Distraction

I'm ahead of schedule on my Christmas To-Do List. Enter the men's dress shirt into a girl's dress tutorial. Just the distraction I needed. The only problem was finding a shirt. Josh didn't exactly have spare dress shirts lying around.

Or did he? While searching his closet I found this little gem:

He calls it his "lead singer shirt". Apparently he wore it a lot in high school while singing in his band. My husband is so rock 'n' roll. The shirt was hanging around for sentimental reasons, so why not immortalize it into a dress for his little girl? Off came the patches, out came the sewing machine, and voila! A few hours later a dress is born. I think it will make the perfect birthday dress for Evie, don't you?



I modeled my dress after this shirred version, in case you're wondering. It was remarkably easy, so don't be afraid to recycle those unused shirts.

Daddy's hat

After a few days of this:


we're finally getting back into our normal routine. Evie was kind enough to share her cough with me, so we didn't exactly have the best weekend. Violent coughing while being eight months pregnant is not the most fun. Josh stayed home from work a few nights to take care of us sick girls.

I'm happy to report that fevers have cooled, appetites have returned and coughing has decreased considerably. For Evie, the usually silliness has resumed in the form of daddy's hat. She could barely see to walk around, but that didn't keep her from sporting Josh's snowboarding beanie all morning.

The Croup Strikes Back

It's about that time of year. Runny nose, fever, barking cough- Evie's croup has returned. Last November she got croup and according to the doctor we can expect it to keep returning until she's about 4. Lovely. Luckily she doesn't need steroids yet and we can try the old-fashioned remedy (steamy bathroom followed by walks in the crisp Alaskan air).

Unfortunately, that means a little giraffe will not be visiting the Halloween Carnival tomorrow night. This makes the second Halloween costume wasted due to sickness. Maybe in the coming years her little sister will be a giraffe or a tiger (last year's costume that wasn't used because of a high fever).

And since I'm on the topic of Halloween... On a scale of one to ten, how cruel is it to pass out last year's Halloween candy? We bought a bag, had one trick-or-treater, and I discovered the old candy when pulling out Halloween decorations. It's either old candy or nothing, because I am not wasting another $5 for one trick-or-treater.

Pumpkin carving

The words "ew" and "yucky" were said a lot, but Evie and Isaac had fun. Although, the look on Isaac's face in these first few pictures kill me. "You want me to put my hand where?"







Little Jacob trying to get in on the action.


Some plum pie and toasted pumpkin seeds completed the evening.



She's supposed to be Ariel, obviously.

Color time

It's much easier to get crafts and chores completed when your child wants to sit in her high chair and color for hours. She's got a serious love for coloring. And have I ever mentioned she's left-handed?

A parliament of owls

Since I'm due the beginning of December, I've been trying to get Christmas projects finished as early as possible. I pulled out the stockings in July and have completed two out of four. Hopefully this will be the year they get finished (I started them, oh, three years ago). For Christmas I am making curtains- partly for decoration, but mostly as extra insulation for our drafty windows. I finished Evie's curtains weeks ago and the living room curtains are on my to-do list for next week. Yesterday I made these cute little owls for the Lamb girls. And if there's time, I'd love to knit these pink kitty slippers for Evie. It feels good to get Christmas projects completed early. Usually I find myself in a desperate situation two days before Christmas that involves several half-finished gifts... that I started making the week before. I need to remember this feeling and get an early start on Christmas every year.

Trying to cook up a tantrum

Potty Training: Day 1

We had three hits and four misses. Now she's in a Pull-up and napping. It's been a long morning.

I have the same feeling as when we were transitioning her from the crib to her bed. The feeling that I'm stepping into the unknown in parenting. I feel like up until now I've had a pretty good grip on the whole parenting thing. Evie has thrown me for some loops (remember her licking phase?), but for the most part it's been smooth sailing. And now? Now I'm in all new territory.

I've got a million questions running through my head, some sane, some not. How do I know if she's not ready? What if giving her an m&m after each success psychologically damages her? How long before I feel comfortable going out in public with her? How long before I feel comfortable letting her sit on the couches? How long before I feel comfortable even letting her wear pants? Is there a magic trick to this potty training business that I am unaware of?

Despite the crazy going on in my head, I'm not feeling too stressed. I haven't even come close to crying, so that's something. My real concern is that Evie doesn't get too stressed. So, we will continue with the potty training. I can't give up after only a few hours, right?

Be careful what you bargain with...

When Josh first started work he had to do four week rotations on every shift. The night shift really threw me off. I couldn't get settled with him not next to me and I suffered a month of insomnia. That's when I discovered all the seasons of Lost available on abc.com. I got through all five seasons during these late nights.

As anyone who has watched Lost understands, it is a really confusing show. And, as anyone who knows me understands, I go crazy if I don't have someone to discuss plots with. As a result, I have been begging Josh to watch Lost with me for months. He refused, saying he didn't want to get sucked into another show. So I got desperate. And I made a deal. If he would give Lost a try, I would read one of his Star Wars books.

I am now 90 pages into "The Courtship of Princess Leia."

The Lion King

Josh and I were lucky enough to receive tickets to "The Lion King" performance going on here in Anchorage. If you are in Anchorage and willing to put out the $80 ticket cost, I highly recommend going. We went last night and were totally blown away by the entire show. The costumes and animal props were amazing. The music is great, of course. It's obviously the same stuff from the movie, but there are some extra songs as well. In fact, my favorite song of the night was "He lives in you", sung by Rafiki (my favorite character). Anyway, just wanted to encourage anyone who was on the fence about going- GO!