maybe she’s not so sure about that?

{onesie and “clown pants” (as dubbed by Daddy) both from the lovely Sarah G. — The onesie was made by the fine folks at craftster.org and found at the Boston Bazaar Bizarre (which just so happens to be having a SUMMER show this year, on August 21st. Sure to be totally awesome.)}

I don’t have a lot of time, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. A list will do!

1. turns out I love being a mama. YAY! (not that I doubted that I would, but I’m pretty glad that I do.)

2. a tree fell in our backyard 2 nights ago. crazy, right?

3. my aunt moved her shop to an amazing new space! It’s called Ikonium Studio and it’s at 69 Church Street in Lenox, MA — Go visit! There you will find contemporary and traditional Turkish and American fiber art and craft, amazing Turkish rugs, as well as some fantastic paintings and a few things made by other crafty folks and yours truly.

4. I’m doing a show in 2  weeks! I haven’t really gotten back to work yet (still resisting, enjoying “maternity leave”!) but I have to. Today. The show is sponsored by BerkshireMade; Handmade in the Park, downtown Lee, MA, Saturday August 7, 10am – 4pm.

5. tomatoes! summer! swimming!

6. I am told our miss Natalie is very “advanced” — large for her age (10 weeks!), but also strong, smiley from day one and super talkative for weeks now. Also sleeping a lot, but I wont get into that, for fear of being stoned by other sleep-deprived mamas.

7. did I mention summer? With that comes weddings (that we have missed, boo!) and visits from friends and family, barbecues, birthdays of some of my favorite people, craft fairs (I’m only doing one, but you better be visiting lots!), farmer’s markets, tag sales (no, haven’t been to any, but we will), vacations (maybe next year?), and the Berkshire Fringe (starts next week!)!

Yay, Summer!

hello from Natalie-land!
All is well here! She is 7 weeks old today! I can hardly believe it. Our darling daughter sleeps At NIGHT (therefore not much during the day, but we can’t really complain about that), smiles so much and is just so beautiful and lovely, even when she’s crying, which is thankfully not that often.
It’s late-ish in the day, and that means I’m super tired… but I promise someday I will be back with more words. For today, I think all I can muster is a photo:

Earlier today, rockin’ the Moby Wrap.

I just had to pop in and finally announce the arrival of our daughter, Natalie May Coyle!
She came into the wold with an early morning waterbirth at home, with the help of an amazing team of midwives and friends, last Wednesday May 12th at 1:23 am. She has sparkly big eyes and her papa’s brown hair; 8lbs 6oz, 22 inches. She was 13 days late, and is already surprising us with smiles and coos, and gazing back at us from her first moments.

We are now spending our days and sleepless nights gazing at the adorableness of this starry-eyed little one, mostly in disbelief, really, that we created her. I’m sure I’ll be back soon enough with more stories; I promise I will share some of the story of her birth eventually, which was definitely the most amazing, intense, challenging and profound experience of my life. I must say that I am so beyond happy that we chose to have her at home, and I think a tub full of warm water is a wonderful place to come into the world.

(we're so in love with this hat from Cloo Gifts Etsy shop)

With lots of blissed out love,
xoxo
Laurie

needing some distractions…

today is our “due date” — but no real signs of this baby coming our way soon, so I’ve decided I need a little distraction, and I also decided it needs to be positive and send goodness into the universe, so here’s a little grateful list for today, Thursday April 29, 2010, in no particular order:

• the fact that I am about to become a Mama any day now

• having had a healthy and easy pregnancy, the prospect of a healthy and easy birth

• a gorgeous new nursery and new studio, all ready and waiting to be used

• a green couch!

• the beautiful washer and dryer in our new basement bathroom (and the washer works on hot AND cold water!)

• birds, bears, bunnies and other creatures of spring

• leaves on the trees, even tiny ones

• our Curly Willow tree that has grown from a twig to a 15-foot tree in 4 years

• daffodil bouquets from my hubby

• offers for distraction and fun from friends

• HappyDog’s unbridled passion for squeaky toys

• sea-salt brownies (I KNOW, right?)

• pre-sliced mangoes and pineapple

• imagining my hubby as a papa — and all the joy he will bring to this little one’s life

• imagining our HappyDog and the little one as best friends; we imagine it is inevitable.

I also want to thank you for holding us in your thoughts today, on our official due date, and for hanging in there with us as we stay patient and wait for the little one to decide when she (or he!) is ready to greet the world. We will of course keep you updated, and will post something here soon after the birth. {But, you know, not too soon. We are planning to take it easy and revel in the beauty of this new life; thanks, I knew you’d understand}

Just in case you were wondering….

36 weeks & 4 days — due April 29; we all can’t wait to meet this (not-so-little) little bean!

Also, it is spring!

That’s my very first crocus of the year! We planted these bulbs last fall during the big wall-building/porch renovation project, and it seems they like it here. Spring is a little later to arrive here up on the mountain, but it’s happening!

Not like you wouldn’t have guessed, but I’m taking a little break from all things web-related. I’m also going to be putting my Etsy shop in vacation mode in the next day or two (meaning it’s closed to new orders, but you can still see things that have been sold, contact me, etc., and you can sign up to be notified when it re-opens), and I’m not sure if I’ll re-activate it before the baby bean is born or not. We’re in the middle of project basement right now, and my entire studio is going to be moving down there in the next week. Since I probably won’t know where anything is or have access to everything for a while, I figured it’d be best to put the shop on hold for a while.

So, if you have any shopping you’ve been meaning to do in the Laurie Coyle Designs Etsy shop, now’s the time to do it! If you order something in the next few days I’ll be sure to include a super special free gift, too! yippee!

As for this blog, I’m just going to let myself off the hook, ok? I miss you, but I also feel bad when I don’t post, and that’s just no good for either of us. So I’m here to officially say that until I get into a routine with the little one, I’ll probalby not be here much. There may be no noticeable difference from the current infrequency, but who knows. I totally love you, though, and appreciate all of your encouragement and kind words and your interest in my work (and life!). It really means a lot to me, and I’ll be sure to keep you updated on baby-progress, as well as any new work that comes out of the new studio. I’m also planning a big before-and-after reveal of the basement space, but the project is definitely not done. Not quite yet. So until then…

xoxox

She’s been kicking up a storm these days! She was particularly active this morning during an acupuncture treatment. Wonder if I was just noticing it more because I was lying quietly, or maybe she just really liked it?

taken with my iPhone yesterday, Jan. 9th, just over 24 weeks. It was maybe 13 degrees?

No, my head isn’t really that small… but my belly is indeed getting increasingly larger, which is kind of fun. I’m feeling lots of kicks and punches, too. It’s still difficult to feel it from the outside, but I get to feel it myself through most of the day and especially when I’m trying to fall asleep.

In other news, I’ll be revealing the winner of the calendar giveaway tomorrow! See you then.

{I have been secretly hoping to use this image (from the best ever cake-tastic website Cakewrecks) for this exact post for my whole pregnancy.}

It’s true, we’re having a girl!

…Well, as long as the ultrasound tech’s “guess” is right. We’ve had that guess twice now from two different trained professionals, so we’re going with it. Neither said they were 100% sure, because the little bean wouldn’t stay still long enough to get a “good look” — so we have a hyperactive girl! The photo they printed for us today looks pretty right-on, according to all the google-ing I did today. So… we’re making it official:

“it a gril!”

This was today, at almost 22 weeks (5.5 months).