I was right about Eli :( ...

We found out today that Elijah is 24% behind for his age. We had people come over today to check him out because we were concerned. He averaged out at 4.8 months and he turned 6 months on the 21st. They said his motor skills are behind a lot, but everything else is pretty good. They said he should be making more sounds (baby talk) than he is, but it's not a big concern. They said he should be sitting unsupported by now, but he's not. His balance is off and he is very tense. He's not really extending his arms and legs but instead keeps himself tense and pulls everything close and tight. It could be a security thing though. They also think he may have reflux. Which would explain some of his lag in motor skills. The reflux can be causing him to be uncomfortable in certain positions. So that's something we have to talk to his pediatrician about. We also have to talk about getting him fit for a helmet :( . They think that if he doesn't get one soon his head will never be as round as it should be. He has Plagioceplaly (Flat Head Syndrome). It's very common but it's best to fix it while he's still small or it could fuse and stay that way. I don't really want my beautiful little boy to be stuck wearing a helmet all day but I guess it's better to deal with it now. We will be getting PT for him once a week to help him with his motor skills, and hopefully the doctor can help with everything else. Well I'll keep you updated.

Elijah James hit a new milestone...

Elijah seems to be lagging behind in some of his motor skills, and he also doesn't have any teeth yet. (Although he is teething very bad..) He just recently began holding his own bottle (Rylan was holding his own bottle when he was 4 months old), he's still not sitting unsupported, he actually still falls over even when sitting supported sometimes. He's not crawling yet, but he does get up on all fours and rock so he's getting close. Well yesterday he rolled over from back to belly for the first time, before that he was only going from belly to back. He has been doing that for months. Yesterday I had him on the floor for some belly time and he rolled over onto his back.. and then my fiance Justin noticed he was back on his stomach. He asked if I turned him back over, and I said no that he must have rolled back over himself. :) Yay!! I can't believe he's 6 months old already! Half a year has flown by so fast!!

Yet another baby dress...

I finished another dress. This is similar to the red and white dress I made. This time I tried to make it into a pattern I could remember. I made this one in the modern pink and brown design. Man these dresses really make me want a daughter of my own. Just wish I could convince my fiance to have another baby in a year or so. (Crossing my fingers..:) ) It only took me 2 days to finish this dress so I'm getting better at this. I used the Caron Simply soft yarn again for this dress. I think so far this is my favorite yarn just because it's so soft and a great value for the price. Here is what the back looks like. I think it's adorable!! :D

Crochet Candy Cane

Here is a crochet candy cane I made. I got this pattern from The Art of Crochet with Teresa. It was really fast and easy to make. I think it's so cute.. I added a little ornament hook to it so I could hang it on my Christmas tree. I think I am going to make a few more. I know Christmas has already come and gone but at least I will have them for next year! :)

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!

Purple "Baby Ballerina"

I finished the purple "Baby Ballerina" dress set I was requested to make. They didn't want a hat this time so I just made the cute little headband to go with it. I did a couple of things different with this one to make it more comfortable and to fit about a 3 month old baby. I used double crochet on the top of the dress instead of half-double crochet, and made the skirt have a few less ruffles. I also added some ruffles along the edge of the armholes. I increased the hook size to a size I-9. I
made this using the same simply soft yarn I used for the first dress in White and Orchid.
Here is the front of the dress. I really love this pattern!!

...and here is the back of the dress. I found more adorable little buttons that matched the dress perfectly. They were light purple with glitter in them. This dress needed 4 buttons instead of 3 because it was slightly bigger.

White & Red Baby Dress

I made another dress!! :) I whipped up this dress in just 2 days. I think it's really cute. There really isn't a pattern for it because I kind of just made it up as I went along. I don't know if I could recreate it if I wanted to, but I really really like it! It's pretty enough to be a holiday dress, but would be great for any occasion. I made this using Red Heart brand yarn in Cherry Red and White, and used a size H-8 crochet hook throughout. I mixed together half-double crochet, double crochet, and a shell pattern to create the look. It was fun and easy and worked up really fast! It came out a little bigger than my other dress pattern. (It would fit a baby between 3-6 months the best) I'll be working on some more dresses in the future and of course I'll post them as I go.

