Bedroom Art, Fit for a Kid (B)

I got sidetracked by the snow, but since I mentioned the Disney shadowbox that hangs in Hubby Jr.'s room during my Valentine post, I thought I would post about all of the art he has in there. 

I found this first project on Pinterest; someone had pinned it from an adorable blog: attackofthetwins. It seemed easy enough- lay down mat (I'm partial to felt backed vinyl table clothes from the dollar store), tape off name, lay out the colors, and let Hubby Jr. go to town. And let me tell you, it was just that easy! I love this project. Here we are getting down to business:

You may have noticed that HJ's nickname in real life is not far off from his Blogger nickname! Anyway, here we are all done, before and after tape (I used Frog Tape- because, as usual, that's what I had on hand):

The primary colors in the standard Crayola Finger Paint went fantastically with Hubby Jr.'s Disney themed room (a mix of Mickey & Lightning McQueen). It did get a bit muddy in the middle, but you can really see his little finger prints; I just love that. I waited for the local craft store to have a sale on framing, and then it was all up to Hubby. I think both of my fellas did a great job:

This next project, the shadowbox (and I didn't even get the idea from Pinterest, ha), I did on my own. After we took him to the Magic Kingdom last spring, making something to commemorate the trip (his first ever) seemed perfectly appropriate:

I used the 2013 t-shirt we got down there as the background and pinned it to the backer so that the size 3T, inside the Castle graphic, would be visible. I wasn't sure if I should "lock up" the mouse ears at first, but they were already on the snug side when we got them, and hopefully we'll be going back again this year anyway! His "Key to the World," a family photo from our Photo Pass, the welcome postcard "from" Mickey, and his "First Visit" button rounded everything out.

These aren't projects so much as cuteness. The pirate flag came with his personalized treasure chest, but that frame is really something special- it has a secret compartment that opens on a hinge so you can store and swap out art! We love it. Daycare is always sending cute things home (many of which go on the fridge), but this is another fun place where he can display his handy work! We rotate it depending on the aspect.

It isn't exactly art, but his ceiling is covered in glow in the dark stars- including the constellations of Orion, Big Dipper, Little Dipper, and Cassiopeia (I know- I have a problem). We also have some large family and baby HJ photos hanging on his walls.

I really love how his room came out. Hubby did so much painting to bring my design to life! I helped too, but wet paint aggravates my allergies something fierce. Lately though, I feel like the room is constantly evolving. In December we had to rearrange to fit the Train Table he got for Christmas (his big gift from Daddy and me). The very next month he moved up from Toddler Bed to Big Boy Bed, and we had to redo the whole thing, again! I'll save all that for next week...

I love snow- Banana Pancakes! (B)

In addition to my "I love snow" post, I am tossing in banana pancakes. It was because of the snow that I finally got to try them! I will be honest, unlike snow, I do not love bananas. I will eat them, on occasion, but they will almost never be my first choice when offered a selection of fruit. Still, I had been seeing so many Pins about these miracle "two ingredient"/"flour-less"/"Paleo friendly"/"gluten free" pancakes for a while now. I also do not like waste, which tends to be the outcome when bananas hit that over-ripe stage.

So here's what happened: Wednesday, due to the snow, I did not have to be in work until noon (awesome), AND we just happened to have some bananas that were past their prime- Perfect time to try something new!

Here is the lone banana left behind. Hubby Jr. would still consider eating that one; the others had way too many spots for his liking.  But you can at least get an idea of the ripeness we are talking about here; look at that stem!

I read over quite a few of the offerings on Pinterest and then went to work on it myself until satisfied. Here is what I settled on:

• Two large bananas
• Three eggs
• 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg (you can go all cinnamon if you don't have nutmeg, but it is one of my favs)
• 1 tsp of vanilla

     I mashed the bananas up with a fork and then dumped the rest on top.  

     For this, I preferred my hand mixer over the big 'ole stand mixer. I whipped those ingredients up really good. My thought process is that, much like meringues, all the fluffiness comes from how much air I can beat into the eggs- without going over! And they will be thin pancakes, mind you, but that's to be expected with no rising agent. 

     Warm up your liberally sprayed non-stick frying pan. You may be thinking, "I am using a non-stick pan" or "I hardly need to grease my pan when I make pancakes" or some other variation. I thought that too. I was wrong. Re-spray after each batch- even if you usually don't- or you will regret it. Unless you like mashed up pancakes, then go for it. 

     When you pour in your batter, I recommend keeping them silver dollar sized. They firm up as they cook, but they do not operate like regular pancakes. It is very loosey goosey right up until the end.

And that's all there is to it! Hubby, a consummate banana lover, thoroughly enjoyed them; he ate them plain. I ate mine with a generous helping of whipped cream on top.
I made them that Wednesday and then I also made them again Saturday for brunch when Little Sis came to visit with my cutiepie nephew (they were fleeing the dust at home while her hubbs was hard at work remodeling the little guy's new room). Little Sis also liked the whipped cream on top! Here they are with and without:

The little ones had no interest in pancakes (can you believe boys that don't want pancakes??). They had cheesy scrambled eggs instead! HJ went that route Both days, crazy guy!

Car seat confusion... (L)

My son is 18 months old!  He's getting so big and growing like an adorable little weed.  Or a pickle as my sister is wont to call him.  There are so many things that this brings up, but the main focus in the house right now (aside from getting ready for the new baby) is Pickle's car seat.  He is currently rear-facing in a Chicco NextFit Convertible car seat.

At just shy of 28 lbs., he is still firmly within the rear-facing limits, but he's a pretty tall kid and he's been kicking the back of the seat for quite a while now. His knees have to be bent in order for him to sit down. My husband thinks he's getting uncomfortable and it's time to turn him forward-facing. I get that a lot. I disagree. I don't get too much resistance from my husband because all I have to do is say "internal decapitation" and he drops the subject (I'm wondering how long that will last... probably until he reads this blog post...), he definitely puts our son's safety first, he just disagrees that there is a safety issue. But I do hear that he's too big to be rear-facing from others.  I decided to check things out and see if I'm being overprotective.

According to the laws of The State of NJ, little Pickle is old enough and heavy enough (greater than 12 months and 20 pounds) to be front facing. HOWEVER!  The US Department of Transportation suggests that you leave your child "rear-facing for as long as possible!" They do say that the minimum age for forward-facing should be 12 months, but they suggest keeping the child in the rear-facing position for up to three years.  This is more in line with the American Academy of Pediatrics recommendation that babies and toddlers remain in the rear-facing position for a minimum of two years.
I found this chart from the CDC to be pretty helpful:

I hear all the time that, "I turned my baby at 1-year-old and he's just fine." What I never hear is, "I turned my baby at 1-year-old and got in a massive car accident and he's just fine." No one says that. Car seats, whether they're rear-facing, or forward-facing, or booster seats, or seat belts, are not for normal days. They're for the days no one wants to think about.  The possibility that your baby might not be safe even when you're driving is too scary.  I wouldn't leave the house if I thought about it too long. But that's what I think about when I'm making decisions about my son's (and soon my daughter's too!) car seat.  All of the sources cited above say that even adults would be safer in a car accident if they were rear-facing.  Front-end car accidents account for 74% of all accidents and in these cases, the impact would be absorbed by and distributed across the child's whole back if he was rear-facing, or by just the straps of the harness if he was front-facing.

For now I'll fight the good fight and keep my boy rear-facing for as long as I can!  I think that based on all of these sources, I'm not being overprotective.  I think that the rules are changing to keep our babies safer.  I tend to question the rules, but this time I'll abide!

I love the snow; I wish I had a yard (B)

When I was young, I LOVED the snow. Some time in my 20's I got over it. I mean, I still thought it was pretty, and there were times I would throw down a snow angel for old times' sake, but I didn't LOVE it anymore. I think it was mostly driving related- that's what jaded me. Digging out your car is cold, tiring, tedious work, and driving the slushy, mucky, slippery streets mid/post snow storm is just plain treacherous.

My sweet, little Hubby Jr., however, has me firmly back in the LOVE column.

How can I not go back to the love? Do you see this kid going to town? It's downright infectious! We tackle each other (I'm pretty easy for a 4 year old to tackle...), then we team up to take down Hubby! Hubby is unbeatable when it comes to snowballs, even if we team up against him... It's times like these though, I am sad that we live in a city. We make due; our condo building has two patches of grass and shrubbery flanking the main entrance (the back is completely parking). The lack of privacy leaves quite a bit to be desired, but when it comes to fun in the snow- let 'em look, I say!

As you can see, there is enough space for snow that we can make sure the little guy doesn't miss out on the classics! My dad used to make a mean snowman- it is so fun to do it now with Hubby and HJ. Brings back awesome memories from my childhood, while we make awesome ones in HJ's childhood. Could you ask for more? I love snow. I saw that snowman kit in an Avon fundraiser last year for someone's kiddo and just KNEW it had to be mine- well, HJ's. It has more than repaid the cost already, but, again, I wish we had a yard- you just can't leave your toys out in the "front yard" of a condo in a city. So, we had to denude poor Frosty once our fun was done.

A brand new kind of snow fun made it's appearance this year in the form of "sno-markers:"

As you can see, they are less markers, and more drippy squirt bottles, but HJ had a blast! There was a coloring pack for each bottle, but rather than trying to find (and buy) refills, I am going to try out regular old food coloring next time (and according to the forecasts, next time might be this weekend). We had trouble making pictures and shapes freehand; although, they did do a magnificent job speckling the snow mountain left by the plows beside the driveway! For us, the best use we found was decorating snow castles: 

Aren't they beautiful? Ha. Maybe not, but HJ loved every second, and he was so sad when they ran out. The red went first, of course, but I was very happy that, today at least, it was not his exclusive color. The only downside is that I may be receiving a strongly worded letter from the Condo Association about lawn art... (Did I mention I wish I had a yard?) 

Oh well, I don't even care. You know why?

I love snow! 

Making Valentines for the Daycare Class (B)

The special little guy in my life attends daycare daily.  So, now that it's February, that means we get to make Valentines for him to give to his classmates.  We don't HAVE to make them, but it is usually more cost effective (if you don't count labor, ha), and Hubby and I really just enjoy doing this sort of thing with little Hubby Jr. 

I saw some cute ideas on Pinterest featuring one of Hubby Jr.'s favorite snacks- Goldfish.  I liked the idea since Valentine's Day is one of those days that just overload the kids (and the grown ups, AKA me) with sugar. Bonus, most of the Pins featured a cheesy saying that was right up my alley: "I'm so glad you're in my school."  The problem I had was that they all involved putting loose fish in a cellophane bag.  We have done things involving unwrapped foodstuffs in the past (and likely will again), but if I can avoid it, I try to.

I went with the 9-packs of snack-sized, individual servings.  Two boxes covered the whole class:

I made a pretty basic backer for the actual "card" part of the Valentine- prominently featuring the hilarious (IMO) saying at the top.  Then I printed my template on a variety of sea colors plucked from the card stock I had on hand.  Yes, I keep card stock on hand (I used to be an avid scrap-booker prior to discovering the awesomeness that is photobooks via Shutterfly, and I have found a host of other uses for it since).  I cut each page into thirds between the printed lines; I just used a scissor freehand since there were not that many:

Here is a link to a PDF of the printable if you are interested.

I happen to own a slew of different style "pinking shears" and used the scalloped one to slice off the top in a wave pattern, but that step is completely unnecessary:

Finally, I used two small glue dots (I had some Zots already; you can find them at any craft store... and yes, I already happened to have them on hand- from when I made the little guy a shadow box after our trip to Disney last spring), but double-sided tape or photo stickers would probably work just as well. 
And there you have it:

I felt like it needed a little something extra, so I added a tiny heart to each bag of fish.  Hubby thought it was unnecessary, but Hubby Jr. loves to put stickers on just about anything! I should probably note that he (HJ) vetoed the large pink and purple hearts in favor of the little shiny red ones pictured: 

 

Time may change me, but I can't trace time! (L)

Hello!  I'm the "little" sister (my big sister is physically smaller and has been since I was about SEVEN).  This is what I look like when I'm standing in my bathroom:

I have an almost-18-month-old son and in a little over 6 weeks (if things go according to plan!) I'll have a beautiful baby girl as well.  I've been married to the coolest guy I've ever met for about 4 and a half years and every day I wake up happy to be me! (although most days I'd like to wake up happy to be me a little bit later....)

