Liam -- Week 2

• At his pediatrician appointment on Monday, he had gained 6 ounces!
• He's getting the hang of nursing.  It seems to get a little easier everyday.
• Dino jammies.  Sigh.  Love.
• He went to church for the first time on Sunday.  We kept him in his car seat to avoid a game of "pass the baby".  
• Grandma went home.  Mommy cried.  Liam didn't.
• He's starting to stare at his Rainforest Waterfal Soother. 
• He and Daddy like to make monkey faces at each other.
• He took two trips to Lexington this week for various appointments, and was so well-behaved!
• He and Mommy went solo for the first time on Saturday while Daddy had his grad school exit interview. 

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I stayed behind the camera this week. But this is by far my favorite photo. Liam has gorgeous eyes.

Guest post from Melonie

I am so excited to share this post from Melonie!  I always love the ideas for kids that she shares on her blog, and am so happy that she came up with a couple of new ones for this post!  Thank you so much for the awesome ideas, Melonie! 

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Hi Bekka's Blog fans!!! I am super excited and honored to be here guesting for Bekka this week. I am sure that little Liam has been doing a great job of keeping his Mama busy....but all too quickly Bekka will be looking for things to keep Liam busy and that is where the projects that I want to share with you today come in:)

As I was scouring the aisles of the  store the other day thinking about what I would write for this very post......a pot holder hit me in the face...no literally it hit me in the face and I considered it to be crafty fate.  :) 

Hey I don't mess with the hands of the craft Gods.

Long story short  I picked that pot holder up and gathered a few of his friends and headed home to create something out of him.

Here is what I came up with:
 

There are endless possibilities for homemade and personalized toys out there but what I like about using pot holders is most of the hard work is already done for you making the projects I am showing you here today very easy to  create in just an afternoon. You know in between naps, and snacks, and laundry, and the rest of that endless list of to-dos.   If your child is older you can even create these together and personalize them to keep him or her busy in the car...or more importantly at your favorite restaurant because lets face it after a long day in the house tackling that aforementioned list...who doesn't love a night out?

Materials needed:
 pot holders

felt and or fabric scraps
ribbon in assorted textures
and basic sewing skills.

I started the busy book off by cutting out a  couple of critters from  felt.  As I said above try to personalize the book to  YOUR child.  Make your busy book work for you.  If he or she likes a certain animal,  make the book revolve around that animal...if he or she likes to  color you can add a crayon holder like the one shown below:

If little Liam should end up liking cars or trains it would be really neat to make a couple of pages with a felt road and a pocket to hold the cars or trains in. ABC's and 123's you name it you can craft it.
Here are the remaining pages of the book that I made:

picture pages to put some of those super cute photos of Liam and his Mommy and Daddy in...or simply a place to showcase his artwork.  :)

a pocket page to hold a favorite rattle or other small toys and a peek-a-boo page...everybody loves peek-a-boo right?
 

Finally here is a simple puppet made from another pot holder. This pot holder was the culprit that smacked me in the face and started it all so he had to look a little mischievous.

To make this guy you simply gather a bunch of fun ribbon (assorted textures add another dimension of play for baby), cut along the top seam of the pot holder and place your looped pieces of ribbon in like this:
 

sew the seam back up and turn right side out.

Add an eye and a tooth and ta-da a new found forever friend:)

Thanks for listening today and hopefully this post will get you thinking outside of the box for creating toys for your little one.  Have a great day everyone!! 

Liam -- Week 1

• Liam's first week began Thursday, February 10th at 8:25 pm.
• He started the week with sucking and spit-up issues.  He has improved so much this week, and is nursing like a pro!  
• He got a pony.  Not a real one.  But it is Liam-sized.  
• His first pediatrician appointment went well.
• He looks cute in jammies.
• He does this great "zombie" impression where he sticks both arms straight out, and his little hands go limp.  I'm trying my best to get a picture of it.
• He got to hang out with Grandma a lot this week. (Who, by the way, was a lifesaver on the nursing, laundry, cleaning, and keeping-mommy-sane front!)
• Yesterday, I told him that if he wasn't finished with his diaper, then he needed to pass gas to let me know.  He smiled (yes, I know it's a reflex at this age), then passed gas.  No joke.  You can ask my mom. 
• My dad called him a hippie due to his abundance of hair.  (It's already growing over his ears!)
• He loves it when you talk to him, and hates it when you bathe him.

Oops!

I had plans of giving you an update of Liam's first week.

I also had plans of sleeping. 

Guess which won out? 

So for now, enjoy a cute picture of my child.  Once nursing is more routine, I'll hopefully be back to my regular bloggy self. 

NEW MOMMY ADVICE FOR BEKKA.... (Guest post by Michelle B)

A big thanks to Michelle B. for putting together this wonderful post full of advice from my Fave Things girls!  I really treasure all of your advice!  Thanks to all you amazing ladies!

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Bekka - I wanted to give you some helpful New Mommy Advice for my blog guest post... so I called on some our TAAFOMFT DT members to help me out.... Because I know the more advice you get the better you're equipped you are for anything that could come up.... so these are from our hearts to yours....

• Even though you think that no one can take care of your baby better than you, it's important for dad to form a bond with the new baby too. Give him some time alone with the baby for feedings, diaper changes and playtime. Chances are his way of doing things will be different from yours, but that doesn't make his way wrong... just different. Relish in receiving the help that you need. And, go take a nap!
Hugs, Jenneke

• First of all follow you instincts, you're his mom you know him best!!! Don't forget to take good care of yourself and your relation, But most of all ENJOY, LOVE, CHERISH, CUDDLE, HUG, KISS, SING and caress him!! I don't have any particular advise for you, I always and still am following my heart, try to do best that I can and love them the most I can I am not afraid to make any mistakes I am only human and don't need to be perfect (that took me some time to realize) and it's the only way to learn!!!!


