where he spent his summer

By on August 21, 2015 in Kids

Babyhood is fleeting. Oh how I know this so well.  Lately, everytime I look at Mateo, he looks bigger.  He knows more and he wants to be with his momma less.  He is of course, a boy and of this boy of mine how he pulls at my heart strings.  This week he has told me in no uncertain terms that I am not to kiss his sweet baby cheeks so many times in a row.  Bounderies must be set it seems.  He has much to do you see.  There are rocks to throw and chickens to catch, dirt to play in and of course he must try to interrupt every game that happens without him.

I am not alone, oh no… I am not.  Everyone here is smitten with him.  Just as smitten as they were the day they met him only now he does these funny little things which make us laugh so much.  He is our little clown.  At the dinner table, we all try to keep a straight face while we say the meal prayer because his sign of the cross looks so much more like a catcher  sending signals to the pitcher.  He is busy all day.

The one exception is on my back.  No matter what he is into, if I get the carrier, he will come.  I must admit that its my favorite way to spend time with him.  The smell of his sweet baby hair and those precious little hands of his, they just undo me.  While he is on my back he will play with his mommas hair, run his hands on my arms and just enjoy being close.  I get dinner accomplished with Mateo on my back.  That is his most irritable time of day and it keeps him out of trouble and he is seeing me do my work, the work I do for my family.  We have hiked, we have picked blueberries, attended town functions, spent countless hours at parks, farmers markets, stores, soccer games and all the while I have gotten to have him so close.

I know someday soon he will not be there and I do not look forward to it.  For today, I am enjoying having this little guy along for the ride for I know there will be a last time.  I don’t remember the last time with my other babies but there was a last time and I will continue to carry him as long as he wants me to.

This summer was busy.  Oh so busy.  In the best ways, in the hardest ways, in the most memorable ways.  I don’t want to bombared it all into one post so I leave you until tomorrow.  I have something very special to share with you.  If we are friends on FB then you have already know this all summer but if not then I will see you then.

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Loved

By on June 16, 2015 in Handmade, Knits and Crochet

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IMG_6448IMG_6436IMG_6458 IMG_6460I first started making presents for people in my life when I was 9 and my cousin and I decided to make a clown doll for Margie Dinardo.  We snuck into my godfathers tailor shop and got all the scraps we could find. For the skin fabric I used a white tshirt that I thought my mother would not mind me cutting into.  I can’t remember if my momma found out or not but I do remember that the clown doll did not come out as planned but Margie still liked it anyway.

I can’t count how many handmade presents I have made in my life but I can count how many I have received from others and they are countable on my hands and feet.  Most of those were wonderfully and lovingly made gifts for my babies and how I have cherished them but to this day no one (other than my own children) has ever taken the time to make me something ,just for me, for no reason other than love, with their own two hands.

When my friend Charlei told me a few months ago that she was going to make me a sweater,  I responded with “What???  Wow, thanks”.  I figured that she is super busy and has lots to do so maybe I might get this sweater for Christmas and then I filed that thought away in the don’t think about it file.  Then a few days later she started sending me patterns and asking for specific colors.  Soon enough I was getting pics of progress on this sweater that would someday be mine.  Truth be told, I love my friend so much that she could have never made me one thing and I would love her just the same but…

A few days ago, I got a box in the mail.  It was address by her and it was a bit heavy.  The kids circled that box until I was able to get away from the pile of bread dough I was kneading on the counter.  The box was full of things for all of us.  So many fun and thoughtful gifts but the sweater, Oh my goodness.  It is made from Royal Alpaca and it is softer than any yarn I have ever worked with I’m sure!

Pulling that sweater out of the box, holding it in my arms and putting it on was better than what I had expected.  I made a promise to wear it all winter.  The kids began wishing for a Charlei sweater of their own and then I had to dispense with the warnings.

Those warnings went something like this:  If anyone washes this sweater, you are dead (in the nicest way of course).  If you touch mamas sweater, you are dead, if you find it and in the process of putting it away decide to try it on, you are dead.  So we all agreed that no one would so much as look at it for a very long time.

This sweater is more than just a sweater.  It represents the time that it takes to make each stitch, the love put into picking the yarn, the pattern, the wooden buttons.  It is time away from other projects to make something that I can cherish and in the end feel loved.

What is the best handmade thing you have received?

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