Look at my booties!

The purpose of these pictures is actually to show off Palesa's little knit booties.  In retrospect, I should have taken a zoomed-in picture of just her feet, but instead, I got the entire cute little girl.  My grandma (Grandma Benson) was an avid crafter.  She would knit and crochet blankets, sew quilts, sewed matching dresses for me and one of my dolls, and even made clothes for my barbie dolls.  She made these booties years ago.  In fact, I believe my sister and I wore them as babies as well.  Palesa is definitely enjoying them, as you can see from her content yawn.  

38.5 weeks- only a few more to go!

Hello all,

As of today, I am 39 weeks!  This is getting really exciting!

Our weekends now amount to precious moments of attempting to cram as much as we can into a short amount of time, and take advantage of the opportunity to get as much done as we can (while also building in time for naps and cuddling of course!).  This weekend was particularly special.

Our major art project of the weekend was making a plaster belly cast.  At first, I started putting on the plaster strips myself, with Osei simultaneously a bit fascinated and grossed out.  However, half way through he got his hands dirty and had a blast finishing the rest.  We learned a lot for next time- mainly that Osei will take over from the beginning-  I couldn't exactly see what I was doing on my own belly! 

Osei also fixed our sewing machine!  We'd bought an old Singer 457 (metal machine, from the 1960's), and the timing became out of sync, causing a gear to break.  The estimate to repair the machine was 5 times what we even paid for the machine, so my saavy and industrious husband did research, ordered a part, watched multiple youtube videos and figured out how to fix it himself!  I'm incredibly impressed, and this means that our next project of sewing a cover for the diaper changing pad is ready to begin.

Finally this weekend, we also went apple picking.  Osei and I had gone apple picking on our 3rd date, so the entire event was incredibly sentimental for me.  Though we went to a different orchard, we did manage to recreate some pictures, as well as our enjoyment of fresh apple cider donuts.  We picked over 20 pounds of apples and promptly baked 3 apple-cranberry pies, which in my opinion, far surpassed the deliciousness of the pies we made after our first apple-picking adventure.

Tomorrow (Wednesday) is my last day of working in the office, and then I'll work from home until the baby is born.  My commute to work has gotten progressively longer in the past month, as my walking speed has slowed to turtle-like pace.  I won't miss fighting for a seat on the crowded subway and am very thankful for the flexibility to work from home!

Please continue to pray and send healing thoughts for my mother, Nancy.  After surgery last month for breast cancer, she begins chemotherapy on Friday, and we are all prayerfully optimistic that her cancer will never return.

Love and blessings to all,

Amy, Osei, and soon-to-be-welcomed-to-the-world, Omee 

Refinished baby dresser

Sometime after my husband moved to Boston, old roomates threw out this buffet.  Osei picked it up and used it in his old apartment, and since our marriage began, it has been living in our basement.  In a classic spurt of "daddy nesting," Osei became determined to make it beautiful once again.

So, a shelf-full of library books, a few trips to the hardware store, and lots of sweat and labor later, Osei finially finished stripping and refinishing the dresser.  We moved it upstairs to our second bedroom, and it is now full of baby clothes and cloth diapers. 

The lanterns hanging above were also part of our wedding.

In these last few weeks/days before this baby comes, we continue to take advantage of whatever nesting whirlwinds come our way... hopefully many more fun baby projects ahead!

35.5 weeks- About a month to go!

Hello all,

We're getting closer! Our "guess date" is around October 18th, which a) is now less than a month away and b) means that the baby should arrive anytime in the next 1-6 weeks. Not exactly a small window or anything, but we are getting ready and very excited to meet this little person who keeps kicking me!

Osei and I spent the entire weekend nesting and organizing our house- such as sewing, washing all of of our baby clothes and moving our computer/office to our downstairs room. Years ago, Osei inherited an antique buffet from old roomates made by Consider H. Willet, a brand named after the maker himself (yes, his first name was actually "Consider"). It has spent the duration of our marriage in our laundry room kitchenette until now. In a wonderfully productive spurt of "daddy nesting," Osei did all sorts of research and then stripped and refinished the wood to turn the piece into a beautiful dresser for baby clothes. We're still waiting on the drawer handles to arrive, but it is absolutely gorgeous. Pictures to follow!

In other news, the past few weeks has been a mix of positive and somewhat stressful news. On September 2nd, my mom (Nancy) and Ralph, her sweetheart for the past decade, got married in a private ceremony on top of Flagstaff Mountain in Boulder (see picture of the glowing newlyweds). I've thought of Ralph as my stepdad for years now, and we are all so happy for them and their marriage!

Their choice of wedding day and their good news was also intended to triumph over some not-so-good news... We also confirmed that my mom has breast cancer. It is somewhat beyond "early stage" but is the most common and treatable type of cancer, and we are all incredibly encouraged and hopeful for her full recovery. Last Thursday, her treatment began with surgery, and chemotherapy will follow. She is in wonderfully good spirits and the surgery went very well. I am struggling with being so far away from her right now, but I greatly value our frequent phone conversations. Also, as this impacts our travel schedule in the next few months, this is a great opportunity for us to join the new millenium and learn to skype! We are all greatly appreciative of your continued thoughts and prayers for her recovery.

