Pillows

Recently we've been trying to move T into the big girl bed. Our attempts have not been working. But in the mean time we set up the big girl bed with a pretty cat quilt and cat pillow case cover.

My mom had this quilt made for me when I was a little girl. It's in fantastic shape, it looks brand new. When we I was looking into bedding for T's bed I was just shocked at all the pricing and the fact that everything was either girlish or boyish. I didn't want anything that was to girlish because she'll be sharing her room with her little brother at some point. Hence the trying to get her into the big girl bed.

Anyway, she won't sleep in it. But she will sleep with her cat pillow case cover. Which is a problem, because it's a pillow case cover not a pillow case. It's comfy but it's at least 25 years old and looks great and I would prefer it didn't get ruined by little mouths and oily faces. (I'm well aware that it will most likely be ruined anyway.) She would also pitch a fit if we tried to give her something else though, so what happens if the pillow case cover is in the wash for nap or bed time. Or she gets sick on it and I can't just rewash it. I knew I needed something different. Something she'd be excited about sleeping on. I took her to the store and showed her the Toy Story and Disney Princess sheet sets and I asked her which one she'd like. She just said "No Woody, No Princess." Great. Then I decided I'd make a pillow case for her. I found this beautiful fabric, which was out of my price range for a pillow case that I wasn't sure if she'd like or not.

So I went to Joann's. I found some really cute fabric of, princesses walking dogs and doing other things, cute cats and colorful stars. I've only used the princess fabric so far but she loves the pillow case and is using it. So I'm happy. Here are two versions of it.

I have to credit my husband with the idea of the second one. I was complaining that I had a bunch left over but not enough to do a whole pillow and this is what he came up with. It's my first pieced thing. I'm pretty excited about it. T is sleeping on the first pillow, the second one I made for a friends daughter. I need to make one for her son too, and then I'll send it off.

Tough Week - Be Happy

Happy Mother's Day to everyone out there! We've had a pretty tough week at our house. Everyone with the exception of me has been sick. My husband, who I depend on probably way to much started the lot of them off be getting sick on Tuesday and the rest followed suit by Wednesday night. My daughter has been stuck in the house with a fever of over 100 and unable to see her friends, while her brother who is only 4 months old got so sick he started wheezing and had to spend the night in the hospital. Hopefully everyone is on the mends but at this point fevers are still haunting everyone. I feel so bad for them, and I'm feeling pretty darn down myself. It's really hard being the caregiver to a bunch of sickies. It makes me really value my husband who helped out tremendously at the end of each of my pregnancies and is amazing with me when I'm sick. I wish I wasn't pissed that he's sick. He's trying really hard. But in order to help everyone out I decided or was that my husband decided that I needed a couple of minutes alone to eat dinner. (It was probably him, he says I have a martyr complex.) Anyway, dinner took all of 30 seconds to eat, cold pizza from when we sat down and hour and a half ago but I wasn't allowed to eat back then. So I decided to do a posting of things I've seen on the interwebs that I've liked or am inspired by. I'm hoping this will help me.... Be happy.

First My Go-Go Life is having a giveaway of some super cute fabric.

Pretty fabric! Enter here!

She's got a great blog. I love the baby bibs she made. Check out this quilt she made for her grandma. So super cute.

Have you been to the Sew Mama Sew website yet? I bought some fabric for a quilt that I'm going to make that I saw on the Oh! Fransson blog. Well Sew Mama Sew has an amazing collection of Holiday (Christmas and such) crafts under their Ultimate Handmade Holidays Master List. I have not had a ton of time to peruse but it's all categorized and there is years worth of lists! How awesome is that? Some of the categories are:
Elementary Kids
Organizers
Sports Fans

Well it looks like that's all the time I have at the moment. It does make me happy to look at the pretty things on each of these sites and share them with you. (FYI: My husband just walked through the room with my son, who just pee'd on him. For the record, he's now pee'd on papa, poo'd on papa, poo'd on mama and thrown up on mama today... sigh.)

Don't forget to enter the giveaway at My Go-Go Life.

Thanks for reading! Leave a Comment. You know it would make my day.

Be Happy!

About 5 seconds of spring!

Tonight just before dinner Tesla dressed up in her fairy dress and had some fun outside! Makes me smile!

