Accoutrements

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Jumping the Shark

S U M M E R.

 

We finally got around to making hula hoops. I've been wanting to do this for about, oh, four years, but the girl never really showed much interest. Now, along with many other crafty things
(see: GLUE GUNS), she is all about it.

 

They were super easy to make - poly pipe cut to 10', joined with a pipe coupler, and decorated
with tape. C'est tout! These are so much better than junky toy-store hoops which NEVER stay up. They have more heft, and a larger circumference. Best of all, these, I can actually manage to keep going! When my daughter said I have "kid hips" I took it to mean my hips bear the marks of carrying two children. (They do). She meant I could hula hoop like a kid. Sweet! :)

Saw this easy cardboard shark idea on pinterest to keep the boy occupied while we
taped and hula-hooped. I think he thought it was a dinosaur? Whichever. CHOMP.

 

It was one of those great summer evenings in which the TV didn't even get turned on.

Love that....

 

Moon Shade

I once read that every good design needs a touch of black, somewhere. Check. Got it. But what about navy? Only recently have I come to love black's dim blue cousin. I've been eager to paint the builder-oak orange cabinets in our kitchen, and was toying with a green, maybe a turquoise. I decided to give nautical navy a try. I love the choice. Here's a before and after of the island. (So far I've ONLY done the island. It was a huge time commitment -- two coats of primer, two coats of Moon Shade from Lowes.)

 

 

Knobs from Anthropologie, pulls from Target. They go well together, if I do say so myself.

 

I also sewed up some baskets on the cheap out of navy-striped pillowcase ticking. I made five of these for the price of one similar store-bought canvas basket. (It had rope pulls, which I may or may not add later.) I numbered them with a sharpie (in navy!) just for fun. My daughter thought I bought these, which is the ultimate compliment of any homemade project, n'est-ce pas?

 

More on the horizon!

Memories and Mess (Moon Sand)

I guess there are two types of people in the world -- those who look at this and see memories in the making (and learning and textural play and sibling bonding....) and those who simply see the "mess."

Moon Sand: 4 C flour + 1/2 C canola oil + little hands

Dreamy...

 

We made her a dream catcher, to ward off the bad dreams....

Growing...

Needed a growth chart for the kiddos - PRONTO - as they are growing by leaps and bounds. I saw the idea for a wood plank painted to look like a ruler (Pottery Barn, Pinterest), but why spend $89 or even $5 when I could make one for free on the side of our game room bookshelf?

 

The curtains hiding all the board games and craft supplies are from IKEA. The bookshelves, surprisingly, were not. I think those pre-date the Round Rock store and came from Office Depot or some such place.... 

Whole Wide World

My grandma always used to say, "I love you more than anything in the whole wide world." And I remember my tiny five-year-old brain trying to process that. More than ANYTHING? "What about W-- my cousin." She'd smile, "I love you both more than anything in the whole wide world." I was always a cynic I suppose....

I made these mixed media art pieces to hang on the wall outside the kids' bathroom (mixed media as in I used two canvases that my daughter painted on four years ago [shhhh...], a map from Wal-Mart, Mod Podge, repositionable posterboard letters, and spraypaint.) I like the idea of each of them entering the hallway after bath and reading that and thinking, she loves ME more anything in the whole world, even my sibling? :)

fathers...

It was an especially tearful day. Never gets easier, especially when I know how he would cherish his grandchildren....

Nerd Onesie

Done with a freezer paper stencil:

Dog Pillow

T4's favorite word/sound is "WOOF." He says it every time he sees a real dog, a picture of a dog, or a dog on TV. I just HAD to make this pillow for him.
It passed the test when he saw it and said, what else, "Woof!"

The one in which I return to blogging...

There has been so much going on in our lives that I've completely abandoned this poor little blog! It still lives strong, however, just hiding out somewhere in the far reaches of my mind.... In the short hours after everyone is tucked away in their beds (or, as is often the case, sprawled out in mine) and I think about all the wonders that happened on any given day, I still have a nagging urge to jot it all down here. I just rarely get to it preferring, instead, oh I don't know, SLEEP. Or cleaning....

There are some highlights as these little creatures get bigger and ever bigger still that I have to record for records sake:

This girl.... My gosh she is so tall and stunning and I just cannot believe how her mind works. She was always such a clever little "problem solver" which is ironic, because, in her own dramatic way, EVERYTHING is a problem. Ha! The best recent example was when we were people-watching at a stoplight and noticed a man in a full suit behind the wheel of a U-Haul truck. "Why do you supposed he's so dressed up?" I asked. Her quick answer: "I bet he's going to prom and all the decorations are in the back." Okaaaay.....
 

