Capturing Babyhood

This weekend we hired our wedding photographer for the third time -- to take our family portrait again, now that we're a family of four.  The last time we had family portraits taken was when Nathan was five months old, so in keeping with tradition, we hired Robert again, since Thomas is already (!) five months.  Actually, he's five and a half months. 

In all honesty, I don't know why we don't hire him every year.  I've been taking Nathan for portraits at Walmart each year (I'm sure our photographer would wither up and die if he heard that), and paying an arm and a leg each time.  Some photos came out good and some just okay.  But Robert's photos come out amazing every time, and I love that he shows me what he's getting as he's taking them.  He is such a talented photographer.

It's so important to capture our babies' babyhoods.  They're over so regrettably fast.   In less than two weeks, Thomas will be 6 months old and his babyhood will be half over -- and I'm already feeling sorrowful for it.  Sure, he'll still be baby-ish for close to another year, but how I wish he could stay this little, sweet and innocent (and immobile!) forever.  My heart is already starting to break.

But my mom raised a good point the other day that gave me some perspective.  If babies always stayed babies, we wouldn't cherish this time the way we do.  This really is the best time of my life, even though some days all I feel is the exhaustion, hard work and the balancing act I play each workday. 

I must remember this feeling during those occassional night wakenings that last up to an hour (I know), poop explosions (they're not that bad, really) and the exhausted feeling I usually have these days when I wake up in the morning feeling like I haven't slept at all.  Thomas is such a happy, joyful baby.  I need to capture his babyhood and remember what I'm feeling now forever.  This is what life is all about.

 

Kid's Craft Idea: Colored Rice Art Activity

Nathan's in a fun crafting phase now, and he's eager to try new things.  Although he's getting bored with standard variety crayons, an activity he never seems to get tired of is gluing colored rice to construction paper.  He's getting better at making designs on paper with the glue and I can see his coordination improving when it comes to sprinkling the colored rice on the wet glue.

 

 

 

I dyed all this rice a few months ago to use with Nathan and my friend's kids when they came over for a visit.  Each child got a small plastic cup full of each color: red, yellow, green and blue.  They managed to share one bottle of glue and get colored rice all over my dining room floor.  But, hey, that's what vacuums are for.  I knew in advance it wasn't going to be neat, but also not prohibitively messy.  I like to keep my messes somewhere in the middle.

Now the colored rice has been recycled many times and is of the rainbow variety, no longer in separate cups by color.  Even better!

Here's how I made colored rice for this art activity:

In a small ziptop bag, mix:

1 cup of uncooked white rice
1/2 tsp rubbing alcohol
a few drops of food coloring

Make up a bag for each color.

Mash around until the food coloring is spread evenly throughout.  When it comes to the food coloring, more is better if you want saturated colors.  The first color I tried came out weaker than the others because I was timid with the food coloring for some reason.  Get wild!  Really go for it!

Then spread out the rice on a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet (or counter top, if you don't need the space for something else) to dry.  It's helpful to shake the wax paper before the rice is fully dry to keep it from sticking together and forming clumps.  Even if clumps do form, they're easy to break apart with your fingers.  You could even get your kids to do it.

The alcohol keeps the dye from coming off on your/your kids' fingers, but if their fingers come in contact with the glue and then they touch the rice, all bets are off.  The color will transfer.  FYI.  But it's food grade, so what the hey.

Have fun!  Let me know if you give it a try.  :)

Sewing Tutorial: Baby Sleep Mittens

No matter how much we turn up the heat in the house, our bedroom always feels much colder than the rest of the hosue.  Lots of covers and warm jammies keep us warm, but we have a new roommate. And despite Tommy's layers and warm blanket sleeper, his poor little hands would become ice cubes by the time he woke up next to nurse.

So I made him a pair of baby mittens from an old felted sweater.  Here's how I did it:

I folded my felted wool fabric in half lengthwise and drew a mitten shape with chalk, eyeballing the size.  (If you're smart, you'll either generously trace your baby's hand, or measure the circumference of his wrist, or ideally both.  Eyeballing it wasn't my most shining moment in the fit department, but I was short on time, the baby was asleep and he needed to wear the mittens the same evening.  Sewing time is scant these days!)  I then cut out two of the mitten shapes, keeping in mind the need for a 1/8- to 1/4-inch seam allowance.

