nursery updates

We finally found a piece of furniture we badly needed to keep all those great baby party and christmas Oona gifts. We are only a few weeks away from her arrival (maybe only days?) and the pile of onesies and blankets was calling for a little dresser. After giving Ikea a legitimate try and then going to our local high dollar antique store, we finally made it back to our old town, Hastings-on-Hudson, to find this little 1930s oak piece. It goes nicely with the old cast iron bed.

The seahorse is my personal favorite.

The stain was boring and so were the simple original oak knobs. Nice, but why not jazz it up for the kid room? Keely found some fun knobs at Anthropologie (they go for a buck or two during the post holiday sale) and gave it a paint job. This is our second effort at the whole shabby sheik look. The first one was a certified disaster, probably because I was in charge. That failed project now sits in the basement as a work table.

Keel says the dresser still needs some touch up, but I like it already. I think she managed to take a pretty boring dresser from a cluttered but friendly store, Suburban Renewal, and make something perfect for the small corner we had left in the nursery/guest room. A little more silicone on the drawers and Oona will be able to pull them open in no time.

I can't wait to package her in this kimono onesie we found in a Brooklyn shop.
Yes, the shelves did come from Ikea, but you have to cut corners somewhere. If you look closely you will see a big pile of cloth diapers on the floor. The diapers have arrived. I think that means we are officially ready.
I know Keely can't wait to get her old body back, but I like Her Bigness.

having a kid, soon!

I don't write here much about the fact that Keely is pregnant and we are eagerly awaiting the imminent arrival of Oona, as we are currently calling her. That is mainly because we have a separate blog for Oona related items. So, if you have not been invited to read the Oona blog, feel free to email us for that link. I'm not so keen to post it here for what I assume are obvious reasons.

mcphearson christmas

For Christmas this year we tried something different. Just the kids. To just about everyone we mentioned this to it sounded, well, weird. But hey, we had a great time. The next generation in New York just doing what comes natural. For Teague and I this meant building a Lego race car. I found the tailfin in the backseat of the car today. Go figure.

Mika joined us for Christmas day dinner, which means that technically this family extended from McPhearson to Baltzer to Nelson. You also get a sense of the size of that Oona belly here. Read, food coma.

Who's happy?

We skipped presents for each other this year and concentrated on spending quality time. This meant lots of cooking, baking, eating, and drinking. I opened a number of bottles of wine and Keren and I headed up the various meals that ranged from a Thanksgiving day repeat, to an all indian meal to super duper desserts.

The parents did still make themselves felt with a load of wonderful gifts.
Abby immediatly tried on the fingerless, not sleeveless, gloves.

Reading Mom's Christmas note:

We took Teague to the American Museum of Natural History on Christmas Eve Day. Sounds like an insane idea I know. As a former employee of AMNH, I was a little concerned about the crowds, but they weren't that bad. The combination of riding the bus and subway was definitely fun for the 4 year old Teague which we all adopted, trading on and off hourly.

Click the video below for a taste of the craziness.

nelson christmas

The Nelson family Christmas naturally has a strong central element; her name is Zoe. Like Teague in the McPhearson family, she'll be Oona's older cousin. Someone to teach Oona how to sweet talk the grandparents. Zoe obviously held sway this Christmas.

Mom and Grandpa admiring Zoe's present opening skills.

Mika, like myself, finds a glass of wine the perfect way to mellow all those presents.

Could anyone be a happier Grandpa? Maybe with more grandkids. Don't worry John, help is on the way. So soon. Very soon.

sew crafty

Fall and winter are slow seasons at work for me, which is perfect because with the turning of the leaves I often like to curl up with some creative projects and get ready for the cozy months. This year however, pregnancy has unlocked some hidden reserves of creativity, and I find myself passionately working on projects at every free moment. While the summer was all about making little drawings, the fall has spawned a brand new fascination for me - sewing. I could only manage to sew a straight line when I bought Amy Karol's book, Bend-the-Rules Sewing, which I highly recommend to anyone who wants to learn to sew quick, easy, and friendly projects. Nearly all the projects below are from her book.

Zoe's birthday hat, from felted wool sweaters.

Baby bibs for a friend (Oona's are in the production line)

my growing belly, and my current favorite fabric sack.

a new bag to hold crafty supplies

and holiday stockings, of course

This is a quilt I made for Oona. I started hand sewing all the patches together last winter, took spring and summer off, and then finished this winter. I machine quilted the whole thing together.

And Timon's sew crafty too - we spent last sunday threading cranberries and popcorn for a garland for our tree.

Happy Holidays!

Fall Harvest Party

Some people have baby showers. We have wine tasting parties with friends. With local cheeses from Murray's, a good selection of right and left bank wines from Bordeaux, Keely's homemade butternut and acorn squash soup, pumpkin risotto, roasted veggies, pumpkin pie, and pumpkin cheesecake among other sundries, you can see why we called it a Harvest Party instead of a baby party. This was a celebration of Keely and the large bump in her belly as well as the last fall party before the holidays over take us all. Local family and our close friends showed on a day with blue skies and colored leaves.

How we managed to cram 13 people into our little living room space is beyond me. Especially since we had a cradle taking up wall space for the first few hours. The cradle was quickly filled with onesies, blankets, and stuffed animals. Also, I forgot to take any photos until the end of the night, so please pardon the poor quality.

Jack's bot fly story in action

Allen ponders which bottle to try next.
Should it be the 1995 St. Julien, or the Shiraz from down under?

Once Dan and Mike got started on sports, well,
let's just say they had their own party.



To the Oona!

After everyone left and we successfully convinced ourselves to leave clean-up 'til morning while Tucker and Keel tried out the new stroller. I can safely say the Bugaboo is the new favorite toy in the house. We've been thinking about sneaking out at night to push it around Campwoods in the dark. I don't really want to be caught pushing a luxury stroller around with our cat in it, but Keel can't wait much longer.

Halloweeeeen

Given all the hullabaloo going on right now, we took the losers' way out of Halloween this year and skipped all parties and didn't even get properly dressed up. You probably know this is Keely's favorite holiday of the year, so it was a big deal to skip it. We also had a good excuse. We now live in a place where the kids actually come out expecting mountains of candy. So, we stayed home, carved some pumpkins, and hid behind the front door with a big bowl of candy until the little ones rang the doorbell.
I only managed to snap pictures of a couple trick or treaters, but they were cute. We had gangsters, geisha's, princesses (obviously), clowns, and many more. It was also a good night to reconnect with neighbors. All the parents with small children came around. And once the trick or treaters were mostly done (well after dark), we shared dinner with our close neighbors, Mike and Rene.

Some recent pics of the house:

Keely's pumpkin art

Trick or Treat!

Also, our new stove is doing it's job. The amazing feat of keeping the whole house toasty without turning on any of the other heat sources. Hopefully this will keep the bills down this winter. That and all the other insulating winterizing I'm doing around doors and windows and in the basement.

The newly decorated entry space with ventless natural gas stove.