Mishmash

The months are getting away from me so quickly lately!

I guess that comes with the baby territory but, seriously, at this rate I'm going to be seeing Clementine off to high school next week!

We're a busy little family, and that's got a lot to do with it.

In September we took a trip to Kitchener to visit Meg and Jeff and their lovely new home/fixer upper.

We were on our way to my friends' Nick and Lorrie's wedding in Stratford (possibly my new favourite town...stay tuned for a girl's trip to that locale!) and thought we'd stop in to see their place before their baby arrived.

We also needed them to look after their niece while we had a little fun!

The wedding was gorgeous and fun and gave Clem a chance to wear the adorable little dress my mom made her at Easter.

It really is the cutest thing. Thankfully it fit!

Brad for some reason felt it was VERY important that he matched his little girl so I made him a little pocket square out of some left over Amy Butler fabric.

After I got over feeling annoyed that in 8 years and a zillion weddings he's never cared to match his wife, I had to agree they made a pretty cute pair.

Two weeks after these pictures were taken my sister had her baby!!

Cohen Edward Randall was born Saturday September 26th...at home!

Luckily Meg and Jeff had a midwife (not to mention balls of steel) because her labour was less than 2 hours from the time her water broke and they couldn't make it to the hospital in time.

Apparently the only thing we have in common is parents because, if you recall, my labour was 18x that long!

Like seasoned pros they pulled down the shower curtain and had the baby right there on their bedroom floor.

All 8 pounds and 6 scrumptious ounces of him.

The weekend before, she and Jeff had paid a visit home for my dad's (60th) birthday and Jeff's mom (Meg's mother in law) hosted a little shower for her.

Just in time!

Never one to pass up an opportunity to make something, I found the most hideous nursing pillow at the Hub (Almonte's thrift shop) for $1 and re-covered it with $17 of fabric.

So yes, technically I could have bought her a new one for about the same amount of money but what fun is THAT?!

Of course I didn't think to take a picture before tearing it apart, so just use your imagination when you look into the eyes of those lions on the dusty blue background.

Of all of the gorgeous fabrics in the world why would anyone ever choose this pattern?

I think it looks so much better now don't you?

So does Clemmie.

That girl's always got her mommy's back.

I also did a little embroidered piece of a poem my Papa (dad's dad) used to say to us.

I hadn't thought of it for years and suddenly it just popped into my head.

I'm really not the best embroiderer (if that's even a word) in town, but I'm starting to let things like that go and just craft for the sake of creating instead of trying to make everything perfect.

Makes things more fun.

"I love you love you love you because you are so sweet. I love you love you love you because you have small feet."

There are so many things I want to create, and so little time to do it, I've become totally overwhelmed and hit a bit of a creative wall.

Lately I've begun choosing to do absolutely nothing (well not ABSOLUTELY) over doing anything for fear of running out of time and not completing a project.

Colleen and I have dreamed for months about creating our own line of handmade whatever to sell in the store and make a little extra seed money.

At least enough to pay for our addictions to crafting!

If I'm really going to do this I need to get organized.

Things I want to make:

Cutlery Pocket Napkins.

Sort of like these in that they're all different fabric patches, but with a pocket for cutlery.

Baby hair clips.

Clementine has a bunch of them and I know they would be CRAZY easy to make if I'd just get out of this house and buy some supplies.

Of course, ours would be cuter...

There are more things, but let's just post this blog and start a new one tomorrow.

xo Em

This post brought to you by: Nap time.

Ah nap time.

I don't want to sound like a Braggy McBraggerson or anything, but I am getting pretty good at this mom thing.

I mean really good.

We're at two nononsense you-will-cry-until-you-fall asleep-and-you-will-like-it daytime naps, a strict no-fuss-no-muss 7pm bedtime, and only one nighttime feeding which has recently moved to about 4am, followed by a back to bed at least until the sun comes up.

Which, thankfully, is getting later and later.

She still makes a bit of a fuss at about midnight but I've just been going in, rubbing a little baby Anbesol on her gums (she's still majorly teething) and leaving.

I can usually hear her playing for a bit.

I think she enjoys the numb feeling in her mouth because it sounds like she's pulling on her tongue and talking which, when I picture it, makes me giggle.

We're living day to day in this house so we'll have to deal with her possible addiction to pain meds another time.

Clementine will be 7 months old on the 9th (already!) and she is learning things every second of the day it seems. She can clap now and give you 5. She can sort of wave bye too, and if you say "kitty?" she'll kick her legs and twist her whole body reaching for the cat.

The other day I caught her studying me as I bit my nails and all I could think was "Shit. I'm going to have to stop biting my nails!"

But enough about the baby.

I'm back in Blackbird 6 days a week now!

2-5 Monday through Friday and 10-5 on Saturdays.

Clementine has started day care 3 afternoons a week and is with my mom or Brad the other days.

So far I'm pretty mentally spent from all the schedule organizing and running around, but it's so nice to be back semi-full time and get a little more control over my finances.

I did pretty well with my summer buy at the store. All our remaining summer merchandise has been 40% off for a couple weeks now and we're almost sold out.

So, if you need a hostess gift, birthday or wedding present, take advantage while you still can!

I've decided to try not to put anything in storage anymore. I'd rather get my money back, or at least some of it, than hang on to year old stuff.

Better out than in I always say.

Not necessarily about merchandise, but it works here don't you think?

Oh, remember a while back when I found the smiley face on my cutting board?

Well I found another one.

This time it was Cheerios on the rug, but I kind of love when I make these discoveries.

Think that's fun?

Check these out!

The first is something I got in the mail from Melissa for my birthday.

I came from the World's Smallest Postal Service.

What an awesome gift to send someone if you can't see them on their birthday. I have to do this someday.

It's a little teensy weensy envelope, with a miniature wax seal and a little note. Luckily it came with a 10x magnifying glass so I could read it.

I think it's pretty much one of the coolest little gifts I've ever received. She's a creative one that Melissa. When I finally did see her a few weekends ago she also gave me passes to go to a typesetting workshop with her in Toronto.

A new craft for me to become obsessed with. My favourite!

The second thing, and I don't know why I didn't mention it before, but Brad also really came through this birthday. He got me this from Etsy.

Proof that the man listens to my ramblings afterall!

It's called a Thaumatraup. On the otherside is a bird. If you spin it fast enough, the bird looks like it's in the cage.

I love it.

Unfortunately within 24 hours of receiving it, it somehow found it's way into Clem's mouth and the ink smudged. I think Brad was more upset about that than I was. I'll still wear it proudly as it is.

Perfect timing.

I can hear the little goofball grumbling to herself upstairs.

Just time for one more picture and then this nap is over.

See you soon!!

xo Em

This is an old one, but I just got it and I think it's pretty cute.

Clockwise from Clementine (4 months), Sophia Newton (1.5 months) & Liam Ray (9 days).