Sometimes, the answer for something we are looking for is exactly where we don't expect it to be.

 This morning, while getting ready for my shower, I wanted to get all my hair in a pony tail so that I wouldn't get them wet but, I couldn't find an elastic band. I looked in my drawers, I looked everywhere. I was in a hurry, so, I took the first thing I thought it could work, the elastic band bracelet that Isabella made for me and somehow I got my hair tied up. 

On my way to the shower, I looked and saw the plant that I have in the bedroom, I remembered that I had not watered  it for a while, but I was late, I thought I could do it later, too many things to get done in  the morning, plus today I have to get a First Birthday Dress Shipped before my trip to the Pilot International Midwest Convention tomorrow. 

when I was in the shower box I thought, if I don't water it now, I will probably forget and it will die like many other plants that I have had. So, I got out and poured a cup of water on my pretty plant, suddenly I noticed that the elastic band that I was looking for to get my hair up, was right there on  top of the dirt  LOL. I smiled and said : Thank you dear plant! if I had not stopped to water you, I wouldn't have found what I was looking for :).

Just a simple gesture that taught me an important life lesson.

Sometimes when we are really busy and thinking we cant stop for a minute to do something we should, we miss the opportunity to find what we really need.

I am totally guilty here for not taking a time to message a friend to say "Hi", reply emails but, I have learned something today. Maybe if we  made a time for  talking to a friend, the answer to some of our problems, must come right out of their mouth. Sometimes, just a good laughing will release endorphin and will give you the feeling that, everything is going to be all right!! :)

Have you stopped to "water your plants" today? :)

Have a precious day :)

Blessings to all!

Zee Giddings
www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com

Happy Easter to each and everyone of you :) Blessings to all!

I have been not posting lately, so many things going on at the same time. I have been trying to juggle between my family, that is the most important thing in this world to me, my First Birthday embroidered dress, Embroidea Custom Embroidery and re doing  My First Birthday Dress Website. It's turning out good and I am very satisfied. Other than that, I had a short visit to the ER with abdomen cramps and it turned out I have diverticulitis. What the heck!?!??! LOL that is a name that I cant even pronounce ! Yeah, once somebody told me that after the 40s, we start going down the hill LOL. That is too funny but, boy isn't it true? LOL

I am not complaining, as long as I am alive and able to do my work of Art and take care of my family, I am thankful for each and every day I get to be in this beautiful world. :)

Today I wanted to share something I found to be very cute coming from our eight years old daughter Isabella.

I have this thing with me, I have always had it and I got it from my father. I have a "look" for everything that sometimes I don't even have to say a word, I look at my husband or one of my kids and they know exactly what I don't need to say LOL It's a very good thing though because sometimes we are in public places where I don't want to yell at my daughter, all I have to do is look at her and she will know what I mean.

Today, at lunch time, I cooked Isabella fries for lunch, what she calls "Brazilian fries" I cut the potatoes a little thicker and fry them, for some reason Isabella thinks that my fries are the best!

Today at lunch time, she told me : "Mom, you make the best fries EVER!" I said "Thank you Isabella, do you know the difference in between my fries and the McDonald one?



Working on my first birthday dresses

"What is it mom?" Mine has a special ingredient, I call it love. Everything we make with love, tastes much better, looks better and feels better!

She said: "You will have to teach me how to do this because someday I will make this fries to my kids"

Yeah, I said: "You can tell them that your mom "used" to cook you great fries" I used the verb in the past.

She gave  me "the look" The one that there is no need for words but, she completed: "NO mom, I will tell them that my mom COOKS the best fries" 

Ok, I said, that works... I knew eaxctly what she meant...

I am so proud of our eight years old daughter... Actually I am proud of all my kids. They all turned out to be wonderful human beings. Thank you Lord.

Tonight we are having a "family night", we are all going to the movies to watch "Rio2" We loved the first one :))) Yeah there is nothing to do with the fact that we are Brazilians!! LOL

OK,  this turned out to be a long posting LOL. I just wanted to say "Hi" and wish you all a VERY HAPPY EASTER!

Enjoy as much time as you can with your family, they are the ones who loves us no matter what!

God bless and be with you all!

Zee

My First Birthday Dress

Being important to her family, is the most important thing about Isabella :)

Good morning to you who stopped to read this post it’s a rainy day but to me it's a beautiful day no matter what. God has given me this day as a gift and I plan on not disappointing Him. 

