dunking daughter

The hub passed on a generations-old tradition in our family - dunking. I swear, the hub can't eat cookies without a large glass of milk at the ready, and now he is teaching Britton the fine art of the dunk. Grandma and Grandpa got Britton onto Girl Scout cookies - the ones with lemon filling. She won't eat a filled cookie whole; it must be twisted apart, the cream scraped off with her teeth, and the sad wet cookie sides thrown down for Sadie. Which, of course, Sadie doesn't mind at all. So we hauled out some Biscoff cookies and treated Britton to some awesome Belgian dessert. With a dishtowel to catch all the milk spills.

two months early

I know it's only five days after the official first day of spring. But today, with its hot weather, drippy popsicles, sticky hands, and sunburned noses, marks our first day of summer. Hey, it's Texas.

my first attempt at quilting

I've got two baby showers coming up at work and both have got me thinking about great baby items I received when I was pregnant. I've noticed that people who don't have kids will inevitably give the "not really useful" items, like big puffy dresses, skull-crusher headbands, gimmicky stuff covered in glitter that doesn't serve a purpose. And hey - I'm guilty of it too! I've shown up to the showers with gifts of too-intricate clothing, scratchy blankets, and off-brand baby lotion. But no more. For these two upcoming showers, I want to put together a collection of the items I found the most useful - saline spray, boogie wipes, Boudreaux's Butt Paste. True story on that Butt Paste - we used it preventively every time we changed Britton's diaper, and she finally got her first diaper rash when she was thirteen months old, on our cruise. Because we forgot to pack the Butt Paste. I'd pay twice what it costs if I had to. But back to shower gifts - I also wanted to include a keepsake gift. So, after pow-wowing with Grandma, I decided that I would attempt making a quilt for each, and if all else failed I would end up with a cute cleaning rag.

I decided to go with the baby boy's quilt first since I knew the parents were decorating with a cowboy theme. The fabric yelled at me from across Hobby Lobby. The hub picked out the kid fabric. You want to know something funny about the kid fabric? I fell in love with it because it was fun, sweet, child-like, and cowboy themed. And it wasn't until I was cutting off the edge that I noticed the fabric had a name...... "Cowgirls." Looking back over the fabric I now see that all the kids are girls! And at that point I was over halfway finished with the quilt top. But hopefully the parents-to-be won't notice or care, since they are having a little cowboy.

My first step was putting together the pattern. I scoured internet photos before coming upon this pattern below, which was made all the easier because the blocks are bigger. See that picture of the pattern below? I actually made that by finding images of my fabric and putting the images on the paper in the order of the pattern. Because I don't have experience with what fabrics look good together, I needed a visual on what the different patterns would look like.



Here is my first nine square, the first of four.



The finished top. It still needs batting and a bottom (which will be the kid fabric) and, of course, the quilting. All will be accomplished this weekend when I sequester Grandma for a quilting lesson.



I don't have the quilting accessories, mainly because I don't like investing in a hobby unless I'm going to stick with it. And since I'm only on my first quilt, no need to max out the credit card at Joann's quite yet. So, I ran into needing a straight edge, but we don't have one. So I marked my 4-inch measurement on each side of this old license plate, lined it up with my fabric, and marked my line. It worked fine, but I don't recommend it for complete accuracy!

the most wonderful time of the year

Spring, that is. I get so inspired by everything being in bloom. Grandma and I went to Williams-Sonoma at lunchtime on Friday and I picked up a catalogue. Inside was this wreath for $59.95.



It's about time I made a springtime wreath, so a night of errand-running to Hobby Lobby and Michael's later, I had this. Not the same as the picture, but close enough to evoke the same feel. And I promised the hub that if I ever get to the point of not trying hard, when my effort consists of spray paint and glitter, I'll stop with the high-end recreations. But if they keep turning out like this, I'm sticking with my homemade knock-offs. Oh, and this wreath only cost me $17 in supplies.



I have grown (bad pun intended) fond of gardening and the blank canvas of my front and back yards has been calling to me for weeks. I'll get ideas from magazines or the internet, but going to the nursery always gets me ready. This weekend, while the hub and Grandpa went to the car show, Grandma, Britton, and I went to the nursery.




