Happy Birthday Nana!

You're Wonderful!

Love, Lulu, Cat & Gerry

and 15 days later a new post...

She's happy, smiles and coos all the time. This picture was from 24 July she was 6 wks and 13 lbs of wonderful joy, and I am amazingly tired.

My best friend from HS, Geena, came to visit... and held Lulu a lot so I could manage to paint this platter. She left Monday when it was in the kiln, so I took her to the airport in Fargo. It took me from 10 am - 2 pm to prepare this platter for shippment having to hold Lulu crying nearly all day the 28 July. Thanks Gee, I don't think I could have done it without you! And thank you to my neighbor Tiffany who came over JUST as I was putting Lulu in a car seat to ship the pottery... she watched her and I saved about 20 extra minutes it would have taken to bring Lulu along... oh how sweet, Tiffany is her first babysitter!

This is over a week ago getting the RV ready to come home from the wedding in Wisconsin. Gromit loved the Boppy, and I found it was nice to use when knitting (a place to rest my elbows).

We camped at a State Park 15 miles from the wedding site (Camp Manitou) which is a great YMCA camp if you're looking for a fabulous place to send your children.
Lulu and I slept here (the kitchen table/bed) in the RV. She was a trooper.

The Dinosaur (RV) ran great, drove great, and I am SO glad we didn't get a motel room, or stay with family. This was a nice break from being cooped up in a house for the previous 5 weeks!

This is Claire & Matt Tiller! It was a wonderful wedding, although I missed the ceremony because Lulu decided the 30 min of nursing before it was not enough food... so we went to the RV and nursed more. I was a bit bummed, but that little girl is so darn sweet a mom just can't be disappointed!

This is the fired Hand Painted Wedding Guest Book Platter we gave them as a gift (string around finger to pay for it, especially since I ordered glazes today).

Miss Lulu Button Napped!

I had almost 50 uninterrupted minutes where I dug out a tunnel in my studio today! I can now get to the back wall now, and if I so chose I could actually get onto a wheel... but no place to dry bisque yet, which maybe is better since that would require at least 5 lbs of clay to get back into my grove since it's been at least 11 months! What you can't see in this picture is that except that 2 ft path to the shelves the entire floor has something on every square inch and I needed to glaze today.

I've also started a new pottery blog to motivate myself... much like this gardening blog! Ha, such big plans and then I got pregnant. DO NOT mistake that comment for a complaint I love Lulu and can't imagine life without her or Gerry but I really do wish that I had more time in the garden... soon, when she's a month or so older maybe.

BTW if anyone reads this and knows where I can get decorative fence for a flower garden that doesn't cost an arm and leg, is made out of something other than plastic or bendy wire... please comment!

I have taken a layer off the Lulu's mobile, now it's a little higher. She absolutely LOVES it! Always smiles as she watches Saturn, Wendell and Mazie circles around on the mobile (Wendell is the book worm, and Mazie is the monarch butterfly). I am so glad I made the mobile, I almost scrapped the idea when it didn't turn out like I was imagining.

BTW, another one of my favorite shirts... this is one of the couple things I wish I could tell someone who asks me 'What I do' Astronaut, Astronomer and Rocket Scientist are my top 3 answers. I wonder what she will want to be when she's older?

2 days ago Miss Lulu Button started losing her velvet hair... I am so sad about it and I think she was pretty upset too ( hence the crying hysterically). Ok well maybe she was crying because the frog outfit isn't going to fit again after today. Alright, alright, it was because she didn't want to be put in the bouncy chair for longer than 2 minutes! You got me, I have her attached to me... making my new Mommy job much more difficult. She likes to sleep anywhere as long as some part of me is touching her. Oh boy am I in trouble!

A New WGB Platter

The Guest Book Wedding Platter is my contribution to the wedding we're attending this weekend. I hate to pay for my own work, but I do give myself a good price. All my other gift ideas required that Lulu sleep at least 3 hours solid a day, an preferably NOT at night when I am sleeping too. Since that hasn't happened I haven't had time to complete the other gifts I was going to make for the couple, i.e., felted trivets with stacking serving bowls.



The Violinist* is playing "And I Love Her' for the wedding, here's a snippet I caught while no one was paying attention (don't rat me out or I won't sneak any other videos and he has a couple flaws in here so he'd probably not be so happy to have this out there).

Sugar & Spice

Tummy TimeSmiling, Laughing & Grabbing Toys

One Last Smile for the Camera (then she got angry).

Lulu is now one month old. Where does time go?! What a little personality they are born with too, she's definitely both sugar and spice.

I am hoping to get into the yard to weed today... nice weather (cloudy).

Smiles

What color will my eyes be?

Morning Smiles are the Best!

Moved the Mobile...
More awake time is spent on the changing pad than bed.


No Pressure Lulu

I'd write more... but no time.

