Thank goodness I have a patient child

I went yarn shopping today.

Now, I really don't need any yarn. I have half a room full, and projects scattered all over the house, and I don't know if/when I'll ever use all of this yummy yarn that's slowly getting organized. Fortunately I have a husband who says I'll eventually use it and it won't go bad, so buy it while I can.

I also have a local yarn store (LYS) that tempts me almost daily. Currently the owner is running a series of trunk shows. These consist of displays of specific types of yarn or books, and finished products to see what you, too, can do if you put your mind to it. There's usually a discount involved, and even classes using the books or yarn.

A few weeks ago was a trunk show around 60 Quick Knits, a book of 60 hats, mittens, and scarves that could be made easily, with a nice reasonably priced yarn, and looked oh-so pretty. I managed to escape the LYS with just the book and one hank of yarn, at 20% off. I was very proud.

Today I was going in to pick up yarn to finish a project, and I knew there was a trunk show around Mission Falls yarn. I love this yarn. I made a sweater for S using their wool in a beautiful peacock color. I liked it so much I went back to the store and bought more wool in lavender to make the same sweater for her again. So I had to check this out. I popped S into her Ergo carrier and marched into the store.

Oh, my fingers will be flying soon. I found a book with a gorgeous striped hat and a scarf that looks like linked flowers. And a toy fire truck that I can make for my nephew for Christmas. I decided to get the yarn as well, and had so much fun with the owner's daughter, picking out a rainbow of colors described in the book. And they're crocheted, which means I can bang them out pretty quickly. Then I was tempted by another book that had beautiful sweaters. I'll go back for yarn later. Maybe Saturday, when S is with Daddy.

The whole time, S just hung out and watched Mommy shop. She smiled at the ladies who wandered by and said hello. She patiently gazed at the pattern books as I oohed and ahhed over this or that pattern. She was such a good girl. Maybe she'll be a knitter. She'll certainly have yarn and patterns to work with.

Another busy weekend

This weekend was the annual Celtic Classic. We go every year, and this was S's first year attending. It was also her first big music/outdoor event, so we were curious to see how she'd handle the day.


Oh, it was also her first time wearing shoes. She wasn't so sure about them, as she couldn't pull her socks off and stuff them in her mouth. But she managed ;)



Somebody loves her daddy.



Hanging out with Daddy and Grania.




We bought her some headphones so her little ears could stand the concerts we attended. She was SO tired in this shot, and wasn't quite sure what was going on. This despite the fact that we did a trial run at home to make sure she wouldn't rip them off.



But they obviously worked well! This was mid-concert, as our Little sacked out for a brief nap.

S had a great time with her parents, Grania, and Bruce and Annie. It was so nice to see them all. She also got to meet Daddy's friends at the celtic CD shop, and charm the locals with her smile. A good time was had by all.

Next year she'll be running!

Side effect of being a stay at home mom

Political surveys

I think the 3rd one of this election season was this morning.

Now, I am by no means a political person, and the whole topic generally leaves me bored, or cringing. Although J has convinced me to watch the McLaughlin group. It tells you a little about my apolitics when I say our first order of business is to critique how everyone is dressing that Sunday.

Today's survey was designed to determine whether I would vote for the Democrat (incumbent) or Republican candidate for state senate. It again shows my apolitics when I couldn't pick them out of a list of names. The guy read them to me and I said I'd never heard of them.

I suspect we'll get more as time goes on. I'm a perfect person to target. Stay at home, watch/listen to the news, don't belong to a political party, don't vote along party lines, interested in the issues but not the rhetoric.

I'm sure by November I'll be glad the season is winding down.

Crafty update

The owner of my local yarn store has always wanted to fill her front window with pumpkins. She decided to turn it into a promotion! Make a pumpkin, be entered to win a $25 gift card. I decided to make a garland, and got to work on my baby pumpkins. Here's how it ended up:



17 pumpkins, ready to go!

