While you were napping...

Dear Lucia:

Yesterday while you were napping I...

-napped
-cleaned the floors
-uploaded all our recent photos
-backed up those photos
-folded laundry

Today while you were napping I...
-napped
-made two batches of muffins
-fed Diego
-cleaned up
-made a rice salad

This is great!

Lucia

One month - looks like she might be a soother baby... more to come.

New video camera!

There is some major construction going on at a street near us. Great excitement. In mama's world - I just purchased a new digital camcorder and I love it! All the little files get saved like pictures - with the date attached. And, of course, you can upload them easily, making both organizing/archiving and editing so much easier. If this upload works - there will be more 'sound bites' from our family.

Gardening?

One Month

Dear Lucia;

You are one month old now. You have gained over 2 pounds since you were born - something I didn't really appreciate till the other day when I was cooking up a pound of beef and realized that you have created twice that in the last 4 and a half weeks. Well done little (bigger) lady! We are settling into a nice little routine here - which will soon be shaken up by the arrival of your brother for full days. He's been spending a lot of time at day care the last few weeks but he'll be home with us next week. Don't tell anyone but I'm looking forward to the craziness of playing with you both all day.

You are eating like a trouper and sleeping pretty good as well. We need to work out how to settle that little stomach of yours and then I think you are going to be a great sleeper. Don't make a lair of me now! Right now you are asleep in your bouncy chair (you do sleep on your own in a crib or swing, when your stomach isn't gurgling) and have been asleep the whole afternoon. Are we going to be up together tonight watching TV? We'll see.

You are a beautiful little girl and everyone comments on how perfect your skin is. Are you going to be our little brown Latina baby? There are lots of questions these days - as you settle into yourself - and I am so excited to see them all answered. Whatever you become - I am know I will love it - I'm sure I'll be proud and I'm thrilled to get to watch it all.

Big Brother

Diego has been a little bit sick. I've been taking advantage of my maternity leave to keep him at home for a bit in the morning. I also feel like I should start weening myself off daycare as they close the middle of next week for the summer and then I'm on full time 'double load' for two months. We've got a  nice morning routine going which was broken up by an impromptu nap on the couch this morning. Diego was sucky and curled up with his bear and blanket and passed out. I cuddled up beside with Lucia and we all passed out for 40 minutes or so. At one point Diego woke up to find his little sister curled up beside him, he gave her a little pat on the head and then went back to sleep. Spooning with sisters....

Lucia woke up and seemed more bemused than anything. I rescued her shortly after this picture, and Diego kept on sleeping.

Play Dates

Just a short while ago playdates looked like this. Now they look like this:

Three weeks sure can change things.

Clothesline Tent

So - I am easing into new rhythms - now that I am on maternity leave - and one of the things that I am doing is perusing some pretty wonderful sewing and craft blogs. Here are my current favorite three... My Girl Thursday, No Big Dill and Grosgrain. I found them all through Thursday - who I actually know in real life if you can believe it. While I can't make claim to anything as fancy as these fine examples I did feel some responsibility to give back a little to this blog world. So - here is my ttutorial for a clothsline tent.

I started with two sheets purchased from the salvation army. I used one double and a king - it doesn't really matter what size they are. I cut out two pyramids from each - as large as I could - they don't have to be the same size as long as all the sides are the same length.

I then prepped all the other bits and pieces. I made three long ties to tie back the door and five short ones to use as door closers. I also made 5 corner tabs for the tent hooks to go into. I used webbing because I had some but you could use cloth tabs made from the same fabric as well.

Next I reinforced the top of two of the tent pyramids. The rope that hangs the tent is going to be attached here so I wanted a little bit of extra support. I just zig-zaged on an extra layer of fabric.

I also added in a screen window using some mosquito netting. I first zigged it onto the 'wrong' side. Then cut out the hole and folded over the raw edges, zigging again to give a finished look.

Then comes time to assemble the tent. As simple as attaching all four sides. The only tricky bit is making sure that your door 'tie backs' are sewn into one of the seams. You will also want to sew in your corner tabs at the bottoms of each side seam. I left one seam about 3/4 open for a door and hemmed down the sides, adding in the small ties on either side as closures. I also reinforced the bottoms of the seams where the corner tabs are - as there will be a fair bit of pull there when the tent pegs go in.

 The final step is to sew in the rope. You will want to turn your tent inside out , insert the rope into the top (make sure you leave a small opening when you join all the four points). I folded mine back and forth a little bit at the top and zigged over the rope to provide some extra reinforcement. Then - add a caribener to make it each to mount and dismount your tent. Hang and hook the corners.

The finished tent looked like this:

I decided to take apart two of the seams and add some more fabric. This has make it less symmetrical but bigger, I was hoping for a space big enough to picnic in and so needed a bit more floor space. I am thinking about adding a round 'escape hatch' to the back if I can find the right thing to reinforce it with - a mini hoola hoop perhaps. I'm also considering a jaunty little flag for the top. The possibilities are endless.
Here is my less symmetrical but bigger version.

Two Weeks

 Dear Lucia - you were two weeks old yesterday - and aren't you pretty in pink?! I'm getting quietly excited about doing all kinds of fun girl things with you as you get older, and I promise I won't be disappointed if you turn out to be more into soccer and martial arts than sewing and manicures. Time will tell. So far what I can say is that you are pretty chill little lady, and a pleasure to hang out with. I do wonder from time to time if I'm taking care of a baby or on vacation. That will change when your brother is out of day care at the end of the month but for now I'm enjoying it being just us two. You are beginning to express your wants and needs and are definitely focusing your eyes and following our voices. You are making wonderful little noises. Diego says "Lucia parece un gato". You are an independent sleeper which is a little miracle for me. You've been spending quite a bit of time in the little bouncy chair, happily napping away, and we got out the playpen yesterday where you spent a good half the night before wanting to be transferred to the bed. You've been waking up every two hours or so to nurse (did you know that you gained a pound and a half in the last two weeks!) but go right back to sleep again so we've all been pretty rested around here. Thanks for that. Your brother loves to watch you play and gets very excited when you wake up and look around. He has been very gentle and patient with you, remember that as you get older and he starts to play rough. He loves having you around. We all do. It seems that you were ready to come into the world little one, you jumped the gun on us at conception and birth both - and we're so glad you did. Thanks for picking us Lucia. Your mama - Julia

Wordless Wednesday

...and then there were two...