On day three of my "vacation" I am missing my girls.
AE was not afraid of the fireworks on the Fourth. Unlike her mother, she has no qualms about holding fire.
Showing posts with label H.J.. Show all posts
Showing posts with label H.J.. Show all posts
Making Room
Moving means cleaning out time. I've been sitting in our former nursery tonight where HJ's clothes still reside. It is time to clean out her closet and move some of AE's clothes over to the 2-year-old's closet.
I'm moved to tears.
I'm putting away clothes that are size 12 months. News flash: she's 30 months old. OK. No problem.
I'm putting away clothes that are size 18 months. Hmmmm, couldn't she wear these a little longer?
I'm putting away clothes that are size 18-24 months. Oh, dear. Let the crying begin.
My baby is getting older and I don't want to move on yet.
Back when she turned two, I took some time to ponder her growth over the previous year. I even thought, "This isn't too bad; we'll just have another baby soon."
Fast forward four months, when she moved on up to the big girl bed, I marveled at how such a tiny, tiny being stayed in that big, big bed.
NOW...I feel like she is running at a pace where I can't keep up. She's growing out of clothes faster than I can pull them out of the closet.
And I'm left with this:
Is this all that will be left when she's gone?
Then I turned and opened up a dresser drawer finally ready to clean it out.
But wait... these clothes are big. These clothes are the next ones to come. These clothes have been hiding in a drawer which I was too afraid to open.
I didn't want to have to put anything else away. I was afraid to find more evidence of my baby gone.
These new clothes are a gift, and I just had to put the others away to be ready to receive the new ones.
How often do we hold on to what is dear to us when God has something bigger waiting for us in the wings? Do we have to let go before we can receive a bigger gift?
Sometimes we just have to put it away to find out what is next. What fits.
"The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away;
May the name of the Lord be praised."
A New Big Girl Room for HJ
So she stayed in bed for 12 hours the first night and every night since WAY BACK THEN.
She takes a nap everyday.
She loves her nap.
She LOVES her bed.
Besides needing to get our 2-year-old out of the crib, we really wanted to have the fourth bedroom set up like a bedroom while we try to sell our house. Anyone interested? Anyone? Anyone? Anyway... This bedroom is the smallest one in the house, so I didn't want to take up too much room with a big bed.
The Daddy and I made the head board. Nana and I made the bed skirt. The linens came from TJ Maxx and Dillards. It's a LOT more vibrant than I thought I wanted, but it seems to suit HJ just fine.
Want to know how to do it? I thought you might, so I took a few pictures along the way.
My favorite tool, the staple gun.
Things you'll need:
- 3 yds fabric
- 1/2 inch thick MDF (cut to the size you need)
- Egg crate (we used a full size)
- 3 yds batting
- Staple gun
- Power drill
- Hardware to attach optional legs
- Hardware to hang (we used d-rings)
This is the fabric we used.
I had The Daddy go to the hardware store and he had them cut the MDF to the dimensions we needed. HJ's mattress is a twin, but it's pushed up against the wall on the long-side.
To get the egg crate and batting the right sizes, I just laid them on top of the wood and cut it. I cut the egg crate just a tad bigger than the wood. Then I cut the batting, leaving a 4-inch border all the way around.
Here it is after I got done cutting it all. The Daddy and I thought it would look better if we also upholstered two "legs" that would look like they were holding the headboard up.
So then I cut the fabric and flipped the whole stack over.
You can see each beautiful layer before I began the stapling frenzy.
- Fabric- pretty side down
- Batting
- Egg crate- bumpy side up
- MDF
After I got done stapling like a mad woman, I cut the excess fabric and stuff so it would look a little neater on the back.
Then I did the same thing to each "leg" and had The Daddy attach the legs to the main piece. We ran into a little problem drilling through the fabric. The batting got wound around the drill and it really made a big mangled mess. We persevered and just cut a little hole before we drilled the next one in.
We should have used two of these dealies to help hold the legs on. Since the main piece will hang on the wall, we didn't worry too much. Hindsight, that's all. You can also see up close how I folded the corners and used 100 (or so) staples on each corner. I'm precise like that.
And there she is. We just hung her on the wall. Then, two weeks later I got the courage to cut the remaining fabric for the bed skirt. I didn't use a pattern. I just talked to several expert sewers about how to tackle the project. Thanks, Claudia and Heather! Then after I got the fabric cut, ironed and hemmed, my Mother-in-law came to the rescue and did the gathered part while we were in Africa.
