Indoors February 29, 2008

It seems we are always indoors. The winter has shown it’s ugly self here in Iowa and won’t go away. That combined with all the viruses and bacteria that follow us home all the time means that we spend 98% of our time inside. The other 2% is spent getting from our house to the car, and from the car to the children’s museum/church, or wherever. The good news is Zac has finally come around and listened to reason and no longer wants to live in an icebox. I wish I could boast of convincing him but I think living here and enduring the winter (which seems to be far from over) has done it for him. Either way, I’m happy. So, anyways, onto the point of this post. Winter has been extremely challenging for us trying to keep the girls happy. Here are some of the things that we can do indoors with our curious and active toddlers: color, play-doh, videos, clean, bathe, eat, bake, read, run around in circles, go crazy. Ugh. This is a result of coloring this morning.

I understand the usefulness of coloring with children in developing fine motor skills, creativity, etc – but my children are not interested. Honestly Sophia colors for about three seconds before going to run in circles. I guess this might serve some purpose – balance, so I shouldn’t be worried, right?!

Ellie’s marker, I am sure, never even made contact with paper. Play-doh doesn’t work either because if Sophia plays with it Ellie wants in on the action too, and I am pretty sure she sees it as a food source. So that leaves us with running in circles, bathing, eating, cleaning, reading, videos, baking, and going crazy. Cleaning takes about an hour, baking takes about 30 minutes or less a few times a week, eating – well we do that several times a day, bathing takes 30 minutes a day, reading we do for about 30 minutes to an hour, and videos we try to limit to an hour a day and that leaves us with a lot of time for running in circles and going crazy – which not surprisingly are intimately linked.

After one too many circles.
Oh Alabama, how I love thee and going for walks, and the zoo, and the many playgrounds not covered in snow – and of course going to Grandma’s loft to look at the planes and trains. We can’t wait to come home.

I’m not so sure about this one . . . February 28, 2008

So I went a little wild and crazy with my fabric selection last week at my quilt shop. Frustrated by my indecision and having a large part of my mind occupied with my two busybodies blessings playing at the back of the shop I just grabbed what caught my eye and piled it high on the cutting table. Before I could change my mind my fabric was cut, and I was out the door with  a new stash, my two girls, and my favorite shop in tact. I’ still not sure if it tickles my fancy. It is kinda reminiscent of the 70’s – kind of a funky vintage look. I finally finished a dress (or shirt) tonight for . . . well, if I want it to be a dress Ellie can wear it, if I want it to be a shirt, Sophia can wear it.

Here Ellie runs away from me as I try to take pictures. Her modeling debut is obviously going to be delayed. So . . .

here is my model – a white hanger. Very cooperative. Now – there is something about this dress that doesn’t sit well with my aesthetic sensibilities. The more I look at it, I think it might be the pockets. Normally I love pockets on toddler dresses. Is it the pockets? Is it the fabric that the pockets are made of? Please don’t say it is the ties – it took me much time and many curses to make those. Could it be the rest of the fabric, or the composition of the three that just doesn’t work? Maybe someone else would love it – but under ideal shopping conditions I usually choose a smaller print with softer colors. It wasn’t a complete waste of time, though. There were a few challenging components to the pattern that made it fun to make.

New post coming soon . . . February 28, 2008

Later today, I promise!

Cheap groceries February 26, 2008

When is the last time you heard those two words uttered in the same sentence. I’m not talking animal crackers here (3 lbs of crackers for less than $2 kinda makes me wonder . . .), I am talking about good food that is nutritious and delicious, depending on your cooking skillz =) I came home with 10 cans of these organic diced tomatoes for less than $2.30.

And for those of you who aren’t impressed yet – here is another arrangement of my loot.

Note: same ten cans arranged to impress.

Anywho, enough shenanigans (whoo – spelled it right without spell check – I feel accomplished). You too can be grocery store savvy and bring home ten cans of tomatoey goodness with the help of this coupon (you will have to scroll down to find it). The Muir Glen tomatoes are $1.22 a can at my Wal-Mart (some Wal-Mart’s have them for $0.16) and each coupon is $1 off one can; you should be able to print off ten. And don’t be a fool and go through the line ten times – that would almost make the deal not worth it – just hand all ten coupons to the cashier and watch them stare in wonder as ten dollars disappears from your total and you walk out of there with 5lbs of loot for a mere $2.30.

