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Monday, March 22, 2010
Baby A Chooses Her Own BooksThese two are particular favorites. 
5 comments || # Wednesday, February 10, 2010 Snowed OutDC is getting so much snow that my in-laws, who live in Minnesota, are saying things like "wow, that's a lot of snow" whenever the weather report talks about DC. That's a lot of snow. Not that I would know, of course, because we're officially snowed out. We flew down to Florida right before the first storm hit, and were supposed to fly home on Sunday. And then on Tuesday. And now we're scheduled for tomorrow, but we're just waiting for them to cancel our flight AGAIN.Abby is staying with my parents, and is getting "really tired" of walking in the snow. Poor Cricket is stuck at home with only the occasional visits from our intrepid (and much appreciated) neighbor to refill the food and water and change the litter - she is going to be so mad at us by the time we get home that we might have to serve her fancy Trader Joe's canned cat food out of a crystal goblet to get her to forgive us. Poor kitty! So while all of our fellow DC-ers are stuck under mounds of snow, we're battling the "cold" 60 degree temperatures here in Fort Myers. We've only been able to go to the beach twice (oh, the humanity) -  - and we actually had to wear jackets and long pants to swing at the park.  Monster, meanwhile, has mastered the head-first dive down the slide. WHEEEEEEEEEEEE! 
3 comments || # Saturday, January 30, 2010 A Snowy SaturdayWe were supposed to have friends over for dinner, but the steadily falling snow has canceled those plans. Luckily, I had the foresight to make a huge pot of spaghetti sauce, so no harm done, and more yummy spaghetti for us!We ventured out this morning for a walk to the post office - Monster really loves the snow! After she wakes up from her nap, I'll see if she wants to actually crawl around in it and play. This morning, she had to settle for being chauffeured.  And, since it's approximately 19 degrees outside, you would think that this would be a perfect opportunity for Monster to use her new hat. It's the "Practice Makes Perfect" hat from Inspired Cable Knits, knit on smaller needles with sport weight yarn to make a hat that more or less perfectly fits an 18-19" head circumference. I love this hat, and I believe it may possibly be really cute on Monster. I'm not really sure what it looks like on her head, though... let me demonstrate her opinion on hats. What's that, Mommy?  Nice try, Mommy - I may be distracted by the closet door, but I believe you just put something on my head.  See? I was right! You put something on my head!  There. That's better.  I figure my only hope is that it'll still fit her next year. 1 comments || # Tuesday, January 26, 2010 Finished Projects, Oh My!So I just realized I have 2 more finished projects that I haven't photographed yet. But since Monster had a meltdown last night until almost midnight (teething? random baby-angst?), I'll just go with what I've got.And what I have is a finished Wild Apple! I love this sweater with a passion. Love it love it love it! I'm actually restraining myself from ordering another kit from Solveig.  I also finished Baby A's "Swing Thing" in a record time. I paired some silk yarn from stash with some pre-shrunk 100% cotton. I also used snaps covered by buttons instead of actual buttons, as getting things buttoned is a huge challenge with a wiggly Monster.  My only complaint is that the &#*@$ing silk yarn bled like crazy in a cold water wash, and slightly stained some of the cream cotton. I'm really glad I didn't use the silk yarn for anything else - it's not a big deal on a baby sweater, but could be a real problem in other garments. I guess if I use it again, I'll pair it with a really dark color of yarn.   Abby is still putting up with the whole "baby" thing, and has decided that all of the dropped finger food is a fair trade for the occasional abuse from Monster. She is NOT, however, quite as happy about the new exercise ball routine that S learned from the vet. Supposedly, it is like doggy pilates, and will help her compensate for the missing leg. Abby wonders how many extra chicken strips she's earning by putting up with S' craziness.  Right - off to start dinner and the bedtime routine. Here's what I hope to see in a few short hours...  Labels: Swing Thing, Wild Apple 0 comments || # Friday, January 08, 2010 Where Did December Go?So I didn't blog at all in December. Wow. So a quick recap - Baby A got SICK with a nasty cold, complete with emergency room visit in the middle of the night because she was coughing so hard she was throwing up. She's fine, there was nothing wrong except for a nasty cold, but still, scary stuff! So once Baby A kicked the cold, she passed it on so that I could enjoy almost 2 weeks of feeling like crap. What fun! And then, feeling left out, Baby A promptly got an ear infection. So that was a super fun month.But in-between all of the crappy colds and ear infections, Baby A turned 1!! She didn't seem to mind that she had to share her birthday with that "Jesus" guy, and had a great time opening Christmas presents in the morning, taking a nap, and then opening birthday presents in the evening. And there was cake.  There was also a little teeny bit of snow here in December - we had about 20 inches in our yard! Baby A seemed to like to eat it, and wanted to crawl around more, but since it was over her head, she had to stick to the sections S shoveled clear.  It has been quite a challenge to keep Baby A warm on her puppy walks - she takes off her mittens, so we dug out her snow suit, but she's pretty much totally outgrown that. So we bought a new winter coat and a new snow suit which will hopefully help - she has grown so much in the last week or two that nothing is fitting her! So on the really cold nights, we've resorted to "piles of blankets and jackets." It's seemed to work so far!  And there has most definitely been knitting - I finished 2 sweaters! Next up is supposed to be a cardigan for S, but he hasn't had time to decide on a design, so I'm filling the gap with a sweater for Baby A. I'm trying to use up some beautiful silk that I was gifted ages ago - not sure how much is on the skein, not really sure what to use it for... so I thought I would pair it with some cream cotton and make Baby A a little "swing coat". I'm loving it so far... not that I've had much time to work on it!  
