A Fresh Start

He's been having a tough couple of weeks.  First he was sick, and had to miss preschool, which he loves.  Then Grahm and I got sick so we couldn't really go out and do any of the fun stuff that we usually do.

His best friend moved away - and not just to another nearby city where we can visit her - halfway around the world.  He hasn't come right out and said it but I know he's really sad about it.  He's just mopey.  Not himself.

He also just seems like he's not comfortable in his own skin.  Tripping over his feet a lot, being overly clumsy.  He has been a walking catastrophe the last few days:  falling out of the bike trailer and getting a golf-ball sized lump on his head, then turning around the next day and having me close the car door on the other side of his head, burning his hand on a light bulb, smashing his finger in the door tonight.

And not just physically uncomfortable in his own skin, emotionally and mentally as well.  Getting really frustrated at himself when he messes up on something.  Being really sensitive and sad and then turning around and intentionally misbehaving.

It was time for a fresh start.

I don't know if it will help; maybe this is just what Almost Four is like.  A growth spurt for both mind and body.

He was sobbing on the way home saying no one was going to be his friend because they wouldn't know who he was without long hair.

I think he'll be OK though - he will be OK. He's my boy. I told him that I barely recognized him with his hair so short ("Daddy all my hair was on the GROUND!!!") and he said "Mama, it's still me, Mr.-Chuckles-McKnuckles".  You're right, Mase, still you.

Weekend wrap up

We did a lot this weekend ....

Changed out Grahm's car seat so he is no longer in the horrible infant bucket thingy.  Considering he is 25 pounds and the bucket is however many more it was getting to be a lot to lug around.

Went to the local pizza joint for all-you-can-eat lunch: (G was kind of sick this day)

Went for a bike ride for the first time with both boys in the bike trailer (Marc was pulling it thank goodness).

Played in the grass for the first time for some of us:

Ate some dirt clods, also for the first time for some of us:

Stopped on the way home at the pretentious gelato place in our neighborhood for some paninis and gelato:

Had fun watching the kids playing outside the big windows:

Went to Costco: (Don't look so excited, guys)

Then went to Smashburger to finish it all up last night:

Month of Mornings - last picture and mosaic

Our Month of Mornings ended last Monday and I figured it was finally time to get up the last picture and mosaic of all the pictures.  I had a great time taking a picture every morning and trying to capture just a little snapshot of our daily lives. Like the saying goes - the years are short but the days are long ... hopefully these sweet pictures help me get through some of the longer days and remind me of the two sweet, loving boys I have.

Darci and I decided to do a picture of us plus our 2 kids for the last picture.  I took a million pictures and something was always off one each of them - Grahm had his eyes closed - Mason wasn't looking at the camera - finally I just embraced our imperfectness and picked one randomly to use.  Mason's waving and sticking out his tounge and G has his favorite chew toy -- letter X -- but the picture is me and my two boys and captures our funny, crazy hectic days perfectly.

And here are all the pictures from the Month of Morning series - you can also see them in thier Flickr photoset here.  

Sunday Morning

Reading: The Help, for book club this week.

Watching: New Moon DVD, 3 disc special edition.  (Why 3 discs?!!! That is a lot of Twilight)

Eating: My last cupcake from The Sweet Tooth Fairy yesterday.  I am cupcaked out.

Hipsta what?

I am completely, hopelessly, wonderfully addicted to the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone.  Best $1.99 I've spent on apps yet.

It's got different lenses, film, and flashs' you can use in a million different mix and match ways.

But my favorite combination is the John S lens and Ina 1969 film, no flash.

You should see the hundreds of other photos I have on my phone that I haven't posted (yet!).

It is by far my most used thing on my phone now! (that and Bejeweled 2)

Sewing and Stitching

I kind of got out of the groove there for awhile with sewing .... having a baby, having the holidays, having the crappiest winter ever of sicknesses and forever long winter days .... recently the weather has turned and it's put me in the mood to sew again.

I've been cranking out bee blocks like crazy .... partly because I was SOOO behind (I'm so sorry fellow bee members - forgive a crazed, stressed out new mom?) and partly because I've been really inspired by awesome fabrics and patterns and other blocks.  Have you SEEN the pretty blocks people have been making lately?

Here are a few blocks from the Sew Connected 3 group ... I have more pics but they're on my camera and the cord is nowhere to be found ...

Anina wanted a simple log cabin with the brown polka dot fabric featured in the middle:

Sara wanted a geometric block that really features the pretty Mendocino fabric:

Ashley wanted a cool wonky star block again with the gorgeous mermaids:

Cathy wanted geometric shapes with a white background:

My cousin and his wife just had a new baby girl and I made these soft blocks for her out of some pretty repro fabrics:

And then, the Pillow Talk Swap! This is one of my favorite swaps on Flickr. It's a blind swap, so you don't know who your partner is until you receive your pillow in the mail.

I made a vintage inspired flowery and embroidered pillow in some springy green, orange and yellow for my partner ... it turned out simpler than I was imagining but I really like it. Especially the pop of green on the binding!

And ... the pillow I received was AMAZING! Allison made me (well, actually Mason) a cool green and blue string block pillow that he just ADORES. As in, sleeps on every night instead of his regular pillow-slipped pillow. I'm afraid that the blue/green quilt that I'm making him isn't going to be as loved as this pillow is. :)

Happy St Patricks Day!

We're not really Irish.  I have an Irish name (probably THE most Irish girl's name you can have).  We like corned beef and cabbage.  And my favorite color is green.

Anything to celebrate a holiday with plastic green hats and beaded necklaces.

Marc wanted to cook the other night so he made potato soup, corned beef and cabbage stew and soda bread.  It was excellent.

