Making Baby Gifts

Recently, one of my favorite things to do has been making baby gifts for all of these babies being born.  It seems like everyone I know is pregnant or has just had a baby.  Unfortunately, I don't always have time to do sew for every friend's baby, but when I can, I love making personalized burp cloths for little ones.

Here are my latest homemade baby gifts.

Burp Cloths

 
I made these burp cloths for my friend Laura's little girl, Tenley, who is due to arrive in about a month.  I received a similar burp cloth in pink gingham when I was pregnant with Isabelle, and I just love it.  They're not a "must have" baby gift, but they're a nice posh baby gift.  I always make one fancy one that I get embroidered, and another simple one that's nice and functional.  I'm not sure if you can ever have too many burp cloths.  I probably have at least 20, and every single one of them has been used.  It's always sweet when I pull out a burp cloth made by Melody or Karen, and think of the time they spent sewing these for my daughter.

I sewed the fabric onto the bottom of a new, thick cloth diaper and then added the cute fringe.  I don't have an embroidery machine, so I usually bring my burp cloths to Karen R.'s embroidery shop, Texarkana Embroidery.  They have the absolute best prices in town and always do an excellent job.  Karen tried out several fonts to make sure the name "Tenley" looked pretty written out.  She wanted to make sure the T and y looked elegant.  I chose this fabric because I knew Tenley's nursery is pink and green, and I also already had both the fabric and fringe.  I love love LOVE this fabric.  I think it would make a great pillowcase dress.

Bow Holder

This was a fun project to do for Little Miss Tenley.  It was relatively easy.  I got the idea from my friend Leslie's blog.  Check out the one she made for her daughter, Ella.  So pretty!  She handpainted that beautiful E on the wooden piece.  Well I'm not Leslie Campbell, and I'm not used to wielding a paint brush, so I opted for a chipboard sticker instead.  I found this T in the scrapbook section at Hobby Lobby.  I called Leslie in the store for tips on how to make it.  She advised using a staple gun to attach the ribbon and then covering the back with felt for a more finished look.  Incidentally, I should mention that I made another craft from her blog as a Mother's Day gift for my step-mom.  I made this cute Potted Pin Cushion, since she sews and is able to keep her sewing machine out all the time.       

All in all, I was pleased with the way my baby gifts came out.  Making baby gifts doesn't really save me any money.  Paying for the embroidery brings the price up considerably, and ribbon can be a bit pricey.  Also, I always love getting something off the registry that the mom really needs or wants.  But making baby gifts is fun and a way of showing love for someone's new little one.  It also enables me to get more gifts for the person because it stretches my gift budget.  If I bought burp cloths, had them embroidered, and purchased a bow holder, that would've been all the gifts I could've afforded.  I just hope I have the time and energy to make more gifts for the other babies that are due in the next few months!!  I'll need to get started soon!    

The Not So Happy Homemaker

In the interest of transparency, I have to be honest and let you know how little I've accomplished lately, especially since I've shared so much of my sewing and cooking with you.  This week, I've felt like doing next to nothing in my home.  I've only cooked once this week, and that was on Monday.  My house could best be described as OK.  Not tidy, not a wreck, but somewhere in the middle.  For the past few days, I've felt completely miserable with my friend, morning, noon, and night sickness.

Morning sickness actually arrived 2 or 3 weeks ago, but it's gotten progressively worse each week of pregnancy.  I've only gotten sick twice, so it definitely could be worse.  But the nausea that lasts for much of the day is no walk in the park either.  Still, I know that it really could be worse.  I've experienced worse!!  When I was pregnant with Isabelle, I had days in my second trimester when I would get sick two or three times in the same day.  I'm truly praying that I won't experience hyperemesis this time around.  But one way or another, I have to wrap my brain around this one and figure out how to take care of my house, meals, and most importantly, my toddler while feeling so yucky.

Honestly, I'd say Isabelle is not being neglected a bit.  In the mornings, I often lay on the couch and read while she plays in the living room.  When she wants me to read a story, she brings a book to me (usually Doctor Seuss's Foot Book), signs "read," and I pull her into my lap for reading time.  I also sit on the floor and play with legos or some other quiet activity.  

