Knitting Update: Quick Scarf & Dying Yarn

 Even when it's hot,  I love knitting.  I am in the midst of some longer projects, and needed some quick gratification.  Enter two skeins of Noro Silk Garden and a "recipe" for a pattern called the Potato Chip Scarf.

 Simple short rows on a small amount of stitches yield a fun and addictive knit--I finished this one in two days, and I look forward to cooler weather to wear it in!

 I also stumbled into some natural colored 100% wool yarn, and decided to try my hand at dying.  With my intrepid helper, we have attempted both solar dying and immersion dying--using simple food coloring.

It is fun, and has yielded some pretty cool yarn.  It's a bit more pastel than I would like, so I'm feeling tempted toward using dyes made more for wool.  I have one skein left, and Lincoln is leaning toward blue.  We may try handpainting it!

How to Have a Clean Kitchen

Step One:  Turn on a moderately dirty burner on high.
Step Two:  Notice flames climbing up over the pan, toward the vent.
Step Three:  Calmly take out a fire extinguisher and spray it at the fire.
Step Four:  Vacuum, scrub, dishwash, and otherwise remove all traces of white powder.
Step Five:  Ta-da!  Enjoy a clean kitchen!

My First Mother's Day

Pick me up, mama!

Today is my first "real" Mother's Day. As my babe turns 1 at the end of this month, I have been a mom for almost a whole year. A huge shout-out to my mom, for whom I have even more appreciation and love, now that I have experienced this motherhood thing. And now, a Mother's Day Top Ten.

Top Ten Things I Like About Being a Mama

10. When Lincoln is asleep and I can read, knit, surf the web, clean, or chat with someone, at a hugely more efficient rate than I ever have before.
9. When Lincoln is awake and I can chat with him!
8. When nursing with me is the most comforting thing in his universe.
7. When people in the store comment on how cute he is.
6. When I see how happy my parents are with their grandbaby, and my sister is with her nephew.
5. When he gets so excited about cheerios and eats them so precisely.
4. When he gets so excited about squash and wolfs it down.
3. When he concentrates on something--like the blocks he stacked this week!
2. When he dances to music.
1. When he snuggles up to me, and I realize that though I could also make a Top Ten list on the things I don't like about being a mama, the things I do like are worth so much more.

Stay-at-Home Mom Files: Hooded Towel

The wee bud was starting to outgrow his baby hooded towel, and I just knew there had to be a simple way to make one. So, I googled "hooded towel patterns" and ended up selecting this website's set of directions. I used my humble sewing skills, $6 worth of towels from Target, and ended up with two big and comfy hooded towels. Mr. Cool is now working on how to make an adult male sized version.

The wee lad models his new towel

A Published Author

If you can find a Denver Post today (Tuesday), and find the lifestyle section, and read The $25 Haiku, you will read my first published work of "literature." I wrote the winning haiku on the theme of yarn:

My small son watches
Yarn twisting 'round my needles
His green hat growing

This has been a very exciting occurrence for this stay at home mom!

Original Sin

My six-month-old knows that he is not supposed to grab the corner of his blanket. He had just been told no about 30 seconds prior to this picture. Look at the look on his face--he's thinking, "Oh-ho, mama, I'm going to put my hairy toe over the line and see what happens!" He may be the world's most delightful baby, sleeping well, making cute-cute sounds, and dealing well with his croupy cold, but he is going to press any boundary given him.

Not seen in photo--Mr. Cool hanging out in his Snuggie!

Stay-At-Home Mom Files: Daytime TV Observations

The other thing I watch during the day!

Lest you think I am just swanning about the house in my bathrobe, eating bon-bons and watching TV, I will quickly justify myself here: the wee lad still spends a chunk of the day nursing away, which gives me the freedom to watch some daytime TV. Now, anyone who has spent some time about the house on a weekday knows that daytime TV can usually be placed in three categories: talk shows, game shows, and soap operas. Here are my top picks for each category:

Talk Show: Rachael Ray--now it might just be my Food Network withdrawal, but I like watching Rachael's show. It's fun, has good tips, she cooks a couple of times, and it's not weird or gross in any way. My one complaint is that sometimes 9:45 is a bit early in the morning to think about dinner, so I've usually forgotten her idea by the evening. Runner-Up: Ellen, who is also fun and puts celebrities in a dunk tank, and thanks to her I've learned that Harry Connick, Jr. has absolutely no aim with a baseball.

