Category Archives: Family

Firsts

Posted on May 13, 2007 | 5 comments

Tooooo tired from the weekend (which was excellent). But I had to pop in for a little minute to tell you about my babes. Today we had two firsts – somewhat coincidentally on Mother’s Day, so I am bound never to forget 🙂 Niamh took her first steps! Four or five times she took a single step, sometimes landing on her knees, sometimes staying upright, and twice she took two consecutive steps. Stay tuned for craziness just around the corner :giggle:

Finn quite possibly outdid that, however – with his first poem. Popping out from inside a cupboard, he told me it made him think up a poem, and then reeled off this little gem:

I like to hide in cupboards
It’s very fun to do
It’s dark when I close the door
Then I come out of it sometimes

When we wrote it down together, we changed that last line to

Then I come out of it and sometimes say ‘Boo’!

Just so it would rhyme. Afterwards, I felt terribly guilty for even raising the suggestion, because the original version had such wonderful spontaneity about it, and besides, poems don’t have to rhyme, do they? But Finn has become quite attached to the rhyming version, and has read it several times over, so I think the ‘Boo’! version is staying.

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Posted in Family, The Kids

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Because I Said So

Posted on May 10, 2007 | 6 comments

Did you know that, according to my Mister Smartypants 4-year-old, “because” is no longer an acceptable answer? Just yesterday I was asked to provide a “real answer” to his question – “because” just didn’t cut it.

Sigh. I’m going to have to start using my brain again, aren’t I?

Thankfully Niamh has not acquired skills of logic yet. Her communication is still mostly in the point-and-squawk category. Though she does have recognizable (to me) words for hello, bye-bye, duck, ball, vrrooomm, and woof (did you know a duck says woof? So, apparently, do most animals!)

Thank you for all the wonderful compliments on my Dragonfly Jewels piece. (The most comments on any single post on this blog, in fact!) Please know that I read and appreciate all of them, though I haven’t had opportunity to respond individually to you all.

The last ten days or so have been a blur of schools, ill health, and preparation for Dermot’s birthday celebrations, happening this weekend. I think we’ve finally settled on a school for Finn (so far I’m managing to hold the my-baby-is-growing-up teary thoughts at bay!), we all seem to be on the way to health again (lucky Niamh managed to avoid the gastro and most of the cold – yay for extended breastfeeding). We head off today to get the party started – we’re hosting a weekend away in my Mum’s ‘second house’. So far I’ve baked and iced the birthday cake. I have lemon tart to do tomorrow, and chocolate & ginger mousse on Saturday – can you see where my culinary interests lie?! The sweet I’m good with – the savoury I’m leaving up to Dermot. (Yes, I’ve finally dispensed with the ‘OtherHalf’, and ‘outed’ my husband! 🙂 )

There has also been stitching – and even another finished piece, if you can believe that! I’m not showing you just yet, because for once, I’m going to do the actual finishing before I show it off (it’s just a Christmas Ornament, don’t get excited). I’ll give you a clue though – I borrowed this book from our local library, and couldn’t resist stitching something from within. There are some very nice projects in this book, and nice, easy to follow stitch instructions and diagrams. So my dalliance with Hardanger continues.

Now… I’ve just got Finn off to kinder, and Niamh off to bed, so I’m off to pack stuff for the weekend. Enjoy yours!

PS. Sorry for the v.rambly and parentheses-laden post. I really just wanted to get something down so that you know I’ve not disappeared off into the ether just yet!

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Posted in Family, The Kids

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Ten!

Posted on April 4, 2007 | 7 comments

Ten months

Can you believe my baby was ten months old yesterday? No, nor can I :giggle: Ten whole months have gone by in a blur of Niamh-induced-sleep-deprivation (Finn’s latest ‘excuse’ for everything is “I’m too tired“. I wonder where he could possibly have picked that up?!)

She’s doing pretty wonderfully. She waves bye-bye, sometimes hello, and claps her hands, especially to music (and in time, what’s more!) She’s got the “baba-baba”, “mama-mama”, and “dada-dada”s down pat. She has four sharp teeth, and we’ve been expecting more for months. She likes to chew on everything, so mind your fingers (I had blood drawn just this morning). She loves water, and adores the great outdoors. She’s absolutely fearless and downright cheeky with a wonderful sense of humour. Whenever we turn our backs for just a moment, she gets very busy – unfolded laundry is removed from baskets with great speed, CDs are pulled from the rack, Finn’s bookshelves are emptied…

Two weeks ago she stood unaided for the first time 😮 Only for a couple of seconds, but a stand nonetheless. Since then she’s done it a few times, and progressed to 4 or 5 seconds at a go. We all know what that means…

