Monkey Sew, Monkey Do

Photo Editing Help?

2011-02-18T22:54:00.000-05:00

So I'm about to buy my first DSLR (woot!)...I'm just waiting for the Canon T3i to come out in March. Anyway, I was a little scared that I would get it home and the pictures taken inside our house would still be terrible. So my mother-in-law was kind enough to let me borrow hers for a week to try it out. And, oh. my. gosh. I'm so excited to get my own! Freakin' ahhh-mazing.

Here are a few of my favorites - I just love her facial expressions! (I took all of these on auto)

I have a lot to learn about changing the settings and taking pictures without the auto. I also really need to learn some basic photo editing skills. I've been reading articles and watching videos trying to learn as much as I can, but I'm really more of a "learn by doing" type of person. If you have any helpful photography links or book recommendations, please share them!

I really love this picture I took of K swinging the other day, but it's dark and needs some fixing. Any advice on what to do?

Project 365: Week 3

2011-01-22T23:05:00.002-05:00

January 15th...forgot to take a picture. Sigh.

1/16

1/17 - Emptying my bags...the only way I was getting supper done that day

1/18 - "Hey!" - talking to someone on her hand phone

1/19 - Coloring - she really likes the white one for some reason

1/20 - It finally got above 30 degrees and it wasn't too windy, so we bundled up and went for a walk

1/21 - Eating a banana all by herself. She does really well, except that every once in awhile she likes to take a giant, adult-sized bite and I have to fish it out so she doesn't choke. And yeah, my kid's wearing her Christmas dress in late-January...that's what happens when I let her pick out her own clothes.

Project 365: Week 2

2011-01-15T23:11:00.000-05:00

Playing iPad games with Daddy

She got tons of play food and kitchen toys for Christmas...

Yummy salad...turned sideways because blogger is dumb.

One of her new favorite things is playing with blankets. Here she's playing "doh-pee" (peekaboo).

Bathtime!

This guy showed up at our house unexpectedly. The power company hired them to trim branches away from the power lines. Instead, he left those and trimmed the branches that shaded K's swing that were no where near power lines. Makes perfect sense, right?! I was so angry (still am, actually).

Hamming it up :)

15 months update

2011-01-13T22:02:00.000-05:00

Warning: I like to use my blog as a baby book, since I don't keep up with the one we have. I haven't updated in awhile and I feel like I need to get this all down in writing before I forget it. This will be a pretty long post, so go ahead and skip it if you don't care about my child's latest developments :)

K is learning so much these days. She can say mama, dada, nana, papa, ball, cheese (when we're taking her picture), cuckoo (from a book from a cuckoo clock), and diaper. She says "mmm" and "nummy nummy" when she's eating. She can recognize and tell you the sounds for cow, horse, dog, cat, duck, lion, monkey, and goat. She says "zzzz" when we zip a zipper. She says sock - but she's always referring to her shoe...we're working on that one. She says "doh pee!" for peekaboo, which is hilarious.

She's picked back up on signing lately, too. She'll sign milk, again (and will say it at the same time), book, and help. She will sometimes try to sign eat or diaper change as well.

She loves books. She will bring us book after book to read. Some days I sit down to read to her and she doesn't get bored with it until an hour later. I loooooove it. I've always really hoped that she would like to read.

At her 15 month checkup, she weighed in at 19 lbs, 8 oz and was 31 inches tall. Meaning that since her 12 month appointment, she grew 1.5 inches, but only an ounce in weight. Her doctor wasn't concerned since she seems to be developing fine. She's been eating like crazy lately, so I think she's trying to make up for it now.

As far as eating goes, she's not terribly picky. One week she might refuse something, but chances are the next she'll like it again. For the most part she's a pretty good eater. Yogurt is her favorite right now and she'll eat anything I mix with it. She's gotten really good at feeding herself with a spoon and only needs my help when she gets to the bottom of the bowl. She'll make a G sound (trying to say "gone") and hand me her spoon to scrape the bowl.

And my favorite piece of news...a couple of days ago, I cooked some pears until they were really soft and decided to let her try them in chunks. She refused them, but I gave her a little fork and showed her how to pick them up and eat them and she ate probably an entire pear that way! Now, I know most of you (if you're even still reading this) are wondering what's the big deal, but y'all, this is HUGE. It's not something I've talked about much on here, but K has had a really rough time with solid foods. She is really prone to choking and until just recently, could not handle any food that was not pureed. Back around Christmas, she got to where she could eat itty bitty pieces of banana without gagging and choking the whole time. We've been easing her into it ever since and it seems to be going well now. Yay!

She's still not walking on her own yet. She hates to fall and is really cautious, so she won't even try. I know she will when she's ready, so I try not to fret over it.

One of her cutest new habits is to tuck her arms in when you hold her. We guess it's because she's cold and wants to snuggle to get warm. Whatever the reason, it is terribly sweet and I'll be sad if/when she quits doing it.

She loves to wave bye-bye (usually comes out like dada, though) to everyone, even complete strangers. She will blow kisses, mostly to Nick.

She continues to amaze and charm us. It's only a matter of time before the full-blown temper tantrums start up, so I'm trying to enjoy every second of her sweet baby-ness :)

Project 365: Week 1

2011-01-08T11:04:00.001-05:00

The snow kept us from going to see my family on Christmas, so we were celebrating at my grandparents house on New Year's Day. K was cutting teeth and being a big ol' grump. Nick looks almost as thrilled as she does.

Playing the drums at Grammy & Pop's house.

Two monster hats for Sarah's cute little boys :)

2 years ago, I gave this bib to Nick the day I found out I was pregnant. I knew that day that my life was about to change drastically, but I had no idea how much or how wonderful it would be!

Playing dress-up with Mama's fabric scraps (she did this all on her own) and reading a book. This might be my favorite from the whole week. She's just so sweet.

CHEESE!

Yogurt is "mmmm, nummy nummy" according to K. I'm pretty sure she would eat the entire carton in one sitting if I let her. She'll eat anything if it's mixed with yogurt.

I realize that my pictures are terrible quality, but I'm going to link up anyway. I've got to keep my New Year's Resolution, even if I don't have a nice camera.

2010 Recap

2011-01-02T17:20:00.000-05:00

I had intended to post this on New Year's Eve, but we were out of town celebrating a late Christmas with my family, so I never got to. Better late than never, though!

2010 was an amazing year. Best year of my life, by far. By January, K had pretty much gotten over the all-day screaming thing and her cute little personality was taking shape. She's learned and grown so much this year, and it's brought me so much joy. I stepped out on a limb and signed up for a craft fair. And while that first craft fair didn't make me very much money, it led to more sales and the realization that I could do something I love and make money doing it {awesome!}. Now, I'm doing very well, thanks to personal recommendations and my facebook page.

I'm looking forward to all that 2011 has to bring. I'm starting the New Year off by going and officially registering my business this week - woohoo! I'm also going to be meeting with a store owner who wants to buy and sell my products.

Last year my new year's resolution was to make a new recipe each week. It was the first resolution I've ever kept all year long. It was fun and fulfilled its purpose. I won't be making it again, but I think the habit has stuck well enough that I don't need to. One thing I will be doing this year is Project 365. I've gotten lazy lately with taking pictures and I'm resolving to do better! Hopefully this will force me to keep up with my blog more too.

And, for fun, my favorite posts of 2010:

1. Make Your Own Moby Wrap tutorial
This post has gotten the most traffic of any of my posts. And one of my favorites because we use our wrap every day.

2. Hubby's Birthday
I initially clicked back on this one because I loved the cake, but had forgotten the sweet video of K singing the Dada song.

3. Swinging
I'd be remiss if I didn't put one of the many swinging posts/pictures as one of mt favorites...the girl loves to swing!

4. One Year
This is one of my favorites for obvious reasons - the blog post written for my daughter on her first birthday.

5. Crazy-Haired Artist
I love these pictures and the fact that around this time I could start to see a resemblance between K and Nick.

6. Wonder Woman Costume
K was way too cute in her Halloween costume this year

7. My Little Artist
K's first painting experience. Includes my favorite video of her so far.

Happy New Year!

Free Pattern!

2010-12-22T07:57:00.000-05:00

I'm way too busy to be sitting at a computer right now (3 days til Christmas - yikes!), but I wanted to tell y'all that Lil Blue Boo is offering a free download of her beret pattern. Just go to her Facebook page and click on the Exclusive tab to download. You can click "skip" if you don't want it to publish to your wall and then it will let you download. I'm totally in love with her Sienna dress pattern, so I can't wait to make a matching hat and dress!

I finally got some good pictures of K wearing her Christmas dress (from the Lil Blue Boo pattern) and I'll share as soon as I can. It really is an awesome, easy pattern.

Bye!

