Made By Me Monday (or Tuesday)

It seems the local stork is super efficient, cause he's bringing us a second baby a mere 14 months and two days after the first.

Despite having known for about two months now, we're still relatively shocked, but a baby is always a wonderful thing, and we are happily (if a bit nervously) anticipating welcoming this one into our little family.

So far this pregnancy has been identical to my first, except for fewer taco cravings - probably because I'm already on an iron supplement. I've been very blessed to never experience morning sickness, and sleepiness is my most consistent symptom.

Although I'm only 14 weeks along, it is pretty obvious that I'm expecting by the end of the day. I look about how I looked at 20 weeks last time.

We're brainstorming how to make Charlie's little nursery big enough for two cribs, tossing around ideas of how we'll "boy it up" if this one is of the masculine variety, and are figuring out what we'll do differently knowing what we know now that we have 8 months of parenting under our belts.

Any mom's of two under two happen to read this? I'd love to hear more about what I should be expecting, the good, the bad and the funny.

I'd also love boy names...we got nothin'.

Eight Months Old!

It's hard to believe my sweet thing is eight months old. And giant. She's still a meager 15 pounds, give or take two ounces, but she's a mighty 29+ inches long.

She is currently:

• Giving hugs and sloppy kisses


• Eating solids for breakfast and dinner, as well as her weight in Puffs


• Preferring rolling and "walking" (with someone supporting her) to the trouble of learning to crawl


• Very interested in textures, from suede to embroidery to bald heads


• Wearing clothes ranging from 3-6 months up to 12 months


• In love with Tim's socks


• Despising bath time, unless Daddy is there to play Peek a Boo


• Preferring girls to boys, and preferring long haired girls to short haired


• Thrilled that her favorite toys (her feet) are different every day...sometimes bare, sometimes sock covered, sometimes shoe covered, sometimes knit slipper covered, and her favorite, sometimes sandal covered


• Slowly being introduced to formula. This is not being well received


• Saying "Dada", "Nana", "Hi" and "Blah" indiscriminately


• Working her one tooth...it's almost halfway in now, and she knows how to use it (ouch)

(PS - her adorable rainbow chevron dress is from GAP outlet, and Papa got it at a steal for $4 - only to discover that the romper that came with it is size 18-24 months, so I had to sub a Carter's one in so as not to expose her Blues Clues diaper)

Birthday Brain "Storming"

I'm currently in love with the idea of a "Rainy Day" party for Charlie. Since her birthday is in late September, its likely that the weather will cooperate, so what's more fun than dressing in your best poncho and galloshes and heading to a rainy 1st birthday party?

Bonus that I'm pretty sure I could make most of this myself.

Colorful raindrops

Rainforest Invite

Raindrop Streamers

Umbrella Confetti

Vintage Rain Barrel (for punch of course)

Umbrella Garland

Dirt Pops

Umbrella Toppers

Cupcake Wrappers

Dirt Cups

I love the photo booth trend that's started. Pose under a vintage umbrella (ella, ella, ella) and a raincloud!

Red Trimmed Umbrella

Raincloud

Polka Dot Umbrella

Red Umbrella

The favor bags would be filled with things to do on a rainy day.
Origami trench coat dolls
Coloring page
Tags

What do you think?

So, who wants an iPad?

Yes please. Enter to win one from Design for Mankind! But don't be too disappointed when I win, not you ;)

Ten on 10

My day with Charlie - 10 pictures in 10 hours.
See more here

Made By Me Monday

I made a crayon carrier a few years ago for my nephew's birthday. I used Pirate-y fabrics, since it was, and still is, his favorite, sewed together the squares and folded up about a third of it to make a pocket on the inside. I sewed the pocket into crayon sized sections and added crayons.

I added a ribbon to the outside to hold it shut.

Roll it up, tie it off, and you have a portable crayon holder. Voila.

Happy Mother's Day

Grateful for the blessing of a wonderful mother, and a wonderful daughter to share her legacy with.

Sunshine

"Enjoying" one of the first warm sunny days in Charlie's little life. As you can see by her expression, it wasn't her favorite experience.

7 Months

My tiny is 7 months old! Madness.

She's become a busy little thing, but she still loves to snuggle and now happily gives hugs and kisses (to me, to daddy, to her stuffed animals, and even books if they have faces to kiss in them).

