Fall

One morning last week when it was wet and gray and I was feeling a bit miserable, I decided to pack up Eliza and head to our closest metro park, Blendon Woods. There were a lot of wet leaves to glide through, I had a wandering toddler as my hiking partner and we saw wild turkeys in the parking lot. Three things that made staying miserable, pretty much impossible. Even on rainy days there is still so much I love about fall.

Storytelling

The other night as I was finishing up reading Eliza her bedtime stories, I started to tell her some stories from my childhood and some stories about my dad. Although we do talk about my dad and David’s dad quite a bit with her, I had yet to tell her an actual STORY. At first, I wasn’t quite sure what to say, I just knew I wanted to tell her a story from my childhood about my dad. I had a hard time thinking of something actually. I wondered, is my memory that horrible?? So I started to ramble about how my dad walked me to my bus stop at Hubbard Elementary School each morning and how he would hold my hand and then later, in middle school, he drove us to a different bus stop, in the parking lot between Thompson Recreation Center and what is now Fifth Ave School and we would wait in the car for the bus to come. I reenacted how there were a couple of nasty speed bumps (or were they potholes?) and we bounced in the recliner together. Then I rambled about how my dad would often get us lost on road trips and tell us he was taking the scenic route although I could not remember any particular trip or details.

Finally I started to remember how there was this time when I was about 13 or 14 and I went to the car wash with my dad. I don’t remember which car wash we went to or any other details like that, but this time as we were pulling out to leave, the horn started going off by itself. Maybe water go into the horn, who knows, but it wouldn’t stop. I mean it was BLARING and people were staring at us. We ended up driving home south down High St. right through OSU campus. I doubt this really bothered my dad much, but I was a teenager and completely mortified! I remember I ducked down in the passenger seat so no one would see me, I was so embarrassed!! We drove all the way home with the horn screeching. It stopped right before we parked in front of our house.

I guess if you ramble long enough you do remember something.

There I was telling Eliza a story, not just a detail. When I stopped, Eliza said: “More.” It was as if we had just finished one of her favorite books. It felt really good. I also almost cried of course.

I told her the story three more times. We eventually pretended to duck down ‘embarrassed’ when I got to that part. We scrunched down in the recliner and covered our heads. At the second or third telling she asked, “You washed the car? In the bathtub?” She was nodding to me like she really only asked this to confirm that this was the correct answer.

I really love the way toddler brains work sometimes. “No,” I told her. “We went to a car wash.” I went on to explain a car wash with minimal details and told her we would go to a car wash next week so she could see one.

Fast forward to this week. Finally, after two days of asking, I told her we would go to the car wash. I told the story a couple more times and then she asks me,

“Is Papa Carl gonna be there?”

And there it was, the first time where I had to in some way explain his absence. I wasn’t expecting it. I cried a little. I hugged Eliza and explained that no, he wouldn’t be there and we could take a picture along with us. We copied a picture (above) of my dad standing in front of a train engine and Eliza carried it with her most of the day. It was a little heart breaking and sweet and it is just how it is. But as hard as it is sometimes, it feels good to talk about him and remember...and above all else just tell some stories about him.

Every kid needs an apron!

Eliza is all about helping us cook lately and I decided it was time for her very own apron. There is just something so sweet and nostalgic to me about a little apron. I made one for her yesterday afternoon from this tutorial. It was nice and quick too, a perfect nap time project.

When I finished it, I tried to get Eliza to wear it straight away, but she wanted NOTHING to do with it. I guess she is at the age where I could make something for her and she doesn't like it. I hung the apron up though and today when she helped me get some things ready for dinner, I asked her to go get her apron and she ran to put it on herself. So I guess, for now at least, she still likes the things her mama makes. I hope it stays that way as long as possible! Here are a few more pictures of the apron:

Painting on Stuff

I've been wanting to try painting on different surfaces with Eliza for a while now. Actually, I've just been wanting to bust out the paints more, but I don't feel like I have the greatest indoor set up for messy projects. Originally I was going to try this at the kitchen table, but it occurred to me that the reason painting feels stressful to me sometimes is because a toddler sitting in a booster seat is probably the worst set up for painting! It seems so obvious now. Her little arms can't reach everything and the sleeves of her shirt get pulled through the paint. The space to actually paint on is limited by where she can reach. So at the last minute I moved this project outside. I'm thinking about carving out a corner of the basement for indoor messy art projects because I WOULD like to get messier with Eliza, but not necessarily in my kitchen.

