Preschooler Backpack

Taylor was recently diagnosed with asthma. Given she has multiple asthma triggers and an asthma attack can come on at anytime and can be fatal if not properly treated, it's important that she always has her rescue inhaler on her. I decided to make a backpack that will go with her everywhere. I wanted it roomy enough to hold her inhaler and spacer on a daily basis and then also hold her Leapster, crayons and drawing pad and a book or 2 for our frequent doctors appointments or other outings.

Given it's going to become a constant accessory, I figured she should have a say in what it would look like so we headed to the fabric store and she picked out this floral fabric and I assisted in picking out the coordinating fabrics. I absolutely LOVE the colorful combination of fabrics!

In this pic the backpack is hanging on the back of her doll stroller.

I used this tutorial and pattern as a starting guide but made a few modifications. First, I made the body of the backpack slightly larger and the sides slightly narrower. I also lined it, added a zipper to the sides, eliminated the open fold as the opening and created a pocket on the front.

Here's a pic with her inhaler and spacer inside.

The fabric tag has her name on it since everything that goes to preschool has to be labelled.

When I finished it last night, she was quite excited. I asked if she likes it and she said "Yep, I do. It's beautiful, Mom".

Love that girl!!!

She was soooo excited to carry to school today and bring it home again.

Food Allergy Awareness Week

May 9-15 is National Food Allergy Awareness Week.

This is a photo of my 4 year-old daughter, Taylor. If you've read my blog much you know that Taylor has food allergies. She is one of the 3 to 5 million children in the U.S. who have food allergies. To find out why I took this picture, keep reading.

As an infant, Taylor was a bundle of allergy symptoms but because the world of food allergies is often confusing, I didn't realize the symptoms she had were related to food. It all became a little clearer as we introduced dairy products.

Taylor was exclusively breastfed until the age of 6 months when we introduced rice cereal. I didn't restrict my diet in any way while I was nursing and thus she was exposed to all the foods I ate (at least if the proteins in the food were passed through my milk, which they often are).

I knew a little bit about food allergies and I knew that one should introduce solid foods cautiously when there is a history of allergies in the family (which there is in mine). I fed her one food for a few days and didn't see anything unusual (for her) and continued on with the next food.

Once we introduced dairy products, I began to see that she had GI issues (that'd be my nice way of saying nasty diapers!) when she ate dairy products. Nasty diapers were normal for her because I was eating dairy products while nursing, but they became even worse once she ate dairy directly. The worst offender was straight cow's milk. Still not really realizing this was an allergy, I limited her dairy, but didn't feel that it warranted any medical attention. She continued to have frequent, unexplained rashes, reflux, GI issues and frequent night-waking/crying.

We were officially thrown into the world of food allergies one Sunday morning in October of 2007 when I fed Taylor a bowl of cinnamon oatmeal. I mixed up the instant oatmeal and handed it to her in her high chair. At 18 months old she fed herself as I turned my back and unloaded the dishwasher. Within a few minutes I heard her say "all done" and I turned around to take her bowl. I was shocked at what I saw. My baby girl's face, hands and arms were bright red. That's when I realized we were dealing with food allergies. I took pictures to show our pediatrician and watched her like a hawk. I'm embarrassed that I didn't even think to give her Benadryl or call the on-call doctor or take her to the ER. Fortunately her reaction did not progress.

A similar reaction the next day, led me to call for an immediate appointment with our pediatrician who then sent us to an allergist. I began to put the pieces of the puzzle together and with the help of our allergist and a good gastroenterologist (a GI doctor), as well as a reaction to soy milk, we have determined that Taylor has Milk/Soy Protein Intolerance (MSPI). This is VERY different than lactose intolerance, although the symptoms may appear to be similar. MSPI manifests as delayed GI reactions to milk and soy protein. Every food has protein (well, except salt and sugar) and a food allergy is an immune system response to a food protein. People who have lactose intolerance do not produce lactase which is an enzyme that is required in the digestion of dairy products. Most people with lactose intolerance can drink "Lactaid milk" or take Lactaid prior to consuming dairy and will not have an adverse reaction to dairy. People with a milk allergy and milk protein intolerance will have a reaction to milk products even if they consume Lactaid prior to drinking milk or eating milk products.

