Holding myself accountable

For some reason, living in my parents' house has turned my messiness into some illogical way to claim my space. They want cleanliness, they impose their desires upon me in every other part of the house, so my own room turns into a complete disaster. I really mean complete.


This is the area by the door, also the changing area and garbage area.



This is the perpetually open closet (there's so much stuff coming out of there that the doors can't actually close, the broken-zippered storage thing where I keep all of our bedding and towels, and the huge pile of stuff on top of the dresser. There's an awesome hand-felted dragon up there, which is currently the protector of the disaster >.<



And this is next to my bed, where everything tends to fall or be thrown. And a little bit of the never-used crib. It's only really up to show off the awesome bumpers and quilt that my mother made. I'm actually perversely proud of the fact that it hasn't become a place to hang or dump things.

I've really gotten lax. Sure, River has a great play area, but our room is a disaster. There are things piled on every easily accessible surface, while those that take a little more work to get to are completely bare! And I KNOW River prefers cleanliness. She was the kid who insisted on throwing away the holiday wrappings before playing with her new toys!

Pictures!!!

After my camera dying slightly and my long-term dissatisfaction with its picture quality, I finally caved in and bought a new camera.

Know what this means?

PICTURES!

River is 20 months old

She loves making some silly faces! This one is her "boob face"... according to her. yeah.

Not that you can see much of the background, but these pictures were taken at Family Grounds Cafe in Chicago, IL, and Nibbles Play Cafe in Wheeling, IL. They are some of our favorite places!

I'm a big fan of free play time and think that it's more important for child development than most people give it credit for.

(I really need to do a book review of Your Brain on Childhood, by Gabrielle Principe, it was great! And a review of the two places that the pics were taken.... I should start a todo list)

First set of July Pics

Here is River's first set of pictures from July. These were taken with my awesome friend's amazing camera of doom!!!! Also, these are the first set of River pics that I bothered doing any color editing on, but in my laziness I did it with whatever software came with my lappy instead of transferring the pics to the desktop comp with photoshop on it. Anyways, there's a bunch of pretty similar pics, so here's a slideshow ^.^ Enjoy!

One Month!

As of yesterday, River is one month old!

It's been a great month. It's felt too fast and too slow at the same time. We've done so much and so little.

This past month included, aside from having River and getting home from the hospital, River has gone to the Highland Games and Scottish Festival, to the Boerner Gardens Fairy Garden Walk, to the Bristol Renaissance Faire's GARBage Sale, and to her first fathers day celebration with her grandfather and great grandfather! It's been a busy month for such a little girl.

She's gone from being a little squiggly sleeping/eating baby to a slightly less squiggly and sleepy but still constantly eating baby. We're finally getting to know her, getting to know what all those funny little faces she makes mean, getting to know how to sooth her quickest so that we can get some sleep at night. She's even finally started giving us the littlest smiles and staring into our eyes.

We've learned a lot in the past month as parents. Both of us had never even changed a diaper. Now we've learned all about the practicalities of breastfeeding, how to swaddle and sling a baby, diaper rash, gas and burping, etc... We've also started learning about how to deal with all the unsolicited advice and over attentiveness. I even learned all about postpartum symptoms (like all the bleeding, achiness, joint pain, etc...).

This last picture is of J, River, and me from the fairy garden walk, we were dubbed the tree fairy family. She was slinged (slung?) and slept through almost the entire event.

((all pictures are in chronological order. Sorry for no newer close-up photo of River, I've been meaning to take one the past two days, but she's been pretty constantly attached to the boob))

A day late fathers day post

Thanks to all the hustle and bustle yesterday, I wasn't able to make a fathers day post, and I really do want to share the awesomeness that is my husband and the father of my baby girl. Unfortunately, this isn't really that post.

