Nearly one month in and boy are my wings tired!

Hello, gentle readers!  I have a moment's reprieve from the chaos and wanted to let you know that we are all doing just fine.  Baby is growing, knitting is happening, Maegwin is crazy and fun, Josh is enjoying me being home.  I've no idea the state that my house might be in when I go back to work but I think the children and husband will all survive.  hehe  I warn those who are not knitters that this might be a knit heavy post because I haven't put up anything I've made in a while.  First, I shall dispense with the cuteness and those who choose to head off after that can do so with a lighter heart.

Maegwin is absolutely smitten with her little brother.  The problem is more keeping her off of him than getting her to like him.  A good problem to have and I think he will make it.  Humans have survived this long with older boisterous siblings after all.  She does often want to do things with me and always seems to time it when I'm nursing and can't get up.  Then she will say "Just put him on the couch.  He'll be fine."  Yeah, not if I take his milk away, sweetheart.  Now that I am feeling mostly physically recovered (I had a bout of mastitis that knocked me for a loop but thanks to modern medicine and antibiotics I'm fine), I am hoping to start doing walks with everyone each day.  The weather is still gorgeous and not yet super humid so now is the time.

Nearly everyday Maegwin goes out and picks some sort of bouquet of wildflowers from our yard.  We don't spray anything on our yard and we try not to mow the backyard too low.  As a result we have a profusion of wildflowers, bees, and butterflies as well as a host of other creatures.  We even have a hawk who frequents our yard which is pretty fun to see.  Here is just a sampling of the bouquets I've received:

Some other floral goodness in our house-my miltonia orchid has bloomed!  I bought it last year at the orchid sale at the conservatory and had no idea what color it was.  I only knew its type.  It turned out to be my favorite color...yellow!  and it has a pink center!

If you will pardon the sad selfie with lighting behind me (bad Nina, bad!), I am so stinking proud of getting two blooms on this thing at the proper time of year.  I nursed this guy all year and apparently got it back to health.

Also, my African violet is going crazy in the same window.  I repotted it not too long ago and it seems pleased with its new environment.

As mentioned previously, the wee man is doing well.  He has received some additional gifts from my Itty Bitty Knits group and is making use of them all.

He has helped me clean the kitchen.

And even supervised my sock knitting.

It's hard work being a baby in this house!  Oh and he reprised the role of a wizard from Final Fantasy.

I had my first beer in almost a year and it was everything I thought it could be.  Of course it was from the brewery we lived down the street from in Hayward.  Accept no substitute for summer beer-ing!  Note the crazy amount of crafting going on in the background.  Cross stitch, four yarn bowls with projects in them...I call this my nursing anti-boredom station.

Now for the segue to knitting items, I give you Maegwin as an alien.  Pay no attention to the mess behind me and take me to your leader.

If you are still with me, I can only assume that you enjoy a good hand knit and I have some for you!  First off I completed a second pair of socks for Maegwin.  I seem to have discovered the secret sauce for getting them to fit her and she's actually wearing them and asking for more.  I'm trying to make them in colors that also would work for baby Joshua once he is older so that we get more use out of them.  I mean, toddler feet do grow and fast.

These were made with my leftover Chroma from my cardigan that I made just before I got pregnant.  The colorway is Guppy and she really loves them.  They have felted a little bit on the bottom already but I expected that since it is a single ply yarn.  Still, I think they will be warm for winter and they fit well into her hiking boots.

Next up, a pair of vanilla socks for me.  These were done in Blueberry Pie Studios yarn-Cupcake with Sprinkles colorway.  It was my first time using this yarn and I will definitely use it again.  I have enough leftover for socks for Maegwin and maybe a hat for Joshua or mittens for either of them.

Not a great photo, but I had just finished nursing him and couldn't get up.

Finally I just finished a pair of Lilybet socks out of some mystery yarn I bought at Knitters Connection in 2009 on clearance.  It has gold sparkles in it too.  I tried to knit this into no less than four pair of socks and ended up ripping them all out.  Apparently it was waiting to become these beauties.

I love everything about them although I forgot how much longer knitting a patterned sock takes!  I actually knit them in about two weeks but this is the most knitting time that I've had in ages.  I'm glad I finally found a use for this beautiful yarn and the leftovers will probably go into hexipuffs for my Beekeepers Quilt.  Still making those also.  Still a few years from a blanket I think but I'm enjoying making them here and there.

