Remember Kouros?

The other day my niece Emily greeted me at her dance class with, "I had a dream about Kouros last night!"

"You did?" I replied.

"Uh huh, and he stapled all my stuffed kitties to the sofa. And a bottle of shampoo."

This is why I don't bring him over to their house. Bad cat.

On taking time for myself

I went to a knitting group on Wednesday night!

I had knit all of 2 rounds on Enid since my girl Blue arrived, but I jumped back in the saddle again.

I had a BLAST!

See, it's hard to get time to do things for yourself when you have an infant. I'm not one of those women who will only spend money on her children. I'll always need a few treats and toys. And I'm not a martyr, either. I know I need to do certain things for myself or else I'll be unpleasant. But time is short when babies are small. I love my girl with all my heart, and I love doing things with her and for her. Time can fly so fast in this stage that days can pass without my leaving the house. I've realized that even while I'm not feeling any neglect, I still need some time for myself.

I have to make an effort to notice when it's time for me, because I'm so busy with my girl and I enjoy her so much. But I did give it a try this week. It was so much fun! I'm going to have to do it more often! A happy Mom makes for a happy baby... and a happy Daddy.

Little Blue Eyes turns 3 months old tomorrow!

A month and 6 weeks

Hi! Remember me? I've had a bit of a hiatus. Actually, I was going to take a week or so off to move, and then catch up again, but I blinked and suddenly I've been back in Minnesota for 3 weeks. What's even more crazy is that our little Blue is already 6 weeks old! And for continuing to come here even though I've given you zilch for a month, you get a cute baby picture...

She looks very solemn here, but in her everyday life, she's been smiling and cooing and generally adorable. She's met all of her cousins, all of her Aunts and Uncles except for the Sleepy-Voiced Sister (who's having a baby in April!!!) and her husband, all of her Grandparents and 4 of her 6 Great-Grandparents.

She's growing like a weed, and I'm just trying to enjoy it all. She's already outgrown her newborn clothes- you know, the clothes she's been wearing since she was born? The only clothes I've known her in? Yeah, it was oddly sad when I realized she wouldn't be wearing those things anymore. I'm not one to try to hold kids back, but I got a little lump in my throat when I realized how much she'd grown and changed. But mostly, I'm fiercely proud of how she's thriving.

As for other endeavors in my life, there haven't been any. I've mostly tried to get us settled in our temporary home and been on call to feed the girl. I haven't knitted a stitch (you were right, Jenny), painted or sketched. I have been taking pictures, though, as most new parents do, so it's giving me a creative outlet for the time being. Maybe I can get a job in photography...

I'm really trying to get online and update more often, but our computer in the basement isn't hooked up to the internet, and there are a number of people wanting to use the family computer around here. I'll do my best, though, because I miss all my imaginary friends!

Speaking of imaginary friends, I just picked up Crazy Aunt Purl's book! SO EXCITED! I haven't read any blogs since Blue was born, and this is like a little taste of my former life.

Must go- Blue needs to eat. It's been wonderful staying with SVH's family, because there are so many people who want to hold the baby. But I'm still the only one who can feed her...

This Mommy Gig

Man, is it tough! I'm exhausted! But then, it's worth it for this little face...


My girl Blue is a beautiful child, if I do say so myself. She's also gassy. We're working hard to get her to latch properly so she doesn't click and draw in extra air while she nurses. Fortunately, in the 2 short weeks of her life, her digestive system has begun to catch up and learn to process the gas better. Now she grunts and windmills those arms and makes MANY very un-ladylike sounds to get rid of it, but at least she doesn't scream all night because of it. She also smiles a lot to herself in her sleep because of it, and I know it's not a smile with all the meaning behind your typical smile, but it's still the prettiest thing I've ever seen.

Since we're totally sleep deprived and still trying to figure the girl out, of course we're moving to MN on Saturday. Yes. We are insane. The packing has been going ok- mostly because we did a lot while I was still pregnant. My friend Nicole came over yesterday and was the little Packing Nazi that I knew she'd be. She got a lot of my kitchen loaded up. Carl did tons of packing, too. I did one box while Miss Blue had a brief nap.

We also had our going away party yesterday. Just a note for any of you thinking of doing this- try not to move from someplace you've lived for 8 years where you've made fantastic friends while you're post-partum. It'll cut down on the tears. This week of saying goodbye is not easy, but the party helped us feel like we were getting on with it. I'll be glad when we're all safely loaded into my in-laws' basement. Then it'll all be done and we can take a moment to recover before job hunting and house/apartment hunting in the Twin Cities. Yay!