My Little Artist

2010-12-19T17:07:00.000-05:00

My girl has an artistic nature about her. She loves to color and draw, both on paper and the magna doodle. So I bought a pack of washable Crayola paints and let her try her hand at fingerpainting. My husband looked at me like I was crazy when I told him I was going to do it (totally justified), but I wanted a new activity for her. Doing the same old things day in and day out is going to get boring to her at some point. And even though she's young, I want to help her explore her interests.

So I put her in one of Nick's old shirts and let her have at it.

It was fun.

She made a huge mess.

And she was totally into it until she realized that her hands were dirty.

And then it was game over.

Total meltdown.

So I cleaned her up and we went and found a paintbrush.

All was right with the world again.

Until this happened:

The finished masterpiece (I have no idea why blogger is flipping this vertical)

Despite the "Ohmygoshmyhandsaredirty" meltdown and licking paint off her hands, it was a fun experience. She's done one more painting since this one and I was smart enough to give her a paintbrush from the start (and she didn't eat paint this time, either). Both were done on thin canvases that I bought for cheap at Michaels, but I think we're going to buy her a sketchbook-type thing so we can keep all of her paintings together in one place.

Any suggestions for other fun activities to do with an almost 15 month old?

Wordless Wednesday: My Talkative Girl

2010-12-15T21:09:00.000-05:00

Friday Memories

2010-12-10T23:51:00.000-05:00

A few things I'd like to remember about today:
1. K started say "wo-wo" when we ask her what a dog says
2. She quit saying "mmmm" for a cow and started saying "mmmoooooooo." Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of her...but it made me SO sad. She's growing up so quickly. Am I the only one who thinks that way?
3. We had Christmas pictures made today. K and her big cousin, P, wore adorable matching dresses (made by my mother-in-law!), just like my mom used to do with me and my big cousin. The photographer was amazing. She's posted a preview on her facebook page if you're interested in seeing them. I know I'm biased, but they're just incredible!
4. I finally got around to buying the Lil Blue Boo Sienna Dress pattern. I got everything but the neckline done on K's Christmas dress. I'll hold judgment until I'm completely finished, but I think it's going to be really cute!
5. I made a facebook page for my business. I don't have a whole lot up yet, but I'm working on it.

It's been a good Friday. Now time to go curl up under blanket and go to sleep :) Night!

Wordless Wednesday: A Cat and a Monkey

2010-12-08T22:36:00.000-05:00

Snow!

2010-12-04T15:51:00.000-05:00

It started snowing big, fat snowflakes around lunchtime today. It was so beautiful.

For a little while, I actually forgot what a pain snow is and just enjoyed it. The first snow of the season is always good for that.

We let K look out the window at it for a while and she kept pointing and smiling, so we took her outside for a few minutes. She was in awe, but loved it.

Watching it snow makes me want to turn on the Christmas music and put up our tree. But then I think of having to chase K away from it 15,497 times a day and I change my mind.

Wordless Wednesday: November Favorites

2010-12-01T15:24:00.000-05:00

My Cute Kid, Craft Fair Ramblings, and New Hats

2010-11-30T12:58:00.004-05:00

It's been awhile, huh? Life is busy, that's all I have to say for myself. Moving on!

My child gets more and more amazing every day. Seriously, she learns something new every day and it's incredible to watch. She talks nonstop. I only understand about 5% of it, but it is the sweetest sound. She has taken an interest in animals over the past month and can tell you that a cow says "mmmm", duck says "cackcack" (she seems to have forgotten this one lately, though), monkey says "hehe", cat says "yow", lion says "aagghhh" and horse says "nnnneeh". This video is from a few weeks ago when she only knew the first three.

I participated in my third and final craft fair a couple of weeks ago. It was a two day event, which was tiring. I didn't feel like such a rookie this time and organizing and setting up went a lot smoother. I tried to create levels on my tables to mix it up a bit, but it still needs more. I got a lot of ideas from looking at other booths and plan try some new things at the next one.

My Dad was in charge of the signs...

I've been working on some new hat designs lately that I'm pretty excited about. My two favorite people make good models :)

The pictures aren't at the best angle to show off the hat, but K loves her new sock monkey hat. I was putting on my shoes yesterday to go out and get the mail and she pointed to her hat laying on the counter and patted her head. She did it again later that day, so I know it wasn't a coincidence. She's such a smart little thing!

Wonder Woman Costume

2010-10-28T17:13:00.001-04:00

I finally finished K's Halloween costume. I would like to tell you that it was fun and easy and quick, but I'd be lying. In theory, it should have been all of those things, but I had to redo almost every part of this costume due to some small problem or another. I'm just really relieved that it's done and I'm super proud of how it turned out!

Warning to all family members...if you want to see her in her costume for the first time in person, don't read any further!

Here it is!!

I could just die from the cuteness.

I made the headband like the Cinderella one on Make It and Love It here.

I made the wrist bands and belt using the same concept, except that they attach with metal snaps so she can't rip them off :)

The top was a "make it up as I go along" project for sure. I cut a rectangular piece out of a knit shirt and used stitch witchery to hide the raw edges. I put 3 metal snaps on the back so it would be easy to get on. Then I tried it on her and it fell off. Oops. So I went back in and put a piece of elastic along the top seam to make it tighter. Perfect!

I printed the Wonder Woman symbol off the internet, traced it onto Heat-n-Bond, and ironed it onto the shirt. I sewed clear bra straps onto it to make sure it stayed up when she's crawling.

I made the bottom part from a diaper cover that came with a skirt and appliqued white stars all over it. The "boots" are a pair of socks from Target. I cut about an inch off the top, then added a strip of white knit fabric along the top and a stripe along the front.

I made her golden lasso (that makes men tell the truth, apparently) by braiding several strands of gold yarn together.

And there you have it - the cutest Wonder Woman ever!

Linking up with:

Wordless Wednesday: Crazy-haired Artist

2010-10-27T16:27:00.000-04:00

In case you're wondering where she gets her uncontrollable hair and squinty-eyed, cheesy grin from, here's a picture of Nick at her age (13 months):

Zoo!

2010-10-23T22:07:00.000-04:00

We took K on her first trip to the zoo today. She was in the best mood all day, smiling and laughing. I think she really liked it!

"Look, Mama! A cow!"

I think the cow may have been her favorite part. She's fascinated by cows lately and when you ask her what a cow says, she says "mmmmmmmm." Adorable.

I was a little disappointed that she didn't get excited over the monkeys. These were the only monkeys they had (it's a small zoo) and I guess they really didn't look like any monkeys she's ever seen. She liked watching them, she just wasn't impressed.

She was too busy flirting with a little boy to notice this cougar...

She liked the tiger statue.

This last one is my favorite picture of the day. Love this girl!

Friday Giggles

2010-10-22T15:20:00.000-04:00

K has been such a giggle box lately. You never know what's going to send her into a fit of laughter. Peekaboo and "this little piggy" are a guaranteed hit. In this video, I was blowing kisses to her and she thought that was hilarious. Hope you enjoy!

Quick and Easy Removable Pillow Covers

2010-10-20T22:59:00.004-04:00

Decorative pillows are so easy to make. If you ever want a quick, satisfying project, go make some new pillows or recover some old ones.

I always make my pillow covers removable. It's how my Granny taught me how to do it years ago and since I'm the queen of spilling things, it's nice to be able to just throw the cover in the washing machine.

I made these pillows as part of my sister-in-law's living room makeover. Isn't this fabric she found amazing?

Here's my quick tutorial on how to make your own removable pillow covers:

First, cut out your pieces. Your front piece should measure 1/2" more than your pillow measurement to allow for a 1/4" seam allowance. My pillows were 14" square, so I cut my front piece 14.5" x 14.5". For the back, you'll need 2 pieces. Mine were 14.5" x 10.5".

Next up, you need to hem each of the back pieces where they will overlap. I ran across this blog post right before making these and I definitely think it makes hemming go a little faster. I didn't bother to make a template like she did, but even just marking my hem lines with a ruler made it easier.

I started by marking a 1/2" from the edge, folding it over on my line, then ironing it down.

Next, mark and fold your fabric over 1.5". Pin and sew.

Repeat with the other back piece and you're ready to put it all together.

Lay your front piece down, right side up. Lay one back piece on top, right side down, with the hemmed side toward the middle of the front piece.

Take the other back piece and lay it, right side down, with the hemmed side toward the middle. It should overlap the first back piece. Pin and sew all the way around.

I forgot to take a picture of this last part, but next you need to clip your corners (read this great blog post) and zig-zag stitch around each of the 4 sides to help cut down on fraying.

Now for my favorite part! Turn that baby inside out (I use a crochet hook or pencil to help get the corners looking good) and stuff a pillow inside. Sit back and admire your new pillows!

Linking up with:

Wordless Wednesday: Hokie Girl

2010-10-13T12:10:00.000-04:00

Ramblings

2010-09-29T11:48:00.000-04:00

I'm not feeling the Wordless Wednesday today, so I'm just going to chat for a second instead.

