What's going on...

Actually not too much. Getting ready for a lot of summer travel this year! Grass is growing...even though we are far from full coverage, Curtis is ready to move the outside toys off the porch and into the yard again! Yay! We bought Toby a basketball hoop from a consignment store today and he's loving it...in the small cramped quarters on the back porch. It will be nice to get him some more space!

Lucy is getting around...rolling, scooting backward...however she can get there, she does. She can get on all fours now, but can't balance there for long. She is officially in all 6-9 month clothes now...and I weighed her at K's this morning and she was 18 pounds! YIKES! She is getting so big!

Toby is full of energy...I think he needs to burn more outside, so it will be nice to have the yard opened up again. He is all into Thomas the train and Blue's Clues...typical toddler! He has amazing eye hand coordination though!

I'm busy crafting and such. I remade a toddler shirt this week for a friend - the shirt only came in Children's small and she wanted it 18 month, so I sewed it down for her. That was a fun project! It was actually much easier than anticipated.

Curtis is busy with his fishtank and school. He's been working on a sump system for his tank that is under the cabinet instead of over top the tank...it makes the tank quieter and prettier! School is coming along - he's working on his thesis for this short summer session. After we travel in June he will be returning to work for the remainder of the summer - then back to school for one last semester!

Ok I just wanted to post a quick update!

This morning the kids and I met K and her kids for a walk and playtime in the park. What fun! We had a great walk (Toby walked almost the whole way!) and then the kids finished wearing themselves out at the park. We're hoping to meet up at the pool next week sometime. I'm not sure how that will work with 2 kids!

Diaper Mania!

I finally put my hands to a task I've been putting off for too long - sewing diapers! I had all the material - the waterproof fabric, the inner lining, the snap press, the polyester thread...everything. In fact, I had everything long before DD was born (maybe before she was conceived...), but I have never made a decent diaper...until this weekend!

Success!


These are all the diapers I have sewn - there are 2 more cut and snapped, waiting to be sewn. The bottom open one is actually chocolate and hot pink, but the flash made it look more maroon.

I also finished these cargo pants tonight - they are a baby gift, knitted with cotton yarn - I love them! I used the Knitty Cargo pattern, which I've used before and really enjoy.

Up next? Not sure. I have undyed yarn on it's way. I have some merino here waiting to be made into shorties or soakers, but I may offer those as customs at the store. So I'm sort of between things right at the moment. I need to learn to make Boppy covers for a friend and I may have an alteration on a toddler shirt, but I haven't looked at that yet.

Grand Opening!

I am proud to announce the grand opening of my online store

Haute Tot

The address is www.hyenacart.com/hautetot or click the link above.

I have stocked a variety of sewn and knitted baby items. I can also do customs, just email me at hautetot@hotmail.com to learn more!

Chel

Grand Opening!

I am proud to announce the opening of my new online store

Haute Tot

The address is www.hyenacart.com/hautetot (or click the link above).

I have stocked a variety of baby items, sewn and knitted. I also can do customs, just contact me at hautetot@hotmail.com and we'll talk!

Check it out, pass it on!

Chel

The Zoo!

After our last infameous zoo trip, we were hesitant to attempt it again...BUT we were brave and did! We had beautiful weather yesterday and after the kids were in bed we talked about trying the zoo today.

It was PACKED (way more people than we've ever seen there), but we had a great time! The kids cooperated and Toby even stayed dry the whole time! (He was able to pick out a toy as a reward...he chose a toy camera...it is the cutest thing EVER...he was snapping pic of other guests and animals...ADORABLE!)

Here are some pics...I'm going to go play Mario Party now!

Suoer Duper Girly Soaker Part Deux

I used the extra yarn from the first girly soaker to turn out another one in opposite colors - I like! I crocheted the leg ruffle this time - much faster!


The ruffle is actually a little rufflier...next time I might back it down a little.

On the needles now, a pair of cotton longies for a baby shower gift (I have never been a cotton knittier, and I'm in LOVE).

In the mail? UNDYED sock yarn and jacquard dyes! This is my first time trying KnitPicks and I'm very interested to see how it turns out. It is VERY affordable, and from what I've read seems like nice quality, so my hopes are set high!

Memorial Day Weekend?!?

HOLY COW! Where has the month gone? I'm still getting into the swing of April...

One week from today is Curtis' and my 5th wedding anniversary! I think we just figured that out a few days ago. :) We are so lost on days and weeks right now, and just struggling to keep abreast of the calandar.

Let's see...Lucy has a slight cold right now. She was stuffy last night and a little snotty today. I hope it's just a slight cold and it goes away quickly! I let her sleep in the swing last night since laying flat really bothered her, and she slept better there than she has in a long time!

She's sitting really well now. And eating too! Although yesterday she didn't eat much (I now think that was the cold coming on) but ate better today...then tonight at dinner she took a few bites of oatmeal, then started crying at the sight of the spoon. I was baffled...I was sure she was at least a little hungry. I was going to just forget it - she's not eating so much she NEEDS it yet, but on a whim thought I'd try something different...

grabbed a jar of peas...she SCARFED them down (well what didn't get on her face, that is). She loved them! Guess we're branching out from baby cereal now!

