Happy Mother's Day (late, as usual)

After the chaos of Mother's Day last year - you know, the one where I was in labor, then welcomed in my little Sunshine? - I was glad to celebrate one a little less chaotic this year :)

But only a little. After all, it is me and my family!

We all packed up and headed to Kentucky for the weekend to help celebrate my sister's grand accomplishment of her bachelor's degree. It was a fun time :) Shaune, Grace, and I took our own car, where we met up with my mom, dad, little brother, and sister (obviously), PLUS my mom's parents who we're blessed to still have with us, and one aunt. So, 4 generations! But of course, the focus was on my sister, who I'm ridiculously pleased with and possibly living vicariously through as her life is about as different from mine as you can get :) (Next stop, grad school out west).

But dear, darling Shaune didn't want me to be overlooked on my first (not-in-pain) Mother's Day. He and Gracie painted me this lovely butterfly with the help of his mom a few weeks ago. Stuffed it in the car, somehow managed to keep me from seeing it while packing and unpacking, then presented it to me along with a fresh hot cup of hotel lobby coffee (lol). Isn't it darling?

And now, knowingly or not, my husband has started a tradition. Next year, I want a duck.

And then, she was one [Photobomb!]

My goodness. What a difference a year makes! It's Miss Gracie Abigail's very first birthday today and I couldn't be happier.

Minutes old

 It's hard to believe she was ever this tiny. But not this angry - lol, that part is VERY easy to believe. We've become very familiar with the crinkled cranky face over the past 366 days (it's leap year, remember?!)



One of the few times she actually liked the swing; right after our first outting at 4 days old

She's been full of spirit since the minute she was born. Always curious. Always engaged. Always inspiring SOME kind of reaction from me: delighted, frustrated, sad, heart-warmed... anything but apathy. 


Still working on that lazy eye...

  She didn't stay little long...



Trying to sit quietly for a wedding in November



 She got big, and got even more of an opinion. She was crawling in early November and firmly refused anything but table foods around Thanksgiving. Then came babbling, and screaming at Daddy :)

Thanks for the great pix, Joanna!

 And now, my big 1 year old can hardly be called a baby. She's not quite a toddler yet... but look how grown up she's looking. She can have a conversation with me (without words, of course). We can play games - real games - together every day. As much as I fell in love with my precious newborn, I'm even more head over heels for this little person in my life who grabs my face and calls me "mama" (But then licks my nose. I think she thinks it's kissing.)

Happy Birthday, Gracie Abigail!

Whooo loves you?

It's been one of those months. Just one thing after another after another. Some good, some bad, plently of neutral that still saps your energy. I don't want to get into it all, but know this: everyone's ok or very soon shall be :)

Last week I snuck off after bedtime to do a little sewing therapy for myself :) Sometimes when everything seems too much, disappearing to just create something is more soothing than I can put words to. Since we had a few specific needs around here - primarily in the diapering area - I was sewing "practical" rather than "just for fun," but who can complain when your fabric loves you! Aren't these owls just stinking cute?! I'm in love right back at them!


Simple pail liner



This is a specialty fabric called PUL. It's waterproof and a favorite in the cloth diaper community. It's one layer of polyester knit fuzed with a layer of laminiate. Any cloth diapers you buy on the market are most likely PUL. I've started collecting cuts for my big endeavor (lol, eventually). Most have to be bought online - but! - Joanns started selling a line right before Christmas! Every Joann's now has a few bolts of darling PUL available to home sewers, plus the accessories you need to make cloth diapers.



One size pocket diaper



Which, I of course, just had to make :) I'm trying out different patterns - this one is completely different than the one I showed off before. I like it better; it fits Grace better.



Pocket inner - look how professional!



I upgraded my inner, too, adding a strip of PUL at the waist to prevent wicking and changing to a better style pocket openning. And I used a soft fuzzy white microsuede this time - my favorite innner from the diapers I've purchased, so of course I want to use it on the ones I'm making.

