Sock Monkey Tutorial?

We have a history in our family regarding the Sock Monkey. My mom made my youngest sister one once and somehow sewed the legs on crooked. It has been a memory of many laughs as we have all grown up, and multiple sock monkey gifts have been given to my mom since the original monkey was sewn with love and crooked legs. When Holden was born, he was given his first sock monkey, with straight legs, from his grandma (my mom) but it is too special to be a well worn loved toy. I decided to make Holden his very own, very special sock monkey. You can order your own sock monkey kit in three levels of difficulty, depending on our perceived sewing experience, at sockmonkey.net. Holden's sock monkey was made with lots of love and my amateur sewing.

Here is how to make your own.

1. You need 2 Rockford Socks, some thread, stuffing and a needle at the minimum

2. Turn both socks inside out and mark the socks with a pencil and ruler as shown:

3. Sew on the lines marked for the legs, tail, arms and ears. You can use a machine or hand sew.

4. Cut between the seams you created for the legs and cut about 1/2-inch beyond your seams.

5. Turn the sock right side out and stuff through the hole in the legs.

6. Sew the opening closed and now you have the body of your monkey.

7. Carefully cut out the remaining pieces on your second sock. Make a small hole in each ear to turn them right side out and stuff.

8. Turn the arms and tail right side out and stuff. You can stuff the ears or leave them flat, I stuffed them.

9. Sew the holes closed for the arms, tail and ears.

10. Sew the tail on the back of the monkey just above his bum

11. Tie a ribbon or piece of yarn near the top of the body, to make a neck. I forgot this step until later.

12. Sew the arms on both sides just below your neck

13. Sew the mouth on just above the neckline. I had to do it twice and his mouth is still a little crooked, but like I said he was made with love. I pinned the mouth on, sewed the bottom half, stuffed and then sewed the top half. I also tried to make a nose and mouth with black yarn.

14. Sew on the ears

15. My kit had two buttons for eyes but you can use anything you like for eyes.

16. Optional clothing: I made the hat with a little red ball on top, there are lots of clothing options for your monkey here are some ideas.

The one complain I have is that the socks had a tendency to unravel and I had to do some mending while putting the monkey together. But all in all, I'm pretty happy with my first sock monkey and hopefully Holden will grow to love him.

Our Birth Story

My childhood friend has a blog (Our Lincoln Log) about motherhood and is running a series on birth stories for expectant moms. I have given her our birth story to share, if you are interested.

Photo/Video Wednesday

Not sure if this will be a repeating post or not, going to shoot for it. Holden has decided that he wants to go straight from laying on his back to standing.

Listening to Dad being silly

Its Summer time

We had a cook out Sunday early evening. All of Holden's friends came as did mom and dad's. Jeremy made homemade burgers and was the grill master. Friends brought libations and yummy salads. All in all, good times were had. The babies were getting fussy near bedtime but that was to be expected. The weather was gorgeous for a cook out.

Obsessed

I have a slight obsession to cloth diapers. There I said it. Now maybe I can start the recovery process. I have a hard time staying off diaper websites and out of the two boutiques here in Charlotte. Holden has more than enough size 1/smalls, so I need to tame my obsession until he is ready for stage 2. Does anyone suffer from this obsession or is it just me?

Green Baby?

I have been mulling over how to make our lives greener and struggling on what is worth investing in long term. We have made small energy efficiencies at home as we have upgraded things and have always recycled. Now with Holden in our lives I have a renewed interest in making his life not only green but healthy. The dilemma and minor disagreement the hubs and I are having is how to be green but also not increase our expenses by much. So, I have been researching how to make changes in our life slowly. I'll be honest that we won't be able to be 100% green, there are a few things that I'm just not sure we are ready to do, No. 1 Our home will never be a vegetarian home. So the things we have done so far I think have made us a little bit greener:

1. compact florescent lighting
2. energy efficient appliances and thermostat
3. We conserve water and lighting in the home as much as possible
4. Cloth diapers and wipes
5. organic formula
6. recycle
7. family garden
8. buying local in the spring and summer

I have been reading Super Baby Food, trying to educate ourselves on the next step with Holden, solid food. I want to make some of Holden's food and had heard the book was good and I like it so far. I know realistically I probably can't make 100% of his food but going to shoot for at least his food at home being homemade. So, in the essence of being healthy and green I'm trying to decide if organic is the way to go. Jeremy thinks its going to be too expensive. I want him to have the best for Holden, and I don't know what to think about the American food industry anymore. I believe I'm a pretty practical gal but now that I'm a mom things that weren't a big deal before baby seem to be a big deal after baby. Including, I don't really mind having conventionally grown (i.e pesticide covered) fruits and veggies in my diet but not sure that I want to do the same with Holden's diet. Don't get me wrong, I wash my fruits and veggies and buy local during the spring and summer. But I am really conflicted about whether buying organic is the way to go with Holden or not.

I would appreciate other's thoughts on the matter. Am I being silly, is eating a well balanced meal good enough? What about just buying the top 12 most contaminated produce organic? Or just buying in season?

In addition to the organic food dilemma. I think I'm going to slowly replace my cleaning supplies with greener non toxic options. There are a lot more products available now than even 5 years ago and the cost isn't much different. If anyone has any suggestions on a particular green brand please let me know. What has worked for you?

3 Months

Holden is 3 months old today. Time is flying by. Our love for our little man grows everyday. We don't know his measurement this month because he doesn't have a check-up until he is 4 months old. But we suspect he is between 12-13 lbs and a little bit longer. He is finally out of his newborn clothes and into 0-3 months, but that might be more about the cloth diapers than his actual size. Holden has had a busy month and is exploring his environment more each day.

Holden's accomplishments this month:

1. He smiles all the time, and started laughing. He smiles at mom and dad in the morning and once we get home and settled from daycare. Those smiles melt our hearts. We get a lot more smiles throughout the day but the first one in the morning is the best.
2. He has noticed Malachi, Holden thinks Malachi is the funniest thing, he is always laughing at the dog.
3. He still loves his bouncer and swing, many a nap has been taken in each.
4. He holds his head up almost all the time now, and can push up with his legs to stand (especially when he is mad) and push up with his arms during tummy time.
5. He follows objects around the room, especially dad.
6. He has a new found fascination with the ceiling fans.
7. Loves to kick and has found his hands, they must taste really good because they are always in his mouth
8. Bath time with dad is his favorite part of the day, and bedtime has become easier each day. Also he is pretty consistently sleeping through the night now.

What Holden has done for the first time in May

1. Started Daycare
2. Helped with his first garden (well watched dad work mostly)
3. Went to a couple playdates and met some cute girls
4. Went to his first Charlotte festival, Speed Street

Now for the fun stuff

Napping

Looking at the ceiling fan

Laughing at all of the stuff Mom hung on my playmat

My favorite

Malachi and Holden are going to be best friends
And a little video of laughing and making faces at the Elephants