by Whitney
Has being a mom become your only hobby? Spend today thinking about what other hobby you would like bring back to your life or start, and make a plan to get into it.
I like to make stuff and read about making stuff on craft blogs. It took me a while to get back into it after Julian was born, but it really felt good. Lots of people say that exercise is the hobby they’ve been missing. Um, not me.
This picture of Heather was taken by me in June of 2002. We decided to stay up all night and run around the city. We went for a run at 10.30 PM, ate tapas, went to an Oxygen bar, saw a Tom Cruise movie at 1.45 am, and then watched the World Cup on a big screen projecter image at a friend’s house. We took lots of cabs and finished our adventure at 6.20 in the morning.
Little did we know that we would be staying up all night taking care of babies a couple years later. Ironically we made shirts to commemorate this evening that said “Not a girl, not yet a soccer mom”, a play on the Britney Spears song. Apparently we did know what was coming.
That pretty much sums up other stuff I like to do: run around doing weird stuff with Heather, taking pictures of weird stuff we do together, make t-shirts about the weird stuff we’ve done.
If you like to rock climb, quilt, or go to poetry slams, you should keep doing it. If you’ve already done it, brag to us here.
by Whitney
This picture might look more glamorous than our lives really are, but these are actual bodysuits made for Holden at Heather’s baby shower, which I hosted.
My college friend Meg, an advanced mom and author of The Rug Merchant (link provided for those who are looking to read quality fiction that is not about babies), emailed me to ask for tips on replicating this activity for her sister’s shower. Here’s the advice I shared with her for baby shower purposes:
- Wash and dry the onesies before the party (no fabric softener) to make the designs stick well.
- Provide stencils, easily found at Michael’s, so that everyone can feel successful in their design ability.
- Use wax paper as a non-stick surface to put fabric paint on and dab with your paint brushes. Also insert a piece between the two layers of the clothing so that the artwork does not bleed through.
- Offer only 4-6 colors of paint so that there is a common color palette amongst all the shirts
- Use a Sharpie to put each guest’s initials on the tag of the onesie they decorated so that mom knows who they’re from
- Set up a clothing line with clothes pins so that the finished work can be displayed and appreciated while it dries
- When the onesies are dry (24 hours), fold them neatly, stack them and tie with a ribbon. Deliver them to the new mom.
Meg reported from Albuquerque that this activity worked out fantastically and the shower was a success. Now she’s just waiting for that nephew to show up.
Spring the shopping list
Photo credit: Heidi Swanson
by Whitney
An enthusiastic reader of this site and our book, Sam, who lives North of the border and blogs at temporarilyme.com, is hosting a weekly challenge on her site.
She has acknowledged that being a new mom of two is just as intimidating as being a rookie when it comes to getting out of the house.
She’s helped me look at The Rookie Mom’s Handbook with fresh eyes, actually. I always explain to people that you never get to do your rookie year over again. When you have your second child, you don’t have the long, empty days that need filling. You are busy dealing with the logistics of the first child and there is far less down time. However, now I totally get that we are all rookies with two. It’s our first time getting out of the house with two kids. Taking two kids to the grocery store. Getting two kids to a playdate at the park. And most challenging of all, staying home with two kids alllllll day long.
Sam wants to do more with her two kids, so she’s signed herself up to do three activities from The Rookie Mom’s Handbook each week and invites readers to join her.
She has picked three specific things to do this week, wants you to pick one to do, photograph yourself doing it, and then post your links on her site. There’s a badge to go with “the program” too.
Go visit her, pick an activity for this week, and report back pronto.
by Heather
Could these hair barrettes BE any cuter? No, I don’t think so. AngryChicken has a full tutorial about making a felted “sleeping bag” for these baby hair clips and then adorning them with buttons so they stay put.
In my house, I’m a constant hair clip wearer (and thus, loser of hair clips). Sometimes my boys will try them on to be like mommy, but usually it’s me looking for a cute accessory that’s both functional and cheap!
If I can dust off my sewing machine after vacation, I may crank out a bunch of these and show them off on our blog. I will feel much better about myself the next time someone admires my hair clip and I can proudly say “I made it” rather than whispering “it’s from Target.”
Read the full tutorial here (with pictures!)
As long as you have that sewing machine out:
Make a styley dress from a T-shirt
Make easy kids pants
