"What could be in there?" I wondered out loud as we quickly hurried back home to open it. I was happy that I was able to get my aunt on the phone to talk with her while we walked (one of the few places we get a good signal is outside) and managed to keep her on the phone while we opened the package. What I found were yards upon yards of fabric. Fleece, flannel and cotton. Iron on material for applique-ing, backing for the pillows I'm planning on making, along with several baby blankets (Which I may turn into baby clothes because of the cute pre-applied applique of elephants, snails etc. There was even a Carter's musical elephant which Jim has taken to placing against my belly to soothe the baby in utero. This, and the mounted Star Wars poster that were included in the box for Jim's birthday were two of his favorite items.

I feel so blessed to have family that have read my blog and thought about what they already have that would be a blessing to us. My grandma is an avid sewer who already sent us a Care Bear baby quilt, after the show I loved which also became one of my nicknames. A few weeks ago I was feeling worried over the vast amounts of things we need to purchase for the baby, and while admittedly we do not have any of the big purchases made yet, because of this present I am feeling so relieved about the status of Baby Weston's layette and through a recent visit to a "Once Upon A Child" in one of the fancier communities around us, I am feeling better about some of the other purchases that are weighing on our budget.

Anyways, I have already taken to my sewing machine to make some pieces of clothing we have been talking about whenever we visit a Hancock Fabrics or a Jo Anne's. We always pause by the animal print fabric and laugh at the idea of our son in cow pants or tiger pants, and lo and behold, we received some fleece that was the perfect material for some 6 month pants. For these I used one of the patterns I got at Jo Anne's for 99cents and I learned so much just by using the pattern instead of approximating a match using other clothing pieces. I may have to make myself a matching pair, they look so cozy!

Another fabric that we both delighted in was a yellow fabric covered with playful monkeys, which Jim requested I use soon, and laughed with delight upon seeing the end result when I obliged. He thinks they are the best thing I've ever sewn. I was a bit less pleased because I used a smaller pair of pants than the pattern I had to approximate the size and the rise came out smaller than I was intending. I think they will still be alright as newborn pants, even if they are a little long at that time. But they are soooo cute!

Making things is getting a lot easier for me as I have gotten back in the sewing groove, but my back is not as agreeable as my spirit is to making baby items, so I simply try to do a little bit every day, and have taken over our dining room table with all of my sewing mess. Our main issue is becoming storage for all of our baby blessings. We used a shelf from another area of the house and have placed it in what will probably be its final location in our bedroom and used some IKEA soft red storage boxes and a couple baskets from around the house for his stuff until we invest in our new Malm dressers, which will hold his clothes as well as ours. I've gathered a lot of our "kid stuff," and placed them all on the shelves, although some he won't be able to use for a while and may go back in a box temporarily.

We've also hung his name up above in some letters I've painted from the craft store. Using the IKEA catalog and the internet I tried to match the colors in the fabrics we're going to use after we get the crib, and I think I did pretty well. In the picture you can see the elephant that my Aunt and Grandma sent us resting and waiting for his future owner. additionally we have some shelves to hand that were formerly in our old towel-bar lacking bathroom that aren't needed there any more, but we are waiting to see how the crib feels in various locations before we put any more holes in the walls.

Because I know you, Aunt Susie, at least read this, I will definitely keep you updated on all of my creations from your generosity. And we say thank you, thank you, thank you! I can't wait to show you a live model for the things that I have been making!