Here I Am!

Have you been wondering where I've been?

Me too, kind of.

1. I've been exhausted and sleep deprived because Baby T is now getting up about 5 times a night--way more than Little M.
2. I've been grieving the loss of my aunt a few weeks ago.
3. I've been trying to get used to my new routine. I pulled Baby T out of daycare, and he has been going to a preschool 2 days a week. That means I've been getting to spend a lot more time with him, which some days is sweet and precious and other days leaves me drooling on the couch at 8:30 p.m.
4. I've been organizing my office. In a perfect world, I would have organized it in a couple of days. In the real world, I'm going to be down to the wire the next two days.
5. I've been doing a lot of freelance writing. Last month, I pretty much freaked out about finances, and I lost all my creative energy. I can't function creatively if I feel like I'm not surviving in the material world.
6. I've been working on my business. When I had Little M and quit my job as a customer service manager, I wrote a post about how one of my favorite parts of working on Tmuffin has been all the connections I've made. I never expected that. And I've loved all of the blogging I've done and connections I've made throughout the past few years, and I had all this momentum going.

But then I realized that I wasn't necessarily doing what I truly, truly long to do. I started Tmuffin to create products for moms and their babies, and I've spent the last year writing, organizing, and planning. And parenting. But I have gotten sucked in to a lot of different places I didn't expect, and I've lost my voice a little bit. So I'm on a quest to start speaking in my own voice again.

I'm taking a break from the blog. I'll be here, but I'll be in and out. I'll be checking in on my bloggy friends, but I can't obsess as much as I was.

Stay tuned, though. I'm coming back. Full force. Focused. True. Inspired. And hopefully with a few more hours of sleep under my belt.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: Felt board Friday

A few weeks ago, four of my friends and I got together to make felt boards for our kids. After realizing that we were not organized enough to actually let our kids help out, we decided to let the kids play while the mommies made the felt boards for them. (I know, but it's not a perfect world).

We met at my house on Friday morning, made some breakfast, let the kids run wild, and made some felt boards. I had cut the felt into long rectangles beforehand, and the first thing we did was fold them and sew yarn to close up the two long edges. One of the short edges was left open so we could slip in pieces of cut plexiglas to make the boards rigid. Then, we went to town cutting felt shapes for our kids.

This is what a felt board Friday looks like. Is it strange that there are only 2 pictures of us working on the felt boards themselves?

Turn Anything into an Activity

Since my Sunday Surf post about online toddler games, Baby T has really mastered using the mouse. I had a comment that Starfall.com was a good resource for online toddler games, and it's amazing how perfect it is. It's engaging and just challenging enough to keep Baby T's attention and make him feel like he can do it by himself without getting frustrated.

Project PINK - Painting the Blog World Pink for a Cure

 

Marilyn of The ArtsyGirl Connection is hosting Project Pink today. It's a day that supports the drive for a cure to breast cancer in honor of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. I feel honored to have joined more than 50 blogs in drawing attention to this important cause.

How to Make a Trash Bag Halloween Costume Tutorial

All you procrastinators--here is a quick tutorial for how to make a spherical Halloween costume--you know--if you're making a pumpkin costume, Mr. Potato Head costume, or trash bag costume. This costume basically transforms you or your child into a giant, stuffable ball. Use your imagination and go crazy.

Baby T is going to be a garbage man, so Little M is going to be a trash bag. This is how I made Little M's garbage bag costume.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY: A Craft Project with a Toddler

Toddlers have the attention span of--well, a toddler. Baby T loves to do projects, though, so we're always working on crafts. But it's not usually a linear event. This is how doing a craft project with a toddler normally goes in my house.

The project required painting paper plates. Baby T just
wanted to squeeze the paint onto the plates.

ISN'T IT TOO HOT TO WEAR WOOL?

Dispelling the Myths About Wool

As I was finishing up a wool soaker a few days ago, Big T was sitting across the table from me and we were chatting. "Isn't it too hot to wear wool?" he asked. I explained no, that actually wool helps you regulate your body temperature and keeps you cooler in summer. Big T grabbed the soaker and put it on his head like a hat. "I have to say, it feels pretty hot. I would not go out with this on my head in this weather."

I thought about that for a second. He was right; people normally don't wear wool hats in summer. "But imagine wearing a plastic hat on your head. Wouldn't that be hotter?" He agreed. Wearing a cotton hat covered by a thick shower cap would definitely retain heat. And then putting clothing over that would get really hot in the summer.

Then he asked "What about disposables? Wouldn't those be more breatheable?" I'm not actually sure, but I don't think so. The chemicals and synthetics that make up a disposable diaper don't seem to be very breatheable to me. If they were, they would leak.

To which he replied, "Yup, I guess if you have all that stuff on your a$$ you're going to be kind of hot no matter what, so I guess wool would be the coolest."

And when I look at Baby T in his wool soakers with a prefold and doubler underneath, they just look more comfortable. They aren't bulky. His butt isn't the size of J Lo's. And have I mentioned he looks adorable in them?

Read more about wool soakers here.

WOOL SOAKERS FEATURED AT Weelittlechanges.com!

You Can Buy My Wool Soakers Here, or Sign Up For the Giveaway on Friday!

Weelittlechanges.com, an earth friendly baby boutique, is featuring Baby T's bum! Ok, not so much his little bum as the wool soakers I've been busy creating. You can find my soakers for sale in her shop, and she will also be having a giveaway for the month of March. The winner will get a custom sized wool shorty in a gender-neutral color (and if you're really lucky, I'll hand knit the cuffs in a color of your choice!)

