Knit Addictions

I gotta wear……(you know the rest)

(I know how cool I am)

(Cool…Joe Cool….)

Not only did I NOT jinx it, but my sweet little guy slept 7 and 1/2 hours last night!!!  He must have known mommy was needing a good nights sleep. 

Now we can be all charged up for another day of exploring new things….

(what the heck is that thing??)

(Eddie says…Is that baby human still here???)

As a sidenote, I have no idea why my blog has lost all it's sidebar links and buttons and it's pages.  I'm not very happy about it and unfortunately don't have time to fix it.  The links shouldn't be too bad, but the pages would take a very long time to reconstruct so I have no idea if I will do that or not.  Maybe I'll just have to start with the current year of knitting (if I ever have time to knit again!) and just rebuild from there.  If Liam continues sleeping like this, I may be able to knit again someday instead of falling exhausted to the couch every time he naps!

Hopefully writing about it won't jinx it, but for the last 3 nights in a row, Liam has slept 6 hours straight!!!  Whoo hoo!

(click for bigger)

That 6 hours might start at 11pm it might start after midnight, but it's 6 hours just the same.  He's definitely his parents son, a little night owl.  He likes to be awake between 9 and midnight but the thing about Liam is that if something he's doing bothers you, give it a day and he'll completely change.   

I'm so happy it hurts.  Unfortunately, it means that sometimes I wake up in between, wondering why he's not up yet, but I'm sure I'll get over that as I get used to his new schedule.   

He's getting so big and starting to focus a lot more on what's going on around him–including focusing on us!  He smiles sometimes but that's usually followed by filling his pants so still probably not the "social smiles" we're waiting for.  But at 7 weeks, I'm just happy with the prospect of getting a little more sleep.  It makes everyone happier!  Maybe I'll get to knit again someday!

(Click on thumbnails to enlarge)

This is me at 38 weeks

This is also me at 38 weeks:

After an agonizing 24 hour labor (the last 4 hours with no pain medication whatsoever!) that ended in a very scary situation leading to an even scarier C-section we were blessed with a beautiful baby boy:

Liam Elliott
Born March 1, 2008 2:12am
7lbs 8oz, 20"
Absolutely Perfect in Every Way!

Although this March baby made his way in like a lion, we love the little lamb that he is now.

We're exhausted and I don't know if I'll ever recover from surgery, but we're happy nonetheless and totally in love….

Welcome to the world Baby Boy!

The last few weeks have been a blur.  Seriously, I have lost 2 weeks of my life and I can barely remember what I was doing before then.  I got a nasty case of the flu, fun times when you're pregnant.  I had a sinus infection along with it and I can honestly say I have never felt so much facial pain in my life.  All I could do was sit with a heating pad on my face and try not to cry.  My face and throat were so sore I pretty much lived on jello and ice chips for a week.  I'm only now getting to where I can eat normal food again.  I saw my OB for the first time at my 36 week appointment. I'd been suffering with this illness for a week, and thankfully he prescribed some antibiotics for the sinus infection.  I think I would have died otherwise!  It still took another 5 days to feel better but it was a relief just knowing that I was taking something that was going to help me and thus an end was in sight.  It's been about 5 days since I finished the antibiotics and I'm still congested an have a cough that's caused me terrible rib pain (which means I don't sleep) but I'm hopefully on the road to recovery.

What this all means, however, is that I am 3 weeks from my due date and we have nothing done!!!  B was doing such a wonderful job of taking care of me while I was sick that he didn't have time to work on the projects in the baby's room, and then he ended up sick himself.  Thankfully he wasn't hit as hard as I was and only felt crappy for about a week.  But it's still slowed us up a lot.  I feel so tired, I have to work in little spurts and then rest for a while in between.  But I'm trying to get all the baby clothes washed and put in totes (since we don't have a dresser yet) and start cleaning up the house and getting ready.  We have been shopping for a crib, no small task.  I never would have imagined how expensive cribs would be and most of them are pieces of crap!  I think we have it narrowed down to 2 possiblilites, but we're not in love with either one.  It is just settling because we have to have something and we want it to be something that won't kill our child.  I had really wanted to have the baby's room done by now, and am really disappointed that we aren't even close.  But I don't think B or I ever anticipated it taking this long.  Having to rip out all the plaster and put up new sheetrock in the walk in closet has been a setback.  B is getting close to finishing but things keep coming up to slow us down.   Once the closet is finished we can finally clean the room and decorate.  I hope we can get it done before the wee one actually gets here! 

