Blue-eyed beauties 3-2-1

I wish I could say I’ve been busy slaying dragons and conquering new skills, but no. Mostly just housework, hanging with the littles, and reorganizing my house. Actually, we shall restate that first bit. I have slain a dragon. Our playroom. I have completely reorganized it into an entirely unbeautiful and very functional toy storage system a la Rubbermaid, that makes it way easier for the kids to spend five minutes cleaning up. Instead of me spending two hours reorganizing every toy into it’s special spot, I have a bunch of buckets that are either by theme or by type, and they get one at a time, and if they want another they throw everything back in the Rubbermaid first. Pinworthy and beautiful? Not particularly. Functional? Absolutely.

I’ve also been working on skills, actually. Firstly, on my houseworking skills. Let’s be real here – it does not come to me naturally. If I strike you as the homemaker type, I apologize. In reality, I am the artsy fartsy type, and if I leave myself in my natural state I tend to sit up every so often and wonder what the heck happened. I’m forcing myself to create new habits and routines and so far I’m doing pretty well. I mean, two steps forward and one back – I have a toddler and a baby after all.

Secondly, I’m giving running another go. It’s actually just happenstance that I took it up in the New Year. That’s just when my husband and I came to the conclusion that going to the gym was not fitting in particularly well in this season of my life. Jackson has been clingy off and on, and my husband struggles with him when I’m gone, and that’s stressful for everyone involved. So in lieu of not having a whole gym available we opted for a second hand treadmill. I’m nearly done my second week of it and I’m getting stronger, faster, and yes, losing weight as well. But mostly I’m feeling more energetic, which is really helping with that housework skills thing… especially since I’ve got less sleep lately than I ever got when Jackson was a newborn. C’est la vie, and this baby season is long days and short years, and all the snuggles and laughter are totally worth the lack of sleep.

However, I have resolved to do or create something every day, even if it’s just a photograph. So, on a particularly crazy day, I pulled out my dslr and took pictures of my crazies. Then I edited them another day. Every day a little bit of something! Running and creating even just little bits, that’s what’s keeping me in a happy, healthy place (mentally and physically) this cold cold winter.

How about you? How do you keep in the happy healthy zone?

piggies and baby blues

Just two versions of the same shot of Olivia in piggies. She is definitely not a baby anymore… I guess she has been toddling around since she was seven months old, but she still looked like a walking baby rather than like a toddler. Where has the last thirteen months gone?

I love how you love her

Today I got my first real, big, squeeze-you-hard-around-the-neck hug from Olivia. It melted me down to my toes, one of those moments where you just fall further in love with your child even though you thought you’d already fallen about as far as a person could. When I went and took her out of bed after her morning nap, she wrapped those little arms around my neck and didn’t let go for several heart-bursting minutes.

This was, however, not her first hug. Nor was it her second, or even her third. No, she had been handing out fierce, adoring little hugs for a few days already now. To whom, you wonder? Well, Nicole of course.

I’ve said it before and I truly hope I’ll say it again, my favourite thing about my girls is how fierce their love and loyalty for each other is. At a few weeks old, after charming us all by choosing to smile instead of ‘root’ every time you stroked her cheek, Olivia made eye contact with Nicole for a few moments and cracked a great big smile. The next few smiles were reserved for her as well, and then eventually she spared some for the rest of us.

And naturally, when she started doling out great big slobbery baby-kisses, all open-mouthed and mildly disgusting, the first few batches went to Nicole. (And Chris has still received but a few; she follows him around the house with adoring eyes, but is not inclined to kiss that prickly face.)

And so it stands to reason that Nicole would get the first hugs, as well. It’s not as if she hasn’t earned them. She’s doled out more than her fair share over the last ten months. I can’t even really feel jealous, my heart is just so full when I watch them loving on each other.

Now, don’t be fooled into thinking life is all peace, harmony and slobberkisses between these two. Nicole occasionally gets frustrated and hides from Olivia… when she remembers that that’s how we are supposed to deal with it. She’s just as prone to push her away or screech out, “O-LIVE-EE-YAAAAHHHH!!!!” Olivia, being feisty and determined, sometimes accepts this challenge. With a shrill of excitement, she stalks and hunts Nicole, jumping on her and pulling her hair with delight. Sometimes this evolves into giggles and games. Others, not so much. As time has gone on, Nicole’s knee-jerk reaction to Olivia crying has gone from gentle shushing (as in the below picture) to hollering ‘It wasn’t me!’ (even finding it necessary to shout from across the house and when far away from each other) or even just flat-out ignoring it.

