Our busy day. (Very full of kid stuff)

Yesterday we went shopping. It was Howard's day off, so we took both kids and went to Target. Sweet Little Girl (from now on known as SLG) went to sleep on the bus and slept for over an hour. She woke up in time for lunch. We had to return a malfunctioning toy of The Boy's, and decided to get cash instead of a replacement. The Boy decided to buy SLG a toy to hang from her baby carrier/car seat handle so she would have something to do. We had some lunch and then went to The Learning Palace. The Boy played with the train set they have out, and SLG watched a little boy named Andrew as he played with the trains. He's about 16 months old, and quite tall. She really liked him, to the point she got frustrated with her hanging toy and pushed it to the side really hard. It was so cute, she smiled and talked to him. I don't know if it her first flirtation or not, but it was fun to watch.

We then went to a shoe store to get me a pair of Airwalks one size bigger than the ones I got last month. I need the bigger ones when my feet swell or when they hurt too much for the others. It's not really that big of a problem, but those shoes are the only thing that eases the pain from Sciatica when that hits, so I want to be able to wear them no matter what the condition of my feet. I talked Howard into getting some as well. He's not sure of them yet, but they will work for just walking around here or going out to check the mail on his days off. We found a pair for The Boy, he likes them because he can put them on by himself without ANY adult help. We may have gotten his a bit small though, they fit fine right now, but one size bigger would have been nice. (They didn't have any in the next size) Howard wanted to get SLG a pair of pink ones, but they don't have any small enough for her. The store had a buy one get one for half price sale going on so it wasn't too bad.

We wandered around and looked at things in the Mall for awhile and then stopped by the food court to grab a snack. SLG ate a few crackers and maybe 2 ounces of formula, but wanted to watch people more. The Boy ate one and a half orders of chicken nuggets and drank some milk. Then we went to the Pet Store. The puppies were playing and oh so cute! Both kids got a kick out of that! Then it was time for SLG to go home. We were all so tired that we ordered pizza for dinner. The Boy put himself to bed at about 7:15 PM, and I went to bed at about 8:30.

Medical update, Me.

I had a Doctors appointment on Tuesday. It was a yearly check-up kind of appointment, where tests/procedures were done that most women don't like to talk about. So anyway, things are looking good so far. I have to go get some blood tests, and a mammogram. I've lost about 15 pounds since the last Doctors appointment in California! Now I gotta keep it up and see if I can get down to the weight I think is best for me. Which means I still need to loose about 140 pounds. I also had to have a tetanus shot, my right upper arm is still feeling sore, but at least it's done.

Permission given.

Our Sweet Little Girls Mom sent me a text message allowing me to post pictures. I had to wait until her Dad picked her up, and I had things to deal with concerning The Boy, but I'm here now so here goes.

My favorite by far. It was hard to get her to sit still, and harder still to get her to stand so I could get a good shot. But this one turned out pretty good.

This is the best of her standing up. You can see how baggy the tights are. She really looks cute in the dress, when she learns to walk it will be easier for her.

Here is one with her crawling, as you can see the skirt gets under her knees and that causes a slight problem. She's pretty smart and works around it, but she'll be walking soon so I guess it won't matter. I just hope it will still fit her and the weather won't be too hot for it.

Our Sweet Little Girls Jumper

I won't post pictures of her wearing the dress, although I did take several. I haven't asked her Mom if it's okay yet so you will just have to imagine a cute little girl wearing this little jumper.

This is the front. You can see where the stripe took a change of direction down near the bottom of the skirt. The color band/stripe seems wider to me than the other one was, I'm not sure why it's so different.

This is the back. Little Girl was trying to grab the dress and though it on the ground. LOL

Here is a close up of the lace design at the hem of the skirt. I think it would show up better if the dress was a solid color, maybe with a contrasting skirt/petticoat/slip underneath it to help the lace show up better.

So now it's done. I have enough yarn left for at least on pair of socks for me, and maybe on pair for someone smaller as well. Like Aidan, whose Daddy wouldn't like it at all but who knows maybe I'll make them anyway. I just need to get size 3 double pointed needles, the pattern I have right now calls for a set of 5, but I'm still looking for other patterns to try as well. I'll probably post pictures when I get them finished. If I actually get them finished.

Mac and cheese and knit project.

