I am thirty today...thirty and taking it as slow as ever. Why do you always get asked 'how does it feel to be' ( insert age here)? Well if I must tell all, thirty feels like I really turned a corner, but life is brighter on that side of the cube. I won't deny that my twenties had their share of gloom and I want to leave it behind.
I have my baby on my laps, typing with one hand as he smiles and waves at the screen.
We have it good and summer is here!
A message to start the week fresh:
I have fallen way behind again answering comments, for this I deeply apologize. I will try to start anew once more today but I have an eerie feeling about it! Thanks to everybody that leaves comment despite my sorry answering skills, they make me happy and I feel less house bound/isolated because of them.
On a completely different subject, today we went strolling to a tulip festival. But there isn't any cute picture to show for it because there wasn't a single tulip in bloom to be seen! Of course they didn't share that information at the gate and took our twenty dollars with large phony smiles...jerks!
On the sewing front I noticed that the sewing republic has started posting projects on their site. The first two are from Stacysews and Handmadekate, check it out it's pretty great.
I have a really cranky baby on my hands lately, and would love some kind of Maya wrap to carry him around.
I found the instruction to sew my own here. I like the idea that you don't really have to pick a size in advance only to realize it's too small. I sent Tom on a wild goose chase to find the 3' rings at the Home Depot. I am not sure he minds terribly.Update: it was unsuccessful...
What fabric to use is the question... Today on a little trip to Ikea to grow my collection of lantern (which I never light because I worry too much about the impact on the air quality), I saw this fabric:
It would sure be fun, but not too discreet. What about this one:
Well we don't own either right now, and considering the size of the remaining stash I might have to accommodate myself.
We went strolling to the post office today (AT LAST !). As soon as we were done nursing I put a hat on my dirty head, hid the rest of the evidence under a puffy coat and off we went on our maiden voyage just the two of us. So far no big deal... So why is Finn sleeping in his car seat you might ask?
The short answer is that we got lost...sad sad pathetic truth.
The long answer could be along the lines of : the quails made me do it! You see the sun was shining for once and the neighborhood on the other side of the road from my house is still to be explored, (I moved into the house in May already pregnant, you get the picture). I was amazed by all the horse properties in what I consider an urban environement. As the horses and chickens gave way to huge mansions no more side streets were to be found. In the trees I couldn't see the mountain ranges, which is the way we know where we are in Salt Lake city. I must add that I was still oblivious of my situation for quite a while until I realized I was on Walker Lane (!), detail for the locals. Walker Lane is far far away from my house for a pedestrian, a street indeed made up of Mansions, the type you don't ring the bell of to see if you could possibly have a chair to nurse for twenty minutes. Finn must have known in his slumber that mom was panicked ( and sweaty ) because he immediately started screaming of the top of his little lungs. The inevitable was upon me, I had to call Thomas at work for help: "Hello Honey? how would you like to take an early lunch?". the kind of lunch where you get no food and have to track down you wife and child along windy streets.
The cavalry indeed came to the rescue, although disgruntled at first, he soon took pity and even let me take a shower and keep my honor. Or maybe the smell was too overwhelming!
This is the view of the Wasatch Front from my front door last night... and guess what ? It's snowing again today! Just what I need to sooth my cabin fever. (Insert a look of meaningful resentment here). Finn and I had big ambitious plans of going strolling alone for the first time all the way to the post office and send off some goodies to Orange(flower)... We'll all have to wait. It helps that the post office is quite close to Whimsy Cottage where I know I can take refuge from the rain or a sudden and urgent nursing attack!
It's not easy to go for a walk with a baby that cluster feed erratically, like this morning every thirty minutes from 8 am to 10:30 am...I now understand fully why all moms tell stories of living in their pajamas, they are not lazy or giving up on themselves but just how are you supposed to get your clothes on with a baby permanently sucked on your chest?
My son is one month old today; incidentally it's the first day I spend alone with him. I don't think I know what I am doing and he already spent an unnecessarily long amount of time in dirty diapers because I don't seem to read any of his cranky signals right... classic first time mom mistake (isn't it?).
Lets hope the morning taught me something useful for this afternoon. But first a little bit of macro photography:
30 days macro-photo challenge now has a Flick group.
Well the afternoon hasn't got much bragging rights so far, but a short nap lets me start my 'little art quilt' project. Over a month ago Karin and I had the idea of swapping some supplies to make each a little art quilt on the theme of Modernism. The baby as well as the fear of making something dumb and ugly kept me from getting started. But I finally decided to just put the scissors to the fabric and see what happens...no real plan on paper just some ideas in my head. My inspiration comes from old television sets, with their weird rounded shapes, colors and texture (of the speakers). Some are huge with a tiny screen and big round buttons. My favorite is the Philco Predicta:
Finn is getting showered with presents from family and friends...It's really touching the love and attention babies and their moms get from the world.
I have been quite overwhelmed with it all, and completely sleep deprived (although not as much as Tom, that gets no sleep and no naps as well). But my mom is here helping for one more week and she will not have me leave those presents un-thanked for another day. Since I cannot buy a card for the life of me, I collected all the energy I had left and took hours to make some...I am sooo slow lately at anything, I need to learn to nurse and get on with things ( like sleeping), because we are all tired here :
I don't feel like them ( the happy pretty, preppy folks above) at all right now...In fact I feel quite terrible.
It's not news of course that having a new baby is hard, and I guess I knew that somehow, but I have been a bit short on my luck and contracted a nasty little infection that really made matters worst.
I don't feel pink right now, but many deep shades of blue and it's hard to look forward to better things.
I guess I am so very lucky to have my mom here from France with me, spoiled rotten in some ways. She does much of everything and hands me the baby to breastfeed and snuggle up.
I don't think that I am going to look like those folks above for a while, and Thomas needs an haircut.
No sleep again last night. I have been needing a new look for my business and the March issue of Country Living offered just the motivation. They often feature Women Entrepreneurs, which never fails to give me lots of motivation to take the giant step of becoming a 'real' incorporated business. I have been reading a bit about the different options and it's all gibberish so far. I should probably get 'Craft, Inc' and read it.
Can't sleep again, I notice it's always between Friday and Saturday night, when It really matters, when I could sleep until noon. I am having a lot of this after 31 weeks. It just seems unfair...whine whine whine. Let's get going with something quiet and productive.
Last night my friend Liesl handed me a manual for illustrator 10, it's a bit before CS3 but at my level believe me it makes no difference. I have been struggling with beziers, either they are not very intuitive or I am just hopeless. Could it be both? attractive hypothesis. BUT, after reading two pages five times last night, the little bit of sleep I got wedged between all kinds of pregnancy pillows ( I must own them all by now, and yes they are all worth it but just for a while ) made the information travel. Here is the first proper mushroom, vintage 1.0. One day maybe I'll be able to add Alice sitting on top, in the interim I wonder if eating a piece of it would make the baby grow faster?
Imagine, with an embroidery machine, I could add this to a onesie ;)
placemats
narrow hem
Roller Coaster
Tree Skirt
Fabric Pinwheels
Crochet Basket 
Diaper Burp Cloths
Infant Bibs 
Baby Blanket Set
Birthing Quilt 
