Baby Crafts

I am thankful for all of my friends, and this weekend, I was especially thankful for Eleanor, who lent me some of her interior decorating talents and donated her time to help with a BIG nursery craft that I kept putting off.

Nathan's mom gave us a beautiful wooden rocker, but it was just so uncomfortable that it needed cushions.  All of the cushions I found either were not the right size or were just ugly.  So I ordered some fabric with the intent of making it into cushions. I scoured the Internet for patterns.  I look on Pinterest for ideas.  The fabric sat there for weeks, and I was pretty sure I'd never work up the courage or motivation to get the job done.

Enter Eleanor.

Eleanor didn't need patterns or Pinterest.  Once I knew the size of the cushions I wanted, we started snipping, pinning, and sewing (she did the machine sewing- I am still afraid of my sewing machine!) It took us a little over three hours, but the end result was better than anything I could have schemed up myself.

It is reversible, so when I get bored of the pattern, I can just flip it over. I forgot to buy white ribbon for the ties, so after a little bit of rummaging in my sewing trunk, we found tulle.  I love the way it adds a little bit of whimsy and frill to it!

After Eleanor left, my nesting instincts were still kicked into high gear, and I still had some batting and fabric left over for the chair cushions.  I decided to get started on a bow board, which I also have been thinking of doing for ages. All it took was the batting, fabric, elastic, a staple gun, and some hot glue.

I wasn't sure how I was going to hang the headbands, but the elastic did the trick.  Now I feel like the nursery is all set, just in case Baby girl decides to come a little bit early!  

Race to Nowhere

Last weekend, I watched the movie Race to Nowhere, a documentary claiming that the Race to the Top initiative and No Child Left Behind have taken away childhood and put more emphasis on test taking than actual learning.

Nathan gets annoyed when I start talking about the sad state of education, but now that we have a baby on the way, it seems like I have to speak out so that her education is not the fill-in-the-bubbles type that the American system is becoming. Have you ever heard of expectant parents dreaming that one day, their child will be an excellent test taker?

I get angry when I see those Exxon commercials saying how far behind America is on international tests. People like to blame the teachers for this, when really it's the testing itself.  Most of the countries that outperform us do not have a yearly standardized test that is offered. In fact, many Asian countires that once used standardized testing realized how harmful it is, and have moved away from it (I'm reading a book that talks about this in depth.)   So why are Americans so stubborn?  Because there is big money in standardized testing. 

There is a lot more information out there on this topic, so do some research to figure out what you think about it. If you have children, have infants, or hope to one day have them, this does affect you. Politicians are stifling creativity, critical thinking, and general enjoyment of learning and replacing it with convergent thinking, rote memorization, and big-business. That's not what I want for our baby's future.

Christmas in Denver

Our house all decorated.

This was my first Christmas in Denver.  We were so appreciative that Nathan's mom was willing to drive out to Denver this year.  Sitting in a car for 10 hours is not exactly comfortable for me!

It was a quieter Christmas than usual, but it was exactly what I needed. We went to church on Christmas Eve, and Marissa had us over to her place where she had the cutest Pinterest inspired Christmas appetizers ever. 

Christmas Eve

Hall tree from Diane- we love it!

Cute little Christmas tree. 

Six Months Later- Seven Months Pregnant

Six months ago, we hadn't found out that I'm pregnant.  Six months ago, we still lived in Wash Park. Six months ago was the last time I updated our blog.  Someday I will get better at doing things consistently.

I am 30 weeks pregnant today.  At first, pregnancy felt like it was creeping by, especially when I kept hearing the words, "You don't even look pregnant!"  Now it feels like it's flying by, and as the countdown gets shorter (70 days), the to-do list gets longer.

We are moving along with the nursery.  I ordered pretty coral chevron striped fabric online and now I have to muster up the confidence to make it into curtains. To be honest, this will probably be a project that Mama Cathy will have to help me with when she's here in January!

Here are a few pictures of how the nursery (and bump) are coming along!

