Playing in the snow

Blizzard Nemo was historic, but not quite in the way the Weather Channel predicted.

It was Ewan's first time in the snow!
We were nice and didn't put him in the snow to make a baby snow angel, like we did to his sister.

And a flip-book effect! Cora loved whacking the snow.

She also loved showing baby brother the snow, but we had to be careful to not shove snow in his face.

Loving the snow! And, yes, that's a sparkly princess skirt underneath her jacket.

Hope all you northerners enjoyed the snow! And, southerners, I hope you enjoyed your year-round, lovely, sunshiney weather.

I do love NYC at Christmastime

Buildings trimmed with lights, over-sized decorations around every midtown corner, Salvation Army bell-ringers rocking to catchy Christmas tunes. If you can get to NYC the weekend after Thanksgiving, when all the lights are up, the crowds are manageable, and the chill is just settling into the air, you can have a wonderful time. If you come any weekend after that, leading up to Christmas, you'll likely get trampled by over-stimulated tourists with 20 shopping bags each.

My brother and sister-in-law visited last weekend, and my sister and I took them out to see the lights in midtown. I thought I'd share with ya'll some of the highlights. Enjoy!

My Dual Part-Time Parent Plan

My brother and sister-in-law were in town for the week to see us and the kids and my sister (who lives near us) and to see NYC, all decked out in Christmas lights. NYC really is beautiful at Christmastime, and I'm really glad they were here to share it with us. I was a little sad that Chad has been working even crazier hours than normal, so he was only able to join us for a NY pizza one night. It did make me stop and think about Chad's schedule, though, as a father and a working man. I think we get certain messages from society and, speaking as a Christian, from the Church about how we are to be as mom-parents and dad-parents that strike me as a bit off. I realize I may be setting up straw men here, so feel free to call me out, if you disagree.

Message #1: Dad should be the bread-winner, no matter how hard he has to work, to provide for stay-at-home mom and kids.
This message means well, insisting that kids need a stable parent (Mom) to raise them and care for them while the other (Dad) is working. What bothers me is the unintended consequences: Dad ends up taking a job he hates to pay the bills, or a job that has him working 50-60-70-80 hours a week, or even two jobs. This message insinuates that the only thing children really need Dad for is his money/provision and a little guidance on the weekends. I emphatically disagree with this. Children need their fathers and need them more than just bath-time some evenings and weekend afternoons.

Message #1A (Church-version of above): Men are created by God to provide, which means they must be the bread-winners, and women are created by God to nurture, which means they must stay at home to raise children.
Pretty darn similar to Message #1, except justified by God's differential design of men and women. Now, I'm totally on board with the idea that God created men and women differently for some specific plan, but I am just not convinced that He created men to work at a job away from home most of the time while women struggle by themselves to raise children. God created both men and women as parents. Plus, He must think pretty highly of the importance of fatherhood, since He calls Himself Father. If, as Christians, we're doing God's work by insisting that men bear the burden of full-time work while women raise the children, I don't think we're fully appreciating the importance of fathers. Also, I don't think this view really appreciates the fact that God may have given women gifts that are being ignored, even repressed, in this scenario.

Message #2: It's the new millenium, both parents should work, and children can be raised by daycares/schools. Independence is good for you!
This message also intends well, since it's the natural outgrowth of the feminist movement. Women should become exactly like men, as men currently exist. Since men currently work 50+ hours a week, if women want to be equal, then they too should work 50+ hours a week. This is clearly just stressing everyone out. And we are completely devaluing parenting in general. We're saying that daycares and schools do just as good a job as parents? We are paying $20,000 a year for someone else to teach our children? Now, I'm not totally qualified to speak to this, since my oldest is not quite 3, but it rubs me wrong that we expect others to care for and teach our children as well as we could. Reminds me of Plato's Republic, the disturbing part of the book.

Message #2A (Church counter-position to the above): Men are created by God to provide, so they can keep doing whatever they're doing, but women are created by God to nurture - AND secular schools are trying to destroy our children - so good mothers will stay home to raise their children, but the BEST mothers will homeschool their children. Bonus points for every child you homeschool. Extra bonus points for having them memorize Scripture.
Okay, I'm poking a little fun here. In all seriousness, I do think parents should be much more involved in their children's schooling than they generally are. Memorizing Scripture is also probably good for all of us. But, again, this insists that Dads should still spend the majority of their time and guilts Moms into homeschooling. Well, heck, what if it's Dads who should homeschool and Moms who should provide? Well, that just screws up the whole created by God for specific tasks argument.

Message #3: It's the new millenium, so Dads can stay home, if they want, and Moms can go to work, if they want.
This message has interesting intentions, freeing individuals up to work or parent as they see fit or feel called to do. A couple of issues, still. Again, we're saying one parent is more important than the other, one is disposable for 50+ hours a week. Also, we're beginning to say that "good" Dads want to stay home. Let's just put everyone on various guilt trips, right? If you're a good Dad, you'll stay home, if you're the typical, emotionally-distant, non-nurturing kind of Dad, it's okay for you to go to work.

Those are the main messages that I feel like I hear, and I feel uncomfortable with all of them. Hence, my frustrated post last time. What's the answer? Some might suggest retreating to a family farm or something, but, as a Christian, I think we need to learn to live in such a way as to impact culture, to be in but not of.

At this moment in time, I would love to see some crazy system, where Moms and Dads both work something like 25-ish hours a week, so we might call it the "Dual Part-Time Parent Plan," and it might work out something like this:
Monday - Mom works 6 hours, Dad stays home with kids.
Tuesday - Mom works 6 hours, Dad stays home with kids.
Wednesday - Mom and Dad each work 6 hours, babysitter or family or tutor with kids.
Thursday - Mom and Dad each work 6 hours, babysitter or family or tutor with kids.
Friday - Mom stays home with kids, Dad works 6 hours.
Saturday - Mom stays home with kids, Dad works 6 hours.
Sunday - Everyone's at home together.

This model would not be easily adopted because Americans love weekends. Honestly, though, we spend half of our weekends just trying to rest from the stressful week. Or we travel and exhaust ourselves more. This kind of model would work better if people lived close to family and friends and didn't travel as much. Now, I know, Chad and I are traveling fools, but we would probably prefer to see family more regularly for something like Saturday night dinner and just take a week off to travel somewhere cool. That's totally doable with my "Dual Part-Time Parent Plan."

