9 Months and Counting

Pregnancy does not last nine months, people, no matter what They say.  Forty weeks – you do the math.  What a cruel joke!  I feel much bigger this time around, like I have a huge, pointy bullet on the front of my body.  This, despite other women insisting I can’t possibly be due next month, and do I want to see pictures of their pregnancies?  It doesn’t help that one of the ladies trying to make me feel better was thinking of her own pregnant belly while carrying twins – both seven pounds at that.  Okay, you win – I’m not that big!

It’s been fun trying to figure out what to wear in the mornings.  As Nikki says, it’s like trying to keep clothes on a basketball!  The shirts ride up, the pants roll down – *sigh*  And I’m so clumsy!  My stomach bumps into things, I keep dropping things on the floor, looking like an idiot while expending all my energy leaning over to pick them up.  And cooking… my belly is a safety hazard!  Leaning over the griddle one night while making quesadillas, I thought – gosh, my belly feels warm.  Yup, it was bumping into the burner.  And I’m not getting any sleep, which is great practice for having a newborn in the house.

Every other pregnant woman I know will be un-pregnant before me!  Sarah, my friend from high school, just welcomed her baby boy last week (I need to see pictures!).  It’s nice being pregnant along with someone you know, and I really wanted to make her something.  I had some leftover flannel and chenille and sewed up a few baby wipes, since she also cloth diapers.  Then I decided to try something different – a baby bow tie!  I looked at a few different tutorials*, combining my favorite aspects of each of them.  I love how it turned out and hope she does, too.  Since the bow tie is probably supposed to fit an older baby-toddler, I made it more adjustable with some pearl snaps.

I also tried my hand at making some new plushies recently, including the mermaid for Sarah’s daughter so she would have a Big Sis gift.

I’m not crazy about the little birdies and how they came together, but I love the mermaiden and am hoping to make some more after I play around with the pattern a bit.

Since I was one week early with Gwen’s birth and three weeks early with Josiah’s,  I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll go early again.  Is it bad that I’m only counting on being pregnant for another week?  Gotta pack my hospital bag!

*Bow Tie tutorials:
One Dog Woof’s Little Boy’s Bow Tie Tutorial
Salty Pineapple’s Bow Ties
Life is {Sew} Daily’s Bow Ties for Baby & Toddler
See Kate Sew’s Double Bow Tie Tutorial for Boys

The Kiddos’ Birthday Bash

Both of my children were born the week of Thanksgiving, their birthdays two days apart.  And every year around Thanksgiving I ponder the question of whether or not to combine their birthdays with the holiday to simplify.  But something always holds me back because I feel like they’ll miss out or get lost in the shuffle.  Aside from that, I run the risk of not being able to invite friends and family who are with their own relatives.

So once again, after doing our own thing for each of the kids on their respective birthdays, we had a family party the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  It worked out nicely because it was earlier in the afternoon, which gave us more daylight during which the kids could play outside and more time before telling them they had to stop playing with their new toys and go to bed.

I was thrilled that Gwen loved her Princess and the Pea set.  She was very quiet about the whole thing, which is typical for her, but she thanked me more than once for making it and set about playing with it right away.  She even named the doll “Petunia.” *grin*  For her birthday she told me she wanted pancakes for breakfast, burgers for lunch and macaroni & cheese for dinner.  Sounds good to me!  I made cranberry-chocolate-chip pancakes, we went to Crazy Burger for lunch (so good!) and then had Annie’s shells – a family favorite – for dinner.  She requested ice cream for dessert, but since I didn’t feel like spending the money for all of us to go out somewhere, I bought amaretto cherry gelato from Target – it was heavenly!

Josiah was a little less decided about what he wanted for his birthday – he would be content to stuff his face with fruit all day!  Gwen was with her grandma so he got to spend the day with Mommy and Daddy.  He opened gifts over breakfast and then we – along with my visiting twin brother and his wife – went to my weekly doctor’s appointment and got to see pictures of the baby (always a bit nerve-wracking because you don’t know if something is wrong, but still a highlight of my week).  We went to Panera for lunch, hung out with Aunt and Uncle making silly faces on their IPad and had healthy chocolate chip cookie pie for birthday dessert.

I ended using some of the birthday ideas I had stowed away, making a lemon-raspberry cake (based on this recipe) with a colorful pom pom garland.  I made an extra half recipe of the cake to make cupcakes, stacking two of them to make mini cakes for the kiddos.  The mini cakes were cute – especially on slices of cedar that Daddy cut – albeit a bit tipsy.  Somewhat said they looked a bit Seuss-ish; I’ll take that as a compliment!

Aside from cake and ice cream we had homemade Martinelli’s in a big punch bowl, cheese and crackers, pita chips with homemade lentil dip and pizza hummus, an assortment of fresh fruit and peanut M&Ms (thank you, Halloween clearance).

