Aside from schooling and doing normal child related activities, I’m trying to busy myself with little projects while waiting on Bryant.  Here we have leftover fabric from a nightgown I made for Zoe.  I used a pattern that Grandmere brought and “whipped” this little dress up.  One day, I will actually measure my children and use the correct sizes on the pattern instead of just guessing.  This one I guessed a large based on the weight.  It was too long and too wide and too big all over…lots of adjusting and I was able to make it fit! 

I added the applique after realizing how plain it looked on the front.  I did it using my Cricut and cutting it out of paper and then tracing it on to fusible interfacing stuff.  And then I stitched around it.  All in all…she looked cute I must say!  But chasing a 16 month old to get a better fit…phew!  That was enough to put me into labor.  But it didn’t.

I searched on line for a pattern to make a small tote bag to use as a diaper bag.  After talking to my “Sewing Guru,” I found this pattern online, for free!  I was feeling crunch time coming on, so I suggested to my Guru to make it and see if it would be easy for me to do.  She obliged and made this cute tote that Ceili Rain is toting around.  She brought it by this weekend for me to check out and I loved it.  Now, I’m waiting to see if she’ll let me pay her for it!  It’s adorable and just the right fit for a couple of diapers and wipes for CeiRai.  She likes it too…see!

We now have desks for each of the kids.  Well, we have one for each of the four kids who can climb in a chair.  Ceili Rain, lately, has been confiscating crayons and attempting to “write” on everything.  She found a pencil this week and I finally let her have it and set her in the chair to “write” on paper instead of the carpet.  She sat there for at least 30 minutes drawing and then playing with her toddler crayons (they’re bulky and supposed to be easy to grip).  My mom informed me that she shouldn’t be sitting still staying involved in an activity that long.  Not because it’s bad for her but because developmentally she shouldn’t be able to.  I know this…but I also know she’s a weird kid.  Like her sister and brothers.

And just for all of you freaking out that I am one of “those” parents who start teaching them complex math problems as soon as their out of the womb…don’t freak.  We watch our kids for preschool readiness skills and start them off when they’re ready (like Liam now knows most of his letters and is fast approaching real phonics time…but I’m waiting until August so that he can really know all of his letters).  I don’t believe in pushing them at such young ages but if they show signs of readiness, we jump in and work with them (at their level).  For now, it’s fun watching Ceili Rain focus on what she’s working on.  Last night, she wanted to draw so I sat her down to do it.  Mark was home and I asked her if she wanted to show daddy.  A few minutes later he came down the steps and she held her paper out to show him.   She had the biggest grin on her face!