I am thinking about quitting my job.

I am thinking about quitting my day job. There I said it. That instantly makes it more real. It represents, in a small way, a commitment to follow through on something I have been thinking for months now. Over the last eight months, I've enjoyed phenomenal success at the business I started. I'm finally turning a livable profit after taxes, expenses, etc. and it looks sustainable. I have doubts, but I'm willing to ride it out and see where it goes.

Looking into the future has also prompted me to look at the past and how I got here. Sometimes I think it must seem a little weird to those who know I spent a good amount of my life energy in graduate school, toiling away to earn a PhD, to not be using it. Every once in a while someone makes a comment implying it's a waste. I understand where that notion comes from, but to me, it hasn't been a waste. I don't believe I have squandered my education because I'm not a professor, a practicing psychologist, or doing research somewhere.

The truth is, I've had opportunities to go down that path and I've decided not to take them. It's a matter of quality of life. I enjoyed teaching. I didn't enjoy preparing lectures or powerpoint slides. I really hated the rigamarole of publishing research. Conducting research had its excitement, but mostly it was complete drudgery. I enjoyed some grading, and some reading of papers, but I hated developing the tests and assessment measures. In the end, the overwhelming amount of work involved meant I had to make a lot of sacrifices. I sacrificed relaxation. I sacrificed spending time with my family. I sacrificed exercising. I sacrificed having friends. It was awful.

So by choosing to avoid academia, I made a decision to add all of those things back to my life and was successful, at least up until the start of the last 8 months. Along the way, I picked up a job working at a daily newspaper on deadline, designing and editing pages, writing headlines and cutlines. That work was *easy* money. Compared to what I had been doing, and the demands on my brain, ironically daily newspaper deadline work made me feel like a slacker. Right around the time I started doing that to bide my time while I searched for the *perfect academic position* <<<----doesn't exist, I started my papermaking business. When I found the wedding market, and the wedding market found me, things exploded. I started working 80 hour weeks again.

So now here I am 8 months later, right back where I was, working too many hours, losing sleep, not getting exercise, not spending quality time with my family.

I've come to realize that keeping the newspaper job I picked up has become incompatible with my life. So I am think I need to give my notice. Unfortunately this epiphany, if that's what it's called, will come at a really bad time for them. Another newsroom person who played a vital role gave his notice a week ago. Rather than hiring a replacement, they've decided to redistribute his work to other people in the department, and I am one of them. I think that has played a small role in the impetus to do something now rather than later. I just feel bad. Bad because they won't replace me, so my coworkers will e asked to do more work and they haven't been getting raises, benefits have been cut, etc. The newspaper industry is what it is. In a decline. You could say I am fleeing the sinking ship.

I've been working there 4 years now. I think it is one of the longest, if not the longest, times I have spent working for one place. So it's not easy to leave, and I don't really want to because there are some aspects of the job that are very rewarding. A) There is nothing like working on a deadline, day after day, every day. It keeps you sharp. There is no room for procrastination or slacking. It's good to stay practiced at that. B) I love having a mainline to current events. C) My husband and I get to work together.

At this point though, the costs exceed the benefits so my plan tomorrow after I have a long deserved spa day, is to go talk to my boss to let him know. I may do it before I got to the spa so I can decompress afterward.

The bottom line is, I have got to make a change. But also, I am not ready to just completely quit. My hope is that I can convince them to keep me on 1 day a week and then fill in 'on call' and when someone else in on vacation. I don't know if that's going to be feasible for them, but it would be a way for me to keep a foot in the door, keep the quality of life benefits of working there, and allow them to not have to immediately find a replacement or overwork who is left. Should be interesting.

I put the poop in the pot.

Toddler toilet training time....

On a recent well-child check-up, our pediatrician asked if Toddler FN has started toilet training yet. I said not really. We've got a pot. She can pull down her bottoms and pull them back up, knows when she needs to go, tells us most of the time, knows to sit on the pot, but so far has not made the connection about the order of things... He suggested I put the poop in her diaper into her pot so she could see and make the connection. Inside my head I cringed.

Yuck! Then I'll have to clean it. A bunch of times, until she makes the connection. I was thinking at least 6-8 months of toilet cleaning.

