SEW distracting!

So, as I said in a couple of earlier posts... I've been sewing! It's been such a distraction I've let my blogging fall to the side... WHOOPS! I'll do better :)


I've always wanted to learn how to sew. I love all the homemade boutique style clothes. My sister in law's mother (got that?) has always sewn all of her grandchildren's clothes. I always loved to see what Jenny's niece and nephew were wearing because I knew their Grandma made it. Everything was so cute! I told Ben one of my goals was to learn how to sew before we had another baby, but never really made a quick move to learn.


In October I was trying to figure out what Legree should be for Halloween. I decided on Bam Bam because he is little, has the perfect blonde hair and really looks JUST like Bam Bam. All of the outfits I found online were WAY to expensive for me to consider buying them. So, I thought I'd make it. I thought I'd just get some sewing glue and glue all the pieces together since I had NO idea how to sew! Well, the sewing glue DOES NOT work on the material I got. So, I asked my mom if I could use her sewing machine and for her to show me how to sew. Well, my mom hasn't sewn in 15 or more years. But dad got her sewing machine down. My dad got her this sewing machine on their 1 year anniversary (they'll be married 40 years in June!). So, needless to say... the machine didn't work. We tried everything to get that thing going and it would work for awhile, and then nothing. I decided then and there I had to learn how to sew. So, I signed up for a sewing class, Ben bought me my own brand new sewing machine (a very basic but wonderful Brother model).

I was able to sew Legree's Halloween outfit together after a lot of trail and error. It wasn't complex by ANY means, but it took me forever to figure out what I was doing. But it turned out decently and he had a super cute outfit that everyone LOVED!


So, in November I went in for my first sewing class. I was the only one in the class! So, I was able to pick what we did and my instructor walked me through all the basics of sewing. I made a pillow first, then some overalls for Legree and started on a jacket (which to this day I haven't finished because I'm a bum).


Most of Dec. I didn't sew too much because we were so busy with the holidays. I did sew Legree my first real pair of Jon Jons! I was soo proud of them!! I made them in the beginning of Dec and by the time Christmas got close... they were WAY TO small for him :(! I was not happy, but he got to wear them once or twice and they are special to me since they were the first ones I did.

Since then I've made a ton of things. Pants, dresses, appliqued shirts, several Jons Jons, pillowcase rompers, a necklace, the list goes on and on! You know that old says "If you give a man a fish he eats for one night, if you teach him how to fish he can eat forever."... well that's true about sewing! I loved getting handmade things and loved looking at them and wondering how to make them. Now I know! And I can make just about anything I want!!

The only problem is time. I never have enough time to do all the projects I want to do. There are so many swirling in my head. And I've got a list a mile long of outfits I want to make for friends and Legree. I'm trying to focus my sewing ADD and get something done.

So, my biggest goal right now is getting my sewing stuff organized (it's a mess of fabric, pins and utensils all over our kitchen table right now). I can never find what I want when I want it. If everything had a home, that would be much better!! So, I'm going to work on that. I'm also going to make all of Legree clothes for this summer. No, not tshirts or anything. But I'll make all of his shorts and several Jons Jons and he should be set. It'll be much cheaper to make the clothes. And much cuter and more meaningful if I make them!

I really wanted to learn to sew to sell my clothes to friends, family and on ETSY. I still am going back and forth on that. With sewing all of the Legree's clothes, presents etc. I'm not sure I'll have the time to keep up with orders. But Legree is going to be starting 2 year old preschool in the fall, so that will open up more time for me to sew. So, I might start doing it then. We will see!

Here are some pictures of things I've made so far... sorry some of the pics are side ways. I forgot to flip them before uploading and am just too lazy to fix it (at least I'm honest right?).

More sewing udates to come!

"I am fearfully and wonderfully made.."

I know I said I'd do a blog post next on my sewing, and I will do one SOON. However, I've had this stuck in my head the past two days and wanted to write it down.

This verse keeps popping into my head...

"13 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14 I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. " Psalm 139:13-14

No, I am not pregnant. I've been thinking about this in reference to Legree. As Ben and I are TALKING about expanding out family in the near future... it makes me think of the time when I was pregnant with Legree and the whole road to him arriving here with us. He certainly is a miracle and God has been with him every step of the way, from the moment he was concieved and "knit" together in my womb. What an amazing miracle and I feel SO honored that God allowed me to be a part of one of His miracles. It humbles me and makes be feel so special to be such a special part of God's design for human's.

