Saturday, January 29, 2011

changes...


So has anyone noticed any changes around here other than the blog banner?  I feel like a new person lately.  Apparently 6 months is a magical changing point with babies.  Or maybe 6 months is just how long it took me to figure out this whole "parenting a newborn and toddler" thing.  Suddenly, I can count on getting a solid night of sleep - every night.  I can count on having some quality "mommy and Poppy" time while Sam naps in the morning.  I can count on getting stuff done around the house while both of the babies sleep in the afternoon (or maybe I just sit around and watch reality tv and surf the net, but I have every intention of getting stuff done around the house).  (Do people still say "surf the net"?)  Marc and I enjoyed our first date night, just the two of us, in OVER A YEAR!  Breastfeeding, which at various points over the past 6 months has been the most difficult thing I have ever done, is now actually enjoyable. I am back to my pre-pregnancy weight (although, apparently my body will never be the same, but I'm ok with that).  I can count on a few hours to talk to Marc uninterrupted before we go to bed.  I can read books without falling asleep after the second page!  It feels like it took a long time to get here, but now that I am here, I absolutely love it.

Now that I am a new woman, I am planning on making a few changes with my blog.  I've had this blog for almost 4 years, and I have always made it a point to only write about things that have to do with Poppy or Sam.  I've never really blogged about any of my interests, what I'm reading, about work or hobbies.  I think I might start writing a little bit about myself.  Does that sound selfish?  I'm ok with that if it does.  Of course I will primarily still write about Poppy and Sam and the things we do together as a family, but just don't be surprised if you start seeing a little more "me" in my posts from now on.

Friday, January 28, 2011

Homemade Fingerpaints

Did you know you can make fingerpaints?  And it's super easy.  And it will keep a toddler occupied for a long time?  
Poppy has never really been a fan of fingerpaints because she doesn't like to get her hands all messy.  So I just gave her a couple of paintbrushes and let her go to town.



I'm sure you can make the colors more vibrant by adding more food coloring, but these worked fine for Poppy.  And because of the detergent in the recipe, the paint is washable, so you don't have to worry about stains on clothing!  Here's the recipe:

Homemade Fingerpaints

2 Tbsp. sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
2 cups water
1/2 cup liquid dishwashing soap
food coloring

Mix the sugar and cornstarch in a saucepan and stir in the water.  Cook over low heat for 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the mixture is a clear smooth gel.  Stir in the soap and remove from heat.  When cool enough to handle, scoop it into storage containers (I used glass yogurt jars) and add food coloring.  

source: http://planetgreen.discovery.com/home-garden/make-your-own-fingerpaint.html



Thursday, January 27, 2011

sidewalk luge

Check out this video of Poppy, the next american olympic luger...



Yep, these are the types of things we do to stay warm around here, especially on days with a high of 5 degrees!

Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Melted Snowman Cookies

Poppy and I have been doing quite a bit of baking in the kitchen lately.  I came across this idea a few weeks ago and decided it would be the perfect dessert to bring to Pizza Thursday.

First thing in the morning, I made the cookie dough and let it chill in the fridge.  When it's time to make the cookies, you just take a ball of dough and smoosh it into a free form shape that would resemble a puddle.  That was super fun and easy for Poppy to do.

Then it was time for the icing, which is when I began to think that this was going to be more of "project" than I originally thought.  I almost scrapped the whole thing, but Poppy was super into, so I trudged ahead and made 1 big batch of icing and added food coloring and used sandwich bags for the piping.  It actually turned out to be pretty easy and super fun to do.  
Poppy kept saying that she wanted her snowman to be making a sad face because Frosty would be sad when he started to melt.  (can you guess which one is hers?)  Needless to say, they were a big hit with the cousins on Pizza Thursday!

Here are the recipes I used...

Sugar Cookies
1/2 stick of butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
  1. Cream the buter and sugar together. Beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla.  
  2. Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt gradually to the creamed mixture, mix well. Cover and chill dough for at least an hour.
  3. Bake at 375 degrees F for 6 to 8 minutes or until cookie has a golden appearance.


