explorations

You are so much bigger than this picture now.

You are running out of room inside.

I know because

your every little movement makes my belly

swell like the ocean.

You are still

a stranger to me

but I know that I am

in love with you already.

March is like a far horizon,

unseen but grows tangibly

with each passing wave.

I fall asleep

every night thinking about

holding you for the first time.

I get weepy

just thinking about it, and I hardly get weepy.

I am bracing

for the landing,

which I guess will be sudden

and sharp

and flip me upside down on the earth,

will take me months to know

the geography of this new life with you.

It is the unknown

and you are sweeping me

closer day by day.

We are just hibernating

in our little worlds, waiting

for spring to flush

the blood into our cheeks.

Things I Should do in December

~Make these for Christmas.

~Spend less because you have a baby and maybe a house shortly on it's way.

~Make art about winter.

~Bake.

~Get back into running or walking or swimming.

~Figure out colors to paint for new rooms.

~Read more.

~Get to the city to eat gelato and chocolate and cupcakes and see art.

~Enjoy the last few months of personal freedom and elastic waist pants.

november.....

So yet another month has come and gone and nearly on to the next! Autumn flew by and we're nearly tripping on winter. Needless to say, I haven't been keeping up on my pictures of the passing season nor really on documenting the progressing belly. I'm only just beginning to pop a bit. Enough so that students have begun to notice in the classes I sub. They whisper to each other or call me over to quietly ask if I am indeed pregnant. Few are not as tactful in their observations, so I've had to teach on top of science or reading, the finer points of minding your own business.

Thankfully I've been blessed with a new wardrobe to match my ever increasing size, thanks to good friends who've been there before and have a need to clear out their closets before it happens to them again! We've also been lucky to have friends offer their used baby furniture and gear so many of the major baby necessities are taken care of for now. Still a bit intimitated by baby registries as most of it seems extravagant...worse than bridal registries even! I mean I'd love to have organic burb cloths but $40!? Alternatively I've been wandering around Etsy for all things baby, none of it a true necessity but a lot of cute things I wish I could add to a registry.

We found out the end of October that it's a girl. Andrew and I have been stubborn about our name preferences. I'll make a list of ones I like and he'll turn them all down. He, on the other hand, only comes up with one or two over 2 weeks. We still have til March to figure it out and it may be that she comes along and she just looks like a________.

Speaking of the little one, slowly becoming not so little, she's been moving around a lot. She has a bit of a sweet tooth I think because I've been wanting to eat cookies and ice cream and candy a lot. Halloween was the worst....She gets all hyped up, kicking and squirming after I run too. I've bumped my exercise routine up a bit since I've had much more energy than this summer. I've been trying to run my usual 3-3.5 miles at least twice a week with yoga and/or prenatal exercise videos from the library supplementing the rest of the week's routine. I'll be running the New Paltz's 5K Turkey Trot on Thursday to start the day off right before I gorge myself (in slow shifts of course) on the day's feast. It's usually my job to make the sides for the meal. I'm thinking of making this, and this and whatever else I can think of from the Thanksgiving share from the farm. Dessert will be taken care of via our favorite local baker.

autumn updates..

Just a quick update...

In preparation for Baby Z, I've already made a winter sweater. I'm also half way done with a drawstring bunting. Andrew is complaining because I have yet to finish his stick shift cozy....Here's Rupert trying the sweater on for size.

I'm rounding up on week 18 and have the miraculous fortune of gaining and then losing 5-6 lbs within a day. My appetite has most definitely kicked in but I'm not sure where it's all going once I've eaten! Some days I have a little bump, others it just looks like nothing's changed. As eating has gotten easier, exercise has gotten harder (though when is it really easy?) Running my usual 3.5 miles used to feel great but now I can hardly keep up with the dogs and baby strollers and everyone else. I feel miserable going out and wasted by the end, which makes it very hard to motivate to keep running. Even yoga had me whipped this week!

