Guess who?

This isn't actually the Infanta, it's me at pretty much the age she is now, performing the Infanta's current favorite trick. Like mother, like daughter, eh?

OMG.

The teacher list for the Sock Summit is up... and it reads like a freaking who's who of the knitting world. I swear, if EZ were alive, she'd be teaching! Her daughter is..

Let's hope the classes are priced humanly, eh?

Garden update: The sprouts I mentioned yesterday? More like six inches. And the daffodils are showing buds. I should really prune the roses this weekend.

Signs of Spring

The days have been almost warm at times recently - mid 50s is almost warm, right? - and somewhat sunny, so we've been getting out and walking a bit. Wednesday I popped the Infanta in the stroller and we wandered around the neighborhood for almost an hour, ending with a good fifteen or twenty minutes at the park, watching some kids play. She so wanted to join them! But I'm thinking that crawling + bark dust = bad news, so while I let her stand at my knees, I didn't let her crawl off.

While we were walking, I found a yard all bordered in crocuses! Just beautiful. I pointed them out to Herself, who I think noticed... hard to tell, you know? I saw another yard, a big one, with a whole array of raised beds; no bed boxes, just long rows of heaped earth. Some were full of grasses, some were heaped with straw, a couple still had onions, and there was one section with plastic support over it - obviously protecting something against cold.

Thinking about these yards makes me appreciate what's going on in my own yard more. Around the edges of the house, the camas lilies, daffodils, and irises all have leaves about two inches tall, and I'll bet that if I went into the back yard I'd find that the tulips were doing the same thing.

It won't be winter forever!!!

I like

I like cloth butts and I cannot lie
You other mothers can't deny
When a babe crawls in
With an itty bitty waist
And a round thing in your face
You've got cloth!

With apologies to Sir Mixalot - this has been floating through my head for months!

And then there were Two

Are you having issues seeing posts? I ask because Josh couldn't see the overall list yesterday, but if he clicked on individual posts, he could see them. I can see it all just fine, so I won't know if there's a problem.

The Infanta cut her second tooth, probably sometime yesterday. I was only sure about it late in the evening, around maybe 8? Whereupon we gave her some motrin... and then she was wide awake and playful until after 11. *sigh* At least she wasn't screaming.

I got to watch Stardust last night, while attempting nurse Herself to sleep in the rocking chair. Wow!!! Really an amazing movie, and all it's cracked up to be. Sadly, I think we woke the Infanta up at one point, laughing hard at Robert de Niro's character! Anyway, I highly recommend this movie. Some of the fairytale aspects are a teeny bit predictable, but what do you want, it's a fairytale! Beautiful design, great acting, amazing dialogue.. I'll be looking for the book soon - ok, and also the film itself, as what we watched last night came via Netflix.

When Tuesday is Monday

Yesterday was lovely. We spent it quietly doing couple of chores, juggling the Infanta (who was inclined to be very fussy), and playing Agricola. It was even nice enough during the afternoon that a walk to Safeway was very enjoyable!

Today isn't being so fun so far... mainly between the Infanta being fussy and my glasses only helping somewhat. *sigh*

Oh, well, you can't have everything.

The cure for my migraines is...

glasses! Bet you didn't know I had them. :)

They're reading glasses with a very mild prescription, and I don't need them most of the time, but apparently I do right now. Since they're about 5 years old now, it's probably past time for a new pair; fortunately we have medical insurance that will cover that nicely.

Now I have the fun of adjusting to them all over again... but at least I've had the pleasure of the Infanta being thoroughly confused by them. *evil laugh*

Signs of Spring

A little while ago, Josh called me into the living room to look out the door at the tree in our front yard. This is the same tree that houses a colony of honeybees, but today it was proving a tempting target for a pair of woodpeckers. I commented that I didn't recommend they check out the hollow in the tree for a nest... next thing I knew, one of the birds was heading straight in. Oh well, not my damage...

Twice overnight, going to get the Infanta to nurse, I found her standing up while inquiring for me. Good thing Josh had already shifted the base of the crib to its low position! Wonderfully, though, she gave me a nice four-hour stretch of sleep during the middle of the night... I love my baby, and I don't mind night nursing at all, but every two to three hours at her age is... wearing.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Despite our nonexistent budget for extras right now, Josh has managed to get me both flowers and chocolate. I love this man...

The Infanta, having mastered crawling and cut her first tooth, is patently not content with all-fours locomotion. Oh no, menacing the kitties on their own level isn't enough; she now has to work on walking. To that end, she's begun climbing everything in sight (especially me), and yesterday was consistently making it to her feet - when she wasn't falling (usually in range of hard things to bonk her head on) due to misjudging either whatever she was holding on to, or whatever she was reaching for. We're doomed, doomed I tell you...

I do not recommend

Combining teething, separation-anxious babies and migraines.

This just in!

The Infanta had her first tooth finally come in late last evening. I knew it was imminent, as I had been able to see it (and the one next to it, so she'll have two soon) for a couple of weeks, but as with all such things, exact timing was impossible to predict.

I feel like a bad mom on some levels for not connecting the teeth just below the surface with a number of behaviors she's been showing recently - frequent nursing, poor sleep, generally escalated fussiness (like the two hour crying jag night before last), and that adorable one-sided dubious smile she's been sporting since Sunday. I didn't connect that last until I remembered at just before 6 this morning she that must be in pain. When I turned the light on to give hers some Motrin, I saw that her face was tense on the side of the tooth, but not the other. Duh!

On the other hand, I can't feel too bad, really - for one, this is my first time at all this, and no book can really tell you what exactly to expect. For another, every kid reacts differently, and the Infanta's been showing possible signs of teething on and off for the last six months!! Also, since she can't tell me what's going on in English, I have to interpret the signals she does give me, and they could mean so many different things that I have to guess. I mean, she isn't generally fussy unless there's something specific - but which specific is it? Hunger? Tiredness? Pain from a bonked head? And why has she been bonking her head so much lately? Well, I guess now I know.

