Monthly Archives: March 2010

Oklahoma Weather Can Suck It!

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So.. The weather lately has been beautiful. Wednesday, Thursday and today have been GREAT! Mid 60s to low 70s, sunny, a slight breeze and just so dang beautiful. I was really starting to get pumped up for Spring. So pumped up that I actually washed up some shorts and short sleeved shirts for Zoey. I was ecstatic about warmer weather and loads of sunshine.

And then my Mother told me it was going to snow on Saturday. And then I watched the weather just to see if maybe she was losing her mind. Unfortunately, she was correct and they are calling for a blizzard. One similar to the one we had on Christmas Eve, which totally set records in our state because we don’t usually see that much winter precipitation here in central Oklahoma. Are you kidding me!?!?! We’re nearing the end of March and we’re expecting a blizzard?? The thought of snow seriously makes me feel light headed. THAT is how much I despise snow right now. THAT is how much I really want to punch Old Man Winter in the face. I’m not normally this violent either, but this is the kind of emotion that Winter evokes in me. BLIZZARD??!!?!

Yesterday morning hubby stayed home from work and the three of us went to the Zoo. It was going to be a beautiful day and I figured he could take a few hours off of work on account of beautiful weather. Makes sense, no? We pulled onto the street the Zoo was on and I saw the line of cars. The fourteen thousand mile long line of cars. All of them trying to enter the Zoo. All of them having the exact same brilliant plan that I did: Beautiful! Sunny! Cool but nice! Let’s go to the Zoo! For a few minutes while sitting in stand still traffic, I seriously thought of doing a u-turn and driving as fast and as far away from the Zoo as possible but I persevered! I tapped my fingers on the steering wheel, Zoey yelled (literally, she yelled. Didn’t cry, didn’t fuss, didn’t whine, just YELLED) and I tried to envision sugarplums and gumdrops and not Claustrophobia Induced Panic Attacks From Massive Crowds And Getting Run Over By Wagons and Strollers. I parked as far away from the Zoo and other cars as I could and decided the long walk would be good for me.

It took us forever to get out of the car and into the Zoo. Gone are the days of just going places quickly. Now we have to unload the car, load up the stroller, make sure we have everything and it just takes a lot more time than it used to. I’m learning patience and learning to just take things in stride. We purchased our yearly Zoo membership and headed to the new Children’s Zoo that just opened up. It was really nice and I’d love to go back some time when it isn’t so crowded. Maybe first thing in the morning in the dead of Summer.. Or is that another brilliant plan that is shared by the masses? I think we may have to start breaking into the Zoo in the middle of the night.

Feeding the goats with Daddy

Zoey fed the goats while Daddy held her and protected her from nibbly goat teeth.

Hitting herself in the face with hay

She wacked herself in the face with hay (is it hay? I don’t know. I am no agricultural expert.)

Taking the slide VERY seriously!

She went down a slide, that as you can see, she thought was REALLY exciting

Sleepy little peanut

And as we walked the eighteen thousand miles back to the car, she slept peacefully in Daddy’s arms.

Conked out after a few hours at the Zoo

Hey, three hours at the Zoo is really hard work on an 11 month old. Especially when your nap time was two hours ago.

Went to visit a friend the rest of the afternoon while Daddy went back to work. We all got home around 6 PM and Zoey was a total Crank Monster the rest of the evening. She was rubbing her eyes at 8 PM and went down without a peep around 9. She slept solid until 8 AM this morning!

I am no seamstress

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I’ve been wanting to sew a cloth diaper and a fleece diaper cover for the longest time. They looked SO simple and I read through the patterns a million times! However, I chickened out every time I would look at my sewing machine, at the fabric and then at the dreaded elastic. I’d never in my life sewn elastic on to something before! A couple of nights ago I took the plunge and this is what the end result was:

First try at sewing a cloth diaper

It’s made up of a fleece outer layer (to keep baby’s clothes dry!) and a flannel inner layer. I stuffed it with a Microfiber and a Hemp insert and she was dry 2 hours later. We love it! I couldn’t get a good enough fit with pins so I ended up just using a Snappi to fasten it. I am still in the process of learning how to pin a diaper on a wiggly 11 month old.

First try at sewing a cloth diaper

Overall, I love it! I totally forgot to cut extra around my pattern for seam allowances so I think next time I make this, it will be bigger and a better fit. This one is kind of on the smallish side. I also need to practice sewing the elastic. I didn’t pull the elastic hard enough to create a really hard tension so it isn’t quite as tight fitting around the legs as I would like it to be.

Btw, I used the Free RRP diaper pattern from this website!

The next night I sewed up a Fleece Soaker from the Katrina Soaker pattern and I absolutely LOVE it! It was sooo unbelievably easy and I think with some more practice it wont take very long at all to whip one of these bad boys out. I accidentally cut the body fleece (the print) the wrong way so it doesn’t have the waist-to-waist stretch that I needed it to but luckily I cut out the waist and leg cuffs out the right way so those are perfectly stretchy. This soaker fits AWESOME over her prefold and fitted diapers. I can’t wait to make more!