I am not enthused about that. But today, I decided upon seeing a solid poop staring me back that it's worth a whirl. Toddler FN was interested. I don't know if she made the connection or now thinks I'm some sort of idiot for adding extra steps to the process... why not just put the poop in the big toilet? Then at least I'd only have one toilet to clean.

The fact that I am writing several paragraphs about poop is evidence of how life has dramatically changed since four years ago when all I was concerned about was multiple regressions and making sure my research was defensible. I'm pretty sure at that time, I thought the rigamarole was crap too. At least I can say I know how to pile it high and deeper!

And, if any reader of this blog post knows how to toilet train with minimal messes and cleaning, please please please tell me.

I got her the chair shown above, on the advice of friends who recommended a kid's toilet that has a lift-out seat you can place over a real toilet, and that ones doubles as a stool when the lid is closed. (Can you tell I have an aversion to calling it a potty chair? Mr. Field Notes *abhors* the word potty so I've been trying really, really hard to never think it or use it...)

I looked at many other toilets and decided that one was the best value, but I didn't consider the splash guard. It seems to get in the way and my daughter doesn't like it. It's not removable either. And the lid closes on her when she leans back, and she does not like that either.

I thought about the Boon toilet, because it looks swanky and I like the TP storage area but the drop zone opening looks too small and you can't remove the seat to transition to the big pot.

The smart bet would be on just leaving the detachable seat from the kid toilet on the big toilet, but the lid doesn't shut and an adult's butt won't fit on it anyways, plus you're left with a place to store it if not in the kid's pot.

Given she doesn't seem to like the kid's pot, I am not really sure what to do, besides look online for one without a splash guard and without the falling down lid problem.

Like I need another thing to do.

What did our parents do? A lot more cleaning and a lot less second-guessing. I'll think I'll start there!

Coming back from vacation is WORK.

If you have to work twice as hard in the 2 weeks after a 2 week vacation, is it really worth it to take a vacation?

That's the question I've been asking myself since I returned home from a grand road trip through FOUR National Parks in Canada. It was a fabulous adventure traveling with a 2-year-old and I am so happy to report that Little Miss Field Notes did not throw up in the car a single time. There were minimal amounts of fussing - remarkable given she had to sit in a car seat for many hours each day.

As for me, I love road trips. And this one we didn't even listen to that much music so there was hardly any singing in the car, and if anyone did, chances were that we'd hear a shout out request for Elmo. There are some great Sesame Street pop music guest appearances with the cheerful red monster man, but Adam Sandler, Katy Perry, Feist, and Will.I.Am get old! So we largely avoided that in the car and just watched for breathtaking scenery and charismatic megafauna like bears, woodland caribou, mountain goats, moose, etc. We saw them ALL! It was fabulous and the bear somehow was larger than I remember them from seeing them as a child.

During slow stretches, we chatted and played word games. Someone suggested what turned out to be a surprisingly hard one. Try thinking of words that end in "ous" alphabetically! Yeah, it sounded so easy at the time but for some reason all of my words sounded like a I ripped them out of the Sarah Palin dictionary. Hopefully I was just tired... but it did make me worry about how my dramatic shift in how I spend my time has probably taken a toll on my intellectual development.

I feel rusty. Really, really rusty. So, somehow I need to come up with a plan for how to stay academically engaged. At this point I suffer from both a motivational problem and a lack of time. Ugh.

I need a plan! (I'll come up with that right around the time I dig out from under about 2 weeks worth of work to catch up on).

Field Notes Jr - First birthday pic

Close to a year ago, the newfs helped us celebrate the first birthday or the youngest primate of the house. They were even kind enough to wear the hats long enough for a photo. I may have posted this before, but I honestly can't remember how long it's been and how much catching up I need to do on this blog! I also need some inspiration for some interesting academic topics. Maybe I'll cruise my old lecture notes. After all I have a mountain of files just taking up precious space in a corner of the house I am sure Mr. Field Notes would be happy to use.

I'm back!