In the 16 hours she's had the tooth, she's managed to bite me twice, but that's not even the main reason I already miss her toothless grin.

this'nthat

First, a very cool video I found from a listserve of Salma Hayek breastfeeding an African baby. I'm so not a celebrity chaser, but I thought it was very cool, and even more so as she discusses her own feelings about it, and shares a family story on the subject.



On another subject, Hedra talks about men. But maybe not how you'd think! Hedra, can I be you when I grow up?

Snow again, snow again, Jiggetty-Jig

It was snowing when I woke up this morning (the first time). So I pulled the curtain back to watch it, which we did until it turned all to rain. Then I went back to sleep for a while. So much for Stephanie complaining that in Oregon, snow is a singular word! Just because we're not generally buried under mountains of the stuff... and really, what kind of person willing lives in a climate where that's guaranteed to happen? :D

One of my current knitting projects is making a couple of preemie caps for my local Ravelry group's current charity project - preemie caps for our local hospital. Super easy - take fingering yarn and the size needles you prefer (I'm using 3mm simply because that's what came easily to hand), cast on a decent amount of stitches, knit for a while, cast off. I'm using Baby Ull (of which I have a fair bit of leftovers stashed), casting on 64 stitches, and knitting in 2x2 rib for 4 inches, before decreasing. For the one I've finished (yes, I've finished something!!!), I decreased at 8 points around with p2togs, which made for a pretty and easy top. I'm making another in "boy" colors (the first was lavender and white), and hoping that they bring some brightness to the lives of some stressed preemie parents. I'm taking the opportunity to kind of make them prayer hats, too, and knitting in intentions of health, warmth, strength, and love - I figure preemies can use that.

Not just for throwing!

The Infanta discovered how to drink from a sippy cup last night. Being a total dork, and bursting with maternal pride, I tweeted it (yes, I have succumbed to Twitter). I got a picture, but since the cable connecting my camera and my computer is acting weird, I can't share it. :(

There continues to be knitting and cooking and all that other good stuff, but I just don't feel like writing more about it right now. And, it being past noon, it's time for us to get out of our jammies and into real clothes!

Oh, yes, I've given up numbering my posts; it was helpful for a while, but now it's just tedious.

39. The Escape Artist

My Ravelry knitting group is meeting at the Ike Box a lot these days. It's a coffee shop downtown that's attached to our local YMCA. It's a generously-sized space, friendly to boisterous groups; it has tables and chairs, as well as conversation groups of shabby, comfy furniture. I gather that the place often hosts bands (there's a decent-sized stage dominating the largest room), and serves as a gathering place for many local teens. I can see why, and would have no problem with my own child hanging out there (well, if she were a teenager - spending time there while Mama's knitting is different!). The place is well-enough maintained that I have no issues with my crawler doing her thing on the floors, even in the evening or on a Saturday afternoon (after presumable lots of people and a show the night before). Oh, yes, it's baby- and child-friendly - actually, it tries to be friendly to all ages, and means that literally.

We had been meeting in a side room on Wednesday evenings; large enough for our somewhat rowdy knitters, and with doors that can be closed to contain the various babies (in addition to the Infanta, there's a three-month-old and two eleven-month-olds that make regular appearances). However, yesterday afternoon that room was closed off for some reason, and our group was gathered at a group of comfy furniture to one side of the main room, next to the stage. You experienced parents will see this coming when I point out the combination of a semicircular arrangement of furniture and a determinedly exploring crawler. I saw it, too, and tried to take steps to contain her explorations, but the Infanta foiled those easily, even contemptuously. She was deterred for a time by the combined blockades of a large basket of yarn and a friend's shoes with pink hippos on them (which were apparently fascinating conversational partners). But when the lady working with the yarn moved the basket off the floor, the Infanta suddenly became aware of the vast unexplored wilderness, and set out to conquer. She'd made it almost to the foyer by the time she was corralled the first time; we pulled a couple of chairs from a nearby table in hopes that they would be enough of a blockade. Herself laughed at our pitiful attempts as she raced straight through the gap between the chairs, which happened to be exactly wide enough to admit her. As I pulled her back this time, I brought a third chair over, to solidify the forest of chair legs crossing the gap. Alas, the chairs alone turned out to be inadequate, as the Infanta quickly found that even her slight mass was more than enough to move a chair aside enough to crawl through. As one of the other knitters remarked, she was acting like a cat - if her head could go through, so too could the rest of her. By this time, it was going on 5:30, and time to head home, so I called Josh for our ride and put our things away in preparation to leave. I had learned my lesson, though, and did not let the Infanta crawl free again until we got home.

38. Infanta update

She's too aware of the camera to get a truly candid shot these days, but here's a pictures of the Infanta playing with the fork I'd pulled out to eat my lunch with yesterday. As you may guess, I got myself another fork. She's zipping around the house on all fours now; at one point yesterday I was here on the computer, and she just sort of took off out of the room. Fifteen or twenty minutes later, I came out of the office, and she was nowhere to be seen. I called her name a couple of times, and found her coming out from the direction of the bedroom. She's very happy just kind of exploring on her own, although she does tend to prefer to explore in company - in other words, follow me around. Also, if I'm sitting still and she's exploring, she'll come up to my feet when she wants to be picked up (and usually nurse). She'll come up to Josh's too, but since I'm in charge more often...

No teeth yet, but if I look at her bottom gum, I can see the top edges of her very front teeth, just ready to pop up any time. I'm still not in any hurry!

37. Random Friday

1. I hate memes, so despite having been tagged at least half a dozen times in the 25 Random Things About Me meme on Facebook, I will not be participating.

2. I really, really want to get pregnant again. I'm thinking that March would be a good month to conceive - the Infanta would be around 18 months old when the new baby was born, and it would be decent timing with my potential and actual clients due this fall.

3. In line with #2, I think that the reason my period has been sucking so much this week is that it's a missed pregnancy - an egg was fertilized, but failed to implant. I'm a teeny bit saddened, but mostly annoyed at the mix of a truly craptastic period and a truly craptastic cold.

