Keyzia:  Momma, can we have a Keyzia and Ephraim show on now?

Me:  Not right now.  You've had lots of Keyzia and Ephraim shows today.  At 5 o'clock you can have one.

Keyzia:  Oh.  Okay.

Me:  Now, what do you want to do until then?  Want to play with the castle with me?  Or write your name?

Keyzia:  No, that's okay.  I'm just going to look at the clock until it's 5 o'clock.

 

It's amazing how often my children render me speechless.

But not this house.

It's funny how we get attached to things.  Things that we can't possibly take with us.  Things that are not eternal.  Things that are just... well... things.  They may be tangible in the moment, but they can be gone in a moment as well.

My Gramma is moving.  We have lived here in Ontario for about 22 years.  That means that for the past 22 years, my Gramma has been at every birthday, every Christmas, every graduation...  every significant and non-significant event for the last 22 years.

This year my Gramma will be in Manitoba for Christmas.  And I am not quite ready to let her, or the house that she's lived in for as long as I can remember go.

I thought it would be easy, sort through the stuff, throw out some stuff, wheedle her out of some stuff...  but, especially this weekend when we were there, I found myself sorting through the memories.

I remember the time my cousin Ben and I traded pj's to try and trick my late sleeping Grampa.  Or the time we used oil paints to...  er...  paint the back porch.

In the basement I could hear my Grampa telling my dad to watch his head, and then promptly whack his own head on the low ceiling.

I remember learning how to sew in that house.  With my Gramma watching over my shoulder while I did straight seams.  I learned pottery, threw some pots, very mishapen pots, on the wheel with Gramma's hands guiding my own.

We're talking about years of Santa Clause parades, years of Thanksgivings, and sleepovers, and just plain old Gramma and Grampa togetherness.

While my Grampa has been gone for a long time now, it seems as if he still lives in that house.  I can see him around every corner, in the nooks, in the household "repairs".  I can hear him say, "'ammer."  I can see him with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth.  I can see him fixing my shoes with army duct tape.  It's almost like we're losing him all over again.

And yet, it's just a house.  A house whose memories now need to be transferred permanently to my mind. 

It's going to be hard not having Gramma close by.  The kids adore their Great Gramma.  It's going to be much more difficult to do Gramma things with her being a nice solid 40 odd hour drive away.  I am really having a much harder time with this than I originally thought I would.

I do, however, feel peace for her for the move.  I think that she will do well in Manitoba, but at the same time, my heart screams, "what about us?  we need you here!"

I've never been close or really gotten to know my dad's parents, and my mom's parents have really fulfilled the grandparent role on both sides. 

And now the new roles begin.  We are going to have to figure out how to be grandchildren while being so far apart.  The kids are going to have to hear stories all the time about their Great Gramma so that she will still be just an hour away in their hearts.  So that when we do meet up, they'll remember her.

My Gramma is a tough old bird.  She is the most amazing woman I know, and I can only hope that when I'm her age, I will be as together as she is.

To say goodbye to the house is going to be very difficult.  But to say goodbye to the woman is going to be even harder.

Our very own Very Mom had a beautiful baby girl a couple of days ago!

Welcome goes to Katherine Sophia, and congrats to mom, dad, and two big brothers!

Oh Little Turtle Knits Ribby Wrap Pattern, how do I love thee?  Well worth the money, let me just say.

The pattern is written pretty neat, it's in chart format, no need to go through and circle all the crazy numbers and stuff.  It's just really great.

Gee, am I writing well today or what?  Maybe I just need more tea... especially since I can't think of the word that I want to describe my writing, but which obviously doesn't...  sigh...

I would so love to post pics for you right here in this article.  But Blogware seems to be melting down... again...

So, go here for all the soaker and diaper pics.

The Ribby Wrap is here, and opened here.  Modelled by the lovely Ephie-pie here and here.

I also made these really neat butt sweaters from an old cashmere sweater of my sister Ashley's.  It is soooo soft, but unfortunately Eph is waaaay too huge for them.  So off they go to Bekah.  Pics are here and here.

We were looking at an old photo album I have of a trip Ja and I took to Manitoba ten years ago.  Eph kept asking who people were, and we kept telling him, until we got to this pic...


Well.  We tried to tell him!

me:  Why do you sit on the side of the bed and have a nap after the alarm goes off? 

Ja:  I'm not napping, I'm praying.

me:  Interesting, I've never heard anyone snore while they're praying before.

My Gramma would be so proud of me!

I generally dislike sewing.  I can do it, I can tolerate it...  but, it must be the whole "following a pattern" nonsense that I dislike.

HOWEVER, last night I made Ephie four cloth diapers!  Wahoo!  Just out of old material and receiving blankets!  It worked like a charm, and not only that, he loves them!  Now I just need a few more soakers, and I am laughing....  I think so far I have spent $20 on this venture.  And the best part?  Now there's not so much pressure on me, or on him, to potty train.  He can now feel when he's wet too, which is half the battle, really.

So, here ya go...  four layers of material...  The outside of the yellow one and the green one is made of old receiving blankets.  The brown plaid is some material I got from my Gramma yesterday.

I used this pattern to make them.  The first one I made a bit too short, so we altered the pattern to make it a titch longer through the centre, and they fit AWESOME.  And man, are they ever CUTE.

My Gramma gave me a bunch of old flannel blankets, and that's what I used to line them.  The soaker part in the centre (that you can't see) is made of an old cotton tea towel that Ja hates.  On the brown plaid that part is an old stained facecloth.


((This one is Eph's favourite!))

So, the layers go like this, polar fleece on the inside, on the part that touches his skin; two layers of old cotton blanket in the middle, then the outside is pretty much whatever fun stuff you have kicking around.



A couple of tricks I learned was to use a thinner elastic, rather than thicker.  Sewing each end of the elastic down before stretching it and sewing down the length makes a huge different.  I intend on adding velcro to the tabs on all of these, but unfortunately, can't do it until payday!  So, for now we use diaper pins.  Which is actually working not too badly.

I really love the way these fit him.  They aren't too bulky, they're nice and trim around his legs, and when he got up this morning, the fleece had whicked all the moisture to the outside of the diaper.  His skin was pretty dry.  Another great thing??  We haven't had a diaper rash around here since we stopped using the disposables.  oooeee!

And now I leave you with Keyzia, trying to strangle her brother with love.

So, the cloth diaper obsession continues...  I've been making wool soakers for over top of the diapers I got for a dollar a piece at the used place here in town.  Okay, so I've only made two so far, but plans for a couple more are definately in the cards!

My dream pattern?  Little Turtle Knits Ribby Wrap.  I love how easy and trim fitting it looks. 

Anyways, I made this crochet wrap out of stuff I got from Amanda for other projects... ((sorry, Manda!!))  Pattern is free from Tickle Turdle.

I hate to say it, but I didn't really like this pattern too much.  I find it a bit bulky in the crotch, and it doesn't necessarily stay over the diaper very well.  This wasn't a good wool choice for it either.  Too heavy, I think.  And, most telling of all, Eph hates it.  He walks like a cowboy who's been on a horse too long when he has it on! 

It also has a weird bum bubble too...


Now, I am amazed that the thing, as long as it completely covers the entire diaper itself, is totally waterproof.  Overnight toddler gallon pee water proof.  That part was awesome.

So, then I tackled this one from Tiny Birds.


I think that the right leg hole is a bit bigger than the left...  I crocheted to rows of singles around each leg, and then one row of doubles.  My advice would be to count the number of singles you do on the first leg, and duplicate that on the second!

It covers the cloth diaper quite nicely.  I used some wool that I got from my Gramma eons ago for this one.  It was a bit rough until I washed it.  I did a short cycle on hot, and it felted just slightly.  Made it really really soft too.  I'm impressed.  I think it must be some kind of barn wool, because occasionally it had bits of twigs and stuff in it.

He's much more comfortable in this one, that's for sure!  It just seems so huge.  That must be something I'll have to get used to.

Next on the agenda?? This one.  It's a seriously simple pattern.  We shall see how it turns out!

---

You know, that Little Turtle Knits Ribby Wrap pattern would make a great Christmas present....  yes, yes it would!

I know I know, Christmas is only...  well... not too far away, and here I am making something for myself.  Indulging in the softness of Alpaca...  mmmm....  alpaca...  (((honey, can I have a llama or two for Christmas??)))

Anyway, I finally, after a bunch of frogging, a lot of frogging, but only a little bit of swearing, finished Iris Schreir's Multi Directional Scarf.  You can get the pattern by clicking on that link.  Sign up, intro yourself, and they send you the pattern in word format.  What an awesome pattern.  I adore it.


This is the scarf without edging, without the ends being woven in.  It's 15 full triangles.


I did a little crochet picot edging on both long sides.  I was freaking out a bit, didn't think I would have enough luscious alpaca to finish it, but I made it!  With just a few ends left over.  ooeee...  so, now what to do with the bottom??  hmmm...  I have some bernat satin that matches the dark blue perfectly... I'll have to see how it would look with tassles.


This is a close up of the directional stitching.  It's soooo neat the way it's done!  All short rows.

It's now happily blocking on my kitchen table.  The ends really wanted to roll up.

On my monitor, the colour of the wool is terrible...  there's actually quite a bit of purple in it.  It's beautiful.

Next project?  A diaper wrap...  testing for Bekah!

Soooo.....  Big news in our house!  So big that I thought of having a party.  A little get together with some close friends, to celebrate this momentous occasion...

Ephraim pooped on the toilet!  Now that Ephraim knows he CAN poop on the toilet, he wants to poop on the toilet all the time!  When we take him upstairs to go pee, he always cheerfully says, "and poop too!"  Then his little round face turns red and the grunting begins.

We actually had to talk to him about how he doesn't have to go poop every time he goes pee.  He just stared at us blankly.  Like, why would we not want to go poop every time?  Pooping is fun!  We LOVE to poop!  Not to mention the two smarties we get afterwards...

Anyways, here's a running commentary by Eph while he is pooping on the toilet.

"Oh!  There's a poop coming out!  There it is!"  (sometimes at this point we have to actually get off the toilet and look at the poop, commenting on size and sometimes smell...)

"There's another one coming, Momma!  Here it comes!  Now there's two poops!  I did two poops in the toilet!"

And on, and on...

It would actually just about kill you to watch my two year old pooping on the toilet.

Would it be wrong of me to video this going on?  I mean, I would never show it at his wedding or anything... 

 

Or would I?