Potty Training, Partnership, and Pregnancy

I'm sure many are wondering what has been taking me to long to update again . . . and well, we've been busy over here!! 

Potty Training:  We got off to a slow start, but after a couple of months Asher is potty trained!  It is always a dreaded project to undertake and I was hoping he was going to be a potty super star like his brother (who trained the week of his 2nd birthday and never needed pull ups!!--yep, he is my favorite).  Alas, Asher is more average and took awhile to catch on . . . and he still requires a pull up at night, but being diaper free is awesome!!

Partnership:  I joined my sister, Mindy, sewing for her business The Practical Mom Shop.  I am sewing soft soled baby shoes and hooded towels, she sews a variety of purses, wristlets, etc.  You can find our shop on FaceBook:  The Practical Mom Shop  It has been fun sewing so much, but keeps me busy during nap times and after the kids go to bed!

Pregnancy:  We are thrilled to be almost 18 weeks along and will have our fourth child in early May!!  Other than the exhaustion, I am feeling well.  The kids are SO excited, well Briella and Gideon are very excited about a new baby--she has convinced Gideon we need a girl so she can have a sister.  Asher may be sensing some change and is a little more clingy.

 I will also let you all know because of all of the above, the chances of a Christmas card getting mailed out in 2013 is looking slim!  We have already received a few and we love seeing them, but I'm afraid this is going to be a year off for the Postma Fam (please don't take us off your list!!)  I have no pictures this time, but maybe next week (haha) or another day this month, I will post a few pictures . . .

Quiet Book 2

Almost two years ago I made a Quiet Book for Briella.  Since then it has been very loved and has a few broken parts to it.  I decided to make another with some new ideas and donate it to our churches auction for Christian Education.  After spending hours on this project I have decided I will be bidding it up to make sure it doesn't sell for $10.  Let me know what you think someone would pay for this little book :)

 This is actually the last page, you can build your own ice cream cone and the next page has a little pocket for a notebook and pencil.

 This page is a design your own monster page (Mr. Potato head idea).  I cut out a lot of different shapes for hair, hats, ears, eyes, noses, mouths and a couple of bow ties, too.

 This little fish can be moved to the different snaps and the dog can go in the house or come out to 'eat' from his bowl.

My most educational page is first--snap on the shapes or count the beads.

I had a few sewing machine issues (mostly operator error) so it has taken me longer than necessary, but it is so fun to see it come together and I hope it is very useful and lots of fun for some little kiddo :)  
What is your favorite page??? Hoe much would you bid on this item?!?!
 

the long awaited Purse

 I am SO excited that I finally finished Briella's purse!  I cut it out last week and sewed it last night after the kiddos were in bed and Stephan was trying to fix the washing machine that was full of wet diapers . . . I was having a lot more fun than he was!!
The original plan for the purse was to put a "B" on the purse like the tutorial . . . I couldn't find a cool looking "B" worth cutting out and then with the holes in a B it seemed more complicated than it was worth.  Basically I chickened out . . . After a few minor issues I got the purse together and decided a little fabric flower would really add some cuteness, so I found a tutorial or three and made a flower (this morning I made 2 more because I thought it needed it . . .)

 

I was so excited to show Briella this morning . . . but she saw it on the counter and came to me with a big smile saying "I see a purse . . . "  I missed presenting it, but she is thrilled with how it turned out and I'm quite pleased myself!

Every time a finish a project I feel more comfortable sewing and it makes me think I can make more things . . . next up: ties for my little guys!!

Sew Crafty

 

The other night after the kids were in bed I went to my sister's house to do a little cooperative sewing (She does the hard stuff and advises me on the easy stuff).  I made a wet bag for my diapers, I bought one from another mom and decided a second one would be nice, so the blue bag is a for my diaper bag so when I change my cloth diapers while we are out, I can put the wet one in there and it doesn't smell up the diaper bag, the van, or the store/house.  Zippers are not the easiest, but I bought a separated one which made sewing it quite easy.

Since little Asher is drooling more and most of his bibs have been through Landon and Gideon, I wanted a few more nicer looking bibs.  On Pinterest I found some cute bib ideas where you use old shirts to make into cute bibs (upcycling is the crafty/environmentally friendly term to describe using old stuff) . . . So I cut up a couple of my old shirts and found clearance terry cloth to back them.  I need to do the velcro closures after I buy some velcro.

Crafty Mindy didn't need a pattern and she whipped out this cute little wallet for Briella.  My next project is to sew a purse that will match the wallet . . 

sew much fun!!

Craftiness

 I finally found some time to do some sewing projects on my 'new' sewing machine I am buying from my Mom.  I made Asher a little monster taggie, a mini version of Gideon's.  Asher promptly broke it in with some drool . . .

 I added his name to one of the legs for a personal touch . . . I'm not sure if it my lack of embroidery experience, or the difficulty of embroidering on the fleece, but it was hard to make neat letters! Must have been the fabric ;O

 Stephan built these doll bunk beds for Briella as a Christmas gift and I sewed some 'mattresses' and pillows to go with them.  She is pretty excited about her bed and there have been babies sleeping in it ever since!!  (In the background you can see our new glider rocker from Grandma VM, we love it!!)

 After a two week break, we are back to our preschool letters . . . we made ice cream for I last week.  Briella is getting better at writing her name and coloring and it is fun to see her learn!  She has progressed from scribbling in the vicinity of the shape with one color to using different colors on the picture and staying closer to the lines.  I didn't realize this slow progression, but I'm thankful she has made some progress, because I was starting to wonder if she was just a messy colorer.

More Craftiness . . .

 I have been wanting to make these cute taggie animals for awhile . . .  I finally made this monster for Gideon a month or so ago.  I love it, but it is a little too big for a baby.  But the giraffes turned out great.

