Finn's first.

One of the benefits of "popping" out August a little early is that I was then able to attend Finn's first birthday!


Check out his cute shirt made by his mommy!

38 weeks yesterday.

And here I am at the pool the day before with my sister's kids - Maxie using the "profundity of my rotundity"* as a nice place to rest.




*Quoted from an actual statement made by hubs on an earlier occasion when he ran into me because he had underestimated my new size.

The room is totally ready to not be used for like two months.

Tomorrow is 38 weeks! Translation: every moment becomes a waiting game. When will the real contractions start? Will I ever stop having night sweats? Am I ready for child-birth (um, no. Duh.)? Am I ready for parenthood? From a planning standpoint, perhaps. BEHOLD! The place where the child will eventually sleep but who knows when:



I admit that I might get real sick of green and yellow, but overall the room is a pleasant place to be. I can only hope the nugget feels the same. Because I'm not redecorating anything based on the whims of an infant. Unless he's going to help me make new pillows, curtains, chair cushions, and wall art. I hope he's a grateful baby. And a quiet one. And a clean one. Oh, God.

Apparently I never posted about the recovered chair cushions, or the last two pillows, or the wall hoops. So here are a few detail pics of that madness:

The chair *before* in all its pink, straw-textured glory...


The chair *after*...


Victory is mine! Seriously never thought I could pull off something like this with limited sewing knowledge and a tendency to rush through things. I did have some good advice though. The pillows...


Love making pillows. So easy and fast; and I'm going to keep making more and more because I've always wanted to have a "pillow room." Hubs knows this. It will probably be located under the basement stairs someday and I will lounge in there with snacks and a book and make people answer riddles if they must knock on my door. And finally, the embroidery hoops made with fabric scraps from the pillows and the crib bumper...


So I used two of the four crib bumper pieces between the hoops and the pillows. Now that I guess I've officially started "sewing," I'm wondering what to do with the rest. But really it'll probably be another five years before I sew anything again.

Sm'Orr shower craftiness.

Once again I have to recognize my family for their generosity and general brilliance. My mom and sister threw us a shower last weekend, which was at my house and I totally recommend this because then you don't have to load all the stuff into the car to get it home. Here are the handmade gems bestowed:


It strikes me as very odd that our baby's room and some of his accessories have a bee theme - because what is scarier to a kid than bees? I guess the doctor. But bees are pretty scary. Regardless, illustrated bees are usually cute and so the theme remains and my mom cross-stitched one on a onesie. She also cross-stitched the Twins emblem without a pattern. Pretty impressed.


Every kid needs a blankie or three. You never know which one(s) they'll attach themselves to, but having a Patt-made blankie is a special tradition. Our friend has made one for all three of my sister's kids and, in fact, is making a new one for Laura because hers is just a tangle of threads at this point. So we must treasure the beauty of this knitting before it is bitten, yanked, spilled on, and generally loved to death.


Patt also made these super cute booties. You would think she weren't traveling the world for work or taking care of her own house and dog. Geez.


And my cousin Amelia, who is 13 (I think), knit this little blankie! Adorable; she probably spent hours and hours on this and I never even see her! But apparently she's getting a "babysitting license" this summer so that's going to have to change.


Becky outdid herself again by creating this amazing alphabet book out of a fabric letter set and a bunch of quilting prints. It's bound with just a ring and grommets. Chewable, droppable, throwable. She has pics of all the pages on her blog and they're worth checking out.


Aunt Dorothy did this cozy bear quilt. She couldn't make it to the shower but was very sweet to send something. She's been crafting for years and years and has done countless shows. I didn't realize she was a seamstress because I'm more familiar with her floral designs, but there you have it. Multi-talented.


And this one isn't from my family shower - it's from a shower with "the planner ladies:" the folks who got to know hubs while he was in grad school and/or their wives. Heidi, a domestic inspiration, sewed this plushy ball somewhere between caring for two young kids, recovering from cancer treatments, and probably making tortillas from scratch. She'd be an amazing women if she did half as much.

So I'm feeling a lot of love and support and am so grateful for the Bernard, Gray, and Orr families - plus all our friends who've been cheering us on all this time.

Stay tuned for the alien tentacles AND.....the nursery reveal!

This is why I've been neglecting the blog, but I can't use it as an excuse as to why I've been neglecting my dog.

