Seriously…it’s 2013.

Absent blogger, here. Since it’s 2013 (SERIOUSLY?!?!?), I figured it was time to update my blog since I haven’t posted anything since AUGUST 2012! But honestly, life got extremely overwhelming not two weeks after I blogged about Sweet Harry Baby’s 8 month birthday. So to rewind a bit…

In April last year, Andy’s work partner was diagnosed with Stage 4 Pancreatic cancer and from the beginning the outlook wasn’t good. We learned swiftly how nasty cancer is and just how nasty pancreatic cancer is and how quickly it progresses. Andy has been working with Brad for almost ten years and for the majority of the time, it’s just been the two of them. Needless to say, they had quite an interesting relationship – not quite besties but they knew each other for more hours and days than most people know each other as work colleagues or some spouses. And to top that off, they were in a small office a lot of the time. Pretty much immediately, Brad stopped working and Andy assumed a lot of Brad’s clients and spent a lot of time on his own. We knew that if (when) Brad passed that it would mean a major change for Andy’s career, we just weren’t sure what exactly. Then two weeks after my last post in August, Brad went to be with Jesus. He has such a sweet family – an amazingly gracious and beautiful wife and three talented and beautiful kids, the youngest still in elementary school. His memorial service was bittersweet with lots of tears, lots of laughter and lots of people. But most importantly, the name of Jesus was proclaimed because of this man’s life and family to many people who may not hear it again.

Immediately following Brad’s death, it set us into an unknown tailspin of what may or may not happen with Andy’s job. We knew he wouldn’t lose his job but the location and look of it would most certainly change and we didn’t know when the changes would be coming. Almost a month exactly after Brad died, Andy was asked to go to Charlotte (Wells Fargo municipal group HQ) for meetings with his bosses and during his time there, they told him that they would be shutting down the Richmond office that he and Brad had been working from and that Andy’s job would be moving to Charlotte at the first of 2013. That weekend after they told him this, we were headed to Cashiers, NC for a dear family friend’s wedding. I truly believe it was Providential – we didn’t have Harry and it gave us a few days to breathe and process without the neediness of a, at that time, nine month old. And it’s the NC mountains – I think that’s what heaven is going to smell like. We got to hike Whiteside Mountain, an easy easy hike but oh so beautiful, with my mom and dad, Mike the Bike and Kaper-doodle, and Erin and Trent. (sweet sweet friends!) And also that same weekend, I began to suspect that I was pregnant again.

And on Monday morning when we got home from our adventures, I took one (or two) of my pregnancy test stash. I don’t ever believe the cheap Dollar Store tests so I have to go out and buy the expensive First Response kind that digitally tells you yes or no. Of course the cheap Dollar Store ones are accurate…they both said YES just in very different ways. Yes, that’s right, Harry was only 9 months old when I got pregnant unexpectedly for the second time. The kids will be 18 months apart. But I keep telling myself…my mama did it without a children’s museum or playdates or a car for that matter most of the time. My brother Micah and I are 18 months apart and then my youngest brother, David, is only 22 months younger than Micah. So she was a busy busy woman.

We find out soon what we will be having – girl or boy?? This pregnancy feels much much different than when I was preggers with Harry. Just this week, I was looking at pictures of me when my family went to the beach when I was pregnant – I looked like I was about to pop. I think I was like 22 weeks at that point. This pregnancy – you can barely tell I am pregnant and I’m 20 weeks. My mid-section is definitely thickening but I’m not huge like I was with Harry.

So then fast forward a few months after finding out we were pregnant again, our sweet baby Harry started getting “the sickness” as I’ve been calling it. Literally, he has had something germ-y since the week before Thanksgiving plus he’s been teething. The week before T-giving, he started a cold, which is cool. He’s had plenty so far. Then the week of T-giving, I think he started teething — all four incisors. Woke up T-giving morning with a fever which I still chalked up to teeth and then by Sunday had full blown ear infections in both ears. Antibiotics are a miracle but Harry was just off. I think we had two days of non-sickness then he got the stomach bug two days before his 1st birthday 😦 Then I got it and then Andy (kinda). A week and a half later, when he was finally not pooping weird and eating okay, he got another cold but this time, he started running a fever of 104. It wasn’t the flu or so the doctor said but it lasted the whole week of Christmas. Then I got it. And I kept it for over a week before it turned into a wicked sinus infection. And the week after Christmas, Harry started teething again — molars this time.

