Blink and then everything is new...

You start your Monday and think "If I can just get out all of my swap mail, this is going to be a good day." You have been asked by a dear blog friend "Do you really do all of those swaps on the side bar?" You momentarily agree that you are crazy but them remember that sometimes the swaps are the only creative work you get to during the week. They are a thread to sanity in these winter months, sometimes a bit overwhelming but a strong lifeline to other people and things that are good.
By Tuesday, you have spent the morning reacquainting yourself with your middle boy. He is surprisingly quiet and content to just snuggle still, when his brother is away at school. It is good to remember this and appreciate his car dancing on the way to pick-up in the afternoon. There is an inner rhythm to this one, an intensity to focus. To focus towards what I don't know yet, but I have hope that I will be able to help him find it. I blink and he is off running to greet his brother.
And this boy... I found this site and this one, and it was time for him to start his scarf. I have been trying to get him to knit a project at home for many months, not pushing so much as hoping. He has been sitting, knitting, and listening for the past few days. Working away, such a happy surprise for his Momma. He also declared this week that "We need some books about Mr. Putter and his cat." Apparently he has been reading these at school. We got some from the library and yesterday he read a whole one to me and then another to his Grandma. He did so well. I am so pleased that we are on this new trip together, I guess I wasn't aware that we so far down the path yet.
And this one.... I can only say that Miss Mango is living large around our house. There has been scooting off of blankets, looking at objects and then shoving them in to our little mouths, loudly telling Momma about how nursing is going to go (Or not?!!). She is rolling this way and that. So much that we have moved her to her crib... I have been enjoying when she grabs my face and plants a gooey mouth on my cheek. Or when she wakes from her nap and is a fixture on my hip, not self but still wanting to be. I love that a lot.

All of my little ones are becoming not so little ones...

They still need me, but I am needing to figure out my changing role with each one of them. Still the Momma, but now needing to give them each a bit more space. A bit more space, but not too much, to let them grow in to their next phase, to grow in to my next phase. Sometimes I feel like so much has changed and I have only had time to blink.

JMB

ALERT!

Hi there, aren't we so excited around here?

I was at Joann's today and they had 50% off Kona cotton solids, so they ended up being $2.99/yd. They didn't have the best selection, BUT they did have a few that I really liked. I just looked at the web site, but I couldn't figure out when the sale ends.

Good luck!

JMB

Sometimes it pays to look kodak's email...

I briefly looked at a photo tip of the day on a Kodak email and was led to some AMAZING pictures and some very inspiring ideas about seeing your art (it was regarding photography, but I think that you could apply the same ideas to a wide range of media) and making it better.

It was a list of tips from Pep Bonet. I need to spend more time studying his shots, but wow. WOW. He talks about looking at things and putting your own emotion about them in the way you capture the picture. He really delivers. I need to be an apprentice.

JMB

Few things...

1) She is just too cute, even when she is sad about teething. If you look closely you can see her brothers spazzing in the background.
2) I almost forgot that I said I would make a block for my guild's raffle quilt (what was I thinking?)... but I didn't and it is done before Thursday's meeting... now, to remember to take it to the meeting...
3) I saw this today in some one's yard...blooms.

Hooray! They were so pretty. I stopped and stared, I called my sister back to see them too, but I don't think that she experienced the same thrill that I did.

4) Is any one else having freaky nightly wind storms? They sound so spooky trying to blow my old house down!

5) Big Daddy will be home in 4 more nights (after tonight... but that counts because I count it if I make it until the kids go to bed!) (you know what I mean!) ( I feel like the little engine that could "I think I can, I think I can...")

until next time...

JMB

Renewal...

