Okay, I've been a bad blogger. You know how it goes, all the usual excuses.
This summer *has* been super busy. We of course finally got used to the older kiddos going to school, only for summer to hit and have to adjust to everyone being home. Right around that same time my maternity leave ended (sadface!) and I had to go back to my day job. Most recently I've been working quite a bit there, and still trying to find time for family and crafting.
School starts again soon, so maybe my days will be more organized (a girl can dream, right?) and I'll be more consistent with EVERYTHING, including blogging.
Saturday, August 11, 2012
Friday, May 11, 2012
White Rock Local Market!
Okay! It's my first market sale, and I'm anxious/super excited!
The details:
as I've said before I personally won't be able to be there, but my dad and sister will be selling out of the Alpha Omega Acres booth. My dad will also be selling organic produce and pasture raised eggs, and my sister will have her handmade ceramics.
Here's some of what I made for the market:
There will also be several sets of my Little Finger Friends finger puppets, a few Carefree Caterpillars, and some other great stuff. You'll also be able to purchase vouchers to redeem in my Ravelry Store for patterns.
So anyone in the Dallas TX area should come check us out and give my dad and sister some love!
The details:
White Rock Local Market Saturday May 12th.
702 N. Buckner at Northcliff, Dallas. 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
as I've said before I personally won't be able to be there, but my dad and sister will be selling out of the Alpha Omega Acres booth. My dad will also be selling organic produce and pasture raised eggs, and my sister will have her handmade ceramics.
Here's some of what I made for the market:
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| Baby loafers 0-3 months size. |
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| Uglies! Toy monsters |
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| Baby sweater 3-6 months |
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| Baby sweater with mother of pearl buttons 0-3 months |
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| Rainbow spin ball |
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| Ruffled diaper covers (great photography props!) 0-6 months |
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| Galaxy spiral balls |
So anyone in the Dallas TX area should come check us out and give my dad and sister some love!
Friday, April 27, 2012
Fun stuff!
I've been crocheting a bunch gearing up for my very first market coming up May 12th. I'll be joining my sister in selling our awesome crafty goodness (she creates beautiful ceramics; I think she said she'll be featuring small jars and pots this time around) and our dad who will be selling produce from his farm at a Farmers' Market in the Dallas area.
Sadly I don't have many more details on it than that, since I don't have the means to travel and coordinate with them on this. I'll be sending them a box of crocheted goodies in a week or so, hopefully I'll have a nice assortment of stuff. Wish us luck!
Now here's a fun time waster! another blog mentioned the site tagxedo.com for making those word cloud graphics. Well I spent a good hour or two messing around with it yesterday. I mostly made clouds with the names of my family on it, but really quickly this morning I did this one:
Careful though, as I warned my sister, you can spend HOURS doing nothing but changing the colors on the cloud.
Sadly I don't have many more details on it than that, since I don't have the means to travel and coordinate with them on this. I'll be sending them a box of crocheted goodies in a week or so, hopefully I'll have a nice assortment of stuff. Wish us luck!
Now here's a fun time waster! another blog mentioned the site tagxedo.com for making those word cloud graphics. Well I spent a good hour or two messing around with it yesterday. I mostly made clouds with the names of my family on it, but really quickly this morning I did this one:
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| It amuses me. |
Careful though, as I warned my sister, you can spend HOURS doing nothing but changing the colors on the cloud.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Easter project aftermath
I was super ambitious for my girls' Easter outfits this year. I decided the sew (!) them some pillowcase style dresses *and* crochet them some cardigans. All this on top of dealing with an infant, my own lack of sewing expertise, and just trying to gain balance in life in general.
First off I made the dresses using instructions in the book MAKING CHILDREN'S CLOTHES The dress on the cover is the one that I made. Overall very easy to make (the major factor when I decided to sew), but I'm baffled as to why they call it a toddler dress. It's a one size pattern, and they basically say to hem it to the desired length. Well. My kids are small for their ages, and yet I had to lengthen the dresses quite a bit to get them to be actual dress length. for my 2 year old (definitely toddler age) I had to add 5 inches to the pattern to make it long enough. As printed it made an adorable tunic length shirt for her, but NOT a dress. For my 5 year old (who I will admit is the right height, just WAY SKINNY) I had to add 9 inches to get it long enough. Okay, so she's a bit older than a toddler officially, but still.
It's not a big deal really, but to say that it's a toddler dress and it not even be dress length on my little for her age 2 year old sort of bugs me. An easy fix though (really easy if I could do it).
I made several practice dresses before the real deals, to make sure the adjustments I was planning would work. For the final dresses aside from adding the length I also altered the lining slightly. The bodice is fully lined and you fold over the double layers of fabric to make the casing for the shoulder ties. I found that folding over both layers of fabric made the casing a bit bulky and didn't gather as well as I would have liked. So I cut an inch off the top of the lining so when I sewing the casing I was only folding over the single layer of fabric. I actually should have trimmed at least an inch and a half, but the result was still a less bulky casing, so it turned out all right.
I've yet to get a picture of the girls in just the dresses, or even of just the dresses themselves, but oh well.
I cardigans I made using the Bella Rebekah Cardigan pattern by Elizabeth Alan. I happened across her patterns sometime before Christmas whilst looking for a good baby boot pattern and I must say I just want to be her. All of her patterns are adorable, not to mention well written and easy to understand and execute. The cardigans worked up super quick, the only reason it took me longer than an afternoon for each one was because life was happening and I had to do other things (like get over my first ever encounter with Strep Throat) for a few days. In general I like Lily's purple cardigan better....the yarn is lighter and I like the drape to it. When I made Arlen's pink cardigan I was thinking it was too bulky. It's a tad big (again, she's a skinny thing), but actually after I had to wash the Easter chocolate off of it it's softened up and the drape improved.
Lastly, I drove down to Dallas with the kiddos for Easter and surprised my parents. I *wanted* to either arrive while they were all at church (but that failed because we didn't make it to Vigil saturday night and still needed to get to Easter mass that morning) OR 'sneak' in with my kids and yell SURPRISE because I knew my family would all be hanging out in the kitchen.
That didn't work either because my 7 year old decided he didn't want to yell anything, and instead of just staying quiet and walking in with the rest of us he just sort of wandered into my parents house while I was getting everyone else out of the van and nonchalantly ruined the surprise. But whatever.
While we were there my mom and sisters helped me try out the super nifty technique of using old silk ties to dye eggs. I saw THIS on Pinterest and knew I had to try it. I hit up the Salvation Army store and got some old ugly ties for fifty cents each (actually 49 cents each) and we tried it out. We actually used a more in depth set of instructions (which really only adds that you put 1/4 cup of vinegar in the water) though.
The eggs turned out super nifty! We found by trial and error that we should have actually gone by the image I found on Pinterest. It shows wrapping the eggs in string after you wrap the silk tie around them. We did this on a few eggs (the top right one in the collage) and it provided better contact between the egg and the silk and the colors transferred much clearer. We also found that you can re-use the silk pieces. Nothing on either of the instructions we looked at said one way or the other, so I'm happy to report that you can get multiple uses out of the scraps.
To recap:
♪Get some old ugly ties for cheap (reds, purples, and dark blues seem to transfer better. Maybe it's just the darker the better)
♪Cut the ties apart and wrap the silk around the eggs, the right side of the fabric against the eggs.
♪Wrap string around the fabric covered eggs like a mummy. (the second set of instructions we used said to wrap the silk covered eggs in another piece of scrap cloth, like an old pillowcase. We aren't sure why, as it wasn't explained, but we think maybe just so the dyes didn't muddle together. My sister put silk, string, scrap cloth, and more string around her egg and it turned out the best).
♪Add 1/4 cup (ish) of vinegar to your water and boil the eggs for 15 minutes. We always blow our eggs out and we found we needed to weigh them down with a lid (I think that's what my sister used) to keep the eggs under water.
Ta-da!
First off I made the dresses using instructions in the book MAKING CHILDREN'S CLOTHES The dress on the cover is the one that I made. Overall very easy to make (the major factor when I decided to sew), but I'm baffled as to why they call it a toddler dress. It's a one size pattern, and they basically say to hem it to the desired length. Well. My kids are small for their ages, and yet I had to lengthen the dresses quite a bit to get them to be actual dress length. for my 2 year old (definitely toddler age) I had to add 5 inches to the pattern to make it long enough. As printed it made an adorable tunic length shirt for her, but NOT a dress. For my 5 year old (who I will admit is the right height, just WAY SKINNY) I had to add 9 inches to get it long enough. Okay, so she's a bit older than a toddler officially, but still.
It's not a big deal really, but to say that it's a toddler dress and it not even be dress length on my little for her age 2 year old sort of bugs me. An easy fix though (really easy if I could do it).
I made several practice dresses before the real deals, to make sure the adjustments I was planning would work. For the final dresses aside from adding the length I also altered the lining slightly. The bodice is fully lined and you fold over the double layers of fabric to make the casing for the shoulder ties. I found that folding over both layers of fabric made the casing a bit bulky and didn't gather as well as I would have liked. So I cut an inch off the top of the lining so when I sewing the casing I was only folding over the single layer of fabric. I actually should have trimmed at least an inch and a half, but the result was still a less bulky casing, so it turned out all right.
I've yet to get a picture of the girls in just the dresses, or even of just the dresses themselves, but oh well.
I cardigans I made using the Bella Rebekah Cardigan pattern by Elizabeth Alan. I happened across her patterns sometime before Christmas whilst looking for a good baby boot pattern and I must say I just want to be her. All of her patterns are adorable, not to mention well written and easy to understand and execute. The cardigans worked up super quick, the only reason it took me longer than an afternoon for each one was because life was happening and I had to do other things (like get over my first ever encounter with Strep Throat) for a few days. In general I like Lily's purple cardigan better....the yarn is lighter and I like the drape to it. When I made Arlen's pink cardigan I was thinking it was too bulky. It's a tad big (again, she's a skinny thing), but actually after I had to wash the Easter chocolate off of it it's softened up and the drape improved.
Lastly, I drove down to Dallas with the kiddos for Easter and surprised my parents. I *wanted* to either arrive while they were all at church (but that failed because we didn't make it to Vigil saturday night and still needed to get to Easter mass that morning) OR 'sneak' in with my kids and yell SURPRISE because I knew my family would all be hanging out in the kitchen.
That didn't work either because my 7 year old decided he didn't want to yell anything, and instead of just staying quiet and walking in with the rest of us he just sort of wandered into my parents house while I was getting everyone else out of the van and nonchalantly ruined the surprise. But whatever.
While we were there my mom and sisters helped me try out the super nifty technique of using old silk ties to dye eggs. I saw THIS on Pinterest and knew I had to try it. I hit up the Salvation Army store and got some old ugly ties for fifty cents each (actually 49 cents each) and we tried it out. We actually used a more in depth set of instructions (which really only adds that you put 1/4 cup of vinegar in the water) though.
