Baby H

My bro and sis-in-law are having a wee little girl in January. During Leaflet naps, I managed to crank out a cocoon and hat for my niece. 

I used Homespun yarn in a warm brown for the cocoon and hat and in oatmeal for the flower. The button on the flower is from my late grandmother's button collection. Grammie loved to sew. I'm pretty sure she's the reason I love crafty things so much. Boy, did she LOVE Christmas.

The Leaflet is 5 months old now. We've been battling reflux and fighting sleep, but the smiles, coos, and laughs are the bee's knees. He's just plain awesome, and I want him to stay this age. No more growing. He has agreed to this...or at least I think he has. 


Hope you all enjoy your holiday season. See you in the new year! It should be a great 2012.


Leaf out.

Tour-ific!

First, Happy Fall!!!


Nursery tour! I know what you are thinking...finally, the kid is 2 months old, and she's just now posting pics of the nursery. Does this make it any better?

Now, that you've forgiven me, here are the pics. 


First, you meet this guy when you come through the door...

For some reason, I want to call him Raccoon Jack so that's what I'll do. 


The crib was a closeout item from JCPenney:

(If you look really closely at the crib, you'll see a raccoon behind bars.)


Look, above the crib, it's Owliver!

We got this changing table from Babies R Us, but they don't sell it anymore in this color. I love that it has a built-in hamper.

The quilt hung above it is from the Carter's Forest Friends crib set. I hand-sewed some tabs onto the back of it so we could suspend it from a curtain rod. The curtain rod (from Lowe's) has an acorn on each end. We didn't use the brackets that came with the curtain rod because it would stick out too far from the wall. Instead, I found some bronze-finish hooks at Target that worked perfectly.


The chair and a half nook (where I will be taking monthly photos of our little Leaflet):

There's Aggie! The cats all think this is their room. This picture and the next 2 were taken during our newborn photo shoot by Christine Martin Photography. She did such a great job with all the photos.

These two crafty projects hang above the dresser. The dresser was an abandoned piece of furniture in one of the Gnome's past apartments. It was painted brown and had sticker adhesive on it in several places. The Gnome, after many trips to Lowe's followed by many hours of sanding, refinished it to go with the rest of the furniture. He also removed the wooden bar drawer handles, and we replaced them with some cute knobs we found at Lowe's. It seems that this post is an advertisement for Lowe's. It's a good thing that Lowe's is so close to our house because we go there A LOT. Here's the finished dresser:

Well, that is the end of our tour. Sorry it took me so very long to post pics. If we ever get around to hanging the mobile, I'll post pics of that too.


Leaf out.

He's Here!

                                            *Photo by Christine Martin Photography

Baby G has arrived! He decided to show up 9 days early (much to the surprise of his parents). Everyone kept telling us that since he was our first that he would assuredly be late. He was 7 pounds 6 ounces and 18.5 inches at birth. We are all doing well and still trying to get into a good routine. Baby G is 7 weeks today...which means I took way too long to update the blog. Oops. Sorry about that. I've been kinda preoccupied though ;) He is now weighing in at 11+ pounds.


I have some pictures from the nursery coming your way. I was actually waiting until the mobile got hung, but that still hasn't happened so I'll just post pictures without it.


I'm trying to come up with a nickname for Baby G on the blog, but haven't settled on anything yet. After all, he won't be "Baby" G forever.


Leaf out.

Finishing Up

We have been busy bees around this house getting things in order for Baby G. Today, Baby G is considered full term!


We've put together a pack n play (which our orange, fluffy cat Aggie claimed as his own new bed right away), swing (our tabby Tweak tried to jump in and got the rude surprise that it moved), bouncer (no cats have tried to jump in there), and installed a ceiling fan. We still have the car seat to install and the mobile to hang. As soon as we get the mobile hung, I'll take pictures of the nursery and post 'em. I've been working on a knitting project and a crocheting project, but haven't finished them for pics and posting. Hopefully, I'll finish them up here soon because time is running short. 