My entire life I have been trying to teach my kids how important they are to our family, I have been trying to not only tell them but showing with actions how important they are to us. Having a family where both Mom and Dad are the best friend to each other, above being husband and wife. Having in our house a great environment with lots of respect, compassion, laughing and being thankful for everything we accomplish, don't letting any negativity be part of our daily life no matter what we are going through. I always questioned myself if we were being successful about trying to pass that message to our kids. I never wanted to ask them but I wanted them to show us if we were doing the right thing. The only clue I had was a day when Isabella told me that she wanted to marry a guy just like her daddy and I, as always trying to be funny, asked her "Oh you want to marry a guy like your daddy because he is so handsome? Her answer really surprised me, she said "No mom, I want to marry a guy just like my daddy because he loves you more than anything" WOW...

The other, Isabella showed up after school with this book that was donated by the school, I even didn't know that they had been working on that project. What made my heart sing with joy, when I read my daughter's page about what was the most important thing about her. I thought to myself, "Thank you Lord" I have been doing things right. Our 8 years old daughter has got it!
Have a precious day!
Zee
 www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com

Thank you Lord for bringing me to a country where everything is possible... Even a meal that taste like the one our own mom makes....

Today, I woke up missing my family in Brazil so bad..

You know when we are sick, yeah, pneumonia here. Our body aches, our nose is raw inside from so much blowing, our head feels like is going to explode, what comes to our mind? Yeah family... Our mom's soup, all that good stuff that a human being needs...

Unfortunately, I am far away from those good remedies, I have to be happy with what I have. You know what? We have to make the best of every situation... Nobody can have everything, right?

I was craving that warm soup, some health stuff to make me feel better. Everyone who knows me, knows that I am all against the big buck store. I am always trying to help the local business and keeping on my side of the fence. Protecting the small business in town.

I don't have pretty and fancy words to describe what I am feeling right now. Sure, I am a crazy Brazilian who speaks some broke English. It's a good thing that maybe a half dozen of people are reading this post right now. Otherwise I would be making a GREAT free commercial for Olive Garden LOL.

My husband has always been there for everything I need, last night the poor thing even tried to make me noodles soup. The noodles were hard and it didn't taste that great but I had it all because he did his best with what we had... I could feel that he put some loving into it. Even threw a lot of Parmesan cheese to give some taste.. (shhhhhh dont tell him that) :)

It feels weird because the last time I felt like having a bowl of soup this bad, it was when I got out of the hospital after having my open heart surgery. On our way back home from the hospital, for some reason, I was dreaming that I would get home and be surprised. I was hoping that my Mother-In-Law would have  her wonderful chicken noodles soup waiting for me... Too bad, I wasn't very lucky, maybe she wasn't feeling like it... oh well, the dreaming part was good though LOL. Although I had a big cut in my chest,  I had the energy to go straight to the kitchen and cook a big pot of chicken soup for all of us but, this time, only having pneumonia, it took all my energy away, I feel so weak and couldn't imagine myself cooking... 

SO...I had the best idea ever. I asked my husband if he could go to Olive Garden, and get us some soup and salad to go.

OMG... I cant even try to tell you how wonderful it was. Boy, with $21.14 (as you see on the picture) we had the best meal I could have ever asked for on a cold and gloomy day.

I wish I had had this same idea three years ago when I had my open heart surgery...

They put together a meal I will never forget. Their delicious zuppa toscana (my favorite from their menu) some marvelous bread sticks, enough Parmesan cheese, salad looking impeccable delicious, some chicken meatballs and of course I cant forget to mention my chocolate mints. :)

That was all that I needed today...

Today, my hat is off to you Olive Garden, I know, you guys don't need my commercial but I had to be thankful for the most delicious soup I could had have had.

If you were just visiting my website www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com and somehow landed to this page, you must be asking yourself, what the heck has Olive Garden Soup have to do with first birthday dresses????

Sorry if I have disappointed you, this is not all about business. This is about opening my heart and let my fingers type what comes to my mind. It;s all about being thankful. Maybe some day you might be feeling like a healthy and homemade taste meal and you might recall that it came in handy for me today.

Looking at this picture I would say; Mr. Olive Garden people :) thank you so much for making me feel like I was at home today! You guys ROCK!!!

Thank you Lord for bringing me to a country where everything is possible... Even a meal that taste like the one our own mom makes....

Blessings

Zee

www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com

I am thankful for having happy moments to share with the ones I love :)

Good morning my dear kids :)

What a beautiful sunny day huh?!  And we are alive :) Praise our Lord...

