How to Make Wiggles a Cheerio Costume

So, did you know that you cannot make a donut shaped pillow without some serious hand sewing? Or by letting things go and not being a perfectionist, which I am N-O-T. Well, it was a long journey towards Halloween stardom, but we made it. And should any of you (hmmm...this implies there are people reading this...) like to make your little into a breakfast cereal, here is the tutorial! That's right, I'm doing my very first tutorial. Be proud.

And with that, off we go!

Materials:

Cheerio-looking fabric aprox. 3/4 yard (I found some in my stash, no purchas necessary yay!)
Brown paper bag (for a pattern).
good sharp scissors
Batting (I cheated and used the stuffing from an old $3.00 pillow from walmart)
White thread
Sewing machine (sorry to state the obvious, but you never know)

Step 1: Measuring the Little to be Costumed

Measure your little from collar to belt-line. This is the diameter of your cheerio. Wiggles was 9". Next, measure from the nipple-line to the top of your little's sholder and double it for the strap length. Wiggles was about 9 inches there as well.

Step 2: Making the Pattern

Cut open your brown paper bag and put a dot in the middle. This is going to be the middle of your cheerio. Measure 4.5" (1/2 of my 9" diameter. The "radius" if you remember your 3rd grade math) out from the dot about every 2 inches or so. Then scetch in the circle. make a smaller circle in the middle the same way. My Diameter for the small circle was 3" (making the radius 1.5"). 

Next you will need to measure the strap pattern. (my pattern was 9"x2.5") 

...and the tie pattern (mine was 1.5"x10").

Step 3: Cutting the Mess of Pieces Out.

You will need:
4 cheerios
4 straps
8 ties

See? Cheerio! I know, stupid phone pictures!
Some one tell Santa I would love a good camera that
takes decent pictures for Christmas. I've been good, I promise!

Strap and ties

Step 4: The Sewing of the Beast, I mean Adorable Cheerio.

Remember: Wrong sides together!

Start with the straps. You only need to sew the two long sides as it will be neatly (ha) tucked into the cheerio part. Turn it right side in. Iron press or be lazy like me and finger crease (much like a piece of paper).

See me sewing wrong sides together? Good job me.

Turned and ready!

Finger pressed. Ooh Ahh!

 Next sew the ties. You will need to sew these on three sides. Turn right side out. I had to use a pencil to get them to turn right.

Put the closed end onto the pencil and shimmy it down until it's turned right side out.

I sewed a line down the middle so the wouldn't roll funny.

So hears where it gets confusing. You will have to lay out the two straps and two of the four ties like mine below EXCEPT (!!!) I did it funny and I forgot to take a new picture. The straps need to match the outside of the circle, NOT parallel as shown below! Beware! 

When you have layed out your straps and ties place the second circle on top of the ties and straps. Remember, wrong sides together. Sew around the outside of the circle LEAVEING A 2-3 INCH GAP AT IN THE SEAM! (sorry for the yelling, it's just really really important).

When you are done with this seam turn it trough the 2-3 inch hole

The mess. Don't worry, not so bad.

Now switch your machine from the straight stitch to the zigzag stitch. and go around the inside circle as close to the edge as possible. Here is where a perfectionist might have hand stitched around the  inside circle. As I mentioned before, this does not apply to me.

See the zigzag? Don't forget to switch your machine back to straight for the next part.

Ok, Now you're going to do the same this for the other side. Lay cheerio 3 right side up on the table. place ties on the outside edge and put the other end of the straps on the outside edge. The trick part is that the entire costume must be inside the two layers to make this work. Sandwich the whole thing in cheerio cut-out number 4. it should look like a big puffy circle. CAREFULLY sew around the outside taking care not to catch any of the costume inside the circle. I used a TON of pins. Don't be shy.

Step 5: The Stuffing Part

now fluff your batting and stuff it in! Fill it fuller than you think as it will squish down as your little wears it. Do this to both sides.

That it the bottom corner is the stinky walmart pillow I used. Don't judge.

Step 6: The Unavoidable Hand stitching (sorry guys, there's no way around this).

You now must get out a needle and thread. I know, I know, it's slow, but as stated, there really isn't a better way to do it. Plus, lets be honest, it doesn't take that long.

All you have to do is whip stitch it closed. If you don't know what that means, youtube is a beautiful thing. Seriously. I could try to describe it, but it's so much better to see it.

