Boy oh Boy

Where has the time gone!  I literally haven't posted anything since I've moved into this house.  That has been a whole four months!  1/3 of the year has gone by without posting (and I've already been in this house for a whole 1/3 of a year?! No way!)

Oddly enough my life has been happier here, but also much more stressful.  More to do.  More time with my little one and me, which means challenges in itself.  We've already had more people come visit than the whole time we lived in Kansas.  Crazy huh?  Like they say "location, location".  We've also gone to visit family 3 times and will be doing that again in a few days.   And I've started a new endeavor - Jamberry Nail Wrap Consultant.  If that interests you at all e-mail me!  

But I think I can say with confidence I'm back.  And the knitting has not lagged, even if I've totally slacked on posting about it.  I have a few new yarns I've worked with, I went to Rhinebeck (oh yeah I Did!) and I'm starting a year without yarn purchases!!  I've almost finished my husbands never-ending sweater which may very well be the death of me.

Oh yeah, last week I turned 30!!  And my birthday sucked.  Big time.  Just putting that out there.  It had nothing to do with the age either.  And my daughter turns THREE in a little over two weeks.  That's the one I can't believe the most.  Three years old.  And acts like a 5 year old.  Seriously though- her mannerisms, her vocal, her ability to recognize letters already, her height and her attitude.  I swear.  My current 2 yr old has acted older for the whole year.  People seriously never believe she's 2.  She's already wiping our kisses off.  I thought I had at least 7 more years before that happened!  Where has my baby girl went?

Well glad to check in.  I am in fact still alive and kicking.  Just busy as can be it seems.  But I haven't disappeared and I sure hope some of my readers have stuck around.  Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

That Giant Sweater

I swear I feel like I'm knitting for a Giant.  My husband is a smallish guy.  I can't imagine if I was knitting for my Dad or someone of similar size.  I feel bad for all too many knitters I know that have more gigantor husbands right now.  I tried on the shoulders for the Helicopter Guy (I need something to call him on the blog.  That's his new name) and asked if he liked it.

Here's our conversation.
Me - "Do you like it?"
HG - "Yes of course I do.  If I didn't it wouldn't matter now though, you have this much done."
Me - "I'd rather start over, then knit a whole sweater you won't wear."
HG - "I'd wear it even if I didn't like it, because you made it for me."

I appreciate the sentiment and all, but really?  At least I know he loves me that much.  But the whole point of knitting is making something someone will get some use out of.  Granted I do make a lot of things I won't wear (mostly shawls) but they are always gifted to someone who will.  God help me, if he doesn't like this sweater, I'm giving it away to anyone that does.  Even after all the work.  Next time I pick a sweater for him it's going to be more of a "masculine" color (although he loves red), and more of a gansey type pattern.

I'd love to say I've been concentrating on the sweater too, and I was till I ran out of caked yarn.  I need to cake more and the only place in our house right now that I can put up the swift is on our TV stand and we were in the middle of the movie.  So I moved to something else.  Finished my Arm Chair KAL project and will share that on Friday.  Also ripped out one pair of socks, and plan to rip out another as well.  I'd really like to finish Miss A's sweater, which won't take too long.  Then as far as moving knitting I'm thinking Helicopter Guy's sweater, a sweater for myself, and a cowl I think I will be test knitting.  Of course if our household goods get packed a while before our move date, then I will have a lot of time for knitting.  More time than I might be able to handle.

New Year for Me

I've actually had a great year this year.  So many things accomplished, I'm finally getting my house together and organized, and my daughter is getting so big and provides such joy.  Granted we've had our downsides.  The biggest was saying goodbye to my husband during his long deployment.

