Info

Family, Home, Fashion, Quilts & Crafts

Posts tagged vada

Choose another tag?

Vada had to decorate her Valentine’s Day box for preschool. Apparently we are weirdos and don’t have a single shoe box in our house, so I had to make do with an old box of “sanitary napkins.” Ha! I hope the teachers don’t notice. Vada was SO excited to make this thing and I think it’s SO adorable. Vadez picked out the papers I used to cover the top, then I wrapped everything in inside-out Christmas paper and she went to town coloring. I found as many little Valentiney arts and crafts nicknacks as I could and let her stick them all over the outside with some glue dots.

Vada's Valentine's Day BoxI love it when she writes her name. And do you see her “keekat” with the flower nose? LOVE.

Vada's Valentine's Day BoxThese are the types of things I live for and have always dreamed about. I hope they look back on these little memories as fondly as I know I will. ♥

Vada had her first day of preschool this Wednesday! (I was so nervous dropping her off, like it was my first day of school or something…) They have this car line where the teachers come out to the car and take the kids and bring them into the school and then bring them back out to your car when you pick them up. It’s supposed to help build the kids’ trust in the teachers, and it’s pretty awesome. I was really worried that Vada would cry and freak out when the teacher came to get her, but she handled it like such a big girl! No crying at all. We went to orientation the week before, so she got to meet her teachers and see her classroom and everything, which I think definitely helped. She had sooooo much fun. Like the most fun ever. She’s already coming home singing new songs and telling me all about things they learned and won’t shut up about how she “LOVES PRESCHOOL!” It’s adorable.

Right now, she’s going three days a week, but I’m thinking I might try to get her in there Monday through Friday. It’s only four hours long, so we are still able to get some hang time in the afternoons and evenings. I don’t know, they just do so much there! And since she loves it so much (the day she didn’t go, she kept saying “I miss my preschoooooollllll…..”) I just feel like it would be great if she spent those four morning hours being enriched and having all that interaction with other kids rather than just hanging around the house or at Greg’s shop. Today they painted place mats, made applesauce and played on the playground! Come on. That’s way more than I can offer her in four hours right now since I’ve got the baby to tend to all the time. My original plan was to have her go three days a week this year and then five days next year, but I don’t know. We’ll see! I’m just so happy she loves it. I hope she loves school for a really long time. ♥

 

I got Vada some new shoes for back to school! She needed new ones because her old ones were getting filthy looking and because all of a sudden her feet grew an inch over night. I swear, I put her shoes on her feet one day and they were fine, then the next day I could barely squeeze them on! These kids and their growing…

I actually got her two new pairs of Toms: the sparkly mary janes up there (which are the cutest ever!) and another pale pink pair of classics, but the pink ones came messed up. One was dingy looking like it had been worn in the dirt, which I would have tolerated (they’re just going to get dirty anyway) but the other one had blue pen marks all over the top! So weird. Anyway, those are going back.

Vada starts preschool in a couple of weeks and I’m both excited and nervous. I’m so excited for her to play with other kids a few days a week. I think she’s going to have a blast! I’m looking forward to hearing everything she learns while she’s there. They have music and Spanish classes every day, which I think is so, so cool. I can’t wait to see the cute artwork she brings home and to go watch their Christmas performance this winter, which is sure to be hilarious. But I’m also just a little nervous to see how she behaves. Will she be cooperative and listen and get along with the other kids? But what I’m most nervous about though, are things she might pick up from other children. Please, Vada, be a goody two-shoes! ♥

The only thing Vada wanted to do alllll weekend was to take the car to the carwash, but it kept raining. I love the rain when I’m not obligated to leave the house. Typing that sentence just made me realize that I am actually obligated to leave the house today. Almost every single morning I say to myself, “Today is the day! I am not going anywhere. I’m going to have a lazy day inside.” Ha! Maybe tomorrow? Maybe not though. I actually like running around doing stuff – it keeps me happy. What I would like though is for both girls to take a nap at the same time so I could take one too. That would rule.

At least when Vada’s napping (and when it’s only Liza and me up in the middle of the night) I can sneak in some adult television. I just finished watching the first season of Girls on HBO, which I totally loved. I actually looked forward to waking up at 3 or 4am with the baby so I could watch it… I can’t wait for the next season! It took me a while to decide what to watch next. I was thinking Boardwalk Empire but decided it might be a little too violent for middle-of-the-night, all-by-myself viewing. So I finally landed on Mad Men, which my friend Lindsay suggested. I used to watch it when it first started, but I stopped for some reason and when I tried to start watching it again I had absolutely no idea what was going on. I’m looking forward to the drama!

