Kevin Clayton September 15, 2008

6 lbs, 11 oz.

19 in.

We are happy.

I’m nesting… September 2, 2008

That would be the reason for the silence on this blog, at least that’s what I’m claiming.  I recently had to shut down my business to customs.  It was a hard decision, because I have major issues telling people no and I enjoy the knitting. But I realized that time was going much quicker than my fingers.  I have this long list of stuff to do for the Little Dude who will be here in 3 weeks (!) and I couldn’t work on all of it, unless I give up something, like sleeping.

So I shut down my store to customs and hope to open it again by Halloween.  I woke up one morning with the incredible urge to either knit every yarn I have in my stash, or to sell it.  So I sold a BUNCH of stuff and started knitting a bunch of stuff.  If you frequent my Flickr account, you probably see how much stuff is coming off of my needles.

I also decided that I needed to work on a homeschooling room.  It turned out really nice and Magdalena is very excited about it.  I have plans to order the rest of her books for this quarter of her curriculum on the next payday.

We are also excitedly anticipating the local Pork Festival.   Magdalena has been talking about going to parades since the festival ended last year.  It’s also the last thing on her calendar before her baby brother is scheduled to make his appearance.  She’s a very experienced and excited big sister you know.

Carmina is also seems to be understanding that their is a baby in my belly.  And I think she gets that he will want to nurse and that she will have to share. Of course, telling her that the baby will nurse, just makes her want to nurse right away.

Anyway, a busy month.  Hopefully I’ll get better about posting.  And Erich will be posting here and there and will also update when the Dude makes his arrival.

Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Palin’s Daughter Pregnant

What do you think? Does this make you want to vote for McCain more or less now? Does it matter? Should we care?

Birthday Beauties

Suzanne has been hard at work hand knitting wool pants, hats, and sweaters.  Her latest and biggest project was just completed last night, a baby blanket for our up and coming son.  Its the first time she’s knitted in blue.  I jokingly gave her an approved color list after she came to me with some wild oranges.  I told her that if Eddie Bauer didn’t have it in their product line for men, then she wasn’t allowed to let my son wear it.  You may have heard that our oldest daughter wanted to buy her brother a pink towel.  Suzanne talked her out of it, but despite my forementioned rules I would have allowed it.  I guess you could say I value my daughter’s pride over my own.  I am looking forward to the birth of our first son and will probably be posting more during and after the delivery, so I wanted to sort of “warm up the crowd” to my presence by posting now and again before the big day.

PS. Suzanne is doing good. She is making t-shirts for all three birthday beauties today.

Is it bedtime? January 17, 2008

Oh my goodness, I am tired. Seriously seriously tired. Magdalena woke up at 2:30 to announce that the dog had pooped in her room, and oh yeah she puked. Great. So I get out of bed, find a pacifier (because those things go missing at the most important times!) and give it to Carmina and tell her to snuggle with Daddy. I put Magdalena in the bathroom and spent the next 20 minutes cleaning up dog poop and changing the sheets. Then I had to give Magdalena a bath and brush her teeth. Not fun. Her long hair is absolutely beautiful, not so much fun though with puke. The joys of motherhood right? She’s upstairs now watching Aladdin and drinking Sprite. I’m making some beef noodles and we’ll have those for dinner if all goes well.

Yesterday she had her second dentist visit. It was 100% successful and she did great. No cavities, barely any tarter (go us!), and beautiful perfect teeth. Thank God. I had horrible horrible teeth as a child. I have good teeth now, but not then. So it’s a relief to know that she may bypass the many hours of torture time spent in the dentist with drill and fills. And you know now, they’ll take you and put you out to fill lots of cavities at once, but not back then. Oh no, I remember all to well sitting in that chair multiple times a month for multiple fillings. Anyway, she has great teeth, a new toothbrush (and she asked for a new one for her sister too!) and we go back in 6 months.

A Week Of Cleaning January 16, 2008

I’m still doing Motivated Moms. The house continues to impress me and come into shape. I’m finding that when I have all my chores finished early that I find the time to declutter little areas. The act of actually cleaning the house is a lot less overwhelming in general. It’s really nice. Last night I did a little extra and decluttered little areas that just seem to accumulate constantly. It looks so nice in there. Things are starting to be dusted off from head to toe; frames, corners, nooks and crannies are all getting clean. Very nice to start to the year if I do say so myself. Of course there is always more, but the more seems manageable and like a light at the end of the tunnel. I also like that motivated moms gets around to the stuff that gets overlooked. Like today one of my chores is to deal with one kitchen drawer. Just one, not the whole kitchen, just one single drawer. Totally doable and will not suck the life out of my day, you know? If you want to get your own calendar, there is a link over there in the sidebar where you can do just that. Really and truly I can’t sing the praises enough!

This week also happened to be teeth cleaning week. Erich went yesterday. The dog has his teeth cleaned on Thursday. And Magdalena and I have our appointments together this afternoon. Last time she let them polish two teeth and that was it. She did let them count and they said her teeth were beautiful (of course!) and that the fact that they were spaced far apart was something they like to see in children because they are all easier to clean well. This time I’ve been talking to her all wee about how we need to let them count her teeth and polish them with the loud buzzy thing that tickles. (like my technical terms? haha) I told her that they would make her teeth all pretty and white for her birthday party on Sunday. And that is a note that rings in Magdalena’s head,we must be our prettiest for the party you know.

Speaking of party, Magdalena will be FOUR on Monday. FOUR. It doesn’t seem possible. She was just that 5# little breathing ball of human we brought home from the hospital during a snow storm. She has been planning her birthday party for months. And has really focused on it since Christmas is over now. She wants another Sesame Street party. For those keeping track at home this will be her fourth birthday party and her third Sesame street themed one! I tried to talk her into something else, a princess party? How about a backyardigans party? Nope. Sesame Street. And who can argue with that. You only turn four once, right?

So she’s been planning this party. She had me write out a list of all the people she wanted to invite to her party, her long list of friends and family including all the new babies. It was really painfully cute to listen to her list off the people. At first she wanted FOUR cakes but I have talked her down to two. Really two cakes is overkill and a lot of decorating work for myself, but it’s her thing and I want to make her birthday special. Her pinata will be here today, it’s a cookie monster pinata. And I’m going to see if my mom will stay and watch Carmina while Magdalena and I go grocery shopping to get all the supplies. Fun stuff, I love birthday parties!

Busy Bees January 7, 2008

Today was a LONG day. Erich had to go into work early because of some software upgrade fiasco. And of course, I couldn’t go back to sleep after getting up and making him lunch and stuff, so I sat down to knit. I really should sleep less and knit more anyway. I enjoyed a show of LOST online. I’ve been watching all the back seasons on netflix and online. I’m hooked. Seriously. I just wish the online streaming didn’t get so bogged down at night causing the thing to repeatedly stop. I’m trying to finish up season 3 in anticipation of the new season.

Then after the girls were awake we did the first part of our chores and took off to run errands. That ended up taking a while but I got a lot done. Picked up a new cable modem from the cable company. Hopefully the internet will go faster. I’m a bit unsure of how it could be faster, but Erich assures me that we are not getting what we are paying for. Who am I to argue with the computer geek?

Then when we came home we processed all the stuff that came home with us and started our chores. I’m really loving my Motivated Moms calendar. A few online friends are doing it along with me, so I’m totally have the motivation/support from them. Today one of the chores was to vacuum the furniture in the living room. I found a remote control that Erich lost a while ago! Super bonus. And my cousin came over the other day and her eyes got all big and her jaw dropped and said “I’ve never seen your house look so good!” That totally made me day! It’s nice to see everything coming together.