2014 will bring great things I'm sure.  But just so you understand an Army wife's thought process I'm sitting here thinking that it will either be an amazing year with a homecoming, or the worst year of my life from that dreaded knock on the door.  That's the way we think, sadly.  Especially after we just lost 5 soldiers from my husbands battalion.  I don't think I've talked about that here.  A heart wrenching few hours of not knowing if my husband was ok after hearing his type of aircraft went down in his area.  Turns out he was on the recovery mission instead.  I'm really going to try not to take advantage of anything after that experience.  I'm not going to dwell on it either or sit at home constantly worrying.  I'm going to spend quality time with my daughter and make every moment count.  That's the theme this year.  (the Knitmore girls do themes instead of resolutions).  There's so much that them encompasses.  Time with my daughter, not sitting around on my butt and my cell phone,  not eating when I can be working out.  Or knitting.  Or sewing. Or blogging. Seriously if I added up all the 5-10 minute increments I sit here playing candy crush or cruising Facebook I could do so much with that extra time! So here's to 2014!


                                                  2014 - Make every moment count

A Proud Momma

The past week Miss A has done a few things that sure make a Momma happy.  I know, you usually hear something like this and expect me to say something like "she used the potty" or "she put her own shoes on" or some type of milestone.  Not me.  Don't get me wrong, she hits milestones all the time and I get excited but they are part of her development.  They are in a way "normal" because they are things most kids do in the same timeframe.  

I have two proud moments from this week that are worth sharing.  The first: remember that Low Tide I made that upset me so immensely when she wouldn't wear it?  Well she let me put it on two days in a row.  Thursday she wore it for an hour.  That was a start.  Friday she wore it to daycare and kept it on the whole time!  I took it off at nap time, we put it back on when she woke up and she wore it the rest of the day!  I was so proud!

Second - We went out to eat Saturday night with a friend.  It's not something we do too often.  Toddler in a nice sit down restaurant.  I'm sure you get why it's not an often occurrence.  She climbed up the booth next to my friend and could see the TVs in the bar area from there. They had college football on.  The moment she saw it she put down her drink, clapped her hands and exclaimed "foo-ball! foo-ball". If you know me well you know my day stops the moment football starts.  I'm a huge fan of the NFL so this was a big deal to me.  Needless to say Miss A's anxiety about Daddy being gone seem to have subsided a bit as of late and we've really been having fun together!

FO Friday - A quickie

Probably the only thing I've finished in my absence has been the Low Tide I made for my daughter.  I have to tell you I am so proud of this knit and it might be one of my absolute favorites.  I made it out of Candy Skein yarn which was oh so yummy to work with!  It has wonderful color to it.  But you will notice.....there are no pictures of it on Miss A.  She refuses to wear it.  Absolutely with all of her energy, refuses.  She's never refused to wear anything in her entire wardrobe till this sweater.  It hurts.  It seriously hurts.  I know it's not like she understands that I put a lot of time and energy into it.  But that doesn't change how much I want to see her wear it with pride.  I guess it means I'll just have to make one for myself. Linking up with FO Friday before I head out the door to drop Miss A at daycare!  

It's true

Candid!

A post.

A post about deployment.  It's something that I knew was going to be part of my life since the moment I met my husband.  It's something I knew was inevitable.  It's something I thought wouldn't be too hard.

I still don't know how hard it's going to be.  And no matter how hard it is, I still know I can handle it (at least better than some wives I've seen).  I'll keep myself busy.  I'll go visit some people.  I'll watch alot of tv.  I'll put my daughter in programs and daycare and I won't go stir crazy.

But these past couple of weeks have been challenging.  That's really the only word to describe it.  The next couple of weeks will continue to be challenging.  As the deployment drags on it might get easier, but who knows, it might just get harder.  What I do know is that it's very heart-wrenching to watch the love of you life pack up 4 bags (most of which is Army issued, he won't need when he's there and leaves very little room for actual personal items) that he will live out of for the next nine months.  It's sad really.




Just an FYI and side-note.  I won't be making a deployment tag for my posts related.  I'll be listing them under family.  This makes it harder for bad people to get a hold of the wrong information and for anyone to try to target me, my husband or my husband's unit.

