We got the kids' Holiday pictures taken yesterday. Here's my three sweet pea's:







They had a guy in a Santa suit available if the kids wanted a picture with Santa. Vincent and Isabella recoiled in fear, but Abigail was thrilled!



Vincent was getting restless, so I sat in on one too.



Today I've got a bunch of PBK work to catch up on. Going to Madison like we did yesterday takes up the entire day, so I got nothing done. I need to keep my hands off my knitting until after my PBK work is done, the house is picked up, laundry put away and sheets changed on the beds. It's going to be hard! I've started the front on my cardigan, and the front is done on Vincent's sweater. All that's leff on his sweater are the sleeves and seaming, and I so want to finish it.

Craft Corner

I've been so crafty today. I finished a star doll that I'm making for a trade, then I started on Isabella's waldorf doll. I finished the head and sewed that to the shoulders and arms, plus got the body sewn and stuffed. I just need the sew the head piece to the body piece, then add the hair and the doll is done. It's so cute! I love watching a doll take shape. Each seems to have her/his own personality that starts to shine through as she/he is sewn. I think I've finally gotten the hang of doing the eyes, thanks to Gabi's tips (Gabi makes the waldorf dolls for PBK. Her dolls are gorgeous, and she gave me a few pointers for the dolls I make my kids.). I wish I did the thumbs better, though. I'll post some pictures of this sweetie once she is done. I'm still not sure if she'll have long hair or short. I'm leaning towards short because the lost Molly was a short hair doll, and Isabella's other waldorf doll has a long braid. Long looks so pretty though.

I also worked on both the Square Neck sweater and the Craving to Knit cardigan today. I have the back of my cardigan finished almost to the shoulder shaping. I only have about 1/2" of the front of Vincent's sweater left until I start the neck and shoulder shaping on that. I was knitting away furiously on that while watching the kids in the bath this afternoon. Guage interests me. It's weird to think that Vincent's sweater has almost exactly as many stitches in the front/back as my cardigan, but because the guage is 25 sts/4" versus my cardigan which is 16 sts/4", it will fit a baby instead of an adult.

If I'm going to make Luis' chullo for Solstice, I really need to sit down with his other one and figure it out one of these days.

I bought the Family Felted Mocs pattern from Little Turtle Knits today. They look easy and cute. Hopefully there will be enough time to make a pair for Isabella and Abigail before the holidays.

Thank you, Mom

My jeans have all been getting too big as I start to lose this baby weight, plus the knees have been wearing out. We've been waiting to sell one of Luis' sprees before I go clothes shopping, but it hasn't happened yet. This week, my mom sent some things down with Amy, and buried in the basket was $50. I was supposed to take the money and do nothing other than buy some clothes for me, nothing for the kids or bills. She said she's been where we are right now, and that she wishes someone would have done this for her then. So, I went shopping. I managed to get two pair of pants, plus find two cute shirts on the clearance rack. Add the fun of new clothes to the fact that the size 12 pants fit wonderfully, and I feel terrific! :D I doubt I'll ever be a size 3 like I was in high school again, but it's nice to be smaller than a 14 or 16 once more. My long term goal: size 8.

Vincent only woke up 5 times last night, plus he had a two and a half hour nap yesterady and a two hour nap today. I hope this continues. *knock on wood* He's definately going to the chiro more often! LOL

I finished Vincent's doll for Solstice, but his lime and navy sweater won't be done for pictures. The front is about 3/4 of the way finished, then I just have to do the sleeves and seaming. I was sidetracked today by my Craving to Knit Cardigan. I've finished the back up to the armhole shaping. It is so soft and fluffy, I can't wait to wear it.

Three cheers for chiropractic!

I can't believe the difference in Vincent since his chiro appointment yesterday. About 10 minutes after we left the chiro, he let out this absolutely enormous and blissful sigh, and simply melted into my lap. We went straight from the chiro to library story time, and he almost nursed to sleep there. He's an incredibly distractable and nosy baby; he doesn't do much nursing in public because he's simply too busy looking at everything, so nursing practically to sleep at a busy, semi-noisy storytime is amazing. He was calmer and more relaxed all day, busy with his stuff instead of clinging to me like he has been for the last few weeks. Last night was unbelieveable. He only woke to nurse about 5 or 6 times! I feel like a new woman. I'm always recommending the chiro to my friends for their kids; why on earth didn't I think to take Vincent in sooner? He also loved the adjustment. He giggled everytime our chiro touched him. It was so funny that Ryan (the chiro) and I were laughing too.

