Knitting Zeal

Twinness

My sister has once again successfully produced human life, this time in the form of surprise twins.  They are super cute and very healthy.  I got to visit them yesterday briefly and hold each of them.  I already forgot how tiny and light a newborn feels, especially after hefting my 21 lb baby around everyday.  This is my favorite photo of them so far.   I can almost hear Lilly thinking, "I am so going to poke you hard Anthony for all those months of squishing me in the corner of the uterus.  I am woman, hear me roar!" Her little smile is adorable and his look is the typical boy look--don't bother me, I'm sleeping.  She was 6 lbs, 10 oz and he was 7 lbs, 12 oz.  Not bad for only 37 weeks.  We grow them big in this family. 

Andrew came to the hospital with me, but they wouldn't let him in to see the babies.  He doesn't know it yet, but next summer will be a lot of fun for him and the twins, since they will be so close in age and able to get into trouble with each other.

I need to get cracking on their baby blankets.  I am halfway through his and maybe a quarter of the way with hers.  I had to replace the size 17 needle I was using for hers because the one I had apparently chipped on the join with the cable and kept snagging the yarn.  I was lucky to find a replacement one at AC Moore.  I so rarely use a US 17 circular that I couldn't justify buying an Addi Turbo this time.  Plus, with my coupon, I paid less than $4! 

Andrew and I went to the local store that sells big giant sizes of everything to stock up on more formula and to get gas.  How sad is it that I was excited to only pay $3.93 today for a gallon of gas?  The last time I was there it was five cents more a gallon.  I have no idea what kind of gas it is, but it is the cheapest in the area, so it works for my honda just fine.  Andrew's latest accomplishment today is roaring and screaming for kicks.  He sits in his car seat and just screams repeately with a smile on his face.  I think he is either testing his vocal cords or my patience.  I ignore it as best I can, but sometimes he just makes me laugh.  As we walked around the nice cold store (it is freaking hot outside here, so a place with icy cold AC was great) he roared.  He doesn't watch TV shows or videos to pick up weird sounds, so this must just be an innate boy sound.  At one point an elderly man turned to him and asked him if he was roaring at him.  Andrew then pulled the bashful act and tried to hide.  It was amusing.  His little personality is really showing now.  He is very adventurous and tries to climb and move in ways his body isn't capable of yet, but his mind wants to try.  Bumps and little bruises do not seem to hinder his attempts.  I can't wait until he walks.  We thought life was over once he learned to crawl, but I see much running in my future.

An afternoon swim, with an unexpected visitor

Yesterday afternoon was beautiful outside.  Hot but not humid.  After Andrew's very long nap, he was rewarded with a dip in his baby pool.  Chris captured it on video, and I managed to snap this cute photo of him chewing on a mini shovel.  It was a nice and quiet afternoon.  We have a fairly private yard and can sometimes hear our neighbors, but not see them.  I suddenly heard a man talking in our next door neighbor's yard.  I thought it was maybe the guy who lives across the street, for his accent was definitely Philly style and not our neighbor, who speaks with a heavy European accent (maybe Russian, not sure.)  Suddenly there is a huge German Shepherd in our yard on a long leash.  (There is a break in our fence where a panel was broken in a storm and we have yet to replace it since it means replacing the entire fence.)  Attached to the other end of the leash was a local police officer, who was talking into his shoulder.  He did not see us, even though we were sitting on our patio and quite obvious.  I startled him by saying hello.  Apparently I watch too much crime investigation tv, for if we were criminals or dangerous in any way, he would have been done for, in my opinion.  Aren't police officers supposed to always be aware of their surroundings?  Even the dog didn't notice us.  Turns out he was searching for a man and woman who were seen running up our street (we live on a very steep hilly street) who had been involved in a stabbing in a nearby park.  He was trying to get the dog to pick up their scent, but I am sure they didn't enter our yard, since access from the street is limited.  (Although apparently access from the neighbor's yard is easy!  We better look into that fence soon.)  Nothing ever happens in our little suburb of Philadelphia.  The biggest crime is usually DUIs, shoplifting, or zoning violations.  I guess the UM police department were in full action yesterday.  I didn't see the crime mentioned on last night's news, and I hope who ever was the victim is ok.  It certainly made Andrew's first dip in the pool a memorable event!

