Morning Girl

Long day

I started with short sleep due to staying up entirely too late reading and compounded by a baby who squirmed next to me all night. I then woke earlier than usual, as I've been trying to do in an attempt to help said baby sleep earlier. Next thing I know, I'm chasing the Hurricane (but at least I volunteered.. and Bethany will chase the Infanta for me later in the week in exchange..). That pretty much wiped me out.

Except that while the Infanta was napping this afternoon, I started another pair of the bloomers, this time withe the intent of adding a skirt layer. Should be very cute, and use a skein of Peace Fleece that I bought for the purpose months ago. Although the pale teal is a slightly odd color for me, the fact that the colorway is called "Lena's Meadow" seemed serendipitous, and was irresistible.

It's 9 pm. I'm gonna take the baby and fall over now - wish me luck on the baby sleep!

New Hotness

Last night, I finished the soft structured baby carrier I've been making. I already want to make another one, just to put into practice the things I learned making this one. Things like: don't second-guess the way the pattern tells you to attach the straps. If I'd done it the way the pattern said, I'd have saved myself a couple of hours' work. Oh, well, I never do do things the easy way first..

Since today was GORGEOUS (Oregon likes to tease its inhabitants with a taste of what spring could be like at this time of year), I got together with Bethany and another friend this morning to stroll around downtown and give the carrier a good test drive. It passes with flying colors! I carried the Infanta around for a good couple of hours, with both toddler-chasing and some easier strolling, and I was never uncomfortable. So yay! $30, a dip into the stash, and ~12 hours (that's a generous estimate, btw, I didn't count) work later, and I have a sweet carrier.

For your entertainment

For some reason, I had this scene from The Full Monty pop into my head a little while ago. It's one of my favorite scenes from the movie; please enjoy!

And the intarwebs provide

Go read hedra's gorgeous doula/birth story here. No, Bethany, I'm not trying to make your ovaries twitch worse.

Being Mama

...isn't all fun and games. As it were.

I have a regular weekly D&D night. A bunch of us get together down at the local game store and rent the private room so that we don't have try to compete with the anime club that meets there the same night. I have been bringing the Infanta and letting her crawl around and whatnot, but it's been requiring more and more attention from everyone in the group to keep her out of trouble - like, not letting her chew on everyone's laptop cords. It's really not fair to ask everyone to help me babysit, but I've been trying to ignore that so that I can get a little gaming in.

I've also been realizing recently that she's starting to turn into a toddler. I looked at her face the other day, and she's looking older, and not like even an older baby anymore, even though she's not quite walking (although cruising just fine, thankyouverymuch). She's also getting past the 8-9 month sleep regression, and wanting to be in bed by much earlier in the evening.

So near the end of last evening, after everyone's concerted efforts to keep my little teething cord maniac wrangled, I had to come to the conclusion that I'm going to have to quit going to D&D night. Although there were some noises made about bringing one of the games (we have two campaigns going) to our house so that I can continue to play, I'm not counting on that happening. I'm not very happy about this.

There are two main reasons I'm not happy:

1) I won't get to flex my gaming muscles. I've been a gamer for as long as I can remember; it's as much a part of my identity as being a knitter has become, and it kills me to not be able to have that part of my life active. It's especially bad when my husband gets to go and I don't! And no, I won't ask him to quit - that wouldn't be fair to him. For one thing, he needs to have things to do without me; I don't want to be one of those controlling spouses that never lets her partner do anything solo!

2) I'll be stuck home alone with the baby. But, you say, you're already a SAHM, what's a few hours more? Well, that's just the thing. I am home alone with the baby all day every day (unless I manage to drag us out somewhere - not that easy when I'm dependent on buses or rides from other people). By the evening, I'm tired and needing time for myself; whether it's to cook, shower, sew, or just do nothing, I need some non-baby time. If Daddy's not home, I don't get it. I actually managed to get a shower today while Daddy wasn't home for the first time in ten months!!! But that was only because I decided that the Infanta could be more or less trusted to play independently in the bathroom... and I only got about half my shower business done because she was done before I was.