So, I may not be around much in the next week or so. I'm sure you understand. I'm making all my big life changes at once. Thank you all for your lovely notes about our girl. We're crazy about her- even at 4 am.

Oh, indulge me! Just one more!

At long last...

Here she is!














This is the first picture of my girl Blue, only minutes old. Of course that isn't her real name, but we're not going to put that out over the whole internets... you understand.
Here are the vitals:
Date of birth: Sunday, September 9, 2007 at 2:32 am
Weight: 7 lbs 15 oz
Length: 21 inches

And she's absolutely perfect. We're crazy in love.

I'm home. No baby, despite 9 hours of pitocin and contractions. We'll try again this weekend.

At this point, it's becoming really funny. Almost.

Actually, we're fine, just a little frustrated. It obviously wasn't time. The baby is still very active and healthy, and that's the most important thing. Keep your fingers crossed for Saturday!

Maybe I'll post more fake labor pictures.

P.S. No knitting coasters with an IV in my wrist. Bummer.

With a little help from pitocin...

Hi, going to be induced tomorrow morning. I have done just about everything I can to try to get this baby to come naturally, but it's not working, so I took today off to hydrate and rest up for the athletics tomorrow.

I'm on my 3rd coaster, by the way. If I get around to it, I'll post pictures of the different fabric produced by the two sizes of needles. Ta ta!

This was me in pretend labor last Friday... is it just me or does it look like I'm picking a serious wedgie?

The "When Will I Go Into Labor?" Coaster #1

Pattern: It's So Mod from Knitty Gritty
Yarn: Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece in Putty
Needle: Knit Picks Options Circular US 8

Super simple! I'm going to try the next on a US 7 to see if I prefer a denser fabric. I wonder how many I'll have before I have the baby...

Another near miss

Yesterday after my appointment with the doctor, she sent me to labor and delivery because I was having contractions (although not painful ones), I was about halfway effaced, dilating, and the child was definitely in position. I was monitored, I walked for an hour, they checked me and sent me home.

So disappointing.

It's going to happen soon, and they all expect me to go on my own this weekend. But man, to be in the room (where, incidentally, I left my toothbrush... I know, there for all of two hours and I managed to leave my toothbrush... my teeth just felt gross) and thinking this might be it and then to realize it isn't kind of sucks. I got to eat, though, so that's always good. And I slept like a log last night, so that's good, too.

Today? Mission: Labor.

Just like my library books...

I'm overdue. But here's a fun due date picture anyway... big old low-slung belly and all.
Hopefully the next picture I post I'll be HOLDING the baby...

Thwarted

So my first try to get labor going- take all the trash out to the dumpsters at work. It was all on a cart, so I wasn't making multiple trips or anything. Of course, two lovely helpful people came out of the greenhouse (glass houses means they can see you, damn it) to lift it all into the dumpster for me. I explained that I'm due today and I really WANT to go into labor, but there was no stopping them and their generous, helpful spirits.
Oh, bless their meddling little hearts.

Kouros Meets Chicken

Chicken is one of our landlord's cats. She's been living at their other place for the past couple of years, so Kouros has been the only cat at this residence. Now, Stan is back with 3 cats and Kouros had an encounter with Chicken at the screen door. I think it was the first time he's been close to another cat since we got him 2 1/2 years ago. He got himself all revved up to a yowl and then hissed! We've never heard him hiss before.

The funny thing is, Chicken is 20 years old. She's the Grand Dame of cats, moving slowly and not being phased by much. Kouros stopped hissing and yowling... he still had to prove himself with a couple of loud meows, at which she didn't even blink. After a while she left the screen door and settled herself down in the corner on the porch, and Kouros stood guard.

He's such an intimidating guard cat

No baby yet

Hello Loves.

My due date is quickly approaching (Thursday, to be exact) and I am still great with child. I was hoping perhaps the contractions I had last night might be the beginning of REAL labor, but alas, they were not. They were just a tease... but they did get me to put the last couple things in the suitcase for the hospital! I think we're ready to go.

I've been tired and rather warm. I find myself often sucked into my Ravelry page, adding in all my completed knitting projects. To find them all, I was going back through my entries here, and I found myself missing the art I used to do before I was so tired and pregnant and trying to get ready for the baby/ find a job/move to MN/pack up my apartment. I miss painting so badly I can barely stand it! I have wanted to see colors blend the way they do on a palette and a canvas since March and I've just not had that divine pleasure. I can almost taste it. That is one thing I so look forward to doing again. I know I won't have the time or the energy for a while, but to know that if I got the chance, I could without worrying that I was going to poison my little one. OH, such bliss.

