Two Years

We traded cold & snowy (rainy?) Boston for warm & sunny Mississippi to visit a newly minted set of grandparents (the Hubs's parents). It's been in the 70s for the entire two weeks we've been here, and I just love taking the Bean for walks through the hilly forest that is my in-law's neighborhood. It's good for both of us: Conrad is getting his much-needed dose of vitamin D and I'm walking off a few of those pregnancy pounds.

Yesterday I remembered that the last time we were here, Christmas 2009, I picked up the knitting needles after many years of neglect. I don't remember what triggered it, but it was with some urgency that I went to a Michaels store, picked up a bulky yarn and knitted a scarf, all in stockinette and with rolled-up edges. That's how I got hooked to knitting. The following March I began blogging, and once I remembered that, I realized I had forgotten about my second blogiversary, which was a few weeks back. Argh! To celebrate the occasion appropriately (if belatedly), I strapped the Bean into his car seat, took my FIL along to babysit the offspring, and went to the local yarn store (Mississippi's largest), The Knit Studio. And lemme tell you, The Knit Studio is making it on my list of favorite LYS. It's a spacious store with lots of room to walk around and daydream of future projects (as well as tables and chairs if the knitting bug bites you right there); the yarn selection is awesome and ranges from basic and affordable stuff (think Cascade 220 in a gazillion colors) to more luxurious and rare goods; and the owner is lovely and very helpful. The library is impressive, and if you have a husband in tow (or any other non-knitter who's rolling his [her] eyes at you for stepping into a yarn store), there's a "media room" where you can park your companion to read the news or watch TV. I'm totally won over by The Knit Studio.

Which is why I brought this home:

That's a lot of fuzzy stuff (angora! mohair!) for pre-summer knitting (who am I kidding?) and some cotton for (baby) knitting during the summer. Hooray!

***

Thank y'all for leaving such nice comments. Conrad is doing very, very well, and so am I. I love being a mom, and I seem to be doing a pretty good job, since the Bean is mostly happy and smiles and coos a lot. He's got some stomach issues, but supposedly (hopefully!) that gets better soon. In the meantime we take his mind off of his tummy by standing underneath his grandparents' ceiling fan--which he just *loves.* He gets a total kick out of watching the fan move.

Six Weeks

What they teach you in parenting class is that the first six weeks are crazy-slash-hellish, but that thereafter a routine develops and normal life resumes. Well. Conrad's almost seven weeks old, and if we were to take stock I'd say that (1) things never got as out of control as we had anticipated and (2) we're far from having a routine down. Sure, there have been obstacles and challenges (who knew breastfeeding is so damn difficult? I got the lactation consultant's phone number memorized in no time and consider the most useful parenting tool a device appropriately called My Brest Friend), but mostly it's been smooth sailing. Routine, however, I would not call the nightly circus of getting the baby to sleep: the only wisdom we've gathered is that whatever worked last night won't work tonight.

I suppose you know what comes next, namely that I'm going to tell you that I haven't knit a single stitch in over six weeks. And you're almost right. I have knit, but only one pattern repeat of that lace shawl I mentioned, oh, when was it? a lifetime ago? (Yes, I made up my mind, went against y'alls recommendation, and decided on... duh-duh-dum... the Lilac Leaf Shawl.) Of course there's no photographic evidence of the shawl, even though it's halfway done, thanks to that one extra week I spent waiting for the arrival of the Bean. Instead my camera is full of baby photos, so I'm going to slay you with cuteness and hope that this will distract from this post's lack of knitting content (as if that were to return any time soon! How some women nurse and knit at the same time is beyond me):

That's C at three weeks, all prim and proper. And a week later he really learned to smile and started to show his true nature, which is, at times, characterized by mischief:

And that's all for today. Happy St. Patrick's!

PS: Thank you so much for your good wishes and congratulatory comments!