Fun with Thad

Losing my job was definitely a blessing in disguise. Not the circumstances I would have chosen, but clearly the right thing for me. Slightly stressful for the sake of the ol’ finances, but nothing that we are too strapped for at the moment. Since I am no longer working, I get to spend lots of time with Thad, which has been so awesome. If I could choose anything for my life, staying home with kids would definitely be my choice. However, my 22 year old self decided to go to (very expensive) Optometry school, which requires me to work, if for no other reason than to pay off my loans. And that’s fine, but I intend to take every advantage of my prolonged time off these next couple of months, and then we will see where God takes us when it’s time to go back to work.

In the meantime, Thad and I are having fun together, and will have EVEN MORE FUN when Thatcher gets here. Obviously I have always loved my child dearly, but he keeps getting to be more and more fun as he gets older. The more he can communicate with me, the more confidence I have that I am doing things correctly with him, and am able to make him happy. I am always looking for fun things for us to do together. Pintrest has been an awesome source of projects, activities and learning ideas. More than we could ever find time for. And of course, we always come up with our own things to do depending on the day and the mood.

One of the things that I really like the idea of are Sensory Bins. Bins of various materials that you use for sensory and motor skills. I originally got the idea from this blog:

http://domesticsimplicity.com/2010/03/30/playingwithbeansandric/

Making colored rice has been on my to-do list for a long time. I finally did it a few weeks ago, and made a ridiculous amount of colored rice. Which has caused one disaster after another! First disaster was Thad pulling the bin off the shelf, and it’s entire contents spilling onto the floor (like, about 3 gallons of rice). I keep trying to get him to play in the bin with measuring cups, funnels, teaspoons and bowl, which seems like a grand time to me, but he will NOT keep the mess contained. We have tried the bin on the floor with a sheet under it, at the kitchen counter, at the table, the rice in the big bin, the rice in a smaller container on a cookie sheet. EVERY time, he dumps the rice on the floor, even though I tell him where the rice needs to be kept. And I guarantee he knows and understands what I am telling him. The little turkey will just not listen to me.

Oh, yeah, that looks like good fun, yes? How about a wider angle view….

And let me tell you, there was a lot more on the floor. It’s great fun to get down on your hands and knees while 9 months pregnant and sweep up hundreds of little pieces of rice. Great fun. These pictures are from our most recent rice endeavor. There will be no more pictures of rice for a while. At least not until his listening and obeying skills improve. In the mean time, I’m just going to keep him packed away where he can’t make any trouble.

That ought to hold him for a while…..

D-Day

It is coming. And I will be prepared. I am packing my hospital bag. While having a panic attack. I was induced with Thad, 5 days after my due date, so I had some idea on the timing. This go round, it could happen any time. Like in 3 minutes or 3 weeks. Frightening. So, with 3 weeks to go, I am getting ready for the unknown. The bedroom is fully stocked and ready to go. As of today, we are ready to walk out the door and have a baby. Theoretically.

I really couldn’t even say what I packed for Thad. I don’t remember packing a hospital bag last time. I have no idea what I brought. But, I have some idea what is necessary for an infant at this point, and am taking the following:

1. Jammies

2. 2-piece outfit

3. Hat

4. Size 0 diapers

5. Burp rags

6. One of my favorite Aden and Anais swaddling blankets

7. Snuggly blanket

Is that enough? Who knows, but that’s what I am going with.

I have stuff packed for myself as well. Less cute, no picture necessary. Gross things like pads, flushable wipes, nursing bra, my OWN underwear (no thanks, weird meshy hospital underwear). The things I am taking are a scary reminder of how gory childbirth is. But I would rather use my own gore clean up materials than what’s provided (and charged for, I’m sure) by the hospital.

Icing on the Cake

Well I thought I was done with the nursery. That was until my friend came by and brought me lunch and a baby gift. When I first decided to do owl’s in Thatcher’s room, I searched for different owl things online. I found this SUPER cute owl sheet. However, being my cheap self (FRUGAL!), there was no way I was going to buy a $36 sheet. But, my friend, being the sweet and thoughtful person that she is, decided to spoil me!

Seriously, how cute. Here is a close up of the fabric:

Fits right in with the décor. Looks pretty perfect!

Waiting impatiently for the arrival for the child to go in the crib. Especially now that a few little stretch marks have popped up. What the heck??? I didn’t get any with Thad, and it’s a bit concerning since I still have over 3 weeks to go. Not that I expect an awesome looking stomach after this, but stretch marks, no thanks!

