This kid is 13 months old today!

You may be thinking to yourself – what aunt celebrates their nephew’s 13 month birthday?! You’re right. It’s weird. But is it any less weird if I tell you that I thought of the PERFECT gift for my just-over-one-year-old nephew on his actual birthday, February 7th? And that it was just too perfect not to make for him so I got to work on it straight away even though I had no experience in this particular craft?

I’m a month late, but, in this case, I think it was worth it. Happy Birthday Jonah! I hope you love your soft squishy Gonzaga Blocks!

(Jenni – if you’re reading this, the tracking says the package is out for delivery today!)

Let’s be real – I fully realize that Jonah can’t yet read (though he’s very advanced and a genius baby and in the 200th percentile for everything) and he has no idea of the subliminal messaging attached to this particular gift. So I just want to go ahead and say that this gift is just as much for his mom (my sister-in-law) as it is for him. Jenni and Jobin went to Gonzaga for undergrad and fell in love almost immediately. They got married in Spokane and they are the BIGGEST fans of the Gonzaga basketball team. And did I mention that they were both cheerleaders (real, super in-shape cheerleaders) for the team all four years?

I honestly didn’t realize how intensely obsessed they were until this past year…Jonah has been decked out in Gonzaga gear since birth. They. love. this. team. And they would love nothing more than for Jonah to continue in their footsteps and attend Gonzaga in 17 years. And as Jonah’s Aunt & Uncle, we are also pro-Gonzaga, because Washington.

All to say, I’m all about playing my part in convincing Jonah that Gonzaga is the school for him.

After I drew some pictures to figure out my plan of action, I cut out my fabric. As I started to sew these together, I realized “I’ve never sewn anything cubed before…” Thankfully I figured it out pretty quickly.

The letters were the hardest part. I started to embroider them, but quickly realized that would take FOREVER. Then I tried using various stitches on my sewing machine to faux-embroider them and that didn’t work either. Then I decided to use felt, which was still difficult as I free-handed the letters with my new Xacto knife set (a story for another time – but shout out to Deb Mortvedt!) but the result was satisfying.

As a bonus, on the back side of two of the blocks I put additional characters so that you can flip them around to say “Go Zags!”

I loved the way they turned out, even if they were a month late. Happy Birthday Jonah! And Happy March Madness! Go Zags!