Mama Can I Snuggle with You

Without getting into a whole debate about parenting "styles," I'm thinking about one of my all time favorite things: Snuggle Time.

My eldest is 11; she no long snuggles me. She will tolerate my hand in hers for a while. She is far too cool for lip kisses. She was not a huge snuggler when she was a baby. In fact, every time we tried to swaddle her like they tell you babies love, she would wriggle until her arms came free. Then she'd hold them out to the sides in her infant airplane game. All. The. Time.

Miss Middle Child is a hugger, but not a snuggler. She loves hugs. And she does love to snuggle her Aunt Michelle. She describes her as comfy. She will cling in a hug for far longer than you think a child can do anything. The taller she gets the easier, and stranger, it is. She comes to my chin now so it's easy to do while standing in the kitchen. How did this child come to have the same size feet as her mama?

And my little man. Oh, my little man is the best snuggler. He is a heat seeking set of limbs and soft breath. Our daughters never slept in our bed. Ever. Little man comes to my bed at least three times a week in the middle of the night. Most of the time I'm far too tired to do anything but grunt assent and roll over to make room. I know my husband does not like this but I find myself incapable of sending my son back to his room.

I think it's because he's my last baby. And he's no baby. He'll be starting Kindergarten in the fall. Someone still needs his mama, even if he's sleeping the entire time. But when he crawls under our covers, bringing maybe a favorite toy or a blanket, he slides easily into a space and his body gravitates toward the other warm figures lying next to him.

It's like a drug, his slow deep breathing of sleep. He sleeps like he's got nothing on his mind at all (why wouldn't he?). There is no creasing between the eyes, no tense shoulders, no twisting and turning. He completely gives himself up to the rest. He teaches me how to breathe so I too can fall into a restorative slumber. His fingers curled in mine tell me to relax my muscles and let go of the thoughts of the day.

His waking, too, is magical. He wakes ready to take on another playground adventure; I wake to a stream of worries and cares: wishing I'd started the coffee the night before, will I get the kids out the door on time, did I finish the laundry, will she find her shoes, did I forget to pay that bill, and how am I going to make it to every item on the unholy list of things to do.

He sighs a huge sigh, as if inhaling his dreams to carry with him through the day. He rolls over. He smiles at me. He pops out of bed and starts being him.

It won't last much longer. Soon he'll be too big for snuggles and too big to squeeze into our little bed. I can deal with that, but I will try to soak up his lessons and his dreams while I am still welcome to them.

Free Fabric Giveway

Hey, if you want to win four fat quarters of Heather Bailey's Freshcut line, visit this blog and enter....just saying.

LaRue's New Digs

We call our daughter B Fifi Larue. Her little brother started calling her Fifi out of the blue when she was in Kindergarten. He must have been 2; he could say her name, he just chose to call her Fifi.

The name has taken many variations over the years. Fee, Feef, and now Fifi Larue and its short form, Larue. (I just discovered there is a performer who goes by the name Fifi Larue. Did not know that.)

Larue told me she likes it when I call her that. I will do pretty much anything to make my kids smile and so I call her Larue. Larue plays soccer and Larue likes bling.

I made this shirt for Larue by placing a bajillion tiny swarovski crystals around a soccer ball pattern and applying them with heat to a shirt we already had. She is happy; another way I can make her smile.

baby gift

Nothing to get on my soapbox about today. Just wanted to show a little onesie I made for a friend of a friend. Love this kind of project.

Also digging my cards from MK.

Happy Birthday Bea!

My best friend Bea has a birthday coming up. Bea has two kids and a Mary Kay business and she completely rocks. I made her this silly MK charm for her birthday. Because I love her, I also made her one with her kids' names and their birthstones. (Abby assures me these are the right colors.)

I put it on a 24" ball chain necklace, which she can cut down if she wants to (and she will want to).

Pink Rulz, ladies.

Much love to you my dear friend. I've known you 19 years; I can't believe it. Soon we'll be dipping our toes in the ocean water and tanning our 40 year old saggy hides. Woo hoo!

Coming Soon

In response to one complaint too many from the daughter who does not play soccer about the grass at the soccer field (did you know playing on grass is actually part of soccer?) I created this vinyl backed fleece blanket to prevent grass from touching said complaining daughter. She will in all likelihood complain that the fleece side of it still gets touched by grass. She will have to learn to live.

Also coming soon to my etsy shop are stamped silver and copper cuff bracelets. How fun is that?

The Possibilities

Today begins my hopefully weekly series on artists and crafters whose work I admire. I hope to highlight these amazing people and their great work. We will start with one of my all time favorite people, Amy Poss of The Possibilities (get it?).

Amy remembers selling her work door to door as a child, always cherishing her inner "crazy desire to create." She started her professional life as an elementary teacher before she became a full time mom. Creativity and projects are part of her daily life. She says her husband, upon arriving home from a business trip, will stop at the door to sniff for paint smells. He figures she's been up to something crafty while he's been away.

"I love working with wire and beads," says Amy because the "simplicity of materials is appealing yet I can create some intricate pieces." She will sometimes also decoupage an item before embellishing with wire and beads.

Her inspiration comes from color schemes,magazines, specific room decor, and fabrics, but she says "original ideas I believe come from God. I have often seen His hand in the development in my business." In fact, I met Amy at a women's Bible Study, where she was in the group I was "facilitating." She gave me a beautiful wire wrapped cross at Christmas that hangs prominently in our home.

And to show how far a little love goes, Amy says she started her etsy business after

much encouragement from two creative pals: Jen and Brenda. I love both of them dearly and feel they are also a gift from God. I love all of their creations but my faves are coffee corsets from Jen and Brenda's key fobs.

Amy, like most moms, struggles with the balance part of work and family. She started the business because she wanted to be home, but "needed to pay some bills." And like most moms will leave the creative stuff to do when all the house stuff is done, which can mean late nights and "flying by the seat of your pants." People who work at being creative often have a hard time with the business part of it, especially if motherly duties demand attention. For that reason, Amy says she is working on writing down "specific and measurable attainable supercalifragilisticespealadocious goals." You know those creative types, abhorring goals, and schedules and lists that don't include a heavy portion of time spent doodling in our studios.


Amy's entire family, two sons and a daughter, is involved with her business. But she says Annie, her daughter is most deeply involved, as she is a creative genius in her own right. The two often compete to see who's design sells first at a show. Of course the boys want their mom do well and be happy but they don' have the same giddiness over new beads that she and Annie have. She also credits her husband with a new idea now available at her store: tooth fairy pails, which are super cute and come with a poem about this tooth fairy lady. (Personally, the tooth fairy hasn't been to my house in a while; she always seems to be on vacation.) Amy pays each of her kids for their help in her business because she feels it gives them an important role in her success and also "gives us that special connection as well as ownership of this endeavor."

Amy's work is available at her etsy shop, as well as The Spotted Umbrella in Jenks and The Gift Garden in Broken Arrow.