Anyone remember this piece? This is Swoops, aka The Magic Schoolbus. It has been languishing on my design wall (in its intended vertical orientation) since the summer of 2005. Pa The Tic.

Anyway, I have, with the help of Eric Maisel, art coach, come to a major conclusion: Not finishing my crap is *2* strikes against it. If I just finish the ratzenfratzen stuff, I might find that not everyone thinks it is the crap that I think it is. Better yet? Even if it turns out that my stuff really IS headed for tertiary treatment at the local sewage plant, at least it will be DONE AND OFF MY WALL. That, all by itself, would be a huge blessing.

Therefore, my art project of the week: I actually took Swoops down and worked on it, and PLAN to have it FINISHED (or at least ready for backing) by Wednesday noontime (so I can show it to someone that afternoon). My daughter, Dana, happened to be in the studio with me when swoops came off the design wall, and, much to my chagrin, she almost died of shock; I don't think she knew that things weren't up there permanently and COULD come down. This piece hasn't budged since before she was conceived, and here we just bought her first pair of Big Girl shoes for her playdate at the park today. Sigh.

No need to beat myself up for what I haven't gotten done before now though - I have learned those lessons, and punishing myself for not having learned them sooner is pointless. I am NOW working on getting this piece finished, and that feels great.

BTW - I opened Picassa to gather together my photos of finished work for my gallery page. It (depressingly) didn't take long. Some of the pictures are lousy, some pieces I just don't have pictures of, and, well, I just haven't finished that much work, obviously. So - I need to take some new pictures, juggle computers for lack of a connecting cable, and then I'll get back to you.

I know that folks have wanted a more recent picture of my girls, so here they are, Rowyn and Dana, at 11 months (less than three weeks ago). Dana's hair is still completely out of control, obviously. I keep hoping that it will grow out enough for me to tuck behind her ears, but her curls (not really evident here, as she needed a tubby in a *bad* way) kind of don't really take to 'tucking' very well. We've tried headbands (wound up around her neck - ack!), and barrettes sort of scare me since I got one stuck in my skull back in fourth grade (don't ask), so no go there. Elastics look too cute for words, and NO, I won't show you the pictures (at least not today). Suggestions welcome. Rowyn, true to form, has easy hair, even if it is getting in her eyes now. Go figure.

Dana Cordelia

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Originally uploaded by Bingham-McLaughlin.

Dana's nickname is Monkey, and boy o boy, has she earned it. It started out because she looked like a baby monkey when she was born and made really cute monkey noises, but now it is because she is full of mischief (don't let those baby blues fool you!)

She is an UBER drama queen, and makes a ruckus over darned near anything. A little smaller than her sister, she eats like a horse, trying to catch up. BTW - that is breast milk in the bottle - neither girl nurses very well, and we just haven't had the energy to work on it, so I am still pumping breast milk for them to take in bottles. At least this way Dad Kevin can feed them (like in the picture) and I can *sleep*!

Dana has a toy hippo, lots of dark hair, and a mighty fine set of lungs. Don't ask me how I know.... just trust me and everyone who lives within a 3-mile radius of our house.

Rowyn Eliza

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Originally uploaded by Bingham-McLaughlin.

This is one of our pair of much favored Pooh Suits. We .LIKE Pooh Suits, but we do NOT like Poo Pants. Understand?

Rowyn's nickname is Little Lady Love. She finds that many things offend her delicate sensibilities, including her own sneezes. She makes the most lovely moue of distate, sighs in exasperation, and even has her very own demure cry of outrage. Since she is such a Princess and the Pea type (although very easy going, in general) she got Froggy for a friend (Frog Prince, ok? Not much sleep, ok????)

Forggy is about 4 inches long, if you want scale. This picture was taken when she was about 4-5 weeks old, but she looks just the same, just bigger - about 10 lbs now!

Pictures of Babies, as promised

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Originally uploaded by Bingham-McLaughlin.

Me, April 13, 2006. Huge, as you can see. I went in for a regular OB appointment only to find out that -wham- I had developed preeclampsia, and needed to have a C-section that very day. The girls were delivered at 11 PM that night.

The blue belt shows the contraction monitor, and pink belts show the girls's heart rates - Beck/Rowyn on the bottom, and Call/Dana on the top.

See the stretch marks? Tip of the iceberg!