Mobility

Who needs baby-proofing, really?

 

 

Oye! We have some work to do.

Here's to boldly going where no baby has gone before.

Luck of the Irish

I don't get St. Patrick's Day.

We don't celebrate St. George's Day (April 23), St. David's Day (March 1) or St. Andrew's Day (November 30) the patron saint days of England, Wales and Scotland respectively. Why St. Patrick?

I can't say I am much for green beer or corn beef and cabbage, but I did make a special St. Patrick's Day request this year.

Guinness Cake!

I have to say this cake is a pretty awesome way to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. It makes as much sense as the many other ways people choose to acknowledge this holy day of obligation.

Here's to dense chocolate layers and Irish cream frosting.

Recent Favorite

What's worse than day light savings time with a kid?

Why day light savings time with a sick kid, of course.

It has been a long week and we're all ready for a rest. Thankfully the little one is on the mend.

On the plus side, the later sunsets have allowed us to get out more. We even pushed back bedtime a bit one night for an after dinner walk.

We're looking forward to a fun weekend with family and friends. And hopefully a bit less coughing, sniffling and crying than we've seen during the week.

Here's to antibiotics.

In Other News:
Happy Birthday to my sister Ruby, who will celebrate this weekend.

All About Rosie

We have a nine-month-old. How incredible is that?

The little miss has had a whole mess of first since her six month update.

She gnawed her way through her first Christmas.

She visited her Mama's homeland for the first time and powered through two impossibly long car trips to get there and back.

 She played on the swings for the first time.

She took her first airplane ride and visited Hawaii. And she gained her first (razor-sharp) tooth while on the islands.

She fully learned to crawl, after months of putting all the steps together. This meant she could finally reach the exciting blue internet cable.

She learned to move from sitting to crawling to sitting again, which did wonders for her ability to play with a toy once she reached it. Once she conquered those milestones she started chipping away at pulling up.

She gained a second (also razor sharp) tooth and a ton more hair.

She has trooped her way through her second ... and third ... and fourth cold ... and then tossed in a first ear infection for good measure.

She contemplated all kinds of new people and places with careful consideration before releasing her charming smiles and infectious squeals.

She ate every meal with delightful gusto ... even lentils and rice.

She  tosses out a clear "Dada" on a regular basis and on very special occasions, utters a "Mama."

She gleefully visited the library weekly and danced, sang and played with her library friends and even scored a few play dates with other special friends.

At nine months she weighs in at 18 pounds, 3 ounces and stretches to 27 inches.

Here's to the giggles and every crazy thing we do to hear them.

Previous Updates All About Rosie

Two Weeks

Two Months

Four Months

Six Months

Card Wallet | Pinterest Challenge

It is time for the winter edition of the Pinterest Challenge!*

The Pinterest Challenge is a fun idea cooked up by a few bloggers I follow as a way of motivating one to actually complete a project they pinned on Pinterest. I did a few projects for the summer challenge (here and here) and sort of completed a project in the fall.

Last summer I had about twenty pins on my craft project board and very few people had heard of Pinterest. Now I have 156 pins and Pinterest is more popular than ... er ... Facebook.

Challenging indeed.

The winter edition of the Pinterest Challenge was an excellent reminder of two important sewing lessons. 1. Measure twice, cut once. 2. Never hesitate to use the seam ripper.

I decided to take on a super simple, very basic sewing project -- a fabric business card holder.

My first attempt took place as I was rushing to capitalize on nap time and preparing for a play date.

Oops.  

Measure twice, cut once.

Other than being too small for cards, there's nothing actually wrong with this one. I may find a use for it yet.

My second attempt went much better ... until my top stitching prevented easy insertion of cards and I accidentally sewed one flap closed attaching the button.  

Never hesitate to use the seam ripper. 

It took me a few days to return to the project, but when I did I carefully top-stitched and hand-sewed the button. Voila!

My cards even fit! No more cards held together with a rubber band and rattling around in my purse.

The holder is more versatile than business cards and would work well as a small wallet.

Although I only need one card holder, I see myself making more of these. I think they'd make a fun simple gift. As the tutorial author mentioned, this will be a really sweet way to give a gift card.


Here's to Pinterest! One day Kyle will take the world by storm with his super awesome pin board filled with puppies dressed as bunnies.

*The Pinterest Challenge Winter Edition was issued by Young House Love, Bower Power, Hi Sugarplum! and The Great Indoors.

Plum Blossoms

It is hard to believe we had sunshine and blue skies recently. The week kicked off with a heck of a storm! Back when the sun was shining we took a moment to enjoy our newly blossoming plum tree.

Over the weekend, I took a moment to bring some of that loveliness indoors.

Kyle was quick to point out these flowers will now never become plums, but I don't care. I couldn't resist.

I even took the smallest clippings and tucked them into a cute little beehive jar.

It may still feel like the most brutal days of winter outside, but we have a little slice of spring in the house to remind us blue skies will come again.

Here's to signs spring is on the way.

Play Dates

Rosie and I had the distinct pleasure of visiting with babies A, B and C over the weekend. I failed to bring my camera on either of the visits, so I don't have photos of baby B, but  here is Rosie with A and C.

We have some work to do with these three. I envision a day when we capture the winning smiles of all three at once. It will happen.

Kyle and Rosie kicked the weekend off with a slightly different kind of play date. Roller skating!

At least Kyle went roller skating. There were very specific instructions about not holding the little one while skating. Thankfully an attendant at the rink in Oaks Park was able to back me up, as I was working and missed the party.

Not to say that Rosie wouldn't love roller skating. Someday she'll get to go on her own ...

Here's to all our good friends and to all kinds of play dates.