little messes

one of the best parts of the little people’s arrival has been the visitors who have come a calling. my sister was able to be here with us for their birth and the next week which was oh so amazing. as a one-time labor and delivery nurse, her knowledge of all things newborn so far outweighed our own… meaning we honestly had absolutely no idea about anything baby-wise. sure, we had our instincts and all the love we could muster but these kiddos need a bit more than that…

to say my sister saved us from completely losing our gourds that first week at home is quite an understatement. she is a whisperer of the baby variety and they would just melt in her arms.

my folks joined the party a few days later and the bubs got to meet their first set of grandparents. the babes passed around from one loving pair of arms to another. miles was held for the first time by my father, for whom his middle name was chosen. my mother rocked them sweetly. everyone took such great care of us and we desperately needed the help. she even came back a few weeks later when jeff returned to work. she filled our freezer with her cooking and braved watching both babes so jeff and i could catch some winks together.

soon the rest of the grandparents will arrive and these kiddos will know even more how loved they are. they are the first grandkiddos for all of our parents and having them be a part of their lives is just so important to me. i never really had my grandparents in my life and i’ve always missed that opportunity. my father’s parents both passed away before i got the chance to meet them. my mother’s were there for a handful of years but lived across the country and so i rarely saw them. my great aunt dot and uncle roy took on that role and i cherished the time we had with them.

it’s funny how the distance seems to spread now that they are here. how i wish so much my family could be closer just so they could enjoy these moments of growth that will pass so quickly, just as we do. they’ll be there and often but i wish it could be more. i am just so lucky to have such an amazing family. and friends to boot. we’ve had amazing visits from them as well.

the world can surely be a lovely place.

there are so many new moments for the senses round this house.

right now, as i bounce little v in her seat i can see as her eyes get just a little too heavy for her gentle face. with m against my chest in a post-nurse stupor i can feel his fine (barely-there) hair so soft against my face and hear a tiny whistle escaping with each deep breath he takes. his body is so warm against mine.

we’re in a holding pattern at the moment. soon it will be time for our daily walk with the pup. can’t leave henry out of this equation. he drags us to the park each afternoon, past the falling leaves, through the mud and with only a quick stop off for coffee delaying our trip.

i so love these days. knew i would, but never could have guessed how much.

i anticipated the craziness of adding two babies to our household at once, but what i didn’t see coming was the magic of the quiet moments. they are sometimes few and far between but after everyone is changed and fed and placed down to sleep the quiet pull itself over the house like a thick warm blanket.

and believe it or not i’ve actually found myself rather productive. productive perhaps being a relative term but for the last month or so of pregnancy i had a hard time motivating for just about anything. i either sat or slept in my rocking chair until it was time to eat or nap again. i was just so sleepy, trying to remain still and savor the last few weeks of our two-member household. but now, when the babes are down i know i only have but a few hours to myself. there’s bread to bake and cookies to make (the perfect way to warm the kitchen for bath-time of course!) and i’ve even enjoyed the laundry if you can imagine, finding purpose in this work, the quiet of this work. and when the kitchen is clean and the dishes are dry, the diapers are warm and ready for use. i just get to sit and stare at these little lovely people that i’m oh so thankful for and can’t wait to get to know.

perhaps the antithesis of quiet but that’s what you get when you try to have a photo session right before lunchtime.

i can’t believe this thursday will mark four whole weeks since these little people came into our lives. four weeks of the biggest learning curve i’ve ever tackled and most likely the least amount of sleep i’ve garnered in my 34 years. the bubs are growing growing growing, nearly 7lbs now and their wee little butts finally starting to fit into their cloth diapers.

we’ve been lying low for the most part, especially with the rainy days that set upon us this week. luckily before the cold snap appeared we did venture out for a lovely fall hike at oregon ridge state park. we popped the little ones into some carriers and wandered in the woods for a while with the pup. it was just so nice to be out of the house for a spell and breathing the crisp fall air. i’d love to say they enjoyed it as well, but mostly they were sleeping, okay there’s no mostly in that statement they slept the entire time with the exception of the drive home when vera screamed for nearly 12 miles straight. as soon as i pulled over to try to calm her down she stopped and fell asleep. such is the life of a baby.

i haven’t quite yet gotten down a routine for my day. i seem to quickly run out of time between feedings and diaper changes. but darn they are adorable and if all i have time to do is snap a few photos of their little faces, well that’s a good day in my book.

i’m oh so happy to introduce you to the new little people that have moved in with us.

meet miles and vera. after making it full term, these two crazy lovely babes made their arrival on september 24th after just 12 hours of labor and a lot of laughs. seriously. it was an amazing birth experience and i’m just so excited to get to know these two. and though my body is quite exhausted after the first 11 days of parenthood my heart is oh so full.

