Monday, January 28, 2008

oops as promised - photos of blankie

blankie detail for laurenentire blankie for lauren and a little model named max...

i'm still here and my mommy rocks

andrew is still inside... max is in bed... chris is on his way home from work (thank god) and my mama rocks!

i called her in to help me this afternoon. since monday's are chris's long day at work (7 am - 9 pm) i knew it would just be too much for me to deal with max all day by myself. so my mommy came with dinner and helped me clean up the house, she even swept the floors and cleaned my stove top :) then we played with max and read to him a bunch and he entertained us too. then she helped me put him to bed. i didn't have to pick up up once, or carry him anywhere. thanks to her!

mama's rock and i just want her to know that :)

i wanted to add a photo of her to the post but then i realized that all the ones i have of her are really really OLD! max is like a year old in them or YOUNGER.... i need to take some photos of max and grandma soon!

let's hope this is my last post as a mother of one. i swear if things don't move along quickly i might just freak out.

Thursday, January 24, 2008

i'm not sure why i find this funny.... pants!

i have grown out of a few more pairs of pants... granted... they ARE non-maternity lounge-wear/bed type pants but still. last week they fit (rather snug but they were still wearable), this week... not so much!

i don't know if this is a sign that maybe i've dropped since last week or what!? but all i know is that i find it kinda funny.

my pants that i can wear out in public have also been less and less wearable... i now have two and 1/2 pairs of pants that i can wear out of the house. yes, TWO and ONE HALF! the half pair has elastic in the waist that just gets too tight towards the end of the day... one of the other all day wearers, are knit and stretch out after about an hours worth of wearing, thus looking quite dumpy quite quickly and the third pair, they are black dress pants... thank god they are neutral enough to wear for dress and everyday. otherwise, i might end up having to go out pantsless... that would be a treat for everyone!

in other news, i went to annie's for a playdate today. and marcus did something funny.... max and i were getting ready to leave and i was standing in the kitchen when marcus comes up to my belly and sorta beat on it as if to say, suck that thing back in! lol i found it hilarious as it IS protruding a lot these days. we had a fun time over there AND i managed to keep max awake for the entire ride home thus not spoiling his nap. we had lunch then played for a bit more at home then down for a wonderful nap he went :) it worked out perfectly. thanks for having us annie!

Monday, January 21, 2008

third time IS a charm and other topics

ok, booties are complete, sorta kinda... i just have to sew them up and sew on some buttons. an hours worth of work, tops. blankie, totally complete and ready to be gifted. this is the second scalloped blankie that i've made from bend the rules sewing by amy karol. this time i used flannel on one side and a wavy chenille on the other. i didn't use a third middle layer since both outer layers were slightly poofy without the middle layer. it took me half the time to sew this one than it did the first one i did for amanda. this one took just over two hours from beginning to end. can't beat that! i need to now pin up and sew the other two i need to make for my own kiddos and i'll be right on track. photos of everything to follow after the weekend.

i went to visit my friend emma at the hospital this evening, she had her third baby on sunday, his name is henry. he's perfect! it was nice to see her and her new little guy :) it was also funny to walk onto the maternity floor at the hospital (where i'll be delivering in a few short weeks) to be greeted by the warm friendly nurses that work there. i had to ask for emma's room number and once she gave it to me the two nurses asked when i would be back! LOL i thought that was pretty funny. anyways, emma is doing well and so is her little guy, they both get to go home first thing tuesday morning.

not much else is new with me. i've been having braxton hicks in the evenings but nothing that is uncomfortable and nothing that is able to be timed.

max is effectively down to one nap, it's been about a week now that he's been taking one long nap in the middle of the day. i thought it would be hard on me... but it's actually going to be ok. since it's such a long span of time that he's napping, it makes it easier for me to get some things done. at least for the moment. until everything goes into a tail spin in a few weeks.... he also got a few more teeth. although he won't let me poke around in there long enough to really get a good idea of how many. he got two during chrismas and i believe he just got two more. that brings us to a total of 12. he's also doing super well with a fork and he can almost get things loaded onto his fork himself. almost.... in a few weeks i imagine it won't be an issue at all.

tips for mamas out there with little ones who aren't using a fork yet. we started out with those plastic forks that are rather nubby and the prongs are very pointy for obvious reasons. however we inherited a few old toddler forks from chris's family in the past few months, they are metal and are basically just smaller sized regular old forks. let me tell you. these have helped max tremendously in keeping food ON the fork. they actually grab the food and it stays there unlike the plastic variety. if you can find some of these, it's worth it to purchase a few. we won't be going back to plastic forks again. also, in a pinch he can totally use an adult sized fork, usually i give him one of the smaller/shorter pronged forks that we use and he's had no trouble with those either. it's amazing how fast this stuff changes!

look for photos of the completed craft projects either late this coming weekend or early next week.