Allergies can manifest in different ways and many children with food allergies react to the food they are allergic to with hives, swelling, and/or breathing problems. Food allergies are very serious and can cause a life-threatening reaction called anaphylaxis. These serious reactions can be triggered by minute amounts of the allergen.

Fortunately, within a few days of Taylor's reaction to the oatmeal and it's other ingredients (she's not allergic to oats), I was strongly nudged by a friend to join Kids With Food Allergies (KFA). KFA was the first message board I'd ever participated in. Basically, you register, post a question and then several of the 20, 000 members will respond to you with their experiences! How cool is THAT! And your post is only visible to other members, not to anyone who wants to google you or food allergies ;)

KFA is a non-profit organization with a Medical Advisory Team who contribute to and review the KFA resources to ensure accuracy of information, and dozens of volunteers who are parents of children with food allergies. The volunteers and the members of KFA are so welcoming that I quickly felt as though KFA was a second family to me. There is no cure for food allergies and there needs to be more research done to find a cure, but in the meantime, as a parent of a child with food allergies, I needed to know what to feed my child and how to keep her safe at playdates, with babysitters and at preschool. The members and volunteers of KFA have taught me all of those things. While they don't provide any medical advice, I've found their wealth of experience incredibly helpful in knowing what questions to ask our doctors and how to best advocate for my daughter.

I began volunteering for KFA about a year and a half ago and I was thrilled when I was recently offered the position as the on-line Community Manager. KFA members can now participate in discussion on the forums for free and can purchase a "Family Membership" for additional benefits including full access to KFAs educational resources and over 1,000 allergy friendly (and delicious!) recipes.

If you, or someone you know, is a parent of a child with food allergies, KFA is a priceless source of support that can make all the difference in improving the quality of life for children with food allergies and their parents. KFA is a non-profit organization that needs your support. Please consider making a tax deductible donation to help KFA continue to support families managing food allergies. To donate to Kids with Food Allergies click here.

Thank you for reading Taylor's story.

To see some of the faces of food allergies (and to see why I took the picture of Taylor), go here.

The following are some great resources for anyone dealing with food allergies:

KFA's Starter Guide to Parenting a Child with Food Allergies

Allergic Reaction or Anaphylaxis

Diagnosing and Testing

What is FPIES?

What is eosinophilic esophagitis?

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Birthday Party!

My baby girl is 4 years old!!!

I've been planning Taylor's birthday party for several weeks. All the crafting that's been going on around here has been birthday related so I haven't posted in awhile. Taylor is totally into Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, right now, so we decided that would be the perfect theme for her party! At the time I started planning, I didn't realize what a popular theme it is right now. The abundance of Mickey stuff in the stores sure helped in the planning.

I made everything from the decorations to the food and loved every minute of it! I used the Mickey & Friends Cricut Cartridge for all the Mickey cut outs. Most of the supplies and goody bag favors are from Target or the Dollar Tree.

So, let's start off with the best part...the cupcakes!

I baked chocolate cupcakes, frosted them with red buttercream frosting and topped them with a Mickey Mouse paper cut-out that I added Mickey stickers to. I decorated the Wilton cupcake tower with jumbo star sprinkles.

I love how they look but to be totally honest, the frosting tasted terrible! I had to use sooo much red concentrated paste to get the right color and I didn't realize the "Christmas Red" has such a better taste. I used both the red "no-taste" and the Christmas Red, but in the future if I ever make red frosting again, I'll only use the no taste coloring.

I am SO happy with how this banner turned out!!! I used my friend's 24" Cricut (Thanks, Nina!) and her Lyrical Letters cartridge. The Mickey heads are 9". I then cut short strips of ribbon (actually I think I delegated that task to my mom - Thanks, Mom!) and strung it from ear-to-ear.

The Mickey napkins and plates are from Target (Wal Mart has them, too) and the solid paper goods are from the dollar store.

I filled a big yellow tub with bottled water with handmade labels. I simply cut patterned paper into strips, backed it with a strip of cardstock and covered it with packing tape and adhered it to the bottles. Again, I love it! Such a simple way to stretch the theme!

