Handcrafted Love

I can't believe Caroline will be 6 months old on Sunday!  As we lead up to this monthly birthday I figured I would post a few lighthearted posts to celebrate!  I wrote this one while in the hospital.  

In order to help me distinguish between my pregnancy with Emily and my pregnancy with Caroline and to help me stay excited through the fear, I made a lot of special things for Caroline.  I have also made some things since her birth.  Here are the things I have made.  

Pregnancy Scrapbook

You can see the full scrapbook on the SHUTTERFLY PHOTO SITE  If you want to see the scrapbook in person, just come on by.  

First Page
I told Philip I was pregnant by giving him a letter.  I said I was having a rough day so I wrote a letter to our future child, whenever that may be.  I ended the letter with "I am so excited that today is the day that we found out that you will be here soon.  Today, August 4, 2011, God answered our prayers with you.  Love, Mommy"

On the right hand side of the page Philip and I both typed up how we felt when we found out I was pregnant.  You can read my blog account of it here.  

August
Each month I recorded on a calendar when we had doctors appointments, any major developments,  and big events like finding out the gender and telling our family her name.

I also included pictures of my growing belly, ultrasound photos (since we had A LOT of them) and most months I typed something up to go along with what we did that month.

March
I also included photos of me in my special holiday shirts that I made.  If you would like to see the rest of the pages, check out the shutterfly photo site.

Birth Stuff!

 

Sharing her name
We shared Caroline's name with our family at Christmas.  

We shared her name with Phil's family Christmas morning.  I wrote each letter of her name on a piece of paper.  Then when I wrapped their presents I hid the letters in the presents.  As each person opened a present they would find another letter.  We didn't explain anything to them.  We just told them to hold onto them.  Phil's brother Jon was the first to guess what was going on, the letters were going to spell her name!  But we decided to be extra tricky and make sure they were all scrambled up.  So once everyone opened their presents they had to then unscramble the letters.  Later that night we got together with the rest of Phil's family.  We were all sitting around chatting and singing Christmas Carols.  Phil and I decided we need to play telephone, a family tradition when we go out to dinner.  Usually it is something like "Phil pooted".  Well tonight the first round of telephone was "Jon pooted".  The second was "Caroline".  It was so funny seeing everyone's reactions as they heard the word and passed it along.  Some people realized right away what it meant.  Others sat their completely confused.  It was a really fun way to share her name!  

A few days later we celebrated Christmas with my family.  They were nice enough to all come to Richmond.  After we all opened presents I had my brother and sister play a game that we taught at the Children's Museum.  They had to find the hidden pickle ornament on the Christmas tree and whoever found it first won a prize.  Kathleen found it and I gave her a box.  When she opened it there was an index card that said, "Congratulations!  Your prize is a scavenger hunt."  Then there was a clue and a letter below that.  Each clue was directed to a member of my family.  Every time they found a new clue they also found a letter.  They were good sports and really got into finding each clue and letter.  They were horrible at figuring out her name though.  I think my brother guessed Clarice.  I just looked at him and like he was crazy.  Would I name my child Clarice? Come on.  They eventually figured it out too.  We really enjoyed sharing Caroline's name in such unique ways!  

Holiday Shirts
I made a shirt for each of the different holidays that we celebrated while I was pregnant with Caroline.  This was super cheap and fun to do.  I just bought a colored t-shirt at Hobby Lobby for a couple of bucks, some felt, and I already had a hot glue gun.  I just cut out the shapes I wanted and glued them on the shirts.  Man I really popped between Christmas and Valentine's Day!

Caroline's Room

I made a few special things for Caroline's room.  I love that she has handmade elements from me in there.  

I made the memory board when I was pregnant with Emily.

I used a staple gun to attach fabric to an 8x8 canvas.  Then I made a  letter C with tacky glue.  I dumped a bag of pink buttons on the glue.  Then I put more glue down and dumped again.  It looks really cool and whimsical because the buttons sit at all different angles
and are piled on top of one another.

I painted the art above the towel bar.
I wrapped green ribbon around the edge of the canvas.

I took the glass out of a frame and framed a piece of fabric.
 Then I painted wood letters and glued them on the fabric.

I drew animals on scrapbook paper, cut them out, and glued them together.
Next , I took them to Staples and had them laminated.
I attached them to my Dollar Store bins with Velcro so
Caroline can play with them one day.  

Weekly and Monthly Photos

I've been taking a photo of Caroline each week.  I've also taken photos of her  for her month birthdays too.  If you look back through the blog you can see them.  They are also on the shutterfly share site.  I got the idea from this blog that I follow.  I have been printing the pictures out and gluing them on the signs that are seen in each picture.  I'm planning on displaying all of them at her first birthday party.  Then I will eventually put them in a scrapbook.  

Calendar About Caroline

I have continued the calendar idea that I started with my pregnancy with Caroline.  Each day or week I write down things she likes, things we do, and any firsts she has.  I'm planning on using these calendar pages and the weekly and monthly photos to make a simple scrapbook.  This has been a super easy way to document Caroline's life thus far.  

A goodnight book

One night during a 3am feed I had the idea that I wanted to write Caroline a book that we could read to her at bedtime.  You can see the whole book on the shutterfly share site.  

Front Cover
For some reason this photo won't flip.  Oh well. 

Back Cover
This is our family prayer

Here is an example of one of the pages.

Blankets and Stuffed Animals
I made Caroline both of these blankets and the stuffed elephant.  The stuffed dog we bought for Caroline.  We wanted to make sure we had a blanket and a stuffed animal for Caroline before her birth.  With Emily I had wished that I had been able to make her blanket before her birth to wrap her in it.  Carrying out Emily's stuffed lamb was an important part of emotionally dealing with her loss.  So we wanted a stuffed animal for Caroline too.  The blankets are patchwork on one side and a very soft minky fabric on the other.

Present for Philip

To celebrate Caroline's birth I made Philip a bouquet of dates.  I planned 12 dates, 6 are family dates and 6 are just me and him dates.  I made a cardstock figure that symbolizes each of the dates and taped them to wooden dowels.  For example:  a pig for a petting farm, popcorn for a movie, etc. I also have an envelope for each date.  Inside each envelope is information on one of the dates and money for the date.  Thus we have already budgeted for 12 dates!  I also made him a card.  

Here are the dates:

• Philip and Megan dates
• bowling
• dueling piano bar
• concert
• champagne brunch
• dinner and a movie
• painting class
• Family dates
• petting farm
• wine tasting and live music
• picnic
• apple picking
• pumpkin patch
• baseball game

The blue envelopes are family dates and the yellow envelopes are  Phil and Megan dates.

I had a fabulous time making all these special things.  I hope to make a pregnancy scrapbook with Caroline when baby number two comes along. 

Have a great week!

Love,
Megan