ten. eleven. twelve.

Dear blog,

I have someone very special for you to meet (finally!).

{Six hours old, in mama's arms for the first time!}

{With proud daddy and smitten big sister, Azalea.}

{At home, three days old}

{Hello, beautiful.}

{Sweet baby head.}


{three weeks old}

{follow me on Instagram}

Little Cedar joined our family on October 11, 2012, and you know what?  He fits right in.

I've been spending the last three weeks writing blog posts in my head about what it is like to have Cedar around.  Trying to come up with the words to describe the feel of a newborn's head against your cheek.  Composing lines about the crazy cycle of feeding, changing, swaddling, napping, eating, showering, and repeating.  Considering complaining about how nursing hurts like the dickens but is somehow bearable and seems to be getting better. And wondering how to explain this weird thing that Cedar does where he eats, gets swaddled, and then falls asleep? Can you even imagine?  Honestly sometimes it has me stumped.  You should also hear about the way Azalea loves her little brother; especially the way she talks to him as if he is the same age as her, and the way she rushes over to show him something important whenever he opens his eyes.

I guess what I'm trying to say is...my heart is terribly full, and words really don't do this mom gig justice.

Until next time friends,

Miranda

Happy News

Happy Monday friends!  This morning I have some news for you that honestly, I should have told you weeks ago.  I hope you'll forgive me for the delay considering how totally rad this news is:

Baby Boy Walker, due October 2012!

Jet-Puffed

You know those giant marshmallows? The really big ones that are approximately the size of your fist? Or two of your kid's fists? So, would I qualify as a bad mother if my child ate one (perhaps two) of said marshmallows everyday?

Yeah, I thought so.

I wish I could tell you that I think marshmallows are gross and that I can't stand eating all of the puffy sugar. Nope. I love 'em. I would probably finish the bag of them before Z could get her hands on them if I hadn't recently turned 30 and started practicing being an adult and showing a little restraint.

Incidentally, it takes approximately NO pleading from Z at the grocery store to get me to buy a bag:

Z: Whoa. Those marshmallows are really big mommy!

Me: Oh, okay fine. We can get them.

Me: Do you want the giant ones or the heart shaped one?

Me: Or both?

Z: Both!

Me: Okay!

And then one day Z was trying to fall asleep waaaay later than is acceptable for her to fall asleep if bedtime isn't going to be the worst so I tried to keep her awake by offering her a marshmallow! What kind of mom does that? A desperate one who knows the power of a big freakin' mallow that's who. It didn't matter anyway. She just ate it with her eyes closed and went back to sleep. A feat I decided was a possibly useful talent.

On a related note: Z-cakes has recently started saying "dude" much to her parent's approval. She demonstrates excellent inflection and consistently appropriate use. For example:

Z-cakes: Dude, mom! Look at those marshmallows!

Me: Dude, Z. They're peppermint!

Z-cakes: Dude. We should buy those.

Me: Okay!

Halloween Preview

So, maybe I was up late last night hand sewing a zipper into this costume after I realized I didn't have a zipper foot for my machine. And perhaps I was frantically hand sewing the hem five minutes before it was time to be at the library for trick-or-treating (which, by the way, Z-cakes calls "taking treating"). But the important part is that this little girl is wearing a costume that her mama made. And when she tells people she is Cinderella she curtsies.

And my buttons are bursting.

Two Weeks of Summer

Good morning friends! How are you? I've missed you!

{presents from China}

On Tuesday N8tr0n returned home from a two week business trip to China. You didn't know he was gone? Well to be honest, I try to keep our comings and goings quiet on this space just in case of would-be serial killers. You understand I'm sure. Anyway, N8tr0n's absence is why things have been so quiet around here; that is, I've pretty much spent the last two weeks doing whatever Z-cakes wants to do as an attempt to survive being a single parent. Writing blog posts was not on her agenda if you can believe it. Also, N8tr0n took my ipod. Which means no easy pictures (since I am suddenly way to lazy to carry my giant camera around which must weigh what, at least a pound? Way too heavy for summer). Which means no easy posts. So while we were having our all-the-time-girls'-party at our house, I made sure to make note of the unphotographed moments. Here are a few of them:


:: Going to the farmer's market and every other used/thrift store within walking distance the first day N8tr0n was gone.
:: Popcorn + apples for dinner (I really think I'm on to something with that combination).
:: A trillion Otter Pops eaten on the front porch.
:: Driving to Salmon to hang out with our friends (more on this later).
:: Jen and me both sleeping through Cars 2 while our girls ate gallons of popcorn.
:: Z's frozen yogurt topped with: Andes mints, Butterfinger, Swedish Fish, Jelly Beans, Jimmies, and Marshmallows (I think she's getting the hang of the "self serve" setup).
:: Z playing on the swings with Grandpa Ken for hours.
:: Swimming at Indian Springs and having an ice cream sandwich for dinner.
:: Talking to N8tr0n via Skype (because the Internet is awesome).
:: Watching Tangled nearly everyday.

