moving and grooving

After trying to get kasen's roll over on film - I gave up and just took a picture. She is totally enamored with her feet. Low standards are always a plus in my book.

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Welcome to Pittsburgh

We flew into Detroit on Friday (fairly uneventful) and on Saturday headed to see my maternal Grandmother. Here is a picture of Kasen with her Great Grandmother Madeline. Two Mannys in the morning.

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I might be crafty... please don't tell anyone.

I threw a shower a few weeks ago for our friends, Rebecca and James.  They are expecting a baby boy in late October and we couldn't be more excited.  We met them when we moved to Seattle and when we left our apartment building and bought our house, Becca & James ended up buying in our neighborhood.... yeah I talked it up... of course I wanted them as neighbors! 

Since Bec is having a boy, I now get to immerse myself in all things blue.... cute clothes with bugs, pirates and dinosaurs.  Now Kasen has alot of stuff like that too.... gotta start them young with science... but with a boy you can go all out on the boy wear.  I mean baby VANS shoe socks... seriously.

In celebration, I got out my dusty sewing machine to make a few things.  My first project was a tag blanket.  A friend of mine at PEPS said her son LOVED his tag blanket and on inspection, I decided I could probably make one.  Here is the final product:

The front is flannel (yes with Dinosaurs) and the back is Minky (a super soft fabric that is made from recycled plastic - super popular in baby stuff right now).  The minky was a touch hard to sew with, but I love the soft feel it gave the blanket.  I found this on-line tutorial that shows nice instructions for a similar blanket.  FYI - be sure to pre-wash all fabrics.  While Minky doesn't do alot of shrinking, the flannel will.

My example tag blanket had tags that were fabric (not ribbon like in the tutorial) and some were "crinkly".  I wanted to add this as well, so I made some fabric tags with plastic in the middle.  The plastic is from the wipes that we use (hooray reuse).  If you wanted to spend money... cellephane you bought for gifts would work nicely.  Below you can see some of the different tags:



The orange tag is one of my fabric "crinkly" tags and the others are ribbon.  I tried to pick varying patterns and textures.  Babies are drawn to strong contrast, so the black & white seemed best.  It was actually a pretty fun project....  my Grandma Knickerbocker (the seamstress in my family) would be so proud.

Headed to Michigan tomorrow, so posts will be coming from my phone (I hope).  If this works, I will have to tell Karl he was right (again) since he convinced me to buy the phone.  Success may be a mixed blessing.

A baby's "super power"...

I am sure my brother and sister-in-law did not coin this conversation topic, but they are quick to point out their friends' "super powers". Since they were the first I remember saying it, I always think of them when the subject comes up. It is never leaping tall buildings or seeing through walls... always something fairly mundane yet generally unique to the person all the same. Ever since they said it, I have found I enjoy using this in conversations as well - seems like verbal confetti to me... no real purpose, but fun all the same.

Recently, when Kasen was newly home, I quickly pointed out a new super power to one of my friends.  Karl had an amazing ability to sleep soundly through the baby crying, but yet manage to hear his phone vibrate downstairs (I do not think this power is unique to him). Luckily he has lots of more "impressive" super powers. 

After seeing this picture, I have figured out my daughter's first super power (yet I am pretty sure most babies share this extra ability) - she is impressed with EVERYTHING. Karl was flicking this silly plastic elephant on her exersaucer. It doesn't even do anything... no lights, no sounds, no moving parts. She can't even grab it. Yet? Sheer shock and awe. I will have to save this picture. I may need to remind myself of this simple joy someday when she is snarling at me from the back seat.  Plus then it may work as a nice bargaining tool due to the drooly chin.

First post from my phone

I am hoping to keep blogging when the female picarbockers hit the road Friday. This is my first test post.

Kasen and I had our usual Tuesday date with Rachel and Sam today. Rachel and I decided our hard work is paying off... that look is love... or gas :)

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Mom... she seems suspect...

After popping the TWO (yes I originally thought it was one tooth, but it is actually both bottom teeth), Kasen must still be teething. I was hoping for a bit of relief, but it appears none is coming our way. She is still gnawing on things and making life.... "challenging" around here. But since I missed 2 days last week, I am committed to posting every day this week. I even have fun things to post (depending on your definition of fun) - a baby shower & sewing projects. This means even though I am ready to drop after Kasen's 60 minute LOUD refusal to nap - I am putting up a quick post. Hopefully, I figure out my android app too since I am headed to the midwest with Kasen on Friday. I would love to at least post pictures while I am gone. We'll see.

I came across this picture when I dumped my camera card today. The look on Sterling's face is a constant these days. If he could talk, he would be continually pointing out reasons he should be an only child :)

Picarbocker House = Land of Poo

Sorry, no picture today - but trust me - you don't want one.  In fact, if you have a weak stomach (or just don't think poo is funny) - just skip this post.

For the strong:
After waking up and coming downstairs this morning, a huge whiff of cleaning product hit my nose. Karl was scouring the bathroom mats...  6am seemed an odd time for this task.  He was so grossed out he couldn't even speak.  Turns out, Sterling had a bit of a stomach ache last night.  When we didn't let him out.... you honestly don't want to know.  I should have known to stay home all day after that morning, but did I?  NO!  How can it get worse you ask?  Oh it gets worse...

After Kasen woke from her morning nap, we headed to Bellevue (the town nearby where I taught) to visit my old school and help a friend.  Kasen took a nice nap in her car seat, then woke and played with a toy (important to note she was still in her car seat).  After being in it for about 2 hrs, I pulled her out to change her before we left.  I immediately noticed she felt wet underneath.  I then noticed the blow-out. 

Every parent has learned to react to this term with fear and every non-parent - well let's face it - anyone knows the words "blow-out" plus "baby" is bad.  Definitely not something you need further description on.  It IS bad.  Trust me. 

I get her cleaned up (yes top and pants destroyed), everything in plastic bags and go grab her car seat.  Can you see where this is going?  Funny because I was totally shocked.  I assumed her seat would be wet so I wiped it down (good thinking Mom!) and figured I'd just put a blanket under her for the ride.  You know, so she isn't sitting in pee...

Worst part of my day? After moving car seat and getting her strapped in, I noticed something. A huge puddle on the tile. Where the car seat had been.  Seriously?!?! I have heard of dogs having accidents where mom has to wipe down the floor, but a kid? IN A CAR SEAT?

After thinking about it, I have found my silver lining... at least car seats have holes. Could have taken me a LONG time (or a good hot day) to discover that bit of Picarbocker fun.