Game Show: Price is Right--my #1 daytime show, the one I'll watch even if the lad isn't having 2nd breakfast. I think Drew Carey is perfect as the "new" host, and I just love watching people lose it. I'm already working on my ideas for a t-shirt if Mr. Cool ever takes me to Hollywood and the Bob Barker Studio. Runner-Up: Let's Make a Deal, as Wayne Brady is pretty funny (although I, for one, always think of his Chapelle Show sketch whenever I see him) and Zonks are a good time.

Soap Opera: Days of Our Lives--now, I've been watching Days on and off for about twelve years, and as I watching it the other day, I realized that the fine folks of Salem are in the midst of their second baby-switch drama in that time span. Now, I had a C-section, and after the wee one was born, Mr. Cool stayed with me while they stitched me up. That's right--someone had ten minutes in which to switch my baby! This whole non-morning person stuff is making sense! Runner-Up: None. I also watched Passions, but they took that off the air. Thankfully, the best-looking guy on Passions is now on Days. Serendipity!

Not a Morning Person?

Lincoln working on a nap in his crib.

I enjoy, as Lincoln grows older, the emergence of his personality. This morning, I think I was granted an interesting peek into who he is, and it reminded me of his Aunt Sarah and Auntie Hannah.

The lad usually awakens between 5-6:30 AM to nurse. After he nurses for an hour (during which I watch an episode of Mad Men (my report in full will be coming soon, Hannah)), he goes back to sleep for about two hours. This morning, he was up at 5:45, nursed until 6:45, and then went back to sleep. I showered, vacuumed, emptied the dishwasher, read the morning paper, and drank some tea with my toast.

About 8, I heard some waking up noises from my boy, so I hurried to his room. I leaned over his crib, and saw his bright blue eyes. "Good morning, Lincoln!" I said, all keyed up to begin the happy morning routine. He looked at me, pulled his blanket all the way over his head, made some "growly bear noises" (so named by Grammie Joy), and went back to sleep for 45 minutes. I don't think I'm dealing with a morning person here.

Stay-At-Home Mom Files: Microwave Popcorn

I had a great teaching idea the other day, and realized I probably won't be using it for a while. I must turn my mind to more domestic matters. So, I present a problem and solution for your enjoyment, enlightenment, or my need to write and communicate with someone.

Problem: Mr. Cool and I like popcorn. Microwave popcorn is expensive and often unhealthy. My old and reliable air popper can be a bit unreliable, spray popcorn about the room, and take too much effort for Mr. Cool. (Sorry, honey, but you said it.)

Solution: Homemade Microwave Popcorn. Take a brown paper lunch sack, fill it with 1/4 cup popcorn kernals, 1 tsp. oil (optional), and salt (also optional). Shake. Put in the microwave for about 1 min. 40 s. Keep an ear on the popcorn, and stop it when it when more than 2 seconds pass between pops. Shake bag, and pour into a bowl. Add any seasonings you would like.

Thoughts: This made me very excited yesterday. I'd seen recipes on the 'net for this--search homemade microwave popcorn and you'll find many, many posts/recipes/ideas--but I hadn't tried it yet. It tastes great, makes you feel fun and subversive, and for about $13, you can have enough popcorn and bags for 100 batches. Try it out!

Sleep Paranoia

How will I sleep tonight? You'll have to wait and see, Mama.

The babe slept great last night. Only one small peep between 9 PM and 5:45 AM, when it was time for first breakfast. He's asleep now, in his quest for nearly twelve hours. This is amazing, and tempts me to fall into a relaxed state about getting a solid 8 hours myself. Many a maternal doomsayer has warned that his quality sleeping habits won't stay--they warn of teething, illness, disrupted nights. I'm sure that's true, and thanks for the positive encouragement, but I want to be able to enjoy his good sleeping.

When he first started putting in quality hours at night, I would wake up frantic every half hour or so. I would ask Mr. Cool if he was sleeping too much, if I needed to wake him up to feed him, if this was bad that he slept so soundly. I now realize I was merely adding lines to my face, creating the white hair I pulled two weeks ago, and robbing myself of good sleep. There are many things in life we can't guarantee--I don't know that he will sleep well tomorrow--but when things are going well--when my lad curls up with his blanket and knocks out solid hours of sleep--I should relax and rejoice.

I've always tried to live by the ideal that you shouldn't borrow trouble, or worry about tomorrow, but I find these even harder credos with a small babe in house. It takes serious effort to give him up to God, and enjoy the moments as they come. It's effort I'll continue to give.

Oh--I believe my boy has been reading the parenting books. He was almost 4 months when he started sleeping in his crib, and the longest he could fast (sleep with eating) was six hours, just as the book said. The book stated that when he reached 5 months, he could make it nine hours. Sure enough, the night of his 5 month birthday, he hit nine hours before he cried to eat. He's kept to that ever since. He's pretty amazing.

The Vagaries of Sleep

A shocking development today--a post with no adorable pictures of the babe. I had some on my camera--new ones from his four-month birthday yesterday, but I forgot to load them on the computer prior to heading to the library, so this post will merely be words. If you are still reading, thanks. If you are cursing the lack of adorable baby photos, I'm sorry. More will be coming.

I'm adjusting to my new life fairly well--I miss school a bit, but I'm letting myself enjoy the relaxed nature of my days. Our goal everyday is to play, do laundry, dishes, and other household tasks, and try to catch The Price is Right. One of the more difficult things as babies age is sleep.

The newborn babe sleeps a good bit--not always at night, but he does sleep. Now, at 1/3 of a year old, he struggles a bit with sleep. We've had to move into our bright blue IKEA crib with elephant sheets from Target, as we got too big for our basket and chair in mommy's room. We don't seem to love that. See, and some parents will hate me, but for the last two months or so, I generally got 6-8 solid hours of sleep a night. Now, I get about six, but it's broken up into 2-hour chunks, interrupted by solid screaming, that is almost impossible to comfort. I like to think he just misses me, but I could be wrong. The books, and my pediatrician, all tell me I'm doing everything right, that babies have to learn to sleep.

This seems a bit odd, as all a newborn does is sleep, but no, they have to learn it. When you begin to observe life from a baby's perspective, you realize how much changes. My baby doesn't quite know how to go to sleep--he may be dead-tired, but he'll still cry and cry, not just lay down and close his eyes. His mom, on the other hand, 30 years older, would love to just lay down and close my eyes.

This rambled a bit--I haven't been getting a ton of sleep--but I wanted to put down my thoughts on our latest adventure, the final frontier--sleep.

I promise to post pictures later this week.

Back in Black

Kicking is what we do best!

Well, the wee one and I loaded up the laptop and strollered our way to the Safeway, to sit in their wifi hotspot. The wee one was doing fairly well, but is beginning to be a bit frustrated by his confinement in the stroller--he likes to be free to kick his legs.

I think we have tapped into a nice routine for the internet though, as they have chairs and free wifi and are within a quick walk. He is giving me this look--are we done yet, mama? Can I get out? He is dear, and the last few days I have realized I wasn't enjoying this whole process enough--I was focused on surviving, on doing laundry and dishes and changing diapers, and not enjoying him and staying home, and being free to walk to the internet whenever, and watch the making of LOTR documentaries in the middle of the day. So, I gave myself permission to enjoy, and it's been pretty wonderful.

A Quick Book Recomendation: My Aunt in Alaska (official title) sent me The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, which I loved. I read it in two days, which is impressive at this stage of the game, and it was super. I love a good epistolary novel, being raised on Daddy Long Legs.

1st Day of School

So, tomorrow is the first day of school for students at my old school. I could be hanging posters, readying lesson plans, copying syllabi, and writing on my white board. Instead, I'm taking care of my two guys, feeding them, changing one of them, doing their laundry, and playing with rattles and Wiimotes. It's fun, and I love them tremendously, but every now and then, I miss my old job, primarily the intellectual stimulation. I have managed to finish three books this summer, well off my usual summer number, but pretty good for a new mom, I think.

