DIY Costume? I need some help!

I am starting to feel stressed about Halloween.  This time last year I was almost completely done The Girl's costume.  I am not sure if it was because it her first Halloween or if it was because I was home with the girl full time and my brain was not preoccupied with work.   Who has time for a job, really?  When The Girl received this bag with brown handles on it at the time, with a baby gift in it I instantly knew how I would transform it for Halloween.  I was literally planning her Halloween costume since the day she was born.  Not this year...

While The Hubby and I were brainstorming ideas for this year he made it very clear that he was less than thrilled with my idea of making her an owl.  I thought the costume would be cute,  but it wouldn't have any significance and she might appear rather random.  As we talked we quickly came up with the idea of making her Shamu or "Mamu" as she calls it.  To say the The Girl is OBSESSED, would be an understatement.    Ever since our family trip to Sea World she has gone crazy!  We made the mistake of showing her YouTube videos of other people's trips to Sea World following our family vacation and now whenever she sees the ipad she heads straight for it and selects the YouTube app saying "Mamu...pease, Mamu".  At least she says please?

I saw this costume online, but I was less than thrilled with the $45 price tag.  The Hubby was more than happy to spend the money to be done and have a happy relaxed wife, but the DIYer in me can't rest.  I actually partially blame my mother.  She always made our costumes and I think there is this small amount of June Cleaver berried in this modern Mama.  A piece that says "a good Mom makes their baby a custom costume".

I have a bit of a game plan but I am definitely not ready to execute.  Any suggestions you might have would be more than welcome!  I am thinking about making a track suit with a pattern from one of my favourite etsy retailers.  I am not exactly sure how to alter it to make the fins.  I'll keep you posted.

Wish me luck!

Blankie

Meet Blankie...

This is The Boss' prize possession.  What started as a beautiful, clean, pink blanket is now a grubby, hamster smelling, security item.  I literally have to peel it out of the hands of her and plan my laundry loads to ensure it is washed, dried and back in her crib before she even notices it's gone.

While I should be happy she has an attachment item, especially because we travel so much, this blanket stresses me out.  Since the timing of washing it is tricky when I work I always feel self conscious sending her to my Mom's or my Mother-in-laws with it at it's hamstery worst.

I didn't want to replace it, maybe just throw in a sub.   I made the same flannel/minkie blanket for her that I made for my best friends baby here.  I thought if I could sub it in maybe, just maybe I could wash Blankie during nap time.  In an effort to get her to fall in love with it I let her play with the material and Blankie at the same time.

  I was trying to go with the get a puppy to like their crate by feeding them in it idea...you know...if she plays with it with something she loves, maybe by default she will also love it?  No such luck. Oh well!

Happy Bee-day

One of my good friends recently celebrated this sweet girl's first birthday.  Isn't that the cutest little face ever?  I remember clearly the day Julie and her husband called to tell us she was pregnant with Baby A.  We were just a few months pregnant ourselves and so excited for their growing family.  One year later, they are celebrating their sweet girl with a Bee themed party.

She made this adorable flag banner.  It reads "Happy 'Bee' day" how cute!  You can find a tutorial for a flag banner here.  She just sewed her triangles onto a ribbon and then hot glued white felt letters on.  She said she started it a week before the party.  Did I mention she is a busy mother of two?  How in the world do you pull this off when you have two kiddies to take care of?

She made Baby A's dress and headband as well.  The dress is a pillowcase dress with the bee made out of felt and sewn on.  The bee and flower on her headband were just hot glued together and pinned on.  You can find a tutorial for the dress here or here.  I love how the yellow just pops.  Baby A looks gorgeous in this colour.  I think her Mommy is pretty cute too!

Delays...

...are the story of my life! (This post is no exception)

We just returned from Florida, and with the exception of an impromptu visit to Atlanta (don't ever fly with me I am bad luck), we had an amazing time!!!!  We flew to Mr. D's home town and dropped The Boss off at her grandparents.  Mr. D and I then continued on to Orlando where we spent three days together reminding ourselves how fun we are.  It is incredible how much you let your marriage slide when you add a baby.  We focus so much of our time and effort on The Boss that we forget to spend time together.  We always get along, but a marriage needs to be more than getting along...it needs to be romantic getaways where you remember why you chose each other.

We spent time in the sunshine....

...took the boat over to city walk where we ate dinner and enjoyed the night life, 

...and finished the weekend off with the first Gator game of the 2011 season! 

It was like a second honeymoon.  Our time was spent talking about how we need to do this every year, and missing The Girl.  After three days away we were super anxious to get back and see her.  Unfortunately for us (or fortunately depending on how you look at it) the anxious feelings were not reciprocated.    The Boss had the best time with her grandparents and did not miss us for even a minute.

Some of the highlights of our trip were meeting our good friends we went to school with for lunch and dinner, sleeping in, sun-tanning laying down with my eyes shut, catching a nap and the Karaoke bar we found.  We stayed at Loews Royal Pacifica Resort at Universal Studios.  It was the perfect balance of romantic getaway and night life.   The first night we were there we stumbled across Rising Star at City Walk a local Karaoke bar.  This is the stage where the live band and back up singers await the next Star...um, not your average Karaoke bar.  The people that sang were awesome.  We chose not to sing, not that we would've either way, but this place was way out of our league.  We just enjoyed listening to all the other singers and singing along with our favourites.  I was so impressed with their talent.  If you are ever in the area this is definitely a place to check out we could've stayed there for hours.

Another highlight started with frustration and ended with a relaxing fun visit.  We were flying from Jacksonville to Atlanta, Atlanta to home, but thanks to all the hurricanes and tropical storms hitting Atlanta our flight into Atlanta was delayed forcing us to miss our connection.  We landed in Atlanta and 3 hours later (1:30 am I might add) we were tucking ourselves in to an Atlanta hotel.  While this was a long and frustrating process The Hubby decided to make the best of it and called his brother who is interning in Atlanta who we haven't seen since Christmas.  We met up with him and headed to the Georgia Aquarium.  The Boss went CRAZY.  She loved this place..."fiss, fiss, fiss" (fish) all day long.  So, what nearly gave me an ulcer turned into another full day of family fun and an impromptu visit.  Funny how things just work out sometime.

We had a wonderful time and feel blessed and refreshed having been able to getaway.