Sewing therapy helps. So does leaving Grace with Grandma and disappearing overnight. One foot in front of the other. I miss you, blog buddies! May all be well in your world.

White Wool Diaper Shorts

I'm not good at sitting still. So when I realized right before leaving that the drive to the Bible conference in Milwaukee would take over 5hr each way, AND that I didn't have any car-appropriate projects currently underway, I had a brief moment of panic. Then I remembered the random skein of white wool I'd purchased for some project I never got around to. A quick rearrangement of my knitting bag later, I was out to door and ready to knit these darling little shorts: For those of you who don't cloth diaper or use wool diapers, wool is pretty awesome. It is a natural fiber that is both breathable and water resistant. You use it over an absorbant diaper (I prefer fitteds, but prefolds or flats work well, too). Without a man-made fiber barrier, air is able to flow all the way to Baby's skin. Wool pushes pee back into the absorbant diaper as well as letting some evaporate. I always chose wool if Grace's skin is looking red or rashy. Any hint of issue clears up so quickly.

I knit these out of Lion Brand Fisherman's Wool in "Natural," using the "Sheepy Pants" pattern. It knits up so simply! These are huge (I'm terrible with guage... maybe if I actually knit a guage swatch I'd do better...) but since she's only getting bigger they'll certainly work. I really love the Sheepy Pants pattern. I'll probably make up some more before the summer comes on full force.

The plan for these is to wear them under the sudden abundance of cute little sundresses we just recieved in a bag of hand-me-downs. But they work equally well with t shirts (and you can see them, then!). And yes... my little mover is essentially walking. She can if she wants, but usually isn't brave enough to let go. My how her nearly 11 months has just flown by!

Black Jersey Travel Dress

Last weekend I was blessed with the opportunity to travel with about 20 other ladies from my Bible study group here in Springfield up to Milwaukee, WI, to attend a Bible conference. As we had to be in "business casual" dress for the weekend, I found the perfect excuse to make a new travel dress!
I've had this black jersey yardage around since I got pregnant. The original plan had been to make a maternity dress, but between work and volunteering and pregnancy and trying to keep the house running, not much sewing happened. So this lovely, heavy double-knit has been sitting around just itching for the perfect project to strike my fancy. I think I found it :) I've used this pattern before (but I can never remember the number) but out of a woven. It carries a little differently in the jersey but is still a good fit. I might add some elastic at the waist to help keep it from shifting around - that was my only complaint. I only finished this 10 days ago, and I've already found 3 occasions to wear it! Once at the conference (all day, a very long day, and it wore so beautifully), once to church, and once to a wedding (which is what these pictures are from). I will DEFINATELY be using this pattern again, with a few tweaks.
Oh, and this is #2 (Febuary) for my 12 in 2012 challenge. It's only March and I'm a month behind. Story of my life! I'm going to bust out some quick cotton sundresses to get back on track :)

Need a reason to try mama cloth?

And THIS is why we're moving everything in our house to cloth products... eww. I'm so glad I don't have to buy these any more. Mama cloth (cloth menstrual pads) seemed so gross and challenging before hand, but now I wouldn't have it any other way. AND I don't have to give these people my money anymore!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/28/moldy-tampons-tampon-danielle-parr-woman-black-spots-kotex-product_n_1386388.html

Spring!

This is probably my favorite week of the whole year. Finally, all the windows can be flung open with a reasonable expectation of not having to be closed again (at least until AC time). Finally, I can plant my baby plants and lust longingly for fresh tomato salads. And, finally, I can spend hours outside with Grace and our friends, not doing much of anything and enjoying EVERY minute.

My dear friend has a little girl who is just a few weeks younger than Grace. She's in the habit of doing pictures regularly, and when she decided to shoot the 9 month pictures, she invited Grace and I to join! We dressed up our spring flowers, dragged out some props, and let them play for the camera.

At least until they got bored... It was a blast!

The only downside is now I DESPERATELY want their house. As you can tell, they live in the middle of absolutely nowhere, near a dot on the map appropriately named "Cornland, IL." Seriously! I didn't believe it the first time. But alas! There it is. And one day I'll live out that way, too, in the middle of nothing with pretty grass and clean sky. God willing!

