And Baby Makes Five!

On St. Patrick's Day we received a very big surprise! We found out that I am pregnant! :) This baby comes as a complete surprise but we are very happy! To be silly we call the baby "Baby Cabbage" since we found out on St. Patrick's Day. Before we knew if Katie and Abby were boys or girls we called Katie "Little Bit" and Abby "Pooka"! :)

So I am five weeks along and my due date is Novemeber 13th. I am happy to have a baby not in the summer! It was a little bit miserable being the size of a whale in July when I was pregnant with Katie and Abby! Hopefully we will have a nice, cool autumn for my expanded waisteline unlike last October where the temp was in the 90's!

We told Katie and Abby about the baby that night and they were both delighted. Katie pats and kisses my tummy on a regular basis and prays for the baby every night! If you ask Abby what is in Mommy's tummy she immeaditely replies "A Baby!" in a very sweet, excited voice! Abby loves babies and is a little mother by nature. She is always carrying her baby dolls around all wrapped up in blankies! There's a little baby at church whom she adores! She hardly ever leaves his side in nursery!

After we found out I was pregnant my behavior over the past few weeks suddenly made sense. I had had an upset stomach at night, I was a bit more snippy than usual (poor Joel!), and I had been craving beef, ice cream with chocolate bits in it, and bread 'N butter pickles! :) Now we're thinking of baby names and where exactly we're going to put our little bundle of joy! I've rearanged the girls room again and I think I can squeeze the crib in at the foot of Katie's bed. It will be a tight fit but I like to think of it as just being extra cozy!

Though I haven't gained any weight my jeans are already feeling tight! I guess my muscles are just too tired after two babies to try and stay firm for my third! I can hardly wait until the baby is big enough to start kicking! I want to see Katie and Abby's reaction! :) When we first told Abby and Katie the baby was in mommy's tummy Abby immeaditely lifted up my shirt for a look and then was very disappointed! Katie wanted to know why the baby couldn't come out right away so I told her that the baby had to grow nice and big first and then God would tell the baby when it was time to come out. This answer seemed to satisfy her and then she talked a little bit about when Abby was born and how she got to go to Matthew's house which I think was more exciting to her than Abby's birth!

I hope the baby isn't too modest and we'll get to find out if the baby is a boy or girl as soon as possible! I didn't keep any of Abby's baby clothes so we have to start from scratch! I noticed there aren't many gender neutrel baby clothes in the stores recently so unless the baby wants to wear three outfits of white with greenish trim he/she had better not be shy! We found at out Abby was a girl at my first ultrasound but little miss Katie did not tell us she was a girl until ten days before she was born! She had a lot of yellow outfits with ducks on them!

We have a boy name all picked out but we're not sure about a girl name. We thought we were set on Emily but then we decided we didn't want Emily, partly because it tramatized Katie to have the same name for the baby as one of her beloved trains! :) So we're open to suggestions! We tend to favor classic names, and we like to be able to shorten it for a cute nickname. Unlike some guy on Facebook I won't say I'll name the baby "Bruce Wayne" if I get 500,000 people to visit my site or "Batman" if a there are a million! People are crazy! Crazy! That poor kid has to go around with that name for the rest of their lives!

I feel like I'm rambling but I guess its because I'm so happy and so many things are running through my head! Not to mention my brain is now going to my baby and I didn't have much leftover from my other two babies! :) I thank God for the little miracle that is growing in my tummy! Babies are such a blessing! Yay for babies!

A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever

Saturday was National Quilting Day so Happy Quilting Day a few days late! To celebrate this wonderful day I checked out a few books on quilts from the library to read up on some of my favorite styles of quilting.

One of the books I got is called "A Joy Forever". It is about the life and quilts of famed applique quilt designer Marie Webster who was born in 1859. She quilted during the "arts and crafts" movement of America where Victorian style was rebuffed for early American style which was more "rustic, simple, and honest". This book was fascinating to read as it included little tidbits of history along with her designs. Here's her picture!

My taste in quilting really follows that of Marie Webster. Her quilts are beautiful. simple, and yet exquisite! I have always liked simple quilts, not that the patterns were necesarrily simple but the colors used. I like a good clean look, not too much clutter, not too much use of heavily patterned fabric. I really hate to see a quilt that has so much business in the fabric that you miss the quilt's design entirely. The quilts pictured below are hers and you can see the poem at the bottom of the first one which became her motto.

I first learned how to quilt from my mom. One of her favorite patterns is the "Log Cabin" and I remember helping her make countless numbers of them growing up! Now my mom doesn't enjoy handsewing so she just ties her quilts off with pretty yarns which is fast and gives it a more country look. I love handsewing however so I learned how to handquilt on my own. I remember spending hours pouring over books and looking at quilts to discover exactly how those tiny stitches were made!