Does anyone else feel these messages in our culture? Do you think the arguments I set up are too simplistic or don't adequately represent the true message? Are there any messages that I missed? I churn through these thoughts actually quite often, and my sister is probably sick of hearing them, so I need new insight from other people! Comment below! :)

Added 12/2/12:
I would like to note that I know parents who are amazing parents, in spite of difficult work circumstances. In some cases, just the father works, and both parents are extremely involved. Or both parents work and work hard, and they're very in tune with their kids' lives. I hear tell of fathers who stay at home and working mothers who are still present for the kids' lives. I don't want to sound like I'm saying that these situations make it impossible to parent and parent well, but I do think these messages are pervasive in our culture and make parenting, arguably a phenomenally important job, even more difficult than it already is. And, yet, think, when you hear a woman lamenting that working is difficult and then say that parenting is phenomenally important, what's your first thought? I'll bet it's, "Well, then, lady, stay home with your kids." And I just want you to think about that immediate mental jump.

Gender roles on my mind

Lately, my teaching days have been increasingly stressful. As I type this sentence, I say to myself, "duh." Really, though, as with all things in life, I feel like I start out fairly organized. At the beginning of the semester, my syllabi were all neat and tidy. I would make these very detailed lecture notes and review them several times before class, marking when I would need to write something on the board. Even when I was getting to class early and staying late in order to pump milk to bring home for Ewan, I was more ready.

Today, I woke up and really, really didn't want to get out of bed. Ewan's first bottle was at 4:00 am. Thank goodness Chad was rested enough that he didn't mind giving him that one! Usually that's my duty. Ewan was up again at 5:30am, so I got up then, and Cora was right after him. The morning rushed along, Laura came, and before I knew it, I was walking very quickly to catch my train and trying to piece together my Social Psych lecture in my head.

Commuting, class, another class, more commuting, and I get home just in time for Ewan to be asking for his second-to-last bottle while Cora's asking for dinner.

Oh no, what's for dinner. Gosh, don't all the moms out there hate that question. Sometimes, I am so on my game. I have this cute little printable that I made, and I order groceries days ahead of time and plan out all our little meals. Heck, sometimes I even have a meal in the crock pot.

But more times than I'd like to admit, I come home and my little orange printable is of no help at all. Kids crying, my head is in the fridge, and I'm wondering what I can piece together. For instance, tonight was: black beans from a can, heated up with leftover chicken in a pineapple salsa, poured over minute rice, served with a side of eat-the-spinach-before-it-goes-bad. Actually, I thought it was kind of tasty.

Well, Cora took one bite and said, "It's spicy!" It was mild pineapple salsa, so I really didn't think it was spicy, but who am I to force a toddler to eat mild peppers? Sooo, she ate PB&J. Happily, I suppose that's the important point. Then, it was clean up time. How does a mom handle cleaning up dinner with a toddler and a baby?

The toddler helps,

and the baby either takes his evening cat nap or cries.

Then, it's bath, books, and bed for Cora - don't forget to call Dada to say goodnight. Then, get Ewan for his last bottle, and let him play on the high pile rug while I edit a research proposal. He finally goes to bed and mama needs a beer and some major decompression time. But not too much decompression time because 4:30am comes early. (Short rhetorical vent of frustration: WHY the heck can't I break this 4:30am thing?! Cora never had these sleeping problems. We do a controlled cry it out, we make sure the evening catnap the night before is short, we give him a bottle as late as possible in the evening before. *sigh*)

Does anyone out there want to guess what one of my class discussions was on today?

Gender roles and women in the work place.

Now, I've got a beer in my hand, and I'm thinking I really want to read a leisure book for a few minutes and just conk out in bed, so this is going to be a to-be-continued post. But, being a modern mother is hard. I'm not saying it's not hard for the men. I mean, I know Chad doesn't want to work until all hours of the night. But it's not easy on the women either, that's for sure.

I will say that I am so, so glad that Ewan hit the six-month mark and we transitioned successfully onto formula. Because nursing is freaking hard.

A teaser thought, so you can anticipate the next post: Why do women tend to not get the high-power, high-pay, high-prestige jobs in the way that men do? Do women just lack aggression, leadership skills, and the get it done attitude or mental acuity? Do women choose lower-paying jobs so they can have part-time or flexible work hours? Are men and women so steeped in their gender roles of men should make the money and women should take care of the house that women go literally crazy when they attempt to work and take care of the house so one has to go?

Is it worth it? I would love for my kids to grow up with a father who doesn't have to work all.the.time and a mother who is successful and competent and contributing to society somehow. Is this rigamarole worth it, though?

Oh, I'm rambling. If you have thoughts, do share. I need to go let mine ferment.

Post-election thoughts

The days just after the general election always bother me. It's like we've decided that the single, most important act we can do as citizens of this country is to vote. We say, "You're a good American, as long as you vote. We don't care what you do for the rest of the four years, but if you vote, you are an amazing person."

So, we wait in line for a few hours, vote, get a sticker, and post on Facebook, "See? I voted!" And we think our civic duty has just been completed.

If our guy loses, we lean back in our chairs, smack our hands together, and say, "I wash my hands of this mess. The next four years isn't my fault or my problem." In fact, when our guy loses, we secretly want things to go badly so we can say, "See, I told you so" and get our guy in office next go-round.

If our guy wins, we lean back in our chairs, breathe a sigh of relief, and say, "Whew, my job here is done. I elected the right guy, and he'll take care of the rest for us."

But voting is not the most important thing we can do as Americans. Honestly, if we don't live in Ohio, Virginia, Colorado, or Florida, our vote probably was meaningless. But if we're searching for a way to truly impact lives around us, perhaps we should take a moment to actually look around us.

If we cared as much about local politics as we do about the general election, imagine the good we could do for our neighbors.

But I know local politics is difficult for us in our 20s and 30s to get excited about. Our generation is on the move. My husband and I have lived in Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, New Jersey, and New York. I'm not even sure I knew the mayors of more than half of the cities in which I've lived. (And I'm not even counting study abroad or working abroad experiences.)

In fact, let me fess up to how my moving lifestyle has affected my own political actions. I wasn't even registered to vote in NY. I still had my NJ license. I remembered checking the box when getting my NJ license to automatically register me to vote, but I guess it didn't go through because NJ didn't have me on the books as a registered voter. So, I didn't even vote this election. The pressure to vote in the general election is so great that I haven't even admitted this to most of my friends. But, the rational side of me knows that my vote wouldn't have even mattered in NJ or NY.

If I don't stay in one city or state long enough to ensure that I'm licensed to drive there and registered to vote there, how can I possibly say that I'm going to get involved with local politics?

And all I can think about is how badly I want to move back to Texas.