Royal Icing
4 egg whites
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon almond extract
  1. Beat egg whites in clean, large bowl with mixer at high speed until foamy (use only grade A clean, uncracked eggs). Gradually add sugar and almond extract. Beat at high speed until thickened. 


Sunday, January 23, 2011

Tubby Time!

Check out one of the best inventions ever.
Poppy and Sam both love hanging out in the bath tub, but it was too tight of a squeeze with Sam's old big blue infant tub in the bath, and there wasn't really enough room for Poppy.  Enter the tub seat for Sam (that I found on craigslist for $5!).  Bath time has suddenly become soooo much easier and fun!


Now there's plenty of room for both kiddos and they have a blast playing in the water together.  (Ok, well Sam doesn't really have a blast playing with Poppy, he just loves chewing on anything he can get his hands on, but Poppy really does love playing with him!)  And Poppy's favorite part of the bath is when she gets to help wash up Sam.  She takes the role of big sister very seriously.

Seriously, is that not the best invention ever?!

Thursday, January 20, 2011

The Nursery

Finally, pictures of the nursery!  But first, check out where I got my inspiration from.  Ok, well maybe it was a little more than inspiration.  I basically just copied every thing from that room as closely as I possibly could, right down to the exact paint color. 

I am planning on framing baby pics of me, Marc, Poppy and Sam and hanging them on one of the walls.


And maybe hanging a little white shelf somewhere...
I love that the changing station fit perfectly in the closet.  Once he gets older we'll put an organizational system and a closet door on.


How about the fact that my dad spent about 100 hours painting that crib (it used to white) with about a million coats of red paint during the hottest weeks of summer this past year.  Thanks dad!

And check out Poppy's original artwork hanging above the crib. (thanks for the idea Natalie!)   She's so proud of those paintings.

And there you have it.  Marc worked really hard on this room and I think it turned out great.  Sam loves taking his nice long naps in there and Poppy loves to hang out in there too.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Hallelujah (part 2)



The first part of overcoming the sleep deprivation was getting this guy to sleep through the night.  We had success with that pretty easily.  The next battle was naps.  He is a cat-napper.  30 minute naps all day long, sometimes 5 or 6 of them in one day!  It drove me nuts!  But then finally, last week he started taking normal, long naps all on his own.  Now he takes a morning and afternoon nap, and they are usually about 2 hours long.  This is very exciting stuff!!!



And check out what he wears every single day.  Baby Legs and his little robeez booties.  We gotta keep those chunky legs warm!

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Motherhood is no joke.

We went to Ikea last weekend for our bi-annual shopping spree.  I always forget how hot it gets there.  Or maybe I just shop so hard that I work up a sweat.  Either way, the bathrooms were particularly stinky there that day and I was hot and had been shopping for hours (while carrying a 14 pound baby) when Poppy declared that she had to go poop.  So I pass Sam off to Marc and Poppy and I head to the stinky bathroom.  As soon as I got her fanny on the toilet, I told her to try to hurry it up.  She said she needed me to sing her a song.  I sang I've Been Working on the Railroad (while covering my nose with my turtle neck).  As I finish up the song, I notice that she is not hurrying, she is just looking around, taking in her surroundings.  I plead with her and tell her that she really needs to hurry up and poop.  Her response was, "Mom, I need to tell you something.  Sometimes pooping takes patience.  This poop isn't coming out because you are not being patient!  That is why I can't hurry up, we all need patience."  So I patiently waited, and she patiently finished her business and then we got the heck out of that stinky bathroom.  She's such a wise old soul.

