Gasp..Knitting Content!

A while back, when Nona was working on a blanket, she talked about "heft".It's the point in the blanket where you feel that you are on the other side of the hill and nearing completion.I think I've reached that point. It's not so much in the length of the blanket, but the width, and when I block it, it should grow considerably. I think I have maybe 6-8 more rows, and then BO, then sewing in off the ends. I have three weeks left till the recipient is born, wish me luck! Robby also turned seven months on July 4th, and of course I wouldn't want to let down all of his fans :) After all, after he was born, this blog went from blog to a blog about Robby with some knitting thrown in there :) Robby is getting SO big, 19 lbs, 29 inches long! This month has been a little rough with all the moving, and I've been trying to wean Robby off napping in my lap, I know, can you believe I'm still letting him do that :P Actually he's napping in my lap now, but I'm giving him a free pass because of his teething. I've been doing it gently, no crying, just waiting till he's asleep then setting him down in a playpen. If he cries, I pick him up and try again, and slowly but surely, he's starting to nap alone. When I get frustrated, I just try to remember that a month ago he wasn't doing it at all! I've been giving him solid food, twice a day, homemade rice cereal, butternut squash, avocado, but he hasn't shown interest in it, except for chewing on the spoon, and smearing it all over the place. I don't force the issue, I've read some babies don't like to eat and prefer to nurse when teething. I'm not in a rush, plus the 500 calories a day I'm burning nursing him don't hurt either! He's pulling himself up all the time, and now he'll crawl to me and want me to help him stand up on wobbly legs! Something about that really touches me, I guess maybe because it's the first time I've really seen him MOVE towards me and ask for my help, well he doesn't really ASK, but I know that's what he wants. He's thinking, "I want to stand, and Mommy will help me." He is starting to say "Mamamamamama", sometimes he just says "MOM", and sometimes he says "Ummah" which is the Korean word for mom. I don't know if he's just vocalizing or he's really calling me, but I like to think so, especially because I've invested so much time and energy into him so far! He's SO active, the only time he's still is when he's sleeping or nursing. He loves to pinch now and has a serious death grip. He's so happy and content most of the time and it's such a joy being his mom. Here is the obligatory bathtub shot that I will use to embarass him in front of his prom dates.Aren't those toofs cute?! He's been pretty cranky this past week, I think his top teeth are about to make their entrance.Here's the big hat shot.And here he is with his Aunt Kathy, everyone send out your good vibes, Auntie Kathy is in Costa Rica for a month having some fun in the sun, and I always worry about my little sister. She is an ESL teacher and is fluent in Spanish! Why she's still single, I don't know, she's been such a huge help to me, after Robby's birth she was over at our house every night after work, helping me do laundry, wash dishes and holding Robby if I needed a break! She's helped us pack, then unpack, and all she gets in return is some homemade Korean food made by me, and lots of slobber from Robby! We miss you Auntie Kathy, come back safe to us! We spent this 4th with our really good friends, who I'm making the entrelac blanket for, and had a great time. Robby spent some quality time with the COOLEST DOGS EVER, Barkley and Hobbes.They may look fierce, but they are the sweetest, gentlest dogs I've ever known. Barkley is the oldest, he is kind of a "low quality" Doberman, but he has the best temperment. Lately, as he gets older, he's become much less energetic, and prefers to hide out in the barn...until nighttime when he roams around our friends property doing whatever it is that dogs do at night, mostly killing small critters and protecting their owners. This is Robby and Hobbes. Hobbes is the younger one, only a few years old, and he LOVES people. From the time he was a puppy, he just loves to cuddle and be with you. His mom died when she had just birthed the puppies and the breeders bottlefed all the puppies and took care of them as well as their own mother would have, which explains a lot of his personality. He actually is a distant relative of Barkley if I remember correctly. Robby loves dogs, he squeals and laughs and always tries to pull their fur, the good thing about Barkley and Hobbes, is I know they would never try to bite him and their fur is short :)See how Hobbes's ears are laid back? That's because he knows he needs to be gentle with Robby. Here is Robby chilling with Barkley, Barkley actually wanted to do his own thing, but he obeyed my "stay" command so I could get some good pictures in.And, here is a random shot of our house, we finally moved in and slowly but surely are getting it comfortable to live in, our first real house ever! I'll post some more pictures once I find the before shots, and we get it all nice and purty.Sorry about such a long post! I hope everyone is doing great and enjoying the hot hot weather!

I Miss You Robby

This is the only way I can get him really interested in food, if I let him "feed" himself.Ok, I know I just saw you at lunch, but you're so darn cute, I can't help it! No new knitting content, big surprise, huh? We've been so busy moving into our new house, I haven't had the git-er-done to get knitting done, just slogging away on my baby entrelac blanket for my good friend's baby, due in a little over a month, eeep! He's starting to pull himself up from a scooting position to standing. It's hard to say whether he's any good at just plain old sitting down, because he never wants to sit, it's either scooting or standing for him. Lord help me....

All I want for Christmas

is my two front teeth! Robby is 6 months old as of June 4th! During our trip to Atlanta, Robby has grown by leaps and bounds, after two incredibly fussy days, he sprouted one of his bottom teeth, and in the past few days, the second one has emerged. Now that his bottom teeth have almost come in, he's been such a happy baby, smiling at Wal-Mart cashiers and anyone else who catches his eye! When we were in Atlanta he also started scooting all over the place. He doesn't crawl, he pulls himself along the floor with his arms and uses his toes to push on the floor.He is definitely a baby on the move! My parents and halmoni were so impressed, they kept saying how fast he was for his age. We would all be sitting down to dinner and I would set Robby down on the floor so I could eat, next thing you know, Robby is scooting towards the table so he can join the party! My family said he is such an easy baby, they hardly ever heard him cry, and he played by himself really well. He didn't show too much stranger anxiety, and only cried when someone else tried to hold him a few times, he warmed up very quickly to my auntand uncleand seemed to instantly develop a connection with my halmoniand my uncle's oldest sister. He was fascinated with his cousin Christine, anytime she was around he would just stare at her and try to catch up to her!Despite all the fun, I could tell he missed being home. Robby is getting so big, he weighs almost 20 lbs! He spends less and less time in the sling, but when he's hurting or tired, he just wants to be snuggled. He loves taking baths, he's discovered the fun of water and likes to splash, but does it all with a very serious look on his face. Due to his new scooting abilities, I've found this kid is interested in ANYTHING that's not a baby toy, including: plastic bags (very dangerous), any kind of paper, dog cage, bed frame, suitcase wheel, laptop bag, electrical cords, tv stands, wood trim, door stopper thingys, chair legs, long pile carpet, tassels on rugs, this has made life more difficult, but it's kind of funny seeing what he will go for next! I haven't consistently fed him solids, a fingertip of plum and avocado last night, he liked it! I LOVE his personality, he's so happy generally, and has the BEST laugh. He loves to "walk" around the house and one of his new favorite activities is being "flown" around the house on his Aunt Olivia's shoulders. He still likes to nap in my lap, but he is starting to nap on his own in our bed once a day, I know I'm way behind on this aspect, but it's worked out ok for me. Anyway enough of my rambling, happy 6th month birthday Robby, we love you!

Greetings from Ataranta

I'm posting from Atlanta this week, we've had lots of fun so far. Robby's been a hit so far. We tried feeding him a little rice cereal to see how he would doCheck out the crazy eyes in the first picture! He didn't take as well to it as I thought he would, I think he's more interested in the spoon, so I just give him a few tablespoons a day at most. I finished my shawl.Here is a picture of it warming the shoulders of my halmoni, it was 80 degrees in the house but she was happy to oblige, I hope it keeps her cozy when the weather gets cold this fall. It's been great being with my family, but I really wish my Korean was better, it's so hard to communicate with my halmoni, I wish I could understand more of her stories, she was born in 1916 and has so many interesting stories I wish I could hear.I'm already thinking of what I can make for my aunt for a present, a felted vest maybe....And speaking of presents, I started this for my mother in law, a belated birthday present, but heck, everything is belated these days!

