finally some sleep, with added finished objects

The sleep situation seems to be improving so Hurrah to that. After reading some snippets out of the dreaded Ferber method book, I picked up some tips on how to deal with the little girl's middle of the night wakings and by night 2 I didn't have to comfort feed her at all. So maybe we are back on track now! (It's only been 2 nights, so lets hope I'm not jumping the gun)

I would also like to share some finished objects:

Traveling woman in sundara grass-stain basil over buttercup. I whipped this bad boy (girl?) up in less than a week, that's pretty quick for me to knit an entire skein of sock yarn. I repeated chart A three times and was left with just a few meters of yarn.

I've also been doing some weaving with more sock yarn (madeline tosh- victory garden, i think). I added some blue and white bamboo plaid bits to the warp. I'm really happy how this number (weaving object no. 3!) turned out.

the supplies

warping up (the spinning wheel makes a great warping peg)

weaving

final product

a bit of sewing

With the little girl starting daycare I wanted her to have a designated bag just for those days. My lovely friend Kellie lent me a few sewing books (while she took my loom home and got hooked on weaving!). I found the all day tote pattern in this book. Following some online advise I got some interfacing (iron-on) to stiffen it up. Prior to this project I had no idea such a thing existed, but what a great idea to give it some added strength and structure! The outside fabric is a fine green corduroy, it was a bit stretchy and the interfacing made it a lot easier to sew.

And for the inside I used some skull and crossbones canvas. I wanted her to be able to keep her edge even while at daycare. I added a few extra inside pockets to keep all her little bits organized.
I also tried my hand at making a wet bag and used these instructions. It's big enough to hold a days worth of diapers and soiled clothes. If I made one again, I think I would add a little wrist strap with a snap for easier carrying when it's full. It was my first try at sewing in a zip, now that I know it isn't scary, I may even try one again some day!
I've also recently hit up some op-shops for old fabric. There are some great sheets and table cloths out there oh and aprons... a girl can never have too many aprons (especially in great vintage fabric).

preservation

Last night I headed out to the garden with a colander to pick some beans only to head back inside for a second one. Holy beans! We had already been living off a drawerful in the fridge that blue had picked last week, so I decided it was time to do something with these beans!
I wanted to freeze some, but was also thinking that some pickled beans would be a delightful treat. They are just so tasty (especially in a bloody mary - nom nom). I settled on this recipe, but had to substitute dried dill for fresh dill sprigs. I had to do that last year with the cucumber pickles too - I really need to remember to plant dill in the future! In 2-3 weeks they will be ready, but I don't promise to wait that long.
We also had enough to freeze for future side dishes and stir-fries. Note the straw that was used to 'vacuum pack.'
If that weren't enough in the preservation realm, this morning I got up to take care of the plums our neighbour friends had gifted us. I chose this stewed plum recipe. It turned out pretty well, nice and tart and reminiscent of cranberry sauce. It tasted really good with some yogurt for a morning snack.
I sealed the jars... or attempted to. I'm not sure why, but I can never get them all to seal. I was at 50% for these two canning lots.
Tonight I took a long soak in the bath and read Breakfast at Tiffany's. Back to work tomorrow.

Sleep... or lack there of

I've been back to work now for a couple of weeks. It has been going pretty well. Although I wouldn't have chosen to be back at work yet I recognize its many benefits, the driving one being of the financial variety (and yes I'm well aware that most moms in the states don't have the luxury to even have as much time as I've had, doesn't make it any easier though).

So yeah it has been going well, the set up is really great. Little girl is just across the street from my building and I go to visit/feed her 3 times a day. If she is sleeping at the scheduled time they give me a call and if she gets hungry before the scheduled time they give me a call too. Also, I'm only back 1/2 time so she is only at daycare 2 full days and then blue watches her for 1 afternoon.
The first week I wound up with a cold (of course!), but little girl seemed to only be mildly affected. I also noticed that all the little kids had crusty snot noses, which finally today she has wound up with. I hope it doesn't last too long and that the snot nose kid thing isn't a permanent fixture at the daycare. Blue and I are still battling the tail end of this cold (well I hope it's the tail end... it has to be!). And lately little girl hasn't been sleeping too well. I guess it's due to her learning new skills and also she's been having a bit of a growth spurt. She keeps waking up and wanting to play at like 3 or 4 am and then getting stuck in the bars of her crib. It's really exhausting.

She seems to know when I have to go to work and chooses those nights to be up for hours on end...

I've been battling with trying to decide if we should do the 'family bed' thing which seems to keep her happy as long as I don't try to move her back to her own bed, or if I should just get some bumpers on her crib and let her resettle herself in the night (leaving feeding as a last resort). From what I can tell this could just be a phase. I'll leave it at least another week I guess and see if things calm down.Look at how sweet and peaceful she is when she's sleeping! (in our bed...)