Life In Color

Baby Shower in a Box

 

The happiest of happy mail probably.

One of my oldest and dearest friends lives in Vermont. She is almost 8 months pregnant and too far away for my taste. We did always say we were going to live next to each other when we had kids, oh how things change. Good thing cell phones and free long distance came along. A few weeks ago my mom was watching Tuesday when I went for a haircut. I took the opportunity when I got back in the car (which was parked in a nice sunny spot) to ring up Ceara (fyi as you read this you say it like "kira"). Over an hour later I got moving. I hope you have a friend like that. One you can just talk and listen to. It's a beautiful thing. 

 

Ceara, of course, attracts wonderful friends to her where ever she may be so I wasn't surprised that one jumped at the chance to throw her a perfect party. I wasn't sure if I would get all the projects done I had planned, but really my pride was on the line after the last big thing I made her took FIVE YEARS. Yikes. I was a bit over my head with that one really though. Anyway I loved putting together this package. I went with her school colors (NOT MINE) yellow and green. I know I copied you on this Nora, but can't find the link. It was totally Nora's idea though:

 

So easy to do with the scraps and herringbone ribbon from my shop (this natural twill would also work great). 

Do you want to know what was in the package? On top (that her friend put in a bag for me) was lots of little fun stuff like a shirt predicting her child's future. Sarah and I found that shopping in Corvallis. The example in the store was "professional bowler", which I found funny. She got "generous tipper" which I find a bit weird... the baby doesn't have to wear it Ceara! Bj passed along his favorite baby book to Grant, and I filled the rest of the stuff with baby nose spray, lap pads, teething tablets, and stuff like that. I made her baby a little hat:

 

The yarn and book (from which I got this dead easy pattern) are both from my friend's awesome new yarn shop here in town. My friend who happens to be my next door neighbor. I will be reporting about this awesome new wonderfulness soon. Can I just say that with Ceara's lovely skin, and her husband's even darker lovely skin that their probably edible looking creamy chocolate colored baby is going to look fabulous in this! I might have to eat it. Mmmm baby head in wool.... 

Now the big thing I did not get to choose the colors of. You may remember that I briefly mentioned when I visited Ceara that we picked out some fabric for a baby quilt. It had to match the room. And to be really nice I made it look great with all the Duck gear I'm sure they will have around. :)

 

And can I just say... I really love it! I think I might be unusually prejudice against yellow and green since I was raised to be a Beaver, but I might be loosening my stance a bit (ok a lot, I could have kept this). I designed it a few weeks before (ugh nothing like waiting until the last minute Amber!)

 

To include some big blogs with the little ones to give it more interest and highlight some of Ceara's (and my) favorite prints. The back I also pieced:

 

With a little embroidery square:

 

I basted with quilting safety pins so I put a whole bunch around this area so I would quilt over it... then I quilted over a pin:

 

That I tried to remove which led to me BLEEDING ON THE QUILT. I got it out though, but not the safety pin with out a little damage to the stitches. You know what though? Here is another wonderful quality of Ceara's: she won't care. And I know this because if I didn't blog about it I bet she wouldn't notice. Not because she doesn't notice things, but because she is not a crafter. I'm not being mean saying it. Her hobby is music, mine is craft. Yes, one of my best buddies does not craft, can you believe it? Anyway.

 

I all over free motion quilted it...

 

And did a sort of loopy-d-loo boarder with variegated yellow thread in TWO HOURS on my awesome machine that I love oh so much. It's a bit wonky and totally random but I love it, it was so fun and I want to quilt fifty more things right now to practice and get better (don't remind me about those UFOs...). Oh and I did a scrappy non-biased binding. I love this, and will do it again (got the idea from the now defunct blog Crazy Mom Quilts - still up with lots of tutorials archived).

 

Tuesday loved it too. The matching was accidental... though to be fair she is in green an average of four times a week. I had so much fun coming up with this quilt. I have been reading lots of "modern" quilting blogs and there is so much good info out there. Very inspirational. 

Of course I couldn't wait to see how this was received. Ceara loved it! She called me tonight and it's hanging over the baby's crib, awe.... I was like, "good, now I can blog about it." So I did. Goodnight!

