happy happy happy

hello everyone in cyberspace
here's wishing you and yours the happiest and safest of new years

off to brave the grocery store for steaks and lobsters!
xo

dorks

we're enjoying our auntie emily's visit...grace is in a state of bliss-

john and i took this picture of ourselves on christmas...accompanied by another one where we look totally out of it. we're complete dorks. i miss my husband. i feel like we're stuck in babyland and haven't been able to connect lately. meow.

xo

self portrait tuesday part 2

i took this picture in the hospital hours after i had joey. it was early early in the morning and the first moment i really felt alone with him, and the power of "wow, i just had a baby and i'm sitting here holding him in my arms, and i'm all stitched up and hurting and elated and wonderful and bleeding" kind of hit me, and i pulled out my camera and took a blurry picture. i was nursing him at the time, and he latched on like a champ. i love the way that the picture is out of focus and dreamy and quiet...in a way, it sums up everything i was feeling at the time.

self portrait tuesday

new mama, happy as can be, filled with milk...taken on christmas at puppa's house.

today

joey's first ride to the beach for pizza

house guests and more to come

sorry for my lack of responses lately...but i have no time to get onto the computer due to family demands and a house full of guests throughout the whole week. next week things should be getting back to normal, but in the meantime, know that i'm thinking of everyone, love you all, and i am so thankful for all your love and support! have a great holiday...eat much, drink much, and hugs to all!

xo

poo and peace

my new family


been out and about today...stopped in at the library to show off the bundle to the nice librarians that had to look at my pregnant for 10 long months. other than that, it's been breastmilk and sleeping and waking and eating, and lots of poo.

xo

my little mohawk man

thank you everyone for all your well-wishes! once i stop looking like a porn star with triple d breast implants, i'll be better able to comfortably type at the computer. until then, here's my little guy-

he's here!

more posting to come, as soon as i upload my pictures, but just wanted everyone to know that i had little joey on thursday night at 11:24pm...he was 8 lbs. 13 oz! he's healthy and happy and such a cool little kid. i've been quite busy and overwhelmed and overjoyed but i sense a crash of some sorts on the horizon, so stay posted!

xo

never fear

never fear peeps! i'm still here. just no computer at home...it's being doctored up by the fabulous IT geeks at johnny's work. getting a computer makeover. when all is said and done, hopefully john will be able to work a bit from home, allowing me to have somewhat of a normal household when joey decides to make his debut.

everyone is taking such good care of me. thank you. messages and hot chocolates and tea and candy bars up the arse and yummy christmas tree lighting and snow. i feel so blessed and warm and wonderful today. there's about 10 inches of snow outside and my dad came to my house this morning with breakfast and then came back at lunchtime to pick me up and take me to his house. to light me a neverending fire and feed me pie and salad and chicken and bread and tea. is it obvious that lately i've been basing lots of my happiness on food? grace is napping with dianne right now, i'm on the computer catching up, thinking of christmas. john got his fourth deal, steph returns tomorrow. unfortunately the snow is making me miss boo's housewarming party in the city tonight...(can't risk fender bender or having the baby in the car in a snowstorm!!) joey has the hickups and his bedroom is all ready. just have to hang up the mobile. all things mechanical have fresh batteries. there are frozen pies and cookie doughs in the freezer for holiday guests. the pantry is stocked. laundry folded. i cleaned our closet out today. put away maternity clothes! life is so so good.

i'll keep you posted. xo!

self portrait tuesday

these pictures (taken as part of the self portrait tuesday reflective surfaces theme) were shot in my dad's bathroom...i like the hazy, lazy lighting look of them. they were taken maybe two weeks ago...and i've gotten huge since then, and my belly's dropped even further. i love how they capture a moment in time. i love that i'm wearing grace's hat. i love that my hair is down even though most of you will never catch me like this. i love how i'm at my dad's, and it's winter, but he still is using my beach towel that i left at his house at the end of the summer for a hand towel.


for anyone wondering...i'm doing ok. i'm contracting and spewing strange substances but still no baby. still dilated. just keep thinking of my dad saying "well, hope you don't have mice!" not the greatest visual. anyway, thanks to everyone for all the love, all the chocolate, the mail, the putting up with me saying that "i'm really in labor, for real, this time."

xo

seriously, could i get any bigger?

why oh why do i get so enormous when i'm pregnant? i weighed in at 184 today at the doctors. i spent all morning there, almost crying. lots and lots of tests to find out why i feel so horrible all of a sudden. really out of it, scared to drive, nauseous, weird vision, fluid retention, cramping, you name it...i've got it. waiting for the results. nonstress test came back fine, which makes me feel good, because i wasn't feeling as much movement as i would've like to. he's fine. it's just me that dr. lemonnier is worried about now! but my blood pressure was only slightly elevated. i'm effaced and 1.5 cm dilated...and he's in position. so let's get going buddy. although i'd miss my knitting class (hope i get a refund!) and steph would be away (have a good honeymoon, girl! we'll see you when you get back). i'm just having one of those days where all i want to do is cry (which i don't do often) and mope and get this little boy out.

