A Poncho for Roo

Growing up as the middle daughter of three girls, I have many memories of my sisters and I dressed in matching, handmade items crafted by my mother's hands. One piece in particular stands out as a favorite: the crocheted ponchos she made us, in shades of brown and orange. A child of the 70's, a girly girl, and the perfect garment for skipping, dancing and twirling. I might have to sift thru boxes of photos to see if there are any of us in the ponchos.

When I started knitting, one of the first patterns I looked for was a poncho for Eleanor Ruby. I found the Knitting Pure and Simple Children's Poncho over a year ago, but wasn't sure if my skill was ready yet. Then I found a beautiful yarn that I had to have to make into something lasting for Eleanor to enjoy. Two skeins of Mosaic Moon Mountain Meadow Worsted yarn in the Selah colorway arrived with it's coordinating aqua trim back in October. I had to sit it aside for months while I worked on Christmas and birthday gifts.

I decided that my first garment of the new year would be Ella Roo's poncho. I was pleasantly surprised by what an easy garment it was to knit! I made the 2-4 year old size and didn't make any major changes to the pattern. Only thing I think I did was purl the first row of the hood so I had an easy marker for measuring the length of the hood as well as adding a design element to the neckline. I also picked up four extra stitches on the hood because I thought it spaced the stitches out better than the recommended amount.

I worked on it a few hours a day for 11 days until I had it completely finished. It's beautiful, a perfect fit, soft, warm, and just what I hoped for. It warmed up to 22 degrees today, so Ella and I took a short walk in the sun with her favorite baby and her sparkly new shopping cart from Nana. I hope this is the first of many fun memories for her and her poncho.

Finished piece



Finished piece in action

The Nap Mat

Generally, Ella takes her afternoon or mid-morning nap on the family room couch. It's much easier for me to get her to sleep and lay her there than to try to carry her 28 lbs up old creaky wood stairs to her bedroom and hope she doesn't wake up. Works for me. However, my mom gave us a down-alternative comforter for our king size bed for Christmas. When all three kids were home ill, we opened it up and made a little nap mat on the cushy carpeted floor. They napped on it, snuggled on it, watched tv, etc. while resting up.


It makes such a cozy little nap mat, I'm not in a hurry to put it to it's rightful use.

Last Doll Dress: The Poppy Dress

I was able to pick up some buttons to finish off the last baby doll dress last night. I love how these buttons pop against the purple dress! So cute.

This was originally a pattern for a doll cardigan to fit Waldorf dolls, called the Poppy Cardigan. I made a few alterations to change it into a dress because, at her age, I figured Ella would get frustrated with putting a cardi on a doll.

I used Cascade 220 Superwash wool to make the dress. It's a soft, machine-washable wool that drapes really nice.


I knit the pattern as directed until after the split for sleeves. At that point, I joined the sides and knit it in the round for an inch. Then I did one row of increasing every stitch (kfab) to double my stitches for the skirt. I knit until it was about 6" long, then knit the garter stitch hem. The total length is 6 1/2" from center neckline to hem edge.


I'm pleased with the look and fit of the finished piece. Ella loves it, too!

My Breastfed Daughter wants to Bottle feed her Babies

Playing with her baby dolls is Eleanor's favorite thing to do. She likes undressing them and giving them pretend baths in her play kitchen sink. She uses her doll brush to make their hair pretty. She wraps them in old receiving blankets and rocks them to sleep. They take turns sitting on her potty chair and making pretend tinkles. Nothing is funnier than seeing her lay her baby down on a prefold diaper and watching her carefully attempt to attach it with a Snappi! Her babies also enjoy horse back rides through the house on her shoulders while she yells, "Yee haw!"

Dolly goes with us on car rides to get Daddy and the boys or shopping at the grocery store. Sometimes she takes Dolly for a walk in the stroller, with her purse hooked on her arm, cell phone and keys tucked inside, and a wave "Bye bye, Mama. I goin' shoppin'" Other times she snuggles them in her doll sling for a trip around the yard.

Recently, she discovered a new way to play with Dolly. I've been babysitting in the two-year-old room for the local MOPs group. Usually, we have about 5-6 girls and one or two boys in the room. Luckily, there are plenty of baby dolls for all the girls to have one. They work on taking turns pushing the dolls in the two strollers or on the one swing. They cook up snacks for their dolls in the play kitchen and they remark on their stinky diapers. But there's a new toy for Ella to use with her dolls at MOPs that she hasn't had at home. Doll bottles filled with fake milk or orange juice. It didn't take long at all for Ella to follow the other girls' lead in feeding and burping the dolls with bottles. After a couple of times at MOPs, Ella was quick to secure one of the three bottles for her baby to use each session. I sat back and watched her holding and bottle feeding her baby. So odd to see from a girl that never had a bottle or pacifier!

I didn't make a big deal about it at MOPs and figured it doesn't mean much, she only plays with them there. At home, she tends to nurse her babies or uses the little cups from her tea set to give them drinks of "water". Lately, however, she's been wanting a bottle for her Dolly. She found a small bottle of cleaning fluid Doug uses for his guitars, I think, that has a pointy tip like a bottle on the cap. Instantly, Ella began using it to feed her baby. Then Aidan decided to wash out a small chocolate milk bottle, removed the label, and gave that to Ella to use as a bottle. I had to take the cleaning bottle away from her because I was worried about her getting it open.

I am starting to see how important she thinks a bottle is to her favorite form of play.

Most people wouldn't think twice about whether or not a child played with a bottle and a doll. To me, it matters. I've consciously avoided bottles and bottle imagery in reference to children and babies for many years. I actively avoid baby congratulations cards or wrapping paper with bottles and pacifiers. I feel like it sets up bottle feeding as the norm in baby care instead of as a secondary tool. It's very important to me that my children are raised to believe that breastfeeding is the normal way to feed a baby. I want them to see bottles as just a tool to feed babies when mother is not available. I think it shapes them for how they will parent in the future. I want my son supportive of his partner breastfeeding and I want my daughter confident in her ability to breastfeed her children, should they have them.

Doug isn't on the same page as me regarding toy bottles. Maybe because we bottle fed expressed milk to Sean in addition to nursing. Maybe because he thinks I'm just making too big of a deal of it. Maybe he's right. Or maybe I am.

Right now, I am confident that she does know what breastfeeding is and how it helps babies. While playing dolls with the other girls at MOPs, Ella's doll fell out of the swing. She exclaimed, "Oh no! Baby hurt!" ran around the swing to pick up her doll, immediately lifted her shirt and held her doll to her chest. "Baby needs Ni-Ni!" she said, while kissing her doll on her head, in full view of all of her friends.

While the bottles may be a fun way for her to give Dolly a drink, breastfeeding is what Dolly needs for comfort. Maybe Santa will put a toy bottle in her Christmas stocking after all.

Wordless Wednesday: Wildcat

Two Dolls Done, Three to Go!

I decided to squeeze in some of my Christmas knitting projects this past week. I tried out a few patterns and came up with outfits for two of Ella's five "dressable" dolls. Here's what I have finished so far.

First, Ella wearing the gorgeous longies I bought knit by another knitter. She wouldn't hold still for a good photo today, so this is about the best I could get.

The knitter sent the remaining yarn to me and I had enough to make this cute set. (Laid my phone there so you can see the scale.)

And the dolly that it fits.

Next, you remember the Elizabeth Tunic dress I made for Ella in the spring.

I had enough yarn leftover from it to make a matching dress for her Cabbage Patch doll. I have more of it still, so I might making something else with it for the dolls.


Making doll clothes is so fun and instantly gratifying. It's going to make it hard for me to go back to knitting full-scale. Ha ha ha

We love Playgroup!

It's hard to imagine that our little playgroup is still going strong after three years! Some of the original kids have grown up and gone on to school, so they only attend in the summer. Several of us have had new babies, so there are new young ones to grow up in the group. I can honestly say that I look forward to going every time we meet, I get so much out of our time together that the hour and a half just speeds by.

Our last playdate was at the local zoo. The number of families that attend varies each time, but it's always a good mix and Ella is so excited to see her little friends.

All the kiddos together.

Little farm girl!

