Saturday, January 29, 2011

Closing out January.

I can't believe January is almost over.  This is a long, probably boring post, that I wanted to write so that I would know what happened this month.  I forget where my car keys are on an hourly basis, there's no way I'd remember what my kids were doing in one month!

This month has been busy.  Things are changing a lot around here, and although I'm not quite sure what direction we're all headed in, I'm starting to see more of the picture and feeling a little more together.  Some days though, I still feel like I'm completely lost in unmapped territory.  

I started selling cloth diapers in my Etsy shop this month.  I love the diapers, and those that have bought them seem to like them too.  I'm starting to stress about it though...I need to just love what I do and not do it for other reasons, and sometimes that's hard.  I'm hoping to keep selling them, but I'll see how they do for the next few months. 

On Monday, Small Fry turns three years old.  He's definitely the troublemaker of the bunch.  He knows it too.  But he has the biggest heart, and when he stops for a second (and it's only a second), he'll give you the biggest kiss or hug and tell you that he loves you.  Then he's off again, like a hummingbird stopping to sip nectar, Small Fry never stops flapping his wings. 

We took the Light Rail downtown on MLK day to see hubby at his restaurant.  I was a little nervous to travel the entire length of the Light Rail with just me and the three kids, but they did surprisingly well.  (Small Fry was VERY excited, and even sat the whole time).  I wore Split Pea in the Ergo, and even nursed him on the way there.  The Monkey played with my camera (which was nerve wracking), and took this picture of me wearing Split Pea:

Split Pea is growing well (finally).  He outgrew the weight of our kitchen scale, so I know he's more than 11 lbs, just not sure how much more.  At his 4 month check-up (on January 7th), he weighed 10 lbs. 13 oz.  Tiny, but at least he'd grown.  And both the endocrinologist and pediatrician were very pleased with his progress.  We've upped his growth hormone dose, and kept his hydrocortisone dose the same.  We'll recheck his levels in March, right before we see the endocrinologist again.  For now, his thyroid is high (in a good range, not too high!), and he may even be producing a little of his own testosterone. 

He loves being on his tummy, can roll from tummy to back, but not the other way.  He has started grabbing toys, and loves to chew on his hands.  Not a big fan of the binky, but uses it to fall asleep.  Spends lots of time in the jumparoo watching the craziness around him.  We started him on solids (sort of) a few days ago, and it was successful in that he ate it.  I'm in no big hurry though, so he's had some oatmeal and a little bit of pears and a little bit of sweet potatoes.  

The one thing Split Pea is NOT good at is sleeping.  He's slept in 3-hour spurts (at the most) every night since he was born.  He likes to eat, and wakes up ravenous.  We had slowly started to move him out of our room, or at least just out of our bed, hoping to improve his sleeping habits.  He slept okay in the bassinet in our room, but still did better with complete silence.  So a few days ago, I started having him nap in the crib.  He did well with that, and so I started having him sleep in his own crib.  The first night was a bust, he woke up every three hours, then wouldn't go back to sleep.  But last night, something happened and he slept from 9pm to 5:30 am!!!  He even stayed asleep when I slipped in (way late) to give him his midnight meds. 

We'll see how tonight goes.  I'm hoping for more of the same, but I say it's a fluke until it happens three times in a row. 

As for the Monkey, he's started to grow quite an attitude.  He is so smart, kind, loving and thoughtful, but boy oh boy, he has one big sense of entitlement.  Part of it I feel incredibly guilty for, as I have a horrible shopping habit, and I'm afraid my excitement over new stuff has really rubbed off on him.  But I'm working hard to change it in both of us and learn to appreciate what we have so I can teach that value to him.

We found out last week that he's been accepted into our district magnet school for kindergarten next year.  This is what we had absolutely hoped for and all of us are really excited.  I know it means I'm going to have to be really involved in school, and that scares me a lot.  I get really intimidated being around other parents who aren't my friends, but classmates of the boys.  I just feel small and not worthy, and afraid I'll embarrass myself around people I don't know.  But that's my own issue (a big one I've carried around for years), and going to a school where parent involvement is a big deal will definitely challenge my social phobias, hopefully resulting in a positive change. 

That's about it here in our house.  I tried to get a picture of the boys wearing their new superhero shirts (Small Fry picked them out for everyone...the Monkey's is also a Batman shirt), but this was as good as it got.  Three kids under 5 are hard to photograph.  Now I get why you pay a professional. 

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

Felt Projects

Happy 2011!  I'm ready for this year.  It will be the first year since 2005 that I won't be pregnant or having a baby, and I plan to make the most of it.  December's goal of interacting more one-on-one with the kids was mostly successful.  I'll write more about it soon, but in the meantime, I had to share some of the felt projects I made recently.

I LOVE felt toys.  Last Christmas, I made a slew of play food for the boys, which they loved.  And I had fun making it.  I think there are some great patterns on Etsy, and I've bought nearly every one of my patterns from BuggaBugs and Gulf Coast Cottage.

The older boys are really into taking care of Split Pea (they want to watch me give his growth hormone shot and test his blood sugar every night), so when I saw this pattern I knew I had to make it.  A doctor's kit!

It was really easy to make, great instructions and everything went together really fast.  And the boys knew just what to do with it when they opened it on Christmas morning:


While I don't have a girl (yet), I still drool over all the cute things intended for girls.  I saw this dollhouse on BuggaBugs' Etsy site a while back, and while my boys have liked playing with dolls in the past, right now everything is about comic book heroes, Star Wars, Batman, and so on.  Soo, I decided to make the dollhouse for my niece's 3rd birthday.  It would make a cute gift and satisfy my desire to make it.

BuggaBugs has GREAT patterns.  There are color pictures for nearly every step, lots of detailed instructions and full size pattern pieces.  I think I have at least 10 patterns from her shop.  The dollhouse was lots of work, but I think it seemed like more because I crammed it into only a week (on top of making things for my own Etsy shop!).  But it turned out really great, and I can't wait for my niece to open it for her birthday (this weekend). 

Here's how the dollhouse turned out:

It was nice to make some stuff as gifts for a change.  I've satisfied my need to do hand sewing and make felt stuff and today dove back into working on diapers.  I'm excited to get them all finished and photographed this week so I can finally get them up for sale.

I've sat for too long, the older two are downstairs plotting mischievous activities, Split Pea needs a diaper change, and the dinner hour is fast approaching.  I'm almost off the mommy clock and can soon head back to my studio!