I love my baby, and in the grand scheme of things, I'm willing to give up this particular adult activity while my children are little. For one thing, they won't be little forever; for another, I'll be able to pick up again when they're older. This doesn't mean I have to like it! But I think I understand better now why the gaming nights when I was a kid were always at our house.

All wrapped up

Went to the babywearing meeting today, and got helped into a yummy wrap. It's probably a good thing that I really can't afford one...

Check out the shop that one of our leaders runs: http://sweet-pickles.com/

No Foolin'

Sunday afternoon I was inspired to try out a diaper pattern I'd gotten at my local quilting store. I pulled out some receiving blankets that had never worked well for me (square > rectangle, just in case you're wondering) as well as a few of the microfiber washcloths I got last summer for just this sort of purpose.



Unfortunately, I turned out not to be able to cut more than one diaper out of a single blanket, but I figure I can use the scraps for moon pads.



Also, I probably wouldn't have had to use so many pins to get the topstitching looking good if I'd pressed it first. But it worked, and I didn't have to get out of my chair. :) Altogether, the project took probably an hour or an hour and a half; Josh wrangled the Infanta, and then we went over to Bethany's for dinner. The diaper? Works great, although I think I'll lengthen it a bit next time I make some.



I've been dressing the Infanta in jeans and dresses a lot lately. It's a cute, convenient and (I hope) comfortable combo. The above shot was taken Monday night, after she'd been at Bethany's in the afternoon - yay for baby-free time for Mama!



Then I watched the Hurricane in return for a couple of hours yesterday. This is how she insisted on being dressed: jeans, a dress, and shoes *with* socks. If she'd had Robeez, she would probably have insisted on wearing them. Oh, and she's got a new word - Socks! Can we say Best Friends Forever? Bethany and I are highly amused; on the other hand, I'm beginning to be afeared for fifteens years from now, when they start thinking about boys....

I thought this might happen

I had no time today to process any blog fodder (something about spending the morning chasing a toddler and a pre-toddler that just totally messes everything up), so while I'd hoped to tell you about my last few days, no dice tonight. I should be able to tomorrow, though...

Long day

Long, busy day today. Will post about it (I hope) in at least some detail tomorrow. Right now, the Infanta needs to go to bed.

Teeth and how to use them

The Infanta is teething again. She has all four upper incisors bulging beneath her gums, champing (if you will) at the bit to emerge. One way I know they're there is that she's gone back to rubbing her (nasty, sharp, pointy) bottom teeth against my poor nipples. She's tending to scrape them against my tender flesh at the end of a nursing session; I generally gasp involuntarily, say "No" sternly, and set her on the ground, or otherwise end the session abruptly. I'll be glad when this set is through.

But at least she's using them for their intended purpose, too. Blueberries last night; she scraped all the pulp out of the skins, making surprisingly little mess (except on her pants). I was making quesadillas for lunch just now, and had propped her in her high chair so she could watch. On impulse, I gave her a few shreds of cheese; when those promptly disappeared, I gave her a few more. When those also disappeared (and not onto the floor!), I decided it was time to learn how to sign cheese, just for future reference.

Tonight's spaghetti sauce...

came out a bit "Cajun-ed". I blame this.

*squee*

eta: if you give your child blueberries for dinner, remember to give them a full-body bib.

D'oh!

One of the ladies in my knitting group posted about our Lenten charity project of more preemie hats. I keep forgetting that I still owe 3 hats for my resolution! Guess I know what I'm doing with the STR left over from Boheme... which I could swear I posted here about, but I guess I didn't, so here's Herself posing in her pretty little sweater:

Goofy Grin

An unusual birth story

I woke up this morning to a woman laboring in bed with me. Go read about it on my doula blog!

The Infanta, by request

Hey, look, Mama's got the camera!


But the cat's way more interesting.

Gran requested more pictures, and I have no reason not to oblige. Besides, she's always good blog fodder. :)

Late Bloomers

Ok, these are late only in that I just finished the knitting on them (haven't touched the finishing yet). I found the pattern on Etsy the other night, and it ended up being my first-ever Etsy purchase. I'm such a dork.

