Sewing Adventure

This weekend, while Erik was enjoying some guy time in Jackson Hole at the Snowmobile Hill Climbs, Lily and I headed down to Springville to spend some time with Nana and Grandpa Len and sew some baby kimonos. Lily spent most of the day with Grandpa watching Dora. I think he realized his mistake in introducing the Dora videos around the second hour, but he'll know better next time. But it must have worn her out. She fell asleep on the way home and was pretty groggy when I put her in her bed. This was the conversation we had as I tucked her in:

Lily: I want to read two stories.

Me: I'll go get your blankie and I'll be right back to read them.

Lily: Ok. But I'll fall asleep any minute, Mommy. So you better hurry.

She was asleep before I came back with the blanket. But don't think I got out of reading that story. I was woken up at 4 a.m. to read a story, put her jammies on, and get her two drinks of water.

While Lily was home with Grandpa, my mom and I headed to Joann's to pick out fabric and made a stop at Babies R Us to see about some monkey accessories for the nursery. Then it was back home to start the sewing. The pattern was from the Martha Stewart website, and looking at the picture, it couldn't be too difficult, right?


Oh, boy...was I wrong. The directions were pretty confusing and the visuals weren't much help. We had trouble with the very first step while trying to get our loop turner to turn the bias tape ties right side out. Then there were references to dots on the pattern that were nonexistent and some measurements were wrong. But about 8 hours after we arrived, I finally left with ONE completed kimono. I'd bought enough supplies for four. And of course, like most do-it-yourself projects, the cost of supplies for the project was probably far greater than if I had just bought four kimonos while we were at Babies R Us.

But looking at my cute little baby kimono shirt, there's a definite sense of accomplishment. It will probably be a little while before I decide to tackle the other three, but now that I know what I'm doing, it shouldn't be too bad. I hope.


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Snippets

Just a few snippets of conversations I've had with Lily in the last few days.

"We lost a boy. His name is Daddy."

"Daddy went to work. I will be so lonely."

"That's how it works, Mommy."

"I will be a good girl this time. Or I don't get my Dora flip-flops." (We're not above bribery. :-D)

"You have a brother in your tummy. I have a sister in mine."

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My Life is a Dora Episode

Taking full advantage of some downtime at work Wednesday, I took the day off and Erik and I took Lillian to the Discovery Gateway children's museum in Salt Lake. Apart from at least four separate freak-outs (which admittedly were partly our fault since she was running on no nap and ice cream), we had a nice day. Lily was completely enthralled with all aspects of the museum and jumped head first into the activities. Her OCD proved very helpful while playing in the grocery store, where she showed her aptitude for restocking shelves. And the girl LOVES puzzles. I may have to go buy some more because we sat and did the same puzzle for at least half an hour. Much better use of time than the tv.

Which brings me to the next segment of our story.


About five minutes after the train pulled out of Salt Lake, Lily was zonked on Erik's lap and slept the entire 45 minutes to Roy. Since it was only about 6:00, we didn't want to transfer her to the car sleeping and just head home because we knew she'd just stay asleep and we'd be awakened around 2 in the morning by a playful toddler. Not fun. Instead, we decided to stop at Erik's parents and spend a little time so that when she fell asleep on the way home, we'd be in for a normal night's sleep.

The problem was, she NEVER FELL ASLEEP!! It's rare for Lily to stay awake for the entire hour it takes to drive from Roy to Logan, especially in the late evening. (She takes after me that way. ;-)) But she gabbed the entire way home about paths and spiders and mountains and polar bears and Swiper that Sneaky Fox and "I need your help guys..." Basically, she took us through an entire Dora the Explorer episode. And this wasn't the first time. She's always asking me which path we need to take or telling us to scare the spiders/snakes/etc. away. And believe me: we had some stubborn snakes that night. Not to mention that Swiper makes at least one appearance per car ride trying to steal treats or purses or babies or even the car.

Listening to this, you would think the kid does nothing but watch tv. But trust me: We're not the completely awful parents you think we are. The kid can watch an episode once and recite almost every line. It doesn't hurt that they're all pretty much the same story with just a few names changed, I'm sure. But I'm absolutely amazed at what she picks up and remembers.

Near the end of the ride, she was getting pretty loopy from sleep deprivation and was absolutely cracking herself up by singing the wrong words to Row, Row, Row Your Boat. The giggles resounding from the backseat we just hilarious and definitely contagious. Each time she'd start singing, she'd start laughing sooner. Pretty soon, all she could get out was the first line before the laughter started. It was the funnest thing to listen to! No one can deny the kid's got a personality all her own.

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Comparison

This weekend, we pulled all of Lillian's old clothes out of storage so I could see if there was anything we could re-use for McBean. There were some onsies and sleepers, but that's not point. This is the point:


That little pink onsie was what Lily had to wear for about the first three months of her life. It's preemie sized, and it was too big when we first put it on her. Seeing all those preemie clothes reminded me how tiny she was, and I just couldn't believe it. Now's she's pretty average for a three-year-old even if she is still on the skinny side. And time sure has flown.

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Lily's New Room

Lily's new room is officially finished. We kept the frog theme since I was so proud of my frog valances and she's received several frog figurines from people. Lily picked the bedding color from blue, pink, and green. She seems to gravitate toward blues when given an option, so I'm guessing it may be her favorite color. Although when asked, it changes daily.

The wall color is called Pear Green. I have to admit, I was wary once I started painting. It looked neon, and I was afraid it would end up being day-glow green and we wouldn't actually need a light fixture, but after the second coat went on, it looked exactly like I'd imagined. We picked up an inexpensive bookcase and painted it the same color as the wall. I felt so HGTV - making it look like we included some custom pieces in the room. I had originally planned for the vinyl wall art to go on the painted wall, but we decided it looked better over the bed. So I'm still trying to decide if the painted wall needs something besides the paint. I figure I'll give it a couple weeks and see how I feel.

