I can't believe that 2017 is right around the corner, literally! This year felt as though it's creaked by and then sped up to a ridiculous speed around August so I am kind of breathless as I think about what's next for the new year. No lies, I am relieved to say goodbye to 2016. It's been a lot of life, and I could deal with setting life to a "cruise control" mode and just enjoying time. 

I am pretty excited for 2017 but not in the way that I am usually excited for the new year. Normally,  I have very itemized goals that I want to achieve. There are lists. There are expectations and I usually fall short. Last year, I swore that I was going to take better care of myself. In a way, I followed through with allowing myself to heal. However, on the other hand, I didn't follow through with what I truly had in mind. Baby weight loss, channeling my inner fashionista, eating the way I am supposed to, getting out more. I still have residual baby weight, I don't always dress for the day (or leave the house), and I am eating chocolate wafer cookies as I write this. #winning  

Transformation Tuesday: 90s holiday dress to toddler romper

Oh my gosh, guys. I almost didn't make another Transformation Tuesday! This was easily the hardest upcycle that I've ever done and I was literally sewing against the clock (well, my self-imposed deadline of tonight). The concept of this transformation wasn't difficult however, I cut all of my pieces two weeks before I began sewing. Of course, during that time Mr. Hugo bear had a growth spurt and I had to scrap my original design when I was 85% finished and let out all of the seams. That didn't work. I have used the seam ripper enough this week for my husband to know that if I am sitting on the couch, seam ripping and binge watching Netflix, it's going sideways.

Now that we've talked about what a wild ride this week was trying to get this transformation to work for me, let's talk about the inspiration behind this romper!

Transformation Tuesday: Updated Old H&M Floral Top

Like I said this week is a little backwards so today it's Transformation Tuesday, except on a Thursday!

I've had this shirt for years. It's a thrifted H&M top that I found for $5.99 at one of my favorite Goodwills when I was living much closer to the city. The floral print of this shirt is what really drew me in a few years ago and I still love it just as much. Since I have a habit of repeat wearing my favorite clothing items (and ignoring the rest of my closet in the process) I was starting to get a little bored with the style of this shirt so I tossed it into the "do something with this" pile.

Pattern Review: See & Sew B6371

Today we are going to mix it up! Instead of our normal Tuesday series, I am going to do a pattern review instead. My transformation for Tuesday is almost done so I will post it on Thursday. There's just a few last minute details that involve seam ripping and I've been avoiding the task!

A few weeks ago, I went to Joanns thinking that the Simplicity pattern sale was in the works but I misread the ad and was really disappointed when I realized that they were still full price because I was looking for a classic doll dress pattern to get started with my Christmas sewing. I decided to take a look at the See & Sew rack and found something close to what I had in mind with the B6371 view B. Woot, woot. $2.99 for the win!

Transformation Tuesday: Old Maternity Shirt to Ruffle Tank Top

I've always had this idea that sewing a shirt is really hard and I'm just not quite up to snuff to pull it off. Lately, it seems like all of the DIY/sewing projects that I've been viewing have all been shirts and it was just the motivation that I needed to tackle an old F21 denim shirt that I bought when I was carrying Hugo. Initially, I was planning on upcycling it into some trendy pants for Hugo until I went to a consignment store and saw another girl rocking the same shirt. It really caught me off guard how good the shirt looked and I started to think that maybe there was more to this shirt than I was giving it credit. So, of course, the shirt sat in my closet for weeks until, once again, my good ole planner said that it was time to do something with it this week. I really needed to come up with a game plan but I wasn't too sure which way to go so I just started with before pictures. Really, really, awful before pictures.

Pattern Review - Simplicity 8098

Well, Thankful Thursday was short lived. Not that I'm lacking gratitude or thankfulness rather, there is just so much to be thankful for and I am so appreciative for a great many things in my life. I have noticed that it is a lot harder for me to talk about things that are so close to me now such as, why I am thankful for life, opportunities, possibilities, health, etc. and I was really conflicted about posting last Thursday's post. Introspection is a beautiful thing that causes pause and self growth but I don't know that there's a place for that level of intimacy on the blog, anymore. I would rather look back and see the evolution of when I started writing through actions and experiences instead of talking about the process of what it took to get there. This leads me to talk about where this blog is going!

