DIY Crib Railing Cover

Many of my friends with children had warned me about their sweet little ones destroying their beautiful solid wood convertible crib that was supposed to last until they went to college by chewing it to slivers the second their first two teeth escaped their gums.  We were lucky enough to be given a crib in perfect condition from a friend we trusted, and painted it white to suit our nursery.  What I didn't consider was that when my darling offspring started to gnaw on it, the paint would peel off, leaving it looking rather, uh, not cute. 

So I've been meaning for a while to make something to cover the rails of Norah's crib, because all those little rodent teeth have made the painted surface look like this: 

I know there are plastic covers you can buy, but those only fit over the front rail, and by this point the paint is so chipped that I didn't want to be able to see it through a clear plastic cover.  And, that would not solve the problem with the side rails, which she seems to prefer to scrape those little teeth on over the front rail anyway. 

I had leftover fabric from her nursery projects, and decided to make a cover using those.  I don't have step by step photos of the process (late night sewing without anyone else in the house awake to take photos) but the project was really simple for anyone with basic sewing skills.  

First, I measured the length of the long side of the crib to get my desired finished length for the cover.  I added 1/2" seam allowances for each section of fabric.  For the underside, I just used one long piece of microfleece I had lying around in my stash. 

I decided on a pattern I wanted and cut the fabric sections, allowing for 1/2" seams.  I stitched the top pieces together one section at a time, and then repeated for the back side, so I had two strips of fabric.  I joined them with one long seam across the top, so that when it was folded in half the patterns would be facing the right direction on either side.  

Next, I cut about 10" lengths of ribbon for each tie, finished the raw ends by running a lighter over them quickly to seal the ribbon, and pinned them onto right side of the fabric, pointing inwards towards the middle (looks backwards from how you want them to end up facing at this point).  On top of that, I pinned the fleece with the right side facing in, so the ribbons were sandwiched in between, and stitched around the entire thing, leaving a small opening to turn it right side out.  Carefully, since there were still pins inside, I turned it out, removed the pins and then I finished the opening with a small hidden stitch, and that is that! 

You might notice the teeth marks remaining on the end rails...yeah, still need to make two shorter covers for those! 

Progress! Now I just need to hang the curtains, photo collage, and hooks back up and her "new" room will be complete following the move.  It was finally looking so great at my mom's, and then we had to go and move everything into total disarray...it's only been 2 months since we moved, so it's not like I'm totally delinquent with setting her room up again, right?

Norah Grows; 10 Months Old

Darling girl, you are 10 months old today! You started the day with the biggest milestone of your little life, by sleeping through the night in your own crib last night for the first time EVER! You went to sleep at 9:30 last night, which is late for you, but you didn't make a peep until 6:00 this morning! Your Daddy and I couldn't believe it when we looked at the clock and realized you'd been in your own crib all night long! We were so proud of you (and of course both felt so much better rested after a full night's sleep!).  

You have a little winter cold this week, and you are not enjoying having a stuffy nose any more than anyone else does.  But, in between bouts of stuffiness, coughing, and sneezing, you are as amazingly playful and happy as you always are.  It's definitely good news that we've made it to 10 months with nothing more than a cold, and we are so thankful that you haven't yet experienced being really sick. 

You have developed a new face over the past week - we call it the "Stink Face" and the picture above is not even close to the full deal.  We get the "Stink Face" flashed our way any time we tell you "No" or "Stop" or sometimes even if we look at you just wrong.  It's hard not to giggle when you make such a dirty look in such a cute way! You are going to be a stubborn little thing, and we are already aware of a strong independent streak that is developing more every day. 

You are SO active - you love to boogie and dance and kick and wiggle and speed crawl and shake your booty and cruise at top speed - pretty much you like to be moving if you are awake.  These chair photo shoots are getting to be a challenge! But, this month, I noticed that you were much more aware of the edges of the chair, and seemed to know if you went too close you would fall.  That didn't stop you from slinging your leg up over the arms of the chair and flashing me a look a few times! 

You also took a few steps this week - but today were the first you did with intention.  You took 2 steps and 3 steps at a time today, and we celebrated and clapped and then you looked at us like we were crazy people, but we were so proud! Not an hour later, you tried again and bonked the corner of the coffee table, which was bound to happen at some point.  And so it begins...the season of your life in which you will perpetually be giving me a heart attack as you try to conquer new physical feats and inevitably end up getting bumps and bruises (but hopefully that's the extent of the injuries!).  

