Mommy and Me Belly Dance

Photo by Ryan Arrington

The picture above is my daughter and me as "Snake Charmers" for Khafif's Circus themed Halloween Hafla this past weekend. Since this is such a fun-themed show, I thought I'd take advantage of the family-friendly vibe and include my 6 month old daughter in this performance. The snake skin printed fabric is actually formed into a baby sling. My husband gets much credit for helping to execute the sling and matching baby costume for this show! Since I can't do much sewing with the baby actually on me most of the time, I designed, cut out and finished everything, but he hand sewed the "snakes" and did most of the "middle part" of the baby costume sewing. Because it has been super busy around here (and it would be with just the baby), the costume making primarily happened the day of the show.  Hooray for experience and last minute pressure/determination/teamwork making it all happen!!

This was a fun experience for the chance to include my daughter, the circus theme challenging my creativity (what _would_ actually work with a 6 month old on my hip?), and another chance to see the lovely people in the Pittsburgh belly dance community. It's a true bunch of gems here and I'm so grateful to be a part of it. <3