Supposedly I should start feeling the baby move at this point or soon anyways, but all I seem to feel is my pulse beating extremely strong throughout me. I thought I might've felt something but I don't really have a definitive sense of what I should even be feeling and where. It still remains an obtuse idea with only slight physical presence in the form of my unending appetite and tiredness. Even the ultrasound pictures on the fridge seem odd. By the end of the month we should find out whether its a boy or girl. I go back and forth on what I feel it is...most times a girl, sometimes a boy. I've had two dreams where it was a boy-huge and with a full head of dark hair. Sometimes I think it's just Andrew's influence.

I've had these ideas running around in my head of writing/illustrating a book. Over the last week I've had a little mantra running in my head, "Almost there, mama bear..." and it seems to have caught on a bit to the imagination. I'll post some sketches once things fill out a bit more.

In other news, fall has arrived to the Hudson Valley. You can tell not only by the colors of the leaves but the miserable traffic filling up New Paltz on the weekend. One has to plan a full 20 mins ahead of schedule to account for waiting to turn on the Main St as traffic is backed all the way to the cliffs!


We've been eating apples like crazy. I get them every Sunday at the farmer's market and this coming weekend family is coming from upstate and the city to partake in "real" apple picking. In a couple of weeks it will be the NY Sheep and Wool festival in Rhinebeck which my knitting club makes a pilgrimage to seek out the best yarn. Already the month seems to be zipping by....

Handmade stuff....

Lots to cover in this post so I might just give tidbits of some and cover the rest later.

Firstly, to those of you within easy traveling distance of Beacon, please make your way over this Sat, Sept 12th to meet me and my other fabulous Hudson Valley Etsy teamsters as well as the crazy creative folk from the New New Etsy team for the Fall Handmade Cavalcade. It's gonna be a blast. There's about 20 of us from NYC or the HV region, featuring handmade items such as baby clothing, soaps, one of a kind paper goods, toys, jewelry, accessories and art prints.

Beacon is a great town as it's an easy ride on the Metro North from the city. Dia: Beacon is right next to the station and Main St is full of some great contemporary art galleries. We'll be stationed right on the corner of Main St and North Cedar St, about half way down Main St. This fantastic fair is just one day only (Saturday) and runs from 11-7 pm. We've got goodie bags and yummy baked goods from the Groovy Baker too! It's a great way to enjoy the last bit of summer and maybe grab some early Christmas shopping in...or just pick up something special for yourself!!

Secondly, we just got back from our British Isles trip this past week. In a matter of almost 3 weeks, we covered Northern Wales, the Peak and Lake District in England, Glasgow and Isle of Arran in Scotland, Giant's Causeway, Donegal, Galway, Doolin, Killarney National Park, Kilkenny, Wicklow Mountains and Dublin in Ireland...whew! Despite the rain that began in Scotland and did not end til the day before we left, we had a blast taking in the countryside, the accents, the ubiquitous fields of sheep and cows, the impromptu Irish music sessions, the pubs, etc. Oh yeah and a beautiful wedding too! Lots of more pictures to follow...

Lighthouse in Wales

Sheep in the Peak

Sea stolen (and returned) shoes

Snowden sublime

We shared our apples

28 mi bike ride...just before the hill

Nice looking couple on basalt

Doolin waves

Thirdly, and most importantly, as discreetly as I can say it for I've been bursting to say something, come March we'll have a new addition to our little family! This time not of the four-legged variety....

A midsummer's thought

This summer feels more like monsoon season

Less lighting bugs and bats in the evening

Gone swimming only once

The rain allows for deep thinking and planning and sleeping.

I am watching my garden overflow with tomato plants and arugala

Watching my sister grow up and trying to remember what it was like to be 14

Think I was too busy reading Gone with the Wind to be outside

Watching my body and listening to what it tells me

Lately been confusing but there are reasons for this

I'm bound to find out soon

Good things are on their way.

Last call..

I'll be taking down my work next week at the Village Tearoom (recently rated highest Zagat rating in New Paltz, not surprised though...we got a 25 for service, must be me!) ......that means y'all have less than a week to get your heinies over there for a peek and possible a steal when it comes to art.  Prints and paintings range from $20 to $120.

Oh yeah and maybe one of these too.