10 Months with Ellie Joy

Ten months. My precious girl you are full of spunk and smiles and so much energy.  You are becoming a bit of a mama's girl, but you still love your brother and your daddy if you're not too tired. You love trying to keep up with your big brother and he gets the best giggles and laughs from you. You are always on the go.  Crawling. Cruising. Moving. Playing.

I can already tell you are going to keep me on my toes. You love climbing and are always proud of your achievements.  You managed to climb and stand in the little rocking chair (and rock while standing!), climb the fireplace, climb little chairs and tables at the library, and nearly into the bathtub in recent weeks.  You've been cruising around furniture since Thanksgiving and can stand by yourself for a few seconds, but walking doesn't seem be too exciting yet.  That is just fine with me too, I need you to stay my baby for just a  little longer.

This past month you celebrated your first Christmas, met your uncle George and aunt Joan for the first time, gave up eating purees (only finger food now!), must be included if someone else is eating, and slept a few partial nights in Isaac's room.

We couldn't love you more Ellie Joy. 

Geranium Dress

Suprise, suprise, it's another geranium dress!  I have made so many of these but it is still my favorite dress pattern so far.  It sews together quickly and I love how it is lined giving it such an nice finish.

I wanted to make a dress that would work well for colder weather so I added long sleeves.  This was my first time drafting a sleeve pattern and I was surprised how easy it was.  Next time I'll add a little more room toward the bottom of the sleeve but I'm still happy with how it turned out.  

I've also been wanting to try out adding a peter pan collar.  Thanks to a couple pinterest tutorials, it was pretty painless to do.  

I really wanted to find some silver heart buttons for the back, but no luck.  I couldn't figure out how to keep the lining of the dress when adding sleeves, so I ended up just serging the sleeves and bodice on.  It isn't as neat as the lining, but no one can tell when she is wearing it!

I'm sure there are many more geranium dresses in the future.  I already have a few knit variations floating around in my head, but I might wait a few months till she is walking...after all, it isn't easy to crawl in a dress.

6 Months with Ellie Joy

Ellie Joy,

You are six and a half months by the time I've finally gotten around to writing this, but I don't want to forget.  Six months has brought many new accomplishments: trying solid foods for the first time (you love banana in the mesh feeder), your first two teeth, screeching (and lots of it!), and scooting backwards and really all over the place.

You got your first tooth on August 14th, right around 5 1/2 months (the same time as your big brother), while we were up in Nebraska visiting family.  The second came in a few weeks later and I'm sure I'll be seeing more soon.

You haven't learned to crawl yet, but you always manage to get where you want to be.  You swivel around and scoot backwards.  You've been getting up on your hands and knees rocking for the past month and are reading to take off crawling any day.  You have almost mastered sitting up on your own, although once in a while you'll fall backwards.

You discovered your voice this past month and love to be heard.  You will screech so loud just for fun.  You have also decided you don't like when mommy leaves and let us know by letting out the saddest cry every time I leave the room.

This past month I started letting you sit up in the bath tub and you LOVE to splash...too much for your brother!

You continue to be such a joy in our lives.  You always have a smile ready and we all just adore you. We just love you so!

Love,
Mom

Knit Geranium Dress

While I've always loved sewing for my boy, I am loving this new world of sewing for a girl. I'm loving sewing her up dresses, and the Geranium dress  by Made by Rae being my favorite at the moment. 

I wanted to make Ellie a simple, comfy knit dress for summer and I had some green ponte de roma left over from a pencil skirt I made myself and this dress was born. It has been one of my favorite things to dress Ellie in this summer.

I left out the bodice lining since I was making it with knit fabric and used invisible bias for the neckline and a small band for the armholes.

I have a hard time believing she is already old enough to be almost sitting!  I almost forgot about it until a few weeks ago when I realized that she was sitting up pretty good on her own...I guess we should have been practicing!  I just know that any day she will take off crawling, which I am not ready for.  Please just stay little a bit longer, okay baby girl?

Tank Top Onesie and Baby Shorts

I wanted to start keeping track of my sewing progress and projects I've made so it's high time I finally start getting around to recording an outfit I've made.  I think I've sewn as much for Ellie in her short life so far as I've sewn for Isaac since I discovered sewing clothes and started sewing for him (around a year I think?).

I think this is one of my favorite outfits I've sewn so far.  Possibly because I finally got smart and made matching shirt/shorts.  It is so nice not to have to hunt for another item of clothing to match one I've sewn.

First up is a cute baby onsie I made by combining Shwin Designs' Anytime At All Tee and the baby tank from MADE by Dana.  I love the tank top look and I think it was quicker sew since I only had to do bindings vs the normal collar and sleeves. The neck opening ended up being a little big, but I think she will grow into it nicely since I made the 6-9 month size and she is almost 5 months.  Next time I plan to extend the leg openings as they can be a bit of a tight squeeze with baby girls chubby thighs + cloth diapers. I may also add a small pleat in the back to compensate for the larger neck opening.

Up next are some baby shorts I made following this tutorial.  I ended up making the leg cuffs a bit smaller and adding a waistband.  I skipped the buttonholes since I didn't have any drawstring on had, but next time I think I would add it.

The headband is one I made for Ellie when she was a newborn and is definitely too small on her now, but I couldn't resist using it for pictures.  Hopefully I'll get around to making one in a bigger size soon.  I really just adore these simple bow headbands.

4 months with Ellie Joy

Ellie,

Last week you turned 4 months old on the same day as my birthday.  I enjoyed sharing that little milestone with you and it made me smile all day just thinking about it.  I can hardly believe we've had you in our lives for so long already, and yet it seems like you have always been a part of our little familly and it is hard to imagine life without you.

Over this past month you've went from a dream sleeper to getting up several times a night and always ending up in bed with us.  The doctor thought you might be getting two teeth so I'm wondering if that is the culprit. You have been drooling like crazy and you love to nom on my hand or anything in reach.

You've started giggling and I just cannot get enough of it.  When you spot Dad or Mom or big brother across the room you can't help but light up with the biggest smile.  You also had your first few baths with big brother and you just love it.  Today when I was filling up the tub I saw your eyes get big and a big grin on your face and I couldn't help but let you join even though you'd just had a bath yesterday.

You can still roll over from tummy to back and I can just see you are ready to roll over the other way, I think it is just a matter of discovering it for the first time.  You love to roll over to your side from your back whenever I lay you down to sleep so you are halfway there.

I remember being so unsure what I would do with a girl when we found out, but now I couldn't imagine not having you here.  I'm so thankful God chose to bless me with you as my daughter.

Love,
Mom