Send out the clowns

When Mabes was born, we soon realized that we needed a swing. After researching and looking around, we decided we really liked the idea of the swing/rocking chair combo. She didn't care for the bouncy seat we borrowed, but liked having an infant seat to lounge in while I showered or cooked. But at the time, selection was limited and the only pattern available was a hideous clown print. I hate clowns. But I liked the swing, and when we used the seat reclined, I'd just throw a blanket over the seat to cover the offending clowns. Seriously, they're disturbing.
A few weeks ago I was wandering through Babies R Us and saw how much cuter swings are now. Where were these 4 years ago? The blanket works fine, but I wanted to be able to use the seat belt. I thought about selling the old swing and buying a new one, but come on, that seems pretty wasteful.So for less than $10 in fabric and thread, I decided to make a new cover. Since I was making up the pattern for this, I did a trial run using fabric from an old comforter cover I hung onto thinking I may need ugly hunter green fabric someday. Look at me, repurposing! It looks pretty simple (and let's be honest, it probably would be for most people), but I was pretty proud of myself for making it all one nice machine washable piece with cover for seatbelt strap, finished edges, and buttonhole openings for the harness and straps. I had never done buttonholes before, but after practicing on my trial run, practicing on minky fabric (and discovering I needed to use an old crib sheet to reinforce and prevent stretching--more repurposing!), and then doing all the holes on the cover, I'm a buttonhole pro.


Last week, we got the quilt my mom made for Mabes' bed. She posted more pictures on her blog, but here are some pictures I took. I love this quilt. It all started when I was asking my mom about buying comforters and quilts, and she volunteered to make one. Knowing how much work my mom puts into one of her quilts, I didn't want to force her to do that. But she assured me that she had an embroidery kit she wanted to try in a quilt.

My mom knows I prefer lavender to pink, but like any little girl, Mabes prefers pink. And she loves princesses, castles, sparkles, and butterflies, so between the pattern and the embroidery, this quilt has it all. Pair it with the ballet slipper sheets Grandma Jackie got her for her birthday, and Mabes has pretty much the most awesome girly bed ever.
There are alternating quilt squares of embroidered pictures and...quilted stars with minky centers. There's probably a technical name for that, but I'm not a quilter. Heck, I'm just learning how to sew. The embroidered squares have rhinestones on them; in the crowns, on the flowers, on the castle, etc. Mabes likes the jewels.
And it's hard to tell from the pictures (I turned of the flash for the last one so hopefully it's more visible) but my mom has her quilts professionally quilted and this lady does an amazing job. Normally, she does a cute pattern all over, but she outlined each picture, did cute centers in the stars, and decorative vines in the borders. I'm kind of afraid to let Mabes use this quilt; I'm totally going to be like my Grandma Ostler and not let her sit on it!

Gratitude

"I just want to say 'fank you for such a delicious dinner, mommy' again. Fank you such a delicious dinner, mommy! I hope you cook that again!" This was Mabes' "thankful" tonight. For all of her craziness and apparent sense of entitlement, Mabes is really good about expressing gratitude. I'm sure a lot of this is just her personality and I can't take credit for it, but I'd like to think that some of it comes from our nightly "thankful" time. Inspired by this talk, each night after her story and bedtime prayer, we all say at least one thing we're thankful for. Sometimes it's hard, but it's been good for us to end our day thinking about the good things. And perhaps it in some way has contributed to Mabes' ability to recognize when someone has done something nice for her.

She does still have to be prompted to say thank you when the receipt checker at Costco draws a smiley face on the receipt or the Trader Joe's employee gets her a balloon. But she consistently surprises me with the things she thinks to say thank you for--meals, washing her clothes, giving her a bath, or fun outings. It makes it much easier to deal with her running around the living room shouting "yee haw cowgirl!" 300 times when she pauses, puts her arm around me, and says "fank you for taking me for a walk this morning, mommy, it was really fun."

Oh, and the dinner tonight that was so delicious? Leftover lasagna, green beans, and salad, followed by a cookie. Yeah, it was good, but nothing special.

And I won't post pictures weekly (actually, this may be the only one, as I think the puffy-face-and-ankles stage is right around the corner), but here I am last week at 24 weeks. Had a good appointment today and my OB didn't even comment on the ridiculous amount of weight I've gained since my last appointment. I decided to tempt fate by making cookies, see post below. Oh, and now we're going to appointments every other week. Seriously?!?! This is flying by.
Mabes wanted to get in on the picture taking fun and was making me laugh. Note the bow holder in the background--I made it in, what, February? She still thanks me for it at least twice a week.

Well here's a puzzle for you

What do I do more often: Fill up my car with gas or make chocolate chip cookies?







I honestly don't know the answer to this. It's probably pretty close. To be clear, when I make cookies, I just do a half batch of my mom's recipe. This yields two dozen cookies plus a little dough for Dave to snack on later. I don't have room in my freezer for more than that, plus I like making cookies (obviously). As I was gazing at these fresh-out-of-the-oven lovelies, I resolved to eat all of them while watching the House 2-hour season premier tonight. Okay, I'll go halfsies with Dave. I may have to make another batch this week.

