My Mom's Birthday Present

So my mom had this skirt.
Colorful with tropical print.
She says it reminded her of her mission.
I've seen her wear it countless times.

One day we were visiting and as I'm going through a bin of her clothes headed for DI she walks out with her arm extended gazing at her skirt.

"I've got to say good-bye to this" she states simply. "It just isn't 'stylish' anymore. I've loved this skirt....It reminds me of my mission (in Dominican Republic) but.....would you want it?" she glances over hopeful that the skirt will live on in the family.

"No" I tell her honestly. "I like it, but it fits your personality better than it would fit mine- I don't think I would wear it." I am hopeful she will keep it if she likes it so much. Oh well if it's not "stylish".

She tosses it into the pile with a big sigh and says, "I just don't wear it anymore!" and with that walks quickly away to resist the temptation to pick it up again because we all know that once it touches all the other DI clothes that you can never retrieve it again. That's it. The end.

I looked at the skirt and realized that her birthday was next week and I didn't have a lot to spend....hmm.....,


I took it home, cut it up and made:

A BAG!

When I presented it to her, I realized she might not be sure what to feel about her old skirt being cut up- and she was a little sad but it passed (thankfully whew!) and she was so excited about her new bag she could bring her weights in to go to the gym! I'm so happy she liked it! 

A few facts:

Totally made up pattern- uh...yah- I was kind of naive.

It took me a really long time- because I was also learning how to use my sewing machine- which by the way has the most confusing bobbin loading- took me ONE HOUR to figure that out. I hope it never runs out of bobbin thread again. That would be nice.

I added a beaded lanyard type thing with a hook to latch her keys on which looked super cute and I'm sad I didn't get a picture- next time I go down I will have to take one just for memory's sake. 

This was my first ever project I completed (that wasn't a school assignment back in high school)!

Grant modeled it for me:

Dad Baby E Mom Baby Picture also featuring Aunt Cassy

Hair: Mom
Eyebrows: Mom
Eyes: Dad
Nose: Mom
Ears: Looks like Mom
Mouth: Dad
Cheeks: Combo
Chin: Mom

She has her own look though- we get told a lot that she looks like me by non family.
My parents are convinced she is a little Cassy (my younger sister) with blue eyes. Her spirit is like Cassy's for sure- just fun and outgoing and full of joy! She moves her hands around when she gets excited and wants to be a part of everything going on.

Oh I found some pictures of Cass on fb- no baby pictures but here's my cute sister:

Very left- she's probably like 3? And our cute cousins on the right. M and H.

Very left again. Then there's Uncle Forrest, me, Grandpa and uncle Ward.

3 or 4 years I'm guessing- she is so cute.

She's 5 here- because aunt Bethany is pictured as the babe.

aunt bethany, me(starting my awkward teenage years), cassy, forrest and ward

me and cass with our bunny we named Crystal...found out later she was a male. So we nick-named him bun buns.

Senior Picture

Looking through Cassy's pictures made me really miss her. I can't wait to talk to her- Grant is here saying he wants to cook hotdogs in mountains with aunt Cassy when she gets back from Mexico.

E 6 Months

Personality:
Loves to laugh.
She will whip her head around as fast as a jack rabbit to see whoever is talking or making noise- she has to know what is going on ALL. THE. TIME.
So because of this, she all of sudden just hates sleeping during the day- if there is something going on (like Grant always screaming or laughing hysterically about nothing) then she doesn't want to cuddle up and go to sleep! No thanks mom! Hello- there is fun stuff going on and I gots to know about it and want to be apart of it.
And really, she's not too much of a grumpy pants when she hasn't slept much during the day so it's easy to kind of just let her be awake. a lot.

New Tricks:
Sitting on her own!
2 bottom teeth!
Skipping naps. Like she'll take 3 naps for 10 minutes each...this is not normal.

Sleep:
Good night sleeper still. Ah the bliss.
She goes to bed at 7:30 now and sleeps till 8:30. Wow. I mean that's a good chunk of sleep right there. She'll still wake up for comfort nursing a couple which I'm fine with especially because she sleeps soooo good.
But...naps. She is like I said above, just completely enthralled with life and having a good ol' time all the time so she will now nod off maybe 3-5 times during the day for a bare minimum of 15 minutes- sometimes a half hour. I mean it is WORK to get her to sleep. I think it's just her personality- she wants to be in the action- talking to people- she's social and fun and doesn't want to miss anything. Ever. She'll get sooo tired but still refuse. It's very new territory for me as a mom.

Nursing:
Are we still at war? Um...no? She is finally understanding that when I nurse her, that comfort and a full tummy comes after that. And her latch is wayyyyyy better than G ever was. I just realized that the other day while I was nursing- like *Ding* she latches really well- I never have to adjust her lips- I always fixed G's. Always. But I do have to say she is really rough. I mean G was always so gentle but she goes to town! I wonder if the bink has anything to do with this but girl! I get scared for my life sometimes and now she has teeth! I'm worried.

Favorites:
Her big brother! Jumping on the bed is the best to watch because she starts pumping her legs to join in when G is having a ball on there. She seriously can't wait to run and jump and be a part of it all.

Food! We started after the watermelon thing now at exactly 6 months I started giving her food. I cooked some carrots for her which she LOVED and let her go to town on some banana. I still love the book Baby Led Weaning and am trying it again where food right now is more for taste and texture than for nourishment. But she is super excited about this food thing and is a pro already at making a huge mess so here we go!

Me. She is super attached. Which is cute but I didn't expect it for some reason. Just one night I took G to bed and let dad rock the babe and she just bawled and bawled. Finally I emerged and she heard me and whipped her head around like "oh good. Oh mom. Oh mom. Finally you are here. Okay, I will sleep if you hold me. Oh much better." I mean dad was doing a really good job and being super wonderful but she just had to have mom. So same thing now when I randomly hand her off to someone so I can take care of my rambunctious toddler- she starts looking around with this pout that promises to explode to a full on terror cry if I don't hurry back. Though I must admit it makes me feel good to know she likes me. I mean I do spend a lot of time taking care of her so I'm glad she notices.