What a difference a good lens makes. My dad gave me an awesome wide angle lens for Christmas. It is amazing how much better the picture quality is. Unfortunately my camera is having problems. I thought it was the battery but it looks like it is a camera problem. I have to send it to New Jersey to have it fixed. It is like sending off my right arm. I have to do a little more research first but I think it is inevitable.

Here is the elf baby:

Merry Christmas.. I had a nice visit with my family and Kevin's family. Here is a picture of Eliot's first Christmas..he is being highly entertained by a couple of Grammies. Now it is time for me to start gearing up to go back to work and start working on the craft stuff I have been neglecting. I need to scour Craig's list for a new sewing table!

Finally ... a picture of a smile..

So I have a little cold..sore throat and stuffy nose. Here's hoping the boy doesn't get it. We went for our first walk today in the new stroller my cousin gave me. We wound up talking about how great it corners and what a smooth ride it is most of the time. We are trying to get into the new work routine so that when I go back there aren't any total melt downs on any of our parts. He is taking the bottle from Kevin pretty well and he slept pretty well last night in the new crib. I think a routine will be good for all of us if Kevin can get used to getting up early and going to bed before 2 am! Poor guy.

Some good crafting news. Edith and Edna want to sell some of my hats and mittens. I am excited because they get a lot of foot traffic. Now...how am I going to get anything done...

A photo intensive post.. We had our first real snow day the other day. It always feels cozy inside when it snows. This is a view from our bedroom window out to the street. This guy ended up having to push the truck to get it unstuck because of the ice.

Pistachios were the main component to a desert I made the other night. It involved lots of mirange and pastry cream. I haven't made anything that complicated in a while. It didn't turn out too bad!

This house was across the street from a Christmas party we attended. Eliot was so impressed he slept for a 6 hour stretch that night! Although, tonight he made up for it by taking over 2 hours to go down for the night. that is tiring.

Last, and certainly the cutest, are Simon and Eliot...the 'twins'. Born only 2 weeks apart. They don't want to have anything to do with each other just yet. In fact, I don't think they have any idea that the other exists even when they are facing each other. All they want to do is stare at Mom or Dad...very cute. It was fun to watch them wiggle next to each other. It will also be fun to embarrass them with these pictures in the future.

Directions for using the Bamboosteamer Cooker we got for a presant swap

Operation Instruction:

1. Please wash steam-cooker with water slightly before first time using.

2. This steam cooker made of nature bamboo. in first time, boiling water remains light-brown water color due nature bamboo, no harm health.

3. Please clean and dry it under sun or shadow after use.

4. If no clean, it will easy to be spoiled.

5. If no use for long time, please pack in plastic bag or paper to any dry place.

6. No any dyeing or materials problem, quality guaranteed.

Kevin has been busy making snowflakes again this year. They are quite elaborate. It is hard to take a good picture out a window..especially of a white object but you get the picture. The one in the upper right is my favorite so far. There are some other 'porn flakes' which are quite funny. He is very adept with scissors. I unfortunately can't seem to visualize the final product when my paper is all folded up. Quite a talent I tell you.

This is how the baby is carried around most of the time these days. He snuggles right in to the sling and is covered up by our winter coats. It is quite convenient and we know he is warm enough. Most of the time he gets a little too warm. It is a great way to knock him out if he just won't take a nap. I hope he takes to the stroller just as well for the sake of any future babysitters! We tried it the other day and he screamed the whole time. I think he was a little grumpy to begin with so round two will happen again fairly soon.

It is bathtime at the house right now so Mommy has a chance to blog for a brief moment.

This is our first Christmas tree! Two feet of silvery tinselly goodness. We did go on a search for a 'real' tree but a potted tree can only be in the house a few days before it dies. So...this was the solution.. Kitschy and silly but that is perfect for this family.

Kevin singing to the babe. Very sweet. The quilt in the background was my brothers quilt when he was little. It will be nice to bundle Eliot up in it over the winter.

Eliot got to meet his Great Grandmother this weekend. That was a nice treat . Child rearing has changed a lot since she raised her three girls. It is a little frustrating having to explain and stand up for my choice to breastfeed sometimes. I know he is getting enough to eat because I know! Ah well, times have changed.

This has been what I have been up to mostly. Having the energy to walk around town again in short bursts is great. Eliot has been sleeping a little better lately. He has graduated to the full sized crib which should be arriving tomorrow. I don't know where it is going to fit but I am sure we will find room! We also got our first family Christmas tree today. That will be another post! I hope everyone is having a nice Holiday season so far.

Thank you for the nice comments on my Whip Up entry. It is a good motivator.

This was the only way I could get Eliot to sleep yesterday. He was exercising his little lungs non stop until I slid him in the sling. As soon as he went in he passed right out! Today he has been a perfect little boy..taking lots of naps and eating well...maybe it was something I ate? Too much pie?

