Tag Archives: Sewing

Unknown's avatar

While Oona’s Away….

by

…..I  can actually accomplish something!

Last week Paul’s job took him to NYC.  Since his parents are just a short train – ride away from his jobsite he took Oona with him and she got to play with her grandparents and aunt all week.  And I got soooo much done!

The house got a good scrubbing, the bedrooms and bathrooms got much needed de-cluttering and I made several articles of clothing for the absent little booger.

What amazes me is that I had my washer and dryer going solidly the week straight.  I even stayed up late several nights to get laundy folded and put away.  And yet despite this, there is still a mountain of untouched dirty laundry in the hampers.  I don’t know where it comes from.

I loved that I got to watch whatever I wanted on tv and listen to my ipod whenever I wanted without everyone begging me to put Lady Gaga back on (and, incidentally, Oona kept asking her grandparents to put on some Poker Face for her).  I watched the entire first season of Destination Truth and a full night of Alaska – themed shows on Discovery (Alaska’s Scariest Mysteries, Wild Alaska, Dangerous Alaska…..).  All the while I was sewing and cutting and measuring and sewing some more.

I bought some downloadable pdf patterns on etsy from a seller called Heidi&Finn. If your’e into sewing childrens’ clothes, these are wonderful.

3 ruffled tank tops

and an adorable little yoga suit, that I am thrilled with.  Everything fits Oona perfectly.

I also whipped out a wrap dress for her.

It was a great week of getting enough sleep for once, having a reliably clean house and no diapers to change.  But I did miss my little snuggle – buddy, and I have been enjoying how lovey dovey she has been since she’s been home – even if she did manage to destroy the house 2.3 seconds after she walked in the door.

The goat shed still is not complete – but there is quite a lot of progress to report.  We got half the floor down (and then decided to double the size – hooray!) and there is a framed out wall up – we would have had the whole thing done over the weekend but we needed more lumber and stupid Lowe’s wouldn’t deliver on Sunday.  (Not that I am bitter or anything.  But if my goat gives birth before that thing is done………)

It’s going to be great – better than I thought – when we finish it up this week.  Like I said, we are doubling it’s original size and it is tall enough for us to walk in, and for Jerry the Llama to comfortably move around in.  It will end up more like a mini barn than a small shed. I’ll also be able to secure Jerry in there so I can get his hooves clipped and his fleece sheared and his vaccines administered.

Egg production is almost into full swing again – we are getting about 4 eggs a day out of 11 hens.  Four of our girls have yet to start laying, and I am hoping to double that daily number by the time they do.   We’ve gotten lots of requests for fresh eggs, and I am also hoping to be able to do some barter with them.

My arugula and lettuce are sprouting outside in the garden boxes, as are my sugar snap peas.  Inside I have 2 types of tomatoes started, several herbs and some flowers.  In a couple of short weeks I’ll be able to plant my fingerling potato tubers and scarlet runner beans in the ground.

Here’s hoping for a fruitful summer growing and agriculture season!

Unknown's avatar

Where’d That Come From??

by

I don’t know if it’s due to it being March first or due to the relatively warm and sunny weather today,  but I have had energy to spare.  And let me tell you – that never happens.  I don’t think I can even remember a time when I couldn’t use a serious nap.  Probably sometime before Emily was born.

The bus is home safe in the driveway as of Friday evening.  We had it parked in a lumberyard – type lot until the snow cleared out enough to bring it home.  Our driveway is kind of long, skinny and winding so it was a challenge for me to back it into its designated spot.  The mud did not help.  Neither did the failing light, lack of visible markers to reference for maneuvering, or the yelling between the spouse and I.  You are all glad you weren’t there.  Trust me.

But back to the excess energy.  I’ve got a new sewing project ( or 10)  in the works:

This one’s another skirt.  I also have an Oliver & S pattern for a dress for Neve for Easter.  Honestly, even I’ll be impressed if I can actually pull it off by Easter, energy burst or no.  Besides, today’s energy burst mostly took a foody form.  I cooked and baked my big backside off.

