In the Middle.

I'm in the middle of a lot of things over here.

I'm in the middle of changes.

(my dad will probably be freaked out by this pic... he's absolutely certain that I am actually shrinking.)

Not just physical ones, but every kind you can imagine.

I'm going from 1 daughter to 2 daughters.

Pregnant to delivering.

Sure to unsure.

Unsure to sure.

And then sure to unsure again...

And I cry about everything.

I shouldn't say everything. I cry about unimportant things.

Like commercials.

And Disney movies.

And any little anything that makes no sense to cry about.

FYI: I am so not a crier... so I find this whole crying thing very ridiculous.

At least Parenthood is over for the season... that would've been bad.

And then there's this little girl:

She likes to dress herself in tutus, furry boots, and winter vests to play soccer in the front yard.

In Summer.

And I love it.

I keep finding myself wondering about what she thinks of this whole thing.

She's going through changes, too, you know.

Only child to Big Sister.

Our baby to our first born.

How much does she understand?

I'm glad I don't know everything... that would be way too much to handle.

As much as this new chapter amazes me, it's got to be pretty big for her too...

Right?

I can't wait to see her face when she meets her sister for the first time.

I wish I could record what my eyes see.

That would be cool.

Somebody should get on inventing that.

***

I'm in the middle of moments.

She was mesmerized by this water...

I'm trying to sear every possible little detail I can into my brain lately.

I don't want to leave anything out.

I want to remember what it was like with her.

With just one.

My first little girl who had me all to herself for 2 1/2 years.

I've had my camera attached to my side these last few days,

trying to capture every last snippet of time,

but even then,

I find myself just watching instead.

I just snap a few

here and there,

hoping the rest will stick with me...

I think I like it better that way.

***

I'm in the middle of making memories:

***

I'm in the middle of projects.

A gaZILLion projects.

But good ones.

Ones that I'm glad I'm in the middle of.

There's the Big Girl Room/Nursery, of course.

Almost done.

Really.

And then I will share.

I'm so proud of the patience I've showed by waiting until it's all done...

so you have to be patient, too.

Deal?

Ok then.

Hint: these are for the above-mentioned room.

And then there's these beautiful fabrics that have already been

cut and semi-assembled into a

quilt like this one.

It will be fabulous, don't you think?

I love making quilts for other people and seeing what they pick and choose to reflect themselves.

It's just as much fun as the actual making of the quilt...

And of course there's a couple custom nursery sets in the making...

for friends, family, and strangers alike!

The fabric shows up in the mail every day!

SO much fun I get to have over here.

The UPS man says things like,

"Just a small one today."

or

"Wow, this one's the biggest so far."

***

Changes.

Moments.

Memories.

Projects.

Basically,

I'm in the

middle

of Life.

And that's right where I think I'm supposed to be.

My Sister is a Momma :)

My little sister became a Momma

on May 17th at 4:42 am.

May 17th also marks the 1 year anniversary her hubby returned home from Afghanistan

Baby Cash was 9 days overdue!

He weighed in at 8 lbs, 12 oz and measured 20.5 inches long

I'm so glad he's here and healthy!

Isn't he so cute?

I wasn't able to be there since our due dates are so close together and she's all the way in Texas...

... but she was surrounded by family and people who love her, so that makes me happy.

Mom, Dad and Cash are doing great!

It took so long to post because getting people to actually send photos is like pulling teeth in my family!

And we just happen to be getting ready for a little one of our own..

I love you CJ and I'm so proud of you!

Surprises and Skirts.

I love my job(s).

I get to be a mom.

I get to make things.

And many times I get to make things for other moms.

Yeah, it's pretty cool.

My latest project was for a couple who aren't finding out their baby's gender until THE day!

Oh, how I wish I had that kind of patience/self-control...

I HAD to know.

Both times :)

They went with bright greens and yellows with a little bit of navy and aqua thrown in for fun.

I think it's perfect to snuggle up either a little boy or girl, don't you think?

They really liked the style of the quilt in this nursery set, so that's what we did!

Here's the fabrics used throughout:

Bumper: Dandelion in Lime and Glass Tiles in Lemon

Bumper ties: Quarter Dot in Navy and Leaves in Blue

Crib sheet: Painter's Canvas in Lime

Crib skirt: Ta Dot in Apple w/ Quarter Dot in Navy border

The quilt used all the above fabrics and then we added in:

Honeycomb in Green

and

Large Leafy Stripe in Lime

Measures 45x55" ish, machine quilted, machine stitched binding.

The quilt back was pieced, and binding was Glass Tiles in Lemon.

Heather (and Hubby)- I hope you love your new crib bedding!

I, of course, would LOVE to know if you ended up with a boy or girl when the time comes :)

(because I'm nosy like that.)

And I would obviously also LOVE some pictures of your little lovey all wrapped up...

when you have time.

Of course.

Enjoy!

I've also been busy making clothes for my girlies...

I'm trying to do a lot more handmade this year than I did last year.

