A Ken Doll

Evelyn is showing off how Ken's sunglasses match hers!

We were at HEB and to save time, Tom took Evelyn to the books while I picked out more food.  When I went to get them, Evelyn came up to the shopping cart and put in a Barbie doll and a Ken doll without saying a thing. 

"Wait a minute, I told you to ask Mama what she thinks first," Tom stopped her. 

She looked at me with such wanting eyes.

I looked at Tom and he mouthed, 'Just one?' with a shrug. 

"Just get Ken because you already have a Teresa at home. Okay?" I answered. 

"Okay!" she ran back and left Barbie and then came back to place Ken softly into the cart.

It always surprises me when she is so happy about things so socially considered to be girly.  Evelyn tries to keep a distance from those things like pink, purple and floral patterns, even though we tell her that it's okay to like those things and that liking them doesn't mean she doesn't like her favorite colors blue and green and things like cars and super heroes, but she still resists.

It surprised me how much she likes him.   She's carried him around for the two days she has had him.   I'm hoping it has nothing to do with Ken not having a shirt on.  Of course if it does have something to do with that, that's defiantly girly and something to be very scared of!

Chopsticks

After my prenatal appointment, we ate at Panda Express. My little girl isn't quite four yet and she used her chopsticks like a little pro!  She herself insisted on using only chopsticks too!

Weird thing again...

Even though my finger got in the way, you can see that for the fourth time in a row, we parked in the same place and again it was the closest and what looked like the only spot available when we first arrived. 

W E I R D.

Special Blanket

I had mentioned that one of the things on my "Before Baby Comes" list, was to make Raven a blanket.  The blanket I meant then, isn't this one.  I didn't know if someone was going to make her a blanket that would be the blanket we would use at the hospital and going home.  When Evelyn was born, my nephew was born about five months earlier and at this time, my husband's uncle's wife was making baby things on Etsy.  Mostly ruffle bum stuff and blankets. So our nephew and Evelyn received blankets with their names on them. She doesn't do that stuff anymore, she wasn't doing it too much more then and that was four years ago, so I knew we wouldn't get the same kind of blanket this time around. My mother in law likes to sew blankets and such but she messed up her hand.  So she was out on that too.

I waited until after the baby shower.  No homemade blanket, though I did get some adorable home sewn burp cloths, so I was able to start one!   I love to make baby blankets!   You can see from past posts the ones I have done. 

This blanket is my best so far!

You maybe can see Raven's name on the corner.  Evelyn's had the same so I wanted Raven's to also.  Raven's turned out bigger than Evelyn's but I had wished that Evelyn's was bigger when we were even in the hospital. It made it a bit hard to swaddle her in it.

This was the first time I have ever personalized a blanket this way.  I added fusing paper to some of the extra minky and cut out 

R a v e n  

I ironed it onto the front of the baby blanket and used a very tight zig zag stitch around the edge of each letter including the insides of  "R," "a," and "e." 

I always have problems with sewing minky for a blanket because  of how easily it moves.  I found a way around that!  All you need is a wall and push pins. 

Step 1: Sew one end of your blanket with the inside facing out.  If your cotton fabric has a directional print, be sure it matches the "smoothness direction" of your minky.  In my case the minky goes smoothly down while the elephants and turtles "march" from left to right.  

Step 2: Pin the blanket on the wall at the top then on the bottom.  Don't pull tight, smooth out the material and then just pin it the way it hangs.  Pin one side every 1.5 inches or so and sew that side.  

Step 3: Repeat Step 2 on other side.  Remember, do not pull tight to pin.  Pin it on the wall as it hangs, just be sure it's smoothed out. 

Step 4: Cut  the extra fabric in the corners and turn right sides out and either finger press or iron the edges flat.  Sew all the way around to create a boarder leaving the non sewed side open.  

Step 5: Pin top of blanket to the wall, smooth out fabric and pin the bottom to the wall.  Turn the last side of the blanket inside and pin.  I always mess up the last side of the blanket so I pin the last side at every 1 inch of fabric.   Sew blanket closed.

Step 6 (optional): I don't like how the last side of the blanket is different from the rest.  To correct that, I sew around at the very edge of the blanket which also creates a sturdier boarder.  

