100 Days

The countdown begins! My sweet little boy will be a year old in just 100 days. And I thought it was scary that he's 9 months old next week! Time has gone by so fast. I feel like it was just yesterday that we were finally bringing him home from the hospital and now he's such a big boy!

And such a comedian. :-D

Attack of the Blueberry

We had our first "such a big mess you just throw them in the tub fully clothed" incident. Of course, it had to be with blueberries. Luckily, I was out taking advantage of the end of the season clearance sale at Ann Taylor Loft and missed the clean up. What I didn't miss was cleaning up little spots of blueberry on everything leading from C's high chair to the tub.

What happened? J made C's dinner - a tub of peas and the remaining apple/blueberry cubes from the freezer for dessert. Yum! Our little grabber is getting pretty good at reaching for things and while J was strapping him in, swatted the bowl of goopy goodness off the table and all over himself, his highchair, the table, and the floor. I really wish J took a picture of blueberrymageddon 2011. Geeze, doesn't he know how to blog?! Pffttt.

Thank goodness for Oxyclean. I love this outfit and it was one of the few that I actually bought new!

Since then, we have found spots of blueberry on the kitchen floor (nowhere near the scene of the crime), on the hallway carpet, the shower curtain, on the toilet lid, and on the outside of the tub. I have a feeling we're going to keep finding rouge spots for a few days.

And this is where my parenting mantra comes in when things get messy. "Hey, it could have been poop."

Toddle Along Tuesday!

If you're here from Toddle Along Tuesday, welcome! Feel free to poke around and follow along, but if you do, please let me know so I can check out your blog too! :-D

If you're not from TaT, but are a Mommy blogger or interested in reading some fabulous Mommy blogs, follow this button back to Growing Up Geeky and check out this week's list!

This week's featured blog is The Stauffer Shenanigans, be sure to stop by and say hello!

Have a great Tuesday!

Spring Cleaning Saturday: No More Sewing

Sad day. I finished up a few last blanket orders and packed up pretty much all of my sewing stuff. I wanted to keep everything set up until zero hour, but the truth is that between all the packing, cleaning, and getting ready to move I just won't have much time to sit down and sew. I did leave out some knitting supplies on the slim chance I had some downtime and needed to occupy myself.

The crazy part of all this? I filled 5 boxes and a plastic tote with just supplies and a bit of fabric. Most of my fabric is stored in those multi-drawer plastic cart things (sorted by color, of course), but I still had a bit left out from making loveys. It was sad to put everything away, but I'll be pulling it out again in about two weeks.

Hopefully, as I organize my new craft/sewing room. :-D

I know its part of moving, but I'm already sick of living amongst, tripping over, and walking around stacks of boxes. ::sigh:: Only 11 days until the move. Then I can be sick of unpacking, but at least then I'll be cleaning instead of making a bigger mess.

I'm also sick of hunting for things that we didn't think we'd need, but end up needing. Trying to remember where you packed something when there are 15 boxes just labeled "kitchen" is a treat.

11 days to go.

The Big O-N-E

While still a few months away, I have been wasting spending time collecting ideas on Pinterest for C's first birthday party. Having been born on Halloween, we automatically assumed that C's birthday would be Halloween themed. We were able to pull of a tasteful Halloween theme for our wedding, so why not be able to do something fun and non-tacky for his birthday, right? Then (thank you, Pinterest) I started seeing the most adorable 1st birthday themes in bright, bold colors with amazing cakes, favors, and decorations. And bunting. Don't even get me started on the bunting.

Cute, but is it cute enough?

Now, Halloween is certainly a strong enough theme to carry a party, but at what point is enough enough? Is it really fair to C that just because he was born on a certain day that it takes over his party? Or is it just expected since well, it IS Halloween? Why am I thinking about this so much?!

In reconsidering the theme, we asked ourselves this: If C was born a week earlier or a week later, would we still make it Halloween themed? The answer was: Probably not. While we absolutely love Halloween, we didn't love it for a 1st birthday party theme. Even doing something like, "Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" would be incredibly hard and still just be pumpkins and orange/black decorations. Plus, he could wear a cute birthday outfit instead of a Halloween costume, making pictures nicer in hindsight.

