June 29, 2009

Updates

I don't have a photo to share today, but I did want to write down the funny doings of the last few days before they are jettisoned by my Swiss cheese memory for good.

Jakey has started smiling at us. Sometimes it's a full-out grin from ear to ear; other times, it's a coy smile that plays only on one side of his mouth. Either way, he is quite delicious. Also, I have figured out that if he is sleepy, I can put him on his tummy on the playmat and he will conk right out (see picture from yesterday). I've decided to call this "tummy time." Yay for a little freedom from having a baby on me 24 hours a day!

Meanwhile, a few days ago: I put Lara to bed and heard nothing from her room for at least a half hour, when suddenly she started calling "Mommy, Mommy, come here!" She had red paint smeared all over her hands (up to the wrists almost), her pj's, and her sheets - like she'd been doing surgery or something. Then I realized that she also had paint on her face. No smears there, though, just very very carefully applied circles on her cheeks and forehead, and a pretty good outline of her lips. "Why do you have paint all over you?" "I was putting on makeup, Mommy, like you and Olivia have on." (Olivia being a book character. Oh, books, always putting ideas into people's heads.) I really wanted to take a picture of her, but then I thought that would send the wrong message about not doing that any more. It was really amazing, though. Impressively funny and creative.

Last night, she went the opposite route. Again after a period of suspicious quiet, I heard "Mommy, come in the bathroom please!" and walked in to find Lara sitting in the bathtub in all her clothes, studiously applying soap to any exposed body parts. "I'm making myself all nice and clean!" And right she was, since the next thing to do was to wash the soap off and congratulate ourselves on the impromptu bath.

Man, kids are funny.

June 25, 2009

Cute Lara

Working:



And in a crown made at the wonderful children's craft program in the art museum:

June 24, 2009

Another Momentous Milestone

Misha finally finished residency! Five years is quite a slog, folks - he really deserves some accolades. Also, I decided, he deserves a whole bunch of tiny presents:

Tiny presents

They were really small, most less than an inch, wrapped in scraps of tissue paper, ribbon, and raffia. Inside each was a little piece of paper with a note on it, and I hid them all over the house in places he encounters every morning. There is still one that he hasn't found, as far as I know.

June 21, 2009

Happy Father's Day!

Lara made Daddy these Father's Day robots:

Father's Day Robots

If you can't see, the one on the left is Hoppy and the one on the right is Jumpy - these are both their names and their functions!

I made Misha this tee:

Father's Day 09 - Lara Jake Tee

I made the design on Photoshop and then had it printed on Cafepress. It came out great - much easier than trying to figure out how to silkscreen in an apartment.

And Jake? He brought the cuteness quotient up:

June 21

Happy Father's Day, everyone!

June 17, 2009

Farmer's Market Poppy

Farmer's market poppy on graph paper

So pretty... and sadly so very ephemeral. These lasted maybe four hours in a vase!

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I have a question for all of you creative types out there. I now have a few photos of flowers and nature that I really like, and would like to use to make a set of notecards. Where do I find a good printer? We sometimes print out our photos on Shutterfly, but they aren't really high quality. Where do people who take art photographs get their images printed? I know, I know, I'm a rube.

June 15, 2009

A Lara's-Eye View

One of the presents Lara's very thoughtful brother brought her when he was born is a little digital camera. She was a big, big fan of this gift - probably her favorite thing Jakey came home with. (It's amazing how technology leapfrogs itself, by the way - a 2 megapixel camera is now $30.) She is not quite a master yet, but here are some fun shots from the past few weeks.







June 12, 2009

Father's Day Collage

Anna & Lara collage for father's day

My dad is visiting this weekend, so I gave him his present a little early. I've been wanting to use that stencil of Lara and me for a long time, and I really like how this one came out!

June 10, 2009

Almost 3 Weeks

June 10

Jake this morning - bathed, fed, and all dressed up in a cute tee I picked up at the Art Star Craft Bazaar a couple of weeks ago.

Family portrait in dry-erase marker

And last night, Lara drew a family portrait in dry-erase marker. From the top clockwise: Daddy, Jakey, Lara, and Mommy. I managed a quick photo before we were all erased.

June 9, 2009

Swinging Collage

Collage - Sadie's husband & daughter

Sadie's happy girl and husband. Looks like she loves the swings as much as Lara does!

June 8, 2009

A Good Weekend



Every weekend should have a cake day, especially when you can order the Triple Chocolate Mousse Torte from the bakery all by yourself.



Really good weekends have playdates, and when your friend Gus has a giant barrel of Playdoh accessories? Awesome.



Weekends require special attire. This outfit matches because everything has stripes.



And the best finish to a good weekend? Going to the playground with the Jakey baby and Daddy.

June 7, 2009

Lara and Jake Play Together



I love how cute she is with him. Now she calls him "the Jakey baby". As in, "Mommy, can you give the Jakey baby to Daddy and put me in the bath?"

We've now also entered the age of interminable stories. Mostly they are long, extremely detailed recaps of recent events, taking us all the way back to the exact moment of the actual telling of the recap - "and I then I told you about the playground... and then..." - where they kind of end as Lara figures out that nothing since then has happened. But yesterday I wrote down this one:

"A dragon came for the farmer to eat him, and then the farmer was falling down and hurt his butt. Then I put him in the bathtub and his head was in the bathtub too, in the water. Then the farmer ate a hamburger and lived happily ever after and turned into Princess Fiona."

I wish that one came with illustrations.

June 4, 2009

Fitted Sheet/Changing Pad Cover Tutorial

I got a couple of questions asking how I made the fitted sheet and the cover for the changing pad, so I thought I'd draw up a quick tutorial. The process is the same in both cases, and really takes no time at all.

Step 1.
Measure the height of the mattress/changing pad. Now add 4 to this number. This will be value X. Use this value to measure and cut out squares from the corners of your fabric, like so:



Step 2.
Sew together the cut edges, a to a, b to b, c to c, and d to d. You will end up with basically a fabric box that should fit snugly over your chosen mattress or pad.

Step 3.
Fold down the top edge of the fabric "box" about 1" to create a casing channel for your elastic. Pin in place, and sew the casing down. Remember to leave an inch or so unsewn so you can thread the elastic into the casing. I used 1/2" elastic, but I don't think it really matters very much. My method of threading elastic is the traditional one - attach a safety pin to one end and then scootch the safety pin through the fabric to pull the elastic through. Sew elastic ends together, and you're done! (In the image below, the red rectangle is the casing/elastic.



Let me know if some part of this doesn't make sense!

And also, to answer another question that I didn't get a chance to answer directly - yes, Jake's swing is from Dwell (from the collection they made for Target, which is totally adorable).

June 2, 2009

Jakey Awakey





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Thank you so much for all your well wishes, everyone! So far, two is lovely, but requires an even tighter grip on time management and multi-tasking prowess. Babyhood does seem much easier the second time around, though. So few needs - and they are so easily met; so few opinions - and they don't necessarily have to be catered to! And, as an added bonus, I fins that I have attained some kind of relaxed zen state (which, as everyone who knows me can attest, is so not my innate personality). It's nice. I'm an island of calm amid the chaos.

June 1, 2009

New Stencil Collage - "Love"

Collage - Jenae & her girlfiend

I am really struck by the sweetness of their pose and the expression on Jenae's face looking at her girlfriend - it really is quite evocative of what must be a very loving relationship.