She wanted her hair cut short. I thought this was a great idea for summer and for ease of getting ready in the morning. Plus, she would complain every time I went to play with her ringlets! I've always wanted curls and envy them. She was so cute to think that nobody would recognize her with short hair.

 

The boy. (His hair-do care of "sissy.") He follows her around non-stop and cracks up the most for and at her. He copies her motions (especially the finger to the mouth for "shhh") and when he wakes up in the morning, he makes a bee-line for her bedroom door, which he opens with ease....

Such a little stinker! It is a bit like fire and ice, these two. They are complete and total opposites in every way. For all of her intensity, he is so laid back. For all her screams and tears, he is giggles and smiles. He doesn't mind at all being splashed or wearing socks or sitting in the grass. She freaked out over all that "sensory" stuff. Still does, to some extent. He nursed like there was no tomorrow. She went on strike (early on) and never went back. Black/white. Girl/boy. He sure has filled all of our lives with such joy that we didn't even know possible....

And, one final, story:

 

I never would have expected the Olive Garden to stir up a sentimental moment in me, but it was K's choice for her end-of-first-grade dinner, and dammit if the tears didn't well up: 

 

There were a few different parties there of high-school graduates in their caps and gowns, joined by their extended families, and I remembered going there with my family after graduation -- TWENTY YEARS AGO. 2-0. I haven't thought about that dinner in years. I was once that girl and the head of the table explaining to her grandma what all the ribbons around her neck meant. I once had all that love surrounding me and shared that MOMENT -- one of many moments that passed by unnoticed, until BAM 20 years later you look back and think: That was it. That was my moment. (Why wasn't I paying more attention?!) 

I looked around our table, and congratulated my girl on finishing the first grade with an excellent report card, ordered her her very own dessert, and I marvelled that THESE are my moments now. (I have to sneak them all out of my mind and into this blog!) Also of note: it was in an Olive Garden about three years ago that K counted the four chairs at our table and said, "We need one more person in our family to fill that chair! It's like someone is missing." !!! Indeed, there was:

 

 

Just Hangin'

I finally made something for the house!



It took a while - cutting the material, sewing the channel on top for the ribbon, printing the letters, tracing the letters on freezer paper, cutting the freezer paper, ironing the freezer paper onto the fabric, mixing the paint with fabric medium (not sure why?), painting, then (the hardest part) threading the ribbon into the bunting. Oh, and hanging. With nails. With an 8 month old under foot....

Eight Months! (But, really, 6 months in this picture. That's how behind I am!)

For the girl, another time consuming project, especially because she wanted to "help." Sigh....    

It is super cute though....and visible when you reach the top of the stairs, which I love. :)
Finally, I surprised her with this in her closet. VOILA! Decals!

Let the Wild Rumpus Begin!

To say things have been busy is an incredible understatement. We bought a house, THE house we've been waiting for. Then, we put our house on the market two weeks later with fingers crossed and baited breath, hoping that the timing would work out in our favor and that we would NOT have to pay two mortgages. I was floored when the first person who came to look at our hose the DAY THE LISTING WENT LIVE put an offer in. Then, the second couple who came to see it made an offer. We had a bidding war! It was so thrilling and nerve-racking. We had to put all our trust in our agent to pick the right offer/credit/timing/candidate. Luckily, we didn't even need an open house. The showings were hard enough on me -- wrangling two kids and two dogs and finding a place to go for an hour or more with only an hour's notice. I am so thankful I only had to do that 3 times alone. In addition to the inconvenience of showings, I felt like I was living in crazy town with all the boxes and disarray of trying to LIVE in a STAGED home....Oh, and then we had a house guest (hi mom!) and a birthday party at the house (what WAS I thinking?) and the start of the school year at a school in the new 'hood and a teething baby. Luckily all those things went off without a hitch.

Then, we moved into the new house. Slowly.....over a couple of weeks. I am more of the "rip-it-off-quick-like-a-band-aid" type so this kind of hurt. I am still not 100% settled -- that band-aid is still dangling by a thread. I will consider it completely gone when I start hanging art on the walls. And, oh, the walls........ (all the band-aid colored walls)!

This is our game room, the pièce de résistance of the house. Our play room. Romper room. Office, guest sewing room. Artist's loft, library, and wild rumpus room. The space I've always wanted for our family. A room to call our own....

