lost my funny

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I think it's gone. Sure feels like it.  I used to post funny stuff.  At least, I thought it was funny, and it made me laugh when I read my own writing, which is really what counts.

But so, I had kids and I became... less funny. To me, at least.  I started posting about my kids, and craftiness, and fit-i-ness.

And I started reading other peoples' blogs and find myself feeling inadequate, because everyone else is so awesome! And Funny!

And then I started reading Seriously, So Blessed, a totally funny spoof on Mormon mommy blogs (I lurvs me some Mormon mommy blogs.  I almost feel like we're cousins!)  Sure, I know there's been no new material added for more than a year, but seriously, so funny. And I feel better about bloggy mommy wars, and being not so funny all the time.

Adelle: 5 months

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At 5 months, Adelle is a beautiful, chubby baby.  I love the rolls on her legs. So squishy!

Weight:15 lbs 6 oz
Length: 25 1/4 inches

The very dark hair at birth came off and is being replaced.  Her bald baby ring is starting to fill in, and now she has a brown fuzz most places on her head.

She is pushing the limits of her 3-6 month clothes. The kid barely ever has socks on, and no shoes. We're just not shoe or sock people.  I'm not very good at clothing my kids, I guess.  She mostly spends the day in a onsie, unless we're going out, when I might apply pants, socks and an overshirt. I love buying clothes for her, though.

All about Adelle:

She prepares to be picked up - when Adelle is on her belly on the floor, she will lift arms and legs completely off the floor (think baby airplane) in anticipation that she'll be lifted.  If I don't pick her up, she puts her limbs down and looks at me with disappointment.

Adelle is now army crawling across the floor. Scooting, still, I guess, but with much more direction, distance, and intention.  I just watched her pull herself with her arms several feet across the floor to reach a toy that kept running away from her.

She's is just starting to get up on her knees and rock back and forth.  Silly baby.  She's can't even sit by herself, and she's preparing to crawl! She can scoot around pretty accurately, using her arms to pull herself the direction she wants to look or play.

 

The baby in the mirror has finally caught her attention.  So have our faces.  When she reaches towards something, she often will explore it with just the tip of a finger, usually her index finger. She has found that noses, eyebrows and ears warrant a firmer grasp, and Adelle goes for those with enthusiasm.

Adelle is finally starting to laugh consistently and for several seconds at silly things we do. But mostly, although she's smiley happy, we're just not that funny.  She really loves to look at her siblings, and her face absolutely lights up when they are talking animatedly.

 

She is beginning to respond to her name.  It's not every time, but sometimes she totally whips her head around to see who is saying her name.

Baby Cakes is a food mooch.  She will grab at our plates and silverware, and she watches food travel from plate to mouth. I've given her far more tastes of things that I did the other two, and at an earlier age.  Reading the whole things about the AAP saying that delaying food types doesn't seem to make a difference in allergies (unless there's a family history of specific food allergies) has caused me to be a lot more relaxed in when my baby gets tastes of food.  I'm still not giving her a whole scoop of anything though.  She's not ready for that - spits everything out.  But she likes crumbs and juicy things!

Adelle has fallen asleep by herself on the floor a few times. She won't do this in bed at nap time, but apparently the floor is a great place to sleep. She is generally in a "no-nap" phase.  She just fights it some times.

Drooling and baby cheese (spit-up, you know?) are still pretty common occurrences. Several times a day, without regard to how recently she ate.  She's still a happy girl though!  Now that she's mobile, I will need to invest in some kind of carpet cleaning device, since she typically leaves little blobs of baby cheese everywhere, and I often don't see them until she's scooted over it and smooshed it into the carpet. Ewww.

 

Elizabeth's favorite thing about Adelle - "I like to hold her, and talk to her and play with her."
Nathanael's favorite thing about Adelle - "Her toys. She can play with them."
Mama's favorite thing about Adelle - her smiles! And her cute sad faces.

in which randomness reigns supreme

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gratuitous happy baby shot (photog'd by E)

So much to do today.  So I'm starting out by posting what I thought about this morning in the shower.

1. I love my scale. It told me I weigh 3 pounds less than I did 2 weeks ago. Yay!

2) I have a quilt to cut, piece, and get over to the quilt shop for quilting (seriously, I'm not THAT awesome... yet...) in less than 4 weeks.  I've had the fabric for this quit for almost 4 years.

3 - I really should be doing something like... the laundry.  Or cleaning the bathrooms, especially the toilets.  Nathanael doesn't like to use one of the toilets because there is a little piece of stuck on grodyness (his fault) and the stupid toilets are low-flow, and don't do much to keep it rinsed well. Maybe if I clean it every.single.time. he uses the potty, then he will not be doing a potty dance at 5 AM?

4* I feel like a slacker because my house has never been well decorated.  Surely, it should be well decorated.  I mean, I went to school and graduated with an environmental design degree! I went to a FIDER accredited school! I was running with the top dogs of my class, so that means someone thought I was kinda okay at designing things, at least they did 12 years ago.  I am way less awesome in house coolness than my friend Melanie.  She's got mad skilz. I bet some of my other house/studio-mates are living in the lap of uber-design.  I live in the lap of suburban rental. With old lady furniture (no, really - I got it from a couple of old ladies), kids, and a tendency towards clutter. But, I must remember I never wanted to be an interior designer. I wanted to restore old buildings!

5# My bedroom walls (and ceiling!) remind me of breastfeed-baby poop. If I could get past the color (and the paint pattern/splotching) I might be able to envision something a little more glamorous, but alas, it clashes with the look I'm going for.

6^ I *heart* my local Goodwill store(s). I did not have one of these before. Cheap Stuff!  Unless it's not, but that's another story.

