Shirt Refashion Into Bag

I'm always up for a challenge, so my mother presented me with this one: Turn a 1x shirt into some sort of purse/bag. She has recently lost 75 lbs (yay!) and has some ginormous clothes that need to be done away with. This particular shirt was one of her favorites so she wanted me to fashion it into something else so that she didn't have to get rid of it.

The front side had the design, and the back/sleeves were plain white. So first I cut along the side seams and sleeves so that I just had one piece with the design on it.

Then I folded that in half (wrong sides together) to get a basic bag shape and cut up the sides to kind of straighten them out. Keep in mind this is my first one, and she just wanted a floppy bag.

Next I took the side that was all white (for an inner liner) and laid it on top of the designed piece. I cut it to basically the same shape and made an inside pocket out of the back collar part. I pinned that on and took some leftover scraps to make handles.

I sewed the pocket onto the white liner, then pinned the whole liner to the design piece (wrong sides together).The strips for the handles were sewed into tubes (right sides together) then turned right side out and pinned in place.

I then folded the bag in half (right sides together) and pinned the sides.

I sewed the sides together then turned it right side out. I realized that I did the handles wrong and ended up making another handle out of leftover white fabric and sewed it to one side, then trimming the previous handle to a matching length and connected it together on the other side.

I sewed the top edge together and here is the finished product! Not perfect but not too bad!

2 Months Old, Pictures and a Video

Yes today it has been 2 months since my little boy entered the world and changed our lives forever. He is still growing like a weed, and next week we get to see how much he weighs and how long he is now!

At 2 months old you:

• Are sleeping 6-11 hours at night
• Don't go to bed any earlier than midnight
• Don't like to take naps longer than 30 minutes
• Are wearing size 1 diapers
• Have outgrown all newborn outfits and some 0-3 months
• Can hold your head up pretty good
• Smile big, but haven't LOL'd yet
• Rub your eyes when you are tired
• Nurse every 1-3 hours

On Sunday, the three of us had lunch at Long John Silver then got some day-old bread and headed to the duck pond. Unfortunately the ducks had been well fed and weren't all that excited about us being there. We mostly fed the turtles and a few geese. We ended up giving the bread to a little kid so we could leave. And Bradley slept through the whole thing so I didn't take any pictures of him.

After that we picked up a cake from the store and drove an hour down to Elmore City where the in-laws live. Nick's sister and her baby, and their parents all live with their grandparents so we all had dinner together and chatted for awhile. His parents are building a house outside the town there so we took a trip to go see it. Here is a picture of Bradley with his great-grandpa:

And this is Bradley enjoying his playmat! He still shuns tummy time, but he did lift his head up a bit!

I call this the "cursed" onesie. It says "Worth the Wait" on it, but every single time I have put it on him, he has either peed, pooped, or spit up on it within a few hours. Now he has almost outgrown it so we have to get a few good pictures in it!

Here's a video of him playing on his playmat:

8 Weeks

A few more days and he will be officially 2 months old!! Time seems to go by slow but then when we look back on it, it has flown by.

He seems to be getting over the fussiness, and getting back to his agreeable self :) The two nights before last he slept 8 hours in a row, and last night **drumroll please** he slept 11 hours in a row!! I absolutely could not believe. Neither could my boobs--I had to pump! HAHA. He is slowly getting better at holding his head up--still a little wobbly though. And he doesn't really like tummy time. He just kind of rubs his face on the mat grunting until he gets frustrated and starts crying. We're working on it!

I think I am in denial about going back to work. I really need to get up there and make my schedule. I am hoping they don't give me any crap about working Friday and Saturday nights for awhile. Luckily, my good friend is a supervisor, and I have pretty good seniority there so cross your fingers they accommodate me.

That's it for now, gotta feed the little guy!

Pictures and a Recipe

This is our little guy wearing his daddy's glasses:

And fresh after a bath yesterday!

He has been a little fussy these last few days, but I think it may be due to his bowel movements (or lack thereof). And he still insists his bedtime is no earlier than 1am. Gotta love him!

As for the recipe, I thought I would share this with the other cooks out there. This is a recipe for cheddar broccoli soup that I made the other day and it turned out divine. I have made a couple other kinds before but they all tasted like crap. This one is the best so far. I think I got the recipe from kraft.com but don't hold me to it! I did change a couple of things to accommodate my supply.

