Crafting with Camille

We traced the hands of everyone in our family and made an autumn wreath around the clock.

"We did it! I want to show BaBa. It will make him sooooo happy!"

It's that time. Time to craft it up.

I love crafting with my girl.

I need to remember these things: Dog food

There are funny and endearing things that our kids do everyday. I keep telling myself that I'd write them down.

But I'm lazy.

Well, here's one:

At Camille's preschool open house, she was given a small bag of Lucky Charms cereal.

She squealed with delight, "Yay! ...What is it? Oh! It's dog food!!"

I feel like I've done something right.

Deck

So, I didn't blog yesterday. But I was sick.

And I am going to be lazy today, too.

Here are some pictures of our kids playing on the back deck:

I keep forgetting that we could use the back porch as our extra play room.
But it's a fantastic play space!!

Camille probably complaining about Marcus taking over
her stuff and messing it all up. This happens a lot.

A few seconds after this picture was taken, Marcus ate some of the
homemade play dough in that jar. He was not a big fan.

"Here Mommy, I baked you a bear cookie. Enjoy!"
(The "oven" is the area underneath the table.)

"Hiiiiiiii!"

Throwback Thursday

January 11, 2012. She was almost 17 months old.

(Dip dip from Bao Ng on Vimeo)

*sigh*

We baked cookies

I baked chocolate chip cookies with both my kids for the first time today.

"Are they done yet? Are they done yet? Are they done yet?"

Notice the tear-of-anticipation
(his first chocolate chip cookie, the lucky little boy)

"*Mmmmm* Can I get two cookies?"

It was frustrating at times. But now that I'm reflecting on it at the end of the day, *ah* that was fun.

Bath time

For the past few weeks, Camille kept saying it was "owee" to go pee. She also said she had lower back pain. "It hurts in my BONE!" Okay, maybe I talk about work around her more often than I should.

I finally took her in to see the doctor last week when she refused to go to the bathroom for 5 or 6 hours.

It wasn't a UTI, thankfully. But it was vaginitis. Turns out we're not wiping her well enough...and we're not bathing her frequently enough. (Really? Once or twice a week is not often enough for ya?) How embarrassing. 

So we've been bathing her nearly every night for the past week. And bath times have just been a joy. She loves it (always has...as long as we don't pour water on her head). And it sort of curbs any meltdowns she has saved up for the end of the day.

Bath time tonight...

Camille: A doctor can take care of you.
Me: Who's a doctor?
Camille: Me! Camille! Doctor Camille!
Me: Oh, Dr.Camille, I have a fever. What can you do for me?
Camille: I pray. I'll take care of you, Mommy. I'll take care of you.
Me: Camille, will you take care of me when I'm old?
Camille: Mommy, *quiet chuckle* you're old nooooow.

I hate to say it, but she is extra hilarious when she doesn't nap. 

Happy

I was tucking Camille in last night after having watched half of the Happy documentary.

Me: Camille, are you happy?
Camille: Uh huh.
Me: What makes you happy?
Camille: Uh...happy...eyes. Happy eyes are happy. I like them.
Me: What else?
Camille: Going out.
Me: *chuckle* What else makes you happy, Honey?
Camille: *pause* BaBa. BaBa makes me happy.

I came upstairs and told Chin this story...and we both cried.

Baking cookies with Camille

Carefully observing BaBa

"Shake shake shake! More sprinkles!"

Mommy obviously proud of Camille's 1st ciookie

Here it is up close

She requested: "Sad face. Crying. Teeeears."

See how nice things look when we clean the house?!

As I have mentioned before, I am addicted to Pinterest.

And I am pretty sure that there is a theorem that goes something like this:

pinterest + nesting hormones = insanity

While on bed rest, I was on Pinterest all the freakin' time.  Trying to imagine how much nicer our house would look.  Drooling over recipes that always tend to include avocado.  Admiring opulent pictures of beautifully-lit settings.  Planning my escape from the reality of unfolded laundry, a wacko painter who really didn't do a great job in painting our house (and being on bed rest, I saw every flaw in the paint!!), active toddler who needed my care, a giant belly that would probably hinder the work required to do any of these Pinterest projects, and, oh yeah, threatened preterm labor.

