New Year, New Year Resolutions!

Everyone makes resolutions, either for themselves, or publicly. I don't usually make any. However today on the eve of the New Year I feel the urge to attempt this, this year. What should I set as a goal? I kept asking myself all day. I thought about it and thought about it... finally, I came up with one. Next thing I knew I had a ton of ideas. Then I thought, thats too many... I just want to keep it simple and I can't do that if I choose too many!

I decided on the following New Year Resolutions:

1. I am going to do 365 days of giving thanks! Thats right, follow this blog and at the end of the month I will post my daily thanks, or what I am thankful for. Ill try to include photos and a small daily blurb of how I came up with the daily thanks! We shall see, this might be a challenge for me with the two kids, but I am going to do my best. The reason I am doing this is to try and find something positive in everyday life. We sometimes have rough days, weeks, and sometimes months. This year I want to remember the small things, and the positive things that I still have in my life. I hope this will inspire others to remember the positive, and thankful things in their lives.

2. I want this year to be a year of living healthy, working out, and getting fit. I am over weight, because of all the weight I gained during my two pregnancies, and then my knee injury didn't help either. I eventually put on WELL over 50 extra pounds. So starting in the new year, I am joining weight watchers, working; out now that my knee is (kind of) back in working order, and eating healthier. When I married my husband I was around 125 pounds. I worked out at most 6 days a week, and at least 3 days a week. I watched what I had for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I made meals, packed lunches, and when I couldn't pack food I purchased the healthiest item I could find. I want to get back to those choices, and remember the results that can come of it. I will say here that I would love to get back down to my 125 pound healthy body, but I would be happy to just reach 140 before the year is up. I know I can do this as long as I don't need any random surgeries, and as long as my body stays strong. Wish me luck, this one I might need just that!

Heres my past to present photos:

June 2008

July 2008

March 2012 After the birth of my first son.

July 2012

Present day, current weight.

Alright, thats it! I told you I was keeping it simple!

Hope you all have a great New Year,
Sarah

Knee Surgery Update #2!

Well, its been about 8 1/2 weeks since my surgery, and 3 months since the Disneyland/ER visit. I had my first Physical Therapy (PT) sessions on Friday December 6th. It went pretty well. In the last few weeks I have been personally, on my own at home, been working on straightening my leg and bending it as much as possible. I have a new brace (about 4 weeks old) and have been walking a lot more since my last update. I am crutch free, and I don't walk with a huge limp anymore. You can still tell my knee is injured by my walk, but its less noticeable. In other words, while I'm out shopping, people don't stop and stare at me like I am a train wreck!

Two different knee sizes, left leg is still swollen.

I put in the work, mostly after the kids went to bed at night. I would pop a pain killer and wait for it to kick in. I would then bend and straighten my knee/leg as much as I could handle. I would also sleep with a smaller pillow every week, and now I sleep with nothing under my knee. I don't support my knee at all. I use my brace when I feel a lot of pain, or when I am going out in public. I try not to use it too much around the house, and try to walk as normal as possible during the day, to help build the muscles back up. I have also noticed now with my leg that my left leg is a lot skinnier then my right, all because of the lack of muscle in it. It looks horrible, but like I said I wear a brace in public so you can't really see the size difference.

The left leg (farthest away) is the one that had surgery!

 While at my first PT session on Friday the 6th, I was able to extend my leg straighter by 10 degrees. So, within one hour of doing some small amount of exercise/therapy I was able to get my knee working even more! The physical therapist is great, and was helping to remind me that (my knee) is not going to slip anymore, that now with my rehabilitation I will need to rehabilitate my mind as well. This injury has been going on for 14 plus years, so I need to remind myself often while in PT that its not the same anymore. With this surgery and PT, my knee will be stronger, and healthier; that with this surgery and PT, I will hopefully one day be able to jump, hop, skip, or even run again. I need to get my mental state back to the "norm" and tell myself I will be able to squat again, that I will be able to run again. Only time is standing between that now, only time!

