Wednesday, September 14, 2005

Crafty Mama

Well, I just finished 5,000 cloth gift bags for a sewing swap I'm contributing to. All right, it was only 33 bags, but I am so glad to be done!!! I want to make some kids items for the swap as well. I'm hoping to make some crayon rolls using the directions from this site.
Waldorf crafts are so so so cool.

I really enjoy sewing. I just need to slow down and worry more about turning out good things than turning out a ridiculous number of things. I'm really happy with how the bags turned out and I've made Miriam a few outfits lately that I'm truly proud of. Now, I just need to tackle some baby clothing and some diapers and I'll be ready for the coming of the second and third wave of Newswanger babies.

My goal for 2006--To make all summer clothes for the kids (except for things they receive from others as gifts or hand-me-downs).

Speaking of hand-me-downs. Miriam is set for fall thanks to my wonderful Aunt Sheryl, who passes down all the clothing her girls outgrow. The clothes are cute and in super good shape. Sheryl must be a laundry goddess b/c Miriam's clothes get stained so easily (of course that might have more to do with her tendency to make art projects out of all her food. Including marshmallows.)

Short story--Alex puts on his own shoes almost everyday. He often gets them on the wrong feet, but he LOVES to have his shoes on and is determined to do it himself. Anyway, after nap yesterday he came downstair in just a t-shirt and diaper...but he had his shoes on! I wish that I could type the way he talks b/c it's so so cute sometimes. Since he doesn't say consonants most of the time, it can be pretty funny, too. He has sponge bob sandals that someone gave him. We don't watch TV here, but he must know sponge bob from his foster hom, b/c he says "spuh bah".

I love that little man!

Tuesday, September 13, 2005

Poop in the Potty. Poop goes in the Potty

Oh, yeah. Nothing like a good Poopsmith Song. Ya gotta check out Over the Rhine's website to hear the music, but we've been singing this song a little too often in our house. But you know what? It's working! Alex has been telling us for 3 days when he has to go potty. I honestly never imagined how excited I would be about my child's potty training! Go, Alex!!

Miriam is intrigued, too, and often asked to try after Alex is done. Positive peer pressure, case in point.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

How did it know??

You Are Likely a First Born

At your darkest moments, you feel guilty.
At work and school, you do best when you're researching.
When you love someone, you tend to agree with them often.

In friendship, you are considerate and compromising.
Your ideal careers are: business, research, counseling, promotion, and speaking.
You will leave your mark on the world with discoveries, new information, and teaching people to dream.

There is no shadow of turning...

I learned to spin this weekend. I *love* it. I'm telling people the creation of my own little ball of yarn is second only to giving birth to my kids. I'll post pics when I get a chance to upload.

I'm reading a book by Chuck Klosterman and it's getting *really* hard to finish it; but I feel like I'm watching a train wreck--I'm disgusted and intrigued at the same time. I have to finish it. And so I will...but If I start using ANYWAY or saying a) this and b) that, you have the right to call me on it.

I guess I'm over the whole self-absorbed memoir books where the author seems to be in love with how well he can use puns and how cannily he can make fun of others (or himself) and how doing drugs must make him cool or trendy or something. I'd rather read blogs.

And frankly, I'm not so sure I can trust a guy who falls in and out of love so readily and then compares his loves to the members (or hangers on) of KISS.

In other news, Noah was fussing today and when I went to check on him I saw that he had managed to get out of the infant carseat, turn over, and get across the carpet to his toys. That is one determined 5 month old.

My grandma is in the hospital again. They think she has pneumonia and has had a stroke. My dad found her lying on the floor of her apartment this morning.

My daughter keep making huge leaps in her conversation skills. She amazes me. She remembers things from weeks ago; she memorizes and "reads" her books to herself; she tells me long stories about her day--She only just turned 2! Yes, I am her mother and Yes, I am aware of the bias that presents, but I think she rocks.

Alex loves to laugh and loves to make others laugh. He obsessed with cars. When we come out of the store, I always ask the kids where our car is, and Alex always finds it right away. However, recently he's been making a little joke of pointing out all the cool cars he'd rather have and saying "OUR car!" HA.

Thursday, September 01, 2005

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can. . .

Tonight was better than this afternoon. This afternoon was better than last night. Hopefully it will continue to get better by degrees and I won’t go completely insane. Both the toddlers are going through an intense “mama” stage—to the point that “Daddy” won’t even do! It makes nap and bedtimes almost impossible, but Alex allowed Chris to put him to bed tonight and Miriam fell asleep really quickly. All three of our kids were asleep in bed (except Noah was downstairs on the floor!) by 9:30. Miracles do happen.

I got so frustrated with Alex today that I finally just put him in his room for nap and walked away. I was at an anger point I do not wish to get to again. However, I managed to talk nicely to him and get him calmed down a bit before I walked away. He was still fussing, but he fell asleep pretty quickly. It’s so hard to have a going-on-three-year-old who is basically non-verbal. And since he’s only been with us for 3 months, we haven’t learned all his ways of communicating. That’s getting better, too, though.

Sometimes I wish that my mom or someone lived with me and could be home with me every day helping out. Oh, how clean my house would be! How nice it would be for each toddler to have an adult to hold them! Well, I’ll make it work; I always do. Some day we’ll look back at these first days and think “Thank Goodness that’s over…thank God we got through it!”