I Can't Stop Embroidering Things

We had the Schwenzens over yesterday for brunch. As usual we had an excellent time. Here are Joseph and Hadley getting (re)acquainted.

I also decided to learn to hand embroider this weekend. I started by putting some stars on the pocket of an old pair of jeans, and I was on a roll. I simply cannot stop! Above are a jacket I embroidered last night and a denim patch that I made this morning. Any requests? Embroidered tea towels or onesies anybody?

The first pic is a lace knit cap slv shrug that I got both the idea for and the link for the pattern from my pal knitting kninja. Made with a lovely plum merino. You really have to request this one, it requires more concentration on my part than my felted goodies.

That's all for now.

"Sunny days, everything's...a-okay..."

Playtime with mommy

PS-Wants Desperately to Stand/Walk

And With Crawling came Sitting (finally)

For months now, I have been watching and waiting for Joseph to sit. Not that he didn't know how, its just that as soon as he was put into a sitting position he would find his way as quickly as possible to his tummy. This worried me a little since other babies seemed to be perfectly content to sit and play for long periods of time. However, these also were babies that loathed tummy time and could not last for longer than a minute or two.

Apparently, with crawling also came the desire to sit and play. Joseph is suddenly so much more mobile all around. He kneels, sits, crawls...I don't know how else to explain it, but he is mobile (it is as simple as that).

My New Model

In case you haven't already noticed the picture on the left from my etsy shop, I have decided to start using Joseph as a model for baby tees. I based this decision on a suggestion from Monica, and of course, my assumption that Joseph is a particularly beautiful baby. My suspicions have been somewhat confirmed: even though no one has bought this onesie, it has had more views already than any other item in my shop!

Crawling

Joseph started crawling last Thursday. I was sitting watching him play on the floor and just as I heard Joe's keys in the lock, Joseph crawled right across the office to a stack of books on the floor. Just like that!

As Joe came in the door I said "Your son is crawling, wanna see?"

Coincidentally, I also watched Joseph pull himself to standing on the side of his crib twice that same day. Now when I go to get him in the middle of the night, he is kneeling at the side of the crib and grasping the rails waiting for me. It is the sweetest thing.

Mothers

So, Mothers Day is upon us; it is my first Mothers Day as a mother. And as I reflect on these past seven months or so as a mom, I just bet you can picture me swelling with pride and soaking up praise. Not so!

As I look at my son, this amazing, smiling, loving, funny little person, I try to accept responsibility for who he is, and I just can't. He is who he is, and we are lucky to have received such a wonderful gift as he from God. Sure, I clothe him, I bathe him, I feed him and keep him safe and warm, but it is what I know is right and what I Am Supposed To Do.

Instead, my thoughts drift (naturally) to my own mother. I think about how she endured years of picking me back up when I fell (both physically and emotionally). Wiping away the tears, the sick and wiping my dirty bum. Doing all that she can to make me a good person. And then I think about the other women in my life who have been mothers to me. Who have built me up and contributed to my character by teaching me things that my own mother could not. My mother-in-law, aunts, teachers, baby-sitters, family friends, bosses and co-workers.

And my thoughts drift further yet, to women who cannot mother their own children and instead choose to be mothers to children who have no mothers. And I think about the women who choose not to mother their own children, but instead devote their lives to making the world a better place for the children who have been left behind.

These are people who deserve the praise.

I was having a conversation recently about children who live in poverty and war, and how the problem seems so great that the little I can contribute is only a drop in the bucket. But we agreed that when you lack the time and money to make a real difference, the best that you can do as a mother is try your hardest to raise your children to be good and loving people. To add one more good person to the world.

So what about me? Ask again in twenty or so years, I just might be swelling with pride and soaking up praise by then. Instead, this year I am offering my own thanks and praise to all the "mothers" out there.

One image will forever be burned in my memory: the look on Joe's face as he chokes back tears while we are standing in the Midwest Express check-in line two days ago.

That really sums it up. Yes, we missed the Hemingway tour, we decided to skip the glass bottom boat, we forgot to take pictures of the free-roaming roosters that terrified our son, but Florida with the Blackwoods was THE BEST VACATION EVER. We miss the three of them so much already.

We did try some key lime pie, and key lime cheesecake. It was fantastic. We ate tons of fresh seafood. We sweat like pigs in April. We got tan, and our freckles came out of hibernation. But nothing compares to seeing our nephew Ian, and spending time with Monica and Scott.

Florida

Look out Ft. Lauderdale, JJ has arrived...

Fun in Key West

The cousins conspire...






Wiped Out!!!

The Baby in the Mirror

The Finished Product

Here are the pears. Felted, stuffed, and embellished with leaves and stems. I will be posting these on etsy later today!

Would you buy this?

I feel a little weird about pairing my "business" with this family blog. All the same, what are your thoughts on this new pear design I came up with yesterday?

PS-They are not quite finished yet. You have to use your imagination to picture what they will look like finished.