7@ Our impala is managing with 3 kids in the back seat somewhat acceptably. I still want a big ol' Suburban. Or a Traverse.

8. My kids and I have the runny nose/cough/sore throat sickies. The timer went off for me to load us up on vitamins and supplements to hasten our recovery.  I must bid adieu.

mineitis

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Nathanael didn't even make it all the way on the bed. Nor are his pants on the right way, but kudos for getting them on at all.

They may look all sharing-like.  It's not uncommon to find them snuggled up next to each other.  But awake? Not so much.

We have a serious case of mineitis in our house.  Both Elizabeth and Nathanael have been infected.  I even have the occasional bout of it.

The primary symptom: "Mine! Myyy-nnnnne! Mine!" It can be accompanied by pushing, hitting and grabbing.

Elizabeth wants to solve the mystery of Mineitis. I told her there's not mystery to it.
Nathanael wants to fight or kill me.  I told him that certainly doesn't help it, either.

The only cure to mineitus?  Sharing. Being nice.  Saying please and not grabbing things.

I hope we can get over the mineitis soon.

back online

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I now have a computer desk, and the computer is set up and running!  Perhaps you had figured this out, from the recent increase in posts.  Typing on a real keyboard is so much nicer than on a silly touch screen!


I would show you a picture,  but the wall is really boring behind it.  Plain white. So I'll need to finish doing some decorating before I post my space up.

I'm hoping that in the coming months I can share a bit more about what's up in my life - you know, things like my efforts to (once again) loose weight after baby (only this time, starting much higher than I did the last 2 times. boo). Or some of my craftiness, my dive in to homeschooling.  Maybe expose some of my bad side, too - you know that no one in the world is perfect, right?  I'm not perfect - I have a short temper, and I'm prone to yelling, spanking my kids, throwing things, and flat out ignoring my kids.  But that is all a work in progress.

I have some things planned, now it's a matter of getting them done!

chalkboard door sign {DIY}

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When we moved in, my mom wanted to get a housewarming gift for the kids.  We brainstormed a bit, and decided that some signs with their names would be a great way to help them feel some ownership in their spaces.  Elizabeth and Nathanael share a room now, and this helped Elizabeth to understand that it wasn't just HER room anymore.

I looked around to see if I could find some pre-made chalkboard door signs, but I wasn't having any luck.  So, I ventured out with the kids to Hobby Lobby, and they helped me pick out their signs.

Elizabeth picked round with red ribbon, Nathanael picked rectangle with blue ribbon.  Putting them together was pretty easy!

Supplies:

Thin plywood
primer
chalkboard paint
ribbon or other hanger
paint brushes (for liquid paints)
sandpaper
1/4" drill

I marked on each board where I wanted the holes drilled.  Although I did do a bit of measuring to make sure they were equidistant from edges, I just guesstimated what looked right for the space between.  Jude drilled the boards for me.

Sand the boards lightly to ensure a smooth surface.

Apply primer (I didn't do this, and wish I had.  It would have made the surface more consistent. Didn't sand, either, since my sandpaper is missing somewhere in a box.) Let it dry for the time indicated on the primer.

Apply chalkboard paint as indicated on the container.  Mine required two coats, applied perpendicular to each other with an hour between each coat. Then a 24 hour dry before use.

 

Check on sleeping baby.  Yup, the swing is working well.

Prime the chalkboard with a light layer of chalk (apparently this is a must for the board to work right!) Wipe off the layer.

Add ribbon/hanging device.

Draw your design, and hang it up!

We hung the signs at kid eye level, which is great for them seeing them.  Not so good for the designs staying on the boards, but they have fun with them.

Nathanael: 3 years

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Happy Birthday to my boy! He really wanted a Finn McMissile Cake (from Cars 2), so I made the attempt.  He was pleased, even if Jude and I laughed at the attempt to make it look like the character.

3 years ago, Nathanael was born, our first boy, our first homebirth.

What a little man he was! He still is, but he's "getter bigger. A Big boy!"

He is blond, pale, and blue-eyed.  He's kinda short, and people say he doesn't look three, but I guess they haven't met the rest of my family.  We come by our stature quite honestly.  Maybe other people simply have Giant children. 

He's super awesome, at 3 years old.  He likes planes, trains, and automobiles.  He is a fan of superheros. Movies don't usually scare him, but he is especially sensitive to real (or perceived) emotional or physical injury.  He has an excellent sad face, and has figured out how to play the system.  Having been an older sister to a younger brother, I am aware of the injustice this can sometimes cause.

He says his favorite colors are blue and green. He likes to pretend to be other things, like a fire man, garbage man, police man, mail man, all on his trusty dog. Playing outside is a favorite.  His friends are Chase and Jack, the neighbor boys.  Elizabeth, too, but she's his sister.  And a GIRL.

He still takes naps, and really, really benefits from them, but it can be hard for him to settle enough to actually get the nap done.

Poor kid has been living in shoes too small for who knows how long.  I recently measured his foot and got him new shoes. One and a half sizes bigger than his old pair of shoes.

I've been a slacker, and haven't been working with him too much on learning "school" things.  He can say the alphabet, and recognizes most letters. He can say the numbers up to 12 or so, and can consistently count objects up to 7 or 8, if he doesn't get impatient and just start saying numbers fast. He likes working with scissors, and drawing some, but that's not really his favorite thing to do. He knows his colors and shapes.  He's a good helper, when I remember to let him help.

He is potty trained, and dry day and night! yay!! We're mostly working now on getting the underpants on BEFORE leaving the bathroom, and getting them on NOT backwards (same for pants/shorts).  The step stools I made are a huge help, because he can take care of most bathroom business all by himself!

Here's what 3 years can do: