Holy ArtsCow!

Yay my custom board book arrived in the mail yesterday and Holy ArtsCow, the printing quality is exceptional!  

While I was pregnant with Adam my mother-in-law showed me some poems that she had written for Mike when he was a baby.  She had always meant to create a book with them but had never gotten around to it.  The poems were terrific and a seed was planted in my mind to eventually create that book for both her and Adam.  Well I finally sat down and spent two afternoons putting together the illustrations and pages to create this wonderful book of Poems from Nana to Daddy to Adam.

Now I want to state upfront that I did not draw the pictures in this book as I did in the Christmas book for Anna.  I thought about it.  But I still don't have a tablet and when I drew those pictures with just a mouse (or even my index finger on my laptop touch pad) it took a very long time.  

The challenge with finding clipart online is that most of them have poor resolution or a huge annoying watermark across them or are inconsistent in drawing style (i.e. one is cartoonish, one is a sketch, one is a line drawing, etc).  Fortunately I'm pretty handy with Gimp and Photoshop so I could increase the pixel resolution, eliminate watermarks pretty easily, add background and details, and even alter the images to better suit the poem.  For example it didn't take long to transform that little girl with blond hair and pigtails, freckles, and long eyelashes into a little boy pilot!

However finding consistent drawing styles online was just something I had to invest time doing.  Eventually I was able to find all the pictures I wanted and then it was a matter of finding a good printing house.  I half convinced myself of turning it into a cloth book like the one for Caleb but then talked myself out of it again.  There are several websites I came across for making custom board books.  One of the most popular ones I kept reading about is pint size productions, but when I asked for a quote, not only were they pricey but their standard number of pages wasn't enough for what I needed.  

I also considered buying chunky blank board books and then printing the pages on full-page labels and creating the book that way.  Again, just didn't really do it for me.  

Finally I decided to go with a deluxe 6"x6" photo book from ArtsCow and I couldn't be happier.  The biggest challenge with actual board books was finding ones that could accommodate the number of pages for  these poems.  With ArtsCow I was actually creating a photo book with lay-flat pages (4x the thickness of regular pages) as a way to mimic a board book.  There were still some conditions to the number of pages (e.g. multiples of 4) due to how the book is constructed but it happened to work out just right for me.  I also took advantage of a free shipping promo so the total was $23.  That's not bad considering some regular board books are $8.99 + tax. There's also a 4"x 4" option which is cheaper.

Anyway for anyone considering making a custom board book, I would suggest giving ArtsCow a try if other board book companies can't meet your needs. However if anyone does find a good printing site I would love to hear about it!  

Half A Year Gone By Already...

Yesterday Adam turned six months old.  Now wait a minute, where's the rush??

I'm definitely one of those annoying parents who thinks their child is the cutest one out there but at least I try to tone it down around other people.  Every month I think "Ok, now he's the cutest he'll ever possibly be" but he keeps proving me wrong.  Adam is at an adorably fun stage right now and I just want to hang onto every wonderful moments for as long as possible.  It feels like in a blink of an eye he went from this -

1 week old

- to this!

It's embarrassing how many photos I take of Adam but when my maternity leave is over and I can't spend my whole days with him, at least I'll get to sit down to a warm cup of tea and look over these snapshots of his first year of life:  how he practically doubled in weight at month two; how he lost most of hair in month three; how he simultaneously punched, kicked, and laughed for a photo at month six.  I won't regret having this huge collection of photos at all - nope, not one bit.

Oatmeal: My First Taste of Solid Food

Well, calling it "solid" would be pretty misleading.  It was more like watery mush with specks of slightly-less-watery mush.  Sounds yummy, doesn't it?

On Sunday we gave Adam his first taste of something other than breastmilk.  Actually that's not true, in his first month he pounded back the formula to get over his jaundice but since then it's been nothin' but mama-milk.  I thought I was going to put off solids for as long as possible now that breasfeeding is finally easy but I was actually excited to give him his first bite.  His close eyeing of me eating my meals over the past two weeks and his desire to grab things off the plate made me think he was ready for solids, even though the pediatrician said I could wait until he was 6 months.  Close enough, right?

I was pretty exhausted in the morning after Saturday's BBQ and the thought of running out to the grocery store just to pick up some rice cereal didn't appeal to me.  I had already used up all the bananas for the last banana-walnut loaf, and the avocados had gone into the salad from Saturday.  Oh well, what else could we try?  I Googled a few sites and read good things about starting babies off with oatmeal so that's what we did.

