sewing goodies

I have been working on multiple projects at once, which leaves me to feel like I have gotten nothing accomplished. I only have 1 project sitting out now, but will have to wait to post details and pics about that later. I made this cookie baking set for a friend to give to their daughter as a Christmas gift, I have so much fun making these and really need to get some in my shop.

I also found this cute tute on Joann's and made a little bag for trick or treating, but I only ended up using the skull design, and changed the dimensions. I also felt I needed to make it more time consuming for myself, and instead sewed it all on and embroidered the lettering instead of using fabric paint like the tute suggested. Silly me.
Also JCasa makes the most lovely items and she is having a giveaway. But this is not just any giveaway. She will make a custom baby playmat/quilt in the color theme of your choice. It would be nice to have a lovely quilt from her, here's hoping!

Beer Cheese Chowder

I made this soup last night and it turned out super yummy. I found the recipe over at The Sometimes Crafter.



2 cups broccoli- cut into small bit size florets

1 cups shredded carrots

3/4 cup chicken broth

1 small onion, chopped

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp dry ground mustard

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 cup milk

1 cup heavy cream ( I used cream instead of half in half like the recipe called for)

3 ounces cream cheese

2 cups shredded cheese (sharp cheddar/colby/montery or a mix)

1 bottle (12 ounces) Heinekin beer



Bring broth, carrots, broccoli and onion to a boil. Reduce heat and cover. simmer 8-10 minutes or until tender. Do not drain, set aside.



Meanwhile in a dutch oven melt butter. Stir in flour, dry mustard, and pepper. Add milk and cream all at once. Cook until thick and bubbly, adding more flour if needed.



Mix in cream cheese and stir until melted and well combined. Stir in cheese and beer and cook until melted. Add veggies and broth and let simmer until heated through.



Makes 6 serving, or around 8 cups. Serve with warm bread for a great lunch!

Goodies

I received this lovely sling in the mail earlier this week. I ordered it from LoveSeptember after seeing her shop featured on 30days. If anybody is looking for high quality slings, tutu's or other children's items check out her shop!

My lovely friend Sarah made this beautiful blanket for Adriano. It will be perfect for cuddling this winter, or for some tummy time. It is so soft and cute, and I couldn't wait to lay him down on it! I did lay him on his tummy and he surprised me at how well he does at lifting his head up.

I added a few things to my shop. I made up two cookie sets, with a jam cookie, chocolate chip, sugar and a peanut butter cookie. I embroidered the little fork tine lines onto the peanut butter cookie to make them more realistic. I have a lot of ideas of things to make and hope to have added to my shop in time before Christmas, I just need to learn to be more efficient with the less time I have to sew now!

First bath at home

We gave Chiquitin his first bath at home last night. Papa was in charge of the camera, since he is still afraid of breaking the baby (even though this is our second...) He actually really enjoyed it, and didn't cry until we got him out of the water.

Kiki also had his first time playing with play dough today. I gave up on the 'its going to make a mess and get ground into the carpet' and just let him have at it. He had a ton of fun, and we made different shapes together and he can identify circle now. He also starting saying yellow more frequently, thanks to watching baby's diaper changes. He will climb up to watch and say poo-poo yellow. How sweet.

6 days old

Today's doctor's visit went well. Adriano is 4 ounces above birth weight, which is great since most babies aren't above their birth weight until around 2 weeks of age. He does have an umbilical hernia, his belly button protudes a little bit, but not much. The doctor applied silver nitrate to the inside of his belly button because it hadn't fully dried up. The doctor didn't say he would need surgery or anything, just that if it hasn't dried out by next weeks visit more silver nitrate would be applied. I plan on asking more questions next week about how to deal with it or what to expect down the road. Adriano has his first 4 hour stretch of sleep last night, but of course Cristian woke up during that time, so I didn't get to take advantage of any extra sleep. Ah, I guess that is the life with two!

