Something other than a scarf

I finished Catherine’s sweater. I really hope it fits her. I’m a little worried about the arms though, they seem like they’ll be a little tight. If it doesn’t fit, I’ll just keep it for Gracie and then make Catherine another one. It really didn’t take me long at all.

My next project (it changes every day) is going to be a felted bag made with the Moda Dea “Cartwheel” yarn. I’ll probably start that sometime today.

We really need to go TODAY and get a baby gate for the living room/foyer area. We haven’t bought one yet because the kind we need to get is expensive and he really wasn’t paying much attention to the stairs. Well, he’s recently decided that he loves to climb stairs and wants to do it all day long. He’s really fast at it too. So, in the meantime, we put a couple of the kitchen chairs laid sideways across there so he couldn’t get through. We’ll last night he learned how to climb over the chairs. I swear I gave birth to a monkey.

Moda Dea - Yay!

Well, I decided that I didn’t want to continue the pink sweater for Catherine right now. It was taking me forever and there was no way that I would have had it done in time for Christmas. I will work on that after Christmas and it will be for Gracie. I decided to use my Lion Brand Boucle Yarn in Taffy to make Catherine’s sweater. It’s bulkier and I can use size 13 needles which make it go faster. I have the back and one of the sides of the front done. I should be able to finish it by tomorrow.

I went to JoAnn’s last night and bought 2 balls of Moda Dea “Cartwheel” in Bronzeberry hoping it would be enough to make a pair of socks. Looks like it’s not quite the yarn I needed for socks and it wasn’t enough. So I went on eBay this morning and ordered 3 balls of Moda Dea “Sassy Stripes” in Polo to do the job. I got all 3 balls, plus shipping for $11.96 which I thought was a pretty good deal. It’s probably a ball more than I will need, but I figure if they turn out, I might make Gracie some matching socks too. I think I’ll use the Cartwheel to try a little felted bag. I have never felted before, but the yarn is 100% wool, so it should work, right?

I’m almost done with my Christmas shopping. We just need to go to the mall to get Julia a gift certificate and I need to go to the bookstore to get Austin a couple of books and to get Soren’s book. I need to finish Catherine’s sweater and make Soren’s blanket. I need to learn how to get things done earlier instead of waiting until the last minute!

Manly hipster?

I finished my red Thick ‘n Thin scarf and also made Jason a “manly hipster” scarf. If that’s not an oxymoron, I don’t know what is…I’ll take pics as soon as we get our new camera. The old camera is terrible for taking pics of anything, let alone trying to get a close up shot of a scarf.

The project I’m currently working on is a baby sweater. If I have it finished before Sunday, I’ll give it to Catherine for Christmas. If not, it’s for Gracie. It’s a dark pink color and it’s made with sport weight yarn and size 6 needles. I’ll get some pics of that in progress too. I’m pretty happy with the way it’s turning out so far…

We’re getting our new camera sometime this week. We’ve decided on a Canon A630. It’s just a matter of finding time to go to Best Buy to pick it up.

Scarf OCD

Well, because my scarf drive is over and I still have scarf OCD, as my sister says, I’m going to make a scarf for The Red Scarf Project.

I’m half way through another scarf right now and then I’m going to work on making a little poncho for Gracie. If I get circular needles for Christmas, I might try my hand at some hats and even some chemo caps to donate to the hospital. Jason complained that I haven’t made anything for him, so I might try to fit a scarf in for him too. I just have to get some yarn that will match his coat and be “manly”.

We made a challenge for Austin to try to boost his AR points in reading. He’s doing awesome as it is, but I thought a little push might improve him that much more. They currently have AR teams in his classroom where they compete with the other teams to see who can get the most points. He has really boosted his team’s score by reading Old Yeller. He didn’t pass the AR test (only got 70% and you need 80%) but he did get 3.5 points. I wanted him to review the book with me first, but he jumped the gun and took the test the same day he finished the book. I’m still proud of the 70% though since that book is a 5.0 AR level and worth 5 points. Most of the books his classmates are reading are a 3.5-3.9 AR level and .05-1 point.

So the challenge is this:

If he gets 7-9 AR points in January, we’ll take him to lunch at Moe’s. If he gets 10+ points, he gets lunch at Moe’s and the book of his choice from Borders. I think 7 points is a very realistic goal. In December so far, he’s received 5.5 points and there is still almost a week left.

