more maternity sewing

Hi. It’s me, the big huge pregnant lady. The one you might have seen leaving her snowy driveway at 8:30 this morning so she could make it through the storm to her 9:30 birth center appointment. The same one who called the birth center an hour later, just 3 or 4 miles from her house. The one who left the GPS at home, but still thought she could bypass the standstill freeway and ended up completely lost. Lost, going 5 miles per hour, frantically calling her husband at work hoping he could give her some directions, but no answer. The one who called the birth center for directions and got the nurse who has only lived in Denver for 2 months and was as clueless as she was as to how to get headed in the right direction. The one who finally got through to her husband’s voice mail and broke into tears, who fed her two little boys their lunch in the car by 10 AM to keep them happy in the slow moving icy traffic, and then was miraculously called on the phone by her Visiting Teacher who gave her directions. The big, crazy, frazzled pregnant lady who finally got to the birth center at 10:45. After leaving home at 8:30.

Yep, that’s me. I probably should have just turned around and gone back home when I saw how slow traffic was moving.

But, my visit with my midwives was good. I have been Group B Strep positive with all four of my previous pregnancies– requiring that I have IV antibiotics during labor. This time my test came back NEGATIVE!!! I have been taking probiotics, eating lots of yogurt, and taking odor free garlic (when I think of it) and I got rid of those pesky bad bacteria in my guts!! Is that cool or what?!

Also, I was wearing my green cordouroy shirt and the nurses and midwives were all perceptive enough to know that I needed compliments on it. I made it after all. Want to see?

It’s view J from Lovely Maternity Dresses. I have made view E, but it ended up too big. I was sure I’d need to make a pretty big size and after trying to study the Japanese size charts and deciphering what I thought were prepregnancy and pregnancy measurements and size charts I decided to opt for a size 11. Turns out that the patterns take into account how actual people grow during pregancy, and so an 11 on my 5′ 2″ narrow shouldered, though swollen body was too big. This one I made in a 9 and it is just right. I’ll probably be wearing it almost everyday until this little guy pops out.

And here’s another Built By Wendy shirt. Just with long sleeves. Not quite as comfy as my green corouroy shirt, but will do when I have to take it off to do laundry.

And here’s my photography helper.

I’m always amazed that something this cute actually exists. I think I can handle one more.

the homemade Christmas gifts :: 2

Did a week and a half really just go by since my last post? How did that happen? I better get on the ball and finish posting about our handmade Christmas gifts before it is way too far past Christmas.

For weeks and weeks before Christmas Logan would say, “When I get the teddy bear you make me for Christmas then… (fill in the blank with things like “I’ll always wrap him up in my mimi.” or “you can make him a little dresser and fill it up with jammies and a swimming suit.”) So, I had to oblige. Brenna has been totally attached to Buttercup for 2 years now, but the boys had no mama-made toys to snuggle. I haven’t got that swimming suit made, or any clothes for that matter, let alone the dresser, but they are the perfect night time snuggle companions. Here’s where I found them this morning:

Jonah’s Teddy

Logan’s Chubby Wubby

the homemade Christmas gifts :: 1

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!

tiny new baby

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.