Meet Sam.

Sam was born 6/26/14, he is 3 weeks old today! 

He was a little chunker, 9lbs3oz and 21" and was born at 39 weeks exactly.  Kinda glad I didn't go longer, ha!



We are surviving, hoping I am past the worst part (but isn't there a growth spurt around 3 weeks?).  Luckily the kids are out of school so the older two can help with the twins and that means I can usually sneak a shower in before the twins go down for a nap in the afternoon.



He nurses like a champ and is growing perfectly, in fact, at his 1 week appt (actually at 11 days) he had just regained his birth weight and when I went in the next week (at 18 days) he had shot up to 10lbs6oz!  That was 1lb3oz in a week!



Luckily he hearts his pacifier because if he is awake and doesn't have something in his mouth he is angry.  Very angry.  Ha!  But we sure love him.


Being he is my last little one, I am trying to take life slowly and soak up every little moment.



P.S. taking your own newborn photos is exhausting!  I have done it before for friends and family so I thought it wouldn't be a big deal to do my own, but it is so nice to have someone to pass the baby to while you are setting up a shot or to calm the babe down.  So I didn't get very many (not nearly as many as I had planned in my head) but I got some that I love, so that's what counts, right?

Remember this little outfit?  He wore this one home from the hospital, and this is him at one day old.  

And this one?  It is pretty much my favorite thing to put him in, he gets compliments every time he wears it out of the house.  He was a day shy of 2 weeks here. 

A few weeks before he was born I slowly worked on some essentials.  I never managed to blog them (or the 4 maternity tees I made either), so here they are now.

A nursing cover.  I looked at a bunch of different tutorials online and combined my favorite parts about them, nothing special, but it works great.  I have only used it once at church this week, but it did the job great.

I made these single layer receiving blankets by making them square (either 42x42 or 44x44), rounding the corners and doing a rolled hem on the serger.  They are really nice to have.  I did end up splurging on a set of Aiden + Anias blankets (which I totally love and recommend, definitely worth the $), but he spits up a crazy amount and these get plenty of use too as there are always a few in the laundry.

Then some burp cloths.  Not just some, like 18, I think.  They were crazy tedious, but I am so glad I made them, we go through so many!  I just used some flannel on one side and chenille on the other.

I have managed a bit of sewing here and there, turns out school starts in less than a month! AAAAGH!  So even though it takes me a week for one item worked on in 5 minute spurts, it has been nice to sort of feel creative again.  I did manage a whole swimsuit for Abby yesterday though (she and Jack are headed to Lake Powell as I type), but more on that later, someone's starting to stir...

Whales.

This is the same pattern as last time, but this time I used view c.  

I usually try to stay away from novelty prints, but the whales just killed me dead (and so did the fox print... I just haven't decided what to do with that one yet).

I don't *love* the orange, in my mind it was going to be a brighter, more primary shade of orange.  But apparently my local shop's button/snap inventory has been severely diminished.  In fact, this was the only orange snap and also only two orange button sizes.

And I should have taken more care in lining up the whales, but what's done is done.

I lined the yoke again like I did with the romper, and this time it is a legit 3month.  I should invest in a few smaller sized tags... meh...

I did work out the collar/facing issue a bit better this time.  That means next time I'll be pro, right?  ha!

The thought of matching the print for the pocket made my brain hurt, so I went with a contrast.

A little piping at the yoke, because who doesn't love piping?

Since it's all about the details, baby, a contrast under collar also.

Next up:  Tops for Abby (per her demand request).

A romper.

Oh how I heart a romper on a sweet baby boy.  I purchased one at Target a few months ago and MC  (seriously, go check out her sewing, you wont be disappointed.  She is my little boy shirt sewing hero) said she knew of a pattern similar, Kwik Sew 3730.  I was feeling up to sewing today, so that's what I did, not to mention if I don't get started soon baby boy will be all kinds of naked.  

I used a lightweight shirting, it was quite slippery but it feels so nice.

The only (intentional) change I made was to line the yoke.  I wanted to be able to attach my label and size tag, so I just cut two yokes and sandwiched the back piece in between.  I like that it gave a nice clean finish on the inside and is a fun pop of color.

For the under collar I also cut it in a contrasting color.  Little details make me happy.

So, the instructions kind of really were bad.  And the inside facing was waaaay too long, so the insides are all kinds of ugly.  It kind of made me sad.  I didn't bother hand stitching the collar closed as the facings were messed up and I was just mad at that point.  But now I know how to adjust the next one (that is already halfway done btw).

Technically this garment is a size small, but looking at the measurements it seemed to be about equivalent to the size 3month things I have sewn already, we shall see.

I chose to go with snaps instead of buttons, much easier for dressing a wee one, and those pockets kill me dead.  Not like they are needed in any way, but they are adorbs.

A suit.

I made Abby a swim suit at her request earlier this week.  She asked Grandma to change their play day to earlier in the week so she could have one last long day together before school began, and the plan was to visit Beth and Jude's pool.  (Ben's cousins that are Abby and Jack's age).  So I got my stack of swim material, two of the patterns that I had, and let her pick what she wanted.  Well, mostly let her pick, I steered her towards the tankini rather than the bikini.  I don't care if she wears one, but Ben prefers she doesn't.  I wanted  to make the top from the Modkid book, but she didn't want that one, so I chose she chose View A and View C of the kwik sew 3605 pattern.

For the life of me I can't figure out how to get the right stitch with my machine, so I did a very harsh zig zag and then serged the seams out of habit, but as it stretched you could see the zig zag stitches.  I asked some lovely friends and one suggested I just pick out the zags, so I did, after the pictures, though. 

I got the material from girl charlee.  I really like the way it turned out.  Not too bad for my first try, but I know what I need to improve next time.

She LOVED it, I started Monday and "Grandma day" was Tuesday after lunch, I promised her it would be done in time.  Luckily the twins went down easy for naps Tuesday because they were beasts on Monday so I wasn't able to get much done with it.  She put it on as soon as it was done, and put her Zephyr over the top and was good to go!  Grandma said it stayed put just as it should, and she has already requested another.