Playing catch up!

Man, I'm a slacker!

I've been so busy with Princess Girl Face and diaper coops I feel like I hardly ever have time to write here!

I promise, I promise... I'll write more soon!

3 good posts are brewing, when I can actually sit down and make it happen!

Hint:

New Wash Routine
Adventures in Wool
Diaper Review (I'm finally getting around to this!)

PGF will be 1, yes 1 whole year old, next Friday... and I am so excited, yet sad at the same time.  I feel like I'm watching her change on a daily basis.  She's losing some of her baby nuances and I'm seeing more kid in her.  It's scary, but it makes me so proud and happy at the same time.

She's walking about 75% of the time now.  I think she just finds crawling more efficient still!  It's so cute when she walks though, I wish she'd do it all the time.

The 2 of us went to a cloth diaper swap/meetup with Sarah and her son today.  It was about an hour away, so it was a "fun" little road trip.  ("fun"... imagine 2 cranky babies stuck in a car, feeding off each other's emotions.  It was a unique experience to say the least!)  I had hoped to sell some diapers I have, but no luck.  I'll have to keep trying to sell them online.  I did buy a few things though, oops!  2 of the things I got for $5, so that's pretty easy to justify.  Then I spent $30 on just ONE other thing.  If you know anything about cloth diapering and the typical prices of things, you probably have an idea of what I bought!  (You also may have guessed from my hints, haha!)

I have so many little projects planned and things to do, I can't keep up with it all!  And to top it off, PGF and I are going to take a 5 day trip this weekend to see my grandma who is ill.  The doctors haven't figured out the problem yet still I believe, but they're leaning towards cancer, which runs in the family apparently (my mom, aunt, and grandpa all had it.  Don't worry about me though, I was adopted!  Hehe :))  So this is going to be a sad trip, as we don't know if it will be the last time I see her.  And she still hasn't met her great grand-daughter yet!

I can't wait for things to calm down a bit so I can get back to writing and sewing again!

Walk the walk

Oh, what a day!

Princess Girl Face has been standing unassisted for quite some time now. A few days ago, she took her first step holding on to nothing. Then 2 days ago, 3 tiny steps.

But today, oh, today! She was inspired by a dog squeaky toy (of all things) and took way more than 3 steps! We enticed her with the toy, but once she had it, she took off! Well, sort of. But she did walk on her own initiative, taking 4 or 5 steps at a time while distracted by her amazing squeaky fun ball.

Ahh, it was so wonderful! And scary of course. But even though I know life will be more difficult and intense keeping up with her, I simply cannot contain my joy!

I'm not sure why, but I went out and bought her first pair of "real" shoes today (and by real I mean shoes that currently fit and aren't sandals). Mother's intuition or something? I'm not really sure I believe in all that, but I just had a feeling she'd be needing shoes soon.

On another note, a very close friend's son is going to be 1 tomorrow! It amazes me how this all just flies by. There are days where I honestly feel like we just got out of the hospital. I suppose having a rather traumatic birth experience can have that effect though.

Despite all the pain I went through for her, I wouldn't give it a 2nd thought to do it all over. She is so worth it. Though I'd definitely change some things. Ok ok, most things. :)

I know I'm going to cry like a little wimp on her birthday. Don't judge me!

Oops, I haven't posted in a while!

I have no idea if many people even read this, but I figured since I'd been gone for a while it was time for a new post!

Over the past 2 or so weeks, PGF & I have been rather busy.  We took a trip to see family in New Hampshire, and had a blast!  It was too short of a trip though, sadly.

I was hoping she'd learn to walk while we were there, she is just SO close.  I think she just lacks the confidence.  She'll walk without prompting if you simply let her hold onto you in some fashion, but the second you try to let go she gets upset and drops down to crawl.

Ok ok, I shouldn't really be excited for her walking, because who KNOWS how much trouble she'll get into then!  But I really just adore seeing her grow and progress.

She already gets into drawers, cabinets, open doors (not by the handle, she just pulls them open), the trash (oy!), and an assortment of other fun things.  I'll definitely have my work cut out for me when she's faster!

Princess Girl Face opening drawers at Grandpa's house

Fleece Longies

While PGF was napping yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making fleece longies.  They definitely didn't turn out great.  They're ok for first and second attempts, but I clearly need practice.

Sadly, with practice, comes botching some decent fabric.  Sigh.

The first pair I made were from pink camo fleece.  They're too small for Princess Girl Face.  I followed the directions on the pattern for the length of the waistband, yet it came out way too small for the size of the pants.  So there's some ugly bunching, and they barely fit over her fluffy butt.

Squeeeeze

You can see the screwed up waistband here.

Also, being my first time attempting to sew pants, I screwed up the crotch and hems.  I didn't realize how hard it would be to sew the crotch, so of course I left a hole.

I also can't seem to sew in a straight line for hems.

