Baby A Baby Swap

One of my blogging buddies, Top Hat, is hosting a new swap - it's called "Baby A Baby!" It looks like a lot of fun, and basically is for people that love yarn and love baby stuff. That is DEFINITELY me. So... without further ado, here's my answers to the introductory questionnaire for the swap-a-roo! Hurry up and go join before the deadline (which is really soon because I procrastinated on this one!) if you're interested!

1) What is your favorite yarn? Favorite colors? What is your least favorite?

You know, I've never been a picky yarn-er when it comes to natural fibers / unnatural fibers. I have a tendency to go unnatural, just because they're cheaper and I have access to them. I'm not a big fan of the eyelash yarns, but used in moderation, they can add a lot of punch to your project. Favorite colors? For me, I usually like earthier tones, less saturated colors, but for baby? I'm all over bright pastels! I usually tend to go pretty simple in mixing colors - I'm not a daring forty-seven color mixer in a project - one or two satisfy me.

2) Knit, crochet, both?

Crochet.

3) How long have you been knitting/crocheting? Who taught you? Why did you want to learn?

My mom taught me how to knit when I was little, but it never stuck. In college, my household (a sorority crossed with a prayer group) sisters found yarn to be extremely therapeutic, and our business meetings always went better with a lot of yarn involved. I tried knitting again, and tried crocheting as well, and found crocheting to be much more tactile, which I loved. I have to say I don't remember who exactly taught me (it was 10 years ago) but it was definitely one of my sisters.

4) What is your favorite snack/sweet?

Oh, interesting question. I like munchies a lot. I love potato chips (there's nothing quite like them!), trail mixes (but without chocolate, they're not quite as good!), almonds, semisweet chocolate, dark chocolate, mint chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate, crunchy chocolate.... etc! I'm mostly dairy-free for this year, so no milk chocolate or caramel for me at the moment!

5) What did you want to be when you grew up?

A chiropractor. My grandfather, great uncle, uncle, first-cousin-once-removed and dad are all chiropractors. I never fulfilled that dream, but my little brother just went back to school for it, and he's going to join my dad in his practice after graduation. In my family, we all fulfill each other's dreams. Seriously. I have fulfilled my mom's dreams. I should post on that sometime. It's interesting.

6) What names would you NEVER consider for a baby?

Tatum. (It sounds like something a two year old would make up). Dallas. (A city name? Really, that is what you want to name your child after?) Madison. (Presidential last names do not make good girl's first names. Taylor also fits that category). I'm very much a traditional namer. I want my children's names to not scream a time period when you hear it.

7) What things did you, as a child, vow to never to do your children, but have since decided that you will? For example, we weren't allowed sugar-coated cereal growing up and I told my parents I'd NEVER do that to my kids. After some life experience, I think my parents were pretty smart in that decision.

I told myself I would never ever call my daughter "girly girl." I hated that. Passionately hated that. Yeah, I call her that all the time. Oops.

8) What is your favorite thing about being a parent/expectant parent?

This changes as she changes. Currently, it's being able to communicate with her through baby sign language, and watching her realize that she can tell me what she wants... we make jokes and share secret communication - and she can't talk...

Bloggy Giveaway!

I know I'm dreadfully late jumping on the bandwagon, but I have had one sick toddler here for the last week or so - I think she's finally getting better... phew!

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting yet another fabulous Bloggy Giveaway Carnival, and here's my entry:

A box FULL of craft supplies - many vintage. There is a ton of vinage rickrack, old buttons, vintage zippers, fold-over-elastic and some random craft supplies that I just am not using and would love to know that they're being put to a good use!

Please leave a comment here if you're interested, and I'll draw the winner on Friday. Thank you for stopping by!

Day 4: Oh so wii-ry

Okay, I've come to a conclusion early in my 30-days-of-blogging. It's not going to happen on weekends. I'm only on Day 4, but it's January 7. There's been three days where I get my Mister home. Do the math. I'm in love, what can I say?

But I am soooo tired this morning! Wii finally got our last Christmas present yesterday morning, bright and early. Wii'd received some cash as a gift, and decided to go ahead and splurge on the one thing wii'd been debating on getting as a mutual gift for ourselves...

Can you POSSIBLY guess what wii got?

