Etsy Update

It goes in cycles, either I'm totally dead or totally busy in the shop.  The past couple weeks it's been busy busy busy!  I'm not complaining at all, in fact I'm over the moon about it.  It gives me something to do and I have to say, it really boosts my ego to hear compliments about my sewing skills :)

I started making baby shoes again and will have to do more.  I had five pairs up and sold all but one this week.  Yay!  These things are super cute and I can't wait to put them on my new wee one this winter!  I didn't start making them until way after Ingrid was born so she never got to enjoy a mama made slipper.

I've also done some more bibs, backed with brown minky.  Glorious, scrumptious brown minky.  I could line my whole house in this stuff I love it so much.  The color of chocolate and so so so soft!!  I tried fleece on the back of bibs, too, which turned out so much nicer than I'd expected.  And Joann Fabric's remnant section had a bunch of fun colors for me last time we were there, hooray. 

Oh my god I am such a grandma--I get so excited over fabric! 

Anyway, things are good with the shop and I'm very happy to be making things I know bring a little smile to the faces of those buying and those receiving. 

So Much the Same...

I just found an old journal from when I was pregnant with Ingrid.  I wanted to see when I had hit little milestones with her, like feeling her move, getting into maternity clothes, etc.  Everything is pretty much right the same.  Even job situations with Brendan and the unknown of where we'll be when this baby is born is the same as with Ingrid!

When I was pregnant with her, Brendan was finishing up his phd and it kept taking longer than he'd thought.  He was applying to positions and we just didn't know where we'd be.  He ended up staying an extra semester and we moved in with his parents.  Then we moved here to MI.  Now, he's just finishing up his fellowship, he's looking for positions all over the country, and we have no idea where we'll be when this baby comes!  How on earth did we plan two children to come at such stressful unknown times?  Are we really that stupid?

I just have to laugh because it all did work out with Ingrid.  We had her, we had a roof over our head, Brendan got a job, we moved.  It will all work out with this bub, too.  In a year I'll look back and think ahh, remember how silly all that worrying was?  Of course it would all work out!

On another note, with Ingrid I always called the baby a her and she even before we knew the gender.  Saying he or him didn't feel right.  It's the complete opposite this time around, it's a he, a him, a little brother.  Otis.  So we'll see next Wednesday if I have amazing motherly instincts or I'm full of crap :)

Vintage For Big Girls

Recently I was lucky enough to find two amazing dresses in larger sizes.  For some reason, most vintage things I find are for babes under 3.  Or maybe I only look in the baby section at thrift stores??  Duh, Amber.  But anyway, I found two awesome dresses for Ingrid when she's older.

The first is a peach number in a size 6.  It's vintage Polly Flinders and has the best details.  Little smocking, swiss dotted fabric, tons of pleats on the skirt, and even a bit of netting underneath for extra flounce. 

The other one I found is in a size 10.  It's Sassoon and looks like a mix between a stewardess uniform and a waitress uniform, which is my favorite kind of dress out there!  In my early 20s I had a few similar dresses I'd wear with my knee high motorcycle boots.  I still miss that turquoise one I had, it was the best.  This dress is tan with little maroon plaid piping.  And the best thing is the buttons, which I couldn't get a good picture of since my auto focus is out on my lens right now.  They have the sassoon logo, a little hand giving the OK sign! 

I can just see this on Ingrid with some brown boots and a little sweater on, total fall fashion.  Of course, by the time she fits into this she may not let me come anywhere near her with any clothes I picked out for her, but one can dream.

An Update

Things are going well around here.  Ingrid and I have gotten back into a nice rhythm again, having fun together and getting along instead of me yelling and her throwing tantrums.  They're still there, but much much less than in the past couple months!  Our days are so nice and mellow, I honestly feel so lucky to have this be my life.  We get up and eat a little here and there all morning, lounge in our pjs and color, play with play dough, play with her Fisher Price guys.  We get dressed and go to the park or to the store, we go to the library, we play some more. 

Naps are a thing of the past, I don't even try to have her rest anymore.  She just wouldn't do it, and instead of fighting her and getting pissed off every afternoon, I just put her in the rocking chair with her blanket and let her watch TV while I pass out on the couch.  And I refuse to feel guilty about it.  There is a part of me that wishes we were a family with no TV, or even watching less, but we are not that family.  We all like to just sit and veg sometimes.  And sometimes we don't.  We all like to read and learn things, too, so I'm not going to feel bad about the time we do spend watching TV.

I had my 16 week midwife appointment and am loving the office I go to.  We've met with three different midwives so far and I like each one.  The visits are so short and they are so not worried about anything that it puts me at ease.  I don't have to give a urine sample at each visit like I did at my last doctor, and they never ever question me if I decide against a test.  I hate when I have made a decision not to do something and the doctor questions me why.  Just coz, 'kay??  It's really nice to just go in and listen to a heartbeat and have them measure my uterus.  Even after the bleeding scare at 11 weeks they aren't too concerned, which is nice.  I don't want to be made to feel like I have to put my life on hold because I'm pregnant, or like I have to worry about every little thing.  It's awesome because I remember the doctor last time always saying be sure to stay away from XYZ, it's bad for you while you're pregnant.  Making me feel like if I ate a tunafish sandwich I'd be harming my baby beyond belief.  This time around it's "don't eat a pound of salami in one sitting and you should be okay."

We have our next ultrasound in two weeks, at which we hope to find out the gender.  We did with Ingrid and I loved it.  She was Ingrid within a week of finding out it was a girl.  When she was born we welcomed her into our lives but we already knew her, does that make sense?  We have a boy name picked out--Otis, after my greatgrandpa (really we just liked the name and then my mom told me it was my GG's and I thought oh, cool!)  But just like last time we have NO girl names!!  Any suggestions?  I'm not fretting too much now, as we may not even need one (something is making me think this is a boy.)  But any suggestions to go with Ingrid would be appreciated!