Well after the first pair, I made another, in hopes they'd fit Princess Girl Face better.  They do, but barely.  I extended the waist band on the pattern, but it still wasn't enough for the size of the pants and there was more bunching.  It was a larger band though, so the pants actually fit.  I screwed up again, though, this time I put the waistband backwards and again couldn't sew the hems straight.

Look at those wonky lines on the hem!  Oy!

So I obviously need practice.  But I also need more fleece.  I guess a trip to the store is in order soon.

On another, happier, note.  Princess Girl Face is 10 months old!  I'm so blown away by how fast these months have gone by.  I still feel like I just found I was pregnant.  

I love everyday with her, it's such a wonderful journey.

A romantic picnic with her boyfriend.

She speaks!

Oh I could just die of happiness right now.

Me: Princess Girl Face, say mama!
PGF: mama!

Yes that's right, she said mama on command today!

I am absolutely elated.

I know I know, she still may not know what it means, but she's been babbling away for months, and to hear her little voice form a real word in response to me just about melted my heart.

These are the things that make me love motherhood. It can be stressful and down right painful at times, but these moments bring me back to the time I first laid eyes on her.

Love unconditional. Such a beautiful thing I've experienced.

Sew Sew

I'm a stay at home mom (SAHM) now, and this sort of thing is very new and weird to me.  Up until Husband joined the Army in 2010, I'd always been the "bread winner," so to speak.  I was the one working long hours at a job I hated.  Now the tables are turned.  He is not a fan of his job, to say the least.  

However, I'm loving staying home with Princess Girl Face, and watching her grow from tiny, squealing newborn, into an "almost toddler" already.

She doesn't bore me, but being cooped up here is not something I'm used to.  There is truly only so much you can do with a 9 month old before your brain implodes.

Sure, let's watch it again!

After visiting some family a few months ago, I was introduced to sewing.  I decided it could be a fun hobby, and promptly got set up with some basic sewing essentials and high hopes.  

Well, it's harder than I thought.  Not impossible, but I'm such a perfectionist I've yet to finish a "real" project.

I've made a few random things here and there, none of which would be worthy of selling, or even gifting for that matter.  

My first project, the one I started while visiting family, was a bib.  It turned out surprisingly well, despite my lack of experience.

Not bad, right?

Well, I'm chocking up that success to the fact I had a really good teacher, and just a little beginner's luck.

Since then, I've mostly made cloth wipes.  They're simple little rectangles made of flannel.  I love using cloth wipes with my cloth diapers, so I figured it wouldn't hurt to have a few more.

I made these out of flannel receiving blankets that we don't use anymore.  Didn't exactly nail the straight lines though.  Bummer.

Today I wanted to be really crafty, and thought I could re-purpose a onesie and turn it into a t-shirt.  Since cloth diapers are rather bulky, Princess Girl Face tends to outgrow onesies a lot faster than the rest of her clothing.  I wanted to get a little more life out of them.  I failed.  My total lack of experience made for a horrendous hack job.  Sorry, no picture of the onesie homicide.

I tend to get discouraged quickly, so after the epic onesie failure, I decided to try and make another bib like I'd made as my first creation.  Success!  Well, mostly.  I haven't finished yet.  Maybe during PGF's nap tomorrow.  I only screwed up bad enough to have to fix stitching twice, which is certainly a new record for me.  It looks very similar to the first bib, obviously, since I used the same pattern.  But I picked different fabrics this time.

I like the fabrics on this one better.

Sewing is pretty fun once I realize I need to relax a little and tone down the need for things to be perfect.  I'm hoping to one day get good enough to sell stuff (and actually start contributing to the household again, heh).

I would LOVE to be able to make diapers.  I think about it all the time (did I mention I might be a little obsessed with cloth diapers?).

I think my next project will be fleece longies.  With any luck, and a bit of help, I don't think they will be too difficult.  And since fleece is relatively inexpensive when compared to other diaper fabrics, I can probably afford to screw up a few times.  

Um, duh.  So cute.

Stash Shot!

I was doing diaper laundry tonight, and decided to get all my diapers together for a fun stash shot!  (Don't mind the trash can)

There are a couple things not pictured, but that's because in my supreme laziness, I did not want to go downstairs to get them.

Let's start at the top.  The pink Alva diaper hanging there is damaged, so I use it as Princess Girl Face's swim diaper.

Then I have 17 Alva double gussets, 2 Coolababy, 3 BumGenius, 1 BabyWizard, 3 Sunbaby, 5 regular Alvas (neon and purple were downstairs), 1 Bumkins AIO, 12 GMD prefolds, 2 Flip covers, 1 fleece soaker, and 2 GMD Workhorse Fitteds.  Oh, and a zebra Alva double gusset was on her butt.

Phew, that was a mouthful!  So that's 32 pocket diapers and an AIO, 3 covers, 12 prefolds and 2 fitteds.  Yet, I still want more diapers.  It may be an addiction.  One I will happily feed!

And just for funsies.  I'm helping my friend Sarah run a diaper co-op, and our most recent Sunbaby order came to my house.

So many Sunbabies!  And Princess Girl Face stealing a picture of herself.