The last two weeks have gone by in a blur. We are all trying to get used to going back to school, to having our day paced by pick-ups and drop-offs. I can't decide if I love it or hate it. It is nice to have a framework to plan around, I am so tired that it helps my numb mind stumble through the day, but at the same time, when we have a good "stay-at-home-day" all I can think is that I love the freedom to do whatever we choose, it is so great.
Big Daddy is traveling and has been traveling too much this month. I hope that by doing all of his trips now we can move on to being a cozy family again...maybe finishing up some of the kitchen odds and ends? (hint, hint...I know you know!)
But this season, the starkness of the trees, the dampness, the darkness, but then the green tips show up on the bushes when we have a few warmer days...I have such mixed feelings. Every year I do. This year I am marking my fourth anniversary of saying "Adios" to the time card. Blondie is turning 4 in March and I was pregnant with him when I worked that last day at the Wastewater plant. I have been missing my old cohorts lately, maybe it is time to drop by and say "hello".

I am settling in to listening to the call of the baby. I am accepting again (how soon you forget) that babies have their own time, you can get a routine going around them, but it does come down to them doing just exactly what they want, when they want. Sometimes they don't want to nap, they just want to sit in your lap and smile and coo. Maybe you want to quilt, but the quilting keeps and the baby smiles don't. They are different everyday. Baby Mango just started to roll over last week, the boys were never that interested in rolling over, but it had become her passion. She rolled and she rolls all the time this week... but now she gets to her belly and thinks "What now?" Last night she pushed up on her arms and scooted herself off the blanket. Oh my. I was hoping that she would become a nice fat baby that just wanted to sit for a few more months, that we would all huddle around her and pat her belly and giggle at her roly-poly legs. Maybe no. She may turn in to the lean machine, the likes of her brother Blondie, never stopping until he passes right out. I am here just waiting to see what the new day will bring, I can never know until it is upon me.
I did finish this quilt during my blog hiatus. I finished the top this summer during Quilter's Affair so I think that I am going to name it Gwen and Freddy. What fun memories.
The afternoons have been spent playing Christmas games. We got a few card games and Brownie is a 6 year old card shark. Sometimes if Blondie and I team up we can win a couple. We have been enjoying Monopoly Deal (really fun, a quick game with lots of opportunities for strategizing.) and Sleeping Queens (great artwork and was originally made by a 6 year old and her family... pretty cool.) The games have been a great opportunity to see these boys as the great people they are not just bickering brothers. A way to get past the squabbling (too much lately) and see how their minds work and just have fun with very little agenda.

Seeing your kids as people in their own right, isn't that one of our main jobs as parents? yep, when they are not trying to get each other in trouble, they are pretty cool little dudes.

Be on the look out for signs of spring! (I am!)

JMB

Here we go again...

... in more ways than one!

Happy New Decade friends!

I am here, Mango is here, the boys are all here. We are getting on into our new year.

Is she not the cutest thing? I can't help myself most of the time. She is just so beautiful, so sweet and so mellow... that is until she realizes that everyone else is sitting upright and she has to recline. My first move of the new year was to trade in some old baby stuff for some new baby stuff! It was the best. I love coming home with a bunch of new things that we needed and getting rid of other things that were just taking up space in the garage... for NO MONEY! Little Mango now has her Bumbo and is as happy as a clam, and nearly as juicy. This little girl is working on some teeth and the drool is AMAZING. I don't think that the teeth will actually make an appearance for awhile, but WOW, is she working it out on her fists, her toys, our fingers....

I spent January 1 trying to finish my quilt in time for Jacquie's challenge... then, this is just like the mother of a new baby, I went and read the "fine print" a.k.a. the regular print and noticed that the projects had to be done by December 31. I had a good laugh about that one. Good news is even though I thought I would try to finish 5 things (hope springs eternal) I made good headway on a number of them. One of them I have been working on for 5 years. I finally finished the border and now I am hung up on it's largeness. It is wider than 90" so I am going to have to figure out the batting issue. If anyone has a suggestion I would love to hear it. I am leaning towards piecing it together, but I don't really want to. So, thank you Jacquie, I didn't actually finish anything, but I tried and realized that babies and Christmas eat up a LOT of time, and that is OK. I am going to finish that quilt soon and it will have a showing, yes it will! I also am starting a 365 day photo project on Flickr, I missed it last year. It was a good practice for me and my camera. I looked at things differently, and that is good.

I hope that you all are welcoming in the new year too. I am thinking about a new word this year. If you are in to that here is a post to read.

Best wishes!

JMB