If I have the energy, I'll be trying to pull my creative life back together again once we've moved. I'm really hoping that whatever job I end up doing will be moving me more toward a creative career. I mean, if it means keeping a roof over our heads and food in our tummies, I can work in science again, but I'm trying to take this new start as a chance to make a bigger change in direction. I'll keep you posted on that one. Maybe I'll be able to have an art project on the blog similar to the one I did last year in September... only it'll be limited by the length of a nap. Sometimes it's good to abandon your perfectionism and churn out the work. It won't happen until after we move (October 1, baby!), but I'm hoping it'll be on the horizon soon after.

Ah, the workday has ended, and I can go home. I want this child really get in touch with gravity. Think downward thoughts for me, won't you?

Another member for the Tippers*

I was planning on posting again yesterday because I eventually got over my cookie fix freak-out. I felt like MAYBE I'd made SVH out to be the bad guy... although he doesn't deny he DID take the cookies. He also said that they were absolutely half-gone, no matter what I say.

However, as we were finishing up at work, Carl (SVH) suddenly shouted that he'd cut his thumb badly with a pair of pruners. It still makes me a little bit sick to remember the feeling of hearing that. My stomach dropped. I threw him a huge wad of paper towels, and said, "Hospital?" He said, "Yes. Go." I ran and grabbed my keys and we left everything as it was and took off for the ER. He's very calm and collected, and despite the fact that I felt that icky sicky feeling in my gut, it definitely kept me calm, too. Calm enough to kind of chuckle in the car that it's probably unusual that a woman as pregnant as me running into the hospital ISN'T the one in need of care.

It turns out he didn't hit any bone, but he did cut off a pretty big chunk- the diameter of the tip of my thumb for certain. It hurt and it throbs now, and he got a tetanus booster along with getting patched up with some surgical foam, but he's fine, I'm fine, we're fine, everyone's fine here. How are you?

The ER can be a disturbing place. A little toddler came in, cradled by her mother with lots of blood on her face, which was so upsetting, but then they came out after getting her cleaned up and it turned out she had just tripped and bonked her head in just the right way... it would only need a couple of stitches, and she was fine. Still, scary. I can't believe I was pre-med once upon a time. I've gotten soft since my college days of shadowing doctors.

Such a day. We had been at the hospital earlier in the day for my weekly appointment, and I'm pleased to report the head is down, and the weight of the baby's head is starting to work it's magic on my birthin' machinery. It's good to know that this child will eventually be born. Last time I was in, I was told everything was closed for business. So we're getting very comfortable with the hospital grounds. I'm sure we'll be quite ready when the baby comes.

*"The Tippers" is what my father-in-law and sister-in-law (not the Sleepy-Voiced Sister who visited us at Thanksgiving) call themselves because of their penchant for cutting themselves much as Carl did yesterday. It's a common event over the holidays, when my father-in-law spends a lot of time in the wood shop. The first time it happened when I was there, I was a little surprised that the Monopoly game continued, with louder music and more drinks once he was on his way to the hospital, but now I know that they all have the drill down so well that there's nothing left to do but reminisce about all the other times it's happened. Anyway, I think SVH is a member of the club now.

Cookies

I've been pretty good throughout this pregnancy. But today, I just felt tired and crabby and I really wanted dessert after lunch. Like a lot. So my wonderful Sleepy-Voiced Husband took me to the grocery store, where I purchased some Keebler Fudge Shoppe cookies (the wafer kind) and a Twix bar.

Good for me? No. But, you know, good for me? Oh, my, yes.

I ate the Twix bar in about 2 minutes flat. SVH had started on the cookies and left them on my desk. Bad idea, homeslice. I started eating them. I didn't finish the cookies. I didn't even come close. They weren't even half gone yet (he might say they were, but he exaggerates these things- OH YES YOU DO! YOU KNOW IT!). But when SVH came over to get more cookies, I believe his comment was something along the lines of, "Holy Shit!"

And then...

He picked up the box of cookies and took them to HIS desk (we were in our office... the one we share with 6 other people)! And he said, "I'm going to save you from yourself." To which my internal response was, "Who is going to save YOU from me, though?" Really. I said I was carb-loading for labor. He said it was all sugar. I told him to shut up. I told him I was going to go back to work (we're working in different areas today, which is probably a good thing) before I punched him.

I don't think I've ever had such a snarling stray cat protecting my food kind of response before. It was bizarre. He's been fantastic throughout all this pregnancy... well, so have I, since I understood his humor about the whole thing... but, man, a line was crossed. He took cookies away from me.

