LYLAS

A week ago today, Joy, Mark and Aidric flew in. ::sniff:: I had no idea how emotional I would get seeing my best friend with her new three month old baby. He's such a sweet precious little peanut. And he looks so good in his new blanket! I can barely remember when Hadley was that age and it makes me sad. Ahem, does this mean it is time to have another baby? ::shiver::

We got out once a day to hit the town and we even managed to head downtown on the light rail one day. This was perfect as Aidric is not a fan of taking naps, so he was quite up and alert with all the visual stimulation in downtown Denver.


As evidenced in this picture, Hadley had a bit of a crush on Mark. I think perhaps it is her first crush.

Joy and I had some time to reminisce as well when I pulled out the box of notes that we passed back and forth together in High School. I have so many notes from so many different people, and I have no idea why I've saved them, other than they represent an era of my life. An era of Tears for Fears and Paula Abdul. My favorite part of the notes is that instead of them being signed BFF, they are signed LYLAS. Any guesses? It stands for Love You Like a Sister. I might start using this in my chats to see if I can bring it back into the mainstream.

One year, I went all Project Manager on the notes and separated them by person filing them in large manilla envelopes. Can you say excessively detailed???


We had some good laughs, and watched video of our high school graduations, proms, day after proms, and Christmas caroling. It's always fun taking a stroll down memory lane.

Crafting Mania

Can't talk now, in crafting mode. I just realized I haven't blogged in a week, shame on me. I have loads of fun pictures of our visit with Joy last week and lots of updates on Hadley's walking progress. We are in countdown mode. Every day, she learns something new. It is blowing my mind.

Happy Happy Joy Joy

I've written about Joy so much on this blog that she has her own Label. Click on the label at the end of this post to see everything I've written about her in just the last 2 years.

You can review the story of our love here. She is my beffy, my BFF, and my BFITW3. We got married the same year, and the day I had Hadley, Joy found out that she was pregnant! Are we completely connected or what? Yes the story would have been better had we both conceived on the same night, but stop being so creepy, gawd.

I'm just so excited that she and her husband Mark and their three month old baby Aidric are coming to visit this week-end. I want to hug and cuddle him and nuzzle his soft furry head.

Chicken Dance

My parents sent me a musical birthday card this year that fast became one of Hadley's favorite toys. Upon opening the huge card, the classic 90's wedding tribute, the chicken dance plays as the sound of an accordian. It's creepy, and H. LOVES it. Her little legs just bop around at the mere sound of the words "Chicken Dance". Forget the farting video, this is what I'm going to threaten to show to her dates when they show up at the house. "Oh yeah, you can go out with Daniel, but only after he's come over and sat through the chicken dance video a few times."

House Projects

Every week-end, DG and I have decided to throw leisure to the wind, and take on a load of house projects. First things first, we have started to baby proof the house. She's not fully walking yet, however she can and does get anywhere she wants to be. All outlets have been plugged and we are prepped to put up the baby gate, install magnet locks on the cabinets under the sinks, and move all the medicine out of the bathroom drawers and onto a high shelf in the hallway closet. We know way too much for our own good these days. I hate parenting in fear. Some days I feel like my only goal is to keep her alive.

Another big project was cleaning out the garage, giving away a bunch of stuff to Free Cycle, donating an entire car full to the Salvation Army, getting winter jackets ready for "Coats to Colorado", and packing 5 bags of baby clothes for a Battered Women's Shelter. Yay clean(er) garage.

Finally, just the other day, after living here for over a year, DG painted our bedroom Benjamin Moore 1025 Chocolate Mousse. It's creamy and dreamy and one shade lighter than we painted the living room in our last house. We have visions of a brown/blue bedroom. When you don't have a lot of money to redecorate, painting is a good way to spruce up the look of the house. We are also trying to figure out what to paint the rest of our upstairs and entry way, and I'm pushing for one wall of bright aqua in the office.

How to Knit an Urban Chic Baby Blanket

Two years ago, Holly and I made a baby blanket for Lora's baby Liv. You can only hope that when you put so much love into one project that it will be loved and adored. As luck has it, this blanket that we made so long ago, has a name, and it is Mimi. Mimi rarely leaves Liv's side. Mimi is Liv's soothing pacifier. Mimi cannot be put into the washing machine because the distance between Liv and Mimi would be too great.

