I keep thinking of snippets of things that I could post, but nothing really seems to be worthy of a whole post. I need to get over that and write what I'm thinking, even if it is only a few sentences. (I should probably realize that being brief isn't a problem...)
Highlights from the last 10 days:
1 - Heather's favorite phrase is absolutely "by myself". She would do EVERYTHING by herself if she could and we usually give her a chance to try whenever time allows. She can (generally) put on her coat, put on her shoes, get out a bib and put it on, eat a banana or orange and climb onto the coffee table. 8-|
Most of these efforts usually involve a little assistance (starting the banana peel, starting the zipper, etc) and some are not ideal activities, but life with a two-year old seems to involve finding the right balance between letting her have some freedom (walking on the inside of the sidewalk without holding our hand) and providing boundaries (not letting her walk on the curb along the street). No doubt it is entertaining and exhausting, especially when you're 7 months pregnant.
2 - Some actual, visible progress has been achieved on my office. The closet is as empty as its going to get, some shelves are empty, one doll house has vacated the room and there is less stuff. A whole trash bag has been filled, as well as a number of recycling bags and a box for donation. The beginning of Saturday was spent cleaning our room and dressing room, since I knew some of my stuff was headed for those rooms and they both really needed a good cleaning. My office/the baby's room will need a really good cleaning when the organizing process is done, but for now I'm just cleaning things as I encounter them or remove them to other parts of the house. I don't see much point in trying to dust and mop the whole room when there is still "stuff" sitting all over.
If anyone has any great tips for storing a fabric stash, displaying old toys, washing musty doll clothes or otherwise dealing with "stuff" from the past I'm all ears. I think I'm doing well at letting go of a lot and "giving up" on projects that haven't gotten done in 5 years of having the materials, but I'm too sentimental to chuck it all. :-)
3 - Knitting update:
Heather's sweater is done. I found great buttons and it washed beautifully. I think it could have been a little longer, considering how much extra width there is, but it definitely has a lot of room to grow for the fall. She wore it all day Saturday without complaint and remembered that mommy made it all but one time. (I admit, it can be hard to remember which sweater's were made by mommy and which ones were made by nana...even daddy forgets. ;-)
On a whim, I made a granny square on Wednesday night. A ravelry friend had a few really pretty crocheted squares in her favorites, and the patterns were free, and I have leftover yarn from Samus. So I made one while we watched LOST and some other TV. I'm pondering a baby blanket, although the wool for Samus isn't machine washable and the one I made is probably too "open" for a baby blanket. The idea of using the pattern with sock yarn and a smaller hook is stewing in my head. But I really should make my future son a coming home hat first since Heather had one of those. It's only fair!
The cardigan and vest I mentioned in my last post are both progressing. I've finished the back of the cardigan and 2/3rds of the left front. I have to wind more yarn before I can continue. I've started the waist decreases on the vest. It is 200ish stitches around, so I only get about an inch or so knit in a day of bus commuting. Even though it will require more finishing later, the cardigan feels faster since I can finish whole pieces in a few days.
4 - I'll be 32 weeks pregnant on Wednesday.
Seriously?!?! I guess we're in okay shape. There are some things that we still need, but if push came to shove buying some diapers and setting up the bassinet, pack'n'play and infant car seat are the only things that *have* to be done before baby comes home. The rest are things that we could improvise around or get before too long. Food, diapers, clothes, a car seat and a place to sleep are really the basic necessities.
We did meet with a doula this weekend, and I have vague notions of what I'd like to purchase before the furniture is delivered, but we are so incredibly laid back this time it is a little scary. :-) Oh, and choosing a name would probably be a good idea, too...
5 - Congrats to blogless Jen on the birth of her son William this morning! I suppose his arrival just pushes the rest of us closer to our turn in the queue!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Knitting Update
For those curious, last weekend at the cabin was fabulous. The weather was sunny and mild (not that I left the cabin property all weekend, but I did go outside a few times), the friendship and laughs were wonderful and I look forward to doing the whole thing again. Yes, it was even worth a day of illness after I got home - especially since I got off relatively easy on that front.
Yarn related accomplishments from the weekend:
- I finally mended my winter gloves which had developed two small holes.
- I seamed up Samus and knit an i-cord edge all the way around. It still needs a semi-aggressive blocking and a zipper, but I can't install the zipper until I can put it on my post-partum body. So I will be packing it away until this fall.
- I swatched two of the yarns I bought at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival for future upcoming projects.
- I organized the completed blocks of my Babette blanket and wove in some of the ends.
- I knit the majority of a new sweater for Heather. I had about 3 inches of yoke done when I was picked up Friday morning and when I came home on Sunday I had about 15 rows left to finish the second sleeve. I finished that and the button band this week, so all that remains is to weave in ends, find buttons and block it. Pictures soon.
Given my recent progress, I think I'm doing pretty well on my 2009 NaKnitSweMoDo goals
"1 - I will focus my 2009 knitting energy on 12 sweaters, tops and vests."
I've got 3 items completed or nearly completed - Amelia, Heather's yoke sweater and Samus (ravelry links) - which I think is pretty good for mid-March. I've made some Babette progress, too, which I'm willing to count as one of the 12 if I can reconnect with it and finish.
I realize that my knitting mojo is going to take a nosedive in two months, but I'm trying to take advantage of it while its still going strong!
The two swatches I made over the weekend will inform my next two projects - a cardigan and a vest. I admit to being a little more excited about the cardigan since I'll at least be able to try that on for length. The vest is a little more daunting since the only thing I'll be able to do in the short term is hold it up to other things that fit pre-pregnancy. And also, I can't find a pattern that is quite what I want, so a lot of it is going to have to be worked out as I go along using a published pattern as a (very) rough guide.
Yarn related accomplishments from the weekend:
- I finally mended my winter gloves which had developed two small holes.
- I seamed up Samus and knit an i-cord edge all the way around. It still needs a semi-aggressive blocking and a zipper, but I can't install the zipper until I can put it on my post-partum body. So I will be packing it away until this fall.
- I swatched two of the yarns I bought at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival for future upcoming projects.
- I organized the completed blocks of my Babette blanket and wove in some of the ends.
- I knit the majority of a new sweater for Heather. I had about 3 inches of yoke done when I was picked up Friday morning and when I came home on Sunday I had about 15 rows left to finish the second sleeve. I finished that and the button band this week, so all that remains is to weave in ends, find buttons and block it. Pictures soon.
Given my recent progress, I think I'm doing pretty well on my 2009 NaKnitSweMoDo goals
"1 - I will focus my 2009 knitting energy on 12 sweaters, tops and vests."
I've got 3 items completed or nearly completed - Amelia, Heather's yoke sweater and Samus (ravelry links) - which I think is pretty good for mid-March. I've made some Babette progress, too, which I'm willing to count as one of the 12 if I can reconnect with it and finish.
I realize that my knitting mojo is going to take a nosedive in two months, but I'm trying to take advantage of it while its still going strong!
The two swatches I made over the weekend will inform my next two projects - a cardigan and a vest. I admit to being a little more excited about the cardigan since I'll at least be able to try that on for length. The vest is a little more daunting since the only thing I'll be able to do in the short term is hold it up to other things that fit pre-pregnancy. And also, I can't find a pattern that is quite what I want, so a lot of it is going to have to be worked out as I go along using a published pattern as a (very) rough guide.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Dreams
As a parent of a baby and later a toddler, you spend a lot of time wondering what is going on in their heads. Do they dream? Do they understand the question? What train of thought led them to remember someone they saw a few weeks ago? What is the obsession with ravioli? :-)
Well, I think one question has been answered for us. There is no doubt in my mind as of this morning that Heather dreams.
Last night about 1am she started whining and calling out for "mommy". We waited, and after about 60 seconds she was quiet again. It is moments like those that you wonder if she was awake and upset, and managed to settle herself down again or if it was just a dream.
At 6:40am, while I was between alarm snoozes and trying to wake myself up, she began calling for "my kangaroo, my kangaroo, my kangaroo"... Considering that she doesn't have a kangaroo in her crib or any toy kangaroo anywhere in the house, I'm pretty confident that she was dreaming. :-)
Well, I think one question has been answered for us. There is no doubt in my mind as of this morning that Heather dreams.
Last night about 1am she started whining and calling out for "mommy". We waited, and after about 60 seconds she was quiet again. It is moments like those that you wonder if she was awake and upset, and managed to settle herself down again or if it was just a dream.
At 6:40am, while I was between alarm snoozes and trying to wake myself up, she began calling for "my kangaroo, my kangaroo, my kangaroo"... Considering that she doesn't have a kangaroo in her crib or any toy kangaroo anywhere in the house, I'm pretty confident that she was dreaming. :-)
Monday, March 02, 2009
Pronouns
Heather seems to have figured them out this week. Certainly, as a 2 year old, her sentence structure isn't perfect (and it's pretty cute when its not!), but we noticed this week that she's starting to replace names with pronouns. Many uses of Heather have been replaced with me, my and I. And many uses of mommy and daddy have been replaced with you and your. It's pretty amazing how suddenly it has "clicked".
As I think I've mentioned, she's been speaking in longer sentences for a few months now. We've loved listening to her progress and she really is communicating well. But a few weeks ago R and I realized that we were spending a lot of time artificially speaking in the third person. I would say "Mommy is getting milk for Heather" instead of "I am getting milk for you", etc. I think we were initially doing it to make sure that she knew her name and our names, as well as a way of making ourselves very clear. When there are multiple people in the room, pronouns can be confusing, even for adults. :-)
So we've gradually been changing the way we speak. I don't know if her speech change is a result or a coincidence, but either way it is very cute.
Overall, except for occassional bouts of toddler stubborn-ness, she's not making me feel *too* worried about having 2 kids under 3. I know that its going to be exhausting no matter what, but she's not giving me that "I can barely handle one, what are we going to do with TWO" kind of feeling that I had back when we first talked about having another. I'm sure in two weeks she'll go through a phase that makes me want to pull out my hair. But at the moment *knock on wood* she's an extremely pleasant child who's only tiring request is the need to be rocked before bed.
More later about Franklin and fun with my friends!
As I think I've mentioned, she's been speaking in longer sentences for a few months now. We've loved listening to her progress and she really is communicating well. But a few weeks ago R and I realized that we were spending a lot of time artificially speaking in the third person. I would say "Mommy is getting milk for Heather" instead of "I am getting milk for you", etc. I think we were initially doing it to make sure that she knew her name and our names, as well as a way of making ourselves very clear. When there are multiple people in the room, pronouns can be confusing, even for adults. :-)
So we've gradually been changing the way we speak. I don't know if her speech change is a result or a coincidence, but either way it is very cute.
Overall, except for occassional bouts of toddler stubborn-ness, she's not making me feel *too* worried about having 2 kids under 3. I know that its going to be exhausting no matter what, but she's not giving me that "I can barely handle one, what are we going to do with TWO" kind of feeling that I had back when we first talked about having another. I'm sure in two weeks she'll go through a phase that makes me want to pull out my hair. But at the moment *knock on wood* she's an extremely pleasant child who's only tiring request is the need to be rocked before bed.
More later about Franklin and fun with my friends!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Various
I feel like I've been thinking about blogging for the past week, but I haven't sat down to actually do it. I was barely on my computer all weekend and there hasn't been a good combination of mild temperatures + partial sun + free time for photography of yarn or projects. I also still haven't gotten back to the birthday party pictures. (I had a bunch open in Photoshop ready for editing when my computer froze up and had to be rebooted. :-( I haven't found the energy to go through the pictures again and most need some editing before uploading.)
So here are some random notes to try to free up my mind a little...
1 - Tomorrow is the beginning of the third trimester. Realizing that it was getting close, we bought baby furniture over the weekend. A crib and a double dresser. This makes it even more critical that I clean up my room so we actually have a place for these items.
I think we've realized that the dollhouses in my office need to go into storage for the forseeable future. At some point when we've finished the work on the 3rd floor and basement I can probably have a room that is all my own again...but until that happens or until Heather is old enough to play with the smaller dollhouse, there just isn't a good place for the dollhouses to live in "public".
2 - I'm trying to finish something at work that I really want to get off my plate and that is really mentally taxing to work on. I'm also pretty tired this week. This is not a great combination. I'm trying to use my iPod to help me through. As well as chocolate and coffee.
