davejenbarnes

Yep, but it’s the spare tire, not the real tire.  David took the wheel off the car this morning and unloaded the spare only to find out that the spare is crispy and missing tread.  Sooo… he threw both wheels in the trunk of the little coupe and headed to NTB while the blue car had a leg up on a jack in the street.  Turns out this one was unfixable, too, so we have replaced half our tires in less than a week.  Not only that, but NTB does not replace spares.  We’ll be looking into scrap yards for a replacement.  Gotta have a spare!

One more Cars quote from James heard tonight, “Hot snot!  We are back in business!”

David asked to get the boys up this morning (they will be SO EXCITED to see Daddy first thing in the morning after his being away for three mornings in a row all of a sudden) so I decided to type up an entry to keep me from opening their door and inhaling all the sweetness that they are in the morning.  Or at least that they are most mornings.  There are always exceptions!  :-)

Lowell has two more teeth and the next two are wrecking havoc on his mood/runny nose/messy diapers so soon he will have four new shiny pointy teeth.  He has been teething for what seems like the majority of David’s 5 weeks of summer break.  After the bottom ones poke through, it will bring his grand total of teeth to 16.  In the past couple of days, Lowell has added “Ow!” to his vocabulary (which is soooo cute) and has perfected “Please?” which comes out sounding like “Pees?” most of the time.  When David disappeared (really, he just drove to San Antonio for a convention but to the boys, he vanished), Lowell walked to nearly every door, knocked twice (loudly), and said “Da-dee?”  Looking for David.  We didn’t know if Lowell would miss Daddy very much but I’d almost say that Lowell missed him more than James and I did.  Or appeared to at least.

Oh, yeah, I don’t know if I blogged about this but Lowell started walking on June 29th in Plano at Grandma and Grandpa’s house.  He just all of a sudden, like he’d been waiting for someplace special to show off, started walking like he’d been walking for months.  It’s almost like he’d been practicing in his crib while we weren’t watching.  ;-)  I like to think he waited for Grandma Barnes to see him since they’re birthday buddies.

There’s not much new to report on James, developmentally, since there are no big things we’ve been working on lately.  Potty training is done (though I am anxious for him to develop the understanding of actually getting his underwear back on all the way, growing a little bit so I don’t have to lift him on the potty — “No more little potty seat, Mommy.  That’s for babies.” –  and being able to start dressing himself.)  Speaking of dressing — he’s in a 4T shirt and 2T-3T shorts and probably wears a 9 or a 9.5 in shoes.  I do need to take him for more shoes very soon.  (Lowell is in 2T shirts and 12-18 month shorts though I have been putting him in 2T & 3T shorts already, since I know grandparents read this… :-)

There’s one neat thing about James, though.  He’s a chatterbox.  He says the funniest things!  I always forget to write them down so I can share them here.  Every evening at dinner, he makes up a song about something doing something (bunnies jumping, cars driving, light shining - they each get their own special song).  He has started walking around randomly quoting Cars (the movie) so in the course of the day, you’ll randomly hear, “Never need a map again!” then later, “Maaaw, Dang” or “I’ve got DIRT in my rims!” or “You love ‘er, you love ‘er, you love ‘er.”

I’ve started knitting little tiny wool soakers (diaper covers) for the new baby out of scraps from when I made them for Lowell.  They’re to me like baby hats are to some knitters: fast, easy, memorized pattern, fun, and a great stash-buster.  The ones I’m making are not pretty so I don’t know if I will ever post pictures of them but they will be functional!  I figured if need be, I could always use them as dying experiments if and when I ever get the itch to dye some wool.  Worst case, I’ll overdye them black.  :-)  If this baby is a girl, she’s gonna have some very boyish diaper covers on her sweet little bum.  I refuse to invest in girly colors of new wool (at $10-$35 a skein, ouch) not knowing AND I doubt I will have the time to knit up a good girly stash once she arrives.  (Hoping this is a girl, but not counting on it.)

