Hand Knit Easter Chicks

These are adorable!!!! So fun to make and pretty easy too! I had all the yarn used on hand, it's a great way to use up some scraps too! Who says that they have to be NORMAL colors :) ha!

Anyways, I found this pattern The Purl Bee. It was easy to follow and she has lots of good "how to" photos to help you along the way. There are also two other patterns for a bunny and a lamb.

So far, I have one complete. But I have TWO little boys so I will be knitting the wings and applying the eyes, beak and fuzzy head feathers on chick number two tonight after bedtime. They will be gifted tomorrow :)

socks socks socks - kids kids kids

i have knit my first pair of socks!























TA DAA!

i whipped these out fairly quickly, i realize that they are ankle socks but for being my first pair, i'm happy that i knit them up in 15 days. that's fast for me... i used knit picks essentials in grass. as you can see, it fuzzed up a bit after washing. i'm ok with that though, they ARE socks and will be inside my shoes.... so i think it will be ok.

i'm already on to pair number two.






























so far, i like this yarn, patons kroy sock stripe. it's a bit scratchy but i hope that it will soften with some washing..... i hope. i love the coloway on the ball but knit into the lace pattern of the leg, it's a bit much... the color changes seem very abrupt. however, i really like how it looks in straight stockenette around the ankle and underside of the foot.


the boys.... wow. lots of new things to talk about. max has been talking a lot and has started to make up stories too. he tells me things like "elmo outside!" then shortly after "elmo on school bus!" then he giggles out of control. he also has decided that he really really wants to ride on a school bus. we've been talking about preschool here for a little while since we'll be enrolling him into a program for 3 yr olds that will start in the fall. so when we read books that have a school setting or talk about teachers, he then starts into this convo about how he wants to ride a school bus and he wants andy to go too and me and daddy too of course. it's cute as heck!

one strange language thing with max is that there are words that he used to know, some were his first words actually, he will NOT say those words now. he knows them but it's almost like he's embarrased and unsure of himself and he just won't say them. it's odd.

andy on the other hand is saying things too, he says dada (to everyone except max), he ON OCCASION will say mama, star, sock, bottle and kitty. they are all very rough around the edges but i know what he's saying. he's also eating all sorts of things and basically eats what we eat for meals. he's a good little eater too! he usually ends up eating more than max these days seeing that max is either in a slow growth period or something and will seriously eat 2 maybe 3 bites of a meal and call it quits. he then never asks for a snack either. i'm hoping this turns around soon because it makes me worry that he's not getting enough... andy will also play these little silly games with us, he gives us things then takes them back over and over and over and over again. it's really pretty cute. he also hides around and under and behind everything. then he pops out and acts like HE'S surprised! talk about funny!

knitting overview

lots of projects to sum up here....

birthday scarflet for mom, gifted on dec 6th:

i used this pattern and the buttons are from joanns. they are a little sparkly and fit my mom's tastes perfectly. i loved this piece and really wanted to keep it for myself. it was my first lace project that i blocked. wowee is that fun! and i'm happy to say there are NO mistakes in this project at all.

christmas scarf for heather, given dec 25th:

i used a lace patter from The Knitters Bible, it was called crest of the wave. very easy pattern to follow and i think it worked out well for a scarf. this was blocked project number two and woweeeeeeee was IT fun to block. the little wave crests/points looked great and the pattern really opened up. i did make one mistake but didn't even realize it until i had already bound off and woven in the ends... it was only a few days until christmas and there was no way that i could have fixed it without ripping back the entire piece and starting new.... so it goes.

knitted christmas balls, given dec 25th to each little family within our immediate family: my parents, chris's parents, my brother and his wife and chris's sister.


i knit four different ornaments using this pattern. they were super easy and fast to knit up and i think made nice little gifts. i wanted to knit a few for our tree but i ran out of time. one of my 2009 goals is to knit four felted stockings for our family for next christmas, i think i'll knit some of these to match.

billy's knit NYE hat, gifted dec 31st around 11:35 pm.

i used this pattern. i intended for the hat to be a solid color, the bottom orange/red color. however, i ran out of yarn. i do this TOO often.... i really need to start looking at yardage... luckily, when i purchased this yarn, i also purchased an identical skein in blue. thus the two colored hat was born. in reality, i think it was meant to be. the two colors really looked great together and i think the finished hat ended up looking better with the two colors than it would have if it was all one color. a happy mistake, i suppose.

next up, i'll be trying socks again, for me. i'll be using knitpicks Essential in grass. i'm awaiting its arrival.... not so patiently. i am planning on using the yarnharlot's sock recipe. i had attempted this a while back with no luck... i am blaming my lack of luck on the fact that i was using the wrong yarn for the job.... hopefully this will change, i really want to have some good luck with socks....

i have picked my "ugly" (thanks amanda *wink*) {ETA: don't think poorly of amanda for saying this. it really truly is an ugly blanket and to clarify, i'm pretty sure she said that the photos and colors looked ugly in my original photo... frankly that photo is worse that what it looks like in person... don't hate me for calling you out} log cabin blanket up again and have been mindlessly knitting that again. it currently just takes up way too much space in my yarn drawers so i'm doing this in an effort to make room and organize... i'm really bored with this project and i plan to only knit it between projects and until it's big enough to cover me or a kid while curled up on the couch. i don't have far to go but the garter monotony is killing what few brain cells i have....

over the holidays i received some knitting gifts. they were all items that i specifically asked for, so no surprises really. one item was a set of knit picks options. i'm totally perplexed as to how to store them though. i'm scared to take them off of their little paper thing with the elastic that they came in. i have a needle sizer hickey doo, so i'm sure that if they would come free of piece of paper, that i wouldn't be lost in a sea of unknown needles but it gives me a heart attack to think about the mess they would be if they weren't strapped all snugly into little homes with the elastic they came with..... any suggestions are WELCOME!

a little less bah humbug than last time and some MILESTONES

ok, so some time has passed since my last post. i think we are both a little more into the holiday spirit now and we're able to deal with some of the stress that comes along with this time of the year. i'm done shopping. i do have to pick up a book that i ordered from a small local book store. but that's easy. i still have to wrap it all and bake. OOH, and finish knitting. i'm close. really close. and the pattern is way easy so it's going very smoothly, i just need some extra time to really bang it out.

