Mama!

I'm working on editing some videos of Caleb, but in the meantime, here's one to tide you over. (At least I know some grandmas need their Caleb fix.)

Neighbor

Last winter he had always finished shoveling his driveway before I had even started.

Last week he happily inspected another neighbor's woodworking project while wearing that cheerful greeter vest from Wal-Mart.

The next day the ambulance came.

Yesterday, there was a family photo on the lawn,

without him.

Pants!

I've been having trouble finding pants that fit Caleb. Either they are too short or they are too wide. Finally I decided to save myself some time, avoid wrestling matches resulting from trying clothes on a squirmy little boy, and escape the headache of returning clothes. (Don't get me started on the Wal-Mart Customer Service Associate who gave me a lecture about how all Wal-Mart employees multi-task.)

I read several online tutorials since I didn't feel like waiting for patterns to go on sale at the fabric store. Since the process and the pattern seemed simple enough, I decided to try it out. I used a pair of pants that fit Caleb really well (except that he's getting to tall for them). I traced the shaped onto newspaper, added an inch or two to the length, added room for seam allowance, purchased some fabric and elastic, and started sewing.

The first pair of shorts I tried would have been great, if Caleb still fit into 3 month clothes.

Being my stubborn self, I tagged that pair of shorts with a "3 month" label and tried again. That pair actually fit Caleb, so I went back to the fabric store, purchased more fabric while it was on sale, and started sewing away.

Here's the result:

And as long as my Fashion and Textiles Major mom or my Family Consumer Science Teacher mom-in-law don't look too closely, we'll be ok and avoid pesky customer service associates. Oh, and Caleb will have summer clothes that stay on.

Due credit
I found the most helpful online tutorial to be the Simple Baby Pants at Make-Baby-Stuff.com. I also perused the following sites and picked up a tip or helpful picture or something: Craftsanity.com; Dishtowel Pants; Rookiemoms.com; Bandana Pants. I also picked my mom's brain when she came to visit one day. We experimented with several stitches on my sewing machine and figured out which was best for sewing on knit. Thanks, Mom!

Oh Joy (choose your own punctuation mark)

I get to laugh a lot throughout the day.

I hope you get a kick of of this too:

Typical Work Week?

I just completed a "personal health assessment" questionnaire that earns us a health insurance discount. It's pretty silly. I answered a battery of questions, and then a score magically appears. Overall I score fairly well since I'm not stressed out, I eat a somewhat balanced diet, and I'm the goody two shoes non-smoking, non-alcoholic, seat-belt-wearing type.

This year I had difficulty answering the questions about my typical work schedule. How many hours do I typically work in a seven day period? How many hours does my employer expect me to work? How many hours did I work in the past four weeks?

Do you really want to know?

Do you really think those hours felt like Work?

House Project

Several summers ago I took down wallpaper in our master bedroom. I remember how tedious it was to get all the glue off the walls. Now I'm hoping I was thorough with that tedious job because I've discovered the effect of not getting all the glue off.

The effect? Peeling paint. Evidently the previous owners of our home took down wallpaper in the kitchen and dining room. For awhile I couldn't figure out what was causing the paint to crack and peel, but then I found the telltale mark of a paper tiger and some lovely striped and floral wallpaper above and behind some cabinets. When we moved in several years ago, this wasn't noticeable. Now it is.

And now that Caleb is capable of eating the peeling paint, I decided it was time to take care of it. For several weeks, I simply chipped away at the loosening paint. Each day I'd go back to it thinking, "Maybe I'll start priming today." Then I'd look at the wall and find some more paint to chip away. After priming with a primer that looked suspiciously like glue, I've started repainting--the same color. It seems wrong to repaint a room the same color it was before, but I don't want to replace the window cornices, and I like how the color coordinates with our living room.

So anyway, if you're stripping wallpaper anytime soon, my advice is to be patient. Otherwise you'll be doing it again in a few years.

What I Get for Being Married to a Genius...

When I play with Caleb, we read stories, sing songs and such. When Luke plays with Caleb, this is what happens: