Month: January 2006

The Year of the Dog

Sarah Carolyn, Dogs

Molly and Murphy are thrilled that it’s the year of the dog!

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I’m not so sure they were thrilled that Carrie was petting them, but she was certainly happy about it. And in the background are the results of our weekend project. You see that nice cushiony plaid thing where a hearth should be? We made a frame to go over the hearth, glued on some high density foam, and then upholstered it. It’s a whole lot better than having that slab of concrete sticking out in the middle of the room, and Carrie now thinks it’s her very own couch. (I think I need to get a couple of bolster pillows for up against the brick, though.) The nice part is that it just fits right over the hearth, so if we ever wanted to put a fire in the fireplace we can easily remove it, but it’s too heavy and snug-fitting to be easily moved by a toddler.

Babies and Birthdays

Sarah General

My youngest brother turned 21 today. I remember the night he was born, it was really late – he was born at 11:03 PM (is it scary that I remember that detail?) so it must have been well after midnight – and I was still awake in my room when my dad came home from the hospital. He brought home big sister and big brother certificates from the hospital for us, and was going to put mine on my dresser so I’d see it in the morning but I was awake and wanted to know if I had a new brother or sister. It’s really hard to believe it’s been 21 years since that day!

baby_hat.jpgAnd speaking of birth days, Tina had her baby girl today. She arrived quite a few weeks early, so good thoughts and prayers would definitely be appreciated. Jenny has a few more details on her blog, with pictures of teeny-tiny fingers and toes!

I hope this little hat fits her and keeps her warm. It’s made out of some cotton/nylon sock yarn I bought ages ago and is so very soft.

15 month well-baby visit

Sarah Growing Up

Vital stats:
15 months, 2 days old
21 lbs. 9 oz.
31.75″ tall

One of my wishes for Carrie is that she won’t have to shorten every single pair of pants she buys – and since she’s currently in the 80th percentile for height, it might come true! Four shots today, this time in her arms instead of her legs. The shots are getting harder and harder for me to deal with, it’s a really good thing Denis comes along to these appointments. I try really hard to convince myself that the vaccinations are ultimately a good thing, but it still worries me a bit when they give her so many at once.

Other than that, she seems to be right on target with all the developmental stages, and it was a pretty boring appointment.

Oh, wait! She somehow has her 15-month top molars cut part-way through already, and we didn’t even notice! The other day we thought she was a bit droolier than usual, but she hasn’t been complaining at night or anything so we were shocked when the doctor pointed them out. Who knew? So now she has 5 teeth plus 3 almost-teeth.

A Whiter Shade of Pale

Sarah Knitting

Want to know what happens when you leave a pile of knitting in front of a west-facing window for 18 months?

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Those are four of the six squares I’ve made so far for my Aran afghan. Luckily, just the one square (of course it would be my favorite) got bleached by the sun. I’m trying to decide how bad it is – it’s actually a bit more obvious in real life than the picture. Is it worth re-knitting the square – assuming I have enough extra yarn? Should I knit a number of the remaining squares in a different color and make a checkered afghan so the cream squares aren’t next to each other? Should I just leave it and put the whole finished blanket in front of a window for a few months? Should I try dyeing it?

I suppose for now I’ll just ignore the problem, knit another square or two, and then decide…that will only be, what, another year or so?

So Many Knitting Projects!

Sarah Knitting

OK. I’m insane. Can we just start there? Yesterday I signed up for sockapaloooza, where I’m going to knit a pair of socks for someone I don’t know, and some other person I don’t know is going to knit a pair of socks for me. Crazy, huh?

And then today I’ve been swatching for FLAK. I’m lusting after a heavily cabled cardigan – I don’t care if I already have too many sweaters! Except I’ve been poring over pattern books and such because I’m not in love with one of the cables so I’m going to change it out and, well, I’m obsessing. I can’t order the yarn until next month anyway, so I may as well play with swatches for a bit.

Not to mention the baby sweater I finished last week that still needs booties, the baby hat I’m halfway through, a comfort/prayer shawl I’m about a third into, the aran afghan I picked up again (that’s a whole blog post in itself, I have a problem) and the scarf I started last year at this time that would be mighty welcome as it just finally turned into winter here.

I need a bigger knitting bag.

Fifteen Months Old!

Sarah Monthly Updates

Dear Carolyn,

What an amazing month it’s been! You’re definitely turning into quite the little toddler. You have 5.5 teeth (that 6th tooth has been about to pop for three weeks now!) and are solidly into 18 month clothes, although there are a few 12 month things that still fit you.

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I’m very happy we chose to teach you to sign, since all you say at this point is “mama” (when you want something and I’m not getting it fast enough), “dada” (when you want to charm daddy) and “uh-oh” (when you throw your cup off the high chair tray…on purpose). Not that there’s anything wrong with only having three words – you’d just be a much more frustrated little toddler if you didn’t sign! You know 70 signs now, adding “sad”, “grumpy”, “frog”, “swim”, “fruit”, “vegetable”, “boy”, “girl”, “mommy”, “pig”, “orange” (the fruit), “car”, “work”, “home”, “wind”, “rain”, “silly” and “tree” since last month. It’s so cute when I tell you that Daddy’s home and you sign “daddy home”! You’re also getting really good at animal noises, saying “mmm” for cows, “baa” for sheep, and “meh!” for cats. To the dogs’ dismay, you think they just pant, and refuse to entertain the notion that they might say “arf”, “woof” or “ruff”.

20060114_legos.jpgI’ve noticed that your imagination has started going wild this month. You give your dollies, bears, and mommy “tea” out of your tea set, and you even go as far as giving your lovey doll the extra binky that’s always in your crib. It’s very, very sweet. You also love to talk on your toy phones. When you have your toy cell phone in the car (thanks to Uncle Dan) you sit back there with it up to your head saying “ah-ah? ahhh. ah-ah-ah.” Is that what we sound like to you when we talk on the phone? Another super-favorite toy is the Lego Duplos set that your Aunt Jeannie gave you for Christmas – the one you’re not “supposed” to use until you’re 2. Well, you can’t quite put them together, but you sure can take them apart – and you love to take them apart, especially after Mommy builds something fantastic. In fact, there are never two Legos stuck together anywhere when you’re through with them.

20060109_profile.jpgYou’re big into doing things yourself. At dinner the other night you actually used a fork to stab food and got it to your mouth all by yourself! You’re also protesting having your food cut into little bits. Your Grandma keeps telling the story about how she remembers being really little and wanting the whole waffle, rather than the little bites she was being fed. So I try to be sensitive to your need to have the whole whatever and if it’s something that isn’t dangerous I’ll give it to you whole…or at least in bigger pieces. You still eat anything we put in front of you, usually in copious amounts, but I’m expecting the picky toddler phase to start any day now…

Sleep is a challenge sometimes. You don’t protest going to bed all that much, but you do sit up there and babble to your doll, read your book and play with your aquarium sometimes for as long as an hour. I guess you need time to yourself just as much as we do, and the only time you really get to yourself is when you’re in your crib. It’s only a problem when I hear “uh-oh” over the monitor a couple of times. That usually means you’ve thrown both binkies and your dolly out of the crib out of boredom, and since you won’t go to sleep without those things I have to come to their rescue.

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Just remember, you may be 15 months old and fast becoming a little independent, headstrong child, but you’ll always be my baby!

Love, Mommy

Cinderella

Sarah Carolyn

20060122_swiffer.jpgThis is why people have children in the first place, right? To do the household chores?

Just kidding! No one needs to be calling CPS on me. Carrie loves the Swiffer – she cried when we took it away so she could eat dinner. Now if I could just get her to vacuum, dust and fold (instead of unfold) the laundry, I could knit more. :)

Carrie has also been really into the Itsy Bitsy spider song lately. She asks for it by signing “again”, putting both her arms straight up and waving them back and forth. That’s the motion she does for the whole song – it’s supposed to be the “out comes the sun” part of the song. Unfortunately, she uses the “again” sign every time I finish it, so I have to sing it over and over again. And then she pouts when I tell her we’re all done. She’s very much into repetitive things, and can watch little video snippets of herself on my computer over and over until I finally tell her enough.

My Name Is Sarah…

Sarah General

…and I’m a stuff-a-holic! I just cleaned up the clothes monster in my bedroom today – all clean clothes, just not put away – and discovered yet again that I have too many clothes for my storage space. I cleaned out my dresser a few months back and that’s still good, but my closet is still full of maternity clothes and clothes that are too small. And the armoire? Well, let’s just say I really shouldn’t knit myself any more sweaters until I get rid of a few. Especially since – except for a ratty old green cardigan, a less ratty black cardigan, and very occasionally Janda – I haven’t worn any of them in two years! I couldn’t wear them last year because I didn’t fit into most of them and I was too hot in them anyway. This year I’m still too hot in most of them, and really, who wants to hand-wash a wool sweater that’s had graham cracker hands smeared all over it?

I’m not going to even talk about the craft room. I think I’m going to nail the door shut and wallpaper over it. What fourth bedroom? This is only a three bedroom house, really!

Happy Birthday, Denis!

Sarah General

Today is Denis’ birthday! Unfortunately I had a rehearsal until 6:30 this evening, and Carrie goes to bed around 8, so we couldn’t go out. Instead we got pizza from this great new place near us, Slice of Napa. Not only do they have marvelous pizzas (we’ve only tried four so far, but each was yummier than the last) but they have a cheesecake calzone. Carrie thought that was quite tasty.