At long last, I think I may finally feel like blogging again. The long and short of it is that my little home business of making plantable paper really took off over the last year and the last six months it has practically exploded. I'm a work-at-home mama to a toddler not yet two years old, with a part-time job and what has now become an almost-full time business. My daughter has been a handful. Business has been a handful, and I hardly ever have free time to myself. And I really like writing, so I think I will give blogging a try again — to share notes from my new field of full-time papermaking, to share new crafts, new stories, pictures, projects, and to vent about being a WAHM (work-at-home-mom), a totally different bear than SAHM (not that being a stay-at-home-mom doesn't involve work)!

Here are a few snapshots of some projects and a little pic of how much "Baby Field Notes" has grown. We've been having chats lately about whether she's a "baby" or a "kid."

Seashell Plantable Beach Wedding Favors

Plantable Wedding Favors Boxed Kit
"Baby Field Notes"

Window into Working Motherhood

Imagine that while taking a test — which you're doing finally because it is the only time you get to actually think straight because it is finally quiet and you're able to take the test — you are having a sensitive part of your anatomy pulled, tugged, hit, squeezed and bitten.

This is why mamas need a Mother's Day, and back rubs, and meals cooked for them, and houses cleaned, and gift certificates for spa days! Believe me, I am looking forward to the day when mother's efforts are recognized. Part of me wants to just spend the day in bed sleeping without having to do anything baby related. But the truth is, I would miss her.

For the past several months now, my morning routine has been to get up and work around 8am and finish sometimes around noon. I don't use child care; this is partly out of personal choice but also a little bit of necessity. There just isn't a good reason, or a good place to take her if I wanted someone else to watch her for a few hours while I work, so I work and take care of her at the same time.

Usually this isn't a problem, I think, because I have years of practice at multi-tasking and being over-extended and am good at it, but every once in a while — by this I mean once every 2 months — she becomes a nearly unbearable handful.

I think that right now this is related to her being in full on teething mode. She sprouted her first tooth 2 weeks ago. She's a classically 'easy' baby temperament-wise so it really stands out when she fusses. And, OMG, it got so bad one day I put on my gun shooting ear muffs. I use them when I run the blender during papermaking. And sometimes I put them on her when I have to have her nearby while I make paper. I felt bad putting them on just to drown out her fussing, but I just could not work, on a deadline, with all the fussing. I had tried everything else up until that point.

And an amazing thing happened when I put them on.

The distraction stopped her fussing immediately.

She stayed quiet for quite a good amount of time while she studied my new appearance. Phew! What luck. The dogs have been helpful distractions for her, but they're not reliable. They don't perform on command. And I sympathize with her teething discomfort. When I have had endo-related pain I can be a real grump too.

I shall have to log this general 'distraction technique' to memory and bust out other forms of distraction as needed later. Working motherhood is definitely an exercise in creative problem-solving on the fly.

Every Picture Tells a Story

There's so much I could say about this photo. It speaks volumes to how my life has both changed and stayed just the same.


Also, I have been informed my blog is full of great stuff to plagiarize. I suspected this, but the kind people at Term Papers just let me know. Great..... so I don't know what to do about that besides put a warning up on my most-trafficked posts and hope profs can catch plagiarists.

Argh.

Maybe since I don't have a lot of spare time, I'll just have to start plagiarizing myself. I have a lot of really good, but old, posts buried on this blog after all.

A Huge Week: Developmental Milestones Galore

Phew! What a week. Baby Field Notes must have finally flipped whatever switch gets flipped when a whole new cognitive system comes online. All in the last week we saw some big developmental milestones.

It started with sitting herself up from lying down on her back and then later that afternoon I felt her first sharp tooth emerging from her gums. The next day she took her first steps while holding onto my hands. Previously she only 'walked' by me moving her legs for her. She seemed to like the sensation and accomplishment of moving forward in spite of the great physical exertion. Physical therapy is hard work! But no way did expect that in just days she would be stepping forward on her own. The first time she bent her knee, lifted her foot up and set it down in front of her I was surprised. I thought it was just a fluke, like the day she said BIG, but then she did it over and over again, for twenty feet! And then she kept stepping — more that night — and has been doing it ever since.

And then just today she clapped her hands together. When I noticed I exclaimed to Mr. Field Notes who told me she had actually done that yesterday while we were all out on a stroller walk. Yesterday. It has been very exciting around here the last several days!

