Let's talk about toys for a minute, shall we? I'm in the thick of Christmas shopping right now, and just amped it up a notch because Cody and I have decided to do our little family Christmas a week from Sunday. Ooo boy I guess I'd better buy a few gifties, eh?
My aunt has a Fisher Price Play Family Farm #915, and Seb loves to play with it. A little barn/farm set has been top on my list for him for a while, so this seems like the perfect thing. I am so in love with this shop right now I can't even tell you, and am about to go berserk and buy up the whole lot. Someone hold me back.
Lots to say these days, but not much time to say it. So in lieu of a post on some topic or another, like how wonderful our Thanksgiving was, despite the lack of family, or how Seb can now say his name ("Sebasteebo!"), which is quite possibly the cutest thing he's done, or the amazing potato soup (sans recipe) that I made today, I'll give you this photo. Cody took it last week after Seb's bath. He always runs naked down the hallway, looking for me, and then wants to sit in my lap. I'm not sure why he does this, but I'm thinking he hopes to escape the inevitability of getting his diaper put on. Evil diapers....
Need a quick & easy last-minute recipe? I made this cranberry orange relish for dinner last night with friends, and I can safely say we relished every bite. If cranberries didn't require so much sugar, I would eat this stuff for breakfast every day.
All you need is...
1 navel orange
1 (12-oz) bag fresh cranberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
&
a blender or food processor
Make it tonight and devour it tomorrow! (If you can wait that long)
Seb loves to prop his legs on the side of the crib or the wall. It's so funny to me, but maybe he has lower back problems like me (please, no) and has found an alternative to propping a pillow under his knees. Smart kid.
Aah it always gets me when he's sleeping—it's so sweet.
Last night, my dear husband humored me, and said that we could go to Michael's so I could get a little yarn and a crochet hook. You may remember that I've mentioned a bazillion times how much I want to knit. This is still true, but with my limited amount of time, and no one around to help me pick up those dropped stitches, the task was a bit daunting.
However, when I was little, my mom taught me how to make a slip knot, how to hold a crochet hook and the yarn, and how to chain stitch. Once I even got a bit more advanced and remember making a sweet, tiny little granny square from a lace weight yarn that belonged to my grandma, or perhaps great grandma. I'm not sure how I did it, but I remember it quite distinctly. I was so proud. My littler sister crochets quite a bit now, and I thought, "you know, I should really try it again." I was so pleased when it felt very natural to pick the crochet hook up again, and last night I learned to Single Crochet. It's the most basic crochet stitch, but also the most essential, or at least that's what I understand.
My mother-in-law, who is an expert knitter, and always amazes me with her skill and dexterity, recommended that I check out the tutorials on Lion Brand Yarn, as she has found them very helpful. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
So bam. I'm learning to crochet. It doesn't hurt that this lady is quite the inspiration.
Do you crochet or knit? For how long?
P.S. Yes I am wearing a tank top. Warm outside again today! I love this weather!
Cody's cousin is getting married in Seattle around New Year's Eve, and we're going! I'm so excited for this trip. Of course, unfortunately, I have what-the-heck-do-I-wear syndrome. I think I'm going to pull out one of my darker summer dresses, and pair it with black tights, and... well, I just don't know. Every dress ensemble that I think of needs just one last thing: a pair of black suede booties. The only other wedding-appropriate option that I have is a pair of black suede peep-toe heels. I love them, but I'm not so sure about peep-toes with black tights, and I don't want my toes to freeze/get wet.
Here's a photo just because I love it, and think he gets cuter every day. You can't see them, but he has two more teeth coming in next to his top four. He's getting so very many of those chompers. But I'm not going to complain! He now uses them to munch carrots and apple slices.
Today was very rainy, so Seb and I had to stay in all day, watch movies, snuggle, eat a lot, read oodles of books, and generally try to see how messy we could make the apartment.
We made it terribly messy.
Sometimes it's good to spend evenings cleaning, though. I most definitely didn't get to all the little piles and messes around our apartment, but was able to get most of the basics accomplished, and tackle a few heaps of what-have-you that had become so much a part of the general "decor" that I had forgotten they were there. Like that lonely load of laundry I somehow pushed to the side of our bedroom, unfolded, and left for oh... like 3 weeks. Another thing I did was hang a picture in our dining nook! I usually don't attempt this type of task without Cody, but school is consuming his life right now, and I wasn't about to dismiss the urge to decorate.
