Sunday, August 22, 2010

Mia's NEW favorite jammies! (Jamie Jumper)

I can honestly say, without a doubt these are Mia's new favourite jammies!  The minute I started to put them on her she started to get exited, and as soon as I snapped up the last snap and reattached the beloved paci, she took off running around the living room! 


She was giggling, spinning around, jabbering away and 100% smiles and boundless energy! Total cuteness, and hubby and I just sat on the sofa watching her and giggling from her infectious little laughter and antics! We both agree I need to get moving on sewing her some more! She even slept better with these on!


I had already cut out a 2T so I sewed those up, and while they're a little big, they fit well enough now and they'll continue to fit all the way through the upcoming winter!

Excuse the less than stellar pics, she was moving at lightening speed and these were the best of about 20 pics I took trying to show you how they fit!










Whoops! I left out the link so you can find the pattern too! Here it is:
Little One Layette - Bigger Sizes 18mths to 5T

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Jammie time!

My kids need jammies, more so Mia than Jared.  So what else is a girl to do than whip out her beloved Fishsticks Designs patterns and leaf through them to find the Little One Layette pattern (you are able to purchase it in NB to 12mths OR 18mths to 5T)!


I decided the lap tee and pants were the way I wanted to go this time. I've never made a lap tee before but Bonnie has never steered me wrong or made a pattern too difficult for me, so I decided it was worth a shot....


Verdict? I LOVE THE LAP TEE! None of that funny droop or having the shoulders slip off like you get with so many bought lap tees! These stay on and fit PERFECTLY! Woohoo! The pants fit perfectly as well!  Please excuse less-than-stellar, taken-at night-with-the-flash photography...it really is a cuter set in the daylight!






I made her an 18mth top and a 2T bottom - I know I know, I said no more making her 2T clothing.  But with jammies it's a whole different story in my opinion...jammies are best with a little extra length and width to make sure you can snuggle up and no have legs or sleeves riding up and letting in chilly air! ;) And she's wearing her biggest, thickest night time diaper in these pics and the pants fit perfectly over it! Once I get some new night time diapers sewn up for her instead of just double stuffing her OS diapers with prefolds, she'll be in a trimmer diaper and the 18mth pants would fit perfectly over them then.






Excuse my little model, she was not in the mood to listen to my modelling requests.....and pretend you didn't see the mess in the photo background. I have kids and things get messy, I have learned to deal with it and you might too! ;) lol!

But what about that super cute sleeper you see in the pattern picture?  It's called the Jamie Jumper.....and it's AWESOME! I made 4 for a sweet friend of mine's newborn baby boy! So easy and totally adorable to boot!


and a close up of the teeny tiny cuteness:

And one to stash away:
I swear all the cuffs and seams are put together properly, I just didn't check them before quickly snapping the pic, sorry!


Tuesday, August 17, 2010

The "Spin Around Dress" that didn't...well...spin around!

Well, because I love the Little Comet Tails patterns, I decided to try the Spin Around Dress. This dress is so adorable, the pattern is a FREE downloadable PDF and I found it very easy to follow, which is great seeing as I've only recently started to sew clothing! Gotta love step by step photo tutorials!


Anyway, back to the story.  My daughter has slimmed down a lot in the past few months as she seems to be more focused on growing taller for the time being. She's in 18mths...mostly for the length and hiney ;) ... and yet I keep making her 2T clothing...I really need to stop doing this, lol!  It fits well enough, but there is no spinning around in this dress for her...YET!!!! 


As you'll see from the photos below it's ADORABLE but looks like a pencil dress from the front! And once she turns around you can see how much wider the dress is than her by how much it's cinched in in the back! When it was untied I used my hands to see how much excess fabric there was on my slim-bean and I could literally cinch it in about 4 inches (2" in the front and 2" in the back from under the arms) on each side!  But thanks to the lovely sash she CAN wear this now and look super cute and she'll be able to grow into it and wear it for a long time to come! I can see many more of these dresses in my future for Mia and as presents for all the little girlie's around me! Thanks for another great pattern Samantha!


Don't you just love the sweetheart neckline - super easy btw!


See how much is cinched in in the back? But it looks great like that doesn't it?!


