Woodworking Ambition: Apothecary Style

My sisters Heidi and Nickie deserve mad props for introducing me to this site: Ana White is a homemaker and woodworker in Alaska, who publishes her woodworking plans freely on her blog and makes furniture-building look easy.

In our effort to baby-proof the living room, we will soon switch from this sofa-table-media-console...

 ...to something approximating this Pottery Barn Apothecary-style media console.



In fact, on Ana-white.com/ you can see several of Ana's readers' attempts at their own media consoles, and even the novice woodworkers' look pretty good:

Daniel and I are going to attempt to start and finish this huge piece of furniture in the next 4 weeks, before Lucy starts crawling.



Wish us luck.  The race is on.  Will update regularly.

Six Months Old (Lucy's monthly photo)

Inspired by this blogger, I'll be photographing Lucy each month in her green outfit until her second birthday.

Wow - 6 months.  Lucy's birthday was my half birthday.  So six months ago, I turned 26 and 1/2 :).  And today Lucy turns 1/2.  Happy 1/2 birthday, Lucy!

 Let's see... new things since last month... oh--she's sitting!  All by herself.  She suddenly seems so big to me, now that she can sit by herself.  She is so proud of herself - I love it.  

I know I've already talked about how much she is loving her feet these days.  It's true.  She loves them.  She's also taken a big interest in teething toys (not referred to as "chew toys," - my mistake at my first baby shower).  And of course, she loves watching the fire in the fireplace.  And... she is much better in the car now.  She pretty much keeps it together in the back seat, as long as you stick a hand back there every once in a while so she knows she hasn't been abandoned.



And miracle of miracles - she is beginning to go down for naps.  Always in the past she preferred to be held during nap times.  At last, she is beginning to show us clear signs that she's tired (or rather... at last we're beginning to read her signs?  Maybe they've always been clear to her), and she actually seems grateful to be put into her crib for few quiet moments before she drifts off to sleep.  She's napping 2-3 times/day now.  Her sleep schedule is usually 7 PM - 4 AM and then another 3-hour shift right after the 4 AM feeding.

She has really enjoyed jumping in her doorway bouncer this past month.  She stays happy in it for up to an hour.  It's amazing.  She really loves it when her cousin Jack jumps up and down in front of her, yelling, "jump! jump! jump! jump!"  She thinks it's hilarious.

I can't seem to keep ahead of her claws fingernails.  She does serious damage to our faces and necks on a regular basis, despite weekly fingernail clipping.  It's insane.  Lastly, she has really been reaching for things lately.  Solids are just around the corner, since she's been showing so much interest in what Daniel and I eat.  It's been a good month.

A Word on Cloth Diapers and Why Feet are a Girl's Best Friends

I hope you have had a very merry Christmas and are preparing yourself for a very happy new year!  I will be updating with more Christmas photos in the next week or so but wanted to get this posted for now.

A few days ago a friend of my sister's came over for a "play date" (with baby still in womb) to discuss cloth diapers and their do-ability.  Cloth diapers are overwhelming to anyone who first looks into using them.  But they are totally do-able.



Lucy's been in them for 6 months now, and we've hit our stride.  We launder them every other day and have found that the dryer (during the winter) is a perfectly acceptable (for us) alternative to the time-consuming outdoor laundry line.

 My favorites for Lucy are the BumGenius (BG) Organic All-In-Ones (AIO's - meaning you don't have to stuff the diaper with an absorbent layer... the absorbent layers are sewn into the diaper) or the BumGenius Free-Time diapers, which are the same thing, except non-organic.



These are the ones I thought I liked best before Lucy was born, but I'm glad I took the advice of a random San Antonio mom I spoke to on the phone (whom I found via a Craigslist ad for cloth diapers) and went ahead and acquired several different brands/types of diapers.



My friend tells me that baby Austin leaks out of his BG organic AIOs every time.  Guess his and Lucy's legs are just shaped a little differently, because Lucy almost never leaks out of her BG organic AIO's.

 
There is a new print that just came out, and I want it so badly!  Well... not enough to spend money on it, but still - isn't it cute??  I discovered that buying barely-used (but pre-washed) cloth diapers off eBay is THE WAY TO GO.  Pre-washing new diapers involves washing/drying 5-10 TIMES!

There is much more I could say on this topic, but I'll move on for now.



Lucy loves her feet.  They are always with her and usually grab-able.



And they move.  She loves things that move.  Her feet are pretty much her best friends these days, besides Daniel and me.



You know what is a joke?  Baby socks.

They are usually off her feet within...  maybe 7 seconds of my putting them on her.  Tights, I've found, are a much better winter solution.



Except tights under jeans are sort of awkward, so I haven't found a way through that problem yet.  I'm open to suggestions.



Enjoy the last week of 2011!

Cookie Day 2011

Except for the fact that one of my sisters couldn't make it (missed you, Nickie!), Cookie Day 2011 was a big success.  

My siblings and I started this tradition when my Swedish grandma came to live with Mom and Dad but could no longer make all the different Christmas cookies she used to make. 

 
 

We made 6 types of goodies:  fudge, creme de menthe bars, pecan tarts, peanut butter cup cookies, cream wafers, and candy cane cookies. 



Lucy and Austin had a good time acknowledging each others' existence. 



Even interacting a little. 



 And Carrie made each of us an apron for the occasion! 



This is Carrie (below).  She is the one who made the stockings, too. 

 

Heidi's apron was super cute:

 

Even Lucy got an apron :). 




The pecan tarts are pretty time intensive. 



Wait, actually almost all the cookies we made were time-intensive. 




But with several people working on them, we got all of the goodies made in about 5 hours. 



The cream wafers are most peoples' favorites, but they take forever.  I don't think I even got a shot of the finished wafer cookies, but man... they are amazing.



These peanut butter cup cookies were a new edition and were wonderful.  The recipe for them is on All Recipes. 



Merry Christmas!! Will update with more soon. 

Christmas Stockings

My sister Carrie has really been making a name for herself lately with these Christmas stockings. 

 

She's made several in the last couple years but seems to be picking up steam lately -- she made all three of these in the past 6 months.  Aren't they beautiful? 

 

The name of the kit is Bucilla (see buying options here), and you can mostly find them online. 



But to call it a "kit" makes it sound like you just glue some felt together.  That is not the case. 

 

Each one takes about 40 hours to make. 

 

Each kit comes with multiple sheets of felt, and Carrie does all the cutting, embroidery, and hand-stitching to make the finished, intricately decorated stocking.

 

She even makes a separate satin-lining to hand-sew into the stocking at the end--a nice touch. 

 

I love Lucy's stocking. 

 

I don't know what the official name is, but it's something like, "Sugar Plum Fairy Ballerina Princess" and is over the top, in terms of cuteness and girly-ness.

 

I love it.