Bring It 2017!

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May the next year , and all your years, be filled with beautiful color, wonderful yarn, and knitting that comforts you in all the right ways. May your minds be content and your hearts full. May 2017 exceed all expectations. And be filled with stacks and stacks of hats and the best binge knits! Thank you all so much for sharing this space with me! I appreciate you all and thank you for the inspiration you provide on a daily basis! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! L, C

Forty-six

It’s been so long since I’ve blogged, it feels weird to just show up like this. But this is January One and it IS January 1st and I would feel even worse if I didn’t show up! I’m still here and I’m still knitting up a storm and every day I blog in my head and every day I don’t write it down. Some of my shit is so damn good it’s gone viral! Hahaha! I know a lot of you have found me over on Instagram (I’m january_one) and I feel really at home over there. It’s like a mini blog and I enjoy the short format – especially for sharing knits and kids and quick pictures I like. I do, though, have much more to say and I miss the long format of the blog. I say this every year, but I will get back to it. I will, I will, I WILL! I’m not done over here yet, and I hope you aren’t either.

Happy New Year my friends! I miss you! And I wish you all the best in 2016 – the best for you, the best for your families, the best knits, the best books – just THE BEST!!

L, C

 

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The Greatest Gift Anyone Has Ever Given Me

This is an excerpt of a letter I recently wrote to my grandmother, who taught me to knit. I had been thinking about it for awhile, and finally got off my ass to write it. I’m posting it here because I think many of you share my feelings about the gift my grandmother gave to me. Thank you for reading.
L, C

Yom Kippur

September 14, 2013

Dear Grandmom,

I’ve been wanting to write you a thank you note for forever, and finally, on this Yom Kippur, I’m taking the time to thank you properly.

Thank you.

I want to thank you for the greatest gift anyone has ever given me. I don’t remember the exact date, but that rainy day after lunch when I asked you to teach me how to knit is a sacred day in my life. I was in a very bad place, my anxiety was overwhelming me and I wasn’t sure I would ever find peace. Who would have thought that neon orange acrylic yarn and slightly crooked aluminum needles would deliver that peace? You taught me to knit and purl that day. I don’t think that either of us could have predicted that knitting and purling would also show me how to live a more balanced and contented life.

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My grandmother and I circa 1983.

Here are some of the invaluable blessings that knitting has given me in my life: I’ve learned that no one is perfect. Through my knitting I’ve come to accept that everything I make, by virtue of being made with my own two hands, will bear some mark of my humanity and therefore be imperfect. Oftentimes this has been a difficult lesson to accept, and on many occasions I have ripped out yards and yards of knitting to fix a mistake. But no matter how many mistakes I’ve made and fixed, there are always more coming, reminders of what’s important and that my knitting is beautiful because of the mistakes, not despite them! There are many traditions that specifically suggest that you add mistakes to your handiwork so you don’t offend the gods. Humans cannot be perfect – that’s the realm of the gods. Perfectionism and feeling like I need to be perfect in my life has caused me a good deal of anxiety. Learning to let go of that, especially through my knitting, has been wonderful.

One of the pioneers of the modern knitting world, Elizabeth Zimmermann, said: “Knit on with confidence and hope, through all crises.”  This has been true for me on so many occasions, it’s impossible to count! I will recall for you one time – George had been diagnosed with Melanoma and he was being operated on to remove the growth. I had sat in the waiting room through countless of his orthopedic surgeries by myself and didn’t even think to ask someone to wait with me for this surgery. I was wrong. It was dreadful waiting – the hospital specialized in treating cancer and the waiting room had an unbearable life or death pale over it. I was alone and scared, but I had my knitting. I worked row after row of a sweater and the knitting helped calm me. Counting the stitches and following the pattern kept me in the moment and prevented my mind from wandering too far into the unbearable places my brain likes to linger.

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My grandmother, Georgie and I at our wedding party, August 2001.
 

