nursing pillow

i whipped up this nursing pillow once i realized that i could no long function with just one. the second child gets nursed anywhere she needs to be... at the breakfast table, in the car, in the hammock, out by our little pool... so i needed one for upstairs and one for downstairs. calvin leads the way most of the time and maeve and i follow him so we never quite know where we will end up.

i used the pattern in simple sewing for baby by lotta jansdotter. i used fabric and batting from my stash. it only took about a half hour to sew up, but it took a couple of days to stuff. i used almost two full bags of cotton batting... and i hate lumps so i tore it into little tiny bits before i stuffed it in. the shape is a bit different from the 'boppy' brand nursing pillow, but i like it. i wash the whole thing when it gets spit up on (almost daily...) and it washes great.

flowers for mama

my boys went outside to do some yard work the other day and came back in with these. calvin was so excited to give them to me. it had been a hard and tiring day... these made me forget about all of that.

2.5

calvin was two and a half last sunday. he is growing so quickly right before my eyes. he loves the word 'why?" at the moment. i mean seriously loves it. he is so curious about how things work and why things are the way they are. sam started having little talks with him as they snuggle off to sleep. these talks consist of calvin saying "talk to me about ______" and then sam talks about whichever subject calvin chooses and calvin inserts about 100 whys. last night i got the chance to snuggle with him and he asked me to talk to him about football. football? i gave it my best shot, but after a few unanswered "why's" calvin changed his mind and said, "ummm talk to me about daddy." that i could do. these talks have spilled over into our everyday conversations. calvin found a cicada shell the other day and looked at me and said, "talk to me about cicada's." then came the why's...

he has been a wonderful big brother. he is so gentle and loving to maeve and he has so many plans to do with her and things to teach her when, as he puts it, "she grows bigger and bigger and bigger".

he is very into the crystal that hangs in our kitchen window making rainbows while we eat breakfast so for his half birthday he wanted a rainbow cake. luckily i remember seeing one here. he loved making it and eating it! sam put one too many sticks of butter in the white cake recipe so it sorta tasted like a big sugar cookie... fine by calvin.

happy half birthday calvin!

maeve

she is four weeks old already. it has been crazy in some ways (but in not in the ways i expected it to be) and so amazing. she is a very mellow baby, which is so great in a second. she has the cutest scratchy little voice. she coos quite often (i think she is chatty like her mama). she especially coos at her brother. the is something magical about siblings. calvin loves her and kisses her constantly, all over, which i guess we all do...

here is a pic of her in the outfit i made. the pants are a perfect fit. they are roomy enough for the bulky cloth diaper and so soft. i want to make a few more, but i am still searching for the time.