Friday 14 October 2011

In the tent

One of the things that I learned now that I'm a mom is that the less pressure I put on my shoulders the happier I am.

A few week ago, I entered the delightful Kid Clothes Week Challenge hosted by Elsie Marley. I ordered a few patterns and I was excited to use my sewing machine for a minimum of an hour each day during one week (October 10th - 17th). However, since Alice started to wake up randomly during the night for the past few days, the idea looked a lot less interesting.

Since Elsie probably won't come to my house with a baseball bat because I skipped her activity, I decided to take it easy and indulge in a few well deserved naps.

Also, I had a new plan for the weekend. As a kid, I used to love making forts in the living room using sheets and various pieces of furnitures. Do you know what can be cooler than a kid made tent? A small DIY indoor tent made with love by a mother (me...with the help of my amazing husband) who calls a spade bit a thingie that makes bigger holes and a poplar dowel a skinny wooden cylinder. Let me tell you that the dude at the hardware store was impressed ;)

It took pretty much the entire afternoon and evening to accomplish it but it is awesome! I'm writing this post, as Alice is sleeping in her crib, lying on my stomach under my (um, Alice's) tent....and I feel exactly the same way as when I was a little girl.

If you ever want to make your own DIY indoor tent, we used this tutorial but made a few changes: we added two poplar dowels at the bottom because I love when the fabric is nicely stretched, we didn't use elastics to attach the fabric but stitched a fold at the bottom (for the extra poplar dowels) and we drilled 4 holes near the top to add "security" ribbons to avoid a collapsing tent. Ta-da!


* * * * *

janet: I just realized that there is no hope for the shorter socks :(

anneemall: What? Poor little bunny (physical therapy session). Honestly, glue could become a solution ;)

daniela: I know...love ugly pretty cardi! Even the hat with the tie under the neck doesn't work with Alice.

abby: Oh, you are so nice! And your comment about baby sexuality is super interesting. I didn't know that you used to be a nanny. Was it fun?

tallulah maggs: They are also difficult to find here. Well, you can find them in fancy second hand stores but I don't want to pay 50$ for an ugly cool sweater! Thank you for all the links.

jess: I do love her smile a lot. I have to control myself not to get many wool blankets at the op shops...but maybe I should get a nanna-knitted crocheted blankets...don't know if my husband will like that!

bugheart: I'm also still looking for better sources of vintage baby clothes at a decent price. Not that obvious!

kate / tinywarbler: Oh Kate! Thank you. I would love to see more pictures (you can email if you don't want to post them on your blog) of West Coast Alice.

lili: Merci Lili! Heureuse que savoir que tu aimes mon blog. Bonne semaine. xox

olena: Oh, somebody told me about the poop smell thing a few years ago. Bizarre but, yes, normal! I used to love the smell of white glue as a kid but this is a complete different story ;)

anneemall: Oh, how come breastfeeding didn't work...not that it is of my business but you know! Don't judge me but I used to love my high panel maternity denim and I was super sad when they became too big :(

9 comments:

shine little light* said...

This is amaazing and awesome and super! I am so tempted to make one for me! (okay maybe Ill share it with my kid if I have one!) *s* ps. Lovely picture of the 2 of you! Daw!

Vanessa said...

I love that I can always count on a great blog post on Sunday evenings. :)

And that tent so cool! I might have to give this DIY a try...

emily said...

gorgeous! i just cleared out some useless furniture in the dining room to make some room to make a corner for ramona. this is a brilliant idea for that space! thank you.

dear olive said...

Wow, that is some tent!! Kellie xx

little wild moose said...

Wow, aren't you guys clever! What a great idea! It looks like Alice loves it :)

Thank you also for your comment on my blog. We don't have many problems with Everly waking up, and we do make a lot of noise around the house, but for some reason we are overly cautious at night-time - I think because we had a tough time in the early months with her sleep, so we are very protective of it now :) During the day, she sleeps in our room, but with the blinds closed.

Do you have any tips or advice on how you settle Alice for the night? Do you feed to sleep, or use some other sleep cues?

The Franglaise said...

Mais quelle créativité dans cette maison qu'est la vôtre! Bravo pour la 'construction' de cette tente qui est tout simplement magnifique! Bises et bonne semaine xx

liz rose said...

You two are adorable.
Super Rad tent too!!

Unknown said...

wow, i love this. i don't even have a little one and i want one... for me. hmm... i might just have to restrict myself to bookmark it for later!

jamie said...

ah! i saw a similar tent and wanted to mention it. i plan on doing it when H is a *little* older. now i am seeing the tent everywhere! well done!