DIY Fabric Tutu

So I am a bit of a Pinterest addict. I absolutely love all of the cute ideas, especially the DIY category. It always gets me thinking, "I can totally make that"... and then I don't do it. Well, this morning, I came across a pin showing how to make a scrap fabric tutu. Easy enough and looks absolutely adorable! 


I went down to our basement and grabbed the box of fabric that I had purchased months ago for DIY baby shoes (which I also saw on Pinterest) that I never actually got around to making. I had to be honest with myself, I would never get around to making them... too much work... but this tutu, I could do! 


I cut the fabric into long strips and threw it all into a pile- I didn't want to have a pattern to my skirt, so I wanted to be able to just grab a piece of fabric and put it on. 

To make the waistband, I just used elastic which I grabbed from the dollar store. I busted out the trusty sewing machine to make sure it would stay put. Keep in mind that the elastic totally stretched as I made this... definitely should have cut it on the smaller side!


Next, I stretched my loop of elastic over one of my kitchen chairs in order to have a good working space. This made it super easy to attach the fabric with a simple loop. 

This was a super easy tutu to make. I mixed in some tulle and pink ribbon along the way to jazz it up a little bit. I had two trusty helpers... although Isla helped a lot more by going down for a nap shortly after I began!

And once it was all finished...  tada!!

I am super impressed with how it turned out. I will post pics of my little niece wearing it once I give it to her. I think she will absolutely love to twirl in this!


I can't finish my post without posting one more pic of my cutie. She will be eight months in 2 weeks, and is developing such an amazing personality. She cracks me up on a daily basis. We really are blessed to have such an incredible being in our lives. 

Month 7

Isla turned seven months old yesterday! That means that we are now closer to her being one, than we are to when she was born. Time sure does fly!

Isla seems to have mastered the army crawl. She is surprisingly quick if there is something across the room that she is interested in. I used to have my mom "skype sit" her for a minute or two so I could run to the washroom or get her a bottle ready. This involved Isla lying on the carpet and my mom singing to her. Worked out very well :) Now, Isla realizes that this is her time to escape and she shuffles away from my mom as soon as I'm gone. hehe. Silly little girl. 


She is also getting really good at eating on her own. She loves to pick up fruit and puffs- and is quite good at actually getting them into her mouth. We are working on peas, and she is pretty cute when she is that focused in her high chair. 


Over the last little bit, Sean and I have definitely remarked about how "energetic" Isla is. There is no doubt that she is an active little baby. We will definitely need to channel that energy into sports and activities when she is a bit older! 


As for activities, Isla is still swimming once a week in Brampton. She is such a little fish now, and has the greatest time. I am looking forward to the summer when she can enjoy the lake and little baby pools. We will definitely make it a habit of going to a public pool at least once a week so that she continues to be comfortable and enjoy the water. 


It is getting towards the end of June, and I am super excited for our first summer as a family. Sean got onto the volunteer fire department in Bolton, so many of his weekends until mid-July will be taken up by training. The beauty of being teachers, is that we are off- so it doesn't really matter. We will likely be spending lots of time between here, North Bay and Wyevale. Sean's parents live just up the road from Georgian Bay and the beach is beautiful. Hello sandy diaper! 


Last week we finally got some air conditioning installed. As our second floor is essentially a converted attic, it gets incredibly warm up there. I felt pretty bad expecting Isla to sleep in that heat, and it was only going to get worse as the summer began. They still need to finish up some of the duct work- so at the moment we just have holes in the ceilings and floors, but the air itself is going and is pretty decent. It is supposed to feel like 41 today (flashback to days in Qatar), so I am thankful that this is in!


Here is a cute pic that I just had to share. It may be one of my absolute favourites. I am a lucky girl :)

Woombie-free!

When Isla was a few weeks old, we discovered the miracle baby product known as the woombie. Seriously, I don't think there is anything better. It is my TOP, TOP, TOP must-have baby product as it literally saved our lives. When Isla was a newbie, she would only sleep on our chests. The minute she was placed onto her back, she would wake up very unhappy. I totally thought that I was going to have an 8 year old child that was still sleeping on me. 


