Just like every mother, ever, I derive great joy from my children’s art. Aveline is 6 and conveys such profound beauty through her drawings, and what is so wonderful to realize is that the beauty, the love, the imagination . . . is her. It comes straight from her singular, precious heart.

In light of this, I thought I’d commission her to do a piece for inspiration as I prepare for my soon coming birth. I said, “Aveline, do you think that sometime soon you would do a drawing of me giving birth to the baby?” She replied, “Do you want me to do it right now?” I said, “Just do it whenever you want.” Whenever she wanted turned out to be immediately. She asked me where I’d give birth and I told her that we might put a birthing tub in the library, but that most likely it would happen in bed, if it went fast like my last two births. I told her to put me wherever she wanted, maybe even outside. She opted for the bed and here is what she drew.

I don’t know why it should surprise me that she got the positioning so right on, with the head coming out first, after all, a little over 3 years ago she witnessed the birth of her baby sister. Still that impressed me. I love that we get an X-ray view of the baby’s body still in mine, too. She captured the most intense part of delivery in my opinion, when the head is out, the body is in, I lose my mind and inevitably ask my midwife, “What do I do now?” Those moments are so overwhelming, so beyond comprehension, so wondrous. The intense relief is moments away, the mysterious little person, inches from the skin on my chest and the embrace of my arms. Everything I’ve been dreaming of for so long is just about to really happen! Of course I’m smiling, I’m ecstatic!

I’m sure I will treasure this drawing forever. I’m sure I will want to look at it in the earlier stage of labor, and everyday from now until then. Thank you, thank you, my dear Aveline for sharing your heart with me.

Except we’ll probably use both for a boy or a girl! We have chosen not to have an ultrasound at all this pregnancy, unless I am advised by my midwife to do so, so I wanted to make a special blanket to welcome either a boy or a girl when the birth-day comes! I just can hardly wait to see who it is in there!! Handling these blankets makes the day feel closer and more real, I imagine a teeny little body warmed by them, the work of my hands and heart, and my heart almosts bursts in joyful anticipation!! I can feel that little person right now, swimming around within me, and oh! I just really can hardly wait!

I love these fabrics from Anna Maria Horner (I also love her blog!) I ordered the Folksy Flannels Good Night fabric stack and divided it into these two quilts. I love them so much!! It was a very fresh inspiration I felt as I viewed the collection first here. My blankets are simply a flannel quilt top, the seams topstitched one way, with an organic cotton fleece from NearSea Naturals for the backing. I used cotton yarn (from Michael’s) tied at the squares’ corners to attach the top to the backing, folded the backing over the top around the edges and stitched that down with the same stitch that the seams are topstitched with.

Here are some photos I took of the process of making the boy one.

P.S. My mom had boy and girl twins when I was six and a half and my younger brother Mike was 4, he was struggling with the twins getting all the attention, so he wouldn’t refer to them by their names. They were “the boy one” and “the girl one.” As in, “Is that the boy one or the girl one?”

We are giving the garden another go this year, despite last year’s challenges and disappointment. We’re trying new things, we bought some plants, and started some from seed in little pots, some plastic pots, some peat pots that can be planted right along with the seedlings. I was reading somewhere about the companion planting of the three sisters, corn, beans and squash. I realized, we had seedlings of all three and I thought we should give it a go.

The fun facts I’ve picked up along the way are firstly, that the Native Americans first discovered the success of this trio. Also, one of the reasons it works so well is because corn pulls nitrogen from the soil, while beans release nitrogen back into it, so there is a balancing that goes on there. And the squash with it’s large leaves and profuse growth, covers the ground and protects the other two sisters.

Here it is.

So this bed, this one bed, is the one I am so hoping grows abundantly, especially because I have a recipe for Three Sisters Stew from Mothering Magazine and I would be gratified to no end if I got to use the three sisters I am raising myself, in my own backyard, in the making of it!

Let’s follow its growth, shall we?

Here’s a link to a video that shows how to situate the sisters, and here’s a link to the recipe.

With a new baby on the way, and Miss June still sleeping in our bed, Sid and I felt the necessity of a transition coming on. How could we gently move Junie to her own sleeping space to make room for the new, tiny one in our bed? And how could we do so while still keeping her close? We have a tiny bedroom, so a twin size, or even smaller sized bed fitting into our room was not going to work. Sid had the great idea to get some foam cut to the size of a nook in our room that once held our book bedside table. At the foam place, a piece cut to the right size was going to be a minimum of $108. So we bought some scraps instead, totaling about $20 (with extra for the kids to go nuts with), and Sid pieced them together to form the perfect nookbed for Junie.