Pattern: Daisy Head Bloomers
Yarn: Lyon Fishermen's Wool
Started 3/22, finished 3/24 (ok, but all I have to do is weave ends in)

Not yet Ravelrized, but so cute I couldn't not share!

Wow

For the first time this year, I failed to post yesterday. So consider this a replacement, and I'll post for today later. :)

Sleepy Sunday

I'm tired, with not much to say tonight. Perhaps I'll feel more brilliant tomorrow.

Shiny Accessories

I got a really good yoga workout last night, and I've been stiff and achy from it all day, but at least it's a good stiff and achy. I also cast on yet another baby sweater this afternoon (Ravelry link here - yes, Bethany, if you want to see this adorable sweater, you have to sign up finally).

Speaking of Bethany, she was a bad person, and is lending me a carrier for the weekend. It's very, very shiny. I don't want to take it off. Since I must acknowledge that I will never, in the normal course of things, be able to afford a shiny like this made by someone else, I'm getting excited again about making one myself. I actually printed out a pattern, and have spoken to the husbeast about getting the fittings for it (straps, buckles, etc.) - hey, he's home this week on Spring Break, he can chase the Infanta while I get some sewing in!

And now for something completely different.

So, it seems the folks at Ravelry are looking for a (in my words) girl Friday.

Job description is as follows:

Hi Ravelry! Erica the Email Fairy is moving on, and Ravelry is looking for a new team member! This is a part-time (~20 hours per week), work-at-home position with flexible hours, and a definite possibility of growth with the company over time. :) We are looking for someone tech-savvy, friendly, and positive who is very familiar with the Ravelry site and community.

essential responsibilities include:

- Provide the first line of helpful support to all emails coming in via our contact-us page, the shopping@ravelry.com, and the advertising@ravelry.com email addresses (and alerting the rest of the staff to potentially important issues that come in). Topics in these emails can cover anything under the sun - designer/yarnie issues, confidential forum issues, happy people, Ravelry mini-mart questions, advertiser help, and more!

- Hook up designers, yarnies, and design teams with their Ravelry profiles and answering basic questions or directing to helpful on-Ravelry resources as needed.

- Assist users with Ravelry invitation issues.

- Provide help as needed on the Ravelry “work” forums: For the Love of Ravelry, Help!, Ravelry Shopkeepers, Ravelry Editors, Advertisers’ Caboodle.

- Assist Jess and Mary-Heather with ad approvals (image feedback, checking groups for competitors, etc.).

- Must be familiar with Ravelry’s site, vision, and tone!

- Must be able to stay motivated, level-headed, and work both independently as a self-starter on your own tasks, and as a part of our tightly-knit (har) team.

- Ownership of cute dog not required.

I think this would be a fabulous position for me - heck, I'm already on email all the time anyway! I could use some help from my faithful readers, however: One of the questions they want answered is

If you were a yarn-producing fiber, what would you be and why?

I offer no prize other than my gratitude (and probable adoration, especially if I get the job), but I'd love to hear your opinions on this! The deadline for posting applications is next Friday, so I'd love to hear back from you all by the end of the weekend.

A Birth Story

Read this, with Kleenex handy.

Mmm, Blueberry Poop!

While the Infanta was visiting Tavy yesterday, she apparently further explored her new-found predilection for blueberries. She came home with the dress she'd been wearing in the wet bag, soaked in an attempt to mitigate the stains covering it.

Since dinner was reheated lasagna, I satisfied my desire to cook *something* by making blueberry muffins. Now, we'd discovered a couple of days ago during a trip to Grandma's house that she now likes muffins, and at Bethany's we've discovered her liking for blueberries. I'd been gassing about making blueberry muffins anyway, since Josh likes them (he's a hard man to bake for) and we still have a bunch I froze last summer. So we had muffins for dessert.

Do I even need to say that the Infanta loved her share?