Tunnel Love

Update: Time Outs

Well just for those that are curious. I am not sure that I can say that time outs are working, but I can tell you they are being had. It's hard to tell if I am actually changing Tesla's behavior or if it's because she's just forgotten to do what she was doing in the first place. I do however always tell her why she's been in time out. Again not sure how much she is really hearing. Last week, she went into timeout for something, I think touching the oven. (Not the front of the oven but the side where she can could potentially hurt herself. However I also don't want her to play with the oven. It's not a toy.) So I put her in time out. She didn't cry one bit. When I came back after 1 minute I picked her up I started to tell her why she went into time out and that mama loves her, when she hit me so hard. I immediately put her right in time out. When I picked her up again, she proceeded to hit me over and over again. I put her back in time out. But then when I picked her up the third time I explained that I loved her and that there was no hitting mama, and she didn't hit me, she was fine. It's pretty hard to do, but I'm hoping like with everything I do with her, she's learning.

A big Fall

I just got the pictures from my sister for Tesla's first birthday. I'm sure there will be more to follow but I thought I would share some with you as a told you about THE FALL!

Tesla fell today and hit her head... Right above her left eye. My poor girl. 

Since she actually had never had such a big fall, a small cut and everything I decided to take her to the doctor. It may have been a little worry wartish, but it swelled up pretty good and I wasn't going to sleep well knowing that she hit her head earlier in the day. 

My doctor was really nice and said she looked fine, and happy and healthy. He also gave me the symptoms to look for in a big fall if it's bad. I'm just so glad she's okay. I love my little girl.

First Time Out

I did it. I put my daughter in time out. Oh my goodness that was hard. As I mentioned in my previous post Hitting... Ouch!!! Tesla has been hitting Jason and I a lot. This weekend she hit me over the head with my hair brush, not with the top of it but with the side. Hard and multiple times. But I just took the brush away and said that it hurt and didn't let her play with it anymore that day. (She likes to brush my hair... it generally hurts when she does this but I figure there's a learning curve there. My sister also used to hurt me when brushing my hair and she's 8 years older than me. Did I mention that she's turning 40???)

Okay we're getting off subject, anyway, this morning I was cleaning the floors. I was down on my hands and knees, with a bowl and sponge and Tesla kept hitting me, over and over, did I put her in time out... no. But I did finally get the nerve up to put the pack and play up for time outs. I figured that I couldn't put it up and stick her in it for something she did 10 minutes earlier, but that it was time to finally put it up and not just talk about it. It's time for ACTION!

So later, Tesla discovered that she could pull the intake grate off of the wall. The screw head must have broken  off and she started to pull the cover off, potentially hurting herself on the grate, falling in the whole and damaging the wall since one side was still attached and dry wall seems to get flimsy when it come to toddlers lately. So I said "Tesla, no." She stopped for a second, looked at me and then grabbed it again. I said, "NO, Tesla." Again she looked at me, then put her hand back on the grate and looked at me some more. I then rushed over, reaffixed the grate to the best of my abilities, and she grabbed it and yanked on it. Clearly she was going to do it no matter what. Now the grate won't go back into place without some serious attention by me, and I need Tesla to understand. So I picked her up and said "no Tesla you cannot touch the grate, you have to go in time out because you do not listen to mama." (I know she doesn't understand.) But I put her in the pack and play and oh lordy did she scream, it was one minute but you would have thought it was an eternity by the look on her face. I fixed the grate, blocked it off with a chair, and wrote a note to my husband, in case I forgot to mention it later to rescrew it into the wall. I then picked her up and kissed her and hugged her and told her how much I loved her and that she was in time out for touching the grate when Mama said No. (It's probably way to much explanation for her, but I think it's good to get in the habit.)

So we made it. We didn't die. She's okay and it really was terrible, but we're okay and we didn't die. We didn't I swear. 

Thanks to the Lazy Organizer for talking me through it too.  I'm not sure I would have tried time out yet, if it wasn't for your email.

Photos: I didn't manage to take any good pictures recently. But this one is from a year ago... back when she was only thinking about hitting me. =) What a cutie. Still is!

Hitting,... Ouch!