Today I made home made Mac and Cheese. I found the recipe in my "Good Housekeeping Cookbook". It tuned out really well. I think I'll skip the bread crumb topping. I didn't have the dry mustard so I left it out. I also don't have a casserole dish so I put it in my spring form pan, it may have been spread a bit thin, but I think it worked well anyway. Aidan seems to like it, and I know I do.

I'm working on the second little jumper. This one is for My Sweet Little Girl. The stripe problem hasn't appeared this time, but it did have something strange happen. It was making a spiral stripe like the first one only it was going the other way around, but then it shifted and is now going the other way. This leaves a fairly large area of either the color stripes or the grey and white. I'll see how it looks once I get to the top of the skirt. Otherwise this one is working up quicker and easier. I think it is going to look better over all as well, because I have more experience with the pattern. Not that I think the one I did of Snowanna's baby is ugly or anything. Anyway I'll take pictures when I get to the top of the skirt and let you all see how it worked out.

The Baby shower, and pictures of the jumper.

So anyway, I got the jumper finished Friday afternoon. Then I washed it and blocked it on a towel to dry, so the hem wouldn't be so curled. I think it turned out pretty well, the color band runs around the dress in a spiral from the bottom to the waist band. I got a couple of little onesies and some tights to go with it.

Here's the best picture I have of it.

The shower was really nice, we all had a nice time. This little girl is going to be spoiled though. LOL Not really, she just has so many people who love her.

Here is one of Snowanna standing in profile.

Frustration!

Okay, so I spent last night working on the jumper for Isolde. I'm frustrated because I would get 6 or 7 rows done and then decide to tear it out and try again. What's the problem? Well, the stripes are working just fine except for the fact that all the gray and white are on one side and the colors are on the other. I trying to cast on a different places in the color scheme, but EVERY time it's the same thing. (sigh) Maybe it's because it's knit in rounds rather than rows. So anyway, I'm thinking about tearing it out again and adding 16 or 24 stitches. The pattern at the bottom of the skirt is in multiples of 8. Or maybe I'll have to go up to the size 2 dress instead of the size 1.

Here is what I have done so far. I'm thinking about continuing working until I'm past the "Fish tail lace" pattern, I have 13 more rows to go and then I'll just be knitting around for a few inches. What do you think? I really want this to be done by next week-end for the baby shower.

It came!

Wow! Just a couple of minutes after I finished the last post the UPS Lady came by! I was almost dancing with excitement. The yarn is beautiful, soft and I think will knit up really pretty. I started the first jumper, when Sweet little Girl was napping, I got as far as the second row already. (It took me awhile to get the right amount of a tail with the casting on.) So anyway, now that Sweet little Girl has gone home with her Daddy, I'm going to be knitting until time to cook dinner, and then if my hands can handle it I'll be knitting up until bed time, with some breaks of course when I put The Boy to bed and other such things.

Here is a picture of the yarn, needles, stitch holders, and what I've gotten done so far. (The pattern starts on circular needles. I'm just hoping that I can knit it in the correct gauge.)

Have I mentioned I hate waiting?!

Okay, so the box with the yarn and other stuff for the jumpers is on the truck to be delivered today! I'm really excited about it. But now I will be spending the day until it arrives waiting for it to get here! At least I have The Boy and Sweet little Girl to keep my busy.

I got things vacuumed last night so she can play here around the table, but that also means she can get to the cords for the modem and router and the laptop charger. So far she has only found them once, and I've laid something over them now so they aren't so obvious to her.

The Boy wavers between wanting to cuddle her and being tired of her wanting to play with HIS stuff. He told me that he would like to keep her, but every night when she goes home he happily gets out the toys he has to keep in his room while she is here. This has been good for him, and for me. We will miss her when she goes to her other daycare situation in September. I am hoping that her Mom and I will be able to get together often now that we are living in the same city again.

Hmm ... I'm still waiting for the UPS guy to get here. (I guess it could be a UPS gal, so maybe UPS person would be the better choice of words.) Waiting sucks! I know that it's still early in the day but ... I want it NOW! Oh, and I know that I won't be able to do anything with it yet, because knitting with a wide awake baby isn't something I want to try to do. But at least it would be here in case she goes to sleep or something.

