That's A Good Thing

I am talking about bathtub spout cover! Little caterpillar is so big now, and she wants to sit in her tiny tub sometimes. As you can see in the next picture, it's right in front of the spout. She likes to touch the spout and whatever she can find, sometimes she bumps her head on the spout while reaching for the shampoo bottle.

I have been looking for a soft spout cover for a while, finally got one that I think works for our situation. There are some options out there. Like these two from BabiesRUs. This little whale looks really cute, but I didn't see it in their store. I like to look at things, and touch and inspect them before I purchase them.
This one looks really cute! BUT, it's made of hard plastic. I felt it in store, and didn't think it will provide enough protection. So, it's crossed off the list too.
Then we found this one (the one in the first picture) at a ToysRUs in NH, I think. It's cute, girly and soft. Dah! It's inflatable, and filled with air! Of course it's soft. It fits our spout perfectly, and another plus is little caterpillar loves pink! I put it on before putting little caterpillar in the tub, and dry it off on a little stool. I think it's perfect! Whoever invented spout covers, THANK YOU!

Since we are "in" our bathroom, I just have to show you another good thing, our automatic shower cleaner from scrubbing bubbles. It really works. We don't have to clean the bathtub all the time, maybe only once every other month or so! Made our life much easier. We have been using it for several years, and loved it so much, we bought another one for the guest bathroom. If you are lazy like us, you should definitely try this.

Crawl, Baby, Crawl

My little caterpillar is on the move all the time now. Not even 2 weeks ago, she just figured out how to drag her body forward, her legs were kicking and trying so hard to keep up with the hands. Once she figured it out, she just all of a sudden became the Master Crawler. Even though there is a small forward fall on the face once a while, she is enjoying it very much. We have to play with her on the floor now, queen size bed is just too small for her, and we worry about her falling down from the bed anyway.

Little caterpillar has strong legs, even when she was inside me. So, no surprise to us that she learned to pull herself up and standing for a while before she figured out crawling. Now she is cruising in her crib, standing up every chance she gets. She cannot stand up on her own now, still need at least a small toy to give her a boost. She loves playing with all her toys. As much as I promised myself not letting her taking over the house, I can see myself failing now. There are more and more toys in the playroom, a.k.a. the living room, and her playpen. We are trying very hard to keep everything organized, but kind of losing control now. We really need to figure out a better organizing system, maybe a shelving unit. But where should we put it? Our living room is just so small. Well, we will figure it out. Think about all our friends who live in apartments, they have less space than we do, and if they can manage keep their babies happy and keep their sanity at the same time, so can we. Meanwhile, we just need to get down to the floor and forget about the chores, and enjoy the moment.

Let me close today's post with something really funny. I was reading my BabyTalk magazine on the morning train, and just couldn't stop laughing out loud. Guess other passengers just thought I was silly.
"goo-goo gaa-gaa airlines"
* Fuzzy puppet delivers in-flight safety speech
* Motion sickness bag comes with burp cloth
* When noise level in cabin gets too high, pacifiers drop from the ceiling
...
* Pilot has the voice of Elmo
...
* Drink cart converts into changing table
...
* Boarding pass doubles as teething biscuit
...
(And last but not least, and so true)
* Airline does not offer red-eyes. We are sleep deprived parents! We already have red eyes!

lol. Hope you had a good laugh like I did.

DIY Safety Table Bumper

We are baby proofing the house since little Caterpillar is on the move now. Certain stuffs you have to buy, like the outlet covers, cabinet or drawer locks, etc. But when it comes to table bumper, that's a different story. We bought some corner bumpers from Ikea recently, since they were there and price was right. As you can see from this picture, they look ok too.You know there will be a BUT. But, when I put one up, it just looked so out of space. First of all, our TV stand is this darker, espresso almost, color, this corner bumper is white! You get the idea. And second of all, the double sided tape it came with is not as strong as it should be. I think the manufacture didn't want to damage people's furniture, but compare to the furniture, my baby is way more important to me. The bumper came right off when I apply some pressure to it. We live an hour away from Ikea, there is no way I will drive all the way back there to return it. So, wasted money there.

Then I did some research online, found this one. It looks better than the Ikea one, and it also covers the edges, so more protection there. BUT it's still too industry looking to me.

