Happy Birthday, Little Bear!

Andrew turned 2 last month and we celebrated with a Little Bear birthday party. The big boys picked the theme (the choice was between Little Bear and Mickey Mouse, since he loves both.)

 

Little Bear decorations and party supplies are impossible to find! I found a picture of Little Bear on the Nick Jr. site and just eyeballed it as I drew it onto a birthday sign. We decorated with blue and green balloons and streamers to make the kitchen cheery. Very simple.

 

Some of the balloons had little pinprick holes in them!? and shrunk during the party.

For dinner, we served "birthday soup." In the book, Little Bear's birthday soup has carrots, potatoes, peas, and tomatoes, and is definitely NOT chicken soup (Hen is his friend!), but... we had chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles because it was more kid friendly. Yum yum Hen.

 

We also served Mother Bear's Fresh Bread, Father Bear's Fish (goldfish crackers),  And Cat's Fresh-Milk Yogurt Bar along with Emily's Berries.

I tried to keep Andrew's food preferences in mind while planning the menu. I knew we would do soup and rolls, but I was coming up short on sides - potatoes, veggies, he dislikes them all. Since it was HIS birthday, I tried thinking of what he liked best. His favorite foods are strawberries and yogurt, so we did that and it worked well! We dished the yogurt into individual cups to make serving easy.

Originally, I planned to make a round chocolate cake like Mother Bear makes for Little Bear on his birthday. Simple, easy. But at the last second, I decided to go fancy and do a colorful decorated cake. I didn't even have a cake board big enough or time to buy one (I taped two together with packing tape! which is why the cake split down the middle). I used the same image as on the sign - printed it, cut it out, set it on the cake and decorated around it and then freehanded the details.

 

I placed the image on the cake over my first layer of blue sky, and cut around it. so I could see the outline. Fancy!!

 

Filled in with brown and did the grass details. 

 

Finished!

This may have been the first cake I've done with all my children awake the entire time, and that I am quite proud of. ;) Ben "helped" a lot.

He couldn't quite get the candles blown out by himself (he tried), but he loved the cake.

 

We considered playing musical chairs (which Little Bear and his friends play at the party in the show), but decided against it just because we wanted it to be super low-key. We had just gotten over a pretty severe illness so the planning was at a minimum here! We ended up getting sick again the following week for pretty much the rest of February, so this party was a bright spot in a dreary winter.

 

Happy 2nd Birthday to our sweet boy! 

Unfinished

 

I bought this pretty stack of fabrics in the summer of 2011, with grand plans for beanbag chairs and poufs. They showed up on my doorstep my first day of morning sickness with Andrew. Not only was I not in the mood to sew, but just looking at them made me feel nauseous for months after, even when most of the pregnancy nausea had passed (craaaazy, right? guilt by association?) I have come across them in my box a few times since then but haven't done anything with them. 

We painted Ellie's room and are in the process of cleaning out all the stuff that got dumped there during our move 5 months ago. I have spent several hours in there, twice now, cleaning up, and then suddenly more things appear. But it's for real this time (I think?). The boys are getting big beds soon, and the second crib will move from their room into hers. The dresser is already there. She won't actually move in there for a while yet because it's just too convenient to have her in a bassinet next to our bed! But the room needs to be done. Decluttering on my mind.

I unpack a box labeled "fabric". I survey several baskets filled with skeins of yarn, some half-used, some still unwrapped. I see stacks of felt in a corner. I open a plastic tub filled with embroidery floss, thread, bobbins, yards and yards of elastic. I sigh as I pull out bag after Joann's bag with items for various projects that I purchased and never completed. Quilts, fabrics for half a dozen skirts, Jesse Tree ornaments (begun four years ago), crocheted blankets and hats, a playmat for cars. The state of my crafting life can only be described as unfinished.

 

Very early stages of car playmat with all our favorite places

 

This fabric? Not photographing great, but a gorgeous, silky, silvery-gray swimsuit fabric. Because I couldn't find a maternity swimsuit top I liked, I was either going to make my own with a pattern drafted from a shirt I have, or have my more-talented sister make it for me. It never materialized. This stuff is expensive, ya know!?

It hasn't all been a flop; I HAVE done a lot of projects over the past couple years. And I was completely caught up on all scrapbooking over the summer (now I'm 6 months behind, but that's the way it goes?) I just can't stand the thought of all the precious time and money I've poured into starting these projects, only to have them sit in the closet for another 4 years. Or 14.

 

I emptied the bins and bags and put it all in this box. At least it's all organized and folded now, and it will sit in Ellie's closet for the time being - easy access. All the notions and threads went into the plastic 3-drawer bin.