Your smile is so beautiful, it slays me some days when I am feeling down, and I pick you up and you flash that gorgeous smile at me and throw your arms around me and give me love.  I hope you never lose your perfectly pure sense of glee and happiness - it brings light and joy to our lives every single day and makes the lives of those around you just shine with delight. 

You are starting to have a flair for drama (big surprise) and we are seeing it more and more.  You know how to fake cry (not that it ever gets you what you're trying for, but hey, a girl's got to try, right?) and you can flirt with the best of them.  You can turn it on and off in a second, and you are just so goofy sometimes.  It's just really fun to watch you developing a personality all your own, but we catch glimpses of ourselves in your mannerisms and facial expressions and behaviors, too. 

You are starting to spend more time playing independently, too. You LOVE LOVE LOVE the Brown Bear, Brown Bear books, and will choose them over many others all by yourself.  You are beginning to select toys to play with on your own, and will spend longer than a few seconds playing with a specific item now.  It's one of my favorite things to come into a room and see you looking through the pages of a book without any prompting.  

We have been trying to introduce a "Lovey" to you for a few months, and we have given you many items to choose from but for a long time nothing seemed to hold any particular interest for you.  One night, Matt took you to Nicola's Bookstore and you just picked this giraffe out all by yourself, carried it around the store the whole time, and have barely put it down since! You will pick him up and if you say "Give it some love", you will hug it to your chest and pat its back...so stinking sweet! We went to get a second one, and they didn't have any that were exactly the same, but you picked out a similar bear from the same line.  We'll see over time if these two buddies stick! 

 

You can point at objects that you want now, too.  We have been working on simple baby signs for certain words, and I think now that you are using your hands to communicate some, signing is likely to follow shortly.  I think it will be very nice for you to be able to express what you want in ways other than crying, because I think you are getting frustrated sometimes if we don't know what you want and you clearly do. 

This was a fake cry which started out as a Stink Eye face.  You have lots of teeth in there now, and boy do you like to show them off! The two on either side of the middle on top are finally breaking through the gums, and I think this round has given you some trouble so I hope we're in the clear until the next ones. 

You are truly, positively the brightest light in my life.  You grow more beautiful, charming, funny, challenging, strong willed, and wonderfully perfect every day we know you.  I can't imagine our life now without you in it.  What is even more amazing to me is that in two months, you will have been here with us for an entire year.  We are planning some fun things for your first birthday, but until then, we are just enjoying watching you turn into a delightful little girl.  Keep us smiling, Beauty! 

DIY Valentine's Day leg warmers

Here's a quickie little tutorial for a craft for the little lady this V-day.  I found these knee high women's socks on pre-Valentine's Day clearance (why are they already clearing out the Vday stuff for St. Patrick's Day before the actual date passes?) for $2.99.  I'd been wanting to try and take a stab at making girlie some leg warmers for a while, since brand name Babylegs are at least $10 a pair! 

First step - cut the feet of the socks off right above the heel part, making the cut parallel to the top of the sock. 

Second step-

Set your machine to a tight zigzag stitch (for those of us without fancy sergers or overlock machines, that is).  I set my tension to about a 4 and my stitch length to between 1-2.  Stretch the material slightly and stitch over the raw edge, with one part of the stitch catching the material and the other going off the outer edge. Zigzag all the way around. 

 I used matching thread, but contrasting colors would be fun too! 

Your edges will end up slightly ruffled and girly looking in about 1 minute flat!  (Well, or two minutes if you are like me and get the material stuck in the guides under the presser foot rather than letting the machine do the work...patience, Grasshopper). 

Seriously, one of the fastest and easiest sewing projects I've tackled to date, and I think they turned out super cute! Would make a fun little birthday or shower gift for that special little girl. I'm keeping my eyes peeled at JoAnn's for clearance holiday socks from now on! 