Yes, yes, I actually did this by hand. You can make it too! I promise!

Step 7: The Admiration

Stand back and marvel about how cute it its! Then go show your husband, who will also tell you how wonderful it is (he will not however say it is cute, not a manly enough word, don't expect it).

Voila! It is finished!
Thanks brother-in-law for holding it for the picture.

Now all you have to do it fill it with an adorable little, which I just happen to have! See? I also put her in a white turtleneck and white pajama pants and added a spoon for good measure.

Wiggles and Daddy excited for trick-or-treating! It was Daddy's first time too!

So there it is. My first tutorial. Enjoy!

A confession

When last we talked I promised some lessons about what I've learned in the last few months. Turns out I'm not so sure what I learned. I thought about deleting the last post, but then I remembered that I'm basically just writing for me anyway. However, since I realized I have no idea what I've learned I actually did have a revelation. It's not all that profound except to say that my attitude over the last year has been outwardly very positive, but inside I was bitter. I wish there was a nicer way to say it, but there isn't. I was mad at God for not changing our situation; for what I felt was His abandoning us. Then one night while talking with my husband I had a thought that was not my own. It was very simple and not all that revolutionary. The only word that came into my head was "enough." Nothing else. just "Enough." Not mad, not like God was yelling at me, just gently telling me "Let it go. Enough. Come home." And it was like breathing. So that's the only thing that I have to say. Eventually God will speak to you, nothing anyone has to say will help you hear Him any sooner than you and He are ready to bring you there. And chances are it won't be amazing advice about how to fix your life. It won't shake your world or pay your bills. But what it will do is quietly draw you to Him, softly pointing you back to His loving embrace, where you should have turned first.

Because, Oh my goodness! Look at wiggles and her daddy!
(Photo credit to Will Holmer)

The Road is Long

We're in a recession. Has anyone else noticed? Well, my family has. Throw in two years of playing "Mystery Diagnosis" with my husband’s health, one very expensive, semi-successful spinal surgery, and a new baby and we are in deep to put it lightly. 

Two and a half years ago my husband started having asthma attacks. No big deal (well, ok a big deal, but not unheard of. He's had asthma his whole life). His asthma had been under control for a long time so it was a surprise to us. For the next year we spent hundreds of dollars trying to figure out why he wasn't getting his asthma under control. He had so many asthma attacks at work that he was forced to resign, leaving me to be the sole breadwinner in our house. A teachers salary ha ha. We had been married 6 months.

See how happy we are? 

This is our honeymoon. 

He was also in a lot of back pain. Excruciating actually. Ibuprofen barely made a dent. Doctors had told him to see a general practioner to figure out why he was in pain with the hope that, since nothing else was solving his asthma, maybe pain was his "trigger;" that solving one problem would, in turn, fix the other. We went to several more doctors who had no answers for him. We finally figured out that he was allergic to NSAIDS (ibuprofen, aspirin, naproxen. Basically anything over the counter except Tylenol). Still, there was no answer for why he was in so much pain. One doctor even went so far as to tell him that he could "spend tens of thousands of dollars running tests to find out what was wrong with him and we would never find anything because it was in his head." That’s a direct quote that came about a year and half into our journey. I was 3 months pregnant. I know right? Just to add a little pressure. 

He was also developing some disturbing new symptoms, including but not limited to: tingling, numbness, pins and needles in his foot and flashes of light. All of these symptoms were getting worse and fast. In November we finally got a diagnosis (after spending about two weeks thinking he had Multiple Sclerosis). The MS specialist did something not one of the twelve other doctors (yes, twelve) had thought to do. He took a contrasting MRI of his neck. Turns out he had three (yes, three) herniated disks in his neck. He was in surgery twelve days later. By the time he went into surgery he was using a wheelchair on a daily basis, I was almost 8 months pregnant and we had moved in with his parents to help shoulder some of the financial burden.

In his neck brace post-surgery, pre-baby

He improved well for a little while, but once Wiggles was born he worked way too hard taking care of her than he should and set his recovery way back. We're still searching for answers as to why he's not better than he is now. He still is in a lot of pain, but he is able to work again after more than two years. There are some jobs he can't do. No heavy lifting or standing all day, but office work he can do. But I don't know if you have noticed, there aren't many of those jobs to be had. And after a year of living with his parents I think all five of us are ready for a new living arrangement. 

See how he's bending over to love his littel girl?

 This was taken her first night home and 7 weeks post suregery. 

He'd had his brace off for only 3 weeks.

Ok, now the point. It's been a hard few years. It has been a test of our relationship and a huge test of my faith in God. I would like to take the next few posts to share with you the things that I have learned over the last few years. Stay tuned! Maybe if you can learn these through me, God won't have to teach you in your life.

A Trip to the Pool and Down Memory Lane

On Tuesday we took Wiggles on her first swimming outing! We took her to the pool where I had my first job. I was so excited! Wiggles was clueless but I was nearly skipping.

I mean, I grew up swimming in this pool! Starting at about age five I was at this pool roughly 6 hours a day all summer long. 7am for swim team (yup, they've got swim team for littles, just for fun though, not to be competative), open swim for three hours in the afternoon (no lie) and swim lessons in the evening. Sometimes we would even stay for the evening swim were Mom and Dad would join us.

To tell the truth it wasn't just me, it was me, my sister and another pair of sisters who we met in pre-school of all places (the four of us are still extremely close to this day). The four of us were the local pool rats. It was only fitting that when I came of age (ok, when I turned 15, not exactly "of age," but it felt like a milestone) I started teaching swim lessons. I spent 6 happy summers in the pool's employ and now I am passing on that love to my little one. It was sureal and exciting.

Here's Wiggle's First reaction

She was a little unsure, but I was so gungho it didn't phase me. Here's what hapened when we went a little deeper:

I know it's small, but those are real tears.

 She was very unhappy until Mel (one of the sister friends mentioned above) brought her a fishy. Then life was a little better. Anyway, we had a great time. It was warm and sunny and I think maybe we'll have a little water baby on our hands! Well, maybe after a few more pool visits. Wiggles tends to take a little bit of time to warm up to things. She's her Mama's girl!

Family picture. 

Notice Wiggles is holding onto that toy for dear life? Flash forward to thirty seconds later when I took it away because we were leaving and there was much screaming and many tears. Poor girl. Her nap was a little too short that day and I think I had pushed her to the breaking point with all the new and exciting things we had done that day.

All in all though, it was a perfect summer day!

What I Learned about Taking Care of Curly Baby Hair

Little Wiggles lovely hair

My little girl was born with curly hair. Much to my dismay and initial pleasure. I have weird wavy hair that has no idea what it wants to be. "Should I be straight today? wavy? I know! I'll be really irritating and be both!" Um, no thank you hair, I'll take one or the other, thanks.

Anyway, the point is I have no idea how to take care of curly hair. This was not a problem until recently. Before Wiggles' hair was just cute little swirls. perfectly lovely. But lately, oh my, look out! When she wakes up it's a total mess. And her frizz is out of control. I thought that I just needed to wash it. This just made it worse, which I will explain later. So, being the google-aholic that I am I began to research (seriously, I spend hours researching things. I have lists of things that I want to remember to google when I get home. The iphone is a blessing and a curse because I now can google anywhere. Seriously, it's a sickness). What I found I can distill into 5 practically biblical rules about curly hair care.

See those crazy curls? 

Daddy like to run his fingers through them so she always has a poof.

1. No shampoo, like ever. So evidently curly hair is way more delicate than regular straight hair. It is way more dry and brittle which is why it gets so frizzy. It breaks and gets split ends. The culprit? Sulfates. These nasty curl killing chemicals dry out curly (and normal) hair even more. So I was actually hurting instead of helping by washing it all the time. Turns out I only need to wash Wiggles' hair once a week. at the most. The rest of the bath times in the week should be conditioner only. This is so couterintuative to me. If I were to use just conditioner on my hair I just might have grease dripping into my eyebrows by the end of the day. But like I said, curly hair is way dryer than mine. So there you go.

2. Condition, condition, condition. Use all kids of conditioner and use it often. wash with a wash out, finish with a leave in and detangle in the morning and during the day with a spray. The more moisture the better and the more defined the curl.

3. No Brushes, rarely combs, only fingers and only when wet. NEVER dry. This one I think I knew. but brushing breaks the hair and it's even worse when it's dry. This leads to frizz. It is also good news for moms. No more wrestling and wrangling small screaming children and subjecting them to cranial torture. What you do is get a wide-toothed comb or use your fingers and practically drown your child in conditioner. Then you gently, starting at the bottom and working your way up, brush out the knots. Rinse and re-comb. If you must re-comb when it's dry (say in the morning when your child wakes up looking like a child of the 70's) wet with water or spray conditioner until damp and use comb and fingers to reshape the curls.