I read that steel cut or regular oatmeal would be good, just not the instant kind. Luckily we have the regular rolled oats on hand (10-15 min on stovetop or 4-5 min in microwave) so I ground up 1/4 cup in the Magic Bullet to create a powder and then cooked that in a small pot with 3/4 cups of water.  The result was pretty similar to oatmeal that I would eat, and a bit lumpier than I had expected after grinding down the oats.

While I was preparing the oatmeal Adam woke up and wanted to see what was going on. Mike didn't even get a shirt on him yet!

"Whatcha makin' mama?"

I added a few teaspoons of breastmilk to thin out the oatmeal and then we sat Adam in the Bumbo for his first meal.  Mike held his hands out of the way since he kept wanting to grab the spoon and ram it down his throat - yikes!  I took a bit of video from his first few bites but it was a bit tricky with the camera in one hand and spoon in the other. I couldn't even manage to get much oatmeal onto the spoon with just the one hand but I did manage to get some pretty cute footage of the little guy.  

Yesterday was Day Two of solids and I heated up some of the extra oatmeal left over in the fridge from Sunday.  This time after I added the breastmilk I blended the whole thing in the Magic Bullet once more and the consistency was much better. No lumps!  I think that's the way to go, although I will experiment with a few different ways to cook/store the oatmeal in larger batches for convenience's sake. 

What's going to be next - avocados, bananas, sweet potatoes?  Tune in to find out :)

Rhubarb Pistachio Ginger Crisp

Doesn't reading the title just make your mouth water?  I love this dessert that my mother-in-law introduced us to about two months ago. It's de-licious!  Plus it's easy to make - a definitely plus for a newbie baker like me.

You start off with chopped rhubarb.  I bought almost the entire stock at Loblaws in order to bake these two crisps for the barbecue we had on Saturday. Little did I know people were bringing other desserts and one would have been enough! Oh well, having one in the freezer for another date is fine by me :)

After chopping the rhubarb add some flour, granulated sugar, and chopped crystalized ginger.  Lookin' good already.

Next you make the topping which is comprised of flour, brown sugar, rolled oats, ground ginger, salt, pistachios, and BUTTER.  I know, I said the "B" word.  And once you start baking you are acutely aware of all the naughty ingredients that make desserts as tasty as they are.  I cut the butter into small cubes so it would be easier for me to mix  together by hand since I currently lack some essential baking tools.

It's not quite as bad as it looks! Okay, maybe it is...but so tasty!

I wasn't able to find shelled pistachios at the store so guess what fun task Mike "volunteered" for?

I wanted the pistachios partly crushed so I threw them into a heavy-duty Ziploc bag and got our little hammer from the basement.  It had never occurred to me to take out the Magic Bullet we received as a gift from my mother-in-law! I guess it's because I only used that for the first time this weekend when I made sauces and dips for the bbq (extremely handy, by the way).

Ummm...every baker uses a hammer, right guys?

Finally you assemble the topping over the rhubarb and Voila!

Ready for the oven :)

Here's the full recipe for all those salivating readers who are already half-way to the grocery store for rhubarb and pistachios:

Rhubarb Pistachio Ginger Crisp

750 g rhubarb, cut in 1-inch lengths (this is roughly 6 cups chopped up)
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
1 tsp chopped crystallized ginger (I used more!)
2 tbsp butter

Topping
1 cup all-purpose flour  (I replaced half with whole-wheat flour)
½ cup rolled oats
½ cup brown sugar
¼ tsp ground ginger
½ shelled pistachios, halved
¾ cup butter, cubed  (eek! I used a bit less)
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350degF.
2. Combine rhubarb, granulated sugar, flour, and crystallized ginger in a 10 x 8 inch baking dish. Dot with   butter.
3. Prepare topping by combining flour, oats, brown sugar, ground ginger, pistachios, and salt in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle over rhubarb.
4. Bake for 40 min or until juices are bubbling and crumble is golden.

Hello Summer, Farewell Penners (for now)

This past Saturday we hosted a barbecue to welcome in the summer (hooray!) and also get together with our dear friends one last time before they moved back to Ottawa (*tear).  Last month we had new patio stones put in and planted some nice flowers in the garden that have since begun to blossom so it was a good time to have friends over.  The forecast, however, was threatening stormy weather and we did not want to have our bbq derailed.  

