Bits

I got lasik and now I have a face. It’s really facey. I’m slowly getting used to everything being quite on display. The actual procedure wasn’t scary at all and there has been really minimal discomfort. But it’ll take a while for me to get used to the exposure my real life face is getting.

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I went back to work three days a week and Nick dropped down to three days a week. It’s such a great arrangement and I really can’t recommend it enough. It’s such a different experience from going to work when you’re sole charge of your kiddo. When you’re never on time to work because the baby/toddler decides to poo, just when you’re on your way out the door. When they refuse to eat breakfast so it takes an extra 15 minutes of coaxing that doesn’t work and you definitely don’t have time for. When you have to rush out of the office by 4.55pm to get back to your childcare on time. There’s none of that. And this is what most men get, all the time. I reckon more people should consider it, if they can. And more employers should definitely consider it.

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This week, Esther has started babbling away in her own language. Full conversations and she’s quite convincing. Nick is speaking to her in Spanish on the days he has her at home. I think she’s given up on making any sense in any language but her own.

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Han is now at intermediate and we’ve had a gigantic shift in workload. Some days I give her the “suck it up, kid” speech and other days I’m tempted to march in to the school and give them the “THIS IS NOT ON.” lecture. I’ve got a parent-teacher interview this week so I should raise it with them. I’m on a mission to communicate like an adult this year. Watch me be all assertive and shit.

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I’m obsessing about buying a house again and getting ranty and frustrated that our financial situation somewhat stifles our ability to buy anything that isn’t best torn down. Piha is now following suit with the rest of Auckland and getting out of control. I get so bored of talking about it but it occupies quite a lot of my thinking time. Am I just avoiding other stuff? Probably. Still, Auckland fecking property prices. What a crock. I know you’re all bored of it too.

 

Melt

These two are my fave kids.

Good enough

Sometimes you just have let go of shitty knitting after a project has been knit three times over.

First I ran out of purple yarn and changed the stripe pattern to compensate, then ran out of white yarn and subbed in two strands of some other random yarn, then I accidentally grafted inside-out because I couldn’t remember if it was purl-off or knit-off to start.

Sometimes you just have to remind yourself that you are knitting for pre-schoolers and they probably won’t even care.

Confessions of a newbie cyclist

I wrote this blog post about a year and a half ago – now I don’t bike to work anymore because I live somewhere that you need to be a damn Olympic athlete to cycle anywhere from (and have a bit of a death wish, to be perfectly honest). I miss it.

So I’ve been cycling to work for about three weeks now. The kiddo and I get on our bikes at 7am and cycle to before-school care along the footpath (the road’s a bit chaotic for a 9 year old [and 28 year old] newbie cyclist), stopping off at the school next door to lock up her bike.

Then I continue on to work in Henderson, arriving about 7.45am and leaving enough time for a shower and shiz to get to my desk at 8am… ish.

And then back again the other way at 5pm.

It’s pretty freaking choice. I swear I’ve made more friends in the bathroom at work since I started cycling than I’ve made friends in the whole of the building in the last 6 months. Is making friends in the bathroom real creepy? IT’S A PLACE OF GREAT BONDING OVER SWEATY SNEAKERS. I SWEAR.

Things I’ve learned:

• There’s a shit tonne of glass on roads and foot paths.
• Riding over glass causes holes in bike tyres.
• Bikes may say they have 21 gears but you can’t really use all of them or you’ll stretch the chain and then you’ll battle getting it into gear.
• Mountain bikes aren’t really road bikes but they’re kinda helpful when you have to go up lots of hills.
• My bike lock is up to eff all.
• Roads that may look and feel flat while driving, aren’t flat at all.
• There’s an awesome cycle path all marked out from Ranui to Henderson.
• There isn’t an awesome cycle path marked out from Swanson to Ranui.
• Google has cool cycle map things.
• Vintage Drive hill is bloody steep.
• Sometimes you can be wearing all the fluoro gear in the universe, and drivers will STILL look straight through you.

Regarding that last point, I encounter this so many times when stop at intersections, waiting to turn left. I try to be out as far in the road as possible (but leaving room for people who want to turn right) but people seem to think I’m invisible and pull their giant cars out around me to turn left. HELLO. I’m going the same fricking way. I haven’t had a really close call yet, but it is bloody dangerous. If I happened to take off, right in front of them heading around and in front of me, it wouldn’t be pretty. So a friendly reminder to actually be conscious of cyclists when they’re at intersections, trying to get back out on the road. And, like, always.
But yeah, loving exercise that is actually useful. It gets me somewhere. I’m really enjoying that part. Exercise smugness is my other motivating force.

The kiddo is doing really well and I can see her improving. I’m getting better too! I’m wayyyy less wobbly and now feel a bit more confident being all “No, hurtling metal shell on wheels, you can wait for me plz.”
If you’ve been thinking about getting on a bike yourself, then I can’t recommend it enough.

Productivity

Ashleigh's cupcakes and ants birthday top

I had grand plans of sewing all the things while on maternity leave. So far it’s been a blur of baby carrying, dishes, washing, and wasting my life away checking Facebook.

A few weeks ago, I attempted to move Esther out of our room in to the downstairs landing area. It lasted about 5 minutes before I put her back in our room. It’s too noisy. Too hard to heat. We’re destined to have a kid in our room forever. One good thing is that I don’t have to haul my ass too far from bed for middle-of-the-night feeds.

The other good thing is that I’m staking my claim on the space vacated by the cot. Dedicated sewing space! Watch me get miles more productive. Check Facebook much less. Sew all the things!

The top above is made with my trusty vintage sewing pattern – Amvic children’s knit tops, pattern 101. She’s done me well over the years.

The joy of solids

Yeah, we’ve reached that stage. Already I’m finding myself dining on soggy morsels of vegemite toast and half gummed blueberry pikelets. The other morning I had cold baby rice and apples for breakfast. I could see why Little wasn’t keen.

We’re rolling with a baby led weaning approach. I liked the idea of it but really it came down to Little acting like she was being tortured every time I managed to get a bit of puree on her tongue. “GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!” was her response. However, toast? Toast is good.

The finish line

Tiny trees vest in Treliske merino

One tiny trees vest by Kylie Bates from my pattern stash. Cute babe also by me but still a work in progress.

And guys, I’m working through projects that I’ve had on my needles for all eternity. I finished socks that had languished on my needles for about 5 years and longies which were originally for my niece, Ash, who is now about 20 months old. Just a hat to go.

Man, it feels good.

Splendiferous socks by Tash Barneveld, knit in Knitsch sock yarn

Three down, a hundred to go

Three dribble bibs made by moi

Quite honestly, I don’t understand how one small child can make SO MUCH DRIBBLE.

I’m worried she’ll dehydrate herself.

You too can make dribble bibs without having to schlep in to town to get fancy snaps by using the buttonhole function on your sewing machine with this dribble bib tutorial.

I’ve only just figured out how to make one-step buttonholes using my machine and basically now I want to put buttonholes in EVERYTHING. That shit is some kind of wizardry.

A list poem, just for me.

For mothers’ day this year, Han wrote me a poem.

Hannah Lover,

Esther Maker,

Crazy Baker,

Awesome Knitter,

“Outland” Watcher,

Chicken lover,

Loves her Family Too;

French Freek

Mother hen

Better Driver

Than her Father

Chocolate lover

Homework Helper

Needs to read more books;

Hard core Worker,

Shh, Shh Shh-er,

Sleeper iner,

Feline Hater,

Crazy Runner,

Coffee Drinker,

She Really is My –

MUM.

Doppleganger

Those cheeks. That hairline.