A Little Deer

I have been busy being sick and making space

So I got pneumonia last week and a lovely case of sinusitis, so that's why there were no posts last week. All better now and I wanted to show off all that I have been doing...making a space for the boys to share (Gabe was so excited!). So far so good...all my fears about having them share a space haven't really come to full blown fruition., I hope I'm not jinxing myself.

I have also been on this furniture painting kick...3 pieces in the last 2 days. More to come and yes of course I'll be sharing! I think having so many half-done projects around the house have been driving me crazy. I'm on a mission to complete most tasks start to finnish before moving on to the next...it's hard not to multi task but the payoffs are HUGE. So yeah onto the pictures...

 

 

 

 

 
 
 
 

Make Space

 I have a moment to myself today (bliss!), as both boys are napping! Oh how I LOVE when that happens. So with a cup of tea nearby, I'm able to let you in on my thoughts today. It's exciting stuff.

I was gently reminded by Hannah last night in our session about making space. Making space to let the universe unfold and do what it does best. 

Dreams don't happen by themselves, so I'm using my meltdown about being a stay at home mom as my catalyst to get moving on them. I begin my process of interviewing potential in-home daycare providers tomorrow so that I can get two days a week of uninterrupted creative time to get my business back up and running. I have been feeling this pull so strongly for months. There were a few things holding me back, fear of failing, leaving the boys with someone else, all sorts of what-ifs, making sure childcare wouldn't be a financial strain, as well as the logistical side of things. 

Where was I going to work? Right now my unused art supplies and sewing machine are collecting dust in a corner of Judah's nursery. I just don't have the funds for an outside studio space (yet!), so David and I finally decided to have the boys share a room, so that I can have a space to work and spread out and not worry about little hands getting into things. I was pretty apprehensive about having Judah "invade" Gabe's space, but we have always wanted them to share a room, it's plenty big and he is pretty much sleeping through the night now.  So with a deep breath and with David's help we are going to make a studio for me and a shared bedroom for the boys. 

We need to make space for our dreams, the universe will not answer our call if we don't lay the proper groundwork first. Make Space. It's my new mantra.

A nice reward...after all the work

 David and I worked hard this weekend to make a new garden out of a pile of dirt.

 There were.so.many.rocks. There still is but at least it's manageable. 

  I wish I had a before the digging picture, the garden looks completely different than it did and I love it even more now. We still have to get some bigger shrubs and add pavers to the path as well as fill in with more flowers. You can never have enough flowers....and herbs. I'm planting those today! 

 Phew! I'm taking it easy today and I find myself staring out at the garden admiring it every time I pass by the picture window. The perfect reward.

Lessons from a 4 year old

 I'm a multi-tasker. I PRIDE myself on how well I can juggle a few household tasks at once. I can figure out how to fold laundry, boil water and feed the dog as quickly as possible with as few missteps as possible. I LOVE to make lists and see how many tasks I can get done in one day. Efficiency was my friend. How can I wash diapers, clean the kitchen and feed the kids simultaneously? I'm this mom tornado on my "good" days.

Having Judah has changed so much for me. I can hardly get anything done these days it seems. He is so different from Gabe and wants to be held all the time or he will literally scream until you do pick him up. There is only so many things you can do one-handed! Can I add in that this kid is at least 20 lbs if not more? My arms ache sometimes and yes, I have tried baby wearing and we do a lot of that out and about the city but not as much in the house because it really limits my mobility to do tasks that require bending and reaching high and, well, he still cries. 

I have been reading this book and the author talks about how you really have to stop trying to be so efficient and just do one thing at a time and be present in it. Enjoy it even. I read it nodded my head saying "yup thats a great idea", but not really committing to the philosophy of it. Which brings me to the real point of my story...

The boys and I were at the library the other day to return books that I had gotten through the inter-library loan on-line (so efficient!) and Gabe wanted to go to the children's area to play and perhaps bring home a few books. I was so tired from lack of sleep I sat down in a chair to nurse Judah and told Gabe that he would have to go find books by himself. He came back with two and them decided to bring only one home. I asked "Are you sure you don't want more" and he nodded that, yes, one was all he wanted. It seemed like such a waste to go to the library for only one book but off we went to the checkout desk. On the way out to the car the gears started turning in my brain and I had an "aha" moment.

One thing at a time IS a good thing. Gabe wanted to enjoy this book without any pressure to read any others during his time with it. It wasn't about trying to read as many books as he could in his allotted time. These confines that we put ourselves in as adults everyday with almost everything we do didn't apply to him. It was beautiful. Lesson learned...from a 4 year old. 

 Since then I have really been trying to take what I read in the book to heart and accomplish only one thing at a time. Do it until it's complete before rushing off to the next thing or stopping in the middle to do something else. This all happened last week and I'm happy to report that I have actually been accomplishing more and my house does seem a bit more organized with less half finished tasks starting me in the face. My head isn't spinning from my very often dizzying list of to-do's. 

Thank you Janet Luhrs and thank you Gabe.

A new beginning

 

Judah, my sweet new babe born 9/23/09 (10 days late)

 Oh hello there!

Wow, It's been SUCH a long time. There was a time where I really didn't think I would be back to this spot. A lot has happened since June 2009.  A LOT. I'm a different person because of it but I feel like it more important now than ever before to have this space to share with you. I can't wait to update you all and share my new discoveries. I'm SO excited to open this space up again! 

