Christmas Project Update

I finished the birthday gift for Scott's mom. I made her a beaded bracelet with the names of all her kids on it. It fell apart on me twice, and I failed to notice that I put the wrong charms next to two names. Until she was looking at it on her birthday, that is! Oh well. I may get some wire and borrow Heather's beading tools again and redo it for her at New Year's. It's a little big for her wrists.

This is Big Girl's hat. I can't seem to get the furry brim on any garment to be quite wide enough. I wish there was more to this. Also, I'm a bit concerned that it won't fit her. The pattern didn't give a size, it just says "child." I managed to get it on Big Boy's head, but he tore it off before I could snap a picture saying "This not [mine]. This is [Big Girl]'s." But it just fit him. Big Girl is bigger. It's still on my needles, but I'm also looking at the date and thinking about how much I still have to do for Christmas. I have another hat to make, and ornaments for all of Big Girl's therapists, teachers, bus drivers... So I'm wondering what to do.

This is one segment of the Christmas tree skirt I'm making for myself. It isn't all sewn together yet. I will make 16 of these and then sew them together into a large circle, except for one side. That side is supposed to be fastened with velcro, but I may modify the pattern and do ribbon loops around decorative buttons. We'll see.

Last night I sewed together the three middle pieces (the square, the red/ green/ gold plaid, and the paisley) and started the appliques. I've never done applique before and I'm really excited about how it's going. I plan to iron the rest of the appliques on this afternoon and hopefully get all the satin-stitching around the edges done too. I have this really great gold thread to use for that.


The ornaments I'm making for gifts for Big Girl's people will be from the same material and use appliques as well. I hope they go together fast! I still have 3 weeks. But we have a Christmas letter to finish, print, and mail; Christmas program at church to do; and Christmas shopping to finish. And I need to bake some cookies for a cookie exchange and actually do some fun things with the kids!

Argh!

Today we hit a new low. I thought I had seen and been grossed out by everything. NEVER say that.

I was paying bills today and had to run into another room to grab more envelopes. When I came back into the kitchen, I saw this mysterious foamy stuff on the floor. Big Boy was standing to one side and Little Girl was crawling around between two different piles of it.

I first thought it was sudsy and maybe someone had puked. But only dogs do foamy stuff, and we no longer have a dog. It was too much to be from the cat. The kids were fine - nothing was on them. And it didn't really look as wet as puke would.

Then I bent down and examined it closer. It looked kind of like coconut. It didn't really have any odor... at least, not one I could identify, especially since I was thinking "coconut."

I felt it.

It was warm. And damp. It was pellets all stuck together.

And then suddenly, in horrifying sequence, it hit me. I glanced at Big Boy again, saw the Pull-up in his hand, noticed that it was shredded, looked at the stuff in my hand, identified the color as urine-yellow, dropped it, and swiped Anna up out of the middle of it. It was the contents of the pull-up Sam wore last night.

I raced her to the sink (running through pellets in my socked feet) and started scrubbing her hands furiously with soap. Meanwhile, I was yelling, "Oh GROSS! That is DISGUSTING! Big Boy! Who did this? WHY did you do this? Yuck! Yuck!" and trying hard NOT to think about the fact that Little Girl puts everything in her mouth...

Big Boy just stood motionless, diaper still in hand, while Big Girl laughed and Little Girl tried to grab all the dirty dishes in the sink. I put her down in the family room and grabbed a broom. She immediately, in her army-crawl fashion, made a bee-line for the interior contents of the Pull-up. A kitchen chair did not impede her progress enough. I put her in the pack'n'play, where she screamed, and lifted Big Boy out of the mess and plunked him on the couch.

Wet pellets don't sweep up well. I did the best I could with the Swiffer. Then I tried the broom. Then I wiped the floor with disinfecting wipes. I was still getting microscopic pellets.

I never found any traces of diaper contents in Anna's mouth. I guess we'll know for sure if her bowel movements change in the next few days. Ugh.

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Big Boy has developed a new method for eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. This is especially good for the times when you get a heel and don't like to eat the crusty part of the bread. He has attained a new level of photographability too. He was quite willing to pose for me while I took this! I just had to promise to show him the pictures on the camera when I was done.