And I’ve brought us up to the present. I think Harry is still teething. When I brush his teeth, I don’t feel molars in the back but he’s still putting his fingers way in the back of his mouth and gnawing. I was ready to try just about anything to help the poor guy so we got a hippie dippie amber necklace that is supposedly a natural analgesic. It seems to be working. He’s not waking up at 2:30am, 4:30am, from naps or any other time screaming like he was just last week…we shall see if it really does work.

Sorry for such a long post. It’s been a long two weeks since Andy started working in Charlotte and I’ve felt the need to dump a bit. Thankfully he can come home to Richmond on Thursday nights and work here on Fridays. It is still up in the air as to what is going to happen to us. We long to stay in Richmond and for the sake of this being the internets and who knows who is reading this, right now, Andy is working in Charlotte for Wells. I’ll keep you posted – promise. But for me right now, this means being a single mama from Sunday night until Thursday night. And pregnant. But I am learning and failing to hear at times how good God is all the time. I am not a pawn in some cosmic manipulation. I am treasured by Jesus and He is for me. Even when life is blurry because of tears.

In the meantime, how cute is this little man?? This was from one year old pictures that Lauren Massey Matthews, fellow City Church-er, took for us.

And another…

Can’t believe this was him 13 months ago…just an hour old.

Eight Months

Today, eight months ago, Harrison was making his entrance into this world. 

Today, this eight month old and I went swinging early before the heat hit. 

 

All I can say is this mama enjoys the eight month old in the picture.  He’s so joyful and I love hearing him talk — though I’m beginning to think that I’ve forgotten how to carrying on a conversation with adults. Baaa, baabaa….EHHHHHHHHba. 

Confessional : Update

Over the past weekend, I kept thinking about my last blog post and my confession that Pinterest causes me to sin.  And I kept going back to how frumpy Pinterest makes me feel.  So therefore, I deleted my Pinterest account. 

I will say, it was not easy to click the delete button.  All these ideas, all this “connection” to people.  But doesn’t Jesus say to cut off your arm if it causes you to sin?  So I cut off my arm…and deleted Pinterest. 

If anyone out there is looking for my latest and greatest creative DIY idea or my style ideas for Fall Fashion week, call me.  I’ll tell you all about it in person over coffee or on the phone. 

 

Confessions of a New Mom

This Sunday is obviously Mother’s Day.  My first.  I suppose technically we could say that last year was my first as I was pregnant on Mother’s Day last year.  Side note…it was first trimester and I felt like a poopy diaper.  But I digress…this a confession of a woman who still has to live life while navigating the world of parenting.

Confession #1 – the Johnson & Johnson commercial this morning brought me to tears.  Why does it take a commercial to tell me that I am doing ok when Andy tells me that all the time?

Confession #2 – while I have put away ALL of my maternity clothes, I can’t give up the oh so comfortable Hanes 100% cotton granny panties.  My sweet husband went and bought me some when we came home from the hospital.  The big kind of underwear.  The kind people make fun of you for.  But at that point, I had gone through labor fully dilated, etc and then a C-section.  The anesthesia or pain meds or something caused an allergic reaction which presented itself in a rash that covered my body and itched worse than poison ivy.  Top all that off with the oh so normal hardships of breastfeeding that I was clueless about.  I DESERVED GRANNY PANTIES!!!

Confession #3 – I am unsure of how mom’s get cool, crafty things done during nap time.  By the time Baby Harrison falls asleep for his nap, I am undone.  I want to watch lots and lots of TV.  I know the Richmond daytime television schedule and mark my day by it.  7-10am = Today Show; 10-11am = Live with Kelly; 3pm = The Ellen Show (and Andy comes home soon after that).  You get the gist…

Confession #4 – In light of not knowing how mom’s do cool, crafty things during naptime, Pinterest really moves me towards sin.  Moves me towards sin really just means that I flat out sin while on Pinterest.  I am envious of other people’s pin boards – don’t think that mine is cool enough or that I don’t have new ideas or that I am not creative.  The next step is the thought that I should do more – make more items, cook more, shop more, dress better, etc.  The churning in the pit of my stomach starts and honestly, the idea that becoming a “better person” rests solely on my shoulders. 

