Baby Work

Josiah's been working hard around here this weekend. One of his words these days is, "INNNNN." Not only has he been using it to the max, he's been busy doing it.

What does this pile of toys have in common with daddy's guitar? They all came from "INNN"side daddy's guitar.

And he's sneaky about it too. We never see it happen, we just shake the guitar every night and unload the loot. (The picture below was a set-up for photo memories.)

Now if only he could stealth deposit things in helpful places like money in our bank account...We're thankful it's toys in the guitar though. Selah Grace was known for hiding old snacks in small pockets and drawers. NOT as nice to find later.

Can Someone PLEASE Get Me Some GummyBear Juice!

Each morning when I open the fridge at a groggy 5:30 to get Josiah's big boy cup of whole milk I look for it. It's never there, but I still hope. A little vile of gummy bear juice to get me going. To kick the foggy/groggy head and dead-weight body into action! One day those bounding bears will leave me a little bottle of love and for a few minutes I will remember what it feels like to feel AWAKE and powerful in my body! In the meantime, here's to my fellow under-slept, over-caffeinated parents who are bouncing here and there and everywhere despite the lack of gummy juice! Cheers!

Kid Craft: Cuff Tutorial!

Selah Grace and I have been having fun mixing trendy fashion with a kid-friendly craft these past few weeks making felt cuffs.

Throwing a 4th of July BBQ this year and want the kids to create something fun? Try these!

Step 1: Cut Strip of Felt

Felt strip should be a few inches wide and long enough to wrap around child's arm. Wrap felt band around child's arm to measure and cut length. 

Step 2: Make Button Fastener

Cut a small slit 1/2 inch in from one end. Cut a slightly larger slit 1/2 inch in from the other end. These will be your button holes. 

 Take a button, and a small piece of pipe cleaner. 

Thread the pipe cleaner through the button hole, twist the back a few times, leaving a little pipe cleaner untwisted to create a brad effect. 

Treating the button/pipe cleaner combo like a brad, put it through the small slit on the felt cuff and splay on back to secure. 

Step 3: Decorate!

Now for the fun part! We used sticky-backed felt shape cut-outs and glitter glue. Go to town with embellishment! You can use: glitter glue pens, sticky-backed felt shape cut-outs, buttons, foamies, fabric markers, ribbon, pretty much anything in your scrap bins! If you don't have sticky-backed felt you can just cut shapes out of regular felt and use white glue to adhere them. 

 Selah Grace wanted some pom-pom ribbon on hers so I hot-glued it for her. 

 Happy girl with her party cuff!

This project is really simple, very cheap, and can be modified to fit almost any theme or age. Try making gladiator warrior cuffs or birthday cuffs with numbers for their new age. Older tweens cans layer ribbons, lace, and buttons to create fun fashion cuffs for a more mature look. 

Mamas, try layering together some eyelet lace, lace, and a victorian-looking button for a mama version. Or a man's tie with simple button for a sophisticated look. More mama cuff tutorials to come. In the meantime, check out this one: victorian cuff . 

Have fun creating! Can't wait to see them!

Josiah the Inquisitive

What do all of these items have in common? 

I've taken them all out of Josiah's mouth! 

Moral of the story: no matter how much you babyproof your house, there is always the great wide world that is not babyproof friendly. I've learned to be vigilant and pre-emptive to dangers, but there's always more. The finger sweep has become my best friend and most used baby tool. But mostly, I've learned to relax a little about Josiah eating bugs. At least they're organic. 

Little Girl 3rd Birthday Presents.

What do you get a 3 year old girl for her birthday? Here are a few of Selah's favorite birthday gifts. Our family likes to get a few practical and fun things and at least one experience as presents. The bubble machine and playdough have already offered HOURS of play. I can't wait for mommy-and-me swim classes this summer. And let's just say I'm more than a little jealous of her pink glitter Toms! I've said it before: cute, comfy, and philanthropic. What more do you want from a shoe?

Life Is Good Today, Life is Good Today...

