little lovelies handmade

All is quiet...for now

This morning was all chaos and noise, big brother and big sister fighting for the attention of little sister. I awoke this morning as I have the last three mornings - to an adoring older sister peering over the bassinet at her baby. Peanut creeps into our room around six and quietly visits with her sister until Aaron or I wakes up and lets her hold baby. Soon after big brother jumps into bed with us and takes his turn before everyone gets their breakfast.

Nonna (my mom) came over with their cousin and our peaceful morning became fights over dress ups and toys, older kids kicking little ones out of her room to play by themselves, tears and yelling. Since Aaron woke up sick this morning and I am just newborn mama tired, my mom felt sorry for us and took the chaos to her house for the morning.

So now, I am enjoying a peaceful moment I didn't think I could have this early in the game and baby and daddy are snuggled up cozy and warm in their beds. That sweet face is snoozing as is dad. I didn't dare take a picture of him in his bed, though. For one, he just isn't as cute and second, I'm pretty sure he'd string me up by my toenails when he saw the pic later. I'm happily married and intend to stay that way.

Besides, his peaceful slumber is on borrowed time. His blackberry has been having seizures all morning and I am afraid I may have to go take it in to him in case something at work needs to be addressed.

Nesting

I guess normal people clean and organize when they are nesting for a new baby. Ha, not me! Wednesday night I went into craft hyper drive and made a bazillion patches out of some quilt scraps Melissa gave me ages ago and sewed a bunch to various things, mostly baby onesies and bibs. Thursday (the day I actually went into labor) I went to the farmers market and bought tons of fruits and veggies planning for some yummy meals this week and made two pies.

By the time the pies were out of the oven, though I was in enough pain to decide that we should finally go to the hospital and didn't get to try them till we got home Saturday at lunchtime. By then there was only one pie left cuz all the people helping out with the kids had a piece. I guess labor pains make for a great pie, because I essentially made up the recipe and everyone completely raved about it. It was pretty dang good. I planned on taking pics so I could post the recipe, but it disappeared too fast! I'll make another one this week if I make it to the farmer's market.

Well it's about time isn't it?

We finally had ourselves a baby! I started having contractions at about 7:30 pm Thursday night and Miss Charlotte Faith was born a little after midnight on Friday, less than two hours after we arrived at the hospital. She was 8lbs 8oz, 22 inches long, and has lots of blonde hair. Gotta say, a nice speedy delivery more than makes up for all the junk we dealt with during the pregnancy!

We are home now and doing great. Big brother and sister couldn't be prouder of their baby sister. She has been showered with kisses and love all day. Thankfully she seems to have a very easygoing personality and just takes all the attention in stride. She is alert like this all the time, checking out her surroundings and following voices. She even lifts her head whenever she wants to look at something that she can't see, which shocks us every time we see this little thing popping her head up to look around.

So now we are gearing up to find out what a normal day is going to be like with three kiddos. Aaron is going to work this week before he starts his paternity leave next week, so we'll really get to see right off the bat how one mommy can fare with three kids three days after giving birth!

Four is HARD.

After tucking our grumpy sleepy babes into bed we heard a little voice calling us back into his room. Monkey wanted us to know how unhappy he was about naptime at preschool and it made him angry that the teacher makes him lay down. Understandable seeing as his naps hit the road at our house well over a year ago.

We sat and talked about how he needed to obey the rules of the school and one of those rules is to rest for a bit at the end of the day. The teacher told us that the kids can have comfort items with them so we showed him his soft pillow, flannel blanket and cool new nap mat sheet, and I let him choose a book to look at during rest time. Typical comfort items around here are books and small plastic toys, so we thought we'd try the book first.

I let his teacher know that I had packed his comfort item in his bag and that it was a book. She promptly told me that books were not allowed as comfort items. I just kind of stared at her and because I am 9 months pregnant and coping skills aren't great I thought I was going to bawl right there. "But. That's his comfort item..." She said sorry, but the other children aren't allowed to have books, so he can't have a book. I told her (hopefully not snottily, but I can't be sure) that he would likely cry again today, then. She assured me that was fine, they would work with him.

Before I left I told him that his book wasn't allowed and I could tell he was bothered by it, but was torn between reacting to the news now or running off to play. He choose to go play, and I know when he asks for his book come naptime and she says no, it will feel like hearing it for the first time. And something tells me that when we introduce a small toy as his comfort item it won't be met with enthusiasm by the powers that be. Hopefully I won't cry about it, lol!

Man. It's tough being four. And being the ridiculously pregnant mother of said four year old.

Oh and the pic is of the latest embroidery I did for the girls room.

Temper, Temper

You can't really tell in the picture, but she was throwing a fit. I can't quite remember why, but there is a little girl currently throwing a fit in her room and it made me think of this picture. If only I looked as cute when I throw fits...

School went well for both kids, only minor hiccups (some neglectful parents forgot to explain that there is a nap time and our big boy non-napper was caught off guard and shed a few tears) but the strain of a long day and new friends and routines seems to have marked it's toll on today. Monkey woke up grumpy and sassy and sister soon followed brother's example. Currently they are having (loud) quiet time in their rooms before our 3:30 drs appointment (which I thought was at 8:40 am so we rushed out of the house this morning to get there on time only to find out I imagined it all and weren't due until tomorrow at 11. They managed to fit us in today anyway.)