I’ve also been entertaining myself by listening to Harry Potter audiobooks. (Which has almost caused me to start using British phrases that would make me sound ridiculous in the U.S. Like yesterday I thought to myself, “Where are those bloody scissors?!” Uhhh….)  I’ve taken two trips to my parents’ so far this summer and the books on tape audiobooks really help to pass the time. Although I started the series over when I got it on tape audio, I’ve actually read the first two books and part of number three, but I haven’t seen any of the movies. I wanted to watch the corresponding movie after I’d finished each book, but I can’t find the old ones available for rent anywhere. (I’ve checked Netflix, Apple TV and Redbox.) I guess I could wait until they all come out as a giant box set and watch all the movies in a row? What’s a girl to do? ♥

Vada got off to a rough start this morning, as you can see by her pouty pose. (Always dramatic!) She didn’t want me to take a picture of her morning bedhead curls, and was irritated that I kept calling her Curly Sue. (“Her name is NOT Curly Sue, it’s VADA”) This photo was foreshadowing the hours to follow, during which she had her puzzles taken away for refusing to clean them up and then a timeout for not listening and hitting me. WHAT? Luckily, we were graced with the other side of this little Gemini girl after nap time.

Yesterday was a non-stop super busy errand day for us, so we took it easy for a a little while this morning. We cleaned up Vada’s room and did a little more rearranging in there. I’m still working on putting all the pieces of her big girl room together (although she’s been sleeping in her new bed for a few weeks now. She transitioned from her crib to her new queen-sized bed with no problems at all!) I’ve also been fiddling in the baby room a little bit, too. All of the furniture is staying the same, but I just want to update it so it will feel new for the new bebe.

After Vada’s nap, we took a trip to the post office so I could mail a finished quilt to Canada, then after a pit stop at Starbucks (hello “sweet 15!”) we headed to the studio so I could start working on another quilt.

When Greg finished up at the shop, we took Vada to play at one of the parks by our house. The weather has been completely gorgeous the past couple of days, mid-70s and mostly sunny. The warmth and sun makes me feel so happy, motivated and alive! I can just feel that vitamin D soaking into my skin. There are supposed to be a few scattered thunderstorms over the next few days, but the forecast is still looking lovely. Some years it seems to go from super cold winter to blazing hot summer overnight, so it’s nice to be able to enjoy at least a few days of this in-between season. I’m soaking as much of it in as I can. ♥

I start my third trimester on Friday, and oh boy can I feel it! Remember 7 weeks ago when I said I was confused because I felt a lot crazier last pregnancy? It seems I spoke too soon. I am just a huge (literally) ball of hormones/emotions. It’s like I have PMS x 1,000 for… 3 more months. I cried five days in a row last week. I keep freaking out at Greg over the most mundane things. I feel really bad about it and I really do try to control myself, but I just SNAP. In my normal, non-pregnant life, I’m so good about stopping, thinking about how I feel, and then reacting. Those things don’t happen in my close-to-third-trimester life. It’s frustrating. I feel psycho.

Greg has been working a million hours and it is making me nervous. He worked so much during Vada’s infancy that I was pretty much a single mom, alone with a colicky, always-crying baby for a year. We worked things out (obviously) but that time really took a toll on our marriage. It makes me sad just to think about it. When we decided to have this second baby, it was on terms that he wouldn’t work like that again. But I can see history starting to repeat itself and it’s freaking me out.  His business, which is always growing (thankfully!) seems to go through a bigger growth spurt every few years, and the signs are there! Working late every night… Working weekends… Coming home to shove food in his mouth and to say hi to Vada, then going back to work until the middle of the night… Coming home but then catching up on work on our home computer until late. It sucks. Hopefully this is all just part of my “nesting” phase and things will balance out at Press Press. (Cross your fingers for me, guys.)

But, in order to try to keep things positive around here… In happier “nesting” news, I bought baby her first clothing item- a cute little bunny hat from Baby Gap, which was too sweet to pass up. I also ordered some fabric to sew into crib sheets and got new curtains for her room. I’ll have to go through all of Vada’s baby clothes soon and see what else we need to get as far as onesies and things like that go. I’m excited to see all of those little summertime baby dresses again! Ruffle-butts! ♥

I just finished up my second week of my online photography class, Shooting 101. The focus of the class is to get comfortable using your camera in full manual mode, which happens to be one of my life goals. I’m really having a lot of fun learning how my camera works. With each new lesson, I have an “ohhhhhh so that’s what that button does!” moment. There are so many things to remember and to take into consideration when shooting in manual, but I’m starting to get it. It feels good! There have been so many times that I’ve taken a picture with a “vision” of how I want it to come out, only to be totally disappointed when I look at the shot later on my computer. This class is giving me the tools I need to actually achieve that perfect shot that I envisioned. I love being 100% in control of my photography instead of just pressing the button and crossing my fingers.

Vada’s sick of it, though. ♥

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 768 other followers