He did it!!!

Ok I have been trying to potty train my oldest son Rylan for a few months now, but this month I decided to get serious about it. He will be 2 years old in April and I kind of wanted him fully trained by then. He has gotten to the point where he tries to take off his own diaper or brings me a diaper as if to ask me to change him. So, I decided it was time to get serious about it. Well I have been putting him on his potty chair everytime I use the bathroom to get him used to it. ..and I put him on there if I catch him "going" in his diaper. Well it has been getting better... he knows when he has to go.. there are times when he didn't have a diaper on and went into the bathroom to go but didn't make it in time. So I knew we were getting somewhere. Well, until last night he hadn't actually gone in his potty. I noticed he had to go so I rushed him into the bathroom and put him on the potty and he finally did it! YAY!!! LOL! I was so happy! My fiance Justin and I were cheering and praising him for the rest of the night. So we'll keep this up and hopefully I will have him fully trained by his 2nd birthday. Wish me luck! :)

Rainbow Starghan

Here is a rainbow starghan I have been working on for my brother. It's going really fast. I was trying a few different patterns and they weren't coming out right.. so I mixed a couple things together to find one that worked for me and this is what I got. I hope he likes this! I will post an update on it when I'm done.

Where have I been?

Hi again. I know you've been wondering where I've been. Well over the weekend I did some shopping.. finished up for Christmas. I also bought some new yarn for some new projects. I have been requested to make another one of my "Baby Ballerina" dress sets for a bigger baby. So I will be working on that. I am still working on a few other things. Sometimes I feel like I never finish anything I start. I do, it just takes a while. I can't help it! I end up thinking of something new, or finding some new pattern I want to try out, and then it takes me forever to complete them all.

Anyway, the reason I haven't been on all week is because on Monday, December 14, 2009, my grandmother(My moms mom) passed away. It was after a long illness and we were expecting it, but that never makes it easier. The whole family is taking it pretty hard. My grandmother was definitely someone everyone enjoyed being around. She always had a smile on her face and loved to crack a joke. She will be remembered. I will love and miss her always.

I will try to get back into the routine of posting things by next week. I just needed a little time. It definitely kicks the joy out of the season. Her birthday would have been on Tuesday of next week. So things will still be hard. I am trying to keep my head up and just be thankful that she is with God now and no longer suffering in pain.

TGIF!! Have a great weekend!! :D

Hey! Sorry I haven't posted anything new the last couple days. I just haven't really been on the computer. I was busy Thursday cleaning as usual, and today was pretty busy as well. I'm usually not online as much during the weekends but if I do get a chance to post this weekend I will. If not, I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

"Baby Ballerina" Dress Set

This is my original "Baby Ballerina" design. This is the very first baby dress I ever designed on my own. It came out so much better than I even thought it would. It's beautiful! Every part of this dress set is my original pattern. After making this dress it really makes me wish I had my own little girl. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it. I did have someone who wanted to buy it, but they decided not to because the baby was getting too big for it. I made the dress and the accessories with Caron Simply Soft yarn in colors White 9701, and Soft Pink 9719. The entire set was made using a size H-8 crochet hook.

This is the front of the dress. I really love the ruffles, which I made with a 6-stitch shell pattern I designed.
This is the back of the dress. I found the perfect buttons to match this dress. They were pink with white flowers on them.
...and here is the little hat. This set would be perfect for a larger preemie baby or a newborn. I added the little pink ruffles to the hat which were created with the same 6-stitch shell pattern I used for the skirt of the dress. (The flowers were also made with the same stitch)
Last but not least, this is the matching headband. I made this just to give a choice to wear this or the hat. They both look adorable together with the dress. I never made a headband before so this was my first try. I think it came out pretty good.

This dress took me a lot of time and work but I am so proud of it. I never thought I would be able to design something like this on my own, but I did. I look forward to making more of these dresses and maybe even designing a couple more of my own patterns.