So, I decided to design something that's functional and beautiful. I found some pipe insulators in the basement, and chose the one with adhesive on the edge. Cut off some triangle pieces so it can easily turn at the corners. With the adhesive, it stick to the upper and lower sides of the edges and corners. So, that provides enough protection. Here comes the pretty part. I found a piece of sample fabric that matches my home made pillows and sewed a long rectangle piece, wide enough to cover the pipe insulator, and long enough to cover at least 3 sides of the TV stand. I don't need to cover the back, since there is no way my baby girl can squeeze in there. Then stitched two long ties made of some scrap fabric to the ends. Voila! Here is my home made safety bumper. Just checked it (a week later), it still tightly sticks to the edge. Perfect! Since the cover matches my pillows, it looks like I planned everything from the beginning. Hehe!

Then I saw this one online at Linens and Things. It's also soft and kind of one size fit most. But I will have to unplug my TV to put it on, and if little Caterpillar pull on it, I know she will, it will come right off. And the color of it just so awful. My design is much better. Even if little caterpillar managed to pull the cover off, the pipe insulator will stay in place. So, I don't need to worry about her hitting her head on it, and just put the cover back on later. Now I just have to go buy more pipe insulator and find a nice piece of fabric from my stash, so I can make another one for the Big china cabinet.

I Feel So Lucky

Last night when watching Stubborn playing and practicing crawling with little Caterpillar, all of the sudden, I felt so lucky! I have been comparing him to my friends' husbands lately, and even though he has his shortcomings, he is MUCH BETTER than the other hubbies. Even before we had little Caterpillar, he has been the one cleaning all the bathrooms! And every night after dinner, he is the one cleaning the dishes and the stove. I don't mind doing all those, but it's really good to have someone to share the load. He does get water all over the countertop and floor, I have to clean up after him constantly, but it's still better than doing everything myself. He adores his little girl. Whenever we are home, he hogs little Caterpillar, and he always says she is HIS daughter, made it sound like I am the stepmom. =) Silly man! He feeds her, gives her bath, plays with her, and takes long walk with her everyday after work. My friends told me their hubbies maybe only gave their boys bath 2 or 3 times in the whole first year! I am so lucky! Every night, I can go downstairs to make things for my girl after putting her to bed, while stubborn works in his home office and listens to her movements. That gives me a couple of hours of alone time to do whatever I want, sewing, crafting, or just curling up on sofa watching TV. I am so lucky! Stubborn is not a romantic lover, but he is absolutely a wonderful dad! So, he is a keeper. =)

Garden Updates

Remember what the perennial bed next to the deck stairs look like a couple of weeks ago? Yes, it was dominated by my magnificent Peony "Gardenia". Just a short break after they faded, here is what the bed looks like now. Like a totally different garden, isn't it? That's the beauty of a perennial garden. Your garden constantly changing colors and shapes throughout the whole growing season.

Here are some close ups of the beautiful Asiatic Lilies.

My Rhododendron is blooming as well. Funny thing is for 4 years, I never really looked losely at the flowers, I thought they are just boring pink flowers. Imagine how surprised I was when I saw the yellow details.
I also love the contrast between the darker pink buds and softer pink flowers.

The sedum I planted 2 seasons ago from seeds (the finest seeds ever, like cinnamon powder) finally started blooming too. I always thought the reason the plants looked different than the sedum (autumn joy) I know is because they are too young, they might need a couple of more years to grow to that size and shape. Man, was I surprised! It's a totally different sedum! I did some research online, and think it might be Green Mantle. Now think about it, I am counting myself lucky. If it was Autumn Joy, it might be too big for the spot, and will block the sunshine to my peony. Green Mantle is more like a ground cover, so it forms this bright green thick mat in the front of the flower bed, and hangs over the edge a little bit as well. The contrast between this bright green and the darker green leaves of peony and others made the bed more interesting.

