outside

Monday, May 31, 2010








hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

finishing and finished

Saturday, May 29, 2010


i can not believe i am going to admit this on the internet, but here i go.....i have a finishing problem. i can knit all the pieces of a sweater or sew all the intricate blocks of a quilt. i can even put them together into one big quilt top, no problem. where i get hung up is seaming that sweater together or making a quilt sandwich, quilting it and sewing the binding on. i am sure that if i really wanted to i could, but it is part of the creative process that i do not enjoy. lucky for me, there are people who like this part of the creative process. christina, of the sometimes crafter, quilted my brothers quilt. she did a fabulous job and is oh so fast with her turn around time. so, if you are like me and don't like to finish projects, you should send her your quilts.

not being a finisher is costly, so i am going to try to embrace this piece of the creative process. i am starting to knit sweaters in the round, so that there are no seams. and i am going to make some mini quilts to practice quilting and sewing the binding on. wish me luck.




we will start

Thursday, May 27, 2010



i am home. boy does it feel good to be home and with ph.

i thought i would start my re-entry into life without yaya and pappous with a giveaway, just so i can get my bearings, get unpacked, and organized.

remember, the purlbee project calendar that i wanted for xmas? well, i happened to be in possession of a second calendar. the lovely ladies at purlsoho included it in my recent order, so i thought i would share the love.

leave a comment by midnight friday and i will pick a winner.

tuesday tidbits

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

** tomorrow we head home.

** we have had a wonderful time, but i am looking forward to being back in my own space.

** this is the first time i have been away from ph since cooper died.

** gosh i miss him.

** and my dogs.

** the wedding this past weekend was wonderful.

** bean was the hit of the party.

** i took so many pictures and cant wait to share them with you.

** i also have lots of blog posts to write.

** so stay tuned.

** i have taken a creative break while i have been away.

** but have had lots of ideas percolating in my head and cant wait to get to work.

** i finished my brothers string quilt and gave i to him this past weekend.

** he loved it!

** wait until you see it! its fabulous.

** i am hoping that the trip tomorrow is a little smoother than the trip out here.

**talk to you on thursday......

wont you please

Monday, May 24, 2010

go vote for tommy and charlie's mom, alli.

her blog, the adventures of bean and goobs is a finalist in the 2010 Scholastic Parent & Child magazine Parent Blogger Awards. there are three finalists in six different categories and her blog was of the the few selected by the editors from over 100 blogs. i am so darn proud of her! and if you dont read her blog, you should it will make you laugh out loud.

beginning today, visitors to their website will get to vote one time for their favorite parent blog in each category. the six bloggers receiving the most votes will be featured in the August/
September 2010 issue of Scholastic Parent & Child Magazine.

you can use the link below to vote

http://www.scholastic.com/parents/blogawards/

tuesday tidbits

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

** the bean is feeling much better. whew.

** but he has not been napping much during the day.

** i am hoping that this does not become a habit.

** he did sleep through the night last night. 9-5:30.

** yay bean!

** i woke up and was afraid he wasnt breathing.

** bean has a new 2nd cousin, call russell snyder.

** we are still awaiting the birth of another cousin for the bean.

** my cousin is getting married at my parents house this weekend.

** we are in a festive mood here.

** pappous is "smitten" with the bean.

**we miss ph and cant wait to see him in a week.

**we will ichat with him tonight.

**i am have lost all of my bean weight, and have 5 more pounds of cooper weight to lose.

**i am off to clean out the fridge.

just when i thought.....

Friday, May 14, 2010

we had figured out bean's digestive issues, the wheels of the bus fall off.

yesterday was probably the hardest day of motherhood. we are talking hard here. bean screamed. bean hurt. bean had gas. bean cried. bean spit up. bean did not sleep. bean screamed. bean arched his back. bean hurt. bean's mom is tired and beat up.

thankfully, i am at my parents and have four extra hands to help with the screaming bean.

we have come to the conclusion that bean has acid reflux, which is no surprise because ph lives on pepcid, so bean comes by it naturally. i talked to my pediatrician yesterday and they told me to give him gaviscon, which is like mylanta. oh mylanta, why didnt you help the bean feel better?. it didn't really help much. so after i conversation with my cousin, who is a smart neonatal nurse and has experience with gassy, cranky, fussy babies, we started him on a regime of previcid this morning. we will see if this helps. it could take a few days.

