The Teeny Tiny Tutu

I got a message from a friend today. A close friend of hers just welcomed a new little bundle of joy into the world. This particular little bundle is an especially tiny bundle. She was born 3 months early and weighed 2 lbs 4 oz. My friend wanted to know if I could make a preemie tutu for her. I am pretty handy with tulle, so I said of course. She requested that it be black and hot pink, and the parents liked zebra print. Not a problem, I have all of those colors. She sent me a picture of this itty bitty princess, and my heart melted.

I am not sure if it's preemies in general, because both of my children were premature I do have a soft spot for them. Or maybe just a baby who is so tiny. Whatever the reason, it melted me. Turned me into a ball of jello. I think it hit me so hard because Britches was supposed to be smaller. The doctors tried to convince me to let them take her out, but I refused. I just kept on refusing. The ultrasound estimate at that time was 1 lb 8 oz. I am so glad I held out as long as possible. Seeing this tiny little human hooked up to machines took me back to when she was born.

So I went to work shrinking my normal tutu dress pattern. I compared sizes to one of Britches preemie onesies, and checked some measurements online. I started cutting the teeny tiny bodice, sewing the small pieces together, cutting baby pieces of tulle, and weaving through impossibly small holes. The tutu started to take shape. It looks like it's made for one of my daughter's dolls, not much bigger than your hand. So small. It makes me think of how fragile this small girl is...

I am sure that this precious little girl will not remember the teeny tiny tutu, or even know the tutu maker, but I hope that some of the love that I felt making this dress for her translates. I have said before that I believe that my love goes into each stitch. In this case, I hope it helps her grow stronger and thrive...

Destash? Um, no...

My husband does not need to know how many diapers Britches actually has... Seriously, he has seen them all, he just doesn't need reminding...

I don't think it's excessive, but it is enough that we could go on a week vacation without washing. I like knowing I have more than enough that if our power went out for a week, we'd be fine. As long as it wasn't wash day of course.

I just put together a loaner newborn stash for little Mr. M (who is due in just a couple weeks) out of some of her smaller gender neutral diapers. He has 16 prefolds, 3 covers, and 2 AI2s (one tester and one mama-made I received free with a swap order). Excuse the terrible picture, but the heathens are at it today...

That is plenty for washing everyday. These will go nicely with the dozen one size AI2s and fitteds that little Mr. M's mom ordered from me. Her oldest was born at just over 8 lbs, and my one size diapers fit Britches about then. That should bump her up to a 2 day wash routine. I should destash, but it's nice to have enough diapers to lend and not worry about it! After all, babies do not stay in newborn diapers long. Britches is the exception though, she can technically still fit in all of these.

Besides the diapers, I am making her a wetbag and wipes. I do seem to have a love affair with cloth wipes, I use them for everything. Side note: I have been sick the last couple of weeks, blowing my noise every 2 minutes. My nose is not raw though, because I have used the awesomely squishy cloth wipes. See, useful for everything!

I can't forget that I just received those last chance bumgenious diapers too. As soon as I convert some to snaps, he will have a one-size loaner stash if they need it too! I love diapers!

Channeling Alexander?

Today has been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day! I am definitely channeling Alexander today. Most of it has been pretty small, so it could definitely be worse. However, Murphy rules my world.

I can't even recount the entirety of my day. I had to deal with the stupidity of our healthcare system, a screaming drama queen (aka Britches, out of character for her), and I did not enjoy the storm.

I had to borrow my brother's car to take Tater to the surgeon for a pre-op visit. No biggie, he was being an awesome brother to let me use his car, Grizzly had mine (longer story). Tater did have an awesome commentary on our healthcare system though. I'll post that later. Anyway...

His car is not the newest, so it has some big freaking issues hiccups. He failed to mention that the windshield wipers don't work AT ALL perfectly. This wouldn't have been an issue if we hadn't had a complete down pour. So I am stuck half an hour from home with both kids, no wipers, and it is raining cats, dogs, horses, cows, and pigs! We'll throw in a chicken, a 5 foot chicken, for good measure!

Because Britches fell asleep in the car, Tater and I started the doomsday countdown. Otherwise known as the "we have to get our little tushies home before our sweet sleeping baby starts channeling Linda Blair" countdown. Britches is a seriously happy baby, until she isn't. Tater, by the way, was so incredibly well behaved. Especially considering I was stressed. So I opened the car door to get out and fix the wipers, and immediately flooded the car. After several attempts, with the Fedex guy staring at me the entire time--Thanks for the help!-- I managed to get it workable.

--Holy run on sentence Batman, sorry!

We some how made it home in one piece. I made an executive decision to skip the grocery store, because we were done. Seriously, done.

This lovely storm also knocked out my internet, so I totally missed the end of my giveaway! I finally broke down and called my mom and Grizzly (both are out of town, ugh) trying to get someone to update my page. Luckily, my mom called back and was able to post the winner.

Honestly, it could have been so much worse. It was just the little things that just kept piling up. I think I am done channeling Alexander now...

Last Chance Diaper Pictures

I have written a few times about Cottonbabies Last Chance Sale, so I thought someone might like to see what exactly you get with this sale. I purchase 2 sets, a girl and a gender neutral. Each set was 12 diapers for $24. Remember they retail for $17.95 per diaper. I also purchased 12 refresher kits just in case they needed repairs. here are my diapers:

Here is a close up of one of them. It is in average condition for what I received.

