I’ve been gone, unexpectedly, for weeks. I’ve attempted to update, I swear that I have…but those attempts have been from my husband’s phone, and I hate it. I hate it’s tiny little qwerty key board, and its sensitive little touch screen that makes me accidentally open links that I don’t want to open. All of that is behind me now, though, and my laptop is back where it belongs- on my lap. Functioning (except or the “F” key, which I apparently have to punch. With my whole fist.)
Would you believe that my children have grown tons in the past couple of weeks? They really, really have. We’re creeping up on that birthday week (ONE! And THREE! WHAT?!?!?), and the party planning is in full swing. Elliott’s requested a dinosaur party and Myles, I assume, will care less as long as we provide him with cake. And so the boys will be sharing a dinosaur party. Complete with a dinosaur egg hunt. And perhaps something that resembles pin the tail on the dinosaur. Or something.
I’m a busy, busy mama lately. In the past 48 hours, I’ve taken on almost $200 in custom knitting orders. I might be crazy, I’m not certain. I am certain that I’ll have some combination of arthritis and carpel tunnel by Christmas. But I’ll be able to buy my husband a rad Christmas gift by the end of this, so there’s a bonus. By the time we’re done shopping for everyone else most years, he gets a pack of socks and some new boxers. I’m so excited to do something real. Like really, really real.
And, in a final piece of random oh-my-gosh-it’s-been-so-long-that-I’ve-forgotten-how-to-blog, Myles has a new trick. He can undress himself. More specifically, he can undress himself in less than five minutes. And he, apparently, enjoys doing so when he’s pooped. Because, when your mama’s left the room, there’s nothing better for her to come back to than you- the naked, smelly baby who’s playing with his own poop on the living room floor. He’s currently grounded to a one piece jumpsuit, because he can’t take it off.
Love,
Emilie
I had the marvelous privilege of going out last night, childless, to spend some time with a handful of other mamas. It was pretty awesome, as I’d never met any of them “in real life”, but know them all almost intimately through a local on-line parenting community.
And so, we got together and knitted, and sipped some wine, and ate a few cookies, and it was wonderful. I finished the wool Stocking Monster (Sidney) for Myles’s stocking, and completed about 40% of a friend for Elliott’s stocking.
And then it happened. I look at my phone. I think to myself “Oh, it’s bed time. I hope that Jeremy’s coping well.” And I freaking leak milk all over my shirt.
Yep. Lefty pulled a geyser, and I’m sitting there, in my wet shirt, thinking “Sweet. I look like I just threw a t-shirt on over a bathing suit.”
See? There’s never any separating yourself from this mama gig. At home or away, I’m always in character. Nice, huh?
Love,
Emilie
PS- Here’s a pic of Sidney, because he’s so darned cute.
- Sidney, The Stocking Monster. The mustache was Elliott’s verbal contribution.
Thankfully, Tuesday….
256. I’m thankful for my little boy, and for spending nights making up stories about make believe blue cars until he drifts off to sleep.
257. I’m thankful for my little baby, who seems like he’s growing so quickly, but who still loves to do wonderful little baby things.
258. I’m thankful for my husband, who always knows exactly when I need a moment of silence and welcomes the task of making it happen.
259. I’m thankful for the grand people over at Annie’s for their shells and white cheddar. You know what I’m talking about.
260. I’m thankful that I’ve made if 1 1/2 days without coffee, even if it wasn’t on purpose.
261. I’m thankful for the fact that it’s November 17, and we’ve yet to have to dig ourselves out of our drive way.
262. In fact, we just spent an entire weekend soaking up the unseasonably wonderful weather…with a hike in the woods and a day at the zoo.
263. I’m thankful for the amazing love of great friends…and that we’re never without it. What an amazing feeling!
264. I’m thankful for my love, who splurged on my Christmas present a few weeks early. I’ll be going to the Over The Rhine Christmas show, after all, and I CAN NOT WAIT.
265. I’m thankful for grace and mercy…and that it surrounds me, however undeserving I constantly am.
Love,
Emilie
It may seem early, so please don’t bash me, but I’ve been Christmas shopping. A few years ago, I started trying to get the bulk of our present shopping out of the way by a week or so before Thanksgiving. I may spend an extra dollar or two, but I save on sanity. It’s nice. And then I’ve got the entire month of December to just not worry about it.
I’ve not been as on-the-ball this year, but I’ve at least gotten a good start on the kids’ gifts and made a list for everyone else (which actually includes a lot of gift cards, which I hate, but you know.)