New Scarf

My yarn arrived yesterday and I made a new scarf today. I used the Sensations, Thick & Thin yarn and a size 19 knitting needle.

I think it turned out pretty good. It's kind of funky and not a cold weather scarf by any means. I used a ball and a quarter of yarn. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the rest of the yarn since there's not enough to make another scarf and I don't plan on ordering more. I have 2 balls of the Thick & Thin yarn that I'm going to make another scarf with. It's red with bits of yellow in it. I'm not sure yet what I'll do with that scarf when it's done.

Here's the pic of the scarf I made today.

My current obsessions

Ok, I think I have a problem. That’s the first step, right?

Now that I’ve admitted it, I’ll tell you a little about it.

I have a new obsession with yarn and books. I’ve always had an obsession with books, but it’s gotten better in the past couple of years. I did have the habit at one time of buying several books at a time and always having a huge back log of books that needed to be read. Since I got caught up with my reading, I’ve been buying books one at a time. This seemed to be working well since I don’t have a lot of time to read these days.

Well, I’ve blown it.

I’ve discovered used book sales. Not used book stores, but book sales. The kind that they have in the basement of the public library, particularly in Ann Arbor. That got the addiction started and it’s continued on to Borders and other regular priced places too.

It started a couple weeks ago when Jason, Austin, Jacob and I went to the used book sale at the library in Clinton. I wasn’t expecting much since it was in Clinton, but was pleasantly surprised. I picked up a copy of Angela’s Ashes in perfect condition for a dollar. While we were there, Jason overheard someone talking about the book sale in Ann Arbor, so we decided to go there and check it out. While we were there, Jason picked up 2 books, I got a couple for Ryan, Austin got about 50 (mostly Hardy Boy Mysteries, hardcover and paperback), and I got "Shadow Play" by Charles Baxter, "The Great Fire" by Shirley Hazzard, and "Snow Falling on Cedars" by David Guterson. We spent a total of $27 at the Ann Arbor sale.

Fast forward to last weekend.

We went to Border’s on Friday night where Jason picked up 2 books and I got “The Complete Adventures of Tom Sawyer” by Mark Twain and (I think) “Call of the Wild” and “White Fang” by Jack London. They had the hard cover classics for 50% off, how could I resist? Plus, they are books that I want Austin to read one day anyways.

Saturday, we decided to go back to the book sale at the Ann Arbor library and I picked up 5 more books. I got “O Pioneers” by Willa Cather, “The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn” by Mark Twain, “Sportswriter” by Richard Ford (for Jason), and “Sugarland” by Michael Chabon, and “Microserfs” by Douglas Coupland.

So, in the past 2 weeks, I’ve bought 12 books for myself. That’s in addition to “Little Women” that I bought the week before and still haven’t read. Plus, I have 4 books on my shelf that I’ve had for a while but have been stuck in boxes in the basement so I forgot about them. So I have 17 books in my back log. The thing is, I have probably only paid about $35 for all of those books.

I’m already trying to think about when I can make it back to the book sale again. Yikes.

The thing with the yarn isn’t so bad. I’ve been on a scarf making kick lately and I’ve been buying lots of yarn. I made 4 scarves yesterday for the scarf drive. Total collected to date: 113 scarves and 5 hats! After the pic below was taken, I made my 4 and someone dropped off 13 more.

I'm keen for Keen

I really want a pair of Keen’s. I’m eyeing a couple of different styles and am waiting on the next time we go downtown to try some on. I think I even have Jason wanting a pair.

The only thing I’m worried about is that they won’t hold up as well as my Doc Martens. I’ve had my Doc’s for almost 4 years and wear them almost every day. They are starting to get a little ratty looking, but still acceptable. The soles are barely worn and they still even have the original laces. The downside is that they are heavy shoes.

I’ve heard that the Keen’s are great quality, waterproof, lightweight, etc. They are comparable in price to the Doc’s, so that’s not a concern for me since I was going to spend that anyways. I just want another pair of shoes that will last me 4 years. I can splurge on a $100 pair of shoes, but they better last me a long time. I am so frugal, it hurts.