Legree was a bit of a suprise to Ben and I. Well, not a bit...a BIG suprise. We weren't planning on starting a family for a few more months. God had other plans. Looking back I see God's "knitting" in play even before I was pregnant. Ben and I's intense love for each other, my doctor moving offices at the right time so my prescription couldn't get filled when I needed it, etc etc.

I had no idea or even thought that I was really pregnant. When I was 4 days late (I'm NEVER late and took medicine to make me regular in that dept anyways) I thought it was odd, but didn't really think it was possible. I took a test anyways, just in case. The instructions said it took 1-3 minutes for the results. Almost instantly the test said I was pregnant. I thought you had to wait 1-3 minutes for the "real" results because I just knew I wasn't pregnant. After 1 minute I was still pregnant, after 2 I was still pregnant and lo and behold after 3 minutes I was STILL very pregnant.

I found out first thing on a Tuesday morning, election today. I didn't want to call Ben and tell him over the phone. I wanted to be there when he found out, to see his reaction to rejoice in this with him, together. Not hear it. So I waited... I thought about our sweet baby all day and worried about his health. I called Ben about 20 times waiting for him to come home. I kept telling him to hurry. He finally got home, I handed him a box and told him I made him a present. He opened it and found the positive pregnancy test as well as a note that said "Daddy, I'm pregnant! Love, Mommy". He told me he was going to kick me out. LOL, if anyone knows Ben that's SOO him. Such the jokester. Then he grabbed me in a big hug and kissed me! We were suprised, terrified, excited and overjoyed all at the same time! We didn't know what was in store for us!!

When I went in for an ultrasound all was good. The next U/S they found small white spots on Legree's heart. Pretty normal for a baby that far along in the womb, but they can be indications of problems if they are still their further along in your pregnancy. Legree had two dots, anymore then two can a pretty clear sign of a birth defect or abnormality. I was reassured by the dr. that two or less, no biggie and they are usually gone by around 20 weeks and if not they are generally always gone by 24 weeks. When we went in for our 20 week check up, they were still there, but the dr. wasn't worried. Everything was normal. At 24 weeks the "dots" were still there. The dr. still wasn't too terribly worried since their were only 2 and he was SO healthy and everything else looked so great. At 28 weeks I asked if we could do another U/S to see if these dots had gone. The Dr. thought it was a good idea and scheduled an U/S at 30 weeks. I went in and the tech did a very long U/S. The dots were still there. She also found several other alarming "issues". We spoke with our Dr. and found that there were possible problems with his leg size, head size, intestines and some heart issues. Ben and I were both devestated. She scheduled a level 2 ultrasound with a genetic specialist to see if these were issues. An ultrasound after 24 weeks are pretty inaccurate. A highly trained seasoned US tech can mess it up. But from what they were seeing at our Dr's office it was not good. They thought at best there is nothing wrong and the US findings were inaccurate, at worst he could have a genetic abnormality and be disabled or not survive at all. This was on a Friday. The level 2 US was scheduled for a Tuesday. To say this was the hardest weekend of my life is an understatement. I literally spent the entire weekend praying, reading the Bible, crying onto Ben's shoulder and laying in bed wondering what was going to happen to my sweet baby. By the end of the weekend I knew I could handle anything God gave me. I just hoped and prayed that our child was going to survive. The rest, were just details. I know I could have handled it if he hadn't survived, because God would give me the strength but I just couldn't handle thinking about it then.

We went into the Level 2 ultrasound with a meeting planned with the best genetic doctor in the area afterwards to see where we stood. They did an US took LOTS of pictures and took a lot of time reviewing EVERYTHING. Like I said, US this far along have a high precentage rate of being wrong in their findings. The baby is just too big to get correct information sometimes. Anyways, thankfully they found NOTHING wrong with Legree. He was perfectly heathly! I mean not ONE thing wrong with him. The two dots were still on his heart, but they assured me that that was okay and would disapear in time. His intestines were fine, his bone structures were fine, his heart was fine. They told me what I was dying to hear... HE WAS HEALTHY!