So there's that.  Life is good and simple and lovely around these parts.  As it should be.

Birthday Weekend

This weekend we went to the west side of Michigan to see my family.  It was my mom's 60th last week and my nephew's first this week, so we had lots of celebrating to do!  Ingrid was so great, she napped half of the three hour drive and was happy the rest.  And looking quite dapper in her pearls.

We went to my sister's house and swam in the pool, played with lots of toys, and relaxed.  It was so strange but I didn't have to keep much of an eye on her the whole weekend because there were tons of other people around, and my 7 year old niece was a good babysitter.  So I actually did get to relax, it was nice!

Dinner was crazy, we have too many people in our family...It was nice that all of us could get together at one time, though, as usually someone is missing--either me or my brother who lives in Wisconsin.  But we were all there, all 18 of us! 

The next day we had my nephew's first birthday party.  Ingrid had fun with yet more toys that are new to her, and a swingset in the back yard.  She wore herself out and by the time we had cake and sang happy birthday, she was ready to go.  She slept the entire way home, it was great! 

I am so glad we got to do a fun family weekend.  Ingrid is getting way easier to deal with as she gets older, it makes traveling that much more fun.  We'll see what a new baby brings now!

Retro Rockets Quilt

I had an order for a rocket blanket a couple weeks ago, so I bought extra fabric.  This fabric is so cute!  And I love that it has both girls and boys in space costumes so it can be for either gender.  Anyway, with some of the extra fabric I made this quilt over the past few days.

I just love how it turned out!  The corners all actually met up, which is something I struggle with.  I am no master quilter by any means!!  But each one comes out a little better than the last. 

Ingrid and I went to the fabric store yesterday armed with our 40% off coupons and an idea of getting something to back the quilt.  First thing I saw was chocolate brown minky dot fabric, which they never have in stock!  And it was on sale!  I died.  And then bought two yards of it.  However, I had ideas of a prequilted fabric for the back and was pleased to find a nice chocolate color in that.

So now I just have to send this off to the friend for whom it was intended, which is no easy task.  Even though I know I can whip one of these up for myself any old time I want to, I really love how this one turned out and it's going to be hard to pack it up and ship it away!  How selfish is that???  But I know my friend will love it, and her baby will get lots of use out of it.  And that's what's important, right?

Dress Up

Ingrid loves to get into my closet and find things to dress up in.  Her favorite?  High heels.  She gets more use out of them than I do!  She'll grab a purse and tell me she has to either go to work or go shopping. 

She also put on a blanket as a cape the other day and went flying.  So funny! 

Yo Gabba Gabba Winner!!

Using random.org, I have a winner for our Yo Gabba Gabba giveaway!!  Anna, congratulations!  You are the winner :)  You and your girls get the Music is Awesome-Volume 1 CD, and the Clubhouse DVD.  Yay! 

Cheerleader

Yesterday we were going through the baby bins and came across this 12 month size Brewers cheerleader outfit.  Ingrid just had to try it on, of course!  The skirt actually fit her, but as you can see, the shirt was a wee bit small...And don't ask me what the face is all about, only Ingrid knows the answer to that one.

Things I Want to Remember

Time goes by so fast and there are so many things I forget about!  I feel like the only way I'll remember is if I write them down, usually on this blog.  So here are the things I want to remember about Ingrid being 2 years, 2 months, 2 weeks, and 2 days old (which is today!)

1. She has an imaginary friend named Hano.  No idea where the name came from, but it's always the same--she pretends the strap hanging down from her high chair is a swing and says "Hano's swinging, Mama!"  And just this morning she knocked some books off the bed and said "Uh-oh, Hano, what did you do?"  It totally cracks me up because I used to have an imaginary friend named Kelly that lived in the flowered wallpaper of our bathroom.  I'm not worried a bit about this kid's imagination!

2. She is really into being a big girl lately.  She has figured out how to get on the potty all by herself using her step stool.  She went upstairs while I was doing something downstairs, and a few minutes later came down so proud of herself sayings she went potty all by herself!  Every time we go in there now she says "I do it all by my big girl self." 

3. She is just getting to that stage of wanting to play with other kids.  Our friends came over today and the first thing she did was ask Ben if he wanted to go up and play.  Up the stairs they went and we moms got to sit on the couch and talk.  I like this stage!  Then we went to the park and there was a girl behind her on the slide.  She said all excitedly "Wanna go on the teeter totter?  Come on!"  It's fun to watch her be social.

That's all.  Just being a mushy mom.  Loving my kid. 

Oh by the way, happy birthday to my husband today!  I love him, too.  But I don't think you'd like to hear stories about him going potty all by himself :)

Our Angel (and Devil)

I got some great pictures of Ingrid being so sweet this weekend.  She was putting her stuffed animals down for a nap and singing them lullabies.  It was kinda cute.

I have realized if we use non-yelly voices and try to have a bit more patience with her, she does so much better and actually listens to us.  I'm sure it's not rocket science, but it's so hard to remember that in the heat of the moment when you need to leave right now and she still hasn't gotten her shoes.  So this weekend was way better than how it's been the past couple months.

Also seen this weekend was the devil Ingrid.  She passed our mirror and stopped to make faces.  It was so funny, she'd make her mad face, then her happy face, then her mad face, then giggle a little bit.  Here's her mad face, I have no idea where she could have gotten this from... 

And then two seconds later:

Silly girl.