A sister.

A mobile sister. Poor Gabe.

We survived the first week.

We are SO proud of this kid! We officially have a preschooler.

Gabe’s first day at school was Wednesday, and woah. This was the “before” picture in which he looked the *least* freaked out. He looked so tiny and nervous- so cute! He didn’t cry, though- and broke my heart a little by walking away with his director without even a glance back at me!

And after preschool! They have all the kids in the yard when pick-up time comes around for the part-timers, and when I pulled up, Gabe was busy hopping off the slightly raised pathway into the sand with some of the other boys. They all ran up to the gate shouting “A mommy or daddy is here!” SO cute.

Thursday started a little tough. His dad did the drop-off, and it was going fine… until one of the other newbies arrived. Sobbing. Gabe joined him. And his dad had to give him a big hug and hand him over. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m glad it wasn’t me!

When I got there at p/u time, I was a little more stealthy and just sat and watched him for a minute- he sure wasn’t scarred from his rough start. He was spinning around on the huge tire swing with two of the girls from his class- laughing his little butt off. His directress let me know that he’d stopped crying after just a few minutes that morning, and had had another great day!

Friday started out fine- no tears! And he was a little annoyed with me when I came to get him this time- he REALLY loves that tire swing and didn’t want to stop!

We are just thrilled with his preschool and the staff. He has some of the cutest classmates, too. He’s talked about drawing lines with pencils, snack-time, playing in the sandbox, pouring water (a typical Montessori exercise) and the bunnies and chickens. He’s obviously been working on letters this week, too- he pointed to a P and a B and called them “pah P” and “bah B” when I was reading his bedtime stories to him. How very Montessori of him!

I wish I could be a fly on the wall there one day and see how his day goes without him knowing I’m watching!

Unfortunately, Gabe has brought home his first preschool cold, too. There are so many great things about his new experiences that we’ll just have to forgive this one negative aspect of being around so many other kids. But, boo- poor kiddo.

Round two

This time, I made the size small (pattern sizing is crazy sometimes- Gwen is so far out of the weight and height ranges for that size) and combined it into a single cut of each fabric, instead of treating the fronts and backs of each separately.

And it fits MUCH better than the size M does (though I’m sure she’ll grow into the first one). She is absolutely fascinated by the big buttons, though- so, if I make this again, I might just stitch the shoulders together- it slips over her head, anyway. Those are the bloomers included in the pattern, by the way- I like the pattern for them a lot.

Bubblegum pink floof in action.

Making a break for the closet- probably hoping for a shirt. This thing is so full that she can actually crawl in it without it tripping her up- and you can’t even see her bootie, there’s so many ruffles.

Now there’s need for a shirt AND some pants! Good thing her brother knows how to open closet doors.

Uh- oh. Shirts and shorts are in the dressers, not Gwen’s closet! (Note the THREE GARBAGE BAGS FULL of outgrown clothes from Aunt Kelly and Sophie- and there’s more!!!) And yes, Gabe has been in underpants for several months now- I haven’t bragged about that yet!

And here’s a little peasant dress I made from Portabello Pixie’s Claire pattern a while back. Finally got around to photographing it! The pettiskirt actually looks really fun under it- it makes it poof out and the pink ruffles peak out of the bottom! I’ll have to get a shot of that one day!

Three

“They” sure lied about the terrible twos- Gabe was a breeze through most of his third year on the planet. Three is something else, though. Challenging- yes. But, it’s truly amazing to watch his mind work- he is proving to really be his parents’ child, that’s for sure. We can only blame ourselves.

If you suffer from self-loathing.

Punish yourself. Make a pettiskirt.

That’s roughly 75 yards/225 feet/2700 inches of ruffle along the bottom here. Ruffler foot, I love you. So, so much. And I love my newest buddy, too- I was able to pick up this Janome/Kenmore machine for $20.95 shipped last week! Crazy. It’s been a nice basic machine so far- definitely not my Brother, but, it works the ruffler fine. For that ridiculous price, I’m just going to leave it set up for ruffling or shirring- I haven’t decided which I use more yet- but, then I don’t have to mess with my main sewing machine when I need to do that.