What I'm Thankful For

Every year at Thanksgiving, my parents write out a non-exhaustive list of what they are thankful for that year. We would then share these lists after our turkey dinner. This year, we spent Thanksgiving with Scott’s side of the family, so I missed this tradition. However, I thought I’d write my list and share it here. Looking back and thanking God for His blessings each year is a great way to remember and get a bigger perspective on the mundane activities of each day.

So this year, I am thankful for:

• God, whose mercy is new every morning and whose faithfulness is larger than the sky.
• Scott, a far better husband than I deserve, a great father to our children, and a faithful servant of our Lord.
• Big Girl, whose sense of humor we are just beginning to see and whose sensitivity to other’s feelings is apparent.
• Big Boy, his hilarious antics, his hugs and kisses, and his love and care for his sisters.
• Little Girl, our newest member of the family.
• a surgery-free year for Big Girl, and her overall improved health.
• all the progress Big Girl has made with her communication device and in school.
• the home that shelters us from heat, rain, snow, and cold.
• All of Grace Baptist Church and the wonderful people there. They built a ramp to the front door for us a couple weeks ago, and we didn’t have to pay for any of the supplies or labor. They have provided free childcare for us and are such an encouragement.
• My youngest sister and the growth and maturity I’ve seen in her life this year. I’m also thankful for getting to see her so much more now that she lives close!
• My middle sister, her husband, and their new baby girl. We have grown much closer to them this year and that is such a blessing.
• My parents and their tireless help and willingness to help with the kids.
• Scott’s parents and for Diane watching the kids while we took a 3-day trip away.
• Our two little getaways this year: one night at a bed and breakfast in July and 3 nights at our friends' wedding in November.
• Big Girl’s new wheelchair and toileting system.
• Reliable transportation and the ramp installed in our van.
• Scott’s raise this year, making our budget actually seem workable and realistic.
• A new home for Paulie. I only recently stopped thanking God for this every time I opened the front door and wasn’t greeted by frenzied barking!
• Funding from Medicaid to widen a doorway and replace most of our carpeting with Pergo so that Big Girl’s wheelchair and walker moves better through our home.
• Antibiotics and doctors who knew that I needed another round to get over the infection! I was sicker than I’ve ever been in March, right before Little Girl was born. I spent a few nights on the recliner in our living room and still wasn’t able to sleep because my coughing and congestion was so bad.

It has been a good year, though we’ve certainly had some pretty low lows. God is definitely working on me, and I’m feeling the burn! Learning to manage three kids, breastfeeding one while potty-training another, and dealing with new discipline issues with all three, all while sleep-deprived and hormonal has stretched me past the breaking point a few times. I have a lot of work to do on myself before I’ll handle that kind of extreme stress the right way! Unfortunately, practice seems to be the only way to learn. I do seem to be doing better, but I feel so bad that I’ve yelled at Big Boy and Big Girl – my expectations and/or demands of them were unreasonable but I took my frustration out on them instead of adjusting my head. I need to learn to bite my tongue more with them, and to apologize to them when I screw up.

I also am learning to make better use of my time. I must have wasted SO much time before! I guess having more kids and therefore exponentially more work to do has forced me to get my rear in gear! I guess I’ve always been the kind of person who worked best under pressure. How much more I could have accomplished in years past if I had just worked as hard then as I am now! And yet I still find ways to waste time… on this computer, mostly!

How 'bout this one?

This one looks like fun! That intricate pattern is called Fair Isle and would certainly keep my interest. It might also take me a year to finish. Or I might get so lost that I give up.

It also would not say "Gary" on top. I don't even know a Gary.

A Shocking Development

Almost exactly one year ago, I got something I had wished for for 2 years. We found a new home for our then-eight-and-a-half-year-old Dalmatian, Paulie. My unhappiness with him had grown over the years of my marriage to Scott (Paulie was Scott's before we were even dating). It grew as Big Girl's reactions to his barking intensified. We began to notice fairly soon after she was born that his barking really startled her. Then she began to cry when he would bark. (And he barked a lot, often for no reason we could see or hear.) By last summer, she would cry hysterically when he would bark and got very nervous when he was close to her.

