8 weeks or so...

I am 8 weeks or so now. This picture was taken a week ago at 7 weeks. And I'm already showing. Crazy huh? And so not fair! I just hate moving into those maternity clothes and leaving my closet behind. Because I was (and am) feeling so sick, the doctor on Wednesday did an ultrasound to make sure there was only one in there (I wasn't so sick feeling with my other two kids). Rest assured, there is only one with a big strong heartbeat. The doc prescribed Zofran so I can get back to the land of the living. It only seems to work about 50% of the time and then only for the first 2 to 3 hours after taking it. But I have to wait 8 hours for another dose. Maybe a black shirt would have worked much better for this picture, but that would have involved finding one in the massive piles of laundry on my floor. See those deep circles under my eyes.....I was so not in the mood.I popped out very quickly with Ainsley too, but luckily I slowed down to normal size after about 4 months. Here is a picture of me a week before she is due and one hour before my scheduled c-section with her. See! Normal size. So I'm not too worried. I feel humongous, but don't look it too much. The main problem with feeling sick is the state of my house. After about 3pm, I feel like I can't cope and spend the rest of the day on the couch or in bed. Making dinner is pure torture. Poor poor Tone. He comes home from being gone for a few days to find a messy (OK, disastrous) house and no dinner and the kids going crazy. He said I needed to ORDER the doctor to give me something. Haha. Just one more month....just one more month of this.....I hope.

Halloween

Halloween. The holiday where Hunter decides to be something weird and then I have to figure out how to make it. He decided this year he wanted to be a "big fat hippo." Really? Yeah, so this is what I finally made him. Here he is at school in the costume parade. Obviously he won for his grade level for "funniest costume". Luckily, Ainsley informed me she wanted to be a ladybug. Good something completely normal. Something you can buy at Walmart for $12. My kind of costume. Then we went to the pumpking patch for a birthday party. Actually, we had two birthday parties and a block party to go to on Halloween. I think we were home for all of one hour that day. It was pretty tiring to say the least. In fact, this next picture is at about 4:00 and napless Ainsley is starting to show a little attitude. This stump was the first step into a set of tall steps that went up the tree to a big tree house. And the train went by underneath it. So Hunter loved to stand up there and watch the train go by. And then of course we rode the train too.

Captain Jack Sparrow made an appearance at the party. Who knew he loved shaved ice?

And what tree house is complete without a rope swing?

So way too much cake and sweets later....

We finally went home just in time to join the neighbors for some trick or treating. Hunter didn't like it (shyness always gets the better of him), but Ainsley did. She thought it was the best thing ever. She also figured out if you say "trick or treat" more than once and keep holding your bucket out, you might get double treats. What a conniver!

Hope you had a happy halloween!

And if you made it this far through the post, then you should know that the winner of the cap is Sarah Stepanian! Congrats!

A warm cap giveaway

'Tis the season....no, not for Christmas. Aack! I don't even want to go there yet! The season for cold weather! It's finally getting a chilly around here in California. This morning was the first morning we have woken up with a thin layer of frost on the roof. There go my roses! Drat!
Anyhow, in honor of that, I made a "warm weather set". I guess I could have made it with boots, but shoes work better with the type of leggings I make because they have a ruffle at the bottom. Just wear 'em with socks I guess (there's plenty of room).

Here are some other caps currenly available in the shop. And unlike my shoes, I make them in sizes newborn to adults.

Pink fleece with a polka dot posy. Pink fleece with a satin yoyo and pearls posy.
And lastly (my favorite for adults), a grey fleece cap with a cream felt flower.
This was taken of Ainsley last year in the middle of December. Her cheeks are a little flushed with the cold. The poor thing didn't have really any hair last year, so she wore caps all winter long.She looks as cute as a button though and didn't mind putting her bare legs on that rock. The things I put my children through for a picture. I didn't have my super duper nice camera then, so this was as good as it got with a point and shoot. She was wiggly and it wasn't until after I took as many pictures as she would let me that I realized that I had cut off part of her head in the best photos. Oops! I've gotten better since then....but I digress..... The MAIN point of this post is to let you know that I am holding another giveaway...a cap! And everyone can play since I will make it in whatever size you want. Christmas is coming....it could be a cute gift if you win. Some are obviously for little girls but I have had women order and wear the grey one with the cream felt flower.

Here are the sizes:
Newborn
Infant
Toddler
Child
Teen
Adult

To enter just let me know what size you would pick, which one and who you would give it to (or maybe you would keep it).

I'll pick a winner November 2nd....just in time for cold weather!

Playing catch-up

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. Morning sickness has kicked me to curb. Do you know how far behind I feel? In my shoe orders from my shop I am about 4 days behind. I did manage to sew four pairs to today and feel rather successful. I am also rather behind in household tasks. Can I just say I HATE folding and putting away laundry. However, if I did it a little more often, it probably wouldn't build up to the point where the clean loads take over my whole bed. Note to self: maybe try doing it more often! Ha!It probably didn't help that during my main "work" time when Hunter is at school and Ainsley is napping, I found this cheerful face asking to get out of bed. This happened a couple of different days this week where she never did actually nap and I ended up giving up after an hour or so. *Sigh* So much for sewing.We did attend a fun halloween party. Somebody, somewhere took a picture of our whole outfit, but alas, it's not on our camera. Tone was the Dread Pirate Roberts and I was Princess Buttercup from the movie, "The Princess Bride". I had the full red dress on with boots, and Tone was in black from head to toe with black pants, a sash, and cuffed boots. We watched the movie a few times to make sure we got their outfits just "so". Call us nerds, but it was totally fun. I ended up having to sew mine because nowhere could I find a dress with a full red skirt. And yes, Tone nursed that stache a full two weeks so he could trim it just like Westley's. We did win best costume though. I believe we won because of the mustache. A note on the bedrooms:
Our room is only one in the house that is not finished. It still needs to be painted. We are going for a travel theme since we both travel together so much. The white walls really bug me. Oh well, maybe next spring or summer. Our whole bedroom set was made by Tone. He made the dresser, bedside tables, and headboard. Actually the headboard is a heavyweight canvas shower curtain I found on clearance and he stapled it over a plywood backboard he made. It cost around $30 to make. No one has ever guessed until I tell them.

Ainsley amazingly has never pulled off the netting hanging above her bed or has ever messed with it. She even still has the mobile hanging up and likes to have it turned on when she goes to sleep still. She has never made an attempt to climb out and so for now, we still have her in crib where it's easy to make sure she stays in bed. If only Hunter was that easy.......

Happy 5th Birthday Hunter!

So this little baby is growing up on me....here is Hunter at one week old. We put him in the leaves on a lawn near our house. He was born during "peak week" in upstate New York. Back east, the leaves all change during one week called, "peak week." It couldn't have been more beautiful.
And here he is now. This was taken at five years and two days old on his first school field trip to the pumpkin patch. Such a big boy. Actually at birth he wasn't that small either at 9lbs 15 oz. That's 10 pounds of baby folks! It made for some kissable cheeks though. His pants never stay up and you can see all his bones, so I wonder where all that cute chub went? Oh well.
For his birthday, he wanted a pirate party. Of course, because that seems to be the "fad" boy party right now. And every year I make a special cake for him. This year I made him a pirate ship. I make it the night before and when they wake up on their birthday, it's waiting for them to see. It's our main birthday tradition. Even daddy helps me with the cake if he's home.

Happy birthday big guy! We are proud of the boy you are becoming!

Shocked.....

Well, we have some shocking news over here..... Can you read her shirt?

If you can't, I'll read it for you. It says, "I'm Going to be a Big Sister (but I'm still a little princess)."

Yep. Six pregnancy tests later.....Yep.

Here are some factoids for those who will ask:

1. NO! We were not trying.

2. Ooops!

3. Mommy is now excited. Daddy is still processing. Hunter has decided twins would be good so that it would be even. We don't agree. Ainsley is clueless.

4. I am six weeks along and feeling good (only a little queasy). Still running full speed ahead with life as usual.

5. Due June 16th.

6. Yes, we will be finding out what it is.

7. No, I am not giving up the office/sewing room. We believe in bunk beds.

8. I'm still not buying a mini van.

A busy week....

Many friends coming in and out....

Children in and out of my house all day (some of them mine, some of them not).....

Toys littering the ground, multiplying just as fast as I pick them up.....

Craft projects all over my kitchen table.....

School papers, which I should as least look at, piled up on my counter.....

Rounds and rounds of pots and pans which get cleaned and magically get immediately dirty again and land back in the sink.....

Ants have decided to invade the house and I have been on the hunt for the last week trying to figure out where these zillions of ants are coming from......

Large shop orders coming in, most with special requests I have to pay attention to, and then madly sew....

A feeling of being so overwhelmed, I listened to my Bible reading from an online site while I sewed. Such a cheater I know........

One big surprise which took me off way off guard......

Travel plans for the year being made and unmade.......

Tone gone most of the week.......

Many long surprise phone calls from family and friends.....

And event I had looked forward to tonight was completely forgotten. I guess I was too busy to remember it...

Watching my son watch "Star Wars" for the first time. Sharing something I used to love as a child with him. He wanted to know why "guy in black breathes funny like he's been exercising or something.".....

God speaking to me in the quiet moments of my heart, when I actually slow down and take a breathe.....

He has richly blessed me. Each friend, child, meal, shop order, and the happy sound of laughter is a blessing.

Thank you Lord for busy weeks. Now next week, can we let it slow down a bit?