About two weeks ago our little sweet funny girl started hitting. Well I guess the first time she did it was over a month ago. I remember it distinctly. She was getting into the pantry. I picked her up and said no, and she slugged me in the chin. I was stunned, one that someone so small could hit so hard and two that she was doing it period. I immediately held her out from me, and she went in to bite me. Again stunned. Now on a daily basis she is hitting either just me or both Jason and I. She's generally frustrated when this occurs so it's not like she's just coming up and hitting us. Although last week when she had a little friend over, she hit her little friend to. Her friend is only 8 months old and can barely stand so it's not like she could hit back, oh and of course I remember now that she also hit someone in her baby class last week and at story time. Dang. I have a hitter.

Who me? Hit??? You have it all wrong, Mama!

Now how could such a sweet little angel develop this behavior?? How? Seriously, do you know? My husband and I don't hit each other. We've never hit Tesla. We don't hit other people. What is the deal?  We don't have a yelling household, we don't fight, and we're generally pretty happy.

I of course started researching this, the What to Expect the Toddler Years folks have this behavior appearing around 20 months and that it could be: (amongst other things)

• Low impulse control, hit hit hit.
• To much pint up energy, suggestion give them something to hit, pillow banging toys. Run them around more. 
• Reaction to frustration. "Mama is mean for not letting me have [insert anything] and there for I will hit her over and over again." 

So what to do. Well no matter what it's caused from,  I have to do something. It's actually starting to hurt and I do not want this behavior to continue. One of these days she's going to get frustrated with a little tike and belt them one and that's not going to go over very well.

What am I doing now? I am working on more activity. Tesla actually takes two naps a day that last two hours. So it's not as if she's not getting tired, but perhaps this aggression can be curbed by running around more, and actually getting the aggression out of her.  Today for instance, we had our dancing and singing class, and then when we got home we played soccer and ran all around the house. She hoops and hollers with excitement when she kicks the ball.

We're also going to try some timeouts. WHAT??? I know I know, she seems to young but I have been reading this blog about organizing, and parenting in general, I asked the writer for advice. I like her style of parenting, doesn't mean I'll do everything that she does but I enjoy reading her blog and getting new ideas for home. Anyway, she said that she's not to young. In fact she wrote about putting her one year old in time out. You can check out her blog here. She said that you put her in port a crib with a few toys and let her sit there for 1 minute. She said that if I do this after a dozen or so times she'll learn that she doesn't want to hit Mama. So we're going to try it. Yikes, I'm not sure I'm ready for this, but again, as I rub my jaw, the hitting has to stop. I just need to get the port a crib back from my mom and we'll give it a go.

I'll let you know how it goes, in the mean time, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know how you stopped hitting or your thoughts.

Wooden Blocks

A couple of days ago we picked up a set of 60 Standard Unit Blocks from Melissa and Doug. Thanks Grandma Myra!!! Tesla spent a a good hour playing with them as soon as I opened them. I knew this was immediately a good choice! As you know I have been reading up on early childhood education. Slowly but surely I'm reading up on it. To tell you the truth it's more slowly then surely. One of the suggestions in the book Creative Curriculum was to use blocks to represent other toys to stimulate creativity and brain development. So perhaps we'll play with some toy cars and make noises and push them around the room, then perhaps I'll do the same thing with a block, pushing it around the room and making noises as if it was a car. I found this very interesting, and as I have always been an imaginative person I feel that this kind of stimulation will be easy for me to do with Tesla.

Of course there is always building things with the toys too. Tesla has started stacking a set of cups that we got for her in December. The blocks required a bit more examining with her mouth though before she started stacking them. In the pictures of her playing with the blocks I've stacked them. She's not THAT smart.

The blocks are very nice and the come with a wooden box to store them in. The blocks are made with Rubberwood, and unfinished. Since Tesla likes to put everything in her mouth I did not want to get anything that she could scrape the paint off of. Not that they were toxic, all the painted items say they are non-toxic but because they would not last as long or look as good.

Tesla enjoyed playing inside the box too, she sat inside the box and filled the box up around her with blocks.   Every time I built anything she immediately took it down. But I'll keep building to show her and to stimulate that little brain of hers.

I think we are headed in the right direction for toys. I go through her toy box at least once a week and pull things out that she doesn't play with and introduce something "new" from her bedroom. She's not getting bored, so I must be doing something right. She's also getting bigger and bigger. The things she enjoyed doing, like climbing into the laundry basket are becoming very frustrating because she can't maneuver herself correctly. Her frustration level is getting low for such issues and I'm working on problem solving with her, so that she doesn't scream every time she can't reach her ball, or she climbs into the laundry basket for the umpteenth time and can't get comfortable.