Canvassing

With very little time for crafting or sewing these days, I have to be very choosy with what I set out to make. Do I have the materials on hand? Can it be completed during nap time? Is it USEFUL? That last one is so important as my house is filling to the brim faster than an overflowing toilet. When I saw these canvas sacks on The Sleepy Time Gal, I knew they were the perfect project for me. I made five in one day and could have kept on going, but I forced myself to stop. It is July 4th after all and I should do something more...patriotic. Although, I did have visions of Betsy Ross as I was hand sewing the bottom flaps in....

I labeled mine a little differently -- I wanted the writing on the rims of the bins instead of the bottoms, and since I'm not very precise patient with paint, I used a fine-tip Sharpie marker. I traced some removable vinyl letters and added a "flourish" at the end. I like the retro look it created. Very Schoolhouse Rocks.

I left one bin blank for the girl and gave her some fabric markers to decorate it as she wished. After all, it is a blank canvas!

Almost enough to make me want to go camping

Tiny Clothes

Made some baby pants....

HAMMER TIME!!!

It wasn't long before the request for doll pants came in :)

May the Fourth Be With You

Welcome to the world, James Turner Coats the Fourth!

The highlights:

-- The epidural DID NOT WORK. Not fully, anyway. I was ready to push before any numbness started. Labor just went that fast. Later, during recovery, my only real pain was from the epidural site in my back. Irony....

--I may not remember her name, but the amazing L&D nurse (a quiet and rather introverted young woman, who was not in the least bit obnoxious with her "push-push-push"es and counting [why the counting???]), wore a peacock feather on her headband, and the image of that will forever be imprinted in my brain.

--He was placed on my chest immediately after being born, which was something that I sorely missed with K. (She was born "stunned" and whisked away for oxygen.)

--He was 8 pounds 11 ounces, 21 inches.

--The epidural did. Not. Work.



--The pitocin was given at sunrise, 7:45 a.m. He was born 4 hours later at 12 noon on 3/12/12, the first day of the SXSW music festival.

--There was not a decent hotel room available in all of central TX for the grandparents and their dog, thanks to SXSW. (They left the next day anyway due to crazy, ill-timed illness....)

--The doctor who was on call for delivery was next door delivering another baby when he started crowning. And they asked me to wait and NOT PUSH. That is the last thing you want to hear at a time like that! That is like asking a swimmer coming up for air to just wait a minute and not breathe. Or something like that.... I'm sure the look I gave T read part, "WTF?!" and part, "Get ready to catch your son!"

--The first time K saw her little brother.



--His coming home hat and blankie that I made, which all the nurses commented on :)



--How his little face has changed in just a few short weeks.



--All the memories we are just beginning to make together.....



There is a lot I don't remember about K's birth, or her newborn phase, but I'm pretty sure these overwhelming feelings of gratitude and being "blessed" are new. There seemed to be a little more worry and risk associated with this pregnancy, either real or imagined. I was of "advanced maternal age" but I also had a 6.5 year old at home who understood what was going on and was so concerned mommy was going to have her belly cut open and go to heaven. Just a little guilt to add to my own paranoia.

Ironically, I would categorize everything about baby #2 and his arrival as "Easier." Luckily, everything went smoothly, and aside from being induced 6 days early due to his size, there were no medical issues to speak of. He's a strong, healthy boy who didn't even have jaundice -- one of the numerous, albeit minor, things we experienced with K.... I don't want to start comparing siblings, nor do I want jinx anything, but he is far less fussy than I remember his sister being, and breastfeeds like a champ. It was a rough start for K in that department. Some of this may be because we're more experienced parents, some of it may be his temperament (here's hoping!) Either way, we are so happy he's here. So thankful. So blessed....

Daddy Daughter Dance

Every year they go, and I, inevitably, end up looking through old photos

the whole time they are gone....

Hundreds, hearts, and hugeness

The much celebrated (who knew?) 100th day of school is approaching and K had an assignment to create something with 100 pieces, non-food items only (darn). I saw this and had to steal the idea from Simply Modern Mom. We LOVE googly eyes around here!



I've also been making some small tchotchkes for Valentines Day.

Crocheted hairpins:


Crayon hearts:





It's been a while since I've posted a belly shot. This one shows off my lovely stretch marks from my first pregnancy! All in all, this time around has been so much easier: no swelling, no crazy carpal tunnel, less heartburn. And I truly thought I had it pretty good the first time around. I hope this continues for the next few weeks and that the delivery goes as smooth as it did with her too (or smoother would be nice!) People are really in my business now - when are you due? you look like you're going to pop! sure it's not twins? today I had some moms at the school that I've never met stop and ask what I'm having. When I said a boy they all laughed and said they knew it from how I was carrying. Strange to know that people are discussing your stature.....