Savoring the season

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.

-Ecclesiastes 3:1

Lately I've realized that I'm in a pretty great season. 

There are many seasons in a person's life, and I'm currently in a season of motherhood that's really, well, nice. I'm a homeschooling, stay-at-home mom, which is not easy but is also completely wonderful. I have my boys with me all day, every day. And at this point in their lives, they still really, really like me.

Blanket time: a saving grace!

Ask anyone with a toddler about their free time, and they'll probably laugh at you.

Once that sweet little pudge of a baby learns how to walk, everything changes. Suddenly they can reach things you don't want them to have. They can use their legs to get where they want to go - fast! And getting them to stay in one place - or even one room - seems next to impossible.

Combine all those things with dinnertime or (if you homeschool) school time or anytime you need both your hands and mind focused on a single task, and you've got a problem.

Fortunately, there is a solution. But I should warn you, it takes work.

The Promise Walk

This morning I woke up to clouds and rain. I set my alarm to wake up early - too early for a Saturday - so that I could make the 40-minute drive across town to participate in The Promise Walk for Preeclampsia this morning, a fundraiser for The Preeclampsia Foundation.

I did not feel like going.

Not only was the weather dreary, but I was tired from the previous week's daily early morning activities. I just wanted to stay in my pajamas and make some hot tea. It's Saturday. It didn't help that the Promise Walk was quite a drive away and in unfamiliar territory. But I packed up the car with the baby and all the stuff that must always travel with him and went anyway.

I'm so glad I did.

To sew is much more than just so-so.

A few projects I've been working on in my sewing room were finally completed in the last month.

Mother's Day #6

Sunday marked the 6th Mother's Day I've celebrated as a mother myself.

In a way, it seems hard to believe it's only my sixth Mother's Day. Six years doesn't sound like a very long time, and still I feel like I've been a mother forever. I can hardly remember myself before mommyhood. And I don't mean that as a bad thing - I just mean once you reach parenthood, you never go back to your pre-parenthood frame of mind again.

And I wouldn't want to anyway.

Walking for babies

On Sunday, I marched for babies. My sister and two nieces joined me.

As I mentioned before, I have been a supporter of March of Dimes since the birth of my two sons, both premature. I like to take part in the annual fundraiser they have all across the country: the March for Babies.

We called our family team "The A Team". Don't we look raring to go?

Sherlock lives here

We solved a mystery today.

Fabric scrap toy

I've been sewing for many years, which means I've accumulated A LOT of scraps along the way. Right now they live in a large container underneath my cutting table. Occasionally I use them for trim or applique, but for the most part (and don't tell my husband) they go largely unused and only take up space.

So recently I realized I had an extra wipes container floating around. Normally I only buy refills to go inside the containers I've already got, but sometimes the huge boxes of wipes you buy from those buy-in-bulk stores come with a container for free. I don't know about you, but I always have a hard time throwing those things away. I think to myself, "I'll bet I can use that for something..." but then never actually figure out what that something is. And then I end up with a tower of empty wipes containers.

Well, over the weekend I remembered a blog post from a friend of mine down at Counting Coconuts in which she made a DIY fabric wipes toy out of all the aforementioned items. So, I dug out my pinking sheers and went to work.