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. :)

Getting political for a moment...

Hey look, a cute baby! If you don't want to hear about politics, look no further.

You all know I tend not to get mouthy about my political beliefs; I believe what I believe, and there's not much that's going to persuade me otherwise. I tend to assume that other people are pretty much the same way, so I don't bring them up unless I'm pretty sure that the people I'm talking with are people I'm comfortable with. I might discuss minutiae with my brother or my mom or a close friend, but that's pretty much it.

I'm not a huge fan of Obama, but I'll be voting for him; Bethany has a pretty good argument for why. But the real reason I'm posting about this today is something I read on another blog. The author is a midwife and a pretty religious (Christian of some stripe) woman, just for a teeny bit for y'all to know where she's coming from, and here she talks about why Sarah Palin is baaaad news.

The Other Woman

I know, I know, you're thinking, here's yet another picture of the Little Girl - what's so special about that? Other than being, you know, a picture of adorable perfection. Here's the thing: when I laid her down, it was on her back. She got into the above pose all on her own. Grandpa got her laughing out loud last Sunday, too!



Josh has been cheating on me. Guess who the other woman is - that's right, Vacuum Girl herself!

There has been actual factual knitting going on chez nous, but as I don't have pics, I'm not talking about it at present. Soon!

So apparently I'm only Average.

43 As a 1930s wife, I am Average Take the test!

I figured that I'd be higher with all my domestic arts... but I guess since Little Girl is too little yet to do school-related stuff, my domestic arts don't out-weigh my "vulgar" habits. Maybe I should re-take it with what I intend to do with her?

It's ok, though. I don't *really* want to be a perfect 1930s housewife, anyway!

Improvements on the way

I've decided to start adding tags. I know, shocking, huh? So over the next days and weeks, I'll be going back over all my posts and adding tags (or labels, as Blogger calls them) to all my past posts.

I also plan to add my Flickr stream - and post more photos to it! Really super-duper shocking, I know!

Don't I know it!

more animals



How is it that, even though Little Girl(tm) let me sleep decently last night, I'm as exhausted tonight as if she were a newborn again? I suppose it's a good thing that she's too cute to strangle...

Sleep Deprivation and other pleasures

I haven't gotten to sleep very much the last couple of nights, between some random internal thing of my own and Lina suddenly having learned about comfort nursing (I think).



This is my current favorite Lina picture.

~Our State Fair is the Best State Fair in the State~

I have been remiss in posting recently; all I can do is claim a teething baby (all screams, no teeth so far).

But Saturday we got to go to the State Fair; I was meeting my friend Bethany, and then I worked at the Bella Vie booth later in the afternoon. Despite getting roasted (I always forget my sunscreen, even when it's in the bag) and having to juggle a baby whose part-time job at the moment is attempting to burst my eardrums, I had a really great time. Besides, Lina made a really great prop for the birth center booth!

On the other hand, I only managed to take two photos during the day.


This one was going to be of Lina sucking the same two fingers that I sucked as a child, but Miss Squirmsalot pulled one of them out while I was getting the camera.



This knitted wedding dress evidently took a high prize - it was nifty and knitted, how could I not take a picture?



Sometime Saturday morning, Lina all of a sudden learned how to blow raspberries. So, we now have a game where we can blow raspberries at each other. The above photo was taken during such a bout; I wanted to try and capture both sides, but somehow it didn't work out as well as I'd hoped. Anyway, she ended up very pleased with herself, as you can see.

We had dinner last night with Bethany and her husband and offspring last night; in between wails from Lina (can you believe she's three months old already?!), Bethany said she thinks Lina's going to end up with my nose. I hope so, I like my nose!

No, really, this is realistic!

I never would have believed so before beginning to nurse, myself, but it is!

I found this while running through a set of links to medieval and renaissance art showing nursing women.

Dangit, it's what they're for!

I found this article very timely. My in-laws are great folks, and absolutely adore Lina (as they should!). But... my father-in-law is very modest about breastfeeding, to the point that he'll go into another room when I need to nurse the little girl. It makes it pretty awkward for me, sadly. I don't think he disapproves of breastfeeding at all, he's just extremely modest...



How can you not adore an image of a newborn nursing for the first time?