5 days old

We see the doctor tomorrow morning to see how baby is doing for his first week. His umbilical cord fell off last night, after barely hanging by a little thread for a day or so. I am glad to be done with having that there. Adriano is still confused between night and day and will easily sleep 2-3 hours at a time during the day but hasn't gone longer than 1 1/2 hours at night yet.

It's a Boy!

Since both wee ones are sleeping I can finally post about what happened!

Friday morning I started having contractions around 6 or so in the morning. I was able to sleep between them until about 7:30 or so. I took a shower and around 9 we headed to Target to buy a crib mattress. I had meant to do this the day before, but ran out of time. I figured it would be a good distraction as well as the opportunity to walk around. The contraction were about every 2-5 minutes at the store. We got home around 10, and I showered to help with the back pain so everybody else could eat some lunch.

Around 10:30 I suggested we make get stuff together to drop off our toddler, so we could be ready to head to the hospital when we needed. The contractions were starting to get intense where all I could to was squat to relieve the pressure, and had to have my back pushed on to help with the pain. We left the house around 11 or so, when the contractions had gotten so intense I could manage them on my own, and was crying out in discomfort. We dropped off my son, and headed for the hospital. I am lucky to have a friend who could watch him, and lives only 2 minutes from the hospital. (Thanks, Sarah!)

I was having regular contractions, right on top of each other the ride to the hospital, and had one in the parking lot, and once inside I had a contraction in the elevator that caused me to fall to my knees and cry out in pain. (The nurses later told me they thought a woman was going to walk out with a baby after they heard that cry) I got put straight into a labor room, and had another contraction,then was hooked up onto the monitor belts. It was was 11:29 when the monitors got turned on. I had my first exam, and was 100% effaced, 0 station, 7 cm. I had another contraction and they did another exam and I was 8 cm. I started to feel a lot of pressure, and told the nurses I felt the urge to push. The nurse told me my bag of waters was bulging, and was helping the baby to come down but I couldn't push until my water broke. I think I only had 2 more contractions before I demanded that the doctor get upstairs and break my waters. The urge to push was overwhelming, and the nurse told be to try to just grunt though the contractions. The next contraction I started grunting, and slightly bearing down without pushing, and their was a pop, and a burst of water soaked my legs and the bed. The doctor showed up just after that, and I was told I had a small lip covering my cervix and the nurse was going to try to move it out of the way.

I had to lie down, (which is about the most incorrect position and most uncomfortable way to push a baby out) but the nurse was trying to move that little bit of my cervix out of the way. All I wanted to do was push, and the nurse was instructing me to listen to her, not push and to just breathe. That was one of the most overwhelming things, to try to tune into something else while you are listening to what your body needs to do. With the next contraction I started to push, and was pushing so hard i felt I couldn't even breathe, but just had to keep pushing. Once the baby's head started to come out, there was a terrible burning and the baby was finally placed on my chest at 12:06. (37 minutes after we got there). The nurses were so great, waiting to do any tests or anything and just let me wipe off my baby and start breastfeeding right away. I am so amazed and proud of myself for finding the inner strength to have a natural birth like I wanted, and and so happy for how everything turned out.

I will post some pictures soon, as baby has of course woken up.

Turning Two

Already two.

When you turned one I was just amazed I made it through the baby stage. Now you are so much more than that. You are still my little peanut. In the last year your personality has grown and changed so much.

6 months ago all you said were the words mama, papa, chi-chi, baby and wow wow. Now you are speaking well over 30 words and speak mostly in Spanish. You repeat everything your papa tells you, and just yesterday finally called your teddy bear oso. You cling to your papa every chance you get to be around him, and love to show off all that you can do. He taught you uno,dos,tres last week and you have been saying it ever since to perfect it.

You used to be so timid and shy, you would cling to me or cry in any new situation or environment. You have grown enough to be able to explore new things slowly on your own, as long as I don't stray to far.