It is amazing to me both how slowly — and how quickly — human development progresses. Being a primatologist, I am anxiously awaiting her first attempt at grooming. That will be super exciting. No one, as far as I know, has cared to note when that starts happening for humans, and it's not something I've looked into much for other primates, but I do recall somewhere that either Jane Goodall or Anne Pusey has noted when young chimpanzees first start to groom others. I see signs that Baby Field Notes is getting ready to groom. She notices smaller bits of stuff on the floor and has the fine motor skills now to pick up small things, like a tiny leaf, for example, so I know physically she could do it, but I am not sure she yet has the cognitive capacity to intentionally 'clean' something.

Her babbles are getting more prolific now too:
n-n-n-nay
mmmmmm
g-g-g
th-th-thuh
b-b-bah
puh-puh-puh-up
d-d-d-dah-dad

We've heard some ma-mas and some da-das but not for the specific parent. I half expect her to say Yuki or Katy before Mommy, honestly. Those dogs continue to entertain her, and her them. Yuki, the slightly smaller, younger Newf is her BFF. Katy is interesting too, but not nearly, and I think isn't nearly so because she is more stand-offish. Big K is just harder to get to know!

Best Bunny Ears Photo, So Far

This is the best I could do given the time; it was a tremendously busy week! What worked out... taking the dogs for a big walk, making them wear the ears, even if only for ten seconds at a time, repeatedly for the last couple of days — and dangling pancakes as a reward. They'll do a lot for a pancake! Making them tired first was the biggest help.

One Tutu + 3 sets of Bunny Ears: Is a card-worthy picture possible in 3 days?

I need a strategy for dog and baby wrangling, stat! I've got this crazy idea to take a charming photo of Baby Field Notes sitting between her two canine companions, the three of them sporting bunny ears and her in a tutu. I'm aiming for Shoebox greetings level cute saturation here! What could be more drool-worthy than the world's cutest baby in tulle flanked by two Newfoundlands in goofy hats?

And I need a strategy. Getting everyone looking at the camera at the same time is going to be the biggest challenge, I think. But it might actually be getting the dogs to keep the bunny ears on long enough to get to that point! This afternoon I started to get them habituated to having the ears on their heads and made good progress with Katy, the older one. She's naturally more agreeable than our younger Newfy pup, Yuki. I may have to give up on Yuki, she can be stubborn. Intractable, really.

As far as getting them all to look at the camera, I can only use a squeaker so many times before they either start drooling too much or get too excited to hold still. Getting Baby Field Notes to smile instead of stick out her tongue will be another challenge. That's one of her favorite things these days.

I've also got to figure out where to do the shoot. I'm thinking outside since that'll give us the best lighting. I'll need a backup plan for indoors though, in case it's too cloudy, cold, or wet. I need a backdrop too, like a big white sheet or something, which I don't have... hmmm.

Whatever photo we end up with, I am sure that getting it will be hilarious.

Above, Yuki eyeballs Katy's new cranium accessory.
I wonder what she's thinking.

We have a talking ape now! Baby's First 'Real" Word

Today Baby Field Notes said her first 'real' word: UP.

Previously she has said 'BIG,' which blew me away because, a) she's a very quiet child who doesn't really babble on and on so we've rarely heard vowel and and even fewer consonant sounds, b) was late to giggle, c) was only about 8 months old, and d) perfectly enunciated the word: BIG. It really surprised me. She's certainly heard that word a lot, what with two enormous dogs keeping her company!

This time was different though, because she used UP in the right context, intentionally, and along with the right gesture. When she said BIG it probably was unintentional. I think she was just experimenting with her tongue and mouth and voice. It wasn't in the right situation, at least not without making up a story, and wasn't coincident with any meaningful gesture, so it really can't be considered language.

But what is language? It's complicated but you can glean a lot from this excellent discussion, if you click here.

Work: A topic I rarely talk about.

My wheels have been spinning for some time now about what to do about my nearly complete lack of zeal for my current job and whether I can or even want to have a full time job in academia ever again.

That's pretty heavy stuff for any night, let alone a Saturday night. My how life has changed. And, having a baby certainly makes all of this a lot more important than it was before.

