The sweater is finished!

After much searching Brian found some really nice grey buttons that compliment the two pinks to complete the sweater for Abby. I like the way it turned out. Now I just need to put it in a safe place that doesn't involve me forgetting where that safe place is once I want to put it on her a year from now.

While finishing the sweater I had a little too much 'help' from Jake...So I gave him a set of (dull, don't worry) circulars and the other sweater I had finished so he could 'knit too.' Maybe I have a future knitter...
And also...what is on the needles now...I am trying the 2-socks-at-once method on circular 'magic loop' needles...we'll see how it goes...this is the current mess I am wading through:

I am a firm believer in just following the directions/pattern and it will all eventually make sense (barring any errors in the pattern of course). I have cast these on 3 times and I think the third time really is the charm...

Toddler Olympics

In the spirit of the Olympic games going on right now I bring you a brief list of events in which my son and I have competed in the last few days:

The 100m Diaper Dash - in which toddler tells mom 'poop' while pointing at diaper (style points awarded for creativity) and then runs away as soon as a fresh diaper is in view. Again, style points for creativity such as running under the kitchen table or making it to the stairs.

Fingernail Fencing - in which mom tries to cut the long, scratchy fingernails of a squirming 19 month old. (rules clarification - if you must use distraction technique like cartoons, points are deducted from overall score).

Hammer Throw - how many toys can we get taken away in a single day for hitting with/throwning them? The bigger the tantrum, the better your score.

Dancing with Mom Decathalon - Dance with your mommy. Hold her hand. Show her how to stop your foot and swing your hips. Spin all around, make her pick you up for a slow song. Better scores are generally awarded to those who can get Daddy involved too.

Yogurt Wrestling - Freestyle - Eat your yogurt. Ask for more. Eat half of it - spread the other half about yourself and your surroudings in the most creative messy way possible. Extra points awarded if mom has to lift you straight into the bathtub from high chair.

Toy Box Relay - Help mom pick up toys and get them into the toybox. Better scores awarded to teams in which the toddler is the one to do the most bending over.

Thwart the Clean Floor Exercises - As mom tries to sweep the floor, take your broom or the dust pan broom and systematically sweep moms pile around the room - winner is the one that makes mom give up and wait until nap time to finish sweeping.

Highchair High Jump - See if you can escape from apparatus while mom is getting the rag to wipe you down. Higher difficulty points if you are a)properly strapped in and b)if you can do it without hurting yourself or any household pets.

And now some photo highlights of these games:

Here is our athlete giving his best pout/tantrum face during the Hammer Throw:

Here we are enjoying Yogurt Wrestling Freestyle - this athlete was awarded 'straight to the tub' points:

Dancing with mom Decathalon - both of our athletes are looking pretty tired, but never the less have put on a stunning performance in front of Dad.

Last but not least after our Little Olympian went to bed I made progress on the sweater. I would have finished but it was just to damn hot to knit last night (crazy I know, but even the smallest amount of wool in my lap made my brain itch).

Domesticity

Yesterday was pretty much 'do all the housework day.' Nothing exciting unless you find dishes and the vacuum exciting (I don't want to know if you do).

I finished the body and neckband of the sweater. Just arms and button bands to go...I may finish tonight or tomorrow. Then I can get back to the socks. Or maybe something different alltogether, like another scrapbook page or finishing that quilt that I started (which one you ask? ha! I'll never tell - we all know I have at least a dozen unfinished projects hiding in my sewing room.

Anyway, here is the sweater:

Starting to look like a sweater

See I told ya. It's for the little person growing in here:
Looks a little big for her at this point...It probably won't even fit her for another year but it's still looking pretty cute don'tcha think? Brian picked the colors...I think he did an awesome job too. So hopefully I will have the body finished, a neck and perhaps an arm by the end of the day (assuming there are no more attempts on the lives of the fish that is).

Little Progress

Ever have one of those days where it feels like you have been busy all day but gotten absolutally nothing done? That was yesterday for me...

I managed to get some laundry done (thrilling, no?) and dishes (woo hoo) but that's about it. I made a few more rows on the sweater but that's about it.

