Mother's Day and other adventures

The last few weeks have been a constange barrage of activity it seems. Mother's Day, then the Celtic Festival, and tons of sewing projects. I feel like I haven't properly relaxed in months. At least it's all been fun, or I would be one very cranky mama.

On Mother's Day, I didn't have anything special planned other than spending time with my little family. Micah has been wanting to stay with my mom and dad every single night (it's a fight of tears and screeching almost every evening when it's time to come home, and sometimes he wins), so he stayed with them the night before. I went to pick him up fairly early on Mother's Day morning and spent some time playing with him and visiting with my parents. Then this happened.



As always, it was so sudden. He was playing with me, running around my legs in circles when his toe caught on the edge of the rug and he went down. It was an abrupt fall, but it wasn't the worst spill I've ever seen him take, so I didn't get too excited. "Oh no, did you kai?" (Kai is fall in spanish, at least according to my mom. Many spanish-speaking people look at me oddly when I saw it though, so it might be slang. Micah has used that word for falling down since he learned to talk, and I've started using it, too.)

He didn't respond, just laid there for a second, then started that awful crying where he's yelling so hard, nothing comes out. I scooped him up and noticed a rather excessive amount of blood from his lower lip. My mom started flapping her hands right away, but I just did my best to stay calm and dabbed at it with a napkin to try and see what was going on. I still don't know because he didn't let me look very close, and the blood was copious, but I think he scraped his upper against his lip and then cut the inside with his lower teeth. It puffed up like lightening and he was holding himself very still, afraid to move or touch it. My dad gave him a wet, cold washcloth and told him to hold it against his owie. That stopped the tears and he refused to move the washcloth for hours, even holding it in place when he fell asleep.



Poor guy. I took him home and let him relax for awhile, but when I asked if he wanted to go see Little Grandma and Grandpa(my father-in-laws parents, though I'm not sure where the little part came into play), he forgot about his boo-boo instantly. He likes visiting and playing with his little cousin.



Antonio even convinced me to drive the four-wheeler, though I was freaked the whole time. I felt like I was going super fast, but the video clip my husband took shows me going MAYBE 5 mph, hah.



Then this last weekend we had the Celtic Festival. We go to this every year, as our best friend Emmet gets us tickets because his mom runs the British car show section. It's always fun, there's a lot of fancy cars (the boys favorite part), and it also hosts the Highland Games. We didn't see much of that this year.



My main draw was The Wicked Tinkers. They are a fun band full of bagpipes and drums, and one particular photogenic Aussie that plays a number of different instruments. I'm pretty sure he could easily be a one-man-band with everything he does, and he was pretty easy on the eyes, too. (What?!)



Also, an enormous Clydesdale that scared the crap out of me. Horses freak me out anyway, but this one was seriously huge. The biggest horse I have ever seen. Antonio tried to convince me to touch it, but when the horse turned and stared at me, it was over. I fled. Yes, I'm a wuss.



Super fun month of May so far! And we have fun things planned this Memorial Day weekend, too. What are you and your family up to?

Mail for Micah

In my (rather constant) internet browsing, I came across a true gem of a website. Her posts are consistently funny, sarcastic, and witty, and I sort of wish I was her. After all, I do have the right hair for it, since she often claims she only has one strand. I feel that pain, I really do.

You can find it at Parenting - Illustrated with Crappy Pictures. All of her family members go by nicknames associated with the website name - Crappy Papa, Crappy Mama, Crappy Boy, and Crappy Baby. I cannot tell you how ridiculously fun it is to read, not least of all because of the nicknames. Her kids regularly do the most hilarious things, and she was smart enough to immortalize them in Paint. She also has a million purple dresses, of which I also approve. Purple is the color of royalty, after all. (She also has a book. You should go buy it, as I plan to do when I have more than 50 cents to my name. You can find it at many places, but Amazon is always good.)

Back in August of last year, her oldest, Crappy Boy, decided on a whim to create his own business. I really cannot tell the story the way she can, so go read it here, then come back. Don't worry, I'll wait.

