Children’s Heart Surgery Fund :: Save Our Heart Surgery Unit.

This is where my daughter had her heart surgeries and was cared for afterward. I wouldn’t have asked for a better hospital, doctors, surgeons, nurses, or staff. Please support them and sign their petition.

I have a thing for crocheted blankets. And knit blankets. But they have to be hand-made. The bulk produced kind from the store aren’t the same. I finally braved crocheting a zig zag blanket. I am finding it quite easy to crochet. I don’t have enough yarn for a full blanket like I had planned. So I think I am going to get a contrasting color yarn and have some stripes at the end of the blanket. Just for some color.

Little One had a princess that needed to warm up under a blanket.

My princess loves all things princess. She working on having a complete collection of princess dolls. There is the princess bedding. Princess shirts. And now we have progresses to princess dresses. That gets worn out in public  when she wants to. She will only be two once.

Years ago, the knitting bug bit and bit hard. Learning to knit was just part of a long history of learning different ways to be crafty. For a while there, knitting took up the area of my brain that controlled my crafty endeavors. It was all knit, all the time. Now i am going back to different crafts. I never though of myself as a proficient crocheter. My sister asked for a Fat Bottom Bag for her birthday. After the hat I knit her didn’t live up to the expectations I had for it, for her. It is made with Full O’ Sheep yarn in the Meadow (I believe) colorway. Wooden handles from Joann’s fabric.

Snow storm from yesterday.

I birthed a princess.

A girly girl of the highest degree. Not like me at all.

I tried giving Little One non-gender specific toys in the beginning. (like those fancy words) There were blocks, stacking rings, and shape sorters.  I stayed away from the color pink. It didn’t work. If it is pink and sparkly, she LOVES it. The kid owns more shoes than I do.

She has to have her princesses to go to bed. It is most important. I guess during nap time yesterday Princess Belle got a little cold.

Little One made sure Belle had a Lighting McQueen sock to keep her feet and legs warm. Love it.

Playing with my camera and Photoshop Elements. The weather last night provided plenty of ice covered sculptures for me to practice with.

In random order:

1. To be blunt, I have uprooted my Little One from the only home she has known and we have moved to another state. It is for the best. It was a long time coming as well. As is her way, Little One has had no problem adjusting to all the new going on. She misses going to school, but I am working on getting her into a school here. I am working on becoming a single working mom. Getting reestablished is taking some time.

2. I am getting blood work done tomorrow morning. Have to fast for 12 hours first. So I ended the night with triple chocolate cake.

3. Had an amazingly great day today. Started with hugs and giggles with my kid and ended with snuggles while reading bedtime stories.

4. Bought running shoes the other day. I hope that by the end of summer I am able to run 3 miles, without stopping, jogging counts too.

5. Am working on two projects right now. Crocheting a ripples blanket and knitting a merging colors scarf. Haven’t felt the need to have half a dozen projects going at once. Have been taking care of the mending pile quite well, so far.

6. Little One’s birthday is in less than 4 months. Am already in crazy planning mode. Can’t wait.

A look back at 2010

Personally, a year of lessons and the start of healing. Finding me, that was buried, again. Remembering how much better the buried me is.

For my little family, a year of improvements. Of realizing what is important, what is needed, and what is merely desire.

As always, a year of ups and downs. But the ups seemed to outnumber the downs. Here is to an even better 2011.

Ms. Single Mama is one of my favorite blogs to read. Her latest blog entry made me tear up. But I agree with her sentiment at the end. For now it is just Little One and I in our own little tiny family. I wouldn’t want it any other way right now. At this point in time, my heart feels complete with Little One.

Christmas Day has come and gone this year. Even though Christmas is my favorite holiday of the entire year, I am glad to over and done with the cooking, wrapping, shopping, and everything else. The Christmas tree is still up and will probably be up for quite some time. The outside lights are still on. Mostly because the girls love it. Partly to try and keep my mid-winter crisis at bay.

I miss my kid. She is here, with me, everyday. She is becoming her own person with her own personality and her own independence. Little One doesn’t need me with her every second of the day any more. This is the child who spent the first year of her life in either the sling, the baby backpack, or my arms. The child who would not play unless I was playing with her and didn’t leave. The child who would wake up at 5 am to make sure mommy didn’t leave her when mommy was working. Now I have to wait to be invited by her to play.  Little One decides when she wants to snuggle and be held. I don’t even have to be within sight anymore, just ear shot. I just hope this means I am doing something right.