Bonjour Miss Mimi!

A week ago, we welcomed a baby girl into the world. Mimi Angeline French. Firstly, SHE is a SHE! and we were thinking we probably were having a boy. And secondly, she shows no signs of Down Syndrome...which we were sure "he" had.

We arrived at the hospital last Thursday morning for a planned c-section. My belly had remained rather small til the end... so it felt strange to walk into registration saying I was having a c-section. I thought because of the circumstances about our baby, there would be a stressful energy at the delivery. It was so peaceful in actuality. The doctor (Kara Jones- who had delivered Max) giving me a kiss and hug before we walked down the hall to the operating room...and none of the nurses seeming phased by Down Syndrome at all. Everyone seemed excited just to find out if we were having a boy or a girl.



When they pulled the baby out they held her over the curtain for me to see and the baby was tiny and screaming...they told me it was a girl and I just cried. The nurses and NICU nurse and doctor, said, "Maggie, she shows no signs of Down Syndrome at all." She kept crying...the most girly cry!



The staff was amazing. Allowing me to hold her as they sewed up my tummy, allowing her to go to the recovery room with me, and everyone, and I mean everyone saying how pretty she was, and everyone calling her "peanut." (she was 6 lbs and 19.5 inches tall at delivery)



It is fantastic to have a little girl. We had picked the name "Mimi Angeline" (Angeline after my Godmother)- but didn't think we'd really have the opportunity to use it. She is SO tiny, so lovely, curled up in a little ball, I carry her around the house like a tiny doll. She looks at Max like she can't wait to do kid things with him, and she loves me to whisper sweet things in her ear.

I had hardly any girl clothes, hardly any girl anything...but people have brought us things. Suddenly the house has bits of pink everywhere...and it seems the house is glowing.



Each day I realize what it will mean to have a girl, and it feels like I have the best of both worlds with my little boy and little girl. I am tired, exhausted, and so happy too. and thrilled. beyond belief.

Great French Expectations

With just weeks (2 or 3?!) to spare, we are so excited to announce that we are expecting a new French baby!



Babies arrive when they are meant too, and this year that meant being pregnant nearly the whole time that Matt was out of work. We spent a lot of time together as a family, and have welcomed autumn with Matt's new job.

Being 37, we opted to meet with Maternal Fetal Medicine (REALLY I just wanted to see the 4D ultrasound!). We were rather stunned to learn in May that our baby had several markers for Down Syndrome. heart spot and intestinal spot and the whopper, an absent nasal bone at 13.5 weeks- reported in the Lancet as being a significant marker for Down Syndrome and a nearly diagnostic sign of a chromosomal abnormality.

Needless to say, it was quite alarming, and worrisome too. However, we opted out of going through with a diagnostic amnio- after getting philosophical- and prepared ourselves for some long and hard months of waiting it out. We read lots of books about Down Syndrome, and are so ready and excited to meet our baby who, for the last five months has been carrying an impressive 1 in 2 risk of DS. Since our first son Max was a "typical" infant, we find ourselves preparing for the other 50%, so that we are educated enough to give our baby absolutely the best care whatever the outcome.

As the last few months of the pregnancy have unrolled themselves - through the heat of summer (the hottest summer ever on record), an exhaustive job search (500 people applied for my husbands training class which had openings for only 14), a car that broke down, health issues on my part, and lots of other stresses, our baby has fallen into the 19nth percentile for growth with legs now measuring 2 or 3 weeks behind- yet another sign of this T21 chromosomal abnormality.

As we prepare for the birth of our sweet little love, I hunt for tiny little pants, clean the house, thank God for our house, get together with kind and caring friends, play trains, play doh, co-op together at Max's preschool, sleep, nap, roll myself in and out of the car, eat lots of high protein Chobani yogurt, occasionally have a panic attack, thank God we live 5 minutes from a Level 3 NICU, do kick counts every two hours, and register for things like The Nap Nanny, the crawl ball, the Crib Wedge, tummy time mats, and a swing that really reclines. I've packed my hospital bag with copies of the Down Syndrome New Parents Guide, the tiniest clothes I could find (for boys and girls, since we don't know!!!), a big brother shirt for Max from etsy, an elegant robe for me (thank you Mom!), toys for Max to play with, phone numbers, and soft pillows and an extra blanket.

I will never ever for the REST OF MY LIFE! forget the trials and tribulations of this last year. But now a new life is about to arrive! Someone extra special...right when we need something extra special to warm our hearts. As each day comes to a tired close, and we become nearer and nearer to our planned delivery date- I am reminded of the preciousness that's about to be. When our little world will stand still in absolute awe and amazement once again. Nothing could be more bittersweet.

A New Library, with Art by my friend Happy Silence

Manheim Township got a new public library, and in it's cool interior is art by my good friend Maggie Mowery of Happy Silence.

I am excited to have another library to go to. It is roomy and designed in a family friendly way, which will be nice for us. I think they need more books, so Pennsylvania please reconsider library budget cuts. What a cool building though. Lancaster city could use some funds to upgrade the city library too...the most frequented destination in the city.





