Conversations with Jake

Jake at the kitchen island playing with his Star Wars Legos.

Jake: Mom - does Darth Vader have the good force or the bad force?
Me: He has the bad force until the end of the movie, and then he switches to the good force.
Jake: What does the bad force do mom?
Me: It pushes people around.
Jake: What does the good force do?
Me: It helps people.
Jake: Mom, I think I have the good force and Sammy has the bad force.
Me: (laughing) Sammy doesn't have the bad force.
Jake: Mom, he pushes me around all the time and pulls hair - I think that is the bad force.

What is a mom to say to that? 

T-shirt Surprise

I call this quilt a T-shirt surprise because that is what it did for me.  It was a big fun surprise.  I have a friend who has had me make t-shirt quilts for her kids as they graduate.  She brings me t-shirts and has even printed out art work, or graduation announcements on t-shirts.  We look through colors and she picks out the look she is going for, and then I begin the process. 

The reason this is a surprise is because I just start sewing.  No pattern, an idea, which usually changes as I get going, and at the end this is what we get. 

What I love about making these t-shirt quilts is that it doesn't just look like t-shirts and nothing else.  I try to incorporate quilting blocks, fabrics, textures to make this a keepsake treasure.

I have done 2 quilts like this for girls previous, and when I got the opportunity to do a boy version I was so excited.  I had a vision - blues, reds, browns, plaids, stripes etc.  Shelia had another vision - bright greens and blues.  I have to be honest, I was a little worried - I love these colors myself, but its hard to change the version I had in my mind.  The more I sewed the more I fell in love with this quilt.  I think it turned out so bright and fun. 

I wasn't home when Shelia picked it up, so I didn't get to see her expression or hear first hand what she thought of the quilt.  That is always a fear I have - that the customer won't love it.  After reading this post I was thrilled to hear it went over well - and her son said this was the best gift he'd ever gotten!  I'm so happy they like the quilt and that it all ended well for everyone.

There is so much time, effort, and money that goes into a quilt - its so nice when someone who doesn't quilt appreciates and loves the end result. 

It was so much fun to make this quilt - I can't wait to start this tradition with my own kids.  Thanks for the idea Shelia!

18 Months

Is this not the cutest little guy alive?  (I say that about Jake too.)  I can't believe 18 months has come and gone.  My little Sammy is the craziest, most loving, cuddling, biting, pulling hair, laughing, crying, cutest smile out there little guy. 

Sam  - you go all day long.  With little sleep, and you love to play ALL DAY.  Anyone who spends anytime with you is lucky to get any down time.  First thing in the morning you wake up with a smile, and crawl right out of bed.  I often worry you're going to fall because your eyes are still closed, but from the moment you wake up you're on the go.  You are such a happy boy (as long as you're doing something) and you smile and laugh all the time.  Playing outside is your favorite past time right now, and I can't get enough of your beautiful blue eyes and white/blond hair. 

 You have brought a craziness into our lives I never expected, yet we needed.  You keep us on our toes.  You have a determination to do everything and get into everything, and you find a way to do it.  A trait that may be challenging for a mama to deal with right now, but I know with time that determination will get you everything you want in this world.  You don't give up on anything - which will serve you well in the future.

 

Right now you are still learning words - you only say a few, but somehow you manage to communicate exactly what you want when you want it.  We know when you want to eat, play on the computer, swim, go outside, watch a show. Pointing at airplanes and running after dogs. You would be the best at playing charades and I would certainly want to be on your team.  I am so excited to see you form sentences and have conversations with you.  I have watched that little brain of yours think and try so hard to talk for so long now, that once it happens I think you will speak in sentences and be able to tell me all the things you've been thinking.  I can't wait to have little talks about your day, and your dreams, and plans for tomorrow.  

 

Sam, you've got the cutest little smile and laugh.  I love getting your open mouth kisses and how you come running to me when I walk in the door.  Every time I pick you up you lay your head on my shoulder and pat my back.  So sweet and loving.  You still have a few issues with hitting, biting and pulling hair but we're working on those and you're growing out of that stage.  I hope you will always want to hug and cuddle with me.  I treasure our nights together when you cuddle into the nook of my arms and hold my hand.  I know these moments won't last forever.  I always smile a little (even at 3am) when you have lay your head on me to go back to sleep.  For as active as you are, there is nothing sweeter than snuggling up with you at night.

I love watching you play with Jake.  It is so fun to see you both get excited when the other one wakes up in the morning.  I love how you kiss him and hug him.  I also love how you body slam him.  It is fun to watch you give back to Jake everything he gives to you.  I love that you aren't afraid of him and you get right in there with him to play, even if he isn't welcoming you at the moment.  I hope you two will grow up and love playing together.  Love spending time with each other, and realize you have to be there for each other growing up.  No one knows you like a sibling does, and I hope you remember that and stay close to each other as you grow up.  My brothers and sister are my best friends at this point in my life, and I hope as you grow you keep Jake close by.  He will always protect you and love you like no one else will. 