For details on the giveaway, check out the blog at Weelittlechanges.com.

It's pretty cool. April, the boutique's owner, is featuring 4 WAHM's (mom and mom-mom: that means Work At Home Moms) for the month of May. It's amazing how many women out there are trying to provide for their families doing what they are passionate about. It's amazing what a woman can do when she puts her mind to it: give birth, nurse a baby, care for a family, work full time, and pursue her dreams (and laundry).

And April is an amazing WAHM herself. With 3 young boys, she knows what it takes to raise a wonderful family. Three young boys also pretty much make her an expert in baby products. She carries organic and  natural baby products, cloth diapers, accessories, and even things for mamas, like nursing pads and Moby wraps in her online boutique. This keeps her pretty busy, but she lives simply and enjoys the little things in life. last time I saw her, she was out enjoying the fresh air with her 3 beautiful boys.

Making a Quiet Book

Before our trip to Punta Cana, I knew I wanted to make Baby T a quiet book to keep him busy on the plane. A quiet book is a soft activity book made of fabric. The possibilities are endless. You can make lift-the-flap pages, pages with buttons, snaps, zippers, buckles and shoelaces, pages where you match shapes, etc. I had been meaning to make one for quite some time.

But of course, I started the Saturday before our trip. It took me a week to make these 8 pages. I worked every night until midnight or so. Nothing like a little procrastination to get me going!

The book is held together with ribbons, and more pages can be added as I make them. It definitely kept Baby T occupied on the plane ride, and I love looking at it myself! Knowing I can make something this special for my baby and keep adding to it with developmentally appropriate pages as he gets older is amazing. This is something he will hopefully be able to pass down to his children.

Halloween Costume Part II

A Milkmaid, a Farmer, and a Cow meet a Girl Scout

I fear that I'm going to be a week behind in all of my posts this week. A week past what is relevant. Oh, well. If only there were 50 hours in a day. Halloween was great. We were the cutest farming family around. So much so that I think we should just move to the country, buy several acres, goats, chickens, and cows, and live off the land.

I also made a Girl Scout Uniform for a coworker. She asked me a week before Halloween, and I was swamped, but really wanted to help her out. I told her I couldn't make it from scratch, but if she found me something to work with, I could rework it into a uniform. She found the most hideous knit mock-turtleneck, long sleeved, calf length shift dress at the Salvation Army. It was absolutely perfect! I was able to transform it into a vest and skirt with the leftover green ruffle from the dust ruffle I used for my milkmaid costume. We printed the patches on the computer, laminated them, and sewed them on for an official look. I can't wait to get a picture of her wearing it! Now if only she could make me some cookies. Farming is hard work.

Halloween Costume Part I

Tiered Skirt/Petticoat Tutorial

Since I'm going to be a milkmaid for Halloween, I needed a tiered, ruffled skirt to show underneath the main part of the skirt. I was a little overwhelmed by the idea of making it from scratch. It seemed like it would take a lot of fabric--I wasn't sure how much, or how expensive it would be. So I went to goodwill and bought a dust ruffle. I would use the center of the dust ruffle (the part that goes under the mattress, which is just cream colored fabric) for the skirt, and use the ruffles for the ruffles on the skirt! For $1.99 it would be fine if it didn't work out. Especially since I had measured nothing and just figured this would be enough fabric. The dust ruffle had 3 layers of ruffles, in cream and green, and it seemed like plenty to go around. This is what I started with:

I figured I would make 3 tiers so it wouldn't get too complicated, and I would put the ruffles between the tiers.

Getting Off My Butt

Finding time from the whirlwind of life with baby

I have had years to get off my butt and do something. Thirty-one, to be exact. Well, I did a lot up to about age 13. I would take out books about different crafts from the library and come home, perusing them in bed on Saturday mornings, dreaming about the toilet paper roll dolls and clothespin characters I would make. I sewed my first outfit when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old. Actually, all I sewed was the button on the back of the skirt and on the vest. I think I glued the gingham ribbon to the flowered skirt. And you might have been able to see my butt from the back. But check out the trendy mixing of patterns:

I woke up early on Saturday mornings to make pancakes for my family, made friendship bracelets in the porch on hot summer days, and coveted a pottery wheel for Christmas when I was 9. My favorite gifts to receive were the ones that included a project of some kind: a kit of embroider-it-yourself Christmas stockings, DIY ornaments, jewelry making kits, etc. I loved to sit and draw. I even submitted my work to those art education schools from the back of magazines (where you copy the drawing of the cartoon turtle).

Then I hit high school age. I was so busy with schoolwork, friends, and theater that I didn't have time for making things anymore. I thought I'd be able to do more once I was in college and had more time to myself. Then I got to college. Between my sociology classes analyzing the effects of social movements, Phish shows and Indigo Girls concerts, and all night talks about the intensity of art with my roommates, man was I inspired. I had ideas jammed in my brain. But I didn't have time to make anything. I thought one day I could travel the U.S. in a van, making things and selling them along the road. THEN I would have more time to make everything I wanted to make. And so I graduated, joined the rat race, turned 30, and had a baby. I would CERTAINLY have time during my maternity leave to make everything I wanted to make!

Nope.

So here I am, 31 years old, with my almost-5-month-old baby T, up at all hours of the night, working full time, with my free time taken up doing public relations for a nonprofit group. And all of a sudden I have found the time to make everything I wanted to make. I made the most important thing: a family. And now I am flooded with inspiration, motivation, and most of all, a desire to support my family doing what I love. And so the saga begins.