Monthly Archive for August, 2009

Other not so good news

Published on August 31, 2009 in Baby. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , .

Chloe had her 9-month appointment last week. The good news is that there were no scheduled shots during this check-up (I’m such a weenie). The bad news is that Chloe is only in the 5th percentile for weight. It seems she is slowly dropping off the chart. She was at or above the 25th percentile her first several months. Then during the 4th month she dropped to just above 15, at the 6th month closer to 10, and now she’s at a mere 5. We’ve seen three different pediatricians so far, and none seem concerned. This last doctor did suggest that we start feeding her eggs, which I already do occasionally. The nurse said that if she drops down any lower during the next visit, then the doctor will be concerned, but it seems to me that proactive measures now would be smarter than waiting until she falls off the chart entirely.

According our recent doctor, a common reason for Chloe’s weight loss at this age is that she is much more active and mobile than ever before. This seems true. She crawls a lot – from room to room, chasing after the dog, playing with her toys – and she does a lot of standing and jumping in her jumperoo. I’ve also noticed that her dwindling weight correlates to when we started solid food. Her weight was best when we were solely breastfeeding.

Since starting solids, I’ve been very conscientious about Chloe’s diet. She gets a healthy mixture of mostly organic grains, fruits, vegetables, protein and whole milk yogurt. David has suggested that we should just eat what Chloe eats, as her diet is much more healthier than our own.

I’m not truly worried. Chloe has always been on the smaller side. I’ve seen bigger babies who are months younger than she is. Plus, David and I are just not big people. My plan is to continuing nursing, but at the same time slightly adjust her feedings with more good fats and calories. I’m thinking about adding more beans, meat, avocado and whole-milk yogurt and introducing cheeses (starting with mozzerella), olive oil, pasta, and nut butters. I’m looking into flax seeds and oil, wheat germ and tahini. I will also try to be better at giving her baby vitamins (we’re currently using Maxi-Baby Care). My hope is that her weight will be back up to the 10th percentile or more by her 1-year appointment. Here’s hoping.

Photographs from France

Published on August 30, 2009 in Architecture, Photos and Travel. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Looking back at our France photos (to find one for this post), I was reminded of how many good ones there were. Here are a few of my faves. But really, is there such thing as a bad photo of Paris?


Fountain at the Place du Concorde, Paris

Daily Menu, Au Vieux Châtelet, Paris

Château de Chenonceau

Mont Saint Michel, detail

Arc de Triomphe, Paris

From Marie Antoinette’s Hameau,Versailles

Skyline view, Paris

Eiffel Tower at night

A Big Scare (or) What to do when all your blog posts have disappeared!

Published on August 29, 2009 in Life. 1 Comment Tags: , , , .

This morning, after I logged onto my blog, I noticed that all my posts were missing. Vanished. Everything I’d written here since April 2007 was gone. What the heck? Did I inadvertently do something? Did someone hijack my account? I was both surprised and a little upset, mostly because I’ve never backed-up all the posts I had written involving Chloe, which were the ones most important to me.

After some quick internet searches I came across several recommendations, including restoring permalinks and disabling all my plug-ins (which I tried, but didn’t work). I also came across this promising solution by Blog Tech Guy. Unfortunately, I knew nothing about databases, and only through the grace of WordPress am I able to blog at all.

How to save information off of web pages


Meanwhile, I did the only thing I could think of to recover some of my posts, before they were gone forever. Using Google’s Advanced Search, I entered each month (ex. “August”) and the word “archive” in the search field, and my blogs’ url (www.thepaperseed.com) in the field “Search within a site or domain.” Alternately, I could have just worded the search like this: “August archive site:www.thepaperseed.com.” When Google pulled up the search results I was looking for (see below), I then clicked on the “cached” option. Basically, Google stores pages in its memory, kind of like a back-up. Because of this, I was able to copy the posts it retrieved, and then paste them into another document so I could save it (I used TextEdit on my Mac, which saves the images and links in Rich Text). If I had clicked on the search result link itself, it would have taken me to where those posts used to be, but then tell me that there was no file by that name (because they had somehow disappeared!).