So, how can our generation, so open to moving, so transitory, how can we focus more on local politics, which is where we can make the most difference?

I don't know, and I'm trying to figure this out for myself. How do you get involved with your local politics or communities or churches? How do you plug in with your neighborhood? This migratory girl is looking for some feedback/suggestions and hoping to inspire you to plug in locally too.

P.S. Like the new color scheme? Hoping to make more changes soon.

Part-time Mama

I want to take a moment to talk about life as a part-time working mom.

Working moms and stay-at-home moms often seem to propose that working part-time is the end all, be all perfect solution to life. I'm not so sure, though. I often wonder about going to work full-time or quitting my part-time gigs to focus on the kids full-time. Right now, I'm in the part-time limbo. Honestly, I'm trying to decide if I'm happy, and maybe writing through things will help.

I'm an adjunct faculty member at Molloy College, where I teach two classes. I'm teaching Intro Sociology again. This third time around, and I feel like I have a pretty good handle on it. Actually, I'm probably overly confident, since there have been several classes where I walk in with only a vague idea of what we're supposed to cover for the day and the notes I prepared last year. I'm also teaching an upper-level class, Social Psychology. I love the material that we're covering in that class - identity, group interaction, attraction and relationships, anger and prejudice - all super fascinating. But it is hard to keep up with the planning! Flying by the seat of my pants hardly even covers it. I'm scrambling, constantly. The only thing on my side is that I feel much more confident in the classroom, so even if I'm panicking on the inside ("How am I going to make this discussion stretch another 20 minutes?!"), I think I'm better about appearing calm. I get pretty good vibes from both my Intro and Social Psych class.

But I'm not just a teacher. I'm a teaching mom, and that's what makes life hard. On teaching days, I get myself and the kids ready, pack my lunch, and head out the door at the same time as Chad. (We have a really fantastic part-time nanny who stays with the kids all day.) I commute an hour and a half, via train, then shuttle, and the shuttle gets to the campus just in time for me to eat lunch while pumping. I then have 15 minutes to make copies and get to class. My classes are back-to-back, then I rush back to pump before I need to catch the shuttle to catch the train. Then, I go home, make dinner, give baths, read books, and tuck kiddos into bed - whew! Makes me tired to think about it.

A teacher's tasks are only half (or a third) classroom time, especially when teaching a class the first time around. Prepping for class, writing exams, and grading are done at home, during nap time or TV time.

My other part-time job is editing, also done at home, often after the kiddos go to sleep. This is the time of the year when I get the most freelance editing requests for academic journal articles, grant proposals, personal statements, all sorts of stuff. I like the editing, though, so I don't want to say no!

Oh, yeah, and because I'm a home-maker, I have to squeeze housework, finances, cooking, etc in there. One advantage of being a NYC mom is that we have a wash-and-fold laundromat downstairs, and I often order groceries to be delivered. So, really, I'm quite luckily in that regard.

But life has gotten a bit easier in the last couple of weeks because I decided to transition Ewan onto formula. It's always a wrestle with guilt no matter when you wean, but I decided that breastfeeding for 6 months was pretty good. I forget how much easier it is to bottle feed rather than breastfeed! I lay him on the couch, hand him his bottle, and he holds it himself while I work next to him or read a book to Cora.

So, such is the life of a part-time working mom. Is this the best combination? If I worked full-time, I'd have the nanny do things like clean the house and make dinner. If I stayed at home, I wouldn't have to do class prep or edit during nap time or after bed. Being part-time means I don't have the benefit of either, but I have the responsibilities of all the above. Is this the best way of life?

I'm not sure.

But I know that what I do want to work on is worrying less about all the tasks, getting done what I can, but making time to pause an enjoy little moments with my kids - playing legos and teaching letters to Cora, making silly "bababababa" noises with Ewan. Those moments are important, and I don't want to miss them. But I also love having a job of some sort. Oh, modern motherhood!

Project Minimalism

It started out simply enough. I threw out the bath toys - all but a couple of small cups and a couple of squirty fish. I got so tired of cleaning off the mold! I would procrastinate cleaning the bath tub because I knew I would have to soak the bath toys in the kitchen sink filled with bleach and scrub all of the plastic squirters. So, one day, I finally cleaned the bath tub. I had the toys next the kitchen sink, and instead of submerging them in the bleach water, I chucked them in the recycling. (Can plastic bath toys be recycled? I don't know, but that's what I did!) And it felt so good!

A few days later, one of my closet racks broke, leaving cardigans, pants, and skirts on the floor. I've moved them temporarily to another hanging location.

Later that day, I heard something that I was finally ready to hear.

Now, I commute an hour and a half twice a week to my teaching job out on Long Island, and since my commute involves walking, a train, changing to another train, waiting for a shuttle, and walking to my building, not much of that hour and a half is involves me sitting in one spot. So, I listen to podcasts, mostly about Catholic families and marriage. (Currently: The Catholics Next Door, Catholic in a Small Town, and The Stupendous Marriage Show, sometimes This American Life.)

One of the podcasts featured the idea of minimizing the amount of stuff you own. As I said, I was finally ready to hear. Joshua Becker was talking about his new book (Living with Less: An Unexpected Key to Happiness) and his own experience minimizing his stuff. He's a family man, with two kids and a house in the suburbs. I thought, if he can do it, surely I can. Yes, we have two kids, but we live in New York, and, let's face it, I have way too much stuff for this little apartment.

He made several points that stuck with me (I'm paraphrasing):
-We know things can't give us happiness, so why do we invest so much time buying them, cleaning them, and organizing them?
-Maybe, just maybe, Jesus was actually serious when he said to sell your possessions and follow him. (You certainly don't need to be a Christian to be a minimalist, but this hit home for me.)
-We should use our money for more valuable causes than things, like charity. (Maybe law school loans first...)
-We should free ourselves from addictive consumerism and the never-ending comparisons.
-Plus, a host of side benefits: easier to clean, you know where stuff is, less time spent organizing.

There was one more thing that I'm not sure if Becker actually said but became clear to me after reading the book: I keep so many things for the just-in-case, maybe-someday future. Do I think I can preserve myself or my family from suffering by keeping stuff? That's probably a false sense of security that I foster with the keeping of all the stuff.

So, we are beginning Project Minimalism, with the goal of reducing the amount of stuff we own by at least 30%. My husband is on board, although I think it's implied that most of the actual cleaning out will be my task. I'm okay with that. I've started with the kitchen, since I can clean while cooking breakfast, lunch, and dinner. It means the kitchen has been a bit of a mess for a few days, but I've just about finished!

