Tooth and Sickness

Sick...

The boys are sick...

First it was little Jude and a gurgling tummy. 
His problem escalated to problems in abundance coming out of the nether regions.
He ran a fever, cried, had gas, and just wanted cuddled all the time for about 48hours straight.

We thought Tamlin had escaped this...
Nope.

Tamlin went down just as Jude was on the road of recovery.  Tam's been hit with it coming back up and out.  He seemed fine when he went to bed.  When I went to wake him in the morning, he turned to me and said "don't worry, mom.  I threw up, but I did it on that side of the bed and I saved duckie" (his security blanket).  When I asked him why he didn't call out to me or dad or get to the bathroom, he just shrugged and said he didn't like leaving the bed at night.  He's been out of it on the couch for most of the day, with occasional sprints to the toilet.  Poor little dude...he just keeps telling me that his tummy is angry.

Besides comforting them, I have been madly disinfecting the house...doorknobs, light switches, toys, cups, anything I think they might have touched.

So far, Brian and I have been lucky...


And as a side note,
we just noticed that Jude finally sprouted tooth number 6.  I knew it was coming, but it seemed to have taken forever to actually break out of the gum.  Hopefully more will erupt soon and put an end to his teething misery.

Latest sewing projects

 I completed a slew of sewing projects in late January / early February for my niece, Ciearra.    That's how it goes...in waves.  I get inspired and then rush to complete projects so that they get out of my head before they are lost.  I had a near-toppling stack of fabric set out for projects, and finally tackled them.

A cute skirt...

 This dress is from a scavenged pattern from a yardsale...I think it was from the early 1970s.  It is hard to see, but there are pin-tucks down the front and down the sleeves.  I loved the cranberry fabric, but wasn't entirely sure I liked the sleeves, which are a very pale yellow.  I hadn't done pin-tucks before, and other than the fussiness of lining them up straight, they weren't too bad.  I like the retro air of the dress overall.  Shelly liked the sleeves, so I kept them.










The princess dress I had re-fashioned from a prom dress grabbed from the church's rummage sale.  In the process, I cut out nearly half a yard from the skirt to shorten it.  I had originally thought to make this extra fabric into a little skirt for Ciearra, but then had a different idea.  I had loved dressing up my baby doll in a princess dress...a long flowing white gown, lined, with lace and rhinestones and a golden cape.  I knew I could do something similar for Ciearra's baby with the purple remnant.  I combined the it with a bit of purple eyelet for the top and completed it with rhinestone and pearl buttons.  I then fashioned a golden cape with silver trim as well.  It seemed that Ciearra liked this :-)







While cruising a couple of sewing community websites, I stumbled onto Cut To Pieces blog, which was hosting a princess sew along. 

The premise was to use the Simplicity Pattern 2377 and to make different princess dresses.  I thought...hey, I have this pattern!  And this might be a way to go through and use some more of my inherited fabrics.

The first dress was a replication of Alice's dress in Alice in Wonderland.  Hmmm...I didn't have any pale blue fabric, but I had this dark blue fabric and lace trimming that I inherited from Aunt Rosilyn.  I kept the apron as a separate piece and added an embroidered heart instead of a bunny.  With the three red buttons, I think it looks more like a Raggedy Ann dress or a maid/ pre-princess dress.  Shelly really liked this one too.

Lastly, I finished this jumper...and it is my favorite of these projects.  I have had the corduroy and the inspirational blog for ages...Tea Rose Home.

She actually made a skirt...but I thought a sweet A-line jumper would work really well.  I drafted the pattern from a t-shirt with help from iKat Bag tutorial.  I did decide to line the entire length with white muslin because of the embroidery.  Tamlin picked out the white buttons.  I used a zig-zag stitch around all the pieces, and then hand embroidered it all onto the jumper.  I even spiced it with a little bead-work too.  I had forgotten how long embroidery takes...but how satisfying it is at completion.  It is a little big on Ciearra; I am confident that she'll grow into it well by next fall.



Now what?

Finishing an Easter Dress
Two little bunnies for two little boys' Easter basket

And...we'll see what I have time for in the future.

Jude's words

Jude's latest strides into verbal communication...

Mama or Mommy
Daddy or Da
Nana
Papa
Bye
Hi
Wow
Roar = often for dinosaurs
Uh-Oh = Not what patents want to hear...and he says it when he sees "uh-oh's" on TV, too
Binky = pacifier
Bathtime
Wee-oo = fire engine
Beep, beep = when reading a car book
Apple = his favorite food, after chocolate
Cracker
Baby

He'll sign please and down and shake his head no.
His favorite all purpose sound and a crackley-staticky sound that he uses all the time.

Jude just turned 21 months old.

