Flashback Friday

Me (S), P, A, N

Exactly eleven year ago today, this was me and three of my friends in my freshman dorm room. It was the weekend before finals were going to begin and we were taking a moment to relax and as you can see we went all out. Us four girls were known (to each other) as S.N.A.P. we created this acronym/nickname for each other because we had been accused on our hall of 26 girls of being a click by a select few individuals and so we decided 'click' we didn't have enough people to spell that ;-) so we became SNAP - I still have the key chain with the little block letters spelling it out.

The real question... are we still friends? Well we are all Facebook friends now. N and SAP had a falling out our junior year, after a far too close living quarters with five girls. It was all very passive aggressive on all of our parts. Then P got married and slowly disappeared, after we graduated conversations were sporadic, she came to my wedding (as did A) and I literally did not hear from her until last year when she joined Facebook (five years time gone by.) A and I have stayed the closest. We lived together for three years, even moving into our first apartment together the summer before our senior year. After that A moved out on her own and we remained friends (better friends than roomies!) I ran into N at our 5 year reunion and we got to chatting again and through Facebook and blogging we've reconnected So are we still friends? We don't plan get togethers or send each other Christmas presents, but we do keep in touch and stay up to date with what is going on in each other's lives. And I certainly would not trade any of the memories we have from our freshman and sophomore year shenanigans. These girls truly made my college experience what it was: Amazing!

Wordless Wednesday

Teething Sucks

Power of a Purse

I love purses. In fact I love them more than shoes. Although shoes are a very close second. But I love myself a good handbag - and I have a few, ok a lot too many. Since having Ace though there are many that I just can't use. Sure I could break them out for the one afternoon I get a little freedom without the boy. Sure I could carry my cute purse and a diaper bag. Sure I could save them until I am through with the diaper carrying phase of life (and for a select few dozen, I am.) However, for 9 of my bags, it's time for them to find a new home. Last year I sold at least a dozen when I had a yard sale - and planned to do a similar purge again this summer at another yard sale - and then upon one of my strolls through the internet I happened across Mother's & More.

Every year they have a campain - Power of a Purse. According to their website:

The Power of a Purse Mother’s Day Campaign is designed to raise awareness of mothers’ economic issues through the act of collecting new or gently used purses for mothers in need. The purse symbolizes a woman's economic power, something we wish for all women, especially mothers in need. No matter where a mother is on the social ladder, there is “power in her purse” having money of her own to control, to buy things and provide for herself and her children. Mothers & More’s goal is to collect 10,000 purses for mothers in need this Mother’s Day.

Mothers & More chapters around the country are organizing Power of a Purse campaigns in their communities. Each chapter is collecting new or gently used purses this Mother’s Day season. Our chapters have partnered with organizations that directly impact the daily lives of mothers in need to receive the collected purses and, in some cases, items to go into those purses and events to celebrate the power of those purses.

And I thought what a great cause - my purses certainly can be loved by someone else less fortunate than me, and I don't need to recoop $1 at a yard sale for them because of it. Unfortunataly there is only one location in the Northwest, but it was worth the trek to deliver the bags. The bags that are donated for this campaign from this chapter will be going to benefit a center for battered women.

If you are interested in donating some of your purses to this cause, click here to find a chapter of Mother's & More near you.

Bye bye, purses! You will be missed!

A Baby's Hat **UPDATED**

It's been a while since I've posted something crafty, so when better than a happy *sunny!* Sunday morning to do so? There are many many babies being born around me! In fact since 2010 began 2 have been born, 3 have continued to cook, 3 more have been announced! Yep seven of my friends are or have been recently pregnant (one friend, Dana is carrying twins.) Lots and lots of joy is all around - and I really like to make something personal for each of my friends. However, I also needed something that was a bit faster on the creation side of things. With 6 more babies on the way - goodness that's a lot of crafting. :)

So I went on the hunt for something cute and my first stop was Ravelry.com - which if you have not heard of this website - it is a must for every knitter and crocheter out there. There is a lot you can do with the site from storing project ideas, to posting progress of your own. I find that it is an excellent site to find GREAT free patterns - and so I went on the hunt for a baby hat. I wanted something a bit different than the standard beanie - and I found a fellow crocheter that had a great pattern. Sorry, I can't post it directly on here - because she asked nicely for us not to, but here is the link to her Ravelry page. I think you have to join to view it - but it is really worth it, I promise!

This hat, after I got the pattern down, takes only a few hours. I usually can complete it within one day - depending on Ace's independence. I made a prototype using not 'baby' yarn - and it turned out great. Here is Kyler modeling it for me in the 'newborn' or 'small' size. It actually worked really well to keep the sun out of his eyes. I call that a successful design!

After I established that I had made it 'long' enough for a newborn - I then moved onto the yarn that I had bought specifically for this project: Bernat Softee Baby Yarn in Mango - ultimately I would not use this again for this project. While it turned out ok - a denser yarn that I used for the prototype would be far superior - so that's my learned tip with this project. Find a thicker yarn!