Mother's Day Numero Uno

I had a great first Mother's Day. Robby got me this card and even signed it, with Daddy's help of course.The inside of the card says "Mommy, you do so much to make me feel loved. And guess what? I love you right back! Happy Mother's Day." Awwww. And here is a picture of Robby's signature.He's getting so big, and it gets more and more fun being his mom. He's not crawling yet, but will get on his hands and knees and rock back and forth. He can sit up for several seconds if he supports himself with his hands. He already tries to get out of the car seat, the other day I put him in it and walked away for a second, and he had rolled over in the seat and was attempting to back out of the chair! The past two mornings, when he wakes up, he makes these funny noises, he will purse his lips and "bthhhhh" sounds. And he has become a lot more vocal lately, while on his belly chewing a teething ring, he will say, "Wowohh wowooooh." He is such a happy baby, he is warming up to all of his aunts, cousins, and grandparents. I'm excited to see how he does around my half of the family, only ten days till I get to see them, and stuff my face with Korean food! I've been zooming along on Swallowtail, I'm done with the nupps, yay!It's hard to get a good picture of the shawl, since I only have two hands, but I think these pictures show how drapey, light, and fluffy it is. I'm very happy with how it's turned out so far, and I have 10 days left to finish it.I think my grandma will love it. I've definitely caught the lace bug, I bought a copy of Lace Style, there are some amazing patterns in it. I definitely think I want to do another lace project for myself, maybe Eunny's Print O' The Wave stole? I think I have a sickness, I finish one project and start two more...sigh.

Treeline Cardigan

I've been stalled on my Swallowtail because I left the pattern at my LYS when I went there last Saturday to knit for 5 WHOLE HOURS without ze bebe. Thanks Rob! I'm on the second border pattern, so I'm getting there. Soooo, this week, I've been working on the entrelac baby blanket, AND, last night, while getting caught up on some episodes of Lost, I started that Treeline cardigan. I'm thinking I will do the white and green together because the colors are kind of spring-y and a little more fun. Everything in my closet is some variation on black, gray, brown, or white, and it could use a little color, so I'm going to step out of my comfort zone. Like my yarn cakes? I bought the swift and ball winder last weekend, I can't believe I've waited so long, it saves me lots of time, which is very important when you have a baby, and my husband is free from yarn holding duty, so he was pretty excited about that. Like Adrian says, the combo of Kidsilk Haze, and wool (I'm using Cascade 220) is so soft. I got gauge first time, yay! I think I'll be working some mods, waist shaping, solid color ribbing on the front and neck, and I think, I'm going to beef up the shawl collar with short rows. Here is a another shot several rows in.The jog isn't totally jogless, but its symetrical, which is good, and is a nice detail, think. It took me several tries to get it right, this website has a very detailed tutorial, and I finally got it after seeing these instructions. Talk about knitting as therapy, the yarn is so soft, and working with worsted on size 8 needles is SO speedy compared to the socks, blanket, and shawl, I have been working on. Robby is helping me,he's become very grabby lately, and loves to grab on whatever yarn I'm working on, a future knitter maybe? He's not crawling yet, but scoots and shifts until he gets where he wants to be, and likes to grab onto anything that is NOT a baby toy and shake it or put it in his mouth. He actually got upset with me last night because I pulled some yarn out of his hand! We've both been feeling under the weather for the past two weeks, I can't shake a sore throat and sinus issues, and Robby's been super stuffy too, which means the booger sucker is being used a lot, and he's not too happy about that. Life is good, chaotic, but soon we will be moving into our new old house and we will finally be settled, I hope!

Almost!

