Birthdays, Bollywood and Baby Teeth

These are the things that have made me an un-blogger over the last little while! Ten days ago, Baby M. had no teeth. Now he has two. Teeth coming in that quickly made for a cranky baby that needed constant snuggles (and gripe water, and a little Tylenol). He's back to his usual cheerful self now, though, and likes to rub his tongue over his new teeth (so cute). Now we just wait for the next ones! His little friend, who's a week younger than him, has seven teeth, and got FIVE of them within a month, poor little darlin'. Gah.

I've been taking Bollywood dance classes over the past few months at the gorgeous Wild Lily Dance Centre, which is run by two lovely ladies (and amazing bellydancers), Lori and Vanessa. Unlike the usual ballet-hip hop-ballroom dance schools, Wild Lily classes feature what the ladies call alternative and cultural dance styles, yoga, and hula-hooping. The school is about to move to a new location, and tonight is the last student showcase at the current studio. Our Bollywood group performed in public for the first time last weekend, at the Multicultural Women's Organization of NL's food and craft fair at the Holiday Inn, and are performing two routines tonight... we're all kinda nervous, but looking forward to it. The costumes alone are reason enough to want to take part- they're super colourful and beautiful.

There've been three birthdays in our family over the past few weeks: my little niece and her mom (my sister-in-law), and my sister, who turned 30 and finally got the birthday she's been waiting for since she was 12 years old. Seriously, she's always dreamed of being in her 30s, the little weirdo. I have a thing about birthday cards, and any other store-bought cards - it takes me a long time to pick them out. I can't give someone a card just for the sake of it; it has to say exactly what I want to say, or else I buy a blank one and write something myself. Over the last little while, I've been making them like I made Ian's valentine: sewing the card and envelope from fabric, and embroidering the front of the card. I did little unicorns and rainbows for my niece, a chihuahua for my sister-in-law, and a cute little 1950s-style waitress carrying a cake on a tray for my sister. For my sister's birthday present, I made her this:

It's made with Rae's Buttercup Bag pattern (I'm a licenced seller of these purses now, yippee!). I had gotten my sister to tell me her favourite colours (blue, green and black) and found this pretty fabric... the difficult part was that it was a landscape, not just a repeated pattern, so I had to make sure both sides of the purse were cut in the exact same spot. Ian actually measured and cut the strap for me while I was cutting other pieces, and did his best to get "the most butterflies in as possible" (his words. Cute.). Anyway, the bag comes in a small and medium size, is fully lined with a reinforced strap, and has an interior pocket and a magnetic clasp. If you want one, I can customize colours and patterns.  I was thinking of enlarging the pattern and using a zipper instead of the clasp to make a diaper bag- what do you think? 

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Lisa was the winner of the Munkeh in the last Celebrate the Boy giveaway, and Kerri won the legwarmers. Drop me an e-mail with your address when you get a chance, ladies, and your packages will be in the mail ASAP. Since Dara (Readily a Parent) was the only other person to comment (and a good friend), I'm sending her a package, too. :)