Life has gotten in the way...

I think it's the oldest, most often voiced (blogged?) complaint of knitters. Life gets in the way of knitting time!

School has started back up and you would think that having 4.5 hours of just me and the baby at home would give me plenty of knitting time. Alas, it does not. Our morning starts about 6:15. The baby usually wakes up just a few minutes after I sneak out of bed so I only get a few minutes to pee and wake up in semi solitude. My husband heads out the door a few minutes after I awake. Then I wake the oldest up at 6:30 and from there until 7:45 it's a mad house.

This morning, amazingly enough, went pretty smoothly despite having to do spelling words for today's test. I hope she does well. She had no school Monday so we missed that day for practice and she didn't bring her words home on Tuesday so we only 2.5 days to practice. She struggled all through the first quarter and flunked almost everything. Finally, the teacher told me at the end of the quarter that she was doing very poorly and would flunk her. Um no. Not an option. So we worked our arses off every night after school adding a new subject every week until we were doing everything. Reading, math and spelling words. The week we started doing spelling words she got a 100. The next week only missed one. And she hasn't had a spelling test since beginning of Dec. There wasn't a test the last week before break. So I'm hoping today's test goes fairly well for her. I've really noticed an improvement in her over all daily mood plus she is kinder to her siblings because her self esteem has gone up.

So anyway, back to knitting. Life is getting in the way of knitting. My 4.5 hours of just me and babe is NOT enough time for knitting. For one before my son even gets on the bus between 9:15 and 9:30 she's cranky and wanting a nap. Until he leaves I pretty much have to devote every minute to him. Like right now, the baby is in her high chair eating her scrambled eggs. He's hanging on me begging for food (um, the cereal you requested is still on the table) and a drink. And he's not the type to let you ignore him even for a second. He hangs and whines and cries and takes things very personally. So, when he asks for something it's generally in everyone's best interest to just get up and do it. If you wait too long it tends to lead very quickly to a melt down that can last 20 minutes or longer. Then he is in a bad mood and so am I and I hate sending a kid to school in a bad mood thinking mommy's mad.

Ok Lucy's done with her eggs. Giving Levi a second breakfast.

Now where was I? Ok so at 9:30 it's me and the baby. Baby is cranky and ready for a nap. I have two options. The first is sitting in the chair, nurse her to sleep and knit over the top of her. Nice BUT...my second and most often chosen option is go lay down in bed with her and nurse her to sleep. And I usually fall asleep. If we sleep too long, say until noon (a guilty pleasure, I assure you), then I get lunch done and straighten up the kitchen, probably do a load of laundry and sit down to Days at 1. Levi gets back home shortly after 2. So, then it's back to catering to him, keeping the peace between him and the baby and by 3 if she didn't fall asleep on my lap during Days then she needs another nap. Same two options only I can't fall asleep with her and if she falls asleep on my lap not much chance she'll nap too long with Levi banging and stomping around the house. He's very sensory seeking so he stomps when he walks and he's constantly touching everyone.

It's exhausting to force yourself to be in a good mood when you're running on just a few hours of very interrupted sleep. He's like a sponge or a mirror. However I act, he soaks it up and returns it. If I'm impatient and short with him, he becomes very obstinate and even more uncooperative than usual. But if I sing silly songs, smile and hug him instead of rush through getting dressed and ready for school, he will pretty much stay cooperative and happy.

Boy, I do tend to ramble. You can tell I've not had much blogging time.

So, anyway long story short, life has gotten in the way of my precious knitting.