So How About A Non-Baby Post?

I don't know about you guys, but I am so incredibly glad that it's Spring right now. My camera's shudder has been snapping away to gather some Nature Monday posts. Some tulips from my front garden:




















This week was the OKC Arts Festival, and my Mom came down so that she could go with us. It was great fun, and we painted some pottery and found a little wall-hanging that we liked. Invariably, my favorite part of the Arts Festival is the wind-powered art (click for big):




















Oh, and I realized the other day that I had not yet shown you my Waving Lace socks I finished awhile back. I assure you that no flowers were harmed in the making of these photographs:














I knit them out of Knit Pick's Gloss in Serengeti and I loved the pattern. I think they took something around the area of three weeks to climb off my needles, and only because I took a week-and-a-half break from them in the middle.

This has been your non-baby blog post. We now return you to your regularly scheduled programming.

Happy Earth Day!

So, it's Earth Day, and I know that usually on a Earth-event days I post a poem and encourage everyone to do their part to make the world a better place. Unfortunately, this year, I was too distracted to be in a mood for angry-save-the-planet-or-else poem writing. Instead, I bring you pictures from my garden (click for big).













































There, wasn't that nice? Oh, yes, there was one more:

I knit the Upside-Down Daisy Hat from Itty Bitty Hats by Susan B. Anderson, with liberties in regards to petal placement. I thought that our little girl should have an appreciation for nature's imperfections. (Really, I just liked that it looked like something out of a Dr. Seuss book.) It also leads me to my final thought for you for Earth Day:

Go plant a flower or something, just add water and enjoy! Happy Earth Day!

So it appears

that there are no pictures in this post. I promise, promise, promise that I will upload some pictures later. I have knitted things, even baby things recently that are adorable (if I don't say so myself) and make me mind a little less that there are a zillion things to do before this kid pops out of me and starts doing things of her own volition besides kicking me in the side.

Has anybody noticed that I stress out easily? Rick seems convinced that if I am not in somewhat of a semi-stressed or busy state that I would just flat lose it. Mind out the door. (Hey now, you with the smart comment-you'd better hold on to that one for now.)

The baby update is as follows:

1. We still have no name yet, although we've been tossing around some for the last week or so. There has been effort put forward on that, I promise. We're not going to have some nameless little girl running around the planet if we have anything to do with it.
2. Also, we have begun to seriously consider baby furniture. We figure that this is important, as she will eventually need to have a place to sleep that is not inside me. Also-who possibly could have known that there is so much baby furniture out there? We narrowed it down to white furniture, as we are doing her room in plumish-purples and pinks with flowers and butterflies and the room has white trim.
3. This weekend, there will be furniture moving and attic stuffing as the nursery is currently occupied by stuff.
4. In addition, there will be knitting this weekend. As stated above, there has been lots of knitting, and I am currently working on the Estonian Lullaby Baby Blanket from Fiber Trends. I have realized after starting this exactly how much work I have cut out for me. Hopefully it will go fast, since it's pretty close to the sock lace pattern I just finished knitting (and shall show you when I get off my posterior and actually post the pictures I've taken.
5. One last thing-I have, since moving into this house, worked fairly hard to make sure that everything stays pretty clean. As of late, I've begun to somewhat obsess about the cleaning thing. I have yet to decide if this is healthy or not, this somewhat obsessive 'nesting'. It ended with me on Sunday in the bathroom scrubbing the tile on the floor of the shower for 4 hours or so (you have no idea the state that the previous owners left the shower-it's awful). It has led me to discover this cleaning product line, which Rick doesn't mind me using because there are WAAAAY less fumes than the normal stuff I use, and is better for the environment. Go check it out. They sell it at Target.

That is all for now as I am at work on my lunchbreak and they probably would like for me to return from it. Jobs are funny that way.

For Interested Parties (throw a party!)

Rick and I went in and had our ultrasound done today, and we were able to tell the gender. Time to get my needles started!

Oh, you want to know what we're having?

Well, I'll be knitting in pink and purple. We're having a girl!

Waiting in Line

You know, I am fairly certain that I have never met a person who liked waiting in line (who wasn't a knitter, and then sometimes even they don't like this either). It's generally not fun if it's a long line at the grocery store (especially if the lady at the checkout is scanning.very.slowly.). Sometimes it's fun if you're 8-years-old and you're excited about waiting in line at a theme park for a really great ride, but I tend to find that most lines are about as exciting as licking stamps (aren't we all glad that they have the sticky-backed ones now?).

I am waiting in a line right now and there aren't even any people around me. It is a strange sort of line where I'm anxious about what's on the other end and impatient to get the rewards when it becomes my turn, but it is a long, long line indeed. I will fall asleep and be waiting in line again when I wake back up, my spot saved for me by an invisible computer system. I am so distracted by waiting that I can't get any work done at work, and everything that I do at home is with the sole intention of getting me 'undistracted' so I can sleep at night and not be so busy worrying about the line, which will not go any faster or slower no matter how time passes.

I'm waiting for my ultrasound appointment, which is not until next Wednesday morning. 8 more days. I know I can make it 8 more days. I say it over and over in my mind, 'I can make it 8 more days'.

I have been trying all manners of distractions from this thought that keeps cycling in my brain. Yesterday, I (with some assistance) broke down the raised bed around the pecan tree in our backyard, reset the timbers so there weren't giant gaps between them, mixed in some extra soil, planted some bright poppies and some seeds for other various flowers, and mulched. I have pictures at home, but am posting from work before my shift starts, so I'll have to show you when I get there.

