Monkey Egg...

For the past four or five years I have been an artist for Youth Home's fundraiser Eggshibition. It is usually the only artistic thing I do all year and keeps me in practice you could say. I commented on my egg process on my facebook page and got more response than I have on anything else so I decided to post the final product.

I wanted to use a different medium for my egg this year. Knowing I would not have days and days to work on it, I thought sewing would be a quicker easier medium. (I am not sure why I thought that.) It may have been quicker if I was a professional seamstress but I am a novice for sure. It only took me about two days of working which is less than any of my other eggs.
When deciding what to transform my egg into, I try to think of things that are of a similar shape. My best egg was a penguin - and I attribute that to the penguin being essentially the same shape as the egg. I thought a monkey's body was similar to the shape of the egg, but I knew I could not do a serious realistic monkey. Plus that has already been done. Last year I did a "kid friendly" themed egg and it was more successful than any of my previous eggs (as far as fundraising.) So I have also decided that kiddie eggs suit me better - not only do they raise more money but they fit my personality better. So that is how I arrived at doing a sock monkey for the egg. I guess I will see this year if it has proven successful again.

Sock Monkey Egg turned out better than I thought. I always get into making my egg (usually at the last possible minute) and think - Oh no, this isn't working and looks terrible. But it always turns out well. I tried to think of a reason why Sock Monkey was so pudgey compared to his other counterparts - and realized he must have eaten too many bananas. So that is the title of my egg this year, "Too Many Bananas."



If you don't have anything to do next Friday night I suggest you come bid on "Too Many Bananas" or one of the other eggs at Eggshibition. It is always fun to see how so many different people turn their eggs into works of art and it is for a great cause!

First Haircut...

This past week Miles got his first haircut. The occasional person has mentioned that he needed a haircut for about 6 months but I could not bring myself to do it before he was one. Since his first birthday is a few days away, I thought he could go with Mason for a haircut.
He was born with what we call "old man hair". He had a lot around the sides and back of his head but not much on the top. It has filled out on the top now, but the sides and back kept growing so he had a kind of a mullet. I was washing his hair the other night and while wet, it was longer than mine in the back going past his shoulders. It was definitely time!
He did really well. Ms. Kathy set a special board across her chair and sat Miles on it with a cape. He was very still just looking around trying to figure out what was going on. He was good until she wanted to cut around his ears and he wanted to see what she was doing. Then when she pulled out the electric razor thing he wanted to play with it. She called it her airplane. All in all - he did a fantastic job!

An Interactive Post...

Ok - its after 9 am. Miles just went down for his nap. I have about a 1.5-2 hour window of time to do "things" but I can't decide what to do since my list is so long. I will say that this has been the greatest (mental) stress of motherhood. I have a bazillion things to do, I know I am not going to get them all done, and they all need to be done now. Sure, I can do a handful of things while he is awake but nothing gets finished. I can work for 15 min. while he investigates the office, or fold half a load of laundry, but it doesn't get put up. Its still sitting on the bed. You get the picture.
So you tell me - what should I do now?

A.Get dressed for the day - I only have to go to the post office until dinner tonight where I am actually going to have to look presentable.

B. Work - I have one magazine to layout, and corrections on another.

C. Clean- there are several PILES of laundry that are clean but have not been put up, the floor needs to be vacuumed and mopped (being Miles is crawling all over it and its gross), load the dishwasher, and the house generally needs to be picked-up all over (that could take days by itself - have you seen my office and the guest bedroom?)

D. Babyproof - now Miles is crawling there is just about something in every room that he gets into that he shouldn't. I need to rearrange all those things where they aren't a temptation and hazard.

E. Address and mail Miles' birthday invitations - Its NEXT Weekend. They need to be mailed today.

I have a list of fun things I would like to do - but being the above items aren't going to get done, I figure they are out of the question. So what do you think?

Trip down South

Here are a few pics from our recent trip to south Louisiana to visit with my paternal grandmother and other family. My dad, brother and "Big Mama" (aka Claire) met us there. Kim, Matt and Allison also made the journey down with us.


Miles with his Granddaddy. It is always great to visit with them, and to meet them in Louisiana at my Aunt Jan's made the trip more special!


Is she not the cutest thing! My Aunt and Uncle live accross the street from some horses and have chickens of their own. Allison LOVED playing outside and watching the animals. I don't think I have ever seen a child play so hard absolutely all day long (both days). By the end of the day she was pooped.


Did I mention that my family live in the middle of nowhere? So it was cards or conversation - which was a nice change from the rush of "city life". Also it was a mild 70 degrees while we were there. That made sitting on the front porch conversing quite enjoyable.


This is my brother, Sam, with Miles. Though Miles can't do much, I think he enjoyed playing with him. Miles would always reach out for him when Sam would come near.


This is my Aunt Jan and Uncle Red. As a kid I loved coming to their house. They have always been a lot of fun - as you can tell by this picture. It has been about 4 years since I have seen them and I am glad that Miles got to meet them for the first time. Miles thought they were a lot of fun too!


This is probably my favorite picture from the trip - Miles with Mamaw Denham. He enjoyed sitting on her lap and playing with her. It is great to see them both smiling so big. We never got to see her very much, but she holds a special place in my heart. Some of my fondest childhood memories were from the one week spent at her house during the summer. I also credit her with reuniting my sister and me with our father.


This is a great picture of Miles! (Mom - I see it in this picture. He does look like his Pops, only with my eyes!)


We said our goodbyes and headed home. (Please excuse Miles' missing pants. We had a mild - but stinky - blowout in the restaurant.) Overall, it was a very nice trip. I enjoyed seeing everyone and visiting. I don't know that we learned anything new about each other, but just being with them made me feel more connected to them and myself.

Mobile Miles

He is off! Miles is mobile. I am calling it crawling but it is not very graceful crawling - it is not the hands and knees version. I guess depending where you are from determines what you call it. I have heard it called "crawdading" by my Louisiana relatives. Others call it bear-crawling or army-crawling. Really its more like slithering. He essentially slides on his belly while pulling himself with his arms and slightly pushing with his legs. It looks a little like swimming but minus the water.

Also Miles woke up this morning at 5:30 screaming. Usually he wakes up early and then snoozes (as do we) for 15-20 minutes but not this morning. I went in to check on him and he was standing at the end of his crib nearest the door. I believe he was stuck. He got up but couldn't figure how to get down - or out!

We haven't been very serious about baby-proofing the house, but the day is drawing very near - like this weekend. He is intrigued with electric outlets and power cords. I have had to swat his little hand a few times hoping he would get the message that it would hurt him but it hasn't squelched the curiosity yet. In our infant first aid/cpr class the instructor said that the no. 1 emergency people came in with infants to the ER was kids who had bitten into electric cords - I will not let that be us!

I hope to post a video of Miles crawling but that never seems to happen. Getting the video from the camera to my computer seems to be a tremendous feat. Also I hope to post pictures from our recent trip to Louisiana to visit my family. Maybe if my work ever slows down I will get around to it.