Charlotte is HERE!

Our sweet little Charlotte decided that she was ready to come and join our family!

Saturday night I started having some contractions. I had been having a lot of false labor though so I brushed them off and went to bed when Tyson got home. I couldn't sleep though, the contractions were too strong. Just before midnight Tyson said that if they didn't let up in the next hour we would be going to the hospital. Again, I just brushed it off expecting them to stop. However, just after midnight, my water broke. So, we were off.

We got to the hospital just after 1 am and after a lot of labor fun (sparing you all the details) Charlotte Elizabeth Hansen made a very easy entry into this world at 6:59 am weighing in at 8 pounds 3 ounces and measuring 20-3/4 inches long.

One of the first things that I noticed about her was that she has the same pouty face as her big sister. They make the same face when they cry and I love it.

Here are just a few pictures from our time at the hospital.

Sunday afternoon my mom brought Lily to the hospital to come and visit us and meet her baby sister. Lily was not quite sure what to think.

She was initially very excited to see the baby, but quickly became bored with her. Apparently hospital rooms are fascinating to toddlers.

I'm sure that they will do great together! Lily just needs to get used to her and learn how to be soft, which is going to take some work.

We are so grateful to have our Charlotte here! As much as I love being pregnant (which I don't) I am so happy for that to be all over and to have a sweet little girl to cuddle up with. And she is a cuddle bug! She has the sweetest disposition and is generally a very happy baby.

Passing Time

With 10 days to go until my due date and with enough false labor to make me lose my mind I keep looking for things to do to keep myself busy and to help pass the time. As many of you know, these last few weeks quite simply drag on. So, I have been trying to keep myself as busy as I possibly can with little projects.

Here are a couple from the last several days.

First, the flower pillow. I found this on another new favorite blog (http://iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com/2010/10/petal-pillow-with-my-momma.html) and just had to give it a go. For my first attempt at it, because it looked difficult, I decided to use some leftover fabric from our wedding and see how it went. It turned out to be very simple and not nearly as time consuming as I thought that it would be, which actually kind of annoyed me, I wanted it to take me a while longer.

I loved this idea so much, that I went to the store today and picked up some green and purple fabric to make a couple of pillow cushions to go in the play tent down in Lily's room. I'll probably get going on those soon, again, to help keep me busy and pass the time.

So I had to move onto a new project. I felt like knitting and I have been wanting to learn how to weave different colors in to create a pattern so I decided that this was as good a time as any to pick up a new skill. After some searching I found this cute little pattern for a jumper and decided to give it a go http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEspring09/PATTtopaz.php.

I have always liked Fair Isle knitting, but I have been very intimidated by it. I think that I did pretty well. I pulled a little tight, but it is hardly noticeable and I'll know better for next time. I made this in a size 3 months so it should fit Charlotte pretty soon, that is, if she ever decides to show up.

I'm really not complaining though. As much as I would LOVE to have this baby already and to no longer be pregnant, I am grateful to have had such a healthy pregnancy this time around. I was so worried that the issues that I had while pregnant with Lily would come back with this one, but so far no problems at all. Everything is looking perfect, Charlotte is growing great and momma is staying healthy so that makes me happy.

Big Sister in Training

Lily loves babies! She gets so excited when she sees one and she wants to try to take care of them. Lately she has started taking some of what she sees and has begun applying it to her play with her baby dolls. I caught a few sweet moments this morning that I wanted to share.

Here she is taking her baby doll for a ride. Apparently the shopping cart is capable of doubling as a stroller.

And when they got done with their walk she tucked her baby into her little bed in the laundry hamper.

I'm still not sure that Lily really understands that we will be having another baby here soon, but I'm sure that when Charlotte finally decides to make her appearance Lily will be very excited and an eager little helper.

Sisters' Craft Day

My sisters that live here in town and I decided that it would be fun to start having a monthly craft day. We plan to take turns finding a fun project and then we'll get together one day each month and do them. This month my sister Sarita found this great little tutorial to make a bag http://madeonmaple.blogspot.com/2011/01/bow-bag-tutorial.html. Yesterday we all met at my house with out materials and got going on them.

They turned out to be very simple, but so cute! I wish that I had take pictures of Sarita's and Ali's bags before they left, but these are the ones that I made for Lily and I.

