Shopping at Home

The truck is sold, and we are glad and a little sad. Yesterday the Man made one last trip to Home Despot for plywood and drywall, from now on its rental pickups for such items.

Last year Mom gave me the Stitch'N Bitch Day Calendar, and this month there was Amelia, a pattern for a cool hat made with Manos del Uruguay yarn, just a funky hat with earflaps and braids. I wanted that hat, wanted to make it, want to wear it. But I am trying not to buy more yarn right now, and in any case I couldn't decide on a color I liked ...

So I headed upstairs, rummaged around in my yarn stash and dug out 2 skeins of Deep Purple Wool / Silk / Cashmere Blend. Its a bit nubby, with some other colors showing up every now and again. The pattern is easy, and I am already shaping the crown. I should have it done before cold weather arrives. I like shopping in my own closet.

Sabine seems to be feeling a bit better, last night she slept the whole night in her bassinet, but she did wake three times. I swaddled her very tightly, and though she made noises she slept. She is still fussy, but seems to be returning to her usual routine.

Sabine Sick

No pictures this past week, we have all been sick. And when I thought we were all recovered and went to the neighborhood Hallowe'en Festival on Saturday (I had signed up to work at Arabella's preschool booth), and despite bundling up we are all feeling sick again. The saddest is Sabine. She doesn't have a fever or any outward signs of illness, but if she has what Arabella and I feel, she has a sore throat, which would explain her symptoms. Her usual routine has been to nurse for 45 minutes, look around for 15-30 minutes, then crash out for 2-4 hours, where nothing wakes her, not even Arabella's enthusiastic play. But now she is nursing alot, or rather, nursing in frequent but brief bursts, is crabby without really waking, and then sleeps for about 20 minutes, and only sleeps longer if she is being cuddled. If I set her down asleep she wakes and screams. Not cries, screams. Things seemed to settle down a wee bit last night after I gave her a tiny dose of Tylenol.

I think this will be a relatively quiet Hallowe'en.

I just finished reading the new Terry Pratchett book, Making Money, with the return of Postmaster Moist von Lipwig, and really enjoyed it. I gave it to the Man to read next.

We have a buyer for our truck, our neighbors who are great people and with 4 kids really need a second vehicle for the husbands growing business. I'm sad to sell it, I bought the pickup truck new in Los Angeles just before starting graduate school 15 years ago, and it is almost the only thing I have left from that era of my life. About the only thing I have had longer that is mine and only mine (not a heirloom / hand-me-down) is my sewing machine that I bought on credit in 1989 in San Francisco. I think Sears had me sign away my first-born child in case of default. In reference to the truck, my neighbor said I may come by and sit in it sometimes.

Drama in Clothing Wars

I thought of a method / punishment to encourage Arabella to pick up her clothing - taking them away! I gave her an ultimatum on Thursday, that starting Friday she must have all her clothes picked up by bedtime and properly put away (either in the laundry or in the dresser). Anything left on the floor when we start bedtime stories at night would be taken away. And disposed of (which is to say, would be boxed up and packed in my closet, which is a black hole). I don't think she believed me, because last night there were a half dozen pieces of clothing left on the floor. I took them all, to much screaming pleading and sobbing. When Arabella had calmed enough to listen I told her she could earn them back by having no clothes on the floor for 6 nights (one garment each night). Stay tuned for updates. If this works on clothes I may start it for toys, too. In the meantime I have to find a way to stop her from taking the soap dispenser out of the bathroom every frigging day.

Last night was rough: Sabine screamed from 2 am to 3:30, with some brief interludes of sleep. I tried everything, she even screamed when I tried to lay her beside me, but eventually she accepted that and fell asleep until 6 am. We did go to the pediatrician on Thursday, and he said that though Sabine is sick, that nothing he saw worried him, and she will be fine in a few days. The amazing news was when Sabine was weighed: she is up to 8 pounds 14 oz, which is a gain of a full pound in 6 days! Obviously her appetite hasn't been affected.

I knitted up a little green cap to go with Sabine's green sweater, I will be making ear flaps and a Velcro closure on it. I think the black cap, while good for a newborn, is quickly going to be outgrown. The new cap has a cast on of 60 stitches, and 6 rows of moss stitch instead of garter stitch.

Sickies and Saddies

Sabine and I have apparently gotten Arabella's sore throat. Sabine of course cannot tell me this, but yesterday she was sleeping fitfully and with much whimpering, and when she was awake, she wasn't the chipper and alert baby I have come to expect in the past 3 weeks, she was crabby and unfocused. I feel the same way. She has no fever, and isn't congested, but I will be calling the pediatrician today, just to check and see if she should come in.

Arabella in the meantime has gotten over her sore throat, but is a bit upset over being denied SpongeBob for a whole day, since last night I grounded her. Yesterday I brought clean laundry into Arabella's room, and gave it to her to put away in the dresser. She did an excellent job, and we then turned to the clothes on the floor, sorting dirty (into the laundry basket) from clean (into the dresser). All the clothes were picked up and put away. Last night, when I came in for story time, there were clothes all over the floor, including at least 8 pair of underwear, some still folded and stacked together, which Arabella announced to be dirty. Since none of the clothes were taken from the laundry basket, I knew everything to have been "clean" less than 12 hours earlier. (I explain all of this because my grandmother suggested that if Arabella were responsible for putting her clothes away, she would not make a mess of them. Wrong!) We cleaned up the clothes, and that's when I discovered the 3 plastic boxes filled with water. And that the bed was all wet because Arabella "wanted to play with the water" during her Quiet Time. The only solution I have come up with is locking Arabella in her room during Quiet Time, which I would prefer not to do, as she needs to learn to control herself, not just be controlled. Any alternate suggestions are welcome, as I am running out of ideas.

Too Much

I have commented before that Arabella is rough on her toys. I would like to show Exhibit A. This is all that remains of Sleeping Beauty:



We have NO idea where the rest of Ms. Beauty may be, but we are saving her wig and legs just in case.

In the past 48 hours Arabella has:

1. Broken her red "lunch box," which she used for carrying her crayons when we go out, by standing on it.
2. Bitten the nose and cockpit off the red rubbery plastic airplane from Grandma and Pop-pop.
3. Stabbed her pink stuffie cat with the paint brush until I was sure it was going to spring yet another leak -- I have already sewn it back together twice.
4. During Quiet Time (when she is expressly instructed to remain in her room), Arabella went downstairs, fetched the egg she had gotten at her friend Esme's house (where they have chickens) and played with it until it broke, smearing egg all over the floor and her play mat. Amazingly, she didn't get it on the bed.

Today has had nothing so dramatic, but has had plenty of smaller incidents that have been driving me to consider that maybe we should have snuck Arabella into a suitcase when the in-laws left. I have told her that at this time she will not be receiving toys at either her upcoming birthday or at Xmas. Books and clothing only. I've talked to Santa, and he understands, right Santa? Or do I have to talk to Tony Soprano?

It has been suggested that the reason Arabella is so rough on her toys is that she has so many. She certainly has more than I recall having at her age, but far fewer than many of her peers. So we will be culling the toy box, tossing anything broken, storing anything she doesn't play with regularly, putting the rest in their proper places.

FO's

Last night I finished knitting the beret for Mom, this is knit in Lona's Laces superwash merino, Aslan, using the beret pattern from Welcome to the Knit Cafe.


I also got a picture of the hat I made to go with the baby kimono I made for Sabine. Hard to see details, since it is black.


Cara's easy newborn hat:
Lion Brand Cotton-Ease, 1 skein
size 8 needles

CO 52, K one row
second row, K1 *YO, K2tog. rep from * until one stitch remains, K1
work even in stockinette 30 rows, bind off.
With right sides together, sew up side seam, then either sew even across top for 'ears' or crochet in X for a watch cap. sew on roses or ribbon.

Our other new baby:
It is a 2003 Honda Odyssey, with 60K miles, fold-down rear seat, dvd, automated side doors ... and lots of space to keep the girls safely separate and still go shopping without putting groceries in the girls' laps. We are selling the pickup truck, if anyone is interested ...

Sabine sleeping

Sabine, sleeping.

This is her normal state of being. I have a struggle getting her to stay awake to feed, sometimes. Yesterday Mom and I took Sabine to the hospital to have her 48 hour infant blood test. I fed her before we left, and she was asleep before we got out the door. She slept the entire way, slept while we waited, slept while the nurse drew her blood (the only whimper was when the nurse swabbed her foot with a cold alcohol wipe), slept the whole way home, and didn't wake until I was halfway through eating my lunch.

The Man has been working on the mudroom project, which was delayed this summer while he finished graduate school. Now he has a helper:
Mixing paint. The color is Moose Mousse.

Rolling paint.

Arabella didn't help very much, but she enjoyed the bit she did. The mudroom is now painted, and the Man is working on the tile today, while my mom and I head out with the girls for sushi. Arabella has been reading Yoko and is very excited about eating sushi. We'll see how excited she is when it is served. We maybe having a lot of edamame.

Guilty Pleasures

Some years back I attended the National Ceramic Conference when it was hosted by Las Vegas (UNLV, actually), and the theme was Guilty Pleasures. Our conference tags therefore read: "NCECA 1997, Guilty Pleasures", and then the participants name and either college affiliation or town. There were over 4000 participants, chubby hippie college ceramics teachers, hot neo-hippie college co-eds, artists, collectors, writers, etc. Everyone wearing jeans and t-shirts, all ages. A very odd looking conference. On the last day, as I am loading up my plate with fried shrimp at the all-you-can-eat buffet, this man sidles up to me and asks, quietly,

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?"

I was startled, but said, "Sure, what?"

"Well, I keep seeing all these people with tags that say 'Guilty Pleasures' on them, is it a club or somehing? How could I join?"

I looked down at my own tag, and said as brightly as I could, "Its a ceramics conference!"

I have rarely seen anyone look so disappointed.

Your Guilty Pleasures

So what are my guilty pleasures?

• Funyuns, cheap White Zinfandel, and chocolate fudge pop-tarts. I rarely eat them, because I don't want Arabella to catch the Funyun habit.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer tv show. Thanks to Pat, I have seen every single episode. Thanks to my husband, twice. But bringing this up with other moms is very chancy.
• Holding a sleeping baby, though I know I should be putting her in her crib.
• Buying yarn (or fabric) I don't have a plan for using. I've got alot of this purposeless yarn. I could probably make a purposeless yarn sweater or two.
• Spider Solitaire and Civilization 3 computer games.

I know, my life is pretty boring, if this is as bad as my guilty pleasures get. How about you, readers? What are your Guilty Pleasures?

ps, more Sabine pics later this week.