carving out a bit of space

While her sister is being showered with birthday wishes, presents and almost daily “she’s the world’s cutest baby!” attention, our almost three-and-a-half year old is carving out a private space for herself behind the couch. It’s really the only space where Phoebe can’t possibly get to and I’m certainly not going to lift her up and over to join her sister, although she begs for me to. Because she wants to be wherever the biggest birdie is. At all times. Wren has started to slam the door to the bathroom when she needs to use it and yell, “I need some privacy!” Phoebe scoots on over, stands up on the door and bangs her hands on the closed door. Speaking of which, I needed to get some plumbers for drain cleaning, because it had been causing too much of a problem. Just a preview of the teenage years or are they getting it out of their system now? Oh my.

Some people told me that three was harder than two, but mostly we’re enjoying it. Wren likes to talk about everything and anything, she has an incredible sense of humor and is really into pretend play and helping around the house. Tantrums have mostly disappeared, but those may have been replaced by whining… Sigh. She enjoys going to school, going to dance class and playing with friends. She is very social, so it’s interesting to me that she’s begun to also seek some space just for herself.

Oh biggest birdie, we love you oh-so-very-much. We ALL love to see you change and grow. xo

Happy Birthday, Phoebe Jane!

Oh littlest birdie, we love you so. You are so beautiful and mighty but petite, feisty and funny, bubbly and silly, loud and very sweet. You can swiftly make a mess in twenty seconds that takes twenty minutes to clean up, take the childproof outlet covers off and pull your sister’s hair. You are so fast as you scoot around the floor on your bottom! You don’t have any teeth (yet!), but you love to feed yourself. Almost every day someone says to us, “that is the most beautiful baby!” And we agree. Happy Birthday, Phoebe Jane!

It’s amazing how much changes in a year, isn’t it?

love where you live – Christmas Cove Farm

It’s been raining and raining. And raining. There has been a lot of screaming, crying, sniffling, coughing and whining in our nest. And not just by me. Ahem. Did I mention the rain and the whining? We needed to get out. So we headed out in the car on Sunday to induce some birdie napping and enjoy fall in northern Michigan. Despite the rain and some more whining, we had a great day driving up the pinkie finger of Michigan to Kilcherman’s Christmas Cove, an antique apple farm near Northport.

After car napping for the little birdies, there were finally some smiles. Phew.

We found apples like this “Lady” variety whose lineage can be traced back to the Elizabethan era! And they’re the perfect size for little hands. And just perfect for wee caramel apples too… more on that later.

Look up! In addition to hundreds of different kinds of apples, they have a glass pop bottle collection and an antique pop sign collection. Pretty interesting, but it was chilly and rainy and I was caught by a bug. The knitting bug! It was a great day to ride around our beautiful area, take in some of the colors through the mist (err, downpour) and knit. Yes, lovelies. I’m becoming a knitter! Can you believe it, Melissa? Neither can I. And the fat lady sings indeed.

knitting, again

Lovelies, do you remember when I posted last February about trying knitting again? Well it didn’t go anywhere from there. Spring came and went, summer quickly came and went and here we are, fall. I have wanted to know how to knit so I would have a creative hobby I could take anywhere or have a hobby that was a good stress-reliever. Maybe one that would keep me out of the cookie jar so I could achieve my health goals. Ahem.

Well. Somehow it finally clicked for me. Another Mom offered to help a group of us learn to knit and it’s working! We’re working some “thick and quick” yarn on some circular needles. These two things are great for learning because I can see what I’m doing and it doesn’t feel like I have two left hands, neither of which work very well. I’ve almost knit enough for a scarf even though my goal was a cowl. I just keep going! I think I’m hooked, no pun intended.

I love learning new things and I love that the birdies are watching me learn something new. And there hasn’t even been much swearing this time around!

p.s. health update: I’ve lost about fifteen pounds. Yes, it’s been over six months since I started. Slow and somewhat steady…