georges first hair cut

it was pretty shaggy, and fuzzy, so i decided to let george start off the new year with new hair. (or maybe just less of the same hair.)

california christmas

christmas time pictures

!!!

Jason Fitch, EIT

he PASSED! jason passed his EIT exam (that he took back in october) and is OFFICIALLY an Engineer In Training. could i be more excited? (relieved? thankful? proud?) im not sure. :)

happy birthday emma!

emma's birth day 2008



emma is one!



and now she is TWO! happy birthday emma!

were kicking him out. but not far.

george is getting too big for the bassinet. he can kick his feet over the edge, and even though he doesnt roll from his back to his belly yet, i dont want him coming out of there on his own. the cribs been painted and i bought a mattress a couple weeks ago, but we hadnt decided where to put him yet.

last night helped us decide. he woke up to eat around 430, and then decided to chat and squeal for the next hour and a half. at six i gave up on sleep and so did jason. im not ready to stick him in with emma, because i just dont trust her with him in there all night. and the front room already has the bunk beds and play pen for jesse to nap in...

so this is where were at.



i put the crib in the closet. it just fits.
this way hes still close if (when) he wakes up hungry in the night, and far enough away that we can close doors and ignore his cheerful sounds in the wee hours.

good timing too, hes fussing and ready for an afternoon nap. lets go try out that crib!

oops

heidi and katie, i am so sorry, i havent replied to any of your comments since july. well, today i found out that they werent getting emailed to me (on either blog! ugh!) so thats all taken care of. and i am so glad you both love the apron, and yes katie i will make you a bazillion things for all your babies (you too heidi) and i LOVE that some of my favorite clothes are ones i have made.

okay, so theres that.

and its october already. oops.

jasons studying has been going a bit better. there is a study session that he can attend at bsu two nights a week from 7-9, and that has helped. the test if coming up quick, october 30.

i have been busy with kids, and more kids these last few weeks. a basic run down of my week involves church and sometimes nursery duty sunday, afternoon at home during naps, then back to church for refuge with the teens. monday night we have small group at 7, but thats a study night, so i take the kids by myself. tuesdays i am going to bible study at church from 930-1130, and really enjoying that mid week, mid day break from the kids. wednesday and thursdays i have had all four kiddos lately. i tend to keep the boys about 3 days a week on average. (though, its been less the last couple weeks.) and friday jason gets home at a decent time so we eat dinner together and he gets to see emma. im not sure we ever really have a relaxing saturday, because jasons either working, or helping out a friend, or doing some last minute tidying up around here for me.

emma is doing well. growing. not just turning into a little girl, but also growing quite the opinionated attitude. i wish there was a way to do one without the other. she has so many words now, and whole sentences even. and such a good eye. she can spot birds, or puppies, or just about anything from a long way off.

george is also growing. but just longer. :) at his 4 month check up he weighed 13 pounds 13 ounces. and he had grown several inches. he is in the 84th percentile for length, and 27th for weight. and his weight for length? 0.84 percentile. what a skinny little boy i have. he grins, and has a great chuckle. he wakes up in the night again (a new trend i think) but after a couple terrible days (when he just cried in the night) he usually goes right back to sleep after he eats.

so thats what we are up to. growing and learning and playing together. and now the fun part! pictures!

last week i was emptying a box of things from our office and found my old red phone. i had kept it to give it to the kids to play with, so that evening i gave it to emma. how her eyes lit up when i told her it was emmas phone, and that she could push all the buttons. adorable.



a pair of groucho glasses have been floating around since i bought them at the dollar store a couple years ago. the nose came off last year, and just last week they broke for good, but not before emma had a chance to play with them. im not sure if she is groucho, or lady gaga with some serious eyelashes.



and, a very important skill every kid should know. how to swing on your tummy. she loved it.



how could andie and i resist a black and red plaid flannel shirt for george? we just couldnt. he looks like such a cute little lumber jack in it too.



the boys are getting old enough to acknowledge each other. its nice. they still go right for the eyes most of the time, but once in a while one of them will make the other smile.

a busy month!

sep 3 heidi took some fantastic pictures of our family at the boise train depot.



and george turned three months old. :)

ive been watching the boys about 3 days a week this month.

i started the beth moore bible study on esther on september 14, and so far im really enjoying it.

the evening of the 15th emma vommed in her crib, and i found her covered the next morning. so, i took the crib apart to clean it up, and she got to enjoy the freedom of a big girl bed. (why bother putting the front back on, right?) and shes doing pretty well in it.

jason worked the weekend of the 11th and 12th, but was able to enjoy this weekend off. he bought his plane ticket two nights ago to go take his EIT test in california at the end of october.

we are busy doing a whole lot of every day things. :)

outdoor swing

we have a swing out back that i love. i bought it with my graduation monies, along with a fire pit, so jason and i could enjoy hanging out in the back yard. this week the swing ripped.