God knit this child in my womb. I praise Him everyday for Legree's healthy and vitality! That incident made me appreciate and realize I am not in control of my pregnancy, of my life, of my child's life or over anything really. That everything was in God's hands. I see God's work in this situation too. Some people thought I should be upset or mad for them messing up the US and making me worry so. But I'm so thankful for it. It made me appreciate the Lord and appreciate my son's health SO much more then I ever could have had this not happen. I look back now and I'm pretty sure that time was the closest I've ever been with God. And I see how much it's strengthen my belief in Him and my relationship with Him.

And now I know..."your works are wonderful, I know that full well"

Here's some US pictures from when we found out Legree was a sweet little boy!

19 months and counting..

Legree is 19 months old! Well, almost.. tomorrow he will be 19 months old. I wanted to do a blog post to document what he's been up to! I've been a TERRIBLE blogger lately. I've got to do better! I really want to blog to remember all the little things that change so quickly with having a toddler around. The reason I've been MIA?? Because I've been in a sewing cave! I'll blog more about that later (I promise!). I don't want to forget the beginnings of my love of sewing either :).

But for now, on to the cuteness that is Legree... 19 little updates...

1. Legree no longer wants pancakes for breakfast. He likes yogurt, a banana and grits.
2. He only drinks about one cup of milk a day now. He refuses it and declares "NOOO" everytime I pull his milk out. He does drink a lot of juice and water throughout the day. He also eats his weight in yogurt, so I guess he's still getting his calcium etc.
3. He's wearing size 4 diapers during the day, size 5 at night time.
4. He's in 18 month clothes now
5. He is talking more and more. Some of these words he's said before but is saying them more now. "Truck", "Muno", "Tootie", "Broby" and "Plex" (from Yo Gabba), "Grandma", "John Doe" (John Deere), Chooo choo (train), Ju (juice), "Mote" (Remote), "Girl", "Boy", "pig", "Dog", "Wanna go", "NOOO", "Bubbles", "Drink", "Banana", "Cracker", "Cookie", "Cof Cof" (coffee), "Again", "MEASSE" (Please), "Tant Too" (Thank you), "Baby", "Corn"
6. He loves dancing and talking gibberish all the time!
7. LOVES to watch Yo Gabba Gabba and Tractor movies at Grandma and Grandpas. But mommy has basically cut off all TV during the day. He was getting a little to attached to it for my comfort. So we watch ONE show a day and that's it!
8. Waves bye to us when we put him to bed at night
9. Makes "pretty hands", closes his eyes and bows his head when we pray now.
10. He often asks me in the morning when he wakes up "DADA??" Wanting to know where Ben is. He goes to the bed to see if he's there and then the bathroom (hillarious right?). So, I have to explain to him that daddy is at work
11. Loves to be thrown onto the couch or bed and asks for you to do it over and over again. Daddy does this every night with him. As soon as he lands on the couch, he laughs, said "Again? MEASSE!", backs up to Ben for him to pick him up and throw him again.
12. Pulls us by the finger and points to what he wants CONSTANTLY. If we pick up the wrong thing, he is quick to tell us no and make us keep trying till we get it right.
13. Loves to pick out his own snacks now. Thankfully, he has good eating habits and generally wants corn, yogurt or a banana. Or all three! He also loves peanut butter on a cracker for snacks too.
14. Loves corn with a passion! Especially corn on the cob and often goes to the freezer and begs for corn.
15. Is obsessed with brushing his teeth. He likes to do it but loves for us to brush them too! We think he's getting his back molars in. He's started chewing on everything, a little fussy and drooling everywhere again
16. He is becoming a very good helper. He helps me switch the laundry over, puts away the tupperware when I'm doing dishes and LOVES to help vacuum. He's very good at following instructions and loves to help!!
17. Is a stickler about getting his vitamins every morning. If I forget, he reminds me!
18. Still is obsessed with tractors but is getting into trains now too! He's all boy!
19. Still loves to eat!! Although he has opinions now on what he eats and if he doesnt recognize a food he's hesistant to eat it.

Mommy and Daddy love you Legree! You are so much fun and are SOO SMART!!

A stroke of pure genius...

So, sometimes (not often) but sometimes I have a stroke of pure genius! This is one of those times and I wanted to share the love.

I never know what to make Legree for lunch! I always want him to have healthy well balanced meals and thankfully he's a good eater. But come on.. I don't want to have to cook and clean up after COOKING three meals a day, every !

