Baby Pics

When I posted The Little Mister's one month photos last week, 

I said I'd post some more photos of him, so here you go :)

Snuggling a few minutes after TLM was born. I'm not actually sleeping- I just closed my eyes because I thought it'd look better, not realizing it made me look like I was sleeping.

A few hours later, my mom brought LMS to see her new baby brother. Can you tell she's happy?   :)

Mr M, TLM, and me a few hours after TLM was born

Mr M, TLM, me, and LMS

Me and The Little Mister, snuggling while we wait to be discharged

For comparison, I scanned in some photos from when Little Miss Sunshine was born seven and a half years ago.

Mr M, LMS, and me not long after she was born

LMS making sure no one took away her pacifier, the day we took her home

snuggling :)

Sunday Funny

While traveling across Wyoming on our road trip this summer, we stopped at Little America for 50 cent ice cream cones. I'm pretty sure they were only 10 cents when I was a kid, but they went up to 25 cents when I was in college. 

Anyway, LMS found a new friend on our way in.

wait, mom, take a picture!

nice dinosaur!

yee haw!

{hugs}

if you thought dinosaurs weren't snuggly, you'd be wrong :)

Fall Soccer Season

Fall soccer finished several weeks ago, but I haven't had a chance to write about it till now.

I almost didn't sign her up, what with being pregnant and due in the middle of the season. Knowing the league is low-key and low-stress allowed us to make the decision to sign her up still, even if we didn't make it to every single practice and game.

We definitely weren't as engaged this season- we missed several practices because LMS was too tired after getting home from spending the day in the woods and I was pretty tired too, so I didn't push the issue too much.

When she did go, the improvement she's made was quite obvious. She was much less timid and more willing to get in the group and kick the ball. It was fun seeing her be more aggressive in her play- I think actually being able to kick the ball helped her realize the benefit of going after the ball. She still daydreamed a bit if hanging back on defense with nothing to do, but all the kids did, and I don't blame them. It's hard to stay interested when the ball isn't in your area :)

receiving her end of season trophy

love all the pinks and purples :)

A Few More Photos From Our Road Trip This Summer

While we were on our road trip, Mr M spent a couple weeks doing drill. So LMS and I had fun shopping, sight seeing, and visiting with friends and cousins.

We drove around Provo and took pictures of the apartments I lived in before Mr M and I got married and the apartments we lived in after we got married. Then we visited BYU campus. Wow, has it changed a lot!

We got to spend some time with my sister and her kids. While there, LMS got to go swimming with her cousins. For some reason, LMS decided to jump off the diving board while wearing all her snorkel gear. Whatever floats her boat :)

And we got to go to the Pioneer Day parade with them. This was LMS' first time going to a Pioneer Day parade since she's never lived in Utah or any of the other places that actually celebrate Pioneer Day.

LMS with Cousins N and A

We also got to hang out with my friend K, who I've known for forever (I think I was 13 and she was 12?). LMS and her son had a lot of fun playing together while we caught up.

When I told LMS it was time to go, they climbed up the jungle gym and hugged each other in hopes I wouldn't make her go. Sadly, it didn't work out for them- we still had to leave :)

We had lots of fun on our trip!

One Month Old!

Yep, our little cutie is one month old already. How has that much time passed already?

LMS holding TLM a few hours after he was born. 

I posted a few pictures here, and have some more I'll post soon.

For comparison, here's the little guy at 2 weeks old. 

He's already filling out, getting chubby, and looking older.

He's a real sweetie and so much fun to snuggle.  He's pretty calm, but doesn't hesitate to let us know when he's hungry or needs his diaper changed :) He's starting to sleep better at night, but still prefers to fall asleep while being held. Good for him, not so good for me, but we're working on changing that. We're so happy he's a part of our family!

Halloween 5k

I wasn't planning on doing the Halloween race this year, but Mr M had drill and LMS wanted to do it, so I decided I'd walk it with TLM in the carrier.

Last year LMS and I wore matching outfits rather than costumes. This year I planned Halloween costumes that could also be worn in the race. Definitely a good plan on my part.

LMS wore her Madeline costume 

TLM and I wore our tree & owl costume. I made the tree two years ago and the owl this year.