Some people don't understand the difference about "bragging" and being "thankful"  that is really sad... Some people ask me if I dont have problems, how can I be happy all the time? 

I will tell you what. I do have things that happens to me that are not worth of mentioning... What for example? Well, dang, I will have to mention now...How about the fact that the holidays are coming and most of you will celebrate close to your family while mnie is miles and miles away? How about the fact that I have to take blood thinner for the rest of my life and keep often testing my blood to always be "in range"  between 2.5 and 3.5. Today for example my test result was 1.9, not good huh!? LOL Most of you dont know the fact that last Friday, due to my web hosting incompetence and misunderstanding, I got both of my website, the Embroidea and the First Birthday Dress ones totally deleted from the server.

My wonderful husband has been working on the Embroidea one but the First Birthday Dress according to the web hosting will take between seven and ten days to be back online. I already know the consequences of those mistakes, Google might punish me for that and I might have to start from ground zero again. Does that bother me? Yes it does. Do I let those "small" problems TOP the fact that I woke up and got out of bed today and I am ready to spend one more day in this earth with my USA Family? Hell NO!!! Do I blame on the "poor satan" for all the shit that happens? Hell NO LOL  That "poor horned guy" is blamed for everything bad that happens LOL I believe in "free will"  I let that satan cooking marshmallow and hot chocolate right there in hell where he lives, cuddling with is "satan wife" LOL

Nothing in this world will be more important and worth of "bragging" about than the fact that I am ALIVE!!! :)

All the other stuff I can start from scratch. It wont be the first time I have to do this :) With any bad thing that happens to me, I learn precious life lessons that makes it all worth. 

So for a few people that might think that I am always bragging about my "perfect life" the fact that I post pictures of my new "satellite looking puppy" my opportunity to see one of my favorites singers, etc. I am not "bragging" at all. I am sharing my moments of happiness with my family in Brazil and with all of you my dear friends love me and whom I love so dearly.

I do have "shit" happens to me all the time BUT,  I would rather talk about the happy things that are the biggest and most important ones to me.

I am normal LOL Yes I am like everybody else here, I have bad and good moments but no matter what happens I will always praise the Lord for the good ones and dont waste my precious energy with those things that are not so good.

Today, I am so THANKFUL that, I am alive, the sun is shinning and I can work from home having our home thermostat on 73 degrees and a space heater right in front of me :)) ah, and yes I am thankful for our beautiful "satellite ears puppy" coming all the time and kissing me :))

Let's count our blessings and dont focus on those not so good things dear kids. Life is short enough, let's use our energy to be happy no matter what comes our way :)

God bless and be with us always...\

Love you all

Zee

www.myfirstbirthdaydress

Happiness is Everywhere!!!

Good morning kids  I woke up, got out of bed and thought to myself: This is happiness, I've gotten one more day to enjoy!!! came downstairs, enjoyed some time meditating, sipped a cup of coffee, relaxed... Then, later, I went back upstairs to get ready for the day and ended up finally finding my bag of fuzzy warm socks that I didn't know where I had put them last winter, so, I thought: hmm this is happiness as well :0) Oh I've missed my fuzzy socks so much lol Yeah, it's so cold today! ;))

Then, finally time to wake up our little princess Isabella to get ready to school. She had a beautiful smile to this proud mommy, then the thought came back to me again: This is really happiness! I think happiness is every where we want it to be. Today my dear friends I've decided to count all my blessings and be thankful for every little thing called happiness :0) How about You try to pay attention to every little thing through the day and you will realize how happy you are as well? :))

Right now I feel that I am really blessed and happy to be able to work from home, embroider my First Birthday Dress and talk to my Customers!

 God bless and be with us always. 

Have a happy day kids!!!

Zee 

www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com

I can live for two months on a good compliment. ( Mark Twain)

Yes, I can live for two months on a good compliment, just like Mark Twain  said :) Sometimes all we need to feel good is a compliment. It doesn't cost a dime and make us feel so good. I have always enjoyed saying compliments to my friends and Customers because I know how they make me feel.

I was having a good day, not to much productive but, it was an ok day until a few minutes ago when I got this Convo from Etsy that made my day :))

This lady was browsing the net trying to find a birthday dress for her daughter. Even thinking that she couldn't afford it, she took some minutes of her time to say something nice  that put a big smile on my face :) 

God bless your heart dear mom :)

Isn't it so easy? Now I keep thinking to myself: why don't I just pay it forward? Why don't I give a look through all the shops on Etsy and maybe I can be lucky enough to make somebody Else's day! 