I have never really had my own dedicated craft space, and I still don't. We have enough storage space in this house that storing these supplies really isn't a burden, but I'm tired of storing them. I need to use them. 2014 is going to be the Year of Finished Projects. And oh, we have a lot of them around here. Before the crafts will come the upstairs bathroom, nursery, and basement clean-and-clear-out - but the crafts will happen, too.

Ellie Claire

There are so many little things I don't want to forget, things I am already forgetting. Ellie was 3 months old on Wednesday, and the amount of photos and documenting I've done has been woefully inadequate. Girl doesn't even have a baby book yet! What a cliche for child #4. (I will be buying her one this week.)

  

Nicknames: Ellie, Elle, Elles, Elphaba, Ellie-belle.

Stats: At 7 weeks, she was 13 pounds. She doesn't go for a check-up for another month. 97% weight and 97% height; she definitely belongs to us. ;)

At 3 months, she is in size 3 diapers and 6mo clothing.

Sleep: She is actually a pretty good sleeper now. She had a few nights about a month ago where she'd sleep 6-7 hours straight (!!!) but that didn't last; thankfully, I didn't have my hopes up very high after my last 3 mediocre-to-poor sleepers. She is usually up 2-3 times a night. I can usually squeeze one good nap out of her a day, and a couple catnaps. She usually wants to be rocked for a few minutes before I set her in her bed; usually that settles her down enough so that she can fall asleep on her own. Sometimes she falls asleep in my arms but she doesn't transfer very well (does any baby?)

Temperament: Ellie was born at 3:16am, spent the first day of her life eating a lot and being generally pleasant, and the first night of her life fussing and squirming and wanting to eat and be held. I finally came to the conclusion that she must be cold - the hospital room was pretty chilly and she was in that little plastic bassinet all by herself, just wrapped in a swaddle blanket with a thin hat. I added an extra blanket and that seemed to help. Second day, calm and chill; second night, lots of fussing and thrashing. I was thinking, "What am I going to do with this baby at home!?!?" Thankfully she mellowed out a lot once we were home and she could be in the cute warm pajamas I got for her. She is totally a summer girl and likes to be warm (it was August but with the air conditioner on everywhere we went, her head and arms were always chilly!)

She was a pretty fussy little girl her first couple months. Not colicky, necessarily, just not as calm as the boys were. She had a few evenings where she just cried and cried and I didn't know what to do for her. She is past that stage now, and it's funny that I've almost forgotten it; "momnesia" is totally a real thing. Every hard evening, rough night, tough pregnancy, difficult labor, etc, doesn't seem so bad when it's just a distant memory. Usually.

She also went through a period for several weeks where she would let out a sharp cry when she was picked up, almost like something in her neck hurt. I took her to the doctor and nothing appeared to be wrong. We then tried the chiro, which seemed to help a lot. I am a believer now!

She is still fussy sometimes now, but normal fussy, and is usually calm once she is picked up. ;)

Health: She has had her first little cold in the past week, but really the only symptom has been a runny nose. She acts like it annoys her and snuffles a lot, which is just pretty cute.

She also had a hip click at her 1 (2?) week checkup, and went for a hip ultrasound at 2.5 months to check for hip dysplasia. The u/s came back negative, and we were told she could resume her "normal infant activities." Like, laying around...?

Hygiene: This girl blows out of a diaper at least once a day. I have a perpetual pile of laundry soaking in Oxiclean... 

Likes: Bouncy seat, warm jammies and hats, the Boba, being sung to, being held, attention. She tolerates the swing.

Dislikes: The car (!!!), dirty diapers...

Siblings: The boys LOVE her. They were obsessed with her when we came home from the hospital; always wanting to "pet" her (gentle, like how you would pet a puppy...) Andrew tested a little bit and gave her a few heavy pats, but has pretty much gotten past that. They can frequently be heard saying things like "She's soooo cute!". Ben is usually the most interested.

She is such a mix of the boys. She has Ben's forehead, but I think she most resembles Nate. She definitely has his mouth; a less exaggerated prehensile lip ;) and she sticks her tongue out a lot.

 

We need to get to her nursery.... I spent hours cleaning it out one day, and now I have piles of summer clothes of the boys on the floor to go through. At some point, it will be finished and she will move in. ;)

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

{pretty}

(

So I kind of always do this - leave my blog for the last few months of pregnancy and then show back up with a couple-month-old baby. Here she is. Quite pretty, I think. :)

{happy}

Tonight we went to a dinner for Brian's work. He received an award for 5 years of full-time service. It was a nice evening, and of course we had to take a picture - but why do we always wait until the end of the night, when it's too dark to get a decent shot?

