So Many Things

So many things have happened since I last posted... Where to start?

1. Dave went on his first business trip - well, the first one since we moved here. It was MUCH shorter than if we had been in NC. He left on a Monday morning and was back in time for dinner on Wednesday!

2. While Dave was on his business trip, I knitted my first mitten! It turned out pretty nice. The pattern was much easier than I thought it would be. I was nervous about having to go back and pick up stitches to make the thumb, but it was pretty easy.

3. My Mom came to visit!!!! She was here for two weeks, and they went by way too quickly. I really enjoyed her visit. I miss her. We didn't do anything too terribly exciting, but she got to see what our life is like over here. And she got to see Tipton's school and meet all of his friends. She got to watch Lilli at her gym class. And she got to 'experience' what grocery stores are like over here. So now when she asks me if I have a particular ingredient for a recipe she wants me to try and I say "I don't know" - she'll understand. We did do a few fun/sightseeing type things. I took her to the 'American Food' store (where a bag of oreos costs about $15 US dollars.) I took her to the book store that sells books in english. We walked along the pedestrian mall and she got to see ice skating in one of the squares. We took her to Lund, to our favorite pizza place. Then we walked the pedestrian mall there (down to a yarn shop that I had been wanting to check out.) We took her to our favorite pizza place in Malmo, then walked down along the harbor. She got to watch the kids throw snowballs into the ocean. I took her to my local yarn store and to my favorite bakery. I showed her where the english books are in the main library and the park across from the library where the kids and I feed the ducks. It was really nice having someone to hang out with.

4. The kids and I got hair cuts. Tipton looks so much older! We got Lilli's long, soft, beautiful hair cut off. I didn't want to do it, but we really needed to. She has developed a habit of pulling out great handfulls of her hair. She was mostly bald on the right side of her head. So we got her hair cut into a little bob. Very sleek, very stylish. But I miss my baby's curls! Mom was here for the haircuts, and I'm very glad - I'm not sure I would have been able to do it without her.

5. I have turned my Mom into a knitting machine! She hadn't knit in over 30 years, but decided that she'd pick it up again since I was doing it. She had forgotten how to cast on, so she didn't knit anything until she came to visit. I showed her how to cast on. She knit a scarf for herself. Then she knit a hat for herself. Then she started knitting baby hats. She is going to give them to her church to distribute. And she's going to talk her Red Hat Ladies into knitting baby hats for the hospitals. While she was here, in addition to the scarf and hat that she knitted for herself, she knitted 11 baby hats!

6. It snowed. Well, it's snowed twice. It snowed once while my Mom was here. Not a lot, but enough to make the ground white and for the kids to play in it. And then late Tuesday night it started snowing. And it snowed all day Wednesday. Not light, fluffy snow but small, hard snow. Like really cold sand - it stung when it hit your skin. And it was snowing horizontally. So I didn't let the kids out to play in it yesterday. But today... Today Tipton and I will go out and build a great big snowman. And then probably another one - so he'll have a friend. We've got LOTS of snow. Probably about 8 inches, with drifts up to a foot and a half. Dave had to shovel the driveway so he could get his car out of the garage.

7. Lilli woke up last night with a fever. It was 100.6 last night. She was also shivering (even though her room wasn't cold.) We gave her some Motrin and I held her and rocked her until she stopped shivering and fell back asleep. I checked on her about an hour later and she stood up and smiled and grabed her Mickey Mouse doll and wanted me to pick her up. She was still warm, but she was definitely feeling better. I rocked her for a litte bit and then put her back in her crib. This morning she woke up and still had a fever (101.2) I gave her some tylenol. She only took a few sips of her milk, and didn't eat much breakfast. She wanted juice. So far she's had two cups of juice today (and it's only 9:00.) You know something's wrong if she doesn't want milk. Other than that, she seems to be fine. Her nose isn't even running. Still, I'm going to keep her inside today. Tipton and I will play in the snow when I put her down for a nap. I feel bad not letting her play in the snow, but hopefully her fever will be gone tomorrow and she can play then.

8. I've knit several more mittens. Not all the same size. I knit one that I thought would fit Lilli, but it was almost too small. So then I knit one the next size up, and it was a little big. I decided I'd better start knitting mates for all the mittens. I started with the smallest one. It matches up fairly well. Then I made the mate for the next size up. Something was wrong. Somewhere down the line I had switched needle sizes. I had three sets of dpns in my bag, when I should have only had two. I picked the wrong size. I made a guess at the correct needles and knit the mate for the first mitten I had made. I guessed wrong. So now I think I know what size needles I need to use. And I think I have enough yarn left to knit at least the correct mate for the biggest mitten (which will be MY mittens.) And on the plus side, I have several mittens that I can make into Christmas ornaments to give as gifts...

5:46am Much Too Early to be the Weekend

I don't remember torturing my Mom as a child. I don't remember waking up before the chickens to go into her room and say, over and over again until she gets up "Mommy, I can't sleep any longer!" Dave got up early but my MIL has assured me that he did not wake them up - he learned how to get his own breakfast and entertain himself until a 'decent hour.' So why then do we have a son who wakes us, every day, before 6:00am? Why is it that my almost-five-year-old wakes me up at least an hour or two before my toddler? He is exhausted when he goes to bed at night, around 7:30. We cannot keep him up any longer - he falls asleep on the floor if we try. I welcome any and all suggestions. During the week it's not so bad (who needs an alarm clock?) But it is much too early to be awake on a weekend.

Some exciting things have happened recently.
1. I think I mentioned that Dave bought a car. It's a very cute little car, I got to drive it on Friday. It is much more fun to drive than the Volvo V70. That's what I am driving.
2. Our leased car has finally arrived! We forgot to order it with the latch system, though. So it's a pain to get Lilli seat in and out. If we could fit the stroller into Dave's little Micra, I'd be driving that instead of the Volvo.
3. I have finished two curtains for the front living room windows. Just two more to go and that section of windows will be covered! Then I will finish the last curtain for our room. Then I'll need to go out and buy some fabric to make curtains for the kitchen windows - I'll do that when my Mom gets here.
4. My Mom is coming!!! She arrives on Wednesday! I am so excited - I don't know who is more excited - me or Mom. She's bringing two suitcases. One with her clothes, etc and one with stuff from "home" for us!
5. Did lots of baking/cooking on Friday. Tipton and I made two types of cookies. He also helped me make flour tortillas to go with the brisket and beans that I had cooking in the crockpot. He got to roll out the tortillas.
6. I have been making more friends. The parents of Tipton's classmates and the parents of the kids at Little Gym. In fact, they are going to make an english speaking class for Lilli's age group because there are so many of us 'english speakers.'

Tipton is standing next to me, talking. Talking non-stop. He has been pretty much since he woke up - talk, talk, talk. He told me that the #7 stacking cup is gone. I told him that it was in Lilli's room. He then started arguing with me that it is not, it's just gone. I caught myself and said "Are you arguing with me just to argue, just to hear yourself talk?" And he said "Yes." It is much, much to early to be awake, especially on a weekend.