I also wanted to make a pair of booties for S's baptism. I had originally wanted to make her a whole baptism set, but life got in the way. Booties were it!



They fit her little feet just perfectly. I was so excited.

More cute pictures of my kid

Since my parents were here, we took a LOT of pictures. Here are a few favorites.


She's figured out how to sit up, as long as we get her there in the first place. Here she is playing her new "piano"


Hanging out after her breakfast.



Looking adorable, as usual.

We have more pictures, but they're in another camera waiting to be released. Stay tuned!

Busy week around these parts

My parents visited this week, arriving Tuesday morning. They were here for only one reason, really:


That's my dad hanging out with S, enjoying her presence


That's my mom, hugging her granddaughter.

There was a lot of playing on the floor and watching S do her thing. Especially since she's figured out how to sit up on her own for extended periods of time.

The main reason for the family GTG was S's baptism, which happened yesterday. I'm going to show a lot of pictures, for many reasons. First off, my kid is cute. Second, our friend Bruce took some awesome pictures of the whole thing from start to finish. And I'm a good Catholic girl who likes to show off our Sacraments. So here goes:



S in her pre-baptism dress. We got this from a friend of the family, and we love it. We don't take her out to much in the way of fancy parties, but this qualified.



We started off S's baptism with a song. My friend Ann, who directs our church choir, volunteered to play for us. It was beautiful.


S was resplendent in her baptismal gown. Here she is with her parents and godparents as the priest explained the baptism to everyone present. We were asked what S's name was, what we wanted for her (baptism), and she got the sign of the cross from us and her godparents, as well as some oil on her chest. The priest read a reading and gave a little sermon, and it was time for the best part:


S was so good when she got the water on her head for her baptism. I was worried that she would cry as soon as cold water his her head, but she just hung out and took it all in. J kept a good hold on her the whole time ;)

After her baptism, S got some oil on her head, a white bib to symbolize her baptism, and a pretty candle that Tapa got to hang onto for her. Mommy and Daddy got some blessings, and we were done! Now it was time for the photo op:


The parents and godparents with the priest who baptized S



My mom with J's Maw


S and J with J's mom and Maw

Then we went home and had cake!


S did great all day. I think she knew it was a big day and there was going to be lots to see and do. She crashed big-time when it was all over.

Happy Baptism, Little!

6 month stats, and a picture

S had her 6 month well baby appointment today, and it was a long one. Not that anything was wrong, but we had a lot to go over. J and I made a list last night of all of her milestones and questions to ask the doctor. He said I was very well-prepared when I showed up, because J and I covered off on just about everything he wanted to talk about.

Her stats:
Weight: 16 lb, 5.5 oz
Height: 26 inches
Head circumference: 17 1/4 inches

We talked about everything under the sun: sleep, eating, teething, car seats, crawling, walking, sippy cups, etc.

S got 3 shots (boo) but barely cried. She started crying a few seconds after the first shot, and every time the doctor got near her after that she started to cry, because she knew what was coming. A few kisses from mommy and she was all better. The good news is, no shots for her 9 month appointment. We'll just get to talk about what she's up to, probably count some teeth (she has 4 that are all threatening to erupt soon), and we may have a crawler on our hands by then. The bad news is, she needs 2 flu shots. We made her appointments today.

And without further ado, a new picture. This was hanging out with Daddy watching tennis the other night.

Big day, and an adoption update

Our little girl turned 6 months old yesterday.



That's right: half a year

She's been so much fun to hang out with these days. She's started to say DaDaDaDa... almost constantly. And if she's not doing that, she's blowing raspberries 3 different ways (tongue out, blowing bubbles, or with a funky overbite). She's been able to get up on all fours and rock, though locomotion is still a little ways off. She's tried rice cereal, sweet potatoes, peas, bananas, apples, and pears, and loved them all. She's over 16 pounds and is the cutest thing you ever did see.

