thimbly things

Would you believe that I’m alone with just Jacob for a couple hours this morning?  He’s asleep, so this is like a mini-vacation for me.  And when Evan returns with Emily, she’ll probably be ready for a nap.  This may mean that I get up to 5 hours of the previously mentioned alone time I have so craved.

Time to stop and read.  Or maybe just pray and think.

First, I want to share some kindness with you.  Ruthanne, a dear friend I’ve made through blogging, gathered together several books from her personal library that she thought would interest me.  (I was looking for reading material for when I nurse.)  Not only did she send me about a dozen good reads, but she also sent some sweet gifts for the babies (including a Fisher Price radio/cassette player dating from 1991.  So fun!), homemade granola, and a couple books for Evan.  And a very kind letter to boot.

I’ve already read a little in Gift of a Letter, and I can’t wait to read Ten P’s in a Pod, Hidden Art, and Thrift Score.  Really though, it’s hard to know where to begin.  There’s so much variety, and every selection sounds excellent!

And that Little Golden Book… As far back as I can remember, I’ve been a Richard Scarry fan.  I may have to photograph some of the pages a la doe-c-doe and share them with you.  Very cute.  Very inspired.

Ruthanne, you’re amazing.  You are a shining example of what I desire to be as a woman–thinking of others selflessly, giving, extremely thoughtful and kind.  Thank you for being a Proverbs 31 woman and for sharing your godly character with me.

So this is my final May post for A Post a Day in May.  It’s been a good exercise in regular blogging, though it has been difficult at times.  There were a few evenings when I had to fudge my timestamp because my post went through 5 minutes after midnight.  And I actually missed one day altogether while family was in town.  In the future, I’ll try to post everyday, but it will be nice to have more freedom and flexibility with my blog.  I don’t want it to feel like a burden, ya know?  Thank you, Allsorts for the inspiration!  Accountability is always a good thing. : )

Due to some forgetfulness on our part, I had the hour between church and birthday party to whip up a gift for sweet little Elena, who turned 1 on Thursday.  Here’s the Lady of the Hour in all her birthday glee.

“It’s my party, and I’ll play with my toes if I want to!”  Happy Birthday, Elena!!!

Here’s the whale I made.  Seriously.  We’re talking 30 minutes start to finish.  I didn’t even know what I was making until I started rummaging through my fabric.  Whew!  I don’t recommend doing this if you love your family and want to maintain the Fruits of Kindness and Patience (and Love and Joy and Peace and…).

Buttons are a major no-no when making toys for babies.  So Elena’s Mommy might be gluing the sucker (or putting him on a shelf?).  I actually tried to embroider eyes, but with 5 minutes, things were looking disastrous.  Out came all my buttons in a frenzy, and then I breathed very deeply and sewed this one on as securely as possible.

[One good thing about this experience is that I now want to make a stash of baby gifts like the whale to have on hand for parties.  This may be wishful thinking, but it would certainly be convenient!]

All the kiddies got to play in a ballpit at the party.  That was pretty great.  Emily was even more interested in the balls than she was in the puppy, and that’s really saying something!

My friend Leah and I compared our newborns.  This is Jacob and his buddy Augustine.  Jacob is the older of the two by about 20 hours.

BFF

B, a friend of ours who we haven’t seen in nearly a year, stopped in Tulsa over the weekend to liquidate her belongings. It had all been in storage for at least 9 months while she traveled throughout Europe. B decided to take a one month French immersion course this summer, and then I suppose she will go wherever the wind takes her.

Meanwhile, she more or less gave away everything she owned on Saturday. As a result, we got our very first dresser (yes, we are pushing 30 and have never had real bedroom furniture).  It’s beat-up, but I like it that way.

And we scored several small kitchen items, including lots of cookie cutters.

Not only is B a free spirit of sorts, but she is incredibly generous. I’m at a place in my life where I cannot be a free spirit per se. I have a family to take care of. But her generosity is convicting. She didn’t care at all about making a profit off her stuff. I actually felt uncomfortable–as though I was robbing her. Have I ever made anyone uncomfortable because of my generosity? I mean, that takes some skill.

B, we’ll miss you!  Hope your free spirit wanders back to Tulsa soon.

I hope I don’t bore you too much with this topic, but this is Evan’s birth announcement.  The picture was taken April 16, 1980.

And here is Jacob.

OK, I apologize for posting this multiple times.  But when I saw the birth announcement, it just furthered my suspicions that he is his daddy in baby form.  Evan Jr., my friend.

[Can you tell that posting every day is a little tough for me?  Every night at about 11, I jump off the couch and say, “Oh, shoot!  I haven’t posted yet!”  To which Evan brushes his teeth and goes to bed.  And then I’m up trying to figure out something worth sharing.  It stretches me a bit, but I don’t know if I’ll join in on this particular challenge in the future.  I say that now…]

In other news, I had a friend and her two little boys over this afternoon, and at some point I’ll have to share the video I took of Emily and the boys playing instruments together.  It was quite a riot, especially with the 12 month old be-bopping like a groupie.  He had the tambourine, but mostly he just danced.  And you can absolutely see the influence of Yo Gabba Gabba in these kids (mine included).  They all want to be drummers!  So one day when they are teenagers and decide to have a garage band, you can guess whose garage they won’t be in!  Well… neither of our garages if we have a say-so.