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I really wish I had a serger so that I could make the edges / seams look all nice and finished on the inside but for now my wimpy little zigzag stitch will have to do. Oh and I wish I had an endless supply of cute flannel and fleece material so that I could make a million of these cute things! Next I would like to try making some Fleece Longies (the same thing but basically pants) for her as well.

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Now that I have this cute soaker, I have been putting my daughter in prefolds or fitteds more often. I hardly ever reach for my pocket all-in-ones anymore! I need to make a few more to have on hand.

Just let her do it!

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The thought of my daughter learning to spoon feed herself gives me small coronaries. The more I think about it, the more I get until I am in a full blown heart attack. The mess that goes along with learning to spoon feed yourself is a given and I know you know exactly what I am talking about. But, if there is one thing I am learning as a parent, it is that sometimes you just have to live in the moment and let them get messy. Sometimes you have to ignore the pretty white shirt that just got splattered with spaghetti sauce or the adorable pants that just became victim of a blow out.

So when I made spaghetti last night I decided that I would strip Zoey down and let her have at it. I mean, what is more fun that making a mess and eating spaghetti?

Yummmm

She loved it! As soon as I put the tray down with the cut up spaghetti noodles and sauce on it, she started hitting the tray like a wild maniac. Noodles were flying everywhere. She would pick noodles up by the handful and throw them or drop them on the floor. And…

Her permanent spot in the house now

That was the happiest dog in the universe last night. She sat there, patiently attentive. Waiting. Yearning. Begging. PLEASE DROP MORE!

Yum Noodles!

I had to spoon a few noodles into her mouth so she would realize that this is stuff that you can not only play with but also EAT! And YUM! It is delicious! Once she had a bite, she realized what it was and started eating them. It took some serious concentration and a level of hand eye coordination that she didn’t even know she was capable of but she would eventually get a noodle into her mouth. I even witnessed her splurping a few noodles up.. I had no idea she knew how to slurp a noodle! And by the way, slurping noodles is annoying and I hate when I hear people do it.. but when my sweet peanut is doing it, it is the cutest thing ever :)

You know, it is a little more challenging these days to feed her. We don’t give her baby puree very often anymore and I try to give her whatever we are having for dinner. Making sure she is getting a healthy, well balanced diet is not an easy task. I’m sure it would be easier if I was making sure my husband and I were always getting a well balanced diet but sometimes it is hard to remember to take care of yourself when you are so busy taking care of someone else.

My Little Peanut

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When did she get old enough to eat real people food?

The Cheese Fist!

And drink out of a “big girl” cup?

Contemplating the water...

And shovel said cheese into her mouth by handfuls?

Eating Cheese

Sometimes I feel like every time I blink she grows another inch and learns a new facial expression, new skill, or makes a new sound. People warned us about time flying. They warned us to cherish each moment because they are going off to college before you know it. There was a lot of eye rolling when given such unsolicited advice but now I see. Now I understand what they were saying. Now I find myself warning others of their fate.

Now we are approaching her very first Easter. And not too long after that, we’ll be celebrating her first year on this earth. How??? Someone please pause the clock. Just for a second. My heart desperately needs to catch up.

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I love her. More than I ever thought possible.

DUUUCKKYYY!

I’m here… I think

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Let’s see.. what all has been going on lately…

  • Allergic to solid deodorant (I usually use clear gel). Hives. Itchy, red, burning hives. All over my arms and arm pits and they have now moved down to my stomach. I got a prescription for a steroid pack and steroid cream. Just trying to stay sane but it’s difficult. Break out started Wednesday evening.
  • Went out of town with my Mama and I took Zoey with me. Gene was away from her from Wednesday to Saturday. He was sad. We were sad. But we had a great Girl’s Only time! Zoey loooooooooves her grandma so much.
  • Haven’t cooked much since we got back in town. Sooo bad. I finally cooked hamburger helper and mashed potatoes tonight. Not the best dinner but it was all I could muster before the CRAZY BURNING ITCHING started up again.
  • We got a local cloth diaper store here and it opened today. We stopped in and it was so much fun! I loved looking at all of the stuff and instantly wished I was a bajillionaire so that I could afford all of the cute fluff!
  • Went to have lunch with Gene after my doctor’s appointment this morning. Had a great time seeing him. Did I already mention how much Zoey and I missed him while we were gone? Oh and he gave the dog a bath and shampooed the carpets in the house while we were gone. He is amazzzzing!
  • Starting to plan Zoey’s 1st birthday. Have no idea how it is already approaching. Is she really going to be 1 soon? She doesn’t eat much baby food anymore. Usually whatever we are eating! It is nice not having to buy baby food. It’ll be even nicer when we don’t have to buy formula anymore, too. She is drinking water out of a straw sippy cup these days. She really knows how to hold it and drink from it and I think it is so cute. She cracks me up on a daily basis. Love her to death!