Weekend Wrap-Up

I will attempt to do this while holding a sweet little baby in my arms. Someday... someday I really will get my act together and be able to participate in Jen's Quick Takes on FRIDAY but, until then, I fly solo with my weekend wrap-up (sigh).

1. Technology is wonderful... I am sitting here with my iPhone, wanting to post a picture I took earlier today, but I left the cable in another room. Not wanting to get up and wake up Joseph, I simply emailed it to myself, waited a few seconds, and voila! The picture is on my computer.

10 days old and he's already smiling!

2. Since I'm not supposed to be doing any work for the next few weeks (yeah, right), I've been doing a lot of knitting in-between feedings and diaper changes. Well, I can't really say I can "knit" -- I'm a one-trick pony who learned the basic stitch from a youtube tutorial. I use the super-big needles and curly yarn, and by simply doing the same stitch back and forth, I've made two prayer shawls!

Anyway, the exciting part of all of this is that both of my older girls showed an interest in learning, and in just a few minutes, they picked it up! We've had a great time sitting on the couch, knitting together, all weekend long. (I'm truly shocked by the whole thing since I tried to teach them several times how to crochet, and it just never clicked with them. I'm not sure why, since there are fewer things in life simpler than crocheting "snakes," but they could never get the hang of it. Knitting, on the other hand, which is much more difficult in my opinion, came so easily to them. Go figure!)

3. Hospital tape just does NOT come off. Period. I've been scraping the stuff off myself for over a week now.

4. One of my last goals that I set for myself before going into the hospital was to make a carrying case for my coupon binder. I was sick and tired of wrestling it in and out of bags to take it into the store (or worse, not having it in a bag and carrying the big bulky thing in my arms and feeling a bit foolish). I thought about it for quite some time, and came up with what I thought was a novel solution..... sigh. Turns out someone has already made said product, and does them quite well. Kudos to her for marketing them! I am enjoying mine and am thrilled that I came up with the design... and somewhat sad to see that someone beat me to it. Oh well. Another money maker down the tubes.

5. No matter how many children I have had, why do I always forget how much time a newborn takes up? It's amazing how someone who spends most of the day with his eyes closed can make it so difficult to get things done! *grin*

6. I know I've asked this before, but why is it that my children can handle this

and this

with no problem whatsoever (which would have given me nightmares for WEEKS when I was little!), but somehow find this

and this

to be frightening? I just don't understand. Grace tells me weekly (still!) how much she does NOT like Holy Baby. I have promised her I would never, ever make her watch it (that kid has been scarred for life by St. John Bosco and a nun. I think I failed Catholic Parenting 101). As far as Hercule Poirot goes, I let the kids watch Masterpiece Mystery this evening. They had been asking for the chance to watch a mystery, and I thought a good Agatha Christie mystery was the way to go. I was introduced to her when I was in the 5th grade through my teacher, who read And Then There Were None to us during the last 10 minutes of each class period. I was hooked -- I checked out or bought so many Agatha Christie mysteries, and I just assumed that my kids would one day like her, too.

WRONG.

I won't name names so as to protect those involved from embarrassment, but certain kids went to bed rather frightened this evening. Sigh. That wasn't at ALL what I had set out to do. I feel horrible.

7. What *doesn't* frighten Grace, however (besides orcs, which are nothing to her) is getting out of bed, walking through a dark house, and getting herself a drink of water from the kitchen. Heck, I'm not sure I could have done this as a teenager! (I was terribly afraid of the dark). My two-year old, however, thinks nothing of it. Puzzling, but amazing.

8. Baby #8 and I have pretty much NOTHING to wear that I can nurse in. I'm in big trouble. I think a trip to the fabric store is in order so I can whip up a few nursing dresses. I've got a pattern for one of these (from 13 years ago! Good grief!),  but I am in serious need for more options. Any recommendations?

Good night and have a great week, everyone!