Pillowcase Dress

So I love to make pillowcase dresses. I mean I LOVE to start with fabric and end with my daughter a great new dress to wear to church. Since she is six, I think she is starting to outgrow those type dresses but she is moving on to wearing pillowcase tops! She is adorable in them and I have her trained right....when someone tells her they like her top or dress she replies with "Thanks, my mommy made it!" So far I haven't sold any based on her promotion but I have sold lots of the dresses through my own advertising. If you can sew, you can make them. They are so easy especially since I learned how to do a french seam so that there are no raw edges or whatever you call them. What I do is fully line my dress with either a white, brown or black....depending on what the main color in the exterior is. I put the right side fabrics together from one side...meaning one interior and one exterior facing each other and sew around the arm holes, the top and the bottom. I do NOT sew down the sides at this point. Then I turn the dress right side out and top stitch along where I have already sewed. I do the same with the other side. Then I lay the two sides of the dress together just as if it was complete. The interiors together. I sew a 1/4 inch seam down each side. Then trim it and flip in inside out and sew a 1/3 inch seam. Then I go up to the top and make a ribbon casing for my ribbon which is usually about 1 inch. Then I take 2 strips of 36 inch ribbon and heat seal the ends. Run them through the casing and bunch it together depending on size and stitch the ribbon still. And your done! It sounds quick but it does still take right around an hour. Sometimes I'm faster. If you want me to do a real detailed post with pictures of the process then please leave comments! I guess I need to know someone is reading.

Crafty Crafty

I am in the process of getting this blog up and going. My main focus will be on etsy sellers. I would love to feature them and write about handmade items and supplies. I am wanting this to be a resource to for crafters, aspiring crafters and handmade item buyers. Please stop back by as we get up and running!

Hi! My name is Tabatha and I am addicted

to Facebook. It is so hard not to look at it all the time. It's a way to catch up on people you went to school with, worked with, etc....but yet you don't really have to talk to them. Ha! It takes me back to kindergarten b/c you have to ask people to be your friend just so you can be nosey and view their page. Will you be my friend, check yes or no? Anyways I did this whole 25 random things post about myself on there b/c everyone was doing it so why not! Just like high school isn't it!
So I thought I would post it on here for all my blogger friends to read.

1. I am trying to be a great Christian but I’m still in the learning process.

2. I truly learned the power of prayer while praying over Tegan and his healing when he had developmental delays. It worked!

3. I love my husband very much. He is a great father and husband but lets face it, he is still a man! (J/K)

4. Rylee and Tegan are my heart and soul.

5. I have way more patience with Tegan than I do with Rylee. I’m not sure why but I’m working on it.

6. I am very structured with my kids. They eat, take a bath and go to bed the same time every night if I can help it. When they were babies they always stayed on the eat every three hours schedule. Not a minute earlier and I would panic if they were late eating b/c it would throw everything else off. I was obsessed and drove my husband nuts!

7. I think I have very ugly feet but who cares, I wear flip flops all summer anyways.

8. I have a son named Cohen waiting for me in heaven.

9. I have a weakness for break and bake cookies. The bad part is I cook them about 3 times a week after the kids are in bed so that I can enjoy them.

10. I wish I would have stayed in college ten years ago!!!! If only I knew then what I know now.

11. I have a son with an incurable eye condition called Nystagmus. It may have slowed him down in the beginning but it sure doesn’t now. The added bonus is he cuts his eyes to look at you and it looks like he is flirting!

12. I love the smell of laundry detergent. I mean I really love the smell!!!

13. I am totally addicted to the Internet. When my Internet goes out (or my computer gets struck by lightening) I panic. I have to have the Internet.

14. I have a family blog that I update often with info and pics of my family. It’s sort of like my virtual scrapbook b/c I just can’t seem to get in to real scarp booking.

15. I am addicted to reading other peoples blogs. I love to see a little about how other peoples lives work. I especially love to read a few that have quads. I can’t hardly do it with two….I don’t know how they do it with four.

16. I love to sew and just so happen to make a little money from it too. I have an online shop where I sell my stuff www.polkadotpixie.etsy.com

17. I absolutely have to give my kids a bath every single night right before bed. Even if we didn’t leave the house that whole day. I can’t stand the thought of them going to bed without a bath.

18. I haven’t worked in almost two years but that time is coming to an end and I am very sad about it. (sniff, sniff)

19. I am allergic to pregnancy! Four pregnancies, two living children.

20. I don’t know what I would do without my best friend. My hubby makes fun of us b/c we are constantly emailing or calling each other. It was so much fun to be pregnant together! She has been my number one go to person for everything, especially when I lost Cohen.

21. I hate when my hot food gets cold. This is why I hate buffets, potlucks, etc… I just won’t eat it if it isn’t still hot.

22. I don’t eat any meat that is on a bone. I eat chicken but not chicken on a bone.

23. I hate clutter but I am probably the most cluttered person you will ever meet. I have a hard time putting stuff back where it goes. But every now and then I get in this huge decluttering mood and every thing goes!

24. I met my husband on a blind date (thanks Chrissy) on Sept 4, four months later we got in engaged on Dec. 30 and less than three months after that we were married on March 24. We only knew each other for 7 months!!!!

25. I am a self proclaimed GERMAPHOBE! I am a germ freak. I hate to shake hands, I don’t touch door handles if I can avoid it, I don’t use a pen at Wal-Mart that everyone else has touched, I hate for people to touch my kids period….I think you get the idea! It consumes me. If someone I have been around in the last five days comes down with a virus, I immediately feel nausea's. This is a curse….especially since I see Rylee picking up on my habits. She already pulls her shirt sleeve over her hands before opening a door and she knows to use a paper towel to turn the water off in a public bathroom after washing her hands. This is also why I hate buffets b/c I hate touching the utensils everyone else has.

Link to me

and I will link to you. Are you interested in adding me and my etsy store to your blog roll or whatever you call it? If you will link my blog to yours, I will link mine to you. Leave me a comment....it will be a private comment! Starting now (5, 4, 3, ....)

17 months already...

The only way to get him to be still long enough for a picture is to put him on the table!

Wow! It is so hard to believe that my little man is 17 months old today. He is definitely a sight to watch. He can say some words although he won't say them in front of anyone but me, Paul and Rylee so I'm sure others don't believe us. He has really been repeating things which means that calling him a little turd is probably not a good thing to do these days. He knows how to throw a fit when he doesn't get his way. He has most recently become his dad's best buddy. He loves to follow him (or anyone for that matter) outside and runs around this house yelling Dada all the time. I'm starting to wonder if he thinks I am dada too...I keep telling myself that one day I will wish he didn't say mama so much but for now I want him to call me by my rightful name, not Dada! He still loves to eat even if it is mostly Fruit Loops. At 17 months old we are moving up to 24 month clothes and outgrowing our size 4 diapers. He loves his boots his daddy bought him and will insist on taking off his newbalances just to put them on....even with jogging pants. Boots is one word he can say very clearly and loud! The kid is like a monkey and climbs on everything and most usually ends up hitting the floor extra hard after falling from some high piece of furniture. I was so graciously reminded by my mom the other day not to complain about him being in to everything or climbing on everything b/c it wasn't that long ago that we thought he wouldn't ever do any of these things.
What a blessing and great past 17 months!!!


Always ready to go outside!!!

NOT ME!!!!

Don't forget to go HERE to view other's "Not Me!" Mondays


Last week I did not take Tegan to the ENT doc for a recheck and sit in the waiting room for an hour and a half before even being called back. I did not entertain him by constantly putting hand sanitizer on him and letting him rub it all over his hands and arms (and possibly his tongue) just so he wouldn't get up and keep running to the child across the waiting room that was hacking very loudly the whole time. I most certainly did not finally get back in a room, sit down in the chair, place Tegan in my lap only to have him start literally peeing all out the side of his diaper. It definitely did not all start pouring out all over the crouch of my pants making it look more like I wet myself than him. The nurse was not horrified when I refused to leave the room to go to a changing table in a bathroom outside of the whole office just for fear that the Dr. would skip me and go to another room thus prolonging my stay. I did not ask her to move her lap top from a chair she had it on only to have my rather large child hanging off on all sides and change his clothes and diaper. Now if only I had a pair of clean pants.

