This week felt never ending. Sick kids, sick husband, then sick mama, chores all undone, house in disarray, everything just completely chaotic and off-balance and blah-inducing. But now, hooray! It’s the weekend,  and we’re all finally on the mend enough to enjoy it.

It’s amazing how much our little chickens have grown in just one week. They went from tiny cheeping fuzz balls, to suddenly more leggy and long-necked almost overnight. They already have more feathers and less fuzz, and when we let them explore outdoors they have been practicing stretching their wings and trying flying hops. The above photos are from the start of the week, the ones below from this afternoon.

Isaiah likes when they perch on his arm. He says they are his pet hawks.

I really love watching them explore in the garden. It’s ridiculously cute and strangely calming. This little one had just been digging around into the soil, shuffling her little body down and getting all dirty. This move is even cuter when there are a few of them doing it all at once. I lost track of how much time I spent just sitting outside with the chicks this afternoon. Not a bad way to spend a Saturday.

Enjoy the weekend!

xox Amanda

1 Comment | Permalink

Tags: 10 day old chickens, baby chickens, backyard chickens, chickens, hooray for the weekend, weekend, weekends

I feel like these last few weeks have been so jumbled and crazy. We’re all out of rhythm, especially the little girls and me, our days are just completely topsy turvey and full of too much nothingness and busyness at the same time. It started with us going away during the school holidays, and then as soon as school was back I was down and out (with the costochondritis), and then with everyone getting sick we just haven’t had a chance to get back into the swing of things. I can’t wait until we’re all well again. I am so ready to get back into our habits and daily routines. And, strangely enough, I actually miss going to the gym every day too to clear my head and feel good about myself.

Winter totally photo bombing me today. Every time I tried to take a shot she would plop down right in my way. She also kept me company while I was laying in bed most of the day trying to rest and get better, so I can’t complain too much.

My finished Honey Badger socks. I knit these with malabrigo sock yarn in the velvet grapes colourway. These were pleasant enough to knit and would have been done much sooner if we hadn’t all gotten sick. For a chunk of about four days I got absolutely nothing done what with the sick kids up and down all night, Piper being so upset and unsettled with coughing, and etc etc blah blah blah.

I cast the above on this afternoon while sitting in bed, the windows wide open, freezing, but feeling like I need some fresh clean air to wash away the feelings of blahness and sickness that have been plaguing me lately. And so what else to cast on but more socks? I guess I’m in the mood for them.

Last but not least, a quick little iphone video of our chicks from the start of the week. Adorable, yes? I couldn’t get it to embed but the link should work.

xox Amanda

1 Comment | Permalink

Tags: handknit, knitting, knitting blog, recent knits, sock knitting, socks

Did that title scare you? It scared me just a tiny bit writing it. However I am happy to say that this fox is all kinds of tiny and adorable and more or less harmless, so no need to fear. I’d already dressed Piper in her little fox suit this morning, and since the kids are all still home sick still (and me too..boo) we decided to let the baby chicks out into the sunshine to play for awhile as a little distraction for us all. Watching this moment unfold, the adorable chick on Piper’s head, a couple more wandering around her, the ridiculously darling fox jumpsuit, was almost too much cute to handle. And to think I almost didn’t even bother taking my camera outside with me today.

xox Amanda

8 Comments | Permalink

Tags: 6 day old chickens, adorable baby chicks, baby chicks, backyard chickens, chickens, chicks, piper

So these little ladies joined our family yesterday evening. A small step towards my future farm? Oh I can dream.

Sweet little chicks. So cute right now but I know they’ll grow fast. I wanted just a few but was told to buy “extras” just in case. For the moment they are under a heat lamp for another three weeks. And then when they’re grown, hopefully they will provide us with some delicious fresh eggs. Despite my extensive googling of chickens and website/forum/magazine reading, I still feel like I’m not quite sure what we’re doing so this will be a learning experience I’m sure.

One of them was very curious and tried to peck one of the freckles off his cheek!

Despite all of the kids being sick now (yes, all six of them… sigh) the younger ones were still excited enough about the chickens to play with them for a short while, and let me tell you, it’s amazing how happy and not so horribly sick they looked for just that little break of time. This evening? Not at all. Everyone is back to being utterly miserable, including my poor husband, curled up all over the house in warm blankets and drinking cup after cup of  honey tea. I keep having to pick up trails of tissues (gross) and pray that I don’t get the nasty cough everyone else seems to have. I’m worried the little girls croup is turning into bronchitis, while the older three have colds and developing coughs that have only worsened through out today. I think Matt and I are in for a long, restless night again.

