This is not a complete list of everything I made in 2013, just the ones that made the blog.
Vanilla Latte Socks
Zebra Shawl
Matchy Matchy Socks
Elizabeth Cardigan
Bubbly Socks
Playful Citrus
Walpole Cardigan
Just A Whisper Scarf
Creature Comforts Cardigan
Division Cardigan
Honey Badger Socks
Panda Hat
Pom Pom Scarf
Six pairs of bunny slippers
Darling Emma Cardigan
Hermione's Everyday Socks
Pomme De Pin Cardigan
Baby Overalls
Dream Stripes
Dream Stripes
Korrigan
The World's Cutest Baby
Tuesday, December 31, 2013
Giving The People What They Want
And then this happened!
"You gotta be careful when you've got good love cause them angels will just keep on multiplying"
I shall call her Squishy...
And she shall be mine, and she shall be my squishy!
Everybody loves Squishy.
And they all lived Happily Ever After!
And cause I've got more cute pictures...
It may or may not have taken me four days to write this post. Man, I'm tired.
Friday, December 27, 2013
Post Christmas Report
Just in case you were wondering...
Bird got her Weasley Sweater for Christmas (the buttons were sewn on and everything!). It looks super cute on her and she does indeed love her pink hooded sweater. Maybe someday I will even get the chance to take pictures of her in it.
The baby got her outfit for Christmas. Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll grow into it before sweater weather is over. I swear I knit the "newborn" size.
Pork Chop still needs the ends woven in on her sweater.
Meaty still needs the ends woven in on his sweater, and the buttons sew on.
Sweet Pea still needs me to knit her sweater.
Round the clock pumping is more challenging than I imagined. And it is really cutting into my knitting time!
Last night I got up at 1 am with the baby. I took her downstairs. Made her bottle. Fed her some of her bottle. Stopped to let her poop. Changed her diaper. Fed her the rest of her bottle. She pooped again. Changed another diaper. Convinced her to go back to sleep. Put her in her swing. Got out my breast pump. Pumped for a half hour. Cleaned my pump. Sterilized my pump parts since I think we are getting thrush. Went upstairs to go back to bed.
It was 2:45 when my head finally hit the pillow.
I got up again with the baby at 3:30 to do it all over again.
I am a sleepy sheepy.
No wonder I don't have time or brain power to blog. I'll just post a picture of the baby. That's all anyone is here for anyways. Nobody reads the words anymore. Just give the people what they want. Show off the baby!
That should tide people over for a few days right?
Bird got her Weasley Sweater for Christmas (the buttons were sewn on and everything!). It looks super cute on her and she does indeed love her pink hooded sweater. Maybe someday I will even get the chance to take pictures of her in it.
The baby got her outfit for Christmas. Maybe I'll get lucky and she'll grow into it before sweater weather is over. I swear I knit the "newborn" size.
Pork Chop still needs the ends woven in on her sweater.
Meaty still needs the ends woven in on his sweater, and the buttons sew on.
Sweet Pea still needs me to knit her sweater.
Round the clock pumping is more challenging than I imagined. And it is really cutting into my knitting time!
Last night I got up at 1 am with the baby. I took her downstairs. Made her bottle. Fed her some of her bottle. Stopped to let her poop. Changed her diaper. Fed her the rest of her bottle. She pooped again. Changed another diaper. Convinced her to go back to sleep. Put her in her swing. Got out my breast pump. Pumped for a half hour. Cleaned my pump. Sterilized my pump parts since I think we are getting thrush. Went upstairs to go back to bed.
It was 2:45 when my head finally hit the pillow.
I got up again with the baby at 3:30 to do it all over again.
I am a sleepy sheepy.
No wonder I don't have time or brain power to blog. I'll just post a picture of the baby. That's all anyone is here for anyways. Nobody reads the words anymore. Just give the people what they want. Show off the baby!
That should tide people over for a few days right?
Monday, December 16, 2013
Post cards from the Trenches
You can all breathe easy. The World's Cutest Baby is still super cute. I love how round and full her tummy is in the picture. She's so content she's even smiling in her sleep. I loves her so much!
