Six Years

While waiting to see if Edwin falls asleep this morning, I figured I'd take some time to post. Today marks 6 years since Dan and I got married! Congratulations to us, Dan!

New Year's Eve, Friday night, 5pm on the dot (sorry for all of you who arrived a little late and had to walk in after me...punctuality is a Mennonite virtue we decided to uphold that evening).

We'd dated for 5 years, (minus a few months) and were engaged for one. Most of our dating years were spent long-distance, including 1 year on different continents where we didn't see each other for a year and a day. During those long years of dating, I remember thinking: "Someday this will all be behind us, and we'll have been married for 5 years, and this time of waiting will seem so far away." And now we've passed that point by a year, and life together seems so normal, it is strange to remember back when we weren't married, when life didn't include each other in the way it does now.

Here are a few pictures for fun.

Shock Trauma Christmas Party
2000 or 2001?

Dan visited me at college after returning from Swaziland

Fall 2003

Our engagement picture
Early 2004

Summer 2004 - Engaged
We both wore our wedding bands on our right hands instead of me wearing a diamond

Peach Pie Yumminess
Fall 2005

Wesley & Buttercup
Fall 2006
Family Wedding
Summer 2007

Motorcycling
Summer 2008

Returned from Zambia
Spring 2009

Med School Graduation
Spring 2009

New Family
Christmas 2010

Winter Walks

How to still take your baby for a walk in the cold:

Drumroll, Please

I'd now like to announce that I am...





...one of the newest sewing instructors at Spool, a hip fabric store in Philly.

(sorry, did you think I was going to say "pregnant"?)

I got connected to this store through a good friend of mine and it just so happened that the owner was looking for more sewing instructors. Because, you see, sewing is making a comeback. I'm starting small and just teaching one 2-hour class one Saturday a month starting in January. Either Dan or a friend will watch Edwin.

I'm so excited. I get to hang out with other people who are interested in sewing, and I get to use some of my teaching skills.

Cozy Hats & Mittens

A few weeks back I posted a bunch of random tidbits about life. One of those things was that I was making Edwin a winter hat and mittens. I've finished them and he's been able to wear them in this cold weather. It took me a while because I made a lining for the hat and it took a few tries until it fit correctly.

What's funny is that I have a kid who's in style. I like to be aware of fashion, but I'm not always the most trendy person. And now that I'm not teaching and around high schoolers all the time, I'm a little out-of-the-loop when it comes to what's en vogue. Most of my things come from thrift stores, so I'm usually a little behind the times. But it seems that Edwin's winter hat is one of the trends for this winter. I think it makes sense for a little baby to have a hat with ear flaps, so I wasn't style-watching when I picked out this pattern. It just so happens to be what's "in" now.
We were walking past a bunch of middle-schoolers yesterday while on our walk and one of them saw Edwin in his hat and commented to his friends: "The baby has a hat like ours!" Maybe he just doesn't realize that he's wearing a baby hat. Now all he needs is some mittens with a string!

Thanks to this site for the basic hat pattern and this site and this pattern for the mittens.

8 Months

Edwin is quite the busy little boy these days.

He often insists on at least partially feeding himself at lunch and supper. I guess he's hungry enough at breakfast to not worry about it.

If it's paper, plastic, crinkly and unsafe, he wants it.

He gets excited when I pull out my scissors and sewing needles.

Watching cars drive by outside the window could be hours of fun if he was big enough to stand on the couch unattended.

De, da, ma, ba and ga are is his current vocabulary along with various yells and hollers.

The army crawl is his preferred method of locomotion.



He has discovered my earrings and laughs delightedly while trying to get them.
(Thankfully, they pull right out!)

One of his favorite things to try and get is the blue light on the computer.

He has 7 teeth: 4 on the top, 3 on the bottom.