9 months!

I know I say it every month, but it's so hard to believe that Lachlan is 9 months old already (not quite out of the womb as long as he was in yet, since he was 10 days overdue, but close!)! I'm just wondering who took my calm, laid-back baby and replaced him with a squirmy, climbing crazy man?! Just kidding! But diaper changes have turned into quite the ordeal now that he's figured out that he can get away! Both top teeth are poking through now, right at the same time, just like the bottom two did. Thank goodness his mouth bump last weekend didn't jam them in (maybe it even helped them to poke through, ouch!)

Saw this morning that the CPSIA law has been delayed for a year. Such good news for all the crafters & artists who make handmade clothes and toys for little ones!

It is a lovely day outside today, we had Music Together class at Preucil this morning and we're going to head to the library this afternoon. I'm looking for a book about baby sign language, he's so vocal that I think he would enjoy having another way to get his point across. Anyone have any experience with it?

We're recovering here from a mom and dad bout with the stomach flu. Yuck. Many thanks to my mom, who came over to help entertain a very busy baby while we rested and recovered. He is working on pulling up on anything he can get his hands on and even doing a little bit of supported cruising along the couch cushions or a table. So, this afternoon we decided to put together this walker wagon that was a Christmas gift. He's not ready to do it independently yet, but it won't be long! We also had our first scary accident with the newly mobile guy last night - he was climbing around and fell onto the bottom of the Jumperoo, which has a metal base. Knocked his top gumline and even drew blood. :( Only a few tears and the bleeding stopped quickly, but man, it was upsetting for everyone!

Cabin Fever?

Anyone have cabin fever yet? Man, it has been COLD around here! We even had 3 snow days off from school, Thursday and Friday were for the dangerously cold temperatures. It was so nice to have some extra hours with my cutie pie (check out those teeth!), but we did not want to leave the house! I got in some relaxing time, some crafting time, and some cleaning/organizing/rearranging time, so all of those were good. Today, not feeling so good. I was a little stuffy last night, because of all the dusty boxes I was digging through in the basement, or so I thought - today it seems to be a full blown head cold. Yuck. Going to go have a cup of tea now... back with something more cheerful soon. :)

Oh, I decided to sign up for Elsie and Rachel's class. Looking forward to some fresh "spring" inspiration.

new layouts to share

Spent sometime scrapbooking while Lachlan was napping this afternoon, although maybe I should have taken a nap along with him since we've been up so early every day recently. Anyway, it was fun to get this page done with some recent photos and a few things I want to remember about L @ 8 months.
Love, love this Cosmo Cricket paper. The 8 months page are from the "Jack's World" line and the Oktoberfest page is from the "Mr. Campy" line. I've had the photos for these two layouts printed out for a few months, so it felt good to finally get them on paper. Hope everyone is staying warm in blizzarding weather!

Show & Tell

Well, I finished up project #1 2009 this afternoon - the "spill mat" for under the high chair. Since we have carpet under our dining table, I thought it would be a good idea to put something a little bit easier to clean under the chair. I found this terrific Michael Miller oilcloth at Home Ec, and I put another layer of muslin(I think?) under, just to give it some weight. Then I bought a couple packs of prepackaged double-fold binding and sewed it around the edge to hold the two layers together. I think it looks pretty darn classy for what it is.

I also finished up my December Daily mini-album when I was visiting in Des Moines last weekend. I had fallen over a week behind by the end of December, so it felt good to get lots of pages done in one day. I'm glad I did it - would love to make this a tradition in one form or another.

There's still a little bit of Christmas spirit around here... the trees and decorations are still up (hoping to tackle that this weekend) and I just got a couple boxes of Christmas/Winter children's books in the mail. I took advantage of the after Christmas sales at Amazon & Barnes and Noble online and started a special collection we will bring out each holiday season. Here are some highlights:
Nutcracker
The Polar Express
The Night Before Christmas
How the Grinch Stole Christmas
Room for a Little One (L got this one for Christmas)
Gingerbread Baby
The Three Snow Bears

Getting back in the habit

This afternoon I went to my first yoga class since Lachlan was born. It is something that I have been missing in my weekly routine. I have lost all the weight I put on while I was pregnant, but I'm still feeling jiggly and out-of-shape. I love the way it makes me be "in the moment" and pay attention to how I align my body. I know it makes a difference in my posture and strength, and hopefully my state of mind, too. Anyway, thanks to my lovely MIL providing a couple hours of baby-care every Thursday, I'll be able to go! If you're in Iowa City & interested in a yoga class, I highly recommend Friendship Yoga and Nancy's offering a free class on Saturday!

(unrelated "hat hair" photo above, hee hee)

a new corner

After unpacking all the Christmas goodies for Lachlan, I decided it was time for some toy storage. For those of you who've been to our house, if you remember the little hallway room at the base of the loft stairs, I've made that into a playroom of sorts. Found this bookshelf with storage boxes on Target's website - I like the muted primary colors. The fab. robot print is an original by my very talented friend Wendy. She took a lithography class this semester and we were lucky enough to get a print of "Modern Robot" for Christmas. I love him so much, here's a closer look -

Crafty to-do's for the New Year

It wouldn't be a new year here without a list of things I'd like to make, would it?

Here's my current list, perhaps in the order I would like to complete them in:

1. mat for under the high chair made of lovely oilcloth I bought at Home Ec. Already have all the supplies for this, just need to line up the two layers + binding and sew 'er up.

2. glasses chain for my Grandma made with paper beads. I made her one a couple months ago, but I used lots of glass beads and she said it was pretty heavy, so I want to make a lightweight version.

3. Some cute and oh-so-useful door snakes to keep out the drafts in a few spots around our house.

4. Finish my garland so that it will be ready for the tree next year! First, try to measure out a length of string the length of the garland so I can estimate how many of these little circles (pictured above) I'll have to sew.

5. Oh, I almost forgot. Love this idea to make crate covers, I'd like to make one to hold our mittens, hats etc. by the door and one for preschool to keep the library books in a special spot.

That's probably a good start, but I'd also like to make an advent calendar for next year (something like this - isn't that the sweetest??) and a birthday garland (like this? maybe triangles) to use again and again.

So much handmade inspiration on my Google Reader and elsewhere on the internet. Seriously, have you checked out Etsy lately?

I'm also SO tempted to join in on this swap, but I think I'll use some self-restraint for now and maybe use that time to work out *gasp* instead. Hope your 2009 is starting off great!

Happy New Year!

Hope you're all ringing in the New Year in whatever way makes you happy. I was certainly sound asleep at midnight last night, which suited me just fine! Today we had Bill's family over for brunch and to watch the bowl game (Go Hawks!) and play Wii (that was the big Christmas gift for us - anyone have Wii Fit reviews? I'm thinking that would be a good plan for getting some exercise in).

I made this mosaic by choosing a favorite photo from each of my monthly Project 365 folders. It was hard to choose and I could probably go back now and choose all different favs, but these are definitely good ones. Yesterday I had no plans to start the daily photo project again, but after looking back at our year this way, I think I will have to try it again. It's such a fun record. This year I think I will incorporate some weekly themes to make it more motivating for me. I want to figure out how to do bokeh with my camera and join in on HBW. Love the idea of photographing the sky or a tree throughout the year to show the seasons changing, or my feet wherever I am going (like this guy), also trying to do a self-portrait once a week. We'll see. Should be fun.