A handmade toddler back pack

His latest obsession: Basketball!

The other day I was chatting with my Facebook buddy Corley about possible ideas for my next sewing project for my sister's baby that's on the way. Just like me, she is in the toddler stage with her first born (she just had a precious new baby though, congrats momma!) so naturally the ideas were flowing for kids at this age. I've been meaning to make Eli a backpack for him to carry his own junk bring his toys to the park or grandma's house now that he's stable on his feet, and when she suggested that, I was all over it. I scoured the internet for tutorials of the style I wanted but couldn't find any one particular tutorial with all the criteria I needed. So I made up my own to include adjustable straps, (but ones that would stay in place and stay even), a pocket for a sippy cup inside, elastic around the front portion of the bag so nothing would fall out of the sides, (I wanted to avoid a cinch tie) and lastly, since I didn't want a zippered top (needing Eli to get in and out of this thing independently), I made it be a flap/velcro closure top.

Well I had my "drinky drink" (my creative necessity--a caramel latte. Hey did I tell you I found a way to make it a whole foods version with no artificial anything? **all organic**espresso, milk, vanilla extract, ice, and maple syrup to taste and voila! Tastes just like Dunkin's iced caramel latte. But I digress...) and drafted a pattern & constructed it in my head and on paper first so that I could avoid any major pitfalls with miscalculations or design errors and I'm happy to report that it turned out how I envisioned! My main plan was to keep the pattern simple with the ability to add stuff or make it customized down the road if need be (for those of you who know me, I don't sell my crafts as a business because I loathe mass producing the same project. I love the creative challenge of a new project and I just want to move on to my next conquest when it's finished). So here is the bare bones version so hopefully I won't mind making more for a few of Eli's buddies who have birthdays coming up:

Front and center view

Back view with adjustable straps with snaps ( 3 sizes to grow with toddler)

Cinched elastic front to keep stuff from spilling out, with velcro closure

Inside pocket to hold a sippy cup

In action, my poor kiddo longing to go outside

I interrupt this regularly scheduled program to give my son "huggies" when he asks. Excuse me for a second...

The only potential problem Corley pointed out to me was the straps possibly falling off the shoulders being placed so wide on the back. Dang it. Good point! I tried it on him and it fit fine but, with wiggling and moving, one strap did start to slide down his shoulder. Grrr, ***shaking fists in air**. To fix this, I just made a removable strap to wrap around the rings in the front like a hiker's backpack has and this forces my kid to keep the dang bag on solved my problem. Once he grows a bit and I move the straps to the longest setting, it should fit just fine on the shoulders and he most likely won't need the added piece anymore :)

Ta da!

Just thread the strap through the rings on each side

Make sense now?

Hey look what else I realized. It fits perfectly on the back of his wagon! Bonus!

When I find my camera and make another bag I plan to type up a tutorial so if any of my sewing buddies wants to try and make one of their own, just let me know.

**Update. Tutorial is done! Check it out on my cousin's blog if you want to make your own.

Alrighty, back to thinking of baby gifts. If you have any suggestions, please share! (But make that by email or Facebook so Steph can't see, she's a faithful reader of my blog, pleaseandthankyou)

Toodles,
-Linds

Baby Liam is coming!

...And before the rumor mill starts that's Auntie Steppy's baby! As most of you already know from facebook, my sister is 23 weeks along (eeek!) and they found out it's a baby boy. I'm kind of partial to boys myself so this is pretty exciting news ;)

Well anyways. In anticipation of this big event come august, (august 9th to be exact) I've been working with Eli on how to be "gentle" with babies and proper handling of a newborn. Here's how he's doing:

Ok, so we have some work to do. But he's a fast learner so I'm hopeful he will get there come August ;)

An update on my bubbercakes...

Bubbercakes {Bubb-er caykes}
noun

1. A cool toddler who is the apple of his momma's eye.
2. A small child who makes momma belly laugh multiple times a day.
3. One who says "huggies??" with arms outstretched in the most pitiful voice possible, turning one to mush.