And I realized

(while uncovering, sorting, washing, organizing, folding, and kissing, and putting away all of Willow's old clothes for Baby #2)

that Big Sister has absolutely NO clothes.

None.

Well, none that are acceptable for public viewing, anyway.

So I went to work:

I had lots of fun.

No patterns, no plans really, just started sewing and embellishing :)

I used a mix of fabrics: some from stash, some from the scrap bins, some from Hobby Lobby...

(which had some surprisingly good quality fabrics, I might add).

And my favorite part was adding all the little details.

Vintage trims, funky trims, ribbons, jumbo ric-rac, decorative stitching, you name it!

I got a little carried away.

But that's ok, because they're for my little love-bucket :)

I think this one's my favorite:

And I've also been sewing like crazy for the nursery and the baby...

but it's been quite rainy/gloomy these last few days and I haven't been able to take any good pictures so far.

Stay tuned...

Did I Mention...?

Baby Cash is still not here...

I believe that would make him 5 days overdue.

My sister has tried everything in the book.

No luck.

And it's like 100 degrees in Texas.

I just want to see him.

I'm sure she does, too.

And I want her to snuggle him up in these:

Cash's Crazy Quilt

My sister really liked this crib bedding set, so I used some leftovers from that and pulled a few other fun fabrics from my stash to make this one.

I think it's about 30x30"

Lots of AMH prints, some Joel Dewberry, Amy Butler, Michael Miller, Patti Henderson, and even a little Laura Gunn.

Cassian Blue Quilt

And then I wanted a more subdued, sleepy quilt, so I just grabbed a bunch of already cut 5" squares in blues from my seemingly never-shrinking pile of squares.

I love patchwork.

Simple quilts.

I whipped them up in a hurry so my mom could take them with her on the plane.

Yeah, they're cute and stuff, but they'd look WAY cuter with a baby in them!!

COME ON CASH!!!

***

Willow is a computer wizard.

That's right- wizard.

This pic was taken quite a long time ago, but maybe she was a computer whiz then...?

Don't believe me?

For example:

She can scroll, she can double click, and she can 'poof' applications off the menu bar like nobody's business.

She can navigate YouTube.

And by navigate I mean find her favorite videos to watch.

Such as this and this.

And watch them.

And replay them.

And even pause them.

She's eerily good at it.

I don't know how she does it.

I think she just scrolls until she finds what she's looking for.

She can also run Photo Booth like it's her job.

Seriously, pictures 180-371 are all of Willow.

That's 189 snapshots and 2 videos.

Videos.

They are all hilarious.

She even knows how to use the effects.

These are just a few of my faves:

I have no clue how she knows to put your hands up. She's never been on a roller coaster in her life.

The Warhol-esque pics- I love the tongue sticking out...

Her face cracks me up in this one; she found a new effect and she likes.

And this is just too funny. She obviously thinks she's the bomb. And she is.

Oh, and please disregard my trashed fabric storage/studio/dumping ground in the background.

After I saw these pictures it was immediately remedied.

Anyways my point is...

however funny this is, it also scares the crap out of me.

So much so that the hubby and I decided to password protect her out of the computer.

Really.

Just in case you missed that:

We had to password protect our 2 1/2 year old child from using the Mac...

See what I mean? It's scary!

That's not even the funniest part.

No, that would be when she stole my phone the very next morning while I was still sleeping and used it to update my facebook status to 'WTF'.

Not. Even. Kidding.

You think she was trying to tell us something?

Yeah, I think so.

Needless to say, I would never ever post that. Ever.

And thank goodness Drew caught it only about 30 mins after she did it so I could fix it.

Little Twerp.

Oh, and a few days later while I was putting away laundry or something super-fun like that,

I heard the storm door slam shut.

Not good.

That means there's been a security breech.

By the time I got outside

-I'm talking maybe 10 seconds-

I found Willow

stripped naked,

covered in chocolate syrup from head to toe,

flashing our poor old neighbor who was innocently mowing the lawn,

while sticking her tongue out.

I obviously avoided any eye-contact with elderly Mr. James as I swooped my charming daughter back inside.

He probably thinks we're heathens.

And he might not be too far off...

Happy Friday to you all!

The Truth Is...

I've been writing posts in my head.

You see, according to me, I've been keeping up to date with all this blogging stuff.

I need to remember to actually write those mind-posts down so that I can look back and remember...

I write this blog more for me and for my kids and for my wanting to remember all the little stuff.

Willow the (grumpy) carpenter

I don't write a diary.

Although I do have about 15 really pretty ones with about one entry a piece.

I don't have baby books for the girl- soon to be girls- with an 's'.

I know. Weird.

Yeah, don't judge.

All of our pictures are on the computer,

and even though they are backed up,

there's just something about the possibility of losing them that makes

my heart race and my hands shake for just a split second.

And I'm sure my eyes get all wide and scared-looking.

She's dressing herself now... this is tame.

Back to the point... I'm realizing this is how I will keep memories.

