Thursday, March 31, 2011

Textationary



Last week I was running around in town.  Doing some shopping... a doctor appointment... you know, normal mom stuff.  It was just about noon so I thought maybe it would be nice to meet up with Mr. Extra Ordinary for lunch.  
So I did what everyone does when they need to talk with someone on the other side of town.

I drove to his work and left a note on his truck.

Huh?

What are we in high school again?

How primitive, right?

You see, last week I didn't have a cell phone.

No.  I didn't just lose mine somewhere at the bottom of my purse or forget to charge it.  

I was simply the last person in America to get a cell phone!

Later that night I got on AT&T and ordered one.

$19 and 2 days later my iPhone 3GS arrived on my door step.

So I've been playing with it and getting to know it over the last couple of days.  Wowee!  What took me so long!  I love this thing.

And because it's mine, all mine, I can make it as girly as I want without hearing it from Mr. Extra Ordinary!

Yesterday I found this app that dolls up your emails and text messages.


It's like text stationary... textationary?

Anyhow, it's called Red Stamp and the app is completely free!!



 Some of my favs


It's so easy to use and did I mention that it's free!!

Definitely go check out redstamp.com




Spring Fling Day 12


 More vintage.  More color. More cheery good moods.

Today's Spring Fling Giveaways...



Puddle Jumper Creations

Vintage Inspired Sunbonnet Sue Flour Sack Dish Towels



Handpainted Window Sill Sitter




Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Extreme Makeover Prize Packs!

We're about to kick off our Extreme Makeover: Fabric Edition competition!  Are you excited?


Have you sent in your pictures of your fabric stash yet?  There's still time!


Want to see what you can win?


Our first & second place winners will be taking home prize packs featuring patterns from some of these fresh Etsy shops!





Pink Chickadee Patterns

This shop features tons of cute skirt patterns! Perfect stash busters for beginners and experts alike!

She also has a kids clothing shop filled with drool worthy skirts & dresses & tees.


Too Sweets

I can't get enough of the patterns I've found in this cute little shop

You'll find adorable patterns for dresses, tops, pants, accessories and even outerwear!!








Shoeology

This one's for YOU!

We all love our babies but take a second and make something for yourself every now and then!

This shop has step by step patterns and tutorials to make yourself some seriously cute shoes!




Lil Miss Dolls

What do you do if your stash is just too big to tackle alone?  Recruit help!

This shop sells patterns for the cutest little dolls and her accessories.  PLUS right now you can pre-order her How to Sew DVD that's designed for your little girl!
 




Little Chickadee Patterns

This shop has a handful of super cute patterns that make seemingly difficult tasks (like this pleated skirt) a breeze!

Check out her Circle-top Shirt, Sweet Babydoll Dress, Schoolgirl Pleated Skirt and Roller-skate Romper... so cute!




Sew Sweet Patterns

This shop has bunches and bundles of sweet little patterns.

Check out the variety of dresses, skirts, aprons, shorts, pants, doll clothes & even a couple of things for the boys!








Yeppar

I'm so in love with this pretty little shop! It has a classy romantic feel to it with out being over the top girly. Simple without being plain.

You'll find some dresses and tops and the cutest little hoodie that would be perfect for a boy or girl this Spring!





Kustom Kids Boutique

If you love layers & ruffles & peasant style dresses then you'll love these patterns!
This shop sells "ebooks" with detailed instructions and photos to help you along the way.









Lille' Skapet

I'm so excited about this next shop because not only does she have some really cute little girls clothing patterns but she has this adorable bowling set pattern!


And if that's not enough for you, check out her other shop, Birdiful Stitches. She has a bunch of patterns for some really cool ways to beautify your accessories!


Is it wrong to consider buying a Kindle just so I can make it a pretty wallet like this one? 




Up, Up and Away


You'll find lots of cute little dresses and a couple of fun accessories too in this next shop

How cute is this little heart shaped bib?!







Red Thread Patterns

If you've got boys you're going to love this shop!

Check out the Skater Boy Shorts and the Popover Playtime Shirt and don't worry girls... here's a skirt for you too!





Like what you see so far?


Hurry hurry and get your audition pics in!

We'll announce the contestants on Monday and tell you how you can win some of these patterns even if you aren't up for a competition!!


Vintage Goodies & Colorful Tiles

That's what the Spring Fling has in store for you today!

Go sign up for the giveaways!



$30 Gift Certificate to B. Inspired Vintage




Set of Decorative Tiles


What a cheery day!


Breast vs. Bottle- my personal battle

Have I told you yet that I'm still breastfeeding Isaac.

He's 6 months now.

That's not super old or anything but the truth is I've never made it to 6 months.

I've nursed all 5 of my babies for at least some short period of time and my goal has always been to make it 6 months.  

And now I've finally done it!

But I don't feel especially proud.  Actually I feel a bit guilty.

I feel guilty because, honestly, I don't really like breastfeeding.
I can't believe I just admitted that

I know there are women that love to breastfeed. 

I am just not one of them.

Don't get me wrong.  I don't hate it.  And there are things that I do love about it.

It is super duper convenient.  I can grab the baby and his blanket and a diaper and run off to Target for hours.

I can sleep in my bed and feed him without ever really waking up.