Then we attempted the woombie. She slept. On her own. Without us. To me, that is a miracle product :) Isla has become a pretty good sleeper I would say. She usually is in bed by 7 or so, and will wake about 2 times a night looking for a soother. When she wakes up around 6, I will normally feed her and then put her back to bed. She has been in this routine for awhile now, which is working pretty well for me. She is napping about twice a day, with her naps being between 1-2 hours in length... on our days with only hour naps, she will usually sneak another cat nap in somewhere along the way. 


Recently, I moved her into her own crib, in her own room. Sigh. She is getting big! For the most part, I kept her in our room as I could not stand the thought of having to get out of bed and cross the hall in the middle of the night to replace a fallen soother. Call me lazy, but it is so much easier to lean over, pop the soother back in, and fall back into bed...not even really having to wake up. Oh well, the time had come. I figured if I didn't start getting her into her own room at this point, then I really would have an 8 year old sleeping with me. She is doing wonderfully, and seems to enjoy her new space. There have definitely been some times in the middle of the night when I am less than enthused to go find a soother, and I have come to the realization that now it is super important to actually put her toys away since I have bashed many toes in the dark.... but it is working. 


Our most recent milestone, was the weaning of the swaddle. So back to our woombie. Isla has used it for every nap and nighttime since she was a few weeks old. As soon as I would put her in and zip it up, her eyes would start to close. However, our first summer in the house has arrived, and it is hot! With no AC upstairs, Isla's room is really warm. I felt pretty bad about having to wrap her up tightly, even if she was only wearing a diaper underneath. Also, she can roll. Very well. The good part about the woombie is that it doesn't restrict her arms, so she was able to lift her head right up off the bed, as well as her shoulders. I didn't have any concerns about her not being able to breathe, but I felt that she wanted to be able to move around a little more at night without being limited. The last reason was that she is really good at putting her soother back into her mouth. If I give her arms back to her, maybe she will start doing that in the middle of the night instead of me having to go and do it for her. 


So yesterday, I decided to go cold turkey and go woombie-free. No, one arm in, one arm out deal...just a normal aden and anais summer sleepsack. Well, I couldn't have been more proud of my little bean. She was awesome. Her first nap was 2.5 hours!!! Second nap was 1.5... and then she went to sleep on her own. Two wake ups (that just required soother replacement)....but I will take it! The tears were VERY minimal. I gave her a stuffed sheep and an aden and anais security issie to play with in bed and then scattered three soothers around the bed...hoping she would find one when needed. I did hear soothers drop, and for her second nap I had to go in as she was screaming, looking at the soother on the floor. As soon as I gave it to her, she was out like a light. 


All in all, we are on day 2 of no woombie and things are going well. I guess she was ready. So, farewell woombie... it was a great ride. I definitely couldn't have made it 6 months without you. I will get you out of the storage when baby number 2 decides to come along :)

Happy Mother's Day!

Yesterday was my first official Mother's Day :) We were in North Bay, celebrating Melody's third birthday, so we got to spend the entire day with family. Isla apparently didn't get the memo that she was supposed to sleep in to give mom a little break, but that's ok because seeing her gigantic smile in the morning is the greatest gift she can possibly give me. 


Now being a mom, I definitely have learned to appreciate what my own mother has done for me. It is a lot of work! Being a mom is tiring and frustrating at times, but the pay-off is that you have an amazing child who you love so much. Isla has truly been a blessing and I can't imagine my life any other way!


Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms out there :)


Here is a pic of Isla and I celebrating Melody's rainbow birthday party and our first Mother's Day:

6 months old

The past week, Isla has decided that she needs to wake up around 4 or 5 am. I will feed her and try to put her back to sleep, but that just doesnt seem to cut it. The other day I decided to bring her into bed with me (Sean was sleeping downstairs waiting for a supply call) and it seemed to do the trick. She did her little tilt the head to the side and snuggle down. I love that little move. She fell right back to sleep as that was exactly what she wanted. So when Isla woke up again last night at 4:30am, I skipped the feed and just put her into bed with me, and we both slept peacefully until 7:30. Waking up beside this little nugget is one of the best feelings and I absolutely love these few morning hours to cuddle with her. I know they won't last forever, so why not take advantage of it now?!? Habit or not, I am under the impression that you need to live for the moment with babies and love them every second... that can never be wrong in my opinion :)

Today, Isla turns six months old. That is proof of just how fast time flies and how I need to treasure every little minute I have with her when she is this small. Isla has started to become a very energetic and active baby to say the least. She loves her carpet time to roll absolutely everywhere and begin to crawl. So far she is able to get her bum in the air and push herself forward. She is very determined when she sees something that she wants, and she will get it! It is a combination of rolling and pushing to get from one end of the carpet to the other, but she can do it. I can't leave anything around the living room anymore, or she finds it! I love her determination and energy, and the budding sense of humour that she is starting to develop. 

