House Arrest

Engaging Passions

One billion degrees
It's like one billion degrees
It's like one trillion degrees
From the hot parking lot
To the sand that is not so cool

Soooooo hot. And so much to say. Ugh. I'll try to get some of it out before I melt dead away...

Sorry for the long absence here. I have been refocusing on myself lately and that has led to a not insignificant period of introspection. I've been thinking about many things -- from losing the now 30 excess pounds that I am carrying to actively focusing on where my career is heading to diving fully back into crafting.

Rest assured, knitting has always been done. In fact, the Milan Jackets are at the most boring point of needing one half a sleeve to have all the knitting be done. Then I can move onto finishing them both. (This will probably be the LAST time I knit two of anything. Maybe...)

I knit every single day on my commute to and from work, so I always have some progress to show. As such, I have a bazillion projects in progress (oh my fickle heart) and in queue. Knitting satisfies me... but aggravates my carpal tunnel. And in the summer, I don't want to work on it at night in my un-air conditioned room. (The babies, bless their souls, have a/c in their room.) The yarns all stick to me and make me feel, well... gross.

So in keeping with wanting to craft and finish more -- and keeping my hand out of the proverbial cookie jar -- I have turned my eye back to a forgotten passion. One that, of course, necessitated buying even MORE furniture and moving stuff out of the kiddos' bedroom -- which was good, because they were starting to try to get into stuff they shouldn't be in...

If you can't tell from the picture above, at night my heart turns to sewing and quilting. (And, Tar-jay, as usual, rocks. Awesome sewing table, 15% discount and free shipping!) Oh, and yes, the cats do think the table was brought in just for them.

I know you're thinking, "but what about the stuff the kiddos wanted?" Well, Hunter nearly pulled the sewing machine on her head and Aden "walked" his jumperoo around the room -- putting him within reach of certain items (cough, scissors, cough) that his forgetful mom didn't stow safely away. (These items are ALL. GONE. NOW.)

I will admit that I can't sew a perfectly straight line yet, but I expect a summer of progress -- and a few purchased seaming guides -- will get me there. I've been working on a few simple pieces -- pre-printed soft books, coasters -- and will pick up on piecing quilts soon.

In other news, I've decided to fully go back on Weight Watchers (and to try to get on the boards at least ONCE a day when I can), update my resume -- just in case, you know?-- and spend more time trying to have fun with my kids and husband.

After all, they're my biggest passion...

Rock, rock, rock, rock, rock 'n' roll Babies*

Aden is
A punk rocker

A-a-a-den is
a punk rocker

Aden is
a punk rocker
n-o-o-o-w

Fun fun rock 'n' roll baby
Fun fun rock 'n' roll baby
Fun fun rock 'n' roll baby
Fun fun, oh baby.

And the crowd goes wild!

*with endless apologies to the Ramones...

Fortress of Solitude

Remember how I told you that Mark used the playpens to create safety zones in the babies' room?

Well, the kiddos have figured out how to push / pull and generally rejigger the one by the door. Aside from using this means to escape -- remember Indy Aden? -- the babes have used them to create a play area of their own.

One which we have started to call the "Fortress of Solitude."

Once their both safe in the fortress, with the gate walls completely surrounding them, they play peek-a-boo with us by eyeing us through the slats or popping up like little gophers. And my, how they laugh and laugh and laugh...

Those playpens were probably one of our best purchases ever.

101 in 1

It does go by quickly, doesn't it?

Note: For some reason my embed is working a bit wonky in Firefox. If you see the video start -- which it's not supposed to do, just hit stop and play again and it should be okay. I hope.

If you still can't see the embedded video above, click here for an MP4 version (~ 7mb) and here for a WMV file (~2 MB).

Giggles

Fussy day with tears and frustration for Daddy-oh throughout. Aden's teething made him an unhappy and fussy baby most of the day.

But oh the fun when their moods deemed it right...

Photo Shoot

Mark and I took the babies to get their first professional pictures on their birthday at Kiddie Kandids. I'd been dreading it but it turned out to be a fun experience in the end. The photographer was very quick and professional. She got the babies to smile for every picture and the whole shoot was over and done with in about 15 minutes. Truth be told, picking out the package of pictures took more time than the shoot itself.

The photographer mentioned that these were the easiest twins that she ever shot and loved the pictures of them on the pseudo-beach. One of her colleagues whispered to her that she should enter the topmost pic in a contest. (I assumed it was an internal thing since we didn't sign any photo releases.)

By the way, the lei on Hunter's head? My idea. I didn't like her wearing it around her neck -- strangulation-hazard anyone? -- so I fashioned it into a headband. It totally made the picture work!

