Seven Quick Takes

Go visit Jen for more quick takes.

 

~1~

I have to write this one first because I just can't keep it in- our worries about Superman's job came to fruition. His company is closing the location where he works in just a few weeks. This news came to us Friday afternoon last week and to be honest, it was not a great weekend. Superman has been applying for jobs for a few months now with very few bites. On Monday a friend of his mentioned a job possibility to check out. Superman called that day, interviewed on Tuesday and was hired in the interview! We are so fortunate to not have a gap in his employment right now.

~2~

A little more knitting over the weekend will hopefully provide me with finished mittens and a turned sock heel. Perhaps a few more rows on the Talia vest too?

~3~

We made a visit to my local yarn shop and they surprised us with the BEST. THING. EVER- a basket full of trains! They added a little play corner with wooden train pieces like the ones at our house. Ezra's eyes lit up and what I thought would have to be a quick "run in and grab the 1 thing I need actually became a 30 minute browse. The shop was even thoughtful enough to place the play corner in the one corner of the shop you can see from all but one place, so I really did get to look around while still keeping an eye on the boys.

~4~

After several weeks purposely not thinking about Kindergarten plans I *am* starting to think about Kindergarten for next fall again. I've been thinking especially about a few of Sarah's posts on simplicity and over thinking education that have stayed with me. After the time spent focusing on the present, all of that reading I did on the subject is starting to filter out into the things that are important to us to include in our home in the coming year. We are praying for guidance. I'm sure I'll be posting more about this in the weeks to come.

~5~

Ender announced at dinner the other night that he is going to be a writer when he grows up. "Writing stories is really fun," he tells us. Daddy casually says, "You know what will help you to be a good writer? Reading a lot of good books." Ender frowned at him and said, "Daddy, you don't have to read to write words down. You just have to think really hard and your pen will just know the words."

If only it were that easy, right?

~6~

I looked at the boys the other day and realized that their pants are about an inch short. When did that happen? Maybe that's the crankiness explosion we've had in the last few weeks- growth spurts! Come to think of it, they HAVE been eating like teenagers . . .

~7~

Just one week from tomorrow my sister will be married! They are having a very small family only ceremony. Ender is pretty happy that he will not serve as ring bearer this time- he's already been in 5 weddings for uncles and aunts. In fact, the first question he asked after I told him his aunt was getting married was, "do I have to stand up there again?" *insert pouty 4-year-old voice here* He practically did the dance of joy when I told him he was off the hook.

February Knits

Elizabeth Zimmeman's 36 stitch Mittens:

 

Toe-Up socks (basic ones, no fancy patterns this time):

 

 

And a Talia vest:

 

I took these pictures on Sunday (when again, there was not a drop of sunshine to be had) to document my current knitting projects and since then the gusset is about 2 rows from being done on that sock, I'm past the thumb trick on the Elizabeth Zimmerman mittens and almost ready to start the end decreases, and I've added a few rows to the Talia vest.

The Talia vest is something I have to focus on somewhat. The chart isn't particularly difficult since the 10 stitch repeat on each row is pretty easy to memorize, but I do have to keep track of where I am unlike the mindless stockinette of the sock gusset, and even the mitten. On the mitten I knit where the knit stitches are and purl where the purl stitches are- easy. So I've been saving Talia for certain times where I can really concentrate on it- it's going to be a slower knit just because I can only really work on it a few times a week right now. Each row goes fairly quick for being 188 stitches though.

The Elizabeth Zimmerman Mittens have been fun and actually pretty easy once I worked out the bit of math in the beginning. I'm still thinking about which EZ pattern I'd like to try next. It's the big projects that attract me (like the February baby sweater, the raglan sweater, etc.) but I feel like I need to do at least one more smaller thing with her "pithy patterns" before I commit to a big sweater. Perhaps the Mocassin Socks?

Forecast

The forecast for the next few days is the same as the last few: freezing rain, snow, and mostly cloudy skies. Of course, that's on top of the ice we already have.

Oh, February.

The unordinary addition to this week is that I only teach two days instead of the usual five. We already had special plans for the week- cookie making, painting, some experiments that Ender has planned and other projects, but some will have to be put on hold until we can get out and about again.

So there will be knitting and other kinds of making, cuddling on the couch with a stack of books (the universe seems to be the theme around here, emphasis on planets), several games of checkers, and probably popcorn and hot chocolate.

Perhaps LOTS of hot chocolate.

And I will nervously wait for each check-in call from my husband since he is out driving in this mess for work. It takes twice as long to get anywhere, and he drives all day long already. The knitting helps me wait more on the patient side than the anxious one.