1/2 stick butter
1 small diced onion
1 tbs minced garlic
1/2 tsp ground pepper
16oz frozen chopped broccoli
2 cans chicken broth
1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 c milk
8oz sharp cheddar
salt

Melt butter in a large pan. Cook onion in butter until soft. Add garlic and pepper, cook for 1 min then stir in broccoli and chicken broth. Bring to a boil and simmer until broccoli is tender--approx. 10-15min.

Whisk flour and milk in a separate bowl until dissolved. Slowly pour into soup while stirring frequently until thickened. Reduce heat and stir in cheese until melted. Season with salt to taste and serve!

7 Weeks, The Park, and Crafts

Yes he is already 7 weeks old! Thank you Jesus he is still sleeping 6-8 hours at a time at night...except that he doesn't like to go to bed until about 1am! We are working on that next. He kind of snoozes off and on through the beginning of the day, then is usually wide awake the rest of the evening until bed. And still eating nonstop. I feel like a dairy cow :)

As for crafts, I am almost done working on a wide array of bibs and burp cloths. Most are gifts for other babies, I made a couple for Bradley though. I have been experimenting with different patterns, and fabrics, and stitches...and bias tape! That stuff is kind of hard to do around curves but it looks very nice when you are done. Thanks to Youtube I learned what to do with it.

I embroidered them with the baby's name and on some I added a little picture. I absolutely LOVE my machine!! Best birthday present ever.

If you click on this one ^ you can see the detail better. The two blue bibs aren't done yet, but the pink one is. I put lace around the edge, and ribbon for the tie. Some have asked about patterns...I really didn't use a pattern. I just cut out a basic bib shape for the bibs, and burp cloths are kind of a peanut shape. There are several different ways to do the bibs depending on how you want it to secure in the back. I am making them with ties but you can do snaps, buttons, velcro, etc.

After dinner we went on a family outing to the local park! The weather was actually tolerable and there was a nice breeze.

He may have gotten a little tan out there! After that, Bradley and I headed over to grandma's house to hang out with her and my friend Sara. I showed them the bibs and stuff, then we chatted for a bit before we headed home.

That's it for now! Nick starts his classes on Monday so he will be gone M-F from 8am-4pm. Hopefully my little guy doesn't give me too much trouble while his daddy is gone...

A Breakthrough??

Let me start off with a cute picture of Bradley in an outfit from his Great Aunt Diane in Ohio:

Too cute for words!! Ok the breakthrough...in my last post I mentioned how he had slept 6 hours in a row the night before. Well for the last several nights he has slept 6 hours in row, and then a few more hours after that. And last night he slept *gasp* 8 hours in a row!!! Without fear of jinxing it, I do believe he finally has his nights and days straight! And dare I say no more sleepless nights for me?

This is his little pouty face that he makes when he is throwing a hissy fit. In this picture, Nick was holding him and he was trying to sleep. When Nick would kiss his forehead he would pout and then go back to sleep! Very cute indeed.

My friend Tammi had her baby boy on August 1 and I plan on going to see them this week. I'm sure I will be passing along what Bradley has outgrown to her. I'm pretty sure he's almost 12lbs now.

I recently made another sling that turned out well. I have been looking up patterns and ideas for more things I can sew for him/others. Bibs and burp cloths are pretty easy, and always needed so I plan on going to get supplies for those later today. And with my machine I can embroider and monogram them!

6 Weeks

Not much new except for....last night Bradley slept 6 hours in a row!!! He slept from 10pm until 4am! Unfortunately I again could not shut my brain off and only ended up getting about 5hrs like usual throughout the night. But (knock on wood) the last three nights he has slept better than normal at night and been awake most of the daytime. Could he finally have his days/nights straight??

Yesterday we were a little worried about him. While daddy was at work I noticed that Bradley's left eye had some nasty greenish drainage coming from it. I would clean it off, and it would gunk up again. And he was very fussy all day. When daddy came home for lunch, we decided he felt warm and I took his temp--99.4. So that evening we got some infant Tylenol and gave it to him, and I decided that if his eye was still bad today that we would call the doctor.

Thankfully when I got up this morning, his eye was all better!! He still felt warm and was still very fussy so we gave him a little more Tylenol. Throughout the day he got to feeling better, and was eating nonstop. His grandma Penny, aunt Sarah, and cousin Zoe came to see us today and he was good the whole time--after his tummy got full. His cousin Zoe is almost 7 months old so we've been comparing notes about different milestones to expect. And I've been getting her leftover diapers that are too small! You can never have too many of those.

