Becoming a Mother Again

When I wrote the letter from the editor for the Summer issue of Modern Handmade Child, I thought I had a few more weeks of my pregnancy left. As I sat there, with an aching back and swollen feet, feeling fatigued and overwhelmed, I thought to myself, ‘I’m not sure I could do this again’.

Pregnancy can take such a toll on a woman. In some ways, second (and I’m sure subsequent) pregnancies can be easier, as you've been through it before. In other ways, they can be a lot more challenging since you already have another little one(s) to tend to. But all of the difficulties are soon forgotten when you are holding your newborn in your arms. Little did I know that I would be doing just that sooner than I had thought.

We had all of the essentials ready: car seat installed, check. Bassinet set up, check. Stocked up on diapers and wipes, check. Clothes all washed and neatly folded, check.

Physically and emotionally, I was definitely ready. But mentally, I hadn’t quite prepared for the eventuality that the baby could come at any moment. So when my water broke three weeks before the due date, I was in a bit of shock. Many thoughts went racing through my mind...'it can’t be time already’...'do we have everything readyfor baby?’...'she wasn’t supposed to come for three more weeks’. But it didn’t make one bit of difference if I was ready for her arrival or not – she was on her way.

Once I got past the initial shock, the only thing I could do was to accept the reality that I was in fact in labor, and take action. We quickly finished packing our bag for the hospital, and dropped my daughter off at a friend’s house for the night. We arrived at the hospital, and just 2 short hours later, I was holding my baby in my arms.


There is something so magical about holding your baby for the first time. It’s a feeling that is incomparable to anything else in this world, and something that cannot easily be explained to those who have not experienced it. It is especially amazing if you have had a previous birth experience where you were not able to do so, such as I had with my first (she was immediately whisked off to the NICU due to breathing issues, and I was not able to hold her until day 2). So when my second daughter was born healthy and strong, I relished in the fact that I was able to hold her. In fact, I hardly put her down the entire time we were in the hospital!


I’m finding that I’m much more at ease becoming a mother the second time around. Although I’m just a few days postpartum, I already feel like I’m settling into motherhood again, and enjoying our new family of four. I feel calm, relaxed, and confident. As I hold my sweet baby girl, I gaze into her tiny eyes, which are filled with so much curiosity and wonder, and those thoughts about not being able to do this again disolve into ‘I definitely think I could do this again’. So will there be more babies in my future? That remains to be seen. For now, I will cherish this time as a mom to two beautiful girls.

Happy Mother's Day!

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Lots of changes going on around here. It's hard to believe that in just a few weeks, our little bundle of joy will be here. So exciting!! We were hoping to move to a bigger house before baby's arrival, but unfortunately that did not happen. So we've been busy moving things around, trying to make room for our new addition to the family. One plus is I got to move my workspace into a new room, which sort of forced me to reorganize everything as I set it up in the new room. It's nice to have a fresh start. Here's a peek at me (with my 32-week baby belly!) in my new workspace:


So in addition to preparing for the baby and reorganizing my workspace, I've been super busy with Modern Handmade Child. I've been working hard on the Summer issue, which should be coming out around May 1st. This will be the first issue that I've put together on my own (I previously had a co-editor, but she stepped down), so it has been a bit challenging, but exciting at the same time. So be on the lookout for that in a couple of weeks! If you want to know a bit more about what I do with MHC, you can check out my interview that I did last week.

And lastly, somewhat of a bittersweet change. About 4 1/2 years ago, I started the EtsyKids Team and have been the team leader ever since. After carefully considering everything that I am currently doing, I have decided that it is time to let this one go. It was a difficult decision to make, but I knew that I simply couldn't keep up with everything on my plate with a little one on the way. So I have officially stepped down from being the EtsyKids Team Leader. I'll still be somewhat involved with the team, but at this time I want to focus my attention to my family, MHC, and my Etsy shops. That's certainly plenty to keep me busy!

Theme Thursday: Welcoming in Spring

with the Helping the Hectic Team!

I recently joined a new Etsy Team for those of us who work and/or go to school in addition to running our Etsy shops. So far, I'm loving it! It's kind of refreshing to be part of a network of individuals who are leading as crazy and hectic of a life as me. Being that we're all in the same, or similar, situations, it's a wonderful place to get support. So I thought I'd show my support to the team by curating a treasury of my teammates from Helping the Hectic:



Such a talented group of artists/crafters! Not to mention the talent of balancing their art/craft with a busy schedule! Way to go, everyone!

Wholesale order: check! New items in my shop: check!

I've been busily working on a wholesale order the past couple weeks, and I'm happy to say that it is now done and on its way to Canada. Hooray! Here's a look at what I sent:

10 pink and lavender polka dot felted Easter egg rings

10 sets of hand sewn pink and yellow felt Easter egg hair elastics

10 sets of hand sewn yellow chick felt hair elastics

I love seeing big batches of items like this. Makes me feel like I really accomplished something! Here's one last pic of the hair elastics all packaged up and ready to go:

Now that the wholesale order is done, I can start adding some of these lovelies to my Etsy shop. Yay! I've already added one set of the chick hair elastics and one set of the egg hair elastics. More to come soon!

New Items for Spring and Easter!

After a weekend of more snow, sleet, and rain, it's nice to finally see the sun again today. I realize that being in Maine, it's not likely to really be Spring for awhile yet...after all, we do still have several feet of snow on the ground! But to see the sun shining and hear the birds chirping really puts me in the mood for all things Spring.

So you may remember from my post last week that I had felted some Easter eggs to be made into rings. Here's a peek at how they turned out:


I've also been working on some new hair elastic designs for Spring and Easter, like this sweet little bunny and chick:



and this fun Easter egg:


Today I've been focusing on working on a wholesale order, but be on the lookout for these new designs in my Etsy shop very soon!

Drawing Stars

One of the greatest things about being a parent is watching you children learn and grow. It can be especially exciting when you help them figure out how to do something on their own, even when it's something as simple as drawing stars. I recently had sort of an 'ah ha!' moment when trying to teach little g how to draw stars. She's gotten quite good at writing some letters, and it occurred to me that an 'A' is very similar to a star. So I suggested she make an 'A' with its arms sticking out, then connect one hand to the opposite foot, and the same with the other hand. Voila! Stars! :D

Freshly Felted!

I've been so busy with other things lately that it seems like I haven't taken any time to focus on creating in ages. This afternoon I worked on some felting. It felt good to get back into it again (no pun intended). I had two pairs of baby shoes to felt for a custom order, so I thought I'd do a batch of flowers too. Here's a peek at a few of them:



Whenever I felt a big batch of flowers like this, I'm always eager to start making them into rings and hair accessories. But first they must dry!

Also in the batch of felting today were a couple of Easter eggs. One of my wholesale customers put in a special request for some felted Easter egg rings, so I've also been playing around with some ideas for those. Here's a sneak peek at my first attempt:


Of course, I'll have to wait for them to dry and see how they look as rings, but I think they came out pretty good for a first attempt. :)