Last week, both of my children suddenly forgot how to sleep through the night.  Two nights in a row, both of them were up about three times a night (which equals no sleep for either me or Marc).  The next morning, we were out of coffee.  I was miserably tired.  Marc left to drop Poppy off at school and pick me up a much-needed coffee from Timmy Ho's.  The following 15 minutes were quite possibly the most trying of my life.  I went to get Sam up from his morning nap and could tell he had a stinky diaper.  I go to change him in his room and realize that it is the worst smelling and messiest poopy diaper he has ever had (thanks to the introduction of solid food).  I immediately take the diaper to the bathroom to rinse it into the toilet (it's moments like this that I love using cloth diapers).  The doorbell rings and catches me off-guard so I jerk my hand and end up spraying poopy toilet water on my foot and pajamas.  I wonder who in the world would be at my door at 9am and realize it's the chicken delivery man.  And we are having friends over for dinner this weekend, and I need chicken.  Without thinking (because who can think before you've had your morning cup of coffee?!) I leave a naked Sam on his changing table.  I run down the stairs, crack open the door and tell the delivery man that we need chicken and eggs and that I'll have to pay him next week because I have a child that is about to fall off the changing table upstairs.  I run back upstairs, pass the bathroom and ignore the poopy diaper that is stinking up the entire second floor of our house, and go to check on Sam who luckily did not fall off the changing table.  I then notice that Sam did manage to pee all over the changing table, the wall and the outfit I just finished changing him into.  I pick him up and lay him on the floor so that I can change the pad on the changing table.  He then tilts his head to the side and spits up the entire contents of his previous feeding onto the rug.  Awesome.  I can feel my chin start to quiver as I am on the verge of tears.  Lola walks in, on the trail of some fresh spit-up.  That dog can clean a rug better than any fancy vacuum or steam cleaner!  And after cleaning the rug for me, she even entertained Sam while I finished cleaning the changing table, the poopy diaper and myself.  The moral of the story is: don't ever run out of coffee, which would leave you unprepared for situations like these.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Yum, yum!





Guess who started on big boy food?  My little piggy boy - that's who!  It took him a few tries to get used to it, but now he just loves his cereal and gets so excited when he sees me take the bowl that I use to feed him with out of the cupboard.  And I have to hold one of his hands down because he uses both hands to desperately try to shove that little spoon in his mouth.  Oh, just wait until he gets a taste of bananas!  (I know this is the worst pic, but it's all I have because Marc is always at work in the morning when I feed him, but I'll get a better pic when we start more exciting food).
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Other than spending all of our time watching Sam eat his cereal, Marc and Poppy went out into the cold to make Frosty the Snowman.  Poppy was so excited...



I was inside when Poppy came to the door and said, "Mom, we need a button nose and two eyes made out of coal for Frosty.  We're making him, and he needs a button nose.  Do you have a button nose for him?"

She's so proud of her creation.
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We've also been spending LOTS of time playing games.  Candyland is her absolute favorite, followed closely by Mickey Mouse Yahtzee, Memory and Hi-ho Cherry-o.  And her card games, she now has about 10 different card games.


Sammy just patiently sits there watching us play.  He can't wait until he's old enough to get in on the action.

Monday, January 3, 2011


From our annual New Year's eve dinner at the Korea House.  All of the staff was so happy to see Poppy and to finally meet Sam.  When Marc told us to smile for the picture, Poppy leaned over and said, "Mom, let's hold each other for the picture."


Here is Poppy's amaryllis in all its glory.  She planted it as a bulb and watched as it grew every day.  I can't believe it got this big though!  Maybe we'll try some paper whites next.

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We took the tree and all of our Christmas decorations down this weekend.  Marc, Poppy and Sam are all sad that the train set has to be put away as well.  (notice I'm not listed as someone who is sad to see it go, I can't wait to get this thing out of the living room!)

These two could seriously stare at the train for hours!

Getting ready to go to Uma & Upa's!  Could that little face be any cuter?  I'll have to scan in a baby picture of Marc so you can see how much they look alike - it's crazy!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Our little caroler

Have I ever mentioned how much Poppy loves to sing Christmas songs?  All day, every day.  She'll probably still be singing them well into March this year.

And the fact that Santa brought her a Dora microphone has only added to her singing addiction.  First up, Jingle Bells.



And if that wasn't enough for you, I'm pretty sure Frosty the Snowman is her favorite song to sing...



Happy New Year's!!!
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