Siesta

My sewing machine is broken. My evenings and weekends are dedicated to enjoying the sun.

Puddle of Pink will be taking a siesta for a few weeks.

Here's Puddle enjoying our budget wading pool on our patio...notice the ridiculously cute hot-pink, ruffled two-piece Puddle is wearing. Gift for her birthday. Hilarious.

Three generations, one dress

When my mum was in grade 12 she made a dress for her potential future daughter. This was the 1960's, naturally, the dress was A-line and short.

She kept that dress stored away until she had me, over ten years later.

Here is a picture of me wearing the dress, along with my mum and my older brother

After I grew out of it, my mum packed away the dress in a suitcase for future daughters and the next generation.

No other daughters came and Puddle was the next eligible suitor. When Puddle grew big enough, the dress became hers.

Here is a picture of my mum and I recreating the original (above) photo. Sorry Jeff, mum took your place...

Delightful coincidence

Here's a magical coincidence, today is Puddle of Pink's 1 year anniversary and this is her 100th post!

After a year of writing this blog I wish I could offer a few kernels of wisdom for dressing your baby but I'm not too sure wisdom and clothes belong together in one sentence. (I do have some thoughts on cloth diapering, but I'll resuscitate my Cloth Diaper Diary to discuss those).

My only honest reflection on my experience of dressing little Puddle over the last year is a little cliche and totally sappy. But here goes.

I could easily do without all of the dresses and rompers and hand me downs and bonnets. My single favourite way to cloth Puddle is in her birthday suit.

I love naked baby bodies. I love their bums. I love their rolls of fat that hang from their thighs. I love their fat-cuffs at their wrists. I love the dimples on their hands.

Here's Puddle finally getting naked time outside. Hello sunshine!

Intervention may be required

The day after I revealed to the world my irresistible attraction to all things purple, without even realizing it, I bought Puddle a pair of purple shoes and purple leggings. I. Swear. To. God.

Proof.

I didn't realize I had bought two more purple items until today - almost two weeks later!

I'm like an addict and purple is my drug.

Little apartment in the big city

I finally made Puddle a bonnet to fend off the strong Vancouver sun rays.

She's my little baby Carrie now. I'm Laura. But my husband is Pa, not Almanzo. And Mary isn't here because she's annoying.

I used Made By Rae's Peekaboo bonnet pattern. The pattern was easy to follow. One suggestion though, I would hand stitch the final seam together as she suggests rather than machine stitch it (too hard to stitch in the ditch on both sides).

(Note: Yes, I made it out of purple fabric. In fact, both sides are purple as the bonnet is reversible.)

Now I've found my perfect baby shower gift.

Dresrospective

I love opening Puddle's closet and being greeted by her colourful dresses.

Each dress represents a memory from her first year.

First wedding!

First heat wave!

First back-to-school outfit!

First Christmas...and first candy cane!

First Valentine's Day!

First fireside chat!

Now that she's turned the corner into her second year, it's time to cull the smaller dresses and make room for more memories. 

Happy 1st Birthday

My little baby is growing up. She's one year old today.

It's hard to write this post without leaning on a bunch of old cliches: It's feels like only yesterday that you were born! You're the light of my life! You're the best thing that has ever happened to me!

But I guess there's a reason these old sayings stick. They're true.

Here's my little angel wearing a dress I wore when I was one.

I didn't capture it one camera, but she tried to rip the dress off right after this photo was taken...

Happy birthday Puddle. I love you.

Puddle of purple

If you know me well, you know that my favourite colour is purple. I cemented my love of purple (warning, embarrassing omission ahead) by getting a purple tattoo as a teenager.

I also chose to read, The colour purple - obviously one of my favourite books - to my campers when I was a teenage camp counsellor. This got me into a whole lot of hot water with the camp director.

So you can imagine how shocked and dismayed I was when, a few years later, a well-intentioned friend hinted that liking the colour purple was less than cool.

Turns out, liking purple is reserved for new-age-types. And again, if you know me well, you know that I am not a new-age-type.

But I can't shake my thing for the colour purple. This becomes clear when you do a quick survey of the clothes I buy and make for Puddle...

(and of the flowers I make my husband photograph)...

Clearly my Aunt knows about my love of all things purple, she hand knit this lovely cardigan for Puddle.

I've only bought Puddle two pairs of shoes. Both are shades of purple. I bought them on the same day. Coincidently, also the day I realized I was projecting my love of purple onto Puddle.

A visit to the barber

Puddle's Nonno is a barber. So having Nonno give Puddle her first hair cut seemed obvious.

Suspecting that I might react badly to Puddle's hair being cut, my husband warned me that Nonno would likely cut it shorter than I'd like.

But I agreed to it being cut anyways.

Because here's the thing. You can warn somebody as much as you'd like not to do something (or in this case, allow something) but they'll likely do it anyways. As a rule, warnings are never heeded. People are curious animals. And sort of sadistic. They need to experience things themselves in order to understand them.

So I gave the go ahead...

Puddle's dad assess the situation...

 Nonno gets to work...

A little off the top....

...a little off the back...
   

...almost done.



So here's something that's true. My husband knows me well. I was initially a little upset with how short Nonno cut it.

But I got over it. Quickly. The idea that Puddle can look back on these pictures and know that her Nonno lovingly gave her her first haircut is heartwarming.

Plus, I've always had a thing for pixie haircuts.

Here's Puddle enjoying Nonna's lasagna post-haircut.

Peacock tail

I came across this sweet Old Navy romper while deep in a Pinterest vortex the other day.

It reminded me that I wanted to make Puddle a romper for the summer. And that I wanted to make one with a frilly bum.

An Etsy search produced this simple romper pattern by Piper's Girls (US $9.95 - not a PDF pattern).

The pattern was pretty simple. But the instructions were not.

Sewing the romper was a little like putting Ikea furniture together.  Along with fabric and a sewing machine, you need your thinking-cap or a little dumb luck.

If you're a novice sewer and would like to make try this pattern, I would suggest having a intermediate-sewer friend on speed-dial.

The finished product is hysterical however. The moments of irritation over the vague instructions were well worth it.

Here' Puddle shaking her tail feather.