Taking Time Off

Bean reading the story of herself to her brother.

I've decided to take a 3-month blogging break while I'm on maternity leave with Colin (aka Cookie). It's hard to find time to do anything with two kids, and any "free" time I have I want to be loving on both kids. I especially want to enjoy Cookie's tiny-ness during this time. He's a big baby and I know he will be out of the tiny newborn stage quickly. Right now I feel like my "free" time is better spent with him than online. I'll be back in late July, probably with tons of new ideas now that we have a little boy in the house!! We've decided to give him a superhero bedroom, using this color scheme since the walls in his room are already this color: 

via Homes

And probably these bins:

via Sugar Tot Designs

This is going to be fun!! See you in July!

Trek

My husband was a Trekky. It's one of the little things I love about him. When we has little he had his Star Trek toys labeled and organized alphabetically, with index cards labeled for each of them in a small file box. They're all unopened - opening fresh Trek figures is a crime for Trekkys. Anyways, I saw this post on Ohdeedoh the other day. For our next baby, we will be getting one of these in honor of my Trekky husband. 

I sent this link to him and he found these onesies on the website. Yep, we'll be getting some of those too evidently.

Eames Rocking Chair

I finally got around to ordering the new Eames rocking chair for Bean's new big girl room. I ordered this one from Amazon. It's not an original Eames, but I'm not into spending $400 for a rocking chair and this Baxter one gets great reviews.

I was looking around on The Boo and The Boy blog the other day and I found a post on Eames rockers in kid rooms. It just confirms how much I love the look. It's so unique and totally different than our usual style. Here's a preview of some of those rooms. Check out her post and more pics here.

http://www.carolinebriel.com/

http://www.ohdeedoh.com/

http://www.solebich.de/

http://modernkiddo.com/

Madison Bookcase

I currently love this Madison display bookshelf. I found it at Pottery Barn and I think I'll get this one for Bean's big girl room. I've seen these before, but I've never liked that you can't keep that many books in them. This one says you can hold up to 50 books which is great. 

 I also found this DIY version at Chic & Cheap Nursery here:

Pink Princessing

I'm really, really happy that someone wrote this article titled "Pink is not the Enemy, Stereotypes Are." by the author of the Portrait of an Adoption blog. I'm sick of the anti-pink for girls movement right now. I know I'm supposed to be encouraging my daughter to be a strong, self sufficient person with good self esteem so she can survive in today's world and floating around in a pink Disney princess costume may not sound like a way to do this. But purposely turning her away from pink when it's her favorite color is NOT the way to lead her in the right direction either in my mind. And neither is trying to encourage her to be a tomboy when she clearly loves dancing and taking care of baby dolls better by her own choice. And my favorite - I'm NOT supposed to tell her she's beautiful ever?

Teaching great tools for self expression like reading, writing, drawing and problem solving are better ways to give her the skills to survive. I'd rather have her draw what comes to her mind (which at this stage is ALL princesses), and help her learn and read all about anything related to princesses. I'd rather have her help me "solve" the problem of getting the Princess to the castle in time to marry Prince Charming using a basic map and symbols and colors. She's genuinely interested in this right now. She will learn better with this subject which she loves so much. Think about it, the last time you loved something with a passion, didn't you want to learn all about it?

There's this whole argument out there that princesses and Barbies are bad for helping girls develop a positive sense of body image. I'm sure there's some truth to this and many an argument can be made for it. Yeah, I know, Barbie's body proportions are physically impossible for humans. But as someone who had a horrible body image for a long time - I can tell you, Barbie and Cinderella didn't cause it. We didn't have a lot of pink anything around our house and very few Barbies growing up. No, it wasn't that. It was the other girls- girls are just mean as snakes for a period of time regardless of the color of their bedroom or how many princess costumes they own or because they'd rather take Ballet than try to push their way into a football game.  Seriously.

Everyone has their own favorite color, and I'm by no means saying you should dress your girl in pink and blue and follow some pre-determined social outline on color choices. All I'm saying is that I do not believe that being all pink for girls is that bad, whether it was some giant marketing ploy created in the mid 1900's to scheme us all out of our money or not. Who really cares if it was a marketing scheme?

