New Sewing Machine

^^^Unrelated Baby Photo^^^

I bought a new sewing machine from Amazon on Friday. It is being delivered tomorrow; I am verrrry excited. So I decided on a Brother SE270D sewing and embroidery machine. I have visions of grandeur about what I will accomplish with this partner.

I see myself starting out with slipcovers for our dining room chairs. I have designed what I want, and I think they'll look pretty awesome, and will have fun trying to make them without a pattern :)

After I finish the slipcovers I plan to start making Lily some cool clothes. I really don't like the excessively cutesy stuff out there for babies so I decided I'll make her some funky, punky and retro stuff. I think it'll be fun trying out new stuff and that the embroidery function on the machine is going to be awesome for this :).

I've decided that there must be other parents out there who want cute kids clothes that aren't too syrup-y sweet.... so if I enjoy sewing and become good enough to do so, I plan to sell some of my designs.

Oh, and the embroidery function in the machine is computerized (which Eric is somewhat interested in) and I'm super excited to be able to make my own embroidery designs... I think that's going to be amazing. I also look forward to making Lily's pictures into embroidery designs for her clothes once she gets old enough to color and stuff....

I will post pictures of what I make as I complete them... this is gonna be fun :)

Lily's first cold :(

Lily has been suffering from her first cold for the past three days. The poor thing has such a stuffy nose that she can barely breathe while eating, and has thus slowed down eating quite a bit. Luckily she has not run a temperature yet and the stuffiness seems localized. We just feel so sorry for her and hate how much she screams when we have to suction her nose out... poor baby :(

Other than that things are great. We had a nice holiday, and since back in St. Louis have celebrated with my family. My brother's family was in town over New Years (when we did xmas) and we got the chance to visit several times, which was very nice. I wish I saw them more. My Sister in law is pregnant with their 3rd baby and we are all really excited.

I have just uploaded a bunch of photos to my photobucket account... if you wanna see fresh ones of Lily, my knitting projects and all the other stuff I have up here.. http://s80.photobucket.com/albums/j192/Myopicdream/

Christmas in Wisconsin

This year we drove up to Wisconsin for the holiday. It was a somewhat arduous trip but we were fortunate that Lily decided to sleep most of the time. We've been here for 5 days now and I have to admit that, as worried as I was about the cold, it is quite beautiful and relaxing up here.

When I look outside of the window the world is blanketed in a white stillness that I never see in St. Louis. While everything is peaceful and serene it is also teeming with life. In the mornings we've seen a family of deer, a lone yearling fawn, and an adorable young possum who doesn't seem to understand that he is a nocturnal creature or that it might not be wise to venture up on people's porches during the daylight hours.

Eric's family lives in a very nice home a few miles outside of the actual town. They have several acres of land that Eric explored and conquered during his youth. As I look around it I imagine how Lily will one day explore the same thickets and gulleys that her father did and I am pleased by the continuity of life.

Behind the home is a river that won't freeze over throughout the winter. It provides a very nice babbling background to accompany the few bird and rustling of pines in the wind. Along the river is a trail, which Eric and I walked during our summer visit, and it has several beautiful features that I look forward to seeing with Lily in the years to come.

In all this holiday has been very sweet and warm. We've spent hours enjoying each other and it has been very fun to watch her with her grandparents. She's grown much bigger now and is just starting to try and imitate us... it's too cute.

I'll post some pictures as soon as I get them uploaded. Hope your holiday has been as sweet as has been ours!

Lily Update

So you all may be wondering what Lily is up to. She is growing fast. I'm not sure how big she is now (will let you know after her appt next monday) but she's wearing 3 month sizes oftentimes. She is also smiling a whole lot and beginning to find funny faces... well, funny.

She rolled over from her tummy to her back this morning, though it may have been a fluke, and is starting to bat at hanging toys from her Gymini playmat. In general she is showing a much greater interest in toys. She likes to be in her swing for maybe 10 mins. at a time and likes looking up at her mobile for a while also.

She's also staying awake for much longer periods of the day and sleeping for at least one 6 hour stretch at night.

We're having great fun with her. She is quite cute and fun to play with. She is becoming very responsive to music and I hate to admit that she seems really fond of gangster rap (!!!). When she's really upset it can sometimes be the one thing that will calm her down, though it doesn't so much calm Eric or I :)

She is definitely showing a strong mommy preference and sometimes will only be calmed down by me. She seems to have figured out who has the food :-P

We went to my older brother's home for Thanksgiving and while there she seemed to be pretty amused by my nephews (3yo and 18months). They were also very pleased with her. I am excited that we will be moving to California but also sad that it will likely mean that she will not know her cousins very well.

I have quite a few pics of her to share. I have posted a few here and will get some more up soon.