However, Nicole still runs into their room when Olivia can be heard waking up. Sometimes she sneaks into the crib to play, and I pretend not to notice for a few minutes. Or if Olivia is the first to wake, she has been known to either smack Nicole in the face, if she’s been freed from the crib, or just yell in Nicole’s direction until her big sister awakens. Nicole is rather notorious for being a wretched beast if anyone wakes her up, more akin to something you’d expect to have found deep in the jungle than under a bubblegum pink comforter, but Olivia somehow gets a pass.

I don’t know whether or not we will be blessed with more children. It would be nice, but I don’t think I’ll even pray for it; I’ll be too busy giving thanks for these full hands and this full heart.

(I don’t always feel so grateful for those full hands; just watch me try to load the dishwasher when Olivia is on the lam and you’ll note that ‘thankful’ doesn’t come to mind when trying to describe my demeanour)

Two little girls who love each other deeply, with hands that pat and hug more often than they push and shove. Mouths that smile and kiss and giggle far more often than they frown and shout and cry. I pray that my heart dwells on these important things more than petty little things like what people are saying about me, or not saying, or whether I’ve folded all the laundry, or where on EARTH I put my mop pads. (If seen, please return them to my floor; their absence is getting quite noticeable) 

KCWC summary + Rufflicious Skirt Debut

Okay, so my kids have been tag teaming this whole getting sick/being miserable thing. I’m all about nurturing, nurture cuddle nuture, that’s me. But I wish they could just get it together and both be sick at the same time. Then I could lie about in bed with them both and listen to them moan and groan and make soothing noises back and them, and then slip off to Get Stuff Done when they both drift off to sleep. But no, one kid gets sick and gives it to the other kid and then that kid gets another thing while their immunity is down and gives THAT to the first kid… you know how it is. Anyways, I’ve moaned on about me being sick or them being sick for I dunno, a month now, off and on. It’s been grand. I’m sure you’re as sick of us being sick as we are. ITS SUMMER WEATHER OUTSIDE. I think it will all go away soon.

ON TO KCWC. My goal was to complete a sister set for my girls and at least one other thing. I completed the sister set (okay so the skirt was finished a day late and a dollar short) and called it good.

Olivia:

I want to do surgery on this yet. My calculations were a bit off and I did some past-midnight-sewing, as I mentioned, so there are some oopsies. Also my first applique attempt in a long time, it was kind of poor, to put it mildly, but oh well. I hope to put a waistband over the waist part and bring it in a bit, it’s a bit loose thankfully so I can afford to do that, and hopefully that will fix the ‘situation’ at least a bit.

Nicole’s outfit… well, I could just put it on her and then go skipping through a field of daisies with joy. Heck, I could skip through my yard full of dandelions with joy. LOVE. IT. I learned from my mistakes (look ma! Finally! It took 24 years but darnit, I’ve started learning from my mistakes!) and moved on to victory.

As long as you don’t examine Olivia’s too closely it still looks pretty cute. She’ll wear it. They’ll wear it together and Nicole will be pleased. Every day she says, “I want to match Olivia!” See, it’s not just me enforcing a rein of terror upon my children. THEY WANT TO MATCH. Well, the baby has no say, but whatever. She’s happy if she can chew a ruffle, so we’re golden.

left: Um, yeah, applique… suuuuuuper. Homemade? right: Nicely done! Still room for improvement, but definite learning curve. Handmade!

left: homemade, definitely homemade. It looks like the dog ate it, but really I just had a bit of a learning curve with the serger. right: yaaay! There’s still a few wonky spots on the skirt but I definitely have if not mastered then at least intermediate-ed the rolled hem stitch on my serger.

Dreamy sigh. I call this the Rufflicious Skirt. At first I called it Rufflemania but discarded that promptly because in my excitement I named it like it was wrestling related or something. No. Rufflicious it is. I’m going to grade it and make a pattern of sorts (it’s going to be diagrams and not printable pattern pieces, because it is a series of rectangles.) I’m trying to decide if I’ll do a tutorial or a .pdf for sale. If I do a pdf it will be size 6mos to 4/5, most likely. A tutorial I will do size 4/5 and size 6mos because I already did the 4/5 and I’m going to do the 6mos anyways. What say you? If you say paid pattern, how much would you be willing to pay? I’m thinking like $6.99CAD or something?