Almost done with the Swallowtail, well, kind of. I've reached the border of the shawl, and am on my 3rd row of "nupps".They are a k1, yo, k1, yo, k1, then on the next row you purl into each of those, making 5 stitches, then on the next row, you PURL 5 together, yuck. I wouldn't even want to try these on the Addi Turbos, thank goodness, my Inox circulars came in just in time, and they are working great. The surface of the needle is just the right amount of stickiness without being so sticky that the stitches don't slide easily. Plus, the tips are nice and pointy, so I can do those purl 5 togethers without too much trouble. In Robby news, check out these action shots, sorry about the blurriness, but it's hard to get Robby still these days unless he's sleeping.This is my favorite picture,even though it's blurry, you can tell he's smiling, excited about being able to almost crawl, and smiling at me because I'm cheering him on. When he's trying to crawl, he gets frustrated sometimes, but when we get down on the floor with him and cheer him on, he always tries harder, it's so great. Can you believe he's almost crawling? He just rocks back and forth now, and has mastered the art of scooting backwards, but hasn't developed the coordination it takes to crawl. It was only a few weeks ago he was rolling over...sniff... I'll blink and he'll be a pimply 16 year old asking for the keys to my car, gosh it goes by fast.

Chugging along!

I won't talk about the million other projects I have lingering that really need to get done, like the entrelac baby blanket, and Robby's little jeans, and sweaters, not to mention that Treeline cardigan that I have yet to start on, because Swallowtail is my focus at the moment.Looks like third time was the charm!I've had a few scares, but since I understand the lace pattern now, I was able to fix mistakes without ripping out. It's not perfect, but the pursuit of perfection was abandoned a LONG time ago. I had one really scary incident involving thisguy getting tangled up in the yarn and dragging my knitting downstairs, thankfully no stitches were dropped in the process.

In Robby news, his Aunt Amanda has been watching him since Aunt Olivia has been sick. He loves his auntie, and he LOVES his cousin Lizzie. He is just fascinated with her. I think when he gets a little bigger they will be really good buddies, what do you guys think?Don't they look like they will be serious partners in crime here?She is such a doll and calls herself "big sister" :) Check out the super long drool string! That big smile is for Aunt Amanda, which shows how much he has taken to her! His separation anxiety is starting to ease up, I also was told that he put himself to sleep and napped for an hour, hmmmm, must be a different baby. The cut on his face is from this week, I left him in his cosleeper for a minute, and he grabbed his Snappi and hooked his face! I felt SO bad, but it's healing up nicely thanks to help from Aunt Kacey, NICU nurse extraordinaire and owner of Baxter, the above mentioned doggie. I have some photograhic evidence of some hijinks Baxter and his brother Bentley carried out on Robear and the blanket I knitted, but that's for a different post.

And in this corner...

weighing in at 15.37 lbs and 26 inches tall, is Robby..the Robertater!!!! We went to the doctor for Robby's 4 month checkup and booster shots. He's grown 2 inches in the past two months! Jessie, that's your yarn in the picture in case you're wondering :) Robby's been feeling yucky since he got his shots, he woke me up every hour last night and then started crying at about 3 in the morning. He had a fever and was probably just feeling achy and sick. Poor bubba. Today he has been very SENSITIVE. He has been sleeping and nursing all day and cries if he wets his diaper or if I disturb him by coughing or chewing too loud. Sigh. Poor booger. Rob did a Wal-Mart run at 3am to get me a thermometer because I forgot to pack it. So, he has been on my lap all day except for diaper changes and I'm getting work stuff done when I can. Do you guys like his shirt? Here is a happy moment yesterday before the yuckiness settled in. I'm also almost finished with my Jaywalkers! Yayyy! I ordered the yarn for the Treeline cardigan I blogged about and am finally going to invest in a swift and a ball winder so I can make those yummy little yarn cakes. Joy and Colleen, save the ones at the yarn store for me! I have a whole crapload of skeins that need to be wound in our storage unit. Oh and if you happen to be moving into your brother in law's house temporarily and pack your yarn stash, put the box in front of the storage unit. My yarn is stuck behind a gajillion heavy Tupperware and will probably stay there until we move into our newly remodeled house...someday... And because it's too funny not to post, here is another installment in the Robby hat series. He used to fit into it, for about a week.

