Perhaps because of the complications I had with breastfeeding coupled with the fact that I have been blessed with a child who likes to eat a lot, I assumed that Elly would jump at the chance to eat pureed foods. Surely, I was the one holding her back. Instead I have gotten looks from Elly ranging from complete horror to utter confusion.

The irony of it all is that I struggled with the decision of starting Elly on solids before she turned 6 months. It tortured me for days. The pros were based mostly on the fact that I love food and I was giddy to start cooking for her. The cons were twofold: 1 the AAP among other organizations recommend nursing exclusively for 6 months if possible and 2 pride held my hand. You see Elly’s pediatrician had told me that I wouldn’t be able to nurse Elly exclusively for 6 months because Elly was such a big baby and would require supplements in order to get enough to eat. Hogwash I said. It flies in the face of the law of supply and demand, which breastfeeding is based on. At all previous times when Elly demanded more to eat, my body simply supplied more. No reason to believe it wouldn’t continue to do so. Besides, have you seen Elly lately? Does she look like she’s starving?

My dilemma was all for naught. Elly is going to drag me over the 6-month mark and force me to simply stockpile all the pureed foods I’ve made for her into the freezer. It’s a good thing we have a 2nd freezer in the basement.

My MIL has promised me that Elly won’t remain on a liquid diet forever. By the time she goes to kindergarten, she will be eating solids. Of course, I was hoping for a bit earlier than that. One thing is for certain, we will be doing this at Elly’s pace. I am not in control.

Update: Yesterday after writing this up, I tried feeding Elly “watered down” oatmeal, which is to say oatmeal mixed with breastmilk until made runny. The verdict: she didn’t hate it! The look of ‘what are you putting in my mouth?’ was replaced with delight. Unfortunately, she didn’t know exactly what to do with it after that point and ended up spitting the majority of it back out. But, it was progress.

PS. You’ll forgive me for not getting an action shot of Elly eating. Things get very messy and sticky quickly. Heck, even I wear an apron to help save my clothes. All action shots will have to wait until the weekend when Dan is home to watch/help.

The fabric is fun. Who doesn’t love polka dots?
The colors are perfect.
So, what’s wrong with it?
See for yourself.

It conflicts with the India fabric rather than complementing it. Of course, the green fabric won’t go to waste. Fabric never does in this house. Even Dan’s retired dress shirts get a 2nd life in some small project or another. I’m thinking the green fabric might look better as a jumper.

With the green fabric set aside, other colors were auditioned. Using white as both the lining and the accent color has the opposite problem.

It’s too plain and dreadfully boring.

Adding in a border of flowers might solve my problem, but it’s a bit fiddly and might be too grown-up looking.

What do you think?
Should I have eliminated the green fabric in the first place?

Gosh, I can’t wait until Elly can help me choose colors and fabrics.

Right now she loves everything.

However, I am getting closer. These are the shorts that Elly will wear underneath the dress I am making for her.

Do you see how her belly folds over her shorts? Giggle.
Her Daddy and I are so proud of her chubbiness.

Pattern: Simplicity 4203
Alterations: none outside of adding a tag – something my new machine did with great ease

Size: 2T
Fabric: cotton purchased from Quilt Generations in Pottstown. Thanks to their huge selection, I had no trouble matching colors to the fabric my best friend brought back from India. I feel so spoiled here in Pottstown having such a great selection of sewing/quilting stores.

News Flash: For the past few days, Elly has been going to bed at a more reasonable hour. Last night, she was in bed by midnight which is a huge improvement over the 3am bedtime.

So, what was the trick?
No trick. Dan and I still hadn’t come up with a Plan B.
No, it just took Elly turning 5 months old.

I can explain.

My favorite place to shop for cotton fabric, Quilt Generations, was closed the evening I went searching for dress fabric. Due to the late hour, I ended up at Walmart. Not surprisingly, I didn’t find what I was looking for. However, Walmart did have an excellent selection of fleece, so I bought enough to make a duvet cover for Elly’s down comforter. Upon returning home, I realized the fleece fabric wasn’t going to fit in my china cabinet. (Where do you keep your fabric?) Thus, I opted to make the duvet cover first.

But perhaps I should backup for you might be wondering why a baby needs a down comforter in the first place. It’s an easy answer: because Dan and I each have one. Naturally, our daughter needs one as well to keep her warm during the cold winter nights.

Pattern: You don’t need one. A duvet cover is nothing more than 2 pieces of fabric stitched together with buttons at the bottom to keep the comforter from falling out.
Fabric: 1 yard of fleece for the front and 1 for the back or 2 yards total.
Time frame: 10 days though if I didn’t have Elly it would have been completed in just a few hours. Of course, there would be no reason to make a duvet out of such fun fabric if I didn’t have Elly.

Christmas Present #1 is finished
Woo!

And the backside of Elly’s duvet cover matches her new shirt. Perfect.

Here’s my question:
Should I wrap the gifts I make for Elly and put them under the tree?

On one side, Elly will only be 10.5 months old. Any gift opening will have to be done by Dan or I. Thus, I will be making Dan open a bunch of gifts for Elly that he has already seen and knows about. It seems a bit silly when you look at it that way. Rather than go through the ritual for tradition’s sake, we could focus on having a relaxing Christmas morning before we head over to family and the mayhem begins. (I do anticipate that Elly will be spoiled rotten).

On the other hand, it will be Elly’s 1st Christmas. There is a part of me that wants to lavish her with gifts even if she doesn’t understand why and can’t participate in the unwrapping. Plus, I will be making several gifts for her between now and Christmas: 4 dresses and a duvet cover. I suppose I could always place them directly in her closet.

My practical side says No. The mother in me is conflicted. The traditionalist says Yes.

Pattern: You don’t need one. Besides Taggies has a patent and a copyright on the design so you’ll never find a pattern legally. However, a tag blanket is nothing more than two pieces of fabric sewn together with bits of ribbon sticking out.
Fabric: The green you recognize as being leftover from the quilt. The pink came from a basket cover that I received at my baby shower.

Thankfully, I have yet to offend anybody by my habit of repurposing fabric received as a gift.
Timeframe: approx 2 hours

Most importantly, does Elly like it?

Elly is absolutely my daughter; she loves to run her hands over fabric.

She started this habit about a month after she was born. Most of the info I read seemed to suggest that she would eventually grow out of it so I didn’t fight it. When Elly turned 4.5 months old, my patience began to wear thin. Enough was enough. I wanted to go to sleep with my husband and wake up sometime before noon.

With Dan on my side, I concocted a plan to wage war against Elly’s natural internal clock. The plan required us getting up at 7am no matter what time we went to bed the night before. The day was to be filled with a normal level of stimulation for Elly. At night, I would start my nursing and soothing regimen earlier.

The 1st night brought no change. The 2nd night saw little improvement as Elly went to sleep an hour earlier. The 3rd night we were back to status quo. The 4th night was the worst with Elly staying up till 4am.

It was after night 4 that I waved the white flag.

Little Elly has won Round 1.

Dan and I need to regroup and come up with a plan B.

Since Pottstown hasn’t had a train running through town in many years, I had come to rely on a bicycle to get me from point a to point b. Unfortunately, Elly won’t be road worthy until she is one year old. Her neck just isn’t strong enough to handle the bumps of the road until then.

At first, I was only taking her places that were within walking distance from home. Then came the day when I needed to travel outside the mile radius surrounding our home in order to attend a doctor’s appointment. I mentioned it to Dan and he complained about having to rent a car again. It started to make sense for us to buy a 2nd car just to avoid the rental fees. Determined that there was another way, I looked into public transportation.

I had known for years that Pottstown had a bus system. What I didn’t know is how extensive the system was. Come to find out I could get almost anywhere within the town limits along with a few shopping plazas right outside of Pottstown.

The day I took my first bus ride with Elly was so empowering. I didn’t need to wait until Dan returned home with our only car. I didn’t need to rely on our local Enterprise. I could get to all my favorite stores in Pottstown anytime during the day that I wanted.

No more did I have to listen to Dan’s request/plea for a 2nd car. The day I relayed my bus ride experience to Dan was the very day that he conceded defeat.

I had won. We shall keep our 1-car status.

Being a 2nd child myself, I was determined to not let the birth of their 2nd child pass without making something for her.

Stats
Pattern: none. It’s just a simple patchwork design.
Size: 36″ square
Fabric: Top is 100% cotton flannel. The batting is 100% polyester in a high loft. Back is a soft minky fabric made out of 100% polyester. (It does go against the rule that quilts should be made with all cotton fabrics, but I couldn’t resist. It was so soft).
Quilting: Combination of stitch-in-the-ditch, simple geometric designs and cookie cutters.

Timeframe: bit sketchy since I’m not sure when I started but I’ll estimate 2 months
Quality Assurance: Approved by Elly

With the quilt done, I can now start stocking Elly’s closet with handmade dresses. Have I mentioned recently how much I love my new machine?