Time to go eat breakfast.  Dave said, “I’m makin’ pancakes!” (to be read in Donkey’s voice).  Yum.

This is why we’re staying inside. Totally. We once saw a report about the extremely high surface temperatures of slides and playground equipment (in Maryland) and … yeah, they should have come down here to do their report. There’s no way we’re getting anywhere near a playground today or any day this week for that matter.  Note that it’s 77ºF — at 8:25 in the morning.

I love how Isolated Thunderstorms on Thursday doesn’t increase the chance of precipitation. And partly cloudy?  Yeah, that’s a joke.  That just means that somewhere over the Great State of Texas are a few clouds (and it ain’t here, y’all!)… Wow, I love Texas but I could sure use a week, no, maybe a whole summer of mid-70’s to mid-80’s weather where it would actually be feasible to take the kids outside during the day and not have some kind of water going to cool us all off.

Though I think we’ve got it bad, I’m just glad I don’t live in Phoenix.

ETA: (edited to add)  Looks like we won’t be going anywhere today.  I had planned to stop by Hobby Lobby to look for a cheap circular knitting needle.  Oh well.  No way I’m changing this tire with my 21 week gigantic* belly in this heat.  Can’t wait for David to get home!

Also?  This is our 2nd flat in a week on the same car (different wheel).  I hope they don’t make us buy a new tire like a few days ago…  Grrrrrrr  (Oh!  and if you look reeeeeeeeeally closely, that white truck also has a flat… same one… rear passenger)

*gigantic being relative here.  A 36″ waist is gigantic on me.  On Dave?  Ideal.  My brother?  gigantic.  See?  it’s all relative

I keep forgetting what day of the week it is, and with David leaving today, it’s even worse.  Like, he should be gone on a Monday is what my brain is telling me, but, no, he left and we went to church and there were thousands of other people there, so it has to be a Sunday, but it just doesn’t feel like it.

I read once that for parents of young children, weekends don’t exist because the kids will still be up and still on the same routine as every other day and pretty much, that’s been true this summer.  I’m sure it would be different for a family who puts their kids in daycare, but having the boys home all day everyday, it is very easy to forget what day of the week it actually is.

David returns to work “this day” as James would say, and while most people would say, “Nuh-uh, it’s just TBA, that’s not work.” I would say, it takes him away from the family and is related to his profession, so, yeah, I consider it work.  Maybe for any other guy, it would be a vacation — away from the nagging wife, the dirty dishes, the toddler tantrums, the screaming baby (oh? not a baby anymore? have you heard that kid scream? yeah, still a baby, at least the baby until he’s a big brother.) … but I think Dave will really miss us, our dirty dishes, and our tantrums, yes, even mine.  It’s been a super short summer and we’re sad to see it go.

At least he’ll be home for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday.  (What day is it again?)

In unpacking a little the other day (yes, we are still unpacking) I found my Seraphina Shawl - unfinished, of course, and missing the hook.  I need to go back and experiment with hooks again to figure out what size I was using.  I think it was a K but, man, I just can’t remember.  I know I started it with a J hook because that’s what I put in my Ravelry notebook, but I’m also certain that I went up in hook size at least once, maybe twice.

I didn’t keep up the momentum I had in the beginning with this because the farther along you progress, the longer it takes to complete one row.  (Duh, it’s a growing triangleish shape, that happens on those!)  But it is so pretty I just can’t let it go unfinished.

In the meantime, I’ve also started another triangle shawl though it is knit, not crocheted, and I will post about that at a later time.  You can see the thumbnail of it over there –> in the sidebar (Forest Canopy Shawl).  I’ve also got a purple lace shawl on the needles which I am thinking about frogging in order to make something which does not contain anything resembling fan-and-feather in the pattern.  I had enough fan-and-feather in the Hemlock Ring to last me awhile… For now, though, the purple thing is staying put because what it IS will be gorgeous if I ever stick with it and finish it!

