S.L.O.W. D.O.W.N.

Yesterday, I looked up after what felt like 15 minutes at work, and it was lunch time.

Today, I swear I've been here for half of my life time, and it's not even time for my first break.

I broke out my book, but I'm way too lazy to read right now.

Ugh.

Lots of knitting done this week, though few photo ops. I've been listening to the DNC and all the speechifying, which is a great combination with a lace shawl that has reached the unendingly boring part.

I have nothing exciting to report, just didn't want anyone to think I'd fallen off a cliff.

Hugs and love and suchlike all around.

One with pictures!!!

I know, can you believe it?

It's been a busy couple of weeks here, with a sick baby followed by a sick Mama and Dada, followed by a disgusting infected toe (mine) that I didn't even injure doing anything cool like, I don't know, rockgliding? Nope, ingrown toenail. Don't worry, I didn't take a picture of it.

But because of the gross toe, I had to get antibiotics, which has affected the taste of my milk, which has caused -- well, not a nursing strike, but a grouchy kid, let me say that much. She's not nursing much at all, and the only thing that's sustaining me is the certain knowledge that healthy babies don't starve themselves. She's not dehydrated, and she is nursing some...she's just pissy.

I think I'm going to have to start drinking that disgusting tea again.

She's crawling like a demon now. Army crawling, with occasional moments of cross-crawling...for a step or two, before she crashes onto her chin and screams. Currently, she has made her way into the kitchen, and discovered that the cat's food bowl makes a very interesting sound when you smack it on the linoleum. And, it pushes nicely on the carpet. My kid? Too clever.

But don't worry, I know what you're really here for.

Some of these are still "some assembly required," and they're all too big, so these are just knitting shots; I'll provide some modeling as soon as it's reasonable.



The Dale Ladybug Sweater, finally done except for some adorable Ladybug buttons that need to be sewn onto the shoulder.



The Berrocco Pure Merino Nuance sweater.



The Berrocco Love It! Colors sweater.



The Waves in Square Shawl (Sivia Harding) is knit, and just needs blocking.



And then, finally, the green, beaded hat.

I know, I can't believe I did it either. And B, I poked all the beads over to the right side. Just for you. :)

By the way, I took a ton of pictures of Lucy in that hat; you can see the rest of them here.

Enjoy!

Thank you

to everyone who asked if Lucy was feeling better. She is; now Robb and I are sick. Ugh.

More soon.

I'd forgotten what spit up tastes like.

Today, however, I got a plentiful reminder. Ugh. Little Bug has her first cold (what a wonderful first, right), and she is miserable beyond belief. I can't figure out what I hate more, the all-out crying, screaming, oh-my-god-why shrieks of pain, anger, and frustration, or the quiet, soft moments, when she cuddles into me and then looks up with these eyes that say "Mama, why can't you fix it?"

Finally got her to sleep around 9pm -- which is great -- and I celebrated by finishing the last sleeve on the Ladybug sweater -- you've been around a long time if you remember that one! -- and steeking the armholes before I lost my courage. I did f up one little corner, but not so badly I couldn't fix it. Go me.

Pictures. Eventually.

Meantime, taking on more responsibilities at work means that I will be better compensated on my quarterly bonus, but significantly cuts into my internet time.

There will be balance again. Eventually.

Cute hats, cute pictures, cute babies...

...but no time to upload.

Lucy's little green Tili Thomas hat is finito. I tried to get a pic for you, but Lucy is currently of the opinion that the only thing worth having is something worth eating, so no dice yet. I'll keep working on it.

The top of the little hat got interesting. If you remember the original (and I totally tripped out trying to find this picture, because I absolutely DO NOT BELIEVE that Lucy was ever that small), you might remember the cutesy little thingies on the top of the hat. Little loopy guys.

I originally bought the pattern (it's a Tili Thomas pattern) for the little loopy guys. I know how to knit a hat, after all. It's simple. Measure baby head. Measure gauge. Multiply. Knit. Even I can do that. But the little loopy guys. I wanted my loopy guys to be like the shop-hat's loopy guys. So I bought the pattern.

Come to knit Beaded Hat #2, Electric Boogaloo version...and find out that I've "misplaced" or "lost" or "sent into a time/space warp" the pattern.

And I thought about buying another copy of the pattern, for the loopy guys.

I winged it. Wung it. Whatever.

I'll provide photographic evidence tomorrow, if I can get the kid to keep her hat on long enough.

The crying jags have eased off; the top tooth is nearly through, and the generous administration of Hyland's Teething Tablets has restored this family's sleep. In general, I'm not a fan of medicating kids -- I hate hearing about how my 3 month old nephew was on prilosec, my cousin was on ADD meds, this one's on this, that one's on that...there simply isn't enough research done on these medicines in adult bodies before they're used, it REALLY isn't appropriate to use them in kids if you don't have to...

But they let her sleep. And it doesn't seem like an unnatural sleep, the kind of passed-out kid I get when I've rarely given her tylenol (mostly after she gets shots). It just seems to ease her out, relax her a bit, so she can go to sleep herself.

I really do love that kid like crazy, you know?

And so here's the big debate of today. I really really want to knit stoles for both of my bridesmaids. I started with scarves, because the wedding was going to be in May (don't ask me why that makes sense, because I don't know). Now that it's going to be March, I really want to knit Swan Lake for B and Hanami for Melissa.

Am I a total nutter, wanting to knit two lace stoles in the next eight months?

Poor Little Bug.

Miss Lucy has been having the most awful week; she's not napping well with Grandma Donna, so it's hard to put her down in the evening, since she's so overtired (massages and baths help, but it's still a half hour process, more when you figure that I nearly always fall asleep for a little while with her). But the last week or so, most night (say, 5 out of 7?) she wakes up at 11pm, practically on the dot, and fusses and cries and generally throws herself about with distress. I'm pretty sure she's getting her top two teeth in, based on her absolute and determined refusal to let anything into her mouth that isn't controlled by her -- and no, I have no further scientific method, why do you ask? -- but last night. Oy, last night.

She went down a little earlier and a little easier, and I only slept 20 minutes or so before stumbling out to the living room to try and be an adult for an hour or two before bedtime. And then at 10pm, or just after, there was full throated screaming coming from the bedroom. There was no warm up, no "Hey, Mama, I'm getting pissy!" engine reving, just a complete and total FREAKOUT.

I pretty much bolted into the bedroom, convinced that she had somehow crawled out of the bed and broken something, but no, she was still exactly where I'd left her, and her eyes were even still closed. But she was screaming, and she was quivering with tension, poor thing. Normally I can stroke her and cuddle her back to sleep, but last night I had to pick her up and rock her for quite a while, and then nurse her back to sleep.

I've got no idea what's going on. All the parents I talk to assure me that this is all normal, kids go through this, it's probably just that she's teething, and so forth. All of that makes sense to me, but it doesn't stop my worry that maybe something's wrong, you know?

In knitting news, I'm almost done the second gumdrop sock (well, almost is strong, I just turned the heel on the second sock, how's that?) and for a quick knit to soothe my nerves, I'm knitting a new hat for Lu for this winter, out of the same Tili Thomas beaded yarn I used last year. What, I loved the hat.

But because I'm growing as a person, can you guess what color it is?

That's right.

Green.