Baprons!

What is a bapron you ask?  It's a nerdy-named baby apron.  I found a great tutorial here at Craftiness is Not Optional (great blog for anyone wanting to make pretty things for little girls) for these great bib meets apron that covers more of June's wardrobe than a regular bib.  Why do I need a bapron?  It's because my little June is now trying rice cereal!  So far, so good.  She's not eating too much yet, but she's looking stylish doing it!

I loved the variation (found here), which suggested using laminated cotton for the baprons.  If you're not familiar with laminated cotton, it is a 100% cotton that has a vinyl layer on the printed or "right" side.  You can buy it already laminated in 44" width by the meter or you can buy the iron-on vinyl from a fabric store and laminate your own cotton!  The only disadvantage to doing it yourself is that the iron-on only come in about 24" widths.  I've made 3 so far, one with an Amy Butler print and 2 with a Kaffe Fassett print.  The bias tape is bought, not made for a quicker process (and because it's not worth burning my fingers for a bapron)  I picked up some iron-on vinyl today in a matte finish today, so I hope to be whipping up a few more in a couple of days.

For anyone who is thinking of tackling these (really it is a simple project-it only takes about an hour), I have a few tips.  When using bias tape, make sure to put the narrower half on the front.  This way you don't have to worry as much about making sure you catch the bias tape on the back.  Also, for sewing laminated cottons, sew with the cotton side down against the feed dogs of your machine, not the vinyl side.  The vinyl side will stick if it's down.  I find that using small metal paper clips works better for holding the bias tape around the edge of the laminated cotton than pins.  Pin holes in laminated cotton will not self-heal as they would in regular cotton.  Just make sure you don't sew over the paperclips, or they'll be an unwelcome part of your bapron.
I enjoy making things for June, but sometimes they end up more expensive than a store-bought version.  In this case each bapron only costs approximately $3.75 in materials!  Cute and cost-conscious?  Yes, please!

The Old Port in Montreal

More images from our trip to Montreal.  What a great time.  I'll admit, I look a little crazy in our family picture.  It was windy!

The old port is down by the water.  We took a walk around, did a bit of shopping and had lunch.  A long discussion with our waiter to determine what "poireau"is en anglais.  It turns out it is leek. So I had some cream of leek soup.  We stopped by the biosphere but decided not to tour it as we had to catch our plane in a few hours and June was sleeping.  It looks like a really interesting place to take kids though.

 Instead of going into the biosphere, we did a drive-by of the Olympic Stadium!

Old Quebec City Images

Here are some more images of our wonderful first trip as a family of three. Who knew that a vacation could be wonderful when it involves soaking poopy clothes in the tub? Here are some streets images from our lovely walks through Old Quebec City

Some things are the same on vacation

Street Performers

Sleepy Baby

The Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls) just outside of Quebec City)

C'est la Vie

(June and I in Old Quebec City Enjoying Crepes) Bonjour mes amis! We have arrived in Quebec after our first successful flight with Baby June. She ate, slept, cooed, squealed, and ate again. We couldn't have asked for a better traveller! Thursday morning, Derek had a business meeting so while he went for lunch, June and I were off to find a cafe for lunch. We found a cafe and had a turkey and brie sandwich, pasta salad and a bowl full of cafe au lait...the most delicious cafe au lait I have had. No sugar required. Now that I think of it, maybe it was so delicious because usually when I go to order a latte, I ask for multiple modifiers. Non-fat! Decaf! Half sweet! When I ordered in this cafe with my broken french, the fact that the waitress understood "cafe au lait" was good enough for me.

Now that I have June with me when I go out, I find that I have more people stopping to talk to me (or June). Usually, this is fine, except when people come up and start talking to June in french and then ask me a question about her, which I am unable to answer. I end up smiling and apologizing for my lack of comprehension.

To Old Quebec City we went, walking down the picturesque streets, along the narrow sidewalks. We stopped at a cafe with June for a crepe coffee break, and continue on discovering this city that feels very Eurpoean. It's quite amazing that this, the oldest city in North America and the only walled city north of Mexico has been so well preserved. There are souvenir shops, bars, cafes, clothing stores, and bakeries...ahhh, the bakeries. I saw a cute bakery, Paillard, and stopped in to see what kind of pastries they had. The inside was beautiful. To the right, a gelati counter featuring flavors such as maple, fraises lavande (Lavender Strawberry), poire gingembre (Ginger Pear), to the left a pastry counter with cookies, brownies, tarts, pastries, croissants touted as "voted best in Quebec City", and macarons. The back featured a sandwich counter and lovely long tables for patrons to sit and enjoy their food. So back to the macarons. I have looked high and low in Winnipeg to find French Macarons. Not the coconut and chocolate cookies we are used to, but the meringue cookies with a flavoured filling. I picked out a few to buy. Who could resist with flavours such as Apricot Black Tea, Almond, Banana Chocolate, and Passion Fruit. Add in classic vanilla and chocolate, and I was set. The crispy exterior, the slightly gooey interior, the flavors....oh sorry, I was just taking a moment to dream about them! We went down to the water and saw the beautiful Chateau Frontenac, now owned by the Fairmont.

