Oscar and His Dad

Oscar just admires John. He gets so excited when he gets home from work. And, John is GREAT with him. I feel so lucky to have such a wonderful husband to me and an awesome father for Oscar. Look at these two, all snuggled up together on the couch. Aren't they cute?



Blessed, I am.

It is a tough job being Oscars Mommy, as you can see he is such a grumpy baby. Seriously, that last photo just gets me, he already knows how to work the camera.

Super Easy Hat Tutorial

Oscar had a hat I loved from Baby Gap that I paid a pretty penny for and wouldn't you know it, we loose it in the mall parking lot before snow is even on the ground! I looked at every Baby Gap in Minnesota (I even called one in Wisconsin) and looked around on line for one to replace it, but no such luck. I pouted for a little while and got upset with myself that I didn't check to see if we had it before I drove off, and then...while I was hanging up clothes in my closet, I realized that I had a old sweater that I hadn't worn in a while, and came up with the idea to make a hat for Oscar out of it.

You can use this tutorial for a hat for anyone in your family, but all the instructions I have provided here are for a infant/toddler hat. I plan on making one for myself soon, and will post pictures of it once I am done.

Here is what you need
* an old sweater
* measuring tape
* scissors
*sewing machine
*needle and thread


If you have a hat that you like the fit of, I suggest you use the measurements from that hat as a template.



1) Take your old sweater and lay it out flat

2) Measure around your head and subtract around 1 1/2 inch. (I made this hat 14 inched around)

(Use your judgement on the circumference of the hat, the weave of the sweater was pretty loose,so I took a little more than 1 1/2 inches off, but if you have a sweater with a tight weave don't subtract as much.)

You may have to play around with this a little bit. I ended up taking O's hat in a little bit more after I was finished because it was still a little loose. Error on the side of it being a little loose at first, you can always take more off, but you can't put more on.

3) cut your sweater to the desired length using the base of your sweater as the "bottom" or "brim" of your hat.

4) cut up the length of the sweater creating a flat square of material. I wanted this hat to be on the floppy side so I cut my length 9 inches. (once cut, my material measured; width 14inches x length 9 inches)

5) fold your material in half, if you are following my measurements your material should now measure width  7 inches x length 9 inches.

6) sew up the side of your hat. Now you will have a open end on the bottom (where the head goes and an open end on top.)

7) Do a running stitch along the open "top" of your hat. You can do this by hand or with your sewing machine.



8) pull your stitches tight and tie off your end.

9) trim any loose threads, turn right side out, and you are all done!



Fall Gathering 2010

We had a fun little picnic this weekend to celebrate my brother visiting from the Navy. We met at a park on a hill overlooking all the trees which were all beautiful reds, oranges and yellows. The weather was great and food was delicious. We had a few bugs bother us, Oscar needed a nap and we were missing a few family members, but other than that...the day was absolutely perfect!

Oscar loves these girls!

Oscar and Grandma take advantage of the beautiful backdrop.

We decided that we needed a family picture too!



Oscar and Daddy

We seriously had to do a song and dance just to get Oscar to crack a slight smile that day... he was in dire need of a nap, but despite the lack of sleep, nothing could stop him from practicing his crawling.

He had us all on the edge of our seats thinking that he was going to crawl for the first time that day, he is getting so CLOSE!

I just love that EVERYONE in our families adores Oscar just as much as we do and wants to spend so much time with us. We are looking forward to the next family get together.

The Swing

O loves the swing. I mean he LOVES.THE.SWING. The swing is outside, Oscar love the outside. The swing is right by Norton the dog. Oscar loves Norton the dog. The swing is right under a tree. Oscar loves to watch the leaves on the tree. So why wouldn't he love the swing? I really think Oscar would spend his entire day in the swing if I would let him.

 I just love this last series of shots, he was so relaxed and peaceful just looking at all the things surrounding him. We should all be so content to just sit and watch the leaves fall from time to time. Shouldn't we?



Welcome October

I love this time of year. The weather is perfect & the trees are changing color. I get to dig out all my comfy sweaters and jackets. I wear big cozy socks around the house. I just love it. AND.... October also means Halloween. I am excited to dress Oscar up this year.
We just started decorating for the season and I wanted to give you all a little inspiration too. Because I don't think I am alone in my love for this month.

inspiration found here and here.