4. I've had really bad startitis in the last month or so. Depression combined with more stash than I'm used to = lots of ideas for starting things, and not all that much interest in followthrough. Never fear, Mom, I will finish your socks! especially since I'm using those spiffy square needles. :D But I also have some great ideas for sewing projects... not to mention wanting to corral and organize all my needles... Have I mentioned my recent strange fascination with amigurumi?

36. Breakfast at midnight?

Last night, in the hours I couldn't sleep (the Infanta went into the crib shortly after 11, I didn't sleep until shortly after her 2 am nursing), I had a thought. I'd seen somewhere a recipe for making oatmeal in the crock pot - put it in at night, let it cook on low overnight, and in the morning you have perfect hot cereal all ready to go. So I tried it. I pulled out the Little Dipper that came with my big crock pot, and which has been gathering dust for... a year now? and loaded it with my usual oatmeal proportions - 3/4 cup uncooked cereal, 1 1/2 cup water, a little salt - plugged it in, and went back to trying to sleep. It was fabulous this morning - hot cereal with no especial effort!

35. Book List

Saw this over at Lennon's blog, thought it would be a good one for me, bookworm that I am.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read.
3) Underline the books you love. (or, since I'm apparently unable to underline, put an ascii heart: <3)
4) Put 6 stars next to the ones you are reading******

1 Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen <3
2 The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien
3 Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4 Harry Potter series - JK Rowling <3
5 To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6 The Bible (I assume pieces count here...)
7 Wuthering Heights – Emily Bronte
8 Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell
9 His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman <3
10 Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11 Little Women - Louisa M Alcott <3
12 Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13 Catch 22 - Joseph Heller
14 Works of Shakespeare
15 Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16 The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien <3
17 Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18 Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger
19 The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger
20 Middlemarch - George Eliot
21 Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell
22 The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald
23 Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24 War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
25 The Hitch Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams
26 Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh
27 Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky
28 Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck
29 Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll <3
30 The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31 Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
32 David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33 Chronicles of Narnia <3
34 Emma - Jane Austen
35 Persuasion - Jane Austen <3
36 The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis
37 The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini
38 Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39 Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40 Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne
41 Animal Farm - George Orwell
42 The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown
43 One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44 A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45 The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins-
46 Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery <3
47 Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48 The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood
49 Lord of the Flies - William Golding
50 Atonement - Ian McEwan
51 Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52 Dune - Frank Herbert
53 Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54 Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen
55 A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56 The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57 A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58 Brave New World - Aldous Huxley
59 The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon
60 Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
61 Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck
62 Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
63 The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64 The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold
65 Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66 On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67 Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68 Bridget Jones’s Diary - Helen Fielding
69 Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70 Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71 Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72 Dracula - Bram Stoker
73 The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett <3
74 Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75 Ulysses - James Joyce
76 The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath
77 Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78 Germinal - Emile Zola
79 Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray
81 A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens
82 Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83 The Color Purple - Alice Walker
84 The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85 Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86 A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry
87 Charlotte’s Web - EB White <3
88 The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom
89 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle <3
90 The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91 Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad
92 The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93 The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94 Watership Down - Richard Adams -
95 A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96 A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97 The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas <3
98 Hamlet - William Shakespeare
99 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl
100 Les Miserables - Victor Hugo

Remember that I was a lit major in college, and therefore I read a number of these for coursework.

We're still sick here... although the Infanta seems to remember it only when she's trying to nurse, and has to keep coming up for air between swallows.

34. Still sick

And not only sick, but enduring the period from hell on top of it. And when I went to do my morning online stuff today, my connection was down so I didn't get the post I wanted up today. Maybe tomorrow; we'll see how I'm feeling then. >.<

33. We have achieved crib!

And someday Herself may even sleep in it. Not tonight, unless some miracle occurs... lolyarite, I kill myself...

We have also achieved high chair; I suspect this will get more use.

32. Colds suck.

I'm not complaining about temperature this time, but illness. *sigh* Long old day, starting with not sleeping well due to assorted illness, continuing on to Ikea first thing in the morning (but I got my crib and high chair!), and thence to a friend's house to hang out and play board games; we got home about half an hour before I'm posting this. Josh and I have nasty colds, and the Infanta not only has the cold, but also may be pushing her first teeth out (finally!!!). Wish us a restful night...

Anyway, working on planning this knitting day thing. I think Thursdays would work best for my schedule (although Wednesdays would be ok, too). Yes, Lennon, kids are welcome, but I don't have a huge amount of space, nor much in the way of toys for 5 year old boys. :) Just sayin'... Anyway, I started this over on Ravelry; the thread is here. If you aren't on Ravelry, and you're interested in this, you should be! It's a fabulous site, even if you aren't there very often (which category includes me, just btw). The social network part is great, it's getting me out of the house and seeing folks I have a good amount in common with on a pretty regular basis right now, and so is the stash database part, but what I really love is the part about being able to search patterns - you can find tons of different patterns for knitting and crocheting at least, and a goodly proportion are free, which is fantastic for those of us with minuscule budgets (which is all of us, I'm pretty sure).

31. Yarn Crawl

The lovely Snarfy, excited about her purchases.

So, I'm planning to start hosting a knitting group midday on probably Wednesdays. Who's up for it?

30. It's cold out, but...

At least I'm well rested! Got to sleep 11ish, woke up at twenty to 11 this morning... with, you know, the usual nursing and the hour around 5-6 when I was trying to get the Infanta back to sleep so I could go pee (didn't work). I was exhausted and touched out by the end of the game last night, and I thought I wouldn't sleep for hours, but then I availed myself of the wonders of a long hot bath, and... much better.

Honest, one of these days I'll have brainspace to post about something other than feeling ucky! But since I'm currently in hard survival mode, that's what I've got right now.

29. I'm tired

of whining about January. Good thing for me it's almost over, eh?

I'm also just plain tired - we got home at almost 10 last night, and the Infanta was passed out at a few minutes before 11. She slept pretty soundly, all things considered - but this was because I decided that since she's sleeping best next to us, and Josh doesn't sleep worth beans next to her these days, I took her into the guest bed with me. This is *not* the most comfortable bed in the world (although I'm having distinct thoughts about taking the mattress off the frame...), and putting that on top of the caffeine I consumed last night, I didn't sleep until around 2... and then I didn't sleep soundly. C'est la cookie crumbles...

