Special Post: 50/50 day

As of today, Peanut has spent 1/2 his life in-utero and 1/2 his life ex-utero.

And he will be 9 months on Saturday.

How time flies!

(I'm on the wrong computer, otherwise, I'd have a picture.)

Love ya, Little Guy, love ya tons and tons!

Pants are pants, right?

I decided that Peanut needed some warmer pants to wear as the coldest part of  "winter" approaches. I had two smaller fleece blankets that my gracious in-laws brought down last time they were hear that I thought would make some nice, cozy pants for Peanut.  I have three patterns for pants for Peanut's size and age (got to account for a diaper). One pattern I used already, and that left me two to try.

Some day I will have actual sewing room. For now, I move a table in and out of the living room. If nothing else, its a good excuse to watch some TV.

"Mr. Two-face Pants" (here after known as MTFP) is from Sewing for Boys: 24 Projects to Create a Handmade Wardrobe, which I received as a Christmas gift. The other pattern is "Reversible Bubble Pants for Baby" (here after known as RBPB) in  Growing Up Sew Liberated: Making Handmade Clothes and Projects for Your Creative Child

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Out I pulled the tissue paper from the various gift bags that I've designated for garage sale-ing (and so don't need the tissue paper, right?) and copied the patterns. Its an oona idea.

And after several days of wearing, here's my thoughts on each.

I like the MTFP. They fit nicely, though I should hem them up an inch or two for now. There is room for the cloth diaper, though its not necessarily designed so. I just made the right size for it. It would be way easy to adjust the length. There was ONE pattern piece. Yes, only one. That was beautiful. And only two pieces of material to cut. That was awesome.

I imagine you could cut both pieces of the same fabric if one desired. Okay, so I don't imagine it, you really could.

In recent days, I'm finding it harder and harder to get non-blurry pictures of Peanut.

Being only one layer, the MTFP aren't as warm as the RBPB. But they are loose enough that putting on something underneath is very possible (as we did today, because that day was a chilly-chilly day).

The RBPB has 3 pattern pieces, with which you cut out 8 pieces of fabric. More than the MTFP, but still reasonable. These pants are lined and have a gusset to widen the crotch to accommodate a cloth diaper. I was quite thankful for the pictures in the book, as at first I didn't understand what the gusset pieces were for or how to attach them. But once figuring it out, it was quite easy.

blurry, argh, even with the flash

 The RBPB are a bit bulky, being 2 layers of fleece. And for my long-bodied little boy, the rise is a bit short. But Peanut looks comfy in them! I'm guessing the RBPB would be less bulky in a thinner fabric.

Next time? Hmmm.... I like them both. The RBPB uses 1/4 inch elastic in the waist, but that seems too thin. I think next time I'd use 1/2 inch elastic. I think I'll make the gusset thinner, it will make the pants a little less bulky and the diapers aren't that wide. I'm also wondering if I could put a gusset into the MTFP, to wide the crotch a bit, make it a bit more cloth diaper friendly while shrinking the leg width.

I hope to make some more items from Sewing for Boys soon. As for Growing Up Sew Liberated, I love the basic patterns, but so far all I've made have needed adjustment some how.

Any body else been sewing?

And I just realized, its Valentines Day. And to add some romance to the post...

Hubby, I love you so very, very much. I have enjoyed these few years with you, and hope we have many more together.

What stage is your philosopher at?

Katie over at Philosiology has a drastically insightful post about the stages that young philosophers will go through as they explore philosophy. I am married to a philosopher and I love him dearly, but I can imagine him as the young philosopher he once was, and I can see, in my mind's eye, him at each stage.

I think these stages can be generalized to any young person as they get into a field of study. And I don't think its limited to just academic fields, any sort of specialized knowledge area can take a newbie through these stages.

I can also imagine the day when our young Peanut will start venturing through these stages in his chosen area. Oh, the grace needed for those days!

And don't you think that "philosopher" is a funny looking word? Its just struck me as I typed it a few times... I see hints of "gopher" and "Phil as a fern" sorts of sounds. No, I don't know who Phil is or why he might look like a fern. See, I tend to learn how to spell a word and recognize it as spelled right based on its general shape, which of course, creates slews of issues with letters will similar shapes, like mixing up "m" and "n" (plus they sound similar, too, in my mind). But, on the other hand, keeping "their" and "there" and "they're" separate is easy... they all look quite different.

Yes, I'm an odd-ball, I know.

Baggers at the grocery store

Why is it, that when presented with reusable grocery bags, baggers forget how to bag groceries? When using simple plastic bags, they know to put like things together, not to mix meats (especially drippy ones) with other things like produce, to not put eggs into a bag and put things on top of them. Why do they forget these things when they aren't using plastic bags? Its like a reusable grocery bag says "forget all you know about bagging groceries. None of it applies with us."

Argh.

And if they wonder why I start rearranging the stuff in the bags just as soon as I've checked out... well, if you didn't check your brain when you clocked in, you might figure it out.

End rant.

Sleeping, Groceries and the Mundane

Well, it appears that making sure Peanut is awake when put down to bed and falls asleep on his own has little effect on how often he wakes at night. Its made a big difference for day time naps, but night time wakings fluctuate tremendously, whether Peanut is sick, not feeling well, or what-have-you (growth spurts?). Nonetheless, he is getting better at sleeping longer stretches. As I read some place, our culture puts way too much into getting a baby to sleep through the night. Really. I'm okay getting up at night, I've decided its just not that big of a deal.

In other news, we decided that aiming for $200 a month on groceries is too little. $250 is more reasonable, we decided, and that is an average over several months. Individual months can easily fluxuate + or - $100. I've added one action to both save money and keep life simple. I buy meat once a month, and package it up in to appropriate sizes and freeze it. I've figured out what will last about a month or two, in chicken, pork and beef, and can buy it at a good price when I find it well priced. I won't pay more than $1.97/lb for boneless, skinless chicken breasts, $0.88/lb for a whole chicken, $3 for pork or beef.  I'm hoping that my gardening endeavors this summer will further reduce our grocery bill.

And the mundane... the everyday... The book group I'm apart of was reading "Wind in the Willows". Overall, I quite enjoyed the book (well, enjoying, not totally finished it yet). I'm tired of reading about Toad, who is a pompous, prideful fool, but I was told he does get over himself in the end. I'm trusting my fellow book group ladies on this and persevering to the end.

The chapter I just read was "Wayfarers All", where a Seafaring Rat shows up and tells Rat all the neat things he has been doing and where he's heading off to. Well, Rat was already disillusioned with his life as so many other animals are migrating south of the winter and Seafaring Rat's stories are too much for him. In a daze, he packs up and starts off. Luckily, Mole catches him and stops him, and is able to break him out of this trance he is in. By the end of the chapter, Rat is back to his sensible self.

I think we all reach this point at some point in our lives, where we are tired of the everyday and want some adventure. What's nice is when we have those good friends, like Mole, who remind us of who we really are, that what we truly love is right before us.

So, that's my 2 cents!

Who? Me?

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

{Pretty}

We've had some beautiful days. I've opened the windows two days in a row now. Hopefully, more tomorrow!

{Happy}

Daddy and Peanut have a great time playing. Even when there is laundry to be folded.

{Funny}

I forget what Peanut was responding to, but its a funny face for sure.

{Real}

My little boy is growing up. Every day he's a little less baby and little more boy-child.