Playing Dress-up: a Christmas craft

For our 2012 Christmas, I had a lot of crafts I wanted to do. By far the biggest was to create a dress-up closet for my kids. As mcNugget got a bit more into dress up this year, and I saw all the potential hand-me-downs from my sister, I wanted to get a head of it all. It was also a project for my own excitement, really - getting back to my love of reinventing furniture and doing house projects that make me so happy. Plus, at the end of the day, I like to show my love through crafts and hard work... those are the gifts that have always meant the most to me: the gift of time means more than buying things.
So I went shopping. There was a fun wine rack at Homegoods that I was considering at first; it was $75+ though and I don't have any experience with working in metal. Plus the cabinet wasn't closed at the top, so it would need to go in the playroom and out of view until we re-re-purposed it into something else.

The next day I found this at my favorite thrift store, which was marked at $35, but I had a 25% off coupon. They said someone came in earlier looking at it, but they had trouble opening it since the top closures were stuck. Bonus? It closes and helps with hiding all the wonderful mess kids bring with them. I always tell them, it's alright to make a mess as long as you clean it up! Plus I LOVED the book door pull, and it was the perfect size - about 4' X 2' X 2'. SOLD.


The staff hoisted it in my car (it JUST fit) and the husband put it in basement for me. I pried off the closures with a flathead screwdriver - they just popped right off. The doors had swollen over time, and didn't need the latch to keep shut.

The style fit with our dining room furniture but really was not attention grabbing for a kid. You can also see all the scratches it had from years of use, so I picked up three Valspar brand paint samples ($3 each at Lowes) to refinish the doors and outside. Sanding was the worst part, but fortunately I just had to rough up the finish - not remove it. The first night took me about 2 hours. I primed the whole outside (1 hour) the following evening, then sanded lightly and painted my two coats of paint the second night (2 hours).

I decided to put a clear coat of polyurethane on it to protect it from the kids scratches, banging, drawings, and whatever else they did to it. That took another hour or so on a fourth night, and was something I had never done before. I was worried because our basement was pretty cold that night, and the poly seemed to have little tiny bubbles in it -but when I checked on it two days later, it looked great! I'm sure another coat would do it some good, but with lots of other crafts left to do I wanted to finish it up.
The last thing was to hang a clothes bar ($15), contact paper the inside ($2.50) and re-attach the front hinge. Since they would much more likely scratch up the inside where they can reach I didn't bother painting it; and contact paper can be redone cheaply and quickly if they ruin it somehow. I was also lucky the walls were really thick so the screws holding the clothes bar didn't go through the other side. The only thing I would change is I wish the middle shelf was movable to give more height to the long dresses. And maybe it is for someone a little more keen on cutting and drilling and all that - but I worked within the confines of the existing structure.

For Christmas morning, we loaded it with some of their existing play clothes and hats, ten cent hangers from a thrift store, an existing bin for things that didn't get hung up, and all the purses and costume jewelry they played with (which was previously all over the house). The other family members gave some new costumes, masks, and a doctor's bag as Christmas gifts since they knew what we were planning.

When they get older, maybe one of them will use it to hold their books or other stuff in their home. Or maybe they'll let me keep it :) I really didn't want to banish this awesome new piece of furniture to somewhere only they would see it. It's currently the first thing you see when you walk in our house.

Happy 9 Months Bossman

Written on 6/30/12. Posted on 7/30/12. 

Bossman,

At 9 months, you're trying so hard to keep up with your sister. You're much quieter than she was, but much more physical. You're always on the look out for her, and diaper changes have become wrestling matches to keep you still enough to change. You're favorite toys are anything that makes music or moves (think big push toys, toy pianos, etc.).


You are incredibly social, and a real people watcher. You have the best smile still - and your eyes are a mix between dark brown and grey on the outsides. Its very hard to tell what color they are - or guess what color they will be. You have 5 teeth now, and working on a few more we think. The first two came in the bottom middle one day after another when you were 6 months. The next came in next to that when you were 7 months, and at 8 months you got the top right and bottom left.

