Movies

We just finished Lars and The Real Girl. It was really cute, funny and sweet. Jon and I know a guy who we call Weirdo instead of his actual name (not to his face of course. And we don't even talk to this person anymore..because he's weird!) and he blinks like Ryan Gosling's character so it made it even more real to me. He did a really good job playing a sweet loner/weird guy. We watched Eagle Vs. Shark a couple of months ago and LOVED it! It's like Napoleon Dynamite but the Australian version. I highly recommend both!

Letters, Embroidery and Emily

I embroidered this onesie last night using a pattern from the book, Sublime Stitching. We carry it at the store but needed a sample to show people what you can do with it. I used iron-on interfacing on the back of the design to stabilize it and it worked great. The interfacing is Fusi Knit (we don't have it at the store because we don't sell knit fabric).I also used variegated embroidery floss and I love it! That stuff is so cool. I'll have the onesie for sale because I have no use for it! I bought it from H&M before Ava was born but it was too small (it's 0-1 month).
The green "E" was done last year when we first sold this velvet paper and we got it in again plus some other colors so I had to do an "A". It's really easy. Maybe I should offer a class... or Mary could since it's a "dirty" project. Here's Emily trying to get away from Jon after he told her he was going to change her diaper. I'm pretty sure this is the first time she has attempted to climb to this level on the cat tree. She knows she's not supposed to but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures! I mean, having your diaper changed is the end of the world, right?

Holy Cow!

Oh my God this cow is cute! He's called "Count Mad Cow" from Melly & Me. They imagine him having a lisp and that makes me think of my kitty Alfalfa (the one my sister has and is actually hers now). My sister and I always imagine him talking with a lisp! It's probably only silly to us though. We have made up conversations that he's had with us or with his sister Darla and he talks with a cute gay lisp. In fact we call him The Mithter (that's how you'd say mister if you had a lisp). This made me laugh out loud when I saw it on their website.

I want I want I want!

I ordered this bag pattern the other day. It's from Melly & Me and if I like it and Corinnea likes it, we'll carry it in the store. They have many other cool patterns to choose from. I can't wait to get it in!
I've been meaning to blog about this but kept forgetting: This is a shirt I got for me, Kelly and Corinnea! How appropriate is this?? No, that's not me wearing it. On me it shows every lump and baby bump but someday I'll be able to wear it bump free! It's not even that cute but it's just so cool!
These are shoes I want very badly for Emily! They are Morgan & Milo brand shoes. They scream Emily! Or they scream me? Anyway, I've only been able to find them starting in a size 9.5 and Emily wears a 7.5 in their shoes right now. I might get them for the future...
And these little cuties are from Trumpette. She must have these....the white ones I think..

Emily and Ava are sick. Ava had her first fever last night of 100.8 but now it's at 99.8. According to everything I read and my super knowledgeable BFF Jennifer B., if your baby is 3 months or younger her temp can't be more than 100.4. Ava is 3 months and one week! What to do? So I just watched it and gave her the tiniest bit of Tylenol. It went down a little and she slept 8 hours straight then another 3. She was smiling this morning (but she was smiling last night too-she didn't seem sick) and has been eating so she seems OK. I forgot to mention I think she has Croup. She barked like a seal last night a couple of times and once so far this morning. Emily never had that so it's very scary to me! Although I did read that babies don't usually die from it...but my books did say that if she turns blue or wheezes to take her to the Dr. So if those things are possible, then it makes me think a baby can die from it! But what do I know? Emily has had a runny nose and has looked like crap all week. I always know when shes sick because it shows in her eyes. They both seem fine though aside from Emily's runny nose (not whiny or lifeless and their both eating) so is it cruel to take them outside and walk to the grocery store? They both just have to sit in the stroller so it's no stress on them and It's not cold out... These things always perplex me...what's the right thing to do?

2 more

I am in love with this line of fabrics (the lighter colored one)! We should be getting in most of the line any day now and I hope to make a duvet cover out of one of them. I think I'll also make a dress or top for Emily..Isn't she adorable?? I photo-shopped her face, is that bad?* Regardless of what anyone says, I'm still going to do it! She had very flaky skin around her eyes and some milk in the corner of her mouth. I know some people don't think it's right to "clean up" a baby's picture but I want to show a cute baby not one that makes you cringe! You know? I want your eyes to be drawn to her sweet face not the booger in her nose! I did it with Emily's photos and I'll keep doing it with Ava.