It's Hump Day! (Only..16 days until Christmas... :D )

Hope everyone has a great day! The week is more than half over already! :D

"Baby Blues" Granny Square Baby Blanket

This is the granny square baby blanket I made for my baby boy Elijah while I was pregnant for him. I believe this was the first blanket I ever made like this one. I have another partial granny square throw I have very slowly been working on, but I can't remember if I started that one before the baby blanket. Anyway, this was at least the first one I completed then. It's so cute! I have named it "Baby Blues". It was made with Red Heart brand yarn, but I'm not exactly sure what the names of the two colors are. I used a size I crochet hook. I love to make the continuous granny square like this one because it's so easy and fast to make.

Here he is all bundled up in his blanket the other day when we got our first snow. :)

A sad note...

On a sad note, I was told this weekend that my grandmother isn't expected to make it much longer. It kind of knocks the joy right out of this season. Her birthday will be the 22nd of this month, but they don't think she will make it to then. She has been fighting for awhile. She's just getting up there in age and her body is getting tired. She's been in and out of the hospital, but they don't think she's coming back out this time. I wish I could go see her for one last time but she lives too far away and we don't have the money right now. Hopefully I can get there for her funeral if and when she passes. I'm keeping her in my prayers... :(

"2012" The Movie (No give-aways!)

So I finally saw the movie "2012" this weekend. It was amazing! Non-stop action the whole time! The beginning was a little slow as they had to build up a story line, but after that it was like one second your fighting for your life, then the next it was like whew I'm safe now! ...wait no I'm not ahhh!! LOL. I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. The movie was like over 2 hours long but you don't even realize it. I give this one a definite thumbs up!! 5 stars!!

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

So, we got our first snow this weekend! I think the snow is so pretty but I just can't stand the cold. It was only 20-something degrees out! Brr! We have leather seats in our vehicle and it's a good thing they are heated because when you first sit down on them you freeze your butt off LOL. It takes a few minutes for them to heat up, so for the first few minutes I am sitting there with my butt slightly lifted off the seat. We didn't get a lot that stuck, but it's technically not even Winter yet so we have plenty of time to get more. I didn't get a chance to get any pictures of it yet but I will try to when it snows again. I can't wait to get my boys out into it and take some pictures. Rylan has seen snow before although he probably doesn't remember it, but Elijah has never seen snow before. Next time I'll be ready for the snow angels and snowball wars! Time to get out the hats, gloves/mittens, scarves and boots. I'm thinking about making some scarves and mittens or gloves. Guess I'll have to see what I can come up with. Scarves are easy (although I have only made simple ones), but I have never made any gloves or mittens. Project!! Yay!! :D

So Far So Good (Ripple/Wave Afghan)

Well here it is. This is my ripple/wave afghan. I have only been working on it for a couple days but I'm really liking it. I would have had more completed by now but if you read my post from earlier then you know why I didn't get much done yesterday. I also had to pull some back out because I messed up in my 8th row and didn't realize it until my 11th row. Yeah that sucked! ...but leave it to me to mess up such an easy pattern LOL. Other than that it's going good. I'll keep you updated! Hopefully I get a lot of this done over the weekend.

It was a loonnggg day...

You may have noticed I didn't really post anything new yesterday. (I posted something sometime yesterday morning, but it was about an older item I made. Nothing new.) Anyway that's because I had sort of a long day yesterday. (I guess that's normal for a stay at home mom of two little boys though. ) First of all Rylan woke me up really early in the morning. I guess i shouldn't be up writing new posts on my blog at 2:13 in the morning should I. (LOL... Notice the time of my very first post on 12/3/2009.) Justin was tired because he was the one to get up the morning before with him. So I figured I had better get up this time. Well, then I had to give him breakfast. He needed a bath so I decided to take one with him so he wouldn't fight me. (The only way he will let me bathe him is if I take one with him. He's a hardcore daddy's boy!) Well right as I was finished helping Rylan get dressed, Elijah woke up. So I thought well guess I better get him up and dressed and feed him too, because we had things to do. So, I got Elijah dressed and made his bottle.

I then caught a few minutes to jump online and check my email, read a few things and write up a quick post here on my blog. (I'm trying to post lots of the older things I've made so I can catch up on my newer stuff.) Then Justin got up so we got ready to leave. We had to do a little grocery shopping, which by the way you should never do when you are hungry. LOL. (Turned into more than a "little" shopping) Guess I should have eaten breakfast instead of getting on the computer. Well after running errands we came back home, and ate some of the junk we shouldn't have bought at the store and fed the boys again. Then it was run around time as I help Justin get things ready for him to leave for work. The entire time I had two cranky little boys screaming for our attention so I would be trying to tickle one and hold the other as I helped him gather his things. I decided it was nap time! So they both went in their beds, and Justin left for work.

