Today we had our weekly doctor appointment and our wonderful doctor let David help listen to the baby’s heartbeat and it was all so smooth and nice. I love my doctor and I hope she’s the one on call when the little one is coming. Either way, I am glad I had her through this pregnancy.
We wanted to take some flower shots in the neighborhood since things are finally blooming for spring. We spent the rest of the day mostly resting and not getting too much done.
A quiet day for David and I. Both of us playing, relaxing, watching some TV and resting. I had a short to-do list today but even that didn’t get done. Oh well. I am trying to cut myself slack especially since I am having contractions each time I get up. All is ok overall. I had intended to catch up on some of my art while I was on maternity but haven’t been able to so far. Let’s see if tomorrow looks more promising.
As part of getting ready for the baby, my sister and I put together the pack’n’play I had bought for David. This is exactly where David spent his first six weeks and, if all goes well, little baby will spend his or her first weeks here, too. The boppy was a present but the other two pillows are the best new mother thing I ever got. They are called “My Breast Friend” and they are by far the very best nursing pillow I’ve ever owned. When new mom-to-bes ask me what they should get, I ask them if they plan on nursing. If they do, I tell them they must, have to, get this pillow. It’s worth its weight in gold. I have two because I used to keep one at home and one in the car at all times.
One of the things I was very nervous about the first time around was nursing. I wanted to make sure I could nurse and felt scared and insecure. But I was also determined. I am happy to say I got to do it for a long long time, so it’s one less worry this time around. I know that, assuming all goes well, I will be able nurse this little one, too.
This week’s question was " what is the last good book you read?"
Ordinarily, I’m a voracious reader and read two books, or so, a week. However, I haven’t been doing much reading (or anything really) lately and even the ones I’ve read haven’t been that great. The last great book I’ve read that really sucked me in and pulled me into another world was Twilight. I resisted reading it for a long long time since I don’t care for vampires in any way. But this book managed to make me realize that any topic can be made into a great story, so I decided to pick it as my book.
I am not crazy about this tag, either but this week’s technique was using glimmer mist. I put some thickers on the tag and then inked the whole thing. I then sprayed glimmer mist and put some pearl ink. I wanted to create the effect of “night.” Afterwards, I pulled out the thickers and with some glue, put some glitter on the letters. The glimmermist made the tag all soft and wrinkly so that’s why it ended up a bit odd and it’s really hard to take a good photo but you get the gist. This, too, is not one of my favorites.
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I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here
Today is the last day of school for David for ten days. He’s off for Passover and since I am home on maternity, I decided he doesn’t need to go to camp so we’ll be spending the next ten days together. Let’s see how it goes.
A rather odd day today. I feel calmer than I have in a while but I am in quite a bit of pain on and off. I wonder if the baby is getting ready to come a bit sooner than planned. I guess we’ll see. At least we’re 99% ready, except for my hospital bag and some names. Specifically boy names. Oh well, I’m sure we’ll figure something out.
Happy Wednesday!
This week’s question was "what was my worst (or best?!) hairstyle experience to date?"
This one didn’t really speak to me immediately. In fifth grade, I decided to grow my hair and didn’t cut it until after college. Once I managed to cut it, I had a strong sense of freedom and proceeded to try several hairstyles. I went blonde, black, red and then back to my original brown. During this period, I spent a few months in Japan. While I was there, I had this one haircut which was the shortest my hair has ever been. It was auburn and really short. To this day, it’s the boldest haircut I’ve had, so I decided to commemorate it.
I am not sure I like this tag all that much but the technique I used this week was “printing on canvas.” I took this photo of me from then and printed it on canvas and glued it to the tag and then just embellished around it and put some fabric behind the tag. Not one of my favorites to be sure.
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I am combining Emily Falconbridge’s art journal questions with trying a new technique each week. You can see the full list: here
Here’s David with his “Silly Mommy” looks. I love him so.
