Weekend

It's been 20 days since I last posted. Whoops. Things have been busy, but it's just the ordinary sort of busy that comes from having a baby and so forth. We are still working on Michael's naps (sigh), but overall, life has a rhythm and I am happy with it. I have been making dinner most weeknights, which makes me feel in control of things and accomplished.

Although Keith still does the cooking on weekends, and that's fine by me. ;)

This Saturday I went to an indie fiber event, and of course I couldn't leave empty handed. I bought some beautiful buttons, a collection of patterns for little boys for when Michael gets older, and a skein of yarn. (I admit that, while I really like the yarn, I mostly bought it out of awkwardness. It was a small event, and I felt weird not getting anything, because I couldn't just fade back from the tables and disappear. Does anyone else have this sort of problem, or am I just weird?)

Then I came home to my guys, and after Michael's second nap, we decided to go to the library and out to dinner for a nice treat. We took Michael into the children's section and picked out a few board books (which he is NOT allowed to nom). 

Ready to go to the library. He doesn't like his new hat.

Keith wandered through the new fiction section in search of something to read, while I headed to the back with a specific author in mind; then we parted ways a second time while he looked at movies (they didn't have Little Women, which I really wanted, but we got The Happening out--we'll see how that is) and I went to check out the knitting section. (The main Carnegie library has an awesome selection! I checked out this (for my new yarn) and this (because some friends and I are knitting mittens together after Christmas).) 

It was a great visit, because I had some things in mind I wanted to get, but I also walked out with some spontaneous selections. Keith likes to wander and get lost among the books, picking them up off the shelf and waiting for something to catch his eye. I like the idea of that sort of meandering, but the reality is that if I have no purpose to my search I often get frustrated and leave with nothing. But the Carnegie library is a great place to meander, with its glass floors and windows into the museum. I would love to make a family tradition of these visits, to leave every two weeks with a new armful of books. They also have special events for homeschoolers, which is neat. 

(Last year when my cousin was visiting, we came to this library to listen to a Klezmer band. It was great music, but what I remember most about it was a sweet old lady who sat on a stool next to me and kept falling asleep and, with her mouth hanging open, leaning so far backwards I was sure she was going to fall and I, the pregnant woman, would have to catch her. Thankfully she woke up in the nick of time!)

At the restaurant across the plaza, Michael sat in his highchair the whole time and let us eat with both hands free--a first for him, probably helped by the fact that his highchair had wheels. At first I thought it was rather silly, but by the end of the night I decided it was pure genius. When he started getting bored we could just turn him around so he could see the other people, and he was thrilled. 

Seven Quick Takes (3?)

1. I really need to fix the way this blog looks. The background, the layout, the links in the sidebar ... pretty much everything. Not sure when I'll have time to do it, but I'm hoping at some point to make my own header, as well. (Or maybe have Keith make it. :-P ) Perhaps I can get it done sometime before the year is out?

2. A friend is having her baby shower in a few weeks, so I knit a Milo for her little man in utero. It was a quickie--less than 24 hours, I think, and that while taking care of a baby. I've just cast on a pair of booties, and I'm thinking there will be enough yarn left to make a matching hat.

3. Michael seemed to enjoy his bananas today, which makes me happy! Homemade baby food has been hit and miss so far--he likes the applesauce, but he HATES the peas I made him, despite liking the ones in a jar. When he sees them he purses his lips shut. (They are a very bright green, much brighter than the jarred peas.) Right now I have a sweet potato in the oven that I will puree and freeze. Making a batch of baby food makes me feel quite the accomplished and thrifty mother. ^_^

4. Yesterday I took Michael to CMU to take part in a study about infant language learning. It consisted of him sitting in my lap and watching a video, while his reactions were recorded. Afterwards he got a free book. Clearly he is already following in his father's footsteps on the path to scientific greatness. ;)

5. Today I am going to block my cardigan. I'm hoping I can wear it on Sunday. Say a prayer that it works out and doesn't somehow morph into a huge shapeless mess. ;) Either way, I will post pictures.

6. Oh man, Halloween is almost here, and I don't have a costume for Michael. Maybe Keith and I can get out and find one tomorrow ...

7. I don't like to post about politics, not because I don't have opinions, but because I am generally too lazy to write about those opinions in a clear way, and because I don't really like conflict. But I'm going to go ahead and risk getting political in a general sense and say it drives me crazy when people brag about their political apathy. I don't enjoy politics by a long shot. I admit I didn't really pay attention to the last debate (I was knitting something complicated :-P ), and if you didn't watch it I won't judge you. (That much. ;-P ) But to brag about not watching it on Facebook, about not caring because both candidates are the same (they're not, but that's another issue)? Like it or not, you were born in a country where you have a say and therefore a responsibility in the government. You may say that whatever you do makes no difference--your vote is a drop in the ocean--and maybe you're right.