I love making a quilt! I love looking through patterns and chosing the exact right one for the person I'm making it for. I love chosing color themes and sketching out the quilt. Of course one of the best parts is going to the fabric store and hunting through all the pretty bolts of fabric to find just what your looking for! I even like the washing, drying, and ironing of the new fabric! It's just exciting! The only part I find a little tedious is the cutting out as it does tend to last forever! There is nothing more staggering then realizing you need to cut out 0ver three hundred 2" squares! I love sewing the pieces and seeing the quilt form under my hands! And then the best part, when the top is done and I get to put it all together because that means the most enjoyable part is about to begin, the top stitching!

Now, with modern technology you can top stitch your quilt in a day or two using a very large, very expensive machine but I really think that takes the fun out of it! I know I'm weird but even if I had one of those machines I probably wouldn't use it!

I love looking at the different patterns to use for the top stitching! I'm especially fond of knots and feathers! However, I do not like the all over squiggles that just go everywhere with no ryhme or reason that has become popluar. The top stitching, I feel, should enhance your blocks and show case them, not cover them up! Grr!

I can't really explain the satisfaction and happiness that working my needle through the quilt gives me! I find it to be very calming! All those little stitches in a row, there is something very happy about the whole thing! Then when the very last stitch is put in and you get to make one last "snip" to cut your thread, not much compares to it! Then all that is left is the binding and then your quilt is done! Joy!

I hope to pass on this love to my girls and I think I'm already succeeding! Abby loves to sit and page through my quilt books and magazines. Both girls love to play in my fabric scraps and make blankies for their babies. Katie is always suggesting some quilt pattern that I should make her next and they both love going to JoAnn fabrics! I'm just happy to be able to teach them to make something that can bring joy to themselves and others! :) There's nothing like curling up in a nice warm quilt that was made just for you! So Happy Quilting everyone!

Finally Done!

This morning I finished a cross stitch project I have been working on for over three years! It's just one of the things that got put on hold for other bigger, more pressing things. So here is a picture of a cross stitched birth record for Katie all nice and complete! I still have to get a frame but we can do that this weekend!

I actually found the pattern when she was about six months old or maybe eight. I had been looking since we discovered we were pregnant but I hadn't found one I liked until I saw this pattern. It actually was supposed to be done in more gender neutral colors but I changed it to be more girly! It was a lot of fun to make and Katie has been watching me work on it with a great deal of excitement over the last week. I was determined to get it done before the week was out because I just ordered the perfect cross stitch birth record for Abby!

All the little animals are supposed to be buttons which was why I picked this pattern. I love buttons! I have a button collection which the girls and I have a fun time getting out and playing with every now and then !

I thought I might post some other cross stitch projects that I've done along with this one. I use to cross stitch a lot more but it is very time consuming and I like quilting a little better! I also like designing cross stitch patterns but have yet to stitch any that I have made! This one I actually started and finished before I was married! Originally I was going to give it to our church to put in the nursery but after I had purchased all the supplies and started on it the nursery had already been decorated which included a cross stitch picture! So I decided that I would make it for my future children instead and I worked on it while Joel read to me in our free time. This started our tradition of him reading to me while I work on some stitching project which we both greatly enjoy! Some of the books he read to me while I worked on this picture were the books by James Herriot which is fun since two of his books have the titles of the little saying in the picture! This next project is a cross stitch quilt I made for Katie. Right now its hanging up in the girls room above Abby's bed. Joel saw it in one of my craft magazines and liked it so much that I ordered it as his gift to our baby! It took me a long time to finish, I started in April 2004 and finished it just in time for Katie's first birthday (July 2005)! We call it the "Butterfly-Binky Quilt"!

This lovely cross stitch picture was not made by me but by my old friend Jamie S.! I think it was for my sixteenth birthday. I still love it and now it sits on the girls dresser and they love looking at all the kitties!

So now I can cross off Katie's cross stitch on my "Project To Do list"! There is hardly anything more satisfying then being able to cross something off a list; except for maybe making a list! I dolove nice long lists! :)

Jo-Jo's!