Congrats to Maggie, your art looks so good here. I hope it stays up for a long while. Max and I have been twice, and found more Maggie Mowery pieces the second time...a nice surprise:-) XO

I'm so inspired by them...I could watch them ALL Day....

Fall is HERE!

the too-heavy-to-move stump thing has been repainted, in time to welcome fall guests...

My fall line is now at the My Aunt Debbie Shop on Queen Street, Lancaster...here's Debbie...

and Max is back at school and loving it...He attends the Lancaster Cooperative School at the Unitarian church...this progressive preschool has been around for decades at this location in the city of Lancaster, and it's been a wonderful sense of community for us.


Jennifer visited from Iowa, it was great to see her...

more special news soon...!

Bon Jour and Goodbye July

French Toast at the French House...on the china my father sent my Grandmother in a barrel from Vietnam, and not a single piece broke...

What the garden has produced so far! delicious but pitiful!

A smiling French boy on a Pennsylvania train ride...at Knoebels...

Happy times, hot days...


Cheers:-)

Maggie French Accessories now at the My Aunt Debbie Boutique at Mommalicious

It's so hot i'm not sure what to do with myself, but one thing is for sure, I was happy to head downtown today to the torquise doors of Mommalicious and My Aunt Debbie.

Maggie French Accessories (pins/headbands/and my famous hairclips) all made from rare British Wensleydale wool are now available at the My Aunt Debbie shop (90% of the pieces for sale are by local Lancaster artists, including Debbie Serdy herself).

Above is Debbie, and below are examples of her endless creative imagination...


created in her local studio, often with local quirky found objects...

i loved these satchet pairs from Ana Apple- especially this London/France/Underpants one:-)

and these quirky Marley dolls wih yarn hair...

this picture below is sweet to me, because behind my flowers on the counter, I see a skeleton t-shirt by my buddy Maggie Mowery of Happy Silence, paired with a
Debbie Serdy collar necklace- we're all Lancaster art friends, so that makes me smile.

Visit the shop to see fantastic vintage furniture vignettes too, to get you in a creative mood. This is one of the best little shops in Lancaster and my personal favorite.

Hi Jul-Y

at our downtown Lancaster library- Max loves Corduroy, so he couldn't believe we found the Corduroy DVD.
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at Cherry Hill Orchards...before we filled our cooler full of fruit and veg...

downtown again for First Friday with the lovely Opal:-)

Max, waiting for his friends to arrive at First Friday, in the Art Garden...doing an iCarly move....

June Buds

sweet play dates this summer, a busier boy...coloring, painting, cutting, chalking, swimming, talking, swinging, eating, singing, tea partying, reading, movie going, biking Max:-)

Crafts in the Park

Last weekend, I vended at Crafts in the Park in nearby Lititz, showing my new summertime hair things and pins made from British Wensleydale wool. It was the largest show I've done, with so many vendors set up amongst the trees. I borrowed a tent from my friend Jody, and my family helped me set up, and even took me to breakfast (sit down restaurant- how luxurious!) after getting my booth ready.

I just had to create a new sign for summer, reflective of the color of things cooking up in my kitchen studio. Using the rest of the felt, I made the banner. It's put together with glue! and it lasted! couldn't believe it. I reused my store display for the Lancaster Yarn Shop - the shutter with little torquise shutters on the sides, the top of my pot rack table (seen in the book, "1000 Ideas for Creative ReUse" published 2009) became my upper tabletop display, and the little magnet house I created for the Square One Coffee Indie Arts show turned into a brooch holder. I loved how everything came together and reunited at least a little of my old painting with my new accessories.

Here's my little famous hair clips, bigger now and all dolled up with felty balls in the centers, some with beads.

As my tradition now before shows, I went around the park looking for my favorite vendors- selling the things I think are coolest. I easily spotted the booth of Michelle McGinn from across the way, and fell in love with her wood paintings, all hung on a vintage door. Everything was in similar colors to my work...it would have been fun to be set up closer together.

I ended up taking home a precious painting of hers, a mother bird feeding her two babies.

SWOON! A new headband Monsoon!

I can't believe it's June...so much has been going on here, and the time is flying. I finished a month of freelance work for my old company, working while Max was still in school.
Now he's out and I'm done, but I realized that I have the Lititz Craft Show coming up on Saturday June 12. It's been very busy for me personally on the home front(stop by my booth and you'll see why!)...and so this past week I dived into some new pieces.
I am so happy with these new headbands, and having so much fun with them. But like always, I just get arty and obsessed and can't stop cooking them up.
I've been back and forth to Flying Fibers this week, buying my Wensleydale wool and other bits and pieces.
Low and behold I've already sold one...and just hours after it was purchased, it went off to a wedding paired with...



this gorgeous dress from Monsoon! (photos by Irina Lawrence)
Yes, yes, it's true. This sweet girl here in Pennsylvania just combined my 100% British Wensleydale wool headband with her own fantastic dress from the British retailer! Naturally:-) It makes me want to swoon!

Get your bold headband fix next Saturday in Lititz Springs Park. See you then! XO

Best of May

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus

to celebrate the end of school we took Max to the circus today.
Here he is with Sergey Makarov, Leader of the Makarov high wire troupe from Russia. He signed Max's sword:-)