Bootie Booty

I've been doing quite a bit of crocheting lately, so much that Andrew remarked, "It's like you're nesting...but without standing up."

He might be onto something.

I've made multiple pairs of booties and I even broke out the blanket I started just before Benjamin was born (thinking I still had two months to complete it—ha!) but never finished (I will finish it before Zoë is born). My most recent project has been a dress for Zoë. In theory it was going to be her coming home outfit but once I started working it up it became rather clear that it's not going to fit a newborn. Zoë will have to grow into it.

I found a free pattern on this knitting/crocheting website. It's literally just a scan of an article from an Australian newspaper dated 1888. It was quaint—they called it a petticoat—and used easy enough stitches that it gave me enough confidence to break away from the usual hats/booties/blankets that I make.

In order to work the pattern, though, I had to translate it from British to American terms (why can't we just agree on which stitch is which) and rework a few more things that simply didn't make sense to my brain. Oh, and I used remnant yarn that Andrew's aunt gave to me back when Miriam was toddling around so I had to throw some stripes in. I thought that the yellow I grabbed would easily work up into an infant dress...but when it ended up looking so big I knew I needed to make some adjustments.

Anyway, I finished it tonight!

Snow Day #9

Last night my friend Laura braved the ice and snow and gave me a ride to book club.

I never volunteer to host book club because my living room sits about five people (even family scripture study feels squishy sometimes) and the bedrooms are right off the living room, which means my kids would sit awake all night listening to everyone talking. Not that we'd say anything terrible, just that they should be sleeping.

Attendance was so sparse last night, however, that I really could have hosted it. There were seven women there. I didn't even read the book (but I finished a book I've been working on since January sometime, so); it was still fun.

On the way home, Laura and I talked about ukulele practice. The roads were still rather icy so I knew Andrew would want to take the van in the morning (there's no way his scooter, trusty though it is, could navigate all the ice ruts), which would leave me without a vehicle. But we're supposed to play at Relief Society night this Thursday so we had to get together to practice.

The best—the only—solution was to have me host ukulele practice.

"That'll work," I said. "I'll just need to clean my house."

"Oh, you don't have to do that," she said.

"Oh, I really do though," I said.

Our entire house was covered with soggy snow stuff and muddy footprints—just part of the joy of snow days!

When I opened the front door, though, I caught Andrew in the act of cleaning the house.

Snow Day #8

As promised, there will be no complaining about today's snow day being unwarranted because we actually got snow this time! And, boy, was it ever exciting snow!

Andrew had stayed up late working so we went to bed rather late. Benjamin came in while I was clearing some clothes off the bed (by putting them on hangers like a responsible adult) and grabbed my leg and I might have freaked out a bit, but we got over that and soon Benjamin was settled in his little nest on our floor and we were ready for bed, too.

I finished brushing my teeth, turned off the lights, and hopped into bed. As I was getting comfy I saw lights flashing around the room.

"Did you see that?" I asked Andrew.

"See what?" he asked.

"I don't even know," I said. "I think it was lightning...or something."

"It's not lightning," Andrew said. "It couldn't have been lightning. It's probably just some animal outside setting off the light outside our window."

"But it's flashing," I said. "Not steady."

"Well, the light on the side of the house has been flickering lately..."

"There! Did you see that?!" I asked when I saw a brilliant flash again.

"No. What?" Andrew asked.

"It happened again!" I said. "How are you not seeing this?!"

"My eyes are closed," he said. "I'm tired."

"Well, open them!" I said. "This is crazy!"

We heard a boom and saw a green and orange flash and the power went out.

"Is it the transformer?" Andrew asked.

Somewhere behind our house is a transformer, we think, because that's where we hear the noise whenever the power has gone out before.

"I don't know," I said as the power came back on.

There was another boom and a flash and then silence. This time the power did not come back on (and wouldn't for over twelve hours).

"Guess it was just the transformer," I said. "But that was a really big flash! It lit up the whole sky!"

We got out of bed and fumbled around in the dark to find flashlights and extra blankets. In theory, I have a flashlight that I keep on my nightstand for emergencies such as this. In reality, that flashlight is often commandeered by the children for shadow puppets and ghost story telling and other official childhood business. In other words, it was not where it was supposed to be.

Fortunately, cellphones will do in a pinch and I was able to find one of our camping flashlights (that we keep on a shelf in our closet because with the number of thunder storms we get out here it's just smart to keep them handy) and then I went to check on the girls. They were having a "sleepover" in Rachel's bunk, along with a billion stuffed animals, so they were pretty roasty-toasty but I threw an extra quilt on them, anyway. When I did Rachel woke up and I explained to her that the power was out, but that she should go back to sleep. She made sure she knew where her little battery-operated reading lamp was that she got for Christmas, first.

Next I put some extra blankets on Benjamin—who we've been putting to bed in double layers of pyjamas anyway since he's incapable of staying under a blanket—and spread one on our bed as well.

We checked the carbon monoxide detector and researched things like how long food can stay good in a fridge without power and a million other things I was so worried about that I couldn't sleep and then we went to bed.