It's the meals and house that I need to figure out.  I know I've done this before, but it seems ages ago, and everything's different this time.  Like last time, I have crazy food aversions, but the foods are different.  Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches were my friends when I was pregnant with Isabelle.  This time, just the smell of peanut butter makes me feel ill.  Which reminds me of my other not so favorite pregnancy issue. 

My husband says I've got a nose like a bloodhound.  He's also accused our basset hound of having a nose like a pregnant lady.  My bloodhound nose causes many problems for my weak stomach right now, so I frequently open the refrigerator door with my shirt pulled up over my nose to avoid the smells.  The smell of a cucumber totally grosses me out.  Who knew cucumbers even had an odor?  But trust me, they do!

Now that I've whined and complained enough to you, I'll let you know that I am trying.  I'm trying to figure this out all over again.  I need to pull out our favorite crock pot recipes and other easy meals and create a meal plan.  And then I need to simply "make hay while the sun shines."  My parents used to say that all the time.  For me, to make hay while the sun shines means that when I'm feeling OK or good, I should either clean or work on dinner.  Usually, I start feeling ill again around 4 or 4:30, right around the time I'm usually starting dinner.  So ideally, I need to have dinner done by the time I feel ill again.  And I'm also giving myself a break, emotionally, by telling  myself that it really is OK if the house isn't perfect.  And my husband has been amazing, both in giving me grace when I'm not feeling well and in pitching in with cleaning and cooking. 

But this afternoon, I'm actually feeling pretty normal, whatever that is, so it's time to get something done.  And maybe take a quick nap too.  =)         

We're Pregnant Again!!

We found out a few weeks ago that we're pregnant again!  We've been pretty excited about it!  We had our first doctor's appointment today, and Isabelle and Damian went with me to see the baby and hear the sweet little heart beat.  I love that sound! 

Here's a picture of Daigle Baby #2. 

If you're like me and you have a hard time reading sonograms, then this picture looks pretty funky and un-baby like, but it's a sweet little one, and in about 7 more weeks, I'll be feeling those first kicks.  Based on the crown to rump measurement (those little marks on the sonogram), I'll be 7 weeks pregnant tomorrow.

Our due date is February 8, so Isabelle and Baby #2 will be 2 years and 1 month apart.  I know it might be difficult at first, but I think the kids will play well together and be friends, since that was my experience with my own brothers and sisters.  We'll have two in diapers for a little while, so that will be fun, but it won't be much of an added expense, since we cloth diaper. 

How Am I Feeling?

In a conversation with my mom, she asked "So are you ready for 9 months of people asking 'how are you feeling?' all the time?  My response:  "YES!!"  I'm so ready for another baby!

So how am I feeling?  I feel just like you would expect:  Sick and tired.  I've been very tired for the past month.  About a week and a half ago, I started feeling nauseous pretty frequently, and last week it was definitely worse.  I finally got sick for the first time on Thursday, but so far, that's been the only time I've gotten sick.  It's been pretty manageable.  I'd say it's normal pregnant lady morning sickness so far, and nothing more.   

Prayer Requests:

If you'd like to pray for us, here's how you can pray:

• For wisdom as we make decisions regarding labor and delivery.  Isabelle was breech, so I had a c-section last time, and there are many things we need to consider.
• For a healthy pregnancy.
• For normal morning sickness this time, instead of 9 months of it.  Last time, my second trimester is when it escalated and I had trouble gaining weight, which left me tired much of the time since I wasn't able to keep food down.    Please pray that my morning sickness will end when it should, at the first trimester, so that I have the energy to keep up with Isabelle and tend to the house. I also want to avoid taking meds for the morning sickness, since we don't ever fully know what effects medication will have on a growing baby. 
• Our biggest prayer request for all of our children, even in the womb (and before!) is that they would know the Lord, love Him, love His Word, and delight in bringing glory to Him.  

