Sunny Day! Sweepin' the Clouds A-Way!

It did not rain today. Can I even explain just how excited I am about that? The only bummer is I did not realize just how nice it was outside today until sometime after 1:00 when we left for a lunch out at our favorite place. Ben took Lauren to the park this morning to run around and although he said it wasn't raining, he did not mention it actually felt kind of warm out there. We didn't even need coats today. Do you understand? Mid-fifties! Sheesh, I'm about ready to break out the tank tops and flip flops, y'all!

Well, maybe there's still too much California girl in me for that.

Not that all this time indoors has gone to waste. I have been getting good things done. Like these pillows I made for the girls. Hand appliqued letters and rose, and machine stitched the rest. The buttons keep the envelope closure closed.

And here's the dresser that I redid for Natalie:

This photo is from before I actually finished so there's still a little bit of the wood laminate showing in the bottom corner, but that's gone now. The dresser is in use in the girls' room now. It's so wonderfully bright and cheery and girly. Perfect thing to keep the clouds away! Which will be good, because this sunny weather is not supposed to stick around, we'll be back to rain over night and tomorrow.

Things I Love - etsy All-Stars

Two things I love in one easy post, for your browsing pleasure:

1. Star Silver and Gold Ring by trudiedavies, $32.00


Cute, dainty, mixes metals and has a cute star. Love it!

2. Star Dust Necklace in Sterling Silver by Roundabout, $24.00

Tiny and adorable. I love how the chain goes through the star. Click on the link to see other images and how this necklace hangs right in the dip between the clavicles. My A&P terminology is failing me now, but you know, that spot. Just see the picture.

3. Japanese Star Moss 3/4 Sleeve Tee by Xenotees, $24.00

I just like it. The green, the cluster of stars. Really cute.

4. Star Drop Earrings Key Lime by cashmerebark, $36.00

I like these for a couple reasons- the little stones, the length of the earring, and the way the star is a little accent. I can totally see me wearing these with my purple scarf.

5. Multi Stars TriFold Coloring Wallet by GetSassed, $15.00

This looks like the perfect little activity book to take along to restaurants, waiting rooms, dressing rooms... anywhere the girls would need to sit and be good (and quiet!) for a short while. It has a spot in the middle for a pad of paper, and pockets on each side for a total of 12 crayons. Love this. Will probably buy soon!

6. Mega Batch of Star Wall Decals by graphicspaces, $40

Forget glow in the dark stars on the ceiling! You could make an amazing wall or room with these stars! They're available in metallic silver and stick right to the wall. I would LOVE to do the girls' room with these. Or my own.

The PNW is.... wet.

I finished the dresser I was redoing for Natalie and it came out pretty cute. I'm really happy with it. Next project is the pillow for Lauren.

Natalie has home therapy today and Lauren had ballet this morning. She came home from that in a really really good mood. I've officially signed her up for soccer now. Bedtime has been going great, it's getting easier every night.

I know we've only been living here about 5 months, and it's probably way too early for this, but I'm getting really sick of the rain and dreary weather. Of course, partly I'm just over winter and cold. I think I wouldn't mind the rain quite so much if it was warmer. I want to be able to take the girls outside to play and not be drenched or in quite so many layers. Sigh. Spring will come. Soon enough. Or not soon enough.

Falling into a Routine

Lauren is settling into a bedtime routine which has her in bed by 8:30 and hopefully asleep by 9:30. She's been doing great with it, falling asleep last night at least 10 minutes before I came in to turn off her movie. Now I'd just like Natalie to be able to fall asleep not laying right up against me and then we'd really be getting somewhere.

I did get a good start on Natalie's dresser. I have two sides and all the drawer fronts decoupaged and have put on new drawer pulls. I need to get the one low face on the front finished, and the top, and then add another coat over them and I'll be done. I'm really excited with how that's coming along. Natalie's pillow is finished, and I have finished the applique for Lauren's pillow. Now I just need to piece it all together, which, once I get the chance, should only take me an hour or so. I'm not planning on doing anything particularly complicated with it. Dragging everything out and setting it all up takes up a chunk of the free time that I get to work on it. Once that's done the actual sewing goes pretty quickly.