In addition to all of the stuff that I knew I would give away because I truly don't want it anymore, there were also some things I wrestled with but ended up giving away: waffle iron, fondue pot, vaccuum sealer and accessories, cast iron pan, some vases and candlesticks. I want to challenge myself to part with things that I kind of still want but realistically don't actually need. Things I ended up keeping but thought about giving away: my spare large pot, some decorative plates from my grandmother, some decorative copperware that I don't actually use, the Nespresso machine.

I probably won't give you the play-by-play on Project Minimalism, but if there are any interesting points or personal breakthroughs, I'll let you know.

What do you think? Can I challenge you to part with at least 30% of your possessions? Have you started minimizing in your own home and found it helpful?

For more info:
The Stupendous Marriage Show Podcast
Joshua Becker's website BecomingMinimalist.com

Brooklyn Bridge Park, Pier 6

While being a mom in NYC is not for the weak, there are certainly some up sides. NYC has some fantastic parks that are free for everyone. (There are also free public pools, but we went once. It was horribly, awfully, sickeningly crowded, like taking a bath with 200 strangers. Never again.)

In an effort to focus on the positive aspects of raising a family here, let's talk about one of awesome parks that we visited over the summer!

First, Pier 6, part of Brooklyn Bridge Park. 30 minutes away, but it's beautiful and has a fantastic view of the city skyline.

Someone spent a good deal of effort in landscaping. You walk through along a path lined with bushes, and on either side, you see little bush-lined pockets of open space that have swings in them. Each pocket has only a few swings, so you can find a covert little area of your own to enjoy the swings. Most of them are the typical infant swings or big kid swings, but in a larger bush-lined pocket, they have these rope swings.

In another area is the "Water Lab," which is a sprinkler miniature water park, great for toddler and pre-school-aged kiddos.

Sadly, we did not have Cora's swimsuit with us, and she was fairly tuckered out from all the swinging anyway. Next summer, though, we will certainly make time for the Water Lab. Heck, even I want to play at the Water Lab.

(Note: The Water Lab closed for the season after Labor Day.)

School for two-year-olds?

I remember one of my first conversations with a NYC mom. We were living in New Jersey at the time and church-hopping. (Well, we are still church hopping, but that's another post.) Hoboken had zero thriving churches, so we started going to Trinity Wall Street Church in downtown Manhattan. Some of the first people we met there was a mom and her three-year-old daughter, and one of the first questions the mom asked was, "Have you thought about preschools? Trinity has a great preschool! You should go ahead and put your daughter (Cora then only one year old) on the waiting list, just in case." I tried to discreetly get the message across that I was a stay-at-home mom with no job prospects and that $20,000 just wasn't in the budget for a two-or-three-year-old's preschool tuition. Apparently I wasn't straightforward enough with that message because every single time after that, this mom would always ask us if we had put our daughter on the waiting list yet.

Truly, this was very sweet of her because Trinity does have an amazing preschool, and it's incredibly tough to get in. And, as with all networking, if your kid went to the prestigious Trinity preschool, they have a leg up on their kindergarten applications to other elite private schools.

But this hyper-pressure to put kids into school as early as possible seems to be pervasive here. Some parents want, like the above scenario, their kids to get their foot in the door of a top-notch private school. Some want to socialize their children into spending more time with friends, away from home, in a structured learning environment. Some parents want their kids to be in a foreign language preschool, so they begin learning a second language. Some parents just want a daycare option that is more "learning-oriented" (although I doubt preschool and daycare are really that different).

We did decide to put Cora into a Spanish immersion preschool. She is two-and-a-half. This still blows my mind a bit. The simple Texas girl from the 1980s in me says this is ridiculous. Back in my day, kids started kindergarten at age five. Now we're starting kids in pre-pre-k at two?! But, you know, my kid loves it, and from 9am to 12pm, I only have to deal with the baby and getting a little class prep done. I do justify the expense because toddlers are capable of picking up a foreign language. Also, we don't really have many friends here yet, so maybe we'll make friends.

But is this a NYC thing, or is it happening in other parts of the country? Are there other cities and states where two-and-three-year-old "preschools" are becoming more and more normal? Is it because of working moms or wealthier families? If I have any readers out there who can provide me some insight, I'd appreciate a comment. For the moment, I'd better go order my two-year-old's school supplies from amazon.com (because that's how we roll in Brooklyn, order everything online).

Apartment Tour

I am always curious about peoples' homes, so it's only fair that I show you mine. We live smack in the middle of busy Brooklyn, in a three-bedroom apartment. The front rooms (dining and living) face the street, with constant traffic noise. I love the colors we chose for these rooms, though.

Yes, the dining room desperately needs a large picture/mirror, but I have a mild phobia of hanging things.

The bookshelf to the left of the keyboard holds Chad's monitor and work supplies, for when he works from home.

The library/office/guest room is connected to the living room and is my sanctuary. I can work on my laptop or read while Cora watches a movie. Yes, I'll admit it, my kid watches movies on a regular basis.

The middle bedrooms (Ewan's and Cora's) have no real windows, just small slits of windows that open into a "light shaft," which is like a really big column of space between buildings, just to allow light and a bit of air. Ewan's room was my craft room/the guest room - and will be again when he can move into Cora's room - that's why the changing table has markers and colored pencils dangling above it and bins piled up on a cart beside it.

Cora's room is the biggest in the apartment because she will share it with Ewan and because the grandparents dote on her through donations of toys and books. I think I'll do a separate post about how I fit all of the kid/baby gear in our small apartment.

The back rooms (kitchen and master) overlook a beautiful backyard and are actually very peaceful. The white-painted tin ceiling, offset by the green ivy on the windows, is my favorite thing to see in the morning.

Let's be honest, the sink and counter are usually piled high with dirty dishes.

Oh, yes, and our teeny bathroom! Two bathroom apartments are pretty rare in this area, so most people squeeze into one small bathroom.

And that's our Brooklyn apartment! I hope you enjoyed the tour. :)

Fire escape garden

This summer, I decided that I would be a gardener. I live in Brooklyn, so we have to apply the term "garden" pretty loosely, here. The only outdoor space we have is our fire escape. The plants made their way from Lowe's (via my sister's car, very handy to have around), up the stairs, and out the window about two months ago. Just the other day, two little tomatoes finally started to ripen.

I call them Fred and George, and I plan to eat them in a salad very soon.

Now, if you know me, you should be very impressed that this tomato plant is not only alive, but thriving. I generally kill plants quite quickly, but New York has been getting a decent amount of rain, so Mother Nature's helping me out.