Lunch seems to be the worst for me. I HATE heating up mac and cheese for lunch every day. Just doesn't seem healthy.. and it makes no sense to make a full healthy meal for just me and him. Sure, some days there are left overs from supper, but not every day.

Spaghetti-os in the can have NO nutritional value and are LOADED with sodium. WAY to much sodium for even my body to handle, much less someone that is only 25 pounds! As is much of the prepacked, processed food this day and age! Are there sometimes when Legree eats greasy McDonald's french fries? YUP! Sure thing! I won't deny him that and it's not bad in MODERATION! But it won't be everyday or even every week for my little guy!

So, OK here's the solution... Premade frozen meals just for Legree! Here's what I did. I brought some Wacky Mac. Fun little colorful noddles made of VEGGIES! AWESOME right? So, they get carbs, protein (from the whole wheat) and a yummy starch that everyone loves!

Then regular old jarred pasta sauce that is chalked full of veggie goodness. I got the Garden Vegetable kind because it's got EXTRA veggies pureed in there. If they have the kind with no salt added, that's even better. The less sodium for the little guys and gals, the better!



So, I cooked the WHOLE BAG of noodles, dumped the sauce in there and added some garlic powder (not garlic salt, but powder... the powder adds flavor without adding sodium). I then took a box of frozen spinach and heated it up. Then I divided it among the bags too. So, on top of all the carrots, tomatoes etc that are in the spaghetti sauce, PLUS the wacky mac veggie noodles he's getting a GREEN LEAFY VEGGIE on top of it! And trust me, he'll eat it because he won't notice it's in there when mixed with all the redness from the spaghetti sauce and he gets SOO many nutrients. I'm doing a little happy mommy dance thinking of the healthfulness (is that a word?) right now!


Then I took one of Legree's bowls that he normally eats out of, filled it up with the wacky mac, spinach and spaghetti sauce mix and then dumped the bowl into a freezer bag! I repeated this SEVEN more times! That's EIGHT HEALTHY meals for this little guy! He eats A LOT more then most kids, so this could probably go up to ten servings for a smaller eater. All I have to do is take one of the bags out of the freezer, reheat it and it's ready to go!

Ohh and wouldn't this be FABULOUS for nights when you have something to eat that your toddler can't have? (Like hot wings for example)... instead of getting something off the kids menu, just give them this, you could even heat it up before you leave the house and give it to them at the restaurant! Ohh I'm loving this more and more!

Ohh and you may be asking where's the protein? What about meat? Well, first off I'm not a big meat eater. Not because I don't believe in it or anything... I do eat it, just not too often. I don't think it's really necessary as long as you are careful to get protein elsewhere. Meat is expensive and not that great in most cases so I make sure that we get protein else where when we don't have meat. Well, whole wheat pasta has A LOT of protein in it (thank you wacky mac) and for those of you who don't know spinach has a ton of protein in it. And what do toddlers drink all day? MILK which is chalked full of protein!! So, we're covered in that dept. too.. no worries!

Here's some pictures of all my meals lined up ready for the freezer and the contents! I might even have to dig into one of these one day myself!!


Hopefully I can think of some more ideas like this and have several different healthy meals to choose from throughout the week... I'll share them as they come to me!

P.S. You can certainly mix the spinach in before you put it in the bag. I just threw it on top and will mix it together when I reheat. No problem-o!

18 months

I just realized today that I didn't do an 18 month post for Legree! WHOOPS! Anyways, here's 18 little facts about our big guy...







1. Wears size 18 month clothes (24 month Pjs! WHOA!)



2. Is 32.5 inches tall and 25 pounds (a HUGE jump and is almost to the average mark for his age. He's been normally in the 5 to 10th percentile for his age)



3. Has 12 teeth (maybe more but I'm to scared to go in and check, I like my finger too much to risk it!)



4. Has started throwing temper tantrums if he doesn't get his way!



5. Has turned into a little monkey and is climbing up and onto EVERYTHING



6. Loves to help mommy do laundry! I take the clothes out of the washer and he puts them in the dryer and shuts the door when we're done. He also helps me unload the dishwasher by putting (throwing) the tupperware in the cabinet. He's understanding and responding to directions more and more!