 Sammy, you have been a light in our home - a menace and crazy, but so much fun.  You are a mamas boy right now, and I secretly love that about you.  We have a special bond and I hope you will always remember how much I love you.  As you grow up stay you.  The mischievous, curious, determined, stubborn, fun loving little boy that you are.  Those traits will serve you well over time and bring you all the happiness you can imagine.

Always remember that Mama loves you.

Love you,
Mom

Feels Like Forever

I've been slacking in the blogging arena as of late.  Here are a few things to catch everyone up on what we've been up to...

Our first mowing day of the year consist of sweats and sweatshirts.

 But there were still happy faces - playing outside is Sam's favorite.

 We have returned home from trips where the boys got to play in the sun and have a day full of fun (before the flu of 2011 hit us all along with anyone who stepped foot in our house)

Jake hit a little amusement park and went on rides all by himself!

 He looks scared in this picture, but loved the ride once it was over.

I went on a business trip and this was the view from my room.  It was a nice little get away.  A walk on the beach - a bed to myself.  Lots of work was completed, yet when you're at the beach does it really feel like work?

Makes me excited for our next adventure.  A trip to Oceanside CA with the Latimer family.  Thirty four people (yes I said 34) all in one house.  Should be a fun few days!  

The sun has finally started shining around our parts and summer is finally here.  We have had BBQ's and swam, flowers are planted, umbrellas are up - everything is happy here.  Nothing is better then summer days and warm nights!

Back on Track

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Weekend.  I had an extra long weekend taking Friday off.  We spent the morning at Little Gym, road bikes in the park, played at the park, lunched with Whit, quilted with Ann.  What better way to start off my weekend? 

The previous weekend we decided at 6pm on Sunday night to convert Sam's room into a playroom.  He has refused to sleep in his crib recently, so why have a room devoted to his crib?  We spent the last week or so, looking for bunk beds and bedding.  On Saturday the beds were deliveried and the transformation began.  We spent the better part of the weekend putting together furniture, rearranging rooms, decorating, and cleaning.  Although not the most fun way to spend a holiday weekend - it is like a weight has been lifted and I'm so excited to be able to see the floor in Jake's room again.  It was being overrun with toys!  It is so nice to have the playroom and the boys room seperated.  I'm not ready yet to let Jake sleep on the top bunk, but its been fun watching the boys get up there and play.  Yesterday Mike made a fort for them throwing a blanket over the opening to the bottom bunk.  Hours of enjoyment. 

I also spent the weekend sewing.  Til 2am!  I'm working on a custom quilt order for a graduation present and I'm so excited with how it is looking.  A mixture of t-shirts, blues, greens, and white.  It is turning out really cute.  I hope my client likes it.  My goal is to get the borders on it tonight - quilt it tomorrow - bind it on Thursday and have it ready for pick up on Friday.  Hopefully the kids will cooperate! 

I've also been working on a little Moda Bake Shop project and a Bliss zig zag project.  When I saw the Bliss quilt I knew I had to have one.  How to people come up with such cute ideas? 

I have lots of pictures to share - just need to get them downloaded.  Be back soon!

The Quilt Store and the Liquor Store

Ever had one of those days?  Yesterday was a rough day .... I feel a pattern here.

I work from home on Thursdays - and it is turning out to be a challenge.  Sam had recently decided he doesn't like his crib.  As in SCREAMING hysterically anytime you walk into his room when its close to nap time or bed time.  If I lay him in his crib with his bottle and blankets he starts screaming and throws everything out of the crib.  I leave him to cry it out - yet he doesn't ever stop crying.  HOURS could pass.  HOURs I tell you!  He gets louder with time - he never lays down to fall asleep.  Just stands there screaming. 

Anyways - yesterday in an effort to get him to sleep so I could get some work done we went for a ride.  My thoughts were to run a quick errand and hit the quilt store.  I need a bella solid white charm pack.  So we drove out to Material Girls - they didn't have any - so I continued onward to Pine Needles at Gardner Village.  All the while - Sam was WIDE AWAKE in the back seat.  Mind you - I was in sweats - Jake was dressed, but had chocolate all over his sleeves (he uses his sleeves as a napkin) and Sam was in his pjs and no shoes.  (We don't get dressed on Thursdays).  I was thinking by the time I got to Pine Needles he'd be sound asleep - I already had the charm packs on hold - I could pull right up front, run in and buy them leaving the kids in the car.  Which of course didn't happen.  Jake had to pee, Sam was wide awake - so we all hit the village running.  I'm sure people looked at me like I was an unfit mother.  Kids not dressed, no shoes for Sam, no makeup for mom...it was a pretty picture. 