Mr. Photogenic

O.K., say it with me:
"Awwwww!"

Have you had a good laugh today?

Happy Easter

There aren't too many pictures of the three of us together. As a matter of fact, the only other ones that we have were taken on Thanksgiving or earlier. This one was taken yesterday, and although it was hard to get Joseph to look at the camera I really like it!

To all those new parents and parents-to-be out there: It is really easy with a new baby to forget to get pictures of the whole family together and only take pics of the baby. It takes effort to remember and have family pics taken, but I am glad we did.

Joseph Likes...

I have discovered that one of the most amazing things about being a parent is watching your child's personality slowly unfold before your eyes. The transition from newborn lump to little boy is so gradual that I hardly even notice it until I find myself saying things like "Oh, Joseph doesn't like it when..." or "Joseph just loves it when...".

Here is a list of some of Joseph's current Likes and Dislikes. I am sure that if we look back at this list in just a few months it will seem like a completely different place and time. I hope to record such lists again in the future so that we may see how our little boy evolves.

Here goes...

Joseph Likes:

Mommy and Daddy, kitty cats (especially Shimmy), fruit, banging, jumping, being tickled, hair (especially Mommy's), pulling, grabbing, rolling, nursing, moving, his stroller, rides in the car, sleeping, Mommy & Daddy's bed, TV, toys, books, phones, remote controllers, noisy rattles, music, babies, faces (especially noses), crinkled paper, magazines, junk mail, baths, his fingers, prints on fabric, his teddy, being carried, Target, Phoenix (the band), napkins, keyboards, coffee mugs, eye glasses, dangly earrings, yarn, neck kisses...

For a list of Joseph's dislikes scroll down.

Joseph Dislikes...

Gas, waking up alone, carrots (and most other vegetables), strangers trying to make him smile, being tired, "Joy to the World", Michael Penn's "No Myth", cold wind, having his face wiped, being bundled, tight neck holes, boredom

Our Beautiful Boy

Chaos Ensues

Is it ever amazing/amusing to be on this side of the lens. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago at Aunt Jane's and cousin Alex's birthday party. Note Joseph's handful of that poor little darlings hair. He does it to me all the time.

New Project

Here is mom modeling her second attempt at a felted cloche hat (with Joseph). You really wouldn't want to see the first. It would make either a nice fruit bowl or the worlds largest yarmulke. The pattern still needs a bit of tweaking, and then there is the matter of determining a reasonable price...

The Two Joes

The two most important people in my life.

Second Class Citizen

Shimmy inadvertently becomes part of the pile while sorting through laundry.

A Day in the Life

Stephani (our Parents as Teachers Rep) comes to visit us every six weeks. She visited last Wednesday, and as usual she says "Tell me about a day in the life of Joseph." And as usual, I reveal for Stephani all of my evils: "We wake up sometime between 7 and 8am, Joseph plays in his highchair while I put on a pot of coffee and flip through a magazine or catalogue...Joseph wakes up from his first nap just in time to watch me make my lunch and eat it, and then we watch Days of our Lives together!" Stephani assures me that there is nothing wrong with trying to inject some amount of normalcy in our days, but it gets me thinking, and the conclusion I have come to is "I love my life now."

When I discovered that I was pregnant with Joseph I had just completed my MBA about a month prior. I had great ambitions, and as mentioned in an earlier post my dream has been to run my own business. I wasn't at all disappointed when I found out I was pregnant...quite the opposite! But it did throw a wrench in my plans for the future just a little bit and things have been uncertain ever since.

I am very lucky that Joe and I have been able to work things out so that I have this time to be home with my son and watch him grow and develop, and that I have this little hiatus from the professional world. As a result, a new creative side of me is emerging that I never knew existed; not to mention that I have the luxury of putting some relaxed consideration into what I want to do with my life. But the greatest surprise of all has been that I love being a stay at home mom.

I love that when I describe my days it is "We" doing everything together. I love nursing Joseph, playing with Joseph and giving him baths. I love having a quiet, peaceful afternoon at home while I knit and Joseph plays quietly on the floor a few feet away (when that actually happens). And I love that it is nice out again and we take walks together downtown and stop at a couple of shops or to a cafe for lunch, or just stroll through the park. I even love having the time to keep a tidy home and improve it decoratively.

With the novelty wear off? Admittedly I do have days every now and then where I long for something more; be it adult interaction or the ability to express myself creatively and receive any sort of unbiased feedback. But after six months I should say that I doubt that this feeling will wear off, and I silently dread the day that our safety net runs out and I must return to the working world.

For now, I try my hardest to cherish every moment I have with my family, and accept this time together as the greatest gift I shall ever receive. As I type this, Joseph is just behind me in his pack'n'play squirming and squealing playfully. It won't be long before those squeals turn into bored and annoyed squawks. And then (drat!) I must rush over to cuddle and entertain my son. I am one lucky gal.

Birds!

I have no idea what I am going to do with them, but they were fun to make. Any ideas?