She's growing so fast!

Thought I would share some recent pictures of my now 2month old baby girl. She doesn't look like a newborn anymore : ( Her eyelashes are growing in and her little body is plumping up. And YAY! She likes her morning bath now! I am so glad because I hated having to bathe a hysterical baby, made me feel like I was torturing her. Now we just need to work on getting her to take her naps in her bed and not in someone's arms lol She does great at night. Well, I mean, she still wakes up at least twice to eat, but when she is done, she easily goes back down in her cradle. However, during the day, she could be in a deep sleep, but try to put her down and those eyes pop right open lol I wouldn't get anything done if it weren't for my sling and my 3 older daughters!

As for sewing, things are *really* slow. I have done some though, so I'm not lying with my sew something in November banner. Almost finished with two appliqued pillows for a special girlfriend's birthday. Will share soon. I used fusible applique with a blanket stitch and really enjoyed it. I see lots more of this technique in my future. I keep telling myself that I am gonna stay up at night after Sophia goes to sleep and get lots of sewing done, but end up going to bed myself. Still tired from those middle of the night feedings.

Hope everyone had a nice thanksgiving. We had my brother and his family in and it was a nice time spent with family and eating lots of good food. All of the cousins had a blast, they always do : )

Ava still adores her baby sister, no jealousy at all, thank God! I think they will be best friends one day, the two babies of the family. Can you say spoiled! LOL

Sewing room

Finally putting up some pictures of my beautiful new sewing/laundry room. Dh had said he would have it done by Mother's Day lololol I never planned on that happening, things like this always take longer than you expect. He still has quite a bit to do in here, but it functions wonderful just like it is.


Here is my sewing machine table and a small dining room table for the girls' machines and the serger. Eventually this whole wall will have custom built counters for all 4 of our sewing machines.


This wall will have shelves on either side of the window and a window seat with storage.


Here is the laundry part of the room. Right now my shelves with all my *sewing stuff* are next to the washer and dryer, but it will be a folding/craft counter with storage underneath. I also have my new mud sink. We got a great deal on it. It was originally $225, but dh found it with a messed up side that he could easily fix and wouldn't show anyway, they sold it to him for $75!!!! That included everything you see, cabinet, sink and faucet fixtures. I love getting a great deal.







Chad is also gonna build me a cutting table for the middle of the room. Even though it isn't officially finished, it works great as is! I havn't gotten to sew in it as much as I would like, but eventually I will. Sometimes I just go sit in there and enjoy it. It is so nice to have a space just for you. Of course, all the children tend to follow me in and as you can see, the play kitchen is set up in there as well. But, you know what I mean LOL

Mom's quilt top

Well, I still suck at blogging. I was gonna post 3 times this week, but totally forgot we were starting our home schooling. The first week is always kinda crazy and throw in a 4 week old baby and it just gets crazier!


Here is the quilt top for my Mom that I finished in like June! lol Not the greatest picture, I had laid it out on the floor in my new sewing room to figure out how big I needed to make the back. Figured I had better take pictures while it was out! That is as far as I got on doing anything. I really am itching to start quilting it, but no time right now. I just walk into my beautiful new room and dream about all the sewing I am gonna do one day *sigh* Oh well, it is more fun to take care of Sophia right now. She will only be this little for a short time.


Promise, I will post pics of the sewing room soon.

edited to add that if you click on the picture you can see the quilt much better.

