Never saw it coming….again

My daughter is in kindergarten. We’re still adjusting. This is something I really didn’t expect. She loved nursery school, I thought that would just carry on to kindergarten. Mostly, it’s okay but there are negative aspects. I thought it would just be all the love for nursery school – but more. She goes to kindergarten every second school day, all day. This is where the problem lies. I think she has to show such restraint during the entire day (as she’s not the type to argue with authority figures other than her parents), that Mummy gets it ten-fold when she gets home. It helps me to know the potential cause of a problem. This is all getting much, much better as time goes on. It was just…unexpected.

I should have expected the trouble we’d have in the mornings but I didn’t. I have a real “girlie-girl” on my hands. I stopped resisting this a while ago and decided, instead of arguing about outfits every morning, I’d just load her up on skirts. If she grew out of a pair of pants, it would be replaced with a skirt and pair of tights – at least enough for school days. This worked very well. Play clothes = sweat pants; School clothes = skirts and tights. The only problem I saw was walking to school on the cold days before ski pants are necessary. I solved this by starting a pair of these legwarmers. Great! I knit 13″ of a spiral rib in Patons Kroy Fern Rose Jacquard. Got pretty bored with it after a while but it made good purse knitting. Cute, non?

About 3/4 of the way up the leg, we encountered a glitch. The little darling no longer has the fortitude to put her tights on by herself in the morning. “It’s too hard”. What?? Too hard? Talk to me about too hard when you’ve got to get 3 kids (5 and under) up and out the door by 8:25 am and one of them (who’s perfectly capable of dressing herself) decides getting dressed is “too hard”. She’s now on a skirt strike. She’ll just wear pants because that’s easier. Great. You’ve got 3 pairs of jeans that barely fit and one’s got a hole in the knee. Let’s not forget the hand-me-down sweatpants I swore I wouldn’t let you wear to school because they’ve got writing on the bum. Why don’t I see these things coming? So…do I bother with the other legwarmer? I think I’ll just stick to my latest addiction:

 

They don’t talk back 🙂

How to Knit with Little Kids

Whenever I give someone a knitted gift, I get asked, “Where do you ever find the time?”. I don’t really find the time. I definitely consider it making time. Knitting is for my sanity. It’s the only thing I can look at at the end of a day and say to myself, “This is what I’ve done today”. Some days with little kids are better than others and maybe a fridge got cleaned, or a floor washed but most days I’m wiping crumbs, hands and solving problems. I can be on a huge roll (even cleaning my oven! Did I mention I cleaned my oven this weekend? Feels so good), and someone will be upstairs going to the bathroom by themselves when a huge catastrophe occurs (which I won’t mention because someone may be embarrassed but we’ve all been there) that sets me back an hour or two. It’s much better just to give up and knit. But I digress….

I’ve been thinking about it and I’ve compiled a list of good times to knit when you have little children. It’s not a long list because, well…you know why.

1. Knit simple. These are not the days of knitting glorious shawls. If someone spills something and you’ve got to set your complicated lace or colourwork down, you may have a problem later on. Socks, hats and mittens are my go to options these days. Also very practical when you have little kids who leave these same things outside for the dog to chew….

2. While waiting. The days of knitting in waiting rooms are over. This does not mean I don’t try but I always give up. I’ve got 3 kids to keep from throwing themselves on the ground and having dirty tantrums, or otherwise bothering the other patrons. I create my own “wait times”. They’re shorter, but they still count. When I’m waiting for the pasta to boil, I knit. If something’s heating in the microwave, I knit. Sorry, that’s all I’ve got.

3. The Sunday Drive. I have selfishly embraced this tradition. It’s getting cooler here and my husband’s a sucker for a Sunday Drive. If we’ve got nothing else to do on a Sunday and the kids are particularly cranky, it serves as a naptime for everyone (bonus!!!) and good, solid knitting time for me 🙂 This is when I’ll pull out the lace or colourwork because I can sometimes get in more than an hour of uninterrupted knitting. I love the Sunday drive. Love it.