The eggs turned out super nifty! We found by trial and error that we should have actually gone by the image I found on Pinterest. It shows wrapping the eggs in string after you wrap the silk tie around them. We did this on a few eggs (the top right one in the collage) and it provided better contact between the egg and the silk and the colors transferred much clearer. We also found that you can re-use the silk pieces. Nothing on either of the instructions we looked at said one way or the other, so I'm happy to report that you can get multiple uses out of the scraps.
To recap:
♪Get some old ugly ties for cheap (reds, purples, and dark blues seem to transfer better. Maybe it's just the darker the better)
♪Cut the ties apart and wrap the silk around the eggs, the right side of the fabric against the eggs.
♪Wrap string around the fabric covered eggs like a mummy. (the second set of instructions we used said to wrap the silk covered eggs in another piece of scrap cloth, like an old pillowcase. We aren't sure why, as it wasn't explained, but we think maybe just so the dyes didn't muddle together. My sister put silk, string, scrap cloth, and more string around her egg and it turned out the best).
♪Add 1/4 cup (ish) of vinegar to your water and boil the eggs for 15 minutes. We always blow our eggs out and we found we needed to weigh them down with a lid (I think that's what my sister used) to keep the eggs under water.
Ta-da!
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| So cool! |
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Sale!
Yay! I hit 40 sales in my shop!
To celebrate all of the patterns in my Ravelry store are 40% off through tomorrow! The discount is automatically applied, so no coupon code required!
In other news, I'm attempting to sew Easter dresses this year! I'm more than a little intimidated, *but* I have chosen a very easy pattern (supposedly) to try. I only need to make one slight alteration for my older girl (she's skinny, but tall) and add a few inches to the bottom of the dress, but that should be pretty simple to do.
Today I plan on sewing a practice dress, just to make sure, so we'll see how it goes.
To celebrate all of the patterns in my Ravelry store are 40% off through tomorrow! The discount is automatically applied, so no coupon code required!
In other news, I'm attempting to sew Easter dresses this year! I'm more than a little intimidated, *but* I have chosen a very easy pattern (supposedly) to try. I only need to make one slight alteration for my older girl (she's skinny, but tall) and add a few inches to the bottom of the dress, but that should be pretty simple to do.
Today I plan on sewing a practice dress, just to make sure, so we'll see how it goes.
Wednesday, March 7, 2012
Birth Story
Last Thursday I had my weekly doctor appointment, and even though I was a week before my due date my doctor said there really wasn't anything happening to indicate that I was going to go into labor soon.
This was rather disappointing, since my last two kids were born via c-section, and my only hope of avoiding *another* surgery (and possibly many more depending on how many kids we end up having...) was to go into labor on my own.
By Thursday evening though I had some signs that I *was* going to be having a baby soon...I wasn't going to jump to conclusions though, because it might have just been the result of the appointment and I didn't want to get my hopes up. Friday rolls around and all the signs are still there. Strong contractions, but sadly nothing regular. I went to work and basically sat around for my shift, and told my boss that I was pretty sure I wasn't going to last until Sunday (which I thought his poor head would explode over, because apparently someone had messed up the scheduling for the week, and he was secretly hoping he could count on me). Well, Friday ends and *still* nothing but very strong, irregular contractions.
Bummer.
Saturday morning I was scheduled to work, but I decided that I wasn't feeling up to it and called in. Whichever manager I talked to apparently made it sound like I was popping a baby out RIGHT THAT SECOND or something, so when my co-workers called me later they were surprised to find that I was sadly, still at home. I had been having ridiculously strong contractions all day, but again nothing regular. Rather than sitting around at home I decided to go to Saturday evening service at church. Wouldn't you know as soon as mass starts my contractions begin to be a steady 10 minutes apart.
As much as I wanted to go into labor naturally, I didn't want to have a baby in church (even though it was only two blocks from the hospital, so it would have been convenient).
The more regular contractions were both painful and encouraging, so I headed to the store with my 5 year old to pick up a few things I knew I needed. The contractions stayed regular, and actually I started to feel a little sick while they were happening.
We make it home and I tell my husband he needs to find someone to watch the kids because I think we need to head to the hospital.
It turns out that his mother was out of town for the evening (of course! haha) but two of his brothers were around to watch the other kiddos for us.
I called my doctor, who of course wasn't on call and spoke to the on call doctor, who told me that contractions 10 minutes apart really wasn't active labor yet, but combined with my other signs that I should come on in to check.
We make it to the hospital about 9 p.m. and my contractions had upped to about 5 or 6 minutes apart. We get all checked in and everything and they determine that I *will* be staying until I have a baby.
Yay!
And then we wait. and wait. and wait. Because I was hoping for a VBAC after 2 back to back c sections, my doctor was being very cautious about interventions. The waiting was the hardest part actually, because my first two kids were born completely natural (no pain meds or anything) and it only took four hours for the first and three and a half hours for the second. So of course I was expecting for this whole thing not to last near as long as it did. So was the night nurse apparently, because while she was being very encouraging and supportive, I kind of got tired of her going "I don't think it will be much longer now..."
About 1 a.m. I decided that I already proved I was an amazon with my first two, and I wanted some drugs. I was still worried about my labor not progressing though (and stalled labor is one reason they will give you a c section) so I didn't want an epidural and opted for some IV pain meds.
Whoa. Talk about trippy. The stuff they gave me started working about ten seconds after they gave it to me...The first dose they gave me *did* take the edge off the pain, but mostly it just made me sleepy. Right after it kicks in my mother in law shows up, and is surprised that we don't have a baby yet (like I said, the others went fast!) She heads over to her house to relieve her boys of my kids.