But… and here’s the big one… she sleeps. Finally, she sleeps! A big round of applause please! Since coming back from Port Fairy a few weeks back, we moved her cot into Finn’s room. The preceding several weeks had been pretty dreadful, and the only way I was getting any rest was by co-sleeping half the night. Which was fine by us really (and I do kind of miss it), but possibly a little counter-productive. So we moved her in with Finn and got serious about settling her in her own bed, and allowed her a little bit of fussing (a very much gentle-ified version of “controlled comforting”). Anyway, the long story short is that most nights, she sleeps from 7pm to at least 2am – sometimes she needs a settling down around then, sometimes a little drink of water. Or even more lately, she sleeps through longer – to 4 or even 5am. Unfortunately, mornings don’t seem to start any later than 5.30am, ever. Which is kind of sucky (no, I’m not a morning person), but at least I’m frequently managing to get six hour stretches of sleep for myself. Hooray!

Have a happy Easter weekend – we’re off camping again tomorrow 🙂
Cheeky kids

PS. Thank you for all the kind thoughts following my grandmother’s death, I appreciate them very much.

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Posted in Family, The Kids

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Moving Forward, Looking Back

Posted on April 2, 2007 | 8 comments

Two weeks ago today, my Nana died. I haven’t been here to talk about it because I’m not sure what to say, really. It was not entirely unexpected, though I think I had become a little desensitized by her “this could be the last time…” banter of the last many months. I figured she would still be around in her 100’s, still haranguing me about my weight at every opportunity. She and I, we had… an abrasive relationship, I suppose you could say. I don’t necessarily have any regrets, it just was what it was. Life’s like that. People are different. (Or perhaps, just a little bit too much the same, though I would never admit that.)

Her death is still a loss to us all though, and brings a closing of a chapter in my life. She was my last surviving grandparent. Who knows if Finn will remember having known her. Niamh certainly will not. I hope it is a very, very long time before they have to say goodbye to their own grandparents, and I hope for us all that they continue to share more harmonious relationships with them.

Rest in peace, Nana.

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Posted in Family

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Two Weddings & A Funeral

Posted on March 23, 2007 | 5 comments

March is beginning to resemble a certain Hugh Grant movie. Sorry I haven’t been around. I’ll be back soon with pictures of the final UFO I worked on, and the two PIF packages I didn’t show you before. I don’t want for March to slip completely through the blog-cracks the way December did, but I feel a little like I just have to survive this crazy train-ride first.

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Posted in Family

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Sara Bear

Posted on February 20, 2007 | 9 comments

Nope, I haven’t ‘gone over to the dark side’ :giggle: Not just yet, anyway. You know how people say everyone has a novel in them? Well, I don’t think I have a novel in me, but I do think I might have a quilt in me… somewhere. When and how it will choose to emerge, I don’t know. We’ll just have to wait and see. Meanwhile, that clue was a bit deceptive. I only used one of those fabrics in this project. I have plans for some of the others, and still more I bought ‘just because they’re pretty’. I have wanted to start building a bit of a craft fabric stash for a while, to entice me back into sewing.

And here she is. Out among the garlic chives and aubergines, enjoying the sunshine, showing off her candy pink Mary Janes – my weekend happy dance: Ms Sara Bear. (Or Sara Beara if, like Finn, you prefer.)

Sara Bear

The pattern is from the Put Together Book #1 (Kitty, Bunny & Bear) by the very clever Hillary Lang at Wee Wonderfuls. I’m pretty happy with how she turned out, though I didn’t get a nice curve on her ears (Finn, being the very literal boy he is, wanted to call her ‘Square-Ears Bear’!) The shoes are removable, and a good thing too, else Niamh would have chewed them off by now. She (Niamh) isn’t much into soft toys as comfort items, but she does seem to think Sara Bear is a pretty good plaything, so I think I have a winner 🙂

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Posted in Other Craft, Sewing, The Kids

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Hot and Colds

Posted on February 18, 2007 | 6 comments

Thirty-eight degrees and I do not get along so well (that’s °C, aka 100°F). So this weekend has not been so fun. Three of them in a row!!! Yuk :yuk:

Yesterday was the worst. Hot days are even less fun when taking care of a sick and over-tired babe. Especially when feeling kind of sick yourself, and especially when the babe in question is also painfully cutting more teeth 🙁

We all came down with sniffles and sore throats over the last couple of days, probably courtesy of a certain pre-schooler. Getting a ‘cold’ in the middle of a blistering summer is really odd. The usual ‘rug up under a doona on the couch and drink chicken soup’ rule doesn’t apply. Instead all we want to do is lay about wearing as little as possible (!) and doing as little as possible.