Isla is also loving her food. So far she has had cereal, bananas, apples, pears, sweet potato, avocado, squash and mum mums... not sure mum mums really count as a food...but they keep her entertained in her high chair long enough for Sean and I to eat dinner usually :) This week I picked up some prunes and peaches to try out. I think that she will enjoy those!

Last week, I took Isla to the park with her friend Cameron. I had put her into the swing awhile ago, but she just kind of hung there with a confused look on her face. This past weekend, she absolutely loved the swing. She had a gigantic smile and even let out a few laughs. I had to bring Sean back to the park with us after dinner so that he could see how much she enjoyed it!

Swimming has also started to go really well (keep your fingers crossed that the same happens tonight). The past few weeks have brought little to no tears, and even some smiles and "happy kicks" (when Isla is really happy, she does these cute kicks with her legs when you pick her up... one of my favourite things). She can go under water and do little dives- quite impressive at such a young age. The car ride home is usually a different story as she is tired and it is bed time, but I usually give her a free pass on that one. 

This weekend, we are headed to Melody's third birthday party. It is rainbow themed, and Isla has a cool new rainbow dress to wear that she picked out. It is also my first real Mother's Day. Every day pretty much feels like Mother's Day as I am so lucky to have Isla in my life- truly a little miracle :) I know that she had a few ideas for gifties that she was telling Sean to pick up for her. I wonder what she decided on. haha. Truly, the only gift I need is the little smile and gurgle that I get every morning when she wakes up :)

Happy 6 months, Isla!

Daily Activities

One of the most important things I have learned as a new mom, is the importance of getting out and about. I try to do something with Isla every single day- as I think we would both go insane if we stayed in the house for the entire time. 


We are pretty lucky, in that we have an Ontario Early Years Centre just up the street. Isla and I have been going to "You and Your Baby" for over a month now and have met a lot of other babies and moms. We just started going to "Infant Mother Goose", which is stories and songs, and it seems like it will be a great program. Isla wouldn't know as she slept through the majority of the first class. I just had to clap and sing along to a sleeping baby. I clapped very quietly. 


Starting after March break, I have enrolled Isla in her first set of swimming lessons. I am super excited for this, as the centre looks fantastic and if Isla has as much fun as she does in her little bathtub, it should be a great experience. The classes are in Brampton (not too far from Sean's school), so that means Sean has to leave work, drive home, pick us up, and drive right back. Not the best, but since it is for Isla, I am sure he is happy to do it! Plus, he will get to be part of the swim classes as well, and I know that he will absolutely love the chance to spend time with her in the water. 


Isla and I have also frequented many of the malls in the area. It is so handy that they all seem to have big family washrooms with good change tables and nursing rooms with comfy couches. When you look around at the people shopping on a weekday, it is 90% moms and their babies, so I guess this makes sense! Isla is a fantastic shopper in that she sleeps the entire time and allows me to make all of my purchases without worrying that she will begin screaming any minute. She even allows me to eat lunch while she snoozes, and often requires me jostling the stroller a little bit to wake her up and feed her before we leave. Can't get much better than that. 


When Isla was a few weeks old, I remember how scary it was to take her out in public on my own during the day. Of course, I managed to get her car seat stuck in the stroller that day while in the Shopper's Drug Mart parking lot, and began having a minor meltdown thinking I was going to have to walk around the drugstore for another hour until Sean was off work and could come and help us out. Luckily, I freed the car seat and got home without a baby meltdown, so the trip was a success. I guess we have come pretty far from that day, and now I can look back and laugh at myself and how much of a "newbie" I must have looked to passerbys. 


I have come to the point where I am completely relaxed taking her out, and actually enjoy the opportunity to show her new things out in her community. I am looking forward to when she is a bit older and can really benefit from playgroups and even going to the community library to read some stories. 


:)