Valentines cards with a (corny) sense of humor

I become more like my mother every year in my love for all things festive & my increasingly corny humor. She can be counted on to have every seasonal sprinkle out there to decorate cookies with: Christmas trees, hearts, fall leaves, farm animals, snowflakes, shamrocks, she has them all. And napkins? Every holiday is represented. Four times over. She's a sucker for gaudy, holiday-themed displays. Target One Spot is my her weakness. And I love her for it. Not least because my hoard of festive paper straws & napkins is starting to rival hers... ( I tell myself, I need these paper straws for Etsy product shots!) And Fee loves them. 

It may be a little quirky, but it makes her such a good gift giver. And she loves to give gifts at random holidays. The randomer the better. I get a Valentines Day gift from her every year. One year it was an apron. A little red glass dish made it one year. A pair of gaudy heart-printed socks caught her eye. Last year it was a stir-crazy popcorn maker (it was red & wrapped in heart-printed paper, so it counts for Valentines Day).

So this latest set of cards I owe to my mother. Without her sharp eye for holidays & sense of humor (can we call it that? ;) ), I couldn't have created these. (If these tickle your funny bone, first let me offer you my sincerest apologies, & secondly, they are available in the etsy shop at a discount for you, dear readers, for putting up with my corny humor. Use code MOMLOVE for 10% off your purchase in my etsy shop.)

Mom, I love your gift-giving abilities. And I'm waiting with baited breath to see what shows up this Valentines Day!

DIY | bow-tie or bow

When I was pregnant, & didn't know if the little one was a boy or girl, I cranked out a few bow-ties that I figured could double as bows if she happened to be, you know, a she. They were actually pretty simple, & I had fun on the sewing machine for the hour it took to make a few. 

Do you have some dapper littles in your life that need some adornment? Here's my tutorial (I'm no seamstress, as my paint-spattered cutting mat will attest ;)), just a disclaimer.

1. cut out two rectangles of fabric: one 8"x4.5", one 3"x1.5"

    I just used a quilt-weight cotton bag that my set of sheets came in. {FREE! woot.}

2. sew the long sides of both rectangles together, right sides facing each other, leaving a quarter inch seam allowance.

3. turn both rectangles right side out & roll them so the seam is in the middle instead of the side. (This will be the backside.)

4. Tuck the ends in. This isn't absolutely necessary, but will make the final bow look neater. The smaller rectangle is tricky. Use the end of a scissors to tuck in the ends if you have to. Or just don't worry about tucking. We're laid back around here. 

5. Fold your rectangles in half, & stitch ends together.

6. turn inside out so your newest seam is facing in like the photo shows. (This should be done to the smaller rectangle, too.)

7. My favorite! This is the step where the bow just springs to life. Take your larger rectangle, & pinch the middle together with the newest seam in the back. I hotglued it together to keep it pinched til the next step. You could probably sew it, too. I just know glue guns better.

8. Take your smaller rectangle. (This photo was taken before I turned the newest seam to the inside. Sorry. I'm a nube at step-by-step photos.)

8. Thread the bow you just hotglued through the smaller rectangle. 

10. Slide a pin back through the little rectangle.

10. Done!

Now go crazy making these for all the little men in your life. They use the tiniest scraps of fabric & if I can make them, you can make them!

Or, if you happen to have a little lady in your life instead, simply slide an alligator clip through the back instead of a pin. Just as darling, IMO! 

Her father tells me, "It looks like she's wearing a bow-tie on her head!" Bow-tie or not, she wears it well. 

Fiona | 10 months

These photos sum it up: Fiona is a busy little girl these days. I couldn't get her to sit still long enough for my camera to focus. Oh well. I'm sure it will get better...cough, cough. 

Also, I just wanted to say thank you, all of you who reached out to me after my scary vulnerable honest blog post. I didn't know I would get such an encouraging response! You are all wonderful, wonderful women & make me want to keep on going. Also, I am doing much better:). So, thank you for your love & prayers & confessions of similar feelings. It helps so much to know I'm not alone. And YOU aren't alone either. Isn't it great?

Anyway, Fiona. We still love her dearly! She's been a little trooper lately, coping with a cough & some pink eye we picked up in Illinois. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but she did sleep for 13 hours the other night (I didn't know that could happen!) & she's been going to bed a little earlier than normal (read, earlier than 10:30). Normally, she sleeps pretty good, but she'll wake up once a night at least 3 nights a week. It feels very doable these days though. She may still get up at 5 am to eat, but she'll go back to sleep for a few more hours. She may be climbing on the coffee table, & opening my cupboards, & emptying the garbage, but at least she's entertaining herself & I can get some jobs done without a 15 pound ankle weight to lug around. She's actually almost 16 pounds (what I weighed at a year!! Featherweights, we are were.), which means she's gained a pound in the last month. She's been in the 9th percentile or less since she's been born. But I think she's gaining!