I can't upload pictures unless I undo the hard drive connected to the desktop and hook it up to the laptop or get the freaking desktop TO JUST WORK. I've been too lazy to do the former and every time I try the latter I get the blue screen of death. So I can't share any of my fantastic new pictures of my belly, the baby room, or the tentacle trying to work its way into the house through a window moulding to use me as its alien voice box.

Someone is going to pay for this. Probably me. Like $1000 for a new computer that does what it's supposed to do. At some point you can expect the longest post ever written or a whole bunch of posts in one day that will catch us all up. In the mean time, I'll be nesting.

As for the dog, she's fine. I've just spent the last two days having a garage sale with my sister and if I had the dog with me she would just be annoying and I'd end up letting people swindle me even more and she'd probably pick a fight with my sister's dog who is a giant beast. So, you're welcome, Penny.

Crafty shower gifts: Part 1.

Both sides of hubs's family gathered recently to celebrate my belly fruit in the traditional way. Gifts, games, and sugar. I know so many talented people - I must share here the handmade items we received that day.


Cousin Beth, of Silly Goose Designs, fashioned not only a crocheted blankie but also some onesies. Seen here: a Twins onesie with our last name and number 11 on the back (for the year of birth*) and a plain white onesie with suspenders and a necktie added. Not shown: a white onesie with a suit vest and tie added and another white onesie with an airplane applique.


Auntie Sue made a cozy blanket with some kind of magical fuzzy fleecy material with a satin binding. Finn LOVES this kind of thing and has approved the use of this blanket for his cousin.


Grandma Gray made a fantastic quilt with all sorts of print fabrics mixed with a cute giraffe fabric on one side and a cozy giraffe-hide flannel on the other. She makes quilting look easy. Amazing. It was paired with a conveniently matching musical stuffed giraffe. I'm just tickled by it all because I've been knitting a giraffe. I wasn't going for a giraffe theme, but apparently I'm not the only one who senses that the baby will like these majestic creatures.**


Becky (the hostess), made many things for the shower which resulted in a very cohesive and professional look. Seriously impressive. As favors, she had some shower elves*** fill bags with M&Ms and then top them with tags of her own design - made to coordinate with our crib bedding.


See? Very cohesive. The cake (Queen of Cakes) was topped with the cutest little banner that Becky made.


Another hostess creation: decoupaged blocks.


Cousin Kelly painted and glazed a cookie jar that reads, "thank heaven for little boys." Also in keeping with the baby room colors. Such attention to detail these people have.


Grandma B made a cart cover from some adorable fleece that says, "I [heart] grandma" all around these sweet, giant-headed bears. I know I'm a freak about germs, but come on. Think about all those carts in all those places people go even when they're sick. Cart cover. Boom.

So those are the handmade goodies I have pictures of, and I think there will be more to come.


*Maybe this is self-evident, but sometimes I need to have things explained to me. Maybe it's because I'm pregnant. Maybe not.
**Point of fact: giraffes have blood pressure twice that of the average large mammal. Also, their hearts can weight 22 pounds. Geez.
***Shower elves = Deanna, Rachel, Lauren, and Sue. More party planners extraordinaire!

Curtains!

You thought I was crazy to tackle a sewing project while pregnant, right? Well, I was crazy. CRAZY GENIUS. And humble.

Actually, there was a large amount of luck involved. For example, whenever I mention that I don't know how to sew I'm also speaking of the fact that I don't really know how to operate the sewing machine. There are three dials on it and I don't know what any of them do. But I'm not a total idiot. I did a little test on some scraps to see how the stitches came out, and they came out great! So I did not touch the mysterious dials and proceeded in happy ignorance.

Boom.

The room feels like it's coming together because we've been on kind of a roll. Having spent the last few months in horrible "pain" from a foot surgery that conveniently allowed him to fry his brain with television and habitually ask me for a drink of water as soon as I would sit down, hubs finally got around to painting.*


And I finally got all my craft stuff into the craft room so we can actually set up the crib and whatnot. Yay!


* Looooove you!

31 weeks.

Technically, we're at 31 weeks and 2 days.

Goings on:
This morning I'm pretty sure I was scratched on the inside.

I continue to eat copious amounts of sugar, but some of it is in the form of fruit so stop judging me.

The right side of my diaphragm (front and back) continues to be increasingly squished.

In a strange diversion from my normal doomsdayish thinking, I'm feeling like I'm going to KICK ASS at birthing this child.

