the heather quilt

Memaw worked with a great girl, Heather, in Fort Worth at our old office.  Heather was in love with Memaw and still talks with her to this day.  I worked with Heather's husband in my department, and together they were just a fun couple.  They had tried for some time to get pregnant, and I'm sure that the specifics are none of my business.  Suffice it to say, they are expecting their first child, a little girl, so Memaw and I wanted to do a quilt for them.

I have been hoarding this stash of "Strawberry Fields" fabric.  You might remember that I previously made a quilt out of Strawberry Fields (see it here), and Heather had fallen in love with it.  So I knew that if she was having a girl, she was getting my stash!  The pattern is a wonky star, meaning that the points of the stars aren't supposed to be even with each other.  I mixed in a couple of non-stash prints and solids, to mix it up.  Sorry about the badly-lit pictures - it's dark by the time we get home from work.

The back.  I couldn't get the border around the middle fabric to be even, and I was about to stomp all over the fabric in a temper tantrum, so I gave up and said good enough.

Polka dots?  Check.  Strawberries?  Check.

Close up of one of the stars.  I straight-line stitched a 1/4 of an inch on either side of the square.  The squares look loose and wrinkly because they aren't finished yet!  Memaw is hand-sewing around each star in a light pink thread.  That will anchor the blocks better.

I lucked out and found the exact same green stripe binding I used for my previous Strawberry Fields quilt!

Britton helped me take pictures. She tried to hold the quilt up but it was too big for her!

bathroom remodel: the first day

Mr. Bob showed up at 7:00 this morning, contract in hand and raring to go.  I showed him all the supplies we had bought - the tile, the vanity, the toilet, everything.  He was especially thankful I had made the Lowes delivery guys put the vanity and countertop upstairs.  Once less thing to lug up!  

Here is the bathroom from the night before, how it has looked since we bought the house.  Actually, how it has looked since the house was built 21 years ago, since it's never been updated.  Please note the linoleum flooring, the shower/tub insert, the formica, and the over-mount sink with excess caulk.  

Britton in her color-fizz water.   The look on her face says it all - she knows that the tiny round toilet has got to go!

Well, this morning I had to leave to take Britton to school and get to work, so I left Mr. Bob to his work.  I come home at lunch to let Sadie out, so I checked out the guys' progress.  The whole room was gutted!  Mr. Bob reported that there was no water damage anywhere, much to my relief.  HGTV and DIY shows have a way of making you think that the absolute worst turn of events will derail your remodel.  Mr. Bob did report that emergency shut-off valves were never installed upstairs (there is one in the basement).  It's not a make or break, but it makes sense to go ahead and get shut-off valves and an access panel installed now, when the area is wide open.

Mirror mirror, off my wall...

Get this - the guys found this Pepsi can under the tub.  It's been there 21 years!  How incredibly awesome, and at the same time gross, is that?

deuce: sixteen weeks

Actually, it's sixteen weeks and three days, but in all honesty I've been rounding this entire pregnancy.  Most of the time I can't remember how far along I am, so I have to use the due date calendar on www.babycenter.com to tell me what week I'm in.  It's not that I don't care as much this time around, it's just that I already have a child that needs to be taken care of.  The hub I no longer stay up reading the books because we know what they say.

Good news - the nausea is GONE.  Finally.  Since the pregnancy test showed up positive I have thrown up every single day.  My nose has also been clogged every single day, and I have sinus pain daily.  I can't even put my forehead into the shower stream or it hurts.  And my feet are constantly swollen so I have to prop them up or I end up unable to walk.  But, yes, the good news, maybe the only good news, is that the nausea is gone!

People at work are acting surprised when I tell them I'm pregnant, and honestly it's hurting my feelings. Because if they think I would just naturally gain this middle growth on my own in the two months I have worked there, what does that say?  To me, I LOOK pregnant.  But, it seems to everyone else I look chubby.  Ugh.  I've been showing since week 10, I've been in maternity clothes for over a month.  Pregnant looks pregnant, right?

We have our anatomy ultrasound December 10th, and I'm holding off buying any bedding or clothes until I see proof positive of a boy on the screen!  I assume a chromosome test is pretty accurate, but I just need to see it for myself.  The hub and I are discussing names, and have decided to go with something we can imagine on a resume.  Once again, just waiting on visual confirmation.

let it snow!