(French Macarons from Paillard) Our second day in downtown Quebec led us back to Paillard for lunch, where we tried sandwiches, some gelati, and picked up some of those croissants for later. Derek has a thing for croissants. They were indeed delicieux! The service was very friendly including a waiter escorting me to the 2nd floor bathroom after June's diaper exploded while I was nursing her. We then wandered around, catching a pair of street performers and more of the scenery. Our last foray into Old Quebec took us to Aux Anciens Canadiens, a French Canadian Restuarant that Derek found in order to satisfy my desire for tourtiere, or Quebec meat pie. The place, we discovered after after the fact, is actually a very well known restaurant. We enjoyed French Pea Soup, Tourtiere with a delicious chutney, finished off with Maple Pie and Maple Creme Brulee. The place was an old stone building with exposed stone in the interior, that is a part of the city's history. Even the waitresses were wearing traditional clothing. We then went near the Promenade to an alley with artists selling their art. I picked up a screenprint over line drawing of a horse and carriage, and a bronze plate stamped print of the restaurant where we had just eaten. We the drove to Chute Montmorency (Montmorency Falls) just outside of Quebec City. The falls are 1.5 times higher than Niagara Falls, although not nearly as wide. We then drove to Montreal. After a quick prayer at the beginning of our journey, June slept the entire way! We went to our hotel and then walked through downtown Montreal to Dunn's. Montreal smoke meat sandwiches and poutine awaited us there, followed by more walking to only minutely justify all the food we had eaten. We stopped of at Paris Crepe and enjoyed a Strawberry Banana Crepe as we walked the rest of the way to our hotel, checking out the plethora of shopping options on the way. So let's see... toutiere, french pea soup, maple pie, creme brulee, Montreal smoked meat sandwich, poutine, crepes...is there any french food we missed?

Baby, Baby, Baby, oh!

Introducing the newest member of our family: June Adelaide

She was born 2 weeks earlier than we were expecting her on May 19th. At 6lb 4 oz, she was nice and tiny. We are so excited to be parents. When people tell you that it changed your perspective and that you can't explain how much you love your children, it's true. I think it makes me look at people differently, knowing that everyone was a baby at some point, and that everyone deserves to be loved.

Here are a couple of shots of our precious little girl, right after she was born.

Blowin' in the Wind

Hello all....my has time passed since I last posted and how much has changed! I'll get to updating my blog with the happenings of the last 3 months, but for now I'll show you one of the most recent updates around here.

Before Christmas, my parents asked me what I would like for Christmas. With the impending arrival of Baby E, I thought of a clothesline. A fully installed clothesline. I received the supplies under the Christmas tree and this past Monday, my parents came over and my Dad slaved in the 30 degree (plus humidity) heat installing my clothesline that measures over 70 feet long! I've hung a few loads out on it already. There's nothing like the smell of laundry that's been dried on a line.

Thanks Dad!

Carseat and Cover

We picked up the carseat for our little one today! It's one of the last things on our to-do list before little Baby E arrives. My sister Heather delivered a beautiful gift to us last weekend in the form of a carseat cover blanket. With 2 loops to hold the cover on the handle, baby is covered without the blanket being on it's face, but still being able to check on the baby. The grey, yellow and white of the carseat cover match perfectly with the nursery and the black and silver carseat. I love the fabrics she chose, I can't resist a polka dot!

Nursery

The nursery is almost done. Here are a few pics to show the progress.

We decided to use as much furniture that we could that we already had. Without a closet, we needed some serious storage. A wardrobe and dresser that I already had worked in place of a closet and change table. The chair was our splurge for the room. We thankfully got it on sale on boxing day. It's a rocker/recliner and is very comfy. The crib was a bit of a journey to get. I had seen it on a number of blogs and really loved the spun spindles. I also knew I wanted a white crib as I didn't want to try and match with the existing furniture that we were using. I couldn't find it in Canada or from any of the larger American retailers, so we ordered it through Amazon...twice. Thankfully it worked out on the second try and I think it just works so well in the room. (Thanks Susan!)

The curtains I made after ordering some fabric online that I had also seen on a blog. The crib skirt, change pad cover, diaper pail liner, and boppy cushion cover I also made, while my mom made all the crib sheets (Thanks Mom). I loved to see where I could save and also liked that I could really get what I was looking for without having to shop for hours, break the bank, or scour websites. All that we need is the mobile I'm working on and some artwork for the walls...oh, and it's tiny new resident (in about 6 weeks)!

Ok, onto the pics:

Tantalizing Textiles for Tot

Derek and I went to Minneapolis this past weekend. We took out our perfectly good entertainment unit, because our new TV didn't fit. It seems as though we are gluttons for punishment in the renos department as our kitchen and laundry room are still not totally complete. As my mom would say "You did this to yourself"

The highlight of the trip for me (shopping-wise) was a visit to Treadle Yard Goods. They were having a 20-50% off sale, plus I had a 20% off coupon that could be added to any previous discount. I found the exact Joel Dewberry fabric that I had been hoping to make the nursery bedding out of on sale!!! I also picked up a bit of the new Amy Butler Soul Blossoms fabric that just came out last week at 20% off!!! So fabulous, no?




p.s. the above pics are a mix of the fabrics I'll be using for the nursery