Walking around...

Doing her thang!

First Pony Tail

Tesla's hair is officially long enough to be in her eyes. Here's the first attempt to get it out. She kept it in no problem all day. I like it. What do you think?

Laundrey Time!

I couldn't help it. I just couldn't help it, I had to take a picture and a video before helping her out. Thank goodness the camera was close by otherwise I probably would have had a real screaming baby on my hands. I was sitting right next to where she is when this happened, I was just looking through a toddler song book when all of sudden I heard the screaming. I then laughed hysterically, got up grabbed the camera and took a couple of pictures and a video. The video wouldn't upload, but it's very cute.

She actually emerged, smiling, but I did move the hamper back into it' proper location.

Patience Patience Patience

The word for the day? Patience. Most of you know that Jason recently started a new job, and for the first time since T was born I am now home alone with T, all day everyday. No not Saturday and Sunday, and we leave the house, so not technically home alone. It’s been pretty fun, interesting, tiring, and most definitely an educational experience.

I get very little accomplished in a day. I would say I’m surprised by this but to be honest I got less accomplished before we moved back to Washington. It seems like now, Tesla will spend a period of time playing by herself, which will allow me to unload the dishwasher, grab the clothes from the laundry room and complete a few tasks. 

Yesterday, we had an accident in the laundry room. One of the laundry detergent containers that was sitting on top the dryer, burst, and leaked detergent all over the dryer, washer, floor, wall, and other containers of detergent. I immediately started cleaning up but T, wanted to be right in there with me. So I kept moving her away going back to it, moving her away going back to it, over and over and over again. Finally I set up a gate and let her cry, where I could see her and where she could see me. She cried the whole time! It was exhausting. I almost cried by the end of the day.

Well today I was trying to straighten up the laundry room, clean off all the containers. Wipe down the front of the machines and the wall, and Tesla had to get right in where she doesn’t belong. I don’t know what is so fascinating about it. 

Later on I had tried to put T down for a nap. She was having nothing of it. Hoping that her attitude was because of hunger I gave her some yogurt and berries…. And then a bath.

Tonight we had our weekly dinner with Nigel. Tonight’s dinner was ribs, everyone loved it. For dessert, T managed to grab a serving spoon and was using that. None of the pictures turned out so I can’t show you but trust me it was cute. (Update, the picture kind of turned out.)

After dinner, T went right down for bed and all was right in the world. Bed time for me too! Tomorrow promises to be a long day!

Tesla's 1st Bracelet

 

I forgot to post these pictures of Tesla wearing her first piece of jewelry. It's a ribbon bracelet with felt yarn beads sewed on. It's so cute. Tesla actually wore it all day and with clothes on, but I ended up not having any pictures that would show it off properly. She really enjoyed it and the button clasp worked really well. Thanks Jenna for Tesla's first bracelet. Of course now she wants more, and earrings, necklaces, anklets and more. She also mentioned to me that she LOVES diamonds and promises not to eat them if they are sent her way.

Oh and on the upside, as many of you know, I have recently developed an allergy to gold, platinum and silver. Which means I cannot wear my wedding ring or engagement ring. Well today I bought a new titanium ring. They are ridiculously cheap and it's a plain band. But it's really nice, I like the way it looks and it should arrive in 7 to 10 days. Now I won't get so many guys trying to pick me up, it's been just ridiculous, I feel like I should tattoo on my head "I'm Married!!!" Geez!

Pony Rides, cousins, crafts and jobs, Oh My!

What a busy couple of days. Not only have I been trying to still unpack and failing miserably at it, but I am also trying to institute organization into our lives. It's not easy but I figure knowing J and I that it'll never be that easy. We're naturally untidy people and have to work on it constantly, but my stress level goes up when everything is a mess so although I'm a natural at being messy, doesn't mean I should stick with it. It's kind of like your hair color, you may have to work to get your hair blond, but it's they way you like it, so it's worth it! I have been reading a blog by the name of the Lazy Organizer. I am getting a real kick out of it and am entirely inspired! Another friend has also started writing a blog about being organized and it is also inspiring. I've already adopted her filing technique and it's helping cut down the clutter quite a bit! I'm sure I'll be blogging about more of this in the future. Anyway on to the stuff you came here for, pics of Tesla and news of our little girl.

