Daddy's Girl

Not that there's ever been any doubt about the paternity, but if anyone ever asks for a DNA test, I'll just refer them to this photo. 

Knitting and Reading

Hang onto your handknitted hats - I finished the book! It took weeks, it was more of a struggle than it should have been, and ironically, in the end, I was quite charmed by it and found myself wanting to start over and give it a second chance. I think it might just be one of those books best served by a consistent, steady read, rather than the stop-start, page-here-page-there treatment I seem to be able to give.

And wouldn't you know, the book that was waiting in the wings, that I was so looking forward to, lasted but a couple of days and is already complete. Luckily A Knitter's Home Companion by Michelle Edwards is jam-packed with fabulous patterns and recipes, as well as the lovely essays, so I'll no doubt be dipping back in again and again.

With that finished, I'm turning my attention to the Father's Day pile, starting with Patti Smith's memoir Just Kids.

And knitting? Still going on my nephew Oscar's first birthday Milo. I adjusted the XO cable band to be just an O. O for Oscar. I'm so close to finished...but look what arrived in the post today.

..a sweet bundle of peachy-pink Baby Cashmerino, one of my favourite yarns ever. It's destined for a little short-sleeve summer cardigan for my Pearl, and I've had to restrain  myself from instantaneously casting on. Only a few more rows, only a few more rows... I ordered it from a new online shop that I recently discovered - Suzy Hausfrau. The prices are fantastic, there is free postage in Australia AND...I ordered this yesterday afternoon and it was waiting on my doorstep when I arrived home from this morning's outing. This could be very dangerous for my knitting budget!

Joining in with the Yarn Along today.

Long Weekending

This gloomy, wet long weekend, we:

:: Reached our internet download limit, which meant switching off the computers for a few days - unusually pleasant;

:: Bid a weepy airport farewell to my big sis and her family as they left for two years in Singapore;

:: Welcomed our latest houseguests - a few dozen chubby silkworms, over which we have temporary guardianship until the preschool term begins again;

:: Picked mulberry leaves in the rain to feed the houseguests (they don't stop eating!);

:: Watched with fascination as the first of them spun a bright yellow cocoon;

:: Urged the others to follow suit;

:: Made a lumpy-bumpy clafoutis with the beautiful ripe mulberries that came home with the leaves;

:: Had fun at a 4th birthday party catching up with good friends;

:: Kneaded and rolled the dough to make Shanghai dumplings from scratch - and the girls loved them;

:: Endured Enjoyed no less than two football grand finals.

:: Listened as one little girl mastered how to say (or shout) "I do!" and her sister perfected, "Me too!"

How was your weekend?

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. 

Via Soulemama

When Good Cooks Turn Bad...

I'm guessing no-one will be wanting the recipe for that little disaster.

Blossom

As teenagers, we'd roll our eyes as Mum ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the beautiful flowers and gorgeous scenery. "Greer, look at that tree! Oh, the colour of the blossoms! See how green the countryside is?" 

"Aww, Muuuuuuummmm, shuuuuut-uuuup."

As her three adult daughters strolled through the botanic gardens yesterday, we laughed at ourselves as we ooh-ed and ahh-ed at the beautiful flowers and gorgeous scenery.

She would have been smiling. 

Meet the Family

I have two sisters, one older, one younger. At last count there are nine kids between us, aged from 1 to 11. We just spent 24 hours together back in our home town in the country and miraculously got the nine to sit still long enough for multiple photo ops. Even the pet chook was smiling. Love you, girls x

this moment

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. 

Via Soulemama

The Night Drive

Wednesday night, midnight: I was driving around Sydney streets in a last-ditch attempt to get the toddler in the back seat to go to sleep. She'd been awake since 9:30. I needed petrol so I pulled into a busy-ish service station on Parramatta Road and, in my pyjamas, filled up, then paid. The toddler was wide-eyed.

It took over half an hour, but it worked. She finally drifted off. I should add, this is the good sleeper of the pair. And it was only because she is prone to snoozing in the car that I even tried it. With all the sleep issues we had with her sister back in the bad old days, we never resorted to nocturnal driving. I doubt it would have worked.

It's been a hellish couple of sleep weeks, thanks to a cold and cough moving through the family. Day naps have been wishy-washy, night-times have been atrocious. It's been babies who won't go to sleep, or go to sleep for a couple of hours then wake up screaming. Babies who need dummies (bloody dummies) to be found, even though there are four in the cot. Babies who are standing up in bed and need help lying down again. Babies who are so tired the next day that they nap in the pram on a morning walk, which means they won't go to sleep at nap time, which means they are so tired by bedtime they can't sleep. Fun, fun, fun. 


Then there's the behavioural stuff. Screaming and whining and pulling hair and gouging eyes and throwing bowls full of food and pushing each other over. Whingeing to be picked up picked up picked up, screaming to be put down put down put down. Crying for a snack, throwing the snack across the room when it's not the right sort. Oh, God, the fun.


I was listening to a radio interview the other day and somewhere in the middle of it the show host talked about the years when the interviewee met her partner, got married, had babies, went back to work, changed careers etc etc etc. "Having babies" was glossed over in the arc of this woman's life. Well, not so much glossed over but with her children now teenagers, it was obvious those early days of babies and sleep issues and tantrums and poo and spew and relentless slog were a thing of the past, and that it was all just one fragment in the big picture. 


And it made me think that when I'm in the throes of all this little kid stuff, bogged down in the minutiae of the every day, I should try and remember this is just one part of it. Soon, though hopefully not too soon, it will be over and we'll be onto the next phase. I'll be cheering from the sidelines of a soccer field, or drowning in boredom waiting for my kid's turn at the piano recital, or nursing someone through big exams, or helping them move into their first flat, or cracking a bottle of bubbly to celebrate a new job or watching on (please let me) as they have their own babies. And when I start thinking like that, if I can stop weeping long enough, it makes a couple of weeks (months? years?) of sleep deprivation seem a little less catastrophic.

Isn't that right, grumpy bum?

I Will Not Be Blogging Tonight

I will not be blogging tonight. I will not be blogging and I will not be looking at other blogs either. I won't collapse on the couch with a sigh and turn on the TV, then grab my knitting and sink into the evening. I won't open the GM's laptop and upload a few photos and head to Blogger and click 'New Post'.

I will do none of these things because if I don't finish this bl@#*y book soon, I might as well send the white flag up the pole. It has been weeks, at a rate of about half a page a night, two pages if I'm feeling sprightly. And now that Monsieur Ozu has finally entered the fray, things are actually moving along and I'm enjoying the story, so I can't even blame the slow beginning for this sloooooooow progress.

And I'm whipping up a Milo for my nephew's first birthday, oh, nearly two months ago. "Whipping up" as in knitting about four stitches every three days, and making a significant mistake halfway through the yoke requiring ripping back and starting over. I'm not frustrated at all. Nor even slightly sarcastic.

So I won't be blogging tonight. Sorry to disappoint. I'm off to bed to try and make some headway on that book so that I might finally be able to join in the Yarn Along with something new someday soon.