It means I can't just willy-nilly up and quit my job because I no longer find it fulfilling. It also means I can't just go out and get a different one without making some major decisions that are potentially life-altering.

I have some ideas on what I could do within the capacity of my current job to make it temporarily more fulfilling, which feels good. I feel like I have at least identified a problem and have come up with a way to go about fixing it that may actually be feasible. Unfortunately the more expedient way of solving the problem would never fly with the higher ups and would severely compromise my position if I even brought it up. So, I really, really like having a plan that could work.

It's totally exciting.

I hope my proposal is well-received and that it will result not only in some more pay for me but more importantly, more fulfilling work that affords me more flexibility and more creativity while simultaneously producing a higher quality 'product.'

Now that I put it that way, it seems ambitious.

Maybe it is, but I need a change. I cannot just up and quit my job, for a number of reasons, so I have got to find a way to make it more fulfilling — and meaningful.

Oh — and I don't know what I think of it yet, but I also came to the realization recently that I am 'over' primates. I just have not had any interest in new primate research or even in talking about existing primate research.

I love monkeys. I really do, but I am not in love with them anymore. As you can see, I definitely need a change. Unfortunately, this temporary solution I have concocted is only temporary....... what to do, what to do.

Construction Quilt - Finished

Made this one for my nephew's birthday, using scrap fabric and some construction fabric I found on etsy. He's three, and I don't know if blankets are really his speed still, but he loves construction equipment, so hopefully he will 'dig' it a little bit.. eh, I might have to go find a truck or something to go with it.

I had been wanting to make a quilt for my nephew, Jackson, using the Michael Miller 'dig it' fabric for a while now, but I wasn't feeling particularly inspired with a design, so I just chose a design similar to one that I bought on etsy for Little Field Notes. I had to offset the letters of his name to get them all to fit the space I set aside for them. That wasn't part of the plan, but it fits in more ways than one.

Sapporo Snow Festival

For a week in February, the northernmost island in Japan hosts a fantastic snow festival. The sculptures made of snow are a highlight. Some are enormous — even larger than this one. I haven't been to the festival yet myself, but Mr. Field Notes' dad has been a number of times. He shared this photo and I thought it was so neat I had to share it too. The detail in the leopard's spots and the orangutan's cheek pouches is awesome. It's estimated that 2 million people visit the festival. Here's a little insight into how the massive sculptures are constructed: how to make
a giant snow statue.

In Japan, as here too, it won't be much longer before festivities culminate around a different occasion — the appearance of the spring blossoms — something that is an even bigger event in Japan than this snow festival. I haven't been to Japan yet for the plum and cherry blossoms, but I think this year, Mr. Field Notes and I might have to break out the sake boxes and furoshiki we got in Japan and make our own mini party under our plum tree.

In anticipation of the spring, I've started farting around with a new spring line up for my etsy store. There are a lot more plantable paper offerers on etsy and the competition has had an effect on my sales. It's mostly fine, because I would rather hang out with my gorgeous daughter, but I do need to keep creating or I won't be able to keep buying nifty things on etsy! To that end, I recently received some new paper punches, an ume (plum) flower shape and a sakura (cherry) flower shape. This is what I've decided to do with them (the first one is an old hydrangea shape):



I need better photos and a prettier assortment of colors, but it's a start. I'm not sure, but I think I will offer them as a DIY wedding package, one that is very affordable (under $25). What do you think? I'd love some feedback...!

NEW: Flowers made out of paper that grows!

Spring comes quickly around here, and with the tops of the bulbs already peeking out of the ground, I have a limited amount of time to develop my new line of recycled paper products before planting season is here. For a few years now I have been making 'plantable paper' in my spare time, mostly custom requests from people who are getting married. Plantable paper is embedded with seeds. As the paper biodegrades in soil and water, the seeds sprout and grow out of the paper. It's a really nifty way to give seeds and also makes a perfect, inexpensive favor to give away at weddings. Over the years I've been asked to make butterflies, hearts, cones to hold flower petals, printed table place cards in various shapes and most recently — 200 paper flowers. They are going to be placed in little pots along with a smaller paper butterfly and flower. Soon this years flowers will be growing from the scraps of this project. In the meantime, I am putting them up for sale as a new regular item in my store on etsy. Happy planting!

