The beginning of spring, 7 years ago. Notice the teddy bear. <3
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(as a totally not wordless aside, does it take your breath away sometimes to see how fast your children have grown? That exuberant toddler is now only 5 inches shorter than me and can no longer fit in my lap. She still loves that teddy bear, though…)
Littlebit and I are outside. She’s climbed on top of the red Radio Flyer tricycle and pedals unevenly aroun d the back deck She doesn’t get anywhere fast, but she tries. She can’t climb up on to the seat. She has to climb onto the back and then up. Her sister was quite a bit older before she could pedal so well. Littlebit doesn’t talk much, so seeing her meet a milestone like this so much earlier than expected is a little bit of proof that she’s working on things other than her speech.
Today, Baby Bee has hit 24 weeks gestation. If she was born today, she would have a fighting chance of surviving and maybe being okay. I waited with baited breath for this week with both of her sisters (though with the Princess I think I relaxed at 26 weeks as technology wasn’t as advanced back in the dark ages of the nineteens*)
About two years ago, I was stumbling around the Internet and I found the blog The Preemie Experiment
I remember reading it with my mouth gaping open. You see, I was under the very false impression that micro preemies (premature babies born at the very edge of viability) struggled, caught up and moved on. I was very, very, very wrong. In truth, they suffer from a host of medical problems, from sensory disorders to eating problems. Vision and hearing issues and nerve damage plauge them. The happy ending we all assume they have, is convoluted and cloudy.
On my birth board, mothers are starting to rejoice at this point of gestation Our babies have reach viability. What few of us actually know, is that viability comes with a great cost. And, I admit my experience isn’t even first hand. It’s from reading blogs, like The Preemie Experiment and Micro Mom that have opened my eyes to not exactly heralding the arrival of 24 weeks. Things, might not be okay. Even if your baby beats the odds and leaves the NICU.
*The princess refers to the 1900′s as “the nineteens”. This, to her, is ancient history.
I got a card in the mail yesterday, that Wondertime Magazine was ceasing publication and my remaining subscription would be converted to Family Fun. I like Family Fun, but I’m so disappointed. Wondertime was something special. A fantastic breath of mass media fresh air; beautifully photographed and full of content we actually used.
Their articles and columns were so relevant to the life I’m living. The recipes were things my family would eat (and didn’t take hours, a hundred dollars of ingredients and more hands than I own), their shopping guides always featured little treasures you just didn’t see anywhere.
In the past few months, several large publications have been cutting off their smaller, more specialty publications in an attempt, I’m sure, to weather the economic climate. For me, these small publications inspire me far more than their larger, more solvent brethren.
I’m thankful for the Internet that keeps me in touch with the creative minds and the types of ideas I won’t be finding in my mailbox via Wondertime anymore.
Winter is losing it’s grip here. The robins and the red-winged blackbirds have finally made their way back. Daylight savings time, while not loved by everyone, is welcomed here on the far eastern edge of the timezone. The sun rises around 7 a.m., perfect for encouraging little bit to sleep later and sets around 6:30 allowing for playtime after homework. The ponds and marshes are still iced over, but it is starting to feel hopeful now. Like we won’t have to freeze in the house forever.
Of course, my thoughts start to turn to the girls summer wardrobes. The Princess selects what we’ll buy and what I’ll make (she always requests mamamade sundresses), which I think is fair as she grows older. I enjoy sewing for the kiddos, but once it stops becoming enjoyable for them to wear what I make, it’s time for me to stop. Littlebit doesn’t get to pick and while I tend to buy her jean and kahki shorts from Target (it’s cheaper to buy them for $5 or less a pair than to buy the material and fiddle with sewing them) her other things are made by me. <3
I'm longing for warmer weather (yes, even winter loving me) and noticing that Littlebit is really out growing her clothes. Her leggings, made in fall, are now high waters and her pajamas all seem to be missing their matches. I have tops to one set, bottoms to another and they don't match. She has one pair of intact footies and one pair without (they had a hole, but where okay otherwise, so I chopped off the feet) and two nighties. Couple her need with my longing and you get....
summer shortie peejays!!
Pattern is from Ottobre Designs Summer 2006. I paired an easy knit tank top with supper easy rib knit waist shorts.
A few notes:
And the best part of all? Littlebit loves them and looks adorable. You can’t beat that.
30-something mom of three beautiful girls, known herein as the Princess, Littlebit and Baby Bee, and married for more than a decade to my fabulous husband, Big Daddy. Living in my dream home in progress in mostly rural Ohio, I share recipes, craft ideas and how to manage all the loose ends of a busy, family life.