Your eczema is finally getting under control!! Its a balance, and you still get the flare ups on your face every now and then, but we have seen days when your skin is completely clear and itch free! I can't tell you how happy that makes me.The cloth diapers are working so well - and I'm terribly, terribly happy that your skin feels soft and wonderful again. I hate to think you were ever in pain.

We started solids several months ago, and you're appetite has been hard to keep up with since. You're eating bananas, chicken and all sorts of vegetable - sweet potatoes, cauliflower, mixed vegetables, squash. We are considering if you have an allergy to either milk or strawberries though (you had some hives the other morning after eating a few infant yogurt freeze-dried drops), but we have to see if that's what it was or something else.

You started clapping your hands and blowing raspberries a few weeks ago, but the biggest news is that you're now mobile and chasing after everything. The week before your eight month birthday, you learned how to crawl. That was three weeks ago, and last week you mastered how to pull your self up to standing. Now if we hold your hands you try to walk around the room. Walking has become your favorite mode of transportation, because you still crawl with a limp (you don't put your right leg down!). Between that and your zombie noises, you're a hilarious little love.

You've spent a few nights where you've slept through the night, but wet diapers, gas, or your teeth still bother you and you wake up most nights at least once around 1 or 2. Its a HUGE change though, and we're all glad for it. We've just started keeping you in your crib at night, so we're trying to build a good relationship with you and your sleep habits. You're still my morning snuggle buddy before everyone gets up - and most mornings after you've been fed, its like the world is a perfect place. The smiles you give could make the birds sing; I know it makes my heart sing every day.

hugs & love,

mama

21 Already?

Written on 4/13/12. Posted on 7/27/12. 

Baby girl,

Happy Friday the 13th! You're 21 months today, and looking (and sounding) ever more like a two year old.

Right after my last post, you started to recognize the letter M, which to my delight - means you can now spell your name if we ask you each letter in that order! You have started to chime in a little with songs, and 3 word phrases are so last month. You've even started to command us with things like "Coat Off!" when you want us to stay with you.  When we forgot a washcloth for the tub, you came running back, opened a drawer, searched for the yellow wash cloth, found it and ran back to your daddy in the bathroom. It made my heart grow two times in size.

You're so very physical with everything you do - your personality (and your accident-prone nature) seems to take after your daddy. You're growing in front of our eyes; I remember the first time I saw you navigate the toddler slide on your own. You're getting so big! You're bumped and bruised and scraped almost every day now from that rough and tumble life style - but you're also still very gentle with your brother. This morning after your hand got squeezed in your crib bars you took it out surprised and I saw you give your arm a kiss to make it feel better. It was unbelievably cute.

At school, you love your arts and crafts, and get along nicely with all the kids now. Your teacher is always writing us of how much you helped her, or held another young girls hand when she was trying to walk.  You know whose teachers belong to your brother, and you can tell me the other children's names and which parent belongs to which child - even for some who aren't in your class. You like to ask your brother's teachers where the babies are, and where he is if you see them in the hallway. You're just so good with him.

You don't mind me feeding your brother anymore, and explain to me that the bottles in the fridge are milk for him. You laugh hilariously when you see him being fed solids (and as he spits them out), and you're always helping me get toys for him (even if they aren't always the best size).
 
You and I have gone to swim classes for the past month at the YMCA, and you LOVE it. The classes are 30 minutes every Saturday morning for 8 weeks - and I have to say its some of my favorite time of the week. I love seeing you have so much fun, listen, explore and learn. The ladies at the pool call you "the bathing beauty". You do all the gestures with the "if you're happy and you know it", "wheels on the bus", "humpty dumpty" and "goodbye - never swim alone" songs - and are really good at getting yourself out of the pool. You don't like to swim on your back yet; that's just something we'll have to work on this summer!

All in all, you're just a very impressive little girl. You're social, physical, artistic, and though we're a little biased, we can see how beautiful and intelligent you are now and how even more amazingly beautiful and intelligent you'll be when you're older. 

Squeezes and smooches,

Mama

Happy Half Year For Our Boss!

Happy six months boss-man!


The past two months you've really started getting a personality - and its a happy one. You have found your voice and  your laugh - so between your sister and you - car rides are rarely a quiet event anymore. You've also found your feet - which are always in your mouth, along with anything you can reach (blankets, stuffed animals, or anyone's fingers if they're not looking). You're constantly reaching and pulling things towards you now - including attempts at my food and drinks. I forgot how fast babies can be!