She rolls everywhere, loves to be upside down, and has actually flipped and landed flat on her feet from an upside down position more than once (don't let your guard down with this one).

She'd rather stand than anything, will jump as much as possible, and is constantly talking.

She's eating two pureed meals a day, favoring squash and blueberry pear. She says "Mmmm" while eating. Peas and Squash mixed with apple both make her gag, so those have been retired for now.

She's in the throws of teething, and doesn't especially like being held by anyone but me, though she'll smile and talk with others as long as she's safely in my lap.

She's sooo close to sitting on her own, (she can do it on chairs and couches and laps, but doesn't trust the floor.)

She's grabbing any and everything, as you can see in the second picture she's lunging for the camera.

She's too long for 6 month clothes, but too skinny for 9 month...it looks like she may just sport dresses this summer.

She's started to dance to music, and stays pretty close to the rhythm. She sings along with whatever she hears.

She blows bubbles often, especially while eating.

She spent her first Sunday in the nursery, and didn't cry at all. In fact, she didn't make any noise the whole time, just sat and watched everyone.

She has no interest in crawling, but seems to like the idea of wheelbarrowing, as evidenced by her attempt to get from my lap to her dad's last night.

She's awesome.

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday Catch up

I started weekly blog features to make sure I continued to blog...but sometimes life gets in the way, and things like "Made By Me Monday" fall by the wayside.

Our lives have been busy with things like sickness, sleep issues, milk supply issues, changes, prioritizing, teething, drooling, broken washers, etc. It hasn't all been bad, but it has all been intense, and taken my focus away from a lot of day to day things...like cleaning, cooking, laundry and blogging.

I have, however, been taking pictures. So, without further adieu:

What's Charlie Wearing last Wednesday (actually Thursday - our new washer didn't get here until Wednesday, so Charlie was wearing a hodgepodge assortment from her few clean clothes that day.)
Here she's wearing:
Carters sweatshirt
Carters cow onesie (part of a four piece set found at Costco for under $10)
Old Navy roll up jeans on clearance for about $4
Carters socks

And, this Wednesday:
It was lovely out, so while she also sported a sweater and socks most of the day, we pretended it was summer.

Old Navy Tank bought on clearance before she was born - probably about $2
Cherokee shorts, also bought on clearance before she was born - I have no idea what they cost.

Our First Easter as Three

Easter morning came early around our house...we had to be fed, dressed and out the door by 8:20, which meant a 7 am wake up call for mommy...earlier than usual. I actually didn't drag myself from the warm comfort of flannel sheets until 7:25, so I rocked wet hair in a ponytail, and had no time to make my legs presentable enough for a skirt, so wound up wearing the only clean jeans I had handy (grey flares) with a blousy blue and white silk button down tank and an extra long black cardigan with silver ballet flats. Not exactly up to Easter par, but what can you do? It was only a little embarrassing to stand next to Tim in his khaki's, button down green gingham shirt and navy tie, holding Charlie in her plaid pink/orange/red Old Navy dress (new from the consignment store, $4) with her big flower headband in lieu of a bonnet (impossible to find!) Only Charlie got fed, and we didn't make it out the door until 8:35 (for the 8:30 service), but thankfully it's right down the street.

Once to church, Charlie started off standing on my lap, treating me as a jumperoo. Bounce, bounce bounce. To put a stop to this, I sat her on my lap, when Charlie decided it would be a good time to growl. A lot. After several attempts to quiet her with various pacifiers, all of which she plucked out a threw on the ground, Tim ended up in the foyer with her for the majority of the service, keeping her growling to himself.

After the service we came home for a few hours, and Charlie received her first Easter basket. If you know me, you know I LOVE holidays, and holiday traditions. Normally I make Easter baskets for at least Tim, my nephew Mitsuki, and myself (cause I say it's from the Easter Bunny, so it's not really like I'm giving myself presents, right?) Last year, Tim's brother and his family were here from Ohio, so I made 9 baskets. But, this year I'm not working, so I had to tame my Easter basket frenzy. Charlie was the only recipient of a basket, Tim got white chocolate Lindor eggs, and I got mini Cadbury's.

Here's Charlie, ready to rip into her basket:

Her basket consisted of: felt chick basket, two Sesame Street bath books (all from the Target dollar bin), a touch and feel baby animal book (Costco, $5.99) and a little lamb (Fred Meyer, $3.99)

She checked periodically to make sure Daddy's attention was where it should be...on her.

