Happy Heart Day to All

I'm down two margaritas tonight and short on words, so I'll let the pictures do most of the talking.

I made this:


Gosh, she's getting so big... and she looks just like me at that age, too. It weirds me out in a wonderful way I could never have imagined.


This kid can DESTROY a block tower.


When it comes to celebrating our love, Senpai and I do good.


Indian food take out, delish!!!!!


Our 6th Valentine's Day together and we still make a cute couple.


R and her gifts from Daddy. She is just the sweetest little cupcake. <3 a="" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/namako_team/5445629523/" title="Daddy gave me a balloon! by Namako Team!, on Flickr">

Food, Real Food!

And suddenly, she's eating table food.



Little Miss R, 9 1/2 months old now, just today decided to sample some of my oatmeal for breakfast, and wanted to try some noodles for lunch. I guess I need to put more effort into choosing healthy foods for lunch now instead of just grabbing whatever's available. Someday R will notice that her ramen noodles aren't smeared in the same yellow, sodium-laden seasoning as mine, and that's when we'll really be in trouble. We'd do better to stay away from the ramen I think. ^_^



Like the rest of the country we had snowfall recently, and this time we were ready for it! The last time it snowed was on Christmas. We didn't have a snowsuit for R then, so this was her first experience going outside and sitting in the fluffy whiteness. She wasn't impressed overall.


We didn't have boots for her, so I put sandwich baggies over her Hello Kitty slippers. Kawaii!!



I finished the crochet project I had been working on. It's a blanket buddy for R. It was going to be a birthday present, but since it's a bunny, I figure it's more Easter appropriate. I've given it to the Easter Bunny for safekeeping.

And on a final note...



Don't they look so adorable??

WIP Wednesday and other things

I thought I'd post my work in progress today. There's still lots more to do to it so maybe you'll get some more updates as I go.



The last reverb10 topic I saw asked me what the wisest decision I had made this year was. I thought about it, then thought about it some more, and as I became more and more ill (Remember that headache I mentioned? That was the beginning of fever and the head and chest congestion that manifested this past week.), I decided that the wisest decision I could make was to stop participating in reverb10. It's a time suck that takes away from other things I'd rather blog about, and I don't feel any better for answering the questions. So I will humbly bow out this year.

What would I rather blog about? R had her first fever Monday night leading into Tuesday. As I was busy hacking up my lungs, R was trying to push out her first tooth. Nobody slept that night. We were able to break the fever with peppermint essential oil, ibuprofrin, and, finally, a bath. I'm just amazed that after everything-- the sleepless night, the feverish day, the baby that refused to be put down all day-- the tooth still isn't out. It has partially broken the surface of the gums, but it's still wedged down there. Looking forward to lots more fun.

Final Exam Time

Okay, so I didn't get into this on Sunday like I had hoped I would. Looks like I'll just have to ignore my splitting headache (dehydration, anyone?) for the moment and crank these out like a final exam.


December 5 Let Go.
What (or whom) did you let go of this year? Why?

I had to let go of a lot of things to make room for my baby: sleep, frivolity, time with friends, time for myself, focusing on myself. Those are the ones that immediately come to mind. I don't regret it, though. Life is so much more exciting having her here.


December 6 Make.
What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it?

What was the last thing? Maybe R's pacifier keeper that I made from a ribbon.


Oh, nevermind! In looking for that picture (not like I had to, we have that pacifier clipped to her every single day, hence it's in A LOT of pictures) I reminded myself that I made R and my Halloween costumes. I'm very proud of those mermaid costumes, but I am NOT looking forward to doing that again anytime soon. Good thing Halloween is only once a year.

Things I want to make are many, but things I know I'll make... I hope the list doesn't get chopped down too much. I am in the middle of crocheting R a stuffed animal, I still want to crochet her a hat, and I want to make a "Happy Birthday" banner before well, her first birthday.


December 7 Community.
Where have you discovered community, online or otherwise, in 2010? What community would you like to join, create or more deeply connect with in 2011?

I have not joined any sort of community this year, in fact, I became even more isolated than I had been before. Well, maybe that's not true. I have discovered mommy blogs. I have more info on how to handle certain child-raising challenges and obstacles because I can peek into the minds of other moms who have been there or are there. I get to see what joys I can look forward to, as well.

