A Baby, a Blanket and a Bear~

Aaahh~ the day is darkening, the dishwasher is doing it's business, younger is in the shower and older is off reading- Husband is at class and at long last I am free to share the fun had this weekend. In one word?
Shower- the baby kind.




Now, I have to preface this with the fact that I am not a 'head-over-heels-baby-person'- not at all. I much prefer older kids- it's just who I am. But that doesn't mean I don't enjoy the occasional cuddling and cooing over one, just so long as I can give it back and go my merry way back to the world of normal sleeping patterns and children who can use a toilet- (though I admit younger still doesn't aim well) In other words, I will be a wonderful grandmother someday! ;)

However, making for baby is a different matter! I love, love, love to make and buy and decorate for babies! Baby stuff is just so fun. In fact, I still drool over cute nursery photos thinking 'what if we had just one more- vintage nursery ryhmes would be such a cute theme!'- and then I come back to my senses (like the fact that we can't have anymore) and reason that decorating a nursery is not reason enough for starting all over and having a ten-year age gap between kids.

Anyway- back to the baby shower. I have to say I've never been so unstressed about throwing a shower in my life. Doing it with my friend Mandie was wonderful- we divied up the tasks and just took care of it. I had fun, fun, fun all week making baby gifties and decorations.

Here is baby's card made from cardstock and old tissue paper~

This picture is the doodle that gave me the idea to make a bear as well as a blanket for baby~

~ and then here is the finally result after much play. I call her Maddie Bear (baby is Madeline). She is lying on a soft flannel baby blanket; also for Madeline~

You can see the back of the blanket better in this one- I put in as much lavender as I could since I know mommy likes that color, but I mixed it up with green and pink too, just using whatever I had on hand. I love getting to do that, but it's kind of sad what little dent it actually made in the fabric stack!

It's been two years since I've made anything stuffed, so all things considered, I'm pretty happy with how she turned out- a couple points to remember for next time, like make the ears bigger in the pattern so it actually looks like bear ears, and try to remember that an upside down triangle is a cat-shaped nose, not a bear-shaped nose. If I can manage to get this right then there shouldn't be confusion such as I encountered when asking Husband what he thought. Of course, asking Husband his opinion on anything I make can be a dangerous path, but I can at least count on absolute honesty with him. So, whether cat, bear, mouse- it's a stuffed animal and I think she's cute! And I'd like to get the face rounder next time, too. I think making them more regularly will be key to getting it the way I envision, so I suppose I need to put out the plea for more friends to have babies! ;)

I also made a simple penant garland to decorate with~ you can see a small part of it below along with the two guests of honor~

. . . and here is baby herself; isn't she precious?! Can you believe she was only 4 1/2 pounds at birth and full term?! I have never held one so small. She makes a plastic doll feel heavy.

And speaking of holding her, here is yours truly doing just that!

I really look like I'm suffering, huh? ;)

The shower went really well, and I'd say my only complaint was that we happened to pick the hottest day of the year (so far) to hold it. We got really hot and sweaty moving tables and chairs around in preparation (where are the men when you need them?) and there was united agreement that extra deodorant may have been wise, if you know what I mean. Still, it's all worth it in the end!

More of the bunting- I wish these shots had turned out better!


Opening gifts . . .

Isn't this crocheted blanket gorgeous?

Words can't describe how blessed I felt over her enjoyment of everything- Madeline is baby number five and not once before has mama been given a baby shower!

This may sound cliche, but getting the opportunity to give to and encourage other people- and know it was actually helpful is . . . well, I don't really have a good enough word for it. I'll just say that it literally fills me with thankfulness and a heart that flip-flops with happiness.

What does that for you?~ I'd love to know~!

Thank you for sharing my joy with me!

Cheers!