Motherhood

Surprise, I am going to blog again before several months go by LOL Here is a new picture of Sophia, she is taking a nap on her Daddy. She is 4 weeks old today, where is the time going : ( She is already weighing around 11 pounds, my babies do not stay little for long. She has those baby zits, I have to force myself not to pop them lol Oh, and she HATES to take a bath. It is the worst time of my day. I can do it in 2 or 3 minutes, but she screams like you are killing her the entire time. She is already smiling and talking to us, I swear she has been smiling almost from day one. You can tell it is a real smile, she looks at you and the smile is in her eyes too. These first 6 to 8 weeks with a new baby are crazy. Mostly wonderful, but also frustrating and exhausting. Overall, Miss FiFi is a wonderful baby. She just has a rough day or night a couple of times a week. Last night was a great night, well once I got her to sleep. She had a belly ache and screamed for about an hour before pooping and then passing out around 11:30. Then she only woke up twice to nurse. For some reason I am fine waking up twice, but three times and I just don't get enough sleep. Before last night, she was getting up 3 or 4 times and not always going back to sleep. Yesterday was rough, but this morning I feel great. Funny how sleep deprivation can make a complete difference in your mood. She also loves her Moby wrap, well a faux Moby wrap, I made my own. I actually got some diaper covers and diapers cut out yesterday while wearing her. I don't think I can sew with her in it though, she likes me walking around doing stuff. I do get dishes and laundry done while she sleeps in it. I try not to use it all the time though, only when she is really fussy and I need to get stuff done. I definitely don't want her to get spoiled to sleeping only when she is strapped to me and I am standing up! LOL No, we only spoil her to being held while rocking her, at least we get to sit down lol I mean, how can you not hold a baby. I do put her in her cradle sometimes and she does pretty good in it at night, but i don't let my babies cry. Just can't do it. Well, she cries, but we hold her while she is crying. I am thankful she at least sleeps in the cradle at night. I don't sleep well with a baby in bed with me. I just doze and jerk awake every 20 minutes or so. I wish I could sleep with the baby, would make my life a lot easier.

I am having a hard time dealing with the fact that she is my last baby : ( Our main reason for this is our age. Chad is 42 and I am 38. Chad will be 60 when Sophia is 18. I want to be alive when my children have grandchildren. I mean, I know there is no guarantee, but the odds get better that you are gonna die, the older you get, KWIM? Also, I know that more people have their children at older ages now, which makes me feel a little better. I won't be the only grandma at her high school graduation lol Anyway, I am totally just rambling, but all this stuff is just swirling in my head, and it feels good to get it out on *paper*. Postpartum hormones can make you a little crazy, well crazier than usual lol

I will be adding a couple more posts in the next few days. I have my Mom's quilt top to share and my mostly finished sewing/laundry room! I know I will post because I already have the pictures uploaded. For some reason, not having pictures taken and on the computer is my main reason for being a bad blogger.

More Pics

Here are the pictures of the kids with Sophia. The girls got to hold her right after she was born, they were at the birth, but these are the pictures when my Mom and Dad brought everyone that afternoon. Samuel and Ava were beyond excited to see their new sister.

Sydney with Ava looking on. She loves the fact that she is old enough to really help with the new baby.



Savannah has been a huge help, she would hold the baby 24/7 if I let her LOL






Samuel told my Mom before we came home from the hospital that he missed Sophia sooooo much, and wanted me to hurry up and bring her home : D Such a sweet boy.





Parker swore he wasn't excited about the baby, but he wants to hold her as much as the others now LOL He has admitted he was wrong and is now very happy to have a new sister : )





Austin always has loved babies, he has his profile pic on facebook holding his sister. I think that may be to attract girls though ; / LOL




Ava ADORES Sophia. I should have never worried about her being jealous, she loves to sit by me while I nurse Sophia and rub her soft head. She is gonna be a great big sister.





Isabella loves Sophia too, she loves to hold her even when she is fussy. She is so patient with her and can always get her to sleep for me. You can see that Ava sneaked into almost every picture LOL




My Mom and Dad with Sophia. They have been and always are so helpful. They stayed with my children so that Chad and I could enjoy a couple days of rest in the hospital. They are the BEST grandparents a girl could ask for!




A picture of the baby socks I knit for her. They already don't fit anymore : ( They grow SO fast!





Ava was and still is fascinated with her toes LOL At first, she was also fascinated with her eyes for some reason. She was constantly trying to stick her fingers in Sophia's eyes. She was gentle, but still! LOL And yes, she still calls her FiFi, it is so cute!



