Gardens!

We went to the gardens yesterday and had a great time! It rained on us a little, but that just added to the fun.

Here's Toby in his new sunglasses. He loved them, for the whole 24 hours we owned them. We can't find them now, I have a feeling they're still in the Chuck E Cheese in Raleigh. Great.
Here's Toby popping bubbles at the garden. We were caught in the gazebo during a rainstorm so we pulled out the bubbles (a GREAT idea, btw!) and had fun for the 10 minute shower.
And playing with my camera...isn't this a pretty little flower?
Ok, well I have a turkey breast in the oven for dinner so I better run check that. Lucy is rolling around these days, though she's not using it for transportation yet...more to get from one toy to another or to get a better look at the tv...silly girl, watching tv already!

This morning I took the kids to a local park to walk with a friend. We had a great time. Toby even walked about half the hike - of course he was pooped and then refused to nap! Maybe he will go to bed early tonight.

Ok, catch you later!

My front pagers!

This was the photo on the front page of today's paper! If you look just over the kid's arm (the one throwing the frisbee) you will see Curtis, Toby, and Lucy! What a pleasant suprise this morning when I opened the paper.

So you can see what we were up to yesterday. We took the dog too (at the time the pic was taken, I was with Lex getting his rabis vax). The kids and the dog had a blast! We were also able to get Lex microchipped, something we've been meaning to do for awhile. There were booths and rescue agencies there too (and there was the CUTEST female boston...if I thought for an instant I stood a chance of bringing her home I would have tried, but I think Curtis thinks the house is full right now).

Friday we spent shopping - it was exhausting but I got a lot done! I needed to get Toby some bigger clothes, and I found some cute ones! I even scored big at Belk, with a 4 piece suit for Toby in a size 4 for $15. It's dress pants, dress shirt, vest, and tie...originally marked at $50! Woohoo! And I found a few cute dresses for Lucy for this summer...the light cotton kind that are so adorable on little girls! I was psyched. It was a long day though and Lucy screamed a good bit of the ride home - what I wouldn't give for a mall closer than an hour away!

We also did haircuts yesterday. Both Curtis and Toby were in sore need of haircuts, so I pulled out the trimmers and got to work while Lucy napped. After we finished with those I hosed off the back porch and outdoor toys...I think the pollen has died down, so I wanted to clean off all the residual pollen from our stuff. Gross! That may be the reason I have a sinus headache today - too much pollen yesterday.

I also trimmed up the bushes out front. We took a good look at the tree in the front yard and it's not dead, as we feared! Yay, that will save us $50! Curtis trimmed the dead branches off it so it looks much more appealing now.

Last night we got a half inch of rain - YAY! Go away, drought!

Today is beautiful. It is in the 70's right now with the perfect light breeze, so I think when Lucy wakes up we will head to the horticultural gardens for a walk. Toby needs the exercise (he's been a PILL this morning) and I want to play with my camera, and what better place than a garden in bloom? So we will get the kids dressed (Toby is still in his pj's, as that's what he insisted on wearing under his overalls this morning...kids!) and Lucy is just in a T and diaper, so we will cutify her too :P With any luck I will have some cute cute cute pics to post later!

Anyway, have a wonderful Sunday everyone. I have been trying to knit but the forces have been against me this weekend. First I couldn't get the sizing of the soaker right, then I ripped it out and have decided I don't have enough of that color anyway so I'm on to a different one, and it's coming along much smoother.

Chel

4 Months!

Lucy is 4 months today! She is so big! Both she and Toby had their well baby checkups today - her 4 month and Toby's 2 year. Lucy was 14 lbs, 1 ounce (btw, Toby was 18 lbs 1 ounce at 4 months), and 25.5 inches tall. She also started rolling over belly to back in the last 2 days which means my girl is on the move! She is fighting a runny nose and just not feeling well - not nursing, not sleeping well, etc, so I think when she is feeling better she will be unstoppable!

Toby was 33 lbs and 37 inches tall. So big! He is right on target with speech (if you remember, at 18 months we had him into the speech therapist because he wasn't saying much so it is a huge relief to know he is about caught up. He has made wonderful strides in his speech!). He's also the size of a 3 year old. LOL!

Here are some pics - first, Toby reading stories to Elmo
Then today after a time out I found him reading in the closet! He's really taken to his books again lately :)
Mama and Lucy today - she was thrilled

And finally, Lucy's 4 month picture! She is growing so fast and I must admit I was a little weepy today. She's lost that newborn look and is becoming so aware of her surroundings. She plays with toys and chews everything - the dr thinks she'll have a tooth in the next month or so! Soon she'll be starting to eat, although I want to hold her off as long as possible - the recommendation is 6 months and personally I'd like to hold off until after our trip to Ohio in June, just because it's one less thing to mess with. But if she seems like she needs the added calories, we'll start her before that. We started Toby at 5 months because the child was just plain hungry.

We've had a rough couple of nights. On Thursday it was just plain hot in here, and Lucy was getting sweaty and overheated in her swaddle so we decided it was time to take that away. Which led to several MISERABLE nights...then she caught this cold and is congested every time she lays down. So last night she slept in her swing and actually went from 10pm to 8:30 am - she hasn't done that in a few weeks! Poor kid is probably exhausted from the last few nights of being up so much.

