SHE IS HERE!

Nine days late but she is finally here! Charlotte Laurel born Tuesday, January 28th at 8:30pm. 9lbs 2oz and 21 1/2" long. Birth story soon to follow!

Ruffled Crib Skirt

I posted a little while ago about my long to-do list for baby girl before she arrives in January. I decided to get started this week with her bed skirt. Thankfully this project did not take as much time as I first thought it would.

So here you have it... a girly, ruffly, vintage inspired crib skirt!

I have been searching Pinterest for different ideas and inspiration. Here are a few things that inspired me to make this crib skirt...

I loved the ruffles on this ombre crib skirt! You can actually find a full tutorial on how to make your own on EmmmyLizzzy!

Here is another layered crib skirt from On To Baby. I love how they use so many different prints that aren't really "matchy" but they "go" great together!

I also looooove the look of this layered crib skirt! Head over to Makely Home to find her tutorial on how to make one out of curtians and save money on buying lots of fabric!

To make Charlotte's crib skirt, I started with an already made, thrifted, crib skit. The skirt was the yellow gingham fabric edged with the lace that you see on the bottom layer. The crib skirt was really wide so I simply adjusted the dimensions and added the top layers to part of the base of the crib skirt. I already had the lace on hand, sitting in my fabric stash begging to be used, and I found the other two prints of fabric at Hancock's for 50% off. Score! In total this crib skirt cost me less than $10! I am so beyond in love with it! I can't wait to finish the rest of her bedding and see it all come together!

Jack's St. Patty's Day Shirt

I have been loving making clothes for my little man! Well St. Patrick's Day rolled around and I decided to whip up this cute little shirt for my little cutie so he could avoid being pinched.

However, he has those adorable chubby little cheeks that you just want to squeeze any way!

I picked out this fabric for him because, I hate to make something that he is only going to wear one time...seams like a waste of my time. Plus, this fabric was just too cute (and on sale!) to pass up in the store :-) ...those are monster trucks on his shirt...in case you were wondering.

I made this fun shirt using MADE's 90 min T-Shirt tutorial, yet again. You can see the others I made for him here.

These shirts are so easy to make...that is all except for the part where I have to attach the sleeves. I'm not sure if I just don't have the pattern right or what...but I have resorted to stitching the sleeves on with a running stitch first. This allows for me to take it apart with my seam ripper much easier!

Of course, I then get the sleeves even and sewed on just the way I want...and I realize that I have sewed them on inside out...when it is 1 a.m. all you can do at that point is take a deep breath grab that seam ripper and get back to work. Otherwise I might be tempted scream...and that would leave me with one crying baby and one unhappy hubby...and I am pretty sure the neighbors wouldn't appreciate it much either!

One thing sewing has definitely taught me...PATIENCE!

Another new challenge for me was working with ribbing for the very first time. That stuff is NOT easy to work with! I am sure there is some trick to working with it...but I guess for now I will just have to keep practicing. Good thing my motto is "Completion not Perfection"!!

Hopefully, in this case practice will make perfect, because I still love to make these shirts...until then I will keep practicing my patience as well :-)

So here he is once again in his new adorable shirt...



...being his adorable self...

Don't you just want to pinch those chubby cheeks!!!!

It Is Never Too Early To Start Learning...

My son Jack is only eight months old...actually I say only but I can't believe he is already eight months old!!!!! Time is going by so fast! He is already crawling, pulling up on the furniture, attempting to "cruise" around while holding on to the furniture, has his first tooth, and can say Mama, Dada, and Baba!

I love each and every stage! Every milestone he accomplishes is so precious. One of the best things is to watch Jack accomplish something new...and to see the look of pride on his face! It is so cute that he just knows he did something great.

It also makes me and my husband so proud when we are the ones who teach him how to do something new. Like how to put his ball in the top of the castle so that it rolls down and comes out the bottom. It only took him one or two times of watching us do it to steal the ball out of our hands and try it for himself :-)

I am very much a pro-homeschooling person...I'm sure this has a lot to do with the fact that I was homeschooled through out most of my jr. high and high school years. Now, don't get me wrong, I think the public school system can be good, even great. I am actually almost done with my elementary education degree so that someday I can be a public school teacher. However, for my own children I am leaning toward homeschooling them. This is an issue my husband and I are still praying about.

With that in mind I want to start working with Jack to prepare him for preschool, kindergarten, and beyond. (Of course I would do this regardless if he would be homeschooled or attend public school) Now with Jack only being eight months old it is very hard to find any kind of book or curriculum that gives lessons that you can do with a baby or even a very young toddler. Most of the books out there would be way beyond his ability to perform or even comprehend.

Tonight I am extremely excited to say that I have finally found a book that I can use to start teaching Jack NOW :-)

The book is Slow And Steady GET ME READY by June R. Oberlander. This book is WONDERFUL! It has 260 weekly lessons that are for birth-5 years old!
I had heard of this book mentioned on another mommy's blog, and had seen it when I was working at Mardel. So after hubby and I sold a ton of our movies this past weekend I finally decided to go buy it.

And I am so so so glad I did!! I cannot wait to start doing each of the activities with Jack starting first thing tomorrow.
Whether you are planning to homeschool, or send your child to private or public school it is so important that we help our children discover a love for learning. To help them discover what their strong points are, and to help them in their weakness. Plus, we as parents get the bonus of that wonderful feeling of pride and joy we get from teaching our children how to do something. Like I said before...I love that feeling!

So tonight I will leave you with this last image of total cuteness!!!