Saturday, November 12, 2011

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

A bunch of videos for the grandmas and aunties




By the way, his first word was, of course, mama. He says mama when he is sad and needs something. He says dada when he is happy and wants to play. It figures!

Thursday, September 15, 2011

The rest of the recovery


Isaac had his stitches out last Wednesday (the 7th). Hooray! He's looking great!


This past Wednesday (the 14th) Isaac started "scar therapy." I have to tape this little piece of silicone to his lip. He's supposed to wear it day and night--at all times except for bathing. Joy. I decided I'd better make it fun, or I wasn't going to have the discipline to do it. So . . .


. . . we gave him a mustache!

One more thing: Mr. Babe started solids last Saturday. So much fun! Now that he gets more calories during the day, he's back to sleeping through the night again. This morning, he didn't get up until 8:00. That's the way we like it.


Talk about getting food in your 'stache . . .

Saturday, September 3, 2011

Survival Mode



We are home from the hospital!

Our biggest challenge is feeding our little sweetheart. He ate like a champ in the hospital--six ounces Friday morning. Since then, he hasn't taken more than a couple of ounces at a feeding. Feeding our babe through a syringe is like . . .

trying to fill a swimming pool . . .

through a straw . . .

using a garden hose.

at the hospital

It takes about an hour per feeding, and it seems like at least half of what goes in comes right back out. Today we fed him about every two hours. Such a task would have been impossible had it not been for my wonderful husband. Sam is a star, and the best dad ever.

Isaac wears little splints on his arms to keep him from touching his face. We have to keep an eye on that kid. As soon as he flails his hands loose, he goes right for the face. I thought he would HATE the splints, but he doesn't seem to mind.


Thursday, September 1, 2011

"We believe that our son is destined for greatness!"

This is the first thing Sam said when we met our surgeon, Dr. Craig Hobar. I guess we had in mind that we were going to interview him to make sure he was qualified to fix our son's lip. Little did we know that he is one of the best in the country. Take a look at his website for the foundation he created. There are some amazing before and after photos.

We went in for a long-awaited surgery on Thursday September 1. The original date was July 21, but Isaac came down with a runny nose that made him just sick enough that the surgery had to be postponed six weeks. Over the past six weeks, I have waited very IM-patiently, worried that Isaac would get sick again, worried that our surgeon would come down with the mumps or get in an accident, worried that the day would never come . . .

But the day came. The night before, Sam woke up at 1 am to give him his last few sips of formula. I got up at 3 am to give him his last few sips of breastmilk. We all got up at 5 am to head over to Medical City Children's Hospital. Sam asked me if I was nervous. Maybe I should have been--but I wasn't. I was more grateful than anything. Grateful that our son didn't need anything more than elective cosmetic surgery. Grateful that we had the means to provide such a surgery for him. Grateful that we live in a country where we have state-of-the-art equipment and talented, caring doctors who can work modern-day miracles.

When we got to the hospital, I became even more grateful. As we waited in the pre-op room, there were two other families there with children who were facing much more serious surgeries than we. Thanks to our middle-of-the-night feedings, Isaac wasn't hungry, and he even slept while we waited for awhile. He charmed the nurses with his smile. Then they wheeled him away . . . Sam and I got some breakfast and took a nap in the car.

Just before surgery with Dr. Hobar

Um, one of my worst mommy moments comes next . . . We got a phone call as we were headed back into the hospital. Sam took the call, but the reception wasn't good. He thought they said Isaac was in the recovery room, but it didn't sound too urgent, and the person on the other end was breaking up. We made our way back up to the surgery waiting room, but got lost, took a major detour on the elevator, stopped to ask for directions, then hung out in the waiting room watching "Good Morning Texas." Meanwhile, our son had woken up and was crying; Can you believe--I wasn't there for the wake-up? (What kind of mommy am I?!)