We attended our last baby preparation class last night. It was 2.5 hours on Baby Care Basics. Sitting still in a chair for 3 hours while 8+ months is not fun for your back. It was informative, but I'm glad to have all the baby classes completed. 


Here is one pic from the nursery just to hold you over:

Leaf out.

Handmade

Baby G has had two baby showers thrown in his honor. The first shower was in my hometown with mostly family, and the second shower was in the town where we live with mostly friends.


Several people made us gifts for our little guy so I thought I'd showcase them here. Ready?!


First up is a baby blanket that my Aunt Sandra crocheted in pastel yarn:

My cousin Heather made Baby G this adorable little hat in blue and white:

My friend Alison over at Crafty Weeks made a neat diaper bag with an attached, fold-out changing pad. Here it is with the changing pad folded up and velcroed:

And here it is with the pad folded out:

Love this fabric! She also made a pacifier clip to match...it's sitting on the changing pad, but it's blending in because it's the same fabric. See if you can spot it...


One of the ?L's motorcycle friends (yes, the ?L is in a motorcycle gang) crocheted us a baby blanket in blue, yellow, and white:

My friend B* made us a cozy hooded towel with matching washcloth:

I'm not 100% positive how she made it (I forgot to find out her secrets), but it appears that she took a regular bath towel and sewed a hood made out of a matching hand towel onto it. The washcloth has a cute dinosaur fabric on one side and the matching terry on the other side.


And last, but certainly not least, my friend EG made us this awesome quilt using Moda fabrics:

You can see the reverse side here:

Check out those leafies and mushrooms! The colors are just great. I am always astounded by quilting. I've never attempted it myself. I should really quilt something. Perhaps that will be my next crafty endeavor.


Thanks to all you ladies for such wonderful, crafty gifts!


In non-crafty news, I found out that I don't have gestational diabetes! No pricking my fingers! That was a relief. The due date is getting close now!


Leaf out.

Inspired.

I don't have a whole lot to share from this week as the days have been filled with childbirth classes and doctor's visits. Don't you just love going to the dentist? I don't detest it like some people do, but I don't exactly look forward to it either. No cavities though! Hooray! I was instructed by my hygienist to either bring baby pics next time I am due for a cleaning OR bring Baby G himself ;) This morning I had to get up bright and early for a 3-hour glucose test (the test for gestational diabetes for those not in the know) because I failed the 1 hour test last week. It wasn't horrible, but getting stuck with a needle 4 times over the course of 3ish hours is not at the top of my list of fun things to do. I don't know my results yet, but hopefully they'll be results I want to hear. 


I did however do something fun last week. I drove to Charlotte on Tuesday to hang with my in-laws including my sister-in-law, her husband, and our two adorable nephews. The other reason I went to Charlotte was the Inspired. craft workshop. I was not one of the attendees (mainly due to the event fee), but Mom G and I got to peruse the vendor fair they had at the event. There were maybe 8 vendors so it wasn't very large, but they had some good stuff to check out. The highlight of the workshop was that we got to meet and chat with LOLLYCHOPS! LollyChops was one of the featured designers/instructors, and you can check out her account of the event here (and the super-awesome inspiration piece she made for her class). She's the sweetest, most inspiring, crafty person I know (I guess I can say I know her now that I've met her ;) ). Be sure to check out her blog if you haven't already!

Leaf out.

Nursing Cover

I couldn't think of a clever title for this post so I just went with the obvious. Pregnancy brain is in full effect. 


I found this tutorial online for making a breastfeeding cover. I had purchased some fabric (30% off!) at my LYS a while ago for some unknown project so I decided to use it for this. Here is a close-up of the fabric (please excuse the wrinkles; they refused to leave despite my pleading):

The cover:

The reverse side has a pocket and a rectangle of terry cloth:

Pocket:

Terry cloth:

It was pretty easy to put together with it being just a large rectangle. I started to line it, but didn't have enough of the fabric to do so. I suppose I could have used a different fabric to line it, but in the end, I just decided to follow the tutorial instructions. I've tried it on, but the true test will have to come after Baby G's arrival :)


Leaf out.