2013 was a busy year. I relocated with my family halfway cross the country. We sold a house and bought a new one. Our family increased in size, and my job changed. I knit a lot of things and got back into cross-stitch, and learned card weaving (though I still haven't bought the card weaving loom... and I should because it was a lot of fun). Picking 10 moments seems almost impossible, but there is a constant thread throughout the best times. Click to see the pictures all big.
1. Q was born near the end of the year. The labor was relatively quick and with the power of modern medicine even relatively painless.
Induction at 5 a.m. and a baby at 3 p.m. same day.
The common wisdom is that having a baby changes you. As trite as it is, it's true and it is true every day.
2. Being a new parent is exhausting, but well worth the effort.
Here Q is sporting my Ishbel as a baby blanket while being nestled in the nursing pillow. The days of fitting within the curve of the nursing pillow were quickly over.
I didn't really finish much other than feeding Q in the first weeks. I didn't want to move when he was cuddled up to me. Baby hugs really might be the best thing in the world (not that little kitty licks and purrs aren't awesome too).
3. Babies learn and grow every day, and Q is no exception. It wasn't long before he was grabbing at things and exploring the world around him. It is amazing what you can learn before you can scoot, roll over or crawl.
I had a bit of a learning moment when Q was first learning to grab. I was knitting over him. He was conked out on my lap, and then he woke up and grabbed at the yarn. Lesson learned. Now I can still knit while carrying him, but he needs to be propped against my chest so the yarn isn't passing into his field of view. I expect that will change in a month or so as well.
4. This baby hat was the first project I finished after Q was born. I went with my mom when she was visiting to ReBelle and I got a single skein of Koigu. It took a little longer to knit than normal, but not by much.
Here Q is also sporting my Spectra in progress, using a skein of Toil and Trouble yarn in Snapdragon and a skein of the SWTC sock yarn (the stuff with chitin or something else weird in it) in green. I call it my watermelon tourmaline Spectra, because the colors make me think of the state gemstone of Maine.
5. Q got so much bigger from week to week that some of the newborn pictures feel almost foreign. He has big flat feet, but my long grippy toes. It's nice to know he has something from me other than an almost perpetual skeptical expression.
Now, obviously this is the all baby network, but I still managed to get some knitting and other craft things worked on. Many of them aren't completed, because I have an intense problem with startitis. Whoops. Other items are gifts, and cannot be shown yet.
I remember doing a rotation back when cross-stitch was my primary craft, and I felt like I got so much done. I have tried adding that back to my arsenal, but for some reason it just doesn't feel like it works quite as well for knitting or multi-craft mode. Probably because some crafts are just so fast (knitting, weaving) that it makes it hard to downshift to the slower crafts.
My memories around this time include being grateful that there were two of us home, and that the stash of food in the freezer was a great idea.
6. Mr. Ice C. Scoops arrived this week (week 6). A gift for me and Q from me, it was one of the last items I bought in Boston. Mr. Scoops was made by Jen @ Zooguu for the shop window at Gather Here. I knew I was going to miss my friends from the shop and the nearly weekly craft nights (and brunches), so I wanted something to help remember.
Well, that and I didn't manage to snag a yeti from one of their previous shop windows.
Given how much I love ice cream, both to make and eat, this was a perfect fit.
7. Q isn't really allowed to watch television per se, but it was fun watching him man the remote.
Also, cue the skeptical expression again.
One of the flaws with maternity leave (I'll let my husband speak if he wishes about paternity leave) is that caring for a baby at this stage involves a lot of sitting around. And in my world that meant a lot of time on the iPad or a lot of time watching television. There were days I could feel my brain rotting, though it is getting better now that we're limiting our television watching.
This is also about when I realized that I wasn't going to be doing the half marathon in March. It wasn't a lack of time for exercise as much as a lack of appropriate clothing to exercise in. But 2015 I hope to be back in action. It's something I've missed.
8. The chair was a gift from coworkers and is awesome. Q doesn't have quite enough sit up to use it yet, but when he is in it he often is sporting his grumpy old man look. Not his fault that the Patriots were giving one of those games. You know, the ones that the Red Sox often give, where you are wondering the entire time if they are going to be able to pull it together and get it done.
Yeah. Those games.
I looked like that much of the game too.
9. Just after Thanksgiving Q was 2 months old. The time had passed so quickly and I was starting to look the end of my leave in the face (and occasionally with unattractive blind panic).
The play mat became a favorite place. A spot where he could (and can) grab things.
No photographs, but at this point he could still wear the Newborn Vertebrae that I made for him to wear, though the booties and hat I made to go with it were a bust from the get go.
Thanksgiving was my first lesson in how much cooking I can really do. I made many desserts for our multi-family feast, but it was a lot harder to make anything that took more than 30 minutes or so. The best dessert might have been the apple cider caramels from Smitten Kitchen (I also made a version using pomegranate juice), though the different batches of fudge were also pretty good.
10. A well baby!
Doctor visits are a pretty regular occurrence, but this was the first one that involved vaccinations where we were there (we didn't have to watch the vaccinations in the hospital). Sometimes I think the experience is harder on the parents, because Q cried but was quickly soothed. Something that took a bit longer for the two of us to get over.
That said, I'm still glad he got them. Less getting sick for us!
All in all, 2013 was a very baby focused year. I was pregnant (and thus thinking about baby things) for the first 3/4 of the year and then all of a sudden Q was here and my life changed. And it is all wonderful.
Also, I promise knitting or other craft content in the next post.
