Chicken Feet Soup for the Soul

Christmas Serenade

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 21:24:00 +0000

Snowman Soup and Other Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 18:31:00 +0000

I have a bunch of pictures from the past week! First up, we have Miss Lydia who was having a blast wearing my ring. She was "pretty!"

And some snowman soup!

Lydia had carrots ;)

And a couple of marshmallows!

Kelsi and I had ourselves a "spa day" as well. Matthias looks more excited than Kelsi...don't let that fool you though!

Matthias teaching Lydia all about geography.

An impromptu jam session.

And my sous chef!

Cheerios!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:18:00 +0000

I finally broke down today and let the kiddos have some Cheerios to use with Lydia's Cheerios activity books, they had fun except Lydia kept trying to eat them all!

"Can I eat some?"

"Why won't these ones over here come off?"

"How can I get my hands on those Cheerios in that bowl over there?"

"Maybe if I just distract him..."

"Score!"

"Cheerios? What Cheerios? I didn't take any Cheerios."

"Oh, these Cheerios? Well, I'm a growing girl...I need my strength."

"Ha ha! Success!"

Lydia did, however, decide to return the Cheerios and join Matthias once again...under one condition:

Cinderella

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 23:41:00 +0000

My name is Lydia, but you can call me Cinderella. You see, every Tuesday, my brother and sister are off having fun all day while I'm stuck at home doing chores. The day starts off with making the bed:

As you can see, it's hard work. Since I'm so short I often have to stop and take a break:

Really, it's tough work.

Of course, I also get my mid-morning milk break. Yes, I'm using two cup...don't you?

Then it's off to put away laundry. These doors require being open and closed multiple times in order to be effective.

Of course, there's also the matter of folding the laundry. Thankfully, I have the assistance of my doggies.

I occasionally have the opportunity to try on my sister's stuff while she's gone! Aren't I pretty?

Then, it's off to clean the kitchen floors.

Oh look! A Cheerio!

And of course my toys and books need to be cleaned.

After all that hard work I need a break!

And, as you can imagine, I'm starving after all that hard work. Sadly, I'm left to picking through the scraps that I can find in the cabinets.

It's a rough life.

Thanksgiving Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 17:32:00 +0000

We had a long weekend, so be prepared for a lot of pictures!

We started out the weekend eating leftover fondue...and discovered that potato chips are quite tasty when dipped in chocolate!

We did a little fingernail painting in which I discovered that green fingernail polish under gold "crackle" polish makes my fingers look diseased.

Matthias helped me make buckeyes for Thanksgiving!

And finally, food! Lydia loved getting to eat tons of stuff...as did we all =)

Sadly, Kelsi was sick over the weekend, so she just hung out in the corner and read most of the day. Although she did manage to eat some turkey =)

And of course a little dancing...

They also got to Skype with their cousins!

And of course, the part Matthias was waiting for all day....chocolate pie!

Hanging out a bit once all the food was gone =)

And here's how the kiddos spent Friday:

Forks, Ramps and Laundry

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:39:00 +0000

I may not have instagram on my phone, but I do have Google+. I don't use it, but it has a lovely feature where it automatically uploads any picture or video I take with my phone and stores it online. Which is nice for several reasons. I've found that I rarely use my actual camera anymore for taking pictures, I usually use my phone, so it's nice to have them stored online =) And since they're already uploaded it makes sharing them easier! So, for your viewing enjoyment, I present to you our day (Matthias isn't with us on Tuesdays, so it was just Lydia and I!).

Like many people, our day started out with breakfast. Although I'm sure most people don't use two forks to eat.

Although she eventually gave up on that and just used her hands!

Then we had a nice surprise coffee date with Daddy =)

He was spending the afternoon downtown at the new church campus to get the internet installed, so we went and joined him for some coffee and lunch. Lydia had a blast running up and down the ramp!

She was also super helpful in getting that internet hooked up ;)

All that running eventually got to her though!

Then once we were home, Lydia helped me with her favorite task...pulling all the clothing out of the dryer.

So there you have it, a day in the life of Lydia!

InstaFriday...but not really.

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 23:31:00 +0000

The cool new thing in the blogging world is "InstaFriday" where people post their instagram photos from the past week. And since we all know I am totally on top of this whole blogging thing, I figured I'd jump on the bandwagon. The only problem is I don't have an iPhone (so no instagram), nor is it Friday. But let's just pretend, shall we?

Last Monday was Kelsi's birthday so I took a picture of a picture of her shortly after she was born (yes, I took a picture of a picture...I have since gotten my hands on a scanner and plan to use it soon!)

