Last Pics of Mattie

in the womb! I had my last ultrasound today to check on her growth.  She looks like a perfectly healthy, average sized baby.  Her head measurements are leading us to believe she has an oval shaped head - just like her daddy.  And her weight was 5 lbs. 7 oz.  At this point in time they typically gain about half a pound a week, so she should come in around 7 1/2 lbs, even being born a week early - not too shabby!  It also looked like she might have some hair, so that will be interesting to see if it's true.  It's amazing what they can see on these ultrasounds.

Here she is looking directly at you.  She's got fat cheeks just like Levi (and me).

And the last 3D image of her.  The umbilical cord and an arm were in front of her face so we only get a partial view but I think she looks beautiful!  I can't wait to meet her.

 

Garden Work

We spent Saturday morning buying a few plants for the raised garden bed we have when something bit Justin to build a couple more boxes like we had talked about for the past year.  I wasn't going to complain.  We used leftover boards from building our deck to make the 4'x4' boxes and all Justin had to go buy were the posts to put in the corners and dirt.  For our dirt I do a mix of 1/3 Miracle Grow Potting Soil (NOT GARDEN SOIL) and 2/3 top soil. This worked really well last year and even my neighbor who has been gardening for a long time asked how I had such success with my garden when he wasn't having the same luck with his. 

I have the seeds to plant green beans and squash so that is what will go in the new boxes as soon as it is time to plant them.  In the big box I planted 4 different kinds of tomato plants, jalapenos, serranos, romaine, and butter lettuce.  I already had some carrots growing in it and I planted a few more seeds to have a cycle of carrots.  I also planted some fresh parsley and basil in my herb tire.

Cutting our "reclaimed" boards

Piles of cut boards

Levi was "helping"

 My boys are so cute!

See how helpful he is?

 Done!

Before

 After

A Cushion for Levi

Pinterest strikes again! I saw this cute floor cushion/pouf for toddlers on Pinterest and followed this tutorial for making it.  I made it out of regular quilting fabric (however, by no means was this a "cheap" fabric), not a home decorating or sturdier fabric which means it may not last as long, but I couldn't pass up the print once I saw it.  I checked out a quilt store near me this past Saturday that had a TON of great fabrics.  Once I spotted this one I knew I had to do something with it and I immediately thought of the pouf I had seen.  Sold.

 I made the whole thing on Sunday - it probably took me a total of about 4 hours and the total cost was about $15, most of which was the fabric (only 1 yard needed!) since I bought the piping and filler on sale.  Justin took some action shots of me hard at work.  It really was pretty simple - I even used piping!  The only thing was the tutorial I followed called for the side piece to be 51.5".  I even cut it about 52"+ to give me some wiggle room, but I was still a little short so I had to finesse it a bit to make it work.  I needed about another inch or so and it would have been perfect.  Also, I could not find my compass to make the circles (geez, I've only had that thing since about 6th grade and haven't used it since) so I used a pushpin, some string, and a pencil.

 

I gave it to Levi this morning while he was eating breakfast.

 

 

Reinforced handle! The lines aren't perfect but that's the beauty of homemade.

It works!

Last Trip to the Zoo Before We Have 2!

We decided to make one last trip to the zoo because:
 1) we are members and I wanted to go one last time before our membership expires in May
 2) Levi knows a lot more animals now and what noises they make
 3) it was a beautiful Friday afternoon and we wanted to get out of the house
 4) a chance to use the new camera on something besides Levi
and 5) why not?!?!

We had been talking about going but we just hadn't figured out a good time yet so when Justin asked randomly on his way home from work a couple of Fridays ago, I said sure!  It was kind of late in the day but we thought most of the school groups should be gone and who goes to the zoo at 3:00 on a Friday afternoon?  Not many people! And it was PERFECT!  No loud, running, screaming school kids, not the weekend crowd, just other moms pushing strollers and a few tourists.  And the weather was perfect - warm in the sun, cool in the shade, just a rare, gorgeous Houston Texas day. And bonus, not only were the animals out, but it was feeding time for some of them.

We only stayed for a couple of hours because I can only do so much walking, and Levi was a little bit cranky.  He apparently had not napped long enough and he DID NOT want to be in the stroller so Justin got to carry him or walk slowly with him holding his hand.

 Fish!

First stop, as always, the aquarium with the tunnel.

View from outside the fish tank.

Lecturing on the fish.

I thought this sign was funny.

The new camera is so much better!

Since I'm usually taking the pictures, here's a rare one of me.

Sewing Projects

I can finally post a couple of my other sewing projects (that were gifts) on here now that I have given them to the recipient!  I have a friend who is also having a baby girl at the end of May so I made her a onesie dress and a quilt.  I think her quilt turned out better than the one I made for Mattie!  I'll definitely have to make more of this pattern and style.

First, here are the onesie dresses I made.  I gave my friend the black/grey/pink polka dotted one and I kept the purple multicolored polka dot for Mattie.  For both of them I made matching hair bows out of the remaining fabric.  And of course I found the inspiration from Pinterest but I changed it up slightly.  The original dress pattern had a ruffle at the bottom but I decided to just keep it longer and just add rick rack for detail.

The fabric has a bit of sparkle in it!

 

 

Sparkle and rick rack!

 

 I bought the fabric to make one more but I'm going to make it in a bigger size.  These 2 were both 3 month onesies.

Next up, is the quilt I made my friend.  She is doing a "chocolate, pink, and cream" theme for her little girl so I bought whatever flannels I could find in those colors to make her a rag quilt.  This too came from Pinterest but I had to google how to bind a quilt and then used a different stitch than the original so that it was more hidden.  Also, my measurements are slightly smaller because my fabric cuts weren't generous enough.  If anybody has any questions on how I did something, feel free to ask! It turned out AWESOME!

I'm so proud of my binding! You can't tell which side was machine sewn and which side I hand sewed.

The "rag" side.

The "smooth" side.