On the other hand I'm uber sensitive about the welt of a blemish on my cheek that won't go away, the fact that I either bought the wrong size shoes or my feet are indeed swelling, and the way my ridiculous hair never does what I want and I'm starting to have crazed visions of doing something drastic - like cutting my own bangs or buying a wig.


Nine more weeks, give or take. Cripes. Totally not ready, but pretty excited. Also a little hungry.

Tell that to my bladder.

I am not a fan of having my picture taken, but I'm told it's good to document important events - marriages, graduations, pregnancies, finishing that 32 oz. steak...*


So here I am at 28 weeks and five days.


And here I am pretending to do a warrior two pose. I wouldn't know because there aren't any mirrors in the yoga studio, but I'm *sure* I look way better in class. In any case, it's good to look silly anytime you can because if you ever plan on having kids it's best to just own it when you pretend to be a horsey. The only thing worse than pretending to be a horsey is pretending to be a horsey and looking mortified about it. That's just pathetic.


I asked hubs to take a picture of me depicting the pain I feel. I get daily comments on how tiny I am. Tell that to my bladder, bowels, ribs, hips, diaphragm, and solar plexus. I look tiny on the outside, but on the inside there's a dance party going on and given the swift sweeping movements that have been visible for several weeks now I'm pretty sure he's got turn tables in there. And possibly fly girls. I love it - but that doesn't mean I won't complain about it.


* Is there even such a thing as a 32 oz. steak?

Halfway to ohmygodwehaveababynowwhatdowedo?

Ok, diapers and naps and eating. That's cool.

But what if we have a cranky baby? How long is too long to cry? Is it normal to get up at random times to check that the baby is still breathing? What will we do when we run into all of the horribly scary and inevitable questions that every new parent faces EVERY DAY FROM HERE TO ETERNITY?

I suppose we'll get out a couple of the grocery bags we use for recycling, try to crumple the ridiculously large openings around our mouths, take two useless breaths, and then just deal with it.

I'm actually not freaking out - in general - about having a kid so much as I still freak out about potential problems with pregnancy/birth. Leave me alone! I can't help it! I'm emotional and forgetful and anxiety-prone! The warnings I've been given are clearly valid: once you're pregnant you'll spend the next forever worrying. First that you'll make it to the 12-week mark, then the 20-week ultrasound, then the 25-week mark where you feel like there's a reasonable chance for survival if the baby's born super early. Then the oodles of worries over the birth itself, and then the worries of post-fetusdom. Weight, brain development, choking, various colds and flus, acceptance at school, grades, broken bones and other injuries, and so on and so on.

Now, this is a crafting blog. But because we're at that celebrated halfway point and, given the monumental nature of having a child, some reflection is due. And now I think I'm done with the crazy.

Feeling him move around is my favorite thing ever. Sure, I cried when I discovered the emergence of stretch marks radiating from my distorted belly button, but I'm over it. I'm excited to be bigger. I want to wear sun dresses and, like my adorable friend E. Dittmar, I want to be that cute pregnant lady wearing a bikini at least once. I had some spells of ickiness in the early weeks, but was never ill. This time around it feels like my body was made to do this, and that's nice.

I'm doing yoga once a week. I've discovered that, as overwhelming as it is to prepare for a baby, I still enjoy it. Baby clothes are adorable, and luckily Becky has good taste, because we'll be able to borrow all of Finn's tiny things. I'm so grateful for having people around who will lend us things and understand my worrying and forgive my sleep-deprived, possibly weepy stupor. I'm grateful that I have a husband who is present and engaged, good in a crisis, and generally fantastic. I can't wait to get pictures of him and the child together. I really can't wait to see if they truly have clone pinkies, and if he'll pick up some of hubs's mannerisms.

In the mean time, I should maybe invest in some brown paper lunch bags.

I don't know how to title this post without using a pun, so here it is: OH, BOY!

I was nervous for our ultrasound this morning because I'm a worrier and I just can't help it. But everything looks good and we could clearly see that we're having a boy. Most people, including myself, thought it would be a girl, but there you have it. Now I can start really obsessing about names.