It sure was nice to come home and see a finished project!
You might remember THIS DAY when I bemoaned missing a deal at the flea market. Well, I ended up buying the cute little green chest of drawers that was right next to the one I originally wanted! I had THIS GAL paint it and antique it for us.
Ta-Da!
I got all the plates at TJ Maxx for $2 or $3 each. The lamp came from the old BABY ROOM. The mirror came from our guest bathroom downstairs. I found an upgrade for the bathroom and moved this simple one above the chest.
Love this sweet little dish; it's another TJ Maxx find. Nana bought the itty-bitty bracelet in Maui last year. Both the sisters have a bracelet, but I love where this one rests!
SOOOOOOOOOOO, I've been thinking about adding a white grosgrain ribbon to the head board and skirt to add some more detail.
What do you think? Should I or should I leave well enough alone?
You might just want to head over to Kimba's place to see what everyone else is DIY'ing!
Also, SHE gave me the courage to do such a thing as MAKE A BED FOR MY CHILD TO JUMP IN, so go see her beautiful upholstered headboard, too!
She's Still Two
Hmmmmmmm, taking pictures?
That's silly!
Perfect little lady!
Sweet silhouette.
Easily tickled.
Typical HJ. JOYFUL girl.
Really?
Biggest smile.
Trusts in her daddy.
Along for the ride.
Secure with both hands.
But ready to fly.
Ready to soar.
Guess Who?
HJ's a big girl now.
She slept in her big girl bed all last night.
Didn't get out of bed once.
Didn't wake up once.
Didn't protest.
She just fell asleep and woke up 12 hours later.
Sniff. Sniff.
That Was Then...
Last summer, HJ couldn't walk, so
she held on to the slide, and
she did a lot of crawling in the grass
and sitting in the pool while sister ran around the pool watering the grass.
This summer the roles are reversed?
So happy we have an air compressor!
Running with delight!
Cinderella getting a shower!
I got my act together on Tuesday and used the air compressor to blow up the backyard entertainment. Too tired to get up to the neighborhood pool? Go to Plan B. I did a post last August on my tips for how to successfully prepare for an afternoon in the backyard.
I should have reread it before I woke them from their naps...
Lesson Learned
Whatever you do, do NOT tell your children that they can wear their new bathing suits to the pool right after nap time!
Rookie mistake.
As I said it, as the words were coming out of my mouth, in s-l-o-w m-o-t-i-o-n like in the movies, I knew immediately I had made a mistake!
Yesterday there was no napping. Except the pretend snooze on the stairs here.
It's been hard to get this one to be this sweet lately.
Hey everybodyeeeeeeeeeeeee(in a Grover voice), LET'S GO!
Silly girl
Sillier girl
HJ's favorite past time: transferring water
Love this with the water droplets suspended in air!
The baby pool is our friend. Both girls are pretty content to hang there for an hour or so. I've found it easier to bring an easy cotton dress to change each girl into after pool time. Otherwise, you've got a big mess to contend with when you walk in the door. Changing at the pool means that they can go into the playroom and entertain themselves while I clean up the big mess of wetness and fix dinner.
Oh, did I mention my favorite time to go to the pool is after nap time?
My philosophy:
- Time is limited. You don't have to spend ALL day there.
- Use of sunscreen is optional. If we don't get there until 4:30, I don't lather them up. Yesterday we got there at 3:30, so I did.
- Not as many kids there. (Pluses and minuses to this one.)
- Other kids leave their toys behind that we can play with.
- They are too worn out at dinner to argue about what we're eating.
On A Lighter Note
Today HJ sat down in front of a stuffed animal and signed the words "I Love You" to it. Oh, my heart!
Must be a habit she picked up from Nana...
Old MacDonald...
had some heels...
E-I-E-I-O
Sweet, sweet girl! I had fun with you today!
Cheese! Can you see HJ's teeth coming in?
Yesterday, HJ had her first speech therapy appointment. I know. I know. She's two.
She's not having speech problems yet obviously, but she is having chewing and swallowing problems. We're working on it. Our first appointment went well. HJ was a little S-T-U-B-B-O-R-N, but she has several new skills to work on until next month when we see Ms. Sharon again.
Today AE got to "help" Mommy work with HJ on a few exercises. Nothing better than watching HJ copy her big sister. Worked like a charm to get HJ to actually do some of the drills!
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