Whew. It was a long couple of weeks you guys. For some reason time seems to pass slower when N8tr0n is gone. But now he's back! And all is right with the world.

What have you been up to in the last two weeks? Do you love the dog days of summer or are you just getting by? Oh! And Happy Friday!

BFF

So last night I was sitting in the basement watching So You Think You Can Dance on Hulu because that is what I do in the summer. As I watched I whipped up another set of matching friendship bracelets for me and Z-cakes. I also thought about how she had insisted that I paint her fingernails the same color as mine. That is when it occurred to me:

Z-cakes is totally my best friend. Even though I'm a friend who sometimes has to put the other friend in time out or tell her to take a bath or a nap.

I know you can't see the colors of the bracelet very well with this picture but can you see the brown? It is a rusty brown that I never would have put in a bracelet in a million years. But that is the color that Z-cakes chose and when she makes a decision, it sticks. Turns out the color works perfectly and Z-cakes is probably cooler and more color savvy than I'll ever be.

Happy Friday friends! If you want to make a bracelet for your BFF you can find the beautiful tutorial/refresher here.

So. You know. Stuff.

This week by some crazy random happenstance I've gone and become a speech pathologist again. A dear friend of mine needed a little vacation so for the next two weeks I am doing therapy via the internet because you guys, the internet is amazing. As if I have to tell you that, right?

While I am working my articulation magic, my little #1 is off visiting her grandparents. Can you imagine? An entire week without my child at home? I spent days imagining all the things I would get done before and after work. I daresay I assumed I would be able to decorate the entire house in four short days! Clean the bathroom! Paint the living room! Save lives!

Here's how Monday (which was a half day of work) went down:

7:30—wake up
shower
eat breakfast
get ready
do laundry
load dishwasher
sweep living room
clean bedroom
fold laundry
read blogs
write emails

And by the time I got all that done it was....9:30.

What? I got all of that done in 2 hours? Holy Crap! The world is mine! I am so PRODUCTIVE!

And then, here's what happened: I quit. I stopped getting stuff done because honestly? I could not think of a single thing to do. The house was too quiet. I had done too much in a two-hour stretch. It's like I had overloaded my capacity for accomplishment for one day and I was just done. Suddenly, I was B.O.R.E.D.

My dearest Z-cakes,

I love you. And even though you decrease my productivity exponentially when you are around, it is totally worth it to hear your tiny voice singing and your little feet clip clopping around in your princess shoes all the live long day. Have fun at grandma's and then come home and hang out with me. You are my favorite.

Love,

Mom

To be needed

"Mommy! Could you come upstairs?"

Z-cakes yelled from the kitchen.

"Sure sweetie! What do you need?"

"You!"

How we get through February

Please to enjoy a few scenes from this month's Crafternoons.

And here I was thinking I had too many craft supplies? Sheesh. What was I thinking? A few more words about how Crafternoon came to be a little later.

In blogging news: I announced the winner of the knitting book giveaway last night. You should go see if you're the winner!

She says

And so suddenly she's THREE. How can this be? Literally over night she is talking like a three year old, doing things by herself like a three year old, sleeping in a giant bed like a three year old.

{With remnants of Dilly bar. Though it doesn't really matter what it is because I pretty much can't keep her face clean ever, the end.}

I suppose you could argue that these changes have been creeping up a little bit at a time, developing here and there as many milestones are wont to do. But I'm going to have to disagree with you on that. It's like she knew that she turned three. Suddenly I go downstairs to get the laundry out of the dryer and when I come back she's gotten out the stamps by herself and started Crafternoon without me! I was almost temped to ask her to drive to Fred Meyer to pick up some milk for crap's sake.

Here's another list of things she says for you. The three-year-old edition:

When she wakes up in the morning she say, "Can you take my diaper off and I can have breakfast?"

When there is a lull in the action she says, "Can I watch a movie on the puh-cuter?"

When I get dressed in the morning she says, "You're lookin' good mommy!"

When we eat dinner she takes two bites and says, "Can I be done now?"

