Yesterday, Luke and I ventured out to church for the first time since he joined us in the world. He did really well, except for getting hungry in the middle of the sermon. So I didn’t actually get to hear most of it. Anyways, after church, since we were all dressed up and looking presentable, we decided to try to get some family pictures. I never knew what an adventure trying to take a picture with an infant would be. Here’s what we ended up with, after deleting the ones that were blurry or crooked or we had our eyes closed. 

I think this is the best one, even though Luke still looks a bit disgruntled:

The Lord has answered so very many prayers in Luke’s birth and life so far! I am so thankful for His kindness and goodness to us.

• The labor and delivery was about as easy and uncomplicated as possible.
• Luke is very healthy.
• I didn’t have to have a c-section (I prayed specifically for that).
• My mom and sisters made it here before he was born (by about 8 hours).
• Luke is a wonderful, easy baby. He is a joy to care for and doesn’t really cry unless something is really wrong.

I just wanted to share a couple of pictures that are just TOO cute to pass up! One of the greatest blessings of this past week has been getting to watch Bret be a daddy. He is doing a fantastic job. Luke already will turn and look for him when he hears Bret’s voice! He has changed more diapers than I have, and is diligently learning how to love and care for our little one. I am loving getting to see him be a father! Both of these were taken on Bret’s first Father’s Day. I’m so glad Luke came in time for us to celebrate it.

 

 

The gracious Lord brought forth little Luke Allen Rogers on Tuesday!!! We are so excited and so blessed to get to see and hold and care for him. He was born at 8:45 pm, weighing 7 lbs 15 ozs and he was 20 1/2 inches long! I’ll post more details later. Right now, I’m enjoying the fact that he is SLEEPING, IN HIS CRIB. Here are some pictures:

I’ve noticed a lot people searching for measurements or directions on how to sew a crib dust ruffle. I searched all over the great internet looking for the same info, and couldn’t find anything helpful. So I sort of made it up as I go along. This doesn’t always work out well for me, but this time, it did work. So I thought I’d share what I did. I threw away the paper that I wrote the measurements on, but that part was pretty simple.

The first thing to do is measure the length and width of the crib. I used my husband’s tape measure, and just measured the spring thing that the mattress sits on. That will give you L x W. You should add an inch or two for the seam allowance; how much you add depends on how big you want the seam allowance to be.

Then you need to decide how long you want the ruffle to be. That will give you H. Again, you need to add an inch or two for the seam and hem allowance. (Make sure the seam allowance is the same as the seam allowance you added above.) I made mine for our coming baby, so the mattress is raised as high as it can go and I wanted the ruffle to reach all the way to the floor. Store-bought ruffles are not that long.

Ok, the next step is to figure out the measurements for your pieces of cloth. You will want one piece that is L x W, this is the piece that will go under the mattress. Then you will want two that are H x W (for the ruffle ends), and two that are H x L (for the ruffle sides). Make sure you include seam and hem allowances. I keep saying that because I have forgotten them before, and that’s never good. Sometimes I even cut my fabric a little big, because you can always cut it down, but its difficult to add length.

The last part is the easiest. Hem up what will be the bottom and sides of your ruffle ends and sides and then sew them to the piece that is to go under the mattress. I don’t recommend sewing the ends and sides together at the corners, because the gap at the corners allows the dust ruffle to sit easily over the bolts that attach the springs to the crib frame.

This makes a more streamlined, tailored-looking dust ruffle. If you wanted something more ruffle-y, you could just double the measurements for the L x W of the actual ruffle pieces.

If you have any questions, or something is not clear, please leave a comment and I’ll try to explain. This is my first time writing anything like this, so I’m very open to your comments and questions.

Well, I just got back from my weekly doctor’s appointment. I would LOVE to have exciting news to tell you, but I don’t. Nothing is happening. The doctor did say that I was doing well, the baby is doing well, and he didn’t have anything to fuss at me about, which was good to hear. Anyways, it looks like we still have some time before Baby Rogers decides to make his entrance. I actually am really okay with that, and am fully trusting God’s good providence in His timing of when our baby arrives.

Here’s what I’ve been working on for the past two weeks. We spent that time at my grandparents’ house; Bret was painting the outside trim. As I couldn’t help him, I took along some crafty things to do. I made 3 pairs of comfy capris from t-shirts, these burp cloths, letters for Luke’s room, and wrote most of my thank-you notes. It was really nice to have time to do all those things before the baby enters the world.

Anyways, these are just plain, single-fold, cloth diapers from Wal-mart. I added ribbon and embroidery to make them cuter and more fun to use, I hope. Here are the ones I made for us to use:

(The blank one is not actually blank, its just a surprise.) They’re hanging up in the bathroom drying, because I used a water soluble pen to trace the designs onto the fabric before embroidering them. It was super easy. I just printed off the picture or text that I wanted from the computer, traced it, and then embroidered the design. I really like embroidery because you can be SO creative with it, and its colorful. And its very portable, which was really nice when I was tired and wanted to sit in the cozy chair with my feet up.

I made these for a friend of mine that’s having twins at the end of the summer. I think the girly ones are so cute. :) 

Oh, hello, I have a blog! You wouldn’t know it, would you, with how much I’ve been posting on here recently. We’ve had several exciting and busy weeks, and most recently, my wonderful husband has been painting my grandparents house. We’ve been staying over there, and don’t have internet access. That’s my excuse for not posting. Does it pass?

Here are some pictures of what was happening before we took our little journey to Dallas.

I had my first baby shower.

Bret’s Mom and Oma came up for it.

Brandon and Bethan came for a (much to short) visit.

I had another shower.

Ruthie came up for it!

LD came too!

All of these happenings have been wonderful gifts from the Lord, and I am so thankful for the love and encouragement that have been shown us in these past weeks.

I had a doctor’s appointment this past week, and everything looks good. I am getting pretty uncomfortable, especially in my legs and hips. But I am totally fine with it if that’s what it takes to get this baby here.

This little flower made my day today! We bought this gardenia bush last fall because it said that it bloomed in autumn. But there were no blooms or even buds throughout the fall or winter. About two months ago, though, some buds started to appear, and I got SO excited! Gardenias are some of my favorite flowers; I love the way the look and the way they smell. And its fun for me to have them here because we had them in Africa also. BUT, they never actually bloomed! All the plant had was buds for about two months! I was starting to loose hope that they’d ever bloom, and today, my husband called me outside to show me this flower, and there are several more coming out on the plant too!

I finished this little guy for the offi-sery last night:

He’s going to be friends with the little elephant I made a couple weeks ago:

I don’t think the lion is as cute as the elephant, but he turned out ok. I just don’t think he looks particularly lion-like… Anyways, I’m glad I got him all finished up.