My question is this: are other moms of young children able to accomplish anything when their children are around?  Everything that I want to do and many things that I don't want to do but ought to are crammed into the 1-2 hours when Claudia naps and the big kids are at school, and the hours after they are asleep.  

The rest of the time I seem to spend feeding and cleaning up from feeding the kids.   Not to mention preparing to feed them.  

I am aware of quite a few other moms who seem to get quite a lot done and they must either need a lot less sleep than me or (and this is what I fear) they sew quilts and bake cookies while their children play quietly and independently (and then quietly and independently clean up any messes that they have made).

Anyone care to enlighten me?

One year ago today...

Claudia was born.  It seems like she's been with us forever.  I can hardly remember our family before she was with us.  

Other News

The day that Claudia killed a mouse in the front room, we knew it was time to get some cats.  (Yes, she really did kill a mouse--I try not to cross her, who knows what she could do to me!).  Anyway, here they are: Hickory and Polly Honey Cat.

Kittens are fun and a lot less work than puppies.  Where have they been all my life?

Can it really be over 2 months since my last blog post?  To be perfectly honest, the summer was pretty rough.  Having all 3 kids home all day with almost no planned activities was really really hard.  It felt like a constant cycle of cooking, feeding, cleaning up and breaking up fights. Obviously I'm not a home schooler type and my experience this summer makes me even more curious how folks like SouleMama manage to do what they do.  And her kids don't watch tv!

Anyway, now that the kids are back in school, I am feeling more human and less like a sow with a litter of piglets, and more able to perform tasks that require higher brain functioning (like blogging).

Last month I sold (or rather offered for sale), some crafty items at the newly established Satellite Craft Fair.  I must say, 50th and Baltimore is a slightly dicey location for a craft fair of all things.  I mean West Philadelphia has come a long way, but I'm not sure it has come that far (Vix and Dock Street notwithstanding).  I did sell a few things and I had a lot of fun, sitting at a table, knitting and chatting with the other vendors.  I'm going to participate again in October.  This is how my booth looked:

Other happenings: we had a great birthday party at the lake in NJ for Penelope, back in August.  Can you believe she's 3? It seems like a long time ago that she was a newborn, so I guess I can believe it.  Her party was wonderful, made especially so by the addition of our much missed friends Christine and Silas who came all the way from California to celebrate with us.  Plus Christine made the oh-so-delicious and important 'butterfly cupcakes' that P had requested.


I've started teaching undergrad ob nursing students and am enjoying my 12 hours a week of getting out of the house.  

I have more to catch up on but Al just arrived home with our Chinese take out and the next dvd of 'Lost', which means I must go.  Hopefully I will be in this space more in the weeks and months to come.

Best dog ever

Sweet, funny, quiet and good-lookin'.  

More than one person has stopped me on the street to compliment me on his posture.

Getting and spending...

Most of the time I really enjoy the internet.  But I think I am much more susceptible to the advertising on the internet than I am in any other format.  I guess because it's such perfect niche marketing.  All the websites I frequent are like one big advertisement for my hobbies and interests and lifestyle (and fantasy lifestyle--much more insidous). Mothering.com with the natural toys, cloth diapers and slings, ravelry with the yarn and patterns, flickr with, well, just about everything.  All the blogs that I read make a point of sharing their 'amazing finds' on the internet and usually justify the blatant consumerism and marketing on their personal blogs by making it about supporting craftspeople or worthy causes.  Which I can totally get suckered by--even when it really is just about getting and spending, just like Wal-Mart and the mall.  

I'm reading this book called 'Born to Buy' (recommended by my very insightful friends Christine and Kevin) which is about the effects of consumer culture on children (can you guess--not good).  So I've been a little more aware of my own relationship to acquiring and have noticed that the internet is really the most dangerous place for me (followed closely by any children's book store, fabric store, yarn store or Target).  I'm trying to focus more on our experiences this summer, than on acquisitions.  And I think I might ask Al to move the computer to the basement, because I am weak.  Very weak.

To wit:  look where I spent most of yesterday: 

http://www.virtualyarns.com/colour/default.asp

And here

And here

It's a sickness I tell you.  And yes, I did make some purchases-because they will enhance  our experiences this summer...(or so I tell myself).  Here's the biggest covet of all

It looks better in person than in the pictures...

Oh, and if you try to feed Claudia, she takes the food out of her mouth and puts it down on the table, then feeds it to herself.  So there.

I finally tidied up Claudia's room and took some pictures of her new (not so new anymore) set-up.  The curtains turned out well, though not as light-blocking as I had hoped.  If it looks as though I wouldn't be able to open the closets on either side of the crib, well, you're right.  I can't.