Happy Berfday Bubba

Tomorrow, you will be 4 months old Robby! I can hardly believe it, these past four months have been the longest and the shortest months of my life. When we first brought you home from the hospital, you were a little slug that only ate, pooped, and peed. It was all we could do to get you to open your eyes, every once in a while, you would crack one eye, take a quick glance around and shut them really quick. Very gradually, you started opening your eyes more and more, looking around you, and staring at people's faces. Then, wonder of wonders, you started giving us real smiles! At four months, we are starting to see more and more of your personality. Firstly, you LOVE mommy! Whenever I walk into the room, your eyes light up and follow me around the room. You get this HUGE smile as if to say, "Hey, I know you! You are the lady that feeds me and holds me and changes me and plays with me! You're cool!" If I'm gone for too long, you have this whine that sounds like you're saying, "Hey......hey......helloooo.....lady...where are you? I'm all alone here....heyyyyyy." When you are with me, you rarely cry, unless I break out the big blue booger sucker of death, but when you are with your Aunt Olivia, or your Dad, or your Aunt Kathy, every once in a while you will cry for 45 minutes straight, and be inconsolable, nothing works, feeding you, slinging you, rocking you, you just cry and cry because you miss mommy. It takes a while for you to trust someone, you usually cry when someone you don't know holds you, your forehead worry wrinkles come out, then you break out into a wailing cry, head thrown back, tears streaming, it's so sad, but a little funny because your sad face is a perfect sad face, like those Greek tragedy masks. You are also a very shy baby. When someone smiles at you and I'm holding you, you smile back then bury your head in my chest. When I'm holding you and we walk by a mirror, you look around in the mirror till you see me smiling back at you, then you smile at yourself and then bury your head in my chest. Your laughs are a thing of wonder, and daddy and I will make total fools of ourselves to hear it. You save your best laughs for daddy, his stubble can elicit deep throated chuckles when he eats your chubby armpits and legs. You love when we read to you, sometimes you will talk back to us! You really like for us to hold you so you can stand on your legs, you will stomp your feet and bend your legs. You just discovered your feet a few days ago, and are actively trying to get your foot into your mouth. You haven't gotten that far yet, but I'm sure you'll reach that goal someday. For the most part, you are a very quiet baby, and when I'm holding you, you are content to look around and take everything in. You are the best thing that's happened to us, even when you are being a little Robby the Turd, we love you so much. It's been an adventure, happy four month birthday, we look forward to many many more.
Gosh this is a long post! I still struggle with doubt about you being too attached to me, but I'm working through it. You are a very good baby, and to get on my soapbox here, the Western idea of a good baby is silly, most little babies will not lie passively in their cribs entertaining themselves, they need to be attached to people at this stage, not a doll, a mobile, or a pacifier. Needs that aren't met in infancy don't go away, they get replaced by other needs, so while it's hard sometimes to respond to your need to be held, hugged, played with, I know it will pay off in the future. I know the time will come when you are independent, the time when you are ready to sleep by yourself and start detaching from me, but for now, you are still your mama's boy and that's ok.

Procrastination is my middle name...

Ok, so we are moving out of our 850 sq ft apartment into my brother in law's house for a week or two, until the remodels on our house are done. We are supposed to be out this Saturday, so you guys know what that means. Time to...try on hats!

Hmmm, the situation in the Mideast looks interesting.Naah, I'll just eat the paper instead of read it.

Wanna go fishing?Why is everyone laughing? Heck, I'll join in. Chicken or steak?

Lynda Jo

this one's for you. My knit night buddy had a dream I named Robby "G" for Gangsta. This is how he rolls.

