Blessed!

Arrow Matthias is here!

All TEN pounds of him!

He arrived the morning of the 16th after a short, beautiful labor.

I will get his birth story on the blog soon, but I'm off to enjoy my babymoon.

Not sure when I'll be back on, or how often, but I'll leave you with a few pictures from his birth day.

 

 



Five

Tonight I wanted to quickly get a few pictures of our little family of five, before we grow.

 

 



Due!

Today I'm 40 weeks pregnant!

 

To celebrate (or avoid sitting at home wondering WHEN he'll come), we went to the coast for some family fun.  Castles were built, jungle adventure stories were played out (with said castles), holes were dug, and energy was ran out.  After that, clam chowder and fish n chips were inhaled.

It was a lovely afternoon and evening.

 

 

Fall

How can I capture such a perfect day on this blog?  How can I photograph my new curtains blowing so gently in our first Autumn breeze?  How can I show you every door in our house open to the fresh air....finally blowing Summer out of all the dusty corners?  I could never figure out how to capture the joy of having enough energy to work along side my kids in our Summer deserted backyard where dog poop was scooped, leaves were raked, play areas were cleaned, and excitement was then had for hours.  I can not take a picture of my swelling heart when I watch my hungry kids pick an apple off our tree for a snack instead of coming inside.  And of course, there's no way to capture the smell of Fall.  The smell of the "rabbit weed" floating in the breeze and through the house.  So, you'll just have to take my word for it.  Today was beautifully perfect.  I wish I could bottle it up, and the euphoria that came with it, and stock pile it for next Summer when I'll need a break from that harsh season.

I did take a few pictures today of a couple of things......... 

 

Now that it finally felt like Fall, I brought out some Fall decor.  The garland was cut on the porch two years ago by Logan and I.  Our nature table, often neglected, at least now has a start.  When the kids came in from playing outside and saw the Fall stuff up they exclaimed, "Mama!  Its Fall?!"  Yes, I'm horrible and hadn't told them.  It was 100+ degrees as of a few days ago!!!  Felicity instantly asked to go change into long sleeves, tights, and her jacket.  She also voiced concern because the leaves weren't changing color yet.  Patience, Sissy Girl, its still in the 80s here.  Soon.  I TOTALLY get her on this matter!

 

Felicity picked me a bouquet from the yard, and Logan put it in a jar for her.  It sits on the front porch next to the bucket of Sunflower seeds Kian, Lissy, and I harvested yesterday afternoon.

 

 I finally got a few pictures of the henna stain.  Its been on for over a week now and is starting to fade, especially since I've been scratching my itchy belly a lot lately.  :)  Its hard to photograph the henna stain but I'm glad to have gotten a few pictures for Arrow's baby book.  This is my nearly 39 week belly.

 



 

I packaged up this little gift to mail to Arrow's twin cousin, who has also not arrived yet.

 

 

And best yet, this little guy is now done!!!!

I did most of the work on him, by hand, while on bed rest.  Once I was off bed rest, this poor guy sat finished, but naked, on my sewing shelf.  When I woke up this morning feeling better than I have in days (I've been having lots of "baby action" which leaves me tired and sore), I told myself today was the day he'd get done.  I used the kids' rest time to sew up his pants, shirt, and hat, and then placed him in Logan's hands.

He now has a name.

 Red.

And Logan is a very happy kid.

He'd asked me for a Waldorf doll a year ago.  He saw that his brother and sister had one, and that they loved their dolls dearly.  And knowing my boy, I knew he saw it as a sign of Mama's love.  Some would say he's too old for a doll.  Maybe.  But he's certainly not too old to be reassured of his Mama's love for him.

Henna

The other night, a few of "my girls" came over for a night of feasting, celebrating Arrow's much anticipated arrival, and henna!  I have a very artistic friend who has done henna on my due belly for the last 3 pregnancies.  Logan is the only babe who didn't have a henna belly.  In fact, my friend realized that and wanted to do his hands this go round, to match my belly, but he was out on a Daddy date with his brother and sister.  Such a sweet idea though. 