4. Visit Grandma. This works great for me in a couple of ways because both sets of grandparents are over 2 hours away. If hubby comes with, I get driving time knitting t’boot (see above). When we get to Gandma’s, they’re more than happy to play with kids, feed them, wipe their hands, etc. These things are a novelty to Grandmas everywhere. However, do not abuse this privilege. Novelties only last so long.

5. Knurse. Knitting while you nurse. This is where the bulk of my knitting gets done. Hagen is almost 7 months old and he’s getting a little more grabby but I can still get a lot of knitting done when he falls asleep at the boob. He gets a nap and I get to knit. He’s my last baby, so I’m in no rush to put him in the crib (especially since, lately, he wakes up when I put him down anyways). For safety’s sake, try and keep knursing to smallish items so we have no one getting hurt by the needles. Socks work great here, as do mitts. Anything on circulars is also great as there aren’t any pointy dpns sticking out!

So that’s the list. Any other suggestions are hugely welcome. My big problem now is the spinning wheel I just bought. So far, I haven’t found much time for that but I’m resourceful!!

I am not having a good day. It is almost 6 pm. The husband is due home soon. Supper’s made and ready to go. I have cracked a beer. The beer is making me feel better. As I write this, the sun is starting to shine (for the first time in about 4 cold August days – totally opposite of Neil Diamond’s Hot August Nights). Maybe the end of this day will turn out better.

Today has been somewhat productive compared to most days.

– I organized my stash (which, by all accounts is not terribly large – yet).

– I put a few rows onto a plain sock for my dad. A sock that I had to rip out last night when I realized it would be swimmingly large on the husband who has *about* the same leg thickness as my dad (when did I start thinking about people’s “leg thickness similarities”).

– I baked 2 loaves of French Bread. I hope it’ll be okay. All I’ve got for flour is whole wheat. I’ve never made this without cutting it with at least half white flour. It looks and smells okay. Doesn’t feel too heavy but I’ve not cut into it yet – I’ll let you know.

– I parented 3 children. I want to end that sentence with “successfully” and think that I can but just have to get over the momma guilt. Here’s what I mean:

I have in my head the picture of a “successful” parenting day. We wake up, have a nice healthy breakfast – all eating and smiling together happily. Then we head to the park holding hands and laughing, all the while having meaningful and educational conversations. Everyone enjoys the park as I nurse my baby to sleep while knitting on my sock. A random stranger asks me, “How do you do it all?” I reply modestly, “Not every day is like this.” While I self-righteously think to myself, “Yes it is fool. Just spend some time enjoying your children and they’ll be as happy and well-behaved as mine are, bwahahahahahahahahahaha!” The rest of this perfect day is spent enjoying some well-thought-out craft time in the afternoon, followed up by a well-planned (and of course, healthy) crockpot dinner. The husband puts the older 2 to bed while I spend some quality time with my infant loving and nursing him to sleep. Oh, so wonderful.

P.S. I just cracked another beer. Here’s how today went:

– Wake up. Late. No walk for dog because baby’s teething and wants to nurse all night.

– Older 2 watching a movie put on by Dad to keep them from tearing each other’s hair out while Mummy’s in bed.

– Whining while waiting for PB & J on toast. Same as every morning. Whining happening because it’s not waffles. Daddy was home this weekend and made the kids waffles both days. This has become an expectation. Must make note – no more waffles. Ever. Again.

– Baby teething. Can’t get breakfast dishes done. Covet dishwasher. Nurse Baby, try to get him down for morning nap. “Nappus interruptus” ensues when older children start running “the track” (dining room, living room, kitchen, repeat) loudly.

– Short fight involving a doll being snatched by older sister. Mum steps in. Listening does not happen. Chances given, not taken. Boldface disobedience (“I will NOT listen to you Mum”) Mum briefly panics over ponders what life will be like with a teenager in the house. Discipline time, “successful” talk and carry on.

– Lunchtime made by Dad while Mum puts Baby back to sleep because he woke up to burp? I think? Lunch consists of leftover rice, peas and Kraft Dinner. Go Dad.

