...i heart fabric...

June Photoshoot...

For my vintage fabric baby dresses. Lily & Sadie looking gorgeous!

  

Vintage Fisher Price...

I have been obsessed with finding vintage Fisher Price toys for my babes. We have the Circus Train with animals that was mine as a child, the Cash Register, the Stove Top and most recently the Village! Bought for $3.50 at a thrift shop! Man, Sadie loves it. Mainly I think for the cars...

photo courtesty of Etsy...ours didn't come with people, but we have a dog.  

Amazing at 18 months.

It's hard to even know where to start this update about my sweet Sadie. She turned 18 months at the end of April, which is mind boggling considering I still have baby weight to loose.

She is amazing, shockingly beautiful with enormous blue eyes... and Huge! Off the chart huge for height and head measurements. People started asking me if she was 2 years old when she was 14 months. I think that's also due to her great communication. Last month we started a list of all the words she knows and it's up to 112! Yesterday we added "Shampoo" and today, "People"! In March she  started saying "Yeah" to answer yes, and just recently she has started saying "No". It is so sweet and makes it so much easier for us to understand her needs. She is crazy about counting and most of the time is sounds like a list of vowels, Aee, Eee, Oh, Aee... but suddenly she is adding two, three, four and five in there. So exciting! I swear it's all thanks to Elmo.

   
Sadie would live at the park (which she calls "Weee!") if she could. She is now an expert at climbing up and sliding down on her own. She is still very shy and keeps her distance from other kids. I don't blame her with all the pushing that goes on! We are lucky to be blocks from the zoo and get there as often as we can.  There was a big ta-do here in Seattle about the Meerkats coming to the zoo, so of course we had to check it out. They were very small and so was their enclosure, quite the opposite of the enormous billboards advertising them around town. Fun to watch though. I swear her favorite exhibit is the display of different animal eggs in the family farm. Not animals... wooden eggs.

 
She is crazy for coloring and fills page after page of huge swirly colors that she says are cats, family members, bees and flies. She is also crazy for cars, trucks, tractors, buses and the color pink. I'm trying to think of a way to combine all these things (and Elmo) as a theme for her 2nd birthday party. It's going to be something like a party at a playground/park with Elmo on a pink tractor cake...hmmm

We've gone to 3 'big kid' (4years & 5) parties this year so far. So fun, but a little overwhelming for our gal.  All was made ok by getting to have cake and juice. Now when we mention birthday parties she says "Num" associating them pretty much just with cake. The last one she got to have her first Popsicle "Pop!", a pretty  big deal. There was also a lot of glitter & sequins, which is always a plus.

Meal times are still a bit tricky with Sadie only liking to eat certain things. She will always eat avocado, eggs, oatmeal, bananas and peas. But is very reluctant to try new things unless we are out shopping and it's served on a toothpick. Then she would try anything. I actually pull a toothpick out if she just isn't eating a thing, pop, hors d'oeuvres.

Bedtime is still totally awesome with Sadie sleeping up to 13 hours a night and a two hour nap in the afternoon. She so loves to sleep that she will tell us "Nigh Nigh" at 8pm right on the mark. Of course everyone says that the next baby, when we have one, will be the worst sleeper ever because Sadie so rocks the sleeping.
  
She had her 18 month appt which meant lots of shots :( and sore leg muscles from the shots for 2 days! She could barely walk without crying, totally tramatized us both. She did get to have her first lollypop (another "Pop"!) So, it seems as a child trama is off set by yummy sweet treats. Mama didn't have a pop and is still tramatized from the shots.

So, it all boils down to Sadie is a genius and a darling, my inspiration and my love. (I even love the little tantrums she has when I don't let her stand on the furniture :)

Sadie turns one, Frock Shop turns 3!

On the 28th of October (2 days ago) my little baby angel turned one! On that same day my frock shop turned 3. We didn't do anything special to celebrate the shop because we were out being tourists in our own Seattle. Went downtown and did some shopping, went to Pike Place market sampled a bunch of yummy food and to the Seattle Art Museum, which Sadie found very interesting especially the kids play area with lots fake plastic food to play with!

Three days before that we had one of the loudest 2 1/2 hour one year old's birthday parties that I have ever known! Around 30 grownups and 8 kids, it was nuts and a total blast! Sadie was a star throughout...

Happy Brithday bunting that I made with vintage fabric and stick on glitter letters:

Hello Kitty cookie topped cupcakes! I tried to make pink frosting which turn a yucky old lavender color (under the cookies) but the kids didn't mind.
 

The mass gift opening!

Cake!
 

 
 Happy Halloween!

 
 
 

10 months!

At the end of this week my baby Sadie will be 10 months old and so many new things are happening! Here are just a few from this month, I am so excited about the months to come!

