7 Quick Takes, because I feel silly writing a post *just* about how I made a blanket

1:  I finished it!!!
 
Finally, after two years of toil and uncertainty, Lucy's quilt is finished!  It's not exactly perfect;  I ditched my original plan for the blanket and ended up cobbling together what I had already done with scraps from other abandoned projects.

2:  Now I have to do one for everybody
 
Notice the other waif in this picture, looking on with pathetic longing?  Suddenly, everyone is dying for their own blanket.  I don't know how I am going to handle this, draw straws?  Beth thinks I should pick based on age;  I think she's afraid that she will be grown and gone by the time I get around to her blanket.  I have promised a blanket to everyone sometime before they leave for college, but I have to say that I am a little daunted by the amount of time this is going to take.

3:  Here's a little slice of life with Ruth

She's pretty scattered, focus-wise.  Isn't it cute, though, how she waves to people out the window?  She does this all the time.  And Mom - she really likes the book!  It's significant that she keeps coming back to it.


4: The cooler weather is here to stay which means, ugh, the changing of the clothes

I want to curl up into a ball and die.
I wonder how other mothers with lots of kids do this.  Is the pain and suffering unavoidable?  Or is it avoidable, and I'm just doing it wrong?
I wish we could go back to only having one, two outfits at most.  It would be so much easier.


5:  Did you know that facial-recognition deficiency is, like, a thing?

It is!  I've recently read two separate accounts of people mentioning that they have trouble remembering faces.  It's a relief to know that I am not the only freak pretending to know who has just stopped them in the grocery store.

This is how bad it's become for me:  I was in Target last week, lugging Ruth in my arms and trying to navigate a cart overladen with two huge stools (which are working out great for our homework table!  I am a genius!)  I saw, over the stools, a glimpse of someone at the end of the aisle, looking directly at me.  I knew that her face was familiar somehow, but I ducked back behind the stool to give myself time.  I knew it was a familiar face, not just someone I see once in a while.  Still, though, I had no idea who she was or how I knew her.   Finally, near the end of the aisle myself, I sighed and came out from behind my hiding spot to face the music.

It was  mirror.  The face I had not recognized was my own face. 

All this is to say:  If I run in to you, and can't immediately remember who you are, please don't take it personally.  I really can't help it.

6:  The nights that Ruth does not sleep well teach me something

I really need sleep.  Babies should not try to play peek-a-boo at 3am, it's mean.  And Middle Schools should not open so early, some of us like to sleep in. 

7: I've been on an old movie kick and:  what's with all the scandalous behavior?!?!

How did I never notice before how so many of these old movies (like, 40s and early 50s) treat adultery like something that's just mildly amusing?  I can't believe how many meet-cute romances I've rewatched, not remembering that one or both of the main characters were married to other people at the start of the movie.

It's making me feel a little better about our current culture, at least.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary!

One? Already?!?!

I can't believe this little booger is one, already.

She is an extremely quirky kid.  This is one of her default faces, and I worry that people who do not know this is her "teasing face" might think she is Rosemary's Baby.

Ruth is also extremely sweet and loving.  She gives us all hugs and kisses all day long.  If I catch her doing something she knows she shouldn't (like touching the laptop)  she will immediately bend down and give the offending object (like the laptop) the head-bump that for her means a hug and a kiss.

She loves her family so much!  When the girls come downstairs in the morning, Ruth will literally cheer for them, waving her arms and squealing with delight.  When Chris comes home from work, Ruth can tell by the sound of his footsteps and she goes off like a shotgun, crawling with abandon over any object that might be in her way, to get to her Daddy.

 Ruth is a people-person.  She loves to wave to strangers, and she will often work very hard to catch the attention of sour-faced people who ignore her.  I've witnessed her coax smiles out of surly teenage stockboys, leather-clad bikers, gigantic gangster-looking guys hanging around streetcorners and bitter faced old ladies.  This kid is a miracle worker.