I've already finished my first book of the year. Now I'm just waiting for an Amazon order to get here so I can get going on book number two. Ben has been working on the cars a lot lately. He found someone who was selling off parts of a Jetta with a busted transmission that was otherwise in really good shape. Ben got me some window seals and got himself heated seats, and a back seat with a fold down arm rest. He's been keeping himself busy with his new goodies.

Lauren is going to have her first ballet recital in late May or early June. They are starting to work on the routine this month. On Monday I need to call and enroll her in soccer. She's very excited about that. I'm looking forward to her getting a chance to run around and wear herself out three times a week. We don't know her schedule yet, but there are supposed to be two practices each week and one game each Saturday. I think the whole season is just February and March, but we have a parents meeting to go to at the end of this month and we'll find out more then.

I'm getting anxious for spring to come to the PNW. I just want the weather to get a *little* bit warmer so we can head out without having to be all bundled up. Hopefully the girls will be over their runny noses soon. Warmer weather would probably help with that, too. I'm looking forward to spring and summer shoes most of all. I want to get back to flip flops and cute ballet flats and - dare I dream?!- skirts and dresses. Plus, I'd love to be able to head out for a run without being soaked, but up here, the chances of that are low. If I'm going to be soaked, I at least want it to be warm.

Things I Love - kid edition

1. Plastic Plates, Bowls and Silverware from IKEA

These are SUPER cheap - $1.99 per six piece set of each at IKEA. We use them daily. Mostly Lauren uses them, but I use them, too. The plates are great for a quick snack and the bowls make great prep bowls for cooking.

2. Britax Car Seat

I didn't think I'd really have an opinion about car seats when we first bought one. But I've seen car seats used by friends and family, and had to borrow car seats when we travel, and I really do love the Britax seat. It feels sturdier and safer than others, and it has handy little features, like velcro to hold the straps to the side when taking Lauren in and out of the seat. We just bought a second one for Natalie to use as soon as she's ready to face forward.

3. Books by Sandra Boynton

I can recite "The Going To Bed Book" from memory. I used to read it to Lauren all the time. I whisper it to Natalie when I'm trying to calm her. The books have adorable illustrations and a great tempo. You can almost sing each one of them. I do sing a lot of them, actually. Lissa just brought us the Spanish version of "Moo, Baa, La La La" (which is translated as "Muu, Bee, Asi Fue!"). Here is Sandra Boynton's website, and her books are available all over the place.

4. "Snacktime" by the Barenaked Ladies

Abby recommended this album to me. Lauren loves and I love it. I listen to it even when she's not around. My favorite song is "The Ninjas" and Lauren likes "Popcorn". She sings a lot of the songs on her own, out of nowhere it seems. It doesn't grate on parents like all those Kids Bop cover albums or how many repeats of "Wheels on the Bus". These get stuck in your head in a good way. This band is clever and really shows an ability to produce diverse music. Amazon sells it for $11.99, and you can listen to samples of the songs using the same link.

Things I Love - Baby Edition

1. Wee Gallery art cards

These are adorable. There are nine different sets including Garden (pictured above), Jungle, and Pets. Each set has 6 cards inside. Each card has a beautiful illustration of an animal in black on a white background on one side, and in white on a black background on the reverse side. They say babies see high contrast images best from birth. Natalie has three sets that she got after her eye surgery (Thank you Aunt Sarah and Aunt Abby). There's a mobile you can buy to clip the cards up over the crib, too. We just let Natalie play with the cards on their own. Each one is a pretty thick card, similar to the pages of a board book, but light and with rounded corners. On Amazon, they run about $13-15 depending on the style. And you can get cards, wall decals, canvases and more on the Wee Gallery website.


2. Trumpette socks

When I was pregnant with Natalie, my good friend Jen sent a box of these socks. I am in love with these! The Trumpette website has a bunch of different styles, including the Mary Jane socks for girls and Converse sneakers for boys. There are ballet shoes and new pixie shoes (which look like a ballet flat). So adorable! I may have to get every style. You can search Trumpette to find other sellers, or you can orders through the Trumpette website.