The night before was another hard night for me. I had taken some benadryl before bed, so I was ridiculously groggy. River had woken up some time in the early morning hours, was having trouble latching on, and was getting quite fussy. Since I wasn't really able to wake up fully, I don't remember much of this, but apparently I was refusing to let J help with anything, saying that it was fathers day so he should get a full night of sleep. Eventually, with me crying, I let him change her diaper and help get us into bed. After that, River still would not latch or stop fussing, and I, in my Benadryl-induced stupor, kept getting more and more frustrated. I guess some craziness happened after that on my part (mostly half-asleep ramblings and a strange inability to differentiate sleep from wakefulness (according to J)).

One part that I do remember from that long night was J telling me that I shouldn't make a big deal about fathers day because he didn't even really feel like a dad. I know he's having a hard time right now because he's not able to feed the baby and she spends SO MUCH time eating! I know he feels helpless when she starts to get fussy and it's only mommy's boobs that can sooth her.

So, later in the day, I made a card for him with River's help (ok, I used traced her hand), and on the inside I wrote:

To the best baby daddy and kitty daddy,


I know you say you don't feel like much of a father yet,


But it's just because you are such a natural.


Love you so much,


Cheryl and River.

Unfortunately, J had to work through his first fathers day and I ended up going to my family's fathers day dinner with River. I was sad to spend the day separate.

Today is Gaming Day (basically, every monday, we have a group of friends over and play Warhammer, D&D, or WoW, though I haven't been playing much lately). He's downstairs with a big group of people while I am upstairs with little River who I am convinced is having a growth spurt because she WON'T STOP EATING! She starts fussing whenever she isn't attached.

This is a picture J took of River and me while we were napping on the couch. I love it.

Huge Picture-Filled Update

I've been horrible about updating again, but this time I have an excuse: the computer that I normally use at home (a huge desktop tower) has gotten this horrible trojan virus that masquerades as an antivirus program and blocks access to EVERYTHING. it sucks. And the laptop, which is normally the hubby's computer, has a sticky space bar, which is the most annoying thing to type on.

Oh, and I suddenly find myself busy again! ACEN is coming up and a friend is having me work on his costume at the last minute :-/, and the awesome doula who runs the childbirth classes I am taking is having me crochet some boobies!!!  They're going to be used as aids for lactation awareness and breastfeeding classes. I'll be making multi-racial boobs first, then eventually making boobs with inverted nipples, clogged ducts, engorged boobs, small boobs, droopy boobs, etc, etc... it's going to be awesome! Talk about a craft market that I never considered before! I've been tapering off the costuming contracts, partially because my sewing machine is wonky and keeps eating fabric and partially because it's just too hard for me to cut out pattern pieces and work around a table (i'm HUGE, or at least I feel HUGE!).

The birthing class I'm taking has us all start a pregnancy nutrition diet. To be honest (sorry Colleen), it annoyed me a lot at first (I'm a junky eater with no money for much better than mac n cheese and hot dogs), but it's helped me keep track of what I'm eating, I just don't know if I can afford another expensive can of protein powder since I have to go through so much of it since I don't really eat much meat. ANYWAYS, I didn't mean to complain so much, the point of mentioning the diet is to brag about the dinner I made myself!

I saute'd potatoes, carrots, broccoli, corn, and almonds with olive oil and seasonings. It was DELICIOUS. I just can't imagine cooking like that every day. I know some people can, and some people enjoy it, I'm just not one of those people. I'm lazy and I know it. Now if only I could get myself to do those stretches >.<

Lately I find myself freaking out over the baby coming and not having enough ready (I'm not sure i'll every feel 'ready'). This has led to a lot of frantic crafting and organizing on my part. Here are some of the things I've been working on. I've been stuck on a crochet streak since it seems to be the easiest with my low energy levels and my huge tummy.

This is the first blanket I've every crocheted. It has huge spaces between the stitches so that the baby will be comfortable in the summer. Unfortunately, I didn't think ahead and buy a large hook for the large stitches, so the blanket is also incredibly uneven, but has a sort of hand-made charm to it. It's made of the Sugar'n Cream brand's new stripes yarn in green and white.