I can almost cross my legs Indian style!

 I have some exercises to do; some muscle tightening and leg bends, which I will have to try and make time for (between the two kids, house work, and Holiday stuff). However, if I want to get better then I better make the time. My new goal is to get better so I can at least walk my block and start to loose the weight. I am still sitting here with a massive amount of baby weight... ugh, and can not handle it anymore. I told my physical therapist all I want to do is run again. I miss running, as I use to be on track and field and cross country in middle school. (Middle school was when the injury happened, so I never did PT in high school, I joined band instead). This year has just been a rough one, when it comes to getting this weight off and getting my life back on track. I know this PT will help, but it looks like all my 2013 new years resolutions wont be coming true. Guess its true what they say, you just never know what life has in store for you!

With all that being said, I hope the next update is a positive one with lots of happiness and joy! I have a few more PT sessions and then Ill see my Orthopedic surgeon again, so Ill definitely update you all soon (again). Until then, I hope you all have a great winter, holiday, and New Year!

Happy Holidays Everyone,
Sarah

Knee Surgery and Update

Its been almost 3 months since we arrived here at Beale AFB and a lot has happened with my knee. The last time, I gave you all the details about how it happened and what I did after it happened, over HERE. Once we arrived at Beale, we got settled in and unpacked; I was finally able to make an appointment to see my PCM. This took about a month due to the government shut down, which made it hard to get my family in-processed into the base. Once we were in the system, after the shut down was over, I made the appointment which was I believe two weeks after I called.

I waited the two weeks, saw my PCM, and she gave me a referral for Travis AFB orthopedic surgeon. When I finally got the referral cleared I called to make the appointment and that appointment was set for October 25. When we arrived I simply thought the doctor would look at the MRI (from the ER visit) which I had on a disc, and then set up an ACL surgery, probably a few weeks later. Boy, was I wrong! He looked at the MRI disc, came in and told me that my meniscus had slipped, and was sitting under the knee cap. It had also folded and thats why I wasn't able to open my leg fully. He also said I had a locked knee, from my knee sitting in the arched position for so long. He said that the ER doctor should have mentioned how important it was to see a surgeon as soon as possible, as this kind of damage could be detrimental to the knee integrity. I was shocked to find out anything was wrong with my meniscus, as the ER doctor only talked about the ACL tear. I was so confused, and he continued on saying he wanted me in surgery ASAP! He looked at his calendar and said "well, I don't have any openings for today, and I have training on Monday and Tuesday, so lets put you on the calendar for Wednesday." I looked at my husband like, "uh, is this really happening?" We both agreed if it was this important then yes, it needed to get done NOW!

We spent the next hour or so walking all over the hospital finding where we needed to go to get set up for surgery. Once we had all the paperwork done, we headed back home. I was happy, overwhelmed, and feeling confused. My husband and I discussed how upset and angry we both were because yet again another doctor has let us down. The ER doctor at Urgent Care Irvine, should have mentioned how important it was to see a surgeon as soon as we could. The ER doctor never did, and I honestly felt "rushed" out of that hospital/ER, even though I was still IN pain and still hadn't received much information on what REALLY was going on. The Orthopedic doctor at Travis, Dr. Walker, took his time, discussed my options, and tried several different things. We went over details and discussed what he could see from the MRI and x-rays. Dr. Walker even tried a shot of fluid and a shot of some type of numbing directly into my knee to see if he could straighten it or fix it right there in the doctors office. It didn't work and he was able to see the extent of the damage done.

I felt so much better that Dr. Walker had caught the meniscus tear, and was able to diagnose it fast, and get the surgery on the calendar for the following week. It was finally feeling like it was all going to come together well! Our next stop on the train of craziness was the day of surgery. We arrived at the hospital on October 30th, early afternoon. I was set up with a room, climbed into the bed, and the process began. Changing into a gown, getting my ID bracelet, getting my IV (after 3 tries, yes 3), and the final step, the waiting game. By the 2nd attempt on my IV, my husband had left, took the kids out for a drive, and some lunch. We made sure the nurses had his number, of course, before he left.

