Marie Haigh

Gardening Weather

March 9, 2011 Marie HaighLeave a comment

The weather is warm enough to work in the garden. So that is exactly what Elly and I did yesterday.

It felt so good to get my hands dirty again. Elly had a great time getting filthy herself. Of course, she had to eat the dirt. How else would one find out what it tastes like?

Despite searching for a gardening set for Elly at Walmart, the best I coud find was a beach set. Elly ended stealing my tools anyway. I don’t know why I bother buying her toys sometimes.

Our neighbor Irene stopped by for a visit while we were outside. Elly gave her a tour of the yard. She just loves being able to walk everywhere now.

Elly is officially a toddler now. Yesterday she walked more than she crawled. She is learning new words everyday. The word Wow has become her favorite word to say kicking Jake’s name out of the #1 slot. Like most toddlers, Elly has found ways to make Dan and I question our ability to get her to her 2nd birthday. Case in point, she can now turn on the cold water faucet in the bath without even getting into the tub. Oh joy!

With her curiosity peaked and new skills developing, I thought it was the perfect time to introduce Elly to the world of crafting. At Target, I picked her up a set of washable markers designed for children 18 months and older. Elly is 13 months old, a mere 5 months difference.

Apparently, a lot can happen in 5 months. Elly squashed my dreams of sending out art masterpieces to family members only seconds after unwrapping the markers. She stuffed them directly into her mouth and then proceeded to color her face rather than the paper I had bought.

The next craft project, making cards, went just as poorly. I’ll have to wait for Elly to get past her oral fixation before we tackle anything else.

No matter. I will still be taking Elly with me to AC Moore’s grand opening in Pottstown on Sunday. I’m thrilled to have a craft store opening so close to home. In the warm weather, it should be no more than a 10 minute bike ride.

If nothing else, I can buy more yarn for Elly and I to play with.

Plus with a little luck, I’ll win their grand prize: free crafts for a year (valued at $500).

R&R in Playa del Carmen

March 3, 2011 Marie Haigh3 Comments

Dan, Elly and I had a wonderful, relaxing vacation in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It took us a day or two to come up with the right rhythm. We over exhausted ourselves on the first day by getting up before dawn, spending the first half of the day traveling and then trying to enjoy the evening walking through town and making Elly sit through a long sit-down dinner. It wasn’t the brightest idea. Yet, somehow we always try to do too much on our first day of vacation. Maybe one day we’ll learn.

Once we took a more leisurely pace, everybody had a great time. Only Elly refused to indulge in R&R. She was too busy mastering her new skills: climbing steps, opening doors and walking.

The vacation was a resounding success due to the following reasons:

1. Luxury home away from home complete with a heated pool – On most days, we took a morning swim, Elly included. Oh, how I miss that pool.

2. Visiting with family – It was a wonderful experience being able to spend a week with Dan’s family. I really do like my in-laws. I’ve always felt lucky to marry into such a big, warm family. Alas, poor Elly misses all the attention.

3. Friendliness of locals – We couldn’t walk down a street without people stopping to say Hola and to ogle at Elly. They marveled at her red hair, called her beautiful, and even pinched her cheeks.

Plus, they were extremely patient with our inability to speak Spanish outside a handful of words, mostly nouns.

4. Avoidance of things we dislike – Though we were 1 block from the beach, we didn’t step foot on it. I have a daughter who makes Casper look tan. No amount of sun protection can save her from getting some degree of a sunburn. Besides, Dan and I are not fans of the beach. We prefer a pool.

5. Good food – It had been my goal to only eat Mexican food while in Mexico. I failed. The meals and snacks taken at the house were your normal American cuisine: pastries, grilling meats, and snacks. When we were out on the town, I stuck to my guns. My favorite finds were tacos de chorizo and cochinita pibil. Yum! Dan pointed out that I have a knack of finding sausage wherever we travel to. When we came back from London, I did nothing but rave about their selection of tasty sausages. I do love me some sausage.

6. Gorgeous fabric – Just gaze your eyes upon my finds.

I already have plans for most of it: dresses out of sequined fabric, apron out of the Madonna fabric, and a gored skirt out of the hand-dyed fabric.

Will we go back? I’d go back just for the pool. Pity it won’t fit in our backyard.

Not Knitting

February 15, 2011 Marie Haigh2 Comments

The waistband on Elly’s wool soakers is finished.

Not much else is. My knitting has once again been placed on the back burner. What is more important than knitting now? Packing for our vacation. We’re headed to Mexico!

Elly has a passport and a bikini. She’s ready.

Actually, it’s amazing how somebody so small could need to take so much stuff. We are following the advice of my best friend who has been traveling with her son since he was 12 months old. “Pack for the worst scenario; hope for the best” she says. So, we’re taking everything you need for a sick child and everything you need for a healthy child.

Finished!

January 31, 2011 Marie Haigh3 Comments

According to my Ravelry project page, it only took me 1.5 years to complete.

To be honest, it’s not truly finished. I need to single crochet an edging. Of course, first I need to relearn how to crochet. Afraid that it wold take me another 2 years to add the edging, I called my mother-in-law to ask for help. Not only did she agree to crochet the edging, she agreed to do it while on vacation in Mexico. Isn’t she wonderful? I didn’t even have to bribe her with chocolate.

After the edging is on, I’ll give the blanket a good blocking. Then, it will be truly finished.

Of course, I’m not waiting for the banket to be completely finished before casting on a new project. My little girl NEEDS wool soakers. I have gorgeous wool just begging to be knit into a soaker. Besides the quicker I make Elly a soaker, the quicker I can start the project I’m head over heels for: Mommy and me ponchos.

Trapped Indoors

January 28, 2011 Marie HaighLeave a comment

Old Man Winter dumped a foot of snow on us over the course of the last two days.

In front of our neightbor’s house, you can barely see our car sticking out of the snow. It took Dan 1.5 hours to unearth it.

Despite being stuck indoors, I’ve only managed to seam up half of the blanket. Elly’s bithday is less than a week away and this is her main gift from her Daddy and I. Ack!

On the plus side, I didn’t have to hunt down instructions on how to make a mattress stitch. I picked up the blunt sewing needle and it felt like I was riding a bike; it all came rushing back.

Cloth Diapers Become a Reality

January 25, 2011January 25, 2011 Marie HaighLeave a comment

They arrived.

Despite loving the convenience of an AIO (all-in-1 diaper) or a pocket diaper, I chose neither. My decision was based on Elly’s size. The AIO and pocket diapers I found either only went up to 35 pounds (keep in mind that Elly is already 30 pounds and not slowing down) or had reviews stating that they were snug fitting on chunky babies. I didn’t want to spend a bunch of money only to find myself with the same problem a few months later: Elly outgrowing her diapers.

So I went with the old-fashioned method: prefold cloths.

There is room for growth. However, the large diaper covers are already snug on her, so I am taking Katia and Throws-Like-a-Girl’s advice.

I will knit Elly a drawer full of wool soakers. Finally, I found a project to use the gorgeous handspun wool that my MIL gifted to me. It’s so soft, perfect for touching Elly’s bare skin.

Thankfully, the pants I recently made for Elly fit over her puffy cloth diapers.

Full review of the pattern used to make the pants can be found on my sister blog.

Party Preparations

January 23, 2011 Marie HaighLeave a comment

I’ve been knitting up a storm in an attempt to gift this to Elly on her birthday.

I only have 2 weeks to sew the peices together and add the stitching. (You do know what it is, right?)

To make sure the idea I stole from the Cake Boss would work, I made Rice Krispie treats today.

The cake itself will be Devil’s Food cake topped with white and red buttercream icing.

Considering Cloth Diapers

January 20, 2011 Marie Haigh3 Comments

Before Elly was born, I had thought that I would try using cloth diapers once Elly was about 3 months old. That day came and I refused to give up the convenience of disposables. Everything still seemed so difficult then. I still hadn’t ventured out of the house alone with Elly. She was nursing almost every hour, allotting me very little free time. Most importantly, she made a lot of dirty diapers. I thought if I switched to cloth, I would spend every free moment in my laundry room.

A lot has changed in 8 months. I have a better handle on this Mom role and do venture out quite often with my little girl. Though Elly still nurses a lot, she can now go about 2 hours between sessions. The amount of dirty diapers has been reduced to 1 a day.

Still I probably wouldn’t consider giving up the convenience of disposables if Elly wasn’t growing out of them. She is currently wearing size 6 in Huggies and they are getting quite small.

There is no size 7. (Pampers does have a size 7, but their size 6 cut into her thigh causing her to bleed. Plus, I hate the way they smell). She would have to switch over to pull-ups. Do you know how expensive pull-ups are? They aren’t cheap. They are designed for the child who is potty training. Typically, they are worn for just a few months. Elly won’t be potty training for at least a year. I would save us money if I could give up a little convenience.

Joining the Smoothie craze

January 19, 2011January 19, 2011 Marie Haigh1 Comment

When I bought this bender a year ago, I wanted it to puree soups and to make baby food.

On Amazon, review after review talked about how great it was at blending smoothies. I found such reviews unhelpful since I was so sure that I would never use it to make smoothies. I like to eat my fruit not drink it in a straw.

I should have known to never say never.

Not only have I been bitten by the smoothie craze, but Elly is loving them also. Currently, we are enjoying a mango and orange smoothie.

Recipe: 2 mangos, the juice of 4 oranges and about 1/2 cup of yogurt.

What changed my mind? The thing that always brings me to my knees: taste. I am a sucker for good food.

On a whim, I blended up pineapple, avocado, applesauce and yogurt together. My main goal was to use up the leftover pineapple and the leftover avocado sauce in the fridge; I hate throwing out food. It was delicious! Elly kept vying for the mug I was drinking it out of. Naturally, I let her try it.