The Owl and the PussyCat

The Fish

She's remembered how to swim from last summer and now she's even jumping off the diving board!!  I can't wait to see what she'll be doing by the end of the summer.

Big Sister

In a post prior to Neave's arrival, I wrote about how worried I was that I wouldn't be able to love another child as much as I love Emma.  Well, I must admit, now that I have two, my love surely has doubled in size!  It's incredible just how much we can love.  When I'm out of the house without both girls, which has happened quite frequently thanks to my wonderful husband, I think of Emma and then I remember Neave and I just feel my heart growing even larger.  It's amazing and so beautiful!  

Emma has taken on the roll of big sister with amazing force.  Wherever we go, she has to tell everyone that she is a big sister!  And boy, she tells it with great gusto!!! She is so proud of Neave, that it reinforces my belief when I first became pregnant I said that I was really doing this for her, than for ourselves.  It is so true!

Emma  wants to help out in every possible way to make sure that her sister is happy. When the baby cries, she lets me know right away and is really concerned if I don't immediately jump up and run!  She picks out Neave's clothes in the morning and wants to wear something simiar so that they match!  She has become a little mother.

As an only child, watching this beautiful sistership transform is amazing.  I'm so lucky to be able to witness such love and adoration.

Welcome Neave: One month old

These last 9 months I have to admit I have been hiding out.  So much has taken place, I don't even know where to begin.  But first, I must introduce to you our newest little one:  Neave

This picture was taken a hour after her birth.  And oh! what a birth it was!  It was amazing!

It was only 5 1/2 hours and through most of it I kept thinking that it may or may not be the real deal!  It wasn't until 25 mins before she was born that it became real! Emma's birth was so long and so tough that I didn't believe that it could happen like it did.  I made it to the birthing center at 5:00am and Neave was born at 5:24 am in the birthing tub. She is so calm and sleeps and eats like a champ!

Here she is at almost a month!  I couldn't imagine our life without her.  WELCOME Neave!

 

Quietly moving

We went out to the woods today, to relax and breath again. Listen to the wind blowing through the trees. Slow down.

Things seem to move so quickly now that we are living back in the city.  I have to remember how important it is to retreat to the woods every so often, when I need to slow down and live in the moment. 

I need to savor these last quiet moments of just the three of us, before our family  grows to four.

Happy Easter!

My parents are in town this weekend for Easter and to see us one more time before Baby Neave comes.  We took a nice drive to Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center.  It was an overcast day but the flowers were magnificent.

I made Emma an Easter dress, and the flowers on the dress seemed so similar to these flowers above. I think they are called phlox?

This week I got a special, special present in the mail for baby Neave. 

It's a beautiful day gown made my dearest friend Kate, who as you may know, has been making dresses for Emma since she was a wee baby.  The embroidery  detail is equiste.  I think I may never want to put her in anything else.  It's just beautiful. 

Well, I hope that you all had a lovely Easter weekend.  The big count is now on, 3 1/2 weeks left until my due date!  Everything is pretty much ready for the baby.  The diapers have been washed and hung to dry.

 

The bags are packed and all of Ina May's advice whirling around in head is ready to be put to practice.  I'm ready whenever she is.  Here we go!

Week 35

I can't get over how fast this pregnancy has been moving along.  I have been feeling great!  There are days when I really believe that I am superwoman, but I guess that's what happens when you have a 3 year old!!  I had my midwife appointment  and she told me that the baby is yet again posterior!  Bah!  But, at least I know this time, unlike with Emma, and I have 5-7 weeks to really make sure that I'm sitting correctly and not slouching.  I will be delivering at a birthing center, which I'm really excited about.  It's supposed to be an amazing experience, and all I keep thinking about is how good that birthing tub will feel!!

Emma has been super excited about having a baby sister.  I worry though, about her.  She's my first and I love her so much that I truly don't know how I could love another.  But, in my heart I know I can, it's just the anxiety of all.    And anxiety is what I have been feeling a lot of recently.  I was in complete bliss when I was pregnant with Emma, even going through the aftermath of Katrina. I never worried, and maybe that's why she was such a calm baby. 

But this time everything is so different.  I have the perfect daughter and it's so hard to imagine anything as perfect as her.  I know this must be a common anxiety of second time mothers, but boy, it is so hard to stop thinking about! 
So, to keep the anxiety at bay, I have been doing lots and lots of sewing and knitting for Emma and baby Neave!  But that my friends will have to wait until next time.  Have a great weekend!