Happy Anniversary to me (and my mom) February 25, 2008

Six years ago today I was in a hospital gown being wheeled into surgery to be given a “second chance” at life. God knew what the outcome would be, but I didn’t and before the doctors anesthetized me and told me to countdown from ten to one, I didn’t know if I would wake up in heaven or in the post surgical room with a “new” kidney, a lot of pain and a morphine drip. At this time they were still operating on my mother. She did what few mothers have the opportunity to do for their children – she gave me life not once, but twice. The LORD did not take me home. He instead gave me life anew. With this gift I was able to return a wonderful gift that otherwise would not be possible.

I made my mother a grandmother. The jewels in her heavenly crown are abundant!
Since my transplant my blessings have been overflowing, and for this I thank my Savior and my King, Jesus. I knew His hand was upon me that day, and it has been guiding me and blessing me abundantly since.

He provide for me Zac, my best friend and the love of my life, who loves me unconditionally, points me to Jesus, and provides a good deal of comic relief!

Who is also the most excellent daddy to my children.

Jesus has blessed me with two beautiful children that at one time, after being diagnosed with chronic renal failure, I thought I couldn’t have.

God restored my frail body that was sick for a year and a half before I married Zac so I could carry and eventually give birth to Sophia,

and Ellie, just under 14 months later.

“But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness:

My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation.

I will sing to the LORD, because he has dealt bountifully with me”

- Psalm 13:5,6

Am I paranoid or am I rightfully concerned? February 23, 2008

Don’t we all want to do what is safest for our children? Some of us go as far as buying leashes for our children (ahem, I won’t divulge here whether we have or have not done this), we put up baby gates, we buy expensive baby shampoo. Rarely do we ever consider the recommendation to turn our children from a rear-facing car seat position to a front-facing  position at one year or twenty pounds, whichever comes first. Most of us with children can’t wait for this milestone, and some of us even go against advise and turn they early (ahem, I won’t divulge here whether we have or have not done this). We agree with our spouses that our child would be happier and it would be easier for us to service them in the car. Well, I was surprised  to see a thread on a message board I visit devoted to pictures of rear-facing toddlers. Most were over two and showed long-legged toddlers with their legs obviously not dangling but scrunched up – but for the most part they were smiling. Many of these parents claimed their toddlers didn’t complain of being uncomfortable. I was intrigued. When I got to thinking it did make sense that this would truly be safer – and not just marginally so, but greatly. Watch these two videos, and decide for yourself:

Crash test of child in forward facing seat

Crash test of child in rear facing car seat

The difference it seems would be possibly a broken leg in the rear facing seat, and a broken neck or severed spine in the forward facing seat. A child’s head is about 25% of their body weight and in a crash, with the way child safety harnesses in car seats are designed, means the weight of their head is flung forward while their body is restrained. It is not a pleasant thing to think about, but for the safety of our children we ought to give it some consideration. A rear facing seat, on the other hand, does a much better job of protecting a child as it places little force on their head, neck and spine. If you need some affirmation from a main-stream media outlet here is story featured at msnbc.
I have done some research and it seems that most convertible car seats can remain rear-facing and usually have a rear facing weight limit of 30 – 35 pounds. Sophia is now 30 pounds, and if our seat’s rear facing limit is 30 pounds I think we will invest in a car seat that can be rear facing to 35 pounds. I have read recommendations that say a child is safer rear facing until about four years old – we’ll see when Sophia hits 35 pounds.

So, I still have yet to convince Zac, but if when I do, I think we will be turning Sophia’s and Ellie’s car seats around.

Iowa winters make me sick February 20, 2008

Literally, that is. I have a terrible sinus infection and sore throat that has taken the wind out of my productive sails. I haven’t done any sewing today, or cleaning for that matter. I do, however have a project that I completed a long time ago but have never shared. It is a fall outfit I made to sell, but didn’t for various reasons. One being I didn’t like the fit of the pants. I bought them from Old Navy and they just don’t portray the style I want to portray for little girls. I didn’t try them on Sophia (my model) before buying them and they are tight on her! I think from now on I will just make pants out of fabric that I have instead of buying it and embellishing them. Just a personal preference. Anyways, here it is.

The shirt is the same pattern I used to make the white shirt I posted yesterday, but the white one is the “new and improved”. The pattern for the above shirt I found to be too small. I like shirts for little girls to be a little more ‘flowy’.

The outfit was intended to be a fall outfit, hence the owl Рwhich is a hand appliqu̩. Here is a closeup.

I took these pics close to bedtime, so inevitably Sophia was extremely goofy – and being egged on by her daddy – so here is a fun action shot of her rescuing Ellie’s paci from Zac and running to give it back to Ellie.