A couple of things

First off a token Lina picture. This was a month ago, when we were visiting Br. Vincent to watch him take his first set of vows. The monk and the babe!

Rachel and Allen both wondered about the title on my last post; for me, it's a quote from the BBC comedy series Are You Being Served?

I just found this on a knitting forum, and I figured y'all would appreciate it. Serious geek candy!

That's all for now; today and the next couple of days are expected to be serious scorchers, so we're going to be hibernating to the best of our ability.

The things you see when you haven't got your gun.

In no particular order:



Yes, Lina is very much her mother's daughter, complete with glares.



This is rapidly becoming my favorite dessert: marionberry shortcake, with ample whipped cream (of course). The berries were fresh from the farmer's market, the shortcakes were courtesy of Bisquick. Sue me, I'm lazy!



More uses for a mei tai.

I spose it's time to start posting about the food budget challenge, since I went shopping for next week's food today. I spent about $60 today; yes, I know, that's more than I'm supposed to spend for a week's food, even if you count Lina towards the total. However, that wasn't all food (we slipped a couple of soda-type drinks in, and I also added a $5 food container), and some items will stretch for weeks or months - for example, the tahini I bought to make hummus with. All in all, I feel pretty good about today's purchases.

I also went a little crazy this evening with food pre-preparation. After a yummy bowl of leek and potato soup (leeks bought a week or two ago, potatoes delivered from our CSA), I randomly decided to start using up my white bread flour (unbleached, natch) by making some pizza dough to freeze for later use. For the curious, this means I made the dough and gave its first knead, then popped it in freezer bags (one ball of dough to a quart bag, two quart bags to a gallon bag, air squeezed out as much as possible) and into the freezer. The dough will rise in the freezer, but very slowly; the double bag method means that if any should burst their initial bag, the outer bag will contain the dough. Honestly, I don't expect it to last long enough for that to be a problem. When I'm ready to use a ball of dough, I'll pull it out of the freezer and let it defrost; by the time it's room temperature, it will also have finished rising. Then, since I had momentum (if only sort of energy), I chopped the veggies for the pot roast I'm making tomorrow. We're actually having some folks over for dinner, and since I like to cook my pot roasts until the fall apart in the pan (which takes forever), I want to make sure that I start the roast early enough that it's actually ready on time. I figure that having the veggies all ready to go will expedite things - it won't necessarily save time, since I generally do them while the roast is browning, but it will certainly save energy and brainspace (which will promptly be used up by the above cutie pie). I also started some chickpeas soaking to make that hummus I mentioned earlier; it seems that I've corrupted my picky-eater husband into liking it, and since it's WAY cheaper to make than to buy... you do the math.

We have video!

Josh has been playing with the video function on my digital camera, using our very own entrancing subject:







The first is my favorite, but the others have their charms, too - how could they not? I just love the faces Lina makes while sleeping... but then her earnest concentration while trying to crawl is just enchanting! The third is Lina tracking Josh's hand while he films - as if we needed more evidence of her intelligence. :) Ok, ok, I'm besotted - but I'm supposed to be!

Lina and I went to a local SAHM meetup this morning (that's Stay At Home Mom, for those here who don't know the internet-ese), and had a great time. I chatted with the other moms, and Lina had a blast watching the other kids playing in the fountain (we were at a park around the corner from our house that has a fountain specifically designed for kids to play in it). I've been gradually building a friendship with Bethany, and was very happy to see her this morning. Not only did she help me with getting Lina into a back carry with a wrap, but then we went downtown to the Wednesday Farmer's Market together, and just hung out a bit longer. Imagine our delight when we went to get our babies out of their seats and found them holding hands! I'm still giggling over how fast each of us reached for our camera phones... Bethany declared that clearly our daughters were instant BFFs (Best Friends Forever), so it's a good thing she and I have been becoming friends! I would love to post my photo, but I don't have a way of getting pictures off my phone yet. Maybe Bethany will send me a link to hers so I can repost it here. :) I haven't had so much fun with a new friend in a long time, and I'm very glad to have had my efforts (you know, of just getting out of the damn house?) rewarded so well.

Carolina Bright-eyes

That's my cutie!

She's now two months old (or nine weeks, take your pick on how to gauge it), and currently spending much of her waking hours screaming - because she's processing so much she can't cope right now. Not much fun for any of us, and Josh and I hope it passes very, very soon.

