Poor Jeff

My brother swung by for a quick visit on his way home to Michigan. He gets so excited to see Megan and Abby and unfortunately he gets this:

I think in his defense, Abby has been a little out of sorts tonight so I'm pretty sure it has nothing to do with him. I did have to laugh though. I handed her over and she stared at me and just got sadder and sadder until I took her back. She never cried though -- my sweet girl just knows her mommy I guess!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Abby's 3 month birthday. That's all I have to say except that I can't believe she is 3 months old already! Where does the time go?

Weekend Update

So, it's official! Chopper starts work on the 19th of July in Dallas! He'll be going down a few days prior in order to start house hunting -- I can't believe we are actually looking into buying a house! The market is soooo much better than Fredericksburg and we will actually be able to afford it! I am really excited, and really scared. House ownership is a big deal! Plus, I have to put a lot of faith in Chop that he'll pick one I like since I won't be going down beforehand. Fortunately, we have similar tastes -- we'll see what happens!

The girls are being typical kids. I've been experimenting with a variety of different crafts and one of them involved seed pearls. This is what I get for doing it when Megan was awake and of course she wanted to play too . . .

Abby is a strong little girl! Actually, I think this is normal for her age but you have to remember that Megan was either lazy or weak or both really. . . anyway she never did these things and so it amazes me with Abby: she stands, or rather she puts pressure on her legs and straightens them out and lately she's trying to sit up. She's been doing this when she's in her car seat I think because she hates the thing but today she was doing it on the couch. There is a good bit of air between her and the pillow and I am NOT holding her up. It's funny too because she really looks like she's doing a crunch. I think the girl has stronger abs than I do . . .

Happy Father's Day!

I love my dad dearly and am so grateful to have him as my father but I think it's even better to watch my husband be a great father to our girls. I know that they won't remember a lot of the things that he does with them now, but I remember them and I think they are lucky, lucky girls!

We tried to get a nice picture with all three of them but Megan has been too distracted with her new hand-me-down vanity play set. I don't think I'm going to be able to hide this one until Christmas since she was here when our friends brought it over and went to it like moth to flame! Oh well, we got some good pictures with Abby, my smiley baby!

There was this great idea for brownies decorated like BBQ grills in the June/July issue of Family Fun Magazine. If you want to see their version, it's here: http://familyfun.go.com/recipes/grate-gift-for-dad-888883/ Of course I HAD to make them for Chopper since he loves to grill and we're not allowed to in this apartment complex. But I made them with chocolate cupcakes instead of brownies and I did hamburgers (sliced up Tootsie Rolls) and hotdogs instead of kebabs and pork chops. They turned out really cute and really good -- I think Megan has eaten half of them!!

Even though Megan is still a little too young for a lot of things that are in that magazine, it is fabulous and I love getting it. I'm just storing up most of the ideas for later!

A Conversation with Abby

Falling Behind

We've been preoccupied lately with searching for places to live in Dallas. Dallas is a big place! And it's hard to find good information on schools and whether or not places are decent for young families. We'll probably just have to do a lot on the ground there.

So anyway, Chopper went out this past week and metal-detected his parents yard. They live in a Civil War battlefield and he was hoping to find maybe some belt buckles or things like that but he did get in a good haul of bullets. Sorry the pictures are bad, I don't have camera skills . . .
This one he says was never shot due to the condition it's in. These bullets are pretty big and really heavy. I cannot imagine being on the receiving end of one of these!

Abby is talking up a storm! She's also growing like a weed and is nearly as big as a few 8 month old babies in our ward -- of course those babies comes from small people families so that might be part of it but she is getting wonderfully chunky and is so adorable! She has the cutest pouty-lip ever. She doesn't use it often but when she does I just have to smile.


Megan is so imaginative. It's funny though because for the most part she's playing all the games I played but with animals instead of Barbies or dolls. So she puts them to bed and talks to them and they eat food -- all that good stuff. The other day I asked her what they were doing and she said "she's changing her diaper". All of her animals or characters are female by pronoun. She loves to use fabric or napkins and wrap things up and make them cozy or give them "hats". I love just watching her play and hearing the things she comes up with.

A Quilt for Denise . . . oh yeah, and Danny

I can finally post this quilt because Danny and Denise read my blog (once every 6 months) and so I couldn't put pictures up until they got it in the mail. But the whole time I put this together (and the rest of her baby presents) I thought about Denise. Not Danny. Who is actually my brother. Maybe it's because pregnancy and babies are really all about women. Not that men aren't involved but Chopper never got as excited as I did about preparing for a baby. Or maybe it's because Denise is a wonderful sister-in-law and I think I might like her better than my brother (sorry Danny). Ok I lied about that last bit -- I think I love them equally. I think.

