A Change Of View

Well, I think it is safe to say that I suck at the photo a day challenge.

I'm so far behind, and I have no interest in playing catch up.

I'm okay with that.

There just aren't enough hours in the day.  Things are slipping through the cracks around here.  A self-imposed desire to photograph random things from an arbitrary list was easy to let slip from the list of "must do today".

Squishy is now in physical therapy and occupational therapy.  Both therapies agree that Squishy can no longer nap in her swing.  For various reasons she must be laying flat when she sleeps.  No biggie I thought.  She sleeps just fine at night in her bassinet.  This won't be too traumatic a transition.

Let us all laugh at my optimism.

I don't know if she misses the noise, or the motion, or if now that she is doing daily exercises she has decided that sleep is for the weak.  But my previously perfect napper is now a non-napper, existing solely on random ten to fifteen minute increments of sleep.

She might be trying to kill me.

Today I decided to forego doing laundry in favor of rocking my baby.  Endless hours of rocking my baby.

At first I was exasperated, just.go.to.SLEEP.

But then I remembered that this is my baby.  My LAST baby.  And I remembered that rocking a baby is one of my most favorite things to do in the world.  And I've hardly had the chance to sit and catch my breath and rock my baby these past 12 weeks.

It was the greatest afternoon ever.

Perspective.

Friday Lovin'

Friday Lovin' on Valentine's Day!  Can you stand the lovin'?

I'm lovin...

My Valentine's Day roses!

and I'm loving...

striped pants with chubby baby belly.

I'm lovin' the fact that a cheap bucket of chicken from the grocery store gave me the perfect subject for today's photo challenge...

Heart!

And I'm still riding the high from the Cardiologist.  I'm lovin' good news.

May we all have good news this week.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Day 13

Perfect...

Photography credit for this picture actually goes to Sweet Pea.  It isn't perfectly posed, or perfectly staged, or perfectly framed.  But it shows the perfect chaos that is our life.

Perfect.

Day 12

I'm playing with the dates a little since we didn't actually leave the house on the 12th.  This picture is from the 13th.

Out and About...

At the Pediatric Cardiologist.

Last month we learned that Squishy has a complete AV canal defect.  There is a hole in her heart between the lower chambers.  There is a hole in her heart between the upper chambers.  And instead of having two heart valves?  Squishy decided it would be more economical to go with one.  All this excitement means Squishy will require surgery.  Open heart surgery.

I don't know if I have ever heard more terrifying words.

The bright side is the cardiologist told us we were the best case scenario for what is a poor diagnosis.  Instead of requiring immediate surgery he felt confident we could push the surgery back until this summer when Squishy and her heart would be bigger and better able to handle the procedure.

We had a follow up exam on the 13th, to continue monitoring the situation, complete with an ekg, and an echocardiogram.

The news is even better this month.  Her heart is doing amazing things.  The cardiologist was so excited he took us to a room so we could see the ultrasound and understand exactly what was going on inside her chest.  The hole between her lower chambers had an extra flap of skin around it last month.  This month the flap of skin has turned into a funnel shape, channeling the large hole down to a tiny pin prick.  It would take a single stitch to close.  If this were her only issue she wouldn't even need surgery.  Her one heart valve?  Her one valve is bent and functioning as two separate valves.  There is minimal leakage.  He said the amount of leakage we are seeing is what they would expect to see AFTER a successful repair.  Go Squishy.  She still has a medium size hole in her upper chambers, which will require surgery.  Surgery that they anticipate needing when she is two or three years old.

YEARS!

The cardiologist had never seen a heart do so well before.

I was so happy I could have kissed our cardiologist.  He was so happy I think he would have let me kiss him.   Celebrations were definitely in order.

It was all good news.

It was a good day.

A very good day.

Day 11

Mistake.

Once upon a time...

These towels were white.

It's been years since I've turned a load of laundry pink.

*sigh*

That's the kind of week I'm having.

Thank goodness it was only a load of old towels and burper rags.

No Time To Post

I am still slowly chipping away at my big stack of unfinished knits.

I'm as amazed as you are.

Seriously.

I should have stuffed the shameful bag in the back of The Abyss and cast on for something new by now.

I'm not sure where this determination to finish things has come from.  But I'm going to ride it out until it passes.

This morning...

I blocked a shawl.

And I fell in love with lace all over again.  This thing was a fuzzy holey mess pre-blocking.  And it was even worse once I got it wet.  At first I couldn't make heads or tails out of it.  I vaguely remember knitting it, and I have absolutely no recollection as to what the pattern was supposed to look like.  I finally identified the top edge and pinned it out from there.  It was magic.  Blocking is a special sort of wizardry.  Transformed from a lump of wet fiber, delicate shapes appeared before my eyes.  I love this shawl.  And I want to knit more lace.  Tons more lace.  If I weren't so busy with other things I would be knitting a new lace shawl RIGHT.NOW!  Perhaps something from Boo Knits.  I hate being the kind of grown up who honors grown up obligations.

It is over rated.

And for day 10...I am...

 enjoying a quiet and all too fleeting moment.

As soon as I took this picture Squishy woke up and demanded to be fed, and played with, and kissed, and loved.

It is a hard life I tell ya.

Two hours later and she is now back in her swing, and I've got some secret knitting to get done while the getting is good.

Never enough hours in a day.

Butterflies Fly

So in 2012 (I originally typed last year, but I guess 2012 is no longer last year is it?  Anyways...) I casually mentioned on facebook that I needed to own a specific knitting book.  NEEDED IT!  A week or so later I found the coveted book on my doorstep.

I am loved by somebody special.

I think I wanted this book solely for the hat on the cover.  I love 1920's flapper style.  Love it!  Love the feathered headbands, love the long pearls, love the drop waist dresses.  If only I were a character in The Great Gatsby.  Then, of course, I try on sometime that is 1920's inspired and I remember that I can't pull of 1920's flapper style (remember my big bones).  Plus I get migraines when I wear hats.

Suck Monkey.

But all is not lost.

This book has beautiful shawls in it.  I plan on knitting every single one.  I started with the Meme Shawl. 

And in typical fashion, once the knitting was completed I forgot the shawl ever existed.

The finishing work required on this shawl?  The amount of work I considered to be too taxing to be worth my time?  The time consuming labor that was keeping me from the more beloved act of knitting?

I had to weave in one end.

That's it.

Just one end.

My laziness truly knows no bounds.

Sometimes I impress myself.

But I have persevered in the face of adversity!

I have conquered!

I have spent three minutes weaving in that random yarn end!

And now I have a finished shawl!

I do love how it turned out.  I modified the pattern by adding beads to the butterflies (those holes are supposed to be butterflies).

I'm not convinced the effect is dramatic enough to have been worth the effort.  But I like it anyways.  I also ran out of yarn, so I didn't knit as many rows as the pattern originally intended.  It is a little more of a scarf than a shawl.  I like it anyways.

I couldn't remember what I made the shawl from.  I was feeling it and telling my friend it felt like the yarn had silk in it.  Or maybe alpaca.  Then I found the label lurking in a drawer.

Am I good or what?!!!

Sometimes I impress myself.

I've discovered Squishy likes being wrapped in silk and baby alpaca.

She REALLY likes being wrapped in hand knit beaded silk and baby alpaca.

Of course she does.  I have a feeling she is thinking "Can this shawl be mine?"  No pretty girl, no, there are limits to how many knit items I will allow to be confiscated by my children in one week.  My generosity ends with the words "Baby Alpaca."  Sorry kid.

But I do love her tiny little fingers poking through the butterflies in the shawl.

This shawl is magic.  It look absolutely FANTASTIC with my pajamas.

Imagine how good it would look with real clothes!  On a person who showers.  And wears make up.  And does their hair!

Someday pretty shawl...someday.

And for day 9

Details!

Rescued From The Abyss

Does anyone remember when I became obsess with stripes last year?  It was a short lived obsession.  I was haunted by a scarf made by Cozy Things.  I lived for this scarf.  I dreamed of this scarf.  There was nothing I wanted more than a stripey scarf of my very own. Simple stripes knit with left over sock yarn.  I've been knitting socks since 2005.  That is a lot of left over sock yarn.  I certainly had the yarn to knit a scarf of my very own.  The only thing holding me back was a lack of white sock yarn to truly re-create the original scarf.  Sure I could have striped without the white yarn, but I loved the look so much, any deviation from the original would not be tolerated.

Thank goodness for Big Lots.

Three dollars later and I had enough pale cream yarn to knit stripes of my very own.

Of course once knit this scarf was immediately abandoned.  The original scarf was knit flat, and even though I knew I should just knit it in the round, I ignored my inner knitter and knit the scarf flat too.  I wove my ends in as I knit, but once the knitting was completed the scarf still needed on big long seam along the side.  With the knitting portion completed my obsession with owning this scarf was suddenly over.  It no longer held any interest for me.  I did the only thing I could do.