I never thought I would be

or ever really even wanted to be a 'blogger'

- it just sounds so... dumb.

Really, it does.

Please don't ever call me that.

However, this is where I get to write, sound off, dish, express, show off, relate, and be me.

And those things are very important.

So, I think I last left off a while ago.

I was recuperating from my daughter.

Ha, that sounds so awful. But true. I really was.

It's been kind of surreal over here.

I can definitely feel a real change happening.

Winter has turned to Spring, although very briefly, and now we're heading into Summer.

I love Summer.

We are realizing that this family of 3 will become a family of 4 in just a matter of days...

We've known this for 9 months, but now it's just so immediate.

So about-to-happen-any-minute.

Rooms are being rearranged to accommodate a Big Sister and a new baby...

The nursery/big girl room is almost done and I can't wait to show pictures

(and brag about my good deals)

No. But really. I found a brand new crib for $29.99.

Not kidding.

And just wait to see what I did with the rest of the room...

Willow is all of a sudden changing from our baby into a little girl.

A girl.

It's this unexplainable transformation...

our little one is growing up just in time for us to add another little one.

Willow's cousin Peyton took this picture. I love it.

Amazing.

And she has a new morning ritual which seriously melts my heart every. single. time.

When the hubby leaves for work, she's right there, ready and waiting,

to chase him out the door so she can give him a

'car smooch'.

She's very particular about how it must go, and he knows exactly how it's supposed to work.

He has to get in the car,

she gets to shut the door for him,

then he has to start the car,

she bangs on the window,

he opens it,

and then she tippy-toes waaay up and he leans waaay out

and they smooch.

Sometimes once, sometimes 3 times.

It's usually Drew who asks for 'just one more time'.

And I get to watch all the magic from the front porch.

I get to see both their faces.

I'm pretty sure it's the best way to start the day in the whole world.

***

Oh, and there was somewhat of a family reunion this weekend on my hubby's side.

Remember Leesburg?

Well, it was kinda like that- but better.

They get better every time.

They really do.

The reason this time,

not that they really need one,

but we all got together for his Aunt Kris' wedding.

And then some.

It included:

Jammied, coffee-fueled mornings.

Way too many kids (and grown ups) on the 'Boing Boing'. (aka trampoline)

Impromptu dress-up sessions accompanied by mini concerts.

Patio talks.

In-depth, tear-streaked conversations.

"When did that happen?"s and "I can't believe it"s about all the beautiful young women that were just little girls last time around.

Lots of laughter.

Lots of love.

Tons of memories- old being relived and new ones being made.

Babies being passed from person to person.

Sharing birth stories.

Anticipating the arrival of new babies...

Oh, and a wedding!

I can't believe it all got smooshed into one weekend.

And since I barely took any pictures (I know- I'm so bummed)- I can just send you here.

And here.

And even here to check it all out.

Thankfully, Drew's cousin Kelle is an amazing photographer and captured every single little moment.

Every one.

I did manage to snap a few, however.

Willow and Peyton :)

And she got to meet her cousins... Lainey and Nella (above with Uncle Tim) for the first time.

They came all the way from Florida.

Willow asked me today if she could take Lainey and Nella to story time today, wearing tutus.

That girl loves her cousins.

Speaking of cousins, the Virginia family all got to meet Baby Gabey for the first time.

He's also known as Uncle Ferguson, Mr. Grunts, Cornelius, Eduardo Fiesta Montego, Creepy Snakes,

and basically any other name BUT his own.

It's this weird thing my hubby and his brother do.

They don't use anybody's real names.

It's very confusing to others, but I find it absolutely hilarious.

Uncle Graham (or Jan, Kelly, Linda, Remus, Darryl, Rita etc.)

has called Willow 'Edna Jo' since birth.

Pretty, right?

Oh, and Francis! He love to call her Francis as well.

And Drew is fond of calling her Fanny, Lady Fanny, Lady,

Ung Lady

(not to be confused with Young Lady- totally different)

Nugget, Silly, Silly Nugget, Chuchumunga, Chuchy... and the list just goes on and on. And on.

I've learned over the years, especially through family reunions, that it's a genetic disorder.

Everybody has a different name.

Even dogs.

Nobody's safe.

***

And last, but certainly not least, my sister Chloë is about to have her baby boy.

I mean, I don't want to jinx it, but her due date was Sunday, so what's there to lose at this point, right?

She's SO over being pregnant.

And SO ready to go into labor.

And SO hot in the 105 degree heat.

My mom's with her all the way in Texas.

And they're just waiting.

Catching up, having fun and waiting.

All without me.

Because I'm due in 16 days.

In typical Chloë fashion,

my sister warned me that if I had my baby before she had hers she would never let me live it down and would always hold it against me.

Forever.

And I totally believe her.

So I will do my best.

And I am SO tempted to show you a picture of her that she just sent me, 3 days overdue.

But I won't.

Because I'm a good sister and I don't want her to hold that against me either.