Gowns are so sexy, no?

Finally, an IV!

I waited for a few hours, and shortly after 4pm I was taken down to the "holding" area. I waited in another bed, where my IV bag was connected, I was asked a ton of questions, and eventually one of the doctors signed their name on my left knee. Have to make sure they are working on the correct knee now don't we! After a few, what felt like hundreds, of nurses and doctors to talk to, I was looking in the eyes of the anesthesiologists and getting my warm and fuzzy medicines. I didn't even make it out of the "holding" room before I was out. I recall mentioning the warm feeling, and that was it.

I woke up, what was several hours later and my surgery was complete. I felt horrible. Tons of pain, and sick feeling. They gave me something for pain, and then it all began again, throwing up. I threw up, over and over and over again. I was still slightly fuzzy but I remember them giving me zofran, I believe it was. Which never works well for me. I informed them that the last time this happened they had to give me the nausea medicine that makes me sleepy. They then waited for the zofran, to "kick in", which it never did. Meanwhile, while we waited, I was asked how my pain was and I kept saying horrible, 8, 9, then a 10. Pain meds were not working. My leg felt like a log, but a throbbing one. The doctor, or nurse, eventually discussed a nerve block, and I agreed to it. It required a very large needle and for me to sit extremely still. While that was being cleared, and I was still throwing up, the female nurse finally gave me the medicine for nausea that makes you sleepy! Next thing I knew, I wasn't feeling sick, and in comes the male nurse, or doctor, whatever he was; with a very large needle and an ultrasound machine! I think I recall them prepping my leg for the nerve block, and then everything started to get fuzzy, and I started to get tired. I recall looking at the female nurse with the ultrasound gel, and hearing her mention that I needed to stay real still. Then I passed out from the nausea medicine and I stayed real still, well in my opinion at least.

I woke up, in the room where my day had originally began. This time it was really late at night, something like 8pm, maybe 9pm. I can barely recall. My husband was there, and so was a doctor. The doctor was talking to my husband about everything and they were discussing pain medicine, and what I needed to watch for, etc. I just needed to pee, and then I could go home. I think I peed about 30-45 minutes after I woke up. I was then cleared to get dressed and go home! Thank goodness. I was so ready to be back home in the comfort of my own bed, sheets, pillows, and bathroom. Yes, bathroom. Nothing like peeing on your own toilet, in your own house.

The drive home was not bad at all. We stopped to grab something to eat, as I was now going on more then 24 hours of no food. Of course my first meal was none other then In N Out! I know, such a true California girl! I scarfed down the burger and fries, and drank very little of my drink. When we were getting closer and closer to home, I was nodding off from pain killers and possibly everything else in my system. I must have looked like a bobble head in the passenger seat. Once at the gate, I felt joy, we were on base... only minutes away from our house! Both our kids were passed out in the car, and all I wanted to do at that moment was cuddle both of them and sleep next to them, as I had missed them so much.

Right after getting home from the hospital.

Got to love the iodine!

I don't remember too much of the first night home, but I remember sleeping our couch fold out bed, and lots of pain pills as well as water close by. I had a pillow under my knee and crutches at the bed side to use for restroom breaks. I had the TV on most of the first night, as I would wake up often in pain, and would not be able to fall back asleep right away. The TV helped pass those moments of emptiness, and pain. Helped take my mind of the surgery, the thought of my kids, and how I was not going to be able to hold them, carry them, or play with them for god knows how long. I was feeling very low, at those moments, and just wanted to feel better.