 Pictures of them in action on our little Valentine:

I am not a "finisher"

It turns out that for most people (and by most people I guess I mean I can really only speak for myself, but  whatev) by the time you are approximately 3 decades into this life, patterns of behavior are pretty well established. Personality, temperament, learned associations, classical/operant conditioned responses, however you want to look at it, most of the time we are who we are by a pretty reasonable stage of our adult lives. And something that I know about myself by now is that I love to start things - projects, crafts, recipes, etc.  But, I frequently leave them in partial stages of completion and move on to something more exciting, or just different, before ever finishing what I started. I do this All.The.Time. I have so many crocheted items that aren't finished off, or truly are not even halfway done. I have multiple scrapbooks that have 3 pages completed and a stack of photos waiting for the perfect creative streak to transform them into awesome layouts.  I have bags from Michaels and Joanns full of supplies for DIY gifts I meant to make for Christmas.  3 years worth of Christmases.  I have bags of clothes I once sorted and intended to donate, but never called Purple Heart/drove to Goodwill and got rid of, just hanging around.  Right this moment, I have fabric cut and my sewing machine on the dining room table, where it has been for the last 2 weeks since the day I cut the fabric and realized I didn't have the power cable for my machine.  I picked it up the next day, but still haven't plugged it in.  I have piles on my desk, in my closet, in the basement, etc, of things that are crying out for organization, and sometimes I start with lofty ideals of a scene that goes from something like this:

Not my own closet, but you get the idea

and ends looking like this:  

But before I ever get there I get distracted/overwhelmed/tired/busy and leave it in whatever stage of pre-completion I might have achieved before moving on.  Sometimes that is just the idea of starting it, sometimes it is actually sorting piles, only to shuffle them back into a mess when they never find their new home, sometimes it is actually purchasing some item to help me with said project, but moving on before actually putting it to use. But the problem is, these partially finished projects really do bother me that they aren't complete.  I just can't find a way to harness the free time I do have, which is extremely limited, and prioritize which one to pick up and work on to its end.  

Sometimes I think I have too many varying interests and dreams and things I want to pursue and I get scattered when I try to harness my energy into just one of them for a prolonged period of time.  Sometimes I think I lack willpower to make myself follow through on undesirable tasks (cleaning/organizing/purging) and start up something else that I deem more fun for that moment, but I'm not always committed to following through on that task as I only started it to fill up space for something else I should have been doing. Sometimes, I just get really tired and can't stay awake long enough to finish a project, and by the next time I have free time to work on it, something else has come up with a higher priority status. 

I don't have a resolution to this problem...as I mentioned at the beginning of this post, these are habits that I have spent most of my 28 years and 8 months perfecting.  But I do know that being a slob, being unorganized and perpetually feeling like I'm running late because I can't find what I need to get out the door, having projects I started with love and the intent to give to someone I care about sit in a bag and get dusty, these things bother me.  I love the feeling of having things in their place and ready to go. I love the sense of accomplishment when I finish a project and feel proud to give it to someone I love. I love just don't know how to keep myself motivated to stay in a place where this consistently happens. 

What do my more organized friends and family think?  Any tips/challenges/help for this time challenged, sleep deprived, cluttered mama that would point me in the right direction?  

A Life Was Grown Here

I read a post today about baby bellies and "birth markings", or more commonly, stretch marks; about the way society portrays perfect women's bodies, even those who have had children, probably even more so those who have and have nothing to show for it leftover on their exterior selves. The video "Birth Markings is lovely, and definitely worth watching. 

I think as Westerners, we are programmed to think that a woman is more desirable even after having a child if she "bounces back", and quickly. But it isn't just about losing the baby weight, it's also about not having been biologically predisposed to developing a road map of stretch marks anywhere that experienced rapid growth during a pregnancy.  Stretched, saggy skin just doesn't read "Sexy" as well as smooth, tight, tanned, supple young skin does in our culture.

Of all of the complications and challenges that my pregnancy presented, one of the things that was hardest for me to accept emotionally was the fact that I started to get stretch marks all over my belly around 34.5 weeks. I knew, and my friends reminded me, that they would eventually fade, but when they first started to show up, they were dark, purpley red, angry looking marks that turned into the beginning of the horrible PUPPS rash that ended up lasting for the next 11 weeks. But those marks didn't go away when the hives faded after delivery. They are just now, 9 months later, starting to fade from the dark purplish color they started out as to a more subtle, pinkish lavender. But even though my weight is right back where it was before getting pregnant, my belly just isnt the same.  There is a pocket of looser skin, strewn with light scars that will continue to fade, but will never disappear completely.