i finished decorating the house today, the tree is up, and the lights are hung outside. it looks quite festive :) and the kids are really enjoying it. max especially.

on the home front.... let's see, max is learning to sing some christmas tunes! (talk about cute!) andy is also learning some sounds and they are sorta words too. right now he knows three "words" bottle, mama and dada. he still mixes up mama and dada but he's got "ba" down pat! AND!!!! he's walking and it's amazing! he's been cruising for quite some time now and in the past couple of weeks he's been taking one or two steps between chris and i during our "walking practice sessions". but this weekend he really took off! he's now taking a few steps between household objects and even from things into the middle of the room. he gets so excited about it too! it's adorable! he tries to follow max but can't keep up. and he definetly knows that crawling is his most efficient way to get from point A to point B. but he's becoming more and more brave by the minute and that is so much fun to watch. today was his big day and i know that by the end of the week he'll be in full walk mode :) the thought of this makes my cry!

OK, eyes are dry and i can see the computer screen again :)

i'm really looking forward to the next two weeks, i've got a bunch of playdates planned and i can't wait to spend time with my family and watch my kids enjoy the splendor of the holidays. i also have plans with some old friends and i'll get to meet my friend valerie's little girl who is 2 days older than andy. they'll be coming into town the 26th and will be having lunch at our house that day. then friends from ohio will be coming to spend the night on new year's eve. again, i'll be entertaining! i can't wait! i AM on the lookout for some recipe suggestions. anyone have any suggestions? i'm looking for things that are on the simple side. and i'll also take suggestions for sides and apps too ;)

halloween and a few other things

this is us on halloween! taking photos of more than one family member has become a bit difficult. no one looks at the photographer at the same time! ever... max has decided that he's not keen on having his photo taken regardless of who else is in the photo. so we have to sneak them in while he's not paying attention. it's really bizaare... he used to smile perfectly for the camera, now he hides his face and runs in the other direction. anyways....

halloween was a great time! max really enjoyed it! he especially enjoyed handing out our treats to all the other little kids :) it was super cute! andy did pretty well too!

i've started a new knitting project. i've bought two different kinds of yarn to knit this scarf, plans are in the works for two scarves for two ladies. so far, i'm enjoying the pattern. i also bought yarn for max's winter hat. i suppose i should cast on for that since he's probably going to need a hat before christmas.

this week has been a long week, a stressful week, but i'm glad it's almost over. tonight i'm headed out for drinks with a friend. and tomorrow, my mom is coming to watch the boys while i go shopping for ME! she's decided that she's apparently sick of seeing me in the same old duds... so she gave me a bit of cash to use on ME! and only me! i can't wait! chris will be shooting a wedding while i shop :) then on sunday, weather permitting, we're going to take the boys on a hike then head to my parent's for dinner. should be a fun weekend!

OOH! and i found a babysitter! fun times are ahead with this find! she's super smart, has lots of experience, and the kids really got along with her. she lives a block away too! i had her come over for a little intro with the kids then towards the end of her time with us, i ran a quick errand to the grocery store and left the kids with her. it was perfect! and i can't wait to hire her again!

AND, here's something fun, she crochet's but wants to learn how to knit! she asked if i would teach her! how fun!

gha! an overdue update.

i've been soooo out of the loop for the past two weeks. i had a bit of a meltdown with my laptop, it's been in the shop for a week and a half.... plus i was just super duper busy prior to that happening thus, no update for.... oh my god, almost a month.... so sorry!

well, gosh, since sept 17th, i really can't even remember what all we've been up to.... that's horrible. well, with a quick glance back at my calendar for the past few weeks i see that a whole lot of nothing interesting has been happening but a whole lot of working has been taking up a lot of our time. and really that's not going to stop for the next two weeks.

chris has a photographer/friend coming to stay with us this saturday through thursday, he's going to be doing some presentations and will have an photo exhibit while here. this all means that we'll have a house guest, first one since my good friend valerie stayed with us when i had my baby shower (while pregnant with max)! so i need to get some things done around the house before he gets here saturday, we still aren't sure of his arrival time.... he then will be staying with us until the following thursday, which coincidentally is the same day that chris and i leave for our little 3 day vacation without the boys!

we're headed to hocking hills ohio to stay in a little cabin in the woods. we'll be relaxing, hiking, eating, relaxing hot tub style, relaxing, sleeping, eating... and basically just getting some much needed couple time. we can't wait and have been counting down the days since the beginning of october. (full review to follow)

as for knitting, FLS is in a bag in the corner... i have a small mistake that i need to fix on the 1st arm, it's not hard, but i need brain power to fix it, and that's something i'm laking these days. i really want to take it to ohio with me, finished... i need to get going on this. i also bought an extra ball of yarn for her, the arms would have been a bit too short without it.

i also attended a workshop provided by Yarns Unlimited, Jared Flood was the presenter. it was really fun and very inspiring. it was also great fun to get together with two good friends and have some good greek food for lunch too! i plan on using the techniques that he discussed on a sweater for chris. although i will probably not be starting that until after the holiday season. maybe a bit before if he's lucky.

for the past few weeks, little things will happen with the kids and i'll think, 'ooh i have to blog about that' or 'this'. i never kept a running list (must start listing these thoughts) and now i can't remember most of them.

one of them is that max has started to sing, he's always sorta singsonged a bit but he has recently started to sing the theme song to bob the builder, it's super cute. he also sings his abc's, but it sounds more like "bee dee dee" lol, it's funny. he's very interested in letters and numbers and writing too. he has a small doodle pro and his drawings recently went from be swirly curly circles to little symbol-like/letter-like scribbles. he knows that letters make words and is really into the tv show Super Why! on pbs. in fact it's actually slowly taking over his love for curious george, george is his old stand by and good buddy and he still asks to watch that show but there is so much more to learn in super why so i've been suggesting that in place of george and he is happy to watch.

andy, well, let's see, teeth 5 & 6 have emerged. number 6 is actually still emerging but i think that it's broken the skin but i just can't quite feel it. i expect to be able to tomorrow or friday. he's been a biting fool. shoulders, knee caps, fingers, legs, noses, cheeks, really anything that he can! it's pretty funny. he's also cruising.

the weather has been perfect, fall is upon us! i just love all the color outside and the kids love to watch the leaves fall to the ground. max exclaims, "uhno!" and andy watches in wonder. this is an amazing time!

hmmmm, not sure what to put here

how's about a list?