Curious about the shoes? Sorry I don't have a better pic of them right now.  I bought them from Bunnyfeet Boutique on Hyena Cart! She is a member of "The Wading Pool" congo. Megan is great, has excellent customer service, is super talented and has a FAST turn around time! Highly recommended!




Please let me say this though: There is NOTHING wrong with the sizing of this pattern or the fit of it, I simply assumed she was big enough for it and she wasn't really! She is tall but super slim right now and I keep forgetting that! ;)

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Mia gets 5 new Nykibaby OS pockets!

Well...I had 10 diaper cuts embroidered for me by a very sweet mama on a forum I love....and they've been sitting all neglected in my UFO box for a couple months... oops!  So I decided, enough was enough...Mia is in desperate need of more diapers and I had those pretties just sitting there!


So far I have 5 done and 5 more just waiting on touch tape for the wings:
Front


Beautiful embroidered bums!

And now for some action shots!!

 

And now for some funnies!

Baby bird trying to get big brother to cave and feed her birthday cake sent over by our friends!

Ready...get set.....GO!!!!




Our #2 daredevil!

One last one......

BELLYBUTTON!!!!



These were all made with the Nykibaby OneSize pattern found HERE  I love it!  My super long rise girlie can wear the middle rise setting still and she even tested one overnight double stuffed with a newborn and an infant prefold last night...no leaks! Which is pretty darn awesome for a tummy sleeper!

Usually I use all snaps and no touchtape, but we needed some convenience diapers that daddy could use...and quite frankly I'm loving the convenience and ease of use myself!

More to come soon! ;)

Thursday, May 27, 2010

Day 2 & 3 of Mia's "Go to sleep" Training! - Victory!

Day 2:


By 9pm I had her dressed, nursed and ready for bed.  I knew she was tired because she was yawning these giant yawns over and over again! Totally adorable by the way!


I took her upstairs after she kissed Daddy "night-night". In her room I told her it was time to go sleep, she kissed Mommy "night-night" and I lay her down in her crib. She assumed the tummy sleeping position (aka chest and face on pillow and bum in the air with knees tucked under, lol!) which is her favorite but didn't cry! I covered her up, said "Goodnight" and walked out closing the door behind me.  Which of course was when she started crying!


I stopped myself from bursting back in there and decided instead to go get changed into pajamas and get my bed cleared off (laundry day...enough said), telling myself that if she was still crying by the time I was done, I'd go in and console her before putting her back down again.  I could tell it wasn't an "utter despair" type of cry, but never-the-less it tugs on the heartstrings.


Do you know what sounds scares me more?  Sudden silence!!  Like in the middle of a cry she suddenly stops and is completely silent! Eek! Needless to say I held my breathe for a few seconds and then slowly talked myself back into breathing...I mean there was no gagging, or flailing....nothing that would say she was in distress.  She was just...quiet!  A few minutes later she did make a few fussing noises (which were in a strange way good to hear ;) ) and then fell asleep!  This all took place in about 15 minutes....not bad for Day 2 right?!




Day 3 - Tonight:
Tonight Daddy fell asleep on the sofa after dinner totally worn out, the poor dear. He'd had a horribly busy day at work and had gotten home late on top of that.  I managed to get Jared in bed an hour late, but at least he got to bed in fresh bedding and teeth brushed! 


Then  it was Mia's turn for a diaper change, before bed nursing session and then we waved night-night to a sleeping Daddy (Yes he's still on the sofa, I haven't the heart to wake him yet!) and we went upstairs...


I got a kiss night-night and I said it was time to sleep and that I loved her.  I lay her down on her pillow and she assumed the sleeping position.......


No fussing!


Then I covered her up with her blankets....


No fussing!


So I told her night-night and walked out, giving her a little wave from the door before closing it....


NO CRYING!!  Not a peep at all from her tonight! I wish I had a webcam or video baby monitor so I could peep at her after I leave the room...I'm so proud of my baby girl...she's taking this sleep training like a real trooper!


Yay!!! Thank you SuperNanny! (even though I modified your technique for crib bound kids, um, a lot! lol! )


And now...it's the parent's bedtime....


Night-Night!

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

Day 1 of Sleep Training!

The baby (17 mths old in 4 days) is finally asleep!