 It makes sense: she's been eating so much food. I'd been buying her squeezable applesauce pouches for the sake of convenience, & she would eat one in two feedings. Now she needs two at one feeding to satisfy her gluttony. Chicken, hamburger, beans, brussel sprouts, this girl will eat anything. It's reeeeally nice. I haven't bought baby food for a month! We're going to try goat's milk soon to see if she can digest that. Then I can quit buying the specialty formula.

She still loves going outside, which is a challenge this wet, sopping time of year. Crawling around in the muck & damp doesn't make her mother too happy. But sometimes we just have to get out. I keep thinking she's going to start walking. She was very, very close, & then suddenly decided she'd rather focus on climbing. Holding onto chairs, the coffee table, anything, she can get around pretty quickly. It's been so fun to watch her get stronger!

Maybe we're ignorant first-time parents, but I'm pretty sure she can say, "Dada", "mama", "bye-bye," & "bow-wow". She's a little inconsistent, but we're going to go with it.

Ten months. I can't believe we're so close to a year!

Illinois recap January 2016

*This post is totally random & is what happens when I'd rather be with the people than taking photos of them. Sorry for the choppiness & less than awesome photo-quality, but know between photos, I was thoroughly enjoying my family!

This is the #1 reason we went back to Illinois:

Did you ever see such sweetness? Little Harbor is much loved. 

{love this photo! Finn eats a gummy heart we used to bribe him onto the couch. And Harbor cries. Real life right here.}

And Shara makes four (four! Wasn't River just born? Now he's losing teeth!!) children look so easy. She's such a laid back mom. With exceptional taste in kid's attire:) (Fee gets all Madeira's hand-me-downs...) I've been looking up to her ever since we shared a bedroom growing up, & made her turn the lights off at 8 o'clock. She is a jewel. 

Fee was a wee bit jealous, I think. With baby William, & now Harbor, she wasn't quite sure what's so great about these tiny new humans anyway. 

Not that she didn't get absolutely spoiled while we were there. See if you can find the common thread in the next six photos.

 Jeremy + Fee

 Wendy + Fee {Wendy puts Fee to sleep. It's what she does.}

 Alex + Fee

 Ty + Fee (are you sensing a trend?)

Tory + Fee

 Carmen, Pierce, Alex, + Fee.

My family loves Fee. And she loves them, or at least tolerates them. I prepare myself every trip back for some hard-core stranging & fear of all the new people, but Fee's been a trooper every time. It warms my heart so much to see her in the arms of my family!

While Harbor was our my main reason for coming back to Illinois this time of year, we also celebrated a late Christmas. We had a good time, even though the little kids took turns having meltdowns, getting pinkeye, & ear infections. I had a mother of all colds the entire time, that got progressively worse as I got progressively further & further behind on my sleep. That said, we enjoyed our family time immensely. These next photos are just snapshots from the week. Enjoy the randomness that is my family!

Roxy & Kinsey building a gingerbread train

Madeira with her "food" gift--a tradition that's been going on since...forever. It's my favorite Christmas tradition. Mom used to buy us a special food she wouldn't the rest of the year & she & Dad would hide it while we all played in the basement. Then they'd call us up & we'd have a ball searching the house for our little Debbie snackcakes or Lucky Charms or whatever happened to be our gift. Such a fun tradition!

"Milk Toast": a favorite slur amongst the boys in the family. (shoulder shrug.) photo credits: Kenny

Gotta love the 6 week apart nephews in similar guzzling pose.

the only photo I got of the rib grill-off we had.

We pulled taffy one night. That was fun! I would write a step-by-step, but I wouldn't do a very succinct job, so just enjoy the photos. Maybe someday we'll reenact it, & I'll be more proactive about photos to break it down. 

Carmen grabbed my camera & so I was actually in a photo! I need to ask people to do that more often...

And that's it.

These photos capture a little bit what it was like to be back. They tell a little of the fun & togetherness. They tell of swarms of people & little ones & everyone pitching in & milling around. They don't capture the bittersweetness that overwhelms me every time we go back. It is such a good, hard time. I am most homesick when I am home. Aunt Carol was right. The nephews have grown up, my role is no longer there, I've missed out on countless conversations. I feel the 2,000 miles most when I'm right there.
But I would never want to quit going back. And I want Fiona to know "The Dotterer's" in all their quirkiness.  I have to remind myself that if it weren't hard, I wouldn't be as close to my family as I am. So we will keep coming back, & I will deal with the bittersweetness.

And someday, there won't be 2,000 miles between us anymore. Praise God!