Happy New Year!

2007 is almost over and it's been quite a year for us. We just hope 2008 is as blessed as 2007 was for our little family. This is mostly a post of pictures and wishes for a happy new year to all our friends and family. I'm exhausted after being home alone with Peanut and Clella from 4am (when Mike left for Seattle) until about 4pm. We made it through much better than I anticipated we would. A few meltdowns because Peanut isn't allowed to sit in front of the fridge with the door open and he can't have more than one package of goldfish crackers a day and his were all gone waaaay before he was ready this afternoon. We did watch more TV than I care to admit, but it was a survival technique after his much too short nap. This is the biggest crappiest part of being self employed...no FMLA or paid leave off. The week and 1/2 Mike was able to take off thanks to the holidays just wasn't long enough.

A couple posts ago, I mentioned I was making some Christmas presents. Well, here they are finally. I was pretty proud I was able to get them all finished prior to Clella being born. I'm already thinking of what I can make for next year.

Front of a purse I made Mom as a thank you for watching Peanut one night so we could go on a little dinner cruise with our dear friends, the Idiots ;o)

Back of Mom's purse. Such a super easy pattern that I whipped this up in an afternoon while Peanut "helped" me.

Stocking hat and scarf for my niece Taylor.

Stocking hat and scarf for my oldest niece Ashlee. It's the same colors as Taylors, not sure why my camera didn't have the flash go off. I must need a new one.

Stocking hat and scarf for my niece Amanda.

Wall hanging for my MIL Joy. I have enough fabric to make 1, probably 2 more, once school is over.

And I made a purse for our niece Kelsie, but forgot to get a picture of it before giving it to her. I'll have to take one next time I see her. It turned out really cute.

Beautiful Clella Mae 2 weeks old today.

Peanut and Mike opening presents from his Grandparents in Arizona. He loves the beach basket.

Awesome Mater cross stitch Joy did for Elliot. He kept trying to pull Mater off the picture to play with him.

Uber cute hoody Joy knitted for Peanut. He's not too happy in the picture, but the cuteness of the sweater makes up for it.

And I had to post a happy face picture of Peanut. The pointing is part of him waving Hi or Bye depending on what you say to him. Or could be a message to move my arse from in front of the TV.

TTFN ~ off to nurse Clella and then to pass out in bed.

Happy New Year! ~Crys

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas wishes to our families and friends.

Clella Mae...

Born December 17th at 1:04 pm, 6 lbs, 8 oz's, 19 inches long, all her fingers and toes accounted for. Mom and Baby doing just fine. More to come.

35 weeks

YAY! 35 weeks already gone by in this pregnancy. Time is going much faster with this baby than with Elliot. It weirds me out a little to think in 2 days, I'll be just as far along as I was when I went into labor with Peanut. For the most part, the last minute things to do to get ready are done. I ordered the new car seat today and it should be here within a week and then I'll put the base in the car. I finished the list of the last minute items that have to go in my hospital bag, and packed the baby's bag. I even emptied a drawer in my dresser for baby clothes and sorted through Peanut's newborn clothes for anything that is unisex for this baby. And they've been washed, folded, and put away. We haven't bought any new furniture for this baby and probably won't for at least 6 months. I'd love to get a glider chair for upstairs and a dresser for downstairs that can be used as a changing table/baby stuff storage, but they're not a priority right now.

I've even done some Christmas shopping online and have made or started to make 3 of the 6 presents that are handmade this year. One has the sewing portion done and just needs some embellishments, and another needs about 2 more hours of TV time when Peanut goes to bed to be completed. I'd post pictures, but the recipients read our blog and I don't want to ruin their surprise so after Christmas I'll put them up.

It feels good to be crafty and crafting again. I finished my last 6 week course a week ago and that freed up a little time in the day. I still have 5 more weeks of my last 2 classes and then I am DONE with school. I tuned up, cleaned up, and played with my Simplicity sewing machine last week and it's now my downstairs machine I can use while Peanut is playing. He's getting better about not touching, but still likes to be right there watching and wanting to help with the buttons and moving the fabric. But now he's more easily distracted by his bike and the cat so I do have some sewing time while he's playing nearby. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the new baby will be just as easy as Peanut was and is and that nap time will be often enough to be able to keep on top of what I've started already.

We dog-sat my parents dogs Saturday night so they could go out of town for a Christmas party. Elliot loved having them here, but our cat did not. She ended up upstairs until well after they left Sunday afternoon.


And Peanut's turkey shirt was his Thanksgiving day shirt that I added the turkey to and Mom finished for me, but it still fits and is long sleeves. It was a cold weekend and he didn't care what was on the front of it. We'll probably keep putting it on him until it doesn't fit any longer.

That's it for now. I'm off to do some business paperwork and then drag my school book open again for some boring reading.

TTFN ~ Crys