Category Archives: Eva

big bum baby pants on a 7 month old Eva

big bum pants

I just finished this pair of pants I had started when Eva was teeny tiny.  I used the Big Bum Baby Pants pattern from Growing up Sew Liberated in the 0-6 month size and got to the point of putting the waste band elastic in.  They were so huge then I didn’t bother to finish them, set them aside, and forgot about them until now.  I quickly put some elastic in the waste and hemmed the legs (without the elastic called for in the pattern).  They are still big and baggy to fit over her cloth diapered bum, and soft and comfy even in the 0-6 month size.

big bum baby pants

stripy pants

And now Eva is 7 months old.  She’s a big girl– wearing 12 month or 18 month clothes depending on the brand.  She’s got 2 teeth on the bottom, one on the top.  Her new blonde hair is growing straight up.  She loves to clap and blow really, really noisy and slobbery raspberries.  Not very lady like, I know, but very funny.  We’ve tried feeding her sweet potatoes a few times because she seems so interested in everything we’re eating.  Her little arms go reaching and her little sucker gets sucking, but when we actually put some food in her mouth her instant reaction is to stick her tongue out and spray that orange stuff all over the place.  It is so funny– and messy.  It’s like she thinks that using her tongue in that way is the way you’re supposed to eat and enjoy those yummy new flavors.  Silly girl.

yummy

fluff

She’s not crawling yet and can just roll from her back to front.  Once she gets on her tummy she plays for a bit, does some super man poses, and gets mad.  I love this stage where she can just sit with a basket of toys and she’s staying in it much longer than my other kids did.  I think Jonah is the only other one that waited longer than 7 months to start crawling and getting into EVERYTHING.  What a blessing to have her as my 6th baby!!

in action

:)

now she’s 6 months and has a new sweater

:)

Here she is, a big 6 month old wearing her new sweater.  The pattern is Camilla Babe from Quince and Co., but I used a cotton blend yarn by Berocco called Weekend.  (Brenna’s was Weekend Chunky.)

toes and toys

I love knitting wool yarn.  I love the thought of wearing sweaters knit with wool.   I, however, do not really like wearing wool in real life.  It itches.  Alpaca, cashmere, mohair, angora, sheep’s wool– they all make my skin crawl even if I have a turtle neck underneath.  I can stand super wash merino, but it gets so pilly and fuzzy.   Does that make me a bad knitter?  The purist in me says yes, it does.  Only wool yarn is REAL.  I almost feel like it is akin to my feelings about whipped topping.  Cool Whip is not real food and will never enter my lips.  It’s real cream for me or nothing.  I really feel so torn about the real yarn thing.  Part of me feels like if it is part plastic or acrylic or whatever you want to call it, it is not real yarn and should not be knit.  BUT I do not like to itch and I do not like my children to make me itch.  So, I am trying to come to terms with my notions of REAL knitting and loving and wearing the things I knit.  I’m trying to embrace a little acrylic in my yarn because it is soft and doesn’t torture my nose hairs.

new trick and new sweater

Now, back to this cute baby of mine.  She can sit up!  I weighed myself holding her yesterday and she’s about 20 pounds.  I think that means that tomorrow I will be pulling out the 9-12 month clothes.  Geesh.

babies slobber

I knit the 6 month size of sweater and it will fit her for a good long while, which is fantastic at the rate she is growing.  The neck is a bit bigger than I would like, so I’m waffling about ripping the last fan repeat at the neck back and adding in more decrease rows.

new sweater

The color is super cute on her, but then again, she is just super cute.  All. the. time.

the 5 months post I’m just now getting around to

I didn’t get a post of Eva made on her 5 months birthday like I have every other month.  Now that she’s nearly 6 months I better get with it!

toe grabbing

The truth is, Eva’s 5 month birthday was a really emotional day.  A good friend of mine had a baby the weekend before who died just 2 hours after he was born.  They knew it would be that way.  He was diagnosed with trisomy 13 when she was about 20 weeks pregnant, but still it was so sad and so hard.

toe grabbing

constant wiggling

more toe grabbing

Eva’s babyhood has been so emotional for me.  I am so keenly aware of how miraculous her little life is, how lucky I am to have her safe, whole, so perfect.  I know so many people who struggle to get pregnant, who desperately want children but just can’t seem to make it happen.  The week after Eva was born my sister in-law nearly died of preeclampsia, her baby was delivered at 32 weeks, and that tiny baby’s little lung collapsed on her second day of life.  There I was with a perfect baby, memories of a peaceful home birth, and tears running down my face constantly thinking of my sweet sister in-law who could barely even touch her fragile little one.  (My  niece is fine now, growing and perfect, but she had a scary start.)

Here I am with 6 perfect children, 6 easy pregnancies, 6 uncomplicated births.  I am so blessed.  I have had 2 miscarriages that were intensely sad, but a year to the day after each I was nursing a sweet little boy and as I look back I realize those trials were so small in comparison to what so many go through.

toe grabbing

I hope I can live up to this miraculous privilege that is mine.

I have 6 perfect babies.

little shoes

Have you ever sewn leather?  It’s always seemed a bit scary to me, but my sewing machine has a special button for sewing leather and every time  I’ve sat down at it I’ve wondered, “Could I really sew leather?  What would I make?”  It was an itch I needed to scratch, so the other weekend I ventured to Denver Fabrics.  It’s a crazy HUGE place that is completely overwhelming for me, but I knew I could find pretty leather.  That I did.  I bought a supple brown lamb skin and brought it home.  I made 2 projects with it, but today I’ll just show you one.  (The auto focus on my main camera lens is dying and I only got okay photos of one of the things I made.)

Behold the little shoes:

brand new shoes

Aren’t they perfect?  I love them.  They are such a cute shape, with a wide toe.  Robeez are cute, but sometimes the decoration on them is a bit much for me.  I used this pattern with a few modifications.  Since I was using leather instead of fabric I didn’t make the heel or sole two layers.  I did line the toe part with some fabric, though, so I had a little channel for the elastic to go through.

comfy, perfect

I used the suede side of the leather for the sole and a decorative flower stitch to topstitch them.  The actual sewing was just like sewing regular fabric.  I made sure I had a leather needle in my machine and that was it.  Piece of cake.

leather baby shoes

And because I can’t resist it, here are some pictures of the other end of my little shoe model.

sweet

The camera clicking woke her up.

i woke her up

How will I survive when she’s not a baby anymore?  I need to freeze time.