Giftastic
September 06, 2008
I sent these fat quarters to my cousin Tamy for her birthday. I didn't think too long before I decided to send her fabric. I wanted to send her something she would enjoy, but also something she could really use. So, I sent her something that I would like to get.
She called today to say that she'd received them, that she loves them, and that she posted about them. I'm glad, because if she didn't, she'd have to send them back to me. ;) Truthfully, shopping for her was a gift to me; I got to go to one of my favorite fabric stores and spend some time picking out fabrics that I love.
We have a kind of strange birthday tradition. We send each other our birthday gifts pretty much as soon as we buy them; opening them upon receipt. That means that gifts are sometimes very early, and other times quite late. My birthday's not until December, but I got my gift from Tamy in the mail a couple of months ago. I love doing this; I get to celebrate at a completely unexpected time!
While I'm on the topic of gifts, I read about Wishpot on Simplemom a while back. And I have to say that I love this idea. If you're going to get someone a gift, you might as well get them something you know that they will like. I'm certain that shopping solely from a gift list would take some of the surprise out of gift giving and receiving, but you wouldn't have to get something off the wish list if you didn't want to. You could just use it to help you know what they like. I've started a wishlist, but haven't really added much to it. Wishpot does make it easy, though. You can add a Wishpot button to your browser and even import your Amazon wish list.
I also thought you might like to know that our brown out/cable outage was caused by a power line that over heated and dropped onto a cable line at the back of our neighbor's yard. It completely fried our cable line! They had to replace it all the way from the pole! We're up and running again, but they've decided to bury the cable in our yard, so the line is currently laying on the ground while we await the burial crew. (That sounds kinda morbid, huh?) Just what we need in the middle of tall grass that needs mowed and a curious two year old. If it goes down again, we'll all know why.
Posted by jennifer at 06:45 PM | Comments (1)
Bagging it again
September 03, 2008
It's decidedly not early September-like here today. It's raining and when I ventured out with the boys to the bank and post office this morning, it was only in the upper 50's. I can remember having half days when I was teaching due to the heat sometimes this late in the year! I'm not certain that I'm this ready for fall yet.
There's a baby shower in Houston for one of my cousins this weekend. Id love to go, but 800 miles and two kids age two and under will make getting there impossible. I dropped the small tote bag in the mail this morning for her filled with all kinds of hand made stuff and a small toy I picked up. The bag included this tiny hat, the two "girly" burp cloths, and the changing pad pictured below.
The changing pad is very simple. I stacked a piece of fleece with a piece of flannel right sides together and cut a large rectangle, around 15 by 24 inches, I think. Then I rounded the corners and machine stitched it leaving a large enough gap for turning. Finally, I turned the pad right side out and top stitched it.
As an aside, I started this post yesterday and was unable to finish it until now. The first thing that happened was the router for our house went down. Before I could think about rebooting it, the baby was awake way too early and needed rocking back to sleep. Then we had a weird electrical thing happen here that caused a 15 or 20 minute brown out, ultimately resulting in the loss of our cable, and therefore, our internet access. The brown out was actually quite exciting; first a fire truck came down our street, then two KCP&L bucket trucks did, one of which parked across the street from us. If you've ever known a two year old boy, you know how cool that was at our house! The cable guys had to visit the whole neighborhood today. At our house they had to replace the whole line, but we're back up and running.
Posted by jennifer at 10:18 AM | Comments (1)
Drool Catchers - A cloth diaper burp cloth tutorial
September 02, 2008
The baby has gotten really drool-y. Even though he doesn't spit up much, I decided the make us some burp clothes just to keep our shoulders dry. I posted about these before here. Don't worry, the flowery ones in that picture are a gift.
I started with a package of these cloth diapers. If you plan on using this tutorial, you'll need to get the exact same diapers as the center panel on different cloth diapers may be a different size. If you plan on using a different diaper, you'll need to measure the center panel and calculate and add your seam allowance before you get started.
In addition to the 6 diapers, you'll need 3/4 of a yard of sturdy cotton flannel, white thread, a sewing machine, an iron, and your preferred tools for measuring and cutting fabric. I like to use two or three different fabrics; a FULL quarter yard will make four. Prewash and dry both the diapers and the flannel. Press the fabric.