Vermont Cheddar bread to accompany the spinach, green apple and goat cheese salad we had for dinner.

Pina Colada Cheesecake bars.  Along with the Orange – Chocolate Bread Pudding.  Just ’cause.

Cuban Chicken Empanadas for tomorrow’s lunch.

I also made cinnamon – raisin bread and started the beef short ribs with polenta fries for tomorrow’s dinner.  All while enjoying:

Stout and coffee ice cream float.  So good I can barely stand it.  It’s for all of the above reasons that ME + Bathing Suit = Not Good.

It’s also the reason my feet are killing me right now. Hopefully I’ll sleep better tonight after all that work.  If Oona will let me.  She’s running around today with a new ‘do.

Check out how long and thick her hair has gotten!!!!

Um, no.  It’s an old hair extension of mine that she found.  It doesn’t quite match my hair anymore so I just let her play with it.

If only she hadn’t given herself a baby mullet.

Sigh.

Unknown's avatar

I’ve Got the Fever (and I am Terrified)

by

Spring fever (I’ll get to the terror in a moment) ! I’ve got the St. Patty’s Day stuff out and it’s all so spring – like and happy.   Too bad the weather’s not cooperating.  According to weather.com we’re in for 1 to 3 inches of the white stuff tonight.  Blah.

Yes, you heard correctly – ME – the snow lover – sick of snow.  I consoled myself by making a beef and leek pot pie and throwing together a nice fresh loaf of cinnamon raisin bread.

I used the recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day.  They’ve come out with a second book now – one that uses mainly gluten – free recipes and lots of healthy stuff.  As soon as I can get my hands on a copy I’ll be trying those out for sure.

I also worked on a pattern from the first Alabama Stitches book.

It just needs some finishing touches.

I never really liked sewing with knitted fabrics before, but now I am thoroughly enjoying the projects I’ve got going.  Oh, and check out my duct-tape dress form.  You can easily make them to your exact body measurements (flat chest and all!) .  I don’t know how I lived without it before!

I am also still working on Oona’s sweater.  You’re sick of hearing that by now.  Hopefully I’ll make some real headway on it soon.

Meanwhile Jasper (Oona calls him Japser – so now we all do) has to be sure the project has the proper amount of feline involvement.  And check out his massive paws.

There’s enough paw there for a whole other cat.

On to the terror.

Ok, I guess it’s not really terror so much as extreme nail – chewing anxiety. A huge knot grinding away in the pit of my stomach and waking me up at night with awful cold sweats.

I spoke to the vet.

Basically, there’s about a 50/50 chance of Milkshakes giving birth normally and successfully and without incident.  Especially if there’s twins, as they will be smaller than a singleton.  I have been advised to prepare for the birth as though we expect no problems, but be prepared for the worst, just in case (you know, a call for an emergency c-section).   I am stockpiling clean towels and iodine and we’re putting up the goat shed this weekend (and by “we” I mean my mother and I – hey mom!  Guess what! We’re putting together a goat shed this weekend!).  The regular vet is aware and will be ready to assist if things go wrong.  If it’s at night (more than likely given my luck) we have the number of an emergency livestock vet at the ready.   Meanwhile I am keeping an eye on her looking for any visible clues of impending labor and delivery.  Goat gestation runs around 145 – 150 days on average, and we’re right at day 100 today.

But I am nervous.  Really, really nervous.  Not only have I never assisted in a livestock birth of any type – now I’ve got a potential for disaster.  This next month I may take to pulling out my hair and obsessively reading procedural blogs online.  If only I weren’t naturally a worrier to begin with.

Is there an obstetrician in the house?????

Unknown's avatar

Still Digging Out

by

Everyone sick of Snowmaggedon 2010 yet??  Sick of the pictures?  Too bad!!!!!

The kids have been out of school for about 2 weeks now – I think they went 1 or 2 days last week and were out all this week.  Needless to say my house is a wreck, they’ve eaten the pantry bare and I am so very ready for them to go back.  Looks like Monday, as long as we don’t get that 2-3 inches they’re calling for Sunday night.  Oy.

