Maternity Pictures

In case I haven't mentioned it, I'm expecting baby #3 in about 3 weeks. I can't remember when I started thinking that taking maternity pictures this time around was a great idea, but I probably blame Pinterest or the internet. Of course I didn't have a lovely dress or gown to wear and didn't want to search for a modest one then pay a ridiculous amount of money for it so I did the only logical thing: I made one last week. With a little help from JoAnn's and Simplicity pattern 1102 (which I altered a bit for modesty's sake). I completed the look with a floral crown made from the loose stem selection at Hobby Lobby. Steve offered to take the pictures for me so we loaded up the kids and camera and drove down the street. Steve, as it turns out, is a great photographer. He's more patient behind the camera than in front of it. He took all the shots I requested and set up. He even told me when I was making weird faces, which no photographer ever does but they totally should since I've made weird smiles in way too many photos. What you can't see are the kids just out of the frame jumping off benches and climbing around. It was a fun family outing and I love my new dress and the photos. Steve is amazing.

Sewing Swimsuits

Last year I discovered I love making swimsuits. This year I've made three (so far) for Lana since they're so quick and fun. The top one seems to be her favorite one. The middle one is a pattern I came up with myself based off another suit I'd seen. That one wasn't so quick because it took me forever to get my pattern just right but it turned out exactly how I was hoping. The last one is made from a vintage Kwik Sew pattern. I was skeptical of the sizing and the first one I made turned out to be too short in the torso. Also I didn't like a few other things about it so I tried again and was very happy with the results the second time. I started another one over the weekend but my design wasn't quite right so that one was pushed aside for now.

Spring Baking

Just as I did last year at this time I got myself a case of some poison ivy a few weeks ago. This year was not as severe and was much more localized, though I'm still not entirely sure how I picked it up again since after last year's episode I have a strict "no touching the outdoors" policy. It was too difficult and painful for me to wear respectable clothing for awhile so we stayed home all day every day for a couple of weeks. And did a lot of baking. Vegan and otherwise. The kids loved helping. We tried a lot of new recipes I'd seen on Pinterest and found some new favorites, including a 3-ingredient (which is actually more like 7) Sunbutter cookie. 

2-Wheeling With Clark

Clark has been riding around on a balance bike (a $5 bike from Craigslist I took pedals off of) for a few months with seemingly good balance. A few days ago I convinced him to try cruising down the driveway and he agreed. We started small, then he quickly built his confidence and was going down the full driveway as well as the neighbors'. After seeing that, Steve was pretty sure he could ride his pedal bike without training wheels and took them off right away. And he was right! Clark picked it up right away after a push from Daddy. I was very impressed, but not surprised. He's a determined little guy. In the past couple of days he's been practicing getting started with the pedals and has it down! He still prefers to ride the balance bike for now, though.

I'm going to miss the loud scraping sounds of those training wheels since it means my furiously-pedaling boy is still a bit smaller somehow. But I'm excited to watch him learn something new and reach another milestone. (I only wish potty training had been so easy!) My favorite part of watching him learn was when he would start his balance bike higher up on the driveway than the last cruise and would say out loud, "You can do this, Clark." Then he'd hop on and away he'd ride. It was totally precious. He's only gotten a tiny bit of road rash so far when he tipped over on his balance bike and the buckle on his helmet scraped his neck. His confidence wasn't shaken, though, and most afternoons we're outside riding away!

2-Year Photo of Lana

Since I took an official 1-year photo of Lana when she was one I figured I'd better take an official 2-year photo. I stumbled across a giant '2' on clearance at TJ Maxx so with the perfect prop there was no way around it. 

I provided a summary about her when I posted her 2nd birthday party, but since then she's become quite a chatterbox and talks nonstop all waking hours. She and Clark are the best of friends and they play very well together since Lana is happy to play cars and pirate cook or whatever game Clark comes up with. Lana has upgraded to calling Clark "Cark" from "La". Clark gets rather lonely when she is napping and constantly asks "Is Lana done with her nap yet?" As with most toddlers, she insists on doing things herself when possible. We transitioned her to a toddler bed this last month and she is doing incredibly well, meaning, she generally stays in bed when she's supposed to be there. Other things I love are the recaps she loves to give of events, especially that involve one of her crying episodes. She'll say "Lana cry waaaa waaaa." She's always particularly concerned about how everyone's day is going and will ask each person multiple times per day, "day good?" or "how's day go-gin'?". She will also say some words two times for effect, e.g. "wash, wash blankie" if it's dirty or "really, really cold" if something's cold or "so, so sad" if something's sad or "walk, walk bun" when she's walking around without a diaper.