Glad that MLS is good for something

walking to my parent's house on Sunday
Michael: Mommy, can you read that number for me? (house number written in cursive)
John: It says 321, Michael.
Michael: (in amazement) You can read numbers too, Daddy?

Rainbows and Sakura

I've been actually bringing the camera along with me most of the time recently. Granted, it's because I've been taking lots of pictures of knitting techniques for the Knitty Keen blog, but the side benefit is pictures of the kids a little more often.

Here's the double rainbow we were lucky enough to see on Friday evening.

The clouds kept rolling overhead while we were at the park and we were waiting for the downpour to start any moment. It did start to rain while we were walking home then the clouds rolled and the sun came out treating us to this.

Philadelphia Cherry Blossom Festival - Sakura Sunday



I awoke to Michael bounding into our room this morning telling me how excited he was to be going to the Cherry Blossom Festival. He also shared his excitement with everyone (and I do mean everyone) we bumped into on our way to Fairmount Park. I went with Alex tucked into a sling last year on a windy gray day but this year we had picture perfect weather. Bright sun with enough of a breeze so it wasn't too hot. Michael enjoyed the drummers and his fruit salad while I found a neat bento box for him and these super cool and super cute little zipper pulls.



John poked fun at me for quite some time afterwards because he said I actually squealed when I opened the package and was bouncing when I was asking him for more money to get another one. The stand where we bought them from has a shop in town which I will definitely be visiting in the future (for the curious - Omoi).

Alex slept through the entire thing, but we got him up to eat before the bus ride home and managed to get Michael to stay still long enough for a quick family picture.

Just a little note for Kylie

Who decided that she would pass a little judgement on my 8 week belly pic. My knee-jerk reaction was to delete the comment, but I think it deserves to be read.

"why are you so big and the shape of your belly is messed up man ? i would HATE to have that."

Well, Kylie, you are certainly entitled to your opinion of the shape of my belly, but I could really care less that you would "HATE" to have it. While there are times that I am not in love with my body, it has given birth to two babies, struggled with smoking, and is currently nourishing my second child (which I will take a stab and say that would be another thing you would "HATE" to have considering what pregnancy and breastfeeding have done to the shape of my breasts) and that's nothing to sneeze at.

If you are willing to open your mind (which I am again taking a stab here and guessing not since you left neither email address nor homepage with your comment), you can take a look at The Shape of a Mother to see what real women look like, women who are not the perfect shape and decided to lift up their shirts and show the world just what their bellies look like.

So Kylie, get a fucking clue, mkay?

VOTE!

The husband and I have done our parts, now we just have to sit back and watch (and pray).

Bite me, sports fans

Seriously folks, I'm really happy that the Phillies won. I didn't even watch the game for fear of jinxing because the one game I went to they lost spectacularly and the one pennant game I watched on TV they lost as well, so I thought it safest to hedge my bets and do my part for the home team.

Seeing as how I did my part - the drunken yelling out in front of my house at fucking 1.30 in the morning was something I could have done without - especially since the episodes of drunken yelling or the damned firecrackers always occurred the moment I got my sick baby to sleep causing him to wake right back up.

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for baseball fans, but you are fast approaching the disdain and sometimes outright disgust I reserve for football fans (so says the woman, again awakened by all night partying to the dulcet tones of "E, A, G, L, E, S, EAGLES!"). I like baseball, I enjoy keeping track of who is ahead in the various divisions and I look forward to going to a game next year and then taking my kids in another year or so. So baseball fans - let's not be assholes, OK?

Just a piece of advice

If I haven't seen you in several years and you know about Michael, please don't act all surprised when you find out I have a second child. It's pretty damned insulting to me, my family and most especially Michael because I know it's all about teh ebil Autism you are thinking. Maybe there's a reason why you have not been a part of my life for the past three years.

This has happened several times when we've bumped into members of my old mother's group the past few months and it really cements it in my mind that it was for the best that I am no longer involved with them.

Vacation Countdown

On the 25th, we will be leaving with my best friend and her family to go on my first vacation in four years. We're just starting to talk about what we are going to do and need to pack, when I remembered - MUSIC! Back in those days of $.99/gallon gas and when cigarettes were $2.50 a pack we spent hours just driving around in my Ford Tempo listening to mix tapes. Here's just a sampling of the mix that I'm starting to make for us...

• Jane says, Jane's Addiction


• Blue Cars, Dishwalla


• Hell, Squirrel Nut Zippers


• Devil's Haircut, Beck


• Laid, James


• I Kissed a Girl, Jill Sobule


• A song by Garbage from Romeo & Juliette that I can't remember the name of but I remember that it was one of S's favorites


• Female of the Species, Space


• Peaches, The Presidents of the United States

Seriously - this vacation is going to rock!

I just couldn't resist...

Just fooling around.

Just a couple of fun things...