Food Glorius Food!!! I served hot-dog-hot-dog-hot-diggity-DOGS! along with pasta salad and assorted fruits and veggies. As for the fruit...I had this fabulous idea to make a fruit bouquet. Well...yeah...those things a lot harder to make than they look. Even for a crafty girl like me. The bouquet was not well balanced (I think part of the problem was my container was too small) and the weight of the pineapple Mickey head caused it to topple. So, we just had fruit skewers instead. :>

Goody bags with handmade tags made from the Mickey & Friends cartridge. The girls got Minnie Mouse and the boys got Mickey!

A handmade pinata that I made from this tutorial. She says it only takes an hour to make, but it took me about 3 so I must be a little slow! ;)

After everyone had a turn, the pinata fell to the ground and I helped Taylor give it a few good whacks to bust it open.

These pictures of my girl, with the handmade Mickey ears and the great big smile, make all my efforts worth every minute of my time. And I truly loved planning and creating this party!

I think the Birthday Girl loved it, too, and that's the most important part!

I want to thank my mom and stepdad for helping with all the final details of the party.

I also want to say a HUGE thank you to the fabulous people at Kids With Food Allergies who helped me brainstorm ideas and the logistics of pulling this party together. I've raved before about how much I love KFA and that I don't know how any parent of a child with food allergies manages without KFA. The daily support and hand-holding that I get from this incredibly knowledgeable group of parents is invaluable. Today marks the beginning of Food Allergy Awareness Week and I will be doing a special post about food allergies this week. I'll tell you more about our story and how Kids With Food Allergies has been such an essential resource and source of support in managing my daughter's food allergies. Until then, I'll just say an enormous THANK YOU! to the members and volunteers at KFA!

Recycled Sweaters Doll Quilt

Last Sunday, I spent the day with my dear friend, Jen. Her very talented sister, Karen, made a cozy sweater quilt for a friend and Jen wanted to make one for herself. So, I took Jen on her first thrifting adventure. Once I saw all the bright, soft sweaters, I realized this would be a perfect blanket for me to make for Taylor's new bed! We're getting some nearly new hand-me-down bunk beds for her and I haven't found just the right bedding for her. A sweater quilt is the perfect solution! While I was cutting my pieces, I decided I was going to practice sewing the sweater pieces and make a doll quilt for Taylor. I wanted to work out the quirks of using the different textures with varying degrees of stretch, before I started on the full-size version. So, first I cut all my sweaters into rectangular strips to be used for the full-size version.

Then, I took some of my scraps and cut them into equal size pieces. As I was sewing, I realized these tips:

When sewing a finely knit/super soft piece to a cable knit piece, feed the fabric through the machine with the soft sweater piece on the bottom and the cable knit piece on top. This will help the fabric guide through the machine much more smoothly. The cable knit pieces tend to require more care going through the machine and would get stuck in the feed dogs. Otherwise, the knits weren't as tempermental as I thought they'd be. When I was done sewing them altogether, I simply backed it with one of Taylors old flannel receiving blankets.

Working with recycled sweaters can be addictive! I've got lots of projects in mind for my scraps!

Photo Decor - Inspired by Donna Downey

I was inspired by a project in Photo Decor by Donna Downey, to create this! In her book she alters a printer's drawer and I love the way it looks. Several months ago I came across this shelf at a thrift store for $4.00. As soon as I saw it I knew it would be perfect for a project similar to Donna's. It's been a work in progress and has been sitting on my craft table for a few weeks as I've added things here and there. Yesterday, I decided it was wall worthy. I may still add a few embellishments or memorabilia, but for now I'll call it finished :). Here are some close up pics of all the handmade details:

And here it is hanging on the wall :)

It hangs in a niche in our entry which is open to our great room and our hallway to the bedrooms so it's a very prominent place and needed a special piece of art. I love how it turned out!

My little artist!

Taylor is becoming quite the little artist with a love for drawing. The picture above is a "dinosaur that flies" (her words!). Thus, it's a drawing of a pterodactyl. I think the inspiration for this piece was an episode of Caillou. She drew it in early January (just before we moved, hence the big pile 'o stuff behind her).

She drew this a couple of weeks ago. This is her first drawing of a person with both a head and a body. Prior to this, she was drawing people with their legs and hands coming out of their heads. This is the typical progression of children's drawings, but I think her drawing is a little advanced. Color me impressed.