Well folks, Eli is more a little boy now than a baby. I wanna jump for joy and bawl at the same time. With his vocabulary exploding, he's more my fun companion during the day when daddy is at work than his former bump-on-a-log infant self. Don't get me wrong, he needs constant supervision or he'll scale unstable furniture or play with knives (although he sounds southern when he says "knife" because he says it more like "knaff". And have you heard him say "diaper" yet?? I laugh every time because he says "dapper" ha ha. I digress...) 

Anywho, I'll do my "usual" update at his 2 year mark (which is only 3 months away! Aaaahhh!) so right now I'll just tell you my favorite happenings:

• He LOVES to be chased around the house. Make sure you've had a hearty breakfast for plenty of energy too because he's like the energizer bunny and won't stop until you wipe out plop down on the couch exhausted. You will know you are caught in a game of chase when he starts running away from you yelling "I getchu! I getchu!"
• After an award winning performance of his half teary eyed "huggies??" I'll pick him up and he'll snuggle into me and lay his head on my shoulder and sigh like he's in his happy place, and before I know it, I feel a little hand patting/rubbing MY back. I melt.every.time.
• He is unlike any toddler I have ever met in that he eats EVERYTHING. I am constantly grocery shopping! Some of his faves: cucumber, lettuce, cherry tomatoes, gag me plain yogurt, homemade muffins, broccoli, frozen peas, any & ALL fruit and anything I'm eating. In fact, if I want him to try something new that I'm worried he won't have any interest in, I don't bother putting it on his plate, but instead eat it in front of him and he'll baby-bird me (mouth wide open, leaning forward in his high chair, going "ah, ah, ah") almost instantly. Score! 
• The other day Eli was engrossed in his show when I sneezed and without missing a beat or turning from the "tee dee" he says "bless you." I have been working diligently with him on "please" and "thank you" and had yet to teach him "bless you" so I was floored! Children truly DO learn by example because I say it anytime he sneezes. Nothing makes me more proud than when he says "pease" (please) or "thaaaank YOOOU!" (and he says it just like that) unprompted :D
• Some of his favorite expressions: "oh MAN!", "uh oh", "oops", "I getchu", "oh daddy!", "I'm coming", "want it", and recently he started saying " I love you"
• Lately when I walk into the room after having been gone for a few hours and he's been with daddy, he'll immediately go into show-off mode doing what looks like a touch down dance with his foot work, or dramatically playing with his toys.
• I taught him "gentle" a while back since he's used to rough housing with daddy and this momma doesn't do rough housing, so now when I say that word, he very softly runs his fingers along my cheek. If its in reference to a baby, he leans in to give him/her a kiss. :)

His new favorite things: my tumbler and climbing up on chairs.

Thats all for now. My sister was giving me a hard time for slacking on my blog but really you need to see this kid in action. Words just don't do him justice.

Na night,

-Linds

An oversized beach tote. Aka, a MAMMOTH bag!

....And oh how I'm in looooove! A few months ago I had some left over black out fabric that I had used to line the back of Eli's curtains (a necessity by the way for little sleepers) and it reminds me of a blank canvas and always makes me want to paint it, hence Eli's Mickey mouse growth chart. I just can't help myself. So I added painters tape in rows and painted stripes to this left over fabric with plans of making a large beach bag for summer time down the road when I felt motivated to even make it. I ran out of blue paint half way through though so I decided to switch to yellow. I had made Eli a wet bag for swim class ages ago but it quickly became really cramped with all his swim stuff and mine crammed into the one bag. Also last summer I used to go crazy having to carry my infant, along with 10 other bags to carry all the snacks, dry clothes, water toys, swim gear, etc and vowed to find something "bigger" for next year.