21 Weeks- With Kiowa, my shadow.

24 Weeks- Bead board is up! 

27 Weeks- Starting to buy sweet little decorations, but we haven't hung them yet.

World Tour: Barcelona

We got to Barcelona on Sunday afternoon. It was a quick flight, just an hour and twenty minutes.  Just a quick jaunt south brought us to a bright, warm world of flamenco music, swimsuits, and colorful buildings.  Out hotel, Tryp Apolo, was built for the summer Olympics in 1992. It's the perfect location: close to restaurants, shops, and the Port of Barcelona.

After we checked in, we found a little cafe with retro flair and 50's music. After a few hours of travel and since we were wearing our Paris clothes in Barcelona weather, nothing sounded better than an ice cold beer.  When we ordered, we were so happy to find that prices were about half as much in Barcelona as they were in Paris. And Spain scores another!

We spent the afternoon walking around the beach.  I had a "walking sangria" mostly for the joy of walking around in public with an unconcealed drink. The beach was full of people- and no one was in a hurry. We were getting hungry for dinner, so we found a modern little tapas restaurant. How could we go to Spain without having tapas!?  We tried to have a long, lingering dinner, but we were scared off by rain.  It must have followed us from France!

                                                             Walking Sangria!

The next day, we got smart about tourism and got bus passes for a double-decker tour bus. No more of this walking stuff! Our first stop was the Segrada Familia, a cathedral that is still being built, despite the fact that it was started in the late 1800's! The details are so intricate that it has taken construction workers and architects more than 100 years to build it!  Nathan decided that this was the most amazing architecture that he's ever seen.  From the outside, there are tall, cone-like spires that look like flowers or wheat stalks on the very top. Each side of the facade has different stained glass windows.  Despite all the whimsical beauty of the exterior, the inside is the impressive part.  Is has the feel of a forest, with tall columns stretched from the floor to the ceiling, opening up into circles resembling flowers.

The architect who designed the cathedral also had some other whimsical sites throughout the city. Our next stop, Park Royal, was my favorite.  Way up on the hillside overlooking the city, Park Royal was filled with bright flowers, benches carved from stone, and houses that looked like a gingerbread man should live in them. People were selling souvenirs and bottles of water on the steps and paths.  When a policeman approached, they all gathered their goods into blankets to form a bag, and through them in the bushes. I kept thinking of West Side Story- "Policia!"

                                                       City view from Park Royal

                                                              Stone archway at Park Royal

After a full day of site seeing (without 10 miles of walking, thankfully!) we still had the energy to go out to a nice dinner. We went to 7 Portes, apparently a hub for famous people when they are in town. I sat next to Lauren Bacall and Woody Allen ( 's signatures, that is!)  We are fairly certain that the waiter spoke English, but he didn't let us know that.  The hand gesture and broken Spanish game was fun to play, though (despite the fact that they speak Catalan in Barcelona- not the same as Spanish!) We both ordered paellas- we couldn't leave Spain the next day in good conscience if we didn't order paella!

                                                                Massive paellas.

Paris will always be my first love, but Barcelona has worked its magical way into my heart!

World Tour: Paris

After two and half rainy days in London, we were excited to head south and hopefully away from the gloom. The EuroStar train from London to Paris took less than two hours.  I loved hearing both languages collide and listening in on French conversations (that people didn't know I could understand- sneaky). I got to practice my French later when our friend Ben and one of his  friends took us to Cafe de L'industrie, a hip little restaurant that probably hasn't seen too many Americans in its day.  We helped translate the menu for Nate and I learned a few new words I didn't know. We sat there for two and a half hours, enjoying wine and different foods (Ben order raw ground beef- I don't think that would fly in the US!)

Ben had done so many touristy things already that Nate and I went out on our own the next day.  We had both seen the city and most of the important sites, but we didn't have pictures together in front of Le Tour Eiffel or other Parisian symbols. Ben's apartment is walking distance from the Eiffel Tower, so we set off on foot.  Of course, we got hungry along the way, so we stopped in the sweetest little boulangerie. There were shelves full of flaky pastries and chocolatey tarts.  In my head, I rehearsed over and over again how I would order our croissant, pain au chocolate, coffee, and Diet Coke (Nate didn't quite grasp the "When in Rome..." philosophy!) I ordered successfully, and then the lady at the cash register threw in an unexpected question:  Do you have any change, perhaps? It took a moment for it to register, and then I turned to Nate, looking to him for change.  He had no idea what was going on, so he was of no help. I shook my head no and handed her the money.  If only French people would have stuck to the phrases that I rehearsed in French classes!  This communicating thing would have been a lot easier! 

