Purple afghan and baby sweater

Okay so I promised I would post pictures of the purple afghan I am making for Miss K and the purple sweater I am making for baby E. I am amazed at how quickly the sweater came together, but I have had lots of time to just sit. So here they are:

Ok something funny is going on. I'll try later to post pics of the afghan from my phone. Lol. Maybe thAt's my problem, I'm posting from my iPhone.

September is half over

Wow, I just got used to August being here and then school started, now September has blown in and is more than half over.  On this day 12 years ago, we were signing our rent agreement with Mrs. Mary Ellen Olsen - then we lived there another 7-1/2 years after that first year.

I just have to chuckle now though.  Little E has been running a fever (so Not funny at 100.4), but when I [try to]give her fever reducer, she scrunches up her face, purses her lips and turns her head away -- kind of grumbles at me too.  She grudgingly accepts it and swallows when its squirted into her cheek, but there's none of the opened-mouth eager reception her siblings had done as babies.

Speaking of little Miss E, she's 7-1/2 months old now.  She is the daily delight of our family, no one gets the chuckles from her better than her brothers and sister, oh especially her sister.

So...

Happenings with the Jackson family:  I canned 6 quarts and 1 pint of very concentrated plum juice yesterday (works much faster in little bodies than prune juice from the stores, probably makes fantastic jelly too), and I need to get the pulp out of the dehydrator now too, its all dried into fruit leather.

I did end up canning 7 quarts of tomatoes on Labor Day Monday.  The 2 more that didn't fit in canner went into fridge.

A week ago, Monday Sept. 9th, I had a molar pulled (lower right side), it was deteriorating pretty good with nothing to bite against.  I wonder how long my jaw will hurt thought because last night my jaw felt like it was on fire, so I took a Ibuprofen and a Tylenol Extra Strength -- woke up about 1 am with jaw still throbbing so I took a Lortab, that did the trick.

A few days after tooth pulling, I called SLC  to Dr James Morgan's office and got my appointment moved up 6 weeks to October 1st.  I also got on his surgery schedule for November 18th.  Really, I would like to wait until E is a year old and walking, but my foot [and ankle] is falling apart too fast and hurts so badly that waiting unnecessarily is foolish, besides we met our deductible with E's birth this year.

Last night Cole received his Wolf at the Cub Scout Pack Meeting, hurray for him 'cuz that was a lot of hard work (for us both).  Next month's Pack Meeting, Joseph is to get his Arrow of Light, big Hurray for him -- our ward likes to do these in bunches, so even though he won't be 11 yet, they are still doing it then because another boy is getting his then too.  He won't get his Webelo until November though.  I need to remember to invite my Dad and stepMom to come though I imagine they won't be able to because Tuesdays are their Temple day, but will still try.

Soon it will be time to make Halloween costumes, and while I'm sewing, I'd best make Christmas dresses for the girls.  Just had a thought of making red ties for the boys too.  But speaking of  Halloween, K is very much into "princess" so thought I'd make her a princess outfit in pink of course.  And maybe make E either a black cat or tiny witch

I'm finding myself dozing off and baby E is nearly back to sleep, her Daddy's alarm woke her at 4 am, it's now almost 5:15 am.  I guess it's time to put us both back to bed.

September

Well September is here.  No don't think that I am happy about this.  My boys are in school, yep all three go now, as just last week my little T started Kindergarten on 28 August.

Here he is with K along side of him on the first day.  Let me tell ya, she WAS NOT HAPPY to leave that school and him behind, I think that she cried for an hour.  The next day I was prepared for that (and I fed them both early too), so I drove around a bit after we left the school.  Both she & E fell asleep before I got home and I got an hour or so to do my own projects.

