Fun with Jub part1

Trampoline timePlaytime at the playground:
Riding a lion at the zoo
On the zoo train
Checking out the pink birds!! Flamingos were definitely a winner for this pink loving girl!
More to come soon!

a little link

Remember my confession that I am a blog junkie? Well, I have found a new fave blog and online magazine!
Rhythm of the Home
They just published a new fall edition, which I already love. So many super ideas!

Jub Jubs

The journey for Jubilee has been what I imagine taking a child on an all day hike up a very high mountain- both tiring and exciting, full of wonderful discoveries and challenges.

Poor Jubilee has had a 10 day cold once a month since we arrived in North America. The changes and transitions take there toll on her little body. It is also hard on her emotionally. She doesn't quite understand why we are never "home", and feels awfully unsettled. So, we have more tears than usual. These challenges have taught me a few things- Change is hard no matter how well you prepare and no matter how wonderful the place you are going to is. I can only do my best to help her transition easily, and comfort when it is not so easy.

On the other side are all the positives! These are to numerous to fit in one post, so for now, here are just a few big ones. Jubilee celebrated her third birthday!
Her world of imagination expands more everyday:

Hope's North American journey thus far

When we arrived in the States back in May, Hope was only two months old- oh how much has changed for her since then!!
At the time she was pretty colicky, and very sensitive to noises and other stimulation. I cut dairy out of my diet and within 2 weeks she was SO much happier! With the aid of our handy dandy sleep sheep or a fan, we whited out noise for her. She seems to be getting past the easily over stimulated stage- which is great!
In the abilities department, she went from laying there to rolling, to now- getting up on hands and knees and rocking. If we put her into a sitting position, she is quite stable. She even sat up from on her hands and knees yesterday! I am so proud. Her very favorite activity though, is chewing. She has been gnawing on things for a while now, but still has no teeth to show for it. (Which is okay with me!)
Her personality shines out more and more all the time. She is very giggly, especially if Jubilee is near. She is easy going and content, but busy busy busy! When she starts to crawl she will be into everything I'm sure! She is also enjoying North American luxuries like carpet to roll and almost crawl on....
exersaucers...and the jolly jumper!

Time flies

Here are a few snapshots to get you up to speed-
For 7 weeks starting May 10th, Stephen was in the island, and I was back in the States, unfortunately, during that time Stephen had our camera, but here are a few from other people’s cameras:

We had lots of fun at my mom and dad’s.

We also made it up to Missouri for my cousin’s wedding-which was gorgeous!


That is all the catch up time I have for today, hopefully I can post again in a few days!

What we've been up to

Hope is now six weeks old!! She has been a fairly fussy baby, but I’m getting to what she like and doesn’t like- she is making sure I do. She likes to be rocked a certain way, put into the sling a certain way, sleep with QUIET (a difficult task with a 2 year old in the house), she likes to be sung to and bounced a certain way. When she is wide awake, she wants to be in a position where she can make eye contact. She is a picky one! But of course super precious- Check her out, holding onto my necklace:

We made an expensive purchase (well, for us penny pinching types) that may seem frivolous to some, but it has been a life savor. We bought a Sleep Sheep by cloudb. We love it!! It is a little stuffed sheep that you select a soothing sound on- rain, stream, ocean, or whale songs. It has adjustable volume and a timer with two settings. What I love about it is that if I put the sleep sheep in the crib with Hope, she can sleep through a Jubilee tantrum or loud song. (Before, just a little giggle out of Jub would be enough to wake her).

Jubilee went through some rough days adjusting, but she seems to be getting back to herself now, which I am super thankful for. Hope is super responsive to Jubilee- smiles at the sound of her voice, etc. Hope is going to be Jubi’s little follower as soon as she is mobile!!

I’m trying to get used to not being able to do as much- newborns sure take a lot of energy (as do busy toddlers). During a several sessions of having a few minutes to myself, I sewed matching dresses for the girls from some ADORABLE fabric:

Well, this post has been a long time coming, but I fear that is all I have time to think of and type for today!