There are other ways of copying information you find on the internet, besides copy and pasting. One way is to take a picture clipping. On a Mac, hold down the “command” and “shift” keys, and then hit the “3″ key. This will take a picture of whatever you have on your desktop. Or, hold down the “command” and “shift” keys, and then hit the “4″ key, which will allow you to click and drag your mouse in order to crop just the area you want to save. If it is a long web page, you’d have to do this multiple times.

Another way of saving information from a particular web page is to create a PDF. With the page you want on the screen, go up to your browser (I use Firefox), and click File>Print. At the bottom left corner of the Print dialogue box, click on the button that says PDF and choose “Save as PDF.” This will create a PDF of that information on your desktop. I’ve noticed this doesn’t always work perfectly, depending on how the web page was created, so be sure to check that all the information you want is there.

Crisis Averted

In the end, after hours of peering at database information, my husband was able to fix the problem by following Blog Tech Guy’s advice. Turns out my blog had a crashed wp_posts database table (wtf?). I have no idea how that happened, and hope it never happens again. Meanwhile, I hope to be more careful about keeping copies of the posts that are important to me and, at least monthly, export an updated .xml file.

How to export an .xml file of your blog

From your wordpress dashboard, click the “Tools” heading on the left side and click “export.” A new .xml fil will appear in your downloads folder.

Just for the record, I am in no way qualified to give web advice. However, I’m hoping this post might help if someone else ends up with the same problem.

Update: Just installed the WordPress plug-in WP-DB-Backup as suggested by Blog Tech Guy. Wish I had done this before, but better late than never!

My Life in France

Published on August 25, 2009 in Reading. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , , , , .

A photograph from our 2002 trip to France

I’ve been reading Julia Child’s My Life in France. Its timing was perfect because I’ve really been longing for another trip to Paris. It has been 7 years since we were there last. Way too long.

I can’t say I’ve been a huge fan of Julia Child. She seemed to be on TV a lot when I was a kid, and I didn’t have the appreciation for cooking and food that I do now.  Plus there was something about her voice and mannerism. My mom, a very good cook and who has worked in restaurants most of her life, would turn on Julia’s cooking shows sometimes and I’d sit and watch with her.

Anyway, I’m enjoying the book. Some of it is rather dry, just day to day events, but there are wonderful descriptions of the people and places she experienced during her time in Paris and then Marseille. And the food! It is so clear how passionate she was about French cooking – the countless hours she would put in to making a recipe perfect, because, in this, she was a true perfectionist. Her enthusiasm is inspiring, and makes me think that a delicious souffle or buerre blanc might be in our future.

Naturally, next on my reading list will be Julie and Julia: My Year of Cooking Dangerously (unless I see the movie first), about how author Julie Powell spent a year cooking each one of the 524 recipes in Julia Child’s Mastering The Art of French Cooking and then blogging about it. I’m also now curious about “Mastering the art…” as is everyone else. Apparently the cookbook will make its debut at No. 1 on the New York Times best-seller list. I find it a shame that Julia Child isn’t alive to see this, but that just seems to be the way of things.

Dear Chloe, 9 months old

Published on August 23, 2009 in Baby. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

A little grass never hurt anyone… right?

Dear Chloe,

Today you are 9 months old. What a milestone! Nine months ago you were born, and nine months before that you were barely two cells joined together. And now look at you, sweeter that a summer peach and apple of your mama’s eye.

These days you are bounding around like a curious and troublesome puppy. You crawl everywhere, like a magnet drawn to everything we wish you wouldn’t play with. You pull yourself to a stand on anything that will support you. It started with a diaper box left in your play area (read: living room), but now you just use it to dangle over on your tummy. Sadly, falls and tumbles are par for the course. Sometimes you land safely on your bottom, but other times you land hard, bumping your head and making the whole house shake. I cringe. You cry. I always want to comfort you, but I’ve found on light tumbles that you recover quicker on your own. It is a fine line, treading between your fledgling independence and my desire to protect you from everything.


I don’t need the box anymore, I can use the sofa now.

Your diet is steadily becoming more varied, but I worry that you don’t seem to eat or drink enough. This month you’ve tasted green beans, turkey, blueberries, broccoli, cottage cheese, apricots, wheat, barley, brown rice, cantaloupe and grapes. You’ve even begun finger foods! Besides diced fruit, frozen wild blueberries and crumbled egg yolk, you love puffs, baby mum-mums, and yogurt melts. You still have no teeth.

