Hello, Spring!

via sandavasut

Hey there! Just coming out of the fog of the last week now. It's been days of coffee + chocolate + sneaking bits of sleep + a whole lot of patience. 

Our little Luke learned how to climb out of his crib- with incredible timing, on daylight savings day. He's launched himself out twice & never looked back... all this new found freedom! He's so much different than Jack, our first. Where Jack is focused and contemplative and heeds directions almost to a fault, Luke is a clever & wily free spirit. This means of course, he doesn't just climb out of his crib...but he sneaks into the playroom or scatters the baby wipes around the nursery. It means nap time, which up until now has meant two hours of mom's work time, has been his ultimate party.  

We've since transitioned him into a toddler bed, but I still can't sleep a wink and have been racking my brain trying to identify every possible item or scenario he might find the least bit interesting. Pretty much anything we'd not want him to do. 

All this coupled with daylight savings & our childcare unavailable three days in a row....that's where the coffee & chocolate come in :) 

Ok, enough of the complaining - but I am accepting any & all pieces of parenting advice!   Onto happier notes - spring is here & the flowers are blooming, we've got a boy heading into kindergarten, a very busy shop, & a lot to be thankful for! 

Happy spring everyone! 

This and That - Bits of Goodness

 

Hello & happy Monday! Whew, lots of good stuff going on around here. I thrive on this kind of energy and bliss, you know? It's like I complete more things, create more newness during the holidays and busy seasons than any time of year. It's like all this inspiration is contagious! 

Last week, I had the chance to style & photograph an awesome photo shoot for a local company. Look up there, that's part of it. Their items were all handmade or from small businesses like Rifle Paper Co. - photography gorgeous is so fun. (I'll share the rest when I get the go-ahead ;)

And a bit of business for those of you planning on ordering gifts for the holidays. My personalized embroidery bags and custom cosmetic pouches are going like hotcakes, so you'll want to place an order soon! 

Sent out this beauty of a baby blanket to one of my dearest friends ever who just welcomed a baby boy. So excited to use my fabric in her gift! 

Lots of Christmas goodness around the house, our advent calendar - little envelopes filled with fun family activities inside.  {It's still not too late to create an advent calendar, check out my easy + lovely calendar round up here}

Lucky day. 

Fun little bouquet of felt flowers I spotted at Target....I'm thinking this can totally be made with all the extra felt I have around here. 

Oh, and I'm the 'shop of the day' on papernstitch today, so that's a great way to start off the week I think!

And if you haven't stopped by yesterday's Sewing Social post, come say hello & check out all the pretty projects.

Cheers to a happy week ahead! xo

Run Baby Run - Reframing Thoughts for Happiness

The other day the sun made a brief appearance in our neck of the woods. I scooped up Jack up, laced our shoes, and tossed the soccer ball into the car. Off we went to enjoy possibly one of his most favorite activities in the world, "do sports."

Not long into our 'soccer practice' (his words, not mine ;) - he darted off, daringly close to the rough & tumble high-schoolers the next field over. Thoughts of him being tripped over, bee lining it right down their field, or him being smacked with a corner kick left me in a panic. I called after him and you know what he did? He just kept running.

He's three, he's testing limits. I get it. But this little stunt had 6  month pregnant me chasing after a quick little preschooler.... frustrated & ready to call our soccer outing quits.

{taken last year, another sunny day in February}

And then, it hit me.


He's running.


There was a moment in our life when we worried whether our baby would even be able to walk properly. During my pregnancy we were given a false diagnosis of brain malformation that could affect his gross motor skills, and possibly much more.


So I stopped chasing him (I'm sure everyone was disappointed to see that spectacle end!)


Instead of feeling like, "oh my goodness this is so exhausting and his skinny little behind should be following directions"  I thought to myself "oh my goodness, we're so blessed he's running....and he needs to get his skinny little bum back over here."   It was a little mental shift. Reframed my thoughts....and it completely changed how I felt.


It took a breath (or a few). And he came back. And we played soccer. And he ran & ran.

{I've been trying to apply this same little mental shift to daily activities - washing dishes, answering emails, silly pregnancy exercise videos- and it's made a world of difference in my level of stress & my personal degree of happiness....}

Monday Happiness

Just a little burst of orangy happiness to start the week:

When I Grow Up

{Print from Jenzet}

The question, “what do you want to be when you grow up?” always made me cringe. Somehow, it always seemed so limiting. Like there’s just one answer- a multiple choice test with only one box to fill in.  In high school, I had high hopes for that questionnaire they hand out-  identifying strengths and possible career matches. Instead, I was horrified to see my counselor had marked my golden ticket as “hotel hospitality”. Luckily, I dug a little deeper and realized that since I’d actually only been to a couple hotels in my whole life and I much preferred academics, teaching was a better route for me.

And so, I became one. I remember my first month into teaching special education, after graduating college and moving on to a great big city, I thought to myself, “is this it?”  Although I desperately loved teaching & it filled a certain void...I still wondered, “what now that I’ve checked the box?”

Jumping forward a half decade and now a mother to a three year-old, the idea of what to be when grown up burdens me even more. Just the other day someone asked my son that very question.  No doubt they were attempting the somewhat difficult task of small talk with a preschooler but my son looked at me with serious concern and confusion.  He said  “just pick one thing?”  After mulling it over for a second he replied, “a construction-worker fireman space guy with a motorcycle.”

I smiled gleefully and thought, “hooray!”

That’s it. The wisdom of a 3 year-old addressed my personal conflict; Am I still a teacher now that I stay home with him? Have I erased that box and checked a new one, a stay at home mum? Or how about crafter? Or more officially, small business owner? Since I have a bum knee can I still call myself a runner?  At this moment and five months pregnant, do my dorky exercise videos qualify me as an athlete?

Yes. To “all of the above.”

In my son, dressed in his cowboy hat and chaps sitting in the laundry basket turned rocket ship, I can clearly appreciate my journey- and the various titles and labels and characteristics it brings.

Because I’m checking my own boxes...as many as I want.

cloudburst

{image: awakes }

I blinked and now it's Friday.

It's been a week filled with curveballs, surprises, disappointments, and miracles.

And honestly all the emotions have left me a little tired & a little disoriented. 
I haven't gotten through that to-do list I had planned on. In fact, I haven't even written the list!

But despite the roller coaster, this week has also been filled with moments that have kept me grounded. Like the afternoon nap curled up with my son at my side & our kitty laying on my belly. Or the autumn morning spent enjoying a cup of hot chocolate with my best friend from college.  And when little Jack discovered Monopoly in the game cupboard and exclaimed (no joke) "how cool is this?!"  It was the trip to the pumpkin patch, the country oldies on Sunday morning, the assemblage of a toddler firefighter costume.  An evening out with so many fabric mavens & inspiring women. And Jack's sweet singing of "Happy on the nose, happy on the nose" ....which I later discovered was his rendition of "If you're happy and you know it." 

Hooray for these little moments to keep me focused in this magnificent, swirling, frightening, amazing cloudburst of life.