And the leg warmer winners are:

Congratulations to Angela and Nicole who have each won their cool kid a pair of acrylic made to order leg warmers. Please contact me via email to claim your prize. Thank you to everybody who entered, and many apologies for the delay in drawing the winners. As you are probably all aware, this was the last thing on my mind the previous few days.

Leg warmers will be available to order from Monday 27th May, 2013. Check out our facebook page next week to see how.

Thanks everyone.

*Pattern for these leg warmers is available from https://www.etsy.com/shop/ACrochetedSimplicity

A febrile convulsion changed our view on everything...

Yesterday morning I thought I loved my girls more than anything. I thought that I had no more love to give them. But yesterday when our two year old daughter started convulsing I suddenly discovered there was a massive amount of love in me that I wasn't even aware of... and quite a few regrets.
As our beautiful princess lay on the ground fitting with blood streaked foam coming out of her mouth all I could think was that this was it. This was that moment that every parent fears. I thought our happy little girl was dying.

I felt so helpless. I could not do anything other than put her in the recovery position. I couldn't make her better. I thought our princess was dying and there was no way to stop it.
Between my cries out for help, desperately hoping they would make the ambulance arrive faster, all I could think of were all the regrets. All the times I put something else that wasn't even important before her. All times times I had become frustrated with her for silly reasons. All these stupid things that I regretted immensely. 

After what seemed like hours but was less than a minute she stopped shaking. Her beautiful porcelain skin had turned a horrible white blotchy colour, her mouth was blue and her poor wee heart was racing.

When the ambulance arrived they instantly calmed us down. How they managed to achieve that I'll never know. Maybe it was the thought that it had to be OK now they had arrived. I remember thinking that nothing bad could happen now as they knew how to save her. I went from desperately clutching on to my daughter hoping she would be OK to watching her open her eyes in response to her name with relief. It was the exact same feeling you get when you hear your baby cry for the first time when they are born. Relief, pure and simple.

Ella then started crying. Really crying. The paramedics told us that was a really good sign. Then they gave Ella a beautiful penguin soft toy. How they knew penguins were her favourite I'll never know. Penguin calmed her down quite quickly. By the time we arrived at hospital Ella had stopped crying. I was desperate for her to say something, anything, so I knew she was OK. I didn't want her amazing cheeky personality to have been affected in any way. And then it came... "cuddle daddy". I burst into tears of happiness. Our little girl was in there still. Before we knew it she was playing with toys in the ED room, asking for a drink and telling her pop that he was silly.

We were told she had most likely had a febrile convulsion and that we had done the right thing calling the ambulance. It was caused by a spike in her temperature due to a virus (that we didn't know she had) and these are really quite common in children under 5. 1 in 25 kids will have one and we were told they can run in families. I put my parents through this three times as a child, as did my younger brother. She might have many more, this might be a one off. No one can say. Very rarely do they cause long term problems so most likely our poppet is going to be just fine.

As for my husband and myself though, this was a very traumatising experience. One that we will never forget and one that has taught us a lot about what is really important in life. Everything can be taken away in a flash so you need to make the most of it when you can. Don't put things off until tomorrow. Try to make the most of every single moment you have with your kids. Most importantly tell them you love them. The thought of "Ella! Stop climbing on me!" possibly being the last thing she ever heard me say to her broke my heart. Toddlers are hard work and nobody is perfect, but this has really made us want to make that extra effort to be more patient at the end of a long, hard day.

Carpe diem, quam minimum credula postero

Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 BC – 8 BC)

Seize the day, trusting as little as possible in the next (day)[/future]

Here is some information from kidshealth.org.nz about febrile convulsions. I really hope none of you have to go through this, but hopefully this information will help if you do.