It is with great love, that I have embarked on another baby blanket. This one for the most beautiful little boy of my Beffy Joy. (I think Beffy is the new BFF.) And in case you were interested, I wanted to show how you too can make a blanket such as this. Warning: This is NOT your grandmother's baby blanket. So you can take the polyester yarn that you've been saving for years and go make a pot holder.


It starts with this book, 100 Afghan Squares to Knit which has some great patterns and gorgeous afghans. However, the blankets are all "big people" sizes. So I picked my favorite squares, Sailboats, Stripes, and Speckle and created a rough layout in excel making the blanket 7 x 5 squares. Then I figured how much yarn I would need. Now yarn for a baby blanket is very important. It needs to be extra soft and washable. No one wants to go dry clean a wool cashmere blanket. Especially one that will constantly be covered in spit up, pee, poop, or blueberry jam. My favorite yarn is the Shine Sport from Knit Picks. It is 60% Pima Cotton and 40% Modal which gives it this luxurious silky soft feel. And it is 100% washable. This blanket used about 5 skeins of Green Apple, 5 skeins of Sky, 3 skeins of Yellow and 3 skeins of Cream. You will also need 1 pair of US 5 needles, 2 circular US 3 needles 29" in length, and a tapestry needle.


During it's conception, I knew that I would need some help to finish this. So I called my mom and did some over the phone eyelash batting to convince her to help me by knitting half of the squares. She came on board like a hurricane and whipped up her squares faster than you can say knit one purl one. Even Holly got in on the action when I lured her pregnant self over for dinner a few times to help me knock out a few extra squares. I love a community blanket. Unfortunately, knitting the squares is the easy part. It's the finishing that takes the longest time.

After all of the squares are finished, you need to flatten or block them. I am lazy and do not care to block to the same size, so I spray them with some water, cover them with a damp cotton rag and iron them until they are flat.


Then I layed them all out of the floor and rearranged them ten times, until I got the pattern I wanted.


Now here is tedious part. You need to handsew the squares together using the mattress stitch. The mattress stitch consists of sewing each stitch together, which in this case is 50 stitches vertically and 39 stitches horizontally. You begin with the vertical rows. After the rows are done, you piece each of them together. If I did the math right, this works out to about 3,075 hand stitches.

When you have finished stitching the entire blanket together, you need to add a pretty border. You do this by using two size 3 29" long circular needles to pick up stitches. Do one side at a time, using a simple knit, purl. I did 3 rows of Green Apple and 3 rows of Sky, but if you want a bigger border you can add more. On the top and bottom, you can pick up all the stitches, on the side you have to do a 1:4 ratio. Seen here is a detail of the edge.


When all is said and done, the final step is to sew in all the loose ends (at least 2 per square or 70 total) and work the corners together.

And finally, here is the finished project. Just in time to keep the baby warm through the chilly fall nights.

Saturday in the Park

This week-end, DG and I walked to the park for a picnic lunch and some swing time for Hadley. More than the swings however, she is utterly fascinated by watching the kids play. Like she has been stranded on a dessert island and is just realizing that there are little people out there just like her.


Here is a representation of fall in Colorado (facing east away from the mountains). It's no New England fall that is for sure. But we work with what we have. It reminds me of when we were in New Hampshire visiting the Allbee farm this summer and Sally was making fun of the brilliance of the trees in Connecticut boasting that New Hampshire trees were so much more beautiful and deep red. It makes me giggle to think there is state rivalry over the tone of the trees. It's like me thinking that Kansas can kiss our trees asses.

Happy Halloween

We're in the spirit here with fun lights and good Halloween tunes. We got this holiday projector years ago for Christmas, but it has ghosts, bats, and a witch filter as well. They didn't come out as well in the video as I would have liked.

Here is DG's Halloween playlist that is booming out of a wireless outdoor speaker for the neighborhood kids.