I opened up my etsy shop. I've been wanting to do it for awhile and finally got up the nerve. If it ever quits being rainy and dreary around here, I have a ton of stuff to take pictures of and list. 3 things is a good start, though. Baby steps.

Today I'm working on a custom order. I'll post pictures when it's done, but trust me, it's teeny-tiny and adorable.

Yesterday was a fun day for us. I took K to the library for story time for the first time. She sat still pretty much the entire time, totally in awe of all the other kiddos toddling around. I'm not sure she's ever been still for that long! She did love shaking all of the different musical instruments they had at the end. I think once we start going more often and she gets used to being around that many kids, she'll really like it. It's a really nice program and it's free!

After story time and K's morning nap, we headed out to my sister-in-law's house. She's redecorating her living room and I'm going to be making curtains and pillows and maybe some other stuff. She found this really, really awesome fabric at a yard sale that we'll be using as an accent since there's not enough of it to do everything. I'm really excited about it! I've never made curtains before (might have forgotten to mention that to her...), but I'm pretty confident I can handle it :)

Next week I've got to get started on K's halloween costume. I'm going to keep it a secret for now, but it's going to be awesome. Maybe even better than last year's costume...

It kinda hurts to look at these pictures. She was so little.

One Year

2010-09-23T16:03:00.000-04:00

At 5:45 AM on September 23, 2009, I became a Mama. I will never forget the moment they laid her on my chest. I looked down at her sweet squishy face, all covered in goo, and was certain I had never seen anyone so beautiful in my entire life. I was so relieved. Relieved that she was finally out (9 days late), that labor was finally over, and I could finally hold the little person I had been dreaming about for so long. She was perfect (a major cone head at the time, but still perfect), weighing in at 8 lbs 1 oz and measuring 21 inches long.

To my girl on her 1st birthday:

You turn a year old today. Wow.

I can remember when you were only a week and a half old, Nana left to go back home and I was so scared. I didn't know how I was going to manage being alone with you all day while Dada was at work. But we did it. We made it through the itty bitty, sleep all day, but not at night stage.

We made it through those awful months of colic. You screamed all. the. time. Getting you to sleep was nearly impossible and you would wake up immediately and start screaming again if I put you down. I learned that the only way to calm you was to bounce (I'm talking deep knee bends) and sing Maroon 5 to you. Not surprisingly, I couldn't bear to listen to them for a long, long time after that. Then, when you were about 3 weeks old, I got out the Baby Bjorn your Auntie Erin let us borrow and put you in it. You fell asleep immediately. I've been madly in love with babywearing ever since. Once you hit about 12 pounds, it started to get uncomfortable, so I bought and made our beloved papoose.

One of my favorite parts of motherhood has been watching you learn new things. In one short year, you've mastered rolling over, sitting up, crawling, pulling up, climbing, and furniture walking. You have amazing hand-eye coordination and small motor skills for someone so little.You've recently learned to imitate and pretend. Your favorite is playing with spoons, cups, and bowls. I love watching you stir and pretend to eat and drink while you talk constantly. Most of the time I don't understand anything you're saying, but I sure love listening to you :)

You are an amazing child. You changed my life so much that I can barely even remember life before you. I certainly can't imagine life without you.

You're already so smart and independent. You're one of the happiest babies I've ever known. You make each day fun and exciting and I love staying home with you.

You will always be the one who made me a mama, who taught me countless lessons on motherhood, and the one who showed me what true, unconditional love is. Thank you for being mine.

Happy Birthday, Baby!

Check it out!

2010-09-22T23:19:00.001-04:00

Go check out the new pictures of my awesome product tags, taken by Chelsa Yoder Photography and designed by Erin Ink Design.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=572247&fbid=162304260451489&id=119745811374001

http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?pid=572248&fbid=162304333784815&id=119745811374001

What do you think?!

Wordless Wednesday: Beach Trip

2010-09-22T16:04:00.000-04:00

I'm still here!

2010-09-21T21:02:00.000-04:00

Um, just realized that it's been 3 weeks tomorrow since my last post. Oops.

We went on a beach trip 2 weeks ago. We had a great time hanging out with family, being beach bums, and swimming. I'll post more pictures later.

The week before we left for the beach, I signed up for a booth at a craft fair. I was nervous about it, but since it was going to be held at my old elementary school the same weekend as the community fair, I knew I would get to see several old friends and at the very least it would be fun! The turn-out was really small compared to most craft fairs (it was the first year), but I still did pretty well. I learned a lot and I'm thinking about participating in a much bigger fair in November.

(sorry for the bad picture quality)

My wonderful and very talented sister-in-law made me some adorable product tags. My photography sucks, so these pictures don't do the tags justice. I'm going to try to get some better pictures made outside soon.

(She did this bib design, too)

(She made tags with sizes on them for my hats)

Back to sorting through 11+ months of pictures for my girl's birthday DVD.

My baby turns a year old Thursday. Where has time gone?

Wordless Wednesday: My Child is a Monkey

2010-08-25T15:26:00.000-04:00

11 Months Old Today!

2010-08-23T22:11:00.000-04:00

My girl turned 11 months old today. This past month went by way too fast. This past month, K learned how to pull up and stand. Within a week she was an old pro, pulling up on everything and taking steps holding onto her crib. We've had to do a lot more baby proofing the past couple of weeks. She cut her 5th tooth and is working on the 6th. Getting her to eat solids has been a slow process, but she's finally getting the hang of it. She has a trigger gag reflex so she still can't eat anything except purees, but she's not picky anymore. She's eating foods now that we couldn't get her to eat before or that she only liked when mixed with applesauce. She usually eats around 4-6 ounces of food a day now. Not nearly as much as most kids her age, but definitely an improvement for her.

The weather was beautiful here today, so we took the opportunity to take a few pictures outside.

I posted the next to last picture on Facebook today and my old babysitter said K looked just like she remembered me at that age. She posted a picture of me when I was 1 to prove her point. Here's the comparison:

(click to enlarge)

What do you think?

Owl Applique

2010-08-22T17:13:00.003-04:00

I've been busy sewing stuff for K's birthday lately. I'm finally getting around to taking some pictures so that I can share them. This one is my favorite so far.

Owls must be the popular thing right now because I keep seeing them everywhere. Shirts, softies, fabric, stamps, you name it. Inspired by some adorable owl corduroy at Joanns, I decided to make an owl applique shirt.

I searched for owl pictures and found one that I loved. Then I copied and pasted it into a word document and enlarged it. I wanted to off-set the pocket at the top, so instead of tracing my image backwards onto my heat-n-bond like you're supposed to, I just traced it normally so that I would end up with the reverse image.

I used different types of scrap fabric to add texture. The eyes,feet, and wings are knit, the leaves are flannel, the body and branch are cotton, the beak is fleece, and the head is from an old pair of comfy knit dress pants.

I also made K a pair of pants from the same old gray knit pants. I used the existing hem and outside seam, so I was able to finish them in about 10 minutes.

The owl shirt was definitely a labor of love, since it took awhile to cut out, place, iron, and sew down all of those little owl pieces. But I'm really pleased with it and I can't wait for her to wear it next summer.

Linking up with:

Wordless Wednesday: Constant Motion

2010-08-18T15:40:00.000-04:00

Yummy Bran Muffins

2010-08-16T21:17:00.000-04:00

I tried a new muffin recipe last week. I made a few substitutions to make them healthier and they were SO good. I forgot to take a picture before we ate them all, but here's my version (original version here).

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups bran flakes (I couldn't find wheat bran)
1 cup yogurt
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
2/3 cup brown sugar (loosely packed)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole wheat or white wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup raisins*
1/4 cup dried cranberries*
1/4 cup chopped walnuts*

Directions
Mix together bran flakes and yogurt, slightly breaking up bran flakes as you stir; let stand for 10 minutes.

Beat together applesauce, egg, sugar and vanilla and add to yogurt/bran mixture. Stir flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into yogurt mixture, until just blended. Fold in raisins, dried cranberries, and walnuts and spoon batter into greased muffin tins.

Bake at 375 degrees for 15 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.

* I didn't really measure here, so these measurements are a guess. You could substitute anything you want here. I made a batch with chocolate chips and they were pretty good. I also think these would be yummy made with blueberries or cherries.

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday: 10 Month Photos

2010-08-11T11:42:00.000-04:00

K's 10 month pictures, wearing this dress. A huge thanks to Mandy Jones for doing such a fabulous job.

Saving Money: Groceries

2010-08-03T16:34:00.000-04:00

Cutting back on your grocery budget doesn't have to mean eating ramen noodles every night. As I've said before, we've cut down our grocery bill by about $100/month so far and we still eat meat almost every night. Here's what helped me:

Meal planning
This is SO important. Sitting down at the beginning of the week and planning out your meals helps you make an accurate grocery list and keeps you from running to the store during the week. Less trips to the store means time, gas, and money saved. Every Sunday evening, I sit down with my local ads, coupons, recipe book, and computer and write down my meal ideas and make my grocery list. It's nice not having to scrounge around at 4:30 wondering what in the heck I'm going to cook for supper, too.