It’s not just in the life or death moments that knitting helps my monkey mind. On a regular, easy afternoon, anxiety lurks in me, ready to ruin the day and knitting is there for me then too. It keeps me grounded and in the moment. My love of knitting is so strong it can pull me back from the brink of despair. Another example: During my pregnancy with Cali, when Meli was so small and we had only been in our house a few months, I was sick from all the hormones and knitting was the last thing on my mind. I tried here and there, but it wasn’t doing it for me. Fast forward to the next winter, Cali was about six months old, the days were dark and I was in a bad place again. Besides being exhausted, anxious and on the edge of postpartum depression, I felt like I had lost all my creativity. Someone gave me advice to go out and get it back and I took that advice to heart by pulling out a  huge pile of brightly colored squares I had knit to make up a blanket years before I had kids. Every day, a little bit at a time, I seamed those squares together. All those stitches I had knit so long ago in a better time, came alive under my fingertips and ignited my love for knitting again. Soon I was sitting in my parked car while Melina was in school and Cali napped, listening to the radio and knitting for a couple of glorious hours. Peace was mine again. Even if the world was chaos around me, I knew that for a couple of hours I could knit and catch my breath.

Besides helping me through the bad times, knitting has expanded my capacity for joy and friendship! Infertility really hurt my ability to write fiction – I was too preoccupied. But I stumbled upon a different community – online diaries that talked about knitting! I started one of my own and was back to writing every day. Through my knitting blog, I have met people all over the world that share my love of the craft. I have learned new techniques, been exposed to new yarns, but mainly I have been welcomed into an amazing community. Through the seemingly simple act of knitting and purling, I have found best friends that will be with me throughout my life. I have cried with these people, been lifted up by these people, been made better by these people. Most of all I have laughed with these people – deep, healing belly laughs that make my world a more peaceful place.

Knitting has also given me a wonderful link to my past. While you are a good knitter, you’ve often told me that it was Nana who was the real knitter in the family. I sadly don’t remember her knitting , but I do remember the fisherman sweaters and ponchos we all had when we were kids. Sometimes, while I knit, I think of her and like to imagine that my skills as a knitter have come from the Frankel women – it’s in my DNA. Sometimes I like to imagine that really I have no choice in my life but to be a knitter. Knitting is my destiny.

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My grandmother and I at her ninetieth birthday party in 2011.
She’s wearing the shawl I gifted her.

It may seem like a tall order to expect from wool and sticks, but knitting has had a tremendous impact on my life. Thank you Grandmom. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for teaching me to knit.  Thank you for everything.

I love you with all my heart.

Cara

Thursday, September 12, 2013

The other day I participated in an Instagram hashtag thingy #adayinthelifephotochallenge. While I was taking pictures all day, I thought it might make an interesting blog post. I’ve added all of the captions I used on the IG. Feel free to ignore this if you already followed along on IG. And if you’d like to follow along on IG in the future, there’s a handy button over on the side bar. I really like Instagram so am on there quite a bit more than the blog.

A note about the day and the past week: Meli started Kindergarten the Tuesday after Labor Day and things went pretty well the first week. The second week – well – not so much. She’s had some transition issues that we’re working on but it’s been stressful to say the least. I know she’ll be okay, eventually. I have everything crossed that it doesn’t take forever – for all our sakes. I thought maybe the knitting gods had smiled on us – her teacher’s name is ROWAN for goodness sake – and we would escape the transitional badness, but no. Kids. Who’s idea were they anyway?!? 😉

 

IMG_20130912_0657046:44 AM: Up before I need to be. This is how I spend at least a
few hours every night – a kid on each side – not very conducive for sleep.
I also have a sore throat. #fun #theresalsoahusbandinthebed

 
 

image7:50 AM: Packing lunches. The advil is for me. After a
good first week, the kindergarten situation has
deteriorated rapidly. #realitysetin
#schoolalldayeveryday #withhomework

 
 

image8:29 AM: First school drop off. Just left my baby
crying hysterically #myheartisbroken

 
 

image8:59 AM: Drop off #2. This one. While her sister was having
a breakdown, she was crumbling pancakes all over the sofa
and breaking a windowshade. #thangodforher #nightandday

 
 

image9:20 AM: Waiting for the 9:30 class. My oasis. This studio and
especially my fellow classmates, teachers and owners have come
to mean so much to me. I’m going to try to sweat out the badness.
#thankyou #barmethod

 
 

image10:48 AM: After class treat – it’s called the Gut Buster –
spinach, lime, apple and orange. #juice

 
 

image11:36 AM: Stopped by a friend’s to leave hangers for her epic tag
sale this weekend. #andcryonhershoulder

 
 

image12:33 PM: Pick up the little one. Made it to the car just in time.
The weather turned really ugly really fast.
#severethunderstormwarning

 
 

image1:07 PM; Lunch, finally! My fave Fage fruyo vanilla yogurt and
KIND Dark Chocolate & Cranberry Clusters on top!
#yesthatisarealnewspaperimreading

 
 

image2:24 PM: Scrolling on my phone and decided I had to have this.
I’ve been dreaming about a big cowl neck for forever. So I called
my bestie Ann and voila! Instantly in my library!
#ravelry #instorepatternsales
(PS – Bought yarn for the project yesterday!)