Transformation Tuesday: Onesie to Knotted Hat for Baby

About a month ago or so, I purchased a new set of onesies for Hugo on clearance at H&M. H&M is my favorite store for baby clothes because they last longer than any brand that we've used with Hugo bear and it's not nearly as expensive in relation to other stores. (Yayer!) It was however, a sad day when his white striped onesie was stained during lunchtime (the week after purchase, ugh!) and no amount of oxiclean or soaking was going to save the areas heavily stained. Darn those lunchtime mandarins!

I really didn't want to throw it out since I literally just bought it and since the staining was isolated on the sleeves, I knew that I could upcycle the onesie into something else for the Hugo bear! So, the onesie sat on my dresser for awhile as I thought about what to make with it. 

Thankful Thursday + Target Style Inspired DIY Holiday Trees

This month, I thought it would be fun to talk about what we are thankful for and I've been looking forward to writing this post ever since I committed it to my planner. Although, I am truly excited to write about why I am thankful and what for, I've had a really hard time writing this post because the topic is so close to my heart and is the product of working through hard moments that I experienced this year.

Today, I am incredibly grateful for opportunities and possibilities. This seems kind of unusual, right? Let me explain, if you have been following my blog this year and my sporadic posts, you know that working through Hugo's birth story was a little hard and then six weeks later I almost died mid-surgery and sustained injuries such as: perforated organs, internal bleeding, air built all around my chest cavity, and a slew of other side effects that continued for months. These events triggered post partum depression and other anxieties, fears that I didn't have before and life became about survival. I struggled, a lot, until rather recently. I spent so much of my time in pain, sick, angry, in shock, and lost in sadness which caused me to miss so many opportunities. Opportunities to hold and snuggle Hugo when I was in too much pain. Opportunities to get to know new moms when I couldn't see passed my own nose. Opportunities to strengthen friendships and other relationships that I had when I withdrew or pushed people away. Opportunities to share kindness, be helpful, loving, etc. I just didn't, or couldn't care.

Transformation Tuesday: "UGG" Inspired Slouchy Boots + Free Pattern for 18" Doll

My craft room is starting to accumulate a lot of old clothes, and honestly, some randomish things. I don't know when or where this happened, but I started to save everything. Scott even asked last week if I wanted to keep an old pair of his jeans that he was going throw away and I said, yes.

I guess lately I've had a keen eye and just see possibilities. Lots of free, make something cool, kind of possibilities. So things have been congregating in the corner, piling up, for me to get to. Most of which are my old clothes from like, the late 80s and early 90s. Yeah, the 90s. It's been so much fun remembering: "Oh, I wore this for Easter!!! Awww!" and then tearing it up with scissors. Again, I have no idea why. Anyways, I digress! Christmas is coming up and doll clothes are on the agenda for Christmas presents and repurposing old clothes are perfect for just that.

DIY Pack and Play Sheets

One of our favorite gifts that we received when expecting Hugo was our Eddie Bauer pack and play. We spent a good deal of time trying to figure out which brand of pack and play to choose and ultimately the Eddie Bauer pack and play won us over with it's look and function. Not to mention that it is incredibly well built. However, one thing that we didn't know when we put the pack and play on our registry is that most pack and play sheets will not fit the mat. Gah! We relied on the pack and play a lot when Hugo was a newborn to about 2 months but he got tired of it quickly and preferred his crib so I never made sheets for the mat. Once he became a little older and needed to be contained, he continued to prefer other things to his pack and play. Soon enough, we started leaving the pack and play at my parent's house so Hugo had his own space when I needed to go to an appointment and leave Hugo with my parents. We thought that we would have had the opportunity to camp this summer but unfortunately timing and weather just didn't work out so we were running out of use for the pack and play.

DIY Mickey Mouse Trick or Treat Bag

I am officially the worst ever. Scott and I have been talking about getting Hugo's Halloween costume around the time that Halloweeny things entered the store (so like, August? haha) but we kept putting it off... and putting it off... until it was a week before Halloween and we didn't have a costume for the Hugo bear!

How to Update a Carseat - The Easy Way

Lately life has been busy. Hugo's birthday is right around the corner (tomorrow!) so I've spent a lot of time planning his birthday, sewing, more sewing, being sick, and all around stressing over adult related things but at least I've been ridiculously productive!