Breastfeeding boobies are the best... yeah... I said it.

Minimal spit up.

The breastfeeding badge.  When I formula fed my babies I knew that no one looked down on me for only giving them 2nd best... but it sure felt like it.

But now I've made it to 6 months.  I've worked through all the hard work... tongue tied baby, cracked bleeding nips, painful engorged breasts, clogged ducts... and now everything is just about as simple as it gets.

So what makes me want to stop?  What makes me consider turning to formula?

Sometimes... most times... I just don't have the time to sit down for 20 minutes and feed him.

When I do, somehow the older kids know that I'm officially out of commission and they start smearing peanut butter all over the couch or trying to balance on top of the fridge with the steak knives.

And I feel like a crappy mom because I often find myself holding him and looking at his precious little face and thinking... please hurry up... instead of how much I love him. wow... that was really really honest

So last week I decided I was done.  I wasn't going to beat myself up over it.  It's just formula and the rest of the kids seemed to survive through it just fine.  Plenty of great moms choose to give their babies formula.

He wasn't crazy about it.  In fact he spit most of it out and made some really really yucky faces.
  

And later that day my sweet baby Isaac broke out in hives.

Great.

I instantly thought it was the formula and threw it away and vowed never to touch his poor little lips with the poison again.

That night I sat in the ER with Isaac, watching a nurse give him a dose of prednisone and listening to the doctor explain that it wasn't the formula at all but a virus that caused the hives.  They sent me home with a prescription for more prednisone.

I'm sure it was just the paranoid mommy in me but that prednisone scared me!  It just seemed like some pretty heavy stuff to give such a little guy.  So I called the pediatrician and while I waited for a call back I hopped on Facebook and talked to my mommy friends.

One of them, an amazing breastfeeding mommy of twins and lactation consultant, advised me to slather him in breast-milk.

Sure... why not?

So the next day when the welts flared up again all over his tummy and back and neck, I rubbed that baby down from head to toe before laid him down for his nap.

I finally got a call back from the doctor... no, do not give him that prednisone... should be a last resort only... try Benadryl first.

So I race out the door to go get some Benadryl and I pop in to check on the him first.  The kid doesn't have a spot on him.

Seriously.  He looked absolutely perfect.  You wouldn't have known that the little guy was covered in welts only 45 minutes before.

And they haven't been back since!

So this whole post is dragging on and on now but the whole incident scared the formula right out of the house even though it had nothing to do with the hives and at least for now I'm still breastfeeding. 

I guess it's time to hide the peanut butter and steak knives huh?



Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Spring Fling Day 10...

I think?  Maybe 9... no I 'm pretty sure it's 10.

But a couple more cute little giveaways!

Go check them out...


Loopy Bow



Girl Boy Girl Inspired
2 Glass Pendant Necklaces


Monday, March 28, 2011

Flying Solo

If you've been waiting all day for my Spring Fling post, I'm so sorry to have kept you waiting!  

This weekend was crazy busy!  My hard working husband is building a 6ft privacy fence on our huge 1 acre corner lot and coaching baseball and trying to prepare himself for working the night shift at work next month.  For me this means, I'm sort of doing the whole parenting thing solo for a bit.

Cooking dinner while cleaning up another potty accident and breaking up fights over the Wii,  tucking babies into bed while begging toddlers to get out of the bath and yelling "I'm not going to tell you again to get your pj's on!" for the 3rd time... it's all so much easier with another set of hands.

Next week he'll start the night shift and our sleep schedules will get all out of whack until somewhere between week 3 & 4 and then it'll be time to change back to the day shift again... cRaZy!!!  He seriously needs to find a more family friendly job!  Is there such a thing?

But back to the Spring Fling giveaways!

Custom Appliqued Shirt



Pretty Spring Necklace



Cute cute cute!

Go enter! Hurry hurry!

Sunday, March 27, 2011

My Spring Fling Favs!

The day I've been waiting for has finally arrived... Spring Fling day 8.  And you will totally understand why when you see today's  giveaways!


Sweet Spring Dress




Every Occasion Dress

Ahhh... Livi needs both of these dresses so I really need to win!

Saturday, March 26, 2011

Spring Fling Day 7!

So... aren't you totally loving Spring Fling?  Just wait until you see today's giveaways!


Gift Basket with 12 handmade items plus vintage earrings and lace




Pretty Handmade Purse


So pretty!  I'm pretty sure I need them both!

 

Friday, March 25, 2011

A Whole Bunch Of Swim Suits!!



The day before we left to go on vacation for Spring Break last week I decided to make swim shorts for my boys to wear.  


"You're doing this again" my husband says.

"What do you mean again?  I've never made the boys swim shorts before"


Well the hubs may have been less than excited about my new last minute project but the kids were super excited.

I let them pick out their own fabric... well kind of... I let them point until I said okay!

But on our vacation I wasn't able to get a single picture of the kids in their new swim shorts because, well, I was in the pool!

So yesterday I got them all out in the backyard for some sprinkler action.







Yes I made Olivia another swim suit.

I really like those little rash guard shirts but they're super expensive!  So I made her a bikini with boy shorts and a matching rash guard shirt.  It turned out so stinkin' cute!
Merman shorts... it has scales!
Ikea little house fabric
Peace sign fabric





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