Edie

As I have mentioned before, like a month ago we went to visit Edie or as Gwen called her "my new Grandma Edie"...I guess it has been too long since we visited her last...it is the first time she met Nate. We finally made it up there the last weekend in Jan...and it was a lovely visit. Edie got Gwen a couple of books that Gwen enjoyed listening to Edie read to her.



Nate enjoyed hanging out with Edie also. He is so easy going though, we didn't expect much different from him. Edie did mention Nate's blue eyes and she wondered where they came from and I thought, well if you don't know, how are we to know? I mean we know that I have blue eyed Grandparents, but we haven't heard of any of Eric's family having blue eyes, but then again, we really haven't asked, so I guess that is a mystery we will never solve, of course if they change to brown, it will be a moot point!

I have a confession

I have finished the quilt, you know the quilt that I took about here...now I think I might be addicted the whole using the sewing machine, I am trying to decide what project to do next, maybe another quilt, or I might want to do some dresses for Gwen, I don't know. We'll see, but I don't want to lose my skills, my sewing machine skills that is.
I thought it would be a good idea to document the process of the quilt, for my future reference. So, here it goes...so unfortunately I didn't take any pictures of the part where I put the t-shirts together, but that part was super easy and super fast. The only slight problem was when I cut the t-shirts not all the shirts where exactly the same size, and they were about an inch or less off, which made them hard to attach when I had to put on the strips the quilt kit had provided.
But after that I had to lay out the backing, and figure out how to stabilize the backing so I could baste the quilt. I chose to pin the backing to the floor...now in normal instances this would have been ok, but our carpet is carpet squares, so it hurt pretty bad trying to get those pins into the carpet! I felt the need to pull out the hammer, but I survived.
Next I added the innards, the batting. Now for this quilt kit there was no directions for this, I was going off the "book", the quilt kit suggested just putting the backing down with the quilt top (facing each other) stitch around the ends and pull it out and stitch up the whole. I decided that I was going to quilt this "for real" and give it the batting.
Next I put on the quilt top on, and on to the fun part...the basting. So basically you use pins and stabilize the 3 layers together, making sure to start in the middle and not to step/lean on the quilt while you are doing the basting, which by the way is not like basting a turkey at all!

So, next came the actual quilting. Now this was the most difficult part. I think I have mentioned it before, I had huge problems with this. There are things I just don't know about apparently, the rude woman in the craft store felt the need to tell me, which actually I wouldn't have minded if she didn't use the tone. What I didn't know was that sewing machine needles can not be used forever, apparently they get old...I didn't know that, but now I do, thanks rude lady! But I was still irritated because the needle she gave me still did not work...well, she didn't give it to me, she sold it to me, so I went AGAIN and the nice lady gave me the right needle and I was able to finish the quilt. But, the problem I was having was I thought first was the tension, which I was finally able to fix, but minky material is apparently pretty difficult to sew through (FYI-minky is that really soft material they use in baby blankets) and the t-shirts have some writing that the needle just couldn't work through, so it couldn't pick up the stitches, so, I won't let you look to close! Also, apparently the batting you use dictates how far apart you should stitch the quilting. The quilt kit suggested "stitching in the ditch" or cross-hatch. I decided to do both since I needed to do that for the batting. For my quilt, stitching in the ditch means stitching right outside where you stitch the t-shirts together. I also stitched in the middle of the t-shirts. Then I cut the edges even to the top of the quilt.

Here's the back.

And last the binding! This by far took the longest. First I had to take strips of fabric, sew them together, then I had to iron the fabric strips in half, then sew it on the quilt, figure out how to finish the strips so it looked like one piece, I know I don't have pictures of this part, but it took me a while to finish the binding, a couple days to figure out how to get the strip of binding into 1piece. Then after that was done I had to flip the binding over to the back and hand sew it to the back! PAIN! But man it looks pretty...

A close up of the binding, this is the back of the quilt flipped up, so you can see the part I hand stitched.

Well, I know most of you probably didn't read any of it, just looked at the pictures, but I need this for future quilting projects, I wonder what I am going to do next!?

Thursday!

Thursday was a banner day around here, I swear everytime I think about it I wonder how much could happen in just one day! I guess I will start with Wed, we've been having a problem with the washer so Wed I finally called someone and they fixed the washer, some baby socks had gotten sucked into the pump, along with a penny, 2 screws, lint and a dress shirt collar straightener thingy, do you know what I am talking about? Seriously, I am now putting all socks in a mesh bag! Wed night washer worked like a dream I ran 2 load of laundry. Thursday on my way to class and maybe before when I started load #3 Eric calls and says I need to call that guy again, the washer is leaking, he calls me back about 5 minutes later and says the guy never put the drain hose back in the drain...or if he did, he didn't put it all the way in 'cause it shook loose!!!! See hole in ceiling, because you know our washer is conveniently located on the 3rd floor! I don't know if you can see the holes we pooked into the ceiling to let the water drip out, we collected I think 3 gallons of water, that doesn't even include the water that soaked into the drywall.

