Under Construction

Experimenting with food

Oscar is four months old! At his four month appointment his doctor suggested we try solid food any time and for sure before his 6 month appointment. I've been more of an "only breastmilk till 6 months" kind of person but, eh, a few spoonfuls of applesauce at 4 months seems unlikely to cause permanent harm.

Plus, our feeding interactions with Oscar have been mostly unpleasant lately since he really doesn't like a bottle. Trying something new seemed fun and positive.

Feeding my baby sister her first bite of solid food felt like a very important thing when I was 8 so I wanted Biscuit to have this big sister responsibility as well. The kid has never taken a more efficient bath than when I told her after her bath she could trying giving Oscar his first bite of solid food.

Expressions captured to the contrary, he liked it alright. Minimal tongue thrust and he swallowed it so I guess the experiment was a success. Go, baby!

Racing stripes dresser

Yay for projects that come out like you imagine.

Oscar's room is really coming together. The dresser is stuffed with clothes (thanks, cousins and friends!) and there's a clock and a picture on top. The new curtains are made and hung. It's going to be a nursery in no time!

But about the dresser. I love how the wallpaper I've had on hand for years with no purpose worked like a charm to line the drawers. Just pasted it down with watered down school glue. Seemed to work....

For $35 on Craigslist plus some paint, 2 new knobs and a lot of elbow grease I like how this turned out. Much more manly than solid white if you ask me.

New curtain

I hung up a new curtain. Biscuit noticed it right away and said it was too plain and asked when I was going to finish it. I said I liked it simple.

It's already way more finished than its predecessor which was pinned (rather than sewn) in place for years. Truly, years and years. So a finished tube at the top for the curtain rod is a nice touch.

The big question is, will Mr. H notice this curtain first on the blog or in our home? It's been up for 2 days and he hasn't mentioned it. Maybe he doesn't like it? But it took him 2+ weeks to notice the old curtain was gone so I'm not really sure. He's been super busy lately.

Ok, back to ironing Oscar's new curtains. It's all about window coverings this week. Only one week of maternity leave left and I have to make the most of it.

The Oscar report--almost 4 months

I keep planning to start on your baby book. But I haven't. So I'd better write some of this down. And I sat down to do just that and you chose that exact instant to wake up from your three hour morning nap. After only one hour. So, here we are an hour after that and you are back in your bed. Without further ado, a few notes:

Sometimes you smile so hard your whole head shakes with joy.

Now that you can consistently get your hand to your mouth you've become an avid finger sucker.

One, two, three, even four fingers at a time. Each of them apparently quite delicious.

Your sister really, really loves you. Sometimes to the point of suffocation. It's so wonderful.

The other day Biscuit noted that on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays she had to go SIX HOURS without giving you a kiss (and FIVE hours on Thursdays--early release day from school). SIX whole hours. She makes up for it before and after school.

You're starting to like things like being tickled or tossed in the air. Daddy is the expert on such things. But I was trying it out along with the self timer for this shot. And you didn't even yak on my camera. You still spit up an awful lot. Sorry to be critical but you do.

You are still a good sleeper as long as you are 1. on your tummy 2. having your head pressed firmly against the edge of the co-sleeper 3. partially covered with a blanket. Actually, I'm not certain about 3. I just like to use that knit blanket so I assume it's true even when it's hot and you're otherwise undressed. Except a diaper, of course.

You have learned to reach out and grab a toy. It's pretty shocking to you sometimes. And exciting.

You especially love to grab this toy and your little blue minky blanket and shove part of it in your mouth. You also love your bouncy seat, being outside, being held and looking at people. You do not like getting your clothes changed (especially if I have to pull them over your head), being ignored, and exceptionally long car rides (who does?).

You love tummy time but you're also happy on your back. Especially if you can watch your mobile or some trees.

You start daycare 2 weeks from today. Only 3 days/week so I don't have to go TEN HOURS without kissing you too many days of the week. TEN HOURS on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays will be quite more than enough thank you.

It's not just Biscuit that loves you. We all do, pumpkin.

Oscar's nursery--wall of (free) original art

Now that the craft shack is done and I'm mostly moved in it's time to convert the former craft room to a nursery. Several nursery posts coming up. Consider yourself warned.

First up, the wall of art conceived and started way back in March (see last photo).