3 - I'm making good progress on Samus - a few more days and I should have the main body knitting finished. I'm also trying make myself put it down often enough that I can finish the baby knitting I need to do for next month.
4 - I had a great time at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. I took a crochet class from Robyn Chachula that was great. There were a few times that I felt a little slow since my crochet skills aren't awesome, but she was a great teacher and never made me feel like a slow student. I hope she'll be back in Pittsburgh again soon! Before her class I did my shopping at the Brooks Farm Yarn booth. I knew that I wanted to spend some of my shopping budget there and it seemed easier to do it before I had seen anything else in the market. I bought 3 skeins of Four Play (50% wool, 50% silk) in variegated medium blues. When planning my shopping I realized how little blue there is in my stash other than aqua, so I set out for a sweater's worth of blue.
Sunday, I took a great color class (color wheel, how to group colors, colors in different fibers) from Kate Lemmers. She could not have been more enthusiastic and it was a really fun class. I'm familiar with the color wheel, but she built on the knowledge I already had and expanded beyond the basics in a way that was really helpful. I think some of what I learned will even be useful when I get back to painting someday.
After class I had a lovely brunch with Anna and Lisa. They showed me their lovely purchases and talked about the vendors I had to visit after we ate. After lunch I browsed the rest of the market. I didn't have a ton of time, but I managed to take a look at each booth (I just skimmed the store booths unless they had something unique) and go back to the ones that really spoke to me. I bought yarn from Creatively Dyed Yarn, Highland Alpaca, Shadyside Farm Studio, Puckerbrush Farm and Star Weaver Farm. I was specifically looking for naturally colored alpaca and wool yarns, but I admit I was drawn in by some hand-dyed specimens as well. I also spent quite a bit of time looking at the yarn at Knitting Notions, but I needed to show some restraint somewhere and their website will be the first place I go when I have a little fun money to spend on yarn...whenever that might be.
My final class wasn't really what I expected. It should have been divided by experience level and it wasn't very well planned or organized. I'm not going to go into more detail publicly, but let's just say that I got a lot of knitting done during the 2 hour class... It raises my esteem even higher for some of the other teachers I've taken classes from.
5 - Saturday night I saw "Fiddler on the Roof" with Topol. I forgot how much I really love that show. I got chills during "Tradition" and I just really like the whole thing from beginning to end - the story, the songs, the characters. I laughed. I cried. I added the DVD and CD to my wish list last night!
And also, Topol was amazing. Not only did I think he was even better on stage than in the movie, but reading that he's now 73 just makes his performance that much more impressive. He did the movie in 1971...
6 - In my previous Heather updates I don't think I've talked about her favorite songs. There are lots of them! Sometimes she sings herself, sometimes she *requests* that we sing to her, sometimes she wants us all to sing together and sometimes she wants to see the YouTube videos of her favorite songs and we are instructed *not* to sing along. :-)
"Happy Birthday to You" has been a favorite for a few months now. We are instructed to sing to her, or a stuffed friend, or a person we recently sang to (Angelina, Andy, mommy, etc). Other current songs:
- The Wheels on the Bus
- The alphabet song (aka "ABCD's")
- Itsy Bitsy Spider
- Jumpin' Josie
- If You're Happy and You Know It
- Baa Baa Black Sheep
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- Uh-huh
- Go Away
- And she still sometimes requests Jingle Bells... :-)
So here are some random notes to try to free up my mind a little...
1 - Tomorrow is the beginning of the third trimester. Realizing that it was getting close, we bought baby furniture over the weekend. A crib and a double dresser. This makes it even more critical that I clean up my room so we actually have a place for these items.
I think we've realized that the dollhouses in my office need to go into storage for the forseeable future. At some point when we've finished the work on the 3rd floor and basement I can probably have a room that is all my own again...but until that happens or until Heather is old enough to play with the smaller dollhouse, there just isn't a good place for the dollhouses to live in "public".
2 - I'm trying to finish something at work that I really want to get off my plate and that is really mentally taxing to work on. I'm also pretty tired this week. This is not a great combination. I'm trying to use my iPod to help me through. As well as chocolate and coffee.
3 - I'm making good progress on Samus - a few more days and I should have the main body knitting finished. I'm also trying make myself put it down often enough that I can finish the baby knitting I need to do for next month.
4 - I had a great time at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. I took a crochet class from Robyn Chachula that was great. There were a few times that I felt a little slow since my crochet skills aren't awesome, but she was a great teacher and never made me feel like a slow student. I hope she'll be back in Pittsburgh again soon! Before her class I did my shopping at the Brooks Farm Yarn booth. I knew that I wanted to spend some of my shopping budget there and it seemed easier to do it before I had seen anything else in the market. I bought 3 skeins of Four Play (50% wool, 50% silk) in variegated medium blues. When planning my shopping I realized how little blue there is in my stash other than aqua, so I set out for a sweater's worth of blue.
Sunday, I took a great color class (color wheel, how to group colors, colors in different fibers) from Kate Lemmers. She could not have been more enthusiastic and it was a really fun class. I'm familiar with the color wheel, but she built on the knowledge I already had and expanded beyond the basics in a way that was really helpful. I think some of what I learned will even be useful when I get back to painting someday.
After class I had a lovely brunch with Anna and Lisa. They showed me their lovely purchases and talked about the vendors I had to visit after we ate. After lunch I browsed the rest of the market. I didn't have a ton of time, but I managed to take a look at each booth (I just skimmed the store booths unless they had something unique) and go back to the ones that really spoke to me. I bought yarn from Creatively Dyed Yarn, Highland Alpaca, Shadyside Farm Studio, Puckerbrush Farm and Star Weaver Farm. I was specifically looking for naturally colored alpaca and wool yarns, but I admit I was drawn in by some hand-dyed specimens as well. I also spent quite a bit of time looking at the yarn at Knitting Notions, but I needed to show some restraint somewhere and their website will be the first place I go when I have a little fun money to spend on yarn...whenever that might be.
My final class wasn't really what I expected. It should have been divided by experience level and it wasn't very well planned or organized. I'm not going to go into more detail publicly, but let's just say that I got a lot of knitting done during the 2 hour class... It raises my esteem even higher for some of the other teachers I've taken classes from.
5 - Saturday night I saw "Fiddler on the Roof" with Topol. I forgot how much I really love that show. I got chills during "Tradition" and I just really like the whole thing from beginning to end - the story, the songs, the characters. I laughed. I cried. I added the DVD and CD to my wish list last night!
And also, Topol was amazing. Not only did I think he was even better on stage than in the movie, but reading that he's now 73 just makes his performance that much more impressive. He did the movie in 1971...
6 - In my previous Heather updates I don't think I've talked about her favorite songs. There are lots of them! Sometimes she sings herself, sometimes she *requests* that we sing to her, sometimes she wants us all to sing together and sometimes she wants to see the YouTube videos of her favorite songs and we are instructed *not* to sing along. :-)
"Happy Birthday to You" has been a favorite for a few months now. We are instructed to sing to her, or a stuffed friend, or a person we recently sang to (Angelina, Andy, mommy, etc). Other current songs:
- The Wheels on the Bus
- The alphabet song (aka "ABCD's")
- Itsy Bitsy Spider
- Jumpin' Josie
- If You're Happy and You Know It
- Baa Baa Black Sheep
- Mary Had a Little Lamb
- Uh-huh
- Go Away
- And she still sometimes requests Jingle Bells... :-)
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
From our day off
This is a direct quote from the little munchkin. :-) We went to get a bagel and chai before her nap. She walked all the way there and halfway home! We practiced holding hands and stopping to look for traffic before crossing at intersections and the long walk seemed to help tire her out for naptime. Regular occurrences of temperatures above freezing and a little sun can't come back soon enough in our book!
Friday, February 13, 2009
Monday
Daycare is closed on Monday and I'm taking the day off. We've been so busy recently that I really don't want to leave the neighborhood and it will probably be too chilly to spend much time outside. I'm just throwing this out there in case anyone is looking for something to do on Monday and wants to come over for a visit. Heather and I are happy to receive guests and share her toys if anyone is dying to get out of their house. :-)
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Two past two
I got distracted by processing pictures and never made it back to write about Heather at two. And now there are more pictures to process from today's toddlermania, so I'll just stick to text today and come back with pictures later.
So here we are, two days after Heather's second birthday.
Heather is a delightful, chatty and charming toddler. But she has her cautious side with new people as well. Lately, she's been talking and singing almost non-stop in the car, and then once we arrive at our destination she keeps quiet and takes in the people and activities in her surroundings. The change is less pronounced at places where she is most comfortable (daycare and the neighborhood coffee shop are the most obvious examples). That doesn't mean that she's painfully shy whenever she's out of the house, she just seems to have the need for a buffer of time to get comfortable in her surroundings. Even when she's in a quiet phase, she still seems to be able to charm the heck out of anyone who crosses her path.
She also seems to like to have some independent playtime. I haven't talked with her daycare teachers about this, but I've observed that she seems to have regular periods when she just wants to play quietly and be alone. I can totally see where she gets this. :-)
The theme for Heather's birthday dinner was Thomas the Tank Engine. For the past few weeks, the first comment upon entering the living room is usually "Where is Thomas?". She has taken him to restaurants, for trips in the car and at some naptimes we've barely managed to keep him out of the crib.
Other favorite pasttimes include playing with play-doh (we got her some accessories for her birthday - big hit), playing with her kitchen, her trains, little people, doing puzzles, building duplos and reading books. I also think we're going to have a LOT of fun when the weather gets mild and we can spend more time outside. We were out briefly today, and I forgot how nice it is to be able to walk casually instead of walking from the car to the house as quickly as possible. I also think she'll be more coordinated for outdoor activities, which should be very entertaining.
On the food front I'd say that I trust Heather to eat just about anything and we've had a few new additions recently, oranges and orange juice being the most notable that she used to totally reject. On the other hand, previous favorites are sometimes rejected and other regular staples (mashed potatoes, peas) haven't been touched in a few weeks. She eats enough good things that I'm not worried for her nutritional intake, but I do look forward to a day when she's willing to accept a slightly more varied palette of foods.
On the teeth/sleep front there continue to be signs that I see that makes me think she's getting her 2 year molars, but we still can't see anything. So either I'm crazy or it's just the pre-eruption pain/movement that has caused all of this excitement. Her sleep hasn't really been that bad lately. We've had some nights of long rocking sessions and maybe once or twice a week she's been waking up overnight and sleeping with us until morning. Some nights we all sleep well together and others we don't. But I think the most frustrating thing that we have to try to let go of is that it is hard to equate the chatty toddler that comments on everything going on around her with the 4am toddler that just cries and can't tell us why she can't sleep or what she needs/wants. Sometimes when she's sad (even during the day) she just doesn't seem able to stop crying and tell us what is wrong. It is a reminder that she really is just two and still very little, despite her grasp of the alphabet, big vocabulary and ability to count to 14 (when she wants to).
Heather still loves her babies. Robbie, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Elmo, Glow Worm and various doggies, bunnies & bears are all still favorite cuddly friends. Someone cuddly usually travels with us in the car. Oh, and she still sleeps with her favorite pink blanket.
Did I mention that she's charming, adorable, chatty and loves to sing? :-)
Party pictures soon...
So here we are, two days after Heather's second birthday.
Heather is a delightful, chatty and charming toddler. But she has her cautious side with new people as well. Lately, she's been talking and singing almost non-stop in the car, and then once we arrive at our destination she keeps quiet and takes in the people and activities in her surroundings. The change is less pronounced at places where she is most comfortable (daycare and the neighborhood coffee shop are the most obvious examples). That doesn't mean that she's painfully shy whenever she's out of the house, she just seems to have the need for a buffer of time to get comfortable in her surroundings. Even when she's in a quiet phase, she still seems to be able to charm the heck out of anyone who crosses her path.
She also seems to like to have some independent playtime. I haven't talked with her daycare teachers about this, but I've observed that she seems to have regular periods when she just wants to play quietly and be alone. I can totally see where she gets this. :-)
The theme for Heather's birthday dinner was Thomas the Tank Engine. For the past few weeks, the first comment upon entering the living room is usually "Where is Thomas?". She has taken him to restaurants, for trips in the car and at some naptimes we've barely managed to keep him out of the crib.