Lulu's1st Car

A Valiant for Lulu

This beauty has been sitting at A1A Sandblasting for sale for 2 months. I've been secretly admiring the car every time I pass (on the way home from town, so basically anytime I go anywhere). Several weeks ago I started saying, "I really love that car" to Gerry. Eventually he said it looked like a Valiant his first car and I heard stories of his youth. Then a few days ago he stopped to look at it and found it in excellent condition.

Yesterday we bought the Valiant.

I think it needs a name.

Another Day Passes...

Thanks Tata for the Clothes

An outfit sans the yellow pants with butterflies... she's too hot and the cloth diapers are too cute. Taking picutes of all the girly things she's recieved from family and friends. Although I have to admit the picture taking has been curbed because I spend so much time skin to skin nursing that pictures aren't always a posibility.

With all the new clothes and since we didn't know until it was a girl until she was born we have a lot of non-sex colored stuff... which is great too, but now we have to put on all the girl stuff so people stop calling her a boy (she doesn't even look like a boy to me with her delicate features).

I can't believe that she's nearly 4 weeks old and she's fits best into 3-6 mos already, she's so tall the newborn stuff squishes her legs up.

4th of July - Grandma Betty feeding Lulu.

Good Morning Daddy! A great way to start the day, crying. Poor little one.

Sleeping Beauty!

Can you tell she is angry with me in that last photo?

She cries, I nuzzle with her, change her, nurse her... and we are in love.

She sleeps and dreams of things I can only wonder as she makes faces and squeeks her little noises.

I will miss these things when she grows up...

Today I laid her under her felted mobile and she loved it. Smiled and watched the arms swing around. Yeah!

Fun Friday

Nana's Last Day

We had a good visit with my mom. We are thankful she came, as we'd probably have had less hot meals. I wanted to do something special for her last day so we made a special trip to Blue Sky Beads where I bought both mom and myself a little bird house necklace. I had admired them at the last Art Leap, but since my Grandmother passed I have been particularly fond of birds and bird houses (not enough to buy the kind for outside). My Grandmother loved birds, and could do any bird call. Although I did not know her well, I do remember hearing her bird calls they were lovely. Baby Lulu is going to miss her Nana who is really good at soothing her when I cannot... guess I will figure it out quick!

Thanks a million Mom!

I am pretty certain we daughters never show our mom's our gratitude for all the help and work they've done until they have themselves become mothers. Maybe it's just me? Anyhow my mom has been a great help, including putting up a new mom and a new dad who are both fairly stubborn.

Yesterday we went to Spirit Lake to find my friend Zanna, her daughter and grand babies... but my following Lulu's scheduled pretty much means I don't get anywhere on time so we ended up going to Sebeka to Zanna's house. In any case on our way back to the house I was telling mom that I was pondering the best idea for a pottery studio so I can have public shows and sales from our property. I was telling her I was considering building on our corner acres, but wondered if I would get there as often as if I built closer to the house... and as we turned the corner from the highway I noticed my sign was missing. Lulu was crying so I didn't stop, but we took the golf cart out to see if it knocked down by the recent high winds or if the county had a problem again and took the sign down and put it on the ground...

My Store Sign

Nice View from the Golf Cart

Where the Sign WAS


Trespassing, Vandalism & Robbery!
and a hack job on my 4x4's!

I can't believe in this community that someone would not only trespass on our property (maybe less shocking), but to hack the 4x4's with an axe of some sort so that not only do I have to replace a stolen sign but 2 tall posts! And then to steal a sign that was on a great piece of very thick plywood, for which I paid Piper to paint my logo.

What would someone want to do with a freakin' pottery sign! Grrr.

...and my flowers are sadly neglected!

Doctor Appointment

Our first 2 week appointment was Wednesday with our PC... we're going to skip a pediatrician. Lulu now weighs 9 lbs 16 oz, and she has good ears, good eyes, good heart beat, good lung sounds.... now I need to start reading more about immunizations.

Although I brought a camera for pictures of the checkup (at least one) I didn't manage to snap a single picture.

She was sleeping a lot yesterday and today, but wants to be with me, near me... which is sweet but somewhere in my mind I know I am setting myself up for problems if I don't put her down once in awhile (maybe tomorrow?).



I am finding that all my flowers can't live without water... and yet I can't seem to make it outside to water them. However, I am hardly caring as I hold little Lulu and smell her baby skin, and rub her downy hair on her head and shoulders and gaze at her for long stretches of time. I am watching her eyes change color from the baby grey to small rings of brown near her pupal. I know this happens to every mom, but I am just in awe of every movement and stretch she makes and how much I could possibly love her... I tear just thinking about how special she is to me. Enough to take my luke-warm- eart and melt it like I was on a mission straight for the sun.