This is the awesome round baby blanket that Kirstin made for Eliot. It is so nice and bright. I have had it on him since she gave it to us. The colors seem a little off in this picture but once we get some decent light (sun) I will get a good picture with the boy wrapped up in it. You got me motivated to learn some more fancy knitting thank you!

We had a great Thanksgiving. We went to Kevins Aunt and Uncles house down in Cape Cod for the day. We took the train down on Wed. and came back on Fri. Eliot really enjoyed the train by sleeping the whole way. I was a little worried about taking the little guy away from home for so long but he did really well! We stayed in Boston for the night and had a nice time eating good food (cake!) and catching up with the family. Kevins cousin Kirstin (hope I am spelling that right?) knitted Eliot the most beautiful baby blanket. Once I get a good picture of it I will post it. I also started a new knitting project.. very small and simple to keep occupied when I have two hands free. I have also been brainstorming lots of different kinds of baby quilts. I think I may try to start making some to try and sell around town...we will see how that pans out.

Here is Mama and Baby on the train:

This is my Whip-Up entry for the category of Design. The topic 'alternative craft' got me thinking about what craft is and what is my definition of craft.

This project came to mind because it is not a traditional means of embroidery and drawing. The finished product is on a heavy paper with torn edges. The drawing is in graphite and loosely based on a photograph of me. I embellished the drawing with embroidery and then tea stained the lot to give it a little more depth. I definitely want to keep working like this and see where it goes. I would like to eventually incorporate the embroidery a little more with a little less symbolism but I am happy with this as a personal representation of the past few months!

The embroidery is obviously full of symbolism related to the family tree and pregnancy.

The following are a couple of details:


The is the drawing before I stained it and added the white lines by the face and torso:

I really like the texture the embroidery gives the flat paper. The sound of stitching in paper is fabulous!

Starting to feel better slowly.. went out for the first time in a while this evening. Kevin and I walked down to the Pine Street Gallery for a little while to say hi to the gang. It was good practice to nurse in public. I'm still a little awkward without all of my props. On crafting news.. I am almost done with my whipup challenge submission. Not a moment to soon as it looks like there have been a lack of submissions this month. Too bad as I think crafting can be very alternative sometimes. It is hard to think outside the 'box' sometimes. Kevin brought home a couple of art books from the library the other day. One was about paper craft. It made me motivated to try paper mache again. All I have ever succeeded in doing has been a balloon based pinata so a little sculpture would be fun...I really need to write down all of my ideas so I don't forget them! I never seem to remember to have anything handy within arms reach when I am nursing. I'll learn sooner or later!

I tried to take a picture of the leaves blowing to show the wind today but it came out pretty terrible. So.. here is another picture of the boy and his big feet.


And Father and Son:

Sorry for the lack of posts lately.. I am back on bed/house rest. Slow going but I suppose I don't really have much else going on. It is sort of nice with the rainy weather to lounge and watch lots of movies. I started working on my Whip - up entry. I don't really like how the first one came out so I am trying to work on another one. I'll post them all in the next few days. Here is a picture of the first part of the process. I am working with stitching into paper. Here I have a photo that I am transferring the major lines onto heavier paper which I will then rework with the stitching.

I

also wish that I knew how to spin. My rabbit is shedding sooo much right now. Although, I don't think I could get enough from him to make anything. He is pretty interested in the baby these days. He likes to sit in Eliot's bouncy chair, it is very charming.

nap time...i should really be napping too..instead i am one handed typing with the babe tucked under my left arm. we had a dr. Appointment this morning so he is sufficiently crashed out. he is up to 9.3 lb now! now if i can just get my iron levels back up to normal all will be fabulous. the sleep deprivation is exhausting enough!

this is a picture i am working with for the Whip Up competition, i hope to have the first step of what i am doing completed sometime today...it is really nice in color but i cant find the original right now...

Happy One Month Eliot! I thought of a project for Whip-up this month...let's see if I can get around to it : )

Geek sheek.. My glasses broke and what a pain it is to find frames that will fit these lenses! Good thing I have no shame. It is funny who comments and who doesn't heh. Had a busy day of laundry at Grammies today. Took a nice long nap with my cat, who really isn't my cat anymore but it was nice just the same. His purring was very good for the soul.

Ahh a few moments of time to take some pictures and attempt to craft. It seems Eliot is starting (knock on wood) to get into some semblance of a schedule. A very loose one but some patterns one the less. Although I tend to take a nap instead of utilize the time for myself at the moment I did manage to take some better pictures of the baby quilt I keep mentioning. And, of course, a baby picture for good measure.

Thank you for the birthday wishes! It was spent napping and eating cheese cake.

I have finally started to take small steps outside. Walked down to the drugstore.. aka 'Meth-Lab Rite Aid' today and yesterday drove Kevin to the hardware store to get me a cable for the VCR. The library has all the best videos on tape rather than on DVD. All good until I realized I don't have the VCR controller anymore so the tracking is all wacky. Watching Saturday Night Fever with strobing color is really intense.

I have been brainstorming a lot lately and I am starting to feel better so the lack of sleep is effecting me a little less severely...plus that long nap in the middle of the afternoon. Being home and breastfeeding is giving me a lot of time to think. It is good and bad. Lots of thinking but not a lot of action. It is a big adjustment. I put all of my stuff to work on the baby quilt in one central location so that if I have 5 min here and there I can work away at it. It is a big change of perspective that is for sure. My first lesson is being learned from the little guy. It is amazing the changes that have happened just in these first few weeks! Slowing down and just being aware is nice. He is sleeping in the sling right now... I should get to work!

I will leave you with a fall picture:

Today is my birthday.. a whopping 29 years old! This birthday is somewhat of a bust as far as partying goes but as far as gifts go I couldn't be happier. Here is a picture of my workspace as it stands right now. More buried than anything heh. I plan to take some WIP pictures of the quilt I have been working on and run the risk of the recipient seeing it. Enjoy the day!

This was going to be my entry for the Whip up competition but I was too late and I wasn't that happy with how it came out. It is the James Dean onsie. I had a woodcut I did of him a while back that I was going to do for a friends baby but never got around to it. This is round 2. I think what I will do eventually is print it on a piece of muslin and stitch it to the onsie instead of trying to print it directly. I ironed freezer paper to the inside to try and make it a little more stiff but it still didn't really print dark enough. I tried to go back and paint in but that ruined the integrity of the wood cut... not enough energy just yet... consider this a WIP.

Who could resist that face...


Thank you Jenna for the cute lamby doll. This was her first stuffed animal. I think she did a fabulous job!

Doctors orders.. no visitors or activities for me! I am not even supposed to do chores around the house. Kind of nice to have permission to do nothing.

I think we are going a little nuts around here... Kevin is playing the Ukulele. Nothing new about that however he is 'reinterpreting' the Lady Lumps song while wearing my huggies breast feeding pillow with Eliot dozing on top. He perfected Burning Ring of Fire while I was pregnant. It is eternally stuck in my head. I think we will have to use that as our walking down the isle song when we finally get married heehee.

Because I am itching to do some crafting I have started to create a breast feeding nook. It is just the couch but it is now outfitted with notebooks and magazines and a book called the Wonder of Boys so that I can do something while I am feeding my very lethargic eater.

This is my favorite craft bag. It is plastic and wonderful. It fits everything I need. I happen to have a picture of it on my computer so I thought In lieu of any new pictures here it is:

Sorry for the lack of posting! It has been a busy week. We are adjusting to parenthood quite well. The journey has just begun. I have been thinking up lots of craft projects I will be working on as I get adjusted to sleep deprivation and can handle something other than breastfeeding and sleeping. I am making a James Dean onsie and trying to finish up the quilt I started. I have a feeling it will be a while...

Welcome Eliot Edward to the world! That was the hardest thing I have ever done in my life! I have a new profound respect for all mothers. He was born on Sunday October 8th at 5:33pm. He weighed in at 7lb 3oz and 21 inches. I am so lucky to have him.


The wipes are working out great too. His little tush is happy.

Still waiting. I thought last night while watching The Big Lebowski I was going to head into labor. Definitely had some stronger contractions that I have been getting. I decided to get some rest and go to bed for a while and see if things progressed but they ended up stopping altogether. Today I have been kind of puttering around the house and napping a lot. I got the first main squares sewn for the little quilt I am working on. Dexter has been entertaining me by rearranging his new 'condo' built from the cardboard box from the diaper pail. Very funny!

Here are some pictures of my favorite walk. I can't wait to take the baby here. We actually saw all of this wildlife on one day and it is in a fairly residential area! Now it is all full of bright leaves:

No baby yet.. I have gotten the recipe for my favorite mac and cheese from my Mother to give me something to do tonight. I was going to save it for a labor project but I think I am too antsy. Unless of course I got into labor tonight.. It is from Better Homes and Gardens. I like it better without the baccon and with more cheese than they call for but either way.. YUM!

In crafty news I am almost done with the 3rd pannel of my embroidered birds/quilt project. The fourth pannel I think I will finish when I have the rest of the front pieced together. I want it to be a little more free flowing than the other 3. I am really enjoying the black and white combined with very limited color. I think I need more constraints on my projects sometimes. Too much freedom and I panic. I always do that with my photography I don't know why it ever occured to me to apply it to my crafts!

Here is Dexter's rug I made several weeks ago. He doesn't love wood floors so I figured I would give him a little spot to hang out. It is supposed to look like a dancing bunny but I have been told it looks more like a chalk outline heehee. As long as he likes it...