gnomey hat

Well, after bemoaning my lack time for my projects, I sat down yesterday afternoon and knitted W a new hat. (The one I made for Christmas is already too small for this ever growing boy). It is a hat I saw over on Ram In the Thicket, but the pattern is from hello yarn - with a few changes. I had to make it bigger and instead of a garter stitch edge I put the garter stitch in higher up. I love how it turned out. The shape is really cute and it was a really fast knit since it was made with chunky yarn. I may have to make one for A since he keeps trying to put this one on his head.

This was my first time using double-point needles and, though I made a few mistakes, I liked the double-points a lot better than a circular needle. I really like to knit with wooden needles -my favorite are Brittany needles. I love how they warm in your hands and just seem more comfortable than metal or even bamboo.

ideas

I have had so many project ideas lately. My mind is overflowing with plans, but none have translated onto fabric yet. Not only have I been looking through my craft books, but I keep seeing great ideas by other crafty mamas.

A couple of these books have seen me through so many projects, not just for my boys, but also with starter projects when I was younger. I am so excited to make some of the projects in the new books. I just hope that I actually get time to work on them!

taking a moment

i think the hardest thing about parenting is having to always be there. no matter what is going on in your adult life you must be there for your child. there are some things going on in my personal life (i'm not going to get into them here) that i would like to take the time to reflect on and decide how i feel about what is happening, but it isn't possible. as a mama you have to be "on" at every moment. right now it has been especially difficult to get down time because A no longer naps and almost as soon as he goes to bed in the evening W wakes up (and stays awake until we go to bed).

i am trying to relax in those snippets of time and consciously take pleasure in the little things that A and W do rather than winding up and feeling more frustrated. Seeing the joy they have in life makes things so much easier anyway. i certainly wouldn't trade my life for anything. just today A cracked me up. he is starting to use his imagination a lot and he was having a whole conversation with his best friend, Woofie (stuffed dog from Grandma). his little voice changing pitch to be himself and then Woof. how cute is that? i can't believe how quickly he is turning into a little boy, and is no longer a toddler. and really the moments of frustration quickly vanish and i just feel lucky to be his and W's mama.

monday

Unlike most people I enjoy Mondays. It is our day to get back into a normal routine after weekend busyness. If I am making bread that week I bake it on Monday. My sister and I have a standing appointment to talk and catch up on Monday mornings. A gets back into his own little routine and we just relax and have a day with no obligations.

today he's three

My sweet boy turned three today. I can't believe it's already been three years and we have another little baby with us! The day A was born there was a huge snowstorm and after 9 long months and 24 very long hours of labor he was finally with us.

We had a very fun birthday evening. I made potato-cheese soup, A's favorite meal, and a chocolate cake, and A helped set the table with the birthday ring - this year transformed into a birthday path.

I think Papa and I were as excited about A's gifts as he was! We gave him a floor puzzle, some play food, and wooden scoops. I made an apron for A to use when cooking with me, or by himself with the countertop play stove Papa built.

I love this stove. We had talked about getting him a play stove since he always is in the kitchen helping with meals, but were concerned about the size of the floor models, and no one had the Haba one we liked in stock. Since Papa is handy-man extraordinaire he said "I can make that." Plus, this very lucky little boy received a felt crown made by Ella.

our day

Today we spent a quiet day at home doing the things we like best.

W was practicing his new skill of rolling from back to front while A and I baked bread. The smell of baking bread is one of my favorites and I love using my grandmother's bread pans. The thought of her baking hundreds of loaves (my grandparents had 8 children - 5 of them boys - so they needed a lot of bread!) over the years in the same pans that I am using gives me such joy. Lately I have been using a basic white bread recipe, substituting whole wheat flour for at least half of the white, if not more. Usually I use active dry yeast, but this time I had fast acting yeast and I liked it a lot better. I dissolved it in lukewarm water instead of mixing it in with the dry ingredients, but it didn't make the bread so yeasty tasting. I'm going to experiment a little more with it because the bread rose a lot. If it continually rises this much, and it wasn't just a fluke, I may keep adding more whole grain flour and lessen the white flour. A prefers wheat bread over white, but doesn't like it when it is really dense, so the high rise was a nice surprise.