Writing takes a lot longer when you have little children wanting attention. LOL I've been writing this entry for almost an hour now. I stopped to feed our Sweet little Girl. (She didn't eat much because she wanted to blow bubbles in her food. Then she bumped her head on the table. I stopped to cuddle her and try to get her to drink some milk. She was more interested in what Aidan was doing than anything. (She didn't even want to be held for more than a minute.) Aidan needed to go to the potty, but didn't make it so we had to change his pull up. And I often stop typing just to look around and see where they are. Right now they are sitting on the kitchen floor looking at each other and clapping their hands.

Will the UPS person EVER get here! (sigh) Maybe I'd better stop writing now and find something else to keep me busy. I HATE waiting!

Project update.

None of the stores in town have the yarn I want to use for the jumpers, so I had to order it. I know the Lion Brand yarn isn't usually one of the yarns used by some knitters. It's one of the yarns you find in places like Wal-Mart, but not that little speciality yarn store down the block. I would love to be able to afford to use pure natural fibers, hand spun and hand painted yarns. But even with the "cheaper" yarns like Lion Brand and Red Heart it costs quite a bit more to make a sweater than it does to buy one in the store. (One sweater I'd like to make for myself would cost $118 just in materials.)

I got a notice just hours after making the order that it had already been shipped! Maybe it will be here before the shower after all. I doubt I'll have time to get one for the jumpers finished before the shower, but I'd like to show Snowanna the yarn I chose anyway. The only thing I need to get, that I couldn't order from Lion Brand, are the buttons. I need 4 for each jumper. They need to be 3/4 inch buttons, but I'm not sure what color they should be. I went ahead with the Spring colors magic stripe yarn. Maybe I should keep it on the safe side and go with white buttons. But pink or green would be fun. What do you think? I'll have to get to a store to get them soon after I get the yarn, so I don't forget them. LOL

Cooking with kids.

The Boy is getting really interested in cooking, so I got the Rachael Ray book "Cooking Rocks! Rachael Ray 30-minute meals For Kids". He likes it, and the recipes are pretty good for the most part. But we don't use the book all that often. He does help me stir things when I'm making dinner, or baking, He adds ingredients if I've measured them for him, and he will even help me clean up after wards. Well, he will empty the trash bowl or put the bowls, plates and measuring equipment in the sink for me and then he's usually off to do other things. LOL I think it's nice that he and I can share an interest in cooking. (I'm going to give my Dad a copy of the "For Kids" recipe book for his birthday, he has some Grand-kids that would probably love to help their Grandaddy cook.)

The knitting projects.

Okay, I think I've found the pattern I want to make for the baby girls. It is a little jumper/sleeveless dress that can be worn with a shirt in cooler weather or with one a onesie when it's warm. The yarn is fairly light weight, and is designed to make stripes all on it's own. Now all I have to do is choose the color pallet I want to use. Maybe you can help me? Here are m two favorites which one do you think would make the best little girl dress? I'm going to make them both in the 12 month size, I think.


This is the Purple, I hope you can see the colors better than they look on my computer right now. It has purple, gray and white and blue stripes.

This is the Spring colors selection. It has orange, gray and white, green and "hot" pink stripes. I'm leaning toward this one, but I'm not really sure I like the purple one too.

I was going to post a picture from the pattern, but for some reason I can't copy it from Adobe Reader. Oh well.

I was going to order the yarn from Lion Brand Yarn On-line, but Snowanna is going to be having a baby shower on June 2nd, so I'd probably better go find the yarn at a store here in town. I have a list of stores that stock Lion brand yarn so I'll call around and see if any of them have it in stock. If not I guess I'll just have to order it and get something else for the shower. Maybe some tights and a little blouse or something to go with the jumper when it's finished.

Happy Birthday Christopher!

My oldest son turned 28 today! I remember being pregnant with him, I remember how I felt when I knew I was actually in labor. It seems like just last week when the Doctor told me I was fully dilated but he couldn't feel the babies head so we would need an x-ray to find out what was happening. I can close my eyes and see the x-ray of my baby high up in my uterus, breech, legs crossed and sucking his thumb. I shiver with fear when I remember hearing the Doctor saying "We are going to have to do a C-section. If the placenta should detach before his head comes out he might suffer brain damage from lack of oxygen, or he could die." I remember looking down into his tiny little face, and feeling that rush of love I always feel when thinking of him for the first time. I might not be able to remember a lot of details of his growing up, but I remember how it felt when he was little and kissed me, or when he was a teen-ager and hugged me.