When I was little i always needed something to do with my hands, and I still do. I also always needed to have some sort of comforting object around. I crocheted little cloths out of more Sugar'n Cream yarn. The larger has some huge buttons on it for when the baby is teething or needs something colorful to fiddle with. If she doesn't end up liking them, they'll make great washcloths too ^.^

I also made a baby cocoon. For those of you who aren't familiar with them, they're another way to swaddle a baby and make sure that she doesn't hit herself in the face while she's sleeping before her coordination has developed. For the picture, there's a stuffed lamb in it pretending to be a baby. Extra thanks to my aunt Linda for the stuffed animals she gave me (they'll show up in more pictures a little lower.).

This is my current crochet project. It's another blanket, this time made yellow and green yarns (the colors didn't photograph so well >.< ) and the proper sized hook so it will hopefully turn out square and even.


I'm tempted to sell crocheted things on etsy, but I'm not sure that I'm willing to put in all the time it takes to make these things with how little they will sell for. unfortunately the market is so permeated by machine-knitted things that people are not really willing to spend the money on something that is hand made and takes forever to make.


In a frantic effort to convince myself that I am ready for the baby, I've done some nesting. Unfortunately my comfort and energy levels haven't been enough to let me actually CLEAN the house, but I've worked on putting all the baby things together and in order of size:

I cleared off a set of shelves and used it for all the baby-appropriate books and assorted toys we've acquired so far.
The top shelf is a couple of dragon needlepoints that a friend made me a while ago and I framed. It also has the adult books that are child appropriate and a couple very old childrens books. Unfortunately the Tolkein collection, which I will be reading my child from birth, did not fit on these shelves and aren't pictured.

The second shelf has a plushy version of our cat that we got at ACen last year, my stuffed bunny from when I was a baby, and the assorted children's books that I've gotten from a used book store near us. My favorite is Not A Box by Antoinette Portis. I was really into playing pretend as a child and this book is all about a bunny playing pretend with a box. it rocks my socks.

The third shelf is full of stuffed animals from my aunt (the giraffe and the bear), a few toys I've bought (the lion mirror, the cow rattle/teether, and the linkies), the sun that used the hang over my crib when I was a baby, and two wooded teethers from etsy. I posted before about the 'I love you' ASL teether in both my Sign Language Post as well as a Featured Seller Post. It's from an awesome Etsy.com seller; EcoAyris. The smaller teether is a squirrel from Etsy seller Little Sapling Toys.

And below the shelves, this awkward giraffe sits :-) I have a thing for awkwardly cute animals.


Along the same lines, I organized all the baby things in the closets. I sorted them all by size >.<

This organizer hangs in the closet and is acting as a stand-in dresser until I can get my old changing table-dresser from my family (they're jewish and don't believe in giving me baby things until the baby is here so as not to jinx it). If you look really carefully, you can see the Star Wars onesie on the fourth shelf down :-) now I just need a Lord of the Rings onesie to balance the hubby's nerdiness. Almost everything in this organizer was bought by us at Goodwill or Salvation Army or made by me.

All of these were gotten by my mom and my grandmother. They're crazy shoppers. I'm pretty sure my grandmother would be pissed if she knew that my mom already let me take these clothes home but my mother needed the closet space.

Here are the rest of our baby supplies so far. There's a wipes case, wipes, baby soap, as well as disposable and reusable diapers.

I've also been doing a lot of child-centered reading, here are the three things I'm working on right now:

There's The Thinking Woman's Guide to a  Better Birth by Henci Goer, Baby Sign Language Basics (I'm using it to teach the hubby sign and to brush up on my own skills) by Monta Z Briant, and the most adorable manga I've ever seen: Yotsuba&! vol. 3 by Kiyohiko Azuma.