Since this kid clearly has no plans to vacate her little one room apartment anytime soon and is well over 9 lbs I am going to beg and plead my doctor to start eviction proceedings. I have two other friends who are due the same day as me who are going to be induced early next week. Granted, one has celiac's disease, the other high blood pressure and I am just roasting a big kid, but I am still feeling wicked pangs of jealousy over here.

School's In

 The kids had their very first day of school today. Two days a week from 9 am to 2 pm they are in preschool and I am left to my own devices. Its nice, and I know I need to enjoy it because in a few weeks I'll have my hands full of new baby (I have given up thinking this kid is coming early, she clearly is NOT). Peanut was apprehensive on the way over to the school and kept asking if we would stay with her, but as soon as we got there she saw the dollhouse, plopped down to play and then wouldn't even get up to hug us goodbye. She just waved us off, so we went packing - we weren't going to ruin the independence by sticking around!

We knew that Monkey would have no problem, so we got our kisses and hugs and cleared out of there, too. Ten minutes after our arrival, we were walking back to the car and Aaron was commenting that now he feels old seeing as we just dropped two kids off at school. I really hadn't thought about it like that, nor was it sad or hard or weird or any of those other things parents can sometimes feel taking their kids to school for the first time.

It's just a new stage of life and everyone has embraced it (so far, we'll see how the day went at 2 pm when I pick them up).

 

Always something to do...

I am starting to get my act together and finish up the girls room, something that would probably be helpful prior to the baby coming, since there is nothing like a newborn to impede crafty progress. The day before I was put on bedrest Aaron and I moved the kids furniture into their respective rooms (gee, think maybe that was what gave me early contractions??), but other than that no progress has been made on either room.

For the girls room:

I need to hang curtain valances and today I got the brilliant idea to maybe embroider something cute to the curtains themselves. I'll need to wash them tonight and come up with some sort of plan.

The crib not only needs to be set up, but I'd love to freshen it up with some paint (not the whole thing, just an accent or two) and decoupage something to the side that goes with the theme of the room.

We decided not to repaint the room when we discovered Peanut's new bedding actually looked ok with the current paint (Ralph Lauren Burlap - our sons room was cowboy themed when it was just his room), but I may try to paint something onto the walls. Pretty sure this will be an after baby project, though. Like a few months from now. For one thing it'll probably take me that long to convince Aaron that the room just has to have it.

I need to get Aaron to hang some shelves, too. I have several little shelves which are going to house knick knacks and cute stuff that I used to have in my craft room, but now don't have the space.

The girls currently have very different bedding, though the colors will work together with some unifying fabrics. i just need to find said unifying fabrics and make unifying accessories. I think if I can get my act together and do these things we'll have a pretty darn cute room on our hands.

These are the things I have finished so far, a needlefelted mobile (terrible pic, though) with a gnome, mushrooms, hedgehog, and birdie. My needlefelting is still pretty primitive, but I am working on it. I realize that nothing i have made so far is quite needlefelted enough. The two embroideries are to hang on the wall and I am pretty proud of the how the hoops came out. I just covered them in ribbon and glued them down. They are both small, so now I am thinking I would like to have 5-7 hoops with a combo of fabrics and embroideries in them for one wall in the room. 

Glitter and Grunge has a new Blog!

Glitter and Grunge, the artists co-op that I oversee has a great new blog (if I do say so myself). We will have artists profiles every week, tutorials and free patterns, studio tours and giveaways. Check it out, and of course, Glitter and Grunge. We just had our first of the month update on Friday, so there are tons of goodies just waiting to come home to you!
 

Vaycay is OVER.

And sadly not because there is a baby. Now that I have the green light to be a normal member of society again the contractions have virtually stopped. Go figure. So, even though I said I wasn't gonna blog 'till the baby came that was when I thought she'd show up any moment. Since that is clearly no longer the case it is back to life as usual.

Thursday was my first day back in business and I think I spent it well for someone who was MIA for nearly two months. My Granny and I went with the kids to get a new carseat for the baby. On the way there we saw a great farmers market so we detoured there first and had a coronary at prices (good) and selection (gooder) available. If there is no baby this week we will definitely be going back. With a camera. Fruit and veggies (though overdone) are so pretty! After that the kids and I and my lil sis had a lovely swim at Granny's. By 3:30 pm I was beat and had to have Aaron come home from work so I could nap, though.

Friday the kids and I had a playdate at a nearby park, which had it's own splash park. We'll go back on Tuesday or Wednesday if possible. I may even frighten all the little kids and wear shorts and my bathing suit and get wet with the kids. Ever since we went the kids have asked to go back . Peanut even requested  to go there at 5 am this morning.

Yesterday I worked on some baby gifts for friends (I actually have two other friends with the same due date I have!) while Aaron and the kids washed both our cars and did other household chores. The car washing was a huge hit and was a major reason why I decided to post tonight. I took some pics and they are just too good not to share. The grandmas and out of town friends and fam will appreciate them, anyway....

Anyway, for the time being I am back. Not sure how regularly I can post, but I'll be around.