UPS closed down completely for awhile there,  though USPS braved it out, at least in our neighborhood.  I was none too pleased, since I was expecting a cat fountain.  Yeah, you heard me.  I couldn’t wait for my darn cats to have fresh circulating water in fountain form.  Of course that was once our power came back.  All weekend it was on again, off again, and we had long stretches without – Friday around 6 pm through late morning Saturday, and again from about 3 pm Saturday to 7 pm Saturday.  I can’t tell you how gratfeul we were for those few hours WITH power, because a lot of people never got that, and ended up being out all weekend.  Our friend Mike who is further out in the county was off from last Friday morning until just a day or two ago.  We had no phones for a good 3 days – and no internet.

Paul broke the bobcat clearing the bottom of the driveway because the snow was so heavy – the bottom 6 or 8 inches was snow, the middle few inches were ice, and the top layer was snow again.   The meteorologists were saying if it hadn’t turned to sleet for that middle portion we’d have ended with with almost 4 feet.  So, heavy snow, broken bobcat.

We had to pay a guy to finish the job.

A portable propane stove/oven can be your best friend when there’s no power ( and your normal stove is a crappy electric affair).

It still looks like a bomb went off around here.  There are trees down everwhere and when I drove out to CVS today I saw dozens of downed power lines with huge pine boughs tangled in them, all along the main road.

Thankfully none fell on our house, though some looked mighty close.

These huge branches fell onto the front chicken coop.  Fortunately none of the fallen branches landed on any chickens.

Jerry doesn’t seem to mind the snow so much.  Milkshakes has a harder time getting around in it than he does, though.

So during all of this house-bound time I’ve been trying to keep busy.  And by busy I mean not just all the cleaning I have to constantly do behind my 3 slobs, but productive busy stuff.  I’ve been working at my knitting a few stitches here and there but my heart hasn’t been into it (except for a brief spell when the fireplace was roaring and it was snowing out and I was all comfy and warm).  I cut out some cotton jersey skirt panels and traced out a rose pattern for reverse applique and I’ve been working on stitching that together with some beads.

It’s slow going for sure, but it’s a satisfying project to work on.  I’ve been using ideas from the Alabama Stitch Book. What’s even more exciting is the NEW Alabama Studio Style.


Fabulous.  You must go buy it now!!!!   I can’t even tell you how excited I am about this book and the projects in it.  I think it will be occupying much of my time this spring and summer.

Along with cleaning.  Massive amounts of cleaning.

I don’t want to say I am spring cleaning.  I don’t even really want to do spring cleaning until, well, spring. But being cooped up with 3 kids (plus a husband, a sister, a dog and 2 cats) has forced my hand a bit in the “just how much cleaning really needs to be done” and I’ve taken to weeding through cabinets a bit and de-cluttering as I can.

I started in my bathroom vanity.  It’s kind of hilarious and kind of embarrassing how many tubes of varying types of Vaginal Fungicide and Jock Itch Cream I have in there.  And the thing is, they’re not mine.  Remember waaaaay back to last year when we first brought Jasper cat home – he had ringworm.  I tried about 8 different strengths of anti-fungal cream before one worked and it cleared up.  Meanwhile, now I’ve got all this stuff in there, barely used.  It seems a waste to throw them away, but then again…..I got to thinking about things lately.  If I were to die today and people had to come in and clean out my stuff…….what would they think of me?  Mostly that I hoarded fabric and yarn, had 31,000 knitting needles in various sizes (and many, many of the same size) , that I really like my animals, that I maybe never ever cleaned out my fridge……and that I had some seriously funky fungal issues going on.

Makes you think, doesn’t it?  What would people think about you?

