The fun of meeting other mums

I've told you all offline about my experience with the first mum I met. There's a bitter sweet story there that Mama J can fill you in or at a playgroup as I don't want to put it online. Needless to say that relationship has been nipped in the bud. But it doesn't get any less entertaining!

Met another mum in the playground. She is due with number two around the same time as me. Her little boy is a lively 2.5yr old. She seemed nice enough, different background to me, but hey, it takes all sorts in life. We met on Tuesday afternoon and her little boy was rummaging through her purse when he pulled out a small packet with dried green leaves. She laughed, grabbed it and then said she'd met with the dealer before meeting me to score for her husband. I'm just imagining a heavily pregnant mother with a young son meeting a dealer on the corner. Oh dear. I certainly can pick them. I told Mr M who agreed that while it's probably a little "harmless" stress relief for them, it was a little too dangerous to keep company like that incase we're implicated in anything.

I did meet another nice mother today at a fantastic local indoor softplay group. She has a 22mth old daughter and is expecting number two a month after me. We chatted about babies, of course, and about how it was nice that they charge for the class as it keeps the standard high (Oh dear we do sound elitist. We're not I promise. It's just the area we live in) then said we'd see each other next week. No stalking. Hopefully no drugs. Hopefully a new friend for Master R and me.

Using real nappies

Source: Green Baby

Following Mama H's post on World Environment Day I have taken a look at how eco-friendly my parenting is. I was a prolific user of paper towels using rolls a week to clean up after messy Master R. Conscience pricked I discovered that Green Baby had these fantastic washable wipes. They're so soft and durable. I've bought a couple of packs now and are so much softer on Master R's face too. He now uses them to clean his own face and hands during and after eating.

Encouraged by my experience with the wipes I thought about washable nappies. Because I live in an "underprivileged" postcode the council will pay £54.91 towards washable nappies. I received my voucher and went back to Green Baby to research nappy options. Many of them are really bulky with lots of different layers. I chose the Itti Bitti nappies. They have two layers that clip inside but don't seem bulky.

The downside is that I do have to change them more often than disposables. With the disposables I'd change Master R's nappy maybe 4 times a day now I need to do it about 6 times or he pees straight through it! I only have 4 nappies for the moment so I use them until I've run out and then switch to disposables. I guess I'm also lucky that Master R only does number 2s every 2-3 days so washing is easy. I just throw the wet nappies in the washing machine and wash them with the next load.

Verdict? I will buy some more and try to use predominantly real nappies. As for baby 2 I won't be using real nappies for a while - newborns poop far too much and I'm not scrubbing them...

Finished but ungifted gift knits

You can be forgiven for thinking that all I do is knit. I do actually look after a child, highly reliant partner and run a business too! I just squeeze in as much knitting as possible in the evenings when I don't have the brain power to do anything else.

These knits (and one crochet) are a little different. All but the top vest were started over a year ago and intended as gifts. For some reason they were never quite finished. Until today. While my darling Master R took a 4 hour nap I finished all four projects allowing me to cross them off my WIPS list. However, it's a bitter sweet completion because it reminds me of what a slack gift knitter I am.

The navy jumper (sweater) with the orange was intended as a gift for Mama V's Master K on his first birthday. I had finished all the knitting when I realised it was HUGE. It would fit a 5 year old. So I rushed to Borders and bought some books instead feeling really guilty that I couldn't provide a proper handknitted item.

The bunny blankie was intended as a gift for a friend who had her second baby in September. I actually knitted the whole thing while driving (I was a passenger obviously) from NYC to Philadelphia. But I never got around to stitching on the face until today. It will have to be a little snuggly for my baby now!

The crocheted bear/pig/monkey - can't remember what it's supposed to be - started life as a gift for an Australian friend (hence the green and gold Aussie colours) living in New York when she had her second baby. However this was the first thing I had ever crocheted and part of my learning process. As a result I was never happy with it. The arms and legs are all different sizes and the eyes look odd. Despite it's imperfections I stitched it together this afternoon and Mr M thought it was so cute and said baby 2 will love it. Not sure about that but it's too hideously made to give away!

The beautiful cabled vest at the top is my way of making it up to my friends. I started this on Saturday and already it was finished today. A wonderfully quick and impressive vest that will be wrapped and given to a friend's little boy on his second birthday next weekend. Of course I can see the imperfections, but I'm determined to overlook these and realise that it is a handknit and that's all part of the beauty.

I will wrap the vest and gift it next weekend.

A month today I'll meet my new baby

On 27 August I'll finally get to meet my new son or daughter. I'm actually starting to feel that it's real now after months of almost denial. This pregnancy is so different emotionally. I haven't had the luxury of spending the time to really feel the love or even bond with the unborn child in the way I did with Master R. When you already have a child, it's just so different to the first.

With the first pregnancy I spent hours singing and stroking my stomach. This time I'm lucky to get a 5 minute shower when Master R goes to sleep. I have no doubt that as soon as I meet him/her my heart will just melt and I'll be completely smitten - as Mama LS said in her debut post. But right now I'm so completely absorbed with everything else that I haven't had a chance to dwell on the baby - something I will change as soon as he/she is born.

On Friday I went for the final scan. I didn't see Master R past 20 weeks so this was such a treat! I did get teary as I gazed upon the face on my child for the first time. Perhaps not knowing the sex of a child limits the bonding to a certain extent. I still can't tell if it's a boy or girl from the face. These images always seem so abstract to me. What do you think?

An overlooked finished object

Most of my knitting is done for others. Generally for my darling Master R. But as I look through my Ravelry queue I've done a lot for myself but I'm just never happy with it. If it's not perfect I can't wear it. I'll be embarrassed to say that I made it and will have to tell anyone who comments on it how terrible it is and point out its every blemish. Perhaps I'm too hard on myself?

This cardigan however is different. I actually started it while on a terrible 8 hour bumper to bumper traffic jammed trip to Boston last summer. I managed to finish the back, front and start each of the sleeves before we arrived home and it was cast aside in favour of more wintery knits.

In desperate need of a white cardigan I resumed the project a couple of months ago. What struck me is the way my knitting had changed in a year. Where I had restarted the sleeves there was a clear line of distinction. The older knitting was looser and less uniform while my new knitting lovely and tight with all the stitches standing as they should. I nearly ripped back the old knitting and started again but then I thought that this is what makes a handknit unique and beautiful. Maybe I need a little imperfection?


I'm really happy with how this turned out. It's small enough and tight enough to look great over dresses and the fine cotton (all knitted on size US2 needles!!) the perfect weight for the British "summer". It's inspired me to do a bit more knitting for myself. I just need to get through all these gift knits first. Everyone, stop having babies please!

My wonderful MIL

Oh yes you read the title correctly. My mother in law really is wonderful, and the FIL too. If I say anything bad about them again please cyber slap me!

We made a last minute decision to actually take a holiday and fly, yes fly at 32 weeks pregnant (!!?!!), to Munich and then drive the 130kms to our apartment in Austria. I was really apprehensive about the whole thing but the doctor signed off on it and the airline allows you to fly up to 36 weeks with a doctor's letter. So off we went. It's only a 1.5hr flight and Master R had his own seat on the plane and was really good the whole way. Same for the car drive into Munich to see Oma and Opa.

After spoiling Master R with lovely presents, Oma and Opa took us to a biergarten for lunch. I stupidly ordered fish and then had to reorder when it arrived and I discovered it was raw fish. My German doesn't extend that far and no one thought there was anything wrong with a pregnant woman eating raw fish! But I reordered and tried not to make a fuss.

There was a summer fair in the park and the grandparents took Master R on his first merry-go-round ride. I thought he'd be scared because it was really fast but he loved it and kept begging for more. Being grandparents they kept giving in and I think he went on it 7 times in total and cried when we had to leave.

The real suprise was when we arrived at our apartment just 130kms away. Knowing that I have OCD when it comes to being clean and tidy Oma had completely cleaned the apartment. I mean completely. There was not a single speck of dust anywhere and no item of furniture or trinket (and there are lots of them) was out of place. The best thing is that they had moved anything that Master R could get at and stored it in their room. It was truly amazing.

It's more amazing given the fact that Opa is currently recovering from surgery for advanced cancer. It's been a tough couple of months and we didn't know how much longer we'd have him with us. It turns out that he's responded really well to treatment and is likely to have more healthy years with us. It touches me that despite the pain he's going through they both made such an effort to have the apartment perfect for us. So much so that they made our bed, bought new artwork to replace the items we didn't like, shopped and filled the fridge so we wouldn't have to worry about food the first few days, bought toys for Master R, filled the terraces with beautiful plants and flowers (as you can see in the picture above), insisted that they wouldn't stay with us even though they'd love to spend all day with Master R, the list goes on.

I am eternally greatful and appreciate having a MIL who is as OCD as me about things being just so. As a result I will not complain when they drink too much, try to take over the parenting, paint our walls canary yellow, decorate the whole apartment to their cluttered taste, put numerous holes in the walls to hang their gaudy artwork, wash my clothes and sheets in so much fabric softener that it gives me rashes in "sensitive" places, dictate when, where and how things will happen, constantly point out any changes in my weight or the regrowth of my hair, order so many knitted items that I'd have to knit for a year to complete them, hmmm really my list is insignificant compared to the beautiful things they have done for us. I wish I had the level of German possible to tell them I appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. Right now though they have to be satisfied with vielen dank, alles is perfeckt!