I didn't plant any Cilantro this year, so it's probably the seed from last season. I love the delicate shape of the flowers. I need a macro lens for this. =)

Oh, my Columbines are still going strong. But now, it's a mixture of old and new, the seed pod and flower buds. Love how the delicate flowers can turn to this weird shape seed pods. Nature is very interesting.
And I love how this white Columbine flower looks against the huge hosta leaves. In Chinese, we have a saying, to showcase the beauty of a red flower, you have to use green leaves as background. It's true for white flowers too. =) And they don't have to be from the same plant. Isn't that the basic idea of flower arrangements?

Last but not least, one of my potted plant is about to bloom. I have seen its flowers online, but never thought mine will bloom one day! I saw the spike while taking pictures of the azalea. What a happy surprise! Cannot wait to see what the flowers look like when they open up.

BabyTalk Cover Contest 2010

Why didn't I read my babyTalk magazine last month? I could have more time to prepare for this. I just saw it last weekend in the June/July issue. And we had a full schedule for the weekend planned, so I got no chance to take some good pictures of little Caterpillar. Plus it has been raining for 3 days, there was not enough natural light, and I am not good at taking picture in a darker room. The deadline is tomorrow night! I thought about picking one from her recent shots (it has to be within a month of entry), but we have been taking family everyday fun pictures lately, so not many great solo pictures to choose from. Plus, after reading the tips on their website, none of the ones I liked met all their suggestions, like show your baby's eyes, go for smile (they worry if parents cannot get the baby to smile at home, it will be difficult for them to get it on set. Understandable!), don't block baby's face with hat and sunglasses, make sure you have good light and clutter free background, let the baby's personality shine, ... Little Caterpillar has so many different facial expressions, my personal favorites are those of her biggest smiles, but her eyes normally totally squeezed to just lines. They are very funny, and will make whoever watching the picture laugh. BUT the editors have to see her eyes too. And normally there is not teeth in those pictures either. So, those are out. The other favorite of mine was her wearing old navy lavender hoody vest. She was so calm and sweet in that picture, and her face was not hidden, you can see all her features, even one of her cute ears (of course, to a proud mommy, everything about her baby is cute). But she was kind of too cool, just a tiny bit of smile, so of course no teeth. She has some wonderful pictures that met all the suggestions, but they are simply too old (more than 3 months ago). Guess I have one more chance to get it right tomorrow morning before leaving for work. Just checked the forecast, the sun finally will come out tomorrow. Let's hope little caterpillar will be in very good mood. If I cannot get a great picture tomorrow, I just have to submit the one with old navy hoody vest. Smile or not, she was sweet! And I just think they haven't had an Asian American baby on their cover for a while, so she might have a chance there. I am not one of those mothers who push their baby girls to those beauty pageants or photo shoots and try super hard to make them into some kind of star. I just thought it will be exciting to take her on a fun trip to NY for her first birthday. Yeah, little caterpillar is turning one around the time they announce the semi-finalists.

OK, enough chatting. I am off to check out the competitions. =)

Corrected: Silly me. I read the deadline wrong. It's July 15th, not June 15th! Now I have a whole month to work on it. So glad I didn't submit a "just ok" picture yesterday.

One Of My Dream Project

is to make a felt village for little Caterpillar. I found lots of great inspirations on flickr, of course, I am a flickr-addict, I search everything on flickr. Anyway, I found lots of great felt mushroom houses, fairy tale kind of houses, and lots of little felt characters. Here are just some examples.

Mini toadstool pincushion, originally uploaded by poshplushies.

Love this one. The door, window, and all the details. I love all poshplushies's work.

These cuties are from Bella Dia. Love all the details. Look closer, you can even see smoke out of that chimney!

These little houses from Lucky Nielsen even come with their little residents. The lines are so soft, my little caterpillar's imagination will run wild!

This little house from woolloomooloosky even has its own nice yard!

These pastel colored mushroom houses from Fantastic Toys are soooo sweet.

I even found a great tutorial on how to make a Toadstool Cottage and Mushroom House. Now you can see why I am so addict to these lovely little houses! This project will probably take me months, if not years, to finish. Hope little Caterpillar will love them!

In Love

Just found another great DIY and design blog Dwellings By DeVore. Just look at these great DIY projects she did, you will fall in love as well. I am so inspired now, probably will stop by my local thrift stores soon. Well, that means my to-do list will get much longer.

