Elizabeth Anne

Isn't she just the sweetest, cutest, most beautiful baby ever?


Elizabeth responds:

So this lady shows up. My sisters call her "Gran." My brother calls her "Dan." WhatEVER.

Anyhow, she sees me, plunks this hat on me, and says stuff like, "Oh, I just want to kiss her, and cuddle her, and hug her." Get in line, Lady. Get in line.

Then there are flashes of light in my face. And more flashes. Honest to doG, doesn't she know I am trying to sleep?

And she just goes on with things like "She's just the sweetest, cutest, most beautiful baby ever." Well, duh. I've been hearing that stuff as long as I can remember. Go bother my brother and sisters. Take a hike.

And she did. Take a hike that is. With me. And it rained. ON me. Well, that was fun. NOT.

But my mother took Gran, Dan, whoever, to someplace called the"airport" and now she's gone.

About time, I say. Enough is enough. Get a life, lady.

Let's Hope

My sister is making a comforter for older daughter's new baby, Elizabeth. As a part of this comforter, there will be squares that each of Elizabeth's siblings have drawn for her. While I was in Austin, I oversaw the artists at work. C, of course, since he is only two, drew lots of scrawls and lines, just happy to be at the kitchen table with his sisters, working on the project they were working on. He loves to be included.

E was drawing the sort of thing that she does best, lots of intricate designs, and of course, a heart and the word "love."

Then there was L. As I walked towards her, she lifted her head, smiled her famous beatific, angelic smile and said, "Look. This is a drawing of me throwing Elizabeth in the air." I'm sure I must have looked startled because she added, "She loves it when I throw her in the air."

I pointed out that Elizabeth appeared to be frightened. "Look at her mouth," I said. "She's screaming."

"No," said L. "She's saying 'Whee!'"

Oh...kay.

I then told the girls that they could draw more than one picture if they wanted, and E and L both drew flowery, sweet pictures. I'm sending all their work off to my sister and she can choose what to use.

Check out hokgardner's blog today; it's about L's love for her new sister. I'm sure she loves her, but I'm guessing there's a little jealousy there too---just check out the drawing...

BTW: L is not dyslexic; she was drawing on transfer paper and the image will be reversed when it is ironed on fabric.

Another F O

Last year I bought a Mountain Colors Mixed Fibers Throw kit, and finally, just before I went to Austin, I finished it. It sort of "hibernated" during the summer months. It was just too heavy and warm and fuzzy for knitting during Georgia's summer heat and humidity, air-conditioning not withstanding.

When I realized that I was going to Austin a month earlier than I had expected because Elizabeth had been born early, I tried to think of a frivolous but luxurious gift for older daughter. Having her baby five weeks early was stressful for her and I wanted to give her something she wouldn't have expected. I wracked my brain as I knitted away finishing this throw. And then I thought, "Duh. Why not the throw itself?" It's made of all sorts of textures of wool and mohair and it is wonderfully soft. The colorway is called Northern Lights and it's beautiful. (The colors don't really show up well in the photos.)

Anyway, I carried it to Austin and gave it to H. She and Elizabeth can snuggle into it during cold winter nights when Elizabeth wants to be awake to eat or to just hang out with her mom.

And now I'm going to order another kit to make one for me!

Elizabeth A. and Elizabeth Z.

I am back from Texas where I spent a week helping older daughter (spoiling grandchildren to the best of my ability) with her new baby, who was born five weeks early. She is beautiful and sturdy...and a good thing too, with three older siblings to deal with!

I had bought the pattern for Elizabeth Zimmermann's Baby Surprise Jacket a month or so ago, in anticipation of making it for new baby. But new baby was early, so I made it while I was in Austin. I have been knitting for a long time, but apparently not long enough for me to understand the directions for this jacket. It doesn't resemble anything while it's being worked up, and the instructions include such things as "See what you are doing?" (No, I do NOT) and "Hope you are still with me" (Nope). So I called a knit-night friend in Atlanta who had recently made the jacket. She agreed that the directions are vague and helped me through some of the tough parts. The jacket is finished, but I'm sure that a purist would find many irregularities in it.

The whole jacket is knit in one piece and this is what the finished knitting looks like:

This is it all sewn up and with the buttons attached.
And as tiny as the jacket is (I forgot to measure the finished project, but it's knit in sock yarn, and take my word for it, it's tiny), it's not tiny at all when compared with 4 pound, 12 ounce Elizabeth!
But not to worry. Elizabeth eats like a champ, and she'll grow into the jacket in no time!

New Baby!

Check out hokgardner's blog today for big happy news!

The Middle Child

My older daughter and her husband are expecting their fourth child in November. They hope that child #2 and new baby will be buddies, no matter the sex of #4. Child #1 (almost 8) and child #3 (almost 2) are great buddies, and that is helped by the fact that #1 is old enough to understand personal space, and knows that she can’t force #3 to like her. Instead, she plays with him in an appropriate manner, reads to him, and generally lets him be him. #2, however, tries to make #3 love her, and is way too enthusiastically and physically affectionate. (You don’t want to play with me when I love you so much? See how much I love you? Momma, he’s running away and I want to HUG him!)

My sister is the middle child and she has always been opposed to anyone’s having a middle child. She told her husband that if he wanted four children, fine, they would have four. But they wouldn’t have three. He pointed out to her that they couldn’t have four without first having three and she explained that three guaranteed four. They have two children.

When I see how #2 and #3 interact, I realize what my sister meant all these years. I think back to how my brother (#3) and I (#1) treated her. There were five years in age between my brother and me, and we got along well. My poor sister was often the odd man out. My brother was (in my memory, at least) the worst of the two of us when it came to tormenting her. There was a period of time in his youth when he was obsessed with robots; they didn’t exist yet in any form but there was plenty written about their development and my brother was fascinated by the idea of them. When my sister was angry with him and told him off, he would repeat in a monotone voice, “That does not compute. That does not compute,” until she gave up and went away.

A lot of what we did to her was the result of her having her birthday on April 1st. It wasn’t her fault that she was born on April Fool’s Day, but my brother and I made the most of it. One year we sent her on a scavenger hunt. She followed clue after clue, only to find a gift-wrapped apple core at the end. I really, really hope that we had the generosity (and the budget) to give her a decent gift after all of that, but I don’t remember. We often told her that she had won the Fussbudget of the Year Award (after Lucy in the Peanuts cartoon), but no wonder!!! We tormented her and she, understandably, fought back.

So, for #2’s sake: I hope new baby just loves, loves, loves his or her big sister!

Oh, and---sorry, Linda!!!