Confession #5 – This one is probably the most important confession.  I have never respected and loved my mom as much as I do now which says a lot because I’ve always thought my mom an amazing woman and love her oh so much.  How in the heck did she do it with three kids, all three and under and in diapers?  In the middle of the country.  No play dates.  No mom groups. However she did it, she did it well.  And now she is the best grandmother who is known as Sweet T.

2012 has been profound to say the least.  I have never wanted more to be identified as a child of God and not identified by what I do, i.e. mom.  I have never known how absolutely positively does Jesus sustain life than I do now.  How often I believe that I can shape and control my little world and then a baby comes along and completely turns that idea on its head.  Andy and I weep when we read “The Jesus Storybook Bible” to Harrison.  Harry and I read the story of Creation last week…blubbering, I was.  Here’s a taste of the account of God creating Adam and Eve…

“So God breathed life into Adam and Eve.  When they opened their eyes, the first thing they ever saw was God’s face.  And when God saw them he was like a new dad.  ‘You look like me,’ he said.  ‘You’re the most beautiful thing I’ve ever made!’ God loved them with all of his heart.  And they were lovely because he loved them.”

Here’s a snippet of the New Testament from the parable of the hidden treasure:

“God had a treasure, too, of course.  A treasure that was lost, long, long ago.  What was God’s treasure, his most important thing, the thing God loved best in all the world?  God’s treasure was his children.  It was why Jesus had come into the world.  To find God’s treasure.  And pay the price to win them back.  And Jesus would do it — even if it cost him everything he had.”

Today I need to believe that I am lovely because God loves me. Not because of how I look or how my house looks or the clever things I say or even what type of panties I wear. I am lovely because God loves me!

Today I need to believe that I am treasured by God and that Jesus gave EVERYTHING to rescue me and win back the treasure. I am treasured by Jesus.

Helen…

We’ve added a new member to our family…Helen. Nope not another kid; my hands are full with one. And nope not a dog (though I do want one, theoretically). We bought a cow! Well, a painting of one.

Last Valentine’s Day, Andy and I went to C’ville for dinner and capped off the night at the Mudhouse on the Downtown Mall. A local artist had an exhibition of her paintings in the coffee shop and I promptly fell in love with the cow art. I believe I even blogged about it at one point – nope I didn’t. But I loved the cow paintings. And I talked to Andy about it for so long that he eventually decided that he liked the cow paintings too. And then we discussed it for ever so long until this past week. Andy contacted the artist and we took another road trip to C’ville which incidentally was Harrison’s first real road trip.

Lesli, the local artist, met us at her house and showed us her most recent creation, Helen. We loved it! Such great colors and such soulful eyes. Here’s a link to Lesli’s blog. Our kitchen is super messy in the picture she posted on her blog. I’m slowly cleaning up my piles. Back to Lesli – she’s uber creative and loves decorating and painting. She also gave us a reference for a upholstery person in Fluvanna that is cheaper than anybody in RVA. That’ll be a future project.

So without further ado – here’s Helen!

Helen

Harrison Crawford

It’s been over a month BUT I am no longer pregnant! Andrew Harrison Crawford arrived on December 13 sometime in the afternoon. I tried a non-surgical delivery but he wouldn’t fit so I had a c-section which honestly wasn’t so bad. The first week I was sore but by the second, I was very much on the mend. Enough about me – Harrison is too cute. We’re calling him Harrison. I think he has red hair. He weighed 8 pounds 13 ounces when he was born and now he weighs 10 pounds 5 ounces. He eats all the time obviously.

He is such a joy even in sleepless nights or when I feel like a dairy cow stuck in a milking stall. (I did not know how essential pumping is nor did I know how time consuming feeding and pumping are.) He’s oh so serious but lights up with a smile every so often. The smiles are coming more frequently but I treasure every one.