So September means canning and also that baby E is growing.  Even as I am typing she is rolling around on the floor at my feet.  She discovered that she can do this new thing on her brother C's birthday (he turned 9 on Aug. 17, wow my babies are growing up) and whenever she is laid on the floor, she practices her new accomplishment joyfully (and sometimes loudly too).  Then... the next new thing she did was cut her first tooth (bottom middle) on the very next day, same day as G-ma Emalie's birthday.  Well lots of fuss, crying, and whining later, and last night she cut her 2nd bottom middle tooth.  Hurray for her.  Maybe now she & I can now both get to sleep before midnight?  Well I will hope.

Here is Miss happy herself!!  E is indeed a very happy baby, a good thing as J is started into puberty so he is 10 going on 15.

Enjoy your Labor Day everyone (well those in the USA).  My hubby & boys are up in the mountains cutting firewood to use in our new wood stove, but that is a post left for another day.  As is the story on me probably needing foot surgery in the not-too-distant future.  For now, I'd best get started on canning the buckets of tomatoes I have spread around my kitchen.

Baby Headbands and Crochet

So baby E is 7 months old now, and as I sometimes do, I put a cute [made by Mama] crocheted flower on a headband on her yesterday for Church.  Well, as usual, there was a red mark on her soft little head where the closure of the headband had rested. So... I was thinking just now that I should make her some crocheted headbands with some of my crocheted flowers.  And perhaps I can figure out a way to make them stretchy -- maybe crochet elastic thread  in with the yarn.  Now I know several people who've recently had baby girls join their grandchildren, so maybe I will practice on E and then make extras for my friends.

So these are patterns I've found that I like.

http://www.free-crochet.com/detail.html?code=FC01106&cat_id=305

http://mymerrymessylife.com/2012/04/crochet-seed-stitch-baby-headband-free-crochet-pattern.html

And a very cute purse I could make up to give to my equally cute 2 yo daughter K:
http://mymerrymessylife.com/2012/03/crochet-seed-stitch-purse-free-crochet-pattern.html

http://crochetdreamz.blogspot.com/2011/07/baby-headband-with-flowers-free-crochet.html#.UiTqHD_9W8M

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/headband-pattern-the-genius-headband


 http://www.allfreecrochet.com/Crochet-Accessories/Pretty-Little-Headband


http://www.allfreecrochet.com/Crochet-Accessories/Dread-Head

http://www.allfreecrochet.com/Crochet-Accessories/16-Crochet-Headband-Patterns-and-Accessories

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwUtNUA-660

 http://charmedbyewe.com/six-free-crochet-baby-headband-patterns/

And of course, my all-time favorite source for crochet, www.crochetpatterncentral.com --

 http://christinassunshinehaven.com/Baby_Items/baby%20flower%20headband.htm

http://allicrafts.blogspot.com/2010/12/free-pattern-baby-headband.html

http://aprildraven.blogspot.com/2010/04/flower-headband-free-pattern.html -- and the little girl's shirt in this one is cute too.

http://www.ivillage.co.uk/crochet-a-flower-hairband/130613

 http://crocheterie.blogspot.com/2012/02/crochet-hair-clip-hat-and-flower-free.html

http://www.caron.com/projects/ss_party/sspar_flower_headband.html

http://www.crochetville.com/community/topic/131860-buttercup-flower-headband/#entry2342912

http://shala-beads.livejournal.com/155301.html

http://www.marloscrochetcorner.com/shell%20headband.html

http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/small-flowers-lace-headband

http://www.nyanpon.com/2012/09/flower-girl-clips.html

http://crochetncrafts.com/crochet/mini-rose-hair-clip.html

http://www.beginner-crochet-patterns.com/poppy-flower-headband.html

http://cre8tioncrochet.com/2013/03/crochet-flower-hair-clip/

http://atypicalcrochet.blogspot.com/2011/03/crochet-head-scarf.html

Just for a few ideas.   ;)

Ellynn -- 2 months

Yesterday, E turned 2 months old.  I took pics of her today which I will post soon.

