BABY QUILT

My  main gift I wanted to have for baby girl was a quilt. Isabella has one (she got from Tifanny, Stephen's cousin) and I really wanted bebe to have one too. I was a bit intimidated by the whole process at first but decided to go for it last week. 

I don't think I have mentioned this before but my grandma sent me a huge bag of fabrics and laces last year and that's were I have been getting most of the material for my projects lately. I bought some of the fabric for this quilt and also used some of the fabric my grandma sent me. So all these projects are extra special to me because they connect me to her in a way. I plan on making her a photo album of all the stuff I've been making and sending it to Honduras so she can see. It's so cool to see that bag of random old fabrics become all this cool stuff.  I also have made it a goal to be resourceful with all these projects. I try to use stuff from around the house or go to the thrift store and get fabric there (sooo much cheaper than regular stores). For example for this quilt instead of using batting (which is kind of pricey) I just used an old fleece blanket and it worked great. Although I made a TON of mistakes, and it's definitely a beginner quilt, I am really proud of how it turned out. For being my first quilt I think it's pretty good. Quilting is definitely lots of work and  requires precision (which is a big weakness of mine I usually like to wing it). I am excited to make another later on. Maybe for a baby boy....:)

BRENDA AND RIO

The manager at the eye center were Stephen works has become Isabella's West Plains grandma. We visit the office about three times a week when we pick Stephen up since we share the car. Well Brenda is just the sweetest lady. She has a drawer full of chocolate and lets Isabella grab as much chocolate as she wants. That little girl is loved at that office let me tell you. Those ladies run around with her, let her play with all the buttons in the rooms and dance with her to the music on the overhead stereo.
Brenda loves to babysit Isabella. Sometimes I wonder if we are the ones going on dates or Isabella is. Brenda's house seriously looks like it came out of Lord of the Rings. It's one of those places that makes me want to stay in West Plains permanently. She has horses, dogs, and a miniature donkey. AKA Isabella heaven. Last weekend she got to feed, pet and ride Rio, the miniature donkey. You can imagine the joy.

AUGUST

The weather thank goodness cooled down and now we have perfect 70/80 degree days. We have been squeezing as much outside time as we can before winter comes. We've been going on family walks a couple times a week. Isabella runs around on the trail pretending to be a monkey or chasing papa de gu while Stephen runs behind her making crazy noises. They also like to race each other and that dad of hers will not let her win! He says she needs to earn her wins and that he is pushing her to be better. Well the girl does run as fast as those little legs can take her to catch up to him so I guess it's working. Isabella is so cute though she gets on her knees in running position like her dad and yells "one dos GO!!!" I waddle behind them and just smile at how much I like those two. 

Here are a few snippets of August: 

We babysat Emma a couple days this month. Isabella is now obessed with babies and talks about Emma and church everyday. It was so good for both of us to watch her. Good for me to get a feel of what two will be like and good for Isa because obviously she is going to be a big sis soon. For the most part things went great but she did hit Emma with a toddler hammer and bit her when she tried to use her bike. We had some good chats and timeouts about biting and sharing. Thank goodness Emma is the seventh child in her family so got over it pretty quickly. Isa was such a good mommy to her though. She loved feeding her the bottle and taking her on walks on the stroller. She was fascinated by everything Emma did and would randomly hug her and giggle. I guess Emma didn't complain when she got home because she is coming back next month so we will see how Miss Isabella behaves. 

We have been quite the crafters this month. Isa's motor skills are starting to become better so we are having fun creating stuff. Pretend play is huge right now so she almost died when we made this shoo shoo (train). My mom used to do this stuff with us so it was so fun to do with Bells. Of course her dogs are the passengers. Did I mention before how much she loves Butch. that scary/ugly wrinkled dog on the train? She picked him for her birthday at Walmart and they are best friends ever since. The apple fell really really far away from the tree.... 

Movie nights with popcorn are one of Isabella's new favorite things. We make our own popcorn on a pot so she gets to watch it pop and man does she go crazy over that. Movie nights are usually daddy daughter time while I go lay down and take a break. 

Someone has become quite the face model for pictures:)

I thought I would try and capture West Plains in the summer. It is seriously breathtaking in some areas. These pictures don't do it justice but they do show how green it is. 

Well there goes another month! 

SMALL VICTORIES

Today is a big day. It is a day worth recording. Why you ask? Well I got Isabella to eat green peppers, onions, chow mein and chicken. To background the significance of this miracle let me tell you about our summer. Boy something happened to Isabella when she turned 2. some kind of rebellious independence kicked in and she decided to heck with it, she was going to live off hot dogs, french fries, pancakes, gold fish crackers and chocolate milk for the rest of her life. Anything else was pushed, thrown in the air, spat out or launched. I was soo lost. Isabella has always been skinny so I tend to be so lenient on what she eats as long as she eats. I just want to put anything in her that I can. So when this little rebellion came along I fell right in. Whatever feeds the kid I kept telling myself. So for the past 2 months Isabella has eaten the above tiny menu you read plus a few other random items. About 3 weeks ago I decided enough was enough.Whose the mom here? Since when am I a pushover? Where is my"you eat whatever I give you and be grateful you have food on your table" Honduran attitude? 

So the negotiations began. 

You want pelicula? Well you better eat your meatballs. You want to play with Emma tomorrow? well you better try that sweet potato. You want to go play outside? Try one piece of watermelon/banana just one. I don't know if bribing is the best way to get it done but it works! The kid eats. Today was a small victory but boy did it feel good. She ate green peppers and liked them! I just can't believe it. I fist pumped the air and felt a little taller. 

ISABELLA TWO YEAR PICS

When Marcela was here I asked her to snap some picture of Isabella so we could capture her as a 2 year old. I love how much of Isa's personality shows in these pictures. And boy are those curls going to break some hearts one day...

BABY BOOK

This has been my favorite project so far.  I made a little fabric book for baby girl. I spent all week working on it. I've never considered myself artsy or creative but after this project I think I have some hidden talents I didn't know about. I got sooo into doing this. I smile thinking it will soon be tossed around the house and covered in who knows what but for the moment I don't let anyone touch it and look at it everyday. I might be a little too proud of it. I picked images of Isabella's favorite things because my hope is that this will be their little book that big sis reads to baby girl. So far she loves it and oohs and ahhs at every picture. I love my girl when I was done she goes "oohhh very good mama very good!" and claps for me. 

LITTLE BLUE DRESS

Clothes is definitely my weakness in sewing. The other day I made myself a dress and was reminded why I NEVER sew clothes. I spent two hours and ended up looking like a squeezed sausage in a pink horribleness. So I was nervous to try and make my first little girl dress but although it is not my best, I think it turned out really cute. I am excited to try and make more now that I have learned what mistakes not to make. This was my guinea pig dress you could say. The thing is the model is so cute rags would look adorable right? :)

You can tell the first picture is before church and the other one after because of how wrinkled the dress is in the second one haha. someone was crazy at church today, she was jumping up and down behind my chair like an energizer bunny at one point. she does seem a lot happier in the second one though:)