I started a Tumblr account in the hopes to quickly post pictures of Mr. Harrison. I’ve added a few already. So to see how cute he is…http://lifeongrove.tumblr.com/

In Progress…

Yes, we are still expecting a baby. I haven’t had anything finished project wise to blog about. Life has just taken hold of us and kept us super busy the past couple of months. I’m sure it won’t stop after Baby Crawford is born. We get asked all the time if the nursery is done…the answer is no. Hence the nature of this post…IN PROGRESS. We bought a newish but used crib on Craigslist and have been working on it slowly. I started it and Andy is working to finish it. Then found dresser/changing table up at Clash and Trash so Andy sanded and painted that too…we think it may need one more coat. But seriously, not sure why I thought I should buy furniture that needed painting…poor Andy. It was considerably cheaper on the front end to buy our furniture from Craigslist and Clash and Trash but the time/labor part may have eaten up any money savings.

I have also been asked if we have a theme for the baby’s room…I don’t think so. Here’s a little homemade “style board” that will give you an idea of what we’ve chosen to put in the nursery…

Our goal is to have everything done, at the latest, by Thanksgiving. I am in full nesting mode so have been working to get all my projects done. If you were feeling sorry for Andy earlier because I passed the painting off to him – DON’T. I have been sewing and getting pricked in the finger by needles. The striped fabric was made into a crib skirt; the fabric with the animals marching across will be part of the pelmet box (more on that in another post); polka dot ribbon sewn on pre-made white sail cloth curtains; and the crib sheets are the polka dots as well.

The crib skirt was so so easy thus far. And I figured out how to make pleats! When I get it on the crib and the crib in the nursery – I’ll post a pic. Which I am sure everyone is awaiting breathlessly…

Also, here’s a pic of the crib in process. The dresser is still in process too – we need to get hardware on the dresser and we’re done with that.

Grey crib

But all the details aside – can I just exclaim how perplexed I am by “nesting”?? I thought it was made up but I have NEVER in my life had this urgent desire to clean. EVER. And those who have lived with me can attest to that. The problem though that I am running in to – I have these urges to clean and make things but I can’t get them done. I feel like I’m “nesting” in circles. I have this running list in my head and can’t seem to get through it or accomplish anything. I’ve realized the time change causes me to panic – when it starts getting dark, I think I don’t have any more time to do anything but then I look at the clock – it’s only 4:30! But the baby kicking me from the inside is wearing me out. And Braxton Hicks contractions and having to pee all the time and…no need to keep complaining. THERE IS AN END! And then we’ll have Cinnamon Jacko Crawford. This is the name that my sweet three year old niece has decided that the baby needs to be named. Recently, I was “home” in Georgia and went to Blue Ridge to visit said niece and her brother, and cuteness introduced me around her dad’s (my brother) pharmacy as “Aunt Caley who has a baby boy in her tummy named Cinnamon Jacko.” We got some weird looks to say the least.

My due date is officially Christmas Day – that’s right, baby boy Crawford and Jesus will theoretically have the same birthday. The department stores are telling me it’s getting closer but it sure does feel like a long way off.

I think that’s all folks, as Foghorn Leghorn says…for now at least. I’ll leave you with a picture of a stack of fabric – these are projects that I need to get done. A sink skirt for me and Andy’s bathroom and pillows for our sofa.

Pile of projects

Roman Shades…

I have finally conquered my fear of roman shades!

Since moving in to our house, Andy and I have not had shades on our bathroom window. In part because our neighbors have a stained glass window on the window that looks directly into our bathroom. But really, who knows how much they can and can’t see – we are still working on that relationship.