I kept seeing flashes.

"Did you see that?" I asked. "That's not the transformer. The transformer is kaput. I'm pretty sure it's lightning."

"I didn't see anything," Andrew said.

"Were your eyes closed again?"

"It's two o'clock in the morning," he pointed out.

"Well, this is really cool. Will you just get out of bed and open the blinds a little so I can see out the window, because I'm not sleeping, but I'm also not getting out of this bed. I feel as graceful as a walrus; I'm not rolling over."

He did, because he's awesome. And then we just watched the lightning for a while, since we determined that that's what it was. Lightning during a snow storm is rather amazing. It lights up the sky and reflects on the ground and you can't even hear the thunder because everything is so insulated. But it's also rather freaky...because lightning during a snow storm? Who thought of that?

Anyway, we were eventually able to fall asleep and we woke up to seven inches of glorious white stuff. I'm only able to call it glorious because we've been waiting for it for so stinking long (did you see our picnic in the sunshine yesterday?). Ordinarily I feel rather meh about snow.

Snow Day #7

We've officially used up all our snow days, so today is our first snow day that wasn't built into the calendar. How we'll make that up (and the next couple that are surely coming down the pike) is yet to be determined.

At least we had a beautiful day (47°F!) to play with instead of being cooped up or out in the cold!

The kids spent most of the day playing outside after they managed to get dressed appropriately. Miriam had a tough time getting ready to go outside. She put on one pretty dress after another and I kept telling her to go back and change into something that could get muddy.

Finally she emerged from her room wearing a super old play dress that we grabbed for Rachel at a trading tables event years ago (so has been through at least three children, though I would guess more) and a pair of leggings (that came into our possession through similar means) that already had a small hole in the knee.

"Mom, these are old enough that they, like, have holes in them," Miriam said, coming out into the living room and twirling so I could see what she was wearing.

"Perfect!" I said. "Go outside!"

And that's where they stayed for hours.

We even had a picnic on the back deck. It was just that beautiful. The only reason Benjamin is wearing a hat is because he has been waiting for his turn for days but one of the girls is usually wearing it (because, as you can see, it's a little too big for him so he gets stuck with a smaller hat and one of the girls wears this bigger one).

Dreams Do Come True in New Orleans!

Pretty much 100% of my knowledge of New Orleans comes from Disney's The Frog Princess. I'm going to guess that it's not entirely accurate information, given that people turn into frogs in that movie, but it is what it is.

Andrew, on the other hand, has been down to New Orleans a couple of times since we've moved here. Apparently it's a popular city to hold conferences in. Because that's why Andrew goes—not for Mardi Gras, even though this most recent conference lined up perfectly with this year's Mardi Gras celebration.

Due to last week's winter weather, Andrew had the option to change his flight to an earlier one (for free) or to risk having his flight rescheduled to a later flight, should his flight be cancelled. He opted for the earlier one because he had to be there to present a paper. So he changed his flight and was lucky enough to find another night in a hotel. He ended up staying in three different hotels, wheeling a broken suitcase all around the city as he was hotel hopping.

The first few days he did anything but conferencing. He read books and couldn't help but attend the Mardi Gras parade because his hotel was right on the parade route! He had to wear a special bracelet to prove he was a hotel guest (they were kicking out all the riffraff from the street, I guess).

New Dresses

My dresses from eShakti came today and even though I'm over six months pregnant I couldn't wait to try them on. And they were magical—not at all like trying on something from the store! They magically fit across my shoulders and around my arms and through the bust, were long enough, and were just the way I wanted. That never happens!

I can't say much for the waist right now. I didn't exactly measure my waist. I just took a number listed on the sizing chart from a swimsuit place I used last year (LimeRicki—linked to the sale page, of course, since that's the only page I've ever visited—where you can find cute swim suits that'll actually cover your body and they have my size which is cool because finding swim suits in a store is nigh unto impossible).

I had two different gift certificates for eShakti, both set to expire the beginning of March and I shopped on a day when they were having a 30% off sale (evidently I should have waited for today; they're having a buy 2, get 1 free sale). It was awesome because I don't think I've ever had that much money to shop with all at once! I shopped around for hours (literally; it was sad) trying to find designs that would be forgiving of waist measurements. I found two that I thought would work. They both came with belts. They also both button so I can wear them while nursing.

Rachel, photographer extraordinaire, took pictures for me this morning:



I tried on the blue dress first and it even fit over my belly, which made me a little nervous for sizing, but I think it will be alright. My belly hasn't quite pushed up into my rib cage yet and that's where the dress is most fitted. So while it's a little loose it'll be fine. It's also jersey knit so it's rather forgiving.

The red dress has a side zipper and, to be honest, it's not zipped up in these pictures (but I won't have any trouble zipping it up after Zoë's here). It's a little more fitted and the fabric isn't as stretchy as the blue dress (in fact it's not really stretchy at all) but I think it will be fine once I'm actually able to try it on. At any rate it will fit better than anything I could have found in a store (clothes shopping is the worst—seriously)!

