Friday, January 23, 2009  

Knitting!

I feel GREAT this morning because Baby A finally decided to break the "only sleep for an hour at a time" habit of the last few days and slept for a bit over 2 hours at a stretch this morning... it's amazing what a little bit of sleep will do for a person! The last time she slept that long at a stretch was on Wednesday, when I took her to Knit Happens and she passed out for a good long stretch. So Holly... any night you want to come over and hang out with Baby A and do your "baby whisperer" thing, you just let me know.

I'm trying to ride the energy wave and upload some photos... of course, it's snacky-time for Baby A again, so my productivity is limited to tasks that can be done from the rocking chair. Luckily, uploading photos and updating the blog are such tasks.

And look - I finished a pair of socks for S! I dyed the yarn in early December, and had finished the first sock waiting for Baby A. I cast on for the second in the hospital, and many hours of nursing later, there's another sock! And just in time - S wore out another pair of handknit socks last week. His sock drawer is practically empty!



And in other Baby A developments... look! Holding up her head!



So let's all hope for some more sleepy-time today, because I have a couple of sewing projects I've been desperately trying to work on for DAYS, and I'd love to take a nap.

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Monday, January 19, 2009  

Quite a Week

Dear Sleep,

I miss you. Hope to see you soon. Please visit Baby A.

Love, Maeve

Yeah - lots of late nights over chez-Musings... and not too much in the way of sleeping at night. Apparently Baby A didn't get the memo that she should only need to eat every 3 hours or so... she's eating and growing like CRAZY!

This week, she got her eyes working well enough to see the Snoopy toy that the crazy mommy person keeps waving in front of her face... of course, little-miss-one-track-mind tried to nurse on Snoopy's nose a few minutes later. (She also tried to nurse on Abby during a snuggle today - Abby was NOT pleased!)



She also (barely) made it to Late Night, where she was immediately snuggled by the Irregulars. There may have also been a tiny incident where Auntie Elspeth tried her best to lead Baby A astray... (try the cashmere, and the silk... all of the babies are doing it...)

And Ann gifted Baby A with the cutest little koigu sweater... she's not quite big enough to fit into it properly yet, but any day now...



Speaking of sweaters, here's a modeling shot of Baby A in the Baby Surprise sweater Elspeth made her... it gets so many compliments! We bundled up on Saturday morning (temps below 10 degrees!) and walked to the local coffee shop for theneighborhood parents group meeting - our first!



Since it was so cold, we went all out on the hand-knits... she wore socks, mittens, a sweater, and, of course, a chicken hat! She was not particularly fond of the mittens, since she likes to stick her hands in her mouth, and wool tends to get in the way...



But eventually, we were all decked out and ready to go (don't worry, I snuggled her up in a nice fleecy/flannel blanket before we ventured outside!)



And yes, S wore his matching chicken. They were tres adorable.



We are most definitely NOT venturing downtown tomorrow... in fact, given our proximity to a metro station, we aren't even leaving the house (at least by car) for fear of losing our parking permits. But (sleep schedule permitting), we'll watch on TV as history is made, and we'll be hoping, along with the rest of the nation, that the next four years fulfill our collective dreams of greatness.

And if I fall asleep during the Oath, there's always You Tube, right?

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Tuesday, January 13, 2009  

Nearly 3 Weeks

I can't believe Baby A has only been here for 2 and a half weeks... it seems like she's been here forever! S is going to go back to work for a few days a week starting tomorrow, so I'll be facing my first day "all alone" with A (with help from Abby and Cricket!)

In the meantime, we've been making the most of S' time off and we've been trying to get out and go places... those of you who know me will doubtless be SHOCKED that one of our destinations happened to be a certain eatery...



Not only have I been learning to live with MUCH less sleep, I'm also having to learn how to balance all sorts of things. For example, my lap, although much larger than when I was preggers, is still only so big. Consequently, space allocation with a sleeping baby, a snuggly cat, and knitting can be a bit of a challenge...



