Some People Do...Why Can't I?

 Some people make a living out of doing what they love...why can't I?  Don't get me wrong I'm not a great sewer but, I can sew a straight line and piece things together and I could get better with practice.  But, I've been so busy that I haven't had very much time to do the things that I really enjoy like sewing and digital scrap booking.  I can be very crafty and I feel I do a good job at it, I feel creative and happy.  Now, why can't I make a career of this and feel creative and happy instead of having such a time consuming, stressful job?
 Enough babbling! 
I starting thinking about this because over the weekend I made my sister this car seat cover.  She is expecting her first little baby boy in the next couple weeks. 

I thought it turned out so freaking cute!  I don't mean to toot my own horn but I really don't sew much and my experience is all from my 7th grade sewing class.  Yes, since then I've done quite a few things but, I've had to teach myself.  So, sometimes I end up impress myself as well! :)  I went to Swiss days and thought about getting her one there just because I thought I wouldn't have the time but decided against it because I couldn't find one that I liked so I went to the fabric mill in Orem and found this fabric that I fell in love with and set off to make the cover.  It turned out so much better

 than I thought it would and cuter than anything I saw at Swiss days. 

I loved the colors of the fabric and the big red buttons!  I especially loved the gray poke a dot fabric on the back and straps.  Oh, and the green Ric rack around the edges, how cute is that?  I know humility is a virtue but I feel like tooting my own horn!  :)

I loved doing it too.  It felt good to actually take time to do something that I enjoyed.  I love creating things.

So, I'm telling you...I can be for hire! I can do car seat covers, invitations, and/or announcements. :)

Here are the invitations I made for her shower.  I used the frog one because it seemed more "baby shower" but i loved the colors of the other one too! :)  I also made matching return address labels with the little frogs, dragon flies, turtles, and bugs. 

Acceptance

I am learning to accept the fact that I can no longer keep Wes safe 100% of the time.  Just in the past week he has hurt himself 3 times...all leaving marks!!  I'm wondering how many more excuses I can give my sitter before she just decides to call Child Protective Services on me! :) 

Here's the run down of injuries...

1) I was doing the dishes and I heard Wes come running around the corner so I stepped out in front of the dishwasher door, which was open, to stop him from running into it.  Preventing an injury right? Wrong!  It did stop him from running into it but while he was just standing there the clumsy little toddler lost his balance and fell right into the corner of the dishwasher.  Ryan and I were both standing there and Ry picked him up because he was freaking out.  Well, after a few minutes he had this nice little scratch across this belly.  He was so sad and cried to much.  It broke my heart.  I went to rock him while he settled down for bed and he let me ice it.  He went to bed and never messed with it again. 

Here's the scratch:

 So, the next morning the conversation with the sitter went like this:
Nici: Just so you know when you change his clothes he fell into the dishwasher door and scratched up his tummy. 
Sitter: oh poor baby!


2) The next night we went to the splash pad with our friends Arron and Lisa.  Wes and his buddy, Gabe, were playing in the water when they hit right into each other.  In the next picture you can see under his right eye a red goose bump which by morning turned into a nasty bruise. 

So, the next morning I said to the sitter, "Oh, his black eye is from playing at the splash pad with his buddy and they ran into each other."
Sitter, eyed my suspiciously (in a joking way! :)) and said, "sure".

Ok, so you'd think that was enough right? Nope!

3) Not the next night BUT the NEXT we were at my sisters house who has a kitchen made for 1 small child to be in at a time and I was in there making dinner (she's on bed rest) and Wes came in to help.  Well, he walked right into the end of the metal handle to her 1967 oven.  He had a big red mark on his temple.  By morning it was a bruise! 
So, the next morning at the sitter I sheepishly told her about the 3rd "accident" and then asked how many more "accidents" I could report before CPS was waiting for us when we came to pick him up!  She laughed knowing, well hopefully knowing, that we are not beating our child.

I feel so bad for the poor guy but man, things change so much once kids are mobile.  As hard as we try to protect him and try to prevent every little trip and fall it is just impossible.  Luckily he is a tough kid and only cried with the dishwasher incident.  The others he just wanted to know someone was there.   I just want to wrap this kid in bubble wrap but I'm thinking it might not make him friends.