Elimination Communication

I read a bunch of blogs. Probably way to many (I'm working on cutting down my list to favorites right now!). One I read is called Ohdeedoh, an out post of Apartment Therapy. I was looking on there last spring and read a comment from a reader that said in Europe where she is from people start putting their babies on the potty when they can sit up, about 5.5 months. So the next time I placed on online order and I need to buy something else to get free shipping I got the Baby Bjorn Toilet Trainer. Bj took one look at it and our then four month old like I was crazy. I stored it under the sink and forgot about it. Then around seven months I was watching Tutu play, she stopped and I knew it was because she had to go to the bathroom. I ran her upstairs, took off her diaper and plopped her on the toilet and she went pee! For the next few months whenever I checked her and she wasn't wet after playing for a while (or sleeping, or riding in the car), I helped her sit on the potty so she could go. I went days with out having to change a poopy diaper, which was awesome. Then she started crawling and being a lot more busy. She didn't seem to mind being in a wet diaper like she did at the beginning so I didn't really worry about it much. I had read somewhere that toilet training too early was bad and I didn't want to pressure her. 

 

Eventually I heard about Elimination Communication (EC), but didn't really think much of it. In fact I had heard of diaper free babies but thought it was crazy. Like CA-RAZY. Then Tuesday got a terrible blistering diaper rash. We had to use sticky creams and disposable diapers so we wouldn't ruin our cloth. I looked up info on EC and checked this book out from the library. I figured I could give it a go again, though we are on the very late side of starting this technique. I still didn't want to pressure her, but I now believe (as it states in this book) that we basically taught her to sit in a wet diaper, so we are not really potty training her, but UNtraining her to go in her diaper. I started by putting her in a cloth diaper with no cover and changing her as soon as she got wet, even a little bit. I started going through so many more diapers! I did not realize she sat in pee so much, yikes. 

 

I made up some leg warmers using this great tutorial. But Miss Sparkle Pant's legs are too skinny so I stocked up on baby legs. 

 

Which don't fall down so she doesn't slide on them. I let her run around with out a diaper when we were playing and just after she'd gone on the potty. I'm not a huge fan of cleaning up messes, but it really is no big deal. I ended up getting her some EC wear though for when she has to wear something. These little pants are great because the belt stays around the waist and the diaper part flips back. 

 

Tuesday at the park today (with her Ikea potty). Now I don't want you to think that every time she has to go she is on the potty. In fact 9 times out of 10 she's probably not. Because she is older I have to rely mainly on timing, by the time she shows a cue (stopping in her tracks) it's probably too late, and she has never "told" me she has to go (by gesturing or going to her potty). But we've been having better and better days. And every time we go to the potty or talk about it I sign her "potty". She just started using the "milk" sign (oh my goodness so cute) so I'm hoping she'll catch onto the potty sign soon. If not that's okay too. I feel a lot better about how often I change her, and the fact that I can read her so well. It really is about communication, not potty training. 

I'm mainly posting this so that if someone is reading and has a younger baby (or is pregnant) they can at least have it in their head. Who knows you might become an accidental ECer too! 

When sleep won't come...

photo from yesterday's nap taken on iPhone

I just got done putting Tuesday to sleep. It took me three hours. Bj is working late so I got to hear her sing out, "bobbobbobbobbobbob bobbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb bob bob?" This is Tuesday for, "Where are you Bob bob?" I knew she was tired like four hours ago, did I wait too long? Some days I think I have her completely figured out. Somedays are today, and I have no idea what is going on. At least I can admit it. I can also ignore the laundry, dishes, toys, emails, and go crawl in bed with a book. Yes I think I will go do that now.

 

Design Wall - mini

I have been sewing and generally playing with fabric downstairs. It's great fun until Tuesday decides to mix up my design to suit her tastes! I took an extra piece of foam core board and some flannel I had and whipped up this:

 

Tuesday squeals and runs over to it when she gets downstairs.

 

It's all very exciting.

 

I'm excited to use this for the felt letters I thrifted back in the day. Oh wait maybe you shouldn't click that link - unfinished quilt alert!
 
 
 

Flippin

I'm sure there is some clever title that is just out of my reach with this one, maybe "straight flippin' yo"? Tuesday has a few new skills. One is carting things all over the house and redistributing them. I find it quite funny to discover old receipts in mixing bowls and clean socks in between books on the shelves. The other new skill is flipping. Observe:

It's so cute. She talks to herself while she does it. Her favorite books right now are Ina May's Guide to Breastfeeding and Malcolm Gladwell's What the Dog Saw. Occasionally she'll cart around Understanding Waldorf Education, I think because of the apples on the cover. Anyway this reminded me that I never shared one of my favorite Christmas present ideas I had. 

