Weekly update and yes, more chevron...

  The week started off with another trip to the per office for JJ. His ears were fine but he had a virus and his throat was bright red - which was causing all his fussiness.  His doctor explained to me that he he is basically living inside Eva's classroom.  With that in mind, JJ will start going to PDO next Thursday at St. Lukes.  I love the fact that the PDO is very small so he'll get plenty of attention.  We re-enrolled Eva for 3 days a week - st. lukes has really grown on me and I really like it. And more importantly, Eva loves going.   They have a soccer team for 4+ but with Eva already in dance and gymnastics, I don't want to overwhelm her with activities.

"DAD"

  Eva enjoys drawing and she is getting really good at dawning faces and is practicing letters on her own.

  JJ is getting very close to sitting without help and continues to try new foods.  He is also very alert and likes to "play" at 4:00 am after his bottle.  How nice of him.

We finished the photo collage on the wall - it came out great.

this step is a must in order to not put lots of holes in the wall

haven't removed the paper 

I also completed my middle bathroom curtain by painting my own chevron design on it. I'll never do it again but it came out fantastic!

My not-so-perfect maxi dress

  With warm weather approaching, I decided to attempt my first try at sewing a maxi dress.  To make this I "simply" attached knit fabric (if you have ever sewed on knit, you know there's nothing simple about it) to a tank top with elastic thread. I was nervous about this, but elastic thread really is a MUST! I used this tutorial as a guideline:

asmallsnippet.com/2011/09/wanna-make-dress.html

1.) I picked this fun green and navy blue stripe knit fabric.  Measure 1.5 times your waist to know how much fabric you'll need. I made sure the stripes were horizontal so I didn't end up looking like beetlejuice.

2.) measure using a yardstick (mine came out to about 45 inches) and cut away

 3.) Sew with zigzag the two right sides together to make your "tube".  Place elastic thread in bobbin and sew the top of your "skirt"

4.)  Cut a tank top where you want to attach the skirt.

 5.)  Place tank top with straps in first and sew using the elastic thread.   I did this wrong because my skirt is came out inside out. oops! luckily both sides are the same (probably why I got confused) so despite seeing the seam its ok.  I'll probably redo it.  Hem it and waaalaaa! You got yourself a maxi dress!

And with the left over fabric you can make a turban. ok no, not really. 

     

week at a glance

 Its been a busy week in the Schwartz family...

1.) I went to work last Saturday for the first time in 6 months.  I was surprised how everything came back to me and I cannot believe it but I actually enjoyed it! I never would have thought.  I'm still only able to work about one Sat.  every month because of Jay's busy schedule.

2. JJ had his first ear infection which is most likely the result of constantly being congested. Thanks RSV.  I have a mother's intuitive feeling that he will have asthma.  Doctors at leBonheur hospital explained that many babies who have RSV will develop asthma - they aren't sure if these kids are at a genetic predisposition anyway to get asthma or if the RSV actually causes it.  I noticed that he has a kind of wheeze to his breathing sometimes - so, lucky us.  But so happy to have JJ feeling better an sleeping again! :) And he loves to eat! Loves sweet potatoes, squash, and carrots!

3.) In preparation for Spring clothes, I cleaned out all of the kids closets and drawers and consigned them. What a chore but its so nice to have lots of room again.  I went to Kidstown and found lots of goodies.  What is great about having an embroidery machine is that I can make an appliqué or patch to go over these pre-owned monogrammed clothes.

4.) I think I possess a magical pregnancy vibe because lately it seems everyone I am friends with is or just was pregnant.  I just found out another friend of mine is expecting and I am so happy for her.

5.) Zulily - Jay told me if I buy one more thing from Zulily he's sending it back. I hope he doesn't notice  that swimsuit.  oops!

Eva's  "purple handkerchief dress" from Zulily

6.) Can't wait to post the fun crafts I'm making for my friend Alaina's reveal party!  Yes, she is actually waiting to find out the gender with her closet family and friends.

7.)As I watch the huge storm in the Northeast, I think to myself how much I love the South!  Cannot wait for more warm days outside!

