Recently in Life and Such Category

I was reminded this morning that there are always two sides to changes in life, the good and the bad, even when it's a change you really wanted. For the last two months I've been actively potty training Monkey (it's time to rename Ziggy, Monkey is by far more appropriate). I never understood all the folks out there that claim you should wait until the child is 'ready' and why it was that so many kids weren't potty trained until 3 or 4. I was potty trained before 2, so was Grant. My pediatrician said he had patients that were potty training their kids at 1.

So I did some research and picked up Diaper Free Before 3. It was written by a pediatrician and mother of 3 boys. I figured those were some great credentials for an author of a potty training book. She's got the clinical side of things, the ability to make sense of the actual medical studies and the first hand knowledge.

I've got to say I loved the book, and so very much agree with it. Now, let me also say that yes, every child is different and will have different needs, but as a whole, I think it sums up the situation rather well. However, I'm digressing from the original story.

Using this book as my guide I've been potty training Monkey. Let me say that breastfeeding was the most physically challenging part of being a mother, and this has been the most emotionally challenging part so far. I have wanted this to work so bad as I hate diapers. They're bad for the environment, bad for my checkbook and not that great for him either. I used cloth when I was home with him, but we fell off the wagon when he went to daycare. So needless to say getting off diapers was my biggest priority now that I'm back home with him.

In the last two weeks it has finally clicked. He is now off of diapers whenever we're at home (nap and bedtime not included yet, though we're getting there). I'm thrilled. He's finally stopped asking to go after he's already wet himself and has started to ask to go before. No more messes!

This morning I learned the dark side of this coin. Grant is out of town for the week, so I'm playing single mom. My hat goes off to all single parents out there that do this regularly. Monkey woke up at 5 am bawling, so I went to check on him. He wouldn't soothe so I brought him to bed (figuring with Grant gone there's plenty of room). At 5:30 am he sits straight up and loudly declares 'POTTY'! Yep, he need to use the potty and didn't want to wet his diaper. So we got up at 5:30 am to go. He went like a champ and then went back to sleep in his crib for another few hours.

So yay, diapers are on their way out, but ugh, I'm hoping 5:30 am potty breaks are not going to become a regular event in our house.

I'm sure it's pretty safe to say we all know someone that has lost a loved one to cancer, or have felt the loss ourselves. My friend Mel was unfortunate enough to lose her mom. She's fighting back by walking in the Breast Cancer 3Day event out in Washington DC. Grant and I have donated to her walk, and I hope you can too. Every little bit helps. She's having a fantastic drawing for prizes. Go check out her page and send her some support!

Well I guess it's no surprise to any of you that know me, but I'm a failure as a 30s housewife. This is an honest to goodness actual marriage test from the 30s posted on the internet and then converted into a quiz.

18 As a 1930s wife, I am Very Poor (Failure) Take the test!

Last month the owner of our house advised us that she's selling the place. She then kindly offered it to us for $910,000. As we don't exactly have that kind of money we were forced to start looking for a new place to live. We discovered the rental market is abysmal right now. Our choices were back to apartment life (now with added kiddo), switch to a cheaper neighborhood (and give up all the things we love about the Peninsula) or pay $3500 a month in rent. So we voted none of the above.

We took a little trip and decided to leave the state. Here are some shots from our visit. Can you tell where we went? It's going to be our new home for the next year, and likely longer.

We've crunched the numbers and by moving I can now bring in $0 each month and we're still fiscally in the same boat. With the added bonus that in a couple years we could buy a house there (as it is about half the cost of the Bay). So for the first time in my life I get to choose what I want to do (as opposed to making the best choice of what will pay the bills). This is a huge blessing and I'm so excited!

I wish I could have done it here in California, as I'm a native and it will always be home in my heart. But I just can't pass up the chance to finally find a career that makes me happy. So once we move next month I'm going to put 100% of my efforts into Stick Chick Knits! I'll be designing and selling like a mad woman along with teaching at some of the LYSs. I'm also going to have a ton more time to spend with Zig, and that's a great thing.

For Mother's Day Grant got me the best gift of all, a new website design! We spent Zig's entire nap brainstorming and playing with colors and designs. SCK has a new face, but you won't see it just yet because he's got to write the code to actually make the pretty pictures come to life. I'm going to use the same design for my patterns as well to tie it all together. I'm so excited! But the icing on my Mother's Day was our trip to Cold Stone. Zig sat in a normal chair (no booster seat) and shared an ice cream with us. He fed himself using his own spoon. I almost cried. I can't believe at 15 months he's sitting in a chair feeding himself. He ate pancakes with a fork Saturday morning. It goes so fast.

Here's my new favorite photo of the little guy. We were visiting Tammy and her family and he fell in love with the princess chair. I died laughing when I saw this photo.

I've discovered that there is a WoW Guild comprised of folks from Ravelry (actually there are a couple, you can read all about them in the WoW Knitters group on Rav, that is, if you're on Rav). I just couldn't pass up the chance to merge two of my favorite time sinks (er, hobbies). Since most of the folks have vaguely, or not so vaguely, knitting related names for their toons I decided to join in. So I've rolled a Tauren Druid by the name of Moolabrigo (for those of you that don't play, Taurens are rather large fighting cows and if you're reading this blog then you should get the play on my favorite yarn)! I laugh every time I think about it. Man I crack me up!

I went to pick up Zig at daycare yesterday. I was sitting on the floor talking to the daycare lady and Zig was playing with an old remote control while standing at the coffee table. He turned to look at me, let go of the table, took two steps forward and promptly fell on his butt. But it was still two unassisted steps! Of course, being Grant's kid, he did this while still holding on to the remote control. Those two and their fascination with electronics, just cracks me up. My little guy is just growing up so dang fast!

Yesterday I went to buy my lunch and discovered my visa was missing. This was not good. This is my main credit card. The one that is tied to my checking account (no, not a debit card, a true visa that is set up to autopay at the end of each month). Since this card autopays I use it for everything. I never carry cash. I get points every time I use it, so why bother with cash. Thank goodness I did manage to have enough cash to pay for lunch.

I started racking my brain trying to figure out where it went. I called Grant. We tore up the house, the cars, my wallet, my knitting bag/purse and could not find it. The odd thing was, I last used it on Sunday and here it was Wednesday and there were no extra charges on it. I know, I kept checking online to be sure. So I assumed it was somewhere in a pocket or purse. I'm notorious for carrying nothing but my credit card and stuffing it in a pocket, so maybe I just forgot which pants I was wearing.

Today I noticed a charge that neither Grant nor I made. It was a small one, but still odd. So I called my bank. Turns out that yes, my card had gotten lost somewhere and someone helped themselves to it. But here's the odd thing. The card was used last night at the local grocery store. Several miles away from the mall where it was last seen, but right in my backyard. To make it stranger, I was there at the same time. So my credit card and I were shopping at the same store, but not together. What a small, odd little world it is. And no, it didn't fall out there, as I only took in my wallet, and that had already been thoroughly searched.

Now to begin the painful process of updating all our autopaying bills. Technology is certainly a mixed blessing.

If you're looking for another blog to read about cats and knitting and books and musings on life in general go check out 144 Inches of I-Cord. Jen's a funny gal with cute kitties that I met (well, met online anyway) through a Knitty swap. She's also the one that got me hooked on Blue Sky Alpacas. My knitting thanks her, even if my checkbook doesn't.