We all woke up yesterday morning to snow falling.  The previous afternoon we took Granny on a tour de Pittsburgh, including the tunnel entrance to the city that must be seen to be believed.  I have been in a car from Florida to Canada, Virginia to Oklahoma - coming into Pittsburgh, despite what you might think of the city itself, is amazing.  And I'm always hesitant to not show people around who haven't been to the city before.  I can just see Granny getting back to Oklahoma and her friends asking if she saw Heinz Field or PNC Park or the confluence of the three rivers or the US Steel skyscraper that looks like a castle, and her having the deflated answer of "no."  So we showed her everything, and then stopped by Handel's for real milk-fat-tongue-covering goodness ice cream.  Even though it was only 35 degrees outside.

And then Saturday morning Granny got to see it snow!  It was a fantastically perfect snow.  It snowed all day but never really stuck.  The roads were completely clear.  But the flakes never stopped swirling. It was mesmerizing.  

And having nothing to do with snow, but just a part of the never-ending build up to Christmas around these parts, here are Britton's gingerbread men.  She loved doing the icing herself, and covering these guys with sprinkles.

happy thanksgiving!

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving!  We had Memaw and PawPaw come into town on Wednesday, and as a special treat the hub's grandmother, Granny, flew out from Oklahoma to visit.  Britton hadn't seen her since she was eight months old, so it was a great reunion.  

We started out cleaning the house on Tuesday, and I had promised Britton she could wash dishes.  I spoil my daughter, you see?  Actually, she wanted to wash dishes and hadn't ever had the chance to do it, so I figured I'd get some work out of her.  Every princess needs to know how to wash dishes.  So do princes.

Britton also wanted to help out with the cooking.  Memaw brought Rice Krispies and marshmallows (which we ate whole in front of the hub to gross him out) and made Rice Krispie balls.  

I made my mom's crab dip.  I can't have Thanksgiving without her crab dip.  The hub went to Costco no less than two times to find the Phillips crab meat, as it is a mandatory ingredient.  And when the hub mixed up Triscuits with Wheat Thins, he volunteered to go get my Wheat Thins at a depressing Thanksgiving Day Wal-Mart.  The man knows how I feel about this crab dip.

I found apple cider at Soergel's, which is an apple orchard and farmer's market near our house.  Their cider came out of their fields, and it was the freshest cider I've ever tasted.  We put it on the stove over low heat, with a bag of mulling spices in it.  Glade and Yankee Candle have nothing on us!

Memaw and PawPaw gave the hub a deep fryer for his birthday.  After some false starts with the propane, they decided they weren't redneck enough.  So the hub pulled out the four-wheeler for sitting purposes, and brought down some Crown Royal drinks.  Because there's no point in deep frying a turkey if you can't drink on your four-wheeler at the same time.

Ready to eat!

I got my nap while Memaw was finishing up the side dishes, so the men decided to get in naps when dinner was over.  With the Cowboys playing on television (well, if you can call that "playing") they zonked out.  Memaw and I took Britton on a walk to spy on our neighbor's Christmas lights and get the blood circulating.

Four generations...

With Thanksgiving over and Christmas around the corner, we pulled out the gingerbread house kit and went to work!  We had watched a Shrek movie that happen to be on television, and Britton loved the little gingerbread man.  She wanted to make gingerbread man cookies, but I offered up the gingerbread house kit instead.

And Memaw, the hub, and I worked at getting the Christmas decor finished outside.  No Christmas decor was put up inside because we just never got to it.  We will put up Christmas trees this weekend and all the little odds and ends, but I really wanted to get that front porch completed.  And our little row of Santas all lit up!

it's time to tell

The hub and I have decided to ruin Britton's only-child status by adding to our family. And unlike today's hipsters, we went with another child and not another dog we treat like a child. So, what I'm taking the long way to say is....

 I'm pregnant!

We weren't planning on it, but we weren't preventing it. And honestly, not even three years ago, I was certain Britton would be an only child. It was so hard after she was born, whether because of her protein intolerance or our lack of baby knowledge, but I remember the night the hub and I agreed that the only way we could get through it was to know we'd never have to do it again. And for three years, we meant it. We really did.