 

I cut a piece of elastic about 3/4 the length of the wristband and sewed it to the wrong side of the wristband, stretching it as I sewed.

Next, I folded the mitten in half lengthwise, right sides together and stitched as close to the edge as possible.  Be sure to stitch through the elastic when you get to the wristband, and not alongside it.

Turn mittens right side out and fit them onto your baby's chilly paws.  Hopefully yours fit your baby better than mine do!

Check my night vision -- I love the arms-over-head look.

 

 

Along the same vein, I made a pair of slippers for Nathan using this tutorial from Collecting the Moments. 

 

I used puffy paint to make the bottoms non-slip, or less slip, anyway.  I couldn't get this kid to stand still if I paid him!

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Living our Lives...Sort of

Hi Friends!  It's been a while since I've posted -- thanks for hanging in there!  We welcomed Baby Thomas in early October, and since then we've been living our lives, only differently than before.  You know, with a newborn in our midst.

Tommy was my Easy Baby, making Nathan look rather demanding when he was a newborn.  What a joy!  After about two weeks he had his days and nights sorted out, nursed on his own regular schedule and wasn't very demanding at all.  And once he could see a little further, he was happy to hang out awake, without being held.  Who knew this was even possible?!

But then, about a week ago, Easy Baby turned into Reflux Baby.  Don't get me wrong -- he's still an easy baby, at least from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.  It's the nights that are intermittently difficult, and we're trying different things to help him to feel better and for us (well, me) to get more sleep.  So I've been pretty busy.

But that doesn't mean that no crafting was happening (at least before the reflux).  I sewed Nathan a pair of slippers from an [intentionally] felted wool sweater, made a crayon roll as part of his upcoming birthday present and started sewing Christmas presents for some friends.  I'm also knitting for this fast-growing baby who's already outgrown his newborn hats.  (He's about 12.5 pounds at 6 weeks! Hello, ninety-second percentile!)

By way of Instagrams (my username is kellypatla), here's what I've been up to since Thomas was born:

Nursing - 1 week old

 

Wearing handknits - 13 days old

 
 

Growing extra chins - 2.5 weeks

 
 

Sleeping and wearing handknits simultaneously - 4 weeks

 

  

 

Playing in the sandbox

 

 

Going for walks outside

 

 

Wearing sunglasses at night (like in the song)

 

 

Babywearing in the kitchen

 

 

Drawing with five markers at once. This boy needs a haircut.

 

 

Perfecting my favorite carry -- the front wrap cross carry -- while celebrating cute bear slippers and wearing my Favorite Sweatshirt of All Time.

Being handsome and sweet, respectively

 

 

Being so rediculously cute it almost hurts. While wearing handknits.

 

 

Finger painting like a champ.  Wow, he really needs a haircut.

 

 

Wondering when the next meal will be. This is the look that asks, "You're going to feed me now, right?"  Easy.  God, I love him.

 

 

 

So, what have you been up to during the last six weeks?

 

P.S. If anyone has had success soothing a reflux-y baby, I'm all ears. Please share your tips!

P.P.S. Thanks for reading.

 

He's Here!

Finally, eight days past his estimated due date, our new baby arrived a week ago!

Please help us welcome Thomas Anthony, 8 lbs 9 oz, 21" long, happy and healthy. We're thrilled he's finally here and very happy and satisfied with our birth experience.

He's fitting in here at the Patla household (the requirements are simple: eat, sleep and poop) and we're adjusting to being a family of four with help from my mom and my mother-in-law.

 

 

I'm quite aware that I owe you all the final reveal on Tommy's nursery, and hope to do it soon. Until then we'll be babymooning while we have help around the house and doing lots of snuggling with our sweet boys.

For a steady stream of new baby photos, find me on Instagram -- my username is kellypatla. If you don't have a smart phone, you can see many of the photos on my facebook page.

Thank you for all your well wishes!

A Boy and His First Honey Stick

Happy Friday!