Baby Sleep Sack

This one was a project in the works for a while. Barrett has a sleep sack that she will outgrown pretty soon. We have used it for a very long time, I love it to death, and she’s using a blanket in bed but more often than not she will stand up and then go back down to sleep, or wiggle out from under it, and I worry about her being warm enough. She isn’t yet understanding “I can pull a blanket on me to stay warm”.

I kind of agonized over how to make this. I only have the one sleep sack to use as a pattern, and this one needed to be bigger. I am not good at measuring people to get accurate measurements. My approach was to trace the smaller one on fabric, just a little taller and wider everywhere. The end result was a sleep sack that is long and wide enough, but just a little TOO wide in the shoulders. I had to do some creative gathering in the back to get the shoulder width back to something reasonable.
I adore this fabric and have enough left over that she may get pillow cases or maybe a little dress out of it, too.

Sleep sack lined with minky fabric.

For the record, I used pre-made bias tape on the neckline and arm holes. I had a very long fight with the sewing machine, trying to get the velcro to go on. The minky fabric is not very sewing machine footer friendly. There was a good amount of tangled thread and me exiting the craft room in a huff, trying to get this thing cranked out.

I thought this might be my go-to for shower gifts, until attaching the velcro part came up. Maybe I can find another liner to use around the opening.

First Finger Painting

One of the things I have been most looking forward to is sharing the world of creativity with Barrett. I know she is still a bit young to recognize imagination. She is still very much learning about the world around her in a tangible sense – things going in the mouth, testing cause & effect (I throw this, it makes a BANG).

How much fun it was to show her finger paints! Since I couldn’t find paints that listed their contents – “non-toxic” doesn’t necessarily equal all safe to eat ingredients – I made my own. Since this was going to be a quick in-n-out experience, we only had 5 or 10 minutes of time to kill, I just used a simple water and corn starch mix with some food dyes I use for cake decoration.

She LOVED finger painting. I plan to make a better batch of paints soon, to give her another go at it.

For reference, the recipes I found and plan to try are here, and another one here that uses materials for toddlers/kids not still putting things in mouth.

Family Getaway

For Bryan’s birthday this year, we took a little trip up North to Whidbey Island. We are in a nice little rental house, across the street from the beach and just a few minutes from Coupeville. We arrived mid-day Friday and got to watch some real cool storm weather – Barrett LOVED seeing the waves crashing and hearing the loud shorebreak.

Huge waves were crashing loud on the beach. Barrett loved this!

BOOM!

 

This time of year there will sometimes be a surf break, and Bryan was able to surf! I wasn’t there to take snapshots.

Waves just barely big enough to stand up on.

The whole trip was a blast. Just getting away as a family unit was a blast. We visited Coupeville for some window shopping and lunch, plus a museum visit; we went to Fort Casey to check out the bunkers but it was so stormy with a frigid wind, we didn’t stay long.

Barrett and her peg leg friend.

Neighborhood Park

Ok, so we actually have to drive here but it’s SUPER close. Lowman Park. Just North of Lincoln Park, it’s on the water, has swings, and appears to be just the right amount of smallness that it isn’t crowded? Or maybe that’s because it’s getting to be so chilly out.

whee! on the swings!

I love tromping through the leaves! They are so loud and crunchy.

I love exploring the rocks and driftwood with dada!

Love how cute her cheeks are in this one.

Visiting our Neighborhood Library

Barrett went to the library yesterday. She loved it! She took books off the shelf, turned some pages, and watched other kids look at their books. Our library has some board books that we can loan instead of check out, and we borrowed three books.

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Home Made Soup Season

Last Christmas I was gifted the book The Northwest Vegetarian Cookbook. I had a newborn baby by my side at the time, and clearly remember thinking, “it will be close to forever when I have time to cook and bake again”, followed almost immediately by a crushing feeling that a little part of me was being suffocated. Cooking and baking are part of my creative vein, and I really must have them as part of my life or I start feeling wilted.

Well, I am still thriving! I definitely figured out how to work that kitchen art back into my new life with baby.