I posted seedlings a while ago that I was trying to grow indoors.  Let's just say most of them did not make it.  I'm not sure why, but this sunflower is the only one that survived. Two zinnias also made it, but haven't bloomed yet, and I think I still have some small rosemary plants that are growing.  I ended up purchasing basil and a grape tomato plant, all which are doing well.  I have to pick up pesto ingredients today so that I can use the basil that needs harvesting. 

Brangelina apparently gave birth to her twins last night.  My sister is still holding out, despite wishing that her babies would evacuate thier current location immediately.  She sent them an eviction notice, but they can't read yet, so they haven't responded.  Let's hope they arrive soon!!

I joined two online social/networking groups recently, mostly out of boredom and curiosity.  Facebook is not as interesting as I expected, but there certainly are a lot of people using it.  There are some fun applications to use and I have connected with a handful of people (mostly knitters!!)  Goodreads has turned out to be very useful.  I received an invite from someone I don't know, but I think is friends with someone I do, to join.  It is a great way to keep track of books and find new titles to read.  I keep discovering books I read a while ago and forgot about. 

Happy Sunday!

crawling

Crawling baby boy from Diane S on Vimeo.

Dig the dripping drool from his mouth.  We are waiting for more teeth!

bootees

So I tried to knit bootees for Andrew for his upcoming baptism, which would match the hat I knit but may not use since it will be August and hot.  I tried a pattern I found on Ravelry, which resembles mary jane shoes, but I thought maybe in white with blue buttons would look more male-like.   After one bootee attempt, I think this pattern will not work for him.  Not only does it look too girly to me, I used larger needles with the intention of making a bigger than newborn bootee size.  The bootee came out gigantic.  Plus, tyring to get socks on the wee one is a big enough challenge with all the kicking.  Trying to button on bootees will be ridiculous.  So, I am tossing out this idea and sticking with plain white socks for the service and bare feet the rest of the day, since that is just cuter in my opinion. 

I am slowly making progress on one of the twins' baby blankets.  My sister is really ready to pop any day now, but the babies will have to make due with just their hats until I get both blankets done.  I haven't photographed the baby girl blanket, but will soon. 

Andrew is not so sure about his new car seat yet.  He was just too heavy to carry in the infant seat anymore, so I sadly put it aside for his new super big boy car seat.  After much research and recommendations, I got him the Recaro Signo convertible seat, which means that for now he can still sit rear-facing until he is bigger and over one year old.  Getting him in and out of the seat is still awkward, but the seat seems really comfortable and he did fall asleep in it last night on our way to a birthday dinner. 

a day at the zoo

Late last week Andrew visited the Philadelphia Zoo for the first time.  We went with his future prom date and her mommy and had the most perfect weather.  I'm not sure how much he got out of it, as viewing animals from a stroller is a bit challenging.  I held him as we walked through the big cats exhibit, so he could see better there.  The giraffes were not outside that day, as they had a new male giraffe added and they were all spending time together to get to know each other.  Maybe there will be little giraffes next year!  (Sadly, Twigga, the oldest giraffe at the zoo, passed away last week from old age.) Eventually Andrew fell asleep for a nice nap.  Not knowing about Twigga's upcoming demise, I bought Andrew a really sweet looking stuffed giraffe as a souvenir, along with some new board books on monkeys.  It was a great day!

Last night I got to go out with just adults and see the Sex in the City movie and have dinner cooked by someone else.  Fun!  The movie was better than I expected.  It was a nice night out.  I came home energized, so I worked on figuring out more baby gates and cleaned the bathroom before finishing a really great novel, Pomegranate Soup.  I think sUsAn had read it and posted about it a year or more ago.  I had written down the name of the book at work and found it on a piece of paper when I moved out of my office.  It was a good story and relaxing read.

I knit another hat for Andrew last week.  Details are here.

Happy Monday!

black outs and thunder storms

Last night we had a terrible thunder storm here with lots of close hitting lightening and winds upwards of 70 miles an hour.  We are surrounded by lots of very large, very old trees, and were fortunate to not have any damage.  Our neighbor's tree split and part of it landed on their shed, but it seems that no structural damage was done.  The thunder and lightening were very loud and one particular strike was immediately followed by an explosive sound.  Within a minute, we had no power.  It was still really hot and humid and was not comfortable sleeping weather for me.  I stayed downstairs in the living room and read by book light for a while and also made a plan for what I would do with the contents of my fridge/freezer if the power did not return by morning.  (Our power company suggested it may take days to return to full power.)  Just as I started to doze, power was restored and I was startled by the sound of the dishwasher resuming it's cycle and the lights coming on where we forgot to turn them off.  It was a nice reminder of how much energy we use and are dependent upon daily.  The house was so quiet without the buzz of electricity running all of the various appliances we keep plugged in.  Except for the humidity and temperature, it was a nice calm. 

