Weapon soX
Last night the Mister and I watched X-Men (1), because I have never seen it. I know, its hard to believe that a mother to 4 boys has never ever seen that movie- but its true. It was one of many movies that the Mister went and saw without me and I just never had a chance to go see myself.
While watching a super hairy and super hotty Hugh Jackman cavort onscreen in tight leather, I was asked by the Mister the ultimate question…………………………………….
If I had a super power, what exactly would it be?
I thought alot about it, really because thinking about what fictional super power I’d have is alot nicer than… let’s say…. thinking about the fact I have dishes in the sink that need washed.
So I considered for a while…. would I have a big power? a little power? would I be a major player in the powers war? would it be useful? would it be lame?….. and ultimately, is it a power I might a actually have a chance of contracting one day?
Finally, I decided. I would have control over slugs…. then people all over could fear my slow and slimey rage provided there were no shakers of salt around (thus, waging an attack on Jimmy Buffet’s house would be…. right out). My nemisis would be someone who can mystically grow cabbages, and my ally would be Snail Man (but we would have the occasional fight as we could both marginally control each other’s minions and this would mess up our battle plans every once in a while… because really a snail is simply a slug with better accessories).
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Also, Danny has started smiling- which is just awesome…..
See? He’s gonna charm the pants of some girl in the future.
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On the knitting front, this is my current progress on my Socks Of Doom:
I’d forgotten how hard it is to take pictures of WIPs on DPNs. I think I figured out how I got thru my original first time ever pair of gifted to mother in law socks……….
Booze, lots and lots of booze.
Like a Virgin…… Socks For The Very First Time (again)
So, first things first….
This is my current progress of my International Socks of Doom. I wasn’t able to start them until Saturday when I was able to go out to the van and reclaim my knitting stuff from the trunk. I knit on them for about 2 hours, the rest was done at the laundry mat yesterday. I must have looked strange and amusing at the laundromat because of the awkwardness with which I picked up the stitches for the gusset. Oh well…. just one more thing to make me embarassed about Virgin Sock Voyage v2.0. The first being how I made a complete fool of myself on a knitting forum.
See, I printed the pattern straight from Sweater Project. Now, the issue is actually nothing more than the font that was used. When reaching the heel flap I looked at the pattern and I read “S11″… you know, Slip 11 stitches. As odd as that sounded, I trucked it up to my unfamiliarity with sock knitting in general. However I was struck with a dilemma…. if I was to slip 11 stitches that would leave a mighty long traveling yarn across the back, so…… do I weave that inbetween the stitches? do I leave it as is? So I turned to the Craftster knitting forum to find out.
After the first reply, I discovered much to my chagrin that the pattern said “Sl1″ as in ‘Slip 1′…. not “S11″ as I had read before. I could have avoided the embarassing stupid question asking if I had merely changed the font. Doh!
I am digging the yarn immensely though, its a merino that I received from SerialCrafter in a Discworld swap
its hand dyed by SerialCrafter. Ah, I still remember how awesomely she spoiled me. I’m always a sucker for yarn and stitch markers. If Gerard Butler ever owns his own yarn shop… the Mister may be in trouble.
iSuck
A true testament to a person’s fortitude is if they can honestly admit to themselves that they do indeed suck….And I do indeed suck. I haven’t really knitted for a while now, mostly due to new baby responsibilites that I had left long behind once TJ could start walking. Now, as I revisit the land of mid night feedings I remember why I’ve never made anything bigger than my head……. its because I don’t have the time. I can steal time for knitting small projects, like when Danny is having a particularly fussy moment and is crying nonstop (diaper changed?check. recently fed?check. DeGassed and Burped?check and check.) I knit a little while I rock his bouncy chair with my foot (which really is just using my usual leg jiggling fidgety action to my advantage). However, I can’t get into any really complicated patterns because the likelyhood of me having to set the knitting aside for a multitude of baby related reasons has upped by at least….what? 100%?…. because my children are, in reality, wee little wild things.