My Prerequisite

Again....deployment.  The big D-word keeps getting thrown around on the blog lately.  I had one prerequisite for my husband.  One necessity before he deploys. And he had to suck it up, and do it no matter how little he wanted to - for me.  Family Pictures.  He did good.  I didn't hear one complaint.  And our photographer was awesome.  She is actually a personal friend and a fellow Army wife, and a veteran herself - Mindy King Photography.  She takes clients in both the Fort Riley area and the Wichita area so if you are in the area, I can highly suggest her!  I love the photos we ended up with, even if my husband doesn't do my smiling and my daughter seems to take after her Daddy in that trait as well!  Here are a few favorites I thought I'd share.

Half Way There

I did the math.  Car time this summer will be 70 hours.  Yup. 70.  With a toddler. And that is just drive time - not including stopping for said toddler. Good news is 32 hours of that is now behind us! So we are almost half way there. And lots of knitting.  I will say I didn't get as much knitting done as I had hoped, but still a good dent.  Definitely quite a bit to show! Next trip will be after the hubs deploys and I imagine I will actually be doing a bulk of the driving.  But we are taking a trip within a trip and that will be 9 hours each way!  So more knitting time.  Did anyone else hate road trips until they became a knitter?  I now look forward to that [mostly] uninterrupted time with my yarn and needles!  Did I mention I get to go to the Michigan Fiber Festival?

This past trip was a trip to visit some of my husbands family.  First priority - his grandparents.  He hasn't seen them since our wedding, his grandfather has Parkinsons and Prostate cancer.  There's sadly a good chance he won't be around when Rob gets back from deployment.  So we needed to make a trip up there.  Not only so we could see him again but so Miss A could meet her Great-Grandparents and they could meet her.  We had a great time on the trip and also got to visit my FIL, but I will share more about the trip next post.

Must apologize for the poor picture quality.

For now - onto knitting!! First up is my Lettuce Pullover.  I didn't knit on it for all too long.  It was really a knit while playing the name game with my husband project.  Mainly because it's joined now and is just stockinette in circular.  No thinking required.  So I was spending most the time on the projects that required thinking - although they still didn't require much.

Watching the Sock Bunny Knit & Fit Podcast

                                   

I cast on a Girlfriend Market Bag right before the trip.  Thought it would make good car knitting and it did.  I would have finished it, if it only took one skein of cotton.  It didn't.  I don't know why I thought I could make a bag out of 153 yards.  So I bought the second skein today.  I'm using Hobby Lobby's I Love This Cotton.  I must say, it has a good rep for a reason.  It's cheap cotton that is actually soft!  And, with the coupons Hobby Lobby has it's easy to get it even cheaper!  I made a market bag for my mom years ago and have wanted to make one for myself ever since.  I'm actually getting around to doing it! 

Some pictures might look familiar if you follow me on Instagram

                                   

Also working on the Stripey Socks.  Love these.  The cable detail is just enough.  I'm really glad I pulled out the plain vanilla and started again.  One of them is finished and I'll say it fits like a dream.  I've had such issues with some patterns not fitting my foot right.  Its why I still haven't finished the Black & Blues.  I just don't feel like pulling the toe out again to add some length.   If you want to find some more fibery goodness today, head on over to Tami's Amis for WIP Wednesday!

Flower Girl

Today my little girl had the huge honor of being a flower girl in our friends wedding.  This couple has become fast friends even though we've only known the groom for a year or so and the bride much less. They are some of the nicest people I know and had a nice informal wedding and barbecue in the park today.  There were plenty of little girls attending that were more age appropriate and by that I mean they understood what "walk to the end of the isle" means and "drop flowers on the ground as you walk".  But they wanted Annabelle to be part of their big day and that was an honor to me.

