Joining Ginny and Nicole.

I finished a pair of socks for Eddie this week, and I plan on knitting her another pair with the leftover Cascade Heritage sock yarn that my mother gave me. It’s self striping and because the sock is being knit in a child’s size, the stripes are quite thick and bold, which I like. The yarn is very bouncy and soft, I think she will like them.

Caleb is growing so much, He turns 9 weeks tomorrow, and he’s already taken on the role of “Easiest Baby,” in our house. He only cries when he’s hungry or tired, his acid reflux has completely resolved itself, and he sleeps for a four-six hour block at night for three to four days out of the week. That might not sound that great to those who have babies who sleep eight hours a night by six weeks (I hate you) but that’s the best I’ve had with any of my kids. I don’t think Sam slept for more than an hour in a row until he was four months old and I had an emotional meltdown one morning and did Cry It Out with him the following evening. He cried for two hours but then started sleeping for 13 hours a night after that, only waking up once to feed. It was a miracle.

Our summer here in Washington has been almost nonexistent this year. Our temperatures are barely reaching 70 degrees most days and it drizzles frequently. My garden looks terrible. I find time to weed it about once a week, which is good, but my summer fruits and vegetables are not doing well. Somehow the chickens made it through the fence into my garden and ate my strawberries, radishes, ALL THE HERBS, and my lettuce. My eggplants haven’t grown an inch since I planted them and my tomato plants are scraggily looking from lack of sun. It’s depressing to look at but I just don’t have the time to give it the extra care it needs to thrive in this cool environment. I have decided that this year it’s survival of the fittest: if a plant manages to grow and produce this year, great, but if it can’t do it on its own without my help, it’s just going to have to die. It is what it is.

We have a mama deer who spends all her days with her twin fawns from last year and her twin fawns from this year eating our apples. I couldn’t photograph the fawns because they are so fast and a little more skittish than the mama but I love watching them. There is an apple tree right outside our bedroom window; I have the perfect view from my glider where I rock Caleb at night. I often sit there and rock him and watch all five deer pick apples off the tree and play chase. The two younger fawns nurse from their mother and she gives them just a minute or two of feeding before kicking them off her so she can eat. There’s a sense of camaraderie there, although she doesn’t know it. Two tired mothers, up in the middle of the night, feeding their babies. I think she likes nursing about as much as I do. Perhaps I should loan her my pump?