I was looking for a specific rose I had seen but didn't know the name of. I described it to the guy at the nursery - yellow and looks like a dogwood flower - and he had no idea. While checking out their roses, I stumbled upon it and Grandma confirmed it was the rose I was searching for - the Sunny Knock-Out. I got two and planted them in front of Britton's window. Grandma entertained Britton while I planted, which was a great plan. Britton didn't show much interest in the gardening tool set I got her, but she loved looking at the helicopter installing air conditioning units on the new school down the street.



With the roses planted and the crepe myrtles budding, I got an itch to plant more. While Grandma stayed with Britton, I went back and bought three azalea bushes. Growing up our yard was covered in azaleas, and while the lady at the nursery says they can grow here, she said it wouldn't be as easy as in Virginia. No matter. These beauties are going to get spoiled.

home alone

Tonight is the first time ever that the hub and I have been home alone without Britton. I have been away when visiting family, and the hub has been on business trips, and we've gotten babysitters before when going on date night. But this is the first time we are home and Britton is not. See, Grandma and Grandpa were itching to have Britton sleep over, and while I was more apprehensive the hub was all for it. My apprehension has nothing to do with Grandma and Grandpa's ability to care for Britton, but is completely about my fear of Britton's milestones. Sleeping away tonight, college tomorrow. But, over-reaction aside, I consider Britton, who is so accustomed to her schedule and surroundings, sleeping somewhere besides home to be a milestone.

We went over the Grandma and Grandpa's for homemade pizza for dinner, and this time we brought Britton's sleep-over bag. Which included her video monitor, iPod with white noise and docking, bath accessories, lotion, diapers, extra clothes, pajamas, and the list goes on. And we were excited for our night off, though with Britton's early bedtime we were more excited about tomorrow morning. No alarms, no breakfast-making, no changing of soggy diapers and finding of Winnie. But when we got home tonight, I was putting away some things in Britton's room and looked at her empty crib and got sad. I have now gotten to the point, nineteen months and two weeks later, that when Britton isn't with me I miss her. I no longer crave time off like I used to, when the pressures of first-time parenthood responsibility were overwhelming. I became tired of being in charge, which then turned into resentment that my life was so different, so child-centric. The first few months of Britton's life all I wanted was to be alone - no one asking me for things, no one crying, no one needing to be fed or changed or burped. I needed no one to need me.

But times change, and as I was promised by so many other moms, it got easier. Britton stopped needing me for everything and became more independent. And it is in this independence that her personality shines. She is a great kid and I love being around her, no longer resentful. In fact, I sometimes wonder if my feelings at the beginning were all wrong - it would kill me now to not be the center of her world.

As usual, it takes me longer to adjust than Britton. When I checked in after bedtime, Grandma let me know that Britton went to bed fine, no fussing, and was sleeping soundly. Meanwhile, I had been thinking about her every five minutes. Finally, after getting some ice cream with the hub and settling in to watch Jackass 3 (without having to turn the volume down) I let my apprehension go. It's a win-win. Grandma and Grandpa get one-on-one time with Britton, Britton gets to be spoiled with affection and treats and attention, and the hub and I get to watch loud movies. And leave the house together at any hour without a babysitter. And sleep in, with no alarms set.

daylight saving time

Oh, how I loathe you, Daylight Saving Time. Daylight Saving Time ("DST" for short) and I used to be friends, like back in college and law school when the fall extra hour meant one extra hour at the bar - wooo hoooo! - and the spring lost hour meant someone wasn't going to morning classes that Monday. It takes me an extravagant amount of energy to re-sync my body's clock and I detest a "holiday" like DST which no longer serves a function. DST is like an appendix.

Sure, back in World War I we needed to save energy by making the nighttime lighter. Who doesn't love a sunset at 9:00 pm? By making the light of day last longer into the night, people weren't using up all that electricity turning on lights and such. That saved energy could be used for production for the war. Fine. But in its reality, DST in the springtime turns Britton's bedtime into a sunny showcase. She has light-blocking material over her windows, but that isn't stopping the blazing sun from shining in. And in the mornings, there is no longer that same cheerful sun prodding her awake. Britton's wake-up time is now cloaked in darkness, making for a confused and cranky child.