28. I didn't forget!

I just had a really super duper pooper long busy day that began much earlier than I expected, and I only just now have a chance to post.

But I really enjoyed myself today, knitting with assorted friends and babies and, and, and... :) You all know who you are.

(btw Stacey, consider that the S.E.X. I owed you... Katie, I haven't forgotten yours!)

27.Random Tuesday

The Infanta did. not. sleep. last night (well, ok, she did finally... sort of), so she's super fussy and I'm exhausted today (and so's Daddy, bless him for taking over when I was having thoughts of laudanum). And I'm determined to get the heck out of the house today, despite the rain. We'll see.

Megan posted a sort-of contest yesterday, and one of the requirements was reposting on your own blog. I'm not sure if she meant just a link, or extending the exchange, so here's a link.

And now I'm going to try not to go back to bed too soon.

26. Ba-na-na

I really need a high chair before I continue with many more solids. A placemat might help, too.

Not dressing my child in an (partially) angora sweater before handing her messy food would probably help, too.

25. Geek knitting

When I saw this post over at the Mario Scarf blog the other day, I knew I needed a new dice bag. My old one is not uncrafty - I made it... maybe 15 years ago? out of leather, with beading - but it's old, and not knitted, and I've always been paranoid (justifiably) about the hand-cut thong drawstrings breaking. So I took a couple of evenings away from other projects and made a new one. I didn't have any Kureyon on hand, so I snagged a ball of Silk Garden out of the Clapotis project I'm never going to finish, and used that instead.

24. Dear Daughter,

You are beautiful, big, strong, and intelligent. It is a joy and a privilege to watch you grow and develop; on good days the thought brings me to tears. When we encounter random strangers, the first thing they comment on, almost always, is how bright your eyes are - which amuses me, because that was one of my earliest nicknames for you.

It is not your fault that Januaries are always hard for me, or that this January has been a bad one for many people, and even worse than usual for me in particular. It is not your fault that I'm wading through (relatively) mild PPD. It is not your fault that you are, at this miserable time for me, developing so rapidly that you can't keep up with the changes, and so you cry and cry even when I cuddle you at my breast.

However, I would greatly appreciate it if you could manage to nap well this afternoon, and sleep well and easily and long tonight, so that I can get enough rest to cope with you without losing it myself for a little while longer.

Thank you,
your loving, frazzled, on-the-edge mother.

P.S. Be nice to your father, too!

P.P.S. To my readers - please leave comments! I want to hear your thoughts, and the more comments you leave, the better my blog traffic looks to places like MomCentral, who I'm trying to get to include me on blog tours.

23. Thumbthumbthumbthumbthumb

Funny how the Infanta is exactly the same pose now as she was yesterday when I posted. Yes, Amy, complete with thumb in mouth - she's a real thumb sucker, for which her father and I are profoundly grateful. My in-laws may make remarks about how hard it will be to break her of that habit later, but I don't care. First off, I figure she'll stop when she's ready, much as I stopped sucking my two fingers when I was ready.

Second, Josh and I MUCH prefer a kid sucking their thumb to a kid who walks and talks and has a pacifier clipped to her clothes! Or worse yet, talks through her pacifier!

Third, it's not like she's always got her thumb in her mouth; she uses it as a boob substitute, mainly. If she's awake and sucking her thumb, usually it's because she wants to nurse, and is a good signal to me. If she's asleep and I'm done being a milk machine, I'll detach and she'll often promptly replace nipple with thumb. She just needs to suck, and it doesn't always need to be nutritive. Witness now - she's deeply enough asleep that she lacks the muscle tone to keep her hand up, but her mouth is still moving in a sucking rhythm.

I don't mean this for an indictment of moms whose kids use pacis for extended periods - or not much, anyway - me, I never intended to use them at all! I do well know, and learn better every day, that in parenting, as in the rest of life, theory ad reality often bear little resemblance to each other.

22. I have a baby sleeping, sprawled across my lap.

That is all.

21. How I get what done? and a reenactment

Well, crap. I had a nice long post going about getting stuff done around here (inspired by Bethany), and I did something, and it disappeared. Damn frozen fingers. Short answer: not nearly often enough, mostly while the Infanta's asleep or while Daddy's home.



Here is a rough reenactment of the reason the Infanta doesn't get to sleep by herself in our bed anymore. I left her napping the other day; not nearly long enough later, we heard her waking over the monitor. I tried to ignore it, hoping she'd go back to sleep, and a couple of minutes later, heard her squealing. I dashed in to find her headfirst in the wastebasket, and laughed so hard as I pulled her out that Daddy came running, too. I wish I'd thought to get pictures at the time, but I couldn't just leave her there, you know? Anyway, if she falls asleep deeply enough to be moved, and I can't be with her in the big bed, she gets moved to the cosleeper now (and to the crib when we get it).

20. Inauguration day

If you know me at all, you know I'm not a huge Obama fan (I voted for Clinton in the primary), but I am glad he won the election rather than the other guy.

However, on reading my morning email, I found this little gem. And I finally watched this video that my brother sent me:



That man, that song, that location... even my politics-hating and rather conservative husband might well tear up with patriotism.

Tomorrow we will return to our regularly scheduled Infanta.

19. All wrapped up in her work

And better at crawling every time she sees a kitty to chase.

18. The Purple Peril

I believe I've mentioned how much the Infanta is fascinated by the cats? In case I haven't, she's completely enraptured by them. When she sees them, she goes completely still, and, wearing a huge smile, makes small noises which I think are supposed to be enticing. Since the cats want nothing to do with her, this tactic doesn't work, but it's adorable nonetheless. If they're anywhere vaguely in reach, she tries to grab, and has been known to actually catch a limb, a tail, or a handful of fur. This has been happening more often recently, as the Infanta becomes mobile faster than the cats can process it. (We do sometimes carefully guide her in softly stroking a captive feline, but I think she's really too young yet to grasp the concept.)