Oh yeah. It's been a blast so far - and I'm only moderately sore from so much tennis!

Day 3: Communication

So not only did Peanut learn how to walk last Sunday night, she's just soaking up as many Baby Signs as I can teach her.

In the last week alone, she's started using: more, eat, baby, cat, all done and a vague and thoroughly unrecognizable-to-anyone-but-me banana. Add that to her previous vocabulary of dog, milk and light, and you can see how much has happened since we came home from Christmas vacation!

It really lights up her face when she is able to communicate something to me! It's also made diaper changes easier since she grasped the concept of all done -she knows that she can't roll away until I say and sign "all done" and she knows that she can't be excused from her high chair until she signs "all done."

Today she walked into the kitchen (that's already a fabulous improvement over last week) and signed "eat." When I asked her what she wanted to eat, she signed "more." Not so helpful. She then gave her attempt at banana but laughed when I looked so confused. So she walked over to stand under the counter where the bananas were, and pointed up. OH! I gotcha! Of course you can have bananas....

Life as a mother has totally changed overnight. I am in the process of making a Shutterfly album to showcase 2007, and am amazed at exactly how tiny and fragile Peanut looked one year ago...

Day 2: The Ultimate Gift

So I know I'm behind on this one as many of you have probably already seen this movie, but if you haven't, it's fabulous.

I was SUPPOSED to be folding laundry this morning, so I popped it in to watch while I attacked the piles. I didn't get anything folded since this film grabbed my attention right away and I pretty much just sat there and watched it...

I thought it was lovely. The acting was a touch stilted at points, but it was a well-made movie, beautiful scenery / sets, etc... It was heartwarming and sensitive and made me glad to be alive. I like that kind of film!

Day 1: Corned Beef

Yesterday was the last of twelve days off that Mister had for Christmas. The company he works for is fabulous with that - only Friday the 21st was a vacation day, the rest were given to him. But I chose to spend it with him rather than beginning my month o' blogging.

Today's reflection is extremely trivial, but to parents of small children, it might be good to know.

Both Mister and I are avid fans of corned beef. We just love it. We can eat an obscene amount of it hot, and then corned beef hash the next morning usually means that there are no leftovers. At all. We love the stuff. So we were thrilled to see that Peanut enjoys it as much as we do. It's so tender after a day in the crockpot that she loved it... Cut into small pieces, it's soft and easy to pick up. Perfect toddler food, right?

Until the diapers started hitting. Corned beef poop is the most toxic odor that has ever come out of my child. And there's been some doozies so far. I was trying to describe this smell to Mister, and my saying "it really smells like corned beef" wasn't helping, since he finds that smell appealing. But somehow the appetizing odor of corned beef gets warped into this dreadful mutant gut-twisting stench.

So my advice for the day: Corned beef is not your toddler's friend.

Movies of 2008

I thought I'd make a list of all the movies I watch in 2008, just for fun... If there was a movie that I was really touched by, it's in bold. Movies that I can't recommend to anyone are crossed out.

• Amazing Grace: Way better than I expected.
• Becoming Jane: Who cares if it's historically accurate? Oh the sweet tension...
  
• Catch and Release: Predictable but it still made me cry.
• Copying Beethoven: Big disappointment.
• Elizabeth, the Golden Age: Didn't finish due to the serious anti-Catholic bias.
• Freedom Writers: Good, predictable, gritty.
• Gone, Baby Gone: Very brutal and vulgar - but unbelievably gripping. Who would ever have thought that Ben Affleck would make such a good director? I had my hand to my throat the whole time... with tears in my eyes.
  
• Goodnight, Mister Tom: Wonderful, surprising, sweet.
• King of Kong: Fascinating documentary. We were totally hooked.
  
• League of Their Own: I can't believe I'd never seen this. I even knew a Rockford Peach.
• Man in the Moon: Reese Witherspoon was fabulous.
• Man Without a Face: Good, more serious than I'd expected.
• Marie Antoinette: Waste of time. Didn't finish.
• Miss Potter: Interesting, but could have been better.
• Nanny Diaries: Just like the book, it was okay.
• Once: Fabulous. Absolutely fabulous. I have the soundtrack going nonstop.
• Sweetland: Lovely. Better than expected.
  
• Ultimate Gift: I liked it a lot, Mister thought it was predictable.