My dad is somewhat of a jokester. I won’t say how many years ago, when my mom turned 40, he and a mischievous buddy of his spray painted a billboard on the highway to announce her birthday. Only they said she was 50, instead of 40. That billboard stayed that way for as long as I can remember, and I don’t even remember when it was painted over or taken down. (I think dad’s partner in crime owned the land or the billboard or something like that, I never really knew if they were actually committing a crime, but there are photos of them in the act.).
Redacted to protect the (not so) innocent. Ha!
Mom went through a whole range of emotions about that billboard, but it is definitely something that our family will never forget.
I remember thinking 40 was old and 50 was grandparent material. If you made it past 60, then you were just ancient.
This past weekend was my own 40th birthday. I didn’t get a billboard announcement. (Thank goodness!) I also don’t feel as old as I thought I would, or should.
I started having kids a decade later than my mom. Sometimes, I wish I had had my kids at a younger age so I could have more energy to play with them and my joints would hold up to the rough housing. But I know I wouldn’t have been the same parent 10 years ago. I lose my shit way more than I’d like to admit (it’s really hard to parent a 3-year-old and stay sane), but overall, I feel like I’m more patient than I was at a younger age.
I’ve had these 10 years to learn some much needed life lessons. Lessons about love, money, compassion, empathy, time management, and judgement. Having my kids when I did enabled me to find a wonderful, supportive group of mama friends, who I still keep in touch with daily, even though I moved away from them.
Being at the point I am, with two small kids at 40 years old, I realize how much age is just a number. I may not have the energy to keep up with my kids for as long as they want me to, but they definitely keep me active and strong.
I turned 40 without much fanfare, and that’s OK. I’m beginning to think that the less excitement you have in your life, the longer you get to live it. So bring on the quiet birthdays, may they keep coming year after year.
P.S. This post is a week belated, as many of my plans that weekend were waylaid by a stomach virus. We were all sick, all at once, and it was awful. Thankfully it was short-lived and we’re all better now and I’m catching back up.
There’s not much to talk about knitting-wise this week because I’ve not done much knitting. I have made some decent progress on my sweater – I’m working on the shoulders at the moment – but since it’s such a small yarn, it’s not going as fast as my most recent projects. I don’t mind that part, though. It’s very meditative knitting… around and around and around and remember to increase in the right spots and just keep knitting. I’ve very nearly used all of the first skein of yarn and I’m not even down to the sleeves yet.
I did try it on this weekend to see if it was starting out the right way and I’m happy to say it’s going well. The shoulders fit me right the way they should and nothing’s to tight or too loose. It’s exciting.
So, if I haven’t been knitting much this week, what have I been doing?
I’ve been planning a birthday party.
For a *gasp* FOUR year old!
My big kiddo turns four this week and we’re having a party. I usually start planning his parties right after Christmas, but so much stuff was going on this year and I kept putting it off. So I’m trying to put it all together in about a week and a half. It’s coming along, and I think he and his friends will have fun.
I’ve also spent a lot of time this week just trying to get organized. I felt things going off the rails, with work and kids and trying to keep the house in reasonable order, so I am working on making myself a planner. Traditional day planners don’t quite fit my needs – I need more of a prioritized task list than an appointment calendar – so I’ve been searching for free planner pages, printing them and trying to see how they work with my brain. I’ve found a few things that are working and I’m tweaking the pages that don’t quite fit for me, so hopefully I can keep everything more tidy. I am a planner, I like lists and meal plans and organized shelves and everything in its place. The reality is that I don’t always have every little thing organized, and I have several piles of my stuff laying around in places. Plus, living with two kiddos (who prove the chaos theory) and another human (who can buy a week’s worth of groceries in one trip and make a week’s worth of meals without ever thinking about a list) means that it’s a lot of work to keep things from getting out of hand.
Last weekend, I was feeling so much stress about everything I felt was on my plate. This weekend, I am getting it organized and in its place. I have no illusion that I will stay organized forever. When I get comfortable with my routine, I won’t need the detailed planner as much, but for right now, it makes me feel so much better just to have it all written down in one spot.
I am going back to my knitting, now. Have a great week!
P.S. I am anxiously awaiting block 3 of the mystery afghan. I really hope it’s one that I will want to do. I could use a short, easy project to work on as I need a break from the big projects I’ve got on the needles.
