New discoveries

I don't have long to blog. The family is on the way home now. I wanted to share some recent developments though. We put Maegwin in a pillowcase the other day because she kept putting it in front of her face. She had a blast playing peek a boo with the opening and being carried around looking out.



She also has been doing a lot more standing independently when she's not paying attention. As soon as she figures out she isn't holding onto something she freaks out but it is only a matter of time I think. We taught her about the stairs the other day though of course she is still gated away from them. She did really well going up and down with us spotting her. I love how she is wearing her sunglasses around her neck like aviator goggles.



I've also done some baby knitting. Two more of my co-workers are having babies (well one had hers on Saturday a week early) so I knit hats for both of them. They are having boys so I had to find something appropriately boyish.


Pattern: Apple Hat from Spud & Chloe blog
Yarn: Louet Gems Bulky (I got this for free from a grab bag!) and bits of Knitpicks wool of the Andes in Avocado and Timber for the stem and leaf
Needles: size 7
I ran out of yarn to wrap the stem because I cut my end too short but I think it still looks fine


Pattern: Stripey Stocking Cap from Itty Bitty Hats
Yarn: Blue Sky Organic cotton in Circus Peanut and Azul and Knitpicks Simply Cotton (also organic) in Marshmallow
I omitted the last stripe sequence because I thought it was already pretty long and I'm glad I did. This is my first time using this method to make a pom pom and it was the best one I've ever done! I cut a piece of cardboard 1 inch wide and pretty long and wrapped it 40 times. Then I pulled it off carefully onto a piece of yarn and tied it tightly around the middle with a double knot. Trim the ends and wham! instant pom pom.

Just heard the door shut so I'm off!

Revenge of the sickies

Yep, for those who haven't heard we were all sick again. It started out with Maegwin (aka Patient Zero) developing a cough. That lasted for about a week and then came the fever. Nothing that would really register on a thermometer but her head just felt warm and sweaty. This was February 25th or so. I was heading to work and Josh called me to turn around because she was coughing and crying and her nose was running and she just couldn't go to daycare. I stayed home with her for two days and on Saturday I got the dreaded cough. It progressed in much the same way until Monday when I couldn't go to work. I worked from home most of that week, with a few horrid half days in the office. The next week I wasn't any better and started getting weird stomach cramps and nausea. Turns out I got a secondary infection whilst on antibiotics (we all went in and got them for our sinus infections). So then I was on anti-nausea meds which knocked me for a loop. I was really starting to improve and then on Sunday the stupid nasal drainage started up again along with some coughing for good measure. I've sort of resigned myself to being sick but at least this time around I feel functional. I made it into work today and it wasn't agony being there. Hooray! All this to say, sorry for being away so long but I'm about to placate you with pictures of Maegwin.

She has been so amazing recently. She is really focusing on trying to talk and babbles constantly. She points outside and says "side" in a very sweet way. She also FINALLY says Mommy. Squee! The first time she really said it, she was snuggling with me in the morning and laid her head on my chest. She looked up at me and said "Mommy, mommy, mommy" very softly. It was the most adorable thing ever! She also now says "Ah Dah" along with her sign for all done. So many more words are discernible that Josh and I are amazed by her everyday. She is also really developing a personality. Her daycare teacher says that art is her favorite time of day and they literally have to pry the markers from her hands when it is over. She loves bobbing her head to music. She takes care of her babies by hugging and patting their backs.

I recently got some photos of her while she was enjoying a cracker. As you can see, she is getting quite a bit of hair now and is taller. She outgrew a lot of her pants and we had to go stock up on some more from Once Upon a Child.

At first she was pretty serious...

but then she started to think this whole camera thing was pretty funny.

It's very funny to get close to the lens when Mommy is trying to focus.


It's hard to catch her in full smile mode.

We also put her in a pillowcase and played peekaboo. She had a great time with that and kept pulling the pillowcase closed again so we could open it and look in. We have a video also but I haven't uploaded it yet. Here's a preview though.


In non-baby related news I finished another pair of socks. I know, right? I'm starting to get drunk on the knitting power of two, count them, TWO pair of socks within a month. Nevermind that I've been knitting on them for way longer than that. The whole act of casting them off suddenly made me think I could knit everything in sight. I proceeded to cast on two more pair of socks (one of which is going to be frogged because it is too tight), a knitted monster for Maegwin, and knit more on the sweater I'm working on. It's nice to feel really motivated again and that I'm getting things done.

So here they are for those interested in such things.

Pattern: Supernova by Chrissy Gardiner-part of the patterns I'm getting as part of the CSK project she is doing. All the patterns will be in a book she will publish later this year. It's a really neat concept I'm excited to help with.
Yarn: Craftsmeow Soft Serve in Neopolitan-it reminds me of those Brach's coconut candies
Needles: Knitpicks size 2 as always
I love them and how well they fit! I knit these mostly in airports while traveling to and from Baltimore, while sick, and while pumping at work.

In gardening news our seedlings are doing amazing this year. We bought seeds from a new company and are impressed with how quickly they came up and the germination rate. We are planning to up-pot them sometime this week as most already have "true" leaves. Josh has also been working on dismantling the raised beds and re-assembling them with more space between. Last year we didn't make them far enough apart to get the mower between and weed whacking that much area just didn't happen. We figure we'll only lose one bed's worth of space and it will be worth it for the convenience of being able to quickly mow through. We'll write a separate blog about the gardening efforts when we can get some pictures to go along with it.