still sewing up a storm

My sewing machine and I have continued to bond over the last few weeks. Here are the results of the most recent time we've spent together.

Dish Towel Bibs

I was first introduced to the brilliant idea of a dish towel bib when we stopped over at my brother's house in Atlanta at Christmas. My sister-in-law's mother had made a stack of them for my niece to use, and Matthew got to try them out. They were fantastic -- just slip it over your child's head for mealtime, then use it to wipe them up after they eat.  They looked easy enough to make, but there was for me a bit of a learning curve. I used snippets of multiple tutorials that I found online, plus a bit of my own common sense, and, after a handful of failed attempts, finally conquered! I made a bunch and now have a stash not only for my children to use, but to also give away as baby gifts (which I've already done twice!).

Tea Towel Aprons

I found a set of pretty tea towels on clearance at TJ Maxx not too long ago and, using about 2 1/2 yards of 3/4-inch twill tape, turned them into basic aprons. I mostly followed this tutorial, and they were ridiculously easy to make, and they turned out really cute! I ended up keeping one for myself and giving the other two to my 82nd Street Girls, Emily and Whitney as birthday gifts so now we can be matchy-matchy in our own respective kitchens.

Fabric Scraps for Attic Stairs Quilt

Thanks to Pinterest, I recently found a really great use for the piles of fabric scraps I've accumulated. So I spent several days cutting 2"x4" rectangles out of every possible bit of leftover quilt material I had, building a useable pile of fabric while obliterating the stash of oddly-shaped scraps. I haven't started sewing them together yet, but once I do, I hope to put together my own version of an Attic Stairs quilt, not too unlike this one:

Tote Bags

Using this easy-to-follow tutorial from The Purl Bee, I made two basic tote bags out of some upholstery weight cotton I picked up while we were in Texas for Christmas. They really do only take a few minutes to put together, and they turned out so charming!


Next up on my sewing to-do list is to work on some quilts: the Attic Stairs one mentioned above, a jelly-roll-and-layer-cake quilt using fabric Blake gave me for Christmas, and I think I'm finally ready to sew the blocks together and put the embellishments on the crazy quilt I started a few years (!) ago. So stay tuned (but, based on how long it's taken me to get through the crazy quilt, I wouldn't recommend holding your breath).

white dolly

A few days ago I was going through my cedar chest and found, buried beneath baby blankets and other memorabilia, a long-loved treasure: White Dolly, a baby doll I used to play with when I was little.

Baby Lindsay and White Dolly, July 1982

She looked more than a little haggard. Her clothes and body were filthy, her hair was tangled, matted, and falling out in places, and she was missing a bootie. Despite how loved she was over the years, she looked so bad, I was tempted to just toss her. But before I did, I thought I'd try to clean her up a bit.

I added her clothes to my weekly laundry piles and scrubbed years of dirt out from in between the crevices of her plastic extremities. I sewed up a popped seam on her soft body. I researched how to untangle doll hair, rounded up the supplies, and brushed it smooth. (There's unfortunately nothing I can do about the bald spots or the fact that the original styling of it has long since fallen out, leaving her looking like she left the doll salon with a really bad haircut; thank goodness she has a bonnet to cover it.)

I redressed her in her now clean dress, pantaloons, sweater, and bonnet, borrowed my most current baby, and attempted to recreate history.

I think it's safe to say that Matthew likes White Dolly. And so does Caleb, for that matter, whose maternal instincts shifted into high gear the moment the doll resurfaced. He fought his brother for the adoption rights, welcomed her into his small dolly family, and just now tucked her in for a nap. Which means that, despite the sad state of her hair, White Dolly has been given new life, and we'll be keeping her around a little bit longer.

ten months

Dear Matthew,

I like you. I like you and I love you. You are ten months old now, and feeling (not to mention looking) less and less like a baby. As with every month, this one caught you continuing to grow. You're mostly wearing size 18 month clothes, and a few days ago you sprouted your first tooth. Cutting that created a bit of a rough patch in your overall outlook on life, but even so, you still rank as one of the happiest little boys I've ever known. I am especially tickled by the way you let yourself get so overcome with giddy excitement that you can hardly contain it.