Do, do, doo doo. Oh, welcome back! (Jeez, I hope you came back.)

If you were too lazy to go look, then I will give you the summarized version. Crappy Boy made greeting cards, put them in an online shop, and sold them. Rapidly, actually. He made enough to go buy a Star Wars Lego set with the worlds smallest gun. He also had a fantastic time, helping package them up and mail them out. The best part - to me, anyway - is that he would look on the map and see where his cards were being sent.

I will take this moment to tell you my son is obsessed with several things. Bowling and volcanos are high on that list. But also up there is the solar system, Earth, and especially, globes. He loves to spin it, stop on a random spot, and ask me what is there. Thankfully we have a globe at home because it occupies a decent chunk of his time. You might recall his birthday post and how excited he was about the big planets, especially the Earth one he could touch. I even bought him a little spongy Earth ball for a grand total of $3. My kid is easy to please.

Anyway, I was browsing through Crappy Pictures and came across that post. Back when she originally wrote it, Micah was seriously bent on bowling everything everywhere, and not as into the planets yet. Now that he is, and her post refreshed my memory, all I can think is that Micah would LOVE to do this. I'm thinking we probably wouldn't have to sell them (though he would be explosive with joy if we were able), but he would really like sending off some fun things all over the US. Maybe not even cards, but drawings or paintings. I can see the hot air balloons being drawn already. Maybe even some tic tac toe. We could even send stickers. The possibilities are endless, people.

Check him out getting excited about GETTING mail, and it wasn't even for him.



I haven't decided how to go about this yet. As a fun project for my three year old, I don't know what way would produce the biggest impact for him, since this blog is not exactly popular yet. But if you are interested in letting my son send you something fun, let me know by commenting here! If we drum up enough interest, I will see what way will work best for us. I will say that if we somehow end up with 80 people wanting Micah Art, I probably can't send out that much without setting up a shop for him someplace.

And just to pull your heart strings a bit, when I asked him if he wanted to send some mail to someplace far away (his point at the globe was Africa, but you know, anywhere will do), his response was, "I want to do it now!" We talked about stamps and envelopes and going to the post office and I cannot even tell you the level of excitement. This kid is bursting with it. We may have to send some things to my family just to appease him for the time being or I may never hear the end of it.

Micah's 3rd birthday

I still cannot believe that Micah is already three. It seems like just yesterday that he was born. He's so big, he knows so much and constantly amazes with the things that he says. It's new every day and he is the center of my universe more and more every day.

We haven't thrown him a huge party for any of his birthdays, since he is the only child in my family. So my parents, my brother and his wife, his great-grandparents (my husbands grandparents) and our best friend Brie and Emmet. This year it was pizza and salad, and the fruit kabobs I have made for a couple years now, and cupcakes.

I made his shirt the morning of his party, too. Slacker extraordinaire, I am!



We Skyped with my aunts and grandmother, and with Antonio's parents. Micah loves Skype, and I love that the family we have that lives far away can still see him...even though he was acting silly and was so wound up he had a hard time sitting.





Uncle Emmet always buys him the toys HE would like to have (at Christmas he got a full-size light saber, for goodness sake). So his choice of remote control car this year totally won Micah over. He had it mastered in about ten minutes, too.



Then the party inevitably moved outside, like it does every year, because we thankfully have had nice weather. It was downright hot! 70 degrees in April is a painful reminder of how hot summer will be. But it meant we got to have a lot of fun. He was christened with the leftover confetti eggs from Easter, then he played in the water, his favorite.





Then since his birthday landed on a weekday, Antonio and I took the day off from work to spend with Micah doing something fun just for him. The weather is the absolute opposite of what we had over the weekend- freezing, windy and rainy - so we opted for the Museum of Natural History to go look at volcanos and dinosaurs. And he loved it! The volcano room freaked him out a bit because it's dark, and the floor is thick glass with red lights and fog under it to look like lava. I had to carry him through it until we convinced him to try touching it, and then he ran through it at top speed, haha.