About 4 a.m. The nurses came in and said that my doctor wanted to go ahead and break my water and see if that helps things progress. I was a little bit antsy about it, because I've heard that it doesn't really help that much and all, but I decided to trust my doctor and figured if he thought it was a good idea that I would go along with it. The nurse checked me one more time before she went in with that scary hook to break my water...I was still only at 4 cm (seriously?!? I had been in labor for HOURS!) but she actually didn't have to break my water, it broke on its own while she checked. I took this as a good sign that things *were* going to go on their own, it was just taking longer than I was used to.
After that things got worse. My water breaking *did* help things along (next time they checked I was at 6cm thank goodness), but true to rumor the contractions are MUCH more painful after your water breaks than before. Not only that, but I was suffering from the ever dreaded back labor. Let me tell you, it is just as horrible as everyone says it is.
As awful as it was though, I think this was the Lord working in my favor. One of the reasons VBACs are risky is the fact that the stress of labor can cause the c section scar on your uterus to rupture. Well, if all the stress was in the back and not the front where my scar was then perhaps it was really a blessing.
After about 4 hours of that though I had had enough. I asked the nurses for an epidural. I was still nervous about stalling labor, and again I had heard that epidurals sometimes stall things. The nurses were awesome though and since at this point I was at 7cm they asked if they should check me again just to make sure I wasn't closer than we thought. I was still at 7 though (and had been for two hours) so I decided that YES I wanted the epi. Of course, for whatever reason, right when I wanted one ALL of the anesthesiologists were prepping for c sections and I had to wait about 30 minutes before one was able to come and hook me up.
Oh wow!
Now, I'm all for the natural birth experience. I've done it twice. But honestly, the epi was SO GOOD. I seriously went from a 10 on that silly "rate your pain" scale to like, a 1. Nice.
I was able to get some sleep and it was quite a relief.
But of course my contractions started to space out again. Dang it! I was worried again about stalling my labor and I was going to end up with a c section after all and I was a little discouraged. The nurses were still great though, and my doctor decided to start pitocin very slowly (again, don't want to slam my body into anything with the risk of rupture) in hopes of making the contractions more regular and closer together. The pitocin did its job, and the contractions did become more regular. Still spaced farther apart than ideal though, but when they checked me again I was at 8cm, so at least things were moving along again.
After an hour or so sitting at 8 and not making any more progress my doctor suggested that I lay on my side and see if that would move the baby to where he wanted to be.
Sure enough it worked! I was now complete and ready to push.
Weird.
It's truly a completely different experience with a longer labor and an epidural. With my first two it was seriously chaos. My first baby we had just got me into the delivery room and I had a baby within 10 minutes. With my second my water broke and the nurse came in to check me (convinced I wasn't ready) and I was like "I need to push!" and I remember the little nurse in training's eyes go WIDE and they had to catch the baby. My doctor showed up about a minute or two after.
Anyway, my doctor gets ready, his other nurse comes in and introduces herself, and I'm joking with them and I'm thinking that this whole thing is odd, it's very calm and quiet (oh yeah...I totally yelled with my others. I was the girl scaring the other moms). Three sets of pushes that were completely pain free (SO WEIRD to push without pain!) and the baby is here!
They weigh him and holy carp! he's 8 lbs 9 oz! He's bigger than our biggest by TWO POUNDS.
They had told me at a sonogram that he was measuring big, and I was wondering what it would be like to have an average sized kiddo, but I was thinking 7 lbs, not 8 and a half. My doctor and the nurses said it's no wonder that my labor stalled as many times as it did with the boy being as big as he was.
All in all, even with the pain and waiting, the entire experience was great. I got my VBAC, my doctor was super supportive, the nurses were awesome, and I got to eat the chicken strips the hospital serves (seriously yummy).
Oh, and I got him too:
♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥
This was rather disappointing, since my last two kids were born via c-section, and my only hope of avoiding *another* surgery (and possibly many more depending on how many kids we end up having...) was to go into labor on my own.
By Thursday evening though I had some signs that I *was* going to be having a baby soon...I wasn't going to jump to conclusions though, because it might have just been the result of the appointment and I didn't want to get my hopes up. Friday rolls around and all the signs are still there. Strong contractions, but sadly nothing regular. I went to work and basically sat around for my shift, and told my boss that I was pretty sure I wasn't going to last until Sunday (which I thought his poor head would explode over, because apparently someone had messed up the scheduling for the week, and he was secretly hoping he could count on me). Well, Friday ends and *still* nothing but very strong, irregular contractions.
Bummer.
Saturday morning I was scheduled to work, but I decided that I wasn't feeling up to it and called in. Whichever manager I talked to apparently made it sound like I was popping a baby out RIGHT THAT SECOND or something, so when my co-workers called me later they were surprised to find that I was sadly, still at home. I had been having ridiculously strong contractions all day, but again nothing regular. Rather than sitting around at home I decided to go to Saturday evening service at church. Wouldn't you know as soon as mass starts my contractions begin to be a steady 10 minutes apart.
As much as I wanted to go into labor naturally, I didn't want to have a baby in church (even though it was only two blocks from the hospital, so it would have been convenient).
The more regular contractions were both painful and encouraging, so I headed to the store with my 5 year old to pick up a few things I knew I needed. The contractions stayed regular, and actually I started to feel a little sick while they were happening.
We make it home and I tell my husband he needs to find someone to watch the kids because I think we need to head to the hospital.
It turns out that his mother was out of town for the evening (of course! haha) but two of his brothers were around to watch the other kiddos for us.