Utilize leftovers
I like to make my meal plan to include one or more meals that share an ingredient. A can of pineapple, for example, can be used to make pineapple chicken and have enough leftover to use on homemade pizza.

Another example: Friday I made mini meatball subs (on homemade bread) and brown rice with peas and mushrooms. I used the leftovers in 3 meals:
1. Leftover mini meatball subs; roasted potatoes, squash, zucchini, and carrots (I just use whatever is left in the fridge and toss with olive oil and either oregano or grill seasoning)
2. Chicken parmesan; penne noodles with leftover marinara; leftover veggies
3. General Tsos chicken; fried rice (using leftover rice from the first night and leftover veggies from the second night)

Look for cheap alternatives
Some cheap substitutions:
- chicken or beef bouillon cubes instead of broth
- mix your own spices instead of buying premade packets (taco seasoning, for example)
- regular rice instead of instant
- dried beans instead of canned
- cream of anything mix instead of canned soup (I haven't actually tried this yet, but I'm going to this week)
- generally, anything homemade instead of prepackaged/convenience foods

When I look at a recipe, I like to look at it and figure out how to make it cheaper. Creamy chicken enchiladas is one of our favorite meals (thanks, Debbie!), but gets kind of pricy. So to make it cheaper I make these substitutions (original ingredient in parenthesis):
- 2 cups of water with 1 chicken bouillon cube (chicken stock)
- 8 oz of yogurt cheese (sour cream) - this has nothing to do with cheapness, I'm just lactose intolerant
- a few chopped jalepenos - I keep a jar in the fridge (green chilies)
- cooked and mashed dried pinto beans with cumin and chili powder(refried beans)
- chili powder, cumin, crushed red peppter (taco seasoning)
I also use Kroger brand tortillas. They're the best kind we've tried (and the cheapest!). The wheat ones are the best. I like to double this recipe because they are soooooo good leftover.

Stock up on sale items
This is how I manage to serve meat nearly every night. Kroger runs a sale on chicken breasts for $1.99/lb about once a month. So when it's on sale, I buy several packages. I set aside 30-45 minutes, grab a big cutting board and a knife, and trim away all the yucky stuff. Then I cut into strips or small pieces, wrap up meal-sized portions in freezer paper, label it, and throw it in freezer bags for good measure. Not only does this save us money, but it saves me a ton of time. Instead of having to cut up chicken every time I need it (and dirty up a knife and cutting board), I just unwrap the pack of chicken and let it thaw in cold water. Easy peasy. You can easily do this with other types of meat as well.

You can also watch for sales and coupons on pantry staples and stock up. I'll do a "couponing 101" in my next post.

Make extra and freeze it
This is another time and money saver. There are some meals that are a pain to make, so you might as well make double while you're at it. I like to make 2 lasagnas at a time and freeze one. The saving money part is small here - it gives me a quick dinner option so we don't resort to eating out in a pinch and it dirties less dishes, so we save a little water and electricity. Muffins, chicken casserole, spaghetti sauce, chili, and soups also freeze well.

I'd love to answer your questions or hear how you save money on groceries!

Saving Money

2010-07-31T15:23:00.000-04:00

When I was pregnant with K, Nick and I decided we needed to start living just off of his income, as practice for when she was born and I'd be staying home with her. At first, it was really tough. I was worried we weren't going to be able to do it. We were spending over $400/month on groceries and eating out. Our bills were outrageous. Although we didn't buy "extras" a lot, these fun purchases (movies, etc) really started to add up. I started reading articles, forums, and blogs on saving money and devised a plan.

First, we stopped eating out. This was hard for both of us. Nick really liked (and still does) getting to eat out at lunch with his coworkers. I liked not having to cook every night. We started slow and backed down to only eating out a few times a month. Now we eat out maybe one or two times a month and honestly, we don't miss it at all. In fact, we generally feel terrible after eating out. Fast food is addictive and once you break the habit of eating it, it's hard to eat it without feeling gross.

Second, we stopped buying movies. Nick used to buy at least a couple of movies a month. We got Netflix and he committed to only buying or asking for the "must-haves." This was a big sacrifice on his part and I'm still impressed with the fact that he hasn't bought a movie in almost 9 months. I also got a library card and stopped buying books. We still spend money on fun things sometimes, but not nearly as much as before.

Third, I decided to tackle our grocery bill. I have really gotten the hang of shopping sales and using coupons and I've brought our grocery bill down by about $100/month so far. My goal is to get it down to $200/month.

Fourth, I started finding ways to save money around the house. We use a lot of reusable products and try to conserve water and electricity.

I'll share my tips and tricks on these last two in separate posts. It's too much to put into one post. Being frugal isn't the easiest thing, but it's not as hard, boring, or as embarrassing as I thought it would be. I tackled this like I do any other project or job, with determination to make it work and to make it fun. Now, I get a thrill from getting good deals and saving money. Like this week, when I spent $7.78 at Kroger on 4 bottles of Old Spice body wash, a bottle of Herbal Essences shampoo, a 12 pack of Charmin toilet paper, a bag of Cascade dishwasher tabs, and a deodorant. Yeah, you read that right...$7.78. It's been a good week for me :)

Wordless Wednesday: Pretty Girl

2010-07-28T21:47:00.000-04:00

I made K a headband to match her monkey dress. We had her 10 month pictures taken in this outfit today. Can't wait to show you next week!

Monkey Dress

2010-07-26T15:58:00.000-04:00

I found this great monkey fabric remnant at Joanns a few weeks ago. Cost me a whopping 65 cents*. I knew it'd be perfect in this dress by From An Igloo.

This worked up pretty quickly and, as always, Christine's tutorial was fabulous and easy to follow. I only made two changes:

1. I didn't have enough of my monkey fabric to cut 2 strips 40" long, so I only cut one. This wouldn't have worked out for a larger dress, but it was perfect for 9-12 months size.

Drool queen

2. I didn't shir the back. I really, really wanted to. I spent 2 days (not kidding) trying every way I could think of to get my machine to work with the elastic thread. I watched shirring videos and read blog posts and forums, but I just couldn't get it to work. There was no way I was scrapping the dress, so I decided to sew in 2 pieces of 1/4" elastic on the top and bottom of my back bodice. If you're going to do it this way, it's better to only cut your back bodice piece by 1.5x your needed width instead of 1.75x like she suggests. It was not easy stretching the elastic that much.

Even though I cut my elastic to be the exact width of her back, it still turned out to be a little loose. Not a big deal, since the straps go through a buttonhole in the back and can be adjusted easily.

I can easily see her being able to wear this for the rest of the summer, this fall with a light cardigan, and probably next year as a shirt. Not too shabby for 65 cents (the brown fabric was a freebie from my Granny)!

*Did you know that at Joanns you get 50% off the current price per yard? That means, if you find a remnant from fabric that is on sale for $3/yard, you get that remnant for $1.50/yard. I found out the day I bought this and since then I've gotten a couple of really good deals on remnants.

10 months

2010-07-23T21:45:00.000-04:00

My baby girl is 10 months old today!

What she's up to these days:
- Crawling at lightening-fast speeds and into everything. She can spot a cord a mile away.

- She's learning how to drink from a sippy cup.
- Eating solids is hit or miss with her. Some days she eats a lot and other days she won't have anything to do with it. I'm thankful she's still nursing really well or I would be worried about her.
- She has 4 teeth now and is about to cut 2 more.
- She is starting to pull up on things.

- Yesterday, she started saying "doy" (rhymes with "toy"). I think it's more of a fun babbling sound than an actual word. So now she says Mama, Dada, Nana, and "doydoydoydoydoy"
- She still thinks playing peekaboo through the slats of her crib is the most hilarious game ever.

- Going outside is one of her favorite things. She loves swinging and playing in her kiddie pool.

Only 2 months til her birthday. I guess I should start party planning soon!

Wordless Wednesday: Daddy's Girl

2010-07-14T10:53:00.000-04:00

Watermelon Girl

2010-07-11T22:21:00.000-04:00

One of K's favorite games these days is to crawl away as fast as possible while I "chase" her and tickle her. She squeals and laughs, takes a breath, and starts it all over again. I love her laugh :)

"Can't catch me, Mama!"

"Ok, fine. I'll be still."

"Just kidding!"

Does anyone else have a kid that likes to chew on metal? So weird.

Her Daddy said she looked like a watermelon in this outfit. Cutest. watermelon. ever.

Not sure what she's doing in this picture, but it makes me laugh.

