Eliot's Blog

Since this blog has been so quiet - Eliot got a camera for his birthday and has been taking loads of photos.  I set up the blog: www.eliotseyes.blogspot.com for him and us to see his life through his eyes.  So go check it out!  I keep meaning to post a tad trickier this time around in baby land.  I have been knitting and dreaming about crafty projects from my perch on the couch.

Happy 3 Months Willow

A little low res video for you... Just getting the hang of it.  She has already changed since I recorded this!

Knitting and nursing go mobile

So I am trying out blogging via mobile device in order to keep up a bit better. My real camera has been gathering dust and this is really not a good sub but it will have to do for now. Plus I can post and nurse at the same time!

I'm not sure how to add comments after the photos yet but we'll see how this format flows.

I offer you some gratuitous cuteness from both the offspring. Eliot prepping for the lake at camp and willow today as I was trying to get her to smile at the camera. No luck yet. At least her eyes are open!

A family photo at fort Williams and me knitting my first project from a pattern! It's a massively chunky cowl. I think I've lost a couple of stitches but I think I can fix and hide them with such a chunky project.

The elimination diet continues. I'm losing a ton of weight but no major cure all yet. I'm going to try to get a referral to a nutritionist so I have someone to look over my notes and perhaps sort something out.

One Month Musings

We have made it past the one month mark!  Willow is gaining weight and adapting to the world pretty well.  She is occasionally giving me a 3 to 4 hour stretch of sleep.  Kevin is still giving me morning naps so I am holding it together pretty well.  It is bliss when she falls asleep and I can put her down without her waking up!    That didn't happen much with Eliot.

I am trying to work out some major gas issues on her part.  My relationship with food has been challenging since becoming diabetic in my 2nd trimester.  That was hard and now I am in the throws of an elimination diet.  So far I have been off dairy for 2 weeks and have been eating just turkey, rice, millet, summer squash and sweet potatoes for nearly that.  The gas has gotten a bit better but still wakes her up and is shockingly loud.  At least the painful crying jags have stopped.  So I plan to stay off dairy, wheat, eggs and soy for a while but I've started adding a few things back in.  If anything its good for weight loss!  My skin looks way better than it has in a long time, too.  I'm wondering if I will sort out any issues I might have along with hers.  If anyone has any thoughts about infant digestive issues I'm all ears.  I look forward to looking at food as food an not medicine again.  This has all be very educational to say the least.

My next plan is to try out some infant probiotics and perhaps see a D.O. that was recommended by a friend of mine.  I am determined to solve this!

Thankfully the weather has been nice - hot but breezy.  She took a nice nap outside in the grass the other day while I tried in vain to work out a knitting pattern.  At least I can purl now and increase and decrease.  I should be game for something more challenging than a scarf!

1 week with Willow

One week already!  We are all snuggling in with this new baby as much as we can.  I ended up getting a wacky fever that has thankfully gone away.  I think I lost about half my baby weight in water loss.  So we are spending lots of down time together.  I am thinking next week I will start to emerge back into the world.  It has paid off to go slow this time around.

Willow is sleeping well and starting to have more and longer awake periods during the day.  Also during the night.. but I seem to be adjusting to the 24 hour clock fairly well.  Thankfully Kevin has been on the go with Eliot during the day so we can rest and sleep. Sometimes it is hard to sleep, I just sit and gaze at her.  So tiny and sweet.  I know these days will fly by so I am trying to take the time to just enjoy her being so little even though it can be hard sometimes!  

I have lots of books at my bedside, too.  I haven't had this much time to read in ages.  I have grand gardening plans up my sleeve, heh.

Eliot has been singing to her in his cute monotone singing voice and very interested in how her little systems work.  He loves it when she looks at him and stops fussing when he talks and sings to her.  Thankfully his frustrations with not being the only kid anymore haven't been directed towards her.  He has been a little short with me but in time I think it will pass as we all keep adjusting.

We gave Willow her first bath.  Wasn't much of a bath because she hated it!  It was hard not to laugh at the sheer volume she exerted during the process.

She has been a really easy kid so far. Easy to put down for naps as long as she doesn't get the hiccups.  She really wants to suck her thumb but cant quite get it.  She is nursing a ton right now in between naps, I think she is growing fast.  At her 4 day check up she weighed in at 7lb 10oz.  That is a recovery from the 6lb 10oz she weighed after she lost the original weight after birth.

So happy days indeed.  Off for a nap!

Happy Birthday!

Welcome Willow Alice to the world.  She was born on June 28th, 2012 at 5:25pm and weighing in at 7lb 5oz and 19" long.  We are all happily at home now adjusting to our new little person.  Eliot is over the moon about her so far.  I am testing out the sling I made right now and she seems to be happily dozing so that I can type with two hands.  

The birth went exponentially better than the last time and I feel recovery is going to be much faster as long as I don't over do it.  I will post more pictures when I can!

