My New Little Love!

August 18, 2010, Tristan David is born! It was a long day, starting out with my water breaking at 8 AM when I woke up and ending with an emergency csection around 9:30 PM. Everything that had went so well in my previous 3 births, went the opposite with this one!

I have now learned to expect the unexpected and that sometimes no matter how hard you tell yourself I can overcome this, well it's just not possible.

I told myself that a csection would never happen with me. I do really well during labor and cope with pain enough to get me through. My 1st labor was under 3 hours, my 2nd about the same and my 3rd was an induction, but lasted only 7 hours from start to finish. This one was over 12 and ended the way I never thought it would. Sometimes we can't control things and this was just one of those times. When baby boy's heartbeat fell to around 65 or so, I knew that my baby was the most important thing in this world at the time, and life would go on as long as he was healthy. So at 9:58 Tristan came into this world weighing a whopping 5 lbs. 5 oz. and around 18" long. Healthy and pink, but a little bruised from the trip. I told everyone that he reminded me of Rocky Balboa for the first 24 hours, a little beat up, but a winner!

Tristan had a slight bit of jaundice and spent 24 hours under the lights on his 2nd day, but we were able to come home on Saturday. I now have a new appreciation for any woman that has underwent a csection. I have always taken for granted how easy it was for me to bounce back from natural labor and how quickly my body healed. THIS is a whole different ball game! I am just glad that it happened to me during my last labor because I'm not sure I would have ever gotten pregnant again if it had been my 1st! But now after a week, slowly things are beginning to feel a little better.

I know you are expecting great pictures of Tristan in his mama made, well sorry. All of my babies have weighed over 8 lbs and had a little chunk to them when they were born. I expected nothing less from this little guy. In fact, the doctor had told me just 2 days before birth that I was having a larger baby. Guess Tristan fooled him! My mom came to the rescue and stopped to buy some preemie outfits on the way over to the hospital.

So we will have to grow in to all of our mama made. I do have 1 picture of him in a Jamie Jumper that while too big was cute just the same! I have pages marked in my ottobres as I type, preemie clothes are on the way! Just need to feel a little better first!

Tristan's bed set, well, I finished the bumpers the night before I went into labor. They are so cute! I dare not show them without the other pieces though, so as soon as I get the skirt and blanket finished I promise some pics! And sometime today I have to sew up some breast pads and some flannel wipes. Those are at the top of my list! Must haves!

Now I am off to steal some sweet kisses from my sleeping bundle of love. He is such a good baby and I'm not just saying that because he is mine. He really is! I have gotten lucky for the 4th time in a row and have decided not to push my luck anymore. I am officially happy with 4 of the best kids that a mama could wish for.

1 Month Exactly!

I am still here! I can't believe it has been over 2 weeks since I posted. I have been nesting away, but not sewing as much as planned. I look around and see so many things that I would like to do before baby boy arrives. We have exactly 1 month as of today! That doesn't seem long, but yet, when he is trying to stretch out inside my tummy it seems like a lifetime of waiting!

Top on my priority list, make the crib bedding. I bought Monaluna's beautiful new Monaco collection to make the bedding, have it all washed up, sitting here, but I am afraid to cut into it! Silly I know! I keep tossing ideas around of how I would like it to look and they seem to change frequently! Must come up with a design soon and stick to it. Hubby has had the crib up for a week or two and it looks plain naked!!

Second on the priority list, more diapers, preferably smalls. I think maybe this baby boy will outgrow his newborn sizes lickety split, so I could really use more smalls. I have about 6 fabrics picked out that match onesies the kids and I printed last week. We finally tried our hand at freezer stencils and oh my I think we are addicted. They turned out so cute, but they really need to be hemmed into tees and they need diapers to go with them! Pictures to come very soon I promise!

Third on my list, I need to make up some trifold soakers, wash clothes and wipes. That just seems really boring, so that is perhaps why I haven't gotten around to it yet. However, diapers are no good without soakers, so I really need to push it up on the list!

Can't have a post without pics, so I will show a few of the upcycled tees I put on ebay last night. I usually throw them in my etsy shop, but I figured hey why not give ebay a little of my hard earned money. I haven't listed over there in so long, it took me forever to put up 9 auctions! Trying to trim down my tee shelf in the sewing studio, so I decided to make some money while I did it and turn them into unique tees! I am really quite addicted to sewing these and Noah my 7 yr old just loves to wear them too! I make the tees in boy sizes 2-8, they are all one of a kind and I'm told, fun to wear!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260646624622&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260646636251&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260646642009&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

Giraffes! Oh so Comfy!

I have always drooled over anything that I have seen made with the giraffe knits. They came out after Noah, my 7 yr old had already decided that animals weren't cool to wear anymore. So I just lived vicariously through other mommas sewing it up for their little ones.

Well finally it is my turn! A sewingmama was destashing a month or so ago and she generously shared a .5 yd of each of these colorways with me. These were printed on french terry and they are oh so yummy to the touch!! I just knew I had to sew up a couple of diapers. But, they were too cute to be by themselves, so I added a matching ringer tee and wool interlock soaker too.

I love how they turned out, can't wait for a baby boy to put them on. The tee is the altered one I have done previously from ottobre, just cut the front down the middle to make it a little different, soakers are from the katrina soaker and the diapers are size small ladidas. I did the outer with the french terry giraffes, the hidden layer is bamboo fleece and then the inner is terry cloth. I don't have any idea if they will contain anything, but boy they sure are cozy feeling!

Hubby is off tomorrow and he is assembling the baby's crib! I am so excited, can't wait to see what it looks like all set up. I told him I thought that if I had a "naked" crib staring at me everyday it would motivate me to sew up a crib set that much faster! Hopefully it works!!

Tie Dyed Chucks!

Another one from me today, can you believe it? I am on a roll! If only I could keep my ankles from swelling I would sew all night!

This is a special little tee. I used an applique from the blog I was telling about earlier. Super cute little shoe! The sneaker fabric was some that I had left over from an outfit that I made Noah when he was 2 or 3 years old. The rainbow knit is from a rainforest cafe tee that Skylar, my 14 yr old outgrew and I have been saving. Wish I would have thought to put something from my 16 yr old on it, maybe next time.

The tee is modified from ottobre and the diaper is a size small ladida. The outer fabric is recycled knit, the hidden is a layer of bamboo fleece and the inner is suedecloth. I just love the way it turned out! I can't wait to see my baby boy in it!

Now I am off to put my feet up! Have a great night!!

Freddie the Frog Jumper

I had so much energy this morning that I went to work on a new jumper as soon as breakfast was over. I decided to try one of the appliques from the site that I mentioned last night. I am pleased to report that her designs are beautifully digitized and stitch out so pretty!

I embroidered it on a front for a jamie jumper and finished it up a few minutes ago. I love the colors and the frog, I think I will call him Freddie(the frog not the baby).

Off to make some lunch and then maybe another embroidery or two!

Happy Monday!

A Little Hoot Tee!

Still here sewing away, just slowing down a little. I have so many things left to sew and have 7 weeks left as of tomorrow. So I guess I need to be speeding up and not the other way around!

I added a few gowns to my etsy shop in the last week or so and I am happy to say they flew right out the door! Makes me pure giddy to think they will be snuggling a new little babe very soon! I was able to take my paypal and buy a crib last week that arrived this weekend. Just a few more things to do to our room before we are ready to install it. I think hubby is off on Thursday so that is first on his honey-do list!

Meanwhile I have stalked the isles of the local JA's to find the perfect fabrics for a crib set. I didn't anything too babyish, but didn't want too luxurious either. I think I may have picked out a great in between! My plan is to start next weekend on the bumpers, quilt, skirt and fitted sheets. Hopefully I will like the end result!

I did find some time today in between cleaning and my afternoon nap to cut out a lap tee and download an embroidery for it, to match one of baby boy's diapers. I haven't used my embroidery machine in months, so it took a little while to change out everything and get going. I also saw a great embroidery/applique sight mentioned over at sewing mamas and I can't wait to sew up some of her designs. The blog is actually in Spanish, but can be translated near the bottom. I will add the link over on the left.

This little owl that I did today was a freebie, but I don't remember where. I have had it in my embroidery folder forever just waiting on something to put it on. I was a little upset at first because the design did not stitch out perfectly. To be honest, I am not sure if it was my skills or the digitizers, thankfully the ruggedness grew on me and by the time I was finished with the tee I was very pleased with this little owl.

More to come in the next few days! Enjoy your week everyone!!

Thing 1 or is it Thing 2?

Noah asked me if I was appliquing thing 1 or thing 2? I'm not sure, but he turned out kind of cute anyway!

I made up this little gown yesterday and have added it to my etsy shop for sale. It is a one of a kind original and will not be duplicated. I have another one in mind for my baby boy, but I really need to sew some small size diapers first!

It's really hard for me to sew something up and not keep it. I play a constant tug of war in my head daily. Dr Seuss has always been my favorite author of children's stories, so this one wasn't easy to let go of.

However, I have realized that now I am down to less than 8 weeks, wow, time has flown! We did not think we would have anymore babies after Noah so we gave away all of his baby furniture and gear. Now I must start all over again and so far, I have purchased nothing! So there will be a steady flow of things going into the etsy shop to help with the funding of all the things that a baby might need. Thankfully since this baby boy is my 4th, I have now realized that a crib, a swing and a stroller w/carseat are the essentials for us. Yes, I said swing, all of my babies LOVED the swing when they were little.

I still need to make a baby sling too. My kids LOVED being slinged when they were infants. I hope this one will enjoy it just as much!

Well off to the studio to sew, sew, sew! If you want to take a peeksie here is the listing for the Thing Sack Gown/Hat Set.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/51415828/baby-boy-dr-seuss-sack-gownhat-newborn