The 10 hat challenge: DONE!

This morning I put the finishing touches on the last hat. I was going to run them up to the hospital today, but then I realized that it would make much more sense to take them in after work on Monday. That's the new plan.

All the hats:

The 10 hat challenge

I'm up to 9! I'm going to try to get another one done tonight, and then take them to the hospital tomorrow.
We're experiencing a heat wave right now. It's brutal, shocking, wet, disgusting heat the likes of which we rarely see in Canada. Makes it virtually impossible to get ANYTHING done. We don't have a/c - we have a number of fans, and a dehumidifier. The temperature inside our house is 30 degrees. Imagine how hot it is outside our house!

My girl is 2.

I can't believe it's only been 2 years since our daughter entered our lives. She is such an integral part of our every day. When she isn't here, I miss her terribly. She is such a capable, articulate, tall child that it's sometimes hard to convince the world that she is a well-behaved 2 year old, and not a 3 year old at all. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep that tidbit in mind.

I also can't believe she's 2 already. Seems like just a few weeks ago I was toughing out the summer heat, pregnant, over-due and waiting impatiently for a little stranger's arrival. There have been some really aggravating days between then and now, but I wouldn't trade one of them for all the money/malabrigo/etc. in the world.

On Sunday we hosted Sweet Pea's birthday party, and what a great time we had!


Here we see a very happy girl in the pool she got from her Nana and Papa. She and her young guests played in the pool for most of the afternoon.


Eventually, our girl wanted to get out.


Although she regretted her decision almost instantly.

She sulked about it for a few minutes.

But then she got to open some presents! Inside one, she found a yummy treat.


Inside another, she found a new friend to kiss and love.


Another one gave her a bunch of stuff to be a little mommy!


Then there was the monkey cake!


And candles to blow out.


And then there was fishing in the pool.


And finally, popsicles just before everyone went home.
It was long, full busy day - but we all had a great time.

The 12 hat . . . errrr . . . 10 hat challenge

Last year, around Sweet Pea's birthday, I took a shoebox full of hand-knit, newborn hats to the childbirth centre where my girl was born. This year, her birthday has sort of snuck up on me. I realized about a week ago that I needed to make some hats. I don't want to bring in 2 or 3 hats, I want to bring in a big bunch of hats.
I decided on 12. 12 hats in 14 days. Reasonable, right? No. Maybe in the old days. The days when I wasn't chasing an active toddler, or managing her tantrums and mood swings. Maybe before I found out how much fun playing together is, and how much my big almost 2 year old likes to pretend she's a 'tiny baby'. I swaddle her, and snuggle her and rock her, and she says "waa!" and "momma!" It's cuter than it sounds.
The first day, I got a hat done in under 24 hours. Good!

The second day, I got the second hat halfway done. Not as good, but it took more attention. PLUS, I had to finish the first hat that day.


The third day, I finished the above hat.
The fourth, fifth and sixth day, I made this one.

(This is where I realize that I'm lying to myself because there are 7 days in a week, not six, and I just finished the bunny hat this morning.)
Today, I started a mini Odessa. It's not even halfway finished. Fortunately, I found a hat that I made last year and forgot to put in the box! I'm up to four finished hats to bring to the hospital next Tuesday . . . or so. So I set my sights a little lower. I'm scaling back to 10 hats. 10 hats is still good, right?

Potential problem: I'm running out of useable yarn scraps. I have bits of DK, and bits of fingering . . . but not enough of any one colour to make a hat, and not enough of any co-ordinating colours to make a striped hat. I may have to start cutting into 'sweater's worths'.

Catching up

Lots and lots going on chez nous. Well, actually not that much - but a few big things.

1) Sweet Pea is doing well with her bed. She's fallen out twice and now tells me every night when I tuck her in "no fall out you bed, mommy." I have promised her I won't. She seems reassured.

2) A few weeks ago, we found this in our clematis:

On Monday it looked like this:

This is where the updates end, because Momma robin has become super protective and dive-bombs anything that goes into our backyard. We may be forced to deal with the nest, since Sweet Pea's birthday party is next weekend - I hope it's not a problem by then.

3) Finally launched my Etsy shop with three cuties. Find me here!

4) We're expanding! Or rather, I'm expanding. For Christmas this year, we'll be getting a new family member. So far so good, but I'm glad to see the end of the super-tiring, nauseated first trimester.

Big Day

Saturday was a big day in our household. Saturday THIS happened:



Maybe I'm jinxing it saying this, but . . . so far, so good. I think she was more than ready for the change - she's been such a good girl. This morning I heard her get out of bed at 5:45, and walk around her room - but then she went right back to bed and slept until 7:15.

And I will say it's cute as a button to watch her climb into her bed, snuggle in with her Beebie and her monkey, and pull the blankets over herself. My baby is turning into a little girl, right before my eyes.

Overrun.

We are overrun. Completely, fully overrun.

With Toys.



It's impossible to keep an area clean when there are a million toys in it! I swear we clean the living room 10 times a day. But then Sweet Pea wants to play with her zoo, or pulls out all the stuffies, and we're right back at square one.

Sweet Pea is turning 2 at the beginning of July. She will doubtless receive lots of new toys. She already has too many toys. So I have started culling the herd, so to speak. Last weekend, I reduced the stuff in her toy tub by 1/2. She didn't notice. This weekend, I'll eliminate a little more. I bet she won't notice. Hopefully, we'll be able to hold steady at the insane volume of toys we have NOW for after her birthday.


You think I can convince people to give her pajamas instead??