Baby #3 secret revealed......

I am pleased to announce that baby #3 is another little boy! I am very excited, his name will be Ollie. Oliver actually, but we will call him Ollie. I am looking forward to having 3 little boys running around my house. 3 boys just feels just right, right now. So for now, the pink flowery fabric, vintage baby dress patterns, and lace and bows will be set aside for another day, a future baby, and out will come the blue flannel, polkadots and ric rac, little ducks and elephants and teddy bears, and I will begin sewing some sweet little boy clothes for my Ollie! Little Ollie is due to join our family June 1st, but being that I have to have c-sections, he will be scheduled to arrive sometime towards the end of May. He will be the perfect Mother's Day gift. Have a wonderful day everyone!

And baby #3 is......

Today I went to my first doctor appointment with this pregnancy. It was a long time in the waiting, with medi-cal insurance drama I was stuck just going to the ER until today. I had good insurance through my husband's work and the best doctor in the world with Caillou and Jasper. It was a bit difficult for me to have to go to a different doctor this time around... okay it was more than a bit difficult, I called my old doctor's office countless times begging to be seen even though I was on medi-cal, even though I was too poor to pay for the delivery, I even contemplated going in his office with a pie and crying, my therapist even thought that stood a good chance, but in the end, I toughened up, accepted that with poor people's insurance you just can't go see the best doctor in town, and okay, well I am still throwing myself a pity party and want my old doc. But today I went to the new doctor...... and baby # 3 revealed whether I will be sewing pink or blue. I have picked the name, and my mama (Boo-bah) to the the boys... of course followed tradition and took me out baby shopping for a few darling little things. To keep the suspense a bit longer, I will wait to reveal pink or blue until my next post... along with baby's name. Feel free to comment with your guesses of gender and the selected baby name!!! Have a great weekend!

Time to bake....

The oven is pre-heating, many sticks of butter are softening on the counter, the recipes are coming out. Today is a day for Christmas baking! Caillou is pretty excited! I am sure the boys will consume far more cookie dough than I would like, and my floor might become embedded with sprinkles, but they will have fun! Cookies to enjoy by the Christmas tree, cookies to share with friends and neighbors, cookies for Santa. After the cookie baking fesitvities have concluded, we will make the long walk to K-mart for some containers to freeze some of the cookies in! And we may just have to stop in at McDonalds for a romp on the playground and some $1 cheeseburgers!

Busy days...

Wow it has been over a week since I have shared my thoughts here on my blog. It has been a busy week. Caillou had a very happy birthday. He loved opening presents, and we had a special birthday lunch, and of course birthday cake. The boys both caught colds and I have been quite busy wiping noses, and encouraging them to take their homeopathic cough syrup, and trying to keep them still long enough for a breathing treatment on their asthma nebulizer machine. Our house has become a disaster zone in the past week, which I have been working quite hard to tidy up today. I refuse to put presents under the tree, until my house is back to it's usual cute and cluttered but clean self! We are about half-way there... I am in a nesting sort of mood, and trying to make improvements in all areas of the house, which is easier said than done, being that there is not much room in this tiny place. But I am in home improvement mode, moving things around, convinced that I will find a way to fit everything in how I want in and create a bit more room! Today I moved the diaper chaning table in from the shed, and it fit perfectly alongside the crib. The changing table has served many purposes, we picked it up at a thrift store while I was pregnant with Caillou, gave it a coat of white paint, and sewed a new cushion for it. It first served as Caillou's changing table, and then became more of a place to hold bins of toys, and then eventually went into the shed since most diapers ended up being changed anywhere but on that table! But it is back in the house again. Probably not for diaper changing of the new one on the way, but as something to hold his or her clothes in. I had hopes of buying a dresser, but there isn't much chance of that, especially since my long lanky Caillou really is in need of a twin bed, so.... I will get creative and adapt. As soon as I have the new baby area ready and presentable I will share some pics. I was able to use our car this weekend and had a fun outing with my mama. We did a bit of Christmas shopping and ate lunch out, yummy soup and sandwhiches! I am excited to have a few gifts under the tree for the boys from their mommy, even if it was my mama who gave me the money to shop for them! If I haven't said it before, I have the best mama ever ( Boo-bah to the boys!) She is always doing something for me and the boys, whether it be Christmas shopping money, or warm winter clothes for the boys, a yummy lunch out, baking yummies for her grandbabies, bringing PattiCakes dog food and treats, sending me sewing patterns in the mail, my mama is always doing something wonderful. Sunday was a quiet day recovering from Christmas shopping, going to church, and spending time at home. Yesterday I met with a nurse at my new doctors office, then had some bloodwork done, and upon standing up, apparently I passed out! I sure am glad the boys weren't with me, I can just picture myself unconscious and the kids running circles and causing terrible mischief! This Friday I go back and meet with the actual doctor, I am hoping that I will be able to find out whether baby #3 is a boy or a girl. I would absolutley love getting to sew darling little dresses for a baby girl, but I do love my boys, and I can't shake the image out of my mind that I am laying a new baby down in the crib and the baby is wearing a blue onesie. Boy or girl, I will be perfectly happy with either. Well, I suppose I should get back to tidying up this mess of a house! I have much sewing to do this week to finish up for Christmas, lots of Christmas baking ahead, and I really would like to do some more canning. My sweet icicle pickles I canned in October were delightful, and the pickle relish wasn't half bad either, a little too sweet, but still yummy! Well, before I finish with the tidying up, the boys and I are going to walk to the little corner market for a bag of tortilla chips and some tomatoes for later. This little store is pretty gross and very stinky, weird meats and cheeses that I don't dare even inquire about, and many other odd food items that I can't imagine consuming, but they are convenient when we are out of milk, or I have a craving to make nachos and no tortilla chips! And after that nacho craving, I will clear the table and put a Christmas table cloth on it!!! Chips to eat, work to do! Have a great week!