I will be using the prefolds from the Update: $100 Challenge for inserts. So if each diaper did need repair (which they don't) it would be a total of $3.50 per diaper!

$2.00 per diaper + $0.50 per prefold + $1.00 per refresher kit = $3.50.

Amazing!

It doesn't come around very often, but it is totally worth it. At least I think so!

Giveaway!

I love giveaways!

I love entering, giving, and especially winning. I am giving away a free-for-shipping tutu dress at my store right now. They are so pouffy and princessy. This is one of my recent dresses. It was for a Relay for Life auction.

If you want to enter, like my facebook page and enter the drawing on hyenacart.

Cottonbabies Last Chance Sale!

Just wanted to let everyone know that cottonbabies.com is having their awesome last chance sale! Go check it out. 12 really well loved diapers for $24. You can't beat it!

Don't forget to add the free cover and use the coupon code CVR611 if you spend more than $50.

The List

I was sitting in church today people watching, as I often do, when I saw a young woman walk by. She really wasn't a woman, but a girl just graduating from high school. It was, after all, graduation Sunday. I have known this girl her entire life. Something stuck me this morning though... She doesn't know how to walk in heels! I had to laugh at myself a little for noticing such an odd thing, but it is something that I do pay attention to.

I whispered to my mom, "Do girls just not know how to walk in heels anymore?" Her response was an incredibly true statement: "There are a lot of things about being a girl that girls just don't know."

This got me thinking about the things I need to be sure to teach my daughter. This has nothing to do with the battle of the sexes, feminism, etc. I just think that if you are going to wear heels, you need to know how to walk in them. So, here is the start of my list. Many of them have stories behind them, but some are just skills that I think everyone should have.

What Every Girl Should Know:

• How to rewire an outlet.
• How to walk in heels.
• How to change a tire, oil, belt, etc.
• How to sew.
• How to substitute ingredients.
• How to read a map.
• How to use the Dewey Decimal System.
• How to relieve yourself in the woods.
• How to haggle.

I am confident that my list will grow, but this is a decent start.

Sew Fun!

I have been having a ball lately sewing gifts for a friends baby shower. The shower was last weekend (I know I'm late putting up pics, busy week). I have had an enormous number of custom orders from the store, so I've had to steal minutes here and there for fun baby sewing.

I have embroidered, appliqued, made up new patterns, and played with adorable boy prints. I love customized gifts. They mean so much more when someone puts their love and effort into them. Some of my favorite gifts over the years have been handmade. A painting, a quilt, an afghan, all so lovely. I remember those gifts very clearly. Hopefully she loves handmade items as much as I do.

Did I mention she is having a boy? This is particularly fun for me, because I have a new girl. I love being able to do projects for both! As luck would have it, another friend of mine is having a boy soon too. So I get to make even more fun boy stuff. Both moms are going to be cloth diapering--Woo hoo! Grizzly doesn't understand why I get so excited about this, but it means more people who will kinda sorta understand my passion.

So, here are my fun baby gifts!

Ok. First up is a Grab Rag! Britches loves hers. It's the "can't get it away from her" kind of love. I designed and embroidered the little man's name on bamboo velour and sewed it up with a cute cotton print and ribbons. I make cloth wipes with the same materials, so it is perfect to use as burp cloth, chew toy, or any other whoops rag. Plus, it's pretty the boy equivalent of pretty.

Next is from a scrap from the Grab Rag, an appliqued t-shirt. I love the little ties on shirts.

Another scrap from the Grab Rag is this Grab Ball. I looked at a beach ball and thought, "Yep, I can make that." It is actually 6 leaf shapes sewn together with ribbon. Not nearly as difficult as it first appears.

Here is a wipes pouch. I love to keep things organized. That way when I am searching for wipes in a panic, Tater can say "It's in the bag labeled WIPES mom, geez." This is a simple pouch made like an envelope. (It's lined with firefighter fabric, you will eventually see a pattern)

Wipes. Boring, but oh so useful. I swear you can never have enough.

More wipes. Seriously, never enough...

A matching changing mat is so necessary. I made this with PUL, cotton, and hidden fleece (to make it squishier). Because I had to play with my embroidery software and machine, I made a cute baby too, with a little A on his helmet.

Here is my favorite! I love this wetbag, it does everything. Well, not everything, but more than you can ask of a wetbag. It has the nice large wet pocket, plus a dry pocket, plus a shoulder strap, plus it's shrinkable. I will do an entire post on the evolution of this bag later. But for now, isn't it pretty.

Here is a newborn fitted. It is so tiny and squishy! It's all bamboo with a knit outer. It almost makes me want another... Almost...

Here is a one size all-in-2. Bamboo velour inside so it's soft.

And my favorite diaper. This is an impossible to find print. I even talked to the designer trying to find more, even she doesn't have a scrap left. Needless to say, I'm glad it turned out!

Here is the whole shebang! I threw in some wipe cubes and organic coconut oil too. Did you know that coconut oil works wonders on diaper rash? It does! Hopefully she likes them as much as I do. Even if she doesn't, I have really loved making everything.

I need to get to work for the other new little boy now. I can't wait to cut into the motorcycle fabric I have saved for him!