This is the world that I want for the next generation. A world of love, peace and gratitude. John Lennon was  so right when he said that he was a dreamer, but he wasn't the only one.  I am a dreamer as well.

I thought I would share with  you what made my day today :)

God bless that lady's family and yes, I have done something about it... They say that money makes the world go round but, Love also does the same.

God bless you and your family!

Smile :) Life is GOOD!

Zee

www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com

Trying to get back to the normalcy

Hi there! It’s been a while since I have posted here.

I had my parents visiting from Brazil, they were here for a month and we had lots of fun but, I've gotten so swamped with my work. Unfortunately I couldn't take the entire month to enjoy their visit to Springfield, IL, but trying to jungle in between work and given them some attention.

At the beginning of their stay at our home, it was really hectic, Customers calling, coming in out all the time, I was feeling kind of lost but, things got better. Isabella, my 7 years old daughter had some fun time at the pool with her grandparents but, the language barrier really sucked. They don’t speak English and Isabella doesn't speak Portuguese so, it was a little confusing for her.

The best part of their trip, was being able to give my daddy a party to celebrate his 66 years. He was so happy and excited with our friends coming to say happy birthday and enjoy some good food with us. I love my daddy :) My mommy and daddy also went fishing, we went to the church and did some nice things together. 

What I didn't know is that my Daddy's dream was to be able to fly on a plane. He had never flown before. It made me feel very good inside, knowing that I was able to turn one of my daddy's dream come true..

My parent’s visit has taught me something very important. I REALLY need to teach my daughter the Portuguese Language. Poor thing couldn't communicate very well with grandpa. Actually, I think we all should teach our kids another Language because it will make their life much easier in the future.

Oh right, now that I am back to normal life, I am keeping on embroidering my First Birthday Dresses and hoping that the economy will get better soon so that I will be able to sell more of them. It’s my treat to myself, stop once in a while and enjoy sometime embroidering each one of my little dresses.

Juliana has still been helping me with the website and I am so happy about that… One less thing to worry about.

Yesterday, after I had a dress sold on my website, I realized that my customers didn't know they could have their dresses personalized for free with their baby’s name, so, I had to make some changes to the website. I hope it will bring me more Customers :)

I intend to start posting more often now that life is getting back on track and finding out more way to help the moms celebrating their babies First birthday! It’s a very special occasion and an important milestone in a child’s life, celebrate their First Year of life.

Here are some pictures of my parents visit

You all have a great day and enjoy life 

Blessings

Zee

Summer vacation! How to keep our little ones entertained? How to find foster grandparents? LOL

It's Summer, Vacation, we are glad we don't need to get our cranky kids out of the bed for a while but  here is the question? What to do to keep them entertained and not having to hear all the time, "mommy I am bored"? "Mom, I have nothing to do!!!" My answer is always, go clean your room!!! And there she comes with a smart ass comment "I said I am bored, I want something fun to do, I don't want to work" LOL 

Seriously, I have no clue. I know about all the camping they have out there for kids but, my daughter is 7 and I have no clue what to do...

All I know is, I have all this embroidery to get done and  I need to keep an eyes on my daughter. My thoughts are always  what is she doing? She has been riding her scooter on the side walk with kids from our street, is this safe? I mean, lately I don't seen to get focused on anything because my mind is always busy with so many things.

Oh how I wish I had my parents living close to me... My daddy and mommy would keep Isabella entertained all the time, isn't that what grandparents are for anyways? I imagine how life would be so much easier for me if I could focus on my work only, while being sure that my little girl were in good hands. Dream on Zee... Dream on...

They have Foster home for animals and kids but where are the Foster Grandparents home? LOL Yep, I am serious... I so wish I could find Isabella some foster grandparents here in the USA...

If you have any idea what a seven years old daughter could be engaged while on summer vacation, something safe, would you please let me know?

OK, as you have noticed, I have been so busy lately, haven't even had the time to post here, but life will slow down and then I will catch up LOL

You all have a blessed day!

God Bless 

Zee

www.myfirstbirthdaydress.com

Peace on Earth

 

Good morning Mr. World...

Why don't you change for the better?

I don't think I can  watch the news no more. It's one bad news after another... It makes me sick of my stomach watching all this bad stuff going on. Why this hunger to hurt each other?

My heart is pretty sad with all the bad news we see on TV and the ones we live ourselves. There is bad people everywhere...

