My Girl

Though I was initially sad to send Jayce off to school all day long, I have loved having concentrated time to spend alone with my girl.  I love the age gap that we have between Jayce and Hannah, just over 3 years, because I got to spend a lot of time with just him, and now I am getting that time with her as well.

One of the things that I love about this time is how, when I'm not juggling both of their needs and demands, I have more time to notice the little things that she is picking up on and doing.  She has so many funny nuances right now and her language and comprehension are really starting to show.  Like when she wants something, she'll hold out her arm and say, "Ay go!" because we say, "There you go!" when we hand her things.  It's like she's egging us on, "Come on, give it to me and say 'there you go'."  Or how she'll pull down my glasses down from my eyes and say, "Pee boo," with a sly smile.

And on days when she's sick and only wants to be held, like she has been these past few days, I can keep her snuggled in my lap and let everything else go.  Plus it's still technically my birthday week, so I can still get away with that for a few days now.

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Like Me

One morning last week, after dropping Jayce off at school, Hannah and I set off with a scribble of directions on a piece of paper, and my bus pass, looking for a nearby fabric shop that I had found  online.  There are no large-scale all-purpose craft stores (that I am aware of), but I found a quilting shop that wasn't too far away and wanted to check it out.  The shop was only 1.8 miles from our home, so obviously it took about 45 minutes to get there, via two different buses.  One of the buses, which we had waited 20 minutes for, I couldn't board because there were already 2 moms with buggys on, and I couldn't fold mine up.  But it didn't matter, this little shop was worth all of the waiting.

Hannah and I arrived about 10 more minutes before the shop opened, so we walked back to the previous bus stop that was near a Starbucks.  I had accidentally left my cereal bar breakfast at home, I was starving, and I knew that a muffin would be perfect.  I was DELIGHTED to discover that English Starbucks also carry my favorite autumn drink, a Salted Carmel Mocha, and promptly ordered one with my muffin.  So Hannah and I enjoyed a sweet little breakfast before I perused the gorgeous fabric.

I came away with some fabric for home, some that I just couldn't put down and will find a project for, a sweet little "London" fabric that I couldn't resist, and a tiny bit of Christmas fabric to get my mind working in that direction.  I adored the shop, which was minuscule, but packed to the top with fun fabric by designers that I had never heard of before, or others that I had only seen on Etsy.  

We left the store and headed towards Richmond where we were running some errands that morning,  and I was absolutely beaming because I had this funny sense that I felt so much like me.  

Chris and I will often refer to activities or places that just feel like "us," meaning just he and I, or the four of us.  Finding a local restaurant that we love and visit every week like clockwork, that is us. We've done that everywhere that we've lived and we already have one here.  Roaming around outside with the kids for a long morning, everyone taking an extended nap, and then heading out for dinner on a weekend, that is us.  Skipping dessert and opting instead to find a yummy coffee place to satisfy our coffee/sweet tooth, that is us.  

We found our "us" in London very quickly.

There are things that have provided happiness and comfort in each of the places that we've lived, and there is a small degree of panic when we move, knowing that we're leaving those thing behind to move on to our new location.  But it is so satisfying to find the new routines and activities that make us feel that same level of peaceful happiness. 

And that morning, I felt that same thing, but just for me.  

It was a very me thing to do, (on a perfect morning, that is), grab a Salted Carmel Mocha, fawn over beautiful fabric in a shop, buy a few small bundles and leave feeling happily inspired, with dozens of project possibilities swirling around in my head.  

I opted not to take the bus, but to walk to Richmond since it was a crisp but beautiful morning, and Hannah was warmly tucked into her stroller.

 She quickly dropped off to sleep and dozed while I walked briskly, turning ideas over in my mind.  I thought that maybe this could be a new little "girls outing" that we do periodically: Go for breakfast and a little shopping to this place in particular, she could snooze while I walked into town, and then she would be refreshed when we arrived in town for whatever errands we were after.  Happy girl and happy mom.

