"Convos With My 2 Year Old" On YouTube

We came across this video while watching Comedy Week videos on YouTube and I felt like I had to share it with peeps who may also be parents of toddlers:


It's pretty hilarious. I've watched it several times already. And now there is an episode 2! I know the almost-naked-toddler-getting-out-of-bed-at-night scenario all too well . . .


Oh, tear.

Evie's Baby Card Book

Sometimes I amaze myself with my crafting skills. No joke. Perhaps I'm easily impressed, but behold: Evie's baby card book!






Following this bookbinding tutorial I found on Pinterest, I stitched all the cards together as if each one were a signature. I included an extra blank card (an 8.5 x 11 sheet of cardstock folded in half) at the beginning and end so that I could attach endpapers (the yellow patterned paper) to them. For the covers, I used foam board (I would have used bookboard if I had enough of it on hand), which I cut to size and covered with a piece of fabric. I also used my Silhouette to cut out the "E" with "evelyn" at the bottom.

It took a while for me to actually tackle this project because the bookmaking part of it seemed daunting, but once I got down to it, it wasn't as difficult as I made it out to be in my head. I hope Evie will have fun looking through these baby cards when she's older.

Diversity

In the 1-year-old room at daycare:

Future Crafter?

You decide.

Teacher Gifts with Top Note Die Bag Topper

Last week was Teacher Appreciation Week at daycare, but since we were gone for half the week, we didn't really have a chance to add anything to Evie's teachers' goody bags. We got them a little something over the weekend and I decided to make a little bag topper for the gifts with the Top Note die (the cello bags already came with).



I scored and folded each die cut in half, then stamped with a background stamp in a neutral color. Then I stamped in brighter colors with two different flowers stamps using generational stamping. Finally, the sentiment I just stamped using a dark brown. Turned out pretty well for a quick stamping project.

10 Minute Craft Dash #17 - Mother's Day 2013 Card

I decided to give the 10 Minute Craft Dash on the Pretty Pink Posh blog a try since I was a big fan of the colors this time around.


My card, for Mother's Day this Sunday:



My time:


Ten minutes was definitely tough (and a bit stressful) and wouldn't have been possible without planning and getting supplies ready. I sketched out the card design beforehand and wrote down all the measurements so that I would know what pieces needed to be cut out. I also laid out all the stamps and ink that I planned to use so I could just grab and use them right away. I'm usually more of a perfectionist, but ten minutes doesn't give you any time to fuss. Maybe all my cards would go faster if I did as much pre-planning for them as I did for this card.

Silence Means Trouble

When it comes to kids, silence means trouble. We experienced that earlier this week when we discovered that Evie had taken a black permanent marker to several areas of Greg's aunt Kris's office. Oh, the horrors.

On Tuesday morning, I went to go get ready for the day. About ten minutes later, Greg joined me in the bathroom to get ready for the day as well. When we finished getting ready, we went to the den where Greg's mom was and Evie wasn't there. Maybe she's with Greg dad? We walk to the bedroom where Greg's dad was and Evie wasn't there either. It's been oddly quiet this whole time and we walk next to the office, the door to which was closed. Maybe we'll find that she's fallen asleep for a nap in there? When we opened the door, what we found was just the opposite. Evie was standing in the middle of the office, fist full of markers and pens, including an uncapped highlighter and uncapped black Sharpie. I felt a little bit like Eddie Murphy in the "I missed" bathroom scene from Daddy Day Care, about the 35 second mark of this video (although I will admit that poop is worse):


There was marker on just about everything within her arm's reach - closet door, bedroom door, portable crib, exercise equipment, framed art, easel, desk, chair, carpet, and her own hands, legs, clothes, and mouth. It. Was. Horrifying. Particularly because it was someone else's house and stuff. And it was a Sharpie. A Sharpie.

I took a few pictures of the aftermath, though not of everything since we were in damage control/clean up mode.

Closet door (this was after Greg had already cleaned off half of the markings):

Bedroom door (we didn't even see this at first until we walked into the room to inspect further):

Evie's hands/legs/clothes (could've been worse . . .):


Fortunately, between the cleaning supplies Kris had at her house and some denatured alcohol that we went out and got at Home Depot, plus some light sanding for one thing, it all came out. Hopefully we didn't stress Kris out too much (sorry, Kris!). I think this is one of those stories that will get told down the road when Evie is older. :D

Tigger Love Layout

Finished a layout over the weekend of Evie in her Tigger outfit:





I have a couple other layouts I'm working on (of Evie, of course), as well as a book of Evie's baby cards that I'm so close to finishing, which I'm pretty impressed with myself for doing some bookbinding.

Lean In - Part 3

Part 3 of my Lean In highlights.