Bryan and I are making efforts to reduce our red meat and poultry intake, for a variety of reasons not pertaining to this post, and this has pushed me to this book more frequently. My favorite part of this book, aside from the no-meat part, is that it uses everyday ingredients that I likely have on hand and are mostly local. It rarely calls for anything citrus, coconutty or other south-of-the-border ingredients.

Lately, I have been favoring soups. They are so perfect for this time of year. Soups are yummy with potatoes and other root veggies, dried beans are easy enough to soak and then cook up with the soup (plus they hold their shape better while the soup simmers), winter greens such as kale are delicious in soups! Wait – it gets better. Soup recipes freeze well and make excellent leftovers. Only thing I have to be careful when planning soup into my week, is to start it by 5:30 or 6:00 so that we aren’t eating at bedtime. Other than that, soup’s on!

Tonight I made a soup with squash in it. I am so happy for winter to be on its way!

Navy bean soup with delicata squash, carrots, potatoes, celery, kale, seasonings, and topped with goat cheese

In Motion

We have moments of fun, cute, frustrated, and everything in between with our little girl. Just the last few weeks we see a little more “grumpy pants” coming out when Barrett has her mind set on something and can’t do it. Sometimes all she wants is what you’re holding but can’t have (coffee? no.), sometimes she wants to climb up but can’t (the dog doesn’t make for a very good step stool), and sometimes she’s just, well, grumpy. We’re loving every minute though. I think it’s from all the cute that she puts out.

I adore this little sailor outfit from Grammy Ripka!

In other baby news, Barrett is into all sorts of movement. She’s been crawling for a while but she is really fast, and starting to get her belly off the ground sometimes which is so entertaining to watch. It’s almost like she is learning to crawl again, her arms are kind of stiff and when she wants to go faster she’ll just drop her belly to the ground and cruise. Another fun trick for her is climbing the stairs. She insists on starting at the bend at the bottom (they have a 90° turn at the bottom), and her little feet have good grip but it’s really not the best approach … but she’s actually getting the hang of this tricky start. This has fast become her favorite pasttime. You can take her back downstairs and soon enough, she’ll be back at the bottom starting all over again.

Barrett's first time meeting geese at Lincoln Park. They were very docile. She so badly wanted to go up and touch them, but I didn't trust her to not poke or pull their feathers. She loved the "honk, honk" they made!

Bryan’s doing a great job with the garden, he’s also exploring West Seattle by bike on the weekends since it’s too dark to bike after I get home from work. We need to get a little helmet for Barrett so that she can ride in the trailer with him. I have been trying to keep busy with crafting on the weekends – plenty of jam in the pantry, I’m working on a quilt for a little baby (who isn’t such a baby now!), and  have a couple applique tees for Barrett in the queue as well.

Bryan's container gardens thrive in this cooler weather.

 

I found a recipe that calls for honey instead of sugar! Big news, people. Big news.

Bryan went on an overnight fishing trip on the Deschutes with good friends Eddie & Joe.

 

 

I love that it's cooler out and we have an excuse to put this cute beanie on little Bear.

Joy of Flowers

Last week, a girlfriend and I hosted a fun little baby shower. One of my favorite parts of hosting a party is the excuse to buy flowers for the home.

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Turns out, I’m not the only one who gets excited about flowers. Next morning at breakfast, Barrett wouldn’t stop reaching, reaching, for those flowers. We put the nearest vase up to her highchair so she could touch the petals. I thought about this, and realized she hasn’t been close to such large flowers! I will take her close up to flowers in the yard or on walks, but I think the last time we had flowers like this in vases, it was around June – peonies were in season.

There you go, baby Bear! Dahlias!

Crafty Nap Times

I have an unending list of things to create. Since I will never have time to actually make everything that’s on that list (unless I quit my day job, which isn’t happening), I always feel like I don’t have enough time to craft. What is neat, is that I have been a little more efficient than I was pre-baby at getting crafty. My secret is this: take advantage of those nap times. When baby goes down, I get down to business.

