Curly & Bee

I thought the stark contrast between this photo and the two from my previous post was worth sharing. (Scroll down a bit to see that post.)

The snow started falling on Sunday and has been going off and on since. Bee’s been home from work Monday, Wednesday, and again today since snowy Seattle roads aren’t always the best. OK, they usually suck and most people avoid them if they can. I ventured out in the car yesterday without any problems, but today we’ve had freezing rain mixed with snow since about 5:30 this morning. It might be one of those days to just curl up on the couch with a blanket and a movie.

It is January 9th and the flowers in one of the pots on our porch are blooming. It makes me smile.

My brother Neil and his wife Courtney wanted to take their one year old daughter to the mountains to play in the snow (for the first time, I think) and invited us to come along with them today. I dug out a snow suit that I inherited from the wonderful family that I worked for up until a week and a half ago (they gave me all the baby gear and little girl clothes they don’t need anymore) and we set off to the mountain pass.

When we got there they realized they didn’t bring any shoes for Ezra so we improvised. First she had on her dad’s gloves with plastic bags tied on over them to keep her feet dry, but they didn’t stay on very well. Then I realized that my gloves cinch up around the wrist and across the back of the hand, and are also waterproof. They stayed on her feet much better and kept them nice and dry. Ezra looked like a funny little monkey, but she did an amazing job walking around.

Video of Ezra with gloves as shoes.

She had a great time playing until she got cold and hungry, at which point it was suddenly game over and we headed back to the car. She had a snack and all was right in the world again.

On the drive home I was giving her some cheddar bunny crackers to munch on, and eventually she took one and hid it under the blanket that was on her lap, then held her hand out for another. Bee fished the cracker out and handed it back to her and she promptly put it back under her blanket and held her hand out again. I gave her one, which ended up with the other cracker in her secret stash. She was all smiles, and I think she knew it was a pretty funny little game she had invented and she kept it up for a little while. She’s so funny! We love living so close to them and seeing them so often. Thanks for a good afternoon!

In early 2010 I bought a sewing pattern for a bag (Amy Butler’s Birdie Sling), which I intended to use as a work bag. I finally bought fabric for it in early June when my mom was visiting, which is exactly when I found out that I am pregnant and spent the next 12 weeks feeling horribly ill and tired. Between working and dealing with pregnancy, I just didn’t have the energy or ambition to get started on my bag, so the project sat on my sewing table for several months. Eventually, I started cutting out pattern pieces, but halted when it came time to cut out all the interfacing. It was just a lot of cutting.

The Thursday before Christmas was my last day of work and by the end of the next week things had slowed down enough that Bee and I had an entire day at home by ourselves, so I started working on my bag. Once I started sewing I was amazed at how fast it went together. Now I have a finished bag that is the perfect size for toting around baby essentials, though I had not originally intended to use it for that purpose. Hooray for finished sewing projects!

Bee’s mom has a tradition of making a baby quilt for each of her grandchildren. They’re always bright and colorful and are well loved. She wanted to get an early start on the quilt for our baby and since we’re not finding out if we’re having a boy or a girl until this little monkey gets here, she couldn’t pick gender specific fabric. I suggested bright primary colors, and am absolutely delighted with the fabric she decided on. I love the bright colors against the black background – they really pop out! She did a post on this quilt a while back, with more details and pictures. Here’s the link. http://bewareoftherug.blogspot.com/search/label/Quilts”>http://bewareoftherug.blogspot.com/search/label/Quilts

I am quite sure that this quilt will get a lot of use. Thank you, Laurie!

Over Thanksgiving weekend, my mom and sister-in-law threw me a baby shower. My sweet sister-in-law, Courtney, knew that the vast majority of my family and friends won’t be able to make the trip over the mountain pass in January or early February to attend a baby shower here, so she asked if I would like one while we were all at my parents’ for Thanksgiving, since most of the extended family is there. I readily agreed and my amazing mother sent out invitations, provided the house, and prepared all the food.

It was great to have a chance to see so many of the women in my family and eat the delicious quiche that my mom made fresh that morning. Our baby is already spoiled by all the wonderful gifts he or she got at the shower. Homemade blankets, burp cloths, nursing pads, scrap books, and puppets. Some of my favorite children’s books, clothes, a gift card, diapers, a cloth diaper cover (I’ll be buying more with the gift card), nail clippers, diaper cream, a play mat, and just for good measure a sweet figurine for me.

Thank you to everyone!

All the gifts were amazing and thoughtful, but I have to point out one in particular. I have very fond memories of playing with the adorable little animal finger puppets my aunt crocheted for me and my siblings when I was quite young (she may have made them before I was even born). I was so touched when I opened the gift from her and found a cloth bag filled with a set of 16 finger puppets. She also gave me the book Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? and pointed out that there is a puppet for every animal in the book!

I also have to point out the wrapping job that one of my brothers did for the gift he and his wife gave us, which he was quite proud of. He said it would probably be the best-wrapped gift there. Note the brown paper and use of duct tape. It was perfect. And sitting next to me is the aunt that made the finger puppets.

Each autumn, I know that Thanksgiving is approaching when my Christmas cactus begins to bloom. The flowers are a brilliant pink, and I love how detailed they are and the stark contrast in color between them and the dark green of the rest of the plant. On Saturday, I walked by the living room and noticed that Bee was taking pictures of it, which made me smile, because I love the photos he takes of flowers. He has a knack for that particular kind of photography.

This morning as I was thinking about the holiday that is quickly approaching, I realized how grateful I am for my husband. He is my best friend and there is no one I would rather be with. Saturday evening while we were in the car, running some errands, we talked about how after two and a half years of marriage we actually like each other even more now than when we were dating. Considering divorce rates in our country, that sort of thing doesn’t seem to be the trend in our society. We definitely made the right decision. I love you, Bee.

I’m also grateful for extended family – both mine and Bee’s. This year has been particularly hard for Bee’s family. It seems that they’ve been dealt one challenge after another, starting with the sudden death of his father in May. We’re looking forward to 2012 with the hope that it will be a better year. But through everything, I’m amazed at how gracefully and optimistically they are dealing with it all. I’m blessed to be a part of their family.

I realize that I have an abundance of blessings to be grateful for this Thanksgiving season.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

A month or two ago I was talking to a friend and she told me that during her third trimester of pregnancy her “morning sickness” came back. She was completely blindsided by that turn of events, as it is usually assumed that the nausea is confined to the first trimester. I silently hoped that my own “morning sickness” (put in quotes, because as we all know it is not confined to just the morning) would not come back.

Sometime during this past week, at 26 weeks pregnant, I started to feel slightly queasy in the mornings. Crap! After a brief bit of investigating, I discovered that many women begin to feel queasy again right around the 27th week. Although I don’t feel anywhere near as bad as I did for the first 18 weeks of pregnancy, it’s a little discouraging to be going through this again.

It is now 4:17 on Sunday morning, and I have been up for an hour and a half. Having woken up at 2:45 needing to use the bathroom (a nightly occurrence over the past six months, although I usually make it to about 4am), I was unable to get back to sleep due to the uneasy feeling in my stomach. So I got out of bed again to eat a snack, knowing that should solve the problem or at least make it a little better.

I took the opportunity to catch up on blogs of family and friends, which I love reading, and am now hoping that I will be able to get a few more hours of sleep before it’s time to get up for church.

I bought a pumpkin a couple of weeks ago and we finally got around to carving it today, the day before Halloween. Bee named it Gourdgeous.

I cleaned it out, which I enjoy and Bee finds a somewhat disgusting task, and he used his superior knife skills.

Happy Halloween from Bee, Curly, and Gourdgeous!

Last night, I was stung by a bee.

In the car, while my Bee was driving.

I was stung by a bee in the dark at 7pm in mid-October in the car on the side of my leg just below the knee.

Under my jeans.

I pulled the stinger out and found the guilty bee, so there’s no doubt it was a bee sting.

What are the chances?