From the Book of Life: Pregnancy Photos

“It is said that the present is pregnant with the future."

~Voltaire

When my sister-in-law asked me to take her pregnancy photos, I laughed.  Inside.  Loudly.

First of all, I'm not a people photographer.  I'm not really a photographer of ANYTHING other than food (and saying that I photograph food is a stretch unless you consider putting food on a plate, telling it to sit still, and snapping photos of it "real photography"). 

Second of all, this pregnancy photo thing is new and perplexing to me.  I guess it is because in all of my five pregnancies, I never thought to "document" my body for posterity.  But then again, I'm not of the "cute-when-pregnant" variety.  I'm more of the "watch-out-she's-gonna-blow!" variety.

Case in point:  When I was pregnant with my first baby (not last, FIRST), I was playing the organ at church for the congregation. This was a true exercise of faith because I could not see my feet and had no idea which pedals I was pressing. After the final hymn, I heaved myself off of the bench and slowly began to waddle home.  A woman at church took my elbow and told me that her elderly father had been visiting with her that day, and when he saw my belly, he exclaimed: "That woman shouldn't be playing the organ! She should be taking a nap!"

He did not say, "Oh, look how cute!  She should photograph that belly!"

Nope.

Instead, I inspired pity and fear in my beholder, and the best thing he could do for me was to suggest I hide under a very large blanket for a snooze.

But for all you women who ARE photograph worthy while pregnant, my hat is off to you.  My sister-in-law is certainly among your ranks.

So without further ado, here are some of the prego pix . . .

And my favorite of the bunch . . . 

 

If I looked like a Renaissance Madonna as my sister-in-law does, I would totally jump at the chance to immortalize the scene.

As it is, I think I'd better stay right where I am in these types of photographs . . .

Out of sight. :)

From the Book of Life: A Baby Shower

"I love these little people; and it is not a slight thing when they, 
who are so fresh from God, love us."  
~ Charles Dickens

I had the privilege of throwing my sister-in-law a baby shower this weekend.  She is having a little girl in a few weeks, and she and my brother plan to name her Lizzie.  Ah, Lizzie.  Such a wonderful name.  

I set out to throw her a perfectly amazing, perfectly feminine baby shower.  But as a mother of five boys, when it comes to all things "girlie," I feel a bit like a fish out of water.  Or my grandmother using Twitter.  Or a man during labor. 

So I pushed all my creative sparks aside and went with PINK. 

Yep.  I threw a "pink" shower.  (Lame, I know.  But I panicked.)

In my defense, pink IS a unique color around these parts (unless you are counting the loads of laundry my son does where he inevitably throws his red t-shirts in with his white socks, in which case "pink" is not so uncommon.)

But here is the good news: Somewhere between the refreshment table and the party favors, no one really cares WHAT the theme of the party is as long as they are well-fed and favored before they leave.

So I made sure to offer my guests a tasty brunch, including . . . 

strawberry yogurt parfaits

 

 Quiche squares with ham, spinach, red pepper, and carmelized onions

 and maple bacon muffins.

The food went fast and mom-to-be was showered with generous gifts.

At the end of the day, I'd have to say I was tickled "pink" with the result. :)

 

From The Book of Life: A Golden Books Birthday Party

A Birthday  

by Christina Rossetti

My heart is like a singing bird
Whose nest is in a water'd shoot;
My heart is like an apple-tree
Whose boughs are bent with thickset fruit;
My heart is like a rainbow shell
That paddles in a halcyon sea;
My heart is gladder than all these
Because my love is come to me.

Raise me a dais of silk and down;
Hang it with vair and purple dyes;
Carve it in doves and pomegranates,
And peacocks with a hundred eyes;
Work it in gold and silver grapes,
In leaves and silver fleurs-de-lys;
Because the birthday of my life
Is come, my love is come to me. 

