Emskyrooney

Oh what a difference a year makes.  Paul turned FIVE on Sunday.  Last year, when he turned four, I lamented the fact that he had gone from a toddler to a little kid in the blink of an eye.  Another blink later and he’s not a little kid anymore- he’s a big kid, a five year old, heading off to pre-K with his backpack and his lunchbox and not even a wave good-bye over his shoulder.  LP has grown several inches since he turned four- just look at the difference in the photos below, taken just about a year apart.  He looks like a baby to me in the first photo, and so grown up in the second.   At five, Paul is intelligent, engaging, witty, and I have to admit, rather adept at sarcasm (it runs in the family on both sides and was bound to happen).  He loves to talk to anyone and everyone but is particularly happy talking to grown-ups, especially the elderly people who frequent the YMCA we attend.   I’ve been told several times by them that h...

10 on 10: Ten photos taken during one day or event, documenting that day or event, and posted on the tenth of the month . This weekend felt like the calm before the storm a bit… We’re about to start the whirlwind that is LP’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and Christmas.  To make it crazier we decided to schedule a trip to Vegas to visit Paul’s family just before Christmas so all of the shopping, baking, sewing and decorating has to be done by early December… Yikes! Below, some photos of a quiet day spent mostly at home.  I was out for a bit in the morning doing family photos for a friend and LP and I were out hunting down Star Wars Lego party supplies in the afternoon but all of the photos I took were while things were (somewhat) quiet around the house…. Now go on to Rachel McCalley Photography to see her 10 on 10!

I’ve been on a sewing kick lately- made a few things for Eliza that I thought I’d share (of course, I also have a list about a mile long of things I really need to get working on for Christmas, but bumped them all to make these little, totally not needed but too cute to resist, pieces…). First up is another Geranium Dress from the pattern by Made by Rae .  The pattern is for a sleeveless dress or one with cap sleeves but I really wanted long sleeves so I drafted my own and they worked out perfectly!  The fabric is a super soft baby corduroy.  I made a mistake and sewed the skirt on the wrong way- instead of picking it all apart though I decided to just cover my seam (which should have been on the inside- whoops, distracted!) with a  fabric band.  I used the same fabric for the lining in the bodice. On the patch pockets I stitched Eliza’s name- it says “Eliza” on one pocket and “Rose” on the other.. I wish I’d used the polkadot pattern for the pockets as I thi...

Once again I’m a little late with this but it’s better than last month’s! Just like her brother at 14 months , Eliza has made leaps and bounds both physically and verbally.  She’s gone from taking 5-6 steps to running around the house non-stop.   The only time she crawls anymore is if she falls over and needs to pull herself up on something. Also like her brother, she’s added several words to her vocabulary, including “no!” (her favorite word, which she always says quite emphatically), “woof-woof,”  “ba-ba” (bottle), "shoes," and “up.” She’s picked up a few baby sign language gestures such as “more” and “all done.”  She’s also started to walk over to the fridge and point at it when she’s hungry.  Eliza has started following simple directions and is able to “bring something to Mommy” or “give things to Daddy.”  She’s imitating our actions more and more, brushing her hair, putting things in the hamper, and throwing ...