Random Cuteness

What can I say... I love this kid! Here's some funny stuff she's been up to recently. (Captions below pictures.)

Lily found a new found interest in some outgrown toys while they were waiting to head over to her cousin's house. She had so much fun crawling in and out of this collapsed seat. Love these shots of her kicking back with her legs crossed in what some of us used to call her office.

Lily was fascinated with trying on these doll shoes for like three days.

Definitely not her size.

Happy as can be with her toe shoes!

Combing her hair.

Combing Lamby's hair.

Lily loves getting her hands on keys.

 

And apparently she knows what to do with them.

Trying on dresses from Grandma the other night. It's so hard to choose...

Red does suit me!

 I got the can't decide which dress choosin' blues....

Maybe I'll sleep on it.

Let's add one of these lovely hats.

Now that's a unique ensemble.

Runway here I come!

Love Affair with Quilts

This is the quilt that started it all. Created by my mother's grandmother with the help of my granddad when he was young. My mom slept with this on her bed growing up. When I first saw this I knew I had to have one of these, had to learn how to make one! I used to lie on it and look at all the different prints of the fabric to pick out my favorites. As the youngest child, and especially with older brothers - you learn not to expect first pick or leftovers of anything super yummy (which quilts are to me). So I figured probably the only way I would ever own a quilt was to make one myself! That and my mom's coaching is what started my interest in sewing.

 

 

I love it. I love how all the fabrics though so different harmonize together because of the white backgrounds and relatively similar size prints, and the solid purple and white used with them. And the beautiful hand quilting pattern that echoes the design in places and gets more elaborate in others, and is added to by the hand of age to make it only more beautiful.

I don't know if I will ever have the patience to quilt this well, but I wish! It has totally influenced me. I'm always drawn to vintage reproduction fabrics that bring this quilt to my mind. The fabric looks like it could have been saved from cloth feedsacks from the early 1900's. And I love hand quilting - especially if it has curves. The hand quilting around the edge of this quilt looks like hills or glowing suns. It just makes me think of lovely cheerful things, which funnily enough is typical of a lot of things produced in the depression era. And yes, funnily is a word!

 

This is just a little manifestation of the old-fashioned girl in me. I think it's funny that people only expect grandma's to be able to - or to like to quilt. Quilts are so cool because they are artistic and useful, something with a history attached - to be treasured and passed down. Admired for their unique beauty, but not from afar - and not just to be admired! Great to cuddle up with and meant to keep you warm. My mom had this out for my niece Evie to sleep under just the other night, so I had to snap some photos and couldn't help but share! Doesn't it rock!?

Making New Friends

Who knew you could make new friends when you're shut up in a room avoiding everybody...? Well I did. Meet my new friends Owl and Turtle.

  

These are my presents to myself - made with a Simplicity pattern out of leftover fabric I had from quilt projects. They were both so cute I just couldn't decide between them - so I made two. I was in desperate need of a new pincushion. The old one I was using was ugly and disfunctional, totally top heavy and constantly tipping over - a pincushion in a cheap mini basket with part of a bunny's dress hot glued to the side where I cut off the bunny years ago - blah. So I am very happy to have these new pals holding my pins for me.

If there is one good thing about having to be away from my family for a week it was having time to plug away at my backlog of sewing projects. I also made a new ironing board cover and a Christmas stocking for Lily since of course I didn't get around to that last year. I decided to get a different fabric for part of it so I'll wait to post a picture when it's finished.  

I am most excited to announce that I finally finished Lily's quilt!!! I had the top done and ready to quilt before the little lady was born with the mistaken idea that I would have plenty of time to finish it up during her endless baby naps. Wrong! - my baby hardly took naps in the day, and if she did - they were not long and I was either tackling laundry or napping myself. Makes me super grateful for the one 2 hour nap she now takes regularly each day. 

Anyway, now she will be getting her quilt for Christmas. I have been on the verge of finishing this for ages, but other projects with deadlines kept cropping up, like a special family tree birthday quilt for my mom, and Halloween costumes of course - not to mention life! I just needed some focus time - so I took my opportunity!

Here it is - the pattern is snails trail. I love the name, and it just seemed like such a fun swirly kooky pattern perfect for a baby. If I had my way I would have used reproduction baby prints from the depression era, but they are hard to find and expensive, and I wanted all the colors to harmonize. I love quilts and have always looked forward to making them for my own children. So excited to be done with this one!

(The purple in the background is a different quilt it's just sitting on.)

