The Bird Squawks and Swats

Introducing videos on my blog! Took me long enough to figure that one out. The first two are of Sienna kind of swatting. I helped her out a bit in this first one, but you get the gist. (Also, my mouth is full in the first one, so that's why I sound like that.) She is getting the idea of using those things called "hands."

Take note of the right leg kick in the top and bottom videos. When she gets excited she waves her hands around and kicks only her right leg. We think it is hysterical.

These two videos show the squawk. It is my favorite!

Attack of the Grandparents

In Utah last month, Sienna met some of her great grandparents. Here's proof.

Saturdays with Dad

Watching TV

And afternoon at the beach

Plights

*Sweets*

In July, Adam and I decided to take a break from sweets. He was training for his last big bike race and I was bent on losing the final pregnancy pounds. When I say sweets, I’m talking dessert – ice cream, cake, candy bars – of which we have always partaken of in generous quantities. I love to bake, so we always have oatmeal cake, lemon bars, chocolate zucchini cake or what have you to dig into at any old time. I also love Snickers bars and Ritter bars and Twix bars, of which I always grabbed at the supermarket checkout line for a little, well-deserved (always deserved) treat. I like double chunk chocolate anything ice cream and Adam cleans out canisters of mint chocolate chip and cookies and cream. So, it was with trepidation that we embarked on this new path. I’ve tried the “no sweets” thing before and just remember wanting to climb the walls with chocolate desire. So we did it the doable way – we didn’t outlaw jam, honey or maple syrup (Adam has an insatiable appetite for waffles). And we allowed one sweet per week, every Friday. It could be big or small, but Friday night was the night. We chose Cold Stone creamery many times and lemon bars the other times. It was going swimmingly. Then Adam did his bike race and I lost the pounds …. And we were back ON SWEETS. After a couple weeks on them I have come to realize that …. I hate myself when I’m on sweets. There is much self-loathing and lethargy. I feel soft and rotund and as though my workouts are completely undone after eating a much deserved (always deserved) lemon berry tart. So, it is my plight to go back off. Starting Monday. After I finish my chocolate chip cookies. Wish me luck!

*Stomach*

In correlation with the sweets, something has got to change with my stomach. Oh my stomach! To state what many a post partum woman has discovered: She ain’t what she used to be. Oh the things I would give away to strangers (my firstborn?) to have my stomach back. I never had a six pack … but it was an honest two liter … and I liked it. My sister told me to take pictures of my belly very early on in my pregnancy to see the growth at every stage. I wish I had taken pictures of it from all the angles long before I got pregnant so I could look back and just … maybe … touch it, perhaps fondle it, kiss it, frame it and honor it. Which is why I’m going off sweets again. It has come to my attention that I can’t eat like I used to eat and have the same figure I used to have. It has been a bitter, bitter pill to swallow. A bitter pill than contains no sugar. But maybe it’s God’s way of saying: Clean up that temple, ship shape. To bear children involves continual sacrifice, not just during and directly after pregnancy but …. Gulp … forever. Maybe not forever. Maybe just this life. I’m looking forward to the resurrection. In the meantime, anyone have any good ab workouts? And does anyone else think the Pilates 100 are bunk? Seriously, pumping your arms 100 times by your sides = sweet abs? I don’t buy it. Hasn’t done anything for me yet.

*Sleep*

“I don’t know what I’m doing,” is a phrase I repeat over and over and over and over again in my mind while I’ve been sleep training Sienna. All in all, she is a pretty darn good sleeper, so I shouldn’t complain. Early on she was able to decipher between day and night and fell asleep quite rapidly after middle of the night feedings. She’s four months old now and I’ve moved the bedtime to 7:30 pm and have had her cry it out a few times here and there. The girl has the two Ls: longevity and lungs, so some of those cry it outs, I’ll admit, where very tough. My cousin, Carrie The Sleep Nazi, as I call her, has guided me every step of the way since it is quite impossible for me to understand Dr. Weissbluth’s poorly written and poorly organized (can I get a witness??) sleep book. And with her encouragement and some stick-to-it-ive-ness (how is that a word? It’s not) I’ve seen incredible results. Even miracles. Just when I thought I’d die of insanity, sanity was restored. But. Yet. YET. There are hiccups. There are random awakenings and random cry sessions. There are times when my head hits the pillow and it’s as if Sienna heard it and is suddenly, ravenously, like unto a rabid dog, hungry. And, again, I repeat: I have no flippin’, friggin’, fetchin’ (any other F-words I missed?) idea what the friggin’, fetchin’, flip I’m doing. Sometimes I can stick to my plan. And sometimes I give in. Sometimes I say F-words. And I always say, “I don’t know what I’m doing.” I have a feeling it will be a saying that becomes carved on my heart for the next, oh, several decades. If you have ideas on getting kids to sleep, and what’s worked and hasn’t worked for you, I am dying to know them. What sleep books have helped you? Do you swear by any one method? All I want is for her sleep to be perfect. Is this asking too much? (I know the answer, but humor me.)

