Due April 12... It's a boy!

We had the ultrasound today and we are definitely having another boy. I'm outnumbered 3 to 1! I was kind of wishing for a little girl to dress-up, but I am happy Liam will have a little brother to play rough house with him. Boys are such fun! We are so excited. An added bonus is we have the boy wardrobe covered, so we won't have to spend anymore there. Liam is forging the way! Yea for hand-me-downs! Now we can start thinking about names! Thanksgiving break is next week. We are going to Colorado to spend the holiday with my family. It will be a lot of fun and Liam will get to play with his little aunts and uncles.

Halloween

It has been so fun watching Liam learn and grow. He is so fun. He dances to music or any kind of rhythm he notices. He's kinda quirky about putting away certain things. Don't get me wrong he is the king mess-maker, but he will do little things like throw some paper cut-outs in the trash without being asked, he will brush of an end table so it's clear, close drawers and cupboards that are partially open or push the kitchen chairs into the table. It's very charming. He's very good at communicating with hand motions and sounds and expressions.

The other day I got Liam his own little toothbrush (it lights up!). He immediately knew what to do with it. He just loves brushing his teeth, in fact, he is upset when it's time to stop.

Since the beginning of the month I have been working on pieces of Liam's costume. It's kind of an Asian/Middle Eastern style outfit, I know that's kind of vague. So I guess it's a bit Sci-fi that way. He looks a little bit like a youngling Jedi don't you think? The sash is twisted, sorry!

Now the nitty-gritty details of the making for those who are interested!

I crocheted the vest in a kinda fuzzy olive green yarn, it probably took the longest. Actually it might have tied with the shoes... I was experimenting with making a square of thick felt from alpaca wool roving and I decided to use it to make Liam curved-toe slippers, I had just enough. They might be just a little big, but hey, he grows! He actually really likes wearing them. I made his very cool and comfy pants out of the sleeves I had cut from a linen shirt (I had used most of the shirt to make a shoulder bag a year ago) I didn't have to hem them because I used the cuffs at his ankles. I made it with a large gusset for the crotch that gives it the "Aladdin pants" look and Liam has great mobility for his legs in these pants (good play pants). So then, today I made his long tunic/shirt. I used one of those flour sack towels to make it. I cut the full arm span and yoke as one piece (less sewing!) out of the width of the fabric so that the selvage is the cuffs (no hemming!) the body pieces also end in selvage so I only had to hem the side slits (which could have been longer to fit the middle eastern style better). I put gussets in the under arms for fit and mobility. I love rectangular construction!

Just a little distracted

So, yesterday, in between sessions of general conference Liam got his second ever hair cut! He handled it pretty well, but Dad had to hold his head still most of the time. General conference was just wonderful, there were so many talks that I felt applied specifically to me. I feel like I definitely have things to work on in my life! So... it has been over a month since last I posted! My half decent excuse is that we got caught up in the beginning of classes and getting schedules figured out. My other excuse is that for the past month, I haven't been feeling that great, but I'm doing a little better now. Which leads me to our little announcement... we are expecting another baby! I'm 13 weeks today and we're super excited. Nathan has been so good to me. Even though he is incredibly busy he prepares food for me when I don't feel well and does the dishes at least once a week so I don't have to stand in one place for a long time (no dishwasher). School has been going well. I've really been enjoying all of my classes, but I especially look forward to my bookbinding class each Friday! Nathan has been working hard in his classes and on his portfolio so he can get a good internship this summer, hopefully!

Moving

For the past few days we've been slowly moving everything into it's place. You never realize how much stuff you have until you have to move it around or find a place for it all. Since we couldn't find someone to watch Liam and I was feeling ill anyway, Nathan rented the Uhaul on Tuesday and singlehandedly loaded everything from the storage unit to the truck then from the truck to the apartment. He is Superman! But he kinda over did it. He didn't feel too good the next day...
We're not sure how well the fridge works (maybe it just needs a lot of stuff in it to hold the cold in?), the freezer seems to keep ice cream softly frozen when it's on its highest setting (at least you don't have to wait for it to thaw before serving...) and the fridge is barely colder than a cold air-conditioned room (the top shelf seems a bit better) so we'll see what happens. I realized I was keeping a lot of my old clothes that I never really liked wearing and hardly take out anymore, so they are now in a bag for the D.I. Yea! More free space, less junk!
Thursday we went to Ikea and got some furniture items we were lacking. A little kitchen table of birch (I like real wood), an inexpensive, but sturdy computer desk and office chair, a scratch and dent futon, and a baby mattress for Liam's crib. There is another item that we have to wait a week for, but it is one of the more important items (since we are both artists in school and work). It is an adjustable drawing table that has a clouded glass window on one side to use for a light table when you hook a lamp underneath. We are really excited for that!

