So, has it really been since December 11th that I last posted?  Sheesh!  I’ve been so caught up in creating stable scenery for the ward Christmas pageant, a husband with Strep throat, sleepless nights with puking children (and parents), other intestinal problems of which I will spare you the details (they’re not pretty, let me assure you), gestating of course, and last minute holiday preparations and gift making, that it never even crossed my mind to make a blog post.  There have been several days that I didn’t even take a glance at the computer.  So, now I’ll play catch up, posting this week about the handmade gifts we gave this year.

These are my favorite, and the last ones finished.

I have wanted to try my hand at making waldorf dolls for ages and ages, but Brenna has never been much of a doll player and it always seemed frivolous to just make one for myself.  But, this year I decided I’d make some for Brenna and Ian whether they’d really like them or not, just to indulge myself.  I ordered my pattern and supplies, and then got underway.

Good news is, they are some of the favorite gifts this year!  Ian’s Boy has been a constant companion since it was unwrapped.  He snuggles him, sleeps with him, feeds him, and just carries him around.  Brenna has left me little thank you notes all around and on Christmas day she kept telling me, “I just want to keep telling you thank you.  I can’t say thank you enough times.  I love her!”

So, I was up late on Christmas Eve stitching and trimming hair and finally realized that clothes just weren’t going to get made by morning.  Barry had been saying the entire week that I shouldn’t stress myself out and just give the kids naked dolls.  So, that’s what they got Christmas morning.  But– the nakedness didn’t last for long.  Look what I got for Christmas!!

A sewing machine and a serger!!  Can you believe it?  I’m still in shock.   I quickly got to work and made some panties, diapers, and clothes.

Brenna even knit a hat, and made a coat and mittens for Julie so she wouldn’t be too cold here in Colorado.

I just can’t even put into words how excited I am at how well they’ve been received.

But, this isn’t all.  We were hard at work on some other hand made gifts as well.

Stay tuned!

I got a call from my brother on Tuesday afternoon.  He said he was leaving the UPS place and that a package of live animals would arrive at our house by 10:30 the next morning (It didn’t arrive  until nearly 3:00 in the afternoon, though).  I tried and tried to figure out how on earth I was going to keep the package’s arrival a secret, where I would secretly hide the tiny new arrival, but try as we could, Barry and I both couldn’t think of a plausible way to completely hide Brenna’s new pet until Christmas.

So, we opted out of the secret keeping.

Brenna is beside herself with pride and joy with her new baby.  She’s named it Speckles– a good unisex name since it will be a few months until we can tell if it is a he or a she.  It is so tiny– its body just about the length of her pinky finger.  She stands at the kitchen counter and stares through the glass of its temporary cage, in awe of every little leap, the way its little toes curl as it walks, the way it licks its tiny face and eyes, and hoping that Santa will be kind enough to bring her the perfect cage to keep in her room.

(There may be more baby geckos around here in a few months because my brother also sent me an adult male he didn’t want anymore.  When he arrived I put him in Kiri’s cage– the poor guy was so cold his limbs were shaking as he climbed.  I thought it would take a while for him to warm up and recover from being shipped in a cold dark box, but an hour later, when Barry got home from work and the kids all ran to the cage to show Dad our new friend, he and Kiri had already found each other and gave us all a graphic lesson about the birds and the bees.)

Oh, and there is a more important addition to our family.  When my brother called from the UPS station he also said that he was headed to the hospital, his wife was already there and checked in.  A few hours later little Jet Neil was born!  Now, baby lizards are cute, but little baby humans are the very best kind of babies.

So, I used the tips from Jessica (which she got from Mary Beth) and took a stab at a Built by Wendy top for my tired-of-tight-t-shirts self.

I just used some fabric I found on my magic-basement-shelf-of-lots-of-craft-stuff-that-I-didn’t-remember-I-had, and made the mistake of using the size of the pattern that I had already traced and cut out pre-pregnancy (it was way too big then), adding several inches at the sides and bottom of the front, of course.    Fortunately, after peeling it off from the first trying on, I was able to rip the pieces apart and just use a smaller seam allowance .  Phew.  (It is still a teeny bit tight around the bust– I’m going to have to do some serious armpit seam reinforcement today.)  It looked a little to tentish to me then, so I stretched and sewed a little piece of elastic in an empire waistish spot.  That was just what it needed.  Oh, and I skipped the elastic in the sleeves.  My arms don’t need tourniquets, thank you very much.

 Also, on the maternity clothes sewing front, my book finally got here from Japan!  Consequently I’ve spent some hours studying it, the patterns, and some good blog entries about sewing clothes from Japanese books.  I think I’ve got it as figured out as I’m going to before I actually plunge right in.  I’ve got one pattern traced and some half-price fabric from JoAnns to try it out with.  Maybe I’ll get to it today?  That may be wishful thinking.  There are Christmas decorations to unearth and put up, and a stable set to design and build for the Ward Christmas party next weekend…

But I do need something to wear to church tomorrow.

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!  There was lots of turkey and pumpkin cheesecake eating around here, and then we woke up to a blanket of fluffy white Saturday morning.  It was beautiful and relaxing and totally shopping free.