Then I got lost.  And I waited at a bus stop for a while before realizing that I would be going in the wrong direction if I got on one of those buses.  And I cursed no longer having my iphone and the handy map features that I had grown used to.  But I asked a few strangers to point me in the right direction and I eventually got turned around.  This is also so me: Bad at directions, worse at remembering the names of places.  

Glad to still feel like myself.  Even in London.

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Out and About: Richmond Bridge

The first day that we were all in town, we went to Twickenham to see Chris' office and the campus.  Chelsea had a meeting with the head of their masters program in Sports something.  Training?  (Sorry, I don't remember.)  After the outing we were all crashing from jet lag so we headed home, slept a bit, and I truly don't remember what we did the rest of the day or night.  But the next day, we went to Richmond.

Since that day, we have been back to Richmond a dozen times, Chelsea and I went back two more times just while she was here.  This is the area where we will probably try to move next year.  Because it is amazing, truly.  Luckily it's only about a 10 minute bus ride, but it's the type of place I'd like to be walking around in every single day as opposed to just a few days a week.

The main high street has lots of great stores and a wide variety of beautiful restaurants and cafes.  And the parks, oh man.  I need to get some pictures before I talk about the parks, but you can just assume that they are pretty great.

Then there is Richmond Bridge, which is...

amazing.

It goes over a little channel of the Thames River, and it's so beautiful, people just rent boats and row right on down and enjoy the scenery.

Or you can eat at one of the many restaurants that are along the river, like this one (on the right) that Chelsea and I were obsessed with because it was beautiful and we wanted to go eat on that elegant patio.  But Chelsea and I were on a mission on this day so it had to wait.

I, however, was obsessed with these two benches overlooking the water.

Can you blame me?  Chelsea made fun of me (a little)but I thought they were so adorable and quaint.  A little grassy knoll at the top of a hill, overlooking the river, with weeping willows and bright green grass in the background.  I just wanted to get a book and a cup of coffee and curl up there for an hour.  Or sit there with Chris, stare over the rive, and people watch.  Or take pictures of my kids on them.  Or get someone to take pictures of me and my kids on them.  You get the picture.

I'll have to write more about Richmond later.  I originally started to in this post, but when I was looked through my pictures, I realized that they were all of the bridge.  So the bridge it is! 

Happy Monday, and happy first full week of Jayce at school.  That will be my next post. :)

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Outside

It has been in the 70s for 3 days now.

Last Monday there was 3 inches of snow on the ground, but now we are pretending it's summer. We've been outside to play, but there is nothing that kicks off the summer season in my mind like a walk around the block.

I think this is because for the past 3 years, Jayce and I take at least 1 walk around the block every week day during the summer. The first year I pulled him in the wagon, the next year he pushed his lawnmower, last year he rode his bike. This year we headed out with the bike, the stroller, and a sister.

Jayce forgot a few of the things that he knew when he did it almost every day. Like where he needs to pedal fast to not get stuck on the broken sidewalk or a gentle slope. Or how to turn around on the narrow sidewalk. Or the need to immediately apply the brake on our sloped driveway so that he doesn't go speeding into the street. But he remembered the important stuff.

And he paused to give me his best Blue Steel and show me his muscles.

It was Hannah's first front facing stroller ride and she loved it. I don't know if it was the warm wind, or the scenery, or Jayce riding out in front of us, but she did the happy baby bounce almost the whole time, kicking her feet excitedly.

After our walk we all headed out back.

Bubbles, running, stick eating, pacifier to prevent stick eating, stick shaking, giggling.

Feet without socks, toes in the grass, DQ that night for dessert, and pretending like it's June. Perfect.

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Detectives, Teeth and Quilts

1.) For Valentines Day this year, I made Jayce a little detective kit. (Did you recognize him above? He's in disguise, but showing his ID, so you know that it's really him.) I also made one for his sidekick, Chris. :) I'm having to sit on my hands to not write a tutorial for the detective kit. Oh Lemon Tree Creations, I'm having such a hard time quitting you! :)

Either way, I'll write a little more about their kits in my Valentine's Day post. Is is sad that it's been 2 weeks now and that it's not up yet? I'm a little behind. Actually I just realized that there are only 10 posts for all of February, and I usually try to write at least 3 times per week, so I've definitely been tired. But we'll get there.