Whew!  So that's it of things that I have finished but for me that is quite a bit.  I'm also working on my Once Upon a Time cross stitch and I'm about to finish up April's square.  I've got May partially done and June's comes out tomorrow.  Can't wait to see what story it is.  Maegwin was looking at it with me last night and naming all of the stories.  As long as somewhere in there we get Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and Beauty and the Beast we will be all good.  Those are her favorites besides Snow White which we already have as January's block.

Hope you all are having a lovely spring so far!

The Storkman Cometh

The big day finally arrived!  On Sunday, May 4th I woke up at about 5 am with some contractions...nothing too out of the ordinary and about 30 minutes apart.  By about 6 am they were 15 minutes apart and getting stronger.  I woke up Josh and he started prepping the house for heading to the hospital, just in case.  We called Mom and put her on the alert at about 7 am.  By 8:30 they were five minutes apart and quite strong so we got in the car with Maegwin and told Mom to just meet us at the hospital because there was no way she was getting here in time.  Maegwin was a little scared that we were going to leave her so I was trying to reassure her between contractions I could barely breathe through.  We managed the hand off and the limp inside (thank goodness for pre-registration!  I feel like even with it there were an inordinate amount of people asking me questions while I was trying to focus on breathing).  We headed up to labor and delivery and were the only patients on the floor.  They checked me and even though my contractions were regular and four minutes apart, I was only dilated 2.5 cm said the nurse so we were sent off to walk.  That was agonizing!  Seriously I played the most horrid game of musical chairs that one could possibly imagine.  It was shamble, sit, contract, repeat.  After about three contraction cycles of that (she had told us an hour...seriously) I said screw this, I'm going back.  We did and I was already dilated enough to admit me.

Once we were back in the room, we told them to numb my hand prior to putting the IV in.  Luckily this time we had a really great set of nurses that agreed to it.  They gave me lidocaine then proceeded to take both of them poking around in my hand three times before calling the anesthesiologist.  He had to lidocaine and stick me twice before finding a vein, but he did in my right wrist.  Not a fun place to have an IV, but hey it worked.  They got me started on saline right away-again lesson learned from last time-and antibiotics since I had a positive strep B test.  I labored for a little bit til the OB on call came in.  He was awesome and good humored by the way and totally our style.  If I ever had another baby I would love to have him deliver it.  He broke my water and then I got my epidural.  Same anesthesiologist came in and seriously, this dude deserves a medal or candy or something.  I told him last time that I had a hot spot in my left leg and he said he was going to try to get me all the way numb.  I leaned over and he got into the space and I felt a shooting pain down my left leg.  Knowing from last time to give feedback I told him and he kept shifting right until I didn't feel it.  Apparently I have a HUGE nerve bundle that he had to get past and he said most likely the last doctor didn't know that and didn't do it.  That epidural was AMAZING!!!  After that, labor was comfortable and we just let things take their natural course as little Joshua moved down.  They gave me some oxygen since his heart rate dropped just a bit briefly but afterwards was fine.  At about 4 pm I started pushing.  I had allergies acting up and kept coughing and apparently that was pushing him out too.  LOL  I shall henceforth not hate the cottonwood so much.  (tell this to me in a month when it looks like it snowed in my yard)  The doctor knew that Maegwin had shoulder dystocia so we tried a different position with this little guy and it worked out well.

At 4:42 pm, baby Joshua entered the world!

Weight: 9 lbs 8.5 oz
Length: 21.5 inches

He beat his sister by 5 ounces!  The baby hats they had wouldn't fit on his head but I was prepared, although this stripey hat barely fit him.  What is better than instant wrapping in hand knits, I ask you?  They put him on my chest after getting his airway cleaned out and all the checks and within 30 minutes I got him to latch and nurse a bit.

We stayed for two days in the hospital.

On the second day, Maegwin came out to meet him.  She was smitten but was so excited that we had to keep reminding her of his delicateness (she wants to tickle and poke him-I love her enthusiasm).

We are all adjusting to the new addition but I think it is going well.  Josh and I are making an effort to spend special time with Maegwin whenever the baby is sleeping.  She really loves her brother and desperately wants to give him a bottle.  I ordered some new nipples for ours and they should be here Sunday.  Yesterday I pumped a few ounces so the freezer stashing has begun.  As with Maegwin, I seem to already be over producing on the milk.

We just love our little guy!  Maegwin said "I love that we are a family now!" which I thought was so cute since we were a family before.

Love to all and to the mothers and grandmothers in my life-your Mothers' Day gifts/cards may be a bit late but no less filled with love.  We're just a bit busy. hehehe

The Waiting Game

So we are playing the waiting game and I have to admit to not doing it very well.  I am crampy, not walking around well, and just testy today.  I think the rain and greyness is not helping the situation.  I decided to work from home today because the thought of getting dressed up and limping around to get to the bathroom as well as the long walks around the building just had no charm for me.

We had an ultrasound for size on Tuesday and they estimate baby J is about 8 lbs 13 oz right now-though they can be off by as much as 10% with the late term ultrasounds so he might be smaller...or bigger.  He was head down at least but free floating and apparently happy as a clam to stay in there.  I have to say, ultrasounds of babies at this point look really weird.  Josh said he looked like Slimer from Ghostbusters but they told us he was smooshing up his own face and he was perfectly fine.  I do admit I had a nightmare that night about taking a dose of cold medicine before realizing it had an ingredient in it I wasn't supposed to take and that I was so sad I made our baby not cute.  Pregnancy hormones are weird!  So anyway, the doctor said for now we wait and recheck on Tuesday to see if there is any dilating at all and if so we can help things along.  Otherwise, we are looking at a scheduled induction on May 5th at the latest.

Anyway, as I said I'm cranky about it-so on to better subjects!  We had a visit from Grandpa Kevin and Maegwin had a blast!  She helped with cleaning in anticipation of his arrival:

And had so much fun playing while he was here.  I didn't get a lot of pictures because honestly I was kind of enjoying the break.  My energy level just hasn't been up to it which makes me sad sometimes but I hope she understands.

Josh also found a Dad's group in the area and we've gone to a few things with them.  Hoping that pans out-they all seem very nice.  The first thing we did is they had a family day where they went to the butterfly exhibit at the conservatory.  We have gone each year for three years now and Maegwin loves it.  She instantly took to one of the little girls and grabbed her hand and led her all around.

This was my favorite picture that I took that day.  The lighting turned out just right.

It was nice to see the orchids on display still too.  They have a retired orchid sale every year that I go to but this year we went the weekend before so they were still out.  We went back on the following Saturday just to get orchids and picked up a ton.  Our house is a little bit plant crazy right now.  I volunteered with my work at the conservatory on Friday and they were having me and two other people put together new felt display walls.  They were just going to have us compost the anthurium, bird's nest ferns, and some other tropical plants.  I asked if I could take them home because all of the plants were still so healthy and they said sure.  So we have a ton of them but I love having plants in the house again.  Also, my miltonia orchid that I got last year has a bud on it.  I'm looking forward to seeing it bloom.  Since I have no idea what color it is, it will be a fun surprise.

The ladies in my Ravelry group Itty Bitty Knits got together and organized a virtual baby shower and gifts have been arriving here and there in the mail. It's so fun to see them and I am blown away by the generosity and creativity of the group.  They are all so sweet!

Just a sampling above, but see what I mean?

I've also finished up some knitting lately.  For my friend Mary I made a pair of socks to thank her for letting me use her maternity clothes.  That was so amazing of her and I'd have had to spend so much to make up for donating mine without her generosity.

She said they fit well.  I texted her husband to get her shoe size and favorite color so I could surprise her.  :)

I also did a pair of socks for Maegwin.  They were going to be pink and purple but she insisted they needed yellow also.

She put them in the bag we packed for when she goes to stay with Mom while we are in the hospital.  She said "just in case I have a sock emergency, I will need socks."  That's my girl!  She loved them so much she wore just the one around the house for a day (that's why it is noticeably dustier) and as soon as I cast the second off she wore the pair to bed.

Another item I finished was this shawl for my swap partner in the Rainbow theme swap from my Itty Bitty Knits group.

