions die for Big Shot by Stampin' Up!, and this ribbon. The rest I designed myself and printed on my inkjet. It was a lot of work, but I couldn't not do it! The other girls each have one, and its a great memento.

Speaking of Stampin' Up!, I signed up to be a demonstrator when I left the company in June. I haven't started doing any workshops yet really— I'm been too busy getting settled—but if you are in need of any product, I would be happy to help you out. Note: I don't plan on using this website to promote my Stampin' Up! business, so please forgive this one little plug.

Eva is quickly approaching 4 months old now, and I can't beleive how fast time flies. She was only 3 days old in these photos! She is getting so sweet and smiley, and we even catch a little giggle now and then. We have her 4 month appointment on Monday, so I'll have an update soon on her growing progress. Chow for now!

Welcome to Montana Prairie Tales!

Welcome to the blog formerly known as tomandjoandco. I hope you like the new digs! The scenery is new, inspired by the colors of our landscape here on the farm (big blue sky, green fields, and golden wheat). But the biggest change is the addition of the "His Tales" page where Tom will chronicle his own adventures here on the farm. (There are links for the feeds to both pages in the right column.) I will forward the old blog here, but please remember to update your readers and bookmarks! Please be patient while we work out any bugs and move all of our content over. We have added an "About Me" page that tells a little about our story (photos coming soon!). We hope you visit often and leave your comments!

Under Construction

Happy Hump Day, everyone! I hope you are having a good week. I just thought I would pop in and tell you I'll be taking another short break from posting while I work on some changes to our blog.
When we made the big move to Montana, I made plans to do a lot more posting. I also decided then that it was time for our blog design to grow up a little, and I am finally getting around to making those changes. I will be back on Monday with the new scenery!

Tom and I are heading out for the weekend to a Young Farmers conference. We are hoping to make some new farmer friends and network a little. Today, my first issue of Atomic Ranch arrived in the mail, and I am so excited to bring it along on the trip for something to read! I'll let you know if I find some good inspiration.

See you next week!

Craig's list find

Check out these tables I bought off of Craig's List for $65.


I'm digging their retro, mid-century vibe, though I have no idea when they were actually made.


What do you think? I'm planning this for a sitting area in my basement. What else does it need? A little color?

Images: sheepskin rug from West Elm.

89 years


When you've been in a daily posting habit, someone is bound to notice when you go missing for over a week. Sorry. You see, I had to take a blogging break to work on organizing my house. We are still living in chaos after moving 3 months ago. Lately, when I start to feel overwhelmed, Tom has taken to reciting this little poem:

Have you heard of tiny Melinda Mae,
Who ate a monstrous whale?
She thought she could,
She said she would,
So she started in right at the tail.

And everyone said,"You're much too small,"
But that didn't bother Melinda at all,
She took little bites and she shewed very slow,
Just like a little girl should...

...and in eighty-nine years she ate that whale
Because she said she would!!!


-by Shel Silverstein


I sure hope it doesn't take 89 years to get settled into this house.


Regardless, I'm back this week and full of things to share. Thanks for sticking around!


diaper verdict

I've had a few questions about my cloth diapering adventures, so please bare (ha!) with me through one last diaper post.

So, the verdict? After a few weeks of trying them, I've decided to keep going. I maybe would feel differently if I weren't home as much, but for us right now, it works. I love not having as much diaper garbage.

Doing laundry every day hasn't been much of a problem. I try to line dry them as much as possible to maximize the savings (they can take awhile to dry in the dryer), but then I usually finish them off with a quick dryer cycle to soften them up and make sure they are really dry.

She seems to be getting used to the feel of them because she had a few good sleeping nights (before the ear infection came along and threw that for a loop). I was afraid I might have to use disposables at night, but now I am only using them if I'm away from the house for more than a few hours.

Oh, and if you do this, I highly recommend getting cloth wipes too. I just wet about 6 at a time with hot water and put them in the wipe warmer. (If you let any more than that sit wet for too long they can start to smell since they don't have preservatives like disposable wipes do). But it is the lack of preservatives that make them so gentle. And you don't have to worry about separating your dirty wipes (garbage) from your dirty diapers (laundry).

