Hairbow Mania

I've been browsing through our local boutique store (Life's Little Treasures, for those of you in the Alexandria area) at least once a week for the past three months. It's close to Jack's daycare and provides a much needed "deep breath" on difficult days at school before I go pick him up. Every time I go to this store I look at hairbows and think "Okay...there's got to be a tutorial or a book or SOMETHING to teach me how to make these." I just never could bring myself to pay $5 - $15 for a hair bow.

So, with my down time this week I found two great videos on Youtube that give step-by-step instructions on making boutique-style hairbows, and then how to make a double-loop bow to stack on top of the boutique-style bow.

Here's a "boutique-style" bow. Two loops on each side with no ends showing. A knot is tied in the middle and hot-glued to the back.


Then, I found out that you could make a boutique-style bow and stack a double-loop bow on top. Tye it all together and hot-glue a knot in the middle, and you get three loops on each side with two ends showing.



If your baby has a bald head (which I assume Sydney will), you'll need a headband to attach the bow to. The headbands have a little loop on them, so you can change bows in and out. Right now I have pink, black, and brown bands. I'd like to get white and ivory ones, also, but the store always sells out before I can buy one. Here's a picture of the headband:



And here's a picture of a bow attached to the headband:


Once I got the hang of it I went a little crazy:

And I still have plenty of ribbon for who knows how many more bows. I spent about $30 on ribbon, which will make 20 - 30 bows, depending on how big or small I make them. Now I need to work on a bowholder. Hmmmmm......


Here are the two Youtube videos I used for those of you who are interested:

Adventures with Jack

It's ended up being a cold and rainy week, so Jack and I haven't been out much. We bought him a bicycle with his Christmas money, and he has been rather devastated (and difficult to deal with) since we can't ride it all the time. Also, I was looking forward to our bike rides so I could get some much-needed exercise. Now I've been sitting around eating ice cream and not looking forward to the "talking to" Dr. Manuel will probably give me next week. Oh well.

Other than the occasional meltdowns about not being able to go outside, Jack has been a joy this week. He has been taking 2 hour naps and sleeping until 7:30. We've played with play-do, books, tents, trains, and watching Veggie Tales.

Christmas

Christmas 2009 is officially over here at the Iles house. We had our last gathering Saturday night and we "undecorated" the house today. I know this sounds awful, but I love undecorating almost as much as I love decorating for Christmas!

Here's a rundown of the last week:

Monday: Jack and I went grocery shopping, then his PawPaw picked him up for two days in Dry Creek. I enjoyed my afternoon of sewing, cleaning, and relaxing!

Tuesday: A day all to myself! I leisurely shopped around town, took a nap, and cleaned house.

Wednesday: 3 hour glucose test in the morning (I passed!) and off to Dry Creek that afternoon. We had the small Iles family Christmas Wednesday night (just Curt, DeDe, the brothers and their wives and children). We had a wonderful evening of opening gifts, eating, and sharing about what the Lord has done in our lives in 2009. A true blessing!

Thursday: Ate breakfast with the Iles, then headed home to Woodworth! We made a Christmas gingerbread house, played with toys, and went to the Christmas Eve service at church.

Here is me and Jack with our gingerbread house!




Friday: Woke up early to open presents, the played outside for the whole morning.

Here is Jack with his precious bed head waiting to open gifts!
He loves his firetruck!

For lunch, we ate gumbo with the McCullins and my grandmother and Aunt Sarah. After lunch we all took a 2 hour nap before heading to Harrisonburg! The Terry family lives in Harrisonburg, and it is quite a large family! They have a wonderful tradition of making stockings for every member of the family. As you can see, this is a big family and we're not done adding stockings for quite some time!!



Jack loved his drill that the Greg Terry family gave him. I think Adam loved it as much as Jack!
Jack walked around like this much of the evening, taking it all in.


