Introducing... and an Update

Erica Marie!  Our second daughter was born in the afternoon of May 8th.  She was born weighing 7 pounds 13 ounces, and was 20.25 inches long.  It was a wonderful, personalized experience, especially if you consider the stories that you hear about military hospitals.  I may or may not get around to sharing her birth story.

I've been busy the last three weeks with baby and toddler stuff, and my parents left this morning after staying for a week.  There are several projects that I've done that I haven't had a chance to write about, between getting ready for Erica's arrival and getting into some semblance of a routine.  I will try to get some the following projects posted in the next few days (I don't promise that they'll be in order).   Some of these go way back.

• HELPING: In late February or early March Melodi decided that it was time to really start helping with stuff around the house, especially in the kitchen.
• BUSY BAGS: I finished up enough busy bags for Melodi to have a good variety of activities for when I need her out of my hair to nurse or otherwise.
• CLEAN FINGER PAINTING: Melodi got to do some clean finger painting when we were trying to do some housework before Erica arrived.
• OSW MOTHERS DAY CARDS: I got one set of cards made for Mothers Day.  They got sent out late, but they've been sent.  I also used some from this set for birthdays.
• NEWBORN PHOTOS: We had Erica's newborn photos done by DanetteKayPhotography and love how they turned out.  For the sneak peek visit Danette's blog.
• GRADUATIONS & ECLIPSE: We've attended two graduation parties, with Erica in tow, and with that comes more cards.  These were really cute!  We even got to see the eclipse after one of them.
• GRANDMAS' BRAG BOOKS: I put together the bones for brag books so our moms and grandmas can carry Erica's pictures with them.  Considering how much time I put in to making scrapbook pages together I had my mom pick out the individual page embellishments for hers while she was here.
• MOZZARELLA: My mom is a huge influence on my desire to try new recipes and we have fun doing it together.  I told her about a homemade-microwave mozzarella recipe I found so we tried it a couple times.  Then hubby had to find something to do with the leftover whey so he made ricotta cheese.
• FAT QUARTER SKIRTS: Back in February I bought some fat quarters to make Melodi some skirts.  They finally got dug out and at least started.  Mom helped a lot and I learned some new sewing techniques.  We used this pattern, but finished all internal seams completely.