Thursday, January 17, 2008

how many times can i reknit a bootie?

apparently the answer is 3 times...

i have knit this one bootie twice so far... third time is a charm right? the worst part about it is that while knitting i get so itchy and annoyed at these little things that i can't WAIT to be done with this gift. the shower is the 26th (i think i miss-spoke at the knitting get together and said it was THIS weekend when it's really next weekend the 26th) at least i have another week and almost a half to complete another damn bootie and cut and sew up a blankie or three for that matter.... ha! this weekend, that's my goal is to sit at the sewing table for a while :)

but back to this damn bootie, i realized that i started my straps two rows too soon.... i can pull out the straps and keep on going but i hate to do that... but for times sake and for my noses sake i probably should...

i have also made a little more headway on a hat for chris. he needs a new hat in a bad way i really really need to finish this for him sooner rather than later. reports back from my dad who uses his hat daily when he takes walks in the morning. he loves it! "it's snug but not too tight that it leaves marks on your forehead when you take it off"! yay! that's the sign of a great hat according to my dad!

as for me. i'm doing the same as i was last week. but at least i've had over a full week of normal sleep so i feel pretty normal in relative terms. i am starting to notice little things that are probably not very important that in my head are signaling that labor is soon to come. usually just pains in strange places that i haven't felt since i was really close to having max. plus i've been having small cramp-like contractions in the evenings for most of this week. nothing time-able but still noticeable.

to all my knitting friends, thanks for coming to my house on sunday for knitting! you have no idea how much i appreciate you coming out this way :) i do have to apologize though, i was in a sluggish mood and felt like i wasn't being the best hostess. i hope you all understand! and as a few of you pointed out, babies ARE in fact able to attend so hopefully i'll be able to make it to a few of the next few get togethers after andrew arrives.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

quick update

things are back to normal, ahhhh!

i am back on my own side of the bed, and i realized that the reason for me waking up and not able to get comfortable was because my legs (from my hips to my feet) are achy. so what did i do? i took some tylenol! duh! i slept like a baby last night and even took a small nap this morning (also aided by tylenol) and i feel like a new woman!

i have a drs appointment tomorrow so i plan on talking to the docs regarding this and how healthy it is and so on.

it's amazing what a full nights worth of sleep will do for a person!

Wednesday, January 9, 2008

is the end near?

i swear if it isn't here soon, i will seriously consider being induced....

i've never been so tired in my entire life

i've never been so uncomfortable in my entire life

i've never wanted to just HAVE this baby already in my entire life.... ok so that one was a stretch... but seriously. i would be so happy to just go into labor in the next two weeks and be done with this whole pregnancy bit for a little, er LONG while.

the unfair part: these last few weeks you're tired from lugging around extra weight on the front of your body, you're tired from picking up your 16 month old and lugging HIM and THE EXTRA weight up and down the steps, you're tired well just because you can be and you're tired from lack of comfortable sleep positions.... yes sleep has pretty much all gone to hell. i had a bad sleep patch about a month or so ago. that made me crabby.... then i was sleeping all wonderfully again until last week sometime. since then i have started to not be able to fall asleep until 1:30 then 2 then somewhere around 3 and 3:30 then 4.... then last night the king of all crappy nights of sleep, 5 - yes that's FIVE AM! i then woke up promptly at 8 am and dozed off again until 9. thank god for chris who is still on winter break so he got up with max and fed him breakfast but i could hear them and thus i was fully awakened by that time.

three hours of sleep is really not very helpful. 3 hours means i'm crabby mommy and crabby wifey. and no one appreciates either of those two people. including me.

we've tried a few tricks. one, being that we swapped sides of the bed that we sleep on. see over the summer, we got a new bed and moved it's position in the room. because of it's new position and the position of our closets, chris and i swapped sides. it took about a week to adjust but we were doing just fine since then. however i realized a few nights ago that i prefer to sleep on my left side, that means i'm facing him and he's breathing on me or in my direction and that's just icky. so i suggested swapping back until the baby comes. yeah, that apparently wasn't the problem since it was 5 am and i was just falling asleep.

i haven't been drinking any caffeine that would affect my sleep habits, i haven't been eating anything that would do the same.... i just can't figure out what the problem is.

