Project Friday- missing my husband

This week I just miss Shawn, a lot.  Not sure what it is exactly that I miss or why it is more intense this week then before, but it is.  So this week my project is for him.

I am knitting a blanket for my deployed husband. In one of his favorite colors and in the same pattern that I used to make our son's baby blanket, which Shawn often tried to sleep with but it was always just too small. I have a very long way to go on this blanket, but with every stitch I feel like I am doing something just for him and taking care of him, which I just can not do from here while he is over there.  

 

Project Friday...All

A few weeks ago I declaired to my family that I was not going to sew any more.  My projects never came out the way I imagined they would, they always took to long, and more often then not they did not fit the intended child.  But I apparently am a hyprocrite because I just could not stop! And this week I am sewing all of projects.  But I have a good excuse, I can :) This week we are house sitting for a good friend who went to England with her children and husband to visit her extended fmaily.  She is a seemstress and has tons of awsome sewing and embrodery equipment.  So when I say "house sitting" what I mean is "hanging out making sure nothing explods and crafting till I explod."

This is my summer vacation :) Here is a list of SOME of the things I am making

Halloween dresses

Hooded Capes

Crayon Roll Ups

Teacher Totes

Art Caddies

Pajamas

I am working on Christmas gifts, teacher gifts, holiday outfits, and fun things that I am been eyeing for a while.  It is so much fun and the kids have been helping and loving it! Johnny is still trying to learn the difference between kitting and sewing :) I can understand his confusion.

Update on Steggie from last week...I had to take it out and start over, it was going to be too small for my giant 4 year old dino lover.  It is a good thing I enjoy knitting or I would be frustrated since this is the 3rd time I have started this sweater over in the past year.

A Sister in DC

 I am the youngest child of three, I am the only girl and never had a sister. 10 years ago my eldest brother married his high school sweetheart, Natalie.  It took some time for us to warm up to each other, but as adults living across the street from each other I have come to know Natalie and Natalie has come to know me.  She is the person I call when I am lonely or angry or lost.  She has taught me about God, motherhood, myself and family.  She was a matron of honor at my wedding!  She has sacrificed for my brother and given us two beautiful red headed baby girls.  She is generous, kind and loving.

Natalie has been working in Washington DC for the last two months.  She is an Army civilian helping to design a website to help inform people about civilian jobs in the military... awesome huh? I think so.  But she has been in a hotel during the week and home on the week ends, she misses her girls! So we thought we would bring Sami up and take advantage of a hotel in DC to visit the sights and get some time with my sister! Double win!!  I had to split up our visit up into multiple blog posts since we took so many pictures and had so much fun!

The first night we went into Old Town and the National Harbor, which I, sadly, did not know even existed! We had a delicious dinner at an Irish pub, outside.  Johnny had Daddy's favorite, fish and chips. Since Daddy could not be with us, we enjoy the things that he does for him.

Sami and Johnny are nearly brother and sister! They argue and fight over toys and attention, but they LOVE to be together and always take care of each other when they are around other kids.

Boat ride to the National Harbor, so beautiful! The kids LOVED it!  But I was not going to risk my crazy two year old leaping into the water, because she is fearless and often thinks she is a fish.  The stroller came with, complete with 5 point harness.

We also had a military issued camel back with us to stay hydrate, a perk of being a military family! The kids love to grab the straw that hangs out of the pack on my back, makes me feel like a nursing goat :)

The beautiful sunset over the capital! Perfect time for the boat ride!  I remember my heart ached a little right here, I missed my husband, I know he would have loved it too.

We wanted to get some ice cream as a treat in the National Harbor, but I don't like to clean up diarrhea from my lactose intolerant children...so imagine my excitement when we discovered SORBE!!! Right there in with the ice cream and they can get it in a cone just like any other kid!!

Even with sprinkles, she may never know she is missing out on ice cream!

Then, as the sun completely set and the warm summer night settled in, we found the giant sand box with the statue of a 70 foot man being buried alive in the sand, it is called "The Awakening" 

The kids got to climb on the parts of the giant man that he was able to keep from being buried :) so much fun  .  Lily is being eaten alive!

Isn't that so unique? I can't believe I new knew about this place until now!

We headed back on the boat and it was late, and the kids had been running around for hours and very thoroughly enjoying themselves.  Sami just wanted her Mommy to hold her and sing Little Mermaid songs.  It was just so sweet!

And Lily fell asleep in the stroller for the first time in her life! What a perfect end to a perfect day!!!

But our DC trip was not over!!! The next day we went to the Smithsonian National History Museum, or the "dino museum!" 

Project Friday

I think I am a creative person.  I LOVE to knit, sew, embroider, cross stitch and generally craft meaningful gifts for my kids, family and friends.  I enjoy it and it gives me a chance to really think about the person I am creating for and give that person a little piece of myself.  I always have many projects in the works, so I thought that once a week I would write about something I am working on.  Lily gave me the idea when, instead of swinging on the swing set on playing in the sandbox, she picked up my knitting needles and started to "knit"  Crafting is not always easy with young kids around and my attention span is shorter then some of my projects.  I hope this will show the kids that I did create things and how much of a big part of my life it is, it is my down time and it fills me with joy and love.

Lily says "I helpen Mommy"

This week Lily and I are knitting a sweater for Johnny, a dinosaur sweater! The pattern is called Steggie and comes from a free knitting website called Knitty.  I have wanted to make this sweater for a while, but the spikes seemed hard, but in the end nothing is ever are hard as you think it will be and I am loving this pattern! 

Pattern & image © 2009 Julia Farwell-Clay.