Cut 6 rectangles 4 1/2 inches by 17 1/2 inches of the flannel fabric.
Turn under, press and sew a 1/4 inch on each short edge of each piece of flannel. I almost always use white thread on these; if you choose a dark flannel, you might consider using a fabric appropriate top thread and white in your bobbin. The white bobbin thread will match the diaper.
Fold and press under a quarter inch on all of the long sides.
Top stitch these panels over the center panels of the diapers. I don't like to pin these; I find that not pinning allows me to adjust more while I'm sewing. Start sewing on one of the short sides, then you can end with a long side so that you'll have more space to stretch. I find that I have to stretch the diaper or the fabric the fit a bit while sewing; it may take a little finesse, but this project is a great place to learn this skill.
Throw your finished burp cloth in the wash and then let your favorite baby drool all over it!
Posted by jennifer at 07:28 AM | Comments (2)
Perfect Evening
August 30, 2008
One afternoon a couple of weeks ago I took the boys up to hubby's studio for pictures. The baby fell asleep in the car, so the toddler stayed for pictures and the baby and I headed to Home Depot to buy containers and flowers to plant outside hubby's front windows. While I planted the container of mums up there we decided to stay downtown for dinner.
This was all very innocent and impromptu. We had no idea what we were getting ourselves into. Hubby took the toddler and picked up Jack Stack sandwiches for us for dinner, while I took the baby and headed to the bridge over the train tracks behind Union Station. We actually ate a wonderful picnic dinner on the bridge. The occasional train passed under us to the toddler's delight; he ate his dinner sitting on the Mama couch as I call it. (My lap is his favorite place to eat.) And while the baby nursed his picnic dinner on the bridge, hubby walked with the toddler to stand right over a passing train.
We could not have planned this, and sometimes, I think, it's better that way. It was one of those evenings where the weather was perfect, everyone was in a good mood, the food was delicious and we didn't have to hurry for anything. We sat for a long time on that bridge after dinner and just soaked it all in, relishing time spent together as a family. Somewhere, deep inside, I think I was secretly wishing that we could just stay there in that moment.
I was also kicking myself for not bringing my camera. The light was just right and the smiles so frequent.
But bedtimes creep close and toddlers get tired and babies need naps, so we loaded everyone into cars and headed home. Hubby and I agreed that we would have to have that picnic again.
Posted by jennifer at 03:06 PM | Comments (1)
Itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny...
August 29, 2008
Not so yellow, not polka-dotted, and definitely not a bikini! This little newborn hat will be on it's way to Texas soon along with some other things I'm working on sewing.
See, I have been knitting! The yarn is some sock yarn from the swap I went to a while back. I should probably thank Christy for it. I knit in the round on size 7 needles, decreasing as much as I could after a while. Then I gathered the rest of the live stitches on the remaining yarn when the skein was pretty much gone.
I'd used most of the skein for another baby hat a little while back that I'm just about finished with. Hopefully I'll have that to show you in the near future.
I took pictures today for a cloth diaper burp cloth tutorial that I hope to post next week. I'm also going to try and share more with you about the patchwork doggie being pummeled by the toddler last week. In the mean time, I need a shower, the baby will need to go to bed soon, and there's still sewing to do.
Posted by jennifer at 08:10 PM | Comments (0)
Table for 8 please
August 26, 2008
We had some friends over for dinner yesterday. Amy and Adam have two kids about the same ages as our two. Their little girl will be two soon and their baby boy is just two weeks younger than ours. And ours will be four months next week! Can you believe that?
We are continually shocked at how quickly dinner for four became dinner for six and a table for eight when we eat with friends. The meal was oven fried chicken, baked sweet potato fries, wilted spinach with bacon, and fallen chocolate cakes with strawberry sauce. Definitely not low-fat!
The effort to prepare a meal is nothing compared to time spent with friends enjoying it. Well, that and getting the highest compliment a toddler can give; their daughter actually picked up her dessert plate and licked it when her cake was gone.
I was hoping to have a great picture of the meal, the empty plates, or even the dirty dishes to share, but I neglected to take any of those shots. Instead I sat down with some needles and yarn to start on yet another baby hat. Hopefully I can share it soon.