You smile all the time; on the changing table, when we wake up in the morning, when we sing, or when you're in your jumper. You giggle at your sister sometimes now - and at my singing as well. You love being tickled, tossed or squeezed. You are constantly watching your sister - who is always in your face, rocking you, or giving you toys and blankets when you cry. You don't even mind when she squeezes you in a bear hug;  you're just so easy going.

At school you're also incredibly social with everyone and have no problems with tummy-time or taking a nap. You're just enjoying soaking it all in I think. You're not afraid of anyone yet, and we hope to keep you as social as your sister is. She's definitely your best pal though - and you can pick her, me and your daddy out from the crowd.

We tried rice cereal for the first time last month and while you ate it, you weren't a big fan. We're hoping that you'll like it at 6 months now. And maybe, despite the research, it will fill you up longer to get you to sleep longer... a tired mama can dream!
You still never spit up - but you're incredibly drooley and gassy. You still wake up at 12 or 1 and 3 or 4 every night to eat. While I'm eager for you to sleep longer at night, I still love that you-and-me time together. Unfortunately we've had a terrible virus - or perhaps series of them - for the past several weeks which have given you a cold, a cough and a horrible rash. Your poor skin (which has always been dry) has gone through the wringer. Despite all that you're still such a happy guy; hopefully now that spring is here we'll all be a little bit healthier. 

Thanks for all your morning smiles and late night cuddles baby boy. You're so very, very amazing.

Hugs and Love,

Your Mama

Love my springtime girl

Baby girl- there simply aren't enough photos of you in this world- to me every movement you make is amazing. Thanks for bringing that sunshine into my life.

Happy 20 Months Baby Girl!

My sweet mcNugget,

You're so big. Two nights ago, I got my first "nite-nite mama" that had me over the moon. I'm telling you I could have run a marathon powered by those three words. You started linking together several words the past two months; the first was "whered it go?", which we hear nearly 20 times a day. We didn't believe it when your teacher wrote us to say you had said that about the FedEx driver you were watching out the window who went into the back of his truck to get a package... then we heard it ourselves and your daddy and I laughed and cheered for you. This month, you've developed that into a game where you hide things behind your back or below the wall of the tub or under a scarf, ask "whered it go?" and when and then surprise us by bringing it out. I can't believe how much you're doing and saying all on your own now! Other phrases you like to use are "bye-bye house/school/Cindy (your teacher)" you even said "love you" to your brother the other night.

This month we also transitioned from a high-chair to the dining table (complete with duct-tape phone books as your barely-needed booster). We're working on expanding your menu of what you'll eat, but since the past few weeks have had us all cooped up with a horrible cold, we haven't pushed it much. You did have your very first Taco Bell taco (and liked it when we got you to eat it!).

And the big deal for us was that just after your 18 month checkup we gave up the binky. We haven't looked back since, and amazingly enough you had no issues giving it up. Only a month later did you think to ask for it on occasion, but we're still binky free after a month and a half.

Unfortunately with all your development comes a lot of "testing" and "communicating" which we're working through. You now understand when I go to feed your brother that I can't hold you, so you shout "Mine" at me and want me to hold you. Last month you were pushing at school and hitting at home more, so we have been redirecting, spending lots of "mommy-and-me" time and even introduced you to time outs (though only for about 20-30 seconds) so we can all take a breather. This past week seems to have been a turning point with those types of communication and we are seeing a lot easier behavior.

You and I have been cuddling a lot more at night lately, where you request your books or songs or puzzels. You've started helping me say your prayers for who we love, and you're still a fantastic sleeper - but you get torn between being exhausted and wanting to stay up and play (so you reach for your crib, then whine at us when we go to leave). You don't like it when we leave you pretty much anywhere, and realize a lot of times when we go to a new place or to Gammy's that there is a chance of it, so you're clingy (what happened to my Miss Independant?). It sometimes takes a while, but you're usually quite comfortable on your own after we get settled. Two weeks ago we even started your first mommy-and-me swim lessons at the Y and you LOVE it. You're not afraid of anything!

