Less than a hundred days now!!!

Soren's sister Karen is giving birth ANY minute as are a few friends here in Maine. The fall harvest season is a perfect time for a little one. I saw a cute photo on one of my favorite blogs of her belly as a moon over the pumpkin patch and tried to capture the same - unfortunately we have small pumpkins in our patch so my belly looks huge - oh wait, maybe it is?!

Soren caught me in a few more shots as I was trying to convince AnaSofia to come over and sit with me for a photo.


Alas, she was monkeying around in the corner...

Weekend of Fun

This time of year is filled with such a fun energy for me. I love the weather and everywhere I turn there is something to do. We were able to get a lot of work around the house done this weekend and also headed to the Commonground Country Fair - my all time favorite fair in Maine. We convinced Elizabeth to slide down the hill on cardboard (why didn't I get a shot of that?) and then I finally coerced AnaSofia to do the same.
The Garden Parade at CGF

She then fell asleep for the rest of the fair (much to my disappointment!) so Soren and I ate our way through the fair and checked out the animals without her. She did manage to wake up for the hour long ride home?! I guess she needs to be a little older to fully enjoy it! NEXT YEAR!
Soren worked a lot around the house and weatherized some windows and put in my new kitchen window - it is so lovely!!!


He also tried smoking chickens for the first time - they were incredibly good!

We ended the weekend with a SLOW walk to our friends house at the lake... AnaSofia picked up a LOT of acorns and leaves along the way...

Week of Creativity

Last week was a fun week for AnaSofia and I. We stayed home a lot and started cutting back flowers, pulling in houseplants (where am I going to put them all?!) and just getting ready for Fall.

We tried to do a lot of fun creative things and I think we both had a really good time. I found a HUGE stamp set at a garage sale last week with lots of animals (sealife too!!!) and thank goodness there is washable ink because AnaSofia LOVES "stamping".

We also picked a pumpkin at a nearby farm and carved it, we took AnaSofia for ice cream that night and when we drove home she was so excited to see it lit up. Now it is just a challenge to keep it lit as she likes to blow it out!



I finished these fabric birds I had been working on and arranged them on a branch across the dining room window, AnaSofia declared them "beautiful" even though I am not too sure!

My sweet husband surprised me with a book last night that I have been crushing on for awhile. I am so excited, I hope it will be added to my list of MUST HAVES for family books. A lot of you have been asking about what books I would recommend (AS IF I am an authority!) for pregnancy etc. So I am writing down my important must haves so someday when you all think kids are in your future, you can refer to this...

Must have pregnancy book: Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnancy

Pregnancy to baby to 3 years old: The Baby Book by William and Martha Sears - my sister picks on me about this one because it is HUGE, but yes I have read it all through many times and it is such an AMAZING reference to me for EVERYTHING from colicky babies to foods to serve etc.

Must have family book: Healthy Child, Healthy World by Christopher Gavigan - so scary all the health dangers out there and this book is such a great guide to simple, healthy living from toys and clothes to buy to foods to cook - great little stories from recent celebrities with babes.

AND for parenting: The Tao of Motherhood by Vimala McClure - I read and reread excerpts from this DAILY, it is so close to how I feel about raising kids...
Of course, the caveat to all these books is that I am a modern granola, hippy hug your loved ones close type of Mom so they might not be for everyone - but they are my favorites.
The new one is The Creative Family and is all about bringing creativity into your everyday life. I have a whole list of traditions that I started writing down who knows when before having kids of things I would want to do every year to make life meaningful. This book (I hope!) will give me more ideas to flesh out my creative side. I am loving having my sewing machine (not to do clothes!) to create and I am always painting and such. So we'll see! I'll try to share if you are interested.
AND you can see the other gift in the picture - we are officially a NO plastic family. I was careful for AnaSofia to not buy anything with BPA but now Soren and I realize it is probably important for all of us so we invested in a Kleen Kanteen for us too - so AnaSofia isn't the only cool one in the family! There are so many options out there now and I am nervous about the use of aluminum for some of the alternatives to plastic. Aluminum doesn't seem any safer to me, especially if you are filling the container with acidic juices and other products. I am skeptical that the patented technology is secret and that you don't really know how the aluminum is applied and how much leaches out (if any, of course). Hm... Just my ramblings for the day. Off the soapbox and on to creating!

Just Because...

We are enjoying the glorious Fall weather in Maine. It is so warm and sunny during the day and nice and cool at night. I am trying to harvest all our last veggies and enjoy all the flowers from the gardens. My birdhouse gourd teepee is almost full grown. I can't wait for them to dry and be part of the yard for the winter.

We are excited for the BEST country, organic fair that is in Maine every year coming this weekend. They have a garden parade for little ones where you can dress as a veggie, flower or beneficial animal or insect. AnaSofia wants to be a butterfly so I am working on a little costume for her. She is in love with the butterfly wings we found. All these shots are "just because" she is so darn cute and cuddly that I had to share a few...





Yes, she even tried to go to sleep in them - in our bed though which is why Soren went to work with blue sparkles on his eyelids this morning - haha!

A Little Boy!

We went for our "big" ultrasound on August 27th and found out we are going to have a healthy little boy at the end of December! Yay! It is such a relief to go through the scan, see the heart, brain, bone structure etc. and hear that all of it looks good. We are really excited to have a little boy - well, I am a bit nervous but also SO happy that AnaSofia will always be my "special girl". I definitely felt differently this pregnancy in terms of foods, nausea and emotions and he is SO ACTIVE ALL THE TIME, I remember this with AnaSofia towards the end but not at 20 weeks when he started KICKING.
No we have not even THOUGHT of a name yet, that will likely be a long process. AnaSofia wasn't really AnaSofia until the day we had her and I am not feeling too creative lately so we'll see what happens in the next few months - I still have 3 left! I have gained about 12 pounds and I know people are asking for belly shots - we haven't taken any yet but I will embarrass myself with a few at some point ; ) AnaSofia is still checking my belly DAILY with her doctor's kit and seems really happy and helpful about the arrival of a new sibling. I hope she is really excited when he is at the front door! Here are a few photos of the little guy!
Waving to the world!

Profile - I don't want to hear who he looks like - you CAN'T tell yet Mom = )

The 3D technology at EMMC is a little freaky but also very cool...

OH! Cute baby feet! They KILL me!!!