maybe a little better

After another morning of illness, I woke up from a lunchtime nap feeling . . . well . . . . maybe better. I don't want to jinx it - I just want to feel better. I am back to the doctor tomorrow. Nana is visiting us and she read in the airline magazine about "persistent" cough and how it is socially limiting and leads to "slight ostracisim". great. as if I didn't know.

On the bright side - which I typically try to be on but damm, I'll never criticize a grouchy sick person again - I finished Maria Moo's baby doll that matches her dress. I just need to restretch her felted dress to add about two inches to the length. We missed the window for 05-06 winter holidays so it will now be an 06-7 winter dress. The baby doll is primitive but fetching. I'll post a picture when I have time during the day - if I use the flash, the white stuffing shows a bit through the brown yarn and doesn't do it justice.

E went to see the Harlmen Globetrotter's with his best buddy Basil and the dads. I sent them off with a camera to capture the boys at the game and this is the one picture Tall House, Double Cup came back with. I am not sure how it illustrates his experience, but I like the composition.

head turning, but not in a good way

I am sick. Bad sick. Gross sick. Head turning cough grossness. No knitting. No reading. Just sleeping and trying to not mess up at work too much.

More when all is better.

sort, pre-treat, wash, and dry

It's such an odd but comforting feeling to come home from a long vacation and actually attempt to "catch-up" with newspapers, laundry, mail, crap reality shows, photos from the trip, whatever it is. We got home quite late last night and after making sure E was snug asleep, Tall House, Double Cup and I dove into the piles of catalogs and magazines while watching last week's episode of Lost. 30 minutes earlier on the plane we were tortured with fatigue, but seeing a stack of colorful mail excited both of us enough to stay up - we are weird, but oddly suited.
Here are just a couple of photos from the trip . . .

two more finished knitting projects

Valentine's wrist warmers for Nana in Superfine Alpaca - Winterberry. My second project with cables. I made up this pattern, based on the Irish Hiking Scarf I made in the same yarn.
Manly Girl Socks in Italian silk - I bought this yarn in Siena, thinking I would make socks for my father-in-law or brother-in-law, but the yarn just felt so good to work with - I knew I needed to make them for myself. I finished them in Mexico and while the color and weight hardly match the tropical setting, I do want to always remember the project I was working on during that great vacation.

last night note

Everything today was a "last" in Mexico for all of us. These ten days have flown by. We were all commenting on our last big breakfast as a group - french toast, fresh fruit, bacon, toast, coffee, and fresh juice. Our last afternoon in the pool . . . last margarita (okay - we still have a night of cards ahead of us so I can't say I'd had the last). We are packing up and heading home. And while I am excited to see our house and be in our routine, I hate to say goodbye to this beautiful place.

sniff

just a bit of a burn

E's been so concerned with getting a sunburn while we are here in Mexico. "Do I have sunscreen on? Where is my surfer shirt? Do skunks get sunburns?" He also wants to hear stories about storms and bloodsuckers over and over - not sure about this fascination.

We are still having a great time. Just a couple days left. All of the moms went to the spa yesterday - I had multiple treatments done - and then we sat by the "adults-only" pool at the spa and drank pina coladas and talked about . . . . our children. The dads all went deep sea fishing today and when I asked if they talked about the kids, they all agreed that they had forgotten they had them . . . the clear difference between mamas and papas.

Today a whale was so close to our villas - maybe 200 yards out at most - really fabulous. Some of our friends have seen dolphins in the early morning but I have to confess I've been staying up late reading and spending my mornings sleeping away.

We'll be back soon enough and I'll post lots of pretty pictures.

hola from Mexico

Just a quick post to say hola from Mexico. We are on day five of our ten days away from everything. No sunburns so far but lots of sleep, swimming and reading. E is having the best time playing with the other kids - especially Guapo - and he is the water baby I was hoping he'd be. I've been a bit sick with my sensitive stomach but getting tons of time to sleep it off.
I finished my manly girl socks and have started the matching Moo sweater for E. I taught Marci to knit and I think she's hooked. Yeah! One more friend to talking knitting with.

Must get back to the swarm of kids. We are having a birthday party for Ava today at the rooftop pool. Life is good.

it is love, just love

Sometimes you just can't express it - the amazing amount of love and fulfillment that your child gives you. One moment E is telling me about his imaginary friends (Braado the skunk, Button the rabbitt, Captus the mouse), then he turns around and says, "No more kissing me, Mama," and finally he plays nurse to my cut finger and says, "I'll never leave you Mama. I'll always be here."

Awwwww, man. I am so damm grateful for being E's mama. I am so glad I waited so long to have a baby, so happy his papa is Tall House, Double Cup and so *&^%ing grateful my baby turned out to be E.

catching up

I've been coughing and hacking and all that terrible stuff that you never want to hear out of another person when you aren't sick ever since I got back from . . . . ugh. texas. So I haven't been a motivated blogger. Just to tide me over until I take a picture of my latest knitting project . . .
E and I did bake a fabu dish this weekend. "Blueberry Boy Bait" - from the Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook - one of my favorites. We had our dinner group this weekend and we were dessert. It turned out quite delicious and I will definitely add it to my brunch menus. For dinner, I'd rather have a teeny tiny silver of chocolate cake or scoop of coffee ice-cream.

But E and the amazing Ms. Audrey played together for hours - leaving the parents to be able to play cards until relatively late (for the parents of preschoolers). Audrey is totally gorgeous and so fiesty. When she gets excited, she nips like a cat. I LOVE that.