We decided it's time to sleep train, she's no longer a little baby and it's starting to take longer to get her settled at night for bed.  Not a good thing for mommy-daddy time or my sewing time for that matter, lol!

So, loosely following Jo Frost's (the Supernanny) sleep technique, we're introducing her to the fact that when she's tired she doesn't need Mommy or Daddy to PUT her to sleep, she can do it herself if she just settles down, lies down and allows herself to go to sleep.

At 9:10pm (plenty late enough in my opinion) I got her to give us a kiss night-night and took her up to her crib. She has a night-light on the wall at the base of her crib (it's a slight sleigh crib with the short ends being solid, so there's no light in her eyes or anything) but the main light was off and the door was closed, so no light from the hallway to unsettle her either.

She cried and got up, I put her down and told her it was time to sleep, night-night. She cried and took longer to stand up. When she did I said nothing, just lay her back down. Each time i went back to sitting on the twin bed in her room, where she could see me and know I wasn't "leaving her", but i wasn't making eye contact, moving, or talking...just sitting very very still.

Now don't mis-understand me...when I say "she cried" I don't mean in pain, or that absolutely pitiful cry that little ones can make when they're feeling utterly alone and terrified.  No, just that cry that says "I don't WANT to go to bed mommy"...then a little bit of sniffing and watching you to see if you'll pick her up....Then a bit more crying...standing again, I laid her back down again...little more crying, then sniffing and watching me...and then she didn't get up again...just cried, sniffed, listened and watched me...wash, rinse, repeat for about another 20 minutes...and at about 25 minutes, she stopped crying and watching me...she watched the fan...she "knocked" on her crib...

And then she started closing her eyes once in a while...a little more wiggling....a little more eye closing, but a bit more often...and then they were closed for longer periods of time than open....and then she started to doze!  I waited...waited until her hand stopped twitching occasionally... waited until her sucking on her paci slowed so much that I was sure she was drifting deeper into la-la-land.  Then I stood up, a little at a time to make sure she wasn't jerking awake when the squeaking of the floor and creaking and popping of the bed frame....and slowly and quietly I opened the door and walked out, closing the door behind me on a sleeping babe as cute as can be!

And now ladies and gentlemen, it's almost time for my sweet husband to put me to bed as it's past my bedtime as well.  And while I am always finding "one more thing to do" before I let him guide me to bed, I can guarantee I never cry when I realize it's finally time to lay my head down, and sleep....

Good night!

Saturday, May 15, 2010

Gathering our Gr 2 curriculum

I've started gathering the core subjects of our Grade 2 curriculum for Jared.  


I attended the Escondido, CA Homeschool Expo May 7th and 8th. I listened to a couple of talks by a speaker and spent almost every minute searching the expo vendor hall for "the perfect curriculum".  Yes, yes I know , giggle for a sec while you try and imagine me walking around and around that hall getting more and more stressed trying to find the perfect guide for each subject! lol!


In the end I decided to ask a lovely lady named Jeannie (please forgive me if you spell it differently than my cousin does!) from Area 127 in less than coherent sentences, what would be a good L.Arts program for my son to use. She spent a couple minutes trying to decipher what I was looking for, and then while she was asked a quick question by another expo attendee I listened. She was asked about the Learning Language Arts Though Literature program. The other lady was asking which set came next for her child and she had nothing but wonderful things to say about it! Jeannie sweetly sat down with me and explained to me how it worked and how she had used this program before and loved it! 


So Jared's Language Arts program looks like this:
 





History/Geography:
I also asked her about Story of The World Volume 1: Ancient Times, that is raved about by so many people. Apparently she loves it as well, and it is what we will be using for J's core History and Geography curriculum.  I'll add in some American history unit studies, a California one, and so on as needed to round things out for him. 




What about Math?
Well, Jared seems to be progressing well with his current Math program, Horizons from Alpha Omega, so we'll continue with that for Grade 2 unless we hit a bump in the road with it!




Which brings us to Science!
I haven't purchased it yet, but we're going to be using the Apologia Elementary Science, and we'll be using: Exploring Creation with Zoology 1. Flying Creatures of The Fifth Day. Yet another that I've heard nothing but positive things about. I'm planning on using the main textbook and then instead of the science journal / workbook, I'll be purchasing the lapbook lessons to go with it! 