First of all, I have to confess that I have a soft spot for great lamp makeovers. Maybe because they are small projects, don't really require weeks to finish, and you get instant reward and satisfaction. Also, I got a great old lamp from Salvation Army a couple of months ago, and have been looking for some great inspirations. Look at these lamp/chandy makeovers, isn't she a GENIUS?!

Love how she transformed this little one from 70's trash to modern chic.

This chandelier makeover is absolutely my favorite! We have to same taste on this issue. How can I tell? The chandy I installed about 6 months ago in our dining room is on her inspiration list. I LOVE mine! But I love hers too, especially how she made them and how much they cost her! And if you see the before picture, you will be shocked.

And how about this lantern lamp? I like her inspiration picture from Pottery Barn, but love her "bring the outdoor in" version. Did I tell you she is a genius?

Wish I saw this post years ago. We have a very small living room, and we really needed a console table to hold our keys and mails. Since that space is so small, it took us about a year to find the right piece. I absolute love it. But I think hers is very unique and more fun.

I love shadow box! The only reason I have only 3 of them in the house is because of their price! Well, I only bought one, to make a gift for Stubborn, the other two were gifts. So, when I saw how she turned a regular frame to this unique shadow box, I just have to put it on my to-do list.

Oh Oh, how about this cute play kitchen? I SOOOOO want to make one of these for my little caterpillar. Well not now, she is too little, and I need that spot to put her stroller. But one day, I swear I will make the cutest play kitchen for her! Am I preparing her for a whole life slaving in the kitchen? I don't care, I just have this image of her playing with her play kitchen, 'cooking' all felt food I made her, and 'serving' meal on her kids table and chair set I refinished for her. Can you hear I am turning pages for my to-do list, it's too long to fit in one page now. :o)

This is exactly what I was planning to do next. I want to hang some picture frames on the second floor hallway walls, but the thermostat is right in the middle of it. What an eyesore! I have been looking for a cute little frame to spray paint and hang outside of it, kind of frame it, exactly like this.

There are just sooooo many great ideas and projects on her blog, there is no way I can show all of them to you. You have to grab a cup of tea and sit down and read for yourself. Don't hate me if this trigger a DIY fever.

Listen To Your Body

Yesterday, one of our senior member in our group passed away suddenly from cardiomyopathy. He was only 47 years young! He had some chest pain the day before, went to ER at one of the best hospitals in the world (one of the Harvard affiliated hospital). He was 'fine' there, so his family and friends left at the end of the day. Then he passed away at 2AM! He was a brilliant, funny, and friendly guy. We were all so sad to hear this horrible news and most of us bursted into tears. Then we thought about his poor wife. They only married 3 years ago, and they are madly in love, the perfect couple as you might say. They were supposed to fly to Italy that night to attend the celebration his village planned to honor him, because his successful career as a professor at Harvard! Cannot imagine how sad his wife, family and the whole villiage are right now.

His death was so sudden, all of us were shocked. Then it got us thinking about our own life. We are all busy working, taking care of our family and even our house and yard, but how many of us actually slow down once a while to take care of ourselves? Our bodies are like machines, running non-stop, until we break down. If we treat our bodies like our cars, remember to do routine check ups, and maintain this most important 'machine' once a while, we probably can enjoy a smoothly running 'machine' for much longer. We should pay more attention to our bodies, look for signs indicating potential problems, and then do something about it, either changing our lifestyle or visiting our health care providers. Especially guys, they tend to ignore small problems, and just walk it off. We all have to change that, and remind ourselves and our families to take good care of each other. At the end, your healthy body is all you and your family have. Without it, no one can enjoy the success in any aspect of life.

So, I called Stubborn immediately and told him to drive safely on his way home, and I told him "drive safe" again this morning when he dropped me off at the train station. Did you remind your loved ones to be safe lately? Do it today.