gosh i hope it helps. it is so hard to see him in so much pain. i feel so helpless. i just want his little tummy to feel better. soon.

tuesday tidbits ( on wednesday)

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

** we have recovered from our travels on monday.

** it is so nice to the see the sun and blue blue skies.

**i am looking forward to seeing my brothers next week.

** i wish ph could be here with us, but he is crazy busy with work.

** i am looking forward to the release of this book on may 25th.

** i am not sure when i am going to read it.

** it is probably not going to happen on our plane ride back home.

** i am anxiously awaiting the arrival of my new nephew.

**i have two new quilt designs in my head and ready to work on.

** but they will have to wait until i return home.

** i am working on some english paper piecing while i am here.

** there will be a huge etsy shop update when i return home.

** the bean rolled over the other night in this crib.

** he has not done it since.

** i am looking forward to having a shiner boch with diner tonight.

** bean has lots of gear here at yaya and pappous' house.

** and he is enjoying it thoroughly.

** we hope you are having a happy wednesday.

have baby will travel

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

..... if it were only that easy.

the airline industry does not make it easy to travel with wee ones. but i do heart delta, or at least their flight crew.

**tsa security has to be the least baby/kid friendly bunch of people i have ever encountered. the tsa worker who had a slight resemblance to atila the hun, kicked off our day of travels in style. she didn't bother to tell me that EVERYTHING had to go through the xray machine until i was ready to walk through the scanner. she then proceeded to peck away at mom and i in a most annoying fashion. you know you have to take your shoes off? is that blanket attached to the car seat? the car seat has to be upside down? is there a reason you have two bins? give me a minute, atila. she then proceeded to tell my mom she didn't understand the security "process". that is like telling the pope he isn't catholic.

**why aren't there changing tables in airline bathrooms? i never really contemplated this until i was faced with a blowout diaper three quarters of the way into our first flight. once i realized that the bean had pooped, my biggest fear became a reality, and was compounded by the fact that i was sitting in first class. i quickly grabbed the bean and the diaper bag and walked to the bathroom, intent on mastering the art of changing a diaper while in flight. i put my stylish changing pad on the toilet seat, laid the bean down and got to work. it was evident that the blowout diaper was going to kick my ass. there was poop every where, all over his onesie, down or up his back. now, i did have the foresight to pack an extra change of clothes for the bean, but they were in another bag in some overhead compartment. but there was no way that the onesie could remain on the bean, so off it went and then bean went shirtless the remainder of the flight. as for the poopy onesie, well it can be found in recycling bin in the atlanta airport.

**news flash... each person on the flight PAID for their ticket, including me. so i am sorry if my screaming baby disrupted your 3 hour flight in first class. i had the pleasure of sitting next to "jack" on the second flight of the day. he was clearly annoyed that i had the nerve to bring my 12 week baby on the plane, much less sit in first class. so when bean started screaming, his annoyance became more visible with each cry. he had headphones on, but each time the bean screamed, he tensed up, huffed and slammed his book shut. this went on for about an hour and culminated in him grabbing his head in anguish over my screaming child. i decided to get out of my seat and walk around, hoping to quiet the screaming bean. when i asked him to let me out, you would have thought i was asking him to hold my son. the flight crew was made aware of "jack's" lovely demeanor and instantly had my back. i heart the delta flight crew. there was nothing redeeming about" jack" except for the fact that when i returned to my seat he was watching "justified."

**so, i have baby and will travel, but not without ph or a very stiff drink.

dear chace

Sunday, May 9, 2010

dear sweet chace,

this mother's day marks mother's day as well as your 12th week of life. as i write this, you are snuggled up on my chest in your moby wrap. there is nothing better than feeling your breath on my neck and your heart beating with mine.

this past 4 weeks began as a roller coaster, but have turned into a rather uneventful ride. your stomach has been very sensitive which caused great crankiness on your part. after 3 formulas, we finally have one that you like and agrees with your tiny tummy. you have settled into a napping routine and continue to take long naps. i attribute this to two factors: one, you take after me, i love long naps and two, you are sleeping on your stomach, which you seem to prefer.