This morning the Zach Brown Band has been singing in my head, "Toes in the water, "toes" in the sand, not a worry in the world, cold beer in my hand, life is good  today, life is good today!"

The bougainvillea on this little whitewashed beach house makes me happy. 

We met some friends down at Mission Beach today; a grubby but wonderful place. Us mamas talked and laughed and lived vicarious dream-land lives by ogling the backyard beach patios along the boardwalk. The toddlers ran barefoot in the sand and grass and learned the importance of not flinging shovels of sand into the wind and staying on the correct side of that yellow line along the boardwalk.




The babies ate rice cakes covered in sand and pretzels covered in sand and a few more straight-up handfuls of sand for good measure.

Baby Kate and Baby Josiah with Baby Hands. 

Stare challenging his sand-soaked pretzel stick. 

Life is good on a Friday morning in May at Mission Bay. 

A single file line of a hundred pelicans kept flying up and down the coast line single file with impressive synchronization. There was even a pod of dolphins playing in the wave break close to shore for us to ooh and aah over.

A little bit of quality time with friends. A little bit of sunshine soaking into my skin and making my face warm with freckles. A little bit of sand on chubby baby toes. These are the little bursts of happy to my everydayness.

Circus Baby

We aren't too into generalizations around here, but the phrase "All BOY!" is finding it's way out of my mouth a lot lately. Josiah spent about two weeks crawling then started walking at nine months. Walking is old news and he's in a rush to find more adventurous mobility. Wobbly walks have been traded in for full-on running, dancing, scaling furniture, and dangling from tables mid air by the shear strength of his baby biceps.

Granted, we're pretty relaxed about letting our kiddos roam our house. They're free range. But I don't expect to find this...

Standing ON his Baby Einstein Jumper

 or this...

Racing back and forth across the couch. Yes, he stacks pillows to get a boost up. 

 or this...

Joining sister on her bed to play. 

 or this...

Standing up on the seat of his trike. 

I think next week we'll enter him into the circus!

Back to the Land of the Technologically Active!

Living without a computer feels a little what I would imagine walking without a big toe feels like; awkward and unbalanced.

Thanks to a husband who itemizes our tax return in such detail that we owe $0, thanks to a generous tax return, and thanks to Apple's teacher discounts we now have a beautiful snazzy new computer!

So, let's get the highlights from the past few weeks!

1. Pityriasis Rosea - AKA a GNARLY skin infection most common in the geriatric world that our baby boy contracted. Resulting in rushed trips to urgent care, a leprous looking rash, and a swollen face. Besides being a little itchy Josiah wasn't fazed at ALL and with a little benadryl and steroids he morphed back into that beautiful face we know.

2. The Bike Accident - Nate got hit by a car riding his bike to work two week ago. The car was turning left out of a cross street without looking and Nate couldn't brake in time to miss the car. He hit the front headlight of the SUV and did a Hollywood roll across the hood and onto the ground, back onto his feet like a stunt man. He wasn't really hurt at all, MIRACULOUSLY! The cops came, gave him a ride home, he changed clothes, hopped in the car, and made it to work on time. Meanwhile the wife (me) was sleeping and didn't know anything about it until later that day....let's just say if any more near death experiences happen I will be notified immediately. 

3. Pacifiers Are Not Forever - Selah Grace went cold turkey yesterday off her pacifiers! Yesterday was her 3rd birthday along with Josiah's 1st (yes, they share a birthday). She picked out a special pink box to put her pacis in and today we "mailed" them to Baby Raelyn Denver, who was born this weekend. (So really we had a goodbye paci ceremony and put the little box in the mail together and I'm just going to retrieve it tonight, but she thinks it's happening!)

4. Birthdays! - Our kiddos share a May 1st birthday and we threw them their first joint birthday party! It had a POP theme. Yes, I know this is a baby shower theme but it was fun as a birthday theme too. We played in the backyard, enjoyed a little too much sun and way too much sugar and laughed together as we watched our kiddos run and giggle with excitement!