Isn't that the sweetest poem? I'd never read it until today, but it makes me think of the joy of motherhood; that when we are blessed to become mothers, we know our love has come to us. It has certainly been the "Birthday of my life," any time I have met one of these sweet little ladies I call my own.

For my youngest, I wanted to throw a little family party with a Golden Books theme. 

1- because she's still young enough for me to pick the theme.

2- because I seriously LOVE golden books. Especially the old ones.

3- because it's pretty easy, assuming you have a printer and some golden books on hand :)

For the invites, I scanned a golden book cover into my printer, then I modified some of the words on it in Photoshop.  I made the dimensions on my pics 5"x7" but you could go larger or smaller according to preference.

Note: if you want a font similar to the "Little Golden Book" font, and you don't want to pay $90 for it, the free font "Wendy" is a really close substitute :)

Then I scanned the inside cover, and made a fake page with my little one's pic, and a silly little poem with the details of the party. I printed out both pages on separate slips of paper, and glued them together with a glue stick after I cut them out. I folded my little books and put them into envelopes, and delivered them to our family.

For decor (Which was minimal- let's remember that the kid doesn't even realize this is about her until the presents come out), I made a super simple pennant out of pages of my torn up copy of the "Eloise Wilkin Stories" treasury. I cut triangles out of the pages, and folded over the tops, STAPLED (Classy, I know) them over a ribbon, and called it good.

(I definitely have a second, still-intact copy of that or I would NEVER ruin it. EVERY mother of little girls should own a copy. It is such a sweet compilation, and Eloise Wilkins's illustrations are just precious!)

And I made tiny cupcake toppers out of the announcement cover, just printed small. (Also, these totally didn't make it on to the cupcakes because I forgot about em by the time dessert rolled around. But we all got cupcakes, and I am pretty sure that is all that matters. In life.

I displayed a bunch of books.

And made a few cute vases out of book pages wrapped around old soup cans :)

And that was IT! We served Cafe Rio/Chipotle/Costa Vida style salads/burritos, and everyone was happy :) Especially the birthday girl who has a deep love of "Beedos" (burritos). 

Have a lovely weekend!

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A Midsummer Night's Dream: Fairy Tutu Dress

The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve:
Lovers, to bed; 'tis almost fairy time. 

-William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 5 Scene 1

I love these sweet little tutu dresses. I love how ethereal and fairy-like they are. Most of all, I love how they can make you forget that that you're on your 20th repeat of "Stay away from the water. Come back here. COME BACK. I am counting to three..." Now, if you are looking to make one of these, chances are that you have some experience with these little fairies I speak of, and you know exactly how this whole scenario goes, so...

...On to the Tutu dress!

These were SO easy to make! And I even took the difficult route by using the tulle that comes on a bolt instead of those cute little spools you can buy at the craft store. But this is how I did it:

Measure your munchkin from armpit to floor, and double that length. Cut 10 yards of bolt tulle into strips that are 8 inches wide by that measurement you just got. My little one's doubled measurement happened to thankfully be the with of the bolt fabric, so I just had to cut it into strips. No extra cutting necessary.
*If you are using the tulle that comes on a spool, your yardage is going to be anywhere from 100-400 yards depending on how full you want it and how tall your little lady is. 100 being about right for a toddler. Think along the lines of 100 yards per year of life*

For this Tutu Dress, I used 5 yards ivory and 5 yards of mint tulle.

Now take white elastic banding and measure around your munchkin's torso right at their armpits. Cut the band an inch or two smaller than that measurement, and sew one end to the other. You will have a big circle now.

(Reserve 2 strips of tulle) Take 2 strips of your tulle just layered together (I put one layer of each color together), and fold them in half, making an arch in the center. Put the center arch behind the elastic, and then pull the tails over the elastic, through the arch, and tighten. (Not too tight- get em all on there before you tighten really well, that way you can be sure they are evenly spaced)

Now if you'd like to cover the elastic that is still peeking out, take a ribbon, and tack it at one spot on the elastic. Then wrap it over the adjacent knot, and back up, over the adjacent knot, and back up, etc., etc. until you get all the way around, and tie a bow. (See here if that confuses you) Save the rest of your ribbon to cinch the empire waistline once the dress is on your little sprite.