Like I said before, we had a fantastic week with the fam. Here’s a meager list of stuff that rocked:

• Taking the ladies to the Quality Thrift Store (I’ll show you my new treasures later this week… And I haven’t forgotten that I promised to share some other thrifting finds a while ago. I will! I have my trusty blog to remind me.)
• Seeing Speed Racer with the siblings (I love this movie and don’t care what old fogey critics think! It’s pure fun. I especially love monkeys who wear little boys on their pajamas. Watch the music video and try to pretend you’re bored. I dare you. :) And here is Evan’s very very very positive review.)

• Getting some of Evan’s old things from when he was a kid, including an old birth announcement and a super-cute quilted wall hanging (I’ll share that later too.)
• Emily in the pool

• Emily calling her Uncle Collin “Tony.” There’s a story we’ll be telling when we’re 80… It started out sounding like “Collin” and quickly devolved (video footage to come)
• Praise reports such as Dad getting tenure and the family’s house selling
• Playing Mad Gab for the gazillionth time and Trivial Pursuit Pop Culture Edition for the fourth time
• Losing both games
• Beauty salon time with the ladies (new styles all around!)
• Jacob looking like an old man

• Enjoying The Office and Lost together while eating 3 kinds of ice cream and chocolate chip cookies
• Bibi making a dress for Em
• Just being together, if only for 4 days

And I can’t not mention this: Today, Jacob is one month old. I really can’t believe it! Has he already been with us that long??? What a sweetie. He seems to be moving to a 3-4 hour schedule too, which is a nice change. I’m pretty sure he slept for about 5 hours last night, so we’re getting closer to a full night’s sleep! Woo-hoo!!!

Sorry folks. I haven’t had time to pull together a worthy post today. Since I feel obliged to share a picture with every post though, here’s something to entertain you.

You deserve an explanation.

This was about 4 years ago. I was single, living with my nutty friend Jacquie, and my job was very stressful. Jacquie is one of those people who can get anyone to do anything that they otherwise would never do or only dream of doing. So the combination of delirium, having nothing better to do at midnight, and Jacquie led to a night of playing dress-up with every inanimate object we could find. Including my not-so-flattering glasses.

And, yes, that is a toothbrush in my hair.

Can’t you just imagine the boatloads of boys flocking to me in all my hotness?

This picture was taken a couple weeks later and just before Evan and I started dating.  I’m glad he married me.

Or–more appropriately–rescued me from myself.

;)

P.S. I was going to make my blog debut with just that crazy prom queen picture, but I decided you might not want to read my blog anymore.  So I added this other one.  Now my incognito identity is ruined.  Oh well.  I don’t like being all mysterious anyway.

We’ve been home since Saturday and trying to get into a routine–one in which everyone gets enough to eat and enough sleep to be sweet, sweet. I haven’t shared much in the way of crafting in a while. It seems that most of my entries have involved babies lately. And that’s OK. But here is something I’ve been working on. I’ve actually made much more progress, but with all the transitions in our life right now, well… Like I said, just trying to get the hang of things.

I am honestly scared of what tomorrow will bring with Evan returning to work. Any of you moms out there remember the first day you were all alone with two little people? Or even just one? That was scary too. Thankfully, newborns can be pretty easy to care for, and 18-month-olds will sometimes obey.

Edit: I thought you might like more Jacob to feast your eyes on.

Our second child (but first son), Jacob Emory, was born yesterday morning at 11AM, weighed 7lbs 8oz, and was 20 inches long. He has a grip of steel and latched onto anything he could wrap his tiny fist around. Hopefully he will use his powers for good and not evil. Both he and mom are doing great. As you can imagine, it may be awhile before Kristena gets back to full time crafting, but never fear, I’m sure she’s already dreaming up any number of cute things to knit for her newest muse, and it will only be a matter of time before she’s back to full steam.

(Evan, her husband)

Our Dear Daughter left us this fun puzzle to put together.  I wonder what kinds of creative stuff she’ll come up with as she gets older?  I’m thinking we have a future filled with treasure hunts, paper dolls, and costume design.  And perhaps decoupage?

Those are Evan’s hands hard at work.  The last picture shows the pieces that didn’t fit and, we assume, belong to another decimated book.  We laughed so hard we cried as we put packing tape over the pieced-together front cover.  And then we wondered if other parents ever do this.  Or do they simply return the shredded book to the library in a Zip-Loc?  Or just pay the fine?   We are nothing if not determined.

Tomorrow is Evan’s birthday, so today I am busy with top-secret doings.  Thankfully, he won’t be doing the taxes on his birthday, as I believe he has for the past couple years.  And that’s just no fun.

Okay, friends. As Brother is coming soon, I am reminded by this picture of Emily that I need some good material to read while nursing. Something to make me laugh during those 3 am feedings.

I was also inspired by Alicia Paulson’s Spring Reading post. She too was looking for some light reading. Dear Small Readership (I know you’re out there!), I would also love some suggestions. What makes you laugh? What makes you think? Let me know so I can get those requests in at the library! And nothing too depressing, please.