Time flies when having fun!

Boy, have I been busy in the past month without even realizing it! But, before I forget, there are new pics in his photo albums!  So what have I been up to exactly? Gardening, Crafting, Sewing, Baking, you name it...Here's the tally!

1. Tag Blankie for a newborn baby in our family (plus a pair of booties I forgot to photograph, sorry)

I love when I ship thing to the recipient because I can finally post it to the blog for all to see it!

2. Pair of house slippers for munchkin.

I love how they crocheted up exactly the same, even though it was a variegated yarn.

3. About 10 onesies I altered into shirts so he can wear them with his cute, colored cloth diapers!

4. Pair of adorable pink slippers for a friend's little one!  The pic doesn't even do them justice -- so cute!

5. About 5 really cute bibs from some old flannel receiving blankets!

Plus, a few simple cloth wipes/burp cloths from extra bib fabric.

The pattern is inspired by the bibs that my sister's best friend makes for her,

but instead of using snaps, I just use a baby diaper pin so it's

tight enough around his neck that food doesn't end up down his shirt!!

6. I even managed to bake an Amish Friendship Bread that was passed along to me at a jewelry party I managed to attend, sans bebe ;-) I only found one taker for the starters though. I hope she likes it! I had them all ready to go in pretty bags and everything :( Oh well!

7.  And I CAN'T forget to mention this Buggy applique set for a friend's daughter who's turning one soon!

I had been planning out this outfit for her for months, hoping to do all the ladybug appliques by hand with a blanket stitch, but really wanted it to hold up in the wash better than handmade, so I machine appliqued all except the jean pocket. I had read lots of tutorials online, and had done appliques where you satin stitch your way around the raw edge, but this was just a simple straight stitch about 1/8 inch into the cutouts, leaving the raw edge exposed. The lady bugs were sourced from a fabric that I found at a goodwill. The little shorts with those cute buttons are definitely my favorite. On the back are 2 ladybugs: one sneaking out the side, and one really big one on the other "cheek!"  I can't wait to see them on her!!

AH, and as far as my garden goes, I chose not to do quite as much as in past years. Not due to money or motivation, but more-so due to time. It takes a lot of time to plant and water all the front beds, deck flowers, and the backyard beds as well. Time I'd rather spend with munchkin! (I only get to garden during munchkin's morning nap due to the afternoon heat.) But the tasks I have chosen to do, have certainly kept me going these past few weeks. Transplanting and uprooting some *mistakes* were at the top of the to-do list. Then, I was able to transplant probably 40 iris and 30 daffadils, some spiderwort, and some spearmint. The clematis vine (below) was in full bloom last week with over 100 blooms on it! Yes, I counted them! The mistake I referred to was approx. 95 gladiolus bulbs that I tried to grow in partial sun, knowing full well they needed full sun. Lesson learned: don't think you know better than the planting instructions!! So, some are still in the ground still and some are in pots, but ALL 95+ are looking for a new home. I may end up posting them on our local freecycle site in the fall.

Pictured behind the clematis is munchkin's new swing (a gift), which he has thoroughly enjoyed swinging in daily! It's in a nicely shaded spot so he's able to swing even in the afternoon heat after he gets sick of playing inside. I hope you enjoy the new pics in his photo albums (linked on the left side of the blog) and have a GREAT week every one! Thanks for reading!

You've come a long way, Crochet!!

A picture speaks a thousand words....

First slippers 3+ years ago:

And....a pair I recently made for hubby (which I've promised him for a year now!)

These use the puff stitch so they're realllly warm!!

I also made a similar pair (black and white) for my aunt who lives in chilly NH with a cute white button closure (which I simply left loose so she could knot it to adjust to her comfort).

I have read SO many craft blogs, patterns and tutorials since that first pair of "can't sleep in the middle of the night" stroke-of-genius slippers that ended up looking like eggplants! But my progress can also be attributed to trial and error with the many pairs of booties/slippers I've made (adult and munchkin size alike), and the many more pairs I ripped out and started over!! Practice make perfect!

Munchkin is 11 months old!!

