a crafting catastrophe...

Well, catastrophe might be a bit over dramatic, but it was something of a disaster.

I decided to try out a Pinterest craft with Jane.  We put cookie cutters on a cookie sheet and poured plastic beads inside (side note:  I think I used the wrong kind of "cheap plastic beads" because they were really hard to get to melt, and they smelled like cancer).  I was feeling super proud of myself since Jane was thoroughly enjoying the moment.  I got a little too cocky with my mad Mom skills and decided to let her run her hands through the remaining 5,843 beads in the bucket.  While she explored the sense of touch and the ornaments slowly emitted cancerous fumes, I decided to multi-task and load the dishwasher.  Bad idea.  All of a sudden I heard a strange noise.  It sounded like a horrible hail storm.  It took me several seconds to realize that Jane was pouring the beads from a 60 oz bucket into a 6 oz cup.  What I heard was the sound of hundreds of little beads hitting the chair, the floor, and the dishwasher and scattering in every direction.

It took at least an hour to clean up as we had to individually pinch each little bead and put it back in the bucket (I know you are wondering why I didn't just vacuum them up...I am wondering the same as I write this).  The worst part was all the beads that fell straight into the open dishwasher.

I picked each and every bead out, only to realize that many, many more had fallen down past where I could reach.  I got out my tools and dissected the dishwasher as much as I could, but wasn't able to get all the way to the beads.  I gave up and (cringing) did a trial run dishwasher cycle.  It sounded like a rock polishing machine.  And now, three months later, it still does.  However, my dishes come out as clean as ever, so if I just ignore the noise, no harm done.  And the ornaments turned out cute enough, so I guess it was worth it.

christmas 2012...

Some pictures from the holidays--a few months late.

While these are mostly self-explanatory, a few deserve comment.

Ornaments.  First, Jane loved decorating the tree.  However, she wasn't so great at spacing her ornaments.  Whenever she turned her back, I'd try to sneak a few off and place them elsewhere.  I also tried to be a better momma and do a craft with Jane.  It was a success, but there's more to the story (see here).

Gingerbread.  The Humbles invited us over for a gingerbread house-making party.  Jane did almost all of the decorations herself!  I'm not sure why she's grumping in the picture, though, because she really did enjoy herself.

Mall shot.  We did our first ever Christmas flash mob at Superstition Mall.  We had a few setbacks and it didn't go at all as planned, but it was SUCH A BLAST!  This is the only picture I really have, though I do have video which I still need to upload.

Stockings.  I had intended to make each of us a stocking with my new-found sewing skills.  However, I did not anticipate the lack of motivation that took over right before the holidays.  So come Christmas Eve, I dug out what I could find:  my childhood stocking (which I turned around to hide the embroidered "Becca"), a large stocking my mom bought me when I spent Christmas in Greece, a five-toed frog sock, and a little penguin sock.  It worked.  Sort of.  Maybe next year I can tap into some as-of-yet-undiscovered-awesomeness.

Merry Christmas.

catching up on the A-Man...

Asher is super considerate in hitting milestones.  Since I haven't been keeping good records of him, he has been kind enough to only do significant things right around his "month marks".  Here is an update:

5 months-sitting on his own
6 months-crawling
7 months-pulling to standing
8 months-"cruising" on furniture, 8 1/2 months, cut both bottom teeth (on the same day!)
9 months-clapping


A few facts about Asher:

• He loves to make a loud "aaaaaahhhHHH" sound while sucking in air
• He wakes up super happy and smiley from naps and nighttime sleeping
• He knows how to manipulate Mama (still sleeping in bed with her)
• He is a total Mama's boy.  The longest separation being about 3 1/2 hours.  He will cry for no other reason than he wants his Mama <sigh>
• He loves books, baths, and FOOD (surprised?)

9 month stats:

weight:  23 lbs, 12 oz (about 90th percentile)
height:  30 in (about 92nd percentile)
head circumference :  18 1/4 in (about 75th percentile, but who even cares about head circumference anyway?)

1 mo, 2 mo, 3 mo, 5 mo, 6 mo

9 months!

He's such a fun baby and usually very good-natured.  He does seem to have the sensitivity to milk like Jane did, so when I'm not careful enough, it makes for a couple of really long nights.  He grunts and growls just as a male baby should.  We love this little (big) guy!