4. Hands off! Once your child's hair is set and wet leave it alone! Let it dry before you touch it and even then don't touch it unless you absolutely must. And even then I can't think of a reason to touch dry curly hair. See rule 3.

5. Get it cut and styled professionally starting at the beginning. I know it seems rediculous to get a baby's hair cut by a specialist, but if it's curly I hear it makes all the difference. They even have really cute kids salons with cool seats and stylists who specialize in cutting kids hair. Ask them specifically if they have experience cutting curly hair.

Some of these rules I haven't tried yet, but I'll keep you informed. There are also curl products designed for kids. There are two brands on my wishlist at the moment. Curly Q and also It's a curl. I have found that many of the products and advice on the market are for "ethnic" hair. That is deffinately not my white pastey baby. She and I are about as fair as they come. So some of the products might be too heavy for her fine hair. Again. I'll keep you informed.

How Co-sleeping Saved My Marraige

I don't know what it is about first time parents, but it seems as though everyone I talk to has a colicy baby for their first. Maybe the tiny bundles can sense our insicurity and inneptitude and they are just as worried as we are. But I'll tell you what, the first four months of Wiggles' life were long to put it mildly.

Wiggles spent the first three weeks of her existance sleeping all day and then waking up every 20 minutes all... night... long... She would scream from about 4:00pm till 9:00pm and then crash for a little. But starting at around 11:00 she would get restless. It is extremely stressfull having a baby who doesn't sleep at all. I will never forget standing in our basement bedroom (we're staying with inlaws right now. More on that later) having an argument in sobs and hisses for the sixth night in a row with my poor exhausted husband both of us in tears when we should have been sleeping for another 20 minutes. That was the last straw. This "conversation" if you want to call it that, began our co-sleeping journey. It is the first moment that I felt like a momma bear. "I'm going to do what I know is best for my family! And to you-know-where with anyone who dissaproves!" The next day Hubby went out and bought a "co-sleeper."

Our co-sleeper

Believe me, this was not a decision I made lightly. I did research that day. I looked up every rule there is for co-sleeping safely. I researched different ways and methods. And do you know what I found? 1. people have VERY strong opinions about co-sleeping. I knew for example that my parents would freak out when I told them she was sleeping in the death trap that is a queen bed. And 2. co-sleeping is really common. something like 68% of all families practice some form of co-sleeping.

For us it was a God-send, literally. the first night Wiggles slept next to me she slept for 5 hours straight. I actually woke up in the middle of the night worried about her. Since that night she has slep next to us. And slept soundly (mostly). Now that we have co-slept for a little while both Hubby and I really love it. It is so cozy to have our little family all snuggled together. It feels safe, cozy, dare I say, nautural? We liked it so much that when she started to outgrow her little co-sleeper I researched co-sleeping with bigger babies. We ended up sidecarring her crib to pur bed. Now she has her own space and I have my bed back. She still wakes up about once a night and (shhh don't tell) she does sleep right next to me for the rest of the night. I can absolutely see us co-sleeping until Wiggles is 1 1/2-2 years old. And our next little one will sleep in the co-sleeper from day one. Oh yeah, and added bonus, night time feedings are so much easier! I don't even have to wake up Hubby! Although, Wiggles is a noisy eater so that doesn't me he does sleep through her night time snack...

I guess the take away from this is do what is best for your family. As long as it's safe, remember it's your family. You know what's best for them. God gave you Momma instincts. Use them.

'Cause she's beautiful and I can.

An Introduction

First let me say that I am not bloggin to be famous, nor am I blogging to bear my soul to the world. At this point I'm just writing as a sort of online scrapbook. I'm sort of crafty, but scrapbooking has always eluded me. I have no patience for it.

I guess I should start with the cast of characters. First there's me. I am a wife, mother and teacher. Hopefully in that order. Then there's hubby. The wonderful husband and father who takes excellent care of us and is way too hard on himself. Last and certainly not least is my little wiggels. She's the most recent addition to our family; a lovely, sweet, busy and loud 5 month old girl. 

My little family

So welcome to our life it has it's up and certainly it's downs, but thats what God gave us!