Finally, we were reunited with our son. I'm not sure what I was expecting to see when he came out of surgery . . . I guess I didn't think about it! But what I saw was blood and stitches--and tears. And a swollen little face that looked up at me as if to say, Why did you let this happen to me?


The good news was that the surgery went great. We spent the rest of the afternoon comforting our crying child, feeding him through a syringe, and trying to keep him from touching his face. Little sweetheart. We hope he recovers quickly.




Monday, August 29, 2011

By the time he learns to talk, my babe will be able to tell people he's had work done.

So, my sweet little babe has the most darling grin, and this is partly because he was born with a mild cleft lip. Fortunately, his palate is completely normal, so it hasn't been a problem. However, we want to make sure we do all in our power to give him the best shot at life that we can, so this week he is going in for surgery.


I'm going to miss that crooked little grin!

Reporting on the cloth diapers

All right . . . so it's been more than a week. But I have been true to my promise to give the cloth diapers a fair shake. And the verdict is . . .

Now if I told you that already, you wouldn't read the rest of this post.



My main concerns about cloth diapering before actually using them were as follows:

  • Cloth diapers are bulkier. Would my baby's bottom look as cute and still fit in his clothes with cloth diapers?
  • The smell--would my neighbors start complaining?
  • Doubling my laundry duty
  • The time involved in putting on and taking off cloth diapers
So, here is what I found:

Bulk. Yes, Isaac has a bigger booty with the cloth, but surprisingly, he still fits into his clothes--even the ones he is growing out of. I suppose baby clothes are built for expansion.

Smell. The wet diapers don't smell funny to me or Sam (and Sam has a much better sniffer than do I). When I have a soiled diaper, I just throw them all into the washing machine and wash a load. This works well for me, since Isaac poops about once every 2-3 days. If you have a frequent pooper on your hands, you may want to reconsider before using cloth diapers.

Laundry. We have the most amazing washer and dryer. They are so good that I actually look forward to doing laundry. Also, Isaac's bedroom (which is also our bathroom) is literally two steps away from our washer/dryer. This makes diaper laundry VERY convenient. I run a cold rinse, then wash the diapers with detergent in the sanitize cycle, and throw them in the dryer. When done, I just stack them in piles and toss them into my plastic diaper box. It probably takes about 10 minutes total. If you are considering cloth diapering, I recommend a high-efficiency machine. We have a Samsung washer/dryer, and we LOVE it.

Extra time changing diapers. It takes 30-60 seconds longer to change a cloth diaper because you've got to pull out the absorbent lining, put the used diaper in the wetbag, pull out a fresh diaper and lining, insert the lining, and snap the diaper into place. However, I discovered that I'm not generally in a big hurry when changing diapers, so I don't mind the extra time singing and talking to my baby while changing him. Isaac doesn't mind the extra attention, either.

Here are a few things I wasn't expecting that I found when using cloth diapers:
  • Not as absorbent. So, I'd be lying if I didn't say that more than once, I have realized I waited too long to change a diaper when I felt my lap getting wet. I'd say he needs a change every 3 hours. For this reason, I put the babe in a disposable diaper at night.
  • Soiled diapers. I'm going to be honest: they aren't my favorite. And in the process of removing the diaper lining, I may have gotten a little poop on my fingers from time to time . . . fortunately, Isaac's changing table doubles as the bathroom countertop/sink.
So, the conclusion? Well, I have to admit that they aren't as convenient as disposables. But they're really not that much more inconvenient either. I would say that I have a mild preference for disposables. But, since I have already invested in the cloth diapers, I may as well get my money's worth out of them and do the planet a favor while I'm at it!

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

My first tutorial: Sew a Quiet Book Cover

I LOVE tutorials!! I can't tell you how many amazing tutorials I've found on other blogs and benefited from. So, I suppose it was a matter of time before I would actually do one.

There are some ladies in my ward (congregation) who are making quiet books, so this one is a quiet book cover for them. Here's an example of a cover I've done:


If you're up to the challenge, keep reading!