5 Kids, 4 Moms, 3 States, 1 Diaper

Yesterday, I told you about my diapering dilemma:  Do I go with my preference for snaps (HappyHeinys) or go with what works (BumGenius)?  As much as I wanted to go with the HHs, I had two thoughts that kept running through my mind:  BumGenius diapers rarely, if ever, leak.  And of my three friends who use pocket diapers, every single one of them has had success with BumGenius diapers.  You just can't argue with that data.  I've looked into other snap brands, specifically some that have hip snaps, and I've read reviews that they don't work well on skinny babies.  But then I've also read reviews of HappyHeinys, and supposedly those don't work so well on chunky babies.  How am I supposed to know what kind of baby I'll have next time around? 

But here's what I do know:

Meet Ethan, from Texarkana, Arkansas.  He's about 7 months old and has been cloth diapered from birth.  His mom uses prefolds and wraps much of the time, but at night and when she's leaving the house, she grabs a BumGenius. 

This cute little guy is Sylas, of Baton Rouge, LA.  His mom switched to cloth several months ago, and that's a blue BumGenius he's wearing.  He's almost 1.  His mom also tried HappyHeinys but they just didn't work on this chunky little boy.  Fortunately, she ordered from a site with a great return policy!

This is Elison, Sylas' big brother.  He's thinking "A diaper mom?  Really?"  He'll be 3 in July, and is potty trained, but could easily wear a BumGenius, despite being over 30 pounds.

And this is Christian, from Houston, TX.  He's not modeling a cloth diaper, but he's just so cute that he needed to be included.  It was his mom who first told me about pocket diapers.  I remember saying to her "Wait a second...you mean 2 year old Christian and my little bitty 7 month old can wear the same diaper? There's no way."  Christian is 3 now and potty trained, but until then, he wore BumGenius dipes, and it's still his mom's go-to diaper for overnight.

Sorry if I sound like an infomercial, but as I was debating a $90 diaper purchase, I just kept thinking of all 5 of these kids (five including Isabelle).  They can all wear the same diaper.  And it hardly leaks.  So sure, I love the idea of snaps because they'll hold up longer, but you can't argue with what actually works for so many kids. 

So when I had a chance to get five new diapers, I opted for BumGenius dipes, and couldn't be happier. I also stumbled across a great sale. Cotton Babies ran a special: buy five diapers, get one free. So I ended up with six diapers, bringing my stash up to 16 diapers, 9 one-size and 7 mediums, which Izzy will soon outgrow.  In the meantime, I'm loving not having to wash dipes every day, and I really love opening up the top drawer of the dresser/changing table and seeing it totally full of diapers. 

Update on Happy Heiny's diapers

A whole two months ago, I told you about my latest cloth diaper purchase and promised I'd give you a review of Happy Heiny's diapers in case you were interested in them.  They fit my definition of the perfect cloth diaper, complete with a cow print diaper option.  But I never told you about them! 

I realize probably only about 10 of you care about cloth diapers, so the rest of you can click the little X in the corner of this window any time you like.  Sorry, but I just love being a cloth diapering mom.  There's nothing quite so lovely as leaving Wal-mart with the satisfaction of not spending an additional ten bucks on diapers and wipes.    

So here's my review.  First of all, here's a picture of my cutie sporting her green Happy Heiny's one-size with snaps.  And her BabyLegs.  If you're not familiar with BabyLegs, you must know that they're the trendiest thing with babies right now.  If I were Oprah, these would be one of my favorite things, and you'd all get a free pair.  But I'm not, so you don't.  Anyway, it was a chilly day, so she had to wear her legwarmers while modeling her new diaper. 

Fabric and construction:  These diapers are very well made.  When I first opened the package, I was impressed with the fabric used in the lining of the diaper.  It's probably a soft fleece, and it's got that fleecy, slightly bumpy look to it, which is great for umm..."dumping" diapers in the toilet.  Sorry if that's too much info.  But her poopy doesn't stick to the diaper as much as it does in others, so it's easier to get the diaper clean.

I also love the snap tabs, which are where you would typically find velcro in a normal diaper (be it cloth or disposable).  The ingenius thing is that the tabs can snapover each other.  So you fasten one side, and if you have a skinny baby (like Isabelle), then the other tab can overlap on the first tab for a snug fit. 