During the morning and early afternoon it rained, then turned sunny, then thunderstormed (wait, the forecast was correct??)  I was starting to get bummed out about the weather but luck ended up on our side and the evening was just perfect. Ok, a bit on the humid side but it was dry enough to sit outside and overcast enough so that no one got a sunburn :)  

Whoops, did we forget the chairs? Luckily we got some from our neighbours :)

The guests of honour

Caleb enjoying his birthday cake

Adam was pretty mellow in the evening

Another outfit?? What a drooly baby.

I love this photo of Brigitte and Delia

Good food and good friends...the best way to start off the summer.  Brigitte, I wish you guys weren't leaving  so soon but I'm grateful we got to spend the past six months together on maternity leave.  Enjoy PEI this summer, and enjoy Ottawa as your home.  See you soon and miss you dearly until then!

Feed a Cold and Starve a Fever? Or Vice Versa?

Who knows.  All I know is that in the past ten days Adam and I have gotten both and it didn't stop me from cooking up a storm.  In my last post I wrote that Adam picked up some sort of viral thing which derailed my plans of attending a fancy party two Fridays ago.  Well just when he was getting over his fever last weekend, that was when my throat started to hurt.  On top of that Mike was leaving for Portland for 5 days on business so I had to suck it up.  I decided then to prepare various comfort foods that could be easily heated up for dinner during the week while Mike was away.  I spent most of the afternoon and evening last Sunday in the kitchen making lasagna, Hunter Chicken Stew, and banana-walnut-chocolate chip muffins. Mmm.

beef lasagna with spinach and ricotta cheese

Hunter Chicken Stew

Banana-walnut-chocolate chip muffins

Then on Wednesday Adam and I had a play-date sleepover at Brigitte's house and it was so much fun.  The babies, despite both being sick with separate ailments, were actually really cheerful and had a few awesome naps giving Brigitte and I time to try out a few new recipes. We made a "Contilentil Soup" from her Looneyspoons cookbook and a rhubarb pistachio ginger crisp from a recipe my mother-in-law gave me.  

Even grocery shopping was fun since we had both babies in the same shopping cart and they were happy to just look at everything around them in the aisles.  All the other women at the store were cooing and smiling at our babies and part of me wondered whether they thought we were lesbian parents out with our blond and mixed babies.  

The sleepover definitely helped the week pass by quickly and before we knew it Mike was back from Portland.  If Mike had just gotten home an hour earlier he would have seen Adam roll over for the first time from his back to his tummy.  I was so excited I started clapping and Adam had no clue what had just happened.  I was of course less than excited when he woke us up several times last night screaming because he had rolled half-way onto his tummy, got stuck in face-plant position, and panicked.  Silly baby.  It was happening so often we eventually brought him into bed with us to keep him from rolling.  The middle of the night is no time to practice new skills, sweet pea.  Let's see how tonight goes. Both Adam and I now have colds and probably the best remedy to bet on is rest.

One Hat, Four Styles...

My brother thought the herringbone newsboy cap I made Adam last week was adorable and asked me to make one for his daughter Grace.  She's only a month older than Adam so I just used the same pattern size - easy peasy.  I figured the cap should look more feminine, although perhaps not bubblegum pink. Instead I chose two floral patterns that are just subtly girly and made it so the hat is reversible. 

Right now the hat can be worn as a "flat cap" or "train conductor" style and with either fabric facing out (hence, four styles).  Lemme show you:

#1: Train Conductor, Cream Floral

#2: Flat Cap, Cream Floral

#3: Train Conductor, Batik

#4: Flat Cap, Batik

I think the reversible part is pretty cool but it means I can't sew the brim to the body of the hat to better retain the "flat cap" shape.  If I did then it would no longer be reversible.  A possible solution is to use snap buttons on either side of the hat but I started to have visions of button prints left in the middle of Grace's forehead so I nixed that idea.  Oh well, my sister-in-law can decide later if she wants to keep it reversible or just tack down the brim.  Personally I prefer the "flat cap" shape so we might have to sacrifice reversibility for style.

The plan had been to give Grace the hat last night when we dropped off Adam on our way to a fancy dinner party (yay!) but that plan got derailed when Adam came down with a virus (boo).  Slight fever and rash, the doctor said not to worry. Nothing serious but just serious enough that I had to forego the party and stay home with a sick and fussy baby.  After some baby Tylenol and a good night's rest he was finally smiling again today.  I suspect he just didn't want me to go to the party.  Oh Adam.  Anyway here's a photo of him wearing Grace's hat this morning.  Hmm...just occurred to me as I'm blogging...better wash this hat again before giving it to Grace.

