And the Winner Is...

The winning comment, chosen randomly, was number 21...that means that Stephinie at Gypsy Forest is the winner of a lovely, handmade Mushroom Cottage! Please contact me by email, Stephinie, so I can make arrangements to send it to you as soon as it's done (just a few more flowers and some wee curtains to sew on...yours has a yellow door, a blue roof...curtain colour to be decided soon!)

It's been a lovely week "off", although I do miss writing my daily posts! You can imagine how limiting it is for me, without a camera! We've done some visiting, some idea-sharing over at the Toadstool, and lots of playing, pretending, cuddling, and story-reading.

Margot is working on 5 teeth (four of them molars). She is not a happy camper. As I write this at 12:48 a.m., she is having a cuddle with daddy in the livingroom. This is unusual for her; my kids all go to sleep at around 8 p.m., and we never hear a peep until morning. This is our third teething toddler (she's a toddler already? What happened to my baby?) so we know that "this tooth shall pass".

Jude's been big into pretending these days. He's perfected his pirate voice (preceding every statement with "Yar!"...sometimes he forgets, then shifts into an accented rumble), and has had many an adventure on the high seas with his "skelescope", alternately saving and terrorizing the girls. It all depends on whether it's a good pirate day or a bad pirate day.

We've also been treated to quite a few magic shows, knitted afghan hung across the doorway as a curtain; it's swept aside in his dramatic entrance. He loves to use knitting needles and drumsticks as his magic wand.

Check out that posture and focus!

(and shift your eyes from the mess in the background!)

Yesterday I had the singular horror pleasure of playing "Doctor" with my eldest two. I was instructed to lie down on the couch. My role was to play a mother in labour.

Let me just clarify here that all three of my children were born at home, under the loving care of my midwife, sister/doula, sister, mother, and of course my husband. So you can imagine my horror surprise to find myself lying on my back, a belt around my wrist, an accordion at my head that would now and then be given an experimental squeeeeze. Between the sips of "oil" to make the baby come out, Jude pushing my ankles together, and Violet giving me a "needle" in the forehead, it was all rather hilarious and distressing! I played my part well, yelling "Can I just have the baby now???", and Violet stroked my forehead, whispering, "Just bewax, Mommy...bewaaax". When the babies were born (twins, no less!), Jude whisked them away, promising to take care of them for me.

Wow. It was all a bit too mid-20th century for me! They have obviously forgotten how and where they were born. But the time will come when I can explain it all to them. For now, pretending is lots of fun.

Have a great weekend!