This female turkey gave them a talkin' to when they walked near her man. :)

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: September

September is a always busy month in our family. Four family birthdays, the full swing of school, state fair and the last minute crunch to finish up summer projects. Kansas has notorious weather that tends to turn from 100 degree heat to 40 degree "fall" in the blink of an eye. It seems like we are constantly rush, rush, rushing to get things done before October hits.

Sean's 6th birthday started out the month. Normally, we have a nice organized gathering of as much of the family as we can and then try to include a few friends. This year, his birthday fell on Labor Day weekend and everyone had plans to be elsewhere. We had a small pre-party with Doug's parents, then on his birthday we just had a family day that included a trip to the YMCA to swim and out to Dairy Queen for ice cream cones (his favorite treat.) Sometimes keeping it simple is just as much fun as the big events.


Next up was the annual Kansas State Fair. We love going to see the exhibits and enjoy the rides. This year was even more fun as the kids were old enough to get excited about more aspects. Three of us had our art exhibited, so it was neat to track them down and see them displayed.

Aidan with his Pointillism-inspired collage (middle row, second from top)

Sean and Ella in front of his self-portrait.

I entered the dress I knit for Ella in the hand-knitted garment competition, but didn't place. I also didn't get a photo of it there because I had kids running in different directions in the Domestic Arts building.

On the evening we went to go on rides, Aidan ran into a classmate at the fair with his mom. She offered to take them around to do big kid rides while we took Sean and Ella to do little kid rides. Ella got a kick out of most of the things we tried.


We had an unfortunately incident involving the giant yellow slide this year. Doug and Aidan planned on riding it, but when we got there Sean and Ella also insisted they wanted to ride it. I tried talking Sean out of it, as he really didn't like it in the past, but he was determined to go. Um, yeah, not a good idea. Poor thing barely weighs 38 pounds and since Doug had to hold Ella on his lap, Sean had to ride solo next to them. He almost got air on the the first drop, so he freaked out and tried to turn over to his tummy to hold on to the burlap sack. His face smacked down on the slide rail and left a doozy of a bruise for days. He was in tears by the time he got to the bottom and says he will not do that again! Eeks. He didn't even want to walk near it the rest of the time we were there.

After we had our fill of the Fair, we made a quick trip up to visit my family for a weekend. We wrapped up the month by finally putting together the yard sale I had wanted to do all summer. I talked about it for months and slowly sorted what I wanted to purge out of the house. Aidan wanted to set up a lemonade stand for the sale and Doug was happy to fulfill that wish by building a magnificent lemonade stand out of leftover lumber from the bathroom renovation. He put a lot of work into it and Aidan really loves it. He had it open for business the day of the sale and then asked to set it up the next day too. We were so touched by the generosity of people who stopped to buy a drink and treat from him. He's hoping to get a couple more days of business before it gets too cold. I guess we will store it in the garage after that so he can use it again in the spring.




In addition to the fun stuff we did this month, I finally faced up to some dental problems I'd been neglecting. I had to get a root canal done at the end of the month and will need to go in for a crown and some fillings soon. Pregnancy was really hard on my teeth each time, but this time it was the worst. Actually, it's probably because I had areas that really needed a crown in the past but didn't get it. Instead those areas got worse and now it is no longer optional. I'll be so glad when it's all done, but just dread the time getting it fixed. Eye on the prize, right?

Well, that catches up most of our summer! I have a blog's worth of knitting projects to share and one with the bathroom renovations.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: August

Phew, August was a super crazy month!

We kicked it off with lots of fun celebrating Eleanor's 2nd birthday. It was so fun to see her really enjoy everything about birthdays. We went out to lunch that day and got ice cream cones, then had Doug's parents over in the evening for dinner, cupcakes and gifts.


A few days later, we went to spend the weekend with my family where we celebrated her birthday again with them, as well as my nephew's birthday. We went to a great new water park near them and had a fun time together.





We had several weeks of mad-rush-before-school-starts activities. Our bathroom reno was in full force, so we had workmen at the house most days. My mom came out for a week while I caught up on appointments for myself.