Function:  There are so many different ways to fit this diaper on your kid that it can be pretty confusing.  I played around with different settings and tightnesses to make sure I had the best leak-proof fit.  I've never left this diaper with a church nursery worker or anyone else to use because I think it would be a little overwhelming for someone who doesn't diaper my child on a daily basis.  I've had a few leaks in it, which is pretty normal, I suppose.  In general, Isabelle has begun soaking her diapers more, so I've had leaks in some of her other diapers too.  And a few weeks ago, I put disposables on her for a couple of nights when she had a diaper rash, and she completely soaked through the Pampers.  So she's getting to be quite the super soaker, and it's hard to blame a few leaks on the diaper, but it's not completely leak proof.  

Overall, I really like this diaper, but I'm afraid I loved it more in theory than in real life.  Another friend of mine tried the same Happy Heiny's one size with snaps and found that they did not fit her son well at all.  That's another problem I had with the HH.  Sure it fit Isabelle well, but would it fit every child I'd ever have?  Maybe not. 

For the past two months, I've been debating on what diapers to purchase.  We'd put money aside specifically for buying 4 more diapers, and I couldn't make a decision.  Here were my options:

1. Buy 4 more Happy Heiny's
2. Buy 4 one-size diapers of another brand
3. Buy a ton of prefolds and covers

But then a friend told me about sewing your own cloth diapers.  Evidently you can purchase kits for about $10 with fabric already cut.  And then I read that I could buy everything on my own and make them for about $5 each.  My brain could've exploded with information overload and all the possible decisions.  I'm a perfectionist at times, so I can let it completely paralyze me in my desire to get it right.  So that's what I did.  I did nothing and kept washing diapers every day.

And then last week, a family member told me they wanted to buy 5 pocket diapers for us.  I insisted that this was way too kind and would cost nearly $100, but they too insisted on buying them for us.  So I had to make a quick decision.  I called my husband at work, agonizing over this (I know, so silly isn't it?).  I'd narrowed it down to this:  Do I buy the Happy Heinys with snaps that make the diaper last longer than velcro?  Or do I buy BumGenius diapers, which do have velcro, but leak rarely, if ever?  I can't stand velcro, and since I first started researching cloth, I'd decided I didn't want velcro diapers. 

You can probably guess what I decided.  BumGenius!  I'll share the why tomorrow.  

Creative Father's Day Gift

  

Does anyone else find it harder and harder to come up with great Father's Day gift ideas?  My dad is one of the hardest people to shop for, maybe because has already has everything he needs and so much of what he wants.  My challenge is finding great gifts within my budget. 

This year I decided to go with a homemade gift.  I figured if it came out nicely, he could hang it somewhere in the house.  If it doesn't look nice, then he'd just say "it's the thought that counts" and put it aside. 

I have to admit, I'm pretty excited about how it turned out.  I don't have a creative bone in my body.  I'm an idea thief.  I find great ideas and modify them to suit me.  It's the same reason people think I'm a good cook.  The truth is, I'm not.  But I can read.  So I can cook.  But I digress. 

For once, this is an idea I came up with completely on my own, although I'm sure it's been done before. I was at Hobby Lobby a few weeks ago and I spotted the wooden trays and letters. That was my inspiration.

Incidentally, does anyone else think there's a black hole at Hobby Lobby, or at least a time warp? I go in and come out, only to find a minimum of one hour has passed. The store sucks me in.

Blackberry Picking: The Poetry of Summer

A couple weeks ago, I learned of a friend's abundance of blackberries in her yard, so I took my army of blackberry pickers (my in-laws and my husband) out to the Murphy family property for some free summer fruit.  We picked and picked until we were worn out from the heat and our hands were tired.  We could've picked all day and still not exhausted their huge crop of berries. 

When we got home, I had a few gallon-sized bags full of berries, ready to go in the freezer until I need them for blackberry cobbler. We also enjoyed eating berries with dinner for the next few nights or in yogurt for breakfast.  Isabelle calls them "babies." The poor kid isn't great at discerning or pronouncing Rs, but it makes for lots of laughs as she asks for babies ("beebees") with her dinner.

I can't think of a yummier, healthier breakfast than organic blueberry yogurt topped with homegrown berries.

Our own tiny crop of blackberries is finally starting to produce, so we've starting enjoying our own little harvest.  We only have three or four stalks, which we transplanted ourselves a few years ago, when friends moved and offered us their plants.  These stalks have the biggest blackberries I've ever seen in my life.  Check them out.