Oh, it’s been two weeks? Well, yes, that would explain it.
We’ve had to travel, we’ve had sick kiddos, knitting and crocheting have not gone as planned and I’m so irritable I can barely stand to be around myself.
But I made a pie.
A really beautiful, tasty apple pie.
Thank you, Southern Living magazine!
We’ve had sick kiddos around. I got a call Wednesday morning, before I even left the driveway to go to work, that Jellybean was sick. He got through the stomach issues, took him back on Thursday and I got a call about an hour later that he had a rash. Friday morning, the rash was worse and he had a fever. That afternoon we left the doctor’s office with a positive Flu test, positive strep test, flu shot for me, a prescription for antibiotics and a diagnosis of Scarlet Fever. Jellybean never had a sore throat, the only indication of strep was the rash and fever. We’re convinced the flu test was a false positive. Of course by Saturday morning, he as acting like nothing was ever wrong, but he still had to be out of daycare for more than a week.
Lollypop got to stay home this past Monday, too. He has this habit of not napping well on the weekends. On the one hand, I get it, he’s excited to see his family and doesn’t want to miss any action. But on the other hand, holy moly it makes it tough when he loses his mind along about 4pm. He’d been coughing quite a bit on Sunday night and was congested with runny nose and watery eyes. So, out of an abundance of caution, we all stayed home Monday. I did manage to get a 2-hour nap out of him and a 1-hour nap out of Jellybean that day, so at least I was able to work a bit and he was feeling much better the next day.
Lollypop is starting to get mobile and sit up on his own better. I’m excited about this – he’s less reliant on me for his every need. But it also means I can’t just lay him somewhere and expect him to stay there. We’ve started feeding him rice cereal from a spoon and he LOVES that! Our next step is trying some purees. I think I’ll get some peaches and see if he likes those mixed in with his cereal. He’s curious about everything, and thinks his big brother hung the moon. Jellybean is being so sweet to him, too. They’re starting to play together and JB will read LP books and hug on him. It’s really wonderful to watch their relationship grow.
It’s impossible to get a non-blurry picture of them.
On the knitting side, I’ve cast on and ripped out so many times I’ve lost count.
I started a Christmas present in crochet. I have no clue about gauge in crochet, so I just had to restart that one three times until I got the size right. That one’s a lap-sized afghan, so it was a bit of work to rip out. Of course I can’t show you yet, it’s that time of the year!
I also made a hat. I used instructions for a hat made with worsted weight yarn, but I was using bulky weight yarn. I ripped that one out once and I’m afraid it still might be too big.
I’ve redone Jellybean’s sweater at least twice. I’m on the last try. I’m not ripping it out again. He’ll just have to wear it the way it ends up. (It’ll be fine.)
A little more progress than last time.
I’m working along on the sweater last evening and I’m thinking about how I’m going to do the pockets. My original thought was to double-knit them so I could easily enclose the side next to the zipper. I checked the pattern to see where to start the pockets and I realize I’ve passed the spot. By about two inches. *sigh* (It’ll be fine.)
The pattern’s original design has one pouch pocket on the front of the sweater. You knit up the body to the top of where the pocket would be, pick up stitches near the ribbing and knit the pocket up. Then you work the pocket and sweater stitches together on the next row to close the top. If I had read the pattern fully before starting, I would have known this. I am not ripping out two inches of stockinette. (It’ll be fine.)
Note to self: Read the pattern before beginning!
I am NOT ripping out two inches of stockinette!
IT WILL BE FINE!
There.
I will just pick up stitches for the pockets, knit the pockets and figure out how to close the pocket next to the zipper later. I can use mattress stitch, but it won’t have the same stretch as the rest of the sweater. I can probably do a single crochet or slip stitch crochet thing on the inside of the pocket that would stretch some, but I’m not sure how that will look on the outside. I’ll have to think on that one. Do you have any suggestions?
I’ve paused on the Evenstar shawl for a bit. Fall weather is here this week and I decided I needed to focus on cold-weather wear. I still need to finish Lollypop’s stocking, sew up his sweater and find the perfect buttons for it. I have had to add a few new projects to my list, too. Jellybean came out of his room crying this week because his felted slippers don’t fit anymore. He was so very sad. He said, “Mama, make it go on my foot!” He got really upset with me when I told him they don’t fit anymore, but was better when I told him I would make him a new pair. And a new pair of mittens. Also, Jellybean and Lollypop need winter hats. These kids just keep growing!!
