Thankful & Start of A Banner Year

It's been a rough week for BabyM (and us!). Her doctor warned us that her peak fussy time would be 6-8 weeks. BabyM is usually pretty mellow and sleepy, but in the past several days has had a really hard time falling asleep and won't, unless she's sleeping ON someone. Which is a little difficult at say, 1am, when I just really want to go back to bed after feeding her.  But TJ has often "taken one for the team" and let her sleep on him while they watch movies late into the night.

Despite all this, I'm so excited to have completed a whole crafty project from start to finish this week.  I made a new banner for our mantel.  I have a bit of an obsession with making banners.  I've made them for T's 1st 2 birthdays, one for the board where we display her artwork, and one for our mantel about a year ago with some of her baby pictures.  

Last Saturday, BabyM and I went to the CKC scrapbooking convention and wandered around the hall doing a little shopping.  One of the booths had tons of cute banners decorating it, and that inspired me to make a fall banner of my own.  Click for a larger view.

This came together pretty easily, thanks to my trusty Silhouette SD die cutting machine.  I'm currently taking a class online on how to get more out of it, and it's been great.  I'm really glad I bought it, though it's taken me a few years to use it regularly.

Lessons learned and quick tips:

• Measure the total space before cutting out the banner shapes (duh).  I randomly picked a size, and realized that I'd need to put more nails in our mantel, and even then it just barely fits.
• Wood veneer shapes look great when colored with Copic markers, or slathered in Stickles glitter glue. (I love sparkle!)
• Use the "Offset" feature in the Silhouette software to make the "shadows" for the letters and to make the inner/outer shapes for the pennants themselves.
• Use the 'Double Cut' setting in the Silhouette software to get nice clean cuts that peel off the mat like buttah.
• Cut a similar piece of paper you don't love to "test" the blade and speed settings, before cutting into that special paper.  I had only one sheet of the metallic gold vellum, so I used another vellum sheet first to cut out the hearts as a test.
• Don't adhere anything with permanent adhesive until you've figured out where *everything* goes.  (this is a problem for me!)
• It's easier to use the Silhouette to put pre-cut holes in each pennant than try to punch them manually (and evenly!) later.  (This I learned the hard way.)
• Tapestry needles work great for handsewing with thick thread like embroidery floss - they're easy to thread and handle.

I had a LOT of fun with this.  And then I thought, why stop there? It's part of a new bigger project I'm starting called "A Banner Year".  I will make a new decorative banner for our mantel each month through Oct 2013.  If I pack them carefully, I should be able to reuse them for many years to come, until I get sick of them and want to replace them.

I love the idea of decorating our house with things I've made.  Now I just need more time!

Just walk away, there'll be no more tomorrow

Apparently today is the day to read More Working Mother posts.  Laura Vanderkam has a post about the resignation letter from a lawyer who detailed her hellish schedule trying to juggle her family life and work.  The original blog that posted the letter, and the HuffPo article about it (I'm lazy, Laura's post above has links) are about how the work culture in the US is stuck in the 1950s and doesn't jive well with two working parent families.  This, I can totally get behind.

What irks me is all the posts and comments people are making on the different sites about how this woman isn't doing it right, that she's not outsourcing enough, that her quitting to handle family stuff was really an excuse for her not liking her job, and really how she's not prioritizing her time correctly and should be able to work full time, goshdarnit, because everyone else does it.

This is what sets my teeth on edge.  Yes, *some* people can and do outsource everything, down to the night nanny to handle frequent baby wakings.  Yes, *some* people need to work outside the home and would go batshit crazy if they were home with kids all day.  Yes, *some* people thrive on a constant level of busy.

But not all of us are like that. And again, maybe it's because I haven't found my people in blog land so what I'm reading is biased. 

Everyone's life activities are prioritized differently.  Some people simply need more sleep (or uninterrupted sleep). Some people have a passion for what they do for work. Some people homeschool. Some people can only handle having one or two scheduled activities on a weekend.

