Life in Color Photo – Page 81 – Celebrating crafts, kids and the everyday through photographs.

Feeling the love

Today was a busy day. Tuesday and I got up early (but luckily not as early as yesterday!). We decided to head downtown with my mom to hit up the street fair and get some yummy food. Then we went on a super awesome mission to get my new machine (that's right – Tutu came through for me, but more on that later). While I was playing around on the demo machine my mom walked Tuesday next door, and wouldn't you know she talked grandma into getting her a little plasticky toy.

Don't worry mom I didn't take it away from her instantly, she wouldn't let me anyway:

I guess this is just the start of grandparents spoiling little Tuesday. And grandma isn't the only one, nana made her an awesome little sun hat.

Only it turns out it wasn't so little (compared to Miss Tiny Head). And most of my shots are like this.

Heheh, I really do think she likes it though. I mean anytime she tried to put something in her mouth that usually means it's top notch 🙂

Later Tuesday and I went to our first softball game. I'm not such a huge fan of these types of things (especially when I forget cash and can't by a super red rope), but Sciarrino plays and I figure I shouldn't automatically pass on my fear of sports with balls to Tutu, so we went.

It was extra fun because our other friend also plays (hi Kathy!), and Sciarrino's mom and brother were in town briefly (that is THREE Sciarrinos!)

This happens all the time with Tutu, people look at her and not the camera.

Right after this Tuesday decided that Joby's beard was one of the best things ever, it was pretty funny to watch her sit there and pet it.

All of that activity made us tired. Tutu is already in bed, and I'm to follow now. No time to look at the machine today, so hopefully I'll have a time to play around with it a bit tomorrow and give you an update. Or a more concrete one than "fifty million things just got added to my I want to sew list."

Humble thanks

Wow, thank you all so much for the kind words on the bumper. I am going to try some of the suggestions, and see if I can't get it straightened out at least a little. It's nice to hear that even store bought ones have issues. Bj just told me that Tuesday wants to get me a sewing machine as an early birthday present. Don't I just have the sweetest smartest daughter ever? And don't worry she can flip flop back to front all day long… with out her diaper. I guess cloth diaper babies can be a month or so behind on the rolling/sitting/crawling/walking thing because of their wide loads 🙂 Speaking of cloth diapers I got this stuff to try to give my machine a clean, since I guess soap build up can make diapers rougher. Has anyone tried this affresh stuff? We don't have odor, but man did I stick some stinky diapers in there today!

Bj went to Ikea earlier and got some more things for Tuesday's nursery, so hopefully we can do a tour of it soon because it will be done done done. I want to make a bunch of these fabric boxes for the new shelves we got. And I have a few other projects that need to get finished, like the mobile and some misc. sewing things. Projects, projects, projects, I just can't help myself, I love me some projects.

Boo, no picture today (Tuesday and I laid low while some finish construction stuff was going on), so I'll leave you with a great, short podcast about why you shouldn't use antibacterial soap. Only you can stop the spread of resistant bacteria :)

Well I got halfway through it…

Okay so I got halfway through the month with daily postings, but then two things happened: a holiday (which was awesome) and a @#$@%$# crib bumper (not so awesome).

Independence day was wonderful. We spent it with a big group of friends at my Mom's (thanks Mom and Bill!) while they were at the blues festival in Portland. Hello pool, thank goodness too because it was hot! We lounged, ate, swam, nursed, napped, and ate some more. Tuesday loved the fireworks like so completely, she was in awe. We didn't get around to doing any of the little ones, but sat out on the golf course for their big show and she drooled over them. I can't believe the noise didn't scare her. I can't believe she woke up for them, she was totally off her schedule (and is sleeping now, so she must still be catching up), and we didn't get her to bed until after 11. It's crazy to think that is when she was going to bed every night just a month ago, I guess things have gotten better!

So this bumper thing, okay here's a picture:

Okay so now here's a picture where you can see some of the problems. And I'm saying that like prob-LEMS.

Ugh, the wave. I'm sure it's because my measurements are not exact and also because of the tie placement.

