A SECRET SANTA QUILT.

merry christmas! i'm your secret santa!

i hope you like your quilt! i am not really great at sewing. i don't cut fabric in straight lines and i don't sew straight either. i've named your quilt a "hodge podge" quilt. i don't know if you saw online or not, but i've started an etsy shop. i wanted to keep myself busy with crafting- well, anything really. i've realized that it's something i need to do to stay content. i need to make. so i've made christmas cards and a print.

for december, i decided that i would make this quilt my monthly project. it is the "season of giving", so i'm not listing anything (this quilt) in my shop. now that you know a little bit about the background, i'll let you in on the story of the quilt.

when rorie was just 5 months old in the winter of 2012 i drove to the lincoln square area and picked up two garbage bags full of fabric scraps. i used freecycle and thought i could make something for rorie. well, i didn't. but i held onto the fabric and moved it with us to NH.

some of the fabric i used was from my old kitchen curtains in chicago.

some are scraps from jacobs crib sheets (stars) and my current kitchen curtains (newspaper).

there's a red sweatshirt material from a "camp squanto" sweatshirt whose original owner was my dad (it was falling apart).

other fabric is leftover from the pillowcases i sewed while pregnant with jake. i was nesting (little red flowers & green).

and lastly, there's fabric from the scraps of a dress my mom sewed for rorie when we were waiting for jacob to make his arrival.

the back of the quilt is an old fleece blanket i impulse bought at old navy when i was in high school in VA. both of my kids have spit-up on it (don't worry, i washed it!).

so there you have it...the story behind this epic "hodge podge" quilt that i made specifically for you,

my "secret santa 2014: out-of-towners-edition" (town=chicago-birth place of the burgh babes)

so merry christmas, again!

i love + miss you!

chelsea

p.s. i had my friend britta... if you were wondering who this was sent to.

NOVEMBER RECAP IN PHOTOS & TEXT.

i'm going to let you in on what went down this month. first... i got another great photo of my two babies. these are tough to achieve, but boy am i ever thankful when i get a winning shot! plus- i've never seen such an enthusiastic little boy! kid loves picture taking.

this little dude turned 5 months. i can't even believe how much he's accomplished in one month... since he'll be 6 months in three days. during this photo shoot, with one fell swoop of his hand, he managed to swipe all the letters off the couch. these are getting more and more difficult as he gets bigger.

we've had our last nice warm snow-free days here in NH. we went all lots of walks to the library and around the neighborhood. we have a killer hill next to our house and i try to power up that beast at least once a day. we've also been doing squat challenges the past two months. as well as babysitting two one year olds and a three year old. 

the drool is spot-on. a straight shot to the quilt below. this will probably gross a lot of people out, but i made his mohawk with his drool. yep, i sure did. and look how happy he is!

this month rorie and i made cookies! isn't baking with your kids the most amazing thing ever? i mean... who cares about the possibility of salmonella when there's sweet, creamy, dough to lick off of a batter creating an ultimately way-more fantastic childhood than before that first sugary lick!

we had our first snow!!! it may have been a light wet early morning dusting that melted by 10am, but we got rorie all bundled up and threw snowballs right at that cute little target we call our daughter.

this kid watches. he watches his sister and i think it's safe to say he adores her. in this photo his grin is just enormous because his sister is sitting on that chair being a goof. his smile is already dreamy, but when he's smiling at her- i'm a puddle.

 

for thanksgiving this year we went to touisset. i think i can count on one hand the number of thanksgivings i've had with extended family, so this was a treat for me. we stayed a few days before thanksgiving too and are headed back there for most of december. when we are in RI, breakfast with grandma is a must.

this boy went from being up on all fours to crawling to pulling himself up to standing- all in one week. since he was born he showed this innate motivation to figure out how to move his body. he works so hard "training" his muscles and figuring out how to balance. it's really cool to watch. and he's so proud of himself. with all the progress he's made he's also had a few rough spills, but he seems to bounce back quickly.

in case there was any doubt if these were his children... here's aaron and his two carbon copies.

p.s. disney junior at grandma's is the bomb!

of all the photos i've taken of these two rascals there's always one or two reeeeally funny ones. #1 rorie's face is so weird! #2 jacob looks like i'm taking the photo with a chicken hat on. he's so shocked he has to hold onto his sister and the pillow for dear life.

officially getting into everything now.

mr. ladies man with all my little cousins! they all loved holding him. he's such a flirt.

you'd think rorie was 6 when you see how she keeps up with this crew. they had a blast playing outside with the pool noodles. they have all made movies on the ipad together starting on rorie's 1st birthday. the one they filmed this visit was called "the thanksgiving games". a spoof on the hunger games. 

i am extremely lucky to have such strong women as role models and aunties in my life. i have silently learned a lot about being a mother, friend, sister, daughter, and wife from them. 