This evening we left our little man with grandma Kathy so that we could buzz down to Norman and tackle the yardwork at our house that isn't selling. Poor Nick hates mowing that yard because the backyard is very steep and terraced--not to mention it's 100 degrees outside! So while he mowed, I trimmed and swept everything. After a couple of hours we were done so we grabbed some icees and hit the showers before we picked Bradley up. He was very good for his grandma and was famished when he got home!

I tried to put him down around 10:30 tonight but he just layed in the crib and played. I turned on his mobile (which is so cute--he smiles at it!!) but that didn't make him tired either. Then he filled up a diaper...I changed it...still not tired. Ended up having to hold him on the couch with a paci and lull him to sleep. Pray that he sleeps through the night again!!

Postpartum Checkup and a Video!!

Today was my 6 week postpartum checkup, and everything looked great. My OB was happy to see Bradley and said he was a handsome boy. I gave her one of his birth announcements to remember him by! After that, we were going to go to the health department to try and get a copy of his birth certificate, but the line there was insanely long so we left (I will just mail it in!).

Our last stop before lunch was back to where this all began--my reproductive endocrinologist Dr. Haas. He was so happy to see us and gave me a big hug. He said it is nice to see happy endings, and he too went on about how cute Bradley is. We also gave him an announcement and he thanked us for coming to see him.

Isn't he a cutie?? I also posted a video of us playing when he was wide awake the other day.

These are my homemade nursing pads! So far they are turning out pretty good. I made them slightly concave and am using them currently with no complaints. I did just wash some tonight with laundry and I will probably handwash the rest just so the flannel doesn't fray. Otherwise they work out great, and are so cheap compared to store-bought.

Well my little guy kept me up last night and I only got 3 hours of sleep so if you don't mind I'm going to wind down and pray for more rest tonight!!

5 Weeks and More Crafts

The Bradmeister is 5 weeks old today! He is doing very well, and getting cuter by the day. He's a perfect little angel...except for his wacked up sleep schedule!! But hey that's what babies do, right?

So today I went to a fabric outlet and got lots o' fabric to make fancy things. The first thing I fashioned was a sling! I looked up some simple patterns on the internet and made one, kind of as my prototype. I like it, and it's functional, but my next one will probably be a little different. And I need bigger rings--they are hard to find. Here is my little man enjoying being "worn":

Next are some wall decorations. I'm pretty proud of how these turned out. Kind of modern, but what I did is got a pack of 4 10"x12" styrofoam squares at Hobby Lobby. Then at the fabric store I picked a turquoise and brown pattern that matches our bedroom. I cut them to fit and pinned the excess in the back. Then I hammered a nail in the wall and jammed the stryofoam on top and voila--art! I think they turned out quite well. You can do this with any size styrofoam and any fabric pattern to match anything!

The last things I got was some flannel and fleece. I got these because I am going to sew my own reusable nursing pads. I am flying through the disposable ones I got at my shower, and I read on the internet that flannel and fleece are pretty absorbent. So I got some and washed it, and tomorrow I am going to attempt to make those. Shouldn't be too hard, and no one's going to see it but me!

To end the evening, Bradley and I headed to my mother's house to hang out with her for a bit. Bradley was awake the whole time (and is still awake at 11:30pm) and enjoyed looking around.

The Stats

I meant to write a little summary of Bradley's developments on his 1 month post but I forgot to! Today was his checkup at the pediatrician so I'll just post it all now. First things first--his 1 month length and weight are...

11lb 1oz
23 inches

Wow!! That means in only 3 weeks he has gained almost 3lb and grown 1 1/2 inches!! How's that for some super milk, ha!

At 1 month old:

• You usually sleep 2 hours at a time, with an ocassional 3-4 hr here and there
• Your nights and days are still slightly backwards, but we're working on that!
• You are nursing great and having no trouble with that area
• You are becoming the master of diaper blowouts
• You really only cry when you are hungry
• You are not bothered at all by noisy environments
• You love your bouncy chair
• You like when mommy wears you in a sling
• You like when we take you outside

In closing, some of you are familiar with newborns and their backward day/night schedule. Well my little man has been sleeping great during the day and not so great at night. So yesterday we set out to TRY to keep him awake as best we could for most of the day. It was very hard, and let me just say that baby can sleep through almost anything! But we persevered and he didn't nap as much as he would have liked.

