Cutie Pants

My friend Whitney borrowed my sewing machine, and look what we got in thanks!

An adorable fleece diaper cover!

Action shot!

He's much too fast for me.

Yes, Auntie, I'm mostly naked again... you wanna make something of it?!?

Imagination at Work

Joseph and I were at the park today while Daddy went to practice his golfing. I had him in the swing, but he wasn't going very fast. He looked down, used his pincer grasp to "pick up" something, and popped it in his mouth. He did this over and over again, very proud of himself each time.

But there wasn't anything there - he was playing pretend!

My baby has an imagination! Yippee!

Doing it yourself: Bug Spray Edition

I've used essential oils in the past - most notably for my PUPPS rash during pregnancy. The tea tree oil is also useful for blemishes and cleaning, incidentally.

This time, I was looking for an affordable safe bug spray for Joseph. I've always been a big fan of DEET, but apparently it is not very good for you.

I found some all natural bug spray - but when I checked the ingredients I gave it a big side-eye. $12 for 6oz bottle with a little bit of citronella, lemongrass, and cedar wood essential oil in a 94% solution of water? Psha!

I got a little "co-op" together with my mom's group, ordered some essential oils (EO) and bought some spray bottles and a gallon of distilled water. Voila! All-natural bug spray.

The good news is that it seems to work for Joseph.

The bad news is that it most definitely does NOT work for me, if the 30+ bug bites on my legs are any indication. I'm one of those people that bugs love, though.

I've heard good things about "Oil of Lemon Eucalyptus" so that is my next stop. Since my 8 oz bottle of natural stuff came to $7/bottle, this stuff is still ridiculously expensive. I might see if I can find the oil locally and make my own.

Jen's Knock-Off Bug Spray (Makes 10 8-oz bottles):

4 oz citronella EO
1/2 oz cedar wood EO
1/2 oz lemongrass EO
75 oz distilled water

I combined the EO's and put them into the bottles first, then topped off with the water. Shake well before each use, as there is no emulsifier in this solution. Works based on smell, so reapply often. Safe for clothes and babies!

Il Primo Baccio

Joseph received his first kiss on the lips today at our playdate. Fittingly, from his sweet little Italian friend, Caterina. She's adorable. And she has great taste in boys!

What can he say? The ladies love him.

The little lady

FO: St. Paddy's Day Baby Remake

So my original gift plan for Ella is now on hold and will be used for some other baby, some other time. It was much too short for how wide it turned out, so I tried lengthening it, but had some gauge issues. I'll be ripping it back and giving it an a-line silhouette and making it longer. Someday.

I decided just to ditch it for now and start over on something new for Ella that will hopefully fit her sooner than that other one!


I love how it turned out. I used the Milo pattern as a starting point and made it my own from there by creating an a-line dress and ruffle bottom. Much different than the Milo I made for Maja, eh?

I used this shamrock pattern for the embroidery

And the frantic mama soaker pattern as a diaper cover

A special bond between parent and child

Tonight, Joseph was very tired, but didn't want to go to sleep. I nursed him, I rocked him, I put him in his crib and sat with him, I went and read in the chair where he could see me, I rocked him some more. Over an hour, and nothing. I could tell that he just wasn't very comfortable.

I was starting to get annoyed, but I tried to remember how little time we have left of this sort of thing (the rocking and nursing, I mean) and told myself to let it go and embrace the special time we have.

Finally he got into a comfortable position, and was just looking into my eyes. And I thought "This is great - just being in the moment and watching your child drift off to..."

SNIFF... Ew. What is that?

Here I am waxing poetic in my head about our magnificent bond, and he's taking a dump on my lap.

At least he fell asleep 5 minutes after I changed his diaper.

Pot Pie!

I'm so excited... I made a pot pie today and it tastes awesome - even the crust! I have always pretty much failed at pie crust. This one uses shortening, which doesn't thrill me, but I'll try again w/ butter next time.

Jen's "Get in the Kitchen and Make Me a Pot Pie!" (modified from this recipe)

1 bag frozen mixed veggies (carrots, corn, green beans, and peas)
1 pound chicken breasts
5T + 1 tsp butter
4oz pearl onions (note - I just used the leftover from making coq au vin this week... regular onion would be fine)
1/3c flour
1/2t salt
1/4t pepper
1/4t celery seed
1 3/4c chicken stock
3/4c whole milk
2 - 9" pie crusts

Poach chicken for 10 minutes in salted water. Add the frozen veggies, bring back to a boil, and cook 6-8min more. Remove chicken and shred with a fork. Drain veggies in colander.

Melt butter in skillet and add pearl onions. Cook about 10 minutes on medium heat with salt and pepper. Add in the flour and celery seed and stir for 2 minutes until brown and bubbly. Add in the stock and milk and cook until thickened. Remove from heat.

Make your pie crusts (I used a recipe from my BH&G cookbook, it was 1 1/4c flour, 1/4t salt, cut in 1/3c shortening, and in 4-5T water one at a time, form ball, pat into disk, roll to 12") and put one in the pie pan. Add the chicken and veggies, put the onion and gravy mixture on top. Top with second pie crust. Crimp, trim, and vent the top. Bake at 425 for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Wheels on the Bus

We went garage sailing (sale-ing?) today and found some great stuff. By far the best were these play tent things we got for $6! Joseph is completely in love with them. He was totally wired today from playing in them! They are basically like tents, fold down easily, and I think will be good for the imagination. Plus, cheap and we kept them out of the land fill! Sounds like a win-win-win.

Beep! Beep!

All aboard!

Peek A Boo!

Through the tunnel - so brave!

I think he likes his new toys.

Boomerang Parenting

I'm sure there is a better term for this, but you know how it is. You're going along your parenting business, then things aren't working any more. So you try something new. That goes OK, but then things get worse. So you go back to what you were doing to start with.

All the parenting advice ends with "Whatever you do, be CONSISTENT". I ask you, dear parents, how can you be consistent in your parenting when your child's needs change so frequently?

As soon as Joseph got used to being in his crib all night, he started getting molars. Of course we aren't going to leave him in there to cry in pain all night, so now he's back in our bed. His naps deteriorated around the same time, as he's transitioning to one nap from two. If I put him in his crib, we get 45 minutes, tops. If I nurse him/hold him, I get 2-2.5 hours. Clearly he NEEDS to sleep. So I'm making like he's a newborn again, and nursing in our bed for naps, then picking him up and rocking him when he's woken up and doesn't need to nurse anymore. Since I've started helping him for naps and having him back in bed with us, he has gone from sleeping 10-11 hours/day to 13-14 hours/day.

The whole thing is terribly frustrating, but I'm trying to be zen about it and think of it as meeting his needs. At least I can be fairly certain that this phase is unlikely to last, as nothing else ever has stayed the same!

He knows his nose!

This morning we were reading That's Not My Puppy and on the last page the puppy's "nose is so squashy". Joseph was feeling puppy's nose, and I said, where is your nose, Joseph? And he touched his nose!

We've been working on it for a couple of weeks, and I didn't think he was really getting it. He showed me!

He also understands to close drawers and doors. It's pretty cool!