 Many mamas, in real life, and in the video above, say that they feel that their stretch marks are their badge of motherhood, their pride in knowing that their bodies grew someone so precious to them. But, I am not 100% there yet. It may be vain, and I never felt that confident about my belly in front of others even before pregnancy, but I don't love my stretch marked belly now. I love, I mean, love, that my body was able to create and support her life as it developed until she was ready to join our world. I was amazed as I watched myself grow and stretch, beyond what I even thought possible, and I loved feeling her move and imagining what she would be like when she was here with us. I am lucky that this is the only lasting physical scar of what ended up being a challenging pregnancy and a really scary delivery.  But all along, I hated those stretch marks. I didn't take any bare bellied pictures once they showed up, not even for myself to look back and remember just how big I was, or even just what that giant basketball of a belly looked like with all of its fresh new stretch marks (and yes, ridiculous hives). And yet, while I don't love the way my belly looks bare at this moment, and I'm not sure I will ever be comfortable baring it in public again, I can appreciate that they are an ever present reminder that underneath that skin, my body grew hers. I don't know that I feel I need those scars to remind me of what happened there, but since they are there with me for the long haul, I might as well start accepting them!  Maybe my belly isn't sexy, or magazine quality perfection, and probably won't ever be without surgical intervention which I don't think I could ever quite justify, but it is mine, "birth markings" and all.

Norah Grows - 9 Months!

Sweet love, you are 9 months old today. You have officially been a part of our world as long as you were growing inside my body...it is so hard for me to think that it's been 18 months - a year and a half - since we learned that you would be joining our family.  From those seemingly endless weeks in the beginning of the pregnancy just hoping for another day to pass and be one more day closer to the "safety" of the second trimester to now when the weeks are just flying past and I live to soak up my moments with you in the evenings and weekends.

 

You now have 4 teeth completely out of the gums, and two more on top that are starting to work their way down. You have not enjoyed the process of teething these last two teeth so far, and I hate seeing you out of sorts and uncomfortable.  I ordered you a Baltic Amber Teething Necklace this week, so hopefully when it comes and we get it on you for a while it will help with relieving some of the pain when the next ones make their entrance.  I scoffed at them for so long, but finally gave in and will give it a try - hey, at the worst it can't hurt and it will just be your first fashionable accessory! 

You are 100% mobile and a seriously persistent little lady! When you want something, you find a way to get it! Your primary means of movement is still crawling or cruising along furniture, but you are FAST! You've ventured into climbing a little, and you can do the whole flight of stairs in our new condo in about 1 minute (of course we are right behind you!) Unless you are asleep, you are not still, pretty much ever.  We have some out-takes from your chair photo session tonight: 

Lainey is your home-girl.  The two of you have a decent arrangement worked out - you give her the leftovers off your tray at meals, and she shares her rawhides with you.  Seriously, you have a new found fondness for Lainey's rawhide bones...you take them out of her paws while she is trying to chew on them sometimes and get a little teething in for yourself! She is such a gentle girl, and the two of you are going to be great friends.  She is so tolerant of your "pat pats" that aren't always so gentle.  Lainey had a little tiff with Grandpa Mark's doggie a week or so ago and has a few stitches in her ear, and even when you "pat" her sore ear, she just slowly moves out of the way, or sometimes just sits there and takes it!  Can't wait to watch as your friendship unfolds with her.

You love to have bedtime stories read to you as you settle down for the night.  We are still working on improving your sleep habits, and the first part of that was to establish a bedtime routine that you can count on, every night. Dinner, bath, brush teeth, lotion and jammies, story and bottle/nurse to sleep.  So far, I think it is helping at least in that you are starting to recognize when it is time to wind down based on our activities, and the past 3 nights we have had better chunks of sleep in the first part of the night after laying you in your crib. You still wake up around midnight or a little later and come into our bed with us and nurse/snuggle back to sleep, but that doesn't bother me! I'm just hoping that we can keep it so that you aren't waking up every 40 minutes when you hit the light waking part of your sleep cycle and needing to nurse or walk back to sleep many, many times every night.  Your mama loves you, always, but I would be ok with seeing you a little less often in the middle of the night!   