The other day, I almost got scammed. Somebody with a thick oriental accent saying that he was from Windows called and told I was having issues with my windows 8. As it has been less than a month since I bought this PC. A bad timing coincidence because I HAVE been having some issues with my computer, so, I believed him. I did everything he asked me to do until he asked to have access to my computer to fix all the errors, THEN, I woke up and realize that was very weird. I called my husband who is a computer programmer and told him what was going on and he told me to NOT let anybody access my computer. The next day the same person called again but this time my husband was at home and I passed him the phone. They tried the same thing with him. What in the world do I have on my computer to interest these people? Why so many bad people in this world trying to take advantage on us?

Why this hunger to show which country has more missile, which one is stronger? richer? Wouldn't life be so wonderful if  we all lived in harmony? We all have good and bad in us, why don't we  feed the good part and let the bad one perish?

I know its not easy, we are living in a world where people are losing their minds. I just think I should  blog today about this scamming that is going on, people calling you using internet phone that doesn't show their IDs to try to get into you personal world. Don't you think if Microsoft people called us our caller ID would show us that the call was from Microsoft? I doubt we would see "UNKNOW".

So please, you out there, don't let ANYBODY try to fool you. Don't give personal information  over the phone or let people getting on to your PC with the intention of fixing it. Believe me, it would be cheaper for you to call a technician and have it checked, or buy anti virus software than it would be for you to fight identity theft. BE careful you all and God be with us.

Let's pray for the humanity and hope that someday this will change and  as John Lennon  said " .. and the world will live as one"

Now, it's time for me to disconnect from all the world out there and start my embroidery work, start working on my first birthday dress and look forward to the next baby wearing my little first birthday dresses.

Have a peaceful day and God bless

My First Birthday Dresses

Hi there ;)

This is my first time blogging about My First Birthday Dresses. I thought about asking somebody who really know what they are doing about blogging to post my first one. Somebody who really knows how to speak English and it would be a beautiful post. But do you know what?

I am writing this myself and period. :) English is not my first language and sometimes I have a hard time finding the right words to say but, this is me... This is the Zee that a lot of people know and learned to respect and love just the way I am :) Thank God.

I finally got to separate Embroidea Custom Embroidery my main website from the Birthday dresses, I have been trying for a long time.

 This is all about kids, something I REALLY  love doing: My First Birthday Dresses It's my passion, my hobby and my work. I started doing embroidery a long time ago and used to do it by hand, nowadays when I stop to watch my machines working, I get amazed, its magic...

What makes me happy is when a mommy sends me a picture of the baby wearing the dress that I made specially for her... I cant explain the feeling... :))

There is this little girl who I have been embroidering her Birthday Dresses since her first birthday, the last one I embroidered was for her 6th Birthday, then, I started embroidering her little sister's dresses as well. These kids became so precious to me, it's wonderful to watch them growing and I am always looking forward to see their beautiful little faces every year. You can see them here.

My dresses are one of a kind. If a mom doesn't seem to find a dress that she likes on my website, all she has to do is contact me with what she needs. I will stop everything and work with every mom.

I have a great desire of leaving this world a better place for my kids, my grandkids and every kid after I am gone. I have been thinking in a way that I can make a difference  not just selling my birthday dresses but helping others. I know for sure that God has a great purpose and plan for me and I know that at the right time, He will point me in the right direction.

I hope this blog can put us all moms together, here you can share your concerns, your happy moments and give me some ideas for the dresses...

I am mother of Charles (26) who I adopted when he was 2 years old, Tamy, (21) who was just a day old and Isabella (6 years). Also, I am also the grandma of Victoria who is 2. Yep, you are right, I wish I could spoil my little granddaughter as much as I could but, unfortunately, they live in Brazil, far... far way... If you are a grandma and  have your grandkids close to you, never take it for granted, you are a lucky Grandma :)

Well, I guess this is all for now but, I will have some pretty good funnies post soon since my daughter Isabella is 7 going on 30 LOL. She is hilarious and comes up with the funniest sayings ever...

You feel free to share your stories as well. I would love to hear from you.

God give us all patience and love to raise our kids well and God bless you and your family.

Thanks for taking the time to read this. If something doesn't make sense to you, please ask. I am from Brazil, my First Language is Portuguese, sometimes is hard to find the right words. I love communicating with people through e-mails because sometimes I can even joke... Ohhhhh Look at this I didn't even have an accent!! LOL

Dream on Zee... Dream on... LOL

God bless!