From Hiatus to Baby Room

My blog has been long-neglected due to technical difficulties. Computer dying, backup laptop dying, Justin fixing laptop, Dad fixing computer, computer dying for real, and finally, new computer purchased. And here we are.

So, Christmas has yet to be documented, but I thought I would do things backwards and start my catch-up with the nursery changes. Thatcher Reid is expected in the next 6 weeks, and goodness knows, he demands a nursery with updated decorations from when it belonged to his big brother. (Who has already been moved to his “big boy” room, more on that later). I had mentioned the owl idea in a previous posting, and I think that the whole thing turned out really well. Lots of colors and variety.

One of my goals for the room was to have a lot to look at. In my experience with Thad, I spent a LOT of time in the nursery. Usually planted in front of his crib, him swaddled, with static blaring on the radio, jiggling him to sleep. Often this was a 30-45 minute process before he would finally calm down and fall asleep. In the meantime, I would stare at the wall, willing my child to sleep. Eventually, I taped some printed-out Bible verses to the wall so I would have something to read. Needless to say, those verses are so committed to memory that I don’t think I could forget them if I tried.

This time, I wanted to be better prepared with a more visually appealing room, with lots to look at. Not for his sake necessarily, but for my sanity. That’s worth something, right? So far, it feels like a happy place.

Here is what it looked like before Thad was born:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is what it looks like now:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All new artwork, more of it, more going on in general. Things that I like: Lots of pictures. Pictures of Thad, the first picture with Thad and I at the hospital. Justin, Thad, and Justin’s Grandma. Me and my niece. My favorite, beautifully illustrated copy of the Chronicles of Narnia. Basket full of infant toys. Basket full of the necessary 300 burp cloths. U of O Duck from Aunt Jess. Basket full of our favorite Aden and Anias swaddling blankets. A collection of That’s favorite board books.  I bought almost nothing. The two corner tables were nightstands that Justin made for the guestroom, before it became my sister’s room. The lamp was a transplant. Other than that, the furniture is all the same. I made all of the pictures except one:

 

 

This one was done by a friend at work. Crayons glued onto a canvas, then melted using a hair dryer. Pretty sweet. She had just been over and seen his room, and did an awesome job going with the color scheme.

 

 

 

 

One of my FAVORITE things in the room is the “family tree” that hangs above the changing table. I got this idea on Pinterest (really, I got most of the ideas from Pinterest). I drew a tree, then took it to our Christmas celebrations with each side of our family so everyone could make their owl fingerprint. Rather than buying stamp pads, I just used some markers. Each person colored on their finger with their choice of marker, and put their owl somewhere randomly on the tree, and signed their name. Double awesome because it goes with the owl idea, AND Justin is a fingerprint expert.

Some other Pintrest-inspired close ups:

Glued-on button initial and “Cute as a Button” stitched onto a piece of wool.

Thad-assisted owl cut out of scrap book paper and printed alphabet using Power Point.

 

 

I cut this page out of a book called “Animals Animals” by Eric Carle (the Hungry Caterpillar guy). The book is full of his illustrations of different animals, each with poem, limerick, or little saying about that animal compiled from different authors. It’s a really cool book. Thad now says “uh-oh” every time we come across the cut out page, and I have to explain to him that it’s okay, Mommy did it.

 

 

 

 

 

I also did a little bit of sewing with a new gray and white hounds tooth print bed skirt and 2 wool appliqued owl pillows.

And last but not least, I added a bunch of framed Bible verses. Just little verses here and there for me to look at while I am in there. The one from Numbers (bottom left) is my favorite; it’s called the “priestly blessing”, it is the blessing that God told Aaron to say over the Israelites. Our pastor says it to the congregation at the end of each service.

So, that’s it. I like the room. It feels good. It feels happy. Ready for the new baby Crossland.

Pillows! Owls!

I haven’t mentioned this yet, but we are in fact having another baby. I am 21 weeks, doing great, but terrified for what’s in store. In effort to push those thoughts aside, I am choosing to think about more enjoyable things besides never sleeping and the remote possibility that I will have another colicky baby. On the top of the list of happy things, is decorating new baby’s room. We’re having another boy, which is awesome. (Especially since I don’t have to buy a whole new wardrobe!) I was originally planning on keeping everything in the baby’s room exactly the same as it is now, and moving Thad into the room next door, and focusing on decorating that room. Well, that’s still happening, but in the mean time, I have developed a slight obsession with owls. Not the brown and gold, creepy-eyed owls of the 1970’s (my Grandma used to have a super scary picture of an owl at the end of a dark hallway, which I honestly had nightmares about).

