How To Train Your Dragon

Date nights are few and far between, but this one was awesome. I totally recommend this movie.

Try to tell me that boys and girls are essentially the same. Try to tell me that they only take on gender roles that we teach them. Try to tell me that we indoctrinate young girls into thinking that they want and need to be mothers. Then let me tell you that Avery has 1 doll, with none of the little accessories, and multiple cars, noisemakers and other rowdy toys. With what is laid before her this is what she chooses to do:

She doesn't have a bottle for the doll so she is trying to feed it her own juice. I also caught her trying to feed goldfish crackers to her lion and fruit snacks to her monkey. Such a little mother already.

What now?

She can climb my oven to reach my stove. This changes everything! She can reach the hot stuff. She can pull things down on top of her. How do I baby-proof this?

Not yet, Avery

Ohhhhh, how she wants to swim. How she wants to get in the water and splash around like the others. How she would love to jump in in all her glory to show everyone how she can make waves. But I still won't let her. I am such a party pooper. As much as Avery loves the pool I just can not put her in yet. I know that it isn't Puget Sound cold, but it is chilly enough that the children I DO see in the pool are shivering after 3 minutes of exposure. So this is the extent of Avery's pool privileges for now. Poor thing.

First Flips

At Target this weekend we discovered that flip-flops are only $2.50. This applies to adult and children's flips so I bought myself some happy green ones and Avery some awesome pink ones. These are her first flip-flops and she LOVES them. She brings them to me six times a day so that I can put them on her. She doesn't even mind the scab they gave her on the top of her foot or the blister they gave her between her toes. Since these things do not seem to bother her, and she continues to insist on wearing them, I made a mother decision and hid them away for a few days. Oh, a girl and her shoes.

Really. really. sucks.

Having the stomach flu sucks. Having a baby with the stomach flu sucks. Having the stomach flu at the same time as your baby really sucks, especially when it involves TANG throw-up. So my last two days have sucked. Really. really. sucked.

TOP SECRET

I am working on a secret sewing project. It is so secret I can not say anything about it here. Let me just say that it is my favorite project yet. I will post when I can.

Updated 4/30/10:

I made skirts for my nieces and my sister for the Easter holiday. I was hoping for a picture of them all in their skirts, but these individual pics will have to do.

Just practicing...

Derek and Michelle came over last night to visit. It has been far too long and we all, especially Avery, were very happy to see them. Avery was oddly attached to Derek all night, even.

Lately it has been nearly impossible to get Avery into her pjs. She wants to be naked all the time and it is a battle each night. Last night, however, Avery decided that she wanted Derek to put her pjs on her. It wasn't so bad at first, but then half way through she decided that she didn't really want them on, and then Derek really had his work cut out for him.

After much wrestling, he did it. We are always so happy to let Derek practice his parenting skills on Avery. Of course, it has taken him more than a year to stop being afraid of breaking her.

Too Untrusting?

I think I should trust Avery more. Just yesterday I had assumed she was getting into trouble with Effie, only to find them sharing snacks on the stairs. Then today I was folding laundry in my room when I realized I had not heard Avery in a while. Again, I fear the worst and go running into the living room and here she is:

Am I such a bad mom for thinking my child is always up to no good?

Just hangin' with my girl

We went over to Katie Moore's house today for a little food and sewing talk. Avery was unusually cranky and was making me a little bonkers. After an hour of whining she finally realized that Effie was there for her to play with. She disappeared and about 5 minutes later I was wondering why it was so quiet. I was expecting the worst when I turned the corner and found this:

Silly me. She was just chillin' with her girlfriend, sharing an orange. Sweet girls.

Oh, this child.

Avery loves dogs. She must get that from Joe because I DO NOT! She has never been afraid of them (except for that one odd incident where she hated Andrew's dog). She loves to wrestle and be licked by them; it's weird. So at the in-laws tonight she tried to bring herself even closer to their Yorkie, Logan, by moving in to his place. Yes, Logan's place. In a matter of about 30 seconds Avery went from harmless playing near his kennel: to this:

I should mention that she shut the door herself. I think she played in that thing for 15 minutes before I made her get out. What a funny bird. Dog. Bird.

So....

I didn't sell anything. I feel a mite discouraged, but, to be fair, NO ONE sold anything. And I don't just mean in our booth. I am pretty sure NONE of the vendors sold anything. Maybe a couple of aprons got sold at one point but the lady shopping was having a really hard time deciding between 2 of the vendors' products. Tough stuff.

Still, I feel good that we did this. Our products were the cutest. This is not a biased opinion, it is simple fact. Our display was also cutest. This was thanks to everyone except me I PROMISE you. Anndalyn had the vision and between her, Katie and Chantee, they had the supplies. I couldn't even help set up since I was chasing Avery around the parking lot the whole time. But it was beautiful.

I think that is it safe to say that we all still have hopes of getting some stuff sold in the near future. We are looking for more flea markets, possibly boutiques, and maybe even an etsy account. Here's to lofty goals!

By the way, this means that I have 4 dresses for sale. The lemon one is 12-18 months, the tulip and damask ones are 18-24 months, and the orange trimmed bird one is 3T maybe 4T. They are priced at $40. If you really are interested feel free to email me.

Oh, boy! I've got joy!

I did a hard thing. I accepted a challenge from a friend to have 4 dresses made for a flea market booth they were running this Friday. I didn't really want to do it. I didn't think I was good enough. I was worried that what I was making was only cute to me. I didn't think that I could make 4 dresses in 4 days. Well, I did, and I am feeling dang good about myself.

In our lesson on Sunday the teacher mentioned that instead of using the word proud we should substitute the word joy. Such as: my child brings me joy, instead of I am proud of my child. Guess what? Finishing this task brings me a lot of DANG JOY! The dresses are pretty. I did a good job designing and finishing, and I feel like I have found a talent that I never knew I had all because my dad bought me a sewing machine a month ago.

I love to sew. I love having something beautiful that I created when I am done. I love seeing other people wear what I have made. And, I'm not gonna lie, I love it when people compliment something I have created. I love that I can take on challenges and meet them. I love how it feels to lay down at night and know that you did good work in the day.

I feel great joy in creating beautiful things.