Look guys, look how yummy. LOOK. I didn’t pose this, she sat down to play Princess Dress Up on my ipod and the skirt did this on it’s own. I love it so bad. SO. BAD. It’s a little hefty but she loves it, seems comfortable, and the fact that the tiers are rufflier as they go along makes it so the middle tier holds in the bottom tier in such a fashion that I haven’t seen her panties ONCE today, despite no leggings. That is major, folks. She acts like a little lady sometimes but she rarely sits like one. (gets it from her mama, unfortunately. Sorry ma, I learned from my mistakes but I still sit like a boy.)

Christmas Greetings!

Here are my Christmas and birth announcement cards for your viewing pleasure! I haven’t mailed out the mailing ones yet (guilty face here) but I handed out most of the local ones. Feel free to chortle at the fact that Olivia has. no. bum. All tum, no bum.

God bless you all this holiday season and in the new year as well! I might be posting in the next week or so. I just got back from visiting Grand Forks ND. I managed to singlehanded cost a hotel a giant wad of cash, to our mutual misfortune. Nobody was hurt, no worries. I just didn’t show my face around the lobby much after the second day. There’s a story coming, fear not.

Big Giant Baby is one month old

Big Giant Baby… That should be my new nickname for Olivia. Also toying with Meatball, Porkchop, Chubby Monkey, and Rolie Polie Olie. She’s one month old today. Here’s what else she did today:

- roll over from front to back. Several times. Once in front of witnesses.

- started wearing cloth diapers. This does not exactly have a slimming effect on my little meatball. But that’s okay, cos we like big butts and we cannot lie.

- weighed in at a whopping 11lb 10oz !! What a champ. Olivia started off with a weight advantage, but Nicole and Olivia were both pretty much 9lb on the nose at one week old. Olivia has regained the lead with a vengeance.

We were looking at a picture of her at two days old and we don’t think she’s changed much… she kindof came out looking about a month old. And smiling. And giving us strange looks. And farting; man, how quickly you forget. Such a tiny tiny person… amazing how she can clear a room with one little pffft. Okay, that’s a lie, it’s rarely a little pffft. It’s more like an echoing rumble. Guess how the adjustment to shampoo free is going?

aslkdjfaw;oeiyrwqe;oainraoijasklefj ;4iut0429ur5k!!!!! That’s how. Thanks for asking. I’m ready to give up. I am just hovering at that point where you don’t want to give up because you have tried soooo hard/long and maybe it will get better soon? It’s like where you watch a movie to the end because you figure it has got to get better at some point. Except sometimes? It never does. I grow suspicious that my hair may just be that movie.

On a sweeter note, I will take advantage of this public forum to announce that I made cake pops. No, that’s not what I was going to say. I’m such a glory hound. I was going to say that Chris is awesomesauce. He beat me home today, and by the time I pulled in he had cleaned the kitchen (no small feat today, trust. I was fearing and dreading the task) and turned on the dishwasher. Then he built a gingerbread house for/with Nicole. He then proceeded to make sortof a chicken parmesan kind of dinner that was super yum, give Nicole a bath, cuddle Olivia while I put Nicole’s jammies on, go downstairs and sew something (I’m not joking. He fixed the dog leash after the dog chewed it up, and came upstairs cackling like a maniac and leashed the dog up just to show her he had won this week’s Man vs Beast.) Then he laid down on the couch and let Nicole make him pretty with her toy blow dryer/curling iron/curlers. She was hilarious because she kept asking him how his day was and after the third time he got kind of flustered. He even lay there like a champ while she put on my lip stain, even though I was shaking with silent laughter on the loveseat. And of course he helped me put Nicole to bed. I’m pretty sure what I was doing for most of this was sitting on my duff.

(that last paragraph was about my cake pop bouquets, right??)

Now, Chris is not awesomesauce all the time 24/7/365. See anything related to hunting. But when Chris is awesomesauce he loads it on with nuts and cherries and caramel and sparkles. So I’d like to order a pair of confetti cannons and a marching band to celebrate the awesomeness of Chris. Powpow bwah bwah bwah boom boom.

(I’d like to and I am going to are different. I can’t afford that shit, you crazy?)

Olivia’s Nursery

As you may or may not recall, Olivia’s nursery started off as our office/craft room. When we found out I was pregnant, my hubby built my beautiful craft room in our basement. Soon the room upstairs became a Room Where Crap Lives. It was pretty brutal. Straight out of Hoarders, no lie.

