I have a few days off, but oh so much to do! But I promise to post christmas II pictures soon.

I can't believe it either.  He's such a happy guy.

He makes this face a lot:

And this one:

He got a Sophie giraffe for Christmas and it's a winner.

There's that face again.

And again!  He can cry and laugh at the same time -look close and you'll see tears here.  Not sure why.  He was enjoying his first hummus, baba ganoush, and taboulih meal and all of the sudden was DONE.  But I can usually make him laugh through his tears.

Still making friends with the animal.  He is completely charmed by Jem.

I tried to take some photos on his tummy.

But he immediately flipped and continued towards the edge of the bed.  

Stinker ;-)

Ben, like most men, is terrible at finding things. I have been enjoying back posts of Hyperbole and a Half over the holiday.  There was one in particular that was JUST LIKE US and I filed it away for future sharing.  It came into use faster than I expected.

When Ben announced he was going to water Brian's lemon tree and check on Zoe the cat, I asked if he had the key.  Not yet, he said.  I watched him look in the tiny basket by the door.  I watched him look in the basket on the bureau.  Then he looked at me and shrugged "I can't find it."  I shrugged.  He stared at me.  I let out a major sigh, put my laptop on the couch, and dug the keys out the basket on the bureau in, like, 4 seconds.  But before I let him have them I picked up my computer and retrieved this comic:

He called me snarky and snatched the keys off the couch.  I chased him to the door and demanded he also see this part:


He said I was being super snarky and left.  I settled back on the couch with my smugness, sure that I had taught Ben an important life lesson about looking harder for things. 

Later this morning, Ben im'ed a link to me and demanded instant viewing of said link:

Touche.


PS Ben will probably berate me for the style I chose to post H and H's comic.
PPS Why am I bald?

A Christmas Eve bath!

Splish splash from Rachel Mason on Vimeo.

Oy, what a weird holiday.  I was scheduled to work both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  The Masons came to celebrate.  I was overstaffed on Eve and only had one patient to do in the AM on the 25th.  This would have given me a large boost of jolliness except A. I don't get paid when I don't work and B. I have another. freaking. cold.  Seriously!  I had two colds over the course of three years.  Then I get sick on both Thanksgiving and Christmas?!  Life is so unfair!! 

Anyway, we opened presents when I got home.  Jack was spoiled as expected, but Ben and I were fairly spoiled too.  Our family is too nice to us.  Jack has also been enjoying the lavish attention showered on him by the grands.  Here's some photos from the last couple days.  Huh, after uploading them I see that they are ALL of Jack.  Sorry.

 Eating yogurt on Christmas Eve.

 Jack standing atop a mountain of presents on Christmas Eve.

 Barleigh, Nanners, and Jack.

 The dissolve technique for present opening.

 Concentrating hard.





Huh, I expected to be in this picture.  I think Nanners was operating the camera though.

Last night we went to Christmas dinner at Aunt Berit's house.  Fantastic food, funny relatives, and Jack only cried from getting overwhelmed twice!  It was a nice way to get the Christmas mood, after a weird morning of work as usual.  Even if I got bogged out on Theraflu lemon drink. :-)

So I finished Jack's orange sweater - for a SECOND time:

I completed unwound the sweater I knit this fall and re-used the yarn on the same pattern with minor alterations.  It fits MUCH better.  I re-knit it over a few days time.  Now it's something I'll actually dress him in.

So the question in this post title refers to this other sweater I finished:

It looks better in action, as in the shot on the right where Jack is sitting in a cart seat for the first time (that was about a month ago).  I've worn and washed the sweater several times. 

On the one hand - yay!  I knit a whole sweater!  Yippee me!  I like the color and the yarn from knitpicks is really nice. 

On the other hand - not a flattering top at all.  It was supposed to look like this:
Short puffy sleeves, waist flattering, with a high neckline!  What happened on my pattern?  I knit it a size too small according to my gauge, and it's still boxy and over-sized.  No matter how I style it, I feel frumpy.  Ben consoles me, saying it looks home-made, but in a good way!  Hmmm.

I feel as though I could make some major improvements.  Make the smallest size, add the collar last to pull it in, shorten the sleeves and take out the puffs, and add more waist shaping and length.  But that would mean tearing it to pieces and starting over from scratch.  While making this sweater, I already restarted 3 times after knitting about 8 inches of length.  So it's not inconceivable to tear it out again.  But . . . so disheartening.

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I’m in love with the photos Ben took last night of the eclipse. He stayed up all night, taking a series of photos. Amazingly, the clouds parted just right so he could get clear pictures. More on his flickr page.