She also has a dark side.  When mildly upset, she will shriek in a register that can only fully be heard by dogs.  If she is slightly annoyed, she will cry big crocodile tears that would break your heart if you only weren't aware that, by 7  months of age, this baby was already a consummate actress. 

She makes us all laugh every day, and she torments us all with her constant desire to get into the good stuff.  She can tell the difference between banana slices and donuts, and woe to anybody who thinks they can sneak it past her.  She is so, so loving - if anyone is sad you can bet that Ruth will be right there, bending down her big bobble-head to give them a hug.  She has a sense of humor, loving to shake her head "no" to solicit laughs or to play hide-and-seek when she should be going to sleep.  She has a way of concentrating her face, a look that says, "Yes, I know that you have this or that on your mind, but can't you see how hilarious I am?"  and it works, every time.  We laugh, and forget our cares, and are so thankful to have this crazy baby in our lives.

Seriously, though, why is this her default face???

Evangelizing

We were not having a great morning.

Ruth woke up at 6am and then refused to take a nap, despite her weary red eyes and body-racking yawns.  The older girls had been told to straighten up the top floor, but the situation up there quickly devolved into an unacceptable atmosphere.  Things were confiscated, tears were shed, wails were wailed.

Add to this attractive scenario a front yard that is also devolving, due to the weeds which clearly have a personal vendetta against us and an overflowing recycling bin.  It's been....I can't even remember, weeks?  since we remembered to set the stupid bin out, so it is now more a mountain of trash than an identifiable bin.  I have multiple secondary boxes that I keep in the kitchen, but I tend to keep the milk jugs (which are sealable) and other contained, non-sticky stuff in those while the beer bottles still get tossed outside in the overflowing bin.  In other words, if you looked at our recycling bin right now (which isn't even an official recycling bin, it's just a blue plastic container with a big X duct-taped on the side) we totally look like alcoholics. 

So, to recap:  cranky, exhausted-eyed baby, wailing and crying from upstairs, and a mountain of beer bottles by the front door.  This is the morning the Mormons decide to drop in.

I, being upstairs amidst the crying and wailing, actually missed it.  Chris answered the door, trashy baby in hand, and politely (over the sounds of torture from directly overhead) let the women know that we are already a praying sort of family and that now (you know, with all the screaming) was not really a good time to discuss things further.

The women left without exactly making it clear whether they will be returning or not, but when Chris told me all this I had to wonder:  did they guess we are Catholic?

I kind of hope not.

7 Quick Takes, wherein Lucy is released into the Wild

-1-

Lucy started Preschool this past Tuesday.  It's at a local Nature Center, and I think it is going to be a good fit for her.  I haven't, in general, been a big fan of Preschool but I could tell that Lucy both needed a primer on how to behave in a classroom and that she was desperate to go to school like her big sisters.  This program is only two days a week and is "nature-based" which translates into playing outside and taking a lot of walks, with some visits from awesome animals thrown in.  (They've already visited the barn owls they keep on the grounds and have begun to raise horseshoe crabs!)  

-2- 

We are wondering if this will signal the end of the Imaginary Classroom:  Rosie,who lives above a coffee-shop and has hot chocolate every morning, the wise teacher Mrs. Orangie Power, who once died of a broken leg and whispered to Lucy with her last breath, "Don't be afraid of ghosts!"  (Mrs. Orangie Power eventually resurrected, although the details on that are unclear.)  I will be kind of sad to see it all go.  It's been fun to see the crazy things Lucy comes up with, like her 'second-best' imaginary friend Amy, who had a pet stink bug, not to mention the fact that Orangie Power is a freaking awesome name and it makes me happy every time I hear Lucy say it.

-3-

After her first day of school, Lucy said that she was a little homesick but had fun.  (She also told me all the details so that I could tell everyone else - she did not want to waste her own time repeating herself.)  