Craftin' in the Bird Cage

I know what you've been thinking: Show me the crafts! It's what any respectable stay at home mom does all day, right? Well, I'm not really much of a crafter. I hate junk and that's what most of my craft projects turn into so I usually try to stay away or at least create something functional.

But then we moved into a bigger place and ... Sienna got her own room and ... the wheels started turning. When it comes to home decorating I sometimes try to intermingle it with my own handiwork. The key word is SOMETIMES. I keep it at sometimes because many things I've put on my wall that were my own doing quickly came down because they just sucked. And I hated them. And I couldn't stand to look at them. I'm a tortured (and untalented) artist who can't stand to look at her own stuff. So this time around, the craftin' was minimal and SIMPLE. I didn't get in over my head and, turns out, I like what I came up with.

Here's a shot of the Bird's former digs where she spent her first three months of life. She had one tiny wall in our room to call her own.

Here are her current digs. I feel compelled to tell you the price tag on this room because, not only am I proud of my two pieces of handiwork, I'm also proud that I spent very little to put this room together ... well, very little compared to what I REALLY wanted to spend. If I had it my way, I'd have a couple Charley Harper prints up, my favorite rocking chair on the planet, several very expensive mobiles and a crib from Oeuf . I'd also not be a renter wrapped up in all the ghastly whiteness.

Anyway, moving on.
Rock-A-Bye Glider & Ottoman from Babies R Us: $500 (originally $600). This was the big splurge of the room. It was worth it. I spend a lot of time there and it's VERY cozy.

Cradle: Free, borrowed from Adam's parents. In a couple months, we'll replace it with a borrowed crib from a friend. Borrowing is great considering we plan to move several more times in the next few years. Maybe our 5th child will have their very own crib.

Changing table: Uh. That's not a changing table. Those are our coffee tables. Again, maybe our 5th child will get a changing table.

Baskets: Already had them lying around. I itch to buy new baskets everytime I got to Target but MUST. REFRAIN. I don't need more baskets. Come on!

I almost died when I saw the closet space (roomy!) ... then I actually did die when I saw the closet doors (barf!). I had planned to cover them with butcher paper and my own rudimentary painting project of a black and white tree (think The Giving Tree book) but reminded myself I would absolutely hate looking at it. So I bought these flower decals from IKEA: $20.

Canvas: On sale at Aaron Brothers for $15. Paints: already had them. Painting these polka dots was painstaking. And I deeply regret one part. Which, I'm telling you, is why I shouldn't display my own art. First of all, it's not art. Secondly, I am bugged by it! Anyway, I do like how this polka dot piece turned out. It makes me happy when I look at it. I needed to do something simple and I was proud that I kept it that way, within my own limits. I think I'm more proud of it than I should be, but indulge me, okay? Me and canvas don't usually work things out so nicely.

These two prints I bought on Etsy at Persimmon & Pink. I just love their stuff. It's so sweet and simple and stylish. Very modern LDS art. Brilliant.

Two prints: $50

Two mats: $10

Two frames: $25 (on sale)

(P.S. They look teensy in the picture below but it's not to scale. They are much bigger than this.)

The mobile: $1. My friend, the master crafter Ariana, supplied me with the paper for the cranes, the thread and the bamboo sticks. I got the beads from off one of my old bracelets. And I take it back, the polka dots weren't painstaking, THIS mobile was painstaking. It took forever. That's another reason I can't craft. I'm too impatient. If it takes longer than a day it makes me stew. I got the idea from here.