I can't in good conscience sit here, bragging about Fred and George, though, because, well, I have to show you the rest of the fire escape garden...

As you can see, tomatoes doing great, basil growing fine, and then there are the carcasses of oregano and parsley... You can also see the empty pot that was going to hold cilantro, but I've never gotten around to it. What you can't see is to the right of the window, begonias and an azalea that died a horribly slow death. Even more annoying than getting plants upstairs and potted outside is getting dead plants into trash bags and downstairs. The neighbors below surely don't appreciate little clods of dirt splatting on their nice, metal deck. Ah, well, at least there's Fred and George, until my salad feast, anyway.

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Blog updating note: As you probably noticed, I updated the sidebar to show my professional-ish websites and my profiles for various social media things. I like having all of my "digital selves" in one spot - makes my digital self feel more unified. I have a couple more goals for updating the blog: 1) new design/color scheme, 2) new name - I'm just not diggin' Morgan's Cozy Chair anymore, and 3) maybe a new font too, I like fonts.

Revamping the old blog

I suspect that you have just about given up on me. Almost a full year has elapsed since my last post! I am re-committing myself to the world of blogging, though. I have plans to revamp over the next few days. Await with anticipation!

Some highlights from the last year?

Summer of 2011, we found we were expecting our second baby!

I started teaching Sociology at Molloy College in the Fall of 2011.

Chad and I went to Taiwan just before the Christmas holidays. Yet again I traveled internationally while 6 months pregnant. Yes, the food was an issue, but I loved seeing my friend from graduate school, who now lives in Taipei.

Cora turned two in January of 2012. She talks non-stop now.

Ewan John was born in April of 2012. He is now a chubby, happy baby boy.

Currently, I am getting back up to speed on life. We are fully settled into our Brooklyn neighborhood. I am working on getting my pre-pregnancy body back and have lost 20+ pounds, using AdvoCare nutritional supplements and diet plans, which have been totally amazing for me. Also, lifting a double stroller up and down stairs has really helped tone my biceps. I am prepping for my Sociology classes in the fall, hoping to be ahead of the game before classes start.

I'll be using this summer lull to re-think the purpose of this blog (which is probably an indication that I'm re-thinking the purpose of my life, although that's almost too heavy to say out loud). Thanks for sticking with me!

Weighing on my mind: How does one blog encapsulate all of one's life, when one has so many roles? Mom, wife, cook, entertainer, teacher of Sociology, freelance editor, distributor of AdvoCare nutritional products, interested in graphics and design, reader of many books, subscriber to many blogs, seeker of adventure, seeker of peace, seeker of God. So many aspects of life and only one blog? This seems to be a common concern for other bloggers - how do you do it?

Traveling with baby (packing)

If you're approaching the first trip with baby and you're anything like me, you're probably making lists and fretting over forgetting something. Since I've now made at least 30 trips with my 18-month-old, though, I'm just too tired for lists these days! But I'll provide some sample packing lists, which have changed as Cora has aged.

For a five-day trip with Cora at 0-6 months:
-10 outfits
-6 onsies/pjamas
-6 paris of socks
-25 burp cloths (she used to spit up a lot!)
-(8*5=) 40 diapers
-a refill pack of wipes
-a large handful diaper trash bags (I don't have time to count all those!)
-breastpump in Medela bag, with pump-and-save bags and charger!
-5 bottles and nipples
-nursing shawl
-at least two blankets, one thin and dark to create shade for a nap
-travel-sized baby shampoo, lotion, and wash cloth
-sunscreen & hat
-children's Benadryl, Tylenol, thermometer, and medicine dropper
-a couple of interesting rattle toys and soft books
This stage is hard because you're probably a new mom and still trying to get a handle on feeding and naps at home, both of which harder on a trip! The strategy with little ones is just covering their necessities. They don't really need to be entertained yet. I always traveled with a Medela breast pump, just in case. I travel with one bottle for each feeding during the day. You may choose to travel with fewer and wash them throughout the day. I also traveled with all the burp cloths I would need because washing while traveling is stressful to me. I'd rather pack to many and wash them all when I get home. Bring blankets for tummy time or nap time.
My essential travel gear at this age: a baby Bjorn (or similar), an inflatable bathtub, a tent for naps or nighttime in rougher conditions! We also brought an ipod shuffle/speaker to play music, so that she could fall asleep with some familiar sounds.


For a five-day trip with Cora at 6-12 months:
-8 outfits
-6 pajamas
-6 pairs of socks
-one/two pairs of shoes
-5 burp cloths
-10-15 bibs
-(6*5=) 30 diapers
-a refill pack of wipes
-diaper trash bags
-enough formula for the whole trip*1.3 (you use formula faster than you'd imagine!)
-4 bottles
-one sippy cup
-3 spoons, 3 forks (wash as needed)
-10-15 jars of baby food (enough to last the trip)
-also consider these cool tubes of baby food!
-at least two blankets, one thin and dark to create shade for a nap
-travel-sized baby shampoo, lotion, and wash cloth
-sunscreen & hat
-children's Benadryl, Tylenol, thermometer, and medicine dropper
-toys and books! more important as baby ages
This is a hard age. They're still having breast milk/formula, and they're adding in solids, they need more entertainment, and they're mobile! We took Cora to Europe for 3 weeks at 7-8 months. Difficult, but it can be done.
My essential baby gear for this age: an Ergo carrier (better weight distribution for babies 18-30 pounds), the inflatable bathtub, the tent, and the ipod shuffle/speaker.


For a five-day trip with Cora at 12-18 months:
-6 outfits
-6 pajamas
-6 pairs of socks
-one/two pairs of shoes
-10 bibs
-two spoons, two forks (wash as needed)
-straws (for a thirsty kiddo who can't handle a regular cup and sippy cup is dirty)
-sippy cup
-2-3 juice boxes
-2 bottles (yes, she still drinks milk from a bottle...)
-(6*5=) 30 diapers
-a refill pack of wipes
-diaper trash bags
-nonperishable snacks: goldfish, crackers, banana chips, etc.
-two blankets, one thin and dark
-travel-sized baby shampoo, lotion, and wash cloth
-sunscreen & hat
-children's Benadryl, Tylenol, thermometer, and medicine dropper
-toys, toys, toys! (so important at this age!)
This age is hard because entertainment is crucial. (Notice: every age is hard, just a different sort of hard, ha.) I carry a tote bag devoted to toys to use on the plane, in a restaurant, and any other situation we might be faced with. I'll do a separate post on toys. Milk and food we buy on the go.
My essential gear for this age is the Ergo baby carrier, a tote bag for toys, and the ipod shuffle/speaker. I don't bother with the tent because she is old enough to just let us know when she's up. I don't bother with the bath tub because she can stand in a shower now.


