6 Months Old!

Stuff I Made...aka my craft failure.

I have a new hobby... its a hobby formed out of desperation... of being help captive to my couch while my lovely little one eats ALL the DANG TIME.  If you know me in real life, you know I have a lot of creative energy.  I have an entire room of my house filled with fabric, paint stuff, beading, metal stamping, scrap-booking, silkscreening, you name it I probably have some of it... and that's just in that one room... craft/art/project stuff is spilling out of every corner of our house (and don't even get me started on my spray paint obsession in the garage).

Unfortunately, a lot of my favorite activities require a sewing machine or two hands, or basically just not an infant attached to one's chest.  So I slowly went crazy for a few months, not really being able to get some of this energy out except in short, nap-length bursts from time to time.  And I went a little wild on Pinterest...but that's another story.  So I decided I needed to learn to crochet.  There's tons of cute crochet things out there that don't look like your granny's blanket thing-ies and I could totally do that while feeding the boy.  Corbin has this cute crocheted ball that he loves and I  decided making crochet balls would be a good goal.  And how hard could it really be- you're just tying knots- right?

I think I have finally met my match in the craft world.

Not to sound braggy or anything but I am good at crafty things.

They just generally come naturally to me.  I am not the best sewer but I am good at the things I do make with my sewing machine.

I am by no means a master painter but if I want something to look a certain way I can usually accomplish it.

I am totally awesome at making life-sized monsters and Halloween props.

But crochet.... ohhhh crochet.  Why do you evade me like you do?

I started to out by learning the basic stitches- no problem.  Tying knots... literally.

I figured out how to hold the hook and start my foundation row.

I loved picking out fun yarns (cheaper than fabric!).

And then I struggled through learning how to read patterns (horrible person who figured out that method of short-hand!).

I decided if I could figure out hats then I'd get a good overall understanding of how crochet works.  Seemed like a small enough of a project that I'd actually finish it and I like hats and Corbin looks cute in hats (since he has no hair) so win-win.

Lose-lose.

My first attempt:

A big, green, yarn pancake.  See:

Not a hat.

After several more 'pancakes' I finally started getting my projects to look a little more hat-like:

I made this one for Mr. Incredible.  He said it looked like a giant knit boob.

My next attempt was actually closer to fitting an actual human's head... but still boob-like:

For the record I proudly wore the blue boob out in public.


I finally started getting a flatter hat shape... but its weird:

Here I stopped while I was ahead... already boob-ish:

These were two different hats that didn't turn out so I stitched them together... kind of like a sad ice cream cone:

I actually finally started to figure things out and found a pattern that wasn't written in Martian and my hats started turning out.... see how cute Corbin looks despite his mama's lack of crochet skills?

And yes I finally did accomplish it- the crocheted ball:

Pretty much 2 months from when I first started this 'hobby' I finally think I have a 50/50 shot of whatever I'm working on turning out more or less like what the pattern says it should be.  I feel like a craft failure for the first time in my life.  I suppose I'm getting better with practice.  We'll see... one thing is certain, I've got the corner of the market covered for yarn pancakes and boobs!

Witty Title About CIO-ing

That's Cry-It-Out-ing for those not in the know...  and yes I declared the other day for all the world to hear (or at least all my Facebook friends) that Mr. Incredible were putting our collective foot down and making Corbin Cry It Out in his crib that night.  He has gone from crummy sleeper to crapp-o sleeper these last few weeks and we had.had.enough.  Or so I thought.

Mr. Incredible- in his Incredible way of doing things- had done the research.  By leaving the baby to cry for a while and then going in to rock, feed, etc we were teaching perseverance... and perseverance was not what we needed to be teaching right now since our son was applying this new skill towards battling our will power in the middle of the night.  And he was getting very, very good at it.  We had a plan to end this and I had worked up the stamina/courage/guts/desperate need for something to work to enforce  a night of crying it out.

But here's the thing.  Our bundle of joy is a small bundle of joy... like literally small in size not in joy or whatever... like he's tiny and small and still eating every three hours (per doctor's orders).  That's three hours day AND NIGHT... not really conducive to sleeping through the night which is what CIO-ing is suppose to accomplish.  We've managed to make it to six months with this eating all hours of the night schedule and me not going totally insane from lack of sleep by discovering that Corbin is actually pretty content to sleep in our bed (insert *GASP* from the internets- did she just say they [bad word] CO-SLEEP?!?!?!?!?).   Sooooo... the cat is now out of the bag.  Yes, we do the hippy thing and co-sleep.

We both decided until Corbin gets a little bigger/we get the go ahead to make him sleep longer, then we're just going to stop stressing about being Damn Hippies and embrace the co-sleeping.

We're still battling getting him to sleep for his early bedtime- he's in his own room and is putting up a big fight.  But when the adults of the house are ready to call it a day and the BABY is still awake, well, then he just gets to sleep with us for now.

