Cars 2 Cute Skirt

In addition to the Cars "2" shirt, I made Ryenn a matching skirt. I had left over fabric the morning of Nolan's birthday party and decided to whip up a skirt.

Mater and Lightning

True Expressions Photography

First pregnancy

I attribute the birth of Adaly Myles Place to a few people. One of these people is Tyla from True Expressions.

Birthday Shirt

When I was putting together Nolan's birthday party, I was very particular on the theme. Everything, and I mean everything, had to be cars related. I decided that instead of spending a ton of money for someone else to make him his birthday shirt, I would enlist some help from my mother-in-law. She is great with a sewing machine and knew she could accomplish what I wanted.

Hard at work!

FO Summer Sweater

I finished the Work+Shelter Summer Lace Sweater on Friday. It was fun knitting a sweater using the colors I did. I knit it a little too big, but thought it would be nicer with more room to breathe.

I wanted to knit the whole thing in the mint green, but as I was knitting it up, I felt that it would not look as good fully green. So instead, I used a color scheme I found on a sweater from Target a while ago.

I struggled a bit with joining the sleeves. This was mainly due to the fact that I was trying when I had had very little sleep.

Once I stopped over thinking it and just followed directions, rather than skip ahead, I found it to be fairly easy.

Christmas in July?!

I was commissioned a little bit ago to knit up five stockings for a relative of Allyson's boyfriend, PT, and have had the yarn on stand by for quite some time. She sent my the schematics she wanted and the colors she preferred. I went out and bought the yarn about a month and a half ago. I must say that these colors make me want to knit a Christmas sweater or myself.

Yarn

Anyway, I bought Loops and Thread Impeccable in three different shades; cherry, soft fern, and white. She asked for her and her husband's stockings to be the same and her three kids' stockings to be the same. I have decided to follow her schematic to the letter with her and her husband's. However, I am inverting the colors with the three kids'. These will be stripes that vary in size. I got started this week and have struggled with the heel of the stocking. Not due to the difficulty, but because I am not liking the look. I had to knit up the heel part three times before I was happy with the way it looked. Progress is being made, though. And at a faster rate than expected (even with the delays).

After starting heel for a third time

Yard Signs

I found yard signs online for the kids' birthday parties in the beginning of June. I thought "what a great idea," but about died when I saw the price on them. $400 for a sign I will only use once!!! That's ludicrous! I decided that I needed this for both my kids' party but wasn't about to spend 3 times my car payment for it!

Instead, I decide to DIY it. I bought three different color poster boards for both kids (black/white/red for Nolan and white/pink/purple for Ryenn). I then figured out the size I wanted and staggered the colors in a pattern. With Nolan's I added the black and whit checkered ribbon to the red letters to make it a bit less boring. I also added Cars 2 stickers to the first letter/number in each sequence. With Ryenn's (which I don't have pictures for), I added the pink and purple polka-dot ribbon to the white letters. It was really windy on her birthday so the pictures of the sign did not turn out too well.

I then hot glued floral stakes to each letter (some had 2) in order to stick them in my front yard. They both turned out really great and cost me less than $10. No where near $400.

Barefoot Babes

I was recently contacted by a friend from high school's mother about selling products in her store in Texas. She specifically asked my for barefoot baby sandals.

Sold orders

I had these on my list of things to knit up, but had yet to actually make them. Most of the patterns were for crochet sandals, which I don't do very well. Instead I decided to knit up my own creation.

Brown with pink flower

I edged these sandals with a single crochet edge and adorned it with a crochet flower. They turned out better than expected. I sent her 6 pairs this past week.

Black

I also decided to add the sandals to my Etsy page. Within one day of the listing being added, I had 3 orders! I was ecstatic!

White

Baby Bunting

I have never made bunting and have heard horror stories on how tedious it can be. I wanted the bunting, without the hassle. I also needed it done quickly. For both babies' parties, I waited until the last minute to even start the bunting.

Instead of sewing ANY of the bunting, I just cut triangles out of the fabric I had chosen (for Nolan's party, my mother-in-law and Allsyon cut the triangles for me).

I then took these triangles and started hot gluing them to yarn. I did this until I ran out of fabric triangles. When decorating for the parties, I just cut the strands where I wanted them to end.

Weight Loss Progress

I have still been sick. This has greatly effected my ability to lose weight, seeing as I have been eating crackers and soup and bread (everything not included in my diet). I also skipped a night of sleep in order to read an entire book (more on that later)! However, rather than sit here and fill the page with excuses, I decided instead to talk about the road ahead. This morning I weighed in and was more than happy to see a loss this morning. I currently weigh 186.9lbs. I am hoping that this coming week working out will become plausible (that is if I can breath through my nose and my coughing stops). I am also posting inspirational quotes and goals around the house fo rmyself (my mirror, closet, fridge, and pantry). That way I will have the constant reminder of what I am trying to achieve here.