Posted by jennifer at 09:56 PM | Comments (0)
Hair Raising
August 24, 2008
A somewhat scary and little known fact about me is that my hair has not been cut in about two and a half years, since a bit before my first son was born. I know; that's just plain wrong. Not good for my hair, my whole self, my looks. I should take better care of myself, right?
Well, it's just not that simple. First there's the matter of not being able to find the time to go. It's hard enough to get to the dentist and eye doctor when I need to. Then there's the fact that the girl who used to cut my hair quit cutting hair and went back to advertising. Finally there's the fact that I had a second baby and opted out of bottles.
I meant to get my hair cut before the second baby arrived, but I didn't know where to go or who to get an appointment with. And it really wasn't that big of a deal. Yeah, it was long and had a few split ends, but it still looked okay. And I keep it pulled back most of the time anyway.
And then the postpartum shed started. I'm having to comb it out in the shower with conditioner. And then I have to comb it out again with a leave-in conditioner. I wind up with two golf ball sized clumps of hair after every shower. The shedding is normal, but the length of my hair combined with the split ends... Well, if you've ever had long hair, you can imagine the frustration. Of course, if it continues to fall out at this rate much longer I won't have anything to worry about. ;)
I must also share that we do not style the baby's hair like that. It does that all on it's own. And we always know when he's due for a bath; his hair starts to lie down flat!
Posted by jennifer at 09:35 PM | Comments (0)
Quintessential two
"Are you two?'
"Nope. G not two."
Well, there you have it. He is two; so he's definitely NOT two. And he's full of funny things that would have qualified him for the Bill Cosby show Kids say the Darndest Things.
The first words out of his mouth one morning last week when I went in to get him up were, "Mama, take off toes!" as he pulled on his toes.
"You want me to take you're toes off?"
"Yes!"
"Are they in your way?"
"Yes!"
"I can't, sweetie. They're attached to your foot."
After a minute to think he declares, "Mama, go get scissors."
Oh the connections he makes, and the ones he doesn't make...
I've started on the second sweater sleeve, but I haven't gotten very far. I took a short break from toddler sweater knitting to finish a block for a giant (big in size) surprise for hubby. I really don't think it's much of a surprise anymore, but I'm still gonna play along and not tell you what it is.
In my head I'm also planning an organic cotton cardigan for the baby, a newborn hat for my cousin who's having a girl in November, a winter hat for the toddler, and something (truthfully, I'm not sure what...) for Linda's next little boy, due in December. I think to get all that done, I'm going to have to find more than a few minutes of knitting time each day!
There's also another SimpleMom give away going on. It's her birthday, so drop by and wish her a Happy Birthday and enter to win some fabulous prizes while you're at it.
Posted by jennifer at 01:37 PM | Comments (1)
I made a dent
August 20, 2008
Yep, that's the hood of hubby's car. It seems to attract road debris; its sustained much damage through simply being at the wrong spot at the wrong time. There was a section of tire tread on I-35 about 40 miles out of town that did a number on it. I was driving then too. Tire tread flying through the air and smacking your hood, then windshield, while you travel 70 plus MPH on the highway is kind of scary. And expensive. This time it was a rock that flew off a truck less than a mile from our house. I had just turned out of our neighborhood and onto a street where the speed limit is 35. I was shocked to be hit by flying debris, and even more shocked when I saw the damage. I don't hit things; they hit me.
I did mention yesterday that I'm crazy, right? We left a week ago on a moments notice to drive two hours out of town for a ten minute family portrait photo shoot. You can see a photo on the photographer's blog here. We're the first family pictured. If you look closely, you can see me trying to make a dent here too. I was asked to pretend to pop the couch with my knitting needle. And, yep, that's a sleeve for the toddler's sweater. It's finished now, the sleeve, not the sweater.
I also made a dent in the top down house clean up going on around here. I cleaned up my half of our joint closet and sorted out the pile of clothing in our bedroom that resulted from changing size so rapidly while having little time to unpack or pack up clothing as I outgrew and then shrank back through sizes. I'm happy to say that I have only 10 pounds to go to get back to my pre-pregnant size and 20 to my "ideal" weight, and I am officially back in *my* jeans!
