Merry Christmas

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas! We are "partied out" over here and enjoying some down time! We had a great time spent together and I have tons to post about, but for now I'm going to just share my favorite homemade gift we did this year!

We have been loving the Ana White website with the plans for wooden furniture! She had this cute farmhouse doll bed that was perfect for Brianna's new American Doll Knockoff from Target. Her bed plans were a little wider than I wanted, so we took on width of wood out to make it smaller! Chad built the bed, I painted it and sewed some bedding, a mattress and pillow, etc. Brianna loves it!

Miranda, however, thinks the bed was made for her and her dolls to sleep in! She looks a bit like a giant in it! She spent a good part of the morning on the bed and was upset that her legs went off the edge!

Here she is "pretending to sleep"and "sleeping while sitting up"

I'm personally also excited to use it as a prop in newborn photoshoots!!!

Easter Dresses

Here are the girls Easter Dresses. A full post can be seen on my other blog http://www.erinnoeldesigns.blogspot.com/
I used the left over fabric from Brianna's comforter, so this project helped off set the cost of the bedding!!!

Happy Easter!

Bubble Skirt and Shirt

I made Bri a bubble skirt this week from a shirt I got at a garage sale a few years ago for only
25 cents! I then found some matching gray fabric from the remnant bin at Walmart for about a dollar! (Anyone else mad that they took our fabric section away?) I used a pattern from a children's clothes book but had to alter it some since I didn't have quite as much width to my fabric. For the shirt I made up my own pattern after getting some idea on the sleeves from my Pink Fig dresses I just posted! Oh, and I added my own little flower detail to the skirt per Bri's request. And look, the silver shoes actually match the outfit this time!!!!Sorry, this pic is a little blurry but I couldn't keep this chick still!!!This picture just cracks me up!!!! She was freezing because the wind was picking up, but it totally looks like she has to go potty! I love her expressive face!!! Do you think she'll hate me for posting this when she gets older? I have so much fun making clothes for Brianna. She is sooooooooo grateful and wears the things I make with pride. She is starting to get her own opinion on fabric choices and what I make for her though....sigh...that can be good and bad!

New Spring Dresses

I finished some spring dresses for the girls and posted our photoshoot on my other blog, http://www.erinnoeldesigns.blogspot.com/.

New outfit for Miranda

This was my second attempt at shirring and I have to say that I'm a fan!! I love the outfit! I made matching shoes and a head band to go along with it. The shoes were from the Precious Patterns Mary Jane pattern. I need to tweak the pattern a little because my girls have short and thick feet! Other than that, I love the pattern and can't wait to work with it again!As far as the shirt goes, I just did some guess work again and made my own pattern. I really like the look and fit of this shirt! The pictures were taken after a long day of wear, so it's wrinkly and drooled all over.... but hey, that's real life!

As far as an update on Miranda....where to start? Well, today was the first day I haven't ended up in tears over what's going on with her! She seems to be starting to have more of an allergic reaction now to the formula the more she has it. Her congestion is back (a sign of food intolerance) and she sometimes sounds like she's having some asthma issues when she breathes. She has constant gas pains and burps which lead to NO sleep. She naps about 20 minutes 2-3 times a day and that's it!!!! Sometimes I can get her back to sleep if I can get the gas out...but it doesn't allow for me to do much or spend much one-on-one time with Brianna as I'm constantly "de-gassing" my baby. Most nights I have only gotten 1-2 hours of sleep total! I am exhausted, and I'm obviously not napping in the day since she's not napping either! To top it all off, I was running out of her special formula and the insurance hadn't cleared her food. I was desperate and spent a lot of time on my knees that her food would show up! One bottle before we ran out of food the doorbell rang and I had a free sample on the door step! I knew I was being watched over! Tonight the company finally delivered 12 cans. After all we've been through with her, I find it rather exciting that they deliver her formula and I don't have to drive an hour or more to pick it up any more!

So, I'm at a loss as far as what to do for her! I'm not aware of any other formulas out there that don't contain something she has an intolerance to. You'd think I'd have all the answers since this is the second baby I've gone through this with, but I'm still at a loss. And knowing that Bri was difficult and never slept for a LONG time leads to me feeling more frustrated! But, today wasn't too bad! She had two 20 minute naps and then late this afternoon she slept for over an hour!!! I also have a new friend that took Brianna to the movies and dinner with her kids which allowed me to have some quiet time!!! I should've taken a nap, but since she typically doesn't nap long enough for me to even fall asleep I ended up working on some commissioned projects! This friend, Robin, made it so much more possible for me to cope with my life today! I can't thank her enough!!!