I did not freak out the fabric lady at Hancock fabrics this past week when she asked me why Tegan's eyes move constantly by just looking at her with a look of shock and horror. It did not shock me so much that someone actually noticed it (b/c I don't anymore) that I just didn't know what to say. Had this happened I would have shaken myself back to reality and then explained his entire condition to the poor lady!

I did not feed Tegan dry fruit loops for breakfast 3 out of 4 days last week just so he would stop screaming "LOOOOOOPS" over and over again. What nutritional value do those things have anyways???

Tough Times...

These days you turn on the news or read the paper and all you hear is how another big business is closing up shop, people are being laid off left and right and the cost of food is going up. I think I read recently that McDonald's is the only stock that went up in the past year. Well I have always ate McDonald's so I guess that really isn't different for me. Some days it really does feel that bad and others I just wonder if the news has just said it so much that we are all just starting to believe it and panic. Well I will tell you that there is no way to find a job during this economic time....at least I can't. So I have went back to my love of fabric and sewing. Apparently the news has convinced me that I need to start making money and I need to do it fast. So I have been sewing a lot and trying to sell some fabric in my etsy shop. Don't you want to buy something????? (HA!)

POLKA DOT PIXIE

These fabrics below make great little girl dresses or anything you can think of!




I have lots more fabric choices in my shop....want you stop in for a while!!!!

Prayers really needed.

Please take a minute to stop and pray for little Preston. Click HERE to see what is going on.


"Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mark 11:24

To tube or not to tube....

if that is your question, I say DO IT! I could scream it from the mountain tops. Tegan went from August to December with either an ear infection or being on antibiotics for an ear infection. His tummy did not like antibiotics so that would make him ill all the time. Well since Dec 17 we have had a different kid. He had tubes put in his ears and almost immediately we noticed that he was trying to repeat more words than before. We have had no ear infections so far and he is about ten times happier. I mean...he use to walk around here ill and crying all the time and now he runs around here playing and climbing on anything he can get to. Why didn't we get tubes put in sooner I don't know.

The only part that sucks about the process is that apparently an ENT's office is a very popular hang out for people of all ages. Our follow-up visit this past week we waited for an hour and a half before ever even being called back in to a room and then that is a whole different story which involves crying (both mommy and baby) and lots of pee! Needless to say I was ready to get out of that place. But the Dr. said his ears look great! All that horror in the waiting room for 2 minutes of Dr. McDreamy time...nice!
Anyways if your kid has lots of ear infections I highly recommend checking in to getting tubes.



This is Tegan's favorite place to sit and climb all over. He actually uses this chair to get on to higher furniture.

Some sibling love

I was sitting in the living room the other night and noticed the two little ones were sitting so sweetly together so I took a picture.



Then I walked in to the kitchen and when I came back this is what I found. I wonder who is in charge! Rylee lets Tegan do whatever he wants to to her. I think that will come back to hurt her in the very near future.....starting with right now. (He looks like he is going for the eyes???)


These two are something else. With there being a 4 1/2 year age difference between them I would not expect them to play so well together. They spend lots of time chasing each other in circles and Rylee really entertains the little guy. During the day when she isn't here I have my hands full b/c he is so bored that he is in to everything. He actually stands at the baby gate in the mornings looking toward Rylee's room yelling "RY RY!!!" over and over again. I'm so glad they have each other.

My Daddy's Hat...

Tegan loves his daddy's stocking hat. He will wear it better than wearing his own stocking hat. Of course you can't get the kid to be still long enough to take a good picture but I tried.