This was understandably hard to watch and difficult to get her through. We had kept hoping she would grow out of it, but instead, she just seemed to get worse. So we started looking around and putting out the word that we were looking for a new home for Paulie. Last Thanksgiving, we took him down to live with Scott's grandmother, who had actually owned Paulie's mother. She just planned to keep him for a week and see how it went, but he won her over and hasn't been back to our house since.

I was so relieved to have him gone that I told Scott I didn't need any Christmas gifts last year! It was so nice to come home and not be greeted by ferocious barking. It was great to have no dog poop in the backyard this summer. During the rainy spring, I breathed a sigh of relief every morning that I didn't have to let him out into the mud to do his business and mop floors after his return. But I was especially happy to have provided Big Girl with a more peaceful home to live in.

Last night we took a walk with the kids, figuring it was probably one of the last evenings the weather would be warm enough. When we got home, we suddenly spotted a puppy running around in between our yard and the neighbors. No-one else was around. This little guy was very friendly and let Scott carry him around as we looked for his owner. We had no luck, so we brought him home.

I have to confess. This puppy was so sweet. He was quiet and calm and got along with our cat and loved the kids. I actually had a bag of puppy food in the house (given during a company event this summer), so once he filled his belly, he curled up on a quilt next to Big Girl and fell asleep. He was a honey color and had really light amber eyes, with huge paws. Scott guessed he was a lab but I think he is a mix.

I have to confess. I was falling in love with the little guy. Big Girl liked him. Big Boy liked him. Little Girl was curious. I was actually hoping that we wouldn't find his owner! I was starting to brainstorm. "Let's see. We'll need a bed for him. We'll need food and water bowls, a leash and collar, a box or crate to transport him. We can take him with us to my in-laws and have him seen by my sister-in-law's vet (she's a veterinary assistant there, and their office is WAY cheaper than anything near us)."

I did have some fleeting thoughts of, "I wonder if he's house-trained? I have no idea how to house-train a dog. What if he cries at night? What if he chews up all the toys we have laying around for Big Boy and Little Girl ?" But I banished those thoughts with this one: "We'll figure it out. He's so sweet and Big Girl LIKES him!"

Then, sadly, Scott came in and said that he had found the puppy's owner. The guy was SO relieved that we had found him. And fortunately, the kids were fine saying "Good-bye" to the puppy and letting him go back to his house.

I was sad.

I have actually been imagining going to the local humane society and looking for a puppy.

I've tried telling myself about all the work of a puppy and how overwhelmed I can be right now without one. I do have 3 small children, after all! Plus we'll have poop in the backyard again. And shedding. And expenses - dog food, vet bills, supplies. And probably some barking. And the biggest reason, the one which is really convincing me, is that some day we might want to get Big Girl a service animal (kind of like a guide dog for the blind) to be her companion and assistant. I don't want two dogs. So it would be better to wait and see if she would be a good candidate for one before we make any decisions about more pets. Plus the kids will be older and hopefully I won't be dealing with diapers, potty training, and house-breaking a puppy!

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I really want to try knitting a sock. I had a coupon for 40% off one item at Michaels, so this weekend I went to two different stores looking for a book with Christmas stocking patterns. I'd like to knit one for my niece. I only found one book, and I really didn't like any of the ideas. There are kits available online, but I don't like the colors they include in the kit. I have found some patterns also, and I think that's what I'll end up doing. I'll order the pattern online and then buy the yarn I want. I'm not sure if a Christmas stocking is the best choice for a first sock, but I'm sure that Brooke can bail me out if I get into a pickle!

I saw some beautiful mercerized cotton yarn at Michael's, and now I'm trying to decide what I want to use it for. It's really fine, so I'm thinking perhaps a pair of socks? Maybe I could make some nice long ones for Big Girl's birthday - she needs knee-high socks to wear under her foot orthotics.

The hat for Big Girl is coming along. I haven't gotten to the reducing section yet, though I'm close. I have to knit 4 inches of length, and I think I'm at about 3 inches.