If you are really observant you will have noticed that Sophia is missing her mullet. In a moment of bravery I got out the scissors and cut it off. It actually looks really cute – I mean, she had a mullet before, so anything would have been an improvement!

Project one, finished February 19, 2008

Well at least the first half. When I said I had eight projects to do, what I really meant was 13. Five of the projects have two parts. So here is “part one” of the first project I have completed.

The second part is going to be a pair of pants (or a skirt) that will go with this. Now to go and figure out, pants or skirt, pants or skirt, pants or skirt?

My serger is warm once again! February 17, 2008

Sometimes when I sew, I sew too much. I burn out on sewing and then I don’t want to touch my sewing machine for a while. This usually happens at Christmas, as I make a lot of gifts. This past year was no exception. The month before Christmas I was sewing everyday. Yes, I realize I am a victim of my own procrastination – what can I say, I thrive on stress. So, tonight I finally got reacquainted with my sewing machine. Now that my house is in better order, hopefully I can make sewing a daily occurrence. I have at least 8 projects roaming around in my head, that hopefully I will be able to share here in the coming weeks.

Neglected no more, my beloved serger.

This stack of fabric, LORD willing will not be a stack of fabric anymore in a few short weeks. Now the question is, should I have a grand finale, so to speak, of all the projects I have finished in two or three weeks, or should I post them as I finish them?

For those of you with children, or planning to have children, or know someone with children February 15, 2008

I am a former hippie. Yup. I know it is a little bit of a stretch, but it’s true. I have even had dread locks. Okay, not really, but I thought about it – for one tenth of a second in a granola eating stupor. Okay, not really, but I have had friends with dread locks – and that should count for something. Anyways, some former hippie habits have gone away (don’t ask, won’t tell), but with the surge of organic products on the market place that are readily available, I feel I must oblige my hippie roots and use some of these products.

I especially feel obliged after reading about a study done on baby products. It seems that most baby shampoos, lotions, and powders have chemicals like phthalates (pronounced thowl-ates), and parabens. Phthalates are added to plastics to make them more flexible. They are found in paint, nail polish, vinyl flooring, baby products, toys, and many other things. Studies have shown that they can harm the kidneys, livers, the lungs, and the reproductive system. Yikes! The only website I could find that anything positive to say about them was from the American Chemistry Council, a group who represents the companies that manufacture phthalates! They claim that studies that have been done are not conclusive, nor are they entirely accurate. Well in that case, I let me continue using Johnson and Johnson, and not ask any more questions. NOT. As a parent, I want to do everything I can to keep my children healthy, although some things are out of our reach, like a 100% organic diet, I don’t have to compromise everything. I would prefer to err on the side of caution here. Even if I was not convinced that phthalates were bad, I also have to consider that many baby products (and other household products) contain parabens, which are chemical preservatives. Usually you can identify them by these titles – methyl, propyl, butyl, ethyl. I read several places that these displayed estrogenic activity. When in contact with the skin they interfere with the body’s endocrine system, your hypothalamus, your ovaries, and your thyroid system. I even read that anything absorbed through your skin is absorbed at ten times the concentration of an oral dose (as it wouldn’t go through your digestive system). There is a good chance that parabens are carcinogenic! So, last week after doing some research, I immediately stopped using our cheap baby soap and lotion. I even gave the girls a bath once and didn’t use anything because I hadn’t made it to the store yet to replace our chemical-ridden soap. We have since bought these:

The Burt’s Bees proudly boasts of being phthalate and paraben free. The California baby products are also phthalate and paraben free, but the label does not indicate that it is phthalate free. They explain that here. If you are like me, you may wonder about the quality of organic personal care products and if they smell bad, or don’t work as well. I can attest to the fact that they work beautifully and smell wonderful. Actually the Burt’s Bees Baby Shampoo and Wash is the best smelling shampoo we have tried for our girls. Your other objection might be that they are expensive. That they are, but they don’t have to be too expensive if you use them wisely and sparingly. We simply don’t wash the girls hair with every bath, only when they need it. If they have food in their hair, it gets washed. If it looks oily (rarely), it gets washed. Also use one of those bath sponges. You know, the ones you use with liquid body soap. You use way less soap this way, and all the lather is fun for the kids. Finally, when you do wash their hair, use the shampoo sparingly. The Burt’s Bees is really concentrated, so you won’t have to use much at all. Oh, and lotion really only has to be used in the winter, unless it is dry year round where you live. And of course, try to find it on clearance. I got our California Baby lotion on clearance at Target, or even better put them on your baby registry and get them for free!