First, this little one keeps me on my toes. Every day she shows new, stunning independence. There are some days, however, when she understandably regresses. After we assembled the crib for the baby, for instance, she decided she wanted to take her nap there. We obliged, but after her nap we sat down and discussed what it means to be a big sister.
Baby brothers can't:
1. Eat ice cream
2. Run and jump and skip
3. Color pictures
4. Eat noodles (Hannah's favorite)
5. Change dresses as many times as they want
6. Call their aunts, uncles and cousins on the phone.
7. Go potty all by themselves
9. Walk
10. Sing all the words to "The Wizard of Oz."
Second, what started out as a small play group with preschool undertones has grown into a full blown preschool co-op with 6 moms and 11 kids! With the big move happening in November, this has been my first chance to host preschool. It just also happens to fall in the last month of my pregnancy! I wanted to make sure I hosted at least once before the baby comes, and what a tornado of joy it has been!
 |
| Beautiful puppet theater made by my talented sister in law |
 |
| Celebrating 3 Kings Day |
 |
| Dancing with puppets! |
Third, I am teaching my final month of piano and voice lessons before taking two months of maternity leave. In December we had a small winter recital (only half of my students were able to attend), and though it was a small, intimate chamber recital held in my folks' living room, it took a lot of coordinating on everyone's part, and I am so happy with how it turned out. Music is such a gift, and I'm so grateful for students who are willing to share it.
Fourth, we are diving headfirst into the world of cloth diapering! We didn't really have this option with Hannah in Japan (at least from what I could tell), and now in America it seems we have too many options. After much research, asking around and deliberation, we (well, I) finally settled on a diapering system that will work for us, and I found a wonderful Etsy shop with the CUTEST cloth diapers I've ever seen. I mean, take a look at these beauties-for-baby's-booty!
Seriously, how can you NOT want to dress your baby's bum in one of these adorable prints?! The bottom three on the right are Happy Heiney's that I picked up at a consignment sale, only to find out later that it was one of my best friends consigning them (small world)! The others were made by Tabitha, a work-at-home-mom with amazing talent. Not only did I discover her wonderful Etsy shop KonstantKrafter while browsing Craigslist for diapers, but I learned that Tabitha lives right here in Leavenworth! I immediately contacted her and asked if there was a way for me to come see and feel her diapers. She had so many fabric options that I was getting overwhelmed making my choices. Tabitha enthusiastically replied and invited me into her home to check out the diapers in person, and the rest is history. With a generous supplement of size small Fuzzibuns diapers from my sister in law, I think we finally have enough diapers to cover our baby.
Last but not least, I am still knitting and crocheting. :) Here is another shawlette (my third - I really like the pattern!) I made for a dear friend:
And a hot pink owl beanie (pattern from Inner Hooker) for a little one who outgrew her favorite hat:
Whew! This was just going to be a Yarn Along post to link up with Ginny at Small Things, Linda at Natural Suburbia and Donni at The Magic Onions, but it turned into so much more! This is my life in a nutshell right now - beautifully busy, messy and creative. I wouldn't have it any other way. A friend said to me recently, "this baby will slow you down from 100 mph to 1 mph." I'm looking forward to that slower pace, but until then I'll enjoy the chaos. :)
