Tuesday Crafties {Crafting with a Baby}

I have gotten a few questions about how I get all my crafting done with a baby.  So I thought I would draft up a little list of how to craft with a baby:

1. Choose a craft with safe materials. Don't chose something with needles, scissors, and tiny pieces like beads.  Felt and paper are best. 
2. Keep any unsafe tools or materials carefully out of reach when not using, so as not to tempt little hands.
3. Pick a project that doesn't take intense momma concentration to complete like needle point or something :) Instead pick something that can be interrupted easily by your little helper.
4. Make your goal about having a fun, positive experience and not about full perfect project completion.
5. Use the opportunity to explore shapes, colors and textures.  Little miss loves playing with my plastic shapes from my scrapbooking stuff.  She will also sit on my lap while I use a punch to punch things out and we will count them as I go.  

She loves my big plastic cutting shapes and little scraps of paper. And while its super slow going to craft this way we stop and count and talk about colors.

Even though my craft room looks like a bomb went off it's totally worth it to have this cute little crafting partner.

Stay Date

We are really lucky to have family near by so once or twice a month we are able to get out on a date.  But in between we try to have what we call "stay dates."  We put little miss down, stay in our dress clothes from the day and try to do something special, like cook dinner together or play board games or sometimes grab a Redbox movie. 

This weekend I picked up a few cupcakes from our favorite little place and after eating a very healthy dinner (fish and steamed veggies) we tried a small slice of each one and caught up on each other's week.  It was so fun!  And we have plenty of cupcake left to enjoy or share.  

What kind of things do you do to connect when there's no babysitter?  

A Little Baby Adventure

We have been having all sorts of baby adventures recently including going to the Dallas Zoo.  We liked looking at the fishies and penguins and we got several feet away from a giraffe.  

It was a little chilly for Texas so we wore our little lamb hat on our adventure.  

Valentines and A Cake

print via

We had a really great Valentines this week.  In years past we haven't been big on celebrating Valentines Day since it was just the two of us and we could go out on dates any time we wanted and T never left me in short supply of fresh flowers just because.  But this year my sweet sister offered to babysit and since time together is at a premium we jumped on the chance.  Add to that that this is little miss's first Valentines and I wanted to just surround my little family in love.  Even if it is a silly holiday, it's a good time to teach and be reminded about commitments we have as a family everyday, year round.  So we celebrated as a family and then T and I went out.  I tried to do a few things to make this year special for little miss and our family.  And it was great to have a babysitter (thanks, sis!) so T and I could have the chance to hang out just the two of us Valentines Day or not!  

Last weekend I baked a cake on the fly for some friends that were coming over.  It ended up being super dense and moist and just wrong.  Just wrong.  And it really bothered me.  I don't normally make mistakes cooking or baking and what was worse is that I couldn't figure it out.  About three days later I realized what I had done--a simple and silly mistake.  I violated one one of the basic rules of baking when I was in a hurry and my little helper was being less than helpful.  Ah, but no excuses, eh?  And so to test my theory about my mistake I made a second cake for my loves on Valentines Day.  And I was right and the cake was right and all was well and everyone felt loved!

How was your Valentines Day?  

Tuesday Crafties {Baby Crafties}

Over Christmas I got a few gift cards to Amazon and after pooling them together I was able to snag a new toy camera.  You can see how excited I am here.

Anywho, I ordered it with plans already in mind for how I might use it to make cute little crafts.  So since it arrived last week me and the little miss have been busy trying it out and making our first little projects.  

First up we finished our Christmas thank yous.  Since we receive several thoughtful gifts each year via mail I thought snapping a pic of little miss with her beloved new item to incorporate into the thank you would be super cute. Here's the thank yous:

And since this is the little miss's first Valentines and since she can't really make Valentines without some major momma assistance, I thought I would use the camera to help her make a few Valentines for her loves.  

Not too bad for my first two attempts with the camera.  Hope you have a wonderful Valentines Day!  