It looks more or less how I envisioned despite the fact that I did a crummy job arranging the frames. All the art is made by us or friends so all free other than supplies. The frames are all recycled from cardboard boxes.

A tour: from top to bottom, left to right.

• A note Biscuit wrote to the baby while she was in kindergarten early in my pregnancy.
• A melted wax "directed" art project Biscuit did in kindergarten.
• Eric Carle water color building blocks. Tutorial here.

Second row

• Biscuit's Eric Carle inspired water color collage
• A sunprint of one of our chicken feathers (they're molting right now, plenty of feathers around)
• A drawing Mr. H did of a helicopter (drawn in 1984)
• Biscuit's watercolor resist alphabet. Described here.

Bottom row

• A little watercolor I did this morning to fill a hole in the layout
• An I love you leaf print. Described here.
• An original painting by artist Lauren Brandy which I received for free (!) as part of her "unlaced" series.

 

And the bird mobile shown at the bottom of this post.

I kind of love the cardboard frames embellished with simple black pen designs. Biscuit did a few and I did the rest. We didn't worry about perfection on those frames and they still work great.

Next up: Oscar's dresser.

Porch mini makeover

 

I'm certain I took a "before" photo of our porch but heck if I can find it in iPhoto in the crush of newborn photos taken this summer. Imagine this same scene with random crap laying around and the pillows covered in black and white toile.

Yeah, basically I just cleaned up and recovered the pillows.

These are the result of all my potato printing. Patterned pillows. I started with a plain white polished cotton I got for $2/yard at Beverly's. All the sides are now different prints but with the same 3 colors of paint.

The yellow triangles is absolutely my favorite. And now the porch is brightened up as if for Spring just in time for Fall. It was very cool out this morning--Fall is definitely on the way.

His opus

We've been keeping ourselves amused around here. Lots to blog but let's start with the most exciting/important.

The craft "shack" is DONE.

And it is great. In the photo above, the right side is my craft room with the door going into it. The window on the left is into the tool shed side.

His end:

My end:

Clearly we still need to work on landscaping but, thanks to my mom, I got some flowers in the flower beds in front.

The interior is just as nice as the exterior! Mr. H's side is mostly just exposed studs but we failed our first, final inspection because of exposed wires so this wall got a nice layer of osb and now, we're all inspected and offically done. That exposed wire there above the top plate doesn't count--we learned that anything over 8 feet can stay exposed. The more you know....

As you can see, his view is of tools that will eventually reside INSIDE the shed. My view of of a sorely neglected garden. I always get a bit sick of gardening this time of year.

Another interior view. Note the baseboards and crown molding--Mr. H doesn't do things halfway.

And another view.  The floors are stained and sealed concrete. Staining and sealing the floor is pretty much the sum total of work I contributed to this project.

I'm currently moving my (very large quantities of) craft supplies into the shed. And I don't have enough shelving yet but I can already tell it's going to be awesome!

Girl Scouts and cookies (but not Girl Scout Cookies)

 Girl Scout Cookies aren't until January (sales) and February (delivery). But, Girl Scouts.

I'm having my post-Girl Scout Meeting glass of wine. It might be two glasses. And I'm wondering how anyone could be a kindergarten (or first grade) teacher. Only 8 girls tonight, only for an hour and I'm d.o.n.e. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I volunteered to be a leader and I'm happy to do it it just isn't really my strong suit and it exhausts me. Trying to keep the girls focused for 10-15 minutes is MORE than enough and then they have to dance it out so to speak.

Given the nice weather I sent them to the yard for a dance party. Of course that also meant a lot of "no, we're not going on the tire swing." "no, you can't 'skate' on the funiture dolly" etc etc. Our yard isn't first grader proofed. In the end, the dancing was a success and I was grateful to the wonderful parents who stayed around during the meeting and helped with kid control. I sometimes feel self consious to have the other parents there during the meeting as though they're watching/judging my lack of troop management skills. But, tonight, they helped take the clothes off the line and laid a soothing hand on a girl who needed a bit of extra help focusing and generally were awesome. So, Daisy Girl Scouts, fun, but phew, glad it's every OTHER week :)

Cookies.

I was involved in recent a Facebook debate with a local friend and blog reader and my cousin from PA about cookie and brownie recipes. I'm a devout follower of Ina Garten/Barefoot Contessa cookie recipes and I admit I have developed a bit of a cookie reputation (as in, I make good chocolate chip cookies). I use Ina's recipe faithfully except for a chocolate chip switch (I use only Guittard chips, half milk, half semi sweet). ANYWAY FB friend, said that the infamous Neiman Marcus cookies BEAT Ina's cookies. I didn't believe her so I had a taste off.

