LIFE IS HAPPENING/HAPPENED

Hey Friendlies! So, 2015, huh? 

My maternity leave is over (which I took from my real job AND my bloggy job, in case you missed that), and we have hopped back on the "normal" life train.

It's actually less of a train and more of a secret treadmill turned up to "Usain Bolt" speed that you even didn't realize was in your path and then all of a sudden--WHAM!--you find yourself bruised under a pile of rubble wondering what in tarnation just happened to you. Well, lemme tell ya, self--this is what happened:

Here are some highlights of what I did during my time away:

-Lost all of my baby weight the week I got home from the hospital and then gained it ALL back as food weight through a strict regimen of gorging myself nonstop on the delicious meals that friends brought to us over the course of Noa's first month. Dessert after breakfast? BUT OF COURSE! (note: if I was a stay at home mom, I would NEVER stop eating!). Still working on this [not so] little development...especially since I am a freak for whom breastfeeding does NOT take weight off.

-Fell just stupidly in love with Noa Lou . Wondered how I would EVER be able to resist constantly getting pregnant just so that I could always have a tiny baby to snuggle...until the treadmill situation above reminded me. She eats like a dream every 3-4 hours, has chubbed up like a champ, and sleep-trained herself at 9 weeks to sleep from 12-7 am. Noa is easily the cutest infant we've had yet, and she is very chill and just generally easy like Sunday morning (Hold up. What a horrendous simile, Lionel Richie!! Sunday mornings are the HARDEST because I have to get 3 kids and myself to church all by myself. Never trust a Jheri Curl!).

She did however lose her sweet baby tan, and seems to be working towards her momma's brand of pale (white/purple). She might very well be transparent in her 4 month photo. Who do I need to speak to about bilirubin injections for adults, because that golden glow is THE STUFF!

Somehow she seems to be shrinking in this series. I assure you, she's not; despite my sorcerer's attempts to keep her newborn. 

cracking up at our wonderful nanny-fam's house today.

-Came in third place in my Fantasy Football league's tenth year in action (beating Jesse in the playoffs felt nice).

-Had daily LOL's at the memories of stress when we first became parents with Judah. Having just a single tiny baby to take care of is a vacation. Alas, you are not able to realize that until the vacation is over has been commandeered by loud toddler predators rappelling down into your idyll, armed with skidmarked underpants and thumbs strong enough to unbuckle themselves on the highway AND gouge each other's eyeballs out. I'm sure if someone handed me a newborn right now, I would look back at the past few months as cake (which I ate a lot of during that period).

My view when all 5 of us are home. Layla is preparing to jump atop the pile. Now imagine this scenario when Jesse is working and it's just me.  Controlling children with just your words when you're stuck in a chair feeding a baby is tricky stuff. My threat-speech has gotten very honed.

Sure they look docile now...

-Flew to Utah with Noa to visited my newly retired parents in gorgeous Saint George. Noa was a championship flyer. I had been prepared to let her nurse the entire 5 hour flight time if she wanted, but when I tried to "offer her the breast" (as the fancy people say) during takeoff she was super annoyed and was like, "MA! just let me sleep!" She would pretty much just wake up to smile. 

Boarding first, back of the plane, PRAYING for a kindly grandmother as my seatmate. Ended up with a father of two teeneagers who is a neonatal respiratory therapist! fairly awesome. He was on board with 20 other doctors and specialists from Children's Healthcare of Atlanta. Not a bad flight for a nervy momma to be on.

I'm just gonna charm your socks off real quick and then it's milk and back to sleep! Planes = giant white noise machines.

Haha. Flying into Vegas I spotted a "really cool looking river and wall thing." After I snapped this pic to later show Jesse and ponder what it could be,  I heard other passengers referring to the "Hoover" something. Ah, so. Me + Geography for the win.

Hiking with my DNA donors. 

D for Dixie Mountain. And Dukes. And Doy.  I'll let you guess how many tries it took my mom to capture this shot. I started with just my hands shaped like a heart, but that bullseye was FAR too challenging for her. 

G-ma getting her grandbaby-wearing on.

Snuggling momsy at a town overlook before my massage (with special mammary-accommodating pillow for milk filled customers!) 

  

No matter how wonderful the baby, flying solo with one is HARD. My arms were aching from holding her the entire time while trying not to spill over into other people's space or lose feeling in all my extremities.

Pop-pop and Noa in my folks' backyard. Their views are straight stunning.

