33

Andrew turned 33 this last week. To celebrate both his birthday *and* Genevieve's rolling over milestone, he took the week off of work to get cracking on childproofing our house. (We will NOT be caught unprepared again.)

You can see the Danger Gleam_TM in her eyes.

I listed a number of his good qualities last year, but with this year's Major Life Change, that list has grown.

Genevieve brings out the best in you: you are patient, kind, and calm.

SuperDad in action!

Even when she is screaming her head off, you keep your cool and rock the 5 S's like a champ. You've worn a groove in our hallway bouncing and shushing and - even though we need to refinish the floors - I think it's a testament to your excellent parenting.

You regularly get up early on the weekends to give me a couple of hours of precious, precious sleep while you spend quality time with our daughter. Once I get up, you make breakfast and coffee.

Quality time in the glider

I love our morning Civilised Breakfasts_TM- where I get up during Genevieve's morning alert time, make breakfast, and then we drink our coffee and eat breakfast without computers, phones, or any of the other modern conveniences that could rob us of our civility while she plays.

I love that you are on board with all of my Attachment Parenting ideas, including limiting/restricting Genevieve's access to television- and that we started listening to the Hunger Games Trilogy together. I also appreciate that you didn't say ONE WORD about me weeping into my dinner at the end of Mockingjay. (You are the "nice one", after all.) I love that you're asking about what we're going to listen to next.

I love that you are into wearing Genevieve (in the Moby or the Ergo), and that you know that the measure of a man isn't being cowed by other people's opinions. (Except for mine, of course. Babywearing dads are super-hot.)

I love that you are thoughtful, and that thoughtfulness extends out to my mom, too. We are both still enjoying our bouquets of roses for Mother's Day.

I love watching you play with Genevieve.

Super-wiggly baby!

I love how your eyes sparkle when you look at her.

You see it, too, right?

I love how you've risen to the challenges of parenting, and you make it look effortless.

Okay, some times are easier than others.

Most of all, I love that you have a sense of humor when it comes to me, my crazy ideas, and the honey-do list I set up for you on Pinterest. I love that you still heckle me over thinking that Queen was a one-hit wonder band for Bohemian Rhapsody, since I didn't realize that I know (and like) a lot of their songs.

I love that you pick cute clothes for Genevieve. I am simultaneously terrified and intrigued at the thought of what you'll pick once I really start sewing for her.

Parallel impromptu naps!

I hope Genevieve marries someone just like you someday. But not in a creepy Electra complex way.

Happy (belated) birthday, hubs.


[SIDE NOTE: I swear he owns more than just the "Got Crabs?" t-shirt that he got at The Crab Pot on our honeymoon.]

Milestones and mimosas

It's been busy around these parts.

First, I finished DangerMouse's mini garter yoke cardigan; a smaller version of one I knit for myself out of my handspun yarn.



Unfortunately, it was just in time for a ridiculously hot week. Lest I miss my brief window of opportunity to photograph her in it, I grabbed a shot early one morning.

I have also started sewing, and I LOVELOVELOVE it! Sure, I'm only sewing baby blankets at right now, but I'm learning techniques that will translate into other projects, too.



Genevieve has been hitting milestones left and right, including rolling over and grabbing her toes!



There has also been the beginnings of teething,



Genevieve is chewing on EVERYTHING. Fingers, toys, her play gym. I may have called her a tiny termite the other day. The best/most terrifying part is how she goes in for the bite- like a shark.

When she's working on one of your fingers, it is NOT the time for kisses on her cheek. Because she'll try to chew on anything. Noses, chins; nothing is safe. Teething babies need tough, fearless parents.

I can feel the bumps under her gums when she gnaws on my fingers, and she's starting to look at our plates hungrily.



She still smiles in her sleep, which I find endlessly charming. A new development is that she will babble in her sleep, which proves that she's my daughter. (KidBrother Sam and I both talk in our sleep. I have even been known to enable in my sleep, if Meghan is to be believed.)

We celebrated my first Mother's Day with our family and some close friends. We had a delicious, decadent brunch.



And of course, mimosas.

Love in a Time of Productivity

In the last four months, I have learned that sometimes you snuggle because it's fun, sometimes you snuggle because your baby needs snuggles, and sometimes you snuggle because *you* need it. Friday was the latter.

DangerMouse had her four month checkup last week. 95th percentile for height, 90th percentile for weight, 25th percentile for head size. Fun fact: our pediatrician (who will henceforth be dubbed Dr. FTW) told us that DangerMouse looks a lot like Andrew. In her culture, that means Genevieve will be very successful.