This may be our fifth baby, but this is the first time The Greatest has ever taken Paternity Leave. Words can not express how much I love having him home. And he is having the best time bonding with his baby. As I type this he is playing music for his baby (she LOVES music) and dancing with her. I love watching him be a good Daddy to his children. He is The Greatest. He is loving the bottle feeding. (Man, there is a lot of loving going on in our house) He even takes one of the middle of the night feedings so I can get more than two hours sleep in a row. Unfortunately he doesn't tell me before hand that he is going to take that feeding he just quietly takes the baby and feeds her. I then wake up in a panic, thinking I've missed her feeding, and I try to feed her a second time. I think he needs to leave me a note on the counter when he feeds her.
And of course I have the obligatory Daddy/Baby sleeping on the couch photo.
I promised this was a photo for my private use only, not something for the blog. So nobody tell him it is here ok?
The only downside to him being home is he has taken up baking.
So much baking.
At first it was his seven layer cookies. They are heaven in a bar cookie. Fortunately for me the kids ate most of them while I was at the NICU with The World's Cutest Baby (tm).
Then it was turtles.
He made ten dozen. That is not a typo. He made ten dozen. One hundred and twenty yummy yummy turtles. I eat at least two every time I get up in the middle of the night to feed the baby.
This is not good for my hips.
Or my thighs.
Today he made cookies.
Plain Sugar Cookies.
And Peppermint Sugar Cookies.
And another batch of Seven Layer Cookies.
This is not good for my butt.
I have a good friend who told me not to worry. She assured me that this is why they have New Year's Resolutions.
She's not wrong.
In crafting news, my hands didn't stay still for long. I had to bust out my crochet hooks for a custom order.
I also have a Knit Picks project to start/finish. And I haven't even cast on for Sweet Pea's Weasley Sweater.
I need to figure out how to knit while I pump.
Thursday, December 12, 2013
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
On Hold
Finding time to blog with a newborn is hard. I think when Sweet Pea was a baby I would just post pictures of her being cute and call it close enough to count as a real blog post. And I must admit, the World's Cutest Baby is awfully cute!
Our newest addition seemed to realize that all my friend's children were swallowing pennies and requiring surgery, or taking life flight helicopter rides that cost more than I will ever make in my lifetime. I guess she didn't want me to be the only one without expensive medical bills at Christmas. So we spent last weekend in the NICU.
Poor baby girl had a dangerous combination of high bilirubin levels and dehydration.
It was a long stressful weekend. We nursed, and nursed, and nursed. She laid in a baby tanning bed (with the world's cutest goggles, if only I'd had my camera). They pushed iv fluids. She made little progress. We finally determined that while she has the muscle tone, and co-ordination to nurse, she lacks the stamina to nurse long enough to gain all the nutrients she needs. When we switched from breastfeeding to giving her bottles of expressed milk she improved overnight. She gained so much weight they weighed her twice to be sure she gained that much overnight.
So now we feed a bottle of expressed milk every three hours. Midnight feedings not only include feeding a bottle, but also pumping milk for a half hour (Mooooo) and then cleaning my pump and getting things ready for the next round. I get done in time to sleep for two hours and then get up and do it all over again. Sleeping in two hour increments makes me a sleepy zombie.
There is no crafting.
I've even carefully picked up all my tiny tiny triangles, and tiny squares and put them back into The Abyss. I fear they would get dirty and lost laying out waiting for me to gain enough brain power to be trusted to run a sewing machine without accidentally sewing myself to the quilt.
My needles are still. My projects can wait.
I've got a tiny baby to snuggle.
Our newest addition seemed to realize that all my friend's children were swallowing pennies and requiring surgery, or taking life flight helicopter rides that cost more than I will ever make in my lifetime. I guess she didn't want me to be the only one without expensive medical bills at Christmas. So we spent last weekend in the NICU.
Poor baby girl had a dangerous combination of high bilirubin levels and dehydration.