Monster Mash
Ghostbusters - Ray Parker Jr.
Twilight Zone (Movie Theme)
Love Potion No. 9
Psycho: Suite For Strings
I Put A Spell On You - Screamin Jay Hawkins
In The Midnight Hour - Wilson Pickett
Batman/Robin Hood - Orlando Pops Orchestra
Clap For The Wolfman - The Guess Who
Purple People Eater - Sheb Wooley
Thriller - Michael Jackson
Halloween Scary Sounds Scene 1 and 4

Have a safe and fun night.

Breath-Holding Spells

I snuck in this morning and caught this picture of H. napping. She was such a sweet precious angel baby, and then the shit hit the fan. We had a little drama here today complete with my first 911 call, an ambulance, and a trip to the Children's Hospital ER.

On our way out the door to go for a walk, H. was fussing over having her shoes put on, having her sweater put on and having her nose wiped. Suddenly, she had enough and she went from fussy to acting like she had just gotten her immunization shots. Her lips curled back, mouth open in horror, and eyes watering. I was already in the process of comforting her, since I've seen this look before and I am usually able to hold her and calm her until she catches her breath. Not this time.

This time, she couldn't catch her breath. Instead, her entire face turned purple, her head flopped back, her eyes rolled and she couldn't breath. This lasted for over a minute. I had no idea what was going on, but I knew immediately that something was wrong and that I needed to call 911. And when they got here, if she was ok, then they were going to need to take me away for heart failure.

It felt like it took forever to find a phone, and the whole time I thought she was going to collapse in my arms. Finally, hands shaking, it took me two tries to call 911. Somewhere during this time, H. finally caught her breath and started crying, but her arms were limp and her head was flopping. And then the right side of her body started twitching. I am trying to explain all of this to the operator wracking my brain for what could be wrong with her. However, with her crying, it seemed like her color was coming back. phew.

By the time the paramedics got to the house, she had almost recovered, and we decided that I would just take her to the hospital to get her checked out. Long story longer, as it turns out, kids do this. It is called a Breath-Holding Spell.

A breath-holding spell is when your child holds his/her breath when they are suddenly injured, frustrated, angry or frightened.

Breath-holding spells begin between the ages of 6 months and 2 years. They occur only while the child is awake.

During a breath-holding spell;
- Your Child may make 1 or 2 cries and then hold his breath until he becomes blue around the lips and passes out.
- Your child may stiffen and may have a few twitches or muscle jerks.
- Your child will breathe normally again and become fully alert in less than 1 minue.

An Abnormal reflex allows 5% of normal children to hold their breath long enough to pass out. Most children do not do this deliberately.

Holding the breath (when frustrated) and becoming bluish without passing out is such a common reatction in young infants that it is not considered abnormal.

Children usually stop having breath-holding spells by the time they are 4 or 5 years old.

I thought after our last trip to Children's, we made a pact with H. to never go back to the hospital. Apparently there are some new ground rules. The moral of this story is that H. can have as many drippy snotcicles dangling out her nose as she wants.

Pretty in Teal

Saturday night, we lured Cynthia and Jeff out to the real 80's Prom Halloween Party. Having already had our practice night, it was like so totally easy to get ready. We updated DG's costume with my Maloney Tennis letter jacket and my costume with my original wine glass favor from my senior prom. You know, back in the good old days when high schools discouraged alcohol use by giving out favors that were made to hold alcohol.


Cynthia and I are two peas in a pod when it comes to our pack rat ways and saving "treasured" outfits. Mine are in the garage however, whereas hers remain in the closet. In her bedroom! I don't know about you, but the bedroom closet is valuable real estate, especially when you have a husband that requires a closet in the bedroom as well. What, I don't get both closets? I thought marriage meant I get whatever I want? All of her vintage outfits are at the ready whenever she needs them. So it was easy access to this dress that she wore to her prom, with her original purse, fashion jewelry, and bows on the shoes. The full potential and beauty of this dress lies in it's completely ballooning bustled back with a slit up the middle. Elegant and Elvira all in one package.


With some help from my blue eyeshadow, a curling iron, and the same blush that she wore to prom, she completed her look. What is her final look you ask? Pure Sheena Easton. I will spare Cynthia any further upset by NOT posting the video of Jeff and her dancing to Relax by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. But it's quite priceless.


The party was a blast and it was fun to see people dressing up. The hostess had her hair crimped (awesome). And let's just say, I wasn't the only teal dress there. Though I may have been the only one rocking the teal eye liner.


For further embarrassment on myself, here are the actual pictures of the four proms that I went to. Yes, four. The first one was my Junior Prom. From the program:

Date: May 13, 1988
Location: Aqua Turf
Theme: With you all the Way - New Edition
I asked Jim Smith, a fellow band geek to go with me. Love the orchid wrist corsage. Is that a plant or a creeping ivy? We traveled in style in his father's old subaru. I also got my first kiss and had my first boy/girl sleepover that night.

The next month, I was invited to the Senior Prom as well. My date had a girlfriend, but her parents would not allow her to go to prom, so I was the stand-in date. God forbid I wear the same dress, so I borrowed this lovely lavender number from a friend at church.

Date: June 9, 1988
Location: Aqua Turf
Theme: This is the Time - Billy Joel
Art Hass came with his friend Mark to pick us up in a fun old time car. I came home on time however because I had finals the next day.

Skip to senior year and I asked my friend Todd from church camp to my prom and in return, he asked me to his which came first. Who says you won't wear the same prom dress ever again? Break out the teal. Unfortunately this night didn't go so well. A hotel room, a bathtub full of beer, and one 17 year old girl who didn't have a car to drive the hour home.


Since he was a gentlemen, Todd did not stand me up for my prom, though he probably should have. In the blossoming of my social etiquette skills, I learned that when things are uncomfortable, you never talk about them ever again. So I proceeded not to talk to him all night long. Classy. But this time, classy in maroon and velvet. I decided not to pay for pictures this night as I was probably hoping to forget that it ever happened.

Date: June 3, 1989
Location: Aqua Turf
Theme: Hold Onto the Nights - Richard Marx


I was never a big fan of the 80's, but it is definitely fun to go back in time and mock the couture.

11 months old

Today you turn 11 months old. Since the day we met, every second with you has been joyous. How can it be that I am the luckiest person in the world to have you, the cutest girl ever, as my daughter? After we put you down to bed at night, as if we haven't had enough, your Dad and I find ourselves looking at pictures of you and getting all mushy and gushy.


I love watching your personality blossom. Every second of every hour of every day you learn, grow, and advance. You've been cruising for four months up and down the couch. But this week, you've started problem solving to figure out how to get over to where I am. From one corner of the room, you step over obstacles, cling to walls, desks and computers until you have made it over to me. Then we rejoice with hugs, kisses and high fives. Here you are walking with your Hippo. This is 4 minutes long and grandparents are the only people expected to sit through it.



Right now you are getting your two top front teeth and they are making you a little fussy. It already looks like you will have a diastema, a trait from your Nana's side of the family and your Dad's. Can we tell from baby teeth? We're not sure.


You've also started to dance. I dance with you all the time, but now when you hear music, your little knees start bopping, or if you are on the floor, your foot goes to the beat. It's just about the cutest thing I've ever seen.

Your vocabulary is also growing. Much to my consternation, I finally had to admit that your first word was Dog. Whenever you hear or see the dogs, you point and say "da". We're still working on the g. You also know Mama, Dada, butterfly, and banana which sounds a lot like Anana, and you can wave hello and good-bye. You have fully grasped the sign for "More" and you almost have "All Done". Just this week I've been trying to teach you how to put O's in your mouth by yourself. Whenever you manage to get one in there, we clap and do a high five. You LOVE the high five.

Just yesterday, I found out something new that your Dad taught you; pursing your lips for kisses. I am completely tickled over this new trick and when I start laughing about it, so do you.

Making Calls for Obama

Since the political fire has been burning inside of me, and we live in a swing state, I decided a few weeks ago to donate some time to one of the Obama/Udall headquarters here in Denver. I'm not sure what I thought I would be doing since I'm too afraid to go door to door and I personally hate getting telemarketing calls from people. In my naive little mind, I thought that somehow I could slip in and do some data entry eat a few donuts and leave. Well that just wasn't realistic. There were NO donuts. I ended up making phone calls my first night there.