I called my doctor, who of course wasn't on call and spoke to the on call doctor, who told me that contractions 10 minutes apart really wasn't active labor yet, but combined with my other signs that I should come on in to check.
We make it to the hospital about 9 p.m. and my contractions had upped to about 5 or 6 minutes apart. We get all checked in and everything and they determine that I *will* be staying until I have a baby.
Yay!
And then we wait. and wait. and wait. Because I was hoping for a VBAC after 2 back to back c sections, my doctor was being very cautious about interventions. The waiting was the hardest part actually, because my first two kids were born completely natural (no pain meds or anything) and it only took four hours for the first and three and a half hours for the second. So of course I was expecting for this whole thing not to last near as long as it did. So was the night nurse apparently, because while she was being very encouraging and supportive, I kind of got tired of her going "I don't think it will be much longer now..."
About 1 a.m. I decided that I already proved I was an amazon with my first two, and I wanted some drugs. I was still worried about my labor not progressing though (and stalled labor is one reason they will give you a c section) so I didn't want an epidural and opted for some IV pain meds.
Whoa. Talk about trippy. The stuff they gave me started working about ten seconds after they gave it to me...The first dose they gave me *did* take the edge off the pain, but mostly it just made me sleepy. Right after it kicks in my mother in law shows up, and is surprised that we don't have a baby yet (like I said, the others went fast!) She heads over to her house to relieve her boys of my kids.
About 4 a.m. The nurses came in and said that my doctor wanted to go ahead and break my water and see if that helps things progress. I was a little bit antsy about it, because I've heard that it doesn't really help that much and all, but I decided to trust my doctor and figured if he thought it was a good idea that I would go along with it. The nurse checked me one more time before she went in with that scary hook to break my water...I was still only at 4 cm (seriously?!? I had been in labor for HOURS!) but she actually didn't have to break my water, it broke on its own while she checked. I took this as a good sign that things *were* going to go on their own, it was just taking longer than I was used to.
After that things got worse. My water breaking *did* help things along (next time they checked I was at 6cm thank goodness), but true to rumor the contractions are MUCH more painful after your water breaks than before. Not only that, but I was suffering from the ever dreaded back labor. Let me tell you, it is just as horrible as everyone says it is.
As awful as it was though, I think this was the Lord working in my favor. One of the reasons VBACs are risky is the fact that the stress of labor can cause the c section scar on your uterus to rupture. Well, if all the stress was in the back and not the front where my scar was then perhaps it was really a blessing.
After about 4 hours of that though I had had enough. I asked the nurses for an epidural. I was still nervous about stalling labor, and again I had heard that epidurals sometimes stall things. The nurses were awesome though and since at this point I was at 7cm they asked if they should check me again just to make sure I wasn't closer than we thought. I was still at 7 though (and had been for two hours) so I decided that YES I wanted the epi. Of course, for whatever reason, right when I wanted one ALL of the anesthesiologists were prepping for c sections and I had to wait about 30 minutes before one was able to come and hook me up.
Oh wow!
Now, I'm all for the natural birth experience. I've done it twice. But honestly, the epi was SO GOOD. I seriously went from a 10 on that silly "rate your pain" scale to like, a 1. Nice.
I was able to get some sleep and it was quite a relief.
But of course my contractions started to space out again. Dang it! I was worried again about stalling my labor and I was going to end up with a c section after all and I was a little discouraged. The nurses were still great though, and my doctor decided to start pitocin very slowly (again, don't want to slam my body into anything with the risk of rupture) in hopes of making the contractions more regular and closer together. The pitocin did its job, and the contractions did become more regular. Still spaced farther apart than ideal though, but when they checked me again I was at 8cm, so at least things were moving along again.
After an hour or so sitting at 8 and not making any more progress my doctor suggested that I lay on my side and see if that would move the baby to where he wanted to be.
Sure enough it worked! I was now complete and ready to push.
Weird.
It's truly a completely different experience with a longer labor and an epidural. With my first two it was seriously chaos. My first baby we had just got me into the delivery room and I had a baby within 10 minutes. With my second my water broke and the nurse came in to check me (convinced I wasn't ready) and I was like "I need to push!" and I remember the little nurse in training's eyes go WIDE and they had to catch the baby. My doctor showed up about a minute or two after.
Anyway, my doctor gets ready, his other nurse comes in and introduces herself, and I'm joking with them and I'm thinking that this whole thing is odd, it's very calm and quiet (oh yeah...I totally yelled with my others. I was the girl scaring the other moms). Three sets of pushes that were completely pain free (SO WEIRD to push without pain!) and the baby is here!
They weigh him and holy carp! he's 8 lbs 9 oz! He's bigger than our biggest by TWO POUNDS.
They had told me at a sonogram that he was measuring big, and I was wondering what it would be like to have an average sized kiddo, but I was thinking 7 lbs, not 8 and a half. My doctor and the nurses said it's no wonder that my labor stalled as many times as it did with the boy being as big as he was.
All in all, even with the pain and waiting, the entire experience was great. I got my VBAC, my doctor was super supportive, the nurses were awesome, and I got to eat the chicken strips the hospital serves (seriously yummy).
Oh, and I got him too:
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| and look! His hat fits! |
♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥ ♥♥♥
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Oh boy oh boy!
So I'm 6 days away from my due date, and it seems like it's hurry up and wait time. I would be pleased as punch to go into labor ANY DAY BUT TODAY.
It would drive me crazy to have a leap day baby.