Brave enough to be in my bikini on the 4th of July even though now its a bit too big

2 Years in the Making

I was recently going through my stash of yarn in my basement, looking for something specific, when I stumbled upon a project that has been taking up valued needle space since before Nolan was born. This infinity scarf has been pushed aside numerous times. I remember being hospitalized two weeks before Nolan was born when they were concerned with my heightened blood pressure. It seems the only cure for my high blood pressure was to be put on bed rest (which was definitely not followed by me). I remember being in the hospital just watching TV and knitting. I was about halfway done when I realized the twist that was supposed to be there, definitely was not.

simple stitches

It hurt to have to tear out so many inches of completed knitting. However, it needed to be done and started over. Otherwise I would never have worn it. With so many projects needing to be completed these past 2 years, I put the infinity scarf in a basket in my basement for "later." I decided later was now and decided to punch out a few rows every other day or so, in order to get it done and off my size 8 circular needles (ones I will be needing very shortly). It's still a work in progress, but I see the light at the end of the tunnel. I should be completed in the next few days.

almost finished

Ryenn's Birthday Banner

Much like the decorations at Nolan's birthday party, Ryenn's were handmade. Actually, they were almost identical, just differed in color. Her theme was based of the adorable cake at her party, but was pretty vague; purple and pink. I turned this theme into a princess theme with a few added decorations, but mainly everything was purple and pink. I started with her birthday banner as well. I again found this idea on Pinterest and had to make one. Seeing as it was so easy to make Nolan's banner, Ryenn was getting one too!

I followed the same steps in making her banner but was lacking in amount of paper I had for each color. Instead of having one color for the background and one color for the letters, I decided to do a pattern. This actually worked out better than the single shades would have. I added a white ribbon that had pink and purple polka-dots in order to give it more personality. It was a huge statement piece at her party!

WIP Summer Knitting

Major progress has been made on my Summer Lace Sweater. I did choose to switch up the colors and make it trendy with color blocking. I saw a cardigan at Target a while back that I fell in love with but couldn't see myself spending any amount of money on a sweater I could make myself with yarn I have in my stash. The Target sweater was the inspiration for my color choices on this summer sweater. It didn't hurt that I was threatening to run out of the original color before the sweater was finished.

Color blocking

I also had to tear a little bit of it out because I was off on my stitch count and couldn't figure out where. It was my own mistake, which I blame on the lack of oxygen that can enter my body due to congestion and lack of sleep due to that same congestion.

mint and white

Nolan's Banner

N and Mater

Although its almost been a month since Nolan's birthday, I promised I would talk about a few of the things I made for his birthday party. I chose to first talk about his birthday banner. I saw on Pinterest a birthday sign that said "(insert name here) is (insert age here). " I loved that idea and decided Nolan needed one too.

L is for Lightning McQueen

I got 8x10 scrapbook card stock and went from there. I cutout all the letters/number for his name and age in black to put on the red background. I ended up cutting them a bit smaller than I wanted and they looked silly on the page alone.

Franceso and Team '95

Instead, with the advisement of my husband, I off set the letters a bit and added checkered ribbon and Cars 2 stickers. With that adjustment, the banner was perfect! I hung it in the garage with handmade bunting behind it and it completed the look I was going for.

Birthday banner

Independence Day

I am the queen of procrastination and I wait until the last minute for everything (anyone who knows me can attest to this). I attempted to rid myself of this procrastination with at least one holiday. I was hoping this would be the 4th of  July. Of course, this was not the case. I bought a red, white, and blue plaid fabric in order to make Ryenn a festive pillowcase dress. I also bought red, white, and blue striped ribbon for the ties. I thought I would make this dress weeks in advance. With Nolan and Ryenn's birthday parties, I was tied up with other crafting projects. And then I woke up on Wednesday morning, still not feeling well and still needing her dress finished.

stars, stripes and plaid!

 When Ryenn went to take her nap at around 11am, I rushed to get my sewing machine, fabric, and ribbon. Nolan was excited to help (he wouldn't stop trying to push the pedal). I also found an easy tutorial on making a pillowcase dress at Aesthetic Nest, which is also loaded with numerous other dresses and DIY projects. It made the process a lot easier. When I finished the dress itself, it still didn't look much like a holiday dress. I remembered that I had also bought felt stars for my 4th of July scrapbook pages in the dollar section at Joann's. I decided to add one of each of the colors: red, white, and blue. This made the dress exactly what I wanted it to be!

Without her little capris

I didn't take her measurements before she went for her nap so the dress ended up a bit shorter than I was hoping for. Instead of pairing it with the white diaper cover I had hoped to, I put on her white legging/capris. This looked great! I was pleased with the outcome and I thinking about making many more of these very soon!