After my training, with sweaty palms and dinner plates under my armpits, I sat and listened to people for awhile before diving in. Then I just hammered away, making over 40 calls in an hour and talking to roughly 12 people. Several weeks ago, the main point in making calls was to try and get people to sign up for mail-in-ballots, while at the same time finding out what candidate they were leaning towards. When I went in the second time, we were trying to confirm that people got their mail-in-ballots and reminding them how to get them mailed in or dropped off at early voting centers. Of course while on the phone, if you got someone that was "undecided" you could give them some talking points. For the most part, I got a lot of nice people. As a side note, here is an editorial from David Sedaris on "undecided" voters which is pee your pants funny.

Now, with 2 weeks before Election Day, tempers are high, and people are heated. When I went in last night to make calls, I got a lot of angry people on the phone, something that my delicate ego could not deal with. About 5 calls in, I got a 27 year old male voter on the phone who immediately lit into me with some crap about how Obama won't release his birth certificate and it's under a federal investigation. Luckily I had read up on this issue and was somehow able to remain completely calm (in a sweaty blood pressure raising kind of way) and explain to him that what he was spouting were schmeer tactics that had been proven to be completely incorrect and false. I encouraged him to do some research online at my favorite fact checking sites. I was so direct and on point with him that he backed off and said, "Um, so there's no federal inquiry?" "No sir, his website shows his birth certifcate, it's in Illinois for anyone to view, it's been checked by non-partisan groups, you can find it online, there is no federal inquiry." He then insisted that even Obama's mother was ashamed of him for the lies he has told. It was then that I had to break it to him that this would be difficult as Obama's mother had died of cancer several years earlier. This went on for over 5 minutes as he continually tried to slander Obama's name. His final piece de resistance was that Obama is somehow related to Dick Cheney. Now this one I had not heard. My response to him was, "What are they like 10th cousins once removed? I'm pretty sure they aren't hanging out eating potato salad together at the family reunions." (I was a once removed off.) I followed by asking what difference it makes that they could somehow be related? Here was his argument: "Scoff, well, er uh, it like makes a huge difference." I'm not sure how I managed to hold my tongue and not use DG's phrase "ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS?!?" (Sorry Mom) But in the end, though I didn't change his mind (I don't think he's voting for McCain either.), I felt better that I didn't let this lie continue to propagate itself and that maybe next time, he will try to get more informed. One small little victory at a time.

Giving Back to Children's Hospital

DG's friend Steph is a graduate of Indiana University and often organizes charitable events for the alumni located here in Colorado. Her lastest benefit was an afternoon at Children's Hospital in Denver, creating a Halloween Fun Fest for the kids. We headed out to help her for a short few hours last Sunday.

The idea was to create a fun environment full of ghoulish activities for all the kids and their families to attend, to help them forget, for just a minute that they are in a hospital. She did such an amazing job and I think that it is just so special of her to do this. It took place in the lobby with fun games including, Mummy Bowling, Ring Toss on Witches Hats, Eye Ball Toss, Pin the Nose on the Pumpkin, Face Painting, Guess how much candy is in the candy jar, Pumpkin Painting, Mummy Wrapping, and Cookie Decorating. Everyone was a winner, receiving gift bags and prizes for each game.

Having been in that hospital for two weeks, we saw several programs like this, and I just have to say that I think it is such a good thing that these groups do to create such a fun environment for the kids in the hospital. Hadley and I got to help out with the Eye Ball Toss, and meanwhile, I got some great ideas for kids parties that I want to have when she gets older.

Favorite Baby Books

Hadley loves books. Even more than the fun pictures and colors, right now she loves to be in control and turn the pages. Through the generosity of our friends, she has gotten quite a library of great baby books. Books I never would have even known about had we not received them as gifts. Here are a few of our favorites:

Hadley's Favorites
Fuzzy Bee and Friends - Priddy Books
Aunt Jinny got her this great cloth book that has been Hadley's favorite from the start. Each page has fun textures to touch and grab. And how can you go wrong with a pleather lady bug? My favorite phrase in this book is, "Oh me oh my, I wonder why, I'm such a splendid butterfly."


