February 21, 2011
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.
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.
February 19, 2011
The sweater I actually made and have worn.
Cascade 220 makes a toasty garment, which I've needed up until a few days ago when we had an incredibly warm spell of 50 degrees. Of course now it's getting cold again, because that was just a horrible - and yet glorious - fluke. It is not in February's true nature to stay above freezing for more than 24 hours. February is Minnesota's one great flaw. Unless you count March.
Anyways, I'm happy to say that the flaws in my knitting are known only to me and to the few people I've confessed them to, and I know where all of them live, so whatever.
It took a year to complete this project and that does not bode well for someone with several dozen sweater patterns in her faves and a baby brewing. Given the choice, I'd rather be knitting than doing laundry or wiping butts, but sacrifices will have to be made. The dangers of falling asleep with sharp objects in my hands aside, maybe I can knit while the baby naps.
Silly as it may be, I nixed my original plan to use toggle buttons on this sweater because they can sometimes be sort of pokey. Pokey things on clothing are uncomfortable for babies, therefore toggle buttons are out. It's a classic A=B and B=C so A=C situation. It's ironic, really, because I'm starting to maybe notice that this baby is a bit pokey itself. We're still in the was-that-the-baby-or-just-gas? phase. But it's exciting to speculate.
Also exciting is that our anatomy ultrasound is in two days. TWO DAYS! BOY OR GIRL? We shall see. In 35 hours, to be precise.
Anyways, I'm happy to say that the flaws in my knitting are known only to me and to the few people I've confessed them to, and I know where all of them live, so whatever.
It took a year to complete this project and that does not bode well for someone with several dozen sweater patterns in her faves and a baby brewing. Given the choice, I'd rather be knitting than doing laundry or wiping butts, but sacrifices will have to be made. The dangers of falling asleep with sharp objects in my hands aside, maybe I can knit while the baby naps.
Silly as it may be, I nixed my original plan to use toggle buttons on this sweater because they can sometimes be sort of pokey. Pokey things on clothing are uncomfortable for babies, therefore toggle buttons are out. It's a classic A=B and B=C so A=C situation. It's ironic, really, because I'm starting to maybe notice that this baby is a bit pokey itself. We're still in the was-that-the-baby-or-just-gas? phase. But it's exciting to speculate.
Also exciting is that our anatomy ultrasound is in two days. TWO DAYS! BOY OR GIRL? We shall see. In 35 hours, to be precise.
February 14, 2011
Valentine's blue.
Who says Valentines have to be pink and red and purple and sparkly and ruffly? Other than every six to ten-year-old girl I've ever known?
A four-year-old boy. It kills me that he no longer accepts my kisses and I suppose someday he'll stop giving me his already sparse hugs, but I'm embracing the way Sammy does love. And that is through race cars.
A four-year-old boy. It kills me that he no longer accepts my kisses and I suppose someday he'll stop giving me his already sparse hugs, but I'm embracing the way Sammy does love. And that is through race cars.
January 21, 2011
Winter Whites
For no reason in particular I recently decided to do a treasury. If I can't buy lovely things, at least I can hoard them in an electronic capacity.
January 15, 2011
I'm on a button hunt.
I actually finished the sweater I've been making for the last year. WOO HOO! And it totally fits. But it needs eight good-sized buttons (maybe 1.5") and I need advice. I don't want to post a picture because I need totally organic suggestions.
So imagine a long winter-white sweater vest with large cables and a ribbed collar/hem/front opening. What color are the buttons? What sort of texture? What shape? Pretend that there are no limitations, just imagine the ideal buttons. And then tell me where I might be able to get them.
So imagine a long winter-white sweater vest with large cables and a ribbed collar/hem/front opening. What color are the buttons? What sort of texture? What shape? Pretend that there are no limitations, just imagine the ideal buttons. And then tell me where I might be able to get them.
January 12, 2011
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.
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.
January 4, 2011
I've met my match. Damn you, Hot Wheels.
Christmas is a time for traditions. Sparkling trees, nostalgic ornaments, hot cider, lovely gifts, and playing the same songs over and over until all retail workers everywhere begin to bleed from their ears. Also cookies. Spritz, date cookies, rum balls, monster cookies, double chocolate cookies, Belgian waffle cookies, thumbprints, haystacks, Hershey Kiss peanut butter cookies... So. Many. Cookies.
Of course the best part is that my nephews and niece get so excited. I learned how to type in like the fifth grade, but Laura is in first grade and already at about that level. She could operate the DVD player when she was two. And now she has a little gaming system on which she logged about four hours directly after opening it.
Finn is too little for electronics. He almost ate the Christmas tree. You can imagine what his drool would do to something with batteries. And Max is so little that he needed to sleep all through gift opening, which is just as well because the constantly flashing camera would've probably been real annoying.
Sammy received a few sets of Hot Wheels track kits, all of which he insisted that I set up for him. What with missing parts and track that has to be held down in just the right way to keep the cars on course, I was not pleased. I stuck it out for a half hour, and then all the adults were begging the children to just sit and watch a movie. We're horrible people.
Penny was ever so pleased to be reunited with my grandma.
Now it is 2011 and I'm going to say this: I'm filing 2010 away in the "to shred" folder and moving forward in the hope that 2011 will be grand. Now I'm going to knit so I actually have something of substance to share!
Of course the best part is that my nephews and niece get so excited. I learned how to type in like the fifth grade, but Laura is in first grade and already at about that level. She could operate the DVD player when she was two. And now she has a little gaming system on which she logged about four hours directly after opening it.
Finn is too little for electronics. He almost ate the Christmas tree. You can imagine what his drool would do to something with batteries. And Max is so little that he needed to sleep all through gift opening, which is just as well because the constantly flashing camera would've probably been real annoying.
Sammy received a few sets of Hot Wheels track kits, all of which he insisted that I set up for him. What with missing parts and track that has to be held down in just the right way to keep the cars on course, I was not pleased. I stuck it out for a half hour, and then all the adults were begging the children to just sit and watch a movie. We're horrible people.
Penny was ever so pleased to be reunited with my grandma.
Now it is 2011 and I'm going to say this: I'm filing 2010 away in the "to shred" folder and moving forward in the hope that 2011 will be grand. Now I'm going to knit so I actually have something of substance to share!
December 20, 2010
This is the most amount of clothes I've worn in possibly ever.
Last night our furnace stopped taking in air to heat so the house was holding steady at 55 degrees, the temperature at which I stop denying the dog the benefit of sleeping under the covers with us, resulting in me being wedged between her and hubs in a tomb-like position all night except when I had to get up to pee at 5 am, which thoroughly woke me up because you can imagine how cold the toilet seat was. I'm still wearing no less than five layers of clothes, even though an HVAC guy came out like six hours ago and fixed the problem. I hate being cold.
On the plus side, I got some knitting done today and helped my star* student fix a couple of problems in her own projects. We had the fireplace going, the tree lit, and Ghostbusters 2 on TV. Turned out to be a pretty nice snowy day. Maybe after the holidays I won't be working full time and I'll be able to finish that sweater that's been in the works for months!
*my only student
On the plus side, I got some knitting done today and helped my star* student fix a couple of problems in her own projects. We had the fireplace going, the tree lit, and Ghostbusters 2 on TV. Turned out to be a pretty nice snowy day. Maybe after the holidays I won't be working full time and I'll be able to finish that sweater that's been in the works for months!
*my only student
December 2, 2010
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.
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.
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