For all ages, I use packing cubes like these and these. I have 7 in a variety of sizes for outfits, onsies, socks/shoes, diapers, toys, etc. Keeping all the little baby things in separate cubes helps keep me organized and sane. Have a bag of some sort (even a plastic trash bag) for dirty clothes.

One last note on packing for travel with baby: Try not to be intimidated! Your first trip, in particular, will be difficult. You'll forget something. The baby will cry in some embarrassing situation. Naps will be missed, meals will be missed! It's okay - you'll survive and so will baby. Every time you take a trip, you'll get better at it.
Any other tips from traveling moms/dads/caretakers? Please, chime in!

Traveling with baby (by plane)

In the first 18 months of her life, Cora has traveled close to 60,000 miles by plane, and several thousand by car and plane. So, some of my friends have pegged me as a go-to person for traveling with baby advice. I don't know that there is any perfect way to travel with a baby or toddler, but since it's an intimidating prospect, I thought I'd offer a few posts (this being the first) on my "advice," such as it is. Keep in mind that every child's different. Every time you travel, you'll learn something you should do next time.

By Plane
The biggest struggle for plane travel is baggage, in my opinion. You need to be able to get through security, boarding, and settling into your seat without too much baggage juggling. I usually pack a small rolling suitcase (my luggage), a small duffel (Cora's), a diaper back/purse, and a backpack. I carry Cora in a Baby Ergo carrier. I used a Baby Bjorn until she was about 18 pounds, then I went to the Ergo. A baby carrier is an absolute necessity, especially if you're traveling alone with the baby. I try to avoid taking a stroller or car seat, but if I'll need them at my destination, I check them at the check-in counter. I also check my rolling bag and duffel. (Being Gold status at American means my bags are free, so be informed of any checked bag fees. Stroller and car seat should generally be free, on any airline.)

While at the check-in counter, I ask if there are any other seats available that might give me some extra room, like two empty seats together. As long as you're nice, the airline employees will usually be nice to you! American often reserves a row for handicapped or baby travelers, so it's definitely worthwhile to ask.

I head to security with Cora in the Ergo, a diaper bag/purse, and backpack. Be aware that you'll need to take off baby's shoes and jackets, as well as your own. You'll also have to take the baby out of the carrier and run the carrier through the x-ray machine. You can take liquids, like milk and juice, but store them in a bottle or sippy cup. TSA will run a chemical test on them, but it's totally sanitary and saf. If you're flying international, most airports will also allow baby liquids, but the UK will require that you take a sip of any liquids you bring on, to show that they don't contain hazardous material. Don't ask me why the UK just doesn't do a chemical test!

Once at the gate, I make sure all both of my bags are ready for the plane. I know I'll put the diaper bag in the overhead bin and the backpack under the seat in front of me. I make sure the backpack has these items:

-full sippy cup
-bottle, ready to go
-small tupperware of snacks (strawberries or cereal)
-cheese stick, Cora's favorite filling snack
-several books for Cora, especially liftable flap books
-small spiral notebook and pencil, for Cora to draw
-stickers, for when the drawing gets boring
-other plane toys - I'll post separately on toy strategies
-a blanket
-my book
-my cell phone

The diaper bag has the other essentials that I want with me but that I won't need access to immediately on take off. If I have to change her diaper on the plane, I'll have to get up anyway, so I leave her diaper-changing things in the overhead compartment, along with:
-a dose of children's Benadryl - you never know!
-extra juice
-extra snacks
-empty bottle
-change of clothes
-tissues
-my purse items, like wallet and camera

Once I make sure everything's in place, I'm ready to board the plane, with Cora in the Ergo. I find my seat, put the diaper bag above, put the sippy cup in the seat pocket, slide the backpack underneath, and plunk myself into the seat. Whew - we made it! I take Cora out of the Ergo, and set her on my lap.

If you get this far, you're as ready as ready can be, and now it's just a matter of surviving. Small babies will need to nurse or suck on a bottle at take off and landing to pop their ears, although I think take off is most important. Plan carefully, so that your baby will still be sucking 5 minutes after the wheels have lifted from the ground. If you're nursing, heaven help you, because it's hard in those narrow seats! But it can be done. I was never good at keeping the shawl on while nursing on the plane, so you might have to just do your best and be okay with showing a little boob. Other passengers will live, and no one will be obnoxious enough to complain about you nursing a baby. Older babies (8 months+) can do just fine with a sippy cup to pop their ears.

If baby falls asleep during take off or landing, I say leave him asleep! Even when Cora was small, 9 times out of 10, if she fell asleep during pressure change, she was totally fine when she woke up.

The time between take off and landing is the real challenge. All I can say is the difficulty depends on your child. If your child can walk and is used to going wherever she wants, whenever she wants, you're going to have the flight from hell. If you have training time before you leave on your trip, schedule time during the day for your child to sit in her high chair for 20-30 minutes. She must stay there, but you can sit next to her, giving her books to read or toys to play with. If she can't stay in a high chair for 20-30 minutes, well, you have a problem. Try to do this every day until your flight. If she can stay in the high chair for 20-30 minutes, you will probably be alright on the plane. All children have a short attention span, though, so you'll need to rotate toys every 10 minutes or so on the plane.

Once you can move about the cabin, you can take baby for a walk, but don't plan on being able to do that the whole flight, because flight attendants and other passengers need to use the aisle too, and there's rarely a place to stand that's out of the way.

Hopefully, you'll only have to entertain baby for up to an hour before it's nap time. Cora still takes 2 naps a day, so whether it's a morning or afternoon flight, she generally sleeps 60-90 minutes on the plane. If it's a long flight, and your kiddo can't calm down, I think it's totally okay to resort to children' Benadryl. If under 2, give a half dose. When Cora was little, we'd put a half dose in her take-off bottle. It makes them tired quickly, and cranky, so they'll probably cry as their settling down, but if the crying lasts fewer than 5 minutes, most passengers don't mind too much.

We'll talk plane toys strategy and packing strategy another day, but those are my first thoughts for traveling with baby by plane.

Hoboken vs. Brooklyn

Today, I had to go back to Hoboken for some miscellaneous errands (pick up dry cleaning, return cable box, etc), and the 5 hour trip gave me some time to think about life in Hoboken, and how life in Brooklyn is different so far.