I banished the scarf to in The Abyss to languish and die.

Ain't nobody got time to sew a six foot seam.

I had new knitting to do.

The very first piece I rescued from the abandoned pile of knits in The Abyss was my beautiful stripey scarf.

So worth the wait.  It is like a wearable scrap book.  I can see the yarn from my zombie socks, and The Greatest's Michigan socks, and the sock yarn I dyed for the Ravellenics, and the sock yarn from my very first pair of socks.  The list goes on and on.  I can name where each yarn came from.  True Story.  Bird went through the scarf with me, stripe by stripe.

I love this scarf so much.  Waiting for white yarn was the right choice.  It keeps the crazy colors from becoming too busy.

My sweet Bird was home from school when I took these pictures.  My poor baby  Bird has strep throat.  She watched what I was doing with interest.

She wistfully fingered my scarf and said "Mom, I really like this scarf."

"You do?"  I asked, absentmindedly as I was planning my next photo.

"I do" she said firmly, then with just the right touch of hope in her voice she asked "Can it be mine?"

I swear, I lose more knitted items that way.

And day 8...

Water

Twice a Year, Every Year

So earlier this week I took Squishy for her 2 month check up.

My big girl weighs 9 lbs 8 ounces.  Good Growing Baby!  And how cute is that hat!  It was a shower gift from a friend in my knitting/crochet group.  I've already requested more, one in every possible size and color.  Because...CUTENESS!

While I was gone The Greatest used the time to take down the Christmas decorations.  All that remains are the two (yes 2) 12 foot Christmas trees.  Twelve foot Christmas trees are ridiculously big.  And did you know in this era of downsizing people just give those things away?  That's how we acquired our trees.  But I digress.

The Christmas decorations are stored in The Abyss, behind my ginormous menagerie of crafting supplies.  All my crafting supplies had to be moved in order to access the area that has been designated for Christmas.  An area I might add that grows every year, slowly creeping into my designated crafting real estate.  Mark my words.  In three years I will be blogging either a) about how we rented a storage unit for the sole purpose of storing all the Christmas things, or b) how I had to move all my crafting supplies to a different closet.  We don't really need a coat closet after all right?  But again, I digress.

The Greatest moved all my crafting things to put away the Christmas decorations, and I returned home from our appointment to discover my former Christmas Wonderland had been transformed to this

A crafting Wasteland.  The entire contents of The Abyss strewn across our kitchen table.

It took me two days to sort it all out.

And remember this stack of nearly finished knits?

It was still there waiting to be finished.

I am pleased to report I sat down at knitting group and just pulled out random projects to work on.  In on afternoon I finished three items, frogged one project,

and in an uncharacteristic move, I threw one half finished baby hat away.  It wasn't worth finishing, the yarn wasn't worth salvaging.  I didn't want to look at it anymore.  Five items down!

Unfortunately I still have a sizable stack of things to block, or weave in ends, or add buttons.  See that pink thing?  Those are baby pants I knit Sweet Pea!  Wonder if I can get elastic put in the waist band before Squishy out grows?  Smart money might be on "No."

And for day 7

Utensil.

Day 6 - C is for....

7 Layer Cookie Bars!

Day 5 Squares

Childhood

One of the less celebrated aspects of childhood:  sleeping on the couch when you're home from school because you're sick.

Poor Bird.

Apologies

I swear, it won't always be like this.

It won't be an entire month of random photo challenge photos.

There will be actual blog content.  With words, and relevant pictures, and everything.  It might even be interesting, and well thought out, and it might even be funny if I'm lucky.

I swear.

But not today.

Too much has happened, and not happened today.

Not today.

Today you get...

Something Orange

Day 2

The kids like rankings.  Knowing where they land on an arbitrary list gives them a feeling of their place in the world.  They want to know who got the highest grade on a test, who read the most books, who drew the better picture, who is the best at anything and everything.

They often ask me who my favorite is, curious about their place in my heart.  Searching for their ranking within the family.

I always give them the same answer.

Favorite

He really is my favorite.

It is an admittedly crummy picture.  I told him I was taking pictures of the baby (see the world's cutest little ear in the lower corner?  even her tiny parts are adorable).  It was the only way I could get his picture.

Infuriatingly stubborn man!

Even with a crummy picture, he's still pretty handsome isn't he.

Something New

My friend posted this on facebook.

I though I'd give it a try...

Me