Wordless Wednesday: Swinging

2010-07-07T16:39:00.000-04:00

(clapping her hands)

4th of July Dress

2010-07-02T15:04:00.000-04:00

I made K a 4th of July dress using the One Hour Sundress pattern on From An Igloo's blog.

I modified it a bit, making it without the top ruffle and adding a basic contrast hem instead of a ruffle at the bottom. This is a great tutorial and the dress was really easy and fast to make.

It looked really cute on her when I helped her stand in front of a mirror, but as soon as she's loose on the floor, it rides up. Straight-cut dresses and crawling babies don't really mix. She still looks adorable, though :)

And here are a couple of cute 4th of July tutorials I found after I made this. I've got these ideas bookmarked for next year.

A Patriotic Pillowcase Dress by Aesthetic Nest

4th of July Shirts by Make It and Love It

Cloth Diapering: If I Knew Then What I Know Now

2010-06-30T16:10:00.000-04:00

I decided I wanted to use cloth diapers sometime during my pregnancy. At the time, I didn't know anyone else who did, so I had no one to turn to for advice. But I had a supportive husband and mother and the internet, so I did some research and hoped for the best.

Sometimes I wonder, if I had it to do all over again, what would I do differently? What advice do I have to give to those just starting out?

- Try a variety of diapers
I got lucky that BumGenius 3.0s really fit my daughter well, since we bought 20. I realized much later that one diaper doesn't always work for every baby, so this could have been a huge mistake. On the other hand, having only one or two types of diapers makes matching and stuffing diapers really easy.

The diapers I use most, though, are birdseye flats. We could have gotten away with buying fewer pocket diapers if I had tried these first. This could have saved us quite a bit of money...

There are cloth diaper trials available from several retailers. I really wish I had known about these before K was born. It's a great way to try out a bunch of different diapers without spending a lot money.

- Don't be afraid of cloth diapering in public
Cloth diapering when you're away from home is easy. You just need a few things to make it work.

The first, is a small wetbag. I love the FuzziBunz zippered tote. It can easily hold a day's worth of diapers and makes diaper changes in public so much easier.

Second, an empty travel-sized disposable wipes case. They're big enough to hold 6 or so wet cloth wipes. I tried keeping dry wipes and a spray bottle in my diaper bag, but wetting them before you leave the house is a lot simpler in my opinion.

The only complaint I have about using cloth diapers when I go out is that they do take up a lot of room in my diaper bag. I have learned that if I'm going to be out for more than a couple of hours, it's easier to put 1-2 diapers in the diaper bag and put extras in a separate bag in the car.

- Buy good quality wet bags
The first wet bags I bought were two small, very cheap wetbags (Rainforest Babies). They lasted less than 3 months before they started falling apart. Now I have two large and two small Natural Baby Co wet bags and have absolutely no complaints. After 9 months of constant use, they are still in perfect condition.

- Choose snaps
I mostly bought diapers with aplix (velcro) because I wanted something easy. I wanted my husband, who had never changed a diaper before, to be comfortable with cloth diapering. They are definitely nice to have when you're sleep deprived and changing diapers every two hours in the middle of the night. But honestly, snaps aren't difficult. It takes only one diaper change to figure out what snap setting your baby is currently on, and after that it's a breeze. Snapping diapers hold up better and last longer than aplix, and are harder for toddlers to take off (I haven't had any personal experience with the last part yet, but I think most babies go through that streaking stage at some point).

We are 9 months into cloth diapering. What are my current favs?

- Birdseye flats with covers
I was a die hard Thirsties Duo Wraps fan until recently. They were the only thing that truly fit K at first because of her skinny twig legs. I still like and use them, but right now my favorite is the Booroi (side snapping) cover.

4 weeks, around 9 pounds

4 months, 13 pounds

- BumGenius One Size 3.0 pocket diapers
These fit K the best, hands down. I love the suedecloth inner because it doesn't get pilly like fleece. At 9 months, they still fit my long-waisted girl on the smallest setting, so I really think they'll last us through potty training. I stuff these with the one size insert and a Knickernappies SuperDo for nighttime and we never have any leaks. My only complaint is that I wish they were snaps, since I'm starting to see signs of wear on the aplix. But there are 3 solutions to this problem: BumGenius just announced a 4.0 version with snaps, there are lots of good tutorials on converting 3.0s to snaps, and the refresher kits that you can buy from Cotton Babies have the new and improved aplix from the 4.0.

5 weeks, somewhere between 9 and 10 pounds

6 months, 15 pounds

- FuzziBunz sized pocket diapers
These were my first cloth diaper purchase. I bought two second-quality size smalls from a FuzziBunz store and hated them at first. They are supposed to fit from 7-18 pounds, but K couldn't wear them for a couple of months or so because of her skinny legs (they don't have adjustable leg elastic like the one size diapers do). However, she's just a few ounces shy of 18 pounds now and still has plenty of room to grow in these.

size small FuzziBunz on the left, old-style one size on the right, and worthless wet bag underneath

- Smartipants sleeve/pocket diapers
These are fabulous. K is still on the smallest setting for rise and waist, so I wouldn't recommend them for smaller babies. I'd like to see them in bright colors or prints, but I absolutely love the fit. They're also much cheaper than other pocket diapers, especially considering that they have snaps. They normally run anywhere from $13-15, but I managed to snag mine on clearance for only $10!

both 8 months, around 17 pounds

I'd love to hear what you think! Do you have anything you would do differently or any favorite diapers? Or if you don't use cloth diapers, I'd be happy to answer your questions :)

I'm linking up with Mindy from The Inquisitive Mom. Go check out her "If I Knew Then What I Know Now" post for her cloth diapering tips and recommendations.

I'm Back!

2010-06-29T22:21:00.000-04:00

I've been gone for what seems like forever! Blogger has spam bots that search for spam blogs and flag and temporarily delete them. For some reason, it marked my blog as a spam blog. A couple of "restore" requests and a couple of weeks later, I finally have my blog back!

Since I've been gone, K has learned to army crawl and is into everything. We are baby-proofing like mad.

We went on vacation to the beach and K had the time of her life. She was born to be a beach baby. Here's a few of the hundreds of picture we took (no exaggeration).

Love

2010-06-08T22:57:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I look at K and, honestly, she takes my breath away. I stare at her in amazement and wonder how my husband and I made someone so beautiful. So perfect. I love her so fiercely that I could never put it into words, yet any parent reading this knows exactly what I mean.

There are days I wonder if I'll make it til bedtime with my sanity still in tact. Yet all of it is erased by sweet, simple moments. Moments like watching K belly crawl for the first time yesterday. Or when she holds my hand while she's nursing. And when she flashes me one of her gorgeous smiles or laughs at something silly.

One thing's for sure. When I rock my girl to sleep at night and she buries her face in my neck and hugs me close, I can't help but smile. Smile and breathe in her sweet baby smell and thank God that she's mine.

Wordless Wednesday: Laughter

2010-06-02T22:06:00.000-04:00

I love moments like this. I love her laugh. I knew the picture quality wouldn't be great since the room was dark, but I wanted to capture it anyway.

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

Happy Memorial Day

2010-05-31T21:46:00.000-04:00

The past few days, the Pioneer Woman has been posting pictures from her latest photography challenge titled "Coming Home." Some have been happy, others sad, but all very touching. It really made me think about the sacrifice that our troops and their families make on our behalf. I can't imagine what it's like to put your life in danger every day or to constantly worry about your loved one and whether they'll come home alive. How awful must it be to go months at a time without seeing your children? your family? God bless them. Thank you to those who serve our country!

And because I couldn't possibly let this holiday pass by without a special outfit, here are a some pictures of K looking adorable and patriotic.

Happy Memorial Day!

Hubby's Birthday

2010-05-27T14:40:00.001-04:00

I made a video of K singing "Happy Birthday" to send to my husband at work on his birthday. He proclaimed it his best birthday present ever :)

I also made him a cake replica of Mjolnir, Thor's hammer. I made it out of two 9x13 chocolate cakes and a homemade peanut butter frosting.

I cut one cake in half and stacked and carved it to make the head of the hammer. For the handle, I just cut a single strip from the other cake. I laid the two together and covered the whole thing with gray-colored fondant (marshmallow fondant with a little bit of black food coloring). I used a fondant marker for the writing.

I cut pre-made brown fondant (leftover from the pack we bought for the Ghostbusters Cake) into strips to "wrap" around the handle. I used a long strip to fashion a "wrist strap" or whatever it's called. Wrist strap sounds kind of girly...I'm sure there's a more appropriate name for it. Feel free to enlighten me.

Happy Birthday, Hun!

Wordless Wednesday: Impromptu Bath

2010-05-26T22:23:00.000-04:00

*This outfit may look ruined, but BioKleen, Charlie's Soap, and the sun work well together at removing stains :)

Baby Pants Refashion

2010-05-25T12:40:00.000-04:00

My mother-in-law found these adorable pants for K at a yard sale.