Here's a track Curtis built for Toby today - he loved it!

Toby can recognise "2" now...as in 2 apples...2 balls...2 M&M's...sigh. You give him 1 M and now he looks at you and says "Two M's!" Greedy wee thing, isn't he? Last night we had a rare treat of ice cream for dessert...before Curtis was even able to get a spoon in his, Toby had licked his bowl clean and shoved his bowl towards Curtis for "MORE!" He's been eating nonstop. In fact, after ice cream last night I pulled out a cantalope to cut it up so it would be cold for breakfast....Toby ate at least a full slice and cried when I took it away. If feeding him is like this now, I can't imagine feeding a teenager.

We're pulling together some big summer plans this year, and I'm getting excited that June is just around the corner! I can't wait to see family and friends!!!

5 Months!

I can't believe she's five months already! She must not want to give up on this last month, since she's spent the last hour resisting bed. Nothing seems to be wrong, she just wants to play and it's bedtime!

She also started solids tonight - oatmeal - but I don't think that's related to the wakefulness. I had to run the vacuum and that woke her up, and now she won't sleep! ARGH!

We've had a full week here - including a trip to the dentist for the 2 year old, but I'll talk more about that another time.

Enjoy the pics!

Pretty Pretty Tutu

I remember when Toby was just a wee little thing (ok he was never that wee, but smaller than he is now anyway), and the moms of girls were making little tutus for their girls. I thought they were just darling and decided if I ever had a girl I would most definitely make her one when she could sit up! Well since she started sitting up a week or so ago, I got started :)

It was so easy to make. 4 yards of tulle...2 yards light pink and 2 yards white, and a piece of elastic cut to fit her, sewn to make a circle. Cut the tulle in 2 inch strips, hold 3 pieces together and tie around the elastic. Viola! Super cute! I'm going to use it when I take her 6 months pics (it will be another month so I'm putting it up until then - she was already chewing on it this morning, lol).

I also cut out fabric to make her a hot chili pepper dress! Can't wait to get it sewn!

The Super Duper Girly Soaker

Can't get much girlier than this! This is DD's newest soaker, size medium, knit with Malabrigo on size 4's. I added the ruffle of my own design since I couldn't find instructions for what I wanted. I'm so pleased with it. I've lanolized it and it's drying - will update with pics once I get to use it!

Buggies!

I bet you thought this was about the insect variety...suprise!

Today we took the kids to the buggy festival in Carthage. We got there early, before the heat and the crowds. There were a lot of booths, and tons to look at...tractors, old cars... Toby had a blast!

We tried to take more pics, but he adamantly refused. He is a camera hater these days.

We only stayed a little over an hour, and Toby didn't seem terribly entralled so we decided to get home before lunchtime. We get in the car and Toby LOST IT. Apparently he was having a lot of fun and he was royally po'ed that we were leaving. He cried for 20 minutes, at least. I felt really bad; I had no idea he was having that good a time since he was insisting on being held and wasn't paying much attention to anything. We even tried to get him to stand next to a fire truck (he had one on his shirt today), and he wasn't interested in the least.

We got home and ate lunch, then decided to renovate the front yard. To the left of our driveway we had 4 rhododendrens, 2 of which died in the drought last summer. And at the end of the second parking area, we had 4 tall bushes we didn't like there, so we decided to rearrange. We moved them to create a sort of privacy fence for the back yard - we'll see if they live or not. I also weeded the whole front flower bed...I swear, the weeds there are growing faster than Toby is! I managed to get sun burnt, big suprise, right? I also planted morning glories around the mailbox...we shall see whether my thumb is green or just the dull peach shade it usually appears as.

Anyway, the yard looks better and Curtis and I are pretty tired tonight. Toby dropped right off to sleep...he did a lot of helping today!

Grass update - it is growing! We could first see it last night, and today there is a light carpet of the thinnest green all over the back yard! YAY! It's supposed to rain here tomorrow, so I hope it does - every bit helps!

Tonight for dinner Curtis fired up the grill again. He's definitely redeemed himself there (there were some bad incidents last year). He marinated chicken breasts this afternoon (I'm not sure what he used, but there was lemon in it!), then I made pico de gallo this afternoon (diced tomatos, onion, fresh cilantro, and a dash of sugar - YUM enough that I'm going to grow cilantro this summer!), and dinner rolls, corn, and black beans on the side. Mmmmmmm. Didn't quite top the pork chops from last week (those were unbelievably good), but a close second anyway. The best part? It took an hour total, and with Curtis doing half and me doing half, it really wasn't that much work for either of us.

Happy mothers day to all mothers tomorrow! I'm not sure what's in store for me tomorrow, but I'm relatively sure I'm not cooking!

A seamstress by day..

