Tuesday, November 22, 2016

knit baby leggings

Did you notice those cute knit pants in Mae's six month post? These are the Rocky Joggers knit in Regia Design Line by Arne and Carlos in colorway Star Night. The yarn is dyed in a way that forms these stripes and patterns all by itself... no fancy colorwork needed! I saw another project on Ravelry using a similar self-striping yarn and knew I needed to make a pair for Mae.


I made an elastic waistband instead of a drawstring since I know Mae would be constantly untying the strings. Hopefully she agrees that the cuteness outweighs the itchiness of wool pants!


Project details on my Ravelry page.

Sunday, November 20, 2016

our little godson!

Last weekend we welcomed little Oliver to the Catholic Church! Dan and I were very honored that Christopher and Emily chose us to be Oliver's godparents. (Dan only made a couple of Godfather-related jokes the whole weekend. I was surprised there weren't more.)

Oliver was well-behaved during the ceremony, except he looked like he wanted to dive into the baptismal font the whole time! He didn't fuss when the Deacon poured the water over his head, but he looked very surprised.



Christopher and Emily had a little reception at their house after the ceremony. Actually, there was nothing "little" about it since there were about 40 people! We enjoyed lots of delicious food and had fun visiting with our family and Emily's family.


We'll be praying for you, Oliver!

Thursday, November 17, 2016

six months of mae

Well, it happened. Mae got fun.


She's cute and playful and giggly and wild! She is super curious and explores by army crawling everywhere (she hasn't figured out how to incorporate the legs yet). She is getting pretty good at "tripod" sitting, where she supports herself with her arms. Her hair is starting to come in thicker now, but the jury is still out on whether it'll be brown or red. And the eyes? We are pretty sure they're going to stay blue. I'm already preparing my speech for the day she comes home from science class crying that she's adopted because the Punnet Square says brown-eyed parents can't have a blue-eyed baby. (They can).


We are in the process of weaning her from nursing to sleep. Sometimes she falls asleep right away, and sometimes she screams until Dan goes to settle her down. She usually sleeps from 7:30 pm to 7:00 am with a couple feeds overnight. She is still sleeping in our room, but will soon be ready to move into her nursery! She's not a good napper at home, but received high marks in "sleeping" on her baby report card from the day care.


Her favorite toys right now are her wind-up radio, anything that rattles, and her brand new jumperoo. This girl has SO much energy!


Mae loves sitting in her high chair while we cook or eat dinner, as long as we don't attach the tray. Tray = screaming. She had her first taste of sweet potatoes on Monday and seemed pretty unsure about the whole experience (this photo makes it look like she was a lot more excited than she actually was). She's usually not very talkative, but for some reason loves to babble as soon as I get the food on her tongue. This sends little flecks of orange goo all over both of us! I was even using the spoon to wipe her face after each bite, and she still ended up looking like this.


She is still struggling to gain weight, only adding 6.5 ounces since her 4 month checkup. She has now fallen to the 5th percentile for weight (she started just above 50th). We will be adding hypoallergenic powdered formula to her breast milk bottles to sneak in some extra calories as well as introducing rice cereal, fruits, veggies, peanut butter, and eggs over the next few weeks. I think she's just burning too many calories since she never stops moving!

Lastly, here's some neat art that Mae created at day care. Enjoy!

Friday, November 11, 2016

happy valley

Well, this has been a crazy week!

Last weekend, we drove to Penn State for Mae's first football tailgate. We left Friday morning and arrived in State College around dinner time after only 2 stops along our drive.

Saturday we went to campus and tailgated with a bunch of Dan's friends from college. We could not have had more perfect football weather... sunny and just a bit chilly! Colleen and her friend Kaela were also at the game tailgating with their friends. Aunt Colleen was super happy to get some quality time with Mae, and Mae loved the attention!


Mae also had fun hanging out with CJ and Catherine's 11-month-old daughter Abby.


She partied a little too hard and passed out in the afternoon. Good thing CJ and Catherine thought to bring a portable crib.



It was a great day, and Dan got to see Penn State beat Iowa! (Mae and I went back to the house after tailgating, and she was asleep before the game even started.)


The rest of this week has been pretty crazy. My social media accounts have been exploding with reactions, both good and bad, to Tuesday's election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States. Every 4 years, half the country is elated and half the country is devastated by the election results. This year feels even more polarized than in the past.

Then, on Thursday, Dan got in a pretty bad car accident. He's okay but very, very sore. He had just dropped off Mae at day care (thank goodness) and was stopped at a light when a drunk driver plowed into the back of his car and caused a 6 vehicle accident. I got his call on my way into work, but had no idea how bad the accident was until I arrived at the scene. One woman had to be cut from her car, and a helicopter was just landing to transport her to the hospital. There were emergency vehicles everywhere, and the road was closed. After we left the scene, I took Dan to the emergency room to get x-rays (nothing was broken) and some prescriptions for the muscle soreness. We left the ER, picked up Mae from day care, and went home to rest and thank God that our little family was all okay.


Any suggestions for what type of vehicle we should get? I have a feeling this little sedan is totaled.

Monday, November 7, 2016

to dye for

Here is a photo of the last time my hair was dyed.


Wasn't I cute? Mom tinted my hair darker to complete my Snow White costume. Then I managed to go about 30 more years without coloring my hair at all... until last week.

I don't have any amazing "before and after" photos to share because, frankly, my hair doesn't look any different. It just has fewer visible grays. I did snap one in-process photo which makes me look like a super villain. Mwahaha!

Wednesday, November 2, 2016

halloween fun

Daddy picked out Mae's costume for her first Halloween... a football! I bought a long-sleeved brown onesie and attached pieces of grosgrain ribbon for the stripes and laces. She wore it with white tights and a white bow for a touch of girliness! Dan and I wore football jerseys to complement her costume.


Saturday night we went to a party at Kathy and Jason's. They were dressed as Bob Ross and his happy tree! We visited with lots of friends including Ben, Jen, and Anna (Elmer Fudd, the wascally wabbit, and a very cute little strawberry)! Mae was clearly torn between wanting to grab the fake hunting rifle and Jason's glorious wig.


Sunday brought a bit of a scare to our Halloween weekend as we had Mae's first trip to urgent care. She had jammed her finger into her eye the previous evening and it had been red and watery on and off Sunday morning. Urgent care confirmed she had scratched her cornea and said she should heal fine with regular application of an antibiotic ointment. (I think I've managed to get ointment on every part of her body except her eye. How are you supposed to pin down a squirming baby and pry her eye open??)


On Monday, we continued the tradition of going to Nate and Amanda's house to hand out candy to trick-or-treaters. We sat around a fire pit at the end of their driveway and ate chili while all the little neighborhood kids came by. I love seeing all the costumes! This year, superhero costumes were definitely the most popular. I wonder what Mae will be next year!