Marian is a Big Sister!

That's right. We are expecting a new baby Goodwin next spring!

I've had to stop most extra activities (including most sewing) for now just to concentrate on making sure I'm getting enough to eat to feed three people (Marian is still nursing full time) and getting enough rest. I've also had to start out on the baby food journey with Marian a lot sooner than I had planned - but i think she is plenty old enough, and absolutely *loves* getting to eat her "bites" at mealtimes. So far she eats lots of soft cooked egg yolk, banana, summer and winter squash, blueberries, some green beans and green peas. Planning to try avocado and carrots next. If anyone has suggestions about good baby food recipes or recommendations for a baby food mill, I'm all ears!

She is getting so big! Seven months old already!

 Her personality is really popping - she is such a sweetheart. (most of the time!)

She also loves wearing Dad's hats...

 and taking baths on the porch...

Marian sometimes enjoys going swimming in the creeks, 

but she mostly enjoys playing with the rocks on the bank.

 

Marian loves to watch animals. She always gets very excited when she sees 'Violet' the cat.

Occasionally she will condescend to play with her toy basket on the floor for a few minutes.

...and of course she loves hanging on Dad's arm. One of her favorite things to do is going around with Dad outside while he is working. She intently watches everything he does.

I take way too many pictures of Marian asleep - but I just can't help it! She so adorably soft and cuddly.

We are so thankful for the new baby on the way! I am so anxious to know whether Marian has a sister or a brother!

Got quite a few posts coming to catch up on what we've been doing the past couple of months.

(If you want to keep up with our little family a bit more frequently in the day-to day, I post quite a bit as 'atlantavictoria'on Instagram.)

Marian's First Historical Dress

 

Marian's first historical outfit! A little 1860s petticoat and dress. I made these for an event we planned to attend on my birthday back in July. It was so fun making her tiny little things! The dress is sheer dotted swiss cotton, and has little puffed sleeves and a gathered bodice. It closes in back with two buttons, at neck and waistband. The skirt is gauged and very full with two decorative tucks.

Below is a picture of the little full petticoat, its made the same as the dress, the only difference is it has plain un-puffed short sleeves, and is from cotton batiste with three skirt tucks. (Sorry its not a better picture!)

The two pictures below were my main inspiration as far as style. See how the sleeves are 'raglan' style? Those were my 'aha' moment in making the pattern. I pulled out an old chemise pattern that had the same type of sleeve seams, and it was no time until I had a tiny version for Marian's bodice.

 

And, below an original dotted swiss dress...

 

Originally I had planned to make Marian's dress with the long infant skirts like above. But then I realized that she will be crawling very soon, and is already so wiggly and active, that perhaps that wouldn't be the best idea. So, I started looking to see if I could find pictures of babies Marian's approximate age (5 months) that had shorter skirts. Sure enough, it seemed quite common. (I'm very new to baby wear, so forgive me if everyone already knows this!) I know there are probably some basic do's and don'ts of baby wear and skirt lengths, but I am so far quite ignorant. If anyone is knowledgeable about Victorian baby wear, please do chime in.

Examples of shorter skirts on infants:

I was also glad to see that Marian wasn't alone in the 'poofing bodice syndrome' when she sat down.

Pictures of Marian at her first event to follow...

A Refashioned Dress for Marian

 

What do you do when you have a shirt that is too small for you, and a cute little baby girl? Why, make a dress for her, of course! Mom had sent me this lacy top she had found at a thrift store, and it was too small for me, but had a lot of cute detailing. It struck me that it would make a cute dress for Marian, and as I started looking closer, it was the perfect shape for changing into a little empire waist dress for her.

 

 I took the stretchy straps of the shirt off, and started playing with the shirt, seeing how it would be best to cut it into a dress. Soon it became obvious that by overlapping and sewing the two points over the bust of the shirt to make little shoulders for the dress, and by bringing the rest of the lacy part to a point in the back, it made a perfectly shaped little bodice, and all I had to do was create armholes in the sides. 

The ribbon bow in front was a little big, so I took it off and retied it and tacked it back on.

I cut out the excess in the back, hemmed what was left, and added a button and ribbon waist tie.
The pin tuck details on the shirt were perfect for the back of the skirt!

The shirt was somewhat sheer, so I also added a sewn in petticoat of white cotton batiste, with extra laces that peeked out from under the dress hem.

When I got all done I tried it on Marian, and she seemed to approve!

She even got to wear it to church the next Sunday!

I really like how it turned out, all the lacy details were so perfect for a Marian! Its like a little Bohemian princess dress!

The back view cracks me up, because of her poofy diaper it almost looks like she has a tiny bustle!

Marian seems to like modeling Mom's creations - hopefully it will stay that way! I'm afraid there will be a lot of that in the years to come!

Marian Edith

 

Our Marian is such a little darling - its been so wonderful getting to know her.

 

Marian is already Dad's little buddy.

 

 We love her so much. It took a little bit to get used to the nights of broken sleep, and her high-maintenance needs, but it's pretty hard to imagine not having her around! I don't know what we did without her...we are already talking to her about all the fun things we are going to do when she gets a little bit older - sewing together, reading together, cooking, shooting, swimming....she's going to have a lot to learn. :)

 

 

 

Tiny toes

  

 In these pictures, Marian wears a baby gown worn by her great-grandad she never got to meet, and holds a wartime tintype of her great-g-g-g-g-grandfather.

 

 Sleepy girl.

 Bright eyes and half a smile...

I'm not sure either one of us have quite gotten used to the idea of being parents yet, but we are enjoying every minute of it.

Our Baby - Marian Edith

Our  baby arrived last week!

 

This is Marian - two days before she was born. :) I was fully convinced it was still going to be a week or two before the baby came, as I felt on the whole quite normal, and I expected things would slowly change so I would know when it was time. (wrong!)

 

At 3:44 in the morning on February 17th I woke up and went downstairs to the restroom. I went back upstairs to bed, but couldn't get to sleep because of some rather uncomfortable cramps. I was restless enough that Jordan woke up as the cramps got a little harder, and our whispering woke up Mom, who came to see what was wrong. (Mom and 3 of my siblings had come to stay until the baby was born to help us out)

I was still convinced it was nothing, but the three of us went downstairs and I tried to get comfortable on the couch or the floor, but couldn't. Finally about 5:30 am they decided to call the midwife, we had timed the contractions and they were about 2 to 3 minutes apart, and varying in intensity somewhat. The midwife said to keep monitoring them and call back in 1 hour. In 45 minutes they were more regular at about 2 minutes apart, and noticeably stronger. They called her again, and she said she would be on her way after breakfast.

We decided to move back upstairs to the bedroom. By this time I was getting pretty miserable, nothing seemed to help get through each contraction except holding on to Jordan. I wasn't able to relax through them like I had read about in various books.

So many ladies I knew had had very long labors with their first birth, that I expected that too. I assumed labor would go on for a couple of days maybe. Mine came on so hard and fast, that I started to get panicky during the harder contractions, as they were almost more than I could bear, and I was thinking to myself - 'I don't think I can do this much longer, let alone all day and into the next!'

 

 Somehow I had missed the memo from Mom and from the midwife that I was actually getting very close to having the baby - I thought I was still in the beginning stages, and when I started getting the urge to push I was like 'Oh no!! This is way too early!', and I was shocked when the midwife checked me and told me I was fully dilated and had her permission to push the baby out any time I was ready!

Up until the last I didn't think I would be able to do it. During the last contractions the only bearable place to be was on my floor mat, kneeling mostly, and that is where the baby was born. The midwife handed the baby to me, and I saw it was a girl. What an amazing lot of feelings were mixed up that day - lots of pain, then so much happiness!

Holding our little girl Marian Edith

Marian meets Dad

The most wonderful feeling ever. Having her here safely - and breathing a big sigh of relief  that it was over, and enjoying getting to know our daughter! Having her at home was a great experience.

She was beautiful and pink from the time she was born - she was very alert and latched on to nurse only a few minutes after being handed to me. She was born at 10:38am, so total time for my labor was only about 7 hours. So thankful! It seemed even much shorter than that to me - I couldn't believe that I had gone to bed the night before not expecting to meet our baby for a couple of weeks, and the next morning she was here!

She is such a darling - it's only been a little over a week and I can't imagine how we ever got along without her!

We love her so much!! Thank you to everyone who was praying for us!

My Mom put together a video slideshow of her first couple of days, click here to see, or watch below:

Marian from Shannon Ranch on Vimeo.