The first time I saw...my daughter

Now that I have recovered (almost) from my trip to the UK, I will try to catch up on my Blog Dare posts!  I was with my sister when she had her baby. It reminded me of the first time I saw Miss M (my daughter, who's about to turn THREE!)! My sister's labor & delivery story was very similar to mine, which brought it all flooding back to me, not like I'll ever forget!

I remember being overdue. I remember going to church the Sunday after she was due and of course, in case it wasn't obvious, everyone asked where the baby was! I remember how I couldn't wait to meet her. I remember that I wasn't as terribly uncomfortable as most mommies-to-be, but I just couldn't stand the agony of not knowing WHEN she would arrive! That about drove me nuts, until...

January 18, 2009, around 4:00 p.m. I was on Facebook, chatting with my bestie, Michelle. She had recently moved a couple of hours away and it was killing us both! We were having a lovely chat, when...OUCH! What was that?! Chat, chat, chat! WHOA that HURT! Chat, chat, chat...uhh, I think we better keep track of how often this is happening...more chat, finally I had to go tell hubby it was time to get ready. I knew our little one would be here before long.

I spent some time in the tub to relax. I love the water and had read great things about laboring in the water. All through the night, I tapped on hubby's shoulder so he could document the start of my contractions. Great way to make sure neither one of us got any sleep! by 10:00 the morning of January 19, I was in so much pain I was throwing up. I had a pretty good feeling that things were going to get a lot worse, rather than better. I told hubby to get ready to take me to the hospital NOW.

Away we went. It turned out I wasn't quite "ready" for them to keep me, but since I was to be induced the next day anyway, they let me stay. Probably cuz I was such a cry baby. Contractions HURT, man!  I had been coached by my mental midwife to speak the word "epidural" every other word until they hooked me up. I did as instructed and got my epidural going lickety split. Once I knew I wasn't leaving that hospital w/out a baby, I relaxed a bit and could actually smile again!

Once they got the drugs going, I tried to rest between contractions as much as possible (yeah right). Fast forward a bit: Mom & Dad arrived. A little while later, my sister arrived too. They were just hanging out with me while I writhed in agony. Finally, it was time for the big show! I mean, really time! We went from "hopefully she'll be here before 10:00, I have an early morning appointment," (spoken by my OB) to mom telling the nurse, "I..I think I see her HEAD! (Miss M's, not mine!)" All of a sudden, the room was FULL of people. Doc was in the room next door, finishing up with another mommy and baby (the NERVE!). He arrived just in the nick of time to get me through the last few pushes.

They handed her to me...she was so warm and gooey and purpley...crying like WTF just happened!? I just held her and told her "It's OK, honey, we've both had a VERY big day!" Oddly enough, I think my sister, who is not the one with the front row seat to her nieces delivery, uttered pretty much the same thing to her son on January 5, 2012!

It was so surreal to finally hold her in my arms. I was in the deepest love imaginable and could not take my eyes off of her. That was the first time I saw...my daughter.

Miss M's Christmas Dress

I decided to make Miss M a Christmas dress similar to the one I made her for Thanksgiving. I didn't quite get it hemmed before we left for my mom & dad's, so Mom finished it up for me. She also added the "bling" to the front pocket. I think it makes it even cuter and will work great for Valentine's Day! Of course, it will be more of a blouse on her by then, she's growing so fast!

It's made of a red cordouroy with sparkles that my friend had in her "stash." I also made the shoes to match out of a pattern I found on Etsy. Of course they didn't stay on her feet, but it was fun making them anyway. It helped that I had low expecations of her keeping them on her feet!

You can kindda sortta see the shoes in this shot:


Her Grandma (my mom) made her this adorable Sunbonnet Kids quilt. She worked on it a long time. Each of the blocks had an embroidered Sunbonnet kid.

We made a Mai Tei Wrap!

Miss M is getting to be quite a handfull! She's a little over 20 pounds now. Due to this fact, I was needing to do something to save my back and neck! I wasn't sure what type of carrier would work well for her (we were given a Snugli and it didn't go well when she was itty bitty), so I didn't want to invest a bunch of money into something I didn't know if we'd like.

We had tried a Mai Tei on in a store one time and she did OK in it. I decided to research and see if I could find a pattern online. Low and behold, there are quite a few! I found some of the directions to be a little confusing for me, so I ended up using bits and pieces of two or three different patterns.

I will probably use my infomapping/instructional design skills to create my own pattern/directions someday! Not with the holidays looming, though!

Anyway, the same home ec major helped me sort it all out and guided me through the parts that were confusing me.

Here is the end result!




By the way: The fabric was basically free too! I had the black stretch denim on hand, and my friend had the black floral from the stash she inherited from her grandmother!

Thanksgiving Dress

I didn't even realize I'd bid on this pattern on eBay until I got a notice that I'd won! So, the week OF Thanksgiving I decided to make Miss M a Thanksgiving dress! On of my BFFs (also my MOH in my wedding) happened to have leftover fabric from the fabric we used to make my bridesmaids' skirts for my wedding! I LOVE the color and it's perfect for Fall.

One of the gals who helps us out and watches Miss M while we work has a degree in home ec and vast sewing experience. She cut out the fabric for me while Miss M slept, which made putting it together go even faster!

I didn't have the right color bias tape, so I improvised. I don't think it's very noticeable.

I was up pretty late the night before we left for hubby's Grandma's house on the cost (a 6+ hour drive) when I finished it. Miss M was sleeping, so I tiptoed into her room and took a couple dresses out of her closet to determine the length. As a result, I nearly left the dress on the kitchen table (a.k.a. my sewing table these days!)!!! Thankfully I noticed it at the very last minute!

Here are some pics!
In this first one, she's sitting in a rocking chair that her Great-Grandma Mary gave her. Mary was quite the crafter in her day. She used to sell these chairs with dolls she made. Due to its age and duration of its life in her garage, we needed to apply wood glue to all of the points where it comes together. She didn't stay in it long, just long enough to pose for this pic! I was so afraid it was going to collapse under her!