The tech didn't get the greatest pictures because he was moving around so much. We like to imagine he's pretending to be a T-Rex. But the best and coolest thing ever is that when we finally got a good shot of his hand you can see he has hubs's crooked pinky:


So I'm really relieved and excited. When I called my sister to tell her the sex she exclaimed to the room at large and I could hear Sammy shouting, "yay, yay, yay, yay!" Laura wanted to talk to me. "I'm so excited that your baby is a boy," she said very politely and evenly. "I hope I will like him like I like Max. I think I will." I'm sure she would have been much more jubilant had it been a girl, but it was a sweet moment.

It's an it!

To begin, I suppose we should go back to February the 21st of the year of our Lord two-thousand-and-ten. I announced that I was pregnant, but then suspiciously never spoke of it again. Less than a month after that announcement, I no longer had that baby. We lost it at ten weeks. Later in the summer, we lost another baby at just five weeks. All the things you imagine a person thinking and feeling were thought and felt...with one simple reaction overarching: disbelief.

This is what led me to recently comment that "I'm filing 2010 away in the 'to shred' folder and moving forward in the hope that 2011 will be grand." Last year was filled with the devastation of losing two babies, but it did end with a third that continues to exist and is now at 13 weeks.

It was actually the endocrinologist who gave us the news. I saw him because I suspected I could be pregnant, and I also suspected that I might have a very rare problem called Auto-Immune Progesterone Dermatitis. If I was correct on both accounts, I wanted to find out what to do before the hypothetical baby was in any hypothetical danger. Luckily, I was wrong about the cause of my itchiness, and a man who usually has to tell people they're diabetic got to tell someone they're expecting. He was obviously excited about it, although I admit that our reaction was pretty much, "Oh God. Well, alright."

Being an incredibly anxious and paranoid person, I'm still very much uncomfortable with being too blase about it just because we're past the old "danger zone" of the first trimester. If I've learned one thing in the last year, it's that you can't count on anything in regards to pregnancy.

BUT, as a couple good friends point out, that's not a very peaceful or happy mindset. The stress of the last couple of months has lessened. Now I'm a little less Negatron and a little more Optimist-Prime. We've seen and heard the heartbeat. We saw a bean shape at eight weeks turn into a recognizable human just four weeks later. I've been lucky to have minimal morning sickness. I crave sweetness and vitamin C, which has led to a healthier diet than I've probably ever had (unless you consider the portions...). I've even allowed myself to start thinking of names and looking at crib bedding again.

The next thing to look forward to is, incidentally, February the 21st of the year of our Lord two-thousand-and-eleven. We have the anatomy ultrasound scheduled, where they'll measure all the organs, watch the blood flow through the heart, and look for the sex. Five weeks seems like FOREVER away, but by then, hopefully, the it will be a he or she who's basically all put together and just needs to grow. Fingers crossed.

Two things: rashes and crafts

Well, well, well. Fancy meeting you here. It's almost like somebody's been too busy to blog, or read blogs, or even check email... ah, work. So here's what's been going on.

Unfortunately, the first subject is reminiscent of a previous post where I speculated on the success of a health-related blog, which I realized then - as I realize now - would be gross and inappropriate and unnecessary. Well, whatever. Let's revisit two weeks ago, when I thought I might implode from wanting to rub my back on a tree trunk bear-style. I was in the middle of a skin patch test that was thankfully as worthwhile as it was torturous. Here are my unexpected results:


The main culprit has been formaldehyde and formaldehyde-releasing preservatives. These are in everything from shampoo to lotion to makeup to clothes. Clothes. Also some topical antibiotic ingredients are to blame, and even though no one really seems to be sure of the meaning of "irony," I'm pretty sure it has something to do with unwittingly putting antibiotic cream that you're allergic to on a cut, allowing it to penetrate right into your system.


So wrinkle-free, wash-and-wear, and blended-fiber clothes may be a problem. Basically, I might have to buy an entire wardrobe of hand-wash wool and cotton. Or become a nudist. Before taking either of those leaps, however, I'm trying to switch all of my products to see if this clears up. I brought in a suitcase to my testing full of all the products in our house and came home with approval to continue using about 15% of them. Above, you can see the binder of info the doctor gave me, most of which is comprised of an itemized list of products that are safe for me to use. It's kind of a pain. in. the. ass. to bring a binder to Target or Walgreens, where I may or may not find something because many of the products are a bit obscure (hey, if you can't get it at Target...) and I don't necessarily have a ton of choices (for example, below you can see that of 150 reported conditioners, I can only use 17). Don't tell my optometrist, but I have yet to find an eye makeup remover. Honestly though, I can't complain. All kinds of horrible theories have been spinning a web of anxiety, so finding a relatively benign cause and being able to do something after a year of discomfort is so welcome.


