Almost a year ago, I made a dress for Miss M from some of the Very Hungry Caterpillar fabric put out by Andover Fabrics. I looked up the pictures I took of her modeling the dress and I can’t believe how much smaller she was a year ago! I hadn’t started this blog yet, so I thought I’d go ahead and share a picture of the dress from last March. The pattern is my own design, a simple tie-neck halter top and shirring in the back.
I’m planning to put this one away for my grandkids (fingers crossed for at least one granddaughter). I entered it in last year’s county fair and won first place! (I also won second and third with my other entries, but truth be told, there wasn’t much competition.)
The reason I was thinking about this dress is that I’m using some of the remaining fabric for the indoor hopscotch game. It seems to be one of those projects that is never quite done despite my best efforts. Right now, it’s all put together and pinned to the background fabric like some sort of freakishly large applique. Tomorrow I hope to get it sewn down.
Now I’m off to slumberland. We’ve been going to bed early and watching BBC movies via Netflix on the laptop while snuggled up under mountains of blankets. What better way to end these bitter cold days?
Miss M wanted to make a “rower” with a paper towel tube and an empty granola bar box. A few snips and two strips of packing tape later, she had a new oar for her bilibo boat and I had a few minutes extra time to work on the indoor hopscotch.
I got all the numbers cut out and sewn on. Hopefully I can get it finished up in the next few days (a couple solid hours and I’d have it finished, but I never get good chunks of time like that!)
Many thanks to Lu Bird Baby for her lovely felt Valentines and tutorial on making felt mail. As I mentioned yesterday, I picked up an unfinished wooden mailbox at JoAnn and some sheets of felt in red, white, pink, and grey. Miss M would have been perfectly happy to play with the mailbox just as it was, but I thought it needed a bit of sprucing up.
I was a bit short on white acrylic paint, so it could use a second coat, but as long as you don’t look too closely, it is nice.
Miss M was also perfectly happy pilfering used envelopes as I paid the bills, but I wanted to try my hand at felt mail. I’m so glad I did. They turned out so cute and Miss M was delighted to have ”my own, my very own mail, Mama!” She has been delivering and checking the mail all day long.
For anyone who’s thinking about making mail for their own kids, I find Miss M doesn’t have much trouble at all putting the “letters” in the envelopes, but she is exceptionally dexterous for her age (3 years, 3 months), so if you’re crafting for kids this age or younger, stick to the postcards unless you want to be stuffing envelopes all day!
I made a bit more progress on the indoor hopscotch I started before last week’s hospitalization. It took me a while to figure out where my mother-in-law stashed the pieces since she “cleaned up” while staying here with the kids. I know she meant well, but it is really not at all helpful to put things “away” where they don’t belong so that they cannot be found. A week later and I’m still opening my cupboards to get something out or put something away and encountering 2-3 objects out of place that have to be dealt with before I’m able to complete the task I was attempting in the first place. *sigh* She lived here for 10 months, you’d think she’d know where I keep things. It’s not like I’ve changed anything since then! Oh well, I’m just thankful to have my house to myself again!!
If you have young children, you may be forced to endure have watched Blue’s Clues over and over without ceasing on occasion. Miss M watches it on Netflix which she is getting quite adept at navigating (frankly, she can use a computer better than her grandfather…and she can’t even read!). She’s loves the part when Blue and Steve get mail and laughs and laughs at the part in the song that says, “It makes me want to wag my tail.”
Her fascination with mail and mailboxes brought to mind this post over on Lu Bird Baby. So while out today on a spending spree (thanks to Uncle Sam and the fat tax return we got this year) I picked up a few sheets of felt and a wooden mailbox.
Last Friday was the pits! Today was much more pleasant and though I still didn’t accomplish much (more Farscape and a long nap), I’m pleased to just spend time with my two favorite small people. I’m still recovering from being ripped away from my babies for three days as much as I am from the surgery!
It snowed all day…a wet, sticky snow that frosted the trees and made every view from my house picture perfect.
(Click on the picture. It’s worth viewing full size.)
Tomorrow I’ll try to finish the indoor hopscotch game I started before I got sick.
Since the only thing I did today was cook supper and watch Farscape, I figured I’d share one of my favorite recipes. It’s the Best Beef Dip Ever recipe from allrecipes.com. I throw it all in the crock pot for a few hours, et voila! Tonight I served it on ciabatta rolls with swiss cheese, a touch of prepared horseradish and mayo (hubby’s preference), red onion, and shredded lettuce.
No picture, unfortunately…not only is there not much left, but the in-laws crashed supper and made the final prep time a bit hectic. Anyway, try it! It’s worth it!
While at the hospital, I was delighted to be presented with this handmade abdominal pillow. A nurse gave it to me immediately after I woke up from having surgery with the instructions to carry it with me every where I go and use it to “splint” my tummy if I feel the need to cough or sneeze or the like.