A box for Walentine's Day

A big box showed up on our doorstop last week... It wasn't anything that I had ordered from an online store...and it was addressed to Tamlin and Jude.

 Tam recognized that it was his name on the front and imedately asked to open it.  

I saw that it was our Valentine's box from Aunt Carol and Aunt Rosilyn (RoRo).

 Of course, Jude wanted in on the action. 

Whatever big brother is doing, he wants to be involved in to!

Tam:  Look Jude!  Its a box for us!  I bet there are cars inside; I love cars.

Jude : Wow!

 

 Tam:  Cards!  This one is for T - A - M...That's me!

Look!  There's cookies, and more cookies, and more cookies, and fudge, and candy!

Jude: Wow!

 Jude:  I'll remove my binky for a moment and try to gnosh-down on these candies...

(He has been known to chew through wrapping to get at the candy inside, 

such as Tootsie rolls at Halloween)

Tam:  Cool!  Books!  A book about snowman and one about dinosaurs.

Jude: Wow!  What's all this white fluffy shreddy stuff?  Is it toys?

 Tamlin : Roar!  Dinosaurs go Roar!  And listen, the book roars too!

Jude:  Books are cool.  These snowmen pop-up.  Momma read this book, Now!

 Jude:  But wait...that shreddy stuff looks cool.  Let me grab several handfulls and throw them around really quickly while everyone is distracted reading the cool pop-up books.

 Tam: Super-Tamlin to the rescue.  I'm on a mission, Mom.  I'll sweep it up!

Jude: I want to help too. That was fun!

Thank you, boys, you are both very messy and both good helpers. 

Thank you, Aunts.  The cookies were immediately shared amongst ourselves and friends.  The chocolates are being doled out for good behavior.  The fudge was eaten quickly.  And the books are HUGE hits.  Both the boys love interactive books.  Tam loves to pull the tabs to make the snowmen move and Jude loves to turn the pages to hear the dinosaurs roar.

Thank you!

I love bedtime

I love the moments before bedtime that I spend with my boys.  After baths, jammies get put on, and then a few minutes of play prior to reading our stories.  Currently, Jude is an avid "reader".  He pulls himself up into the big bed and hunkers down with a book, usually something about cars, trains, or airplanes.  I crawl into bed, pull Jude into my lap, and Tamlin snuggles up beside us.  I then read a few of the simpler board books to my boys.  Tam helps point out his favorite cars in the books; Jude points too...often to random things. 

I love these moments. I just savor the feel of warm, soft, child skin and the sweet, clean smell of their hair.  I know that I always take a few seconds to just try to memorize them...the curve of an ear, the freckles on their necks, the little fingers, twinkling eyes. 

After books, Tamlin turns off the main light and turns on the star night-light.  Then, we sing our lullabies.  I have always sung tunes to the boys before I lay them down to sleep for the night.  Sometimes I sing songs from my childhood that I recall my mom singing to me...like "Let it Snow" or "Shortening Bread" tunes.  Sometimes I sing songs I learned at Sunday school or Pre-school, like our current favorite of "I've got the Joy in my heart" or "Jesus Loves Me" or "She's got the whole world in her hands."   Sometimes I am in a Christmas mood and we sing carols.  Sometimes it is rock songs from the Beatles or Janis Joplin. Sometimes, Tamlin wants me to make up a song about cars and trucks...I admit that I have become better at making rhymes on the fly. 

Lately, I have been singing a ditty from the movie O, Brother, Where art thou?  :
Good to sleep, little baby...
With this song, the first syllable of baby is drawn out at the end of the phrase.

Just this past week, Jude has been attempting to sing along!  Awwww...
I begin, then Jude comes in and sings the word "baby".
It is so cute to hear him singing and trying to be a part of the song. 
I just love this!

Then,
I always sing the same little tune last.  I pull up the covers and tuck them in while singing and end with a kiss on their head.  Both boys get this song and ritual each night.

Goodnight, Sweetheart, well it's time to go...
Goodnight, Sweetheart, well it's time to go...
I hate to leave you, but I really must say
Goodnight, Sweetheart, Goodnight.

Back turned

I'm in the kitchen rolling out dough for pretzels. The boys are playing nicely in the living room and watching a video. I swear my back was turned for 5 minutes....


I walk in to see Jude's cheeks budging and a suspicious brown ring around his mouth and dribbling down his chin.

Munchkin had found the bag of m&m candies cleverly hidden behind the reclining chair. He stuffed as many as possible into his mouth and chewed with utter delight. I think he knew he was being naughty because he was trying to quickly shove the ones in his hands into his mouth as I came running over.

Stinker.

Those were mine....I guess I need a better hiding place.