Some not so pleasant news in babyland this morning - our crib has just been recalled! And just when we're almost into toddler bed territory.
If you haven't heard, millions of drop-side cribs are being recalled by the CPSC because the drop-side, when down, can be pushed away from the crib, leaving an opening big enough for baby to get stuck in. As many as 46 deaths have been attributed to this, and over 9 million cribs have been recalled over the last 5 years.... which begs the question: why did they wait so long to announce a large scale recall?!
Frustrations aside, our crib brand - Million Dollar Baby - is sending us a repair kit to lock the drop-side into the 'up' position. All I can say is I'm thankful we never found the need to use the drop-side on our crib, and that our baby girl has never been injured by it.
To find out if your crib made the recall list, and what your options are click here
Father's Day is this weekend, and plans and gifts are still up in the air. I really am awful at this whole getting-things-done business. Disorganized as I may be, I do at least have a card made. Not a huge accomplishment, considering how easy it was, but cute nonetheless.
This year's Father's Day card was made in the same style as last year's birthday card for my husband.
Yes, those are her footprints. The green one is so much bigger than the pink one! She grew so much in just a year!
As I said, these cards are super easy to make.
1. Coat your baby's foot (or hand) in a non-toxic, washable ink for rubber stamps, and press firmly onto a blank card.
2. Stare at the print, trying to find an animal shape, until you drive yourself so crazy from looking for what isn't there that you actually see an animal instead of a footprint.
3. Use a sharpie or a craft pen to draw details - but don't go overboard. You still want to be able to see the print.
4. Come up with something clever to write inside. The inside of the pink card says "from your little bunny", because that's one of our many nicknames for Kirah.
Now I'm off to find a gift to go with it!
As I'm sure many parents out there understand, when my daughter is being picky noodles are always the answer. Kids just can't get enough pasta. But I can really only give her macaroni with butter so many nights a week, so I've been trying to come up with some other ideas.
Cold noodles are a nice change, and this recipe is one I will happily make for myself as well. I like to rotate soba noodle flavors so things don't get boring. Yam and green tea are a couple of my faves.
Easy cold soba noodles
1 100g bundle buckwheat soba noodles (or other flavor)
2 Tbsp canola or vegetable oil
1 Tbsp orange juice
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp honey
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 spring mint leaves, stem discarded, finely chopped
1 scallion, finely sliced
2 Tbsp black and white sesame seeds (more to taste)
Break noodles in half, and boil as directed on package. Strain and rinse with cold water until cool. Whisk oil through sesame oil in a medium sized bowl and add noodles, mixing well to coat. Garnish each serving with mint, scallion, and a generous amount of sesame seeds.
Makes about 2 adult servings or 4 kid servings.
We found this step-stool in the dollar bin at Target. Kirah picked the color.
Now that she can make herself a few inches taller I am suddenly aware of how big she is getting. She carries the stool around with her all day and uses it to get things she could reach without it as well as things that were once a little too high. She plays with light switches and looks at herself in the bathroom mirror. She watches me cook now, and helps me stir things.
It makes me giddy and breaks my heart at the same time.
I have so much fun dressing up my little girl. The options for childrens' clothes today are just amazing, and while boys' clothes are (stupidly, if you ask me) fairly restrictive as far as color and style, girls can wear just about anything. One of my favorite ways to temper the amount of pink and sparkles in our house is to shop the boy sections at stores. Why not? Girls like trucks and sharks and alligators too!
I'd love to show you some of my favs of what's out there at the moment.
This vintage-looking origami set from Tea Collection is cute on it's own, but you could make it even cuter and more girl friendly by breaking it up. Match the shorts with a white cotton eyelet top, or the tank with a pair of ruffly white or orange ruffly shorts (a la?)
This Stella McCartney designed set for Baby Gap glows in the dark! Need I say more?
Cool, comfy long johns from Hanna Anderson are just the type of jammies I would steal from a boy if I was that size. There are lots of nicely preppy color choices on these ones as well.
borrowed from my brother section. Check it out, if only for the inspiration - I can't think of anything more brilliant than pairing a checked button-down with a tulle skirt and some sparkly ballet flats.
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I'm thinking I need this cardigan in my size as well. It's got that sweet borrowed-from-grandpa thing going for it.
These pants from Lucky Wang NYC look super-duper comfy! I'm in love with the wide leg, and they come in a few colors (including a soft lavender).
The hoodie from Masala Baby seems like the kind of thing Kirah would live in and never let me wash. I'm also a fan of the unique coloring.
I can't get over this motorcycle jacket. Knock that price down and I will be all over it! How much fun would that be over a brightly colored summer dress?
A trendy T-shirt is such an easy way to get a little boy style without going over the top. This one makes me happy with it's not-too-cutesy print.
And lastly, a well worn, cozy hoodie is a kid essential. Tea Collection's stands out to me in it's simplicity.
Now go get some snips and snails and puppy dog tails for your baby girl! And if you're not sure if she looks too boyish, just throw on some pink, heart-shaped sunglasses, and you're golden. ;)
We love playing dress-up around here. With a few leftover Halloween costumes, some hand-me-down jewelry from Grammy, and a nicely worn blanket to use as a cape, we have at least a few good hours of imaginative play guaranteed. Then we venture into my closet, throw on a dozen scarves, twice as many necklaces, and a pair of heels so high I have to laugh when Kirah shuffles around in them.