CHECK IT OUT!

Hey blog land! I have been slowly updating my etsy shop with a few new things. Right now I am working on some pillowcase dresses to hopefully add the beginning of next week but I have some bags on there right now. Check me out!!!!

POLKA DOT PIXIE

Isn't it cute!!!!

What a difference a hair cut can make in a little girl. Now she officially looks six. I love her new do. It is so easy to take care of and only takes minutes to blow dry. But the very best part is that two minutes after brushing it, it doesn't look like it hasn't been brushed all day. I love it.
The before picture...


The after pictures....

"Not Me!" Monday

If you would like to read others "Not Me!" Monday post then just click here!

Yesterday morning (Sunday) was not my sleep in morning. I would never have one of those. I was not awakened early by my hubby standing over me telling me I had to get up and come see something. Rylee most certainly had not, sometime during the night, thrown up all over herself and her bed and never even wake up but instead just slept in it. It was not all dried up and crusty. I did not dry heave (over and over again) while cleaning it. Nope...not me!

Enough said!

Do you think he is talking to me?

Hello....is anyone else in the room. Nope, well then he must be talking to me. I've recently posted about having a hard time, losing my perfect peace and mostly losing my direction the past few months. I have tried to look ahead and hope that better days are coming. I've been looking for understanding and answers.

The very next day after posting my perfect peace post, I am in Walmart and see some small calendars on sale for $1.00. Well I love me a small calendar...you know, a mini version of those large ones not the pocket book kind. I have for years always kept one on the side of my refrigerator just so I can remember what day it is as I stand there snacking on chips or whatever. Anyways, I got me a new one at walmart the other day. At first I had one with beautiful scenes of beaches on it b/c I dare to dream. Then I saw one which also had beautiful pictures in it and said "Bible Verses, an inspirational calendar." So who could resist. I get home, open it up and hang it on my fridge. Later while I am snacking on ice cream (I can't help myself) I look over and read the bible verse on my new calendar for the month of January. It reads as follows....

Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. Proverbs 3:5,6 KJV

(she clears her throat here and ask again) So do you think he is talking to me and trying to tell me something? In all my troubles I have never came across this verse! I needed it!

"Not Me!" Monday

I did not already break my New Years Resolution for going to bed earlier by staying up until midnight surfing the web for four days in a row. Oh wait...If I had done that then that would be two of my resolutions I have already broken. You know the whole trying to stay off the computer thing.

Really...this week that's all I got. I'm to tired and have lots of sewing to do. But I wanted to post so you guys could link up and visit MckMama to see other peoples not me's.

Today She turns SIX!

When wearing a dress or top I made for her and someone compliments her on it she responds sweetly by saying "Thanks my mommy made it"!

I was going to do a video thing like I did for Tegan but when my computer got hit by lightening all my pics are lost so I couldn't get them on the new one in time.

Friday night my little girl had her first slumber party. As I sat and listened to the girls talk, play and have fun I thought of all that she will go through as a girl growing up. The fun things she will experience with friends and the not so fun things. You know, those things that at 16 you think will definitely kill you and you will never recover from them. If there is a way to teach a young girl not to feel that way, someone please let me know.

Her with her friends at her first slumber party!


Today she turns SIX! I still feel like it was yesterday when she was born although some days I am wondering how long before she is going to be grown. She was born by emergency c-section at 9:14 on Jan. 11. I was huge pregnant and so ready to be done that by my 37 week check-up I had willed myself to be "progressing" and even as the Dr. was saying it was to early he very quickly realized that I was a very determined and dilated person. The next day I go in to be induce with the little lady who had to make a dramatic grand entrance and didn't want an audience for it. I was put to sleep and Paul wasn't allowed to witness her birth. She came home a healthy little lady four short days later in which I started a 10 month battle with postpartum.