LMS finished in 49:48, I was just behind her at 50:00. This doesn't accurately reflect the fact that for the majority of the race I was holding her hand and encouraging, and at times gently pulling her along. She did decide to start the race at a run, though, and went a decent distance before stopping to walk, at which point I caught up to her.

I walked the whole thing, though it was a fast walk. LMS didn't appreciate my speed toward the end, she kept wanting me to slow down. TLM slept the whole time. I figured he would- so far every time I've put him in the carrier he's conked right out and stayed asleep even through me removing him and putting him back in his car seat.

I convinced LMS to jog to the finish line, which is why she finished ahead of me :)

I haven't trained at all since the Four Miler the last weekend of August, unless you count the 45 minutes I spent on the treadmill the day before TLM was born (more on that in another post), and I felt good during the race. Afterwards my pelvic area was a bit sore- I've been so sedentary lately that the muscles just aren't used to being used, plus they're still recovering from pushing out The Little Mister :)  They got sore a week or so ago after I ran a bunch of errands one afternoon, so I was expecting the soreness.

I won the Best Costume! Having an actual baby in the owl won me huge bonus points :) It was a pretty nice prize, too: a bluetooth-enabled wireless speaker donated by one of the race sponsors. I'm looking forward to using it at our homeschool station.

Old House Flashback

I still have a couple posts left about our summer road trip. Here's one of them.

We made one last stop on our way home on our road trip this summer.

Last summer LMS and I stopped by the house my family lived in for a year when I was in elementary school. This summer we stopped by the house my family lived in when I was in jr high and high school.

Unlike the house last summer, I do have some half-way decent photos of this house. This is one I took when I was in high school. It's a bit grainy from being scanned in. I definitely didn't have a digital camera back then...

This is an aerial photo that some guy did. Apparently he'd fly over farms, taking photos, then go to the farms and try to sell the photos. This is pretty much the opposite of the picture above, which shows the front of the house. This photo shows the back of the house, the barn, the pole barn, and a garage.

This house was built in 1888 and had had some work done on it over the years, but it wasn't a super-up-to-date house. It had one bathroom (built in the addition on the left side of the house, along with the kitchen) that had a blood red sink in it. The trim and closet doors were also blood red. Really not sure why anyone would want a blood red bathroom. Of course, the wall paper in the kitchen was pretty hideous, too, so there's no accounting for some people's taste.

Anyway, the house wasn't as cool as the one we visited last summer (no dumbwaiter or walk-up attic), but it had lots of space in the yard and several outbuildings that we were able to use.

I took these photos as we drove past. We had the trailer hooked up, so couldn't just pull into the driveway and back out again like we did last year. Drive-by pictures don't always turn out well :)

As you can see, the giant old trees have all been cut down, which is sad. One actually came down in a storm while we were living there, so it's not surprising that the rest have come down in the 15+ years since then. The cool wrought iron fence hasn't been kept up very well, either. It looks like the front door actually gets some use now (we never used it), and they've added a porch over it. I really like the shutters they've added, but I think the porch is kind of ugly.

You can just barely see a sliver of the garage between the tree and the side of the truck window, and now that I'm staring at it, it looks like a new garage with two bays. The old garage held one car and opened on a different wall. Wish I'd noticed this while we were there. Hmmm. Anyway, we used to get ice storms in the winter, and I remember one winter there was thick enough ice on the driveway for us to ice skate on it. So fun!

* * * * * * *

An interesting (maybe?) fact:

It was right about at that bush that I got hit by a van while running when I was in ninth grade.

This was my first time being back in the area in 16 years and I was surprised at how much I remembered, what was still there, and what had changed.

Owl and Tree Costume - A Mom and Baby Costume

yes, The Little Mister is in there :)

This year I had planned on doing matched costumes for Mr M and I, but then realized I really needed a costume that would allow me to keep TLM with me in the carrier, and my original idea just wouldn't work.

After doing some googling, looking for costume ideas for babies in front carriers, I finally found an idea  I liked here for an owl. I found quite a few ideas for babies in back carriers, but for some reason I just couldn't find very many for front carriers. Luckily this idea was one I could work with.

Two years ago I made a tree costume for the Halloween 5k I participated in, and I still had the costume, so I became the tree for TLM's owl to sit in.