As the bread was rising and baking we spent quiet time doing puzzles and A practiced his sewing skills on these nice lacing cards.

some advice needed

There are a few things that I have been thinking about in my quest to be more environmentally friendly and living healthier. But I am not sure how to get started, so I am asking the advice of those who are better informed.


- I am looking for soap and hair products that actually work. I have used a few different natural products on my hair and they just seemed to dry it out and give me a lot of frizz. Also, I want to use soap that is good for the boys (including papa) and myself, yet I can't bring myself to spend $8 on one bar.

- Second I am looking for household cleaners that actually work. I am currently using method products, which work all right, but I don't like the laundry detergent and they don't have dishwasher detergent. I don't mind doing some scrubbing, but I'd like the product to be stronger than water itself!

- Lastly, A loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. I already use organic peanut butter and bread, but the jams and jellies all seem to have a ton of sugar in them. Does anyone know of any brands that don't or if I make it myself will it gel properly without sugar in it?

Thanks for any help you can give!

tiger blanket

This is the tiger blanket I have made for A. Papa and I promised him a new blanket after he received this one:

We were both a bit aghast at the sight of it and had to figure out a way to get rid of it without too much trauma because he thought a big blanket of his own was exactly what he needed. So off we went to the fabric store (which was having a 60% off wool fabrics sale) where A got to pick out the color he wanted and on the way home he decided he wanted a tiger on it. Papa drew one, which was based on the Alexander Henry Zoo fabric, for me to copy and sew on. I sewed a blanket stitch around the edge and voila, a special new blanket for A to sleep under.

just one of those days

Oh dear, its been quite the day. I have been trying really hard to keep my resolution of not hurrying through life, to really be in the moment with the boys, and practice "mindful parenting" in general, but sometimes life gets too crazy to even try! None of us slept very well last night, A was very restless (not very unusual) and W woke every few hours also (quite unusual, he is usually a wonderful sleeper at night), and as a result I did not sleep well. I don't know if the crazy weather had anything to do with it (thunder during a snowstorm!) or if yesterday was different in some way, but we had a strange night. So today even though I have been trying to be patient and give A the chance to help I have been more short tempered than I would like. But the culmination of the day was when I flushed a pair of little boy underwear down the toilet! Of course I was trying to do too many things at once (help A use the potty while talking on the phone is never a good plan) and I flushed those darn things down the toilet before there was any chance of catching them. Not to mention that Papa is gone overnight, and so I will have to call my father-in-law to help me so the toilet doesn't clog and overflow. Last time Papa was gone overnight I had to call his father because I clogged up the kitchen sink!


But even with irritations, I have been thinking about how lucky I am to have these two wonderful boys as my sons. They are the sweetest boys that ever lived. After A's first two months of being grouchy he has had a wonderful temperament and is so full of joy that it is contagious. W is so easy-going and if he is in a crabby mood I just pop him in the sling and he falls asleep or just lounges, happy to be near mama. At the risk of sounding cliched, I am so in love with them that I could burst. When we cuddle I can't even get them close enough, which is ironic as I couldn't wait for them to be born so I could hold them. Papa and I try so hard to show them that we love them unconditionally and try to be present for them, and teach by example. I think that it really makes a difference in how content they are. So even if someone feels we are push-overs for letting them sleep in our room/bed, we know that they feel safe. Honestly I don't really care what other people think about our parenting style, but I have had lots of compliments on how well behaved A is, so I have to think we are doing something right!

jane austen love

I am a bit of a Jane Austen fanatic. The first time I read Pride and Prejudice I was hooked. I can't tell you how many times I have read her books. There is something about the way she writes that draws you in, and each time you read it there is something new to notice. Plus the mystery surrounding her own life is so interesting. Everyone has their own picture of Austen. I never understood it when someone had a hard time getting through an Austen book, and think of my dismay if someone said they had never read one!

