Chaela, Chaela, let down your hair!

My neighbor told me she wanted to see the process I go through to make my kids' costumes, so sorry people who don't care, you'll be seeing several blogs about it!

Today I tested my idea for giving Chaela her Rapunzel hair, because if it wasn't going to work I wanted time to think of something else. The idea was to get a ton of gold ribbon and braid it into her hair.

The process for braiding ribbon into hair is very simple; you cut double the length of ribbon of you want, fold it in half, and slip it onto a bobby pin. Then you cross a section or two of the hair (meaning just barely start the braid) and stick the bobby pin up in there behind it, then add the now-dangling ribbon to one of your three hair sections and braid like normal. Ta da! Very cute. See this post to see what that looks like.

Anyway, I decided to take that a step beyond with several bobby pins tucked all over Chaela's head and lots of ribbon.  Result:

Yay!  It worked so much better than I thought it would and was actually a tiny bit of a pain to take out once it was in, which is excellent because that means it won't fall out on its own when she's running around.  However, it's nowhere near as thick as I want and ribbon is relatively expensive, so the next step is to grab a skein of yarn that matches her hair and add a bunch of that.  If it doesn't work, that's ok, I know this does and if it comes down to it this is close enough.  Except it will look much nicer, I did this really fast and it's not very attractive.

Upon review, I really do go overboard...

Yes, I'm talking about it again: Halloween costumes!  I don't think it's unreasonable though.  I have at least three to make, one of which is fairly elaborate (Chaela's) and there are just over three months left until they need to be finished.  Oh, and I'm attempting to draft my own patterns, so... yeah.

In the spirit of things, I decided I want to compile a pictorial history of costumes I've made for my kids, so here they are!

2008

Chaela - Medieval Princess

2009

Chaela - Fairy

2010

Chaela - Witch

Joci - Black Cat

2011 - Pirates

Chaela

Joci

2012 - Disney Princesses

Chaela - Rapunzel

Joci - Merida

Kairi - ? (currently planning on Snow White)

The reason I'm so pumped today is because I went to the store and got Chaela and Joci's fabric!  I was going to have Joci be Cinderella up until this morning.  She kept pointing at the picture of Merida (when she could be bothered to point at all) and even though she technically wanted the other dress, I'm not doing wigs (any wig I can afford would be totally tacky).  So in the picture above, the blue and gold fabrics are Joci's and the pinks and purples are for Chaela.  It was an extremely frustrating process trying to find the right fabrics in the right colors for the Rapunzel dress, and in the end I had to sacrifice either the correct color or texture in the majority of the things I bought for her.

Here are some thoughts about the costumes before I start:  Chaela's chosen dress is complex; it has five different fabrics, four to five different trims, and embroidery... I'm not doing the embroidery and I only got four kinds of fabric, one can do double duty.  It's also not really a dress, it's a skirt and top plus a petticoat.  Yeah.

Joci's dress is really basic compared to Chaela's, all it has is a band of gold brocade at the bottom and gold trim around the neck.  I'm a little worried about the head thing (wimple?) but if all else fails I'll just get some ladies' opaque white tights and cut out a hole for her face, ha ha.

I'm leaning towards Snow White for Kairi, and since she's so little I think I may do a yellow tutu instead of a skirt.  I'm doing hers last, though, since she has the most growing to do between now and October.  I like the tutu in this picture, but I'd like the top to be closer to what Snow White wears in the movie.

On top of all this madness, if I have time I'd like to do a cloak for each of them because heck, if I'm doing all this work I'll be darned if the costumes I make are going to be covered in winter coats!  We'll see though, that  could easily be too stressful and/or expensive.

Sometimes writing is hard

So today I actually worked a little bit on a new project of mine.  You know, sometimes writing is so easy.  The scene just comes to me, like a movie I'm watching in my head, and I can't type fast enough to keep up.  Sometimes writing is like trying to see what's happening outside, except you're inside in a room with no windows, so your only choice is to bust through the blank white walls.  With your head.  That's where I am right now.

I feel like I can't "see" the story.  I know it's there, like it's an active thing that's happening just a breath too far away to get at.  So I'm chipping away at this white wall to get to it.  Chipping teeny tiny bits out of a massive stone wall to get to the characters and story on the other side.  I know it's there, but getting through to it is so much work.

Bringing Sexy Back

Or something.  Ha ha.

Two related things:

First, I have decided that if I get published, I will use some of the money to get laser hair removal and NEVER HAVE TO SHAVE AGAIN!  It will be my reward (on top of the obvious reward of being freaking published).

Second, part of me is sad that I'm done having kids because that means I'm out of excuses for being chubby.  Lame.  Now I have to control how much/what I eat and start exercising, and I hate that.  On the bright side, by next summer I hope to look closer to this:

Yes, friends I've made in the past five years, that was me many, many pounds ago.  By next summer I would like to somewhat resemble this picture, or just be closer to looking like that than to looking like I do now.  Wouldn't it be great if I looked like that AND could reward myself with laser hair removal?!  Yes it would.

(me singing) I'm bringin sexy back... dun dun la la la la la la....

I don't know the other lyrics, but I feel like that's ok.

Kairi's Blessing Dress and My Annual Obsession

I had a sewing day yesterday and I'm going to admit I'm thrilled with the results!  Here is Kairi's blessing dress:

I'm proud of myself because I made this dress completely without a pattern!  I did lean heavily on this tutorial from Kojo Designs for the skirt, but I constructed the bodice and added the little lace sleeves on my own.  I decided to forgo the ruffle around the neck, and even though I love the belt she did I don't have any white ribbon wide enough and am too lazy to go buy some.  Luckily for me, I made a mistake when I sewed the skirt onto the bodice and the unfinished side of the skirt ended up on the outside.  I decided it was cute so I kept it instead of spending an hour picking it out.  All that's left to do now is make a diaper cover and headband!

All this sewing got me thinking again about Halloween and how excited I am to make the girls' costumes.  Chaela wants to be Rapunzel from Tangled, so I'm having all three of the girls go as Disney princesses this year.  Now I just have to decide which princesses the other two are going to be and I'm having a hard time.  I think Joci would make a cute little Cinderella, but I also really liked Brave, and having her go as Merida would be fun except I'm not doing wigs (Chaela's hair is blonde and long enough for people to get the picture, so I'm going to braid it and add some flowers).  So I was thinking I could do the formal dress Merida wears instead of her main one, that way hair wouldn't be an issue.  Do you think people would get it?

And I'm totally at a loss for Kairi's costume.  Rapunzel and Merida are very recent princesses, so does it "match" if I decide to make my one non-blonde child Snow White(if she's still not blonde by then... you never know what their hair will do)?

Who thinks way too much about Halloween?  I do!

Anyway, I'd really love to hear you guys' thoughts and suggestions on which princesses Joci and Kairi should be, so leave a comment and let me know!

Awesome Random Things You Can Learn on the Internet

Brandon Sanderson (the author) is awesome (again).  He just posted this on facebook and twitter:

You all may think I'm a little obsessed, but seriously, how often does the master of a craft offer to share his knowledge at no financial benefit to himself?  This guy has already posted videos of his writing classes online and now he's going to let crazies like me virtually look over his shoulder as writes.  He could be making money off of this stuff, but he does it for FREE.  That is cool.  I think he's an excellent role model for wannabes like me.  

In related news, I attended my second official meeting with my critique group!  There only ended up being two of us there, but still worth it!  I am still beyond excited to be a part of a group that (in my opinion) will help me make it to my goal of being a real published writer someday and I hope I can do the same for them!

In unrelated news, we had a ton of fun on the 4th!  I meant to take more pictures but unfortunately that didn't happen.  Here's one I did manage to get!

Also, look what I can do!  I've always wondered how people braided ribbons into their hair, and now I know  how!

This was the original hairstyle, but thanks to Chaela rolling around  and being crazy I had to redo it.

I changed it to two braids because her hair stays in better that way.

Yay for awesome random things you can learn on the internet!  I <3 the free sharing of information and ideas!

I could have been...

So I was poking around on Facebook today, stalking people I know but never talk to.  I happened upon one of my cousin's profiles, and I couldn't help thinking that she has the life I could have had.  She graduated with a science degree from a prestigious university, traveled the world, and now works for the Smithsonian.  Pretty sweet for someone who's only 23-ish, right?  She is inarguably talented at a myriad of things, not the least of which is music, something I also enjoy.

Granted, I rarely speak to her outside of family functions, and I haven't been to many of those in recent years because of where we live.  I don't know what she would say, but I look at that Facebook profile and think, "Wow, what a cool life!  I could have done that."

Then I come back to myself and see the popcorn scattered all over my bedroom floor (thanks to Joci), the half-set up pack and play, the unpacked boxes of books and miscellany, and the sleeping newborn on my lap.  The contrast is a bit of a shock, and I can't deny the doubt that I was ever smart enough to do what she does.  But then again, I really think I could have, if that had been what I wanted.

