Author name: Melissa Dunworth

Or maybe an alternative title:

“The Amazon Baby”

In case you are wondering, from left to right: 2 weeks old, 1 year old, 2 years old, and 3 years old. That giraffe just keeps getting smaller and smaller.  There is a story behind the giraffe, do you want to hear it?  Ok, twist my arm, I’ll tell you!

When I was pregnant, my husband wanted to have a surprise, he didn’t want to know the gender of the baby and I REALLY REALLY wanted to know. When I went to the ultrasound appointment, thanks to the army he couldn’t be with me, Anne was in no mood to cooperate so we didn’t get to find out then. I was bummed! However, my mom wanted to know even more than I did, and I will be perfectly honest with you, torturing my mom turned out to be pretty fun. When my mom threw me a baby shower in CA where I grew up she made me a diaper cake and the giraffe above was the very center of the cake.

Now, I was super high risk, so I had to do lots of tests and during the last 2 months of my pregnancy I had 3 ultrasounds a week (meaning lots of opportunities to find out) to check on Anne’s progress and at one point I even had a failed version (Anne was breech). At each appt the doc always said “I’m going to say a gender, but that is just a way of referring to the baby, I’m not actually telling you the gender.”  Well at my version, my mom took the doc to heart because the doctor said “HE” so many times. Needless to say at 1:36 pm on November 12, 2009, my mom got a real surprise, finding out that Anne was in fact a girl!

Ever since she was born she has had that giraffe by her side, and he is shrinking at a rapid rate. Anne is only 3 and she is already 40.5 inches tall. This is actually the first time since she was 2 months old that she has actually been on the height chart at 99%, every other time she has been well over 100%.

Are you wondering why I am taking this walk down memory lane? Because every year for Christmas I make my parents, god parents, in-laws, and myself of course, an Anne Calendar. Her greatest hits from the year before, and the picture above is the cover of this year’s calendar.

Happy Holidays from Anne and I!

This last week and a half has just been a bear for me.  Anne and I have come down to CA for holiday and our very first day here Anne ended up in the ER. Good grief! She is so my child! I swear, not a vacation went by when I was a child that I didn’t end up in the ER – yes I am a natural born klutz. I am beginning to think Anne is too. Of all my traits that she just had to inherit!

The next day I went to put her new medication on her on Tuesday only to discover that it had peanut oil in it! Her doctor and the pharmacy are so lucky that I read everything before letting it near her because I’m fairly certain that would have landed us back in the ER! Would have had to kill them!!! (Sorry, that is the mama bear in my talking)

The day after that…my 18 year old cat started throwing up blood at 2 am.  That was traumatic and he spent 2 days at the vet’s house. I swear it was like the hits just kept on coming!

On the upside, Anne did NOT have a concussion, but they were concerned and Paws is back home with us, though he is still adjusting to his medication. Hoping and praying that it kicks in quickly.

In sewing news…I set up my mom’s sewing machine on Saturday (talk about a learning curve, sewing on a 20 year old machine!) and I actually finished a quilt!  Depending on the weather, I will post pictures tomorrow.

Now how about some winners… the 2 winners for the charm packs have been announced over on my tutorial for the Mirrored Diamonds blocks – I will be emailing them later today.  The winner of the Selvages is – commenter number one – Lisa McGriff. I will be emailing you later today as well unless you beat me too it!

Hopefully back tomorrow with pretty quilt pictures!