The new theme we are considering is Eric Carle. You know Eric Carle - Very Hungry Caterpillar, The Mixed Up Chameleon, etc.? Its bright, its cute, its easy - plus, Charlie has a bright green cloth diaper with the Very Hungry Caterpillar embroidered on the butt. C'mon - its fate! These are some of the inspiration that is changing my mind.

What do you think? Does a kid born on Halloween just need to buck up and enjoy celebrating one of the funnest holidays of the year every year? Is it fair to strap him with that theme and nothing else? If it were a different holiday, like Valentine's Day or Christmas, would you feel the same?

Am I crazy neurotic for seriously worrying about this?

Y3W: Seven Days Left

Of work, that is. I've worked here for three years, the longest I've ever worked anywhere, and I'm almost done. Its exciting, its scary, and its downright weird. As my first post grad job, this is where I've established myself as a professional and where I'm comfortable. Life isn't about being comfortable though and I am looking forward to starting fresh at a new place with new responsibilities. Despite all the craziness, I really am going to miss working here.

Can you sum up your week in three words? Jenni from the Blog challenges bloggers to do just that every week. Fun, huh? Join in the fun! When you've written about your three words, hop around to other blogs participating in Y3W by clicking this lovely button!

The Teeth Have Appeared!

And I finally got a picture of them!

It took both of us to get this picture as he was less than cooperative. Look at those things! Two chompers on the bottom and four on top. His eye teeth are bulgy and swollen looking, so we think they may be next. Geeze, this kid doesn't do anything half way, does he?

As for the lack of blogging, blame a combination of sleep deprivation, Pinterest, and packing....most likely in that order. Now that the teeth are broken through, the sleep issue will hopefully resolve itself and we only have another 2 weeks until we move, but the Pinterest obsession isn't likely to change. Whoops.

I Like to Buy Stuff I Don't Need....Yet

From time to time, it just behooves my wallet to stock up on things or buy them when its cheapest and not necessarily when it makes sense. This weekend, I single handedly bought all of Charlie's birthday presents and summer 2012 clothes.

Yes, I realize that we're moving and I just bought more stuff to move. See the first sentence of this post.

The sales were just too good to miss! On Friday and Saturday, Toys R Us had a buy one get one free sale on all Fisher Price 0-36 months toys. Not their normal 20% off or even BOGO 50% off.....buy one get one FREE. C'mon, how can I miss that one?

In October, he will be the proud owner of the Lil' Zoomers Speedway, Shake and Crawl Racer, Stride-to-Ride Dino, and Swirling Surprise Gumball Machine (with extra Roll Around balls). I saved $80 (almost 50%) with this sale. My wallet is happy and we now have yet another box labeled "Charlie's Toys."

I also got him an extra set of Lil' Zoomers, but gave them to him now since I realized that he didn't have any toys that actually *do* anything - just blocks, cups, etc. These things are awesome and he loves them already. They shoot across the carpet when you push them and you can tell he wants to follow, but just doesn't know how...yet.

Another can't miss sale from this weekend was the twice annual Once Upon a Child bag sale! Every January and July, our local Once Upon a Child puts all of their going out of season stuff on clearance for an all you can stuff into a shopping bag is $15 sale! Its like a mini Black Friday - all the price savvy Moms in the area line up outside the store a few hours early with their Starbucks and size list. Once the doors open, its pretty maddening. The store isn't that big and is VERY full making it quite fun to shop while dodging all of the small children and pregnant women.

Don't let them fool you though, they're throwin' bows too. I know, I was one of them last year.

Assuming Hoping my little peanut stays on the same path growth wise, I bought a ton of 12-18 months tanks, shirts, shorts, and bathing suits. Currently, at 8 1/2 months, Charlie needs 6-9 months one piece outfits (for the length), but can still wear 3-6 months and even some 0-3 months shirts if they're separates. He's just a skinny kid.

After some tight rolling and careful placement, I was able to stuff my $15 bag with...