I chose to make Carrie's little girl a 'medium' hat - since she'll be born in June in So Cal. Not much need for a hat in the summer months there. I also made a tiny newborn hat using the same pattern, but I left off the brim of the hat - and I used Bernat Soft Boucle Yarn in Soft Rose. This yarn worked out great for a little newborn beanie! I was actually happier with that hat than my originally intended project. However, I gave Carrie the brimmed hat anyway - although I think I'll make her another one with thicker yarn too :) The pattern also has instructions on how to make a little flower to add to it - and I find it to be just darling. My bear as a model looked pretty cute with it on.


Updated on 7/1/10 - Baby Avery sporting the 'Soft Rose' infant hat I made.

Twenty Months Old

 Ace is twenty months old today. He is an extremely happy boy, who likes to jump on his bed, point out airpeens (airplanes), and who surprises us daily with new words that he's learned.

Ace's vocabulary continues to surprise us on an almost daily basis. Words that he used to say with his own 'spin' to them like 'Booma' are almost completely formed now into 'bana' (banana.) In fact I technically missed that transformation. Yes, for the first time since Ace was born - I left the state - without him. He stayed with his dad for the weekend, while I went to Cali to surprise a friend for her baby shower. He did great and while I was missed, it was not a tragedy that I was gone. Also this past month he got to have his first sleepover at Gran and PopPop's house! We were all a bit unsure how he'd handle it - but he did great! He's growing up!

He has definitely started to eat better this month, but actual packing on the pounds seems to still elude him. Not sure if it cause for concern just yet, but we're watching him. He still seems healthy, happy and overly full of energy so we're not worried. :) But he's eating full force now and averages about 1000 calories a day - which is SO much better than he was doing. Some days we even near 1300, but those days are more rare. He loves bananas! And he also loves oatmeal. He's gotten so excited about oatmeal, it is often his first word when he awakens. One morning he got out of our bed, scampered downstairs and the husband and I listened as he opened the pantry door, slid the chair over to the pantry, got down the box of oatmeal and brought a packet upstairs to us - all the while chanting 'oatmeal' - apparently he wanted to eat some. ;-) He also is a HUGE fan of yogurt - and we buy the fattest that we can find.

Ace also weened from breastfeeding shortly after he turned 19 months old. It was a struggle for about a week - but afterwards he caught on that there was no more mama milk and now it doesn't even cross his mind... and I still feel loved - so I feel that we are successfully weened.

Sleep continues to improve bit by bit. He now consistently is sleeping at least 5 hours a night before waking and coming into our room - and has one other time slept through the night (9.25 hours) so he's doing better and I think is getting more comfortable sleeping in his own bed.

His canine teeth are nearly ready to come in and so that has been bothering him the last few weeks. One of them has broken through the surface and the other three aren't far behind.

Terrible Twos and the pushing of independent boundaries are in full force around here. While he seems to have mostly moved on from bashing his forehead into the ground when he's tantruming - he's gone a new route in order to seek trouble and that is destruction. Yes, yesterday he was in rare (thank the Lord!) form when he made several messes, and destroyed a strand of pearls. Nothing that's irreparably damaged but still it made for one icky morning yesterday.

Ace is doing really well playing with others and still loves his friend 'Bria' (Sabria) - they play well together - and Ace also loves to hug his new friend 'Bebe' (Kyler, Sabria's brother.) It's really cute to watch them all interact together. Ace also really likes kitchen things. He loves to cook, and help us cook. I found a good Craigslist find of the Little Tikes BBQ - and he's been having a blast with that (no worries, pictures to come soon!)

He continues to enjoy swim lessons, those started back up this week. He's graduated into the next class level - and once again is the only boy. Although this session he's one of the youngest rather than being one of the older kids. He's still having a blast! He also enjoys his trips to the library, and now that he's a little older, we might even try Toddler Reading Time. Regardless though, he really loves the computer that is there for him to play with.

We are all looking forward to the sun being out more and allowing Ace some good outside run around time. He's going to be a very busy boy this summer.

Flashback Friday

Four years ago Carrie moved from one place to another over her birthday weekend and I drove from So Cal to help her. I also bought and paid for her birthday present! Yep for her birthday, I got Carrie her tattoo! :) I had mine for three years at this point and she had been wanting the one she got for nearly as long, so after lots of moving and all sorts of other weekend fun - she got her tattoo! Yep I'm contribuiting to the delinquency of my friends. :) We had a great time even though we were WORN OUT! So in honor of a new decade that is rapidly approaching: Happy Birthday, Carrie! (a tad early)

My baby boy

It is hard to believe that my son on Saturday will be 20 months old. Only a mere four months away from his second birthday! How did this happen? Where does the time go? Wasn't he just four months old snoozing in his sling?

I've been doing some spring cleaning around here slowly but surely and return some borrowed items that I used while Ace was a baby. Although when Ace saw the sling he repeated over and over "in, in, in" and then he finally got his way when he signed "please" - how can I argue with that... and well look how happy he was!