Other favorite pasttimes include playing with play-doh (we got her some accessories for her birthday - big hit), playing with her kitchen, her trains, little people, doing puzzles, building duplos and reading books. I also think we're going to have a LOT of fun when the weather gets mild and we can spend more time outside. We were out briefly today, and I forgot how nice it is to be able to walk casually instead of walking from the car to the house as quickly as possible. I also think she'll be more coordinated for outdoor activities, which should be very entertaining.
On the food front I'd say that I trust Heather to eat just about anything and we've had a few new additions recently, oranges and orange juice being the most notable that she used to totally reject. On the other hand, previous favorites are sometimes rejected and other regular staples (mashed potatoes, peas) haven't been touched in a few weeks. She eats enough good things that I'm not worried for her nutritional intake, but I do look forward to a day when she's willing to accept a slightly more varied palette of foods.
On the teeth/sleep front there continue to be signs that I see that makes me think she's getting her 2 year molars, but we still can't see anything. So either I'm crazy or it's just the pre-eruption pain/movement that has caused all of this excitement. Her sleep hasn't really been that bad lately. We've had some nights of long rocking sessions and maybe once or twice a week she's been waking up overnight and sleeping with us until morning. Some nights we all sleep well together and others we don't. But I think the most frustrating thing that we have to try to let go of is that it is hard to equate the chatty toddler that comments on everything going on around her with the 4am toddler that just cries and can't tell us why she can't sleep or what she needs/wants. Sometimes when she's sad (even during the day) she just doesn't seem able to stop crying and tell us what is wrong. It is a reminder that she really is just two and still very little, despite her grasp of the alphabet, big vocabulary and ability to count to 14 (when she wants to).
Heather still loves her babies. Robbie, Cookie Monster, Big Bird, Elmo, Glow Worm and various doggies, bunnies & bears are all still favorite cuddly friends. Someone cuddly usually travels with us in the car. Oh, and she still sleeps with her favorite pink blanket.
Did I mention that she's charming, adorable, chatty and loves to sing? :-)
Party pictures soon...
Monday, February 09, 2009
The Value of a Designer
I'll be back later today with a post about my beautiful daughter who turns two today(!), but in the meantime I'm posting a link to the blog of a designer for whom I have great respect.
http://www.modeknit.com/2009/02/valuing-our-work.html
As an architect and a scenic designer I know how important it is to value the work of a designer/artist in every field and how easy it is for that value to be lost in today's society. No one questions how much a lawyer or an accountant charges them per hour, but many people think they can buy some software and design the house of their dreams better than a pricey architect. Many people feel no remorse if they purchase pirated movies or burn copies of their friends cds or illegally download other copyrighted material from the internet.
I'm not here to argue about what the right way is to distribute copyrighted content or to try to inspire guilt in anyone. I'm just hoping that my readers will think about how their actions affect those who try to make a living with any sort of creative pursuit. And to let you all know that if you ever ask me again to make you a copy of a knit or crochet pattern that I paid for, it isn't personal when I tell you "No". :-)
http://www.modeknit.com/2009/02/valuing-our-work.html
As an architect and a scenic designer I know how important it is to value the work of a designer/artist in every field and how easy it is for that value to be lost in today's society. No one questions how much a lawyer or an accountant charges them per hour, but many people think they can buy some software and design the house of their dreams better than a pricey architect. Many people feel no remorse if they purchase pirated movies or burn copies of their friends cds or illegally download other copyrighted material from the internet.
I'm not here to argue about what the right way is to distribute copyrighted content or to try to inspire guilt in anyone. I'm just hoping that my readers will think about how their actions affect those who try to make a living with any sort of creative pursuit. And to let you all know that if you ever ask me again to make you a copy of a knit or crochet pattern that I paid for, it isn't personal when I tell you "No". :-)
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Lost and Found
I plunged my hands into my coat pockets this morning and came out with just one mitten. :-( I didn't really have time to be sad since I had to get the bus, so I dropped the solo mitten on the counter and grabbed the "still needs some work" pair to provide me with at least some warmth.
On my walk I wondered how I could have lost it, since I always look back at my seat before I get off the bus. And I got a faint glimmer of hope that maybe I had dropped the mitten in the house somewhere because I usually wear them on the walk home.
As I approached the bus stop I saw something dark on the sidewalk. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I went to look anyway.
My poor mitten spent the night out on the cold sidewalk and got a dusting of snow on it to boot - but now it is safe and sound in my purse warming up and waiting to see his partner when we get home tonight. Losing one made me realize how much I have come to love these mittens, so I suppose I should take the time this weekend to mend the small hole in one of the fingers. ;-)
On my walk I wondered how I could have lost it, since I always look back at my seat before I get off the bus. And I got a faint glimmer of hope that maybe I had dropped the mitten in the house somewhere because I usually wear them on the walk home.
As I approached the bus stop I saw something dark on the sidewalk. I tried not to get my hopes up, but I went to look anyway.
My poor mitten spent the night out on the cold sidewalk and got a dusting of snow on it to boot - but now it is safe and sound in my purse warming up and waiting to see his partner when we get home tonight. Losing one made me realize how much I have come to love these mittens, so I suppose I should take the time this weekend to mend the small hole in one of the fingers. ;-)
Wednesday, February 04, 2009
Amy's NaKniSweMoDo
I posted this in the 'Stash and Burn' forum on Ravelry. For maximum accountability, I'll post it here, too. My own, personal NaKniSweMoDo for 2009. I love the idea of the challenge, but having a 2 year-old and being due with my second baby in May means that this isn't the year for me to follow the official guidelines. :-)
My personal NaKniSweMoDo:
1 - I will focus my 2009 knitting energy on 12 sweaters, tops and vests.
2 - Sweaters, tops and vests for myself and my toddler will count. Sweaters, tops and vests for my baby will only count after he has arrived and my knitting time is severely hampered. (In other words, I can't take the next 12 weeks to knit 12 baby sweaters and call myself done.)
3 - Ripping back and finishing last year's Bombshell can count as one of my 12.
4 - There are at least 9 adult sweater's worth of yarn in my stash plus yarn for adult vests and toddler/baby sweaters. I will knit with stash first and only plan to purchase new sweater yarn at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival from Brooks Farm (or equivalent vendor) or with gift certificates.
5 - Presents for other people's new babies will still happen in 2009 and those objects will not count in my tally.
6 - If I am inspired to pick up a big lace project or return to Subtle Babette, finishing one of those big items will count in my tally.
7 - Even though I started the knitting in December, Amelia will count as my first NaKniSweMoDo item since the majority of the knitting was done in January.
8 - Given my changing body shape over the course of 2009, I do not have to focus on one project at a time. There is no penalty for putting a project down until such time that my body has returned to some semblance of "normal" and it can be tried on before completing the finishing work. Although it is expected that the projects will all be completed and wearable before the end of 2009.
Anybody else want to make themselves a 2009 challenge? ;-)
My personal NaKniSweMoDo:
1 - I will focus my 2009 knitting energy on 12 sweaters, tops and vests.
2 - Sweaters, tops and vests for myself and my toddler will count. Sweaters, tops and vests for my baby will only count after he has arrived and my knitting time is severely hampered. (In other words, I can't take the next 12 weeks to knit 12 baby sweaters and call myself done.)
3 - Ripping back and finishing last year's Bombshell can count as one of my 12.
4 - There are at least 9 adult sweater's worth of yarn in my stash plus yarn for adult vests and toddler/baby sweaters. I will knit with stash first and only plan to purchase new sweater yarn at the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival from Brooks Farm (or equivalent vendor) or with gift certificates.
5 - Presents for other people's new babies will still happen in 2009 and those objects will not count in my tally.
6 - If I am inspired to pick up a big lace project or return to Subtle Babette, finishing one of those big items will count in my tally.
7 - Even though I started the knitting in December, Amelia will count as my first NaKniSweMoDo item since the majority of the knitting was done in January.
8 - Given my changing body shape over the course of 2009, I do not have to focus on one project at a time. There is no penalty for putting a project down until such time that my body has returned to some semblance of "normal" and it can be tried on before completing the finishing work. Although it is expected that the projects will all be completed and wearable before the end of 2009.
Anybody else want to make themselves a 2009 challenge? ;-)
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
Wrap-up, Knitting and Baby #2
Looking at my list from last week.
1 - Christmas is put away. There are still a few bins and christmas tree parts that need to make it to the third floor, but that isn't my job. Plus, it's pretty cute when Heather sees the tree parts and says "Uh oh Kih-mas tree!"
2 - Nope
3 - Nope
4 - Progress made on laundry, but we aren't caught up. I especially need to deal with the hand wash stuff.
5 - I did the first treatment of the tea stain. It's lighter, but it needs more scrubbing.
6 - All but one present purchased and wrapping paper purchased. Oh, and I finally bought envelopes for a few late Christmas gifts that haven't been mailed yet. *Shame*
7 - Baby knitting finished. Washing and photography still needs to happen.
8 - Done. I think Heather and I set a whole foods bill record, but I don't think I have to go grocery shopping next weekend - score!
9 - Amelia is ready to block. I tried her on last night and I think she'll be great. The garter stitch needs to relax a little...
10 - I'll finish the Samus cable on the bus this afternoon. Then time to start picking up stitches.
I didn't get as much done as I had hoped since putting christmas away took most of Saturday and Heather didn't really nap on Sunday. Oh, and I didn't mention the dishes in my list. Blah. R and I both worked on them this weekend and it doesn't really look like we did. I hate dishes.
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Knitting obsession
I'm really feeling the knitting obsession in full force right now. If there wasn't so much to do around the house (short term and long term), I would probably be knitting whenever Heather is sleeping. I've got tons of ideas, tons of motivation to use the yarn in my stash and lots of excitement over my upcoming classes. I'm taking 3 classes at the Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet Festival in 2 weeks and a Franklin Habit class on March 1st. Plus a knitting retreat with friend in March and lots of babies to knit for.
There is a lot of yarn left from Amelia. I was pretty sure that we overbought for a sweater's worth of yarn by one skein when we picked up 4, but there are significant portions of the 2nd and 3rd skeins leftover as well. I'm going to have to get out my new scale to figure out how many yards remain. I think it might make a nice vest, although it would make a nice shawl, too. Either way, it's going to be something for me. :-) 2009 is the year of selfish and baby knitting, after all, and the yarn is just gorgeous.
Along with this, is my desire to wrap up all of the projects that are "close". Wash all the hand wash items sitting in a pile, sew up the knitted ball, photograph everything recently finished and in progress, etc, etc. There isn't a ton of stuff, but given my limited time, it just feels like I have too many loose ends that I want to tie up so I can enjoy some more evening knitting again. And I don't want to cast on any more big projects while these loose ends are staring me in the face!
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Pregnancy #2
This child seems to be causing me a lot more regular heartburn. Tums and avoiding tomato products is definitely helping but the second is a little difficult when you have a toddler obsessed with ravioli and italian food. I think tonight she and daddy are having lasagna while I eat the leftover quesidillas. If I had the energy to cook something just for me I'd make something with mushrooms. :-)
I'm also definitely showing sooner, and at my last appointment I was measuring 2 weeks ahead! I'm hoping that this is just because the little guy is stretching out a lot more than Heather ever did, and not because he's going for some sort of birth weight record.
I still haven't decided what kind of delivery I want this time. There is no wrong answer, I'm just trying to figure out what I want and what freaks me out less. ;-)
Friday, January 30, 2009
List
This is one of those "for my own use" posts. There is a lot that I would like to get done before my parents arrive on Thursday so that we can have a fun and somewhat relaxing weekend while they are here. It is a little bit crazy with multiple birthday celebrations and a baby shower to attend, but I'm hoping that we can all have some downtime, too. So here is a list of what I'd like to get done in the next week, mostly this weekend. I'm not a huge fan of to do lists, but I know that sometimes I need them to keep myself from spending Heather's naptime watching TV and knitting. :-)
1 - Take down and put away all Christmas decorations.
Yes, the house is still decorated. Last weekend I spent so much time working and the weekend before was spent on general cleaning chores. I need it all to go away now.
2 - Dusting, sweeping and vacuuming areas that the decorations have vacated.
AKA - No artificial pine needles anywhere.
3 - Mop the kitchen floor.