(my Oompa-Loompa baby on Friday afternoon)
It was a long stressful weekend. We nursed, and nursed, and nursed. She laid in a baby tanning bed (with the world's cutest goggles, if only I'd had my camera). They pushed iv fluids. She made little progress. We finally determined that while she has the muscle tone, and co-ordination to nurse, she lacks the stamina to nurse long enough to gain all the nutrients she needs. When we switched from breastfeeding to giving her bottles of expressed milk she improved overnight. She gained so much weight they weighed her twice to be sure she gained that much overnight.
(my chubby baby on Sunday night)
So now we feed a bottle of expressed milk every three hours. Midnight feedings not only include feeding a bottle, but also pumping milk for a half hour (Mooooo) and then cleaning my pump and getting things ready for the next round. I get done in time to sleep for two hours and then get up and do it all over again. Sleeping in two hour increments makes me a sleepy zombie.
There is no crafting.
I've even carefully picked up all my tiny tiny triangles, and tiny squares and put them back into The Abyss. I fear they would get dirty and lost laying out waiting for me to gain enough brain power to be trusted to run a sewing machine without accidentally sewing myself to the quilt.
My needles are still. My projects can wait.
I've got a tiny baby to snuggle.
Wednesday, December 04, 2013
Losing Has Never Been So Much Fun!
Well, I was racing with the baby to see if I could get her quilt done before she made her big arrival into the world.
I lost.
I woke up Sunday morning around five with very intense back pain. I laid in bed reading my kindle and realized my back pain wasn't constant. It would come and go. I convinced myself that since there wasn't a pattern to my pain (the coming and going would be five minutes apart, then nine, then three, then five) it could not possibly be labor.
I was in denial just a little bit.
At seven I broke down and called The Greatest (who was just getting off work from a 13 hour night shift) and told him I thought I was in labor.
He raced home to find me drifting around the house. I needed to pack a hospital bag for me. I needed to pack a hospital bag for the baby. I needed to choose what the baby was going to wear home from the hospital. I needed to get dressed but maybe I needed a shower. I NEEDED to make the bed (don't ask me to explain that one, I can't). But I couldn't focus on one task long enough to complete it. The bed was half made. The bags were half packed. I was still in my bathrobe trying to find something clean to wear.
The Greatest is such a good husband. Between contractions he gently guided me through my crazy, making sure the bags were packed, outfits chosen, I was dressed, and even the bed got made.
Off to the hospital we went. (37 weeks, 2 days pregnant, in labor ready to go to the hospital)
Hospitals are, well, they're hospitals. So check in took entirely too long. Waiting to move from intake to labor and delivery took entirely too long. Getting my epidural took ENTIRELY too long. Did they not realize I was in labor?
Contractions people! I was having contractions!
Of course things didn't really get fun until after I got my epidural.
I'm not new to this baby delivering gig. I've had four babies. With each child I got my epidural and then my labor stopped progressing. They would give me pitocin, and in an hour I'd have a baby. It is a system that works. It is a calm, easy pain free delivery. I'm all about supporting people who want to have a natural child birth, or a water birth or a home birth. If that is the birthing experience you need then by all means you should go for it. I just happen to want a hospital birth with an epidural.
We talked about this with the nurse, and the on call OB and it was decided to just go ahead and give me pitocin in tandem with my epidural, no need to wait to make sure the epidural actually slowed down my labor. After all, there was no reason to think my body would react any differently than it had in the past. The ob suggested I even get pitocin while waiting for the epidural. The nurse and I decided that was going just a bit too far. Pitocin can make contractions even harder and more painful that they are (which is pretty darn painful). No need to do that until I was numb and pain free.
Finally in went the epidural. I had a blissful twenty minutes of pain free labor. Then I started feeling that pesky back pain. And then there was some lower abdominal cramping. And then OH MY GOODNESS WHAT IS GOING ON IT HURTS SO BAD!
My epidural failed. But the pitocin didn't. My contractions were coming hard, one on top of the next. I was at a ten and needed to push.