Unknown's avatar

Getting Walloped Again

by

We’re snowed in today, and most likely all weekend.  We’re expecting about 2 feet of snow, which means the kids won’t ever go to school again.  Funny.  Where I grew up (upstate NY) we’d have had to go to school in this mess.  Personally I really enjoy the snow, but I do have to say that here in central Virginia they are so very ill – equipped to manage it that it makes things difficult at best.  It’s beautiful to look at……but there isn’t any food left in the grocery stores or gas left at the service stations.,……if you can even find any that are open.  No mail will be delivered until the roads are cleared (that may take several days) and school won’t open until even the back country roads are passable by bus.

So here we stay and enjoy it as best we can.  Baking cookies, breaking up fights between sisters, watching Spongebob, sewing, knitting.  And fixing fences.  A big branch came down on the fence way out back and had to be cleared.  Simple electric wires and mesh (what we have) is generally more than adequate for this region…..it would never work up in the north country.  That’s been a bit of a pain, but we got to chop up some pine branches for Milkshakes and she was more than happy to dispose of it for us.

Speaking of goats…..remember that whole goat giveaway I entered back in the fall?  It was sponsored by Shepherd Susie over at Martha’s Vineyard Fiber Farm.  Since the giveaway she has relocated along with her flock……to about 5 minutes down the road from me.  Seriously.  How weird is that???  It’s actually pretty great because now there is someone very close by that I can go to for goat advice.

I love little chicken prints in the snow.

Also, to all you Amy Butler Fans and sewing enthusiasts: Amy Butler has a computer program out now with a bunch of great projects on it.  It looks great – you can customize your projects and visually plan them all out right on your pc.  I am all over it baby.

Unknown's avatar

Once in a Blue Moon….

by

It’s New Year’s Eve and there’s a full moon – actually it’s the second full moon this lunar month – which is very rare and is referred to as a “blue moon” (hence ‘once in a blue moon’).  Sadly we can’t see it due to cloud cover.  Last night was pretty darn bright, though, and I am glad we got to at least see the “close to full” blue moon.

It’s about 10 pm and we’re all feeling pretty under the weather.  I spent much of the day on the couch blowing  through tissue after tissue and wishing I could breathe through my nose.  I don’t know that any of us will last to midnight – I think most years we barely get there and then head right for bed. So much for the two bottles of Prosecco I had saved for tonight.

Still the temptation is there to be vigilant and make sure that we ring in the new year “just right” so that all of the ills of the past year are washed away properly and we can start fresh, resolutions or no.  Today has forced me to re-think that a bit.  Generally I push myself hard so that the house is sparkly clean come 12:01.  You know that superstition that how you start the year is how you’ll spend the year?  Today my house is a mess.  And today I was too sick to do squat about it.  And you know what?  I got to thinking that I am not starting the new year with a messy house; rather I am starting the new year actually listening to my own needs for once and not worrying about the grime around me.  I know it’s still going to be there for me to clean tomorrow, and let’s face it – I am going to spend all of 2010 trying to keep up with it and mostly failing no matter what I do today.

So –  filthy house around me – I spent today resting in comfy clothes, cuddling Oona when she’d allow it, watching Spongebob with all my girls, looking through some of my favorite books, thinking about some knitting and sewing  patterns I’d like to try, making a list of the seeds I’ll need to order for early spring,  talking to the animals, marveling with Emily at the 3 eggs she collected today and eating some fresh bread and warm soup. My husband and I sat after dinner in the quiet glow while the kids played in the next room and had a real, honest conversation for the first time in…..well, a blue moon, and made some positive plans for the new year.

If that’s how the rest of the year is going to go, then I say – welcome 2010, you’re gonna be great!!!

Unknown's avatar

Almost There…….

by

Still slaving away trying to get everything in order for the big day.  We’re hosting a cookie exchange this coming Sunday so that’s deadline number one. For that I am scrubbing and straightening and cookie baking like a mad woman.  I also need to drag out the white paint and touch up all of the woodwork thanks to certain children who shall remain nameless but know who they are.