I simply love the fact that it’s handmade! Someone, some volunteer probably, made it with their own hands. It could have been an elderly woman filling her spare time with volunteer work. It could have been a young girl learning to sew and donating her services to a good cause. I’ll bet it was someone local. For some reason that especially warms my heart. I haven’t had the pleasure of meeting many crafters after my own heart in real life (other than family), so the knowledge that there are crafty caring people locally is heartwarming. Okay, so maybe I’m a bit too drugged, but anyway, this is one much appreciated pillow!
Been wondering where I’ve been the past few days? Here’s a recap:
Friday - I was pretty sick with a gallbladder attack. Hubby stayed home from work to help me with the kids and take me to see our family doctor. She ordered some blood tests and scheduled an ultrasound for Tuesday to look for gallstones.
Saturday morning - Hubby got up with the kids and let me sleep in (which was good ’cause I really didn’t sleep much that night due to the pain). Before I even got up, Hubby brought me the phone. It was the doctor calling to say that she got the blood test results back and wanted me to get an ultrasound pronto, no waiting until Tuesday. She pulled a few strings and got me in for one even though it was the weekend (and quite a drive away). She also put in a call to her favorite surgeon.
Saturday afternoon – I took a nap. When I got up I was feeling just as bad, if not worse. The doctor’s words came back to me…”listen to your body.” Well, my body was not happy. I couldn’t keep down anything, not even crackers and water. I figured I could tough it out until Tuesday — eating practically nothing — but I didn’t want to jeopardize my milk supply or torture myself, so I went to find Hubby so we could go to the hospital. I could hear Hubby snoring in the living room…and this is what I found!
Yes, they were both asleep…and Miss M was in a diaper box! My jaw literally dropped open when I saw her there!
Saturday night – I took my copies of the ultrasound results with me to the emergency room, but they were unable to read them, so they did some blood tests and ordered another ultrasound. They couldn’t see any gallstones and decided to send me home once the rest of the blood test results were in. But that was not to be. The blood tests showed that my liver enzymes were a complete mess, so I was admitted to the hospital at once.
Sunday – I had a endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (Look at that word! Isn’t it amazing? All 24 letters! Love it!) or ERCP in which they removed four gallstones (I have the pictures and they are not pretty!) Thank the Lord for the good doctor who was willing to come in on a Sunday to do the procedure…and his wonderful family for allowing him to! It was the first time I’ve ever been put to sleep for something…I was a bit nervous, but it turned out to be okay. And my wonderful Hubby was there for me the whole time.
Monday – I underwent an hour long surgery to remove my gallbladder. The surgery came off without a hitch and I was able to eat for the first time in days. Despite my illness, my appetite never went away (blame it on being a nursing mother), so this business of being able to eat again was quite a celebration!
Tuesday – home again, home again! I missed my babies, but I knew they were in good hands. I’m a bit sore, but nothing serious. E-boy was fed with formula for about a day — I had to pump and dump for a bit due to some of the medications I took — and he did fine despite being a bit gaseous. It was hard on Miss M to be shuffled back and forth between sets of grandparents so much, but she too came out none the worse for the wear. In fact, I think it strengthened her bond with her brother a bit which is a very sweet sight to behold!
I am so thankful to the Lord for arranging willing doctors, kind and knowledgeable nurses, loving grandmas and grandpas, and a truly dedicated husband so that being in the hospital for three days was a positive experience and not a horror. It wasn’t the weekend I envisioned, but it was definitely a memorable one!
It has not been a happy Friday, but I’m glad it is Friday. I have been the victim of a gallbladder attack (or at least, that’s what the symptoms point to). I made at trip to the doctor and spent the rest of the day immobilized by some pretty nasty pain…and this from a woman who had two kids with no pain medication! So, not much today, but hopefully I’ll be back soon.
Have you seen a bilibo yet? It’s an open-ended toy developed in Switzerland. Miss M’s arrived today and it was an instant hit! I let her help me open the package. When he pulled out the bilibo, she said, “What is it, Mama?” “It’s a bilibo. Why don’t you sit in it?” That’s all it took for her to get started. She quickly figured out several uses for her new toy.
“Rocking-dumper”
Turtle shell
Helmet
She also used it as a basin to swirl around a ping pong ball (a lot noisier than you’d think!), a slide, a potty (“only pretend!”), and a boat. It’s about the best $25 I’ve spent in a long, long time!
Little E isn’t quite big enough for such active play, but he was content to stare at his little friend with eyes full of deep and expressive things to say, occasionally bursting out with “ah-goo” to emphasize the silent understanding passing between the two of them.
And that was our happy Thursday! The dishes remain unwashed; the laundry clean, but unfolded. Quality time was spent snuggling, playing, and laughing together. I wouldn’t change a thing!
