August 30, 2010

Move over 'Pimp My Ride'

The Rockstar's toy repertoire is slowly expanding and his bouncy chair is a heavenly easy-to-move item that he now tolerates and borders on enjoying BUT I managed to register for the most boring chair imaginable. So boring in fact that I didn't take a photo of it before I tore it apart so here's an image borrowed from the Bright Starts website:

Adorable baby, cute fabric on the chair and fun looking animals for the baby to whack, right? That's what I thought when I chose it but I picked it based off of the photo and didn't have a chance to actually play with it. The rattle in the middle is decent and it is removable - thanks to a bit of velcro on the hanger thingo - therefore it's easy enough to swap with other toys if baby gets bored BUT the other two soft toys hanging on either side of the rattle are B.O.R.I.N.G. They don't do anything, no jingle, no rattle, no squeak: NOTHING. Not only do they not do anything but you can't remove them, they are permanently attached to the bar.

Permanence was what the company had in mind anyways. Yesterday I armed myself with a pair of scissors, a needle, thread and velcro and set off on a mission to Pimp the Rockstar's Chair. The finished result:
Yep, he's winking at me saying "That's my kick ass mom!" Thanks, Baby Boy.

Lessons learned from this experience:
1. the less expensive (aka cheap) toys are often priced that way for a reason *insert husband telling me "You get what you pay for." here*
2. you can fix a boring bouncy chair without spending a cent (the toys I hung on there are some of the Rockstar's favs that usually hang in his play gym)
3. I need to learn how to hand sew, if this picture was sharp you would see the hideous job I did sewing the velcro on, hence the not so sharp image: embroidery 101 here I come
4. thimbles were invented for a reason and I should probably purchase one

Next issue to deal with is the control panel that was installed in the perfect place for a kicking baby to whack their little heels on. Booooo!

Until I fix a bit of foam to cover that sucker, the Rockstar will be wearing his dino slippers for protection. I didn't think of covering the panel until I watched him whack it today so that's next on my to do list.

My second mission yesterday was to improve the Fischer Price Little Lamb Swing (a big ticket baby item worth every penny) that the Rockstar spends a lot of time in. I had big plans for this puppy, I was going to make colourful felt stuffies to hang down to replace the boring muted lambs you see here:

But then I had a thought: why not recycle the 'don't d0 anything' toys from the bouncy chair since these little buddies are just for admiring anyways? And why not jazz up one of the pastel lambs with a bit of ribbon?

I wish I had armed myself with the video camera when I put the Rockstar in his swing after the upgrades, his reaction was priceless. Clearly he thought the lambs were boring too, his face lit up like a Christmas tree when he looked up and noticed the new bits, While grinning from ear to ear he cooed and gurgled at the rotating toys. It certainly doesn't take much to make our munchkin happy. Mission accomplished!

August 28, 2010

The kids is a...

Yes ladies and gentlemen the 9 week old Rockstar slept from 9pm until 6:15am, woke up smiling, ate and then went right back to sleep. I am sipping a coffee and enjoying the silence while my two boys sleep. A full night of sleep for the first time in I don't remember how long is the perfect start to what is bound to be a fabulous weekend.

Boing Boing

If you have never visited the blog Boing Boing you should. There are loads of interesting articles/photographs/videos submitted by people and of course there are a tonne that will get you giggling.

Two of the posts that had me laughing on my most recent visit included this photograph
that definitely needs to be made into a t-shirt:

HOW TRUE!

And this one titled Women: ask for a Raise, you douche! The title alone kills me, it's perfect for the article pictured below.

Seriously, who gave the thumbs up for this ad to print?! Ridiculous but funny.

August 26, 2010

Fab Pick of Last Week (or the week before??)

Dicky Bird was featured over at Bloesem (a beautiful blog that makes me swoon on a daily basis) and I immediately fell in love with the sweet designs of these greeting cards. Simple yet sweet!

August 25, 2010

Blog Love

I dare you to visit Mila's Daydreams and not crack a smile. I'm betting you'll also giggle while you're there. Brilliant!

August 24, 2010

Time Flies...

We love you, Little Man!

August 16, 2010

Dynamic Duo

I'm amazed at how fast the days fly by since our boy entered our world, it's kind of scary. I'm going to try to post a little more regularly now that we are getting into a routine around here and now that the swing is the Rockstar's friend. All should bow to the creator of the little lamb baby swing.

NOTE: HA! I wrote that paragraph a week ago, our daytime 'routine' seems to change every day which I guess means it's not really a routine yet. We'll get there eventually!

Today marks the first day of the second week my little man and I are a duo for the day!


It has been such a busy couple of months that I haven't even taken the time to explain that Mike has been home with us since the day the Rockstar was born. He took two weeks off to stare at our boy, went back to work for one day and then had the surgery that he has been waiting 10 months for. It has been a crazy homebound summer with a new baby and a barely mobile husband but it has been fantastic having Mike around so much. He is now working from home until he gets the okay to return to the office. Fingers crossed that his appt goes well tomorrow, assuming it does then he'll move into a walking boot and begin his mobility recovery.

I'm now getting a taste of the reality of weekday mommyhood: so far so good! I've managed to shower most days and slapped three coats of oil on our new deck last week while the Rockstar practiced kickboxing (another shout out, this one to Baby Einstein and their playgym/mat thingo). The little man LOVES being outside and spent the entire time smiling and 'talking' to his toys and me. Yes we FINALLY have a full deck out back (five years after moving in) and it looks amazing - I'll post pics once it is all done..

I'm going to post this puppy now or it may never happen and then maybe, just maybe I'll get to cutting some fabric for one of a million projects I'd like to get going on. Christmas isn't too far away and I would REALLY like to make a pile of prezzies and for the remaining gifts I'm hoping to buy mostly homemade: gotta love Etsy!

August 2, 2010

Fantastic Firsts

July was a big month! The Rockstar turned 5 weeks old last Thursday and he's so advanced (definitely a genius in the making) he's already had a bunch of 'firsts'.



Boo hoo! My baby is growing so quickly.

Fab Pick of Ages Ago


InkTree Press has beautiful art "inspired by the wonder of childhood." We chose the Cosmic ABCs and Animal 123s designs for Kian's space and had the colours customized to match perfectly: they look fabulous on his walls! The designs are crisp and the colours are bright, they are perfect for a nursery or children's playroom. Pop over to InkTree Press to check out all of the sweet designs.