Handmade Holidays: Project 5: Tissue Holders

For some reason, I am sure that it was a good one, I had bought a 12 pack of tiny pocket tissue packs. I never use these tissues so I am pretty sure I meant to make felt tissues holders originally as well but I never got around to it. As previously mentioned, I have a serious goal of destashing and reorganizing my crafting life this holiday season, so I need to use what I have. I love working with felt, its great for crafting, for kids and its cheap with no fray! For the kids, and potentially for a couple adults, I made/am making some tissue holders. 

Here are a couple that I found on Pinterest, my not-so-secret love affair:

Boogey Monster

Teddy Bear and Kitty Kat

Bunny and Robot

Here are the two that I have finished so far: 

For my niece, a little Monster High-esque maybe with a button closure

For my nephew, I love the tongue!

My nephews present, I have to get a photo in that tiny gingerbread man!!! Don't forget! I also added a tag in case he wanted to attach it to his bookbag

Handmade Holidays: Five Months old!

While I know this may not be part of a "Handmade Holiday," I did make him and it is the holidays, so here ya go my Little Captain America: 

Dear Baby Boy,

Happy Birthday Steven! I know you actually turned 5 months last Wednesday but Momma has been super busy getting ready for the holidays. I am so happy that you came into our lives, however unexpected you were. You make me smile every morning and exhausted every night but I wouldn't change it for the world. You let us sleep for at least three hours every night before you wake up hungry, then you spend the rest of the night cuddled into my arms, keeping me warm when Daddy steals all the blankets. You used to wake up crying because you were unsure of life, now you wake up smiling and the first hour you are awake, nothing could make you angry. 

Almost every morning we wake up, you spend a little time in bed with Daddy while I take out the dogs and make coffee. Then Daddy gets ready for work while we make his lunch and we wave to him from the front window when he leaves. Then we have breakfast. You have oatmeal, strawberries, bananas, pears and/or applesauce while I have my coffee and yogurt. Then we fill the day with various chores, playing with the dogs, playing piano, practicing crawling, sewing and watching Doctor Who. You were taking a three hour nap everyday for a week but you seem to have given up on naps all together at this point. You will take two or three twenty minute sleeps, just long enough for me to use the bathroom or switch laundry, barely. 

I am astounded every day how big you have grown. Seventeen pounds already! Over twice your birth weight! You are eating tons of baby food, handmade by your loving momma, with no known allergies, high five! You like to help me sew but want to touch the needle, so you don't help too often. You might be starting to teeth since you put everything in you mouth now but I have thought that since you were 3 months old. You love eating paper and your socks. You like it when the dogs lick your feet and face and hands and legs and arms and hair. You laugh when I nibble on your baby fat neck and chubby little thighs. You prefer when Daddy changes your diaper because he made up the Diaper Song that I can never remember and when I try, it sounds lame with no rhythm at all. 

Thank you Steven, for helping me find a life that makes me the happiest, for being happy even though I have no idea what I am doing and for helping Daddy and I continue building our family together. We love you a googolplex!!!

- Momma

using our newly found arm muscles, but mostly getting angry at being on our belly!

Wearing a tux to Brother's winter concert!

the happiest baby and the best thing to wake up to every morning (sorry Hubby but it's true)

Family Adventures: Lake Minnewaska State Preserve, Lake Minnewaska Trail

beautiful picture bridge

pretty, giant boulders everywhere make for great climbing

     On Hubby's day off this week, we talked about either going to the zoo (which is always my first choice for a day out and about) or to go hiking. Since we are trying to reign in some of our excess spending, we decided that hiking would be the better choice. While we have year memberships to the zoo, the money we end up spending on food (while I do pack lunch, we still end up stopping on the way home to eat again) and gas. We live right in the middle of the Catskills, less then an hour from the Appalachian Trail and in a very rural area so hiking options are pretty limitless. Although that is true, we then had to narrow down our options based on me not being able to do much climbing, toting the newborn around and the two older kids hiking skills. We settled on going to Lake Minnewaska State Preserve in New Paltz, NY, based on a friends recommendation. To be perfectly honest, I have no idea why I never went hiking here after living in this area for 25 years! It was amazing. The park charges $8 for parking and $5 for a map of the trails. The parking was a little crowded but still easy enough to find a spot and the parking lot is where almost all of the trails begin and end. There are port-a-pottys at the parking lot and dispersed through the trails but they are pretty funky so I would avoid them if possible. We all used the facilities before we started and one of our party still had to use the woods. We definitely packed water and some snacks for a halfway break, granola bars, trail mix (carmel cashew from Target, my fav!) and apples. There are a few large, graveled trails all marked really well and we saw lots of bikers using them but the signs also said that horses can use the paths so be careful where you walk.

candid shot that Hubbs was unhappy about

Gorgeous view from the top of the mountain

really creepy bug on a sign

     There are also tons of just hiking paths, all marked but they do not look more then deer paths through the woods, I would not recommend them for hikers with kids...especially a newborn and a recovering mama. The trail that we did was only two miles which shouldn't take too long but we lollygagged and it ended up taking us over three hours. The park is also dog friendly so you meet plenty of dogs hiking the trails too, they must be leashed and there are no trash cans on the property, you should be prepared with trashbags to take anythign with you that you bring into the park. I came prepared with dog clean up bags and a large shopping bag.

view over the lake

      The views were amazing, luckily it was a clear day so we could see really far into the distance. At our usual hiking place, we see some hawks and mostly vultures which we saw here too. As far as wildlife goes, we mostly saw bugs and birds, nothing too scary although E was trying to find a snake. I am assuming that if you get up there early enough then there are deer and maybe fox or coyote. There are two swimming places, one public and one that is a membership area only. The membership section requires a test, all the information can be found here. The public area is small but would be plenty sufficient for us to go swimming, which we definitely plan on as soon as it warms up a bit. It is a mountain lake, so even in high summer, it is chilly. The lifeguards are only there certain times, so if swimming is your goal then check when they will be there before heading out. At the end of the trail (well the beginning too, since it looks in a giant circle) is a pretty grand picnic area that also overlooks the lake. After spending a few more minutes having light saber battles with our acquired hiking sticks, we headed towards home, made a pit stop for dinner and grocery shopping (where I stupidly left all my coupons at home and my reusable shopping bags!).

