Sisters

Judah-Buddy is Three!

Judah has changed and grown so much this past year. He just began talking at 2 years old. Now it's incredible how the kind of stuff he's saying. Although he still has some cute speech impediments (he doesn't say his hard "c" sound and says an "h" sound instead, so Clementine is "Hementine" and his favorite snake, the King Cobra, is a "Hing Hoba") he's very much intelligible. This fact alone has defused an incredible amount of the frustration he felt as a 2-year-old. Also he's just matured - he's learned to wait for things he wants, to share, to use words instead of hitting or biting, to verbalize his desires, to use manners, etc. (we're still working on all of these, of course, but the PROGRESS we've made in the last year is encouraging for this mama!! Actually, I wonder if my boys will still have to be encouraged to "Use your words!" as adult men....)


Here's Judah when he first started talking last February:

Last summer we were getting this adorable speech:

 By this past fall Judah was volunteering lots of verbal information, most of which was intelligible:

And here he is a couple weeks ago talking about his stitches:

Sometimes I just sit and let Judah talk to me because it's SO adorable to listen to his little voice. He has very mature and deep thoughts, but the way they come out sometimes sounds a little babyish still and that combination is enchanting. But DO NOT SMILE OR LAUGH!! It is imperative to take his serious words - even the adorably mispronounced ones - with the proper serious attitude. 

It has been an incredible joy to watch Judah flourish and to see the baby grow into a toddler and now into a full-fledged boy. There was a point where within a couple of weeks he seemed to clearly "hit a new stage" in his development - Richard and I both noticed and commented on it. Although he loves to do what his older sibs are doing, Judah certainly has his own quirks and knows his own mind. He really feels and thinks deeply. He has a very serious side as well as a goofiness that has us all rolling when he cares to turn it on.

Judah as a two-year-old was probably like most two-year-olds who really want to do things themselves. I constantly had to remember to give him time to attempt things himself, even when I knew it was something he couldn't do, like buckle his own car seat belt. If I just barged in to do it myself a screaming, crying, frustrated meltdown would invariably ensue! I've learned to not be in such a rush and to allow time for Judah to spread his wings a bit. I've learned to ask first, "would you like me to help or would you like to try yourself?" Usually if after trying himself he isn't able to do some task, he happily allows me to do it for him - the few extra minutes it takes to let him try first are well-worth it. Actually I think "DON'T BE IN A RUSH" is a key motto for parenting in general, not just with 2-year-olds!!

Although Judah and Moses still fight a lot, there has been improvement there as well, and it's so fun to watch them playing imaginary games together, sharing jokes, singing songs and creating buildings and machines. I think Moses has enjoyed finally having a playmate who is both a boy and very much at the same level as he. Sissy hasn't always been so keen on playing the kinds of games Moses has wanted to play. With less than 20 months between them, Moses and Judah have reached a very similar place developmentally, and I'm sure that will become even more so as they get older.

Judah has given me some of my hardest parenting challenges, and I'm constantly praying for more wisdom in mothering him. I often feel like I don't know what's going on in his little mind and heart, because he has such a deep-feeling, internal sort of personality. In so many situations I find myself praying for insight, for a way to reach his heart and understand what's underneath his very frustrating behavior. But even with these challenges, he's an incredible delight!! He's such a complex little boy. And we're still in a sort of limbo time, where he's spreading his wings and maturing but still needing cuddles and lots of nurturing. Sometimes he wants to be treated like the "big kids" and sometimes he needs to be treated like the baby, and I need to be sensitive to understand those needs.

Judah's 3rd Birthday Party

 Mr. Judah Buddy turned Three on Saturday! I'm working on a post about JUDAH being THREE, but in the mean time I wanted to post a few pics of his birthday party.

On Friday Judah fell while playing outside and busted his lip open on some ice. Poor guy! But he was tough and hardly even cried.

Papa took him in to get stitches. The doctor was not as gentle as the one Moses had for his stitches, and Judah cried. I'm glad it was Papa and not me who had to hold him down for the stitches. But, Judah was really excited after the fact, because now he has stitches just like Big Brother Moses had!

On Saturday we had a little party for Judah with just us. The bigger family party scheduled for Sunday was canceled due to inclement weather. =[

A Batman card always goes over well. Moses was pretty interested in it too!

The card had this cool little pin on it.

He was wearing the perfect yellow shirt, too!

Check out my Batman pin!

"WOODY!!"

He really wanted Woody.

Smile...

Bigger smile!!

"Buzz Lightyear!!"

Smile...

Bigger smile!!

Yummy chocolate birthday cake

Mmmm, what a fun birthday.

This is my big three-year-old birthday boy! I love him to pieces.

DIY Valentines

I don't really care for Valentine's Day as a holiday. Sooo commercialized, sooo lame. BUT, I do like making special things for my lovies, and Valentine's Day is a good time to do that. Here's what I'm working on for the kids:

Fabric envelope which will have a stamp in the corner eventually.  Excuse the distortion - merely for personal security issues. =] I wrote "Our House" on the second line and then wrote our city and state on the 3rd line.

I'm using this tutorial to make the stamp.

I made the envelope following a tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew.

Front of the envelope

Note paper?

Look closer!

A combination of machine sewing and hand embroidery.

Inspiration for the sewn letter from Katie Cupcake.

I made something very different for Richard, but since he occasionally reads my blog, I'll post pictures of it after Valentine's Day. =]

**UPDATED TO ADD**

Here's Richard's Valentine's Day gift:

Grace said, "WHAT IS IT!?" and when I told her it was a human heart she was totally grossed out and thought it was kinda weird to be giving something like that to my husband. But there's sort of an inside joke there too because Richard has this thing about how your heart muscle doesn't really contain feelings in it... so I thought it was both not too cutesy and also kind of funny.

