Small Fry the Chatterbox

Between me and the Monkey, it's hard to get a word in edgewise in this house. The Monkey actually was a late-talker (you wouldn't know it now!), and we took him to speech therapy at 22-months. They said he was mildly delayed, but it wasn't anything that warranted any worry or further therapy. Something happened around 25 months though, and it was like he grew 10 years overnight. Now, he has the MOST amazing vocabulary and regularly surprises hubby and me with the unbelievable words that come out of his mouth. And the things he knows. It's just amazing.

But this post is about Small Fry. Small Fry knows his stuff. He knows what he wants and how to get it. He knows a good deal of signs, that he's been using since about 10 or 11 months old. Although his favorite word is "THAT!" to request just about anything or everything, he is coming up with new words every day. He's definitely ahead of where the Monkey was at this point. (Not that I'm comparing, but it's the only reference point I have).

And I must add that I'm a super proud mom that both of my boys are voracious readers? I love their love of books, their desire to be read to, their desire to look at every page in a book again, and again. I often find the Monkey fast asleep in bed surrounded by a pile of books. And now the Monkey wants to know what everything says, what each individual word says. Although he reads from right to left, but we'll work on that. At least he knows all his letters and numbers and can speak some Spanish.

But back to Small Fry.

I thought it would be neat to make a list of what words he says now. The list changes, but today I just heard "DADDY! HOME!" and was loving the two-word phrase...a milestone of the speech world. I'm enjoying the changes and growth I'm seeing in him, as I think getting older suits him. He was a cranky baby, I think because he knew the wonderful things that await him with each passing day and each milestone.

So...Small Fry's list of words (at 18-months old, and mind you, these are said in Small Fry speak, so not necessarily as clear as each syllable, but his mom and dad know what he's saying)...
- Mama
- Dada
- Brother
- Kitty
- Doggie
- Hot Dog
- Hot
- Cheese
- Elmo
- Apple
- Peach
- Plum
- Grape
- Blueberry
- Hammer
- Handy Manny
- Done
- Down
- Up
- Cookie
- Home
- Eye
- Poop (an essential to every kiddo's vocabulary)
- Hi
- Bye
- Bubbe (what we call my mother-in-law)
- Off
- On
- Help
- Happy Birthday
- E-I-E-I-O (he tries REALLY hard to sing this when the Monkey is singing)

(He also LOVES to "RAWR" like a dinosaur or monster on every occasion, and he's happy to SCREAM to let you know he's not happy.)

That's a pretty good indication of what we do on a daily basis...EAT. Small Fry sure does love to eat. Cheese and fruit, lol!

Silence.

Yup, just as seems to be the norm, I have neglected my blog. Life just seems so busy, and with Facebook, Twitter, and three message boards, I feel like I complain enough about my life.

Ah, but tonight, I was editing photos for my Etsy shop after I helped hubby put the boys to bed. I was sitting on our couch downstairs, listening to the white noise of the fan and totally falling asleep (if you know me, 7:30 is no where near a bed time for me...think more like 3 am).

I LOVE the silence that occurs right as the boys fall asleep for the night. It's like a wave of calm peacefulness, stillness, and order comes over the house. It's as if the house, too, is settling in for the night. Getting a rest from the chaos, screaming, crying, throwing, noise of the day.

I used to not understand why my sister (who had a son in 2001, five years before my first was born), why she didn't watch much tv. I get it now. The silence that falls on this house each night sometime between 7:30 and 9:30 is much better than any noise I could imagine.

Of course, don't get me wrong. I love the kids with all of my heart. But like all humans, I need a break from them too. I relish in the silence for a few hours before catching a few episodes of whatever I've recorded on my Tivo, working in my studio until the wee hours (the norm is starting to become closer to 3 am these days).

And I love when I'm done in the studio and can creep up the stairs and quietly visit each of my boys to give them a good night kiss and watch for a few moments as they are still, peaceful, dreaming, and quiet. I soak in that peacefulness because I know all too well that all too soon, as the sun creeps over the eastern horizon, the noise returns, the house awakens, and the silence is gone for another day.

I'm off to edit more photos. And while I'm at it, I think I'll eat a snack. Because I really love to eat when I don't have to worry that someone will be clawing at my heals, crying and whining for whatever I am eating!

Win a Diaper Bag and lots of MamaMade goodies!

As the summer is starting to wind down (in my mind at least, as the Monkey has only 2 weeks of summer pre-school left), I've decided now is a great time for a giveaway!

You can win a beautiful MamaMade diaper bag, full of wonderful MamaMade goodies (over a $150 value!!), just by making a purchase of $20 or more from my Etsy shop between July 18th and July 31st.

Even if you're not in need of a diaper bag, this bag would make a great tote, or a fantastic gift for any mom-to-be!

The winning package will include:

- MamaMade Diaper Bag: 4 external pockets (2 are perfect for bottles), 5 internal pockets. Long handles allow you to wear the bag over your shoulder. 100% cotton fabrics, completely machine washable! Very durable. Bag measures 14" wide x 14" tall x 6" deep - great for cloth diapers too!