Tomorrow and a tooth

The kids have been obsessing over the musical Annie. Rachel's been reading about it on wikipedia and looking up the words to songs. They've been turning on the soundtrack and singing and dancing in the living room. It's been a lot of fun!

Benjamin loves the song "Tomorrow!" because tomorrow is one of his favourite words. He's spent so much time practicing the song that he no longer says "tomowwy" and can mostly say it correctly. Here's a video of him singing to himself in the mirror (don't mind the noise of the girls fighting/apologizing in the background; they've been stuck at home with each other (snowed in!) for over a week):



Andrew didn't come home until around 10 PM today. He came bearing bo-berry biscuits (wise man). The kids were all still awake (even though I dragged them outside at 7:30 for a pre-bedtime walk, hoping they'd wear themselves out, get chilled to the bone, and be ready to stop jumping off the couch already so we could snuggle down in our nice warm beds but apparently they were just wired).

It was Rachel who answered Andrew's IM to me, asking me if I wanted bo-berry biscuits or anything.

She wrote back: "yeah! For Rachel to." and then tried to fix her mistake with this: "Oh oops. Rachel to?"

He wrote back, "Leaving now (to car). Toooo!" and she said, "Why did Dad type that? Toooo? That doesn't even make sense."

Clearly it's because she should have typed too and not to. Andrew knew immediately it was her and not me. And when he walked in the door, Rachel raced out to get a bo-berry biscuit, which she couldn't bite because her loose tooth hurt too much.

Andrew insisted on pulling it out. There were tears. But only a few.



And she found that eating her bo-berry biscuit was much easier once it was out (and there was a little piece of broccoli stuck under her tooth, so it was a good thing we took it out; Andrew said, "I hope you had broccoli for dinner tonight!" We did).

There goes tooth #3 for this girl (finally—I think she's been waiting for another tooth to fall out since around this time last year). Growing up right before our eyes, dropping teeth into our hands. Parenting is awesome. And a little gross at times.

Snow Day #6

My comfort this week will be that Rachel spent twice as long in school than she did last week because she went the whole day on Monday. Last night I looked at the forecast and I started to see closures rolling in—not here, per se, but still. Andrew and I haggled over whether it would be a two-hour delay, and early-release, or a full day off for us.

When the alarm went off at 6:30 AM school was already on a two-hour delay, so we turned off Rachel's bus-rider alarm, and went back to bed. By the time we checked the news again school had been cancelled so we went ahead and turned off our alarm as well.

Not a flake had fallen from the sky when we dragged ourselves out of bed, but by the time Andrew left for school (at 9:30 AM) we could tell we were legitimately snowed in.

Family History—we are doing it

Tonight for FHE we played a little game with our family tree. I wrote four generations of our family on piece of paper (the kids, me and Andrew, our grand/parents, and our great-/grandparents) and let the kids take a turn drawing a name out and figuring out where they fit into our family tree. My original plan was to also have everyone (who had one) tell a quick memory of the person but we got off to a late start and had to cut things short.

Still, the kids enjoyed it and they did a pretty good job. The names that were tricky for them were their great-grandmothers since I used maiden names instead of married names.

Here are the kids sitting "kiss-koss-appy-sauce" on top of our family tree:

All good things, all good things

There is not much sweeter than listening to Benjamin take a turn during family scripture study. I'll have to record him sometime when I have two extra hands (ie. Andrew's). He says nearly everything wrong—but very seriously—and he turns the page every few words. It's darling.

But not as darling as his prayer this evening.

He's been a little confused about our living situation lately. Every time we Skyped with Daddy Benjamin would say something about "Daddy's house" and "our house." We've all been telling him that Daddy's only going to be gone for one week but that, of course, means nothing to him. One day, one week, one year, forever? What's the difference? He has no concept of time. He just knew that Daddy was gone.

He's spent a lot of time looking out the window, watching for Daddy, and whenever we've left the house (three whole times this week, folks) he looks for Daddy everywhere. Then when we get home and he sees Andrew's scooter sitting in the driveway he says, "Yay! Daddy's home!" and I have to remind him that Daddy's not home. It's been pretty pitiful, and I can't say for certain because I don't know what's going on in that little head of his, but I think a lot of his acting out this week has been from not understanding what happened to Daddy.

I was helping him say his prayers this evening. Sometimes he repeats whatever I say verbatim. Other times he'll make up his own stuff. Tonight was a mixture of both.

"Dear Heavenly Father," I said.

"Dear Heznee Saah," Benjamin said.

"I'm thankful for this day," I said.

"Sank-you me sor day," he said.

"Please bless me to have a good sleep," I said.

"Peas bess me has good seep," he said.

"Please bless Daddy to come home safely," I said.

"Peas find mine Daddy! Him so much lost!" Benjamin said passionately.

Tomorrow morning will be a happy morning for these kids, I think. And—who are we kidding?—for me, too, though I'll see Andrew before the kids because I'm letting myself stay up to wait for him (being the mean mom that I am, I'm not letting the kids wait up).