Quilt and Dye Results

First some pretty flowers that my co-workers gave me as I prepare to leave for a few months.  I'm lucky to have such a great bunch to spend my days with.

I started (and since finished) piecing together the printed and dyed fabric that I started last week.  You can see the yellow and pink from the flowers I found in the yard.  It's been a fun project so far - now for the slow part that I like the best.  I plan to do a lot of hand stitching and maybe some applique if I have any time.

Lot's of Busy

The biggest news of the day is that Eliot is now on two wheels!  He started working on this with major determination about 2 days ago.  He practiced coasting down my Mother's driveway and then yesterday we went to a open school lot where there was a nice gradual hill.  He coasted and turned then tried pedaling with success!  The newly acquired knee and elbow pads helped a little, too.

I'm glad it happened before baby so we could properly celebrate and give him loads of attention for it.  I think he has needed a little extra lately.

We went out for ice cream to celebrate.  He wants to keep celebrating today!  This funny hat came all the way from some friends of ours in Japan. It says "Ice cream roc and roll" and "Hello, do you like ice cream?" It's really silly and fantastic all at the same time.

And lastly we got some family photos together.  I took the opportunity to do another Mothering picture for my little series.  Eliot, of course, was game.  I think Friday is going to be my last day at work - I didn't realize how big my belly has gotten until I saw this picture!

Hosta

I happened to be sitting on the ground the other day - not something I have been doing much of lately and I liked how the light was shinning through the Hosta stems.  So, here are a few photos from that short stint.

Going Portable

With all of the current crafting going on I needed to make something to tote around my 'stuff'.  I have found a couple of vintage sheets at thrift stores lately and made this from the remainder from another project.  The zipper came from a yard sale box of stuff ages ago.  It is nice to have a perfect size pouch to put my dress project in with thread, 1 needle and a teeny pair of scissors.  I think having a to-go bag for each project might keep me more organized!

A small garden update.  This is basically it right now.  Pretty unambitious.  Tons of peas, some garlic I planted last fall and some perennial herbs.  I planted a box full of veggies but something ate EVERYTHING.  I don't have a whole lot of stamina to bend over right now - I was trying to think up a tube system to shoot seeds down but I don't think it would be very fruitful.

I think I am going to get some tomato seedlings and toss in a bunch of herb seeds that I bought to put in another area I dug up while I had energy and call it good for this year.  At least I will have the summer to visit the farmers markets.

Garage sales and more WIP

I found this kids size rocking chair at a garage sale this weekend along with a couple of other little things.  I debated about picking it up but it was just too cute.  I imagine Eliot rocking the baby or little dolls sitting in it.  Girl sewing is so fun!

I started working on a bucket hat for Eliot at his request.  He wanted it to have a dragon and bats in black with white on the front.  So after picking up a couple of t-shirts at goodwill the hat has begun.  It is a reverse applique stencil that I found via google images (actually a tattoo) and the hat pattern itself is based on the Alabama Chanin version in her new book.  Boy sewing can be fun, too. *

We were planning to do a family picture this weekend but I forgot about it by the time Kevin had to head to work.  I have something up my sleeve for it that I think will be kind of cute and funny but for now I put the camera on the table and had Eliot stand with me.  I don't have a lot of belly photos and there isn't much time left!

* Since finishing the post above I finished the hat.  It was really easy to work up and cheap to boot.  One more bath time and it was done.  I might put a brim on it but he is happy with it and that's what makes me smile.  I'm happy to at least be able to make something for him right now as he is getting pretty board with me and my lack of physical prowess.  I keep assuring him I will be back to mostly normal soon!  

On another note I planted about 10 tomato plants today after really forcing myself to go to the garden center.  I am finding it hard to deviate from the homeward path most days. Yesterday I planted seeds from whatever I could reach from my position sitting next to the garden boxes.  I have no idea what I put where but at least seeds are in the ground.  I feel a lot better now!  Almost done!

 A bit of a tough guy look.

Fabric Dye and Paint Part 2.

The second round of fabric manipulation was some experimenting with fabric paint and various household objects.  I watered down the paint quite a bit so that the effect became almost batik or watercolor like.  I like the effect for this project but I would like to keep experimenting for different results.  

These circles were made with the lid of a ball jar and the small circles with the cap from the fabric paint.

The squares were just a block of scrap wood I found in the garage and the zig-zag lines are a block with an elastic wrapped around it.

It was such a nice weekend I'm glad I had a few minutes to work on this while Eliot was busy digging in his dirt pile and tossing tennis balls on the roof.  I just love this birch tree, too.  Gives nice dappled shade and the birds have a great time singing up there.  Plus it doubled as a laundry line for this project!

Fabric Dye and Paint Part 1.