- Rubber Ducky Minkee Baby Blanket: This adorable blanket has a super soft, yellow Minkee on one side and a 100% cotton "Just Ducky" flannel on the other side. Measures 30 x 36", a perfect size for baby. Machine washable, great as a crib blanket (my Small Fry curls up with one like this every night!)


- Flannel Burp Cloth Set: This set of adorable pale blue flannel burp cloths is perfect for cleaning up any mess. They are double sided flannel, top stitched for durability. Each burp cloth measures approximately (9" x 17")


- Custom Sock Monkey Shirt or Onesie: You pick - girl monkey or regular sock monkey, and pick the shirt size (newborn-18 months onesie, or t-shirt - I'll discuss the best size/style with the winner).



- MamaMade Reusable Sandwich Bags: You'll get 2 Sandwich size bags and 1 snack size bag in prints that coordinate with the diaper bag (photo below is a sample, the winning bags will be different prints).

Read on for all of the details:

How to Enter:
- Make a purchase of $20 or more (before tax and shipping) from my Etsy shop any time between July 18th at 12:01 am MST to July 31st at 11:59 MST. For every $20 (before tax and shipping) you spend, you get ONE entry to win the diaper bag and goodies!

(One entry for every $20 spent (before tax and shipping) means that if you buy $40 of items from my shop, you get TWO entries, and so on!)

Drawing:
- I will draw a random name from all qualified entrants by using Random.org's random number generator. Name will be announced on my blog on August 1st, 2009, and winner will be notified via email (make sure your email is correct with your Etsy account!)

Other stuff:
- I'm sorry, but purchases made outside of the contest dates do not apply.
- $20 must be purchased in the same transaction.
- Any unpaid orders will not be eligible for the drawing, so please make sure to submit your PayPal payment upon check out.

Thank you and good luck!!

Head on over to my Etsy shop to fill up your shopping cart!

I love mail day!

I knew I had good mail coming today! Check out what I got from Fat Quarter Shop today:

Most of it will become sandwich and snack bags, but it will become other stuff too. I had a great idea from a loyal customer when she asked me to make some water-proof water bottle holders for her Sigg bottle. The bottles are great, but I know condensation can make everything else get wet, and a waterproof holder would be ideal!

From the left: Bot Town (the first four pieces, I have more coordinates), and then a great new zoo print in two colorways.

From the left: A fun and funky print from Moda, some great dots, three colorways of a fantastic tree print, and my favorite - blueberries and strawberries, on light green and cream

A few cowboy prints, I can't wait to work with these!

Things Happen for a Reason...

PHEW! May was one of the busiest months of my whole life. Thanks to a completely unexpected shout-out in an "Etsy Finds" email/blog post on Earth Day, I was beyond swamped with orders. Earth Day was definitely a lot more like Christmas this year, and totally busy, but wonderful. Things are starting to get back to normal, and I have started to even take a night off every now and then (I generally sew in my studio from 8 pm - 2 am every night).

Funny thing...the DAY before Earth Day, I got this strange urge to move things around in my studio. I have this beautiful, and LARGE Sylvia cutting table, and I knew I could reconfigure it so that I could open out the table the whole way (It has two drop sides, and I only had one side up).

What I thought (ha!) would be a quick project, turned into 8 hours of complete reorganization and a fantastic and completely productive new set-up. Little did I know that 24 hours later, I would be on my way to making over 600 new sandwich bags, and finally have the perfect set up for such a mass-production? Kind of cool how things worked out that way.

Thought I'd post some before and after pics. The before pictures were taken in January 2009, so just less than 4 months before I decided to do a switch-a-roo. Oh yah, and I added new lighting - it's like a whole new world!

View from the entrance - BEFORE:

View from the Entrance - AFTER:

Fabric Storage/Cutting area: BEFORE

Fabric storage area/Ironing area: AFTER

View of Ironing Area: BEFORE

View of Cutting Area: AFTER

New shelving to hold the rapidly multiplying fabric stash:

View from the sewing machine: (My space is optimized, and there is a much better flow/path through the area)

And a few last photos...that moving around was good, because I need LOTS of floor space when I'm packing orders:

I restocked!

A quick note, my shop is restocked on snack and sandwich bags. I don't know when I'll be able to restock again, so get your order in before they all disappear!

http://mamamade.etsy.com

And the Winner is...

The winner of MamaMade's Earth Day give away is...

From Random.org's Random Number Generator...

Comment #22 - Amber!

Congrats Amber! I'll be leaving a comment on your blog, but please email me at MamaMade@LNSDesigns.net with your mailing address so I can send you your bags!

Thank you to EVERYONE who left a comment for me during this giveaway! I am so excited to see the variety of ways that everyone is trying to live a simpler, greener life. Thanks to a great Etsy article that showed my sandwich bags, I sold out the shop a few times today. I'll be listing lots of pre-order bags tonight, so if you didn't win this bag, consider checking out some new listings.

Thank you again!