I made one of these for Josh's grandma at Christmas and liked the pattern so I knit this with a heavier weight yarn to go a bit faster.  It was some yarn I got in a stash dive from my mom's knitting group.  I still have I think enough skeins to do a summer top for me out of it.

My last item I finished this morning at about 4:30 am.  Not sleeping well-again the crankiness...

This is the first knitted item I've completed for baby Josh.  I told him that he can come out now.  I promise him awesome stuff if he does.  Bribery is not winning so far.  More updates to come as we find out next week!

Shades of lavender

I was struggling for a title for this one, but for some reason the project I'm currently working on and the next one up are both in shades of lavender so I figured I would throw that on there.  Little known fact, I'm allergic to lavender (the flower not the color lol).  We've had a good couple of weeks since I last blogged and there are definite signs of spring.  We are having a true March that swings back and forth though.  I am really enjoying the ferocity of the seasons...I know, I know, people think I'm crazy.  I love bundling up in the handknits and I love the soft springy weather that still has some crispness to the air.  Autumn and spring are my favorite seasons and often spring around here is far too short.  It's like winter just becomes summer with no reprieve.  I think the gentle temps where one can have the windows open and smell the lilac bushes (we have a few outside our living room window) and have coolness for sleeping are just magical and wonderful.

I'm really looking forward to being off with the family at the tail end of spring and early summer.  It will be so nice to go outside instead of being shut up with a newborn.  I think we will have a lot of fun-hoping to do some zoo trips, walks, maybe a bit of flower gardening.  We are scaling back the veggie garden this year just knowing we will have a new baby.  I think probably just cover cropping most of the beds and buying a few tomato plants, potatoes, and onions.  Those are the things we eat the most and I can't let a whole season go by without growing any food-it just seems irresponsible since we have all that space and it does save us money.  We shall see how it goes, but those are all pretty low maintenance crops.

In the crafting world, I've been pretty busy!  I am working on a secret project for someone so I can't share that but I'm about 50% of the way there and I love how it is turning out so far.  I hope they like it as well.  I finished a pair of socks out of the Patons Kroy Blue Ragg sock yarn I've seen everybody using lately.  Nothing special, it's just from JoAnns but I really loved the stripes.

I finished these super early in the morning on a day it was still super cold and was lamenting that all my socks were in the wash and then remembered I had a brand new pair.  I popped them on as soon as I got out of the shower.  I got more of this to make sleeves for a sweater for the new baby.  I was thinking stripey sleeves with a solid navy body and maybe some fun buttons that match with the stripes...might even use the fun science buttons that I got in a swap from my Itty Bitty Knits group.  They make me think of the Big Bang Theory show-which if you haven't seen it you really should.  It's hilarious!

Yesterday, we made some new bunny crayons.  We did this two years ago I believe and I've been saving all of Maegwin's broken crayon bits when I find them on the dining room floor.  It was to the point where I had a quart size bag of them so as part of the cleaning process we did yesterday I decided it was time to make those into something useful.  We peeled and sorted so we had mostly tonal or single color ones and there were a few rainbow ones that she wanted to make.  Popped them into the oven at 225 for 15 minutes and bam we had new crayons.  She colored a picture or two but had a lot of fun just stacking and arranging them.

She was talking about making a mousetrap and was using some playdough, some appetizer toothpicks (for a clothes stick for them to hang their clothes on, she said), and these bunny crayons arranged in a circle.

Some sort of druidic mouse ritual?  Who knows?  She might just be building a better mousetrap.

Note the princess dress-she pretty much alternates between the two that we have until we make her peel it off.  She goes exploring in them with jeans underneath.  We were keeping them down in the basement to make her wear other clothes but then I thought "Hey, she's only going to be this age once and who am I to keep her from being a princess if she wants to be?" so we just let it be and let her have fun.  She literally asks to change out of her pajamas as soon as she gets up and finds some shoes to put on.  She LOVES shoes.  Not sure where that came from.  I have some shoes and I certainly appreciate a good pair of shoes but I also repair mine until they can't be worn anymore.  I have some shoes that are 10-12 years old.  She likes to put on my shoes or her little mary janes, or boots, you get the idea.

Recently I've also won a few prizes on Ravelry!  It's been so fun since I don't often win things.  I participated in a worsted sock knit along and won a really pretty bag and mug for finishing and having my name randomly picked.