Example:

Seriously, people? Yikes.

No, no, these are super cute, google-eyed colorful owls….which, who knows, may still give my child nightmares, but at least I will like them.

So, while I do plan on leaving things as they are for the most part, I want to incorporate some cute owls into the room as well. The walls in the room are a light gray-green, and a lot of the current decor is black-and-white. I am planning on sticking with the very manly black, gray and green idea, and adding some pops of color here and there. I have a fascination with throw pillows, and have found some really cute owl pillow ideas…

Here are a couple of my inspiration pictures:

The one on the left I have in the works. I’m going to make that one out of wool with the tree and owl appliquéd on the front. I love the look of the wool, I would have thought that wool would be really scratchy, but I bought some pre-washed stuff from the quilt shop that is really soft and nice feeling. Both of these should be really easy and straightfoward. And come on, are those cute or what?

Here is another one that I LOVE. I’ll probably change this one up since it has little birds instead of actual owls, but I love the multi-colored look. I’m thinking that I will do the top two first, then use the scraps to cut out mini-owls for the one below.

I like this picture too, I would maybe do it by painting a canvas a solid blue color and then decopaging some hand-drawn owls onto it….

I have also thought about doing a mobile (to hang in the corner of the room, rather than above the crib), maybe using twigs with little owls hanging. I might also make some bean-filled owl bookends. I don’t know yet exactly, I’m going to start with the pillows and see what I want to do from there. I have the habit of being too matchy-matchy, so I want to make an effort to mix and match colors and styles and themes.

Keep in mind, this is for the new baby’s room, I still have Thad’s room to think about too…

Cheap Entertainment

I have become fed up with toys all over my house all of the time. I understand that toys are necessary, and in fact, life is much easier when the wee one is entertained. However, a lot of the toys we have a just a waste of space. They are big and bulky, not easily packed up and put away. We could get away with having much fewer toys, especially if they are toys that keep his attention for longer than 30 seconds. Along that train of thought, I have recently re-vamped my Christmas list of things to get Thad, and I will go through that at a later date. For now, I wanted to share a couple of ideas for entertainment that is small, fun, inexpensive, and easy to store.

1. Window Decals

I got these at the Dollar Tree for, you guessed it, a dollar. I got a couple of different sheets with different themes. Can’t beat the price, they keep him entertained for a good 20 minutes or so, and they are super easy to put away. They also require a bit more brain power and motor skill ability than a battery-filled, automated light up toy. He takes them off the sheet, puts them on the window, puts them back on the sheet, takes them to the slider door, tells me what they are, and so on.

2. PlayDoh

There are a bunch of home-made playdoh recipes online, all are basically the same, and are really easy to make. I feel like it is another activity that is a bit more stimulating than a lot of toys out there. Not that he is building the Eifel Tower or anything, we are still working on not eating it, but he is definitely getting the idea. Even though you use food coloring to dye the dough, I have not had any issues with the color being left on his hands when he is done, or on the kitchen counter.

These are just a few ideas, I have some more up my sleeve, which I will share in an upcoming post, along with some other life-simplifying thoughts.

Hunting 2011

Okay, I just got super frustrated. I ALMOST finished this post, Live Writer crashed, and nothing was saved. So irritating. I sat down to try and re-type what I had written, found that to be too irritating, so this time I will be doing the short version. And saving periodically. Here it is:

Justin hunts. His family hunts. He goes hunting with his family. I used to go. I had a baby. Now I don’t. No bed. No showers. Fear of no sleep for baby. Justin calls me a baby. Decided to go. Had dream of bear mauling. Got scared. Went anyway. Thad loved it. Slept great. Justin right. Shoot.

Notice that there are no pictures of me. That is because I didn’t shower all weekend. Not my finest hour. No one saw any shootable bucks while we were there, but after we went home, Justin’s uncle got a forked horn. Justin went back up the next weekend and got a nice 3x4, which got him about 35 lbs of meat when it was all cut up. Last time he got a buck, I was actually pregnant with Thad. I helped him cut it up, and in the process realized that there were ticks all over the dear, one of which had crawled on to my shirt. This year, I took a pass on Lyme Disease and let my sister help Justin instead. Anyway, Justin’s sister soon blew them all out of the water by getting her first buck, a big 4x5. Impressive.