Growing a little

So being away from Lily for one week I was amazed at how much she grew! She can almost turn the doorknobs. She is talking more and communicating more in her own way. And she looked different! I had forgotten how beautiful she is. It really struck me, anyway, when I saw her again. Pictures are cute, but her smile in person! and her sweetness just about knocked me over I missed it so much!

Lily has taken to grabbing someone's hand and leading them off to explain what she wants from them. We have a mini fridge in a cabinet in my parents kitchen. Lily took Grandma's hand, led her over to the cabinet, opened the door, opened the fridge door, pointed to the watermelon on the shelf and said "I wantdat." She got what she wanted and was quite content.

On Monday my sweet sister-in-law Rebecca was watching her over at her house in the morning. Lily said "Hand!" grabbed Rebecca's hand, led her over to her car seat by the door, said "Seat", led her out to the car, and out at the car said, "Home?"

Mike took Lily to the Legoland Aquarum and the Wild Animal Park while he was acting the role of single dad, and got her to say 'sting ray' and 'shark' and some other fish and animal words I hadn't heard her say before but can't remember. 

She did really well overall I think, but I'm glad to know she missed me, and Mike definitely missed me. I can't wait until I can just hug and hug her without worrying about exposing her to extra radiation. I'd rather be overcautious than feel like I didn't do everything I could to protect her from going through what I am now. I just hope she will still want to snuggle with me after not getting to this long!*  
 *A couple of weeks is longer when you're only 16 mos old, and to a mom apart from your kid at any age!

Life gives you lemons

So I wasn't really going to talk about this on my blog... or much to anyone, because really I am so lucky and I am not looking for a pity party. Displays of sympathy always make me cry. Not that I don't want comfort and people to be loving to me because of course I want that, I also didn't want to draw attention to the lame stuff that is happening to me and have that be the only thing people want to talk to me about. I'm not very good at explaining why I was hesitant to share this, so hopefully any of you who reads this can just try to sympathize and understand. Just don't give me the sympathy face if I am talking to you about anything emotional or I will cry! Cracking a joke would be much better (...but don't be surprised if I still cry).

Anyway, it's too hard not to share this kind of stuff when you live in a community of people who care about you and you accept so much help from them. Since this is kind of like my journal it doesn't make sense to leave such a major thing that's happened to me out of it. Especially when I want to express my gratitude to all the people who have helped me and sent kind thoughts my way. I think it is good to share our trials so we can comfort and help others who experience similar things.

So in case you were wondering...

I was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism or Graves disease. My body for some reason decided to produce anti-bodies to my thyroid and attack it. A lovely new friend of mine who has graves says if you're going to have an autoimmune disease this is the one to have because it is so treatable. I know everybody goes through some kind of health problem in their life, still I have had a hard time accepting that this was happening to me and wasn't just going to go away.

Since my mom had thyroid cancer (actually when she was pregnant with me) I've always asked my doctor to check my thyroid. So I found out something was up pretty early on before I really had much sign of it. I probably had a genetic predisposition to thyroid issues. My doctor now wonders if my mom had graves disease as well. After lots of testing it looks like I do not have cancer, but my thyroid is producing too high which isn't so good for you. It can put a lot of stress on your heart and other important organs and cause a lot of different complications. It's like you're body is running in overdrive. It's actually a pretty common thing for women to have thyroid issues after having children - because of the stress it puts on your body. And some of the symptoms of it are pretty hard to spot because they can be attributed to pregnancy and recuperating from childbirth and being tired and overwhelmed taking care of a new baby.

So there were a few options to get my thyroid back down to where it should be, and after looking into it and praying about it seriously I decided to do radioactive iodine treatment. It seemed like the best thing to for me since I want to have more kids and I've read studies about the thyroid suppressing drugs adversely affecting the fetus, and too low or too high of a thyroid can be bad during pregnancy as well. The thyroid supplement I will eventually have to take has no adverse effects, and there haven't been any signs of the radioactive treatment causing birth defects as long as you wait a sufficient time afterward to get pregnant.

Right now I just have to keep my distance from Lily for another week or so. That is the hardest thing about this. She is at this phase where she just wants to follow me around. And of course I love to cuddle her too! The other hardest thing is doubt - did I make the right decision? I just did something to kill off my thyroid!  So I've been a little sad, and worried about what this means for my health in the future. I just have to remind myself that my body was on the way to killing off my thyroid on it's own. I am so grateful to have priesthood blessings available to me to help me through this. At least this was discovered and I can take care of it before having the more severe symptoms. My mom hasn't even had a thyroid since before I was born has had pretty good health.