Materials:


  • 13 inches of cotton print fabric. If you are ambitious, you can piece your own fabric together to make a cute, pieced-quilt look, but we will not cover that in today's blog.

  • Matching thread

  • 36 inches matching ribbon

  • Quilt batting, such as warm & natural or Pellon (I have always used Warm & Natural, but in this tutorial, we used some sold by Pellon (in the interfacing section by the cutting tables) and it worked great. You need two 9" by 11" rectangles of this stuff--not much!
1. Square up your fabric. This makes sure your edges are clean and the fabric doesn't get sewn crooked.


2. Cut four 10" by 12" rectangles of fabric. If you cut every ten inches, you will be able to fit four along your strip of fabric.

So you cut every ten inches here . .

And then cut at twelve inches here.

3. Next, take two pieces of fabric and put them right sides together. Now comes the tricky part (especially tricky because I don't have great pictures of this. Sorry!) Take your ribbon and cut it into two 18" pieces. Lay your ribbon across your quiet book, between your two layers of fabric, with one end of the ribbon just poking out of one side and the other end curled up inside between the two layers. I like to put my ribbon about 1/3 of the way down the page, and this also conveniently avoids any complications with the hole you will later punch through your quiet book, but you can put the ribbon smack halfway down the page (as shown in these photos) if you want to.

Now you are going to sew around the edge of the fabric, using a 1/2" seam allowance. Backstitch at the beginning and end, leaving a gap in one of the longer sides of about 2.5 inches. Do the same with your other two pieces of fabric.


Here is what it should look like when you finish sewing. Note the little ribbon sticking out of the right side and the other end of the ribbon sticking through the gap.


4. Trim the corners on the diagonal, as shown. You want to get close to your stitching, but don't cut into the stitch. This is going to make your finished corners lay much nicer when you pop everything right-side out.


5. Lay your batting on top of your fabric.


6. Next, you are going to squeeze everything through your little gap and pop it all right-side out. You can reach into the gap to smooth out your batting inside.


You can also reach inside with a scissors and use the tip of the scissors to push the corners out so you get them nice and pointy. A small scissors works best.


7. Now iron everything down. Make sure when you iron that you've pushed the fabric all the way out to the seams; not sure if that makes sense, but maybe it will when you try ironing? In the spot where you have your gap, you will just try to make the edges as even as possible. Pin the edges where the gap is into place before you start the next step.


8. Next, you want to pull your ribbon across the front of your quiet book cover and pin it in place at the other edge, then sew across the page on the ribbon. This will make sure your ribbon holds strong during the many times your book gets tied and untied.


In case you forgot how to sew, here is a photo of sewing the ribbon on. It's easier to aim if you center your needle in the middle of the presser foot.


9. Get excited, because you are nearly finished!!

10. Finish your quiet book cover by topstitching around the edge of the cover, using a 1/4" seam allowance. Again, if you're ambitious, you could sew some fun patterns onto the cover to give it a cute, quilted look, but it's not necessary.


And now you have a lovely quiet book cover to go with your quiet book!


PS--You will use the same technique to sew the pages in your quiet book together. Before you sew the pages, just take off all of the removable parts and use pins to pin anything down that might get in the way. Then sew around your pages, leaving a 1/2" seam allowance and a gap on the side. Trim the corners, pop the pages right side out, and topstitch with a 1/4" seam allowance.

Next, you will want to do will be to put reinforced holes along the edges of your quiet book pages. You can do this by purchasing a little metal eyelet kit and punching eyelets in your page. Or, another alternative is to sew the eyelets in if your sewing machine has an eyelet function. OR you could sew small button holes into your pages. To figure out where to put the holes, I just used a sheet of paper punched with a three-hole punch as a template.

You can buy the little rings that hold your book together at an office supplies store. I could never find them in packages smaller than 15, so you might want to share with a friend, since you really only need three.

That's it. Now go and enjoy your quiet books (or at least enjoy watching your kids enjoy them)!