Happy Birthday Christopher, I hope that your day has been and will continue to be special you deserve it.

An Anniversary.

Last week Howard and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. We've been together for 9 years now. We have our problems, but for the most part we are still very happy together.

Lately I've been more aware of how small our problems really are. I have two friends who are in the middle of ending important relationships, and two of my favorite bloggers, who happen to be married to each other, have announced that they are getting divorced. I wish I could do something, give them some advice or sympathy or something. But there really isn't anything anyone can do except for being around for them if they need a friend. I hope my friends know that I'm here, I'll listen, I'll help in anyway I can, I just need to know what I can do.

I think in a way I'm feeling a little guilty or something because my relationship is still on good standing while theirs isn't. I know it isn't a rational feeling, I know that they wouldn't want me to be going through what they are. But I'm still a bit reluctant to talk about my marriage with them, or blog about it here because they read might read it and feel sad. Silly I know, but do you understand why I might feel like this?

Reduced energy.

Why is it that when I have the least to give, (energy, strength or emotion) the people around me ask and need the most? It seems like every time I get busy with the dishes or caring for the Sweet little Girl, Aidan needs something to eat or drink or just needs me. Howard isn't much better. For some reason he thinks I should be cooking for him when ever he is home. Today for example: he wanted a sandwich, a grilled ham and cheese, and asked me when I was going to make it for him. The Boy then wanted one too. Sweet Little Girl was about 5 minutes from taking a nap, so she was a bit fussy as well.

Normally that wouldn't have been so bad, but today I'm tired because The Boy took a nap yesterday and then stayed up until 2:30 AM fussing. I also have a head ache, probably because it's that time of the month, or because I only had four and a half hours of sleep last night, or maybe both. Anyway, I could have handled making lunch after Sweet Little Girl was sleeping, but for some reason they didn't really want to wait. I got it taken care of, and she is sleeping right now, so I guess I had enough energy after all.

Maybe I'm just grumpy today and all this is really just a symptom of my grouchiness.

Screaming

I had thought that we were past the long drawn out crying and screaming fits. But the last few days we have had at least one a day, some days had two. He gets upset when told not to do something, so he yells or screams about it. Then kicks his feet or stomps around the room. So far he seems to be calmed by having my friends little girl here. (I'm babysitting for a little while, she's 9 months old, and The Boy adores her.) Today we just went through 20 minutes of screaming because he popped his balloon. It got worse when I couldn't blow it up again, and worse still when I told him to either stop screaming or go into his room. I finally had to take him by the hand and lead him to his room. He screamed in there for quite a while but finally quieted down again. I hope that this doesn't bode badly for the rest of the day. We have to go to the grocery store and I really don't want to deal with a melt down while there.

Naming babies.

With Snowanna being pregnant, and a few friends having or already had babies in the last couple of years I've been thinking about naming babies. Especially girls. I never got to name a girl baby, having all boys and all. I do have some ideas that I would at least suggest to Hubby if somehow we found ourselves expecting a girl. It's not very likely, and to tell the truth I'm happy with things the way they are right now, but it's nice to pretend and day dream.

I like names that have been around for awhile, names that have some history to them. But I also like names that sound pretty. I'm not totally stuck on the name having to be a "real" name for hundreds of years like some people are. If you are one of them, I think that's just fine for you and yours I don't mean it as a put down. For instance, I would look into words for beautiful and adored, and other things I'd like associated with my child, in a Celtic (Irish and/or Scottish) language dictionary and see if those words would make a good name for a girl in America. I'd also would look at the SSN web page for popular names a hundred or so years ago. I'd check on the popularity of name from my family. I'd look at genealogy records for my family and my Hubby's family and see if there are any that sound good.

There are names that may be beautiful but I'd never use them because of over use recently, a bad association with that name from my or Hubby's past, or it just wouldn't work well in Modern American society. (I can't think of any right off hand.)

A few names I like, but haven't checked with SSA yet to see how popular they are: Edited to add statictics and a few more names. Edits are in this color.

I used http://www.ssa.gov/OACT/babynames/ to find the ranking for these names. I checked the last 100 years, these are the rankings as they appear in the top 1000.