So now we have this! We called the guy and he was all like, I put it back in...fortuanately he talked to Eric. We should probably do something, like make him take care of it, but he tore up the check, so score, free washer repair, and as long as Eric doesn't have to go back to the HD we are saving $25!

If that was the only thing that happened Thurs, it would have been enough, but it is not. Gwen took that opportunity to poop on the potty and has done that again, so I am hoping that is a trend that will continue! Today we went to DC and she had no accidents! Nate also started standing and "cruising" on Thursday, but you saw that in yesterday's post. So, I guess tomorrow we will be hanging drywall, I didn't want it to be wet at all when we put up the drywall, so tomorrow is the day!

Standing tall

Our little man is moving on again,I took these pictures yesterday! He is at the next developmental stage, pulling up/standing, I think he might even be cruising, not well, only a couple of steps. But that is a LOT faster than I expected. He is a man on the move that is for sure!

Here you can watch him in his standing up. Eric took a video, I think, sometime I will find and post!

This is how I was greeted this morning! Such a happy little man. I guess it is a good thing we moved the crib down when we did, you'd think we were seasoned pros...hahahaha!

We had a lot go on around here yesterday, maybe later I will compose a post about that, but Eric is putting Gwen down for her nap, so I am going to start binding my quilt and maybe I will be able to post those pictures soon!

The silver surfer aka Natezilla!

The other night on FB I mentioned to someone, who shall remain nameless (HI, you know who you are!) that I was going to put up some pictures of Nate, I said in a couple days and she proceeded to harass me when she didn't see them up that night! Seriously, I know she was only teasing, but I guess it worked, because here I am uploading the pictures of Nate, my 8 month old child, who pulls up and is trying to stand! 8months, people, God help me! I mean if he wasn't so kiss-ably cute and cuddly, we would have to talk about giving him to the gypsies. I realize that with Nate we or rather Eric has never told him that we were going to drive to WV and give him to the gypsies like he used to do with Gwen. Huh!
Here is Nate doing his best surfing impression.
My Mother says that I used to sit with both my legs behind me, unlike Nate, we are wondering if he will do the same. She said it used to freak people out, I can only imagine, because Nate like that and doing the splits really freaks people out.

As you can see he is kind of losing his balance here, in his Natezilla-oh crap he might fall on you stance

Oh, regains his balance and is super happy about it!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Please enjoy our Valentine's Day photo shoot!

Hopefully you will find a picture in their that makes you smile! Hope you have a great day.

8 months

I can hardly believe Nate is on this side of a year, he is such a big boy and growing so fast. He wants absolutely nothing to do with his exersaucer or jumper, those things are too confining! He wants to move where he wants when he wants. He is still a happy little man and we enjoy having someone who laughs and smiles so easily. Nate is definitely more social then Gwen he likes to watch people and smile at them. He also is saying Mama and Nana and Dadada. I don't know if these are words yet or just practice sounds, but he definitely knows that I am Mamamama. He also knows his name, I guess he has known that for quite some time, but I haven't mentioned it before. He will look if you say Nate. Nate seems to be super flexible and I am debating whether I should sign him up for some kind of gymnastics or something when he gets a little older. I mean obviously he needs to walk first, and while I am on the subject, he is definitely starting to pull up and loves to "walk" around. It makes him so happy, but so does getting to what he wants by crawling. We have pulled out the "walking"/standing toys because it won't be long now before he can use them on his own!
We still have no progress on the eating solid foods. I am doing the same food everyday for 10 days (or until I run out of that flavor whatever comes first). I think he just doesn't really like the idea of this food thing yet, or he just doesn't like the pureed food thing yet. I have been giving him a lot of puffs, so he can practice feeding himself and chewing. I hope that the reason he is not fond of this food thing is he just wants to feed himself!
Nate is definitely in to things that Gwen was never into, I don't know if that is a product of being the second child or being a boy or a combination of the 2. He can spot a cord from a mile away, and he loves to eat things that he shouldn't. We definitely spend more time wondering where he is than we ever had to do with Gwen. Nate has also recently discovered peekaboo...he loves it and loves to play it. He also loves the feeling of the wind in his hair. Oh, and as you can tell, eyes...still blue!
We think/are hoping that he is getting his top 2 teeth in...he kept me up the other night while he cried. I finally got him calmed down and back to sleep after 2 hours, but that is certainly not the norm around here. But that morning he woke up with a runny nose and you can see the teeth under the gums. I just hope that we don't have another night like that around here for a while! No fun for Mommy!