So when nighttime came I fed him very well, and put him in his crib around 10:30pm. Now before, he would sleep for MAYBE 2 hours at a time at night, and was fussy when I put him down. Well this time, he passed out when I put him down the first time, and slept great until 1am. I fed him again (sometimes it takes forever) and put him back down at 2:30am. This time he slept until 6:15am. Once again I fed him well and put him back down at 7:30am, and he snoozed great until 11:30!!!

Unfortunately I still have trouble falling back asleep after I've put him down, so I usually lay there for at least 30min each time before I finally go to sleep. But I try to get at least 6hr each night (not all together of course). If only I had an "off" switch so that I could take advantage of the whole time he was sleeping!

Today he has been awake for several hours. He did well at the doctor--no shots this time, but he will get them at his 2 month checkup. I just fed him and he is sleeping so please pray that he keeps his nights/days straight!! It's just better for everyone :)

1 Month Old!

Our big boy is 1 month old today! I do kind of miss being pregnant and having him in my belly, but I'm so glad he's here and I can snuggle him and smell his hair and tickle his feet!! He is a cutie, and a good baby (despite his lack of a sleep schedule yet). My plan is to take a picture of him like this each month, then after he is 1 year, take a picture every 6 months.

He is doing well these days, nothing much new. No signs of colic, and for that I am ever grateful. I read it usually strikes around weeks 3-4, so I'm watching closely what I eat in case that affects it. He is eating good and still only cries when he is hungry or with the occasional upset tummy. His one month checkup is Tuesday and I'm very curious to see how much he weighs now!! I measured him with my tape measure and it looked like he is up to 22in, but we'll see what the doc says.

I finished his picture collage and hung it above his changing table. I also got in the prints from his birth and now I can get started on the next scrapbook. I went to Target the other day and used a gift card to get him some super cute footed PJ's, but they won't be used until this winter. I can't wait for cold weather to get here!!

Hubby is done with his summer classes until August 17, so until then he is here with me except for Thursdays. Unfortunately with it being so blasted hot we really just stay inside (not counting the necessary trips to Walmart). When it cools down finally we are going to get a new charcoal grill and make use of our patio!!

Our First Date Night

Our little man is 3 1/2 weeks old, and tonight was our first date night to dinner with a babysitter!! The occasion was my hubby's 28th bday, and the babysitter was grandma. She was happy to watch him, even though he had a small diaper blowout...she understands.

We got all cleaned up and dropped him off, then we headed out to one our favorite Italian restaurants--Zio's. I had the artichoke spinach pasta with a salad and water, and he had chicken alfredo. We decided to get a little crazy and shared a Bellini afterwards--those are delish! We packed up our leftovers, then walked around a bit at Walmart before heading back to pick up our baby.

This is him passed out on Sunday. I had a surprise bday party for Nick and invited close family to come and have cake/ice cream with us. We had a good time, and Bradley got passed around between all of the relatives. Don't you love his little polo onsie!!??

On the craft front, I finished my pregnancy scrapbook, and I think it turned out quite nice! The next one to do is his birth and coming home pictures. I am waiting on them to come in the mail from Shutterfly. I am also waiting on his birth announcements to come, and as soon as they do I am getting those in the mail.

Remember that elusive black dresser that was out of stock forever? Well I ordered it a couple of weeks ago, and it is now ready to pick up!! We are going to pick it up on Friday, and hopefully get it put together that evening. That way we can get the last of the boxes and chaos out of our bedroom.

3 Weeks and Crafts

Mr. Wonderful is officially 3 weeks old today! All that stuff I said about his sleep schedule last time--throw it out the window! He seems like he is trying to get his nights and days backwards again, and those elusive 3 hour naps are few and far between. I just have to stay tough and stick with putting him down for bed during the night, and trying to keep him active during the day. Wish us luck!

I finally took some cute pictures of him and got his birth announcements ordered! Here are a few of my favorites:

In other news...I have been knocking my craft projects out left and right! And you're lucky b/c I have pictures to show. The first one is of the dresser we got, and his new wall words!

Next is one set of curtains that I fashioned for our bedroom. Simply--nothing fancy. Mostly just to block out the light! They are dark brown and turquoise.

And these are curtains for the kitchen window above the sink.

Also made 4 matching cushions for some old bar stools. These I had to get a little creative with b/c I wanted to be able to remove the foam cushion to wash the covers if needed. So I sewed them with a slipcover-type design and they turned out great!

Last but not least...our boy cat Cuddles has always had the coarsest, longest, thickest coat of fur that would get matted so easily. Finally this summer we had his hair cut and now he looks like a little lion!! I think he really likes it too.