And this one totally blew us away! When she finished it, she said it's a dolphin. She later said it's a whale. It definitely looks like a whale, don't you think? I'm just amazed at her level of patience to be able to sit and draw this with a pencil and color it all in. The only time she'll still still for very long is when she's got a pencil or a crayon in her hand.

Thanks for letting me brag a little about my little artist :)

Sewing Station

I FINALLY did something CRAFTY this weekend!!! I've been a little stressed and on edge since I haven't done any crafting in...well...months. Crafting is seriously how I stay sane. February was kinda crazy around here and by last Friday I had had it and I was determined to do some crafting over the weekend.

Part of the reason I haven't been crafting lately is that my stuff is so disorganized since our move. I finally dragged out my sewing machine a couple of weeks ago to do a quick little project as a favor for a friend, only to discover that my set up didn't work at all! You see, I was fortunate enough to inherit this computer armoire. Our landlord left it in our house and when we moved in I called and asked if I could modify it and have it! They quickly agreed. I immediately knew it would make the perfect sewing station! Here's a before picture of the inside:

The back wall of it was almost like a burlap fabric and it was in pretty bad shape. This is what the inside looks like now:

I absolutely LOVE it!!! It makes me sooooo happy every time I look at it! The fabric for the back is a yard of fabric that I absolutely had to have! I had planned to make a laptop bag out of it, but I never take my laptop out of the house so this is a much better use of the fabric! I was going to tack the fabric to the existing backboard but that didn't work out so I bought 2 large pieces of foam board from the Dollar Tree and used spray adhesive and stuck the fabric the the foam board. Then I simply push the foam board to the backboard and the shelf keeps it in place. For an added punch I used a glue gun to stick thrifted white buttons to the centers of some of the flowers. Then I glued ribbon around the edge for an added touch.

I decorated the file box in the middle and it will be the home for my sewing patterns and pdf tutorials that I print from my favorite blogs.

The shelf holds my fat quarters (or is it flat quarters? I can never remember how to say that!), some of my favorite sewing books and a few of my favorite full yards of fabric, along with some jars of ribbon and embroidery thread.

The keyboard tray pulls out and is the perfect height for my machine to sit on. The shelf below, holds 2 (of my many) bins of fabric.

I made a simple cork board by covering a 12x12 cork tile with patterned cardstock and ribbon and I plan to tack pattern instructions to it when I'm sewing. I've had the little flower hook rack for years and now it has the perfect home! I also already had the flower buckets and I'll use them to hold little odds and ends I need to have within reach. My yard stick hangs from the hardware the keeps the door closed.

and of course the other door holds my thread rack.

And...I absolutely LOVE this plastic tray that I picked up last week at Target. I love the color (of course!) and the shape is so girly! Perfect for holding scissors, pin cushion and all the other things that need to be close at hand.

Now, here is the best part of the whole piece...at least this is the part that makes it functional! The first time I tried to sew with my machine on the keyboard tray, the machine shook and the keyboard tray slid back under the main shelf as I fed my fabric through my machine. Obviously not a pleasant and productive sewing experience. So, my incredibly talented and helpful husband did this:

He built 2 legs that are attached to the keyboard tray with hinges. When in use, they rest against the bottom of the armoire to stabilize the keyboard tray which prevents it from shaking and keeps it from sliding back into the armoire. It doesn't budge at all! When not in use, they fold up and stick to the underside of the shelf because the feet of the legs have magnets and my husband installed washers to the underside of the shelf. Thus, when I'm not sewing, the legs fold up and the sewing machine can be moved to the main shelf, the keyboard tray slides back in and the doors close! And it's all tucked away until my next sewing session! And tucked away is a good thing because there isn't enough space in my craft room for this, so it's just outside the door to my craft room, which means it's in our dining room!

My craft room is coming together, too, and I hope to be doing a LOT more crafting now that I know where my stuff is and I have a proper place to sew! :)

And...a HUGE THANK YOU!!! to my husband who made my beautiful sewing station FUNCTIONAL! I love you, baby!

Updated: I almost forgot to add this!!! Taylor was commenting on the progress of this project and when it was finally done, she said "OK, Mommy...you can eat, sleep, read, and sew there, OK?"

That's definitely OK with me! Basically that means I'll be living there and I love this little station so much, that I will live there!