My dad, sister, and several co-workers are hoping that the little boy makes his debut today, but unless things happen pretty soon and go pretty quick (and I must say, given the length of my earlier labors it should be pretty quick) it doesn't look like they will be getting their wish.
Thank goodness.
However, as my dad says the day isn't over yet, so I'm taking it easy and not doing terribly much.
I've used the last few days to make a few things for the little fella. I made him a little hat, and then I found this adorable diaper cover pattern on Ravelry last week; I bought it on the spot and actually whipped one out almost right away. I made it first in baby blue with dark blue edging to match the hat, but I wasn't quite feeling it (which is why I just put a white plastic button on it). Yesterday I made another one in solid baby blue and I *love* it, so I decided it was worthy of one of my beloved wooden buttons.
We *do* live in Texas, so as I sit here in my tank top with the windows open and the fans on high I don't really see the little guy wearing the hat much, but I figure I'll get a couple of adorable newborn pictures and be totally happy.
He just needs to get here!
It would drive me crazy to have a leap day baby.
My dad, sister, and several co-workers are hoping that the little boy makes his debut today, but unless things happen pretty soon and go pretty quick (and I must say, given the length of my earlier labors it should be pretty quick) it doesn't look like they will be getting their wish.
Thank goodness.
However, as my dad says the day isn't over yet, so I'm taking it easy and not doing terribly much.
I've used the last few days to make a few things for the little fella. I made him a little hat, and then I found this adorable diaper cover pattern on Ravelry last week; I bought it on the spot and actually whipped one out almost right away. I made it first in baby blue with dark blue edging to match the hat, but I wasn't quite feeling it (which is why I just put a white plastic button on it). Yesterday I made another one in solid baby blue and I *love* it, so I decided it was worthy of one of my beloved wooden buttons.
We *do* live in Texas, so as I sit here in my tank top with the windows open and the fans on high I don't really see the little guy wearing the hat much, but I figure I'll get a couple of adorable newborn pictures and be totally happy.
He just needs to get here!
Saturday, February 18, 2012
It's about time!
So at the *very* last minute I finished up the much belated gifts for my nieces and nephews. My husband went out of town for a few days, and my mother was planning on coming to visit me and help me out...but my sister decided she just *had* to have a baby that day. Really, it's like she thinks it's all about her or something :-P
Last week was really hectic, with my sister having a baby, my mother trying to be there for her and me, my husband out of town, and *of course* I managed to get the crud hardcore and accomplished next to nothing the entire week. Seriously, I was surprised I got the kids to school and myself to work.
I had finished my nieces little purses, but I still needed to get my nephew's Ant finished. I knew it wouldn't take long, but of course feeling so bad all I did when I got off work was feed kids and go to bed.
Saturday evening I *finally* finished the Ant...not a moment too soon, since my mother was heading home sunday morning. I did manage to snap a few pics, but at ten o'clock at night the lighting options are sadly limited, so I really wish I had better shots of everything. Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter as long as they got their gifts.
I also sent along a cute little hat for my newest little nephew. My crazy sister managed not to find out what she was having until he was actually born (would drive me crazy not knowing!), so I had no time to *plan* an appropriate gift, but thankfully in my little hat craze of the last few weeks I made a super cute hat for a baby boy that I sent along. Apparently it's too big for the little guy, so I'm a little annoyed at the size chart I refer to when making hats. Oh well.
Last week was really hectic, with my sister having a baby, my mother trying to be there for her and me, my husband out of town, and *of course* I managed to get the crud hardcore and accomplished next to nothing the entire week. Seriously, I was surprised I got the kids to school and myself to work.
I had finished my nieces little purses, but I still needed to get my nephew's Ant finished. I knew it wouldn't take long, but of course feeling so bad all I did when I got off work was feed kids and go to bed.
Saturday evening I *finally* finished the Ant...not a moment too soon, since my mother was heading home sunday morning. I did manage to snap a few pics, but at ten o'clock at night the lighting options are sadly limited, so I really wish I had better shots of everything. Oh well, I guess it doesn't really matter as long as they got their gifts.
I also sent along a cute little hat for my newest little nephew. My crazy sister managed not to find out what she was having until he was actually born (would drive me crazy not knowing!), so I had no time to *plan* an appropriate gift, but thankfully in my little hat craze of the last few weeks I made a super cute hat for a baby boy that I sent along. Apparently it's too big for the little guy, so I'm a little annoyed at the size chart I refer to when making hats. Oh well.
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| For the boys: A technicolor ant and a fishy hat. |
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| Purses for the girls: Top: Pink and Purple purse Bottom: Orange and Yellow purse |
Saturday, February 4, 2012
Project progress
I've managed to follow through on several projects this week...at the expense of my housework, but I think any crafter would agree that's a fair trade (my husband doesn't seem to agree with me...)
I finished up several baby hats: one to post in my shop, one that I gave to a friend of mine who just had a baby, and one that I'm not sure if I'm going to post in my shop or not. The last one didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to, but it's in no way bad, just not what I was going for. So I'm on the fence about it.
I also made myself a little sleeve for my new Kindle. I really like how it turned out, but of course right at the end I changed up my stitch pattern just slightly to keep the right side/wrong side looking correct, and I found that I liked the new stitch pattern better than the one I used for the rest of it...much too late to go back and re-do the whole thing. I might make myself another one though.
With those little in-the-moment distractions out of the way (and the fact that my mother is coming to town this week) I will be finishing up those long overdue Christmas gifts this week. I'm such a slacker! Thankfully I just need to sew one seam for my little niece's gift (my other niece's gift is actually done) and make the cuffs for my mother's fingerless mitts. I do however get to completely restart the technicolor ant for my nephew. I had it 2/3s complete when my youngest took some scissors to part of it, and then my three year old son snatched another piece of it, declared it a spider and I haven't seen it since.