What happened next happened fast, and it was not my finest hour. I remember begging them to help me, to take the pain away. I remember someone telling me to breath and wanting to punch them. I was breathing. It wasn't helping. I think they grabbed a random OB out of the hallway to catch the baby. I don't even know where The Greatest was during all this. He was there, but I don't remember seeing him. I know when the baby crowned I lost my mind and there was screaming involved. So much screaming. Screaming at the top of my lungs.
I was that woman in the delivery ward.
Like I said, not my finest hour.
Had this happened with my first child I would not have had any other children.
But my sweet baby is here safe and sound. That is all that matters.
Is she not the cutest thing you've ever seen having her hearing tested?
We are all head over heels in love with her.
As we should be.
Welcome to the world my little baby!
I lost.
I woke up Sunday morning around five with very intense back pain. I laid in bed reading my kindle and realized my back pain wasn't constant. It would come and go. I convinced myself that since there wasn't a pattern to my pain (the coming and going would be five minutes apart, then nine, then three, then five) it could not possibly be labor.
I was in denial just a little bit.
At seven I broke down and called The Greatest (who was just getting off work from a 13 hour night shift) and told him I thought I was in labor.
He raced home to find me drifting around the house. I needed to pack a hospital bag for me. I needed to pack a hospital bag for the baby. I needed to choose what the baby was going to wear home from the hospital. I needed to get dressed but maybe I needed a shower. I NEEDED to make the bed (don't ask me to explain that one, I can't). But I couldn't focus on one task long enough to complete it. The bed was half made. The bags were half packed. I was still in my bathrobe trying to find something clean to wear.
The Greatest is such a good husband. Between contractions he gently guided me through my crazy, making sure the bags were packed, outfits chosen, I was dressed, and even the bed got made.
Off to the hospital we went. (37 weeks, 2 days pregnant, in labor ready to go to the hospital)
Hospitals are, well, they're hospitals. So check in took entirely too long. Waiting to move from intake to labor and delivery took entirely too long. Getting my epidural took ENTIRELY too long. Did they not realize I was in labor?
Contractions people! I was having contractions!
Of course things didn't really get fun until after I got my epidural.
I'm not new to this baby delivering gig. I've had four babies. With each child I got my epidural and then my labor stopped progressing. They would give me pitocin, and in an hour I'd have a baby. It is a system that works. It is a calm, easy pain free delivery. I'm all about supporting people who want to have a natural child birth, or a water birth or a home birth. If that is the birthing experience you need then by all means you should go for it. I just happen to want a hospital birth with an epidural.
We talked about this with the nurse, and the on call OB and it was decided to just go ahead and give me pitocin in tandem with my epidural, no need to wait to make sure the epidural actually slowed down my labor. After all, there was no reason to think my body would react any differently than it had in the past. The ob suggested I even get pitocin while waiting for the epidural. The nurse and I decided that was going just a bit too far. Pitocin can make contractions even harder and more painful that they are (which is pretty darn painful). No need to do that until I was numb and pain free.
Finally in went the epidural. I had a blissful twenty minutes of pain free labor. Then I started feeling that pesky back pain. And then there was some lower abdominal cramping. And then OH MY GOODNESS WHAT IS GOING ON IT HURTS SO BAD!
My epidural failed. But the pitocin didn't. My contractions were coming hard, one on top of the next. I was at a ten and needed to push.
What happened next happened fast, and it was not my finest hour. I remember begging them to help me, to take the pain away. I remember someone telling me to breath and wanting to punch them. I was breathing. It wasn't helping. I think they grabbed a random OB out of the hallway to catch the baby. I don't even know where The Greatest was during all this. He was there, but I don't remember seeing him. I know when the baby crowned I lost my mind and there was screaming involved. So much screaming. Screaming at the top of my lungs.
I was that woman in the delivery ward.
Like I said, not my finest hour.
Had this happened with my first child I would not have had any other children.
But my sweet baby is here safe and sound. That is all that matters.
Is she not the cutest thing you've ever seen having her hearing tested?
We are all head over heels in love with her.
As we should be.
Welcome to the world my little baby!
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