Amazingly, Andrew slept through the whole thing.  He was still a bit of a sleepyhead today and even fell asleep while I was preparing his lunch.  Napping has always been an issue with him.  He fights falling asleep frequently and often will only sleep on me for a nap.  It is frustrating at times, but then also nice, as I know he won't always want to cuddle with his mom.  Today I put him in his crib to play while I got dressed.  He protested loudly for a few minutes, but then started his sleep song.  (He sings himself to sleep almost always.  It is rather cute.)  Before I knew it he was asleep and gave me time to put away laundry and dry my hair.  It only lasted about 30 minutes, but it was good enough for me.  Then later this afternoon, when I thought he would sleep after his bottle, he just cried and cried, despite having the sleepiest eyes ever.  In desperation, I put him down in his crib with his nighttime music playing.  After about ten minutes of protest, he started his sleep singing and was out.  He slept for an hour and a half!  It was amazing!  I was able to get so much done.  I made stitch markers for a friend and got dinner started.  He woke up looking much better.  I'm not sure if he went to bed nicely, as I was out tonight and daddy-o got to put him to bed, but I am hoping we are starting a trend for him. 

I recently finished a great book called Garden Spells--a great story that was well written.  My book list is growing a mile long lately.  I am trying to just borrow library books so as to not add to the stacks here already.  We are short on storage space. 

Andrew is loving his new talent of speeding around the rooms by crawling.  His poor little knees are so red!  He has knocked into the coffee table twice already, resulting in some tears, but not too much damage.  He is starting to pull himself up and loves it when I hold his hands and let him "walk" across the room.  He just wants to be mobile so much!  I took this photo of him kneeling the other day--it was too cute, to me.  I love his feet! 

sniffles

The baby has his first cold, which I think started on Saturday, but was much more noticeable on Sunday.  He hates having his drippy nose wiped and has a cough that freaked me out at first, but since it hasn't gotten worse we didn't run to the ER.  (Kidding, although I studied the handouts in the manual from the pediatrician's office to determine if I should call them.  Not yet, at least.)  Since he made it seven months without any colds, I suppose we are lucky.  He had some trouble sleeping Sunday night, like deciding to wake up at midnight and be cranky until he fell back asleep at 2:30am, but last night he slept better.  When he wakes up in the middle of the night, he starts talking and humming to himself.  It gradually becomes softer talking until he falls back asleep.  If it becomes crying, then he's wide awake!  Funny little boy...

So, due to the cough and drippy nose, we are not going to the Babies and Books group today at the library.  I hate for him to miss it since there is only one more session left after today, but I don't want to infect any of the other kids.  Thankfully, Andrew's mood has been cheery and normal, despite little coughing fits.  He just hates it when I wipe his nose!

Speaking of books, I stayed up way too late last night trying to finish a library book that I thought I might be returning today.  It isn't due yet, so I guess I still have time to finish it this week.  The Girl in Hyacinth Blue is a series of eight short stories that are interconnected telling the story of a Vermeer painting and it's prior owners.  While it is a novel, it reads almost like a history book through various centuries. 

I started knitting a pink baby hat last night for twin niece to-be-born.  Someone suggested to my sister that she put a pink and blue hat on the twins so that people can tell who is who in photos.  Since the twins' blankets are taking so long, I figure at least I can crank out two tiny hats for them before they are born! I'll post photos when I'm finished!

Off to take care of sneezy! 