Happy birthday to my sweet little monkey, I love you!

The mama diet

Starting today, my husband and I are starting a new lifestyle. And no, it isn't the fun kind.

I have a friend that had a baby six months ago, and since then has been on the Paleo diet. Not terribly strict, either, but she lost 95 pounds. She is built very similarly to me, and is the same height as me, so I thought, "Hey, maybe that's what I need to do!" I got really gung-ho about it...until I saw the diet itself. While it isn't full of food I don't like - quite the opposite, in fact - my problem is that I live in the desert. We don't get a ton of fresh fruits and veggies year round here, though we get a decent amount in the summer if you stalk the farmer's markets. Since we are not in harvest weather yet, I had to go frozen, and it was still a really big grocery bill. Painfully big, actually, and all of it was for Micah and me - none for my husband! He's going to be the hardest to feed, for sure. He hates everything that is good for you, except chicken, and he will get rickets if I let him. He likes corn and peas but corn has a ton of carbs.

Oh, the BUTS. But it has carbs, but it has sugar, but it has FLAVOR.

Here's my issue with diets. They all, every last one, cut out the things that I love the most. And I don't eat bad as it is, but I do eat pasta, and I do eat potatoes. Not even that much, but I eat them, and they are my favorite things to eat. It's frustrating that I have to basically deny myself one of life's pleasures just to look good and be healthy. I love veggies and chicken, but I never feel like I have eaten unless there is meat and carbs. So I am constantly cranky because I am hungry! And a cranky mama = an unhappy house. So I am trying to find a balance. I am also eating a lot more often, every three hours or so, so that I won't bottom out and get that hungry feeling. Like today:

6am - Chobani raspberry yogurt (yummy, and it's actually staying with me)
9am - Snap peas, carrots (carbs, arg) and tomatoes
11:30am - Lunch (which is turkey with sweet potatoes and brown rice today)
2:30pm - Something snacky at my parents when I pick up Micah (not sure about this yet)
5:30pm - Dinner with my husband (likely grilled chicken and veggies today)

I heard about the "every three hours" trick from a body-builder friend so I know it works. Plus it keeps me happier, less cranky. I am also doing a circuit at work once an hour to keep myself awake (I tend to get sleepy) and get my heart rate up. Down the stairs on the west side of my building, across to the east side, then up the three flights back to my floor, and across to my desk. Our building is huge, so while that sounds small, it's a good place for my inner sloth to start. And it's rather embarrassing at this stage, how out of breath I get.

We all have to start somewhere! Have you made a lifestyle change recently? How's it going?

He's going to be THREE?!

I honestly can't believe Micah is going to be three already. It feels like just yesterday I was holding him in one arm, and now it takes both arms and a lot of back and leg strength because he's huge. He does put away the food nowadays...I see a very empty fridge in his teenage years.



Last year I had a bunch of cutesy ideas for his birthday party, but I think this year I am going to focus on cake. Since I am a slacker and never get half of the things I want done, done. Hah. So I have been browsing some some cake ideas that would be a possibility for his little party, that would also be easy for me to make. (I'm not much of a baker!)

Micah is all about volcanoes. So when I spotted these, I knew I just had to try and find a pan that I could make these with. If anyone finds this kind of pan, let me know - I am coming up dry.

Source: celebrationsathomeblog.com via Aimee on Pinterest

This is super cute, and doesn't look hard at all, though it is bigger than I'd like considering it will just be family coming for the party. Maybe I can just try it smaller.

Source: recipebyphoto.com via Aimee on Pinterest

This is all about the decoration, and looks simple enough, but I would have to special-order the M&M's. Boo.

Source: sabcakes.blogspot.com via Aimee on Pinterest

This is another similar option, but I think it might work better for a girl.

Source: Uploaded by user via Aimee on Pinterest

Micah is also into trains (though not as much as volcanoes and bowling), and this looks really easy. Plus I can make enough for each guest to have their own.

Source: remarkable-home.blogspot.com via Aimee on Pinterest

I also need to get to work on his birthday shirt. My attempt last year ended up being sort of sad, because the iron-on sheets I bought were the wrong kind and they ended up peeling off. So I want to try applique this time.

Source: erincomptondesign.blogspot.com via Aimee on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Aimee on Pinterest

Source: etsy.com via Heather on Pinterest

Well...that was a quick bust.

Last week, I decided I was going all out on Sunshine Stars. I'm sure you remember my my post about it.

So where should I start on how badly that idea went?

My mom got what she thought was strep throat on Friday, so I grabbed Micah and kept him as far away as possible. He had strep last year and that was enough for me, I didn't want him exposed to it again. Her doctor put her on antibiotics but told her he wasn't sure it was even strep, and did not feel the need to do a culture. Thanks, doc. So I spent the whole weekend lounging around the house with Micah, staying inside as it was way too cold to be out and about and watching a lot of cartoons. I got absolutely nothing done. It was nice, and I got a ridiculous amount of sweet toddler cuddles, but no progress on my shop at all.

Then yesterday at work, the water was unceremoniously shut off. From 8:30 on we did our best not to drink water, and finally they let us leave, because really. No water for that many hours was ridiculous. So I went straight home for a tall glass and some sewing. I wanted to make a baby circle skirt like Dana from MADE did for a friends baby, and I sat down really excited.

The first one I cut out, I cut wrong. I tried again, cut it right, and tried to hem the outer edge. If I had a serger, this part wouldn't have been a problem at all. But since I don't have one yet, I tried two different edging stitches - a modified zig-zag, and a regular zig-zag - and it just...didn't work. I'm not really sure what went wrong, but the modified one left frayed cotton sticking out, and the other bunched up the fabric. I tried everything, I even left the skirt and tried to make it work on scraps. No dice. At one point I had fought with it for so long, I put my head down on the table and tried to breath it out.

When a project nearly brings you to tears, that means it either isn't going to work, or you need to take a break. I opted for the latter, and tried again that night once I had calmed down. I would show you what it looked like, but...yeah. It's really bad. It's almost as bad as the Epic Fail Suit I just couldn't bring myself to post photos of, either.

Since the circle skirt was going to be my main product for Sunshine Stars...I'm now stuck and feeling sad. I am behind a week on my To-Do list I started for my shop, and I just barely got started. All I have is a ton of supplies, and no products. Maybe I need to sit on this idea for awhile, after all...

Sunshine Stars in the works!

From the moment I laid my eyes on my first sewing machine, I knew I wanted to make things for my son. And once I had a few successful projects, I knew I wanted to start making them for other people, too. There was no one I admired more than Dana from MADE and Ashley of Lil Blue Boo. I read their blogs for months before I even started sewing, and every time one of them posted a new project, my creative little heart went pitter-patter. They were my new heroes, and they both ran their own business from home on the internet. That's what I wanted to do.

I've made a handful of things, all but one project (the unfortunate little boy suit) turned out well enough that I have become fairly confident. I have had enough people request things from me or suggest that I open an Etsy shop that I figured my work must be decent. After a stint on Etsy in the past trying to sell my photography prints - which was a rather dismal failure - I've decided it's time to give it another shot. Except this time, I am giving baby clothes a try.

After a long time of wishing that I had the funds/the gumption/the time, I decided to just jump in. I contacted a few friends with baby girls and arranged for them to model the clothes for me, and now I will be spending the next few weeks whipping up the initial pieces for photographing and formulating prices. I have quite a to-do list, and hopefully this weekend I can get most of it out of the way.

I'm not hoping to be the Next Big Thing - in the saturated blog market, that would be folly - but I would enjoy being able to do something I liked to do in my free time and make a few dollars while I'm at it. I think it sounds like an adventure, and I can't wait to get started!

Next up - Sunshine Stars begins!