Aside from accomplishing a better state of cleanliness, I consider it an even bigger accomplishment that I was able to stifle my urge to create, which has lately been channeled exclusively towards the kitchen. It's been all kinds of bad (read: sugar, white bread, fat, cheese) lately. I should really start thinking about making things that I can't eat, haha.
Can you believe it's just one week until Thanksgiving? I'm all kinds of excited.
If I had a little girl, she would wear floral bloomers, pink moccasins, bohemian headwraps, and sleep in this pretty room. Honestly, I would like Seb to sleep in this pretty room, too. Which is good, because they'd probably have to share.
What are your favorite things for little girls? I should add little tights to my list.
P.S. Check out One Claire Day. It is a lovely blog written by the mama of that sweet little girl with the stylish do. Oh, and other cute rooms for girls.
Today I felt truly glad to be in North Carolina, stoked outta my mind to be a stay-at-home mom, and indescribably happy to be able to open all the windows and spend the morning outside with my boy.
I am so very thankful for this fine, warm day, and the smell of Summer in November.
We took advantage of the morning by spending it at the park just down the street from us, where he went down the big kid spiral slide about a million times—by him self. I did of course take him up to the top and make sure he was safely on his way down before racing down to make sure he didn't land awkwardly/painfully. Whoever invented the material that those slides are made of was genius, though. It was practically impossible for him to go too fast. After completely tiring him out with exploring, sliding, seesawing, swinging, and stick hunting, I put him back in his stroller and we went on a little walk.
It's days like these that keep me fueled and remind me how blessed I am to be living this life with Sebastian Thomas Webb Strecker and his daddy. Who, by the way, loves us so much, he spends even the loveliest of days studying and writing so that we can buy those sweet little Target boots that Seb got to play in today, and have grand outside adventures together.
I'm slightly obsessed with fitness expert Suzanne Bowen.
Oh how things change. The first time I did one of her videos, I was about 1.5 months postpartum. It was a 10 minute Solutions "Flat Belly Fast" segment at the end of my prenatal pilates dvd, and I turned it off in disgust. I remember thinking, "They really expect women who just had babies to do this?" She seemed so perfect and went through the moves with such ease, that all I could think was... robot. Needless to say, I didn't give that video, or Suzanne Bowen, another thought. Until, that is, I realized that my mom tummy wasn't going away by magic. I did some research on some good ab workout dvds, and finally pulled out that supposedly horrid 10 minute Suzanne Bowen workout. It was hard at first, but not as terrible as I remember. After-baby hormones and lack of sleep had probably played a significant role in my disdain for this woman.
Since then, I've bought her 10 Minute Solutions Blast Off Belly Fat dvd, and absolutely love it. Do I have flat abs? No, no, and no. But that's my fault. It is a fabulous compilation of workouts, though, and great for busy (and tired) moms since you can mix and match, or do just 10 minutes at a time.
Right now, I'm wishing I lived in Nashville so that I could attend her BarreAmped class.
Do have a fitness expert that you always turn to? In college, I was all about Denise Austin. I became a little disillusioned with her during my pregnancy, though. Her dvd was not that great, and definitely not intense enough.
Happy Thursday!
P.S. I'd love to know what you guys do for physical activity. Check out Suzanne's website and blog!
It's 8:30 p.m. and I have two things, side by side, in our oven: Blueberry muffins, and sliced olive oil and cajun spiced potatoes. I really hope the flavors don't mix in there...
Seb is finally in bed, and I can safely say we survived the day. My cold is still sticking close by my side and today I felt worse than ever. My blah-factor was only multiplied by the continual feeling that it was an hour later than it actually was. Talk about making the day drag on forever. The time change was nice on Sunday, but not so much on Monday. I think Sebastian felt the same, as he took his nap at 11 instead of 12, and went to bed at 6:30 instead of 7:30, and was terribly cranky all day.
The afternoon was lovely, though. We spent over an hour outside our apartment so that Seb could chat up the nice old man who holds the stop sign so the elementary kids can cross the road safely, and collected rocks and sticks to put in a basket we brought with us. We then took a little stroll down the road, and then back to the apartment to get graham crackers and the stroller for a nice little walk.