I absolutely love how the ruffled streamers turned out and almost wish I had made more – though I had two huge rolls when all was said and done.  Dan and Jenn were good sports and helped me string them from the beams and loft railing across the living room ceiling.  I put some random streamers across a white tablecloth for the food table.

We were so blessed to have both local and out-of-town family be a part of our celebration.  I’m always telling people not to bring gifts, but of course they come anyway, and they were a big hit.  The kiddos have been enjoying all their generous gifts – Gwen decorating and stocking her new jewelry box, playing with her snazzy dollhouse, watching “Brave” and practicing archery with a homemade bow and arrow.  Josiah is utterly cute and smashing in his fire chief boots and has hardly taken them off, wearing them while riding his wooden trike, playing with his new puzzles and tractors and eating fruit snacks.

Despite all the wonderful happenings and celebrations last week, and the fact that I’m a bit sad we had to say goodbye to faraway family, I’m glad things have settled down a bit and we’re back to our normal routine.  December, here we come!

Toddler T-Shirt Dress & Ruffled Diaper Cover

After having fun upcycling tops into tanks and t-shirts into undies, I requested a bunch of hand-me-down tees from family members who didn’t want them anymore.  Consequently, I have a stack of t-shirts just waiting to be refashioned. 

Nikki celebrated her daughter’s first birthday recently, and I knew I wanted to make her something.  When I saw made‘s tutorial for The WARHOL Dress, I knew I had to try it.  I picked contrasting t-shirts for each dress and kept it simple, opting not to do any embellishment on the front.  Since the smaller size of the original pattern is for 6-12mos, I simply traced a slightly larger pattern onto paper.  

These were pretty simple to put together, and I love the details – like the gathered neckline and the bow. 

 

 

I could have stopped there, but thought I would try my hand at a matching diaper cover – again, thanks to made’s tutorial for the perfect diaper cover.  I didn’t have enough of the navy material leftover, but I had enough to make a matching cover for the red dress.  While I was at it, I figured I would experiment and turn it into a ruffle-bum diaper cover – because babies with ruffle bums are oh-so-adorable! 

 

Let me tell you - I love how it turned out, but working with t-shirt material for a diaper cover was a pain in the butt (no pun intended)!  The seams wouldn’t stay crisp so it was… uh… interesting sewing up the channels for the elastic.

I have so many things on my sewing project list my head is positively spinning, but I may just have to make one of these for Gwen sometime – before she gets too tall!

Mommy Necklace

I love when my friends make wish lists – it makes it so much easier to shop for them, or at least get an idea of their current tastes and interests.  Every now and then I check and see what’s been added – sometimes I may actually have the desired item to pass on and other times I find it on sale. 

When I noticed that Nikki wanted a Mommy Necklace, I figured – I can make one of those!  Of course, it would figure that most of my stash includes glass beads, whereas the mommy necklaces are made of acrylic beads.  And unless you shop on Etsy or go to a specialty store, you’re hard-pressed to find acrylic beads that don’t look like they were made for kids’ crafts.  It was hard at first to narrow down all the delicious color combinations, but once I chose the beads I liked it wasn’t too hard to pick a theme. 

 

Now, finding the donut bead pendants was another story.  There were none to be had and I couldn’t find the color I wanted on Etsy… until I finally happened upon EcoBeads Tagua.  I fell in love with their Lime Green Tagua Rings but figured the color might be too bright and the holes too small.  The Chocolate Brown Tague Rounded Rings were another consideration (I love the rich color!) but I finally settled on the Blue Green Donuts since the color was perfect.

Since I picked out quite a few bead styles and had a couple on hand, it took a while working out a suitable pattern.  I love how it turned out and hope Nikki (and baby Liberty!) likes it.  

 

I may have extra to make another mommy necklace, maybe for my Etsy shop?
***EDIT: I ended up making two of these, so this one is for sale!

Thankful

We have a ritual - every night at dinnertime or bedtime, I ask everyone what his or her favorite part of the day was.  Gwen usually thinks about it and gives me a thoughtful answer.  Josiah goes, “Hm… tractor.”  More often than not, Phil will say “Spending time with my family.”  And while I’m usually looking for something more – a specific part of the day - I have to agree with his sentiment.

Whenever I think about those things for which I am grateful, it always comes down to people.  Family.  Friends who are family.  Special moments comprised of spending time with loved ones, sharing love and life and laughter, creating memories.   

I am so thankful for him:

And these two things:

I could go on and list some of the more material things I’m glad to have – like my new washer, the fabulous cowboy boots I got for my birthday, the talents God has given me so I can knit and craft… but there’s nothing in the world I’d rather have more than my family.

Looking forward to spending the day with family tomorrow (or, rather, today – eeek, is it that late?).  Remembering those who aren’t with us and thanking God for his blessings and provision.  And now I need to get my butt in bed so I’ll be able to handle family. 

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

1 Thessalonians 5:18
“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

Psalm 100:4b
“Be thankful to Him and bless His name.  For the Lord is good, oh the Lord is good.”

Psalm 107:1
“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever.”