If Kirah can find a way to affix it to her body, it will become part of today's story, where she's an astronaut, or a cowgirl, or a dragon, or whatever.
I love that she can imagine a towel into a cloak and a necklace into a crown, but from time to time I come across some special piece of dress-up finery that I wish we could add to our collection.
Here's what's captivating me this week:
Silly felt beards from Mahar Dry Goods.
Any and all of the adorable tutus from Tutu Posh.
These luxe looking capes in every color.
This fantastic handmade kimono for girls or boys.
A complete and comfy looking knight costume (check out this etsy seller's whole shop for more!)
And my favorite, this super cool bird mask and cape from shak-shuka.
Mmm, I can dream.
Let me introduce a new monthly feature on this blog - Mobile of the Month.
I get bored of things easily, as does Kirah, so we change up the mobile that hangs above her crib at least once a month.
We originally bought this
Kikkerland photo mobile to hold art cards from Wee Gallery
The nice thing about this mobile is that you can hang ten papers from it vertically, or attach two clips to each paper and hang 5 horizontally so that your photos or images are facing down into the crib. The art cards are great for little babies because their bold, black-and-white pictures are easy for newborn eyes to focus on.
Now that our little one is a lot bigger, we have moved the mobile higher - out of her reach, and we experiment with different designs to give her something fresh to look at all the time.
This month I was inspired by a Pixar design. In the movie Monsters Inc. there is a scene where Sully crams Boo's toys into his locker, and then tries to flush them down the toilet to hide them. One of the toys is a colorful fish mobile. Unfortunately I was unable to find a decent screenshot, but if you own Finding Nemo you can see the same mobile hanging above the fish tank in the dentist office.
A cute fish mobile seems perfect for the beginning of beach weather, so I decided to make a similar one.
I cut out 10 fishies from one template that I made. Then, using crayons, I drew the same design on all of them, font and back, using different contrasting colors.
Kirah likes them. She says "Fishies are swimmin'!" and makes whooshing noises. She especially likes for me to hold her up so she can smack them with her hands and make them "swim".
These little fishies are going to stick around for a while, but check back next month to see what we come up with!
Let's kick this off with something cool!
Plenty of the fun crafts Kirah and I do together are things my mother did with me and my sister when we were little. If only I could remember everything we thought was great back then. Thankfully I do remember some things, and I can always call my mom to ask about the specifics.
By the time seester and I were in pre-school we had amassed buckets of crayons. I don't know how we talked our mom into buying so many giant boxes of something we already had a ton of, but once I moved out after high school I had a physical time line of the last 18 years of Crayola's design and color changes. Being an absolute connoisseur of art supplies I can tell you all about how upset I was when they dropped the pale pale lavender, or how my favorite new color name was "macaroni and cheese". Et cetera.
My mother had come up with a way to deal with all the little broken nubs and stubs of much loved crayons. She melted them down in muffin tins, making little round lumps with different colors on all sides. They were fun to experiment with and were the perfect size for little hands. She would spend one day making bunches of them, and then would send them off to Montessori with us for the teacher to keep in the classroom. It was a brilliant way to keep them from taking over her kitchen cupboards.
I attempted this craft with Kirah this week and though I was lacking in the proper pan and wound up ruining a perfectly good petits fours tin, the result was a batch of cute, technicolor crayon babies that my little girl was fascinated with.
Fun, right?
So here's how you do it.
You need:
Mini-muffin tin(s)
Wax Paper
Crayons, paper removed, broken into pieces less than 1/2" long
Heat oven to 300°F. Line each well in the muffin tin with wax paper. Make sure you do this very well, because if the crayons melt through a tear your pan is toast. Fill lined wells with crayons, coordinating colors to your fancy and being careful not to overfill.
Bake for about 10 minutes, keeping a watchful eye. You'll want to start checking every minute once the outsides are melted but the centers still have crayon shaped lumps. You're going to want to take them out of the oven right when those centers melt so that the colors don't all mix together into ugly brown. This is the point where Kirah told me we were making crayon soup.
Pop them in the freezer for a few minutes and let the wax cool. Once they're solid simply peel off the paper and start doodling!
Have fun!
This is the start of something fun.
A place to unleash all of the quirky epiphanies, musings, eye candy and what-ifs that swirl around my brain all day. A forum for which to offer solutions to common problems and a wall to bounce ideas off of as they come.
If you're a parent of a young child(or two, or three or ten); if you someday hope to be; if you're a nanny; a grandma; a super involved aunt... you just might find something here that interests you. If you love recreating your own fashion styles for your kids, are a sucker for vintage toys, secretly watch Yo Gabba Gabba when you're child has stopped paying attention, are quite charmed by miniature versions of food, believe that a Spiderman costume is absolutely appropriate for preschool, can catch frogs AND throw tea parties, well then please stick around, because we are going to get along great.
This is an exciting new adventure, and I look forward to sharing it with you.
