I love the combination of grey and mustard. I’ve been wearing it a lot lately, so I thought I needed a hat to match.
And it’s been cold, cold, cold here. Really cold.
But my mama is coming out this weekend and that makes me real happy. I am excited about that!
I think Sam is excited to see his grandma, too. But I guess that means I should fold the laundry and clean the house, huh?
My good friend Mary put up some adorable pictures of her daughter Louella wearing the dress I made for her first birthday back in April!
Pretty darn adorable, huh? I love this little girl! I am sad that they moved all the way to Seattle, but there’s a good chance when Paul graduates we will be moving back over west, but who knows! But I couldn’t help but share these adorable pictures!
People often ask me who I think Sam looks like, me or Paul. I just chuckle and say “Definitely me”. Unfortunately I don’t see a whole lot of Tong in him, although maybe once he grows up and stops looking so baby-ish he’ll get more Tong features, but for right now he’s definitely very Gronewold! Wanna see some proof that this baby looks a lot like me?
This is me, circa 1986. And in case you need a comparison picture, here is Sam, circa 2011. (This picture of Sam is over a month old, but it was the best comparison one I could find.)
This picture is the only picture of Paul as a kid that I could find on my computer, I am sure his parents have some more, and believe me when I tell you, he was a really, REALLY adorable little kid.
I am a little surprised that my fair-skinned, light haired genes were more dominant than Paul’s, but as long as he gets Paul’s musical talent, sense of humor or his artistic skills then I don’t mind at all.
So, I made Sam a lot of sweaters and things before he was born, and I am so excited that now he’s starting to actually fit into some of the things that I’ve made! The Coffee Bean Cardigan fits him now (well, the sleeves are a little long, but oh well!) and so do the matching booties! (I blogged about both here before Sam was born)
He was being kind of a squirrely little model for me, so I didn’t get any great pictures…
And I think he was trying to distract me, like in this next picture, I like to imagine he was saying something like “Oh, look mama, over there!”
But I am just glad to have some warm clothes that fit him now, because MAN it is getting cold out there. There was talk of snow here a few nights back, but fortunately it didn’t snow. I know I should just embrace it, but it’s really hard because we have such a short fall season here. I feel like once I had the baby all the sudden it was winter! Which is ridiculous! It was 95 degrees out the day Sam was born, and he’s only 2 months old and now we’re talkin’ snow?! What! At least now he’s got his handknits to keep him nice and toasty. And he’s wearing the hat I made him in the picture below.
And here is Sam holding the pumpkin he picked out (hah, right) It did have a stem on it, but some little trick-or-treater accidentally kicked it off the porch and it got knocked off. I never got around to carving it, oops. Oh well, I guess I will just leave it on the porch until the snow comes and buries it, like last year.
Sam is now two months old. I can barely believe he’s 2 months old! It’s ridiculous, really. He’s growing at a pretty rapid rate, and is chunking up quite nicely. So here are his Monthly pictures! (Here’s a link to Month 1, in case you missed it!) And I think until I make a decision on which shot I want to use every month I’ll just keep taking these three shots and doing them, and decide later. I’m still leaning towards using the first one, with his bear for contrast as to how much he’s grown. Here is a link to a page that I’ll be updating every month with all of the pictures together, so you can see them side by side!
Sam, with his bear:
Sam in his crib:
Sam with crocheted pillow:
It’s amazing to look at the pictures side by side. There’s such a HUGE change from month one to month two. It’s AMAZING how much he’s changed! He’s so cheerful in the mornings and he’s started talking and singing to his mobiles. It’s adorable. This morning when I went to get him he was happily singing to his elephants. He gets pretty fussy in the evenings, but I think he’s just getting bored with me by the end of the day, but Paul can usually get some smiles out of him. He absolutely LOVES it when we sing to him, he just lights up whenever Paul plays the guitar or we turn on music, he especially loves classical music and he starts crying when we turn it off!
He’s sleeping pretty well at night, he goes down right at 8:00pm without a fight, and will sleep until 1:00 or 2:00am before waking up to eat, and then will sleep again until about 5:00am, gets back up around 7:30 (he hears his dad getting ready for work and doesn’t want to miss out on any fun!) but once Paul leaves he falls back asleep and usually sleeps until 9:30 or 10:00am. We started a bedtime routine when we got back from Tacoma almost two weeks ago, and I think it’s helped a lot. We go into his room, make sure it’s really dimly lit, he nurses, we swaddle him, sing him 2 or 3 songs, then lay him down in his crib and give him a pacifier and he’ll go right to sleep. Sometimes he wakes up about 30 minutes later, but just needs a pat on his bum and he’ll fall right back asleep. His naps during the day have gotten really sporadic and short, but I figure since he’s sleeping so much at night it’s ok and I don’t mind too much, cuz he’s so stinkin’ cute and fun to hang out with. We try to get out of the house at least once a day, even if it’s just taking a quick walk around the neighborhood, and he’s always happy when we leave the house. Probably because he gets attention from all the ladies wherever we are.
But we’re still loving this whole parenting thing, it’s just getting even more fun now that Sam is more interactive and he smiles and coos and just generally lights up our entire lives. We love you, Sam!
“Trying to balance what people will pay while trying to make some sort of profit is really a hard call.”
So, I just finished reading this amazing article, Fair Pay For A Fair Day’s Work, written by Vicki, the knitter extraordinaire behind Dover & Madden. (Also, you should check out her Etsy shop. She makes some beautiful stuff!) I would encourage all of you out there who knit, crochet, sew, or do anything crafty, to read this article, because we shouldn’t be making a pittance for what we do (even if it is doing something we love!) For one project that I made last year, I did the math, and with what I had already promised the customer the price I would charge on a particular item that was harder to make than anticipated, I ended up making less than 50 cents an hour, which is ridiculous. I work really hard on the things that I make, most of the time the things that I make are my own patterns, too, which take time and energy to come up with. I don’t want to sound like I am complaining or getting defensive, but I have had several people request for items at a lower price, and I just want to let them know why I have to charge as much as I do.
I think it’s important that people see the breakdown of how things like handknits (or crochet, or sewn, whatever) are priced. I had a talk with a friend a few days ago and she mentioned that “If you charged too little, people would undervalue your work. So in essence, the more you charge, the more people value your work.” (Thanks, Betsy!) This is an especially relevant time to bring this up, with the upcoming holiday season, which is obviously my busiest time for custom orders.
But seriously, if you’re a crafter and have trouble pricing your work (I’ve always struggled with this!) I would highly suggest you read Vicki’s article, she eloquently states what I’ve been struggling to for years. Also, make sure to get your Christmas Orders in soon, so I can make sure they’re out to you in time for the Holidays! I may not have enough time (obviously I’ve got a bit more on my plate this year) to do quite as many orders as I did last Christmas, so please make sure to place them early so I can get a head start on making them.
Remember, feel free to make requests for specific animals, or different color combinations, I’m willing to give just about anything a try! Email me at lexikaye@gmail.com if you’d like to place an order!
Knittybutton 