How. Stinkin'. Cute.

So, I just got my sewing machine out a while back and made the simplest baby blanket ever for a friend. That got me in the mood to actually use the sewing machine a bit more. So, last week I made curtains.

This week, I prowled the world of internet tutorials and found one for this-
The cutest little dress ever.


And it was easy enough for me to make.

I found it here. She does a fabulous job of showing you how to make this dress with easy, step-by-step instructions (with pictures!).

I couldn't wait to try it on my girl.

She was too busy with Granny's iPhone, and didn't want to be bothered for a photo shoot.

I certainly hope this girl likes dresses; I see many more in her future!

"What? My mommy made this?! I don't believe it!"

Now I'm off to knit a shrug to go with this dress....

Crafty Saturday

We've lived in our house for over 3 years, and until today, didn't have any window treatments in our kitchen.
So today I decided to change that.
While Ava slept, I measured, cut, pinned, and sewed three valances for our breakfast nook.
Here's a before shot-

and here's an after shot.

Not too bad for a little over two hours worth of work. And that included hanging the rods!

So, since I was on a crafting roll here today, I decided to embellish one of Ava's old onsies for practice.

I obviously don't know how to use my sewing machine very well.

I somehow managed to slice my finger open. Not sure how, as the needle is the only moving part, and I know a slice this size didn't come from the needle. Thank goodness I still had some Steristrips squirreled away.

We *love* cupcakes.

Mmmm, cake.
Even better in individual servings.
I made cupcakes while Ava was napping, and I planned for us to decorate them together once she woke up.
So, I set out little saucers with different sprinkles, and I pre-frosted a few. Then we decorated our cupcakes.

Did I say cupcakes? Because I meant cupCAKE. She just couldn't wait to eat her cupcake. Her eyes got huge the minute I set it in front of her.

She had to take a bite.

And then she looked at the sprinkles again....

...and decided to add a few more.

I've gotta say, this was not a clean project by any means. Do you have any idea how far non-pareils roll when you try to sweep them up?!

It was fun though. And really cute to watch.

Whoa.

It's been so long.

I attribute that to the fact that I work, am a half-assed housewife, and I try to enjoy every minute with my baby, because she's growing up so very fast. Ava is 8 months old now. She loves to crawl, dislikes being held unless you're walking with her, and she's learning to clap.

She loves squash but hates green beans, wants to play with this computer although she has her own, and still does not have a single tooth in her head.

Ava's a ham. Talk to her and she'll smile at you, just like she does every little old lady that passes her. Today at the grocery, a man joked, "what isle did you get that baby from?"

I just smiled.

What I wanted to say is that this Baby model is unavailable to the general public.

That we were on a waiting list for several years for our Baby.

That we are 100% satisfied with her, and couldn't have asked for a better one.

lots to catch up on...

First, Ava had her first Halloween. We spent the weekend at her great-grandparent's house. She was a flower.
For those of you who haven't seen her in a while, she's getting SOOOO big! She's outgrowing clothes at an astonishing rate! The pediatrician says she's in the 75th percentile for her height and weight.

Ava's starting to like her tummy time a bit better now, probably because she has enough strength to hold herself up and play with her toys at the same time.

Speaking of strength, she's strong enough to hold herself in a sitting position for a few seconds at a time, but her balance is not quite there. We bought her this Bumbo chair a few weeks ago, and she's constantly trying to escape. She does the "George Jefferson"- she sticks her arm out behind her. I just hope she outgrows that before she starts walking....

We bought Ava a jumperoo. At first, she didn't know what to do. There are lots of toys on it, and it plays music and lights up if she jumps. She's now gotten the hang of it, and is actually jumping up and down in it.

She'll even try to jump on you if you stand her up on your belly or lap.

This picture is out of order, but it's been getting cold outside, so I knit her a new hat. I wish you could see how tall it is; It makes her look like a little elf.

Ava's first Thanksgiving came and went without her getting a single bite of all the good food we had (soon, baby.) But, she did get to wear her special bib Grama Mary Jane sent her-

and she spit up on it immediately.

It's hard to tell the gender of babies. They haven't developed those characteristics we humans associate with either sex. I totally understand that. But if one more person says to me
"Is it a him?"
I think I'll scream.
First off, there's something really wrong with that question. I'm no English major, but I do believe that the grammatically correct way to pose this question would be
"Is it a boy?"
Still, I have issues with that. First, "It" is a baby, so recognize that, all you strangers who approach me!!
Second, I'd understand their question a bit better if Ava was ambiguously dressed, like so:
but she's usually dressed in clothes that are definitely female. But, the second time I got that question (complete with the poor grammar), Ava was wearing a pink outfit. I guess the questioner noticed the confused look on my face as I looked down at Ava in her pink outfit, because she said to me "I get so confused on the pink and blue thing, I forget who wears what."
OK, so boys can wear pink, and girls can wear blue. But how many boys do you know that would wear this--

Better not question me now, people. Boys do not wear head bows.

Wonderful Saturday

This morning, we slept in. I had a long chat with my Grama, and Ava spent some time on her play mat, which has a mirror that she loves to look at. She had some tummy time, which is increasing in length little by little, but she doesn't seem to like it any more than she did the first time we tried it.

I spent a few relaxing hours this afternoon at the Knit Nook. Everyone there was so disappointed that I didn't bring Ava, but I wanted to actually get some knitting done, so she spent some time with her daddy at home. I started a pumkin hat for Ava, because no baby should go through a fall season without a pumpkin hat!

I took Ava for a walk this evening. It was a perfect fall evening; the air had just a little bite to it. It's been a while since I've taken her out in the moby wrap, and she looooved it! She was wide awake the entire walk, just looking around.
Here's a closeup of Ava in her cute little piggy hat Cindy made for her-

After our walk, Ava had a bath,

and then we read 'If I ran the circus.'

It's amazing how such little things add up to such a wonderful day.