We painted on an assortment of things I found around the house: a piece of foil, fabric, wax paper, vinyl and a toilet paper tube. Fun as it may look, I don't think Eliza spent more than 10 minutes actually painting. That is kinda how our projects go, 10 minutes of trying out an activity and then back to pretending. Eliza is all about the pretend world these days, which fascinates me so much. Her pretending is so involved, I could write about it for at least a whole other post, if not several!

There is a great post here on art activities to try with your toddler by one of my favorite bloggers, which is where I picked up this idea. We've only tried 5 of the 11 ideas listed to date, so this list should keep us busy a while. I think I want to try painting on bubble wrap next though!

Little Eliza on the Prairie

I made this bonnet for Eliza over the weekend. Man, talk about an instant gratification project! You need only an hour (or less) for this. I finished the bonnet over a couple of Eliza cat naps...and what a great feeling it is to actually accomplish something during one of her famous (and way too common) 40 minute or less naps! The other great thing is you can use fabric from your scrap bin. I seriously want to make more of these. If I know you and you end up expecting a girl in the next year or so, you will be getting one of these from me!

I kinda forgot how awesome a bonnet could be...I used to love them, oh back in the 1st and 2nd grade...I had my mom make me a bonnet because I was OBSESSED with Little House on the Prairie back then, along with many young girls of the 80s I imagine. Oh how I wanted to be Laura and live in a log cabin with a Ma and Pa, ride around in a covered wagon and wear a pinafore (I think I may have had my mom make me one of those too actually).

I don't think David shared my love for bonnets...until he saw Eliza wearing it. A baby in a bonnet is pretty darn cute, especially when it's your own:

Cloth Diaper Review: So far so good

For the last two weeks David and I have been testing out cloth diapers on a part time basis, using cloth diapers every other day. One thing is for sure, they are prettier for Eliza's photo shoots!

Overall, cloth diapering has been easier than I expected. No, not as easy as disposable diapers, but close enough. We settled on bum genius diapers. I read a lot of good reviews on them and I also really liked that they are adjustable (check their website for more information on this) and will fit Eliza until she is 35 pounds. We bought twelve diapers to start with, figuring even if we decided it would be too challenging to use cloth full time, we could at least do cloth diapers part of the time, which would still reduce our amount of diaper waste headed for the landfill. I think we could definitely do cloth diapers full time, but I am going to let David make the call after we continue testing them out part time for a while longer. I did a considerable amount of research before deciding to try cloth diapers, but nothing beats experience. Here are some highlights from our trial so far:

:: If you aren't sure if you want to commit to cloth, buy a few at a time. Once we decided we wanted to commit to cloth diapering part time, we started buying them gradually throughout my pregnancy. It is a considerable up front investment --the diapers are $17.95 each. Buying three at a time made it much more manageable.

:: The amount of washing involved in cloth diapering is its biggest drawback. Bum genius diapers need washed twice, once on cold and once on hot. They also need washed in an additive free detergent. I ended up switching to Charlie's Soap for all of our laundry since I needed to buy a different detergent just for the diapers, plus it is biodegradable and I read numerous positive reviews online. You can buy it online or locally at Sprout Soup. I think it is actually cheaper than Tide or an equivalent.

:: I made two 18" x 18 " zipper bags for the dirty diapers. They are made from PUL, a water-proof fabric from which cloth diapers are often made. I have one at each changing station in the house and each time we change a diaper, we place it in the bags and zip it closed. When it is time to wash the diapers, I just dump the bags into the washing machine and then toss the bag in the wash too. This keeps you from having to touch dirty diapers at laundry time. This was definitely the best tip I found online.

:: I am seriously impressed with the lining on the bum genius diapers. I was worried the cloth diapers would mean Eliza would feel wet, but the lining really pulls the moisture away. Eliza's skin seems much smoother on her cloth diaper days. Bum genius diapers are pocket diapers which means an insert (two are included with each diaper) is stuffed into a pocket on the diaper which absorbs the moisture. The insert is often soaked while the liner feels just a little wet. You do have to remove the insert before placing the diaper in the wet bag, but the contact is minimal.

:: So far, no leaks...and we have had a couple leaks with disposables already.

:: I love the different colors, especially the bright ones. I really think the fun colors have some sort of positive psychological effect making me want to commit to cloth diapering.