Knitter by night. And I've had more time in the day lately with dh between semesters (he finished finals last week and his summer session starts next week). I've been taking advantage of a little extra time to get the sewing machine really humming!

First off, I finished the Pretty in Pink outfit. This is a baby shower gift for a cousin's shower I'm going to in June. I was so pleased with how this turned out. It only took a few hours for the bonnet and the dress was two days, including cutting and all. I was able to use my snap press for the crotch snaps...the pattern uses snap tape, but why use that when I have a handy dandy snap press here and a gazillion snaps? :P I love my snap press. I reinforced the edges with bias tape before applying snaps.


This dress is for the store. I made this in a matter of hours, and I LOVE the pattern! This is a size large...I am going to make one for my little model in a smaller size so I can see how it wears, but it just looks so sweet with the criss cross back. Instead of buttons on the shoulders, I again pulled out the snap press!

I made this bow holder for DD last night (took about 5 minutes). I had hung her footprints with this ribbon and had tons extra, so I handsewed this last night to match. It looks great in her room! (Can you tell I'm a total bow addict? There's one particular style I LOVE and I'm waiting for the local store to get more in. I really ought to learn to make these on my own since I love them so much...but I figure that I have a to-sew/knit list a mile long already so I will help stimulate the economy and keep purchasing these).
I am half done with a pink/ purple soaker for DD, and then I want to try my hand a tutu making. It's something that I think is just darling on little girls and I vowed a while back that once she learned to sit up I'd make her a tutu. It looks really easy, and they sell the tulle at WalMart...I need to pick up some interfacing and a liner fabric for the dress I'm sewing DD anyway, so what's a little tulle added in, right? :P

A Thursday Post

It is a rainy, muggy Thursday here. I can't believe it's only in the 60's because it's so muggy! But the rain is nice - it would be nicer if we'd believed the forecast and NOT watered this morning, but se la vie. Curtis ran into work this morning. When he came home, Toby was napping (YAY!) ON THE FLOOR! LOL! I was checking on him and kept finding him sprawled on the floor next to his bed, well he finally fell asleep there. I got a picture, but it's still on the camera. He is completely conked out, blanket over the head...on the floor. Kids!

In the meantime, here are some pics I took off the camera this morning:


In this one it's a little hard to see but...she DOES have her belly off the floor...her weight is on her hands and knees. YIKES. This is one of the scariest things I've seen in a while...I don't need a crawler!

She sits!

Wow kids can change so fast! Yesterday Lucy was a wobbly sitter - meaning we had to sit directly behind her and she would fall over every time she grabbed for something. This morning, she was a totally different baby! She is sitting fairly steadily, and she does fall over after a bit, but she can move her hands and still stay upright! It amazes me that yesterday I couldn't sit her up and let her sit, and today I can!

She is also playing with her feet all the time now! Little goose :)

Monday Monday

Here we are to Monday again. We had a busy weekend! On Saturday we had some guys come over to grade and seed the backyard. Toby was enthralled watching them...but now the backyard is off limits until the grass looks decent. But it will be well worth it once we have real grass out back!

Here is Toby talking on the phone last week

And helping daddy crush cans this weekend
We had pancakes Saturday morning and after 2, Toby started fussing and fidgeting. I asked him if he was done eating, he said "No!". I asked if he was full, "No!". Finally he said "Huwts." "What hurts?" I asked...he pointed to his tummy. LOL! Such his father's boy...eating until it hurts! And to quote my dear husband..."It's not an all-you-want-to-eat buffet, it's all you CAN eat." Apparently his son subscribes to the same train of thought.

Curtis is working on the front yard this morning, killing weeds, mowing, and some general clean up work out there. I've been busy sewing when I can.

The Great Photo Update

Ok, I finally sat down at the computer with the intention of getting some pictures on here!

First up is the partially finished orange baby blanket. It is seamed together, but I don't like the way the seams still have a tendency to roll. I'm not sure what, if anything, I can do about this...any suggestions? I am still knitting the lace edging, but it has actually been put away for awhile while I work on other projects and take a much needed break from this one. Oh, and this is Caron Brites, btw :)
I sewed this baby bonnet yesterday. I am working on a matching romper dress, size 7-13 pounds.
This is one of the blankets I sewed a month or so back - this one is single layer, pink stripe, hemmed around the edges and nice and large to use as a swaddling blanket.

This one is still big enough to use a swaddling blanket. It is double sided...love this one!
This one is double sided as well, though I used the same fabric for both sides. I'm not sure if it would match most people's taste, but I hope to find someone with a retro baby theme!
This is a medium soaker, embellished with bumblebee on the bum!

This is a dress and shorts set, size small (0-3 months)
Here is a newborn size soaker in bumblebee stripes.

A red medium soaker
An orange sherbet size small soaker

Whew! How's that for a picture overload? I hope to work more on my romper dress today and I wound up 3 skeins of yarn on Saturday so they are ready to knit.

Ok, fussy baby, must run!