I'll take that. Especially since she didn't tack on "... as a stripper" to the end of that sentence.

(Truth be told, while I would rather Genevieve *not* be a stripper, if she decides to go that route, I would hope she was a very successful one.)

[FUTURE GENEVIEVE: DO NOT BE A STRIPPER.]

How did this become about strippers? Quick, palate cleanser!

Sweater and hat both by DangerMouse's knitting aunties

In four months she has gone from a scrawny 6 lbs 11 oz to a robust 15 lbs and 11 oz. I'm still kvelling over this. I've also been reading  The 10 Habits of Happy Mothers, which I checked out from the library on a lark.

I'm finding it helpful, partly because it addresses a lot of the less-than-sparkly feelings that sometimes accompany new motherhood, and partly because I'm more mindful of some of the things I can actively work on. Like being frustrated that I'm not getting enough done.

Enough of what? Genevieve is fed, clean, and mostly cheerful. We talk, we sing, we play, we nap. We don't run 400 errands and do 8000 things every day; or every week even. But, I am trying to stay positive and treasure the time I have with her while she is small.

Matching hats at the Farmer's Market

Andrew says he feels it too, the feeling that he's unproductive. But it's things like the picture with their matching hats that reminds him that everything else isn't as important. He's right.

For now, I'll take the snuggles where I can get them, because like the poem says, "I'm rocking my baby and babies don't keep."

Four months

Today, Genevieve is four months old. I can easily say that in the last four months, my life has done a complete 180º. Being a Mom isn't easy, and not all of my days are good days. But the good moments and good days make my heart swell with all those excellent mommy hormones that the books promised.

I love staring at her.

She's amazing, and probably the smartest, funniest, and most talented baby in the whole world. No bias here; just the facts. She's growing like a weed, and every day I have the distinct privilege of watching her world get *just* a little bit bigger every day.

I think the best thing (to date) was on St. Patrick's Day, when she realized that Mealtime Is For Talking. Our family is the kind that can make dinner last six hours; we're having a great time telling stories, jokes, and enjoying all the elements of a family meal.

"Oh, Unkie Sam. Not THIS story again!" (Picture by Laura)

At mealtime, she'll sit on someone's lap, and babble and laugh away. I'm endlessly charmed by it. Connections are being made; I put her down in her crib for a few minutes, and I heard her talking to her stuffed dinosaurs, pause, and then HYSTERICAL laughter. I can only assume she was doing stand-up for them.

She rolled over for the first time this last week, and there have been no shortage of other milestones- discovering that hands were for reaching, finding her feet, and then actually INTENTIONALLY reaching for things! And grabbing them!

In related news, I'm wearing my hair in a ponytail again.

Other fun DangerMouse facts:

- Farts are funny. It doesn't help that everyone who helps change diapers laughs when she farts. I know that we are unintentionally reinforcing this.
- We love the word "booty". Also "naked" and "squish".
- Fake sneezes will still get her mother to say "gesundheit". Which is another funny word.
- She laughs in her sleep.
- She can work a room. She's all smiles and charm when we're out and about.
- She can sleep through dogs barking, loud music, hammering, leaf blowers, and the sewing machine.
- When she stretches, she makes the Blue Steel face from Zoolander.
- Any problem can be solved through the judicious application of a fresh diaper, a boob, or some time in the baby sling. (We have loved the Moby Wrap from the start and the ERGO now that she's stable enough for it.)

The most important thing I've learned in the last four months? Everything else can wait.

When in doubt, brûlée

I wish I could take credit for this; alas, it's thanks to following SomebunnysLove on Pinterest. Kimberly has incredible taste in food, and I swear I'm gaining weight just following her pins.

From Chef In Training, I give you the recipe, with my two slight adjustments. The first is substituting honey for corn syrup, the second is replacing the bread with croissants.


I also would recommend serving with bacon, whipped cream, and strawberries- all on the side. Mmmm.

This serves 6-8 people, and next time, I'm doing two batches. That's how good this is.

Overnight Creme Brulee French Toast

Ingredients

1. 1/2 cup butter
2. 1 cup packed brown sugar
3. 2 Tbsp honey
4. 10 croissants
5. 5 eggs
6. 1 1/2 cups half-and-half cream
7. 1/4 teaspoon salt
8. 1 teaspoon vanilla
9. Dash of cinnamon

Directions

1. In a small saucepan melt butter, brown sugar, and honey over medium heat until smooth, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture onto large, greased jelly roll pan (18x13x1"). Spread around to cover surface. Cut the crossaints in half, place them crust-side down in a single layer to cover pan. Mix together eggs, cream, salt, vanilla, and cinnamon. Spoon mixture over each piece of bread. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Pull out of the fridge (about 1 1/2 hours before baking) so that the baking dish can come up to room temperature. Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes. Remove from pan and serve. If not serving immediately, turn each slice of bread over (this will prevent bread from sticking to the bottom of the pan).

Search, share, and cook your recipes on Mac OS X with SousChef!

Bon apetít!

Oatmeal and butter

This weekend was challenging, and I am the only one to blame for it. Before I get into the challenging bit, here's something that is going really well:

Oatmeal CVM from Patti Sexton, Monterey Wool Auction 2010

Plying! I spun 9 oz of CVM singles on a borrowed Hansen Minispinner while I was expecting  DangerMouse. Since I'm getting ready to start my SPAKAL spinning, I thought I should ply the TWO sweaters worth of singles I have resting on the plastic weaving bobbins. (This is, for the record, the only issue with using the plastic weaving bobbins for storing singles.)

I spun this woolen, because the staple length is on the shorter side, and if I thought I loved spinning it, it wasn't as much as I'm loving plying it. I just need to set it and pick which Hannah Fettig sweater I'm knitting out of it. Plying this makes me feel really accomplished and incredibly talented.

It also makes DangerMouse sleeeeeeepy.

(This is important to point out. I'm not just being a bragger-sandwich.)

I spent Saturday in the kitchen. Between baking sugar cookies for Easter dinner with my in-laws and doing prep for Easter brunch (at our house), my kitchen was a'bustlin' with activity. I really, really missed cooking and baking and it's so satisfying to be able to get back to it.

I pulled out my trusty copy of Joy of Cooking and looked at the recipe for sugar cookies. We were looking to make cookies that look like these:

Image stolen from justcrumbs. But seriously, go check out her etsy shop.

So. Sugar cookies. I looked at the recipe, and the recipe says it will make 3 dozen 2" round cookies. My cookie cutter was a 3" egg, and my brain mangled the math. I read "3 dozen 1" round cookies".

So I quadrupled the recipe. QUADUPLED.

"This is SUCH a good idea!" I kept saying, "I'm so excited to be baking! And they're going to be SO CUTE."

That meant using 10 sticks of butter. Somehow, this made PERFECT SENSE to me. I went along, cheerfully mixing, rolling out, and refrigerating the dough. Then it was time to cut out the cookies and bake them.

I made use of Andrew and his excellent spatial skills, so he did the cutting out, and I fired up my oven to the "convection" setting. (Three sheets of cookies baking evenly, simultaneously. It makes my heart skip a beat. But that might be the butter talking.)

After AN HOUR of cutting out cookies, Andrew asks how many more we're planning to do. It was at this point that I realize, we will have OVER ONE HUNDRED 3" eggs. That we're going to decorate.

Andrew may have voiced some concern about halfway through, to which I kept insisting, "This is STILL a good idea."

After the cookies were all baked (minus the scraps, which Mom rolled and froze for later use), I looked at the stack and nearly wept at the idea of having to ice and decorate all. These. Cookies.

This is only some of them.

Andrew had the great idea to only decorate the 48 cookies we were planning to take to Easter dinner, and it was an INSPIRED idea. We set up an assembly line, and iced, ear-ed, eye-d, and tail-ed the cookies.

I felt really stupid pretty, and to be totally honest, I was pretty hard on myself. Straight-up abusive. To his credit, Andrew insisted that it was STILL a good idea, the cookies were delicious, and hey! When have we ever had a hard time finding people interested in eating my baking?

Lesson learned? If you're tired and having a "pretty" day, have someone ELSE check your math.

Unless, of course, you have neighbors like ours, who told me that they would *cheerfully* take one for the team and help us out with the extras. It's definitely a tasty, tasty way to get closer to your neighbors.

What I do for love

I have completely lost my mind. We announced the SPAKAL (SPin-Along-Knit-A-Long, pronounced "spackle") on the podcast, and I declared that I would not *only* spin a sweater on my spinning wheel and knit the chosen sweater, but I would ALSO spin for a sweater using a drop spindle.

It's a KCL modular spindle, and that's orange Targhee X I'm spinning on it.

