thimbly things

Our baby girl, our teeny little thing, our Emily is 18 months old today.  I feel like there should be a celebration.  I remember when every week was a milestone, then every month.  Now she’s 1 1/2 years old!  Years!  And on the brink of big-sisterhood.

Just born.

About 6 months.

First birthday.

18 months.  She now has enough hair for pig-tails and says a few sentences.

Her favorite things are:

• Seeing Daddy come home
• Being thrown and chased by him
• Eating bananas (And saying, “banana!”)
• Dancing to Yo Gabba Gabba
• Talking to her Pooh bears
• Laughing at her Pooh bears
• Reading books (and ripping them when no one is watching)
• The phrase, “Yeah, I do!”
• Going outside: running, drawing on the sidewalk, picking wildflowers, and moving sticks
• When I sing The Alphabet Song or Rock-a-bye Baby
  
• Looking at her reflection in the dishwasher
• Setting up her blocks wherever we are… either at our feet or in our laps
• Thrusting herself about our bed
• Saying, “TV!  TV!”
• Dogs
• Close proximity to us

It’s nice to reflect on life with just Emily before Baby Brother arrives.  And it is so good to think about the purpose of all the pain I will soon endure to bring him into this world.  Motherhood.  It’s worth it all.

Happy 18 Months, Miss Emily!  You are loved.

Last night was quite frightening here in Tulsa. What began as a lovely storm to help one fall asleep evolved into more hail than I’ve ever seen in my life, waking me around 3:30 and sending me into a panic about going into labor. Obviously, I did not go into labor, but I was worried that my anxiety might cause contractions. And then how would I get to the hospital in the middle of a hail storm? (Ridiculous, I know.) So I calmed myself by looking at pretty blogs and thinking of new projects.

The storm is over, but it’s damp and chilly today. I can think of no better excuse for my favorite hot cocoa. If you’ve never tried homemade cocoa, you need to right now. Before the summer hits. We have some Green & Black’s Cocoa Powder that we used in a bread recipe, and on the side of the canister is the simplest recipe ever: “To make one cup: Mix up one teaspoon of Green & Black’s organic cocoa with cold milk to make a smooth paste. Add hot milk, stirring well. Sweeten to taste.” That’s not much harder than adding hot water to a packet of Swiss Miss.

I like to add some heavy cream to the mix and sweeten with two spoonfuls of raw sugar. I typically fill my mug with milk, pour most of it into a pot to heat (But don’t boil.). While the milk is heating, I add a couple teaspoons of cocoa powder and sugar to the cold milk left in my mug, and then I make the paste. Add cream and hot milk. Stir. Enjoy!

It’s so perfect that you want to savor it slowly and, yet, can’t help but gulp it down all at once. So perfect.

[That’s some kind of geek-speak that will be funny to my husband if no one else.]

Yesterday, I did FAIL–twice, in fact–in my attempt to make myself slippers. I got this grand idea from the hospital’s list of items to bring for labor & delivery. Funny source of inspiration, huh?

I have lots of great slipper pattern ideas from Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion and the Martha Stewart Holiday Handmade Gifts (special issue 2006). I eventually settled on the pattern in Sew Pretty Homestyle.

Things didn’t work out as planned. Perhaps because I didn’t have enough wool and thus used other materials. Or perhaps because I got carried away and sewed the sole on wrong-side out. OK, I made mistakes every step of the way, but they were still pretty cute in the end. Just a little flimsy.

So I pressed on, altered my pattern, added some bulk, and used stronger fabric. I even put a little felt on the bottom. Things were going swimmingly. Until I tried my second pair on.

Quite unfortunately, these must be a size 5 1/2 or something close. And I wear a 6 1/2 to 7. So they are snug. Very snug. Busting at the seams snug. My advice to anyone using Tone Finnanger’s pattern is to add to the seam allowance. Oh, and measure your feet before you dive in.

And that’s how I managed to FAIL twice in one evening. I think I’ll be wearing socks or flip-flops while in the hospital.

They are cute though. Don’t you think?

If I decide to make another pair of slippers (just the thought makes me a bit weary right now), I will knit or crochet some Mary Janes. If they’re too small, they’ll stretch. And if they’re too big… well, it will be hard not to realize that before the project is complete. I found what looks like a pretty cute pattern here. And here’s another pattern complete with tutorial. Would you expect anything less from Purl?

In other news, Dear Julia has offered to care for Emily, and I am ecstatic! I can’t think of anyone in a better position to help us with this. Thank you, Julia!

Today, I will (yes, I will!) clean and install Brother’s carseat. For some reason, I’ve been putting this off. Perhaps to make silly slippers that don’t fit? While I’m at it, I plan to vaccuum out the car. This hasn’t been done in, oh, about a year. (And another thank you to Julia for the Dust Buster… it will be put to good use today!)

Yesterday, I sat down to blog and looked down at my hand only to find a tiny diamond missing from my wedding band.  What an awesome April Fool’s Day joke that would have been–were it a joke.  But it was not, and I just couldn’t muster the joy I needed to do anything but complain (and decided to spare you).  I have since decided that it isn’t a big deal.  It won’t be much to replace, and it forces me to think about getting real insurance for my ring.  The rest of the day was lovely.  I just never made it back to the computer.

