Gnome Baby Legs

If you're looking for my Baby Legs Tutorial, go here.

Just days before delivering Henry, my sewing/nesting bug kicked in to high gear. While rushing through Target, I scooped up the last two pair of gnome socks... that's right, GNOME socks! I nearly cried tears of joy. C wears the baby legs and I wear the socks. Perfect!

We've always been a bit gnome crazy. (See here, here and here.)My daughter has been bonkers over snowmen ever since she could point and yell, "MEN!" so these baby legs were added to the mix.

We're settling into our new home comfortably...

after all, a gnome means we're home :)

Happy Plaid and Lace Scarf

Here's a scarf that I made as a Christmas gift for my best girl friend. It was inspired by Lera's post here about homespun cotton scarves. (See how much of it we're wearing on Charlotte's birthday?)

Please forgive the reflective flash photography... (this scarf was being sewn in the late night hours just a week after Henry was born, and just days before our big move.) The fabric was simply cut to size, hemmed with vintage, thrifted lace and ribbon bows.

Sorry Julie, but I tried it on before wrapping it up for you.

Turquoise is such a radiant color on my dear friend and this happy plaid just suits her. So does the lace.

I see more plaid scarves on the horizon here. Who can have too many scarves??

A Scottish Themed Bagpipe Birthday Party

It all started, over the summer, when father and daughter stumbled upon 3 veteran bagpipers practicing in a local park. Charlotte was mesmerized when they played,"Amazing Grace". She couldn't stop talking about it. She made her Papa pretend to BE bagpipes while sing-piping "Amazing Grace". We downloaded the song from iTunes. She listens to it constantly. A birthday theme was born.

In our tribute to Scotland for Charlotte's Bagpiping 3rd Birthday, gobs of plaid were worn, Scottish flags of St. Andrew's Cross were flown, shortbread cookies were eaten, our Scottish Terrier ran wild while wellies were thrown and Robert Burns was mentioned while our bagpipe theme song played in the background.

Since we just moved and many boxes are still unpacked, I could not find our printer or blue construction paper. However, I did have 3 Scotch-brite scrubbing pads, ribbon and glue. Here's Charlotte's crafty birthday banner...

We also enjoyed black licorice scotty dog candy from Trader Joe's...

and our own version of Fisherman's Pie for dinner. I considered making tablet, but we're trying to avoid solid sugar food!

Charlotte received a muff from Grandma, who watched her open it via skype. (She hasn't stopped wearing it since.)

Henry slept the whole time.

We participated in a traditional Scottish game called Welly Throwing. Here's how you play:

Take a pair of Wellington rain boots outside.

Throw them.

Enjoy the fun.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Charlotte. I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always. And may all your days be filled with the sweet sounds of bagpipes.

Northwestern Hospitality

Many thanks to Jamie, David & Amelia of Bungalow Bee for their Seattle hospitality. Jamie is a blogging buddy who makes a mean Chicken Tortilla Soup - and insisted on bringing us this delicious meal as we (and our new baby boy) are newcomers to the city.

It was delightful to finally meet Jamie, and her family, in person. We cannot express how much we appreciate their thoughtfulness. It has helped us in the transition of missing the familiar things about our former town and friendly neighbors, to feeling more at home here in Seattle.

Btw Jamie, I think I'll be needing that recipe... this is one of my husband's favorites. And I had seconds :) Thank you, too, for the cupcakes! Delicious. We are so blessed.

We're Here

We arrived at our new home, in Seattle, 11 days ago. (That's us down in the corner.) Even though most of our belongings are still in boxes, we managed to make our way downtown for dinner one evening. (At this point, I still had not been able to find any boxes with pants that fit me - thank goodness for safety pins!) But, since Grandma was visiting and deserved a dinner out - out we went.

We set up a fresh Christmas tree and decorated it. I even managed to make Charlotte a promised Christmas present...Even when a mommy doesn't have time to make anything crafty between moving and a new baby, when her daughter looks up with doe eyes and asks, "Can you make me a purple scarf for Christmas, Mommy?" Who can say no?

I didn't have a pattern. But I recall liking the half double crochet stitch and the shell stitch. Using an "I" hook, I chained 109 stitches, made 4 rows of half double stitches on each side and finished with the shell stitch for the border. At a finished length of 3 inches wide by 40 inches long, the scarf turned out sweet and petite, just like my girl.

Our boy, Henry, is 3 weeks old in this bath picture. He's already changing and growing a bit. But compared to my husband's hands, he is still very tiny indeed. We wish everyone a very blessed and Merry Christmas in celebration of our savior's birth!

He's Here

Henry Samuel was born on 11.30.09 at 8:16 a.m. weighing 8 lbs 3 oz and measuring 19 1/2 inches long. (He was over a full pound lighter than predicted.) He's beautiful and perfect and sweet. He is also beloved by his parents and his big sister...
Here's one last pic of me before we went into the hospital on monday morning...

We were all ready to meet each other. He wanted out as much as I wanted him out. For the most part, things went smoothly. I'll have to update you with the birth story another day because we are all still very tired. And happy.

9 Months

This is my 36 week photo. I'm finally 9 months pregnant - and I certainly feel it. Today was my ultrasound to determine baby's approximate weight. Our "big boy" is definitely big. He's already 8 lbs 1 oz - inside the womb! (This is a 1/2 lb heavier than my daughter was at this stage. She was 9 lbs 11 oz at birth.) So, he's on track to be 10 lbs by my due date. (The doc doesn't want us to wait that long, so a c-section is on the books about a week early.)

Even though most of my time is spent lying down in bed... In the last couple of weeks, my husband and I have put our house on the market, held an open house, accepted an offer, held a moving sale, started packing boxes and celebrated our 5th anniversary. (I went and gussied myself up by removing the Breathe Right strip from my nose before our picnic dinner in front of the fireplace. Why is it so hard to breathe during pregnancy??) My dear H never complains... he even told me that I looked nice.

Here we are saying our "I do's" 5 years ago. Just thinking about this moment makes me feel the same overwhelming joy that I felt that day. (H, you really are the best!)

Over our anniversary dinner/picnic, we talked about how we would never have thought we'd have (nearly) two children, be selling our house and moving out of state (say it like George H.W. Bush here) at this juncture. We may feel a little overwhelmed, but we're happy.

We've also decided to forego being apart in December. We're all making the trek up to Seattle together. We'll be on the road December 10th. The countdown has begun...

The Honeymooners

Today, my husband accepted a job transfer (out of state) to Seattle, Washington.

We are excited about the change that God is bringing in our lives. We are also feeling a bit overwhelmed due to the timing of our move.

December will be a long transition month for us. We have to sell our house, pack everything in boxes, oh, and have a baby. Our second child is due December 9th and my husband must report to work, in Seattle, on December 14th. We will likely be separated for several weeks until I am able to travel up with our children. This may be the hardest part of our journey as we are always together. Since the day we started dating, we've seen each other everyday, except one.

We are especially happy about the city we're moving to, as we honeymooned in Seattle nearly 5 years ago. We're really not beach people... we're more forest-y people. It's a good fit. Now we just have to convince all the grandparents the same thing :)

32 Weeks

Can you hear the sound of my tin cup raking back and forth across the steel bars?? Only 55 days left of this pregnancy - where I feel like I'm doing time. Ok, maybe not San Quentin kind of time, but definitely some kind of county lock up. I'm hoping there will be time off for good behavior.

Due to a mild kind of chiropractic care, nutritional support, epsom salt baths, a pregnancy support belt, nightly back massages from my dear H and lots and lots of prayer, I've been able to get about 6 hours of sleep a night - on average. It is making a world of difference.

When I'm pregnant, I never feel like I'm really in my own body. It sort of feels like one of those giant sumo wrestling suits people put on. See it here. Only you have to add nausea, heartburn, sleepless nights, muscle spasms and what feels like mild internal organ trauma. Yeah, that about covers it.

Even though "I hear the train a-comin', It's rolling 'round the bend..." is swirling through my head, I know this is all worth it in the end. (Johnny can be so therapeutic sometimes.)

* Side note - This week we had a severe wind and rain storm. I watched from my front window as a tree limb fell directly on top of my neighbor's car. Fortunately, no one was hurt. It was almost unbelievable!

Delicious Celery Soup Recipe

Ok, so I'm momentarily out of my slump and ready to post an amazing find... celery soup. I know, I know, it doesn't really sound that exciting, but this is truly delicious.

I'm not a celery girl, but my husband is a celery guy. So, after visiting the local farmer's market this weekend - and coming home with mounds of produce - I needed to utilitze a head of celery. (Can I just tell you first that I'm still giddy about buying 15 pounds of butternut squash for .50 cents a pound?!)

This recipe jumped out at me and I dove in. It was so good that I had seconds... then half of thirds. Here's what you'll need: celery, onions, apples, garlic, parsley, chicken or veggie stock, milk and olive oil. I followed the recipe exactly and can't recommend it enough.

My husband likes chunky soups and I prefer pureed soups, so I made both, at the same time. I just dished up his bowl, then fired up my new hand blender and pureed mine (thus the pic of two different bowls of the same soup.)

Here's my cost breakdown: We purchased two heads of celery for $1, a bag of onions for $2, five pounds of fuji apples for $2... So, for a family of three, this will feed us for two meals. Our per meal cost is roughly $1.75 - for two adults and a toddler!

Mega bonus: it's healthy. I'm positive that we'll be revisiting this recipe even after my strict diet comes to an end.