(no subject)
Happy Pride Week!
(I fucking love my [ Coastal Scents palette ]. Doing this was so much fun).
I shouldn't be awake right now, but I'm staying up just long enough to post this as a photo entry because I can't possibly sit down and write. Now, or ever (it seems).
My days have been outrageously busy lately. For almost a week continuously I was out of the house with all the kids by 11am and we weren't back home until 5-6pm. That's two kids, two bikes, a baby on my body, sweltering coast weather, pulling a large wagon behind me (because I no longer have a stroller to transport stuff) with a diaper bag, a knitting bag and beach supplies inside. Six fucking hours. Walking. Everywhere. Good Christ. My legs hurt so bad by the end of the day that I end up totally useless.
However, it has substantially reduced the amount of yelling in our home as a result of getting the kids to go outside and do things in the sunshine. At the end of running errands I take them to the beach, or the waterpark, or one of another dozen small playgrounds nearby for at least an hour and they burn off some energy. It sucks for me but the kids love it.
It occurred to me sometime this afternoon that I've been doing this without pause for a week now and Zephyra is only a month old. Back in the day when I only had one kid I would have balked at the idea of being out every single day walking around for hours upon hours with a newborn... with multiple kids you don't get much room for luxury.
I haven't taken nearly as many photos as I'd wished I had, but I have a few more to share from the last week or so.
Tempest has started reading books to Zephyra if she's awake in the evenings.
Wearing a Baby Oopies size small fitted. I LOVE the fit of these diapers. I love them better than SOS, better than Mutts, better than the Good Mamas and pretty much every other brand I've tried. These are so soft and luxurious, and all organic bamboo.
Zephyra is looking less like a scrunchy newborn and more like a member of our family. I'm both sad and happy about this. I'm happy that she's growing and changing and I can see more of 'us' in her, sad because every time she gets a little older I think, "You'll never be that little again" and feel like I've already missed it all somehow. I already regret not paying more attention or taking more photos, even though I'm not entirely sure how I could have one either of those things to my satisfaction. Curtis asked me the other day if I'd taken a photo every single day, would I still feel I hadn't taken enough? I think the answer is still 'yes', but at least then I'd have a photo for every day. With exhaustion and fussing and breastfeeding troubles and two other kids to take care of full time until Curtis gets home every day at 6pm or later it just isn't possible.
I've been a knitting machine lately, finally, after a lot of lacklustre work and complete loss of motivation.
This weekend I finished this frog for my friend:
Bendable legs and all!
About a foot and some of skirt on Tempest's Helldress:
This seated cat:
(It isn't quite finished yet)
This cat has been stupidly complicated only because I ran out of brown yarn halfway through the body and went to several stores for another skein of it (it's just cheap ass Red heart or Bernat or something) only to find out the colourway no longer existed. No one sold anything even remotely close, either! Seriously, how hard is it to find dark brown? Apparently next to impossible.
Curtis eventually found Red Heart in 'coffee', which is close enough to pass, but still isn't exact. Stupid thing is that I believe the yarn I started with was also Red Heart brand...
It also didn't turn out as nicely as I'd hoped. The leg attaching instructions were vague (and by vague I mean there were none) and I had a really hard time just sort of guessing where the hell that shit was supposed to go. So now it looks like an elderly hunchback cat with a mild case of rickets.
These pumpkin booties to go with the beanie posted a few entries back:
I accidentally made the vines too long an had to improvise on how to attach them. I actually like this result better than what the original pattern calls for.
... And I have many more thing in my queue. I actually knitted on Tempest's dress several days in a row right up until I completely ran out of yarn for it. I originally purchased based on the pattern's recommendation of yardage, but I should have known the pattern was YET AGAIN WRONG and I'll need at least another ball if not two before I finish this.
When I realized Zephyra was already a month old I had a little freak out and decided I should try continuing my belly photos into baby photos, and do one each month for her first year. I don't know if I will finish the project, but I'm going to try.
Month one:
Xainsm of the day:
Xan wakes up saying his bottom hurts, so Curtis looks for an injury and after seeing none, just puts some owwie cream on him. Xan sniffles and asks, "Did you see anything?" (as in, is there a cut) Curtis says, "No I saw nothing" and Xan replies, totally deadpan, "That's not true. You saw a bum. For a long time."
Links of the Day:
Man participating in a helmet protest ride crashes; dies of head injury that would have been prevented by a helmet - I'm just going to leave this here.
Terry Pratchett: Choosing to die -Sir Terry Pratchett created (?) and stars in this documentary about assisted suicide in Switzerland, how it works and why people would choose it... including him. He follows several families as they make the choice, or choose otherwise, to find out how his potential experience would go. This is informative, interesting and deeply moving. It's very much worth the watch... just do it with a loved one, or at least a box of Kleenex.
Welcome to Beirut - After the last entry on having such a hard time with Tempest, this was recommended to me by a reader. It is so much, much better than the stupid 'holland' paper. So much better.
Brown Recluse spider-man - A comic by 'Hark, a vagrant!'.
10 reasons why CIO (cry it out) isn't for us - A good, informative list to help you have some defense against those who use the 'spoiling' argument. A good follow up to this is the next link, [ Gentle Baby an Toddler Sleep tips ], which comes in handy when you get challenged with, "If not for CIO your baby won't ever sleep!".