The rest of it are still be decided upon, but at least we're closer to having it all planned out. There's no way I'm wasting precious time later this year with our family all together, by running around last minute trying to figure this out.  There's just too much going on to procrastinate about this right now. With James going back and forth on training and another deployment looming ahead, we can't afford to procrastinate...well, not about this anyway! ;)



Saturday, May 1, 2010

Have you ever...

Have you ever watched a movie or read a book that just made you want to go DO something?

I just got done watching Julie and Julia during the kids nap time. Loved it!  And by the end of it all I could think about was I HAD to clean my kitchen and I had to find that supposedly fantastic recipe by Julia Child for Beef Bourguignon! Lol!

I found it! Here it is: CLICK ME! I'm slightly intimidated by the difficulty being, well, "difficult"! But who knows...maybe I'll make it one day. ;)

I'm not always the most eloquent blogger, and I certainly am not the most dependable! I spend more time blogging in my head than I ever do on the computer, and by the time I do sit at the keyboard any humor or cute "footnotes" that may have once been part of the story vanish and all is left is a basic textbook account of what I've done...not quite what I had planned, if you know what I mean! ;)

There's no doubt I have a few things to work on, but nevertheless, I'll keep plodding on and one day it'll start becoming a little more second nature.

The hubby's away on training right now. Jared's mouth is forever moving, as though he's his own little narrator! He's bright boy, loves math and is DESPERATE to do "REAL science experiments Mommy, please!".  So apart form all my other lofty goals for the rest of this year, I will be trying to work in real science experiments every now and then. I found some really cool ones on Rainbow Resources and I might decide to give them a whirl during our Grade 2 year coming up!  Wow! Can you believe that my baby boy is already about to enter Grade 2??!! Cliche or not...they grow so fast!

Even weirder for many is that I am now his teacher! Homeschooling is challenging for sure, especially when you're new and have no idea what is the best of the 400 000 (exaggeration i'm sure ;) ) option out there. But slowly but surely we'll figure it out.

Mia, being the toddler she is, is keeping us all on our toes.  Give her one second without anyone's eyes glued on her and you'll turn around to discover her trying to get into anything and everything she's not supposed to touch lol! Her hair is finally getting long enough for teeny tiny little pigtails...I'll post pics soon, it's so adorable! As soon as the little piggytails go in I can see so much of me as a little girl in her!

But Jared's desperate to get outside, Mia thankfully is still napping, and I have dishes to do...so ta-ta for now!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

I won!

I won!! I did! Wow!!!  What a blessing! $25 towards Jared's curriculum!
Look Here!!

Yes, I love exclamation marks and I'm not going to stop, you might as well get used to it! lol!

*Does the happy dance* ;)

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

PWL- $25 gift card giveaway!

Awesome! It was suggested to me by a sweet friend to check out PennyWise Learning for discounts on whichever curriculum we decide on using for J for next year...and check it out! They're giving away a $25 gift card, closing day for the giveaway is tomorrow!!! Dash over there quickly and get your entires in!

PennyWise Learning Gift Card Giveaway!!! Click here!!

Good luck!

Friday, March 5, 2010

Beach day!

Yesterday was "Beach Day" with the base homeschool group! I'm ashamed to say how few times we've been to the beach since we moved to sunny SoCal, but this year I'm going to make sure we take advantage of the wonderful on-base beach we have here.

There are actually two beach areas on base, but thankfully the one I like the most is the one closest to my house!

There was a big military ship anchored off the shore: (I'll ask the hubby for the details on the exact type of ship later, I'm not good at remembering those things, lol!)

Jared was in and out of the water, splashing, digging and have a great time with all the kids in the group.
He doesn't know how to swim yet...we need to sign him up for lessons this summer. A few times I had to remind him to to go too far into the little waves as the big ones sneak up so quickly, but for the most part he played nicely and stayed in the shallows.

Mia was on my back in my buckle-tai carrier from Two Mommas Designs for a good while before she demanded to be let down, only to come to a shocking realization that she was now standing on cold sand that was touching her! Oh the shock and horror, lol! After a little while of standing without moving a muscle in her legs, I managed to loosen her up enough to gingerly toddle around talk to a few of the mothers. Once she figured out the sand wasn't so bad she was toddling all over the place, checking out everyone's beach bags and chairs for possible treasures!




