three things

Three simple things

I have discovered this time around

that I wish I had known about

when I had my first child:

Swaddlepods.

My sister-in-law gave us a set of these for Baby.

They are fantastic!

Simple

(Just zip it up!)

Secure

(Baby is snugly wrapped up in them.)

Stretchy

(He can still move around a bit when he wants to.)

Soft

(Made from mostly cotton

plus the zipper is cleverly covered with a special flap

so that it doesn't scratch his chin.)

It's a brilliant product.

 I don't know why it took me so long

to start folding receiving blankets

in stable oblongs

instead of in tower-of-pisa squares.

They fit so much better in the drawer,

they don't fall over,

and it's one less fold to make

which can add up when you're washing a few.

Win-win.

I don't have a photos for this last one,

but this take on a brilliant nursing tank top design

has revolutionized my nursing wardrobe.

newborn portraits

The nice thing about doing your own photography

is that you can take as much time as you want.

I enjoyed being able to break up

Baby's newborn portrait session

into several small sessions on different days

so that neither one of us got too tired and cranky.

The following are my very favorites:

There were a few ideas I had hoped to try

that I just didn't get to.

I may still try; we'll see.

When it really comes down to it,

I'm pretty pleased with what I already have,

and my motivation is waning

along with Baby's sleep-through-anything stage.

aliens

Little Man and Brother

love adding googly eyes to their projects,

so I got them some for their Christmas stockings.

They recently decided to use their googly eyes and paint

to make aliens.

These were Brother's.

This one's my favorite.

And these are Little Man's

I so enjoy the things they come up with.

very hungry caterpillar

The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle

has been among all three of my older children's favorite books.

So when I saw this adorable idea

for embellishing baby clothes with button caterpillars,

I immediately knew that some day I would adapt the idea

to make a Very Hungry Caterpillar shirt.

 A few days ago I eagerly seized a spare fifteen minutes or so,

collected a white onesie we already owned

along with a few buttons and some embroidery floss,

and whipped out a cute little shirt for my baby boy.

 He doesn't seem to have much of an opinion,

but his big brothers think it's a pretty awesome shirt,

and I think he looks beyond adorable in it.

Of course, I'm just a little bit biased...

Baby

Our newest little boy

arrived on January 3 at 9:46 p.m.

after a short and smooth labor.

He's tiny yet big,

weighing 8 pounds 1 ounce

and measuring 22 1/2 inches long.

He has been perfectly healthy

(Which is a relief since the rest of the family

has been suffering from a nasty respiratory flu)

and is a peaceful, easy baby.

I am attempting to get my fill

of baby cuddles, tiny fingers, softest skin, and downy hair.

Also sleep.

You'll understand if posting is sparse for a while...

my first fingerless gloves

I am outrageously pleased

with how my first fingerless gloves turned out.

Well, technically this is my second pair;

I used the same pattern and yarn for the first set,

but they turned out uncomfortably small for me,

so a I gave them to a friend with tiny hands

who will be able to enjoy them much more.

(It's a lot harder than I thought it would be

to take photos of myself wearing them.)

I used this pretty Three Leaf Mitt pattern.

It was very well written,

and I discovered that following

what I believe is something like a lace chart

is nowhere near as hard as I feared!

To make my second pair larger,

I simply added an extra rib on the palm (3 knits and 1 purl).

I also added an extra three rows

to the all-around ribbing at the top and the bottom

because I liked the way it looked and fit better that way.

Fingerless gloves are so quick and fun.

I could easily get addicted to making them.