Deadline number two is obviously Christmas.  We host it every year and this year’s no exception.  More baking.  More cooking.  We’ve changed the menu up a bit though and are going Italiano – buffet.  I’m setting out some lasagnas (a la Giada) some shrimp and crostinis (a la my dad) some stuffed mushrooms and a big antipasti platter.  Instead of snacking all day and then sitting down to a huge meal we’ll be eating our huge meal all day at our own rate and then I’ll put out the desserts as the big finish (chocolate cream pies!!!).

In the gift department I am staying busy with knitting several pairs of French Press Slippers .

Here’s a pair all knit up, before felting:

And here they are after a few runs through the washer :

All that’s left is to block them, dry them, and sew on the strap and the buttons.  These are the third pair I have made so far.  It would be a little quicker but I have a front loader washing machine and they don’t felt as well as top loaders.  I have to soak the knitting in hot water and dish soap first, then throw it in the washer with an old tennis shoe and run it through on hot about 5 or 6 times to get it all done properly.  They will be lovely when they are all done, though!

Also completed is a purse for a certain someone on my list who lives up north and mentioned she might like me to make her one.

Grandma?  Eric will be delivering this to you after he leaves here.  Merry Christmas!

(Pattern is Amy Butler’s Madison Bag.  Fabric is “County Fair – Ribbon” by Denyse Schmidt for Free Spirit Fabrics)

The other completed project is a tee shirt for my brother:

Chanticleer Farm.  When I finally get my farm that’s what I am naming it.  (It’s an old fashioned French word for rooster – I figured since we are over-run with them it only made sense).

Speaking of things that don’t necessarily work out well for me- my microwave broke last week.  I was changing the light bulb over the stove (under said microwave – it’s one of those built-in thingamajobbies) and it got stuck.  I tried to unscrew it and instead it went “POP”!!!  The kicker is that that stinkin’ little light bulb to illuminate my stove took down my whole damn microwave. Paul took it all apart and tried to fix it but it was wired in such a way that the fuse that blew destroyed the entire main control and was too expensive to be worth replacing.  We bought a new microwave for less and I actually like it a whole lot better.  I guess that means it worked out for me for once?  Still, who else but me could destroy a relatively new appliance just by changing a light bulb?  I’m just sayin’.

Oona has done her job to keep my life full of anarchy, chaos, misery and woe.  She climbed onto my bathroom sink, broke into my mirror vanity and spread foundation cream all over her face, hair and hands the other day.  I did what I could to clean it all off but she still had that tell-tale streak along her jawline.  All she needed was bleached out hair and she’d be all over that white-trash look. She capped off the afternoon by trashing a box of unused feminine pads.  The expensive kind.

Then today she climbed into my laundry hamper and pulled herself up to my jewelry box (it’s at my eye – level on a shelf – I thought it was safe there) and began ransacking it.  This was in the approximately two minutes while I was taking a dirty clothes pile to the washer.

The baby gates we got to pen her in no longer work as she knows how to undo the latches.  Ditto for the all the safety latches for the various cabinets and drawers in the house.  Her current pattern is that she will only stay in a room with me until I turn away for a moment and then she makes a break for it.  It’s tough to make any real headway on anything when I have to go locate her and pull her out of trouble every two minutes.  She’s not a terrible two.  She’s an EXTREME two.

At least the chickens like me.  Sort of.  Ruby (now Rubert actually) pecked the crap out of my hand today when I went out to feed them.  Can’t win ’em all I guess.  I still got rewarded with eggs.  And Benny, my little Ameraucana hen, has been giving me lovely green eggs all week.  Hooray!

All of those are fresh – that’s MY Merry Christmas!!!!!!

Unknown's avatar

It’s That Time Again

by

Christmas time.  This is the time of year I am most over – worked and lacking proper sleep.  Too much to do!  Fortunately I also enjoy all of it – the cookie baking, the knitting, the sewing, the decorating and wrapping, the holiday music and movies.  I love the way the tree looks all sparkly in the living room and the candles all over the house make it feel cozy and warm.  (This year we got LED flickering tea lights at WalMart – they look just like the real thing!)

This week I made several batches of cookies – Chocolate Hazelnut thumbprints (those were all inhaled in no time), frosted butter cookies, and gingerbread cookies.  I love the gingerbread cookies.  I may have eaten a few too many of those this week.