But time has a way of softening the hard edges, and the idea of Britton growing up without a sibling was gnawing at me. And, as ridiculous as it may sound, I wanted a chance to do it again - without the fear of the unknown, without the inability to deal with a protein intolerance, without postpartum depression and anxiety turning me into a mother who hid in the pantry so my baby wouldn't see me. I want a chance to do it right.

 The hub and I are scared, there's no doubt. Because it's all going to be new again. We may have experience raising a baby, but we have no experience in raising a baby while parenting a child. I get it that this experience will be different, as I'm pretty sure that I'm not going to give birth to Britton's clone! And my pregnancy has been completely different. I was sick every morning of my first trimester.  But with Britton I had morning sickness for three weeks only, at nighttime.  Instead of the sweets and fruit I craved with Britton, all I want now is carbs and easy cheese in a can. Yes, you read that right, and no, I'm not proud of that.  I'm tired all the time, and my belly stuck out the minute the test came out positive.  I've been in maternity pants since 11 weeks!

I'm fifteen weeks and two days along, with a due date of May 11, 2013.  And because I am an old mom (ahem) I submitted to the battery of tests that tell you if your baby has any of the diseases or issues everyone fears.  Because of my advanced age (seriously, having a kid at 34 makes you old) my probability for Down's Syndrome was already out of the normal range.  So I got this incredibly new DNA test that tested the DNA of the placenta cells in my bloodstream - no amnio, no invasion.  And good news, I am 99.9% clear of any chromosomal abnormalities.

But the genetic counselor also found sex chromosomes in the test.  And she wanted to know if I wanted to know.  See, when I was pregnant with Britton I had a chance to find out the gender, but the hub wasn't there so I didn't find out.  He said if it ever came up again, just to go ahead and find out without him!

So I got to call him up afterwards, tell him there were no issues with the test, and that he was going to have a......

son.

fall festival

Britton had Fall Festival today, which is when her daycare puts on a Halloween/Thanksgiving singing show for the parents.  The hub and I had to sit through four classes before Britton's class showed up to the stage, but the kids were so cute (they started with the babies and went up in age from there) that it wasn't a problem.  

I figured we'd have some problems when Britton's class filed in and Britton did not want to get onto the stage.  I told her to go with her teacher and give big smiles, but really all she did was stand there with her fingers in her mouth and pretend to be mute.

The hub was behind me videotaping, and I played the stage mom, mouthing to Britton to "smile big!" even though everyone in the room knew Britton wasn't smiling or singing or getting those fingers out of her mouth!

But the show must go on, so the hub videotaped and I snapped 100 pictures (they all look like the one above) and we appreciated the memories of Britton singing all of those songs as recently as this morning even if she was pretending like she had no idea what everyone was singing during the show.

"Oh no!  Not the paparazzi!"

Of course, on the way home, I asked Britton why she didn't want to sing.  See, it's not that I care what the other parents think, and Britton has always been shy.  I don't really care one way or the other if she wants to participate in her school's show, but I did want to know if there was a specific problem today that made her not want to participate.  And you know what that kid said?  "Mommy, I didn't want to sing while you were taking my picture."  Then she put her leaf crown back on and gave me a big smile for the camera while idling at a stoplight.  Touche Britton.  Touche.

the money pit: our new bathrooms

We hired a great contractor to totally rehaul two of our three bathrooms, and it turns out he can start at the beginning of December.  Say what?  So the hub and I met up with him on Saturday at Lowes so he could help us pick tile, the vanity, and the tub.  Bob, who has a fantastic Irish accent I could listen to all day, was more than willing to offer up his expertise.  And I imagine that he was willing because how many homeowners you think stumble into Lowes on their own, only to leave with every wrong choice?  My guess is at least 60%.  The tile department alone is overwhelming.

Here is our hall bath, which is Britton's bathroom.   I originally ordered a much darker, almost black, vanity, not realizing that "espresso" meant "black."  Luckily I happened to walk by the "espresso" vanities and realize my mistake before the order was processed!  Instead I went with this warmer, not-as-stark, vanity to compliment the grey tile.  The almost-black vanity would have been too cold and harsh.