Lilly has been so so sick and being able to pick up her little chicken was the first time I’d seen her look even moderately happy all weekend.

Just like mama… hehe. (Can you pick which one this is? Lilly or Zoe?)

So, now our backyard chickens adventures begins! Eeek….yay.

xox Amanda

P.s For those of you who were asking, it turns out I had neither a cracked rib or a popped lung. What I have is Costochondritis which is just as painful (in my very inexpert and inexperienced opinion). I am a lot better this week, but still not “over” it yet.

 

 

 

15 Comments | Permalink

Tags: baby chicks, backyard chickens, chickens, chicks, four day old chicks, kids and chickens

Our household has been hit with a nasty round of croup, as usually happens this time of year when the night air turns really cold. Zoe has already had a short trip to the hospital with croup, and today Lilly missed school because of it and Piper still has a fever on and off and today has started coughing and has a runny nose.

I feel so helpless when they have croup. Zoe has had it the worst out of all of them. It is a very very scary thing to be woken up by coughing and then realise your child is barely able to draw in a breath. When I went into her room she was laying there trying to suck in a breath, tiny little gasps of air, unable to even cry because there wasn’t enough breath for that. Suddenly I go from being bleary eyed and barely functioning to being highly alert and on overdrive. Zoe has wound up in the hospital a couple of times previously too and thankfully the hospital has been amazing with her and gets her in and seen by a doctor very quickly. They give her some steroids to help her lungs cope and send her home again when they’ve monitored her for awhile and things are ok again.

There isn’t much that can be done apart from trying to keep them all warm and reasonably calm (hard to manage in this house of crazy wild kids). Even I am starting to get sick and my voice is croaky and squeaky. I am so thankful my Mum is here for another day or two helping out, I even got to take a (long!) nap with Piper this afternoon.

I’ve been having them drink warm milky tea with raw honey, and they’ve all started having a teaspoon of elderberry syrup each evening before bed. I feel the need to make up a big batch of nourishing chicken soup but can’t find a decent recipe. I want something that is just packed full of goodness to help their little bodies get on the mend. If you have a great recipe please share the link with me.

I’m sure you can understand that with a bunch of the kids coming down with croup and me not exactly feeling awesome either, I am a little slow to respond to comments and emails. I’ll catch up as soon as I’m able.

xox Amanda

5 Comments | Permalink

Tags: croup, croup cough, kids sick with croup, sick kids

I feel like cool Autumn weather has finally really and truly hit us. The mornings are chill, the days mild enough in the sunshine, and the evenings definitely headed towards snuggle weather. It rained today for the first time in I can’t even remember how long and my garden is thankful for it. I am thankful for it. Waking up to the sound of rain makes me want to do nothing but burrow back down under the covers and hibernate all day.

It is absolutely the right kind of weather for socks and more socks. I finished up my Hermione’s Everyday Socks and have been cozying up my feet in them since. So warm! The pattern is a great one, easily memorised so you get into a good rhythm and before you know it, finished socks! I knit these with Sanguine Gryphon skinny bugga, in colourway sangria heart butterfly. I love the colour. It’s warm and deep with subtle colour differences throughout. And of course I love the finished socks so much that I decided I needed at least another pair of freshly knit socks just as soon as possible.

So I promptly started some Honey Badger socks. This is another simple and repetitive pattern that is completely enjoyable and leaves my mind free to wander. I am knitting these with malabrigo sock in velvet grapes. I cast these on yesterday after I finished up some commissioned work, so they’re going pretty quickly at this stage. Well, ok, if I’m being honest, I made a mistake (decreased too many rows) and need to unknit a few rows, but apart from that…

Poor Piper had a burning fever all through the night, and woke up and vomited allover my husband first thing this morning. The temperature has lasted all day and Piper is just miserable and not herself. Clingier than usual, pink-cheeked and tired, wanting nothing other than to be held and snuggled. With the rain falling outside, the sky overcast and moody, and this tiny girl cuddled into the crook of my arm I pretty much did not want to move.