Now I know I got these ties marked in the right spot (Sciarrino helped me do it, back me up Sciarrin), so what is the problem? My sewing machine. I'd like to say right off the bat that my mother got me this awesome gift for my 21st birthday. But that was eight years ago and lots and lots and LOTS of sewing projects ago. It's a Janome My Excel, I can't link to it because it's no longer made. But it's just a really good basic machine. Unfortunately for me really good basic machines do not like being pushed to their limits. I can't even drop the feed dogs on it and as a result have shoved some things under the needle that really should not have gone there. Now it gives me lots of uneven stitches. And it does this thing when I first start sewing that just about gives me fits! It either sucks the thread up (resulting in constant rethreading) or down (resulting in bobbin entanglement) unless you pull HARD on the thread when you are beginning to sew. Well I borrowed my mom's machine for a portion of this, but for the ties I only had mine, and I can't very well pull the thread, wad a big bunch of this under the needle and sew and expect everything to stay in place. So they slipped around a bit. My mom did mention to me today that I could have basted them in place by hand, but by this point I was SO OVER THIS PROJECT PEOPLE. It's my own fault really for calling myself a crafty genius when I did the bumper one. I didn't follow any directions for this (um, obviously) so I've got no one to blame but myself. Ugh the shame!

The thing is:

Tuesday loves it. And I don't want to go buy one because most of them are full of polyester batting, and I purposely made this thin so it would not be a suffocation danger. I think I'm looking at some serious seam ripper action, taking off the wonky ties and repositioning them. You know where I'm going with this right (Bj sure does). I want a new machine!!! Sciarrino and I checked them out Friday and I have my heart set on this little baby. Well actually Babylock, the new Decorator's Choice (apparently there is not that big a difference between the Decorator and Quilter, except price). Does anyone have one of these? Also why the heck are machine prices so secret? I can't for the life of me find them online, and I want to know if I'm being offered a good deal. Do you sign some kind of secrecy thing when you buy a machine from a dealer? You can email me privately if you like. I'd love any Babylock review. This one has automatic cutting, and a presser foot knee lift. I think it's the least expensive machine to have those two features that I really want.

Oh and look what Tuesday can do even with this huge diaper:

Whoa, the arm is still under, wait for it…

Did you just roll over? Did you?

I think you did! Phew that was hard work:

Okay off to update the dailies.

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Bj had today off and hung out with Tuesday most of the day:

(his idea to get baby + laundry upstairs at once).

I got my work done so quickly and efficiently, it was awesome. I spent the rest of the day wrestling with pins and the crib bumper. SO close to being done, only ties left to sew on. Thank goodness!

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Oh baby it's the beach! Bj got a surprise day off of work (he finished a project early), so we decided to head over to the coast for the day before the holiday crowds. I was so interested to see what Tuesday thought of it. At first it didn't seem she noticed much of anything. We ate at Mo's and when we walked out to the little boardwalk near there all Tuesday wanted to do was play with the toy Taro got her. Things changed when we got to the actual beach part of the coast. It was so windy (and thus a little cold down there), I was unsure how she would take it.

I think saying she loved it would be an understatement. The girl ATE IT UP. We held her over incoming waves and she was so giggly and cute about them.

Oh my goodness I could take her here everyday.

I think it's the perfect combination of things for Tuesday to like: lots of people, birds, water, loud sounds (so so loud), and the wind just topped it off, she was thrilled by it. I couldn't have asked for a more perfect reaction from her. I have a video of it, but I got super squeaky and excited, so I overshadow her giggles a bit – oops!

Someday we'll go to more of beach and less of a coast and she'll wonder where all the cold and wind went. But I think one things for certain – we have a water lover on our hands!

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Last night went much better, and tonight looks to be more of the same – yeah! It still takes a while to get Tuesday down. We had Sciarrino over tonight and thought we'd give her a little go at it, she got a bit weepy (Tuesday not Sciarrino). When I came in the room she reached out for me and quieted instantly. I really can't believe I have that effect on her. I mean I guess I'm with her all day long so I don't really have to share her much. It sure does make me feel good that she recognizes I'm her mama and that I make her so happy. She makes me super happy as well. Especially when she looks as cute as she did today:

This is one of our Chase N' Sky out fits. I don't know if I've mentioned, but the owner/designer is a family friend. Super fabulous and stylish. Bj loves this outfit even more than I do, and did not want to change Tutu out of her little bloomers and dress. He even said he wished we didn't have to put her down because she was dressed so cute. Indeed she was. I tried to get a good picture of the ruffly bottom:

Heheh. It looked really cute when she stood up and just a little bit of it peeked out.

Tuesday and I took our cute selves around a bit today with William and Donna. We stopped at Reruns For Kids, a used clothing store that benefits a program that fights child abuse. I didn't know it but the first business day there are dollar days so we got some fun things:

More sun hats (her head is growing!), four dresses, a long sleeved tee with cute embroidery and some crazy pants all for under 12 bucks! We ate downtown, then Sciarrino and I got things ready for the 4th of July BBQ. I don't really know where the evening went actually, hmm…

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Man was last night rough. But lucky for me I have Bj, otherwise I'm sure I would have propped Tuesday in front of the television right now with a TV dinner and said, "Fend for yourself." Okay maybe not, but I was very tired after multiple night wakings. Bj was lovely and got her early this morning so I could sleep. And when he brought her to me so she could have breakfast I laid her next to me and we snoozed until a quarter to eleven. Very nice. Still it didn't get me caught up enough, so I'm headed to bed soon. Tuesday is already asleep.