3 bathing suits
11 polo shirts
6 pairs of shorts (denim and khaki)
1 pair of khaki pants
1 pair of overall shorts
6 tank tops
6 Hawaiian shirts
6 t-shirts
1 sleeveless zip up hoodie

And a set of 8 Fisher Price Peek-a-Blocks that normally retail for around $20. All in all, I saved $147 on consignment store prices. I can't even imagine how much I would have paid retail though. Most of the brands are Osh Kosh, Levis, Baby Gap, Gymboree, Ralph Lauren, and Carter's.

Check out Once Upon a Child - chances are, there is one near you. If you get on their email list, you will get a heads up to sweet sales like this. Even if they don't have a bag sale, the normal prices are still incredibly reasonable considering the quality of the clothes they accept to resell.

So yes, I now have a huge box of toys and a smaller, yet equally useful box of clothes, but you know what? For $100, I've covered birthday presents and 6 months worth of clothing. I'll take it.

Spring Cleaning Saturday: Packing!

Why all this packing, you ask? We're moving! I got a new job in Pennsylvania, so we'll be moving up there on July 27th. Though Virginia has been good to us, PA is where a good 85% of our family and friends are and with this new move, most of them will be within 2 hours instead of 6-8 hours.

Its a good thing...just ask my 3 year old car with 54,000 miles on it. Doesn't sound like too many miles? Keep in mind that I don't drive to work and Jeff's job is 10 miles away round trip. Now does it sound like a lot?

We were given 3 1/2 weeks to move our jam packed 800 square foot apartment. Seen as we spent the first 5 days standing around repeating, "How did we get so much stuff?!?!" we now have a little less than 3 weeks. We're no strangers to moving; between August 2002 to now, I have picked up all of my things and moved 17 times. Yes, that includes moving into and out of my residence halls for college, but that is still a lot of packing and moving. The packing-moving-unpacking part doesn't worry us. The packing-feed the baby-play with the baby-packing-moving-hold the baby-watch the baby-unpacking-hold the baby-feed the baby-unpacking-watch the baby thing does.

As for general moving tips, I've got quite a few. Firstly, don't label your boxes like this.  -------->

It is not as helpful as you may think.

Packing

1. Create "Open First" Boxes - As you're packing, designate one or two boxes as "Open First" boxes and mark them clearly as such. This will ensure you can find things like Advil, toilet paper, extra socks, a set of sheets, towels, pet food, whatever you think you'll need first.

2. Sort Your Stuff - Use packing as an opportunity to sort through your stuff. Make piles for a yard sale and Goodwill. If, while packing, you say, "Huh, I didn't know we had this" or "That's where that's been" chances are you won't miss it if its sold or donated. This is not the time to be a pack rat.

I made Jeff repack his 1,000 lb. box

3. Keep to a Weight Limit - Don't pack an entire bookcase into one large box, like someone in my house who shall remain nameless. He knows who he is. Keep boxes to a manageable weight, even if that means you have a billion small boxes. At least you'll be able to move them.

4. Don't Buy Moving Supplies - Bubble wrap just gets tossed once you move. Instead, use towels, sheets, and other soft stuff to pad fragile items and save space. Boxes can be acquired from your local liquor store or supermarket. The boxes that eggs cartons come in are seriously some of the best boxes for moving - they are a good size and have handles!

5. Set a Schedule - Easier said than done, but do the best you can to stick to some kind of schedule. Whether its a color coded, room by room break down on an Excel spreadsheet or trying to pack two boxes a day - do what works for you. Regardless, know that you're going to be up until 3am before the day of the move. Sorry. 

Moving Day

Can you tell Jeff works at Barnes and Nobel?

1. Use Your Head, Not Your Heart - If its going to give you a panic attack to have every single family member show up and man handle your stuff, then don't invite them. If the moving company your cousin recommended sounds more like a mob operation, don't feel bad not using them. Moving is stressful enough. Do whatever you can to keep your sanity. And drink coffee. Lots of coffee.

2. Number Boxes - If you're using a moving company or even if you're not, number your boxes (# out of #). Its easy to see what you're missing this way.

