Second Re-fashioned Skirt and More Pictures of a STILL Uncooperative Model

Okay - Tshirt Re-fashion #2 came from here - and this one was pretty easy and fun to make.  and i did it in black (because it is what I had laying around) and it is so cute.  It looks like a little dance skirt with a yoga style waist and flippy fabric.

And, best of all, for your amusement, my model was not any less silly and crazy than she was earlier today.  I have a feeling that America's Next Top Model doesn't live here.

Oh geez...  what a girl.  LOL

A crafty moment results in an adorable skirt - modeled by an unwilling participant.

I used this tutorial (sent  to me by my darling cousin Erin Rae) demonstrating how to use an old t-shirt to make a cute little skirt for a certain fashionista in my house. 

I have recently moved into my fat lady clothes (a less nice way to say maternity clothes) full time (does this seriously happen sooner the second time?  or was it just more fun and novel last time? LOL) and my husband has been urging me to rid the closet of a few things that I am admittedly not wearing anymore, and will not be wearing after Appleseed is here either. Just crap i am sick of I have a few tshirts that i figured could be re-fashioned into skirts for the Owl.

So here is what we came up with on our maiden run.  Please excuse my model.  She did not want her picture taken, and was only willing to participate if I was willing to take a picture of her showing me her belly or laying on the floor like a weirdo.  LOL

The project itself was pretty easy - minus a few little issues like an unexplained sewing machine disaster (but really, what sewing project would feel complete without a few of those, right?) and some crying and clinging to my leg and getting into everything in my craft room "help" from a certain toddler, and several swear words.  The only hard thing is that knit is a little tricky to sew, but I am pretty sure anyone with even 7th grade Home EC sewing skills could handle this one with a little practice.  You should try it.

I have some more tshirts that can be converted waiting in my craft room, but looking at the pictures above, you can probably tell that my child needs a nap.  Bad.  So the tshirts will have to wait, because I might just join her. :)

A New Haircut for Hootie

My kid was born with a head full of hair.  Like  a little wig.  And, even though I fully expected it to, it never fell out or rubbed off - it just got longer and longer and longer. 

We started with clips and bows when she was brand spanking new, and piggytails at around five months old. 

Lately, her hair was so unkempt-looking, I was running out of things to do with it.  Even her piggytails were scraggly and wild lately, and I practically HAD to put it up in piggys to make her presentable to leave the house - and to allow her to see. 

I decided it was time for a first haircut.  Afterall, she is a big girl now.

She wasn't sure what we were going to do to her, but she sat still and sweet through the whole thing.

 Before the first cut:

Just a little trim, please: 

With a little help from Dad (the family funny guy) we even got a little smile:

And the results are gorgeous.

But we knew they would be.  She was perfectly adorable to begin with, right?

A Dollhouse Bookshelf for Miss Hootie

My dad made this awesome book shelf for Hayden's room a couple of weeks ago, and Garrett finally got a minute to paint it for me this weekend.  Is it not the most adorable thing you've ever seen? 

We saw the exact same thing in a Pottery Barn catalog a long time ago, and they wanted around $350 for it!!  I chalked it up to something that I would never pay that much for, until my dad said he could probably figure out how to build one like it. 

I ran into THIS website, and she just happened to have the plans for how to make one!! (By the way, this website has fast become an obsession for me.  If Appleseed is a boy, I want him to have one of these in his room! Adorable, right?  I could spend all day browing and daydreaming! We need this.  And this.  And this. And this, this and this. And a million other things that Miss Ana White is planning for us!  Hope that my dad is eating his Wheaties. LOL)

Next on the agenda for Hoot's room is we are going topaint a tree that hangs over her bed.  I feel like we should spruce her room up before a brother or sister joins the pack and we set to work on that bedroom. 

Maybe one day, she'll sleep up there.  But that's a different blog post.  ;)

12 weeks, 4 days

My little Appleseed is growing up. 

He or she is 12.5 weeks old today.

Wednesday  we go to the doctor and we will be one day shy of 13 weeks.  One third of the way through.  We will also schedule the appointment for our big anatomy scan, where we will find out if Appleseed is a boy or a girl. 

When I was pregnant with Hoot, we found out we were thinking pink the day of our anatomy scan when I was a little more than 19 weeks in.

On that day we had the ultrasound lady write the result down on a little slip of paper, to be put in an envelope and transported home under a shroud of secrecy, to then be handed off to my uncle, who baked a cake of the appropriate color – pink for a girl, blue for a boy – and frosted the outside completely in white.  Later that night, we cut the cake in front of all of our family and friends and we all found out together who the tiny little person inside my belly was.

Up until the very moment I cut into the cake and saw pink, I thought we were having a boy.  I have never been so stunned in my life.  You can see it in the pictures of that moment.  I was thrilled, and had wanted a girl the entire time, but I was shocked that it that cake wasn’t blue!

My husband claims that he knew it was a girl.  He wanted a girl all along, too, but I think he was a little bit shocked, too.

This time, I am having that boy feeling again.  And – big surprise - Garrett is having that girl feeling again.  Of course, my maternal instinct has a history of being totally defunct in this department, but I am going with it. I call Appleseed “he” and Garrett usually says “she”.  We told Dr. Chacon that and he said that he was going to take the middle of the road and say “the baby.”   Haha.  Smart man.

