Macie's Blessing

Short and simple - 3 kids has been a doozy around here.  It's amazing how the unnecessary things (ahem, like blogging) just fall off the wagon at times like this. Dang.  Ah well!

SO... here's a post that I started writing um... well I don't remember when.  And I finally took the pictures to go with it. So before that invisible window of time passes and it becomes too faux pas to blog about it any more, here's Macie's blessing!!

We blessed Macie way back in November when she was just a tiny week old.  Crazy? Perhaps. But we're glad we did it.
 
Why? When Macie was born (Nov 9th) my parents came to stay with us for a couple weeks and help around the house and with the boys (oh and to do ridiculously large amounts of electrical/home improvement upgrades... thanks again Dad!).   We originally thought we'd wait until she was 1 or 2 months old for her blessing, but we decided very last minute to have her blessed while my parents were still in town so my dad could participate.

It was a Friday night when we decided that we'd bless Macie on that Sunday.  We just tried to keep it small, sweet and simple.
The only problem? We had no dress to bless her in.  In fact, up until that point (the first 7 days of her life) she'd only been wearing snuggly sacks and jammies.  

Could I have bought one? Yes, indeed I could have and that would have been wonderful.  BUT, from the time I knew I was having a girl I knew I wanted to make her blessing dress. I'm just sentimental like that.  I knew exactly what I wanted, but I didn't want to make it until she was born so I could alter it to fit her really well.  So we went ahead with our plans to bless her, hoping and crossing my fingers that I could get the dress done in 1 1/2 days and that it would turn out ok.

So Friday evening and all day Saturday every minute that wasn't spent breast feeding or helping my boys was expended on Pip's dress.  Luckily it all turned out great, just what wanted, with no major errors and I was so thankful for that!  

Because we wanted to keep it simple, we just kept the blessing to the family. But then Saturday night at 9 pm Ben decided he would like a couple friends to stand in the blessing circle with him the next day. So he extended a late invitation to a few more people.

Sunday morning was rushed because Macie and I woke up 45 minutes later than we were supposed to.  And this was our first Sunday taking all three kids to church. And this was my first time fitting into regular church clothes, post baby, still looking and feeling 5 months preggo and all achy, swollen, etc. 

BUT regardless of the last-minute blessing dress, the late-morning stress and our lack of mental preparation, it turned out to be a sweet relatively stress-free day overall. (Of course I'm sure it seemed low stress for me because I had wonderful moms helping around me :)   I am so glad we blessed her at that time, even if she was just a tiny 1 week old.  

It was so nice to have my Dad participate and to be surrounded by family and friends that day.  I am mostly thankful that Ben was able to give her a name and a blessing and what sweet blessing it was. My favorite part of the blessing? When he blessed her to be able to teach her brothers love and kindness and patience. :)

Here are some pics from Macie's special day:

booties crocheted by my mom

and I embroidered her name into the hem of her dress

After the blessing we just had a baked potato lunch back at our house. The wonderful part is that I was surrounded by three moms and three other ladies who pretty much put it all together.

Amy, Mom and Kaye

Andy, Gav, Merc and Optimus Prime

Group shot (minus Dave and Jera who left momentarily and Trisha and Warren who left right after the blessing)

Todd and Riley

Aunt Desi and Pip

daughter, mom and grandma

Nana and Papa J

Big bro Lo

Marmie and Gamps

Aunt Andy

Food! (and Dave Cook :)

And my sweet Macie girl on her big day...

She was so sweet the whole day and didn't make a peep during her blessing. And bonus - she didn't even spit up or blow out in her dress, wohoo!  

Everyone left in the afternoon to go home and I didn't want the sweet Sunday to end and I didn't want to take her dress off.  She has brought such a sweet spirit into our home.

Here's the specs on the dress:

I went anit-pattern to get a good fit on her tiny body. I used a pair of her jammies and her smallest dress she had as a guide for the bodice.  And lucky for me - I breathed a sigh of relief when I tried it on her and it turned out to fit her 8 lb, scrunchy newborn body really well. 

The fabric is stretch taffeta  (it was the closest I could find to dupioni silk, lots of texture with a bit of sheen). I think the dress came in at around $8 including buttons.

 4 box pleats across the front, a fixed sash and a crushed flower attached.

And much thanks goes to my mom for hemming and sewing the snaps and buttons on. And to Jera and my friend Lauren for advising me on  the sleeves and bodice construction!
 
The sleeves were the most stressful part for me! Not because they were hard, but because it was a mental challenge.  The last sleeve I had sewn was in my advance clothing construction class at BYU-I and my final project was a fully lined corduroy jacket and for the life of me I could NOT get those blasted sleeves set in nicely. Pucker, pucker and more puckers. I think I tried 3 times, 3 different techniques before running out of time and giving up and turning the project in unfinished. Curse that jacket. I think I sold it at a garage sale a few years ago. Still unfinished :)  And since that day in 2004  sleeves have haunted me.
This was a great ice-breaking project for me to sew to get back into my clothing construction roots. The sleeves ended up being a breeze.

 

 I embroidered the rest of her name and the blessing date on the hem later that night after the blessing

Back view:
snap closure disguised with buttons, three box pleats and the perfect long length that i love

and it's not pictured but the dress is lined as well, sewn in at the neck line and bodice side seams.

It seems so silly but making Macie's dress was really something that meant a lot to me and it truly was a tender mercy from Heavenly Father that it all came together in a day.  It was a happy day.