Also, here's an obligatory baby belly pic and a pic of me. The dress I'm wearing is the only thing that still fits me and manages to cover my belly >.< everything else is too short now.

I'm generally a pretty tiny person, so the bump really stands out. I've caught retail workers with a terrified look on their faces, I'm sure they think I'm probably ready to pop! and honestly, I feel like I am.

And then there's this horrible facebook-style picture... really just because I realized there aren't any recent pics of me floating around the web and I wanted to show off my badly dreaded hair (i'm too lazy!) and my newly acquired acne (never had it during puberty, it decided to show up during pregnancy).

And last but not least, since my cat always insists on being the center of attention and it's impossible to take any pictures without taking at least one of him:

He likes sniffing and rubbing on my childbirth class binder because it came from a house with a dog :-) oh, and you can get a glimpse of our AWESOME COW PRINT OFFICE CHAIR in the upper right.

 So yeah, THE END!

Featured Seller Tuesday! (Late Edition)

I tend to wear many hats (haha, punny!). Aside from being a hippy-feminist-mother, i'm also a rennie, a costume designer, a makeup artist, a dancer, etc... etc... Today's featured seller is a fellow rennie who is also a wearer (and maker!) of many many hats! Seamstress of Avalon is an Etsy seller whose shop features her amazing, might I say fantastikal, hat creations. I have never had the occassion (or spare funds) to purchase one of her products, but I would strongly encourage anyone with a special event coming up, or just a desire to get an awesome hair clip or  hat, to check out her products. Here are a few of my favorites:

This is her Clarisse hair fastener which includes peacock and ostrich feathers.

This is her Veronica Flirty Peacock Feather 40's Fastener

This is her Shelby - Velvet Gardenia Bridal Fascinator

  And last but not least, this is her Elizabeta - Vintage-Inspired Ostrich and Velvet Headband Fascinator 


She's a local Chicago seamstress who is FANTASTIC and super talented. And, as you can probably tell from This wedding picture:

I have a certain love for oversized-flower hair clips instead of traditional veils for weddings :-D


Happy Shopping!

A Glimpse Into My Life

Today, like most days, was incredibly boring. J went to work for 7+ hours today (much better than the 13+ yesterday), which meant that I was stuck at home without a car. I spent most of the day reading blogs written by other parents and being enraged by the C Section rate, the inability for women to access VBAC's, and the lack of support for breast feeding. Otherwise, I made myself a great lunch; Alfredo pasta with sauteed carrots and spinach. The food was glorious and left me with a fantastic food baby sitting on top of my real baby :-)

Anyways, other than that I took some time to finish a nursing pillow cover that I had started yesterday:

One side is awesome soft green fuzzy fabric

And the second is a soft flannel print

Here's a closeup of the awesome gender-neutral print! I think it's adorable. I have a soft spot for awkward animals.

I should have taken a picture of my delicious and awesome lunch, but I was too busy EATING IT! :-9

Featured Seller Tuesday!

I promised in my last post to put up some pictures of the new pants that I got from Etsy seller  The Seventh Rabbit, so why not do a whole featured seller post?!?

Seeing as I dislike buying clothes (nothing usually fits, and it just doesn't seem like the best use of money), especially now that whatever I buy will only be wearable for a couple months, I've been on the lookout for clothing that is highly adjustable or is draped well enough that it can be worn outside of pregnancy. This includes drawstring pants, awesome cotton dresses, and open front sweaters. My newest find: Thai Fisherman Pants!

The pants that I ordered are super easy to wear and have an amazing print! PLUS the seller even included a free bracelet with the purchase (I love little add-ons that really make me feel like the person appreciated the sale)

They're actually even better looking in person, not that the pictures I took really do them justice (WOW my belly is HUGE!)

The waist is huge, and then folds in the front and ties. They're all one-size, but my husband ordered a pair for himself from a different Etsy seller, Adisorn. I think he loves his even more than I love mine!