This year I have made
- a little play quilt
- 20+ jars of jam
- animals and creatures made from wool felt
- beanbags
- colorful party garlands
- a Barrett banner
- washcloths (special made just for cleaning baby’s face)
- two bibs for a friend’s baby shower

I have also gotten back in the swing of cooking and baking more often. Allowing some of the social pressures to roll off my back has been very therapeutic. Stressful at times, because I do miss seeing my friends more often, but one of the biggest struggles for me continues to be finding that balance. By feeding my soul things I need to have such as sewing, cooking, baking, reading, gardening – I cultivate a love inside myself that is big and strong enough to share with others. If I put these things on the back burner, I risk feeling spread thin and running on low energy. Spending time with family and time in my craft zone is a necessity.

Three Quarters

In a week, Barrett will be 9 months old, hence my super creative title “three quarters” – of the way to her 12 month milestone. Wow!

Barrett is so awesome. I have been writing stories in my head to tell you about all the fun things we get into together, so here we go!

Swinging at Lincoln Park (near our house) is so fun!!

The world of food. I am trying my best to make all of Barrett’s food, and so far it hasn’t been that challenging. Maybe it helps that we rarely get takeout, but I have been able to fit in making her pureed fruits and veggies along with meal prep for Bryan and I. I absolutely love our Baby Beaba – I spend less about an hour a week doing the prep and portioning the puree into freezer cubes, it’s so efficient. I read somewhere that the average American baby consumes 600 jars of babyfood by their first birthday. In Europe, that number is around 150, and in Eastern Europe it’s even lower, around 12. I am hoping Barrett makes it to her first birthday having eaten ten or less canned food. I am even looking into how I could can our own, it can’t be that hard, right?

Barrett’s favorite things include
- Dancing at the dinner table. We have a song we like to sing, almost guarantees her bouncing in her seat.
- Bathtime. She will pull up to watch the tub fill, and try climbing in.
- Greeting you with a gleeful squeal when you come get her out of bed after a nap/in the morning.
- Her dog, Sandwich. She will try crawling off the changing table, out of your arms, or through the babygate, to get to Sandwich.
- Poking her fingers at or in your nose, in your mouth to see if she can pull your teeth out, and in your hair.
- Pulling herself up to the windowsill and banging against the glass.
- So far, all the food we feed her, she loves! I should probably knock on wood but she eats up her rice & oatmeal “cereal” with hardboiled egg yolk, broccoli or beans, tahini, carrots, sweet potato, kelp powder, tofu, squash, and much more.

She can sit up all by herself in the tub now! (don't worry, she's never unattended)

Barrett’s least favorite things
- Laying still during a diaper change, or as we refer to them “the Diaper Olympics”.
- Having her teeth cleaned by mom.
- When daddy cleans her up after a meal, you would think the world may be coming to an end.
- Putting pants on in the morning. I really thought we wouldn’t encounter this until she was a little older so I guess I have my work cut out for me.
- Being held back from something, anything, she wants to do. Putting hands in the dog’s water, putting dead bugs in her mouth, grabbing your wine glass… etc.

I don’t feel like we have a fussy baby on our hands unless it’s past nap or bedtime. Generally, she is very happy, loves to “talk”, explore, climb around, cruise, bounce in your arms or lap, and explore her little world. Bryan and I can spend all day at home, completely consumed with our little girl. Going to the park, out to see friends or family, playing in the backyard or just upstairs – time flies by so quick!

Few more notes.
- Around Labor Day, her upper-left tooth started coming in. Now the upper-right one is too and that makes four teeth.
- Barrett has been pulling herself up and “cruising” wherever she can. She really gets a kick out of herself when she’s standing and is especially proud to show off how she can hold on with one hand.
- For a couple months, Barrett will point out any tiny minute detail with her index finger. A freckle on your arm, thread poking out of your clothing, piece of lentil on the counter – you name it. It’s really cute and I hope I never forget the mental picture I have of her doing this. Recently she has started putting her little finger in her food that’s on her spoon, before letting the spoon enter her mouth. I think she’s starting to connect feeling texture with her finger and how it feels in her mouth. You know, that whole “everything in the mouth” thing.

Ok, that’s it for now!

Barrett is really into peekaboo, and this book has fun flaps to reveal zoo animals. Always gets some giggles.