Letting go of glamour

I have absolutely no right to be out of house looking like I do right now.

My hair needs washing. My face needs a touch of color. My clothes are not at all flattering. In short--I'm a wreck. But such is my lot these days.

My daughter had an appointment to make. Our pantry needs restocking. These errands won't just do themselves, so I had to make the best of it. I at least managed to put on some eyebrows.

The obvious question is--why didn't I just shower and freshen up prior to leaving? To anyone wondering exactly that, I'd like to introduce my son, Declan. He is a high-needs child who demands constant care. Thankfully, he is also a cheerful, loving young boy. But wildly independent he is not. Nor does he often allow me time without him either in my arms, or at my feet.

This morning he was particularly needy. He barely let me make his breakfast. There was no chance of some mommy-time, alas.

Currently I am hiding in my car while my daughter is at her appointment. I am juggling the baby, his snack, his water bottle, and my sanity as I type this on my phone. **sigh**

And to think there was a time in my life when I wouldn't be caught dead like this... Well, frankly, I still may not want to be caught like this, but needs must, alas.

Step Two: Prepare Pattern--check!

I bought several yards of muslin a while back.  While I didn't think that I had used it all, I must have.  I have searched high and low and it's not turned up.  Today I decided that enough was enough--if I was going to get sewing, I'd damn well better do so.

And, ta-da--PROGRESS has been made!

I decided that I wanted to employ more couture techniques in my garment construction.  Even though I am working up some very easy patterns, why not add some luxurious touches, right?  I decided that I am going to underline my border dress.  I found some lovely white cotton to use as both my toile and my eventual underlining.  I pressed the fabric and readied my supplies for cutting.

Because I am adding a couture touch to this dress, I took time to mark the sewing line on all my pattern pieces.  Additionally, I used the recently acquired waxy tracing paper to transfer my pattern information from the pieces to the underlining cotton.  The large paper is a DREAM to work with!  Yes, I did have to be careful about accidentally transferring some of the wax, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it could be.  I envisioned red fingers and smears of red on my work surface, but nope.  Only got a touch of red onto my fabric where the weight of my magnetic pin cushion touched my fabric to the paper.  Not bad at all!

Had I started earlier, I probably could have made good progress on stitching my thread tracing, but I'll leave that for tomorrow.  (Or maybe tonight after my jog/walk.)

A Year in the Life of My Little Boy

It's been one year since Declan's birth, and what a year it's been!  Certainly full of some very high highs and some tragically low lows, but we're so blessed by our little fella.

Step One: Acquire Supplies--check

Have you checked out Craftsy.com yet?

Several months ago, I purchased the Sew Retro class by Gertie from Craftsy.  In it, she uses these large sheets of tracing paper to transfer pattern information to her fabric.  I figured that such paper would be easy to find at my local craft store, so set out to buy some.  Boy, was I wrong!  I struggled, and eventually settled for some small "meh" paper.  It worked, but what a pain.  Constantly repositioning my pattern pieces, and battling with the paper.  Ugh.

A few weeks ago, I decided to purchase the Couture Dress class by Susan Khalje from Craftsy.  I knew that I would be sewing a few things for some up-coming events and figured it would be lovely to add some couture elements to the garments.  Just like Gertie, Susan Khalje also uses the large rolls of tracing paper.  (If fact, it was probably Susan who turned Gertie onto the paper.)  This time, I paid closer attention to where they purchased their paper: Richard the Thread.

Come to find out, Richard the Thread is in my backyard here in southern California!  So today I finally took the time to drive up to purchase some paper.

Richard the Thread is mainly a supplier of corset-making goods.  Grommets, busks, boning, coutil, lacing cord, et cetera are all in stock at their store.  But they also have patterning supplies, dress forms, and even irons.  I was in need of their custom-made waxy tracing paper.  Each sheet is 26 inches by 39 inches and they carry a variety of colors to suit any fabric.  I picked up some red and some yellow, to cover most bases.  But they also carry a special light blue paper just for white fabrics.  (The wax on the paper is often permanent once transferred to fabric.)

The folks at Richard the Thread are lovely and very helpful, btw.  So I know that I will certainly be back at some point, not just when I run out of tracing paper.  I am already planning a corset for future.

an invitation

You're Invited!

What: A Pity Party for Lily

When: Right Now

When I was expecting my daughter, my friends were very happy to have me along--if only to be the designated driver.  I lapped up the attention, though, because I knew once I transitioned into motherhood my social calendar would diminish.  It did, of course, once Taylor was born.  Friends who called me every weekend to invite me out suddenly could not even be bothered to call to say, "hello."  It wasn't exactly unexpected, but it did help me to see which of my friends I could really count on.  Thankfully there were still a handful of folks who made a point of including me/visiting me.

When Brian and I learned that we were expecting Declan, I knew that--again--we'd have to curtail many of our social activities.  But I think that I'd forgotten how it feels to be sidelined while the rest of the world continues to party and continues to play.

--It's probably time that I disclose an important fact--I'm a lousy friend.  Hmmph, well, maybe not lousy, but I just do not know how to put it.  While I have the best of intentions, I just don't always know how to be friend.  I could lay the blame at the fact that growing up I often moved schools (or homes) and therefore never really learned how to grow and maintain a friendship.  I excelled at making friends, but I've struggled to know how to cultivate that new friendship into something lasting.  As such, I am never sure when to give a friend space, and when to catch up.  I struggle to determine if a phone call/message is well-timed and often err on the side of caution by deciding not to butt in.  Why would they want to hear from me?  Wouldn't they rather talk to someone more interesting/fun/personable?  I certainly do not want to be a pest.