The yarn inside wasn't part of the prize but it fit five skeins in there so it's a nice little box bag.  That is one of the lavender yarns that I was talking about that I'm going to use to knit Cinnamon for Maegwin.  I think it will be a pretty transitional sweater for spring.  (I hope you all can see the link-Ravelry says no account needed to see pattern pages).

I also won a prize package for finishing up the slippers I shared that were for Josh's mom for her birthday.  It came all the way from New Zealand!

Two skeins of yarn I have never knit with, a little ruler bookmark, a silk notions pouch, and a sheepy luggage tag.  Maegwin has her eye on that luggage tag so it might go on her backpack for a bit.

Finally, I won a copy of the ebook Head to Toe: Kids Knit Accessories from Cooperative Press.  This was a prize from the Homespun podcast which is one of my favorites.  I was so excited about this one because it has such beautiful stuff in it and I can make things for Maegwin and for next winter for both kids.  Really looking forward to working some things out of this book.  I think my first project might be one of the pair of handwarmers because Maegwin almost wore hers out wearing them constantly when she went out to explore in the yard and they are too small for her now.  She definitely needs some new ones.  I love when she goes rummaging through our warm things basket to find stuff to gear up for going outside.

That's really all the news that I have.  We are heading out to Mom's today for her birthday lunch.  I made a pistachio bundt cake which Maegwin is referring to as the big green donut cake.  She says she wants one just like it for her birthday but it needs to be pink...and rainbow...and have ponies.  So really nothing like it.  lol

Making it up to you March

Sorry I totally missed posting in February...not sure how the month got away from me.  Well, I do know and I will just blame it on pregnancy and choosing to spend time with family and crafting instead of blogging.  We have had sooo much snow this winter, as I am sure you are all aware.  I think it will make for a gorgeous spring with tons of flowers since we've had a lovely protective snow blanket on everything for most of the winter.  I actually don't mind snow and am enjoying having a real winter like the ones I remember from childhood.  You know, when snowsuits were a good investment?  This year I even contemplated getting one for Maegwin but of course by that time the stores already had spring clothes.  Seriously people, stock the season...none of us are wearing shorts anytime soon.  But I digress.  Josh made a sledding ramp on the far side of the house for Maegwin and she loved it.

We also went on multiple "snow hikes" where we'd put her in the sled and just walk around the yard looking at various tracks and guessing at which animals made them.  Squirrels, groundhogs, bunnies, and deer are the usual denizens of our yard.  Probably mice too since we've caught several this winter when the polar vortex got quite bad and it was super cold.

Here she is also wearing an earflap hat and the fox cowl that I made for her.  It's a hood/cowl combo.  With those frigid temps we really bundled up.

We have got tons of use out of our handknits this year.  It makes me glad to be a knitter because honestly you can't beat good ol' wool for warmth.  I made a pair of mittens for Maegwin and she never complains about her hands being cold.  One day Josh took her out and put a pair of store bought cotton mittens on her hands thinking they were handknit and that is the one day that she said her fingers were too cold about 15 minutes into playing.  I need to whip up another pair though for layering or for when her others are wet and she wants to go back outside.  Her hands are so tiny that I can usually use scraps from my projects so she gets some pretty luxurious stuff.  hehe

I finished knitting another pair of socks and these are my favorites so far that I have knit this year.  I listen to a podcast called Just One More Row and the ladies on there started what is called the Clean Slate Challenge for the first few months of the year.  The idea was to knit all from yarn that had been in stash for more than six months and to clean off the needles of anything that had been sitting on them.  The yarn I used for these socks was from a yarn shop that closed at least a few years ago-A Tangled Tale.  It's Pagewood Farms Elias in the Forest Camo colorway.  I used the My Cup of Tea pattern which is free on Ravelry.

It is handwash only and my first time knitting with Blue Faced Leicester wool.  I have to say I'm totally smitten.  They are so warm and soft!  Even sticking my feet in the snow like this for the photo (hey, I suffer for my art) they kept my feet very warm.  I am wearing them at least once a week.

A friend on Ravelry had asked me how I organized my sock drawer so for those who follow my Flickr and wondered why the heck this picture was on there, now you know.

