And the Ornaments Too!

We got our live tree at just the perfect time this year. Picked it up Saturday morning without incident, including my first attempt at strapping it to a car (thanks bungee cords!) and set it up just in time to head to the third almost-annual ornament swap with my knitting group. I made the needle-felted winter scene and took home the snowman head, which went perfectly with my non-breakable/no-hooks-needed theme for this year's tree. Once again, I was super impressed with all the ornament makings (though I still can't get my brain around how the pom-pom ones work).  Our timing was also perfect since we got about a foot of snow the next day. We did make a first attempt at sledding with Little Miss C, and while the snow was tasty, the cold and snowsuit and the dog in her face was all a little too much and big tears were shed about .05 seconds after that last shot was taken.  Good thing there's a cozy warm house and pretty lighted tree to return to.

The Stockings Were Hung

This weekend, I put up all our decorations (indoor and outdoors) with the exception of the live tree. Since last year, my Christmas decoration stash significantly expanded when my family shipped out all the decorations I still had at my mother's house, which amounted to a rather large plastic tub of ornaments and my collection of about a dozen Christmas-themed music boxes. We also bought a silver tinsel tree at the after-holiday sales, because I have always wanted a silver tinsel tree. And since it's the first question people ask when I tell them we have a silver tinsel tree, no I did not get the lighter spinner to go with it.

Of all my decorations however, there are two there are most precious to me. First is my pair of German Nutcrackers. The soldier I received as a gift as a young ballet-loving girl. I loved it so much that I saved up my money to buy another nutcracker (Herr Drosselmeyer), a year later at a little shop in Eureka, CA we stopped at each year when we visited my great-grandmother for Thanksgiving. It was the biggest purchase I made as a young child and I remember it vividly.

The second, and far more precious, is the needlepoint stocking my grandmother made me.  My grandmother had a tradition of making everyone in the family some kind of needlework stocking. They are detailed and specially chosen and very beautiful. Every spouse and new grandchild or great-grandchild got one - not right away, as they are terrifically labor intensive and finding the right one could take time, but sooner or later, there it was, given with a lot of love and no great fanfare. When my grandmother passed away in 2009, my Aunt took over stocking-making duties for her own grandchildren and in-laws; and while my mother offered to take up the task, I knew I would want to make Little Miss Cleaver's myself.

So for the past 7 months or so, whenever Miss Cleaver takes an extended nap in my lap, I've been plugging away on her stocking. Though I learned how to cross-stitch at a young age, and distinctly remember cross-stitching bookmarks in the pews at church as a young child, I can't say it's my favorite craft. For me, it tends to fall somewhere between soothing and the world's most tedious form of coloring in the lines. But the thought of her hanging it up with anticipation every year makes every stitch and tangled thread worth it.

I'm maybe a third of the way through the pattern at this point, and I certainly know that I won't be done in time for this year (nor will LMC miss it), it feels good to be working on it at this time of year and knowing that I'm carrying on this tradition.

The Magical Time

There are three moments during my pregnancy that I can pinpoint as being irrationally emotional. (I'd have said four, but this music video still makes me cry every time.)

1. A PBS promo where a little girl sees her reflection in an astronaut's helmet;
2. Seeing a little girl getting really excited over seeing Santa at the Disneyland parade;
3. Watching the Radio City Rockettes in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade.

In each of these instances I found myself getting unexpectedly teary (or in the case of #2, full-on crying), so it is perhaps no surprise then, that I have been really really looking forward to sharing the holidays with Little Miss Cleaver this year.

Celebrating our first Thanksgiving was a pure joy. We watched the parade together, shared a lovely meal with Memere and her uncle & aunt, and then LMC took a big nap while the grown-ups watched football.  All in all, I think she did the day pretty darn well. And yes, I got a little teary watching the parade again this year, as it was the realization of a moment I could only dream about a year ago.

Sometimes Mr. Cleaver and I talk about what we want home to be like for LMC and there are a few words that come to mind: safe, warm, loving, and a little bit magical. To me, the holidays are the epitome of all those things and I can't wait to share even more of them with her.

Autumn in Maine

It's no secret that I love Autumn in Maine. Fall has always been my favorite time of year and New England has the best Autumns of them all. And this year I get to share it all with Little Miss Cleaver - which makes it even better.

This year we crammed both of the Cleaver Family fall favorite field trips into one gloriously busy week: the Fair (Cumberland County) and apple picking (Ricker Hill). Miss Cleaver was wide-eyed at all the new things to look at (but not allowed to put in her mouth) and Mr. Cleaver and I loved watching her take it all in. Steinbeck was just happy to be there.

For years now, Mr. Cleaver and I talked about how some day we would take our future children on these annual adventures with us and what a thrill it is to be actually doing it now. We met in the fall and married in the fall (6 years this Sunday!), and the return of the season each year serves as a reminder of how this little family, my greatest joy, made its start. Small wonder that Autumn's my favorite time of year.

PS: Miss Cleaver just turned 6 months old (how time flies!) and mastered sitting the day we went apple picking.

Or should I say, almost mastered?

PPS: Thanks to those of you who voted for the Pride's Corner Drive-In. Unfortunately they didn't win a new projector, but another Maine Drive-In (in Saco) did!

Miss Cleaver's First Beach Day

This Friday I took the day off of work and we took little Miss Cleaver out for her first beach day. We went to my favorite beach, Ocean Park, where I first dipped my toes into the Atlantic nearly 8 years ago to the day. Miss Cleaver found the toe-dipping experience a bit chilly for her tastes.

Being a trio of pale-skinned red-heads we didn't spend too much time on the beach itself, but all in all it was a perfect day with shaded strolls, ice cream with sprinkles (for me), shuffle-board nap time (for her) and a good time had by all. Just in time too, as my little 5-month-has nearly outgrown that bonnet already!

Start 'Em Young

Whenever Mr. Cleaver and I talked about having kids, we talked about how much of we do already is pretty kid friendly (see: apple picking) and how we wanted to integrate Miss Cleaver into as much of what we love about our lives as possible.

As so, as she sleeps a lot still and is pretty portable, Miss Cleaver's been and mostly slept through a number of knit nights, neighborhood walks, trips to visit my co-workers, weekly visits to the local library for story time, and Record Store Day.

This past weekend she got a crash course in Mom's nerd loves as she celebrated (read: slept through) International Star Wars Day, Free Comic Book Day, and a viewing of Iron Man 3 at the Drive-in. (Fun fact: the first time we went to Pride's Corner Drive-In back in 2010, we saw Iron Man 2 - how time flies!)

I know it won't always be as easy or practical to take her along on all these things, but as long it is, we'll be bringing her along.

Blessed Days

Come Friday, Little Miss Cleaver (LMC or Miss C.) will be a month old (well, four weeks). It's hard to believe a) that it's been a month already and b) that's she's only been in our lives a month. The nights are long and the days are short and we couldn't be happier.

I've managed to get in a little sewing, and Miss C. went to her first knit night last week and got tons of cuddles and mom got to use two hands at once. I spend a lot of time just looking at her and thinking how beautiful she is and how amazing it is that she's ours.

I love being a mom to this little wigglebottom.

One Week

So those pictures I posted in my last post with the baby bump? I glad I took them that morning, because less than 24 hours later I was going into labor. Well technically, my water partially broke and I didn't actually go into labor and had to be induced, but by the next evening I was in the hospital working on bringing this into the world.

The afternoon of March 22nd brought 9 pounds and 4 oz of our very own little red-headed girl and we couldn't be more overjoyed, proud, overwhelmed, amazed, everything.

Sometimes I just hold her in my arms and can't believe how beautiful and wonderful it all is and how soft her hair is.

And yes, I've been projectile spit up on and our laundry in the past week has more than doubled and there are a lot of diapers and late night feedings, but it couldn't be more worth it.

Steinbeck has been a very curious but very good big brother and Mr. Cleaver is the absolute best.

I know my life is going to be totally different going forward and I have no idea what to expect, but I'm looking forward to living life with this wee one.

I've debated more about what to call our little girl on this blog than we did on her actual name and I still haven't settle on anything, but it'll come in time I'm sure. Until then, I'm off to cuddle my little one.

A Confession

I have a confession to make. I’ve become addicted to sewing baby clothes.

Teeny tiny adorable baby clothes.

When I started my sewing for the Wee Baby T, I avoided clothes as I didn’t have a good idea of what size babies actually are (still don’t really).

So I made other practical things: some bibs, a carrier, a nursing pillow, a toy or two.

But then Made by Rae came out with the Geranium dress pattern and I was overcome with the cuteness. I downloaded the pattern the day it became available and set about to sewing it shortly after. It sat finished except for the closure for a while (I made several failed attempts at snaps, but need to purchase better snaps methinks), before I finally added some buttons. In the meantime, my addiction lay latent, as yet unknown.

I had intended to sew some more baby clothes, in fact the weekend after we found out the gender I went and bought a bunch of fabric and some patterns for that express purpose, but still I held back.

Then a few weeks ago I was hit hard by the nesting instinct.

It started simply, an envelope tee from Growing Up Sew Liberated. But there was something thrilling about it. The tee was so little! It took such little time to sew! And I had successfully sewn something with knits for the first time!

I started digging through my stash, pattern books, and pinterest to see what else I could make. I came up with the fabric for another tee and started planning for my next projects.

A few weekends and a few trips to JoAnn’s later (and a new found appreciation for sewing multiples assembly-line style), we have all this:

Patterns from top to bottom: Envelope tees from Growing Up Sew Liberated. Geranium Dress from Made by Rae Reversible baby pants from Growing Up Sew Liberated. Baby Tights from Made by Rae Basic Newborn Pants from Made by Rae

And I have more fabric! And more patterns! And more plans!

Who knows what my sewing time will be like in the not-so-distant future, but as long as that babe stays inside, she’s getting better dressed by the weekend. [Note to Wee Baby T: this does not mean you should take this as an opportunity to be overdue] ;)

Bits and Pieces

The nesting instinct is strong in the Cleaver household these days.

Things are beginning to come together in bits and pieces. The nursery got painted this weekend, we've ordered new carpet to replace the mismatched (and smelly!) carpet in all the bedrooms, and have even purchased (or made!) a few things for the Wee Babe. Once the carpet is installed next week, we'll be able to start setting up the nursery for reals, and not just on paper.

With about 9 weeks to go before my due date, it seems both like time is going by way too fast and not nearly fast enough. I've definitely hit the tired and uncomfy part of the third trimester, but there's still so much to do! That said, one thing I've learned to appreciate about this pregnancy is that it's forced me to just SLOW DOWN and rest when I need to, something I've never been terribly good at.

After all, my most important job these days is gestating, and I seem to be doing pretty well there. :)