* I don't do it with every single photo, just ones that are bad:)

Sneaky Peeky

Pajamas for Emily in the works.

More of these..

3 new ones!

Mushrooms from Corinnea and Fest pics

Corinnea has made me two more mushrooms! I love them. I'm on my way to a mushroom filled Christmas tree for next year:) The mushroom pattern is offered free somewhere on Juliette's blog but I can't find it now! But if you look today on her blog, you'll see one of my bibs I sent her. She loves mushroom, Tim Burton and polka dots. We're meant to be friends:)

Here's a collage of photos from the Fest in Bad Canstatt. It was super crowded, hot and not very much fun. I mean, it was SO CROWDED we could barely move and Jon was the only one wearing shorts and flip-flops! I'm not exaggerating, he was the only one. Germans are weird like that (I mean that in a good way..sort of). Most people were over dressed (very high heels/boots, lots of make up, and club clothes) or in poofy jackets! It was 71 degrees out and a lot of people had on parkas! Oh and we saw lots of leather pants too. Heat and leather don't mix (think of Ross on Friends and the baby powder/leather pants incident). The pics of Ava aren't from the Fest but before we went. She slept the whole time we were there so I have no good photos of her at her 1st fest.

Random

Here's a bib I made to keep from mushroom fabric (for some reason you can't super size the image). I think I'll make a matching diaper/wipe holder and changing pad. The bib is fabric I have that I covered in iron-on vinyl. This stuff is of inferior quality when you see it next to the other fabrics that already have the vinyl on them. The apron is a special order for an adult! My 1st adult vinyl apron. I trimmed it in bias tape rather than just fold the edges over like I usually do. I think I like this better. the only problem is it makes the cost of the apron higher because it uses almost a whole package of bias tape.
The video is of Emily singing. I'm sitting on the rocking chair in my room with Ava and Emily on my lap.

Labels

******I forgot to add where I get the labels from:

heirloomlabels.com They take about a month to arrive. I've been using them forever and really like the quality and the choice of motifs. The happy Darla labels are from fancyweaver.com. This was the 1st time using them and it went very well! If anyone needs help ordering labels just let me know:) Here's a scan of all my labels:

My new labels!

When we were about to move here we had 4 kitties: Pig Blossom (Piggy), Mau Mau, Darla and Alfalfa (who are brother and sister) but we didn't know how it would be traveling with 4 cats to Germany and if we were allowed to have 4 in an apartment, etc. My sister's cat had passed away earlier that year and she was very shaken up about it. She had always loved Darla & Alfie (especially Alfie) so Jon and i decided to ask them if they would watch the brother and sister while we were gone for 3 years. Long story short, they said yes, we drove them from San Diego to Sacramento and they've been in love with them and claimed them as theirs since. Unfortunately Darla passed away last year...

I used to have an email address when we lived in San Diego that was happydarla@.... so I thought it would be cool to have labels for my bags and other non-baby stuff that honors my little Dim-sum Darla.

Ava is 3 months and Choco-hoto-pots

Ava turns 3 months! Doesn't she look like an old man in the middle photo? She's so chunky that the pants were cutting into her waist. I pulled them up so she could breath! She is going to be nothing like Emily when it comes to size. She is already wearing some 6 month stuff. Emily was always and still is, at or behind her clothing size (does that make sense?).

Choco-hoto-pots are for serious chocolate lovers and not to be wasted on wannabe choco lovers (Jon!)! These are very rich and gooey and so delicious! You have to eat them warm with a small spoon and a glass of milk. They are gooey on the inside, crusty on the top and I ONLY make them with peanut butter chips never white chocolate chips as the recipe originally called for (I added the peanut butter chips to the recipe card) . I make them so much I don't even need to look at the recipe anymore! They make 4 and I usually end up eating 3 of them over 3 nights. But I have eaten 2 in one night. Jon will say he wants one but he ends up not finishing it saying it was too rich or not what he wanted after all. So he is not allowed to have them anymore (or for a while at least). That leaves all 4 for me.....*I just realized my recipe that I typed up is different than the one from the website. I have written down 1 cup chocolate chips and the website shows 3/4 cups. Also, I like to add the chocolate/butter mixture right away to the flour mixture--I don't wait for it too cool down.

