a hippie apron dress top thingy

That is the "official" name of the garment I made for Ramona today. When we were in Philly last month I went to an awesome fabric store called Spool. I went with some projects in mind and picked out the fabric for them, but then there were some fat quarter bundles that I couldn't resist. One was comprised of Amy Butler's new line and then other was kind of whimsical, mostly pastel and impishly cute. The one I liked the most had french writing on it and little pictures of things like flowers, houses, bikes, etc. I didn't have anything in particular in mind for this bundle, I thought maybe some drawstring bags or something when she starts amassing "little toys" (as much as I tell myself it won't happen, I know it will...) But then today I was thinking about these hippie tops and dresses I used to make (and buy at, ahem, Dave Matthews concerts) in college. They were simple to make and I figured a miniature sized one would be pretty easy. She could wear it as a dress now, and, if I made it "right" it could be worn as a top later on. It took me most of the day, with tons and tons of stops in between to, you know, care for the child. It's not perfect, the straps are a little wonky. But somehow, I don't think she cares...

Thanks to Papa Dworkin for assisting our adorable model
And who can resist that big cloth diaper butt!

4 month update...

It's been a little hard to get back in the swing of things after our big trip home in December/January, but I'm trying to make an effort and a "milestone update" seems like a good place to start...
At 4 months Ramona can...
go from lying on her back to sitting to STANDING holding onto a finger...
sit upright with a little leg support...
laugh, laugh, laugh...
roll over both directions...
spot things from far away...
grab anything she wants...
"talk." a lot.

Last week we got her an excersaucer and she really seems to like it. This past weekend she went on her first desert trip to Memphis and Saqqara. It went really well, there was a bit of a meltdown at one point when she was hungry. But I basically want to have a meltdown every time I got to the desert and I'm not 4 months old.
Ramona has the most incredible, sweet personality. She smiles when she wakes up and pretty much doesn't stop all day.

Toes!

I seriously want to dip them in chocolate.

the yogi baby has arrived!

Ramona Sabine!
Six weeks ago...
I know.
Shameful!
But I'm going to be better I promise! I'm going to at least post a picture every week. Mainly so I can stop bombarding my family and friends with pictures every week.
I'm also going to be using this blog for my crafting, knitting, sewing needs. What does that mean? I have no idea. I may post links to patterns that I'm working on, ideas that I have, and definitely finished projects. Ira got me a sewing machine for my birthday and I am so excited to start making Ramona some clothes and some things for her room.
So, I promised the birth story...
My doctor decided that I needed to be induced 11 days past my due date. So on October 24th, we arrived at the hospital around 9am. The doctor came around 11am to check me, I wasn't dilated at all. So he induced me at that point. We waited around all day with friends in our suite. It was pretty fun, playing cards and eating snacks. Although, if I had known what the next 2 days held I would have SLEPT! The doctor came back at around 6pm and checked me again. Nothing. So the plan was that a resident would come back around 1 am or so and give me another suppository. So Ira and I stayed up til about 10:30 playing cards and watching the Gilmore Girls. Less than an hour later, I started contractions. So we were up all night. The resident did come to check me and I was about 2cm dilated and when the doctor came back in the morning, nothing had changed. So frustrating! All that pain for nothing. The rest of the day was rough. Lots of pain and no breaks between contractions for rest or sleep. I finally gave in and decided to get an epidural once I realized that I wouldn't have the energy to give birth. It was actually a really good experience. The anesthesiologist was amazing. She put me at ease and was incredibly skillful. She made me feel better about getting it. She said most women wouldn't make it to 8cm after 18 hours of labor. It was worth it just to be able to stay in one position and rest. I thought I would want to be able to move around while I was in labor, but I didn't count on not having any downtime between contractions. I guess this is a common problem for women who get induced. I went down to the delivery room around 9pm, pushed for 25 minutes, and there she was! Beautiful from the minute she arrived. She wasn't a squished up newborn, haha. She didn't cry and fuss like the other babies in the nursery, she was very observant and quizzical. Still is...She has changed so much over the past weeks, but there is still a lot of that personality she had the moment she entered the world.

Cairo Baby Shower

Here are some pictures from our baby shower in Cairo. It was a boy/girl shower (gasp!) thrown by Amanda and Gordana. All of our friends were there and it was a wonderful day! We feel very lucky to be bringing the baby into such a wonderful group. By the way, one month left! I'm 36 weeks today, I can't believe it...

Scaredy Pants??

I've been working on these GREAT pants for the baby for a couple of weeks. I picked out the yarn months ago, a pretty forest green color. They were pretty simple to knit, I plan on making more in the future. I was really excited when they were finished, so was Ira, he wants a grown up pair. But then something dawned on me. Why did these pants look so familiar? And then I remembered a Dr. Seuss story that used to scare the, ahem, pants off of me when I was little. Do you know the one??
I can remember not even wanting to turn to that page in the Sneetches (which is my FAVORITE kid's story)


I mean, come on, those are some SCARY pants! How weird that I would choose to make these pants the same color?? Hopefully the baby won't be scared, too!

Meal of the Week

So I'm going to try and make this a new feature on the baby blog. It seems like I have week long cycles of meals that I like to eat morning noon and night. This week it's peanut butter and jelly club sandwiches. Weird cravings, or genius?! I brought back some amazing strawberry jam from Paris and I have gone through almost half the jar this week thanks to these babies. I know the picture isn't the best, but that's peanut butter, jelly, and bananas. Oh yeah, and 3 slices of bread. Meal of the week.