Her recent strides (if you will) in mobility have been significantly motivated by her desire to play with the kitties, and in the last day or so, as she begins to be able to articulate knee movement in her crawling, she's taken to pursuing them to their highest refuge in the living room: the top of the comfy chair. In fact, just before I sat down to write this, she'd managed to trap both the kitties there!

Being somewhat callous pet owners (we love our cats, but we don't coddle them), we naturally encourage our daughter's efforts to pursue the frisky felines, and pretty much only intervene when she manages to catch one. After all, we don't condone actual torture... much as we enjoy messing with them.

17. It's astonishing

what a little exercise and company will do for you. I took a good, brisk walk early yesterday afternoon (the Infanta needed a couple of shots, and the clinic is about a 20 minute walk away, nicely nicely), and then hooked up with Bethany for a little shopping (window shopping on my part, she had gift cards). Then home, and a bath for Herself, and a shower for me, and although the Infanta was a bit more fussy than usual at bedtime, I slept quite well, thankyouverymuch. :)

It seems that pretty much everyone (ok, the moms I know well in the area) is feeling pretty awful right now. Bethany was proposing a party with chocolate; sounds good to me, but I think I'd add alcohol!

16. Fun with a dose of suckage.

January is still sucking. I'm feeling on the edge of PPD, and would probably be fully into it if I weren't on brain meds. Sheer anxiety is kicking my ass at night; the Infanta slept for six hours during the first part of last night, and anxiety had me awake for fully half that time.

But I had an enjoyable evening, anyway. My brother is running a game of Dungeons and Dragons (4th ed) with a local gaming group at a local game store, and I've joined it. I'm not all that much of a fan of D&D, but since it's pretty much the only game going right now, I'll take it. Making it more fun for me is that another player's wife (who is one of the potential clients I mentioned last week) has been happily watching the Infanta during part of the times we're playing, so I'm not trying to tank and juggle baby simultaneously the whole session (Josh helps, too, but since he's playing, there's still the baby at the table). I'm not counting on her being present, because she has her own life, but if she's hanging out with us while we play anyway, at least she can get a baby fix, and give me a break, so it works out for us both. :)

I realize that it may come as a surprise to some of you out there that I play games like D&D. Well, I do! I've been a gamer for pretty much all of my life - and by gamer, I mean tabletop role-playing games, not video games (which are a much newer part of my life). I hadn't had much chance to play in the last several years, but I'm enjoying my opportunity now! Plus, it mixes well with knitting. ;)

15. Art

I figured it had been a few days since I posted any Infanta pics, so here's a few, taken just moments ago. I refuse to apologize for the motion evident; that's her most common state these days.

14. I hate January.

I try to keep a distinction between hatred and dislike. I try to reserve the energy of hatred for things or people that have actively caused harm - usually to me personally, but sometimes to others. Other things I feel negatively towards, but that haven't caused harm, I try to keep at "intensely dislike".

I hate January. I've been pretty sure for a long time that I have some level of SAD, but it hadn't hit me very hard in the last few years; in the past, I've endured some of the deepest depressions of my life in this month - I definitely call that harm. This year, with Velcro Girl and her Amazing Late Evening Naps, the agony of January has been back in full force. Last night, after she was finally asleep, and after Daddy was out, too, I found myself having an anxiety attack, desperate for someone to pass the Mommy buck to, if only for a few hours. It didn't help that I'd looked at my SAHM meetup group and discovered that a person I do. not. like. has joined it.

Now, I won't say I like everyone in the world, far from it, but I can manage to rub along okay with most people. When I actively dislike someone, it's a whole different ballgame. I dislike this particular person enough that I am likely to avoid any events she attends (even if they were events I would be attending without her), and I would be considering leaving the group if I weren't pretty positive that she is unpleasant enough that she's going to get herself booted before long anyway. At least, I really hope so. She hasn't actually harmed me or anyone I care about, though (although I do believe she's tried), so I can't quite hate her. I'm pretty close, though. I did go so far as to send an email to the group's organizer about how this person is baaad news, though...

I did manage to get to sleep, and that helped a lot of the anxiety. I also plan to nap with the Infanta this afternoon - maybe that way we'll both rest better.

13. the Blogverse provides

I'm almost two weeks into this daily post thing, and I'm finding that just when I'm stumped for a post, the blogverse hands me something.

Take today: going through my morning blogroll, I found a post from hedra about a study on human dirt-eating. Go read it, it'll make you feel better about your baby chewing on the soles of shoes. Or whatever. :)

12. I'm doomed - not that that's new.

Since only two people commented on my contest, both Katie and Stacey will get treats. Email me (I know you both know how!), and we'll talk stash. :)

This morning, while I was doing my usual lie-in-bed-denying-that-it's-time-to-get-up and play-with-the-baby, the Infanta sat up, almost entirely unaided. Now, she didn't start flat on her back (she was arched over my arm and on a pillow), and she did want a finger to grab for the last few degrees to upright - but heck, I'm bad at sitting up from lying prone! Sad that my baby's abs are better than mine.

Aaand now, just as I'm thinking thoughts about it being time to start transferring Herself to a proper crib (she's about to outgrow the cosleeper), it's time to brace for the eight month sleep regression. Although she's what I've come to realize is an "easy" baby, the Infanta has hit all of these Wonder Weeks early and distinctly. Send chocolate!

11. Maybe it's the time of year?

The Infanta and Grandpa at family Christmas, New Year's Day.

I really admire Norma for not only posting daily for over a year now, but for always having interesting things to post. Or maybe they're just interesting to the rest of us, and she thinks it's all trivial and uninteresting, but posts anyway? Hard to tell sometimes.

All I know is that January's always been the worst time of year for me, and the last few days I've felt like I couldn't get enough sleep. I even got to the point of "touched out" last night, with the Infanta and her 9 pm wakings (which we handle by letting her play with us (usually Daddy) for a while, and then it's lights out and she's swaddled and into the cosleeper, where I lay a hand on her until she's out), and my having wanted to go to sleep at 7.