but mom was here, and we went to joanns and picked up some outdoor fabric. we took the swing apart, and ripped the seams on the old swing so it could be a pattern for a new one. i cut and sewed, then we reassembled and ta-da! new swing. :)

making things, or, ode to my new favorite top

at the beginning of the summer i made about six tops that are all the same style. they are great for nursing, light weight, and easy to layer on top of another tank top. as much as i like them, the top i whipped up a couple weeks ago is my new favorite, and i wish i had 6 just like it. (oh wait, i have used this pattern three other times... but theyre all a little different.(okay, and i cant find pictures of the shirts, they are both cap sleeve and i added fabric to the gather so they are great maternity. one is cute all the time, the other a little more mumu.))

i bought the fabric on sale, with a different garment in mind, and tossed it out the window. then i used some of it to make an apron for katie, and out of the scraps make this top for me. it is so comfy, and looks nice dressed up with slacks or a skirt, or with jeans. i wore it on saturday when we were in mccall a couple weeks ago...

george and i



and again to play at the park with emma and brayden.



it is flattering, easy to move in, not too hot... just about perfect in every way. so there it is, just a shirt i sewed a while back. :)

while at home last weekend, i noticed something that i quite liked. about half of the clothes that i packed for our family of 4 were things i had made. every shirt i wore was one i had made, along with my dress, and emmas dress and hot pink trench coat for sunday. i didnt notice when i packed, but it was a nice feeling to see that i really do like, and wear the clothes i make. it really is worth my time. :)

sunday morning, with jim and ginny york

mccall id, august 13-15

things to say and sleep training

last week we had several words of the day. for two or three days in a row it was "car, vrooom!" because emma is learning what things say.
(and sunday night, when i asked her what daddy says, her answer was "rowf" same for george. but emmas says "mommy" which we all already knew after listening to the chorus of "mommmmyyyyy"s all the way home from mccall) she is learning new words every day (even jason noticed it has sped up from one or two a week, or one or two a day) just this weekend she learned airplane, people, and swing while we were in mccall.

anyway, it seems "yellow" is the word of the day today. shes starting to learn the words but we are struggling with their association. shes still little though, im sure she will get it.

and geroge is learning to sleep before 1030pm. ive been putting him down around 8 or 830 most nights and he is getting a lot better at falling asleep on his own, and quickly. the down point for his mommy is that he is hungry earlier in the morning. instead of breakfast at 7, it tends to be closer to 430 to 6. but, hes little too, and doing well.

he is ten and a half weeks old now, and at his dr appointment on the 9th he was 11 pounds 11 ounces and 23 inches long. he is growing fast! he went from the <5th percentile on almost everything to the 40-45th percentile on everything. and right now, he is snoozing through tummy time.

what ive been up to lately

i am sure some of these are on earlier posts because i combined the two blogs together, but i decided to try and compile a photo list of things ive made lately, and can make for baby gifts so i have an idea set to go back to. so here they are. :)

i made a sling, nursing cover, and boppy cover becky and baby elliot





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baby shower gifts for stephanie and karli, a black apple doll, a baby pennant quilt, crochet caterpillar, and also a music note dress, shoes and diaper cover (not pictured)








after cleaning out my closet a couple weeks ago, i made emma several dresses out of a few tee shirts i wanted to keep. this is one of them, shes wearing it while opening a box of presents from jenn and simon





i made several summer jumpers for emma, one covered in bugs, and this little pink flowered one. also, georges dino swaddling blanket.



mom and i made emma the flannel rag quilt in the back ground last summer, and the boppy cover emma is leaning on i made for george. also, the frog swaddle blanket mom bought me the fabric for and i stitched it up just before he was born.



my sister in law katie is in poland working as a missionary at a coffee house and has to wear an apron, so i made her a cute one. :) i used the bodice pattern piece from my easter dress (im wearing it in the picture on the right)and just made up the rest.





i know this blanket was just posted, but ive made 6 in this pattern in the last two years. its quick and cute and george sleeps on top of his in his bassinet every night.



i made jason a re-do of his favorite stuffed toy as a kid, this is humphrey 2.0



i saw on one of the blogs i like to read, a tutorial for crib sheets that i had to try. while i was at it i made a matching changing pad cover. its the same idea, just different measurements. this adorable sheet cost me about 4 dollars to make (including the elastic, and thread and everything.) george will have some too, i have some adorable 2$/yd fabric ready to go for him. :)



i have some fabric balls like these, and some crochet balls that i made recently for emma. last christmas i made princess and monster hoodies for the kids that are pictures back in a blog from decemberish and the year before i did some stuffed puppies for emma and the niece and nephews. so, there are lots of things that i dont have pictures of, but im going to try and be better about keeping them up to date!