This was posted by a family whose blog I follow:



Oh, it just made my heart melt with happiness.

50 Dresses!

Just finished dress #50! They are all so cute. I am getting in to a rhythm now and so they are sewing up quite quickly.

I love all of them. They really are just adorable and I love thinking of all the little girls with their dark skin wearing them and flouncing around showing off their ruffles.

I'm going to start a count-down now as well, on the left. That way you can see how many more need to be completed as we near 100.

Dress #45!

How did we get to 45 dresses already?! All of the sudden they seemed to sew quickly and ones that were in progress were finished.

Here is dress #45, make with very high quality and so cute Laura Ashley fabric Cecile gave me. There was so much fabric too, that it made 6 dresses. Thanks Cecile!


(who's that monster in the back anyhow?)

New Day

It's a new day and I already feel better. More outings planned today, errands to run, things to accomplish. James is already doing better. I think we were still in sugar detox from Valentine's Day.

2 more dresses completed last night. The count is now 44! Thank you to Susan who helped over the weekend. With just the two of us we completed 2 dresses and had several more halfway done. I now have 5 more in process with many other ones cut, thanks to mom for sending the cut fabric.

Anyone want to take a guess as to how many dresses we will have completed when we receive our referral?!

It's days like today that I realize home-schooling is not in our future. I like the idea of home-schooling in some ways. But now I realize those are the same ways in that I like red wine and snowboarding, which is a continual joke in our house. I like the idea of it, but not the actuality.

James is needy today. Needy and whiny and I'm afraid I'm not being the best mother. I have played Uno with him, gone to the park, done a craft. Still, when I try to gather myself for a couple minutes to order his birthday invites, he is demanding more of my attention to the point I cannot even think.

A friend once declared in a moment of desperation, "I need more tools". That's how I feel today. I need more tools. Tools to build confidence in James, tools to get him to self-play more, and tools to keep my sanity.

Any ideas?

Waiting... But getting closer

It's so tough to wait. At night I wake up and think about our future daughter, if she is born yet, what she looks like. My thoughts are all scattered, and I dwell on it as if thinking about it harder will suddenly make it all clear.

Lately I've begun to realize that we need to prepare ourselves. We have to think about specifics such as where will she sleep? Where will we put her clothes? Will we be prepared for the lack of sleep again?

There are so many things that are different this time around. Different in the pregnancy stage, but I need to remind myself that it will not be different in some ways when we have her in our arms. We will still be up in the middle of the night preparing bottles, soothing, rocking (Oh, maybe we need a rocker!). When you're pregnant you are constantly reminded due to the physical change in your body. You know our belly can only get so big and then your baby will come out. You have trouble sleeping towards the end from being uncomfortable.

Well now that I write this there are more similarities than I thought. Maybe God is trying to prepare us in some ways (sleep issues) and the constant thinking about it all.

I just heard that our agency made another referral - I believe it was for a baby girl. What does this all mean? I think this means that we are now #2 on the wait list for a baby girl! What?! I am so excited about this I can hardly stand it. This is really, really going to happen. We will be parents again. We will hold a baby in our arms again and James will have a sibling. If I'm this excited now, what about when we get our referral? I told Lee he should always carry his cell phone with him, just like an expecting Dad. I want him to be the first to know of course.

Pattern Number

I am really amazed and blessed by all the people that are willing to help with the 100 dresses. I have had many people ask what the pattern number is. If you would like to contribute, the pattern number is New Look 6690. We are doing all sizes in the range 1/2 - 4.

I guess some older ones would be nice too but then that takes a bit more fabric and I'm not sure if there's a bigger pattern size on this one. The nice thing about this pattern is that they tie on the shoulder or at the back neck (halter) so it can be adjusted to fit different-sized children.

Thanks again to all of you whom have helped or intend to. I have never undertaken anything like this and it is just heart-warming to know how many people would like to contribute.

Nicole's Sweat Shop - I Mean Sewing Party

I had some friends together today and we sewed all morning. Thanks to you all who helped!

We completed 4 dresses, and have 9 nearly finished. Yippee!






Thanks also to mom who had cut out all the patterns and mailed them to me ahead of time. Keep them coming!

What a blessing to have so many hands that want to help with this project. Thanks.

Dress #20

Done with Dress #20! Here it is, little purple butterflies all over.

Many more of this fabric to come, and a sewing party tomorrow so hopefully even more after that!

Super Bowl Sunday

Lots of hanging around the house today, acting goofy. By the time the game rolls around, I am tired of football. James and I hang out upstairs on our computers. He took some pictures of his workstation:
And here Lee and I laugh about the shirt I got him at Goodwill. I'm always buying things wondering why someone gave that away. Then we find out why when he goes to wear it. Notice the hole in the side. hahaha. Then there was the time I found a great button down shirt but when he went to wear it, the arms were too short! He just rolls them up - great for a summer shirt I guess.