I realized the other day that Dekker isn’t a baby anymore. I don’t know if I will ever get out of the habit of calling him “baby.” Frankly, he probably thinks his name is Baby! However, my mom has always told her kids that we are and always will be her babies. I like being her baby, so I don’t feel too guilty about keeping that title tied to Deks for a little while longer.

We can’t seem to shake Dekkers diaper rash, and with him sleeping so late (until 1pm yesterday!) I think its getting worse. So this morning when he started making some sound at 10:00 I jumped at it and got him up. He would have easily fallen back to sleep, but I wanted to change his diaper so he wouldn’t have to sit in his yuckies for any longer than necessary. So today was his earliest morning in weeks, but my goodness it was fun! We had breakfast together, which we often do, but we took lots of time and shared food. I had some of his Cheerios, and he ate half of my Christmas orange. He has some of my cheese string and I sniped little bits of his yogurt. After breakfast I hauled him and my coffee downstairs for a little “What Not to Wear” therapy and playtime.

I saw so many new things in Dekker today. We have a sippy cup of water and a ziploc of goldfish in and around his toys, and he found them right away. He brought me his goldfish and waited. So I gave him a couple and chucked the rest in the ziploc across the room. And so began “fetch.” Hahah! He’d go find it and bring it back, and wait for some treats. Like a puppy. A very good game though. He is learning. Another thing he did today was bring one of his stacking cups over to me and put it on his head like a hat. I laughed at him and praised him up for playing, and then he took it off his head and reached way up to put it on my head. He laughed and laughed at his new idea. It was so much fun 🙂

My favorite thing he did today? I had a spoon in my coffee cup and he really wanted it. So I licked it off the best I could and gave it to him. A whole new world of sounds he could make compared to his plastic spoons! So he played with it for a while and then it was gone. I asked him where it was, and he just smiled and kept playing. Oh well, I figured, its a spoon. I’m sure more important things will go missing eventually. What is one spoon? But it bugged me. So I searched through all the toys he had been playing with and under couches. “Dekker, where’s the spoon?” Giggle. Oh well. I finally genuinely gave up looking and went to sit on the couch. Once my butt hit the couch, Dekker was up, crawled across the basement, reached into a Kleenex box and pulled out the spoon! Such a weirdo. And little punk, knowing what I was asking for, but playing like he didn’t! It’s starting!

Now that little mischievous look in his eyes makes sense.

I know no one but me really cares, but our water boil order is OVER! It is still an advisory, but apparently that means we still need to boil water we want to drink straight, but washing dishes, brushing our teeth, etc. is perfectly safe. It is about time!

I’ve been getting more and more anxious about the water thing. My house is a complete mess. Worse than usual. If I were to run warm water and wipe the table, would it be contaminated? I haven’t been able to bathe Dekker since he sucks his fingers sometimes, and I am scared he’ll get violently ill. I’ve barely brushed my teeth even, since rinsing out the brush by pouring water over it never gets it all out of the bristles, which to me is grosser than just not brushing. But now, it is all over. We will just use our water cooler/dispenser thing for drinking water, and go back to normal for everything else. Yay!

I had things to do today, but they didn’t happen. I know people with kids often use the time while their babies sleep to get things done. I give myself that time to be lazy and rest. However, I woke Dekker up from his night at 1:20pm. He ate a solid “breakfast” and barely lasted through playtime. I made him stay away until 3:oo before I put him back down to sleep. Dekker has always slept through any kind of discomfort, whether he’s teething, has a cold, or is growing like mad. I’m thinking its growing again.

I am so proud of Dekker these days. He took his first step last week, and every day he goes a little further. He can make it from the ottoman to the couch, which is about three or four steps. And its not a “step run biff” situation anymore. He walks intentionally, taking a step out, balancing, looking at me to make sure I’m watching, and then going for it. No fear. He is not the kid that is afraid to let go. He is totally game for it! He just doesn’t rush with anything. I LOVE that quality. He is my content son.

Until we put him in the bath. Sigh. Probably should do that soon, now that the water is safe. Dangit.

I have never been fond of Superstore. I appreciate their prices but have always hated the store. I would become very anxious every time we would go, to a point where sometimes I would choose to wait in the car. After much thought and figuring with my mom, we figured maybe it was the white floors and the fluorescent lights that gave me headaches. And anxiety was related to pushing the cart and getting lost in aisles when I couldn’t get around people. It all sounds silly, I know, but it was a very real frustration of mine. In the last few years, I have been getting better and better at just going in, getting my list done, and leaving. But then the renos came and I couldn’t find anything anymore. Again. I hate Superstore.

My mom loved taking us grocery shopping as kids. So she says, anyway. I’ve never met someone else who says they enjoy grocery shopping with kids, but she always made it sound great. I’ve taken Dekker grocery shopping in the past, but only really to pick up a few things that would fit in the bottom of his stroller. Today was our first official cart shop. And I loved it. He was the most adorable passenger ever.

He was very helpful, and sat patiently while I scanned through my disorganized list and went back and forth down rows, forgetting things.

My favorite part of our shop was buying Brady sandwich meat. I ordered our usual “500 of black forest ham please” and five seconds later, Dekker burst our crying. I don’t know why, for sure. He was holding this box and I wonder if he got a pinch or it jabbed into his stomach a bit? Either way, he wasn’t crying a fussy cry, he was sad. The lady behind the deli counted asked if maybe he wold like a piece of ham, if it was alright with me. I said of course, just pull it off the top of what we were buying. She scoffed at me, saying “oh, its just one piece” and passed us a free piece. I was so touched. I know a little piece of ham may seem like a silly blessing, but I find those kinds of things so special. When a Walmart greeter sneaks a yellow happy face sticker onto Dekker’s hand, or the cashier at Tim Hortons gives him a timbit, I feel loved. I mean, I think Dekker is fabulous. And I find it so exciting when other people think so too. I hope he can feel the love.

We finished up at Superstore in decent time, but not without several compliments on his “cool” and “trendy” toque. Not my words. Theirs. 🙂 Groceries were the last thing on the list, so from there we headed out of the city. Minutes after being in the car…

Someone was done for the day. Well, down for a nap anyway. He slept the entire drive home, and actually let me lay him down in his crib to keep sleeping.

I no longer fear Superstore. I eat Superstore for breakfast. So does Dekker.

Today was a solid Sunday. I often talk about Sunday being a day for family and food, and yet again, that was today. Only today was fuller than usual. And I loved it.

Our church service was packed way fuller than usual. We had a group from a nearby Bible school leading the service, which brought an additional crowd. After church, I got to catch up with a friend I haven’t seen in quite some time. It did my heart good to catch up with her, yet my heart is heavy as well, not knowing when I’ll see her next. Hopefully soon.

From church, we often go to my parents house for lunch and cards. Some family friends came as well. We feasted on tacos, and then filled the rest of the afternoon with Cranium. My team won. And we were two people again four. Booyah!

We then ditched Dekker at my parents and went to meet a group of friends. Our group gets together once a week-ish to eat a delicious meal, watch a chunk of a video and have a discussion, kind of like a group devotional. I’m really enjoying it 🙂 We were a group all of last year too, but we did a course on marriage building, and the discussions were meant to be just within the couples, which was good too, but I really love the group discussion afterwards. Probably my favorite part of them group, though, is having couples as friends. Not very long ago, we didn’t know a lot of young couples. But Brady and I are just one of six couples that meet regularly now. I don’t have contact with many people from high school, or even Bible school really, but I’m happy to call these people my friends.

Baby is in bed, bubble bath is running, and I’m thinking I could use a Halloween chocolate bar or two. Excuse me.

Yesterday, I sucked at crocheting. I’ve crocheted for over ten years, but yesterday, I sucked.

I’m making slippers again, ok? And I haven’t made many so they’re still relatively new to me. But I’m using a really straightforward pattern so it should be no big deal. But it was!

I’m making two pairs of double-sole slippers, so I need eight soles. I started working on the first one, and it came out super crooked. So I pulled it out, figuring I missed a stitch somewhere, and redid it. Again, it was crooked. I reread the stinking pattern over and over, searching for my error. Nothing. I fought with them all evening. When a hook broke, I gave up.But then I couldn’t sleep!! I got back up after laying in bed for a good while and went downstairs with Brady to fuss over the soles again. We walked through the pattern again, step by step, and the stinking thing turned out CROOKED!!! So we played MarioKart instead. And I did good, for the first time ever!

I had a solid sleep and woke up with crocheting slippers on my mind, with Bieber in my head for some reason. Seriously, three days in a row now!

This morning, I sat down to crochet those bloody slipper soles, and they all came out perfect, no fuss no muss. I have NO idea what happened last night, but clearly, MarioKart was more important.

Bradys has spent the last week at home. It has been so nice to have him around, but today, he is officially back to work. Might even work Saturday. Booooo!

However, I’m looking forward to some solid one on one time with Dekker. He is getting so good at standing and is very eager to walk. We put an ottoman in the middle of his play area downstairs, and we put it just out of reach of the couch, just far enough away that it annoys him to have to get down and crawl over. But considering that Dekker is who he is, he only lasts about an hour into playtime before he’s exhausted and needs a nap.

He has been napping for about an hour so far. I love my downtime! I’m debating whether to start crocheting more slippers (can’t seem to quench my weird thirst for crocheting) or to work on Christmas cards. We had photo Christmas cards last year. They were completely awesome. I loved them! We handed them all out to the people we saw…and never sent out the rest 🙁 Shame on me, I know. Just didn’t get there. I want to do better this year! So I convinced Brady I would definitely mail them out this year, and now have the go-ahead to put some together. That probably takes priority over crocheting.