When she bumps her head she still wants to call it a "two-head" but she thinks about it first and says, "I hurt my forehead."

When we get out of the car to go into a store she says, "Should we run?"

Her favorite book is Chrysanthemum so all day long she says, "I'm like Chrysanthemum, I'm absolutely perfect!"

(Also Chrysanthemum) she says, "The day I was born was the happiest day of my parent's lives."

When I tell her to stay by me she says, "I'm not going anywhere!"

When she wants chap stick she says, "I want lips!"

Every ten minutes she says, "I want to do stamps!"

She calls Buzz Lightyear "Buzz Right Here."

When something doesn't work she says, "I want to try again again!"

When we get in the car she says, "Oh no! The Big Bad Wolf! I left him behind!"

When she puts on her princess stuff she says, "I'm a princess! Princess mommy, do you have your shoes and your crown and your purse?"

When she plays the "guess which hand" game she says, "Picky hand!"

One time when she was watching golf with grandpa she said, "I like that guy's orange shirt." And I was like, holy crap! That was like, a complete thought with an opinion and stuff. AND, that actually is a nice orange shirt!

When we tell her we love her, she still says, "I wuv you too." And then our hearts break into a million pieces and we collapse on the floor dead from love.


We love you sweet Z, and we think you're absolutely perfect too.




Psst! Today is the last day to enter the really cool giveaway!

There's a dollar store right down the street

In case you were wondering, three days in and February is already the kick in the pants rockin' party that I knew it would be. That is, if your kind of party includes an almost three year old who is totally okay with peeing on the potty but is absolutely no-way-no-how doing that other thing on the potty, nuh-uh. (Not even for another handful of marshmallows like she got that one time she did that one thing. How could that not work? My psychological expertise obtained in PSYCH 101 tells me that should work!) Do your parties include one of those? Mine sure does!

Anyway, I came to tell about the fun new thing we do called Crafternoon. I shall begin with our trip to: The Dollar Store.

You should probably know that for the last 10 years of my adult life I have boycotted dollar stores. And why is that? Well, I'll tell you. I don't honestly know. I mean, I thought for a while that they were maybe quietly taking over the world? Because they seem to rapidly multiply? And we could stop here and get into a long discussion about the unfounded fears I have of things that are taking over the world but I think it would be best if we just press on.

Okay. Dollar Store.

We needed some cold weather, staying in the house, cheap, craft supplies. And Go Fish cards. And so we drove to the nearest dollar store (which is quite near) (which I may use as evidence in my case about their world domination) and thus threw another crumpled soap box onto my ever growing heap of withering scruples. We started by strolling down the aisle of Valentine Decor where lo and behold a package of sparkly pink heart wands JUST like the ones Z's friend Brynlee had at her house! But we had to have them! THIS is where you find sparkly pink wands? I had no idea! And tell me, how is it that I have been a mother for three years and had no idea the affordable and enchanting wares that a dollar store possesses? How?

We left the Dollar Store with a package of wands, a pack of heart doilies, and a pack of the cheapest Go Fish cards my nimble fingers have ever tried (tried being the key word here) to shuffle.

We had to go to Fred Meyer for watercolors and they were not a dollar.

We returned to our house and got Crafternoon started with a quick three year old game of totally-lose-it-and-cry-in-the-entryway-because-I-don't-need-a-reason-why. Z-cakes was the winner. Her reward: hot chocolate and a wand on the big rocker.

{sad}

But then! The real party started. It's called Crafternoon and it will be running all month long. Stop by if you're in the area.

{does that coloring page look familiar?}

N8tr0n has this unspoken policy about not letting glitter pass the threshold of this house. So, you know, maybe don't mention this to him.

Also, Crafternoons with Z-cakes are the best. That girl is a natural at "gwu and gwitter."

The End.

A rare moment

The house we're renting has a room at the end of the hall with another funny little room attached to it. I say funny because it is more like a giant walk-in-closet with a window. The owners used it as a bedroom and we do too. The larger room connected to it is my craft room and Z-cakes' play room. I've had a heck of a time organizing it, and most days it is such a mess that neither one of us can step foot inside. But once in a while, there are days like this:

And on days like this I sit and think about how dreams really do come true.

What are you up to today? I'm going out of town to shop with my mom and Z-cakes. Number one on my list of things to do? Go to Target. Because my town doesn't have one. I know. No, it's okay, you can mourn for me. I welcome your pity.

Also, in case you're wondering, Z-cakes doesn't really ever wear pants. Unless we're going to a store. And then... grudgingly.