Enough said: Ta-da! A la peanut butter sandwiches:

Maybe when the little guy is born they'll send me a picture of him with the quilt to post as well. The animal print is Alexander Henry 2D zoo in pool (that's the color scheme) and the other blue prints are all from Joann Fabrics -- some from the Heidi Grace collections and some just from Joanns! The pattern I cannot take credit for at all -- its from Elizabeth Hartman -- her charm squares baby quilt and you can find it here: http://www.ohfransson.com/oh_fransson/2010/03/charm-squares-baby-quilt-redux.html
I also copied the way she quilted it with wonky straight lines and I did it on my own machine! So I was very excited and impressed with myself and I don't say that to brag -- it was just awesome to be able to do a machine quilted quilt myself. It only made me want a long-arm machine all the more! It was a quick quilt to make but I just love the results and apparently so do Danny and Denise!

What's New?

What do Virginia, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, and Texas have in common? They will all have been graced by the wonderful presence of the Whittacres!

Yes, you read that right. We are moving to Texas -- Dallas to be a little more precise! Chopper received a tentative job offer to work at Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Tentative because he needs to have a background investigation and drug test both come back clean before the formal offer is made. But we're not worried about that.

We are so excited! It's a new adventure and that's wonderful in and of itself but for Chopper to finally be employed again! He's also working on an online degree through American Military University that started this week. When it rains it pours and the blessings are coming down cats and dogs right now!

Abby Adorable

I just love this picture! Look at that face!! And those chubby arms!!!

Itty Bitty Studio

After the quilt show last Saturday, I was of course motivated and inspired to keep creating and there are a few more people on my list that could stand to have a baby quilt. The problem is that we have a 2-bedroom apartment with 2 small children and lots of baby equipment everywhere you turn! And even though Megan is very careful with all of my equipment, I never let her anywhere near it unsupervised and it's a pain to take it out and put it away for 1/2 hour spurts. I need a studio! Chopper flippantly suggested I set up in a closet and well . . . I took the challenge.

The great thing about this apartment is the closet storage. So I took this spare closet in our dining area:

and converted it into my new sewing studio!

There's a shoe organizer on the door that does wonders for all my little things and even though I can't cut or iron in there, everything is at my fingertips and I can just shut the door on the mess when the girls are up and around! I'm so jazzed right now I might just have to start my own business to boot. Now what closet can I use for an office . . . .

Quilt Show!

My friend Amanda and I went to a quilt show in Dulles today and had such a good time! I should probably be grateful though that there aren't really any good quilt shops in Fredericksburg because not only were there some amazing quilts, there was a lot of fabulous fabric! I kept running through all the projects that I have to do right now though and refrained from buying TOO MUCH fabric. I only got some . . . and the most adorable pattern for a cupcake oven mitt. I'll have to make those in addition to the apron I'm doing for Megan to go with her play kitchen for Christmas -- I love crafting and sewing and quilting! My friend Amanda bought a ton of cute fabric and she hasn't even taken her sewing machine out of the box. So we have plans to get together and quilt away so that she can get some use out of her machine!

It was really nice actually that Chopper stayed here with Megan and I took Abby of course and she was a perfect baby. She got nearly as much attention as the quilts! I had a lot of people ask about her or comment on training her young (yes I am) and one lady in passing said to her friend, "Did you see the chubbers on that baby?" I'm assuming those are her cheeks!

I don't know if I can post pictures of quilts I liked -- they're not mine and I'm not sure so I won't, but I got a lot of good inspiration. So in lieu of cute quilts, how about some cute kids?
This is Abby in her swing. I don't know why the red dot on the side of the swing is so fascinating but it is definitely what she is locked on.
And this is one thing that dad's are good for -- sitting! He laid down on Megan's bed while she was playing and fell asleep. So Megan decided to play with him anyway!

Success!

Abby is finding her thumb! It took Megan a few months too and I think it's so funny to watch them struggle and struggle then be so gratified by such a simple thing. It really has been her life purpose at the moment and it makes her so mad when it doesn't go easily. I really don't mind the thumb, probably because I was attached to mine for more years than I care to reveal.

She also had her 2-month appointment yesterday: 11 lbs. 7 oz. and 22 inches long. She screamed like the dickens when they gave her her shots. I hate that part. But she seems to be doing ok. Good thing since there is no Tylenol to be had -- it's all been recalled and the store brands are sold out. It's scary to me that so much baby stuff get's recalled. How do I know what to trust?