Yarn Along (A Day Late Again)

Started my first Barley hat for Otto. I have a crazy vision of making us all Barley hats by Christmas, but at the rate I'm able to knit now who knows if that will be accomplished. Orion and Otto will both get theirs for Christmas for certain, but maybe Mike can wait until his birthday...and us girls can have ours somewhere in between? Knitting for Mike is difficult because 1) He is hard on things--he wears out clothes extraordinarily fast & 2) He is sensitive to certain materials and fibers. I made the mistake of knitting him a wool scarf once...never again!! Plus it felted when he washed it :(

I'm working on using up my stash yarns for these hats. If there is a Christmas bonus in our future I hope to start buying some yummy nice yarns from my LYS. I think this yarn is Lion Brand, but most of the other Barleys will be with KnitPicks.

As far as what I am reading...I haven't really started this book yet. I should have read it awhile ago, probably, because I'm in sort of a rough spot with Orion. I need to keep my composure a little better and hopefully this book will provide some good insights and a "pep talk" from someone who has been there.

Not pictured but reading on my Kindle: Present Over Perfect by Shauna Niequist
I'm not super into it, but I've already read many books/listened to lots of podcasts on the topics she covers. Also can't relate to being an "over achiever" or an extrovert. Her revelations seem like common sense to me mostly...although I enjoyed the ruminations on training yourself to pray in a more helpful way. I'm 44% in and while it is a quick read, I don't really have much desire to go on with it.

Until next week! Come back and see if I manage to post on time! :)

As always, feel free to join the Yarn Along fun and visit Ginny's site to see more posts!

An Update with Pictures (Long post)

Currently eating this lovely little tureen of oatmeal while I type. It's so amusing to me that people complain about how long steel cut oats take to cook because from the time from when I decide I should start cooking myself breakfast to the time I actually get to eat said breakfast between feeding children, wiping up children, changing children's shirts, and finding children some entertainment so I can sit down to eat...it's been way more than enough time for my steel cut oats to cook (and making one batch makes enough for 3-4 days). This concoction is Comice pear, vanilla, and the tiniest amount of brown sugar. I cooked the oats in almond milk to use it up. 

Orion's fourth birthday was a huge success and he had a delightful handmade dinosaur cake that I regrettably did not get a photo of...

In this photo above you can see that he got to eat breakfast in the living room, because he was too excited to leave his new toy. It's a giant plastic monstrosity, but he had asked for it continuously for about two months (and even made me watch a ten minute YouTube review of all the cool features it has, which admittedly, is quite a few) so we decided that he should have it because he showed such devotion. It's the Lion Guard Training Lair play set and we found it for the best price on Amazon after the Target here was sold out of them. The Ninja Turtles and various Nintendo figures like to play on the jungle too, along with Kion and his friends. 

Other gifts included amazing Waldorf colored pencils, more dinosaur toys, and some chapter books to read together from Papa, Teenage Mutant Turtle figures and a Turtle Garbage Truck from his aunties, a Learning Resources cash register from his other grandparents, art supplies (including Dino themed art kits) and a set of Junior Legos from his friends. What is left for Santa to bring?! Just socks probably, haha...Speaking of the Junior Legos though...

We've been making a bag of Legos from his birthday set every day during quiet time. It's so much fun! These Legos have now moved to their own Lego shelf from the spot in this photo and Batman has been demoted from his wrecking crane operating because we made the construction mini figure that Orion insists is more qualified for the job ;) 

Last Orion related news, but we had his first parent-teacher conference last night and I'm pleased that there were mostly only positive things to say about his development and progress. The teacher is highly impressed with his artistic skills and even used the word "phenomenal." He does have a tendency to have a hard time with switching activities at school, which is something we see at home too, even when you give a warning...he just gets really focused! And sharing is hard sometimes still, which is another issue we deal with here. He's always making progress though, so I'm looking forward to what we hear at the next conference in February. 

(Some recent parts of Orion's drawings. The smiley orange guy is a squid, I'm told. Also, note the  "Triforce Guy" in the bottom picture).

In other news, I finished Luna's hat from last week! I had to start entirely over after I forgot a lifeline and tried to switch the project to a different set of needles and failed. That was on Friday. On Saturday her and I were up at 4:30 am and so I knit the hat in about three hours so she could wear it to Mike's family gathering that afternoon. Working on i-cord is a ton of fun! I don't enjoy decreasing hats, but I love working in the round. 

Since I took social media off my phone I feel like I am calmer and getting more done. I'll post my new knitting project in a separate Yarn Along post later today, but I also started a Dinner Diary, inspired by THIS article. 

I have two other projects rattling around in my brain to make some headway on soon and this will be the first (maybe only?) place you'll hear about those as well. I do plan to continue posting links to my blog posts on Facebook so you can find them easily, but I would love it if you'd consider leaving any comments here so I don't have to log into Facebook to check/miss anything you have to say :) 

Finally, here's something to make you laugh...a very wonderful mom at Orion's school gave me a bin of little girl clothes. Inside, I found this very...curious...pair of pants (which I am not keeping!!) Bless whomever thought this was a good idea. My sister's comment that "this is proof that society doesn't care what we call our daughters as long as they are pretty" seems accurate! 