But she didn't really need pants since it's hot outside now (insert my excitement over an excuse to make something new with them). Using a pair of K's shorts as a guide, I turned the cute red pants into shorts...

and used the leftover fabric to make a Minnie Mouse shirt!

My child is such a ham. Can you tell she likes modeling new clothes?

8 Months

2010-05-24T22:49:00.001-04:00

K turned 8 months old yesterday. It's so hard to believe how fast 8 months has gone by.

This past month, she has learned how to:
- Say "Mama" (her first word!!) and "Dada"
- Go from sitting to laying on her belly without busting her head
- Turn in circles on her belly
- Clap her hands...the most adorable thing ever!
- Eat solids! A couple of weeks ago, I tried them again on a whim and she's been eating like a champ ever since, especially if pears are involved.
- Give hugs and kisses. Baby hugs and kisses are the absolute best.

I love how excited she gets when my husband comes home from work every day. Her arm-waving, leg-kicking, laughing, and smiling is priceless. She can't wipe the ear-to-ear grin off her face for at least 10 minutes (neither can he). I can't get over how much she's grown and changed lately. She's at such a fun age and I'm so thankful that I'm able to stay home with her and soak up every wonderful moment.

Wordless Wednesday: Overalls

2010-05-19T18:40:00.000-04:00

Baby overalls are so stinkin' cute! The baby is even cuter :)

No-Sew Fleece Blanket and Ghostbusters Cake

2010-05-17T22:04:00.000-04:00

My baby sister turned 16 yesterday. Someone please tell me how in the world she's 16 already?!

I made her this easy, no-sew fleece blanket to take along with her on her church trips this summer. Since she'll mostly be using as a lap blanket in the church van, I only used 1.5 yards and it ended up almost square. K helped, of course.

She asked for a Ghostbusters cake, so hubby and I teamed up to make her an awesome cake. This was my first experience decorating a cake with fondant. It was really, really messy. At one point, I was afraid moving was going to be the only solution to ever having a clean kitchen again.

My husband drew the Ghostbusters symbol with icing markers/writers. I have zero artistic ability, so needless to say this would not have turned out nearly as good if it wasn't for him.

Meanwhile, I cut rectangles out of premade black fondant to create a skyline around the sides of the cake.

Who ya gonna call?

Wordless Wednesday: Laundry Helper

2010-05-12T22:29:00.000-04:00

Helping Mama take cloth diapers off the clothesline

What I've Been Working On

2010-05-11T12:53:00.001-04:00

Here are a few of my projects from last week.

The first is a Batgirl bib, since K is already outgrowing the Batman onesie I made. I bought a snap fastener tool (yay!) and used a snap instead of velcro. I have really grown to hate velcro bibs, as they always come undone in the washing machine and stick to my other laundry.

Second, my Granny gave me a ton of fabric that she didn't want/need anymore. Some of it was some awful 80s/early 90s stuff that I'm not sure I'll ever use, but there were some cute prints as well. And then there was this:

This is a very silky fabric. Perfect for a baby evening gown, according to my dad. But I thought it'd be perfect for a fun fish applique shirt.

Third, a reusable swiffer duster cloth, thanks to an awesome tutorial over at Sew Much Ado. I made one with flannel, like she suggests, and one out of an old t-shirt, just to see if it would work. The knit one didn't really pick up anything, so flannel is definitely the way to go. Just be sure that when you're tracing the duster (making your sewing lines), that you trace really close to it. I traced mine too far away and the duster cloth slips off the handle occasionally.

I skipped dusting a couple of weeks so I could really put this baby to the test (all in the name of research, of course) and was pleasantly surprised at how well it worked. I don't think it works quite as well as the disposable ones, but it gets the job done and is a great money saver.

And lastly, K's first art project. Mother's Day cards. I bought blank cards at JoAnns and put her sweet little hand prints on the front using a stamp ink pad. I just love how they turned out!

I'm finishing up some baby and birthday gifts this week and I'll share pictures when I'm done. My sister's 16th birthday is this weekend and she has asked me to make a Ghostbusters cake. I've decorated several cakes in the past few years, but this will be my first attempt at using fondant. I'm a little nervous, but very excited for the challenge.

Oh, and I just had a fabulous idea for my husband's birthday cake later this month. I'd tell you, but he reads my blog. Or at least, he says he does. The funny thing is, every year I spend hours working on an awesome cake for his birthday and he never eats it. He doesn't really like cake. But he always asks for one and they're fun to make, so I do it anyway. Love makes you do crazy things.

Happy Mother's Day!

2010-05-09T21:07:00.000-04:00

I'm so thankful for this gorgeous girl and her beautiful smile. I'm so blessed to be her Mama.

And for my Mama, who's fierce, undying love for me I never truly understood until I became a mother myself. She is my best friend and my biggest fan and I love her dearly.

I had a great day celebrating my first Mother's Day. K let me sleep til 8, I got to spend time with my Mama (and the rest of my family), and my husband cooked me dinner! Maybe Mother's Day should come more than once a year...

Happy Mother's Day to all you Mamas out there. I hope you had a wonderful day!

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Girl

2010-05-05T11:29:00.000-04:00

I like this Happy shirt picture much better than the last one!

On a side note, my husband moved a lot of stuff into his new "man cave" in the basement, so I've been reorganizing our laundry room and turning it mainly into my sewing room! I'm a total geek and love organizing, so this has been a long, but fun, process. I've also been working on a few small projects and plan to post some pictures soon. Lately, I've been really overwhelmed with ideas and inspiration...I just need my house to stay clean (and my family to stay well) so I can sew more.

Happy Wednesday!

-- Sent from my Palm Pre

5 Generations

2010-04-28T21:26:00.000-04:00

This past weekend we were lucky enough to celebrate my great-grandmother's 90th birthday. K is her first great-great-grandchild and they share the same middle name (K was actually named after 3 of her great-great-grandmothers and 3 great-grandmothers), so needless to say, Grandma thinks K is pretty special. Here are a few (weirdly shadowed) pictures of the two of them taken at her party.

And just for fun, here are a couple of the 5 generations pictures we took when K was 7 weeks old.

Look how much K has changed! There's a big difference between 7 weeks and 7 months, huh?

Wordless Wednesday: Monkey Feet

2010-04-28T16:43:00.000-04:00

K likes to use her feet as an extra set of hands...

Wordless Wednesday: Oxymoron

2010-04-21T20:49:00.000-04:00

Great Deal on Wool Longies!

2010-04-20T13:59:00.000-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I read this post by Suburban Saving Mama about 100% cashmere wool pants for only $12.99 (reg. $65!), plus a code for free shipping, from Lands' End. I washed and lanolized the smaller pair I got and K has been wearing them at night over her BumGenius for backup leak protection and I let her wear them yesterday over a fitted. They are a 12 months size, so they're still really huge on her, but I wanted her to be able to wear them for awhile.

This is the first pair of longies I've ever bought, so I'm not sure how they compare to other brands, but you certainly can't beat the price! They still have some on their website, too, if you want them!

Batman! And a Two-Tier Ruffly Skirt

2010-04-19T10:33:00.001-04:00

In keeping with my husband's love of comic book related shirts and my love for making K cute little ruffly skirts, I whipped up this outfit.

I made the Batman logo using heat-n-bond and t-shirt scraps, then stitched it to the onesie around the edges for extra security.

The skirt is a two-tier ruffly (I'm pretty sure this is a made up word, but I'm going with it) skirt made from an old t-shirt. I'm now obsessed with making knit skirts this way...who doesn't like free material?? I got the idea for it after seeing a two-tier skirt at Wal-Mart.

Instead of hemming, I used a tight zig-zag stitch while stretching the fabric to make it even rufflier (Again, I'm sorry...I blame it on my husband who loves to make up words when we're playing Scrabble. It's contagious.) I didn't like the proportions on my first try, so I fiddled with it. I ended up getting the look I wanted, but I also ended up with a mini skirt...

Good thing she's got the legs to pull it off ;)

Photo Frame Refashion

2010-04-17T22:35:00.000-04:00

3 of my favorite pictures from K's 6 month photo shoot were close-up, black and white pictures. I really wanted a nice way to display these together, but didn't want to spend a fortune on frames. Then I remembered three 10x10 black frames I had from my college apartment, each with 4 picture openings.

So I went to work with my x-acto knife and quilting ruler and cut the inside matting off, leaving me with a perfect 8x8 mat. I used GIMP to make the pictures an 8x8 size, printed them, put them in the frames, and voila!

I hung them on the only open wall in my kitchen. I'm embarrassed to say that we've been living in our house for over a year and I've never bothered to decorate it. But I'm really happy with this. It's an instant mood-brightener :)

See those crooked pipes? That's what you get when you live in a 96 year old house. It makes up for those quirky things with loads of charm, though.