My biggest challenge yesterday was not killing the cat...I was up here reading the Yarn Harlot when I heard a lovely sound...I ran down the stairs (ran...ha ha that's funny...I am 7 months pregnant...running is relative) to discover the cat had tried to get the lid off the Betta bowl and since I had taped the darn thing down she couldn't...so she knocked it onto the floor cracking the stupid thing...

I managed to swipe up the floppy little fish and get them into some water before they suffocated...as I am dealing with keeping the fish alive I hear water trickling...I discover the water from there bowl has run along the floor (my floors are no where near level) down into the air return duct for the furnace. Joy. Needless to say I spent the afternoon mopping up fish-water and shopping for a new (heavier) bowl for the poor boys.

Got home, made dinner, yada yada...

Here is the little progress I made on the sweater (at least I made it to the sleeve divide).

Knitting fever

Well I have been doing several things over the last few days. Mostly knitting and cleaning the house. By cleaning the house I mean the crap that no one ever wants to do like wiping the cabinet faces and washing windows...stuff you never really notice until you do it how much of a difference it makes in how clean things look.

Anyways the fun stuff...the knitting...here is what I have been doing:

Started a pair of socks for a friend...Then stopped when the Olympic torch was lit so I could begin my projects for the Ravelympics...
Then started to finish this:

Yay the sweater is done! Then I cast this on:

Yup, yet another sweater...but this one is for my daughter so I have a little more motivation...then again these sweaters do come together pretty quickly...anyway I'll keep the progress coming...back to knitting...

Nothing new really

I have been keeping up with the housework (if you know me, then you know this is no small feat). Oh and I was going to show off the yarn I dyed with kool-aid...
It was a ton of fun to do and came out better than I expected and it smells kinda fruity too.

Oh yea I made bread yesterday (I have decided that Monday's are for laundry and Tuesday's are for baking - we'll see how long I can keep it up). Today is Wednesday and I was planning on scrubbing the tub today...I think I'll find something to knit instead...cuz cleaning sounds really sorta lame right now.
Oh and here is a fairly recent (not quite a month ago) pic of me as I begin to enter the 'house' size stage of pregnancy (ok so I am at cottage right now...but soon I fear I will be much larger).

Some stuff I've been doing

Mostly just cleaning the house because we are trying to sell it...

However since 'my room' (sewing/crafting space) is now clean I have been more motivated to do things. I also have been knitting like a mad woman cuz I think I love it and I think I am ready to try to draft a pattern (we'll see how well that goes).

So...here are a few pics of what I have been up to:

These are the socks I made for our daughter to be. Brian asked me to make them for him so he could have something for his wall at work. He even picked out the yarn.

Here we have the sweater I made for Jake. I loved making it and he seems to love wearing it. Yay!

These are the socks that I made for my Aunt Patty for Christmas. I improvised a pattern I found in a magazine. I hope she likes wearing them.

These are the socks I made for me. I love them so much. I think they are by far the prettiest socks I have ever owned and certainly the most comfortable (made just for my foot, go figure).

This is a sweater I was actually paid to make (cool huh?). It's just like Jake's only with a hood and I learned how to get the button holes even n this one too. Look at that model, ain't he cute?

I have a few more things in the works but I am out of time for posting as said model is awake and hungry (and probably needs a clean diaper from the smell of things).

Not Dead

Wow! I knew it had been a while since I posted but I hadn't realized it had been more than a year!

I have decided it would be fun to try to do the blog thing again and so here I am. I am pretty sure I am typing to myself at this point and that really is just fine with me.

I really hope to post more about the crafts and things that I am playing with and keep updated with the cute things Jake does (not that anyone save myself and DH really care about all of the little things but you know, there might be a grandparent or two out there that I might point in this direction - hmmm...I guess I'll have to keep it clean then...)

Sooo...since it's been a while here's a couple of fairly recent pics:

Well, that's it for now since little man is up from his nap...

Yes we are still alive

...Not that one could tell by reading my blog....but Jacob and I have settled into a routine and now I can get some computer time in so hopefully I won't be such a stranger to the internet anymore. We'll see if this holds once he starts to be mobile...