0 comments || # Wednesday, November 25, 2009 Not Quite Once a Day Well, we've made it to Thanksgiving with Oma and Opa in Minnesota. Baby A took her first plane ride and fell asleep after about 40 minutes of fussing... but what with the "get there 2 hours early" and "pay to check any baggage, including a portable crib" and the "stand in huge lines at security"... and my personal favorite, TAKE OFF A BABY'S SHOES AT SECURITY. Because that's the new terrorist threat... explosives in BABY SHOES. Sheesh. So anyway, we all made it to Oma and Opa's, and have been having the best time. Oma gave Baby A a cookie, Opa let her play with his glasses, and they gave her an old cell phone (battery removed) because they felt bad that she couldn't play with the "real" cell phones. In other words, they have been spoiling her rotten, and she has been loving it. They have quite a lot of experience spoiling grandkids... here's a picture of Baby A and all of her cousins. She is the 10th grandkid on this side of the family (and there's 1 great-grandbaby!)  And there has been a bit of knitting while Oma and Opa have been Baby A-sitting.... I'm working away at the back of my grey cardi, and am making decent progress:  I'll probably be ready to start the shaping for the armscyes by the time I get home, which is good because I didn't bring the pattern with me. I just know I need to keep going until I get to row 93... I'm on row 47 now, but I probably won't get much knitting time tomorrow or Friday. 0 comments || # Thursday, November 19, 2009 Delivery DifferencesDuring the day in our neighborhood, we usually see 3 different delivery options - USPS, UPS, and FedEx. All drive trucks, all come to various doors dropping off things, and all are usually men.So can anyone explain why Abby completely ignores FedEx, barks a few times at USPS, and goes COMPLETELY INSANE at UPS? I'm not talking about a little barking - she'll chase the UPS truck through the neighborhood if we see it while we're on a walk - she'll bark at UPS trucks she sees on the road when we're in the car... what did UPS ever do to Abby? And how can she tell the difference between the UPS truck and the FedEx truck? Is the little doggy logo on the FedEx truck part of some kind of doggy-FedEx peace settlement? 0 comments || # Tuesday, November 17, 2009 UghS has the ick, and yesterday poor Baby A spent a grumpy couple of hours feeling miserable with a fever. She seems to be recovering a whole lot faster than S, thankfully......but now my throat is a bit sore. At least we don't leave for Minnesota until next Tuesday. 0 comments || # Sunday, November 15, 2009 Actual Knitting!If you head outside today, watch for low-flying pigs - the Redskins FINALLY won a game, Baby A slept through the entire night for the first time in MONTHS (stupid teeth), and I managed to finish the left front of my new knitting project! I'm working off of a Sirdar pattern (Donegal Tweed DK 8336), which I had purchased in the very early days of my knitting. When I pulled out the pattern to cast on, I noticed that it had (shudder) drop shoulders. Ew. EW EW EW. I'm sure drop shoulders look good on someone out there, but NOT ME, unless I'm dressing up as a linebacker. So a little bit of math and a few experiments yielded a satisfactory set-in sleeve design.  The yarn is the scrumptious grey cormo cross I bought at Rhinebeck 2008, and apparently a love of cormo runs in the family:  And while I watched football and "knit" with Baby A, Abby and S took it upon themselves to absorb some excess solar energy. 
0 comments || # Thursday, November 12, 2009 Canine RoombaBaby A spends a lot of time "eating" various finger foods. By "eating," I mean she holds them out and feeds them to Abby, or sometimes scatters bits of food all over the living room.Poor Abby. Whenever she sees Baby A's little snack container come out, she knows she'll have to spend a good long time meticulously inspecting every inch of floor for any errant cheerios. It's hard work, but someone has to do it... 
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