Watching the new Cool grow and change--he will now happily entertain himself with mobiles and activity gyms, smile willingly, hold his head up, and talk happily--is amazing, and I know the older he gets, the more I'll use my brain. My biggest consolation and reward is his amazing cuteness. He is so adorable--I know I'm his mom, but I hope some of you agree!

My two guys catch some Zs.

The wonderful world of footed sleepers--with owls!

Observing the camera, and mom

Some Things are Still Good

And I have an addiction to black and white photography. Caution: Gratuitous baby photos ahead.

2 Months Old with Daddy

Smirking at Mama

Contemplating Life (and Holding Up Head)

With Daddy at Uncle Manny's Wedding

With Elephant from Auntie Hannah

The Peril of Sports: A Cautionary Tale

Mr. Cool and I have been watching a lot of sports. Labor and nursing, at least in our case, have led to a great deal of TV watching, and the world of golf and tennis majors have served as some of the best background. The French Open (tennis), US Open (golf), and Wimbledon (tennis) have entertained us over the last month plus. It's been a good time, with lots of good competition, but there has been a drawback.

Mr. Cool has decided that he would like to play more golf and tennis. I'm all for exercising, and the inspiration of Tiger and Roger is great. However, to play these sports, you need equipment. Luckily, Mr. Cool owns tennis rackets, if he can ever claim them from his brother, and tennis balls are relatively cheap. We even have a nice tennis court about five minutes away from our house. Golf, on the other hand, is not cheap. The equipment and greens fees could set you back quite a bit. For now, he seems okay with merely researching and looking at golf clubs, and postponing his dream until he has the time to search out used clubs of a recent vintage.

I'm just worried about this winter, when the 2010 Winter Olympics (in Vancouver!) may inspire him to take up luge, bobsled, or the biathlon.

What a Difference One Month Makes

Lincoln on May 30, when we brought him home.

Lincoln today, June 28, his one-month birthday.

This onesie is going to be our measuring stick for our boy's growth. Check back in a month to see if he continues to grow!

Mommyblog Transformation

Politics, knitting, reading . . . now I base my day around feedings and diapers. I am however, excitedly typing this with both hands, as my little one has grown enough to fit into my mei tai carrier. He is fast asleep cuddled up to my chest, nice and happy, while I have hands free to type, unload the dishwasher, and fold laundry.

I am watching plenty of news, sportscenter, and other TV, but all I feel capable talking about is being a mother. They are not lying about the life transformation this is. You think you are prepared for it, but there is no possible way to be fully ready.

Starting last week, the new Cool entered an interesting phase--he leaks through his diapers. Just pee, not poop, thank goodness, but he leaks fairly constantly. The first day this became a problem, he went through eight onesies and I had to wash every shirt I was then comfortably wearing. Today, he is wearing a onesie that he a slight leakage in, and I am wearing jeans that were leaked on. We've moved on. It's just a little pure, clean baby pee. See? This is how your life changes. Those who really know me, know that I typically change clothes instantly (if possible) if I get any dirt on them, and here I am comfortably wearing jeans with baby pee on them. Of course, they are my only pair of jeans, and I've done my one load of laundry for the day.

Anyway, now that I've rediscovered my two hands, I hope to be posting on more than just L. Although, as long as I throw in a picture, I know most of my regulars won't mind.

We've Kept Him Alive Three Weeks

Feel free to add your own captions.

Things I Am Learning

I now know how to load the washer/dryer and eat one-handed. I am even beginning to master breastfeeding one-handed. I can give you the low-down on TV on late-at-night--you are guaranteed some That 70s Show reruns. I am learning the delights of two consecutive hours of sleep. I can act excited about changing a diaper. I can only type for about three minutes before I realize that my baby is asleep, so I should be too. But wait--I need to fix some sort of dinner! Where's my nanny/maid? (Oh, right--I sent my mom home before I became too addicted.)