I worked on this quilt so quickly that I haven’t even done any other posts on it. I finished this a couple of weeks ago for one of Adam’s coworkers, whose baby girl was just born 3 months premature. I thought she could use something for those days and nights in the NICU. Read the rest of this entry »

And 2 months old as of 2 days ago. And starting to get curly hair.

Sassafras.

I couldn’t have asked for a nicer first Mother’s Day (despite bad camera phone photos). I spend a lot of time thinking about being a mom, how my family has changed and grown, how much I love that little face that’s so much like Adam’s. But on Sunday I just wanted to be with them, making memories and not thinking so much.

I loved getting my card. And this was my Mother’s Day present, which I really wanted:

It’s a silver calendar pendant by Dalla Nonna, with a sapphire over Hannah’s birthdate to match the stones in my engagement ring. I stumbled on this jeweler while looking at something else on their site from a magazine. And this is the perfect, cool, unexpected take on the mom jewelry trend for me.

After cards and gifts we went to Point Pleasant to walk the boardwalk and get some good beach eats. It was too cold for the sand, but the weather was gorgeous nonetheless.

We made sure Hannah was prepped for sun, with baby sunscreen and the works.

We people watched while eating outside at Martell’s.

I got some cake pops and fudge on the boardwalk.

And we just walked the boardwalk, having a great time.

It became more and more packed as the afternoon went on, with some less-than-relaxed moms running around, so we headed home around 3 to put on jams and watch the Spanish F1 Grand Prix.

Perfect!

April 16th was the 4th anniversary of this blog, but once again I completely forgot about it. This year I had a good excuse, though, what with this whole situation. But I’ve been feeling sentimental and nostalgic lately and needed a reason to look back through the whole history of this blog. When I started The Orange Room we’d just bought the house 5 months before and been married just shy of a year (next Saturay it’ll be 5 years!). I was still working in a public library, and there was no Hannah. Much has changed. So I started a new project.

After everyone here went to sleep the other night I spent hours putting together this Crafty Index (Fun Fact: Librarians live for indices). I keep track of all the books I read from year to year, but I’d long forgotten some of the first things I sewed when I started this blog. And except for The Infamous Christmas Apron the start of this blog was basically when I started sewing. The past couple of years I’ve done a New Year’s post listing the crafty progress of the year, but I wanted to see it all. Everything sewn, knitted, crocheted, cut out of paper, and my favorite recipes, too (not every recipe–just the standouts).

I kind of geeked out seeing the last 4 years of my life flash before me in a series of posts. I know Kathy and my mom are the two people who read this blog, but I love having this record to show Hannah someday. Of course by then it will probably have been replaced by some virtual reality home for memories. But blogging is the new photo diary for me, and seeing the stuff I’ve made is pretty cool.

Maurice Sendak, author of the famous Where the Wild Things Are, died yesterday at the age of 83. He was one of those creators of children’s literature that librarians feel particularly possessive of, one of our last living “national treasures” like Eric Carle, Beverly Cleary, or Ed Emberley. Still making incredible works of art that tap into the heart of childhood, the perspective of children, that magic, at an age when most have long forgotten what it is to be childlike. He did not shy away from dark themes for children, which certainly stemmed from his own childhood experience as a Jewish kid from Brooklyn who lost several family members in the war and had severe health problems. It always made him controversial, but for anyone who has ever read one of his books to a child or as a child you know that he got to the bones of those great big feelings–which most adults try to shield from children. Sendak knew that this does children a great disservice, denying that they can feel darkly or understand deeply.

If I’m honest, I don’t love all of his books. But I loved him, and I love what he believed in for children’s literature. I’ve read stories from other authors about how he inspired them, helped them find their voice. Brian Selznick in particular credited Sendak in his Caldecott acceptance speech for The Invention of Hugo Cabret, and you know how I feel about that book (if you don’t, search for Hugo Cabret on this blog–you’ll see). He paid it forward, and genius like Selznick shine because of it.

I think it’s worth noting as well that Sendak died on a day when much is being said in the news about gay marriage in this country. Much is being made about “God’s design for marriage,” and once again there are people hiding their personal prejudices behind an ancient book. Maurice Sendak was a gay man who lived with his partner, Dr. Eugene Glynn, for 50 years before Glynn died. FIFTY. YEARS. That is a miraculous amount of time for any couple, and I don’t know how much more proof is necessary that love is equal and therefore marriage should be, too. If you believe in God do you really think those two would not be reunited in heaven? That’s not a heaven I’d want to put my faith behind.