But reality didn't matter to me.  My nesting hormones won.

Without further ado, I want to introduce you to the makeover of the kids' room. It's Camille's room for now, but Marcus will eventually move in here when we're sick of him being a jerk baby and not sleeping.

(Sorry, no "before" pictures. That would be gross. You might barf.)

Beautiful corner

Now let's move onto my proudest part of the room - the part with the mobile!

Closer view of the mobile

See how beautiful it is?  It was inspired by this.  Kind of.  And this.  Kind of.  I used a 48" dowel that I found left on our porch by the previous owner, hacked it in half with a saw (it's tricky to use a saw when one is 36 weeks pregnant), made grooves so the two pieces fit together as an "X", used twine to tie them together, hang one arm of the X (close to the center) onto a question mark ceiling hook, and then hanged the pieces off of that X.

Now, let's go through this mobile piece by piece.

Big ass ball

This globe-shaped lantern was given to Camille by our friends Dave & Quan's family.  It's so beautiful and I'd been meaning to put it up in her room.  This piece served as the center of the mobile simply because of its size and the fact that it's so colorful.  Cost = $0.

Three stars

At the bottom of the big ass globe, I made three stars using this tutorial.  Super easy!  I suspended them in varying heights with fishing lines. Cost = $0 (paper printed from library...hehehe).

Rain drop lantern

I really dig this rain drop lantern.  I'd been wanting to go to Daiso to look for lanterns for a long time.  Every time I was close to a Daiso, however, something would come up and I would end up not going.  This happened at least 4 times this past month.  Well, Chin finally took me there on Monday and I went a little nuts (even so, I only ended up spending $12)!  I got this plain white lantern that is shaped like a water drop.  I then cut up pieces of tissue paper with colors ranging from green to aqua to turquoise to mint to blue (okay, I made up some of those color names).  I cut them up in the shape of rain drops and varied the sizes.  I pasted them on with Mod Podge, more dense at the top and sparse toward the bottom of the lantern.  It was a little tricky doing this with Camille running around and wanting to touch the Mod Podge, but it didn't take very long.  It was actually very therapeutic!  So, there you have it.  Cost = $1.50 for the lantern, $0 for the Mod Podge (I got it for free from the King County Household Hazardous Waste program a few years ago), and $0 for the tissue paper (since I saved them from gifts!) = $1.50.

Another Daiso beauty

In addition to the rain drop lantern, I got another plain white lantern that is shaped kind of like a bee hive...just to make things interesting.  I saw this idea and knew that I wanted to do this to add some fun colors to the kids' room.  I don't have a sewing machine and I can't sew to save my life.  So instead of using fabric, I used scrapbooking paper.  Oh! You know how pretty paper can be expensive?  Yes?  So what I do is I look up images of pretty paper and fabric patterns and I go to a King County library to print them out in color!  Did you know that you can now print out 25 sheets of laser color prints per week?  Mad tax money at work, yo!  So, I cut the pretty paper into small triangles (it's okay if they're not all exactly the same size...but I am kind of perfect so they did end up being approximately the same).  I pasted the wide edge of the triangles on using Mod Podge and I spaced them apart consistently.  It's not a science.  I just eye-balled it...just as I eye-balled the twisting pattern of the bunting banner.  After the triangles were pasted on, I was like, "Dang, I wish I had a blue-ish ribbon."  I didn't.  So I just cut up some scrapbooking paper and made the bunting "string."  Pretty, right?!  Cost = $1.50 for the lantern, maaaaybe 50 cents for all the paper, and $0 for the Mod Podge = $2.

Blue lantern

I did nothing to this blue lantern.  I just thought that the cylinder would add an interesting shape to the mobile.  Since everything else was so busy, I decided to leave this little guy alone.  Cost = $1.50, another Daiso gem.

Put. A. Bird. On. It.