The day after my surgery, my cell phone rang and it was my Orthopedic doctor, Dr. Walker. I was unable to see him after surgery, so he called me instead. It was so calming to hear him and know he was there for me. He talked about the surgery, explaining that when he got inside, there was more damage then expected. His original plan was to fix the meniscus tear, place it back in place and remove all the scar tissue. However, when he saw the meniscus, the part that folded over was decaying and he was unable to save it. He then had to remove HALF of my meniscus. I was shocked. He mentioned had he been able to do the surgery weeks ago, he might have been able to save it and repair it. He also said the amount of scar tissue he removed had to be from years and years of abuse and damage. I reminded him that the original accident was probably about 14 years ago. He agreed and said some of the scar tissue looked to be well around that, and some fairly new. He said he hadn't removed that much scar tissue in awhile. He said he cleaned up around the ACL as best he could, to help me with rehabilitation, but that the ACL surgery was something that he recommended be done sooner then later, as I now had very little meniscus to help me stand or walk. I was pretty upset to hear all this, but happy to know it was all getting done, and my knee repair was headed in the right direction!

Each day went by, and each time I stepped or walked it seemed to get better. After 48 hours I could take my bandages off and see the stitches and scars! It was two extremely small cuts and a few stitches in each cut. The skin around the cuts were red, and swollen, but looked clean and healing well. My knee looked like a softball, and was still swollen. The nerve block was starting to wear off in my ankle and upper thigh, but I still wasn't feeling too much around the knee. As the nerve block wore off it was like the feeling you get when you get nova-cane in your mouth. It feels weird to the touch, and you start to feel the pain and your tongue etc. This was just like that, my knee would brush against a blanket or my kids would touch it (on accident) and I would feel something in certain areas, and nothing in others. It felt horrible, but it was a good thing my nerve block was slowly melting away, as the nurse had mentioned if it didn't go away after 48 hours I would need to go to an ER! Yikes, thanks for making me freak out a little! However, after about 50, maybe 54 or so hours, the nerve block was completely gone. I woke up that Saturday, I believe it was; and all I felt was pain, throbbing pain. It was the worst pain yet.

Baby wipes, iodine is somewhat gone!

Our base scheduled Halloween for November 1st, so we trick or treated on Friday instead of Thursday. Which actually played to our benefit. (Since, I still had the nerve block). I was on a crutch, and was out walking with my kids! So when I woke up on Saturday, I realized I might have taken advantage, maybe a little too much, of the fact that I couldn't feel the pain. I was unable to fully straighten my leg, as the swelling was really making it impossible; and bending it was about maybe 6-10 inches, and hurt even worse then trying to straighten it. It felt like bones were stuck, or making contact with each other. It was all so painful. Saturday night, I was finally allowed to take a shower. I could finally get all the iodine off me, and maybe even the signature on my leg.

No crutches for the picture, but after I was back on them.

After what felt like an hour in the shower, and a lot of orange colored soapy water, I was clean, but still had a faded signature on my leg. I slept in my own bed that night as well. It was heaven! I slept extremely well, and had a pillow under my knee to help stabilize it while I slept. Sunday began my "I will do this", stage. I got up and I remember thinking, I am sick of my poor husband ALWAYS taking care of me, and I am done. I recall making myself breakfast, with one crutch in hand, and I remember helping with the boys, feeding them, and clothing them. I believe we even made a trip to Sams club and Lowes later that day too. I was not going to let this defeat me, I needed to find the hope, the happiness, and most importantly, the end goal in all this pain.

Stitches, and swollen.

Signature, so hot!

Its now been almost 2 1/2 weeks after my surgery and I can almost straighten my leg. I would say I am about 90% straight. I can bend at about 90 degrees, but any further and theres tons of pain, and what feels like a muscle that pulls. Which my Orthopedic doctor feels is the muscle that wasn't getting any work while my knee was locked up. So, it might just be the one of many muscles I will have to rebuilt in strength. I am yet to see a physical therapist as Beale AFB referral system has been extremely LACKING in getting the job done. After 4 phone calls and going in to see them twice, we were finally able to get the referral sent over to the Physical Therapist facility. We then (same day) went over to tricare to push the authorization. Which it has been the 48 hours that they said we had to wait, and still no phone call from the Physical Therapist. So, hopefully, I will get some answers when I call tricare tomorrow. Once again, the lack of urgency in these employees!