We still haven't had the chance to try to figure out why my dumb blog editor won't let me use thumbnails anymore.  Stupid wordpress anyway.  But I don't have any pics to share right now, as there has been no knitting in weeks.  I couldn't knit when I was sick and now I'm just too busy.  I have lots of little projects I want to finish up for the baby though, so hopfully I can get those done and maybe get a few pics up in the next few days.

So that's me, done singin' the blues and sharing my woes of the last few weeks.  Hopefully more upbeat posts to come! 

Log Cabin Blanket
Started:  May 2007 Finished: January 2008
Pattern:  My own inspired by the log cabin blankets in Mason-Dixon Knitting
Yarn:  TLC Essentials 100% acrylic approx. 1 skein each
Colors:  Aran, Lt. Thyme, Med. Thyme, Dark Thyme, linen, Taupe, Dk. Brown, Sandstone, Persimmon,
            Cranberry (or Barn Red), Lt. Plum, Dk. Plum, Claret
Needles:  Knit Picks Options sz 10
Gauge:  Not entirely important

The giant log cabin blanket I started last May is finally finished!

After a long hiatus during the summer where I used the unfinished blanket as a lap blankie when the AC got a bit chilly, I finally stepped up and got the entire blanket finished!

It's big, I haven't measured it, but it's big enough B and I can sit under it together.  I love it, it's comfy and cozy.

This was just the project I needed after the disastrous mitten experience over Christmas. 

I know it's made from cheapie acrylic and many of you will cringe, but I totally need my blankets to be easy care.  I just want to throw them in the washer and dryer and not have to worry about it.   Plus I have a cat who thinks that all blankets belong to him…

…so I can't make my blankets out of anything that's too precious.  Sir Edward likes to "knead" the blankets into a little nest, which inevitably means lots of little snags from sharp kitty claws.

Thus the blanet was made from TLC Essentials 100% acrylic yarn.  It took about 1 1/2 skeins of each color.  I bought so many of them, I'm not entirely sure how much exactly.  I have lots of leftovers that I'm going to use for another multicolored blanket.  If I saw them on sale I just grabbed a new skein in the color(s) I was using.  With no dye lots, it makes it a lot easier to just grab a new skein if you run out.    I also opted out of using an i-cord border on this one.  I just used the cream color from the center and "log cabined" a border of 2 garter stitch rows on each side, binding off in purl on the right side.  I wasn't sure I'd like the light border, but now that it's done, I like how it makes the rest of the colors pop.    You can get all the details on my new Knits 2008 page.  Hopefully I'll have more successful knitting projects in 08.  I was looking back over 07 and for all the time I spent knitting, the list of finished knits seems a little spartan.  If nothing else, maybe I'll have lots of knits for wee people, so it will at least look like my time knitting has been well spent!

Thought I'd share a few belly shots with everyone…

(a bit hard to see since my stupid blog editor won't allow me to link to the larger sized picture, hopefully I can get that fixed and maybe update the pics)

I'm 32 weeks and 5 days as of today.  It's hard to believe that in less than 8 weeks (give or take) our little guy will be here!  No more strange alien moving around in my belly.  It's a little sad in a way.  I've gotten quite used to being pregnant, and while I can't wait to have this baby be here, it will be weird having him on the outside instead of inside!  While there are things about pregnancy that stress me out and there are physical discomforts, I love feeling the baby move around, looking at his little ultrasound pictures, wondering if he'll look like me or B, and so many other things. 

