Top #1

For top #1, I wanted to recreate my favorite maternity top from my last pregnancy. It was an extra-large shirt that I got on clearance when Mervyn's was closing, because of its beautiful fabric. I ended up making a few modifications, and voila! Cuteness.So I made a pattern based on the purple top, then added a band on the bottom that would tie with a bow (something I saw on a maternity top someone else made and thought was extremely cute). I used a fabric that I got on clearance last summer. It is a cotton (I think) jersey with a very subtle green floral print. It took me two weeks total to complete, with several days of no sewing at all.

It worked out pretty well, though the fabric I used for the second version is not as stretchy as the original. I think it will fit until the baby comes, though. :)

Flowers! Fish! Babies!

Hazel has been making this connection lately: flowers! fish! babies! What do these things have in common? Can you guess?

...

Time's up!

Answer: they all live in water.

I am impressed that she has assimilated this information. She has known that fish live in water for a long time. Recently, Anthony gave me flowers, and Hazel is fascinated with them--especially the fact that they are in water. Noticing this preoccupation with things that are in water, I thought she'd be interested to know that babies live in water when they are inside their mommy. And boy, was she! She latched right on to that little fact and has been announcing the connection ever since.By the way, aren't these flowers gorgeous? He specifically got lisianthus, because he knows I love the beautiful purple.

A Goal

So, I've decided to actually participate in an online bloggers-make-a-goal-together-thingy. Amazing! Are you ready? I am going to do Made By Rae's Spring Top Sewalong.



I'm excited. I have a couple of maternity tops that I've been planning to make, and I'm not really doing any particular sewing project at the moment. Also, I'm feeling dissatisfied with my current maternity top selection. And even more dissatisfied with the prices to get cuter ones at a store.

So! I'm going to use the patterns and fabric that I've had sitting around, and attempt to class up my pregnancy wardrobe. And if you think it's boring to read about that...oh, well. It's not like you really expect me to post about anything very much, right?

Hog Tracks

BYU has started producing something that sounds truly disgusting: maple doughnuts with strips of actual bacon on top. Yuck! Anthony insists that they are good, something about the salty/sweet contrast, I guess. I refuse to believe it.

However, I have come up with a new concept based on the general idea of bacon-flavored desserts: Hog Tracks. You've had moose tracks, bunny tracks, turtle tracks, and beaver tracks, but you have NEVER tasted an ice cream like this. I'm envisioning vanilla ice cream with a ribbon of bacon flavor swirled in, and (of course!) tiny lumps of bacon covered in chocolate and shaped like pigs. MMMMMM.

What do you think? Should I pitch it to Breyers?

Yes, it's true.

I am pregnant.

Sorry for never answering your question, Elizabeth! I wasn't ready to tell everyone yet, and I thought I was being crafty by saying the maternity top was something I didn't finish during my last pregnancy. That was true, by the way. I just somehow didn't notice that by saying "last pregnancy" I was definitely implying that there was more than one...

Did you notice seemingly diminished brainpower during pregnancy? Because I feel like that's happening sometimes.

So, we had an early ultrasound just before ten weeks (I am eleven weeks today), and as you can see, there's a baby in there. Pretty cute, too. We saw him or her kicking on the screen. Awww!

I am due October 5th.

Great Escapes

Hazel got out of her crib somehow today. I do not know precisely how, but she was not particularly happy about it. If she continues to do that, we will have to take the mattress out of her crib so she can sleep on the floor, and see if she ever sleeps at night ever again.

That is all.

Hazel the big girl

I looked back to when I last blogged regularly, and it was before Hazel had even turned one! She has changed dramatically since then. She could already walk at that point, but now she wouldn't dream of being content with just walking. She climbs on stuff, runs around, dances, and is so physically adept that she amazes me. She is not content to sit in the front seat of a cart at the store for long any more; she demands to get down and walk. When she walks, I don't have to slow down for her. (Of course, I am a bit of a slow walker anyway, but still. She doesn't even slow Anthony down much.)

Her talking is also advancing well. She talks all the time, uses several words that anyone could understand (cookie! jewelry!), many more that only I understand (bik-bik=blanket; osh=wash), and often lets loose strings of garbled speech that I don't quite get (on one of her phones, more often than not).

She loves to play pretend. She feeds her animals and her doll, wraps them in blankets, and brushes their hair and teeth. It's so cute!

She's becoming extremely girly. She loves jewelry. She loves to look in the mirror after I decorate her head with a bow or flower, and we admire how beautiful she is. She loves shoes (and socks, but that's a family trait as well!).

A picture to wrap up. This was our Nativity pageant we held this past Christmas. As you can see, Hazel is Mary, while her doll is the baby Jesus. Her lion, elephant, bear, duck, and chicken are playing the parts of the farm animals. Anthony was the donkey Hazel got to ride on. She didn't really get it, but it was fun anyway!