Food, glorious baby food

So since I am an official SAHM now, I've been trying to take advantage of the time to do things for Andrew that I wouldn't necessarily have done if I worked full time outside of our home.  The biggest thing being making his baby food.  At this point, I am making approximately 70% of his food.  I use some jarred foods, such as organic green beans, carrots and peaches, but only because I haven't gotten around to making those foods.  I also use jarred bananas when the fresh ones I have are too green to mash.  I have been having fun making some very basic veggies and fruit purees for the babe, included baked sweet potatoes, green peas, gingered pears, applesauce, and avocado.  The avocado did not go over well, so it is on hold for a month or so until I re-introduce it.  Andrew prefers the jarred peas and brown rice over my organic puree, which I find amusing, since my puree is actually bright green, not gray-green.  Today I steamed and pureed a mango and he seemed to enjoy a bit after his breakfast.  I have been using two books for my "recipes" both which offer great advice.  Super Baby Foods is so into making baby food, it even gives recipes for making cereal blends (I find the store bought oatmeal and rices just fine.  No need to grind rice here!) The Petite Appetite is the first book I started using and it is my favorite.  It is simply to follow and to read quickly in rare spare moments.  I am only using the basic recipes at this point, but as Andrew's palate expands, I am looking forward to the more involved recipes.  I don't know if there really is a nutritional advantage to making my own food for him, but my hope is that he won't be a real picky eater as he grows up and enjoys a wide variety of foods.  When I was a nanny eons ago, the kids ate an extremely diverse menu of foods, including many ethnic things.  I hope Andrew follows that path too. 

Also on my reading list of late, related to food, is Julie & Julia, by Julie Powell.  I just started the first chapter of this book and am already hooked.  I also am perusing Rocco's Real Life Recipes, which I borrowed from the library.  I haven't used any of his recipes yet, but I did find one for a gnocchi pie that looks interesting.

Chris is off to New Orleans this weekend for a five day business trip.  He has been talking about the jambalaya he had the last time he was there.  I'm sure he will be experiencing some different recipes, especially since one of the planned dinners is at one of Emeril's restaurants.  Jealous, am I???  :-)  He doesn't necessarily have as gourmet of a palate as I do and he doesn't always seem to enjoy the "fancy" business dinners he gets to experience, but I try to live vicariously through his stories! 

Happy Weekend!

Mother's Day

For Andrew's first Mother's Day he celebrated by taking me to brunch at Justin's in Skippack Village with our in-laws.  Andrew was not overly fond of the high chair there, so he spent most of the time being passed around and amusing his grandma and aunt Donna, while also making silly faces at uncle Lou.  He flirted with the waitress as well. 

Andrew, with the help of his daddy, got me a new Vera bag to hold all of our stuff on outings.  It is very roomy and will hold diapers, toys, and my crap as well! I also got a book about motherhood and a sweet DVD of Andrew and me since he was tiny to now.  He has grown so much! 

In knitting, I had a coupon for my favorite yarn shop for mother's day, so Andrew and I went shopping there.  I bought some yarn to knit him some new hats (a bigger pumpkin hat for this fall and an apple hat) and some cascade fixation to knit him some socks.  I wanted just plain blue, but they did not have any solid colors.  Andrew enjoyed chewing/teething on the ball of fixation, since it was wrapped in plastic.  The child has many toys but prefers plastic or paper to chew on instead.

I did knit a small chewing toy for Andrew the other night.  I used some leftover Colinette chenille yarn and basically knit three i-cords and connected them.  I was smart enough to soak it in some wool wash and discovered that the color bled.  I used a bit of vinegar in the final rinse to fix the color.

Happy Mother's Day!

Seven months, five teeth

So my little baby is actually seven months old now and celebrated yesterday with the arrival of his fifth tooth--the top left front tooth.  For a while I was concerned because he had a vampire grin, with two top teeth, but not the front ones.  It was looking funny!  This arrival explains the increased drool and sleeplessness of recent days.  We have been trying to teach the vampire baby how to brush his teeth with his chunky blue baby tooth brush.  He likes to chew on it, as it must feel good on those sore gummies.

In my need for solitude I spent an hour alone at the local bookstore on Sunday while the boys bonded.  I had two gift cards that were burning a hole in my wallet that I had to use.  I have been very frustrated with knitting lately.  Besides my hands hurting, the acrylic baby yarn eating up my already dry skin, and not having the time or concentration available to complete anything, I just keep looking at the piles of started projects with disgust.  I found two books that may help cure my malaise.  Stitch Graffiti is an updated cross stitch pattern book--not the traditional type.  It has a number of great patterns, many smaller, that I want to try. In checking for it on amazon.com, I realize it would have been much cheaper there than Barnes and Noble, but I did have gift cards.  I also picked up the Sublime Stitching Craft pad, which has many iron on transfer patterns for embroidery.  I have always enjoyed needlework and find it much quicker to finish than knitting, so hopefully a few imediate gratification projects will help my knitting frustrations!

Gotta make dinner for the vampire.  I hope he likes avocado and sweet potatoes!