 
 

image3:03 PM; Kindergarten pick-up. She said she had a good day
even though she was sad a few times. She’s still not eating much
though. She looks so tired and worn out. #mylove

 
 

image3:30 PM: Gorging herself on the lunch she didn’t eat at lunchtime.
#poorbaby #justlikehermother #canteatwhenshesanxious

 
 

image3:42 PM: Stopped at a red light. Now that’s one of those goofy
family car decals I can get behind! #yetiftw

 
 

image4:01 PM: Teaching my girls young: when going gets rough ,
GO SHOE SHOPPING! #lifelessons

 
 

image5:03 PM: Quick trip to the supermarket. #justtheessentials

 
 

image6:38 PM: The motto of boy scouts and preschoolers every where:
be prepared! #thunder #lightning #lightsarestillON

 
 

image8:15 PM: Ready for a story and bed.
#fuckinglongandstressfulday

 
 

image9:17 PM: My millionth cup of tea for the day. My throat still
hurts. My kids are sleeping though. Not sure how long it will last.
#switchedoverfromtheearltothelady #decafofcourse

 
 

image9:30 PM: Only took me until now to get to the mail. What an
excellent mail day!! Two books by authors I know in the flesh!
BTW, Jeff Jackson is one of my best friends from my MFA
program. He is exceedingly talented – a true literary genius.
I am so so proud of him! #allthattosaygivehisbookatry
#youwontbedisappointed
(PS – you should all know Cari Luna! She’s one of us!)

 
 

image10:24PM: Chilling in bed BY MYSELF. Not sure how long it will last.
I realized that I didn’t knit at all today – and barely at all this week.
Of course, when I need it most. I snapped tonight putting the girls
to bed and M said to me, “You can’t handle us! Why did you ever
want to have kids? That’s why I’m never having kids. It’s too hard!”
Wow. Thanks kid. Way to cut me deep. If you only knew how hard
I worked to have you. And with that my day is over. Thanks for
tagging along. #motherhoodisfuckingthehardestthingever

 
 
Here’s hoping next week is better for all of us!
Love, C

Too fast.

I said, “I love you more than anything in the whole wide world!”

image

I said, “You’re my best big girl!”

image

I said

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, “I wouldn’t be a mommy if it weren’t for you!”

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She said, “Okay. That’s great. Now I’m trying to go to sleep!”

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Happy Birthday to ME!

Today I’m 43. And I feel pretty good.

It’s been a long time since I posted to the blog, but I’ve never missed January One in nine years. Nine freaking years.

I’ve got some goals for 2013 – one of them is to get back to writing. My youngest starts school next week so I have some afternoons free and I really really really want to write again. So if you’re reading this , check back in a week or so. I’ve got a million knits to talk about. And some other stuff too.

I wish everyone a very happy new year. May 2013 be a peaceful, contented year for all of you.
L, C

For Auld Lang Syne

Happy New Year!

Since I last checked in here, I’ve done a ton of knitting! I knit ten squares of my Spectrum Crosses blanket, then school let out for summer vacation and I lost my knitting mojo. But then it turned to Fall and I actually managed to knit a whole sweater in time for Rhinebeck! Granted it was in a bulky yarn on size 10s, but still, A WHOLE SWEATER! Complete. With sleeves and everything! And when I was done that I knit ANOTHER whole sweater. This one on size 6 needles with all kinds of new to me tricks. This sweater, honestly, elevated my knitting to higher heights. It gave me so much confidence that I started yet ANOTHER sweater which I’m currently about 1/3 of the way through. LOVING THE KNITTING!

Which brings me to the blog because honestly I don’t have many people to talk to about my knitting. And the people I do have are sick to death of me. So I’m giving you a sneak peak of my sweaters and a super cute picture of my girls and then I’m coming back to talk about all the knitting. I hope one or two of you are still out there!

I know it’s been awhile, but I hope you’re all doing great and looking forward to the new year. I feel like it’s gonna be a good one!