Practicing During Sleep

That is what my sweet little caterpillar did for the past 3 nights! She is already so good at sitting up, why does she feel the need to practice more, even during sleep? She woke me up 3:15AM this morning again! She was screaming and crying, so I jumped up to see what happened. Apparently she was frustrated that she couldn't sit up or even move around, of course, her leg were stuck (not the picture above, this time, a whole leg). So, I had to rescue her, exactly like the newsletter I read a week ago. It said babies who just reached a milestone would be super excited and practice it even at night. But the milestone they were talking about was pulling herself up standing in the crib. It said babies learn to stand up before they know how to sit back down, so they will call for you when they stuck at the standing position. Well, little Caterpillar did stand up a couple of time, but not really practicing it yet. Guess she won't even bother me if she was not stuck, so I have no idea how long she has been practicing. When I picked her up, I was surprised to see her eyes closed, she was not totally awake yet! Then she was angry that I disturbed her sleep by lifting her, so I put her back in the crib. Then she turned and got stuck again, cried again. I had to pick her up again. ... You get the idea. This rescue game went on for about an hour! I AM SO TIRED now and I have to work!

Exciting Moment

Little Caterpillar finally figured out how to sit up by herself on Friday. Not only we got it on tape, I also took lots of pictures. Now we will have to lock our eyes on her all the time. She already knew how to pull herself up in the crib from sitting position, now she will be very mobile. And she tried crawling several times. She is getting better and better, now she can not only crawl backward, she can go forward a little bit as well. What a big achievement! Little Caterpillar got so excited, she woke up at 4AM for the past two nights to practice! I am so tired, but happy at the same time.

Rocking Toys

To Stubborn(a.k.a. my DH)'s surprise, the rocking horse and nimo I thrifted were huge hits at our Memorial Day BBQ Party. Dah! I knew it! That's why I temporarily fixed that rocking horse the night before. My plan was to use a heart shape wooden piece to secure the broken front legs connection, then prime and paint the whole thing some girly colors. Well, that is still my plan. It's just little Caterpillar is still too young, even to sit on that smaller rocking nimo. Anyway, I was so glad I got them. The babies (all around 1-year-old) and the 5-year-old twins all loved them, and were taking turn riding them. Sometimes even two at a time. Since no personal pictures allowed on my blog, (Stubborn's rule) I had to block out kids' faces with smiley face. Wish you could see the expression on their faces. Now they all want to set up play-date with little Caterpillar, so they can play with her toys. I just love the moment when Stubborn realized I was right! Love it!

Peony Done!

I am sad to report that after some rain, my peony flowers all faded and petals all over the ground! =( They were gorgeous, but they didn't last too long! Well, the only thing I can do now is picking up the petals and hoping for more next year.

Now the peony is done, I am looking forward to see my lovely asiatic lilies. They are budding nicely again, and I am sure it will be another amazing show like last year. When I planted the peony, I wanted the whole flowerbed (2.5ft by 6ft) to be a perennial bed. I wanted flowers and colors throughout the growing season, and I wanted them to be very low maintenance. I planted the peony bareroot in the center, then some daffodils and asiatic lilies around it. Some sedums (started from seeds) in the front, and two different kinds of daylilies on either side of the sedums. Some iris in the far left corner, and two mums on the right side. I left the lower left corner empty for some annuals, also I wanted to allow the iris to expend that way. So far, I am very satisfied with the result. Everything look very healthy, and they bloomed one right after another. I just need to watch out for the strawberry plants from the next bed, as they love to run over and steal space.

Talking about strawberries, I have been picking them everyday for the last week. Oh, they are soooooo good! Little caterpillar loves them, even though she thinks they are sour (I don't think so) and gave us the funny faces every time, she still asks for more. So, I give her a couple of fresh ones every evening, and freeze up the rest for later. These are all organic, and fully ripe, way better than the ones you get from grocery store, huge but hard and tasteless. But yesterday, I got much less than I supposed to. A mockingbird came everyday to enjoy the sweet fruit, but normally she just destroy a couple. I think she probably brought all her friends and family over yesterday, as I found more than 10 big strawberries were eaten. They are smart enough to eat only the red side, leaving the white/pink side behind. Smart birds! Guess I just have to tolerate that and share my strawberries with nature. I saw the bunny nearby yesterday as well, if he found it, the whole bed would be gone.

Peony Update

All the buds opened up! They are absolutely breathtaking! The pure color, delicate shape, sweet aroma! They are no doubt my best flower ever! I am so happy, yet a little bit sad at the same time, since they only last 3 or 4 days. But at least I have the wonderful memory and some great pictures to remind me of them.