Sitting here in the office at a quarter past one in the morning on my birthday because Jazzy just. won't. go. to. sleep. (And Wonderful Husband is sick. Sick enough to be willing to consume Green Death aka NyQuil.)

Let's see. What's happened while I've been away from blogland? I took the boys and flew up to Washington to visit my sister and niecelet. I think/hope a pretty good time was had by all. Squiddle definitely thinks Niecelet is cute, and we got footage of him feeding her carrot puree. And at this stage there's still a world of difference between her and Jazzy. By the time they start school, though, their four-month experience gap will have narrowed quite a bit.

Also! I am so PROUD of Squiddle. On our last day up there (a week ago), he made his first pun/portmanteau! I had dressed Jazzy in a onesie and denim overalls and commented that he looked like a farmer. Squiddle declared him a "pacifarmer," punning on Jazzy's pacifier....

The weather here has turned unfortunately brutally hot. Wonderful Husband is taking a couple weeks off work to recharge before Jazzy's birthday. This week we're just trying to stay cool. Next week, we're going to Yosemite. Which means digging the family's camping gear from when I was a kid out of my parents' garage and testing and cleaning it. Appropriately, my mother thinks it was all probably last used when we went to Yosemite when I was a teenager. So, thirty-five years ago....

While I was putting sunblock on Squiddle's face and neck, just before his swimming lesson. Out of nowhere - we weren't even talking about boys and girls....

"I'm not a boy or a girl. I'm just Alessanda." (his pronunciation of "Alexander")

I applaud his nonchalance in regards to gender awareness and roles. I also can't argue with the wisdom of a three-year-old. And if later in life he determines that he (remains?) non-binary, I will support him.

But damn it's cute when three-year-olds say things like that.

Jazzy is now free-standing for up to three seconds!

Wonderful Husband got a Nintendo Switch for Father's Day and has been teaching Squiddle the ways of MarioKart. (Me: "You only have five months to prepare him for Cambridge.") Also Wonderful Husband has been playing the new Legend of Zelda game. Tonight, when Squiddle got up a bit after being put to bed, he wanted to know "Are there any fighty things in here?" (in his room). On being told no, he said "Oh, that's good to know," and readily went back to bed....

Jazzy has taken to randomly screeching like a pterodactyl. Squiddle never did this! It doesn't seem to be linked to unhappiness, though, so we're figuring it's just him testing out his vocal chords.

He has also taken to banging on things. This evening I pulled out Wonderful Husband's doumbek and let both the boys have a go on it for a while. Then Wonderful Husband took over and started playing an actual rhythm. Squiddle's comment: "You're making me dance!" :)

Hot weather arrived and with it, flea season. Yech. The cat has been Advantaged and I'm working my way through washing the everything-that-can-be-washed and vacuuming the everything-that-can-be-vacuumed. And squashing every flea I can catch. :/

I've also been working on quilts in a dual-purpose sense. Firstly, going through my vast collection of Works-In-Progress/UnFinished Objects (WIPs/UFOs) and getting some of them done (I'm aiming for one a month) and simultaneously targeting those which will neatly become Christmas presents. For further details, see my quilting blog.

Jazzy is now crawling forward and pulling himself to a stand so I'm having to go through the house with an eye to re-babyproofing it. Squiddle continues to be a bit of a threenager and had a wonderful meltdown at a Chinese restaurant the other day over wanting soup. Which we were ordering for him at the time! Fortunately the waitress also had a three-year-old and went and put in the order for the soup first and then came back to take the rest of our order. (And it was really good soup, too.)

And I've been working my way through rereading Marie Bostwick's Cobbled Court and Too Much, Texas books. So, quick book review time!

Title: Yarn Harlot: the secret life of a knitter
Author: Stephanie Pearl-McPhee
Length: 219 pages

( Review )

Title: From Here to Home
Author: Marie Bostwick
Length: 351 pages

( Review )

First post at Dreamwidth! Not much going on, but a few amusing things to share. Squiddle, ever more articulate, told me the other day that "The moon is a planet made of cheese." And Wonderful Husband came up with the idea that the little mermaid wasn't really walking on knives and glass, just no one had told her not to walk on the Legos.