I did see my Orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday for my two week follow up, where I had my stitches removed and mobility looked at. The doctor is happy with the surgery and wants to see me back in 6 weeks for assessment on the ACL surgery. I need to be able to straighten and bend my leg at a full functioning female and I will be able to sign up for the ACL surgery. A female person typically straightens their leg at 105%, if I remember him correctly; he however, thinks I will only be able to straighten at 100 or a fraction less then that. I feel like I have a long way to go, but who knows, maybe in 6 weeks I will be walking normal and feeling normal again!

Stitches are gone, tape in place!

Today I am walking without crutches, and I can walk up and down stairs with help from the hand rails, of course. I am able to stand on both legs, sit down and stand up with little help. I still am feeling some slipping, but this is expected since he removed half of my meniscus. I can only hope to get into physical therapy soon, and maybe my next update will be progress, and only positives!!

The journey has begun,
Sarah

Mike Wazowski Costume

 My youngest son, this year, for Halloween was Mike Wazowski, from Monsters Inc. We have a onesie from when my oldest son was little. The onesie has Mike's eye on it, and its all lime green. However, when my oldest wore it, it was summer time. October was cold most of the month so I wanted to make sure he was warm and not cold, as he is still really young. With that being said, I wanted to make the onesie warmer. I decided I would add some pants and a hat (which will add the horns that Mike has into the costume). In this blog post I will show you how I made the pants and how I made the hat with the horns in it. I figured somewhere, sometime, someone will more then likely want to make this outfit. All the other tutorials I found were nothing like I wanted, they were big balls, or something super uncomfortable for an infant. So, below you will find the picture tutorial of how to make a Mike Wazowski costume step by step.

To start you will need the following:

Fabric:
~about 1 yard of lime green fabric
~a very small piece of grey fabric
Other Tools:
~Freezer Paper
~Scissors
~Ruler
~Iron and Ironing Board
~Pencil
~Pants that fit your child
~A hat that fits your child/or the measurements of his/her head.
~ 1/2 or 3/4 inch elastic (about a yard)
and the rest of your usual sewing items (machine, matching thread, etc.)


1. Take your freezer paper and place the pants on top of it. When using the freezer paper, the waxy side always faces down, and the paper like side is the side you will draw your pattern on, or as I call it, the right side.

2. Trace with your ruler around the pants, right along the seams. Then on the waist line add two inches to the top and draw a line. Along the ankles add 1.5 inches, and draw a line. On the left and right sides add one inch and draw a line.

3. Cut out the pattern.

4. Now you have the right leg done, so flip the pattern right side down, and trace onto another piece of freezer paper. This will be your left leg pattern.

5. Cut your Left leg out.

6. Now you have the leg patterns for your pants.

7. Now grab your lime green fabric (mine is a fleece), and fold it over (so you can cut 2 pieces at the same time.) Lay your pattern for one of the legs on the fabric.

8. Take your iron and iron the freezer paper down onto the fabric, just enough so the freezer paper sticks to the fabric.

9. Now cut out the pattern, cutting through both pieces of fabric. You can take your material over to the cutting board, and use your rotary cutter if you want. My fabric was very smooth, and slipped around a lot, so I felt better with the scissors. NOTE: I also pinned the paper to the fabric after this photo, before I cut. This helped keep everything in line.

10. Once you have the pattern cut out, do the same on the other leg pattern as well.

11. Slowly peel the freezer paper off the fabric. It should come off without harming the fabric at all!

12. Now take one set of the pants, a left leg and a right leg. You will now sew the center (crotch) pieces together.

13. Pin the center (crotch) pieces together. I typically pin the top two corners together, then the bottom (crotch) corners together, then in between pieces. That will just help make sure your pants line up perfectly.

14. I then serge the center (crotch) piece together. If you don't have a serger, you can use a straight stitch or even a zigzag.