So my baby is now 11 months old. When did this happen!?! I can still picture myself carefully adjusting his carseat to bring him home from the hospital. But he has grown more than in size alone, of course. He's on the go more than ever, and as a result, so am I. I'll submit the tardiness of this post as evidence ;) His personality has really started to emerge in the past 2 months and he's learning to do all kinds of little boy things like:

*he tries to wave to people (or the dog) when we say hello or good bye (most times)
*he 'walks' around the kitchen pushing a dining chair
*he picks up quickly on things from other people & kids (like sticking out his tongue, he mimics the sound of babies' crying, and he now mimics me when I sing my opera around the house, trying to hold notes as long, and as loudly, as he's able!!
*he feeds me his food from his tray when I say "Mama eat," to him! Melts me!
Unfortunately we haven't taken many pictures this month as I let the batteries in the camera die without having any backups in the house and bought the wrong type. However, that mistake was small compared to my phone slipping into my tea in the car, which actually brought me to a panic, then all out tears because all of Munchkin's dates were stored on it (first date he crawled, said mama, etc). The guilt of losing those whould never have left me, so I'm glad my husband is a miracle maker and got my phone working again! (Thank you, Hubby.) Enjoy the pics we were able to take...And my next post will be of him turning ONE!!

Greatgrandma came to visit him a few days ago.

She just loves his dark eyes!

Success...a picture where you can actually see his top teeth!!

They look a little scary here, but if you click on the picture to zoom in you can see them better! I can't tell you how many attempts I've made to get just this one picture!

What a nut!

He's thinking about going and splashing Elie's water --

And yes, since I had a camera in my hand, he indeed worked his way INTO Ellie's water!

What a cutie-pa-tutie!

During the past month I've been quite productive with my crochet! (Yes, I made the hat and mittens in the pic above.) Recently I've made a TarHeels hat for Munchkin (pictured below). After a failed attempt at felt superhero patches for my nephews, I made two cute hats for my nephews in the same style as his (one is yellow and black for Steelers pride; the other is green and black for the Green Lantern!) They're simple, but super cute! I also made a fun pair of slippers for a friend's birthday. They were pretty straightforward, but the flower made them more feminine! I've also made more booties than I can count, and given most of them away to various friends, but I managed to remembered to take pictures of some of those before giving them away. Enjoy!

Munchkin is 10 months old

So many "firsts" to share this month:

*he climbs the stairs (while we follow, of course)

*cruises along the couch, tables, stools, you name it!

*tried cheese, eggs, bread, pasta, beans, corn, dates, ........... and now eats 3 solid meals a day!

*makes fishy faces/kissing noises -- so cute!

*makes the "B" sound

*makes the "F" sound (now that he has his top teeth)

*feeds himself all kinds of finger foods now!

*he's into everything -- I finally had to baby-proof the cabinets!!

His new favorites are:

*"wresling" with dad when he gets home from work

*playing with 2 wooden toys Aunt Jess gave him underneath his exersaucer!!

*daddy's hand-puppet shows

*bouncing/squatting/dancing up and down every chance he gets

*swatting at a toy Aunt Bonnie gave him for Christmas (a big ball that has a chime inside and makes noises)

Other new adventures for us have been going to a great little music class (sort of like Musikgarten), in addition to our library times called "BookBabies." He absolutely lights up at the first few notes of a song, and loves all things musical -- bells, whistles, chimes, drumming/tapping, singing, humming, and shaking rattles. What is NOT new, but never ceases to amaze me is that positively everything he can get his little munchkin hands on goes straight into his mouth (those chimes and bells included) and he can find the tiniest speck of lint on his pants or it of paper on the floor. And how he can discover something new and study it as if he were a scientist. One of my most proud moments was our trip to Charlotte's IKEA store with a friend of ours. We had a blast, and the kids were such good sports about the drive, and being in strollers for extended periods of time! I found a few clever wooden toys for him, which we'll save for his first birthday, and lots of hand-puppets that will entertain him for years to come! (Yes, it was hard for me to buy something I could sew myself, but these were so cute, and much less expensive than buying all the needed fabrics, thread, etc. Not to mention the time creating patterns, cutting the fabrics and being at the sewing machine.)

Since we're on the subject of my craft projects...the snow we received last weekend (which forced us inside for 4 days) was quite a help in my getting some crochet projects finally finished! In total, I finished 4 pairs of booties, one caterpillar, his lion (to complete the animal set from Christmas), a wool softy doll for my niece, and a cute wool cuddly for my sister's birthday! Whew...that's a lot! The redeeming quality of crochet (and knitting, which I don't do YET!) is it's portability...I can crochet while he is playing with his blocks, or while I watch TV, or while he is wrestling with Daddy, or while we're traveling to Grandmas! Excluding a few choice projects I've all but stopped sewing for now. At least till he's older and can entertain himself even better, and for longer periods of time, than he's able to right now.