Lilly (2005 - 180, 1906 - 284, many years not in the top 1000)
Lilah (Only in the top 1000 one year. 1913 - 992)
Miranda (2005 - 114, 1957 - 795 didn't appear before 1957)
Amanda (2005 - 80, 1906 - 190)
Judith (2005 - 541, 1906 - 550)
Elizabeth (2005 - 12, 1906 - 7 always in the top 25)
Cordelia (1950 - 987, 1906 - 454 didn't appear after 1950)
Jennifer (2005 - 42, 1938 - 987)
Nicole (2005 - 56, 1942 - 947)
Marie (2005 - 507, 1906 - 10)
Charlotte (2005 - 135, 1906 - 103)
Caroline (2005 - 83, 1906 - 144)

Abby (2005 - 198, 1952 - 966)
Lilian (2005 - 471, 1906 - 695)
Dorothy (2005 - 47?, 1906 - 6)
Catherine (2005 - 109, 1906 - 26)

Found these on http://www.babynamesofireland.com/.

Alanna (2005 - 494, 1971 - 997)
Derdre (1990 - 990, 1944 - 948)
Maeve or Maebh (2005 - 695, 1997 - 952)
Siobhan (1987 - 914, 1979 - 629)
Teagan (2005 - 478, 1999 - 819)

I know there are others that I like, I'm just not able to think of them right now. Maybe I'll go do some checking and do an update later with the ranking of these names and any others I happen to find. I love names, I think people need to lighten up on how and why others pick the names they do for their children, but I also think that people should think about the fact that their children will have to live with the name they are given their whole lives. Some people will manage just fine with a name like "Pilot Inspector" while others will hate their name, and feel emotionally abused by their parents for giving it to them.

Scones.

The Girl introduced me to scones several years ago when we were going to University together. I got some dried cherries the other day, and wanted to make something out of them so I made some scones. It was a quick and easy recipe from Betty Crocker. It uses Bisquick, cream, a bit of sugar, and the cherries. (The original recipe called for chocolate chips as well, but I didn't have them so I put in twice as many cherries.) They were wonderful! I'll have to try to make some from scratch someday. I have 3 or 4 recipes to try.

Here are a couple of pictures. The first was taken with the newer camera and at a bit of a distance, while the second one was taken with the older camera kneeling and close.

Did I ever mention that I had to get a new camera because the old one got lost during the move? If not, and if I forgot to mention that I found it in my knitting bag, I now have 2 cameras that take good pictures. One will also do audio which makes the little videos better. I like both of them. Howard thinks he should be allowed to have one of them, but I don't know if I'll ever actually let him have one of them. Of course I'll let him use one sometimes. :)

Projects

So now that I have a niece coming in July, and I have some more money to spend of things like yarn and knitting needles, I'm looking for some projects.

I want to make something for Isolde (the name of my soon to be niece), and I'd like to make something for my Sister-Friend Hennifer's little girl, who will be one in July. But I have to find just the right patterns, and yarn. I'd rather not got with the traditional pink for girls, but I do want colors and patterns that are very girly at least for these first projects, because I haven't had girls to make things for before now. Any ideas? Things you think their Mom's would like, both of them are still too small to really care too much themselves. (Hennifer, what do you think?) Any good locations for free knitting patterns? Good inexpensive yarns? Suggestions for more expensive yarns but good for babies? My creativity is zeroing out right now, but I really want to make something. Help! :)

I've been thinking...

... that I can forgive the people I love for almost anything.

There are of course things that could be called unforgivable. I think most of us have similar lists, but there are things that I could forgive that maybe you couldn't.

Anyway, I was thinking about my family and the frustrations, misunderstandings, angry words, and even out right lies that have passed between us. Some things that have passed between me and members of my family wouldn't be forgiven if it had been a friend, in fact the friendship might even be lost. (I'm including family by choice here, they can get away with things even blood relatives sometimes can't.) There are members of the family that I'd rather not talk to right now. I'll probably get past it eventually, because I do still love these people. I can only hope that they feel the same way about me.

I'd like to spend more time with some of my family, but either we just don't connect (too busy with our own lives), or they are holding something against me, Aidan or Howard. I THINK it's because we just don't seem to be able to manage to make the arrangements unless someone else makes them for us. None of us are good at calling, writing or e-mailing each other. That's why I like these blogs, it lets me keep in touch with people. Some who read here have blogs I also read, others don't have blogs at all (that I know of anyway).

So do you forgive easily? Or does it take a lot to get back into your good graces?