Zakka: The Art of Handmade
I talked to my sister about my neglected blog at Christmas. She made a good point…”just put up pictures since your blog is called snapshots of your life.” So in the times when I don’t have the time to write I will share photos. We definitely have enough of them. I love this photo of Corin and his grandfather (Tim McLaughlin). It is just…special.
In Japanese one meaning for the word zakka (according to my close friend wikipedia) is translated as “the art of seeing the savvy in the ordinary and mundane” it is also reffers to ” everything and anything that improves your home, life and outlook.” I stumbled across this word while searching for Japanese craft books. Here is an example of one of the books I would love to purchase someday if I can find a cost effective way of shipping it from Japan to the US.
I found this post on a new blog I discovered chubbyhobby
I so want the books she has, especially the one about sewing.
I have many projects I would like to start but haven’t started yet…don’t know why I don’t have time. I figure I will combine my art in with my posts about being a mom of three amazing children. On that note we tried to feed the twins today, it was a total failure but highly entertaining. They made hideous faces and spit everything out of their mouths. I was hoping to get some relief from breastfeeding two but looks like I will have to wait on that. Here are some images of the things I have been putting around my house. I don’t think they are officially zakka yet but they improve my home so maybe they qualify.
I found glass apple juice bottles from Martinelli’s and made them in to vases.
I knit this hat for Corin I had great aspirations for his Halloween costume but being as the twins had a doctor’s appointment the same day I didn’t get everything accomplished. I love the hat though.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Here is the Christmas card that I am trying to get out. I will be better next year I promise.
1/22/2009
This morning Corin was commemorating the anniversary of his birth by crawling around the house shrieking with delight. I cannot believe he is one year old! Yesterday he started repeating (or trying to) words that I would ask him to say. He managed “mama” “dada” “nana” (banana) “baa” (ball) and “ama” (grandma?). Corin is getting very good at walking but most of the time he chooses to crawl.
He has been devoting more time in perfecting his ability to climb. He can now climb into the tub and believe me that is impressive when you consider that the rim of the tub is about an inch above his bellybutton. He hooks his foot over the side and then pulls himself up on the rim, shifts his weight and lowers his foot into the tub. My emotional response to it teeters back and forth between fear and pride.
I have enjoyed this year more than I could ever express, Corin is a total delight. His laughter and rambunctiously-sweet personality makes every day a joy.
The last few days Corin has been pushing every boundary we have put into place. If he throws his food on the floor and I say “no!” He looks at me and very slowly lifts food off the tray and then drops it on the floor. It is a fascinating thing to watch a small child discover the world one “no!” at a time.
We are having a birthday party, a couple weeks late, for Corin and another little boy Jaron. The party is on February 7th. Jaron turns one on February 14th. The party will be themed Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I am excited to have Becky Ferreira (Jaron’s Mom) to help me plan the party.
On a non-baby topic, I have taken up knitting. I started with simple things like hats and worked my way up to fingerless gloves. I really enjoy the versatility of knitting and am looking forward to more complicated projects like socks, and maybe some day even a garment. I have been using a wonderful beta site ravelry.com . It has hundreds of thousands of free patterns and is set up to let you keep track of your needles and projects. It has been helpful to have pictures and records of the projects I have given away.
I will post pictures of Corin and Jaron’s Birthday party after the fact. For now here is an invitation. Come if you can!
So yesterday we took some 9 month photos of Corin and 12 month photos of his friend Hudson Geer. It was quite an adventure trying to get the two babies to smile. So with me, Amy (Hudson’s Mom) and Hudson’s Grandma making cooing noises, jumping up and down, and throwing our hands out and around, we were a sight to be seen. I will post some more pictures of both the boys a little later but here are some photos of Corin…enjoy.
Corin is now 6 months old and growing fast. He is wearing 9 months clothes and growing out of them quickly. I will soon be pulling out the 12 month outfits even though he isn’t even close to a year old. The last few months have flown by with the fast paced summer life up here at Hume and the several visits away from Hume. I have so enjoyed watching Corin grow and learn about the world. He seems to have an imagination already! I will give him some toys and set to cleaning the kitchen and soon I hear him babbling away. He will be talking very quickly to whatever he is playing with. It is so much fun to watch! Corin is hopping up on his knees and rocking back and forth. I don’t know how much longer until he crawls but I am told that is an integral part of crawling. Chester and I did a photo shoot of Corin yesterday and I posted the photos to my gallery you will see the link along the side titled 6 Months or you can just click on the link I will leave below. I hope you enjoy them. I will try to post more in the coming months… Will things ever slow down?
I have started posting photos to elisajoy.com/photos you can see more pictures of Corin on his tummy and you can see pictures of our trip to San Diego. Here is the link for the San Diego pictures.
I also put together a short film for your enjoyment. Well perhaps film is to suave a name for what I created. It is titled Lord of the Dance…er copyright infringement…Corin: Lord of the Dance…yes much better. I hope you enjoy it. Please note this movie was recorded by my laptop, thus the poor quality. Chester and I promise a sequel using better equipment and more camera angles.
It has been a while since I have posted and Corin is growing quickly. Yesterday he rolled from his tummy to his back and he did it several more times today. He is a very happy baby out kitchen is filled with happy squawks and squeaks every morning. After watching Corin’s friend Jaron do so well at tummy time I was inspired to give Corin more time on his stomach. Here are some fun pictures of his tummy time.
Corin also has several friends who he has “played” (layed next to) with recently. Peter, Hudson, and Jaron all who live in our neighborhood. Hudson Geer came over the other day, him and Corin just looked at eachother. It was cute.
Peter Carey is another friend of Corin’s who has come over several times. He is almost twelve months old and is crawling around.
I will soon have pictures of Corin and Jaron to post.
I gave Corin a bath the other day, not in the bath like we normally do but in the kitchen sink. He looked like an old man in a sauna or hot tub…I think this was the first time he stayed still for longer than a minute.
Here are some more fun photos from the last month. Corin will be four months next Thursday on the 22nd. We will have his four month apointment and then Corin and I will fly to San Diego.
Hanging out with Dad and watching Baby Einsteins with Mom…
Corin is ready to join a Hume Boy Band…
Here is a schedule of Corin’s moods…
Wakes up
Happy (talks laughs and plays with his giraffe)
Complacent (plays with his giraffe)
Tired (complaines to giraffe about how bad day is)
Takes a Nap…Wakes up and the cycle begins again.
Here is a video of Corin complaining to his stuffed giraffe (favorite toy at the moment)
WOW! I am so glad that I did not have twins. I am exhausted with just one. All of you mothers out there who did double duty I commend you! Corin is great, he laughed for the first time a few days ago and has not done it since. He was looking out the back window of our truck at the sun and laughed a “real” laugh…or as I like to call it a belly laugh. It was kind of like he chuckled, anyway he did it four or five times. Since then he has not laughed again I think he forgot how. I am anticipating him learning the skill once more so I can see many more baby laughs!
Chester is at an IT convention. While he has been gone it has been oh so exciting. Corin saved up all his BMs for the day after Chester left. He decided to make it easy on me and get it all over at once. One hundred baby wipes later, I was hoping that I would never have to change a poopy diaper again. They say it only gets worse!
Mumblings, and grumbling aside I am so happy to be a mom and I am enjoying Corin and his sweet spirit immensely. I love watching him discover the world, both the good and the bad. More soon…