I'm also not saying you should go all Toddlers and Tiaras on it and dress your kid in poofy tutus and parade her around in front of judges. That's crazy. I just believe that we can do better for our girls by encouraging them to learn through something they love even if the princess has unrealistic proportions and can't find her own way so she has to be rescued by a Prince. Ha.

So, what's your kid's favorite color? Does anyone have any proof that "pink princessing" is harmful for kids? If you do, I'd love to read it.

T is for Toddler

I'm constantly amazed at how quickly Bean is learning to recognize letters and numbers at two and a half years old. Especially letters, and especially the ones in her name. Everywhere we go she points out E's and As, the first and last letter of her name. On billboards, in stores in the aisles, on cereal boxes, on every one of the 10 chalkboards we have in our house, and in every book we read (which means reading books takes a lot longer these days). She gets so excited when she recognizes them. If there's two E's in a word, she'll shriek "Mommy look TWO E's!!!" As a former teacher, this whole phase of her grasping the concept of printed sounds is awesome.  My inner teacher is kicking in and I want to have print all over the house for her to soak in with everything she does. Not that I care about her being a child genius or anything like that. I just fully believe that reading and writing skills are two of the BEST skills ever. Math and science are definitely important too, but if you can't read efficiently and you can't express your thoughts in writing, then your math and science skills won't matter as much. That's why I'm so big on all of the chalkboards in our house, and all the books scattered around making a complete mess of the place. Children need to see print everywhere long before they begin to grasp the idea that those sounds we make are represented by something on paper, but especially once they grasp the concept. Anyways, there are all kinds of great ideas out there for alphabet activities for toddlers and preschool kids. Here's a few I found that I really like:

 Alphabet Box from Play Talk Learn.

These ideas from Disney Family Fun-hands-on alphabet and shape-up. 

 This alphabet wall from Fowl Single File

This alphabet sorting game from Pinterest

 

This alphabet art project also from Pinterest, original source unknown

You could use the same pictures from this artwork to make this book, from Disney Family Fun

This easy alphabet book from Education.com

Testing the Limits

I found this poem today on Pinterest, via the Oak Ridge Revival blog. Being the parent of a "spirited" toddler, I think I need to print this out or write it on the chalkboard in my kitchen, or even print a small version to keep in my pocket at all times. Parents always say that kids will "test you to your limits," but it's hard to know what that really means until you're in the middle of it. This week has been particularly tough. Bean has missed a couple of naps and has woken up a few times in the middle of the night for no apparant reason. I'm sure there's some reason, but it's not the obvious illness or teething thing this time where we can "solve" it with baby Tylenol or Advil. She's exhausted and I'm exhausted, which means we're both operating on overdrive and snap easily. The whole "testing to the limits" concept for me this week is my ability to stay calm and not break down in a crying fit during one of Bean's tantrums despite having about a third of the sleep I need for the week. That is so incredibly hard to do. All I want to do is curl up in my bed and sleep for 15 hours, but instead I have a screaming, crying, kicking, fighting toddler who doesn't yet know how to calm herself and really needs me there to help her. I know this tantrum thing is just a stage that is usually more traumatizing for parents than it is for the kids, but wow it's a tough one. I apologize to my mom a thousand times over for being a tough toddler, and I give high fives to all parents of spirited kids who came out on the other side of it alive!!

http://oakridgerevival.blogspot.com/2011/05/thrifty-thursday_25.html



Bean's Big Girl Desk - In Progress

I've been working on painting Bean's desk for her big girl room-see this post for the original inspiration piece and the paint colors. I have so many projects that I want to do - it makes me happy when I actually have one in progress. So far I LOVE the color, Krylon's Blue Ocean Breeze. It's a great spray paint, it goes on evenly and dries smoothly. You can't tell at all that it's spray paint. I think I'll be using that brand again for other projects, it's so easy.

Here's the desk before:

And now here's some "in progress" pictures, with two coats of paint so far. I think it'll need two more coats, for a total of four. It's several coats and probably will end up being four cans of spray paint. But that's still less than $30 total and WAY easier than regular paint. I think each coat took about 10 minutes. After I'm done with the spray paint layers I'll be adding some glittery white details, and I think it'll be perfect.