With all the weather we've had it's beyond messy. Something needs to be done and now.
4 - Put away clean laundry, do more laundry and do hand-wash laundry.
It's getting a little out of control. Both the full hampers and the full baskets of clean clothes. It took me too long to put a semi-coherent outfit together this morning. (especially since I didn't want to wear anything remotely red and to try to include some black)
5 - Clean tea stain in living room carpet.
6 - Purchase a couple more birthday presents and wrap them all.
7 - Finish knitting and labeling baby accessories for baby shower, wash and block baby presents and wrap everything.
8 - Write grocery list (including food for birthday dinners) and go buy groceries.
9 - When I'm too tired for other chores, weave in ends and sew buttons on Amelia so she can be washed and blocked.
I'd love to wear her for my birthday and to the Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet Festival! I think she's going to get boring solid colored buttons for the time being as I look for ones that I love.
10 - Only when baby knitting is done and I'm too tired for other chores can I work on Samus.
Hmmm...the list isn't as big as I expected. Hopefully this will keep me on task when I have time and help me have a relaxing birthday weekend!
p.s. I bound Amelia off on Tuesday morning! I tried her on Monday night before I knit the neckline. I got the impression that she fits pretty well, although a secure neckline, grafting the underarms and a good washing will tell me for sure.
1 - Take down and put away all Christmas decorations.
Yes, the house is still decorated. Last weekend I spent so much time working and the weekend before was spent on general cleaning chores. I need it all to go away now.
2 - Dusting, sweeping and vacuuming areas that the decorations have vacated.
AKA - No artificial pine needles anywhere.
3 - Mop the kitchen floor.
With all the weather we've had it's beyond messy. Something needs to be done and now.
4 - Put away clean laundry, do more laundry and do hand-wash laundry.
It's getting a little out of control. Both the full hampers and the full baskets of clean clothes. It took me too long to put a semi-coherent outfit together this morning. (especially since I didn't want to wear anything remotely red and to try to include some black)
5 - Clean tea stain in living room carpet.
6 - Purchase a couple more birthday presents and wrap them all.
7 - Finish knitting and labeling baby accessories for baby shower, wash and block baby presents and wrap everything.
8 - Write grocery list (including food for birthday dinners) and go buy groceries.
9 - When I'm too tired for other chores, weave in ends and sew buttons on Amelia so she can be washed and blocked.
I'd love to wear her for my birthday and to the Pittsburgh Knitting and Crochet Festival! I think she's going to get boring solid colored buttons for the time being as I look for ones that I love.
10 - Only when baby knitting is done and I'm too tired for other chores can I work on Samus.
Hmmm...the list isn't as big as I expected. Hopefully this will keep me on task when I have time and help me have a relaxing birthday weekend!
p.s. I bound Amelia off on Tuesday morning! I tried her on Monday night before I knit the neckline. I got the impression that she fits pretty well, although a secure neckline, grafting the underarms and a good washing will tell me for sure.
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
227 stitches
Thanks to an hour of knitting group on Sunday (an hour is better than nothing) and 4-5 hours of knitting yesterday out of 6.5 spent in the car (knit light + winding roads & hills = unpleasant knitting) has meant lots of Amelia progress. By the time I got home last night I was too tired to do anything but watch 30 Rock and Battlestar Gallactica from last week, which meant more knitting time. I was smart enough to get in bed about 10, but totally torn between wanting to keep knitting (I was SO close to the neckline) and not wanting to keep my eyes open. I compromised and knit for about 30 minutes more. :-)
2 rows on the bus this morning and then I was able to start the neckline decreases! So from the peak of 451 stitches, I'm now down to 227 stitches. And after the 5 additional rows of neckline bind-offs and raglan decreases, I'll be down to 169 stitches per row. So, so close! And the closer I get the less I want to put it down. Since I've never done a raglan sweater before and I have narrow shoulders, I'm a little worried about fit...so I'm anxious to be able to try it on and see if it works or if I need to rip back and modify it.
And for those of you non-knitters or beginning knitters who think I'm making knitting sound "hard", it really isn't. I'm just following the pattern. All of this math has been done for me. I'm just unnaturally excited by watching the numbers change. I totally admit to being a numbers geek.
p.s. I know that even thinking this is insane since we're going to have a newborn in about four months. But there is a little part of me that is tempted to consider the National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon*, also known as NaKniSweMoDo. I would only do it if I included a couple of toddler sweaters for Heather, but I wouldn't include baby sweaters. (The last newborn sweater I made took me a week, so that seemed like cheating). If I knew I could maintain my current knitting mojo all year, I'm certain that I could do it, but knowing the dive that my mojo took after Heather was born makes me doubt that 2009 is the year even though the 9 sweaters worth of yarn in my stash are calling me...
2 rows on the bus this morning and then I was able to start the neckline decreases! So from the peak of 451 stitches, I'm now down to 227 stitches. And after the 5 additional rows of neckline bind-offs and raglan decreases, I'll be down to 169 stitches per row. So, so close! And the closer I get the less I want to put it down. Since I've never done a raglan sweater before and I have narrow shoulders, I'm a little worried about fit...so I'm anxious to be able to try it on and see if it works or if I need to rip back and modify it.
And for those of you non-knitters or beginning knitters who think I'm making knitting sound "hard", it really isn't. I'm just following the pattern. All of this math has been done for me. I'm just unnaturally excited by watching the numbers change. I totally admit to being a numbers geek.
p.s. I know that even thinking this is insane since we're going to have a newborn in about four months. But there is a little part of me that is tempted to consider the National Knit a Sweater a Month Dodecathon*, also known as NaKniSweMoDo. I would only do it if I included a couple of toddler sweaters for Heather, but I wouldn't include baby sweaters. (The last newborn sweater I made took me a week, so that seemed like cheating). If I knew I could maintain my current knitting mojo all year, I'm certain that I could do it, but knowing the dive that my mojo took after Heather was born makes me doubt that 2009 is the year even though the 9 sweaters worth of yarn in my stash are calling me...
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The 'B' Word
I hate to even say it or think it. Sometimes I feel like I'm always striving for it. But really, the parts of my life that the roller coaster ride feels free and easy is when I'm probably acheiving it and the uphill parts of the roller coaster are those times that it is elusive and seemingly totally out of my sights.
Balance.
The past few days have been all about trying to achieve it. Each decision about how to spend my time was carefully considered. You see, I had a lot of work to do to prepare for a trip tomorrow. So I tried to schedule my extra time at work at times that limited my time away from Heather. I stayed late Friday night. I brought work home with me for Saturday, to do while she napped and was in bed. I managed to finish the work Saturday night but still needed to go into work to print things out today.
In favor of time with Heather and R, I stayed home for the morning and for brunch. When we returned home and Heather was winding down, I went to work to do my printing and then to today's knitting get-together. It took quite a while to decide whether or not to go. But in the end, I decided that I had made sufficient sacrifices of my time to work so that it was worth having an hour for me at knitting.
It's still difficult that I won't see Heather at all tomorrow (we're not staying overnight, but I probably won't be home until after her bedtime)...but it would be much harder if I felt like I hadn't seen her all weekend, too.
Looking ahead, I have "Amy" weekends planned in both February and March. The february one just involves daytime hours away and the march one is an overnight trip. While I know that I deserve it and I will have no regrets, I can imagine that the days before and after them will be like the last few have been. Sacrificing personal time and chore time in order to maximize quality time with Heather.
There is, of course, also a subplot in my brain about Heather's life after May when my attention will be divided even further. :-)
Ah, motherhood...
Balance.
The past few days have been all about trying to achieve it. Each decision about how to spend my time was carefully considered. You see, I had a lot of work to do to prepare for a trip tomorrow. So I tried to schedule my extra time at work at times that limited my time away from Heather. I stayed late Friday night. I brought work home with me for Saturday, to do while she napped and was in bed. I managed to finish the work Saturday night but still needed to go into work to print things out today.
In favor of time with Heather and R, I stayed home for the morning and for brunch. When we returned home and Heather was winding down, I went to work to do my printing and then to today's knitting get-together. It took quite a while to decide whether or not to go. But in the end, I decided that I had made sufficient sacrifices of my time to work so that it was worth having an hour for me at knitting.
It's still difficult that I won't see Heather at all tomorrow (we're not staying overnight, but I probably won't be home until after her bedtime)...but it would be much harder if I felt like I hadn't seen her all weekend, too.
Looking ahead, I have "Amy" weekends planned in both February and March. The february one just involves daytime hours away and the march one is an overnight trip. While I know that I deserve it and I will have no regrets, I can imagine that the days before and after them will be like the last few have been. Sacrificing personal time and chore time in order to maximize quality time with Heather.
There is, of course, also a subplot in my brain about Heather's life after May when my attention will be divided even further. :-)
Ah, motherhood...
Thursday, January 22, 2009
451 stitches
While watching LOST last night I finished the second sleeve on Amelia and started working on the yoke of the sweater. I had to make the sleeves wider than the pattern calls for (I'm imagining the designer having super-skinny upper arms to make me feel better), so the yoke has LOTS of stitches.
261 on the body and 95 on each sleeve. So the first two rows of the yoke had 451 stitches. Woot.
Thankfully the raglan decreases start on the 3 row of the yoke, and each right side row is decreased by 8 stitches. I think it takes about 12-15 minutes to knit each row. It's slow going, but I'm still motivated. If only my employer would pay me to keep knitting at work. ;-)
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
The day after
All day yesterday I felt like I should say "something" on my blog about the importance of the day or how I was feeling, but I just wasn't really sure what to write. Honestly, I had a lot of work to do, I had lunch plans and other than reading the play-by-play blog coverage of my favorite tv critic, I wasn't engaged in what was going on as it happened. It wasn't even until nearly bedtime that I watched any national news coverage and I never got around to listening to President Obama's speech online as I had planned to.
But I'm willing to bet that if I had been home, I would have been glued to the TV all day.
Over and over, the thought that goes through my mind is how happy I am that Heather will always know an America where a person of color can be president. Just as I have always known an America without segregation. I admit to being hopeful that she will come think of a female President being just as commonplace as an African-American one, but I will settle for a fairly consistent string of female Secretaries of State for now.
In the end, I know that the qualifications and dependability and actions of our elected leaders is much more important than their race or religion or gender or the color of their skin...but I also realize (sadly) that there are many people who wouldn't believe that someone of a different race or gender or religion is capable of doing well in elected office without seeing it for themselves. I'm cautiously hopeful that this really is a turning point for the United States both politically and culturally.
Just like your predecessors, you've got a lot of work to do President Obama!
p.s. The thing that Heather came away with yesterday (yes, my toddler watched the inaguration at school) is that Obama is fun to say. ;-)
But I'm willing to bet that if I had been home, I would have been glued to the TV all day.
Over and over, the thought that goes through my mind is how happy I am that Heather will always know an America where a person of color can be president. Just as I have always known an America without segregation. I admit to being hopeful that she will come think of a female President being just as commonplace as an African-American one, but I will settle for a fairly consistent string of female Secretaries of State for now.
In the end, I know that the qualifications and dependability and actions of our elected leaders is much more important than their race or religion or gender or the color of their skin...but I also realize (sadly) that there are many people who wouldn't believe that someone of a different race or gender or religion is capable of doing well in elected office without seeing it for themselves. I'm cautiously hopeful that this really is a turning point for the United States both politically and culturally.
Just like your predecessors, you've got a lot of work to do President Obama!
p.s. The thing that Heather came away with yesterday (yes, my toddler watched the inaguration at school) is that Obama is fun to say. ;-)
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Snowy Day
New snow plus 35 degree temperatures and little wind made for a perfect family morning playing in the snow.
As you can see, part of my direction was to make snowballs that Heather could throw into the snow. She also thought that daddy's snow angel looked like a snow butterfly. :-) Apparently daddy needs to warm up so he can make the bottom half of the angel wider. Mommy could probably use some snow pants, too!