I'll be sharing again soon! 

XO, Stephanie

P.S. WHOA! I have some serious redesigning ahead of me for this blog. I want it to look so fun and pretty and this whole new typepad is pretty overwhelming. I'll be asking for some help in a few days if I can't figure this out for mysef. Bare with my while I update everything for your viewing and reading pleasure!

Howdy...

Popping in to say hello. 

I'm in full nesting mode and have been pouring over baby sites to look at clothes and what not. Haven't bought anything yet though, but my fingers are getting itchy. We set the crib up and I have pulled out Gabe's old clothes and sorted through to find the ones we will use. It's amazing how annoying I find some of the old stuff now. I'm only keeping the plain ones, anything with a stupid animal or sports saying on it is on the way to the consignment shop! I'm even going through Gabe's current clothing and ruthlessly editing. I have David a little worried.

 I'm also freaking out about other things in the house...we NEEDED to purchase a cute tabletop water fountain and I HAVE to dye the bedroom curtains...again. We HAD to purchase a new quilt for the bed and I have a whole other laundry list of stuff we have to get/make to make the house "better" before the baby comes. For pete's sake it's only 12 weeks away! 

Your with me right?

I keep having crazy dreams about what cloth diapers to buy and being a back-up dancer for Hannah Montanna. What does that MEAN?!

I also have found out that I like to dust at 10:30 pm and buy baskets for organizing god knows what. 

In short...I'm having fun.

A pat on the back...

Oh happy day! I actually made progress on the studio. You could seriously not see the floor with all the crap everywhere. 

We are off to St Lucia for a week (sans the potsticker) and I wanted to come back to a place I could actually work in. I even hooked the printer up. I haven't had a working printer here since we moved...in December! I was finally able to finish printing out all the family pictures to put in the empty frames above our couch that have been there since oh...February? 

So what do yah think? I have some more organizing to do in the shelves to the right. I plan on making a mini-curtain to hang over the shelves to hide the clutter. I am also going to cover the top of the table with some oil cloth and make a skirt for the bottom of the table to cover what I'll end up stashing under there. 

See that BIG box under the table to the left. That's filled with scraps of fun fabric that I plan on making into "packs" to sell in the shop for a very reasonable price. Oh what's that I have a shop? Well come June I'll start stocking it again and I'm kinda psyched about it!

I'm really liking the fact that I have had to majorly downsize the space I work in. I really love to purge. See how small my fabirc stash is!? I'm trying really hard to be super organized, not easy for me. I think my favorite part are those hanging basket from Ikea. I'm one of those people that needs to be able to see everything in front of me or I forget it's there. They are PERFECT for that!

Ok enough gushing...go make yourself a rootbeer float, and have a great weekend!

I'll see you after vacation!

simple

A peek into our morning routine...

Just after Breakfast. 8:00am

Happy friday everyone! For all those moms out there...I hope you have an amazing day surrounded by those you love.

Making room for baby...

I think I have mentioned this but the new baby will be sharing it's room with me as a studio as well. I'm not too worried about it as the baby will be in our room for awhile.

We haven't quite set anything up...ok, like the room looks like a storage closet, with a tiny space cleared out for sewing. I'm hoping to tackle the room this weekend or later next week. 

ANYWAY...because it's basically glorified storage for my crap and baby "stuff. Gabe has been having a blast going in there when no ones looking and dragging some sort of baby "thing" out. 

He had his door closed to his room the other day and he was being quiet so I though I would check the situation out...

I haven't laughed that hard in awhile. It was like it was his own personal massage chair, he had it on vibrate and everything! I have a feeling someone is going to be quite jealous of all the baby "things" floating around the house come this fall. Though we are trying to pair down and we are donating and selling a bunch of duplicates and bigger items as well as clothes we know we won't use. 

In an effort to make him feel special and get him prepared, we have been telling him all about the things he'll be able to do that the new baby won't. Like get "tattoos"...

Happy Thursday everyone!

Feeling Refreshed

Do you ever wake up and just KNOW it's going to be a wonderful day?

 I am feeling so charged up and ready and SO inspired by people making and creating...anything! Last night I was even inspired enough to get cracking on setting up a studio space for reals. It's about time!

 It's our 3rd bedroom that I'll be sharing with out new little one but not for awhile so I'm going to make the most of my time. As I get further along in the process I'll start sharing some photos but for now it's nothing much to look at. I haven't wanted to paint and sew things bad in what seems like FOREVER. I'm so excited to see what comes out of me!

 

Seriously I'm practically jumping out of my skin I want to make something so bad. I did make a pillow and some super simple curtains for our kitchen last night with some gorgeous fabric from Anna Marie Horner. That girl is AMAZING!!! I covet her photo stream on Flickr. Oh the color! She is inspiring me to not take my "decorating" of the house so serious and really play with color.

I'm going to leave you with some pictures of our new feathered friends we have been getting from Craig's list and a few from pet stores. Some of them need to be brought back into better condition(the rainbow colored ones) and I have been spoiling them with special foods and supplements. I am a finch geek, it's official. I can't believe we have 9 birdies! They are such fun to listen to and look at. Can you tell which ones are my favorites??