At first I thought that I was being a little silly making one for Lily as well, but after mine was finished and I was working on hers she grabbed mine and played with it for the entire time that I was sewing hers. I scaled down the pattern a bit so that Lily's bag would be a better size for her. She has been carrying her books and baby dolls around in it all day.

And of course, while the mommas sewed the kids played. Lily and Junior specialized in mischief and playing with everything that they shouldn't. The decided to take over Oscar's crate for a little while.

Getting Ready for Baby

The time has come, and I am finally getting little spurts of energy, so I am getting things ready for this baby girl to make her appearance. It is about time since I am 37 weeks today so she could decide to come any day now, or really any day within the next four weeks.

Up until this point almost everything that I have done has been for Lily. We have been so focused on getting her new room and the family room finished that we hadn't done much in the way of prepping for Charlotte. Though really, moving Lily out of the nursery was to make space for the new baby. I finally finished getting everything of Lily's out of the room which of course left it a mess. Yesterday I put it back together. The crib is still missing a mattress because the one that we have is on Lily's toddler bed. I plan to buy a new one next week when a coupon and a rewards code that I have will be effective. Gotta save whatever money I can, right?

And to make it her space, I replaced Lily's name on the wall with Charlotte's. I had some left over fabric from the bedding that I made back when I was expecting Lily so it worked out perfectly.

I also had Tyson get some of our baby supplies out of the attic in the garage. Of course we needed the infant car seat, but I also wanted the bouncy chair. Lily loved it when she was tiny and they are so handy. I washed everything and once I put it all together Lily had to test it out. Just making sure that everything works for her baby sister.

We are getting so close, and I'm starting to get antsy. So, if anyone has any ideas of how I can keep myself preoccupied over the next few weeks I would appreciate them. Lily keeps me busy for the most part, but this cold weather is keeping us indoors much more than either of us would like.

The Quilt is Finally Finished

I started this project back in November but then put it off a while since I had several Christmas gifts that needed to me made. Well, Christmas was a month and a half ago and I still had not come back to it. Why? Because I hate finishing up quilts. I love putting the top together, but binding a quilt is a miserable task to me.

Well, with no white thread to be found in my house last night and Lily's new room all but completed I could no longer put off the task of finishing up her quilt. I decided to dive in and just get it done. Tyson ended up getting off work an hour late so that gave me enough time to finish it up.

This morning when I went to get Lily up I went ahead and made her bed with her new bedding. Some of you may think that I'm crazy, but I love the bright green and purple with the melon colored walls. It is such a cheerful color combination in my mind.

She seems to like it. Right after I finished making her bed she climbed right back up and played for a while with her baby dolls.

And last of all, just to give you an idea, this is how the other view of her room turned out with my curtains made from scrap fabric and the tent that I made her for Christmas.

Back on a Sewing Kick

I really can only pull out my sewing machine from time to time because once I get started I just want to keep going. And it really doesn't help when I find all kinds of cute new projects that I just have to try out.

First off I started out simple and made a few new burp clothes. Lily was such a spitter and I learned that there is no such thing as too many. My sister Ali has a few that someone made her using flannel on one side and terry cloth on the other. They are cute and really absorbent so I gave it a go.

I made some girly ones for Charlotte.

And some boyish ones for a good friend of mine.

I have been wanting to make a car seat canopy for Charlotte since she will be born in the late winter/early spring and we'll need to keep the wind and rain off of her. I figured that it would be really simple and I had a good idea how I would make one, but I wanted to see the dimensions and styles that other people were doing. So I searched the internet and finally came across this tutorial (and by the way this is one of my new favorite blogs):

http://www.infarrantlycreative.net/2009/01/car-seat-tent.html#comment-form

So this morning I went to Joann's and picked up some flannel. I chose flannel over cotton for the weight and warmth. Not to mention it was on sale today for $2.50 a yard so in total I spent less than $6.50 on this project. It turned out to be so simple and didn't take long at all.

My infant car seat is still up in the attic so I couldn't take my pictures with it on the car seat, but you get the idea.

I really loved her suggestion to add the flower pins. I alternated my cover fabric with the light pink lining fabric.

I also bought the fabric and cut everything out to make a blessing day dress for Charlotte and when I sat down to start sewing I realized that I was out of white thread! This is the second time that I have found myself totally out of white thread. I really don't know how that happens, but apparently I need to start buying it in bulk. I suppose that sewing project will have to wait until next week. In the interim I think that I will finish up Lily's quilt for her new room.