This afternoon hubby and I sent the toddler out to see his grandparents and we made a huge dent in the bathroom remodel going on upstairs. Finishing that job is part of the top down clean up. Today we finished grouting the tile around the shower/tub. We still have a ton of work to do, but I think we have it down to some manageable chunks. It was too dark to take photos of the tile tonight, but I'll get it done soon.
Ok, so I didn't make A dent; I made several of them.
Posted by jennifer at 02:22 PM | Comments (2)
Au Naturel and woo-hoo!!!!!!!
August 19, 2008
I got tagged for the six random things meme that's going around by my cousin Tamy. I should disclose that I think she tagged me for the seven random things one a while back and I neglected to participate. I wasn't ignoring it, I had just recently posted seven random things, and, well, fourteen seemed like too much sharing. ;) Or, it was just too much random stuff about me to come up with...
Here's my six:
1. We are officially debt free except for our house as of this morning!!!! Woooo-Hoooo!!!
2. I don't wear makeup. I don't think I even own any makeup anymore. When my brother in law got married a couple of years ago and I was expected to be made-up for the wedding, I had to dig and borrow to get ready!
3. I do my best to eat all natural foods and use all natural hygiene and home care products.
4. I bought a loom just over two years ago and have never used it. My husband (jokingly) tried to sell it to Linda last night. I love my loom, but just haven't found time to get it up and running with the kids. I'm thrilled to have a weaving buddy; maybe it will even get me motivated...
5. I'm crazy. The kind of crazy that chooses to have two kids in less than two years. The kind of crazy that reads about this on the chicken and actually thinks "I should try that...". And the kind of crazy that is environmentally minded, yet still drives a huge gas-guzzling truck. It's mostly the good kind of crazy if you ask me...
6. I will always be a Texan at heart, and will always miss my home state, but not necessarily the place I grew up. "You can take the girl out of Texas..."
Posted by jennifer at 02:53 PM | Comments (1)
Nap time?
August 17, 2008
The toddler is having nap time issues. This is really not new for him. He was a classic short napper as a baby, and he fought naps much harder than he did bedtime. He would go to bed at night awake, but would not go down for a nap unless he was out cold. Eventually he had to cry it out. It broke my heart.
Now? We've graduated from crying to playing. He'll spend 2 plus hours playing before falling asleep sometimes. Other days I eventually have to go and get him without an actual nap because it gets too late for him to take one. Most days he does sleep for an hour or so still, but getting there means spending three hours in bed, two of them singing and yelling. He's so loud that sometimes he wakes the baby.
I try to stay as quiet as possible while he's "falling asleep" so as to not disturb the delicate nap process, but I'm finding that hard to do. My kitchen is right outside his room and nap time is typically when I put away dishes and prep for dinner.
The baby on the other hand would really like to sleep all day. He's taking a good three, sometimes four, naps a day and fits the mold of how a baby should sleep. If he wakes after only an hour of his afternoon nap, all I have to do is go rock and bounce for a while and put him back down. Some days I have to wake him for every feeding! We're still up at night for one or two feedings, but they are relatively quick and he goes right back to bed.
I'm certain that my toddler is normal, but that doesn't make listening to him for hours any less frustrating. Especially when I want to take a nap; how's a mama suppose to sleep with all that racket?
Posted by jennifer at 01:42 PM | Comments (0)
Wide Open Spaces
August 15, 2008
I've had the Dixie Chicks song of the same title in my head for some of the evening this evening. It's been one of those days where if I wasn't holding one kiddo, I was the other. Both of them seemed to just have a high need for touch today. The toddler's been extra whiny to go along with it. I could use some wide open space myself tonight.
Frankly, I'm stealing this time. The baby is down for a late nap and hubby has the toddler in the bath right now. I'll go down for bedtime stories and to finish making the adult dinner. Most night we eat as a family, but hubby got home too late tonight for that. I waited for him; if timing works the way I think it will, we'll get to eat dinner just the two of us!
I took the boys to the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art today to see the Chakaia Booker exhibit. The toddler kept calling the sculptures made of recycled rubber, mostly tires, "pretty".
We made a Kemper afternoon of it and also went to the Kemper Memorial Garden. It was unseasonably cool here, only in the upper 70s, today. And the garden is walled, so I don't have to stay quite so close to the toddler as I do some of the other places we go to play. I was really impressed, the fountains are great, the flowers were beautiful, and there were tons of them. I didn't lug a camera with two kids in tow, but I wish that I had.