-Got the new iPhone 6. May have mortgaged part of my soul to AT&T in transferring to their "Next" plan. In the process of swapping everything over I ended up with a bunch of my photos being not on my phone; adrift somewhere in a cloud with Jennifer Lawrence's hacked nipples, I suppose. There's plenty of stuff in there documenting the stuff I have left out. As soon as I can pierce the cumulonimbus and retrieve them, I'll set about updating the blanks.

Well that was about as slipshod as a blog post can be. Working on tightening up my focus....and m'glutes.

Thrilled to be back!

Girl Charlee KnitFix (Fabric Giveaway!)

Comin' atcha live from the milky, sleep-deprived fog of maternity leave because it's scarf and gifting season, and that means my braided scarf tutorial is exactly what the world needs now. After, of course, it gets its fill of love sweet love.

I knew approximately diddly-squat-point-five about knit fabrics (think T-shirt material), and had sewn with almost exclusively woven fabrics (think bed sheets). Then I wrote that tutorial and started selling the scarves in my Etsy shop. Here now in my fourth season of churning these scarves out for customers, friends and family (I've made over 300!), I am intimately acquainted with knit fabrics. THEY RULE. No ironing, no fraying, super soft and perfect for truly practical projects.

A quick look in my shop will show you that I get almost all of my fabrics from Girl Charlee. I discovered them through a friend a season or two ago and have been slurping down their yardage ever since. I was even their customer spotlight this past February (I am suggesting a pinup calendar...I will dress as a fat baby holding a bow and arrow as befits my month...and my current physique)!

So how pumped was I when I found out that Girl Charlee has invented a new way to introduce sewists to their yummy goods? Answer: very muchly so. 

Here's the lowdown diggity (if you've tried or read about other "fixes," it's kinda similar, but in yardage form!):

-The first KnitFix sale kicks off on December 9th

-Each KnitFix contains 6 specially selected, unique and exclusive knit fabrics in two yard cuts each (12 yards total).  

-These are fabrics that will never be available anywhere else, ever!

-KnitFix sales are only once a month, the second Tuesday, and are on a first come, first serve basis.

-Each KnitFix sale has fabrics that are only available for that one month's sale so you can buy each month and never get the same fabrics.

-Retail price is $69 (for 12 yards) and each fix comes in a custom designed, limited edition Girl Charlee KnitFix reusable tote bag.

Because I'm a lucky sneaky duck, I got to get my first KnitFix a little early. Wanna peek? 

This tote's adorbs, right? (it's okay to hate me for that one)

Getting my first glimpse. What a fun bunch! I spy floral, tribal, stripes, lace, geometric and quatrefoil. 

I was barely able to snap this photo because Layla kept grabbing at the floral print begging me to make her "sumpfin!" out of it. Guess who is getting pretty flower leggings from mommy for Christmas! 

So if you're digging on these fabrics, guess what? You can win my exact KnitFix yourself for free! Girl Charlee is giving one of you these same 12 yards of sewing goodness free to your doorstep just in time to whip up some awesome custom gifts for your people/self.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Judah and Layla Meet Noa

We've had our Noa for a month now. I'm typing this with one hand while I feed her and gaze upon her wonders. They are manifold:

I wasnt planning to do the sticker-months pictures...until I saw this set on a friend's daughter and immediately copied them. Brace yourself for 11 more.

I havent gotten all of the professional birth photos back yet, and I definitely need those to write the birth story (yeah, let's say that's the reason for the delay and not because I'm eating leftover calzones at 4 am and sleeping during normal blogging hours).

I do have two proofs of the moment that Layla and Judah both saw Noa for the first time. The moment wasnt as hilarious as when we told them we were having a baby, but it does explode my feelings. LOVE EVERYWHERE:

Wouldn't you just give anything to know what they were thinking/saying at these moments?

WISH GRANTED. 

I knew I would want a video of this magic moment too, so my beautiful friend Steph taped the whole thing for us. I seriously cant stand everything happening in these moving pictures, y'all. You can see the looks of dumbfounded joyful spazziness/disbelief I keep throwing to every adult in the room because I was pretty shocked at how picture-perfect the big kids were. I knew they'd be excited and fascinated, but I had no idea they would morph into living Hallmark moments.

Their shirts say Brother Bear, Sister Bear and Baby Bear. From MaisonWares on Etsy. 

More to come soon, smoochie-poos!