 

After the Eiffel Tower, we convinced Ben to go with us to Shakespeare and Co., an English bookstore across from Notre Dame.  I learned about it when I read Moveable Feast, Ernest Hemingway's memoirs of living in Paris in the 20's. I didn't see the "No Photos" sign until it was too late!

Maybe Hemingway sat in this very same writing nook :) 

That evening, we went to Montparnasse to see Sacre Cour.  We took the metro, and the walked to the top of a steep hill.  A touristy hub of restaurants, souvenir shops, and of course, the cathedral, awaited us at the top. The cathedral was beautiful and had a breathtaking view of the Eiffel Tour, Arc de Triomphe, and Notre Dame.

My mom told me to find Chez Eugene in Montparnasse, a restaurant that my mom and dad (Eugene) ate at the last time they were in Paris. Naturally, we had to take a picture.  Nate kept the camera glued to him at all times, but his camera bag broke, so for a part of the day, he wore the broken camera bag around his neck as well as the camera.  I walked by group of women and heard one lady say, in French, "Why would anyone be a tourist like that?!"  I wanted to turn around and tell her I could understand her and that the camera bag was broken, but it still takes me so long to think in French that I missed my chance.

That evening, we went to an apartment party with Ben.  One of his friends from work was throwing it and he assured us that everyone spoke English.  We loved getting to see the old, rustic (tiny) apartment, drinking French wine, and talking to his friends.  It gave us an idea of what it might be like to live in Paris.

World Tour: London

Flying overnight always seems like such a good idea, but when the exhaustion of a morning that has come at midnight sets in, I always swear I will never book a red eye again. We got to London at 8:00 AM after leaving Chicago at 6:00 the night before.

All we wanted was a nap, but with the little bursts of sunshine that were peaking through an otherwise dismal forecast, we knew we had to seize the day. After a round of coffee, we set out walking from our hotel towards Westminster Abbey.  On our way, we passed Buckingham Palace and got stuck in a crowd of people who were undoubtedly waiting to see the queen or someone equally as fascinating.  With our shortage of sleep, we had no patience for voyeurism, so we kept walking to the Churchill War Rooms. The past couple of times I visited London, I had very little interest in history, (I was 18) so this time I decided that we should try to visit some educational spots.

The Churchill War Rooms doubled as meeting rooms and bunkers during World War II. Churchill met with his cabinet, making war-changing decisions, in underground rooms reinforced with steel and concrete.  Some of the rooms, including his cabinet meeting room, were closed up the day after the war ended and were later opened in their previous condition. Maps hung on the walls with pin points and circle marks that looked so archaic to me.  Churchill apparently loved maps:  many of the rooms were filled with them, and cabinets in the hallway stored less-used versions. We walked through the museum, which detailed his life and politics, and included an interactive timeline that was occasionally bombarded with fighter jets or the rising waters of the Titanic. 

One of the rooms that was left exactly as it was.  There were sugar cubes on the desk because someone had left their rationed portion in a drawer.

After the museum, we walked past Westminster Abbey, Big Ben,  and Trafalgar Square to get to the London Eye. Londoners fought this monstrosity, that looks like a grown-up Ferris wheel, but now it is the top attraction in London.  We slowly moved through one big circle. At times, I doubted that we were moving and was sure we were going to be stuck there forever. We could see the entire city, and picked out sites to see the next day.

 The London Eye.  You can see why it was controversial.

 Looking out from the London Eye.

 Taken from London Bridge with the London Tower Bridge behind Nate. London Bridge was disappointing: it is basically just a concrete bridge stretching across the Thames.  Since there's a song about it, I was expecting something more spectacular. Ha! *Side note- this version of the bridge was built in 1973, and before that, there was a more intricate, medieval bridge.

By the time we got back to the hotel, we had walked eight miles on two hours of sleep. We were too exhausted to leave again, so we stayed at the hotel and ate at the Sports Bar.  Being there made me thinking of my dad, who went on so many trips that eating in hotel restaurants was pretty common ground for him. It was hard not to be reminded of him, since I was with him the last few times I went to London. I know that he was happy we were there!