Obviously what I need is a Thanksgiving turkey

It's five in the morning, people.  I woke up at two, and I have not been able to get back to sleep.  I hate it when this happens.  It doesn't really help that the whole time I'm trying to get back to sleep Ben is flopping around and turning sideways to put his little tooting pee butt in my face.  I love the kid, but really, no one likes it when farts (disgustingly warm and moist, I might add) are propelled into their face point blank.  Not even from their own spawn, I tell you.  I'll probably get pink eye now.
The problem is that I am tired, but I cannot sleep.  I believe there is a term associated with that.  I can't remember, but it is either zombification or insomnia.  Is it possible that I have become what I fear most?  No, not a cockroach, but I'm pretty scared of those, too (don't judge me- they're so icky!).  I meant a zombie.  I suppose you could call me a zombie in the sense that all mothers are.  100% walking dead all the time- now without brain cravings!  What kind of cruelty is it that as I get older, I require more sleep to function but am offered exponentially less than when I was a child?  I should have thought ahead and slept during the ages 13-18.  It would have been time better spent, I tell you what.
I'm getting excited about the holidays.  I've gotten just one present for Ben.  I'll probably get him one or two more, but he doesn't really know what it's about anyway.  I'm having trouble not giving that present to him, though.  It's this thing here, and I wonder if it will help him to learn how to walk.  Or at least give him more confidence that he actually will walk.  He knows what it's all about, but I think he's afraid of falling.  Which is kind of weird because he doesn't seem to be afraid of tumbling down the stairs face first or climbing into or onto anything and everything that can conceivably be climbed. 

He climbed into the dryer by himself while holding those two spools of thread (must have something in each hand, preferably similar objects).  Luckily, we don't actually make it a habit of leaving the dryer door open.  I was standing there doing laundry at the time of the incident.  And yes, that is a black eye he has from falling face first onto a toy.  I also have a picture on my phone of him with his hand on the doorknob trying to open the front door.  Also luckily, we're in the habit of keeping that thing locked.  It's only a matter of time before he figures out how to turn it.  

I digress.  Holidays.  I love them.  My husband does not share the same affection for them as I do, though.  He's such a grump.  I think that'll change as we have more kids and they get older, though.  I have such great Christmas memories from growing up.  I remember when I must have been three or four and I slept in the living room because I wanted to catch Santa.  And when I woke up on Christmas morning, I had wet myself.  Er, okay, so maybe that wasn't particularly the best example of a great Christmas memory, but it still gives me the warm fuzzies.  Not wet warm fuzzies, mind you.  I finally outgrew that, you'll be happy to know. 

I love love love Thanksgiving because I love love love food.  'Tis the season to be a glutton, that's what I always say.  Okay, I don't always say that.  Just occasionally, like right now.  My father in law makes a pretty incredible turkey gravy.  Seriously.  I could drink that stuff.  That coupled with my mother in law's mashed potatoes makes me never want to be anywhere else for Thanksgiving (but only because I don't ever have the money to buy plane tickets to GA during the holidays- I promise, Mom!).  I'm so excited for next week.  I'm drooling already.  But I'm totally buying a turkey breast to make for me and Chris.  How else will I be able to sleep between now and Thanksgiving?  Tryptophan, people. 

