Sewing for Cheesy

About a month ago, I got out the baby clothes to see what treasures were hidden in that big Rubbermaid box labeled 'Newborn'.  Very few treasures, I discovered.  I found a few cute outfits I remembered, but I also found a lot of old, scratchy, faded, stained sleepers.  These things were coming up on being 14 years old!  Time to get rid of them. 
I found a soft fleece baby bag that we were given when Enoch was born.  It was so warm and handy and I remember using it a lot.  Greg is the one who gets up with baby and changes him before I feed him at night and Greg loves the sleep bags, so I decided to pick up some more.  Umm - those things are around $25!  For jammies!  I can totally make those myself.
So I did.  I used the sleep bag we had for a pattern and went to work.  I decided that I wouldn't buy any fabric and only use what I already had (they are just jammies and my sewing room is bursting).  It's amazing how much fleece I collected when I really don't sew with it that much - some on sale here, on clearance there and I had stocked up on fleece.  The only things I had to buy were zippers and I did splurge and get some cute little robot appliques.
They went together quickly and I am very happy with how they turned out (and the fact that I used up a lot of fleece).  I hope they fit!

 

After I was done cutting and sewing fleece, I had a bag of scraps.  You know me, I can't throw away fabric.  I cut the scraps into squares and added some scraps of minky I had saved from other projects.  I happened upon some great robot fleece in the clearance bin, and I had a fun, inexpensive quilt.  I think we will use it as an outdoor quilt for this summer.  If this baby is anything like my others, he will love being outside.

Deflated

I'm feeling a bit deflated today.  Mentally, I'm fine (maybe a bit frazzled).  Physically, I'm full of holes.
A few days ago I found out I didn't pass my glucose test by two points.  Geesh.  This hasn't happened to me before, so I was a bit surprised.  I scheduled my four-hour glucose test for today.  I went in knowing that it would be an ordeal, so I was prepared.
I had a blood draw at 8:30 am, drank my icky drink (wow! that stuff is like corn syrup), had a blood draw at 9:40 am, had a blood draw at 10:30 am and my last one at 11:30am.
If this wasn't bad enough, I had to go in fasting.  My veins are pathetically awful; but fasting, they are non-existent.  The poor nurse who had to draw my blood - as bad as I was feeling, I felt really bad for her too.
I was poked 18 times.  All in my hands.
I was feeling quite shaky by hour two (I was still fasting).  I didn't dare drive home, so Gavin turned on a movie and watched the kids.  After my third draw, the nurse made me lay down on a couch because they were worried I was going to pass out.  I felt like such a nuisance, but I knew I really did need to take it easy.
I was so thankful that my last draw went well. Afterward, I sat for a bit, drank some water and, extremely cautiously, drove home.
My hands are quite bruised, swollen and sore (it hurts to type!).  I know, I'm whiny and pathetic.  For some reason though, I want to remember this.  Can't think of a reason right now, but I'm sure I'll come up with something.
Update:  Just got my results (that was fast).  Everything is okay.  But after two birthdays, Valentines Day and a failed glucose test, I'm ready to desugarify our home.

Kate's Birthday

Kate has been so excited to turn four.  I think she is realizing that some kids in her preschool class are already four.  She was done being three.  She wanted to be four.
We started her birthday morning by measuring her.  She is growing, but at a much slower pace than her brothers.  She is trying so hard to grow.  She wants to move out of her five point harness on her car seat and she needs to gain quite a bit of weight to do that.  She is eating all her food at meals and is giving it her best.  Unfortunately for Kate, she will probably be in that car seat for at least another six months.  But, she is proud of how much she has grown.  She asks me every day to measure her so she can see how much she has grown in the last two hours.