xo

Quirky

(grace's self portrait, wearing her smock).

grace eileen is the original quirkmeister, and i often find myself wondering where the hell she came from. but wondering it in a nice and awestruck way...we often say "where did she learn that?" or "how does she come up with these things." oftentimes her vocal stylings revolve around the topics of genetailia, or relationships between people (i.e. "mama, I'M your GRANDFATHER now!!!"), or my prenatal checkups (she said to the doctor last week "you're going to check my mama's beegine AGAIN!?!?") anyway, her newest quirk involves talking on the phone and lulls in conversation. lately, whenever she feels uncomfortable with a silence in a conversation (like on the telephone) or at the thanksgiving dinner table, she repeatedly states "so, like...a couple weeks ago...so, like, a couple weeks ago..." it's the most hilarious thing i've ever seen, because it's accompanied by uncomfortable giggling under her breath, something you see grown adults do when they want to jump out of their skin during a conversation. she may have learned it from me but i can't recall doing this. regardless, it's freaking hilarious and i love her.

xo

self portrait tuesday

exploration of identity: pregnant

i figured since i'm down to the wire here as far as this pregnancy goes, i'd post another pregnant self portrait. i took this last week at a fancypants coctail party, right before i literally busted out of the dress...i'm talking ripped fabric and all. nothing too traumatic, but it makes for a funny story. that happened right after eating an obscene amount of roast beast and drinking shirley temples like water.

and a little p.s.

if everyone out there could please wish for me to go into a quick and peaceful labor, preferably by tomorrow morning, that would be just peachy. as long as i have time to jump in the shower and wash my bum beforehand, there will be no complaining from this mama.

xo!

i'm punished but productive

my scarf to wear to the hospital when i deliver joey...my purling experiment, and my stockinette debacle all rolled into one piece...-


my advent stockings for wee gracie eileen...all hung and named. johnny was more excited about these than gracie and i put together...he named them all. we put a tiny ornament in each one for gracie to open each day of december. she has her own christmas tree in her tiny, unheated room (i know, abuse! but we have our priorities here at gilbertland, and christmas is high on the list. heat, however...) and she can put an ornament on each day-

a (very bad) closeup of both shaun and sara's log cabin wedding quilt (done entirely by johnny) and crystal's pincushion with tiny handmade pushpins (that would be my project.)



a glimpse of secret herbal christmas treats-

crystal's wrapped treat-


for some reason, i can't get out of my own way lately and post, but at least i've been productive during my blogging siesta, with lots of crafting and eating and lazing around on the couch with my swollen ankles and pie-filled belly. here are some of the things i've been working on...(see above).

i do have to give credit to soulemama for most of my creation ideas lately (i always make sure not to take credit when friends tell me how crafty i am and ask "how do you think up these things!?!") also, i've taken some ideas from wee wonderfuls as well, along with many others that should go nameless right now because i'm so freakin' tired.
if you really are curious who else inspires me, check out my linkies on the left. i get daily inspiration from all the wonderful peeps out there in cyberspace who freakishly craft and think and process continuously. thank you.

also, one last thought...i just finished reading the epic novel "a fine balance" and it was AMAZING. and i've moved on to "julie and julia," a nonfiction book about a smarty-pants woman who decides to cook every recipe in julia child's "mastering the art of french cooking" in 365 days. makes me feel jealous that i'll never be as witty and wonderful a writer. but such a freakin' good book. about to jump into bed right now (and if you could see my ankles, you'd know i'm not really doing much jumping lately) and read, read, read. and drool.

self portrait tuesday

much more updating to come, esp. craft related...but in the meantime, here's my picture for SPT. me, far away, in my own world, knitting my scarf to wear to the hospital to deliver joey (which is now officially completed) in my dad's leaf-covered backyard.

that stinkin' face

little mug

it's been craftcentral here in gilbertland, finishing up projects and doing it up christmas style. got tons done today and feeling great. joey is down low and he's in position! his heartbeat was a bit fast yesterday due to too much coffee and not enough water. looking forward to date-night tonight, taking john out for conversation without the littleone! grace has been a challenge this week...very demanding, whining, very high and low. i need mama time, i need crafty time tomorrow at spark with jo, i need coffee and magazines without crying and "ouch, he hurt me, she hurt me, i want 'nola, mama, where are you!?!" very excited about the weekend.

but how can i be mad at that face? ;)

xo

babyjoe's sprinkle, gracie style

almost two weeks have passed since babyjoey's "sprinkle" at my mom's house, but i couldn't let too much time go by without posting all these wonderful pictures taken by gracie, even though they took me forever to upload to blogger. i want to honor all those who took the time to make the day completely perfect. i'm still flying high from all the great women and men who i have in my life and who want to share in every experience with us. thank you steph for all your hard work and everything else you do.

stealing pics

don't have much time to post right now, as my bowl of granola is getting soggy downstairs, but i have to steal this picture from emily
it's one of my favorites from the weekend. i love that emily made grace her shirt and she still fits into it. i love sitting around the table with friends in jammies and eating and eating and eating. i love drinking 30 cups of coffee amongst 5 adults.

xo