Category: babies

Shnoogy.

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 27/10/2011

As it goes with friends that have babies, I basically move in one day a week to sniff and snuggle and to give mom 5 minutes to pee on her own. This little muffin is the latest Elliott on the scene and I like her very much. 10 days old today and it was my second visit. Meet Niamh Ava who is a party girl and rocks the house from midnight to 3 am every night.

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Waving! Already!

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Laughing. I told her about the great battle of Rob Ford and Marg Delahunty. Hilarious!

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Then I taught her how to whistle. She is pretty good.

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Then she posed for a silhouette which we gave to her mom. It was a good visit, we got a lot accomplished. Next week I’m teaching her to knit and how to rig a small sail boat. Should be fun!

Dog days of summer

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 02/07/2011

Not that summer has really arrived in Toronto, not yet it seems. Not that I’m complaining, ha ha, no indeed, the milder weather suits me and my non-air conditioned home just fine, thanks. This is my neighbor’s dog, FiFi. She is tiny and silly and likes nothing better than a cuddle in the hammock. Although I think he is lacking the required male anatomy, her ideal mate would certainly be Puppers.

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Not a great pic of me, but it was the only one where her eyes were open. Out of 8. She was wide awake.

I’m hoping to get some decent sleep tonight. On top of my usual stresses in life, I lost my skull ring on Monday afternoon. I noticed it missing when we got home from High Park, ugh, and we drove back to do some searching and turned up nada. Tears, many tears were shed. Teeth gnashed. More tears. I turned our rather messy home upside down looking in all the obvious spots, then the less obvious spots and then the ridiculous spots. Nada. Looked everywhere another dozen times. I made posters for the park (honestly, I had no idea where I lost it) and a craigslist ad and told my neighbors and posted on Facebook and twitter.

Agony. My heart was in serious amounts of pain. And then my dad had his hip replacement surgery that did not go as well as planned and when I talked to my mom to find out how he was doing, I burst into tears in the grocery store.

No sleep+stupid amount of stress=crying in public. Vodka helped. Vodka is very helpful in small amounts. Ditto mind numbing video games.

Fast forward to today, 5 days from the day I lost it and guess what? Ari found it on the floor of the truck, in the back seat! I don’t often hug and kiss her, but today was certainly exceptional and I did plant a few on her rosy cheek. As a reward I gave her the pink knitted squid that she has been begging for since I made it. And Shannon got her a new game for her ds.

And my dad is recovering nicely, he is out of bed and enjoying the women’s world cup soccer.

Sleep? Come back please. You are missed!

K is for Kiran

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 07/06/2011

It was Kiran‘s first birthday last week and her party was on Sunday. Shannon and I had a couple gifts but had no wrapping paper so I got to work. I was just going to use fabric tied with ribbon but then I thought I could make something double useful and came up with this:

It should work well for diapers and wipes. I know nothing about babies so I honestly have no idea what kind of clobber they require, I imagine it’s a lot? Anyway, it was nice coming up with a dual purpose gift.

Is there anything…

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 07/06/2011

…wantier than this sofa? I snapped this at Anthropologie. It’s seriously gorgeous, all raw silk (I think!) and bright and lovely. Delicious.

…sillier than skinny jeans for newborns? In GOB Bluth’s voice: “Come on!”

…more relaxing than a hammock in the city?

 

Haha! Yay!

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 31/01/2011

So less than 13 hours after she last commented on my blog, my dear friend Ali had her damn baby! Daniel Clayton Mooney, born January 31 at 6:34 am, 6lbs 14oz, 20″ long.

Ali, you are going to be a GREAT MOM!!! You are going to ace this, I know it! I wish I could be there to help out more. And I hope your address hasn’t changed, ok?

Love you!

Freddie!

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 27/10/2010

First and foremost, I have to extend a huge welcome to Laura‘s new baby boy, Frederick Theodore Guenther Mordaunt who weighed in at 9lbs 14oz. He’s a whopper! After only 16.5 hours of labour, way to go! Congratulations too to Laura’s husband Adam (who does not wear thong underwear) and to big sister Ella (who does, but not in any traditional style).

Sigh. New babies are the best. And like Ashley said, naming new babies is the super best.  Freddie? Love it!!

Now I have to beg all of you to make this frosting. I am not shitting you, it’s the best frosting ever in the history of frosting. Which I prefer to call icing, but frosting seems to be the more common term. I spread it on vanilla (made from a mix!) cupcakes and it’s delicious.

Caramel Frosting

3 tbsp butter

1/4 Cup heavy cream

1/2 Cup packed brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 Cup confectioner’s sugar

Pinch of salt

Over medium heat combine butter, cream and brown sugar. Cook until it starts to boil (I stirred the whole time), remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt.

Cool, then stir in confectioner’s sugar.

I think it would be delicious on any kind of spice cake or chocolate cake too. Or spooned directly from the bowl into an open, salivating mouth.

Tiny sweater #2

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 08/10/2010

It’s green wool and stiffer than the first but just as cute. I followed the pattern more closely this time and it came out pretty much perfectly.

Now I must figure out footwear. I tried today but failed miserably…

It’s hardly work at all

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 07/10/2010

Lately it feels-around these parts-that Shannon and I are competing at being the most productive/creative. His soaps and candles and candies are amazing and inspirational.  2 nights ago I found an adorable, free pattern for a knit cardigan on Purl Bee.  I though, hey, I have lots of small ends of sock yarn, I could make that…for…Sasha? So I dug her out of a box, along with her bff  Thumbelina, and got to work.

Yeah, I know, cute eh? I messed up the pattern a little, I forgot the 3k sts at the start of each p row, but that’s ok. Also, Sasha isn’t exactly the same shape as the Purl rabbit, so I tweaked it a bit around the neckline and added a heart button to keep it closed. Then I made her a matching head kerchief. Of course she needed a new dress and tights, so I made those too, the dress out of an old purse I made years ago that wanted reclaiming and the tights out of an old pair of Ari’s (ignore the hole!).

Then I gave Thumbelina lots of love too, her arms were both falling off and empty of stuffing, so I took care of those first, then made her tights and sleeves, a simple dress with a draw string neckline and matching kerchief to hide her rather unfortunate hair. Think Andy Warhol’s lovechild.  I have a sweater planned for her too, winter is coming!

Now back to my own sweater.

Done!

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 17/06/2010

I decided to go with no sleeves-after knitting half of one-because it’s a hot summer already and this sweater will only fit for about 5 more minutes.

I just need to weave in about 800 ends and it will be ready for wrapping paper. Next baby gets this sweater.  Or this dress. And obviously it better be a girl baby.

Babies

Posted by Caitlin Jane – 11/06/2010

Seems everyone I know is pregnant these days. Or has just had a baby. Or is just wrapping up their baby-making business.

Not me. I went for a long time wanting a baby, then a long time not wanting a baby, back to wanting one. Now it seems it’s too late for babies for me. Don’t assume you know why.  Here’s a clue: it has nothing to do with my age, ok? If things had gone according to plan, I’d be caring for a 9 month old kid by now, but things rarely do go according to plan.

I only bring this up because I’d posted something on facebook and the first comment was asking me if I were ‘preggers’.

Please stop asking me that. Just stop. It’s not going to happen and I don’t really like explaining myself. Although I have found that I can make the asker pretty damn uncomfortable with brute honesty.

This is the sweater I am knitting. It’s just about the cutest thing I’ve ever made, and I’m pretty proud of it. A pattern (beware, pdf file!) recommended to me by Twwly. I am almost done the body and will work on the sleeves after. I’ve got cute buttons picked out. Oh, I’ll post pictures when I am done.

Ok. And here’s the deal: any “kind”  comments on this post that upset me will be deleted. If you really feel the need to say anything personal to me, feel free to drop me an email, ok? Otherwise, just say how cute the sweater is, that’s enough.