2008 September | All My Loose Ends

Archive for September 29, 2008

29 Sep 2008

Today feels like fall.

It does. The air is crisp and it was gray and damp. It was cool in the house and we closed down the windows and left them closed almost all day. We wore long pants and socks and shoes again (though I know we’re sure to have another warm snap coming before long because that’s just how it is in the mid-west). Littlebit went to school without shoes, but I carried her to keep her from walking in the cold, damp grass and as it is wont to do here in the fall, the car was covered with so much dew this morning it looked like it had rained.

So, I made Halloweeny things….

These little cuties are paper mache hats from Oriental Trading which, if you are a scrapbooking sort, has tons of cute little alterable goodies. The Princess was thrilled that there was a mama sized hat, a Littlebit sized hat and Princess sized hat. THe first hat took a while to figure out angles and stuff, but the other two went together quickly. I used papers from Tinkering Ink, 7 Gypsies and Chatterbox and whatever embellishments seemed to fit. I used regular scrapbook adhesive, but will probably put a layer of mod podge or gesso over them to seal them. I think my favorite is the Littlebit sized hat. It’s just sort of sweet and whimsical, like her.

You’ll notice, of coruse, the extra bling on the Princess’s hat. That’s her too.

And, since it was fall like, we had this for dinner

It’s not my recipe, but if you want to make it, you can find the recipe here. It was so good and just what the doctor ordered on the first truly cool day of the year.FWIW, I did not do this in the crock pot, but in the oven for 3 hours at 300 degrees. It was perfect. I also halved the recipe too as we didn’t really need 10 servings.

As an aside, are you participating in Ali Edward’s A Week in the Life project? If not, consider it. Even if you don’t scrapbook.

Jamie | No comments

23 Sep 2008

LittleBit • Tied Up

That Explains a Few Things

For the past few days, dealing with Littlebit has been an draining exercise. Big Daddy and I often look at each other in abject desperation several times a day as LIttlebit melts down. Sleeping has been a nightmare, naps are sparse and difficult.

This morning, Littlebit cried out at 5:30 and her voice sounded deep and barky. You’ve guessed it right, Moms, Littlebit has croup. Last winter, between November and New Year’s Eve, Littlebit had croup three times complete with two trips to the ER and one fantic night spent alternating between warm showers and exposures to the night air in an attempt to NOT have to visit the ER again.

Thankfully, our flex spending account is full o’ cash so the perscription payments and doctor’s office co-pays are easy to manage and hopefully Littlebit will be on the mend soon without any frightening episodes tonight.

I know a few first time Moms who worried about croup and how to tell if their little one had croup. What I can say is, like smelling pot, you KNOW it’s croup when you hear it. (You know how sometimes you smell something and wonder if it’s pot, but when you actually smell pot there’s no doubt, well, that’s croup). Your little one will have a barking, seal like cough. There’s just no other way to describe it. Seasoned moms and new moms who experience croup for the first time agree. You won’t miss it.

So, we’ll go to bed with apprehension tonight hoping the antibiotics and steroids little bit is on will be enough to keep her from gasping and wheezing this evening. Cross your fingers!

As an aside, Littlebit is on Azithromycin, Liquid. Littlebit is particularly resiliant about taking medications and will take oral steroids without batting an eyelash, but the Azithromycin tastes so bad that she drools copiously, gags and shivers every time we’ve tried to give it to her. Big Daddy has a call in to the pharmacist to find out WHY it tastes so bad (We’ve been parents for eight years and I’ve nevah had a kid complain about oral antibiotics. They don’t taste great, but they’re tolerable). Not even mixing it with cranberry juice is taking away the sting for little bit.

Jamie | No comments

15 Sep 2008

Big Happenings • LittleBit • She's Crafty! She gets around!

Littlebit is TWO!

This past week revolved around Littlebit’s impending birthday. We ordered food, planned decorations and favors and sat in restless anticipation of her big day Friday and big party day on Saturday.

Of course, thanks to hurricanes in other parts of the world (where people are experiencing far more devastation than a rained on party) we had a rained on party. I spent the morning half hysterical that it would be too wet to have the party in the park pavilion and even if we did, I feared no one would show.

Big Daddy made some phone calls and reassured me and we all had a very nice day.

Please excuse the icing stain. This is a leftover favor box

. The boxes were dollar store finds ($1 for 12 favor boxes) and I tied them with pink ribbon leftover from LIttlebit’s coming home outfit.

Inside were “party blowers” (so dubbed by the Princess) and a set of royal finger puppets.

These were made out of fleece on an embroidery sewing machine from an adorable pattern from Sewing for Sarah. The download might seem a bit pricey, and for my six sets the favors worked out to about $10 each (even with my $1 favor boxes) but the patterns are reusable and I estimate you could easily make a set of 12 puppets out of only 1/4yd of fleece (watch for sales at Joann’s if you’re interested. ‘Tis the season for fleece on sale). I love them because not only do they encourage imaginative play, but they’re machine washable.

It really was a great day for Littlebit and we really rung in her second birthday in a way that not only suited her, but made her totally happy.

Jamie | No comments

11 Sep 2008

Tied Up

It’s That Time Again

No, not LIttlebit’s birthday, though that shines brightly on tomorrow’s horizon. No, it’s September 11th again.

For many years after 9/11, I would experience dread leading up to the day it happened. I was in mourning for what had happened and probably had a healthy dash of PTSD on top of it all. Big Daddy was working for United Airlines at the time and when he told me, in his calm, even voice that the airline was “missing planes’ my heart dropped out of my feet. I begged him to come home as he was working on airport grounds and as the planes crashed in New York and Washington and Pennsylvania, I feared they were moving west, towards us and our city and our airport and him.

Big Daddy, the Princess and I spent the day with BIg Daddy’s uncle. His cousin was a marine reservist and we didn’t want Big Daddy’s uncle to be alone, pondering what the next step could have been for his son (oddly enough, the cousin in question was never deployed and managed to successfully exit the military a few years ago after serving his term). We had just moved into our house a scant two weeks before and I was just a month into a new job. I called to determine if I should go into work. I was afriad to be away from Big Daddy and the Princess and it seemed to me like the world had stopped.

The phone calls that day were nearly constant as people called to check on Big Daddy. He sometimes flew out for day trips for work and they were concerned that somehow he could have been on one of those planes.

The sadness I felt was so intense. I can’t even give it a name. The tragedy so big and immeasureable, that I still couldn’t really give it justice through my words. I’ll never be able to.

After a few years of grief as the date drew close and on the date itself, I decided that I wasn’t doing that anymore. I could still be sorry, still remember, but I was done wringing myself out emotionally over the t.v. and the 9/11 coverage. I couldn’t do it anymore. I wouldn’t do it anymore.

I’ll never forget that day. I’ll never forget the horror as I was feeding the Princess lunch two days later, once flights had resumed, and two fighter planes went supersonic over our house to catch an aircraft putting out distress signals from an unruly passenger. But while I won’t forget, I can’t go there, mentally, anymore. For a dozen reasons or more.

Jamie | No comments

10 Sep 2008

Photos