Baby Adventures and Crazy Hairs

The past week has been filled with random friend visits.  Last week we got to see some dear friends of ours  from Tulsa who passed through town on the way to a wedding and over the weekend one of our friends from Indy brought his daughter down for a college audition.  And this week our we had friends visit from Iowa.  Yesterday we took our little girls to the aquarium and had a blast.  

The aquarium was surprisingly empty so little miss could stand up and look in the glass at a few points and just loved it! She even gave a few little "ooooh!" when fish swam close by.  

You might remember these two cuties from a few months ago.  It's so fun to see how they've grown just since they last time they got to see each other in July!

And can we chat a minute about hair?  As in my sad, postpartum hair.  I thought the worst was during the great postpartum hair loss of summer 2011.  But no, for the past three months all the hair I lost last summer has been growing back and so in every picture I take with my head in it (and let me tell you it's hard to take cute photos of adventures without your head in them!) there is a halo of new hair, like a small duckling or one of the children from Who-ville.  It's out of control.  I keep thinking they will eventually get long enough to blend in with the rest my hair, but seriously ya'll it's out of control.  And I think it's contributing to the overall crazy hair situation in the above picture.    But luckily there is a cute baby in that picture to distract you, right?

Baby Bites

We have embarked on the adventure of eating solids.  We are not following any particular method unless there is a fancy, study based title for "the momma trusts her gut to know what's right for her baby." 

So far we really dig bananas but we don't like them in little pieces.  We like a chunk of banana we can hold and bite pieces off.  We also like organic, whole grain cereal O's, strawberries and blackberries.  Despite the face I caught below :)

We also like small pancake pieces (no syrup!), eggs, raisin toast, shredded cheese, brown rice, steamed broccoli and the star of our tray--crackers!  

I've had friends say that their favorite phase was starting baby food, but this is so fun!  To see what she likes, what she doesn't--how all of that changes from day to day and week to week.  And to watch and encourage her as she figures this food thing out and builds self-esteem in her new skill.  Being a parent is just the best.

It's A Monday and I'll Cry If I Want To

Ok, my title is a little dramatic.  No tears were actually shed in the making of this day or this post.  I have been struck with some yucky cold like thing that is making me feel tinie-tiny, weenie whiney.  I wore leggings and a scarf indoors most of the day today if that is any indication as to how I was feeling.  Just incase you all think its all cute babies and house project and crafts all the time over here.  Somedays you just wear your crafts (yep, knit the wool tunnel scarf last winter), wear fake pants and enjoy the company of a very well behaved baby.  

But despite feeling crummy, here's to a quick recovery and a good week!  

Up in the Air

The weather has been insanely pretty lately.  Tuesday was warm and sunny so we took a family walk to the park to check things out and see what kind of fun might be in store for the little miss this summer.  It was fun to see all the other kids running around.

And look what we tried out while we were at the park: 

Our little miss is growing up so quick!  

Special Delivery

I got a little belated package in the mail today from Santa with a new toy.  I cannot wait to get the hang of this little guy and start in on a whole list of fun little projects.

Some Photos of Recent Adventures

It's been a few weeks since one of these and here are a few of the things we have been up to via my phone...

I've owned these shoes for two years but just figured out what to wear them with...everything!

A gift from my sweet sister.  I have like every page marked! 

We made this face on demand for like 30 minutes straight.  Pure baby awesomeness.

Little reader gonna brush up on her Niebuhr (both). You know, a little light reading in our tutu.

Lining up our friends.

Mom snack

Crafty organizing 

New artwork arrived from OneCanoeTwo for the creative room.  Love!

What would the monthly photo dump be without a Scrabble pic?  

Warm winter days playing outside.

Nap time mean tea time

Baby wreckage 

My new work space

Woke up from her nap one day and all she wanted to do is climb on my lap and give me kisses.  So cute.

A new baby in the family means dropping by congratulation flowers.

Sitting on our blocks.  

New art wall.  Makes me so happy.  

Our reading interests summed up in a book shelf.