3. The Boy Scouts Have it Right - Being prepared, that is. I don't know about you, but it always seems to either rain or be a hundred degrees on the days I move. Have ice water for heat and tarps in case of rain.

Unpacking

1. Have a Plan - In order to prevent the wide eyed "where do we start?!" stare, have a plan of action. Unpack room by room, starting with your Open First boxes, and go from there. Oh, and know that you're not going to get it done in a day. Get some rest.

What's that serenity prayer again?

2. Clean as You Go - Take out boxes, paper, and other trash as it piles up. It may be a room of empty boxes, but it still looks overwhelming as you're trying to feel accomplished. 

3. Don't Unpack the Junk Drawer - There comes a point when you're packing when you just start throwing stuff into boxes. No? Just me? Anyway, don't unpack a box from the junk drawer back into the junk drawer. Throw things out, sort things, and put it away. You've got the next several years to reestablish that eclectic mess.

Now, here are my tips for moving with a baby...

1.

2. 

3.

4.

5. Don't Forget the Baby

Oh wait...I don't know how to move with a baby. Crap. 

I guess we'll find out what works and what doesn't. I love parenting by trial and error. Lessons are so much more swift-kick-in-the-pants that way. Needless to say, Spring Cleaning Saturday is going to be dominated by our move for the next few weeks. Please send any extra moving karma my way. We're gonna need it.

Y3W: Your Three Words

Can you sum up your week in three words? Jenni from the Blog challenges bloggers to do this every week. Fun, huh? Join in the fun! When you've written about your three words, hop around to other blogs participating in Y3W by clicking this lovely button!

My three words for this week: Pack my house.

Please? Someone, anyone...pack my house for me! Or at least give me copious amounts of boxes, packing tape, and coffee. It'll get done eventually. I'll share some pictures tomorrow for Spring Cleaning Saturday of what my crazy 1/8th packed apartment looks like. In the meantime, I'm off to pack some more boxes!

Are you Pinterested?

Many an hour have been devoured by the Pinterest monster, but I keep going back for more. I now have enough craft, sewing, decor, garden, home remodel, and recipe ideas to keep me busy until I'm about 103....and I've only been poking around for a few weeks. Just think of the dream to do list I can come up with!

If you'd like to follow my boards, click my button. Go ahead, you know you wanna. Ow, ow!

At the moment, I've got boards for general organization, my dream craft room, DIY projects, Charlie's room, favorite baby gear, nom-alicious recipes, dream home, and random fun things. Not all of them have pins yet, but I bet you can guess which ones do!

If you're not on Pinterest yet and would like an invite, please let me know. And I won't even make you follow me to get it. :-P Happy pinning!

Attack of the Teefers!

Its a good thing we don't remember cutting our first set of teeth because from what I can tell, it sucks big time. Charlie, the "if you're going to do it, do it big" kid, is cutting all four of his top teeth at the same time. For real. Right now, the two middle teeth are just white bumps, but the other two are poking out making him look like a little vampire. Of course he won't let me take a picture, but trust me on this. Its adorable.

The problem is the mood swing from beastly screaming banshee to happy giggly cutie pie. You never know what you're gonna get. Teething tablets have been recalled, Baby Orajel now has crazy warnings against using it on babies (yes, I realize the irony), and you should only give Tylenol when things are absolutely unbearable. So at 3am when he's freaking out and only wants to be held? Turn on the coffee pot.

Really though, its not too bad and realistically, it won't last forever. The hardest part of it all is not being able to help. I can hold him, but sometimes he just needs to make it through. Hopefully, these teeth make an appearance soon so we can move on with our lives. Until then? Turn on the coffee pot.

Other times, this is what we get and it melts my heart. :-) Excuse the ridiculous noises I'm making. Whatever floats his boat.

Tutorial Tuesday: No Pattern Tote Bag

What is summer without a cute tote bag to bring to the pool or beach? You can make one yourself to match your favorite beach wear without worrying about reading a pattern. Yes, really. If you can measure, you can make this! Plus, this bag is reversible, so choose cute fabrics for the outside and inside!