– Movie. Must remember to thank God for movies later on. Probably not something in his master plan but, c’mon. What would we do without them on rainy days? (P.S. for a dose of hypocrisy, please see my about page)

– Read all three kids a nice, long story. Everyone enjoys it. That’s good, right?

– Roast in oven, bread rising.

– Rain stopped. Send oldest kids outside. Baby naptime – we can do this. Baby sleeping, middle child in to pee. Baby wakes up. Baby back to sleep. Eldest child in to pee. She’s held it too long. Oh no. Must prevent accident. No time to clean up accident with sleeping baby in arms. Eldest child insisting on removing hoody that’s too small for her. This is not necessary to go for a pee. Fight ensues over said hoody. Ends with baby awake, eldest child in corner screaming but no accident. Back outside for you, kiddo. Maybe we’ll talk about this later.

– Still shaking with anger due to eldest child’s desire to disobey, phone rings. Nice chat with friend from Alberta who also has a 5 year old, who also disobeys regularly. Feel better.

– Supper’s ready (did I mention supper’s already made today?!?! Hooray!!)

Successful day of parenting? Yeah, I guess. I’m listening to Hot August Nights. Sometimes Neil Diamond takes the edge off, you know?

Go figure, a post about knitting on a knitting website!! What can I say? I’m inspired.

I actually have been knitting a lot lately. We had a new niece and that deserved a hat (picture to follow when it’s embellished nicely). I finished Matthew’s socks:

 

Usually I’m fussier about stripes matching but these were made from the end of a skein and I wasn’t sure how much I’d have left. Cute little feet nonetheless! I’m 1/4 done the second of a toe-up sock for Mum. I’m using this pattern and just love it. I find it quite fast with the slipped stitches and all.

If the baby hat ends up looking anything like it looks in my imagination, I’ll be making more and selling them at craft sales. I’ve got a vision and, so far, it’s turning out. Stay tuned!

How to “Make” Your Baby Sleep Through the Night

 

Ahhhhh….the 65 million dollar question. How can I tackle this one? I am definitely not an expert in this but I don’t think anyone is – and that’s including highly paid pediatricians worldwide. Yes, Ferber, I’m talking to you.

Okay, so I’m not exactly pinning down Ferber here. I just really have to say something about this because it’s been on my mind all weekend. In my 5 years of parenting, I have come across this question or had conversations about babies sleep probably more than I care to think about considering there is no answer! Maybe I’m a sleep philosopher. Maybe we all are….

Another Facebook status from a distant aquaintance that I don’t dare answer asked “Ple-e-e-a-se someone tell me how to make my baby sleep through the night! I need my sleep!” I feel sorry for this mother. I really do. This is her first baby. She’s 4 months old. She’s probably heard numerous stories from other mothers on how they “got” their babies to sleep through the night. She doesn’t know yet that these stories aren’t true. She doesn’t know that the other mothers don’t know that their stories aren’t true. She needs to talk to me. I will tell her what to do. I can free her from her pain by disappointing her. There is nothing you can do to make your baby sleep through the night. Your baby will sleep through the night when your baby sleeps through the night. Some babies do it at 5 weeks. Some babies do it at 3 years old. Sucks, non? Not if you’re a mother of a baby who does it at 5 weeks.

I had one of those. She was 2 months and she started sleeping 8 hours. Glorious – until she started teething. Then she started getting colds. Then these things started happening simultaneously. Then they started to cycle. Teething takes a long time. They get 20 teeth by the time they’re 2. She didn’t sleep through the night again until she was potty trained and in her “big girl bed”. Fair? Not really. Realistic? Yes. The sad thing was I always thought I was doing something wrong because other mothers told me I was. They weren’t trying to be mean. They were trying to be helpful but this poor child of mine underwent several “sleep experiments” during her cold/teething period. It was an awful, frustrating time for everyone involved.