But we did have a funny moment the other night; Daddy had just turned the lights off while I was nursing Herself (trying to get her asleep), and while she was having none of that, she clawed at the side of my breast rather painfully. I said "Ow"; Daddy gently said something about "Don't hurt Mommy", and she gave a rousing raspberry. I honestly don't know if the timing was intentional - my guess is not - but it was so perfect that Josh and I laughed and laughed.

10. Check this out!

Found it here. I heart pro-breastfeeding ads!

9. Save Handmade part 2

The law affecting handmade children's items has been altered to exclude those made by the WAHM industry; read a bit about it here: http://www.kval.com/news/37241774.html On the other hand it still prohibits the resale (or even giving away!) of used clothing and toys. There's a petition about it here. I understand why they put the law into place at all, but they needed to have been more careful about how they phrased it! Sign the petition, please; leave a comment if you do so, and I'll pull a name out of a hat and give you something nifty. If you're a knitter or you sew, it'll be something stash-like; if you don't, maybe a book. It'll depend on whose name I pull.

eta - Contest will end this Sunday, Jan 11, at midnight.

8. Clients?

We're off to the babywearing meeting this morning. Such a pain to make the trip take twice as long, just because I have to take the bus.. but it's better than staying in and never seeing anyone.

I found two potential clients last night! One is the wife of a guy Josh games with. The other is one of the local knitters. Although the knitter is due around the beginning of August, I'll still leap at the chance to be her doula - we even joked about her being due for the Sock Summit. :)

7. Well, I was going to post some pictures.

Blogger seems to be having trouble talking to my computer and uploading pictures today. I was going to post a photo of the Infanta sitting up on my lap, but I guess not today... Nope, can't even work it from posting it on Flickr - but here's the link.

The Infanta (currently snuggled against me in my new Moby), while not precisely crawling or sitting up independently, is making great strides in physical achievement. She creeps quite well, and pretty quickly at times - I should probably find another place for the Asian ceramics than the floor, dontcha think? She also sits quite well if placed there, as in the linked image - although she tends to lean forward and scoot off in pursuit of something that looks chewable.

SIL's naturalization ceremony yesterday was amazing. I think that every kid should attend one, as part of their education in civics. I definitely think I'll be making an effort to get my kids to one when they're old enough to appreciate it!

6. I overslept!

And have no time to post properly before a full day that includes a trip to Portland on Greyhound to watch my SIL become a citizen. Proper post tomorrow!

5. Giraffe!

The Infanta is practicing her Velcro skills today, so here's a video of a giraffe being born to entertain you. Ignore the gratuitous footage of the tourists.

4. Let there be Knitting!

Helena, from the Summer 2008 Knitty. Begun in August, finished Christmas Day; you may recognize it from the pictures I've posted of the event.



The start of the Leaf and Nupp Shawl, from Lace Knitting of Estonia. I never, ever thought I'd say this, but nupps are kinda fun! Apologies for the dimness of the picture, but a) the Kauni is dark and b) I had to get between the Infanta and the lace, which also meant between the light source and the lace. This is something I can only work on when the Infanta is asleep. I'm really enjoying it, though!

3. To answer a question.

Have I mentioned how much the Infanta loves the kitties?

My brother asked yesterday: Ok, so I have to ask. What's the diffrence between this and the other wraps you own?

I own one other wrap. Well, two if you count the rebozo, which I have more as a doula tool than as a baby carrier. I also have a mei tai (which I made myself) and a ring sling (which Amy made me), both of which I use frequently. My wrap is homegrown; it started as a piece of cloth from my costume stash (actually a length I acquired a decade ago to use as a turban) which I cut in half lengthwise so that I could have a wrap and a turban. I have yet to hem the raw edges, although I really should. It is lightweight but sturdy woven fabric, and I haven't ever really used it much, because of the learning curve, my laziness, and fact that I'd never washed the fabric, so it was very stiff with dye, making it very difficult to adjust. I did wash it recently, but haven't gotten around to playing with it. Maybe I'll take it to the babywearing meeting next week for some help.

The wrap I have coming to me is commercially made of jersey (knit fabric to those in my audience less fabric savvy than me). This makes a hyooge difference in ease of use - for one, you can adjust it before you put the baby in! Not something you can do with the woven wrap.

2. Gravelled for lack of matter

Five days into daily posts, and I'm dry. This does not bode well.

Well.. it's not really that I have nothing to talk about, more that I'm sleepy enough (sue me, I wake up late) that I'm having trouble thinking of what to say, especially without having a cute baby picture that I want to share immediately to hand.

So here's something (almost) completely different.

Someone on my babywearing group posted this video a couple of weeks ago. Words are in French, but the visuals are clear enough..plus the music's pretty awesome. Anyway, it got me fired up again about acquiring a stretchy wrap. I've been wanting to get one in time for the next baby (whenever that will be), but a Moby is supposed to be good for babies weighing up to 35 pounds - and the Infanta is only about 16 right now, so I can use it with her for a goodly length of time, too. So, as my Christmas present, I ordered one last night. This will be my first bought carrier!

1. Happy New Year!

Kind of in a rush this morning, as we're going to Grandma and Grandpa's for the family Christmas celebration this afternoon, but here's a cute baby and momma picture.

I hope your headaches this morning don't overshadow the joy in possibility of a new year!

A year in review

My blogroll this morning was full of posts thinking about the past year, appropriate for the day. So here goes some of my year.

This was a big year for us. Buying house and having a baby are some of the biggest events in people's lives, and we did both!

I went from being a complete virgin as a doula to being one who has a birth under her belt, two if you count my own.

I went from being a complete recluse, with a social life entirely conducted online, to acknowledging my social needs and fulfilling them, forming new friendships with like-minded moms in my area. My social life is now conducted about 50% in person. :)

I went from being completely out of shape, unable to walk even a few blocks without exhaustion (although some of that was because of gestational changes), to regularly walking the mile or so to the nearest "downtown" area without thought, even with an increasingly heavy baby strapped to me.