Exercise in Futility

Yesterday was supposed to be my relaxation day.

We had one of those weekends that changes your life forever, and not in the good way. Oh yeah eventually, hopefully, it will be one of those funny stories we tell about how the police and paramedics came and mommy was in her t-shirt and underpants the whole time, but for now it’s still terrifying for G and I.

The baby started getting stuffy and was up all night Saturday night and I was dealing with her when Meli woke up around 3 or 4 AM as per her usual. I handed the baby off to G and went in to check on Meli and immediately noticed she was really hot. So I took her into our bed and tried to take her temperature. About 5 or so I succeeded and she did indeed have a bit of a fever, so we somehow got her to take some medicine and we all went back to sleep.

When we woke up, Meli was still hot – in fact a bit hotter. I took her temp again and it was a degree higher, but it wasn’t time to give her more medicine and she was in pretty good spirits, so we were all just lazing around in bed watching cartoons and relaxing. Meli rolled over as if to go back to sleep and G was laying next to her when he noticed she was doing something funny with her eyes. He told her to stop and then realized something was really wrong and called me over. I looked at her and we both started into a panic. Her eyes were very fixed and open and her eyebrows were going up and down rapidly and then the whole foaming at the mouth started. Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew she was most likely having a seizure from the fever, but it was still so completely horrifying. I told G to call 911 and in the few minutes that it took for the paramedics to get to us, the seizure had stopped and she was groggy and awake. The whole thing lasted about three minutes. Three excruciatingly harrowing minutes.

The paramedics told us that it was probably a febrile seizure, but we went to the ER just to be sure, where they told us the same thing. She had a fever of 104 when they took it at the hospital. We stayed until her temp came down a bit and then went home and preceded to stare at her for the next 24 hours. A visit to our pediatrician the next day confirmed everything and she’s been fever free for over 24 hrs now. Apparently febrile seizures are fairly common and while horrific to witness, they don’t do any damage. The way the paramedic described it to us is that when a fever spikes really high, the body will sometimes convulse as a way of breaking the fever. Meli has no history of anything like this – in fact – aside from a runny nose every now and again, she’s had like one ear infection her whole life. She’s rarely sick. The good news is that it didn’t hurt her and that she might never have one again. The bad news is that she COULD have one again and also the baby is now at a greater risk to have them because it tends to run in families. We keep telling ourselves that it didn’t hurt her and everyone and everything says it’s not a big deal but it was just so scary that it’s hard to believe. We’re trying, but it’s going to take awhile to get over this. (For us – Meli’s back to her old singing and dancing the day away self.)

Oh and did I mention this was the weekend she decided to potty train herself? Surprisingly the trauma of the ambulance ride and the hospital visit didn’t derail our progress.

The baby still has a cold too.

With all this going on, I’m not sure the last time I really and truly slept or relaxed and my mind really needed a break, so when our babysitter came for the day on Tuesday I thought I’d delve into a project I had been thinking about for a while.

As you all know, I’m working the miter project and it’s going pretty slow these days. I think I’ve managed to seam one more square since the last time I blogged which is killing me, but I did manage to order a bunch of yarn.

What you see there is the present and the future. The black yarn (Tahki Cotton Classic) will be the border for the mitered blanket (I’ll also use it for seaming all the seamed squares together) and the linen white TCC will be a blanket to be named later.

I’ve been thinking a lot about a new blanket using the leftovers of the miter project. I’ve had a few ideas going around and around in my head and I’ve seen a few quilts that have inspired me lately (I’m looking at you JulieFrick!). At first I was thinking knitted hexagons but now I’m squarely in the log cabin camp. I’m not sure what it’s going to be so I’m not going to say much more, but I have been wanting to organize the leftover yarn so I can easily tell what I have

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, what I want more of, and what I’m missing. To this end, I contacted the wonderful Kathy at WEBS and asked if she knew if I could purchase color cards for TCC from Tahki. I figured this would be the easiest way to catalog all the yarn I have and identify something. Surprisingly, Tahki doesn’t have color cards. Color me shocked, but that was the message given to Kathy. Oh well. Too late to change yarns so I went to Plan B.