"the thanksgiving games" featured this little turkey. and she was nothing but pumped about it.

 

back in NH we had gotten some snow, so of course roro had to play in it. this is obviously "olaf". today his head fell off. how do you explain that to a sensitive two year old?!

this kid. drooling. needy. but smiley. pretty sure he's getting some teeth. he's been very lethargic. slight rise in his core temperature. and sleeping WAY more than normal...which i wish was just normal... maybe these teeth will make their appearance just in time for christmas. "all i want for christmas is my two bottom teeth"...sing it jakey. christmas is a go. we decorated with one single strand of twinkle lights. i can't bring myself to do anything else because we will be in RI... so the santa pants and burgh babes made drooly bandanna will have to do.

and that's a look at our november. so excited for the christmas season!

THE WHAT YOU LOVE SHOP.

 

welp. i opened an etsy shop. it's pretty simple right now. the christmas season is almost upon us. please don't jump down my throat for announcing that before halloween has even passed. i'm a person that believes in the u.s. postal service and all the wonders that come with sending and receiving mail. and christmas mail is just one of the best. i love the photos. i love the newsletters and updates. i really just love it.

so literally i few days ago, when i was dreaming up how we were going to pay for the extra cost of special formula (yep- turns out mr. jakey is just like rorie- allergic to milk protein), i thought: "i'll make christmas cards!" and i did. and they're for sale. and you could buy them!

so i would love it if you'd check out my shop. it's the WHAT YOU LOVE SHOP. and we are open for business!


p.s. i loved all your suggestions from my last post. this is most definitely going to be a shop of made of many materials!

PRE-EASTER BEACH TRIP.

it seems that i totally forgot that i had other pictures from our easter trip to touisset. we had a lot of fun hanging out with my cousins, aunt, and my grandma and grandpa redding. rorie calls my grandpa, "grandpa-grandpa ready" because we told her we were going to "grandma and grandpa redding's house". it's really cute. i kinda hope she keeps it up.

rorie is an old soul like my dad. the two of them could spend days at the front beach if we let them. they'd never come home and they'd smell of sweet salt. there is an infinite amount to discover... and the same amount of rocks to throw... so i completely understand.

the days at touisset were chilly, but the sun warmed us up as we searched for treasures at the water's edge. the wind was blowing rorie's unclipped hair and in most of the pictures we snapped she looked a lot like cousin it. oh well... we had fun!

after the beach we dyed and decorated eggs, played games, and rorie played with stickers. rorie still asks me to this day if she can color eggs- meaning with crayons. it's really cute.

the we had a fantastic lobster dinner. a staple when aaron comes to visit :) i get a lot of praise for bringing home a seafood lover!

it was a great weekend. this weekend rorie and i are sick. i've been sick since monday with a cough and irritated throat. rorie started to not sleep well at night and then had a fever yesterday. we spent most of the day on the couch watching shows and napping. her highest temp was 103.8, but we managed to get it down with a few home remedies and some medicine before bed. poor baby is still not feeling well today, but her temp has cooled off quite a bit. got any tips for a sick baby? or a sick pregnant mama?! i'd love to hear.

EASTER 2014.

the easter bunny came to grandma & grandpa redding's house this year! last easter was fun (check out how short rorie's hair was!), but this easter has taken the cake! 

since rorie's tummy doesn't do well with chocolate we notified the easter bunny that she needed some extra special treats left around the house. and boy, does that easter bunny know what she's doing. rorie's eggs were filled with annie's bunny fruit snacks, stickers, fruit leather, original goldfish, and mini muffins. she also got play dough, a new water bottle,  a stuffed friend, and a finger puppet. she was a happy little camper and kept wishing everyone a "happy easter". it was wonderful. 

after church we all went back to grandma's for a ham dinner and easter egg hunt. it was a great 1st holiday to have in our new area. we loved being such a short drive to family. i also really loved the easter message this year. i was worried beforehand that i would feel uneasy about the death of jesus, but the pastor's message reminded me that that isn't the end of the story! and that's something i needed to hear. i'm going to hold on tight to that message.

now we're back at home and ready to settle in and wait on a little man to make his arrival...