Homemade Baby Food and Cloth Diapers--just like Mom

I don't remember my mother ever having store-bought baby food in the house. I'm not saying she NEVER used a jar of baby food, but . . . I'm not saying she ever did either. What I do remember is that she had a little food grinder that she used to grind up green peas and feed them to my little sister. Maybe that's why I just can't imagine buying baby food in a jar at the store.

So, my sweet babe is four months old, and I'm anticipating the adventure of solid food (although the adventure won't begin for another six weeks or so). Here is a photo of him, simply because every post needs a photo:



Anyway, I got started reading all of the do's and don'ts of baby feeding, and I'll admit it: I got overwhelmed! I started looking for a good resource and some good recipes for the ambitious cook-it-yourself babyfood mom, and I came across this great website: www.wholesomebabyfood.com and found a wealth of information, as well as some simple recipes to make for your wee one (I just saw 17 Miracles last weekend, and now I want to call him my wee one!). So check it out!

But back to Mom . . . Yes, she used disposable diapers on my two younger sisters, but the first three kids (including me) wore nothing but the finest birdseye prefolds. (Maybe this explains why I was toilet trained at 18 months?) So, when I was expecting, I'm not sure what came over me; but I had the desire to go out and buy some cloth diapers. Not the same ones I wore as a baby, but some fancy schmancy Fuzzibunz diapers. . .

And there they sat nicely in the cupboard . . . UNTIL NOW!

Today I broke out the Fuzzibunz. I'm determined to give them my best shot for a week, and then report on my trial run. Cloth diapers, here we come!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Obsessed with Quiet Books

So it all started in Ms. Chew's 8th grade sewing class. I was pretty sure that sewing machines had it in for me. Or was it Mrs. Tolman's 7th grade Home Ec class where I ruined my pink duffle bag project and probably made Mrs. Tolman wish she didn't teach sewing? . . . .

Anyway, I hadn't really touched a sewing machine since high school until about a year and a half ago. Sam was in B-School at the Y, and the MBA spouses got a group together to sew quiet books. Everyone made the same page 14 times, and then we got together to trade pages. Brilliant! It was so much fun that we went in for a second round, and here is the result:


Teepee page



Memory Page

Button the flowers on

Those fishies go inside the Alligator's mouth.

Tic-tac-toe

Aquarium

Cars (see the pocket for the matchbox car? Also those little stop and yield signs come off. And the shoelace? It's the gas station pump!

Robot (you can button different things on to his eyes!)

Kite ties
Counting Page

The frog catching flies

Okay, so I did this page. The doors and windows have clear vinyl behind them so you can put photos of family members and kids can open the shutters to see the pictures.

Tie my shoe

Weave the crust on the cherry pie

Lion with tags (perfect for little ones!)

Move the train up the hill


This is one side of the page: an oven for making . . .

cupcakes!!

Banana split with 5 flavors of ice cream for re-arranging

Braid my hair! The envelope has elastics and extra ribbons. The eyes, nose, and mouth have velcro and can be re-arranged.

Tangram puzzles. This is a good one for older kids. If you don't know what tangrams are, google it.
This page holds pencils, crayons, and paper for drawing.

Pick the apples & put them in the basket

picnic lunch. The spoon, knife, and fork are velcro so you can take them on & off, and how about that amazingly cute food? Let's hear it for printable fabric!

Match the shapes
Little girl's purse. most of the fun objects came from a little toy at the dollar store.

This barn houses several farm animal finger puppets . . .

And here they are!

A toolbox for the little man

A mailbox. The little felt envelopes open so you can put real notes inside.

gumball machine

Noah's Ark. I bought little animals at the party store that go inside.
Dress-up dolls

Telling Time
I spent waaaay too much time making this cover. I even did research on the golden mean ratio so it would be perfectly proportioned. (no lie!)

Here is the other side of the cover. Reversible.

Well, that was it. I was addicted after that. I bought a sewing machine and whenever I need a little bit of "project therapy," I sew.