parenting update

so, motherhood hasn't been so bad lately. now that baby is getting a little older, things are much easier right now. i'm sure once she starts wanting to be more independent, she'll be more difficult to deal with. she's been walking for about a month and getting better at it every day. people say that once your kid starts walking, watch out... i've found that life is so much easier now that she can walk. her sleeping at night is much better too. i think the last hurdle we need to get over is the weaning off the breast. i never in a million years thought i'd breastfeed past 9 months, yet here i am at 12 1/2 months still breastfeeding with no end in sight. i laugh in disgust when i hear of moms that still breastfeed at 2 years old... i can only hope that i won't be one of them. the problem is that baby doesn't drink cows milk and she's been trained to fall asleep via nursing. she's perfected that skill and i don't want to screw things up, but at the same time, i'd like to stop nursing soon. all these paths of least resistance are great at the time, but when you want to do something the right way, you're just making things harder for yourself in the long run.

was going to list all the stuff baby got for her birthday, but there's just way too much stuff. instead, i'm going to list my latest purchases for baby over the last couple weeks.

from lester harry's by tartine et chocolat $98:

also from lester harrys by tartine et chocolat $128.

also from lester harry's by lili gaufrette $88:

from mulberry road by pink chicken $64:

corolle baby doll, mealtime set and bag of accessories:

happyland toy set (vet):

i guess i'll stop here.. there is quite a lot more stuff i bought... don't want to scare anyone.

Pic only post of baby's party

baby's birthday party was today. a few more preparation pics:

Appliqued bibs in elephant print fabric:

Bibs wrapped up in tissue to look like candy:

The felt party hats made into a cone:

Now the party pics:

I made the little banner out of wrapping paper:

Candy bar

The party hats doing their job:

These flowers were left over from a previous event. They were gorgeous. Cherry blossoms, mini calla lilies and orchids.

Personalized favor bags. They contained the elephant, bib and a bottle of bubbles.

crafty

just wanted to post a couple things that i've made for the party...

for the party favors, i made little stuffed elephants. they're about 6 inches tall, 7.5 inches wide:

there are ears on both sides...they flap and are not appliqued

i also made felt party hats... i don't have a picture of the hat made into the cone shape, but you see it better flat anyway. gonna use these as the base for the balloon centerpieces for the table:

need to figure out how to weigh it down..the balloons are going to come through the top. one thing i have to mention about this little project...it pretty much cost nothing because all the supplies i had left over from last fall's halloween costume project.

i get immense joy out of getting ideas for making stuff and then actually making it... as much fun as i had with all these little projects, i'm kind of feeling a little nervous about having all this stuff i made at the party because not very many people are 'crafty' or even think about crafting. when baby went to the halloween party with her home made owl costume that i basically cut felt pieces out and used glue to put it together, people treated me like i just invented the wheel.

some other things i made for the party: a paper bunting that says happy birthday brooke and little tissue paper pom poms. not sure what i'm going to do with the poms yet, but it'll be nice to have on hand.