I have a baby APE!

Why it took me so long to realize this, I have no idea. But, I truly do have a baby ape. For the past 2 days as we leave the bedroom, Baby Field Notes has reached toward the mobile hanging from the overhead light. She's had her eye on this thing since the day she came home.

A couple of years ago I admired it in a shop in Japan. It's not really intended for babies, it's just a cool little doodad that I liked and brought home. It matched the bedroom, so I hung it up there. Eventually it just faded to the background.... until Baby Field Notes moved in. It caught her eye, being black against the white of the ceiling.

And now, finally, she's developmentally able to gesture to get lifted up to touch the end of it. There's a little bell there. When she realized she could make it make noise, she came unglued. So I've been lifting her up so she can make its bell ring. Well, today she grabbed hold of the little bell and would not let go. I had already lifted her up several times so I was getting tired. I think I made her feel off balance when I hoisted her up the last time and that's why she latched onto the bell so firmly.

When mama's unsteady, better grab anything close... branch, vine, mobile. I thought she was going to take the whole light fixture down with her. Babies are stronger than they look, afterall, and for good reason too. It wasn't all that long ago geologically-speaking, that young apes were able to hang on to mom all by themselves.

So there she was, my little ape hanging on for dear life, wobbling while I was trying to figure out how to get her to let go without being able to pry the bell out of her hands myself.

I forgot what I did, but not the lesson learned: Don't do that again!

Totally Easy Quilt - A good one for prompting geography lessons!

This quilt is an absolute cinch to make. For about $20 (on etsy) you can buy the world map fabric. You will also need some red (or yellow, blue, whatever you like best) smooth minky fabric and some batting. I recommend looking at your local Joann's and buying it when you can use a 50% off coupon. You'll need 2 yards of minky or other fabric for the backing.

Just pin the three layers, stitch along the lines of latitude and longitude using a clear presser foot (no free motion foot needed), start in the middle of the quilt and work your way out. When done with all the lines, fold over the minky, pin and sew it down (I did the binding by hand because it looks nicer especially when you have minky bindings). I used black for the lines and red bobbin thread.

Voila! The finished quilt is about 32 x 56 inches — large enough for a play mat or lap quilt. And best of all, you can use it to start all kinds of fun talks about the world for years to come.

I plan to sew fench knots onto the places Baby Field Notes visits. Another idea is to sew them into places I'd like for her to visit and then take them out when she has, replacing the knots with a different colored thread. I've got a few places on my list and I am sure she will add her own. Today I fell in love with Krabi, Thailand after seeing my friend's vacation pictures. Picture white sand beach along crystal clear turquoise water with not a soul in sight. Just you, the fish and the ocean breeze — I'd go tomorrow (and leave BFN with one of her grandparents so the Mr and I can enjoy ourselves!)

First Gift Quilt - Finished!

Made mostly from 'Paula Prass Flights of Fancy' fabric I purchased on etsy, this one took me from Fri-Monday to finish last weekend. The thing I really like about quilting as opposed to other projects is that I can pick up and set it down easily. I'm not inclined to set down projects. I prefer to just barrel through and finish but with a baby around, there are distractions galore and they cannot wait.

One time, however, I was so determined to finish a part of one quilt (the blue-green one) that I figured out how to nurse and rip seems at the same time while sitting at my machine bench. It was awkward and uncomfortable but I got both jobs got done. And this week I managed to nurse BFN while sitting on the floor of her room working at my laptop while taking a phone call. Babies are the reason women were forced to become excellent multitaskers.

Although baby and I still prefer to NAK (--> cute Nursing @ Keyboard onesies designed by my SIL), I'm finding that I'm becoming much more at ease with not NAKing. And most of the time BFN moves from NAKing to SNAKing, it's a relief. She falls alseep in my lap and then I can, maybe just maybe, move her still sleeping, still nestled in the quilts I've bunched around her to support her, to another place so I can get up ..... and get back to quilting, or take a shower, or make lunch for myself, etc. I've got a gallery of saved pics of her lying on her bedroom rug in all different arrangments of her cozy quilt coccoons. They're amusing. I'll have to make a gallery of them sometime. So, this particular quilt — in its nearly finished form at the left — is my first quilt that is a gift. I used the free motion foot to embroider a message on it along one edge and 'wrote' the year too. That was fun. It turned out much better than I expected. Have you ever tried to write while moving the paper instead of the pen? Hard! Try it with a sewing machine.

