kim through
   the looking glass

Gwen has become so fun lately! Not that she wasn’t fun before, but now she’s really interactive. We can chase her around on our knees. I can hide behind the couch and she’ll come find me. If I walk to the kitchen, she’ll follow me. She has learned to pull up using my legs, so now she crawls over to me, pulls up and hugs my legs.

She loves to point and wants a label for EVERYTHING. She spends most of the day either crawling, pulling up, or pointing. Generally it’s a mixture of two of these things. POINT “that’s outside” POINT “mommy’s knitting” POINT “couch” POINT “train” POINT “Daddy!” So fun.

She LOVES to walk while you hold her hands, or rather, while she grips your fingers. I love that pic because she so often looks like a little grown-up but in that picture, she definitely looks like a baby! Gwen also loves holding onto things and motoring. She’ll lug around that green cup everywhere she goes - dragging it while she crawls or scoots, and gripping it white-knuckled while she pulls up.

My little girl still loves to read, thank goodness! Brad and I both enjoy our books, so I’m glad that she’s inherited an interest in books. Plus, it’s one of the only times the child is still!

Gwen is the apple of my eye and even though I don’t always find it easy to be a mommy, or even to like being a mommy, when I look at this little girl, my heart swells and I feel like I can’t possibly contain the amount of love that I have for her. Things aren’t always easy, and they’re promising to get more difficult as time goes on. But when it comes down to it, we’re having fun, aren’t we, Gwen?

Saturday was my 25th birthday. We didn’t do a whole lot, but it was a great day nonetheless! Brad got up (at 6:20!) with Gwen and let me sleep until she needed to nurse - which was around 8. Ah, bliss! We got our favourite Saturday morning breakfast - a breakfast sandwich from the Locke Street Bakery. Mmmmm. Read the rest of this entry »

Wow. A knitting-related post. Have you picked your jaw off the floor yet?

I thought I’d go back and write about my last finished object. I have a good reason for not writing about it right when I finished.

See the belly in that picture? I finished this puppy on June 11, 2008. The day I went into labour. For scale, you can see my iPod Mini in the right corner. I’m standing on my bed trying to get a full picture of it and you can *barely* see the left edge. (Oh. And I love that you can see my sexy support hose. Oh baby, oh baby!)

I don’t remember very many details about this project. It is a prayer shawl for my Aunt Connie, who was, at the time, undergoing some very intensive chemotherapy for breast cancer.

It’s basically a big, purple hug.

Her favourite colour was purple, so I found a beautiful purple variegated cotton yarn, a fun novelty yarn, and a nice white yarn - Rowan All Seasons Cotton. The middle piece is double knit with the purple variegated and the novelty yarn, whereas the arm portions are some sort of patterned ribbin which I can’t remember.

To be fair, this was 7 months and a lifetime ago.

I knit most of it with my feet up on the couch or sitting on my bed listening to a LibriVox recordings of Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, by L.M. Mongomery, timing Braxton-Hicks contractions that were coming every 5 - 7 minutes, and waiting for June Bug to arrive.

She was obviously waiting for me to finish this before she came.

… from my sister Jenny’s blog. Wuhoo for stolen blog fodder!

I can’t get to sleep without:
Brushing my teeth!! But seriously, at this stage in my life (with a 3-month-old and all), I can fall asleep every night just fine, thank you!

If I were a doll, the accessories packaged with me would be:
Gwen, ring sling (or babywearing accessory of some sort), laptop

I have an irrational fear of:
Being attacked by a man while I’m walking somewhere (maybe that’s not irrational?)

At my grandparents house I usually eat:
Ummm … I remember once eating really nasty soup, does that count?

When I was born I weighed:
7 lbs something (Jenny, you were in the 7’s, too!)

I am most opposed to:
Commercialism, war, abortion, the “cry-it-out” method

On myspace I like to stalk:
Me no have no myspace. On Facebook, I often stalk my sisters =)

I am too old to be:
In grade school - or even high school, for that matter!

I find the thought of childbirth:
Exciting and empowering!

Next door to my house is:
Railroad tracks. Like RIGHT next door.

My feet are:
Flat. I need orthopedic shoes =(

My preferred style of jeans are:
Blue ones that have a bit of flare

I know how to cook:
Quite a bit of stuff!! That doesn’t mean I’ve been doing it lately, though …

I am annoyed at:
The fact that I can’t get anything done during the day anymore. I’ve realized I’m a ‘doing’ person and that not be able to ‘do’ drives me bonkers! I’m also annoyed that our house isn’t completely unpacked/set-up, even after being here for months and months …

Men should always:
Hold the door for women =)

Women should never:
Talk about others behind their backs (please remind me of this)

The scariest sea creature is:
Sharks

The world is over populated with:
Cell phones

I recently broke:
Hmm … I can’t remember!

I last cried because:
A girl I love very much is in a very difficult situation

My favorite shoes are:
My birkenstocks (that’s right. I wear birkenstocks)

As a parent my greatest fear is:
Being too selfish and my kids knowing it

When I think of Full House:
I think of the time I tried to start a club like the one in the book Phone Call from a Flamingo - did you even know there was a Full House Stephanie book series??

