color my world

Or is it "Colour My World"? As in what I believe was my prom theme, but I can't be sure until I dig out the dust-covered completely not age-appropriate wine glass memento handed out on the way out of prom. In other colors, Britton has always been into coloring. But when she gets a hand on some markers, the creativity extends to her body. She colors her arms and hands, drags it across her face, marks her shirt with such an innocent look I can't be mad. That's why Crayola makes them washable.






And then the hub and I got on our own color kick. Our house is very open, few rooms separated by actual walls that to add wall color is a challenge. But to not have color isn't an option because bland boring walls make my eyeballs itch. We use the same Benjamin Moore colors over and over again - Wheeling Neutral, Copley Grey, Phillipsburg Blue, and Beach Glass because they are tried and true and we love them. Britton's room is Potpouri, and another green we've used is Brookside Moss. If it works, stick with it. So we pulled out some Beach Glass and Grandma and I painted the breakfast nook.

Before:



After:


Devious curved corners which made edging so hard I was on the brink of an eye twitch:



The dining room (which is housing the playhouse currently and will never be used as a dining room because I will find a way to get a baby grand piano) is next....

to the zoo

With Britton's meltdown on Friday, we put off the Fort Worth Zoo until Sunday morning. It was our Easter morning service of sorts. Right off the bat the first thing I spied was a mullet, in its natural habitat (a public place), and so nonchalantly snapped a picture of the zoo's entrance to catch it before it ran away.



The excitement of spotting a mullet so early in our trip drove Britton into a frenzy (or was that the 500 jelly beans she ate?) and we were on our way. First stop - the flamingos. Grandma and Paw Paw used to live in Florida, so they aren't roused up by flamingos, and me being from a tourist city I am used to the plastic variety in front yard flower beds.



Britton spotted a rhino in the distance and was entranced. She needed Paw Paw to get her a better vantage point.



This zoo is awesome because they had at least five elephants - my favorite animal ever. We spotted this male elephant separated from the others, and he went straight for the fence to get a taste of the landscaping just beyond it. As Grandma said, "The grass is always greener."



Am I the only one who thinks this gorilla is doing his best impersonation of me when I'm in desperate need of a nap? Britton loved the gorillas, though I strongly suspect I may have called all the primates "monkey" since she knows what a monkey is.





Another of my favorites - the turtle. The turtles were not afraid to come up to the window for Britton to get a good peek. And Grandma was fine with letting me dwaddle for a while if it meant we didn't have to walk through the snake exhibit again.



We all loved the parakeet that said "Hello!" to us! And then the hub, who was still nursing a sad heart because the meerkats were not out, spotted these lemurs. And one was giving another a backrub!



Three generations of girls.



All in all, a great day at the zoo and a wonderful Easter Sunday.

happy easter!

Happy Easter Ya'll!


We turned Easter into Hannukah around here, making it into a three day celebration of all things candy and eggs. On Friday we were supposed to go to the zoo, but Britton was feeling downright ornery and not-so-good due to the FOUR canine teeth all coming in at once. So we scrapped plans for the zoo and hung out at home instead. Grandma and Paw Paw brought over Britton's Easter basket (that Grandma made herself) and Britton got to work cracking open the confetti-filled eggs.



Grandma and Paw Paw hooked her up with a stuffed bunny, chalk, candy of all sorts, a new shirt and shorts, and many more treats. Plus the basket matches her room so we're going to use to hold small items.




Saturday morning was the neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt. I thought it would be a great opportunity to meet more people (especially parents) in the neighborhood, but not so much since everyone just talked to the people they knew. We got ready for Britton's first egg hunt and she was a natural. She carried around her basket and spied eggs everywhere.





When she collected all the eggs she could find, she promptly plopped down in the middle of the playground to get an inventory. We had to open each and every egg, show her the candy inside, confiscate any unwrapped candy, and then Britton put the eggs back together.




Once home we opened Cammy's Easter present. Cammy got Britton a little stuffed bunny, stickers, a dress, and an Easter towel. Britton used the towel as bunny's "blanket" and kept putting the bunny under it saying, "Night night bunny." She then covered the hub and myself in stickers. Notice Sadie licking her chops behind her? Who knows what that dog has eaten!