Baby Onesie

I am excited to share my first ever tutorial with you, it is actually a very easy one...no sewing required!

 {and it is a great way to use up all those left over sewing scraps}

Lately all of my friends, relatives, myself, friends of friends, friends of relatives...{you get the picture}... have been having babies. That is how this great baby gift came about. I was looking for something on a budget but yet thoughtful and cute.

Tools needed:

* Onesies, one for each month (1 through 12) 

(or you can use t-shirts to and make them for a 1year old on up)

* Iron

* No-sew iron on adhesive (I use Heat N Bond Ultrahold)

* Fabric scraps

* Iron on transfer paper

1) Gather your scraps and iron on your adhesive to the back side of the fabric.

2) Print off numbers - remember to make them large enough so that when the proud parents are taking pictures of their chubby little baby you can clearly see how old he or she is.

3) Cut out your numbers and trace them onto your scraps

4) Cut out your numbers, peel of the backing on the adhesive, and iron onto the onesie

5) I also printed off the word "Months" onto transfer paper and ironed them onto the onesie.

* make sure to read the instructions on your transfer paper, I had to mirror the image on my computer first so that "months" read correctly, but each brand is different.

Your DONE... I told you it was easy!

 Parents will love to snap a picture of their ever growing baby in these onesies to mark each month... and ... they will love you for such a thoughtful gift.

{I hope to do more of these tutorials, so stay tuned!}

Gone Too Long

Wow! I have been a slacker.... not ONE blog post since APRIL !!!! Hey, don't judge, I have been having too much fun with Mr. Oscar. Here is a little recap our last 6 months….

Oscar

March 21, 2010

Oscar was born at 5:35 and…

{he was just perfect}

Oscar 1 month

{The first month of our life with Oscar was filled with pure joy}

and a million questions…

“Is he sleeping too much?” “Is he sleeping enough?” “How much should he be eating?’ “Is it normal for a baby to snore when he sleeps?” “How many diapers should I be changing a day?” “What kind of formula should I use?” and so on….

Then came month 2

And we settled into our roll as parents, we became more confident. We knew what cry meant he was hungry and which one meant he was tired. Oscar slept on my chest every night because I loved to smell his sweet baby breath and feel his soft fuzzy head under my chin.

{Life was good.}



Oscar at 3 months

Oscar surprised us this month by sleeping all thru the night, he also went from being a newborn to an alert baby who smiled and cooed at us.

{I thought life couldn’t get any better, I was wrong because soon…}



Oscar was 4 moths old

And Oscar not only smiled and cooed at us, but he began laughing at the stupid faces we were making. Oscar also decided at 4 months that sleeping thru the night was for the birds and that mommy and daddy were so much fun to be around that he would like to play every 2 hours throughout the night, he also started teething which meant LOTS of drool and chewing on EVERYTHING!

{life with Oscar was so, so sweet.}

Oscar 5 months old

I loved Oscar at this stage, and he LOVED his Mamma! He learned how to give great big hugs and big wet kisses, which, of course I could never get enough of. I do believe that two of Oscar’s favorite places are Target and Barnes and Noble (they happen to be my favorite too.) Oscar started riding up front of the target shopping cart and he was so proud of himself for doing so… he would squeal with delight all the way through the store. He was also still teething!

{life was beautiful}



Oscar is now 6 months old

I can’t believe how fast time has gone by, and I cannot remember my life without Oscar in it. Oscar loves to dance and he has some awesome moves, which he totally gets from me. He loves when we play the harmonica for him, even though we have no idea what we are doing… to him it is beautiful music. He is such a happy baby and cuddly too. He is still teething, poor guy, but I think soon he should be getting those bothersome teeth in… I hope. He loves when we go out or when people come to visit us, but he also keeps his eye on me and makes sure that I don’t get to far away. He loves to play with hair and is not very gentle about it. Oscar talks all day long and sometimes in his sleep too. He is not sleeping through the night again but is slowly making his way to his crib, which isn’t really as bad of a transition as I thought it was going to be. Oscar loves to walk and dance, and he does both at the same time... to him they go hand in hand, which makes me laugh all day long.

{isn’t life grand?}


also, most of these are from my iPhone, so please excuse the blurriness!