I got the honeycomb divider from a sale on Zulily and I really love it.  This isn't all my handknit socks but it's a lot of them.  I don't ever wear store-bought socks anymore.  The yellow ones in the lower left corner were a Christmas gift from my mom.  They are the first handknit socks I've received as a gift.  So fun!

I'm working on a hood/scarf combo for Josh that has this fun basketweave pattern but I've run into issues on the hood so it's in a bit of a time out.  The scarf is about 50" long and has a neat leather clasp closure so it makes it like a cowl that can be double wrapped to cover the neck and face then the hood goes up.  He wanted the hood to come down low over his forehead which I didn't understand when I started knitting it so I need to rip back and modify to add increases.  Still noodling that one over so I haven't done it yet.  It's almost done though.

I also finished up these fun slippers for my mother-in-law in California.  I promised them for her birthday and finally got over to Mom's to get them felted.  I had to wait on the yarn because I stupidly ordered it around Christmas and it took a bit.  I like how they turned out and hope they fit her.  I can't try them on because my feet are bigger than hers.  One didn't felt quite as much as the other so I'm hoping if that one is a little too big she can throw them in the wash for a few and get it to a good size.  I want a pair for me now!

I'm working on a pair of stripey socks now so I will share those once they are done.  I'm finished with the first sock and on the leg of the second.  Just making up a plain sock pattern.  I figure I've knit enough pair that I should be able to knit a simple no frills pattern.  Going well so far!

Finally I'm working on the Once Upon a Time sampler from Frosted Pumpkin Stitchery.  I get a square a month and they are all fairy tale themed.  I'm going to hang it in Maegwin's bedroom when I'm done.  It's been fun doing some cross-stitch again.  I tend to do it in the morning when she's not up yet or at work during lunch.  Bonus, the little thread labels make great witch nails!

She loves the picture so far and said the other day "Mommy, how bout we hang it up right now.  I don't mind that it isn't all done"  So sweet!

Here is Maegwin's latest creation.  She built a house for her animals and people.  I love how intricate it is.

She made an area for vehicles, some towers, in the back there's a bedroom with beds and a little star blanket.  There's a tiny rabbit hutch in the front.  I enjoy seeing her being so creative and this was all her own ideas.  We didn't prompt or help at all.

The bedroom is the back area with the two clock towers.  Those are alarm clocks according to her so they know when to wake up.  There's also a snack table for them if they get hungry and a domino to play with. Thanks to everyone who got her Duplos for her birthday and Christmas.  She literally plays with them every day.  They are the most used toy in the entire house.  Only the play kitchen comes close-that one is a daily item as well.

Things are going well at work-trying to wrap up loose ends before I'm out on maternity leave but honestly my team is great and very self sufficient.  I'm more worried about accomplishing goals for the year prior to being out.  I want a good review!  The pregnancy is also going well though I feel way bigger this time around than with Maegwin.  The doctor says it is all just second pregnancy-stomach muscles being looser and all that.  I am measuring essentially the same.  Only about two months to go.  We are very excited to meet the little guy.  I really haven't done any knitting for him.  Since he will be a summer baby I am pretty sure he is going to live in onesies and diapers.  Once I have a better idea of size for him I will knit some sweaters and stuff for fall and winter.  I might make him one outfit for the hospital photo shoot-not sure on that yet.

We got our new bed (a king size-yay!) which I intended to use Christmas money for but somehow I miscalculated how many exemptions I could take on my W-9 so we owe taxes this year.  I'm kind of kicking myself about that one since we've had a very expensive couple of months of 2014 so far (pipes freezing/bursting, ice in the dishwasher, Honda needing repairs, blah blah blah).  I had really hoped to have a nice bit of savings put aside for hospital bills and such but we will just have to make it work.  grr!

That's about it-we are all healthy and doing well.  It's snowing outside right now and we are expected to get 3-5 more inches of snow.  I'm glad it melted for a bit and yesterday it was almost 60 degrees so we let Maegwin go out and explore the yard.  I wanted to get pictures but I was having Braxton Hicks contractions so I basically just sat in my chair trying to breathe through them.  She brought me a dried hydrangea flower from the back of the yard though which was so sweet.  I leave you with a picture of the snuggling buddies.