Fourth of July in the Presidio

Daniel and Charlotte blowing bubbles while I nurse Nicholas

How to Darn a Sock | The Art of Doing Stuff

I just darned a sock using this tutorial. It feels like it'll hold up.

Learning about lettuce

We have had an explosion of lettuce this year. We can hardly keep up with eating it. Gotta start giving it away. These heads are from some plants we got a year ago at the framers market at the ferry building. They seem to be a lot hardier than the plants I grow from seeds. Farmers market plants may be the way to go!

We are at the Academy of Sciences

Cuddle time

Tonight, I realized just how special it is to cuddle with my baby. Between trying to put baby down for nap and soothe achy tummies and gas, it's hard to remember that the time I'm spending holding him is so brief. My darling Charlotte is only two and a half and most of the time wants her independence. When I try to give her a good cuddle, she responds with a giggle, a "no mama" and pushes me away. Nicholas is a pretty squirmy baby so when he is awake and happy, he mostly wants to face forward and look at what's ahead. Tonight, he was passed out from a big meal and fell asleep all floppy so I held him and nuzzled him and gave him some extra squeezes before putting him down. Normally, I'd be praying that he stays down, but right now, I kinda hope that big gulp of air he swallowed wakes him up so that I can give him another nuzzle.

Nicholas moves around nonstop in my arms, so I'm not sure how long I will get to hold him tight. Charlotte was a pretty stationary baby so I don't think she started stiffening up to drop out of my arms until at least two. Maybe a couple of months after she turned two. Babies aren't really solid enough to give them a good squeeze until about three months. So we get from about three months old until about twenty five, twenty six months to really cuddle with each of our babies? That is so short in the big picture of life. Makes me sad and I will definitely be nostalgic later. So I have already missed out on cuddling Charlotte with this realization. I will have to take full advantage of my time left with Nicholas.

Saturday mornings

My big girl is 2.5 and my baby boy is almost four months. After baby nurses at 6 am, I head out for my few hours of me time for the week. I got to the farmers market to pick up some fruit, Home Depot to browse (since its the only store open at 7am), sit in the parking lot for a little bit to admire the view of the south San Francisco hills, then to target at eight to run some errands and browsing :) then back home by eight thirty in case baby gets hungry. Sometimes home at nine thirty if I have milk prepped and for char's swim class.

My attempt at making three cup chicken with Basil

My attempt to make oyster sauce asparagus. Seems pretty easy.

Boil asparagus whole for seven minutes. Remove from water. Chop into smaller pieces and drizzle oyster sauce on top.

Our first year of cherry blossoms!

Reusing (or is it recycling?) pretty cardboard packaging to organize

I love pretty packaging. I just feel bad for it when at the end of its life, its only been used as packaging. Charlotte's wall mirror came packaged in a bright pink cardboard backing with a glossy paisley print. I kept it just in case I could figure out something to do with it. I finally thought of something.

Since having baby number two, Daniel and my mom have been helping me out with getting Charlotte dressed In the morning and with laundry. They have been asking me where her clothes are and where clean clothes belong a lot. Instead of having to answer their questions, I'm going to use the pretty cardboard to make clothing rod dividers to help all of us out.

First, I cut the cardboard into 4x6 pieces.

Then I made a list of Charlotte‘s hanging clothing categories.

Next, I cut a circle out using the candleholder from Charlotte's Melissa and Doug birthday cake as template. I also cut a slit to slip the divider on the rod. I cut out the first divider and then traced the hole and slot onto the other cards.

For now, I'm just going to write the categories with a sharpie. I want to eventually make some cute labels for the dividers. It will have to be between the next nursings. It's time to feed my new hungry little monster.