Already she is different, she is stretching her footed sleepers to the limit.  She looks around and is awake more.  She coos, gurgles and babbles more.  She even smiles a bit though those are still fleeting and rare.  She also (most nights) sleeps for 5-7 hour stretches at night, and sometimes I even get to sleep for several of those same hours.

Yesterday I also completed her blessing dress, it doesn't look quite how I'd envisioned that it should but it is very close.  Perhaps i shouldn't have ruched it in 4 spots, maybe only three; and maybe I shouldn't have done 2 lines, and only did one.  But it is DONE!! And I do think it is beautiful!  E will be lovely and if I get one compliment on the dress I will be happy -- actually I don't need compliments to make me happy, they are just the icing on the cake (making a good thing even better).

Ellynn - 1 month

Yesterday Ellynn turned one month so I took pctures of her to celebrate.  She didn't really appreciate the idea as you will see.  If my typing is worse than usual, well I'm typing one handed as i NAK (nurse at keyboard).  Left handed this time.

These taken today.  This outfit is one sent to me by my friend Rinty from the Frugaliving.about.com forum, she's so cute in the pink sleeper, though Rinty has a different name for it.

Happy last day of February!!

Ellynn Frances Jackson

Hey Everyone!!

I'm only about 3-1/2 weeks slow in writing this but I've been busy, really busy.

So I had my baby, we got us another girl, so that gives us 3 of a kind plus a pair -- in other words,in poker talk, we got us a full house!  ;)

We named the new baby Ellynn (prounounce it like Ellen) Frances (for my Mom who died over 8 years ago).  She is a dark haired beauty with blue/gray eyes, and is well-loved by her siblings.  In fact her 2 oldest brothers fight over who gets to hold her and they pout when they don't get to hold her enough each day.  Lol, I think if Mom didn't need to breastfeed her and change her diapers (no one wants that job among my males), they'd hold her 24/7.

Anyhow so I was induced into labor with her because of my continued ultra-high blood pressures (several of 170/100 plus 162/97 were the final culprits), starting on January 26th (my Mom's birthday), and she was finally born at 6:11 am on January 27th.  Her stats were:  7 lbs 13.2 oz, 20 inches long; lol, her 2nd oldest brother was 7 lbs 14 oz and 20-1/2 inches long so just slightly bigger than Ellynn.

Because she was born so quickly (2-1/2 pushes & she was out), her lungs didn't have time to empty of the fluid in the birth canal... she had developed an infection in her lungs causing there to be holes in her lungs, the right lung was leaking air bubbles that were preventing her lungs from inflating properly.  Called pneumo thorax I think.

So.... Ellynn got to have her first airplane ride at 7 or 8 hours of age, off she went to the Newborn ICU at University Hospital in Salt Lake City [UT] with her Daddy along for the ride -- thank goodness her Daddy was along to tell that ambulance driver a few things about driving in the snow (there was a massive winter storm happening on that Sunday and it was really really REALLY bad out in the SLC valley, enough that the plane was diverted to another city and they had to drive up).  Mom got to stay behind in Uintah Basin Medical Center to make sure she was going to be okay from having just had a baby and was going to get an infection of her own, Mom was NOT happy about that, oh well.

Ellynn had received a Priesthood Blessing from her Daddy and from Dr Morrill before she left, between that and her own strength, she rallied enough that within a day she was breathing on her own and also off IV fluids -- just had IV's for her antibiotics to help close up the holes and clear up the infection.  Daddy also discovered that this little girl loves to EAT and poop!!  Just formula while she was in the NBICU, but Mom came Wednesday afternoon to teach her how to drink Mom's milk straight from the tap -- it was touchy for a bit but we succeeded fully!

She was released from the NBICU on Wednesday evening, though Mom & Dad stayed in SLC for another 2 days to make sure all was well and to attend a Dr's appt. at the Pediatrician's clinic on Friday.  After 2 more chest scans, her lungs were clear of holes and the bubble[s] were gone! 

