Last Night

God called Baby Destiny home.  She was just shy of 4 months old.

Really, I don't have any words of wisdom.  Maybe some ramblings that don't do her any justice.  And lots and lots of tears.

I am truly amazed at the strength of Destiny's mommy.  She inspires me to be a better person and a better mom.

If prayers alone could have saved that precious baby, I have no doubt she would be here tonight.  But God had a bigger and better plan. 

I hope that can be of some comfort for Destiny's family.  I hope that they can feel all the love, thoughts, and prayers that have surrounded them for months, but especially in this last week.

So to Destiny's family, thank you for sharing your beautiful daughter with us.  She has changed me forever.  She will never, ever be forgotten.  Sending you lots of prayers for peace.

Baby Laughs...

Melt my heart.

Sorry it is sideways.  She stops every time she sees the camera!

This is Little One at 3 months old.

Enjoy!

Blessings

I am blessed.  I have the family I always dreamed of.  I am truly in love.  We have nice things.  I shouldn't have any complaints.

Yet, I do.  Too often.  I'm hoping I can stop that bad habit and negative thinking today.  I know it won't always be easy.  I know I will fall back into my old ways. 

But I am so so very blessed...

When I was pregnant with Big One I joined an online messaging board.  At first I "lurked," just reading the questions and answers other ladies posted about their pregnancy, their family, their jobs, their problems, their rants and raves... as I got closer to my due date I started to post myself.  I'm glad I did.  It has been just over 3 years since that message board was started and now I call those ladies my friends.  We have talked on the phone, emailed, texted, Facebooked, exchanged Christmas cards, and I've met many of them in person.  They have laughed with me, cried with me, given me advice, told me when to suck it up or shut up, and prayed with me.  Those ladies truly are some of my best friends.

One of those ladies had a daughter a few days before I had Little One.  She knew that her daughter was going to struggle with a heart problem.  We all prayed for her family.  We all were amazed at the strength of her baby girl.  We all knew she got that strength from her mama.

We found out today that despite numerous procedures that beautiful and perfect baby girl's brain is not growing as it should.  Her mommy and daddy have decided to make her as comfortable as they can and enjoy every moment they have with her.

I am heartbroken for them.  I wish I could fix it.  I wish I had words to make my friend feel better. 

But I can't.  I sit here rocking Little One to sleep and I cannot keep from crying.  A parent should never have to go through what they are dealing with.  Never.

So tonight I thank God for all the many blessings in my life.  My family and without a doubt, my friends. 

And I ask you to please pray for Baby Destiny and her family.  Krystal, we love you.

I Need to Bite My Tongue!

God is laughing at me.  Big One will get the opportunity to make snow angels again... look at what we woke up to.

Pardon the shadow.  I did not want to step outside of my nice, warm, cozy house!

This was clearly a change of pace for us.  Friday we had a beautiful, spring day!  We even managed to go play with some friends at a local park because all of the nasty white stuff had melted!  Isn't she cute?!

But then the crazy winds picked up, so we've been doing some fun, indoor activities.  Daddy brought a giant piece of paper home for Big One to decorate!

Cheese!

I guess I will continue to hibernate.

Snow Angels

Big One is a big fan of Max and Ruby.  Thanks to our DVR she can watch it anytime she wants.  Lucky us.  Heh.  She loves the episode where they make snow angels one afternoon while shoveling so Grandma can come over. 
When we got a decent amount of snow this winter I decided that I would try to get Little One to nap so I could take Big One outside and make snow angels.  She knew how to make them.  How did I know that?  She likes to demonstrate on the carpet.  Pretty funny.
So out we went.  First we delivered homemade bread to our wonderful neighbors. Went back in the house to get all the necessary snow gear on.  Snow pants, boots, jacket, mittens, hat.  Took at good 10 minutes.  Fun. 
Went outside.  And Big One was not amused.  She did not want to lay in the snow.  She did not want to make snow angels.  What did she want?  She wanted me to pick.her.up!  Um, 27lbs of Big One and another 10lbs (ok, I may be exaggerating a little) of snow gear.  Now I was the one that was not amused. 
She was very happy to stand in the garage and watch our wonderderful neighbor finish snow-blowing our drive way.  I told you they were wonderful! 
So what made me think of that?  Well, we have had some much warmer days lately (spring, I seeeeee you!!) and 99% of the snow is gone.  We have one small pile from the plow.  Makes me very happy to see our wonderfully dead grass again! 
So as we are driving out of the neighborhood Big One asks, "Mommy, make snow angels?"  Ummm.... I explain that the snow is all gone we cannot make snow angels.  She must have asked another three times.  Finally I told her she needed to wait until next winter (hopefully!) when it snows again. 
Somehow I doubt she will be much of a snowbunny then either. 
This post would be way cuter with a picture of Big One all dressed in her snow gear, but Facebook changed their layout again (surprise!) and I cannot grab the picture.  Sorry.