Yay! Time to take a nap or sit and relax and get some crocheting done right? LOL. Not! No it was cleaning day, so no relaxing or napping for me. I went room to room cleaning, until of course a couple hours had flown by before I knew it and I realized the boys were still in bed. It was almost 5:00 so I had to wake them up. So hesitantly I did, then filled up a fresh bottle, and sippy cup of milk and sat them in front of the TV to watch one of their favorite movies so that I could finish cleaning. Of course that didn't go as planned. Rylan would rather try to "help" me clean, which turns into getting in my way and slowing me down. He's too cute though so I can't help but let him. Then we ended up dancing around the house to the radio as I was trying to clean at the same time. (LOL. Go ahead try and picture this...)

Garbage gets picked up super early Friday mornings so we have to get everything together and outside the night before. Well the first bag I got together I was just about to tie it shut and the tie snapped. I was thinking "Great!...Just great!!" . Why do people always say the opposite of what they really mean? Well I tried doing some magic and somehow tied the pieces together and got the bag tied shut. I lifted the bag to carry it to the door and who would have guessed... the bottom of the bag popped open and everything fell out. I was pulling my hair out. Well I put a new bag over the old bag and got everything back inside.

Soon enough it was time for dinner. Justin came home to eat and left back to work. The time was just flying by. I still wasn't finished with all of the housework. I attempted to get a few more things done before it was bedtime for the boys. After I got them to sleep, I finished up a few things and jumped back online to check a few things as I waited for Justin to get home. When he got here he helped me take the garbage to the curb. Then we came inside and I tried to relax a little and finally sneak some crocheting in. We watched a quick half hour show together and headed to bed. So I never posted anything. No posting at 2:13 am again. Whew!

Other than having to get up a couple of times in the night to comfort Elijah because he's teething, today is going much better. It doesn't matter that I didn't get much sleep because I'm not draining all of my energy today. Oh sure, there are other things I should be doing other than writing this ridiculously long post on my blog, but I have the time so why not. I even had a chance to work on a few more things this morning. I will be posting an update on the afghan a little later so make sure you come back and look for it! :)

Christmas Sweaters For My Boys

Yay!! Christmas Sweaters!! :D LOL. Ok here is one of 2 matching Christmas sweaters and hat sets I made for my two handsome little boys. This is yet another modified version of the Simple Baby Sweater pattern found by searching on YouTube for Mikeyssmail. He is a great teacher! As you can see I also added pockets on this one. (Not that a baby is really going to use pockets.. just thought it was really cute.) I just love changing up other peoples patterns to make them my own. There really are endless possibilities with the original pattern. Everyone has to start somewhere! I have been slowly creating my own patterns for things and it's so fun to do! Anyway back to the Christmas sweaters... I made these sweaters using Red Heart Super Saver yarn in colors 0319 Cherry Red, and 0316 Soft White. I used a size K hook on the sweater and a size I on the hat. Now I know a lot of people don't like to use this kind of yarn on something that will be touching the skin because it can be itchy, but all you have to do is put it through the wash a couple times and dry it on low heat and remove promptly. You may even want to take it out before it's completely dry. It makes it much softer.

I love the little pom pom on the top! :) I made this hat a little different than the other hats I designed, but really all I did was make it a little longer and fold it down.. and made a pom pom to sew on top. It came out super cute and goes really well with the sweater!