I gathered up all the TCC yarn I have: little bits and pieces, half used balls and unwound hanks. I took out the spreadsheets with color numbers I put together back when I started the project and the color card scans I printed off the internet that I found on Yarndex. I had the internet open to anyone and everyone that sells TCC and set about matching the yarn in my hand to a number. After about three hours I had this:

Sixteen freaking colors. And about a third of them were easy because I had extra skeins still wrapped up in the ball band with the color clearly stated. The others were a pain in the ass. The scans don’t match the yarn which doesn’t match the internet and this green looks like that green and is that a yellow or a brown and I used 85 colors in the damn blanket. You can imagine the frustration. While I’m proud of the color card I made, that’s it. I will start planning my new blanket and will determine a yarn color number when and if I need it. While it would be nice to have them all labeled, I don’t have the patience or the time for this. It really sucks that Tahki couldn’t provide color cards. And it also sucks that I wasted what was supposed to be a relaxing afternoon. I knew it would be a project, but I really thought I would make more progress. I should’ve just seamed more squares. Would’ve been a whole lot more satisfying.

Suffice it to say, it’s been a trying few days. Thanks for letting me vent. I’m going to leave you with a short video of the baby laughing her ass off. I had her at hello!

Laugh Riot! from January One on Vimeo.

Thanks for reading! Hopefully my next post will be th
at I’ve finished seaming all the squares and I’m ready to seam them all together. And hopefully I’ll be blogging sometime next week! I want this blanket DONE.

L, C

Creative Desperation

I’ve been thinking about blogging again for a while now and this post isn’t going to be what I’ve dreamed about, but it will be significant for me. Firstly, because I’m blogging. Period. It’s been a long while but I couldn’t let this day go by without blogging and secondly and most importantly because I have something to say. It might not be very important what I’d like to say but I feel the need to say it and that’s pretty significant in my life these days. To feel something pushing me – something that doesn’t have snot running out of its nose, or poop in its diaper or a hungry belly or a stubborn streak as long as the earth is wide – is really really nice and I’m not going to let the opportunity slip.

About a month ago I was feeling like I had lost all my talents , and on twitter I lamented that fact then questioned whether or not I actually had talents when they could be lost so easily. Yes, I was feeling sorry for myself. I had barely done any photography work for the holiday season, but the work I did do came with problems and frustrations. I wasn’t knitting at all and I was missing it desperately. Basically I was being a mommy day and night and complaining about the fact that I didn’t have any other kind of life.

I was also feeling a little jealous. Vicki posted about her magnificent Parcheesi blanket and topped the gorgeous knitting off with a fantastic photoshoot and even though I love her desperately, I was hating on her a little too. I used to knit gorgeous blankets and photograph them in fantastic ways. I called Vicki to let her know just how much I loved her work and how she was inspiring me to get gorgeous and fantastic back into my own life. She reminded me of my little girls and her big girls and yes, yes, I know I don’t have time to breathe let alone knit big huge blankets, but still I want that in my life. I need that in my life.

Then I sent my pity party tweet out into the universe and something quite inspiring came back. Sara aka ChickenBetty read my tweet and suggested back to me that losing my talents wasn’t something to mourn, per say, but an opportunity. To quote her, “But doesn’t that turn it into a treasure hunt to find them again?”

Huh.

I didn’t tell her this and I’m sorry for that and right now I’m telling her – Sara – you kicked my ass with that one! I couldn’t stop thinking about the idea of finding my lost talents. At first it bugged me a little bit – I wasn’t looking for someone to tell me to work at my talents – they’re either there or they’re not – but maybe Sara was right. They didn’t go anywhere they just need prodding. I took her advice to heart and started searching.

It wasn’t that day but soon after I went into the basement and found the box marked Miter Project and took that sucker out and pulled it up into the light of day. Since that admonition to get off my ass and GRAB BACK MY TALENTS I have successfully woven in 484 ends on 120 miters. (That’s four per square – with two squares having two extra ends each.) I have also started the arduous journey of blocking the miters and I have one ready to seam as we speak. AND, in all this frenzy, I’ve been looking at all the leftover yarn (figured I’d use it to seam) and a new blanket idea has jumped out at me and won’t let my brain go. If it is what I hope it is, it might take me another three years. But that’s okay.

In this past month, I also knit a small sweater ornament out of leftover sock yarn, a gorgeous cowl (also inspired by Vicki) and a headband to match the cowl. I’m sort of consciously choosing projects that are small – or at least you can feel like you’re accomplishing much in a short period of time. For instance, a small sweater ornament takes no time. A cowl using bulky wool can feel like a mighty accomplishment when you don’t have much time to knit and miters, well, it turns out miters are addictive no matter what you do with them – even weaving in ends.