Bj and I laid in the sun with Tuesday so she could look at the trees and we talked about what to do about it. We read the last little bit of The No Cry Sleep Solution, the part where she asks if you're about to go mad from lack of sleep. We decided that we were not trying hard enough to get her down with out nursing (which I think is why she wakes up in the night, looking for more milky and is all confused that it's not right there). So Bj and I took turns tonight rocking, singing, patting and loving her. Finally I got her to sleep by telling her about a story about a little girl the size of a grain of rice who lived in a little tree that grew on a bigger tree in the middle of a narrow stream. Now nothing in any book I've read said anything about telling your baby a story about a little girl the size of a grain of rice, so I'm thinking maybe they don't have it all figured out. We were talking about the things we're learning with Tuesday, and one thing I am learning is to trust myself. I've always wanted to be a mother, and I think I need to draw on those feelings more, the feelings that I'm meant to be her mother and that I will do the right things by her if I listen to myself. We'll see if this works, I'm sure hoping that it does, and that I have the strength in the middle of the night to pace the floor with her instead of automatically offering up some milky.*

Once I did get out the door with Tuesday today we headed downtown to meet my dad at his 295 Church project – a cool bunch of new condos "in the heart of the city." 🙂

You might remember when I took pictures from the lot to showcase what the future views would be. My dad wants some photos from around the city to frame up for the hallways so we walked around town and I snapped some.

It was fun to be a tourist in my own city.

It was also fun to see my dad push around the carriage.

Nice calves dad. 🙂

We ran into my brother so I had to get them together for a shot. Of course they both make crazy faces, no surprise, but this is pretty tame – I think it's a keeper!

*She has woken once since I started writing this, but was easily coaxed back to sleep with a little rocking.

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The bumper is still not done, in large part due to the negative amount of sleep I got last night. I say negative because the sleep I did get was so horrible (and on the floor of the nursery), that I just don't think it should count. But lets go back in time shall we?

On Saturday we went to the Lavender Festival. Tuesday was so fantastic. I mean sure she had a little screaming spell in the car when we got behind a wreck and couldn't move. I'm guessing her thought process goes something like this: "Hey, we're slowing down. Wait we're stopping? NOOOO NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO NOOOOOOOOOOOOO I WANT TO GO 90, GO PEOPLE GO." When we got to a place we could pull over she was all snotty nosed and tear stained, I hate that, poor Tutu. By the time we got to the festival (and she had a little car siesta) we were golden. I wore Tuesday in the Peanut Shell, which I haven't used much.

I got it as a gift when I was only 12 weeks along or so, because you have to size it. Well I gained so much weight I couldn't wear it with her for a while, but now I can, yeah! She sat like this while I took pictures happy as a clam. Double awesome:

It's great for nursing!

Then we sat and watched some more music:

Tuesday asks, "Would you like to comment on my eyebrows?"

It's so funny, every one seems to lately. They look like normal eyebrows to me, but apparently they are uber fantastic, go Tuesday!

Tuesday loves one on one time as well as lots of people talking to her, so these kind of events are perfect for her. I'm not sure how this translates to sleep, if it's like super boring to her or what. But last night it was PARTY TIME from 11:30 to almost three IN THE MORNING. Yikes. So that's when I drug a blanket out and just laid next to the babbling funny girl. If you can't beat them, join em, right? The problem is the tiredness is throwing me off my game seriously. Not only did I not shred today (or yesterday, or the day before), but I just finished a big bowl of ice cream. The really crappy part? It did not make me feel better :(

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Having a little trouble with this bumper… Will report back later.

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Ah sweet sleeping baby bliss. Bj and I were so tired after a day in the sun that we all laid on the floor as a family and helped Tuesday settle down into night night time. So a quick post and then bed for me as well.

Today we went to the Lavender Festival. Our friends were playing there (two of them: Brian and Melissa played out our wedding with Ceara). They have asked me to take pictures for their new album. There band is Jettison Bend, check it out. I've only uploaded half, and barely looked at them, but I think we'll have a few at least:

It was so bright out.

I want to play around with more of them. I took a whole bunch in the field. And I wore Tuesday while they were playing and got some then as well. Hopefully she'll give me a little time to get on the computer and edit them this week.