Life has been good - We all went on a camping trip in June and that was fun except Jake's first tooth started to come in while we were there so we had a few tough times. Other than that things have been pretty much the same day to day. Jake has started eating 'solid' foods and really really loves it!

Anyway here are a few pictures:

Surgery really sucks, but the nurses are great!

Well here is the scoop on the most recent drama...A few weeks ago Jake started puking - at first it was only once or twice a day but it gradually started to escalate until he was not keeping anything at all down. We took him to see the peditrician on Monday, Feburary 19 and they were going to have us go do an ultrasound asap the next day to check for a condition called Pyloric Stenosis (the pyloric valve at the bottom of the stomach becomes overdeveloped and doesn't open anymore to let food pass into the small intestine). By 4am the next morning we decided not to wait any longer so we took him to the ER at Mary Bridge - we knew that no matter what his conditon was he was starting to get dehydrated and we needed to deal with that ASAP. They got us in and we had the Ultrasound at about 7:30am. Within a short time it was determined that Jake indeed had Pyloric Stenosis and would need surgery VERY soon. The surgeon told us that they had an available O.R. at 4pm. Jake was given an IV and admitted - we got a room and the poor kid got an N.G. tube put in - he really hated that (and so did mom and dad). Because we caught the dehydration issue so quickly Jake did not have to undergo the 24hrs of rehydration before surgey and by 2:30pm his was in the O.R. It was very nerve racking for Mom and Dad but Jake did great and by the next day he was back to his usual good humored self. He did a wonderful job of eating properly and keeping everything down after the surgery so we were able to go home that evening (around 10pm). Oh and the nurses took such wonderful care of everything - I don't know what we would have done without them. Yay for nurses - they are the best!

Jake is 2 Months old today - here are a few pics:

Our favorite face to make: the half smile :)

Adorable, even in our hospital gown:
An hommage to Stewie: Victory is mine!

Growing so fast

Well, Jake is only a month old but it seems like he has gotten so much bigger already. His one month check up was on the 12th and he weighed in at 9lbs...Here are a few new pics:

Jake is Here!!!!

After 12 hours of labor Jacob Andrew Labrecque has arrived.

He was born on January 11th at 10:18pm. He was 7lbs 2.2oz, 19inches long with a 14in crown.

He is a complete joy! Here are some pics:

Quilt and Nursery Pics

Ok here is what the nursery looks like...

And here are a few pics of Jake's Quilt. I got the pattern from and episode of Simply Quilts. The first is an overall then a coule of close ups of the quilting - the quilting in the star was intended to look like flames radiating from the center:

Still Pregnant

Well I am way past due for an update with some photo's and what not...so here we go. Beware the carnage...
First is a side view of me last week in my cute little Seahawks jersey on Christmas Eve (GO HAWKS!!!)

Then we have one from today...here is where it starts to get a little ugly...

And just to underline the pain I am in right now here is one of the stretch marks - some of which have split a second time...

So there you have it. I am stretched to my max and ready for the boy to be out...I'll be back to post some pics of the nursery and Jake's quilt...

I kinda look like a couch at this point...

For those of you wanting a more recent picture of me...here is one of my Dad and me on or around Thanksgiving. I am 32 Weeks (8 months) pregnant in this pic. We are looking at a photo album of my baby picutres...it was a lot of fun.

We had an appt. with our midwife yesterday and all is well. We are still probably going to induce around 38 weeks if this little guy stays on track with his size. I am also very excited that my last day at work will be in two weeks - Dec. 15th. :) Yee Haw! That will give me one week to prepare my house & myself. Then it's Christmas wich will be a pretty darn busy week and the following week will probably be the week we induce. That is only 5 weeks away!

Ultrasound results

The ultrasound went well. My little one is currently about 4lbs 3oz and in the 71st percentile. Allthough the midwife will not change my due date since it is only a guess anyway the u/s machine puts me due on 1/10/07 rather than 1/19/07. He is looking good an healthy and will probably have long legs like his daddy. We got to see his cute chubby little face for a second too - I can't wait to meet him for real! His living space is starting to get cramped (as is to be expected) but he is head down already so that is one less thing we have to worry about (i.e. gee I hope this kid ain't breech). All in all he is measuring just over a week ahead. Some of his measurements are more than that (like his legs) but most are about the 1 week mark (none less than one week ahead). I won't post the pics because they are pretty hard to decipher and not really all that exciting but we got a couple profiles that were 'squished' because of the angle he was lying and because he is head down and we got one of his foot and one more just to make sure it really is a a boy (and uh, yeah, nothing has changed there).
So, things are starting to look a bit better. We meet with Donna, our midwife today to have our bi-weekly appt. and go over everything since our last visit (diabetes, utlrasound, etc.).

