Snow Day

The snow fell last night and we got another snow day. I have mixed feelings. William has not been feeling good so I planned on staying home with him but we were recently told that we will have to make up our snow days at the end of the year. This means that Mommy will not be done with school before William's first birthday. :( Anyway we are taking the time and having some fun.

So Little

Our neighbors had a baby a week or so ago and I went over to see him the other day. Wow, I do not remember our little guy being so little. It is weird now to see a baby that was a pound heavier than our little guy. So I have been itching to make another sling, so I offered to make Kristen a sling for her little guy. I bought returned target curtains, from goodwill, which happen to be a little over 2 yards long. I then went to fields (my new favorite place) and got a fabric that I thought was really cute! and went to work. The sling I have for William is nice but i really wish it had a pocket and a place to hang my keys so I made one for Kristen that had both. I think it turned out really cute. I wish I knew what my cousin was having so I could pick out gender specific fabric. I am hoping for a snow day this week so I can make another sling and finish up the hooded towels I have been looking forward to making.

Dusted Off the Sewing Machine

I got out the sewing machine this weekend. I wanted a sling for my chuncky little baby now that we can not carry him in the infant carseat. I looked up instructions online and went shopping with my mom-in-law and got some cute material and put one together. When you buy the fabric it makes two so I made one for us and one for my cousin who is due in July.

I was then inspired to make a hooded bath towel. I was given one for William when he was born and it was heavy duty and big. I found some new towels (2 towels, 2 hand towels and 2 washcloths) on clearance. I bought yellow and green. I made one with a washcloth. It turned out okay. We will keep that one to use with William. (poor kid gets all the screw up stuff). Then made a yellow one for my cousin. I also ordered some towels from overstock.com and they should be here soon. 4 towel: one for William Magee, one for Brody, one for Bobby and one for Scotty. I am looking for some boy ribbon to put along the front or the sides of the boys. * by looking I mean it is on my list of things to do when Kurt is watching William.*

I then saw a website that gives ideas of things to do with old clothes. I am planning on making William a fleece lined wool hat. I bought the perfect sweater at GW's for 3 bucks. That is something I will tackle this weekend or sometime this week.

I am finding that I have to just make time to do these things, otherwise there would be no time. I am loving it.

Another Thought At Mass

Today at Mass we heard the scripture about Eli and Samuel. The story is about Samuel hearing someone in the night and running ingto Eli's room and saying I am here. Eli responds just as most parents (although ELi was not Samuel's father) would. "I did not call you go back to bed! It is the middle of the night!" It happens again and Samuel again runs back to Eli waking him up again. Eli finally tells Samuel, " Go back to bed and if you hear the call again, it is God talk to him." I do believe that God speaks to us and the story is possible. Having been in a situation similar to Eli I wonder if it was just Eli's way of getting a good nights sleep. It must have worked because Samuel does not return. Maybe because he does not want to wake Eli again or maybe his conversation with God was fruitful and send him back to sleep. Just random thoughts, another angle to the same scriptures.

Mommy's Day Out

Okay so I am a dork and very much enjoy thrift shopping. I think it is because I like to see what other people get rid of, what other people buy and what I can get a good deal on. It always makes me laugh looking through the books. A million copies of What to Expect When You Are Expecting, Purpose Driven Life, Chicken Soup for every soul, and a slew of romance novels. I flash back to the past when I see things like Caboodles in neon colors, floppy disks, computer games that must run on Windows 93, and VHS tapes of movies from my childhood. Every once in a while I find something that catches my eye. Ususally I do not go into Gw's looking for something in particular...you just can never predict what you will find, but I always manage to walk out (payign first of course) with some little treasure.
I enjoy consignment shops as well but they tend to be a little more pricey. When purusing a consignment shop like Once Upon A Child, i can not help but think " I can not wait til we are done having kids and I can cash in all his stuff. But then I think by the time that happens 7 kids will have worn it and a consignment shop would not want it!
More recently I have ventured into the lowest thrift shops. The kind run by a group of old woman who are making money for a charitable organizations. I never liked them before. Too much junk and a small selection but recently I have been shopping for Science Olympiad and have been looking for junk. Goodwill does not sell enough junk, it is sorted too much before it reaches the floor.
I had a great time and found some great stuff for baby cakes.

Guitar Baby

I have wanted to take a picture of William in this outfit for awhile now and I finally put it on him today and said "today is the day because this shirt is not fitting tomorrow!" He is growing so fast! So here is William with Daddy's Wii guitar!

Learning to Sleep and An Epiphany

Kurt and I have been struggling with how to help William go to bed on his own without him feeling like we have abandoned him forever. We of course tried a few other methods with no sucsess. So we ordered a DVD and watched it with William (like he cared) and tried it out. Tonight was rough but hopefully tomorrow will be better. No one tells you about these things or maybe they do and we assume that our kid will be different! They are not and they will not be.

We had Mass today at school and we celebrated Epiphany (always use the weekend readings) and the church was adorned with a nativity and a banner depicting Mary and Joseph and an angel and a little baby in a trough. And I could not help but think about what it was really like. Most likely Mary did not just set her baby in a trough and stare at him as most statues illistrate. ( I get that they are statues and show one moment in time.) I was also thinking about the three wise men visiting and how that must have made Mary feel. Three strange, not commonly excepted men coming, uninvited, after giving birth without pain meds and while adjusting to the crazy birth hormones. I am sure the gifts were a buffer but I am not sure that she would be welcoming them in with open arms! Then some random shepherds show up at the door and say "hey we wanted to check out your kid, we were told he was God." And although I am aware that the little drummer boy has no biblical merit, if some little kid had come banging on a drum. I would have smiled sure, but would have been thinking where in the world is your mother! I just wonder what that event was really like.