After we decided we could handle this new plan, I think we both felt better about how things were going as you know, PARENTS.  We had rationalized to each other that Corbin was a good sleeper in our bed and we were both sleeping well enough and it was much better than listening to him scream for an hour and a half (his previous record).  We settled into our 'family bed' (bleh!) feeling in charge when, low and behold, someone decided to put our decision to the test.  Corbin very clearly said,

"Hey."

We both kind of laughed.

"Hey.  Hey!"

Ok- he'll settle down.

"Hey!  Hey!  Hey!"

Me: "Shhhhh- Corbin its sleep time."

(whispered) "hhhhhHey!"

"Shhhhh!"

"hhhhHey!"

"HEY!  HEY!  HEY!"

And on and on until we both felt stupid for thinking we had outsmarted our 6 MONTH OLD!

"silly parents- who needs sleep?"

His next doctor appointment is this week... we'll see if we have a new plan of attack after that....

Name That Photo Contest!

Its time for the first Caption Contest of 2012!  Comment with your best caption and I'll send you a prize if Mr. Incredible picks your entry!

california winter

ssssscamping!

We have a new family member!

This is our 2003 13 foot long Scamp camping trailer.  Despite the fisheye photo it really is tiny!

Here's a few interior shots (again with the fisheye... its just too tiny to take with a normal lens!)

This is from the dinette looking towards the kitchen and bathroom (yes- it has a bathroom, with a shower!)

Here's looking back towards the dinette that makes into a full-size (ish) bed.

For our maiden voyage we headed out to Aqua Caliente County Park for a few days before New Years.

We relaxed...

Built  camp fires...

Wore ridiculous matching shirts (thanks Mom!)...

We hiked and explored the nearby Mud Caves...

Corbin mostly rode along but had a few adventures of his own...

...Including flipping off the dinette seat in the Scamp and landing on his face!

He screamed a bit but then quickly got over his traumatic experience... but he did get some pretty awesome battle wounds (we're telling people he got bit by a snake).

We have plans to update the Scamp and do a few modifications but are really just looking forward to enjoying more weekend trips around Southern California.... so if you have a favorite campsite- let us know!

Christmas Memories...

Its Corbin's first Christmas.  One he will only 'remember' through our stories and photos.  Of course he had presents wrapped in pretty paper and toys stuffed in his stocking even though the wrapping paper was much more enticing for his five month old eyes.  But it made for nice memories for Mr. Incredible and me (and his grandparents and aunties and uncles etc).  I was reminded of one of my Christmas memories and a lesson I learned from that particular experience- one I hope to teach Corbin early on.


I remember my first visit to a Romanian orphanage- it was around Christmas time and I was only 12 years old.  The orphanage was built way up on top of a mountain, above the tiny coal mining village.  The day before, our team had helped pack Christmas gifts for the children.  Toothbrushes, soap, a few cookies, and dime-store toys were packaged into handmade draw-string bags.  As I quickly put these together, I thought about how lame the gifts were and how no kid would want these for Christmas.  My mind automatically wandered to my own Christmas list and all the amazing toys, gadgets, and the new bike I was anticipating seeing under our Christmas tree at home.

It was bitter cold and my California- bought coat and shoes were not adequate for a Romanian winter.  We went into a large room where all the kids were gathered and I realized it was colder inside than outside!  My thin coat and shoes suddenly felt like arctic expedition gear compared to the children's worn sweaters and rubber sandals.  We sang songs with the children and handed out the meager gifts.  The excitement on the children's faces was overwhelming as they carefully inspected each item in their bags. Our translator leaned over and whispered to me that we had just given the children the only present that they would receive this year.

After our little Christmas program, the children surrounded me, speaking eagerly and quickly.  I only knew how to say 'I don't understand' and 'where is the bathroom' so the conversation was very one-sided but I smiled and let them hold my hands.  My little brother and I stood out in the dirty snow with kids much older than us and oohed and aaahed at the hot wheel cars and rubber bouncy balls they had received.  It didn't seem to matter that the toys were cheaply made and tiny.  They just smiled and laughed and showed off each item in their bags.  I drove a toy car around in the snow for a fifteen year old boy whose eyes lit up, like, well, Christmas morning.  A girl about the same age as me handed me a yo-yo with a confused look on her face.  I threaded the string and quickly showed her how to use it.  More kids surrounded us and the laughter and joy doubled.

It was time for us to go and as I climbed into the beat-up van that transported us around, several of the children grabbed my hands one last time.  I inexplicably had tears in my eyes as we said goodbye.  The children were called back inside and as the van door slammed closed, I realized that I had several rubber bouncy balls and other small toys in my hands and pockets.  They had given me their only toys- the only presents they would receive for Christmas and as far as I knew the only gifts they would get all year.  I tried to call out to them and return the gifts but the children were already herded inside.  Suddenly my tears were not so inexplicable and that expected new bike was as far from my mind as California was from Romania.

I sat in the back of that old van silently shivering from the cold and sniffling from the lesson that I had learned - it is far better to give than to receive.  What we get in this life will fade- wheels will fall off, strings will get tied into knots- but what we give- smiles, time, joy- will last.


Merry Christmas- I hope it was filled with wonderful time with family and friends, smiles, and joy!


-CtF