Curtains

After we rearranged the bedrooms to accommodate the new occupant, it seemed a shame to paint the bedrooms beautifully and let the window coverings continue to be pieces of fabric pinned up over the curtain rods.

I had many yards of bleached muslin around in my stash--almost exactly enough for all of the panels. I got the green linen fabric for crib furnishings before Elanor was born. I had originally intended to use green ribbon as tie backs but this leftover garden themed wire ribbon was just what they needed.

Our bedroom has the same basic design but, of course, with different colors. The fabric on the bottom of the muslin panel matches our sheets, coordinates with the wall color and came from the bargain bin at the fabric store. I have had the trim piece for several years now--a gift from a colleague who was unhappy with this portion of her online auction purchase. I liked it, but what do you do with 30 yds of trim? Some of it edged a skirt and the rest was just enough for the curtain edging and tie backs for all of the sections.


It is amazing how much more finished curtains make a room look.

Carriers

As much as I love our wrap carrier, it hurts Jonathan's back so when I found this one at a garage sale, that seemed like a great way to try out another type of carrier.
It works better for Jonathan but bothers my shoulders. Go figure.

Sink

Elanor is starting to outgrow her baby bathtub so I am experimenting with other ways to wash her. She liked playing in the kitchen sink but also wanted to lie down backwards in the water--not so good for washing ease.

I'm not excited about washing her in the bathtub because of the miniscule kneeling space between the cabinet and the toilet but we'll figure something out.

Prodigy

Now that Elanor can sit up, all sorts of activities are open to her. Including playing the piano with daddy.

Practicing

Trying to get the spoon in her mouth:

Success and blissful gnawing:

Drinking water from the spoon for the first time to try out another form of getting nourishment besides nursing:

Most of the water was dribbled down her front. I think that she's a little dubious of the value of this form of intake.

I'm Saving Them for Later.

Every so often, I get ideas.

Big ideas. Dangerous ideas.

This one involved 100lbs of peaches the week before my brother's wedding. Last year, I had the help of my sisters and my mom (and early pregnancy sickness--which I wouldn't call exactly helpful). This year, I doubled the amount of peaches and did it alone since they were heavily involved in work and preparing for the festivities. Elanor kept me company but I didn't think that she was up for peeling peaches yet. She contributed by only getting up once a night for three days in a row, giving me the rest that I needed to tackle such a huge project and playing mostly happily on the floor in the kitchen.

I dried a batch every day. Pretty and delicious:


The house doubled nicely as a sauna due to the constant boiling of all of the pots on the stove. There are now 41 pints of peach slices in the pantry. Next year, I'm getting quart jars. The rest was turned into spiced peach butter.

Actually, most of these jars are pear butter. Did I mention the 30 lbs of pears? The rest of the pear puree is unspiced and frozen in cubes for when we start solids with Elanor.

Points to those who recognize the reference in the post title.

Big Girl

No, she's not really standing on her own. But she likes being propped up to look at faces or out the window. She's just starting to look around to figure out where I am.

Smiley girl:

Unicorn baby: