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. . .