I guess I’ll also mention that you’ve had a few food-related incidences this month, too. That time you found an m&m on the floor, which Daddy caught you eating, and just yesterday when the dog didn’t eat his food right away. I was prying the kibble out of your clenched fists when I realized your jaw was working. You must have popped a piece into your mouth before I got there. Horrified, I hooked it out with my finger and immediately yelled for your father, while breaking out in a cold sweat at the same time.


Yes, but I don’t know what thorns.

This past month we enrolled you in a baby pool class. At first, you didn’t know what to think and were pretty skeptical. Then you decided it is a lot of fun (as long as you get a good nap beforehand). This is an activity where Papa really shines. He’s taken you several times, all by himself, so mama could have a precious hour of alone time. This month you’ve also tried a couple Gymboree classes, which you also love.


Pool class is fun!

You are realizing a lot more now – how the paper bin is so fun to tip over, that there is water to play with in the dog bowl, that the light switch next to your changing table makes a pleasant snapping sound and can turn the lights on and off. Your daddy has taught you several things, too, like how to “sing” in the toy microphone that amplifies your voice, and how to clap, which you do spontaneously on occasion (but rarely when we want to show our friends).


I can stand up! Now what?

You’re quite a clever little girl, and keep us on our toes, but we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Love,
Mama

Chloe’s 9-month specs: 26.75″ lengths (25%) | 17″ head (25%) | 15lbs 10oz weight (5%)

Vulli Sophie Giraffe Teether – Ooo la la!

Published on August 18, 2009 in Baby. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

Photo above from here.

We bought a Vulli Sophie Giraffe Teether from a local toy shop yesterday. I’ve wanted to get Chloe one for a while. I know it doesn’t seem particularly fancy or engaging, but there is a certain je ne sais quoi about this little French toy.

I saw it first on DeliciousBaby. I must have been blog-surfing when I found Debbie’s excellent advice on traveling with infants, plus kid-friendly city guides to destinations around the US, Canada and Europe. Instantly I imagined Chloe and I in Paris, her dressed Madeline-style and us sitting at a cafe, eating chocolate croissants and taking in the atmosphere of a very-much-hoped-for-someday mother-daughter experience.

My attention finally returned to the computer  and I found her list of recommended baby travel toys, including Sophie, “the most popular baby toy in France”. After that, I would see Sophie again and again, on sites like Land of Nod, Diapers.com and Amazon, where it is ranked as their #1 selling baby toy.

At almost 9 months, Chloe still has no teeth. We also have two flights scheduled to visit each set of grandparents within the next couple months. And I kept thinking about that little teether. Now we have one.

So what is all the fuss about?

Sophie has been in production since 1961, “born” in France on May 25th, St. Sophie’s day. She is made from 100% all natural rubber (BPA and Phthalates free), derived from the sap of the Hevea tree. She smells like rubber, too, but not unpleasantly so. She stands about 5 inches tall and squeaks when you squeeze her. Her body feels soft and yielding, yet firm, like skin. She is slightly cool, but not cold like hard plastic. Her spots, painted with food grade paint, are attractive to baby, and I think her various parts – ears, horns, legs, mouth, etc, provide just the right amount of stimulation for the mouth and gums. She is also very easy to grasp, even for little ones.

So, am I silly to spend so much for a little rubber toy? Probably. But Chloe likes it, and that is good enough for me. :-)


Chloe out and about…

Published on August 17, 2009 in Baby. 0 Comments Tags: , , .


At the grocery store


At the local library


At the pool

Sewing Calendar 2010

Published on August 14, 2009 in Crafts & Sewing and tutorials. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Look what arrived in the mail today! My very own copy of the 2010 Sewing Calendar! It features over 100 cute and inspiring sewing projects, including my Felt Photo Album tutorial! It is so cool to see one of my projects in print. No, I don’t get any perks from being included or from the sale of the calendar, but it just feels good, you know? Which reminds me, I haven’t done anything crafty for the longest time. Perhaps it is time to start something. :-)

P.S. The photo above is from Amazon, but Made by Petchy has some nice detail photos here.

Design for all

Published on August 12, 2009 in Design. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , , .


My new black hummingbird folder designed by Dror Benshetrit for Target. Picked up for a mere 99 cents.