I have also been working like mad to finish this pair of socks I've been working on before then, and should be done by Friday, because I know that Wednesday I have to go shopping for baby blanket yarn. Then I have to start knitting like there's a fire under my bottom. I haven't decided what pattern I'm going to knit, but am pretty confident that I will have to buy yarn for it whatever it may be due to the shortage of baby blanket yarn in my stash.

Ugh...baby blankets. Babies. 8 more days, I know I can make it 8 more days.

I can see this is going to be a long week.

A Cold, Rainy Day

So we got up this morning and the heater is busted again. It's a fairly new central air system, and the heater is run off of gas, and apparently it's just the heater part that's messed up. The service folks said that they have it fixed for this season, but we are going to have problems with it again, because apparently due to something with the ducting it's rusting. Bah. More money we didn't need to spend. Hopefully this time it will make it through to the Spring, and won't wake up cold again.

It's rainy, too, so Penny came outside to help me take pictures of my (finally) finished Monkeys.














Remember when I started those....back in AUGUST! Then I interrupted the Monkey knitting to finish every other unfinished sock I had. So...7 months later, I'm finally done. I love them, though, they fit great!

Aubrey, hun? You wanted Penny pictures, you got em! The normally camera-shy Penny let me snap some of her while she was playing outside (in the non-muddy part of the yard).

Enjoy!

What Was the Point?

So...I said that I would have some knitting-related content? HA! I've got your knitting-related content right here!

How about some spinning? This is some alpaca/merino/silk purchased from Susan's Spinning Bunny.














(Penny's paws added for effect.) Now I have knit some since this whole pregnancy onslaught. How about the centerpiece for the Hemlock Ring Blanket?














Also known for now as the amorphous blob, as lace often is.

Now, for my finale. There has been dye-work in this house! Glorious dye-work!













Now, I wonder what this is for? You'll have to tune in next time to find out...

St. Brigid's Silent Poetry Reading

(A day late, I know, however, I was busy yesterday. Speaking of which, yarn-related activities tomorrow.)

Distanced

I can not see you yet
Though you inhabit my dreams
and fill my body with
your own yearnings.
I keep waiting to see
that swell of my belly
to tell me that you are coming.
I wait, are you real
or am I still asleep?

I can not hear you yet
Though your complaints
rock my stomach
as if I were on a boat.
I keep waiting to feel
your quick movements
to assure me that you’re well.
I wait, but instead
I am greeted with silence.

She tells me as I lay still
the image on the screen is you.
So small as you move about,
Suddenly you are real.
She tells me that you’re strong
While I listen to the hushed thumping
I close my eyes and imagine,
Suddenly you have a voice
And I am reassured.

-C.R. Shafer

Yeah, So It's Been Awhile

I keep feeling this need to appologize for my blog absence and lack of knitting excitement. I know nobody wants to hear it, as you all know that I have been busy making something far more important than blog posts, so I won't say it. Speaking of which, here is an update, since I know everyone wants to know about that:

In the time since I have spoken to you last I have:

1) Given my OB her last chance with me, and she failed...miserably.

2) Part of her failure required me to freak out for an entire evening before an absolutely unnecessary ultrasound.

3) The ultrasound was absolutely THE BEST part of this whole thing by far. Taco-Bender was moving around and dancing about the entire time. Heart beat was 166 btw, and as of two weeks ago when this occurred, Taco-Bender was 2 inches long.

4) I was placed on several very strong anti-nausea medicines, a different prenatal vitamin, and a generic Xantac so that my insurance would pay for it. This has at least helped me feel half-way human again. Sometimes though, it still seems like nothing works (as for the last couple of days) and that I get to just suffer through it. Not fun. Along this line, I must say that I thought I would be taking LESS medication while I was pregnant, but I have never taken this many pills in my life!

5) My new OB was absolutely smashing. I visited her yesterday and she was fantastic. She sat and talked to us for 30 minutes about everything that was happening with me and with the pregnancy. She was able to find the heartbeat (150, this time, but the bugger wouldn't stop moving this time either). This was my third (yes, third) Dr.'s app't this month that I've had to take off work for, in addition to being just plain sick. My insurance company and work just absolutely love me right now (honestly, they don't have a choice-I'm technically a 'temporarily disabled person' or at least that's the wording I've heard for it).

6) My Mom came down this last weekend, which was good. It was nice to have her down here and also to help Rick out kinda too (she cooked dinner one day and gave us an excuse to go out to eat when I could handle it).

So...busy, busy, busy. I have something else in the works for you (shush, Fae!), but that may be another week in the coming. Just know that I'm quite excited about it and it gives me something to concentrate on that is not health related (because that's not any fun right now, honestly). Patience, my Dears, patience...

Whew

A big thanks to everyone for all of the well-wishing after my last post! We got power back last night...and then it went back down for a couple of hours...then it came back up. It stayed up all night, so we're hoping this is a for-good type thing. Especially since I want my house to not smell like a chimney anymore.

Progress update:

We have decided that the term 'Prego' is not an appropriate term of endearment for a pregnant woman. This only enangers said woman and makes her threaten to punch you. Terms such a 'Little Mama' are slightly more acceptable.

Rick has taken to calling our child of unknown sex our 'Taco Bender'. I find this humorous, and for those of you who do not know, Rick is Mexican, which makes this acceptable.

It is not ok for your obstetrician to reschedule your appointment that you made two weeks ago unless it is an emergency. Pregnant people are a bit unstable, and I'm surprised that obstetrician secretaries are not made aware of this. I may be switching obstetricians after this appointment.

Week #6. Maybe this week will go a bit smoother.