Learned a couple things with this one too. My seams met much more closely and I had almost no need to rip out seams because of bunching. I have changed my technique for prepping the layer for top quilting. If I start the free motion stitching in the middle of the quilt and re-stretch and re-pin as I move out toward the edges, I've found everything stays much more taut. The other thing I'm doing now is using safety pins to keep the layer together. They don't fall out and get lost as I move the quilt around.

My best quilt so far, I think!

Baby's 'First' Meal

Yuki has appointed herself to a new 'job' — cleanup duty for baby meals. She is so eager that I've decided we need a mealtime protocol, mostly to manage her enthusiasm. I am not a germaphobe regarding the dogs, and they have already given little Baby Field Notes lots of kisses, but they're not exactly welcome all the way through the meal. I am aiming for a good cleanup at the end and maybe some spot cleanups here and there when I say it's okay. Hopefully it won't take too log for all of us to get on board with the new program. She already knows how to back off on command, and when there is food involved, Yuki is very eager to 'perform' so it probably won't be long before she demonstrates she's learned a new word: Cleanup.

Baby Field Notes, like Yuki, has really leaped whole hog into solid foods. There's no such thing as partial pig with her. She has gone so gung-ho for solids virtually overnight that it's kind of hard to believe that just 2 weeks ago she was gagging on food. Now she gulps with gusto and is so interested in solid food that I am a little worried she is going to wean herself too soon. I want to continue breastfeeding her for 2 years, at least. Not only because it is good for her, but good for me too. It is so good for me that my goal is to keep lactating until menopause. Crazy, isn't it? I just hope she doesn't make me start pumping all the time. It is not nearly as pleasant as her doing the work, lol.

So far we have done really well with making our own baby food. We've got a food processor to puree anything we'd want to give her. The purees get poured into ice cube trays. They can be popped out and put into freezer bags and then defrosted one by one, or in BFN's case, 2 or 3 at a time, as needed. It is easy, cheaper than buying jars, and easier on the environment because it creates less waste.

So far, she's wolfed down cream-of-wheat, squash, applesauce and bananas, and kidney beans. The beans were the first solid food we gave her that she swallowed. We had been trying rice cereal but she wouldn't have any of it. Then one night while I was eating a dish of kidney beans, rice, barley, tomatoes, onions and chicken (an awesome mix!) I decided to give her a small taste off my finger. She took it readily and seemed to especially love the squished beans. And why not? They are delicious. And these ones were a little spicy. I don't know, but maybe she liked the spicy food more than the flavorless rice cereal. Who could blame her?

Six Quilts Down, 6 to go!

Yesterday I finished quilt number six. I really don't know where I find the time to teach myself something new. It must be somewhere in between work, sleep, breastfeeding the baby, cleaning the house and mopping up after the dogs. This one went smoothly for my first quilt not using square edges. I think I did pretty well with lining up the seams, B+ anyway.

I have 2 more using this design in the works and 4 others planned. A while ago, I bought fabric I liked on etsy and didn't know what to do with it until now. For the next two I am thinking about doing a new pattern for the top stitching. I don't know what yet, maybe a vine and leaf pattern. Up to this point I've only done a 'stipple' pattern for the top-stitching part so doing something else will be a huge challenge. I am going to try to draw the pattern with washable pencil so I have something to follow along while I'm stitching. The only hang up will be whether I can use the pencils on the fuzzy fabric I'm planning to use. I've decided it would be easier to move the fabric along if the fuzzy stuff was on the top rather than bottom while I stitch. That might help prevent some of the need to rip up seams, I think. It will be an experiment anyway.

Baby Field Notes loves all of the quilts. I use them to prop her up while I feed her and then when she finally falls asleep I can scoop her up in her quilt cocoon and lay her down still sleeping, snuggly and warm.