DIY Baby Teether

My girlfriend Laura made this super cute baby teether the other day and posted about it on her blog! I just couldn't resist whipping one up for my little teether, Audrey Lou. I found this adorbable material I had lying around and started to work on it.

Materials:
1 piece of fabric about 24" long and around 8" wide (mine needed to be wider than Laura's as I wanted to make it double the thickness)
5-6 wooden balls
Matching thread (or not!)

1. I pressed my material as I took Laura's advice to double it the second time around.


2. If you look closely you'll notice a piece of tape on my machine. We, Mama Hansen and I (can I just say how much I loved having her in town? Made things like this feasible with two small children) measured to see how much room each ball needed and then sewed the seam of the teether along that line.


3. I sewed a zigzag stitch along the edge of my straight stitch to reinforce this.


4. I then trimmed the excess of the strip and pulled it right side out. This took me quite some time. Next time I'll do something different to make this process a little faster. Also, I think that because mine was double the thickness I had some issues with it just slipping right on through.


5. Knot one end. Insert a bead. Knot the material as closely as you can to the bead. And repeat until you can't add another bead.


6. Wrap one end inside the other and sew like crazy over the seam to close it and insure that none of the beads fall out.


Audrey with her first taste. She loves it!


Big sister- just hanging out.


Thanks again Laura for the fabulous idea and the quick and easy project!

A couple of cuties...

Audrey Louise- hamming it up on my father's 53rd birthday. Love this baby. And her gushy body. And her ruby lips. She is heavenly.


Greta Elise- hamming it up while playing inside our pantry. In her diaper and t-shirt. I want to wake her up right now to kiss her sweet cheeks. Yummy.

Just a little update

Life in the Hansen household is just lovely these days. The girls are growing up so fast and we are finding more and more fun ways to fill our days.

On July 1st, just a week and some change away, Greta will be 21 months old. (I'm already starting to plan her birthday party!) She is very much a toddler. She "talks" all day long and I would say that she has well over 100 words. She is so expressive and finds creative ways to asks for the things she needs. I recently read an article about the "terrible twos" and I realized that with any luck, we might just skip that stage. Don't get me wrong- she has her moments. But mainly, if I slow down, listen to her, and wait for understanding, she remains calm and I can usually help her out. It's a beautiful thing- this communication we have!

I don't have a photo of this recent story but let me try to paint one in your mind. Greta loves to "talk" on her fake cell phone. She has a few favorites on her speed dial (Abba, Nana, Daddy and Mimi) and calls them on a regular basis. The other day I was nursing Audrey (sometimes I'm pretty sure that's all I do) and Greta was keeping herself content chatting away on the phone. She just walked around the house, holding the phone with one hand up to her ear, with a very serious expression on her face. Then, with full determination, she walked right up to her magnadoodle writing pad, propped the phone between her ear and her shoulder, picked the pad up, and began jotting something down, I kid you not. I laughed out loud. Hard. And then didn't stop for what felt like a really long time. She had such a serious look on her face the whole time too so I'm curious what she was writing. A play-date she needed to schedule? Something to add to the grocery list? The possibilities are endless.

On July 8th Audrey will be 7 months old! She is an absolute Joy. Her word is and hopefully will always be- Jolly! She smiles all the time and is quite content watching her sister run around the house. She is rolling over like a mad woman these days and we just started her on solids. She loves to eat but isn't nearly as interested in vegetables. I'm hoping to fix that soon though! She sleeps through the night with an early wake up to nurse once and then goes right back to sleep. Most of the time I put her back in her bed. That's a lie. Most of the time I continue cuddling with her until Greta gets up and I'm forced out of bed. I absolutely love holding sweet Audrey and will soak up every moment I get with her!

We spend our days going for walks, meeting up with friends for play-dates, visiting with family members at various locations, library story time, watering our garden, cleaning the house (well me at least, Greta loves to help but isn't quite there yet), making meals for our family and baking away. The girls both take a great nap in the afternoon and I'm finding a chance to catch up on all my tasks.

I love my life. I spent this Father's Day thanking my amazing husband for providing for our family by working so I can be with our precious daughters every day. Trust me- I do not take it for granted.

Portland

I just returned home from a lovely trip to Portland, Oregon. I have a great friend from high school that lives out that way and she was dieing for visitors.

Also, if you recall, from our trip last summer to Denver, we had some Southwest vouchers that needed to get used up so we combined them and got a killer deal on a ticket for me. Since Audrey is still nursing full time and her flight is free as she is a "lap child", I brought her with me.
And we had a blast. Such a great time out in the beautiful city and loved all the one-on-one time we got together.

Thanks Austin and Lindsey for being such wonderful hosts!

Just had to add this photo- we asked a guy to take this for us because we could see the mountain that day, which doesn't always happen, and here's what he took. Thank you sir. No, we just need the stroller in the photo, don't worry about getting my child in the shot. Thank you.

The Knitter's Year

So it was my birthday last week.
27!
Yup- late twenties, here I am!

(here am I, on my birthday, with my darling Greta!)

Anyway, my mother-in-law got me this lovely book, among other things, and I haven't been able to put it down. Nope- it's not the latest best-selling fiction. Nope- it's not the newest trilogy. It's a knitting book. By Debbie Bliss. And I'm in love. It's called The Knitter's Year and it has outlined how to make 52 projects, each taking a week long.

So I was talking about this with another friend and she mentioned how I should try to blog about each project as I do it. (disclaimer- I'm terrible at finishing projects. And, I'm terrible at doing them fast. So I might get one or two mostly completed in the next year!)
(that friend with my little G- her God daughter)

So project number one is from the Spring section of the book (which is ironic because technically, it's Spring in MN but yesterday was 90+ degrees with some lovely humidity thrown in there and just last week it snowed). So I'm going to do the first project in the book- A basket! I plan on making to go in our bathroom that we just redid.

Happy Knitting!

Facebook

Well, it's official, I'm off facebook. (Just saying it makes it sound like a drug, "Well, I'm off crack"!) It was a pretty easy decision I'll have you know. I took a break from facebook for Lent this year and it was the best thing I could have done. After Easter I went back on for a total of two weeks and I hated it. All the drama that was there before, was still there. All the comments people make, without saying how they really feel, were still happening. And the time I used to waste on that site started to get wasted again.

I realized all too often how much I checked it. How much the status updates of my friends would consume me. How little I was actually connecting with people, in real life. And, the saddest part of all, or rather, the greatest discovery I made, was that I needed it. But in actuality, I didn't.

So, I'm done. I'm done for a few reasons.

• I want to actually be present to my girls and for me, having facebook on my computer or phone does not make me present.
• I want to be intentional about connecting with friends and family and it was getting a little too easy to feel like I actually knew what was going on in someone's life, based on their status updates or notes.
• I want to find my true value in what God thinks about me, not what people say about the photos I take of my kids.
• I want to step away from "humble bragging" (a term I picked up from a friend over dinner a few weeks ago and love!) The world (or my facebook friend list) does not need to know about all the things I accomplish in one day. My God sees me. My man appreciates me. My kids love our house. That's really all that matter.
  

So, yesterday was my first day officially off. And I loved it! And now, today, on this gloriously rainy day, I feel free. I feel great about my decision! I've already had a lovely morning with my girls, in which I feel I've been truly present.

I'm in love!