Check out this retelling of Thomas the Tank Engine by way of the Bolshevik Revolution...
The Really Revolutionary Train

I wish I had a link for it, but someone on one of John's boards put forth the theory that Sir Topham Hat is in fact a necromancer who binds the souls of children into trains and other vehicles on Sodor. If you have ever had the misfortune to actually sit through an episode of Thomas the Tank Engine, you will agree with me that this notion is not too far fetched.

And here's this lovely chestnut - Scamming the Scammer, The Tale of the P-P-P Powerbook. The fake powerbook he sent is truly a work of art.

As much as it sucks, and man does it ever, I am going to head to bed now at the same time as Michael because Mr. Man the Second was partying all night long last night and many allegories were made between my life as it is now and The Prisoner. I'm not feeling quite as bad today thanks to the boy's uncanny ability to stop just shy of pushing me over the edge (and I really mean just shy). John got a lead on an Amby Bed to see if we can help Alex sleep better and me regain some modicum of sanity.

All right - off to bed I go. 'night all!

So Karma...

...how 'bout you let me win this to make up for getting burned on my swap?

Where's the crying emoticon when you need it?

I've been calling John every day at work for the past two weeks to ask him if my Magic Ball of Yarn swap package had arrived. I decided to use the library's address this time instead of my home address in an effort to avoid having to walk the mile and a half to pick up the package since the postal worker either doesn't knock or comes at the axact moment I have to run out. Of course this plan is dependant on having the correct address for John's work. It might not have been quite as bad if I included the name of his library, but of course I did not. Hopefully, the address doesn't even exist in the first place and my package is sitting at the post office and all it will require is that I walk the mile and a half to go pick it up.

I want this package so badly - please let this work out.

We're home...

..and all is pretty well. I'm having my first postpartum crying fest so I'm feeling a bit dicey, but everything else is looking pretty good except for some mild dehydration and jaundice in Alexander.

I'll post some pics and such later today. Still feeling a bit fragile, so I'll probably be a bit scarce for a bit, but I wanted to thank everyone for their well wishes and support!

Just for fun...

86% Mike Gravel
86% Dennis Kucinich
82% Barack Obama
81% John Edwards
81% Chris Dodd
78% Joe Biden
76% Hillary Clinton
76% Bill Richardson
37% Rudy Giuliani
29% Ron Paul
29% John McCain
23% Mitt Romney
22% Mike Huckabee
18% Tom Tancredo
13% Fred Thompson

2008 Presidential Candidate Matching Quiz

Talismans

Last night I was having some contractions. They'd be regular for 30 minutes or so and then taper off for a bit only to start back up after I had settled in a new position. Every time I woke in the night I'd have a couple before I was able to drift back off to sleep. When I woke at 6 to a hefty one and the Bean trying to do what felt like break-dancing in my uterus, it was time to call. John got up with me and I called the doc who of course said to head on in.

I made a few phone calls and then started collecting stuff. Superstitious person that I am, I knew that I had to have at least a half-dozen knitting projects with me and my Game Boy - if I'm prepared for an extended stay then it won't happen. I also knew I had to have a big breakfast and I had to stop at Starbucks for my normal iced Americano since they would likely keep me NPO at the hospital. Nothing quite like drinking an iced coffee while you are trying to breath through a contraction and the baby is going crazy inside.

All of my preparations worked. Things are still sealed up *very* tight and everyone commented on how well the Bean was doing (tons of movement). I only had a few contractions while I was there and they barely registered. My feeling is that this is primarily prodromal - my body is trying to nudge the Bean into a better position. I never felt any Braxton Hicks with Michael, but he was vertex almost the whole time while the Bean still likes to hang out butt-first. My gem of a husband took the rest of the day off so I can just relax and not worry about anything. I'm going to head off now to spend some time with them and get some nice down-time.

I suppose it's worth it...

...but I'm still cringing a bit that I am spending $17 to have $40 of groceries delivered to the house. Granted, I am 32 weeks pregnant, the high temp today is maybe going to be 40 degrees with 20-40mph wind gusts, and in the best of weather the shopping trip would take me close to 2 hours with a 1 mile walk each way. When you look at it that way, it doesn't seem too bad, but it's still annoying. I haven't been shopping at this particular store for a while now since it is such a pain for me to drag my pregnant self down there, and considering their prices are better than the closer store(and the reasons listed above) it does work out in the end.

Enough complaining - blueberry pancakes are waiting to be made.

---

It worked out pretty well - they gave me a $5 off coupon and the groceries got here early enough that I can make us grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch. It's not something I'm going to do every week, but a good order once a month or so is completely worth it.

On a completely different note, I am currently wearing my Green Scaly Socks! Off to eat lunch and finish off the Step Socks.

Honest, I'm still here

Picture heavy post to come later tonight.

Wife of the year

My mind is nowhere to be found. I actually just remembered that my eighth wedding anniversary was this past Tuesday. In my defense, I did already make the dinner reservations for next week when we'll actually be celebrating it.

Becoming a hermit is looking better all the time.

John forgot too, so it's not just me.

Pay it Forward

I just found out about this over on the ever lovely Flapjack's blog and thought I'd participate.

From the original blog post over on SnB London:

• The first three people to leave a comment on the Pay it Forward post here will receive a knitted item from the blogger (in this case me) within 6 months


• The people who comment then put Pay it Forward on their own blog for three people to comment on and knits those three an item within 6 months


• Those people then put it on their blog


• Then the next three put it on theirs


• You get the idea

Come on and comment - you know you want to...

Shopping!

I just got done with a slew of on-line orders. We had to buy Michael a new car seat since he's too tall for our current convertible and not old/mature enough to use a belt-positioning booster. We settled on a Fisher Price Safe Voyage, which is a Britax Marathon in different clothing. Last month I could find them everywhere, now only one place carries it and it's on clearance. Figures - they make a seat that has a high height and weight limit and doesn't cost a small fortune and it gets discontinued. Since it's more than likely that the Bean will follow in his brother's footsteps in terms of size, we'll be getting a Radian 65 come tax-return time. I'm probably going to put Michael in the Radian and the put the Bean in the FP when he outgrows the bucket that S is lending us. I was joking with John the other day that we could have a few more kids and have our self a rugby team - who knew that my Eastern European/Irish stock mixed with his Western European stock would create a race of super men? Now that I've said this, I'm probably guaranteeing that the Bean is going to be very petite (*shush* I can dream).

The next thing on the shopping list splurge is a new pair of shoes for me. Last spring I finally came to the realization that I need to spend money on good shoes for myself, especially since I was averaging a good 10 miles of walking a week back then. I closed my eyes and bought a pair of Keen sandals and man, what a difference they have made. I did have some arch pain the first few weeks I wore them as my feet adjusted to actually having adequate support, it has been heavenly. Even now, my pelvis may feel like it's going to split but my feet could go on all day. The shoes have held up remarkably well and I'm sure I can get at least another half-season's wear out of them.

Of course, now it's starting to get cold and I'm going to need closed shoes pretty soon. I've been vacillating all week about what shoes I want to get. I have large, wide feet and a very high instep. This means finding women's shoes that fit is nearly impossible. In fact when I bought the Keens, I didn't even bother trying on any of the women's styles and went right for men's. I've been searching all week and even though I know spending the money on good shoes is completely worth it, I was still balking at the cost. Most of all, I really want a pair of cute Mary Janes to show off my new hand-knit socks. I talked about my shoe dilemma with K this afternoon and finally decided to just go with the Keen pull-ons. They are not the most feminine of shoes, but I know they work on my feet and switching to something else in the middle of my pregnancy would probably not be a good thing. Once spring comes, I'm thinking of getting a pair of Earth Shoe Mary Janes - K told me that they fit her wide/high-instep feet very nicely although the heels take a bit of getting used to.

The last thing in the shopping extravaganza was a cell phone for John. We've only had one for a year now and while it's not that much of an issue generally, with me being pregnant and a second on the way, we both feel a bit more secure with him having one too. The only thing left is for me to replace my own - something that has to happen soon seeing as the "4" button no longer works. I just have to do some comparison shopping and pick one out that doesn't cost a small fortune - the downfall of hybrid plans, none of those sweet deals on phones apply when you aren't signing a two-year contract.

'evening all - have a great weekend!

ELO Therapy

I have found that listening to Mr. Blue Sky by Electric Light Orchestra on a continuous loop almost never fails to improve my mood. John left me his i-Pod this morning for just this purpose. After I got Michael on the bus and did my morning surfing, I took myself, some socks and the i-Pod up to Starbucks. I had a lovely cup of coffee and a very yummy bacon avocado wrap. After I finished eating, I lucked out and the comfy chairs became available, so I pulled out the second Green Scaly Sock, turned the volume up on the i-Pod and listed to Mr. Blue Sky for at least half a pattern repeat and then my regular mix until I was done the repeat.

I don't know if it was the music or my regular knitting speed, but I'm pretty impressed that I got 22 rounds of sock done in an hour. Right now I'm about 4 rounds away from starting the gusset and I only have a few rounds left before I start the 2x2 rib on the second Step Sock. By the end of the weekend, I may have two new pairs of socks! Of course, I have no shoes to wear with said socks, but I'm ordering myself another pair of Keen's this weekend so hopefully I'll be able to walk about in my ultra-cool socks. Frankly, I'm trying to get these done so I can use the Colinette Jitterbug I got last weekend. I'm still not sure what it's going to be yet - either Cookie A.'s Monkey or a pattern of my own design.

As per usual, I have a ton of stuff to wade through the next few days so I really have no business even thinking about sock knitting. I'll get some pics up tomorrow for a real Crafts Update. Thanks for reading and TTFN!