The girls frosted the butter cookies (and fed a bunch to Oona.  As if she needed the sugar).  Maddie helped bake them so I was able to multi – task much more efficiently.  It helps having a willing and able helper.

I also whipped up some apple – walnut cake.  It’s a dense, moist, boozy cake that satisifies many of my cravings this season.  I always liked the idea of those old English puddings and fruitcakes, but I don’t actually like the taste of those.  This cake, though, has all the right spices (cinnamon, cloves, allspice) with a little bit of fruit (apples – I don’t put inthe raisins the recipe calls for because I only eat raisins if they are covered in chocolate) some walnuts, AND a healthy dose of bourbon.  The result is out of this world.  A BIG thank – you to my mother in law for this one.

Aside from stuffing my face and packing unnecessary poundage onto my backside I have been making some little steps toward the holiday crafting that needs to be done.  I have plans this weekend to make some ornaments with the girls and today I’ll be doing knitting and sewing all day (in my pj’s.  I am not getting dressed until I have to go pick up the girls from the bus).  I don’t want to give away too much just yet (there’s gifts involved afterall) but I want to show you a small bit of the tablecloth I’ve been working on.  It’s a reverse – applique method with a rooster and rose stenciled motif.  It’s actually almost complete so I will post a better picture then.

This was taken before the stitching was done and the outlining of the white.  I wanted to make the tablecloth first because I plan to make some gifts using this idea and wanted to be sure I knew what the heck I was doing and prefected it before attempting it on something intended for someone else.  I love the rooster stencil.  I’d like to get a rooster cookie cutter so I can make some rooster ornaments to go with it, but I think considering time restraints I am going to have to wing it.  How hard can it be to make a cookie cutter?  (Stop laughing at me.)

And now, because I am a jerk and because he should have known better, I am leaving you with a picture of my favorite brother in the world.  He emailed this picture to my mother and I (to show off his yearly mustache.  He and his dearest buddies grow them every xmas.  I think it’s hilarious) and I about fell out of my chair when I saw it.  I giggled at the thought of it the rest of the night.  My brother is the funniest guy I know and I really, really wish he lived closer.

Hey KB?  Here’s the deal – I am going to buy a farm one of these days……got too many animals here and I need a barn and all and I am going to be adding mroe and more fur babies because I just can’t help myself.  So………..what’s say you come be my farm hand?  Co – farmer?  I’ll spin the fleece and you canmake the goat cheese.  Sound good????

I am totally taking that as a yes.

Unknown's avatar

Happy Halloween!

by

The spooks are out!

We are heading out in just a bit for trick or treating, but first I thought we’d show off our pumpkins and costumes.  My little skunk is napping so only the older girls are ready.

10.30.09a

10.30.09b

10.30.09c

10.30.09d

It took a few hours to get them all carved and lit, but we had some excellent pizza and The Nightmare Before Christmas on dvd.  If I’d had time to plan it properly I’d be capping off the evening with some old Hitchcock movies and a bottle of red wine, but alas, it’s been too busy ’round here.

10.31.09a

Princess.  This is, in fact, the dress she wore to her uncle’s wedding a few weeks ago.

10.31.09b

Coraline.  If you haven’t seen the movie, I highly recommend it.

Tomorrow I’ll post pictures of my littlest stinker in her costume.  We’re also getting a very special delivery in the morning, and I will be sharing that with all of you as well.

Have a spooktacular night!

Unknown's avatar

Little Girls

by

Here we were getting adjusted to our new schedule (and doing rather well with it I might add) when what should rear its ugly head but the FLU.  Neve came down with it this past week and has been pretty miserable; Emily has no voice and a bad cough so I fear she may be next.  As for Oona, she took Neve’s ice cream spoon and shoved it in her mouth this morning before I could stop her, so I imagine we’ll all be pretty flu’d up by week’s end.