Toby is full of piss and vinegar these days. Terrible Twos, indeed! He can be so sweet and so precocious, and then turn around and act the complete opposite! There are days (like today) where I want to rip my hair out, but then tonight before bed he said "Wuv you" to me for the first time, and then I just want to cry.

Well, I'm going to sign off now. American Idol is on and I have some knitting to catch up on since Lucy has been up every evening since Thursday (the dr told me to give her some benedryl tonight to help her sleep, woohoo!).

Have a wonderful week!

Photos photos photos!

Happy April 8th..lol...ok, just pics for no reason!


Yeah, Toby in the exersaucer...ugh, he's just not listening on this one...

Enjoy! not much going on here.

On Blocking Acrylics

I must raise my hand in confession that until Friday, I had never attempted to block.

I apologize to the knitting goddesses out there.

My first attempt was blocking my squares for the orange baby blanket. I wetted them down and painstakingly pinned pinned pinned...let dry for 2 days...pull it up to reveal...still curling edges! I turned back to my trusty internet source to learn that the validity of blocking acrylics is widely debated. So figuring why waste my time, I am not blocking the rest of the squares.

In my research however, I happened across this blog entry and I loved it and wanted to share:

http://www.islandofmisfitpatterns.com/2006/07/11/how-to-felt-with-acrylic/

Just in case you ever want to felt acrylics...lol...

April Showers

How appropriate...we've had off and on showers since April 1. Nothing major, rain-wise, but every little bit is helping! And with the terrible drought we've been in, it's been super to see rain in the forecast! Today we've had a little on and off drizzle, but there's hope for more on Saturday.

It's also pollen-season. Everything is yellow! Yucho, pine-pollen. Even my allergies have kicked into high gear, and I honestly haven't had problems in a few years - and when I do, it's usually in the fall, not the spring! We had to take Toby to the ped last week for an allergic reaction, and while there, he was diagnosed with seasonal allergies too, which explains the runny nose for 4 months straight. After 5 days on Zyrtec he's finally got a clear nose!!!

Here are some pics - believe it or not, today's been the first day I've had time to load pics onto the computer since Easter!

First up, opening day of baseball was this week!!!

This morning - Toby and Lucy in the box :)
Lucy just chillin on the floor

And what else are little sisters good for? Toby thought it would be hilarious to empty his bowl of Cheerios on Lucy - laughed like it was the funniest thing he had ever seen :P
Toby's newest obsession - "popsikies". So cute! He gets so excited when asking for them, too!
Let's see - Tuesday was April Fool's day. Curtis called me at a quarter to 8 to tell me his front tire blew on him on the way to school and he'd just finished changing it on the side of the road. I bought it for a few minutes, then remembered what day it was! I was so excited that I wasn't caught being gullibe...except he really was telling the truth. The car is getting a new tire today and Curtis has the CRV.

Tomorrow Curtis and I both have eye appts. We are both sadly overdue for checkups...actually the last time I was in was right after Toby was born! Eek! We both need new contacts, so I think we will be seeing much better by tomorrow evening! I'm also running Lucy into the ped's - she's started a dry cough that sounds much like the one she had before we had her reflux under control. Curtis gets the same thing when he forgets his reflux meds, so I have a feeling we should up her dosage before she starts being in constant pain. Actually, she's been sleeping badly for a week now - maybe that's what has been bothering her. She's been up 2-5 times a night. Last night she was up at 2 and 4, then the dog puked all over the carpet at 6. Fun night. What I wouldn't give for a full night's sleep!

Toby is fighting a nap - big suprise. He n eeds it - he's been yawning since 11am...but put him in his room and he acts like sleeping is the last thing on his mind. Go figure. Silly boy.

I've been busy putting together ideas for an online store. It's something I've been toying with for about 8 months now, but I think we're getting close to getting it up and running. My goal is to open by the end of May/ beginning of June. I'm thinking about getting the space bought, and then working on stocking/ setting up the site in the next 2 months...but this means I have to learn some HTML coding...scary stuff! That's why I want to go ahead and start setting up now, so I havem ore time to play and figure out how it all works. I don't think I'll be getting it up overnight! And whle Curtis has some computer knowledge, he knows nothing about html, so he's no help there. I think I'm getting the hang of it, but we'll see.

Well, sorry it's been so long between posts! I'll try to stay on top of things better!

Take care and remember April Showers bring May Flowers...

10 Squares Down...

10 Down, 11 on the needles. I finally feel like I'm making some real progress on this blanket! 6 more and we're ready to piece together. I also need to block the pieces prior to seaming since they edges are rolling quite a bit. I think I'll try dampening them and pinning to my ironing board, so I'll have to do that about 3 at a time...better start on that soon.

Over the weekend I finished 3 flannel blankets - will update with pics once I get them taken. 1 is pink and white stripes hemmed around. One is a double sided shades of red and pink, and one is a majorly retro teal, green, and brown giant flowers. Totally rad :P DH hates it, but I think someone out there will like it.

I cut out pieces for 2 baby outfits. One is a dress and shorts set and one is a tie-back top and shorts, but from the same material. The dress is simple and ok...don't think I'll use the pattern again. I have high hopes for the tie top though.

I also made a trip to the LYS this weekend and found some AWESOME malabrigo that's just dying to be made into a soaker!

LOVE it - doesn't it just scream SUMMER?