Then it’s decided. Grey slippers with yellow soles will take a backseat to Christmas. For the moment.

So I really enjoyed yesterdays post. Maybe it’s strange to like my own post that basically brags up my “skills” but it’s fun to look back on things you’ve done that worked out, right?

Typing up my post yesterday put me in serious crochet mode. So I crocheted. All afternoon. And came up with…

Matching  toques for Daddy and Dekker! I’m not necessarily pro-matching all too often. How it really came to be was that Brady needed a new work toque. His current one is old and stretched and plain and doesn’t stay on very nice. So I thought I’d make him a relatively cool one that he could enjoy wearing a bit more. So I made him this one in pretty plain colors, but it turned out that I loved how it looked! The pattern I was using had an adult size and a kids size. Not knowing how the sizes would play out, I figured I’d try a kids one just for kicks. And I had those colors nearby. It was quick and easy and fit Dekker perfectly. So I think it is safe to say this will not be a work toque for Brady. So I made him a plain black one as well. It is boring, I know, but it is done better than his previous work toque and shouldn’t stretch out too fast.

So in an afternoon, I made three toques. As the title says, maybe I’m a little too pumped about crocheting right now.

For the record, I was going for a wittier title, but all I could come up with was something that sounded a lot like “croatians,” which I did not actually craft in my basement. So I had no choice but to go normal. Also for the record, if I made a business, I think I’d go with something like ” Cafe Crochet,” or “Hailey’s Crochet Cafe” but who knows. I’m not a business at all, so I don’t technically have to think about names. But I can dream.

Anyway, records aside, I’ve finished some projects I’m excited about! I’ve talked about the slippers on here before I think, but I have some better pictures of them. I’ve also completed “orders” and then given them out without taking pictures. Whoops! I’m trying to be more diligent! But here are a few anyway. Some you may have seen already, but I’ll recap then.

That’s really all I have for a post today, but I’m genuinely happy with how these things are turning out! Last year, I was only making scarves and toques. This year, I’m doing slippers too, which still isn’t stepping out of the box too much, I know. But my knowledge in “craft theory” is really expanding! I finally know the names of all the stitches, I’m learning new stitches and techniques, and I can easily read patterns. FINALLY!

And onto the next project!!!

 

 

 

 

Brady and I went to the dentist a few weeks ago. We both tend to get in trouble when we go, because we don’t go enough and they can never get our teeth fully cleaned in the allotted hour they book. Anyway, I talked about all of this in a post last month. Long story short is that we both had to make second dentist appointments. They were today. I also had my first filling. Yuck.

I was pretty nervous about the filling but it wasn’t even close to as bad as I thought it would be! It helped that Brady got out of his cleaning just as my filling was about to start, so he came to be with me. We didn’t think our times would line up, but it all worked out. Not only that, but the freezing needle hurt less than I remember if hurting from hen I was a kid going in to get many many molars pulled. So that was a bonus! Of course, my fabulous dentist from maaany years back knew how nervous I was, and explained everything to me like a six year old. I heard a lot about the “big magic toothbrush” and that, while lots of cleaning and polishing was being done, there was no drilling or anything that would hurt. I was even told to give certain signals (ei: waving) if I needed certain things. I can honestly say I laughed my way through the filling! Until the bill. $450?!?! Dang.

From there, Brady and I picked up Dekker from a friend (THANK YOU!) and went home to try a new recipe for supper. Ok, nothing super fancy at all, but we ended up with an enormous amount of a really yummy chicken spaghetti. I loved it, and can’t wait to eat more of it tomorrow.

Dekker napped through our supper, so we zoned and watched a couple episodes of “Raising Hope” on Netflix. And I dozed off! Apparently the dentist wears on more than just my teeth and gums!

Planning to sleep well tonight.

I think so. A few times, I’ve had multiple crock pots cooking in my kitchen, and it makes me feel like I’ve got things together. I don’t actually claim to, but it is nice to feel that way once in a while, even if it’s made up.

Today is a quadruple batch of honey chicken. I’m making the main dish for our small group that meets every week, and since honey chicken is really my only recipe that I’m confident in, that will be that! At least it’s delicious! And is cooked through relatively quickly. I didn’t realize how fast my day is getting away on me!

We have to be out the door relatively soon. We still need to shower up and beautify, finish up the chicken, pack Dekker stuff for the evening and feed him, and as I’m writing this, Brady is washing our mountain of dishes in safe, boiled water. On our third pot I believe. It is amazing how we/I take running water for granted. Normally, a person just runs a bit more hot water into the sink when the original water cools. But nooooooo! Not anymore. Everything takes SOOO much longer this way! But I am so thankful he is here to do some of the jobs that just tick me off since the water boil order. I guess slacking doesn’t make me a hero though.

I wonder how long I can milk the whole “having a huge baby makes me a hero” thing.