Oh What a Difference A Day Makes

I just noticed this picture the other day. It's one of the few we haven't posted on Facebook or otherwise shared, but it's so sweet. This is the day we brought LG home from the hospital at three days old:

 

And here he is at one year old, having masticated his first piece of cake:

God, I love that boy.

Adventures with Crafts

I am not a crafty person. When it comes to working with my hands, I don't have much patience or attention to detail. My Dad taught me how to crochet when I was 12, but I've only finished two crocheted projects. Because I get bored easily I'll put it away and then, when I return to it, I have to relearn how to work with the needles. I recently finished knitting a scarf that I began 3 years ago and the width grew by 30% by the time I finished because I didn't bother counting the stitches. Oops!

But I think that craftiness comes with being a stay-at-home mom, or maybe I've been inspired because many of my new friends are so creative. My friend Jillian showed me this book on making toys for your baby. It's based on Waldorf School ideas about creative development. I don't know much about the Waldorf School, but I do know they believe simple toys with fewer details help children develop their imagination. So their patterns are perfect for me because they're not very complicated and if I mess up it just stimulates my son's imagination even more, right?

With that in mind, here are my first attempts: chicks made from yarn fashioned into puff balls.

The one on the left is my first attempt. I think it looks the most like a chick. Aaron says the middle one looks like a Tribble from Star Trek:

The trouble with these is that I haven't figured out how to make them baby-proof because little ones can actually pull out the bits of yarn. Oops. At least I know my son has a developed pincer grasp.

I was most excited about making a knitted sheep. Except I can't remember how to knit, so I crocheted it.

Since I don't really know how to sew, I had trouble following the pattern for making the head shape. I think the neck isn't supposed to be that long. But it turned out pretty cute anyway, kind of like Eeyore. I just didn't expect it to be so big! But see how it doesn't have any markings for the eyes or mouth? That's the sort of plainness that the Waldorf School advocates. Less work for me!

Here are some felt chickens I made. These were a lot of fun -- my clumsy, wide stitches will only promote my son's creative development!

And finally, here's a felt horse. I made up the pattern myself, basing it on the same pattern of the felt chickens. Looks like my imagination is being developed as well!

I should add that LG isn't very interested in any of these toys yet. I tell myself that he's too young for imaginative play. After all, I don't think he really understands what horses or chickens are just yet. He enjoys his plastic blocks more than anything else right now. I'm sure that's developing his imagination just fine. In the mean time, I think I'm going to make him some felt food next. He doesn't know what eggs or carrots really look like, either, but it's fun for me.

Here's the tutorial for the felt food if you're interested: http://lyneya.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/tutorial-felt-banana-in-peel-or-corn-in-husk/

October

October is my favorite month, and not just because my birthday comes at the end of it. I love the colors and the cooler weather. Today we went out to capture the beauty of the fall leaves before they all blow off the trees or get snowed over!

This one reminds me of one we took last year. Oh what a difference a year makes!

Here's LG's first experience with a public swing.
Only after I downloaded these photos did I realize that those pants are navy blue, not black. Oh well.I love the look on his face here. He loves his mama!

Parenting in Public

As someone who was never particularly baby-crazy, it has come as a big surprise to me how much people loooooove babies. They want to coo over them and touch them (which freaks out ol' germaphobe me). Now, I don't deny that my little guy (LG) is absolutely wonderful and adorable, but really.

This week I got some interesting remarks.

1. From the middle-aged cashier in Walgreen's. After she cooed over how adorable he looked, sleeping in his wrap all snuggled against my chest, she said, "You're spoiling him!"

2. From the elderly mason at the Scottish Rite Masonic Center. "He doesn't sleep in your bed, does he? That's a no-no!" I'd like to see him try and transfer LG to his bassinet. It's always easy to give advice when you don't have a squalling infant voting on your behavior.

3. A random mom at the pancake house. "Does he sleep through the night?" When I admitted that he had, he just doesn't do it often, she practically burst into tears. "I need to hug you! You know my pain!" And we commiserated on hearing other parents of little babies talk about how their angels sleep for 12-hour stretches and agreed that they're all lying.

Well, look at this sweet guy. Who wouldn't want to spoil him?