Scott doesn't think that I'll get all my home-made gifts done in time for Christmas. I keep pointing out that Christmas is still a month away. Surely I started in enough time, especially since everything I'm making is small. If I were knitting adult-sized sweaters, then yes. I wouldn't have a prayer of getting ONE done!

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Speaking of Christmas, I am SO proud of myself. Every year we do a Christmas letter and the last two years, I've made my own Christmas cards. That was insane. Last year, as we sat at 1am on Dec 20 signing cards and stuff envelopes, Scott said that we had to simplify the process. So this year I started thinking and researching early. I am thrilled to say that I have all our Christmas cards and bought the paper for the letter. I even bought my stamps last week. All I have to do is write and print the letter, fold it, and stuff envelopes! I even discovered that my online address book will print labels! So as long as I have all the addresses I need, I should be able to print labels and address all the envelopes in a jiffy.

So for the first time since we had children, and possibly in our entire marriage, we will actually mail our Christmas cards in EARLY December! Now if I can just keep up with the laundry...

Comments from my toddler

(This is one of Big Boy's best buddies with him.)

Last night at dinner:
"May I have some juice, pweez? Guys?"

While pointing at a cookie monster costume hanging on the footpost of our bed with a Woody cowboy hat on top:
"Look Mommy! It's Cowboy Cookie!"

After being disciplined by mommy:
"I want Daddy!"

After being disciplined by daddy:
"I want Mommy!"

In response to the question, "What would you like for breakfast?"
"Peanut butter samidge."

After eating real breakfast food:
"I all done. I have piece of candy? Just one?"

From the bathroom:
"Mommy I did BM in the potty! Come see! I show you!"


Regarding Little Girl:
"It's ok, Baby Nana." "Mommy can I make Baby Nana waff?" "I fink Baby Nana is hungry." "She smile wike you." (translated means she smiled at you and likes you.)

Praying last night before bed:
"Thank you for for Thomas and for libary and for Baby Nana and [Big Girl] and Mommy and [me] and Big Bird and [aunt] and [mom's friend] and Baby Nana and [Big Girl]. Say em. The end."

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Knitting Photos
Here is the finally-complete New York Yankees hat. Its new owner and his dad... well, more his dad since the little guy is only 5 months old... are very excited about the set. They belong to a family with quite a long history supporting the Yankees so I guess I can forgive them! (My heart always goes out to the underdog, so I cannot in good conscience support that team!)

This is the wild and crazy hat for Big Girl. I'm knitting in the round from the furry brim up to the top of the head. It's my first experiment with circular needles, and so far it's going well. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

Many thanks to my dear friend for bringing her digital camera to my house last night. Thanks to her, I have these knitting photos today! Notice she didn't send me any photos of herself knitting (which I took) at my house.

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It's time for a nap. Little Girl got me up at 5:30 this morning and I had too much to do to go back to bed. I didn't go to bed til midnight last night for the same reason, so I'm pretty beat. I actually have the younger two asleep at the same time, so I better take advantage of the time! Now if I can just remember to turn the ringer off on the phone on my way to bed...

Quote of the month

A dear friend sent me a quote by G.K. Chesterton today that I had to post. It is a good reminder for moms on those hopefully infrequent days when they are frustrated and feeling unfulfilled by this new job called motherhood. No matter how much we love it, there are times when we wonder if the grass would be greener anywhere else.

"How can it be a large career to tell other people's children about the Rule of Three, and small career to tell one's own children about the universe? How can it be broad to be the same thing to everyone and narrow to be everything to someone? No, a woman's function is laborious, but because it is gigantic, not because it is minute."

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My sister asked me recently how much weight I had lost after having Little Girl just 6 1/2 months prior. She was discouraged by all the weight she had put on in her pregnancy and how she hadn't lost much during her delivery.

Here's my secret. My three children all need to eat when they wake up or they have major meltdowns. By the time I get the four of us dressed and the three kids fed, it's at least 10am. As I sit here today, it's 10:45am and so far my breakfast has consisted of a cup of coffee and a Nutrigrain bar that I just now ate. It seems silly to eat a real breakfast at this point since lunch is less than 2 hours away.

It's easy to lose weight when you skip meals and your kids eat half the food on your plate because they didn't realize that's what they wanted until they saw it on your plate.

Incidentally, I didn't lose the weight after my first baby. We had extenuating circumstances - she was in the hospital for 7 weeks, and then in and out very frequently that first year. People brought us lots of food and even more desserts. This was a huge help because I was incapable of doing meals myself. But I ate a lot and didn't move around much. Big Girl didn't crawl and walk and get into everything so I didn't have to do much to keep her out of trouble. Ok, I did a lot, but it was things like figure out her insane medicine schedule, run her to therapies and doctor's appointments, learn to feed her through a tube inserted into her stomach through her nose, and try to get enough sleep despite having to feed her every 3 hours around the clock because she couldn't gain weight. I started my second pregnancy 15-20 pounds heavier than I was at the beginning of my first.

Having a second child changed everything. It was awesome to have a child progress through all the stages without any effort on my part. It was like having another first-born. Everything was new and amazing. Big Girl  began to learn about taking turns and delayed gratification. I learned to enjoy motherhood. And I was suddenly very busy, very physically active, and without any effort on my part, the weight melted off. All of it.

So dear sister, that's the secret. Have more children and put them first before your stomach. Run back and forth countless times during the day keeping up with laundry, meals, potty trips, housecleaning, errands, and playtime. And go easy on yourself. It will take at least as long to get the weight off as it took to put it on. And if you don't get it off before your next pregnancy, don't despair. It will come off later because life with multiple kids is totally different than life with one.

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I didn't get my sewing machine out Tuesday night. I had a mountain of laundry to do. By the time I got it all washed, dried, and folded, it was 10pm and I was too tired to haul out the machine and start sewing. I knitted on Big Girl's hat instead.

Scott isn't impressed with the yarn I chose for her. He actually said, "It looks like something you got off a clearance table." Guess I won't tell him that each ball cost $9! And I won't be knitting him anything with nubs on it. He like monochromatic and earth tones. This is about as far from that as you can get.

Pictures coming soon!

Kick-boxing anyone?

I went to my first exercise class in 2 1/2 years last night. It was perhaps not the best choice for my re-entry into exercise - kickboxing with the perkiest male instructor I've ever seen. The moves just burst out of his mouth like popcorn. In fact, they "popped" so much it was hard to understand what he was saying! Oh. "Kuh" means uppercut! I finally watched everyone else for what we were supposed to do!

As we finished the warm-up, I actually thought to myself, "Well, this isn't so bad!"

Not so fast.

Two minutes later as we were doing basketball-style sideways slides across the floor for the 20th time, my body started yelling at me.

"Hey! You are 29 years old! You have three children. One of them was born less than 8 months ago! What the heck are you doing?"

"Suck it up and keep moving. Don't embarrass me! You have to start somewhere!"

"Sure. SOMEwhere. but not KICKBOXING!"

I actually finished the class and walked out on my own. It felt pretty good and it was fun, though my joints, especially my knees and hips, definitely let me know that this was strain they were not used to and weren't sure about having just recently carried a baby. My right knee, hip, and right side of my neck are most sore. I have a long way to go to be in shape. But it was fun, especially with friends. I felt really good afterwards! I think I could get back into this!

I really liked punching the bag. I got to wear boxing gloves and everything! It's a great way to get out any pent-up aggression without hurting yourself. (I tried punching a doorframe with my bare fist once a long time ago and I don't recommend it. Drywall gives way but doorframes don't.)

I think I enjoyed the class because I got to do something with adults and just be me, not the mother of ____ (fill in the blank). Being a mom is great, but there's more to me than that and it's good to remember this now and then. Like it's nice to go out with Scott alone and remember that we're a couple in addition to being parents. But anyway, exercising alone at home isn't quite the same. I am not challenged to try harder, plus I think I'd be more motivated to go with friends than to turn on a DVD at home.

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I got all the pieces cut for the top part of my Christmas tree skirt last night. I am excited to start sewing it together. I'll be here alone tonight, so I'll probably get a lot done. I'll have the dining table all to myself to set up the sewing machine!

I also started the hat I'm knitting for Big Girl. It's going well. It's definitely easier to work with the circular needle than with the double-points. I fear it may turn out to be something worthy of mention on You Knit What?, but it's something Big Girlwill love and that's all that matters. Those knitting snobs can go protest against Fun Fur on their own blogs!

Now I need to make time to mail the Yankees hat... after I take a photo of course.

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We had parent-teacher conferences last week. That's always a mixed bag for me. It was great to hear that Big Girl loves school, has friends, and correctly identified all lower-case and all but 4 uppercase letters when tested.

But it was discouraging to hear about the challenges they are having getting to work with them on her communication device. (I wonder if she only wants to use it for fun and refuses when they ask her to do specific things or academic things?) She also refuses to hold any kind of tool - paintbrush, marker, crayon, etc. She loved to paint and draw in preschool, so this really surprised me. Her upper body strength is almost non-existent, so this makes any kind of fine-motor skill almost impossible for her. But she won't even TRY.

I want to be very involved in her education, but sometimes I feel so unhelpful because I have no idea what to say when they bring up these problems. I know it's important for her to learn to do things she doesn't want to (we all have to do this - in fact, most of the things I do in a day are things I wouldn't choose to do!). I know that unless she learns to read and "write," she won't be able to express herself or function in this world without being totally dependent on someone else.

Life is going to be hard enough for her because this world is moving faster and faster and she simply can't do anything fast. This will be her (and my) biggest frustration I think - just when she gets into something, everyone else has moved on to the next thing. We work really hard to include her in everything and help her do as much as we can of what typical kids her age do, but it's exhausting. Sometimes I wonder how much fun she's really having, too.

The biggest thing I've noticed lately is that having three kids has really cut into the quality time I have available to spend with the kids. I want to spend time with each of them alone, but since Little Girl was born, this time isn't really quality. It's getting them dressed, fed, bathed, ready for school, ready for bed. Big Girl and Big Boy are both showing signs that they miss this time with me. I have GOT to figure out how to prioritize better and make this happen with each of the kids. Every more experienced mother I've talked to says to take the time and enjoy these days with the kids because they grow up and the days are gone forever. The housework will keep.

The housework will keep.

I'm going to read the kids some books!

Alone Time

A mother of three is always thinking about at least 5 things at once. What's going on at the present moment with each of the kids, what she has to do next, and what she is doing currently. It's exhausting to keep that much straight, and we drop a ball a lot, especially if those three kids are young and disrupt her sleep on a regular basis.

I didn't realize just how much I do in any given day until I went away for a weekend. About half-way through the weekend I suddenly realized why I was so relaxed. I only had to think about 1 or 2 things at a time! We had only two appointments the whole weekend -- the start of the wedding on Saturday and the start of church on Sunday. We had minimal luggage and our own rental car. So we could move fast and with little advance planning.

Turns out, taking knitting on board a commercial aircraft is a piece of cake. Security screening was a lot slower than I expected - the lines were way longer than I thought for an early early Saturday morning! When we finally got to the screeners, I had no trouble getting my knitting needles through security. However, they did inspect my scissors to make sure they had round tips, not pointed ones.

Scott had our suitcase, and he got stopped. After going through all the pockets and the clothes (I was SO glad I packed all my loose items, underwear, etc in ziplock bags so my stuff didn't get totally messed up), they finally fished around my makeup bag and dug up an old pair of haircutting scissors I had forgotten about. Those were a no-go. I had three options: go back out to the entrance of the airport and mail the scissors to myself, check the suitcase with the scissors inside, or leave them with security to be destroyed. We didn't have time to mail them. We didn't want to check the bag. The scissors were old and cheap. So we left them behind and hurried to our gate where the plate had just opened up boarding to all rows.

We had a smooth flight, but I didn't pull out my knitting because this super-skinny girl sat by the window, pulled the shades down, buried herself in her parka, and slept the whole way. She pulled her hood down over her eyes so you couldn't tell if there was a person inside! I didn't think it was THAT cold. But I really didn't want to wake her up by accidentally jabbing her with the end of a knitting needle. So I read.

We decided to go into the city once we got our rental car. We walked around and were pleasantly surprised to find the area a very quiet, peaceful, freak-free area place. They have been very strict about enforcing a no-panhandling rule. It was really nice to just walk with no schedule.

We arrived at the wedding location exactly when the invitation said music was to start. It was clear immediately that they were still setting up. So we wandered around the hotel for half an hour, then checked back. Still not ready. 15 minutes later, we finally were able to sit down. We waited. And waited. And waited.

Finally, the groom's aunt came out and told this woman in front of us that some bridesmaids still weren't there.

What???? It was 45 minutes after the wedding was supposed to start! She went on to say that some bridesmaids never did show up to a wedding shower they had!

Eventually everyone showed up and the wedding started an hour after it was supposed to. Turns out the missing members of the wedding party were an entire family -- the best man, the matron of the honor, a junior bridesmaid, and a junior groomsman (or whatever you call them!). Guess they couldn't have gone on without them....

The rest of the weekend was awesome. I did some knitting in free moments here and there, gave the Yankees booties to my friends (the husband LOVED them -- he's a huge Yankees fan), and caught up with a bunch of people we hadn't seen in years. It was so amazing to meet people who had been praying for Big Girl for 5 years and didn't even know us. It was just so great to spend some time just the two of us. And then it was great to come home and get a huge bear hug from Big Boy, a grin from Big Girl, and head butts from Little Girl (who wanted to nurse). :)

I didn't get the Yankees hat done in time. It's done now though, and I'm hoping to take a photo before I mail it to them. The logo turned out ok. I wasn't quite sure how to make it work with the decreases in the hat, so it's a little narrow and it's a little low on the hat -- I would make the rolled part wider and move the logo up if I did it again.

I went shopping at my friend's yarn store (hee hee - I guess the real owners might not like it that I refer to it that way!) and bought my first pair of circular needles! I also found some really cute yarn for a hat and mittens for Big Girl for Christmas. I'm really excited to start that project. I also got fabric to finish up a Christmas gift I'm working on. Then I heard on the radio that Christmas is something like 43 days away! Yipes! I better get busy!

New Travel Plans!

Today I feel like Queen of the Hot Deal. Super Sleuth. Master of the Airline Domain. Ok, ok. Let me enjoy it for a few minutes! I just found the best airfare price EVER for our trip this weekend! I've been looking every couple weeks since July, and never saw anything better than $194 per person from within a 2 hour radius of our destination. With hospital bills for Little Girl's delivery and a few surprise expenses this year, we just couldn't foot that bill plus the rental car. So we had decided that even with gas at $3 a gallon, it was still WAY cheaper for 2 people to drive there than to fly. So Scott and I have been planning to drive the 11 hours each way.

I really wasn't too bummed about it. I figured I'd get lots of knitting done, plus I love a good road trip with Scott. It was also fun to think about the silence and ease of a road trip without kids! No whining. No McDonalds Happy Meals. No potty breaks every hour. No kids' DVDs playing the whole way. No whining. 1/4 of the packing and unpacking. 1/4 of the laundry. No whining. No hours and hours of kids singing silly songs like "Where Is My Hairbrush?" "Graham Cracker Song," and "The Wheels On the Bus." No whining. Sleeping the whole night without waking up to care for a child. Taking a nap whenever, instead of only when I can find 15 minutes where everyone else is either asleep, at school, or watching a video. No whining. Actually eating all the food on my plate, instead of sharing half of it. Eating meals at regular times at all!

But at the same time, 22 hours of driving and being gone 4 days is a LOT. And I wasn't looking forward to missing 4 whole days of nursing Little Girl. See, the body continues to produce milk for awhile after the last time you breastfeed. So if I miss even one feeding, I get full and very uncomfortable. I'll have to bring a pump to get some relief from the pressure (and to hopefully keep my body making milk as I'm not ready to wean Little Girl yet!). Plus, I love the kids, and while things can get pretty intense at times each day (like when everyone is having a meltdown at once and I didn't sleep well so I just want to sit down and have a meltdown myself), I really only want short breaks before I really miss them. Their smiles and antics are the best.

