mish-mash of lately

happy may day!

it is official, spring is here and summer is right around the corner. i know because last week i got the very beginnings of what is, three years running, my summer trademark: massive saltwater sandal tan. feels good. i also have the beginnings of a nice farmer's tan which doesn't feel so good but until i start remembering my sunblock is also kind of inevitable. does anyone else have arms that tan at a rate five times faster than the rest of their body?. . . but, i can't complain when i am able to spend hours of my day sitting on a playground bench surrounded by great friends watching the kids run and play. new york in spring is amazing. if you've never been, come at this time. everyone and everything is emerging from their winter gloom and reveling in the glory of renewal.

and, i'm 29. (i know. only 29 and almost three kids- yikes.) tuesday was my birthday and with great friends all around, a brother and sister-in-law in town (who woke up to make me crepes in the morning!), and time alone with chip, it was a really great day. chip and i went to freemans on the lower east side and other than the somewhat irrational fear that one of the taxidermied animals was going to fall on me and cause serious bodily harm (i was most concerned about my eyes), the place was really great. watching the parade of hipsters walk down the alley to the restaurant was entertaining and, once, inspiring. i love the lower east side. after dinner chip and i made our way uptown in a cab, a rare treat for us- we're cheap like that, to see macbeth. such an intense and gruesome production. not going to help my creepy dreams at all. the art direction was beautifully modern and the acting was stunning. . . i always wonder whether my opinions are completely skewed because i'm just so happy to be kid-free for a night. i might consider anything a work of genius because i don't have two little girls shouting "i'm never playing with you again!" or "more didi boots! i want food! no, mean mommy!" at me every thirty seconds. but this time i'm certain it was the production and not the euphoria of being away that won me over.

here's yesterday photo of baby boy, who, it turns out, is not breech at all! good baby. i'm hopeful this is the last time we need an ultrasound with this baby. i'm tired of hospitals.

our may day will be filled with joy school for eve, some grocery shopping (or maybe napping instead?) and folding of the laundry neglected yesterday while at the hospital and then preparing for last night's book club i hosted. we read crossing to safety by wallace stegner. one of my favorite books by one of my favorite authors. i love his depiction of relationships in all their quiet tragedy and glory. it was so great to be in my home, kids in bed and surrounded by good people and good discussion.

++ update: my hero brother-in-law and sister-in-law who live in manhattan just swooped in and took my children for the afternoon/evening. looks like i'll be getting that nap afterall, once i waste more of my time watching the most recent episode of the hills. i already stayed up until 2am last night catching up on the bachelor. gross reality tv confessions. . .

the third

this pregnancy has been so different from the two girls in so many ways. mostly in ways i'm not loving. a lot more worry, a lot more discomfort (the separating pelvis of this week has been really cool), some serious grumpiness, weird vivid dreams involving violence, espionage, world domination and ricky schroeder and tossed in the mix these last two weeks; a good amount of possibly offensive commentary from neighbors and strangers who have apparently just now noticed that i am, in fact, pregnant with the third child.

here are two gems.

the most common- if not exact wording, the same sentiment:

"you just don't know when to quit!"

apparently not.

and my personal favorite comes from upstairs neighbor (postal worker by day, swing and electric slide dance instructor by night. not kidding.):

"tell chip to keep up the good work!"

consider him told, mr. jackson.

prep work

i had big plans with the remaining easter egg dye- especially the cabbage dye. after carefully storing it on my counter, i started my brainchild of a project, opened the bottles and found that the stuff had totally fermented. cabbage wine. very chic. so that went out, the RIT came in, and i began my very first foray into dyeing fabric at home. because i feel tie dye deprived (only having done it twice in my life- when i was "teaching" groups of teenage campers to do it) i couldn't resist the urge to throw some rubberbands in the mix. here's the end result:

the girls love to spin in it. (i couldn't resist the bum shot). having totally thrashed almost every other twirly skirt, they are more than happy to have a replacement and think a yellow one needs to be made soon.

and since i am really good at putting aside all the things reality tells me i should do and instead rely on the sketchy logic of my brain, i've been busy making more clothes "so eve has something to wear once school starts". . . which is at least five months away, if we can get her into a program. . .