Lastly, I would *love* to post some great pictures....but the camera charger has, naturally, disappeared right when I need it. I swear I've seen it all week, but as soon as the battery died I could not find it for the life of me.
I finished up several baby hats: one to post in my shop, one that I gave to a friend of mine who just had a baby, and one that I'm not sure if I'm going to post in my shop or not. The last one didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to, but it's in no way bad, just not what I was going for. So I'm on the fence about it.
I also made myself a little sleeve for my new Kindle. I really like how it turned out, but of course right at the end I changed up my stitch pattern just slightly to keep the right side/wrong side looking correct, and I found that I liked the new stitch pattern better than the one I used for the rest of it...much too late to go back and re-do the whole thing. I might make myself another one though.
With those little in-the-moment distractions out of the way (and the fact that my mother is coming to town this week) I will be finishing up those long overdue Christmas gifts this week. I'm such a slacker! Thankfully I just need to sew one seam for my little niece's gift (my other niece's gift is actually done) and make the cuffs for my mother's fingerless mitts. I do however get to completely restart the technicolor ant for my nephew. I had it 2/3s complete when my youngest took some scissors to part of it, and then my three year old son snatched another piece of it, declared it a spider and I haven't seen it since.
Lastly, I would *love* to post some great pictures....but the camera charger has, naturally, disappeared right when I need it. I swear I've seen it all week, but as soon as the battery died I could not find it for the life of me.
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
New toys!
My poor little netbook got smashed a few weeks ago, so I decided to replace it with a Kindle touch.
Not exactly the same thing, I know, but I was wanting a kindle anyway, and I'm hoping being a little bit more unplugged will help me be more productive in my crafting and around the house (she says as she sits and blogs...)
I just got it last night, so I'm still figuring it out. So far though I really like it, and you can load PDF documents onto it too, so I've added some crochet patterns for easy access when I'm on the go. Figures that one of my first thoughts was "how can this help me crochet?"
Not exactly the same thing, I know, but I was wanting a kindle anyway, and I'm hoping being a little bit more unplugged will help me be more productive in my crafting and around the house (she says as she sits and blogs...)
I just got it last night, so I'm still figuring it out. So far though I really like it, and you can load PDF documents onto it too, so I've added some crochet patterns for easy access when I'm on the go. Figures that one of my first thoughts was "how can this help me crochet?"
Thursday, January 26, 2012
Stash busting!
Not only am I a procrastinator, I'm also a pack rat. The result is I have had yarn in my stash left completely untouched for long enough that the manufacturer has discontinued it. Now, depending on the timing of when I bought this yarn, that actually might not be as bad as it sounds, it's possible I bought it on clearance after they stopped making it...but I know I didn't. I know this because I bought two balls of Lion Boucle about six years
ago in hopes of making something for a contest Lion was hosting to
promote this yarn....yeah, that didn't happen. It has sat in my yarn box
for years, lovely but unused until this last weekend when I rescued it
from its unused existence and whipped up a little hat that I just
*adore*.
I'll be posting it in my etsy shop as soon as I work up the description and such. The size is newborn to 3 months and I think it would make a great hat to wear for some super cute baby pics.
Speaking of pictures...why is it that I can never take fantastic pictures of my kids or my projects? I manage decent pictures (most could be better), and the snapshots of the kids are fine....but why, when I'm not trying to do anything but appease a sick three year old who wants a picture of his toy do I end up with something really great?
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| Isn't it fantastic? I love it! |
Speaking of pictures...why is it that I can never take fantastic pictures of my kids or my projects? I manage decent pictures (most could be better), and the snapshots of the kids are fine....but why, when I'm not trying to do anything but appease a sick three year old who wants a picture of his toy do I end up with something really great?
 |
| See? boggles my mind. |
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Crafting ADD
I've heard several other crafty people talking about 'crafting ADD'...the inability to focus on a single project at a time, or perhaps even starting one, then abandoning it in favor of a better project.
This is completely me, no excuses....except that my kids totally don't help when it comes to focus and finishing.
As for the focus part, my five year old daughter is constantly asking me to make her stuff for her Barbies, or other dolls, or hair bows for her, or whatnot. Most of these things are quick, small projects that don't truly interfere with my other crafting, and they can actually be beneficial to me because I am suitably distracted from my main project just long enough to fulfill the crochet wanderlust that comes over me in the middle of a larger project. But they still take time away from my other projects.
Now, the main problem the kiddos contribute to is the actual finishing of a project. I make a lot of toys, nice small projects that don't take weeks, don't require worrying overmuch about sizing and gauge and other little things that I don't want to mess with. There have been many times that my kids will see me working on something and 'claim' it before it's done...pieces go missing, whole projects go missing, and it's usually just faster to make another than to find where on earth they've managed to hide it when there are only so many places in one dwelling to stash things.
Last night as I was doing the dishes my five year old told me that her almost two year old sister was messing with some scissors. At the time I didn't think much beyond it other than taking the scissors away from the tiny toddler hands...but I later found out that she had some craftiness on her mind too...and she had snipped little bits of the ant head that was just waiting to be sewed.
Perhaps she wasn't being needlessly destructive...she might have been displaying an aptitude for extermination...
This is completely me, no excuses....except that my kids totally don't help when it comes to focus and finishing.