You are still such a sweetheart, and love to cuddle on the couch and watch soccer with your papa, yelling 'goal!' everytime you see papa get excited. You would still rather cuddle with me for a bit before going to bed, and that's ok, I will always love it. Playing with your big ball, your tiny tool bench show me how much of a boy you are. But you also love to follow me around the house and vacuum right along with me, and love to help me cook. You have become so eager and helpful around the house too.

My big belly is a wonderful pillow for you. You love to lay on my lap and listen to the baby and say 'thumpa thumpa thump'. You get excited when I say were are going to visit the baby's doctor. You carry around your teddy bear so sweetly, and will shush it as you pat it on the back.

You manipulate me with your tiny kisses, and I can't help but fall for them. How could I resist giving you some more juice when you are gazing up at me with those big brown eyes and puckering up?

You have been the center of my world, every day making me strive to be a better person, a better mother to you. Soon enough you will be a big brother, and will have to learn to share my lap with another wee one. I promise you will still always be my special little boy, 'mi gatito'.

39 weeks and more felt food

Still no baby. I have been having mild,irregular, annoying contractions this morning and a few yesterday afternoon. I wish they would just go away or progress into something. My doctor looked surprised to see me this week at my appointment. She told me she thought I would have went into labor by now. I made my next (and hopefully last) appointment for next Friday, my due date, and my doctor is on call that weekend. She said at my appointment we would just pick a day for the baby to come, Friday, Saturday whenever...

I have been sewing a lot this week, and have added a few new items to my Etsy shop. Some farfalle noddles, a popcorn and soda set, and a new little boys apron. Please check them out and let me know what you think.


I made this adorable tea party set for a special girl turning 6 tomorrow, I can't wait to see her open it and hope she enjoys it as much as I enjoyed making it. These cakes were so fun to make, I want to make other variations of these for several other little girls now.

Enchiladas

Enchiladas are my stand by dinner each week when I am at the grocery store and don't know what to make for the week. Which happens every week. I thought I would share the recipe because I find it very simple, and is great to do the prep ahead of time. This is for a fresh style enchiladas, not the baked, creamy, cheesy kind.

You will need:

corn tortillas,

6-8 tomatillos- 6 if they are roma tomato size,

about 1/4 of a white onion, a clove or two of garlic if you have it,

chilies- about 2-3 jalapenos or 4-5 serranos, I am using 10 dried arbol chilies because that's what we had..

beans to fill your enchiladas with, I like black. You can also use shredded chicken (rotisserie to save time) or some nice slow cooked pork.

a pinch of salt, and vegetable oil for frying

sour cream and queso fresco for topping

First you need to cook your salsa. Place all of your ingredients into a 2 quart saucepan with enough water to cover the bottom nicely. Make sure you remove tomatillo husks and wash thoroughly. When tomatillos turn a slightly olive green color and are soft, you are ready to blend. Place all the salsa ingredients into a blender, and add just enough of the cooking water to blend the salsa, about 1/4 cup or so. You can also only add a few of your chilies, and taste to see if you need to use all of the chilies you cooked. Add a pinch of salt to your salsa. Set aside in a bowl large enough to dip your tortillas in, or if you made your salsa earlier, warm in a wide saucepan.

Heat a skillet with a small amount of oil and lightly fry your tortillas. you do not want them crispy, they are done enough when they stay stiff when pushed against the side of the skillet. Fry all of your tortillas, about 4-5 per person depending on how hungry you are. In the meantime heat up whatever you will be filling your enchiladas with. When all ingredients are hot and ready, dip one tortilla into your salsa, and coat generously. Place on a plate and add filling down the center of tortilla, about 1/4 cup or so. Roll up each side of the tortilla over filling and add more salsa to the top if needed. Repeat until you have used all of your fried tortillas. Top with sour cream and crumbled queso fresco.

Note:I didn't show my plate with toppings because I love sour cream and you wouldn't be able to see my enchiladas after I added it! Hopefully I explained it simply and if anybody has questions or makes this, please let me know!