He told me I could have more at break (3pm Eastern Standard Time), but still. It was so wrong. He knows that right now my greatest fantasy involves me, the bulk candy section of the grocery store, and a movie while lying in bed without anyone else around so I can pig out on the sweets that I have been CRAVING so madly and NO ONE CAN TAKE MY COOKIES! DAMN IT! I have a big baby in my belly and I'm hungry and I move awkwardly and I've been pregnant for like 3 years and if I want to eat myself silly just once, because it wouldn't take long because there's no room in there anyway but at least I'd have the satisfaction of having done it, then it's my prerogative! Sometimes you need to sample one of every candy bar in the cashier's line or eat an entire box of cookies or enough salt water taffy to declare yourself another sea.

Dude, I need to stop thinking about the cookies.

*hiccup*

This poor baby gets the hiccups every time I eat now. I'm watching my belly jump slightly every couple of seconds. It's always just after I've eaten. The first couple of times I noticed it, it was after I'd had either a sugary soda, or worse yet, a sugary caffeinated soda. But I just ate a greek salad and drank water, and these are definitely hiccups. I used to get them a lot when I was little, but it was usually after I had an uncontrollable laughing fit. Like mother, like child, I guess.

Ravelry revelry

Everybody's talked about it, everybody's heard about it, blah blah blah... but I really enjoy Ravelry! I got on it last week, and while I've been utter crap at getting my finished objects and yarn and other things up there for viewing, I'm enjoying the browsing! People make wonderful things! And it's all in one place! Definitely lots of fun. It hasn't gone totally public yet, but it will once they get onto the new servers.

Just in case you haven't heard about it, it's a knit and crochet community. It's also an organizational site for all your fibery stuff. There is a chart to inventory your needles, a place to keep track of all your yarn, a place to post pictures of all your finished objects and a place to queue up the projects you have yet to start. You can also look at everyone else's projects and yarns, and find out about all the substitutions and changes others have made to whatever project you're considering. Sometimes I think I could use a site like that for my life. But then I'd probably spend so much time getting everything entered into it, my life would probably stop, and then it would be useless.

I'm actually spending very little time on Ravelry, but I like that I can look up a pattern I'm considering and see all sorts of finished versions. I also like that I can enter a yarn and see what others have made using that same yarn. Excellent tool, all the way around.

Home Stretch

We're closing in... 36 weeks!


The belly has begun to drop and the maternity clothes aren't as roomy anymore. I've been very very lucky throughout this pregnancy, but I have to say, I'm looking forward to not being pregnant anymore. I dreamed the other night that I was not pregnant, and man, I moved SO easily. It was kind of disappointing to wake up and try to spring out of bed, only to feel more like a manatee out of water.

Gotta run! The parents and a couple of siblings are going to be here tonight, and I have maybe 17 pounds of cat hair to sweep up. Kiss kiss!

The lessons learned in college

It's going to be near 100F here today with ridiculous humidity... and I work in greenhouses. Not exclusively in greenhouses... there is also the head house, which is a giant cinder block cavern (brick oven) with a garage door to be opened and several exhaust fans to keep it marginally cooler. It gets you out of the sun, but it's still warm. We're getting all of our greenhouse work done ASAP to stay the heck out of there for the afternoon. And I've always got my heavenly, air-conditioned cubicle in which to take refuge.

I didn't wake up to go to the bathroom in the night until 5am. At least I don't think I did. I'm not always that lucid when I get up and sometimes I get in there and fall asleep again. Carl has mentioned a few 15 minute 2am bathroom trips before. Sometimes I might be eating ice cream in the kitchen during that time, but usually it's that I've fallen asleep in the john. I'm not proud.

Anyhoo, I think that means I'm not quite hydrated enough. It's been hot, and I've been drinking water, but pregnant women are always at a deficit anyway, and it's really easy to become dehydrated. I'm trying to drink a lot of water, but there isn't a whole lot of extra room in there these days. I eat a big meal and the child tries to crawl around to the back in search of more space. Seriously- I see kicks coming out my right side.

My plan right now is to take those dangerous, legendary drinking games and play them with water. I'm trying to do the power hour* or century club* or whatever variation you know and play it with water. Not measured shots- sips/drinks/glugs/whatever. Apparently my youngest sister has proven herself several times during the power hour, but I myself was never one to hold the booze all that well. Maybe I'll do better with water.

Wow. Life has really changed, hasn't it? This might officially make me a grown up.

* You take a shot of beer every minute for either an hour in the case of the power hour or 100 minutes in the case of the century club. Either way, you're drinking an incredible quantity of beer in a very short time (i.e. 10 beers in less than 2 hours in the case of the century club). I recommend not playing them in their original form.

A friend from work who was due a month before me had her baby this morning!

Soon, soon....

Have a delightful Friday!