Tonight, both kids in my house were finally asleep by 7:45pm.  I wasn't going to blog.  As you can see, some of my previous projects had to be dropped, like NaBloPoMo.

But then I read the comments in this AskMoxie post.  Specifically, the ones by Jan and by Gina.   I had to write this post after reading those. These women have articulated how I feel about working, far more eloquently than I ever could.  They do work outside the home, but regret that it changes the relationship and time they spend with their kids. 

There are those of us who do work, but whose work is quite simply a lower priority. Yes, maybe that means I don't LUUURVE my job so much I can't imagine not having it. (For the record, I do like it.)  I've already detailed why I work.

But for me, and apparently at least a few of us out there, the answer is not always "outsource everything".  And that's how I feel every time I see helpful tips like "hire an au pair/nanny" or "have the nanny give the kid a bath before you get home from work" or "just buy the cupcakes at the grocery store".  This may work for some people, heck, even most working parents, but it doesn't work for me.

I want to do these things myself, even if "they" don't think those tasks are important.  I'm very lucky to have an equal partner in my husband, a great preschool, and parents who live nearby for part of the year.  Even with all that, *I* still want to do the hands on stuff, and not squeeze it into the 1 hour we have between dinner and bed.  I'd like to make cupcakes from scratch and discuss and execute elaborate birthday plans with the 3 year old.  And though it's not pleasant, I want to be the one who wakes up with the baby at night, not some person I hired.

I'm glad to know there are other people like me out there, and want to give a shout out to Jan and Gina for making me feel like I'm not an anomaly.  But now, I must go.  There is pumpkin bread to be baked and Project Life pages to be made.

It's my godforsaken right

BabyM for President in 2048!

Election Day is not that exciting here in Washington where we all vote by mail. TJ and I completed our ballots on Halloween night and I dropped them off at a ballot box last week.

As the daughter of 2 naturalized citizens, it's been ingrained into me that voting is REALLY important. My first presidential election was in 1996. I was in grad school in San Diego and was very proud to get my "I voted" sticker.

We're not always on top of the primaries here, but are pretty good about voting in the regular election. I like our current process - we gather our ballots, voter info pamphlets, my laptop, and a frosty beverage of our choosing, and go through the items line by line. It's fun - we don't have a lot of political discussions in our house, but it's nice to chat about our views in this context.

My reference source is our local alternative newspaper, The Stranger, which publishes a useful Election Guide with their endorsements.

I know that sounds sketchy but they actually interview the candidates and do a good job of explaining why they favor a particular candidate or position.  I don't always agree with their conclusions but their info is helpful for the local elections where we don't know much about either side.

I HATE the game of politics, though.  HATE it.  I don't see this as a spectator sport, and hate the ridiculousness spewed by both sides.  If I could block all political posts on Facebook, I would.  Luckily we don't have TV anymore, so we don't see political commercials except for a handful on Hulu.com. We got rid of our home phone line so we don't get robocalls.

A few things I noticed about our voting preferences:

• TJ doesn't vote on uncontested elections.  I thought that was interesting.  I need to look up what happens with those - if those candidates get just 1 vote do they automatically win? 
• For local races where we didn't have a strong preference (like Lands Commissioner), we tended to vote for the candidate with a better educational pedigree.  PhD scientist from Berkeley, we voted for you!  Editor of Yale Law Review and Rhodes Scholar, we voted for you too.  Make us proud :)
• If one candidate didn't bother sending in summary info for the pamphlet, we tended not to vote for him/her.  Seems sort of important, considering most people don't do extensive research on their state representatives and other local officials.
• As much as we don't discuss politics in our house, we're in agreement on most of the bigger issues and candidates, which is nice.

I feel good about completing my civic duty for another year. Now onto holiday preparations!

Project Life: October 2012, Family of 4

Doing my Project Life pages every 2 weeks was an awesome change.  It's long enough that I'm sure to have enough photos even if we don't do anything exciting.  It's also enough time between pages that I am excited and ready to work on the next set, rather than feeling like I need to catch up or worry about getting behind.

