Valentine's Day Dress

I finally got back into smocking. It seems that for every move, it takes me at least 5 months to get back in the groove. Axel started painting, so I started smocking.

For Valentine's Day I made my second to last smocked dress for Heavah. She's 7, I know. But I had to do one last labour of love for her while she still agrees to put it on. In fact, this is how wonderful my daughter is: In some round about ways she mentioned she has a slight opinion about what she wears. She has never even suggested this to me-ever. She has always been agreeable about what I put on her. I feel so lucky, there has never been a need for bribery for her to wear anything. I made this dress for her and she praised it up and down, but I knew deep down inside she thought, 'Will I ever wear skirts??"

I know my dresses are now getting to be young for her. I designed this particular dress to reflect a more mature child. I had no pattern, so I made it up. She always puts the dress on with a smile on her face and tells me how much she appreciates them. I love that about my daughter, and because she has done this for years, I placed a big order on Gap.com to suit her recent, more grown-up tastes. It is a sad day, but I am just happy she has obliged me to this point. Her final dress will be her baptism dress, which I am starting to do now.

In all this sadness that I feel because my oldest child is growing up, I am comforted by the fact that I have another daughter trailing 4 years behind. She, too, doesn't care what she wears and is always convinced that if it is a dress, she is a princess. The problem occurs when she finally outgrows these princess dresses and I have no one to sew for anymore.

It looks like my girlfriends will just have to keep having babies until my children give me grandchildren. Come on, ladies, who else can keep my hobby alive?