painting on the porch

I arrived home from a meeting Thursday morning just in time to see this:

a {baptism} blanket for Felix

It's finally done. Actually, I finished this blanket last Thursday and haven't posted it until now because I couldn't decide which photos to include. I have a problem, you see: since Felix isn't very mobile yet, I take about a million pictures of him, and then I think all of them are so adorable for one reason or another (eyes, smile, feet, chubbiness, etc...) that I can't make up my mind which are the best! Back to the blanket, though...

The idea was born out of Jude's love for his own blankie.


I decided to use the same pattern, and I'm so glad I did. The variegated yarn I used knit up so nicely in this simple pattern.

I chose this particular colorway because it reminded me of the time of year that Felix was born: blue and gray for wintertime, red for Christmas...little did I know at the time that this yarn was liturgical! All of a sudden, late one night, I realized something...each time the blue waned and transitioned into red there was a short length of purple. How perfect for my Advent baby!

You can't see it unless you look closely because the purple is usually only one or two stitches in length. I am probably the only person in my family who will ever notice or appreciate this small detail, but it has great meaning for me. Expecting a baby during Advent seemed particularly sacred to me, and I love that it's kind of hidden in the work.

Felix appears to love his blanket. He gets really excited every time I give it to him. I'm guessing he likes the contrast in the colors. One of his favorite things to do with it is play peek-a-boo...

...but he likes sleeping with it too.

a quiet house.

Parenting Henry has become quite a challenge lately - he's throwing everything my way: whining, defiance, and tantrums the likes of which I've never seen before. I often find myself at the point of frustration and do things I'd rather not, like raise my voice. One of the most challenging things has been that he has recently stopped taking an afternoon nap. That "break" in the afternoon has been so important to me as a mother - a sacred time to relax, refresh, and prepare to move through the rest of my day with love and patience.

I've really been struggling without that time the past few weeks. It has been a huge battle to get Henry to have some sort of "quiet time." Getting him settled somewhere with some books and toys has taken over an hour of whining and crying some afternoons, which some days resulted in him waking one or both babies from their naps. You can imagine how thrilled I was about that. After several failed solutions, I had a chat with Henry yesterday and gave him a couple of choices. This is what we landed on: a "tent" in the playroom, some cushions on the floor, and (gulp) computer time.

I mean, he's watching episodes of Martha Speaks on pbs.org, so how bad can it be? And I have gotten the time I need to be the mother they need me to be the rest of the day.



It's only been two days, so we'll see how long this lasts, but I am so thankful for this time yesterday and today to take a few deep breaths and appreciate all that I have.

Anyone else have good quiet time solutions they want to share? Please post here!

if you give a baby a pancake...

We had pancakes for dinner Saturday night and Felix made it very clear that he wanted some. I know you're not supposed to give babies this young wheat/milk/cornmeal/eggs/etc., but he's my third child and we luckily have no food allergies so far, so I figured I would give it a try.

He loved them and ate almost two whole pancakes. The added bonus was I got to eat my dinner while he happily munched away.

friday fun with Nana & Papa

We spent the morning swimming and jumping on the trampoline at Nana & Papa's house. I consider the outing a complete success partly because we all had a great time, but particularly because all three of them napped at the same time (!!!) when we got home.

Also - I finally finished Felix's blanket last night, and will post about that next week. Too much work to do today!

Happy weekend to you!

in my garden today

{hanging planters on the front porch}

{lantana, my new favorite flowers}

{new annuals out front to replace the ones whose time "had come"}

{alternate view of the plants out front}

{purple lantana that Dan got for me}

{blueberry bushes in the planter box Dan made to house them}

{a few blueberries ready for picking, and many more to come!}

{the beginnings of some squash}

{a pumpkin!!!}

{bunches of tomatoes}

{our blackberry bush...I can hardly believe it had only 3 tiny leaves when I got it!}

We are enjoying the fruits of our labor so much already (Henry had a little bowl of just-picked strawberries and blueberries out back this evening), and looking forward to much more to come!

Felix's baptism

The Baptism of Felix Ambrose McClain

Pentecost Sunday
June 12, 2011

{after the service with Felix's godparents}

As you know, Felix was baptized on Sunday. At the "afterparty" celebration at our house, I put out the old typewriter and wrote at the top, "Please leave a message to help Felix remember the day of his baptism." Once everyone had left, I typed my recollections of the day, which I will share here...

{Aron composing a limerick for Felix}

My dear, sweet Felix,

I greeted you this morning singing "happy baptism day to you." I dressed you in green seersucker and the bluebird bib I made you.

You never cried and barely even fussed during church...

and when the baptism was over, you fell asleep in my arms. I sat with you in the sanctuary after everyone else had left, savoring those sweet moments together. It's so rare that I'm able to just sit and hold you without doing anything else.

Everyone congratulated us during coffee hour and we enjoyed your baptism cake (Henry and Jude most of all).
You took a long nap at home while everyone arrived to celebrate the happy occasion. Everyone had a great time eating, drinking, talking, and cuddling with you.




Pauline and Aron gave you a little music table and you love it.



I showed you the blanket I'm almost finished knitting and you seemed to like it.

You had prunes and bananas for dinner, took your bath, and after a lot of kisses and hugs, you fell asleep nursing in my arms. It was such a perfect day.

The rest of the letter is for Felix's eyes only - mostly just mushy stuff about how glad I am to be his mother. I meant it, though - it was a perfect day. Thank you so much to all of you who were able to join us, and others who couldn't be there in person but were with us in spirit.