Anyways, these are the styles that I have it narrowed down to:

Bursitis and pelvic separation

I get a lot of hits on this blog with people looking for information on pelvic separation (also referred to as SPD or Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction) and bursitis in relation to pregnancy. I thought it might be a good idea to post an update on my “conditions”.

We’ll start with the bursitis. I don’t know if there is any correlation with bursitis (especially Greater Trochanteric Bursitis, like I have) and pregnancy. All I know is that my bursitis flares up when I’m pregnant. I don’t know if it’s hormone related or what. It was pretty bad a couple of months ago to the point where I almost went and got a steroid shot in my hip so I could stand it. I decided to try a maternity body pillow instead and let me tell you, it’s like Heaven. My bursitis didn’t bother me at all. Even my doctor noticed and commented on how great I looked and how she could tell by just looking at me that I wasn’t in pain. I went from tossing and turning all night because my hips ached to being able to sleep on the same side all night long. Yay! The trick was that I could keep the pillow between my knees and ankles and sleep kind of half on my belly and half on my side. This kept direct pressure off of my joint and kept the bursa from being inflamed.

Then on Halloween, we took the kids trick or treating and I walked a lot more than I should have. I was so scared that my bursitis was going to flare up, but it didn’t. Wow. The only thing is, my pelvic separation was worse. Ever since then, it’s been a constant pain, especially in the evening and in the middle of the night. Since my pelvis hurts, the only way I can sleep is to sleep directly on my side with my pillow between my knees and ankles but with my knees together at the same level. I can’t sleep half on my belly and half on my side anymore. This causes my bursitis to flare up because of the direct pressure. I swear I can’t win.

Right now, the bursitis isn’t too bad. It’s pretty tolerable and I can’t really complain about it. I keep hearing my pelvis “pop” when I roll over in the middle of the night. It’s almost like it shifts and then I go to roll and it’s locked. Once I move it so far, it unlocks and pops. This is especially painful if I get out of bed and try to stand up and take a step when it’s locked. As soon as it unlocks, I’m fine. I don’t know if that makes any sense or not to someone who doesn’t have the problems associated with pelvic separation.

So there it is, what I’m feeling at 21 weeks pregnant.

I was 29 weeks when I was taken off of work last time. For some reason, I think I’ll be able to go longer this time. I don’t know if it’s just not as bad this time or if I’ve just learned to manage it better. I don’t know that I can take being home all day but not being able to do anything. It’s a lot harder than it sounds.

It's a girl!!

Well, we're having a girl this time. Her name will be Grace (Gracie) Marie.

I was so sure it was going to be a boy. We had the ultrasound on Thursday and I swear it was Sunday before it finally hit me that "Hey, I'm having a girl."

Corinne and I went shopping and I was having fun looking at all of the cute little shoes and booties and dresses that I'll be able to get for Gracie.

For updates on the rest of us...

Jacob is sick. He's got a really nasty sinus infection and is all boogery and yucky. The amoxicillin makes him throw up and makes his diapers just lovely to change. Hopefully he will be back to his old self soon.

Ryan is still Ryan.

Austin is doing great. He got his report card and got all 3's and 4's which, I guess, is the equivalent of A's and B's. I don't understand why they can't just give letter grades.

Jason and I are doing well. We're starting to think about finishing the basement and making it into a family/play room and storage area. I can't wait for that project to be done. My house is feeling pretty cramped lately. I guess that's what happens when you have 3 kids, 2 adults, 2 cats and another baby on the way.

Anyways, here's a couple pics of the Jake-a-nator...

Updates…

Jacob: He’s wonderful. He wants to walk so bad, but he’s just not quite there with the balance thing. He’s still not interested in crawling, at all. He’s allergic to something but we haven’t figured it out yet. He’s got some eczema on his legs and diaper area that gets worse when he eats certain foods. I’m suspecting it’s anything tomato based, so we’ve spent the last couple days avoiding anything with tomatoes in it and it seems to be working. I was also suspecting strawberries, but he had some strawberry banana yogurt yesterday and was fine.

Ryan: He seems to have developed “cough-variant asthma”. He has an inhaler and he thinks it’s cool because Jason also has one. He’s enjoying soccer and scoring lots of goals. I think the record so far is 5 in one game.

