Yeah, that title is long, but I couldn't think of anything else to say. Hester is busily crying her eyes out in her crib right now as I am making her "cry it out" this week. We've had our ups and downs, mostly ups, but she's still crying before each nap and before bed. On Tuesday morning, she only cried for 5 minutes before falling asleep, but then he rambunctious brothers woke her up with their playing after only a 45 minute nap. The bottom line is that yes, it does break my heart to listen to it, but it would break my heart even more if I had to listen to it later on. You know, when they start speaking? When they can actually say/shout "Mommy!!!! Mommy!!! Mommy!!! Daddy?!". Such is the life of a parent.
To combat the sadness of this week, I decided that we absolutely had to celebrate the feast of Our Lady of the Rosary on the 7th. The boys and I baked mini cupcakes. (By the boys and I, I mean that Rimmy helped a lot, Seton helped a bit, and Ransom stood on a chair, giggling, and refusing to touch the scary, loud mixer.) We even used my brand spanking new "Catholic Cuisine" apron, which I love btw. It has pockets!!! Yes, I
know. I'm too excited by those pockets. What can I say? It's been a rough week. Anyway, back to the cupcakes. We made a cupcake rosary with them on the kitchen table and had the Byers
over to celebrate. It would have been perfect if we had actually all said the rosary together, but as our group was made up predominantly by the pre-school set, and it was after dinner, we opted to just say, "Yay Mary!!" and eat. This is not to say that I didn't explain the reason for the holiday to the boys in the morning while we were baking, complete with having them hold their own rosaries, but there's only so much a 4 year old will get out of the Battle of Lepanto. We settled for them understanding that the BVM goes by many names, and that this is one of the many celebrations we have throughout the year for her. We talked about how awesome it is that she wants us to ask her for help just so that she MAY help us, and that her petition of choice is the rosary. I think that's pretty good for little kids.
Also in the news this week, I have been knitting up a storm. I had to fully frog my Project Linus blanket because, quite frankly, it turned out awful. It was warping in the worst way, and as I tend to do, I ignored it until it was completely unavoidable. It was more trapezoidal in shape than rectangular, and so it has gone the way of the yarn bag.
After giving up on that though, I made a lovely little shrug for Hester. Yes, I made a shrug for a baby, and it has actually been perfect for this can't-make-up-its-mind weather. It's just a little something extra on her shoulders and arms to keep out the chill, but not enough to overheat her when the weather changes.
After completing the shrug (in record time for me, I might add), I began work on my next two projects simultaneously. The one is a pair of knee high slipper socks for Maureen's bday. I have one completed, and it would have been both but for Hester's not letting me put her down all day long all week long last week. I think the total amount of time spend actually knitting the one sock was about 3 or 4 hours, so I should have had the pair done in time for her birthday on the 4th. Unfortunately, I had to give her one knee high slipper sock at her party, and while that upset me, I believe the look on her face made up for my own disappointment. It was a mixture of surprise and a feeling of awkwardness at not knowing exactly what the hell it was she had just received. I could just see that thoughts flashing across her face: "Oh! How nice! Bridget made me...um...a skinny Christmas stocking? Is there something I'm missing? Maybe there's another...*checks the bag again*...No? Ok. Um...*and then out loud*: Thanks! It's great!". LMAO I then explained to her the situation, and that I was taking it back so that I could make sure the second one matched the first. She seemed relieved. That scene from Veggie Tales kept running through my head: "Shocked and slightly embarrassed at the sight of Larry in a towel..."
And now the second sock would be just about done if it hadn't been for two things: I'm still working on another project which, being as I've already missed the deadline for Maureen's bday, is more pressing as I have a chance of finishing it on time, and as I was working away on it last night, I totally forgot to do any decreases on the leg. I was basically done the entire leg and hadn't decreased once. That's the problem sometimes with "easy" projects. I tend to think to myself that it's an easy one, and just keep knitting, and never check the instructions until, hours into it, I look up and notice that it's not quite the correct shape or size. So, ribbit, ribbit, ribbit, I frogged back the the first decrease and started over. Only a night's worth of knitting gone. No biggee.
My second current project I could tell you about, but then I'd have to kill you. All I will say is that it falls into the knitting category of "Awesome".
And that, my friends, concludes today's section of aimless ramblings. I now have to keep the boys occupied and quiet as noise doesn't have to travel far from the living room to the nursery as they share a wall, and I really don't want to have to listen to another half hour of Hester's sad cries.