My baby is 2 weeks old today, it makes me sad. I just love this special time when they are brand new, but it goes by so quickly. I wish the days would slow down just a little bit. She has an awake time in the middle of the night! For 3 days, it was between 3 and 5, but last night it was from 12 to 2. I am trying to even enjoy that time lol Got to see Ice Castles one night : )

Sophia Faye Richard

Looooong time, no post! So sorry, I told y'all I was antisocial when I was pregnant LOL I am finally getting around to announcing Sophia's birth. She was born Friday, September 25 at 3:21am. A good 11 or 12 days past her due date! I was due to be induced at 5:30am that Friday morning, but thank God she decided to come on her own. At 1am I woke up having a contraction. All of my labors start this way. One minute I am not in labor, the next I am. I know it is time within 2 or 3 contractions. Kind of like in the movies, which is funny, cause that is so not normally how it happens. The contractions were fairly hard and 5 minutes apart, so I jumped in the shower and called my friends and family to let them know it was time. My last labor was 18 hours long, so I wasn't sure if I should go to the hospital right away or not. Well, once I got out of the shower, I knew I needed to get my butt there asap! I had planned on putting on makeup and fixing my hair LOLOLOL That didn't happen! I was barely able to finish throwing stuff in my suitcase. Chad, I and the 3 oldest girls headed to the hospital with me having hard contractions every 2 or 3 minutes. I couldn't walk up to labor and delivery, Chad had to find me a wheelchair. Once I got there, the nurses were going along as usual because apparently I was handling the contractions so well that they didn't realize how far along I was. When the nurse checked me, I was completely dilated. The look on her face was priceless, because they hadn't even called my dr. yet. Thankfully, he lives very close to the hospital. I, of course, was kinda freaking out, because I knew that urge to push was coming and I wouldn't be able to stop it. The nurse said she fully expected to deliver the baby. Well, my first urge came just as my dr. was running in the door LOL He broke my water to check for meconium, and sure enough there was quite a bit. So, they wanted her out fast. I pushed once for her head and then had to wait while they suctioned her, and one more time for her body. The relief you feel once the baby is out is indescribable! To go from so much pain to nothing, it always takes me a minute to catch my breath. The only negative aspect to the birth was that they had to cut her cord and take her to the warmer immediately to suction her thoroughly. Apparently, she had pooped quite a bit. I am used to having my babies handed to me right away. It was a good 10 minutes before I could even see her. She was SO alert right at birth. She would quietly look around at everyone, like she was putting the faces with voices she was used to hearing. She weighed 8 lbs. 15 oz., which isn't bad considering how late she was. We were expecting her to be 9 1/2 to 10 lbs. I was excited that she fit in the newborn diapers LOL Oh, and her middle name is after my mother : )

She is beautiful and perfect and so laid back! The kids can be making a huge ruckus and she doesn't even flinch. Which is a good thing, it can get quite loud at my house lol I am so thankful I was able to have another baby, she is such a blessing to me, her father and the rest of her siblings. I have so much help with the older children, even the older boys fight over who gets to hold her. My best friend Jessica took pictures at the birth and afterwards. Didn't get too many labor photos, since it only lasted a little over 2 hours LOL My fastest birth yet, her sister, Isabella, was born in 3 hours.

Here she is right after birth, look at how alert she is!

happy family : D She is always sticking her tongue out lol She was sticking her tongue out as she was being born, we have a picture of it, but I will spare y'all LOL

After birth with her Aunt Gloria, I love this picture!

This was after her first bath when she was about half a day old. The look on her face is hilarious! I made the little gown with some adorable knit fabric I found at Joanns. I also knit the hat, which is obviously too small LOL

Here is Jessica, who took all the beautiful pictures, holding her. I have tons more to share, the ones of all the children holding her for the first time are so special.

Lots and lots of pictures and an update

Hey everyone, long time no see LOL Sorry about that, I have just been very to myself lately. Tired from the pregnancy and anemia and just kinda anti social. I have been doing lots of sewing and knitting though. Sophia is getting SO big, I don't think she will be one of my smaller ones. My babies have ranged in size from 7 and half pounds to just over 10 pounds. I think she will be in the 9 to 10 pound range! I am hoping I am wrong, but I can usually tell. She moves all of the time, which I love, but sometimes her movements are so strong they hurt, and I still have at least 7 weeks left for her to grow! Other than the anemia and the severe backache lol, the pregnancy is going well. Oh, and I think I know what her nickname will be. Ava can't say Sophia and has been calling her FiFi. I think this is adorable.