Looking out our master bath window

So I finally buckled down to make a shade to block out most if not all of my naked self when I get in the shower. With the magic of Google, I found instructions and a Youtube video on how to construct and hang this shade. I must be a visual learner – I needed Youtube to go along with written instructions to get me going. I had these grand plans of photographing each step and telling how to do it but honestly, those links above are very thorough. There is even a calculator on that website that helps you determine how much fabric you will need, how many battens, how far apart each batten goes, where they stop, where they start, etc. So without further ado…

Some observations:
1.) Sewing projects always take me longer than expected;
2.) I need to work on cutting fabric straighter and sewing straigher;
3.) The next shade I make, I will iron more and better. The side seams needed to be ironed better to make a more definite crease on the edge;
4.) Aleene’s Jewel-It glue is the best for gluing on the battens – I tried regular craft tacky glue first and the battens popped off immediately.

I’m sure I will have more observations as time progresses and I make more. My next Roman shade project is in the upstairs guest bathroom. That window looks into our other neighbor’s house but thankfully, he doesn’t live there most of the time and the house sits empty. BUT recently, when my mom and sister-in-law and niece and nephew came to visit, he was staying in the house for a while. I’m sure he got an eyeful – he will probably take those visions to his grave.

Also, to note on the construction of these shades, the design website that I used to help me instructs to use velcro for holding the shade to the mounting board. All it takes is sewing part of the velcro to the shade and stapling the other part to the mounting board…it may or may not hold for long. Not sure yet. These shades are not in places that they need to be lowered and raised a lot nor are there little hands pulling on them. So we will see. I’ll post if it doesn’t work down the road.

Hopeful and EXPECTING

The news around our neck of the woods on Grove Ave is that the Andrew Crawford family is having a baby!!! Currently, I am at 17 weeks which makes our due date according to the doctor, December 25, 2011. I’m hopeful that the baby will decide it needs to start life a bit earlier – honestly, if it came on December 14th, I would be excited or December 21. Those are the birth dates of two dear friends and if the baby turns out to be a girl, she would need to have Kate or Sarah included in her name. So stay tuned – we find out in a month if it’s a girl or a boy. We don’t have a good picture of any of the ultrasounds. But we should have a good one in a month…hopefully.

In other news, Richmond Magazine, Home Edition has decided to use our kitchen for their September issue! We got a call two weeks ago from the company from where we bought our cabinets and they said Richmond Magazine had approached them about it. So on Thursday morning, we will have photographers in our house getting the necessary pictures of the Crawford kitchen. More pictures to come…

And honestly, I don’t have any new pictures to post. But expect them soon. Now that I’m not going through morning sickness and I’ve gotten some motivation back, I’m starting in on the projects around the house. Sister-in-law, B, is coming over this morning for a little while to get me on track with some fabric for Roman shades. I’m going to try to photograph the steps on that one. We’ll see. And of course, we’ll have to get the baby’s room, which is now my office, put together so lots of pictures hopefully on that front.

That is all for now…have some blueberry lemon muffins in the oven that I need to go check on. I will post on the projects, I promise.

Catching Up…

Well, it’s been a while. Honestly, I had planned to be a better blog post-er in the new year and after we got in the house…but obviously that hasn’t happened. So to catch up on stories and pictures and current events, here goes – it’s going to be a long one folks.

The Story of 3326 Grove Ave

Our house was built in 1922/23 by the parents of Betty. Betty was 2 or 3 years old when her parents moved in to the house, and in the 70’s, her parents passed away leaving the house to her and her sister. The sister conveyed her half of the house to Betty, making her sole owner of 3326. In 2010, Betty, having never married, put her house on the market and moved elsewhere – from what the neighbors have said – an assisted living home. In 2010, Andrew and Caley Crawford, having been on the hunt for a home of their own, found 3326 Grove Ave, fell in love and bought it not without some pleading prayers and house stalking on the part of one CW Crawford. Betty kept this house in almost immaculate condition for an almost 90 year old. The house needed some love but it has great bones. Remember the mint chocolate chip colored paint??

From what our neighbors have said, Betty was quite a character. She drove up until she left the house – backing in to our parking spot and then when she needed to leave, she would toot the horn a couple of times and shoot out into the alley. She always had a nice word for the neighbors and was always one to talk. Our house has been loved well by her and we plan to continue the tradition.