Now, if I can just squeeze in some time to create something tonight. Or maybe I should take a shower instead... ;)
Posted by jennifer at 07:07 PM | Comments (0)
From the top down
August 14, 2008
It's amazing to me how different something can look in a picture. I took that photo of a baby praying mantis last week while we were playing out back. At the time, I wasn't even positive what kind of insect it was. After I got the pics into my computer, I confirmed my hunch. He was no bigger than an inch long and quite fascinating to watch. It was one of those times that I was sad the boys were really too little to appreciate him.
I think my confusion was all about perspective. When I first looked at him, I had a bird's eye view. It made him look like some kind of weird scorpion. It wasn't until I was more on his level that I could identify with him. Yep, there's an analogy in there. When I taught, I used to get down on the same level with my kids when I helped them individually. I squatted, sat in another chair at their table, what ever I could to really try and see things from their point of view. It helped that I was teaching art, but I also think it helped my kids relate to me. I think sometimes when I am most frustrated with my own kids it's because I haven't gotten down on their level yet.
I also decided last week that enough was enough. It is time to get a handle on all the cleaning and stuff around here. I really let things go just before the baby was born when I go told to "take it easy", and I haven't gotten things picked back up yet. It seems to me that working from the top down, the way my mother taught me to clean, is the way to go. That means that I'll start upstairs with the nursery and our room; places no one really sees much but us. Then I'll work my way to the more public areas of the house, finally rewarding myself with a good deep cleaning of my studio. By then I should be all set to get back to work down there.
I'll try to keep you posted about my progress, but I'm certain that it will be slow going!
Posted by jennifer at 03:19 PM | Comments (0)
That's the way the cookie crumbles
August 13, 2008
I'm currently on a dairy free diet. I love milk and cheese, but the baby had just awful gas when I had dairy. The toddler was this way too when he was little, so I've done this before. While I don't really like it, I know that it's just for a few months, and I know that I can do this. It's really hard though, and it reminds me how difficult life must be for people who are truly allergic to milk. No milk chocolate, no cake unless I made both the cake and the frosting with soy milk, no pancakes for breakfast. You get the idea.
I'm finding that I have the need to spoil myself with food in other ways. I know that I should still be on my healthy, sugar-free diet, but I just need something to make up for the lack of pizza and grilled cheese in my life.So I'm baking. A lot.
While I can substitute soy milk in some recipes, I've found that it just isn't the same, and I prefer to just make things that don't have milk in them to begin with. In my quest to find dairy free treats, I'm digging out recipes that I haven't made in a long time. This is one of them; it's the Chocolate Crinkle cookies my mom used to make. I don't know why I almost never make them; they were my favorite growing up. I even remember drawing a picture of them with a white crayon on brown paper for my grandparents the last time they came to visit us when I was about 5.
I'll post the recipe in the near future. It's been one of those crazy days where things just didn't go as planned. I started this post at 7 this morning; it's now just after 10 pm.
Just in case you're wondering, I am knitting. Remember this? I didn't get it finished in time for Christmas last year! Now, I'm most of the way through the first sleeve. And it looks like it might be a perfect fit for the toddler this year. It will still take me a bit to finish it; there's quite a bit of seaming and a neck band to knit, but I'm certain I can get it finished in time for colder weather.
Posted by jennifer at 07:01 AM | Comments (0)
All in a days work
August 12, 2008
When we headed out for a family drive just over a week ago, I decided not to take the Hoover blanket with us. It was just plain too hot to have that mass of cotton yarn in my lap.
I grabbed some random baby blue yarn from my stash. I'm certain that it came home with me from the yarn swap I went to a while back. If you happen to have been there and know what this is, well, please comment. And cast on for a hat. After one day of knitting in the car and 30 minutes of finishing work at home, this is what I had.
It seems to be a good fit now that it is summer, so hopefully the baby's head won't grow too much before winter. Or, hopefully there's enough give for it to still fit when it's really needed in January.
I still have a hole days worth of work ahead of me today, so I better get after it.
Posted by jennifer at 09:34 AM | Comments (2)