The Worst Two Have Ended.

January and February are the bane of my existence. They are, without a doubt (in my opinion), the two absolute worst months of every year. They're cold, dark, ugly and the peak of flu season and every other gross illness going around.

It is now March, and I completely realize we can still have plenty of cold, dark and ugly days this month but March at least has a light at the end of it's tunnel. Spring officially takes over this month, daylight savings time starts next weekend, and there's a possibility of seeing some flower buds start to form. And the 95 inches of snow and ice that are outside may stand a chance of melting, so there's that.

Soon, this:

February is the longest short month ever. It's 28 days of garbage, mostly. This year was especially terrible given the stomach virus/black plague that visited our household last week, via the small girl who lives with us. Thanks to her first year of preschool, she has brought home at least half a dozen colds, the respiratory flu, an ear infection, fevers, and now the stomach bug since she started school in August. I expect better immunity next year.

Everyone is (mostly) on the mend at this point, and we can now focus our attentions to the month ahead and the promise of spring, sunshine, flowers, greenery, and a desperately needed changing of the seasons. Hallelujah.

Soon, this too:

Our home is still on the market, despite an offer we got a few days in but that fell through after the buyer got cold feet. We have about three more weeks to sell under our current contract, so if it doesn't happen by then we will pull it off the market until at least a few months after baby comes in July. I would love for it to sell and for us to move into the house we found, but if it doesn't there are definitely worse things than staying in our home awhile longer.

And this soon, too:

At this point, I mostly just want to start sewing for baby and decorating her room. Yes, I said HER. We're having another girl!! We found out last Tuesday and we are SO excited. I admit I was a little surprised--I had convinced myself this one was a boy (though everyone else insisted girl. And I am always wrong on guessing gender, always. So that should have been a good predictor). Chad's face lit up like a Christmas tree when the ultrasound tech told us we were having girl; he's such a good daddy. He's made to be a daddy to girls.

Since I can't yet decorate, I bought these to tide myself over (they're a size Newborn and they don't even look like they could fit one of Charlotte's dolls):

To be fair, there have been good parts to February (even if it is the worst month ever). Obviously finding out about baby girl #2 was the biggest highlight, but there were others. Like my adorable Valentine who couldn't wait for her party at school:

And the reaction on her face when the waitress gave her the vanilla milkshake she ordered on our Valentine's date at Red Robin:

Then there's the dress she discovered at my mom's that was my Easter dress in 1987. She didn't take it off for three days:

And this cuteness, when she was helping daddy work on the baby's room to prep the house for showing:

So that's my meandering post without much of a purpose...I hope you have a lovely week, free of germs!

~Stacy

A Sundress in January

It's currently about 14 degrees and snowy outside, but I'm comfortably warm and just finished sewing a sundress. A bright orange, floral sundress. Why? Because it's 14 degrees and snowy outside. And will probably continue to be that way for a long time. That, coupled with the fact that we're in the part of the year where there are about 45 minutes of daylight each day, means I need to find things that are fun, uplifting, and make me forget that it's winter.

Also, I actually feel good. The past few days have brought relief from the previous 42 consecutive days of all day nausea (not that I counted. Oh wait, I did). I'm taking full advantage of feeling good in case I'm being tricked and this is only temporary (better NOT be).

This dress was made using this pattern:

It was easy and relatively quick to make--I think I'll try the pink version next, with the sash and lace. The fabric is from the new Flower Sugar line by Lecien--and it's not quite as vibrant as it looks in these photos. I got it for Christmas and had plans immediately to make Charlotte a dress out of it.

This is the first thing I've sewn since Charlotte's Halloween costume. This is partly because I've felt lousy for awhile, but actually mostly because my sewing table had been moved upstairs several months ago. I thought it would be nice to move it upstairs and have my own space to spread out, but what ended up happening was that it was "out of sight, out of mind." I rarely went up there to sew since it was so separated from everything else going on in the house. And now that the room will have a new inhabitant come July, it made sense to move it back downstairs--where it belongs.

Happy Sewing!

~Stacy

Farewell, 2014

Happy New Year! It's hard to believe 2014 is over already...here is a look back at the year in pictures.

I wish you all the best in 2015!

~Stacy

Where I've Been

Well, I didn't intend to take over a month long break from my little blog. Things just sort of ended up that way, after a series of surprises (some lovely, some not) interrupted my regularly scheduled life and now, here we are--Thanksgiving is over, Christmas is over (two heavily blogged about topics in past years) and we're just a few days away from a new year.

So a brief list of what's been happening since my last post on November 17th:

• Charlotte has brought home no less than 403 colds since she started preschool, many of which occurred in late November thru now. And some of which she has kindly shared.
• My work life took on a new level of insane, with the acquisition of part of another agency that added 95 employees and 51 clients to our existing organization in the span of about three weeks. We grew from a 300 employee agency to a staff of almost 400 hundred just about overnight. It's been...interesting, to say the least. And busy.
• Typical holiday preparations, coupled with an unusually late start on my part led to a far more hectic than usual holiday season. I was wrapping presents on Christmas Eve, something I have never done before. 

I think that's about it. 

Oh wait. One more thing.

• We're having another baby.

!!!!!!!!