I can totally understand not liking either candidate, but if you're not voting, and ALSO not doing anything else like writing letters to your representatives, getting involved on the local level, whatever ... then you don't really have a right to complain about the situation. Saying that both candidates are losers doesn't abnegate your responsibility ... because seriously, who's to blame that only losers seem to run for president in our country? Who ELECTS them? Us. And if you're going to do nothing at all about it ... it empties your complaint of any weight.

In the end, responsibility isn't just about how our actions affect others (the "drop in the ocean"), but also how they shape ourselves. And apathy about big issues is never a positive character trait! I say this as someone who does little except vote, which is not very admirable. And if I've probably offended someone, so just know that I include myself in the category of people whose complaints are sorely disproportionate to the actions I take.

(Another reason I never post about politics--after spending a ton of time and words on that point I am still not satisfied how I've said things. Oh well.)



Babies, politics and knitting ... yep, you've come to the right place!

Joining up with Jen over at Conversion Diary.

Our Advent

Over Thanksgiving, I gathered up the Christmas ornaments I had left at my parents' house, and my mom also sent me home with some of my grandmother's. So Keith and I are ready to decorate our first Christmas tree. I'm really hoping that we get one before the end of the week. My family always set up trees late--sometimes not til Christmas Eve--and kept it up a while afterwards; but since Keith and I won't be here over Christmas or New Year's, we'd like to decorate early so we can enjoy it during Advent.

I love the idea of entering fully into the Liturgical year at home through family traditions and decorations, and my wish list for Advent is growing: an Advent wreath and candles, a Jesse tree, a manger that waits for the Christ Child under the tree. But I'm realizing these will be things that Keith and I gather year by year (especially things like the Jess tree, which can wait until we have kids).

One thing we do have is a Nativity set. When I was confirmed I received a lot of Fontanini figurines, and although my collection is a bit lopsided (I have one wise man, unless you count the giant Balthazar that stands a good two inches taller than all the other people), I remembered to pack it up and bring it back down with us last week. (I remember religious stores used to have crazy displays for these, on par with those railroads some people set up in their basements. The entire city of Bethlehem, buildings and hills populated by people and animals, and off in a quiet corner--the stable.)

So farI've just set up the stable, the (empty) manger, and Mary and Joseph. This was because I felt lazy at the time, but I've decided to add the figurines one at a time, as a sort of Advent calendar. (I tried to take a picture, but it seems my camera has finally gasped its last.) Keith pointed out that yes, Jesus isn't here yet; but technically, neither are Mary and Joseph, so they shouldn't be in the stable either. I suppose I could have them travel around the room with a donkey until they reach the stable on Christmas Eve. But ... no. I won't. :-P

And as we are, of course, awaiting the arrival of our own little baby (although not until well after Christmas!), it adds something extra special to this Advent. Caitlin called me out in my last post--we got our ultrasound yesterday, which means we now know the gender! I'm happy to inform you all that we are having a little boy!

It's something of an adjustment, actually, because we've been thinking of the baby as a girl and calling him "she" for a while now! It means I have to save the pretty baby sweater patterns I've been looking at for a later pregnancy ... and now start gathering handsome ones. :) But we are pretty thrilled!

The Life of Crazy Goodness

April is going to be one heckuva month.

In addition to finishing up the semester (what, three more weeks to do all this work?!), I'll be getting ready to teach a summer class, move out of this apartment, and take care of some vital wedding business with Keith. Invitations, rings, meeting with the DJ, getting my passport and making sure I'm insured for the month and a half between wedding and fall semester. And oh yes--knitting. I've halfway decided that I want to use my beautiful "Hush" yarn on a stole for myself to wear to the rehearsal dinner with the beautiful white dress I bought yesterday. Yes, that does mean completing three and a half big lace projects between now and July 16. Haha. We'll see what happens, right?

However, despite craziness, all of these things are good things. I'll be rushing around taking care of wedding stuff because I'm getting married to an amazing man. I'll be planning a class because I got offered a class during the first session, after all--originally they offered me a teaching position from June-August, which ... well, I'm getting married then? Not to mention going on a honeymoon? But that worked out.

And I've also found someone to sublet the apartment. Which means yet more work for me this week, as I check with all the utility companies to make sure they can be switched from my name without any snags, communicate with the landlord and the subletters about dates and deposits and such, etc. But I am excited--it is an older married couple (in their fifties? sixties?), so they seem pretty responsible, and are very pleasant to work with. Praise God!

Things are falling into place. We settled on the reception menu last week (Prosciutto wrapped melon! Orzo! Champagne and sherbet!) and received proofs of the invitations, which looked lovely (despite the fact they mispelled both mine AND Keith's last names--but that's what proofs are for).

In the meantime, I ought to avoid further craziness by getting work done in a timely fashion. So I am off to plan a class, and to write an author imitation (bleah) about bonsai (yay).