But my fingers have been itching to knit like crazy, so I’ve decided to try my hand once again at sock knitting. I’ve only successfully made one pair and that was my first- every pair since then has sucked harshly. I think I’ll go with the International Sock of Doom pattern, because something like a Pomatomusomusomus would frankly drive me insane and be totally not what I need right now. Knitting that I can abandon for a diaper change….yes…. Knitting that is more complex than my relationship with the Mister….aww hell no.
Family Vacations Are Not For The Weak
So, Clan Stephieface has returned home from a wonderful vacation abroad… err, well abroad if abroad means skipping over to the next state staying 2 hours from your house. The Mister and I packed up the 4 Flying Diaperinis and headed off to Deep Creek Maryland.
Well first, we stopped over at the in laws (who were going as well) to do some last minute loading up of baggage and whatnots….. whatnots being laundry and the like. While I washed clothes, the Mister and his brother played some Wii…
Go Ahead… guess what they’re playing…. I’ll wait……. (while you try and guess, let me say I think it should be the newest round of blog contests to post pictures of your loved ones playing Wii and inviting people to guess the game they playing- so far, no one has got the game they were playing right)……..I guess that’s enough time- they were playing………………bowling.
Then the clan was on its way to the cabin… on the way I Kinneared myself some vacation photos….
by the way, I think all vacations should be Kinneared.
This year’s trip was slightly different than last year’s since the Mister came with us this time. Now, mind you, my Mister is not what you’d call one of those “nutty” types (you know, types like me) but he did make every effort to aid me in my blogging endeavors and was just as excited as I to get a good picture of us entering our favorite place in Maryland….. Accident.
And in trying to get pictures of Accident, we almost got into an accident- true story.
So, while there we relaxed and chilled with all the kids….. of which there were many…. my four, my SILs had 3 amongst them. Then we had a few adults…. a few being about 10….
Halfway through the week the Mister granted my one and only vacation wish which was to go back to Swallow Falls. It was at this point in the vacation that I realized that I will never have proof that I was ever on vacations with my family being the one who takes all the pictures… maybe I should start putting my thumb in the corner to prove I was there……. So anyways, we went back to Swallow Falls. Swallow Falls Park actually has 3 falls, Muddy Creek Falls…
I didn’t get a picture this time of Swallow Falls or Indian Falls, but trust me they were impressive- so impressive that my camera ran out of batteries when we got to them. I did get a good number of pictures though……you know before the dying……
There were ginormous squish you dead where you stand and your little dog too rocks being supported by wee little rocks
These are remarkable because these squish you dead rocks loom over you as you walk along the path. The Hemlock trees are what I refer to as the Maryland redwoods…..
And now for the fairy inspired portion of our blog post……..
And what family vacation is complete without a picture of your kids in front of a tree?
Later on we returned to the cabin where there were magnificent artworks in process:
And of course the super illegal baby kungfu fights:
(wee bit of useless trivia for you…. Darius there is older than Danny by 3 months and yet they are the same size).
The trip was awesome, then we headed home where I Kinneared even more family vacation photos:
Check out that sweet fish mailbox.
Then there was the lone yarn shop/hair salon:
And as we drove through the Laurel Highlands I totally got the impression that those Uniontown Pennsylvanians really really dig their statuary… not only did we pass a 7ft tall hunter, then later a 10 foot black bear….. but we also passed these 15ft tall dueling stags
We had a super awesome time, well except of course for the Hot Flying Popcorn Swarms which were way worse than last year…..
That’s why you have to seriously take cans of spray butter with you.
Party Til The Lights Go Out
For the past week or so, the area where I live has been living in a constant state of Thunderstorm. I love thunderstorms! What I’m not too fond of however is losing power. When I first moved in to this house almost 7 years ago I was overwhelmingly happy to discover that although the neighborhood was “eh”, the power almost never ever ever went out during any kind of storm. Even if the power went out, it was only out for a couple of hours- nothing excruciatingly annoying. I could go out during the storm after the power has gone out, go to the grocery store, and return to a lit up house. The power was never out for more than a couple hours.
