New Baby Quilt

Trying to get my act together after T's spring break and some trips and visitors. I'm dealing with some seriously bratty/ sassy behavior now that Talia is 4. I'm so shocked by it that I'm not sure how to deal. Time to revisit those "gentle discipline" books I looked at about 10 months ago, which was the last time we went through a rough patch. Let's not forget that everyone in my house has been sick and this winter is never ending.

Anyway, made this quilt a while back for a friend and I'm happy to say it has now been delivered (no pun intended?). It's the first time I ever made a whole cloth quilt-- I thought it would be quick. It wasn't quick because I did a lot more quilting on it than usual. I hand quilted around select fish with orange and then did closely spaced waves throughout the whole thing. It's pretty cute and just right for a new healthy baby boy (over 10 pounds!). I have a bunch more ideas for whole cloth quilts. Perhaps I'll get to them someday...

Overwhelmed

Once again Talia's school break somehow takes me by surprise. Maybe because it's not exactly the kind of "spring" I'm used to, maybe because Ron worked on Sunday so it seems like even a LONGER week but I'm totally spent by full time childcare of two kids. I don't want to go out in the morning because I certainly don't want to miss Alex's nap. That means we're homebound until about 1:30, where lately my kids seem to need CONSTANT entertainment. I can't take a shower, clean the house, cook, etc. and I CERTAINLY have not stepped foot into my craft room. Then it's like pulling teeth to get to one activity (Talia is such a homebody--she never wants to go out, even if it's to someplace fun). Since I want to do something enjoyable with the kids each day I put off running my errands. They don't want to go return stuff, pick up groceries or stop by the bank any more than I do and the list just keeps piling up. I don't HAVE to get that stuff done now or this week but I want to cross it all off my list. If I do go somewhere, for example today we went to Michael's to get some craft supplies for the house and for our trip in two weeks to Holland, it's just too much trouble to have to say "no" to every request for items and treats that I'd rather just go another time without T. Alex isn't so happy to be running errands either. I didn't even really get to look around that much to try to find stuff for the airplane ride, or even to keep her occupied during our trip to Chicago this weekend. Wait, I've been so stressed about this trip to Holland that I forgot to be stressed about the trip to Chicago. I need to pack and get the house ready for a weekend away. I guess I should either go and do that or at least go to sleep so I can have more energy to do it tomorrow. I feel extremely overworked. Oh-- and both my kids have snotty noses and are a bit on the cranky side. When does school start again? Not for almost another full week!

We're free!

It felt GREAT to be outside yesterday! Talia (a tank dress and snowboots-- nice, right?) and some friends jumped off the remaining snowbanks (almost gone today!), used sidealk chalk on the driveway and ran around. I didn't really know what to do with Alex. I let him crawl around the driveway a bit but he put rocks in his mouth. I think it's going to be a harder spring/summer than I thought! What do you do with kids this age?

Feeling Better

It's been over a week since I took Alex to the doctor and discovered he had a "raging" ear infection. He absolutely HATED taking any medicine but luckily didn't notice it slipped into his bottle. He's still taking the antibiotics, which I'm not sure if I support or not. I guess he's still a little guy and he was so sick... he perked up the next day after starting them so maybe they helped. Now that we took him in to see the doctor I wonder if he hasn't had other ear infections as well. I bet he's had at least one or two others. He has a cold on top of the whole ear infection thing. Ron had it, then Alex, now Talia too. Early this morning Talia wet her bed (for the first time since she started sleeping in panties) - totally my fault- because I gave her a huge glass of milk about an hour before bed. Anyway, she came into my bed at 5:30 and basically had her face right next to me and coughed ALL OVER ME so I'm sure I'll get it next. I'll be happy just as long as we're all healthy for our trip to Holland next month!

Four

T's 4th Birthday Party

The birthday party was extremely successful. It was so nice and easy to have it outside of my home! I'm not sure I'm ever going to have a party at home again! I just love The Little Gym in Middleton. The people who work there are so professional and nice and really have this party thing down! It is so clean there, they learned all 20 kids' names so quickly, they really worked hard to make Talia feel like the center of attention-- it was just excellent. In, out, done! She had a great time, the kids had a great time, I had zero stress whatsoever, it was so simple! Tomorrow is her "real" birthday and we have pretty low-key plans, since Tuesday is the day we rarely leave the house. We're going to go out to lunch with friends and out to dinner (sushi, of course) as a family. I'm not going crazy with presents-- I bought her a cash register and pretend money because we've been playing "store" recently and I have a big princess dollhouse that I bought her for Hanukkah that I never gave her. I'm going to strategically place it in the basement because that's where my sewing room is and I'm hoping to get her to spend more time down there with me!