Our next development seems to be singing songs and learning our letters / numbers. You can already identify an A, I, C and O. You can repeat the whole alphabet after me, letter by letter, when you feel like it (I often start and get a "No"). And even with that word, you wouldn't imagine how much I love your voice!! You sometimes chime in when we sing certain songs (like Row, Row, Row Your Boat and Old McDonald) - and make requests on some days ("Bus!" for Wheels on the Bus") and I can't wait for you to start singing along. If you hear If You're Happy And You Know It you automatically clap, stomp and lift your hands in "Horray" without stopping what else you're doing.

Thank you for these smiles you bring to us each day baby girl. You are smart, precious and beautiful; I love you with every cell of my body.

hugs & love,
mama

McCutie Update

I took a bit of an accidental hiatus over the past two months. Mostly due to the craziness of the holidays, going back to work, and managing two kids when I'm home. I have to say I am egg-sauce-ted at the end of the day and go to bed at 9 or 10 every night. But, on the good side, I'm absolutely LOVING being a mom of two; there has been nothing more wonderful in my life than the gift of becoming a mom!

So here's an update for McNugget @ 18 months:

Dear Baby Girl,

You've grown up so much since becoming a big sister. Your vocabulary now includes all the animal sounds ("moo", "gobble gobble", "neigh", "who who", "ahh-ahh") and body parts we can think of (head, knees, eyes, cheeks, toes) , the words "please" ("pease") and "thank you" ("dando"). You know everyone's name "mama", "dada", and "duunda" of course; but also "troder", "am-e" (gammy), "juju", "alie" (valerie), "car" (sean), "poppop" and "ninnie" are all favorites too.

And for those words you're not saying just yet, you're still expressing yourself ("love you" is a blown kiss followed up by a real kiss and hug) and pointing correctly to almost everything we ask you to. You could finish the shape sorter at 13 or 14 months, and follow rather complex directions (please put mommy's shoes in the middle basket) - and know which bins your toys are supposed to go in (cars go in one bucket, balls in another).

Now at 18 months and 25 lbs, you've been a pro at climbing on chairs and up and down steps (with us by your side of course!) and are starting to get into trouble. The day before your brother's christening we had to take you to the ER for your first set of stitches (you fell onto the bottom step and put your tooth through your lip).

You've officially hit your jealous stage, and are looking to us for extra attention. You have started hitting and pushing a bit, but never maliciously - only for our attention. (After hitting, you always immediately smile and stroke our hand / face and say "niiiiiiice").  But you're absolutly crazy about your brother when its just the two of you - or when you see him at school (and he's pretty sweet on you as well!)

You're starting to get a little crazy about asking for the binky ("ginky"), so we'll be trying to get rid of it in the next few weeks/months. Most of our evenings are spent coloring, stacking blocks, reading, wrestling and playing with your cars. You do love to help out with vacuuming and dusting as well - so we may have to invest in a play broom soon!

Christmas was so much fun, it actually took us DAYS to open up all your toys. You're just crazy about Elmo, though you know all his friends too, so we had a lot of fun picking out elmo pjs, elmo plates and cups, elmo slippers and a new elmo toothbrush for you. And you were the flower girl in your Uncle David / Aunt Ninny's New Year's Eve Wedding - where you completely stole the show walking down the aisle by yourself.



At school you've started to play dress up and use the play kitchen, and in general are excelling at almost everything we put in front of you. You've known your shapes for months, so we've starting to learn your colors and letters the past few weeks. You love when I sing songs to you (itsy bitsy spider, ABC's, and Old McDonald) and can even do some of the motions with songs like "if you're happy and you know it" or "teddy bear, teddy bear"). We've also been working on you getting yourself dressed / undressed. You can pull your socks, shoes, and shirt off if we get it started for you; we're working on the pants now!

Night time is still pretty easy; you let us know when you're tired by twirling your hair. Daddy gives you a bath after dinner, you get a few books read and we say your prayers to you, and then we rock you for a few minutes until you point to your crib.