I wish the pink satin I had was closer to the bubblegum pink of the chiffon, but, it looked awful- so I just used white for the waist. I think her top will cover that most of the time, anyway, so no biggie.

These instructions are really great- you know, if you want an alternative to pulling your toenails off with pliers. I kind of winged it, though (she doesn’t use a ruffler foot- crazy woman!)- I’ve had chiffon sitting around forever, been meaning to get around to this. And I have more chiffon in other colors, so I’ll be testing my ruffler again soon. I think I’ve worked out the kinks and know what I’m doing now, so it should be a lot less painful!

Really, it’s a very simple project- just very, very time consuming. I really just can’t convey HOW MUCH GATHERING this project involves!

Watch out world.

Gwen took her first steps today, all on her own. And then again. And again. And again.

What does a mom do when they run opposite directions?
::::freak out::::

Gwen’s been busy.

She learned that windows make a great racket when you smack them repeatedly with baby palms. She obviously hated that.

I really just posted this picture here, though, because it was a better photograph than the ones that follow. They’re pretty bad- busy background, flashy. But, they’re amazing, nonetheless.

I finally remembered to pick up tiny little hair-bands at Target. And then forgot. I remembered them shortly before bedtime- I just HAD to play. And because I had to have photographic evidence of that, I decided that it was also a good time to see if I could grab a photo of Gwen doing her newest trick!

So, this- THIS- is the first picture ever, of Gwen standing up.

Fabulous, right? Ha! Yes, that’s the kid who used to run FROM the camera.

Um… so, this is the second photo of Gwen standing up- and it just so happens to feature her first whale spout, too.

Then after changing her for bed, I decided to go for the gold- pigtails. And I may have had to distract her with a Target bag (which was clearly marked to keep away from Children, at least 7 times) to get a picture of them- but, I’ll be…

We have achieved pigtails. PIGTAILS!!

Okay, so maybe it’s more like a double whale spout…

Say hello to my dragonfly buddy.

Well, I first “met” this guy in early June. He’s a blue dasher (or Pachydiplax longipennis [please tell me I'm not the only immature one who snickered at that]) dragonfly. There are bugs that I hate- cockroaches, mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, giant tarantulas (IN this house- if they’re outside spiders don’t bother me) and lubbers.

Dragonflies are not among them. They’re the best weapon against mosquitoes, for one. They’re colorful and friendly- so pretty easy to photograph. The real reason I’m so fond of them, though? They look like they’re smiling! I honestly think they’re downright cute!

Anyway, this guy’s been around for a while- I’m fond of him. While taking these pictures, though, I noticed something- he had a BUG attached to him! Gross! Ugh! I wanted to flick that little dragonfly bloodsucker off, but, there’s no way I’m fast enough! I hope it doesn’t hurt him.

I mean, look at this face! I would miss him!

Be thankful that I didn’t post the close-ups of his hitchhiker (I think it’s a water mite). Blech.

The easy days.

Of photographing this child. They’re so over. Our little girl will not sit still! It was a tough age with Gabe, too- I remember taking hundreds of photos and only having a few of his face. And smiles? Ha. I’m lucky to get a glance at the camera. She knows all my tricks now. I’m going to have to come up with some new ones!

Well, as you can see, her latest dress is too big right now- maybe for quite some time. I’ve learned that the sizing information isn’t always accurate on some patterns. I was actually worried when I realized I’d grabbed the smaller size range of this pattern, as Gwen’s stats put her at the top of this, the largest, size. When I make another, I’ll go down a size- and narrow the chest a bit, too. It is fun, anyway, though- I love the fabric covered buttons! It’s so cool how easy they are to make with the little kit. Layer, pop! Cute matching button!

Her eyes are so funny right now- pretty, but, funny. They started to change to brown months ago- and stalled. The inner ring around her pupil is golden brown- while the rest of her iris is a cool gray-blue. It’s so hard to see unless she’s in bright light and her pupils are tiny. I did an extreme crop here to try to make it easier to see. It’s not often she’s sitting still long enough to look.

I wonder how long it will take for her eyes to settle?