As for the focus part, my five year old daughter is constantly asking me to make her stuff for her Barbies, or other dolls, or hair bows for her, or whatnot. Most of these things are quick, small projects that don't truly interfere with my other crafting, and they can actually be beneficial to me because I am suitably distracted from my main project just long enough to fulfill the crochet wanderlust that comes over me in the middle of a larger project. But they still take time away from my other projects.
Now, the main problem the kiddos contribute to is the actual finishing of a project. I make a lot of toys, nice small projects that don't take weeks, don't require worrying overmuch about sizing and gauge and other little things that I don't want to mess with. There have been many times that my kids will see me working on something and 'claim' it before it's done...pieces go missing, whole projects go missing, and it's usually just faster to make another than to find where on earth they've managed to hide it when there are only so many places in one dwelling to stash things.
Last night as I was doing the dishes my five year old told me that her almost two year old sister was messing with some scissors. At the time I didn't think much beyond it other than taking the scissors away from the tiny toddler hands...but I later found out that she had some craftiness on her mind too...and she had snipped little bits of the ant head that was just waiting to be sewed.
Perhaps she wasn't being needlessly destructive...she might have been displaying an aptitude for extermination...
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Perpetually late
I'm rarely on time...I think it runs in my blood or something.
About a week after I wanted to get the motifs done for the little purses I finished them! Yay! I've also completed one of the purses, but I haven't taken a pic of it yet.
I asked my husband "don't they look yummy?!?" and he seemed baffled by the description. Weirdo.
Still on my list of things to do is of course piece together the second purse, then I need to make the ant for my nephew, and the gloves for my mom (and I need to find at least *one* of my dozens of yarn needles...where do these things go?)
I've also been searching for a good DIY nursing cover for the new baby, but I can't seem to find a style I like. Most of them just seem to be a blanket with a strap attached, and with my acrobatic eaters that will *not* provide enough coverage to suit my modesty. I guess I'll just go with what I've done in the past, when I converted a crocheted poncho pattern into fabric (why not crochet? TOO HOT! babies are little space heaters).
About a week after I wanted to get the motifs done for the little purses I finished them! Yay! I've also completed one of the purses, but I haven't taken a pic of it yet.
I asked my husband "don't they look yummy?!?" and he seemed baffled by the description. Weirdo.
 |
| I think they look yummy...maybe because the colors remind me of Skittles? |
Still on my list of things to do is of course piece together the second purse, then I need to make the ant for my nephew, and the gloves for my mom (and I need to find at least *one* of my dozens of yarn needles...where do these things go?)
I've also been searching for a good DIY nursing cover for the new baby, but I can't seem to find a style I like. Most of them just seem to be a blanket with a strap attached, and with my acrobatic eaters that will *not* provide enough coverage to suit my modesty. I guess I'll just go with what I've done in the past, when I converted a crocheted poncho pattern into fabric (why not crochet? TOO HOT! babies are little space heaters).
Saturday, January 7, 2012
Works in Progress
I have three (well, four) Christmas gifts that still need to be finished. I was smart and told everyone that they would be late, but I was hoping to get them done today. Totally didn't though. I took a nap instead.
Okay, I took two naps...but the massive work in progress of gestating justifies it in my mind.
My nieces are getting little purses that I'm making using this beautiful motif I first saw on Pinterest:
Wool Eater Instructions
Check out the rest of her blog too...beautiful pictures.
Each little purse will be made of two motifs, and I'm using DK cotton yarn. I have three out of four motifs done and I was planning on taking some pictures of them, because they are pretty, but yeah...I took those naps instead.
My nephew is getting an ant made from my own pattern. I asked my sister what his favorite color was and she said orange and green, which works out *perfectly* because I have a bunch of orange yarn that I don't use for many projects. This little ant will be quite vivid and fantastical, but I think it will be rather nifty.
Lastly I told my mother I would make her some fingerless gloves...and I started them, but I was wanting to try out some modifications to the pattern, and those really haven't worked out so well. I figured mom was going to be the most patient of recipients, so I will revisit those after I get the kiddos stuff done.
Okay, I took two naps...but the massive work in progress of gestating justifies it in my mind.
My nieces are getting little purses that I'm making using this beautiful motif I first saw on Pinterest:
Wool Eater Instructions
Check out the rest of her blog too...beautiful pictures.
Each little purse will be made of two motifs, and I'm using DK cotton yarn. I have three out of four motifs done and I was planning on taking some pictures of them, because they are pretty, but yeah...I took those naps instead.
My nephew is getting an ant made from my own pattern. I asked my sister what his favorite color was and she said orange and green, which works out *perfectly* because I have a bunch of orange yarn that I don't use for many projects. This little ant will be quite vivid and fantastical, but I think it will be rather nifty.
Lastly I told my mother I would make her some fingerless gloves...and I started them, but I was wanting to try out some modifications to the pattern, and those really haven't worked out so well. I figured mom was going to be the most patient of recipients, so I will revisit those after I get the kiddos stuff done.
Monday, January 2, 2012
Back to Blogging!
I used to blog *all* the time...Mostly just a random collection of what I had been thinking and doing (*super* exciting, let me tell you!) that day/week/whenever.
I'm hoping that this blog will be a nice outlet for my craftiness...I post pics all the time on facebook of my finished projects, but it doesn't really provide a platform for explanation and storytelling. I'm too much of a diva to not want the attention that a good story provides :-)
I'm hoping that this blog will be a nice outlet for my craftiness...I post pics all the time on facebook of my finished projects, but it doesn't really provide a platform for explanation and storytelling. I'm too much of a diva to not want the attention that a good story provides :-)
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