On equality in the relationship resulting in happier relationships (p. 117) - I realized during my maternity leave, when I was doing more of the work around the house I was home and especially so because we had just moved, that I was not a fan of having to do more of the housework. It contributed to my resolve to go back to work full-time. Being a dual income household is nice too:

When husbands do more housework, wives are less depressed, marital conflicts decrease, and satisfaction rises.²⁷ When women work outside the home and share breadwinning duties, couples are more likely to stay together. In fact, the risk of divorce reduces by about half when a wife earns half the income and a husband does half the housework.²⁸

On drawing the line at work (p. 126) - something I have trouble doing and Greg has complained about:

He said McKinsey would never stop making demands on our time, so it was up to us to decide what we were willing to do. It was our responsibility to draw the line. We needed to determine how many hours we were willing to work in a day and how many nights we were willing to travel. If later on, the job did not work out, we would know that we had tried on our own terms. Counterintuitively, long-term success at work often depends on not trying to meet every demand placed on us. The best way to make room for both life and career is to make choices deliberately - to set limits and stick to them.

On how studies have shown that exclusive care by the mother (or not) doesn't really affect the kids (p. 136) - it does make me feel better knowing that:

Parental behavioral factors - including fathers who are responsive and positive, mothers who favor "self-directed child behavior," and parents with emotional intimacy in their marriages - influence a child's development two to three times more than any form of child care.²⁶ One of the findings is worth reading slowly, maybe even twice: "Exclusive maternal care was not related to better or worse outcomes for children. There is, thus, no reason for mothers to feel as though they are harming their children if they decide to work."²⁷

On women feeling guiltier about being away from kids than men (p. 137) - ha. I feel a bit guilty for not feeling that guilty when I have nights away from Evie (though I certainly miss her when I'm gone). This quote actually reminds me of another quote that I came across previously from Golda Meir, "At work, you think of the children you have left at home. At home, you think of the work you've left unfinished. Such a struggle is unleashed within yourself. Your heart is rent.":

To this day, I count the hours away from my kids and feel sad when I miss a dinner or a night with them . . . Far from worrying about nights he misses, Dave thinks we are heroes for getting home for dinner as often as we do. Our different viewpoints seem inextricably gender based . . . A study that conducted in-depth interviews with mothers and fathers in dual-earner families uncovered similar reactions. The mothers were riddled with guilt about what their jobs were doing to their families. The fathers were not.²⁹

On how to frame your point of view and define success (p. 138 - 139):

Instead of perfection, we should aim for sustainable and fulfilling. The right question is not "Can I do it all?" but "Can I do what's most important for me and my family?" The aim is to have children who are happy and thriving . . . If I had to embrace a definition of success, it would be that success is making the best choices we can . . . and accepting them.

See also:
Lean In - Part 1
Lean In - Part 2

Lean In - Part 2

Part 2 of my Lean In highlights.


On leaving the workforce and how it is a personal choice (p. 95):

There are many powerful reasons to exit the workforce. Being a stay-at-home parent is a wonderful, and often necessary, choice for many people. Not every parent needs, wants, or should be expected to work outside the home. In addition, we do not control all of the factors that influence us, including the health of our children. Plus, many people welcome the opportunity to get out of the rat race. No one should pass judgment on these highly personal decisions. I fully support any man or woman who dedicates his or her life to raising the next generation. It is important and demanding and joyful work.

On pumping at work (p. 98) - maybe this is TMI, but I have totally pumped while on a conference call at work and hoped that people wouldn't hear the pumping sounds in the background. I call it dedication:

At Google, I would lock my office door and pump during conference calls. People would ask, "What's that sound?" I would respond, "What sound?" When they would insist that there was a loud beeping noise that they could hear on the phone, I would say, "Oh, there's a fire truck across the street." I thought I was pretty clever until I realized that others on the call were sometimes in the same building and knew there was no fire truck. Busted.

On thinking about future salary growth rather than current salary when making the decision of whether to stay in or leave the workforce (p. 102):

One miscalculation that some women make is to drop out early in their careers because their salary barely covers the cost of child care. Child care is a huge expense, and it's frustrating to work hard just to break even. But professional women need to measure the cost of child care against their future salary rather than their current salary.

On having a good life partner to support you in your endeavors (p. 110):

I truly believe that the single most important career decision that a women makes is whether she will have a life partner and who that partner is. I don't know of one woman in a leadership position whose life partner is not fully - and I mean fully - supportive of her career. No exceptions. And contrary to the popular notion that only unmarried women can make it to the top, the majority of the most successful female business leaders have partners.

On looking for a life partner (p. 115):

When looking for a life partner, my advice to women is date all of them: the bad boys, the cool boys, the commitment-phobic boys, the crazy boys. But do not marry them. The things that make the bad boys sexy do not make them good husbands. When it comes time to settle down, find someone who wants an equal partner. Someone who thinks women should be smart, opinionated, and ambitious. Someone who values fairness and expects or, even better, wants to do his share in the home.

See also:
Lean In - Part 1
Lean In - Part 3