The inspiration photo had an owl hat for the child to wear, but since TLM is so young, I've been keeping the hood of the carrier up to keep him more isolated when we're out running errands. Instead of a hat for him, I made an owl head to cover the hood of the carrier. 

This turned out to be a pretty easy project. I spent a bit of time cutting out feathers from various colored sheets of felt, then figured out how I wanted it all laid out. Once I had that down, I started at the bottom row of feathers and hot glued each one to an old tan polo shirt that I had sitting in my stash.

I also hot-glued the ribbons that attach it to the carrier and the brown fabric owl head to the old shirt I used as the base of the owl body.

The back isn't pretty, but it's functional, and you can see how I attached everything. I used hot glue to "hem" the cut edges of the shirt so they wouldn't show.

Before putting the carrier on, I attached the owl to it using the ribbons. The gray ribbons velcro around the waist strap, the cream ribbons tie around the shoulder straps, and the brown ribbons for the hood loop through the purse straps (I have a Boba carrier, and I'll be doing a post about it later). Once the owl was attached and the carrier buckled on I could put TLM inside. 

The carrier straps cover some of my felt tree leaves, but you get the idea.

I think it turned out great, and apparently so do others :)  I've used the outfit twice already and have gotten lots of compliments on it. The extra layers from the shirt and felt also help keep TLM warm when we're outside in the chilly October weather- bonus!

Madeline Halloween Costume

channeling "Madeline and the Bad Hat"

While I was working on projects before TLM was born, I started on LMS' Halloween costume. After some searching online for ideas that would be easy to do, I decided on Madeline. I'd make the blue jacket, find a hat, and we'd be good. And it mostly worked out that way :)

I used last year's Princess Buttercup costume pattern to make an updated pattern. I shortened the length and made it a little wider in the torso area. I didn't take any more in-progress photos because I always forget that part. I'll point out the various details a little further down in the post.

After checking all the local stores for a hat that would work and not having any success, I found this one on ebay.

I hot glued some black ribbon over the existing black ribbon, then made a bow with long tails for the back.

I also hot-glued some round elastic inside the hat to hold it on LMS' head better. The hat fit fine without it, but with all the various activities that she'd be wearing it at I figured the elastic would make life easier, and it totally did.

The completed jacket, hat and a pair of ivory fleece gloves. I'd wanted some white knit gloves for her to wear, but couldn't find any, so we went with the fleece ones instead.

--  I used the pattern I showed above for the jacket body, then made a cape to go on top. I sewed the two together at the neckline. I just used blue fleece- I figured it'd be easy to work with and would keep LMS nice and warm. The edges don't actually need to be hemmed, but I hemmed the bottom to give it weight so it would hang nicely. I didn't want the edge of the cape to be too bulky so I left it alone.

--  I ended up cutting the sleeves a smidge too short (not sure how that happened), so I added cuffs to make them longer. 

--  I sewed a piece of fleece to the front edge to make a placket where the buttons and button holes are. 

--  I used white fabric (leftover from the Princess Leia dress two years ago) to make a peter pan color and red fabric (from last year's Princess Bride dress) for the tie.  The tie is completely non-functional and is sewn on so that the jacket opens completely at the neckline. There's a piece of velcro instead of a button at the neckline to make it easily adjustable.

--  And then because I'm OCD and don't already have enough to worry about, I sewed ricrac to the jacket hem, the edge of the cape, and on the sleeves. Unnecessary, but I like the extra bit of detail it adds.

We completed the look with white bobby socks and black mary janes.

LMS insisted I take photos from all sides, so here's some poses (ok, mommy take a picture with me like this!) that show her outfit pretty well.

Demonstrating her "Madeline walk"- slow and careful, since that's how you walk when you go everywhere in two straight lines with 11 other girls :)

The last few photos are LMS being silly and having fun posing for the camera.

I finished the main construction of the costume before TLM was born, but didn't get the details done till last week, just in time for the ward Halloween activity and the Halloween 5k (more on the 5k later this week). If I wasn't such a perfectionist about the details I could have finished it a lot sooner, but that just doesn't work for me :) I'm very happy with how it turned out and LMS really likes her Madeline costume.