What I can't decide for next year is whether to do one week per 12x12 page, or keep the 2 week time interval across two pages.  I think the week-per-page approach will make me feel that pressure again to not fall behind, though, even if I decide to work on the pages every two weeks.  It also means that for weeks where we don't have much going on, I need to make sure I have some photos or something to write about.  As I write, I'm talking myself out of 1 week per page, and keeping the same approach of 2 weeks per 2 pages.  I love it when a plan comes together!  (Yes, I realize I can just go back and delete this entire paragraph, but of course you wanted to know my entire thought process.)

This past 2 weeks was pretty low key.  We're sort of getting into a routine at home, as much as we can with a tiny baby who sleeps at random times.  But generally, I do the night feedings for BabyM and TJ takes the night wakings with T.  He gets T ready for preschool while BabyM and I sleep.  We often sleep in until 10 or 11, which is awesome, even if we are getting up every 3 hours or so for diaper change/feeding.

Click the photos to see a larger version.

Oct 15-28: Sleep is good, Children's museum

Oct 15-28: Meeting Thatha, Sisters, a tired baby is a good baby

The highlights were my dad meeting BabyM for the first time, and a trip to the Children's Museum where I got a lot of really blurry Instagram photos (unfortunately!).  Mostly we hung out at home.  The time period ended on Oct 28, so Halloween photos will be in the next spread.  Arbitrary, I know, but I wanted to get back to a 2 week time period instead of half-a-month.

I grabbed some of my recent purchases for these pages - the Basic Grey Shine On 6x6 pad and some silver doilies I got at Jo-Ann's, and the "This is Life" card from the newly expanded scrapbooking section at Target.  I also recently sorted all my miscellaneous 3x4 printed cards by color, so I can grab one that matches for an empty slot - I love the "So Tweet" one!  If I hadn't cut them all apart and put them in a box near my desk, I'd never use them.

This spread was pretty easy to put together since it was mostly photos without a lot of "craftiness". I did experiment with stamping on a photo using the Staz-On solvent ink (the "I Love This" on the photo of TJ and BabyM), but it's pretty subtle.  I'll use a lighter photo next time.

I can't believe I've kept up with Project Life for this entire year!  Only 4 more spreads to go!  I'm definitely doing it again in 2013.  What about you?

Linked up with The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

5 Things I Love About New Babies

I'm so totally a baby person.  Love them.  But the first 4-5 weeks with BabyT were rough as we sorted out breastfeeding, soothing her to sleep and general life with a newborn. Before BabyM was born, I was wishing I could just "fast forward" through those early weeks.

Tomorrow BabyM will be 5 weeks old, and I'm so glad I didn't find the magic fast-forward button.  It's been delightful to watch her grow from a tiny wrinkly skinny baby to putting on that delightful baby chub on her cheeks, thighs and hands.  She's still got more to go, but is getting nice and squeezable.

In honor of her 5-week birthday, here are five things I love about tiny new babies:

1.  Watching her grow so quickly. It's almost like I can *see* her getting bigger if I keep staring. 

2.  The cute little faces she makes when she's sleeping. TJ calls this her "system startup routine" - her expression goes from sad/crying to half-smiles, to radiant joyful smiles.  All meant for her imaginary friends, I guess.

3.  Dressing her in adorable tiny outfits. She has no opinions about what she wears, so I get to choose.  And everything looks cute on a baby.

4.  Snuggles.  She WANTS us to hold her, and squeeze her, and cuddle on her.  She's not too busy playing or embarrassed by us.

5.  Port-a-baby.  For a couple more months (maybe), we can take her out when we want to.  We're not chained to a nap schedule just yet.  She can sleep on the go.  Though I've noticed she doesn't sleep nearly as well as her big sister did when we're out and about, so our days may be numbered.

she's watching you, and she DOES NOT LIKE what's going on.

You can tell from this that we've been blessed with another relatively easy baby.  (Knock on wood, salt over the shoulder, etc.)  Things are a lot easier this time than last time, even with a 3 year old in the mix.  (She's an awesome Big Sister, by the way.)  Fingers crossed that it'll continue!