Some experiments were happening late last week with fabric dying and painting.  I have an idea for a baby quilt that I wanted to test.  I have always been inspired by people going out in their yards and finding useful things growing there so I thought I would do some testing of the things I found in my yard.  

I also had a bunch of leftover cotton muslin from making some curtains so I had a blank slate to work with.  Eliot is always game for foraging, too.  

The first step was dying the fabric.  Since I was feeling lazy I didn't do everything the way I probably should have.  First I simmered the plant material in about double the amount of water for an hour.  Then I strained it and added some vinegar.  I put the liquid in ball jars with the fabric, mixed and let it sit overnight.  After re-reading the dyeing suggestions I probably should have put the fabric back into the pots with the liquid and vinegar and simmered for another hour.  Next time I will try that.

From left to right: Grass, Iris blossoms, Pink flowering bush that I am still trying to identify, and Celandine.

I had mixed results.  The grass and iris were too weak - but the pink flower and the Celandine gave me a nice strong color.  I took the fabric that didn't dye and did some experiments with making my own fabric patterns.  I'll post more about that tomorrow.

First in the nest

I thought I would make my first post back in a while about crafting.  I have been a busy bee lately.  We are just about done with the baby's room with a few finishing touches to go along with trim etc... that probably won't happen for a while but I am comfortable with it the way it is now.  Pictures will follow once we get some nice light.  I am due for a belly related self portrait, too.  Perhaps this weekend...

I have been sewing madly since Kevin moved the fish tank and I now have a sewing spot back again.  Unfortunately it is an albatross in the living room but once we do some more moving around and storing 'stuff'' I will be able to unearth the nice leather top antique table which is smaller and more attractive.  Much better than the white folding table with a sheet on top.  But, it is certainly functional and I am very happy for it!  

I have been turning my nesting sewing on myself most recently.  Is that fair?  I'm not sure if it is but it is happening anyway.  I like to have multiple projects going at once - especially ones that are transportable.  This is an Alabama Chanin dress that I have been thinking about since I bought the 2nd book.  It is the inked and quilted dress.  You may remember photos of the stencil I was cutting out a while back.  I got a wind of energy and finished that and dug out the fabric paint I had bought ages ago and got to work.  I took over the 'man cave' (garage) for a day and Eliot and Kevin gave me enough space that I got it done in one fell swoop.  

Now is the most time consuming part the quilting. After the stencil was done I drew around all of the shapes with a sharpie and now I am slowly stitching away at the dress.  I figure it will be a good project to work on here and there since I'm not really a knitter.  I hope by the time I am done I will fit into it!  

Some other projects I have going on include:

• Stenciling curtains for both Eliot and Baby
• A baby quilt that is in the design phase
• I want to make some receiving blankets like these
• Alabama Bucket Hat for Eliot with Dragons and Bats (his request)
• Lots of other things that I will hopefully post about sooner than later...

Easter

We had a fun Easter celebration with my brother, sister in law and my little niece.  Eliot had a good time helping her find eggs and directing the operation.  

 I set up the photo lights and did a couple of family photos.  I'm working on some editing but I will put that up when it is done.  Eliot has really taken a liking to the ukulele lately, I think he is ready to learn some chords.  He was suggesting I might have a 'rock star baby'.  He has visions of a family band with him at the helm.

I made this little bunny for my niece's Easter basket.  These little dolls are so fun and easy to customize.  They are a great way to use up scraps, too.

WIP

This is the biggest work in progress I've had in a while.  This is what is taking the majority of my free time and energy.  We have made a hallway through two closets to connect the 3rd bedroom to the other two bedrooms.  Mudding and taping takes a while for me.  I am almost done with the taping (this weekend I hope!!!) then onto mudding round 2-3 to smooth it all out.  Then Kevin will take over the paint job.  Right now the room is kind of a medium brown with a green rug.  I'm thinking wide cream color stripes with a lightish green in between.

The ceiling is really low so I'm trying to figure out ways to lengthen the walls visually.  Once this part is done it will be a little more fun!

Finished Doll

I finished the Jess Brown knock off doll yesterday.  I ended up hand sewing her dress during snips of time when Eliot was either taking a bath or entertaining himself.  It would have gone a lot faster by machine but I haven't been able to set it up much lately due to lack of space.  Give and take.

The hand sewing methods I learned by reading and doing the Alabama Chanin projects have come in handy several times, including this one. The seams are really sturdy.  I think I would still like to make her a little scarf and jacket in time.  

It was also nice to use up some of the bias tape I had found at yard sales a couple of summers ago.  I'm surprised I was able to find it buried in my craft piles!  I like the bright contrast to her cotton body.

I've started another rabbit doll that I will share once I put her together.  Eliot wants a 'man version' for himself.  He said I could probably sell her for a lot of money, maybe $20.  I have an entrepreneur on my hands I think.  I told him if he could come up with something to make I would help him sell it.  We'll see if it pans out.