Nesting

I'd never pick winter as my favorite season. I love the outdoors, the garden, and the sunshine. But there is something special about being holed up in a warm house watching the snow fly outside.

 

We have had far more snow than usual for December in this area. It is not often that we have a white Christmas.

The last weeks we have been enjoying some extra family time.

 

Baking cookies.

 

A day trip to a battlefield to coordinate with our school study of the Civil War.



Lots of messy art projects.

In between, the nesting urge has hit me hard. My energy level is not high these days but every day I'm trying to accomplish one extra project - even if it is something very small. Maybe making an extra casserole or two for the freezer, or a special cleaning project. I know that our baby can arrive without my filing cabinet organized or the stove scrubbed. But some of these projects I've put off for months or even years and I might as well take advantage of the unusual burst of motivation to hit some forgotten corners!

I've also spent a lot of time with my sewing machine. Sewing is one occupation that doesn't take too much energy yet produces results! Besides sewing some Christmas gifts and several dresses for my daughters, I've enjoyed some baby crafting.

I enjoy making a baby quilt for each of my children. I usually make a gender neutral baby quilt. But for our last baby (nearly five years ago) I made two quilts, one for a boy and one for a girl. Since the boy quilt has been in storage since then, I only had to make a girl quilt. This was such a fun project!

 

And here is the boy quilt.



And no, we don't know the gender of our baby. I love to be surprised. If you give me a birthday gift and tell me to wait a week to open it, I'll relish the build-up of anticipation. So I always love to wait until the birth to find out our babies gender. In fact, I like the surprise so much that I always am disappointed when friends tell me if they are having a boy or girl. Even if they don't want surprised, I feel cheated to not have the surprise myself!

Feel free to think I'm weird.

But back to nesting projects...

This summer I found a whole bag full of baby yarn at a yard sale. I found a pattern for some adorable baby hats online. It has been at least ten years since I crocheted and it was a challenge to read a crochet pattern. I may not have done it correctly and these hats may not fit any baby, but they sure were fun!

 

When we were expecting our first baby, my sister-in-law gave us a tiny pair of baby shoes. I sat them on my bedside table and when I heaved myself out of bed on those multiple night trips to the bathroom, those little shoes were a reminder that it would all be worthwhile some day. So I sat these two tiny hats beside my bed to keep company with the name book.

Sitting on the couch in the evening with a ball of yarn was so relaxing, I might have to find another crochet project this winter.

Or maybe I'll just spend the rest of the winter cuddling a baby. Yes, I think that sounds better than crocheting!