Kate has been waiting patiently for her birthday, so she could be sung to in Primary and get her pink "Choose the Right" wristband.  I sneaked into the Primary room to watch.  You know Kate, she hates having a lot of people pay attention to her, so she was very somber, with no smiles.  But I did see a small smile when she sat down next to her teacher.  She loves her wristband and wears it everywhere.  Coal also likes it, so it has became a game to her to see when she can get it away from Kate.
After church, we relaxed and played with some new toys.
We invited Grandma and Grandpa Fowler over for dinner.  Kate picked her favorite, scabetti (spaghetti), with homemade baguettes, salad and grapes.  It was fun to have Grandma and Grandpa over to help celebrate Kate's birthday.  She opened some Fun Foam from her grandparents.  She loves it!  I highly recommend it as a great alternative to Play-Doh.  She has had so much fun playing with it (and she has been so sweet to share with her brothers).

Kate was finally able to open her big present from Mom and Dad.  She waited and waited through birthday party after birthday party for her actual birthday to arrive and get to open her present.   This big box has been sitting in the basement since November.  It was suppose to be a Christmas present, but her broken arm derailed that plan.  So, there it sat.  The boys (especially Gavin) were dying to see what was in there.
Kate was truly surprised.  At first, I don't think she really understood it was for her.  Then when Greg told her, "It's all yours!", she broke out in a big smile.

She loves it!!  It made all the work of finding it worth it.  Greg had the job of tracking it down on KSL, calling a bunch of people, figuring out the shipping from Wyoming and putting it up.  Kate's very own gym bar!

Happy Birthday Kate!  We are crazy about you!  We love you!

Kate Favorites:
food:  spaghetti, pizza, strawberries
dessert:  anything chocolate (she really is a purely complete chocoholic)
TV shows:  Super Why, Sid the Science Kid
movies:  Dolphin Tale, Despicable Me
things to do:  swimming, camping, being with Dad, going to preschool and gym class, helping Mom cook, playing with Enoch, training Coal

A Dolphin Party

Ever since going to Sea World last June, Kate has been obsessed with dolphins.  She loves them.  She constantly has her dolphin, Pacific, with her. 

One of her favorite toys is her Playmobil dolphin set.

 

 Her favorite movie is Dolphin Tale.  She is quite disappointed that they are no dolphins at Lake Powell and tells me constantly that for her next trip she wants to swim with the dolphins, in a pink wet suit, at Sea World.  We might just have to make that happen.  She is pretty darn convinced that she is going to be a dolphin trainer when she grows up.

Enoch has been talking about his Star Wars birthday party for months, so Kate felt it necessary to decide on her party.  She immediately gravitated toward dolphins.  I thought it was a great idea (although I wasn't sure what that involved).  When I mentioned swimming like dolphins, she was so excited.  She has been reminding me for months that we get to go swimming like dolphins for her birthday, just so I wouldn't forget!
We celebrated Kate's birthday today (since her actual birthday is tomorrow, on Sunday).  We invited her Randall cousins over for cake, ice cream and presents and then SWIMMING!  Kate requested a dolphin cake.  My skills aren't in the cake decorating arena, but I do know some people who make amazing cakes.  Aunt Michelle and Uncle Dave made an amazing dolphin cake for Kate.  She was so excited!  It really did look great.

 We picked up some helium balloons for the kids.  We couldn't find any dolphin balloons, so we went with a fish.  Kate picked out the colors.  She loved her fish and was constantly showing me her fish lips (she wouldn't let me take a picture of her fish lips).

Kate also received some fun presents.  From the Kellys, she got a black kitty umbrella.  Fords gave her some books on dolphins, Grandma and Grandpa Randall gave her an Imaginexts set and Mom and Dad gave her an early present of the movie, Flipper, and a dolphin outfit (that Mom made because she couldn't find any shirts with dolphins on them!).  Kate and I were looking at dolphins online the other day and we saw a real pink dolphin!  Kate went crazy, jumping and dancing around (it was quite funny).   Albino dolphins are pink, and while very rare, they do exist.

 Off to swimming!  Everyone had such a fun time in the water.  I sat on the side (I've outgrown my suit), took pictures and had such a good time watching everyone have so much fun.

 After swimming, the Kellys and our family stopped and picked up sandwiches at Subway and took them home to eat.
We had such a fun time.  Thanks, Kate, for letting us be dolphins.  Happy Birthday!