The going's on around here...

I know that I keep mentioning this lately, but I am finally finding a certain peacefulness and balance here in our new life. It could also have something to do with being in my secong trimester and feeling fantastic, but hey! It has taken about 6 months for all of us to settle into our routines and adjust ourselves, but things are finally still and calm.
This house and our life finally feel familiar . It's hard to explain the balance, but I guess it means not having that longing feeling anymore.  As soon as Emma wakes up in the morning we just jump right into our normal pattern and the day begins without thinking.  There is always so much to do and even if we choose to stay home, we are always moving forward without noticing the loss of our old life. 

It feels good.

Also, I can now start to focus on my future a bit more, since we're finally in a place that feels like us.  For the last 3 years after Hurricane Katrina we were in a bit of a flux.  Making so many life decisions and not knowing what what was the best thing needed to make a better future for our daughter and ourselves.  Now, those days of Katrina are over and we have moved on to better days.  Austin is definitely a wonderful place to raise children.
There are talks between a friend of mine and I of starting our own natural home-based school with an emphasis in Waldorf, Montessori, and the daily goings on of a home.  It's super exciting and one of the best parts about this decison is that it just feels right.  I haven't woken up in the middle of the night in hot sweats thinking that I can't do it or I don't want to do it.  This day has been in the making fr both of us for quite sometime and it feels great! This will be a really amazing experience and what's even more wonderful, besides working closely with a really great Montessori teacher and friend, is that Emma and our new little one will be learning right beside us.
Speaking of the wee one. This week we had our ultrasound and found out that we are having a girl.  Emma is really excited especially since she had been asking for a sister since she found out I was pregnant.  I'm partly relieved because of the clothes situation and the fact that yeah, I get to make more pretty dresses! We're thinking of the name Neave.  Oh, she just kicked!  I think she approves:)

Josef is now finished with his first semester, so he has officially made it!!
It's always that first semester that tests you.  Can you do it, will you make it, are you good enough?  But yes, he did it and with A's!   Well done Josef!
It's so nice to have him home again, because I've now been able to have some "me" time without feeling guilty for taking away his "study" time. 
I've been working like crazy to make 75% of our Christmas gifts homemade.  The other 25% is ahocohol related, so, there's good reason for that 25%.  It was unfortuante that Josef didn't have the time this semester to make a batch of his winter ale, but he's thinking of doing some after the holidays.  
So, what have I been making you ask?  Well, there's been lots of knitting happening:  2 scarfs:  one cable and one lace, and a cabled hat;  One sewn knitting needle case and a couple drawstring bags to put lovely homemade soaps in made by dear friends of ours who own their own soap company here in Austin.  I am also in the process of making Olive for my great friend's lovely daughter, but whooo those darn legs are giving me the hardest time.  I'll show pictures of everything soon!
Yep, that's does it for what's been going on around here. Again, not a whole lot of picture taking going on.  I got out of the habit of dragging my camera with me everywhere and so I just need to get back into the habit!  It will happen, especailly when I see those cute little baby toes!!  Oh!  Roll on May 9th!

This past month or so...

My little one has become such an avid reader and she just loves the cartoons in the New Yorker! Now I find her trouping around the house taking her books everywhere she goes. The kitchen table while she eats breakfast, in the car, outside, anywhere. 

She's also becoming quite the singer, dancer, and musician of all sorts!  We try to have singing time at least once a day!  She will not let me forget! 

Josef's semester at UT is finally over and I think that it has taken us this long to really get into our groove here in beautiful sunny Austin.  Emma has really blosomed over the last few months and it's just beautiful to watch.

She's becoming such a confident and self assured little girl.  It's so hard to believe that she will be 3 in 23 days!!

I've really been working hard to make all our Xmas presents again this year.  Emma walks around talking about everything she is going to make as well for her whole extended family!  Crazy child.  I don't have much to show yet in the way of presents and they may have to stay under wraps until after Christmas.  I would not want to let the cat out of the bag for anyone who reads this.

This past weekend we went to the tree farm with friends to chop down our tree.

It was such a nice morning.  I put Emma in this dress only for the reason that I made it for Thanksgiving and never got a chance to take any pictures.  The dress was so easy to make and it's so nice.  Here's a pictures from the back.  It's kind of hard to see, but it crisscross's.  Emma loves it and finds it supper comfy.  The pattern is from Children's Corner and is called Mary Dee.