Weight Loss Progress

The past week has been brutal. I spent the week finishing products for a new location in which you can find Adaly Myles Place (more to come on this). I also had to finish the plans for Ryenn's birthday party and then put everything together. This past week I also started the summer quarter of school (12 credits should be better than the 16 I took last quarter). Lastly, I have been sick. Nonetheless, I wasn't surprised to see my weight look like it was on a rollercoaster this week. When I weighed in on Monday morning, I ended up gaining 3.4lbs due to baking on Friday (had to sample EVERYTHING), the party on Saturday (of course I had to have cake and icecream and other carbs), and then helping the hubby polish off the leftovers from the party (mostly I took charge of the icecream). I was a little discouraged, but to be honest, I haven't been following the diet to the letter since I started. I have been eating extra fruit portions and have had some cheese that isn't allowed. However, after my sort of binge weekend, Monday I decided to ignore the things in my kitchen that seem to scream to me when I'm looking to eat (leftover cake, peanut butter sandwhiches, cereal, etc.). Instead, I keep cutting up cucumbers, eating salads, and protein fruit smoothies. I also have been drinking a ton of water and green tea, like I am supposed to. I haven't been working out due to my lack of energy (seriously can barely keep my eyes open) and my really scratchy throat (I start coughing just by cleaning my house). I was happy when I weighed in this morning to see that I at least lost some of the gained weight. I weighed in at 189.8lbs . Not where I had hoped to be at this point in the summer, but hey, its better than where I was in the beginning of the summer.

Ryenn is 1!

July 3rd, 2011 at 9:13pm, Ryenn was born

One year ago today at 9:13pm, we welcomed our second child, our little miss, into this world. The day was pain filled, tiring, and well worth it all. We arrived at the hospital around 9am just to be sent home around 1pm, due to the lack of progression I was making. We tried everything to get me to dilate further than 2cm. Nothing was working, but the contrations were intense. She told us to return back when the contractions were consistently 4 minutes or less apart (they had gone 4 mintues, 4 mintues, then 7 minutes). My water hadn't broken yet, so we drove the 30 minutes home. As soon as we drove out of the parking lot, my contractions were exactly 4 minutes apart. They stayed there the entire ride home. I was also hungry, seeing as I had not eaten that day yet and they couldn't feed me in labor and delivery. So we went home and I suffered through the pain as I ate as quickly as possible. Seeing as Adam had just gotten off a 12 hour shift, he took a nap while I ate.

One of her first photos, outfit was knit by Allyson

Well he had been up there for about 10 minutes when I was doubling over in pain and said (maybe more of a yell) we are going back now! We arrived back at the hospital at about 2:15pm. They rushed me into the room I had just been in earlier that day. They also called they doctor for my epidural.

Nolan and Ryenn

I was set up for my epidural fairly quick. It made things a bit better but the thing DID NOT work. It completely numbed one half of my body, but I could feel everything on the other. This made labor just a bit unpleasant. Unpleasant for anyone in ear shot range too. I remember yelling at Adam for not holding my leg right, not wanting to push because my doctor wasn't there yet, and yelling at Jessi for telling me to push (clearly I was pushing). I pushed for about an hour and a half.  I held my baby girl so tightly. She was 15 days early (she was due on July 18) and I expected her to be a bit small. However, she weighed in at 9 pounds 1 ounce. She was beautiful! Today Miss Ryenn turns one! We celebrated her birthday last Saturday with a princess themed birthday party. She is walking, laughing, waving, and dancing. Nolan has been the best big brother to her! This past year has been busy, amazing, tiring, and more than I could ever hope for.

FO Owen Blocks



Supplies minus the mod podge and adhesive spray

About a month and a half ago, we helped our friends celebrate their son's first birthday. Owen is such a cutie. Shelby, his mom, and I went to high school together. We went to his house for his birthday. I decided to make him the adorable blocks that I made for Nolan and for Avery back in May. I am also in progress of making Ryenn some too.


Owen!!!

Anyway, I asked Shelby what his nursery theme was. Seeing as they were moving shortly, there wasn't really a theme established. She said anything blue would be fine. So I took the color scheme and ran with it. Again, I love making these, so it worked out great!


Aren't they cute?!

Ryenn's 1st Birthday Party

Although we are celebrating early for Ryenn's birthday, it's still hard to comprehend that I have had two kids for a year now! She was due July 18 but decided she didn't want to wait a whole year to see the fireworks. She instead decided to show her chubby cheeks on July 3rd. She was 9lbs 1oz even after being 15 days early! She was beautiful!

We invited her friends and our family to help us celebrate this milestone birthday! I found a cake at Family Fare that was the inspiration for her birthday theme. I made her invitations and decorations to somewhat match the cake. It was so fun! Everything was purple and pink and very princess-like. I will go into detail this week about all the homemade goodies! WARNING: Many pictures follow!!!