Six Months

9.28.2012

I always chuckle when people see C out and about and say "oh, look how tiny she is!" because when I look at her, I can't help but think, "Oh my gosh!  She's a giant!"

I mean look how she looked six months ago.


And now look at her! I mean, she's reading for Pete's sake!


(Yes, I'm lame and I crack myself up.  I've come to accept it.  You probably should too.)

Making Plans

9.24.2012



When O was a newborn I feared the night because I knew that as soon as that sun set we were in for some unpleasant and very exhausting hours.  This girl loved to scream at night and the fact of the matter was that even when it was Ben's turn to be "on duty," I could hear her screaming through our hollow core doors (I always swore that I was going to get a solid door for our bedroom before having a second child.  Oops. Never happened).  So in anticipation of each evening and in an attempt to make each night a better night, Ben and I would come up with a new plan.

Night one: "Okay, tonight we're going to swaddle and then feed."

Night two: "Tonight we're going to feed, then swaddle, then rock."

Night three: "Maybe we'll just feed her tonight.  Maybe she doens't need to be swaddled anymore."

And so on and so forth. 

I was constantly trying to find the secret combination of things that would allow our little one to sleep peacefully (and therefore allow us to get some rest).


And now three years later I'm still trying to come up with plans and secret combinations - only this time it has nothing to do with sleep.  Instead it has to do with something even more scarce nowadays - time.

Time to get it all done. 
Time to do it well. 
Time to not feel like you're drowning under a to-do list a mile long.
Time to spend with your kids.
Time to spend with your spouse.


Honestly, most of the time I feel like I'm falling behind in each and every one of those categories and so at the beginning of every week I find myself trying to come up with a new plan on how to get things done.

Two weeks ago it involved running home during my lunch break and spending 30 minutes doing a load of dishes and folding laundry.  (Coming home to a house that is not a complete disaster?  Awesome!)

Last week it involved spending a lunch break grocery shopping so that we would have one less chore to do over the weekend. 

And this week it involved joining Costco in the hopes that if we can buy some things in bulk, it will result in fewer trips to Target and the grocery store and that'll allow us to spend more time just being together.


Because really, that's what I want more than anything - time to just be together - snuggling on the couch, reading books, telling stores, and laughing. 

Man, I wish they sold that in bulk at Costco.


* Pictures from our recent day at the Puyullup Fair, where I ate my weight in scones and fried food...and then felt completely disgusting afterwards. 


Gray + White = Love

9.17.2012

Sometimes the best things in life are the little things.



A beautiful sunrise.  An uninitiated "I love you" from your kiddo.  A new aisle that you discover at Joanns.



Would you believe that I'd never really been down the aisle of trim at Joanns?  Shocking, but true.  But somehow I ended up there the other day and I fell in love with the idea of making a simple little dress with white fluffy trim around the bottom of the bodice. 

I turned to my stash in attempt to use up what I have before buying something new and as luck would have it, I just so happened to have the perfect amount of light gray chambray fabric left over from this project.  Throw in the perfect little pattern (Simplicity 2828) that just so happened to be laying around our house and it's almost like this dress was meant to be.


I love the simplicity of the white and gray together.  And I'm a sucker for a good looking pleat and the cuteness of flutter sleeves.  The bodice is lined as the pattern recommends but I ended up slip-stitching the lining in to make it nice and pretty inside.  And I threw in a pink invisible zipper - although I suppose it's not so invisible since it's pink.


I left the dress rather long because

1) O is growing like a weed nowadays and
2) she loves to wear super long dresses.

In fact, if I left it up to her, I'm pretty sure that all her dresses would be floor length.  Hopefully, she'll settle for something a wee-bit shorter in this case.


* 5 minutes after these photos were taken, O smeared strawberries all over the dress.  That's right - you better run, child.


Thank You. Muchas Gracias. Merci Beaucoup.

9.12.2012

Remember when your parents told you not to give out your personal information to people you meet on the internet?  Well, I totally broke that rule.


In my defense, I'm pretty sure that my parents weren't talking about  people as nice as Jane (although if my children ever read this - DON'T GIVE OUT YOUR PERSONAL INFORMATION TO PEOPLE YOU MEET ON THE INTERNET!  EVER!).  Jane sews amazing clothes, parents three of the cutest (and most creative) boys you ever did see, and is pretty damn funny.  In short, I heart her.


And although it didn't seem possible, I think I heart her even more now and it's all thanks to a special little package that I received this weekend.  The package contained a sweet card from Jane, delicious chocolate for me, animal stickers for O (which entertained her for a good hour this weekend - thank you, Jane!) and a perfect little shirt for the babe.  Seriously, look how cute this fabric is (it's my first time touching a Spoonflower knit!) and I love the look of a patterned shirt with plain arm (Jane's signature look, I think).  It's still a bit big for little C, but I think it'll be perfect for her in the coming months.   Until then, C will just use the extra long sleeves to munch on.

Nom, nom, nom.  The shirt even tastes good.
Thank you so much, Jane!  (I just can't say it enough)

P.S. Baby C even liked the little bow you wrapped everything together with!

Another Year Older. Another Year Wiser?

9.08.2012


Between work, life and everything in between, it seems as if my birthday snuck up on me this year.


But despite its sneaky ways, we still found some time to celebrate (and by celebrate, I mean that I got to do whatever I wanted all weekend long... hiking, shopping, sewing, and eating massive amount of carrot cake...it's good to be one year older).




Oh, and did I mention that I totally kicked my sister's butt in a birthday arm wrestling contest?  (What?  You don't have those at your house?)  I should say for the record, though, that you've never met two people with less upper-body strength)


Sewing For Someone Besides Myself

9.03.2012


I'm not sure if you've noticed, but there's been a whole lot of selfish sewing going on here lately.  I've made project after project for me, me, and me and I have to admit, I've kind of loved it.  I sewed only one or two things for myself while I was pregnant so it's definitely been nice indulging in a little selfish sewing.  That said, it was about time for me to make a little something for some of the other people in my life - namely my awesome hubby.  He was long overdue for a handmade gift since I've made him just one thing in all the time that I've been sewing (this Green Pepper hat which is ridiculous but he actually uses a lot in the winter).  And he can thank the internet for finally giving me the kick in the butt that I needed to get sewing for him, because when I saw Kelli's version of McCalls 6044 I knew that that was the shirt that I was going to make for him.


And once I'd picked the pattern, like the nerdy couple that we are, we sat down together and picked out some buffalo plaid shirting from fashionfabricsclub.com.  As for the actual pattern, the only alteration that I made was to take 2.5 inches off of the length because while my husband is large in spirit, he is rather small in size (and he was very clear that he didn't want the shirt to be too long).


Fortunately it all worked out and the fit came out near perfect (if I do say so myself).  Of course, I told him after he tried it on "you know I'm going to make you take pictures in it, right?" to which he replied, "oh yeah, I already have some ideas."  So without further ado, I present to you Ben's photo shoot documenting the many ways that he can wear his new shirt (and yes, I almost peed in my pants laughing while taking these pictures).

"Farmer Ben"


"Skater Ben"


 "BBQ Ben"


Alright, peace out.