Thunder stealing

Granted, it's with permission. Laura sent me this picture a week ago but made me promise not to post it until she posted it with her Orlando pictures. Since the trip was a month ago, I told her she needed to at least get a couple of pictures up. She gave herself a one week window, and said that if she didn't post the picture in that week, I could go ahead and post this. Laura didn't post (not surprising, as a good way to get her to not do something is to ask her to do it), so here you go. This picture makes me happy. It's like her shirt is the perfect caption for her face.
And since she's turned 4, I've noticed she just looks different. Like a kid. Not my baby, not my baby pretending to be a kid. A real little girl walkin' around thinking she's people. With opinions and defiance and silliness. I'm not sure how I feel about this. Every night when I check on her after she's asleep, I just find myself thinking, "When did you get so big?"

First day of school!

Okay, so I guess I should say "school." Having only one kid, I didn't feel like I could justify the cost of preschool here, so some friends from church and I formed a small preschool co-op. Mabes has more structured learning than she gets with just me, she's around other kids more, takes instructions from other adults, and I get some free time. It's great. We rotate the teaching schedule, and I'm even having fun planning my lessons--we'll see how that goes next week! Wednesday was her first day, and as you can see, she was very excited about it:

She's having a lot of fun so far, and was much better about leaving today than she was on Wednesday. ("I don't want to leave school! I want to stay at school all day!" Soon enough, kid...soon enough...) And I had fun getting my haircut and running errands by myself! I was surprised that I missed her a little, but there was no way she would have let me deliberate over plastic storage bins at Target as long as I did. Her only complaint about preschool is that she hasn't learned how to be a mermaid yet. Not sure where she got this idea, but she's quite set on it. That, and learning magic. I told her not to expect her Hogwart's owl until she's 11.


Mabes recently drew this picture of my parents, and at the risk of spoiling it, I'm going to go ahead and post it (Mom and Dad, you should be getting it today or tomorrow). Because I love it. For some reason, she's started drawing eyes and noses as huge circles, and it usually looks kind of weird. But on my dad, it looks like glasses. And next to his Mii, I think it's my favorite picture of him.


And yesterday while Mabes was trying to feel the baby kick, she observed that I always put her hand just below my belly button and asked why the baby was so low. Since she already understands epidurals and ultrasounds, I figured I'd go ahead and explain fundal height as well. I added that I was pretty sure that the baby's feet were up by my belly button and her head down low (given the odd sensations due to her hiccups the other night), and Mabes just started laughing. "You mean...she's upside down?!?!?" Yep, and hopefully she'll stay that way. "But...upside DOWN?" Yes, you were too, and that's good--especially when it's closer to the time to have the baby. "But olly bats like to be upside down! Our baby finks she's a bat!"


Perhaps Batman should be in the running. Unfortunately, now when I feel the baby kick, I just picture this in there:

(This is the best picture I have of those creepy bats at Animal Kingdom. I'm sure someone has a better one, but she still hasn't posted her Orlando pics yet...)

And it really creeps me out. Thanks a lot, Mabes.

Bayback is a pitch, part 1

Dear Mom,
I'm sorry I used to go into your bathroom, admire your lipsticks, twist them up, try them on, and then the second I thought I heard you coming smash the caps back on. I didn't realize how frustrating that was.


I'm putting "part 1" because I'm slowly learning that parenthood is really just about making us feel bad for the things we did to our parents when we were kids. I've already called my mom several times to apologize for various things, so I'm sure there will be many more entries like this.

Oh, and while I'm at it:

Dear Sarah,
I'm sorry I let you take the rap for it.

Pillow Talk

My mom has an almost bizarre obsession with her pillow. I don't think it's just one pillow, she just really likes a good down pillow. Since hotels typically don't offer the quality of pillow she's looking for, she's been known to pack it in a suitcase and take it on trips. To Europe.

Years ago, Dave was complaining about his pillow, so my mom bought him one like hers. He was hooked. I'm a side sleeper, so I generally prefer something more firm than down, but I'm glad he's found a pillow he loves.

Last week, Dave was traveling for work, and I've noticed that uncomfortable pregnant sleep has started for me. (Already? Yeah, I know. My doctor has assured me that it's perfectly normal for things to happen earlier the second time around, but I've been surprised that the sciatica, pelvic pressure, and now sleep issues have happened this early. I'm really looking forward to swelling up and hearing comments about how huge I am next week. But anyway...) After much tossing and turning, I couldn't get comfortable, so I grabbed an extra pillow. It did nothing. Then I grabbed Dave's pillow. Oh, sweet relief! When I woke up in the morning, I realized I had slept through the whole night without moving. I was that comfortable.

After two nights of much improved sleep, Dave came home. I started to panic. I love Dave and I'm glad he's home, but I didn't want to give his pillow back. But I didn't want to make him give it up, either. So I considered my options: go out and buy a pillow just like Dave's and mom's, but I don't know where I'd find that. I think my mom has them specially made by fairies. Buy a snoogle, but aside from a name that gives me the heebie jeebies, it looks ridiculous and would probably knock Dave out of our queen-sized bed. And I'm morally opposed to body pillows; even if it were really comfortable, it wouldn't be worth the mocking I'd endure from Dave and Emily. So I was about to give up and just use a regular crappy pillow and then I remembered...

I have one of my mom's pillows in my linen closet. When she came to visit, she (of course) brought her own pillow and left it, so she'd always have a pillow here. Thanks to my mom and her pillow obsession, I'm sleeping much better.

(When you saw the title of this post, you probably didn't think I could make a whole post about pillows, huh?)