Mark and I aren't big into the type of photos that the big mall places take, but I expect that we'll probably do this again.

Knitting-wise, all the pieces of the White Toddler Sweater have been knitted up and only need to be seamed together. I've put that aside until the weekend and picked up the Milan Jackets.

Onward.

One plus 11 (guest post by Mark)

Cupcakes and Teeth

I promise I'll stop doing this soon, but look:

June 2, 2007

June 2, 2008

What a difference a year makes! And check out all those teeth!

The kiddos have been using those chompers a lot recently. They're finally getting a bit more adventurous about food, although Aden will make the "banana face" after trying something new more often than not. The funny thing is that even though he's making the face, he won't spit the food out! He'll just hold it in his mouth until it totally dissolves or he swallows it. Weird hunh?

Speaking of food...

Hunter likes play food almost as much as she likes real food!

Pattern: Cupcake from Blah Blah Blahhg

Yes, that was a rarely sighted knitting appearance on the blog. Trust me, there will be more and frequently. Currently I've actively (meaning I'm working on them pretty steadily) got the following on the needles: White Toddler Sweater, Milan Jackets and a new Grand Plan Capelet for moi. (All previous are links to my project pages on Ravelry.)

What happened to all the lace, etc.? Those projects are still around but the babies are growing fast and I want to finish their items before they outgrow them. After all, I'd like for them to get a few good wearings out of the stuff I make. That and the lace takes a bit more concentration and I tend to work on it slower. So, I've put those projects on hold until after I'm done with all the kid knits. In the meantime, I cast on for the Grand Plan Capelet this weekend because I wanted something to work on at night that would keep me from mindlessly snacking.

You see, work has gotten really busy and a bit stressful and all I want to do is eat eat eat when I get home. That is after I've worked until 8 or 9 and had dinner from the vending machine. Hell, I've had diet coke and Doritos for lunch far too often as of late and my waistline and skin are not forgiving me for abusing them so. Also, I've got a quirky weird health problem going on that could be anything from a pinched nerve to an overreaction to all the stress in my life to the first signs of an autoimmune disorder. So on top of working like a dog, I've been running around to various doctors trying to make sure that I'm not going to keel over any time soon. So far, all I've gotten is a vague, "You're as healthy as a horse -- despite your slightly out of whack thyroid, your vitamin B12 deficiency and that bizarre pins and needle tingling that is migrating through your body," and an admonition to exercise daily, eat better and take massive doses of B12.

Great.

Meanwhile the fact remains that I've been having a really hard time losing weight. (Gee, I wonder why?) I am at the very least 25 pounds heavier than I should be and fairly miserable about it. I've been yo-yoing for months, steadily getting heavier from month to month. Lose 5, gain 7. You get the picture. Now that I have no real diagnosis, I'm even more frustrated.

But I've made the decision to go back on Weight Watchers and to forcibly take control of at least this part of my life. To REALLY WORK on myself. Even if it doesn't affect my other health issues, eating healthier and losing some weight will help me get over being depressed about my body.

That and I'll have to knit less to make something to fit me!

Little Indy

Thank you all for the sweet birthday wishes for the babies! We had a really great time celebrating them over the long weekend and will share photos as soon as we can pick ourselves up off the ground again (having collapsed from all that happiness you know).

Going to work today was incredibly rough. The blah weather, the pile o' crap that I knew I had waiting in my inbox, the seemingly endless meetings did nothing for my mood today. Let's just say that I was missing my kiddos a little today.

Every day brings new accomplishments. I mean, look at what Aden learned to do today:

(cue the "Indiana Jones" theme song)

Da da da da, da da daaa...

Babyproofing? What's that?

Hunter, incidentally, is just biding her time until she puts her plan to rule the world into play...

P.S. I don't know if we're going to post daily about the kiddos or what the frequency is going to be like. We are continuing the 365 project and will finish updating year 1 while starting new albums for year 2. But, I am planning / hoping  / praying to post a little more about knitting and other personal things just as much as I post about the kiddos.

1 Year: We Close Our Eyes

We close our eyes and dream and another year has come and gone

Aden Theodore born at 12:26 PM on 5/23/07 and a year later at 11:13 PM.

Hunter Rhiannon born at 12:27 PM on 5/23/07 and a year later at 11:18 PM.

(She was bouncing so hard in her jumper that her crown got all crooked!)

We're on the healing path
We're on a roller coaster ride
That could never turn back
And since you love me
And since you really try
To make the seconds count
Then we can close our eyes and dream...

*Lyrics slightly paraphrased but one of my favorite songs nonetheless...

More pictures, stories, reminiscences and blather over the course of the weekend.