15. Do the same thing to the other pair of left and right legs. When you are done, you should have something that looks a lot like this:

16. With right sides together place the two pairs on top of each other. You now are going to pin from the center (crotch) down the inside of the pants. You should pin the crotch piece first, by lining up the two seems (the ones you just sewed). Then pin the ankle corners together, and then pin the area in between. You might have to smoosh or move fabric around to help get the lines all matched up.

17. When you have done that, you should now have something that look a lot like this:

18. Now you need to pin the sides of the pants; again, pin the top corner and bottom corner and then everything in between.

19. Once you have sewn the sides, the pants should look somewhat like pants!

20a. Now I need to square out the top of my pants, to create a straight edge to fold over.

20b. Cut the straight edge. (If you have a straight edge, then skip this step).

21. Fold the waist over an inch. This is why you added the extra two inches to the top of your pattern.

22. Now pin the fold, again lining up the seems with the seems and scrunching everything else in between.

23. Remove any extra pieces to your sewing machine, so that you have the smallest amount of machine left. This will help you as you are about to sew in a circle.

24. Slide the pants onto your machine. You should have your machine inside the pants waist. Begin sewing, then do a few back stitches. If your elastic is 1/2 inch or 3/4 inch then be sure to sew at the 1 inch mark on your machine. NOTE: I am using a walking foot. The reason being that I am using fleece, and also its thicker fabric so the feet on the bottom and the feet on the top help keep everything aligned.

25. Leave a small hole about an inch wide, and remember to back stitch.

26. You can now flip your pants inside out if you would like. They should look something like this now!

27. Now take a safety pin, and connect it to the end of your elastic. NOTE: I pre-measured my sons waist. I simply took the elastic, stretched it around his waist, and marked it with a marker; but don't pull too tight. I did not cut off the extra elastic yet, as I will need that when I am feeding it through the pants.

28. Begin feeding the elastic with the safety pin as your guide through the hole.

29. Scrunch up the material, and then pull it down the elastic. Continuing on until you have come back around to your hole again.

30. Pull the safety pin back through the hole. Now, I always double check to make sure my elastic did not twist while I was pulling it through. I then find my mark that I made and cut about a half inch further to give room for the sewing.

31. I then line up the ends where my mark is (its on the underside, I apologize for that).

32. Use a zig zag stitch and attach the two ends together. Go over the two pieces several times to make sure they wont break.

33. Push all the elastic into the pants, and flatten out the fabric where the hole is. Go back to your machine, and using a straight stitch to seal up the hole. Remember to use a back stitch at the start and end.

34. The finished waist with your hole sewn, should now look like this. I use this as the back of the pants, where the tag of your pants would be. You don't want to see all that back stitching on the front of your costume!

Now that you have finished the pants, time to add the feet to the pants.

35.Take one of the legs and use it as a guide for your foot top. Place it on some freezer paper, as you see I have done with a little scrap freezer paper I had.

36. Now trace a semi-circle from one side of the pant leg to the other.

37. I found the center and traced a guide. Now take that center line and fold your freezer paper. This will ensure you have a perfect semi-circle.

38. Now make your semi-circle darker, and cut along that line.

39. Now this is your perfect semi-circle.

40. Now you need a foot piece. This is the base, where the little baby foot will rest. You can use a sock, a shoe, or measure the little baby foot and add a little inch or so. I simply measured and added a little room. I also traced this on the ruler to help find my center and also keep it even. You will need to know where the center is.

41. Fold on your center and make sure you draw your base clearly, and cut.

42. You now should have a perfect base!

43. You will need to cut two bases and two foot tops. I am using the scraps of my fleece to get the most out of it. Here I have ironed on the base and will cut out a second one.

44. Now do the same for the foot top. Again, pictured is one, but I cut two.

45. Heres my two pieces. I placed the base on the bottom, and the foot top on top of the base. Pin both centers (center of the base and center of the top).
      Once you have the center pinned pin down the sides of the top to the base. I stopped about 3/4 of the way down the base.