And, just to show you how easy they are to put on, here's a video from youtube!



It's a little tougher on a preggo belly, I just have to remember to tie it below the buldge, and then pull the back up over my bum.

Bloggy Intentions

    The decision to start a new blog was made after realizing that I read a TON of other people's blogs, and that I was losing touch with myself (see first post). It's meant to be a way for me to analyze my decisions and make sure that my life stays interesting! The way I figure it, a more interesting Life means a more interesting Blog, which means more Readers! It also helps keeps me from falling in the Stress/Fatigue/Mommy Routine that keeps threatening to overtake me.

    So here are some of my Intentions with this blog:

• Tuesday: highlight an online seller, usually an Etsy.com seller, and choose a favorite product of theirs. I'm going to try to limit this to promoting individuals (so no big conglomerate websites that order products from china, etc...), but an extremely exceptional website that isn't an individual producer may get featured occasionally. A particularly amazing blog might also get featured once in a while.
• Thursday: take the time to learn and write out instructions to a craft, sewing project, recipe, etc... and post it on here for whoever ends up reading this. The intention is to keep my abilities fresh and to participate in the open flow of creative ideas. 
• Sale Finds: to post pictures of the things I find in my garage/estate/rummage/thrift sale adventures. 
• Family Pics: to post pictures of myself, my family, and my home relatively often. I always enjoy seeing pictures from other individual's blogs and hope that readers will enjoy seeing my pictures too! (speaking of, my camera is out of batteries... another thing for the ToDo list)
• Along with the family pictures, I plan on writing a lot about what happens in my family, developments, hurdles found as a feminist full-time mom, etc...
• Discuss political and feminist news and articles, probably weekly. I was going to assign a day of the week to post this on, but I think it makes more sense to post whenever I find some topic of interest (which is really quite often).

    There are a few reasons that I'm posting my intentions openly; so that you know what to expect if you decide to read my blog, and so that I can be held to these expectations and use the list when I'm feeling some writers block. 

    And, in an effort to keep with my intentions, and to minimize the text-i-ness of this post, here's a pic from my (our) wedding:

I love that boy.

Rummage/Estate/Garage/Thrift Sale Finds

   Yesterday, after dropping the hubby at work for his 12 hour day, I decided to hit some rummage/estate/garage/thrift sales to find either baby things or things to resell on Etsy.com. I ended up with a few good finds, some junk, and a nice pile of baby clothes. Here are some of my finds:

Turns out the tin isn't as old as I thought, but it's actually still full of tea. Even though it's not old, I got a great deal and it's an interesting find. Oh, and my kitty decided to make a guest appearance. He was very interested in playing on the fabric I had laid on the ground. Here's a better picture of the tin:

Another tea tin that I snagged.. this one actually IS old! I can't decide if I should offer it on its own or should use it as creative packaging for a feltie...

Another tin that I found, this one I should have taken some extra time to look at.. it's a reproduction of an older tin, but the reproduction was mass-produced and sold as some kitschy thing.. still, it'll make great creative packaging for a feltie!

This is an AWESOME vintage wood purse. The art on it dates from the 50's and although the lacquer is a little cracked in places, it's still in great condition.

A small pin that I found, really unique, and seems to be the best kept example of it that I can find online (a lot of the same pins I found auctioned well even though they were tarnished and had broken clasps!). Not to mention that I think the Etsy crowd will love this!

Last but not least, this is just a small clip thing that I found.. it appears to be old, but there's no stamp or any other way to identify it. I'm planning on re-purposing it in some craft of jewelry project.

    I'm too lazy to take pictures of the pile of baby clothes right now, or the tea cup and tea pot set that I got for myself..

    My intention is to build up some stock of little stuffed felt animals (felties), other crafts, and vintage items before officially opening my Etsy.com store. Unfortunately I keep deciding that I like all the felties I've made too much to sell them, so I need to make more!