Thursday, January 15, 2009
More randomness
1 - If tonight I keep up the progress I've made this week, I could enter the 3-day weekend caught up on dishes and laundry! And since I vacuumed last weekend, I wouldn't need to think about doing the floors this weekend either. (One advantage of having a house that's too big is that the cat hair has plenty of room to spread out, so I don't feel like I have to vacuum weekly...even thought I probably should. Baby steps.) This would allow me to use chore time for de-cluttering and working on my office. And it means that I can't probably limit chore time to daytime without guilt. :-)
2 - It was not as cold at the bus stop this morning as I thought it would be. Yes, it was 12 degrees. But I was pretty well bundled, I was warm from wrangling Heather into her clothes and outerwear and the wind wasn't too bad in our neighborhood. It definitely felt colder downtown with the wind and I don't plan to leave the building at lunchtime. Brrrr.
3 - After a little work on my Amelia sleeve last night, I did a little work on the Samus cable, too. I just can't resist the enjoyment of the cable work. Especially compared to the repetition of knitting stockinette in the round. Hope to be on Amelia sleeve #2 sometime this weekend and I still need to cast on a bib or some baby item.
4 - I admit that I am regularly watching The Biggest Loser this season. Usually I just turn it on when there is nothing else on. But I realized last season that it is more enjoyable to watch when you can fastforward through the many commercials, the "commercials" within the show and the videos that are played both before and after the commercial breaks. So I have been recording it on the DVR. But I won't hesitate to delete episodes if there is a backlog of scripted programming to watch. I'm not *that* addicted.
5 - I'm ready for the premiere of Battlestar Gallactica tomorrow night, the continuation of CSI's season tonight and anxious for the return of LOST next week. And I'm still laughing out loud (literally) at least once an episode (if not more) at The Big Bang Theory. I'm very happy that it seems to be doing well in the ratings. I'm interested to see "Dollhouse" (Joss Whedon) next month, too.
6 - Despite all of this TV happiness, I think it stinks that ABC probably won't be airing the remaining episodes of "Pushing Daisies". Boo.
7 - R keeps taunting me for not reporting a certain cute Heather-ism on the blog, despite the fact that he has a blog of his own where he could note such things. Since he has a cold, I'm going to cut him some slack and make him happy.
Even though she used to detest having her nose wiped, she will now ask for a nose wipe about 50% of the time that she needs one. She will also request "nose wipe finger" if she used her finger to detect that a nose wipe is in fact needed and now said finger needs to be wiped with a tissue as well.
8 - I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to take the day off on my birthday. I'm already taking two days off next month, so it seems a little excessive. But at the same time I need to take a day or two off before May and send Heather to school because there is no way that I'm going to finish my office with just weekend work... Decisions, decisions. I guess I'm kind of waiting to see how the next few weeks of work shake out. If February looks like it's going to be really busy it probably isn't worth it. But if things stay as they are (busy but not crazy) then it is probably doable.
9 - I'm trying to figure out what to serve for Heather's birthday dinner. Something not to hard to make for a big group and something that there is a chance that Heather will actually eat. Although that second requirement is totally unpredictable...the other night her dinner was strawberries and a few bites of bread after ten minutes of not wanting anything. Ah, toddlerdom!
2 - It was not as cold at the bus stop this morning as I thought it would be. Yes, it was 12 degrees. But I was pretty well bundled, I was warm from wrangling Heather into her clothes and outerwear and the wind wasn't too bad in our neighborhood. It definitely felt colder downtown with the wind and I don't plan to leave the building at lunchtime. Brrrr.
3 - After a little work on my Amelia sleeve last night, I did a little work on the Samus cable, too. I just can't resist the enjoyment of the cable work. Especially compared to the repetition of knitting stockinette in the round. Hope to be on Amelia sleeve #2 sometime this weekend and I still need to cast on a bib or some baby item.
4 - I admit that I am regularly watching The Biggest Loser this season. Usually I just turn it on when there is nothing else on. But I realized last season that it is more enjoyable to watch when you can fastforward through the many commercials, the "commercials" within the show and the videos that are played both before and after the commercial breaks. So I have been recording it on the DVR. But I won't hesitate to delete episodes if there is a backlog of scripted programming to watch. I'm not *that* addicted.
5 - I'm ready for the premiere of Battlestar Gallactica tomorrow night, the continuation of CSI's season tonight and anxious for the return of LOST next week. And I'm still laughing out loud (literally) at least once an episode (if not more) at The Big Bang Theory. I'm very happy that it seems to be doing well in the ratings. I'm interested to see "Dollhouse" (Joss Whedon) next month, too.
6 - Despite all of this TV happiness, I think it stinks that ABC probably won't be airing the remaining episodes of "Pushing Daisies". Boo.
7 - R keeps taunting me for not reporting a certain cute Heather-ism on the blog, despite the fact that he has a blog of his own where he could note such things. Since he has a cold, I'm going to cut him some slack and make him happy.
Even though she used to detest having her nose wiped, she will now ask for a nose wipe about 50% of the time that she needs one. She will also request "nose wipe finger" if she used her finger to detect that a nose wipe is in fact needed and now said finger needs to be wiped with a tissue as well.
8 - I'm trying to decide whether I'm going to take the day off on my birthday. I'm already taking two days off next month, so it seems a little excessive. But at the same time I need to take a day or two off before May and send Heather to school because there is no way that I'm going to finish my office with just weekend work... Decisions, decisions. I guess I'm kind of waiting to see how the next few weeks of work shake out. If February looks like it's going to be really busy it probably isn't worth it. But if things stay as they are (busy but not crazy) then it is probably doable.
9 - I'm trying to figure out what to serve for Heather's birthday dinner. Something not to hard to make for a big group and something that there is a chance that Heather will actually eat. Although that second requirement is totally unpredictable...the other night her dinner was strawberries and a few bites of bread after ten minutes of not wanting anything. Ah, toddlerdom!
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Cast on
Samus is begun. :-)
This pattern has been on my radar since it was published in knitty in Fall 2005. There were a few other sweaters in my ravelry queue with the same gauge, but the other options with cables were all-over cable patterns. I think that an all-over cabled sweater would be served better by something lighter than the medium-dark maple syrup color of my Wool of the Andes.
I do plan to wash the swatch to make sure that nothing shocking happens, but given the construction of the sweater, I don't absolutely have to do that until I'm ready to pick up the stitches along the edge of the cable. Even if the gauge changes, I like the fabric I'm getting with size 6 needles and I would rather do math than change the needle size for gauge.
Do I sound less selfish if I tell you that I finished a baby sweater on Sunday? I just need to find the mojo to make a bib or two.
:-P
This pattern has been on my radar since it was published in knitty in Fall 2005. There were a few other sweaters in my ravelry queue with the same gauge, but the other options with cables were all-over cable patterns. I think that an all-over cabled sweater would be served better by something lighter than the medium-dark maple syrup color of my Wool of the Andes.
I do plan to wash the swatch to make sure that nothing shocking happens, but given the construction of the sweater, I don't absolutely have to do that until I'm ready to pick up the stitches along the edge of the cable. Even if the gauge changes, I like the fabric I'm getting with size 6 needles and I would rather do math than change the needle size for gauge.
Do I sound less selfish if I tell you that I finished a baby sweater on Sunday? I just need to find the mojo to make a bib or two.
:-P
Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Just a list
1 - I'm more than halfway up the first Amelia sleeve. It's mostly been bus knitting, and now that I'm past the increases it shouldn't take long to mindlessly knit to the underarm. There is still quite a bit to do, but I think it is going well considering I'm knitting it on size 2 needles.
2 - For a change of pace, I did a gauge swatch for a worsted weight sweater last night. Without doubling yarn, I don't have a lot of options in my stash for a worsted sweater. Most of my sweater quantities are in DK weight. I don't know what this yarn is going to become yet. I'm thinking cables, but I'll wait until I have my gauge measured and then pop the results into my ravelry queue and see if anything comes up.
3 - I'm still 90% sure that Heather is getting her 2 year molars. Most of the time she's fine, but when she gets upset it doesn't take long for her to really lose it. And sometimes she just seems to be clingy for no reason. Some nights she's been requesting rocking before bed and there are still 2-3 nights a week that she wakes up early and spend the last few hours of the night in our bed. Nothing awful, but she's just not always a happy camper.
4 - Heather's eating is all over the place, too. She's finally decided that she likes oranges and orange juice (we offered oranges for the first time at 11 months...) Some meals she eats an incredible amount and other meals she acts like she could skip. I know this is all normal for toddlers, but it is at a greater extreme than it was a month or two ago, so I think some of it is teething related. There is definitely favoritism for scrambled eggs, fruit, noodles and other soft foods. Though the girl still loves her bagel with cream cheese, too!
5 - Overall I'm feeling pretty good. There are physical twinges here and there, which I think is starting sooner than last time. But I'm taking any back twinges very seriously (stretching, motrin, etc) and taking it easy at the first sign of getting short of breath. Dressing is in that painful stage, where I don't need to wear all of my maternity clothes and some of it is still big, but I also can't wear all of my pre-pregnancy clothes and some of it is too small. The mornings that I get a workable outfit on the first try are rare, but I know it will get easier when I have a more obvious belly to hold up the maternity shirts.
6 - Annual reviews at work this week. I'm finding that reviewing my supervisors is making me more "nervous" than my own review this year. It just feels a little strange and I'm still trying to figure out how to express my thoughts about how our working relationship could be improved. I'm not quite as worried about my own. I'm pretty sure that they still like me. I don't think 2008 was my best year, but I also think it went pretty well considering that managing my personal life was more challenging than I thought it would be. We shall see if they agree.
7 - Speaking of work, I'm trying to wrap up loose ends on things I've been working on for a while. I'm trying not to be tired of them. :-) And I'm anticipating a big project revision from mid-February until my maternity leave that should be interesting and make the spring go quickly. Hopefully we can get the drawings out to bid a few weeks before baby M makes his arrival!
8 - I'm kind of ready for the Christmas decorations to be put away, but I really don't feel like doing the work involved to put them away. :-P
2 - For a change of pace, I did a gauge swatch for a worsted weight sweater last night. Without doubling yarn, I don't have a lot of options in my stash for a worsted sweater. Most of my sweater quantities are in DK weight. I don't know what this yarn is going to become yet. I'm thinking cables, but I'll wait until I have my gauge measured and then pop the results into my ravelry queue and see if anything comes up.
3 - I'm still 90% sure that Heather is getting her 2 year molars. Most of the time she's fine, but when she gets upset it doesn't take long for her to really lose it. And sometimes she just seems to be clingy for no reason. Some nights she's been requesting rocking before bed and there are still 2-3 nights a week that she wakes up early and spend the last few hours of the night in our bed. Nothing awful, but she's just not always a happy camper.
4 - Heather's eating is all over the place, too. She's finally decided that she likes oranges and orange juice (we offered oranges for the first time at 11 months...) Some meals she eats an incredible amount and other meals she acts like she could skip. I know this is all normal for toddlers, but it is at a greater extreme than it was a month or two ago, so I think some of it is teething related. There is definitely favoritism for scrambled eggs, fruit, noodles and other soft foods. Though the girl still loves her bagel with cream cheese, too!
5 - Overall I'm feeling pretty good. There are physical twinges here and there, which I think is starting sooner than last time. But I'm taking any back twinges very seriously (stretching, motrin, etc) and taking it easy at the first sign of getting short of breath. Dressing is in that painful stage, where I don't need to wear all of my maternity clothes and some of it is still big, but I also can't wear all of my pre-pregnancy clothes and some of it is too small. The mornings that I get a workable outfit on the first try are rare, but I know it will get easier when I have a more obvious belly to hold up the maternity shirts.
6 - Annual reviews at work this week. I'm finding that reviewing my supervisors is making me more "nervous" than my own review this year. It just feels a little strange and I'm still trying to figure out how to express my thoughts about how our working relationship could be improved. I'm not quite as worried about my own. I'm pretty sure that they still like me. I don't think 2008 was my best year, but I also think it went pretty well considering that managing my personal life was more challenging than I thought it would be. We shall see if they agree.
7 - Speaking of work, I'm trying to wrap up loose ends on things I've been working on for a while. I'm trying not to be tired of them. :-) And I'm anticipating a big project revision from mid-February until my maternity leave that should be interesting and make the spring go quickly. Hopefully we can get the drawings out to bid a few weeks before baby M makes his arrival!
8 - I'm kind of ready for the Christmas decorations to be put away, but I really don't feel like doing the work involved to put them away. :-P
Friday, January 09, 2009
Friday Knitting Update
Last night I got my new needles from knitpicks.com and I finished the knitting of my current baby sweater in progress while we watched three more episodes of Battlestar Galactica. (I'm no longer worried that we won't be able to rewatch all of season 4.0 before next Friday!)