Last week you wanted me to paint your eyes with one of my makeup brushes, so of course I love to "paint" your eyelids (don't worry, the brush doesn't have any make up on it!) cheeks, and nose as we get ready in the morning. You just love the feeling of the brush and try to peek with your eyelids closed so you can see what I'm doing. As you've aged you've started to look more like me (even though you still have blond hair and blue eyes) and I am so excited about that. And when ever I wear something sparkly (like a shirt with sequins or a nice necklace), you like to touch it gently and say "oooohh". It is so wonderful to have a girl.

Those are the moments I love best; when its still me and you snuggling or playing together. You're so very wonderful and bring us so much joy everyday.

And here's an update for McMuffin @ 4 months:


Dear Boss-man:
The day you were born showed me how much a heart can expand in one day. And every day since then has been another in the best chapter of my life. Before 2 months you were rolling over and smiling. At two months we heard you laugh. The doctor says you physically are more than a month a head of schedule - with the most amazing head control from the day you were born and tummy time at daycare exceeding 50 minutes now (spread out over several sessions each day of course)! At 3 months you started to stand on us when we held you and play in your jumper. That's also when you really started "talking" a lot more to us.

For as physical as you are, you watch your sister and everyone else a lot more than your sister did at your age. We even find you going out of your way to watch the motion of the TV whenever its on in a room. You're still not keen on your binky (which may help us get rid of them for your sister), and you like stuffed animals and blankets much more than she ever did.


You giggle when I "bite" your belly and rarely spit up. You're not completely sleeping through the night yet, but we certainly have gotten quite a lot more sleep than in your first and second months - somedays you can now do stretches from 10 - 4:30 (usually followed by a few days of 10, 2, & 5 am feedings). You're still breastfeeding, and sleep besides our bed in a pack-n-play. While you're still what I'd call a good sleeper, our next goal for you is to help you sleep through the night.


You such a happy baby. You never cry unless you're hungry, though you're not quite happy when people touch your head (no hats for you!), and sometimes get scared at really loud noises (picture wide eyes, quivering lip, and a wail of a cry!). Bath time makes you really calm (unless of course we scrub your head) and you love the feeling of the water. Diaper changes are also a favorite of yours- I think its all the individual attention and eye contact. You can hold things like a rattle and are always trying to put things in your mouth (which also makes you drool a lot the past few weeks!) I imagine we'll have to start rice cereal soon (but I'm not ready for that, so we'll wait as long as possible!)

Like your sister you have my rosy cheeks and are middle of the road for weight (15.5 lbs). Also like her you're above average in height and headsize! To me your best features are your eyes and your smile. I can't get enough of either of them. You are the most beautiful boy I've ever seen - and you look so much like your daddy, though you remind me in certain photos of my own dad.


When we're at home, you spend most of your time with me, and I can't get enough of you (even at 3 am!) I love that one-on-one time providing for you, and am not ready for you to grow up so fast. While with your sister I've been excited about each milestone and anxious to see 'what comes next', I'm a little sad to see yours get here so fast.

Thanks for showing me how easy it is to share my heart - and for being the best little man a mom could ask for.

Love you both so much; squeezes and open mouth kisses.

Mama

October catchup- The Last

Halloween being October 31st, it's the last of my October catchup series. I hope to not have to do another series like that now that we're on a bit of a schedule (as I'm writing this, I'm pumping while rocking mcMuffin in a bouncy at my feet. He's 7 weeks old today, though you won't see this post for another week).

Anyhow, this is the project that took up most of my (very limited) free time in October. Halloween costumes!! I believe I only ever had one store bought costume - and how silly of me to have wasted money on that!! I'm bound and determined that my kids will have a homemade costume every year that they want one - hopefully as long as they trick-or-treat! I really love making them (here's mcNugget's from 2010).

The hardest part was deciding what they should be. Obviously they had to go as a set - I only have a couple of years for them to let me do that! So this year we decided (after considering Pebbles & BamBam) on Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Caterpillar and the beautiful butterfly at the end of the book.

Truth be told, I got the idea from the Pottery Barn kid's magazine, but like I said - I wanted them to only have homemade costumes. And I think I saw only one other kid at their school who had a homemade costume (he was a John Deere tractor). Now they certainly have adorable store bought costumes - there was a set of twins in her class who went as garden gnomes (FREAKING AWESOME). But like the prom, no one wants to show up in the same outfit someone else has.

