Month: August 2008

Tote Bag Patterns and Tutorials

Published by dee on August 19, 2008

This is the very first tote bag I made. I think I was more impressed than anybody that it actually came out as well as it did. I intended for it to be a small diaper bag/purse that I could carry for a quick outing or trip to the store. It has definitely been used for that, as well as many other things in the months since I made it.

Today there was a comment on my Flickr account asking me if I had a pattern for the bag. I do have a pattern. Unfortunately, I downloaded it and didn’t keep track of the website that it came from so I can’t link to it. I searched and searched today and still can’t manage to find it (if anyone recognizes the pattern and has a link please share!), but I did find some other great patterns and tutorials that I wanted to share.

Here are some that I’m hoping to try out soon:

Craftster’s reversible tote bag tutorial
Tiny Happy’s shoulder bag tutorial
Sugareggplant’s Tote Bags 101 tutorial
Colorfool’s Greatest Bag Tutorial Ever
Mama’s Pocketbook “Pink October” Basic Tote
Lazy Girl’s 1 Yard, 1 Hour Free Tote Bag pattern

If those are too easy for you and you are feeling a bit adventurous, you might also want to try experimenting with some adjustable straps like the ones in You SEW Girl’s Adjustable Strap tutorial.

Are there any other great patterns or tutorials out there that I missed? Have you tried any of these that I listed? Leave a comment and let me know!

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Five Months

Published by dee on August 18, 2008

Dear Evie,

Another month has past (entirely too quickly) and you are now five months old. I’m going to try to keep this letter short because it is late and I’m sure you will be waking soon to nurse (again).

I can’t believe how much change can happen in only a few short weeks. When I wrote the last update you were just figuring out how to grab at things and roll over. Now you are rolling all over the place and playing with your toys like an old pro. You have even been trying to work on those beginning crawling stages. You can get your knees up under you and push forward, but you haven’t yet figured out how to get your arms up at the same time. I’m guessing it won’t be long though.

You are getting so much stronger. You want so badly to sit up but you just don’t quite have the back strength to hold yourself up yet. You can sit by yourself for a few seconds, but you lean over far enough that you can chew on your toes. Of course, you may be doing that on purpose because you really seem to like your toes these days.

A few days ago I gave you your first taste of squash (the baby food variety). You weren’t at all impressed with that and screamed at me until I gave you some of your beloved rice cereal/apple juice mixture. I eventually got you to eat a few more bites of squash. The next day you didn’t mind the squash so much. Since then you have also tried sweet potatoes and applesauce and loved them both.

A little over a week ago, we took you on your first trip to Dallas, Texas. You got to meet most of your extended family on Daddy’s side, including your great-grandparents Mama Goodie and Papop Albert. You also got to meet Vivian and Clyde, some friends that are very special to Mommy. I don’t think you got put down more than once or twice the entire time we were there. Everyone wanted to hold you and they were so impressed by how happy you were. The last couple of days in Dallas you did start getting pretty fussy though. At first I just thought it was the change in routine, but then I realized you were teething. A couple days after we got back in town your first tooth finally popped through your gums. The second one seems to be well on its way too.

You are getting more talkative every day. You love to make noise. I love to listen to you gurgle and coo when you are play. You have also started letting out little squeals now and then and I can already imagine you as a teenager squealing for your favorite boy band. This morning you woke up really early and decided that mom and dad needed to wake up as well. You were lying on the bed between us and kept reaching out and hitting us on our faces while babbling on. When I finally woke up enough to pay attention to you, you smiled at me and said something that sounded like, “Ma!” Mama would have been better, but I guess I’ll take what I can get.

Of all of the amazing things you have started doing this month, the very best part of it all has been your laugh. I’ve never heard a better sound in my life. The really great part is that nobody can get you laughing like your big brother. He loves to talk to you in the car on the way home from day care and always gets you laughing. Hearing my two kids giggling together in the back seat is quite possibly the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard. I can only hope that you will continue laughing together for the rest of your lives.

Love always,
Mama

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Simple Art Tote

Published by dee on August 14, 2008

I’m still catching up from our trip to Dallas last weekend and haven’t had time to even thing about being crafty this week. I have some projects waiting for me as soon as I find some spare time, but until I can get to them I’ll continue sharing some great things from around the web.

I found this simple art tote bag over on Five Flowers. I’m always stuck when it comes to birthday gift ideas and this one is just perfect. When I saw it I had one of those, “Duh, why didn’t I think of that?” moments. My nieces and nephews can expect to receive one of these filled with art supplies when their birthdays come around again!

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Feels Like Home

Published by dee on August 13, 2008

We’ve been home for two days now and I’m still not sure what to say about our trip to Dallas. Dallas is where I was born and even though I spent very little of my life there, it is the closest thing to “home” that I’ve ever really known. We spent most of our time visiting with Hubby’s family and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. I am always amazed at how much I enjoy being around my in-laws. It was just perfect in every way. I’m going to make this mostly a photo post because I have so many I want to share.

Zachary played with his cousins so well. Every time they left the room he would look at me and ask, “Where did my cousins go?”

We spent a lot of time in the pool. Zach had a very scary few seconds the first day we were there when he stepped down and couldn’t touch the bottom. After I rescued him and my heart attack ended, I got Daddy to make an emergency trip back to the house for the swim ring we forgot. All was well after that.

Evie started teething (I can feel the edge of the tooth but it hasn’t popped through yet) and got a little fussy toward the end of the trip, but she still amazed everyone with how calm of a baby she is. She really enjoyed all the attention though and hasn’t let me put her down much since we got home.

Zachary has been telling us lately that he wants to play the “frums” when he grows up. He found a couple of toy drum sticks while we were there and put on a show for everyone.