Also, during this time two of my kids have had birthdays. I am now the mother of a 17 year old! I really can't believe it, a 17 year old son AND I am pregnant LOL Also, Sydney turned 13! I now have 3 teenagers in my house! Good times ; )

One of my best friends, Jessica, got her a nice new Nikon camera and we are now aware of her immense talent. Seriously, she is an awesome photographer! If you would like to see some of her work, check out her flikr. She offered to take some pictures of Sydney for her 13th birthday. All I can say is WOW! I am SO glad she is my friend, I would have payed a fortune for this otherwise : ) One of the perks of turning 13 for Sydney is she gets to wear makeup. She has been counting down the days lol She is only allowed to wear very little, but I swear she looks so grown up in these photos. What happened to my little girl. Here are a few of my favorites, it was hard to pick! You can see the whole shoot on Jess's flikr.



Jess also took some of me and my belly. She is going to photograph my birth too! Jessica has been at my last 4 births. She is one of my labor supports and has made such a difference in my labors. She is one of 3 friends that I just can't give birth without, along with my mom and dh. I have natural labors (no drugs) so my girlfriends are extremely important. Now, I am going to have beautiful pictures as well! I can't wait to share them, I promise no graphic ones though ; ) My favorites are the ones with Sydney : )


Sydney had to help me up! LOL
Here you can see how big I am! Sydney was mimicking my usual stance LOL Gosh, what a difference in the two of us!!!
Like I said, I have been sewing and knitting up a storm! I even finished my Mom's quilt top, just been too lazy to take a picture of it, soon, I promise. I think it will have to wait until after Miss Sophia is born to be quilted though, my back can't handle it right now. I have really been enjoying knitting, I can just sit on my comfy bed and knit away, easier on my back than sitting at the sewing machine. I do have some pictures of my first ever pair of socks though! Only because they were knit for Jessica, and she took some pictures for me LOL They are knit out of Malabrigo sock yarn, which was heaven to knit with. I got the pattern free at Interweave Knits. I think many more socks are in my future. Fun to knit and portable.



I hope to be back here before another several weeks pass! LOL

Baby Knitting

For a couple of weeks I was a knitting fool! It is funny, because sometimes I don't care to do it, but when the mood hits, I can't get enough. I am actually still in the mood, but I really need to tend to my sewing before the baby is born. I can knit with a baby in my arms, not so much use the sewing machine. I found the pattern for the gray sweater in a Debbie Bliss book I checked out from the library. I started it before I knew Sophia was a girl, so picked a neutral color. Once I found out she was a girl, I added a picot edge in pink. I love pink and gray together. There is a great video tutorial here for doing a picot edging. Both sweaters still need their buttons sewn on, I am so bad about completely finishing things. I will probably wait to sew them on until I want the baby to wear them. lol Oh, the yarn is a DK weight Merino yarn from Rowan.


I found this pattern at Knitting Daily. It was a free pattern. I love the cable down the front. I really like simple knits, but also love a little special stitch to add interest. This was rated as easy, but I wouldn't consider it easy. More like intermediate. A beginning knitter would cry if they tried this pattern. I used Sugar Rush yarn for this project, it is made from sugar cane. How cool is that?! It is so soft, even softer than bamboo yarn and has a beautiful drape to it. It really is perfect for knitting for children. I know, it is blue. I really love blue on little girls, you will see that I end up buying more blue than pink. I am going to knit a hat and booties to match, as well. The second picture is more true to the color of the yarn. I took all of the pictures on one of the girls' baby dolls. I know it is kinda creepy, but it shows how the sweaters fit.

26 1/2 weeks

I thought I would take some preggie pictures today. I got the cutest maternity t-shirt at Ross (for $6.99!!) yesterday and wanted to document my belly wearing it. I just love the little rhinestone stork lol As you can see, the belly has really started to grow. I swear I can feel the baby getting bigger everyday. The kids can watch my belly move as Sophia kicks around inside. Yes, we have decided on a name, I got what I wanted and she will be called Sophia. Dh just doesn't want her to be called Sophie (men can have weird ideas sometimes lol) Still no middle name though.