One of Katie's and Abby's favorite things to do is draw and color. So on a regular basis we search the internet for ladybug coloring pictures (for Katie) and bunny coloring pictures (for Abby)and print them out. Yesterday I found a ladybug counting chart that Katie took great delight in! So while Daddy did homework Katie colored ladybugs and Abby drew in a "biboe" (Abby calls all books and notebooks "Bibles" and "biboe" is how she pronounces it!).I love this picture of Abby! Her little toes look so sweet! Abby does not like to keep her socks on. It's not that she doesn't like socks, she just loves to take them on and off and she must have stash somewhere because every now and then I'll notice that she's wearing mismatching socks one of which I haven't seen for months! Abby insists on having her socks off for bedtime and Katie insists on having socks on! Sometimes I think Abby takes her socks off at night just to be contrary to Katie!Look at all the pretty Jo-Jo's! Now if you notice the ladybug counting chart is numbered incorrectly. I do not know if our printer just freaked out and printed it wrong or if the person who designed it was a moron. I didn't actually notice until Joel pointed it out when Katie showed it to him. I must correct it before I print out another one! I meant to use it to teach Katie her numbers!

Katie was so very proud of her ladybug picture that she insisted I hang it up by her bed. After I had hung it up she said "Now I won't be afraid of the dark mommy because I will see my ladybug picture!"! Not sure why the ladybugs help and I didn't realize she was scared of the dark but I suppose if it makes her feel better than thats just fine with me!

Joel and I were discussing last night how obsessed Katie is with ladybugs. Last year we did a ladybug themed birthday party for her and this year we were thinking of doing Thomas the Train but Katie has said she would like another ladybug party but this time with ladybug cupcakes so there will be lots of ladybugs!!! She talks about it almost everyday! As we talked about it we remembered that when Katie first saw a ladybug she was scared to death of it! She found it at the base of our stairs Spring of 2006 and screamed "bug! Bug! BUG!!!" So I took up the poor little bug and threw it in the trash. Katie then ran over to the trash can, looked inside and shrieked "Bug! Bug! BUG!!!" until I removed it from the trash can and put it outdoors. She watched the door carefully for about an hour to make sure the terrifying thing did not come back indoors!

I remember I told her that ladybugs were very nice and they would never hurt her and then a few days later we went looking for some out on our back porch. When we spotted one Katie crouched down to investigate and then decided she loved them. So it was love at second sight!

Thank God for Me!

A little over a month ago we started Katie saying bedtime prayers along with Daddy reading her and Abby a Bible story(He's been reading Bible stories to Katie since before Abby was born!). The Bible we use is an older copy of the one pictured above which is an excellent Bible story book for little ones! The girls are getting this new addition for Easter!

So the first time Katie prayed I had her repeat a very simple prayer that went something like this..."Dear God, Thank you for Abby, thank you for Daddy, thank you for Mommy. Please help me sleep well, please keep me safe, and please help me to be a good girl. I love you. Amen!". Katie was delighted with the prayer and soon added more to it. She not only thanked God for her family but all her favorite stuffed animals. So after she thanked God for us she continued "Thank you for Val, thank you for Sparkle that Daddy gave to me. Thank you for Pinky and thank you for Snowflake and thank you for White-White...".

We also added other people to her prayer like "Please bless Uncle Artie and Auntie Erin". So then the other night after she thanked God for us she said "and thank you for me" very casually and went on into her list of stuffed animals! I had to supress my giggles while Joel laughed quietly in the hall! I love to hear her talk to God! Lately she has also added some things that happened in her day. The other night she told God that "Abby spilled water on my stuffed animal but it was okay because mommy dried everything off." :)

Katie loves her night time routine of Daddy reading her a Bible story and then praying on mommy's lap and she will not go to bed without doing it! I hope that sticks with her for the rest of her life! It's such a joy to start the girls in good Christian practices and to see Katie become aware of how real God is!

Along with prayers and Bibble story time I try to add God in our everyday conversation. Generally its just me saying "Let's thank God for this" but yesterday I said something that confused them a little. The girls were having a fight over who the ladybug that Katie had found belonged to. Abby said it was "Abby's Jo-Jo" (Abby calls lady bugs jo-jo's because Katie's favorite lady bug toy is named Jo-Jo.) but Katie said it was her lady bug. On and on they went until finally to end the fight I said it was God's lady bug which I figured they couldn't argue with. After Katie's immeadiate response of "Oh! He's God's ladybug?!" she seemed very deep in thought and after a few minutes said "I think God wants me to have His lady bug!"! After that whenever Abby tried to touch the lady bug Katie would exclaim "Abby that is not your lady bug that is God's lady bug!" or "Don't touch God's lady bug Abby!". So much for ending the fight!

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So after dinner (this whole thing took place while we were trying to eat dinner) Joel and I explained to Katie that everything belongs to God and He gives things to us and wants us to share those things. She seemed to accept this and Abby was allowed to touch God's lady bug. They haven't fought over any ladybugs today so maybe the little lesson sunk in. In any case at least Katie is thinking about God! :)