Arrow's Quilt

At the beginning of the year, I was noticing how I hadn't made a quilt in forever.  The desire just wasn't there, which was kind of odd considering quilting is what turned me on to sewing when I was in college, and quilts are all I sewed for years.  Actually, I should clarify, my "quilts" were more patchwork blankets because I never was brave enough to learn how to sandwich layers, and do the binding.  HUGE mental block!  So instead I'd sew a blanket on the back of a patchwork top and do the turn and top stitch method.  I guess that's still quilting, but a tad different.  Well, just after I noticed I hadn't made a quilt in a long time, the bug hit!  Since being pregnant, I've made four quilt tops!  I was determined that THIS was the year I was going to make a REAL quilt....batting, sandwiching, binding, free motion top quilting...the works!  Finally, I accomplished that goal last month when I completed Felicity's twin quilt, which I still need to get proper pictures of, and post on.  Just this week, I finished Arrow's quilt. 

 This quilt, along with Felicity's quilt, are the two most intricate quilts I've ever done.  Though it may not look like it, there is a lot of small piecing involved with this quilt.  A lot for me anyways!  I worked on it in small, assembly line steps, making slow progress for months.  But it was worth it!  When I saw the tutorial for this quilt online, I just couldn't pass it up!  So I'm glad I am limited enough in experience to not have known how intricate it would be just by reading through the tutorial.  By the time I figured out how much work it would entail, it was already underway, so I just kept plugging along.  :)

 

 I never really had a plan for the border, binding, or back.  The border and binding fabric came from my stash.  It had sat there for 6 years, and worked perfectly.  I thought I could maybe do the border, binding, and back with that material, but found that the binding and border took more fabric than I thought.  So I ended up just taking all the scraps, and piecing the back.  I loved how it turned out, and its kind of like two quilts in one!

 

 

My wonderful friend let me come over to her house and use her fancy machine to do the free motion quilting.  I'll tell ya, I SWEAR by my old, all metal sewing machines, and have never wanted a new fancy machine......until now.  Free motion quilting is fun!  But I guess I don't need to go out and buy a new machine since I have a friend who's so generous.  :)

 

I caved for this print.  I rarely order fabric online.  But how could I pass up retro space kids, astronaut ducks, and mice and cats floating around in balls?!

 

I have a tradition to make the kids a baby quilt before they're born.  Now that Ari's quilt is done, my nesting has slowed way down.  His quilt is ready, so he can now officially arrive whenever he pleases.  And until he does, I'll snuggle up with his quilt every night to ensure it smells like Mama.

Celebrating Kian

Kian turns THREE in a little over a week.  Today we celebrated him, a bit early, so his favorite person, Papa, could be at his party amidst his busy traveling schedule.  I'm glad my mom realized Papa would be traveling around Kian's birthday and suggested doing the party a bit early, because on the way to Grammy's house for his party, Kian specifically asked if Papa was going to be there.  And when Papa drove up, Kian ran straight into his arms.  I LOVE his love for Papa!

 

Kian had a wonderful celebration.  He's just getting over a cold so at one point, when the big kids were swimming, he took some time to himself to spray Grammy's plants in her garden with a spray bottle he'd received as a gift for watering house plants.  But the rest of the time, he kept up with the big kids pretty well.  :)
Here's some pictures from his day.

 A new Mama made backpack just his size, and just in time for an upcoming trek to the hospital.  :)

 I was given a free book coupon from Shutterfly so I made him a book all about himself.  The older two have similar books I've made with free coupons in past years.

Raggedy Kian!

Its a tradition of my Mom's to make all the kids Raggedy Ann or Raggedy Andy dolls that look like them.  She's been doing this since I was tiny.  I loved my first one so much, its head fell off!  I'm glad I don't remember that tragedy.  But as I grew, I was sad that I didn't have one so as my High School graduation gift, my mom made me a replica of the one I'd had as a little girl.  Isn't that wonderful!?  "Jenny", named by Felicity, now resides in Lissy's room next to her own Grammy made Raggedy Ann doll.  Anyways, this year was Kian's year to get his doll and he was VERY excited to have one just like his brother and sister!

 What 3 year old boy doesn't need a Venus Fly Trap?
The kids are pretty excited about Kian's new plant.
So am I!

 He's been working hard to learn how to get those fingers just right!

 There was one major slip up to the day.  Obviously, the silly string war didn't go over well with the birthday boy. 

His day ended with lots of snuggles, jumping on the trampoline, and a pizza picnic dinner in front of a movie that HE got to pick.
He was a pretty happy guy.
And he passed out with his new Raggedy Kian nearly instantly after getting in the car and heading home.
It was a wonderful day!