Home again, and just weekly visits to her Pediatrician for weight check-ups, she was 7 lbs 9-1/2 ounces at the first one on Feb. 5th.  Then 7 lbs 8-1/2 ounces at the Feb 12th one which had her Dr concerned and talking to me about supplementing, he said he'd give her another week to get her weight up at least back to her birth weight (oh come'on, anyone with a rough start to life deserves awhile to get back to normal, right?) -- during that week this Mom drank more fluids, pumped & nursed more, and researched greater-milk-producing tips to try out.  So on Feb. 19th, back again, guess what?!  She weighed more!!  Above her birth weight even!  She was 8 lbs 4-1/2 ounces... lol, some of that was no doubt due to her very wet diaper, but I wasn't taking an chances.  ;)

So many thanks to those of you who were joining me in praying for her still, I really appreciate it more than mere words can express.

Anyhow this is all well and  good, but I know that y'all really want to see her!  So without further ado, here are some pictures.  The ones of her in pink (a newborn outfit that is practically falling off her skinny frame) are oldest, the other was taken just a few minutes ago.  So.... I give you Ellynn Frances Jackson!!

Isn't she just the prettiest little pink thing you've seen in a couple of days???!!!  Of course, I am rather prejudiced too!

Lactation tips were to take any of all of the following: lots of fluids 2-4 quarts a day, Mother's milk tea,  fenugreek (or fennel) capsules, Blessed Thistle capsules (didn't do that one), Brewer's yeast tablets, and lactation cookies (with oatmeal, ground flaxseed meal, and powdered brewer's yeast).  Am going to go mix up my Lactation cookies right now -- hoping to increase my milk supply enough to have several days' worth pumped for emergencies.  Lol, an emergency to Ell's Daddy is when Mommy is out grocery shopping and she is awake & demanding food -- our sweet little baby gets ferocious when she's hungry & food doesn't show up immediately... she likes to nurse for 1-2 hours (or longer) at a time, then sleep for (sometimes) 3-4 hours.

Oh yeah, for any Peels/Jacksons reading this, we are blessing E on March 31st, that is our Ward's Fast Sunday for April because of General Conference.  Maeser 3rd Ward meets at 9 am, street address is 2575 North 1500 West, Maeser [Vernal] UT.  Send me an email if you want to come, please let me know by March 20th if you are coming... maeserquilter[at]gmail[dot]com, thanks & love to all!

Plans for the new year

I don't like to do resolutions, because I can't seem to keep them, however, I do like to make plans (maybe not always write them down, but definitely little ones that I keep in my mind from time to time).

So plans for 2013 include:

• Make 1 whole complete Quilt -- not very optimistic am I, huh?  But I know my track record, I have lots of half-finished or completely finished quilt tops but very few quilts to my credit that have been completely finished.  Most of these completed quilts have been for gifts for friends or family members, like wedding gifts.
• Actually it should be make 2 quilts, I need to sew the blocks together and complete the Peel Family Reunion quilt.
• Need to watch my spending more carefully -- friends of mine on the FL forum (frugalliving.about.com/mpboards.htm) have been talking about tracking their monthly expenses on spreadsheets.  This is a pretty good idea, and I need to think about doing this too -- plus maybe make up a 
• Price book.  I think that I could do this at about the same time, or along the same lines, as the track spending worksheet.
• Spend less time on the internet and/or on the computer.  Of course when baby #5 comes, there won't be as much time to do stuff, but then I'll want to sit and admire my cute new baby too.
• Refashion some of my shirts into tops or dresses for Dd2.
• Work on making stuff to sell in my Etsy shop again.  Dd2 has some cute little tops that were given to us, I've been thinking about taking patterns from them and making some to sell.
• Make a new blessing outfit for Baby #5 -- just been thinking of making one of each, and trying to sell the other one in my Etsy shop.  Now you may notice that I'm not putting a link to my Etsy shop, well that is because I have it on vacation mode as I've been so sick and out of sorts with this pregnancy.
• Oh yeah, and I need to clean my house (it's not filthy, just doesn't get a thorough cleaning as often as it should).  Maybe I'll even
• Hang some pictures on the walls.  Not to mention, get Dh to
• put shelves in my linen closet, so that everything isn't piled up on the floor -- which offers Dd2 excellent access to everything!
• I would also like to have a nice-looking shelf that I can use to display some cute stuff that I've got hanging around -- it would also come in very handy next Christmas to put my nativity on.
• Did I mention that I've been feeling a hankering to sew again?  I have lots of fabric, I should either make clothes for my 4 beautiful children (yes even for the boys though is more fun to sew for Dd2) or make some quilts.  The very first technique I ever learned from my Quilting Guild friends was string piecing (go here for a great tutorial), just the same thing as shown on the tute except I used 6 inch foundation blocks (5-1/2 completed blocks) of plain muslin -- I have lots of ugly fabric, some of which is outdated stuff I inherited from my Mom's fabric stash, have been thinking about making some quilts (yes more tops) out of it, because ugly quilts can be just as warm.
• Oh yeah, I should hang more clothes to dry on my drying racks, and even on hangers in the spare bedroom closet. Ya'know, save some electricity and all that.

Well I know there were more things that I've been thinking on, but I should think that is plenty for now.  I can certainly add more later.

Have a good evening, y'all.  Dh and Ds10 are busy playing the new hunting game from Cabella's that was Dh's Christmas gift to the family, and I need to get Ds4 and Dd ready for bed (plus check on the clothes in the dryer).

=) Gayle

Enveloping a quilt

Never before have i done this, though a few friends have told me time and again how easy it it is.  So when I decided a couple of weeks ago that I wanted to make quilts for my boys for Christmas (I've still got bit over two months), well I knew I needed to find an easier way to do them.  And I remembered about the quilt enveloping technique (some people call it "bagging a quilt").  After much hunting, I found this tutorial and I think the author did a fairly good  job of explaining.

Someday I will have pictures to post on here of the quilts I make for my boys.  If I get really ambitious, maybe I will make quilts for Miss K as well as for the new baby.  I really ought to make a couple of blessing outfits for the new baby, one of each and then either give away or sell the one that doesn't get used.

=)  Gayle

Jackson Baby #5

So yesterday I finally had my ultrasound, ya'know the main big one that [if you want to know] tells you the gender of your baby.

But of course, we Jacksons, we aren't interested in such superficial stuff as that!  LOL!  No really it's as my dearest hubby says, "By the time you're an adult, Christmas & birthdays are pretty well spoiled for you because you already know pretty much what you're getting.  But with a baby now, well just because you CAN figure out your baby's gender doesn't mean you Should!  So I don't want to know!  Our parents never knew with us..."

So at this point, well i tell myself that Baby #5 is a boy, and since we now have a girl, well it doesn't matter too much since this baby will have clothes no matter which he/she is.  I will pack an outfit for each gender, something for baby to look cute in for the hospital's photo shoot, and sort out the appropriate clothes at home.

But of course, i know you're really reading this post just to see any pictures that I might be posting, yes?  Well, not to disappoint you then.  I have a CD with 13 pictures on it, have uploaded them to my computer and am now in process of selecting just which ones I want to show.  Well maybe I'll just make it easy for myself and put them all up!  ;)

So here they are:

So....  I hope you enjoyed these views of Jackson Baby #5!

 I'm off to do laundry, wash dishes, clean house and/or take a nap... I need a nap, baby has me tired!

=) Gayle

ETA:  Oh yeah I forgot a few other choice details that I found out from the ultrasound.

Baby is measuring a bit big so my "new"  EDD is Feb. 10 (not that will mean much to me because baby will come whenever he/she wants to); measured in at 22 weeks 1 day, about 4 days ahead of the calendar.  Also, according to the measurements, baby now weighs 1 pound 1 ounce!