But that was yesterday. Today, we have been much better. Niamh has returned to her favourite hot weather pastime – playing in the foot of the shower and getting thoroughly soaked. Finn has returned to… well actually, perhaps he’s not completely over it, he was super-cranky today. But we also fitted in some shopping (mostly me), some cleaning (mostly OtherHalf) and an unexpected visit from my little sister (yay!), all despite the continuing heat. Also, I made a little something. I tried to get pictures but the light was crappy so I’ll try again tomorrow. Here’s a little clue. It’s my latest colourful addiction:

Crafty Fabric Tower

Pretty, no?

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Posted in Family, Other Craft, Sewing, The Kids

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Happy Dance #1/07

Posted on January 31, 2007 | 9 comments

We’re back! We had a great time, the small people were both (relatively) well behaved, and not even the 4am-faulty-car-horn incident (not our car) on the first night, and the blustery oh-heck-will-those-trees-drop-their-limbs-on-the-tent-? weather on the second night could ruin our happy-camper-spirits. It was nice to be back in a tent – a brand spanking new one, what’s more 🙂 Our next expedition is the Port Fairy folk festival over the long weekend in March. The enjoyment factor of that festival is always heavily dependent on the weather, so all fingers are crossed.

Hardanger-Exchange-tWe spent a couple of nights at my father-in-law’s place after the festival ended, where I was able to (finally) get a move on my Hardanger Exchange piece (an exchange on the Rotation BB). I’ve dilly-dallied over this for so long (mailing date was today), but finally today I had my first HD of 2007. I didn’t quite get it finished into something yet, so it will still be delayed a bit, but hopefully I’ll have it in the mail by Friday. I can’t show you the whole thing yet, obviously, but I wanted to show a sneak preview, simply because this is the first time I’ve done ‘real’ Hardanger – I’ve never done woven bars and Dove’s eyes before, just Kloster blocks and a little bit of cutting. Obviously my cutting needs work to get those little end bits right off, but I’m pretty happy with how this turned out, nonetheless. The thread and fabric used here are both my hand-dyes (though this fabric turned out almost solid, which is why I used it for this). Can’t wait to show you the whole thing once it reaches its destination.

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Posted in Counted Stitchwork, Family, Finished, The Kids

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Gone Fishin’

Posted on January 25, 2007 | 3 comments

Thankyou for all the fabric-and-floss love. It’s very encouraging to know people like what I’m doing. I’ve more to show you, actually, as I’ve been playing some more over the last few days, dyeing my first opalescent fabrics and my first perle coton. The results of both are beautiful – I have modified my thread-dyeing method a bit, and I’m really happy with that now. I’m looking forward to stitching with some of my new pretties now. And when I get back, I’ll be finishing up a little bit more for my very patient pay-it-forward recipients, and hopefully getting those packages out.

Get back. Yes. I’m about to walk out the door and not return for six whole days. Yippee. We’re off a’camping. Niamh’s first camping adventure… should be fun! We’re going to a small music festival until Sunday, then most likely to visit my father-in-law. I may or may not have Net access in that time, and even if I do, it will be dial-up :yuk: ! So I’ll probably be back next Wednesday. You all behave yourselves while I’m gone!

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Posted in Dyeworks, Family, Other Craft

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Rain, Glorious Rain

Posted on January 22, 2007 | 11 comments

Moods around here are very much improved following two days of steady rain. The drought (and it still is, despite the rain) has been very depressing on so many levels, and watching our garden wilt and die has not been fun. The ground is actually wet now, and I’m beginning to feel the mild stirrings of inspiration to plant for winter crops. We’ve never yet managed to have a winter vegetable garden – I think it’s because planting needs to be done while the weather is still sweltering, then tending/harvesting needs doing in the misery of late autumn/winter. Blah. But we’ll see. It would be nice to have soup vegetables at the very least.

Speaking of harvesting, we have managed to keep a few things going… on Saturday I picked beetroot, cucumber, cherry tomatoes and leeks. Then last night we had pesto on spaghetti, courtesy of our own basil and garlic. Yum. (We also opened wine, it was terribly civilised around here after the small people were finally in bed :giggle: )

Other delicious produce from the weekend:
DyesJan07-lg
Niamh was very accommodating with her naps, and I got quite a bit done, replenishing a few colours of my sale floss and dyeing some fabric for myself and others. There is one monstrously ugly piece of fabric hiding in that pile though… not sure what I’ll do with it yet. If you think you could use a fat quarter of Belfast that kind of looks like army-camo, drop me a line :giggle: (OtherHalf was more generous and said it looked ‘kind of foresty’. Yes. Like camo!).

Other people were busy on the weekend too… we found out this morning that my mother and stepfather snuck out and got married yesterday… finally legal after nineteen years together! Congratulations you two :drink: !

11 Comments

Posted in Dyeworks, Family, From The Garden, Other Craft

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