ultimate horse woman

remember this post?

well i picked up the quilt last week and the recipient should receive it today, thanks to fed ex. as promised i will tell you more about the person who inspired this quilt.

her name is priscilla. and she lives in new mexico around the bend from my parents. i first met priscilla when i was 17, my parents had just bought a house in galisteo, which is about 20 miles outside of santa fe, and we were there for a fall weekend. my brothers and i were out walking around the village, getting the lay of the land. when we approached priscilla's house, i immediately noticed that she had a riding arena, huge barn and horses. before i knew it, i was walking through her front gate towards the horses. i know, i was trespassing, but it was like showing a small child candy and then telling them they cant have it, they can just look it. the pull of horses was too strong to resist. before i knew it, this strong voice demanded to know what i was doing on her property? and before i could answer, she said i was on private property and told me to leave. from that moment on, every time i went by her house i was terrified she was going to come out and yell at me.

flash forward 10 years, my parents have moved to a bigger house, are living in galisteo full time and have become friends with priscilla. i have no doubt that she knows all about my brothers and i, as well as my love of horses. we are all home for christmas and mom tells us that we are going to priscilla's christmas party, christmas afternoon (it is a very big gathering with lots of fabulous food). i am more than a little nervous about officially meeting priscilla and wonder if she knows that i am the girl, now grown up, who wandered on to her property to see her horses. she could not have been more gracious and acted like she had known me all my life. we instantly connected over our deep love of horses.

from that moment on she was no longer the woman who scolded me all those years ago, but was family. i always look forward to seeing her when we go home. while she has had a huge impact on me, she has touched my precious husband in a way that i can not describe. he absolutely adores her. we are fortunate to have several of her pieces of art and anytime some one new comes to the house, he tells them about her, her work and shows them her book. it is so endearing. but i think what moved him the most was her love, words and support after cooper died. we got a lot of emails and cards during that time, but the thoughts and words she shared with us, have stayed with us.

we were talking one day about how we could thank her for all that she has done for us, especially making 100 cooper candles. we are at a loss, and then i saw the heather ross equestrian themed fabric and decided i would make her a quilt. i knew she would appreciate the fact that it was handmade, but would who better to love the horse fabric than the ultimate horse woman!

a small gift for a woman who has shared her heart and soul with us so that our hearts could heal and who has touched our lives in more ways than she knows.

whew

finally, i feel like we can finally breathe....

we just returned home from our fetal echo cardiogram AND the bean has a perfectly normal heart. i can not even begin to tell you how relieved we are. this was the big hurdle. i can now start to get excited about the bean's arrival in february.

we are going to have another fetal echo at 28 weeks, but that is just for peace of mind. the bean's heart is currently the size of your thumb nail, which is pretty darn small, so the cardiologist likes to take another look when the heart is a little bigger. if there was anything major wrong with the heart it would have shown up today.

thank you for all your well wishes and good thoughts today, its what got us through...

and now on to shopping, knitting and sewing for the bean!

anticipation

the details of coopers surgery and subsequent death are burned into my memory forever. i can tell you with great detail what people said, what they wore, what i wore, what i ate, the looks on peoples faces, the sights and smells of the hospital, and the moment during surgery when my heart started beating rapidly, which i am quite sure is when they decided that the repair was not enough and they needed to put a shunt in coopers heart. i remember every minute detail of those days.

in the days, weeks and even months after dec. 18th, those memories would invade my thoughts, the tapes were on continuous play, particularly in moments of still and quiet or when i was trying to sleep. i could not escape them. as i began to heal, the tapes stopped playing. i know they are still on the shelves of my brain, collecting dust and waiting for their moment of return.

they have remained on those shelves for some time, until this weekend that is and let me tell you, they have been playing nonstop. my precious husband and i have done our best to ignore them, he chopped wood yesterday (we have enough for a very long winter) and i ripped out a new knitting design i am working on 4 times. now, i am quite sure it is due to the anticipation of the fetal echo cardiogram we have this afternoon.

anticipation is the worst part......

photo op

the bean had a photo session today, his 20 week anatomical ultrasound, and he looked just perfect! he weighs 11 ounces, had a heart rate of 139 bmp, and was very active. his photos look very similar to those of his big brothers, i suppose that is to be expected.

we feel relieved and are glad to have that checked off our list. monday we have our fetal echo cardiogram, which is a 2 hour scan of the beans heart. we are anxious, but feel good after today's pics came back normal. i feel like i will be able to breathe after monday.

i couldn't resist sharing the picture of the bean's feet. aren't they cute?

if i.....

if i had an unlimited amount of cash and dollars, i would get my hair blown out once a week at the fabulous scott miller salon.

since i don't have an unlimited amount of cash and dollars, i will settle for having perfectly straight, smooth, shiny hair every 10 weeks. oh how i love, haircut and hi-light days at scott miller.

a girl can always dream right?

at the garden

this morning we went out to coopers garden with the dogs for our sunday morning walk. we also decided it was time to put the daffodil bulbs in the ground. well, my precious husband planted the bulbs in their new home, while i took pictures and held the beasts. we put about 50 bulbs all around the garden. i cant wait to see them in the spring!

can you believe how big the garden has gotten?

wee models

I know that all is right with the world when its 11:30 on friday and i am eating lunch with alli, tommy and charlie. its been a while since we had our friday ritual (baby charlie arrived the end of july and then alli spent 3 weeks in the hospital), but today we resumed our friday tradition. and i thought it would be a good idea to use her darling kids as models. charlie or chuckles (as tommy calls him) was very cooperative, tommy needed a little bribing. luckily alli had some m&ms that did just the trick.

these are some of my favorite pics.

alli and her hubby make pretty cute babies.......