Hairy Days

I picked up Iain’s Christmas portraits from Wal-mart today and was stunned. Although they are gorgeous (proud mom, eh?), he has already changed so much!

I wanted Iain’s pictures taken before he had his first hair cut. The portraits were done at the end of October and he had his first hair cut at just the beginning of this month. And here is why I wanted his last portraits done with his long baby hair.

He went from my little baby,

To such a big boy in no time flat!

Here’s a goofy one from Iain to you. Up until the past week, I, literally, took pictures anytime Iain had a big solid food meal because Iain still prefers to nurse and solid food is still not his forté. I hit a great option with slow cooker spaghetti sauce and pasta this day though!

The Big Snow

Hi there! I’ve got something to show you. It snowed here. All. Weekend. Seriously, the snow did not let up at all. It was great! Here are some shots to help you capture exactly how much fell this weekend (the most in any one fall since we’ve moved to Nova Scotia).

I took this picture on Saturday morning. The snow started sometime after midnight, Saturday AM. We already had about three inches down from the fall earlier last week:


The snow shovelling team (our nice neighbour still plows for us. Thank. God.):



A close up of the short members of the team. The wee balaclava hat is one Mudder knit for Iain recently. He looks adorable in it!

This one was taken later Saturday evening:

And this one is from this morning, when things were still nice and crisp (and, yes, it was still snowing) and before things started to melt.

We’re supposed to get rain tomorrow. !!Sob!!

Sorry, I can’t write more. Very. Busy. I’m knitting….

First Snow Day and A Knitting Angel

Some things are just more fun when you have a child to share them with.

Here is a shot from this morning that captures a little of Iain’s excitement when he realised the world outside had turned white overnight!

When Iain and I were bringing the car for it’s annual Motor Vehicle Inspection (yep, we do that every year here in Nova Scotia. That’s one year more often than any other place we’ve ever lived. Yep, we’re late doing it and still wouldn’t have it done if some stranger wasn’t admiring our van in the parking lot of a store and happened to notice our inspection sticker was expired), a Knitting Angel visited our door.



There used to be six in this jelly roll of dishcloths parcel. By the time I got this shot, one had already been taken for other pursuits.

What a sweetie Barbara is! When she was over on Monday, I mentioned in passing that I needed more dishcloths (I posted about that here awhile back too. Nope, still haven't been able to knit any). Turns out, she’s a really good listener.

Thanks again, Barbara, for the very sweet and MUCH appreciated knitted gifts! Hopefully we will be home next time to greet you in person!

Happy Birthday to Me!

It was my birthday on Monday. I certainly got spoiled and also had the opportunity to do some things I had never done on my birthday before. Here are some highlights:

• Not being able to overcome the 11:15 AM munchies, there is a rumour that I was seen cutting off a piece of the previously uncut birthday cake. Seriously, I could not help myself and can you blame me? DH made a lovely Raspberry Chocolate Cheesecake for my birthday cake. The siren call from the fridge was stronger than I was able to withstand at that hour of the morning. Or any other time of the day since…
• Something new for me was spending two hours at outpatients at our local hospital waiting to confirm that Iain had the chicken pox only to find out that he has a strep ear infection (never heard of such a thing) and the rash he has was caused by that! He is now on 5 ml of antibiotics three times a day. Fun times.
• I was lucky to receive a gorgeous bouquet of roses compliments of DH and Iain – what great taste they have!

• After our visit to the hospital, Iain and I managed to run a couple of errands (via stroller) into town. On our way home, we found Barbara wandering around our neck of Middleton killing some time while her children were involved in a program. I invited her over for some cheesecake and a chat. The house was a mess (hopefully she didn’t mind – I had no cleaning time what with the hospital visit and all!) but we managed to have a great snack and a great chat. Iain was certainly under the weather but Barbara still managed to get him to ham it up for the camera. She told me that she will be posting a picture of us here soon. Too bad we weren’t knitting..!
• I put my first Christmas parcel in the mail (one of six). Don’t hate me. The likelihood of the last parcel going out on December 24th is extremely high. I’ve done it before. No, I’m not proud.
• I received so many celebratory birthday telephone calls that I actually missed some people before toddling off to bed! What a nice complaint!
  
  And, since then what I have been doing? Did I mention that Iain has an ear infection?!? And DH is in Halifax for the week? Whew!

The Secret Room - A Journey

One of my good friends often comments on my blog posts via email. She is an avid reader (lucky me!) and is often making comments on this and that. For her last several emails, however, there has really been a common theme:

“Ages and ages ago, you mentioned a Secret Room in your house. When are you going to tell us more?”

Well, M, the truth is, the Secret Room is making me a little sad right now. I love it. But it is only being used for minor storage and that is part of the reason why it makes me sad. We currently have no development plans for it. The basement has come to the forefront of priority (it will give us more family space) and Iain’s wee ‘Secret’ room play room? Well, it is way back on the development back burner somewhere.

All that being said, one of the reasons why I fell in love with this house in the first place is because of the Secret Room. It is accessed through the closet door in Iain’s bedroom and is, really, the attic space above the living room. I call it ‘Secret’ because you do not realise that there is access to another part of the house when you glance in Iain’s room. You need to open his closet door. Seeing another door there for the first time was, for me, a bit like looking into the back of a wardrobe. Having been a fan of C.S. Lewis and the Chronicles of Narnia ever since I can remember, (and resolutely stating that I wished to be buried with them when I was about nine years old. That might seem morbid for that age but, remember, my father is a minister so the subject of death and who might be dying were regular facts of life our house) any house that stirred up images of "The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe" could cause powerful things and force money being put down on any property.