Aaaaand, onto more fun crafty things. While I was pacing the main floor of my house concentrating on not itching, I was neglecting to prepare for the second HandmadeMN Market. Sure enough, I left all my business cards at home along with my receipt book and some of my more popular products. Still, it was a fun and profitable show thanks to the HandmadeMN leaders (Toni, Lindsay, Kelly, Jenny...) and their crack teams of helpers. The time of year didn't hurt either. Hoards of our customers were out holiday shopping. Everything I bought was for myself :) except for the ladybug hair clip.

Max

I'm just racking up the nephews here, and I'm behind on the sharing. Newest one is Maxwell Douglas, brother to the infamous Laura and Sam, born of my sister's womb on September 16, 2010.


His second cousin, Emily, was born two days earlier over in Wisconsin. I wonder if her cord has fallen off yet. Max's fell off the other day and no one knows where it went. I think the dog ate it.


Max still sleeps a lot but he's hands-down the best eater I've ever known. He literally was born ready. I know because I was there. It was not as messy as I was expecting, and it was just the amount of disturbing I was expecting. Also miraculous and emotional.


Laura totally loves him and wants to hold him and is very concerned with his well-being. She makes his bed. Sammy is unsure, as any four-year-old would be, but is mostly amenable to the baby.


And all I want to do is squeeze and poke his little baby tummy and cheeks. That is all.

Objectivity is lost on aunties.

Mothers, fathers, grandpas, grandmas, aunts, and uncles....we think the children in our lives are simply superior to all other beings. The things they say are the funniest, the faces the cutest, the hugs the warmest, and the smiles the brightest. Since today is my birthday I suppose I can indulge myself in imagining that I was once that kid. And then fourth grade happened.*

But I'm sure my niece and nephews will never have the awkward phase, just as I'm sure they truly are the most wonderful beings to exist. Note the "nephewS;" Joseph Finnegan Keelin was born on July 24.


Proof of my multi-tasking abilities: holding Finn while taking our picture left-handed.


He has sideburns. Finn is a cuddly and reasonable baby, except when it comes to being naked, which is pretty much the worse thing ever. Just a few thoughts among the vast expanse of consciousness that LIFE presents.


*Glasses + braces + randomly expanding facial features + ever-lengthening limbs = me = so.painfully.awkward.

Vote! Vote! Vote!

Remember when I made Penny a sweater and it didn't fit so I made her another sweater?


Animal-lovers sent in their pet-related products/projects to Rita's Creative Nest, and she's taking votes to see who will get a feature on her blog. I'm hoping Penny can get me a win, but there is a pretty cute little Westie.... Regardless, it's a fun idea to give somebody's Etsy shop a little extra publicity, no? Polls close on Sunday, June 6, so go here to vote now!

Whaaaaaaat?

I made it into another treasury, this one by SuzAndRoo!


It's the Two is Better Than One mini sweater. And here is my favorite item from the SuzAndRoo shop:


I've really got to start making treasuries - I love how people pick colors as themes. It's pretty.

FIRST TREASURY EVER!

Ok, I don't really get the treasury thing, but that's because I'm relatively new to Etsy and because I spend too much time playing Mafia Wars to figure it out - yet it's still very exciting that one of my items is in this treasury by Sacred Suds. This is it:


And there are many other pretty reds and greens represented. Yay! Thanks, Andrea!

Well, the plunge has been taken.

Oh, Penny. Don't look so bewildered. Soon enough, you will have someone to lick who is not able to refuse you! *until adult-sized hands descend, swatting*

I. Am. Pregnant. And since this picture was posted on Facebook today, the whole world knows it! Which is a relief, even though it's still early - only eight weeks. Secrets are the worst.

Let's not focus on the scary things, but list the exciting things! It'll be cute (I think); it'll be snuggly (I hope); it'll smell good (when not covered in spit-up); it'll have at least one cousin to play with; I think Laura and Sammy will love it; Penny likes kids; my dad just retired; I don't have bad morning sickness; shopping for it will be fun; and to quote Sarah Chalke, "I'm gonna love the crap out of this kid."

Job news

Thirteen or so hours later, I am still jobless. Am I crazy? In many ways. But I just knew this job wasn't for me. Couldn't do it. Wouldn't be prudent.