Normal Service Will Resume in 3, 2, 1…

Alright, alright, that’s enough of that. Life is a sneaky, twisted, wonderful motherfucker and it put us through the mill with little Rhubarb, but do you what? We have a gorgeous, snufflicious little baby. There’s a fair amount of trauma needing to be dealt with, another MRI to get through, nightmares to forget, but we feel like the luckiest family in the world. So there. I’m done with my birth story. Back to the grind. I mean, this new, overwhelming, insanely different and fulfilling normal that is passing so fast I can barely stand up.

Rhubarb is FOUR WEEKS today. Where the fuck did that go? Moomin is at nursery, sounding out phonics and pointing out semi-circles and shit. I’m currently a stay-at-home-mama-on-maternity-leave – wooooohooooo! It’s amazing and scary and how on earth do you get anything done with more than one child in your house? As Moomin quite rightly noted the other day when he was clamouring for dinner and Rhubarb had just shat all the way up to his armpits and there was a bag of washing still waiting to be hung up from that morning and I realised I hadn’t even brushed my teeth and Christmas is just over a month away <sob sob, panic panic>:

“Mummy? You need more arms.”

Never a truer word was spoken. Little bastard.

So. Back to skippedydoodahing as only a Skip can do. Heading for a partially homemade Christmas because we are skint as skunks, and so far we have this motley crew of botch-ups:

A crochet owl hat (actually, I made 3 of ‘em, for 3 of my 5 nephews). Pattern is from The Most Awesome Pattern by Kat over at Slugs on the Refrigerator. She is lovely, and ridiculously talented, and has the “I can achieve amazing things despite having 3 kids under 5 and apparently only 2 hands” thing down pat. She’s also designed patterns for a shaggy lion hat, pilot aviator hat and stegosaurus hat which are similarly fantastmagoric. And if you don’t crochet (or can’t be arsed) then you can order “one she made earlier” from her etsy shop. Aww shit, just remembered she does viking hats too. Go and buy one for every child you know.

A little handbag for my niece (YES the pocket is meant to be at an angle. Seriously, it is. I cut them off a shirt and they were angled like that. There’s one on each side. Tell me it doesn’t look stupid or I will get Rhubarb to puke on you.).

The first of 3 sock monkeys (2 for nephews, 1 for a friend’s little boy). He seems like a happy chap. I love how they always come out with their own unique, wonky personalities.

Oh, and a non-xmas make. Remember the sleepy sheep I made for Rhubarb? We got Moomin to bring it in to the hospital to put in Rhubarb’s cot in ICU, and then Moomin requested that I make him a big brother sheep too [insert "aaaaaaw" here]. Not long after that he decided that actually it needed “a green big brother rabbit … sheep.” Soooo, that’s what he got:

I’m on for a manic month. I have scarves, mitts and socks to knit, crayon rolls and taggies to sew, t-shirts to freezer paper stencil, biscuits and cakey things to bake, heads to explode, babies to burp, toddlers to prevent from squishing their brother’s head in a most affectionate way… Like I said, normal service will resume … now.