{Kickin' Back Sweats}

I can hardly believe February is almost over!  I'm getting this in just under the line, well I suppose this year there is an extra day.  February's Sewing for Boys assignment over at Boy, Oh, Boy, Oh Boy! was to create a pair of Kickin' Back Sweats (or Mr. Two Face Pants if you have a littler guy). 

Since my guy is into wearing "soft pants" now I thought it would be great to use sweatshirt fleece for a comfy pair of pants.  The color choice at my local fabric shop was a bit sparse but I chose a nice navy blue and used a patchwork navy, light blue, red plaid for the pocket.  To highlight the light blue in the pocket I accented around it with some baby blue knit fabric. Without a hem the unfinished pant legs roll up a bit after being washed, it gives them a nice cozy, lived-in look.  My guy is super skinny so I did take the pattern in a bit when I made these so he wouldn't swim in them and they fit him perfectly.  To embellish them and create a personal touch I found a distressed letter M and used a little fabric paint and fabric marker to make it coordinate with the pocket.  Every time Milo sees a letter M he proclaims "there's my M"!  He is very fond of his soft M pants but refused to let me take of picture of him wearing them.

It took some doing but if I held them just right they would stand up
by themselves for just long enough to snap a photo!

{Heart}

February is Heart Month and Feb 7-14 is Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) awareness month.  A great month to celebrate this little guy...

...who 5 years ago was fighting for his life.

Milo's first diagnosis, before he was even born, was a heart defect.  An aortic coarctation, a very narrow spot in his aorta that prevented blood flow from his heart to areas below his arms.  Little did anyone know, that was just the tip of the iceberg.  At 7 days old Milo underwent a 6 hour surgery to repair the aortic coarctation and his incredibly narrow trachea.  As the days wore on new diagnosis and concerns were being added to an every growing list of critical problems.  Many of his issues were not directly related to his heart but Milo also has very narrow portions of his pulmonary arteries which was causing added pressure in his heart.

Milo's surgery was a success and although the next 16 months were spent in the hospital the scars are now fading.  He came home with a trach and was ventilator dependant but by 2 1/2 those issues were behind him.  He still has a feeding tube but is eating a little bit my mouth now.  He is still followed by a host of specialitst, has had several cardiac catheritizations and now sports a metal stint in his right pulmonary artery.

Above all I am so proud of my little warrior!

It was hard to capture Milo's scar but if you look
closely you can see his trach scar then his heart
scar and abdomen scar that run from his neck to
his bellybutton.

I'm posting this in conjunction with a project on Pintrest (yup, I'm hooked) to raise awareness for Congenital Heart Defects.  Click here to go to the Faces of CHD board on Pintrest to read the stories of many, many people affected by CHD.  It really is inspiring to read all of their stories!