We took the pictures right before heading out on a trip to Joanns, you can see Savannah holding my sales flyer. : ) I snapped the girls sitting on the swing. Ava was being a poot and didn't want to be photographed, little turkey. We have been very productive with our sewing lately. I am going to have a brag post soon to show you what my girls' have been doing. I am really proud of them, they are turning into some good little seamstresses. I have also finished some knitting to show y'all. I just need to get on the ball and photograph everything.



I have so many projects I want to do. This week I am sewing all 3 girls some linen walking shorts and am waiting for some fabric to come in to make baby Sophia a little crib quilt. It is getting harder to do what I want, I forgot how you can't just move around and do what you want when you get this big. Plus, a lot of my time is spent helping the girls with their sewing.

I love my Kenmore!

This is a meme from Sew Mama Sew. I love to read sewing machine reviews, so I thought I would add mine as well : )

What brand and model do you have? I own a Kenmore 19606

How long have you had it? About 2 1/2 years

How much does that machine cost (approximately)? I got a great deal for $450. This machine originally sold for $799. There was an open box, a lady had returned hers because she decided she wanted an embroidery machine. I don't think she had even taken it out of the box.

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)? All of the above LOL I mainly sew clothing for my kids and have recently started quilting. My machine handles everything really well. The only thing I wish is that the distance between the machine and needle were bigger when machine quilting a large quilt.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get? I sew several days a week, sometimes everyday. Usually for no more than 2 or 3 hours at a time though. I would say my machine gets average use, I wish it got heavy use LOL

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does she have a name? I really love my machine. It has a lot of decorative stitches and sews a beautiful seam. It is also very smooth and quiet. I love the needle down button. I feel like I got a really great machine for a really great price. I don't have a name for her, but I want to think one up.

What features does your machine have that work well for you? Like I mentioned above, I love my needle down button. I also love my automatic needle threader, this wasn't something I even planned on using, but now I use it all the time. I also love all of the embroidery and decorative stitches, they are fun to try out.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine? I am not thrilled with the alphabet because it is so small. But this is minor, I wasn't expecting a full out embroidery machine and don't really use them anyway.

Do you have a great story to share about your machine (i.e., Found it under the Christmas tree? Dropped it on the kitchen floor? Sewed your fingernail to your zipper?, Got it from your Great Grandma?, etc.!)? We want to hear it! Just the great deal I got! It was a surprise because we were just checking the machines out at Sears, not planning to buy that day, when the sales lady told us about the great deal on the open box. So, I got to go home with a brand spanking new sewing machine when I wasn't expecting to : D

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why? Definitely, you can't get much more machine for the price, even the regular price. This Kenmore is made by Janome, so I would highly recommend Janome machines as well. I can't afford a Bernina or Viking, you would pay well over $1000 for all of the bells and whistles I have on my Kenmore.

What factors do you think are important to consider when looking for a new machine? I want a smooth running motor and a nice balanced seam. My machine has auto tension, and I rarely have to mess with it. I really like my needle down button, and would probably require one on any new machine I bought. I think I will look for a bigger harp on my next purchase, it would make machine quilting much easier.

Do you have a dream machine? Well, I guess my dream machine would be a top of the line Bernina or Viking. I don't know about embroidery though. I prefer the way hand embroidery looks, but I am sure I could have fun with machine embroidery too LOL

Pincushion Giveaway results!

Ok ladies, I used an online random number generator and the winner is number 118!!!!

alana said...

Beautiful pincushion and turquoise is my favorite color!! I hope I win! Thanks for the giveaway!

Yay Alana! I will be emailing you : ) Glad you share my love of turquoise. I hope you enjoy the pincushion.

I just want to thank everyone for all of the lovely comments, y'all were very sweet. I really enjoyed participating in this swap and hope to do another one soon.

Sew Mama Sew Giveaway prize

Sorry I am a little late. Here are the pictures of the pincushion I am giving away. It is the pattern from Anna Maria Horner's book Seams to Me. I made myself one a few weeks ago, and I love it. So nice for carrying around with you while you are doing some hand sewing. It is nice and big too, room for lots of pins. I am including a pack of turquoise head pins with the cushion.

Everyone who responded to the previous post will definitely be included in the drawing : D