Drinking juice in the afternoon....with my pinkies up like a lady........or is it midnight?



So now we wait for another month or so for the sun to start rising at a decent hour. But at the same time, the light sticks around longer at night. When you have a child that goes to bed at 6:30 pm, this doesn't fare well. And since she sleeps for twelve hours at night, she needs to wake up by 6:30 am if I have any chance of getting to work on time. Such is our vicious cycle. So, DST, we aren't friends, you and me. We're like college roommates who didn't know each other before we both got to the dorm. I think you're a drunk who wastes $40,000 a year on tuition when you haven't been to class all semester, and you think I'm a prude who needs to get out of the library and onto (preferably dancing) a bar top. We avoid each other in the hall, leave passive-aggressive notes about who's turn it is to take out the trash/empty the dishwasher/clean the bathroom. After that first year, we move in separate circles and only see each other at reunions. I loathe you DST, I really do.

Is this sun tea? I refused to nap at daycare today because my biorhythms are off...

pillow talk

I have coveted this Winnie the Pooh quote pillow since I first saw it. But the $50 price tag always kept me from ordering it as that just seems really indulgent for a throw pillow. And then I got the novel idea that I could simply make it.



"Simply" is an understatement, as I went at the project full force, with no real plan in place. The hub recently went on a business trip and I like to set myself up with a project when he's away so I won't spend all week in front of the tv for hours. Cross-stitching the quote was my project. Then I took scraps of fabrics from all my sewing projects for Britton's dresses, shirts, and pillows and cut them into squares. Grandma had suggested I hold onto the scraps in case I needed them, and I did.



I sewed the squares into rows, then sewed the rows together. That way, I ended up with two rows for each border of the pillow. The hub pow-wowed with me on the order of the squares.



Where did all the quilting inspiration come from? Jessica has quilted before, even making me a quilt (which is in the quilt closet so as not to be ruined by wayward dirt and spills). And our house is full of quilts that the hub's grandmother has made. We love them all, especially the ones she made for Britton. When Britton gets a real bed her bedspread will be one of Memaw's quilts. And this pillow will be on that bed.



My sewing machine gave up on me, but I can't bear to throw it away so it sits, unused, in the garage. Grandma let me borrow her machine, which she got for a wedding gift forty years ago.



I measured out the rows and then decided the pillow should be 18 inches square. I cut the cross-stitched section to length, and sewed the quilt square borders around. Since my attempts at the corners was getting me nowhere fast, I just folded back one side of the border to make it look like a mitered corner.



And finally, two weeks after I started, I have a pillow! I love how it turned out and hope it will make a beautiful addition to Britton's room, and keepsake for her when she has outgrown my decorating style. And even though it was a lot of work, I'm so happy I didn't order the other pillow.

driving miss britton

Britton has become, how do you say, "headstrong," especially when it comes to entering and exiting the car. The hub has been out of town/held up at work a lot lately, so I end up needing to pick up Britton from daycare. And when we get home, after her pouting that the hub wasn't the one to do it, she insists that she be allowed to leave her car seat herself. Then, crawl to the front seat as I'm saying, "Let's go get Sadie! Sadie has to pee!" My neighbors must absolutely think I'm weird. But Britton will have none of it. It's only when I pretend like I am going inside the house without her (thus leaving open the possibility she might miss something phenomenally fantastic indoors) will she even consider coming out of the car.

Sure, I could drag her out or threaten, but when it comes down to it, why? Then I'm left with a kid who is mad when she didn't have to be. Like last Thursday, when Britton refused to leave the car unless allowed to crawl to the front seat, pretend to drive by gripping the steering wheel, and grab my box of tissues. Then proceed to use every single tissue to wipe her nose and smile at me while I said, "Good wipe!" Only when I threatened that she wouldn't be allowed to drive for real until she was thirty (which I'm totally standing by since nobody in Texas can drive worth a crap) and told her that Sadie really had to pee badly did she relinquish her stand. And I promised I'd let her do it again the next day. Turns out, when I told the hub about her antics the next night, he reported that she's been doing the same thing to him!