So Scott suggested that I check this week to see if we could get any last-minute deals on airfare. I am getting paid to participate in some meetings at the hospital, so we have some extra cash coming in this month. I figured that we'd think about it if we could find something under $200 each. The first three airports I checked were no-shows. I didn't find anything under $250. Then I checked my last option. The first days I plugged in were the same, but then Hotwire has this feature for flexible flyers where it shows other combinations of days and their possible prices. I scrolled down and suddenly saw this unbelievable price! I first thought it was a typo. But there was one that said Saturday to Tuesday for $97 each!

I clicked on it, expecting it to be a time that wouldn't work (the wedding is Saturday afternoon) or some ridiculous terms or one-way only. Or maybe it was for some obscure airport 2 hours from where we need to go. But no -- it was actually a regular fare leaving early Saturday, and I could return Monday or Tuesday for the same price! Going in and out of the airport we wanted! Scott's mom was able to make it work with her schedule. The price didn't change between the time I found it and the time I booked it. Wow! Then we got a car rental for really cheap on Hotwire too -- I priced the discount we get through Costco, and it was about $60 more than the Hotwire price!

So I feel like I got the upper hand on the whole travel industry this week. I have NEVER seen a round-trip airfare for this low, not even back when we could buy gas for $1 a gallon! Even then, the best deal I got was $110 round trip. I always hear about other people finding great deals like this, but I've never managed to pull it off! I'm so overjoyed that we're flying. It's so much better to fly 50 minutes than drive 11. Plus we'll be gone one less day! That means I have one more day to get this house ready and get everything done that I need to this week.

Do you think they'll allow me to carry on my knitting? They won't have a problem with 18-inch long semi-pointed metal objects, right?

Photos At Last

First up is the "Coming Home" poncho Martha Stewart wore when she left Alderson Women's Prison. I am still learning the finer point of crochet, and therefore pulled my yarn very tight on this. I'm supposed to be almost done with it, and as you can see, it's child-sized at the moment! I am only my second skein of yarn -- it's supposed to take 4! So I've decided I'll just keep going til it's the right size. But having messed it up has been rather unmotivating.

The next item is a Tigger tail for Big Boy's costume. I whipped that up in an afternoon. He LOVES it. I had originally planned to buy black and orange and try to stripe it myself. But then I saw this stuff and thought, "There's no way I'll have time to figure out striping on this, and I don't want to put that much time into it!" Plus I didn't know exactly which orange yarn would match best. This one had various shades of orange in it, so it worked really well.

Third is the scarf I'm crocheting for a friend's birthday. Since I missed her birthday this year (got really sick and then had a baby), and her half-birthday (just plain busy), looks like it will either be a Christmas present or next year's birthday gift! Oh well.






Next is the poncho I made Big Girl out of fleece. This is not something I would choose myself, but she loves bright colors. I have lined it with a bright green fleece underneath, plus it came with a matching scarf. No sewing required, though I'm going to do something about the neck since I've added a second layer.

Finally, the Yankees booties and hat. Thanks to my good friend Brooke, incorporating the logo into my hat is going swimmingly. Thanks to my own lack of observation skills, if you look really closely at the pattern I created and then at the hat so far, you'll see that I'm doing a mirror image. I guess if the little guy looks at himself in the mirror, the logo will look right! I think I can fix it so I don't have to pull out 4 rows. I hope so -- I only have 4 more days to finish this!

That's all I have time for today. I still need to switch everyone's wardrobe from summer to fall/winter and have a lot of house cleaning to do before my mother-in-law comes on Thursday night. She's staying with the kids for 4 days while we go to a friend's wedding out of state. Hurray for her -- she's a very brave woman!

I'm really excited -- it's going to be just Scott and me for four whole days! We get to listen to our own music on the way. Or listen to nothing at all! However, when I really think about it, most of the time I am already home-sick for the kids! I told Scott I'm going to be so anxious to get home to see them that I'll be speeding all the way to get home.