So as much as I would be suited to having a baby who really prefers some alone time, thank you very much, I am going to be taking the long view of infancy. He's only this small for a short amount of time, and if wearing him and snuggling with him in bed (safely!) are spoiling him, then we'll just have to deal with one very spoiled toddler. God help us.

Hiatus over, but I have some things to think about

Coming back to this blog after a respectable 4-month maternity leave, I can't help but laugh at my last post. All I can think is, "Wow, the pregnant woman in that picture had no idea what was coming!"

But before I get back to posting pictures and such, I have a couple of issues to present:

1. My child's privacy. My sister mentioned this to me once. She posts pictures of her kids on her blog, but not their names. She had read something about allowing your children a certain amount of privacy despite your own internet presence. Do I post my baby's pictures here with his name? I have other friends who do that and presumably they don't have any problems. Do I just stick to posting him on Facebook (which Aaron is better about doing -- feel free to friend him if you think you're missing the pics!)?

2. I really, really wish I could sew or knit. Larger swaddling blankets could be done in a jiffy. I could knit that Santa hat that I've always loved so he could wear it in our Christmas cards. Or that pumpkin hat that I love. My sister and I have been saying how important it is to have a tangible skill in this economy, something you can do with your hands because you're all the more employable.

3. I had all sorts of child-rearing theories before my baby was born. I was definitely one of those opinionated childless people who just KNOWS how to raise a child (and I probably owe apologies to all of my friends with children for suffering through any advice I gave, although I hope I didn't do it too often). What happened? Not just the reality of actually raising a child -- the sleep deprivation made me forget all of my ideas I'd gotten from my Psych classes, observing friends, etc. The only thing I remember came friend a friend I made in college. She was a 60-something woman who'd come back to finish her degree after dropping out 40+ years before to get married. She said that her friends spent too much time thinking about all the ways they wanted to be different from their parents, and all that negative focus turned them into their parents. She believed you should remember one way in which you want to emulate your parents and one way in which you don't. That I can handle.

Due Date!

Baby Schiller is due today, Cinco de Mayo! Hopefully it won't be too long now. I'm doing really well, just feeling impatient to finally meet my baby.
Here's the latest picture of me, technically at 39.5 weeks:
I spent a lot of time walking last week to make sure I stay active and to encourage the baby to descend. This caused some concern with some semi-strangers I saw. Now, let me say that as much as I miss my friends in California and the West coast in general, one benefit of not seeing co-workers and friends regularly is I don't hear comments like, "You're HUGE!" and "Wow, haven't you had that baby yet?" (of course, none of my dear friends who read this blog would say those things anyway, right?). ;) However, on Friday, I went out walking and ran into an elderly woman who lives in our building. She took one look at me, laughed, and said, "Oh, bless your heart!" Then we went to the hardware store and an elderly man who works there said, "Get this woman a wheelchair!" I actually thought it was pretty funny. Milwaukee's elderly are concerned!

Now, I've managed to avoid putting cute kitty pictures on this blog of a couple of posts, so I think I'm overdue. How's this for an adorable pic of two of my boys?

And I'm happy to say that my parents have made it to Wisconsin, safe and sound. They brought a ton of baby stuff with them. Here is my father, trying to tell Taco that the stroller is not his new bed.

37 Weeks

Wow! Where has the time gone? April is nearly over. We're almost completely ready, and everything should come together very soon. I've had some minor swelling in my hands and legs, which means I can't wear my wedding ring any more, but at least my shoes still fit! I can still go on my walks, but I try to keep it to less than a half hour and my stamina is quite obviously less than it used to be. I also still sleep through most of the night, but I wake up around 5 a.m., starving! The cats are getting used to a little snack in the wee sma's. Anyway, here I am!I swear my hair looked cuter before I went out on the balcony. It was a gorgeous, but windy day. I heard a weatherman say that winter is over in Wisconsin, but spring isn't quite here. Although I've noticed that Wisconsinites stubbornly abide by the calendar when it comes to the seasons. In California, we used to say that spring arrived when the trees started blooming (or the first Santa Anas hit, whichever happened first). Here in Wisconsin, once the spring equinox has passed, it's spring, even if it's still snowing outside!