I followed the recipes precisely except for the chocolate chip ratio described above. I used the AMOUNT of chips called for but mixed up the TYPE of chips. And, for Ina's recipe, I left out the walnuts. I LOVE walnuts but, in cookies, they're divisive and I didn't want anyone's vote to be swayed by nuts.

First test group was Mr. H's poker night crowd. (not so blurry in real life but I loved the double fisting it of cookies)

Seven men, one woman. Vote was 5-3 in favor of cookie #2 which was Ina's. Those voting for #1, Neiman Marcus, all liked the coffee flavor. The recipe calls for 1.5 tsps of espresso powder and I used a Starbucks Via packet. The next day I took the cookies to a family event and the votes were 5-0 in favor of Ina. Now, I admit that's a crowd that is very familar with the Ina cookie since I make it a lot. Also, for the poker crowd the Ina cookies were a bit warmer since they were the second batch cookied. STILL I think Ina wins this one. Next step, add 1/2 tsp of espresso to Ina's recipe and see what happens....

Too bad I used all that cookie dough in taste tests. A cookie would go well with my wine about now.

PS Is this the funniest thing ever or is it just me?

Cooking suggestions

Not that you need me to tell you what to do but sometimes it's nice to have a links to a few tried and true recipes. Here are some winners that'll use up your bounty of late summer produce!

 

If you have a glut of:

CORN AND TOMATOES--make: Smitten Kitchen's Corn and Tomato Pie. Seriously, this is Mr. H and my new favorite recipe. Biscuit loves it too. (notes: I used sliced havarti cheese rather than shredded cheddar and it was just as good. The biscuit dough crust is a critical element. Don't worry about liquidy produce, just drain the pie after cutting a slice or two--sounds gross but it works)

GREEN BEANS--make: Emeril's Chinese Chicken and Green Beans. (notes: I always leave out the shrimp and it works fine. The Asian Spice Blend is a must but make it once and you'll have it on hand for ages)

ROMA TOMATOES AND ZUCCHINI--make: A recipe Jonniker tweeted. Yes, tweeted. Here it is in Jonniker's tweet words:

So quarter some roma or regular tomatoes, put in a glass baking dish and drizzle with olive oil, balsamic vinegar....dried basil and garlic (I am generous with all). If you want zucchini, you can roast, or you can sautee, like I do....Roast the tomatoes for 15 minutes at 400. Mix with thinly sliced, sauteed zucchini and drained cannellini beans....then toss with parmesan, salt and pepper. Die happy.

(notes: I roasted thin sliced zucchini in the oven with the (non Roma) tomatoes and some finely chopped onion and tossed in fresh basil at the end. Also used garbanzo beans rather than cannellini and served over pasta)

EGGPLANT- AND BELL PEPPERS-make: Ratatouille. And, I'm sorry, because I know eggplant is pretty gross but this will use it up and feel very virtuous to eat and will taste a lot better than you'd expect from eggplant. (notes: I served over polenta which Mr. H and Biscuit do not like but I do. I also approximated all the vegetable needs substituting liberally between Japanese eggplant, different pepper colors and zucchini vs. summer squash)

DESIRE FOR COOKIES YET NO CHOCOLATE CHIPS AND VERY LITTLE REGULAR SUGAR--make: Smitten Kitchen's Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies (notes: This assumes you do have two 1.75 oz bars of Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate to chop up. That's something you should always have on hand so I'm assuming you do. It also assumes you keep coffee powder in your freezer for baking or have some Starbucks Via packets floating around)

A NEED FOR BREAKFAST BUT NO BREAKFAST FOODS--make: Smitten Kitchen's Perfect Blueberry Muffins. Yes, I'm kind of into Smitten Kitchen this week. (notes: substitute a scant cup of MIXED frozen berries from Trader Joe's removing the big ones, like strawberries. Way yummier than straight up blueberries)

 

Potatoes

I can't stop potato printing.

This is my least favorite pattern so far and, of course, the only one I've photographed.

Back soon with the final project assuming this nap continues. Baby is fighting his first little cold but it means extra long naps for mommy. So that's an up side. The sad, snotty nose would be the down side.