We took a field trip to the fire station on Saturday and we all rode in the fire truck. It was Andrew's first time and he was thrilled! Meagan has all the camera pictures, I just have the blurry phone pics.

{funny}

I stressed a lot about what to wear to this dinner tonight. Brian told me I had to wear a dress, of which I have NONE (at least, non-maternity ones!). He texted me this morning asking if I had figured out one, and I sent him this picture back.

 

Little Bo Peep. (I ended up wearing a skirt and a new striped sweater.)

 I am a big fan of Jennifer's but I assume she doesn't have any idea who I am. I sent this picture to a friend with the caption "a celebrity is following me on Pinterest!" ;)

 

This was the ad I got on my Brad Paisley Pandora station (my station of choice when I'm out walking or jogging.) Um, nope... wrong target market. Is Uncle Snoop the same as Snoop Dog? See how much I know about hip-hop music?

{real}

Did I mention we moved 7 days before my due date? Thankfully, baby came late, as they always do, and since we keep our babies in our room for several months, we kind of just piled everything in her future room with plans to go through it... soon. This picture was taken after several HOURS of work. It is actually almost completely finished now, just an empty room with a dresser and some brown walls. I am so excited to decorate a girl nursery! 

 

 

Oh, this is a whole lotta real.

7 Quick Takes Friday, v. i-don't-know-i'd-have-to-go-back-and-count

1. Well hello, blog! Life has been 7 kinds of crazy lately. Some hours I feel like I'm flying and then 16 puzzles get dumped out and we have a meal and pears get spilled on the floor and then at naptime someone undoes an entire rubber band ball (oh, twice! because Mom wasn't smart enough to remove it completely from their field of vision after the first time). And diapers and baths and laundry, and this is all just the normal routine! And it's all awesome. But whoa, it's hard to stay on top of, even when you try (now that I'm back to trying rather than surviving.)

2. I love my iPhone. I don't like that I feel a little bit like a snob with it, maybe because I feel like there is something about it (probably the $$$$$ monthly data package) that makes it seem a little bit like a status symbol? And maybe that's just a personal hangup (although I've heard other people say the same thing so it's not JUST me.) But still. Like whoa. I use it ALL the time to take pictures when I just want a snappie and don't want to pull out the big camera. GPS saved me when I had to go to jury duty. And Facebook and Words with Friends have increased my productivity significantly. (lie.) It's not indispensable, but it's nice!

3. Spring break does not exist for online students. Well supposedly it does, but each teacher kind of makes up her (her? I think all my professors are female this semester?) own schedule, one teacher that is observing spring break next week has this week's assignment due Monday, so... does that really count? When you don't get 7 (or even 5) uninterrupted days with NOTHING due, I say no.

4. These kids. They say the cutest and funniest things. Some of which I have recorded on FB and some I typed into my phone, all of which are insanely adorable and which make up for any misbehavior. Most misbehavior.

5. Oh, the weather! Glorious 75 degrees yesterday and today. Tomorrow's forecast says 46, and Sunday says 39, which is just poopy. But 2 days of a glimpse of spring - we'll take what we can get.

6. We put an offer on a house last week. I spent a weekend pinning house improvements that I wanted to do with this particular house in mind. They accepted a higher bid (we offered more than the asking price, even - we knew there were multiple offers and we heard they were expecting there to be 10 by the time they decided on one.) I am slowly getting over it but still disappointed. Oh, perfect house with the perfect 2.7 acres in the perfect location at a perfect price - maybe your twin could pop up down the street?

7. Brian bought a new suit this week for an important event he had at work. This is only newsworthy because he hasn't bought a suit since high school. He had two; one has been too short and small for years, the other one, he ditched the pants but the jacket still fit, so when he needs a jacket he wears it with his tan pants. Makeshift solution that was no longer a solution. So we all went suit shopping (why!?!? oh, because I thought it would be fun to go together) and while he got fitted and tried things on, the boys and I hung out, not so still or quietly. Oh, I can look back and laugh. Maybe if I weren't so concerned about what onlookers thought, that the word "rambunctious" might pop into their heads, I would have enjoyed it more. I struggle with that balance - keeping them calm enough to avoid stares and eyerolls, but letting them enjoy themselves and not expecting them to be little statues. Because they are little boys. And little boy does not = statue.
(We were in a regular department store, by the way, not some high-faluting fancy suit shop. Not a non-kid-friendly store.)

Ok, that was quick! Probably because I didn't have to try to mess with adding pictures and formatting that and centering them and figuring out why they won't become the size I want. I love pictures. But tonight, I'm tired.