Yes, drop spindle is technically slower than wheel spinning. But, it happens to delight one certain DangerMouse, and I am a slave to her moods. Especially the good ones. Also, you really can't beat the fact that it keeps her actively engaged and entertained for 45 minutes at a time. (This is further proof that she really and truly is my daughter. You know, if you ever doubted it.)

I mean, wouldn't you spin for this face?

"The most interesting baby in the world" (captioned by Kidbrother Sam)

That's what I thought.

AlaKAZAM!

There has been lots of baby talk on here as of late. I'm still amazed at how much time and attention tiny people (who seem to spend most of their time sleeping) require. Lest you fear that I have forsaken my love of All Things Fiber-y, I offer you a little proof that I have not.

Skeptical Houdini Socks for Andrew

I decided to try knitting a pair of Houdini socks for Andrew- mostly because they're really, really satisfying to knit - and partly because I know he likes his socks snug, and these totally fit the bill. He was skeptical that he would like the fit of any socks that weren't ribbed from cuff to toe (the one problem with having a man who knows his knitting), but I assured him that he would love the fit of these.

I can't explain *why* these fit better than a sock with (for example) a short-rowed heel, but they do. Someday, over a mug of coffee, I will ask Cat to explain it to me, and I will finally see the light. (I promise to tell you what the secret is, as soon as I know.)

These are further than they appear in the photo (first sock is DONE!), and I had Andrew try it on. I have a feeling that one Tall and Handsome Man will be having a serving of Crow with a side of Humble Pie shortly.


There are so many things I love about these socks; especially the yarn. Oh Regia, yarn of my heart. What I may love most is the bold 10-year warrantee on the label. Way to throw down the gauntlet, Regia.

The most appealing part of these socks might be the complete lack of a wretched heel flap. It seems to take me a year to knit a 2 1/2" square of fabric, but 12 inches of stockinette tube and seven inches of ribbing? I can knit *that* in ten minutes. (Not really ten minutes. Allow me some hyberbolic license here.)

I am enjoying the knitting on these socks so much that I'm actually *excited* about knitting a fresh drawer of socks for Andrew.

Somehow a drawer full of socks seems less daunting than finishing the sleeves on the sweater. It's all about perspective these days.

Me, for the win

On Monday, I had a Parenting Win. At 11 weeks, Genevieve is 24 1/2" long, and 12 lbs, 14 oz. She is tall, like Andrew, and has some good meat on her bones. I can't find the percentiles, but I assure you, she's well above the 50% mark on both. (Fortunately, she doesn't have her father's giant head. Quoth the pediatrician.)

I'm interactive!

I am utterly delighted. For the first time, I feel like I'm really doing something right. The pediatrician told us (basically) that all of the preemie concerns were well behind us, and that we have a robust and thriving daughter.

I can't even begin to describe the relief I feel. Andrew and I were high five-ing each other all the way home after her appointment.

Success as a parent is - apparently - measured in inches and pounds.

Forty-two Squares

I've been spending a lot of my time taking pictures of Genevieve. About a month ago, I took pictures of her on the Love Blanket _TM that a few of our podcast listeners made for her.
 

Diaper cover by Zookies.com. No affiliation, just a happy customer.

I know that a month is FOREVER in baby time (Genevieve has filled out considerably since this shoot), but these are some of my favorite pictures of her. Every time we use this blanket, I think of all the well-wishes, anticipation, and love that was knit into it.

I love her duckling hairdo.

It's the perfect size for snuggling under on the couch or the glider, and because it's superwash wool, I don't have to worry about handwashing it. You know, because Things happen. And knitters plan for these sorts of Things.

The square her feet are on is a square with BABY FOOTPRINTS!

It has directionality, and because I'm me, I insist that we show off the pretty side, and right side up. (There's even a Star Trek square. This is how well our listeners know us.)

DangerMouse: 1 month, 8 days old

It's so cheerful, that it brightens up whichever room we're using it in. (Usually the living room.) Until the past couple of days, it hasn't really been cold enough to take it out of the house and show it off. Given that the high the last couple of days has been in the low 50's, that is changing. Oh boy, is it changing.

Both the blanket and the baby are super-snuggly.

Despite the fact that I only managed to finish a hat for her before she was born, Genevieve has made off with a HUGE haul of knitterly loot. Every time she wears a hat or sweater that one of her knitting aunties has made for her, I make sure to tell her how well-loved she is, and how excited we all were to have her join us.

This goes even more so for the Love Blanket _TM. I tell her that people who *have never met her* were SO excited that she was going to be born that they surprised us with a blanket - just for her. Thankfully for me, Genevieve is good about sharing it.

 For now.