My baby went from this:



a twenty-two week bump in my belly;

to this:



seven months old today and loving french fries and pickles. (I've invited Gran to write the story of the pickles, and I'll post it when she sends it to me.)

Things I want to do in 2009 include posting here every day (as I mentioned yesterday) and growing my doula business (and oh the social things I'll have to do for that... not fun for this introvert). I also want to stop thinking of myself as an overgrown teenager who's just faking this adult stuff (I'm 32 years old and a mother now! way past time to work through that), and to see if I can't get my teeth fixed. Lesser goal include going to the Sock Summit and working on growing my hair out.

2009, here I come!

Some videos

First off, some videos of the Infanta. You can see all the videos we've taken and edited of her here, but for those who don't have time to check them all out, here're a couple of my favorites.





Secondly, I realized the other day that (duh) I could find bellydancing videos on yootoob, so I did a search, and found some great stuff. First up is a video of "superstar" Rachel Brice doing her thing (with a couple of friends, ultimately):



And here's a dressing-room interview of her talking about an incredibly inspiring moment she had watching another dancer:



My New Year's resolution is to post here every day in 2009!

Christmas

Yup, we had it. My folks traveled up from the Bay Area by train; my dad stayed with my brother and SIL, and my mom stayed with us. Due to the snow and there only being one car (seating four adults and one baby) between two households and seven people, we didn't get together nearly as much as we'd intended, which was a bit sad, but we'll do better another time.

We did get a chance to get together both Christmas Eve (over at my brother's place) and Christmas Day (our house); the picture above is the Infanta giving the Nom of Approval to the tag of one of her presents. She loves the present itself, too, but you know babies and tags...

There has been Knitting! But I'm saving that for another post. :)

Fun stuff

I promise a baby news post in a bit, but first, something completely different.

My friend Bethany is a writer... and like many writers, she's in a writing group. Well, one of the other members is about to be published!! And she's holding a contest on her blog. Linky below!

I mentioned it's cold, right?

I mean, this is the Willamette Valley. It's supposed to rain a lot, get frosty now and then, maybe have a light dusting of snow in late winter. Right now, there's a pretty thick blanket of snow on the ground, enough that a little while ago Josh and I saw a couple going up the street on skis! This photo is of my front yard right now - that's snow up to the top of our bottom step. Incidentally, we had rain overnight, so that this was bare ground this morning. Right now? Freezing rain. What's going on, are we turning into Canada or something?

Baby, it's cold outside!

First of all, I apologize for having lied on Sinterklaas. I really did mean to come back and post that recipe and such... What can I say, it's reeeeeeelly easy to get sucked into not being able to do much besides chasing the Infanta (who's at the on-all-fours-and-rocking stage of learning to crawl - I would not be surprised at some real crawling by Christmas!). I promise, I'll post it sometime soon!

Now then, for the members of the audience who don't live near me, this was the view out my front door at noon today:



Notice the white stuff? We had a couple inches of it fall yesterday afternoon and evening. It had melted/settled a bit by the time I took that picture; now it's preparing to get verrry icy overnight. Go go down comforter!

Save Handmade!

A few of my readers may have heard about the law going into effect this February that will basically make it impossible for anyone but big manufacturers to sell items that come in contact with children. It seems reasonable in theory - protecting kids from lead - but it basically requires everything that goes into any item that's going to be used with or for children to be tested for lead. Every part of every item. This will absolutely kill the WAHM (work at home mom, for those not internet-acronym-savvy) industry, as well as many others, including all small craftspeople that make kid's toys.

This particularly hits home for me, since I was hoping to soon start a small sideline in things like soakers, just to have a little coming into the family budget from me.

At any rate, I've put a button in the sidebar that will take you to a site with more information, including details on the Act and contact information and sample letters to nag your politicos with. I strongly encourage you to do this!!!

Sinterklaas

First, a gratuitous baby shot, taken just moments ago:



Today is Sinterklaas. Now, I'm not Dutch, but my SIL is, and we thought this was such a good idea that we've adopted it ourselves. I have a few gifts for our immediate party - Josh and Lina and me, and my brother and his wife (we'll be celebrating at their place tonight) - and I can't show you pictures because that would spoil the surprise, now wouldn't it? Tomorrow, I promise. :)



I also have cookies - at least, cookies in progress. It's kinda hard to make cookies late in the evening with a tired baby and no daddy to take his shift... Nonetheless, I did manage to make half a batch of Dutch Letter Cookies (thanks to Norma for sharing the recipe!), with the rest to make this afternoon, and I have the dough chilled for Pepparkakor. Yay for ethnic European spice cookies! I would post the recipe, but I have a sleepy baby in my lap, and getting up to get it would disturb her. Again, tomorrow, I promise!

Reality Check.

My mom had a cancerous tumor removed yesterday. It was, as these things go, a minor deal - a melanoma "in situ", meaning it was just in that spot, nothing extending elsewhere, not even all the layers of skin - but is cancer ever a minor deal, really? And, to pound it home even more firmly, I just read a post about another blogger's mom's cancer, and now I'm getting pretty upset about it all. I mean, I can't even go be with her right now, because we're hundreds of miles apart. She's planning to come visit for Christmas, but I'd like to be with her now, sharing Lina's toothless laughter in person and helping with her recovery.

I think I'll start keeping enough room on a credit card for an emergency train trip.

Now, with knitting!

Josh has been playing chess online recently. One morning about a week ago, he came in while I was in denial about getting up (standard practice for me on weekends) and asked if I'd make a hat for a lady he's been playing with who's going through cancer treatment. Well, of course I would! So, we hopped in the car (once we were all up) and went to my favorite LYS, the Rose and Ram in Independence. The yarn is Fibra Natura Exquisite Bamboo, 77% bamboo, 23% superwash merino, in Fiesta; pattern is Turn a Square by Brooklyn Tweed, but in only one colorway. It's yummy! Light and warm and soft and silky, and very cheery. :)



My socks have started wearing out. All but my very newest socks have either HYOOGE holes, like, too big for darning (darn it!!), or are showing distinct wear in spots. So I'm trying to churn out a few pairs while I still have some to wear. I had started this pair - Knotty or Knice by Chrissy Gardiner - pretty much as soon as the fall issue of IK landed in my mailbox back in... August? But what with them being a traveling pattern and me having a baby to chase, I didn't finish them until This past Friday. Hey, I finished them!!! And when I was at OFFF back in September, I showed the WIP to Ms. Gardiner herself, and she was happy to see her design "in the wild", and said that she liked the colorway I was using better than the one she'd had to use for the sample in the magazine. Yay! Yarn is STR lightweight, Star Sapphire. And yes, I'm a total dork. But you knew that.