More inspiration in my life: I found a fantastic babysitter. Not only is she great with my kids, but I taught her how to knit! She’s a natural and even went and signed up for a ravelry account all on her own, thank you very much. She’s been inspiring my with her enthusiasm and having her here a few hours a day a couple days a week frees me up to spend some time on my own. FREEDOM = TIME = CREATIVITY.

It’s all been really really good. Finding these talents is like finding myself all over again. It’s also an exercise in patience because obviously sometimes I can spend a lot of time and sometimes I get no time but I have it in my head and I don’t have to let it go or push it aside. I can nurture it a little bit each day so it can grow and grow and grow. Just like knitting.

I want to end on a note about blogging. I’m planning on being her much more often – hopefully on a regular-ish schedule of a couple of times a week. I’ve been spending a lot of time here lately looking over my Miter Madness archives and not only do I miss writing, but it feels disingenuous of me to continue the miter project WITHOUT blogging about it. I blogged that whole damn thing – every single square – and I’m not about to stop now. So I hope you’ll look out for me and my projects if you have the time. And I hope I can inspire someone just a little bit like Vicki and Sara have inspired me. Thank you so much!

Happy New Year! Happy JANUARY ONE!
L, C

Family

So we had another baby!

I’m so sorry it’s taken me so long to introduce her, but here she is!


Cali
June 8, 2010
7 lbs., 15 oz.
20 inches

Two girls! I’m over the moon! That is to say, I’m completely and utterly exhausted. I’d like to publicly thank all the people that didn’t laugh in my face when I used to say things like, “It will be so much easier when the baby’s on the outside. Babies are easy!”

Yes, I really did say things like that! I will blame it on the delusions of pregnancy. I’m not a good pregnant woman. It hasn’t been the easiest three weeks for sure. The c-section was much harder this time than the first. It all started when they couldn’t find a good spot for my spinal. 87 spine tingling pin pricks later, I ended up with an atypical spinal headache that started the day after the baby was born and lasted a good five days. It was horribly painful, but not painful enough that a patch was required (or requested.)

I missed Meli terribly while I was in the hospital (I only stayed three nights. I figured if I was going to be miserable, I might as well be miserable at home. I was right – it was much better being home.) She freaked out when she visited me there, so we only tried it once. When we got home, it took her a few days to warm up to her new sister, but everything is good now. Unless the baby cries.

Meli does not like it when the baby cries. She gets all upset and starts barking orders at me. “She doesn’t want your booby!” “She doesn’t want her diaper changed!” The baby has a GREAT set of lungs on her and can go from 0 to 60 – meaning full out hyperventilating screams – in about 2.3 seconds. When Cali gets going with her screams, Meli has taken to screeching at the top of her own lungs. This usually happens when we’re in the car. Just the three of us.

Yes. We’ve been getting out. If there’s anything I learned the last time , it’s that staying in the house makes me crazy! I’ve started my walks again – my family gave me this fantastic (HUGE) stroller that I LOVE – and we go to all of Meli’s classes and the mall and anywhere else that isn’t our house. I’m really bummed because we’re having a tremendous heatwave this week and I’m not going to be able to walk in the park.

We’re getting to know our Cali slowly. Right now we know she likes to nurse – a lot! – and burp and fart and spit up. She’s not so into the sleeping. But that’s okay! We love her anyway!

She looks a lot like her big sister, but different too. Her nose, for one thing, and her long skinny fingers and toes. She’s a lot bigger than her sister was, which works out well clothes wise. All of her sister’s summer clothes will fit her! Yay for same sex siblings!

All in all, it’s quite an adjustment, one to two. Especially when one IS two. But we’re getting along and learning and changing and looking forward to what tomorrow brings. Unless it’s more heat.

I’m not sure when I’ll be back to the blog. It’s tough to do anything that’s not kid related right now – although I did knit a few rounds the other day and instantly felt the possibility that sanity is attainable! I’ve actually been dreaming about future knitting projects. Man, that feels good!

Meli will be starting school in the Fall, a couple of hours a day three days a week – who knows? Maybe I’ll get back to this thing on a more regular basis. Hopefully I’ll have a kid that naps then. Meli gave up the nap a million years ago. Yeah. My kids don’t sleep. But they sure are loves!

Hope you’re all doing well and enjoying life! Thanks for reading!
L, C