WARNING:  Excessive pregnancy discussion and ranting to follow….

One thing I won't miss about pregnancy, however, is all the pressure…and I'm not talking about the pressure you feel from having a tiny beings feet up under your ribs and his head on your bladder!  It just seems like there are so many things to feel pressured about with pregnancy, labor and even what you do once the baby is here, that truly drive me insane.  All through my pregnancy it seems I've constantly been bombarded by other peoples' opinions on everything from my diet to whether I should have pain medication during labor to how I should FEED the baby once he's here!  If it doesn't come from family or friends, it comes from pregnancy books, the internet, childbirth classes, and sometimes doctors.  It often seems like these sources believe there is only one way to have a healthy pregnancy, childbirth etc…and I sure as hell am not doing it right.  Sometimes I feel all these outside sources make me feel like I'm far too stupid to give birth and raise a child.  Like I have no common sense whatsoever. 

For the last 7 (going on 8 ) months I have done everything I could to ensure that this baby was healthy; watched my diet, followed all of my doctors orders, undergone all necessary tests, and tried to be as informed as possible about pregnancy and childbirth–I wonder at times if I'm a bit too informed.  I'm sure that when it comes time to deliver this baby, while I have certain things I really want to avoid…like an induction or c-section, if those things can't be avoided, I will do whatever is necessary to ensure that I have a safe delivery and a healthy baby.  Once the baby is here, I hope that people will trust that B and I will make the best choices for us and the baby to ensure he continues to be healthy and grow and thrive.  While I'm sure we'll be asking for help from our family and friends, I also hope that people will respect the decisions we make.  That's been a pretty big fear of mine all along, not having my choices respected.  I'm sure there is always someone who feels they know better than you, and that thinks you're raising your kids all wrong.  I just hope I can be strong enough to not let those people get under my skin. 

Ok, I didn't intend for this to become a rant…but it seems to have.  It's nice to get it off my chest, however, and hopefully if there are any other moms or moms-to-be reading this then they can let me know how they deal/dealt with all the pregnancy pressure.   

I've totally neglected my blog for far too long.  It wasn't entirely my fault, it was down for awhile and it took some crafty work by Hubby to get it up and running again. It's still not perfect. For some reason when I upload a photo, it says there is no thumbnail available so I have to import a larger size into the post, but you can't click on it to make it bigger. I am still recovering from PTSD due to some really disastrous Christmas knitting and so I have had to back away from the needles for a while.  I haven't completely stopped knitting, I've actually gone back to this blanket

(this you can enlarge, it was imported before the blog demons attacked)

which I started last May.  I will finally finish it and then I can move on to another log cabin style baby blanket that I hope to finish before our little guy gets here.

So why didn't my Christmas knitting turn out?  I blame it all on pregnancy brain!  Every time I tried something it totally bombed.  The only thing to survive was this meager little mitten/headband set:

My mother-in-law was the lucky recipient of the only handknitted item to be gifted this year.  The mittens are from Elizabeth Zimmermann's book Knitting Around, but I created my own cuff pattern.  For the headband, I just used a basic Norwegian star pattern and plugged in the right numbers to make it fit.  Kind of a fly-by-the-seat project which, consequently, is why no one else got anything, because as I tried to wing my way through more headbands, they all came out waaaaay too big.  I tried making fingerless mittens for the guys in my family and they also turned out too large.  I don't know what happened to my sense of gauge from the first mittens I knitted…

and the next several, but something happened and it all turned to crap.  Maybe it's all the relaxin hormones that come with pregnancy and make your joints loosen up that is screwing with my gauge. 

Thus I am temporarily at least turning to projects where gauge is not an issue…like the unfinished giant log cabin blanket.    Maybe I'll have better luck with that!

ETA:  The giant log cabin blanket is done and in the washing machine as we speak!  I'll try to get some pics of it tomorrow.  I'm sure they will be dark and gloomy pics as it is about 10 degrees here and snowing (so no way am I going to try to take pics outside) but I'll see what I can do!