Your curiosity seems to have some not-so-secret pact with your hands because you are constantly grabbing at everything. And most of what you manage to pinch your little paws on ends up in your mouth. This is a challenge during your playtime on a messy living room floor. But it sure makes meal times a lot easier! I love that I can cut up bit of the soft food the rest of us are eating and let you feed yourself. Now, if I could just get you to hold your own bottle -- or figure out what the purpose of a cup is.

I can't say that you're crawling yet, but you have become mobile. You scoot, both on your belly and on your bottom, as well as both forwards and backwards, to get at what you want, and you've mastered the pivot turn and the extreme reach. You are most motivated to move by the promise of Dad's pen, which you adamantly adore, but you are propelled to it by anger and frustration because it always seems to be just beyond your reach. I imagine that if you can keep your determination up you will fully figure out crawling in the coming weeks -- and then nothing will be safe.

Matthew, I love you. I love you and I like you.

Love,
Mama

beautiful because it is rare

It's not often when an attempt to run errands is totally and completely successful, but today it happened. Here's all that I was miraculously able to accomplish in one unusually easy shot:


1. Snatch the last container of disinfecting wipes on clearance at the drugstore. Check.  These things are so handy under the bathroom sink for quick clean-ups.

2. Find a killer deal on replacement bras. Check. Seriously, $7 each for a comfortable, high quality brand?! Don't mind if I do! 

3. Also, while in the department store, don't wait longer than two seconds for the elevator to arrive (in both directions!). Check. That never happens!

4. Pick up a new battery for my pedometer. Check. Did you know that I walk an average of 3.5 miles a day? And because it's cold outside, I only leave the house when I absolutely have to. I'm pretty sure my numbers double in the warmer months. Gotta love the health benefits of a pedestrian lifestyle.

5. Buy a half dozen donuts from Dunkin' to celebrate Blake's superior rating at his annual performance review. Check. I needed a good excuse to try their new brownie batter filled donuts, and happily, thanks to a pretty sweet accompanying bonus, a great reason to was dropped right into my lap.

6. Make sure that Caleb finds a quarter on the sidewalk while we're out. Check. That kid has a knack for finding things! Perhaps this is why he devours the I Spy books.

monumental

Our President's Day weekend was quite a busy one. I'm not sure how we would have managed had there not been an extra day to squeeze the craziness into. It was a whirlwind, but a good one. Here are the highlights.

Saturday

• Frolicked in Manhattan with my kindred spirits, Emily and Whitney, which included wandering the Union Square farmer's market while sipping hot apple cider, perusing Fishs Eddy (of course), and downing a mug of intensely rich caramel hot chocolate at City Bakery. 
• Attended a baby shower immediately following with even more fantastic friends. I have to say: the most amazing women live/d in Brooklyn. 
• I can't remember what else happened this day, but I'm pretty sure that I didn't sit down. Also, it should be mentioned that Blake really loves me because he let me play for most of the day while he stayed at home with the boys. I sure love him, too. We make a good team.

Sunday

• First Caleb didn't want to go to Primary. Then he cried because he didn't want to leave. So, overall, a pretty typical day at church.
• The Downton Abbey season finale. Whitney came over to watch with me, and Emily called immediately after it was over. There was much weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth.

