Lost Tooth

While Sam was brushing Abby's teeth the other day, he noticed that one of her teeth was loose. We expected it to take a while for her to lose the tooth because her personality isn't the "wiggle your lose tooth incessantly" type, if that makes any sense.

Two days later, the girls were playing Play-Do in the living room while I was in Grant's room playing with him. Abby started crying really hard and came running in. She was bleeding and her tiny tooth was in her hand. We didn't prepare her for the possibility of blood so it scared her. Once, she calmed down, she was very excited.

Being the dental daddy, Sam came home for lunch to check it out. I had mention to him that it looked a little strange to me and that I wanted him to take a look. The tooth had a funny shape and it looked like there was some tooth/root left in her gum. He took her in, took X-rays and dug around a bit only to realize that it was just her adult tooth popping (the first thing I typed was pooping, hehe) through.

I made her a little pouch to put her tooth in when she put it under her pillow. She had a really hard time going to sleep because she couldn't stop thinking about the tooth fairy. The first time Sam went in, she sat up so he had to leave and wait a while. She's never had a problem sleeping on Christmas Eve but maybe it was the prospect of someone coming into her room that was making her anxious.

This feels like such a big kid milestone. Stop growing up so fast sweet girl!

Happy Halloween 2013

We decided we'd better carve pumpkins again, since daddy missed out on carving while we were in California. Clara's  Jack-o-Lantern face was a bit abstract.

 

I am kind of in love with the girl's costumes this year. They turned out pretty good, if I do say so myself. Honestly, I couldn't find very good tutorials for either of the costumes so I was mostly winging it.

Abby chose to be Merida this year. She picked it for the bow and arrow, which I was able to find at the Dollar Tree--score!  I used this blog post, mostly just for ideas. I thought her instructions were kind of confusing. My magnum opus was that wig. It took quite a bit of time but it definitely made the look. I used this method, though I didn't used quite as much yarn and I didn't crochet my own hat.

Clara's Rapunzel costume came almost completely out of my brain because I couldn't find any I liked very much. However, this guided how I made her wig. Again, less yarn. She only weighs 25 pounds after all.

I'm not sure what she was doing in the picture but she looks so angelic.

It's hard to get a good smile out of her these days. Her cheese looks like she's in pain.

Sam made her this Pascal, which was super cute. She didn't want to wear it though.

Here they are with their spoils. They actually got more at the church party in about 20 minutes then they did in an hour plus on Halloween.

They had a blast trick-or-treating with their cousins!

A Weekend in CA

My parents were heading to California for my nephew's first birthday, so the kids and I decided to tag along for the adventure. We had a blast! It would have been the perfect trip if only daddy could have joined us (and if my kids would have slept later!)

 

We went to a "pumpkin patch" one day. It was really just a carnival which also sold over-priced pumpkins, but it did provide some good photo ops.

 

 

We bought a few tickets for the kids and they decided to ride the tractors and the train.

The tractors were hilarious. They were like the ride-on Barbie jeeps. They all kept crashing into things/each other. We were laughing so hard watching them.

 

We ended up going to buy pumpkins at Home Depot instead. They each picked the perfect pumpkin.

After scooping out the guts (which Abby and grammy did for all of them), we let them draw faces on their pumpkins. Merrick carved what they drew and they turned out so cute!

 

The next day, we went to Knott's Berry Farm. It was the perfect day. The weather was gorgeous and there was hardly anyone there. We never had to wait more than like two minutes to go on a ride.

 

These little pump cars were so cute. They had to pump back and forth to make them go. Poor Clara was pretty slow. She finished, though, and didn't seem to notice she was running behind.

This little boy was good as gold.

 

That night, we had a birthday party for my nephew.

 

 

Abby loved wearing the party hat and eating a cupcake. The countdown is on for her birthday. (Excuse me while I go cry in a corner.)

 

We went to the park the next morning and the kids had a lot of fun. It was a cool park and another gorgeous day. Abby liked climbing the rock wall--like father, like daughter.

These two are the best of friends. They are always hugging each other and playing together. They helped Merrick bake some cookies and got to sample the dough, as all good helpers get to do.

Then, we went to the Halloween party at the church. Right before we left, Clara fell and split her lip. However, she was more upset that she broke her pumpkin bucket in the fall. Luckily, Merrick had an extra so a crisis was averted.

They had so much fun trunk-or-treating. They came home with quite the haul. Atfirst Clara kept scowling at everyone who gave her candy. She seemed a little overwhelmed with it all.

 

I was very proud of how the girls costumes turned out. I'll write more about them another day.

 

Grant was the cutest little shark. However, I think he looked more like he was eaten by a shark.

 

 

 

Inside, the kids played games and won prizes and sugared up good.

 

 

It was a wonderful weekend which ended with Grant puking his guts out in my parent's driveway. Hey, at least he didn't do it in the car.

The Best Burp Cloths

I recently attended two baby showers for some of my high school friends. I knew I wanted to make something for their gifts so I decided to make them The Best Burp Cloths. When Abby was born, my sister-in-law made some of theses for me and then my friend Megan, in Philly, would make them for everyone. These burp cloths are made from cloth diaper so they are super absorbent. And, they are big! Some of the burp cloths I have had were so small they hardly covered my shoulder. It was like an open invitation to puke all down my back.

 

Of course, you could just use the cloth diaper as is but it's much more fun to jazz them up a bit. Since you're going to spend a lot of time with one on your shoulder, you might as well make it an accessory!

 

Here's how I made mine:

 

Start with some plain cloth diapers. Make sure you buy the pre-fold, 6-ply, like these.

 

 

 I got mine at Target but I know you can get them cheaper online. They also sell some fun, colored ones at JoAnn but they aren't quite as thick (they are lacking the absorbent pad in the center).

 

Cut out some fabric. I used snuggle flannel so they are extra soft to wipe baby's face. I cut mine 6 inches by 20 inches, give or take. This particular fabric was a scrap so it was a bit smaller.

Fold the edges under and pin. Don't worry if it's not perfectly straight. You won't be able to tell, especially after washing them a million times.

Iron down the edges to keep them secure.

Sew along the edges of the flannel. Use contrasting thread and/or a decorative stitch to give them a little something extra.

And there you have it. The Best Burp Cloths! My sister-in-law usually makes hers by sewing strips of ribbon down each side of the absorbent center. I thought about adding ric rac along the edges of the fabric but it seemed a little busy with my fabrics. Really though, the sky is the limit.

I made boy ones.

And girl ones.

I  made little bundles and tied them up with ric rac.