Tongue Action

No, it's not anything dirty so if you'd like to stop reading now, I won't stop you.

But if you stop reading, you'll miss the update on Natalie. We think she's not getting enough to eat from just milk so we decided to start on rice cereal yesterday. I have always been on the pediatricians' side - no solids till 6 months. But if my girl is hungry, I'm going to feed her. So we tried it.

She seemed confused about being in the highchair. And she's a little small for it so she promptly tipped over. We stuck a little pillow in beside her to prop her up.


Then I got the spoon and the very runny cereal. She wanted to suck on the spoon.


The tongue was pushing and pushing - just the wrong way. But we'll try again another day.




After dinner, Elaine and I played peek-a-boo with Natalie (her new favorite game).

Things To Do

I have definitely had a case of the blahs the last few days. Maybe even more than blahs...I've been downright.....down. I feel very boring - I just don't have an interesting life (hence the name of my blog). I called a former co-worker yesterday and got all the latest office gossip. Then my friend asked what was going on with me. Um, nothing. Not that my girls aren't interesting - I think they are. But what is there to say? Natalie's four-months old so she's not walking, talking, etc. yet. Elaine does nothing but walk and talk. Reverse that - she TALKS and walks. And talks some more. Other than the girls though, I go to the grocery store, clean my house, do laundry, cook, read a little, knit a little. But I don't do anything. And I certainly don't do things for myself, like I used to.

So I am going to start a list of things that I want to do for myself. I have no timeframe for these things though.

1. Get back to the piano. I haven't really played and certainly haven't practiced since shortly before Elaine was born. After my sister and her fiance watched my last recital and commented on it last week, I have really felt compelled to get back to it. When I can do this, I don't know. But I want to.

2. Learn to play the harp. This is the one instrument I have wanted to learn for my entire life. I have always played piano and briefly played the violin. But the harp...I don't know what it is about that instrument but it just captivates me.

3. Not as major as the first two but since I've gotten back to knitting and am enjoying it, I must make this shawl.

4. Along the same line, I want to learn how to fit a knitted sweater for an adult and I want to be able to design a sweater or shawl or something for myself.

5. Catalog my recipes (this could take the rest of my life, even if I don't ever collect any more books, magazines, separate recipes or ideas - and that's unlikely).

6. Dancing. I don't know what exactly I will do - or who I will do it with since Phil doesn't enjoy this. But I did dance for a while (swing, ballroom, country, and teensy bit of Latin) and I do miss it. I need to do something similar at least - sometime.

After a long day like today, that's all I've got off the top of my head.

Baby Stats

Natalie had her 4-month check-up today (even though she's almost 5 months old). She's doing well and growing fast. 25 1/2" long (90%), just about 1.2 oz. shy of 14 lbs. (55%) and 16 1/2" head circumference (78%). She did have to get five shots, poor thing. But she seems to be handling it ok. She slept most of the day.

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?

Must Love Dogs

My husband and I are those annoying people who attribute language, feelings, etc. to animals. Especially when it comes to our yellow Labrador Retriever, Riley. Usually we're just making things up but last night, you could practically see the thoughts in his head.

We have a doggy door to the backyard - with which I have a love/hate relationship. I love that I don't have to worry about letting the dogs in and out all the time (especially at night) but it does allow for mud and dirt to be brought in and other things (like trash or toys) to be taken out. Plus Elaine likes to go in and out through the doggy door, which is not allowed. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on the day) she has now learned how to work doorknobs and handles so she doesn't go out of the doggy door anymore.

Back to the story....last night we were sitting in our family room, not really doing anything. Elaine was playing; Phil was reading; I was trying to settle the baby down. The dogs had gone outside to bark. Pretty soon Riley comes prancing in with a big stick in his mouth - clearly pleased with his new treasure.

We told him to take the stick out (a command he used to follow) but he continued on up the stairs to the kitchen. We told him, "no sticks," again. No response.

Elaine begins going up the stairs to the kitchen saying, "No sticks in the house, Riley. Drop it, Riley." He drops the stick! Elaine picks up his stick, takes it back downstairs, opens the doggy door and deposits the stick outside. We were quite impressed - as parents would be.

But now you can see the wheels begin to turn in Riley's head. He comes downstairs, picks up one of Elaine's stuffed animals and trots right out the door. Typical. We're calling after to him to bring the puppy back which he, of course, ignores (I know, he needs another obedience class). Instead he returns to the house in less than a second - with his stick. (It only took a couple of minutes - after we stopped laughing - for sticks, toys, dogs and kids to all be returned to their proper places.)

Growing

It's hard to believe how much kids change in one year. Just look at the difference in Elaine's hair alone!
















(First pic taken 4/9/07; second pic taken 4/13/08)

Busy, Busy, Busy

This past weekend our good friends, Martin and Becky (and Lillie, of course) came out to visit. We had a great time! It had been almost a year since we'd seen them. Last July, I was pregnant with Natalie and now Becky is pregnant (with another girl, I think).

We had a great time and Elaine and Lillie seemed to get along.

Saturday, we just sort of hung out around town. We went to Beau Jo's in Idaho Springs for lunch and spent the afternoon trying to get the little girls to nap, which never happened.





Sunday, we were in Fort Collins with Phil's family. Natalie was baptized at their church.









Monday, the dads took the 2-year-olds to the park and the moms (and Natalie) actually got to go out to Starbucks and to a yarn store. So nice!

All in all, a great weekend and we were sorry to see them go. But we did need the rest.

More Knitting

Today, I finished the first baby sweater that I started. It required a lot more work in the blocking because I had to stretch the sleeves. As a good knitter (which I'm not yet but am slowly becoming) will tell you, it's very important to do the gauge swatch before starting a project. It's annoying to do because all you really want to do is start your new, exciting project. But trust me, you need to do the gauge until you get it right - even if you have to do it several times. I did a gauge swatch for this sweater twice till I thought it was close-enough. (I've only ever before knitted or crocheted scarves, blankets, etc. where the gauge wasn't extremely important.) When making clothing, gauge is important.

But I managed to fix the sleeves enough in the blocking that I could actually sew the sleeves in and finish it up today. I love it! I may end up moving the buttons farther from the edge so it closes tighter. But overall, I'm very pleased. Now I just have to wait till this fall when Natalie is big enough to wear it!

Knitting

When I was a kid, my mom led a 4-H group. We learned how to sew, cook, and knit (among other things). The sewing didn't stick - I'm really bad at it. But I did enjoy knitting. I made potholders and countless afghans over the years. Then in high school/college, my sister taught me how to crochet. I decided that I liked that better so again, I made several afghans.

But late last year, I decided that I wanted to take up knitting again. Maybe I was just nesting (I was in my third trimester). Anyway, I have made some scarves and hats recently. Then I decided that I wanted to learn to make clothes. So I made a baby sweater (actually I've done 2 but one of them isn't quite finished yet - it still has to be sewn together). Here it is. For my first real clothing project, I think it turned out pretty well!