Boys Need Pretty Burp Cloths Too

   'Tis the season of boys or so it seems.  I was thrilled when 3 of my buddies (Andrea, Katie, Laura) told me they were expecting in March (partly because my bday is in March).  I did my usual 50/50 guess and to my surprise all are going to be boys. Did you know that in 2010 the global sex ratio was 986 females per 1,000 males and trended to reduce to 984 in 2011 (expedia). Who knew? I have to say, I'm very much in love with my little boy so I'm very happy for them. 
   My new obsession is monogramming/sewing fabric on burp cloths which makes great baby gifts. They are super fast to make and fun because it calls for lots of fun fabrics.  Now, to some people I'm sure the idea of decorating a burp cloth seems impractical.  That's probably because it is.  Its a decorated piece of cloth that gets puked on.  But in the days of sleepless motherhood when you fell disorganized and crazy, you can pull out that beautiful burp cloth and it somehow makes the puke seem better and you seem somehow more organized as a mother. Oh, and its freakin cute because your baby's name is on it!  

 

             
       

playing at Nana's House with cousins

  On Wednesday, we had a  beautiful sunny 70 degree day here (yes, it is Jan. in Memphis) so we decided to get out of the house and go to Nana's.  We love going to Nana's house because there's lots of fun paths to walk on and trees to climb outside. 

smelling tree branches

dinosaur Eva hiding in the bush

Unfortunately, most of my great outside childhood is gone now.  The "bamboo forest" in which I would hold Greenpeace Jr. meetings with old friends like Anna Lockwood, Vivian Jaynes, Anne Bailey, etc. (sorry if I only referred to you as etc) is now gone.  The treehouse that we would spend nights out under the stars that my Dad built is now gone as well when the huge hackberry fell over in Hurricane Elvis.  But the old magnolia tree in the front still stands - missing most of its branches - but its still there.  And as Eva marched in the leaves and climbed the low branches, I remembered the fun times as a kid when Laura Bandura and I would sit high (and I mean really high) up in the tree and make animal sounds as people walked by and laughing hysterically to watch their reaction.

Later on that day, cousins Olivia and Maddux came over while Shannon ran an errand.  The kids had a blast racing in the back yard.

Olivia didn't stand a chance against competitive Eva and Maddux. 

lots of yelling was involved - usually about who won

My New Bed - Sewing Euro Shams

 All my friends know that my favorite color is white.  It looks clean and goes with everything.  However, I am trying to branch out and add more color to my house.  I decided to sew Euro pillow shams (26x26 pillows) with a 3'' flange.  I found a great tutorial at :
                 sew-passionate.blogspot.com/.../easy-euro-shams-with-3-flange.html

BEFORE

  I also made a new sham for the long center pillow (simply measured the pillow to make the pocket sham) and monogrammed it.  I loved the idea of navy blue (my accent wall) and yellow so I went on fabric.com and ordered 3 yards of a great yellow cotton print.  I used an old white sheet for the backs of  the Euro Shams and sewed 2 sheets of 1/4 inch batting to the front of the pillow to keep the flange from falling.
  Materials used:
3 yards of front fabric cut to 33''x33''
sheet for back : each pillow needs two 21.5''x33'' (they overlap in back)
batting 33''

These were so easy because there's no zipper involved!  Just make a simple pocket in the back! The end result came out great shown here:

AFTER (Notice my cat didn't move during the photo shoot)

               

I also decided to add a little yellow to my plain white lampshades by buying a stencil and painting a design on them instead of buying new ones.

 

                                           In the end, all of this only cost me about 30 dollars!

Little People Update

  I'm so happy that Eva is smiling for the camera now.  Nana gave her a camera for Christmas and I think it helped with the fear factor as she went around taking pictures of us and telling us to smile.  Eva is about 3.5 years now and loves to ride her new bike!

 She also loves to help mommy cook and especially making cookies. Her speciality is stirring and tasting the cookie dough when I'm not looking.

   Eva loves to talk about words that rhyme and opposites.  We even have started some addition and subtraction.  Her favorite books are still Dr. Suess books and 26 Princesses. As always, Eva is a big help with JJ and has never shown any jealousy (something that surprised us all).  She doesn't like it when he gets fussy so she plays peek-a-boo and sings songs to him

JJ is a few days shy of 5 months and doing lots of new things.  He eats squash and green bean baby food, in which most ends up on him.  He loves to giggle as you can see in the video.  JJ is touching his toes as much as possible and shoving his fingers in his mouth with lots of drooling.  Sometimes I think that is what it must be like to have a English Bulldog.