We have tentative names picked out – Carly Reese for a girl, and Reid William for a boy.  With Hayden, Garrett picked the girls name and I picked the boy’s name, and this time we did the opposite.  I am not totally sold on Reid, but it is growing on me.  Garrett says that it “feels right” to him.  I am trusting him, partly because he did good with Hootie’s name and partly because he vetoed all of my other boy ideas.  Party pooper.  They were good ones too.  So, we’ll see how that goes – it is all subject to change.  ;)

So the question here is this, little Appleseed- are you a boy or are you a girl?  We will not do the cake thing this time; we want to know what it feels like to have the ultrasound lady say, “See that?  Looks like….”  But are you snakes and snails and puppy dog tails?  Or are you sugar and spice and everything nice?  Is Hayden going to have a little brother or a little sister?  Only time will tell.  Five or six weeks from now, we will know that answer. 

I don’t know how I am going wait that long.  :)

Happy Valentine's Day!

We have had a great Valentine's Day today, Hootie and I.

We got an early start because we had big plans.  We ran errands, went to the store, and came home to make a Valentine's dinner for Daddy and Gramma, Grampa, and Uncle Owen.

We had Valentine's to make:

We had to salt eggplant and let it sit for Eggplant Parmasan:

I went all out and made my sauce from scratch this time.  No bottled stuff on Love Day!



We did a little decorating.

And my little helper was there by my side the whole time, dirty face and crazy ponytails and all.

It was taking a long time, so she caught up on some reading.

And she had to love on her Valentine, Piper.  (Piper doesn't love the loving as much as Hayden thinks she  does.)

A truck-load of time and work later, here is our delicious dinner - Eggplant Parmasan.  (I LOVE this stuff!!)

And later, there is a special treat for everyone - Chocolate Toffee Saltines.  (click here to make some- they are TO DIE FOR.....  and surprisingly easy to  make!) 





Happy Valentine's Day!  I hope you all found a little love in your life today. :)  I know I did.  

More than "Just a Mom"

Never say that I am “just a mom.” Yes, I stay home.  Yes I have no paying “job.”  Yes, my life revolves around my husband and children.  But I am offended that anyone would consider me “just a mom.” I am so much more.

I am an expert in negotiating, conflict resolution and crisis management.

I am an on-site nurse, with expertise in treating minor illnesses, contusions, and flesh wounds - including bumped heads, smashed fingers, runny noses, projectile vomiting, etc.

I am an independent self-starter, with an infinite ability to be flexible and work around the needs of others.

I am on call 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year – which requires me to be able to complete all tasks as soon as the need arises, usually on little-to-no sleep.

I am a repair person with experience in fixing small gadgets and toys, unclogging toilets, assembling furniture, and any other fix it jobs that may arise.

I am responsible for most custodial duties on the job, such as tidying and organizing, scrubbing surfaces, disinfecting bathrooms , windows, floors, etc. - including the less pleasant duties like washing bodily fluids from clothing, scrubbing dog vomit (or worse) from carpets, and figuring out how to remove crayon marks from walls and marker from tile floors.

I excell at driving a moving vehicle safely – even with a child screaming bloody murder in the back seat, I manage to get us where we are going without harming myself, said child, or other patrons of the road.

I am a banker- I have to devise of a way to keep all of the bellies around here full, keep bottoms diapered, hair shampooed, toilet paper rolls filled, and our home clean and comforable on a nearly non-existent budget.

I am an expert in the personal hygiene of the smaller members of the household- including bathing, manicures, pedicures, and hairstyling on a daily basis.  This also includes some less pleasant jobs like poopy diapers and the occasional head-to-toe spaghetti sauce mess, which practically requires a hose to remedy.

I am a chef with ability to create healthy, affordable meals that even the pickier people in the house can find something in.  This often leads to rejection by said picky people.  Must have thick skin and be resilient in the face of adversity in this area.

I am a recreation director, required to come up with fun and educational activities for a toddler and soon for an infant.  This includes, outdoor activities (even when it is freezing cold or boiling hot), and craft projects that usually end with a giant mess that ! am responsible to clean up after.

I work unthinkably long hours – 24 hour shifts, seven days a week.  No over time, no vacation, no holidays.  No Christmas bonus, no pay raises.

All of these tasks and roles, along with many more that are not mentioned above, are often carried out while nursing a child, heading off a temper-tantrum, while attempting to give my husband some long neglected attention, while trying to ignore the nag of morning sickness, and as stated above on little-to-no-sleep.  Soon, my job will shift and I will be required to do it all with an enormous abdomen, swollen feet, and all of the other joys of late pregnancy. 

So, please, I am more than a “just a mom”.

I am wife to my husband. I am a teacher, role model, and the biggest fan of a sweet little HootOwl.  I am the incubator and host to a growing little Appleseed.  I am the Super Woman who makes their worlds go 'round.  I am the woman who joyfully does the world’s hardest, most thankless job.  I am what makes this “company” run.  I am smart, funny, and creative – and I deserve respect and recognition as a productive member of society and a woman if integrity and character.  I am the luckiest girl on earth because I wake up every morning to the greatest “co-workers” there are – and I am the one who heard my baby’s first word, saw her first steps, and will witness all of the firsts from here on out - not some daycare worker. 

I am more than “just a mom” – I am someone’s everything.