Saturday: I went shopping Saturday morning and bought some fabric for projects for Sydney's nursery (I'll show you when it's complete!) and a new purse! After lunch, we headed back to Dry Creek so Clay, Clint, Terry, and Brady could play their annual football game. Robin and I brought Noah and Jack to watch their daddies play! Saturday evening was the Big Iles family get-together (Clayton and Mary's children and their families). We had a lot of fun catching up with all the cousins!


This week I plan on relaxing and playing with Jack all week! I hope to get some schoolwork accomplished and maybe some sewing, also. I'll post pictures of Jack and my adventures this week!

SOOO much better...

Jack is out of the house for 48 hours. I have unbelievable inlaws. I called them a couple of weeks ago to see if they could get him Tuesday night because I have to do the 3-hour glucose test Wednesday morning. YUCK! They offered to get him on Monday instead, so it gives me two whole days to do whatever I want!! I cannot explain how wonderful my house feels right now.

So of course I have a couple of sewing projects in the works. I have neglected my poor sewing machine for the past month while I've been busy making pumpkin rolls. I ended up with 82 orders! Whew!!

First up...new pillows for the couch. Remember these?
My hideous, quilted pillows gone horrible? Well, I've lived with them since the summer.


Today in WalMart I found some great fabric for $3.77/yard and bought some pillow forms. Doesn't my couch look so much better? I just can't justify paying $15 or $20 for decorative pillows that will just get torn up. I made 6 pillows for $35!

So, what else will I get done by Wednesday morning? I hope to go walking, sleep in, get the laundry folded, and make a dress or two for Sydney, maybe rent a movie. It's sheer bliss!

LaFitte Family Christmas

Yesterday kicked off the Christmas get-together marathon! My mom is going to her parents for Christmas this year, so we decided to do Christmas early at my house. It was so much fun. We had crawfish etoufee, salad, rolls, and dream bars for lunch, then we opened gifts and just visited for a few hours. It was so nice to have everyone together!

Jack is the only grandchild on the LaFitte side, so we just watched him open gifts from everyone, then all the "grown-ups" opened gifts. It's so weird that we're no longer the children at family gatherings!



Here's Bob checking himself out in my "skinny mirror." I have this amazing mirror at the end of the hall that automatically takes two sizes off you. It's awesome.



And here are the LaFitte girls, their men, and Jack! (Sydney is also very visible...ha!) Can this count as my six months pregnant picture?

Slacker...

Yes, I know I've been slacking in the blogging world lately. Clint borrowed my camera a couple of weeks ago and I've been too lazy to go get it out of his truck and upload pictures. Oops!

This is my last week of work, and what a week it has been! 155 students, 27 dead crawfish, and 50 dead rats. Ahhh...the joys of dissecting with teenagers. Needless to say, I've come home completely exhausted and have barely stayed awake past 8:00 all week. I can't wait for Christmas break!!

We've been busy getting ready for Christmas around the house! Later this week I'll post with our holiday decorations. With me being 6 months pregnant and Jack being 2 1/2, the decorations were to a minimum this year.


Jack LOVED the Christmas tree farm!

Daddy, what are you doing??


You mean to tell me that we bring the tree home with us? That makes no sense at all!


As much as I thought Jack would enjoy making cookies, he was very stressed about his hands being covered in flour and dough :)


In other Jack news, he is fully potty-trained!! He decided the week before Thanksgiving that he "not like pull-ups" and he hasn't had more than three or four accidents since...and only one night-time accident! We are very excited to not have two kids in diapers at once.

In pregnancy news, things are moving right along! I can't believe I'm almost at the third trimester! After we get back from the holidays, it's all downhill from there. There's a strong possibility of a C-Section a couple of weeks early. I'll know more after another ultrasound at 30 weeks. Also, I failed my 1 hour glucose last week, and I'll go back for a 3 hour test next week. Several of my coworkers have joked that "everything is more difficult with a girl." Well, so far they're right :) But, Sydney is very healthy and that's all that matters!

