Take Three, Tito

All right. I tried typing up this post a second time last night, and I lost it again even further down than the first time. Then I said a string of four letter words and walked away from the computer for the night.  I'm going to try this a third time and just write without attempting to duplicate what I've already written twice before... and yes, Nadine, I'm going to attempt to remember to use the 'draft' feature to save my work as I go!

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Well, we are all still sick and miserable. It comes and goes in waves, I have realized, as all five of us have been very sick, then felt more human again, then it's come back, rinse, and repeat. Right now, all five of us pretty much feel like shit.

So I was completely expecting to hear from Jack's school nurse on Friday when I sent him back to school. His fever had gone away, though, and he expressed an interest in going on the bus. What I didn't expect was the phone call from Chloë's school telling me she had to come home. Apparently, she coughed herself silly and puked up all her lunch. Poor thing. She had seemed so much better the night before.

So I ran to the school, in my gross, unshowered, greasy, undressed state. In my nightgown. I mean, what was I going to do, keep her waiting and jump in the shower? I just threw on some pants and got in the van, trying to fix my nasty bangs and, you know, cover my droopy nipples that point to the floor. Because of course I didn't even put on a bra. I am such a mess!!  Embarrassing. I like to take off my glasses and pretend people can't see me, either, in those situations, but that wouldn't have worked here.  So I just did a lot of extra coughing while I was there, hoping people would "realize" I just came there from my own sick bed. Heh heh.

After we came home, I got Chloë into her jammies and settled her on the couch, and Sophia was more than content to play with her toys on her own. I sat on the other couch and did my knitting, quickly finishing up the green sweater dress I'd just begun, except for the buttons. By the evening, I had finished one and a half of the booties that match.

Friday night is normally our pizza night, but instead our usual around-the-corner Primo's, I had a yen for Uno's. We hadn't eaten there in a couple of years, and I missed the deep dish crust. Steph and I tried to go with the kids in NYC, but they were jam-packed and we didn't have the time to wait.  So Rob called in an order and then ran out there for what was supposed to be a quick round trip but turned into over an hour after they messed up my Spinoccoli pizza. The only difference was they added chicken, but they gave us that pizza free and made me another one. When he finally got home, I hated to mention that it was undercooked, because I certainly wasn't going to send him back out for it. It was good, though. I love that crust.

Saturday, Rob had duty from 6-6, which sucked for all of us.  Obviously for him, since he already works so much, is sick, and is so tired. And for us, because we miss him, and for me, because I really could use the break from keeping three sick babies happy. What to do, what to do?

Well, we woke up relatively early for us, for a Saturday, but no one felt like doing a whole lot. I went back to my knitting, Jack was lying back on the couch, and the girls were quietly playing with their respective toys. I finished the second bootie and then did all the finishing on the outfit, like adding ribbons and buttons and such. Observe:

The entire outfit

Wee green booties

Front of the sweater dress, prior to blocking, which especially needs to be done on the button bands

Back of the sweater, in all its bobbled glory

I really liked this pattern from Plymouth Yarn Design Studio. It's pretty quick, once you get past the bobbles, and the front and back are knit together and wrap around the body. It seems like a really efficient design for an infant sweater. The only thing I changed were the button bands; instead of knitting them separately in K1P1 ribbing and then sewing them onto the body (hello, tedium), I picked up stitches along the front edges (probably not enough, but blocking will fix that) and knit it in garter stitch. The garter there will mirror the garter stitch in the bonnet and booties, whereas there is no other ribbing in the layette. Ha, I'm a designer! As if.

One of these days, I am going to have to get back to making baby blankets for all these sweaters. But not just yet. I have the yarn already purchased (remember my big spending spree at the LYS? Still working off that stash) for more sweater sets, and I intend to complete those first. In the meantime, I'm taking a break for the rest of the weekend and trying to finish up the first panel of my huge and heavy cotton blanket for myself. My acrylic (and other?) allergies persist, and I'm sick of chugging back the Benadryl.

When I went outside (finally) to get the newspaper, I was hit with an unexpected degree of warmth. And sunshine! And the need to get outside. The kids could really use some fresh air, and so could I. I opened the coat closet to find some bubbles and, finding none, chose the big bucket of chalk instead. I completely forgot about the new chalk toys we'd given the kids for Christmas, but there will always be another warm day - soon, I hope.

The garden's first bloom of the season. I couldn't tell you what it is, even though I bought and planted it a few years ago. This was thirteen seconds before Jack walked over and plucked it from its stem, presenting it to me. Ah, thanks, sonny-boy...

Jack and Sophia, hard at work on their joint masterpiece

The bouquet Sophie presented me with

Sophie testing out the idea that dandelions could be eaten. She spit out the flower, wiped her mouth and said, "I don't like it, Mommy."

Chloë walked away to the far side of the driveway, so I couldn't see what she was working on. It turned out to be a big, colorful Easter egg for Daddy, but I forgot to take a picture of it.

The non-twins' masterpiece; Jack was partial to green. That's my boy!

Eventually, Jack and Soap decided they were too hot, and they wanted to go inside. Chloë wanted to stay out, so I set her to work with some shears in the garden, cutting out the dried, old, brown stuff. She did just a little bit, but it's less I'll have to do, eventually. And she cut some of the new green growth. Oh, well. She is six.

At that point, I decided to have a look at my Palm and realized we'd missed a Brownies Try-It activity for Chlo. Oopsie. We also didn't go to the acting expo at ODU, but that was a planned miss after she was too sick to go to the informational meeting, and they choreographed it without her. I had asked for a refund for yesterday's Girl Scouts activity but never heard back, and I completely forgot about it. Too late now.  Lunch time, nap time, me time. Ahhh.

Finally, Daddy came home from work and... I can't remember anything that happened after that. I know I typed up stuff about it last night, but now the evening is completely escaping my mind. Oh, well, it happens. Momnesia and all.

Today, I slept and slept and slept some more. I'd hurt my shoulder yesterday in a freak knitting accident (heh), and had meant to lie down but not actually sleep all day. When I got up, it still hurt, and I asked Rob to get me one of those Thermacare heat wraps. I'm wearing it now. (I guess this will be a mini Product Review.) The warmth really feels good, and rotating my shoulder is less painful now that the heat has really kicked in. I don't know what he paid for it, but the pain level before compared to the complete lack of pain right now leads me to say that it's worth it no matter the cost.

That's about it. I did a whole bunch of knitting on my blanket today as well; Rob went out to the hospital to refill my meds that I somehow ran completely out of unawares; Jack spent the day sniffling on the couch; the girls played and seemed mostly all right, if coughing a lot. It wasn't nearly as warm today as it was yesterday, but I'm hoping we'll climb up there again during the week.

Fin.