printable

The Story That I Love You

Posted by Nat on Sep 6, 2011 | 1 comment

I’ve been seeing so many lovely things via Pinterest that are free downloads to print.  Check out my favorites on my “Don’t You Know” board, here.  I have a big project in mind for them, but in the meantime, I wanted to throw something out there as a thank you for everyone giving me so many free downloads.  So, here’s your freebie.  I made it on Picnik, and it’s not super fancy, but I like it.  You can read below for the background, as you should, or you can just download and move on.  If you do download this, please do the nice thing and leave a comment– I love comments, as all bloggers do. 🙂  You should be able to click on the one you want and then save to your computer.  Please let me know if it doesn’t work!

And with a frame:

So the background…

Do you have songs you sing to your kids?  Songs you think no one else knows, not because everyone else is ignorant, but because no one else could possibly be as in love with their kids as you are with yours?  Perhaps my background as a music teacher gives me a different take on singing to my kids, too- we sing constantly in our house and in the car (which feels like an extension of our house these days).  I’ve been blessed with a husband who loves to sing (and is good at it) and kids who love to listen to us- at least for now.  Someday soon it will be embarrassing, I’m sure.

Anna requests songs at naptime and bedtime.  It’s pretty cute.   She has a pretty standard set list- her “Anna Song” which I made up in a hazy, sleep-deprived, exhausted state just hours after she was born, “All the Pretty Little Horses,”  and a few others.  A few days ago, however, she wanted something different.  I’d been waiting for something new- while I love singing to her, I like variety, and we’d been singing the same songs for a long time.

Being a former music teacher, I have a plethora of songs in my brain to pull from.  For some reason, “The Riddle Song” came to mind.  I first heard it when I was training for some music teaching stuff- my mentor and amazing Goddess of folk music, Jill Trinka, sings a beautiful version, my favorite, which you can hear here .  It’s also from the 15th century, and was in a National Lampoon’s movie, too, which you can read more about here (the lyrics on this link are different from mine, as is the way of the folk song).  I sang it to Anna and she has been requesting it ever since, which is a good sign that she loves it.  Many other versions are so. Very. Cheesy.  So when you hear Carly Simon or Joan Baez warbling it away, that’s not what the song sounds like to me.  The line I made into the freebie is what makes the song for me- I just love the thought of someone’s love never ending, whether it’s love between parent and child or between two grown adults.  Or two kids.  Or two animals.  I’m a sap- can you tell?

I plan on putting this up in our house somewhere soon- not sure where.  I hope you enjoy it!

Health Record (Freebie!)

Posted by Nat on Jun 15, 2011 | 1 comment

This project is not rocket science.  Nor is it the coolest invention ever- but I haven’t seen anything like it, so hopefully it’s helpful.  It’s been bouncing around in my head for quite a while now.  It came about when my son, Jack, started having chronic ear infections.  At one point I took him to a Minute Clinic and the nurse asked me, “How many ear infections has he had in the last six months?” I had no idea.  I sheepishly said, “Well, it just seems like he’s been sick all the time since… since….”  but I couldn’t tell her when.  It wasn’t until I got home and started talking through the timeline with my husband that we could put a finger on when it started.

This was when I realized:  I need a health record for the kids.  I’ve seen them in old-fashioned baby books, but I’m not the kind of person that can remember once I get home to log everything into the baby book.  I also know there are some phone apps out there that will keep track of your health, your family’s health, etc…  But in this case I want something I can write on, something I can show someone else.

After not finding anything online that fit the bill, I decided to give it a try on my own.  I knew I wanted it to be small, and decided that something the same size as the kids’ immunization records would be nice.  I keep those in my purse at all times so that I don’t forget them when we go to the doctor.  I knew I wanted to keep track of when they were sick, what they had, and what, if anything, the doctor prescribed.  This is my final product:

I got the little nurse and doctor graphics online from the Mircosoft Word website.  This is not the craftiest thing, but I’m just as practical as I am crafty.   Here’s the inside:

And here you can see that they are just slightly larger than the immunization records we have.

And here’s my favorite part:  you can download pdfs of the cover and the inside and print them yourself!  All you need is some cardstock, a paper cutter, a small hole punch, and something to hold it all together- I used plain brads, but may replace them with something cuter if I find it.  Here’s my only request: please leave a comment if you download, and if you are a blogger, show me some linky-love, too. 🙂

You should be able to click on each of these links (two total) and download the pdfs.  You will end up with four covers- if you have extras give them to a mommy friend or as a baby shower gift- I wish I had thought of this when Anna was a baby….

Health record cover

health record inside

Once you print, just slice and dice your pages in half twice, punch a hole in the corner and secure with something- voila!

Update:  I’m linking up to “Serenity Now’s” Weekend Bloggy Reading.  If I don’t go into labor in the next 24 hours, I will be reading up on all of her links, too.  Thanks, Amanda!