The Story of Our Dining Room Table

This past year, the Crawfords went to Lancaster, PA for Thanksgiving, as referenced in this blog post about Black Friday. That weekend was extraordinarily cold it seemed and rainy. To get some out of the house time, Andy and I drove through the Americana countryside of Lancaster, PA – home of the Amish as well as high school friends to one Andy Crawford. While on one of our jaunts, we happened by the Bare farm and popped in to see Joel. I had never spent much time with him other than at me and Andy’s wedding day and Andy hadn’t had much time with him in a while either. Andy, Joel, Wags, Dickie, Juice and Brody spent much time at the Bare farm playing basketball in the hay barn. Juice and Joel (also known as Joe Bora) were Andy’s first “Christian friends” in high school. In Joel’s adult life, he is a furniture/cabinet maker and an artist. Which leads me to our dining room table. When we stopped by to see Joel, he had this farm table sitting in his workshop that he had built for a client who decided they wanted something different. The legs had been made out of beams from an Amish barn; the planks probably the same place. The table or any furniture was not why we stopped to see Joel, but Andy and I both left the Bare farm having fallen in love with the table that was sitting in Joel’s workshop. After we left, we both turned to each other and exclaimed over how much we loved that table.

And so the process of measuring our dining room, debating and then finally purchasing this table began. And the great part – Joel delivered it to us and spent most of the weekend at our house. It was great getting to know him more, and Andy getting some good time with J.B. He also built us a bench to go on one side of the table and some extensions so we can make the table bigger when we need to.

Without further ado, here is a picture of our Joel Bare original –

The Table that will protect us from an earthquake

If you want to see anything else that Joel has built or contact him about making something, here is his website:http://www.jbcabinetmaker.com/index.html

I will add – he has very reasonable prices.

Bathrooms – Trials and Changes

So a selling point of our house was that it has two and a half baths which also means – 2 and a half baths must be fixed or decorated. Here’s a recap of the adjustments to owning a house with more than one bathroom.

Upstairs guest bath – I made a sink skirt as I believe I mentioned in my prior post. Here’s a picture:

What I learned in making the sink skirt: 1.) sewing always takes longer than I anticipate; 2.) always buy more than enough; and 3.) indoor/outdoor fabric will shrink if you use a steam iron on it. Now I just need to make a shower curtain and a window shade. I keep procrastinating on those…the sink skirt has at least provided some much needed storage in that bathroom.

Master bath – my parents came to visit us in March and the morning that they arrived, I was in the basement washing clothes and stepped into a huge puddle on the floor. Which of course freaked me out and I immediately called Jim. We just had a new toilet put in so he thought it might be the seal on the toilet was bad or wasn’t holding up well. So he came over and changed it. While he was still here (thankfully), he flushed the toilet, and I happened to be at the washing machine again and all this water started pouring out of the ceiling around the main drain. Jim started investigating, and it turns out that the galvanized pipe had corroded over time and split down the middle. Thankfully, Jim was able to fix it but it did leave my parents sharing a bathroom with us all weekend. But it’s fixed, thank goodness.

Downstairs powder room – remember what it looked like? When the walls were finally put in place, I had no idea what I wanted that bathroom to look like except that I knew I wanted wallpaper. We put a light fixture in that we bought at Alexander’s which has an amber globe around it. So I began the search for wallpaper which come to find out is a pretty penny. So I looked and looked and got to know the ladies at Williams & Sherrill. I was given the name of a great wallpaper-er by our amazing painter Chris, and Mark, the wallpaper man, came and gave me a quote for whenever I was ready to pull the trigger. And the search continued. Then after weeks of crossing the Huguenot Bridge over the Mighty James River, I found a wallpaper that I loved and that Andy thought was acceptable. And this past Friday, Mark installed the wallpaper!

Here is what the bathroom now looks like:

I think that’s all folks. We did pull the bushes out of our front yard recently but I don’t have a picture for that. A friend from church had mentioned that he and his wife wanted boxwoods for their backyard, and we told him he could have them if he could get them out. So one fine Saturday, our friend, his brother in law and Andy dug the boxwoods out of our front yard and transplanted them into our friend’s yard. Hopefully we can get some new plants in the ground soon. Stay tuned.