We are also inching our way closer to finalizing her adoption. On Thursday, the adoption agency's lawyer appeared in court to terminate the birthfather's parental rights. It went off without a hitch. He was also able to schedule the finalization date for mid-October. We are very excited!

So, that's all that's happening here. S is napping, and later on we're going to head downtown for their annual outdoor festival. We'll check in later.

Knitting talk, and the story of my panda

I'll start out by saying I'm on a lot of Internet message boards. While it took me a while to make friends in my little town, mostly due to my commute, I made instead friends on the Web. They shared many common interests with me, from gardening to knitting, from cloth diapers to newborns, from adoption to more general terms of trying to build our families.

I'm particularly close with one group of girls, and we were all trying to build our families in a variety of ways. One of the gals went to the Atlanta Zoo and posted what she learned about pandas. Apparently they have a very narrow window each year to get pregnant, but have still managed to keep the species going, which was an inspiration for my friend. She told all of us the story, and within a week or so a group of gals found out they were pregnant. We had our mascot.

As J and I went through the adoption process, I often thought about the pandas. I found a seller on Etsy who made the cutest stuffed animals, and I asked her to make me a panda. She sent me a picture of the cutest stuffed panda you ever saw, and I told her the story of my girls and our mascot. In response, she sent me a bonus "baby panda." A week later we were matched with S. The baby panda is now one of S's favorite soft toys.

Fast forward to last week, when I'm at my knitting circle. Now, most of us knit, but some of us also do crafts, meaning we knit or crochet cute things like animals and food (you've seen my crocheted fruit already). The yarn store owner had a new craft book, and it had a panda pattern. Not just any panda pattern, but one that came with a cape. A Super Panda. I had to make it.

Oh, I am in love. It's not my best work, and symmetry has never been my strong suit, but it was a blast to make.

The book also has some other cute patterns, incuding a sheep in a wool sweater, a duck in galoshes, and another little animal I'm going to make for my niece. But the panda will always be my favorite.

Never say this to an adoptive mom

I've had this post rattling around in my head for a few days, so I'm just going to get it down in cyberspace so I can stop thinking about it. This post was precipitated by a comment I heard just the other day, the one thing that makes my blood boil, and makes me consider committing serious bodily harm, every time I hear it:

"Just adopt (or now that you've adopted) and you'll get pregnant"

Here are some of the many reasons this is a highly inappropriate comment.

• Not everyone who adopts has fertility problems. I actually feel bad for this group, because people are questioning their motives when they should just be happy that they've chosen a method of family building that works for them. But the point is that the above comment is lost on them.
• Many people who adopt do have fertility problems. And if they're pursuing adoption, they have most likely gone through the roller coaster of fertility treatment, only to experience failure month after month. Many have closed the door on that chapter in their lives and have decided to shift all their focus to adoption as a way to grow their family. Making the above comment serves to just remind them of what they've been through.
• Some of those people with fertility problems have no problem getting pregnant, but have heartbreaking trouble staying pregnant. I have read far too many stories of recurrent miscarriages within the adoption community and beyond. So telling someone "adopt and you'll get pregnant" reminds them of that heartbreak yet again.
• The comment implies that adoption is a cure for infertility. That all of a sudden you have a child in your family, so you "relax" enough to get pregnant. Nothing could be further from the truth.
• The statement is simply untrue. A recent survey of adoptive moms found that only 8% of them conceived after adoption. So when you hear comments that "it happens all the time", those people making the comment must know just those 8% of adoptive moms. I can tell you that I only know 2 adoptive moms who got pregnant after placement, and they were actively trying to conceive.
• The comment implies that adoption is a second choice, or an inferior choice, when what the adoptive parents really want is "a child of their own". Guess what--an adopted child is a child of their own, biology or no.

I'm tempted to talk about some of the other (potentially) well-meaning but harebrained things people say when they hear "we're adopting", but this post would end up being way too long for anyone to read.

Thanks for letting me get this off my chest.