Have a baby draped on me, sleeping. Haven't had this experience as much with Jazzy as I did with Squiddle since, y'know, I now have a toddler to run after too. Just going to lean back, close my eyes, and enjoy my baby.

I planted 107 popcorn seeds (one whole packetful) on Tuesday. Will be interested to see how many come up. Meantime, in the garden bed I planted with fifty bajillion seeds a week or so ago, the radishes and mizuna are popping their heads up and I think I saw the first sprouts in the spinach and snow peas areas. (Also in that bed: mesclun, lettuce, cucumbers, two types of beets, leeks, carrots, arugula, and parsnips. Plus the potatoes and calendulas that had self-seeded from last year. I may have drawn myself a map so I remembered what's where.)

We bought a betta to add to the tank, so that's up to six fish now and everybody seems happy thus far. I'm going to wait a week or two before adding anything more. I'm thinking maybe some mollies or guppies would be pretty, but I want to do some research first.

I got an out-of-the-blue call today that pretty much summed up to "Hi, you don't know me, but I was given a bag of quilting fabrics and I don't really do that, so would you like them?" Seems someone (I suspect one of my guildmates) had given Shirley my phone number. And I love the fabrics she gave me - they're quite varied and I think I'll find them useful.

Also today, my sister, after two weeks in the hospital, has finally been released to go home. Hooray! This extended postpartum stay involved an abcess the size of a tennis ball. *grimace* Nobody was really happy about that. And she's still on antibiotics. But she and niecelet finally got released. And apparently the frozen breast milk I shipped up has come in handy, so at least that was good.

And, last but definitely not least, Wonderful Husband and I have now been married thirteen years. ^_^ Still my lover and my best friend, even if we don't get to date or dance as much as we used to. ^_^

One little boy napping in his bed, the other napping on my left arm. I would like to be sewing right now, but I'm pretty certain Jazzy will wake if I try to move him.

Mt. ToBeRead is way too tall ATM, but I've gotten through another book I should blog about soon, as well as volume 8 of A Bride's Story.

In the background I hear the humming of the 28-gallon fishtank we took possession of from my parents yesterday. A thorough cleaning, new gravel, and running the rocks and plastic plants through the dishwasher has hopefully taken care of the snail infestation. I've added in a few live plants as well, and as they grow I hope to get more and eventually phase out the plastic ones altogether. Currently the tank is inhabited by four neon tetras and one catfish.

I am so very, very unhappy with the political state in the USA right now. I remember a few years ago a friend joked that what was screwed up in comic books was not the powers or outfits or interpersonal relationships - it was the politics. Such as Lex Luthor getting elected president and declaring Gotham no longer part of the country when it got devastated by an earthquake in the No Man's Land arc. At the time, I agreed and found his point funny. I'm not laughing any more. Time to get Jazzy his passport. Partly to visit his grandparents in the UK this winter, but also partly... just in case. In case things continue to go horribly, horribly wrong.

Squiddle in his room napping. Jazzy laying on my left arm, napping. Winter rain, temporarily halted. It's turned cool (for SoCal) the last couple days and Jazzy's been wearing the baby sweaters his Granny knitted when I was expecting Squiddle. Gratifyingly, they'll probably keep fitting him for a while!

On my sewing machine are two Christmas stockings for the boys, sewn from pale green velveteen and burgundy damask, with gray silk dupioni linings, all of which I got at the Costume College Bargain Bazaar in my two trashbags full of stuff for $10. I also have been stitching at the counted cross stitch stocking I got in the same place, for Wonderful Husband, but that's not going to be done in time for this year's Christmas.

Presents to wrap, presents to wrap! And one (maybe two) still to sew. Squiddle's in the process of getting graduated from MegaBlocks to Duplo blocks, and I'm making up a pair of drawstring playmats, one for our house, one for my parents', to make cleanup time easier. And only one quilt being given for Christmas this year - it's Jazzy's inaugural quilt. Which sets me at three quilts behind on posting them to this blog! I'm actually considering getting a second blog (blogspot maybe? or wordpress?) to dedicate just to quilting. In any case, I experimented with a different brand of batting for this quilt, and was surprised when it turned out much puffier after washing than the usual Warm and Natural brand I use. Not bad, just different, and not wholly what I was expecting.

Anyhow, time to log off and go stitch a bit more while there's quiet. (And maybe bake cookies tonight.)