Seven Quick Takes

Go visit Jen for more Quick Takes.

 

~1~

I finished the Thorpe hat Wednesday night and finished the first of my 36 stitch mittens. It's my first real Elizabeth Zimmerman knit- thought I'd start small. I've been reading looking through Knitting Without Tears and the Knitter's Almanac again and I keep coming back to the seamless raglan sweater, but I'm a little nervous to try something so big. I'm also really interested in the classic February baby sweater, and that might be a better (smaller!) place to start.

~2~

I finished the second Percy Jackson novel last night and started the third. I suppose sometimes it takes a good YA book to get me reading again. Ender and I started The Wizard of Oz too. Ezra wanders in and out of our reading together and Superman joins in when he can. I can't wait until the boys are a little older and I can share some of my very favorite books with him. The Wizard of Oz is just the beginning.

~3~

The tornado fascination is beginning to wane here. After checking with all of his aunts, uncles and grandparents to make sure they had a safe place to go in their house in case of a tornado, Ender decided that he knows enough to move on. He pulled a bunch of space books at the library this week and moved on to planets.

~4~

I've been looking through sewing books planning ahead a little for spring and summer sewing. I think I'm going to be working mostly from Cal Patch's book Design-It-Yourself Clothes and Weekend Sewing by Heather Ross on clothes for myself, and Ender really needs shorts for summer. Sometimes I swear he has visibly grown in just one day.

~5~

I pulled out garden books and seed catalogues a few weeks back, and Ender just saw the stack the other day. He went through and marked everything he'd like to plant. With his plan I think we'd need a full acre. Seeing as how we container garden, I don't think he'll get everything he wants. I'm still sorting out and getting a plan in place, but one thing is sure- Ender has his own container this year.

~6~

Ezra has gotten into the habit of adding "really really" to many of his sentences as "weally weally". As in "I weally weally don't want to go to bed!" and "I weally weally don't want green beans!"

It's hard not to laugh at this kid ALL. THE. TIME.

~7~

Next week is a short work week for me and next weekend Superman and I get a little bit of free time to celebrate our anniversary. It is hard to believe we have had nine years together. We've been going back and forth for the last few weeks trying to decide what to do since we will have a whole day together without kids for the first time in a long time- maybe a movie?

Making a New Way

Ender was conceived after nearly 5 years of trying, including a few runs with Clomid. When we finally found out that I was pregnant, I spent the months of my pregnancy filled with joy, even on my most nauseous day. FINALLY the baby we had prayed so long for!

I worried that maybe I wouldn't bond right away, that maybe he wouldn't love me, but when he was born, I was overcome with a love and sense of fulfillment that I can't aptly describe.

 

He was beautiful; he was mine.

 

I was so afraid to be home alone with him at first. I watched him sleep when I should have been sleeping myself for fear something would happen to him if I looked away for half a second. I cried as I tried to find time for a shower, for a moment of quiet, for a moment free from the stress of taking care of someone else's life. I loved him so much, and at the same time I was filled with fear that I would mess up somehow, that the tiniest thing would lead to disaster.

 

It took a few months to really feel secure, but motherhood has felt more and more certain to me since Ender's birth and has completely changed me in countless ways. I wish someone had walked alongside me through those first months to let me know that I was doing fine, that I was learning and growing with my son, that the beginning is hard because it is a monumental change. I suppose I had this expectation that motherhood would feel a little easier to settle into. I knew it would be hard to adjust at first- it's a big change! Everywhere I looked people painted idyllic images of motherhood and I suppose I expected that to be true.

 

I really identified with Angela in her post about reading The gift of the Ordinary Day. Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only one who has non-peaceful days with my boys, and Angela's (who has 5 boys, 1 girl and another coming) words about women who do not acknowledge the messes of life stayed with me after the first read. Do we do other women, specifically soon-to-be and new mothers a disservice by talking only about the good parts of life?

 

In this space I choose to write about and document certain parts of our life- crafting, education, books, and other fun things, because those are the things we want to carry forward with us. I suppose it's where I choose to set my focus. Keeping the focus on the nights awake with sick toddlers, arguing between brothers, pouting in a hiding place, or the messy corners would keep me mired in the problems of this moment instead of setting my sights on the ways my boys are growing and changing, the places they are going, the grace in which we live. So I try to acknowledge the "messes of life" (to which the answer seems to be GET OUTSIDE right now!) and move us on to the next place.

 

I focus here on the things we want to remember,  mostly the cool things, occasionally the stuff of the moment, because it informs who we are and where we are going.

 

The messes too.