Airstream bassinet

Lucy needed her own spot in the airstream. Our improvised sleeping arrangements were getting old for everyone. So, my man set about figuring out a solution for her! It's just perfect. Her own little nest!

Once he finished building it, he asked me to figure out how I would like it finished. I did a little thinking and decided to try a stain I found on Pinterest. There were many links about, so I read a bunch and took the high points from them all. 

To make the initial stain, I poured white vinegar over a pad of steel wool and let it sit for about 3 days. I was going to test it after 24 hrs, but it got set aside in favor of other activities...you know, the feeding the children & keeping the house kind. :)

The initial concoction:

One site recommended painting the wood with black tea first. The vinegar solution reacts with the tannins in the wood to create the color change, but some wood doesn't have enough tannins in it to elicit the reaction. That's where the tea comes in. Black tea has plenty of tannins. Here is my test strip of fir with varying coats of tea painted on prior to the vinegar solution:

Here is the pine test (pine has very little tannins):

The bassinet was made with fir, and I didn't like how dark the test strip was. I had do to a little alchemy to get it to the color I wanted. I ended up dilution the vinegar solution 100:1 with water before I got the color I wanted. Also, I didn't use any tea! 

Here is the finished project:

The top edge is actually naturally weathered scrap wood, so you can see what a great color match it ended up being!

Here's Lucy checking it out:

And here's how it fits right by our bed. Please excuse the messy bed and improvised headboard. (There is a real headboard in the works in the near future.)

"Mom, I'm trying to nap here!"

Obviously, this is a temporary solution, since the sweet sprout will be getting pretty mobile soon, but I love it for now! Thank you, husband, for taking the time to make Lucy a bed!!

I'm noticing a theme...

How about you?

Travels

We are a pretty nomadic family these days. I love all the adventures! Here are some pictures from our roamings this spring.

Grandpa holding Lucy for the first time:

 Grandma and Lucy bonding:

Mother's Day:

My cabbage patch baby doll from my childhood and my REAL cabbage patch baby!

Beautiful Cannon Beach wit Haystack rock in the background:

More beach:

Tillamook Cheese Factory. It was fun to see the big cheese assembly line and to sample the cheese curds that squeak on your teeth!

Sweet sisters. I love these little girls!

Hodge Podge of Life

Life is busy with 3 littles girls. It's starting to sink into a rhythm though. Lucy is sleeping in a pretty consistent pattern at night. I'm usually only up twice with her! She's starting to smile and coo a lot more, to the delight of everyone, especially her big sisters! Baby girl will be 2 months old on Sunday!! How does time go by so fast when you have a newborn?? Can I still call her a newborn?

In addition to all the new routine changes, I added potty training Libby to the mix. Am I nuts? Glutton for punishment? Ha. Maybe. But so far so good. She seems to be getting the hang of it. This is perhaps due to the fact that she is extremely motivated by jelly beans. I guess that's one of the bonuses of not giving your kids candy normally. It's such a novelty for her now! She can squeeze out a few drops every half hour if need be to get that "Delly bean!" Hopefully that will translate soon into a general desire to take care of all that business the way us other "potty trained" folks do. I remind myself that I did successfully potty train one girl already, so it can be done!

Anyway, here are some pics of the general events over the last month or so.

3 weeks of faces

Lucy is 3 weeks old! ...and one day. That one day is important! Each day she grows! I take pictures every day. But it's so hard to capture the growth. I wish I could just stop time every now and then...pause her as she is. Take in every feature without worrying that it might be changing even as I watch!

Anyway, here are the latest glimpses at Lucy as she grows.

As many moms know, taking pictures of a newborn is ridiculously hard. They are squirmy. They don't like to be unwrapped. For every good picture, you get at least a half a dozen silly ones. But those are fun too! See!?

2 weeks

Really? How can she be that old already?

Miss Lucy

She joined us on February 10th, 5 days before we expected her.

Early in the morning, I awoke. It wasn't long before I knew she was coming. There was a flurry of activity around me as I settled down to concentrate on the work to be done. Midwives arriving. Little girls shuttled off to friends. Supplies gathered. It wasn't long after that that we knew she would be coming rather quickly. Roughly an hour and a half after the midwife arrived, Lucy Irene joined us.

We were overjoyed that it had been quick. I was so thankful to be holding her, nursing her, looking over her every feature. I was mildly surprised to be holding another girl. I figured we were due for a boy, but oh, how I love girls!

Due to too much blood loss, I had to make an urgent trip to the hospital an hour after Lucy's birth. It was not how I expected to spend the first 24 hours with my girl, but I am truly thankful for all that modern medicine offers. They had me fixed up in a day's time and back home with my family. I am so thankful to be living where we are, with with our friends SO close by. :) Everything after the transfer to the hospital went so smoothly. I am so thankful that the Lord allowed the day to go that way.

With no further ado, here are some pictures of our new little love.