The second day, when I asked her how her day was, Lucy said, "I had a lot of fun!  I didn't miss you at all!  Actually, I forgot you existed!"

I'm going to take that as a good sign.

-4- 

Claire had an incident in lunch this week.  A boy started harassing her about the size of our family, telling her that "Eight people in one family is too much!" etc.   She held her own and told him that he must be unhappy with his own family if he was focusing so much on hers.  (Claire, at 8, is sometimes remarkably insightful.)  It all worked for the good, though, because now this boy is not allowed to sit anywhere near her during lunch.  He's been a thorn in her side for years now, so I'm glad she gets a break.

Still, this is the first time any of the girls have encountered a really negative attitude towards having six sisters.  Claire handled it well and didn't get unduly upset, yet still...The whole thing makes me sad.

 -5-

I stole my neice and nephew for a few hours earlier this week, and I'm sorry Becky but I couldn't help myself!

I could not get him to stay still enough to take a unblurred picture, which cracks me up.  He may end up wearing Minnie-Mouse shoes when he comes here, but this kid is always all-boy!

-6-

Yesterday, while I was putting Ruth to sleep and Chris was picking up the Girl Scouts, Lucy went on a rampage of sorts.  She opened the Ovaltine and ate about a third of the powder with a spoon, then she went into the bathroom and ate 3 Children's Chewable Tylenol tablets.

The positives:  I got to catch up with my good friends at Poison Control.  The medicine cabinet was in need of a good cleaning-out anyways (I found some stuff we haven't used in close to a decade, stuff I'm mystified ever survived the move.)  I have one less portion of dessert to worry about for the next week, as Lucy is most definitely cut off.  Ah, and I realized that she can reach the faucet just fine so the stool (which gives her access to the medicine cabinet as well) is now comfortably nestled in storage.

-7-

I just made this blanket for friends of ours who just had a baby (incidentally also named Ruth).

This is by far the best blanket I've ever made.  I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!  I'm also now just finishing up an epic blanket that I've been making for Lucy.  I began it two years ago, so it feels good to almost be finished!  I'll post a picture once it's done.

Thanks to Jen at Conversion Diary for hosting 7 Quick Takes!

How Matt Berninger from The National almost stepped on Beth

Alternate title:  How I turned out to be a worse mother than I thought

 The National just came to Merriweather, and since we had three tickets, and since Katie had come along for our pilgrimage to see Mumford and Sons, and since I never quite got around to having a birthday party for Beth, we figured it was the second-eldest's turn.

We had a great time, and Beth (who, if you recall, had one previous concert experience) thoroughly enjoyed herself.  Towards the end of the evening, the lead singer - as he often does- started weaving through the crowds.  In a moment of pure blind instinct, I realized that he was heading our way and I grabbed Beth by the scruff of her neck and propelled her through the crowd to get her a spot up front.  Thou Shalt not be Obnoxiously Pushy could reasonably be considered one of the guiding principles of my life,  but apparently my principles don't hold up to the temptation of standing kind of in the vicinity of a guy in a spotlight. 

Beth's view was mostly of his backside as he sung to the crowd in front of him, and even though he almost stepped on her as he turned back to the stage, and even though he almost hit her on the head with the mike when he dropped it, she was extremely excited.  As I stood on the sidelines watching her, it hit me that I had just shoved my kid into a screaming throng and then abandoned her there.  I was struck by two disparate thoughts:  #1- that I was so instinctively willing to do something (be obnoxiously pushy) for my child that I would never have done for myself, and #2- the fact that it didn't occur to me until it was too late that throwing my kid into a howling mob like her life depended on getting close to a Rock Star wasn't really the smartest thing to do.

Anyway, she not only survived to tell the tale, it was the highlight of her night.  We found this video on YouTube, much to Beth's delight.  You can see her around the 26 sec mark, lower left hand corner.  She's the really short person standing behind the singer.