Thursday was just another day in a long lone of rainy thunderstorm days. I was actually surprised when my power went out about 3pm, but I was nonplussed as it should be on in a few hours……….
Then a few hours turned into 22 hours. Mind you 22 hours without electricity or the extras in life that electricity runs has never been a problem for me, my kids and the Mister on the other hand are a whole other story. Once I have had the experience of having to entertain a pack of energetic Flying Diaperinis, one fussy baby, and a bored Mister…. I don’t think I’ll be enjoying thunderstorms much in the future.
By the way, its true what they say, its the humidity that will kill you- or it will at least make you super skinny with all the sweating it makes you do.
In any case, Chez Stephieface is getting ready for a revisitation to West Pennsylginia…. so if I’m quiet its not because I’m lame…. its because I’m swatting away the Hot Flying Popcorn.
Nephews Are Keen
As promised, I give you pictures of my newest nephew, Bracco (by the way, I find the fact that my nephew’s initials, BCG, are also the initials for the super ugly glasses the military gives you called “birth control glasses” and that his dad was a marine and wears glasses highly amusing- sorry sis!)…. Here he is in all his just born cutie patootieness….
What a wonderful wee little bundle, yes?
I have more than just one super cutie nephew, I have 4 other nephews from the Mister’s family with another nephew on the way. The Mister’s family is practically bursting with boys (which is why it was so overwhelming while pregnant the desire to have a girl) . While I don’t have pictures of them all, I do have a super adorable instaovulation if your biological clock wasn’t ticking before it will now pic of my nephew Darius…
I mean… come on- look at that smile people!
Nephews are awesome.
Watch It- Or I’ll Lecture You In My Sleep
Once in a post long ago I mentioned how there was a time when I would nag the Mister in my sleep…. oh yes, I am THAT talented. He would snore, and while sleeping I would tap him and say “Roll over, you’re snoring”… to which he would. I was told by a guest that I would do this several times in a evening, loud enough that she could hear, and that each time he would stop snoring. Thing is, I never remember doing it either because I am that tired or because I am sleep nagging (like sleep walking… but housewifier…Ha!).So imagine my surprise when I discovered that can I yell at and lecture my children while completely asleep. So coherent are my admonishments that the Mister (who was in another room) thought I was awake until he came in to see me slumbering peacefully… drooling on the couch. Too bad this skill of mine will never impress David Hasselhoff on America’s Got Talent (though it may impress Sharon Osbourn, she is Ozzie’s wife afterall).
Yesterday we had a visit from a very dear family friend, The Mister’s best friend of the last 20 or so years. S lives in California currently and was here on the East coast to see friends and family. The Mister loves S so much that his name is Sam’s middle name. So naturally during his visit we all sat around and filled him in on things he wasn’t around for, and introduce him to babies he hasn’t yet met.
Even if said babies never wake up for the meeting.
So, during the fill in segment of the vist, I listened as the Mister talked about life since the newest arrival. S noticed that I was bottlefeeding Danny, rather than breastfeeding like I had done with the previous babies. I was surprised when I heard the Mister explain all the reasons I had chose to bottlefeed the new monkey… I swear I thought he never heard me once- he actually listens! Then he confided (because he didn’t know I was listening) that things were going a whole lot better this go round and that I seemed considerably happier than I had been with the previous pregnancies- due mostly in part to, in his opinion, my decision to bottlefeed in leu of au natural.
Much like the decision to get my tubes tied, deciding not to boobiefeed Danny was a long and drawn out decision. There were the usual pros vs cons debates, debates I drew out long and hard in my head. Ultimately though it was one simple fact that made the decision for me…
I can’t pump.