So far, the boys are getting this play kitchen:
and this play food set to go with it:
and also this puzzle rack (much needed, with the rampant puzzle throwing that happens here):
Elliott is getting this abacus:
and this baby sling:
And Myles is getting this shape sorter:
and he’ll probably get some sort of grasping or teething toy or some alphabet blocks…I’m scanning Etsy as we speak.
I’m also in the working process of having fabric books made for each boy involving the letters of their names, and they’ll each get a new pair of pajamas to wear on Christmas Eve (which is our gifting “tradition”…going on its third year) and a book.
Nothing requires batteries, but everything requires interaction. Not a bad lot, eh?
Love,
Emilie
For the second week in a row, my “Thankfully, Tuesday” post is a day late and a buck short…so, for this week, I’ll skip it all together.
The power supply for my lap top took a nose dive on me last week (Uhm…yes. Again. Yikes.), so I’ve been with only mediocre internet access in the meantime (the hubs’ cell phone), which is hardly worth the effort that it takes to blog a good blog, if you know what I’m saying.
I’m saying that I’m too lazy to hunt and peck all of the little touch pad letters on the little 3G network enabled box that my husband carries around in his pocket. Ain’t nothin wrong with that, friends.
Anyway, in lieu of the fact that I’ve been a lazy blogger for weeks now, I’m going to drop a few cute photos and hope that the distraction works. And then I’ll write something more worthwhile soon. I promise.
Elliott, wearing his reindeer. I love this child.
My Little Monster Baby...off and running. And I mean it...running.
Love,
Emilie
It’s Wednesday, and I’m a day late…but I didn’t want to miss out, completely. It’s been a great week! There’s a lot to be grateful for!
246. Myles gives kisses now. He’s had a runny nose for a week or so, so sometimes they’re more delightful than others…but they’re baby kisses, and I love them. Buggers and all.
247. Trader Joe’s Fair Trade Organic Bolivian Blend coffee. French pressed. Mmmm. Review here.
248. We’ve had visitors for the last two days….our friends Addie and Maggie! I’ll be watching them on Mondays and Tuesdays for a while, and Elliott is beyond thrilled to have his friend over to play! Yesterday we painted and colored and played with play dough and learned about a bunch of animals and read some cool books and danced.
249. I turned 28 this week! And I received all sorts of love from my husband and boys for it.
250. Halloween was a cute one, this year, full of trick or treating toddlers and so many smiles that it was almost unbearable.
251. I ordered the boys’ big Christmas present last night…this play kitchen. I’m so freaking smitten with it, and I can’t wait for Christmas morning!!! Etsy, you’re the best.
252. A sudden burst of domesticity yesterday afternoon yielded thirty double chocolate choco chip cookies. Trader Joe’s has THE BEST chocolate chips ever, friends. The best.
253. The temperature is a-dropping…and while I’m not exactly thrilled by that, it does give me official license to listen to Over The Rhine’s sultry version of “Baby, It’s Cold Outside”. Over and over and over. I love them. So much. (And, ok…this is an awful recording. But it’s the only video that Google produced for me. So there.)
254. My kids have absorbed an unusually large amount of sleep in the past 24ish hours. Myles went to bed at 7pm last night, and woke at 7am (he’s not sick.) Elliott went to bed at 10pm, and is still asleep…which I should probably change, since it’s kind of late for that sort of thing. I think that the time change, while being only an hour three days ago, has thrown them for a loop and they’re working things out.
255. I found the most awesome, warm, thick, and wooly gray $3 cardigan at the thrift store this weekend, and am officially ok with the onset of the colder weather. I think.
Love,
Emilie
A funny thing happens with your second child: you don’t jot down every milestone quite as quickly, you don’t fill out a new page in the baby book every day, you take the pictures but don’t print them immediately.
And so, it came to my attention recently that Myles is about to be ten months old (As in, he’ll be a YEAR OLD in two months. Whattheheck?) and I’ve taken hundreds of photos of him- but I’ve never gotten a single one printed out. Isn’t that awful? When Elliott was a babe, we bought a photo printer (which, now, is R.I.P.) and I popped those suckers out daily. He had a full album for guests to thumb through at his first birthday party. Little Myles? Nothing. Poor kid.
I spent sorting through my second born’s first nine and a half months of hanging around. Sorting, and crying. That’s what mamas do when they look at baby pictures and reminisce, right? They cry? And of course, since I had Myles’s pictures up (everything’s on our laptop), I had to pull up a few of Elliott’s and cry some more. My babies. They’re so freaking big.
Who’s in for a comparison shot?
Ten month old Elliott:
Almost ten month old Myles:
We get an awful lot of “Myles looks exactly like Elliott!” comments…but really, I think, the similarities border mostly at the red hair (which Elliott had a lot more of). Elliott’s eyes are blue and bright, Myles’s are a deep hazel and very pensive. It was difficult to find a photo of each of them where they share a similar expression, because Elliott’s photos are all of his smile and Myles’s are all of his eyes. Elliott laughs, Myles studies. I love this…that there is so much of each of their personalities in every snap shot.
I’m a tired mama…remembering every little smile, step, and giggle takes a lot out of you.
Love,
Emilie
I had a beautiful (and I mean BEAUTIFUL!) post typed and ready to send out into the internet last night, and then guess what happened? The screen fell off of my laptop. No joke. Five little, tiny screws clinked to the floor, and the darned thing just fell off. So weird. “No biggie,” I thought. “WordPress will save that beauty, and I’ll repost it tomorrow, after I’ve reassembled my computer.”
Well, WordPress. You did NOT save it. Sadly.
And so, I’m going to aim for the combination package and merge yesterdays would-have-been post with today’s scheduled “Thankfully, Tuesday” post. You’re welcome, fans of consolidation.
236. This weekend marked the fourth celebration of Fall Festivus!
237. Fall Festivus started in October 2006 when a small group of lovely friends congregated at the Stusek homestead (where the best congregations occur, historically) for a delightful autumnal dinner. The power went out, and we all sat around in the dark- enjoying each other’s company and gluttonizing (my own word, thank you.) ourselves.
238. In the true style of everything this particular group of friends has ever done, ever, Festivus has grown by bits each fall, getting noticeably better every year.
239. This year, we had twenty-ish friends in attendance (including those who traveled from afar to be with us), with the addition of three newer little ones.
240. The morning starts out with a group hike (I admit, I skipped this part this year because I was tired. Yes. Tired, and lazy. And we were out of clean diapers. So there. I had to stay home and do laundry.).
241. Followed by breakfast:
Some of the crew, at Scrambler Marie’s in Mayfield Heights.
242. From there, we head to Patterson’s fruit farm to pick a few apples (to later cook up, of course).
243. And then we head back to home base, and the cooking begins. Cornish game hens, ham, sweet potato casserole, pasta with pesto sauce, apple maple bread stuffing, stuffed acorn squash, some of this, a little of that, kitchen sink, the works. You know, a feast.
244. All of this food, of course, then needs to be consumed. And so we light a few candles, ditch the lights, say a prayer, and EAT.
245. Have I ever mentioned before that we have awesome friends? Because we do. We have awesome friends, and we’re very blessed people. Let the planning for Festivus 2010 begin! (The fifth year, of course, has to be bigger and better than the years prior.)
Love,
Emilie
Oh crap.
So, my little guys have been intermittently ill since Tuesday…sometimes seeming better, but then throwing me for a loop.
And, so, when I woke up in the middle of the night with a stomachy feeling that made me want to die, I shouldn’t have been surprised.
I feel sick, friends. Sick, sick, sick.
But at least my kids feel better (and wholly energetic).
Ick,
Emilie
226. As previously posted, I sold a few of my hand-made things in a craft show this weekend…how crazy! Some one (or three some ones, really) bought my things! So weird.
227. And then I sold three more hats to friends.
228. And one on Etsy.
229. And I’m customizing an order for someone else.
230. I’m insanely humbled by this all…seriously.
231. I’m planning a girls’ date to see Where The Wild Things Are tomorrow night. I’m kind of bummed, as it seems that maybe it’s not content appropriate for Elliott yet…but it sure is for his mama.
232. Elliott and I had a nice little old school Brandtson party in a traffic jam this morning, while his baby brother slept through it.
233. Elliott and Myles have gotten to spend lots of time with their Arizonian Grammy since this past Thursday. I have a little boy who’s smitten, and who has to be detoxed every time Grammy leaves town again. I suppose that that’s a good thing.
234. I made the most amazing wilted kale and carrot dish with dinner last night. Since no one else in this house will touch anything green, I ate it all. And it was amazing.
235. I saw a sign outside of a church this morning that read “We believe in separation of church and hate.” And I clapped my hands enthusiastically.
Love (Thankfully),
Emilie
I’m a stay at home wife and mother to two little boys- Elliott Holden and Myles Henry. I enjoy moderately chilly weather, knitting up a frenzy, endless cups of coffee, walking in the woods, and time with my collective family. I strive to raise my boys as gently and as naturally as I can, meaning that I respect the value of their cries, try to employ positive disciplinary techniques, exclusively and extendedly breastfeed, baby wear, cloth diaper, co-sleep, aspire to homeschool, and all of that weird, crunchy stuff. This is my blog.