3. Burt's Bees Baby Wash



This stuff smells SO CLEAN. I bathe Natalie in this and wash Lauren's hair with it. So it kind of isn't just a "baby thing I love" but also a "kid thing I love", which I plan to do in another post. It is supposed to be "greener", too, without the chemicals in other brands. I pick it up at Target for something like $5 a bottle and it lasts a good long time. I keep one in my shower and one in the girls' tub.


4. Mustela Facial Cleansing Cloths

This is another one that Jen got me before Natalie came along. It was part of a whole gift pack, but this product is the stand-out from that set for me. Natalie used to get lots of eye goo when she woke up in the morning. I would use one wipe to clean off her face. It smells good, it's gentle, and it gets the job done. It works for after a biter biscuit or lunch out when the bath is just too far away. And it is safe to use around a baby's eyes, so I prefer using it to a baby wipe on her face. Did I mention how good it smells?

Welcome to the year 2010!

Ben caught one crab yesterday and boiled it right up. His friend brought along his two kids to play with Lauren. The girl was five and the boy was 3. Lauren was worn out and fell asleep on the couch at 6. It worked out rather well, though, she was in a good mood and stayed up to count down to midnight like she had been wanting to do. We all went to sleep about thirty seconds later and are feeling pretty good today. Oh, except for Natalie. She threw up on me this morning at 8:30. But she's been doing fine since, so I don't know what that was about. I cleaned the downstairs bathroom, vacuumed upstairs and down and am working on my second load of laundry already, and it's not quite 1:00.

I spent a huge chunk of time yesterday (too much time, really) looking at the website Making It Lovely. Thank you Jen, for sending me a link to her site. My goodness! Such talent! Such a creative eye! She started right away at month one taking monthly pictures of her adorable daughter in the same spot. She's up to month 8 now, I think, and it's such a cute idea. I guess I could do it for Natalie's second year if I start on Sunday and do it every month on the third. There's still a lot of growing in the second year.

I joined two 365 groups on Flickr. The goal is to take a picture every day and post it. I've been a lot better with my camera lately, so I'm hoping I'll keep it up. Of course, the pressure of joining a group specifically for that purpose may hinder me from picking it up. Again, it's not quite 1:00 and I haven't picked up my camera yet today. OH MY GOSH! I haven't taken any pictures since LAST YEAR, Y'ALL! Hee hee hee. That will only be funny today. If I'm still saying that at the end of the month, I will really be panicking.

Did I mention that I finished the pillow I was making for Natalie? I did. And I got a good jump on appliqueing on the letters for Lauren's pillow yesterday. I mostly finished the L, A and U. Of course, once I pinned everything on, Lauren decided she did NOT want a butterfly like I had laid out, and that she wanted a rose like Natalie has. Hopefully I still have the template for it, it should be easy enough to do again. I'd like to get it finished soon, but it seems like every time I sit down and really am starting to make headway with stitching someone needs me urgently. Sigh. I guess that's motherhood.

Oh, and looking through Making It Lovely inspired me to get the girls' room more in order. Yesterday I went through Natalie's drawers again (didn't I just do that, like, hours before?) and cleaned out the stuff that's too small. I am saving very few items, I think I only set aside two things, and will be boxing up and sending out the other things to friends with baby girls. A few of them, though younger, are already getting close to Natalie in size. I just make small girls, I guess.

But back on track, I set the crib to the lower height yesterday since Natalie is sitting up on her own and starting to pull up on her knees. The goal for this spring is to have her sleeping in her own bed at night. When I lowered it, I had to take out the storage bins I had underneath since they no longer fit. More stuff to go through! Yipee! I also am so SICK of the crappy brown dressers in their room. Lauren's is in the closet, so it doesn't bother me as much, but Natalie's is the first thing when you walk in the door. I think I'm going to paint it a really really pale pink, add a new top, use some Modge Podge and a cute fabric across the top (which I am thinking might be neat to replicate in new curtains?) and then make a new bottom with feet so it doesn't sit directly on the carpet. I have the idea all in my head, but without sketching it out, scanning it in and posting it here, I don't know that I'll get the idea across. But I hope I do it, and I hope it turns out cute.