Dreams of Summer.....

 

 

Blueberry Peach Cobbler....

My First DIY Reuphostery Attempt

 I enjoy sewing and crafting even though I'm something of a learn-as-you-go hack. I'm so thankful to my Grandma Morgan who taught my mom to sew after she married my dad. What a great mother-in-law! And my mom taught me to sew (although I wish I would have had her teach me more!!) So I know some basics and have learned more through trial-and-error. If you know me, you know I'm pretty much a wing-it-and-see-how-it-goes sort of person, rather than a careful planner. That's why I'm a lot more successful at crafting than at sewing clothes that actually fit people!

Anyway, reupholstering has appealed to me more and more as we furnish our home and I read those DIY, before-and-after blogs of people who take nasty pieces of furniture off the curbs and turn them into things you'd see in a home decor magazine. My thought has been, "I could do that, I mean how hard could it be?"

So when Richard scored this antique rocking chair from a resident whose sewer he was fixing, I was pretty keen to give reupholstery a go. (Rocker was bought for $40 cash!!)

So I ripped off the seat fabric and committed myself to reupholstering it. I decided to leave the springs, even though the middle one was a bit gimpy, because redoing that seemed a bit ambitious, even for me. I figured I'd just get some foam to put over it then tack down some fabric and viola~! New chair. (Remember I said I'm not big into preplanning).

Well, I went to Joann's to get some foam and tacks, and thought I'd better just take a peak at an upholstery book for reference. Again, not big on getting my ducks in a row. After skimming 2 or 3 books I realized I needed more materials than I originally thought, in the form of burlap and batting. No biggie. I also stocked up on glue stick for the hot glue gun, figuring I'd probably end up using it.

***WARNING*** This is in no way a tutorial! Please do not follow any of these steps if you want to reupholster anything. I photo journaled this project for my own pleasure, but you should think of it more as a guide of what NOT to do. Thank you.

I forgot to take a picture before I ripped off the disgusting, ancient tapestry and stained, smelly stuffing of the seat. But you can see the fabric is not super awesome. And it smelled very strongly like old person.

My book skimming told me I should pull out all the old tacks and nails. Clementine was my helper through most of this project.

See? Look how good she helps! Also notice how [relatively] clean my workspace was at the beginning of this project. I'm also not big on "clean up as you go", plus I let the kids scatter toys everywhere so they'd stay out of my hair, so it's not pretty at the end!

After all the old nails are out and I sanded down the rough spots, I tacked burlap down over the springs. From my extensive research I learned that the foam will disintegrate if you don't do this. Oh, and I used Richard's handy dandy staple gun for this. Must Have!!

Then I stapled down 2" thick foam over the burlap. FYI, foam is expensive. Joann's had it 50% off and the two pieces still cost me just under $15. That seems like a lot.

Then finally the batting goes on top of the foam to sort of smooth it out. Again, the staple gun.

And here is the new fabric! I've had this for a long time...got in on clearance thinking it would be great for some project or other and it was a score for like $10. Absolutely perfect for this chair! Which just goes to show you the old adage is true that you should always buy beautiful fabric that's on sale even if you don't have a project in mind for it. That is an old adage, right?

I used little upholstery tack thingies to attach the fabric. The corners were a little tricky, as I couldn't remember exactly the technique the book showed...but I winged it and it turned out fine. And comfy!! Can't feel the gimpy spring at all.

So far so good. And the tornado has passed through the room once. See the dead dog?

Here's the nasty stuffing that was under the old tapestry. Ew.

I left this webbing because it was in pretty good shape and I hadn't bought any new webbing.

This was the only structural damage to the wood of the chair. There's that sad crack there, but my awesome hubby fixed it up good for me! Otherwise this is a super solid chair.

Burlap over the webbing.

First I tried just a couple layers of batting over the burlap because the foam seemed like it'd be too thick. But when you sat in the chair you could really feel the ridge of wood along the bottom of your back, so I tore that out and went with the foam.

I think the 2" foam really was too thick, and it was hard to staple down to this part of the frame. But I got 'er done along with the batting. Again, loving the staple gun!!

Oh, and I did the back of the chair before the front because it was easier. No batting or foam, it just laid across the webbing. The shape of the top was a little tricky, and you can see the slight wonkiness of it, but I figured it would be fine once I put the braid over it.

So here's the front after I got the fabric on. This is my least favorite part of the whole thing because you can see it's totally puckery. I just had trouble getting it over that thick foam and, well, I was winging it. But it's okay. As Richard always says, "Do we look like the kind of people who have to have everything perfect?"

I hot glued the trim on and I really like that part. I burned two of my fingers like crazy but it was so easy putting the braid on.

Close up. The braid really finishes it off nicely. That's my favorite part, I think.

The chair is MUCH more comfortable now, not all squishy and gross like before. The back is firm but doesn't stick out too much, which I was worried about. Maybe the puckers will smooth out a bit after it gets sat in for a while. All-in-all I'm happy with how it turned out!

So there it is, my first reupholstery job. Just like always, I learned a lot and I think I'll be able to do a slightly better job next time. Maybe after 4 or 5 funny looking pieces of furniture we'll have something that's a true gem! In the mean time, I am happy with this chair, pumped that it's really usable now and that the whole thing cost $90! The fabric is really gorgeous and Richard really loves it too. That makes me the happiest of all.