I am using a wool blend yarn in green and will get to the red spikes on the sleeves and hood! If this pattern is as easy all the way though I might make one for Lily in pink and purple! She loves to roar just as much as her big brother.  Maybe she will want to help me with hers as well.

I miss you

I miss you blog! I was reading back to when Lily had no hair and Johnny had tons and I was missing how well I kept up with my family here and leaving these memories for my children to see. I became bogged down and depressed last year, it is strange that now I know what "busy" and "stressed" really mean, and last year was like a vacation compared to it. However I feel much better now, so many things have chnaged and i thrive in the rush. I am here to admit that I suffer from clinical depression, and have for a long time. I accepted that I could not go through life hating myself, crying for no reason, and ignoring joy of any kind. I accepted that medication helps and that every single day is a struggle to push past the depression and find motivation and energy to even do the things I enjoy or take care of my children. God has entered my heart and lifted me up. He has made a difference in the depths of my soul that I never thought was possible. I am not sure if I will be able to get back to blogging for my children, or what will become of this record of our lives, but I miss you and I wanted you to know I am doing well.

It can not have really been 2 years!

I guess it it something I have to accept, Lily Jean is two years old, officially NOT a baby!  It is not fair how fast the time goes by.  What a two years it has been and what a wonderful little girl my baby has grown into.

She has such spirit! She laughs easily and smiles constantly, she brightens up a room by running into it wildly! And is so easily excited by those she loves and anyone who as spent any time with her is left with a perment memory of her out going manner.  

Lily is a two year old and that brings with it what it always does.  She is always testing her limits and time out is a regular part of our day.  She did not want to listen for her pictures and ran around attaching her self to Mommy, Grams or Papa, in order to not get her picture taken.  It took two sessions to get these pictures, and one lolly pop or "Pop Pop"

She is like her brother and loves running around and chasing games.  She has not taken to to much TV or sitting still for that matter.  But she does like Mick Mouse Clubhouse and "Ninnie Nouse" is her favorite!  She also loves to color and eat the markers, she often leaves a coloring session with a blue or green mouth and nothing on her paper.

Lily Jean is very sturdy and rough and touble kind of girl.  Even though she spends her days in pink dresses and giant bows she also spends her days rolling in the dirt and being a bully.  She is learning about pushing and hitting and grabbing what she wants, she has the strength to accomplished pretty much anything.  She is also stubborn and demanding and is at that in between baby and toddler stage were she is still crying when she is upset, even though she could use her words.

Her favorites right now include any food and "emodaid" which is lemon-aid. She wants to cuddle only when she wants to, but especially when she does not feel good.  She spent the week before her birthday suffering from croup and we spent two late nights in the ER getting steroids to shrink her airway down.  But she spent that week in my arms and little were else.  It was nice, but not always easy, and no mom wants to see her baby so uncomfortable..  

There is always so much to say about the blessing of my life and I could talk for hours about how amazing they are.  Lily has brought so much personally to our lives, she is just adorable in every way!

I

4 Years

4 years have simply flown by! One day he is toddling around our living room table and the next he is running about counting to 20 and singing his ABCs like it is nothing.

Johnny boy has gotten so big! He is just over 50 pounds and about 44 inches.  He is fitting snugly into size 5T pants and shirts, but size 12 shoes (he has fat feet like his Daddy.)  He is already into some 6s and I don't think it will be long until we have to replace all of his cloths again.

There is nothing he likes more then his "sqwishy" his stuffed animals.  He cuddles with them, sleeps in a bed over flowing with them, and makes them talk and play and imagines that they are always in some sort of trouble.  This year Daddy got him the elephant from the Disney store, just because he thought Johnny would like it.  Mommy got him the lion, Nala, they day we took Daddy to the airport.  We just love the way his face lights up when he gets a new sqwishy and how he carries them around loving on them.

Johnny also loves animals, the out doors, and adventures.  Mommy and Daddy got Johnny these adventure tools so he can better explore the world.  One of his favorite things to do is take nature walks, finding each animal and bug and wanting to know everything about it.  He loves to catch bugs and collect rocks, he could tell you things even I don't know! But his favorite thing to do on nature walks is to pick up trash! He finds it all and will not move on until every piece of trash is found, in fact he picks up trash were ever he is!

This octopus has special meaning this year.  Grandma Sharon and GG got it for him for his birthday from the Zoo we visiting while in Chicago.  He saw it and wanted it so much and it did not take but a few  minutes of for Grandma to give in to him! That is what Grandmas are for.

This is the picture of who he is best this year.  He is goofy! He is fun and he loves to be crazy.  He seems to have never ending energy and never stops moving, even while he sleeps.  He has a good heart and is always doing things for his sister and cousins.  He cares for those who are crying and just wants to help.  As a 4 year old he does not listen very well, sometimes seems to ignore directions he has been given, or even argues slightly sometimes.  

As of this post Daddy has been in Texas, preparing for his deployment, for 5 weeks.  5 weeks since Johnny has hugged his Daddy.  This has been hard on him and he acts out a little, pees his pants, is jealous of Mommy and Grams when another child is getting attention.  He has started to talk more in one word sentences ("drink drink" ) and crying out loud and hysterically when he is upset.  He is easy enough to calm down and time out and correction is effective enough to fix the problem.  But I can see in him a slight sadness, he misses his Daddy.  He has a pair of camoflouge shorts that he calls his "Daddy shorts" and puts them on every chance he gets! He also carries around his Daddy Doll all day long and sleeps with it every night.  

Johnny is growing fast and strong, I am proud, as always, to be his Momma!