photo of house from listing, pretty close to what it actually looked like when we bought it

snowshoeing in late fall with the little bug

Sigh. I had plans. So many plans. I don’t regret that I have spent the last year cuddling a baby with big cheeks, and singing the same bedtime song every night, watching Lars throw our child into the air to make her squeal with delight, wiping boogies and poop, and hanging fresh clean diapers on the clothesline in the morning sun, waiting in the car for a much needed nap to revive a sleepy mama and baby pair, or all of the other mundane, trivial, frustrating and joyful daily happenings of parenthood.

I happened upon the blog maus + nugget today. It resonated with me. It’s sort of how I imagined this blog would go this past year. Somehow reading it (lets be honest I actually scanned it in my mama “I don’t have time to to anything thoroughly and I need to do it fast because I won’t have time later and she’ll wake up in a minute and I still have to go to the bathroom” mode) made me feel better. I guess relating to someone else is almost as good as following through with my plan to write and share.

I do regret that I let myself go so long without blogging because it signals to me that I have not made time for myself. I mostly write for myself and for that feeling that I’m sending my thoughts out there which somehow connects me to a community of people. I feel like I really needed community this year. And I think I’ve started to find it, but it’s never the same when you have left people behind that you really care about. Tear, I still miss you Portland friends.

Our little life has changed this year in so many ways as you can read in the ‘about’ blurb. So, I’m changing gears and turning this into a photo blog. Funny, since this is so wordy. Mostly photos about the house but also about us, our little bug and turning this old house into our home.

Next up, the house.

So I guess it was silly of me to think that I would have so much time to sit around and blog as soon the baby came. She arrived two weeks after the “due date” healthy and strong, weighing in at 8lb 3oz. Lars took this photo on day five and it seems like such a long time ago now. Our little one is 11 weeks old today and well over 13 pounds and 23 inches, that puts her in the 90th percentile for height and weight.

I can’t make any promises, but I do hope to be back soon and give some updates on the wee one and the wee nest (there are many new changes to relate).

I love sharing photos (and I know that I can’t get enough of other peoples baby photos) but we don’t feel comfortable sharing a lot of personal info and photos on public sites so I am sorry to deny you of your baby fix today. Hope the cute feet can hold you over. However, for family and friends that know us, we have posted photos of the babe on my flickr site. You need to be my contact to see the set. If you are not already a free flickr member it’s pretty easy to join.

Go to flickr

1. create an account

2. find my photostream

3. add me as a contact (right under ‘Tangled Fleece’)

send me a little note when you request to be a contact so I know that I know you.

(I’m still orienting myself with the new camera so the pictures aren’t as crisp as I hoped, and there are more views of the birds on Flickr)

I finished the mobile and it is even hanging up. We put it over the crib even though we aren’t planning on using the crib right away. It doesn’t have a mattress yet and is full of stuff right now like our bags for the birth center and other random baby things that haven’t found a place yet. But since the crib is in the main kitchen/ living space we all get to enjoy it.

I was a little hesitant to make this mobile (from Spool) since it is so popular and I have seen it on so many blogs (that’s the part of me that want to be original and different) but I really like the pattern and the use of the sticks in the mobile. I have always liked mobiles a lot and I have some ideas for other mobiles that I would like to make. We could either have a mobile in every room, or rotate the mobiles periodically, then they would always seem new and interesting to the little one.

(This is the baby’s view)

I’m still here and so is the belly. I have lots of updates on projects and organization but they haven’t translated into pictures yet, and I can’t seem to post if there isn’t a picture to go along. I feel like I should have so much time now that I’m not working but there are always lots of little things to do, appointments to go to, and much needed time together with Lars while we still have it. Although I have many things I would like to do and finish (like the mobile, sewing the diaper pail bag, finishing the sling, preparing Christmas gifts…) I would be okay if baby decided to make it’s way into the world any minute now. I’m not in pain or terribly uncomfortable (although pregnancy isn’t exactly comfortable either) but I’m ready to get the show on the road and start getting back to some state of normalcy of my body. Maybe the definition of normalcy will forever change for me but it wouldn’t involve a pressure cooker belly or a person doing a head stand on my bladder.

Now that I have broken the long absence of blogging I hope to make a few more appearances in the days to come if I am not preoccupied with an infant.

I bought this fabric when I found it at one of my favorite fabric stores after much searching. I first saw it on a handmade item in a store, in fact I think it was a similar kind of burp cloth sort of thing. Anyway, I love the print and bought a yard without a clear plan of what I wanted to do with it. Since I think it can be really easy to go over board with the cutesy factor when you are dealing with a baby in the house I wanted to use it for something that we would use and appreciate but not something like a diaper bag or sling that would get everyday use (and really end up as more of an adult fashion object). Burp cloths seemed like the perfect choice since they will be used often and for many uses. Since these are so fancy, I think they will be the diaper bag pick for going out on the town with baby. And I think this print is sort of a sophisticated cute, I would have bought this fabric sans baby. Of course we have many more less fancy burp cloths and rags to use for the many absorbency needs we anticipate too. The opposite side is a really nice cotton terry, it’s so very soft.

I wish there was better light today but it turned out to be cloudy so my photo is blurry. This is the big change for preparing the bedroom for baby. (See other views of the bedroom on the apartment page) I found the changing table on the curb a few months ago. It was covered in cobwebs and dirt, a little rickety at the joints, and some of the legs were rotting off. It seems that the changing table had been outside for a while, maybe as someones potting bench. Oh yea, the horizontal platforms were also missing and there was some minor pealing of the varnish.

Sine the bedroom is already full of furniture (bed, hutch, sewing desk, bookshelf, nightstand) I thought that painting the changing table would make it look like a purposeful thing to add to the room. I also think it makes it look more modern which I like, and adds color. I like a lot of colors, but decided on green since it goes well with all of the earthy colors I like, and might go with the red log cabin quilt Lars and I are making if we ever finish it. I was thinking of a spunky kind of green like chartreuse. Not too bright but crisp.

However, I picked out the paint color at a small eco buisness that sells Metro paint and Metro only has 15 colors to choose from. I could have gone somewhere else to buy paint, but at the time it seemed like a better option to give them our buisness and use a recycled paint. Metro paint is also pretty cheap compared to conventional paint, and much cheaper than other low VOC paint. I also thought that this color would be closer to one of the colors on the quilt on our bed. Turns out it’s that baby green color-  the color everyone keeps telling me I have to have on everything since we don’t know the gender of our baby. I actually think almost any color is appropriate for a baby of either gender, and I don’t think babys have to be surrounded by pastels either.

Anyway, I’m getting more used to the color and I know it will be a big pain in the butt to paint it again. All of the repair and painting credit goes to my parents who fixed it up (Lars helped paint too). It’s a really nice piece of furniture now and very sturdy. We don’t plan on using it as a changing table since we need to storage space and we have a big bathroom counter. And since we are planning on using cloth diapers it will be nice to keep the (exposed) poo in the bathroom and not right by our pillows.

This was one of the bigger changes or additions to our space (I’ll get to the other changes later) and am very grateful for the help fixing it up. We probably could have done it ourselves, but we don’t have as many tools so I know it wouldn’t have been as nice if we had done it without help. The part I was really looking forward to was organizing the baby things to put on it. That was satisfying to organize and makes me feel like I’m doing something to get ready. We only have the birth-3months clothes (plus hats, socks, and a few other things) in the baskets so far, but there is more space on the table. Now we just have to figure out where to put all of the other two tubs full of baby clothes and blankets that Grammy has picked up for the wee one.

This is really the only designated baby space in our apartment as far as decorating, although there is evidence of baby in every room already. So I changed out the pictures in the frames and put up the gnome-house hooks.

I guess I’m at that point where it’s a little more obvious that I am indeed with child and not just chubby in the belly. I’m also in a spot where a lot of (non-stretchy) maternity shirts are way to big but my own (again non-stretchy) clothing is busting at the buttons. That makes it hard for work when I feel like I shouldn’t wear a t-shirt every day. I wore this outfit on Thursday, and had so many people try to touch me. Really, when was the last time you rubbed a strangers tummy? I guess there’s something biological (for many people but not all) about being drawn to the belly and knowing there is something cute inside that makes them forget normal boundary rights.

The best comments so far I’ve had from the younger folks I work with include: “what’s wrong with your stomache” and “can I touch you? I heard on tv that they make noise” (at least the kid thought to ask)