Score!
Posted by Steph on May 15, 2010
Along with birthday #5 came a growth spurt for my little guy. Which means that after almost 2 years in the same pants he needs new ones. I hopped online for some internet shopping. I am sure that they are perfectly normal prices, but $16 for a pair of tiny pants just doesn’t get me excited. So I started shopping for some fabric online and picked out enough for several pairs of pant and short (and jammies) for $43. Very good. Then I got to thinking about it being the weekend so maybe I could get my honey to take me to my favorite thrift stores in Yuma. Unfortunately, he is boycotting Arizona over the immigration law hitting the news right now. So I head off to my not so great local thrift stores. (Alone since at these you have to scrounge through large tubs for the kid clothing).
I hit the local store jackpot!! I got a few skirts and a dress for TL; little guy now has 3 sets of jammies, 5 pairs of shorts, 4 pairs of pants and some overalls. Lots of OshKosh in that assortment to my surprise. He will, however, tell you that the very best item I found was a Halloween costume of Batman’s sidekick Robin– complete with cape. It had a tear at the neck that I was able to fix with my serger in about 3 seconds. I am certain he will want to wear it for days on end since he already asked to sleep in it. (The answer was no because of the cape– I don’t want to strangle the little fella!)
New additions to the wardrobe: $11.28. So much better than retail– you should see my happy dance!
Dental woes
Posted by admin on May 3, 2010
TL complained of her mouth/teeth hurting yesterday. When I went to see what was going on, I found that one of her molars had broken! (To clarify from chipped– this one was missing a very large piece.) I took her in to the dentist today and learned that she needs 2 root canals and 2 fillings. We go back tomorrow morning to have all the work done under sedation. I am very thankful for our good dental insurance– while still pretty expensive, the bill is much more palatable. Afterwards we went to Target and bought some of the rinse that turns your teeth blue before brushing so you can make sure you do a good job. The $4 that I never wanted to waste on that seems like a pretty good investment after the dentist bill!!
Birthday present
Posted by admin on Apr 28, 2010
CJ’s birthday is coming up. He has recently become interested in superheroes, particularly batman. So I made him a batman cape. (Handy people would even make it doublesided, with perhaps superman on the other side, but I didn’t have a red t shirt ready to go to the scrap pile yet.) So, in an hour and a half, I recreated a t shirt into this: (such a long time because of the satin stitch I used for the applique!)
Quick work
Posted by admin on Apr 28, 2010
Many months ago a friend asked me to replace zippers in 3 of her dresses. I did 2 of them on my previous machine, and was really unhappy with how they turned out. Tonight, I redid one of them and finished the last one. I was done surprisingly fast (since the first ones took a long time) and the results are great. It is so wonderful to have amazing tools!!
Excited to fail
Posted by admin on Apr 27, 2010
Yesterday a book I ordered to help me prepare for my board examine arrived. It has a couple of practice tests. I debated for awhile to study a bit first, or take one to help me figure out which areas needed the most help. I decided to go ahead and take one. During the test I could tell that I knew a lot of them but there were definitely some areas needing work. I click on “grade the exam” and I *almost* passed! I am totally psyched since I haven’t yet started studying anyof the “technical” info.
I am feeling so much more confident about taking the board exam this summer! Time to hit the books…
Blustery night
Posted by admin on Apr 21, 2010
I am awakened at 3 am by shattering glass. Due to the incredibly strong winds moving through the area, I knew it was the wind destroying items on my back porch and NOT a home invasion. I lay in bed listening to the incredible sounds of the night. Pondering whether to wait until morning to face the destruction or get out of bed and do something about it. Since my husband gets home from work in a few hours, I decided I better get up and clean so we don’t have to put new tires on the car.
Outside what a sight to behold! A gust had taken an entire plastic basket loaded with glass and ceramic garden decorations (fairly heavy) and blown it off a table and 20 feet down my driveway. Unfortunately leaving a long trail of broken glass for me to sweep up while trying not to get blown away myself. At a normal time of day I am off to buy superglue to save what I can.
Nobody told me there’d be days like these!
Posted by admin on Apr 19, 2010
I am a bit hormonal today, and there are many things not right in my world. I have a seam that I need to sew that I can’t get to turn out right (and it is a simple hem!!), I have tried it 4 times. I get angrier after each attempt so I put it away. My hip hurts and it is on my “sewing foot” side. My office clutter is taking on a life of its own AND I just found out that the damn cat peed on my favorite cookbook!! (luckily it is my cookbook and not a borrowed one– no worries, Mom!)
I think I am going to go give the cat to the neighbor and lay down for a good cry. Maybe after a nap my world will be back on track…
A big day?
Posted by admin on Apr 17, 2010
I let the kids stay up a bit late tonight (until 8). When I announced that it was bedtime, my ears were greeted with “Yay!” From TL, too! They must have had a big day when I wasn’t looking!
Lactation
Posted by admin on Apr 13, 2010
From kellymom.com I came across the following info: “Most moms who are nursing full-time are able to pump around 1/2 to 2 ounces total (for both breasts) per pumping session. Moms who pump more milk per session may have an oversupply of milk, or may respond better than average to the pump, or may have been able to increase pump output with practice. Many moms think that they should be able to pump 4-8 ounces per pumping session, but even 4 ounces is an unusually large pumping output.”
I am taking the board exam to become a lactation consultant this summer, and reading this really surprised me. Proving that you cannot just go by your own experiences! After Lily was born it only took 2 days back at work for me to panic about my supply and go to great lengths to increase it. I started attending La Leche League meetings with fellow working moms who also shared my concerns. In those early days I was pumping about 12 ounces from 3 sessions. After a several weeks I was up to 12-17 ounces each session, and I *still* felt like that wasn’t enough milk. (Certainly the babysitter didn’t think so!) I realize now that the moms at LLL must have thought I was lying about the amount of milk that I made. Although my coworkers could support this– I left work each night with a big jug of milk!
Now I realize that my problem was the babysitter’s expectations and not my milk supply. When we relocated and I stayed home with Lily, I discovered all sorts of problems that comes with having too much milk– one of them being extremely painful engorgement!
Sewing a swimsuit, or several…
Posted by admin on Apr 7, 2010
The kids have been growing up and growing out of their clothes. Both need new swimsuits, so I logged on to Coolibar to price some new suits. At $45 each it was not something I wanted to buy 2 of. So I started hunting up some alternatives in stores and online. Swimsuits that cover are important to me (sun protection and a bit of modesty) and while hunting I came along modest swimwear which TL really liked. The patterns were a bit pricey so I hunted some more online. There is not a lot out there for bathing suits with “coverage” unless you are getting into plus sizes. (Handy for me, but not the kids; yet they still don’t have sleeves to protect your shoulders!)
So after a lot of deliberation, I decided I would make my own patterns based off of some of our worn out clothing. I ordered some swimsuit fabric online and it arrived last night. Several hours of planning, cutting and sewing later I have finished. CJ has a swim shirt and shorts, TL has a swim dress and short leggings, my honey has a new tank top and I have a swim shirt. Us grown ups still have to wear swim trunks since D picked out an awful color. (Note when buying orange fabric– ALWAYS chose AT LEAST 2 shades darker/deeper– it has a knack for arriving at the door looking like safety gear!)
All in all, they turned out quite well. I have never worked with stretchy fabric before (and it was a pain in the but to cut out!!), and I have made some notes for improvements next time. I designed my shirt with an inner shelf for some support, and that worked out really well. We are taking everything for a test drive tomorrow at Knott’s Soak City.
So, for $46 I made suits for my whole family! (This amount includes the ugly orange that is going to be exchanged next week!)
