Keeping busy

I made a burp cloth for a friend last month and decided to add some ribbons to them and loved the way it turned out so in Julie fashion, I made a ton more last night. here's a few:














I have a lot of ideas/designs but so little time. I have to figure out how to manage my time, get some sleep, and keep my house in order. If anyone has some tricks that work, let me know.

DEPART-ment

It's a craft show extraordinaire! It's set up like a department store where they put all like items together and all the items are made by hand. The crafters/sellers don't have to be there to watch their items because they are all labeled and there's a checkout area. Volunteers who are crafters themselves walk around to answer questions but mainly to keep an eye on things.

So why am I explaining all this?

Because I am participating in it, that's why!!

It's in Chicago from April 25-27 at AV-aerie (formerly open-en) at 2000 w. fulton (at damen), suite 310 (third floor).

Which means that I should be behind my sewing machine making more stuff to sell instead of being here but I need to get my computer time to keep my sanity.

So mark your calendars if you are in Chicago and would like to get your hands on all things handmade!!

Learn #1: Trust your instincts!!

It started pretty much at 12 in the morning. I was going on my 2nd hour of trying to nurse Elle to sleep. She kept waking up and crying. She hasn't taken a pacifier in weeks so she has to be fully asleep when I put her down. I think I have a pretty high pain tolerance but my nipples were just burning with pain and I kept checking to see if there was blood streaming down from it. There wasn't. Around 2 am, I decided to go for a drive cuz that was a sure fire way of getting her to sleep. I drove around a bit, drove up to the suburbs to fill my gas tank and came back home, parked in my driveway and slept next to her until she woke up at 4:30am. I brought her back into the house and it took her another hour to fall back asleep.

She had a really good morning nap for about 3 hours on my bed. When she woke up, I got her dressed to go to that fabric store but when I got out, it was raining and I didn't want to drive the hour that it would take to get there so we just went to costco.

ok, the worst part is coming.

After we came back, I nursed her to sleep at 1:30pm and was eating lunch with Alex and I hear a loud thump. which made Madison bark but I thought it was the cat knocking down something in the basement and I was yelling at madison to shut up when I heard Elle screaming. I never ran so fast in my life. I was sliding on my hardwood floor from the speed and lack of friction. For a second, I felt like I was running in place and getting nowhere. She had gotten up and fallen off my bed and landed on her forehead and nose. I screamed when I saw her on the floor and picked her up right away. She didn't cry long at all and seemed ok but I am beyond heartbroken for letting it happen because when I was fixing my lunch, I thought I heard her from the kitchen so I went closer to the bedroom without looking in and heard nothing so I thought she was still sleeping and since my doors and floors creak, I didn't want to get any closer and look in (cuz it usually always wakes her up). So I'm most certain I was right and did hear her and if I had only gone in at that moment, I would probably have seen her up and playing.

Oh, my heart aches just thinking about it again. She's ok. she has a little redness on her nose and I squeezed it lightly several times today to see if it hurt her but it doesn't. That's the last time she naps in my bed and the last time I don't listen to my instinct.

I felt sick to my stomach all day because of it and my nipples are still sore from her nursing for so long last night and my back is killing me from sleeping in the car.

I also tried to give her a little formula to save my nipples from another torturous night but she wouldn't take any. But before giving it to her, I took a taste of it to check the temp and about 30 minutes later, I was sick to my stomach because of the lactose.

I will never doubt myself again. I will never sacrifice her safety.

Happy Easter!

I'm home alone for the second time since having Elle. I don't get many chances to be left alone because A-man is scared to death of taking care of Elle all by himself so if he has to watch her for extended periods of time, he takes her to his parents house. This morning they went to his grandparents house to celebrate Easter. I did not join them because of some personal issues I have with his family but I'm glad to have this time alone. I'm kinda in a daze to what I should do with my rare precious alone time. I should be sleeping because I spent all night last night making this:


and with Elle waking up every 2 hours, I wasn't able to sleep more than 30 minutes.

I could be exercising since I have a new elliptical machine in the basement that barely got touched since I dropped a ton of money on it. But it's in the cold basement with no light and no TV. It doesn't even have a rack to hold a book or a magazine so it's kinda boring.

I also have a ton of things that I want to make for my etsy shop but I'm a little sore from sitting in front of the machine for so long last night.

I'm just enjoying the fact that my attention is purely on one thing right now instead of listening out for my baby waking up from a nap or watching her play with her toys. I can finally focus all my attention on something without interuption, something I haven't been able to do since July 1, 2007. But I'm not complaining, it's just my new normal and today, this moment, right now, is just soooo different yet blissfully refreshing.

