Sew Cute!!

After hemming and sewing ribbon onto Kaylee's princess dress late last week, I got the idea that I could make some dresses for her, too...how hard could it be, right? And maybe save some money at the same time? Sure! Thursday morning I impulsively went with Kaylee to Joann Fabric Store and bought a dress pattern and 3 different fabrics. Of course I stupidly went with her just before lunch, so she was getting cranky and wasn't happy to sit in the shopping cart. Oops. I bought what I had, but didn't get zippers or anything else (ribbon, etc) to go with the fabrics. I looked at the pattern again once I got home and decided to see if there was an even easier one (i.e. no zippers, elastic, buttons, etc. needed) online. Score! The pattern said it was about a 3T size...of course Kaylee fits into outfits/dresses that are anywhere from 12 months to 3T (mostly 24mo/2T) at the moment, so I wasn't sure how big it would actually be, but figured if she can't wear it now, maybe by the spring (it is more of a spring/summer dress anyway). So I started it last night and finished it tonight. Not bad if I do say so myself!! I still have the other two fabrics, too, and I think I will probably just use this pattern for those as well. The dress does look a bit big for Kaylee for right now, but I'll try it on her tomorrow and see for sure -- a lot of times lately I'll see a dress/outfit and think it'll be way too big, then it either fits now or is too small! Yikes - she's growing so fast I can't keep up.

Here's the dress, and a closeup of the fabric's pattern if you're really interested. :)


As for the saving money part of this project...not so much! I mean, it's a cute pattern and I'm not sorry I'm making them, but I usually shop at consignment sales/shops, discount stores or sales - in general $10 for an outfit is usually pushing it for me! I usually spend more like $2-3 on outfits and $5 or so on dresses for Kaylee. Sure they're used, but how many times do kids really wear clothes when they're this young? So as far as the cost aspect, I'm spending more than I usually do, but probably less than a dress like this would go for in a retail shop. (I could have hunted for cheaper fabrics, but these were $3.99 to 8.99/yard - so not super cheap!) Timewise...obviously way more time and effort!

I just got her some bloomers to go with dresses she already has, but also just for whatever she might have in the near future, too - they're all white and I had stuff put on them. There are 4: a red K, her monogram (KCJ) in pink, Kaylee in black with a gold/yellow bee, and Merry Christmas in red with a green tree. The red K bloomers will be cute with this dress (why I chose a red and white fabric). The other fabrics are a ladybug pattern and pink/red/brown retro dot pattern.

These are from breakfast the other day. Breakfast! And she smeared yogurt all in her hair!! She got to take a quick shower later that morning... By the way, as you can sort of tell, she sits at the table with us now and seems to enjoy it more. (She did sit by the table before, but with the tray attached, so her food was not on the table.) She really loves climbing up into the non-highchair/booster chairs and sitting at the table all on her own for snacks, but she often bonks her head on the table because she doesn't always pull the chair far enough away before climbing up.

Try again, Daddy!

Kaylee and I were reading books on the couch yesterday when Jamie got home. As soon as we heard the garage door start to open, Kaylee looked at me and said, "Daddy!" then ran to the garage door to wait for him. He didn't come in right away, so I opened the door and he was sitting in the car - not even pulled into the garage yet - talking on the phone. I told Kaylee he would be a few minutes and we went back to reading. He did come in about 5 minutes later, but was still on the phone - he headed to the basement, whispering that he'd be up soon. Kaylee did not like this - she was so excited to see him, then he just disappeared. She whined about it for a minute, but then we went back to the books again.

When Jamie did come back upstairs 10-15 minutes later Kaylee pretty much completely ignored him!! She looked up, but then went right back to the book. He came over and said, "hi, Kaylee," and she barely looked up. He then said, "do I have to go back outside and come in through the garage door for you to want to see me?" to which Kaylee looked up at him and said, "yes," then went back to her book!!! So Jamie walked back into the garage (Kaylee watched and said, "bye, Daddy."), then came back in and said, "hi, Kaylee, I'm home!" and she jumped off the couch and ran to him, screaming, "Daddy!" very excitedly again. It was hilarious. The best part was her just looking up and saying yes to him needing to leave and try again. Jamie and I were cracking up.

Halloween preview -?

We have a Halloween costume for Kaylee! If it still fits in 2 months... There seems to be a little room to grow, and she tolerates it well, so we're hopeful. It was Erin's costume last year! We didn't know what to do for Kaylee, then Lora offered this and the price was right. :) If Kaylee is a black cat next year, you'll know who she got her costume from again.