Postprandially, I discovered for myself the utility of the after-dinner bath. Next time I'll try to remember a bib sooner, or, if it's warm enough, just preemptively remove her clothes first.

Weird.

I'm currently home all alone. No Josh, no Infanta. J, of course, is at work, but the Infanta is over at Bethany's for a couple of hours, because I've essentially had no non-baby time since she was born.

Now what do I do with myself? First thing: leftover lasagna for lunch. Second thing? I'm not sure whether sewing or a nap takes precedence. Hmm. Tough choice.

Oh yes, the lasagna? Turned out excellent. Josh here gives it the thumbs-up of approval (followed swiftly by the nom of approval, not documented because I was nomming too).

Blessed are they

I do a lot of my meal planning for the month on the fly while doing our monthly grocery shopping at WinCo. It's not that I don't have things in mind before that, it's more that that's when I manifest the realities of what I need. Anyway, I saw a recipe a few weeks ago for lasagna made with egg roll wrappers for the pasta, and thought that was such a good idea that I picked up a couple of packages while shopping this month. Then, sometime last week I decided that it was time to actually make the darn stuff, and decided, influenced by this book and this post, that I would make my own ricotta.



So here's my first cheese, draining. I wanted to take more pictures during the process, but I had put my camera battery to charge, so I couldn't... let's just say it all went as planned, and that it really does work to make ricotta out of a gallon of milk from Safeway. Oh, yes, and if you're using lemon juice as your acid, it really works much better if you add it after the milk is heated, not before!

Very cool vid

We're having a few folks over to play board games today, so I can't post much. Still, I saw this very cool video that I thought y'all would appreciate.

Hurricane Tavy

I haven't posted many Infanta pictures lately, so here're a couple.

The baldy in the top photo is Bethany's daughter Tavy (short for Octavia), whom I've begun watching for a couple of hours at a time now and then so that Mom can get some grading done. It's working out well so far; despite being 8 months apart, the girls like each other, and Tavy likes me, so we're getting along pretty amicably. And although Tavy is just as much a Velcro Girl as the Infanta, she's used enough to Mom going off for a couple of hours at a time that she hasn't raised too much of a fuss. Yet.

Worth 15 minutes of your life.

Pamela, fantastic midwife to many around here, posted this today. I watch the video and think why can't I give birth this way not because I think I should be that cool and collected (although I think I may have appeared that way, at least sometimes.. just not when puking..), but because I wish deeply that I could do it in such an amazing environment. The hospital I was at with the Infanta was a good place, and the nursing staff were great at being discreet enough that I was able to fully engage with Laborland - from which I basically didn't emerge until she was fully born - but it was still a hospital. So, no warm wooden floors, no atmospheric candles.

Of course, I might not get that at home, either!

But it is heartening to see that some women really do get to live out what so many of us can only fantasize about.

Baby Dreams..

Well, I was all gung ho, trying to get pregnant this month.. but I had a talk with a friend last night who gave me some excellent reasons to wait. That got me remembering another conversation I had with another friend a while back, who'd said pretty much the same sorts of things. And I got to thinking that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to have some more time with just the Infanta... and then there's the part about how I'm finally starting to get some doula clients, and how it would be great to be able to get some more births before going on maternity leave again. So I'm thinking that if I don't get knocked up this month, I"m going to try to leave it for another year, despite my twitching (nay, flailing) ovaries.

Sigh.

Two things

For a laugh, go check this out. Then come back.

For something not really funny, but heartwrenching and amazing, watch this film. The link's been making the rounds of the birth blogosphere recently, and I finally made time to watch it today. Very inspiring, and since I'm now a mom myself, I also have a much better understanding of just how hard that woman works. Just... amazing. Take an hour and go watch it, you won't regret it.

A Doula Event

Take a look over at my doula blog.