Finally this morning we gave Britton a little Easter basket, with chalk, travel tissue packs (you know her love of wiping her nose), and Jelly Belly jellybeans. She got that box open and she would not stop until they were all gone. We had no idea she would like jellybeans so much! We went to the zoo this morning, and we have Easter dinner tonight. All in all, a great Easter!

addicted

The addiction that makes me step onto my soapbox? Technology. I know, coming from someone who first got a cell phone at the age of 23. Last week when I went to the grocery store, I could not move my cart anywhere. Not because the store was packed, but because so many people were haphazardly pushing their carts as slow as possible, cell phone crammed to the ear. I had to say "excuse me" three times to the woman blocking the hamburger buns because apparently the bread aisle is the place to stop to have an extended conversation via the phone. I was in awe at the amount of people who were with each other, but both were either on the phone or updating Facebook statuses. Really, "checking in" at the grocery store? Do we need to know so much minutia of a person's day?

The hub and I attended the Lil Wayne concert last Friday night, and it was awesome. But I noticed that the kids near us spent the entire time videotaping the concert on their cell phones. Probably so that later it could be uploaded to You Tube. All in an effort to prove how cool they are, how incredible it is that they got to be there. But they didn't see the concert, they didn't hear the music or move to the beat. They just sat there, watching the concert through their phones. Those kids won't remember how great the show was - only how great all their friends thought it was that they went.

Updating Facebook doesn't mean you have a life, just like adding "friends" doesn't mean they really are. We are substituting letters with emails, conversations with texts, emotional connections with internet connections. And I think it's sad. I think it's sad I can't go out to dinner without seeing a six-year-old's face lit up with the glow of a cell phone, or a teenager playing video games instead of talking, all at the same table where mom and dad are jumping on every alert their cellphones make. I think it's sad kids so readily bully each other anonymously over the internet, then feel no remorse because "it's not like I punched him or anything." Maybe it'd be better if he did, confrontation face-to-face instead of hiding behind a laptop screen. I think it's sad that parents only learn of their children's lives through status updates.

It is the obsession with staring at a screen of some sort - whether it be television, computer, cellphone, iPod, iPad, video game - that has created a generation of people who will not look me in the eye when I speak. This generation that will not know validation without a "thumbs up," who speak to each other as if they are reading from a script, outwitting each other with clever banter in an effort to have a funny story to post, a cool video to download, an enviable tweet to share.

What's the moral of the story? Is there one? Is rejoicing in all technology has given mankind the full story if we don't also discuss what it has taken away? Why are we all so afraid of leaving the cell phones at home, the television off, the email unchecked? What exactly do we think we will miss?

I'm off my soapbox (for now), but I have no conclusion, no answers. So I will share Britton's newest addiction, her mild berry-flavored toothpaste. Because if my post was depressing to you, these pictures will cheer you right back up...

i scream you scream

On Saturday night, we joined Grandma and Grandpa for dinner at Fuzzy's Taco Shop. My shrimp quesadilla was perfection, and in general their food hits the spot at the right price. Britton, however, was more intent on drinking her body weight in lemonade. So we decided that since it was still early, let's reward the picky non-eating of dinner with some dessert. We try not to associate dinner with dessert because I really don't want to raise a kid who gets the crazy eyes if dessert isn't available. My mom always had dessert for us after dinner, and years later when she tried to get all healthy on us and offer fruit there was quite the coup. I'm not going to get into details, but it was pretty ugly in the kitchen for a while.

But I digress. We headed out to Dairy Queen - Britton's first trip to the DQ. The hub and I are big fans of soft serve, especially when it is covered in sauces galore. Grandma and I stood in the long line to order, and when it came my turn I ordered Britton a small cone and myself a butterscotch-dipped cone. Yum. I was practically drooling all over the counter at this point. And you know what the cashier of broken dreams told me? "We don't have butterscotch. Haven't had it for years." My spirit defeated, I stammered and then went ahead and ordered a Peanut Buster Parfait, with peanut butter sauce added. Same cashier gave me a look like I was making things up again and said, "We don't have peanut butter sauce."

Now, I know I'm not losing my mind because the Peanut Buster Parfait with the addition of (not instead of) peanut butter sauce was my go-to order in West Virginia. Not proud to admit it, but the hub and I had a stretch of time when I was pregnant where DQ always sounded like a good idea.

I finally gave up and just got the parfait MINUS PEANUT BUTTER SAUCE and ordered everyone else's goodies too.

Britton of course needed to try Grandma's sundae before eating her cone...

the sand box

Grandma and Grandpa (or as he is now called by Britton "Paw Paw") picked up a sand/water table for Britton last week. Bad parents we are, the hub and I waited until Saturday morning to go get sand. We decided to head out to Lowes and searched the gardening section in vain. I was finally able to track down someone who worked there to ask where the play sand was kept (construction section - say what?) while the hub carted Britton around to keep her entertained. Little did I know that Britton had her eye on an orange adirondack chair, which was put into the cart. It became the kid seat du jour.