Many more photos are in his web-albums (links can be found on the left side of the page).

So glad you read these silly updates. I love making them!

Christmas & New Years 2010

Merry Christmas Everyone! We hope you had a glorious time with family and friends. We certainly had a wonderful first Christmas as a new family. As always we celebrated by enjoying quality family time together: playing games, reminiscing, making snowmen, cooking, crafting, and baking. Munchkin soaked up every minute with those big brown eyes, seeing his nieces and nephews, aunts, uncles, and grandparents! Here are some pictures of the highlights of our time together, as always there's more in the online photo albums on the left hand side of the page.

My niece Maria and I (and the nephews too) made a snowman!

Actually, she had the idea of decorating BOTH sides, so he was a human snowman on

this side and an alien snowman on the other (hence the alien horns and ears!)

So cute! Thanks Ben and Jake for finding the arms and teeth!

My 2 beautiful sisters!

We were all in Christmas colors so I said "Hey, sit down and we'll take a picture!"

Jess had strep throat and you can't even tell!

This is his great-grandmother! She loves his "black eyes,"

which was actually my mom's nickname for me when I was a little girl.

Aunt Bonnie calls Munchkin her "Chocolate Marshmallow"

Aunt Jessie wasn't allowed to hold him since she was sick :-(

And while we know presents and cookies certainly aren't the focus of the season, they are both a whole lot of fun, and my Christmas post wouldn't be complete without pics of the handmade items I've been working on in secret.  I crocheted a set of soft wool animals for him to play with, a fleece blankie, and a silky tag blanket for nighttime. His gift to me was homemade: the sweet sound of "Mama!!" Many of the gifts we gave this season were handmade: wool sweater snakes (sewn), quirky monsters (crocheted), a monkey (crocheted), and a special wool hat, mittens, and scarf set (sewn). Next year I plan on doing even more handmade items, but will need to start MUCH earlier since December is a blur for me now! On the cookie menu were: 12 dzn peanut butter blossoms, 7 dzn crescent cookies (total flop!), 5 dzn cut-out sugar cookies, and 7 dzn peanut butter cookies. My favorite to bake (and eat) are the blossoms -- only 4 ingredients andanyone can make them. The cut-outs are beautiful and tasty, but they are SO much work, so next year I'll change how I do the sugar cookies. I'll make up the dough after Thanksgiving, bake them in early December, and then finally decorating them close to Christmas.

No, Munchkin isn't as fascinated by these as I thought he would be right now.

He seems to like toys he can tap, bang, shake, etc,

but someday he will love these! Right!?!

This set was for Maria (she's wearing them in the snowman pic!)

And she's so perceptive. She actually noticed on her own how wool doesn't absorb moisture from the snow like cotton does. She's so smart!

Ahhh...and these are the scary monsters for my youngest nephews Ben and Dan!

What a great idea for them, and they seemed to really enjoy them!

Ben, especially, seemed to enjoy playing with the monkey in back (the front one was Munchkin's).

The mouth-watering Christmas delights that are... "Peanut Butter Blossoms."

These are so easy to make I taught Maria how to make them quite easily!

And last but not least are the classic sugar cookies!

I just thawed some out today and they are just as good as the day I made them!

All in all, 2009 has been quite a full year to say the least. We have:

* celebrated our 5th anniversary (although we weren't able to get away for it)

* had a baby (AND I survived postpartum somehow!)

* traveled countless times to my mom's, dad's, sister's, cousin's, and grandparent's

* (I've) learned that Hubby is a better daddy to Munchkin than I could ever have drempt!

* met lots of new mom and baby friends. Munchkin and I thoroughly enjoy playdates/storytimes

* (I've) fallen in love with my house all over again -- for how it's accommodated a baby, all his stuff, my craft and sewing projects, and my growing fabric stash!

Our New Year, however, has been bittersweet. Some of you are aware that my brother-in-law, Mark, passed away early January 3rd quite unexpectedly. He was so young. Please keep my step-sister Debbie in your prayers as well as their young son David. (Here is a link to their blog.)

Thanks for reading. Thanks for caring. And thanks for being a part of each of our lives! Even if we can't travel to see all of you in person, it's nice to know we're able share bits of our life with you through our blog. And keep in touch -- we LOVE to hear from you!

Munchkin is 7mths old!!

So I fully realize I'm starting to sound like a broken record when I state once again, "I can't believe he's 7 months old now...." But he IS, and now has TWO teeth as evidence (bottom, fronts). They truly drive home the fact that he is no longer a sweet little "baby" anymore, but a growing little boy! His attempts at crawling don't help preserve my baby image of him either! After a few playdates with some crawlers, he figured out how to turn from back to belly which led to turning around 360 degrees on his belly, and eventually scooting backward! So crawling may be just weeks away! He's also holding his bottle on his own almost the entire feeding! And very special to me is that he certainly knows who Rupesh and I are, making peek-a-boo much more fun these days! He's not yet vocalized a single "mama" or "dada" yet, but that isn't to say he doesn't tell us stories all day long! One of his SILLIEST discoveries is arching backward to look at things upside down -- us, Dora, Ellie, you name it! It's sooooo cute!

And boy is he growing, but no longer in width; he's finally lengthening out ;) No worries though; he still has those cute ham hocks! He's trying new foods all the time. Thus far, he's had oatmeal, rice, "multi-grains," prunes, bananas, lentils, sweet potato, pumpkin, white potatoes, sweet peas, and asparagus, his favorite! He's only reacted negatively to carrots and apples thus far. And he's tried a pinch of cinnamon in his pumpkin and loved it! I can't wait to see if he likes avocado and butternut squash this week!

This month has also ushered in for him one unfortunate first -- an annoying cold :( We had hosted a playdate at our house (kids were all seemingly healthy), but ultimately he woke the next morning with a stuffy nose. (So sad...) He didn't develop a fever, so I wasn't overly concerned for him; only one day he certainly not sem himself (irritable & sleepy, etc.) His cold didn't effect his sleep AT ALL, for which I am very thankful; because, he has been sleeping just like a baby should: long, and deep!

Now that we have a child, and more sleep, we've been going out to do more things to explore this fair city we call home: fall festivals, autumn drives, pumpkin patches, etc. Having a child makes Halloween festivities much more fun too! He was a little dinosaur since it was too cold for him to be a pumpkin, though we did not go trick-or-treating due to rain. We did attend a Halloween party and a "fall festival" that had a petting zoo. We also visited a big pumpkin patch. Both produced some incredible pictures of Munchkin!

After MANY photos were snapped...he was DONE being a dino :P

Poor Guy!

His cold brought on a first for me as well: cabin fever!! Since he's been sick, I can't go anywhere with him -- can't see our neighbor and her precious 7wk old son, can't go to "BookBabies" at the local libraries (which I enjoy almost as much as he does), can't go to Goodwills to kill some time (very sad about that one), and can't even go grocery shopping or run errands with him :( At the very least, I been able to leave the house to workout & grocery shop. This situation HAS led to more sewing and crocheting than usual! Some pics of those projects and others are below, as well as the reason you visit the blog -- more pics of Munchkin :)

And don't forget, there's always MANY MORE pics of him in the

"photo albums on the left side of the blog!

Here's a hat I made him in like 15 minutes!

And you can see his 2 front teeth a bit here (if you click on the photo).

Here's another hat I crocheted for him just this week!

Here's a simple single crochet blanket I mad for him recently.

He seems to really like the texture and softness of it!

I like how simple, but classic it is!

Here are 2 hats I had made for hubby's nieces before we went to see them in Denver.

This is actually a back-view of them; they have flowers on the front!!

And here is a whale and snake I made for Munchkin from an thrifted, felted wool sweater!

This is a hat and pants set that I made for him to wear with a pumpkin costume, but I quickly realized Halloween would be too cold for him to be a pumpkin, despite all my hard work :(

They were simple "T-Shirt pants" ;)

And if you've read THIS far, then you might be interested to know that my workouts are coming along quite well! I've now lost almost every pregnancy pound using the elliptical machines and the exercise ball, and getting back into doing my yoga routines again. I wouldn't have expected the exercise ball to be this effective for my abs, but am using the gym's machines for my arms and shoulder strength. A welcome change in appetite (decrease) has also occurred since weaning him, so I no longer feel hungry every 2 hours! All these efforts are paying off :) I have packed up ALL my maternity clothes, and now about 5 pairs of my old jeans fit! So I'm on track to meet my goals by the end of the year! Yay!