Eating her basket. This continued throughout the day.

Overall, her first Easter basket seemed to be a success.
We spent the rest of the day at Papa's, where she enjoyed playing in her jumperoo, and eating her Auntie Chie's face. It was delightful.

He Arose!

He arose, hallelujah, Christ arose!

Happy Easter, friends. Today we rejoice in our Resurrected Lord, without whom, eternal life would not be possible.

Praise the Lord that Jesus conquered death, living and reigning eternally, making it possible for us to have salvation.

"Oh death, where is your victory? Oh death, where is your sting?" I Corinthians 15:55

Thankful for Good Friday

without which, we could not receive the gift of salvation.

On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross

The emblem of suff'ring and shame

And I love that old cross,

Where the dearest and best

For a world of lost sinners was slain

So I'll cherish the old rugged cross

Till my trophies at last I'll lay down

I will cling to the old rugged cross

And exchange it some day for a crown

source

Chronicles of Cry It Out - Why we're on hold

It seemed to be going so well. There was less crying, more sleeping. But there we other changes too...ones I really wanted to ignore, or at least pretend they were caused by teething or something. Then it all came to a head.

Let's backtrack a bit. Charlie started rolling months ago, but only recently has she been consistently rolling as a means to get from here to there. But, she only rolls one direction at a time. She'll roll, for example, from her tummy to her back, going right. Then, still going right, to her tummy again. Then (right) to her back. Until she encounters an obstacle. If she's on her back when she gets stuck, she deals, wiggles and finds her way out. But if she's on her tummy, she just keeps trying to roll to the right, desperate to get onto her back, resulting in her hitting her head on said obstacle over and over again as she tries to get to her back.

It's not a huge deal if she's in the living room with me, I can roll her to the left and get her started on the rolling path to safety. But, when I've put her in her crib (drowsy but awake) the last seven or eight times, it's been a different story. I didn't know why she was suddenly crying for an hour again, until I came in the first time and found her on her belly, terrified. She didn't have room to roll back over, and seemed to think she was stuck forever. It took some time to calm her down, and then she fell asleep in my arms. The next day, her screaming got more intense after 10 minutes, and I heard banging against the wall. She was, again, stuck on her stomach, and attempting to roll despite continually hitting her head against the crib slats (we don't use bumpers, per the SIDS recommendation.) The next day, determined to keep closer watch, I found her almost immediately on her tummy, backed into the bottom corner with her foot stuck through the slats.

Tim and I talked about it, and decided that until she had figured out rolling either direction, we'd back off on the CIO business. The risk of her hurting herself seems to outweigh any benefit offered.

There have been other issues too. I don't know if baby's can be paranoid, but it seems like Charlie is. She started crying and twisting any time we go into her room now. If I lay her down on the changing table (previously one of her favorite places) she starts screaming immediately. I've heard of CIO babies loving their cribs, but Charlie has learned to fear hers. I'm at a loss. The last few days of letting her fall asleep next to me on the couch, but not touching me, seems to have gone well. I am (usually) able to transfer her to her crib without commotion. She's been happier during the day, and more inclined to play by herself, or with her dad or grandparents then she was the last week or so. She still cries when I put her on the changing table, but only until she figures out she's getting changed, then she calms down and starts smiling.

In some ways I feel like a failure, because CIO is so successful for so many, but on the other hand, I know my stubborn little girl, and it's clear that this isn't the right path for her. At least for now.

So, I'm a bit discouraged, but glad to have my happy girl back. Even if bedtime still doesn't come easy.

What's Charlie Wearing Wednesday

This girl is getting trickier to photograph. She is ever more distracted by the world around her, so keeping her attention for the three seconds my camera takes to capture a shot is no laughing matter.
In the first picture, she's attempting to lick her hood.
In the second picture, she's letting me know it's too close to nap time for this business.
And in the third picture, she's had a nap, and a meal, and is more than happy to smile for me, so long as she can still play with her feet.

Anyway, today she's wearing another Carters outfit, which makes it simple for a sleepy mama. I really love how everything Carters matches. For example, the blue of the socks, which were not part of the outfit, is exactly the same as the blue of the vest. Takes a lot of the thinking out of the picture, which I am increasingly appreciating. The headband was made by me.

Here she is giving up on sitting pretty and sprawling along the full width of the rocking chair seat.
Time to play!