Baby butts, revisited

Remember how I was thinking about cloth diapering before Ben was born?  Well, it never happened, but I'm thinking about it again.  This business about diapering is a lot easier now that his poops aren't so, er, runny and the happenings are considerably less often than when he was exclusively breastfed.  So, I'm going to do it.  But I'm not going to buy those really expensive one size pocket diapers.  I'm going to make my own.  My mom suggested it to me right before Ben was born, and I was all, "Are you crazy?  People don't make their own cloth diapers!  Pshhhhh!"  And, uh yeah, like usual, my mom knew what she was talking about.  People do make their own cloth diapers, and they can be as simple as the old fashioned prefolds or as convenient as the pricey all in ones, which are basically washable .  Yeah, guess which ones I'll be making.  (I'll give you a hint- they will be the ones I can convince my husband to use.  Do you think that would involve more than one piece to the diaper?  Probably not.)  
Cloth diapers that people make can be just as insanely adorable as those mega expensive brand name clothies.  I will actually probably do a combination of fitteds (which will require separate covers) and all in ones (which the husband will most likely use the most).  I mostly just want an excuse to knit up some cute little wool pants for Ben to wear as covers.  I'm also putting a layer of bamboo velour to hug Ben's little butt.  Maybe I will also make myself some panties out of the velour because it just sounds like it would feel nice.
This renewed desire can be 100% attributed to the Relief Society Pres. in my new ward.  Apparently there are quite a few families in our ward that make and use cloth diapers.  She also knits, crochets, sews, quilts, and shares my birthday.  No wonder I like her so much.  If you didn't know already, Chris and I both have kind of extreme social anxiety when it comes to groups of people.  So church can be kind of a hard thing for us.  My admission is this: we just finally worked up the courage to go to our new ward a couple of Sundays ago.  Everyone has their own trials to deal with, right?  I just happened to meet someone who shares this one with me.  It's pretty easy to talk each other out of going to public social settings, but it's something we're working on.  Well, with church.  Everything else can just live without us.  Anyway, I really like my new ward.  They're super nice even though they probably mostly think we're inactive heathens, and they're probably afraid of offending us and turning us away from the church.  How would they know that we actually do have testimonies, and we're just scared of people?  Gosh, that just sounds so dumb to put out there.  Dur, I'm askeered of people, yall.  But it's true.  I have been for a long time. 
On a completely different subject, check out this video my husband sent me today. 
 
 I love a capella groups- especially when they vocalize instrumental sounds.  I think it stems from family sing alongs in the car to "Witchy Woman" by the Eagles.  The guitar makes a neeeeer, neeeeer, neer-neer neeer sound.  If you listen to the song, you'll know what I mean. 

Obviously, I am such a slacker, but I'll make up for it, I promise!

No posts at in October?  Really?!  Anyway, a lot has been happening.  Ben's birthday and my fifth anniversary is coming up on Tuesday.  Ben will no longer be my infant, and I will have been married for half a decade.  I feel so old, lol.

 To celebrate Ben's birthday, we had a Halloween party.  Ben was a pirate. 

My sis-in-law Shiloh made the cakes (and threw the birthday party).  They were so cool.  She has such a great imagination.  She didn't have any pirates to put on the ships, so she made them ghost ships.  They were a big hit!
 
After the birthday party, I went trick or treating with my friend, J and her kids.  Ben and I just trailed along with his stroller.  We seriously have so much candy left over from handing out to the neighborhood kids.  Obviously, I overestimated our need for candy.  And then we all had a homemade doughnut feast at my house.  It was delicious.  Good times, people, good times.  I really enjoyed it.

So my trip to Montana was awesome!  Jamie and I have so much in common.  Ben was completely crazy about her 3 year old boy.  He followed him around a lot.  And he also attacked him a lot.

But what I really want to tell you about is the super cute bag that Jamie made while I was there.  Check out this sweetness.

And she also taught me how to make this bag.  I was so excited to make it when I got home!  I worked on knitting things the whole time I was there.  So check out the bag I made.

 

My bag is bigger than the bag Jamie made because I used the original specs in the pattern.  However, I have enough fabric to make another bag similar to mine in the smaller size.  Someday when I actually make it, I think I'll have a giveaway and give it away.  I'm moving up in the blogosphere, people.  If not in page hits, at least in desirable content.  Hooray!  I also hate the word blogosphere.  Just for the record.

I guess I should also tell you that I got my haircut, and I really really like it.  I got the Amelie haircut, but I really should not have asked for the bangs.  Shorter bangs just don't look right on me.  If I had a picture of them I would post it, but I don't  My cowlick won't allow my bangs to lay flat against my forehead.  Now really, what was I thinking?!  I don't think these pictures really do my haircut justice.

(Aaaaaaaaargh, I'm givin' ye tha stink eye!)

 

 (Oh hi, check out my premature waddle.  What the crap?!!!  I told you!  I'm getting old!)

Hmmmmm... I'm thinking the back needs a trim already...  Now if you'll excuse me, I have too much candy to eat, so I'd better get started.