"Mommy, I just wanted to stay home with you!"

Factory Worker or Train Conductor?

Mike and I had a great time last night at the wedding in Barrie.  Wow, to dress up and have a fancy dinner out together...what a treat!  Adam was with us for the ceremony at the church but then my parents took him for the evening.  He did about as well as I could have expected during the day - pooped before we headed out of the house, napped well on the drive up, fed contently in the backseat before going into the church.  He didn't even pull too much at the bow tie I sewed onto his onesie :)  Oh yes, did I even remember to mention in my last post that I added herringbone suspenders and a plaid bow tie to go along with his newsboy cap?

Unfortunately during the ceremony he wasn't content to just sit around.  I spent most of the time holding him upright and pacing or swaying near the back where Adam could stare out a window or be mesmerized by a candle.  Two other young fathers were having about as much luck with an 8-month old daughter and what looked to be a 3-month old baby girl.  Gratefully there was a nursery just around the corner from the area where the ceremony was being held and I was able to slip back there to nurse Adam (in an actual glider chair!) when he was over-tired.

Adam got plenty of compliments on his outfit which I of course beamed about. Everyone loved his hat.  He was adorable in it along with the matching suspenders. I thought he looked sort of like a train conductor...or maybe a backup washboard player for The Lumineers.  My parents got a real kick out of it when they saw him and said he looked like a factory worker.  Our little Adam...off to work so soon? Oh how the months fly by.

Bleary-eyed from the car ride

On the dance floor at the reception

Herringbone Newsboy Cap

I am sooo excited about this new baby newsboy cap I made yesterday!  We're off to a wedding in Barrie today and had originally planned to leave Adam with my parents for the whole day. However just a few days ago we decided to bring him along for the ceremony part and then drop him off before the reception since there was going to be a few hours break in between. On top of that it's our first time away from Adam and I didn't want to spend the entire day wondering whether it was too soon to call my parents (again) and check up on him.  My parents are fantastic with him...the issue is more that he's not great with a bottle (but definitely getting better) and that makes me uneasy about leaving him for any lengthy period.  Plus the logistics of having to pump multiple times while away for a wedding...ugh, enough said.

Anyway that left me thinking a few days ago that Adam had nothing to wear to the ceremony! Now yes, I know he's only 4 1/2 months and no one is going to shake their heads at him if he arrives at the church in a onesie and joggers...but still. Yesterday came along and I still hadn't had a chance to look for anything for the little guy so I decided I was just going to have to make him something.  The problem was that almost all of my fabric is flowery and girly since all of my sewing so far has been either for myself, my mother, or baby girls!  I didn't have the car yesterday to run out to Fabricland or Lens Mills so I dug and dug in my closet.  Then I found this wonderful herringbone suede-like material I bought years ago.  I was perfect for this project - boyish enough for a newsboy flat cap and thick enough to save me the step of using fusible interfacing :)

I bought the flat cap pattern off Etsy in the morning and started cutting out the pieces during Adam's afternoon nap.  The engineer in me would have wanted to figure out the pattern myself but the excited sewer (and now practical mum!) in me just wanted to skip ahead to the sewing part.  Time was a tickin'.

Inner lining for hat body

I managed to snap a few shots of the hat during construction.  Because I didn't need to use interfacing the whole hat was made with just six pieces:  Two pieces of lining for the hat body (above photo), two pieces of herringbone for the hat body (below), and two pieces of herringbone for the brim.  Otherwise I would have needed medium interfacing for the hat body and then thick weight for the brim (3 extra pieces).

Hat body and brim completed using Herringbone

Fortunately the whole project was pretty quick, although I had to do it in chunks  based on Adam's napping schedule and when Mike got home from work.  I was rushing to finish the cap even as Mike was getting Adam ready for bed and managed to slip it over his sleepy head for a quick peek at the finished product before turning off the lights.  Fits like a glove :)  This was an awesome project, and now that I know how simple it was to make I plan to do a few more using different fabrics.  Maybe a light plaid one for summer? Wool one for winter?  So many possibilities.  Can't wait until the little guy wakes up in the next hour so I can snap some photos of him in it!