Blessed

Well, we have a baby girl! Her birth story is coming soon, I promise! But for now, just wanted to share why I feel so incredibly blessed these days.

I am so blessed for this sweet girl. Do we have a newborn, not yet 2 weeks old (2 days old in above picture)?? I'm not sure.... Aren't newborns supposed to cry? Aren't they supposed to wake up every 2 hours at night to eat? Aren't they supposed to take a long time or lots of soothing to fall asleep?

As for me, shouldn't I feel like I just had a baby? Shouldn't I be tired beyond comprehension with three babies at home? (Ok, well Muffin is not a baby, but she's is not even 3 yet!) Shouldn't I feel overwhelmed at home by myself with all of the kids? Hmm.....

The answer is, No, it doesn't have to be that way. God, in his infinite grace knew what I needed, and graciously provided: Angel baby-sleeps-4-6 hours at a time and at least 2 1/2 hours during the day-never cries-puts herself to sleep-girl.....quick labor with no stitches needed (Thank GOD!!) and super quick recovery....and a relatively sound mind! Even the kids are adjusting beautifully.
Above picture is the first time the kids met baby girl...she was about 12 hours old.
Proud big sister was soooo happy to finally hold baby sister.
And the biggest surprise of all: Mr. 13-month-old hasn't even said his first word yet Baby knew exactly what was going on! It was like he had listened to me preparing big sister for the new arrival, and already knew her and loved her so much! When he first saw sister all he wanted to do was kiss her. He was so gentle and loving- he proved to us that he knows WAY more than we give him credit for. He is such a loving big brother.

A sleepy Daddy man with his girls.

Other blessings: a super helpful Daddy Man who continues to get up early with Muffin before work...now he makes us all lunch in the morning too!

An amazing 3 weeks spent at my parents house with love and help poured on us from all sides.

The best in-laws ever and their many days of helping with the kids while we awaited sister's arrival.

Having baby at my parents house with the best midwife ever and the best doula!

So, I am soooo blessed to have our family complete, and so far it is looking like it (or I) won't be as insane as I thought! Stay tuned, next week Daddy Man starts school again. Sure, lets add one more thing into the mix and see how we handle it! ;)

A productive weekend

Since this weekend is the last weekend before we head down to Sonora to await Baby Sister's arrival, we had an extensive to do list. Things like getting birth supplies together, packing bags, digging the moses basket out, and finding the car seat, along with finishing up some projects like the kid's curtains and Mr. Baby's wall decor. Somehow, and I'm still trying to figure this out, we got almost all of the list done....gasp!... and still had time to go to the lake, attend a little sidewalk craft show, and do fun creative projects too! Was it a three day weekend? It sure felt like it!

I whipped up these fun blocks for Baby Sister, using fabric I had already. These are sooo fun to make, and you can use stuffing, or foam like I did. I think I might make a few more in a smaller size. These are 5 inch cubes.
Each block has the same pink and brown dot fabric, and a different flannel and minky. For the one below I used another one of those receiving blankets from my mom (see last post). To make these blocks, simply cut 6 squares of fabric (mine were 5 1/2" for a 5" cube, and 1/4" seam allowance on all sides) and lay them out in a cross pattern; four squares tall and three across. If you use 2 of each fabric like I did, lay them out so the matching fabric is across the cube from itself. Hmm, this would make more sense if I had taken pictures.....you would have the two flannel pieces on the cross part, the center of the cross (minky) would be the same as the very bottom of the cross, and the top (cotton print) the same as the 3rd square down. Hopefully that makes sense.
I also finished Muffin's ponies! I love the yarn hair, and considering I let Muffin pick any fabric from my stash, I thought she did a great job at getting co-ordinating fabrics! And yes, the Mommy pony is made with another one of those flannel receiving blankets. ;)
It's such a great feeling to do a project using only things you already had in your stash. So fun!
Daddy Man wanted to get in on the crafting action, and decided to do a project with Muffin. (I know, how cute, right?) This is what it looks like when he does a craft.

At least he cleaned it all up when they were done. :) They made a castle for Muffin's strawberry shortcake dolls. (It has also housed the cubes AND the ponies) He made the structure with cardboard, then let Muffin glue paper and decorations to the outside. They were so cute together.
Here's what it sounded like:

Daddy Man: "What color should this tower be?"

Muffin: "Pink!"

Daddy Man: "Ok, how about this tower?"

Muffin: "Pink!!"

D: "We are out of pink. What other color?"

M: "pink !"

D: "How about purple?"

M: "Um, sure."

D: "What should we glue on next?"

M: "A heart!"

D: "What color heart?"

M: "Pink!"

It's a miracle he worked some non-pink colors into that thing. ;)
back view
So, we had a great weekend, and finished it off with a short trip to the lake. Mr. Baby loves to swim. He wants to be on his belly zooming around in the water. He will be swimming probably before Muffin, who says, "Mommy, I don't like it under the water." Oh Muffin. How desperately you need Teacher Cindy.

Utility Sewing Day

Today I did a couple of projects that have been on the to do list for a while, but were not very exciting. But first, I will share with you a project I finished yesterday.

I have been wanting to make a Waldorf-style doll for a while. While I don't agree with most of the Waldorf philosophies, I do agree with their view toys. Toys should be hand-made, with natural materials, with simple features to allow the child's imagination to be the central ingredient in play, and have no bells and whistles or flashing lights. Waldorf dolls have a very distinct style and are made with natural materials: wool yarn hair, wool stuffing, etc. Daddy Man bought a kit as a surprise gift for me, and I had so much fun creating this doll from fabric and wool fluff.

I don't know what her name is yet. Muffin calls her "Monee" (Mon like Monica), which is what she calls me these days. :) We'll see if it sticks. I was tired of sewing (can you believe it?) so I put a dress and shirt on her that I made for one of Muffin's other dolls a while back. Her 'buns' stick out when she bends over, so I'll have to make a longer one later.

More recently, but less excitingly, I made these flannel baby wipes. I already have lots, but with another baby on the way, my usage of baby wipes will at least double, so I thought I'd make them now. I was so tempted to use one of the cute girly print flannels I have, but I decided to save those for a more exciting project. I LOVE not spending money on wipes (or diapers, for that matter) anymore! And I know exactly what' s in them: water!
Per Daddy Man's request, I made several man-sized snack bags. We never seem to have enough for his lunch, so now we do. I even lined two of them with plastic, so he can put his sandwich in them. He was very pleased. :)

Today

Oh my word. Can it be? Is this gorgeous bag actually mine?

This is my "you're such an amazing wife to birth three kids and you deserve a special treat and thanks for making me bread" present. (Daddy Man REALLY likes the bread I've been making twice a week) It is the perfect "going out" diaper bag. I've decided this is what I will take along when I go out shopping, or wherever, loaded with one diaper for each baby, a few wipes, a wet bag, a small toy, binkie, and cup/snack. All the extra things that you don't seem to need unless you forgot to load them in the diaper bag that day- change of clothes for 3 kids, extra diapers and wipes, blanket, food, teething gel, etc- will be in my large diaper bag that will stay in the back of my car. No more hauling around a giant bag filled with who knows what. Now I have a streamlined (and very chic, I might add) diaper bag system...in theory. I'll let you know how that goes. ;)

This was a fun little nap-time project. Super easy- just cut the girls out on the dotted lines, pin and sew, stuff, and sew closed. Fun and easy, with cute results!
Muffin calls them 'Paisley' and 'Mommy.' I will admit, they do have our cheeks!
We all took advantage of Daylight Savings this evening and enjoyed some sun. Muffin loves to pull baby brother in the wagon.
She even shared her car with him! He rocks the pink, don't you think?
In the wagon together. They are so lovey and squishy!

Here is my soon-to-be garden utopia. I'm loving the raised bed. Now to Gabe and Sarah's to dig up some of their yard to fill our box!

Three Things

Three wonderful things happened today.

#1~ Grocery shopping took 30 seconds. I opened my door, picked up my box, and brought it inside. Such a beautiful thing. I just started weekly fresh organic produce delivery and I am loving it! The menu changes every week, the produce is exceptional (often the organic offerings at the market are not great), it's mostly ripe already, and I am sort of forced to buy produce that is in season- a trick I have not yet mastered, but saves a bundle! My hope is that this will enable me to reduce my main shopping trip to once every two weeks.

I don't know what I love more- that cheesy smile, or that beautiful produce! Look at the size of that lettuce!

#2~ As I started washing the cauliflower to make cauliflower soup, Daddy Man called to tell me to stop making dinner- he was going to do it tonight! I had just finished dragging myself off the couch to make it, and wasn't feeling that great, so I was soooo relieved! He just decided to do something nice for me. How cute is that?!

He even held Mr. Baby and entertained Muffin while making it! He's amazing!

#3~ After Muffin and I went in to get Mr. Baby up from his nap, I knelt down so Muffin could say good morning. She crawled into my lap and snuggled in close. Both kids started laughing and I couldn't help but kiss Muffin's cheek, then Mr. Baby's, over and over. It was such a sweet moment and let's face it, could anyone resist these kissable squishy cheeks?

Oddly enough these are the first pictures I have of Mr. Baby eating. I think this blog is forcing me into taking pictures of my lovies- something that I have always struggled to remember to do.

He gets so excited when I pull the camera out. I am enjoying him so much- such a sweet baby.