1. i'm obsessed with facebook these days. in the past two weeks i have found (or they have found me) two roommates from slippery rock. one i had totally lost contact with. the other reads this blog regularly (hi carrie!) and has a hard time replying to emails (*wink*) so it's great to be able to see what's up in her life with her and her FOUR kiddo's! it's no wonder she doesn't have time to email! glad we're back in touch!

2. i cleaned out my knitting stash. it wasn't totally overwhelming or anything but nothing was organized and i had patterns just strewn all through my knitting basket in the living room, lost in the half dozen totes that i use to transport my knitting. needles were out of their cases and just not organized at all. i put everything into ziplocks and now it somehow takes up half the space as it did before. yay! i also logged all of my needles on ravelry and printed out the little needle chart to put into my purse so that i don't buy duplicate needles AGAIN....

3. i've stalled out on feb lady sweater. i think my lack of organization was contributing to that... i need to sit down with her again. i'm making a date with her tonight! i hope i stick to it! it's nearing sweater weather and really i could have used her these past few mornings.... i need to get knitting.

4. max had a cold last week.... i had thought it was allergies but now that andy is a cranky pants with a boggerific runny nose, i'm now convinced i was wrong. sorry if we made anyone sick at playdates... it's apparently a very slow moving cold since it's been a week and a half since max started to show symptoms. and andy is just today showing signs of this cold. poor kid starts to cry before his little butt even touches the carpet when i go to set him down... ugh... i have yet to get it and same with chris.... which totally sucks because even if i would have caught it prior to andy then i could at least be giving him some antibodies through nursing and his go at it might be a little bit better but... what can ya do?

5. coffee. i'm obsessed! i don't know why i never realized this before but coffee can make a totally shitty day (read: cranky kids makes a cranky mama) turn into sunshine and puppydogs! i'm serious! i've found that most days by mid afternoon, i'm totally done with being a mom. my kids make me crazy and i have considered running away (ok, we all know i won't follow through so don't report me). but if i have some coffee, i'm a completely different person! i have energy to deal with whining and crying and multple shitty diapers within an hour! it's great! it doesn't seem to mess with andy and his sleeping either so that's a great thing! i've been on this iced hazelnut latte kick! i have hazelnut coffee, i brew an entire pot, use some of it that day then save the rest in the fridge for the rest of the week. i pour it over a lot of ice, mix in a bit of milk and hazelnut syrup and i swear it tastes just like i've stopped at my local coffee shop and spent $4 for the same thing! but really i've spent about $.30! woooo!!!

ok, i'm off to clean up the kitchen aka disaster area and do a little bit of photo work.

my week in review - a bit of a hodgepodge

eta: as michelle kindly pointed out in the comments, yes in addition to everything below andy managed to sit up yesterday completely on his own, he went from being on his back to his side to supporting himself with one arm but sorta still on his side to sitting! it was really funny to watch :) i had never seen him do that before and was quite thrilled to witness it! and so was michelle!


this past week, (definition of "past week" last wednesday july 30 - today august 5th) has been a long 7 days.... chris was (and is still) out of the country for work and is returning tomorrow, aug 6th. i was home alone with the kids. the beginning of the week was the roughest. max was not very cooperating and andy was giving me fits. i was nervous and cranky about having to put two kids to bed at the same time without any help, not happy about having to deal with mealtimes alone and jealous that i had to be a single parent while chris was out traveling the world, without me.

i had a TON of help from MY family, however we're 7 days in and still no phone calls what-so-ever from the ils.... not even to see if i've heard from chris... so strange...

anyways, my brother and his wife came over one night with pasta and homemade sauce! that rocked! my parents had us over a few times. i managed to cook a few times too, very proud of that, and ordered pizza only once! i also tried to plan as many things to do outside of the house as possible. we went to target twice... we went on a playdate with blogless lauren and her little guy leo, we went to the zoo with our cousin elizabeth and her twin boys, and today we had an impromptu play date with michelle and amelia which was very nice! max showed a very sensitive and gentlemanly side to him that i've never seen in my life! it was so darling! he was sharing everything he owned, held her hand and gave everyone kisses before they left :)

i have also managed to keep the house in relatively neat order. i have some cleaning to do upstairs tomorrow but i've kept up with the housework more this week than i normally do when chris is out of town for short trips. about mid-way through the week i got the hang of everything. meals were fairly smooth and bedtime was a breeze. i love, i mean LOVE, dvr. really i'm not sure how i would have done it without this new gadget. bedtimes consisted of cleaning up the toys while andy rolled around on the floor and cried and max sorta helped me. then i got him some milk and a snack and put him in his folding nemo chair and put on a curious george episode. i took andy upstairs got him ready for bed, fed him and put him down (awake i might add!!!) and then went back down to watch the rest of george with max and maybe even another episode if it was still early. then off to bed with him too. it was beautiful!

after the kids were both in bed, i then watched a few movies on ondemand this week. a quick review:
1. The Ex with Zach Braff and Amanda Peet. cute movie, a few funny scenes and a few new parent jokes. i enjoyed the baby/parenting dialog the most. wasn't a waste of time.
2. Moving McAlister with Mila Kunis from that 70's show and a guy that i've never seen or heard of before and that guy from napoleon dynamite. eh, so so but sorta cute. i watched the whole thing, enjoyed parts of it but it wasn't the most entertaining movie. cute story line though and the ending was nice. wasn't a complete waste of time but sorta almost was...
3. Definitely, Maybe with Ryan Reynalds and that girl from wedding crashers who was the younger sister who was maddly in love with vince vaugh and a few other female actresses. anyways. this was by far the best of the bunch! very entertaining love story that is creatively told to his young daughter. there are some sad parts about divorce but they are overshadowed by the happy parts. definitely NOT a waste of time and i'm glad i watched it even though the title alone annoyed me and i didn't think i would like it one bit.

