One of my goals for the long weekend was to spend time in the sewing room and I was able to steal a couple hours this morning to make this little top.

Deconstructing old clothes is such a great way to make things for Maggie with little effort. This project started with a button-down shirt that I loved but had to stop wearing after I wore a hole into the elbow. All of the ruffle detail was already done for me. I just had to reduce the size of the collar, trim down the width, and sew a hem to cut this down to size. The only extra step was to repurpose the ruffled cuffs by converting them into capped sleeves.

I did forget one very important step: taking Maggie's measurements! You can see how the buttons are pulling across her tummy in the photo. (Darn!) Looks like her cousin, Lucy, is getting a new shirt for Christmas. Kathy, expect this in the mail soon.

Well, Maggie did everything you're supposed to do on Thanksgiving; she dressed up, ate lots of food, and passed out on the couch. Thanksgiving offers a surprisingly great array of baby foods. By then end of the day she had a bagel, some grapes, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, lima beans, a bite of cranberries, a dinner roll, and pumpkin pie. Explains why she felt no different from the rest of us by the time it was all over.

P.S. After Graham saw this post he suggested I make a new category: Maggie and Graham Sleeping. (How many times has this pose appeared on the blog???) Either they take too many naps or I have some weird obsession with photographing my sleeping family.

How could I forget? This arrived in my inbox last week, amidst the piles of work email.

Jen had the morning off and decided to try out a crocheted chick-a-dee. So ridiculously cute and even better in person. (His beak is made from grosgrain ribbon. Fantastic!)

After a long and exhausting work week I decided to devote Saturday to Maggie with no distractions permitted. I've been missing her.

We started our day early, and after breakfast we took a long stroll in our new neighborhood. We saw the geese I mentioned (well the pond, anyway, the geese were hiding) and checked out the mini town center which, as it turns out, has a barber shop, a massage therapist, a print shop, and a tavern. We waved at some neighbors, woof-woofed at some dogs, and then came home and nestled in for a morning nap.

Post-nap brought lunch and our biggest adventure; a walk around our park's nature trail. This turned out to be a great opportunity for Maggie to practice walking and she grabbed onto the back of the stroller to take off. It was so much fun to watch the focus and determination she put into this and the occasional glances up at me to say "hey! Look at me! Impressive, right?" The leaves that her little feet were sifting through also proved to be irresistible and she had to stop every few feet to crouch down, pick up a leaf, and show me how spectacular it was. Such fun.

We rounded out the day by curling up to a movie with dad. We watched Coraline which in retrospect was incredibly frightening and inapropriate for an eleven month old. She didn't seem phased, though, and just sat, wide-eyed, and watched the color and animation, which – if you're familiar with movie – is quite captivating. Thank goodness she couldn't follow the story line. We'll save that for when she's in grade school.

Such a fantastic Saturday. Why can't everyday be so sweet?

My dad sent a big slew of summer photos the other day and I'm really loving this one. She looks so young!

I'm not having the greatest week so far. Nothing too bad, in particular, but when work stops being fun it makes being away from Maggie so much more difficult. It makes me feel quite useless that I have no idea what she eats for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Or that I actually get excited about changing poopy diapers because I so rarely see them. Or that we've lived in this house for two weeks and I still haven't taken her down to see the geese, just steps away at a nearby pond. (Not that she hasn't seen them already with Grandma Susie but I bummed that I haven't taken her myself.)

At least I have bed time. I absolutely love cozying up in a big comfy chair with her, reading quietly, enjoying a bottle, and having her drift off to sleep in my arms. Night after night it just never gets old.

More sheep! And, now, felted bracelets! Contact me or John Still, if interested.

Well, we're finally coming up for air and after two weeks this is the only photo I have to share of Maggie. (Can you even find her?)

Between moving, a crazy work schedule, and a visit from Paba and Susie, our world turned into sudden chaos and we're finally sorting it all out; boxes are being unpacked and blogs are being revisited. We even have some fun things to report:

1. A new house. (Yay!) We decide to put our condo up for rent in order to start renting my parent's townhouse. It's so fantastically spacious with more bedrooms than we need, a big finished basement, and a charming enclosed patio. The absolute best part is that I get to have a dedicated sewing room which feels a bit decadent but so exciting, at the same time.

2. New tricks. (Woohoo!) Maggie is suddenly a very quick study and Paba and Grandma Susie taught her to clap her hands for "Patty Cake" and to raise her arms for "how big is Maggie." (So cute.) She also went to the zoo with Nanna and Pop Pop today and came back making monkey noises. This is the third animal in her repertoire which previously consisted of "eeeh eeeh" for cats and "ooohf ooohf" for dogs. Her ability to communicate and engage is really developing, right now. It's so much fun.

3. Employment. (Hallelujah!) I'm very proud to report that Graham starts a new job tomorrow. The people that he's met and the firm, itself, sound really terrific and I'm so glad that he'll get to put his talents to use again. He'll be working three days a week which means that Maggie will not be completely abandoned by her parents and that my mom will have some well deserved time off.

Now if only we could find time to cook again and stop having ramen noodles for every meal... then things would really be good...

Maggie was a sailor for Halloween, complete with tattoos. (It was a last-minute choice when I couldn't find a decent lamp shade to be the cap for her toothpaste costume.) In the end, she looked pretty darn cute and I was glad she got a chance to wear her dad's romper that his parents had held onto for all these years.