"school" clothes:

jacket. (yes that's ruthie wearing it, except for pants they are at the point of interchanging clothes- which is so fantastic).

shirt and little pinafore. i feel like i should call her "heidi" when she has this on.

the jacket and jumper are my own little patterns and the shirt is (again) from a vintage night gown pattern i have, but a close equivalent is simplicity 4206, just add some length to the sleeves and the shirt body. really, there's hardly an easier piece of clothing to sew than that shirt. if you haven't tried it, do.

in the meantime i'll be using more brilliant logic to justify random sewing projects that i can't get out of my head. is it springtime? is it pre-baby nesting instinct? maybe. whatever it is, it's fun.

funny faces and gimpy runs

thank you all so much for the name help! i have loved hearing from old and new friends alike. really, i can't thank everyone enough; i'm excited for this little boy all over again and chip and i are feeling closer to a name than ever- or at least happy with the great options we've now got to choose from. we were in such a slump there for awhile. . . thank you thank you!

for the time being, things are calm, productive and funny with just the right amount of worry and stress thrown in.

ruth has us entertained all the time with her arsenal of faces. in fact, i was woken up this morning with "ohay [ok], now funny faces!" and this was the ensuing show:

so great, especially when she goes full speed with her newly acquired peg-leg run, quickly stops and throws one of those gems our way.

a mystery injury resulting in ruth not being able to bear any weight on her left leg meant a trip to the pediatrician and then hospital for x-rays this past weekend. she was awesomely brave and tolerant during the whole ordeal, not to mention insanely cute in her hospital gown, and is now back on her feet, but doing the peg-leg limp. now that i know it isn't anything permanent or too serious (chip had me freaked out , throwing words like "polio" around. . .) it is quickly moving up the "favorite things about ruth" list, just under her crooked smile and crazy eyes. if i can get it, i'll post a little movie clip of the run in the next day or so. and the reason for the limp? no one is really sure; no fractures, no abnormal blood results, probably a bruised ankle or just a random no walking/limping episode that is apparently common with toddlers. . .

it must have been having the sound of crawling back in our house- i adore that sound; the hands slapping the floor, the knees shuffling behind- but the whole stressful ordeal has me weirdly excited to throw another child in the mix. the number three is still terrifying. my girls are already a handful (i can't count how many times they were referred to as "free-spirits" in the hospital, the workers must have had some seriously specific training when dealing with ultra hyper and squealy kids) but really, this should be fun.

right now we're off to the playground to enjoy a legitimately beautiful and slightly warm day here in brooklyn. eve is having trouble deciding between full rain regalia (no rain anywhere near) and her superman cape. tough choice.

nameless

this baby is supposed to be arriving in just over six weeks. usually at this point there are two or three names we really really like and are happy to choose from. if this baby were a girl, that would be the case. but he's a boy and we're clueless and the lack of names is killing us. so, i need some help. please give me some boy names. as many as you can think of and like. help a pregnant lady in need.

with cardigans for now

sewing a bunch of maternity wear for myself is not appealing (i'm pretty sure i'll end up looking like a giant yellow egg in my current project) and despite the twenty+ sketches i've got floating around i'm also very sure sewing clothes in my regular size will send me into a deep depression. so, instead i'm using my recent wave of energy to make more clothes for the girls. and by making little summer numbers for them i'm hoping to usher in a little bit of warmth around here. until then, cardigans over and shirts under.

i found this fabric under a pile of old glass pitchers in salt lake city when chip and i were newly married and made a weekly habit of checking out local garage sales in his grandpa's pick-up truck, and i have been carrying it from place to place for the past seven years. i think it was originally created to be a tablecloth, but i'm not much of a tablecloth person.

eve's halter dress is a bit va-va-voom, which is really funny to me. and ruthie's is a little more classic-little-girl-dress made all the better by that big belly of hers. i know she'll grow out of it at some point, but we LOVE that belly. and the girls seem to like the dresses enough to wear for pictures, but immediately after they strip, put their princess "pretties" on and get back to the work of pretending. eve takes great pleasure in the fact that my foot never fits the glass slipper while hers always does. . .

easter dresses

inspiration struck late saturday night and the girls were outfitted in their easter best by the time church rolled around sunday morning. i didn't give myself time for the little easter coats as i had secretly hoped to make (oh the plans i make in my head with no time to actually execute them) but i'm hoping the next time around things will be different. because maybe at that point i'll miraculously become a different person who has the ability to manage her time and children effectively. . .

i was going for a little bit of sophistication and maybe a hint of "grandma in her glory days" to come through in the dresses and i think i got it. now these two are ready to go hang out with the italian ladies in brooklyn's carroll gardens, reminisce about the old neighborhood, hit the bakery for some pane dolce and then maybe make their way to marco polo ristorante for a nice lunch.

a bunch of fairies

the first official friend birthday party for eve. a big time fairy party. despite the lack of sleep the night before and the few things that i just didn't have enough time or hands to finish, it was great. we stuck to inviting four of eve's closest little girl friends- out of ease and apartment size- and i'm so glad we did; with parents and a couple little siblings, our place was packed.

forgive the photography, with both chip and i engaged in the partying, and the photographer (chip) feeling a bit under the weather, several shots that i would have loved to share just don't exist. so, some we'll do retroactively and others, you'll just have to read about.

we'll go chronologically.

invitations by chip. complete with a little cartoon of fairy eve.

decorations. i love the lens on my camera. except when i want to get a room shot; then i get frustrated at it's limitations. working with what we've got, here are some glimpses of what the place looked like. i made the pom poms using this martha stewart instructional. chip suspended the balloons (can you tell that the balloons with lace ribbons aren't floating on the ceiling, but mid-air? they are.) and together the effect was kind of magical. i almost want to keep the pom poms up. so fun and kind of strange just floating there.

girls enter. immediately (or as soon as i can get eve to stop repeating "it's my birthday!") they are given their very own magic fairy wand. painted and glittered wooden dowel and bead. ribbon hot glued to dowel, dowel slid (from bottom of dowel up) over the ribboned dowel and secured with some more hot glue. with some great classical dancing music playing, the girls danced and waved their ribbons around. flight of the bumblebees was the favorite song by far and at the end the girls ended up with all their ribbons tangled together in a giant knot and giggling like crazy.

snack time.

fairy skirts are handed out. eve freaks out because she wants one with a yellow ribbon because yellow matches her hair. plus, i made her take a green-ribboned wand so she was already a little miffed. negotiations took place and all were happily outfitted. watching little girls dress up is so fun. ruth has no time for the fairy skirt i made for her- she has commandeered eve's birthday gift from chip's parents- a fairy princess dress.

treasure hunt- hunting for the final thing needed to transform all the girls into fairies. put together and led by the fairy treasure master chip. with great clues like "without ribbons you're a fairy slouch. but don't worry; look on the couch!" the girls had a great time running from spot to spot and collecting all the items needed to make their very own fairy crowns.

crown making. finally putting to use the massive amount of beads i randomly bought at costco several years ago. and, i love pipe cleaner and ribbon.

lunch. lemonade with fresh strawberries, yogurt covered pretzels and raisins, popcorn, cubed mozzarella and cheddar, grapes (two colors as specifically requested by birthday fairy), strawberries, blueberries and apples served with three different dips: cream cheese mixed with marshmallow fluff, lime curd, and cream cheese mixed with brown sugar and almond flavoring. not surprisingly, all the girls wanted the marshmallow fluff dip on their plates- i had colored it a light pink which was apparently more appealing than the very pale green of the other two choices. peanut butter and jelly for the fairies and turkey tea sandwiches (raisin walnut bread, cream cheese mixed with scallions, turkey and fresh basil leaves-- amazing and again courtesy of barefoot contessa) for the adults.

cake/cupcakes. eve was not willing to accept just having cupcakes, so in addition to the coconut mini cupcakes i made a little 6" cake to stick the candles on. it seems there's some sort of adjustment that should be made when using cupcake batter for a full cake (more oil?) but i don't know it so the cake was hard to frost- so crumbly on the sides- but still delicious. as all the girls pointed out, there were a lot more than four candles on the cake, but knowing eve's fear of fire i was sure she'd be requiring the help of her friends to blow them out so i loaded it up. eve wouldn't go closer than 10" to the cake.