Since Hugo had a crazy growth spurt and is currently in the 89th percentile for height, his carseat is officially too small. We kind of predicted that it would be around this time that he would outgrow his seat so the cost of a carseat has been in the back of our mind for awhile. There's no way that we could afford something new and we were so lucky that my parents held onto my little sister's carseat. I've had the carseat sitting in the closet downstairs for a couple of months but I kept putting it off because I wanted to purchase fancy fabric online and they were either out of stock when I had the money or our money went to unexpected costs. I knew that I couldn't put it off any longer and that I needed to get it done this week so I could scrub the old carseat and get him into his new one. I'm starting to notice that I tend to put things off until the last minute - ha! Anyways, let's talk about how this went down!

DIY Home Office: My Upcycled Computer and Sewing Desk

The summer has disappeared on me. I'm still processing that September is less than a few days away and that Hugo bear is soon to be a year old. Life changes and moves so quickly but that is a post for another day!

Lately, I've been home a good deal and we've been slowly settling into our newish place. New, as in we moved in March and are still unboxing things, accumulating furniture.

5 Family Friendly Paved Trails in Tacoma and the Surrounding Area

Lately the struggle has been real trying to carry Hugo around in his carrier. At 8 months old he's already in 18 month clothes and his last wellness exam placed him in the 91 percentile for weight. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not very strong and carrying him around is so. hard. Since Scott can work multiple weeks in a row, it really limits how often we can get out and hike as a family because he's the only one who can carry Hugo!

I love being outside when it's nice out and I love hiking. I love the burn and the tightness of air in my chest as I'm making my way up the switchbacks. I love being rewarded with stunning views or waterfalls for all of my hard work and if you can't tell, I really miss it. So, I've been exploring family friendly paved "trails" that give you that same feel-good-feeling but without worry of a carrier. Surprisingly, we found quite a few!

Here are five family-friendly trails that are great for strollers, bikes, and other fun things!

Travel Tuesday: Meeker Days

This weekend Scott and my little man Hugo were burnt out. Hugo hasn't been sleeping well and has been getting up 2-3 times through the night again and often fights taking his naps. Yikes. Of course, we're all tired but Saturdays are the only days we have available to get out as a family and I look forward to them all week. It took a lot of convincing the husband that we wanted to go somewhere this weekend so we kept things simple. We went to Meeker Days!

Meeker Days is a festivaly type farmer's market that downtown Puyallup, WA hosts once a year to celebrate Ezra Meeker (the guy who founded Puyallup and a few other sections of the valley). I used to go to Meeker Days almost every summer with my grandparents when I was growing up. They always had a ton of fun things to do, booths where individual crafters sold their goods, and delicious food. Yuumm. Since it was Hugo bear's very first Meeker Days, we just had to go. So we did.

Travel Tuesday: Long Beach, Washington and Cape Disappointment State Park

Welcome to a new series on the blog... Travel Tuesday! Every Tuesday you can expect to find a variety of travel adventures, tips for traveling with baby, and other travel related posts.

First, a little bit behind the idea of Travel Tuesday! Scott and I used to travel and hike a lot before we got married and had Hugo. We would hop in the car, grab a few energy drinks and snacks, turn the radio up and ask: North, South, West, or East? We spent our weekends traveling anywhere and everywhere with no destination in mind. Of course, being settled eliminates a little bit of the same spontaneity but that doesn't mean that adventuring is impossible with littles! They love to explore too and it's so fun watching them light up as they experience new places.

Postpartum Depression

"Have you blogged lately," asked my mom.
"No, I haven't."
"Hmm, that doesn't sound like you.." my mom countered with a concerned expression.
"I know."

And that is what postpartum depression looks like, for me.

Hugo's Three Month Update!

We missed Hugo's 2 month update since I was still recovering (you can read about that here) but we are back for month 3!

Oh. my. This boy has GROWN! We're talking 9 month pjs now guys. 9 months! My mind is still processing this. Where did my little baby boy go!?

Baby Burp Cloth Tutorial: The Best DIY Baby Shower Gift!

This week I sewed a set of highly functional, yet stylish burp clothes. I know that baby tutorials are a dime a dozen and that baby burp cloths have been done a hundred times over, but I really wanted to share this with you because of how much this project meant to me. I also do my burp cloths quite a bit differently so if you haven't fallen in love with a specific tutorial, maybe this will work for you!