now that your tummy is better, you are all smiles and laughs. you like to look at yourself in the mirror and have recently discovered the ever fascinating game of peek-a-boo. you have discovered your hands and love to put them in your mouth. i am sure you are days away from discovering your thumb. your head and neck grow stronger by the day. in fact you seem to be changing daily and i look forward to seeing what you will discover next. i feel like i am getting better at motherhood and am settling into my new role and life. we are settling into a daily routine, the two of us and that feels good.

tomorrow we are off to santa fe for two weeks. your first of many plane rides. there are a lot of people who are anxious to meet you, but no one is more excited to see you than your pappous.

chace you continue to heal my heart. sometimes i stare at you in amazement, amazement that your father and i created someone so precious and perfect. i feel like being your mother is the best job i could ever have.

loving you always.
mom

musings on motherhood.

Saturday, May 8, 2010


**motherhood is hard. damn harder. harder than anything i have ever done.

**i have learned that you can spend $$ 200 on a haircut and still have mom hair.

**i will spend $$ 200 on jeans to avoid having mom jeans.

**shockingly, being pooped, peed and spit up on doesn't bother me as much as i thought it would.

**the above acts only occur to me, never to ph.

** i now understand why my mother took a bath at night and why we had an early bedtime.

** oh, how i can not wait until the bean has an early bedtime.

** motherhood does not come with a handbook. could someone please work on that? it would be much easier if it did.

**sometimes you just need 10 minutes of quiet to make it through the day.

**eating becomes a function of survival, not pleasure. you eat when you can, in shifts and at strange times.

**i think that baby gear reproduces at night. my house is being taken over by gear.

**leaving the house without spit up on me is a major feat. i wonder what people think when they see dried baby formula on my boob.

**putting on make up can make one feel human, even if you don't make it out of the house, at least you will look put together if you have a random visitor.

**although, please don't stop by my house unannounced. i am liable to be very annoyed and rude.

**motherhood is something you grow into, you get better at each day.

**motherhood also has some really crappy moments, moments that can bring you to your knees.

**but i can not think of a bigger honor or privilege than being chace's mother, even if he poops on me.

** wishing you all a happy mother's day eve.

musings on motherhood.

37 year old inspiration

Thursday, May 6, 2010



my mom brought me the quilt that she made me when i was a baby. apparently i spent alot of time on that blanket, as being outside was one place i did not scream. i was amazed at how well it held up, it is after all 37 years old. i had this idea the other night to take it apart and use the fabric to make a new, modern quilt for myself. i have not yet decided on the block pattern, but this recently purchased book should help me.


my mom started taking the quilt apart last night. but before she started that tedious project, we took some pictures of the bean hanging out on the quilt.


stay tuned to see how this project unfolds.

tuesday tidbits

Tuesday, May 4, 2010

** ph made my appointment to get my cooper tattoo. june 21st is the date.

** bean now officially has a 529 college savings plan.

** bean is much happier on his new formula as well as the addition of prune juice twice a day.

** this means that poop is not the hot topic that it used to be in our house.

** saturday and sunday night, bean slept from 10-5.

** yay bean!!

** i have appointment to have my haircut and hi-lighted today.

** as, you know this makes me very happy.

** mom is here this week and is going to help me fly to santa fe.

** it is so nice having an extra set of hands.

** i fear that i am going to be "that" person on the plane whose baby screams the entire flight.

** i ordered some liberty of london fabric yesterday.

** i have a new quilt design brewing in my brain.

** i cant wait to read this book.

** i am 3 pounds away from my pre-bean weight and 8 pounds from my pre-cooper weight.

creative wall

Monday, May 3, 2010


whenever i finish a big project i tend to hit a creative wall which sends me into a funk. i feel totally lost and don't know what to work on next, despite the fact that i have a list of design ideas and inspirations in my iphone. for some odd reason my hands become immobilized while my brain runs on full speed. it is a terrible predicament, terrible.

this happened to me yesterday. the bean was sound asleep and i felt like i needed to take advantage of the work time, so i grabbed some scraps and started creating. and the above placemats are the result of that endeavor. it is a great way to use your scraps.

what do you think?

i may make a few more and put them in the etsy shop.



happy birthday

Saturday, May 1, 2010





happy birthday love!
here's to many more years of growing old together.
i cant imagine aging with anyone else.
love you lots!