Lake Minnewaska State Preserve: New York State Website

Potentially terrified by what he is seeing in the mirror

Finally seeing in the mirror

lunch of fresh nectarines with homemade whipped cream the next day!

Renfaire Conundrum

     Every year since I was in middle school, I have gone to the NY Renfaire in Tuxedo, NY (except the year I lived in Texas). Last year, I wasn't pregnant yet, so I had made a gorgeous costume, green taffetta dress with a black and gold tapestry weave corset. I had also made Eve and Griffin their own costumes, which they definitely will not fit into this year, and Hubby was less then enthusiastic about his Tudor style outfit. So with only a month before out normally scheduled attending, I have now five outfits to make if I make any. I would have to make a newborn savvy outfit, two growing kids, a nursing outfit and something that is more masculine for Hubbs. And it tends to be super hot whenever we go, but it also could be in the fifties, so layering has to be an option. Completely unsure if this will happen in the next month, especially considering that we are also redoing two bedrooms, having a yardsale, prepping for an In-Law visit while still having Baby. A very large maybe.

Ensemble found here

     I am seriously considering just chemises and overskirts for us girls. Even with elastic, which I try to stay away from because I am sometimes snobby when it comes to my period pieces. But this year will be an exception. I also need the flexibility of an elastic top to be able to nurse. Note to self: check if Motherhood Maternity has peasant blouses and save yourself some grief. Eve has looked at some fairy costumes so that may be a slight influence if I can get her to commit to an idea, I will have little issue with it. Last year, our faire had a whole fairy glen that she seemed to like, but we will see if she is still into it this weekend. Mostly I just need someone to hold a fussy baby for a couple hours out of the day so I can sew. I am getting much better at leaving him alone and not having to carry him everywhere (thanks you Hubby, who always gives me the stare that I am coddling my poor infant). But something easy to make and easy to wear, I still have hot flashes, its still humid as all get out here and I sweat profusely, so sleeveless is also an idea.
     For Hubbs and the Eldest son, I am potentially feeling a little more of a Viking vibe, if either one of them wants a costume. That will definitely be fine for Baby but again this will entirely come down to a time management decision. So putting that on the back burner for now to muddle over for a bit. Updates to come!!!

End of Countdown: Baby Arrival

   

<- One Month into pregnancy                           ^Day before delivery

    Baby Rogers is Finally Here!!!

     While this post is titled end of countdown, I guess we can now countdown to kindergarten or college now! As of July 11th, our latest addition Steven J Rogers came into the world at exactly midnight. Perfectly healthy, all ten toes and fingers, a full head of brown hair and blue eyes! 

     We did not know whether or not we were having a boy or girl but both Hubby and I through from the day that we got pregnant that we were having a boy, so we were definitely prepared. Luckily, because we hadn't settled on a girl's name whatsoever. Steven was a name that we had decided on before we had even thought about getting pregnant and had stuck with us through the whole nine months while we flip-flopped over a girl's name. For most of the people that asked, Steven was just a name that we both liked (it is also one of Hubby's plethora of middle names) but for those of you who read a few comics or have seen any popular movies recently, Steven Rogers is also the by-day name of Captain America. Hubby and I might be a little bit of geeks ourselves, considering he used to own a comic book store and we started dating after finding that we shared a likeness for comic books and gaming. So of course we named our first child together after a comic book character it just so happens that it is a relatively normal name that he will be able to walk through like with little mishap..hopefully. Baby's two middle names are after his father and his godfather, although two middle names sound like so much for such a small human. Hubby had twice as many middle names so really two isn't that many.
     Big Sister and Big Brother are thrilled that the newest addition is here, which is good because two weeks beforehand, E had told me that she was so impatient to see the baby that she wanted to cut me open so that the baby could be here faster. A little odd but very cute how much she wanted to see her new baby brother. So after my water breaking at 2am, we spent half an hour looking up on the internet what happens when your water breaks because I wasn't sure that is what was actually going on. I wanted to wait to go to the hospital because I was not convinced that I was actutally going into labor, I had no pains and I had no real movement in my stomach that I had imagined would happen when the baby was ready to come.

  Luckily, Hubby was not as convinced so we headed off to the hospital where we were admitted immediately and set off to walking and stretching out trying to get the baby moving. My contractions didn't really start until ten in the morning. Then we walked some more and I took a shower to relieve some of the back pain, unfortunately, I had a lot of back labor which made it uncomfortable. On the negative side, while I had dilated completely, Baby did not want to progress down so after 22 hours of labor, Steven had to come into the world through a C-section which was completely unplanned so it was stressful. But everything turned out well and after three days of recovery time (I could have used a full week) in the hospital we came home the following Sunday and Hubby spent the next week on a little vacation helping me recover and figuring out all about Baby! It was a terrifying and stressful experience but the tiny little body that sleeps in my arms every night makes it completely worth it, not to mention how much more I love Hubby and love seeing the look in his eyes when we have our whole family together.