Beaten by a pip - here's my finished vest too

I feel a little sheepish posting this after Mama H! She just beat me to it though. I finished this last night and was going to post before going to bed but then cast on another project instead.

As Mama H said, the inspiration for this vest all started with Mama V's mother in law knitting one for the incredibly sweet Master K. Mama J then requested the pattern and started knitting it. She would have been the first finished but, despite much coaching from across the ocean, had some difficulty on the neck. I believe hers isn't quite there yet. Keep going though! You'll finish it.

As I say on my Ravelry page, this is terribly cheap but soft acrylic. The total cost of this vest was actually £1.25. But I wanted something that I could just throw on Master R when it was a touch chilly - which is often the case during a British summer - and not worry about curry stains. It also does very well in the washing machine, something I would NEVER do with wool - not even the machine washable stuff.

I'm quite pleased with mine. It's a touch big for Master R as you can see, and I accidentally over blocked it and it's a bit flat looking at the bottom. But one wash and it will be back to normal.

Please excuse the picture of my cheeky monkey who is still in his pjs and has breakfast all around his mouth!

A ball gown fit for a bump

Normally an invite to a swanky black tie masquerade ball would be so exciting that I'd barely be able to sleep. But being so heavily pregnant I was dreading it. What to wear with such a big bump? And black tie means to the ground. The lovely Louise Amstrup offered me a beautiful black dress with a beaded bodice. But sadly it didn't fit the belly.

However I did manage to find some silk I'd stashed probably about 10 years ago waiting for the right pattern. So Saturday I did some manic sewing. Thankfully I did manage to get it completely finished and pressed with a couple of hours to spare. It was actually a very simple bump friendly and colourful dress just as I'd envisaged.

The event was a 40th birthday party for the wife of an ex-colleague of my man. I'd actually never met the wife. It's very odd going to a party not knowing the birthday girl. And I didn't even meet her on the night.What a party! Most weddings are not this extravagant. Held at the V&A Museum the surroundings were just beautiful. It had a Venetian theme, hence the masks. I'd bought ours online and hoped that it matched my dress - luckily it did perfectly.

Back to the party. There was a string quartet on gondola in the middle of the lake in the garden. After we moved inside past the sculpture gallery there was a live band. The daughters aged 13 and 10 sang a beautiful song from Hairspray where they had adapted the words for their mother. They were incredible! Such confidence. I had tears in my eyes. Following the band were opera singers. Other entertainment included massages, makeup sessions, an ice cream stand (see picture above!) and a photo booth.

I'd actually managed to slip my feet into these Gil Carvalho 4 inch heels for the occasion. While the shoes were very comfortable for my feet, it was my legs that had the problem. My legs held up quite well until about 11pm. By then I was ready to limp to the car and go home to my lovely soft bed. You can imagine the relief when I took off my shoes and walked on flat ground. Bliss! But beauty means suffering, even when pregnant!

Masquerade evening of glamour

No knitting this weekend but there was some sewing. Saturday morning I delegated childcare responsibilities to Mr M and locked myself in my sewing/guest room to finish this ball gown in time for the party on Saturday night. Thankfully I did manage to get it completely finished and pressed with a couple of hours to spare. It was actually a very simple bump friendly and colourful dress just as I'd envisaged.

The event was a 40th birthday party for the wife of an ex-colleague of Mr M. I'd met him a couple of times but never his wife. It's very odd going to a party not knowing the birthday girl. And I didn't even meet her on the night.

What a party! Most weddings are not this extravagant. Held at the V&A Museum the surroundings were just beautiful. It had a Venetian theme, hence the masks. I'd bought ours online and hoped that it matched my dress - luckily it did perfectly.

Back to the party. There was a string quartet on gondola in the middle of the lake in the garden. After we moved inside past the sculpture gallery there was a live band. The daughters aged 13 and 10 sang a beautiful song from Hairspray where they had adapted the words for their mother. They were incredible! Such confidence. I had tears in my eyes. Following the band were opera singers. Other entertainment included massages, makeup sessions, an ice cream stand (see picture above!) and a photo booth.

I'd actually managed to slip my feet into some 4 inch heels for the occasion. My legs held up quite well until about 11pm. By then I was ready to limp to the car and go home to my lovely soft bed. Y can imagine the relief when I took off my shoes and walked on flat ground. Bliss! But beauty means suffering, even when pregnant!