knitting, i've done nothing.

sewing, i finished everlasting and started a few others...
i sewed a handle onto my everlasting bag, i'm quite happy with how it turned out:

another photo here.

i started my grocery bag beautification project, inspired by this blog, i pinned this fabric onto one side of this bag from giant eagle MONTHS ago... so long ago that i've never been able to use this bag at the store for actual grocery toting... i have only covered one side. the other side also has a logo on it so it's getting pinned and sewn up tonight. i have at least one other bag to pin and sew as well. i thought we bought three of these things but apparently we either lost one or only bought two... i'm not certain.... anyways, here's the outcome, i'm pleased with this as well.

the fabric i used on this one is one of two vintage napkins that were my parents. my mom gave them to me and i wanted to find a good use for the fabric as i have no use for two fabric napkins.... i absolutely LOVE this fabric and wish i had a big piece of it because i could totally wear a skirt with this print.

i'm really looking forward to heading to the airport tomorrow night. i miss chris a TON and i know he misses us. i've been talking up his return to max so he's getting excited too. overall, this week hasn't been too horrible. i've managed to at least shower a few times, we had some fun outside of the house and now we're looking forward to chris's return home :) and i'm looking forward to a visit to the salon all by myself on thursday! ha!

this is going to be a long one

ok, cleaning house a bit, a few lists:

andy stats:
he's sitting unassisted for a minute or so at a time.
he's up on all fours doing that thing where they sway back and forth and he sometimes does a little crawling in the backwards direction.
he's eating a load of cereal.
he had fresh zucchini from my cousin's garden while on vacation and fresh picked blueberries and some banana.
he will go down for a nap or to sleep at night without being asleep, i can put him in his crib and if he's sleepy enough he'll fall asleep in about 10 minutes. if he's not, he lets you know by screaming, i go get him we play for another 20-30 minutes then try again and he usually goes down the 2nd time.
he has become baptized to the religion of the lake goers.

max stats:
he is feeding himself really well with utensils. he has mastered the spoon for cereal and ice cream and other spoon friendly foods.
he is potty training himself.

yes, i said potty training himself. he's been peeing on the potty for quite some time. not at any really regular intervals during the day but before and after naps and bedtime and any other time we change a diaper (he doesn't always go when we put him on there but he understands that if he goes, he gets to flush! big fun!) so while on vacation we were eating a late dinner and he was giving us a hell of a time basically he didn't want to eat. we didn't fight it. we let him get down from his chair, he went to the other room to be private then quickly came back to let chris know that he had pooed.

it was just a little bit so chris put him on the potty to finish. he went some more and exclaimed that he was "all done!"
the next day the same thing happened except all of the poo ended up in the potty.
this was a few days ago, we haven't changed a poopy diaper since.
fastforward to today, we had lunch he started to play, i was cleaning up and he runs in and says, "mama, this!" and grabbed his crotch. so we went to the potty, his diaper was wet but not warm so i know he hadn't peed lately in it. i put him on the pot and leave the room (he won't do anything in there if you're in there with him). at this point i hear him trying to go. wouldn't you know it, i then had to go too.... so i leave him there and run to the basement. i go. (i know tmi) then run back upstairs to find him still going... so i stand outside the door and listen. then i hear a plop and he starts to whine so i go back in to find that he went a TON! i gave him a big kiss, cleaned him up and let him flush the toilet! big excitement! we aren't close to getting rid of diapers all together because he still pees there quite often. i'm fairly certain that i could train him if i took the time but i need chris to be here on a somewhat normal schedule and frankly that's not going to be the case until the end of august. so maybe we'll attempt it the week of his birthday.

vacation wrap up:
ahhhh the lake! we had some crappy weather, especially early in the week. it would be sorta clear in the mornings but by 10 or so it would cloud up and rain off and on for the rest of the day only to clear around 7 pm or so... then mid week there was one day it rained all day. then thursday and friday it was pretty nice and then saturday it was sunny until about 1 then got cloudy again just in time for us to pack up and leave. regardless of the weather we still had fun. and got a good amount of swimming and lake lounging done too.

andy make his lake debut!
here he is with papa! both look pretty happy to be there!

max played with his bucket and rocks! this is my favorite photo of the entire week!




i relaxed in a chair in the water....


we had a great time not doing a whole lot. my mom and i did manage to go shopping in a small town one afternoon, i found some great antique buttons. three pearly white ones that are square and are angular and 9 dark blue ones that are pearly. i also got some super cool antique post cards from around 1906 for chris. one is of the intersection of 4th and wood downtown (right where he works) and the other is a view of 1st ave taken from station square. both are pretty neat.

another day my mom and i also went to pick blue berries! we got there kinda late and they were going to close in about 20 minutes. but between the two of us we each filled a 1 gallon ziplock bag! we had enough blue berries for the week and we both got to take home about half a bag each! we're still eating fresh blueberries! for those two large bags, we paid $8! can't beat that! i can't wait to do that again next year!

i also made a lot of progress on my FLS. not quite done with the body yet. i did have to fix a mistake (thanks amanda for that technique! i did it all by myself! yay!) i am starting to worry that i need to buy two more balls of yarn...

as for traveling with this kids. this trip was a little easier. we left the house about 5 on our way up. we stopped around 7 for breakfast then again about 2 hours later so that could feed andy again and so that max could run around a bit.
then about 30 minutes after that the kids were both having fits... so i crawled into the back seat and proceeded to read to them... all the while i felt like i could have yacked....

as for the ride home.... we were supposed to leave early sunday morning. chris has a job scheduled for about 3 pm that day so we had to hustle. we then decided late afternoon on saturday that we would just scrap that and instead pack up the car and the kids that evening and leave around 8 pm (aka bedtime). so i cleaned, chris packed the car, max helped us both ;) then we left! my parents stayed until the morning then traveled early. we got home about 2 am... we were very groggy. the kids slept through the whole thing. it was awesome! we didn't have to even stop to pee, we only made a quick stop at a T & A for a caffeinated drink for chris. then we kept going just like the old days b.c. (before children).

update to below mentioned knitting

no frogging here, in fact, no need to add any additional increases either... i must have been on crack when i counted the other day because according to what i figured today, i'm right on target and haven't missed ANY increases.

i LOVE my new needles :)

pittsburgh children's museum and new circulars

so on friday i took max, andy, papa and grandma (my parents) to the children's museum for a morning of play, play, play and some more play. sprinkled with a few tantrums, a few tears, a shower and some lunch. ooh and it was all topped off with a nap.

what a fun place! i haven't been there since it was called the buhl planetarium. well, i lie, i was there for a benefit a few years ago but we were only in the cafe area and i didn't get to see and play with all the cool things inside the actual museum part of the place.

max LOVED it! so did the rest of us, including andy. he had a fun time watching all the crazy that happens there.