This girl is not shy. She doesn't hesitate to sing in front of a large crowd. She most recently was given a prize at school by her principle b/c she went to every classroom on her hall and stood up front (ALONE) and sang songs for them. She is a lot like her mother in many ways and one of those most being that she has ZERO patience and will ask something over and over again. She is wise beyond her years and already talks to us like a teenager. Is it possible we could be getting that part over with early. I digress, She is for the most part a perfect child. She can already read and knows her sight words after one showing of them. She loves hot pockets and would live off of them if I let her (which for the most part I do). She hates the outside and being hot, doesn't care for animals unless they are stuffed, and will sing and dance for anyone who will listen (over and over again). Maybe she will make something of this performing thing one day. She did dance but said it took to long, then moved on to cheerleading which she liked but grew tired (as did her mom) toward the end but already misses it and now we are on to piano lessons. She loves candy...a trait which her Papa (Paul's dad) left for her before he passed. She was a few months shy of four years old when her Papa passed away but still remembers how he use to take her to a store and ask for a brown sack and let her fill it up with candy and how he would sit on the screened in porch after a meal and they would eat ice cream sandwiches together. She loves her brothers...I say brothers b/c she is the only person in my daily life that constantly mentions Cohen. Her and Tegan have a special bond and she basically lets him do what he wants which usually includes him beating her to death while she laughs or at least tries to protect herself. She watches him and stops him from doing things he shouldn't...she is like his second mom. She has recently learned to give herself a shower which was the last thing she needed to do to become independent from me. Although she says things like "I miss the good old days when you use to give me a bath".
This girl is a rare little lady. She is my daughter which I can't imagine life without and look forward to days ahead with her. She was my saving grace when losing a child and continues to amaze me at how much she feels it. I have somehow blinked and she isn't just a toddler anymore. When I ask her to promise she will never grow up and never leave me she responds by saying, "Oh mommy don't be silly we all have to grow up, get married and have our own space. But don't worry I will never have kids b/c I don't want to be cut open". O.k. so we haven't gotten far enough yet to make her understand that there are other ways to have a baby...we are a c-section family albeit not by choice.
I love you Rylee and Happy Birthday!!!!

Can I find my perfect peace????

It's a new year. Starting a new year to me has always meant looking ahead and getting to have a clean slate. But since Oct 2006, starting a new year seems to just make some things be further and further away when you don't really want them to. The past 2 months I have went backwards. I'm not sure the cause or maybe there hasn't been one but since I gave birth to Cohen I have always been able to put it to the side so to speak. I had two weeks to grieve the lose of my son and the future I had visioned for not only him but our family. Then Paul's dad died, then Paul needed me to support him through that, then we became pregnant again and that consumed my mind (and Paul still needed me), then we thought we were going to lose Tegan at only 20 weeks pregnancy and once again that took over any and all thinking in my brain (oh and Paul still needed me), then we had Tegan and at just 3 months of age I began to worry about him so I threw myself into being this advocate for my son. He needed all the right dr.'s and therapist and I was going to get that for him (did I mention that Paul's dad was his best friend and he still needed me). Now the cloud is lifting....We have our complete family, Tegan is doing so well that everything is basically normal with him (besides his eyes) at this point and most importantly Paul doesn't need me as much anymore. He has someway found his way back out of the dark cloud and has landed himself right in the bible. Me on the other hand has finally started to grieve a lose that I never got to fully submerge myself in. Yes I see my blessings....I see Rylee and Tegan for what they are...MY BLESSINGS! But I also hurt for what I should have had and what I don't have in my future. I guess in some ways I have lost a faith that once gave me peace and now gives me anger and questions. I'm looking for my way back to that calming feeling that God gave me those first few days after having him. Either it was a calm feeling or it was numbness....whatever it was I will take that over what I feel now any day. I remember laying there closing my eyes and praying that when I opened them it would be a year from that point. In a blink the days went by and almost two months before the one year birth/death day, I delivered Tegan. I couldn't have imagined going through that one year point without him. Tegan and Rylee have always been what saved me from slipping away but let's not think that by having another child I was able to wash away my pain from losing one. In fact, b/c I got pregnant again so soon I sometimes get confused and it is like I am expecting Tegan to be both Tegan and Cohen. Sometimes I have to stop and remember that I wasn't pregnant those 14 months with the same child the whole time. I know its been over two years and some people are thinking "Gosh move on already" but for me I feel like I need to stop and take my turn and go through the stages of grief that I never did. I mean, would you move on easily if this is what you had to do to see your child...