10 days old (miles on left, vera on right)

we’re getting closer to the arrival of the babes. i was hoping to hold out until the end of the month but my appointment today made it look like there will be four of us living in this house sooner rather than later.

we’ve been busy bees around here. in the last few months we’ve finished the hallway refresh that was started back in 2006. i can’t believe that it took us nearly 3 years to finish this work. but it’s done and it looks oh so lovely.

next we renovated the mud room, which meant a new roof and hence a new ceiling and well that room still needs a new coat of paint and all the furniture moved back in, we’re going to make it into more of a sunroom and bring our formica table back into action.

next up jeff gave in to my whining and we added a new sink and cabinet in the bathroom. it’s gorgeous and i can’t seem to stop sighing with delight every time i walk in there.

and finally we have the nursery which for the last 9 months i have been referring to as the “middle room”. that’s as far as i could go with my denial that anything was really going to change around here. but now it’s done, well nearly, and it will soon have new inhabitants if all goes as it seems to be going.

sadly many of these projects have not made it onto my camera yet but i did finally take some photos of the nursery. we made due with mostly recycled furniture we’ve been gathering for years.

first we have part of the set of medical cabinets i scrounged out of a podiatrist office a few years ago. thank you craigslist! the office manager thought i was completely insane when i showed up with a truck and bought two complete doctor cabinet sets. they were in use for 50 years and look nearly new and i was so excited to finally find the proper home for them. now they hold books and small toys just waiting for some little hands.

next we were lucky enough to round up a beautiful second hand oeuf crib for the bugs to share (i’m hoping they can sleep together for as long as possible because adding another crib to this room is going to be oh so tight) and a garage sale chair from a trip to upstate new york. my dear friend adrienne made the bugs a gorgeous quilt with small wise owls to look over them.

i’ve been collecting small postcards, calendars and tiny showcase prints for years and hung up just a few to get some art into the minds of the babes from the get-go.

and our changing table, again part of the medical set with matching trash can. hee! and the one new piece of furniture we bought for the room. an oeuf changing station that can rest on this cabinet or fit on top of the crib to save some space. this baby is stocked up with cloth diapers galore and i can’t wait to wrap these little bums up in all this cotton.

ok, now i’m getting excited.

i’ve been feeling rather lucky lately. lucky to have such dear friends and family. lucky to have my home and jeff. lucky for this pup. and oh so lucky for these little ones kicking their way within. i’ve also been feeling exhausted and overworked. nothing so much beyond the norm in terms of my working day, but i find myself struggling to keep up. so today we’ll take a break. a road trip. perhaps our last before these wee ones make their entrance at the end of the summer. we’re off to new hampshire and the hudson river valley of ny.

in some ways i know this trip will start off hard. being in a car for nine or so hours is perhaps not what my body will appreciate. but there’s something cathartic in this journey too. we haven’t made this trip by car in some time. it changes everything i think. it’s slow and mindful though sometimes chaotic. it’s guided by quick stops. usually by coffee and fuel breaks, this time by our pup and much needed stretching.

i hope we take it slow and breathe it all in as we muster up this coastline. all five of us together. though two of our party still quiet in voice.

my small joys for this week have been plentiful and the start of this trip will open up plenty more i’m sure. so i’ll leave you with a few moments from this past week.

an early morning tennis game with my two favorite boys:

a few quiet moments of making… something i’m doing far less often than i’d like. thanks sarah for giving me a much needed assignment:

i’m not sure if my idea for that post title refers to the knitting projects i have in my head or upcoming posts, but either way i’ll do my best to work on both since i’ve been more of a slacker than usual with anything creatively minded. ok, not really, but i’ve been really bad about actually documenting any of it.

so where to start, well let’s just say it’s been a busy year so far here at chez mess. we geared up our energy reserves over the winter and put them to good use by finishing some long awaited refreshes of the house. i’ll have to post pictures soon since that documenting part has been slow going, but it shall be stated that we have finished work on (another reworking of) the garden, our 2nd bedroom, and have slowly begun tearing off part of the roof of our mud room to fix a leak that’s been begging for help for over a year. we still have to finish the patio outside and the hallway upstairs is the biggest project left in the house, well with the exception of my studio that needs new walls and insulation but that one’s too big to actual pretend it will happen anytime soon so eh…

what’s with all the renovation steam you ask? well, we’ll be enlarging the household soon and we’re trying to ready ourselves before we have no time at all.

yup, that’s right, it’s super weird for me to say out loud still but we’re expecting. and here’s the kicker, there’s two of ‘em coming. yipe! twins on the way, sometime in late september/early october. these little rainbow hats are the first of many projects i’ve been mulling in my head and after a recent score of *far too many* jamie harmon skeins of yarn from the maryland sheep and wool festival, my hands they are a twittering with woolens.

next up, knit stuffed beings of some sort and perhaps a few sweaters. oh lordie, we’re in for a ride huh?!

today my little sister turned 31. i don’t think i can explain how insane it is to write that down. my little sister friends, is no longer so little.

having someone who shares your daily routine for the formative years of your life is just so kooky. someone who really knows you, who really sees you at your best and worst. someone who would do anything to make you smile and who on occasion made you cry. someone who will be there. always.

we didn’t always get along. we didn’t always agree, but we always loved each other to the core. there’s just no way to write how much this little lady means to me. so i’ll just say happy birthday sister. i sure love you to pieces and wish i was closer and able to take you out for a nice long dinner. soon. soon.

jeff just sent me this hilarious photo of henry. he must of gotten inspired by all the knitting around these parts and decided to make a go of it for himself.

sadly for him, knitting + pups = naptime.