There was a bit of tripping, and a bit of walking the wrong direction.  But she made it from point A to point B.  No crying, no yelling.  Then she decided she wanted to be the bride and just stood in front of the officiant.  But cute none the less!! I can't help but show off the pictures!

So Many Distractions

I'd love to tell you I'm sorry for not posting in almost 2 months.  But you know what?  I'm really not.  I have no pressure here to post constantly.  I don't feel like my readers are pressuring me either.  And I've had life to deal with.  Alot going on right now for me and blogging just hasn't been on my things to do. I am however sorry that I haven't really wanted to blog.  I think that so much of it has to do with my toddler.

Little Miss A on Mother's Day

And toddler really is the only way to describe her now.  Baby definitley doesn't fit anymore.  She runs me ragged.  She is constantly getting into things. We are constantly telling her no, pulling her down from climbing furniture, and dealing with tantrums.  She's hit the terrible twos quite early.  She's also been sick 4 times already this year, which of course doesn't help the behavior any and makes it even more challenging.  It's a big reason why I haven't touched my blog.  Why I haven't touched much at all.

Oak Trail Hat

That's not all of the stress in my life.  I can't go into detail (for the safety of my husband and anyone else in his battalion) but my husband is deploying soon.  Sometime in the next few months.  This will be our first time going through a deployment while married and of course the first time with a baby.  It amazes me how much there is to do before d-day, as if it isn't stressful enough knowing he's going to be gone.  But man, I swear this time is more stressful than the actual time away will be!  It doesn't help knowing that we have every weekend packed with plans already and we will be doing some traveling.  Needless to say, its very possible you will see more posts about Army life and possibly some venting.  Everyone told my husband couples get into more fights before a deployment than any other time - I'm not surprised one bit.

Spring Foliage Mitts

I wouldn't say all this has put a halt to my knitting, but it sure has slowed the train down a bit.  I've finished three things in the past few months.  Two of these projects were for the Alana Dakos KAL that was with Subway Knits.  I made the Oak Trail Hat and the Spring Foliage Mitts.  The mitts I think will be a Christmas gift for my Grandma.  The Oak Trail Hat was gifted to my Aunt (In Law).  I finished it while visiting the family and she took quite a shine to it.  I decided it was such a nice, quick knit that it didn't really need to come home with me.  I do, however, want to make another one.  The construction is quite unique and it was very easy and fun to knit up.

Mrs. Tumnus Shawl

I also finished the Mrs. Tumnus Shawl by Eskimimi (on a side note, if you have checked out her blog Eskimimi Makes, I highly suggest it!).  I've never made a shawl from the outside in and this was a new challenge to me.  I will say that this project is what pushed me into charts - rather than reading the written directions like I always have.  It was lace on both sides and the chart just all of a sudden really made sense to me!  This shawl turned out gorgeous. I actually ran out of yarn and had to find a contrasting color for the center.  I wasn't so sure at first but after I knit it, I fell in love.  I almost decided to keep it, but I made it for my husbands Grandmother and I know she's going to love it.  In just a few weeks I'm going to be able to give it to her in person - only the second time I'll ever be meeting her.  I can't wait!

Stripe Study Shawl & Socks On A Plane

On the needles I have a few things going on.  I started some simple stripe socks a while back with some Knit Picks Feleci and was too bored with it so I ripped and started the Socks On A Plane pattern by Laura Linneman.  Much better for my brain right now.  Also have the Stripe Study Shawl on the needles in yummy, bright Wollmeise!