Step 7 (optional): Personalize the blanket with a name, monogram or patch.  I already mentioned how I made Raven's name.  If you have an embroidery machine, use it!  Remember, a homemade blanket is already personal, so don't feel you need to add this step.   Think of who you are making the blanket for and it will be very personal and the person receiving it will feel your love for them and/or their child.  

I hope these tips will help you.  I felt awesome when I realized how much help pinning it to the wall was.  Sure you can use a sewing table, kitchen table or floor to spread it all out, but why not let gravity help you?

My Baby Shower

On May 24, 2014, I had my baby shower!

I had been waiting for it for a long time.  Once you have the shower it means you are almost there to the end!  I am ready for it too!  I want to hold my new baby girl!  I also know what else we need to get.  Some crib sheets, Evelyn is in a toddler bed so she still uses the same size sheets so we need some just for raven. We also needed new baby towels, newborn socks (we have the bigger baby sizes but not newborn), new Boppy cover (I took Evelyn's and I'm going to use it in a quilt later), and also nipple cream.  Going to need that!  My nursing bras are ordered online already but I don't know if they will make it in time. Uh oh!  I'm due June 17 but already more than 1.5 cm dilated and my bras won't even ship until the first week of June.  I don't want to wait any longer...for either. 

Back to the baby shower.  I wanted to use the same colors we are using in the girls' room which are bright pink, yellow, aqua and bright green.  We also had purple and orange at the party.

My mother in law made the balloon flowers and the puffy tissue balls.  I picked out streamers. I love adding streamers!  Adds color for almost no cost!

Sign in table.  If you get HGTV Magazine, you might recognize the wreath. I had wanted to try out making one so I did and it was the door prize for the shower. Thought it was extra cute since the door prize was a prize made for a door!  That may only be cute to a very pregnant woman with mommy brain. 

Just like for Evelyn, the baby shower guest sign in was a page from Raven's scrapbook.  

Food was provided by family and friends!  My mom found that food daisy dish at Steel's. You can rearrange the petals to be any which way!

Of course my mom made my cake.  When she makes cake for baby showers (for the family only really), she likes to use toys that the baby can use after being born.   It's a cute tradition that she didn't intend on doing. 

My mom often makes cupcakes special for the kids at such parties.  

Evelyn also was surprised with a Big Sister cake!  It was a large cupcake topped with very blue frosting!  In this picture my mom is helping Evelyn cut her Big Sister cake.  The other little girl is my cousin's daughter.  She wanted to be in all the pictures, she's hammy that way!  Evelyn usually only is when she has professional pictures done.  I think it makes her feel extra special!

We also had games that my cousin did but I forgot to take pictures while doing them.  I am 14 tissues squares round at my biggest part, or should I say Raven's biggest part.  We had the baby poop game where you guess what candy is in which diaper, jelly bean guess, gumdrop guess, baby food guess and candy guess story.  That is when the name of a candy fills in pieces of the story. Example: "When Erica first met Tom she though he was such a..."

"Hunk!" and the person wins a Hunk bar!

I was a bit mean with a joke and said, "Chunky!"  That was the only candy I could think of the whole game!  Mommy brain is really getting me right now. All the blood is going to Raven to help her finish baking!

I had such a fun time!  Thank you my family for making it so wonderful!

Weird thing...

On Zulily, a website that is fantastic for families shopping for deals, there is a discount on a Sam's Club membership, so we bought one. We don't live in the same town as our Sam's Club, it's in the town were my OB is so we picked up our membership cards before one of my appointments. The went back to shop after the appointment. My doctors appointments are every week now, so a few days later, we went again.  Strangely enough, we had the same parking spot all three times!

Doesn't seem like much but some times weird things just happen huh?

Baby Planning Update

It has been too long since my last post.  Many things have been happening to get ready for Baby #2!

I made burp cloths, onesies, bought a rug for the girls' room, rearranged it and rearranged the living room to fit our baby swing.  My mom also bought me a china cabinet from one of her sisters which I am very excited about!  Doesn't seem like much in a list like that but this is also with me, evidently, having very low iron causing me to be tired all the time. I had extra vitamins added daily and now I have energy again! 

I still have Raven's blanket to make, paint the girls room, spray paint the table lamp white and add a new shade to it.  Tom has the office to finish clearing to make into the playroom so all the toys will be in one room. That list seems more daunting. Eek!

My baby shower pictures to come soon!