In 2011, I'd like to start getting R and I to participate in real, live mommy groups. Mommy and me classes, playgroups, bring it on. She's getting to be old enough to play with other kiddos. R needs friends and so do I. ^_^

Halloween Approaches

I'm running out of time.

I foolishly undertook the task of creating R's Halloween costume this year, because it's her first Halloween and I didn't like any of the store-bought concoctions. I schemed the most brilliant design, bought the most beautiful fabrics, and ever since the beginning of October have been whittling away at this project for an hour every couple of nights. But the hallowed eve is drawing near, and no, I'm not done yet.

I feel sorry for R. My Mom used to sew me the cutest little dresses and outfits. Mother/daughter dresses. I felt like I could ask her to sew me anything and she would (when she had the time, of course). My Mom has the Midas touch of sewing. Me? I've got the proverbial black thumb. I feel sorry for R because I can say with a fair amount of certainty that I will never make us mother/daughter dresses. I do not have the patience nor the proper knowledge of how to read patterns. I have only the most basic understanding of how to use a sewing machine. The flywheel of my $60 sewing machine has broken off because I depended on it so heavily.

Nevertheless, I chose to sew her a Halloween costume. Not without challenges, though. The thin, stretchy fabric kept getting eaten by the sewing machine. Maybe 2 seams were machine sewed, but the rest I have been meticulously sewing by hand. That's why this little baby costume is taking so long. I honestly feel likes it's faster to just take needle and thread to the fabric instead of continually messing with the sewing machine.

I may be running out of time, but I am excited to say that I am so close to being done. I put in overtime on it tonight, working from 9 pm to 1 am (and then staying up until 2 am to write this blog post...). I only have maybe two more seams and a little detail work to finish, and then it will be done. Then comes the scary part: trying it on her. She has grown since I took the initial measurements, but, like I said, it's a stretchy material, so it should (hopefully, fingers crossed) still fit. If it doesn't fit, I'll just have to take a picture of it without her in it: "This was your first Halloween costume, that you never wore." :-p

Craft Fail

I'm feeling very under-accomplished as a mom right now. I see my friends with babies on facebook post status updates about all of the clothes they've made for their babies, the cakes and pies they've baked, the marathons they've run, and I'm like, "Really?? You have time to do all that?"

I have wanted to crochet R a hat FOREVER. I am still trying to crochet her a hat. I take the blame for refusing to follow directions. I find patterns that I like, but I refuse to use the acrylic yarn that the pattern calls for and choose to use natural fibers instead, because I'm difficult like that. But then the hat turns out way too small because even though the yarn widths are the same, they refuse to crochet up the same way. So then I have to alter the pattern to make it fit around R's head, which gets me stuck in a cycle of waiting for her to be both in a good mood and awake for me to test it on her, rip some progress out to do it over, wait to try it on her again, etc. I have been stuck in this cycle for so so long on not only one, but two hats now. And I'm getting really fed up with it. Why can't the yarns that I like have cute baby patterns to go with them???

I am also in the beginning stages of sewing her a Halloween costume, and I am terrified because, once again, I do not have a pattern. Tonight I was able to sew two seams by hand. There are many more seams to go. I'm using stretchy fabric that the sewing machine keeps trying to eat, which leaves me no choice but to hand sew a lot of it. Not to mention the fact that I'm wary of sewing machines in general. I like the slow perfection that can be attained with hand-stitching, but that's just it: it's slow. Once I sew a couple more seams, then I will need to try it on her again, and hope, hope, hope that everything is going well.

My craft projects run on hope. And no time. And difficult decision making. No wonder I can't get anything done.

It doesn't help matters any that Senpai hasn't had a day off in the past 17 days. If he were here more often it'd be easier For us to both keep R entertained and get chores taken care of. Then perhaps there would be a bit more time leftover for me to do something else besides pump breastmilk, do laundry, wash dishes, or prepare food. It's not as if he had a choice in the matter though. I'm looking forward to his time off this coming weekend and I'm sure he is, too. In the meantime I'm falling asleep. Time for bed.