Garden Dreams

I made a sizable Amazon order with a portion of our tax return, and among the books I ordered (and received today) was one I hadn't known about until mere moments before ordering it. I had already decided I wanted a copy of The Omnivore's Dilemma (fantastic book, I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the politics of food - which you all should be!), but when I made a search for it, I found Second Nature also recommended. When the box containing this portion of my order arrived today, I had to make a choice about which eagerly-awaited volume to crack first. It was actually something I had to think bout; I'd read Omnivore's Dilemma, but I've been wanting to read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle pretty strongly too. Still, my desire to garden is always pretty intense at this time of year, so the gardening book won. Astonishingly, I've already read two or three chapters... but this wasn't supposed to be a review of that book, but rather an outline of what I want to do with my garden.

I got ambitious this year - but I always do. I just have half a chance of realizing my dreams this year! Maybe. At that, I confined myself to vegetables I think we have a good chance of actually eating, veggies we like.

Seeds I bought:

sunflowers
a mix of flowers to cut
tomatillos
a mix of heirloom tomatoes
a lettuce mix
mustard greens
leeks
snap peas
blue lake beans
cranberry beans (to dry)
eggplant
jalapenos
poblanos
zucchini
pumpkins

I'm expecting to need to use containers if I want to try to grow all of these, especially since so many want "hot, well drained, sunny" locations. I have yet to go do anything with my garden beds this year, and they're not that big; perhaps I need to go invest in some bricks to make new ones! I may also need to remove (or maybe just move) one or two of the rosebushes along the south-facing fence. Expect blood.

I took some time last night to make a Waldorf-style doll for the Infanta. It's very simple: a rectangle of flannel, a ball of fleece for the head, then the corners sewn, "hands' and "feet" knotted, and the body stuffed with enough more fleece to make it cuddly and fluffy.



This is in the middle of the sewing process, with one arm still to be sewn.



And here is the finished doll!

Just Another Lazy Sunday

Don't talk to me about...

Feeling much better today; I think sleeping in, while Daddy took the Infanta this morning (as he usually does on the weekends) helped tons.

Still sick.

Head pounding, sinuses aching... ugh. This cold is kicking my ass.

But I had lots of fun this afternoon chasing Tavy!

I didn't forget

to post today, life got in the way.

Aside from that I'm still sick (stupid cold), I had the babywearing meeting to go to this morning, and even before that the power was out this morning early, and it wasn't on before Josh went to work, so naturally, while it was on by the time I got up, the modem/router were borked, and I'm not network-savvy enough to fix them on my lonesome. So I was out until early afternoon, and then Josh wasn't home until late late afternoon, and then we went out for the evening pretty much directly after that. So anyway, there's my day. Sick, running around, and no intarwebz.

So what's your excuse?

Only average?!

This morning we went for the Infanta's nine month well child checkup; as far as I was concerned, it was mostly to get her vital statistics. Astonishingly, my big beautiful girl is barely on the 50% for height(about 27.5"), and at 25% for weight(17.5#)! Well, I knew she was slim, but having watched how the nurse was measuring height, I find its accuracy suspect. I'm mostly astonished because my brothers and I were consistently at 95% and 95% (well, except for my little brother, but he's always been different). Perhaps we ate more solids earlier? The Infanta loves to beg food from us, but rarely actually swallows anything. There is also the consideration that her father is a fairly slight, not-very-tall man. She's also a very active munchkin, that probably also has something to do with it.

I'm not worried about her growth rate; she's actually more or less where I thought she was. I'm just surprised at where those numbers fall on the charts.

Bleh.

I have a cold. I thought it had passed me by, when I got through the weekend with only a mildly sore throat, but yesterday it blossomed into full cold-hood, with my nose running like the Mississippi and everything. I'm sure I snored worse than a chainsaw last night (poor Josh!). As a result, the post I had in mind about L and her sleeping so cutely on her tummy flew completely out of my head. Also, I don't want to rub it in a certain friend's face today that I'm blessed with a baby that sleeps decently. Go visit Amy and give her some sympathy!

Posting from the living room!

Okay, posting from the lappy will cease to be shiny soon (maybe).. but I'm still excited, so bear with me.