Tips for Making Rice Cereal

2010-04-14T22:25:00.000-04:00

I finally figured out how to make smooth, pureed rice cereal! The first time I made it, it was clumpy and really gross, but I was determined to try one more time. Here's what worked for me:

1. Ground rice in blender in 1/2 to 1 cup increments. It takes a couple of minutes, but make sure it turns into a fine powder.
2. Break out your rice maker and cook your rice powder according to the rice maker's instructions.
3. Place cooked rice (mine was a huge solid chunk and looked like really lumpy mashed potatoes) back into your blender. Add water or breastmilk/formula and blend until smooth. I left mine pretty thick and plan to just thin it out with a little milk or fruit when she's ready to eat it.

Anyone have any other helpful tips for making baby food?

Upcycled Knit Skirt

2010-04-12T22:22:00.002-04:00

Remember this skirt I made for my niece's 2nd birthday? Well, I finally got around to making one for K.

My mom bought K a Spiderman onesie since my husband loves superheroes and comic books and such. And K really does get excited every time she sees this shirt, oddly enough. She's definitely her Daddy's girl :)

Anyway, she obviously needed a matching skirt to dress up that boyish shirt. Obviously. So, since I'm totally in love with upcycling, I made her one using one of my husband's old t-shirts.

The shirt was an XL and measured approximately 25 inches across. I cut a 4" x 24" piece for the top tier and two 6.5" x 24" pieces for the bottom tier. This work perfectly to make a 6-9 months sized skirt that measured 8 inches in length when finished. To save time, I cut the bottom tier pieces along the hem of the shirt so that I wouldn't have to hem it.

The t-shirt material was so easy to work with and made a great fitting, comfy skirt...and it was free!

Wordless Wednesday: 6 month photo shoot

2010-04-07T10:54:00.000-04:00

A few of K's 6 month/Easter pictures taken by our very talented friend, Debbie.

Pictures with a stuffed bunny since the real one was afraid of her...

I love her crazy hair in this one.

This might be the only time she's ever looked like her Daddy...

She's bad about closing her eyes when you take her picture, but it made for a cute picture this time.

LOVE these black & white close-up shots. She captured those sweet baby details.

A few other favorites:

Fabric Easter Egg Tutorial

2010-04-05T21:30:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure if anyone else was aware of this, but they don't sell baby-friendly Easter eggs. All of the Easter eggs I found said 3+, which seems a little ridiculous, but whatever. So, in a last minute effort to fill my daughter's Easter basket (and after seeing this cute idea for an Easter shirt), I came up with fabric Easter eggs. Basically just 2D Easter egg-shaped softies that K* could safely chew on.

This is a great project for using up your fabric, ribbon, rick-rack, and other sewing scraps. Easy, quick, cheap, and fun!

Start by copying this Easter egg coloring page, pasting it into a Word document, and scaling it down to the size you want. Then, using your egg pattern, cut two out of your fabric. If you want to add decoration (ribbon, rick-rack, etc), pin it to the right side of your fabric and sew it on.

Pin the 2 pieces together, right sides facing and sew together, leaving about a 1 inch opening.

Trim down your seam allowance (see picture below) or clip your corners/rounded edges (no picture of this, sorry!). I did this both ways and found that clipping edges every 1/2 inch or so made the eggs look better.

Turn right side out and stuff. I used the end of my seam ripper to help stuff the egg.

To close the hole, I loosely followed this tutorial. By my last egg, I finally got the hang of it and the closure was pretty much unnoticeable!

They're perfect for little hands...and mouths!

* In previous posts, I've been referring to my daughter as Monkey, which was inspired by her deep love for monkeys. Seriously, the child gets crazy excited when she sees one. But it's getting a little confusing since we don't actually ever call her that, so I'm going to just start calling her "K" and avoid naming any future children with a name that starts with a K.

Kiddie Pool Love

2010-04-02T22:06:00.000-04:00

Monkey got to play in her new kiddie pool for the first time today and she loved it!

She got to wear my old bathing suit. There's just something cool about that.

Don't let these innocent, sitting still pictures fool you...she learned pretty quickly how to splash and get me and everything else around us soaking wet :-)

Feeding Troubles

2010-03-29T20:49:00.000-04:00

Monkey is really not digging solid foods at all. We've tried avocado, rice cereal, carrots, and apples and she hasn't liked any of them. She seems interested in food, but she doesn't want it in her mouth (which is weird to me, seeing as how she puts EVERYTHING in her mouth these days).

I'm not sure where to go from here. Do I assume she's just not ready and give up for a week or two? Do I try feeding her more frequently during the day? Do I just keep trying new foods and hope that we eventually find one she likes?

Your thoughts?

Buffalo Chicken Pizza

2010-03-23T14:36:00.002-04:00

As I've mentioned before, one of my goals for this year was to try a new recipe every week. I was in a cooking rut and tired of eating the same few dishes over and over again, so this seemed like a good idea. I'm really enjoying this so far!

This week's new recipe was Buffalo Chicken Pizza. I made this up as I went along since every recipe I found for it contained onions (blech!).

I used this pizza crust recipe* and this sauce recipe (both "new recipe of the week" at some point this year).

How-to:

Cut up about 3/4 lb of chicken into small pieces. Cook over medium-high heat in a little olive oil until cooked through.

Meanwhile, melt 1/4 cup butter over medium-low heat. One melted, added a shake or two of garlic powder and black pepper and a 1/4 cup hot sauce. Stir until well blended. Add cooked chicken and toss to coat.

Spread/roll/toss your pizza dough onto your pan. Sprinkle the dough with hot sauce and spread it out with a spoon (I probably used about 1 tsp, but you could use more or less depending on how spicy you want it to be). Now spread your pizza sauce over the crust.

Top with chicken and any extra wing sauce in the saucepan. I also added chopped pineapple to ours, but my husband also thought it would be good without the pineapple and served with ranch dipping sauce. Top with cheese and bake at 425 degrees for about 25-30 minutes.

It was really, really good! I'll definitely be making this again.

*Note: the pizza crust recipe makes 2 large pizzas - we just put basic toppings on the other one.

My First Swim Diaper!

2010-03-23T11:53:00.003-04:00

I've been wanting to try my hand at diaper sewing for awhile now. I'm not sure what took me so long...it only took about an hour and a half, including drawing my pattern and sewing it! It's far from perfect, as I knew it would be. But I made it entirely from materials I had on hand so I wouldn't feel bad when it didn't turn out pretty.

I used instructions for drafting my pattern found here. And roughly went by the diaper sewing instructions here. Since I was making a swim diaper I only used 2 layers of fabric and didn't use a soaker/insert.

I used an old poncho for my outer, waterproof fabric and fleece for my inner fabric. Next time I will use mesh on the inside, but I didn't want to waste it on a practice run. The poncho material worked surprisingly well, although I'm not sure that it would be sturdy enough to use with snaps. I also used 1/4 inch elastic and 3/4 inch velcro.

Blue outer layer, red inner layer

Taken right before turning right side out: 1/4 in elastic sew into the seam allowance

Taken after turning: top-stitching around the edges

Despite the cosmetic flaws, it fit her pretty well.

Check out that belly!

Things I want to do differently on the next one:

Use mesh as my inner fabric so it will dry quicker. I would also like to try other, more lightweight materials (I'm curious how an old t-shirt would work).
Make my tabs square and put velcro all the way to the end of the tab.
Make my top-stitching closer to the edge on places where there is no elastic.
Use a bigger seam allowance (I used 1/4 in) so that my open edges (from turning) will get caught in the top-stitching and will look nicer.

I hoping to have time to try a second one tonight. I'm excited to see how making these changes will play out. I think I found my new addiction...

Happy Spring!

2010-03-20T21:45:00.002-04:00

Today was the first day of spring. It was 70 and sunny, and one of the best days I've had in a long time.

My parents and sister came up to spend the day with us. While my dad and husband worked on our basement (his new "mancave"), my mom, sister, and I took Monkey on her first trip to the park.

We played in the grass.

We watched the ducks.

And we let Monkey swing on the swings for the first time.

She had a blast! My parents are getting her a swing for Easter and I can't wait. She's going to love it!

I'm so glad that spring is finally here. I'm looking forward to spending more time playing outside with my girl :)

Handmade Birthday Present

2010-03-17T17:08:00.000-04:00

My niece turned 2 last week. For her birthday, I made her a girly twirly skirt and a matching kitty applique shirt and purse.

She LOVES cats (aka "meow meows"), so when I saw the kitty shirt tutorial on Deanna's blog awhile back, I knew I had to make one for her. If I had it to do over again, I would have made the mouth a little bigger and with a darker embroidery thread, so that it would show up better from a distance. Here's a close up:

I followed Deanna's skirt pattern exactly, using the measurements she had listed for her 2 year old daughter. It turned out to be a little too big right now, but it should fit her really well this summer. I also used Deanna's rick rack hem tutorial for the bottom of the skirt.