 

Off to Maine

We're off to Maine for a weekend my mom and dad. We haven't been up to my family's house in Maine since Bean was a few months old in 2009. My how times have changed, that seems like a lifetime ago now!! The picture below was Bean and my dad back then, on the old sofa that has seen over 25 years of relaxation in that house. We'll see if we can try to get the same shot again this weekend, but with a wiggly toddler the chances are slim. Oh well, happy weekend!

New Ideas Tuesday

  Mmm, yummy chocolate chip, PB and banana snack or breakfast for Bean from here:

 

 Pretty DIY hook project from here:

 

 Totally love this idea for a party, must try for our next holiday party!! From here:

 Looks like a relatively simple DIY Very Hungry Caterpillar no-sew felt project, perfect for someone like me who can't sew!! From here:

This is brilliant, using an oil drip pan as a magnetic board for those of us who don't want to scratch up our stainless fridge. From here:

Happy Friday

From Etsy

Free Printables

A few free printables I found this week for labels or digital projects. 

http://www.fuzzimo.com/free-vector-compact-audio-cassette-tapes/

http://maybemej.blogspot.com/2011/03/free-collage-sheets.html

http://thevintagemoth.blogspot.com/search/label/ledger%20sheet

 

Martha Stewart



Martha Stewart



http://www.i-do-it-yourself.com/2009/11/diy-vintage-tins-free-labels/



http://www.fuzzimo.com/free-hi-res-old-air-mail-envelope-images-1/



Paper Dolls from http://lottabruhn.typepad.com/lotta_bruhn_illustration/



New Ideas Tuesday

A few of my favorites from this last week:

Two things here, this post on hosting an awesome wine and cheese party and the chalkboard contact paper they're using!! I found it online on Amazon. So cool. Next time we have an adult only party, which may be in 20 years, I'm trying this!

Colorful DIY pasta for projects. Ooooh pretty colors. From A Little Delightful here
This website also has TONS of other great projects for kids, make sure to check it out.

The darn cutest little Minnie Mouse outfit I've ever seen for newborns. If we have a girl I'm ordering one immediately. From Etsy store Lady Hudd here

I will at some point DIY a dresser with the British flag. Someday I will!!! I like this one from here

Ok this winter I will be trying this out - brilliant, a piece of astro turf and some farm animals and other toys for some indoor green in the middle of winter. This will definitely happen this winter. From here

Blue Eyes

Bean with my mom

My daughter has beautiful blue eyes. Ok, I'm biased and I know this is probably more opinion than fact. But for me the blue of her eyes is meaningful because I'm amazed at how similar her eye color is to mine, my mom's and my maternal gramma's even though she didn't physically come from this bloodline. I've always been amazed by this, and I always find myself thinking of how much her eyes remind me of my Gram's eyes. As an adoptive parent and as part of a big group of adoptive families, I'm constantly amazed at how much our adoptive children resemble us. Maybe not in eye color, hair color, or even skin color. Some in a little more subtle ways like an expression or sense of humor, but a resemblance none the less. There's this whole nature versus nurture debate out there and I'm sure the similarities are due to a little of both. But I don't care so much about that. What I care about is how much it proves to me that there's a plan out there for all of us, and to have faith in it and to submit to it a little even when we don't want to. My daughter's eyes prove to me that we were meant to find each other in this big wide universe and I am forever grateful for that.  There's a connection between us that even I didn't know about until she first opened her eyes as a newborn. It makes me a believer in faith, a believer in fate. If I ever veer down a path where I find myself forgetting my faith, I just have to look at my daughter's blue eyes and I'll remember.

The Dollhouse - Inspiration

When Bean was born a friend of my mom's generously gave us a great old dollhouse that her kids had used when they were little. It's kind of a mess right now and the front part is cheap particle board that will have to be replaced. But there's something very cool about it and I'd love to "renovate" it for Bean's room. I could much more easily go out and buy the pre-done Pottery Barn version for $200. That would be a LOT less work which is tempting with so many other projects that I want to do. But this dollhouse has such meaning to it, being pre-loved by other kids and as a gift to Bean as a newborn. Here it is now:

And here's my inspiration dollhouse from here:

There's no way I'll ever in a million years have enough time or patience to create a masterpiece like this one, which I think looks better than our real house!! But we could get pretty close with our dollhouse and then Bean will have a one of a kind house instead of the same one that every other girl on the street has. Thanks for the inspiration Mousehouse!!