So thank you thank you thank you to Gloria for letting me stay in your spare room last week. I had so much fun chatting with you from across the room! And thank you to everyone who is helping me to keep Lily fed and occupied this week while Mike is working so I can maintain some distance from her a little longer until the radiation wears off. I am especially grateful for my wonderful supportive family who help me and love me unconditionally. I have the most amazing husband and the most amazing mom. Trials just come to show you how lucky you are.

Little Squeaky

Lily loves to help her dad fold his Squeaky Clean rags. I know this video is long... but it's so cute to me and to Lily's grandmas, I'm sure :)

Yikes!

We've got a climber!

 

I don't think so little daredevil!

Oooh Fun!

Check out this cool giveaway over on  Cut.Sew.Repeat  the cutest handmade stuff on Etsy! I would totally love this adorable chef set for Lily! Don't you think she'd make the cutest little chef?

Allison is an awesome seamstress. I've seen some stuff she made for a baby shower and it was absolutely perfect. I totally feel the same way about the need to create - it's human nature, it's my nature - life just wouldn't be living without it! Go check out the amazing stuff she's made!

Just because

Most of you don't get to see this side:  

Having a baby is not all smiles. (It totally caught me off guard how hard it is - as anyone who saw me in those first few months could probably tell!) However, as I went through my photos of Lily to find these grouchies it totally made me smile! She's my angel and always will be through good times and bad. I'm lucky to have such a good happy kid, she really is a sweetheart a majority of the time. It occurred to me one day..."When you're having a bad day with your little one - just remember: at least you know how to wipe your own butt." I think we sometimes forget how rough kids have it. Yeah their job is to play all day and they don't have to clean up most of their messes, but it's tough being small and having to rely so much on someone else, and to adapt to so much that is new and constantly changing. I definitely tend to have a hard time with that last one. Kids are amazing in so many ways and it's no surprise the Savior counseled us to be like children.

I'm so thankful to have Lily for a daughter. Today has been especially enjoyable. I think with the medical issues I've been going through, and knowing I won't get to be around her all next week :( it's just in my mind to kiss and hug, and enjoy her as much as I can these next few days. I love this little girl!

Lullaby Encore

One of my favorite things about being a mom has been singing to my sweet baby. A captive audience - Ha ha! I don't have the greatest voice, but I've always loved to sing. I even used to make songs up as a kid. Some of them actually weren't half bad. Anyway, I've totally been expecting Lily to start protesting at being sung to as she was exposed to more quality music, and as she realizes she doesn't have to sit and put up with listening to me. Imagine my surprise when I'm rocking her in the dark after story time the other night, and as I've just paused from finishing a song - Lily asks for more! She says, "Song, song" (in her cute little questioning voice) until I sing her another. I was delighted! So, yeah - I know she's probably just trying to extend the bedtime routine a bit...but that's ok by me because I love that part of bedtime. Even more so since Mike has taken over some nights. I love cuddling with my sweet little daughter and helping her to relax at the end of the day, and it's so nice to think she enjoys that time with me too!

 

Trunk or Treating!

We hit up two Halloween celebrations this Saturday. My brother and his wife were on the Activities commitee for their trunk or treat and all of my family was going to be there so after checking out the scene at our ward's combined party, doing a little fishing, a little chit-chatting and getting our photo with a spooky backdrop, we ended the night over at the other party. 

We had so much fun, there are quite a few Yo Gabba Gabba fans out there though most of the people without kids had no idea who we were supposed to be. Lily even won the costume contest for the 6 year and under group at the second trunk or treat! She got a baby cactus and a big sparkly character lollipop. I think Mike had a good chance to win among the adult set, but they ended the contest with the teenagers. My sister-in-law Rebecca probably would've won if they'd held the adult one - or tied with Andrew. She made an awesome Ursula with Andrew as King Tritan and Evie as the Ariel from the Little Mermaid. They should totally do an award for the best family of costumes next year because there were a lot of families all dressed up together. I didn't get a good shot of them, but I found one from facebook to post because their costumes rocked! Or you can head over to ARE we having fun yet? on my blog list to see Rebecca's posted pictures.

Here are our pictures from the night!

 

 

 

 

Andrew and Rebecca
 
My niece 'Ariel' and nephew 'Max'

My niece baby 'Ruby'

 

 

 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN 2009!