clearing room

I've decided that it's time to remove my Etsy listings for made to order eco clothing. While I've gotten a decent amount of orders on and (mostly) off Etsy for those pieces, it's been more of a hassle and stress than it's worth. That and now the market seems flooded with similar items.... when I first posted my made to order eco line there was already atleast a handful of Etsy sellers with the same concept- now there are easily over a dozen. I knew it wasn't the greatest idea for me to begin with, since I really don't like doing custom orders. But it served it's purpose somewhat, bringing in some extra money while I was home full time with Tanner.

By eliminating one thing, I'm clearing room for new endeavours, new adventures.

I've finally learned how to knit, again. The first time my grandmother showed me about 6 years ago, and for some reason I just couldn't get the flow. So I went back to crocheting. But I've always wanted to knit myself a sweater, and now must have been the perfect time to relearn knitting. This time around I picked it up instantly, it's felt so much more natural. I've finished up a baby alpaca hat for Tanner...

And have moved onto a wool hooded cardigan for him. I figure this will be a good step into sweater making, kind of a miniature version of what I will be making myself, fulfilling my desire :)

I can't help but to think that knitting was waiting for the perfect time to join my life.....

parenting lesson learned #1

A room is not perfectly baby-proofed when there is a dirty diaper pail in it.

Learned the hard way.

I made sure all of the outlets where plugged, all cords tucked away from little hands, all objects not meant for baby fully out of reach, an array of interesting toys spread out, and a sturdy gate at the door. And into the shower I hopped, baby monitor on, enjoying my shower and listening to Tanner babble away.

Out of the shower I hopped, upstairs to check on Tanner and get dressed....

And there he was..... I just recently heard the expression "shit eating grin", and that's just the grin Tanner gave me. Hands, floor, and pajamas covered in poop, dirty disposable diapers strewn about. With a big ol' smile and a shit covered wave to mama. OH. MY. WORD. Haha!

Laugh, That's all I could do while doing a quick wipe down of Tanner and the floor before carefully carrying him down to the tub for a major scrub down. Thankfully he was entertained enough squishing poop between his fingers and it didn't appear to make its way to his mouth, which is nearly a miracle for a 9 month old baby.

I laughed for a number of reasons. Firstly, the mere fact that I had really thought I did a good job at baby proofing his room. I had two successful days at showering while he played in his room. Obviously that success ended at day three. Secondly, I clearly recall ten years ago when I had a short lived stint as a nurse's aide in a convalescent home on the dementia unit, thinking to myself when I quit that would be the last time I cleaned up a shit smeared person, walls, and bed. Obviously I had no plans at the time of having children. Thirdly, that babies are so clever. I cloth diaper during the daytime and use disposables at night. So I have two diaper pails, one that holds poop and disposable diapers, and the other that holds the slightly cleaner cloth diapers (cleaner in the sense that I knock off the poop into the other diaper pail before putting the cloth diaper into its pail). Tanner was clever enough to know which pail had the fun squishy stuff. And lastly, really, what else can you do but laugh? I guess if I was Pat I would have freaked out and thrown up, but that just makes a bigger mess. It was quite comical looking anyways.

baby love, part deux

things have been busy around here.... hours spent playing and watching Tanner grow and develop, the never ending unpacking and organizing of the new house, hours have picked up at the day job, I've finally put together my new sewing space, tanner is zooming around the house hot on my tail on all fours.... this alone means vacuuming every day to avoid the fur coat he wears if i don't, along with attempting to mop the floors more often. Since I've assigned it Poppy's night to put him to bed, I'm sneaking in some time on the computer to... well, i guess waste :)

Even though Christmas was almost two months ago, I still want to share some of the beautiful things I purchase for Tanner. I knew he would be getting plenty of noisy plastic toys from family, so I decided to only purchase made in the USA, natural material toys. My favorite splurge was these wooden alphabet blocks in a pull cart by Uncle Goose.

Everything about these blocks is just fabulous... crafted in the USA out of sustainable USA harvested wood, non toxic inks, and the craftsmanship is perfect. I'm expecting these to become an heirloom of sorts. Tanner already loves knocking them around and pulling on the wooden ball to the cart. Before I know it he'll be spelling things out and I'll still be saying Where did my baby go (which is what I'm saying already as today marks his 9 month birthday).

I also bought a few handmade wooden push toys from Banished, including this cute giraffe and one of his painted fire trucks....

as well as that "learn" wooden sign for Tanner's play shelf. The craftsmanship on all of them is top notch.

The alphabet poster wasn't for Christmas, but was purchased around that time from Orange Ink. And I've mentioned that awesome Dream Big letterpress print from Roll and Tumble Press but now that it's all framed I'll gush some more about how much I love it :)

Ok, good, I got all that shared before it's officially two months past Christmas. so yeah, things are coming along around here. The number of days I feel like I'm getting my sh*t together is starting to outnumber the days I feel like nothing is getting done around here. Who knows, maybe I'll be able to share some pics of the new house soon.... I've been waiting until atleast one room is completely put together and done.... and we're getting close! Just in time for our lives to be dumped upside down again when we completey gut and remodel the kitchen :)