Hope's Arrival

At about 3:00 in the morning on March 9th, I woke up with contractions! I was excited, but I went back to sleep. Got up at 7 and was still having them. We let the midwife know that things might be getting started and that we would keep her posted. Things continued on for a while, but then faded out. I continued in those early stages on and off all day, but thankfully they were not too intense, and I got lots of sleep.
The next morning at 3:30 I woke up again with contractions. By about 4 the pain had kicked it up a notch, so the midwife came on over. She checked me and I was 4 cm dilated and all was well. So, I spent time bouncing on an exercise ball, walking around, resting, getting massaged by Stephen or my mom. A little after 6, Jubilee woke up. She came to check on me and then went down stairs. My mom played with her for a while, and then Ad and Ro (our house mates) took over playing with her so that mom could be with me.
I took a nice hot bath around 7:30, but couldn’t stay in for very long as I started feeling a bit weak. I went back to our bedroom and laid down. At about 8:00 the midwife checked me again. I was fully dilated, so she called the other midwife to come join us. She told me I could push if I wanted to, so at 8:10, I pushed and my water broke. It happened to shoot out all over my midwife’s pants! Ha! Three more pushes and out came the head. One more push at 8:15 and Hope Carolynn Taylor had made her entrance into the world!
She weighed 3.39 kg or 7 pounds 7 oz. She was 55 cm or 21.6 inches long.
Hope and I got into a nice warm bath after the placenta was out. Then, Jubilee came to see her sister. Mom said she almost fell 3 times on the stairs because she was trying to come so quickly. The look of happiness on her face was so precious!!
Hope and I are both doing well, aside from a bit of colic. I am hoping that colic will phase out soon. Jubilee seems to be adjusting. Nap times are the hardest on her at the moment. Stephen is of course super husband and taking superb care of his girls.

Jubi's Project for Baby

We made salt dough and cut out stars. Mommy baked them and let them cool. Then Jubilee painted three white, three black, and covered three in foil.
Mommy hung them on a circle and now baby will have something pretty to look at!

Sewing Frenzy

Pouch Sling
Change pad
Hooded towel and wash cloth

Knitting mania

More baby projects-
Baby booties- from Bernat.com, the softee baby booties. They are the same size despite how the picture makes them look. They are still awaiting buttons though.
Wool diaper covers- The wrap style are the "Daffadowndilly Diaper Wrap" from smithislandfactory.com. The soakers are from a pattern I downloaded from a knitting forum I believe. I made these quite a while ago, so I can't quite remember where the pattern came from.

Quilt

I’ve been busy on several baby projects. Here is the quilt I made. The back is a cotton jersey.- nice and soft.
I didn’t make it in a typical quilt fashion. I cheated a little. I sewed around the edges with right sides together, then turned and topstitched. Also, I do not have a quilting machine, but I chose to use my sewing machine to quilt anyway!

A favorite spot

We live really close to a small conservation area. Jubilee and I walk there often. Here is one of our favorite spots to play and have a snack.

Color Blocks

This project has been in the works for a while and just got put on the back burner until recently. Stephen cut these blocks for me and we sanded them together. I painted and sealed them along with a set of graduating color cards. There are 2 sets of 12 colors.
So far, we have tried out two games with them.1. Putting the blocks onto the color cards- Jubilee is mastering this one pretty quickly.2. Matching the same color blocks together- this one is difficult for her, but not frustrating- so just right!! (As you can see many of the shades are very close, so it is meant to make her concentrate and to develop her eyes.)

Getting Organized

I must confess that I can be an internet junkie. Perhaps more specifically if I want to relax for 10 or 15 minutes, my chosen chill is browsing crafty blogs and Homeschool blogs (especially Montessori or Charlotte Mason homeschooling blogs). I’ve read about workboxes on a couple of them and decided that would be a great way to organize my self a bit more. So here they are:The first one has all our supplies for the letter games, the second has counting games which Jubilee can choose between, and the third has games and puzzles which focus on visual or motor skills. It makes it nice because Jubi’s morning can be a bit more balanced, and I can tell her which box to pick a game from. She likes it too, so that is a good sign.

Stunning

We have been borrowing a friend’s car for the past little while, so the night before we took it back to her we went on a drive- Chapman’s peek for the sunset. (I once heard that it is ranked in the top 10 drives in the world, but I have no source except my eyes for you on that.)

Snacks

Jubilee helps me prepare her “letter” snack everyday. Here she is cutting up her cheese when we did C.

Snacks on other letter days have been:
D- dog shaped bread and butter (Jubi cut the dog and spread the butter) and some fruit
E- eggs(She whisked them for me)
F- fun fairy bread (bread cut into little shapes with butter and sprinkles on top), and fruit
G-green grapes and green cucumber
H- don’t remember what she had, but she ate it on the hippopotamus placemat
I- an icee (orange juice and loads of ice put into the blender) and some crackers
J- some jello
K- kefir drink

Picture peek at letter learning

Letter of the day

I’ve started doing a letter of the day with Jubilee. So every morning, we will use a letter cookie cutter to make playdough letters,

read about the letter in Dr. Suess’ Dictionary, pick out the letter from the alphabet poster upstairs, put the letter into the magnet puzzle on the fridge,

practice writing it on the write and wipe cards and placemat,

and finish with a snack beginning with that letter. Yesterday, we had apples and apricots, today banana and bread with butter, sitting outside on a blanket. (Jubilee cut up her banana and spread the butter herself)