Austin: He’s doing great. He’s playing tackle football this year and the games are a lot of fun to watch. Way more fun than flag football ever was. He’s kind of slacking off on his school work (especially math), but I laid down the law and threatened to get rid of video games and possibly football if he didn’t straighten up. Seems to be working so far.

Jason: He’s loving his job. He gets to go to a conference at Penn State and he’s pretty excited about that. I wanted to go, but couldn’t get the time off of work. Oh well, maybe next time.

Me: Still pregnant and so far so good. My bursitis has flared up, but my doctor agreed to let me get a steroid shot in my hip, so that should make things better. I can only get a limited number of shots though, so I want to make sure one is really needed before I go in. I think I can only get 2 shots total. I’d hate to get one now and have it flare up even worse later in my pregnancy and not be able to get another one. The pelvic separation is acting up, but so far it’s not too bad. It’s worse when I’ve been more active, so as long as I take it easy, I’m fine. The bursitis isn’t so nice and flares up for stupid reasons, like walking around Ikea or the mall. Ugh, I love being pregnant, but my body hates it.

I need to update more

You have to watch this youtube video...I'm dying.

The creator of the video won't let you embed it, so you just have to click the link. Jerk.

I Suppose...

I'll start updating this again now that I'm pregnant again.

That's right. I'm pregnant. Again.

How did this happen, you ask? Well, being the good Catholics that we are, we tried the whole NFP thing. It's kind of hard to do when you haven't had a cycle since you gave birth to a baby 5 months ago though. So we did the best we could. Apparently, it was in the cards for us to have another baby right now, so here we are.

Jacob is getting big. He's learning to sit and can roll over both ways. He's scooting on his belly both forwards and backwards too. Not too shabby for a 5.5 month old.

Austin just finished up his baseball season. He made the all-star team for the second year in a row. He got into a little bit of a hitting slump, but seems to be doing better. He's found his niche at 1st base. Now it's football season...

Ryan played soccer in the spring and scored two goals. We were pretty proud of him considering he was the smallest kid on his team. He's already telling people that he's not playing t-ball next year because he's too good. He has a point. We took him to the batting cages and he hit about 10-12 balls in the slow pitch baseball cage. The balls still go 40-45 mph which is faster than the machine pitch that is used for Austin's league. He can hit like it's nobody's business. Plus, he has a great arm and can catch. He's 4...

Jason and I are doing good. We're adjusting to having 3 kids, but so far, it's been pretty easy. We went to the new Ikea store in Canton and decided that it is our new favorite store. We had so much fun there that we went back the next day with the boys and bought them new beds and accessories. Who knew that a twin sized loft bed, a full sized loft bed, a twin sized mattress, two comforters, a bunch of other accessories, etc. would fit in the back of the van when all 3 kids were back there. You have to love the efficient way they package things. The only drawback is that you have to put the stuff together yourself and they provide you with cheap screws.

We'll, I've updated.

I've made a website for Jacob

Jacob's birth story

Ok, here's the story really quick while Jacob is sleeping...

I was having contractions 5 minutes apart for a couple of hours and Jason came home from work early. I called the doctor and told the nurse about my contractions and she told me to stay home and rest and if they started to get painful or closer together she wanted to know. She told me to call her back in an hour and give her a status update. So we got in the car and drove towards my doctor's office since it's 45 minutes away just incase they wanted to see me. We got half way there and I called and gave them the update and said they were still 5 minutes and still weren't really painful. She said to stay home and lay down and drink lots of water and take a hot shower and see if they go away. The whole time I'm thinking, yeah right, like I want them to go away. So since we were out, we decided to walk around downtown to see if that would help get them going. I knew it would hurt because of the pelvic separation and bursitis, but at that point, I didn't really care. We walked to a store that a friend of ours works at and talked to him for about an hour. While we were there, I noticed that the contractions were 3-4 minutes and still didn't really hurt. We decided to go to the student union and get some chinese food to see if something spicy would kick start the contractions. They were still 3 minutes and the pain was just a little sharper by the time we left, but they still didn't really hurt. I called the doctor's office and talked to the on call doctor and told her about the bloody show a couple of days earlier and about the contractions. She told us to get to l&d right away.