I got the charm packs, got the kids in the car and sat there thinking - I need to start drinking.  The liquor store was going to be my next stop.  What else can a mom do?  I'm overwhelmed with mothering the kids, cleaning my house (or not cleaning my house in my case), clothes piling up to be folded, a full time job, a quilting job on the side, and actually taking a minute for me?  (which I'm using to blog instead of sew).  I mean drinking has got to be my only alternative right?  So the quilt store and the liquor store...it was going to be my next stop.  We drove around the parking lot and I saw the bakery....cookies, eclairs - oh a coke in a can.... so I ran in and loaded up (do you think I'm an emotional eater??? ummmm something to think about).  I had a coke and an eclair.  Jake and Sam had some honey boys, I even picked up a maple bar for Mike.  We were all happy - so I guess I could forget about the liquor store.  My need for coke and eclairs saved me from becoming a drunken mom.  Who knew emotional eating could save us all? 

BTW - Jake fell asleep on the way home - SAM not so much....HELP ME!!!

The Invisible Mom

My friend Talia sent this over to me in an email this week and couldn't believe what a nerve it hit in me.  Its been a rough few weeks/months trying to balance out life and this rang so true.  I had to share it.

It all began to make sense, the blank stares, the lack of response, the way one of the kids will walk into the room while I'm on the phone and ask to be taken to the store. Inside I'm thinking, 'Can't you see
I'm on the phone?' Obviously not; no one can see if I'm on the phone, or cooking, or sweeping the floor, or even standing on my head in the corner, because no one can see me at all. I'm invisible.
The invisible Mom.

Some days I am only a pair of hands, nothing more! Can you fix this? Can you tie this? Can you open this??
Some days I'm not a pair of hands; I'm not even a human being. I'm a clock to ask, 'What time is it?' I'm a satellite guide to answer, 'What number is the Disney Channel?' I'm a car to order, 'Right around 5:30, please.'  Some days I'm a crystal ball; 'Where's my other sock?, Where's my phone?, What's for dinner?'

I was certain that these were the hands that once held books and the eyes that studied history, music and literature -but now, they had disappeared into the peanut butter, never to be seen again. She's going, she's going, she's gone!

One night, a group of us were having dinner, celebrating the return of a friend from England . She had just gotten back from a fabulous trip, and she was going on and on about the hotel she stayed in. I was sitting
there, looking around at the others all put together so well. It was hard not to compare and feel sorry for myself. I was feeling pretty pathetic, when she turned to me with a beautifully wrapped package, and
said, 'I brought you this.' It was a book on the great cathedrals of Europe.I wasn't exactly sure why she'd given it to me until I read her inscription: 'With admiration for the greatness of what you are building
when no one sees.'

In the days ahead I would read - no, devour - the book. And I would discover what would become for me, four life-changing truths, after which I could pattern my work:
1) No one can say who built the great cathedrals - we have no record of their names.
2) These builders gave their whole lives for a work they would never see finished.
3) They made great sacrifices and expected no credit.
4) The passion of their building was fueled by their faith that the eyes of God saw everything.

A story of legend in the book told of a rich man who came to visit the cathedral while it was being built, and he saw a workman carving a tiny bird on the inside of a beam. He was puzzled and asked the man, 'Why are
you spending so much time carving that bird into a beam that will be covered by the roof, No one will ever see it And the workman replied, 'Because God sees.'

I closed the book, feeling the missing piece fall into place. It was almost as if I heard God whispering to me, 'I see you. I see the sacrifices you make every day, even when no one around you does.
No act of kindness you've done, no sequin you've sewn on, no cupcake you've baked, no Cub Scout meeting, no last minute errand is too small for me to notice and smile over. You are building a great cathedral, but you can't see right now what it will become.

I keep the right perspective when I see myself as a great builder. As one of the people who show up at a job that they will never see finished, to work on something that their name will never be on.The writer of the book went so far as to say that no cathedrals could ever be built in our lifetime because there are so few people willing to sacrifice to that degree.

When I really think about it, I don't want my son to tell the friend he's bringing home from college for Thanksgiving, 'My Mom gets up at 4 in the morning and bakes homemade pies, and then she hand bastes a
turkey for 3 hours and presses all the linens for the table.' That would mean I'd built a monument to myself. I just want him to want to come home. And then, if there is anything more to say to his friend, he'd say, 'You're gonna love it there...'

As mothers, we are building great cathedrals. We cannot be seen if we're doing it right. And one day, it is very possible that the world will marvel, not only at what we have built, but at the beauty that has been added to the world by the sacrifices of invisible mothers.