Let’s hope this next week goes better than the last two and I get some projects finished. We all need a break from the craziness!
I’m nesting and cleaning and getting things ready for baby, but not much else. I’ve spent my downtime working on a cross stitch project, so there’s nothing to show you this week.
Here we are, 36 weeks and counting. I’m getting to the uncomfortable stage of pregnancy. I’m always tired, no matter how much sleep I get. I’m an emotional basket-case. I’m aching in my hips and in between, thank you relaxin hormone. I have Pelvic Girdle Pain when I sit too long and Posterior Pelvic Pain (literally, a pain in the ass) when I stand up too long. I suspect I am developing diastasis recti. I can’t cook an entire meal without having to sit down for a few minutes in the middle. Doing our weekly grocery shop just wears me out. And I constantly have to pee.
Here we are at 36 weeks and counting and I wonder if I’ve enjoyed this pregnancy enough. I’m fairly certain this is my last baby and I really do love being pregnant, but did I really get the chance to enjoy this one? Having an energetic toddler around made it difficult to find quiet time to bond with the baby in the very beginning. Then we moved when I was 19 weeks, and all of that famous 2nd trimester energy went into packing and unpacking. I didn’t even really feel pregnant until I saw the ultrasound.
Here we are at 36 weeks and counting and I wonder if I’ve given my big kid enough only-child attention. Our world is about to get rocked. We’ve settled into a routine here just in time for everything to go sideways. (We’re actually changing our routine soon to include a PDO program, so let’s get a little sideways a little early.) There’s a blog post I’ve seen titled, “Did I Love You Enough Today?” And I wonder, have I loved him enough these three years? Does he know that he made me a mother and he will always have that special honor? Even on the days when I can’t pick him up, and the days when my emotions are too much and I just sit and cry, and the days when I don’t have the patience to say “put your pants on” a hundred times in a row.
Here we are at 36 weeks and I feel like we’re just waiting. I’ve started declining outings that are too close to my due date. I don’t want to travel too far or for to long. The diapers, clothes and bed are here. I have bottles, and burp cloths. I have our bag pretty much packed for the birth center. We’ve got everything we truly need for a new baby. So there’s only waiting left to do.
Here we are at 36 weeks and I am both terrified and excited about having a new baby. Jellybean’s birth was not so long ago that I don’t remember what it was like. He was born at home after just 7 hours of labor, so I am not afraid about laboring or giving birth. The first few weeks, though, they were so, so hard. In my memory they’re just a blur of sitting in the office chair, listening to jazz music feeding and holding a newborn. It got better after we figured out some issues, but I’m still haunted by just how hard it was.
It’s almost time for Lollypop to make the appearance of a lifetime. We’re going to be a family of four. We now talk about “the kids” instead of just Jellybean. (As in, “Can we pay off the mortgage before the kids graduate high school?”) We set things up in our new house knowing that we’d have a little one in it soon. Jellybean will be a really great big brother. Lollypop has all the necessities – clothes and diapers to wear, a bed to sleep in and food to eat. We’re prepared, even if I’m not quite ready yet. 🙂
During my unintentional blogging hiatus, I was busy knitting things for Lollypop.
First up, I made a very sweet little hat, cardigan and soaker set. I am showing it here sans buttons because it took me forever to find buttons that would work and even longer to get them sewn on. The hat is Basic Baby Hat by Heather Tucker. The cardigan is the Puerperium Cardigan by Heather Brooker. And the wool soaker is the Wool Diaper Cover by Cynthia Combs in the newborn size (there’s a crochet version of that one!) I love this little trio and I hope Lollypop isn’t too big to fit into it!
The hat and cardigan are made with Knit Picks CotLin yarn in white and celery. The cotton and linen blend will be enough to take the chill off, but won’t overheat the baby. Even though Lollypop will be a spring baby, there’s at least blackberry winter (and possibly dogwood winter) in which a sweater will be necessary.
The soaker is made from Knit Picks Wool of the Andes. That’s a wonderful, economical choice for 100% wool and I use it in a lot of different types of projects.