I made this elephant for my sister to give as a baby gift, within an hour I had all my stuff taken out and the elephant put together.  Next time I think I will shorten then trunk and maybe add a curve to it.  So I made 3 giraffes and 1 elephant and have given them away, this is my new baby gift idea . . . I think they are cute, personal, and useful, and fun to make :)


Today I made this skirt for Briella.  She is so pumped to wear it to church tomorrow that I let her try it on after her bath.  It is a little big in the waist, but I'm waiting until I wash it before I made any adjustments.
 

 

What a cutie :)

Craftiness

I have been trying to catch up on my scrapbooking before I have another book to keep up with . . . I love making new pages and finishing a year or a trip or event, but it is not always easy to find the time to get to it.  Lately I have been making an extra effort to get upstairs where all my stuff is on the desk.  Using my Cricut is also a fun and helpful way to add something extra to the pages and keep it going a little quicker, too.  Last week I finished Briella's first book, from birth to age 2 1/2 (it is almost 4 inches thick!).  She has looked through it several times and loves her pink book :)
Here are some of my favorite spreads:

 

Simple Crafts

This past week I finished two of the crafts I've been thinking about for too long. The first is the advent calendar which will be ready to go when 12-1-11 comes along. I plan to fill the pockets with Bible readings about the Christmas story, fun activities to do as a family, and a few treats as well. The gold star has a paper clip on the back and we can move it each day to keep track of what day it is and how many days it is until Christmas.

The second it a menu board. I reused a picture frame, added some cute paper and the days of the week. The glass works with white board markers so each week I can update the meals easily and remember at a glance what we're eating and if I need to get anything out of the freezer.
I'm kind of excited!! I got to use my Cricut for both projects (I got several new cartridges for Christmas so I was anxious to use them--just the motivation I needed to complete these projects!)

Sewing with Mom

Look at everything we made!! A clutch purse for me, 3 glasses cases (for Abbie, Jen and I), a maternity post/pregnancy band (for Mindy), and 2 reusable baggies. It has been a lot of fun, and I look forward to trying more projects on my on!

Sibling Love and a Tutu

My friend gave me some of her extra tulle so that I could make Brie a little tutu (for playing). It looks kind of poufy, but she loves it :)

What have we been doing?!?!

So, it has been awhile and I'm not really sure why. I have a little scratch paper with some cute/funny things I could write about the kids . . . I even have a couple of pictures . . . maybe later. Here is some random things that have been on my mind and taken up my time lately:

Since November started we have remained busy with the usually stuff mentioned in the last post with words . . . I also spent 12 hours one weekend scrapbooking!! Yeah! It is so much fun to do a bunch of pages with other people. I worked in Gideon's book and he went from 3 months to 18 months! Wow! I'm practically current!! I did not work on Briella's book, she is currently 2 in her book, so not too bad. One of these days I'll have time and creative juices to get working on hers again.

I have also been getting up early to fit in more time for daily devotions which is a huge blessing even though it was not easy to start setting the alarm an hour earlier than I used to. I am also trying to fit in some exercise each day (often during nap time or after the kids are in bed). My cousin/friend (Thanks B!) found this awesome site that has TONS of videos you can download for free! I love the walking videos because it is a great cardio work out and I can stay inside and not get bored on my treadmill. I also spent $2 on a exercise ball workout this summer and finally started using it.

I have found a couple of other fun food sites that I have really enjoyed: Our Best Bites
and Sisters Cafe.

I am also reading more and more about natural health remedies. Since moving back to the midwest I have needed some help with colds and I remembered my college roommate saying her sinus doctor told her to rinse with salt water. I was shocked when she told me she just sniffs it up from the palm of her hand, but I tried it and I am a believer! You can also buy nasal sprays or a netipot, but this works for me. We are stocked up on Vitamin D to boost immunity, and echinacea and garlic to fight off sickness, too. I'd rather spend money on these more natural health items than go to the doctor and pay for a visit and more drugs that I'm not so convinced are always helpful. We also use a honey cinnamon mixture that seems to help with coughs and sore throats. Keeper of the Home has lots of information that I've found interesting and useful and I've looked stuff up here before, too.

I'm also excited to try to sew one of these with my mom over Thanksgiving. In the next few weeks I want to make an Advent Calendar or a Jesse Tree to teach Briella about Christmas, but I haven't quite figured out which one to make and how to do it.

Oh and I ordered our Christmas picture/cards already! I found a good deal and just went with the pictures we had, so I should be sending those out sooner rather than later this year!!

My Quiet Book

So about 6 months ago I was inspired by this cute Quiet Book with a tutorial, so I decided to give it a shot. There were lots of ideas on line and a friend had made a few so she sent me her ideas and even some sketches (Thanks MR)! I bought felt, ribbon, beads, and cut out all these shapes . . . then the project sat there for a long while and then last week I decided I should just finish! And I did. I'm quit happy with how things turned out, even though I'm not a perfectionist when it comes to sewing and I can see room for improvement.







We took it to church on Sunday and Briella enjoyed it, mostly the buttons and the beads . . . they are looking 'loved' already.
I have a couple of other projects in the works, plus some patching for Stephan . . . I might need a better sewing machine if this keeps up :)

The Awesomest Diaper Bag Ever

I can hardly believe it myself, but this adorable diaper bag that fits everything I want and more, includes a custom cell phone pocket and more love, sweat, and tears than I can describe. While caring for our six children, my sister, Mindy, and I each made our very own diaper bag!! WOW! It was quite ambitious for this ametuer sewer, but Mindy is more experienced and helped me out a ton. THANK YOU MINDY!! Also thanks for those who lent me sewing machines :)


Look at all these pockets!! and the space!!More pockets on the other side, still adorable . . .