I promise, they're not shooting up steroids in the backyard.  They're Apache blackberries, so they're thornless and naturally gigantic.

   

Every time I go outside to check our plants and see if any berries have "inked up," I think of Seamus Heaney's poem, "Blackberry Picking."  It was one of the poems I had my 9th grade students read and explicate every year.  I've included the text below, but do yourself a favor.  Instead of just reading the poem, click here and watch a video of Heaney reading it.  You're missing out if you don't get to hear the author read his own words in that fabulous Irish accent.

Seamus Heaney is the same Nobel Prize-winning author who wrote Beowulf: A New Verse Translation, one of my husband's favorite fiction books. 

Blackberry Picking
by Seamus Heaney

Late August, given heavy rain and sun
for a full week, the blackberries would ripen.
At first, just one, a glossy purple clot
among others, red, green, hard as a knot.
You ate that first one and its flesh was sweet
like thickened wine: summer's blood was in it
leaving stains upon the tongue and lust for
picking. Then red ones inked up and that hunger
sent us out with milk-cans, pea-tins, jam-pots
where briars scratched and wet grass bleached our boots.
Round hayfields, cornfields and potato-drills
we trekked and picked until the cans were full,
until the tinkling bottom had been covered
with green ones, and on top big dark blobs burned
like a plate of eyes. Our hands were peppered
with thorn pricks, our palms sticky as Bluebeard's.

We hoarded the fresh berries in the byre.
But when the bath was filled we found a fur,
A rat-grey fungus, glutting on our cache.
The juice was stinking too. Once off the bush
the fruit fermented, the sweet flesh would turn sour.
I always felt like crying. It wasn't fair
that all the lovely canfuls smelt of rot.
Each year I hoped they'd keep, knew they would not.

Family Vacations

I'm working on a little project for my dad's Father's Day gift, and it involves lots of old pictures.  I came across this one, a favorite of ours, and it reminded me of one of my mom's tips for vacationing with kids.

Dominique, Me, Bug, Zachary, and Mariah at the piano in the lobby of our hotel. 

If you have a brood of kids, dress them up identically on vacation, especially if they're too young to be embarrassed about it.  It makes those quick head counts a lot easier, and reduces the number of mommy panic attacks.  It worked for us at DisneyWorld and here, in San Antonio, where we were headed out for a day at Sea World.  If nothing else, it makes for dorky family pictures like this one and gives us something to laugh about now.

Thrifty Thursday: A STEAL on BumGenius Cloth Diapers!!!

I stumbled across this sale quite by accident on Cotton Babies (the makers of BumGenius), and it's so great that I just have to let you know about it. 

You can specify what colors you want, so your diaper package is completely customized.  I think my favorite is Clementine.

Their sale price is $86.90 for the 6 diapers.  Shipping is completely FREE because of the cost of the 6 pack of diapers.  That brings your total cost to $14.48 per dipe.  Does it get any cheaper for new diapers with inserts? 

Odds and Ends

Blog, oh blog, I'm sorry if I've neglected you.  The trouble is, I like to blog on motherhood, on cooking, on homemaking, and on marriage, but actually doing these things takes time.  Quite a lot of time, in fact.  So if I've ignored the blog for a while, it's because I'm busy trying to do the things I say I do. 

We're still enjoying a visit from Damian's parents, and Isabelle has had a blast with her Grams and Pawpaw.  But with our houseguests, the usual cooking, cleaning, and parenting, in addition to a few organization projects, I've had little time and energy left to write.  And I won't apologize for it.  Really.  Because if I neglect my family to write about my family, then I'm missing what matters most.

On another note, poor Darcy the basset hound had surgery yesterday.  Her abcess continued to worsen, so the vet recommended surgery.  They removed the infection and tumor and are testing it to make sure it's not cancerous.  Poor baby.  She's on pain killers and antibiotics again.

My Darcy poo, sporting her pink hoodie as her lounge clothes while she's recovering from surgery.  The vet suggested she wear a shirt to help protect the wound until it heals.  This snow princess hoodie was $1.99 at PetSmart.

