Do it Yourself Crib Sheet

If you have been reading my blog you know that I am attempting to sew some of my crib bedding in order to save some $$$! So far I have finished the crib sheet and the curtain! They were both relatively easy (and I am a beginner) and they each took just one evening! I now have the crib skirt and quilt left...which are the most intimidating to me!

I did buy a pattern but really didn't use it at all! I found some good tutorials on-line and they were the most helpful! Patterns to me are like reading a foreign language (even the ones that are supposed to be for dummies!)

Here are my steps:

1. Wash and dry your fabric so it will shrink before you sew it!

2. Cut a 45 by 70 inch rectangle. (I found several different measurements on-line!)

3. Cut out a 9 inch square out of paper of scrap fabric for a template! (I also found several diff. sizes for this too!)

4. Cut a 9 inch square out of each of the four corners. Your sheet will look like this.

5. Iron your ends under all around! There is a fancy sewing term for this....but just fold 1/4 under and iron and then 1/4 under again so that when you sew there will be no stray ends to fray.

6. Sew around your sheet.

7. Now for a french seem. This is a fancy way to say a way to have a good closed seem. You are going to sew parts where you cut out the squares to forms the pockets of your sheet! You sew the the two right sides tog. which feels like you are really messing up. Then trim any excess. Flip to the back and sew the wrong sides. When you open it...it will be right!

8.Elastic! This was the part I was the most unsure about as i have had very little exp. using elastic. You cut (4) 10 inch strips of 1/4 in. elastic. You will fold the elastic in half and match the middle of the elastic to the french seem you just created! Start in the middle and use a zig-zag stitch and sew over the elastic as you pull it! This is all you do. Make sure to back stitch your ends. Do this to each corner.

9. You now have a crib sheet! Woo Hoo!

22 Months Today!

This was about the best picture I could get! It is hard to get a decent picture of a busy little one!

Ella is 22 months today and I cannot believe how fast it is going. It seems like the months and years just fly! She is such a joy to her daddy and I. She is growing, learning and changing so much!

Ella at 22 months:

-is talking all the time! I love when she says "dank do mommy!"

-Is super apologetic! Anytime she gets in trouble it is soon followed by "sorry!" She sometimes gets sorry and excuse me confused and if she bumps into something always says "sorry!" I hope she will always be sensitive like this!

-She loves to be outside and is super energetic!

-She loves to help her daddy! She always tells me she is gonna help daddy work! They take out the trash and he lets her help him fix things around the house. He is so patient with her and gives her a screw driver and lets her help! Maybe she'll be handy like her daddy!

-She loves playing with her babies. She is really starting to pretend play! I love to watch it! The other day her baby got in trouble and she put her in time-out! It was hilarious because in a firm little voice she told the baby to sit...walked away and told me that baby was sad. She then went back to the door (our time-out spot) asked baby if she was happy....got the baby up and hugged and kissed it! She was copying me to a T! Can you tell we have done this a lot!

-She is still a picky eater! She loves apples, mac and cheese some days, chicken some days, veggie straws from costco, oranges, cherries, and well...that is about it. She has a mind of her own when it comes to eating and has from day 1! This is always stressful for mommy!

-She knows our town and where things are. She knows where to turn for church, her grandparents house, target, wal-mart, her cousins house, the doctor, etc.

-She loves to for us to sing! Her favorites are "If your happy and you know it!" and "Love somebody!"

-She is now praying at our meals (copying our words) which is so sweet to hear.

-She loves to look at her scrapbook and pulls it out almost everyday! She also likes to look at Sam-ewls and tells us Jesus which means he lives with Jesus! I love that this is just common understanding to her.

We love her and thank the Lord everyday for blessing us with her. The wait for her was long and painful, but was so worth it! I am so thankful that the Lord waited and gave us her. I am thankful that God knows what he is doing when he blesses with children. I am thankful he has a plan for us and also a plan for ella. I cannot wait to see what the Lord will do in and through her as she grows to know Him!

28 weeks

This pregnancy is moving along! I am excited to be entering the 3rd trimester and we are getting excited about adding eliza to our family! I had a check-up today and also my glucose test....hoping to pass! I measured right on target and eliza had a good heartbeat! I saw a diff. doctor on my last visit because my doc. was out on vacation and she couldn't believe that I was already 28 weeks. I will now have appt. every two weeks!

Eliza's room is making some progress. Kev painted the armoire we bought off of craigslist white (it had been bright pink) and he painted the room pink! I am still trying to decide if I like the wall color. It is bright...although I thought I was getting a soft pink! It is so hard to pick out a paint color! He has already said he is NOT repainting it so I better learn to like it. I also started washing ella's old newborn and 0-3 month clothes. Looking at each outfit was like unpacking a memory box! I also saw that I did a lousy job removing stains. I guess I was too busy with being a new mommy to even care...but now I have some work to do! Anybody know a good stain remover for things that can't be bleached. It reminded me of the need for lots of burp cloths and bibs...as ella had some reflux and her baby clothes prove it! My material to sew the bedding has been ordered and is on the way! Pray that this is not a terrible decision!

We had almost decided to just get ella a big girl bed...as kev thought this would be a wiser investment! This was until we let her sleep with us on Sat. night when she was sick. The girl was all over our bed. From headboard to foot board. She only lasted for about two hours when I decided it was in everyone's best interest for her to go back to her bed. Needless to say we have re-thought the big girl bed thing! I know she would fall out on her head!

have a good day!

Happy 4th!

We have enjoyed a rather quiet and relaxing 4th this year! Although it wasn't what I'd been planning...it was a good day! It all began last night when kev, ella and I went to our favorite little local restaurant for dinner. We were having a great time.

Kev was enjoying a huge stack of their yummy pancakes (they are so good you even want them for dinner)! I was enjoying my chicken sandwich and fries and ella was working on her grilled cheese, fries and lots of ketchup. She likes to dip anything in ketchup and lick off the ketchup and leave the food! She decided to eat some lettuce off of my sandwich which is odd because she has never liked it before. She was chomping down when all of a sudden she gagged and well it was all over at this point! She threw up everywhere! It was terrible! So of course we clean up...I head to the car..covered and strip her down. So here is our dilemma...had she caught my stomach bug from Monday...5 days later or did she just choke on the lettuce and it made her throw up??? So we forfeited my plan for Dunkin Doughnuts on the way to a family day at the beach so we could stay home and make sure she was ok. She has been 100% fine since that one episode...so I am thinking she is fine. It was probably best that we stayed home because my husband is in the midst of summer school which is consuming every spare second that he has. It is a 5 week course that includes....A LOT! If I didn't know that God had called him to go to seminary...I would be saying that this was the wrong season of life for this. We miss him and hate that he just has so much studying, reading, paper writing, and lecture watching to do everyday!

So what did we do today....



We splashed in the pool!

We played outside and had a yummy cook-out at mimi and papa's..we missed all our cuz's being there! !




Our annual 4th of July picture!



It was a great summer day!

Back in the Land of the Living!

I feel like I need a t-shirt today that says, "I survived the stomach virus of 2009!" Yesterday I woke up and began getting us ready for my Monday morning bible study! I kept feeling so weak...like I need to just sit down for a few minutes. I kept blaming on the fact that I hadn't eaten breakfast yet and continued to get ready. On the drive to bible study I felt a little nauseous and thought...surely morning sickness isn't reappearing! I almost turned around and went home...just feeling so very weak. I went on to bible study, ate a bagel hoping that would get my motor going..but still felt so bad. In fact I really considered laying my head on the table and resting a bit. I finally decided to leave early...thinking maybe my blood pressure was low or maybe I'd become anemic. I got ella from her class, got in the car and swung through McDonalds for ella very healthy happy meal! After waiting in the long drive through line the lady said they were only taking cash! Great...I never carry cash! Off to chick-fli-a because I knew I felt too bad to go home and cook. I should have known something was wrong when absolutely nothing on the chick-fli-a menu looked appealing! I got home and got ella in her bed for her nap and decided I'd rest! I was sure that was all I needed after such a busy week last week with VBS! Let's put it this way...my rest was quickly ended and I had to face the reality that I had caught yet another stomach virus! I am always in denial until there is no more denying it! I spent the rest of the day laying in the bed! Ella spent the rest of the day watching Mickey! I think a stomach virus should really come with a warning.....ALERT, ALERT, CAUTION...you may think you are dying for the next 24 hours! One thing about a virus...it always makes me so so thankful for my health. I cannot imagine feeling like that everyday! Now I am praying that it stays away from the rest of my family!