Since we’ll be doing cloth diapers, wool is a really great choice for a cover. It wicks moisture away from the skin and unless it gets soiled, it can be used for a long period without leaking. If it starts to feel damp, you just let it air dry and reuse it. When it’s dirty, it does require hand washing and occasionally needs re-lanolizing, but that doesn’t scare me. 🙂
I’ve been rather inspired and I made several covers in two sizes to get us going.
Newborn in red yarn.
Small in teal and silver.
Size small in Pumpkin and Creme brulee. My favorite so far!
The are five sizes to the soaker pattern, and I really want to get a good stash of soakers going that will cover us until I feel like knitting again. (It took a few months to even have the desire to knit after Jellybean was born.) That means I need to make at least two more in the medium size before Lollypop’s arrival.
There are also the booties I made when I first got pregnant. Did I not share those? Oh my.
Sorry for the radio silence last week, friends. We had a week full of birthdays and birthday celebrations. First, Jellybean turned 3, then later in the week was my birthday and my Mom’s the day after! We had the big party for Jellybean on Saturday and I spent the week prior making cupcakes and getting prepared.
I tried four different cupcake recipes before I found one that worked well enough that I was happy with it. The recipe I really wanted to make is my favorite chocolate cake – rich, moist and very very chocolaty – but it did NOT translate into cupcakes.
Yummy, just way too flat.
I may try those again sometime and not fill the cups so much. That recipe had a cup of boiling water, so I tried just leaving that out for the next batch.
Looks promising, if a little overfilled.
Uh, no.
After scraping all the bits off the cupcake pan. At least this will still taste good on ice cream!
The third recipe was Alton Brown’s fudge cake recipe from I’m Just Here For More Food. I liked it pretty well, good flavor, nice texture, but there were chunks of chocolate throughout the cupcake, which was distracting.
Pretty, and tasty, but not quite what I’m looking for.
At the 11th hour, I decided to try this recipe. They turned out pretty good. They are a bit on the dry side but they taste good and are firm and have a nice shape.
Almost perfect, and that’s good enough!
We have cupcakes and cupcake bits galore in our freezer. Since we only eat dessert two nights a week, we’ll be eating chocolate cupcakes for a while.
Anyway, the party was fun for everyone. (Even the little girl who got a door shut on her foot while playing… ouch!) It may not be Pinterest worthy, but I am pretty proud of what I managed.
Yes, we’re paw patrol fanatics around here.
Anyway, yes this is a knitting blog and I did manage to get some knitting done, too, thanks to a couple of snow days.
I finished Jellybean’s birthday present. It’s Rory from Huge And Huggable Mochi Mochi. It was so fun and fast to knit. The only problem was getting the final touches on it after stuffing it. I didn’t want Jellybean to see it, so I had to work only at night.
He doesn’t have a name yet, but Jellybean insists his tongue be sticking out at all times. Ha!
I finished the Maeve hat. I’m planning on the mittens, too, but I will definitely have to use a smaller gauge. The hat is warm, but I would like the mittens to actually fit.
Yes, it’s that huge!
I made myself another pair of felted slippers. My old pair are worn to death. They are fixable, (I’ll show you how I fix them later) but I wanted to try a new style, too.
Old and definitely busted.
New fuzzy hotness!
I’ve been getting a head start on Christmas gifts, too. I decided to make my nieces and nephew toys from Huge And Huggable Mochi Mochi by Anna Hrachovec. Those are going really great, just like the dinosaur, but I’m stuck on them until the eyes are delivered. I sewed the eyes on the dinosaur, since I know we’ve got a new baby on the way, but I think safety eyes will be just fine for theirs.
Thanks to the weather and timing, I still don’t have a photo of hubby in his new sweater. Hopefully he’ll get a chance to wear it this winter. Hey, there’s a chance of snow on Thursday. Perhaps I can convince him to put it on.
Other than that, I’m nesting. I’ve got about two more months before Lollypop’s estimated arrival date. I’ve started washing the tiny clothes and prepping the cloth diapers. I’m digging it all out of boxes and trying to figure out where to put it. We bought the new car seat, I’m searching for a new babywearing wrap, and trying to get all my breastfeeding supplies in order. We sold a few crucial items (bassinet, swing, bouncy seat, to name a few) to a neighbor after Jellybean outgrew them, so we’re trying to find new (or gently used) ones for Lollypop. I am excited to have a new baby around, but a little nervous about the changes that will happen around here. Thankfully Jellybean is a pretty easygoing kiddo. I think he’ll be a really awesome big brother.
