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 . . .

Sorry for the lack of posts, we’ve been going through a bit of a rough patch lately . . .

We, the three (soon to be 4) of us are fine, but there has been a lot going on lately that has taken an emotional toll.

Last week a good friend’s father passed away. He’d been quite ill for a few months now and was 97 years old so it was no unexpected but D was upset for his friend . . . then we (he) decided we should take a little drive - 3 hours away to visit his Aunt and Uncle. After getting the Drs permission to go that far from home, we packed for the trip and left after the reception that followed the funeral on Friday. We had a nice visit with his Aunt & Uncle and with his cousin and her family who live next door and then made the return trip on Sunday.

Monday morning we received a phone call from another dear friend, someone he grew up with. Apparently, they had tried all weekend to reach us - their son, only 18 years old, had been in a car accident that previous Friday night and had been killed. This child, their middle child, is D’s Godson. We’ve spent the past 2 days going to his wake and funeral, the reception after and to their house to visit and share memories. The little guy has been with us through all of this and is showing a remarkable understanding of what was happening. We’ve been doing our best to explain on terms he can understand and to answer his questions and he’s been remarkably good when the situation has called for good behavior (like the funerals) and has brought many smiles to both grieving families.

Unfortunately, it appears we may have several more funerals to attend in the coming weeks. Another good friend’s mother has been sent home with hospice care and given only a few weeks. She’s had liver cancer for several years and it has become too much. She has made it clear she is ready to leave.

We have 3 family members who have either just had or are having surgery this week . . . one for cancer, the others less serious but still risky. My step-father’s father isn’t doing well and is being sent from the hospital to a nursing home; the prognosis there is also not good.

And so we are all on “egg shells” and emotionally exhausted at the moment. I’ve been too tired to even knit much the past few days.

Baby update

We did have another Drs apt. today. We passed the Non-Stress Test with flying colors - it didn’t take anywhere near 20 min to record the 2 periods of movment they were looking for from Baby Girl. We measure out just where we should size wise and everything seeems to be right on track for her to arrive in about 3 weeks time.

I did, however, gain 4 lbs in the past 10 days. Given the turmoil going on, the crazy schedules, the trip and the receptions and all it isn’t really that surprising. I have not been eating anything resembling my regular diet lately and we aren’t even going to discuss the 4 slices of homemade apple pie and blueberry pie I managed to eat over the weekend . . . though I will say, homemade pie tastes even better when you don’t have to make it yourself! And so, 4 lbs in 10 days. We’re still within a reasonable weight gain and so we’re going to overlook it under the circumstances.

We are mostly ready for the new baby to arrive. I have a supply of newborn size clothes that have been washed and put away; we have the cloth diapers though I’d like to wash and line dry them before we use them again and I’ve picked up a week’s worth of disposables; we have a crib, though it isn’t set up yet (she’ll be sleeping with us just like big brother did) so if it isn’t set up for her arrival I’m not going to stress; I did buy new crib bedding today as I decided I want to save his set for him as a keepsake and for her to have her own. The new set has pink butterflies! Who could resist pink butterflies?

The one thing that I do actually need to do before we get too much closer to arrival time is pack a bag for the hospital. The baby’s stuff is ready but I’m not entirely sure what I’m bringing. That will be my next little project, hopefully this weekend.

Knitting Group

I would like to thank the ladies from the Monday Night Knitting Group for the lovely Log Cabin baby blanket they gave me for little C. this past week. I’m really very touched, esp. now when things have been so overwhelming. I hope to have a chance to get a picture of it in daylight this weekend so I can post one here. Thank you!