So here are the 2011 costumes for the babes. The caterpillar was easy - it's just a sack that i stuffed the front of and stitched two lines across. There is a lining to hold in the stuffing, and to make things easy, remember to stuff it and stitch the front before sewing the back on. I used leftover fabric I had and sized it to one of his sleep-sacks - at that age they are tiny enough to use almost any fabric - you could even use a pillow case. The hats are the same for each kid - just some stretchy red fabric, white fleece for the eyes painted with yellow and green fabric paint and stitched on. The hat absolutely was the key to these costumes.

The butterfly was the more time consuming costume - but certainly easy - and no sewing! The basis was a yellow sweatshirt and brown leggings. I made the tutu with 2 yards of tulle and a leftover ribbon we had. To make a no-sew tutu, just take a length of ribbon to tie comfortably around the child's waist and any color tulle you want. Cut the tulle into strips about 1" wide. The length of your strips folded in half will determine how long your skirt will be (the shorter ones will stick out more). Then fold each strip in half so the ends are even- lay the ribbon on top, and pull the two loose ends around the ribbon and back through the tulle strip to make a knot. It takes about 30 minutes to make the skirt.

The wings are 1" foam that cut to shape for the four sections of the wing.  I then covered them in leftover white fabric (using spray adhesive) and then painted with the fabric paint since I wanted the wings to be as close to Eric Carle's original so you could tell what they were. Lastly I safety pinned the wings together and then safety pinned two elastic bands to the wings and the shoulders of her shirt to keep them on (an older kid would definitely keep them on if they were just sewn on there... and you could of course paint on top of those pre-formed wings they sell everywhere (or even make them out of wire hangers and nylon stockings) - I just had leftover foam from an upholstery project.

The best part is that for anyone who'se seen Eric Carle's illustrations - the costumes don't have to be perfect, and that's the beauty of his drawings. Even in his butterfly drawing, the wings weren't the same, so you have a lot of room for artistic interpretation. Both costumes together cost under $15 and was done in 3 of mcMuffin's naps  over 3 days. The fabric paint was on sale in a 20 pack from Joanne's for $9.90 - and the tulle and elastic came to about $5 with a coupon. I also loved that these costumes were so warm for the kids. It gets cold here and with the sweatshirt, winter hats, and basically a sleep sack, my kids were snuggly-buggly warm this year.

October Catchup - the sixth

The very same day we painted our first pumpkin with mcNugget - we also built our first snowman. We had about 4" for mcMuffin's first snowfall - but he stayed nice and warm and dry inside with Daddy while mommy and mcNugget went out to play. It was absolutely perfect snowman building snow. If she had been older I'm sure there would have been snow forts and snowball fights. Soon enough.

Trotter wasn't too keen on being outside for very long

mcNugget and the snowman that was just her size!

October Catchup- the fifth

This year was a lot of fun with our pumpkin preparations; McNugget painted her very own pumpkin. We taped over the eyes and mouth - but the tape pulled away, so we had to do a little clean up and "artistic additions" to her pumpkin. It was a real team effort between her and Daddy. :)

In honor of Halloween, she thought it would be good to dress as Charlie Chaplin...

All done!!

October Catchup - the third

For a special day out with mommy, we visited the Please Touch Museum for the first time. It has got to be one of my favorite places I've ever gone - after seeing how happy it made my girl. I have never been anywhere that was so perfect for kids and families! Safe zones for different age groups, family bathrooms big enough for strollers, kid level hand dryer outside of the water play area... and best of all kids running everywhere so you're not afraid of them a) breaking anything and b) bothering anyone else. There were even moms breastfeeding whenever they needed to- not in some hidden away corner or dressing room stall, which was great for mcMuffin and me. I'm telling you, it was love at first sight- for both of us.

Here are a few shots of the big hit items; the third photo is just after her first carousel ride. They had the piano from the movie BIG - and my favorite display was for "Alice and Wonderland" - complete with a life-size tea party and a movable flamingo/playing card croquet set.  I can't wait to go back!!