ho ho ho...

so here's ellie, checkin' santa out.

then, ellie kicked santa out of his chair and started posing...

but then she decided to let him sit down again-- she wanted a picture with her soon-to-be partner in crime, annabelle.

nice indeed.

(pics taken by annabelle's supermom, angie. i'm so lucky to have a bff whose also a great photographer. score!)

our little can-opener

hehehehe. doesnt she look like a mischevious little old lady?

and these 2 bottom teeth now have a another tooth friend. top front left tooth has officially cut. thank goodness! let's just say that a few tears were shed and a few hours of sleep were lost as well.... let's see, how many more teeth have to still come in?! ouch.


awww.


never been a big fan of 'picture outfits' (which is what i call this one), but my grandma's sister gave me this fancy little getup, ellie was about to grow out of it and summer was long gone (these were taken in november), so i convinced my pal angie to take a few pics for us. specifically so i could give them to grandma and share them with here sister....
but i gotta say, they turned out pretty darn cute.

so thank you, great-aunt betty lou, for giving me a reason to dress up ellie like i never would have otherwise. hat and all. our little southern belle.

xo

pure awesomeness:

so, i know she's not quite old enough to color (we're workin' on it), but i'm totally gonna have to buy this for ellie.

i'm sure she could come up with some pretty rad custom designs.
and i'd probably have to color a few too, just to teach by example, ya know?

:o)

happy thanksgiving!
i should go to bed now.

(nifty link)

recycling at it's finest...

 
see the pink bear? it's 29 years old-- given to me by my aunt eileen shortly after i was born.

but it's brand spankin' new to ellie! not only is it in pretty good shape, but you can still wind it up and hear 'rockabye baby.'

i think she likes it.

and i LOVE a happy baby, and her fun little squeals too while rollin' around before bed.

handmade goodies

with the help of a couple crafty pals, i put together a little bundle for my "friend from afar" jessica, of the fabulous blog tart. jess recently welcomed an adorable future rock-star daughter, rowan, and i thought that the tatted gal Alexander Henry fabric in my stash could make some pretty good gifts...

my pal amy whipped up the fancy shmancy burp cloths, and i picked up the cloth nursing pads from jenny. i chipped in the ok cube and sewed a couple things on a onesie and voila! a nifty little gift set, made with love.

jess was very thankful and it makes me SO happy to know she and lil rowan will get good use out of everything. and there's no doubt that our handmade lovelies are enjoying their new home in hawaii!

so now i have a quilt in canada and a cube in hawaii, 2 places i've never actually been myself... and maybe one day, i'll be able to put more stuff out there.... ya never know.

have a good weekend!


(front of onesie)

or better yet, shot of onesie in action here!

 

spotted

 
how funny is this?!

ellie is now the proud owner of a gymboree velour matching hoodie and pants getup, which is decidedly dalmation-esque-- little black ears and all. it was $8 at a nearby consignment store.

cheap, ridiculously cute kids clothes always win. i am a sucker. she NEEDED it.

and i pretty much love it. she makes me smile.
:o)

my favorite little monster

it's official: she's a crawler.

good lord, here we go...!

our silly halloween (i'm a bit behind!)

 

our last minute outfits:
kevin was an ol' school bball player-- kinda like will ferrell in semi-pro
i was supposedly the bride of frankenstein
and ellie was a pumpkinhead (again. not too imaginative on my part, i'll admit)

went to a low country boil at a friend's house, drank a few beers, and was home by 9.
wow.
we are crazy party animals round here. :o)

on another note: we FINALLY fixed our jacked up computer. yeehaw! so now we'll see if windows 7 is better than vista. it's got to be. vista was wack. either way, i will NEVER own another PC again... yep. so i'm back.

sleepy mountain trip...

(with my lil pumpkinhead)

this year's trip was definitely different from last year's, thats for sure. there's definitely quite a difference in vacationing while pregnant and vacationing with a 7 month old. (which is trippy enough in it's own right-- 7 months already?! sheesh!)

but it was lovely indeed-- good times with old friends, pretty weather and scenery, and an awesome cabin with amazing views. ellie kept up her laid back, adaptable (kevin-like) nature and slept really well for us too. and she's not the only one who slept well... there must be something bout that mountain air! i slept like a rock, both easily and often. in fact, it kind of became a running joke. i passed out most nites just after ellie did. (like 8pm. not cool at all!) but, on a positive note, it resulted in me being the least hungover person there.... :o)


our little family unit


all bundled up and hanging out on the deck


hanging with lilah


"hi mom. i have stripey legs"


pretty purpley shot

thank goodness for mountain time! i'm so happy we've made this an annual trip. it's lovely to get away every now and again... and silliness with friends, along with LOTS of delicious food, is always good for the soul indeed.

til next year, blue ridge!
(sigh.)

gobbily goo

 
(will's pumpkin goo from last year-- 2 more days til mountain trip, woohoo!)

pumpkin patchin' it

 

ellie likes [to eat] pumpkins.

ellie's 1st tybee sunrise...

i think she dug it.




i certainly did. it was beautiful. and we had the beach entirely to ourselves--


except for a few curious birds, who were pretty interested in ellie.


(she was pretty curious too-- it was funny to watch the interaction)


(**love this one: it's like ellie's waiting ever-so-patiently for the sun.)


the golden light was so pretty...


hmmmm....