At her two-month checkup on Friday, we found that she's 24" tall (in the 95% for her age) and 11 pounds (50%) - tall and slender, much like me. With her height, she's almost grown out of three-month clothing, but too skinny for six-month pants. Fortunately, the weather seems to be warming up again, so maybe by the time she needs pants again she'll have plumped up a bit.

And now for something completely different. A month or so ago, I joined a group here in town that's exploring ways to make our lives greener without breaking the budget. At our last meeting, we talked about food, and Stacey passed out a set of menus and recipes aimed at eating local, cheap, and healthy - and organic as much as possible. Several of us have decided to try out the menus this month, and report back how it worked for us. Since we're going camping much of this week (in fact I need to get off the computer and go shower and pack and stuff!), and I believe we have ample food to carry us through the rest of the week after we return, I'm going to start counting next Saturday, when we go food shopping next. The goal is to spend $15 per person per week; I'd usually say that would be $30 for me and Josh, but I may fudge and add a few bucks in Lina's name, since I'm eating for two still. We'll see how it goes!

Post 101

Signing in to Blogger just now, I discovered that the last time I posted, it was #100. Funny to think that in almost two and a half years I've only posted 100 times...

Anyway, I was looking through the pictures on my camera just now, and discovered that I lied: we did get some Lina pix last week.



This is her in her adorable little baby coolie hat, which we found in the awesome spice store we visited in Olympia a few weeks ago.



Anyway, this is the little eight-week-old angel less than an hour ago (before she woke up from her nap screaming because she was hungry and there was no one in sight). Daddy's playing with her so Mommy can eat and finish her blog post. :)

more cat pictures

Yes, I'm cheating, posting with lolcats instead of knitting or baby. But this one was so exactly Peppar's reaction to us vacuuming...

Ok, ok, since I'm posting, here's some of the other content.



These are a couple of wool soakers I made a couple of weeks before Lina was born; she has now outgrown them. *sigh*



And this is the lovely Peggy with Vacuum Girl herself, back at the end of June when we visited her on a particularly warm weekend. Peggy was thrilled, Lina spent the day fussing badly.

I haven't taken any pictures this last week; was having too darn much fun with our very dear friend Br. Vincent, who was visiting us on his vacation, and has now headed back to the abbey.

Just sayin'.

(eta: ugh. The pic won't all fit! iz kyoote tho.)

Things you realize after too much caffeine.

First, here's a picture of Lina, just to satisfy those questions. It's been a month since I last posted, because she's been keeping me that busy! This was taken a week ago, the day she turned six weeks, and also the day she broke the "smile barrier" - it's a little blurry, but that is a fully conscious smile!

But the real reason I'm posting. I had too dang much caffeine today, and so I was just lying there, tossing and trying to sleep, and had (again, but it's always astonishing) the realization that I'm an adult, and don't have to answer to anyone in particular for my actions. Specifically, I don't have to tell my mom where I'm going...

Allow me to put it into perspective: I have a four-year college degree; I will be thirty-two on my next birthday; Josh and I will be celebrating our second wedding anniversary in about two weeks; we bought a house this spring; I have a professional career, and I'm now a mother myself. And I still have moments - ever more frequently, lately - where I suddenly have that sensation of freedom, of not being answerable to anyone but my husband for my immediate actions (well, and society in general, but nothing in particular to fear there). It's muchly because I lived my my folks for so long, out of necessity; but even when I wasn't living with family, I was living under some other authority - be it the college when I was in the dorms, or the land-lord types at our apartment(s). Now, it's only us - and the bank that holds the mortgage, but that's really a very different feeling. We owe them money, but we don't have to behave according to a code that they lay out for us. We own a house, and therefore are trusted to behave in accordance with community standards, without having those standards handed to us on a photocopy that we have to sign in blood.

Anyway. Lina will be awake in an hour or so to nurse, I'd better try to get some sleep.

Three weeks and counting

Josh snuck up on me while we were cuddling the other morning. Ok, we were sound asleep, too...

Vacuum Girl after her first bath; photo taken about 20 minutes ago. We did take pics while she was *in* the bath, but as I was bathing with her... those aren't for public consumption.