VBS and bedding

We have had VBS at our church this week and tonight is the last night. It has gone very well but I must admit I will be so glad to have a free night tomorrow. I have had a very sweet group of kids and have enjoyed being their "family leader." It always cracks me up at the sweet comments kids make about the Lord. Often times their theology is way off but their hearts are tender and and that is what counts. One little girl said that when her granny died she gave her the spirit of God! One boy said something like Jesus gave us his blood and now we have it in us. I think he was thinking very literally here! The theme is on Rome, Paul and the underground church and all the leaders are wearing "biblical clothes" ....truly not a good look for a pregnant girl...think large sheet! :)

I do not know what is wrong with me but I have spent so much time thinking about how I want to fix Eliza's room. I look for furniture everyday on craigslist. I have spent hours looking at cribs on-line and reading reviews. I have changed my mind about 10 times on my bedding! I don't know why I am stressing on this. i am generally a know what I like and don't like kinda girl! I think because I know it is a blank slate and a chance to do a new room. Good news though, we got a cute bright pink armoire off craigslist...and even snagged it for 100 dollars less than it was advertised for! Woo Hoo! Good thing I sent Kev to look at it because I am so not good on negotiating prices. I am still trying to talk Kev into leaving it pink as he thinks he needs to paint it white. It is pretty bright but I like it! Maybe we will just tone it down a shade or two. I have also picked out my bedding. I decided I wanted to use some different colors this time and I found some cute, cute, cute bedding off etsy.com. If you haven't ever looked there....you might not should! There is tons and tons of cute handmade things! So I found the material that I liked...the only problem is I just cannot justify spending more on baby bedding than I would my queen sized bed. Plus, I do find some joy and satisfaction in being crafty myself. So I had this great money-saving idea (which I knew my husband would be all for)! I am going to buy the bumper off etsy...buy the material I want and sew the rest myself! Just call me crazy now! I am a simple sewer...as in I made simple jjumpers and dresses for ella. I am getting better...but I have a long way to go. Needless to say I am getting a little nervous (esp. after looking at the patterns)! My plan is to make the crib skirt (I mean really how hard can it be..haha), the sheet...which actually looks somewhat easy esp. on an on-line tutorial, a very simple, simple blanket, and a curtain! I have about 12 weeks to get it all done! I am sure there will be a few tears and lots of seam ripping...but hopefully in the end it will be just what I want!

These are some of the fabrics that will be used esp. # 9, 15, 5, 4,

This is the look we are after!

I am beginning to get so excited about meeting Eliza. She kicks so much more than ella did. Ella was not a very active baby(but don't worry she is so making up for it now!) and Samuel really couldn't move due to the lack of fluid...so this is fun! I can now watch my stomach and see her moving and yesterday she'd kick and I'd poke and she'd kick and I'd poke. I just cannot even imagine what she will look like. She could literally have any color of hair because in kev. and my immediate family we have red, brown, blond, strawberry blond, and even black! It will be exciting to see how she adds to our family in a unique little way! Third Trimester...here we come (in about a week!)Woo Hoo!

98 Days!

I just noticed on my sidebar as I am sure I am the only one that looks at those tickers....but I have less than 100 days left in this pregnancy...98 days till my due date! WOO HOO! That is a good feeling!

I found a really cute piece of furniture for eliza's room on craigslist this morning and Kev is going to check it out after work. I check craigslist everyday and so far three great dressers (two from pottery barn) have slipped through my fingers! I wish I could go and check it out for myself but we start VBS tonight. I am really praying for strength and energy. I feel so worn out today and I'm hoping the Lord will give me some grace and energy to be a fun first grade leader.