Look what I made!

As usual, I feel like I have a ton of stuff to update on. First of all, there is the family reunion to cover.

We spent the first half of the reunion by camping. Normally this time of year isn't too chilly, at least not from what I remember. But this year, we actually had snow at the site (I say we, but David and I actually didn't arrive until the next day when the snow had already melted). The temperature was in the low 50s and most of the time was spent sitting by the fire. It seems we are destined to experience the extremes of the weather every time we camp. The last time we dealt with scorching heat, so I guess we were due for freezing cold. Despite the weather, we enjoyed being able to chat around the fire and have fun. Lucy seemed to not want to stay warm, however, and she often spent time running around with her cousins. Even with running, I don't know how she was able to ignore the cold. I certainly didn't like pulling myself away from the fire to fetch her before she wandered too far from camp.

At night, we had planned to set up Lucy's playpen and cover her in heavy blankets, but it became clear that was not going to happen. One, our tent didn't have room to set it up, and two, she would've been frostbitten by morning. So David and I placed her between us. Being on the sides, we could literally feel the cold sucking the heat from the side of our bodies that wasn't next to Lucy. She slept fine, which is better since it's impossible to sleep well when your child can't. But I doubt I slept more than two hours the whole night due to my feet being freezing cold. Even with David laying on top of them, they couldn't seem to contain a single particle of heat. I was grateful when I saw the sun rising, because I had given up on trying to sleep a long time ago. The whole experience gave me an even deeper appreciation for the handcart companies, because even though we were so cold, and some of us had been pretty miserable, it was nothing compared to what the pioneers went through. We had food, water, tents, cars, sleeping bags, a fire, warm blankets, coats, a restroom, and the snow barely covered the ground. On the other hand, the pioneers didn't have any of that and the snow went past their ankles. They had to push and pull their meager supplies and they had little to no shelter from the cold, which I think was closer to zero than ours was. We spent no more than two nights in that kind of weather, whereas they dealt with it for a few months. Yeah, I'd say my respect for the pioneers has grown and I'm glad I got a small taste of what they went through.

The rest of the reunion was spent at the house where it was warm and we even had to turn on the AC. I took advantage of the opportunity to let Lucy run around without having to keep an eye on her all the time, and I was able to relax.

At one point, we went to the park and let the kids use up some pent-up energy on the jungle gym.

It was pretty cute watching Lucy play with Cassidi.

We also kicked a ball around (again I say we, but I was mostly sitting and observing).

The next day we went to church and slowly people began to head home. We hung around another day, which was a good thing because suddenly everyone started feeling sick. I was glad we weren't driving while feeling this way, or it would've been absolutely miserable. Poor David got it first and then I followed, but mine went away before his. Luckily, it missed Lucy completely.

The day after that, we felt well enough to make the long trek home. Despite some of the discomforts we experienced, we enjoyed the time we got to spend with everyone.

So back to life as we know it, Lucy has some more skills to add to her list. Lately she has proven herself to be a very good helper. Granted she is pushing a toy vacuum in the picture below, but it is still adorable.

These days, I make certain I involve her in folding laundry, stocking the dishwasher, putting dishes in the sink, putting her toys away, sweeping the floor, putting dishes away, tossing stuff in the garbage, etc. I find it's easier to have her help rather than keep pushing her away so that I can work. Sometimes it's hard thinking of tasks she can do, but she often surprises me by proving herself to be more capable than I realize.

But I think dressing herself is going to have to wait a while.

Speaking of capabilities, I finally decided to overcome my fear of sewing and make something. I asked someone in my ward to show me how to do it, and together we tackled a couple of sewing projects. I decided to focus on things I would be using when the baby comes, so my first project was a simple nursing shawl. I became interested in making one when I saw someone else who had made one for herself. It's a little more practical than a nursing apron because it covers you front and back and you don't have to worry as much about the baby kicking and exposing you for everyone to see.

I chose a light, silky material so that it wouldn't be too stuffy to use in the summertime. And the color is neutral because I intended to use it as a scarf as well. This way I can wear it with anything and use it whenever I need it. The main flaw is that I made it longer than the instructions suggested so more material than I need, but I still see it being very useful. Also I can shorten it anytime, but I prefer to see it in action first so that I'm certain how much I should cut back.

The second sewing project I tackled was a carseat canopy. I felt it might be useful to help the baby sleep or stay asleep when we're out and about as well as protect him from the elements. I also saw it as something that might help random people, mostly kids, from helping themselves to touching and playing with the baby while the cover is down. Again, I wanted a thinner material for the summertime. The ones I saw in the store were more equipped for winter, but that seemed silly when we live in California and I'm perfectly capable of adding a blanket to keep the baby warm. My main concern was making sure the baby didn't get overheated, and I feel the material I chose would be the best one to achieve that. This project was a little more complicated than the shawl, but I did it myself from start to finish with just a little guidance.

If you can't tell, I'm very proud of my finished projects, and it even motivated me to pick some others back up.

I made this by printing out the font, covering the back of it with chalk, tracing the letters, and coloring it in with metallic markers. This was the best method I could think of to display Lucy's birth info so that I could be consistent with all my kids rather than rely on the store to keep my plaque, or whatever, in stock. I'll do the same for Paul when he arrives and so on. Now all it needs is a frame, which I will worry about when we're ready to hang them, which probably won't be until we have more to hang with it.

 

I wanted to create more, and my next project to complete is my baby blanket, which I've been working on time and again over the past few months. I had to start over a couple times because they didn't have any more of the yarn I was using in the stores. So I'm trying to spread it out more by including more colors since it isn't enough by itself.

Obviously it's still in progress. But I like how it is turning out.

I still have more catching up to do, but I'm going to save it for another post, because we've done quite a bit in the past couple of months.