I had a few loves and likes in my head. I had a huge crush on  Young House Love John & Sherry’s gender-neutral color scheme that easily became a girl nursery that didn’t look the least bit neutral. (In my head neutral tends to wind up as yellow ducks and the like. I know there are gorgeous neutral rooms though!)

Once I found out I was having a girl, though, I went back and forth and eventually decided I wanted to use the same color blue that I’d used in the office. It’s just such a beautiful color! (Jamaican Aqua by Benjamin Moore.) Initially my intention was to accent that with hot pink, going with a funkier feel like Nicole’s room. However, once it was painted and I had a few things in the room, I decided I loved white and light pink and light lime green as accent colors. Without further ado, let’s get to the pictures!

The room is still pretty unfinished. No trim, the chair in the corner will get a slipcover instead of the blanket thrown over it… the swing in the corner is actually in the livingroom now that it’s being put to use… curtains would be awesomesauce, right now I have a sheet up. I need curtains that are insulated but not hideous. This will probably involve a lot of DIY. I sewed that cute little patchwork changing pad cover while I was overdue. Those baskets will be full of cloth diapering supplies when I start using them. Actually, I’d prefer getting other, cuter baskets by then. Three on each shelf, preferably lined. Mind the cluttery dresser in these ones… I had all her little shoes and hats there until she was born because I liked to look at them. A closer view of the changing mat. It makes me happy. It is good to have something happy to look at when you’re dealing with dirty diapers. Nicole painting some artwork for the nursery… I totally love this picture of her, she didn’t realize yet I had the camera, she was just thrilled to be painting something for her baby sister. She did this before Olivia was born. The artwork… the concept came from here and is basically stickers stuck on the canvasboard by yours truly to make the phrase, and then the kiddo gets to go at with the paint colors I provide. In this case, shades of pink. I felt it needed a little extra so I added on border stickers to the top when the first layer was dry, let her do more painting, and then sprinkled on glitter while the paint was still wet. The green gingham ruffle was already there, but I added the bottom pink ruffle. I just made a really long piece, did a rolled hem on the bottom with my serger, and ran it through my ruffle foot. I wound up doing a small amount of ruffling to the bottom of the green layer to make it smaller so the amount of fabric I was using didn’t get too ridiculous.  And a quick shot of Olivia in her cute little Woombie. She reminds me of one of those Glo Worm dolls from when I was a kid. This thing works wonders though, she loves to be swaddled and once she falls asleep she sleeps much deeper and longer when she’s in her Woombie. I recommend giving them a try, especially if you can get them at one of those baby half off sites. That is where I got mine.

So there we have it. The room isn’t done yet, but it feels like a pretty good start. I’m not done her quilt yet, either, but no biggie, I figure, since it won’t go in until the crib does. She actually only gets changed in here right now, the bassinette/cradle goes by my bed at night so I can reach a hand down and comfort her easily back to sleep or grab her and nurse her. Makes for good sleeping for both of us.

I should be doing laundry :)

Oooh, Saturday. What a good day to put off tasks. Especially if you’re home alone with a cuddly new baby. Nicole spent the night at her Grandma’s house, so my morning involved sleeping in til nearly 9, then eating a yummy breakfast of eggs and sausages prepared by my hubby, followed by coffee provided by and brought to me by aforementioned hubby while I snuggled Olivia and caught up on my blogreader feed. Bliss. Did I mention the Christmas music in the background? Feel free to hate me for being one of those people, but honestly, it looks like the North Pole out my window anyways.

Just thought I’d share some of what I’ve been up to lately… still practising my photography, just haven’t been doing a lot of sharing. Here’s a few of my favourites from the last two months.

One of my beautiful friends and her younger son. It’s hard to believe this picture was taken about a month ago. And now it’s the North Pole.

Another beautiful friend. I have quite the supply of beautiful friends, actually. And here’s a few pictures I took of Olivia last week… I love how she’s just all belly, hehe. My favourite from the shoot will go on my birth announcement, which I’ll share online after it’s been sent out. And this last one was just for fun, she got sick of the shoot right as I was trying to use the basket. She’s a very patient baby but this time she just got MAD. And then she peed on my fur for revenge. But since she pooped like mad as soon as I put her diaper on right after this, it could have been much worse ;) Don’t pretend you don’t love my modesty leaf, bahaha.

I do have a bunch of craft stuff to share, I did a whole bunch of sewing and crocheting for this little girl during my pregnancy. I should have photographed and edited as I went along and posted after, I didn’t think of the fact I’d have a hard time finding a chance to blog!