Hope you're having a good green day!

Weekend Month of Mornings - days 27 & 28

Weekends at our house are usually either one of two types:  very lazy, do nothing, lounge around and watch movies types of weekends or go crazy, million of things to do, fly by the seat of our pants type weekends.  This weekend was actually a pretty good balance of the two .... we did some shopping, some resting, some cleaning around the house, some movie watching, squeezed in a date night and made a giant Irish meal for dinner last night to celebrate St. Patricks day this week.  I'll write more about it in the Weekend Wrap Up post later, but first, the 2 Month of Mornings pictures I took, but missed posting, on Saturday and Sunday:

My typical breakfast, toast with butter, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar that I keep all pre-mixed in a tiny little Mason jar in the kitchen window:

And Sunday morning, Mason helping Marc make waffles ... sitting up on the bar is his favorite place to be when we're cooking so he can help stir, pour and lick the spoon.

Liberty at Target

I am not very girly but I am loving the new Liberty of London designed stuff for Target.  I went this morning and some of it was already very picked over (specifically the fabric things, a lot of people are buying them to cut up for quilts) but the housewares were pretty stocked.  I just bought a few tall tumblers to replace my Orla Kiely ones from last year that are getting pretty scratched up, and a little bowl to use for needles and other tiny things in my sewing room.

Happy boy - Month of Mornings day 26

Grahm is always such a happy boy.  He's so much more snuggly and cuddly than Mason ever was too.  It's hard not to compare them, but they are so different in so many ways.  Of course - they're alike in so many ways, too, Mason was a huge baby and Grahm is as well.  We're already in 24 month clothes and size 5 diapers (anyone need any leftover 4's??!) 

So anyways, snuggly, cuddly, happy baby.  Even when teething he's smiley and happy - just more drooly.  At 7 months he sits up, rolls like a champ (both ways), army crawls around the whole room (quicker backwards than forwards but does both).   Loves his veggies and fruits and biter biscuits.  Is pretty partial to the green polka dot blanket I made him and is VERY partial to his big brother ... he ADORES Mason.  So cute to see.

reality & fantasy - Month of Mornings day 24

We (especially Mason) are all feeling under the weather this week: coughs, sore throats, headaches, achy muscles .... just crappy in general. When Darci told me she wanted the days theme to be "Disney" I knew our picture wasn't going to be cheery and happy and very Disney-like. So, instead, you get a pile of dirty dishes, medicines, and what we WISH we were doing instead.

Top - Month of Mornings day 23

I have a quilt top all laid out on the floor - just needing to finish up some sashing and then baste it for quilting. It's put on hold though as we are all fighting colds and would much rather snuggle on the couch and watch movies under quilts already made.

Mornings - Month of Mornings day 22

Now that G's learned to roll over he prefers sleeping on his tummy or side.  He moves around his whole crib at night now and rarely is in the same space that we put him to bed in.

Stitched for a Friend

We've got some good friends that are moving to Australia at the end of the month.  I wanted to make them something that they could have in their new home to remind them of the fun adventure they're on ... since I'm sure there are going to be hard times and sad times and frustrating times amidst the times of excitement and discovery and fun!

The pattern is my own and I just made it up as I went along, first sketching it out on paper, and then tracing it on the white fabric with a water-soluble pen.  I traced the shape of the countries off my computer screen with Google Maps.  :)  Then I stitched it all up and soaked it to get rid of the blue pen.

I bought a canvas at the craft store and promptly ripped off the canvas material and staples, leaving just the wooden square.  I stretched my own material over the wood and stapled it on with a regular, office stapler.  It looked kind of messy so I then cut a square piece of material and hot glued it on the back to hide the messiness of the back as well as the back of my stitching.  Very easy and fun to do!

Lots of Laundry - Month of Mornings day 21

Typical Monday morning ... folding laundry while watching cartoons.

meatball - month of mornings day 21

We have a magic meatball at our house. He predicts the future.

Yesterday was just a crappy day all around, from the minute we woke up on. I took a picture but never got around to updating and posting it. We had errands to run, parties to go to, and meltdowns all around. And Marc was busy with school so I was doing it all on my own. Oh well, some days are like that.

Color of the Year 2010

I've been seeing around online recently that Pantones color of the year for 2010 is color #15-5519 Turquoise.  They announced this on December 8th, 2009. Everyone is saying how hot turquoise is right now.

We painted Grahm's room last summer, on a weekend in June. That exact shade of turquoise.

Maybe Pantone picked up on it when our picture was featured on Oh Dee Doh in September? (ha, ha!)

Color of the year or not, I LOVE the paint in Grahms room. And I think he does too!

Out the Front Door - Month of Mornings day 19

Waking up to a blizzard this morning I just knew what I wanted our theme to be today.  We each took our pictures "out the front door" and then put them together side-by-side into one picture - really showing the difference that is that 681 miles today.

Friends - Month of Mornings day 18

Grahm and one of his girlfriends ... yes I say ONE of because every other baby born around him was a GIRL. She is pretty dang cute though ... you've got to love that crazy hair. Grahm is jealous of those luscious locks. He's trying to rock the balding, recessed hairline old man look. We're sure going to miss this baby girl and her family when the pick up and move to Australia next month!

Work in Progress Wednesday

Today I am working on finishing my pillow for the Pillow Talk Swap because the deadline is coming up. My partner likes girly fabrics and wanted some embroidery on the pillow, so I started with the vintage pillowcase fabric and then pulled out some of my stash fabric to compliment it. I've got the top done and am going to add some embroidered details to it before I sandwich it all together and get it mailed off to him or her!

See other WIP's at the Work in Progress Wednesday Flickr group.