We ended July with a trip up to Bellingham to visit with my good friend Naomi and her little girl Scarlet. Our babies were due around the same date and it was so great to get the girls together. We email almost daily on our mommy-hood, it's one of those special things that you just look forward to doing. Scarlet is petite and full of energy! I was so amazed at how different she was from Sadie and how different she felt to hold. She has this terrific baby talk that sounds like her own language. Sadie loved her and wanted to hug her head like one of her dollies. They enjoyed trying to put their fingers in each others mouths and eyes and playing with toys we set up in the Starbucks. Sadie also spent a lot of the time crawling around the dirty Starbucks floor and picking up dead bees. It was quite the adventure. She just started crawling properly on hands and knees at this time too, which was exciting, and less grubby than the tummy/army crawl that she had been doing for the month previous.

 

We've been hanging out with our buddy Calvin and his mom Arianne on our walks around the lake. Sadie isn't as snuggly with Calvin as with Scarlet. They are pretty much more interested in snacks than each other.

The changes from 9 to 10 months is so dramatic, she is like a kid now instead of a baby. Her playing has such purpose and she can pick out her toys and characters in books when we name them.  She understands so much of what we say and has started doing motions to words we say.  She has just started to wave bye-bye and pointing at things (especially planes and birds). She is obsessed with her head that I think started with her daddy playing a 'cup on the head' game. Everything goes on the head including food and leaky bottles. She will pat her head and ears when we say them and pat her chest when we say her name. More firsts, first time in a kiddie pool and first time in a booster seat at a restaurant.

Sadie is cruising like a champ now, walking behind her push truck, foot stools and pushing her high chair all over the house. He favorite thing to do now is to walk with you holding both of her hands. You can only do that for so long before your back seizes up and we have discovered her new little tantrums from not walking with her constantly. A sort of half whine half ear piercing squeal and arm flail, not so much fun. We are using distraction to calm her down from those little moments, which seems to work well.

This month we have experienced some pickiness with food. My good little eater who used to gobble food down as fast as we could scoop it in started to clam up the mouth and do this deflecting arm and face/hair rub which is very messy. We have tried a few new things like more finger foods, organic veggies that she can pick up with her fingers, dipping spoons of baby oatmeal into yogurt to disguise it or adding a blueberry to the top of anything seems to help. This has been trial and error, mostly food stuck in the hair and behind the ears. She started to stuff food down between her legs and drop it over the edge of the high chair for a waiting dog who pretty much lives there now. Our little Schnauzer is going to get very fat on cheese bits raining down from heaven.

This is my new sweet head tilt look, I don't want any of that slop you want to feed me:

Arm deflect #1 with boo boo lips & #2 right up into the hair and eye:

The drop off:

Which is very funny. Guess how much cheese is now in my lap...

The other day Sadie dug a crochet doll body out of my yarn bag. I had been working on it before she was born and then forgot about it. All of the components were done, it just needed to be put together. She was dragging the body around hugging it, so I figured it would be nice to put some arms and legs on it for her.  Kitty doll was born. She hugs all of her plush toys, it is way too cute.

  

Oh! So next on this enormous post, sleep!  People are not going to believe me when I say that for the last month and one week Sadie has been sleeping for 12 hours + a night, straight though, no more night feedings. I think it started when we had the super hot weather and the big fans going all night, it just lulled her to sleep all night long. And last night for the first time she fell asleep in her high chair at 6:30 after dinner, I carried her upstairs to her crib and she slept until 8:30am when I went in to wake her! Unreal! I did hear a couple of noises from her during the night which reassured me that she was ok, just having a big sleep. It could be that she is so much more active during the day now and is down to one nap (sometimes up to two hours) during the day.  Fingers crossed that I haven't jinks this great sleeping run. She hasn't started teething yet, so we have that to look forward to.

 

I can't wait for her to start talking. She has her words, Dada, Mama, Abop, Ba, Da, Gee plus a host of high pitched sqealing and raspberry making. She has the sweetest husky little voice and is very serious when saying certain things to us. She also loves to sing in this little sweet soft tuneless way.

I am looking forward to planning her one year birthday bash! We have a lot of friends who having met her yet or only met her when she was tiny, so it's gonna be a blast. Her birthday is on Oct 28th, so since it will be close to Halloween I want to make it a theme party. I'm thinking Pink Kitty party and everyone has to either wear or make kitty ears to wear. Yay! planning a kids party, just one of the great parts of being a mommy :)

Funky green cords...

I found these funky kelly green handmade corduroy baby overalls for Sadie online, can't remember which vintage site it was, but I love them! And they have padded giraffe knees! She looks like such a little 70's baby in them.

 

It's hard to pick from the hundreds of pictures of my little lady...

 

8 months!

Sadie is 8 months now!! She is standing up against anything she can grab onto including cushions and things that aren't so stable. You can't take an eye off her for a minute or she is toppling right over! She is an expert at the army crawl, especially right into the dog beds, ug. She did start saying 'Mama' & 'Dada' for a while there, but has recently replaced her new words with a monkey growl and juicy raspberry blowing.

