I have a little flock of daughters. With four of them five years old and under, it should come as no surprise to you that we deal with a wholloping share of emotions at our house. Titus is so simple – just right up the middle and easy. He either disobeys, or he doesn’t. Sometimes, when he feels really complicated and deep, he fusses. There are no subtexts with this kid. He wants milk – that is why he is fussing and saying, “I want milk!” Not so complex – even a beginner parent can figure out a technique to deal with this. But girls are different, and sometimes that difference can leave a person completely bewildered. When it comes to little girls and their emotions, “A” does not necessarily cause “B.” But, when “B” is what needs to be disciplined, it can feel frustrating to have no clues as to what member of the alphabet actually caused it. Are you with me here?
One of our sweet little girls has a hilarious tendency which we refer to as her “drunk driving.” If she is tired, she becomes reckless and disobedient. Her eyes get a little glassy, she gets super rowdy, and you might find her unloading the freezer, or coloring her sheets with a marker, or some such clearly outlawed activity. Once, when she was in the midst of one of these times, I caught her on the kitchen counter getting into something. Surprise was my first response – “What are you doing?!” Continue reading ‘A Spirited Rider’
Well hello, everyone! I have been traveling, busy, brain-dead, unphotographable, or generally uninteresting for some time now! But I think that we may now be into the open spaces of summer here. (I am not yet photographable though. Worst luck!)
The kids are just as full of beans as they usually are, Blaire is getting more darling by the hour, and I am honing my one handed typing skills as I write. Strawberry jam is providing a nice shallow end play for the canning season – thus the badly punning title to this post, and the picture from my kitchen. I hope you are admiring my basket full of new tea towels- I love them so much! It is the little things in life, you know. And speaking of little things, this is about the best one I can think of -
So, I’m sorry about that last post. The picture seemed perfectly clear to me! I knew that it was taken right in front of my kitchen sink and that the fabric bit was my new cheerful tea towel – how could I realize what a strange mystery tour I would lead you on? My Mom knew I had knit a rug, and even she could not figure out what it was in the picture. Bekah thought perhaps a foot would have clued people in. Ah, but the chances of me fixing up my toenails for a blog photo shoot were far out. I’d rather you all spend some time thinking that I make weird counter-top half doilies out of shredded sheets and pose them next to a piece of curtain. Yes, that would be much better!
This time I knit a baby hat. Plain and simple – but I cannot say enough happy things about this yarn. I love it entirely. It is Cascade Ultra Pima – comes in a ton of wonderful colors, and tops off the happiness by being shiny. I got this yarn (and a bunch of other colors of it) right before I had Blaire. I was three or four days overdue at the time. Saturday morning my husband woke me up to tell me he was going to run grab some milk and stuff for breakfast before the kids got up (this is code for donuts). Then, he brought me his laptop and asked me to order some yarn while he was gone! Better than breakfast in bed! So I filled up my theoretical shopping cart with the cotton I had been eyeing all the way until he came back with tulips for me. It just doesn’t get any sweeter than that – and now I have some wonderful materials for some summer knitting. Seriously – yarn: the gift that just keeps on giving!
Now doesn’t that just cheer you up? I know! Me too! This used to be a fitted queen sheet which I shredded and wound into a ball a long time ago. Then, I happened across this pattern and thought red would be nice. And it was! This is a super quick project – knit on enormous needles, and very satisfying! Considering that I ought to be in a screaming panic trying to get us ready to head off to Seattle super early Thursday morning (which I was somehow thinking was a long way off…), and that I am way behind on the laundry ( a baby accident took out all of our bedding this morning), taking some pictures of last weekend’s project was just what I needed…. very therapeutic!
Blaire has really slipped right into life at the Jank’s house! She is just sweetening up everything – dishing out some very funny, very newborn smiles, making even the night a bit sweeter just by being part of it. Entertaining her siblings with constant hilarity – Chloe and Titus love to tell me “Blaire say….” and complete the sentence by imitating her expressions – usually something involving the tongue, and if she makes a peep from her bed, I will have an army of little people chasing me around and yelling, “Mama, Blaire needs you! ”
We have also redeemed the time by finding out all of the many things that rhyme with Blaire. Daddy flies her over the heads of the other kids and sings “Super Blaire… Flying high up in the super air…. gonna come right over there…. so someone can kiss her hair…” The kids of course cannot get over the funniness of this game. God seems to have prepared Blaire for this role in the family – she smiles the most during these games, like she knows just how she fits into this silly group of children.
And while life has gotten a little busier, it has gotten a whole lot better. Not only do we have a sweet new friend, but I am not pregnant anymore! Also, I find that I can really save time by not snapping the middle snap on the onesie!
It’s official: I am overdue. Just like a library book racking up fees while it hides under the couch. Except that I do not fit into sneaky, skinny spaces so much, and no one is forgetting about the deadline that we passed. Except maybe the baby. Maybe she forgot? Maybe she is frantically trying to throw on another pound before she feels ready. But in truth, being overdue is not so bad. I can feel free to lie down on the couch in the morning and doze off, waking periodically to give the kids more pretzels while they watch cartoons. When else would we consider that sort of mothering par for the course? I also like the feeling that we are coming up on a real finish line (instead of this illusive one we already passed). The end really, really, really must be near now! Compared to the last time I was pregnant, I don’t even feel all that weighed down!
I have a little window here to do some things that I had not gotten done before the due date. So far I have started to knit a pair of baby socks, bought new earrings and make up (including the new Clinique de-puffing eye serum which I expect to need), repainted my toe-nails (I can actually do this myself this time), and even scheduled a hair appointment. Now, all we really need is the star of the show! Ok – I can’t help myself – here is a comparison of bellies between this time and last time. Neither are good pictures, but the one from the twins is so funny to me now, especially because it is sort of a picture of a belly-mountain with my head on top. The expression is really one of smiling, blank abandon. I bet I looked like that a lot back then! Also, the recent picture is taken of me a couple days overdue, while the one with the twins was taken when I was 36 weeks or so! (Note: Let this be a personal warning to any expectant mothers of twins . . . never wear a turtleneck and expect good results. Also, black is not always slimming.)
Here we are now. 3 days overdue.
And now – brace yourselves – here comes the one of me 4 weeks early with the twins.
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