46. This is what you will have once its all pinned down.

47. Now stitch along the pinned side. I used my serger and serged the edge. Remember I only wanted to sew 3/4 of the foot, I left the back of the foot open.

48. Now lay the back of the foot against the pants. You are going to pin the BASE of the foot to the bottom of the pant leg.

49. This is what it will look like once its pinned.

50. Once you have it pinned, sew the back of the pant leg to the BASE of the foot pieces. Be sure to not catch any of the other pieces (like the other leg or the top.)

51. Now pin the front of the leg (pants) to the top of the FOOT piece (the rounded one). Pin it well, as you will have a lot of scrunching going on.

52. Then stitch along the pinned area, and do your best to catch the correct pieces. Don't catch the other leg or base pieces. Go slow and take it one stitch at a time.

53. Once you have it stitched flip the leg inside out and make sure you don't have any holes! You should have something that looks like this.

54. Sew the other foot onto the other leg, and make sure you sew the base and foot top onto the right sides of the pants! You don't want one foot pointing backwards! When your done you should have these awesome baby pants done!

If by any chance you cant seem to find the onesie heres a few links that might be able to find helpful:
Disney Store
How to Make a Onesie from an Old T-Shirt

55. Ok, now that you have the pants made we can make the hat for it!
To start you will need to measure your child's head. I took a measuring tape and rapped it around my sons head from back to front and then back around to the back. You can also measure from one ear to the other (going over the top of his head) to get the measurement for the arch, but I wanted to fold mine so I added an in or two. Once you have the measurements we can begin!

56. Draw the horns on the freezer paper, and cut them out

57. Draw out your hat pattern. (NOTE: the base of the hat will be HALF of what your child's head measurements were for all the way around. I added an inch and a half for the fold I wanted to make and also the seams to sew.) Don't forget to add those all in when you are making the pattern. Also if you have a cap already that fits well just add an inch or so on almost all sides, and then trace around the hat.

58. Once you have our pattern for the hat, fold your fabric and place the pattern of the hat on the fold. Note the flat side of my pattern in on the fold of the fabric.

59. This is what you should have after you place your pattern on the fold, and cut it out.

60. You will need two of these, so cut out a 2nd one.

61. Take those horn patterns and place them on our fabric. Again you will need to FOLD the fabric so you have 2 pieces for the left and 2 pieces for the right horn.

62. This is what you should now have.

63. Now with the right sides together for one of the horns, stitch along the edge. I didn't use a specific seam amount, I just tried to get as close to the edge as possible without leaving any holes. Do the same with the 2nd horn.

64. You should now have two horns that look like this:

65. Now flip the horns inside out. I used a dull pencil to help me get the points pushed out.

66. I then placed the two hat patterns right side together, and using my measuring board placed the horns and equal distance from the tops center.

67. I then stuffed the horns with polly-fill, and made sure I didn't over do it; as I still needed to stitch around the hat.

68. Now pin the entire hat pattern and horns all in place.

69. I serged the entire hat, leaving about a 2 inch hole. You can straight stitch and then zig zag stitch if you don't have a serger. Remember to leave the hole. Place the hole on the opposite side as the horns, along the curved side.

70. You now should have something that looks like this. Using the hole, flip the entire hat inside out through the hole.

71. You should now have something like this. Make sure you don't have any other holes, if you do just flip the hat inside out again and restitch in those areas.

72. Now fold inward the hole and pin. Top stitch along the hole.

73. You now should have a small top stitch along the opposite side of the horns that looks like this. Don't worry you wont see this in a few seconds!

74. Push the side with the hole inside the side with the horns. You Now have something that looks like a hat!

 75. This is the final look. Note: the hat has a fold, thats where my extra inches along the bottom came in.

 

Now you have a Mike Wazowski costume!

Feel free to leave comments or questions in the comment section below.

Happy Halloween and Trick or Treat,

Sarah