I asked David if he had any thoughts to add for my cloth diaper review and he immediately replied, "I like them," which floored me. He was really suspicious at first, so the fact that he likes them says a lot. Then he mentioned washing them, which as I said before, is the biggest challenge with cloth diapers. Even doing them part time and being on maternity leave I have had trouble keeping up. We will definitely have to develop some sort of routine if we do them full time.

Cloth diapering has been very doable for us so far and it really feels good to notice our trash is not quite as massive or that we are not tearing through nearly as many disposable diapers every week. I'm definitely glad we braved testing them...the investment is already paying off.

Snuggler/Swaddler

Eliza love love loves being swaddled. We swaddle her up like a burrito every night before bed and often for naps too. David and I however are HORRIBLE at swaddling with receiving blankets, we just do not do it tight enough. We resorted to buying several of these, to make things easier on us. So in my first few moments of craft time post-Eliza, I decided to make the Snuggler from Lotta Jansdotter's new book, Simple Sewing for Baby. Here it is so far. It just needs some velcro and it's done:

I thought I would try and test it out on Eliza, even without the velcro, so I could get a picture of her looking all cute in it for the blog, but it really needs the velcro in order to keep a squirmy little newborn inside...

The story behind her name...

Eliza was one month yesterday! In the hustle and bustle of becoming a new parent, I haven't yet told the story of how I came to pick out her name: Eliza Josephine. Might as well try and do that here and now, in the shadow of Father's Day, while she naps...even if she is stretching like she is going to wake up.

Eliza we picked simply because we liked it. It was pretty and simple...not much of a story there.

The middle name however, took a little more work. If we had been having a boy, we would've picked the middle name Carl, for my dad. Since we were having a girl however, I had to pick something different. My dad passed away when I was 8 weeks pregnant and so my pregnancy was very connected to his passing away. I thought often of the impact he had on my life. I wanted a middle name for our girl that was symbolic of my dad. Girl versions of Carl didn't work...so I started looking at the meanings of names and then turned to the Saints. My dad was a very inspirational Catholic for me, someone who walked the talk in his daily life and was quietly devout. One of my favorite stories about him is one his cousin told me about how he used to mow their lawn as a teenager and sing songs in Latin while he did. As I looked through the patron saints, I settled on two St Josephs, which Eliza's middle name, Josephine, is symbolic of. There is the Joseph, everyone knows, the Father of Jesus, and thus patron saint of Fathers. What I didn't know is that Joseph is also the patron saint of Social Justice. This is fitting as well since my dad worked for Catholic Social Services for more than 20 years. The work he did was very much in the name of social justice and it inspires me each day in my own work as a librarian. I also discovered a St Joseph of Cupertino who is the patron saint of pilots and air passengers. My dad was in the Air Force and loved planes from the time he was a boy. Throughout my childhood he took my brother and I to air museums and air shows and he could always identify the type of planes flying overhead. When he took me to the airport as I got older and started traveling places by myself he would often wait for my plane to take off before departing, pulling over to the McDonalds and waiting in the parking lot, drinking a cup of black coffee. Sometimes he would even call my cell phone to let me know he saw my plane take off. He is the reason I love airports and flying. I love that we live so close to the airport now and I think of him each time I see a plane overhead.

It is kind of a roundabout tribute to my dad, but fitting nonetheless and a story I cannot wait to tell Eliza someday

Parenthood: Week One

A more appropriate title for this post might be: "We Survived."

What a week this has been as we get to know our little Eliza....so full of amazement, joy and happiness, but also stress and total exhaustion...I swear I must have gone several nights in a row with only an hour or two of sleep. I knew I'd be getting less, but did not expect to have some nights with absolutely none...silly me! This has been without a doubt the best and most difficult week of my life.

A few things we have learned about Eliza:

:: She misses life in the womb...in other words, she is fussy. We are trying to make things easier for her with lots of swaddling and white noise and of course lots of snuggling. Our new favorite sound around the house is a recording of our hairdryer, played on repeat, again and again.

:: She likes to eat...a lot and frequently -sometimes every hour. My girl is wearing her mama out! I honestly did not realize breastfeeding could take so much out of me, but it does. I see now, how much it really takes to stick with it and I am hoping I have what it takes.

:: She's a charmer. No matter how late she keeps her dad and I up, how exhausted we become, the next morning she is instantly forgiven and we are marveling at funny facial expressions or her yawns or her cute little baby sneezes (I never knew how cute baby sneezes were before Eliza).

We have so much more to learn...but if there is one thing this week has taught me, it is that you can only prepare so much...some things can only be learned on the job, and that is definitely what we are doing these days.

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