Right before school started, we took Sean to see the pediatric cardiologist for a check up on his heart defect. It was a mostly good news appointment. While we didn't hear what we hoped for (that his heart is completely healed), we did hear that there has been a little improvement. He has an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) that used to have an Atrial Septal Aneurysm on it. That's right, I said used to have... it's GONE! So yay for that news! The ASD has not changed in size or in how it is affecting his heart performance. We don't have to bring him in for another heart check up for FIVE years! Woot!

What makes this all especially good news is that it combined with the fact that this time Sean was very very very unhappy to go through the testing. I had to hold him down to get the leads attached to him and the only way we could get him to lay still for the echocardiogram was to have him lay on top on me, while I held him and comforted him. I don't know why he was so against it this time, he was always compliant in the past. I seriously hope he outgrows it before the next check up because by age 11 he will be way too strong for me to hold. He put up such a fight getting the leads on that I didn't have the heart to fight him to get them off right away. He kept the "buttons" on until the next day when Doug and I held him down long enough to rub off the adhesive with some baby oil before giving him a bath. Poor little man!

There wasn't a whole lot of time left to enjoy lazy days at home. The boys had to make the most of their time together, with each other and with their little sister.

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Before we knew it, it was time for the first day of school. Oh my goodness, my throat was tight watching my two boys walk into school that day! I want to pull them close and stop time, yet at the same instant wanted to applaud them as they bravely walked in with their heads held high. All my worries about Sean eased when the principal greeted him at the school door with, "Hi there! How are you today?" and my Seanie replied, "Happy!"



It doesn't get better than that.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation: July

If you are wondering how I can possibly remember what and when we did stuff this summer, I'll let you in on a secret. Doug and I unload all of our digital photos into files marked by month & year, so I open up the July 2010 photo file to see what we did that was photo worthy. Granted, we usually do other things that I may forget to bring my camera to, but I try to get pictures at major things as well as take a few for fun here and there. It really helps my aging brain keep track of things, lol.

That said, July was a slim month in the photo file. The month started off with crazy heavy rains continuing from June. In fact, flash flooding covered many blocks of the city on the 4th of July. Fireworks plans kept getting shifted and delayed, which resulted in people dragging out their front yard fun longer than usual. Sean is absolutely terrified of fireworks, so we have spent the last several years just staying holed up at home in the evenings around the 4th to try to keep him comfortable. We did go over to our friends' house for a cook out during the day and the children just loved getting soaked in the flood water. (sidenote- eeeew!)




I had a Mommy Meltdown on the 5th when the new neighbors across the street from our house launched a loud and lengthy celebration with explosives directly under the our bedroom windows until 10 PM. Yeah, I turned crazy lady and went out in my jammies to yell at them. *shakeshead* Too many nights of tolerating the disturbance reached it's peak.

We had a nice visit with my mom in July. She came to stay with us to help me get the kids in for their annual physicals. She brought my nephew, Adam, along so that was extra fun for the kids. I can't tell you how much of a blessing it has been for her to be retired. She has helped us out so much with the kids this past year. They just adore her and never get tired of spending time with her. I really need to work harder at taking photos of her with the kids, because it will be so nice to have physical mementos of this time with her too.

At the end of July, we went to a family reunion with extended relatives of Doug's. It was nice to see everyone gathered up together and get to know some of the distant cousins. Unfortunately I didn't assert myself and ask to do a group photo of everyone. The best photos I got were just of the kids playing on the playground outside. I hate when I miss opportunities like that. I guess I just got too distracted with these little goofballs.

The kids had some weird bugs that month, too. Ella had a bad allergic reaction to something, coincidentally on the same day as she had vaccinations even though the doctor says that it wasn't caused by the vaccines. Her face and a bit of her chest broke out in a rash that took several days and Benadryl to ease away. Sean got a yucky sinus, ear, and eye infection that required meds. Aidan had a stomach virus that lasted a day but amazingly didn't spread to anyone else. Summer illnesses are just so unfair, aren't they?

Ella has a persistent interest in viewing photos of herself on the digital camera, so I end up with lots of little portraits of her and sometimes the boys. Two favs:



Gosh they are growing up so darn fast!