I'm sure you'll learn more about me through these blogs, but since you already know that I think my sister's obsession with gift wrap is a wee bit over the top, you might be interested to know that I used to wrap a mean present. I too loved the ribbons and bows and complimentary wrapping paper colors... These days my motto is, "Ain't nobody got time for that!" In fact, the family party where my sister presented that pristine pug-adorned package, my family gave our gift in a red gift bag with pink tissue paper. That's right. It didn't even match. Why?  That's what I had in my house. Do I care? Nope! The gift was well received and the birthday girl barely paused to toss the mis-matched tissue paper before digging into the PRESENTS! My sister and I laughed about it, but I doubt anyone besides the two of us even noticed.

Here are a few other things that I used to care about that I gave up on when I became a mom:

#1 - Keeping the Baking Soda in my refrigerator fresh:
"Ain't nobody got time for that!"
I'm actually very impressed that the baking soda in my fridge right now is only expired by 3 weeks.  I'm fairly certain that the one before that was from 2012.  In my pre-mom days I would argue that fresh baking soda helps to keep your whole fridge fresher and healthier.  Is it true?  Maybe.  Do I care?  Nope. Why? Because I have too many other, more important things to do!

I wonder if the ricotta cheese next to the baking soda is expired... 

#2 - Washing my jeans every time I wear them: 

Gone are the days where my pants went in the laundry nightly!  I have exactly 3 pairs of maternity jeans and if they're not covered in some form of goo that came out of my son, and they don't smell, they don't get washed!  (if either of those conditions are not met, they do get washed...) You may think that this is pretty gross.  If you think that, it is unlikely that you have children! 

(just a note - I did pick these pants up off the floor as soon as I took this picture because clothes on the floor is something that I DO care about very much and I fight the daily battle to keep them all in their proper drawers, closets, or hampers.) 

#3 - My pedicure:

I'm going to spare you the picture of my gross toes, but just so you can create your own mental picture, I'm still rocking the pedicure that I got with my sister the day before her wedding two months ago! Before my son was born, I enjoyed bi-weekly pedicures in beautiful salons where I'd lazily page through Hollywood gossip magazines. Now I paint my own nails after the little man is sleeping and the laundry and the dishes are done... when I remember.  Even this hasn't happened in quite a while because for the moment, when I look for my feet, I see this: 

There are many more things that have changed since I became a mom, but it's getting late (almost 10:00!!) and I have to go to bed.  10 years ago I would be thinking about starting to get ready to go out soon... My how things change!  And it's all wonderful.  It was wonderful then and it's wonderful now.  I can't wait to see what the next 10 years bring!  

I wrap because I care (B)

I have a slight obsession with gift wrap. I don't entirely understand it myself, but it is very real. Little Sis is completely supportive of it, but admits she doesn't quite get it!

If I had to put my finger on it, I'd say it started one Christmas around six years ago. I stumbled upon the perfect storm of paper, bows, and gift tags, and, of course, bought the lot of them. I just really enjoyed wrapping up those gifts for my loved ones! Ever since then, I have, for the most part, sworn off gift bags completely, and been obsessed with beautiful paper, cloth ribbons, and all manner of "acoutromon." Multiple small objects, awkward half boxes with odd protrusions (common in toys for young children), and the like, may still end up in bag, but for the most part it's paper all the way! 

I did these just last weekend for two wonderful little girls, one on each side of our family, that happened to be turning six the same week:

Dear friends recently adopted a beautiful baby girl, and of course, that meant more wrapping! 

 

I love to tie a small toy or large festive lollipop in the ribbon. This is a Daisy "Itty Bitty" from the Hallmark store. It's so cute! I got the Little Mermaid one for my youngest nieces' 1st birthday gift. The little plush pug keychain pictured above was put on the birthday girl's backpack before I could blink- it was a complete hit! 

I also like Hallmark for the wrapping paper; their brand is my favorite. The regular paper has a grid printed on the back for measuring ease and perfectly straight cuts, but on the gift above I used their double sided paper! That great bright pink is on one side with the light purple on the other. They also have a light pink and baby blue one that I tend to keep on hand for baby showers. I've also used it to wrap gifts for my girlfriend's boy/girl twins! Very handy there. Unfortunately, I don't generally take pictures of my gift wrapping, so I can't share them- I just happened to take these to send to Little Sis, and well, here we are...