I gave Seb his bath tonight because Cody spent all afternoon and evening on campus, doing some research in the library. Cody has been teaching Seb to lay on his tummy in the bath, and it's so sweet to see him do it. Cody's mom told us that teaching your little one to do this in the bath helps them when they learn to swim, because being face to face with water at such a young age makes them less afraid of it when they're older. Tonight Seb was standing up, and I said, "Sit down, Seb." He promptly got on his belly and kicked his legs around, his little nakey bottom showing. Not quite what I meant, but so much better.
Right now, I'm starving and can't wait to dig into my eclectic dinner, and dreaming of having a kitchen that gets flooded with light like this one. Mmm...
I have this amazing black sweater dress that I believe my mom found on clearance at a department store several years ago. I never used to wear it, but I recently got it out of my closet again, and have fallen madly in love with it. This probably has a lot to do with the fact that I now have black leggings, and cognac boots to pair with it, and let me tell you, that's just a dynamite combo. For some reason I got it in my head that I need another such dress. Think about it; I can't wear the same dress to church every week this winter! So maybe if I alternate between two...
If you're looking for an LBD like the one that has recently become my best friend, try these Zara versions! One and Two come in Black, and oddly, the Third comes in dark blue, and a "blue" that looks like it's actually eggplant... hhmmm... maybe try this one on in the store.
Happy Weekend!
P.S. If you're looking for a little weekend inspiration check out 1) Meg & Andy for craft/diy inspiration and 2), you've probs heard of it, but indulge me for a minute: Nat the Fat Rat. This is such a charming blog written by a fellow mama. I never get bored over there.
Okay, I should really go to bed now. Have a lovely and restful Sunday, my friends!
Last night I woke up, probably to blow my nose, sicky that I am, and heard it raining. I'm pretty sure I can thank the inclement weather for giving me a good night's sleep. Unfortunately, Seb and I had planned to play around at a park today, but no rain gear, means no playing at the park in the rain. It was a good morning, though, ending with Seb being so exhausted that all I could do with him was sit him on my lap, plug some headphones into my computer and let him listen to a little She & Him until we could pick Dada up from school. You think I'm joking, but I'm not.
Pandora + She & Him = Seb's favorite music.
All that to say, this was supposed to be an extremely short post featuring a snazzy homemade tea strainer from Trula Kids. If only we could all be so ingenious on rainy days...
Did you dress up for Halloween? We had planned some awesome Phineas, Ferb, and Perry the Platypus costumes, but it turned out that funds were low and we didn't have a party to go to anyway. But, we totally went to Chipotle with some friends on Halloween and get awesome $2 burritos for dressing up like sheep farmers. The tragedy of the situation is that I have zero pictures to prove it. Epic fail.
So to make up for my lack of pictures and halloween documentation, I'm providing you with this. Aren't those little guys and gals so sweet? I love the idea of dressing your toddler like a Bla Bla doll.
P.S. My favoriteBla Bla doll. But maybe I just love the name. Hilarious bit: I tried to get Cody to name Sebastian, Beauregard. Hmm.. I still love it. Unfortunately Cody didn't like the nickname "Beau." I know several of you are extremely thankful for that right now.
I can't imagine a sweeter way to decorate a child's room. I have long been enamored with Sharon Montrose's work, but this display is just stunning. I can't imagine how excited Seb would be to wake up each morning and check out all those cute baby animals. (eee!)
I was perusing a few posts from the blog Smallest Things, and happened upon this lovely lady's flikr stream of bump photos. Not only are they terribly cute, but underneath her "overcooked" 41 week photo, she attached this quote:
"I dream about the birth: I am lying on a sexy, pink satin quilted four-poster bed reading a magazine full of photos of gorgeous clothes I could afford that would look quite nice on me when a man in a leopard-skin suit comes past with a cocktail trolley on wheels full of excellent cakes, bottles of attractively coloured alcohol, an icebucket and some syringes. 'Martini?' he inquires politely. 'Or perhaps an epidural?' Just at that moment a perfectly charming baby pops out of me. 'Ow,' I remark, absent-mindedly. 'Why thank you, I'll take a gin and lime. And a small colostrum for my new young friend.'"
Extract from "The Rough Guide to Pregnancy and Birth", by Kaz Cooke.
P.S. Looking for a beautiful, fair trade baby gift? These are perfect.