So this morning on the bus I was able to cast on the first sleeve for Amelia without any guilt - yay!
I should use my knitting planning time this weekend to cast on a few more baby projects. I have a couple of finished or near-finished gifts in my knitting basket, but with two showers to attend in March and April and lots of friends of child-bearing age you can never have too many hand-knit baby gifts ready to go.
I also sent in my registration today for the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. I've signed up for three classes and I'm looking forward to a very fibery weekend next month!
So this morning on the bus I was able to cast on the first sleeve for Amelia without any guilt - yay!
I should use my knitting planning time this weekend to cast on a few more baby projects. I have a couple of finished or near-finished gifts in my knitting basket, but with two showers to attend in March and April and lots of friends of child-bearing age you can never have too many hand-knit baby gifts ready to go.
I also sent in my registration today for the Pittsburgh Knit and Crochet Festival. I've signed up for three classes and I'm looking forward to a very fibery weekend next month!
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Happy Day to you!
Lately Heather is enthralled by birthdays. She loves the song. She loves blowing out the candles (most days we just let her blow out the lights). She knows about presents from Christmas. She's going to LOVE her birthday...next month.
Last night we went to a birthday party for the daughter of a friend of mine. She turned 4 and Heather was easily the youngest one there. The magic show was good and Heather did well, but it was a little long for a 2 year old... There was much pacing, walking around mommy, jumping, etc. This is one of the few shots where both of our faces are in focus. You can see her body in continuous motion.
After the magic show and before cake, there was much dancing and playing with the balloon animals from before the magic show. You can see how much fun it was.
Heather was a little dismayed that the birthday girl got to blow out the candles. But she recovered in a few minutes when she got to eat some cake. We continue to sing the song over and over, but now we're allowed to use the birthday girl's name instead of Heather's name.
Last night we went to a birthday party for the daughter of a friend of mine. She turned 4 and Heather was easily the youngest one there. The magic show was good and Heather did well, but it was a little long for a 2 year old... There was much pacing, walking around mommy, jumping, etc. This is one of the few shots where both of our faces are in focus. You can see her body in continuous motion.
After the magic show and before cake, there was much dancing and playing with the balloon animals from before the magic show. You can see how much fun it was.
Heather was a little dismayed that the birthday girl got to blow out the candles. But she recovered in a few minutes when she got to eat some cake. We continue to sing the song over and over, but now we're allowed to use the birthday girl's name instead of Heather's name.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Italian Cuisine at 2
If you ask Heather what she had for lunch today or what she wants to eat for her next meal (even breakfast), her response is likely to be "baba-oh-yee". AKA ravioli. :-)
But, of course, the linguine with meat sauce that I made the other night for dinner was not up to par. She just ate the grapes. Toddlers!
Hopefully she can find something acceptable to eat tonight. We have a birthday party to go to at an Italian restaurant...
But, of course, the linguine with meat sauce that I made the other night for dinner was not up to par. She just ate the grapes. Toddlers!
Hopefully she can find something acceptable to eat tonight. We have a birthday party to go to at an Italian restaurant...
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Need more sweaters!
Now that I've knit two sweaters that I really like, that fit well and look good on me - I need more! Seriously. I could wear these two suckers into the ground if I'm not careful. The wrap sweater is beginning to pill a little bit in places and I keep putting on the wool-hemp cardigan even though I don't want to stretch it out (I wore it unbuttoned over my belly this weekend to prevent that problem.)
The torso of Amelia is finished and as soon as my dpns arrive (they have shipped) I'll start trucking on the sleeves.
If I didn't have baby gifts that need to be knit for February and March, I would be casting on another sweater for me to knit in the meantime.
The problems with my previous hand-knit sweaters (1 donated to charity, 1 stretched out and 2 waiting to be ripped back) and all that I learned from those experiences are totally worth it for the success I'm having now!
*********
On another knitting topic, my fuzzy feet (felted slippers) have developed holes around the toes. I love them and they do a great job, but if I continue wearing them like this, the holes are just going to get bigger. Any suggestions on fixing them, or should I just suck it up and knit myself a new pair?
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
goals not resolutions
I'm not too crazy about the idea of resolutions. I understand that the new year feels like a clean slate and a chance to start fresh. But my best weight loss period started on February 15th one year because that was when I was motivated. So I'm not one to make a list of resolutions on new year's eve. I'd rather start when I'm ready, not because of the date on the calendar.
That said, this time of year does provide a little incentive for some projects because of the days off. Even with travel to see family, I have more consecutive days off than usual. My office is closed from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day, so I feel like I should take advantage of the time to jump start the organization that our house needs.
Hopefully, all of the presents will have found a home by the time we go to bed tonight. I'm about 60% done, but the dining room table is still half full. All of Heather's new clothes are in the dryer and most of the toys have been unpacked. I just need to distribute them to different rooms and make sure that we have enough bins that everything can be put away when we want to straighten up and not trip over duplos and plastic forks and blocks.
The main task is dealing with my stuff. The general house stuff is in pretty good shape. We aren't always good at putting everything away when we're done with it, and there are some cabinets and drawers that could use a spring cleaning, but the big issue for me is my stuff. The stuff in the dressing room, my clothes and the stuff in my room/office. I need to go through it, toss what I can, store what I don't regularly need and organize the things I want access to. The hope is that my current room could become emptied by half so there is some space for the baby. My space and/or Heather's room will eventually move up to the third floor, but not until the front room is patched up and finished. We're hoping to do that this spring with the help of the grandfathers, but I want to have back-up plans in case the changes to the grandfather's employment status prevents the work from happening. But in the end, we can make a decision on where things go and that room can't be cleaned well until I deal with my stuff. And it has been hard enough to get to it with one child, if I don't deal with it now that room is destined to stay like that for years!
The other goal is to improve the meal planning and grocery shopping process each week. Adding some recipes to my rotation, making time to plan once a week and making some meals in advance to freeze will be added gradually to my existing responsibilities. We aren't eating badly now, but it could be better planned and more interesting.
Well, I'm off to fold some laundry and start dealing with my stuff while Heather naps. :-)
(Once I get access to the picture archive again there will be knitting photos to share of presents and my two main current projects)
That said, this time of year does provide a little incentive for some projects because of the days off. Even with travel to see family, I have more consecutive days off than usual. My office is closed from Christmas Eve to New Year's Day, so I feel like I should take advantage of the time to jump start the organization that our house needs.
Hopefully, all of the presents will have found a home by the time we go to bed tonight. I'm about 60% done, but the dining room table is still half full. All of Heather's new clothes are in the dryer and most of the toys have been unpacked. I just need to distribute them to different rooms and make sure that we have enough bins that everything can be put away when we want to straighten up and not trip over duplos and plastic forks and blocks.
The main task is dealing with my stuff. The general house stuff is in pretty good shape. We aren't always good at putting everything away when we're done with it, and there are some cabinets and drawers that could use a spring cleaning, but the big issue for me is my stuff. The stuff in the dressing room, my clothes and the stuff in my room/office. I need to go through it, toss what I can, store what I don't regularly need and organize the things I want access to. The hope is that my current room could become emptied by half so there is some space for the baby. My space and/or Heather's room will eventually move up to the third floor, but not until the front room is patched up and finished. We're hoping to do that this spring with the help of the grandfathers, but I want to have back-up plans in case the changes to the grandfather's employment status prevents the work from happening. But in the end, we can make a decision on where things go and that room can't be cleaned well until I deal with my stuff. And it has been hard enough to get to it with one child, if I don't deal with it now that room is destined to stay like that for years!
The other goal is to improve the meal planning and grocery shopping process each week. Adding some recipes to my rotation, making time to plan once a week and making some meals in advance to freeze will be added gradually to my existing responsibilities. We aren't eating badly now, but it could be better planned and more interesting.
Well, I'm off to fold some laundry and start dealing with my stuff while Heather naps. :-)
(Once I get access to the picture archive again there will be knitting photos to share of presents and my two main current projects)
Sunday, December 28, 2008
A bit of Christmas
It's hard to imagine how I can wrap up the last few days. I don't have access to all of the pictures at the moment and I don't think I'd want to put them all in a blog post anyway. You'll have to keep an eye on our flickr accounts. :-)
First, the funny picture post I alluded to last week. We took Heather to see Santa a few days before Christmas at Phipps. In typical toddler fashion, she went on and on about going to see santa, and was impatient when we were standing in line even though the line wasn't that long (she was anxious to go back to see the trains). She seemed happy when it was our turn, but then daddy put her on Santa's lap.
R and I really don't try to take blackmail quality photos, but sometimes they just fall in your lap.
Christmas morning Heather probably would have been happy just getting the Big Bird sticking out of her stocking, and after a few more presents from the stocking she was more interested in playing than opening. But we alternated playing with opening, and she allowed mommy, daddy, bapa and nana to open presents for her, so since everyone else opened stockings and presents while she played we were able to sit down to breakfast after about 2 1/2 hours. :-)
Her biggest present from Santa was her play kitchen.
She got lots of great presents at four different celebrations - Christmas morning at home, Christmas night at the ILs, Saturday morning at nana's parents and saturday night with bapa's mother. She got babies, puzzles, a beautiful stool, books, clothes (yay! no more running out of clothes once a week!), a train set, and kitchen accessories...to name a few. There is lots of stuff, but since R and I weren't overwhelmed with presents it doesn't feel as overwhelming overall. And there aren't a lot of big toys, which is nice.
I took 3 diaper boxes of toys and a few books upstairs to storage on Christmas Eve, so I think we can avoid feeling like a small toy store when we unpack everything next week.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Admittedly boring post
I've got no pictures and this is just a "what I've been up to" post. But I'm excited about my accomplishments, so I'm going to share anyway. Feel free to skim or skip. I promise that the next post will be more fun.
- I'm thrilled that the holiday cards went into the mailbox this morning! It was absolutely fabulous to print the address labels with the computer and I just wish I would have done it all earlier. Starting on Friday after work and finishing on Sunday night at 10:30 meant that I spent almost all of my free moments this weekend doing the cards, and I only wrote a sentence or two on each one. So it wasn't really *that* time consuming, but it was a lot for one weekend.
- I also finished the presents for the daycare teachers. I finished the primary knitting on Friday night and had to wash, block, embroider and photograph this weekend. I gave an extra one of the mug cozies to one of my coworkers in a secret santa exchange on Friday and she was using it this morning, so I expect them to be a hit. :-)
- I wrapped all of the presents that aren't pictures, which basically took the entire length of Heather's nap on Saturday.
- We went to the grocery store, and we have boring dinner food for the next couple of nights, an orange for Heather's stocking, christmas eve dinner food and christmas morning food.
- I did cast on Amelia after I finished the embroidery on the mug cozies. I had to make sure I had something to knit on the bus today and tomorrow! :-) Pictures as soon as I have more than a couple inches of knitting done.
Left to do - print and wrap pictures, assemble Heather's big present, and clean up the house!
- I'm thrilled that the holiday cards went into the mailbox this morning! It was absolutely fabulous to print the address labels with the computer and I just wish I would have done it all earlier. Starting on Friday after work and finishing on Sunday night at 10:30 meant that I spent almost all of my free moments this weekend doing the cards, and I only wrote a sentence or two on each one. So it wasn't really *that* time consuming, but it was a lot for one weekend.
- I also finished the presents for the daycare teachers. I finished the primary knitting on Friday night and had to wash, block, embroider and photograph this weekend. I gave an extra one of the mug cozies to one of my coworkers in a secret santa exchange on Friday and she was using it this morning, so I expect them to be a hit. :-)
- I wrapped all of the presents that aren't pictures, which basically took the entire length of Heather's nap on Saturday.
- We went to the grocery store, and we have boring dinner food for the next couple of nights, an orange for Heather's stocking, christmas eve dinner food and christmas morning food.
- I did cast on Amelia after I finished the embroidery on the mug cozies. I had to make sure I had something to knit on the bus today and tomorrow! :-) Pictures as soon as I have more than a couple inches of knitting done.
Left to do - print and wrap pictures, assemble Heather's big present, and clean up the house!
