Long rambling post that might best be skipped.

Today I am going to showcase my insecurities. Let's jump right in, shall we? You see, my traditional baby gift for good friends is a pair of handmade reversible pants (Anna Maria Horner's Quick Change Trousers). They're awesome. We've used them in our own home with Elinor and Jake and loved them. BUT, I usually just give these, along with a treat of some kind, as a "hey, we're thinking of you and excited for your family" kind of bonus gift. The lady in question today was having an actual baby shower (for her fourth girl... what?), so I felt like a single pair of pants was not enough.

Here are the pants, which I was absolutely in love with.

Those bunnies. They kill me. Really, they are on par with the fish pants I gushed about a few weeks ago. I literally carried these babies around the house for a couple of days to prepare myself for letting them go.

Then, I don't know what possessed me, but I decided to turn back to one of my favorite patterns, the Oliver + S Playdate Dress and whip one of those up for her as well. I agonize over things like this. You'll see.

I spied the bird fabric and loved it immediately. I originally had it paired with a dark grey for the yoke, but it looked horrendous once I got it in. Absolutely hideous. So I literally rolled the little dress up and stuck it in the back of a closet for a couple of days while I tried to figure out what to do with it. I didn't even let Joseph see it, I was so horrified. I needed some time to pass so I could evaluate it with fresh eyes. I pulled it out again yesterday and decided to try this light blue fabric that I found in my stash. Better... I think. Still not totally sure. This morning I found myself hemming the little dress and sewing the buttons on 20 minutes after the shower had already started, all the while just beside myself trying to figure out if the dress was still an abomination or if it was cute. Honestly, I'm still undecided. It's totally scary to me to be putting it up here. But, I had to get to the shower so I hastily snapped these pictures so I could agonize over the issue later, stuffed everything into a bag (dress and pants plus a coordinating shirt from Target), and gave them away before I could chicken out.

The whole time Joseph was reassuring me while more than likely wondering how he ended up with such an insane wife. Honestly, another issue I had with this whole fiasco is that I don't want to be the crazy lady who foists hand-made gifts onto her friends and thinks they're awesome when they're really... not.

And really, I am not looking for a weighing-in here of whether or not this dress is a monstrosity. It might be something I need to decide for myself. I just sort of wanted to record a little glimpse into the sort of process I go through sometimes when I sew and also to have this picture here for later reference and deliberation.

Moving on, here is a wonderful memory from Colorado that I've been meaning to share.
The primary visited the Denver temple one day and we took a few pictures.

All the kids were supposed to be touching the wall here. I suppose I took the picture at the wrong time.

Inside the visitor's center.

With friends.

Outside at the fountain.

With those same friends.

And this picture cracks me up because it captures the reality of the situation. This is what was really going on. Getting those other pictures was a challenge. :)