1/2 an FO

I finished one Jaywalker sock, I had a lot of fun knitting this sock. And once I picked them back up out of the unfinished pile, I zoomed right along with the easy stitch pattern. The Lorna's Laces yarn worked up beautifully. I love handknit socks, I have yet to knit a pair for myself, but they feel so good on your feet.Now I just need to finish the second one!Next time I make socks, I'm going to try a toe up version, because I don't really like doing kitchener stitch.I have to post lots of pictures of FO's because they are so few and far between lately, but hey, check out the neat color effect on the sole of the sock!Just one more, I swear.And now for a Robby update. He is really starting to laugh and squeal! Especially when Daddy eats his arms and his legs and his belly. I have to try and capture the moment on tape and post it for you all to hear, because it's a very funny gravelly (sp?) laugh. Sorry about the blurry picture, I was crawling on my stomach, Navy Seal style to try and get this picture without Robby getting distracted. I was so worried about Rob not bonding to Robby at first, but it looks like all my fears were unfounded. It just takes time, and for the first few months, all Robby needed was to have his physical needs met and be in a warm, cozy, small space. But now, he's stretching out, growing up, noticing the world around him, wanting to explore, walk, fly, crawl, and watch other people. Especially in new environments, he likes to do all those things from the safety of his mommy or daddy's arms, and when we hold him, we can see him soaking up his environment. Attachment parenting has its "dark side", the part where they are attached, ALL the time, and there are those times where I just want to knit or sew or do anything by myself, but then, Robby smiles or laughs or kicks his legs in excitement, and it buoys me up for the next day. As a new mom, I've learned if you are just exhausted with the phase your baby is in, wait a week or two, it will change.

Jaywalkin'

I've made some progress on the Jaywalker's I'm knitting for my grandma-in-law, or Maw Maw. I love knitting with Lorna's Laces and I love this Jaywalker pattern, I can see why it's so popular, it's easy to knit, but it's interesting enough, especially with a striping yarn, to hold your attention.Judging from Robby's activities that he likes to do, I'm thinking this is a very plausible career choice.What do you guys think? I think he's got the guns, do you?His favorite thing to do is stand, albeit on very wobbly legs!

The big blue booger sucker of death...

Something I've been having to do about every other day is clear Robby's nose in the morning. Babies aren't really good at breathing out of their mouth if their nose is stuffed up so as bad as I hate to do it, I have to break this out.This is Robby's face as he sees the big blue booger sucker of death coming closer and closer.In other news, I finished my Anemoi Mittens! I still need to block and sew in the ends, but I'll wait on that. Here is a picture of the left one, the right one is resting in her vacation home at the LYS for the spring and summer.And to end this post here is a little baby chin for breakfast!

Robby aka the Michelin Man

Robby didn't want to disappoint some fans, so here are some pictures!

I finished

one Anemoi Mitten, I'll block and weave in the ends when I finish the second one. I'm hoping blocking will even out some of the inconsistencies in the knitting, especially when I'm carrying colors from one DPN to another, my tension was a little funky, so you can see a ridge where the yarn didn't have enough slack.This was a really fun project, and the knitting moved pretty quickly (quick being a relative term since Robby's arrival).And to cap off my yarn spree, I ordered some yarn from one of my favorite bloggers, I'll keep you guys in suspense until it gets here! And because this blog entry wouldn't be complete without a Robby story, Friday night, he got really fussy and everything I did just didn't work, so finally I just laid him down on his bouncy chair and daddy came over and started playing with him, and he actually got Robby to laugh! That was the first laugh I've heard, and I've never been able to make him laugh! That was the first time he actually fussed because he wanted daddy to play with him! I was worried because it didn't seem like Robby was bonding to dad at all, but it looks like my fears were unfounded. People always say this time goes by fast, it wasn't feeling that way, but it seems like overnight Robby has become this little person that interacts with the world around him. Check out the forehead wrinkles, hee hee.

Slowly but surely...

Well, I frogged the entrelac blanket and started over on size 5 needles, and I'm much happier with the results. I also learned how to knit backwards from this tutorial! It is helping things go faster because I don't have to keep turning my work, and my stockinette is much more consistent, I tend to purl loosely, so knitting backwards helps my work look much more even.I love taking pictures of entrelac, it's so multi-dimensional... In other knitting news, my most favorite LYS is having it's spring clearance sale, yippeee! I went this morning and scoped everything out but will be coming back tonight with a game plan. Plus they are having a party for all their loyal customers to celebrate the first ever shipment of Koigu! I love that stuff, I volunteered my one almost finished Anemoi Mitten as a sample knit. I'm also going to start teaching crochet classes again in March. Yay! More yarn money :D If anyone in the area is interested in learning, it's 30 dollars + materials for two 2-hour sessions on March 10 and 14. We do a very cute beanie made out of Rowan Big Wool. If you read this blog and live in Northwest Arkansas get your tushies over to Handheld Knitting and take advantage of the sale! See how well he holds his head up! He loves the blanket that all the wonderful ladies at my knitting group made for him. He likes to touch all the different textures of the blanket and look at the patterns. My new goal is to blog more consistently, it's one of the things I love, talking about knitting and motherhood and it really makes my day to hear from all of you!

Ladykiller

This weekend, we visited some friends of ours, who gave birth to their daughter Violet, an hour before us, down the hall, in the same hospital. Last night was the first time Robby and Violet met. Notice my commentary, and Robby's bewildered expression. I imagine, someday when Robby has his own relationships, he will experience the same thing, a girl crying and him just being befuddled.

Robby and Violet

Thanks everyone!

Hi everyone, I wanted to say thanks to everybody for all the encouraging comments, as you all know, it's been kind of crazy around here. I actually got 4 hours of sleep last night straight through and I feel great! I have been able to do a little knitting, I'm almost finished with one fair isle mitten and have been working on Robby's little jeans. Thanks to my sister for being at our house everyday after work to help me with laundry and cleaning the house, and cooking dinner. Also, thanks to my friends who brought me food, and to my mother in law who helped during the labor. Rob is a great dad, very involved and can swaddle Robby and change a cloth diaper like a pro. He is also teaching Robby the fine art of shaking your groove thang.

Cloth diapers are working out well, I never believed people when they said your own baby's poo wouldn't bother you, but I think it's true. For those of you who are interested in the cloth diaper thing, some things I would change for the next batch I sew. I think I will have to use a different type of fabric for the inner soaker pad. The woven cotton terry doesn't absorb very well, so even the diapers with the three layer soaker pad, Robby still soaks through. Another thing is for the layer that touches his skin, I need to use a fabric that will wick the moisture away from his skin. He doesn't always cry when he wets his diaper and with the flannel, the wetness just kind of sits on his skin. So, maybe with the next batch, I will try a fleece type fabric that will pull the wetness away from his skin. Another thing is, I need to find a fabric that has greater absorbency so I don't need to use so many layers for the soaker pad. While the cloth diapers are cute, those things can get bulky really quick. I can't dry them completely in the dryer, so I have to hang them up to dry overnight to get them completely dry. I also would like to try an AIO because it does get to be a pain with the cover and the inner part of the diaper. And I would also like to try other options for waterproofing the covers besides PUL, maybe felted wool, or fleece, I'm not sure. I have a tiny washing machine so I'm doing laundry everyday, and I have an emergency stash of disposables for those times where I'm going to go crazy and the thought of dealing with a cloth diaper is just too much, usually around 3am in the morning, when I've been up for 2 hours feeding.

That's what I'm learning about being a mom, I have all these grand schemes for cloth diapering, breastfeeding, etc., but sometimes, to keep yourself sane you have to compromise and take it easy on yourself for the good of the baby and for the mom. I don't have any knitty pictures to show, but I will leave you guys with a picture I took of Robby when we were still in the hospital.