The shower accent tile will be lined on either side with a clear sea glass green tile border, to separate it from the large wall tile.  I ran with this and ordered some green glass knobs from Restoration Hardware for the vanity.  I know it's not completely "neutral," but sparse light green accents will be fine.

And since we are waiting on the master bathroom until the hub and I get our bonuses after the new year, we decided to spring for the downstairs powder room.  We already had a new toilet installed there, and the floor is hardwood, so the only thing that needs replacement is the vanity and mirror.

I will be sure to share "before" and "after" photos of the process!

school picture time

Gone are the days of the starburst backgrounds and black plastic combs.  School pictures (at daycare, no less) now come with background choices and props!  And they sent Britton home with an entire package, priced her page.  Knowing that there was no way I was going to turn down any of the poses, I passed on the classroom photo and collage print.  

Britton's teacher actually tried to intercept the photos from me when I opened the package.  She wanted to explain that the other teacher had chosen the purple background, not her!  I told her that no, Britton had actually marked it on the sheet because she wanted purple and I didn't much care what color she wanted.  Her look of relief was priceless, but I don't think she should have been worried.  I think the purple turned out adorable!

Posing WITH props and WITHOUT Winnie?  A miracle unto itself!

the melissa quilt

Jessica is friends with a fellow teacher, who is due with her second child within the next few weeks. Melissa and Jessica are good friends, and I wanted to make Melissa a baby quilt from myself and Jessica for her soon-to-be-here baby girl.  Jessica and I decided on a purple and aquamarine color scheme, because she told me Melissa liked the "Brooklyn" bedding from Pottery Barn Kids.  I figured that even if she didn't use that bedding to decorate the nursery, I knew she would like the color combo.  I used a pattern I've used before, and I just love the ric rac!  Jessica gave the quilt to Melissa recently, so I finally get to share it with you!

Front:

Back:

Ric rac!  The bird fabric is Alexander Henry's "Starling Cute"

I quilted it in my loopy free motion, and included my patented "hidden heart" on one of the birds.

happy halloween (finally!)

On Wednesday, we received word that Halloween was postponed until Saturday night because of Hurricane Sandy beating up parts of Pennsylvania.  It has rained for over a week straight, and I admit that the last thing I wanted to do Wednesday night was to put on coats, rain boots, and carry umbrellas while trick-or-treating.  I was fine with the change to Saturday, plus with Memaw and PawPaw visiting they got to see Britton go trick-or-treating for the first time!

You might be asking yourself why it's Britton's first year trick-or-treating, see as how she is 3 years old.  Well, first of all she doesn't need the candy, but more importantly her bedtime has always been so early that we couldn't go trick-or-treating without ending up with a very tired kid.  With her friends chatting up trick-or-treating at school (damn you, peer pressure!) and a little later bedtime, we caved and tried it out.  Britton got her coat on because the Belle dress had been on all day - no need to get into "costume" since she spends all day every day in some sort of costume.

We left PawPaw on the couch screaming at the WVU football players on the television, and set out the candy on the stoop.  The blue bucket is labeled "peanut free," not because I was trying to be over-inclusive, but because I had bought it for Britton's class and forgot it, and dang it all some peanut-allergic kid was going to benefit from the Nerds I was secretly craving.

Trick-or-treating didn't last.  Britton didn't like the kids wearing masks, she didn't understand the whole "going up to the door and saying 'trick-or-treat' out loud and pick out candy" thing and she got frustrated because I got frustrated.  So Daddy enticed her home with the promise of being the candy keeper - Britton was definitely intrigued about being the one to hand out candy!

So Memaw, Britton, and I snuggled up on the front stoop with our blankets and candy (and for us, coffee) and handed out candy for an hour.  Britton loved it!  And it gave Memaw and me a chance to discuss landscaping changes and Christmas front-porch decor ideas.  Britton took over the peanut-free candy as her own bounty, and refused to give any candy to any kid wearing a mask.  I don't blame her there - some of those masks were downright creepy.  Memaw handed out candy two at a time so we wouldn't be out there all night!  We wrapped it up, and while the hub and I left to go do some Christmas shopping, Memaw and PawPaw brought Britton down from her sugar high and wrestled her into bed.