chris suggested this morning that i wait as long as i can to go to bed. something that i had thought i was doing.... around 11 or so my body just needs to be horizontal. thus bed time cue right? apparently not. i considered getting up and watching some tv last night but then i thought, ugh, i would rather stick a hot poker in my eye than watch some dumb late night tv shows..... so i stuck it out and tried to fall asleep some more. and no knitting at that hour is out due to sever groggyness... see, i'm tired and so is my body i just can't get comfortable...

plus, the couch is just not comfortable anymore.... no where is... apparently the bed isn't either.... since it seems that after about 20 minutes in one position in bed, i have to toss my body to the other side and try to get comfortable all over again. this results in the most painful crotch splitting feeling ever.... i thought it was bad with max.... yeah right... it's horrible this time around.... which is sorta surprising. i feel like i could seriously just break in half. at the crotch. lovely i know but it's the truth and it hurts damn it and i want to bitch and complain about it. i think i'm allowed.

other than that... ha... things have been uneventful. max is continuing to grow in lots of new ways. we've been outside a lot these past few days since it's been so nice. he loves the freedom and loves walking up and down the sidewalk and picking up rocks and trying to navigate steps. which is all so fun to watch.

i'm looking forward to my knitting get together planned for this weekend. i haven't had any mommy only with some girlfriends time in a while. so i'm looking forward to that since it will probably be my last for a while....

as for what is on my needles, a hat for chris and another bootie for my friend. i need to get upstairs to sit at my sewing table for a few hours too in the next week or else i'm screwed in terms of a gift for a baby shower that's on the 26th.

well, it's max nap time, so that means it's mommy nap time too.

sorry for the long complaint....

Tuesday, January 1, 2008

happy new year!

it's 2008! i can't believe it! lots of great things to come this year, a new baby, a few vacations this summer and lots of family time.

so far this holiday season has been wonderful. chris has been off of work for what seems like forever. he doesn't go back to work full time until the 14th. between now and then we have a few meetings here at the house and he as to spend a few half days at school too to get things ready for the semester. but for the most part we STILL have about two weeks of play time left. having him home has been such a treat for max and ME. i've come to rely on him an aweful lot due to me just being so damn huge and uncomfortable. and frankly i'm dreading him going back to work because he's such a huge help around the house and with max.

we celebrated the new year with some friends who came over last night. i made some yummy snacks (they were super delish) and we played left right center for a few rounds. then around 11 pm, they went home, she's expecting and only 8 or 9 weeks along so she's super sleepy and couldn't keep her eyes open anymore. so chris and i 1st broke the tv then as fate would have it by 11:30 it magically fixed itself so that we could watch some rather lame countdown to the new year programming. this is kinda funny actually, i tuned to KDKA's local first night coverage to find them announcing the clarks up on stage. now i'm not a FAN of the clarks by any means but you really can't be a pittsburgher and NOT know a few of their songs. chris and i were then joking around and i said, "oh man i HOPE they play the penny song." totally NOT expecting them to do that since it's sortof a slow song with make out qualities.... but wouldn't you know it, that's the FIRST song they PLAYED? we were both hysterical about that... everyone in the crowd was swaying back and forth and it was totally lame... from there we flipped between the other local stations and a few news channels. midnight struck, we kissed, chris took a few videos of this.... he had been drinking heavilly and thought this was the height of hilarity. he also documented my huge belly and the cats and we went to bed. fun times!

today, i'm not doing much, we took the tree down this morning and put the living room back together. i left the other christmas decorations up though... i don't want to put those away just yet. max went down for a nap after that. and i've been since watching Run's House. my parents are planning to stop by shortly so i do need to go get dressed and make some brownies to take to my sil's house for dinner tonight.

as for knitting and crafting: i need to step on the gas. i have a baby shower to attend in 26 days, i need to knit one more bootie for that and sew the two of them up. i also have to make a scalloped blankie for that shower too. plus i need to sew two more scalloped blankies for max and andrew. i think i mentioned this before that i've decided that andrew is going to bring max's blankie to him as a little arrival gift. i hope max GET'S it. or at least likes the blankie. i've decided the deadline for those is also the 26th. i want to be done at least 2 weeks prior to my due date since i'm convinced that i'm going early. ha! if that isn't a jinx, i don't know what is.

max is totally moved into his new room. he loves it! i've moved his clothes in there too and chris is currently painting a set of shelves that he made for him. they are a sunny orange color that is going to look awesome with the blue walls. photos to come soon, i promise! i put some of max's 12 month clothings into storage, moved it all to his new dresser and put out some 0-3 month items into the nursery. all i have left to do is a very thorough cleaning of the nursery and then andrew is more than welcome to arrive.

i'm now having a hard time coming up with a way to end this post. so i suppose i'll leave you with a photo, my cutie pie:

happy new year everyone!