When she's not trying to balance precariously on what little bit of lap isn't covered by baby-ness, Cricket has been shouldering a heavy burden of housework. For example, yesterday we ventured out to the Torpedo Factory to spend the rest of a very generous gift certificate we had received for our wedding. We scored big-time... 4 beautiful pieces of pottery. Cricket had to single-handedly inspect each and every one to ensure proper quality. She especially liked the little bouquet I stuck in one of the peices...



She isn't allowed on the kitchen counter, so she had to settle for a much more cursory inspection of the new little chicken bowl (that we're currently using to hold salt)...



And she luckily had completed her inspection of the bowl before I filled it with fruit.



But my favorite peice? Definitely this one. It's about the size of a salad plate, and is slightly curved... so it's not quite a bowl, not quite a plate. And it's just beautiful.

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Wednesday, January 07, 2009  

Baby A Fights The Man

On Monday, S and I bundled Baby A up and headed to the local mall. It was truly a desperation trip, since we both hate malls - but I desperately needed some nursing bras, and needed someone to measure me and help me pick out an appropriate size. We parked at a meter, and came back to the car to find a parking ticket... apparently, the genius parking enforcement officer pulled up our address, saw "Alexandria" as the city, and decided we were missing the "you paid your Alexandria City car tax" sticker. And we are missing such a sticker... because we don't live in Alexandria City. We live in Alexandria, an unincorporated section of Fairfax County. And Fairfax County doesn't issue those nice little stickers.

So we had 2 options - either pay the $40, or go IN PERSON to the courthouse and hope they would cancel the ticket without making us go IN PERSON again to court. S and I were so pissed that we decided it was worth all of the effort to head over to the courthouse on Tuesday. The reason they changed the law to require you to appear in person, twice, to challenge a ticket? To increase revenue. We call it extortion... pay the $40 bogus ticket, or take off 2 days from work to challenge it.

We got the ticket cancelled (DUH). Fight The Man, A... fight The Man.



Fresh off of her successful pre-revolutionary exercises, A and Abby shared a little snuggle.



Cricket, on the other hand, preferred to take advantage of the fact that I left the side of the crib lowered.



And lest this blog become completely about Baby A, I've turned the heel on S' second sock. Who knows, I might be able to actually finish the pair before A starts college!

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Thursday, January 01, 2009  

First Days Home

We're home, and life is more or less starting to fall into place... she's still eating like crazy (she gained 2 ounces in 2 days!), sleeping, and filling up diapers... what a life!!

Our last night in the hospital was challenging... she really didn't like sleeping in her little bassinet (maybe she was cold?) but I couldn't really sleep if I was holding her. So finally S took my place as snuggle-buddy so I could get a few hours of sleep. S cannot sleep unless at least one of his feet is sticking out from under the covers... like daddy, like daughter!



Since A was a Christmas baby, she got a cute little red and white crochet cap at the hospital. I think her head is a little small for it, though - it kept slipping off!



While at the hospital, the lactation consultant showed me a neat trick that took advantage of my cheap old navy tank top to get some quality snuggles in... and, coincidentally, free up my hands for some knitting!



And speaking of knitting, when it was finally time to head home, I bundled A up in the smallest of the sweaters knit by 4-Ply Katie, rolled up the sleeves about 4 times, and we headed home.



Once at home, we had Grandma and Grandpa bring in A, and S and I gave Abby some much needed snuggling. Once Abby had had a chance to give us kisses and get belly rubs, we introduced her to her new pack-member...



After many sniffs, Abby gave A a little kiss, and has been a wonderful doggy since then. She's often sleeping on her doggy bed in A's room, and sometimes runs in there faster than I do when A starts to cry!



A is gradually waking up more, mostly at night (SIGH), but S has some pretty impressive baby whispering talents which have helped a lot. And A nurses like a champ - she gained 2 ounces over the past 2 days! So I spend a lot of time in the rocking chair. Luckily, S set up a portable dvd player for me, so I can occasionally watch a little Grey's Anatomy while waiting for the wonder-nurser to get full.

Oh, and one of the perks of new-baby-dom? I started this post 2 days ago.

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