Yesterday we went to a party that was for our mom's group. There were pony rides, and a lot of fun activities. I ended up not putting Tesla on a pony ride because the line was long and lets be honest here, she can't really go on one. (She's been on one before so I know this.) But she can eat straw and look cute!

Later that same day, Sissy (Sissy is her new nickname, I'm all about having a couple of cute nicknames in the family, Auntie Bubbles knows all about this) came over. She spent the night and we watched Samantha, an American Girl Doll Movie. It was super cute, and very sappy. Sissy just really learned that word when she said, "you know the one thing about this movie is that they are always sad then happy" which I replied it is very sappy. She was delighted to use "sappy". T and Sissy also took a bath together. Sissy in her bathing suit. Tesla had a great time. Aunt Nicci, took some crazy pictures of her. Apparently she's no good at the point and shoot camera's just the fancy camera's. Oooo la la! Anyway here's one in which Tesla looks possessed. Most of them ended up like this. Oh well. I suppose I could have taken the picture.

Today, Sophie and I worked on a craft. We are making jewelry boxes, using a wooden box, paper, stamps and other items. Here's a picture of the boxes drying on the deck. We only finished the outside of the box today, tonight I will work on the inside of the box and then tomorrow Jenna is coming over to make jewelry, and Sissy is going to spend the night again! Sissy has been waiting for this jewelry making party since our wedding. Almost two years now. SHE IS SO EXCITED. She thinks Jenna is the coolest person on this earth. In fact today, she said, "you know you just said that like Jenna, I like it when you sound like Jenna, she's so cool." That's right can't believe it either. I mean I know Jenna's cool but this girl has barely spent time with her and totally fawns over her. It's totally cute. Anyway about the boxes, I'll take better pictures tomorrow, but I just wanted to show you the works in progress. The pink and blue box is Sissy's box. The brownish gold is mine, it matches our bedroom set. Anyway, while going through the supplies I was showing her these old photo's I had copied. I said, this is your great grandma and great grandpa. Here's your great great grandma and great grandma standing outside their house. She pointed to a picture and said "I want this one" it's of Auntie Bubbles when she was slightly younger. So now Auntie Bubbles will be on Sissy's jewelry box forever and one day she's going to say "who is that?" and think it's a blood relative, well that's alright by me!

We also spent a lot of the day outside walking around and playing. Tesla's playing involves walking, falling and eating things she finds on the ground. She's in two different outfits because the first time we went out the ground was still a bit damp and I like to get her out of the wet clothes when she comes in. The second dress is from Grandma. She looks super cute in it.

First time out this morning.

Later on that afternoon. Yes that is a Crocus popping up. Say hello to spring!

Spending the day with Sophie...

More pics to come just wanted to share one really quick.... back to crafting with the girls!

More pics for Auntie Bubbles

Here are some more pictures of Tesla playing on her new toy from Auntie Bubbles.

Auntie Bubbles Yard Addition

Yesterday we received Tesla's new toy from Auntie Bubbles. The Little Tikes Swing Along Castle It arrived too late in the day to put it together, but today it was the first thing on my mind. Tesla went down for her nap at 10:00 and I immediately ran outside and opened the box, which I'll have you know stated in big print on the side, assembled in 20 minutes! Well I think they meant actual time screwing things and inserting them. They could not have meant the time it took to get everything out of the box, find all the tools, read the directions, ask Jason for help with 4 of the screws, and figuring out if this is plastic bolt V or plastic bolt A. But don't worry I got it all set up for her when she woke up at 11:30. Just in time too by the time I got upstairs she was standing in her crib and not looking to pleased.

Play Time

Tesla and I went to the Kids Cove at Bellevue Square and played on their toys. It was so fun. Above are two pictures of her playing. The first picture is on a tug boat, she's walking around the deck. The second picture is her walking around the ferry. The Meydenbauer is a ferry that is commonly used in Puget Sound. I think we'll try going here often, it's a lot of fun, and plus I get to go window shopping which I love!

The last picture is of Tesla reading a book on her new chair from Grandma Myra and Pop Pop. How cute. She just loves sitting in it and we think she looks adorable!