For this project, you'll need:

1/2 yard of fabric for outside
1/2 yard of fabric for the lining
Scissors, pins, ruler, needle, and thread

This tutorial is for a bag that ends up being about 11" x 10" x 2", but its very easy to it alter to fit your needs. To start, I cut out two 13" x 12" rectangles from each kind of fabric. But wait, if the bag is 11" x 10", why such big pieces? With the sewing of corners, the bag goes from flat to having a bottom and that takes up space. I'll get to that in a bit.


Next, with the right sides facing, sew around three sides of the outside fabric rectangles leaving the top of the bag open. Do the same with the two inside rectangles except mid way down one side, leave a 4 inch gap along one side for turning inside right later on. Basically, start near the top of the bag, sew a little, leave a gap, then sew around to the other side of the top. You'll fix this later.

Now you have two bags with unfinished tops. Next, you're going to create that fancy bottom I was talking about. Flatten a corner (instead of it laying flat, pinch it together so the seams from the bottom and side are touching) and measure 1 1/2 inches from the corner. Draw a line. Do this for the other three corners.

Just like you can adapt this to increase or decrease the overall bag size by changing the size of the rectangles, you can change the size of the bag's flat bottom by increasing the measurement from the corner tip to the line you draw. At 1 1/2 inches, the line you draw is 2" across, creating a 2" bottom. Get it?

Next, sew across that line on all four corners (left picture), making sure the seams from the side and bottom line up. When you turn the bag inside right, you can marvel at your pretty corner (right picture). 

Now you have two bags with unfinished tops and nice pointy corners. Time to work on the straps. This is another place you can play with the measurements to fit your needs. For this bag, I cut out two 4" x 20" strips from the outside fabric. Fold each strip in half and sew it with a 3/8" seam (left picture) and turn inside right. I use a thick gauge knitting needle to gently push the fabric tube through its self. To finish the straps, iron flat with the seam down the middle and top stitch along both edges.

Now you have two pointy corner bags and two straps. Time to put it all together! Okay, this can get confusing, but hang in there. Turn the outside of the bag so the right side is facing in and the inside of the bag so the right side is facing out. Put the inside part into the outside part. In the end, you want the right sides of the fabric facing each other. The top edges should line up. Insert a strap in between the fabric layers on each side so each strap end sticks up 1/2" past the unfinished edge of the bag. Place them evenly and pin them in place. Also pin the seams so they line up and a few other places to keep everything nice and still. Sew around the top, double backing over each strap end to reinforce it.

Almost done! Pull the inside of the bag out and find the little hold you left on the side seam. Using that hole, turn the bag inside right. Using a blind stitch, close up the hole. If you don't care about the bag being reversible, you could always just machine stitch this closed. You are 95% done!

Now that the bag is turned inside right, push the inside of the bag inside and poke the corners down to fit into the corners of the outside part. Iron around the top to flatten the seam. Using a quick straight stitch, sew around the top to give your bag a more finished look. Ta Da! You have a custom tote bag!

Some variations on this simple project include adding pockets to the inside or outside or adding batting in between and top stitching it to give it a quilted look. Play around with it and make it what you want.

If you have any questions or would like a custom tote bag, please let me know!

Toddle Along Tuesday!

If you're here from Toddle Along Tuesday, welcome! Feel free to poke around and follow along, but if you do, please let me know so I can check out your blog too! :-D

If you're not from TaT, but are a Mommy blogger or interested in reading some fabulous Mommy blogs, follow this button back to Growing Up Geeky and check out this week's list!

This week's featured blog is Loving Moments, be sure to stop there and check out the beautiful new layout and her adorable little ones!

Have a great Tuesday!

Happy 4th of July!

Happy Birthday, America!

We took Charlie to his first parade down town. I thought for sure he was going to lose his little mind once the firetrucks started with their sirens, but he did great and loved it all! No fire works for this little guy though, 9:30pm is just asking for a melt down and a screwed up sleep schedule. Maybe next year!

He got a kick out of waving to the cars.

Must...get...in...mouth...

Mmmm....patriotism is yummy.