People were getting a hoot out of Britton leaned back and relaxing in a chair in a cart. A check with a different Lowes employee got me the news that sand was in the gardening section, to which I replied that it wasn't. She looked mad I had taken up five seconds of her loafing time and hadn't had so much as the courtesy to ask where something obvious like paint was. She then said, "Well then it must be in hardware." Isn't the entire store of Lowes "hardware"?

We found play sand next to the concrete. Yes. Makes total sense, right? We headed out with our sand and chair and went home to fill that table up. Britton is in love with this table. And this is how we spent the next two hours... And the rest of the weekend....

what to buy for baby

As you know, I have two coworkers who have babies due this summer. I was perusing one's registry and noticed they had registered for Pampers Sensitive diapers, my absolute favorite. I told him so, and returned to my desk to find an email reading: "If you have any suggestions of things you found helpful let me know." Now, I'm one of a handful of parents in my group - we are the minority. And only one of two mothers, out of about twenty people. Not to mention that I love to hear myself talk, and of course like to believe that all we went through becoming first-time parents would be of help to others who are now in the same position.

I think to-be parents are in a different position these days. With the internet, and thus chat rooms, baby blogs, and celebrity baby sites, the message has become glaringly obnoxious - if you don't buy everything, top of the line and meant to address every nuance of a baby's life, then you aren't a good parent. Add in that you are usually exhausted and at the end of your rope when you're standing in the store aisle searching for the cure to the problem. I've been known to buy whatever I can reach. There's too much out there, and reason (for some reason) tells the new parent that the $60 swaddler is better than the $10 swaddler because it costs more money. But us seasoned parents know - buy the one that works, the one you won't mind throwing away when its covered in spit-up stains, the one that will soothe that baby and get you an extra five minutes of sleep.

So here was my response, in its entirety:

"Major piece of advice I wish someone had told me – try to get an extra nose-sucker aspirator at the hospital. The ones at the hospital are the BEST and they don’t sell them in stores and the ones they do sell are too hard and won’t do the job.

The things I found the MOST useful were:

1. White noise machine – I used my iPod and 20 months later, I still haven’t gotten it back. Yes, we use the white noise every night to block out street noise and so we can watch tv without muting it.

2. Boppy pillow (nursing pillow) – great for propping up the kid in the middle too, but seriously I would have broken my back breastfeeding if I hadn’t had it. Get an extra cover so that when the kid spits up all over it, you have a back-up.

3. I saw you registered for the Chicco travel system – my sister has the same one and LOVES it. I have the Graco and liked it.

4. “Baby 411” book – incredible reference for when you don’t know but don’t want to call the doctor at 2 AM or rely on the internet (which, when it comes to babies, will only be full of worse-case scenarios and anecdote as fact).

5. “Happiest Baby on the Block” – I swear by this book. Read it NOW so you’ll have the info when you need it. You won’t be pulling it off the shelf at 3 AM when the kid has been screaming for 4 hours straight.

6. Mylicon – gas drops. Don’t actually affect gas in the stomach, but add it to bottles and it gets rid of bubbles which cause the gas.

7. Boogie wipes – also on your registry. We would buy these by the caseload if we could.

8. Bumbo seat – also on your registry. Works great as a highchair in that in-between time when the kid is too small for a big highchair.

9. Whatever lovey/security blanket you give the kid, make sure you have a back-up of an identical one. We have tried to find Britton a second Winnie (Pooh head on a little blanket) as a back-up and they stopped making them. If she ever loses it, we’ll have to pay for counseling no doubt.

10. The Pampers Sensitive diapers and wipes are the BEST BY FAR. I actually threw a fit when Britton got too big for them (they only go up to size 4) and I had to put her in Cruisers.

11. Little Lamb Fisher Price swing – sucks because it runs on batteries, so you’ll spend a fortune on D batteries at Sam’s Club, but it adjusts in how far it leans back and which direction it swings. Whatever swing you get make sure it has different positions.

12. Those swaddle blankets with the Velcro – godsend, especially since I was using duct tape to secure swaddle blankets on Britton. True story. And swaddle TIGHTLY.

13. We used Halo Sleep Sacks with Britton with a onesie underneath after she was out of the swaddle (about 5 months old). I love these because they get the comfort of a blanket without the safety issues.

14. Don’t bother with mittens – they stretch out and fall off. We used baby socks for mittens because they have more elastic.

15. Fisher Price “Whale of a Tub” bathtub is really good, only $20, and we used it until Britton was hanging out of it. Big to store, but they all are.