Rylan's Sweater "Cool Dude"

This is the sweater I made for my big boy Rylan. This is the same sweater pattern I modified for Elijah's "Blueberries n Chocolate" sweater. The hat was made from my own pattern. (I'm working on getting it posted. I'm not that good at writing down my patterns. Blah! ) I renamed this set "Cool Dude". Rylan thinks hats are called cool dudes LOL, so I thought it was a cute name for his sweater set. I created them with Caron Simply Soft yarn in colors Black 9727, and Grey Heather 9742. I used a size K hook for the sweater and a size I hook for the hat. This one is also very soft! Oh and one thing i changed with this one is that I added a couple of buttons. I didn't do that to Eli's. (If I get the chance I will also work on writing up my modified version of this sweater pattern.) Sweaters are so fun! :D

Baby Sweater for Baby Elijah "Blueberries n Chocolate"

Here is the matching sweater and hat set I made for my baby boy Elijah. It came out so cute and it really brings out those georgeous bright blue eyes of his. The sweater is a modified version of the "Simple Baby Sweater" pattern I learned watching Mikeyssmail on YouTube. (Much better than the first one I made. LOL.) The hat I made up myself. (I will try to post the pattern I use for most of the hats I make soon!) I have renamed this set "Blueberries n Chocolate" :) . They were both made with Caron Simply Soft Eco yarn in colors Blueberry Mist 0023 and Chocolate 0006. They are so soft! I used a size K hook for the sweater and a size I hook for the hat. This was very fun to make and I can't wait to make more of them.

I made a purse!!

This is a purse/handbag I made with my own original pattern. Although this isn't the first purse I have designed, it's the only one I really like and would actually use. All of the other purses I have designed were pretty flat and would not stand up on their own at all. (They usually were simply a big rectangle folded in half and sewn closed with a single chain strap. LOL! ) I'm proud of this one. It does stand on it's own flat bottom, has a thicker more supported strap, and has a very cute closure. The strap is not stiff but I still like it. I'm sure the pattern can probably be modified with some sort of store bought handle if you really wanted. I made this purse with Red Heart brand worsted weight 4 ply yarn in colors Black and Buff, and used a size I crochet hook. (The Lilac and White purse in the picture was made with a softer baby yarn i had left over from an old project. I made that one for my best friend Frances for her birthday last month.) I don't have the pattern ready for posting just yet, but it's something I will work on if anyone wants it.

Popcorn Potholder

This was a potholder I made a month or 2 ago. I was just learning how to do the popcorn stitch and decided to make it into my own pattern for a potholder. I thought it came out pretty cute. I made this with 4 ply worsted weight yarn and a size H crochet hook. I created the yellow area entirely with popcorn stitch and added a white ruffled edging with a little loop for hanging it up.

I started a new afghan...

So, I have started making a new ripple/wave afghan today for my son Rylan. I have never made one of these before and I'm really nervous about how it's going to turn out. So far I think it looks good, but we will see. The pattern seems so easy so I don't know what I could possibly do wrong. You never know though with me LOL. Well i'll post updates on my progress as I go. Keep your fingers crossed for me. :)

Our Christmas Tree

One of my favorite parts about this time of year is decorating. We put our Christmas tree up on Saturday. My oldest son Rylan was actually helping me put the ornaments on the tree. He was so cute and funny. He's only 19months old and he didn't understand how to put them on right so he would just set them somewhere in the tree. I would have to later remove them and put them on the right way. I think it's fun(minus the part about putting the tree together. Darn fake trees!). I think we may buy more ornaments to put on it, but this is everything we had left from last Christmas. My fiance really wants a real tree, but I have never had one. I wouldn't really know how to take care of one. Anyway, with the kids being so small I am afraid that they will swallow one of the little needles off the tree or something. So a fake one is probably best for now. It's hard enough between the kids and our cat to have to keep them from pulling the ornaments off. I'm looking forward to Christmas this year.. I can't wait to see how the kids react to thier new things. :)

My Very First Baby Sweater

This was the very first baby sweater I made, and I was so proud of myself LOL. It was far from perfect as you can see(I really messed up on the sleeves), but it definitely gave me the confidence that I can learn how to do more than just a simple double crochet blanket.
I made this sweater following the video for "Simple Baby Sweater" from Mikeyssmail on YouTube. It was very easy to follow. (Me screwing up on the sleeves was my fault and I quickly learned what I did wrong :) ) I'm sorry I have no clue as to what yarn I used for this, it was just some scrap yarn I had stuffed away without the original labels. I thought it wouldn't matter to use it because I wasn't sure I could even complete the sweater. All I know is that it was a soft 4 ply yarn of some kind. It's still cute though, I keep it as a reminder to myself that I can do anything I put my heart into. :)