Banana Bites

Warning: I'm going to ask you a series of questions. If you answer NO to any of the following questions, this activity is probably not for you. Consider yourself warned.

1. Do you have a bunch of bananas that are quickly approaching the banana bread stage?

2. Do you have a cupboard full of little bags of chopped nuts, coconut, toffee chips, and cookies?

3. Are you okay with your toddler eating fistfuls of the toppings listed above?

4. Are you okay with your kitchen floor and table becoming a disaster zone?

Still here? Awesome. I knew you would be. Let's get started.

There have been plenty of days this summer when I feel like I've spent all day trying to organize our house. Which means that Z-cakes has spent way too much time watching TV. It doesn't help that the PBS station here has a killer lineup in the morning (with the exception of Sid). It also doesn't help that it has been hot enough outside that Z-cakes prefers the company of the ceiling fan over the scorching temperature of her mini trampoline.

When Rachel sent me this link for Banana Bites I knew immediately that Z-cakes would loooove helping me make them. I figured it would pull her away from the TV for a solid 15 minutes at least.

Our toppings included peanuts, toffee chips, toasted coconut, and chopped Oreos. Now that I think about it, I think we used the exact same toppings suggested in the link. I used the microwave to melt 1 Cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips + 1 Cup of milk chocolate chips and added 2 Tbsp. of vegetable oil.

Z-cakes climbed up onto her chair and dug right in. To the toffee chips, that is. Then the cookies. Then the peanuts. After that she decided to maybe try a banana. This is all while I was still trying to get the chocolate melted and take a few pictures. Because as I'm sure you know, the best way to keep an activity from turning into a huge crazy mess is to just take pictures instead of regulating.

I gave myself the job of coating the bananas with chocolate. Then I placed the covered banana in a bowl of toppings and let Z-cakes sprinkle the toppings all over the banana. At first I gave her a spoon to use, but quickly realized that it would just work as a tool to the get the toppings to her mouth more quickly. I don't know why I didn't realize this sooner. Being her mother and all, I would have done the exact same thing. It was at this time that I started to wonder if Z-cakes was a little too young for this activity. Hmmm....oh well.

By the time we were done, we had made a crazy mess. Emphasis on the crazy. There was chocolate dripped across the table, all over our hands, and on our clothes. The floor was covered with tiny bits of candy. Our bellies were full of bananas and chocolate.

What was left of our bananas were popped into the freezer so they could get good and frozen for dessert that night. Then Z-cakes took a nap while I tried find enough wash cloths to get the kitchen table clean.

After dinner that night, one of us donned a red tutu and we enjoyed our banana bites on the front steps. I would have invited you all over to share, except I know for a fact either one or both of us licked our fingers before or after every single banana was made. I'm not exaggerating.

We have a ton of chocolate left over waiting in the fridge for our next Banana Bite adventure. Maybe next time we'll be a little more hygienic so we can share.

But probably not.

Park Evening

There is a long narrow park half a block from our house. There is no slide, there is only a skeleton of a jungle gym, and there is a surprising lack of people there at any given time. What this park does have is plenty of shade, the greenest of grass, and a giant swing. The kind that you can get going really high on, even if you're in the baby seat.

So today when Z-cakes had tired of going outside and back inside over and over and over...or was it that I was tired of the constant swinging and slamming of the front door? I forget. Ahem. I declared that we were "having dinner at the park!" I speedily threw together a PB+J sandwich for her and shoved a spoonful of PB+chocolate chips into my mouth. "Okay! I get my purple Crocs!" sang Z-cakes, and we were out the door.

We had the place completely to ourselves. We both did a little swinging. Then a little eating. And then a little more swinging.

My "essentials" consisted of my knitting and my camera. I had spent a portion of the morning sewing, dreaming of sun-dresses for both Z-cakes and myself. I had renewed my resolve to learn to sew more clothing. But then, halfway through the day I remembered this adorable baby sweater I'm knitting up for a friend (I hope she likes purple!) and all thoughts of sewing were floating out the window. After a quick browse through Ravelry, I had dozens of new projects hearted and was making plans to knit Christmas presents for every person in my life. Sigh. Let's just say, my crafting urges are a bit fickle. One minute I'm scheming ways to save money for a serger so that I can make all of my dreams come true, and the next minute it's yarn. Yarn! YARN!! All I've ever wanted is yarn! Don't worry about saving money for a house N8tr0n, let's sit down and think of ways that I can get more yarn!

And while I was musing on my swinging interests, this little girl was swinging too. In fact, she was learning the essential childhood craft of swinging on her belly. All by herself.