The skies were clear in Tulsa on the first day of April, and I snapped a few random pictures of our home and did a photo shoot with Emily on the front lawn.

Here are some baby clothes that are destined to be repurposed.  I really love that linen floral on top.  Too bad the original dress is heavily stained.  And that purple knit cardigan would make such a pretty sachet… and maybe mittens too.  As it now exists, it has a funny, purple faux-fur collar on it.  Yikes!

I finally washed all of our neutral baby clothes (We didn’t know if Emily was a boy or a girl), and I was surprised by just how much we have.  It’s so sad and sweet remembering Emily in each piece.  And it’s a little funny since the clothes really do look like they’re for a boy and not so much “gender neutral!”

I crocheted a bag from The Happy Hooker, probably because of this little bit of inspiration.

I bought handles for the purse today at Joann Fabrics (with my 40% off coupon, of course!  Never buy anything there without a coupon unless it’s on sale!).  When the lighting permits, I’ll snap a picture of the finished project to share.

During March, I challenged myself to make a little something every day (with the exception of Sundays).  I sort of succeeded although I sometimes counted cooking as making.  Like on Easter.  Julia and I cooked a lot, and it seemed very much like a full day of crafting.

So what of April?  April is Baby Brother’s expected birth month, so I’m dedicating my days to preparing for and, ultimately, caring for him (and Emily too!!!).   There is much that I haven’t done, so every day I hope to knock out some task that’s burdening me, no matter how small.  Yesterday I got his clothes ready.  Today I bought flannel for him and plan to call the hospital to set up a registration appointment.

There’s so much to do, but it’s a good kind of busy.  And I haven’t forgotten the point of it all. :)

It was a wonderful and tiring weekend in which I squeezed in as many naps as possible!  But I must say that I have some of the best friends anyone could ask for.  All the fanciness of my baby shower was entirely their doing, and it was just lovely.

To top it all off, Mindy, Zuri, and Jaime went in together to get me what I believe is the coolest rocking chair I have ever seen.  Really, it couldn’t be a smidge more perfect!

I made a couple of hostess gifts before the shower and humbly thanked them.

Since I can’t show you all the Easter goodies I’ve been working on, here’s some Emily instead.  She’s cuter anyway.

We cherish the quietude of our Sunday afternoons.  My pins and needles also take a little rest with a cushion all their own.

Thanks to Bella Dia for her pattern in Softies.

As promised, here is Emily’s new Brobee doll. I felt a little guilty about making a bunny that she couldn’t play with, so it was nice to quickly whip up a toy she was sure to love. I’m not exaggerating when I tell you that Emily is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. She’s been be-bopping to it for several months now and has recently learned to beg, saying, “Abba! Abba!”

Doesn’t she look like such a baby? This morning, she carried her blankies around and sucked on her ba-ba for about an hour. So sweet. Hold onto that babyhood a little longer, please.

As for Brobee, the awesome Allison who made up the pattern deserves another shout-out. She’s on Craftster, which I just joined for the purpose of thanking her. Now Evan thinks I should make all the characters from the show. Maybe Foofa…

EDIT: I was just looking at this site that sells YGG dolls, and all the Brobees are sold out!  I guess he’s popular.

And a few extra pounds via these yummy peanut butter twists.  Evan and I (but mostly Evan) made these for… no particular reason.  That’s 2 1/4 cups of powdered sugar and a far lesser amount of peanut butter.  I’m thinking misnomer?  So I ate like 4 today.  Whew.  A few extra pregnancy pounds are OK, right?  In my guilt, I made it my mission to deliver at least a few of them to a neighbor.

Today was so beautiful here that Emily and I finally went Outside.  Or “siiide,” as she calls it.  The first neighbor we encountered was the lucky recipient of a baggy full of peanut butter goodness.

I hoped to accomplish something extra on this extra day, but it seemed that all I really did was take a few pictures and play with Em.  It was great.  Oh, and I ate too much.

This is the first time I’ve ever made lace, and I found it quite addicting. This pattern is “Droplets Trim” from The Crochet Stitch Bible (Thank you awesome Tulsa library!). I’m thinking it would make a lovely trim on Emily’s Easter dress. Although I haven’t planned any other part of it yet. This will be my inspiration. I’m thinking a little knit jacket in gray and some pale pink cotton fabric for the dress. Hmm…

In other news, our little family is fairly obsessed with the Oscars. I planned to work on some crafty project while watching them this year, but it is hard to focus on two obsessions at once. We had a little party with some friends, ate lots of popcorn and dry brownies (which were still quite good), and called out our predictions throughout the show. At the end, we tallied our correct guesses. Evan, of course, won. What was surprising was that none of us guessed right on Best Supporting Actress… And I believe we all cast different votes. I fell asleep during Michael Clayton (which I blame on being a pregnant beached whale), and never saw Tilda Swinton’s apparently fantastic performance.

I have to tell you that had I not gone with my heart on Best Picture, I would have guessed correctly (and tied with Evan for the win!). I just couldn’t bare to see another bleak film win. So I held out hope in the underdog, Juno. I knew it was a lost cause. But I sure hope it’s remembered, and I’m darn glad that Diablo Cody got an Oscar.