1st stop, mr roger's neighborhood where max drove a trolley and peeked inside some little doors and played with a huge one of these. it was about 5 feet tall and 3 feet wide. max had a blast with this. i had fun watching him have a blast.

then we moved on to the attic, where there are lots of fun old school things to play with. these are things they had at the old buhl planetarium. from there we played with some match box cars that max thought he could take home with him and he also drove a mini cooper. totally cute.

then we went on to the nursery where max played with a few toys that were probably more his speed than anything else and i fed andy. then we went up to waterplay. where max took a shower and so did i! all the other kids were sorta damp, not my max, he was soaked. he seriously put his head under the water and stood there. he also tried to drink from the spouts, ick... i have some funny video but it's not uploaded yet. after about 45 minutes in this area, max exclaimed that he was all done so we changed him into dry clothes and went to the cafe for lunch where he had a melt down, tried diet coke for the first time (decided he didn't like it) and ate a cheese burger and some fries.

we were in the car no less than 2 minutes when he fell asleep. frankly if i weren't driving i would have been that way too... it was a really fun time and all of us enjoyed it and we can't wait to go back.

knitting report. i'm on row 30 of my feb lady sweater. i found some mistakes and it looks like i'm short either 20 or 30 stitches in regards to my increases. i was tired when i did my calculating so i need to go back and do it again to make sure that my numbers are indeed as screwy as i think they are. however i also decided that i needed new, longer circulars to continue with this project. i was using 32 in size 8's.... and i need to be trying this on as we go so i called yarns unlimited in sewickley to see what they had and i then promptly drove there to pick them up. i got 47 in addi turbo lace circulars and i'm excited to try them out. one thing that i've already noticed is that the cord is super soft and not all squirrelly. i had a pair of cheapo ones from joanns that seriously recoil every time they are left to sit unworked... it's annoying and i can already tell that this will be a nice feature to these new ones :) i'm now well rested and by tonight i'll be ready to recount and refigure my errors and make my decision as to rip or just keep going just adding a few extra increases as i go to get to the right number needed.

go get a drink and take a seat

knitting at the beach, what a treat! talk about relaxing! i finished my bag, i made a HUGE mistake in it and frankly it's pretty obvious but i couldn't figure out how to fix it without frogging it and i knew that if i frogged i would risk messing it up even more.... so i left it because frankly it's a market bag, i'm going to put fruit and veggies in it from the farmers market and really all it needs to do is hold those items. it already looks super as it is and unless i encounter another knitter while using it i would bet that most people wouldn't even notice it... plus it's such a huge mistake that it almost goes completely around the entire bag and it's right in the middle so really it COULD have been deliberate.... finished photos to come soon, i bought ribbon for a strap and i need to sew that on before i will take finished photos of it.

vacation was perfect. chris and i both got a nice break from being full time parents. with so many hands and arms around to hold and play with the boys we hardly held on to them at all the entire week :) willing family members and grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins ROCK! andy spent nearly NO time on the floor this week... which i'm sure he liked but it meant that he didn't practice rolling over much. before we left he would sometimes do it but not consistently. since we returned home, if placed on the floor or in his crib, he will be on his belly in no time and reaching for anything within reach. he has also started to play with things :) jennifer, the ball and rattle are the top two items that he likes to play with and i've finally managed to get max to understand that they are andy's toys and not his to play with.

another cute thing that happened is max has started to talk to andy. yesterday max was holding a ball, he looked at andy, pointed to the ball and said "ball" to him as if to teach him what it was :) max was very serious about it and he didn't exclaim "ball" to him like he usually does to us. i think he's taking this brother thing very seriously.

ok, vacation details... let's see.... mostly we relaxed on the beach, max collected rocks for us and dug in the sand. by about thursday he was hip to actually getting into the water on his own. chris didn't have much time to relax at the beach due to this. we took the fairy to cape may one day. it was a major time suck. the boat ride took 75 minutes each way and then we had to take a shuttle that took about 30 minutes each way as well. plus we had two kids, camera gear and a double jogger to get on the shuttle bus... that was a little stressful. thankfully again we had some extra hands around. but it was still slightly annoying and way too commercial once we got there. we did have a good lunch and bought some yummy fudge from the fudge kitchen. but while there someone had an accident and the entire town lost power. making shopping without cash a little difficult. anyways, back on the fairy we went, i had a stiff drink to smooth my nerves and that was that. the following evening chris and i had a date night at a cool restaurant called agave, it was a tequilla bar and the food there was OUTSTANDING! best meal all week. we cooked in most every other night, and only managed to have lunch out twice. blah...

one morning the whole crew decided to take a bike ride, i had to stay back with andy so i put him in the stroller and set out to find the local yarn shop. it was called ginger moon fine yarn and antique shop. i found this: http://www.ravelry.com/yarns/library/austermann-bambou-soft
i know, not the same link i gave you in the last post. but in my opinion better :) this will be my yarn for my version of the feb lady sweater. i've swatched, i'm right on with gauge and i hope to cast on tonight after the boys go to bed. it's such a lovely color! photos to follow or be at least uploaded to flickr and ravelry very very soon!

overall, i was really glad we decided to vacation with chris's family. i'll admit, i was a little nervous about it but really it was quite lovely and very relaxing. if you have young children and have considered vacationing with family but thought that it might end up stressful. you might want to rethink it. the grandparents and aunts and uncles had a blast with max and andy and max and andy loved having a lot of time to play with them as well.

ok, back to reality

yawn....

i need a nap.

i need to put the clean clothes away.

i need to pack.

i need to clean.

i need to relax.

we're preparing to head out of town this weekend for a week's stay at the beach with chris's family. it should be fun, i hope it's fun. i ran to kmart today for a few incedentals and ended up dropping $75.... that's the most i've ever spent there... but i attribute it to having to buy about 8 greeting cards... damn those things are expensive.... it sucks.

max is a horror these past few days. refusing food. cranky pants. coloring on carpets, doors and toys. screaming at the top of his lungs and flinging himself onto every piece of furniture and every floor of every room. it's a lovely sight. i am not sure what the entire reason for this behavior is... it may be some more teeth... it might be that he has some sort of sick... doubtful.... but i think it's called a toddler and being very near to being 2 yrs old and his lack of communication skills.

he is saying new words daily. i really don't know how many things he can say but he can say a lot. but he still can't communicate well. this has got to be so frustrating... i feel his pain. i want to understand him so it's just as frustrating to me.

andy is doing well. he's finally regulating his feeding schedule and not eating every 45 minutes to an hour... he went through a major growth spurt last week so that has tappered off. he's also huge. he is 4 months old now and he's currently wearing clothing that is 6-9 months. he's very long. he is also getting the hang of naps and his nighttime sleeping. a pattern has arrived. but it's very easily disturbed... fun times are ahead while we beach it next week...

on the knitting front. i'm still working on everlasting:

i'm about half way complete. i need to join new balls soon (i'm using two strands of hempathy so that it's sturdy enough). i'll be taking this as my beach knitting. i also checked out ravelry for info on some local yarn shops near where we will be staying. there are three. i think i'll take a little me time one morning and check these shops out. maybe find some yarn for MY lady sweater :)

i might check in once or two next week, in order to do that i have to go to the local library. it's not within walking distance... so that's a deterrent.

until then i leave you with this, my giggly little baby:

baby kimono for petra

i knit my first sweater! and maybe it's doesn't quite count because it's a baby sweater and there is really not much in terms of shaping but i had to do increases and decreases and there is even an eyelet edge :) but i loved this little pattern and i completed it in record time :) i plan on making a few more for new babies on the horizon. i might even try to make one for andy, by increasing the size... however he's turning out to be quite a little porker so i'm not sure how large to make it...

this is the mama to be, she's due aug 10th. and i think she looks great! this past october, she married a good friend of ours, leo, who chris met a few weeks before he met me :) so i've known leo about as long as i've known chris. the three of us used to hang out pretty often and leo is like a brother to me. i've grown just as close to his wife now too and that's awesome :) they are planning on naming their little girl Petra.

here's a close up detail of the ribbons which couldn't have matched any better:
now i'm on the lookout for something new to knit...

mom's night out and a bit of a hodge podge

this past weekend i had my first mom date without any kids or husbands since having maxwell. it was great! my friend annie and i went to see dave matthews. annie is an avid concert goer and i on the other hand haven't been to see a live show in over 7 years i think. it's been so long that i can't even remember the exact date. needless to say, this mom date was totally worth it and i had so much fun that i can't wait to do it again.

the wedding. the wedding went off perfectly! the weather couldn't have been more pleasant. my boys couldn't have behaved any better, the tent couldn't have looked prettier (you can see the fun paper flowers we made in the photo of max below) and the happy newly weds couldn't have been more in love :) *cheese* they are currently traveling the north eastern coast in Maine and plan to be back in the burgh this weekend.


here's a photo that my cousin, johanna, took of my little guy max. so far it's the best photo that captures his cute little outfit :) andy had the same thing on.
ooh, knitting. well.... first, annie wouldn't let me knit while we tailgated on saturday. sooooo, the little bib i was working on did NOT get finished. but i did manage to complete the finishing touches to the sweater so that i could give it to the mama to be on sunday. she loved it, i took photos of it with her. i'll share those in the next post.

good friends

so today i got out of the house with my little guy. he went with me to my monthly knitting get together. it was a very enjoyable time and i wanted to briefly blog about it before i forgot about some details that really just made me happy to be a part of this group of lovely ladies.

a few observations:
1 - these ladies are great! all of them! while sitting there, i realized how truly awesome they are. some of us have kids, some of us don't. those that don't are just as interested and excited about the little ones as the ones that are mamas. and totally ok with listening to the mamas and our constant banter about babies, and being a mom. the mamas, wow, i realized what a great group we've got going here. i think we all swapped something with one another today. i had a maternity coat to give back to amy, she had a few things to return to carrie and amanda (we missed you dear), annie had supposed germs for us to catch and take to our lovely homes (kidding) and a few others had loaned or promised other baby items to each other as well. it all was a reallly interesting how much we all had borrowed from each other. what an awesome system we've got going here.

2 - in addition to loaning and swapping of these items, i was the recipient of a few lovely gifts! thank you so much amy and melissa! everything is much appreciated! photos of amy's knitted gifts to follow in an upcoming post.

3 - also we all swapped lots of stories and understanding, and ideas for our kids and babies and family and recipes too. and we all loaned out our ears for lots of listening to each others stories.

4 -ooh and the food, lots of wonderful food! i need that marshmallow recipe michelle, what a fun and different desert option!

5 - and just because i think i mentioned everyone else above that has a blog, i didn't want to leave you out jen, i'll be emailing you this week to set up a playdate. thanks for holding andy for a bit. and thanks blogless erin for doing the same, ooh and thanks to melissa for making andy fall asleep too.

i had a very refreshing time and am glad that you all are part of my life :) i'm looking forward to the april get together!

third time IS a charm and other topics

ok, booties are complete, sorta kinda... i just have to sew them up and sew on some buttons. an hours worth of work, tops. blankie, totally complete and ready to be gifted. this is the second scalloped blankie that i've made from bend the rules sewing by amy karol. this time i used flannel on one side and a wavy chenille on the other. i didn't use a third middle layer since both outer layers were slightly poofy without the middle layer. it took me half the time to sew this one than it did the first one i did for amanda. this one took just over two hours from beginning to end. can't beat that! i need to now pin up and sew the other two i need to make for my own kiddos and i'll be right on track. photos of everything to follow after the weekend.

i went to visit my friend emma at the hospital this evening, she had her third baby on sunday, his name is henry. he's perfect! it was nice to see her and her new little guy :) it was also funny to walk onto the maternity floor at the hospital (where i'll be delivering in a few short weeks) to be greeted by the warm friendly nurses that work there. i had to ask for emma's room number and once she gave it to me the two nurses asked when i would be back! LOL i thought that was pretty funny. anyways, emma is doing well and so is her little guy, they both get to go home first thing tuesday morning.

not much else is new with me. i've been having braxton hicks in the evenings but nothing that is uncomfortable and nothing that is able to be timed.

max is effectively down to one nap, it's been about a week now that he's been taking one long nap in the middle of the day. i thought it would be hard on me... but it's actually going to be ok. since it's such a long span of time that he's napping, it makes it easier for me to get some things done. at least for the moment. until everything goes into a tail spin in a few weeks.... he also got a few more teeth. although he won't let me poke around in there long enough to really get a good idea of how many. he got two during chrismas and i believe he just got two more. that brings us to a total of 12. he's also doing super well with a fork and he can almost get things loaded onto his fork himself. almost.... in a few weeks i imagine it won't be an issue at all.

tips for mamas out there with little ones who aren't using a fork yet. we started out with those plastic forks that are rather nubby and the prongs are very pointy for obvious reasons. however we inherited a few old toddler forks from chris's family in the past few months, they are metal and are basically just smaller sized regular old forks. let me tell you. these have helped max tremendously in keeping food ON the fork. they actually grab the food and it stays there unlike the plastic variety. if you can find some of these, it's worth it to purchase a few. we won't be going back to plastic forks again. also, in a pinch he can totally use an adult sized fork, usually i give him one of the smaller/shorter pronged forks that we use and he's had no trouble with those either. it's amazing how fast this stuff changes!

look for photos of the completed craft projects either late this coming weekend or early next week.

how many times can i reknit a bootie?

apparently the answer is 3 times...

i have knit this one bootie twice so far... third time is a charm right? the worst part about it is that while knitting i get so itchy and annoyed at these little things that i can't WAIT to be done with this gift. the shower is the 26th (i think i miss-spoke at the knitting get together and said it was THIS weekend when it's really next weekend the 26th) at least i have another week and almost a half to complete another damn bootie and cut and sew up a blankie or three for that matter.... ha! this weekend, that's my goal is to sit at the sewing table for a while :)

but back to this damn bootie, i realized that i started my straps two rows too soon.... i can pull out the straps and keep on going but i hate to do that... but for times sake and for my noses sake i probably should...

i have also made a little more headway on a hat for chris. he needs a new hat in a bad way i really really need to finish this for him sooner rather than later. reports back from my dad who uses his hat daily when he takes walks in the morning. he loves it! "it's snug but not too tight that it leaves marks on your forehead when you take it off"! yay! that's the sign of a great hat according to my dad!

as for me. i'm doing the same as i was last week. but at least i've had over a full week of normal sleep so i feel pretty normal in relative terms. i am starting to notice little things that are probably not very important that in my head are signaling that labor is soon to come. usually just pains in strange places that i haven't felt since i was really close to having max. plus i've been having small cramp-like contractions in the evenings for most of this week. nothing time-able but still noticeable.

to all my knitting friends, thanks for coming to my house on sunday for knitting! you have no idea how much i appreciate you coming out this way :) i do have to apologize though, i was in a sluggish mood and felt like i wasn't being the best hostess. i hope you all understand! and as a few of you pointed out, babies ARE in fact able to attend so hopefully i'll be able to make it to a few of the next few get togethers after andrew arrives.

happy new year!

it's 2008! i can't believe it! lots of great things to come this year, a new baby, a few vacations this summer and lots of family time.

so far this holiday season has been wonderful. chris has been off of work for what seems like forever. he doesn't go back to work full time until the 14th. between now and then we have a few meetings here at the house and he as to spend a few half days at school too to get things ready for the semester. but for the most part we STILL have about two weeks of play time left. having him home has been such a treat for max and ME. i've come to rely on him an aweful lot due to me just being so damn huge and uncomfortable. and frankly i'm dreading him going back to work because he's such a huge help around the house and with max.

we celebrated the new year with some friends who came over last night. i made some yummy snacks (they were super delish) and we played left right center for a few rounds. then around 11 pm, they went home, she's expecting and only 8 or 9 weeks along so she's super sleepy and couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. so chris and i 1st broke the tv then as fate would have it by 11:30 it magically fixed itself so that we could watch some rather lame countdown to the new year programming. this is kinda funny actually, i tuned to KDKA's local first night coverage to find them announcing the clarks up on stage. now i'm not a FAN of the clarks by any means but you really can't be a pittsburgher and NOT know a few of their songs. chris and i were then joking around and i said, "oh man i HOPE they play the penny song." totally NOT expecting them to do that since it's sortof a slow song with make out qualities.... but wouldn't you know it, that's the FIRST song they PLAYED? we were both hysterical about that... everyone in the crowd was swaying back and forth and it was totally lame... from there we flipped between the other local stations and a few news channels. midnight struck, we kissed, chris took a few videos of this.... he had been drinking heavilly and thought this was the height of hilarity. he also documented my huge belly and the cats and we went to bed. fun times!

today, i'm not doing much, we took the tree down this morning and put the living room back together. i left the other christmas decorations up though... i don't want to put those away just yet. max went down for a nap after that. and i've been since watching Run's House. my parents are planning to stop by shortly so i do need to go get dressed and make some brownies to take to my sil's house for dinner tonight.

as for knitting and crafting: i need to step on the gas. i have a baby shower to attend in 26 days, i need to knit one more bootie for that and sew the two of them up. i also have to make a scalloped blankie for that shower too. plus i need to sew two more scalloped blankies for max and andrew. i think i mentioned this before that i've decided that andrew is going to bring max's blankie to him as a little arrival gift. i hope max GET'S it. or at least likes the blankie. i've decided the deadline for those is also the 26th. i want to be done at least 2 weeks prior to my due date since i'm convinced that i'm going early. ha! if that isn't a jinx, i don't know what is.