Hoboken is..
..small and easy to navigate. (It's only a square mile, remember.)
..car-friendly, in that many apartment buildings have parking.
.modern, or apartments there at least have the modern conveniences, like dishwasher, disposal, central A/C washer/dryer.
..safe enough that I felt comfortable walking about a mile to church Sunday evenings.
..cheaper than living in Manhattan.
..baby-friendly, since at least half of Hobokenites have kids.

As a mom in Hoboken, I liked having my car. I liked driving to Wal-Mart/Sams, Pier 1, and Ikea. However, it also meant that I usually couldn't walk to the things I needed. The grocery store was just a little too far (8-9 blocks, I'm a wuss, you don't have to tell me). The hair salons in our neighborhood were way too expensive. I didn't even know where a hardware store was. The closest coffee was Dunkin Donuts, and we were near any restaurants, either. Granted, we lived in the deserted Northwest corner, but that's where the good deals were. All the haps are in the Southeast corner of Hoboken, but it's expensive to live down there, and you still aren't in the city - you have to take the PATH, the subway-like train, and then transfer to a subway. Heck, we didn't even live near the PATH, it took me at least 25 minutes just to get to the PATH, then 20 minutes on the PATH, then transfer to a subway. You're talking 60-90 minutes from our apartment to a location in the city.

However, I will say that I liked the open sidewalks, the park 3 blocks away, the friendly neighbors (when I saw them), the elevator in our building, and having a washer/dryer in the apartment. I also liked our leisurely weekend afternoons, when we could walk to the water and see the Manhattan skyline - you can't beat Hoboken's view of the city.

Brooklyn is..
..close to the city. We live within three blocks of four subway lines, which means that I can walk to the one I need and take it to my destination, without transferring. Of course, we do live with the sound of one of those subway lines, rumbling underneath the floorboards, but it just sounds like distant thunder...underground.
..cool all on its own. With Prospect Park, the Botanic Gardens, the Central Public Library, a home-grown brewery, and more bars/restaurants than you can shake a stick at, Brooklyn is a tourist destination.
..full of neighborhood conveniences. There's a little market down the street, or I can walk to the giant (seriously, Texas-sized) grocery store four-five blocks away. There's a pharmacy across the street, a hardware store across the street, a laundromat around the corner, an awesome nail place around the corner, it goes on.
..expensive! Eesh, we are paying through the nose to live here.
..part of New York City, and that means you pay city taxes, grr.
..old, which is a plus and a minus. It's a plus because I love, love our tin-impression ceilings, decorative archways, and aged wood floors. It's a minus because we don't have a dishwasher, garbage disposal, central A/C, or washer/dryer.
..totally hipster, which is also a plus and a minus. Hipsters love local beer, tasty food, fresh produce, and crafty fairs (all of which I love too), but they do weird things like raise chickens in the tiny brownstone backyards.

As a mom in Brooklyn, I love all the kid-friendly activities that are literally in our neighborhood. I haven't gone to any of them yet, because we're still unpacking and traveling quite a bit, but there's music in the park, story time at the library, and yoga for toddlers down the street. I love the Burrito Bar across the street, with its delicious happy hour margaritas and super kid-friendly service. They tie a balloon to the highchair for your kid to play with! I love the fantastic coffee shop down the street. I love that we now live between two parks, one on the way to the Texas-sized grocery store, and one on the way to boutique shopping.

However, I do not love lugging the stroller up and down stairs all the time. My arms are going to be awesome in a few weeks. We live on the second floor, so all our groceries and laundry go up and down, up and down, along with the baby and the stroller. Speaking of which, I do not like doing laundry at a laundromat or washing all the dishes by hand. I also am still uncomfortable with out my trusty SUV. We had to do Ikea exchanges (twice!), and we had to hire movers to pick up, take to Ikea, and bring back. That gets inconvenient and pricey.

So, I'd say Brooklyn wins, which is good because now that we're close to unpacked, there's no way I'm moving again any time soon!

Colorful New Apartment

My amazing sister slept on our couch for two weeks (!) so she could be here to help pack, paint, and babysit. Let's just say she has a great, big IOU coupon coming in the mail!

I've moved many times, so the packing isn't very exciting, but the painting, now that was exciting. The new apartment has three spaces, which we're using as living, dining, and library, separated by decorative, flat arches. The ceiling of the living room has an impressed tin ceiling that was painted white. We knew we wanted to accentuate the arches and the tin ceiling and that we wanted color. This is terribly mean of me, but I'm not posting pictures of the actual rooms just yet. Once I clear out the boxes, I'll post pictures. In the meantime, here are the colors from the Benjamin Moore Historic Colors line:

Living Room, Wythe

Library, Stratton

Dining Room, Georgian Brick

And then for the master bedroom, which also has a decorative, impressioned tin ceiling, we went with Rockport Gray.

Pictures of the actual rooms coming sometime, but unpacking with a baby is a little slow-going!

Moving to Brooklyn

It's really happening, folks! We're moving to Brooklyn in June. It's a beautiful, three-bedroom place, with high ceilings, two non-working fireplaces (all the fireplaces up here are plugged up, mostly for liability reasons), a living room, a dining room, and a room that we'll make into a library. Also, it's very close to the subway that Chad will take into work, so his commute will only be 20 minutes. For Cora and I, the apartment is close to a couple of playgrounds, the giant and beautiful Prospect Park, and the public library, which has a huge children's reading area. We're giving up a few modern conveniences, like a dishwasher and a washer/dryer, but I'd say that for all the other things we're gaining, it's totally worth it!

Since we're hoping to be settled in Brooklyn for the rest of our time in NYC, I'm officially going on the job hunt. So, if you know of an awesome place to work in the New York area that is looking for someone to write, edit, research, and maybe do some fun design work, let me know. =)

Breaking into card-making

I made my first card! Several of the people who do scrapbooking blogs I love also make cards, so I've been seeing others' beautiful designs for months now and contemplating throwing my hat into the card-making ring. As of this morning, my hat is in the ring, and here's the proof:

A graduation card for a friend made with a plain white card, some scrapbooking paper, an my cricut. I do love my cricut. And it was refreshing to have a small project that I can start, complete, and hand off to my friend, all in one day. Scrapbooking is a bit more of a long-term, involved process. In fact, I'm working on one now, I suppose I'll post about that next time.

House-hunting in Brooklyn

Now, if you know me in rl, as my mmo player buddies used to say in reference to someone they knew in real life, you have probably already heard something of my house-hunting woes through facebook or some other online outlet. If you're my mom, you've heard every tear-inducing incident over the phone. (Thanks, Mom.)