Now put the dress on that little lady, cinch that waistline, and take your reserved pieces of tulle- put them on top of one another. Wrap them from the back of the right shoulder to the front of the right shoulder (Threading them under the elastic band- these are your arm straps) over the back of the neck to the front of the left shoulder, and to the back of the left shoulder. Then tie in the back and you have arm straps and a little halter. You could opt to sew these into place, but I am lazy and this works great. So there :)

Now jump for joy! You did it!

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A Midsummer Night's Dream: A Baby's Dream Nook

Sing in our sweet lullaby;
 Lulla, lulla, lullaby, lulla, lulla, lullaby:
Never harm,
Nor spell nor charm,
Come our lovely lady nigh;
So, good night, with lullaby. 

- William Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Act 2 Scene2

I need to make a disclaimer here: My child will not be sleeping in this crib exactly as you see it in the pictures below. The berry vine would quickly become a snack,  and the chandelier, being that low, would become a swing. Also, the twinkle lights will probably never get turned on because I have a bizarre fear of fire, and she sleeps in the dark. But when the chandelier is raised and the vine is removed, or hung on the wall or some such thing, this is going to still be a perfect little place to dream.

We have this strange little nook that fits a crib perfectly, so I added some curtains,

hung a chandelier

and some twinkle lights, followed by a sheer layer of gauzy fabric...

I hung a sleeping angel to be near my own little angel

made a champagne colored damask bumper 

(It's totally not complete yet, BTW- just check out the back side of the crib!)

and a ruffled bed skirt.

And a midsummer night's dream needed some foliage, so I added the berry garland

and a touch of the forest on the tie-backs.

And there you have it: a new sweet place to dream.

May you have many lovely dreams on these midsummer nights.

 

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Beatrix Potter Baby Nursery

You should never go to the grocery store hungry, nor should you browse online for custom, overpriced baby furniture when you are pregnant, nesting, and swelling at the ankles.  But I did, and it was then that I found this armoire.  I was all aglow in its storybook charm . . . until I read the price tag.  Apparently said charm costs as much as a small commuter vehicle.

 

But I had to have it.  I was in the thick of a Beatrix Potter obsession and my baby was ready to make an appearance.  So, I either had to sell a kidney or cash in my 401K to make it happen.  In a rare moment of level-headedness, I went with option C---spending hours in the classifieds, praying that someone would be selling a $4500 Peter Rabbit armoire for $7.  It didn't quite happen that way, but it was close.  I found a beautiful French country cabinet for $50 dollars.  It was dark brown and smelled a bit like my great-aunt Marie, but it had massive potential.  My husband hauled it home and we went to it with Lysol, Febreeze, paint and glaze.  It was closer to what I wanted, but it still needed some Beatrix Potter whimsy.  And that is when I called in my mom.

Ah, Mom.  She is the female, heterosexual counterpart to Leonardo da Vinci.  She is the truest "Renaissance woman" I know: she sings, she dances, she writes, she cooks, and she speaks with coyotes.  She also happens to be an artist.  A free artist.  And that is why, as I left my home at 5:30 AM for a C-section, I handed her my Beatrix Potter Collection and asked her to pick her favorite animals and paint them on the armoire (oh, and to feed and clothe my other children in my absence if ever the need should arise).

I came home three days later with our little Henry and found that my mother had "Beatrixed" his armoire with vignettes of Tom Kitten, Peter Rabbit, Squirrel Nutkin, and Mrs. Tittlemouse.  I don't think any baby was ever a luckier boy. (I hope he still feels this way when he is 15 and has the same armoire because I'm not changing it.)

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