Happy {DIY} Halloween!

One of my favorite holidays is Halloween! If you know me or have been following my blog then you have probably figured out that I love making costumes and decorating for this holiday. Last year we were a skeleton family ("Skelegin") and the year before that bear was a garden fairy. But this year is my favorite so far!

Halloween seems to help the ADD I have when it comes to crafting, It gives me a deadline and focus, and each year I get a little better at crafting and sewing. Sewing is something I've been working on over the past two years and each time I set up my sewing machine I become more confident in my skills, which in turn makes me feel more excited about my next project.

But the best part of this project was taking a step towards being less perfect. The more I let myself make mistakes with this project the more I learned about sewing. Something I need to remind myself in all aspects of life -- It's ok to fail, there's a lesson in the madness...

And who'd of thought there'd be a life lesson in sewing? Perhaps I need to change my name to "Insightful Mom..."

Any how...

Here are my girls in their finished outfits. I made everything, excluding the onesie and leotard.

Can you guess who they are?

Angelina Ballerina

And Angelina's little sister

I had to distract her to get her to wear the ears.

So there you have it! 

I think it's pretty obvious that bear is super excited about her costume - the best reward for a momma!

I'll be posting my DIY blog shortly.

Happy Halloween!

One Month To Go!

My little one turned 11 months old today. Holy guacamole! That means that exactly one month from today we will be in NY celebrating her first birthday. We will also be celebrating Thanksgiving, as it falls on the same day. Last year we brought roo home from the hospital on Thanksgiving, so whether or not her birthday actually falls on the holiday, it will now always be an extra special day. 

It's been a tough year, all the adjustments, the changes, but a blessed year just as well.

Bear continues to struggle ever day with the fact that she is no longer the only baby in this house. But it's a process and I'm starting to realize that it's not about the perfect moments, it's about the struggles and how we over come them, how we move on from them and how we become better people because of it all. And as I've become more aware of this, the easier it is to ride out the storm, as I know everything will work its way out in due time. 

And just as bear struggles, Roo struggles too. She struggles to keep up with her big sister and she struggles every day to get her attention. Roo frequently doesn't get the response, from bear, that I would like her to get; I hope this coming year will allow me some time to figure out how I can improve their relationship, or at least not make it any worse.

Now on to roo's ever developing skills! 

Yes, I am biased but to me roo is a very little inquisitive genius. And don't get me wrong, I have two beautiful geniuses on my hands, but they are both very different and have/are developing in very different ways. We know now at eleven months that roo is feisty, happy and persistent (aka stubborn) like her big sister. She is sociable and friendly and I am extremely impressed by her very early verbal skills. Since 9 months she's been saying "hi!"We (my husband and I) are also impressed by the way she plays and keeps herself busy throughout the day. She is a serious toy explorer and house object scientist! She wants to know what every thing is and exactly how she's supposed to use it.

With bear, at this age, we worked consistently on sign language but with roo I don't have as much time. Fortunately it's not completely necessary as she is trying as hard as she can to tell me what she wants through her various babbles. And amongst her babbles she continues to build on her words.

Words:

Hi

Mama = "I'm Hungry!"

Dada = Anyone I see who's not Mama & can't feed me

Eddy, set = "Ready, Set..." ("ready, set, go")

Uh = Uh oh

Mobility:

Pulling up and starting to cruse

Fully crawling

Food:

Refuses jarred baby food and prefers real finger foods, especially if someone else is eating the same thing. 

Bottle fed for one more month and already on the decline thanks to her love of real food!

Eating lunch (strawberries, cheese & tomatoes)

     ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How things have changed:

3.5 months old

4 days old

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Bear this age, 2 years ago

Bear again at roo's age

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This time last year

On My Highlight Reel

Here's what's been going on over the past few weeks:

Dudek's Oktoberfest

Haunted Corn Maze on an ATV

Disney with friends

Frankenweenie 

(The original artwork/actual set at Disney)

Two sisters playing together

Starting the girl's Halloween costumes