Without further ado, join me on a quick journey to our Secret Room.

The innocuous bedroom closet:

The Secret Door:

The Secret Room from Iain’s closet:

Looking back into Iain’s room:

More of the (messy) space:

It really is a neat space and I had a design to finish it planned out before I walked out of it that very first time. Now the challenge will be to see if we’re here long enough to make those ideas a reality…

Happy Birthday, DH!

Happy Birthday, DH!

It was DH’s thirty-something birthday yesterday. Iain was a big help making Daddy’s cake.

Supervising from his high chair (I love how confident he looks with one of his arms draped across the back of the chair!):

Quality control:

Look, Daddy! A cake!

Assisting with the opening of presents:

Ooh! A knitted present (a pair of lovely socks from Mudder. Sorry, this is the best shot I got of them last night):

I think Iain may have figured out the whole opening of presents deal…

I cannot believe it’s been a week since I last posted. SORRY!

Awarded!

It is not just every day that I receive an award. It is especially special when the person who gives you the award is someone you look up to, really, really like and who inspires you to no end with her knitting prowess. Sweet, sweet Suzanne (aka Yarnhog) has graciously given me the following award:



Squeee! Thank you SO much, Suzanne! I agree with you that hosting a blog is as much for personal satisfaction as the knowledge that somebody else out there might be reading. For me, hosting a blog also offers me A) great incentive to work on projects and B) writing practice. I love to write but, honestly, would not put the time aside if I did not have this blog. It is a thrill to know that, not only do you regularly read my blog posts, but like it enough to award me with a lovely blue ribbon! Thank you so much for passing this award torch onto me. I will ‘wear’ the ribbon with pride (and post it on my sidebar, just as soon as I figure out how…!).

The rules for award acceptance are as follows: 1. The winner can put the logo on their website/blog. 2. Add a link to the person who gave you this award. 3. Nominate at least 5 other websites/blogs. 4. Provide links of the nominated websites/blogs. 5. Leave a message at each website owner that you've nominated.

I would like to nominate the following fellow bloggers. These are folks that I visit most every day and finish their posts with a smile. Narrowing down my list to just five was really, really hard. So, I interpreted the rules as ‘at least 5’ and chose six instead. That was still hard. I would have loved to have listed everyone that I regularly read. However, that would probably be stretching the rules a wee bit too much.

I am nominating:

Renée over at Froggiemeanie – Renée is another ‘misplaced’ Newfoundland and Labradorian who is a knitter and mother to two, with another miracle due in April. Renée is the reason I started a blog of my own in the first place. Check out her calendar win over at Knitty. Renée is ‘Miss April’ and her submission is truly a gorgeous Newfoundland shot.

April over at Clandestine & Candour – I have been an avid follower of April’s knitting prowess for almost as long as I’ve been following blogs. She has decided to make some big life changes and go back to school and still manages to get knitting done. Go on over and wish her luck!

Samantha over at Wilderness Witch Knits – Another Canadian with whom I seem to have a lot in common (knitting, love of the outdoors and camping, pregnant at very much the same time…). Samantha has a very impressive ability to start and finish knitting projects. With. Three. Children. Be still my knitting heart!

Alisha over at Tales From A Self Taught Knitter – I think one of the things I really like about Alisha (apart from the fact that she is a great role model of a mother) is the amount of knitting she just randomly gives away. Like these socks? Here, take them! Like this market bag? It’s yours! Alisha is such a sweetie, I know you will love her too!

Jen over at The Life of a Busy Little Bee – I am fairly new to Jen’s blog and just love it. Jen is a busy lady with a full-time teaching position, all of the homework that goes with being a teacher and running training on the side. Naturally, she is a fantastic knitter too.

Elizabeth over at Home-Spin – Elizabeth’s blog is another fairly new one for me and is another one that I just love. Elizabeth is another mother who (gasp!) manages to stick to One. Knitting. Project. At. A. Time. I look to her for leadership and monogamous role modelling regularly.

Thanks again, Suzanne! Have fun passing on the torch, Ladies!

Off The Wagon

Sorry. I seem to have fallen off the blog wagon this week. We went to Halifax this past weekend and managed to fit in finishing Christmas shopping together with visiting with great friends and their 3.5 and 1 year old. It was a great weekend but one of those great weekends where you arrive back to your house and reality and feel a bit deflated. Or, perhaps for me, the better description is that I am just plain tired. I guess I’m out of shopping shape! Therefore, the usual 1 to 2 to 3 hours worth of ‘me’ time ( = blogging time) I get when Iain is napping has seen me snoring away next to him. I usually manage to get up and shower before he gets up but that’s about it (the neighbours are thankful for the small effort, I’m sure). Plus, my hands are terrible. Killing. Me. I went to the doctor again today and came home with a new type of cream to try and a referral to a dermatologist. Thank. God. I will choose to ignore the 6 – 8 month waiting list in my hopeful glee…

I’m sure you’ve guessed that horrendous hand skin = no knitting. I have been getting some hooking done – the drive to Halifax put a great dent into that project – and I hope to have something interesting to post for you within the next couple of days. It’s still fibre related so I feel I’m still hitting my blog parameters (heck, it’s my blog so I can do what I want! Yeah!).

So, what’s up with you? Want to come over for a cup of tea and to reflect on the world? Wait. Iain has a doctor’s appointment tomorrow (funny how these things can never be arranged for the same day, isn’t it?!?). There goes my ‘me’ time again. It’s hump day though and I hear there’s a weekend coming up soon…

Here are belated Halloween wishes from our house to yours!