31 months

We have been spending the last month adjusting to life with Daddy home and just when we get settled in, we get a snow/ice storm or he leaves for the weekend. Gwen adores having Eric around all the time, but this has an added benefit, I am no longer chop liver around here. I am starting to get equal billing as a parent. I don't know if I like that or not. Gwen used to want Eric to do everything for her, but now, she asks for me to do stuff for her also. I don't know if that is apart of her getting older, or she is used to him be around and likes her quality time with me also. I would have to say, it is an interesting change, most of the time nice.

The biggest advance this month has been the elimination of diapers! Not entirely, but during the day Gwen has finally decided to tell us when she has to pee on the potty. It has been great, we have not done any night/nap training and we are not pooping on the potty, but really, I am not all that worried about that. The not pooping thing only gets on my nerves when she is tired but uses that time to use her diaper instead of nap. It has been about 3 weeks now and she had 1 accident in all that time. I think the accident was actually kind of funny...we were outside playing because it was like 50 outside and she said to me something like, "do we have a potty outside?" I said no, before I realized what the real thought there was and she peed on herself. But, she hasn't done it since, so here's hoping those accidents are few and far between! But, as I have said before, when Gwen decides she is ready to do something she just does it, no real problems no convincing, she just does it, but I don't know how to encourage her in a way that makes her think it was her idea. I think that is the only thing I am lacking for her!

Gwen is still somewhat of an attention hog with us, she loves us to take her picture and she loves taking pictures herself. Most of the pictures are not good, but I guess they do convey what she sees.

I think she has had a growth spurt and she has starting eating foods, like foods that we eat. Dinner time is not the battle it used to be, granted she is still rather difficult about it, not in a knock-down drag out kind of a way, mostly in either she eats it or she doesn't. But, she has started to try and eat stuff, the other night we went out to eat and the terrible waitress brought out a grilled cheese sandwich instead of chicken, we took it, because the terrible waitress wasn't really admitting to her mistake or really willing to do anything about it, I thought, well, lets see what she does, and she ate it!!!! Can you believe it? I certainly couldn't. I would thank the terrible waitress, but frankly she was the kind of waitress that made me want to leave her a note instead of a tip...I guess that is why I am not the one who pays the bills!

This month has also brought out Gwen actually climbing out of her crib for the first time. It is a little disconcerting to open up the door to her room and see her standing there...it took me a minute to realize that yes I did put her in her crib, and this was abnormal! She hasn't done it since, but it has brought up the debate should we convert her crib to the bed or not. We haven't changed it, I think it is up for more discussion!

To me, Gwen's speech is really clear, and she says the craziest things. She certainly keeps us entertained and it makes you wonder why you don't just have a video camera or a voice recorder on all the time to get some of the hilarious stuff she says.

I am beginning to wonder about her social skills though...I still think she might be a little bit of a snob, she definitely has her friends that she wants to hang with and I feel like I should probably keep a better eye on her to make sure she learns to be nice to everyone! I wonder if she likes to only have 1 friend at a time and that one friend should be someone that she can boss around a bit.

She is still very loving to Nate and cracks me up because she'll yell "SMILE, NATE" and "look at me". We still have to work on the sharing of the toys and whatnot, but I am sure that is a battle we will have for the next 15 or so years, maybe longer, who knows.

Moving-on!

I have been obsessed lately trying to get some good actions shots of Nate moving, have I mentioned how fast he is? And how sweet he is? Or how he likes to eat cords and paper, but not food? Or how he is pulling up? Well, more on that in about a week when he turns 8 months!!! AHHHH!!

Superbowl!

I love football, have I mentioned that? Unfortunately I don't get to watch it anymore...2 kids and a husband, equals not much time for watching football on Sat & Sun. Especially since I don't really like for the kids to watch TV. But, I made an exception for the superbowl, we invited over the godfather and girlfriend. We had a menu, yummy! And the godfather and girlfriend were in charge of bagel pizzas...they had Gwen help

Gwen is getting to be more helpful in the kitchen, as you could see. Not to be left out, I took a picture of Nate.

As you can see, he doesn't really care if I take his picture or if he is involved at all, he just wanted to make sure we didn't leave him, he'd check on us and then go back to chewing.

Unfortunately, I missed most of the Superbowl and pretty much all the ads. I know I saw most of the last quarter, but I felt a little discombobulated and I know it was apparently the best part of the game, but I didn't feel invested, because I missed like the whole thing, I really didn't have time to decide who I wanted to root for.