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Hi
Just a little "yes, I'm here" post. It has been a super busy week at work for multiple reasons, but as of this moment I'm caught up on my hours for this pay period and I have one more day of busy/somewhat stressful work tomorrow (shored up by some work this evening now that Heather is in bed, but it is worth it because I would rather do work tonight than have to do it this weekend). Next week I just have 1 1/2 days of work to do before our christmas lunch on Tuesday afternoon, and none of it should be deadline work, so that's good.
I still haven't gotten to the christmas cards, but since I figured out the label thing I'm not to stressed about that. It's still going to take some time this weekend, but it's manageable. And everything else left to do for christmas feels pretty manageable, too.
Hopefully I'll get caught up on my knitting photography and project posting over the holidays. And we shall see if I'm inspired to finish some works in progress or start new things or both when I get some free time again!
Hope you all have an easy Friday and a lovely weekend!
I still haven't gotten to the christmas cards, but since I figured out the label thing I'm not to stressed about that. It's still going to take some time this weekend, but it's manageable. And everything else left to do for christmas feels pretty manageable, too.
Hopefully I'll get caught up on my knitting photography and project posting over the holidays. And we shall see if I'm inspired to finish some works in progress or start new things or both when I get some free time again!
Hope you all have an easy Friday and a lovely weekend!
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
Quote
I just thought of one of my favorite recent Heather quotes that I left off of yesterday's list. She has said it in the morning while driving to school with her daddy.
"Mommy's on a bus."
:-)
Correct and appropriately timed!
"Mommy's on a bus."
:-)
Correct and appropriately timed!
ETA: This mobile text message was screwed up for you the first time by AT&T
Monday, December 15, 2008
A Monday in December
It seems like there is a lot to post and I've got a lot to do today, so I'm just going to leave this window open and add things as I think of them during the day. Maybe I'll be able to cover all of my bases that way. There haven't been a lot of pictures taken lately, so text will have to do.
1 - It was a pretty low key weekend. Heather woke up under the weather on Friday morning. R and I took shifts staying home with her, and she really didn't get back to herself until about half an hour before bedtime on Sunday night. She wasn't totally miserable...just irritable, tired and without much of an appetite. But she was drinking well and she did eat a bit. I think it was most concerning for us because she usually bounces back after a long nap and/or a good night's sleep...which she had on friday, saturday and sunday...but it wasn't until dinnertime on Sunday that she started being her silly self again.
While we were definitely sad to lose out on a weekend with fun Heather, we're happy that she's recovered and didn't get sick for more of the week when we're both very busy at work. (And our fingers are crossed that daycare won't call this afternoon.)
As always happens whenever Heather is sick, my heart really goes out to parents who deal with chronic or regular illnesses in their children. Despite the crud that has been brought home from daycare, in general we've been really lucky and Heather seems to have inherited the relatively strong immune system of her parents. And we're blessed that she is so healthy in general. Knowing the stress that loomed over me all weekend waiting for her to feel better for a relatively minor condition, it's difficult to imagine dealing with that on a regular basis.
2 - I can't even describe to you how incredible it is to hear Heather talk each day. There are still certainly words and phrases that we don't understand, but it seems like there is so much that we do it is just amazing. Maybe if I had a notebook tied around my neck I could record it all, but even then I doubt it. There are lots of times that she will repeat most of a sentence that we've just said (she used to repeat just the last word or two). Some recent examples of sentences she's come up with on her own:
"Nora looking Heather's Christmas (KIH-MAS) tree"
"Money in Heather's piggy bank"
"Come here Stewart"
"Mommy doing?"
"Nana Bapa coming soon" (Nana and Bapa are my parents)
"There is Heather's garbage truck" (replace garbage truck with the noun of your choice)
"Daddy walking snow"
3 - Current favorite activities:
- Watching the garbage truck go by on Monday mornings. If we get up early enough we can see it go in front of the house and in the alley behind.
- Putting money in her piggy bank
- Playing with play-doh
- Using her blocks to make a house for Elmo (he is the only figure special enough for this privilege
- Walking in the snow
- Eating Mac'n'Cheese
- Examining the ornaments and lights on the Christmas tree
- Singing her ABCs, she also likes it when daddy and mommy sing it to her or with her
4 - Christmas
I've purchased everything for Christmas but one secret santa gift and the stamps for the christmas cards. I even bought wrapping paper this weekend and all of Heather's stocking stuffers. We'll be keeping the UPS man and the staff at Mailsmart busy this week as everything I ordered online rolls in. I think we're done decorating, although R might put lights up in one or two more windows. But the trees are decorated, the banister is decorated, the mantle is decorated and I came up with a system for displaying christmas cards that I like better than last year. I'm ready for the christmas bins to leave the dining room. :-)
Trying to print address labels is proving to be a bigger challenge than I anticipated, but I'm going to keep trying to figure it out because it seems like less of a hassle than address 130+ cards by hand. I still have hope that I'll get them mailed by Monday...
I think I'm feeling the same way this year that I felt last year. I'm so excited about Heather's presents that I'm not even really thinking about what I might get. Few family members asked what I wanted, so I suppose I'll be getting things from my amazon list and gift cards. But honestly, that's fine with me. Other than some springy maternity clothes, I really don't feel like I need much. I'm still feeling overwhelmed by the stuff I already have, so I don't want a lot more. :-)
I haven't figured out the timing yet (Christmas Eve or before?), but R and I do need to go through Heather's toys and remove (read: hide on the 3rd floor) some of the stuff that she's getting too old for or that she doesn't play with much anymore. With new stuff coming in, we need to make room in the three primary toy areas.
(ETA - No offense to Open Office, but I took a few minutes to try to make labels in Microsoft Office and I had no trouble figuring it out. So except for the 4-5 addresses that need to be confirmed, my labels are ready to print now - yay!)
5 - Knitting
4 of the 5 teacher gifts are done minus blocking and embroidery, and I think I'm going to make two more for friend gifts since they're so fast and useful...and maybe one for me, too. :-)
The swatch for Amelia is done and washed. I'm debating between size 2 and size 4 needles. Based on the pre-blocking measurements, I'm either getting 24 or 26 stitches to 4 inches...so since I have to do math either way (the pattern is for 20 stitches to 4 inches) I might as well decide which fabric I like better. I think I'm leaning toward the size 2. I know it sounds crazy, but I'm a super loose knitter and I'd rather knit an extra few hundred or thousand stitches and get a sweater I love than be stingy and get a sweater that is just so-so...and I tend to prefer a more structured fabric. But I haven't studied the washed and blocked swatch yet or done any math, so the decision is subject to change. (I probably won't give myself permission to go back to this until the teacher gifts and christmas cards are done...)
6 - Facebook
I've been sucked in. My knitting group decided that we should use facebook to plan our events so that no one has to be saddled with sending out evites and we can chat between events without filling up everyone's email boxes. Plus, people can come and go as they please instead of having one person responsible for keeping the email list.
Pro - I've caught up with some college friends that I've been meaning to be better about communicating with.
Con - It's just one more thing to make my "internet life" more time consuming.
Given these two thoughts, I'm mostly limiting myself to communication. I'm keeping most of my picture posting on flickr, I'm keeping knitting content on ravelry, I'm keeping most of my thoughts and comments here, and I'm just using facebook for chatting with people that I really want to chat with. In other words, I'm not going to friend everyone I've ever met. No offense to anyone, but I have no desire to maximize my friends to the point that it is hard to keep up with the people I really want to read about.
7 - The Muppet Movie
Heather and I watched about half of the movie yesterday after her nap. She seemed to enjoy most of it. She got impatient during the Doc Hopper scenes (can't blame her), she liked the froggys (Kermit and Robin) and she liked it when Fozzie said "Wakka wakka wakka". :-) That scene could have lasted longer in her opinion.
I was also pleased to discover that I still know all the words to "The Rainbow Connection". :-) Not bad considering that it's been almost 10 years since I graduated from college.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
Quick Update
I stayed up too late last night, but since I was productive I don't feel as bad about it. Both trees are now decorated with ornaments!
So except for fixing the lights already stranded on the banister (half of them are out now), I am done decorating for christmas - yay! There are still lots of household chores to do, but it feels good to get one checked off the list instead of spending 8-11pm on the computer, and being annoyed with myself for not being productive and for staying up too late.
I cast on a gauge swatch for Amelia this morning on the bus. Just a quick break between daycare teacher presents. I'm 90% sure that I need to go down a few needle sizes and math is going to be required to substitute this yarn. But I think it will totally be worth it, and it will make for some great holiday car travel knitting!
So except for fixing the lights already stranded on the banister (half of them are out now), I am done decorating for christmas - yay! There are still lots of household chores to do, but it feels good to get one checked off the list instead of spending 8-11pm on the computer, and being annoyed with myself for not being productive and for staying up too late.
(Image stolen from R's blog)
I cast on a gauge swatch for Amelia this morning on the bus. Just a quick break between daycare teacher presents. I'm 90% sure that I need to go down a few needle sizes and math is going to be required to substitute this yarn. But I think it will totally be worth it, and it will make for some great holiday car travel knitting!
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
I think I found it...
I'll have to see how my gauge works out, but I think I finally found the right sweater pattern for the sweater's worth of hand-painted wool and silk yarn that has been marinating in my stash for 3-4 years. It has just enough variegation that I don't think it works well with a lace or cable pattern, but I haven't been able to find a cardigan pattern (until now) with enough interest for me but not too much for the yarn. A pattern that could flatter my curves, be professional enough for work and be something that I really wanted to make. There are simple cardigan patterns out there that would work, but nothing was really making me as excited as I've always been about the yarn.
The best (?) part is that I don't have to wait until after the pregnancy to make and wear it because it only buttons at the chest. If only I could go home and cast on my gauge swatch RIGHT NOW.
Meet my new friend Amelia.
The best (?) part is that I don't have to wait until after the pregnancy to make and wear it because it only buttons at the chest. If only I could go home and cast on my gauge swatch RIGHT NOW.
Meet my new friend Amelia.
Thursday, December 04, 2008
Finishitis and Startitis
Last night I finished the baby/toddler sweater I've been focused on for the past couple of weeks, except for weaving in the ends and giving it a bath. But I can't post a picture yet because mama is a blog reader. I'll try to get a photo up for those of you on ravelry.
I like the feeling of finishing something. And my current focus is on baby hats (however many I can get out of my skein of yarn) for savethechildren.org, which are sure to give me more finishing satisfaction in the next few days.
I'm once again feeling like I simultaneously have startitis and finishitis, so I'm trying to focus on the finishitis to clear the nearly-complete and small holiday knitting projects from my queue, and then I can cast on a bunch of projects for me and Heather, and return to Babette. This is the plan, at least. As I was finishing the fair isle sweater over the last few days, I started picturing one for Heather. So that, and a sweater for me out of whatever yarn strikes me the most when I go stash diving are definitely at the top of the list.
The only true holiday knitting I need to do is a series of gifts for Heather's teachers. I'm going to knit coffee cup cozies for them and embroider Heather's symbol on them. (Sure, it will be another child's symbol next year, but embroidering flowers on them makes more sense than putting her name on them.) I might also include a starbucks card or a few packets of hot cocoa. TBD based on what I can find when I go shopping for the mugs. :-)
If I'm in the mood for some small knitting, I might also start making some tree ornaments and I have a vague notion about a knitted advent calendar and tree skirt (inspired by a friend). But those are only ideas for if and when the mood strikes and not anything I *have* to do this year. I'd also like to do some festive knitted stockings eventually, since we have 6 mantles in our house and only enough stuff to decorate one or two of them.
As usual, what actually gets knitted will depend on the amount of time I have available to plan at the moment when I can start a new project...and how much of Heather's sleeping time I spend doing the chores that I really should be doing instead of knitting!
I like the feeling of finishing something. And my current focus is on baby hats (however many I can get out of my skein of yarn) for savethechildren.org, which are sure to give me more finishing satisfaction in the next few days.
I'm once again feeling like I simultaneously have startitis and finishitis, so I'm trying to focus on the finishitis to clear the nearly-complete and small holiday knitting projects from my queue, and then I can cast on a bunch of projects for me and Heather, and return to Babette. This is the plan, at least. As I was finishing the fair isle sweater over the last few days, I started picturing one for Heather. So that, and a sweater for me out of whatever yarn strikes me the most when I go stash diving are definitely at the top of the list.