She really likes the costume. I tried it on her the morning that Lora/Erin brought it over and she played in it for a few minutes (got hot very quickly!), then that evening she asked to put it on to play in for a while. I put it on her and we went to see Jamie, who'd been working in the basement, and on the way down I was trying to get Kaylee to growl like a bear (which she does - "grrrrr"). She only did it once near the top, then not anymore, so I figured she'd just run to the toys down there and play. I put her down outside Jamie's office and she ran in and growled at him twice - it was very cute!

So here's a sneak preview of Halloween:

funny photos

Kaylee and Erin 2 weeks and a week ago (Erin had her first haircut during the week between - Kaylee might be ready for one by the time she gets to college). Last week Erin was in a "take my picture while I stick out my tongue" mood.


Kaylee is wondering what is wrong with her friend. Then she figures, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em! So they danced while sticking out their tongues at each other.


We visited Poppy and Nana yesterday/today; Kaylee did not like the story time interruption for me to take a photo.


Kaylee's commentary on Jamie's driving on our way home.

(She was actually grabbing her head and saying "OWWW!!!" very loudly and thought it was hilarious. Thought Jamie might want me to clarify...)

17 months!

I was just going to update yesterday's post, but figured I might as well add a new one. What the heck? I forgot to mention that Kaylee is now tall enough to push the water and ice dispensers on our refrigerator; luckily we can lock these, but I forgot yesterday and she was very excited about having a half-wet shirt from running water all down her arm and onto herself (and the fridge and floor). She can also grab our doorknobs and pull doors closed now. We have some of the childproof (we'll see!) doorknob covers and it looks like we may have to start using them soon - I figure it's not long now before she can turn and push/pull doors open, too! Jamie hates those covers, as he does not fail to mention every time he talks about them.

That's all I can think of for now, except that as I was copying photos/videos over last night, I realized there are quite a few videos I had planned to post, but hadn't. So there may be quite a few on here in the next week or so. We'll see if I find the time to convert them soon!

Kaylee's latest

Believe it or not, I haven't taken any new pics since the last post - do have a couple funny videos, but they're pretty long (as in 6+ min and 3+ min!), so I need to review and cut down before posting.

We started the new Kindermusik season last week and have moved up to the 18 month - 3 year old class. Most of the kids look like they're under two, with the exception of a neighbor's son, Shaun, who's 2.5. Another neighbor and her son (Lane, 19 months) are also in the class with us, so it's fun to get out once/week with some friends and have "our time to sing together!" (We're in the "Our Time" class. :) ) The classes seem to fly by, but we have the CDs (with music from the class) to sing with in the car and at home to bide our time in the week between classes. We're looking forward to another fun time this Wednesday!

I just realized that Kaylee will be 17 months tomorrow! Her 18 month doc's appointment is a month from tomorrow, so we'll see how much she's grown. She seems taller to me - might have had a growth spurt last month; she was over 33" already at 15 months - so I'm interested to see how much taller she is now. We weigh her on the scale here, and she's usually somewhere between 25-26#'s, but it's hard to get height, so check back in a month for that update. Oh, also, I got out the Wii Fit yesterday while Kaylee was up and she already had a Mii, but we created a Wii Fit profile for her. Her Wii Fit age is 2. :) Of course, I had to put in her birthday as 2007, not 2008, as 2007 was the latest year they let you put in...hopefully can modify it later; otherwise we'll just start her over! And I also had to "help" her do her balance test...as in, do it for her with my hands while she sat on the floor banging on a makeshift drum. So a little cheating, but she enjoyed stepping onto and off of the balance board.

Recent Photos

Kaylee picked out the outfit herself...wanted that dress, those shoes and that hat. All together!


If that isn't a cheerleader pose (remove brush, insert megaphone), I don't know what is! Go Jackets!! (By the way, this outfit is size 3T!! Hard to tell from the photo, but it stops a bit above the knee already, and with "diaper booty" it doesn't come that far down in the back either.)


Erin and Kaylee this past Monday. At one point, Erin brought Kaylee her Burger King crown, put it on her, then grabbed her hand and led her to sit in her princess chair. Kaylee didn't sit for long, then got up and they held hands and walked around for a bit longer - so cute!!


"Who is this tiny baby and why is he trying to eat my ear??"