Sunday, August 31, 2008

Hot fun in the Summertime

We've had some August fun in the sprinkler. Last summer Rose wasn't so sure that standing in the spraying water and getting wet was a great idea, but now she loves it.

She and I had a great time acting silly in the sprinkler. We ran around and jumped over it and had lots of fun until I landed on it after a jump. I wasn't hurt, but I cracked the base of the sprinkler. Whoops! At least it still works.
Then I had to wrap her up like a little baby ('cause she is still my baby!).

In the last couple of weeks, Jamie has really become a baby, rather than a newborn. He's started smiling, and he's gotten very interested in the world around him.
He just gets cuter every day. Sleeping is slowly getting better -- his longest stretch of sleep is at night, around 5 or 6 hours, and it's pretty easy to get him to go back down after a late night nursing session. So Andy and I are finally starting to feel more human. In the daytime he's still not so much with the sleeping alone thing, but I'm not worrying about that yet. We'll get the nighttime going well, then worry about the day.
So the blog is two years old! It's funny -- at the beginning, I thought it would be great for keeping track of progress and projects. Now I use Ravelry for more of that and I'm finding that blogging is becoming more and more about journaling and making friends. There was a point I wasn't sure I was going to be able to keep it up, but I miss it when I don't get to do it, and I'm always thinking, "That would be great for the blog." I'm glad I'm here.
So, the first picture I ever posted:
Rose riding the train at Greenfield Village.
Here she is, just this past month, drawing Red the Fire Engine. My, how time flies.

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

A post about nothing much

Okay, first of all, I realize I did not spell the plural of "scarf" properly in the title of the last post. I feel I must apologize to my fourth grade teacher and offer a correction: "Two Scarves." Sorry. :P

But the big news is that Andy has been back at work for two days and I haven't completely lost my mind trying to wrangle both children through nursing and meal times and playing and crying and (scariest of all) putting each down for naps by myself, especially when little Jamie still hasn't quite gotten the hang of falling asleep on his own.

All is well right now -- each is actually asleep in their own place, and I hardly know what to do with myself. I'm not sure how long Jamie will make it, but I'm trying to just enjoy this alone time while it lasts.

I've had about eleven brilliant ideas for blog posts over the last week. An idea will pop into my head, and I'll tell myself to blog about it, then forget it as soon as I get near the computer. Isn't sleep deprivation wonderful? I guess I could jot myself notes, but that would mean I'd need a hand free, and that hasn't happened much lately. :)

So I'm praying Jamie's new trend of actually sleeping in his crib for more than 12 minutes at a time continues. Right now I'm going to stop talking and start knitting!

Thursday, August 14, 2008

Two scarfs

My dear Andrew has taken both of our children to his parents' house and given me a morning off. I spent it paying bills and writing thank you cards while listening to loud music. I know there were about a billion more fun things I could have done, but I really feel better for having taken care of those tasks. Now I'm making my monthy blog post. I don't want my posts to be this far apart, but I'm afraid that for the time being, it's just got to be that way.

Here is the Chevron Scarf again, now halfway complete. I love Jo's yarn, love the feel, love the colors, love everything about it. And the pattern is so easy that I can work a row or two here and there and put it down when Jamie fusses or Rose wants to play.
I was thinking about the first scarf I knit, which, stereotypically, was my first project. The yarn was a skein of jewel-toned acrylic. Just one skein. I knitted it up in seed stitch on needles that were probably two sizes too small for the yarn (they were all I had), so I ended up with this very dense, cardboard-like, too short scarf. I gave it to my mother, who praised me sincerely then proceeded to never wear it. Not that I blame her; she probably couldn't make it bend around her neck! Fortunately or not, I have no photo of that poor project.
What a far cry this beautiful, wooly, soft, drapey scarf is from that first one! I'm not giving it to Mom, though, this one's for me!