Thing that made me cry recently

In no particular order:

• Any athletic event on television that had a dramatic or inspiring outcome particularly American Ninja Warrior and the summer Olympics (including events in swimming, weight lifting, artistic and rhythmic gymnastics, track and field, and volleyball)
• Varied events throughout the Harry Potter series as I re-listened to the audio books including Harry playing in and winning his first quidditch cup, recalling in advance while in the shower what happens to Dobby, actually listening about what happens to Dobby, the Battle of Hogwarts
• Being surprised by a harmless snake
• Watching this music video:
• Finding a broken string on my harp and realizing I need to buy and replace all the strings and remembering it's expensive and can't I just put it off? Except they haven't been replaced in like 10 years and they should have been replaced after 3 years. And why have a harp if I'm not going to take care of it. Why do I play the harp again?
• Inspiring commercials from Olympic sponsors
• Thinking about how much I love my husband
• Feeling really sick and being annoyed about it and just wanting to feel fine
• Watching Dance Academy
• Wanting to snuggle with my husband when I crawled in bed but didn't because we can't sleep if we're touching and he needs the sleep before waking up super early to go to work to support our family
• Finding my daughter's bunny and returning it to her so she could nap. She'd been sobbing for 15 minutes because it was missing and when I handed it over (after finding it tucked under her little potty chair in the bathroom) she choked back tears, smiled, and said "Mommy I'm happy! I'm happy!" and cried a little more for joy.

The baby will arrive by Valentine's Day.

One-Two Punch

I've been putting off converting my daughter's crib into the toddler bed. She's never tried to climb out yet which was the milestone I intended to wait for, but yesterday I had a thought that I should just go ahead and do it so today I made the change.

She thinks it's pretty great and enjoys climbing in and out by herself. I was worried she'd try to climb out prematurely when she was supposed to nap but nope. She crawled in and conked out quickly as usual and when she woke up she waited for me to come in before she climbed back out. I don't think she remembered she wasn't confined. Bedtime was just as great.

Before

After

I pray this transition stays easy! We'll see what happens in the morning, if she stays put or tries to come find me when she wakes. I don't actually know when she wakes because she usually lies quietly for a while before kicking the bars or singing to let me know she's awake.

One reason now felt like a good time to make this change is she's sleeping well again. She recently cut her first two year old molar and teething always disrupts her sleep. Then I've been thinking about camping this summer and how it would be really nice to not cram a portable crib into the tent. If she's used to sleeping unconfined by then life will be much easier. Lastly, I anticipate trying to potty train in earnest within the next year and that's only a reasonable goal if she can get herself to the bathroom unassisted.

Today's other milestone is my baby girl got her first haircut! I did it myself since I have a good pair of hair scissors and I didn't think she'd respond favorably to a stranger touching her head that much. She's used to me playing with her hair so she didn't react at all or even know what was going on. I let her watch Pooh's Heffalump Movie so she was riveted and stayed very still. I was the one traumatized by it all! Made me so sad to cut off her precious little newborn locks. I made little pigtails that I cut off first to stick in her baby book.

We showed her the pigtails after but I don't think she realizes they used to be attached to her head. 

I was a little worried she'd protest to the hair cut since she's never had one, but afterward I realized she probably didn't protest because she's never had one and thus didn't know or care what was going on back there.

I took off quite a bit of length. The hair at the back has grown uninhibited almost since birth and was down to her shoulder blades. She's always been a side and tummy sleeper so her front hair has always rubbed off giving her a pronounced mullet for a long time. I was worried if I trimmed the back sooner she'd look like Jim Carrey in Dumb and Dumber since her bangs were so short. Only recently has her hair thickened enough in the front that it looks long enough to shape into a convincing bob.

I wasn't sure how the curl would change with the long bits gone. It's still very wavy and fine as you can see and the locks over her ears flip out just like her dad's when he needs a haircut. I expect it to go straighter as she gets older since Reece and I both had straight hair till puberty.

Today, beds and haircuts. Tomorrow, college.

Mom the Builder

Last Christmas my daughter got mostly furniture for her gifts. That might sound lame, but she needed a few things since we moved and she now has her own bedroom. We purchased a set of child-size table and chairs from IKEA, and then I made a little play teepee and a learning tower. I'm very proud of my work too!

Last fall we started collecting power tools to make projects around the house easier to accomplish. To save money, we decided to collect items in the Black and Decker Matrix line. Basically you buy a power drill which motor functions as the base. The nose of the drill can pop off and another tool attached. By Christmas we the drill and a circle saw attachment so I made use of both for my Christmas projects.

I followed this tutorial to construct the teepee. I used an old fitted sheet so it took a little extra time to take it apart and make it work but it turned out so cute and matches the colors of her bedroom. I felt like a real woman wielding my circle saw to cut up the PVC! (Fun fact: I made the rope too. I twisted it at the Family Living Center in Nauvoo over ten years ago. Nice to finally have a use for it!)

Hiding in the teepee with her baby doll

The learning tower was a lot more work. A learning tower is basically a stool with a railing that small children can use to safely reach counter-height, usually in a kitchen. Pepper was at the stage where she'd get frustrated if I spent a lot of time in the kitchen doing stuff she couldn't see, but commercially manufactured learning towers are very expensive ($100-$300). I found this tutorial which was within my power and budget to complete so with the help of my husband, I bought the lumber and the right stool from IKEA to complete my hack.

I like to do things just right, so I spent forever measuring and marking exactly where I needed to cut and where to place screws. The stool that the tutorial used seems to be an older model than what IKEA sells now because my dimensions didn't match. I wasted lots of time marking the wood to match the tutorial and then changing everything after I measured my own stool and realized it was a slightly different size. Be advised of that if you try the hack for yourself.

Reece showed me how to use the tools but then left me to mostly do it myself. It probably took a week of snatching time here and there to finish construction, then a few more days to putty the screw holes, sand, and paint. I used paint left over from painting our master bathroom last fall.

Pepper loves her tower. Reece calls it her Rameumptum.

Fully constructed and holes all puttied with wood filler

Finished product!

I let her have it early so I could do my Christmas baking in peace.