Renewal

Why hello, it's been awhile! Something about Spring coming, the Lenten season, and all of the changes in our life has drawn me back to this space. Allow me to putter while I clean it up and get my bearings. But for now, how about this picture of the Queen?

For Baby

I am/have been working on a few knitting projects for MaryRose before she is born. I decided to go with purple instead of pink yarn since Ella is so into pink. I felt there should be some other colors in our household! Also I didn't know how to knit when Ella was born, and she has requested I make her a “better late than never” baby blanket after I am done with MaryRose's and that it be made with pink and green squares. It is sort of funny though, since I plan on calling MaryRose Rosie for short, pinks would have been more appropriate for her. Oh well, who knows what she will like anyway, maybe I will be knitting her orange or brown things in a couple of years.

Here is a little hat I finished and an almost finished baby blanket.

The baby blanket story is a little silly. I started knitting a baby blanket with these size squares over a year ago when one of Andrew's nephews was born. I was using three different blues at the time, but the project sort of stalled out at some point. When I found out I was pregnant I decided to finish it for my baby, and I was determined it wouldn't matter to me if I had an all blue blanket and it turned out I was having a girl. I am much too modern and open minded for that. Uh huh.

Well of course she did end up being a girl, and I found out right after I finished up all the squares. But then I thought maybe those two dark blue patches would look better as a purple, just to lighten it up a little. After all I had months left before she was due anyway! And it did look better, but still... it might look even better if I switched out the four medium blue patches for some white. Then it would be such a light looking blanket, perfect for a new baby. And besides, I still had six light blue squares left, which was half the blanket. So then I put it all down next to each other. But that light blue just did not match the purple. Hmmm, maybe another shade of purple instead? So now here I am, three weeks before my due date, frantically trying to finish this purple and white blanket. Hopefully I will find another little baby to give my blue blanket to!

By the way I got both the pattern for the hat(Garter Stitch) and blankets(Patchwork) from Knitting For Baby by Melanie Falick and Kristen Nicholas. It is such a great book to learn to knit by, I couldn't recommend it more. Elanor's blanket is going to be the Harlequin that starts on the same page as the Patchwork.  

Autumn Frolics

A few weeks ago Ella and I went to the Helmer Nature Center's Harvest Festival. It is a tiny nature center tucked into a residential neighborhood. Apparently my father worked there years ago when they were just opening. It was a bit rainy but we had lots of fun!

Ella got her face painted

And she painted a little pumpkin

They had a cider press so Ella got to make her own apple cider!

All that hard work paid off, she had two cups of fresh cider

Ella made a pencil case with paint and stamps

Before we left we stopped to dance to some live folk music

We also had some fun inside the nature center itself. There was a room filled with animals to meet including a squirrel, bunny, crow, tortoise, tarantula, and a big ball python that sat on Ella's lap! We had a really great time, and since it is an annual event I hope I remember to go back again next autumn.

Big Belly

I have not posted in a LONG time, and I have a big belly now to show for it.

Here it is!

My assistant loves to play around in the background when I am taking pictures

We are 98% certain that this belly is growing a little girl baby. We're pretty sure it is not growing a watermelon, although Andrew has his doubts. When I had my ultrasound at 20 weeks she had her legs crossed, but the tech got a cross section of her pelvis and declared her a female. I was not completely convinced, but it would certainly be easier since there is no hope of a consensus on the baby boy names. If she is indeed a girl her name is MaryRose Jennifer Semel-DeFeo. By the way she is not part of the Spanish aristocracy. She may indeed end up resenting us, but I figure that at least it is symmetrical with the double first and last names! And besides, she is such a character all ready she deserves it. This is what she did when the tech asked her to change position during my ultrasound:

That is her knee up by her forehead....

She never did give the poor women the angles she was looking for, but here is a cute one of her brain:

It reminds me of clockwork cogs

When I laughed at her antics the tech told me to laugh away now, I'm the one who is going to be parenting her for the next twenty plus years. Good point....

The Easter Egg Hunt

Happy Easter! Easter makes me think of Spring, new flowers opening, baby animals, and this year, the new baby my family is looking forward to!! We are SO excited to be welcoming a new little person to this world around November 18th. Ella is especially excited, as she has begging for a "sib-a-ling" since she learned how to talk. Well I'll leave it short and sweet for now, so we can all enjoy this "hoppy" day(wah wah wah)!

I wanted to be really sure ;)

Digging myself out

I've decided to post some before and after pictures of my cleaning and organizing endeavors. I'm looking for any motivation really, even at the risk of public humiliation! Its also just pretty cool to see what a difference a day or two of dedication can make.

This is the top of the stairs, and the entrance to our bedroom

It is also known as "The Place Laundry Goes to Die"

Here is my after shot. After I lost track of how many loads of laundry I've done that is.

As you can see, I no longer have to fear losing Ella to the laundry monster and never finding her again!

On to the next project! This one I will call: "Being able to open the dresser drawers again"

Hello 2012!

I love the new year. It always seems like such a hopeful time. The slate is wiped clean, anything is possible. I had the nicest New Year's eve celebration that I have had in  long time last night, so that didn't hurt my mood. There was a group game(which I love, and have gotten at all three major holidays this season!!), counting down, kissing at midnight, champagne toasts, sparklers and a lovely front yard fireworks display. How could we not have a great 2012?!