WIN a pair of acrylic made to order leg warmers

To be in to win a made to order pair of these acrylic leg warmers all you have to do is repin the pin linked below to one of your public boards. You will need to fill in the following information as a description when you repin:
1. Favourite style (1, 2 or 3 colours)
2. Childs age
3. Leg circumference just under the knee
4. Leg circumference just above the ankle
5. length from just below the knee to just above the ankle

I will be announcing two lucky winners here on my blog tomorrow at 8pm so check back here then. You have 24 hours from then to claim your prize by emailing me MeysMade@gmail.com

Here is the pin for you to repin: http://pinterest.com/pin/149392912611947564/

Good luck!

The easy to follow pattern to make these leg warmers is available from https://www.etsy.com/shop/ACrochetedSimplicity

Terms and conditions:

NO PURCHASE IS NECESSARY.

Prize includes two separate draw for ONE pair of crochet leg warmers. They will be custom made in any child size out of acrylic yarn.

The leg warmers will be posted within New Zealand for free, if the winner is from outside New Zealand then postage will be at their additional expense.

The winner will be announced on our blog 8pm Thursday 23/5/13 NZ time and will need to email MeysMade@gmail.com with the postal address in order to claim their prize within 24 hours of the announcement.

This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with Facebook. You understand that you are providing your information to the owner of this Facebook page and not to Facebook.

Meys Made is now a proud member of the EtsyKids Team

I am very proud to announce that Meys Made has been accepted to be part of the EtsyKids Team. This is a group of crafty people from all over the world who sell handmade items for babies through to teenagers on Etsy. You can check out all the stylish designs over on their website.

A requirement for me to be a member is to actively contribute to the group which I am really excited about doing. I have already contributed my first treasury with the theme of 'the birds and the bees'. All the items in the treasury were created by fellow members of the EtsyKids team from all over the world. There is bound to be an item in the treasury you will like... especially if you are a fan of birds, bees, yellow and black. You can have a look at the goodies I compiled by clicking here.

Speaking of Etsy... our puppy dog hat is still on special over there for the rest of May so order yours now before it goes back to full price.

Have a fantastic Mothers day in paradise everyone.

-Sarah

April went to the dogs!

Hi everyone and welcome to May. I can not believe how fast the year is speeding on by!

First of all I want to thank everyone who took the time to enter our April free beanie giveaway. We received over 230 entries this time which was fantastic. I hope the lucky winner will enjoy their made to order beanie. Stay tuned for what hat will be given away at the end of May...

The most popular made to order hat for April was the puppy dog earflap hat. Runners up were the ever popular newsboy and newsgirl cap style.

Puppy dog crochet earflap hat by Meys Made - Cool Crochet For Cool Kids

Since there was such a high demand for this hat style I have decided to do a special for all of May. Order an acrylic puppy dog hat in any size up to 52cm and you will only pay $24.90! This includes FREE tracked postage within New Zealand (RRP $34.90 plus postage). This special is strictly available in our Felt and Etsy stores only. I have reduced their price so there is no coupon needed. Please note that this excludes all other hat styles including custom orders and does not include 100% wool hats. You may chose any two of our acrylic colours to make up the hat. Free NZ wide postage will apply to the whole order so grab all your other winter hats while you are at it.

Here is something for all you dog lovers. I have found some great dog themed products that will compliment your Meys Made puppy dog hat:

1. This Chihuahua bibble is made with 100% cotton and backed with thick Egyptian cotton toweling to keep the neck and clothes dry from dribble. Available from Bibbles - Dribble Bibs.

2. This cute toilet aiming sticker starts out as a car, and with each wet warm accurate hit a dog appears. Available from Weepals.

3. These up-cycled and double-sided vinyl Splat Mats are great for your dogs or messy children. Available from Outie.

4. This dog sewing pattern would make a great toy for your little dog lover. Available from Elf Pop.

5. This beautiful lead or leash hanger is a must have for any modern dog owner. Available from Sally Grist Artwork.

6. Finally these cute original sock dogs are custom made to immortalise your favourite dog. Available from Original Sock Dogs.

Please feel free to share this blog past with any of your dog loving friends or family.

Remember our little miss Ella is turning two later this month. She is the reason I started this business so there will be a celebration and it will be based here on this blog so stay tuned.