And then add another bird

I could not leave this last Daiso lantern alone.  This brown rectangular lantern is in the front of the mobile to juxtapose all the rounded shapes...and I wanted to put a few birds on it to remind our children of their Portland roots.  I originally wanted to make 4 birds, one in the center of each panel.  Then my sister GT talked some sense into my demented, hormone-raging life.  She suggested that I stuck to two birds, on two opposing panels, and at two opposing corners.  Brilliant!  Like the other lanterns, I also decorated this one while Camille was awake.  A little tricky but not impossible...if we use our third parent: Netflix. Cost = $1.50 and maybe another 50 cents for the paper = $2.

Paper fan wheel

Simple paper fan wheel I made with the help of this nice tutorial. Cost = $0 (printed this Amy Butler fabric design at the library!).

And finally, this yellow pom pom!  I made it with two tones of yellow tissue paper purchased from Tuesday Morning and with the help of this concise DIY tutorial.  I used less than 1/2 from each of the 8-sheet packages. I made this while Camille was napping and just had a pleasant conversation with my sister.  It was nice.  Cost = $1.

That's it for the mobile.  To tally up the cost, it's $8!  But with lots of love and effort. :)

Let's move onto other parts of the room...

Curtain, complete with back-tie

My sister Gia-Mien was up here a few weeks ago with her fancy sewing machine (did you know that  some sewing machines could cost $3K?!) and she was on a mission to make a black-out curtain for the kids' room. We got the yellow fabric from Ikea and the black-out material from Joann's.  It was nice that it was Memorial Day weekend and everything was on sale. :) My sister is uber talented with crafty things and she managed to make everything in half a day...while wrangling two toddlers and making food for everyone!

To be honest, I can't remember how much the curtain costs.  But I think it was close to $45.  I think that's expensive...but it is a one-of-a-kind that's made with a ton of love!

Yellow pillow

To add to the yellow theme, I got Camille this pillow case from Goodwill.  It's just cute.  Cost = $1.

Ribbon bulletin board

This pretty purple picture board (aka a ribbon bulletin board, as I was told) was made and given to me by a sweet co-worker from my Public Health days.  We put it up in the office of our Seattle house but when we moved, it never got put up again.  I think this is a perfect spot for it.  I plan to put up pictures of extended family on here so that the kids will get to know their relatives who don't live in town.  Cost = $0.

Dear husband supporting my Pinterest obsession

Chin has been very supportive of this whole re-organization/makeover process.

Camille's collection of books

I saw this idea on Pinterest and I really wanted put something like this up to keep Camille's books all gathered together.  These Ikea-spice-rack-turned-book-holders can hold a surprisingly large number of books!  Now her bedtime books can all fit into these racks and not strewn all over the room.  Nice!  Cost = $4 x 2 = $8.

If you look closely, you can see a
rock Camille found the other day.

We got this white shelf from Goodwill back when we were living in Seattle.  It was removed from the Seattle house when we moved out but we never put it back up again...until now.  I love that it's both fanciful and functional. It provides a perfect shelf to display little trinkets like that Curious George wind-up clock I got for Chin at a little store in Harvard Square in the summer of 1999, when he still found me as annoying as that alarm clock. :)  And see that precious little bag with Camille's name embroidered on it?  I won it online back when I was obsessed with giveaways.  Cute, yeah?! Cost = $5 for the shelf (50% off at Goodwill).

Camille's dresser

This beautiful 8-drawer Hemnes dresser from Ikea has served us very well ever since we got it from Craigslist just before Camille's birth.  This is not a new piece, but the color and design of this dresser really holds the look of the room together.

Pale yellow quilt with white flowers

This was our queen-size bed before we upgraded to our fabulous king-size.  All the bedding was from our old room except for this lovely pale yellow quilt I found at Goodwill.  I love how soft it is...and it doesn't hurt that it is beautiful, too! Cost = $15 for the quilt.

Thomas!

This Thomas the Train pillow totally sticks out like a sore thumb in this room.  But it was made by my sister, Gia-Mien.  She made one for Camille and an identical one for her son Donovan.  Camille likes it because it has a choo-choo train. :)  Cost = $0 for me!