I’m going to go knit on some toys, now. I hope you have a great week, friends!
I’ve been quiet these last few weeks. It’s been cold and rainy and snowy around here. Jellybean and I are adjusting to life in a much smaller town. It’s been tough at times – we’re used to playdates and Mother’s day out and and being able to go to the zoo or the science museum or any one of several BIG playgrounds whenever the fancy strikes us. There are a couple of parks here, and he thinks they’re fun, but it’s been so cold and wet, we haven’t had many opportunities to go and when we have gone, we’ve been the only people there.
I spent several days looking for a MDO or preschool program in the area and that turned out to be a disappointing. The one program that takes kids younger than 3 is full and he’s not eligible for the others until the fall. So, we’re having to find other things to do. He’s a very social kiddo and needs time with other people his age to play with, so I’ve been looking for other ways to keep him (and us) occupied.
We’ve made a habit of going to the local library’s story hour and he just loves that. I also signed him up for gymnastics again. He’s in a more advanced class, now, so I am not out on the gym floor with him. We had our first class last Monday and I was a little nervous about how he would do with the differently structured setting, but I was pleasantly surprised and very proud of him! He really enjoyed the class, too, so that one’s a winner! I’m still looking for maybe one more regular thing to do, but we’re both doing better now that we’re getting a routine settled.
Anyway, on to the topic of this post! I’ve finished several things in the last month that I would like to share with you.
First of all, I need to show you guys the stockings I finished this year. First up is the one I made for Ashley’s new baby boy. I love the way these look together.
All four stockings by the fireplace. So sweet!
Next, the four stockings I made for Amanda. These were the ones that pushed me out of my comfort zone and I’m so glad they did! Projects like this help me learn new skills, polish up old skills and are a real boost to the confidence!
I just LOVE the display!
I also finished a sweater. Not the one I told you about, but one for Jellybean. It’s been difficult to get him to actually WEAR it, so I have no cute photos of him in it yet, but I love the way it turned out and it fits him well (at least as far as I could tell for the two minutes he had it on!)
Checking it out.
He wasn’t fond of wearing last year’s sweater, either, but I thought that might have been because it was wool. This sweater is made with Knit Picks’s Mighty Stitch, which is 80% acrylic and 20% wool. It’s soft and has a silky feel to it. But he still doesn’t want to wear it. 🙁
It looks nice, anyway.
We’ve had a round of snow this past week. With the snow came the realization that my kiddo had no mittens that fit. Luckily, mittens are fast and easy, especially for little hands. I used the pattern Dulaan Easy-On Mittens by Julia Farewell-Clay and I made these in an afternoon.
They’re awesome, but he won’t wear them. He puts on his old mittens that barely cover his hands to go out and play in the snow. *sigh* I really thought I had a few more years before he refused to wear the hand knits I made for him.
He needs a new hat, and he asked for a Mickey Mouse hat. Maybe he’ll actually wear that one if I make it.
In between these projects, I have still been working away on the re-knit of Hubby’s sweater. I’ve finished the sleeves and I’m working on the back, now. I’m also working on a birthday gift for my soon-to-be three year-old (THREE?! yes, three.) I’m looking forward to showing that to you, too.
Well, we made it to the new house, along with all the furry pets and the furniture. Some things did get left behind, such as the fish, and some random odds & ends, but we’re going back to get those this week.
The move itself went pretty well. I had the job of transporting the cats (we have four,) the dog and the kiddo to the new house. I gave all the cats a tranquilizer pill that morning and put them in their crates. They were definitely not happy about it, but it was the only way to keep them safe and get them doped up for the ride. This is the first time Jellybean has taken such a long trip with Daisy (the dog) in the car, too, since he’s been forward facing in the carseat. Daisy gets very excited when she sees livestock suck as horses, cows, goats, etc. Jellybean thought it was hilarious that she got so excited and he would just cackle at her.