Monday

• Matthew sprouted his first tooth! Finally! He's nearly 10 months old!
• Drove to New Jersey to visit Blake's co-worker, Tsipora, and the twin baby girls she recently gave birth to. She and her husband are Orthodox Jews who are just as fascinated by our Mormonism as we are with their Jewishness. Our conversations were quite enlightening. For lunch they served us the most amazing kosher pizza (a white pizza with ricotta, spinach, and tomatoes), and in doing so introduced  -- and converted -- us to clear plastic Shabbos tablecloth covers. Ingenious! We picked up a box for ourselves from the kosher aisle of their neighborhood supermarket on our way home.
• Because we were close to one, and because the diamond fell out of my wedding ring a few days ago, we stopped at a Jared to get it repaired. (Yes, girls, eight years ago he went to Jared!)
• Stopped in Target, because I keep a running shopping list for whenever we might be near one.
• Killed time in the outlet mall adjacent to the jewelers while we waited to pick up my ring. Found Garrett some much needed new shoes, changed a dangerously poopy diaper moments before it exploded, and was seriously flattered when Garrett told me I looked just like a Banana Republic mannequin.
• Back at home I cleaned the bathroom, swept and mopped the floors, sorted the laundry, and caught up the checkbook (yes, I'm old-fashioned), all because I didn't want to be swallowed up in a Tuesday that was already forecasted to be a little nutty. Trust me; it was worth it.

And then I crashed. But it was a happy crash.

valentine's day, 2013

The Craft:

Just sandwich bits of tissue paper between the sticky sides of clear contact paper and cut into hearts.


The Treat:

Rice Krispies treats cut into heart shapes, stabbed with a popsicle stick, then half-dipped in chocolate, and generously coated in sprinkles. Caleb gave these to his friends at...

The Party:

 We gathered with friends from our ward to share the love and decorate sugar cookies.

The Valentines:

 Garrett

  Caleb

Matthew

And Blake, my first Valentine, with me at the Kissing Turtles on the Oregon Coast, a few months before he proposed.

pancake day

You can call today Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, or Shrove Tuesday, but I prefer the tastier sounding Pancake Day. In celebration, tonight we will be dining on -- you guessed it: pancakes. The recipe that I'll be using comes from a charming wordless picture book that I hope you are familiar with called Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola. (If you've never heard of it, may I suggest that you head to your nearest library as soon as possible to get your hands on a copy.) It tells the story of a woman who wakes up one morning with a craving for pancakes and so sets about making some, despite the several obstacles she encounters.

I say it's wordless, but it's only mostly so, for in the opening pages the recipe the woman uses is shared.

Though we became acquainted with this book several years ago, it wasn't until last month that I tried this recipe. I altered it slightly, adding a bit of vanilla, because a wise person once told me that everything tastes better with a little vanilla. These pancakes are more dense and crepe-like than your typical light and fluffy buttermilk variety, but they are amazing, and I can easily understand why the woman in the story was so desperate to eat some.


Pancakes
adapted from Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie DePaola

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 cups milk
3 tbsp melted butter
1 tsp vanilla

Sift all dry ingredients into a bowl. Beat eggs lightly. Pour eggs and milk into the flour mixture. Mix with a large spoon only long enough to blend. Batter should be lumpy. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla. Cook on a hot griddle.

well bust my buffers!

There's a lady named Dawn who lives in the building across the street from us. The first time I met her, last spring, she came over to our stoop while I was sitting outside with the boys and introduced herself. Apparently she'd often watched us from her window and she just found herself interested in meeting me. She's really nice, but our acquaintance never really blossomed beyond saying hello when we happened to bump into each other.

Last week, for the first time in several months, we ran into each other again. Actually, she sort of chased me down from half a block away as the boys and I were out on an errand. She'd been hoping to see me again, she told me, because she'd just purchased a train table as a gift for her boyfriend to use to display his model trains. But they only wanted the table, not the set of trains that came with it, and would my boys be interested in taking them off their hands? It was just some tracks and a few trains to go on them, she told me, but she wanted to make sure they went to a home where they would get good use, and she thought that perhaps by boys would enjoy them.

Would they ever! I thanked her for her unprecedented generosity, and we arranged a time for her to give us the trains. That time was yesterday. We swung by her building on our way home from church to pick them up. The three small boxes she handed over to us turned out to be an enormous amount of tracks, trains, and accessories large and small. In one sweet, swift movement, she more than doubled our already fairly large collection of trains.