When I got there, they hooked me up to the monitor and I was contracting every 2-3 minutes. They checked me and I was dilated 4-5. They asked me if I wanted to stay and they would break my water and get things started. I of course said yes. They sent us to one of the l&d rooms and broke my water at 9:10 pm (EST). I started having some painful contractions and opted for my epidural. They did that at about 10:15 and it was such a relief. At 11, they checked me again and I was still only dilated 4-5 so they gave me a bit of pitocin to get things going. Around 1:00 I started having some contractions that were coming through the epidural a little and I could feel the pressure, but also a little pain. Not too unbearable though. At about 1:20 I started feeling pressure like I had to poop so the nurse called for the doctor. The doctor came in and checked and I was fully dilated. At 1:30 am I started pushing and at 1:39, he was born.

The pelvic separation is definitely better. The bursitis on the other hand seems to be inflamed. I don't know if it's because I'm retaining water or because I slept on the hard hospital bed. At least I can take motrin now, which does help.

Here are a couple more pictures:

Jacob is here. I'll update more after I get some sleep. For now, here's a pic.



We loved this hat, unfortunately it was hospital property. Anyone know how to knit?

Still no baby. I'm getting very impatient.

I have a feeling it will be sooner than later, but who knows. I thought I was having this baby weeks ago. I have another appointment on Thursday, but I'm kind of hoping that I don't even make it until then. I just want him to be here!!

Sorry to leave you hanging for so long, but I still haven't had this baby. I have an appointment in a couple of hours, so we'll see what happens.

My feet are swollen and I can't wear my shoes anymore. It's a pain, literally.

I'm 37 weeks, 4 days right now so this baby can be born any time. The sooner the better.

Still no baby. Maybe tomorrow, I just have to be dilated to 4 and they will keep me. Keep your fingers crossed. I kind of have a feeling that won't be the case, but we'll see. I haven't had many contractions since the day before yesterday.

I was home with a sick kid all day today. I think Ry has croup. He's got that barky cough and a fever. He's such a little trooper when he's sick though. I had to keep Austin home today too because he had a dentist appointment this morning and had to get a tooth pulled and a couple of fillings. I wanted to make sure when the numbness wore off that he wasn't hurting, plus the dentist wanted him to take it easy so he didn't start bleeding again or get a dry socket. Austin didn't think the dentist thing was a big deal at all. He's so not like me or his dad. He said yesterday that going to the dentist is his second favorite thing to do besides go to the movies. There's something wrong with that child...

Hehe, no baby.

Not many contractions either. So I went into pre-term labor and now I'll probably go past my due date. It's just a waiting game now. I really wish I could get out of the house and walk around to let gravity do it's work. I do have to go to the mall this weekend to get nylons to wear on Sunday for Matthew's baptism so maybe I can try to walk around there. I know that walking around Target for 20 minutes usually kills me and that was before the baby dropped. Now, I'm having more problems with my pelvis (bones rubbing together, not fun) so I don't know that I'll be able to manage it.

I still need to get a diaper bag. The baby can't be born until I find one that I like, so it might be a while.

Still no baby. I did go to L&D on Saturday night, but they sent me home. It was just my irritable uterus acting up and they weren't real contractions. They did check me though and I'm now dilated to 3!! One more cm to go and they will keep me in the hospital and break my water and get things started. Yikes. It could be today, it could be 5 weeks from now. We just have to sit and wait.

The baby has dropped though and it's making my pelvic separation 1000 times worse. I can't wait for this pain to be gone. My hips haven't been too bad lately. I don't know if it's because I'm resting more or if I'm just getting used to the pain. At any rate, I haven't had to take meds before I go to sleep in the past 3 days. It's a record...

We found out yesterday that our new neighbor used to be a midwife in her old country. I think she's from Cambodia. That's good to know in the case of an emergency. We're talking a "the baby is coming right now" type emergency though. I know a midwife in Cambodia is totally different than a midwife in the US, but she would still know more than I would when it comes to delivering a baby, ya know.

In other news...

Austin was selected to be in Junior Great Books this year. He was one of 3 people picked from his class. It starts today and he's really excited about it. I think it will be good for him. He has to read books and then they meet after school twice a week to discuss the books. It's supposed to be for kids who need the extra challenge and will improve his reading and comprehension skills along with improving his vocabulary. I'm very proud of him!