Sleep

I'm a good sleeper. Really good. So good in fact that I'm probably a little too good. On a bad night it takes me five minutes to get to sleep. On a good night, I'm asleep almost before my head hits the pillow. I've even been known to fall asleep mid-conversation, at the dinner table and once, just once, while standing up listening to a midnight mass. I was the girl at uni who always fell asleep in class. When the sleep-bug hits I'm a goner.  It's safe to say I have very little understanding of the difficulties some people have in getting to sleep. 

 But I am learning, and quickly. Emilia is sleep resistant.  Catch her at the right time and it takes half an hour for her to calmly and quietly drift off to sleep.  And this is after she's been fed, changed, swaddled, given her sleep toy, has her dummy and has her Mama or Papa sitting quietly by her side.

I kind of feel sorry for the kid. Kind of. A little bit. Although there are times when I'm reminded of that book by Adam Mansbach.  You can listen to Samuel L. Jackson narrating it here. It'll make you laugh, particularly if you're just a little bit sleep deprived.

Sud Kunstpark

Sometimes in the most unexpected places you find curious things. Like this Artpark, tucked away in a remote and very small village in the Austrian countryside. The name is as much of an enigma as the works within - there is no north, east or west Artpark to speak of. If you were geographically minded you might argue that the park sits at the southern tip of the village, but geography has never been my strong suite so I really couldn't say. Anyway, there it is, nestled between the forest and the vineyards, a curious collection of bright, whimsical sculptural pieces by a Canadian artist.  You might also wonder what a Canadian artist is doing in southern Burgenland but that, again, would be something I couldn't answer. 

So with very little explanation other than the little I have said above, I give you the artwork. I loved almost every piece. Some made me smile, a few made me giggle. The man in the second photo only began to relieve himself when you stood within a few metres of him. Fun to see a group of adults regressing into 5 year olds when the question of wee comes up. Poo and wee jokes never really get old, do they?

But I think this little girl was my favourite of the lot. I've forgotten the title now, but it was something along the lines of "dirt in eye". There was a small amount of moss growing on her gumboots from her constant crying which somehow added to the whole piece. And I just love her posture and the position of her feet. The artist got it just right.

3 months

Yesterday Emilia celebrated her three month anniversary with a trip to the doctor for her regular check-up and second lot of vaccinations. Apart from screaming loudly enough that even the doctor commented on her "healthy lungs" she coped with the whole ordeal suprisingly well and at this stage of the developmental game she's tall and lean.

She's also turning out to be a bit of a people person, flirting with everyone who passes by, listening to coversations, cooing and ahhing and giggling at anyone who cares to listen. Doesn't care much about anything else though. Toys? Boring really. Hands? Why bother when you can manipulate your dummy (pacifier) with the flick of your tongue. Milk? Overrated when you can listen to a conversation instead.

Emilia through the months:

- See here for her one week,  4 week and 2 months photos.

Off the Needles

Off the needles... well, mostly anyway.

This little hat, the Organic Beanie by Mel Clark was initially destined to be a 'welcome baby' gift. It travelled down to Burgenland with me and was quickly finished and ready to be wrapped up and given away but fate had other plans. It somehow never made it to the present wrapping stage, morphing instead into Emilia's go-to hat to keep the chilly winds at bay. The pattern is a great little, quick knit. Simple and the options are endless once you start playing around with the accent colours, as it's Ravelry page shows.

I also managed to finish this Garter stitch Kimono on the train back to Berlin from Burgenland. I was a little worried that the self-striping sock yarn wouldn't look very good on the v-neck and I'm still not sure that it was really that great a choice of yarns.  It's old sock yarn from my stash that I was keen to use up and, really, at this end of the year it's warmth that counts. Right?  The buttons also came from my Op-shop button stash so all-in-all a very cheap baby gift for little Baby G.

And finally, mittens for me. The first one has been finished for a few weeks now, but it took a chilly evening playing backgammon outside at our favourite Arabic Cafe before I realised that the time for gloves will be quickly upon us and really, it'd be a shame not to give the left mitten a mate.  Plus the pattern is quite addictive. The rounds are quick and the patter materialises before your eyes. Yup, happy knitting days are upon us now that the days are shorter and just a little bit chillier.

Burgenland

This is where we were for the last two weeks. Matthias' parents house in Burgenland, southern Austria. Seriously we couldn't have asked for better weather. Sunny every single day; beautiful, gentle Autumn sun, perfect for soft baby skin and not-as-soft, but just as white, Mama-Bear skin too! While the farmers around us were busy from dawn until well into the night harvesting, we got busy with the art of relaxing - lots of eating, drinking and resting after a busy few months.

Don't believe everything you see - that angelic babe was a bit of a rotter when it came to sleeping in her new (Oma rescued) antique crib and decided, mostly, that it was much more fun to hang out with the adults in her baby-carrier. But amongst the rocking of one little girl to sleep we did find time to enjoy the seasons harvest, eating sun-warmed grapes straight from the vines, searching for the first of the blackberries and picking apples off the side of the road for delicious Apple Strudel and other yummy things.

Yep, it was a pretty good couple of weeks.

Whoops...

I didn't mean to disappear like that and I'm really only just poking my head into this blog now. Our internet is playing funny-buggers at the moment which is driving me insane. Numerous phone calls to "Alice" and we now have a new modem being sent in the mail. Hopefully this will fix the problem for good and we'll be back in action.

While I've been away I snuck down to beautiful southern Austria, chasing the tail-end of summer amongst the rolling hills of Burgenland. Oh, the weather didn't disappoint! Glorious sunny days and chilly Autumn nights. Perfect weather for morning walks and afternoon naps; plenty of card playing and a little bit of knitting thrown in too. But more later - I need to post this before the internet shuts up shop again.

Happy weekend!