Life with Squirmy Baby.

The first picture was taken just instants after Lina'd stopped pulling that blanket over her face, a favorite game since she was young, but one she can now play by herself. The second two were taken this weekend; we spent Thanksgiving with our dear friend Br. Vincent. In the first of those, Br. Vincent and Josh are playing chess while Lina wiggles on the ground (shortly thereafter Br. V draped his scapular over her head, leading me to joke about telling the abbot he was letting girls under his habit). In the second we are at the monastery's lodge, a lovely building on the Puget Sound, as the two share a package of popcorn.

More Ergo giveaway props!

I mentioned this contest a few weeks ago, and here's another! Ergo must be having a field day...

Swallow First.

Lina supposes her toes are roses

Lina has recently discovered her toes. I took these shots a few days ago, and then happily discovered that I could set up a slideshow on Picasa (Google's photo application).

Whaddya know?

Well, it really was contagious. Turns out my illness Saturday night wasn't from the turkey I treated with improper respect, but a 24 hour bug that's been making the rounds. I've been myself today, mostly... except that I'm not really interested in food. I'm kinda hungry... but every little flavor, especially sweetness, is very intense, and my tummy is still a touch queasy.

This is bad, especially when you consider that I'm still Lina's sole source of nourishment (and even if she was eating solids, the which she's shown no interest in yet except as toys, it would only be token amounts at this point), and that she's nursing very frequently right now - every couple of hours or less! I'm suspecting a supply decrease from ovulation... Oh yeah, did I mention I got my period for my birthday a couple of weeks ago? Guess I'll be eating oatmeal for breakfast and drinking Mother's Milk tea to wash it down.

Aaand the house is a mess. And while I got the laundry folded this afternoon, the baby sleeping on my front prevented me from putting it away. and while L's mom was able to make other arrangements for today, I'll have her again tomorrow. Ah, well, such is life...

I think it's contagious.

Here's the obligatory baby picture so Gran doesn't complain (as much ;P ). It's a few weeks old; she's currently asleep on Daddy, part-time miserable with her first real cold.

Megan had food poisoning in the middle of last week, from some bad fast food. I wouldn't bother to mention it here, except that I saw her Friday at the LLL meeting, and then spent all of last night puking my guts out, I think from something I ate at dinner. Josh, the lucky bum, had no issues at all. So today, he's doing the majority of the Lina care while I'm miserable on the couch. I'd enjoy it more if I didn't feel like a$$.

Meanwhile, I think I'm going to work on preparing for the Pendragon game I'm ramping up to running; I have the Howard Pyle version out from the library (different edition, but meh). They also had Malory, but I thought that choosing an edition that I could (and would) actually read in the time I have was the better part of valor.

Sue me, kids eat time!

I know a bunch of other moms who not only also have infants, but older children as well. How they manage to blog so much more regularly than me, I don't know. Must be practice...

I'm posting for once because someone on my babywearing list posted about this contest - and the site looks awesome enough in general that I decided to play. Besides, I so wouldn't say no to an Ergo!

And now, I know you're all champing at the bit for pictures of Little Girl.



This was Halloween - mama and baby kitties!



With Great-Grandma, on my birthday (as it happens).



Baby's first garb (and this is a dual purpose shot - something I've been working on!!! It's a UFO, but I'll finish it, I hope soon...).




This is L, a 4 year old I've been watching during the day for about a month now. And no, she's really not mine, but everyone thinks she is! This is a shot of her at Gilbert House.

That's all for now!

Happy Halloween

Art

has been requested.



First up: at OFFF, this is Lina and Mia's Gunner, who is generously sharing his big sister's cold. To be fair, after he sucked Lina's thumb, he gave her his, too.



Lina and our friend Penelope (Penny) at Gilbert House. Penny is about two months older than Lina (hence she's sitting while Lina's doing tummy time), but because she's very petite, Lina's actually a touch bigger. But they're wearing about the same size clothes, so at the swap yesterday, Penny's mom and I were snapping up all the cute girl's clothes in size 6-9 mos.



It's not a mouth, it's a clown car. I can say no more.

I promise!

We have not disappeared down a hole. Lina is alive and well (and making raspberries in the other room). Just... time gets away from me, you know?

There has been knitting. There have been baby pictures taken. There has been sewing - even quilting!

But I'm watching a four-year-old four mornings a week now, and that really eats into my time and energy! So... bear with me. I will post about our doings as brain, energy and children permit.

Kinnearing

Man, oh, man this is getting funny. Check it out here and here.

Me, I'm too much of a stay-at-home to ever be likely to play...

Another post without pictures.

So Little Girl's been growing like a weed recently. She's outgrowing her size 6mo sleepers at a ridiculous rate - I've watched one get too short over the course of a day in the last week! So, I dug out the 6-9mo sleepers I had stashed, and put one on her tonight... and it's not too big. There's a little room to grow, but it's not too big. Four months old tomorrow, and she's heading into 9mo clothes already! *cry*

It's about time!

Go check out my new doula blog!

I know just the thing!

I've been beginning to agonize about Little Girl's Halloween costume. I mean, how can I, obsessed with playing dress-up, even at the advanced age of 30-something, not do something fabulous for my firstborn's first Halloween? I've often been considering something video game-ish, just because... and then I saw this.

For this, I can pick up a crochet hook.

Babywearing: it's not just for the crunchy!

Someone posted this video from 1963 about "baby-toting" to one of my mom's lists. It's about 10 minutes long, but worth watching. :)