“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. 
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!
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::::
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…
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.