7. Is just so much fun! He laughs, claps and dances for everything. You are one happy little boy Legree!





8. Loves to read his books. He likes to sit in my lap and for me to read him his tractor books (forget it if it doesn't have tractors in it) and then he reads it back to me.





9. He has started getting interested in the potty. I've been taking Legree to the potty with me so he knows what goes on in there and gets used to the words. He's started "using" the toilet paper(just taking it off the roll and wiping all over his body) and throwing it in the toilet. He also shakes his head yes when I ask him if he wants to use the toilet (but fails to tell me when he needs to go). I've been telling him he's "pooping" when I know he's pooping in hopes he'll come tell me one of these days! I feel like he's still too young for "real" potty training but I'm trying to ease him into it and not rush it but not ignore it either!!





10. LOVES his Papa (my dad) VERY dearly! They are two peas in a pod!! They get coffee together, brush teeth and "shave". He also loves for my mom to rock him to sleep and sing to him and play hide and seek. He loves Ben's mom SO much too! He loves for her to chase him around and watch tractor videos. He's got her wrapped around his little finger! He loves sitting in Ben's dad's lap and reading tractor magazine and pointing to all of the tractors.. it's so cute!





11. He is saying so much more. He said John Deere recently and is starting to say "sentences" now. Like when he eats something he really like he says "Izz zoo goo" (it's so good) or "Com on es go" (come on let's go).





12. It's snowed four times in his short life already! Twice last winter and twice this winter already! I think he knows as much about snow as we do! He sees it and says "sno"





13. He loves Kilo and checks on her several times a day. He laughs at her especially when she gets on our picnic table!





14. He has a new obsession over grapes and apples and constantly wants one or the other.





15. He also currently is obsessed with "juuu" (juice). He wants it and not his milk now!





16. We have been weaning him off of his "baa baa" (pacifier). He's been doing pretty good. He's better at home without Ben around. I think he knows Ben is a sucker and will give it to him!





17. We've been working on manners with him and he's got "please" down pat. But most of the time we still have to prompt him. But he's said it a couple of times this week to me without being prompted. I'm just trying to stay consistence and make him say please for everything he wants so he gets used to it! Ohh and he doesn't really say please... he says "MEAAAASSE" It's so cute! Next up we'll work on thank you but I'm trying to master one thing at a time with him.





18. He is a ham and loves to talk to everyone, wave, shake hands at church and smile at everyone! But he doesn't want to go to just anyone, he still is VERY attached to me in particular but also to Ben, my parents and his parents.

John Deeah

I pointed to a tractor yesterday and asked Legree what is this? Normally he says budin budin... instead he said "John Deeah". I couldn't believe it! I asked him about 4 times and he said it over and over again. Finally he got tired of me asking him and walked off. I've been trying for months now to get him to drop the budin budin and say tractor, instead he picked up John Deeah all on his own! Well, that's the only kind of tractor he recognizes anyways. If it's red or blue he doesn't really care about it! HA! Wanted to document it so when he gets older he'll know his love for all things green and yellow started YOUNG!

You're gonna eat those words one day!

When Legree stays at my parents house he always sleeps in bed with them. Why? Mainly because they let him get away with it. He NEVER, let me repeat, NEVER does that at home! He always lays in his bed, goes right to sleep and never complains or wakes up. He's really the best sleeper ever. But not when he's there! Well, until they let him get in bed with them of course. Which is fine with me, they can spoil him if they want, they are his grandparents! And they love having him close by all night. (Not for me, I need me beauty sleep and getting kicked all night is not my idea of fun).



Anyways, I always pick on mom about it that he only gets up there and it's their fault for spoiling him and that he NEVER EVER gets up at home! Well, what do you know Christmas night Legree woke up at 2 am. I thought something was seriously wrong because, like I said, he never gets up. Nope, nothing was wrong... he just wanted to get up and play with his tractors!! Seriously he screamed till we let him down to get on his new tractor. He was fine, played with it till 6 am and then went back to bed. I couldn't believe it! I deffinately had to eat my words on this one!!





Thankfully, it didn't become an issue and he has slept through the night and hasn't tried to pull that anymore. I guess I can understand all the excitement of all the tractors was too much and he just wanted to play more.





I didn't get a picture at 2 am because well I was exhausted beyond belief. I'm not used to getting up in the middle of the night anymore, but here's a picture from when he first got it... he was so very proud!!