Monkey started Preschool in August! It has been amazing for him. After the shock of the first day (and us leaving him there that morning) and the next few days to get over screaming at us when we picked him up, he's been a total rockstar. :) He loves school and is doing so amazingly well! The bonus is that the time he's in school during the day gives me some nice one on one time with Snarfels (as that is his nickname) and *sometimes* do other things...if Snarfels lets me. Today is not one of those days and I have resorted to nursing him while I type just so I can multitask and get something productive done! :)
While Monkey has been going to school and doing wonderfully at expanding his vocabulary and speaking in actual SENTENCES, Snarfels is chatting it up way more than Monkey did at this stage (of only 2 1/2 months old). It's so flippin' adorable! He bables and coos and smiles so much. It's way too cute! :) He's also sleeping wonderfully at night which is a huge blessing. 4-5 hour stretches lately which means some decent sleep for me!
While the Monkey and Snarfels have been amazing me with their advancements, I amazed myself by being super crafty! The bedding set I bought for Snarfels was a 10 piece set. It came with the following: Valance, crib sheet, blanket, comforter, diaper stacker, 3 fabric wall hangings, a crib skirt and a bumper. Every part will get used (eventually, the comforter won't get used until much later, when he's a toddler in a converted crib) except for the bumper. I use a Breatheable Bumper b/c...well, I'm a cautious type of person and I'm totally terrified of SIDS. So what was I going to do with this bumper that would never get used? I didn't want to sell it or throw it out so I started thinking of options. At first I thought I would make it into a teething rail thing. I mean the bumper came in 4 pieces so it wouldn't be hard to do right?
Then I discovered that the valance that I was so excited about, did not fit our window. Bah! So now I had a valance that was too short and a bumper I wasn't going to use. *lightbulb dings over my head* I could make the bumper into a new, longer, actually fits over our window, valance! So that's exactly what I did! :nod:
First I took one of the long sections of bumper (it came in 4 separate pieces) and totally disassembled it. Then I cut the back part (with the stripes) in half length wise. Those 2 pieces then became my top and bottom of the valance. I then disassembled one of the short parts of the bumper. I used the back piece of that (again, the stripes) to make the sides and the tabs at the top.
Once I assembled the whole thing (this took about a week b/c of babies and 3 year olds and husbands and cats and life in general thwarting my fun crafty-sewing time) I realized I forgot about the whole "tabs on the very ends of the valance" issue. So I took 2 of the ties that were on the bumper and hand sewed them onto the very edges. They still "go" even if they don't match the other tabs. :) Here are pictures! :)
These are the original bumper pieces. Doggie print on the front, pretty stripes on the back.
This is the resulting valance!
This is the new valance compared to the old valance. The new one is WAY wider than the window but at least I know it will be wide ENOUGH.
(It is apparent to me that the scratches on my iPhone camera are effecting my photos. Guess a trip to the Apple store is in order. Blah.)
"So." You're asking yourself. "What did you do with the doggy print portion of the short bumper side?" Goooood question! I figured it wasn't enough fabric to really make anything out of. So I got a cheap canvas and stretched it around, stapled it to the back and...Voila! Inst-Art!
It has yet to be put up on the wall (none of the art is up on his walls currently) but as soon as I make his name to go over the crib (another crafty post for another day when I finally DO it) I'm sure I'll put the other art up to complete the room. :)
So that's what's up! At least for now. :) Now it's time to get ready to go pick up the Monkey from school. :)
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