Colorado

This picture was taken by my uncle Cody, he's awesome. He also did our wedding pictures.

I was looking back over all the posts and noticed that I always use pictures of Liam when he is wearing nothing but a diaper. He really does wear clothes most of the time. I guess I just love photos that show off his beautiful baby squish! So, we are on our last day of our Colorado visit. Tomorrow we head back to Utah and get to do all that fun moving. I think Liam is going to go through withdrawals without any kids around to entertain him, just boring old mom and dad! The reunion was a lot of fun, I always love getting together with family. After the reunion I got to work on some projects while I was here: my mom and I figured out the pattern and assembly of the little baby shoes she has a few pairs of, now she can make more if she wants. I made a skirt for my little sis Caitlin (12) and helped McKenna (almost 8) and Kiersten (6) each start sewing their own stuffed animal. Then I made a cute mommy bag for me. So now I feel like I've had my sewing fix for a little while *sigh* anyway... back to the grind stone.

Going Back

This week we house sat for a family in the ward. It was a beautiful old home originally built in the early 1700s. I loved the old wood floors and steep narrow staircases and central fireplace. I think Liam's favorite thing was the beautiful green yard and the gravel parking spot.

We're back at Nathan's childhood home now. We have to pack up so that we can fly out of here early Tuesday morning. Liam's first birthday is on Wednesday but we're going to have a little party for him here on Monday night. Nathan is working hard on trying to get everything together for a industrial design scholarship. He is also has a book layout to finish by Monday afternoon. I will be doing the seeking out and gathering of a whole summer's worth of lost things (hopefully nothing is really missing), laundering clothes to be packed, and trying to distribute weight between all the suitcases, etc. In Utah we will get to move into our new apartment. We have a family reunion for my Mother's side of the family in Colorado (my childhood home) so we will be driving off only two days after we arrive in Utah. Talk about some crazy maneuvering! I'm excited though!

Water

Liam has been having fun playing in water inside the house and out. There is a tarp on the front porch that gathered a nice puddle of water after it rained. We took Liam out there to play a few times before it dried up. It's so fun watching him splash. He also likes dropping dog food and his crackers in the dog's water when we forget to put them out of his reach. But his favorite thing is taking a bath and dumping all the soap and shampoo bottles on the floor of the tub.
Within the past few days Liam has discovered that he can climb onto the footrest (it's about eight inches shorter than the couch), which is pushed up against one of the end tables and play with the lamp and pictures there. From there he learned to grab onto the arm of the couch and carefully climb over. He's quite the little monkey. Needless to say, we have to keep an even closer eye on his whereabouts and doings.

Goose Chase

I finished reading Goose Chase by Patrice Kindl yesterday morning. It was a cute fairytale, I enjoyed it a lot. Later that morning, I decided to draw while Liam took his morning nap. Since the story was still fresh in my mind, I picked a scene from the book. I sketched it out in pencil and it turned out well so I decided to continue with colored pencils. I finished by the end of the day, but I'm not sure how long it actually took to complete, since progress is really on and off when you have a little one to chase around. No, the girl is not Rapunzel, she's a goose girl. But she does have magic hair, which she persuaded to grow so she could escape a dungeon. Her hair wasn't shrinking fast enough so she and her companions had to grab as much as they could and run for it. I can't tell you the whole story, so you will have to read it if you want to know more. The photo is not as good as it could be. Over all, I 'm pleased with how it turned out.

Eleven Months

Liam is 11 months old! I never realized how quickly time slides by when you have a family of your own. Liam is such a bright boy. He is so observant and quick to learn. It is such a joy to watch his little personality develop, I can't wait to find out what he'll be like.

Once upon a time... isn't that how every good story begins?

This blog needs to begin somewhere. And I guess a good beginning could be some kind of introduction of the blog's authors.
How about a love story? I know, almost everyone has one, but indulge me! I adore love stories and it would be such fun to share ours...

(By the way, my dear husband is writing his part of the story in regular type, while I am writing my part in italics.)

Nathan and I met May 1st 2006 at a Monday night singles' mix 'n mingle, which was located in the courtyard right outside my apartment. I came out and wandered around for a little while before going to see if there was anything good to eat at the refreshment table.

The gathering was starting to wind down. Since I'd already scoped out the newcomers and made a few acquaintances, I decided to assign myself to "clean up duty" at the refreshment table. After having finished off the last Hawaiian haystack (and everything else for that matter), I looked up and to my surprise, there before me was the girl of my dreams. Where had she come from? She seemed to have just appeared.