So sweet Bekka congrats on your sweet baby, I know you are a great mom!!!
Hugs Hanneke

• Here's my advice.... lay a blanket or something (a towel or a small pillow will do also) underneath the mattress ( head side) to help ease  gastric discomfort that may interfere with the baby's sleeping. It helped Levi to sleep better after drinking.
And of course enjoy all of this baby time!!!
Big hugs, Jeanet

• I remembered a trick that I used with Kian when he was super grumpy: I switched on the hairdryer or the vacuum cleaner and that noise helped him to quit being nervous and he almost immediately fell asleep and I'm pretty sure that works with almost every baby! Maybe a lot of you used this trick but they say that those loud noises are similar to the noises the baby used to listen when was still in the belly.... I don't know this but I can say that as long as I had the hairdryer on he slept like an angel :-))
Hugs, Jana

• "Always TAKE a NAP when they do! You may want to clean the house, do the dishes, or get the laundry done... but TRUST me... the best thing for you is to take a nap when they do! LOL! The laundry and cleaning can wait... your sleep can not! LOL!" :):):):):):):):):):):):):):):)

:):):):):):):) HUGS - - Julie

• And lastly from me.... All these ladies have given such great advice... all of which I've used... and am a better mommy for it... now for me.... I think my all time BEST ADVICE is to start teaching Liam "BABY SIGN LANGUAGE" at 9 months... simple words like... all done... more... hungry... bottle... eat... wet diaper... poop... please... thank you...  you will be amazed at how quickly he will pick it up.... his vocabulary along with yours will grow.... and one day you'll be looking at him telling you he's hungry in sign language... and it will blow you away!!! I have to say.... it was one of the most wonderful gifts I had when Rainee was a baby... to be able to communicate with her even before she could talk... it was a blessing!!!

Love you bunches... congratulations to you both.... and Liam you're one lucky lucky lucky little guy!!!! {{bunches of hugs hugs hugs}} MichelleB

Guest post from Jeannie

I'm still taking a break from blogging...at least for a few more days.  (Remember, it's never too late to guest post for a sleep-deprived mommy!)  

Today's post is from Jeannie, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the last SIS event a couple of years ago.  I really enjoy reading about her experiences as a graphic design student.  And looking at pictures of her adorable kitty, Moo.  This post is a fun little peek into her world!  Thank you so much for sharing this, Jeannie!

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Hi Bekka's readers! I am so excited to be guest blogging for Bekka while she's snuggling that super cute babe. 

So I am a graphic design major at the University of Tennessee. But it's hard to actually know what that means. I mean, I had no idea what it was going to mean until last semester. It's a ton of fun, but two tons of hard work and all-nighters. Last semester I took one design class and a design productions class. The design productions class was essentially a class on the basics of the Adobe Creative Suite (including Bridge, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign). At the end of the semester we had portfolio review. Our three teachers from our design class, our teacher from our productions class, and another design professor that we didn't have interviewed us and looked through our work from the semester as well as two-three other pieces of work of our choice. It was an intense process. I redid every project, or at least added to what I had for those projects. By the grace of God, I got through portfolio review, which meant that I could continue as a graphic design major. If you didn't get through (which was about 70% of the class) you had to either try to get through again next year (and retake the class), change majors, or transfer schools. I was so thankful. 

So this semesters classes are just as hard, but I'm better prepared. I'm taking a design class focused on typography and a design for interactive media class (mainly meaning designing for the internet). I am also taking History of Photography and a printmaking class, Intaglio. 

Here is our board after our "free association" brainstorm. We talked about the topic of "rogue" and then gave words and phrases of things that rogue made us think of. 

My homework for design is about half physical art and half computer-aided design, programming, and research. 

Intaglio is a printmaking class. I am having a lot of fun in it, but there are a TON of little details to remember.

 These are the Intaglio inks. They are all high-quality oil based inks, rather than the water based inks you can find at art supplies stores. Once using these, you will NEVER want to go back. 

(Photo by Tara Sripunvoraskul)

Here I am printing a dry-point on lexan print. All that means is that I used an etching needle (but an xacto knife works) to etch a picture into a small sheet of lexan (which is kind of like a shatter-proof plexiglass). The parts that are etched actually hold ink by attaching to little burrs that you made in the lexan. After you etch the plate, you use a small square of chipboard to apply a reduced ink over the entire plate. Then you carefully wipe the plate with a material that is similar to a starchy cheese cloth. You finish up the wipe with a piece of newsprint or a sheet from the telephone book. The less you wipe the plate, the more "plate tone" you have (background color). You print this kind on a damp sheet of paper. It's a pretty straight forward process.

We've moved on to more complicated processes that use acid to "bite" the plate. 

(Photo by Shannon Herron)

These are the processes that I have been relying on my classmates, teacher, and teaching assistant to answer my questions. Somehow I got a little behind. We have demos during class where our professor shows us how to do the technique or process. They are usually pretty long and detail intensive. The last printmaking class I took I never needed to take notes on the demos because I was able to do the process right afterwards. This time, since I'm behind, I have been doing the processes about a week after the demos. So from now on I will be taking notes on the tutorials so I won't have to rely on my classmates so often to help me out! 

Being an art student is amazing, but it's no walk in the park. I have a hard week ahead of me, so wish me luck!

 

Also, be sure to keep up with my art school endeavors, random ramblings, and projects over at my blog: Jeannie Talks. Be sure to comment! I love meeting new readers!