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Birthday Time!

Aurora is Four!

A fantastic celebration for a wonderful little girl. We are so lucky to have you Rory-Boo. You light up our lives and we've enjoyed every moment of your first four years.

Aurora's birthday table set up and waiting for her when she awoke

Number Four shaped pancakes for breakfast.

Scrapy fingerless mitts were one of her morning time gifts.

Ready to party!

The cake.

Birthday time pt 2

Stamford Museum and Nature Center

Lots of trails, a lake, working farm, animals(even river otters!), awesome old mansion, picnic places and perhaps the best playground ever. If you are local, you most definitely should GO!

SMNC pt two

Recent Knits

In April, my name finally came to the top of a waiting list I was on to join a Three Irish Girls (my favorite yarn!) Yarn Club!!! This made me very happy indeed. I now have amazing yarn coming to me each month, in exclusive (I love that word) colorways. A necessary indulgence. Here are some of the recent knits...

Shorties for the lil' man. TIG roslea organic merino in Oberon. I love these, but was having quite a bit of issues with the short rows- kept getting holes. I'm working on a soaker right now (Vanilla, for anyone on Rav) and it employs a different short row techniques that's working much better for me- no holes! I have some special yarn set aside for fall longies for Liam that will hopefully come out a bit better.

Another Cap Sleeved Tee for Rory in TIG McClellan DK (merino/bamboo) hydrangea. Love this pattern.

A hat (with jingle bell) and sweater set for a toy dog (in TIG galenas merino Gingerbread House from a scrap bag someone sent my way). These things are totally necessary, you know ;)

Liam's fall hat, in my favorite kid's hat pattern SMSS's Fae Folk Hat in TIG Galenas Merino Tierney... knit from left over yarn from his coming home outfit. Which led to the sweetest picture ever:

and on the needles I've got a hooded cotton cardigan to finish up for Rory, the above mentioned soaker for Liam, and the latest club colorway was aptly named Aurora in a dreamy alpaca/silk blend... I'm waiting on one more skein of that being sent to me by a friend, and then a Tiny Tea Leaves cardi is on the list for Rory.

Alive.

Yes, we are indeed alive. And doing well, but the computer is in our room next to Liam's napping spot, so it just doesn't get turned on much.

I have some recent pics from our trip to the shore to share....

but first, updates.

Liam is doing great... sitting up,and just yesterday pulled himself forward onto his knees to reach a toy.... which means this weekend we'll be making the living room a bit more active-baby friendly just in case he decides to make a run (crawl) for it soon. He's started solids... and really loves avocado, banana and potato, but is also very stubborn and wants to do it all himself ;)

Aurora's doing great as well... happy, cheerful and sprightly as ever. Spending lots of time creating, both with paper and paints as well as whole imaginary worlds full of characters and friends. She's been playing 'school' a lot recently with her as the teacher. Fun for me to watch as this was one of my favorite games as a young child.

I've got a lot of knitting to share... eventually. And, 6months later, am starting to finally feel I've got a handle on what it means to have 2 children and all that that entails. Pete's doing well also. Spending lots of time in the lab (as he should be, I suppose) but really wonderful quality time with us when he's not :)

Okay... some pics!

And more at Flickr

First Stitches

Knit stitches that is. My baby, ahem, I mean big girl, has been asking to learn to knit for quite some time. I wanted to start with finger knitting like any sensible mama, but she insisted on using needles. So learning she is... and quite quickly, too. She needs a bit of help holding the two needles together while she wraps the yarn... but, otherwise, she's doing it by herself!

She says she's knitting a scarf for her Nee Nee. This yarn has some sweet memories for me. It is the organic cotton I used to teach my self to knit two summers ago. I made a garter stitch scarf for Rory. I think she's picking it up quicker than I did, though :0

some updates and recent happenings

Its been so long!!!!

We're all doing well... its just been busy and I'm still just so tired. Two is hard. But also a whole lotta fun.

So, whats been up?

~~We've been to the bronx zoo. Awesome place and expensive enough that a membership is the way to go, so we look forward to going a lot more. A full post on that soon.
~~Aurora got a haircut~~~ in her room, by herself, with safety scissors. She now sports a cute lil' pixie style ;) Full post on that soon too.
~~Liam is huge. A bit over 17lbs. As a comparison, Rory was only 19 at a year and still hasn't hit 30 at almost 4.
~~He's also rolling over.
~~His favorite place right now is the baby swing hanging from the beautiful maple in our courtyard. We sit out together each morning while I drink my coffee. He just sits and looks and takes it all in. And gets excited when a school bus passes. Such a boy ;)
~~I have finally got Aurora's quilt top that she designed done... just need to back, quilt and bind it.... hopefully soon. I'll put up pics when that's done.
~~Rory has also shone a big interest in letters lately, so I've been introducing them to her slowly using sandpaper letters and the Montessori method. And only at her prompting. She's loving it.... and has started writing a bit too... Mom, Dad, Aurora, Liam etc. Lots of fun.
~~I need to also post some recent samples of her art work. She's hit that stage where everything, suns, wheels, flowers etc... all have happy faces. And many sporting sunglasss.
~~We gave her her own tape dispenser, not fully realizing what we were in for, so there is artwork taped up literally all over the house. Including the fish tank (that gets taken down fairly soon) and inside closets.
~~The tiny hole in Liam's heart has closed up!!! No more cardiologists for this little man, he now has a perfectly formed heart.
~~ Aurora, unfortunately, spent two days in the hospital at the beginning of May due to an acute case of croup. It was very scary and traumatizing for all of us, and we are still recovering from it in some ways. She has an appt with an allergist soon, to see if maybe all of the bad croup attacks she's had are related in some way to an allergy.

Some recent pics:

Turtles in a half shell... Turtle power!!! (anyone?)

finally back into cloth diapering after a break through most of the month of May. My first pair of hand knit longies :)

Sweet, Sleepy babe...

Cuddling yarn that had just arrived in the mail. She's my girl ;0

Liam's beloved swing

{This Moment}

{This Moment} seems like all I have time for these days, sigh
Hopefully back to regular posting soon.

{This Moment}

{This Moment}

12 weeks today

{This Moment}

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Triumph!

Mister got his thumb into his mouth... and kept it there! For a good 5 mins or so. Then he lost it and got rather frustrated.... but he's on his way to mastery, and that will make our lives much easier, if past experience with Aurora holds true this time around.

Easter 2010

More on Flickr

{this moment}

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

{This Moment}

{this moment}
A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

preschool art show

{This Moment}

we're participating in SouleMama's {this moment} series...

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Spring has arrived!

And we are jumping for joy...

bare feet and all!

Updates on us to come soon... we are all doing okay... just still trying to learn what it means to have two, and especially one who's currently dealing with Reflux and seems to think two a.m. is absolutely the best time of day to be wide awake...