Yep...we had awesome technology back then.

On Wednesday we went to Red Robin:

Kelsi is all about getting her picture taken these days.

On Thursday Matthias, Lydia and I had some fun playing outside while waiting for Kelsi after school:

On Friday we got to go worship with Seeds Family Worship at church. Kelsi was being her goofy self and wouldn't let me get a good picture!

On Saturday we had family over for some fondue and games! Oddly I didn't get any pictures on my phone of Kelsi (it was, after all, her birthday celebration), but I did get some on my regular camera so I'll get those uploaded someday =)

Stay tuned for next week's edition of InstaFriday....maybe.

Yeah, Yeah!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Sun, 16 Oct 2011 19:40:00 +0000

I managed to get a little bit of Lydia singing on video...although she kept getting distracted! She's singing "yeah, yeah" which comes from one of songs from a Seeds Family Worship album. It's her favorite song and she gets so excited when it comes on! Probably because it's a song she can actually sing along with ;)

There and Back Again: A Hospital Tale

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 01:32:00 +0000

Since it's been kind of hard to get everyone caught up on all of the details of the last week, I figured I'd write it all up in one place for everyone. Brilliant, I know.

Early last week, Lydia started getting sick. Not anything unusual, just a cold. But by Sunday we were getting concerned because she had had a fever for several days and it wasn't going away. So on Monday we set her up with a doctor appointment for that afternoon and I gave Lydia a bath (gotta be clean to go see the doctor, right?) and put her down for her nap. By the time she woke up, it was time to go. I was wandering around grabbing any and all items we would need while Daniel changed her diaper. After a moment he called me in. She had a large lump/swollen area on her groin. Obviously something to be worried about, especially since it wasn't there (at least not noticeably) when I gave her her bath earlier. Good thing we were going to the doctor.

When the doctor took a look at it, it was immediately obvious he was worried. He told us it was probably one of two things: a hernia that something had gotten caught in or an infected lymph node. Either way it'd be likely she'd need surgery. So we sat there in the room trying not to panic while waiting for him to get ahold of the ER so we could go in and get an ultrasound done. He wanted it looked at right away because if it was a hernia and something (like an ovary or a bowel) had gotten stuck, it could cause some serious problems. So off the the ER we went. I think I made it out of the doctor's office and all the way to the elevator before I burst into tears.

We spent about 3 and a half hours at the ER. We were only in the waiting room for a few minutes, but the rest of it took forever! And we had to go through the same questions (does she have any allergies? Is she on any medications? blah, blah, blah...) with at least 5 different people. All of whom entered the information into the computer. Why they can't share that information, I don't know. The whole time Lydia is crying because she's tired and hungry...did I mention that they strictly forbid food and drink? Try explaining that one to a 13 month old. Eventually we got back to the ultrasound room. Ultrasounds are much more exciting when you're eagerly looking to try and identify a head and little toes. After the ultrasound we headed back to the room to await the results. Fortunately Lydia got to cuddle up with Daddy for a bit and fell asleep. It lasted maybe 15 minutes. I think the nurses were hovering around the doorway waiting for her to wake up because as soon as she did, several of them converged around us with needles. They had to hook her up to and IV and draw some blood for some tests. As you can imagine, this was not fun! It took 4 of us to hold her still while they searched and searched for a vein to go for (I think she inherited that from me, poor girl). Finally it was over, but I think she lost all trust for anyone there. Soon after, the surgeon came in and told us that the ultrasound indicated that it was not a hernia and was most likely an infected lymph node. Our options at that point were to go ahead and do the surgery and get it drained or removed, or put her on some antibiotics to see if that would do the trick. Apparently there was some disagreement over whether or not there was any fluid. He said there might have been, but the radiologist said there wasn't. In the end, he suggested that antibiotics might be the best course of action. This was good news for Lydia because it meant she could eat! So, up to her room we went to be welcomed by a crib (which we affectionately referred to as the gorilla cage), a twin size hospital bed and a wooded rocking chair. On the up side, there were two tvs....one for the Food Network, and one for Fox News. Yes, we are that lame.

Other than the fact that I was unable to sleep until about 2 am due to the fact that I got freaked out and paranoid every time Lydia moved, and the fact that the IV pump would beep every time the medicine emptied 50%...or 75%...or 90% of it, and the fact that the nurses came in several times and checked her vitals, and the fact that I was sitting in a wooden rocking chair...the night went well.

The next day went well, and we were hoping that the doctor would let us go home that evening. Lydia, apparently, thought she'd like to stay a while longer. Her heart rate was consistently high (although I think she just got freaked out any time a nurse came near her) and she still had a fever. It was clear though that the antibiotics were working, so they wanted to get her some more of it before sending her home since the oral ones they'd prescribe wouldn't be as good. The second night was even worse...hard to imagine, right? Lydia woke up literally about every hour. It was not fun. When the surgeon came by in the morning, he said it was time to do the surgery and see just what was going on since there was obviously something else that needed to be fixed.

Once again, we had to tell Lydia that she couldn't have any food or drink. We didn't have to wait that long before we were heading back to the OR. The poor girl spent the whole time pointing to her mouth and saying "vooo? vooo?", which is her way of saying "food". We all pretended to be completely ignorant of what she was saying, so she started asking the nurses as the walked by. We did eventually get her distracted by having her sing. Thankfully this kept her occupied until they came with a mild sedative for her. Then she just got loopy. She continued singing, but started looking around wide-eyed at everything with a goofy grin on her face. Finally it was time. I got to go back into the OR with her until they put her under, so that meant I got to put on a freaky blue suit, a mask and the whole bit. Oddly enough, Lydia kept looking at me funny...although she managed to keep singing! I probably should have stuffed the surgical mask with tissue, because I was a wreck and couldn't wipe my nose. Finally, I had to say goodbye to my little girl and go wait in the waiting room with everyone else. The surgery didn't take that long (only about 30 min or so), but it seemed like forever! Finally, the surgeon came back and told us that it was done and it was successful. Turns out there was an abscess full of nastyness that they drained and she was in recovery and as soon as she woke up I'd be allowed back there with her. A few minutes later, I was headed back there and could hear her crying as soon as they opened the door. Of course when I saw her I couldn't blame her...they had her wrapped up in about five blankets! So I untangled her and sat down with her. She was sleeping within seconds. After about half an hour, she woke, saw me and immediately started singing! Then we made the trip back to her room where she smiled, waved and said "hi" to everyone we passed. I think she was still a little loopy. From there the change was amazing. Soon she was sitting up, playing and talking...and of course begging for food! When the doctor came by that evening he was impressed with her progress and gave us permission to go home. Once she was off of the IV, she started walking up and down the hall, smiling and waving at everyone. This time she wasn't loopy, I think she just knew that it was time to go home!

She's been doing great ever since, she is almost completely back to her normal self and doesn't seem to be in any pain. She had a follow up appointment today and seems to be healing up very well. Although the antibiotics give her diarrhea which gives her a horrible diaper rash and gets on her bandage! She has one final appointment on Tuesday where she gets the drainage tube taken out...and then we'll be done!

Thank you all for your support and prayers, we really appreciate it!

Walking!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Wed, 07 Sep 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Lydia has been walking more and more each day. I haven't quite gotten used to it yet, it's so weird to look over and see her walking around! I tried to get some on video yesterday, but she wasn't really cooperating. The first video was the best, but unfortunately it's sideways (I always forget to hold the phone the other way!) and it's a little dark due to the windows in the background.

This other one was the last one I got. She was getting awfully grumpy by this point! And the audio seems a little freaked out at the end so Matthias sounds like a demonic chipmunk or something. Which is always fun.

Let's Make a Deal

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Sun, 04 Sep 2011 03:45:00 +0000

One Year!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:52:00 +0000

Miss Lydia is already a year old! I can't believe so much time has gone by already. So, I put together this fancy little slideshow of her first year. And by "put together" I mean a clicked a few buttons in Picasa. I'm good like that. I didn't put it to music though because I don't have a whole lot on my computer and I was too lazy to get anything ;) I don't have any pictures of the birthday girl today because she's been too busy eating and sleeping to get all dressed up for photos. I'll get some soon though!

He's 5!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Sun, 17 Jul 2011 04:06:00 +0000

Can someone explain to me how this guy

is suddenly 5? I can't quite figure it out.
I've decided to give up on the whole fancy birthday party thing. We started out with so many great plans, all of which failed. Well, there were a couple that I just forgot, but that doesn't count. Matthias wanted Lego cupcakes for his birthday, so we got a nice Lego mold, some white chocolate and some makings for cupcakes. The kids and I made some fun white chocolate Legos and then started making the cupcakes. While it was mixing, I go to get my muffin tin. Lo and behold, I have none. I think it must have been one of the items that didn't survive the Great Purge that happened when we moved. Fortunately, Matthias though that a square cake would be wonderful idea so that's what we went with. It wouldn't come out of the dish. Fail! So we went to Costco and got a cake. I am henceforth purchasing all birthday cakes from Costco. Thankfully, Matthias was quite thrilled with his cake.

Don't be envious of my mad food photography skillz.

I'm not sure who he was sticking his tongue out at...probably Grandpa.

Wondering what happened to his hair? Well...for the second time in his life (you know, all 5 years of it) the attachment to our little clipper thingy broke while I was cutting hair. That's all I will say on the subject.

He's awfully proud of himself!

Lydia's not impressed.

Enjoying a chocolate Lego!

Time for gifts! As you can see, he enjoyed his chocolate cake ;)

Legos! Who would have guessed that he'd get Legos for his birthday?

Helping out big brother!

Kelsi helped too...and trust me, if he hadn't have had help we'd have been there all day!

Look at those beautiful girls of mine!

A Lego book that he's already read 3 times. At least.

Ok, seriously...isn't this the cutest think ever! Matthias loves to cook and often pretends he's Bobby Flay so my grandma made him this chef hat and apron! He wore it until it was time for bed =)

Goofy kids!

More fun stuff! He certainly thinks he's quite cool in this too!

Lydia and Grandpa reading. Lydia got a gift too. So did Kelsi. I didn't. Hmm...

Matthias got a ton of fun stuff for his birthday and was so thrilled with everything! I took 256 pictures, but I figured I probably didn't need to post all of them! I do think, however, that you need to see him in all his costumes/dress up stuff he got =)

First, his chain-mail armor, complete with cape and a new sword and shield:

Next, his chef stuff. This picture just cracks me up!

And finally, his Star Wars outfit. I'm so lame that I don't even know who it's supposed to be. Of course all his knowledge of Star Wars comes from the Lego game, so I don't feel so bad.

And finally, many thanks to my photography assistant who was rather mad about the fact that I wouldn't let her play with all of her brother's stuff.

Home Again!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 20:02:00 +0000

That's right, folks...Jimmy has returned home. This time he's right outside our window, we can see him from our dining room even though he's slightly hidden by the trees. He hasn't said much about his ordeal with the Dragon Knights, so I guess we'll never know what happened, but he has quietly resumed his duty of keeping the children safe so I guess all is well.

(If you missed the first part of Jimmy's saga, click here. It is riveting I tell you. Riveting. )

Bunny Ears

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 03:41:00 +0000

A while back we made the decision to have our children attend the church service with us. It was such a great decision for us! It's been so much fun to see how the kids are responding to it, and we love being able to talk about the sermon with the kids on the way home from church! We've gotten into some great discussions with Kelsi and she thinks it's awfully cool when one of the pastors says "hi" to her.

It's been really surprising to see how much Matthias picks up from the sermons, even though he's only 4. One week the pastor said "Can I get an 'amen'?", and of course many people yelled "amen" in response. About 10 seconds later, Matthias did too. Another time the pastor used the term "party-pooper" and Matthias spent the rest of the sermon giggling. Of course it wasn't nearly as funny once we clarified that a "party-pooper" was not a party that poops.

Last night was a good reminder of how great the decision has been for us. Matthias recently clued into the fact that the words to the songs were always up on the screens, so after one of the songs was over he looked up at me and very excitedly told me, "Mom, did you see that? I sang the whole song!" He was quite proud of himself. Later, about 10 minutes into the sermon, I hear him say "Yessssss!" (Napoleon Dynamite style) and look over at him. He then proudly showed me how he had found 1 Peter, which was the sermon text.

At the end of the service, during the closing songs, Matthias was standing between Daniel and I holding our hands and Kelsi was on my other side and we had our arms around each other. It was at this point that I began thinking how great it was to be able to worship together as a family and how much the children had gained from being in service with us. Then I realized Matthias was no longer holding my hand, so I looked down at him. He was giving himself bunny ears.

The Rescue of Jimmy

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 03:24:00 +0000

Hello. It's me. It's been a while, right? I've decided that this little blog of mine has been too neglected as of late, I pop on occasionally to post a picture or two and that's it. Well, that all going to change folks. For a while at least ;) So today is all about this little dude:

And this guy:

Confused? Let me explain. We live in an apartment complex. There is a big garbage dumpster in our apartment complex (nicely hidden in a little fenced in area). Matthias loves to help his dad take out the garbage and one day they noticed this guy on the sidewalk...