I couldn’t pump to save my life, even with the electric nifty handy dandy mechanical do it for you boobie pump my mom gave me when TJ was born. With this limitation, what it means is that whenever the baby must eat I am the ONLY person who can provide. Regardless of how tired I could be, how sleep deprived, how hurried and hassled from taking care of the other kids…. the only person who could feed the baby was me. Mind you, the Mister tried to help out… when I was completely exhausted and the baby would cry he would sneak said baby away from their location near the bed while I slept and give them a formula bottle. While this occasionally gave me a few God sent extra hours of sleep, it also constipated the babies (formula can do that boobiefed babies, especially if baby is 99% boobiefed) and I would later waste those extra gained sleep hours dealing with a gassy and stopped up baby.
Not being able to pump, and being the only meal provider for the baby, made me very resentful and angry. Instead of boobiefeeding being a wonderful, relaxing, enjoyable bonding time with my little bundle- it was quite the opposite (and I had passing daymares [like nightmares but during the day] that I was spoiling the boobie milk with the shear force of my constant bad moods… and that I was somehow feeding this ill will to my baby). Add to this that when out in public I would get crap for being a boobiefeeder, because afterall I am a freak magnet and stuff like that happens to me all the time, so I would try to avoid going out with baby whenever possible…. adding the feeling of being trapped to all the other bad feelings I had whenever I had to pop a boobie out.
So apparently, with the decision to bottlefeed, I am noticeably happier and more energetic (can you imagine that? My boobiehounds would eat every 2 hours allowing me 30-45 minutes of sleep here and there throughout the day) hence the Mister’s revelation to our visiting friend S.
As an aside, when I had Sam and TJ, I was treated like a freaky hippy new ager by the hospitals for my decision to boobiefeed…. fast forward 2 years to Danny’s birth and they push the boobiefeeding like crazy. Back in the day they would give you a shot to dry up your milk if you decided to bottlefeed, nowadays you have to suck it up and bind your boobies. Honestly, I think its so that you’ll be more easily coerced to boobiefeed due to the pain of engorgement. However, once you’ve let the genie of bottlefeeding out of the bottle, you can’t shove that puppy back in. At least two generations of women have grown up and raised children using formula, where formula was pushed and boobiefeeding decried. Its too late now to go back and say, “Oops- our bad”.
So, as tired as I feel now, its apparently nowhere near as bad as how tired I actually was way back when.
I Apologize For My Lameness
I know I have avoided writing a new post all week… I have my reasons really, the reason is I have nothing to write about. I’ve spent the last week in an almost daze, partly because of a decrease in sleep (babies, like bees and dogs, can smell fear. They can also smell when you’ve decided to go to sleep and choose that moment to wake up), partly because its wicked hot in our house, and yet partly because the Mister and I are trying to reestablish our equilibrium as a couple (wink wink, yawn, nudge nudge, snore, what?).
This is how I look most mornings nowadays (mornings that start at 5am- nice!):
Notice if you will that I am literally half asleep… half of me is sleeping while the other half is struggling to maintain enough conciousness to suck down caffeine.
So you can see why no new posts this week… I can barely string together words for a somewhat coherent sentence, nevermind an entire post of somewhat coherent sentences.
Though, I do have some good news. My younger sister is going to have her baby today, at some point, maybe, possibly. Her doctors said if she didn’t squeeze out my nephew yesterday on her own, that they would induce her today. I like to imagine that it will go like that scene from Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls when Ace helps deliver a baby during the tribal challenge… I wish all births were that easy. Go Angie Go!
Speaking of popping out babies…. head on over to Jenica’s blog and guess when she’ll pop.
Edited To Add:
My nephew, Bracco Jr, was born at 1:30 this afternoon weighing (a COMPLETELY unfair) 7lbs and 13oz ( I mean come on… it was her 3rd kid too). I’ll post up some pictures when I get some (snicker snicker “get some”…….. see picture above).