Valentine's Day

So we don't really go overboard with Valentine's Day stuff in our house.  Of course I made the skirts for the girls, and the hubster was probably right, Little One's was a bit short.  Maybe I'll add a ruffle to the bottom?  I also picked up some clippies months ago and some ribbon at Target from the dollar bin.  I have never made hair clips, but I've looked at tutorials and it looked easy enough.  I didn't have enough ribbon to make the bows on top of the clips, thanks to the $1 ribbon... but they still came out cute enough.  You can see for yourself.

 I actually wore the pink/blue heart clippie for the day.

 Next year I'm going to hide all of her shoes except for the pair I want her to wear for the day!  Sigh.

 Cute Clippy.

 

Little One in her Valentine's Day mini skirt!

My girls. 

So Big One and I made heart-shaped sugar cookies for the hubby.  I made a super yummy dinner for all of us (read: the hubby and me since Big One is: 1. picky and 2. starving at 5:15pm).  Hubby surprised me with chocolate and tulips, which are my favorite.  All in all, good Valentine's Day!

Hope you had a nice day too!

Princess

So my husband has always been a little anti-princess.  Not like the princesses in Disney movies, but like, calling your little girl, Princess.  With that being said, we haven't bought any princess stuff.  I think we got some pajamas with the word Princess on it because they were on sale.  But yeah...

So a while back Big One started saying "Mommy princess" when I would wear a skirt (heh).  And then Little One was born and she started saying "Mommy princess" when I would be getting ready to nurse the baby because I would have a boppy on my lap.  It is pretty funny, especially when Daddy is holding Little One with the boppy.  Hehe.

Yesterday, I made matching Valentine's Day skirts for the girls.  When Big One got up from her nap I put it on her to make sure it fit.  It did.  Perfectly.  Hubby thought it would be too short (I'm pretty sure if it came to her toes it would still be too short).  As soon as Big One put it on she started spinning and spinning and spinning, saying, "I'm a princess!"  Love memories like that.

I will post a picture of the skirts when Little One isn't asleep on my chest <3

Here you go!  Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy 3 Months Little One

I know moms say this all the time, but really I am amazed at how fast the last three months have flown!  I was miserable at the end of my pregnancy.  Heh, who am I kidding, I was pretty miserable almost the entire pregnancy!  And all of those reminders from loved ones that it is all worth it at the end?  Yeah, they were right.  Did you hear me, folks?!  You were right!  ...take a moment and enjoy it, you won't hear that very often ;)

...sorry that is not where this post was meant to go.

So Little One.  3 months old today.  She is a great baby.  I was going to give you her stats, but both munchkins have colds (and Big One has a fever.  sigh) so I canceled their vaccine appointment for today.  I'll have to update next week.

So again.... Little One.  She is an easy baby.  She looooooooves to eat.  She must take after her Mommy.  She is a great sleeper, usually giving me a 6-7 hour stretch between feedings at night.  She must take after her Daddy there, because as wonderful as 6 hours is for me, I'm still exhausted.  Give me 8-9 and I will be a new woman!  I will take it, however, because Big One didn't sleep that long until eleven months old!!!

Little One loves to stand up and talk to us.  She loves to stare into your eyes.  She is very smiley!  She has just started to laugh.  I cannot wait to really hear her belly laugh.  She does a fabulous job holding her head up.  She is already watching TV.  Uh oh.  Oh and she wins first prize for bubble blowing!!

And this will be fabulous blackmail for later in life... she has got to be the stinkiest little thing around!  Truly unbelievable.  I'm talking like gross, rotten egg, dog gas.  Let me tell you, it is a gooooood thing she is beautiful!  ...and, you know, that she will outgrow it!

She really is beautiful though.  Her eyes are still blue, like mine.  Definitely closer to my eye color,but not nearly as light as Big One's eyes.  Her eye lashes are super long like hubby's as well (I have lucky girls).  Her skin tone is darker, like hubby's as well.  Her hair is still a question mark.  She had tons and tons of dark hair when she was born, but over the last week or so it is falling out.  So we shall see.

Big One certainly resembles me more than hubby.  So far Little One resembles hubby more.

We make pretty babies.

So Happy Three Months, Little One.  You are loved more than you will ever know!  <3

Just Call Me...

The professional nose wiper.