It seems that one of the main consequences of my ignorance is that people--friends--see me as uninterested or disconnected.  Aloof.  The reality is that I often just do not know what to do.  But I digress.--

So here I am, watching the world continue to go by, only now it's probably worse thanks to our now-super-connected-social-media-addicted society.  Whereas before I only suspected that people were having a great time without me, now I KNOW that they are having a great time without me.  And I sit here struggling with how to handle it.  

I don't want to call folks and ask to be included because I was taught that inviting oneself is terribly rude.  Besides, if someone wanted my company, they would have asked me, right?  

Now, some might argue that this post is a passive-aggressive plea for inclusion.  And no matter how much I could protest such an assessment, I suppose that it is.  As I write this, I've been struggling with whether or not to even post.  I certainly do not want to appear passive-aggressive, but I also want to get this off my chest, though not to anyone in particular.  And, as stated before, I'd like to return to being a more prolific blogger.  So, why not start things off by making something of a confession and talking about my strange inner-monologues?  And isn't passive-aggressive pleas for attentions what blogging is all about!?  (Perhaps that's fodder for future post.)

On a more positive note, I was actually invited to too many activities this weekend.  I actually had to turn down one invitation because I had already committed to another!  While it certainly bummed me out to be missing out on one celebration, I did have a fabulous time at a party last night.  And I do have a very full weekend scheduled for next weekend, too.  So my belly-aching and b*tching is really dumb.  My friends DO want to spend time with--just not every waking moment.  (And who could blame them?)

The reality is that I do have plenty to do--sometimes a little too much, even.  So why I am still feeling blue about the events that I am missing?  

Remembering LJ

I used to be more prolific writer. As much as I'd like to lay blame on my current status of hausfrau, I cannot. I think it was the advent of social media services like twitter and Facebook that put a serious crimp in my ability to journal.

It's a shame, too.

I can recall days where I'd post MULTIPLE blog posts. Yet now I'm fortunate to get in one blog post a week or, gasp, month!

I'd like to change this. I'd like to get back to a point where I'm able to express myself in more than a handful of characters.

Stay tuned.

In the meantime, here is a photo of my dapper little boy.

Eleven months and two days

In a few days less than a month, I'll be celebrating Declan's first birthday.  Cripes.  I was just thinking about how he's been around for longer than I was pregnant with him, yet it feels like less time has past.  Weird.

Who needs toys when there are KEYS!

Yes, Declan is eleven months old now!  And boy, do we have our work cut out for us.  He is mobile.  I repeat: he is mobile.  Quick, too.  He has truly mastered his crawling technique, a combination of crawling and crab-walking.  He can make it over to the dog's water bowl in the blink of an eye.  (That being one of his favorite, forbidden "toys.")

He has also expanded his repertoire of understood words and phrases.  He now will happily push a button on one of his toys when asked to do so.  He also gives kisses on demand to Big Sis and Daddy.  (Seldom interested in planting love on Mom, ah, well.)  He also is recognizing several baby signs, including "more,"and "milk."

Exploring the grass at Mile Square Park

Speaking of food, we've learned that he loves eating whatever Mom or Dad is eating.  He will flatly reject food offered to him if it is not what he sees us eating.  Declan still snacks on crackers and cereal, but will not be pacified with eating those if he sees one of us eating something else.

We are still happily nursing, too.  His six, almost eight teeth have made nursing a bit err... "bitey" at times, but Declan only seems to bite when he is bored.  Solution: remove him from the breast when he stops actively nursing.  This is working so far for us.

LOVES the pickles at Disneyland

We have decided to delay introduction to typical trigger foods, for the most part.  (We had to order mac-n-cheese for him out of desperation when there was nothing else his system could digest while we were out once.  Now he gets it occasionally.)  No refined sugars, no chocolate, no "nuggets" of any kind.  He eats mostly whole foods, as unprocessed as possible.  It's been tricky at times (see the mac-n-cheese comment), but we've done our best.  We've had to politely beg-off cookies, cake, ice cream.  He'll have a lifetime to enjoy those treats, but we'd like to start him off enjoying healthier foods.  And he is happy to eat them, too!

Declan is become more social.  He is beginning to make it out of the stranger phase and is allowing some folks to hold him for small amounts of time.  This is a tremendous relief to me as having it has been quite awkward having to politely explain to people that it's not that he doesn't like them, he just doesn't want to be held by them.

EARS!

This past month, we introduced Declan to that SoCal institution: Disneyland.  I've found that wearing him in either his soft sided carrier or our Vatanai wrap works best.  No stroller to push, easier to navigate the crowds, and I do not even need to remove him to ride rides.  I really do pity those folks trudging along with the strollers.  What a headache that must be!  Alas, I suspect that once Declan is even MORE mobile, we just might have to join the stroller flock.  Not looking forward to it.

Declan loves just observing all the people and all the fuss at the park.  He does tolerate a few rides, but seems happier people-watching in the queue house.  I figure it is only a matter of time before he is all about the characters and the rides.

All in all, he seems to be developing apace with his peers.  He's becoming such a clever boy, but definitely all boy.  He loves bagging on objects, and turns just about everything he can hold into a hammer.