WOW

Just realized that it's been a heap long time since i last posted anything on my blog, gee I'm sorry about that.  LOL, Actually my brother-in-law did comment a week or so ago that I've not put anything on here in months, but I think it took this long for it to sink in.

So....

A slight catch-up is in order.  Of course, i have lots of pictures that I've taken but just not posted, for example, the skirts I tried to make in time for my ward's annual Spaghetti dinner (but then my machine died on me, wahhhh).  These cute little skirts are lined with white muslin, the lining doesn't have the ruffle though.    The orange skirt is size 4-5, the orange/turquoise striped one is 6-7 and the pink skirt is 8-10.

 

I made these skirts in May I think.  I'd also posted them on my Etsy shop, which I have put in vacation mode until I feel better. But more about that later.

Actually all my big news at once, because I'm feeling awee bit dizzy, and want to go lay down for a bit after I change K's bum.

In june I discovered I am pregnant with baby #5, we will keep baby#5's gender a secret, even from us.  I am only at 16 weeks so we haven't a clue yet either, but like with Katelynn, we don't plan to find out.  Baby #5 EDD is Valentine's Day 2013, I never get to my due dates, so baby will likely come early Feb. or late January -- I'd take his/her arrival on my Mom's birthday!

Also in June we bought a new-to-us, travel trailer.  WE bought it in Idaho Falls, ID, it's big,maybe bigger than we need but it's nice to fit in one spot when it starts raining while we are camping.

Kids are now back in school.  For a whole week now!  Last Wednesday, right after I'd dropped older boys off at school, I went to Walmart to acquire a few needed things.  Well,  I'd wandered all over that store, and got to the check-out stand, then without warning I fainted.  Store managers say that I had a seizure, but the ER doc we talked to at UBMC said it is likely that I was just shaking & jerking from having fainted -- until I know for sure what happened (and will likely never know because all my tests came back normal & no, no brain scan was done), I will maybe just say it was a seizure.  So my OB told me to go to bed & rest for at least a week to 10 days, well that time ends come Sunday morning.  I've tried to rest, but it's difficult.  You see....

Cole (boy #2) is getting baptized on this coming Saturday, September 1st and I kind of want my house looking cleaner than it is for that occasion.  Especially since my Daddy and maybe one of my brothers & his family will be coming this weekend.

Well, I will do what I can, and then hope they understand anyhow.

=)  Gayle

Just realized........

that I have yet to post any pics of Katelynn in her blessing dress, so after I did some minor repairs, Jackson & I took some pics of our little darling in her gorgeous dress (I made it, so I get to brag I think).  Now here they are!

Okay so I just realized that these pics don't really show the detail on the dress, so will have to take some up-close pics of the dress then post them.  However, I think that you get the idea here.

Oh I'm feeling itchy-fingered!!!  I really want to sew something today, preferably a cute little dress for my Katie-boo!  But first my muffins!  (see previous post)

A future project

From one of my Yahoo groups, I found this link:  http://www.modabakeshop.com/2009/07/angelas-diaper-bag.html; it is a tutorial to make a really cute diaper bag.  It also includes a pattern to make a changing pad with leftover fabric & iron on laminate which you can buy here:  http://www.thermowebonline.com/dyn_prodlist.php?k=82331.  I am going to have to make this one I think, then after I don't need it anymore for Katelynn, then I'll just use is as a tote bag.


=)  Gayle

More pics of Katelynn Jackson

Some more pics of Katelynn with her Daddy & brothers or by herself!

Cute little outfit given to us by Cammy Winder; Katelynn Hates clothing changes, but she looks way cute in Pink!

Cole and Joseph with Katelynn

Taw & Katelynn

One of her first really good smiles I caught on camera

Later, pics of Katelynn in her blessing dress...      :)