Today, we spent the afternoon putting up the Christmas tree. 

Emma had a blast and has spent the rest of the evening rearranging the ornaments!!

Yeah, for the Christmas season!!

Camera Shy

I don't know if it's that I haven't taken a lot of pictures in the last 5 months since we've been in Austin, but I think that I could possibly have one camera shy little girl on my hands.

 Every time I try to sneak my camera up to my face to take a picture, she has become as quick as a whip to turn a round or cover her face.

But, I was able to sneak in one picture of our Halloween butterfly. Just when she thought I was done!

Emma had an awesome time trick or treating time last night. We went with a friend and hit the neighbourhood next to ours, which is the old section of Austin complete with beautiful 1940's arts and crafts and cottage style houses.  It was nice just to be able to step onto the porches and see inside some of the houses, even just for a second.  And so many of them were just decked out in complete Halloween scariness!  Emma was SO brave.  After about 2 or 3 houses with me by her side, she became quite confident to walk up the path, climb the steps, and say trick or treat, all on her own, facing an array of scary costumed people !  I'm so proud of her! 

See the Obama sign in the yard?  It's getting really exciting around here!   It seems every other car in the city of Austin has an Obama sticker on it!  One of the reasons why I'm definitely starting to love Austin!  

On the baby front, I've started taking prenatal yoga at Yoga Yoga and I have a fantastic teacher.  I'm a bit out of shape so this is definitely a good thing.  Plus, it gives me a chance to actually focus on the baby and myself, instead of Emma.  A little bit of quite time these days goes a very long way!!
I've also been contemplating making my own cloth diapers.  It would greatly reduce the price if I made them.  I think I can do it!  I'm really feeling an incredible amount of energy in the last week and I'm ready to tackle a challenge! 
I hope that you all had a great Halloween!  I'm just waiting for Emma to awaken from her nap so we can hit the Austin Celtic Festival!  There will be Highland Games,  music , and my favorite of all, sheepherding!!
Have a wonderful weekend!

Is this common?

Every day seems to get better and better.  In the shower this morning, I tried to remember if I had felt this depleted of energy when I was pregnant with Emma.  It's kind of sad, but I can't even really remember my first trimester.  I mean I'm not sad that I can't remember the yucky feeling, but I am sad that I can't remember the time spent in our house in New Orleans, as short as it was. 

I  became pregnant after 2 weeks in our new house.  The house had only had two owners prior to us and the couple who had owned the house before us, had lived there for their whole lives,  childless.  So, I always though how nice it would be for the old house to have children running around in it.  We unfortuntely didn't get a chance to do that, but I sure it will have it's day.
 I do remember though, quite well, how hard Josef worked at remodeling the kitchen, while I looked on from the coach. Oh, it was a horrible old kitchen, nothing vintage about it.  I felt sorry for the old lady, because she had to live with it for so long. I do remeber how the smell  of mildew from the old funky cabinets made me avoid the kitchen at all cost. 

Somedays I did have enough energy and stamina to help Josef with the kichen.  We put up the dry wall which I enjoyed and scraped the floors, trying to peel off the 3 layers of  lynoleum. What a pain!!!   When we finally got down to the wood, my favorite part was using the sander.  Josef and I joked that our child would have lose of hearing before she even left the womb! 
So, yes, I guess this pregnancy is so far a lot like my last.  Except now, I can't plunk myself down on the coach as freely as I would like.  Emma likes to keep me busy!!   But I'm so, so, so so, glad to be feeling better.  I honestly do feel like a new woman. I see things differently, I have inspiration to create again, write again, and even take pictures! Wow!  Is this common?

This morning, when I came trugging into the kitchen, for the first time in 3 months, I had a desire to cook breakfast!  Yesterday, Emma and I went to a Halloween book reading at Book People and I ended up buying the River Cottage Family Cookbook!  Great book!  So, this morning I made crapes!  Yummy, with sugar and lemon juice and even a little whipped creamon top! Delicious!  No pictures unfortunately.  Everyone ate them tooo quickly to even get a shot in!
Emma and I spent a good while checking out the book.  She loves all the pictures of the children working in the kitchen.  The one thing that stuck with her after reading the book, was that we could actually make our own homemade butter.  She kept walking around the house saying that she really wanted to make homemade butter. "Like now mommy!  Lets make butter!"  She's a girl after my own heart!  We'll have to seriously check into this homemade butter interest!