Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Beautiful Morning

It's as if Gabriel knew it was mommy's birthday today. I awoke at 8:00am to a text and realized he was still sleeping! Oh, if only there was no class today we could both have slept in, but sadly the world doesn't stop for sleeping babies or mommies. I think this is the first time I have EVER had to go in and wake Gabriel up! If felt so wrong to disturb him. I drop him off at daycare by 8:30 so I can get ready for class and make sure all assignments are completed; otherwise I would have let him sleep as long as he wanted! He was so beautiful sleeping on his tummy in the crib I just stood there and watched him for a moment before he realized I was in the room and woke up, then we cuddled. I love morning cuddles, when he's all groggy and doesn't want to keep his eyes open and does that cute toddler mumble/cooing. To make things better, he was in a beautiful mood while getting ready this morning. Greatest birthday present God could give me :)

(no pics from this morning, this is at the park).

And, my wonderful husband wrote me a sweet card and gave me Ghiradelli chocolate!!! He knows the way into my heart :)

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

UPDATE: I'm officially addicted to sewing!

My last post was about delving into the world of homemade wool diaper covers, longies, and whatever other baby things imaginable that can be sewn. As of this morning, I had made one pair of longies. As of 7:45pm, I have now made 2 pairs of longies and 2 diaper covers (though not wool, just practice ones) from just 2 sweaters! Unfortunately the model is sleeping and the other diaper cover and longies are in his room (he's actually wearing the pair I just sewed tonight).

 I made mine long in the rise because I use them mainly at night and want Gabriel to be cozy (plus its soo cute :)
Nice comfy leg cuffs, no red marks on baby's thigh.

Not too shabby for only my second day of sewing. The irrational side of me has a very strong urge to drop out of school, become a stay-at-home mom, and sell my homemade diaper/baby goods on etsy as a part time job-thingy.

A World of Opportunities!

So, ever since Gabe was a few months old I've been thinking "If I only knew how to sew than I could make this...." or "I can't find what I'm looking for at the store, wish I knew how to make it myself" and many more thoughts along these lines. Well, the urge to learn how to sew got really strong recently when I fell in love with wool diaper covers. Wool, if you did not know, is amazing due to it's natural water repellence BUT if pushed will absorb 30% of its weight in moisture. Also, it's anti-fungal and the lanolin in the wool naturally kills the stinky pee-pee bacteria :) so I only wash them once every 2 weeks! Anyway, this post isn't about wool. It's about how I REALLY wanted to learn to sew so I could make my own wool covers out of old wool sweaters (found at local thrift stores). New wool covers can cost between $25 - $65 and you can usually find a used one online for $8 - $20 depending on the condition of it. Well I bought 2 new ones awhile back for $25 ea. and soon after saw a blog about making your own wool cover out of an old sweater. I didn't really consider it at first because I thought "I don't know how to sew, or even own a machine so there's no point to it." But then, one morning when I should have been studying, I decided to go to Salvation army "just to see." I looked up and down every sweater isle and found three 100% wool sweaters! For $1.99 ea.!!! I was ecstatic! I check out and the lady says my total is $2.98?!? My math isn't the best but that sounds off to me. Turns out everything in the store was 50% off that day!! So I essentially got $75 worth of diaper covers for $2.98, how awesome is that! (and I'm recycling :) 



Can't you just imagine this on a cute baby butt!?



(sorry for the horrible pink background)

My husband, hearing me talk about all the projects I'd like to do "someday" and how I was dreading borrowing my step-grandma's sewing machine, got me a sewing machine for my birthday!!! Last night, I sat down and figured out how to thread it and do the settings (took A LOT longer than expected). Being me, I couldn't just leave it at that, I had to try to make something. So after practicing a little on some cut up rags, I attempted to make a pair of longies! Longies are wool pants that can also be used as a diaper cover. However, I didn't want to destroy one of my wool sweaters so I practiced on an old polyester sweater I had. I used this tutorial  http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/wool-diaper-cover.html.

They actually fit! And look like pants!


I accidentally sewed one leg inside out. In the tutorial it says to put one leg inside the other, apparently when you do this, the leg going inside needs to be turned wrong side out...now ya know :) Also, I made the waistband extra long for night time but it can be rolled down during the day. 

I plan on making one diaper cover and one pair of longies from each sweater. After I am confident enough to finish them, I will let you know how they turn out!


Monday, March 5, 2012

A Day with Daddy

So last weekend, after Gabriel and I spent all Saturday together, we got some time with Daddy. Here is a glimpse into our day as a family :)


 Lavender (our kitty) sleeps snuggled in my hair every night....honestly it gets annoying at 3am when I'm trying to get back to sleep after putting Gabe back down but she is too cute to resist.
 Gabriel playing with pots and a wooden spoon while daddy does dishes and mommy puts laundry away (and takes pictures!).

 He would "stir" the pan and then suck on the spoon, too freakin' adorable!
This video is very short and gets funnier each time you watch it (and the sound must be on). Here is the story behind it: Gabriel has this fascination with water. He loves to spray himself with a squirt bottle and he just started doing this "dance" with his sippy cup where he bounces up and down and then pours water on his face. So of course when I try to catch it on camera he does not cooperate and this is my 3rd attempt to capture the moment (but my silly husband ruins the moment by being a bully so I stop the camera to console Gabe). After awhile I decided it was pretty funny...

Sunday, March 4, 2012

Snow Day (a day with Mommy & Gabe)

Sorry, this post is late! I meant to post it Saturday, February 25th :-/  Oops.
Anyway, Hubby had to go to Des Moines for work all day so it was just Gabriel and I. Here is what our day looked like :)

Playing in the snow after breakfast and book time.

 He fell down.... A LOT! He is just as graceful as his mama.


 However, the time he fell flat on his face did not go over well (below is the imprint it made in the snow).

 After recovering from the face plant, we ventured outside again to inspect the bushes, a continuous source of curiosity for Gabriel.
Later that day, as I was sitting on the floor next to the couch and reading a text from Jaime, I heard Gabriel grunting. When I looked over, this is what I saw:
 He was climbing into the walker ALL BY HIMSELF! Last week he just started climbing onto everything, especially the couch. He loves to climb onto the couch and read his books :) I was surprised to see him climbing into the walker, though. It seems a bit awkward and painful to me...then again I'm not a toddler.



 Of course, we were sad that Daddy didn't get to see this new skill, so Gabriel showed off again after diner when Daddy got home (this time minus the diaper, lol).

 He somehow got both legs through one hole so his naked butt is sticking out of the other side.

Gabriel and I had a blast spending the whole day together, just Mommy and Gabe :) We don't usually get so much time together because of my busy schedule and it was great.