Incidentally, did you know that all of our progeny have literary names?  That is, if you include the dogs as our "progeny."  Darcy is, of course, from my favorite book, Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen.  Since she's a girl, she's Mrs. Darcy of Pemberly, as in Elizabeth Bennet, after she marries Mr. Darcy.  Daisy, our other little basset hound, was adopted and already had the name Daisy.  She was named after Daisy State Park, where her previous owners found her.  I wanted her to fit in with our name scheme, so I changed it.  Technically, her name is Daisy Miller, from the novella, Daisy Miller, by Henry James.  Isabelle can say the names of both Darcy and Daisy, and she is completely in love with her doggies.

Isabelle, our only true progeny, also has a literary name (and it is not connected to a certain Bella from a certain series of books!).  One of my other favorite books is Portrait of a Lady, also by Henry James.  His heroine, who truly is a lady and does the honorable thing in dishonorable circumstances, is named Isabel Archer.  I fell in love with her character and name when I read the book about 6 years ago.  We changed the spelling to reflect our Cajun French heritage, and ended up with a name that rhymes with my own, Gabrielle.

So how's that for a completely random blog post?  Sorry, I'm out of practice.

May Update

Isabelle

Is there anything more fun than watching your child learn?  My favorite thing about the month of May has been seeing Isabelle just on the brink of a word explosion.  I've read that children will often go through this phase anywhere after 18 months.  Isabelle seems to be just on the cusp of it.  She's 17 months old, but from 16 to17 months, she has doubled her vocabulary.  I was once able to list all of her words that she'd learned over the course of a month, but that's just impossible now.  Prior to 16 months, she knew over 20 words, but in the past month, she has learned at least that many.  Her favorite things to say, like most kids, are animals and their sounds.  She can match up most of her animals with the sounds they make.  Check out the video of Izzy: 

Isabelle is finally a great walker and is getting around everywhere.  She loves walking around the backyard and playing with the dogs. 

Isabelle plopped down in the driveway so that Daisy could lick her face.  Daisy was hoping for a belly rub.

Isabelle's Favorites

Food:  Hummus, salad, bananas ("nanny"), Corn Flakes, oatmeal, chips and salsa

Toys:  She still loves books, a lion on wheels that she pushes around the house, her See 'n Say, and she has had renewed interest in her musical toy that our friends bought for Izzy's 1st birthday.  She likes to sing into the microphone and press the buttons to play the instruments. 

Games/Songs:  She still loves "Baby Bumblebee" and "Itsy Bitsy Spider."  She also enjoys the same Eyes, Nose, Ears game that my grandfather made up and played with all of us.

As a Family

We've managed to avoid going out of town in the month of May.  We felt we needed a break from traveling, and it's been nice to have time to take care of our little vegetable garden and continue painting the exterior of our house.

Poor Darcy, our other basset hound, has had a rough time of it.  We noticed a large lump on her shoulder one day so we brought her into the vet.  She has an abcess.  Evidently she was injured and had a deep bruise which has become infected.  The vet drained it, put her on a round of antibiotics, and we're bringing her back once a week so he can look at it.  Much to Isabelle's delight, we've been keeping Darcy inside while she's not feeling well.

I had a sweet Mother's Day with Damian and Isabelle.  One of my favorite gifts is a book that Damian says Isabelle bought for both of us for Mother's Day and Father's Day.  It's called God, Marriage, and Family by Andreas Kostenberger.  The best way to describe it would be a theology of family.  It strictly looks at what God, through scripture, says marriage and family should look like. 

We've been reading about a chapter a week and then we get together to discuss what we've read.  It's been a great time for us to stay connected with each other and make sure we don't grow complacent in our marriage or in our walk with God.  I don't want to experience marriage where neither of us is growing. 

I've also been reading Seasons of a Mother's Heart, which has been an incredible encouragement and challenge to me.  I've also been working on a couple of sewing projects, which I blogged about last week.

This week, we're enjoying a visit from Damian's parents.  They travel for work reasons and have been living in Wisconsin, so this is a rare treat.  Isabelle has had too much fun being read to by her Grams and taking her Paw Paw all over the house to play together. 

I can hardly believe it's June 2 already!