What we do

19 Month Man

Dear Sullivan,

Tomorrow you will be 19 months!

Your mind, personality and ideas are growing by leaps and bounds.  Your vocabulary is exploding.  And with this growth also comes the struggle to do things independently.  You are constantly scolding me (shaking your finger and saying "no no") for trying to help you.  I try to hang back and allow you to do as much as you can by yourself but if you don't get it right away you get pretty upset.  This leaves your mother constantly juggling between allowing you to have as much independence as possible but also trying to give enough help and support so that you don't get so mad that you quit.

I know, those bubbles smell damn good, I tried them too.  Too bad they don't taste like they smell:(

The past two days have been full of firsts.  First time you hopped on the sit n spin and could do it all by yourself.  First time you were able to eat a fruit squeeze without getting it all over you (and first time in weeks that you would actually try to eat one).  First time you made up a sport consisting of hitting a big bouncy ball with a baseball bat.  First emotional puke.  

In case you didn't notice, I did give your hair a trim.  I didn't want to take you anywhere because I thought you would have a meltdown and I didn't want them to completely cut all your hair off.  Don't worry, I saved every lock of hair I cut off.  

It is so fun to grow with you.

Don't ever stop learning and growing.

Love, 

Mama

Every little thing he does is magic...

Stolen from Pinterest.

I just can't get enough of this little Mister!

Heat

I think this heat and humidity is driving people batty.  I am not kidding.

I see people all day at work so I would like to think I can make that statement and that it would have some clout behind it.

Quote from a real person today, "It's the reason I have been such a bitch the past 3 days.  I can't stand this heat!"

It stirs up irritability in people that was laying deep down, super low but as it heats up, it rises and escapes through their head.  I don't blame them, it happens to me too.

We Wisconsinites, we can't handle the heat very well.  Our bodies just weren't made for it, or at least not conditioned for it.

The one thing I do like about it is that you don't have to take 25 minutes to get dressed when you leave the house- hat, scarf, mittens, coat, boots, extra hat, scarf and mittens.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the "cold front" coming through tonight.

Dad

It's funny. For most of our lives, we have spent the day honoring our dads and grandpas on Fathers' Day and our moms and grandmas on Mothers' Day. The reality that we are now the moms and dads is still very new and very surreal.

But we are.  We have a little boy looking to us.  Looking to us for love, acceptance, guidance and all kinds of stuff in between.

Mostly, we laugh.  We laugh about inappropriate things, normal things and things that make absolutely no sense.  We already have inside jokes, gestures and sayings.  Us three.

So sometimes, it is hard for me to hang back and let the father-son bond develop.  I always want to be right there in the middle, involved in whatever they are doing.  Usually it is being ridiculously goofy.

Nice booger.

I am trying to be more mindful and hang back when they are having their time because it is important that they have a relationship that is independent of me.

 And they will.

Because they adore each other.

Because they have more fun together than any other father-son on the planet.

And it is coming so easily for the both of them.

Which makes my heart so very happy!

Sully made this for his dad at daycare on friday:

The hubs thought Sully very appropriately chose a hand saw since that is definitely more his style than a fancy electric saw.  Sully already knows his dad so well!

Happy Fathers' Day to all the amazing dads in my life!  Everything you do is important.  Some one is hanging on your every word and action (I know because I have an amazing dad myself!).

Crafty for Dad

Since I did a Mothers' Day card craft, I felt like I had to do a Fathers' Day card craft.  It is loosely based on the Mothers' Day card idea in that you still need your kid and some blank cards but instead of craft/scrapbook paper, you need a pad of ink.

I can't say if this is the kind you are supposed to use but it said "non-toxic" so that is good enough for this nurse.

Basically, you just put a bunch of ink on your kid's foot and stamp it onto the cards.  You may need to distract them with chips, blankies and Cars movies but the end result is worth it.

Yeah, kind of a rip off of the Mothers' Day cards but I love it anyway.

FYI, your kid's foot will be black for a few days.  This is what Sully's foot looked like after I scrubbed it 3 times.

Still well worth it.

Monday Funday

When I woke up this morning, it was a dreary, rainy day.  I was super pumped for a lay on the couch, watch movie day.  It was not long before the sun was out and it was too nice to stay indoors.  So Sully and I took a trip to Babies R Us (that store gets me just as bad as Target).  After our attempt at an oil change failed, we headed home to fill up the pool.

Buds.  (see how nice and clean the water was initially?)

Snack break!

Can you spot the hemangioma??

Running away...

And succeeding.

Parched after all that running.

And the water is gross...

Shortly after this pic, Sully was upset about the way I offered him some more watermelon and he flung the container and spilled most of it on the ground.  And we promptly cleaned up and the fun ended.

PS Is it ok for dogs to eat lots of watermelon?  What am I in for?

Scraps

Now that I am back on the sewing wagon, I am itching to get some new fabric.  However, I feel silly doing that since I have quite a bit of fleece and fabric left over from past projects.  I won't allow myself to get anymore new fabric until I use up some of the stuff I already have.

I made another baby blanket for some lucky baby.

I made some taggies...

One is for Sully and the giraffe print one is for Harper since she loves giraffes.


But the most exciting, genius items I made with left overs scraps were these dusters...

See, even the hubs is pumped about them.

Memory Quilt

I have been MIA for a few days here but I have a good reason.  I have been busy making Sully's "memory quilt".  Pinterest led me to this awesome blog, The Life of a Cheap Chickadee, and I have been obsessing about her daughters' "baby thoughts" quilts ever since.  Check them out here.  I knew I had to make me Sully one.  I stared at these quilts for a long time, checked out the tutorial links and gathered my supplies.  I was ready to start!

I decided on a few choice items that held special meaning: The plaid shirt he wore for his 6 month pics, the flannel he wore on his first birthday, his 2011 Christmas shirt, the outfit he got in his first Easter basket and my favorite hot dog shirt of his.

Here is a step-by-step pictoral documentary of the process:

Backing (minky), top and batting (old left over fleece from projects ago) squares all cut.

Making the tri-layer "sandwiches".

"Sandwich" pile.

My "sandwiches" sewed with an X and laid out in the pattern I like.  I cut my top and back squares 8" and my batting/fleece 7".  I made the quilt 7 squares across and 5 squares long (or vice versa).

My "sandwiches" sewed into rows.  (Is sewed a word?)

And below, the finished product after sewing the rows together, cutting the edges, washing and drying it.

Voila!!!!

A pic of the minky backing.

And the boy loving it as much as I do...

Fyi- the damn minky gets everywhere but once you wash and dry it, it will stop shedding.
Now off to dinner and a concert with the hubs!!!