Preparing for tomorrow...

Tomorrow is a very special day. My dear Caillou will celebrate his 3rd birthday. Today has been a day of preparing. We baked his birthday cake together this morning, frosted it and covered it with sprinkles! I get all weepy and emotional thinking about how fast he has grown. I wish I could rewind time and snuggle him once more as he was when he was a wee little newborn. I look at pictures of him, and I just don't know how the time has flown by so fast. It amazes me how many changes he has gone through right before my eyes. Three years ago today, I remember exactly where I was and what I was doing. I was waddling around like a nervous wreck, wondering just how bad a c-section was going to be. I was eating large quantities of mexican food at a restaurant called Acapulco. I walked up and down Grand Ave, visited friends who owned a little homemade soap shop on that street. Sat in an old fashioned little coffee shop and sipped hot cocoa. I counted diapers, again and again, convinced that the 600 or so that I had would surely not be enough. I packed and unpacked my diaper bag, I paced, I smoothed crib sheets, and I waited. I remember the last thing I ate was a chocolate donut from Peterson's donut corner, before the c-section fasting began. I remember waiting the morning of the 8th waiting to go to the hospital. I remember getting extremely nervous in the underground parking lot of the hospital, my mama and mom giving me a beautiful pink blanket for myself during the hospital stay, and nervously muttering something, and walking very slowly towards the maternity ward. I remember waiting, I remember nervously rambling to my anithesiologist about heartburn, I rememeber the nurse holding me tightly while I was getting my spinal. I remember laying on the table, convinced that I was falling off, I remember the doctors chatting away as I was in surgery, I remember pressure and tugging, and feeling as if my insides were being completely removed, and then were the first cries...and in that moment I became a mother, the most wonderful, joyous, beautiful, happiest moments of my life began that day. Caillou was a delightful baby, smart and adorable, wild and wonderful, full of energy and smiles and mischief from the day he was born. He made my heart melt, and I fell desperately in love with him. Tomorrow as we celebrate these past 3 years of Caillou's journey through life so far, I will look back at some of the tender moments of his babyhood, the exciting moments of his first steps and first words, the chaotic moments of wild todderhood, and I will cherish it all, and look forward to the many more beautiful moments I will share with this darling child of mine.

Mama, the Christmas Elf...

the new warm quilt Caillou has specifically requested that Mama sew for him

I have been very busy with projects for Caillou's birthday and Christmastime gifts and ornament exchanges and homemade toys. I feel like an elf at the North Pole busily creating this and that, stitching up this, putting the finishing touches on that, wrapping it up with a shiny satin ribbon, and begininng work on another project. My stash of fabric is shrinking, but not too terribly! I have been collecting fabric alongside my mama for many years, however no matter how much collecting and accumilating I do... I could never beat the size of her fat quarter stash! My poor sewing machine has taken quite a beating over the past week. We went for a walk yesterday down to the quilt shop and picked up some sewing machine oil. I could have lingered in there for hours oohing and aahing over fabric and lovely books that inspire, and patterns galore. And of course I would have loved to have gone home with a rather large bundle of pretty little prints to inspire future projects, but dear Caillou and Jasper began their screaming contests and I left the store before I got the chance to pout about being too poor to buy the little lovelies that had caught my eye! A very timely tantrum indeed!

After the boys were in bed, I took apart my sewing machine and removed a tennis ball sized lump of lint, thouroughly cleaned the insides, and gave it a good oiling. I can't wait to start working on more projects today!

Christmastime...

The homemade advent calendar...

The boys are busy helping their mama get ready for Christmas!

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Turn up your volume... here is a quick little Christmas Carol from Caillou!

Our Thanksgiving...

A couple of pictures from a past Thanksgiving when my only child had fur and a tail!

Thanksgiving turned out quite well. The evening before Caillou helped with some of the cooking. He really enjoyed making deviled eggs, there weren't many left by the next day! He ate them as fast as we could make them! Caillou was completely in charge of mashmallow placement on the candied yams, there were many many marshmallows. Thanksgiving dinner was served at noon, my favorite was the mashed potatoes and gravy, sooooo sooooo buttery! Jasper loved the cresent rolls and stuffing and homemade cranberry sauce. And Caillou of course was happy with eating nothing but deviled eggs! Neither of the boys cared for the turkey too much, just like mama... turkey never has been my favorite! The boys enjoyed toasting with sparkiling apple cider... and mama had some laughs from the loud toddler burping that followed! We had some free movie passes and went to see The Fantastic Mr. Fox! We loved it!!!! Very cute! During the end scene, some lively music came on, and Caillou jumped out of his seat and began dancing down the aisle of the movie theater!!! We came home, and the kids ate some more leftovers and we brought out the pumpkin whoopie pies... these for sure will be a new Thanksgiving tradition for us! I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Thankful....

I am thankful for little boys that love their mama's baked goods...

and for healthy happy children.
I am thankful for being a stay at home mama, being able to enjoy simple happy moments.
Even if it does involve half dressed little men playing architect on my dining table...

I am thankful for the yard my children have to play in...

And for their new little baby brother or sister that is on the way!

I am thankful that I was at home, where a mother needs to be, and that I was able to witness the miracle of my children taking their first steps.

I am thankful for the beauty of God's creation.

And for special outings, and snuggly blankets.

I am thankful for my children's shining happy faces. For the sound of their laughter and their noisy footsteps running throughout the house.

I am thankful for my home. For the homemade goodness that fills our home, and the sunshine and joy my children fill these four walls with

Tomorrow evening I will begin preparing for our Thanksgiving festivities. I am going to do as much of the cooking as I can after the boys are in bed, so that I can spend Thanksgiving morning playing and loving them. At first I thought perhaps I would cook something unconventional for Thanksgiving, but in the end I decided to share with my boys a traditional Thanksgiving feast. This will be Jasper's first year actually partaking in Thanksgiving dinner, last year he did get to try rice cereal for the first time though! On the menu... A turkey breast with gravy, homemade mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes with ever so many marshmallows, a few deviled eggs, cranberry sauce, stuffing, southern creamed corn casserole, sauteed zuchinni and sqaush, cresent rolls, crumb top apple pie, and pumpkin whoopie pies. It will be quite the spread for just little ole me and the boys, but I want them to remember holidays and have wonderful memories and love them and cherish these special days. Now if the morning sickness does become extreme, and heavens forbid I throw up on the turkey, KFC will be open until 4pm! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving everyone...

In the hallway....

Allright, so this is my little space in which I create things. In my hallway, wedged in between our dooway and the china cabinet. It is a bit messy, but it is hard to contain my crafty supplies in such small quarters. Our hallway is a bit wider than some, but I am worried, that as my stomach grows, I may not fit in my sewing room any longer!!! It is already a tight squeeze! But for now, while I still fit, this is where I sew. In the day time, the boys crawl under my chair, over the treadle, unplug my machine, unwind ribbon and wrap it round and round the chair legs, hop over me to get to the kitchen or potty, and then crawl under me to get back to the living room. It is a wild adventure to sew with them. In the evening, I am sandwiched smack dab in between two sleeping boys, with only a thin wall in front of me and behind me to keep them from waking, and if I wind a bobbin to fast, they do wake up!!! They have become accustomed though to the sounds of Mama's sewing machine, and for the most part, don't mind my night sewing. Occasionally, Caillou will come to his doorway and ask me what I am making, and then goes back to bed. I love my dollhouse full of my favorite fabrics, and my treadle table that serves as my sewing desk, there is a treadle machine inside, but being cramped on space, I had to pick one machine to sew with, and the one with a zig zag stitch and electronic features won! So there it is, my little sewing room, messy and tiny, but I thought I would show y'all anyway!

Yesterday...

Creative Days...

I have been quite busy with projects, too many going at once. Working on a quilt for Caillou, making a Christmas countdown calendar and matching garland, adding a few rows here and their to a crochet project... I finally finshed Jasper's crochet blanket! And made the boys two warm and cozy little hats. I am working hard to get ready for the holidays, sewing as often as I can!

About a week ago, Caillou asked me if he could paint. I got all his supplies out for him, and this is what he created! I was so impressed, this really was his first true picture, or at least the first one that Mommy was able to recognize something in the picture, not just scribbles and dots!

Have a happy day!