Lily slept in her new bed for the first time about a week ago, and the transition was a lot smoother than I expected. The same day, I converted her toddler bed back into a crib and put the new crib bedding in it so I could show her that her old room was now for "baby brother." She did ask to be put in the crib so she could see, but once she took it all in, she just said, "OK" and headed back to her new room. She hasn't looked back since. We still have the occasional request to rock, but we're slowly weaning her from that since the glider will stay in the nursery. She's getting better about not needing it; the last couple nights, she's been satisfied with having me sit in bed with her for a minute or two.

I really expected to have at least a couple nights of wanting to sleep in her old room or being scared to sleep in such a big bed, but I guess I should have known better since she's not really afraid of anything.

Lily says she loves her new room and seems to be enjoying it. Now on to the nursery...

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Why?????

I don't think anything can surpass the curiosity (and originality) of a three-year-old. These are actual questions I have been asked recently.

Why are you blowing your nose?

Why are you painting the walls?

Why did the paint dry?

Why did the paint stay on the wall?

Why is Daddy sleeping?

Why are you going to work?

Why do you have to go potty?

Why are we eating dinner?

Who bought this? (For every item in the house. Every. Single. One.)

Why is the snow melting?

Why are you putting away my clothes?

Why is that dog barking?

Why did the sun go to sleep?

Why does that spell "Wal*mart"?

Why is it raining?

Why is water wet? (OK...not really, but I'm sure it will come up any day now.)

Why are you tired?

I'll give you one guess...

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Life...

My blogging frequency has recently gone down the tubes, and I apologize. It looks like I'm lucky if I get two or three posts a month lately. It's not that nothing's going on, really. I feel like we're super busy, but most of our activities are those run-of-the-mill life activities - nothing too exciting.

But in case you care about those run-of-the-mill activities, I thought I'd give a little update. Plus, it may be the only reason I find for posting something in March. :)

Of course most of my thoughts lately have been on our McBean (my nickname for now) due to arrive in four measly months. Yes that's right: we've passed the half-way mark of this pregnancy. The first couple months were not all that enjoyable for me, I'll admit. With Lillian, I only got a little queasy if I didn't get dinner on time. This time around, I was queasy pretty much all day. Eating would make me feel better, but then I was eating ALL the time, which is probably why I found myself giving in to maternity pants way sooner than last time. And the mood swings!?! I think I spent an entire month snapping at Lily and Erik both, but hopefully they've forgiven me. I'm feeling great now, and the doctor says everything looks fabulous. I'm getting antsy to get started on the nursery, but Lily's room has to be done first.


As you can clearly see from my previous post, we recently found out we're having a boy. It's been so helpful for me to be able to call the baby "he" rather than "it." We aren't anywhere close to a name choice yet...in fact, we've barely talked about it. I suppose we'll have to before too long. Or we could just let Lily have her way and call him Boots. Lily went to the ultrasound with us and behaved remarkably well. She kept asking why I was up on that big chair, so we'd remind her to look at the big tv on the wall. "Oh yeah..." was her response. It took some convincing since she was sure she was going to have a little sister, but now she's "so excited to have a baby brother!!!" Her words, not mine. We'll see how she feels once he's here. :)

I've been feeling McBean move for a while now, but in the last couple weeks, he's really stepped up his game. Mostly focusing on perfecting his trampoline skills on my bladder. He was so active last night, I actually attempted to let Erik have a feel. But of course, all activity ceased as soon as Erik's hand headed my direction.

As far as Lily's life, she still finds some way to surprise me everyday. She picks up on everything, and the stuff that comes out of her month seems way too old for a three-year-old. We've been working on getting her new room situated. The furniture has now arrived although it's still haphazardly placed in the room. After much debate between Erik and me, bedding was chosen. Lily was involved in the choice a little since we let her choose the actual color - she went for blue. We also picked up a couple storage shelves/bins in an effort to keep the clutter at bay (HA!). Last night, we picked up the paint, so once I get that done, we can get everything in place and move her in. She is WAY excited to sleep in her new big bed...which was quite obvious when I was woken the other night at 2 am to be told she wanted to be tucked back into her new bed rather than her current bed. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that actually sleeping in the new bed is as appealing as she thinks it is now.

After a break, she's started gymnastics again and is absolutely loving it. The kid has way too much energy, so it's nice to give her a productive way to release some of it while snow is still covering our park. I'm thrilled it's starting to melt so we can start doing some outdoor activities. I think she'll finally be able to reach the pedals on her tricycle, and we need to get some time in on the Plasma Car.

Erik is still plugging away on overnights. We thought he would move to days April 1, but it looks like that will be pushed back to the middle of May. We were looking forward to having that change and were even counting the days, so to hear it will be another 6 weeks was disappointing. But at least we can still see the light at the end of the tunnel. He hasn't been able to do nearly the amount of snowmobiling he wanted this year although I don't think any amount would have been enough.

I'm also just doing my thing at work. My job changed a little around October...nothing really drastic, but it's been different, so it's been kind of nice. I was able to take a trip to Phoenix for a staff meeting and meet up with Dad, Elizabeth, and Cassandra for a few hours. Not to mention enjoy some glorious sun.

But that's really about it. See why I haven't blogged? Not much going on, and this sounds remarkably like a Christmas newsletter...sorry. Hopefully items of interest will pick up soon. At least I know I'll have two posts showing kid rooms once they're all done. And I do have a post about redoing our floors. Problem is I have yet to take a good after picture. I'll get right on that since it's actually a pretty entertaining story.

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