Both girls are sick.  It started with the Little One having a stuffy nose.  Then yesterday the Big One woke up with a clear runny nose.  I have nicknamed the Little One "Snort," you know the book, Are You My Mother? because that is exactly what she sounds like.  The Big One keeps saying "Mommy, my nose HUUUUURRRRRRRTTS!"  Sigh. 

Is it spring yet?  This winter has been brutal with the sickies.  We haven't been going to the gym, or the Little Gym.  Our playdates have been minimal because everyone is stuck with the sickies, not just us.  Geesh.

Boy oh boy am I ready for spring!  Ready to open up the windows!  Ready to play outside!  Ready to go for walks!  Ready to go back to the gym without having to worry about what gross-ness my kids will end up with a couple of days later.  Ready for flowers!  Ready for No. More. Snow!

I really do hate wishing time away.... but I am so very ready for spring!

As you can probably tell from this post, not much time to be crafty lately.

Holy Out Numbered Batman!

So it was just six months ago that the numbers in my Mommy Group were even.  One Mommy for each kiddo.  How six months can change things!

This morning we crammed TWELVE people (four Mommies and EIGHT kiddos - one set of twins) and three dogs in our house.  Make that twelve and a half (one is baking) people. 

I should have taken a picture.  Who am I kidding?  There is not a chance we could have managed to get all of us in one picture.  HA!

Boy was it fun though.  Both of my girls are sleeping (at the same time!) and so is the dog.  Now that is the how you can tell you had a successful playdate!

Now the real question is.... sleep?  or sew?

See, this gives you PLENTY of time!

Heh... so I only started sewing this past summer.  I'm by no means a professional.  I'm getting better with each project I complete.

That being said, my sister must have some serious faith in my abilities!  She asked me to make her a Christmas tree skirt as her Christmas gift this year.  That is a project that I had been thinking about doing anyway - for our own tree - so I said sure!  I knew that I had found a really great tutorial online, so why not?!

Why not?  Well, maybe because I have a crazy two year old?  Or because I was in my third trimester when she mentioned it?

But I said yes.  And then I waited until the Christmas fabrics were out in the store.  And then I went and had a baby.  HA!  How is that for giving yourself some additional time and energy!

So then I procrastinated.  I kept coming up with excuse upon excuse for what else had to be done before that skirt. 

It wasn't a difficult project.  Just a time consuming one. 

But I finished it!  ....the day after Christmas!

Please excuse the tired, non-make-upped, still hanging onto baby-weight me.

I'm pretty happy with it.  It isn't perfect, but the imperfections can only be seen from the back if you are looking for them.  We would need a way bigger one for our tree, however.  Maybe next year :)

I have to say, it is a good thing I love her.  A lot.  It was not easy to part with!

Oh and the fun part?  Look what I decided to finish...

 
So now the girls have a Christmas tree skirt for the doll house they don't have yet! 

Great idea goes to my mom! 

New Design...

What do you think?  The beautiful banner was made by my beautiful friend, Christa, at Dazzling Darling Designs.  She does all of our holiday, birthday, and birth announcement cards for us!  Check her out at http://www.etsy.com/shop/DazzlingDarlings

I still need to figure out how to attach the cute signature she made me.

So stay tuned!

PS - HA!  so I just realized that my wonderful hubby got rid of my background.... I'll have to go back and fix that.

Less Crafty Lately

So despite my blog title, these days have been a little slow in the craft department.  I imagine it must have something to do with a todder, a new baby, and a hubby working lots of hours?  Nah, couldn't be. 

One day the girls will nap at the same time again and I will sew.  One day. 

I have several projects I want to try.  Nursing covers.  Crayon Rolls.   A few other things.  And I picked up some cute Valentines Day fabric to make the girls matching skirts.  So that one has a little more urgency behind it! 

So I leave you with this.  I've made a few taggy loveys in the last couple of months.  They are a fun and quick project.  A great gift for a new baby.  I love picking out the cotton prints (and sometimes try to match the nursery theme) and sewing it to the soft minky backing (although it is a pain in the you-know-what to sew.  lots of pins.  lots and lots of pins.).  And the tags are so fun for them to play with.  Different colors.  Different textures.  I could buy out the entire ribbon section at the store and be a very happy crafty mama.  I digress.

So, here are a couple I've done recently. 

These were made for one of my best friends from college.  She was having twin girls, so I thought these were cute, not-quite-matching fabrics for them!  Her little girls arrived, perfect in every way just one week before I had my LO.

And this lovey was done for my sister to give as a gift.  She was my first paying customer!  It was for a little girl.  Her nursery is decorated in sage, tan, and chocolate, so we thought this would be a fun pattern for her. 

Next time I'll show you the Christmas Skirt I made as a Christmas gift for my sister and the taggy stroller/car seat blanket I made for LO.