Have any of you noticed how freakin expensive water proof beach bags can be?? What the heck! And naturally the bigger you go, the more expensive they are. Grumble. Operation make-my-own-super-huge-super-inexpensive beach tote to commence immediately. I set a goal to use only supplies I had on hand (since let's face it, I have a fabric problem.) I decided at the end I needed the bag to zip shut so I did end up breaking down and buying a 30in zipper since I couldn't find one in my stash. Waaah!

And a HUGE shout out to my seester who had this freakin ADORABLE table cloth she got on clearance at Target just taking up space in her craft closet, that she happily gave me to line the bag with. 

How PERFECT is this for a beach bag?!?!

I reeeally wanted the inside of the bag to be water proof so this fit the bill. Woo hoo! Best sister EVER! Thank you, thank you, thank you Auntie Stephie!

Whelp, I got the "oversized" part right. This bad boy measures 33in x 19in!! ha ha ha.

Need a little perspective? Here it is with me wearing it:

Ha ha ha! So this is the "blue side"

I apparently didn't think to take a normal pic so you can see the yellow side. Doh!

Inside view. I added an inner zippered pocket and regular pockets for sunscreen etc.

Better view of the pockets.

Look! Eli's shovel and "surf" board even fit in there! Yay!

And lastly, my assistant who is not as thrilled about this bag as me. He was upset that I was interrupting his mopping for a pic. The nerve :/

So naturally I thought, "well Lindsay the bigger it is, the heavier its going to get with all the swim junk essentials you try to put in there..." This is true self, however I'm totally guilty of grabbing all 20 bags to bring into the house instead of making 5 trips after grocery shopping, soooo.....

Summer you can come aaaannnytime now. Heck it's mid March, I'd settle for a little SPRING weather, sheesh!

Ok back to my sewing. We just found out Auntie Stephie is having a baby BOY!!! I've got LOTS to do!

-Linds

I am NOT a morning person...

But waking up to this makes it aaaaallll worth it :D

What a ham bone. " Toys?!"

Catchya later alligator,

-Linds

Putting Eli to bed

One of the biggest things I am grateful for is Eli being a good sleeper and napper. The main thing is to make sure not to try to put him down too late or too early (which is very easy to tell with him) and we have no problem. (Knock on wood. I certainly hope I don't jinx myself.)

Anyways, lately when I go to lay him down in his crib, he hands me his blankie for me to to tuck him in. I did it randomly one time and he just LOVED it and now its our routine. Before this, I used to just sit him in his crib and he'd immediately assume the prone position and he'd be ready for "na nights". I've been telling my mom and hubby about this new routine and how cute it is to watch and finally got Aaron to trail in behind me to get it on camera. Sorry about the poor quality. Aaron's talented at many things but videoing is apparently not on that list :P I still love you honey but you're fired.

So does that melt your heart or what??? He doesn't quite understand why his usually dark room at this time has a bright light in his face and daddy is standing there, so he's a little distracted. But I just LOVE that little voice saying "mommy" and "daddy" and I just LOVE that kid!

-Linds

We have a talker

Long gone are the days where we could mumble something under our breath, or let a "naughty" word slip out of our mouths. This kid will catch it. And repeat it. I'm not worried about the naughty word part really because daddy and I aren't swearers. (Uncle Pibe, though, that's a whole different story!) However, I do have a concern. For our guests really. If you think you can pass wind in his presence, no matter how little/soft sounding you think it may be, and believe it will go unnoticed like when he was an infant, you're wrong. He will call you out on it. Even worse though, is instead of just a "toot" that you let out either intentionally or unintentionally, you've now Sh%& yourself according him because he doesn't discern between the two. If he hears the noise, no matter what he's doing or where he's at, he'll yell out to you, "poops?! Poops?!" over and over again until you try to clarify or vehemently deny the fact that you did either. Either way, he's pretty proud of himself that he identified the act "correctly".

So beware, my friends if you let nature take its course around here. And also beware, that HE will announce to YOU when and if he needs to "poops" or already has.

Love that kiddo.

Lator gators. You've been warned.
Linds