Week 25 of Craft project a week: Tops for Gideon

 

This week's project was a couple of new tops for Gideon.  The first was a little owl top to go with the pants I made him for his birthday.   The top was a custom hand dyed top from Makeya and I simply made an owl applique to go on it.  I love how it's all turned out!  

Little owl applique

The second top I've been meaning to do for ages - ever since I made these pants for the boys!  The applique is a little bit crooked but otherwise it turned out ok. 

Dump truck 

One

It's hard to believe that a year can by so quickly.  Today Gideon turns ONE!  In fact, at the same time as I'm writing this post now, Gideon would have been only two hours old.  We would have still been lying in the bed at home where he was born, having skin to skin time and attempting baby-led attachment (he took a little longer to breastfeed successfully but that's a whole other story ;))

I'm actually feeling a little teary and sentimental writing this post as the lead up to actually getting pregnant and my pregnancy and birth with Gideon was such an emotional journey.  I feel incredibly blessed every single day for having Gideon in my life. He has brought us hope again and helped heal my heart. 

I can honestly say that I have cherished every day of Gideon's life so far.  I think that losing a baby really helps you realise just how precious these little ones are and even though it has been difficult I am thankful to the two babies I lost for teaching me this lesson.  It has taken me until now to realise why they were sent to me. 

Right from the start Gideon has always been close to us.  We wore him in the sling during the day and at night he slept with us on our chest.  Now a year on, he is still sleeping in the sling during the day (although the sleeps these days are few and far between!!)  He still likes to sleep on our chest at night although he's getting a tad big these days and usually ends up with his head on my chest and the rest of his body on the bed! And yep, I can probably still count on two hands the amount of times Gideon has slept by himself!  If you'd told me a year before Gideon was born that I'd have a baby that wouldn't sleep on it's own and was still sleeping on my chest at 12 months old I probably wouldn't have believed you.  Now it's just normal (and even my back has mostly adjusted to my weird sleeping positions!) 

The past month or so I have really seen some big changes in Gideon.  No longer my little baby, he is turning into a real little boy with attitude.  He loves lots of noise and getting in on the action with the other two kids.  If there's a stacks on, he'll come quickly crawling up and climb on top of everyone!  He has such a happy, laid-back personality.  No matter how tired or upset he is, you can usually coax a smile out of him by doing something silly or by giving him a tickle.  He has a very cheeky streak as well.  Catch him doing something he shouldn't or 'tell him off' and he'll smile and laugh at you.

He's a speedy crawler these days and has just started taking one or two steps by himself.  That proud look on his face when we cheer him on after taking a step is just priceless.  While I'm looking forward to him starting to walk there's a little piece of me that's just a little sad. They really don't stay 'babies' for long!

Happy Birthday, little boy, and thanks for choosing me to be your Mummy. 

Gideon's owl birthday cake - made by Chris

Blowing out the candles on his cake with Daddy

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Cuddles with Daddy - and very excited that everyone is singing to him!

Birthday cupcake on his actual birthday 

 Mmmm, yummy! 

Week 24 of Craft project a week: An owl inspired week

It's Gideon's birthday this coming week so we celebrated his birthday today with family and friends.  The theme for his birthday party was owls (yep, I'm one of those parents that love planning their kids' parties and giving them a theme ;))  So, in honour of the occasion I whipped up some little owl pants for him.  I've had this material for ages and used it to make some suck pads for a friend of mine but it also looks great on pants too.  My mother-in-law made a beautiful vest for Gideon too which has an owl pattern knitted into the cable at the front (really must get some photos of it!) 

As well as the pants I made a few things to go with the party bags that we gave out (all owl-themed too of course!)  I made some finger puppets for the boys - an owl and the pussy cat set and a five little owls set.  They were pretty easy to make.  If I had more time I probably would have hand stitched them but I had to resort to the hot glue gun this time to get them done quicker (and even then I was doing them at 2am on the night before the party!!) 

'The Owl and the Pussy Cat' set of finger puppets

'Five Little Owls' set of finger puppets

I found these cute little crocheted owls, hearts and flowers on ebay (I really wish I could say I crocheted these myself but I'm the first to admit that I do not 'do' crochet or knitting - I don't have the patience!!)  So I sewed them on to some t-shirts for the girls.  Simple really! 

Cute little crocheted owls and other bits and pieces!

The t-shirt I made for Esme

 I've got a few more owl inspired ideas too that I will share in the next couple of weeks too! 

Week 23 of Craft project a week: Another farm bag!

This week's project was another farm story bag.  For Gideon this time (I have a tendency to make stuff for other people's children before I eventually get round to making them for my own!!)  After lots of practice they're getting quite quick to make - this one only took a weekend to do.  Gideon loved his present and thinks it's really funny when we make the noises to accompany the animals. 

Checking out his present.

Week 22 of Craft project a week: the completed house!

Jacob's felt playhouse is finally finished!  I actually finished with time to spare for the first time ever I think.  It was really nice not to have to be up till some ridiculous hour in the morning (which is when I do a lot of my sewing ;)) Anyway, he absolutely loved the playhouse and was so excited opening it on his birthday (makes it all worthwhile when you see your kids get so excited about something you make!)  Here's a few photos of it in action...

The back view of the completed playhouse

 The handmade letters for the letterbox - they take a night to make by themselves! 

 Jacob posting letters in the letterbox

 

Peeking through the windows

 

Picking fruit from the fruit tree!

 Now I just need to get onto sewing the next present - it's Gideon's first birthday in less than two weeks time!!   

Jacob turns six!

 

How can it be that my boy is six already?  I can still remember the day we brought this little baby home from the hospital and sat on the couch with him wondering, 'what now?'  Jacob has taught us so much about life and about ourselves.  He is the most amazing little boy.  His passion and excitement over the smallest things has really taught us to appreciate the little things in life.  

He has grown so much over the past year and particularly since starting school.  He is absolutely thriving at school and we are so glad we have chosen to send him through Steiner.  The past couple of months has seen him make amazing progress socially.  He is now interacting with other kids at school instead of playing alone.  He told us the other day that 'J and A are my friends'.  According to his teacher and other kids, A is his girlfriend.  I suspect it's because she has a bit of a mothering personality and Jacob needs that especially considering he lives in his own little world a lot of the time and has a tendency to forget to do things! 

His birthday was particularly special this year as the day before the big day he lost his first tooth!  So on birthday morning he woke up to his birthday and the tooth fairy having visited.  Although exciting, it was also a bit overwhelming for him having so much happen at once!  

We celebrated his birthday with a cake at school and a family dinner on his birthday night.  Then on the weekend we had a birthday party for his friends.  The birthday party went great, and all his friends liked making and decorating wooden cars to take home (got the kits from the Knox Woodworkers Association - they were awesome!)  Here's some photos from his birthday...

The car garage that Chris made - Jacob chose this cake about 3 months before his actual birthday!

Cutting the cake at his party/

Hard at work painting his truck.

The finished truck (he later went back and painted the wheels black ;))

Happy Birthday, big boy!