max is totally moved into his new room. he loves it! i've moved his clothes in there too and chris is currently painting a set of shelves that he made for him. they are a sunny orange color that is going to look awesome with the blue walls. photos to come soon, i promise! i put some of max's 12 month clothings into storage, moved it all to his new dresser and put out some 0-3 month items into the nursery. all i have left to do is a very thorough cleaning of the nursery and then andrew is more than welcome to arrive.

i'm now having a hard time coming up with a way to end this post. so i suppose i'll leave you with a photo, my cutie pie:

happy new year everyone!

on the 4th day of christmas - we all crashed

gosh.... three days of parties and eating and family and gahhh.... we are finally taking a day to just do nothing. i'm catching up on blogging and photos chris did some work in the basement and took the car to have the allignment fixed (he just left to pick it up). then he's heading out to barne's & noble to do a little shopping with a gift card he just got. i'm planning on heading to the basement to tackle a mountain of laundry soon... but before that i thought i would write about our christmas (ooh and my birthday too) first.

dec. 24th, my 31st birthday. really, i am not very excited about this one. i'm not depressed about it or anything just not overly excited about it. we decided to have my family over for lunch. and we decided that chris would cook us filet. we had watched an alton brown episode a few months ago about purchasing and preparing an entire filet. so on our last trip to costco, we did just that. chris cleaned it and cut a few filets and a few small roasts from the large hunk of meat. he then prepared the filets like this. i made a salad of fresh spring greens, manderine orange slices, dried cranberries, pecans, blue cheese crumbles and a raspberry vinigarette. the salad and the filet were a perfect pairing for lunch. everyone enjoyed it except for max. it was little on the peppery side for him. so we rinsed his meat off in the sink and he ate a few more bites... i think crackers filled him up earlier.... anyways, then we had a yummy raspberry and cranberry "flan" from giant eagle. it was more like a vanilla pudding tort with raspberries and cranberries on top. it was very tasty and not too sweet. i then recieved a few really nice gifts. my parents gave me new stainless steal canisters for the kitchen to replace my yellow ones that needed to be replaced and some cash to get some new things after andrew arrives. jesse and heather gave me a really nice framed photo of max and me from earlier this year. and two ornements for the tree. and chris and max surprised me the most by giving me my very own Flip video camera. chris has one of his own but it's mainly used for work. this one is mine and will stay with me at the house during the day so that i can capture max and soon andrew too while daddy is at work. that was a huge surprise that i really was NOT expecting.

then everyone left. we all took naps and then at 5:30 we packed up max and all his crap and went to see my aunt, uncle and a few cousins for the evening. this was very nice and max started his round of opening gifts. this was the first time that he seemed to sorta "get it" in terms of opening gifts.... sorta.... they got him the fisher price airport, wow have times changed. when my brother and i had this toy over 25 years ago, it was just the tiny little airport gate with a huge oversized airplane. now this thing comes with runway, check-in gates a ramp, a bridge, a little plane, a taxi, and a helocopter and three Little People. max loves it! he's been playing with it since then on almost an hourly basis. around 10pm we had decide that we were sick of chasing max around their home so we packed him up and came home. after we put max to bed, we cleaned up, and purged some of his old toys. some went to the basement for storage and some went into a pile for the st. vincent depaul store. he hasn't even noticed that they are gone :) i also sorted some books out of rotation.

then santa came, we put his easel together and i wrote a little message on it to max from santa. then i sat down and cried. yep, i cried because santa had come. and now i'm getting teary again. it's funny because santa came last year but max was way too little to know so we didn't do anything too special about it. but this year it seemed like it was just so much more real and that it was the start of a really fun adventure for the next few years so i cried. chris laughed.

the next day we got up with max, i video taped him coming in to see what santa had brought. and to open his gifts from us. he was a little overwhelmed and seemed to just want to find that airport from the night before. but we got through it, then we packed him up again, and went to my parents for brunch. my brother and his fiance were there too. it was all very nice. max got a few more gifts, we all got some nice things too, we had some great food, then jesse and heather packed up and left to visit with her family in erie. then we just had a nice time relaxing and hanging out with my parents. it was quiet and peaceful and just the way the holiday should be.

then after max took a nap and before we had dinner, chris, my dad and max took a hike down to the park to play. max had a great time until he fell and got a small boo boo on his mouth. he only cried for a minute though then then all turned around and came back home where we put max down for another nap because he wanted one. and then we all sat down to dinner. it was actually kinda nice that max was napping through dinner. nice little relaxing meal.

i snapped this photo as the guys were headed out for their hike. this is max (duh) and my dad. note the matching hats. i mentioned in a previous post that i had knit a had for my dad for christmas but it turned out to be too small. so i made a few adaptations and the 2nd one turned out perfect. he loves it! it fits him well too! i also gave him a bottle of homemade lemoncello and he loved that too. we had some after dinner (i only had a little bit) and he really enjoyed it :)

oh photo:

jeez, this is going to turn out like one of annie's marathon blog posts.... it's soooo long so far and i'm not even through yesterday.... *wink*

then yesterday, dec 26th, we headed to visit with chris's family. there were 13 people there. some of them i had never met... dinner was very yummy. there were lots of germs to be contracted, and we all received some very nice gifts as well. we pulled names in his family too. this year my sil pulled my name and she got me a gift card to my LYS and two new knitting books. The Knitters Bible and Style Your Own Kids' Knits. both are great resources and i can't want to jump into a new project. i currently have NOTHING on my needles. and i think i trip to the yarn shop is in order asap. then since my birthday was the 24th my mil got me an oval casserole with a lid just like i asked for and two gift cards to joann's yay!

max got 13 new books overall so my sanity has been saved :) he loves them all. and so far doesn't miss the ones that we took out of rotation.

i'm glad that our holiday tour is over. our next social commitment isn't until new years day. and that makes me happy. although chris said to me that he's not sure if he can keep this relaxing thing up for 14 more days until he goes back to work.... i told him that he has earned it and he needs to enjoy it because that's why he works his tail off during the semester. this is really the first year that he's not had a ton of other work to do while he was on break from point park. so getting used to it is a challenge. i on the other hand love the free time and the naps :)