 

 She is a super star at trade shows. Here she is wearing her skull and cross bone shoes that I bought in Canada when I was 6 months pregnant with her. She finally fits into them!

 

I love this Gymboree romper on her, makes her little body look like a peanut. I do love the baby legs, but her little thighs are a bit chubby (like her mama) and the tops of the baby legs get pretty tight. They end up getting scrunched down like Flash Dance legwarmers.

  

Hubby is almost finished remodeling our kitchen! We went just over 3 months without a dishwasher and a stove! We were washing our dishes in the bathtub (not fun) and using the toaster oven & microwave as our main cookers. Father's day was the big reveal, it's amazing. Some of the Eco Friendly materials used: recycled denim insulation, mat black paperstone countertops & cork tile flooring. Hopefully we will have some before & after pics soon. Hubs looks very fetching in his new BBQ apron :)

 

Sadie loves the new cork floor!

 

For Father's Day, I finally had an excuse to make these bug cupcakes found in an old Martha Stewart magazine. The antenna where supposed to be out of licorice ropes, but I ran out of time. So, my bugs sort of look like slug turtles, but oh well! They were a huge hit with all the kids at the BBQ!

 The organic baby line is coming along! I will hopefully have picture to show soon. I'm working on the website this week and meeting with a factory tomorrow to go over production. Very exciting! I'm putting a sneak peak of my logo here. The labels and hangtags are beyond cute! More soon!

Hello, Tacoma...

So, yesterday Sadie and I made the trek down to Tacoma from Seattle. One of the trade shows that I attend to buy for the shop moved last year and now instead of taking 10 minutes to get there it takes 45, ug. Sadie was amazing though, fell asleep before we got to the freeway and didn't wake up until I parked at the convention center in Tacoma. I take her to a lot of trade shows and she is great. Riding on my front in the Baby Bjorn, smiling at everyone and touching all the clothes. I picked up a new line for the shop called Pico 1988, it's shipping immediately for Summer.

*Most has arrived and is instore! Some are online...

 

 

Downtown Tacoma is looking so nice with the new Museums and shopping areas all being renovated. But, the one thing I always notice when I go to Tacoma is there are hardly any people or cars around. It is so quiet! While there I took the opportunity to visit with my lovely friend Merilee and her two little children. Sadie and I stopped at the yummy cupcake shop called Hello, Cupcake to bring some goodies to our play date. I did enjoy eating this lovely heap of chocolate goodness:

 

Sadie had a great time playing with Georgie 4, and Mia 2, she is amazed by other kids and wants to keep touching them like she doesn't believe they are real. She was also so excited about the amount of toys they had to chew on. The play date was a big success and Mer and I had a great time catching up and Sadie slept the whole ride home like a little angel.

 

 

"Moo Ba Ba"

My little Sadie turned 7 months yesterday. 7! Along with "Dada" she has added "Baba" and "boo", some terrific raspberry blowing, ear piercing dolphin squeals and in the last couple of days she has started crinkling up her nose and puffing air in and out. Very cute. She has been holding her arm out like an opera singer when she sees someone new and pats her chest and tummy when she likes something.

 

I am in love with that baby arm chub!

 She is so wiggly and would just love to run around if she could. She is starting to get up on her hands and knees, but has only managed to go backwards so far.  Forwards is any day now! She's been eatting some solids for a couple months now and loves them! The last couple days though was struggling with some painful constipation (poor honey), so we switched from rice cereal & banana to oatmeal and fruit puree and started giving her more water to drink, which worked a charm.

For mother's day I got this terrific coverstitch machine to make samples of the organic baby clothes line I'm working on. I love it! Its the Janome Cover Pro 1000CP with different hemming and binding attachments, perfect for hemming and binding jersey. I've never worked with jersey before, so it's a learning experience. If you are thinking of getting a coverstitch only machine, I would highly recommend this one. Especially if you already have a serger and don't want to have to convert the machine back and forth like on a dual serger/coverstitch.

 The samples are coming along nicely and soon I will be posting pictures of the designs and the website for the line. I'm planning on having this line available for this Fall! so exciting!!

Dada Dada...

It's official, hubby has won. Sadie has spent most of this morning saying "Dada" pretty much constantly, not just to him (which made him almost cry), but to me, the dogs, her toys. It's so sweet as you can really hear what her little voice is going to sound like.

Yesterday, she and I went down to a trade show in Fremont to buy Fall for the shop and she was great. I had her facing outwards in the Bjorn, which she really loves now. Just a month ago walking into a strange place with lots of people in her face would not have been possible, she would have just been too upset. But now, smiling and laughing, touching all the clothes, we had a great time.

It was such a gorgeous day we decided to do a little shopping around Fremont. She managed around three shops, spit up a bit down the front inside the Bjorn and started to get fussy before we headed home. I bought these great stationary items by Sukie, an UK based designer I adore, at Burnt Sugar: