This Moment - Family

Inspired by soulemama.com
{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.


I have to add words to this. This week marks a major upheaval for my family - my baby brother is headed off on an adventure to Chile. He and his girlfriend (the cute kids in the lower right of the photo) are expected to be there for 2 years. I may not see or talk with my brother daily or weekly, but I am used to the idea that I could get into New York City to see him or pick up the phone and call, and I could count on seeing him at major holidays and other family gatherings throughout the year. But to not see him for two years?! He was "home" visiting family this week - I have seen my brother more in the last month and it has been really great. I will miss them terribly (and wish they would be around so my kids can see them!), but I am trying to look on the bright side of things and be thankful for that we can set up Skype at the holidays and keep track of their adventure on the blog.

What do you knit for people in Chile?

Arr!

Hurricane Season is upon us - apparently, we might even feel some of Hurricane Irene this weekend! One of the last things I did before having a baby last week (it was already last week! time seems to have stopped and yet sped up simultaneously.) was send off a knit gift. My uncle, of the knit kidney, left New England last year for the warmer shores of the Caribbean and opened up St.Johnimals, a pet outfitter. He is missed terribly and I wanted to knit him something else, but really, a) How do you follow up on a kidney? and b) What do you knit for someone who now lives the island life?


A Pirate Turtle - for a safe Hurricane Season and to keep the pirates at bay!


Sheldon needed a swig before his trip. My "Pyrate Speak" mug came from my trip to Virgin Gorda (which is a British Virgin Island, St. John is an American Virgin Island).


To quote one of my favorite lines from "Pirates of the Caribbean" - "Why is the rum gone?"

Yarn Along - August 17

The "Better Late than Never!" Edition - of course I had to do this when I realized it was Wednesday, but couldn't blog it until now.

~From small things
~ Two of my favorite things are knitting and reading, and the evidence of this often shows up in my photographs. I love seeing what other people are knitting and reading as well. So, what are you knitting or crocheting right now? What are you reading? Take a photo and share it either on your blog or on Flickr.


So, on Tuesday (you know, While I Waited) I had an appointment to check amniotic fluid levels - turned out that the tech could only find one pocket of fluid to check, and that level was low enough to send me over to the hospital that afternoon. In a manner that was strikingly similar to the situation with Lorelai, they broke my water around 8, and by 10-ish things were really progressing enough that there was no time for the epidural I wanted, and Ta-DAH! 10:36pm, the lil'nutmeg Nathaniel Thomas was here! . It is still so very surreal - I can't believe I have had another baby. I can't believe we're already back home. I can't believe how similar this one is to Lorelai - he's slightly smaller than she was (7.9lbs, 19.6 inches), but the head full of hair really seals the deal I think.

It seems a bit crazier to be home this time around - Jackson is constantly on guard / edge, and Lorelai is still full of endless energy. She's getting to indulge in extra tv time this week that's for sure. But all is well so far - we could all use more sleep, but we're healthy and happy, so we just take one thing at a time.

Back to the yarn along-ing. I did bring hexipuffs to my ultrasound appointment, but I didn't work on them because I thought for sure I would drop the little balls of yarn and they would roll away. Instead I worked on a sock, but that wasn't the greatest idea either - I realized that I would have to try on the sock at some point to know where to decrease for the toe and I couldn't exactly reach my toes then. Oh well, live and learn.

Sad start to the week

My mom's dad passed away early this morning. He had been quite sick for some time - diabetes, on dialysis, respiratory failure... He was hospitalized after Christmas for pneumonia and then they discovered lung cancer. After all he went through, at least he was able to be made comfortable and not have all this drag out any longer. I'm very happy he got to meet Lorelai before Christmas and see her on Christmas Eve.