16. If you like the all-natural bath products, California Baby is great but pricey (but also at Target so it’s easy to find). Love their Calendula cream – which is for cradle cap, but we used it on baby acne, chapped lips, chapped butt, any cuts from her fingernails – it is fantastic. I cannot stress this enough – Boudreaux’s Butt Paste. We used it preventively every time we changed Britton’s diaper and she didn’t get her first diaper rash until she was 13 months old, and that’s because we were on a cruise and I had forgotten to pack the Butt Paste – it is that good.

17. Video monitor – yes, very pricey. We still use ours every night to this day. The reason I love the video is because you don’t want to go into the room to check and see if the kid is sleeping or playing or what is going on and you won’t wake the kid up by constantly checking on her. I would actually pan in to check on Britton’s breathing.

18. Don’t underestimate the rocker. I spent so much time in it feeding her, rocking her, etc. It has to be comfortable beyond belief. Make sure it has padded arms so you can prop your arms up to support the baby, an ottoman is great so you can fall asleep in it. We got one from Best Chair Storytime Series – looks like an armchair and rocks and swivels and glides. Again, we still use it every night when I give Britton her bottle before bed. Cost more than the crib and dresser combined, but I would gladly save it in a fire.

19. If you don’t have one – the Flip video camera. So easy to use, easy to carry with you, and I use mine all the time. I then download the videos and make movies, or you can email them to family (especially grandparents who will eat it up).

WATCH OUT FOR:

Don’t buy 20 of one type of bottle because your baby may not like it – pick up 3 different bottles to try out. Britton loved Avent but hated Dr. Brown’s, and my sister’s baby would only use Gerber Nuk. Same with pacifiers – try out a couple different brands."

she's a tervis

Don't know what a Tervis is? It is the absolute best tumbler you can buy. Hands down. The cup will not break or sweat rings all over your wood table, either of which offense will get you ten minutes of my silent treatment and stink eye. But beyond my not-so-clever play on words is Britton's new world of tumbling. Seriously. And I don't know where she learns it, unless it is the "Stretch and Grow!" class at daycare, but I think that's only every other week. Anywho, she is very into the somersault and general showings off of her extreme flexibility. And of course looking through her legs at her upside down world.

This is how it started out - just throwing her hands to the ground and rolling over to the floor. But Britton has become more daring, and is now doing a full-on somersault.



The hub was assisting Britton with her flips, as he calls them, and she was just so excited to show off her newest moves. It is an odd phenomenom to both the hub and I that Britton just throws out these skills and we're both left assuming the other taught her along the way. But we didn't.




I had to include this photo because I found it absolutely mesmerizing. The thing is, this picture looks nothing like what I think Britton looks like. Truly doing a double-take of your own child.



She loves tumbling. I wish I had been the one to teach her because she gets such a kick out of it. I have to find her a class somewhere close to take, but I imagine at twenty months old she might be too young for a class. For now, we're just helping her with flips and keeping her on the thick carpet.



Peek a boo.

quilt deuce

I finished the boy quilt I was working on, and my fingers were sore for a couple of days! I hadn't realized how tiring the actual quilting is, and with bad light in the living room, I spent most of the time hunched over directly below the ceiling fan light. The hub suggested I use the dining room table since the light there is stupendous, but alas there is no tv there, so I made it up to my back with a massage today. Bonus!

So, onto the girl quilt. I found out the mom-to-be isn't a big "pink person," so I poo-pooed on that right away. Get used to it - into every mother of a daughter's life a little pink must fall. I had been eyeing this nursery rhyme toile at the Hobby Lobby for a while and decided it would be the focal point of the quilt. The motif is adorable - all these nursery rhymes, each of which I used as a center square.



Grandma helped me pick out the coordinating fabrics, which we knew needed to be subtle in pattern so as not to distract from the toile. Grandma insisted on a polka-dot and I fell in love with the gingham.



So far, both of my quilts have started out the same way - the nine square. But this time not all the nine squares would be identical, since the border would be around this quilt instead of in the middle. I didn't want identical blocks against each other, so I alternated the middle column in each nine square.



Instead of sewing this quilt, I used baby yarn to secure the layers. It was a technique Grandma told me about, and my sister has used it too. I wanted to try something new, and I think it really made this quilt feel sweet and baby-like. I used blue yarn to coordinate with the blue in the nursery rhyme toile. I double-layered my batting, so the quilt turned out nice and plush.



Admittedly, the knotted yarn is SO MUCH FASTER than the sewing it may be my new favorite technique! This took about one hour (with breaks) and the sewing on the boy quilt took a week. I finished it tonight because I really just wanted to see it complete. I love how it turned out, and this fabric is going in my scrap box for future quilts.