We’ve gotten things unpacked enough that we can cook, eat, sleep, work and relax, so we’re pretty settled. The rest of the boxes will get unpacked as we can. Or they may get sent directly to the yard sale in 6 months, if we haven’t opened them by then. 🙂
Jellybean has surprised me with his understanding of what’s been going on. I was so afraid that I hadn’t explained everything to him well enough and that when he realized that we weren’t going back to the old house, he would be devastated. However, he seems to really get that this is where we live now and that we won’t go back to live in the old house. All of his stuff is here, and I’ve made sure to unpack and set up his favorite toys and books, so I think that helps. He says he likes it here.
The new house has some definite advantages over the old one. The kitchen has a lot of counter space, it’s all one level, and the bedrooms are large. We did lose some living space, however. We had a living room upstairs and a den downstairs, and we used the den at night, after Jellybean went to bed so we could watch a little bit of TV. Now we just have a smallish living room and we haven’t been brave enough to watch anything after he goes to bed, for fear of waking him up. We haven’t even hooked the TV up to anything. We’re not big TV folks around here.
One huge advantage to this location is that we’re closer to all our family, now. We’re 10 minutes from my in-laws and an hour closer to everyone else. My parents came to visit over the weekend so Jellybean has had the chance to see all his grandparents in a week. He got to take a long walk around our new neighborhood with his Papaw and read a few books with Mimi. He’ll get to spend more time with Grandpa and Granddaddy, too.
I’ve been working on stockings when I can. I have the bright set all knitted and ends woven in. They got a little bath on Sunday afternoon, and when they’re dry, I’ll do the duplicate stitch for the names and one of the reindeer. I think I can have them done by the weekend. Sunday’s bath was just water, just to get the stitches to even out, but I need to find the box with my wool wash in it before I get ready to do the final wash. I’m afraid it might be in one of those boxes that got left, but I’ll either find it or go buy more.
I miss my friends back in Nashville, but we’re only a few hours away, now. I do have friends who live here, too, which will help me get adjusted to the area. I lived near here about 15 years ago, and while not much has changed, 15 years is a long time. I’m still going to have to find my way around and find things to do. I think the first thing is to find a new Mother’s Day Out program for Jellybean. I hope we can find one we like as well as our last one, but it’s going to be hard to beat his teacher, Mrs. Kathy.
I feel like this post is rambling so I’ll stop here. It’s been a crazy few weeks and we’re just now starting to decompress. I feel a little disheveled in just about every aspect!
I hope your holiday season has been fun for you so far! Here’s to a joyful season for all of us!
P.S. – Oh yeah, I’m halfway through the pregnancy, now. Little Lollypop is giving me some strong kicks and I’m starting to feel them on the outside, now. I told Jellybean he was going to be a good big brother and he says I’ll be a good big sister when Lollypop is born! Ha ha!
So, we closed on our new house on Friday. That means it’s time to really get focused on moving. We’ve been cleaning and purging and packing some, but nothing that remotely resembles close to being ready to go.
The urge to purge has been diminished quite a bit. We bought a house that was bigger than we expected to buy. The garage is huge and has lots of storage space, for better or worse. That means we’re to the point that we’re just chucking everything into boxes and we’ll sort it out at the other end. But we all know how that goes. There are boxes sitting in our garage right now that I moved here from my last house that are still full of the same crap that I moved INTO my last house. Oh well.
Knitting has taken a back seat to packing. I’m sorry to say I won’t be doing any more new stocking orders this year. I don’t even think I’m going to get much personal knitting done for Christmas this year. I do have several stockings to finish up for customers, and I’m going to be working hard to get those done in time for them to be enjoyed. I’ve spent this week’s allotted knitting time designing four stockings for a family that have been really fun to do. I love the designing process and I really enjoy making them so personal for each person.
My main focus for the next few weeks will be packing and moving and knitting the things that have to get done. Hubby’s sweater is on hold for a little bit, even though I’m working on the last piece. He’ll get it by the time he really needs it, though.
Also, I have yet to make Jellybean’s winter sweater for this year. I have the pattern picked out and the yarn is sitting right here. It’s just going to have to wait until after all the Christmas knitting is done. (Unless I can manage to get it done FOR Christmas… that’s a possibility.)
Lollypop and I are just cruising. I’m feeling lots of flutters, and I just love that. With all the craziness, it’s been difficult to bond with this baby, but feeling the movement helps a lot. I’m also starting to get a little bit of a bump, although it’s not noticeable to anyone but me and my blue jeans just yet. Jellybean talks about Lollypop some, too, which is just adorable.