Perfect weather for snuggling up under a blanket to read a book. Nanna is staying with us for the week to help out and Zoe is loving the one-on-one attention she can get while the older kids are at school. They painted, baked biscuits, Zoe put on a dancing show, giggled over Nanna’s ipad and read books.

Kale down in the herb garden. I went and checked on things after the rain had stopped, all of the plants sparkling with drops. Some bug has started taking bites out of my basil but the kale is, thankfully, as yet untouched. I have some solar powered “butterflies” placed in the herb garden to hopefully stop moths and a certain type of pest butterfly laying their eggs in there and the caterpillars eating their way through my plants. Apart from that, I am totally unsure how to protect my plants and help them grow organically. I’d appreciate any tips you might have.

And finally, making my own elderberry syrup. Very easy to do and it tastes delicious. Hoping this will help boost our immune systems and help in warding off typical cold weather illnesses. Mine is made with dried elderberries, ginger, organic cinnamon, and fresh local organic honey. Sooo good and so good for you too.

xox Amanda

4 Comments | Permalink

Tags: elderberry syrup, handknit socks, hermione's socks, honey badger socks, knitting blogs, knitting socks, piper

No flowers for me for Mother’s Day, but a (tiny) tree I’ve had on my mental wishlist for a long time. I was inundated with handmade cards this morning, as well as pictures of my favourite labyrinth characters created by the two boys, a paper flower that was soon destroyed by one toddler who shall go unnamed, and a link to the gift that didn’t arrive on time. My husband bought me the most beautiful piece of Labyrinth art, an “As the World falls down” print by artist Megan Lara. He even bought it in the largest size available (double excitement!). Funnily enough I’d linked him to the exact same print as a not-so-subtle hint just this week. Turns out we think alike, since he’d already found it and ordered it by himself even before I came across it myself. Now I know why he was acting uninterested when I kept on dropping hints all over the place about how much I’d like to have a big beautiful print of it on my wall.

I decided to save myself some stress this year and not even bother trying to get a photo of me and all of the kids. Every year I’ve tried has been a disaster and I’ve ended up frustrated and annoyed and without even a photo to show for the drama. I just grabbed the camera out last minute to take a photo of my little tree and Piper and I’m calling it good.

I am blessed to be mama to the six of them. Totally, truly blessed.

Happy Mother’s Day to all my fellow mama’s out there. I hope you had a beautiful day.

Psalm 127:3  Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.

xox Amanda

1 Comment | Permalink

Tags: mama, mother's day, mother's day 2013

My socks are just about done. I have only a few rows left of the toe shaping to go and then all that is left is the kitchener and they’ll be off the needles. I have really enjoyed the Hermione’s Everyday Socks pattern, probably because it’s so easy to memorise and get into a groove knitting away. I know I’ve mentioned it before, but I really love the sort of mindless knitting that lets me just unwind and not have to think and for the last few days (reason below) it’s pretty much all I’ve been able to concentrate on.

After watching me knit on these socks all week, both of the older kids have decided that they would quite like a pair of handknit socks too. Or you know, Maddy suggested I could just give her these since they fit her too. I have to admit they do look really cute on her, far cuter on her than they do on me, however these babies are all mine.

Very excited to share that Maddy cast on for her very first in-the-round project! It’s the simple roll brimmed hat from my book, which of course is even more exciting for me. My daughter, knitting a pattern from my book. There is something just really special about that.  In the short time she had before school this morning she knit a little, and I guess she has maybe an inch or so of work so far. Her yarn is three irish girls carys BFL, I think the colourway may have been Irish Sea.

My basket full of yarny inspiration, aka the basket of madtosh.

I have been down and out this week. On Sunday night I hurt something in my chest/back area. I was leaning over the baby railing on my bed (stops Piper from falling out) and leant too far over and heard something pop/crack and was in a lot of pain. Monday wasn’t too bad, so on Tuesday I went to the gym and did some gardening in the morning thinking it might help to loosen things up. Bad idea. Bad, bad idea. By tuesday afternoon I was in such horrible pain. I had some x-rays that we still have to wait for the results for, but at this point my doctor thinks I might have either a popped lung or a fractured rib or two. I am on strong painkillers that take the edge off the worst of the pain but that’s about it.