She's ready to sleep, with big sister's sleeping mask and all!

So cozy! I get sleepy just looking at this. That girl it the best snuggler, ever!

She has her own pillow already, and I was so super pleased to find a crib sized comforter at IKEA. Their comforter covers are okay, but I knew I could make a cuter one and thoroughly enjoy the process, so that was the plan. Check it out! I LOVE how it came out and am extra pleased that it turned out to be the perfect size for the nook bed!!

Complete with snaps along the bottom.

Even though she said she hated it at first (I’m assuming that statement had more to do with the fact that she’s moving out of our bed – or maybe it was just her grumpy mood – rather than my design aesthetic . . . I hope), I do think she has changed her mind =)

Having used our previous book storage spot for the nookbed, we were left with the challenge of book storage in the bedroom. Realistically, I shouldn’t need to store very many books in the bedroom, but in the world I like to live in, slightly aside from reality, I simply must store many books of many kinds right next to the bed. There happened to be a bookshelf available at IKEA of the right dimensions and in the color of some of our other bedroom furniture which is also from IKEA.

Atop the shelf is a battery operated lantern, also from IKEA (jeez), and perfect for my pregnancy-insomnia induced, middle of the night, reading sessions, which usually include a beverage and a mix of raw cashews and my dried loquats.

Dreamy, eh?

Yes, the insomnia is most definitely bearable. So is this time of transition thanks to Sid’s ingenuity, the scraps at A-1 Foam and Fabric, my craftiness and June’s willingness to try something new.

Here are the books we are currently reading, in case you’re curious.

Crime and Punishment by Dostoyevsky
Walden by Thoreau
And I’m just finishing Finding God at Home by Ernest Boyer Jr. which I must review for you soon because it is the book closest to my heart regarding spirituality and family, ever. I feel I may never call another book inspiring . . . no, nevermind I just thought of two I still would.
The Tail of Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler (to Ave at bedtime)
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan (to Jonny at bedtime)

If you are interested in making a similar cover for the same IKEA comforter, let me know and I’ll share my pattern and include instructions. In case you’re curious, each of the fabrics is from the thrift store or a garage sale, mostly they were sheets, one was just a panel of fabric. And I used a snap press and snaps from KAM Snaps. This project was most definitely inspired by Amanda Soule and her book Handmade Home, though I didn’t reference it for any part, I feel the book has made its way into my sewing irreversibly and always needs to be given the credit it is due.

Sid performed a wedding for our dear friends last Saturday. He had never done it before, but you would never have known. It was a touching and funny ceremony and it was met with approval by the Bride, the Groom and both of their families. I’m so proud!!

Awaiting the soon-to-be couple

It was very special for me to get to be a part of Sid’s process of developing the ceremony. It was especially cool to listen in on the conversation he had with my dad. Dad’s ceremonies always had a level of depth that typical wedding ceremonies (though always touching, just by virtue of the fact that two people are making that most sacred commitment to one another) lack. I think that’s because he could always get to a place, in getting to know them, of seeing the couple through God’s eyes, in all their pneumatic beauty (pneumatic is a term my dad coined to clarify the definition of our true self, our spirit as opposed to our flesh, the self God created us to be; read more about this idea by searching “pneumatic” at the Reflexion, or Express Image link to the right). As an attendee of these weddings, you couldn’t help but fall in love with the couple yourself.

Sid and I discussed marriage a lot during his process and we both got to reflect on the things we are so grateful for in our own relationship. We’ve been married almost 14 years now and somehow I feel like we’re reaping rewards never granted us before. Relationships are tricky, complicated and challenging, ours is absolutely no exception, but at this point we just both feel we have so much to be grateful for in each other. I’ve never seen Sid like I see him now, and his performing this ceremony highlighted a part of him that isn’t always shining so obviously as it did that day. I just love him so much and felt very overwhelmed at the emotions that surfaced as he joyfully joined our friends in matrimony.

He loves me!

I pray blessings on your relationships.

Jonny and Aveline took an Art class all year from a lady who lives right around the way from us. They loved it! Here is some of their art, gifts to me for Mother’s day =) Treasures, these!!

If you would like more information about the art classes for your child, email me at bouquetofparentheses@gmail.com and I’ll pass the info along.

A couple of pictures that make me really wish I could have shared even a few moments with him there. Sigh.