Much love and blessings,

Amy, Osei, and baby Omee

31.5 weeks

Hello,

I know what you are probably thinking. No, I did not swallow a soccer ball!

We're now inside two months to go until the expected due date! Happily, the baby now has a place to sleep! Here is also a picture of the finished co-sleeper. Over the weekend we sanded the wood, and then finished the wood with beeswax. I made the mattress out of old 100% wool Swiss military blankets, which I washed and cut into panels and sewed together with yarn. The only thing left to do is make an additional mattress pad (the same wool panel treated with lanolin to make it waterproof), as well as sew the bedding. The sheets I will make with some fabric given to us by my Aunt Rosemary (thank you again, Aunt Rosemary!). The co-sleeper is now attached to our bed (there are handles underneath) and it is ready to go. It only took 7 months, but I was finally able to convince Osei to switch sides of the bed with me, so now I'm also 4 steps closer to the bathroom. At this point in pregnancy, those 4 steps are definitely important!

Osei and I are doing very well, and getting more and more curious to meet this little baby constantly doing hula and breakdancing moves in my belly!

Hugs and blessings to all,

Amy, Osei, and baby Omee

29.5 weeks... and counting

Hello all,

Here is a picture from last weekend when I was still back in my "20's". As of this week, I'm now 30 weeks. Or 75% there!

Major highlights from this past week include putting the legs on our cutsom-built co-sleeper. We will "finish" it with a non-toxic beeswax, and then just need to drill a few more peg holes so that the shelf the mattress will sit on is adjustable. We are also still working on the mattress, which will be sewn by us out of 100% wool blankets treated with lanolin to be waterproof.

Osei recently got me my first sewing machine! It is an older model, a Singer 457, and super sturdy. We've both been studying and learning how to use it and are excited to use it for real projects! So far, one of Osei's old undershirts has been our practice cloth, but we also have some lovely flannel waiting to be sewn into a few baby blankets and burp cloths.

Love and blessings to all,

Amy, Osei, and baby "Omee"

Have I already mentioned Lee's Art Shop?!?!

Here we are on the first day of Spring.  Besides the fact that it is snowing, I noticed the wall mural on the side of Lee's Art Shop.  For what it was worth, I was also walking the opposite direction

Artwork!

A lovely horse carriage in Central Park 

A tile mosaic of Upper West Side brownstones

I discovered some rodents in my apartment.

Art in Columbus Circle

Just a picture that caught my eye in the Time Warner Center at Columbus Circle

ModPodge Heart-Shaped Box

Another friend's birthday is around the corner.  I bought the box and paper at Lee's Art Shop.

First, I tore out the flowers

And then paint a layer of the glue, place the paper, and another layer of glue on top.  The nice thing about this paper is that it is thin enough to not get bubbles.  You can smooth out any edges with your fingers, or tear the paper to fold around a corner.

The sides of the box are finished!  I think I'd like to paper the inside box base, but I am waiting to see how "hard" it dries first.

The lid is also finished.  I'll still do the base, but have to save that for another day.

Look who finished the scarf?

I finally finished my scarf yesterday, and even added the fringe and everything.  Preliminary testing indicates it is a complete success.

Next project... how about a matching hat?

See the scarf? We WILL finish it soon!

Compared to another scarf.  Must be long enough to complete the "European Scarf Knot"

It needs to be just a little longer, maybe another 8-10 inches.  Then I will add the fringe.  

While I'm knitting, I like to listen to my "learn Russian podcasts."  The pattern for this scarf is super simple- cast on 40 stitches and knit two, purl two.  If you look really closely, you can see a few little places where I seem to be more successful repeating Russian words than counting my stitches.

Note, however, that success is relative, and multi-colored yarn just hides a multitude of sins. 

 До скорой встречи

Mod Podge... everybody loves it

Step 1- cut out all your pictures etc

Step 2- paint on a layer of mod podge to attach pictures to whatever surface you're working with

Step 3- paint on another layer on top

That's easy.  The hardest part is avoiding air bubbles.  They happen.  Practice, practice, practice.  And make sure you paint all the way to the edges.

How hard can a hat be?

I just recently re-discovered and started working scarf number (probably) 8.5 or so... basic pattern of knit 2 purl 2 (cast on 40 stitches).  I think I started this scarf right after I moved to NYC in June 2005, if not even earlier.  The big goal is to finish it by New Years (it has gone from less than 1 needle length to about 4 lengths now).  I'm fine if it takes another week past New Years, as long as I finish it in time to wear it while it is still winter.

Not that I'm hoping for the cold weather to last any longer... but after this scarf we're going for a hat.