Thank you, Heather!!

A great friend of ours made Elle this awesomely cute sweater. She spent so much time on it and it turned out perfect. I added the ribbon to tie it so Elle doesn't take it off, cuz she's a stinker like that.

Etsy Friends

I am part of a mommy board with a bunch of amazing and wonderful moms. They are all so very talented and/or funny and/or sincerely nice and/or just fun to "hang" out with every chance I get.

I have had such generous support from these ladies for my etsy shop and I wanted to return the favor. A lot of moms on this board have their own etsy shop with their own uniquely awesome stuff.

So here goes my plug for my online friends. Some of them are not completely up yet but keep them in mind and check them out when you can.

babymonster.etsy.com
thegoofytooth.etsy.com
littlelids.etsy.com
monkeybeans.etsy.com
mandymagoo.etsy.com
mrsred79.etsy.com

Poor little baby boo

She has her first real full on snotty, runny, stuffy nose. She seems ok overall, not any more cranky than usual but her nose is so stuffed up and just clear liquid is drooling down from her nose. Plus when she's tired and rubbing her nose and eye, it gets everywhere. When she sneezes, snot explodes out down over her lips. She even let me use that nose sucker thing which she hates!

She's finally sleeping. I nursed her from 8pm ish and fell asleep and woke up at 10ish in the glider chair and it took another 30 minutes to settle her down. I'm grateful that she transitions well for the most part from falling asleep in my arms to laying in her crib. I can't let her cry it out ever so if she wakes up when I put her down, I start the process all over again, and again.

I hope she feels better soon.

Sleepless in Chicago

For some crazy reason, I stayed up pretty much all night yesterday. I got up around 1 am to nurse baby and decided to work on a few items for my etsy shop and when I was done, it was 5am. Since I had to go to work by 7, I didn't get to nap until way pass 11am.

Since having our baby, I haven't really had me-time and as much as I love my baby, I really miss having the time to do whatever I want without worrying about anyone else. The freedom to go take a crap without worry and for however long I want/need to. The freedom to just run out to the store or even just to the car to grab something. The freedom to scream and cry when and if I want to. All these things have to be done with some planning involved and with discretion. I wouldn't change my life for a split second but after 8 months, I've realized that it has taken a toll on my emotion and mental well being.

I have had only 3 hours of me-time since having her 8.5 months ago. I have spent time away from Elle many, many times but only to go to work or to buy something. So I have decided to forgo sleeping to get some time for myself. The only problem with that is that my house is made out of paper and I have to be really quiet while the rest of the house is asleep. It's still better than nothing and I know I can't keep it up for too long but for now, I'm going to use it wisely. I suppose spending hours behind this computer isn't very productive but at least it's relaxing.

Die, Bitch, Die!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tFxk7glmMbo

New Etsy site

I have separated my handmade goodies and opened a separate baby store. The original shop was getting too crowded and scattered looking because it had bags and baby stuff and they didn't go together enough in my OCD brain and I had to do something about it.
So the good news is that I'll be making more baby stuff and hopefully it'll do better as well. I've been having some sales this past week which got me all motivated to do more and do better but I know I'll go weeks without selling anything and get depressed again and lose my motivation. I need not do that to myself. But I'm really excited that I got my second store set up. I'm gonna work all weekend to put my items up with better pictures and descriptions.
So much to do, so little time.

She's one stubborn baby

I guess she takes after me. Oh no!! I'm not sure what exactly is bothering her but she woke up every hour last night. Every single hour!! As soon as I fell asleep, I heard the baby monitor go off with cries from the other room. Speaking of which, I just started putting her in her crib the other day because I thought A-man's snoring was waking her up but I guess not. She'll wake up all on her own. Fortunately, as soon as I nursed her, she went right back to bed.
I'm still taking antibiotics for my tooth extraction and tylenol for the pain so I wonder if that has something to do with it. Also, her 6th tooth is about to cut which I'm sure bothers her but she hasn't been like this when her other 5 tooth were coming out.
I also ate some cookies that were most likely made with condensed milk and it sure did keep ME up all night so maybe it upset her as well.
She woke up at 6:30am for the day and took a 30 minute nap at 10:30, 3:00, and I just put her down right now at 6pm. so we'll see how long this nap lasts. She usually naps every couple of hours and usually takes at least one 2-3 hour nap during the day. I hope this doesn't mean another sleepless night for me.
Poor baby, whatever it is, I hope she feels better tomorrow.