Lettuce Pullover (its more navy and less gray than it seems here)

Last but not least, a blast from the past!  I started the Lettuce Pullover in March of 2011.  Didn't even get to the sleeves when I got pregnant and decided I didn't want to finish a sweater I wouldn't be able to try on.  It went in hibernation through both moves, then got unpacked into the hibernation stuff.  Last week I pulled it out.  It's been on my "things to do" list for this year and I looked it over, looked at the pattern and really thought I was going to have to pull it out so I started looking at the other patterns I could make with the yarn and I kept coming back to the Lettuce.  Well, I thought if I'm just going to pull it out (i didn't know what size needle I knit it in!) I might as well try it first then pull it out if I can get it right.  Tried sliding the stitches to one needle, a size six, which I soon discovered wasn't the right size for my gauge even though it was what the pattern called for.  I switched down to size 5 and I'm on the right needle.  And now I'm almost half way done!  So excited to really finish a sweater!  Finally - linking up to Tami's Amis WIP Wednesday.  Nice to have you back if you're a reader and thanks for visiting.  Come back again if you are new!

Finally an FO

I finished this but didn't post last week.  It was a simple knit I know, but oh so darn cute.  Modified the hat pattern to make my daughter a matching hat/cowl set.  She looks pretty darn grown up in it.  I might decide she needs to wait 10 more years to wear it again.

Projects Page: Aston Cowl

Pattern: Aston

Yarn: Organic Worsted Heathers by Marr Haven Wool

Linking up with FO Friday

A Mood

I haven't been in the greatest mood today.  I wasn't thrilled to get up and go to a mandatory (for the hubs) company picnic at 9 am!  Let's just say it was cold this morning and that is with a high of 80 F today.  Imagine if it was tomorrow - high of 49.  Who's idea was this?! 80 degrees in March is a FLUKE and no one knew it would be like this when it was scheduled. Oh, and it was wet.  Did I mention that?  They make the guys play a kickball tournament, which with grown men can never end well.  Am I right?  Well, 5 minutes in the first man on base runs when the next ball is kicked and naturally tries to get to second base.  As all men do...  Only these guys, all in aviation and not exactly ones to play organized sports don't really understand the concept of not standing in the base line.  Huh, imagine that.  I'm sure you can picture what happened next.  The guy running is watching the ball, the guy standing there is....well, watching the ball.  And they collide.  And we have blood shed.  Alot of it. This guy running just happened to be my husband.  A trip to the hospital and a diagnosis of broken nose and possible concussion preceded.  So you can imagine my mood when I was at a function I obviously had a bad feeling about.

On a much better note, I thought tonight might be a good night to update my blog.  I had the intentions of updating the links in my Sunday Gratitude post and connecting it to the Mr. Linky on Sunday.   Didn't happened.  I logged in though and found a bunch of comments on my last two posts!  I was very excited because you see, I love comments.  Who doesn't?  And I haven't been getting quite as many as of late.  So a very happy baby tonight, and a bunch of comments has put me in a bit of a better mood.  Thank you readers!  I owe that to you.  Well, the comments part.  If you put my daughter in a good mood you'll have to share the secret!

Here's the link I failed to add in later on Sunday. The book my swap partner gifted me was Sock Yarn Studio by Carol J. Sulcoski.  Any book with Zauberball on the front has to be good.  There are a few patterns I love including the Poppy Beret and Cushington Square Pillow.  The beret, which is really a beanie as far as I can tell, I know I will make for myself.  The pillow would be quite a challenge for me yet.  Maybe in a few years.  

I also wanted to take this opportunity to share the finished - finished object from two weeks ago. It's the Yoked Cardigan by Hannah Fettig and I know I showed you already but the buttons I just so darn cute you have to see them on!  They are from Joyafibers on Etsy.  The picture of Annabelle wearing the gorgeous sweater is more true to color.  Check out my posts like mine at Tami's Amis FO Friday.

FO Friday - One Down

Finally got my replacement needle tips from Knit Picks. I say finally because I feel like its been in its last leg forever, not because Knit Picks took a long time to get it here by any means. I love how this turned out, and I'm even making an Easter dress for my daughter to coordinate with the sweater! Can't wait to get the buttons on it and have her wear it. Just wait till you see the buttons!