The only true holiday knitting I need to do is a series of gifts for Heather's teachers. I'm going to knit coffee cup cozies for them and embroider Heather's symbol on them. (Sure, it will be another child's symbol next year, but embroidering flowers on them makes more sense than putting her name on them.) I might also include a starbucks card or a few packets of hot cocoa. TBD based on what I can find when I go shopping for the mugs. :-)
If I'm in the mood for some small knitting, I might also start making some tree ornaments and I have a vague notion about a knitted advent calendar and tree skirt (inspired by a friend). But those are only ideas for if and when the mood strikes and not anything I *have* to do this year. I'd also like to do some festive knitted stockings eventually, since we have 6 mantles in our house and only enough stuff to decorate one or two of them.
As usual, what actually gets knitted will depend on the amount of time I have available to plan at the moment when I can start a new project...and how much of Heather's sleeping time I spend doing the chores that I really should be doing instead of knitting!
Monday, December 01, 2008
I've done it
I'm listening to Christmas music today. :-) Not sure yet if it is improving my productivity, but it certainly isn't hurting!
Heather is a fan of the Christmas tree again this year, although she's been similarly enthralled by the ladder, too. Hopefully I'll get to the ornaments soon and we can get that out of the way.
I'm working on my address list now for Christmas cards, so if you don't think we have your current address, you should email it to me asap! I can't wait to get those finished. I don't want another December where they hang over my head all month. Or another trip to see family when I have to bring them with me to finish...
Sunday, November 30, 2008
November Recap 2
Children's Museum
The next weekend my parents came to visit, and we decided to take the opportunity to visit the Children's Museum. It was a big hit with all of us. We started upstairs in the waterplay area.
Playing in the water pipe area.
Putting water from the pond into the watermill.
Putting water from the pond into another cup. (Despite her serious look, she was having a great time. She was just concentrating hard!)
Looking for the next toy to play with. She tried out a number of different boats and would have been happy with more sailboats.
When we moved down to the infant/toddler play floor Heather enjoyed the trains.
And she liked watching the fishes like she does at school.
It was a lovely day at the museum capped off by lunch and a quick visit with The Boss' mommy in the art studio where she was teaching knitting.
Meeting Karla
Last weekend, we finally got to do what we've been waiting to do for a long time. We got to have our first playdate and dinner with Karla! The girls were a little wary at first, but after some play time with the parents and a yummy dinner, it was time for some dancing!
And then it was time to play with Play-doh.
Snow
We haven't had a ton of snow yet, but there has been a little here and there. Enough to break our Heather's new winter coat and order her a snowsuit (not pictured) which is a little big but will keep her nice a warm when we go out to play in the snow to burn off toddler energy.
Thanksgiving
This weekend we had a nice Thanksgiving and mini-vacation. After watching some of the Macy's parade, we headed to R's parents' house for Thanksgiving. The house was more full of canines than usual since SIL and BIL both brought their young chihuahuas and SIL brought her terrier, too. The smaller chihuahua crawled on Heather's lap and made her giggle.
Friday we enjoyed a slow morning and Heather took a long nap, so I worked on cleaning up the house. Despite Heather's short nap on Saturday, I manged to get enough done that R could put the tree up that evening.
Today we attended little EJ's first birthday party. It was a lovely fiesta, although it took Heather a little while to understand that those newly unwrapped presents weren't hers. :-)
The next weekend my parents came to visit, and we decided to take the opportunity to visit the Children's Museum. It was a big hit with all of us. We started upstairs in the waterplay area.
Playing in the water pipe area.
Putting water from the pond into the watermill.
Putting water from the pond into another cup. (Despite her serious look, she was having a great time. She was just concentrating hard!)
Looking for the next toy to play with. She tried out a number of different boats and would have been happy with more sailboats.
When we moved down to the infant/toddler play floor Heather enjoyed the trains.
And she liked watching the fishes like she does at school.
It was a lovely day at the museum capped off by lunch and a quick visit with The Boss' mommy in the art studio where she was teaching knitting.
Meeting Karla
Last weekend, we finally got to do what we've been waiting to do for a long time. We got to have our first playdate and dinner with Karla! The girls were a little wary at first, but after some play time with the parents and a yummy dinner, it was time for some dancing!
And then it was time to play with Play-doh.
Snow
We haven't had a ton of snow yet, but there has been a little here and there. Enough to break our Heather's new winter coat and order her a snowsuit (not pictured) which is a little big but will keep her nice a warm when we go out to play in the snow to burn off toddler energy.
ThanksgivingThis weekend we had a nice Thanksgiving and mini-vacation. After watching some of the Macy's parade, we headed to R's parents' house for Thanksgiving. The house was more full of canines than usual since SIL and BIL both brought their young chihuahuas and SIL brought her terrier, too. The smaller chihuahua crawled on Heather's lap and made her giggle.
Friday we enjoyed a slow morning and Heather took a long nap, so I worked on cleaning up the house. Despite Heather's short nap on Saturday, I manged to get enough done that R could put the tree up that evening.
Today we attended little EJ's first birthday party. It was a lovely fiesta, although it took Heather a little while to understand that those newly unwrapped presents weren't hers. :-)
November Recap 1
I'm taking a break from the pre-decorating house cleaning to recap some of the fun we had this past month. I'm not sure what is making the time get away from me so much, although I have been posting past pictures to flickr and checking out facebook, so maybe that explains it.
Maine Wedding and New England trip
We took our first plane flight with Heather up to Boston and then drove up to Maine for the wedding of a special friend who I've known since kindergarten. Heather loved the plane rides and did really well considering that most of her naps were during long car rides from place to place. (She refused to nap on the plane because it was just too interesting.)
Heather got to wear her Halloween costume to the rehearsal dinner.
The view from our hotel room.
The wedding was lovely. Daddy and mommy chose a seat at the back of the crowd and each took a turn letting Heather stretch her legs. She did well but didn't really understand why we needed to stay seated.
Between the ceremony and the reception, the wedding party went to the beach for group pictures, so our family took the opportunity to walk on the sand. Yes, the sand was cold. But the breeze was mild and the sun was out.
Beautiful shawls made by the bride herself.
The flower girls thought that Heather was adorable. Who can blame them?
Once she finished eating, all Heather wanted to do was dance!
Happy ladies!
The next day we traveled to visit friends in western Massachusetts. We didn't take too many pictures while we were visiting, but we did get one with Keeno the bunny.
Before heading back to Boston to fly home, I got a little over an hour to shop at mecca...
While mommy was shopping, Heather and daddy were browsing at a toy store. Cookie Monster came home with them since fire trucks aren't very cuddly.
Waiting to fly home...
Babies
The following week had two notable occurances. First, R and Heather and I went to my first pre-natal appointment. :-) That's right. Heather will be a big sister in May 2009. We're just at the end of the first trimester, and other than being tired mommy is feeling well.
Also, I went to a baby shower for a friend. She's due in december and I was delighted by how much she liked the baby sweater, bib and washcloth I made for her little one. :-)
Maine Wedding and New England trip
We took our first plane flight with Heather up to Boston and then drove up to Maine for the wedding of a special friend who I've known since kindergarten. Heather loved the plane rides and did really well considering that most of her naps were during long car rides from place to place. (She refused to nap on the plane because it was just too interesting.)
Heather got to wear her Halloween costume to the rehearsal dinner.
The view from our hotel room.
The wedding was lovely. Daddy and mommy chose a seat at the back of the crowd and each took a turn letting Heather stretch her legs. She did well but didn't really understand why we needed to stay seated.
Between the ceremony and the reception, the wedding party went to the beach for group pictures, so our family took the opportunity to walk on the sand. Yes, the sand was cold. But the breeze was mild and the sun was out.
Beautiful shawls made by the bride herself.
The flower girls thought that Heather was adorable. Who can blame them?
Once she finished eating, all Heather wanted to do was dance!
Happy ladies!
The next day we traveled to visit friends in western Massachusetts. We didn't take too many pictures while we were visiting, but we did get one with Keeno the bunny.
Before heading back to Boston to fly home, I got a little over an hour to shop at mecca...
While mommy was shopping, Heather and daddy were browsing at a toy store. Cookie Monster came home with them since fire trucks aren't very cuddly.
Waiting to fly home...
BabiesThe following week had two notable occurances. First, R and Heather and I went to my first pre-natal appointment. :-) That's right. Heather will be a big sister in May 2009. We're just at the end of the first trimester, and other than being tired mommy is feeling well.
Also, I went to a baby shower for a friend. She's due in december and I was delighted by how much she liked the baby sweater, bib and washcloth I made for her little one. :-)
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Dancing Fools
One of the poor quality cell phone videos I took on saturday of Heather and Karla dancing.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
11 minutes
It's kinda sad how long I've been meaning to post and I haven't gotten to it for various reasons - being tired, working on my flickr uploads, finding my missing needles and yarn, labeling Heather's new winter coat, boots and shoes among other things. That, and being overwhelmed about how much I want to post and haven't gotten to.
I really need to go to bed at 10, so when I started I had 11 minutes to write this...and now I have 8. :-)
A few tidbits:
- Anytime Heather sees cheese in any form, she says "Mac'n' cheese?" Macaroni and Cheese used to be called "Cheese", so I guess she's evolved.
- Heather and I went to target tonight and see really seemed to enjoy trying on shoes. I think daddy is worried.
- Heather loves the garbage truck. On monday we were lucky enough to see it twice. Once from the front window and once from the back window. We couldn't do anything until it was out of view. Every truck is now a garbage truck.
- Her current favorite book is a Moose book that she calls the "soose" book. But once we say Moose, she says it with an "M".
two minutes...
As I mentioned earlier, I lost some yarn and needles in the house. I've been looking for it since Saturday and finally found it last night. Progress is finally being made again on the toddler sweater that's been sitting for a while.
Before I found the yarn and needles I got bored on the bus with my socks and started using the sock yarn to make an iPod cozy.
Time up! more soon...
I really need to go to bed at 10, so when I started I had 11 minutes to write this...and now I have 8. :-)
A few tidbits:
- Anytime Heather sees cheese in any form, she says "Mac'n' cheese?" Macaroni and Cheese used to be called "Cheese", so I guess she's evolved.
- Heather and I went to target tonight and see really seemed to enjoy trying on shoes. I think daddy is worried.
- Heather loves the garbage truck. On monday we were lucky enough to see it twice. Once from the front window and once from the back window. We couldn't do anything until it was out of view. Every truck is now a garbage truck.
- Her current favorite book is a Moose book that she calls the "soose" book. But once we say Moose, she says it with an "M".
two minutes...
As I mentioned earlier, I lost some yarn and needles in the house. I've been looking for it since Saturday and finally found it last night. Progress is finally being made again on the toddler sweater that's been sitting for a while.
Before I found the yarn and needles I got bored on the bus with my socks and started using the sock yarn to make an iPod cozy.
Time up! more soon...
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
Toddler Ticket
During our many hours in the car while visiting Maine and Massachusetts this weekend we had only an AM/FM radio to listen to (*gasp*) and were forced to listen to many political ads when we tired of scanning the stations for more music.
Our conversations and Heather's responses to the ads convinced us that there would be an ideal ticket to run if a party wanted to attract the toddler vote.
Heather smiles everytime she says "bama" and "nunu". Politically, an Obama/Sununu ticket is probably unthinkable, but it would certainly make for some adorable political ads. (I don't know that it would sway any voters, but it would certainly make members of both parties smile.)
I was hoping to do a long weekend wrap-up tonight, but after doing some catching up and picture proofing, it is already almost 10pm and I'm tired. I will try to get to it soon while everything is fresh in my mind, but it is going to be a busy week at work, so I'm not making any promising.
Our conversations and Heather's responses to the ads convinced us that there would be an ideal ticket to run if a party wanted to attract the toddler vote.
Heather smiles everytime she says "bama" and "nunu". Politically, an Obama/Sununu ticket is probably unthinkable, but it would certainly make for some adorable political ads. (I don't know that it would sway any voters, but it would certainly make members of both parties smile.)
I was hoping to do a long weekend wrap-up tonight, but after doing some catching up and picture proofing, it is already almost 10pm and I'm tired. I will try to get to it soon while everything is fresh in my mind, but it is going to be a busy week at work, so I'm not making any promising.
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