That's the key isn't it?  What we want.  I think that those of us who have a choice in what to do with our lives usually do end up, generally speaking, with what we wanted all along.  It would have been so awesome to be a scientist or an academic, but in my heart I wanted this.  

I should qualify that, because even as I wrote it I wanted to tack on "first."  I wanted to do this first, and I know that because even though her life looks awesome, I'm still content with my choice.  Now (even though no one believes it) I'm done having kids and can focus on raising them.  In a few years they'll be in school and I'll only be in my early 30's.  I can't help but sum up how I feel with this lovely piece of prose:

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2  a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3 a time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5 a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to   refrain from embracing;

6  a time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7 a time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8 a time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

(I love beautiful language.)

Believe in the bible or not, there is wisdom in this.  I will always be a mother and wife first, because that is the thing I want and value most, but I can still do the things I wanted second.  I feel a season of my life is ending, a new one is about to begin.  Maybe now is the time for what I could have been.  

Kairi Jordan

Today we welcomed our third little girl, Kairi (KYE-ree) Jordan, into our family!

Kairi Jordan
7 pounds, 6 ounces
20 inches long
born at 10:48 am

I mentioned a while back that this time I was going to be induced, and despite mixed reviews from people who had been through the process we decided to go for it.  I'm so glad I did.

We got to the hospital around 6:30 this morning.  Both of the other times I've given birth, there's been a long, tedious phase where they monitor you to make sure that you're really in labor, which I hate.  This time, however, it was "Oh, and is such-and-so your doctor?  Great!  Let me show you to your room!"  Much nicer.

So we got into our room and hung out for a while, which was fine with me considering there were women here who were in labor for real (I felt a little like an impostor).  Then the nurse came in, got me hooked up to the monitors, and started my IV, which included the drug that would start my contractions.  Then I dozed.  Then sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 I got my epidural.  I think I was settled in with it by 9:30, which was perfect timing because it was right around then that I started really being able to feel that I was having some strong contractions.  The nurse came in to check me at about 10:30, said I was an 8, and left to get the anesthesiologist because my contractions were getting painful even through the epidural.  She hadn't been gone 5 minutes when I called her extension and managed to squeek, "You know, I'm really feeling a lot of pressure!"  So she runs in, checks me, grabs the room phone and calls my doctor (whose practice happens to be part of the hospital... convenient) and says, "We need you here.  Now."  He came running, scrambled to get everything in place, and Kairi was born one contraction later.  Even though I was induced, my labor lasted a grand total of three hours.  That's a win.

Here are some pictures!

Potentially the last picture ever of me pregnant.

Finally, a Hair baby with hair!  We'll see if it lasts.

Thoughts on Health

You know, I was just thinking of how weird people are.  I mean, we obviously recognize and prefer health in other species.

For example, you would rather have a dog you owned look like this

than like this

Correct?  Because we want them to be healthy, and we could care less what size doggy sweater they need, if that's your kind of thing.  Keeping with the dog example, it is also true that we would never dream of calling this guy fat

because he wasn't as svelte as this guy

because we know that dogs come from different genetic heritages, and to judge what is attractive for one breed by what is attractive for another is just asinine.

So if we're a species that is smart enough to prefer health in pets, why are we so blind when it comes to health in ourselves?  Why is the focus on getting skinny instead of attaining our optimum healthy weight?

There's something wrong with that.

On a related note, what's up with this New York mayor and his war on pop?  I have a very strong opinion that when it comes to my personal health it's none of the government's business.  If I want to drink three extra-jumbo-large Pepsis at every meal, that is my decision.  It would be incredibly stupid, but if the reason we allow abortion is the "it's my body" argument (tangent: disagree), I don't see where the government has a leg to stand on trying to tell me I can't have a 24 oz drink, or rather, if I want a larger drink I have to pay for two of them.  Ironically, pop and candy are still covered on food stamps.  You want to make a difference in the demographic that needs it most?  Change that.

Whew.  Anyways, I'm sure you guys don't care about my rants.  To provide you with the information you're looking for, still no baby.  However, if she doesn't show up on her own in the next few days I'm scheduled to be induced in less than a week!  Scary and exciting at the same time!

Full-term

That's right, I waste way too much time on failblog.

Yay!  As of this past week I am officially full-term, and since I'm going to be induced, that means I have less than two weeks left at the longest!  I'm excited, not only because having the baby will mean an end to the excruciating sciatic pain in my right leg, but because I feel like after this our family may be complete.  We'll keep everyone posted!