Ravelry Project Page: Purple Yoked Cardigan
Pattern: Yoked Cardigan by Hannah Fettig
Yarn: JoJoland Baritone
Linking Up with FO Friday

Snow Day

Snow is quite a different experience in Kansas. I grew up in upstate New York about two miles from Lake Ontario. Snow is definitely in my vocabulary. My birthday is in December so when I learned how to drive not only was I practicing parallel parking and K-turns but my Dad was teaching me how to fish-tail and regain control of the car. It's just a normalcy for me and on many occasions I would clean a foot of snow off the car, go to school and have to clean a few more inches off when I came out. Sometimes this included a broken snow brush from chipping off ice or grabbing mismatched mittens out of the back seat. Because I lived in lake-effect land they were always there!

We woke up to 5" of snow. everything is covered. So today is like a trip back for me. A trip into my childhood. Most of my favorite memories involve snow. It's very nostalgic. But at the same time it's so very different. They have been talking about this "big storm" for days now. It's all over the news, we are getting emergency preparedness letters from post and our housing office, and the commissary was a mad house two days ago (I don't even want to know how crazy the stores were yesterday). My husband has all non-mission essential soldiers called off mid-afternoon yesterday. and they already decided on a two hour delay for Friday! They even announced where the emergency shelters would be just in case. All for this snow. This measly bit of snow. We have a whole 5" and its continuing steadily for the rest of the day. I think we might have a bit over a foot when it's all said and done. That is nothing to a New Yorker.

I'm not complaining though. In New York life goes on like normal when it snows, but Kansas doesn't handle snow the same because they don't get a lot. The fact that the Army is broke and wont pay the plow drivers overtime so plows don't start till the work day starts doesn't really help the matter. So here everything stops, or at the least slows way down. I'm going to enjoy this slow pace and this nice snowy view from my window. Today is going to be dedicated to spending some family time together, doing a little baking and really just slowing down. It's like they say "take time to stop and smell the roses". I'm taking time to enjoy the beauty the snow provides.

Gratitude Sunday

I'm going to try to keep up with Gratitude Sunday. Pop on over to Wooly Moss Roots for more posts like this. Short and sweet.

} No more nursing. There is nothing wrong with nursing children past 1 yr old, but I was ready to be done at ten months. Call me selfish, but I was proud to make it that long and I got really annoyed with not being able to wear normal clothes, or bras and basically interrupting my day 8 times a day to sit and nurse. At a year she could have cows milk and that was it. I wasn't waiting any longer. A month later she is finally weened and it makes me so happy! Now I can go out with some friends, my husband can do bedtime duty on rough days and I don't always have to be the one getting up on the middle of the night.

} Skype. Tonight my Grandparents got to see their great-granddaughter while at my parents house because of Skype. I love that we can do this. They won't be around forever, they live so far away and they can't really drive this far any ore. We also can't afford to go home all that much to see them. So the fact that they don't have to miss every bit of my little girl growing up is just priceless. She got to show them how she waves, dances, and blows kisses.

} Warm weather. It's so nice to get my daughter outside to enjoy the weather. I really love being outside and I wish we lived in a place that had more things to do outside. I mean, there are things to do here but right now it's so hard to get to them with the current car situation. I miss taking my hikes to gorgeous places right from my apartment in Germany. But today my husband and I walked across the street and took Miss A to the park. It's fun seeing her outside, playing, walking on her own two little feet and smiling at Daddy!

Gratitude Sunday

This week I've been doing a lot of blog discovering. I was in a pickle on how to connect my blog reader on my Mac to the iPad. The only conclusion I was finding was to use Google Reader and an App that syncs with it. I've never really loved Google Reader and it just wasn't going to work. I have an App on the Mac (there is an App Store for the Mac too!) called NetNewsWire that I've used for about two years now and love it! Online feed readers just don't compare. So I came to the conclusion that I would just have to find new blogs to follow and different blogs would be on the IPad.