You are a terrific eater! So far you pretty much try anything we are eating, and most of the time you like it! You love pasta/spaghetti, chicken, slow cooker pork, yogurt, cottage cheese, BLACKBERRIES, cheese, lunch meat, crackers/puffs, smoothies, butternut squash soup (from Prickly Pear!) and any other yummy tidbits you can sample when you get the chance (especially powdered sugar doughnuts with Grandpa Mark!).  Keep up the good appetite, little love!  

The 9 months that we have been able to hold you, kiss you, snuggle you, teach you, watch you grow and change and evolve from a tiny newborn baby into a delightful, challenging, energetic, happy, beautiful infant have been the most fulfilling months of my life.  Even though I'm a sleep deprived and busy working mama, when you finally fall asleep in my arms each night, I remind myself to take a few extra minutes and stroke your cheek, kiss your little eyelids, smell the sweet just-bathed softness of your hair, and soak in the fact that now, right now, you are perfect.  I am better because I am your mama. I am fulfilled by the very fact that you are in our lives, and growing more amazing every week. I love you, Miss Norah Annabel, as much today as I did 9 months ago when I held you for the first time. Keep amazing us, beauty. 

Wee bit of Mama Guilt

This mama is seriously sleep deprived, and sleep hunger a desperate woman makes.  I "caved" a few nights ago and decided to try giving Norah a small (4 oz) bottle of formula right before bed and then topping her off by nursing to sleep in an attempt to fill that baby belly enough to hold her over for a longer stretch at night. The first night, it seemed to work, and unless I am so ridiculously out of it that I don't remember waking up between 12:30 and 5 AM, my child slept for 4.5 hours without nursing. To anyone used to sleeping all night long, this probably sounds ridiculous. But, for someone accustomed to waking as often as every 45 minutes some nights, this was glorious. Night two, not really so great (up at 2:30 and 5 and up for the day about 6:45) but I have decided to keep trying the formula for a week and see if it makes any difference in breaking some of her less desirable sleeping habits at all. If it doesn't, maybe I'll put it aside and use it later.  But for the love, why do I feel so guilty for even using it at all?

The morning after I gave her the first bottle of formula, I couldn't help but feel like I had just given my baby the equivalent of sugar-laden cereal or ice cream before bed or something (not that I haven't regularly had both of those things myself, but that's neither here nor there, right?).  I went to one of my trusted breastfeeding resources online, www.kellymom.com for some advice about choosing the best kind of formula if and when one determines that they will supplement, and I'm not kidding the articles on there were SO anti-formula that I truly felt as if I had betrayed my child by letting her have anything but breastmilk, especially when I am not having supply issues or health issues, or any other "issues" related to actually feeding her enough calories for her to thrive. The issues I have are purely selfish - I need more sleep. Now, I understand, that's a kind of selfishness that at this point, 8 months later, that is acceptable to acknowledge and take care of, but when I looked at the ingredient lists on the various types of formulas (and not to mention the price tag on the organic varieties!) I felt nothing but guilt and shame about even considering it.

I know that our society is rightfully putting more emphasis on "breast is best" and the health benefits for both mom and baby from breastfeeding for a minimum of the first year of life. But I also know that there are many reasons why people choose (or need) to use formula and these babies grow and thrive and develop into healthy, smart, well adjusted kids just like kids who were breastfed until they could cut their own meat and learn to read.  I have conversations with parents at the hospital almost every week about cutting themselves some slack when their children medically require supplemental feedings in order to grow.  Logically, I understand that there is no reason that children who have any amount of formula suffer because of it. But why, oh why, when I stood in the Kroger self-scan checkout did I want to turn the can of Earth's Best Organic Formula around and pretend it was a can of coffee?  Not only did I feel publicly ashamed to be buying formula at all (albeit organic, 2x as expensive as run of the mill Similac or Enfamil), but I felt a personal sense of failing my child, even if in the smallest way.  Maybe it's just the exhaustion. Maybe it's living in "crunchy" Ann Arbor and reading too many articles like "One Bottle of Formula Won't Hurt; Or Will It?" that has planted the tiny seed of guilt in the back of my mind.  But nonetheless, I am struggling with balancing my desire to get just a few more blessed moments of sleep and doing what is best for my child. I guess I'm not really all that different from any other mother in the history of mothers, then, am I?

Time to take this twitching eyelid of mine to bed while the child sleeps through her formula-induced dream cycle, hopefully for the next few hours. Wish us all a quiet night :)