Robot

I finally finished the Robot! Although Jon doesn't think it looks like a robot and when I was stuffing it at the store, some customers didn't think it looked like a robot either. Huh?

Now I need to make the Space Boy...

Another new FABULOUS hat!

Corinnea has done it again! I came in to work today, saw this and had to get it. The colors go perfectly with Emily's eyes and I'm pretty sure they will go with Ava's once they become the final color they're supposed to be (blue, green or hazel but not brown like Emily's!). Note to Corinnea: stop making cute hats because I can't control myself and will buy every one you put up for sale! Unless you use colors I don't like...like that 80's coral color yarn we have:)

etsy favorites

Here's a couple of my favorite sellers on etsy:

The letter plaque is from here (now I need an A for Ava!) and the framed art is from here (frames are from Pottery Barn Kids but not available anymore)

the print below is from here.

I think I'm going to have to make Emily a t-shirt with this print on it.

The next print is from here.

I think this guys prints would be perfect for a boys room but I'd put them in Emily's room too.

This calendar is from here.

Tile Art

I made these using PrintStix canvas and art from the Black Apple. I know the grout looks gross but what's a girl to do?

Stamps

Aren't these cute?? I had them made from two different photos. I got them from craft pudding on etsy. I don't actually have them in my hand but she sent an email with this photo saying they are in the mail. I can't wait to get them!

oops!

I spoke to soon. I had a feeling I would jinx it by saying out loud that Ava slept through the night. Last night she slept for 5 hours then another 6. I know that's still good but from 9 hours back to 5?? I was just saying to Jon yesterday how happy I was because very soon I could start walking around the post again and maybe loose some weight or tone up. I just can't do it after sleeping crappy the night before. So if Ava sleeps through the night on a regular basis, I will have restful nights and therefore be able to exercise again! I know I can exercise after sleeping bad, it's just hard so I won't even say more about that. With Emily I didn't even start walking again till she was about 6 months! I want to start now! It will happen! She will go back to sleeping through the night! She has to for my sanity:)

This Just In: baby sleeps through night!

Not once but two nights in a row! This is a HUGE deal in our house. Emily did not sleep through the night until she was 2! I'm not exaggerating. She would sleep through the night here and there (maybe once a week) but other wise it was up at 2 almost every night. So Ava sleeping through the night at 2.5 months is just the most exciting thing ever! I'm confidant it's going to be an ongoing thing since she slept 3 nights in a row for 6 hours and then one night at 8 hours then last night it was 9 hours! That's 9 hours straight-no waking up! And all these nights were in a row, building up to the 9 hours, and not sporadic. I'm so happy I could cry or dance a jig..

The last picture of Emily reminded me that I found her other hat!! It was in the basement in a bag with other items from the car. Jon had cleaned out the car of baby gear and other car stuff so he could take the Cardeli's family to the airport. The other day I went to get that bag and found the hat in it! But I have to say, I really like the one Corinnea made better. It's not faded and it's softer. And I'm not just saying that because Corinnea might read this!

misc. stuff.

The other day I raised the mattress in Emily's crib for Ava. No more crib for Emily! Now I need to get her out of my bed....although I secretly love that she sleeps with me:)
I brought home the VW pajamas I had for sale in the store. They fit Emily perfectly!
A common scene in my house..

Pictures from Heidi's Mac Book.

A present for Ava

Dee Bisbee* sent this b-e-a-utiful rag quilt for Ava yesterday! I love when people make stuff for me or my family because I know how much time goes in to making whatever it is.

Thank you Dee, it's adorable:)

*Dee worked at the Goose (when it was the Goose)

Thank you Corinnea!

Look what Corinnea made Emily!! A new hat and I actually think it's better than the one she lost. It's softer and the colors are better. I think I like the stitch better too. I love it! Thank you so much Corinnea! You making this hat means so much to me:)