One of the lovely gems I wandered across is called Brambleberries in the Rain ; Gardening, Natural Dyes & Knitting and life in the Pacific Northwest. I've been enjoying her posts and one of the weekly posts she has is called Gratitude Sundays, which she links up to Wooly Moss Roots for (just like how I link up for WIP Wednesday). Since I started blogging again I've been trying to become more personal and blog more about me, rather than just knitting. I think Gratitude Sunday is a perfect way to do this and i have a lot to be grateful for this week so here goes:

} good neighbors. We've had a car situation as of late so my neighbor has been taking my daughter and I grocery shopping. As if doing this isn't enough she watched Miss A for a few hours the other day when the guy came to clean the ducts out in the house. It was a loud process so I know she wouldn't have faired well at home. It's nice to have someone right there, a few feet away, when needed.

} the iPad. It's already making some things in life easier. And it's providing entertainment. Not only am I glad we have it but I'm glad we had the means to purchase it. Not everyone is so lucky.

} dinner guests. It's always nice to have a reason to get dressed up a bit, get the house clean and prepare a good meal. Our friends came over, shared some wine and some laughs and some recipes. These friends are new to post, but were stationed with us in Germany. it's great to see familiar faces!

} having my husband back home! Saved the best for last. He's been gone at a training school in Alabama for 6 weeks. 6 weeks is the longest we have ever spent apart since we started cohabiting in the same house. It's so nice to hear the sounds of joy from my daughter, so happy to have her Daddy back. I've missed having a warm body in bed, hearing his side comments about whatever local news story, cooking meals just to have him say he liked it and mostly just having my small little family together!

New Acquisition

Guess where I'm blogging from?! It's not really a different place (I wish! I've been cooped up in this house way too long!) but it is a different device! That's right! Our iPad has arrived. We really are an Apple family here. This completes our collection. Lets count - 1st generation iPod, Classic iPod, Macbook Pro, 2 iPhone 4's and now the iPad makes it complete! The main reason for the new toy is for my husband. We both love the Mac Book, and have no problems sharing but the Hubs is a soldier. We've discovered he needs to have something he can take with him on training missions - not to mention his deployment coming up this summer.

This does not mean I won't take advantage of it while we have it! I'm hoping that this will provide more ease in blogging more often. Not only does it provide more convenience in posting (hehe, I can post in bed!) but I think it will give me more to post about. In fact, the portability was probably its biggest selling point. Having a 1 yr old makes it so I can't work on the laptop on the couch, or floor, or anywhere besides the table. She likes electronics (too much) so she comes and presses buttons, pulls or hits it. And it would be a lot more expensive to repair a MacBook than to buy an iPad.

Other benefits of having an iPad? I'm already reading more, just by having it one night. I really do love the Kindle App!

My daughter can play! There are some great leaning apps by Fisher Price teaching shapes, colors, animals and more. She fell in love with my Aunt's iPad when she was only 4 months old so I'm sure she will have a ball now!

It makes watching video podcasts a lot easier. I can take it with me wherever I chose. I've really been getting into more and more video podcast lately, although I still have my favorite audio ones too! Not only video podcasts though, any videos. I can download my yoga and Pilates videos to Amazon Instant and workout in our bedroom when my husband is watching out one tv. It's nice not to have to interrupt and really I'm more likely to not workout.

Not only am I an avid blogger, but the real motivation for me to blog is reading other blogs! Now I can do that more, get less behind, and be anywhere!

Any other suggestions for good use, and Apps leave a comment and let me know! I'd appreciate it.

One Year

I really can't believe my little Jelly bean as I called her in ultra-sounds is One Year Old today.  It's like the slower I say it, the more I think it should sink in.  But it doesn't.  She is the source of so many laughs and smiles everyday.  She is my motivation to live and love every minute!  So here's to her, my little sweet pea.

 

                                               

                          

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS A!!!