So, newbie mothers, if you are thinking about cloth diapering, go for it! Its worth a try! (And I was a skeptic).

Mad Men and Midcentury design

I enjoyed these photos from the set of Mad Men. Even though the era of this house is a little bit earlier, you can definitely see some of the same influences as in our house.



Eva—3 months old!

Eva has passed the 3 month milestone already. Time flies when you're having fun.

Well, mostly fun. Eva is such a joy, but she hasn't been sleeping very well. She came down with a stuffy nose and cold early last week, and true to form (for my girls), she got her first ear infection. She is starting to feel better, I think, so I'm hoping the sleeping improves soon. This momma can't get by very well on this little sleep.

Nevertheless, we moved her into her own room this weekend. She is a light sleeper so I'm hoping she won't be disturbed as much in her own room—even if it means I have to trek to her room to feed her 3 times a night. And it means we have our freedom back. We can to go to bed when we want to, stay up and read, and get ready for bed without tiptoeing and keeping the lights off.

Oh, and she weighed in at a hefty 15.5 lbs last week! This girl can eat. But we are so glad she is healthy and strong.

She will be rolling over soon, I think.

Sarah's 1st day of preschool

I can't believe Sarah isn't my little baby anymore. She went off to her first day of preschool last week and I've been having so much fun watching her enthusiasm as she gets up and gets ready. Her first morning when we woke her up she was sure it was much to dark to get up (6:30 AM). But when we explained that it was time to get ready, she immediately reverted to worrying that she was going to be late. My mom works in town on Tuesdays and Thursdays and will be dropping her off, so we brought Sarah down to go with her. While she waited for her Grandma she got more and more worried until my mom just decided to leave a little early and drive slowly into town. I hope her excitement doesn't wear off too soon!

a farmer's vacation

It's often hard for a farmer to get away and enjoy recreating in the summer, so you take advantage of it while you can, usually after a day of rain when the fields are too wet. But now that harvest is over for the year and the grain is in the bins, we were able to have a short break before seeding started. For my family, that meant going to the lake. It's a little late to be reporting on what we did over Labor Day weekend, but hey, we wouldn't want want to miss an opportunity to show you how much fun we had at Holter Lake.


^ See this? That's a happy face.

^ This is a happy face too. I think getting on a boat pretty much takes the cake for my dad. The photo looks a little dark because we were going through the Gates of the Mountains on the Missouri in the shady evening. There is a little hamburger joint along the route (boat access only) so we stopped to enjoy a relaxing dinner by the lake.


And the next day we stayed on for a bit more boating and playing by the shore.

Fall is knocking on our door so we have to take advantage of every bit of good weather we have left! Hope you enjoyed a great holiday weekend also.

Meet Mia!

This is Mia, the newest member of our family.

She is a beautiful 4-year-old yellow lab and she came free from Craig's list. What's the catch? No catch, really. Her previous owners are a big hunting family and she is a bit gun shy. Also, after she had one litter of puppies they discovered she was a carrier for a common gene in labs that causes heat stroke. They don't want to breed that gene, so their only condition is that we have her spayed. She is a little skittish as she gets used to her new digs and family, but she is really sweet with the kids and sleeps in Abby's room.

ready for fall?

To be a stylist for Anthropologie seems like a dream job. I've long been among the ranks that love their amazing window displays and store installations (and clothes, duh...), but since I can't browse the store as frequently now, this time it was their website that blew me away. Loving these stitched re-creations of their clothes:






outnumbered

Oh, this is just too cute. A charming illustration of what its like to be outnumbered by your kids.

kitchen inspiration

Check out this kitchen remodeled on the cheap. I would prefer to use higher quality materials, but I'm totally impressed with the look she got with very little money. I love the black and white and the antique touches. From here.

(before)



(after)





70s decor

Most of this (except the doorbell) I won't be keeping (sorry!) but I thought you would enjoy seeing it up close anyway.

^ Dining room curtains.

^ Living Room curtains.

^ Hall wall paper. (Just one of the many patterns...)

^ Doorbell.