For the purse, I loosely followed this tutorial. Some changes I made:

I didn't use interfacing, since I didn't have any. It turned out fine without it.
I didn't use ribbon for decoration or the strap.
For the strap, I cut 20 in x 3 in strip of fabric. I folded it lengthwise with the right sides facing and sewed along the long edge. Then I used a safety pin to turn it right side out and ironed it flat.

By the way, are you wondering what a 2 year old puts in her purse? Sippy cups and pacis :)

First Attempt at Solids

2010-03-17T14:48:00.002-04:00

We gave Monkey her first taste of solid food this weekend - avocado. The pictures speak for themselves.

The "before" picture

"Eww, Daddy!"

Second try.

Look at that face!

By the second day, she wouldn't even put a clean spoon near her mouth. Instead of torturing her, we decided to quit avocado for now and revisit it some other time.

Last night I gave her rice cereal. It was really easy to make. Simply put about a cup of rice at a time in your blender (note: I first tried to put the entire bag into my food processor and it didn't work) and blend until you have a fine powder. I went ahead and did the whole bag and stored it in a container for later use.

To cook it, boil 1 cup of water in a small pot. Mix in 1/4 cup rice powder with a whisk. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring constantly. Once it was done cooking, I thinned it with breast milk. I used about 2.5 oz, but it was really runny. You can store it in the refrigerator for 72 hours so that you don't have to cook it every day. The original recipe/information is here.

Monkey wasn't crazy about the rice cereal either, but she did tolerate it better than avocado.

I'm not sure what's going through her mind in this picture...

Next week we'll start getting into the fun stuff like peas and carrots. I hope those go over better!

Make Your Own Moby Wrap Tutorial

2010-03-12T16:55:00.001-05:00

I love babywearing. Love, love, LOVE.

I borrowed my sister-in-law's Baby Bjorn and used it for the first time when Monkey was 3 weeks old. She was asleep within seconds. Sleep. Something she hadn't done without great effort on my part since she was born. That's when I fell in love with babywearing and we've used a carrier every day since then.

But by the time she hit about 12 pounds, the Baby Bjorn was killing my back. I loved the idea of the Moby Wrap, but I hesitated to spend $40 on a piece of fabric that I wasn't sure I'd even like. So I decided to make my own. It's simple and much cheaper than buying one...you can get TWO wraps for about $20 (or less)!

*Note: this is my first attempt at a tutorial, so if anything doesn't make sense, please feel free to ask questions.

Here's what you need:
5-6 yards of cotton gauze (I'm short and can get away with 5 yards. The one I'm making in this tutorial is for a taller friend, so I bought 6 yards just in case. JoAnns sells this for $5.99 a yard. If you get on their email or mailing list, they send out a lot of coupons and you can get it for 40-50% off!)
Scissors
Thread
Sewing Machine or serger

How to do it:
First, wash your fabric (I always pre-wash). Then, fold material in half lengthwise.

Cut along the fold so that you have 2 pieces of fabric, each roughly 20 inches x 6 yards (or however long you chose to make yours). You could use a quilting ruler and rotary cutter here, but it doesn't need to be perfect. Cotton gauze is a "wrinkly" fabric and once it's finished, imperfections really won't show. And they definitely won't show once you're wearing it.

Trim off the rough edges.

Now it's time to sew the edges to minimize fraying. I don't have a serger, so I used a simple zig-zag stitch around all four sides of one piece of fabric. I think that serging would probably look nicer, so if you have one, go for it. Repeat with the other piece.

You're done! You can find the instructions for how to wrap it here. Keep the second one handy for when your baby spits up on the first or give it to a friend. If you're making this as a gift, don't forget to print out the instructions or give them the link.

Please ignore my dirty bathroom mirror. Monkey's new favorite game is to rub her slobbery hands on it :)

Happy Babywearing!

Starting Solids

2010-03-12T13:59:00.001-05:00

We have decided that Monkey is ready for solid foods! The past couple of weeks she's been waking up during the night to nurse (something she stopped doing around 6 weeks old) and she's been showing a lot of interest in our food. Sometime in the past few days she's also lost the tongue-thrust reflex, so I'm pretty sure she's ready now.

I'm a little scared and excited all at once! We're going to install our diaper sprayer this weekend and give Monkey her first taste of food Saturday night.

I'm going to cook all of her food. It will save us a lot of money and I like knowing exactly what's going into my kid's body. I've been doing a lot of research to get ready for this, mostly from these sources:
Top 100 Baby Purees by Annabel Karmel
http://www.wholesomebabyfood.com/index.htm
http://www.feedinglittlefoodies.com/

There's a lot to consider, like making sure they get enough iron (their iron stores are pretty much run out by 6 months), avoiding high allergy risk foods, avoiding salt (a baby's kidneys are too immature to handle it), and pairing foods containing fat-soluble vitamins (A,D,E,K) with a little fat to get the maximum vitamin absorption. There are different ideas on the best way to present food to your baby (pureed vs small chunks), how long to wait between introducing a new food (anywhere from 3 to 7 days), and what food to introduce first. It can be a little overwhelming!

I've decided to just do what feels right. All babies are different and I want this to be a pleasant experience for us. So we're starting with avocado and following her cues from there. I can't wait to see what she thinks of it!

Fluff the Bum Event!

2010-03-11T14:07:00.001-05:00

The Eco-Chic Mom is having a "Fluff the Bum Event" during the month of April! She has participating giveaway sponsors listed on the top right sidebar on her blog. It looks like a really great event. For more information, go here or click on the event button in my sidebar.

I Love...

2010-03-11T11:53:00.000-05:00

I love the way you smile at me in the morning.

I love how you sign "milk" to me when you're hungry. The hungrier you are, the faster you sign :)

I love how excited you get when you see a monkey.

I love your sweet little laugh. I can't help but laugh right along with you.

I love seeing you play with your Daddy.

I love watching you learn new things, like rolling over, sitting up, and (panic!) trying to crawl.

I love seeing you wiggle and grin with excitement when it's time for your bath at night.

I love nursing you before bedtime. You smell so yummy from your bath and when you're done you love to cuddle against my chest and rock. Some nights I have a hard time putting you down.

I love watching you sleep in your "papoose." I'm so proud of you for learning to sign it already. You're such a smart girl!

Most of all, I love being your mama. You bring me more joy than you'll ever know.

Wordless Wednesday

2010-03-10T15:34:00.000-05:00

Learning to sit up

Pumpkin Muffins

2010-03-09T21:40:00.002-05:00

One of my New Year's Resolutions was to try out a new recipe every week. This has been the longest I've kept to a resolution yet...and it's a lot more fun than, say, a resolution to lose weight.

Last night, we had breakfast for dinner (yum!), so I tried a new recipe for pumpkin muffins. I tweaked it a bit, but you can find the original recipe here.

Addictive Pumpkin Muffins (revised)

3/4 cup raisins
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cups and 1 tablespoon whole wheat flour
1/2 cups white sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
3 eggs
1/2 (29 ounce) can pumpkin
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 C). Grease 18 muffin cups. Soak raisins in hot water for ten minutes to plump, then drain.

In a large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ground cloves. In a separate bowl, mix the eggs, pumpkin, and applesauce, until smooth. Add this mixture to the dry ingredients and stir thoroughly to make a smooth batter. Stir the raisins and walnuts into the batter. Spoon batter into the prepared muffin cups.

Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Be sure not to bake too long. The first pan I made cooked about 5 minutes too long (35 minutes total) and they were not as good as the second pan. I had these leftover for breakfast this morning and they were still very good. I even froze a few to see how they taste thawed and reheated. I'll let you know how that turns out.

Upcycled Valentine's Day Dress

2010-03-05T23:13:00.001-05:00

Last spring, I found these adorable red Valentine's Day tights on clearance at Old Navy for less than a dollar. I had just found out we were having a girl, so of course I had to buy them! Fast forward to Valentine's Day this year and my daughter had tights and a hat, but no dress. I hated to spend money on something she would wear only once, so I decided to give upcycling a try. There are several blogs out there with wonderful tutorials and ideas about using old clothes to make new ones, so this was certainly not an original idea.

I used one of her dresses as a pattern and one of my old shirts as material. I saved a lot of time by using the shirt's hemlines as the bottom of the dress and sleeves. I cut a heart out of red fleece I had on hand and stitched it onto the front of the dress. It's certainly not perfect...I had a lot of trouble with the sleeves and the neckline was a little off, but overall I was very pleased with how it turned out. And it doesn't hurt that she looks adorable wearing it!

Getting Started!

2010-03-05T21:35:00.000-05:00

Hi! I'm Kayla, wife to an amazing husband and mother to a sweet 5 month old girl. I've wanted to start blogging since my daughter was born and I'm finally getting around to it! I plan to write about my crafty projects, cooking, saving money, cloth diapering, and my day-to-day life. Thanks for stopping by!