Just sharing…

Published on August 10, 2009 in Photos. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

I really enjoyed the photography class I took at Newspace. I chose it thinking that I wouldn’t want to be stuck in a full-semester college class, but now I’m kind of sad it’s over. It was a lot of information to digest in only 4 weeks. I understand more now, but at the same time, I don’t really feel that my shooting has improved. Actually, I’m still frustrated a lot of the time. Shooting in manual mode is a challenge. Although I have an idea of what I want my image to look like, I can’t always figure out how to get my camera to do it. There is still so much to learn.

After each class we had homework assignments. I thought I’d share some of them:


“Detail”

Leading Lines
“Leading Lines”


“Common”


“Tell a story”


“Shadows”


“Power”


“Rule of thirds”


“The future”


“Self-portrait”

The Three Little Pack 'n Plays

Published on August 6, 2009 in Baby. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

The perfect one for us, Monkey Business

We broke down and bought a pack n play. Chloe is just too mobile. We take our eye off her for a second and she’s into something (the paper recycling, a pair of shoes, the dog, when she can corner him). It is really a relief to have somewhere safe to put her down, especially in the office, and still allow her to move about.

It is embarrassing to admit, but we purchased 3 play yards before settling on the one. The story is not unlike The Three Little Pigs…

The first one was ugly, but cheap (my husband sort of forced it on me, because, understandably, he didn’t want to spend any more than we had to), but I just could not make myself like it.

The second one was a fancier model – chocolate brown with contoured sides – but also heavier and bigger. We chose this one because it was marked down to half price. Unfortunately, when I looked it up online, I found that it was recalled, due to a “risk of suffocation or positional asphyxiation.” No good. Back it went.

The third one was another very basic and affordable model – sturdy, with an acceptable print and neutral color. It sells in the store for about $7 more than on Target.com. I mentioned this at the checkout and the cashier adjusted the price for us. Overall, it wasn’t much more than we paid for the first one, making it just right. :-)

On the grill

Published on August 5, 2009 in Eating. 2 Comments Tags: , , , , , .

It has been so hot here lately that cooking inside seems like torture. Last night David picked some fresh plums off our neighbors tree and made an awesome dinner on the grill – pork skewers with sweet chili sauce and grilled plums. Then we added a side of quinoa that I had made earlier. What a delicious summer evening treat!

Dear Chloe, 8 months old

Published on August 3, 2009 in Baby. 0 Comments Tags: , , .

Dear Chloe,

It’s official. You are now on the move. Nothing on the floor is safe anymore, least of all the drifts of dog hair that collect in random corners and behind door. Luckily I was watching you that time you made your way across the office. I thought you were going for the door stop, but no, you reached right underneath it to the fluff of dog hair that you tried to put straight in your mouth. And then there was the time you scooted across the futon in your bedroom to peer over the edge. It was a pretty exciting scene with all those board books scattered about the floor. So exciting that you hoisted yourself over the edge so fast you about gave me a heart attack. I barely caught you. Where do those bursts of super-human strength come from?

Maybe it’s your diet. We’re adding all kinds of goodies to your menu. New this month is oatmeal, yogurt (mmm!), quinoa, peaches, garden-fresh zucchini, plums, carrots, mango (delicious!), egg yolk (eww!), and lentils. You even got to go out to eat with Daddy and I for our 5th wedding anniversary, where Daddy snuck you a few bites of vanilla ice cream.

I wish I could get you to drink more water, but you only take little birdie sips out of your cup. Because of this, we’ve reverted to a bottle, hoping you’ll drink a little more, at least through the heat of the summer. A splash of apple or pear juice makes it much more interesting. This is one trait I’d love for you to take after your father – he drinks water like a fish.

Lately, you seem to be frustrated more often. I’m sure it is annoying to finally get something in your clutches only to have it hastily removed once we see what you’re up to. Some things (cords, shoes, the dog’s toys) are not for babies. Everything else, I try to be more patient with. You’ve grown tired with a lot of your toys so we’ve started cruising the yard sales to find little additions to your toy box.

And sadly, you no longer love your changing table like you used to. You’d rather kick and squirm, or launch yourself over the dresser, rather than wear a clean diaper. Just when I thought I was getting so efficient, too.

I have a feeling we’re in for some big surprises this next month.

Love,
Mom

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