Now Boarding the Glucose Testing Train

The meeting with Andrea at my midwife's office went well. She taught me the basics of what diabetes is and how to manage it with diet and exercise. I will have to test my glucose levels four times a day - once in the morning and one hour after breakfast lunch and dinner. Not fun but since I've been pierced and tattoed it's not that big of a deal, plus if I can't handle this I've got a REAL surprise in store for childbirth! It sounds fairly simple. I figure it will take a couple of days for my levels to get to where they should be as I learn what does and does not work for me diet-wise. Hopefully that's all there will be to it.
If I can't get my levels under control with diet I will have to take an oral form of insulin to help. Then we adjust the dose and if that does not work we add insulin via injection. Hopefully it will never get that far!
So, here's to hoping for some nice low readings!

But I KNOW my own veins...

Sooo here is a little update on how things have been going. Little drama here and there but so far all is well.

On Monday the 6th I was driving home from the video store...at a stop light (thank god) I started to get lightheaded and dizzy, then my arms went numb and my vision started to close in. I took a deep breath and things were ok. I drove home still feeling a little lightheaded (only a few blocks). After dinner when the feeling did not subside we decided to call our nurse hotline provided by my insurance company. As predicted they told us to go to the emergency room (they tell you to do this with anything more complicated than a hangnail). I thought it was a bit extream so I decided to call the on-call midwife and see what she had to say...she also said to go to the ER since she couldn't diagonse anything specifically pregnancy related and preggo's get sick just like everyone else, basically better safe than sorry.
So off to the ER we went with books in hand because we have done this before...we only had to wait 3 hours to be seen (right around 11pm). They put me in a bed and gave me a gown...Oh yes it was 29degrees outside at the time...none too warm...I got the room that everyone who works there said 'it's always so cold in this room' - just what I wanted to hear since I had been given my nice thick plush warm gown HA! Anyway they took some blood and urine to be checked and then hooked me up to the bloodpressure/pulse dealy. They got a doppler and checked Jake's heart rate which looked fabulous. And I told them no less than 4 times that no I am not cramping/leaking/or having any sort of 'vaginal complaints.' Then they ran some more fun blood pressure tests (laying, sitting, standing) and determined that my bloodpressure kept dropping when I changed positions and that I was 'a little dehydrated' -basically not enough for concern but because I'm pregnant so they decided to do something about it...which was to give me an IV. That would have been fine, except the nurse totally brushed me off when I told her that I have small, rolling veins. I understand that she does this day in and day out and is probably really good at it most of the time, but damnit I know my own body and have given up enough blood to know how my veins react to the proceedure. So she stuck me, missed the vein, pushed the needle in, pulled it back swung it around under the skin and finally decided that the crook of my arm just wasn't a good spot. So we got to get stuck again in the wrist area with only mild pushing/pulling/digging. She got the vein but I don't think it was in right because the damn thing hurt and I am pretty sure they are not supposed to hurt. Then they hooked me up to the fluid bag and let 'er rip - that stuff was FREEZING cold...it actually started to burn it was so cold on the spot where the tube was against my arm. I started to shiver pretty badly and eventually someone brought me a blanket. The best part was when the blood pressure cuff turned on and started to take my bp...it squeezed so dang hard that I was able to see the blood back out of my vein and climb up the IV tube several feet (I understand physics and that this was expected to some extent but it was a LOT and VERY painful). Once I was done with fluids I got to get unplugged and use the bathroom (I was dying because they loaded the whole bag into me in just under 40 minutes). Then they finally unhooked me and sent me home telling me to follow up with my midwife as there was nothing abnormal in my blood or urine....We got home about 3:30AM so we took Tuesday off for some much needed rest.
Wednedsay I got a call around 9am from the midwife to see if I could meet with her at 11 (I had tried to get in on Tuesday when I was already off work but wouldn't ya know it, life just ain't that convienent). So I took off from work and we headed over there. The results of the meeting were that I am no longer allowed to work overtime, I need to eat more protein, and I got to take my GD test and other bloodwork that day. She measured me and decided to order another ultrasound because I think I am measuring large. We talked about maybe needing to induce 2 weeks early - if the induction doesn't 'take' we may have to schedule a c-section. yipee. Soooo over to the lab we go and I get to have some really really orange syrup to drink (oh yea, can't wait to do THAT again), wait an hour and have my blood drawn.
I got my results from that test that evening and my numbers were high, so I had to do the 3hr glucose challenge...I spoke with the nurse on Friday and asked here if there was anything I needed to do in order to take the test...she said I could just walk right into the outpatient lab and they would do it and I would have to fast beforehand. So I had dinner on Friday night and nothing afterward. We got up Saturday morning and my husband had the foresight to see if they had called in the lab orders or not (of course they had not). So we called the midwife's office to see if they were open but they were not...we has the on/call paged and fortunately it was my midwife who was on call. I told her I could do it another day but wanted to try to do it since I had already been fasting and the test takes a lot of time out of the workday. She was kind and called in the order and we headed on down to the lab...Another blood draw and some waiting for the results. Then they gave me another one of those YUMMY orange drinks (looks like I didn't have to wait to long after all - and have I mentioned my stomach does not do orange when it's empty? So we got to sit and ride the nice waves o' nausea). We waited an hour and had blood drawn again. Then we waited another hour and had a 3rd blood draw and then one hour later had our last blood draw. I requested they call me with the results (I think I only had to tell her 3 times that yes, I understand you can only give me the numbers, not what they mean...) and went and got food.
Later that evening they called me with the numbers...of course I had no clue but after some internet research it looks like I may have failed that test too...JOY.
I called them on Monday and they said I had in fact failed the 3hr test and that I am a gestational diabetic. She said she'd call in my perscription for my testing equipment to the pharmacy and we set up and appt. for me to learn how to use it all.
Of course by the time I had gotten to the pharmacy that evening they had not yet called in the perscription so I get to make a seperate trip. But I only sorta look like a heroine addict now with all of the needle marks in my arms...thankfully it's sweater season...