You know the average number of times a toddler hears the word "no" in a day? 400. I don't know who did the study or where it was published, but no doubt all parents can agree we say it too often. The hub and I have tried to make our home a place where "no" is used minimally - meaning, things Britton isn't allowed to play with or handle on her own (ex. markers) are kept where she can't access them. All of her toys and snacks are on her level, and she can take them when she likes.

But, wouldn't you know it, we still find ourselves saying "no" more and more. "No, don't run into the street!" and "No, cookies are for after dinner" and "No, Mommy is on the phone. You can play with it when I'm finished" and "No, Mommy said to get her the vodka, not the tequila."

Ok, I made that last one up. Kind of. But really, it comes out a lot. Because Britton is almost two and testing the boundaries of her world minute by minute.

And now, she's using it as well. Experts at Fisher-Price say...

"Saying no is a toddler's declaration of independence. No longer a helpless baby, she's filled with a sense of power from knowing she's a separate person from you who can do many things on her own. And she's wondering just how far that independence can take her. Being automatically stubborn about most anything you say (even when she doesn't really object to what you're asking) is her way of asserting herself and testing her limits."

This morning Britton was playing with her winter hat. So here, in all her "no" glory, she is repeatedly telling me "No!" while taking her picture because I wouldn't let her play with Mommy's expensive camera.





And guess what Britton does not say "no" to? Easter eggs filled with confetti from Grandma and Grandpa!





It doesn't bug me too much - her use or our use of the word "no." Britton's use of "no" doesn't test me because I take it at face value. And I hope she does the same when we use it.

nineteen months old

Wow - have nineteen months really passed since I had this baby? Seems she is not so much a baby anymore, what with her running and talking and interactions. Britton is now a full-fledged toddler. She is still growing like a weed - wearing 3T clothes now, with a stash of 4T summer clothes waiting in the closet. Really, if I don't buy it now, the shelves will be picked over by April! She is doing really well at daycare, and no longer cries or carries on when I leave her in the morning. I watch through the window after I leave and see her just sitting there, munching on her breakfast and smiling at the other kids and teachers. She loves drawing, painting, water play, anything outdoors, and reading with her class.

We're waiting on some tooth to come in because Britton has been biting on everything and gnawing whenever possible. I suspect it is her canines, with her second molars to follow. No new teeth peeking out yet!

Britton's appetite has been up and down, with some days no desire to eat more than a bite and other days eating three meals by lunch! She is still enjoying a variety of foods, with her favorites being green beans, peas, mashed potatoes, sloppy joes, chicken nuggets, meatballs, spaghetti, apples, grapes, kiwi, avocado, oranges, toast with plum jelly, and cheesy scrambled eggs. Grandma has been sending homemade meals home with us for her dinner, and she is really enjoying the variety. She has now rejected the booster seat at the table in favor of sitting on the counter to eat dinner. We're not too worried about it as there are less distractions up there and she tends to eat more. We'll work on table manners later!

And her vocabulary is growing as well! She has added "car," "doll," "bowl," "bubbles," "bow," I don't know," "I love you," "Elmo," "me me" (for "Mickey Mouse"), "hello" and more, but dang it all if I can't remember every word! Britton does truly enjoy being read books, and likes to look at her word book and point out pictures.

Just last night Grandma and I introduced her to the princess potty, and while she would sit on it, she wasn't getting that she was to pee into it. See, after Britton gets out of her bath, the hub takes her into the guestroom and lays her on the bed to lotion her up and get her dressed in her pajamas. Well, Britton has taken to running to a corner of the mattress, squatting, and peeing with sheer delight. We've washed the sheets and comforter so many times that it is just a plain mattress in there now. I bought a waterproof mattress pad and am steam-cleaning the entire mattress this weekend. So, we figured that maybe we could intrigue her with the potty so she'd stop peeing on the bed. We'll see how that progresses...



Likes: throwing Sadie a ball, baths, reading, artwork, music, going on walks (also in her wagon), Cheddar Chex mix, playing with Grandma and Grandpa, the park, the slide at the park, snuggling

Dislikes: yogurt (one of the few foods she isn't keen on), saying good-bye, being without her Winnie while I wash it, waiting or anything involving patience, being told no, not getting her way, rainy/cold days when she's stuck indoors