Today is declared a day of rest. I plan to do nothing but lie on the couch and watch TV. Some little stuff might get done but no pressure. That’s the plan.
Almost caught up. My sister left last night. While I was tired all week, I really loved having her here. She helped us pick a house, she washed all of the baby’s clothes and setup the bed for me, she cooked for us every night, and she put up with my crazy. And trust me, I’ve been crazy. I miss her already. Thank you, Yona, so much for coming!
Today was a day of errands. I got the baby’s car seat installed, I confirmed we’re set for the hospital and for maternity pay, I paid my bills, and just tied all the loose ends, so I can relax now. David’s school is on vacation starting Wednesday night so I have two more days just to myself and I plan to make the most of them.
Here’s David in one of the boxes that used to hold baby clothes, wathcing Batman. Cutie pie!
This is the first time I asked him to smile and he just did. Not a funny smile but a nice, authentic one.
This week’s catalyst is: Create art around a mistake. The bigger the more therapeutic.
My journaling is:
Since I am the kind of person to harp on little things for hours, days, sometimes months, I try to think hard before I make decisions to minimize the possibility of making a mistake. I am happy to say I have relatively few regrets in my life. One of the very few happened a couple of years ago. I quit my job on Wall Street to join Teach For America which is a nonprofit program where you teach at under-resourced schools. I taught fifth grade at a school in the South Bronx in New York. My regret is not quitting my job but it’s quitting Teach For America before fulfilling my two-year commitment. When I quit my job, I firmly believed that TFA was my path in life. I wanted to do it for two years and then move on to starting my own nonprofit and making the world a better place. So much so that at some point, I even felt the importance of improving education in the United States so strongly that I was surprised more people weren’t prioritizing their life accordingly. After several months of struggling, failing, crying, trying more and failing more, I finally gave up and quit. To this day, it’s something I regret. I know that it was the right decision on many levels but it’s still something I regret and consider a mistake.
Technique Highlight
Since reading Kelly Rae Roberts’ book Taking Flight, I’ve been meaning to try my hand at polymer clay. I took this week’s catalyst as the opportunity to do so. I created a door to represent the new stage of my life TFA was at the time and wrote the words “believe” on the bottom since that was the strongest emotion I felt at the time: a solid sense of belief that this was the right next step for me in life. I then painted the clay and put it in the oven to bake. As it turned out, I overestimated the amount of time it needed to cook, so I burned it and a part of it got distorted. Right before I was going to throw it out, I decided it was an even better fit for my catalyst. As I started teaching, my belief and faith in this opportunity and what it represented got all bent out of shape and distorted so I decided this burned clay only reinforced my theme.
Finally a photo of Yona and David. This is from an hour-long fun session they had blowing kisses at each other and catching them. I cannot tell you the squeals and joyful noises David made through this time. It was truly awesome.
This is the only shot I got of these beautiful tulips. Look at the patch of green inside these? So so stunning.
This is with the AMM April Kit.
Journaling Reads:
“Mommy, when will I be ten?”
“In six years, my sunshine.”
“I want to be ten!”
“You will be, soon, my love.”
We play this game on the way from and to school each day. You want to know when you will be older and you list all the things you will do when you’re at that age. And then, a few days ago you asked, “Mommy, when will I be twenty?”
“In sixteen years, my boy.”
“I want to be twenty!!”
“Not soon, sweetie, I don’t want you to be twenty, yet.”
“Why not?”
“Well when you’re twenty, you won’t be living with Mommy and Daddy anymore. You’ll be going to school and sleeping at school and I will miss you.”
You thought about this for a while, asked a few followup questions and then said, “I don’t want to be twenty, yet. I want to be six!”
I smiled knowing this wouldn’t last long and that the prospect of living with Mommy and Daddy would soon be less than exciting but I will take what I can get and I will make sure to cherish these days when you still pick us over the alternative.
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projects for twenty twenty-six
projects for twenty twenty-five
projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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