Five and Six Months

And just like that, our little Goosey is six months old!  Five months blew by in the thick fog of teething and sickness, a first Christmas and rolling over, sitting up and so many lovely discoveries.  Now at six months Phoebe has 2 teeth and is beginning to crawl.  Her most favorite people seem to be Emmeline and Lena, with the kitty cat being a close third.  She has learned to pull tails!  She is 16 pounds and in the 95% for height.  Little baby girl loves to move and bounce. In this she takes after Lena Lu.  But she also loves to study faces.  Just two nights ago she waved for the first time and was positively delighted. She is the noisiest baby we've had, and also the worst sleeper. But how blessed we are and love her dearly. We thank God for half a year with our little Phoebe Hope.

Christmas Projects

And now a word from the Y chromosome of the house.

Fall/Christmas 2019 was a busy time in our home, with a baby starting to think about moving around on her own, chickens laying eggs every day, and all the usual business of life in a family of five (as well as seven chickens, two fish, and three cats). In addition to all that we decided to move ahead with our plan to install a wood stove. This was quite an undertaking, involving a few new skills for Papa, cutting a hole in the wall of the house, learning all about fire codes, thirty feet of scaffolding, and some really wonderful, helpful friends.

I found a Woodstock soapstone stove on Craigslist, as well as about 17' of the 19' feet of stainless steel chimney pipe I'd need for the job. I put in a brick hearth, using brick pavers over several layers of cement board and plywood to achieve the required R value under the stove (one doesn't want one's floor burning up), built a faux mantel on the wall, and matching built-in cabinets (so far only one side is installed).

Here's the whole process in photos: