A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

 I really can’t believe its been all summer that I haven’t posted! Between being insanely busy (would someone tell me how I’m actually suppose to manage both kids when they want things at the same time, please!)  and the laptop being buried under my pile of knitting . . . . I just haven’t been making the effort to post.  Funny thing is after blogging for so long, I really do miss it.  Not only blogging but reading blogs, which I haven’t been doing either. It feels strange to be entirely out of contact with the friends I have in the blogging world! Strange how something like blogging works its way into every day life and just becomes a part of your routine . . .

It has actually been so long since I’ve written regularly that I’m not even sure what to write to catch up! Now that is bad.  Bad, bad blogger!

Guess I’ll give an overview of what we’ve been up to and post a bunch of photos

The baby is 4 months now and she’s gotten so big! I can’t believe how fast she has grown.  She can hold her own head and even almost sit now.  She smiles and is starting to laugh.  Last week was the first time she laughed for me.  It was the funny little, hesitant laugh, like she wasn’t sure she was doing it right or perhaps was slightly startled when she realized she was the one making that noise.  It was very cute, we were playing peek-a-boo and when I popped up from behind the cloth I was “hiding” behind she started to laugh! That made me laugh which made her laugh again . . . it was all very cute.

Mimmo is 3 now and has become such a “big kid”.  In fact, he’s so big he’s as big or bigger than some of the 4 year olds we know! He’s wearing a 4 and sometimes a 5 for clothes (I think he may be in the 5s by winter!) and he’s up to a size 11 shoe!  At his physical this year we found he’d gained 8 lbs and grown 6 inches in the past year!  I’m no expert but that seems like a lot of growing to me!

 I’ve been trying to make sure that he got to do lots of fun summer things this year even with a new sister.  I didn’t want him to not have a good summer just because of the baby and how much harder it is to get out with two of them. 

We’ve gone to the beach in Gloucester with his cousins for swimming lessons;

to a friend camp in NH where he got to swim with Dom;

he helped his dad with a painting project one day.

We went to the Stone Zoo with our new playgroup friends; and to the Aquarium with other friends (no photo, forgot the camera!);

We drove to NY for Dom’s Aunt & Uncle’s 50th Annivarsary;

and Mimmo was invited to a day of Preschool Summer camp which he LOVED!

We’ve also had a birthday party or two;

hatched a few baby chicks (3 hatched)

We also went to St. Anthony’s Feast at the church where Mimmo went on the rides this year!

And there is much more but I’m going to split it into a second post since I haven’t been able to get through it all yet as the photo thing is moving really slowly . . .

I also have knitting and spinning content but they may require a third post . . . . stay tuned!

Mimmo’s Barlett Raglan, started April 30th, 2008, finished May 21st, 2008
Pattern: Basic Top-down Raglan
Yarn: Bartlett Yarn Fisherman 2-ply
Needles: Size 8
Dimensions: Child’s size 4 with extra long sleeves
Pattern Notes: Should fit next year as well, though I may need to add to the body length
Would I knit it again? Yes, I’ll be knitting at least 1-2 of these a year forever.

Nope, they are not twins ;)  These are our kids, the left is Caterina at one day old and the right is Mimmo at 3 days old.  These pics were taken almost 3 years apart!

I had them blown up and framed for D’s father’s day surprise - everyone who saw them at the craft store thought they were twins!

Knitting wise I’ve a bunch of project stuff to update and photos to take - several projects that just need ends woven in or buttons sewn on or a seam etc and a couple of new things - hopefully I’ll get a chance to do that and update it here sometime this week . . .

and we’re still working on getting settled into our new routine.  Things are basically going well; Caterina is an easy baby - sleeps well and nurses right on schedule (rather than the 14x a day her brother did!) and she can even sleep through “Hurricane Mimmo” when he’s on a tear!

Here are a few pictures of the new arrival and the rest of us . . .

Hi everyone, M here.

Margaret called me about 40 minutes ago…Caterina arrived at approximately 5:15 a.m. this morning! 6 pounds 15 ounces, 19 inches long, 13 inch head circumference, Apgar scores were 9.

Mom and baby are doing well, Caterina was nursing when we talked, I’ll be heading down later today to take a picture and spend the next two nights with them. They will be coming home on Monday.

I’ll take a picture of the two and give you an update when I return from the hospital tomorrow morning.