2.) Unfortunately little Hannah is to blame for my lack of free time, and that's okay. It's the same old story, her teeth are hurting and she can't sleep. Her nighttime sleep is suffering and her naps are short, so that is that. Last night I looked at her on the monitor, she had lost her little elephant that she likes to snuggle/chew, so she had pulled down the side of the bumper and was chewing on the edge of it. Poor thing.

3.) Now that the weather is getting warmer I've been thinking about our summer and taking the kids outside. Hannah isn't crawling quite yet, and I doubt she'll be walking by summer, so I'd really like to get a good big quilt that I can lay out on the grass outside to play with her. We have a few larger quilts that are family heirlooms, and a little delicate, so I'm not comfortable with laying them out on the grass and dirt in the backyard.

I found an amazing quilt shop a few weeks ago that I keep telling Chris about, Linen and Thread, and I am itching to get my hands on this large blue and beige chevron quilt. The woman who makes the quilts has a grandson with Type 1 diabetes, so she donates 100% of the profits from her quilts to juvenile diabetes research. Isn't that cool? Soooo, basically I'd make a donation to Juvenile Diabetes Research and get a beautiful handmade quilt. I'm in. The quilts are 25% off for the month of February with a promo code, so my big plan was to put a bunch of stuff in my Etsy shop this month and try to get some extra cash rolling in. Unfortunately teething got in the way a bit and I haven't had the free time that I thought I would. But maybe she'll have another sale in the next few months and I can get one for that comfortable warm season. :)

And that is that for now! My sweetie is back up and I'm off to her rescue. I'll just publish a short list for now or my blog may lie dormant all week.

Happy Tuesday!

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2011 Highlights

Now that we have addressed the things I'll be doing in the new year, I think a 2011 year in review is in order as well.

Here are a few of my highlights, in chronological(ish) order.

1.) The Potty Training Miracle.

A year ago I dove headfirst into a fabulous potty training plan. A week later I retreated, broken in defeat. 5 months later, in the midst of bed rest craziness, Jayce decided to train himself, and did just that. Then he backslid, (except for #2, which thankfully is still in the potty every time). Almost a year later, we are back and forth on a weekly basis, some "dry all day" days, and some "didn't even try" days.

But this has been a good exercise for us in just letting some things go. We can't control everything, we can't make him do it right, despite trying seemingly everything. We've gone from the days and weeks of being stressed and concerned about it, to just being patient and remembering that at some point it will click and he'll get it. But I'm still grateful for that miraculous week where Jayce decided he was done with diapers, and that he kept that up for the first few months of Hannah's life.

2.) It's a Girl.

I had been convinced that Hannah was going to be a boy and was so excited about it. I love my little boy and wanted another. But finding out that it was a girl brought a fresh excitement to a pregnancy that thus far had been difficult for me. I started dreaming about her, bonding with her in a way I hadn't before, thinking about her nursery, and smiling about shopping on the other side of the kids department.

3.)The Allergist.

Poor Jayce was so sick for months and those weeks were absolutely horrible. It is such a helpless feeling to leave the doctor's office a few times a week, armed with new medications that "hopefully" will work, only to watch him start to get better for a day or so, then quickly go back in the other direction. It turned out that he didn't have allergies, but the course of medications that the doctor put him on (an inhaler and a nose spray) helped him to get better and stay better. I've never been so relieved.

4.) Bed rest.

Bed rest seems like a nice peaceful relaxing thing, but it's not. It leaves you feeling very helpless, and if you like to do things yourself, constantly having to rely on others is stressful.

That said, I was so relieved when the doctor told me that I needed to be on bed rest, because I knew that I wouldn't be able to make myself take it easy. I tried, but caring all day for a 3 year old demands a certain amount of energy, in addition to the fact that I rarely choose to rest over choosing to accomplish something. (I still can't just sit down with a book or watch tv when the kids sleep.) Pregnancy also has that strange way of masking how you feel until it's too late. As in, I didn't have a sense when I was doing something that I was pushing myself too hard, until later on when I was feeling horrible and it took a few days to recover. I'm so glad that the rest allowed me to avoid any premature labor or major complications with my pregnancy.

5.) Coming Home.

My week in the hospital at 35 weeks was so hard. I hated being away from Jayce, I hated having to leave him with a sitter for Chris to stay overnight with me, I hated constantly being woken up by the nurses in addition to my bladder, I hated the bed/food/tv, etc. I was glad that it allowed the doctor to keep an eye on Hannah and make sure that she was okay, but I watched the clock constantly, waiting for the doctor to come around and hopefully tell me that I'd be able to go home that day.

The day I came home was bliss. The house was trashed and I didn't care. Jayce sat and watched cartoons and I sat and stared at him with a silly grin on my face. I napped on my own couch and slept at night in my own bed, next to my husband, with my boy upstairs in his room. Happiness.

6.) Etsy.

I started Etsy in May of 2010 thinking I just wanted to try it out. I could only handle a certain amount of extra work, since I was home with Jayce, pregnant, and Lemon Tree demanded so much time each week. But in the back of my mind I thought it would be cool to sell something every week.

I was pretty close to my goal when I got put on bed rest. I got an order and it required a bit of extra fuss on Chris who was already doing everything for all of us, so I offered to close it until after Hannah was born. He told me not to worry and to keep it open. I got a few requests for custom items, (one of them rather large that would have been good for me financially,) but I turned them down because I didn't want any extra things to do while on bed rest. I told myself that if I didn't make it, I could say "Well, I would have had enough sales, but I turned several down..."

But by my 1 year Etsy anniversary, I had 53 sales. 53 sales in 52 weeks.

I also had items from my shop on the front page 5 times, and was in the Storque Spotlight. This may not have been a lot for some people, but for me, I was thrilled.

7.) Sweet Hannah Arrives.

There is nothing like giving birth, nothing like those first few days of getting to know your tiny baby, nothing l like skin to skin naps, nothing like those tiny fragile yawns, nothing like making your "only" a brother. There is nothing like my sweet girl.

8.) Florida.

After a year with a lot of stress, a lot of worry, a lot of stress, a lot of sickness, a lot of stress, and 9 months of not leaving town, I couldn't have needed Florida more.

The first day we were there Jayce and I headed over to the beach to make sandcastles. It was perfect: warm, not hot, with a gentle breeze, white sand, warm water, not crowded. We parked ourselves on the edge of the water and started digging, both quietly working at our task. I looked down at one point and realized that I was just grabbing sand and letting it run through my fingers, and with every fistful of sand I could feel my stress slowly draining away. We're all ok. Jayce is healthy. My pregnancy was safe. Hannah is healthy and growing. Chris is okay. I'm not on bed rest. Hannah doesn't have colic. I breathed in the salty air and relaxed into a vacation that I have never needed more.

9.) Chris Excels.

We found out in one month that Chris had won 2 different research awards. Then in the fall, within 2 weeks of one another, 2 of his books were released. This is all before he is 32, and in addition to his work, since he is not a writer but a professor. His textbook has been aggressively promoted by the publisher and he periodically updates me on how it is selling on Amazon. Proud isn't a strong enough word.

10.) Christmas in Akron.

We travelled to Akron for Christmas, and though it was a long drive, and sometimes a stressful trip, I just loved it. We got to take part in our extended family Christmas Eve party, a tradition that has been running for decades. There is nothing like bringing your children into a tradition that you were a part of as a child, and that your mom was a part of as a child. I haven't seen most of those people in 2 years, and I loved introducing them to Hannah, watching Jayce play with his cousins, watching mom proudly tote Hannah around, watching Chris laugh at the new "hazing" that the uncles were putting the new boyfriends or fiances through. It was perfect.

Linking to E Tells Tales, Capturing Motherhood, What I Like Wednesdays, & the Wiegands.

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