Lots of fun...up for this weekend and next week: Saturday I have my baby shower - YAY! This shoudl be fun and a nice bright part of the week. Then all week my boss is on vacation so I am running the call center by myself wich should be totally do-able if not a little hectic. I have to leave early of course because I am limited to no more than eight hours a day. I'll leave a little earlier on Tuesday to meet with the nurse to teach me about the diabetes. On Wednesday we'll have an ultrasound (I can't wait to see him again)! Thursday I have my office baby shower (another highpoint in the week) and then I leave early again to meet with my midwife to go over everything. It's going to be busy!

Ultrasound pic!

Took me a while to get a copy onto the computer and it's a low res pic but here he is:

Vino

Well we spent last Sunday making a new batch of wine and watching football - pretty good combo if you ask me! This is our first batch to be straight from nature to the bottle as it were. We picked, pitted and juiced somewhere around 60lbs of plums from our neighbors tree (they couldn't get rid of them fast enough and it was free fruit for us)! Everything (juice, skins, fruit) goes into the fermenter and then we test, and test and test again to determine how much sugar, acid, tanin, etc. to add to the mix then we put all of that stuff in there, added the yeast and hoped it would take off. Of course it did - by Monday night it was clear the yeast was in action full force. On Tuesday morning we woke up to discover the fermenter had overflowed! Yikes! the gases pruduced by the yeast built up under the thick foam head that is created from the fermentation motion and pushed the head up and out. At least now we know there is enough room for the rest of the process without another overflow and there are worse things that my kitchen could smell like besides fruity wine.

Yes, I AM a total slacker...

Well I have completely slacked off on getting my bi-weekly pictures posted...everything is going well. Jake is still measuring ahead by a week or so and we may induce a bit early if he keeps it up...we shall see.
So here we go for pics I am at 22 weeks: