Happy 1 month birthday Sweetpea

Miss Clella Mae is 1 month old today. She gets more beautiful each day and is changing so quickly. She's almost too tall for her newborn clothes and almost too big for her newborn diapers.

2 days oldToday

She's sleeping so much better and longer than Peanut ever did. It took him about 3 1/2 months to sleep 4-5 hours at night and she's been doing this the last few days. I on the other hand wake up wanting her to wake up and eat for my own comfort, especially after the 4 week growth spurt last weekend. My milk supply increased, but at night there's those long stretches (over 2 hours) of no release and I'm too lazy to wake all the way up and pump.

Her personality is a lot like Peanuts. She's laid back, easy going, and only loud when she needs something. We're so blessed to have 2 kids and no colic, no reflux, no high-needs baby, and no serious problems.

Mike is working some overtime tonight and I'm working in our office area trying to get some stuff done while Sweet pea watches and grunts in her bouncy chair.

TTFN ~ Crys

Valentine's Day Tshirt Sucess

I've had appliqué success today. It's my second attempt at taking a plain tshirt for Peanut and decorating it for a holiday. The first was Thanksgiving which Mom finished the appliqué part so that doesn't really count for me as a success. Well people, if I had an applause sign, I'd be holding it up. After a call to Mom last night wanting to know why my machine wasn't stitching correctly, after trying what she told me, after cussing a lot and quitting in disgust because it wasn't working right, I've achieved victory over appliqué. My fancy Kenmore machine just wasn't stitching correctly so I hauled out my handy plain jane sewing machine that I have downstairs and it worked beautifully. Here's my finished product (and 3 days shy of a month ahead of time ;o)). You can't see the stitching around the heart, but it's there and looks nicely for a first attempt with curves.

My little assistant unthreading my machine. He was sitting so quietly next to me in a chair playing with a magnet and a screwdriver, giggling as I chugged along. He's such an inquisitive child, wanting to know how it works and tries to take apart and put together when we show him.

And I can't post a Peanut picture without a Sweetpea picture. She's a week old in this one, after her first bath at home.

Now I'm off to gather the stuff to sew a purse together that has been cut out since August. Maybe I'll get it finished today, maybe not.

TTFN ~Crys

Some pictures for Mike

Mike's on night 3 of his first week back at 911. He says it's really different from when we were both there, a lot happier place to be, and the benefits are unbeatable. Thank god for government jobs paying 95% of health, dental, and eye insurance. Especially for me with eyes like a bat and teeth full of fillings. It just sucks being a single mom in the evenings, especially at Peanut's bedtime and most of the morning and early afternoon while he sleeps. But Clella and I do get our huge bed to ourselves until he gets home so we have more room to stretch out. (Yes, we are "those" parents...you know the crazy co-sleeping, extended breastfeeding, baby/toddler wearing, delayed/selective vaccinating, positive redirection instead of physical discipline parents, and soon to be cloth diapering parents ;o))

Anyway, Mike wanted new pictures so here they are. I'm a terrible photographer. I'd love to take a class or 2 or 3 to learn more and to get a better camera to go along with those classes, but I just finished school and don't have a burning desire to go back. And I have a sister who is awesome with her camera so I'll just hit her up for some good pictures now that we're both back in Vancouver.

Peanut's angelic smile

Funny face Monkey.

Wet head hairdo.

Big Brother Peanut and Little Sister Sweetpea
Sweet pea in a milk coma.

Clella's face is filling out much quicker than Elliot's did, but she was over a pound bigger at birth than he was. No more please.A grocery bag I whipped up during Peanut's nap time. Uber easy pattern from The Creative Thimble that mom sent me. She always has the best links to free patterns found online. I'm going to make about 5 more so no more plastic bags when we grocery shop.

And finally, my favorite picture from yesterday. Future tree hugger or one of those logger guys who climb up the tree to cut the top portion off.......knowing who and where he comes from, I'm guessing logger guy long before tree hugger.
That's about it from our house. My sewing machine and serger now will be getting some use more than a quick few minutes here and there since school is over. We're friends again...YAY! I didn't realize how much I missed sewing and how much time school took until today. It was so liberating to sit at my sewing area and not feel guilty because I should be doing school work instead. Now if only I could actually get organized at my desk and file the stack of paperwork that calls my name each time I walk by.

TTFN ~ off to finish dishes and watch a show with a bowl of ice cream. Thank goodness for breastfeeding and the sweet sugar cravings it gives me. It makes it guilt-free to eat a bowl before bed when I tell myself it's for Clella's benefit that I'm eating these extra calories....maybe that's why her checks are starting to look chubby like mine.

~Crys

It's for you...

Peanut loves to play with our cell phones. Mostly to push the buttons and then act like he's on an important call when we try to get them back from him. Yes, his shoe is on the wrong foot (without socks, sorry Mike), but I left it on because he put it on all by himself. And he was so proud of it.

This afternoon, the call was for our sweet pea Clella.
Peanut rarely lets us take his picture with just a smile. Mostly, it's a finger, sippy cup, or his tongue in the way, or he turns just as the camera goes off. So, it takes many pictures and lots of frustration because my camera has a delay that makes me miss the perfect picture and I end up with lots of deleted ones. This one was too sweet to delete, the loves of my life.
We haven't really been doing much lately. I'm done with school tomorrow (WOOT!) and have a little bit to finish up this afternoon and tonight. My sewing machine keeps calling my name, but I have so many projects and things I want to start that I have a difficult time sitting down and actually accomplishing anything. Not to mention that our office/my sewing room is a disaster that needs about 3 hours devoted to it to organize, file, put away, and get clean. Ugh, where is my organization fairy when I need her.

And I'm working on Clella's birth announcements. Gotta get that perfect picture taken and then get them printed out and in the mail. I hope to get them finished this weekend, but we'll see how my camera operates.

And some not so good news, Mike has gone back to work at Portland 911. Today is his first day. We've been struggling financially since we moved back up here to keep it from happening, but the Guild just isn't taking off like we figured it would, health insurance rates dramatically increased (but we would of been accepted with another company for a few hundred less than our current company, whew), and the work just isn't coming in for us to afford not having a steady, reliable income coming in. We're hoping and praying this is a short-term fix that will let us pay off debt, build our savings back up, and that the housing slump for Portland/Vancouver area improves so much that work is steaming up our fax and email inbox.

So, while time with all of us together as a family is going to be very limited, I'm so thankful that we each were 911 dispatchers and that the City is short-staffed enough that they didn't hesitate to rehire Mike when he asked. And even asked if I was returning also. That did make me feel good to know they'd take me too, but felt even better when Mike told them that I'll be staying home with our kiddos. If I do have to go back to work, we'll cross that bridge when we get there. For now, I'm going to get some projects finished, get my Etsy store set up, and see if I can get a little income coming in for play money.

TTFN, off to hit the books for one last night.
~Crys

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

November?!

Gah! How can it be the middle of November already and Thanksgiving a week away? Time has been flying by since we moved back home and I feel so behind with not much to show as to what I've gotten done. I did go to the November quilters retreat that I've been going to for the last 5 out of 7 years. It was so nice being away from home with time to sit at my sewing machine and have no obligations nagging at me. I got the top for one present finished, started a wall hanging for myself and then realized I wasn't given enough border fabric in the kit, and am about half-way through making the blocks to a top I started almost 2 years ago. It doesn't sound like 4 days of sewing, but those blocks are time consuming and different from what I normally piece together. I'm also in the middle of rearranging my sewing area to create room for my quilting frame. I need to go get some clear plastic organizers on rollers to sit under my frame to store the stuff I have to take out of the credenza that is moving back down the stairs. I'm so lucky to have a husband who will only roll his eyes at me when I want to move heavy furniture back downstairs when he asked me to be sure I really wanted that upstairs to begin with. At that time, yes, I HAD to have it upstairs. Now, nope, move that baby to the dining area. I also just completed a purse for a friend of Joy's who sent me the fabric and paid me back in July and needs the purse before January. I really wanted to finish it while in Arizona, but just couldn't do it with moving and Peanut. It's a sunny orange stripe fabric that really boosted my mood while I worked on it and it was cloudy and stormy outside.

Here's a few pictures from Royal Ridges where the retreat was. It was a perfect autumn weekend, sunny yet chilly, and tons of crunchy leaves on the ground. Mike and Peanut drove up Friday morning to check out the place and for some of the retreaters to see Peanut again.

My pregnancy is going well. My midwife is very proactive about my care and really into following my concerns and letting me be an active participant in my prenatal care. Very different from my old OB who I really like, but just too doctor-y in her administration of care. We're now into the 32nd week (or just starting month 8) and probably will be going to weekly visits after my 34th week checkup. We have another ultrasound next week to do some measuring and we're still not wanting to find out the sex. Hopefully the technician can get us some good u/s pics without ruining the surprise for us. I went through Peanut's preemie, newborn and 0-3 month clothes today. It's so difficult to look at how big he is now and remember how teeny tiny he was at birth. So tiny that 0-3 month clothes hung off his feet by the inches and the crotch was below his little dimpled knees. Everything is in the washer now and I'll start packing what I need for the hospital in the next few days. We definitely don't want a repeat of the last hospital bag packing where I barked orders at Mike for what goes in the bag while he wasn't allowed to talk, look at, or touch me. And me being stressed and crying because my favorite shirt and pants where dirty and I didn't have time to wash and dry them before leaving. Ahhh, the joys of labor. I'm keeping my fingers crossed this time I'll manage better since I know what to expect, but I'm sure he'll still not be allowed to talk to, touch, or look at me.

And now these are for my mom who has dial-up and I'm not savvy enough to reduce the picture size so she can get them via email. My little sis Dee and her boyfriend Vern in their awesome Halloween costumes.
Can you figure out who they are? I don't even watch the show and know who they are.

Mike is out of town in Seattle tonight. It's either work 2 days in a row up there every other week or drive up at least once a week. Business has slowed way down, enough to cause some stress when we look to the future and all we can do it hope it picks back up. It did this last year in Tucson so I'm hoping it's just the nature of the business and won't last long.

It's time for me to get back to school work. Not having the laptop set up downstairs (cuz Mike has it) kept me from being able to post while Peanut played or ate or watched Sesame Street so I'm behind on my posting for today and have a bit to do now that he's sleeping.

TTFN ~Crys

Halloween Pictures

Blogger is behaving so here's Peanut's Halloween uber sweet costume.

Trick or Treat

Happy Halloween!

We didn't go trick or treating except to my doctor's appointment, our chiropractor appointment, and my sister's house. Peanut is too little to get it and we don't want all that candy in the house. I finally finished Peanut's costume yesterday and it came out pretty darn cute. Much cuter than any dragon costume we would of found in a store or online. Plus most of the store ones are made in China and we're not buying anything out of that country if we can really help it.

Blogger is being retarded so no pictures in this post.

No big news at the midwife appointment today. I really like this one and hope she's on call when I go into labor. She's more in line with the labor that I want to have and agrees that medical intervention is only really needed when it's truly an emergency and not when the doctor's timetable isn't being met.

I'm off to another quilting retreat tomorrow so I'm off to pack my sewing stuff and some clothes.

TTFN ~Crystal

Seagulls, Seals and Sunshine!

Long time since I've sat down to post, Crystal has been doing them lately, and shes just as busy as I am chasing after the monster. So, here goes.

Saturday September 29th through October 6th, Crystal, Elliot and I went down to Seaside, Oregon
View Larger Map to spend sometime relaxing and enjoying some time off. It was Elliot's first trip to the beach, and thanks to a little help from the big guy, the weather was fantastic! The forecast had called for rain the entire week we were to be down there, but not to be turned down, we set off anyway. Saturday and Sunday after our arrival, it was indeed raining off and on, but not to bad. The rest of our visit, perfect sunshine, weathermen are like doctors, you go to school for years on end, screw up at your job, and still find yourself employed, amazing.

Crystal's sister Dee, her boyfriend Vern and Dee's daughter Taylor came down on Saturday and spent the day with us, then had to get back for work so they left late Sunday afternoon. It was fun having them with us, just sucked they had to leave so soon after getting down there. We were alone just the 3 of us after that for the entire visit.

We went down the boardwalk to what they call an Aquarium, it was more of a hole in the wall with a small stinky tank that you could feed fish parts to seals. Took all of about 5 minutes to walk through the place once you were done feeding the seals, but it was cool none the less. One of the seals had managed to squeeze itself up onto a very thin shelf inside the tank and stare at Elliot and I as we threw food into the tank. I don't know if it was a male or a female, but I named it Shirley anyway, not sure why, just did. This is her/him, doesn't it just look like a Shirley?


After that, it was time to take Elliot out and see the great pacific NW beach front. Thankfully, the weather was great and welcomed us into the sunshine. The seagulls were of course every where. Once they see, or think they see that you have food, they are on you like white on rice. Make sure your sound is on.



This is the view of the beach from our room at the resort.


After bumming around on the beach, it was time to head down Main St. and see some of the shops. Dee's daughter Taylor went on the merry go round with Vern, and Elliot decided he wanted to go too, but not with out a protest first.

Being the softy that I am, it was time to head to the front of the line to pay the man and get us a Merry-GO-Round ride!!! YEEE HAAA! Gitty up you plastic POS horse!


He was then back on speaking terms with me, and the rest of the day we had lots of fun. It was then time to head back out onto the beach, we chased more Seagulls
Played with the brand new sand bucket, his enthusiasm died off when he caught sight of yet another Seagull, Dad's obviously did not.



Then the greatest invention since the sippy cup, SWINGS!!!!


We took a short drive down to Cannon Beach, Oregon

View Larger Map

so Crystal could go and check out a quilt shop, then up the road from there to check out Ecola state park. There was a fantastic walk way out onto the point here where you could see the rocks of Cannon Beach (Featured in the smash hit, and personal favorite movie Goonies) Way out in the distance you could see a lighthouse, I'd hate to have to be the guy that had to paddle his butt all the way out there back in the days before the motor boat!






After days of awesome sunsets, it was time to take one last walk on the beach, snap a photo of the resort, and head back to the hustle and flow of the big city again. We had a great time, and can't wait to get back down there. There's just something about the pacific ocean that gives you that feeling.



Hope everyone is doing well.