...and decides to name him Jimmy Needham. Who's Jimmy Needham? He is the guy that sings Matthias' favorite song, "Grace Amazing" and the guy in that picture up there.. After this, every time we walk or drive by the "Caution" sign, we wave and say hi to Jimmy.

Tragically, we noticed yesterday that Jimmy was gone. That's right, folks, Jimmy had been kidnapped by none other than the Dragon Knights, the sworn enemies of the Lion Knights (for more information on this saga, visit Lego.com). We decided to hold out hope that the Lion Knights would rescue him before all was lost.

As we were driving home from church tonight, we found him! Although he must have been slightly confused from his ordeal because he was no longer on our sidewalk, but instead he was in a housing development about a mile away. Fortunately he looked as though he suffered no serious physical harm.

Field Trip!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Thu, 12 May 2011 01:18:00 +0000

Ok, maybe not a field trip since Matthias isn't in school yet, but I couldn't think of what else to call it. On Tuesday, Grandma and Auntie took us over to that big(ger) city to the west of us to go to a hands on learning/play museum thingy. How's that for a description? Well, the small ones had a good time and I got a ton of pictures. Don't worry, I won't make you look at all of them, just some of my favorites =)

After all the fun was over, we went across the street to the big giant park to have a picnic lunch. After lunch we decided to go on the gondola ride over the river to see the falls. Matthias was

quite thrilled. Lydia couldn't care less.

Here's one last picture of Lydia by the end of the day (which I think represents all of us!):

7 Months!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 19:49:00 +0000

It seems like every time I post a new month milestone for Lydia, I think "...months already?!". It's going by so fast! She's changed so much this last month, you'd think it'd slow down at some point. She's cruising along and has moved passed the "army crawl" and is full out crawling now. Her favorite places to go are into the kid's room or into the kitchen to play with the letter magnets on the fridge. She's also become very social. She still doesn't laugh much, but she's all smiles and chatters quite a bit. She recently learned how to give kisses. It'd be much cuter if there wasn't so much drool. She opens her mouth as big as she can and puts it on my cheek! She's copying us quite a bit more too. She makes "kissy" noises and clicks her tongue. I'm still trying to teach her the lip thing (think Elvis) but she just kind of looks at me like I'm crazy. I can't imagine why. So, here's a of her crawling to show how cute and talented she is. Feel free to oooh and awww as much as you'd like.

This one is her showing off her tongue clicking and kissy noises. Please excuse the sideways view. I can't figure out how to fix it. Oh, and the food all over her shirt.

What's in the Bible? DVD 5

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 17:00:00 +0000

The kids love these movies and have been super excited about the new one coming out this month. So, I'm entering to win one =)

Vote For Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 15:36:00 +0000

There's this cool place called Heartsy. It's like Groupon, but for handmade stuff. So I decided to apply to have my shop featured. The problem is, part of the approval process is having at least 60 votes. Soooo....iffin you'd like, head on over and vote for my stuff =) You'll recognize it by the super cute baby wearing super cute hats! If you scroll to the bottom of the main page, you'll see the "upcoming deals" section where you can vote. Thanks a bunch =)

Spam!

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 23:33:00 +0000

Yep, I'm spamming you. I promise I won't do it often though ;) I've finally listed my hats on Etsy though! If you know anyone who might be interested in buying a hat, I have a coupon code that's valid through April 15 for 10% off. Use GRANDREOPEN at the checkout. Of course if you know someone who's local they can email me at beansproutcreations@gmail.com for custom pricing and to arrange a pickup.

Here are the links:

Etsy

Blog

Facebook

Supermodel

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 02:33:00 +0000

"OK, I'm ready. What do I do?"

"Like this?"

"What do you mean, 'That's not a flattering look'?"

"How about this?"

"Or this?"

"Oh, wait! I just remembered it's lunchtime!"

"What? You're not done yet?"

"If I don't eat soon, I'm going to get really upset!"

"Too late!"

Birthday Goodness

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 03:20:00 +0000

As I am sure most of you are aware, today was my birthday. Today marks the beginning of the last year of my twenties. Yikes! I'm not bothered by it (yet), but it will be weird to officially move out of the "young mom" category that I've been in since I was 17.

Anyway, we started out the day by sleeping in. Yay! Then I ~~ditched~~ dropped the small ones off with Grandma and headed to lunch at Scratch with my sis-in-law. We had reservations, and it's a good thing too. We were the only ones in the restaurant for quite a while! I decided to be adventurous and get the Fettuccine with duck sausage.

It was super tasty! It was also a ton of food. Like two full meals worth. I think that has helped convince my husband to go there. Almost. I also got a gigantic bowl of huckleberry ice cream =)

After that we head to the salon to get my hair cut. I was in desperate need of a hair cut. I think that it's been somewhere between 18 months to 2 years since I'd last cut my hair. I didn't do anything super drastic, just a trim. Daniel didn't even notice. In his defense though, I don't often wear my hair down ;) I also got a pedicure. The second one of my life lol. Wow, that's sad...I haven't cut my hair in almost 2 years and I've only had 2 pedicures in my life. Oh, well.

The family and I went to a local frozen yogurt place. It was quite the experience. You walk in and there's a wall full of frozen yogurt dispensers. Although that's probably not what they're called, they probably have some fancy name. Anyway, there were probably 10 or so different flavors. The idea is, you grab a container, fill it up with as much frozen yogurt as you want...in as many flavors as you want...then you go to the counter and throw on a ton of toppings. Needless to say the kids had a blast!

While we were driving there, Matthias started shaking his cup that had a bunch of ice in it, Lydia started cracking up! As you may recall, she's not much for laughing. She's been laughing a bit more recently, probably to compete with this cutie who recently came to visit:

Sadly, by the time we got parked, she had slowed down a bit in her laughing, but I was able to get some on video. Of course I was trying to record it while sitting in the front seat, so it's a bit shaky and not centered. But you can hear her laugh at least. Well, when Lydia and Kelsi aren't giggling that is!

If You Were an Owl Hat...

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:46:00 +0000

...which color would you be?

Would you have a big nose or a little nose?

I have decided to go ahead and attempt to sell some fun little hats. I am going to do animal themed hats, I'll start with owls and eventually add things like cats, dogs, bears, monkeys and such. Now I just have some decisions to make, and as I am feeling rather indecisive today I am not sure what colors to do. Lydia is not being very helpful, so I'll just ask all you =) The yarns I have in my photo are (I'm almost embarrassed to say) just a small selection of what colors I have on hand. I was at least able to narrow it down to these colors though! Anyway, I'm thinking of offering 4-6 color options, which ones do you think would be best? Of course I took the photo with my phone, so the colors are a bit different in real life ;)

I also have to decide if I like the big nose or little nose. I know it looks as though the eyes on the two hats are different, but they're not. On the pink hat I just glued them on (I'm lazy like that) so they curl up a bit, but I can't do that on the ones I sell so the blue one has it's eyes stitched on making them lay flatter. So it's not the nose that makes them look different =)

I'm also thinking of making matching bibs similar to this one:

Yay or nay?

Ok, I don't think I have any other major decisions to make at the moment.

To Sell or Not to Sell...

noreply@blogger.com (Jessy) — Sat, 12 Mar 2011 03:55:00 +0000

Ok, people, I need your feedback. As I'm sure most of you are aware, I do a lot of crocheting. I used to sell patterns that I designed, but I stopped because it got to be too much of a hassle. People expected me to be their personal tech support and crochet teacher. So I ended up spending more time in the "customer service" end then I did actually creating and selling. Not fun. A while ago I thought I would make and sell baby hats, but then I started reading up on all the laws regarding items made for children and decided that it was too much to keep track of and too much extra money I'd have to spend. But, I've been reading into them some more. Basically they say that any item intended for children under the age of 13 has to be tested for lead. Way expensive. As well, each item has to have a "tracking label" which is basically a tag telling where the item is made and what it's made of along with some kind of tracking info like a website. However, there appears to be items that are exempt from the lead testing, natural materials like cotton don't require testing unless it contains something metallic (like sparkles). So, that leaves just tracking labels that I'd have to worry about. Much more doable. But, here's the real problem: would anyone actually buy the stuff at the cost I'd have to charge? Take for example this hat:

Isn't she cute? Well, the cost in yarn (cotton, which is what I'd have to use to be exempt from lead testing. Well, I could use wool but cotton is washable) would only be about $3-5 depending on the size of hat. But I'd have to take into account the cost of labels, Etsy fees (which are crazy) and Paypal fees (which are rather high if you have a business account) and packaging material. Not to mention some profit to make it worth my while. So, basically I'd have to charge $20-25 plus shipping per hat. Of course I also have to consider the competition. There are tons of baby hats available on Etsy (over 3,ooo listings of owl hats for example), and I'd have to compete with people who don't care (or don't know) about the laws and make their items out of acrylic yarn and therefore can sell them much cheaper. So, what do you think? Worth it or no?