No, I’m not coming back.  Ever.  Please don’t bug me about it anymore.

Because, really, I’m tired of the constant emails asking me about coming back.  And I’m posting it here so I won’t have to email 25 individuals that I’m not returning.

I am an INFJ, afterall and, therefore:

INFJs, when scorned, take it personally and retreat inward. One INFJ explained, ‘people can do the most outrageous things, yet I blame myself for triggering their behaviour or not recognizing it. I see myself as responsible for relationships.’ INFJs may blame themselves and experience a period of mourning. If they do not marshall their resources, externalize their feelings, and take risks to move on, they may experience a long periods of self-examination.

Let me take my risks in moving on.

We’re officially half way through.  It’s so good to have a “certain” due date, as confirmed by the ultrasound last week — instead of a “guesstimate” due date, and it makes the prenatal visits much smoother, too.  So here’s the scoop, not that any of you care but that I recorded this stuff for James and Lowell so I might as well record it here for this baby as well.

Fundal height: 20 cm (right on target!), little heartbeats: 140’s (slower than the boys, maybe this is a girl?), Momma’s blood pressure: 120/70 (woo-hoo!), weight: 125 (8 pounds overall so far, which is awesome, the more the better for me) — BUT — I need to get more iron in my diet because my hemoglobin (sounds like a beasty I would destroy on DoFus) is low and they don’t want me to become anemic later on.  I also need to start eating seaweed since seafood is completely missing from my diet (or I could take fish oil capsules)… at least I *heart* seaweed! and there are a lot of other herbs and such that they’d like me to take but I probably won’t.

AABC was in their new space already and the staff seemed thrilled to have more room.  The birthing rooms are now in a completely separate “office” though, really, they’re right next door in their old space.  It’s so great to see that AABC is growing and more women are going to be able to enjoy their services.  I really loved having Lowell there.

Pattern: Hemlock Ring Doily turned Blanket

Source: Jared Flood’s blog post

Materials: Cascade Ecological Wool in grey (8019)

Needles: US 10, 40 inch circulars; KnitPicks Options

Amount: almost 600 yards (a skein plus about a sixth of a skein)

Start to Finish: June 8, 2008 to June 30, 2008

So, I saw this stunning little blob on Jared’s blog shortly after returning from a trip to the Cypress-Spring area with the family to attend Jennifer and Craig’s wedding and I knew instantly that whatever it was would make a lovely perfect wedding gift.  It turned out to be a lap blanket, and a lovely one at that.  After seeing Jared’s pictures, I just knew it was what I had to make them!

After two unsuccessful attempts (wrong yarn for the pattern, too many mistakes, etc) I finally it the jackpot with the ecowool and another year (eek!  I only started knitting in late October of 2006, y’all!) of experience under my belt.  I nailed the pattern and quickly fell into a groove and completed it in just under a month of car trips and spare time.  I know no one thinks I’d have any spare time with two little boys, being pregnant, and having just moved into a house BUT where there’s a will, there’s a way!

I actually had it done and off the needles by their first anniversary, but I didn’t have it blocked and it was a bumpy, crazy, unwieldy mess of yarn still.  We were out of town when I finished it so I waited until I came home to wash and block it into shape.  I’m amazed at the transformation.

Stunned.

Absolutely in awe.  I’m totally going to make one for me!  I just have to find someone on Ravelry with the same dye lot who is willing to part with 1/2 a skein, some more free time, and away we gooo!

Chuck

E

CHEESE!

I assure you he had a BLAST.  He keeps talking about it this morning, especially the “party” part and the “cake” part.  I know he didn’t look very excited in the pictures, but my James, he is one happy-oblivious, take-everything-with-a-grain-of-salt kind of guy.  He looks dumbfounded in all the pictures because when I ask him to “Smile!” this is what I get:

A big Thank You to all of the families that came!  It wouldn’t have been a party without you!