But, this is a blog about what it's like to be a mom in the NYC area, and moving is a very big part of that! Especially when you move as much as we do. Since we were married in 2007, we have lived in a one-bedroom apartment in Denver for one month, a two-bedroom apartment in Nashville for 12 months (with a summer stay in a one-bedroom apartment in Berlin in the middle of that lease), a two-bedroom duplex in Nashville for 14 months (with a two-month stay in a one-bedroom apartment in Buenos Aires, immediately followed by a two-month stay in a different shared three-bedroom apartment also in Buenos Aires in the middle of that lease), and now a two-bedroom apartment in Hoboken, NJ for the last 8 months. Oh wow, let's all just take a deep breath...and re-read that because it looks like craziness...

Since we are dangerously close to breaking our record for longest stay in a single place, we're really itching to move again. Just kidding, that's not it. The real issue is that it still takes Chad 45 minutes to get to work, even when he takes the expensive ferry, and it takes me 1 hour to 1 1/2 hours to get anywhere in the city. The times are nearly doubled if it's a night or a weekend because Hoboken is a commuter town. We like to go to the city during times other than 8am-7pm, though!

So, we've set our sights on Park Slope in Brooklyn, the coolest, cutest little neighborhood that is juuuust barely within our financial budget, assuming I continue to cook every blessed meal of every day. Or until I get a job, ha. Anyway, we've also decided that we really, really need a three-bedroom apartment. It sounds so greedy! But the third bedroom can be tiny, as long as it fits a desk and a crib, that's all! Guests may have to sleep on the couch - sorry!

We have figured out all the logistics, though: train times, monthly budgets, selling my car, parks in the area, grocery stores in the area, everything. All we need now is the place. Enter realtors. Dun, dun, DUUNNNN! (I really need a more interactive blog for this kind of storytelling.) Realtors have this peculiar arrangement in Brooklyn. Landlords release information to realtors about an apartment for rent, 4 or 5 different realtors post to craigslist and such, and potential tenants call/email/text realtors for access to the apartment. Realtors, at their leisure, respond to potential tenants, arrange for a time to see the place, accept deposits, and handle the contracts.

Keep in mind, the potential tenant (ie, myself) is the one who has to scour craigslist and such, harass the realtor into finding time to show the place (because the realtor is SOO busy with 300 other apartments on the market), be stood up by the realtor (who is still SOO busy with other apartments), arrange another time, almost get stood up again, find out that the realtor went to the wrong address (300 addresses to keep track of!), and finally meet the realtor at the desired apartment. The potential tenant (again, me) then has to ask many questions about utilities, when the place is available, laundry, and such, only to find that the realtor knows 10% of the answers (because it gets confusing with so many apartments). Then, because there are 3 other potential tenants who are going to see the apartment in 15 minutes, the first potential tenant (me) must decide very quickly whether or not to put down a deposit because there's a 95% likelihood that the next person who sees the place will.

AAAAND the potential tenant is supposed to pay the realtor's fee! That's 12% of the annual rent, which, at $3000/month is somewhere around $4,320! WHAT?!? You make me do the research, harass you into meeting me, and not expect you to know anything about the apartment, AND you want me to pay you over $4,000 dollars!!! What's worse, the other potential tenants don't seem to mind. We've lost several apartments because we tried to negotiate having the landlord pay the realtor's fee, and we were scooped by some other louse who would.

The realtor is bad, but sometimes the landlord is just as bad. Every single time you ask to see a place, the realtor asks who is moving in, to which I reply, "Myself, my husband, and our child." 60% of the time, the realtor reports back that the landlord does not think the apartment is suitable for one trivial reason or another, and I begin to get the feeling that the landlord simply does not want children in his building (I won't say his/her because it's always "his").

Even when the landlord "allows" me to see the apartment, we travel 1 1/2 hours to Brooklyn, we wrangle the realtor into meeting with me, and we love the place and put down the deposit, still - STILL - there are problems. The last landlord didn't like our financial paperwork because Chad had only been working for 3 months. He has a job at an awesome law firm in Manhattan, and that's not good enough?! The sleazy landlord rented it to someone else, and we're still working on getting our deposit back.

I never knew that moving could be so horribly hard. I've been actually very lucky because Cora's been in Texas with grandparents for almost 2 weeks, but most of my time has been fruitlessly wasted on this house-hunting business in Brooklyn. I feel sorry for little Cora because she's about to get dragged to Brooklyn every day. At least she likes the subway and being outside. It's warm, so maybe we can play on dirty doorsteps while we wait to be stood up by realtors.

Sorry this is such a downer post, but finding an apartment in the City when you have a kid is no fun at all. I know it will all work out in the end; it always does. I just want the end to come soon! And then we will host lots and lots of guests in our cool Brooklyn apartment and show them all sorts of fun in NYC. Just have to keep my eye on the prize.

What do you do with a one-year-old?

Continued.
Yes, I'm still wondering what to do with my one-year-(and-three-months)-old. Paper dolls always seems like a fun activity, but she's far too destructive for paper products to last long.

Then, I remembered that my friend had given me magnet dolls - genius! And Cora did love taking them off the filing cabinet, putting them in a different place, and watching as they still stick. She doesn't really get that the outfits go on top of the little people, but I let her organize the world as she sees fit. Here's what the set of 8 people and 8 outfits looks like:

This inspired me to make another spin on the paper doll - the felt doll. Normal felt does stick to itself/other felt, but Cora really loves velcro. So, I thought why not stick velcro on the back of stiff felt? Works like a charm! I got the patterns to cut out from the smile and wave blog, and after a little tracing, cutting, and applying self-adhesive velcro dots, here was the finished product:
Well, not quite. The doll actually had a blue wig, but Cora put in her "secret stash" somewhere, so for this picture, I just stuck on one of the shapes I'd cut out.

Truthfully, Cora could care less that this is a cute doll with a fashionable little dress on. So, I'll have to weigh the pros and cons for future cut-outs. Do I painstakingly carve out flattering dresses, skirts, pants, and shoes for our little doll? Or do I just cut out your basic triangle, square, pentagon shapes and slap some velcro on them, let the kid entertain herself with the mere "scrrnch" of ripping velcro over and over and over again? Probably some of both. I think I'll do a board, like the smile and wave blog did, and have a couple dolls with some outfits, along with quite a few random shapes.

Bottom line: success! One-year-ish-old entertained by both magnet and felt dolls for 15 minutes!