Well, the appointment went well. And, thank goodness, Gwen is NOT teething, as we thought she might be! There was a funky white nodule on her gum and we couldn’t figure out what it would be other than a tooth - which we thought was the reason she’s been so unhappy lately. Apparently, though, it’s a cyst. The doctor didn’t seem too surprised, so I guess they’re fairly common. Weird. Read the rest of this entry »

A post about something other than June Bug! I was beginning to think it wasn’t possible!!

However, my bloggy friends, I’m actually going to write about knitting. I have missed it. I haven’t picked up yarn and needles since Christmas when my sister got me my fabulous metal sock needles and I COMPLETELY lost any amount of time to seriously devote to the craft that I love. However, after receiving a certain email (I won’t talk about it now because it’ll give away my project!!), I was spurred into action. I needed to knit something, and I needed to start knitting it now and finish the object ASAP.

So, I took my butt down to Yarnopolis (aka Ashley Yarns) and there I met a very lovely knitter and yarn store manager, Steph! She helped me pick out my yarn and we had a lovely chat about various women’s studies issues. I loved the store, and I’m very glad I made the venture!! It’s not the most convenient of yarn store locations (try a mighty long 30 min bus ride!), but it’s the closest yarn store to me, which I suppose makes it my LYS (aka Local Yarn Store). They even carry a selection of fair trade yarns!!!

Anyways, we picked out two yarns - a cotton weight and a novelty yarn … I’m knitting double stranded, yo! (No …. not yarn over … I actually meant ‘yo’.)

Can I say how it never ceases to amaze me that you can start with yarn and needles and end with fabric? It’s incredible that I can make something by pulling loops of yarn through other yarn. I’m hoping to finish this object this weekend, if I can, so you won’t have to wait too long in utter suspense of what it is =) The picture doesn’t quite do the hues of purple justice, but it’s all I had to work with … the other pics were either too fuzzy or too blue.

p.s. I finished The Friday Night Knitting Club. It was phenomenal. That may or may not have something to do with the why I was so excited to pick up my knitting again. May or may not.

And it gets closer and closer!

June Bug weighs around 4 lbs and is about 19 inches long from head to toe. Apparently, he/she may already have a full head of hair - although with genes from Brad and I to deal with, the likelihood is that the poor thing will never have hair! I’m pretty sure that June Bug’s head down now (from the location of the hiccups I’m feeling now!!) and I’m loving feeling little body parts poking out at me! Read the rest of this entry »

I found this meme on the ramblings and thought I’d fill it out - it’s a pretty good one!

1. One book that changed your life: The Irresistable Revolution (Shane Claiborne)

Well, it’s been a long time in the coming, I just hadn’t quite come up with the perfect time to tell the story of how we came to own a house. However, Christine over at welcome to my brain posted about a book that led us to consider SERIOUSLY living life in common. Check out her post (linked above) to give your brain a refresher.

So, I’ll backtrack.

Read the rest of this entry »

Well, it feels like the Christmas season has come to a close, so I’ll update about our holidays before it gets tacky for me to do so =)

Brad and I managed to get home to visit my in-laws for a few hours on Christmas Eve and then go to the Candlelight Service at my parent’s church. I always love the midnight Christmas services - at my parent’s church, they always give everyone a candle and light them during the second last song. Then they turn out all the lights in the church and everyone sings “Silent Night”. It’s soooo beautiful having the church lit by candles and voices.

We spent Christmas day with my family (like we have for many a year now), and the whole crew was home - except for my brother-in-law, Shaun, and Becky’s boyfriend Ben. We drew names this year (we piloted this idea for last Christmas) and set a cap and we send around our wish lists so that we know we’ll get a gift we really want, we just don’t necessarily know what! Becky drew my name and gave me EVERYTHING on my list. Literally! I got a 5-pack of size 2 HiyaHiya stainless steel double-pointed needles and promptly replaced the wooden set I was using in my socks. So. Much. Easier. To. Knit!! She also gave me an Old Navy gift certificate, two balls of yarn, a mini box of chocolates, and Crazy Aunt Purl’s Drunk, Divorced, and Covered in Cat Hair. Yeah - like I said, literally everything on my list - thanks, Becky!

Brad got Oblivion. Need I say more? He’s thrilled and has finally finished cleaning up his hard-drive to install it. I wonder what he’ll be doing this weekend?

The baby (who, by the way, I think I’m going to start referring to as ‘June-bug’ due to some cheesy pet names that Brad and I have for each other … no, I won’t reveal them. ) received a 5-pack of 6 month size onesies, a little green hat, and a homemade receiving blanket from my Aunt Alice. What a nice surprise! (Oh, and my sister brought down her bassinet FULL of baby clothes, so that’s awesome!!) We’ve also been given a crib (free!) and a high chair (free!). We’re so blessed!

I made this set:

(here modeled by Jenny under the directions of “you’re an animal in the woods!”)

For this absolutely, ridiculously cute little guy:

My nephew Liam (here held by my hubby, Brad, who I can’t wait to see with June-bug!).

We ate ourselves into a food coma, played some Christmas euchre, and slept well! Brad and I went to my in-laws on Boxing Day and spent some great time with his folks and siblings (of which I have no proof, since I didn’t break out the camera!). We also pulled names there and his dad got my a pair of maternity jeans - my first pair!

Oh - and we also played the Wii on my dad’s huge tv. Lots of Wii - especially on Friday, when we brought Brad’s siblings up to my parents house and played some four-player tennis and bowling. What a hoot! Did I mention that I want one? I think, though, that I’ll settle for the X-box my dad lent us =)