Photo credits belong to my sweet friend :)

Of Diapers and Dust Specks

Instead of sewing what I should be sewing - putting the hem and finishing hand work touches on my black knit dress - I went for double instant gratification. For those of you who don't know, I cloth diaper Gracie. And, I'm addicted. There's something so ridiculously cute about modern cloth diapers. They've got fun prints, soft fabrics, and who can resist the absolutely fluffy bums that result!? It was only a matter of time before my two loves (diapers and sewing) crash-course collided into each other. So when a local friend told me she had some extra waterproof fabric on hand (that her husband told her to get rid of), I was glad to assist her by getting it off her hands (while MY husband rolled his eyes at my quickly-growing pile). One naptime plus one cartoon later, I had THIS!

I've been eyeing this fabric since before Christmas. Who can resist the Ooga Boogas, also refered to by my charming, obliging husband, as the "Dust speck diaper." They may look like dust bunnies but they're just too cute!

I have some definite changes to make to the pattern - check out that super fluff Miss Grace is strutting! I couldn't put pants over this diaper if I tried. Not that I'd want to... then you couldn't see the dust specks! But for a free pattern (Sprout Snap, if anyone is interested) and 2 hours of time, I'm rather pleased :) Off to tweak the pattern then make more, at the benefit of my several cloth diapering friends with little girlies! After all, I have a whole yard of this stuff to use up!

Slumber Party

When one of my dear friends told me her husband was having surgery, I didn't hesitate to offer to watch their little girl while they both needed to be at the hospital. Only later to I realize the implication of having 2 little high-energy girlies running around my house. But my lovely girlies turned out to be more fun that I could have expected. I miss having slumber parties!

This was the first time we've had any of Gracie's friends over without their moms in tow (I love playdates). We had our fair share of tears, but so much laughter as well.

It was Grace's first time in the big tub! Before now I've always kept her in the smaller infant tub, mostly because it uses less water. But what's a slumber party without a splash-fest!?!

Then, of course, semi-naked, cloth-bummed story time. I can't get enough of big, fluffy, cloth diapered babies. M. is cloth diapered only part-time at home, and not at nighttime, so I extra stuffed hers just for insurance. Look how fluffy!

I think I had more fun than the girls did. I can't help but think how much fun Grace would be as a sister. And how much fun I'd have being busy with two.

Oh bother... now I've got baby fever :D!

Little Accomplishments

We're having one of those weeks.

Have you ever heard the term "frenemy"? It means someone who is both a friend and an enemy at the same time. We have a new "frenemy" in our house... Bubbles the Fish.

I'm not sure who decided that medical equipment should be cute, but Bubbles is the name of the face mask for our new nebulizer. Now that's something I never expected to have to purchase! But alas, last week Grace came down very hard with a respiratory infection and we were perscribed an inhaled medication. Do you know how hard it is to hold down a not-still-ever 9 month old for the 10 minutes it takes to inhale her medication, 4-5 times a day? We both nap afterwards. But I do have to say, Bubbles works. It may be sheer terror to use, but it works. She's bouncing back to health nicely.

My little blanket hoarder. She's got three underneath there. I bought multiples when I was expecting, and thankfully, she hasn't noticed yet that the other sides are different colors. And also, how come every baby sleeps with their tush up in the air? It makes for cute pictures, but it doesn't look comfy to me!

Due to the necessary chaos that comes with having a sicky, not much has gotten done. I've got a knit dress all fit and cut, ready to whip together. I got new waterproof fabric for a stack of cloth diapers. Still working away at Grace's baby quilt and my overly ambitious knit afghan that was supposed to be a wedding present in November. I did break through the overwhelming to-do list to finally dress Grace's dolly, though! The poor thing came with a diaper that didn't fit and a dress that was both ugly and ill-fitting. She's appropriately attired now in soft cotton flannel :)

Some weeks, it's the little things that count :)