early morning handwork

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If I sense from the early morning sky that it is anywhere near 5 or 6 AM, I will quietly slip out of bed (or first finish nursing little Elsa, who then remains sleeping peacefully beside her daddy...)

I go about my morning kitchen chores, wiping down counters, setting dishes aways as silently as possible, sweeping usually waits as the familiar tap tap of the broom may wake a still sleeping family member. Breakfast for when the girls wake...

A few minutes of extra tidying, books returned to stacks or shelves, the library books live on the stairs now.

Some thought towards the mornings homeschool work...

All children still sleeping...

I sew. I knit.

Sometimes the sewing does not amount to much more than smoothing the fabrics that remain laid out on the ironing board, cutting a pattern, pinning some pieces. The sewing machine would be too loud for morning.

But many many rows of knitting can be accomplished in just one quiet morning hour.

When the girls wake they come sit sleepily on the couch,  when Elsa stirs I will set my thing aside and get ready for the next part of my morning, when chores can be done more loudly, food gets cooking in the kitchen, animals fed, laundry started...

There will be moments throughout the day to return to the handwork projects.


I am knitting another wool soaker for Elsa. Not enjoying the pattern (seems like lots of errors) so at first it was going slow, and now for the same reason I am feeling extra motivated to be done with it, that is what I will work on if I get a few more minutes when I am done writing here.

Lots of sewing happening in my head, a little getting done for real. We will pretend that I am not at all embarrassed to admit that I am only just now finishing this little quilt that I started two years ago.

(Okay, I may as well also admit now that there is a baby sock that has been sitting on the needles for a few weeks. I didn't start the toe shaping cause I'm sure it now needs much more length added, maybe it will never fit. or maybe I will finish it this week, but then there is still the second one to knit. goodness, it's not like knitting baby socks takes very long...)

Also, I kinda have a plan for sewing the girls matching Easter/Spring dresses. I realize that may seem crazy. But also I have a plan to cheat. One dress kinda done, a skirt instead for eldest sister, and a new little baby dress. Baby dress! Way too long since I have sewed a little tiny baby dress!

It was an early morning photograph too, so not much to see, I will try to make my post prettier next time.


Oh, also I wanted to tell you what book we enjoyed as a winter read aloud, Hans Brinker, or The Silver Skates, I believe that is the full title. Somehow I had never read it when I was a child. It is a great book, full of adventure and the wonder of another country and time. We have all loved it, still finishing the last few chapters.

(So I will link to my dear friend Ginny and her Yarn Along...)


Now I hear Elsie stirring, she is such a happy one in the morning, I am looking forward to that smile which will greet me when I go say good morning...

And good day to you all!


p.s. I have had some questions about Elsa's baby knits, I will try to share more pics, patterns, and ravelry links soon...


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seasons, blessings, baby, family, love...

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December 2, 2012
The day she was born.

December10, 2012

December 22, 2012
And then she just grew, so so fast.

January 2, 2013

January 12, 2012
Little Elsie truly is happier than she looks. She adores, ADORES ADORES ADORES, her middle sister. You should have heard the giggles Chessa was getting out of her today! 

January 31, 2013
There was once a little girl named Elsa Willow, and she liked to play in the meadow, and she had so many little ladybug friends... So we tell her...

 February 15, 2013
And the little Elsa kept on growing...

 February 18, 2013
And I will tell you an interesting thing about this little baby... She goes to sleep in other peoples arms. Namely big sister Chloe's arms. (She doesn't really know any other people besides sisters, mommy, and daddy.) I have never known a baby to do this. For example, big sister Chloe, when she was a baby, never went to sleep anywhere other than in my arms. So this is new to me, and quite convenient I must say. This photo here (makes me laugh every time I see it!) shows you what it looks like when Elsa falls asleep in Chloe's arms, and Chloe then lays her down, but she is still holding on.

February 22, 2013
She's a really happy baby!

March 4, 2013
Such sweetness, such a blessing. How very grateful we are that she came to be with us.



When we imagined what this child might look like, we said maybe dark eyes like Chloe, skin more pale like Chessa, somewhere just between them. I felt those dark eyes, and that fair face. Of course we also imagined that the baby was going to be a boy. This was the first time either Jason or I had feelings of having a boy, both other times we just felt sure of girlness. I guess this time we should have know too, cause three girls, yes it just seems so right. But we just went with boy, there was even a probable name chosen. We said if it was girl we would be surprised, and that we would laugh. When she was born we actually didn't even look to see if she was a boy or girl for about 10 minutes or so. And then we really did laugh. And goodness we were happy. And then it took us almost two weeks to name her.


Thank you so much for all kind sharing of comments, well wishes, love, and for the welcome back to this space.


It is one year ago now that I became pregnant. We knew, we felt, for so long that this child was coming to us. We also knew that the first months could be difficult, since I had been so sick before with both girls for the first trimester. We sure did not expect though that I would be so so sick for so so long. Through almost every moment of every day for almost the entire pregnancy I was not well (and that is an understatement, cause really I was puking 3 to 5 times a day...)

There was concern for my health, concern over whether or not it would be safe to have a home birth. Every day we put great effort into making me stronger. And all the prayers and well wishes from dear friends surely must have helped a lot. We always kept faith that baby was healthy and strong. Midwife said not to worry cause babies are so good at taking just what they need from mother.

My midwife also suggested that when people commented on my belly saying, "oh, you're so little", that I tell them to go suck an egg. That is perhaps the only piece of advice I did not take her up on, though I'm not saying it wasn't kinda good advice. My belly was measuring up just right the whole time anyway.

At the end, instead of being born in the second half of November as we had expected, or perhaps a little earlier since both girls before arrived early, this little one waited all the way until December to be born. Which gave mommy more time to get iron up to safe levels for home birth, and baby time to do some extra growing. Such a good thing to have time for the extra growing, cause just 5 pounds 6 ounces, I would not have wanted her to be any smaller. (Chessa was actually a bit smaller though. We just have small babies. I had kinda had high hopes for growing this one bigger, but then there was all the puking...)

And, 5 pounds 6 ounces, perfectly healthy wonderful little baby. Perfectly healthy safe happy home birth.

And why am I bring all this up again? Because like I said, it was one year ago that I became pregnant. I was sick all spring, looking forward to the summer, which when it came I was feeling not better at all. I missed so many seasons! And now they are here again. And I feel well again. So so well. What an incredible blessing to have good health! And to have this wonderful family of mine with these three sweet girls to journey through this beautiful year with.

The feeling of promise that this coming season offers is so inspiring to me. My family has so many dreams, each day we will bring ourselves closer to those dreams, we will embrace the work and joy of it all.

I wish to you as well a beautiful good-bye to the winter (your summer?) and a blessed journey into the new season!


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this moment ~ when the sisters became three

Three and a half months, 300 photos, 3 billion kisses, or something like that.
She is of course much bigger than this now.
I will of course share much more soon. I am happy to be able to return to this space.
Wishing beautiful days to all...
With love, Renee


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