Then, we had another baby. I didn’t do anything with this one other than nurse him when he was hungry. I tried not to sleep with him but it was just so much easier! He was up every half an hour until he was 2. One day I was reading him his naptime story when he told me he was tired, crawled into his bed, and went to sleep. He did the same thing at night night. This has continued. Sometimes he wakes up for water. Sometimes he wakes up to pee. He wants us for this. He’s 3. That’s okay. That’s what I’m here for. My 5 year old still gets up with bad dreams sometimes. Or sometimes she wakes up for no apparent reason and just can’t get back to sleep. I tell her a story, rub her back and she usually is fine.

I have a 3 month old baby now. He’s slept through the night twice. Once a week ago and once 2 days ago. This is because he slept through the night twice. I did nothing to encourage it at all. We just got lucky. He might do it again. He might not. I have no expectations of him other than incredible cuteness. My answer to mom’s everywhere who ask this question is, “The sooner you start realizing that your baby is a human being that you can’t ‘make’ do anything, the easier your life will become”. If anyone has a better answer, I’d love to hear it but I probably wouldn’t believe it at all 🙂

Sleeping at the cabin

I have a family. I have a fabulous, fabulous family. I’m talking, of course, about my mum’s side  – we just had our first ever family reunion this Canada Day weekend and it was so much fun. You know when you look so forward to something that it’s almost guaranteed to let you down? This is not what happened this weekend! I hope hope hope we don’t wait another 62 years to have one of these! Here are some pictures: 

  

 

    

 

The reason my family’s so wonderful is because we’re very, very close. I have 6 first cousins and we’re closer than a lot of siblings I know. We always look forward to getting together, and always have a blast when we do! I’m so happy we could all get together while Grandma’s still with us. It must have been amazing for her to watch us all and to see her great-grandchildren playing as she’s watched their parents and their parent’s parents before them 🙂 Beautiful.

Saskatoon

We had a great time in Saskatoon this weekend. We were visiting a friend I made in Alberta, who moved to Sudbury, who was visiting her parents in Saskatoon. Saskatoon is 5 1/2 hours from here and Sudbury is closer to 20, so we hopped in the van and headed west! I was pretty nervous about travelling by myself with three kids, most of all a 2 month old baby, but it went surprisingly well.

I am so glad Lisa and I have stayed in touch all this time. This visit made it all worthwhile. Our girls seemed to pick up right where they left off. Impressive, considering the last time they played together was when they were 1 year olds. We both have 3 year old boys and they took a little longer to get to know each other but it happened. At one point Lisa caught them “scheming” together. Most importantly, on Saturday night, Lisa and I got to sit down and enjoy some wine and conversation. This is something we’ve both been wanting to do for a long time now and it was worth the wait.

I know it was only a weekend but it really recharged me. We stayed with her parents and her mom insisted on making all the meals (she told me she’s a hard one to help). I at least managed to make strawberry shortcake for dessert on Saturday night. It was nice to be able to sit and watch my kids play instead of trying to get a million things done around the house and keep them busy at the same time! I expected to come home and be exhausted but I feel fantastic.

I also came home to an amazingly clean house. My darling Jacob washed floors on his hands and knees and de-cluttered some of the spots that had been driving me nuts. I guess he was listening to my mutterings after all!

Manitoba Mornings

I think I may have become a morning person! I never, ever thought I’d say that. For almost 2 weeks now I’ve been getting up anywhere between 5 and 6 am, depending on when baby nurses. I’ve been aiming for closer to 5, though. It’s amazing how much can be done in the early morning. That’s probably obvious to most people but it really wasn’t to me. If my kids ever woke me that early in the past I would have gotten up, thrown a movie on for them and tried to sleep some more 🙂

It is 8:30 am and I have already:

• taken the dog for a walk,
• washed and dried diapers,
• put second load of laundry in wash,
• made 2 loaves of bread (about 5 minutes from going in oven),
• fed kids breakfast, and
• gotten baby down for a nap.

I must say I’m pretty happy with this progress. We’re heading to Saskatoon tomorrow morning for a weekend visit so I’ll be packing and making food for the rest of the day. I’d better get back to work, though. Those beds aren’t going to make themselves!

