I don’t think I’ve shown you a picture of Max in his hat yet.

It fits great, and being 1×1 ribbing with a large cuff, it should fit him for quite awhile.

Yeah, who was I kidding? I had to go to the store and make a cake yesterday, I didn’t have time to take and post pictures!

Here’s Abby’s Halloween costume. I forgot I was supposed to make her belt, so I was up at 6:30 before school Friday morning, sewing a utility belt out of yellow felt that I thankfully had on hand. She liked it so well, we made a leg belt, also.

We didn’t have to buy a thing for costumes this year. I love that!

So, we have Nate’s birthday-

It was really fun. Nate brought home Vietnamese steak sandwiches and spring rolls from a place that’s really cheap, and quite delicious. And I didn’t have to cook! Then he and the kids played Beatles Rock Band in the basement.

Today, Abby is better but still home sick,

and Liv has a low fever, droopy eyes, and the sniffles.

Doesn’t she look miserable? Not. She’s just sick enough to whine a lot and make me crazy.

Max is 4 weeks old now.

This picture really shows his color well.

He has significantly more color than I do. I have more color than Nate does. I don’t know where he got it. The weird thing is, he looks like a redhead sometimes. His hair has a bit of red to it, in certain light, especially. The nurse was sure he was a redhead right after he was born. When he fusses, he turns the most shocking color of red at the drop of a hat… My mom has much more color than I do, but she’d never be mistook for a redhead, and I’ve never seen her look flushed. I totally don’t get what’s up with him.

Moving on… Here’s a shot of what I have done on Clark’s socks so far

It’s a very soft yarn and really, really thin. It’ll be interesting to see how they hold up with wear.

And here are my Rosebud socks. I was hoping for a more interesting name, but it fits, and I’m somewhat apathetic. It really doesn’t matter.

You can’t see it in the pictures, I guess because it’s subtle, but I did something neat with the cuff, kind of bringing the pattern up into it. Maybe I should get some sock blockers at some point so I can take better pictures?

Whew! Did I get it all?

In reading a certain comment yesterday, and talking to my sister on the phone today, it appears that on my blog I come across as sounding stressed. I was completely surprised to hear this, as I don’t feel remotely stressed. There are moments a la yesterday’s shower, to be sure, but for the most part, my life is pretty quiet. I’ve made efforts to keep it that way so I can feed my baby adequately and get the rest I need. I suppose that I just don’t write about the quiet moments, because they’re not particularly interesting. I spent 30 minutes or so this morning sitting in my favorite chair, feeding Max and watching the leaves fall off the big maple tree in our backyard, enjoying the contrast between the violent yellow of the fall leaves and the blue sky.

Right now the house is quiet and I’m writing a post while Max sleeps in the sling.

Because I couldn’t get him to sleep any other way, but whatever.

So don’t worry about me. I’m content. Things are going well. I’m enjoying the moment and finding humor in the parts that aren’t so enjoyable.

For the most part.

And I’m knitting more than I have in ages. It’s fabulous.

There are just too many possible titles for this post, so I’m going to do a bunch of mini posts in this one. I have no time to add pictures right now. If you feel like checking back, you may see some added later today. So, here goes…

Are you kidding me?

Abby is sick. Again. This is the third time in the four weeks since Max was born. A couple people have told me they think she has the swine flu this time, simply because it came on in a matter of about 10 minutes. Totally fine to so incredibly sick, it hurts to look at her. Half of our elementary school has had it and recovered just fine, so I’m not worried about anyone but Max. I need to call the pediatrician today to see how much danger he may be in.

Oh, PLEASE stop it!

Clark is a pill. I don’t think it’s because of the baby, he was heading this direction before Max was born, but I’m so tired of the tantrums. We’re getting several a day now, which brings me to my next post-

Well, THAT was a disaster!

I attempted to go yarn shopping last Thursday. While Clark wasn’t throwing tantrums, he made it completely impossible to concentrate on anything other than him. He was only interested in yarn that could be made into socks for him. He didn’t stop talking, or demanding my attention the whole time we were in the store. I finally left with nothing and have to figure out how I’m going to acquire the needed yarn for my mother-in-law. Anyone want a 3 year old for a few hours? He used to be such a peach. I could take him anywhere.

Thank you all, very much

My mother-in-law is doing very well. Yesterday was supposed to be her worst day post chemo, and she says she felt good. Tired, but not sick. We’re very happy.

I’m so proud

I ordered a ball of self striping sock yarn from Knitpicks for Clark’s next pair. I’m enjoying the toe up socks so much, that I decided to try it out on Clark’s socks. I cast on 18 stitches, figure 8 style, and increased to 50. I believe his other socks are all 40 stitches around, but this yarn is really thin so I’m using a size 0 needle, and added the extra stitches. I knit a considerable way up the foot before trying them on Clark to see if I guessed right, and it seems to fit perfectly. Yay!

Oh, and how sick is this? I was so excited to get this yarn. $5.39 for a ball that’ll make a pair of socks for Clark. And then it occurred to me that I’d NEVER spend $5 on a single pair of socks for him in a store. In fact, I’d totally scoff. But somehow, $5 or more on a pair I spend hours knitting myself? Well, that’s a deal!

This sock designing thing is FUN!

There’s a reason there are so many sock books out there. It’s really fun to make them up! My rose socks are pretty. I’ve about finished one sock (just need to bind off) and am part way up the leg of the other.

Isn’t he supposed to SLEEP the first two months?

The reason the rose socks aren’t finished yet is because Max is much more awake than I think a newborn should be. He still sleeps a lot, but he also wakes up a lot.

The typical rant from the mom of a newborn trying to take a shower

Yeah. So, here’s how it went this morning-

Abby is quarantined downstairs watching a movie, Clark is watching Cars on the computer, Max is sleeping… I’m going to take a shower. I don’t really know why, other than it’s been a couple days and I smell like old milk. The hot water feels good. I turn it off sooner than I’d like only to hear Max screaming and the phone ringing. I ignore both, figuring that I’d put myself first and get dressed before taking care of everyone else. The phone call goes to voicemail, and within 3 seconds, starts ringing again. Max is still screaming. I continue to ignore them as I’m drying my hair with the towel. The call goes to voicemail, 3 seconds later, the phone rings again. Max is still screaming.

Repeat one more time.

Olivia must be involved. She’s the only person I know that produces the level of drama necessary to warrant four back to back phone calls.

It turns out, that was unfair of me. It wasn’t Olivia, it was coincidental timing of many different things proving that I really shouldn’t ever take a shower. That fourth call, which I dove across my bed to retrieve since it was obviously life threatening, was someone who had just stopped by my house and left meals on the porch. (So the doorbell had rung too, during the 7 minutes or so I was in the shower). She was going to leave instructions on my voicemail.

And WHY did I go through the effort to shower? My hair is still wet, and despite my efforts to protect myself, there’s already a bit of spit up on my shoulder.

I have to go to the store this morning (and I’m almost out of morning). Should I even bother to change my shirt?

Happy birthday, baby!

My beloved is 38 today. He wants an angel food cake, and he certainly deserves one. Which is why I’m going to the store for cake flour and oodles of eggs. (I have yet to buy a store-made angel food cake that’s worth eating, but the recipe in Martha Stewart’s cookbook is divine).

Happy, happy birthday, Nate! You’re truly my everything, and not just because you don’t even make a face when you lean in to kiss your wife who’s wearing the same pajama pants she’s been in for the past three days and smells like old milk.