You don't want to know what's inside

Finally, the closet.  Behind those doors are just about everything that's messy and insane about this room!  Looks nice from the outside, though, don't it? ;)

Now here's the view of the nicest angle of the room...

Tada!

I really like this room now.

Yesterday when I was taking some of these pictures, Chin commented that this room feels so much more comfortable now.  He even used the word "idyllic" to describe the ambiance.

I would use the word "clean."  But, you know, whatever.

Amusing moments with Camille

Camille has been growing so fast.  What happened to this little baby?!

One month old

There have been so many funny and heart-warming Camille moments lately.  I feel that if I don't write them down somewhere, I'll forget.

Swiper from Dora the Explorer

Her language skills are amazing (to us, anyway).  She can count to 10 and knows 10 colors (black, white, brown, yellow, red, blue, green, purple, pink, and orange).  She is putting together sentences...and they're all to communicate something that she wants us to do for her (e.g., "I can't open it!" or "I eat gummy bears!" or "Nes ehsode!"...meaning "Next episode [of Dora the Explorer]" as a spoken command for the Xbox).

She is so enamored with Dora the Explorer.  While reading a story out of a Bible story book the other week, she pointed to the fox on the page (picture below) and said, "Swiper!" She then extended her short little arm and said, "Swiper, no swiping.  Swiper, no swiping.  Swiper, NO swiping!  Oh man!!!"

Fox from Bible story book

***

At pediatrician's office...  Pediatrician had just finished with checking her for a resolving cold and said, "Well, Miss Camille, how about we go get you some stickers?"

Camille was super excited and started going batsh*t crazy over the idea of stickers.  I tried to put her clothes back on (which was no easy task) and gather all of our stuff.

"Mommy!  Mommy!  Stickers!  Dora stickers!" she exclaimed.

I kept working on putting her shoes on.

"Mommy!  Mommy!!  MOM!"

I put on the other shoe.

"Bao!  Bao!  Bao Ng!"

W....T....F?!  How do you know my full name, kid?!

***

A bite out of every piece

Before nap time, I was changing her diaper and Camille said, "Mommy, I poop."  So off to the potty we went.  She sat there and sat there and played with her toys.

"Do you need to poop?" I asked.

"No," she responded.

"Do you at least need to pee?"

"Pee?  Yellow one?" *pees* "See?  I pee.  Yellow one."

Then she gets up from the potty and starts to walk around the bathroom.  She sees her toothbrushes and asked to brush her teeth (one of her favorite things to do).

"Brushing teeth is for early in the morning and before bed time, Camille.  But if you poop, I will let you brush your teeth."

Within 4 seconds, I kid you not, I see a poopy face...and my reaction time was definitely too slow.

[imagine this in slow motion] "N...o...o...o...o...o...o...!  Get...back...on...your...potty...chair!"  I reached out to her.

It was too late.

She had already pinched off two loaves on the bathroom floor.  Two soft lumps with black kiwi seeds.

"Brush teeth?" she asked.

***

Doing PT with BaBa

While I was at the store to get Chin's prescription today, Chin got to spend some quality time with Camille.

Camille points to her tummy and said, "Tummy!  Miu tummy."

"Does BaBa have a tummy?" Chin asked.

She points to Chin's tummy.

"Does Mommy have a tummy?" Chin asked.

"Yeah," she replied.

"What's inside Mommy's tummy?" he asked.

Camille stops to think about it and then shyly said, "Baby Marcus." :)


We love this little girl

Camille's 1st homestyled haircut

How do you cut a wriggly toddler's hair?

First, you take a "before" picture

Remove bath mats. Lay down butcher paper. Add crayons.

Add attentive and creative BaBa during styling process

Mommy, the stylist, and Camille

Final product!

Then bathe the wriggly toddler

"What...just...happened to all my hair?!"

Helping BaBa clean the vacuum cleaner.
(She is obsessed with Mommy's new boots!)

Her bangs are a little crooked.

Oh well, she is one happy & spirited gal nonetheless!

"Now, how 'bout you turn on some Elmo for me?"

That's how it's done!