There wasn't anything left to eat at the table ( I couldn't really tell what had been there to begin with- something with rice.) I tried to not look disappointed or even as though I had been interested in the first place. A guy at the table with red hair and an even redder beard asked me if I had wanted a haystack so I politely lied and said I hadn't wanted one- in fact I wasn't even hungry. We introduced ourselves and chatted for a while. His roommates came over and he introduced them to me along with a girl he had just met. Within moments his room mates commandeered the conversation and the two of us were standing awkwardly on the fringes as they talked over us. Since I was no longer a part of the conversation and there was nothing else to do I returned to my apartment.

She left just as she had come.... in an instant and without a trace. I had hoped to regain some control of the conversation, and redirect it back to her, but being a horrible conversationalist and shy for that matter, I had not succeeded before she dematerialized. I had already decided to ask her out, but in an attempt to not scare her off with my haste, I decided to wait and do it in two days.

Wednesday evening I had decided to retire early and so I was already dressed in my Pjs when there was a knock at the door. My room mate answered the door. I heard a voice asking for me by name. I was bewildered since I hadn't met that many people yet. I came to the door and invited him in. I recognized him, it was the red-head I had talked to on Monday night but I didn't remember his name.

So there I was with my neck sticking my neck way out, standing on her doorstep (yes, I had managed to get her to say where she lived before she disappeared). Since I had already knocked, I ignored the impulse to run for cover once I realized what I was doing. A girl came to the door and I heard myself say, "Hi, is Jessica home?". I saw Jess poke her head around the corner, with a look of shear bewilderment that seemed say, "Who knows my name? I don't know anyone here!". Realizing that she didn't remember my name, I suavely introduced myself to her roommate, to save us the awkwardness of reintroductions. Well, maybe it wasn't all that suave, but it worked. I had totaled my car the week before taking my sister to the airport, so I was limited to a date place within walking distance. I asked her if she wanted to go get a milkshake and luckily (for my heart's sake,) she said yes. This was already going better than I had expected.

I quickly changed into a pair of jeans and was ready to go (lucky for me I hadn't washed off my make-up yet!) We walked down the block to the Malt Shoppe and ordered our shakes then talked as we drank them. He seemed really nice. I had fun.

Her voice was a little lower and richer than the typical Utah girls I was accustomed to hearing at the time and she talked enthusiastically of her many brothers and sisters. She was very cute and I was able to gradually loosen up and feel comfortable around her. Which was a huge deal for me. Over all the date seemed a success, but I had a rule of thumb that said there would be no second date unless she made it clear in some way that she wanted there to be one. I pointed out my apartment as I walked her home afterwards and told her to feel free to stop by anytime, seeing as our apartments had only one building between them.

A couple days later one of my room mates invited me to go to a baseball game with her and a friend. I was in the middle of a project so I politely declined. She suggested that I could invite someone if I wanted to show up later. I thought I might invite Nathan to go with me. So I casually walked past his apartment and tried to convince myself to go and knock on his door. I walked up the steps and almost changed my mind and turned around, but then I noticed his door was open. I saw him sitting on his couch with his laptop open. Some how that was easier for me, so I went up and said hello. He invited me in and I sat beside him. He showed me what he was working on (it was an angel graphic for a book.) After talking for a while, I lost interest in going to the game so I barely even mentioned it to Nathan. He wasn't to keen on going anyway. So he asked me if I had eaten yet, I hadn't. He suggested we go to Cafe Rio for dinner (it's now our favorite place to eat.) It was then I found out that he no longer had a car. So we took mine (or I should say the one my parents were letting me use for the summer.) After we stuffed ourselves we went to a movie. I enjoyed spending time with him, he was very comfortable to be around.

Well, randomly waltzing in my open door was more than enough to satisfy my rule of thumb. So I gave it my all from there on out and I'm glad I did. On Sunday I sat next to Jess during sacrament meeting and Sunday school. Later I found out that people assumed we were already engaged because of that. Well they weren't too far off, but we'll get there.

The following Monday when I was doing my laundry, a guy from the ward invited me up to watch some episodes of... some TV show that I wasn't familiar with- with a bunch of other guys while I waited for my laundry. I was trying to be friendly and get to know people in the ward so I accepted. I confess it was also fun having a room full of guys all to myself ;) so I sat myself down on a bean bag next to one of the guys to watch the show. After half a episode Nathan knocked on the door. All of the sudden I felt a little guilty, but I told myself I didn't have a good reason to feel guilty, after all, I was just being sociable. Nathan was inviting everyone to the F.H.E. activity, the singles were going to go see M.I. 3 at the theater. But everyone else in the room was going to a birthday dinner. But I said I wanted to go and hopped up and followed Nathan out the door.

This entire F.H.E. activity was conjured up by my roommates and I as an excuse for me to go out with Jess again. I had already knocked on her door and found the place disappointingly empty, so I was both confused and relieved to find her in an apartment full of boys. When she gave up her harem of men and got up to come with me, I must say, it gave the old ego a trip. ;D
And yes I made sure to pay for her ticket, to stake my claim.

To be continued...