present opening. her little friends were sweet and generous and eve was appreciative. we've already put all the gifts to use several times over.

fairy jumps. i don't know who started this, but the girls were going nuts and we're okay with jumping on the couch as long as it is orderly and shoeless. plus it was a fairy party- they had to get some flying in somehow.

take home goods. all little fairies left with their magic ribbon wand, fairy tutus, crown and a few of these lollipops i made on friday. blueberry and green apple. i have a suspicion that i put too much citric acid in the green apple, so their flavor might be more accurately described as "grossly sour, with a hint of apple," but i'm going to call this first venture into candy making a success anyway, because i know for sure that the blueberry is yummy.

and i think i'll call our very official and very first friends birthday a success. especially since chip, after sleeping for several hours post-party, did all the dishes.

eve's favorite part? "finding lots of things and playing with her friends, her fairy friends."

party girls

two parties this past weekend and one coming up for none other than my little eve who is going to be FOUR. amazing and fun and a little bit sad all rolled into one.

past weekend review:

the girls' little cousin had a pizza party that was full of so much fun kid energy it was almost overwhelming. eve really wanted to give the birthday boy a chicken. no explanation. a rubber chicken is fairly entertaining on its own (why?) but when you squeeze this beauty an egg-like sak pops out of it. hysterical. especially if you are in the two to six years-old range. fighting over this chicken led to ruthie falling down an entire flight of metal stairs, slamming into a cement wall and face-skidding onto a cement floor. turning the corner (as i was chasing and trying to get her to stop running) to see her falling backward down the stairs and then witness the awful awful tumble was the most horrifying moment of motherhood to date. her first words, through the screaming/crying were; "i want the chicken." she cried for about 30 seconds, relaxed in my lap for about five minutes and then was back to partying. i didn't recover so quickly.

saturday brought with it a baby shower and the last minute making of this little shirt to go with a sweet little pair of eliza gran pants. i should really give myself more time to make gifts. those french seams take more time than they should. the fabric has been one of my untouched favorites for nearly two years. in the continued effort to avoid the fate of being an crippled old woman with hundreds of yards of fabric that have been untouched for fifty years, i went for it and am happy i did. there is always more fabric to buy and love.

and now we've got eve's party in the works. fairy princess party. invitations out (thank you chip), six little fairy skirts are almost complete, tissue pom poms done, treasure hunt forming in my head and fairy crown and wand supplies gathered. naturally a full, too-detailed report will be brought to you once all the fun is had. for now i'm going to try to enjoy the last few moments i have with three-year-old eve. and then as i fall asleep i'll let myself wallow in the happy misery of a mother who's little baby is growing far too big far too quickly.

one yard down

fulfilling the vow to use one-third of my current fabric stash before buying anything new is, i think, a vow i won't be able to keep once the warmth of spring starts to roll in. . . there are too many beautiful and simple colors i want to have floating around on little (and gigantic) bellies when the sun starts to really shine. but in the mean time, i am doing my best to use what i have. so far, it's one yard down, 25 to go.

giant pink polka dot fabric; done. chartreuse scraps from one of last year's summer dresses; gone. linen from old dress; recycled. vintage ribbon i've been hoarding for nearly two years; halved. all wrapped up in these two little skirts that i had to bribe the girls to wear with chocolate chips and promises of "just a few minutes." maybe by sunday they'll decide that these skirts are better options than halloween 2006's little red riding hood dress and a raspberry jam smeared tutu.

as for what's next, i'm thinking tweed. might be perfect for these last few weeks of winter. which, miraculously, aren't as brutal as they usually are. for the first time in the six+ years of living here, february came and i wasn't physically and psychologically expecting california spring weather. in fact, i was still reveling in winter. but tomorrow is march, and i'm not sure if i've adjusted enough to not be completely done with cold two weeks from now. . . but the daffodil stems piercing their way up through the snow are encouraging. even if i'm wrapped up in down and wool, i'll soon have their bright floppy faces to walk by.