So imagine my excitement when I turned on PBS and there was the complete series of Jane Austen to start on Sunday. I already own the movie version of Pride and Prejudice (both the mini-series they will be showing and the new Kiera Knightley version), but am looking forward to the other episodes.

And knowing what a cheesy person I am, I will probably use my new teapot and tea cups and make a pot of tea to drink while I watch the series.

it's about time

Yay! I have finished my first quilt.

I started this quilt for N's (my 3 year old niece) birthday in November. I got about 2/3 done and then stopped for a short trip to visit my grandparents and have hardly picked it up since then. But this weekend I pulled it out of the pile and said "I am going to get this done!" Of course, small children made it nearly impossible, but I did it. I also made a matching pillowcase out of the bright red fabric that I used for the binding. I love the pattern on this red - I could have bought the whole bolt of fabric I love it so much!

I certainly learned a lot doing this quilt. I wish I had made it a tied quilt rather than trying to do machine quilting. I couldn't decide how I wanted the quilting to look and finally decided on concentric squares, but I had so many problems with the fabric bunching that I wish I had started out with something easier. Surprisingly, I did not have problems with the binding. I had stitched the edge and then ironed the heck out of the binding fabric so it all stayed in place nicely.

Since starting the quilt I have tried to change some of my bad sewing habits, such as trimming loose thread ends. I had to trim so many threads on this quilt because of my laziness before. I would think I got all the loose ends, then take another look and there would be another one! Finishing the quilt itself was another bad habit I want to end. I often start a project and then leave the last few details for a really long time. Having a Christmas deadline helped in December, but this poor forgotten thing could have sat a lot longer if I hadn't felt so guilty about not finishing it!

introducing ozzy

This is Ozzy. My mom and I made him for A about a week before W was born. I had this great idea to give A a baby of his own to take care of while I was taking care of W (not that things worked out quite like that!) Unfortunately, the only things we had to make the doll was the wool stuffing! So I quickly placed an order with Weir Dolls for one of their pre-sewn bodies and some mohair yarn and a few days later Ozzy was born. I was glad that we had opted for the pre-sewn body because I began having contractions before Ozzy was finished. I was afraid we had waited too long to start a doll, but I needn't have worried because W wasn't born for another week.

Ozzy's clothes are a preemie hat and kimono shirt we had already from previous dolls and I made his pants out of an old knit tee of mine.

This is my Waldorf doll, imaginatively named Martha, from when I was little. As you can see she has been well loved, not only by me, but also my cat. My own mama made her from scratch with me impatiently watching -I think she was the first Waldorf doll my mom made. Part of the reason I wanted A to have a dressable doll was because I loved Martha so much; she was my playmate and went everywhere with me.

These are two other dolls we have. The one in the flowered dress was made by my aunt when I was eight or nine. She is less than 8 inches tall and was often used as the Martha's daughter. A usually keeps her undressed, but thought that she should wear her clothes for this photo opportunity. Blue Baby is A's doll he received as a gift when he was born. He has a little grimy beard from where A would give him kisses and Blue Baby often sleeps with A and Woof at night.

Eventually I would like to make one for my 3 year old niece and one for W when he is a little older. But for now he has his own version of Blue Baby that I hope he will like as much as A likes his.

staying warm

The new year was rung in with lots of snow. We didn't have any on Monday, by yesterday morning there were a few inches, but when we woke up this morning it looked like this

Weather like this gets me all excited to play outdoors. Last year we had a lot of snowy days, but with below zero temperatures and you can't take little kids out to play in weather like that. Add to that my morning sickness and A did not get many snowy playdates. Today the temperature was in the twenties and I just bundled up the baby and away we went.

We are so lucky that although we live in an apartment we have a wonderful view (the first pictures were taken from our balcony) and a yard/woods to play in. Not many have that luxury when living in an apartment. However, A wasn't able to play very easily today since the snow was so deep he could barely walk in it!

And though I love to play outside in the snow, I also love to cuddle up with my boys under the down comforter and listen to one of my new favorite musicians, Brooke Waggoner.