Father’s Day

We had a lovely Father’s Day thanks for asking 🙂

My MIL has some weird desire to go to Assiniboine Park every Father’s Day with her family and all of her daughter-in-law’s families to have a picnic and that’s what we did! I was up at 6 to take Parker for a walk and then I really got started!

I had made a rhubarb pie the day before so it was cooled and ready to go. I then made two loaves of French Bread. While I waited for the bread to rise, I got started on Blueberry Pancakes for my hubby (who was still in bed! I was up before him for the second time this week!!!) These are the best pancakes any of my immediate family have tried. I usually don’t like pancakes because they’re too heavy but these ones are a lot lighter:

Light ‘N Fluffy Pancakes

• 2 eggs
• 8 tsp oil
• 2 cups milk
• 2 tbsp baking powder
• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 4 tsp sugar

Beat eggs. Add oil and milk, then dry ingredients. Cook.

I usually use whole wheat flour and they’re still delicious (if not more so, but that’s my opinion!). When I make blueberry pancakes I use about 1 cup of blueberries.

We then drove into Winnipeg to meet our families for the picnic. It was great food and great company. The mosquitoes weren’t even as bad as I thought they’d be because there was a bit of a breeze. We took the kids on the steam train, which I think is the best bit of entertainment available in Winnipeg for $2.50 a person, then headed on home. It was a bit of a whirlwind day but well worth the effort. I hope everyone else’s Father’s Days were as nice!

Kids Knitted Socks

Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a few knitting posts on here to live up to my name! It’s summer, so I knit a bit less and we did just have a baby so…

I’ve been knitting socks for Matthew since before Hagen was born. I’m still not done the first one 😉 Not for lack of trying, though. It seems I have no idea how big my kids feet are! I think I’ve finally figured it out so I’m going to post the pattern. I had a really hard time finding plain kids sock patterns online and had to create my own. Here’s a picture of the same pattern knit for Sage.

This makes a child’s size 9 sock – or sock for a 3 – 4 year old.

Materials:

• 100 g sock yarn
• Size 2 to 3 US (3mm) double pointed needles (I used size 3 US)

Gauge:

• 30 sts = 4 inches

Instructions

CO 42 sts

Rib in K1, P1 for 1 1/2 inches

K until leg reaches 5 inches, including ribbing.

Dividing for Heel

Put one half of the stitches (21), centered on the beginning of the round (knit the first 10 stitches, then turn and slip other 11 stitches). Place the other half on a holder. Work the heel flap:

P across back of heel flap, slipping first stitch.

Turn.

Sl1, K across.

Turn.

Repeat for 21 rows.

Turning the Heel

Starting on the right side, knit 7 sts plus 2 (9 sts). Sl1, K1, psso, K1. Turn.

Sl1, P5, P2tog, P1. Turn.

Sl1, K to gap, slip first st before gap, K st on other side, psso, K1. Turn again.

Sl1, P across to gap. P2tog across the gap. P1. Turn.

Continue until all heel sts are used up.

There should be 13 sts left as heel cup.

Pick up 10 sts.

P across instep sts.

Pick up 10 sts.

P7, turn.

slip previous 10 sts from instep needle onto current needle before knitting.

K to 3 sts from instep, K2tog, K1.

K across instep sts.

On next needle, K first st, Sl1, K1, psso. Knit to end.

K next round plain.

Repeat decrease round every other round until you have 42 sts again.

Continue knitting until the foot measures 2 1/2″ less than foot length.

Shape Toe: 

K one round plain

Decrease round:

K to 3 sts from end of first needle, K2tog, K1.

K first st on instep needle, Sl1, psso, knit to 3 sts from end of instep needle, K2tog, K1.

Last needle, K1, Sl1, psso, K to end.

K one round plain.

Continue alternating plain and decrease rounds until you have half the number of sts you began with (21).

Decrease every round until you have 12 sts left all together. Join end of toe with Kitchener stitch.

Enjoy your socks!