Three Little Caterpillars - by Dorothea DePrisco
Her Nana got her this book for our trip to New England. From day one, she loved to touch the furry caterpillars on each page, and upon opening the pop-up on the last page, she started trying to say the word butterfly buh-buh-buh. Any book that encourages her to talk is high up in my book.


Buzz-Buzz, Busy Bees - Simon and Schuster
Kim and Jay got her this book for our love of the bee. Little did we know how much this book would help get us through the hospital stay, eliciting giggles galore. We don't leave the house for a trip without this book.


Brown Bear, Brown Bear What Do You See? - Bill Martin Jr. & Eric Carle
My friend Roxanne got us this book when we were back east, and all I can say is how did we live without this one? The pages are nice and thick and easy to turn and so fun in their simplicity.


Little Bee Finger Puppet Book - Chronicle Books
What another Bee book? My friend Marie got this one for us, and it's home is in the diaper bag as it travels with us wherever we go. When I buzz in her ear and move the finger puppet around, she is enthralled. So fun.


My Favorites
Blue Hat, Green Hat - by Sandra Boynton
I love all of Sandra Boynton's books, but this one especially because it involves a combination of learning clothing, color, and different animals. The illustrations are great. I think they came out in the 80's but they are so clever that they are timeless.


Olivia Counts - by Ian Falconer
Olivia is a sassy little pig. The illustrations are in black, white and red and feel so complete and urban. I love books that come around full circle.


Goodnight Moon - by Margaret Wise Brown Pictures by Clement Hurd
Mark and Sue got her this book when we were in Connecticut and it is a nighttime ritual for us now. We've started saying good night to everything in the room before going to sleep.


Make Van Gogh's Bed - Julie Appel and Amy Guglielmo
It is only appropriate that my girlfriend Beth from college got Hadley an Art History book as that was my major. Each page has a fun painting, and a texture that she can touch and feel. This year, colors. Next year, the social implications of French Impressionism in the Salon of 1863.


Haiku Baby - Betsy Snyder
DG is constantly bringing new books home from the book sales at the Denver Post. This is my absolute hot off the press favorite. This haiku describing spring is what makes me all warm and fuzzy inside: "in tickly-toe grass, a buttercup offers up yellow nose kisses". Besides the great writing, it is really the layout, illustrations, and the little blue bird on every page that make this book such a gem.


So what Baby books am I missing? Let me know your favorites.

Halloween Theme 80's Prom Nite

Our first Halloween Party Invitation this year was to a themed 80's Prom Nite party. FINALLY an excuse to wear the prom dresses that I have dragged through 3 states and countless moves. Drag those bitches out, dust off the moth balls, and let's do this PROM THEME.

In addition to the prom dress however, I also have my original crenoline, strapless bra, earrings, pearls and sunglasses. Pretty in Pink eat your heart out. TEAL is the new Pink.

It was a hard decision to make over which dress to wear from my Junior and Senior proms, but ultimately Teal won out over the Wine colored one as most cheesy. I'd give myself a pat on the back for the dresses still fitting, but I wasn't the skinniest girl in high school. Oh well, they DO fit.

To complete this look, I wet my hair down and filled it with Gel, scrunching as I dried it for that fuzzy permed look. Then I pulled the sides out, sprayed the heck out of them and dried them straight out. Finally, I teased the hell out of it. No, I didn't give it a hickey and whisper seductively in it's ear. I used a brush backcombing and hairspraying the likes of which I'm still washing out. Unfortunately since I don't have bangs, I'm going to have to work on the Bear Claw effect. I also put on lots of teal eyeliner, green eyeshadow, and red lipstick.

DG is wearing his original Ray Bans (prescription), Vans, tuxedo pants, and a tuxedo shirt I found for him at local awesome costume/vintage store Flossy McGrew's. He greased his hair up in what my friend Kevin calls "The Squiqqy". On Saturday evening, we grabbed Hadley and headed out for our practice night to a Halloween party.

These are the final results. Not pretty. In fact, DG told me I looked like a Cougar on the prowl. Nice.

If I can find my prom photos in the garage, I am hoping to do a side by side comparison later this week. Lucky you.