I am looking forward to fall getting here – though down here in the South it takes its sweet old time, unfortunately.  I spent a good amount of time out in the garden today pulling out the squash vines that were past producing and the weeds so that I can do a light tilling and prepare the spot for the fall plantings – arugula, spinach and an heirloom variety lettuce.  I may also try some peas again as well.    Most of the other plants are about done producing, though I did spy some small watermelons – we’ll see how they fare.  It was rather nice to be able to pick some of the ingredients necessary for dinner the other night:

08.18.09c

I made a nice chili with some fresh bread.  But as nice as it is getting fresh ingredients outside my door the cooler weather is beckoning me.

I took this weekend off from maid duties so I could actually relax and maybe get some knitting done.  I am sad to say that this did not go over well for all parties involved.  However Oona and Neve were  happy with the extra snuggle time (Emily was at a sleepover) and I did get past the heel of that darn sock Ive been desperate to finish.

08.23.09b

Still trudging along.  I even watched some Ice Road Truckers on Hulu.  I just wish they had more than 5 episodes.   It’s been a nice experiment to just let go of the need for clean, but I don’t forsee being allowed to do it again.  It was almost nice while it lasted!

The other thing I did this weekend was eat far too many cupcakes, because my little baby Oona turned 2!  Which reminded me that I needed to still mention Emily’s birthday, so I will do both now.

08.18.09d

That’s my Emily – born 10 years ago after the world’s shortest labor (My water broke at noon; at 2:45 pm she was out.  And let me just tell you.  Short labors mean intense pain, because it’s like having one long gigantic contraction that never lets up – I screamed.  A lot).

08.18.09e

At first she was colicky, but then she settled into an easy toddler – hood.  She didn’t hit the “terrible” stage until she was 3, and even though at the time I thought it was pretty bad, I now have the experience of 2 more babies that have been far, far worse.

8.18.09f

I was still going to school full time when Emily was a baby – she was 3 when I graduated with my BA.    That was tough at times – it was hard to be away from her all day and then have to still study.  She came to more than 1 class with me and even rode around on my bus routes at times when Paul was game to tag along on those late night shifts.

Emily was also my “poop – painter”.  Any time she went into her crib for a nap she’d sleep nicely for awhile, then wake up, fill her diaper, and use that fragrant medium to paint the walls, her face, and the crib bars.  It was a white metal crib that never came quite clean from that at all of the joins, and I refused to use it for any baby thereafter.

08-18-09 i

08.18.09g

She was also always our little princess and had her papa wrapped firmly around her little finger.  On one occasion she manipulated her way into getting half a pint of Ben & Jerry’s out of him before she startled giggling maniacally and we cut her off.

08.18.09k

Emily is my most sensitive one – she’s a lot like me.  She is creative and artistic and loves animals.  She has been a huge part of the chicken experience here and has proven herself time and again to be very responsible at pet – owning.  Even if she is a total slob otherwise.  She was absolutely thrilled when little Oona came along:

08.18.09h

And Oona, for her part, can’t get enough of Emily, either.

Oona as an infant was my easiest.  She ate like a champ (first baby that I did not once get mastitis with!), didn’t cry much and just loved to hang out and cuddle.

These days she’s a busy little booger.  Her vocabulary is expanding exponentially and each day she makes me laugh with something new she says (she still says “butthead”, much to my chagrin, and has recently added, “Oh Crap!”).

The other day she was crying because I wouldn’t give her chocolate (I know, I am so mean) and she stuffed her blubbery, snotty, wailing self into Neve’s play kitchen.

\08.23.09a

That actually made her happy.

08.18.09b

Her Foofa doll makes her happy, too.   I’ve taken to telling myself that she will also become a great knitter one day.  Why else would she take such delight in grabbing at my knitting needles and yarn every time I try to use them?  She just can’t wait to learn, right?

She also must really want to learn to sew, because while I was trying to finish up her birthday dress she kept coming up and stomping on the pedal.  That’s always great when you’re trying to thread the needle.  Trust me.

08.23.09c

Happy 10 and 2 to my girls – stop growing up so fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!