My friend Tracy came across this company called Flip Clips in the back of some magazine. I decided to get a couple for Bj for his stocking (I also got this one). They were cheap, easy to do and shipped super fast. Now that Tuesday is doing super fun things like walking (and practically RUNNING) I need to get a few more made. 

In other news: 3.5 pounds away from pre-pregnancy weight and I had to stumble upon the easter candy aisle... 

Shorty Style

I love love love short little dresses on girls. I mean super short - Shirley Temple style (I need to get some of those movies on DVD, I don't think you can have a bad day if you watch a Shirley Temple movie. Also I my wonderful mother curled my stick straight hair like this so many times. Thanks mom love ya!). My grandma stopped by the other day and brought a few darling dresses for Tuesday. They are more summer styles, but of course that didn't stop me from layering her outfit and sticking it on her anyway.

 

As long as she keeps growing (albeit slowly) it should fit perfectly come summer.

 

Dresses were very impractical before Tuesday started walking as they seriously impeded crawling. Now that she is walking most of the time and I have a bunch of new Baby Legs headed my way (and a pile of homemade ones - details coming) it's time to make this girl some dresses. I have long been preparing for this, as shown by my flickr set entitled: Vintage Patterns (could also be called the I can't help myself set). I have started cutting out this jacket in - wait for it - 

 

a silky soft red corduroy with white polka dots (Carmen it's the stuff I got while visiting you!). And if that doesn't bowl you over with cuteness wait until you see what I have planned for the lining. Of course I have a few irons in the fire right now (Ceara is due at the beginning of April after all), but I'm already setting my sights on a few other patterns. And remember the one I made my god-daughter? I want to try that reversible style. Of course even though I have this nice stash of patterns I saw Butterick 9682 on lottielulu today and I have. to. have. it! 

So thanks for walking Tutu, you've made dressing you even MORE fun!

Doing

Playing games at parties

 

Seeing friends

 

Swinging with friends

 

Learning to get a bit messy from friends

 

Showing off teeth

 

Exploring

 

Carrying around a point and shoot I have no idea how to use, which necessitated major editing and black and white conversion.

Well Tuesday, that's snow...

Bj and I decided a quick day trip up to the mountain would be fun... We did not decide to stay up super late, get up again in a couple of hours and stay up for over THREE hours in the middle of the night however (that was Miss Sparkle Pants' idea), so our tiredness put a little bit of a hiccup in our plans. And since I didn't really make concrete plans our fun day of sledding ended up as a short bundle up and walk in the snow. I did score a great sled from Goodwill, next time...

 

Me and my girl.

 

Family photo - uh oh dog spotted by Tuesday!

 

Don't worry about the dog Tutu look at the camera!

 

Maybe you'd like to stand?

 

Okay maybe not... well that was fun!

I am very glad I got all her snow gear on super ultra clearance because I don't think she's going to get much use of it! I have no idea where we can sled either, turns out no sledding at Timberline and at the sno park places they make you use their inter tubes. I am so NOT putting Tuesday on an inter tube! Any locals (in a two hour radius or so around Salem) know any places?

Exploring

Tuesday didn't want to go to sleep early today, she didn't want to go to sleep late either... she wanted to go to sleep much, MUCH later. So I cranked up the ISO and snapped a few pictures of my little explorer.

 

Love those very slight curls in the back.

 

Oh I didn't know that egg went in there, thanks Tuesday!

 

Cute little baby fingers.

Then we went downstairs (where the big lights mean it's always daylight!) so I could show you the thing I made when I was supposed to be making other things.

 

I found this great panel at Fabric Depot (hello that place is crazy insane). I figured I would just back it and wham play mat. But of course I couldn't just do that!

 

I used a combo of left over minkie, upholstery material, quilting fabric (with some interfacing to give it more heft), and a thrifted blanket. This way it can be a little earth, land, sky play mat on the back. 

Tuesday also worked on something she probably shouldn't:

 

Pretending her cart is a Segway. Kids these days.

A walk in the park

My toddler oh how I love her.