Growing Up

I can't believe my baby is going to be 4 on Tuesday. She is definitely growing up. She's trying new things-- we made English Muffin Pizzas yesterday with veggie pepperoni. She didn't really like them (although she loves veggie pepperoni... but, come on, who doesn't?) but she was excited to try them. She's also expanding her mind to include things like wearing pants and colors other than pink. The other day she said, "I'm not that into princesses anymore." So I asked her what she was into and she said, "my brother" which is true. Ten minutes later she wanted to play Ariel of course but she's slowing down a little bit. She says, "I don't like pink anymore, I like blue." I'm trying to teach her that she can like pink AND blue, princesses and other things too.

Another thing she's been doing is fibbing a bit here and there. At first it was to avoid trouble, like when I ask her if her panties are a little bit wet when she has to go potty. She'll say "no but don't come feel them." Or if I ask her if she had one glass of milk or two she might say one when it was really two (I know we're crazy to limit her milk but she would drink two gallons a day and never eat any food!). Last night I was busy with Alex and she wanted dessert. I asked her if she finished her dinner and she said yes and I didn't believe her. She had totally finished it. I never really anticipated this fibbing issue so I haven't really thought about how to handle it. It's really only come up in the last week or two. I have to figure out a response that I can be consistent about... and soon!

First Family Portrait

From left to right: Alex, Talia, Nikki, Ron

Talia and Ron are crying because they are scared to go on a rollercoaster. Talia, Alex and I have high pigtails. Talia is wearing pants and sandals.

She made this for a friend at school. Next to the family drawing is a big loopy rollercoaster.

So delicious!

This was absolutely delicious! It's Giada's Eggplant Salad with Goat Cheese. A little labor intensive (I grilled the eggplant on a grill pan) but used only a few dishes. I thought it had a lot flavor and was really special.

Are you KIDDING ME?!?!

Alex is sick AGAIN. He was just sick! And here. And here. And here. His fever is not responding to tylenol at all and he is spitting/puking up Motrin. He's so hot and cranky, poor baby. No sleep happening in this house.

First Quilted Card

Fun! Talia already ripped the beads off. Must secure them better...

Still Bored With Winter

And still playing with Alex's hair (notice the barrette this time?) He actually wore Talia's pink and purple pj's out yesterday. I must be having some gender confusion.

Talia had the WORST time going to sleep last night. She naps at school on MWF and we have the most awful time getting her to go to sleep before 10pm. Last night there were major hysterics, of the type we haven't seen in a long time ("I don't want to sleep in my bed, I don't want to be alone, My tummy hurts, etc."). Sometimes kids have sleep trouble before they reach a new milestone. I can only hope she's about to cure cancer. Or win the Nobel Peace Prize. Or learn to read. Or use scissors properly.

Doll Quilt Swap

I almost forgot about this doll quilt swap from swap-bot. I pulled this little one together (it's about 12 inches by 14 inches) and machine quilted it with wavy lines (my specialty since I don't have a darning foot or any such attachement for my sewing machine-- I keep thinking I'll be getting a new sewing machine so I never buy the attachment for $20 but I'll never be able to choose a new machine...). Then I find out that the receiver of this swap is MIA and I can't print her address from the internet so... perhaps I'll be keeping this one. Love the birds on the wire fabric. Love all bird fabric, actually. Now I'm trying to throw together a little baby quilt for a friend who is due really soon. This is all in addition to the Four Seasons Quilt Swap and The Spring Fling Round Robin...

What We're Eating: Mushroom Yakitori and Cucumber Salad

Actually, this is just from a Rachel Ray episode. The cucumber salad was nice and tangy, the mushrooms and scallions were definitely yummy and both dishes were very easy to make. The third dish was a hoisin noodle/ veggie stir fry bowl. Mine came out kind of spicy so I poured the rest of the vinegar-y dressing on it, which cooled it off a bit. I don't know if I would make that again but definitely the mushrooms and cucumbers...