We got to enjoy visiting with Hubby’s grandpa. He’s not been feeling well and it is likely that this may be our last visit with him. Hopefully it won’t be, but if it is, we’ll at least have some very fond memories of this trip.

On Sunday, my mom and I took the kids out to visit with some very dear friends of ours. We call them our “adopted” grandparents. They have known me nearly as long as my parents have and will always hold a very special place in my heart. Even though we haven’t seen them much in recent years, I have so many good memories of staying with them out on their farm. I absolutely loved watching them hold and interact with my kids. Zachary acted like he had known them forever and Evie just lit up when they held her. It was a very special time that I will always remember.

Vivian and Clyde’s farm has not changed much since I was a kid. Everything has stayed pretty much where it always was. The house is worn, the animals are gone, and much of the grass in the yard has dried up, but it still feels like home.

Before we knew it, Monday morning arrived and it was time to head home. We were sad to say good-bye but took a few minutes out for a few last minute pictures with Papa.

Zach and Evie will miss their cousin Grant. I hate that we live so far away sometimes because they don’t get to spend nearly enough time together.

The trip home was LONG. We’ve discovered that driving at night is infinitely better than driving during the day with two kids. By the time we got home Zach was beyond cranky and poor little Evie had broken out with a nasty rash that I still can’t figure out. It’s either a heat rash, something she came into contact with, or possibly a result of the teething, but I really have no idea which one.

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Randomitis

Published by dee on August 7, 2008

What? You’ve never heard of randomitis? That’s what you get when you are so busy all week trying to get ready for an out of town trip that random thoughts are flying around your head like flies on a dead animal. Then you throw it all together in a blog post because you simply must get it out. Time to pull out the trusty bullets.

Last weekend we went over to my sister’s house to hang out because Zach had been begging me for two weeks to go to RyRy’s house. He wasn’t going to quit until he got his fix so we went over and hung out and let the boys have some play time. It was a pretty uneventful evening. Then, as we walked out the door to load the kids up in the car I heard a buzzing sound and then felt a smack to the face. A giant locust flew right into my face, hit my cheekbone and then just kept going. It hit hard enough that it was still sore the next morning.
I forgot how hard it is to pack for an out-of-town trip with a baby. We’ve done a couple of overnight stays, but packing for four entire days is much harder. I’m just hoping I have enough diapers. As long as we have milk (which fortunately comes with me) and diapers we’re ok. Anything else we can live without.
I realized this week just how much I rely on the hubby to get me through the evenings. He usually has dinner ready (or almost ready) when I get home with the kids in the evening. Then we split up doing the dishes, baths, etc. He worked long hours this week so he could take some time off which means that I was on my own for dinner and bath time. My kids are so used to eating as soon as we get home that they just didn’t understand why they had to wait for food. I tried to fix a decent meal Monday, then I just gave up. I picked up fast food Tuesday and microwaved some left overs last night. I didn’t get to eat at all until after both kids had been fed and then I had to rush through it so I could get baths and everything else done. Single parenting is definitely not for me.
I think my son killed my desktop computer last night. He really likes to push the bright blue button on the front, even though I’ve told him over and over again not to. Last night when I was busy with Evie he walked over and pushed the blue button. I heard the computer turn off and he admitted it when I questioned him (even after he had just been yelled at for ripping my wallpaper border in the kitchen). When I went to turn the computer back on it didn’t even so much as laugh at me. It was dead. Now I’m just praying that my hard drive is still okay. It should all be backed up but I haven’t checked my backup files lately to make sure that it is running correctly. Hubby and I both use our laptops most of the time, but we use the desktop as a file server so all the important info is on there, including all of my pictures for the last five or so years.
Even though I was stressed out by my kids this week, they still managed to remind me exactly why I wanted another one. On the drive home Tuesday night Zach was bored and started talking to Evie in the back seat. She must have smiled at him because he said, “Sister likes me.” Soon after that I heard the glorious noise that is baby giggles. Zach was talking to her and making faces and she was laughing up a storm. Before long there were full-on baby belly laughs coming from the back seat. Zach was loving it and I thought my heart was going to just explode from the love I felt at that moment.
Evie is getting much more demanding these days. She wants to sit up all the time. She loves her Bumbo and exersaucer. She grabs at absolutely everything. She can no longer sit in my lap while I eat because she grabs at my plate, my fork, my arm, and anything else within reach. She’s really having fun with her toys though. Oh, and she also reaches her arms out when she wants to be picked up which I love, but also hate. I feel so bad when she reaches out for me and I can’t pick her up right away.
My new craft site is doing well so far. Thanks to a couple of people Stumbling it, I’ve had a really high number of hits since the launch. I just hope I can keep up with it this time around.
I’m really looking forward to our unexpected trip to Dallas this weekend. Hubby’s dad called and asked if we could possibly come down for a visit if he met us in Dallas and things just happened to work out so we can. His dad is bringing hubby’s grandparents and nephew along and we’ll get to see Aunts and Uncles and Cousins as well. It should be a fun trip and a nice little getaway if we don’t go crazy on the 8+ hour drive with two kids in the car.

Ok, if you’ve read this far then I think you deserve to be rewarded with some cute pictures, no?

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Learning New Tricks

Published by dee on August 5, 2008

Evie has been working on a new trick. She would really like to sit up on her own but she can’t quite do it yet. I was trying to take some pictures of her this weekend in her pretty purple dress so I sat her in the corner of my sister’s couch so she could sit up with a little support. Apparently that wasn’t good enough for her. She wanted to sit ALL the way up and she kept trying over and over again. I got some very interesting pictures of her efforts, including the one above that cracks me up every time I look at it. I never did get the shot I wanted, but I did get a cute shot of her matching shoes!

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