Take a look

at my little princess! We just got pictures taken for Carolena's birthday invites and they are precious! Click here to see them. They are under "client viewing", and then "C's Birthday".

Many more posts to come this week! Lots to talk about!

10 months

Well this was the best picture out of the bunch. I promise she was a smiling, happy, ball of sunshine before I set her in the crib for her picture. I guess she associates "crib" with "sleep" and she wants no part of that! And yes, she is in her bathing suit. We were on our way out the door to the pool when I realized it was our 10 month picture day. And if I don't do something right when I think of it, it is destined to end up in the bottom of the "forgotten thoughts" pile. Does anyone else get that? I guess they call it "mommy brain", but they should really warn you before you have kids. I wish someone would have told me "hey - you will get dumber with each kid you have. Your memory will get worse and worse and just try to have an intelligent conversation...impossible." Seriously.....but I digress...

Carolena - you are 10 months old today, but most people think you look like you are at least a year. I don't know what to think about that, because to me you are still my sweet little baby girl. I took you to the doctor on Friday and they told me you weighed 20 pounds! No wonder my back has been hurting! You are quite the little rover right now. You are standing on your own and can cruise between furniture. You are also crawling all over the place, and it is time for mommy to put the safety gates back up for sure. You are starting to want to talk and are trying to say "dog" and "ruff". When we were in Florida a couple of weeks ago you LOVED watching the birds and would try to "tweet tweet" with them. You couldn't get enough of the ocean and would sit in the water so that the waves would splash on your legs. Mothers Day Out starts up next week but I am very nervous about taking you because you have been such a mommy's girl (and grandmas girl) lately. I tried to put you in the childcare at church the past two weeks, but have been called out of church to pick you up because you wouldn't stop crying. Do I dare say you are spoiled? Well you are my little princess and I can't seem to help it if I spoil you! You are still the sweetest little girl who smiles all the time. But I think you have developed a mischievous side as well. You are quite the biter, and if you are not biting you are pulling my hair or pinching. But it's all in love, and you and your brothers have made me feel more love than I ever thought was possible!
Love you darlin. So so very much.

It's Official!

Well, sort of official at least. My clothing tags came in the mail on Friday and I am SUPER excited about them! Check it out, what do you think??




I dusted off my Adobe Illustrator skills (that have not been put to use since my "retirement" almost 5 years ago) and designed these babies myself. Simple, but cute, I think. I am wondering if I should have put a website or something on them, but since I don't have one set up yet, I guess that wouldn't work anyways. So I guess my "business" will be word of mouth for now. Which suits me just fine as long as I still have time to make things for my little Carolena (who is 10 months old now, by the way!).

And I am sure you are wondering who is the proud owner of my very first official saylormade dress......my best friend B's daughter Kenize who is 5 years old. I was actually supposed to make a dress for her birthday, but that was back in June. So I owed her big time. Enjoy your saylormade dress, Kenzie. Rock on with your bad self!!

P.S. For this dress, I used this tutorial from another local blogger The Polka Dot Chair.

9 Months

So this is a milestone, right? 9 months, what can I say? Amazing, just amazing. Amazing how fast it goes, amazing how big she is, amazing that just 9 short months ago I was pleading with my doctor to induce me because I was in such misery. And just look at us now. I have a beautiful , sweet, perfect little girl. And I have mastitis but that is a whole different story!!

My sweet Carolena, you are getting to be so big! You are crawling all over the place now, and you can even stand up all by yourself. Sometimes you even think that you can walk and try to take a few steps to mommy, but usually end up falling down. I have to make sure I am near you at all times because you are such the little daredevil. You love climbing over things, giving your brothers hugs, and giving your mommy little love bites (which are pretty painful, by the way!). You are eating all sorts of things now, but I think your favorite is pretty much any kind of fruit. You like when mommy cuts up peaches and watermelon into little bites so that you can pick them up with your fingers. You still smile all of the time and love cuddling in bed with mommy in the mornings. One of your favorite things to do right now is to take a bath in the kitchen sink, although I am not sure how much longer it will last because you are getting so big!

I love you so much my precious girl!

P.S. Did you check out the outfit in the top picture? My most recent creation!

My New Favorite

I think every time I make a new outfit, it becomes my favorite. This one was made for a friend of mine who has a two year old. I love the fabric and I love the way it turned out. This was my first time making "fancy shorts" and they are so sweet.


Close up of the dress...


Close up of the "fancy shorts"....

And matching hair accessory (of course)!

Our Free(ish) Summer - Hubers Orchard and Winery

Last week my mom and I decided to take the boys out to Hubers to do a little picking. We had been talking about going for a while, but once I heard it was blackberry picking time, I knew it was time to go. You see, Hubers has the most delicious blackberries I have ever had. Straight off the branch, there is nothing better. So we packed up the kids and headed out on what was quite possibly the hottest day of the year. I thought we would probably be the only ones crazy enough to go on such a hot day, so imagine my surprise when we ran into my friend B and her family out in the blackberry fields! Guess we both were craving those berries!

There are quite a few fun activites here besides just the picking fields.

You can talk to a talking tree...

pretend to be vegetables...

hang out with (and feed) the ducks...

go on a tractor ride (but hold on tight!)...

there is also a petting zoo, mountain slide, pony rides, a cheese/ice cream shop, market/gift shop, and winery/restaurant. We like to grab lunch there and cool off after all of the picking. They also have various festivals throughout the year which are fun and family friendly. So my advice to you is: Go, go now while the blackberries and peaches are in season, but try not to go on the hottest day of the year!

Fun - 4 (out of 5)

Cost - well you have to purchase everything that you pick, I think we spent about $40 on blackberries, bluberries, and peaches

Mom Stress Level - 1 (easy to keep track of everyone, but takes a while for the tractors to come back to the fields to pick you up)

Then go home with your delicious fruit and whip up a blackberry peach cobbler!

A Big Blur

The nephews were in town all last week. And, oh, the fun we had. We went swimming, jumped off diving boards, went to the movies, went to Noah's Ark, Henry's Ark, played in basements, had other neighbors over for get togethers, went to Wild Eggs (the most delicious place around), wrestled around, laughed ( a lot), cried (a little), fought ( some), played at grammys, made cookies, fed carrots to zebras, made big messes, built castles and forts, and much much more. I am sad to see those guys head home, but boy am I tired! To next time!