"yeah yeah, and then the sun came up, and then i ate some sand, and then i got all wet and covered in saltwater foaminess while ma took a gazillion pictures...."


"put me back in my PJ's-- enough with the sunrise. time to go, ma!"

bangs (on a boat)...

 
i did it.
bangs indeed.

i kinda love them, in a "hide the 5head" sorta way. :o)


("yeah, dad. we should definitely turn here....")


("i'm on a boat!")

LOVE fall boat outings in Savannah....
though it's still 85-90 degrees here.

**c'mon fall weather, ready to embrace you with open arms!

(mountain trip next week! hooray for getting fired and not having to worry about having my vacation time being approved...... :o)

oh, the irony.

my last post (on october 9th) was an ode to SCAD and how much I love working there.

as of today, my employment was terminated.

ouch.

oh well. now i can veg at nite instead of work.
and get rid of all my dreadful 'work clothes' from ann taylor loft.

lookin' on the bright side........

screw'em.
now i can follow my bliss, with ellie of course, completely uninterrupted!

SCAD holla!

Savannah College of Art and Design could shape the future of design | News for Dallas, Texas | Dallas Morning News | Life/Travel

(yep, that's my alma mater/best employer ever. well, maybe not ever. but still-- so proud to be a bee. great article.)

.: wordless wednesday

 

when it rains...

it sure enough pours.

good stuff here.

"HOLY SH*T! SHE JUST HAD THE BABY AT THE HOUSE!!!"

angie, 38 weeks

crazily enough, i just got home from my best friend angie's house.
she gave birth to her baby girl unexpectedly AT HOME(!!!) earlier this evening.

as in: before help arrived... with her own 2 hands... standing up in her bathroom... while her husband was in the other room on the phone, frantically trying to track down help.

it was unbelievable.

she'd been sorta laboring all day, after going to the birth center in the morning only to be sent home. she was barely dilated (~2cm) and it was predicted that it would be another couple of days. her contractions weren't regular and had pretty much stopped once she arrived there. so back to the house she went. when i called and checked on her around 5:00pm, she sounded tired and was disappointed over the false alarm, but was just resting and listening to a relaxation CD, while riding out occasional contractions....

fastforward to 7:37pm.

her husband calls and says, "i think you should come over, something doesnt seem right" but he can't really explain what is going on. all of a sudden(?)she's having 3 minute long contractions, with no real rest in between, and she's in quite a bit of pain. (i'm thinking, wtf?! how did this happen? what does this even mean? there's no break AT ALL? are you sure about this? hmmm..!) i can hear her making some noise in the background...

i quickly get ready to go check on her/keep her company/make her laugh/make sure she gets to the center/do whatever i can do, and then my phone rings again--

it's now 7:42pm.

i hear: "HOLY SHIT SHE JUST HAD THE BABY AT THE HOUSE!!!" and then the line goes dead.

HUH?!!!!?

i couldnt get over there fast enough-- she'd been planning to deliver at the birth center all along, but baby annabelle had other plans...

it was so trippy to walk into angie's bedroom and see her propped up in bed, skin to skin with her newborn daughter, trembling uncontrollably, smiling while looking slightly terrified. it was phenomenal. her eyes spoke volumes. i hugged and kissed her, told her she did wonderful, and above all: 'EVERYTHING WILL BE OK'. i made sure that annabelle was super covered up, snug against angie's chest, and found a hat for her perfect little head full of beautiful dark hair... she was rosy and fleshier than ellie had been (my guess? 7lb, 3oz-- will know tomorrow), and looked perfectly healthy and content against her blown-away mama...

thankfully, her midwife Nancy and 2 nurses showed up about 15 minutes after i did and sprang into action. it's ridiculously amazing, how heightened the senses become-- (i don't see sleep in sight for tonite!) ... one minute i'm waiting on angie's placenta with yellow rubber gloves on and a bowl (per the midwife's instruction while she's en route- wtf?!) and the next i'm warming up baby blankets in the dryer... or searching for baby socks... or making peanut butter sandwiches... or helping to wrap annabelle's tiny arm around angie so she's in good position to nurse for the first time... or holding a flashlite so the midwife can see better to give a stitch.

absolutely bonkers.

i could go on and on, but bottom line: angie and annabelle are doing well, falling in love with one another, home in bed and getting rest. and new daddy too, though still a bit shell-shocked!

wow. and how was YOUR sunday?!

yesterday, today, tomorrow-- forever and ever amen. whenever and however babies choose to make their entrances: simply miraculous.

experiencing brand new life, up close and as real as it gets:
the maker certainly knows what she's doing.

my mind is officially blown.

forever, please.

 

*sigh.

gosh, i love her.

pieced, kind of.

so it's getting there.

i'm trying to finish this quilt top so i can send it off to my aunt and have her quilt it. SO excited to try her out since that's my least favorite part about quiltmaking. (strangely, i prefer to hand-quilt, like an old grandma. and that takes FOREVER, which means i start all kinds of stuff but never really finish anything.)

so when my aunt volunteered to quilt for me on her new longarm machine, i was superhappy to take her up on the offer.

now, if i can just find the time to iron (ugh) and sew it all up.
and ship it to maryland.

we'll see how this goes.
to be continued...

aghhh!

 
((lil monster face))
"come back here, sophie!!!"