Happy Halloween: A Day in Pictures

First Grader on parade:

A Brother Oblivious:

Fourth Grader Haunting the Schoolyard:

Pumpkins carved and lighted:

Ready for Tricks and Treats!

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Now on another note, I've been sending festive photos of L'il I all week. In case you missed any of them, there were three. Here they are, in order, from Monday through Wednesday:

This One's for Theresa

OK. As I said a few months ago, I feel like Theresa and I should be old friends after our parallel pregnancies this summer. And so, when I read her most recent post (or rather, Z's post), I set out this weekend to get this picture for her:

You see, her baby was sending smiley vibes to T's father, who had heart surgery. L'il I just started smiling about a week ago, but he's hard to catch on film (those flash bulbs are rough). I figured those folks having an icky Monday morning might also appreciate the toothless wonder that is a three-month-old's grin. L'il I was 12 weeks old yesterday!

P.S.: Notice that I've added a Flickr link in the left navigation. If you click it, you should be able to go over and view a collection of photos, including travel shots, knitting projects and more from the photo shoot yesterday.

I Can't Believe It Either.

A finished pair of Southwestern Socks!

I finished these last night while I was watching Alien.

And, if you were wondering how yesterday's Magic Market Bag stretches under pressure, here it is filled with a dozen pieces of fruit.



And for those those of you who stop by only for baby and child updates, here's today's sleeping babe:

Behold: Fiber Arts

My apologies for the spotty blogging lately. It hasn't been for lack of content, but rather, lack of sleep, free time and original ideas.

You see, a few weeks ago I was going to write about nursing and what it means to be a nursing mother and how much time it takes and how good "nursing knitting" projects are hard to come by. But then Theresa published an eloquent post and I didn't think I could add anything to her already-perfect post. You see, she and I were pregnant together and had similarly complicated pregnancies and I like to think of her as my kindred spirit over in the Windy City. She's having a rough spot right now, so pop over and send her good thoughts.

And then I was going to write about how I felt about the blog, why I started it, etc., and then others started writing about the same theme. So I didn't do that, either.

But all the while, something miraculous was happening here at Chez Spinneas. You see, I was actually KNITTING.

I'm on the final stretch of the Southwestern Sock.

I cannot begin to tell you how much I love Fleece Artist sock yarn. It is a stash staple.

There has even been a little spinning.

Now neither of these projects are conducive to nursing, but I may have found some good projects. Firstly, a brioche rib scarf out of some ages-old homespun. Merino/tencel/silk blend spun on my Ashford knitted up with size 6 needles. It's coming along nicely.

And the ultimate nursing knitting: The Magic Market Bag -- a delightful pattern from Aran Auntie (who is also Auntie Nanny at my house). MMBs are addictive knits that spring forth from teeny, humble balls of Cascade Fixation. You size them by choosing what size needle you want to use. I've completed three so far and the fourth is nearly done. I've been playing a bit with handle size (if you go verbatim with the handle it's designed to stretch into a shoulder bag -- the version on the far right below has a shorter handle and is more of a "hang off your wrist" tote). The one in the middle is done verbatim, and the one on the left is in progress (translation: I haven't made major mods yet, but may be tempted once I get to the handle, which should be during our next nursing session). Here are three in their "natural" state, completed in "medium" size:

And here's one stuffed with balls of yarn to show the magic of the bag. This doesn't really even touch how much stretch this bag has. I deem it quite suitable for stash enhancement expeditions.

Now I'm going to make a plug here for the pattern. If you are looking for good nursing knitting, fast holiday knits or a speedy yarn-store tote, this pattern is for you. She's distributing it through Lovely Yarns in Baltimore, but hopefully it will arrive in other local yarn stores or on the web soon.

If you can't wait for it, shoot me an email and I'll connect you to the source :)

A Reptile Among Us

We had a very busy weekend. Chaos on Friday, which we won't discuss other than to say it involved major traffic glitches, a child-care plan gone awry (don't worry, it had to do with coordinating a pick-up ... no one got hurt or anything) and an overnight campout that was delayed due to all of these combined factors. After all, it sucks to pitch a tent in the dark, which is what might have happened had they actually gotten on the road at a reasonable hour. As it was, it turned out to be colder than a witch's bosom in a brass brassiere, so it was good.

And we got to take the "official" two-month photo of L'il I (we're taking pictures on the 12th of every month so we can watch him as he grows...)

Saturday was Yarn Sniffer's birthday. They were supposed to wake up in the woods, but instead, hubby woke up under the weather. But what about the Cub Scout campout? Well ... Den Leader Mommy (who was not supposed to go to camp because of nursing the babe) turned the overnighter into a day camp instead. Zee and the Sniffer got to do all kinds of neat things (while I spent most of the day trying to find five minutes to sneak away to pump...):

Most of all, though, the Sniffer enjoyed telling everyone it was his birthday!

And then today, Spike made his weekend complete. Perhaps he should now be known as the Dragon Sniffer?

My Life is a Busy Place to Be

I've been quite derilict in posting lately. Last week was a real winner. Not only was it absolutely insanely busy, but it also marked my return to the office -- for two days. I can hardly wait to see how ridiculous this week is when I go back for three days.


Last weekend started with a visit from my in-laws, who came in from South Carolina. My mother in law's brother is very sick with leukemia, so keep him in your prayers. She got to play with L'il I, who slept the WHOLE time:





Sunday gave way to toothpain, and last Monday, you guessed it -- root canal. Not a terribly horrible procedure this time around, but little did I know what would await me later in the week... That same day, Knitting Auntie of Aran Fame came for a visit with my cousin and her son -- born the weekend of MS&W. We took pictures with each other's babes (If you know me, and look at the right side of my face, you can tell that I had something done to my mouth... note minor swelling).







On Wednesday, I did not work and was instead planning to spend a nice leisurely day with L'il I. Instead, we went back to see the dentist. You see, the infection in my head had me looking like John McCain and when I smiled, it looked like I had had a stroke (whole right side was swollen and when I smiled, my lips could hardly move). Believe it or not, I had to have my gum lanced and drained. Damn mouth of mine. Doesn't do anything right ...


Thursday, I went back to work again. Had a great day. I can't tell you how nice it is to know that L'il I is with Auntie while I'm at work. It's relaxing and only mildly upsetting -- but that's primarily due to the fact that I personally think the U.S. sucks on maternity leave and it's times like these that I want to move to Europe.


Friday was filled with a lot of running around to get ready for baby's baptism yesterday which, thankfully, went off without a hitch. Loads of time with family and friends, and a blissful, sleeping baby in church. He was awake for the afterparty -- in fact, he was a bit overtired by the time we got home, but he did manage to zonk out for me for most of the night last night.