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!!!!