So her generosity was not only unprecedented, it was overwhelming. Dawn's name is now spoken with a sort of awed reverence at our house, which is fitting since all three of the boys (yes, even Matthew!) are in absolute heaven.

the ones that (almost) got away

A photographic list.

(Also, this mealtime routine of Matthew's never fails to make me laugh. You might say that I dig it when he digs.)

routine insanity

Or, What I Did This Morning Between When I Dragged Myself Out of Bed at 6:35 and When We Left to Walk to School at 7:50.

• Showered and dressed.
• Got Garrett up. (This actually took several tries before he, too, finally dragged himself out bed.)
• Picked out clothes for the boys.
• Told Garrett to get dressed. (This also took repeated reminders before he actually did it.)
• Helped Caleb get dressed (because for some reason he wouldn't do it himself).
• Changed Matthew's diaper and got him dressed.
• Prepared breakfast (oatmeal, apple slices, and milk for the bigger people; baby cereal with mashed strawberries and bananas for Matthew).
• Ate breakfast while feeding Matthew and repeatedly reminding Garrett and Caleb to keep eating.
• Made Garrett's lunch.
• Prepared Matthew's daily stash of bottles.
• Said family prayer and goodbye to Blake as he headed out to work.
• Blow dried my hair.
• Told Garrett to make his bed.
• Made Caleb's bed.
• Made my bed.
• Cleared some dishes.
• Decided the rest of kitchen clean up can wait until after Garrett's at school.
• Put on a little make-up.
• Wiped Caleb's poopy bottom.
• Changed Matthew's poopy diaper.
• Put on my shoes.
• Tied Garrett's shoes.
• Helped everyone into their coats, hats, and scarves.
• Grabbed a bottle for Matthew on our way out the door to feed him on our walk.

Whew. It's now 8:55, Garrett's at school, I washed the breakfast dishes, gave Caleb his last (!!) nebulizer treatment, changed another poopy diaper (?!), and put a cranky (teething?) Matthew down for his morning nap.

And now I think I'm ready for a nap myself.

how we spent our 15 minutes of reading

• Swimmy words and pictures by Leo Lionni
• There's a Nightmare in My Closet words and pictures by Mercer Mayer
• Is Your Mama a Llama? words by Deborah Guarino; pictures by Steven Kellogg
• The Day Jimmy's Boa Ate the Wash words by Trinka Hakes Noble; pictures by Steven Kellogg
• City Dog, Country Frog words by Mo Willems; pictures by Jon J. Muth
• I Can Fly words by Ruth Krauss; pictures by Mary Blair

goals

Borrowing an awesome idea from my friends, Amy and Jeanine (of Serving Pink Lemonade fame), last night for Family Home Evening we helped the boys write goals.

Garrett
Personal -- Improve my art skills.
Spiritual -- Say more thoughtful prayers.
Happy Home -- Use a softer voice (which I hope also translates to "not immediately freaking out when things don't go his way").
Mom's Goal -- Practice reading for 15 minutes every day.

Caleb
Personal -- Learn the alphabet and how to write my name.
Spiritual -- Close my eyes during prayer and be more reverent.
Happy Home -- Stop pushing and hitting others.
Mom's Goal -- Be read to for 15 minutes every day.

Matthew
Was asleep while we did this.
Also, he's only 9 months old.
So he'll make goals another time.
Mom's Goal -- Learn to crawl. And then walk.

a list a day

I hereby declare this week List Week and as such will compose all of my posts in list form. I am doing this because --

1. This blog is a record of me and my family (not to mention a means of communication and socialization that helps to keep me from getting too lonely), and I'd rather try to keep it up than let it become a burden that falls by the wayside.
2. A list, as I'm sure you're aware, is simpler to compose than a longer and [potentially] more thoughtful piece.
3. Stringing coherent sentences together requires more time and energy than I typically have these days.
4. And besides, I'd rather be spending my time enjoying my children than at the computer.

Even though each post will be a list, I'll try to keep them creative. I don't, after all, want to bore you away from my little corner of the internet.

So, giddyup.