Here are few photos of gorgeous, funny (she laughed in her sleep yesterday!), alert, & smart little Luna to end this post.

xoxox until next time!

Yarn Along (A Day Late)

I'm working on a little hat for Luna right now. Baby hats are one of my favorite things to knit...knitting on circulars just keeps everything so tidy. This hat is going to have an i-cord top, as that will be a new technique for me and one of my unwritten rules of knitting is that every project should contain a new skill. Hopefully I have it done by Saturday so she can wear it to see family this weekend.

Currently I'm reading An Echo in the Bone, which is the seventh book in the Outlander series. I took a break between the sixth book and beginning this one, but I'm enjoying being back in Diana G's world.

I am also starting Shelter for the Spirit by Victoria Moran, which has been on my Amazon book wish list for quite some time. It seems fitting considering the events that have unfolded in the past couple of days. My goal is to stockpile some more yarn and spend the winter cozied up at home.

Please join the Yarn Along started by Ginny by clicking here if you have a good book and some knitting to share! :D

Update with No Photos

1. I'm taking another social media break. I'm a terrible regulator so it works better for me to just not use it at all instead of trying to spend less time on it and I realized I need to be more present for my kids and for my own sanity. It's so nice not seeing all the political stuff on Facebook! Or reading things that make me anxious every day by browsing news sites or parenting pages.

I've been reading to the boys some, reading my kindle more, and I deleted a bunch of apps off my phone...but I kept one game to play (Disney Blitz...what is wrong with me?!) while I am nursing Luna because she's so fast that I barely get to read at all if I try to get into my book.

I really wish I could delete Facebook forever and even being off Instagram has been nice because I am not constantly comparing my life to others or worrying about if I am posting often enough. It's scary how often I was reaching for my phone for no real reason during the day!

I am also still using my phone for music and podcasts though. I don't like a lot of "noise" in my days, but I couldn't make it doing the stay at home mom thing without podcasts...they satisfy my need to learn and listen to some rational adults during the day hours ;)

2. Orion turns FOUR on Friday! That's as long as I was in collage or high school. But I think raising him has taught me more than either of those experiences! Ha. I cannot believe what a special guy he is turning out to be.

He's very articulate, social, and a natural artist. He spends lots of time creating elaborate drawings and telling us all about them--I have a hard time throwing out any of his art because it is so awesome! I'm happy he gets so much joy out of artistic pursuits.

He's also a very good builder and thinks of new creative ways to use his train tracks and other toys like Magnaformers and connectors regularly.

He loves his brother and especially loves Luna. He tells her she's "sooo cay-oot" all the time. He also still loves to snuggle us and cheer any of his family members up if they are feeling sad.

Recently we've been taking on more responsibility and doing chores on a chore chart. I bought him a three-section bank like I had when I was a kid. We started out with an allowance for set chores a few weeks ago because he wanted to use the sticker machine at school (whose idea was it to put in a sticker machine?!) and I told him he needed to save his own money for that. So far he has made over 3 dollars in allowance, but he hasn't bought a single sticker! Instead he took the "share" section of his bank to church and put that money in the offering. He was so excited to do that. The "spend" section has yet to be touched.

Emotions are still really big and lately he's been having a rough time with concepts like being a good sport if we don't win a game or not melting down if someone doesn't share (which previously was never an issue)...It might be all the extra sugar from Halloween (which I don't think helped) but we've had a lot of crying and outbursts here lately. He also tells me he misses his Ama and I am trying my best to answer that appropriately and not dismiss his feelings. Of course I miss her too. It makes my heart happy that since I've started singing them "Ama's song" that he will request it at bedtime and sing it to himself.

All in all, Orion is a real joy and I am so glad he is able to go to school for a few mornings. He loves his teacher, his friends, and making art. I'm very excited to see him continue to grow and surprise us with his creativity, wit, and kindness.

3. I am either growing older or wiser (or both) because I am now a steel oats convert. Oatmeal every morning! Forever! So many topping combinations and quick enough of a re-heat that I am not depriving myself of breakfast any longer. A real win in my book :)

4. The other kids are doing well too.

Luna is sleeping about 6 hours straight at night now, thank the heavens!! She sleeps next to my bed and nursing chair in the rock and play. I love having her so close. We didn't do that with the other boys. I am trying to get her used to the swaddle so I can eventually move her to the crib. Right now she wakes up about 2:30-3:30 am sometime to eat and then goes back to sleep. Around 5am she's up for a bit again and I have been getting up for the day then because I love alone time before being asked for breakfast and other things in the morning. zzz.

Otto is a funny, sweet two year old. I love this age. Everything he says is so cute and endearing to me...he still has soft skin and loves to snuggle me, especially before bed and after nap time...and he loves playing "I Spy" and a made-up game called "High Seas" (formerly known as "Whoa!") where he stands on my legs and holds my hands as I rock him back and forth (sometimes we "capsize" and I tip him over). I think he has been enjoying the special time we spend while Orion is at school and he is my big kid. Last week I even took him and Luna to the big library!

5. Life is good. It's always changing and there are always challenges, but it's so rich and full right now for us and I'm grateful for that. Even though I have a cold...even though there are repair woes...even though sometimes (okay, every day) things don't go as planned...it's going so well.