So exited!


There Mommy! I go get it!


Come here birdie birdie!

The wind was icy cold, especially when the sun hid behind the clouds, and of course I'd brought the kids jackets, but I didn't bring one for myself. I need to remember I'm not quite as tough as I used to be "back in the day" when it took snow falling for me to put a sweater on. I'm getting old....okay not that old...just old enough where I find myself thinking that I need to "take care of myself" a little better... And it's obvious I wasn't doing that yesterday because today my throat is a little sore...whoops!


Seagull tracks....they look confused ;)


Isn't he a beaut! 


Thursday, March 4, 2010

Our new Adventure: Homeschooling!

Meet the newest homeschooling mama on the block: Me!

I'm not going to go into details except to say that public school was not a good fit for Jared.We didn't like what was going on and we decided enough was enough, things had to change...and chnage they did!

He's been at home for slightly over a week now, woohoo!

We've been spending our "school" time doing revision, meeting other homeschool families at park days and just trying to re-figure out what some sort of daily schedule would be for us. The initial schedule I had in mind went up in flames (figuratively ;) ) when I realized that waiting for Mia to go down for a nap to start was not an option. Jared is ready to start most mornings right after breakfast. This morning he's plotting something out on paper "for when he's bigger", so I'll let him finish that before we get started.

But he also tires and gets frustrated quickly, so we need lots of breaks and we have to be wary of distractions....and if you have ever had or been near a 1 year old, you know they're a walking distraction leaving a trail of disaster, lol! Lots for a little boy supposed to be doing work to watch! ;)

I also need to work on my patience. (Where's an embarrassed smiley when you need one?) I've become short-tempered and impatient over the past few years and I'm pretty sure homeschooling is another way of God knocking on my door reminding me that patience is a virtue...or something much more profound. ;)

Last week, after a few days of being home, Jared pulled out his paints and brushes during one of his breaks and tore off a large piece of paper from the giant roll I found at Ikea last year (gotta love that place!). He did half of his project before we had to go and run some errands and I'll admit I asked what the last half was going to say...he told me and when we returned from our missions I let him finish because I really wanted it done, lol!

I was so proud of him and it helped quiet down those first week of homeschooling thoughts that run something like: "Oh my gosh, what am I doing? Will he learn from me? Will he resent us for pulling him out of PS? Will I go crazy? Will I ever figure out what curriculum to use?" and so on.

I fought the urge to trim the edges neatly for him and instead just enjoyed the poster as-is...a self inspired work of art that makes my heart swell with pride and happiness!

Monday, February 8, 2010

I've decided to stick with hobby sewing right now...

I have made some decisions lately.

The first is that my business can no longer come first. Ok, so it wasn't really coming before my family, but it was stopping me from having as much free time for kids as they need right now. I will no longer be a business owner, I will be someone that loves sewing and finds it to be a stress relieving activity, and one that brings me joy.

I will still be available for custom orders, as I definitely still have the fabric and so on, and I might even pop up on a congo or two as a guest once in a while. But I will not be stocking my HC unless I'm destashing fabrics/notions or leftover inventory.

The second is that I need to do more sewing for my family and friends. There are a few people I said I'd sew something for and it just never happened because I was always "busy" or stressed about one thing or another. I'm sorry. That's not the friend or family member I want to be. I will be working on that this year! :)

The third is that I need to sort and complete my "UFO"s (UnFinished Objects). All those random sewing projects that are 50% or 75% done. They need to be finished and used or if they're now too small/young for my kids, they will be finished and passed on.

The 4th is I want to make time to blog at least once a week this year. Whether it's about sewing, family, friends or just some random thoughts, I just want to get them "written down" so I don't forget as easily what's happened in our lives. I have a horrible memory, so it's quite easy for me to forget, lol!

Anyway. The first sew and show for the year is a UFO that was supposed to be completed for J's birthday at the end of December 2009. The pants were done and the shirt was bought, but it's taken me almost 2 months just to get the applique on it.....

So yesterday I scanned the fabric, enlarged the footprint on it, made a template, made an iron on applique from the flannel and fusible bonding stuff (this is not the technical term lol!), ironed it on and sewed it on for re-inforcement.

Ta-Da!! One custom jammie set for J!




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