Some of you know I had hopes for getting knocked up this last cycle; it's an official not this time. Disappointing, but in all practicality, not a bad thing, especially not with a client due three weeks before I would have been! So, I can focus on trying hard this cycle. Don't be surprised if either of us is more tired than usual... ;)


One of the ladies from my local knitting group is an actual factual designer, and she has been working on a sock design recently that's likely to be published in a magazine (like, one you have to pay for). What's shiny about it for me is that I volunteered to test knit the design. So, I have a brand-new sock design on my needles, that I have to get finished expeditiously, and so I have the double bliss of a cool new pattern before almost anyone else, *and* I'll have a new pair of socks done for me before I'd be finished otherwise. Too bad I can't show them to you.

This assumes knitting time. The Infanta is in yet another iteration of her secret identity as Velcro Girl (now, with Static Cling!), and can hardly bear to be out of my arms, let alone be across the room or anything else so dastardly and inhumane, such as (gasp) being held by her father! Yes, Mom, I know about how I decided, at 3 months old, that I didn't want to be held by anyone but you; consider this karmic payback. But really, did I try to pull your face off when I was nine months old? (Probably.)

I had plans for the day that included the shocking idea of going out. So I should probably wrap up this post and get on to parts of my day like getting dressed, don't you think?

Blargh!

So, we agreed that with some of our tax return, I could buy some books that have been hanging out on my Amazon wishlist for - years, some of them. So, I happily spent some time yesterday at knitting composing and submitting an order, gleefully asking around about certain knitting books I've been ogling for some time and the like. And... the payment won't go through, and so my orders are beginning to be cancelled. We're guessing that what's happening is that our bank is freaking out about all the unusual activity on our account, and trying to protect us by not putting these abnormal requests through. I appreciate their caution... but really, this activity is all right!!!!

We have achieved lappy!

It's one of these; not super-duper fancy, but it works! I am, in fact, posting from it now. I'm having a little bit of an interesting time adapting to the smaller keyboard, but not too bad. Whee!!!

Thing to make your blood boil.

Rixa posted a link to this article. It tells the tale of a Peruvian couple who were brought up on child pornography charges, and whose children were taken from them by CPS, simply on the issue of a photo of the mother breastfeeding her son. It's absolutely ridiculous that the couple are being forced to call something so beautiful and natural "wrong". Dude, I have nude pictures of breastfeeding the Infanta; they're not something that I choose to share with just anyone, but neither was this photo.

Harrumph. Time to go poke at the fire and nurse the Infanta, maybe help my blood pressure calm down.

More Snow?!

The view from our porch at 6:30 this morning. No, I didn't take these.

The weather continues to be freaky. I suppose it's a good thing that I haven't gotten around to making my window boxes yet..

Last Night

was the new moon. And it showed! I spent a good two and a half hours trying to get the Infanta to sleep (ok, Daddy had her for a chunk of that, while I played with crochet), while myself exhausted and fighting a nasty headache I'd had since mid afternoon, which caffeine and Tylenol had barely scratched. It wasn't pretty. I finally said some bad bad words and brought her into bed with us (after dosing her with motrin); she immediately latched on to the nearest boob and nursed herself to sleep. Why couldn't she have done that two hours before?! Then she slept quite well.

Perhaps ironically, Moxie posted about managing stress today.

Blah.

SOMEBODY woke me up at a much earlier hour than I'm accustomed to, climbing all over Mama and wanting to play. Now, an hour and a half later, she's crashed out on my lap.

I think I'm going to take us both back to bed for a while.

Yay, photos!

We figured out the issue my camera cable was having - corrosion on the contacts! Zomg! All hail the cleaning power of fingernail polish remover.



My local Ravelry knitting group keeps a charity project going every couple of months. This last time it was preemie hats for the local hospital. We found out they need upwards of ten a month! So, since they're so easy and fast to make, we've decided to make it an ongoing project. Ravelrized here.



The Infanta and her first cellphone. Actually, it's an old broken one of mine; she's been grabbing for ours recently, so we decided to pull one out that she can play with. She was enchanted. Shiny!



Finally: is that Mama behind those glasses?!

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. ;)