Good thing too, since the custom orders have been rolling in lately! My new machine is AWESOME!!
And – for the new niece – a totally adorable quilt. And the girls helped me make a matching mini-quilt for the big sister to use for her beloved baby doll. Now she can be just like mama.
Also new to for fall: changing mats! (This one is for my niece too, but they'll be more coming!!)
And, finally, a new modern crib quilt design. Now up in the shop!!
The bad news is that I noticed this halfway through my zillions of errands:
The good news is that I was able to buy these guilt-free:
How cute are they?
(It is going to sound like I'm exaggerating – especially the traffic part. I'm not. Totally 100% honest.)
Today I was out running errands and I looked at my watch while in Target.
11:30. I have to pick Ellie up 10 miles away at 11:45.
"Oh, Shoot!" I said. (Okay, I said I would be 100% honest. I actually said another word that rhymes with "hit". Thank goodness Colin can't talk yet, since it was right in his little ear.)
I get in the car and zoom towards her school. I get off at our exit. Traffic is stopped for construction. No biggie. There's another way to go. More construction. Then more construction. Then more construction. I finally get her school ten minutes late and run in to pick her up, throw her in the car and zoom off to pick up Grace. Did I mention that Grace is also supposed to be picked up at 11:45, but her teacher lets me pick her up later?
Construction. More construction. I went through construction – complete with flaggers – EIGHT TIMES between the highway exit, Ellie's school and Grace's school. That would be EIGHT TIMES in about THREE miles. So I finally picked up Grace 25 minutes late. (Well, sort of. Fifteen minutes later than I usually do, 25 minutes later than I'm supposed to.)
They were both the very last kids to be picked up. Ack! Bad mom!!
We got home and I was clearly frazzled. I was apologizing to them repeatedly while we took off shoes and backpacks when Ellie took my face in her hands and said:
"Mommy, its okay. Its okay if I miss my bus or if we forget something or if I'm the last one at school or if you make a mistakes. Its okay, Mom. Everybody makes mistakes. I love you and I always forgive you."
That is what made me cry. In a good way. Over my incredibly sweet baby girl. When did she get so grown up?
I cannot get my act together with this whole school thing.
Thursday Ellie missed the bus. So I threw everyone in the car and we drove her. Then I dropped off Grace at preschool. As we were walking in, I realized it was Thursday. She has gym on Thursday and she's not supposed to wear Crocs. And – of course – she was wearing Crocs (since that is what she always puts on. Since what other shoes have Jibbitz?) Whoops.
She has reminded me of this every 2 hours since then. You know, that she's "not a-posedta wear crocs on gym day, Mama!"
Then on Sunday night I realized the backpacks were still sitting on the floor of the mudroom where they had been dumped (in relief!) on Friday. So we had to scramble through the 85 papers to get things together for Monday. Whoops.
Today we walked into Grace's preschool and I realized that we had forgotten her show-and-tell. That went over well. ("But Mama, it was important!! And we forgot!!") Then we went into the first week of ballet, only to discover that ballet had actually started the week before. Whoops.
Just to illustrate how crazy its been… I got a new sewing machine for my birthday on Friday (!!!!!!) And I haven't even been able to sew on it yet.
This is serious.
Mainly because of this:
This is Colin whenever he is not being held. By me.
As you may imagine, this puts a dent in most of my daily activities. Like cooking and cleaning. And showering. And doing anything productive.
You should see him when I leave the room. Tragic.
He's adorable, but he is totally driving me crazy. He screams at naptime. Then I pick him up and he instantly stops crying and falls right to sleep. So I put him back down in the crib and… you guessed it… screaming again.
I know he's just frustrated. He really wants to sit up but he can't manage it yet. And he sees his sisters running all around and he wants to join in. He gets so frustrated when we leave the room and he's left laying on the floor. I'm trying to be patient. But I'm really getting frustrated at having to try and do everything while holding a 20 pound baby.
I need a clone.
Last night, Husband and I were reminded of something Ellie used to say when she was about 2. It was so cute. We told her about it and we all had a good laugh at how adorable she was.
"What did I used to say that was silly?" asked Grace.
We looked at each other.
Not that Grace wasn't totally adorable as a baby and toddler. But neither of us could think of a single thing.
Isn't that awful??
Now, granted, when Grace was little Husband was working full-time and in grad school and Mommy was an emotional basket case, seriously sleep-deprived and watching other kids a few days a week - not to mention that she was born only 18 months after her big sister. But we both felt horrible that we have basically no memories of Grace as a baby. Seriously. I have no idea when she got teeth or said her first word. I do remember that she crawled before 6 months and was walking before she was 1, but that's about it. We spent last night looking at our videos on the computer and realized we really don't even have many of Grace. (Or of Ellie after Grace was born 😉
It makes me sad that I was too busy/stressed out/just surviving to record more of her life. Now its lost and I can't get it back.
I'm going to go videotape Colin now. Before I miss out on him as well.
… she missed the bus.
My bad. I tried to take a shower this morning. And Husband had to leave early. I know - what was I thinking? I should have just been grimy all day.
Not like it makes much of a difference lately.
Colin new hobby is seeing how many times a day he can get Mommy to change her clothes.
Yesterday, it was three.
I told Ellie it was my fault she missed the bus and apologized.
She said, "That's okay, Mommy. I forgive you. We all mess up sometimes." At least she's sweet about it.
But she didn't want me walking her into school. She said, "Mommy, you stay here with Colin. I can do it myself. Don't come with me."
Do you think she was being independent?
Or was she embarrassed by her mom with wet hair, no makeup, wearing yoga pants, the top she slept in and flip-flops?
I'm going to say it was the independence. And go get dressed.