(I fucking love my [ Coastal Scents palette ]. Doing this was so much fun).
I shouldn't be awake right now, but I'm staying up just long enough to post this as a photo entry because I can't possibly sit down and write. Now, or ever (it seems).
My days have been outrageously busy lately. For almost a week continuously I was out of the house with all the kids by 11am and we weren't back home until 5-6pm. That's two kids, two bikes, a baby on my body, sweltering coast weather, pulling a large wagon behind me (because I no longer have a stroller to transport stuff) with a diaper bag, a knitting bag and beach supplies inside. Six fucking hours. Walking. Everywhere. Good Christ. My legs hurt so bad by the end of the day that I end up totally useless.
However, it has substantially reduced the amount of yelling in our home as a result of getting the kids to go outside and do things in the sunshine. At the end of running errands I take them to the beach, or the waterpark, or one of another dozen small playgrounds nearby for at least an hour and they burn off some energy. It sucks for me but the kids love it.
It occurred to me sometime this afternoon that I've been doing this without pause for a week now and Zephyra is only a month old. Back in the day when I only had one kid I would have balked at the idea of being out every single day walking around for hours upon hours with a newborn... with multiple kids you don't get much room for luxury.
I haven't taken nearly as many photos as I'd wished I had, but I have a few more to share from the last week or so.
Tempest has started reading books to Zephyra if she's awake in the evenings.
Wearing a Baby Oopies size small fitted. I LOVE the fit of these diapers. I love them better than SOS, better than Mutts, better than the Good Mamas and pretty much every other brand I've tried. These are so soft and luxurious, and all organic bamboo.
Zephyra is looking less like a scrunchy newborn and more like a member of our family. I'm both sad and happy about this. I'm happy that she's growing and changing and I can see more of 'us' in her, sad because every time she gets a little older I think, "You'll never be that little again" and feel like I've already missed it all somehow. I already regret not paying more attention or taking more photos, even though I'm not entirely sure how I could have one either of those things to my satisfaction. Curtis asked me the other day if I'd taken a photo every single day, would I still feel I hadn't taken enough? I think the answer is still 'yes', but at least then I'd have a photo for every day. With exhaustion and fussing and breastfeeding troubles and two other kids to take care of full time until Curtis gets home every day at 6pm or later it just isn't possible.
I've been a knitting machine lately, finally, after a lot of lacklustre work and complete loss of motivation.
This weekend I finished this frog for my friend:
Bendable legs and all!
About a foot and some of skirt on Tempest's Helldress:
This seated cat:
(It isn't quite finished yet)
This cat has been stupidly complicated only because I ran out of brown yarn halfway through the body and went to several stores for another skein of it (it's just cheap ass Red heart or Bernat or something) only to find out the colourway no longer existed. No one sold anything even remotely close, either! Seriously, how hard is it to find dark brown? Apparently next to impossible.
Curtis eventually found Red Heart in 'coffee', which is close enough to pass, but still isn't exact. Stupid thing is that I believe the yarn I started with was also Red Heart brand...
It also didn't turn out as nicely as I'd hoped. The leg attaching instructions were vague (and by vague I mean there were none) and I had a really hard time just sort of guessing where the hell that shit was supposed to go. So now it looks like an elderly hunchback cat with a mild case of rickets.
These pumpkin booties to go with the beanie posted a few entries back:
I accidentally made the vines too long an had to improvise on how to attach them. I actually like this result better than what the original pattern calls for.
... And I have many more thing in my queue. I actually knitted on Tempest's dress several days in a row right up until I completely ran out of yarn for it. I originally purchased based on the pattern's recommendation of yardage, but I should have known the pattern was YET AGAIN WRONG and I'll need at least another ball if not two before I finish this.
When I realized Zephyra was already a month old I had a little freak out and decided I should try continuing my belly photos into baby photos, and do one each month for her first year. I don't know if I will finish the project, but I'm going to try.
Month one:
Xainsm of the day:
Xan wakes up saying his bottom hurts, so Curtis looks for an injury and after seeing none, just puts some owwie cream on him. Xan sniffles and asks, "Did you see anything?" (as in, is there a cut) Curtis says, "No I saw nothing" and Xan replies, totally deadpan, "That's not true. You saw a bum. For a long time."
Links of the Day:
Man participating in a helmet protest ride crashes; dies of head injury that would have been prevented by a helmet - I'm just going to leave this here.
Terry Pratchett: Choosing to die -Sir Terry Pratchett created (?) and stars in this documentary about assisted suicide in Switzerland, how it works and why people would choose it... including him. He follows several families as they make the choice, or choose otherwise, to find out how his potential experience would go. This is informative, interesting and deeply moving. It's very much worth the watch... just do it with a loved one, or at least a box of Kleenex.
Welcome to Beirut - After the last entry on having such a hard time with Tempest, this was recommended to me by a reader. It is so much, much better than the stupid 'holland' paper. So much better.
Brown Recluse spider-man - A comic by 'Hark, a vagrant!'.
10 reasons why CIO (cry it out) isn't for us - A good, informative list to help you have some defense against those who use the 'spoiling' argument. A good follow up to this is the next link, [ Gentle Baby an Toddler Sleep tips ], which comes in handy when you get challenged with, "If not for CIO your baby won't ever sleep!".