I am wondering how I was thinking I could possibly have time to ever garden, much less how in several weeks I will make it back to an actual job (that I haven't found yet) and leave her home or worse have to find daycare! Oh gez, I cry leaving my dogs at the pet boarding business... which I like and trust.



At the hospital we had a Amy Klobishar (sp?) siting, well several of them. I though St. Joe's was big, but it seemed she was in every hallway we were going through at some point or another. I was going to stop her and ask her to kiss the baby for a picture... just kidding! Seemed so Hollywood, ha, that no matter my political opinions I couldn't do it!

Oh my little dove, be calm.

Daddy Time My amazing husband, I am in awe of his patience with our often inconsolable daughter. I guess he's had a bit of practice developing his tolerance of yelling; Nonetheless, there are times when even I am totally burnt out and I can pass Lulu to Gerry who does all he can to calm her and when he can't he still walks and talks to her so gently.

FYI - My mom has also been a huge help in this department soothing department, but that's totally Nana territory since they have the experience.

My Little Dove Tail

Her hair behind her head is so adorable, like a little dove tail.

The past couple days have been pretty difficult with hourly feedings, and 30 minute breaks in between... I put her in the Baby Bjorn (gifted by Grandma, Thanks Betty!) so that she could sleep on my chest as I did some simple things like dishes.

Oh my goodness!

A Little Respite

After a long afternoon... a little downtime (very little).

New Dress

Today we went to take some professional family photos with Hubbard Studios Amanda Haugen. For the occasion Mom and I went out last week and picked out this cute little number for the bambina. It has matching socks that didn't make the cut...


I was inspired to take a few shots at home while Lulu is still small enough to fit on the fabric I use for my pottery photos. Also because she started sleeping with her rump in the air like I use to when little. Too cute!

Yes, I did take this picture.

Rainy Days

The Great Peonies The rain has been great for the flowers, what little survived the winter and the chickens! After all the work digging out rock, putting down mulch and planting perennials... only the peonies arent bothered by the chickens and cold. Granted this bush is on the side I hadn't moved rock, but the chickens don't seem to bother the peonies on either side. My latest plan is to build raised beds around the area and put up a little chickenscwitz fencing... but I think I may have to design and weld my own because I can't find anything sturdy enough for chickens to stay out. Anyhow, I couldn't do anything while preggo... so now I hope as the summer gets going and baby Lulu has some sort of routine I can get some things done. PLUS, Daddy Gerry is buying us a baby monitor today so that will help too!

Daddy's Weigh-In On Lulu's 4th day we went for our 2 week weigh in at the doctor's office. It seems that somehow our records are messed up and everyone keeps telling use Lulu was born with a fever; however, being that we were both in the room and they said she was normal everything and an 8-9 APGAR score they are just plain wrong. Anyhow, I will take that up with her pediatrician after I pick one this week. In any case we stripped the poor child to her birthday suit to weigh her and she was 7.15 so hadn't in 4 days gained her birth weight back. The hospital was about 105 degrees and the baby was hungry so I fed her, after about a 10 min feeding on one side (because it was so hot she fell asleep) the doctor had us strip her down and see if she gained a 1/2 oz! I don't know what I was thinking just going along with what the doctor said. After she saw Lulu hadn't gained anything she asked if I would come back in 2 days! Good greif! I said no, and she made it sound like I was inconvenienced driving into town to check on the wellness of my baby... not that we're about 10 days early for a 2 week appointment because someone messed up our records... and dragging a 6 day old infant to a hospital 16 miles away where sick people go didn't sound so good to this new mom! I can understand if there was something wrong with the little one, but she's been eating well and sleeping well... granted on her own schedule but considering her short duration living outside the womb she's doing pretty darn great!

Gerry decided he wanted to see how much weight she was gaining (this picture was Father's Day). She weighed just over 9 lbs minus the 1/2 oz of clothes she was wearing. YES he did weigh the clothes, you know Gerry!

After Several Long Nights

After a week of long nights (again on Lulu's schedule) we're all sleeping in a little... including Nana. As painful as that little position Lulu is in looks it's her position of choice. No one holding her lets her stay that way, but she mosies down off your shoulder in a matter of seconds to find that spot. She's such a sweetie. Nana and I got a 3/4 mile walk in yesterday after Grandma Schermeister bought us a Baby Bjorn (THANK YOU!) what great gear to own! Now to hope we have a little walk everyday... between the rain showers and t-storms.

First Father's Day 2009

Happy Father's Day Gerry!

Sleeping in with his little girl, they're both all smiles about it.

Father's Day Breakfast

We all enjoyed breakfast burritos together.

Lulu gave her dad a card that appropriately said, "Dad, did you know I was put on this earth to bring joy and sunshine into your life?

How am I doing so far?

Happy Father's Day!

My Little Lulu

My little girl... so sweet! Milk Face



Snuggle Bug
First Bath... lovin' it!

New socks from Aunt Joanne

My Fuzzy Wuzzy Back