Cue the Choir of Angels

Another perk to Jeff being home (aside from hanging out with him after a long week apart) is that he can watch the short man and I can get back to sewing!

I will stock my Etsy shop before the end of the summer. I will stock my Etsy shop before the end of the summer. I will stock my Etsy shop before the end of the summer. I will stock my Etsy shop before the end of the summer.

If I keep saying it, it'll magically happen, right?

I've had the darn thing set up for months now, but have been preoccupied with other projects, work, and general laziness and haven't put anything in it. I have all these grand plans to make blankets, bibs, burp cloths, nursing pads and covers, toy tote bags, sun dresses, and bucket hats. What do I have done? Um....yeah. Moving on.

This week, there was a new addition to my little sewing appliance family. I cleaned and organized all of my craft stuff in preparation. Yes, I was nesting for my new machine. Don't judge me. On Wednesday, my new Brother 1034 3/4 Lay-In Thread Serger arrived!! Here is where the choir of angels comes in.

My pretty. ::pets serger:: My other two machines are Singers (my Mom's Fashion Mate 360 and a Quilting Confidence), so this is my first Brother. Why switch brands? To be honest, the reviews for the Singer sergers were appalling. Unless you were dropping like $700, they averaged two stars with complaints of cheap manufacturing. No thank you. This one had great reviews and was said to be very newbie friendly for a reasonable price. Sold. One flick of my Amazon trigger finger and it was here in two days.

I unboxed it, put it on the table, opened the instruction manual....and almost vomited. This thing is so intimidating! There section on threading the machine is like seven pages long. Save me. I haven't attempted playing with it just yet - I'm going to try this new thing where I read the manual first instead of winging it. I'll let you know how that goes.

Before I go lock myself in a room with this novel of a manual, here's a random gem. Why is the person in the illustration wearing a house slipper? What are you trying to say Brother? I bet this manual was made by a man. What if I sew in 4 inch heels, bitches!?

(I don't, but I'm just sayin'.)

Momma & Charlie Hang Out Marathon (Part 2)

The original plan was to blog about our week as it happened, but apparently, I seriously underestimated the needs of a teething, growth spurting, snuggly (slightly clingy) 8 month old. So, here's your recap of MaCHOM 2011.

We had a pretty low key week and though there was a little less sleeping and a little more cleaning than I thought there would be, I'd call it an overall success. Charlie proved to be very helpful with everyday household chores such as...

Cleaning the kitchen, grocery shopping,

Cleaning the bathroom, and doing laundry.

And holy moly was there laundry. All of a sudden, my little precious angel is a super pee machine and decided to show off his new skill at least twice a day. A regular size BumGenius insert used to be perfectly fine for overnight use, but all of a sudden we're using two and its just enough to contain the flood. Looks like hemp inserts are in our near future. I think its probably the formula since its digested differently than breast milk, which leads me to...

Despite my previous declaration, we started weaning this week. I just can't keep up with him, leaving me with the option to either continue to breast feed him while also pumping several times a day or just wean, start formula, and ration out my freezer stash. Well, seen as he absolutely freaks when he sees a bottle, I just went with the latter. He's happy, loves formula, and gaining weight and I can wear my pretty non-nursing bras again. That's a win-win in my book. Plus, my amazing online Momma friends have been sending us unneeded formula samples, formula checks, and coupons for Similac. Its saving us a ton on this unexpected expense. Much love to the Mommas. I PPH you all!! <3

Jeff came home in the wee hours of the morning and after letting me eat and take a shower in peace is recovering (napping) this afternoon. Apparently, twenty-two 16 and 17 year olds are just as exhausting as one 8 month old. Who knew. He enjoyed his experience taking the MegaBus and recommends it to anyone needing to get around mass transit style. Its like Greyhound, but way cheaper and cleaner with better amenities (outlets at each seat and free wifi on the bus). How sweet is that?

I absolutely loved hanging out with the short man and am glad we got to spend time together. That being said, however, I have a entirely new appreciation for single parents and stay at home Moms and am so happy to be able to get a break now that Jeff is home. ::phew!::