Happy Birthday, N!

My baby's not a baby anymore. N turns 1 year today. I still can't believe he's that old already.


He's such a wonderful little guy. Everyone is always commenting on how happy he is. He laughs all the time. I call him "My Sunshine." I love being out with N and watching people smile when they see him. He just has that effect on people. It makes me happy. He makes me happy.

N is a total "no fears" kind of guy. He just crawls and climbs and walks and goes wherever he can. He has no fear of falling or getting too far away. It's a little scary at times, but exciting too to see him being so adventurous.


N loves the playground (climbs up the "rock wall," the stairs and the slide.) He also loves the splashpad and the pool. No fear there either so we have to keep a close eye on him. Our pool has a ledge that is about 6" underwater. N loves to crawl around on it.

N is now a "walker." He walks more than he crawls and easily walks across rooms and all over the house and yard. He's look more confident now and less like a creature from Shaun of the Dead.


N continues to be a good eater. He's done with nursing and formula and bottles and just drinks milk from a sippy cup. N is also finished with baby food and does great with most "real" foods. He loves lunchmeat (especially turkey and ham), peas, banana, pear, cheese, mac n' cheese, grilled cheese and cereal. I can't wait to see what he does with his cake tonight.



N is still a little peanut and I love that about him. He reminds me more of me in that way than J did. He is also still pretty bald looking. He actually has a good amount of hair, but it is so fine and so blond that it is hard to see. It seems to be getting a little thicker so I imagine he'll have more hair one of these days.


I feel so blessed to have my N in my life. Happy Birthday, N!

What a difference a week makes

Oh, what a week...

Tuesday: B celebrated his one year anniversary at work.

Thursday: Zoe lost her battle with cancer. J finished his first year of school.

Friday: B's birthday. N started walking (really walking everywhere). Our niece Isla Corinne was born.

Saturday: B graduated from Cleveland State with his Masters in Industrial Engineering.

Sunday: N's 1st birthday.

That's one crazy week.

What a difference a year makes

A year ago today I was still back in Ohio. My house, our first home and the one both my children would spend the beginning of their lives in, wasn't even on the market yet although I was desperately working to clean out every closet and corner. A year ago today I was only the mother of one. N was thinking about arriving, but decided to hold off for two more days so I could check off one or two more things from my mile long to-do list. A year ago today I was out with my husband, J and my in-laws celebrating B's birthday and the fact that he had gotten a new job. A year ago today B was still mourning the loss of his dream job offer with a large brewery and was still trying to think of himself as anything but a brewer. A year ago today J was only just seeming like a toddler, was miles away from potty-training and never even thought about going to school. A year ago today I had two dogs, Zoe and Pauli, who were sweet and rotten and wonderful and trained to fit our lives. A year ago today I was anxiously awaiting the birth of my second child, the sale of my house, and the total upheaval of the world I knew as we prepared to move almost 20 hours away to the unknown world of Texas. A year ago today I was putting on a brave face, but I was scared--scared of the unknown, scared of moving away from our friends and family, scared of what life might or might not bring.

Now I am a Texan--and sometimes I even feel like one. Now I am the blessed mother of two wonderful boys and one peppy puppy. Now I have a three year old who is potty-trained, who knows letters and numbers, who loves to draw and paint and do 60+ piece puzzles, who just finished his first year of preschool. Now I have a second baby who's not a baby anymore, a little guy who is walking and wonderful, my little sunshine who turns 1 year in 2 days. Now B is celebrating his one year anniversary with Dr. Pepper and another birthday. He still dreams of making beer again, but seems very comfortable in his role as an engineer; at times, I think he even enjoys it. I am still shocked by the loss of Pauli and Zoe, but I feel blessed to have our little Pepper and am happy to know that we have such a good dog to help raise the boys these next few years. Now I have a new home in a wonderful neighborhood where I feel blessed to live because we have made so many friends here. Now I have a new best friend who I can't imagine not having, who I spend more time with than I have any friend ever (except maybe my sister). Now I realize how resilient my family is and how strong I am. Now I realize that no matter what we do or where we go, our world will survive, will grow, will get better and stronger.

What a difference a year makes.

My first baby...

Zoe lost her battle with cancer today. She was my first baby and she's been a blessing in my life for almost 11 years. She was there for so many important events: graduation, my wedding, moving to Ohio, the birth of both our boys, moving to Texas. I can't imagine having another girl like my Zoe. I feel so lucky to have shared my bed, my pillow and my life with her. I like to think that she and Pauli are up in heaven chasing each other around right now. That's what J has decided and think he might have gotten this one right.

Uh Oh...

I'm back at 1154Lill again and I have a new obsession--The Nikki. Isn't she adorable? Can't really afford one, but a girl can dream. So many fun fabric choices... so little time. Yummy!

Ribbit Ribbit

Here's another little lovey doll I made.

This one is for a friend who just had her second little boy. He's also the recipient of the pinwheel blanket. Anyway, I found out she was doing his room in a frog theme so I decided to make him a little frog lovey. The green side is a REALLY soft furry kind of fabric, kind of like the dotted moxie, but softer. The back side is a fun little animal print I had bought a while back that is also really soft. Since one of the animals is a frog, I decided it would make the perfect backing for my frog lovey. I'm not great at embroidering the faces, but I still think this little guy turned out pretty cute. I hope little Baker will love it!

Lots of Knitting in the Works

I'm back into a knitting frenzy. My "I want to knit" list was getting pretty short and then I suddenly found a bunch of new projects and now I'm back to my usual "I-want-to-knit-more-than-I-will-ever-have-time-for" state. Oh well.

Here's a quick list of current and future projects.

1) Ike-a-saurus (#2 of 3): body finished, need to do legs, scales, spikes and face.

2) Cocoon for a friend to use as a photography prop: Finished!


3) Baby hat #1 (Vine lace hat) for same friend: begun.


4) Baby hat #2 (boy hat--maybe this one): on the brain still.

5) Petal halter for me: swatched--gauge is not perfect so must ponder next steps.


6) Textured Circle Shrug (for Cat)--just ordered yarn (Cotton-Ease in Sand). Join the knitalong here. It's my first official knitalong and I'm pretty excited.

7) This cute little dress (#13905) from a Dalegarn book. This book has tons of cute patterns, but they are all worked on size O, 1, 2 and 3 needles and I am afraid they will take forever--so I've never used the book. But I have a ton of white and pink yarn that would be perfect for these patterns and I found this dress pattern that is SO adorable. So I'm going to make one or two. I'm either doing one smaller one for my newest niece who is due to arrive this Friday or two larger ones for my brother's two 20 month-olds. Probably the first option because of time constraints, but we will see.

Isn't that just the sweetest dress?

That's the knitting news for now. Off to knit a little before bed. Have a good one!

Edited on 5/11/09.