I was a busy bee yesterday and got all of the new products onto the website. Woohoo!

I'm trying to figure out what to make the kids for Solstice this year. Isabella needs a new waldorf doll because one of her two was lost while we were on vacation. :( There's only one place it could have been lost (the hotel we spent night 2 in), but when we called them to ask about it, they said it wasn't found. I'm thinking some bendy fairies with acorn caps for Abigail, and a large squishy star doll for Vincent. Pajamas for all three and if there is time, I'd like to felt some slippers for them too. I need to take my MILs shawl off my WIPs list for now. I've admitted it will not be done for Christmas; maybe it'll be a mother's day gift.

Can't you just make up your mind?

Does anyone else have a contradictory husband? Luis drives me nuts sometimes because he wants two completely different things. One day, he wants to keep the house even if it means him working a second job (that will happen over my dead body!). The next, he can't wait for it to sell and he's look at farmettes on the MLS website. One day, he tells me that I work too hard, it doesn't matter what the house looks like and that I should take some time for myself. The next, the house is a pigstay and I'm just goofing off all day doing nothing. This is going to drive me INSANE! It gets worse when he's worried about something or upset, and it's been pretty bad lately.

I was complaining last week about silk orders being down. I guess the universe was listening because they have been pouring in for the last few days.

I phoned in a new wooden toys order yesterday, and I have to say the woman there with whom I work is extremely good at her job. LOL She always manages to talk me into ordering more then I intended. Coming soon to PBK will be two new Brain Teaser puzzles, a magnetic dress up dolls set, doll house people, castle people and a beading set. Yep, I was extremely guidable and agreeing yesterday.

I'm calling today to get a chiro appointment for Vincent. He has been horrible the last few nights. He's had a stuffy nose and cough, and at first I thought that might be causing his problems. However, when he wakes up he screams bloody murder, arches his back and tries to roll away from me. It takes coaxing to get him to nurse. I tried Rescue Remedy last night, but that didn't really seem to help. We've been meaning to take him into chiro anyways, so we are going to try that. For a bit I was wondering if it could be an ear infection because the only other time he's been this awful at night was when he had an ear infection last spring, but it's different. I don't think that's the problem. After three nights of this, I'm tired.

The parents meeting/playgroup I organize is meeting today, and I'm excited. It's always fun getting together with most of these mamas.

Mama Brag Day

Vincent's bottom molars have cut through the gums. I can't believe my baby is big enough to be getting molars. My little Bubba is starting to talk ("Bay-yah" for Isabella, "Ahh" for Abigail, occasionally saying Mama and Papa, "Hi" and "hot" as an all purpose word). He's got a funny sense of humor and loves to join in playing games with his sisters, Luis or me. He loves to play with the big wooden trucks or pretend to cook something. He thinks my big broom, the swiffer and the vacum cleaner are the best toys ever.

Abigail is reading! Bob books level A are easy for her and she can do level B. I traded Amanda for a bunch of easy readers for her for Solstice. I had thought they'd be a little hard for Abigail, but she's going to be able to read them very well. She's reading words in stores, over by shoulder in books and magazines, reading labels on things. She read 2 pages in one of their picture books (not a baby book by any means) on Friday. She's writing and doing creative spelling. She wrote her first story last week.

Isabella is starting to draw pictures of people and things, not just big swirls. She's very much into putting belly buttons and hair on her people, along with very long legs. She can write the number 1, and starting to ask what different numbers and letters are. She's putting on all of her own clothes most days, and trying hard to brush her own teeth well. She loves to cut things up. Before she goes to bed most night, she says "Sweet dreams Abigail, sweet dreams Vincent, sweet dreams mama, sweet dreams papa, sweet dreams fairies, sweet dreams house, sweet dreams friends, sweet dreams people we don't know, sweet dreams Isabella." Sweet comes out like "thweet". It melts my heart every time.

My Bella Bean

I often worry that Isabella is getting the short end of the stick. She's only 21 months younger than Abigail. Often, as soon as Abigail is finishing a phase, Isabella is starting it. It can dim her accomplishments, making them seem less special and new. Physically, they are very similar in size, making it feel like Isabella is nearly Abigail's age, instead of almost two years younger. Also, Abigail is such an easy kid. Isabella was an easy baby, but she's our parenting challenge, our spirited child who challenges us to grow. Nothing is simple with Isabella, and I worry that I'm not up to the task some days. Honestly, I am not up the the challenge sometimes, but I do my best.

Isabella is a little me in so many ways: intense, withdrawn, cautious, tenacious, awkward, insecure, not to mention that she looks just like me. It's like to effectively parent her, I need to parent myself and calm my tendancies to do the same things she does before I can react to her without both of us going into intense mode.

Late yesterday afternoon, Abigail and Vincent were both taking a late nap. Isabella helped me with dinner. She was so funny and helpful. Then Luis came home, and Isabella begged to go outside and help him. She got her stuff on and ran out, thrilled to bits, helped him clean his van and played on her scooter for a while. She was chatty during dinner, helpful afterwards, and played so well with Abigail and Vincent before bed. Today, she woke up cranky, demanding and whiny. I can't leave the room without her following me, she's bickering with Abigail constantly, hitting and yelling, she woke up Vincent when I was putting him down for nap, and she will not do a single thing I ask of her without trying to turn it into a huge power struggle. Luis is gone for the day and won't be back until tomorrow. I need to stay centered on days like today, and it is so helpful knowing Luis will be home at 5 to help. Knowing I won't have any help makes a day like today much harder, makes giving into the yelling and anger easier. I think that's why I'm typing this out. Sharing the struggle makes it easier to bear.

Business Blues

A well known member of the ap-biz world is contemplating liquidation. She's been around so long, and her business is so well established that I just can't believe it. If she can be tottering on the edge, what's to keep me afloat? Who's to say who will be next? The economic climate is scary right now.

I've already felt the weird rumblings. Sales are down for Novemeber. I've gone through considerably less silks than I normally have by mid-Nov. Of course it doesn't help that every new wahm and her sister are selling playsilks, and most are undercutting the market. That's an entirely seperate rant, to be saved for another day along with my feelings on these so called "co-ops" that are constantly popping up online. I should have had to reorder wooden toys again already, instead I'm actually fully stocked on dollhouses and barns right now. Worriesome things to think about after the business troubles others are going through...

On a more positive note, I finished the back of Vincent's lime sweater! The lime is a more vivid green than it looks in the picture. It's a hard shade to capture on camera.



Abigail isn't feeling well today. She has a slight fever and headache. Naturally Isabella is testing out her shriek voice today. Oiy, poor Abigail. Isabella has been so fun and quirky the last few days. She's really changing again, and I'm enjoying it. I'm thankful for my renewed determination to stay calm and relaxed with my little spirited challenge. She's such a neat child.

Thank you!

Many thanks to DebC for helping me get a comments section. Hurrah!

Why is it that no matter how economical I think I've been at the grocery store, the bill is always $100? Even when I have enough meat in the freezer for the week's meals, somehow the total is still over $100. Of course, Luis starting to drink Mt Dew yet again isn't helping the bottom line at all. :rolls eyes: (yeah, smilies will come eventually, gimme time!)

My sister is moving in with us. The house isn't selling yet, and it's doubtful it will now until after the holidays as no one likes to move in the dead of winter. We've got to do something, so she's offered to move in for 6 months to help us out. We both adore Amy, and she's so busy that she's not home much anyways. We really stressed to her that she is making the biggest sacrifice, but she wants to help us. I *heart* my sister. With Luis' paycut and the house not selling, this will be a huge help. The girls don't know yet, but they'll be through the roof excited when they find out. We aren't sure when she'll be able to come. She just has a month to month lease on her apartment, but she has to check on how much notice she needs to give.

Funky

I'm in a funk today. The weather was beautiful this morning, warm for November in Wisconsin and sunny. I planned out the afternoon - walk to the knitting club at the senior center, get some eggs from the free-range guy, then the post office, finish up with the library to get my books on hold. The weather changed around noon, clouds rolled in and wind kicked up. Then Vincent decided to take at 12:30 nap. We ended up driving to the senior center, noticing on the way that the free-range guy wasn't out today. I need eggs and hamburger! The kids were plain old freaky at the knitting club, talking too loud and Vincent was into anything. I got very little done, partially because I forgot to bring the second page of my pattern (dumb, dumb), so I didn't know what to do once I put the back neck stitches onto a holder. That lime green and navy will look so cuteo on Vincent once it's done, though! Abigail stopped with her knitting after about 20 minutes. I forgot to bring the PO package with us, so I said forget it. We'll go to the PO and library tomorrow. I hope the wind dies. I don't mind taking the kids for a walk when it's 20 degrees, but I won't take them out with a nasty cold wind. I need to get out and move, this is really driving me crazy. I'm letting the girls watch a movie right now because I just need some time to center. I hate doing that and I know I'll pay the price letter, but some days you do what you gotta do.

Vincent's reverse cycling is driving me nuts. My back is killing me from laying there all night long while he sleeps and nurses. It's not worth going to the chiro until Vincent goes back down to 4-8 nursings a night because no matter how good I'll feel after the adjustment, my back is just going to be wonky again by the next morning. I've tried and I just can't get him to nurse more during the day. He's so busy and there is so much for him to do, that he just won't nurse. I used to think Abigail's 8-14 nursings a night were a lot. HAH! I had no idea. I'm lucky if I can get him to unlatch long enough for me to go pee after midnight.

Bedtime is hard for me. Trying to get three little ones coordinated to get into their pj's, use the toilet/get clean diaper, read story and all tucked in is very stressful. Luis is zero help. His hours are sporadic and I can't count on his assistance. While I've found that it works best to put all three to bed at the same time, I don't like the person I've been while doing it. So I turned over a new leaf two weeks ago. Stay calm, start sooner, take deep breaths. It's been working. Bedtime is still tricky, but it's feeling smoother and calmer already. I'm a nicer person during it, and Isabella is calmer, assuming we don't start too late. But even when we do start late and she freaks out because of being tired, I'm trying hard to be calm and level. It's working, and helping.

I wish I had comments. I don't know that anyone is actually out there reading this, but comments would be nice just in case. Note to self: find out what it would entail to get a comments box.

The Pumpkin Pledge

I hereby pledge to never use anything other than a real pie pumpkin in any of my baking.

I just tried the pumpkin muffins made from the halloween pumpkin Amy gave me. I love my pumpkin muffin recipe. I tweaked the spices and quantity of pumpkin until I had it exactly right for my tastes. I made these with my usual 3.5 cups of pumpkin, but I can't taste the pumpkin in these at all. They might as well be spice muffins. At least the pumpkin-cranberry bread recipe in the oven isn't so pumpkin dependent for taste. Bleh.

I must get a new digital postal scale. I've been relying on the large utility postage scale Luis brought me ever since my last digital died. That's great for 99% of orders, but I realized today that I had no way to specifically weigh out an 8 oz order of wool batting. This is the first time someone hasn't ordered 2# plus. I'm sure I gave her more like 3/4 of a pound, but I'd rather be over than under.

Isabella cut her hair. *sob* Right in the front. She is not a bangs child, and the front of her hair was finally long enough to curve around her jawline in the cutest way. Now it lands around the bridge of her nose. It's too short to pull back into a hair elastic like she likes, and I don't want to give her bangs. It looks like we'll be stuck with months of barrettes. Argh! We've talked about it, and I hope she doesn't do it again.

The stripes on the back of Vincent's sweater are all done, now to just finish the upper lime green part. If I can get this done by 11-24 (yeah, I can dream, right?) maybe he can wear it when we get all three kids' picture taken. I swatched out the Skyline. It's 15.75 stitches/4" on size 10s. This stuff is supposed to be 3.25 sts/inch, but I don't see it. I wouldn't want it much looser than it is now. I'm going to make the Craving to Knit cardigan from The Yarn Girls'. That needs a guage of 16 sts/4", so I'm a little looser, but that shouldn't be a problem. It seems like their patterns run a little small anyways imo.

Pumpkins, magnets, ribbons and more

My sister gave us her halloween pumpkin, which she didn't carve this year. She thought I could cook it to make something. I've never used anything other than pie pumpkins to bake, but figured I'd give it a try. I baked it up, and I was really suprised at how much like spaghetti squash the flesh was after baking. It's mashed now and cooling. I am thinking two loaves of pumpkin cranberry bread and a batch of pumpkin muffins. Abigail wants pumpkin pie, but I'd rather use a pie pumpkin for that.

Speaking of Abigail, she just did her space jigsaw puzzle in record time for her. She did some reading games and read some books this morning. We just did a magnet experiment. She sorted a bowl full of items by what stuck and didn't, then figured out what the "stuck" pile had in common. She proudly told me "Magnets stick to metal". Now she is playing memory while Isabella plays with the magnet and bowl of items. Happy day here.

Luis is upset with me. He really wants to go to his Holiday Party at work, and I'd love to go too. However, it's on the east side of Madison, about 25 minutes away from his parents house. Drinks are at 6:30, dinner at 7. Luis wants to leave all three kids with his parents, I say it's too long for Vincent to be away from me that close to bedtime. Figure we'd have to leave his parents around 6 and we wouldn't leave the restaurant until 8 or later. That's a minumum of 2.5 hours, and Vincent gets really sleepy a bit before 8. I think we should bring him with us, but Luis says we just won't go then. I don't know what his problem is. Vincent is only 14 months and has never been away from me for more than 30 minutes, spending that time with Luis. Abigail was 21 months when we took her to his company's holiday party.

I cut out the ribbons last night for the big order of wands, and discovered I was 12 yds short. Panic! Customer needs these before the end of Nov, and it takes 2-3 weeks to get more ribbon from my wholesaler. Luis is detouring to Madison today after work to see if the fabric store has some in the right color.

I'm reswatching the maroon Skyline yarn today. I decided last week I didn't want to use it for the sweater I'd cast on with it, so I frogged it. Now I can't remember what the guage is with the size 10 needles, so back to swatching I go. I'd really like to make a split neck pullover with it, or a crew neck cardigan. I'll see once I swatch again. The stripes are almost done on Vincent's lime/navy pullover back. It feels weird not to have a sock on the needles, but I want to get these others done before I let myself start any more socks.

Hello from the land of Mucus

Vincent is Mr. Snot today. Cute as he is, I really don't like bugger breasts.

I had a flu-type something Friday afternoon and yesterday. Luckily it held off until mid-afternoon. Friday morning, Amy and I took the kids up to Madison, picked up mom and brought her with us. Mom took the girls to the new play area in the mall, and Amy and I went to get Vincent's new pictures taken. Once again, the photographer had to hide, so I'm glad Amy was there to get Vincent to giggle. The pictures are very cute and I can't wait to get them back.

We stopped at Coyote Yarns (I finally found it!) and I picked up some dark grey and brown blend Manos to make a chullo for Luis for Solstice. I'm going to inspect the chullo we bought him last year and copy it, since he loves it so much. The guage on the Manos is right, and it should be really pretty, in a masculine way, when it's done. I also bought a size 4 addi natura to replace the one Isabella broke. Now that I have that again, I've restarted Vincent's lime green and navy sweater. The back is more than half done already.

Luis was watching a movie the other day and felt something funny in the sofa. He feels around and discovered my size 9 dpn that has been missing since summer. Woohoo! He also found my missing thermometer, hurray! Now I can start charting temps again.

Luis has gone to see Matrix: Revolutions now, so I'm bumming around online as long as the kids will let me. I've got to finish sewing one order, and then do a bunch of cleaning upstairs. I really don't want to clean. Maybe I'll start sewing the next order of 25 ribbons instead...

We've got Legally Blonde 2 rented for tonight, and Amy is coming over to watch. Abigail is so thrilled, she's been looking forward to seeing this movie ever since she first saw the poster at the theater.

Isabella is doing better since we brought her back into our room at night. It's hard to remember sometimes that she is two years younger than Abigail, and that Abigail was still in our room until 4.25. I think it's time to read Raising Your Spirited Child again soon. I've really been butting heads with Isabella lately, and I need to remember to pull back and take a breath.

Bored with Boards

I'm frustrated. I'm tired of feeling like I don't fit in. It seems like I'm either too alternative, or to mainstream. Years ago, I felt like the mainstream moderate who did a few alternative parenting things compared to others online. I don't feel like I've changed all that much, but now I feel like I'm more radical compared to others. How is this possible?

I'm feeling lost and homeless online. I want somewhere that is filled with others like me, somwhere I can to go and talk parenting and natural living. The pendulum at yaaps is swinging back to moderate, and I'm not enjoying it there as much. I don't want to have to wade through debates over homeschooling, healthy diet, commercialization of religious holidays or whatnot. I don't want to read that I should suck it up when people give my kids presents I don't want them to have because it's some unwritten right of grandparents to give whatever electronic toy or Barbie they want to. When I don't agree, I don't want to have to discuss the issue to death, or be accused (directly or implied) of not being enlightened or able to see issues clearly.

So, I'm done. I'm on the prowl for a place where I fit in, and until I find it, I'm here to talk about my kids, my knitting and my life.