Dresses

I am off for Thanksgiving break! So far it's been a wonderful time off. Clint and I went on a much needed date last night. Thanks Sara and Terry! We ate out and went to see The Blindside. Excellent movie!

This morning Clint went hunting and Jack and a stayed in our pajamas. This afternoon I made a dress for Sydney and I have fabric bought for two more. This will be a wonderful week!

Nursery is Coming Along

Well....the shopping for the nursery is coming along. Not a single thing has actually been done in the room.



First of all, today I bought these cute outfits. Don't you just LOVE that giraffe onesie?



Here's a closeup of the sheeting for the crib bedding (which I ordered today by the way). I just love the outdoorsy, girly theme with the owls and birds and trees. Don't worry, we are painting the room a very light pink to make sure it looks feminine!

I was at Target today, and would you know that they are now carrying a girls' bedding that has Owls and Birds and Trees? I was ecstatic because they had all sorts of accessories that will go with her bedding!! I found this wall decal at Pottery Barn that I fell in love with, but of course it was outrageously expensive. At Target they had this set for only $15!! It includes 78 pieces!

I also bought this lamp that goes perfectly with the theme! I can't wait to have this lamp on her changing table for all those middle of the night feedings and changings!


I'm so excited to see everything put together...it will probably be the end of January before it's all done. I'll update as I go!

For now, I'm pumped about an entire week off to hang out with family, cook, sew, and NOT TEACH TEENAGERS!

Ready for Delivery!

I have been so busy making pumpkin rolls and a few sticks of ribbon cake over the past couple of weeks! Thanks to all of you for your orders. Tonight I'll be packaging them up in Thanksgiving or Christmas fabric and tomorrow I'll deliver!

Family Pictures

I've been trying all week to get the pictures the Nguyens took last weekend to upload. Emily suggested that I change their size and Poof! It worked! Aren't the pictures WONDERFUL?? They really did a good job capturing our little (growing) family!

I also went for my 22 week appointment this week. Everything looks great! I'm growing and gaining Sydney is very active! I will go back at 26 weeks to do the dreaded glucose test and get another ultrasound. They found placenta previa on the last ultrasound, and if it hasn't moved they'll be doing a C-Section. NNOOOO!! Oh well, I'm so glad we live in a time when we can have ultrasounds and do C-Sections to keep babies healthy!

Character Breakfast

This morning we went to The Very Merry Market Character Breakfast. They had breakfast for the kids and then all the characters came out and visited with everyone and we could take pictures. Jack didn't care too much about the princesses, but when Mickey Mouse came out, his world was turned upside down. It was so precious. He's also starting to figure out this thing about Santa Claus!


Jack's face when Mickey Mouse came out.

Mickey was so sweet to let Jack follow him around and hug him multiple times throughout the breakfast.


Such a great Santa Claus!


This afternoon we had family pictures taken by the fabulous Nguyen family. We might actually get out Christmas cards for the first time this year! Don't hold your breath....I'm not good at that kind of thing. I can't wait to see the pictures!


This afternoon I went back to the market and got a little Christmas shopping done! I also bought Sydney Kaye some frilly monogrammed bloomers. I can't wait to see her little diapered bottom in these, can you?


Last, but not least, her bedding!! I made a final decision! I found this bedding a while back and Clint and I fell in love with it, but it was a little out of our price range. However, this week I got 50 (yes, count them, FIFTY) pumpkin roll orders, and they haven't stopped coming in! So, I decided to buy the dream bedding with the money I make from pumpkin rolls. Now, what color should I paint the room?? I'm thinking buttercream yellow.



Now, I need to get off the computer and start making those 50 pumpkin rolls!

So Many Choices....

I am having the hardest time picking out crib bedding and nursery decor for Sydney Kaye! Here are the choices I have so far....can you help me narrow them down?