You will keep in PERFECT PEACE him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.
Isaiah 26:3

I use to live by this verse....but now I've lost it! I catch myself snapping at the people I love. Even when sweet Rylee just says the word Mom (which is over and over again) instead of answering her I snap. Paul can just ask something very simple and somehow it turns in to something huge. I still have my patience with Tegan but with Paul and Rylee...not so much these days. I feel like I can't find my footing and I don't know where to begin. I catch myself wondering if he hurt or wondering what he feels. I had to make a decision that day and that decision was not coming home, being patient and praying over my child. Instead I needed it over and that is what I did. When they told us something major was going on with Tegan, I immediately began talking to God and making deals. But with Cohen....I felt helpless and like I couldn't think past that second much less pray for a better outcome. My mind knows that the outcome would have been the same...he had zero kidney function and I had no amniotic fluid with a possibility of giving myself an infection...nothing could be done. But my heart says that had I prayed hard enough, anything is possible. Recently some flowers have been taken from his grave. I was so angry by this b/c this is the one thing as a mother that I can do for him here on earth when the reality is that if someone needed them that bad...who cares. I need some peace not only for myself but for those around me. I don't want to wake up five years from now and still be sitting right here!!!

You gotta read this one...

I found this on another blog and had to link it for you to read. Grab a Kleenex if you have a little girl (or boy). Especially if your little baby girl is turning six on Sunday!!!!!!
My daughters hands

I've trained him well....

maybe a little to well. It is 9:20 and I am just sitting here still waiting for my son to wake up from a very long nights sleep. He has been sleeping this late ever since Rylee has been on Christmas break from school. He goes to bed around 8:15 or 8:30 and is still asleep at 9:00 and 9:30 am!!!! I'm so blessed!

"Not Me! Monday"

This week has been a long week. I most certainly am not ready for Rylee to go back to school so that I can cut my kid load in half...and get back in to my routine.
I have not been sleeping in to 9:00 am or later ever since she has been out of school on Dec. 19th.

I have not began a strange love/hate affair with Night time cold medicine during my most recent bout with a never ending cold. Love the way it feels but hate the way it taste. None the less I for sure did not get back up out of bed last night after forgetting to take it just b/c I couldn't fall asleep and thought taking something to knock me out would assure me one more night of good rest. Nope, not me!

I totally didn't drive all the way to another state on Saturday just to return a Christmas gift. Not Me!

I most certainly did not sleep until 9:45 this morning while Tegan sat in his baby bed saying "MAMA" over and over again. NOT ME!

Where does the time go...

Soon Rylee will be six! It is 2009!!!!! I was born in the 1900's...doesn't that make me seem older even if it was closer to the end of the 1900's, still we are in the 2000's now. Well Rylee thinks it is funny anyways.
On this New Year's day I have tons (and tons) of resolutions although most of them seem to be out of my control. I guess I will list a few here so that I can look back on it next year to see if I managed to do these things.
1. Find a job working as few hours as possible! (my hubby likes this one...the find a job part).
2. Be nicer to my husband! (come to think of it he likes most of these)
3. Tap in to my faith and hand my worries to God!
4. Go to bed earlier.
5. Break the Internet addiction that I have. (O.k. this is the one that is least likely to happen)
6. Keep my house in order.
7. Stay out of Dr.'s offices this years!(Between Teg's dr.'s visits, therapies, Rylee and my anxiety issues we spend a lot of time with medical professionals).

I know most of these are random things and but for me they are things that I need to do. I have really lost focus on lots of things lately so a new year is upon us....Let's take advantage of it!