Yes, you read that right. I'm pregnant with Baby #2, due in July. It was the best kind of surprise we could have asked for, but also one that has left me feeling like garbage for the past seven weeks (and counting). I'm at the tail end of this lovely first trimester (it will be over the week of my birthday, which is the best gift I can imagine) and I'm crossing my fingers and toes that the all day nausea, headaches and tiredness disappears. This is similar to my pregnancy with Charlotte, and the feeling crappy part wore off by the end of the first trimester, so I'm hopeful this is the same. Babies. Troublemakers, even when they're the size of a prune :)

So that about sums up my life. I haven't had the energy to do much of anything (seriously. The other night I cooked a real dinner that actually included a vegetable and almost cried from both the effort and sight of something on our plates that wasn't crackers, bagels, or some other sort of beige). 

I'll post more soon, but in the meantime I hope you had a wonderful holiday season and I wish you a Happy New Year!

~Stacy

Well That Escalated Quickly

Snow in November is usually somewhat surprising--at least, snow that sticks is. I can only remember a few times where we had heavy snow accumulate and hang around this early but I think this past weekend takes the cake.

It all started Thursday with some cute little flurries flying around. They were sweet and I watched them fly around for a bit and then I went back to work and forgot all about it.

Things settled down after awhile, and then I came home from work and was making dinner as Charlotte kept exclaiming "snow!! Wow, mommy, look at all that snow!" and when I looked out the window it was white. By the time dinner was over, there was enough to build a snowman and shovel--which she and Chad did both.

Then Friday happened, and things got a little out of hand.

Charlotte was so excited she could hardly stand it--this girl loves her some snow. She couldn't wait to use to her sled, so we did the only thing that made sense during a blizzard at dark: took her on a sled ride up to the corner deli to get ice cream.

I feel like I should be wishing you all a Merry Christmas, or Happy-middle-of-January, but no. Happy Not Yet Thanksgiving...

~Stacy

DIY Barbie Bed

My girl has discovered the wonderful world of Barbies. It was kind of by accident, and started after she got a Barbie-sized Princess Anna doll. Soon after, she received word that there may or may not be a treasure chest of my old Barbies in my parents' attic (there is, but shhhh, don't tell her yet). Then when Chad's mom and sister were visiting last month we went to the toy store and her aunt bought her a Barbie bathroom set and doll that she had to have.

The decision between the bathroom set and the bedroom set was a bit complicated, and while she certainly didn't have buyer's remorse she pretty much has not stopped talking about the Barbie bed ever since. She regularly reminds me that she would like Santa Claus to bring her the bed for Christmas.

Well, Santa Claus did a little research and quickly discovered that the Barbie bed (and any related knock offs) were, not surprisingly, overpriced. As in, to the tune of $30--granted, this included a dresser and lamp, but still. That's too much money for a bed for a 12" doll. So I took matters into my own hands and made one out of a shoebox and some fabric scraps. Behold.

I started with an empty women's shoe box and lid (perfect size for Barbie), some fabric pieces large enough to cover the outsides of the box and the lid (coordinating prints), and a stapler. Yep, I just stapled the fabric right to the box and did a little creative folding to cover the staples.

I covered the outside of the box and stapled the fabric in place to the top inside edge--folding the fabric around it like gift wrap. I did the same for the lid, except I put a layer of stuffing on top first before covering with the fabric, to give Barbie a little bit of a softer mattress. After covering and stapling the fabric to the lid, I put the lid on the box--which covered the staples. This way the lid can still be taken off and used for storing any of Barbies clothes or accessories.

It still needed something, so I decided to add a headboard. I cut off the flap of a cardboard box I found in our recycling bin (I was determined to keep this a no cost project) and then cut rounded corners at the top. I covered it with the same pink gingham fabric as the "mattress" and then stapled the whole thing directly onto the box. You can see staples on this piece, but they're on the back so I'm not too worried about it. Charlotte won't care, and if it ends up going inside a dollhouse that part will be against a wall anyway.

The next step was more fun: bedding! Barbie needed a comforter and some pillows, naturally. I cut two pieces of fabric 15"X12" and sewed them right sides together, leaving a small opening, turned it right side out and then top stitched. Then I made two pillows out of the gingham (cut 4 rectangles 4.5"X3.5", sew, turn, stuff with a small amount of fiberfill, stitch closed) and one larger, decorative pillow out of another scrap. Does Barbie need a decorative pillow on her bed? No. But I was having fun making pillows so there you have it.

Not to brag, but I think this looks way better than any plastic bed that I could have bought her in the store. She will be a very happy little girl on Christmas morning. And the best part? It was free. Free, and very fun to make! I might tackle living room furniture next...

~Stacy

Trick or Treat...in November

I posted a few weeks ago about Charlotte's Halloween costume--a purple fairy godmother--but never got around to posting about Halloween. In short, it was super cold and rainy on the 31st but she still went out trick-or-treating for over an hour and proudly carried her pumpkin candy basket the whole time. Success.

We carved pumpkins the day before, and by "we" I mean Chad and I since she lost interest by the time we were done removing the pumpkin guts. She did hang around long enough to watch me draw a happy face, per request, on it as a carving guide.

She had a Halloween parade at school the day before where the kids all wore their costumes to school and then at the end of the day families could come to see the parade. It was all very cute, and she soaked up every minute of parade time to wave at everyone (to the point where she walked out of the line and into a wall she was so focused on waving). I took pictures, but it's too hard to crop out the other kids so I won't post any here. Here she is in her fairy godmother glory:

I hope you had a lovely Halloween (and October)!

~Stacy