The extended version. Link crazy.

So this weekend was my long awaited child-free trip- a day at MA Sheep and Wool, and a night in Pioneer Valley.

Jenn and I hit the road at 9:30- I had expected some major traffic, but despite it being Saturday morning of Memorial Day weekend, there was none. I had an idea that the festival was kind of in the middle of nowhere, but I was a little surprised at how back-woodsy Mass it was. On our way, we got slightly lost and drove by some extremely scary unidentified roadkill, and arrived (despite the festival's lack of signs) at a decent hour.

The festival was not quite what I had expected. I've been to RI and NY Sheep and Wools, and they are both great in their own ways. Massachusetts Sheep and Wool was a little disappointing- despite the fact that there were a ton of vendors, there didn't seem to be many *great* vendors. It was a little to 4-Hy for my taste. Jenn picked up a new drop-spindle, and after an extreme amount of deliberation, I bought some very yellow yarn from A Touch of Twist.

Since there were no drop-in knitting groups or any workshops worth going to, we went off in search of good coffee and a less buggy place to knit. We ended up sitting outside at Woodstar Cafe, with our projects and some very good scenery. I can't remember the last time I sat at an outdoor cafe with no one to chase after and no messes to clean. It was glorious.

When I went to book a hotel, I had a hard time finding a hotel room near Northampton. The combination of UMass commencement and Memorial Day meant that every room within 20 miles of Northampton was booked. We ended up at the Holiday Inn in Westfield Whip City. Whatever. It had a pool and a free continental breakfast.

I find that when I am having a kid-free day, I don't want to see ANY kids. The only kids I think are marginally cute on my kid-free days are very quiet babies. Unfortunately, there were children in the hotel pool. They didn't stop me from enjoying my responsibility-free swim, but I didn't stop wishing they would leave.

After a lovely dinner, it was back to the hotel to laugh at the very ridiculous porn synopses and drink beer in bed. Either the beer or the porn plots gave me a wicked case of insomnia. I ended up sleeping for about 2 hours, and I woke up when the baby in the room upstairs from us fell out of bed. There is a very unmistakable THUNK when a baby falls out of bed, even when it's a floor above. At that point, I really wished there was a kid-free section of the hotel. Then, tuberculosis-ridden man next door completely sealed the deal on No Sleep. meh.

Luckily, working full-time nights for two years and not having a decent night's sleep since 2004 has made me somewhat resilient to getting a total of 2.5 hours. I managed to score some alone time in the pool, where I spent a good ten minutes making a whirlpool before I realized that the front desk lady was probably watching me (on camera) plow circles through the water like a Gigantic Douchebag.

I took a shower with my favorite boyfriend, something I would never ever ever do with the little ones around. We packed up and headed over to Whip City Candles, which was unfortunately closed. I'm glad to have to found another partner in Being Twelve Year Old Boys- we also drive-by photographed S&M Marble and Granite, Whip City Brew Bar & Grill, the Easthampton Bear Fest, and Tasty Top. :)

It was a very lovely and mostly relaxing time away. I had excellent company, and managed to do everything on my list.

drop spindles


colory


odd spinning machine


I had signed up to work a little Sunday-evening shiftlet, so there were all of three hours between my return home and my trip back out. I got my annual review out of the way (they'll keep me for another year!) and got my assignment for the night.

I was the outpatient/labor nurse, which basically means no sitting and knitting- fine since I had forgotten my knitting at home. I had a wonderfully sweet couple whose doula looked kind of familiar. Apparently she knew who I was (not a lot of homebirthing L&D nurses out there?) and had already told her client I was "awesome". Hello, ego boost. I pretty much only had time to do the admitting and then it was time to go. I love shiftlets, because even if you walk into a shitstorm, it only lasts for 4 hours. I can pretty much do anything for 4 hours.

Now I'm listening to a very enthusiastic bird couple sing their INCREDIBLYfuckingLOUD lovesong in the bushes outside. I have searched and searched for my Bird Call thingie, but since it's missing, there'll be no fake Red Tails to scare the horny birds away. I hope they get it on soon and shut up so I can finally get some sleep.

The KKK took my sheepy away

Fiber Festival #2?
not so much.
I dug the quaint-ness of the RI Sheep and Wool and the variety of Rhinebeck. MA Sheep and Wool? meh.
However, I did have a lovely weekend.

Beach!

Last year I had every intention of going to the beach once a week until school let out. We ended up going once, in one of the last few weeks of August. oops.

This year, though- I'm doing much better. Today it was 85 degrees and sunny, and I thought it would be just perfect to sit in the sand and enjoy the cooler beach weather. Heh. It was like 65 degrees at the beach, and small-craft advisory windy. Still beautiful, but I'm glad we had sweatshirts.

swinging






We ended up at Sand Hill Cove, my favorite kid-friendly beach. It was high tide, so no rock flipping today. My most favorite tide pool place is at Point Judith, where Chris and I got married. I need to keep an eye on the tide charts to see when the next mid-afternoon low is.

no fear


the view from my swing

This week I'm down to two children- Hannah is in Maine with her grandparents. I've been enjoying my time with the little ones. Yesterday, we had my friend Patti and her son Jeb over. The kids had a lovely time playing outside, and Annabelle got to try her hand at being the biggest big sister.





Later on, Patti's husband and my friend B dropped by for dinner. We've all known each other for 15+ years, and I love that I have friends who shared the very weird experience of Catholic School.

Today, it's off to the beach for yesterday's plans- dinner picnic and sandcastles. I'll bring my knitting- just in case.

Fiber Festival #1

Today, Jenn and I hit Fiber Fest #1 at Coggeshall Farm in Bristol.

Annabelle wants to sit on donkey.
Can donkey tolerate 40 pounds of kid? Probably?


Annabelle making a very fabulous necklace.


Fiddling with the f-stop.


Pea porridge.


Carding


Bah!


This kid was a brutal nurser. ouch!



Next weekend, it's off to Fiber Festival #2 and a kid-free night. (!!!)

Can't win

I am outnumbered. Even when I have things mostly under control here, there are still three of them and one of me. Nothing would please me more than having a clean house and the ability to sit down for more than 3 minutes at a time.

This morning while I was helping Annabelle choose her "fashion" outfit, Enzo found the jar of peanut butter. Not two minutes later I walked into the kitchen and found this.



There are two hands under all of this peanut butter.

Thankfully we have plans today- we're going to the Gilbert Stuart Museum with our homeschool knitting group. It's on my fieldtrip list, and with all the rain we've been having, we're far behind.

Mother's Day

stayed in bed until 11:30. ate cinnamon buns while reading the Sunday paper. played and won a game of Monopoly. internetted. pulled a tick off of Enzo's back. freaked out. wrapped presents. raked. planted. watered. ate yummy grilled sausage. hung out with Mom and Grandma.


still to come: grapefruit. gilmore girls. bed.

Blech

I woke this morning with stuffy sinuses and a sore throat. I am so done with being sick.

It was 3pm by the time I realized that it was warm outside, despite the dreariness. We managed to spend a few hours outside before the rain started (again).

Sometime in between, I did some dishes and baked some bread.

Knitting Model #2


The books always seem to make it out with us


Quincy resting in the sandbox


Enzo checking on the compost


Allergens


Chris gets behind the camera!

Northampton and Look Park

On Saturday the kids and I ventured up to Northampton for Pride and yarn.

Traffic was INSANE, and I made the mistake of taking the Northampton exit instead of the Easthampton exit. We missed the entire parade with exception of the drum circle at the end. oops.

Pride used to be held in a field, with grass and shade and a playground. Now it's in a parking lot, with no shade and no place to sit other than in folding chairs. We stayed for a bit, then bailed to go to Look Park.

Look Park is my most favorite park in the world. When Hannah was little we used to hang out there with our HipMama friends. It was a time when I had nearly no mama friends, and I was pretty relieved to finally meet the other freaky parents. Most of us are still in touch, even though our kids are now closing in on junior high and high school. Anyhow- we used to spend a lot of time on the Look Park train when it was only $1 a ride- the kids got a kick out of screaming in the tunnel, and we mamas had time to sit for 5 minutes without chasing anyone.

Hannah, 2002


Hannah, Annabelle, Clay, and Christie


After Look Park, we headed back into town. My friend Jess had a +1 to the Chris Pureka show, but we are +4. Kind of a gigantic bummer, since I haven't seen Chris Pureka perform since '01. After a consolation trip to Bueno and a visit to the photobooth, we were off. Luckily I had Sarah Vowell and her dead presidents to keep me awake on the way home, because we were all beat. I'm the only one who made it home without napping.

To add to the collection...

Ode to Cuddle

It was about this time two years ago when I noticed that Annabelle had petechiae all over her back. We were on vacation in Virginia, and I remember calling my mom to ask if it was possible that it could be caused by the sun (knowing deep down that it wasn't).

A few days after we got home she started bruising really badly. They were pretty much everywhere, and I had a feeling something wasn't right. I remember laying in bed and crying, thinking that it was The Worst.

The next morning, she fell going up the stairs, and within an hour she had a bruise so deep and purple that it prompted me to call our pediatrician immediately. Luckily, our pedi is cool and sent us in for stat bloodwork without hesitation.

Annabelle was not quite happy about that pick, but she was quite a trooper. My mom was going to get the results of the bloodwork and give me a ring on my cell. I took Annabelle to visit my grandmother and when I came out, my mother was waiting in the parking lot. She said that the lab wouldn't give her the results, and I needed to vomit. I dialed our pediatrician's office, and they said to come in immediately (even though it was a Friday afternoon). I was completely unable to drive to the doctor's office, and I had to call Chris to tell him to meet us there. My mom drove, and I cried, and I called my friend Ben and left him a very crazy message about my world ending.

At some point Chris arrived. I don't remember how horrible he looked, but I do know that he did vomit, and then got stuck in traffic, and that Annabelle is his special person.

It seems like it took forFUCKINGever for the doctor to come in the room, and when she did, she was like "it's okay, it's okay, it's okay". She explained that while Annabelle's platelets were crazy low, but all of her other blood counts were normal. So she didn't have The Worst, but it's not exactly optimal to walk around with a platelet count of 15,000. The doctor made us an Monday appointment at the Tomorrow Fund Clinic, which is a pediatric hematology/oncology clinic at our local children's hospital.

We left the office feeling relieved but incredibly wiped and still relatively freaked out. Chris ran to his car to get the gift he got for Annabelle- a pink Care Bear who Annabelle immediately named "Cuddle Bear".

The next few weeks were full of stress and indecision and bloodwork and appointments. I spent that whole weekend freaking out about intracranial hemmorhage, and Annabelle did her best to give me an anxiety attack. She was two, and very much unwilling to wear the helmet I had strapped to her head.

CuddleBear came with us to every appointment and sat with Annabelle for all of her bloodwork. CuddleBear started sleeping with Annabelle every night, and pretty much became family member #6. Even now, two years later, Cuddle bear is still Annabelle's constant companion. Sleep does not happen without Cuddle. Sleep is interrupted if Cuddle is misplaced. If our house was on fire, I would get the children out- then Cuddle would be next, even before our photos.

The last time I needed to go for bloodwork, Annabelle grabbed Cuddle on our way out. She thought there was a chance I might need Cuddle to sit on my lap.

Annabelle made a full recovery, although I don't think Chris or I did. She had Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, which resolved on its own after a few months. It was at least mid-July before her platelets were up to 50,000, and by October she was back in the 200k range. Although the Tomorrow Fund Clinic is an amazing place, I am so glad we don't have to go there on a regular basis.