So there isn’t much I can do beyond just sitting on the lounge, as still as possible, and knit. Normally down time like this, doing nothing but sitting and knitting, would be something I’d get excited about. But being forced to do nothing, while I have to just sit there and look around at the mess that is building up and practically “feel” the backlog of dirty laundry and even clean laundry to be sorted… ugh. Not fun. Also I miss my little girls. They’ve been at Nan’s house during the day for the past two days and it is so lonely and quiet here with Matt at work, the big kids at school, and my little girls off to Nan’s.

It hurts to pick up my camera too so you’ll have to forgive all of the looking down photos. It’s pretty much the only way I can manage to take any photos at all since I don’t have to lift it much.

I am trying not to freak out too much at the prospect of this possibly being a popped lung (eeeek) or fractured ribs (slightly less eek). Trying to remember to pray more than worry. It hurts to draw a deep breath and the couple of times I had to sneeze I practically saw stars it hurt so much. I really, really don’t have time to be “down” which is what worries me the most!

Anyway… on to something more fun.

What’s in my knitting bag! This is the bag I tote around the house and I’ve had it for several years now. It’s not pretty or cute but it does have a lot of pockets and pockets are super awesome. The main section is stuffed full of many tiny balls of left over yarn that I never seem to get around to moving to the yarn cupboard, a couple of finished baby hats, and the yarn I’m knitting the socks with. The smaller pockets are full of double point needles, larger pockets with the circulars I use most often, thread for sewing on buttons, pens, and various random cords for ipods and various random things I need to sort out etc. I also keep a notebook and pens and my smaller knitting pouch along with my chiagoo interchangeables inside.

The smaller bag contains all of the things I consider essential for when I knit and is something I grab when I don’t want/need my bag. As you can see, I have headphones, scissors (yes, those are a throwback from when I did a short stint hairdressing many many moons ago), random cable needles and tiny dpns, measuring tape, stitch markers, a mini nail file, burts bees lipgloss and cuticle cream, and my chibi yarn needles.

Just ’cause I’ve been missing her, and she’s adorable, and she’s wearing one of my hats.

So I’m actually kind of curious… does your knitting/sewing/crafting bag look anything like mine (messy!)? What’s in your bag?

xox Amanda

 

8 Comments | Permalink

Tags: baby hats, cute hats, handknits, handknitting, knitted hats, knitting, knitting blog, knitting for babies, knitting lately

How fun is a cardboard box? The simplest, cheapest, easily best toy ever. Around here the little girls love to push them together and make little trains and cars for themselves and their dolls or to push each other around in at the fastest speed they can manage, roaring their heads off with the giggles as they zoom past me. I love watching their imaginations at work as they play, especially Zoe’s (I absolutely love the age/stage she is at right now), as stories are created and acted out, Zoe giving voice to the dolls and most often casting herself as “mama”.

Piper can usually be found trying to grab all of the babies and run away with them. She doesn’t quite get the whole “let’s pretend” game. She sure does get how to nurture a baby doll though, and is always cuddling and kissing them or bringing them to me for kisses and nurses. A box is a wonderful toy for her too, and with a blanket added it becomes a place to hide in and pop out to scare Mama with shouts of “boo” (followed quickly by giggling and hiding again). Because you know, blankets are magic and can make you invisible if you hold it in front of your face. It’s just a rule.

I wonder, is it just my girls, or do your kids like to have their dolls naked too? We have a little box of doll things, cloth nappies, knitted hats and booties, little dresses, and I imagine that as a child I would have been overjoyed to have so many options for dressing my dolls. But my girls? Nope. Their dolls are ninety percent of the time to be found without a stitch on them.

xox Amanda

7 Comments | Permalink

Tags: cardboard box fun, peek-a-boo, simple fun, toddler fun with boxes, waldorf dolls

Hooray for the weekend! A chance to unwind and relax…or for some racing around after kids, soccer games, zumba classes, second hand book shopping, groceries, cafe stops, babywearing, leaf throwing, gardening and just a tiny weeny bit of cleaning. Oh how I love weekends.

Hope you enjoy yours!

xox Amanda

 

6 Comments | Permalink

Tags: babywearing, hooray for the weekend, saturday, weekend, woven wraps

Next Page →

Bloglines | Newsgator | Yahoo










• Categories

  • baby eats
  • babywearing
  • birthdays
  • chickens
  • giveaways
  • holidays
  • kid crafty
  • kids baking
  • knitting
  • mood
  • ordinary days
  • reviews
  • Uncategorized

• Archives

  • May 2013
  • April 2013
  • March 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • September 2012

Search