My Baby Erfan Turns One!

Yup, on the 27th of April my lil honey bug turned 1 and I still can't believe how fast time flies...Goodbye baby and welcome toddlerhood!

We had a small family celebration at my parents' place in Bangi. I wanted Erfan's first birthday celebration to be special even if we are not having a full on birthday party, I still wanted to have a theme and plan around and sew the decor myself. Brace yourself for pic heavy entry! :D

First up, the cake! I wanted a bright aqua and red, baby elephant theme. So I ordered this cake from Scrummycakedesign (she's on Instagram) and it turned out amazing!

LOVE the cake! And I also ordered some sugar cookies from Rollypops by Lyza Ghazalli (she's on Facebook). I wanted elephant shape cookies in the theme colors. And she did an amazing job!

I made a quilted table topper a week before the party. I used a table topper pattern by Kimberbell Designs. This one is truly made with love! :)

Sorry phone pic :P

Sorry phone pic :P

So overall I am happy with how the main table was set up :

I also sewed some buntings and garlands to add to the festive mood :

And the birthday boy? I sewed this cute shortall the day before :

I appliqued the elephant on the chest, I think it adds character and of course to fit the theme lol...I used an older shortall pattern by Tie Dye Diva.

Birthday boy was having a nap when I woke him up to change and blew the candle, hence the spaced out look on his face lol :

Here's the front and back of the shortall :

With big sisters who were having a blast because they get presents too lol

My 3 Angels....

The highlight of the day, baby first cake bashing session! It was so funny how Erfan keeps messing with the cake. He only ate a handful though lol...

Love his expressions! 

And finally, overwhelmed and perplexed with all the presents he gets lol

It's been a long time since we had a family birthday celebration. My parents now have 7 grandchildren and we always celebrate at their home and the tradition is each child will get a present from grandparents, aunties and uncles. So we had to combine the celebration to save lol

My bubba Erfan, he has come so far! He is my cheeky sunshine, so active and a happy baby. Kisses and more kisses!

Another Quilt I Made For The Baby

This is the second quilt I made for Baby Erfan, and this time I was on a roll! :D

I mean, I was so eager to try the real deal - piecing the patchwork, free motion quilting & the works. I felt like I've grown a lot as a quilter after this project.

I used a Lilly & Will layer cake for this quilt. I sashed it using white Kona cotton. For the backing I used a soft polkadots by Robyn Pandolph from my stash, while the binding is from an older Laura Gunn's collection. I love the soft baby'ish hue of green, cream & chocolate in this quilt! It is a bigger quilt of crib size.

This quilt will forever be in my family. As I mentioned in the previous posts, it tells a story of how I was having contractions 5 minutes apart when I was hand binding it lol...

And now that the baby is here, this sweet quilt has been in so many snapshots of my lil bubba....I still cannot get over how precious he is and how lucky we are to have him in our lives :)

Above are his newborn pics, the little boy with a thousand expressions lol...

And this is him at 6 months, already rolling over...that smile is just so contagious!

Till next post, have a blessed day my friends! *hugs*

An Astro Boy Quilt For Baby Harith

I made this baby quilt for bff Ida's son, Harith. I love this space themed panel and prints by Jill McDonald, perfect for little astro boys :)

It's a simple panel quilt. No pattern, I just simply whipped it up as I go. I patched the top and bottom frame of the panel and added outer border. The quilting is a mixture of free motion meandering on the border and patched frame + some outline quilting on the panel itself. And I also machine bind the quilt.

I love the back of this quilt. I used an apple print backing and included a special little message on the quilt label :

And the best part of making a quilt for a baby is of course seeing the baby on the quilt! :D

Here is the cutest astro boy ever, baby Harith (he is 7 month old) when he came to our house to pick up the quilt :

Isn't he a cutie?

Ok the next photo is epic - we wanted to snap a photo of both Harith and my Erfan together but Erfan was sleepy and cranky. So this is what happened :

Priceless!!! :D

Little Snippets

...of update that is... :)

Wow...long time no blog....Eid 2013 went by so fast I didn't even get to blog about it this year. I guess I'd just pick up where I left off and try my best to keep this blog alive. Besides, I meant this to be a space my kids would be able to come to and read when they grow up :)

I've been busy...you know, living, sewing and mostly...being a mom. And of course, kissing and cuddling this little bear of mine :

Hehe...yup, baby Erfan is now 6 months plus, and growing like weed! And very much loved by his big sisters too. Cheeky and mostly happy...we are blessed.

 

I'm sure you noticed how chubby he is now...already over 8 kg at 6 months. However, he is  not rolling over yet. Sometimes I forget that he is a premature baby, so mommy is trying not to worry too much with this developmental delay. We still could not believe that he used to look this tiny and frail as a newborn (in the NICU) :

...and 6 months later, he is this cheeky little angel...

...such a delightful baby, always happy and smiling and of course at the center of every camera shots lol...here he is with mommy dearest :D

I guess that's all for now. I have mentioned before that other than sewing dresses for my customers, I have now ventured into the exciting world of quilting. I am so hooked, there is no turning back lol. It is now what I obsessed about in my reading, blog haunts etc. I am like a sponge, absorbing all I could learn about the craft. I have been practicing with baby quilts, patchwork blanket and mug rugs.

My next posts will be on the quilting I managed to do, one example is this one I made for Erfan when he was in my tummy :)

Till then, if you are on Instagram, feel free to follow me zura_lovemelots. I post pictures a lot over there :) 

Oh and I also wanna say, thank you for still reading...love you! :)

Turning A New Page

Yup. I am going through a major change in life at the moment and taking steps to ensure it's going to be a smooth ride.

Other than being occupied with my lil bean, Erfan who's now a little over 2 months old, I am also busy sewing my heart's out to complete this year's Raya orders. These are some completed so far and mama still going strong lol

And the best news came a few days ago :

Alhamdulillah...my application for unpaid leave was approved. Yes, I am taking couple of years off work to focus on the kids and family. This also means I will work harder on Lovemelots Creations as it is no longer a side job, it is now my only job, a sole source of income for me. Therefore whatever decisions I make for Lovemelots will now be a business decision and a matter of survival :)

I am so excited to venture on a new life without the stress and guilt that comes with having a full time job outside. I know for sure that my heart & soul belongs in this home with my family. Thank you Allah for answering my prayers & for this opportunity to be with my beloved kids everyday...

Baby Erfan - My Birth Story

Today, the 30th of May, was supposed to be the day of our baby's arrival.

However, he was determined to come early, 5 weeks earlier than EDD to be exact. Yup, our little angel, born a late preterm at 35 weeks. My baby, Erfan :)

On the night of before his arrival, I went out shopping for groceries with hubby and the girls. Back home afterwards, I felt some contractions but seriously thought it was Braxton Hix and tried to ignore it by focusing on sewing the binding of the baby quilt I was making...

Then, after midnight the contractions were stronger and by 3am I could no longer bear it as it was 3 minutes apart! I remember thinking - It cannot be...it's too early! And with the girls it was totally different - I would either have a bloody show or my water broke long before any contractions! So we rushed to the hospital. Around 10 minutes after, my water broke and I immediately feel the urge to push.

I remember the havoc it was as they rushed me to the labor room and just another two pushes my little warrior arrived, gliding out and seconds later came his loud cry...both hubby and me were shocked...never crossed our mind that our precious little boy would be premature...but then again this pregnancy had been extra strenuous for me as I dealt with the stress of my job & extremely bad edema..I was swollen all over and ballooned so big! I also was diagnosed with polyhydramnious just a week before...

Nonetheless, he's just beautiful...he weighs a tiny 2.4kg but his apgar score was 9/10..he was given oxygen to help him breathe better initially and after that cleared to nurse. His latching & feeding was great too so we were not very worried.

That was until the next day when the doctor said he looks jaundiced. On day 3, Erfan was admitted to NICU at Putrajaya Hospital for Severe Jaundice. His bilirubin level reached the exchange blood phase as the doctors stuggled to bring it down. Nothing could describe my worry at that time..but finally received the good news that he responded to ivig treatment on day 4. Erfan ended up in the hospital for 5 days and when we were discharged we were told that we need to bring Erfan for motor & developmental follow up by the specialists every 3 months until he reaches 2 years old. This is because his jaundiced was severe and they fear it might have affected the brain...I am praying hard now that my little warrior would be okay...

Erfan is now 33 days old..I am exclusively breastfeeding him..he seems to gain weight and active but we could see that the jaundice is still there, maybe just less severe. We are waiting for his 1st month appointment to see what the doctor says.

Other than this, Erfan is a happy baby who cries for milk almost every hour! He loves to play at night and mostly naps in the morning & afternoon...his looks changes almost everyday as we cherish this very short newborn stage..I am so very much in love and we are so grateful for him Alhamdulillah...

The big sisters are also over the moon of their baby brother...and its heartwarming to see how in love hubby is with his son. Grandma & grandpa was smitten too!  :)

Today, my lil love bug is 33 days out in the real world. We have only the best dreams and wishes for him and pray endlessly that he would grow up healthy and happy...looking at his chubby cheeks now..well I am grateful for Allah's blessings and I could just kiss him all day long!