fun with the fetus

Midnight is baby play time. It's like "Alien." You know what I'm talking about.

I think tonight she is doing a "welcome to the 3rd trimester" dance. Oy vey.

Anniversary

Happy 3rd Anniversary to my darling Hubby. Who does not read this blog. Who does not even know this blog exists, actually. But I want to publicly acknowledge the man who puts up with my crazies, loves and supports me, and has given me 1.66 beautiful children.

I can't say that every day has been perfect wedded bliss, but it has definitely been more good than bad. Here's to many more years of laughter and love.

random stuff

Yep, my in-laws are annoying, blah blah. Yesterday they called Hub at work to wish him a happy birthday and said sorry they missed "our little party." And it turns out my mil's tests weren't even yesterday, they were today. As in, Tuesday. As in, not yesterday. I am trying to just let this go, because I don't want a contentious relationship with my in-laws. But even Hub is mad. Especially since she told him today that the tests weren't that bad after all and then they went shopping and ordered new furniture. Whee.

So pardon me for thinking they're jerks.

In happier news, the sun is out and it's beautiful and warm. Daughter and I went for a ride to drop off my paid projects (finally) and to visit with some friends. It was so good to get out and be social. Sometimes I go an awfully long time speaking to no one but my husband, mother, and child. Stunts the brain a bit.

Here are a couple more projects I finished for Daughter over the weekend:



Some shorts and another little dress with bloomers. There's another pair of shorts but I'm not risking waking her from her nap to go get them and take a picture. You'll have to take my word for it that they're cute and blue. The little purple dress pictured needs (hand) finishing work that I'm not real enthused about. Oh well, I'll get to it. I have a pile of stuff that falls into that category right now and one of these days I'll just thread up a needle and go.

I also cut a bunch o' strips so I can start the new babe's quilt:



Or from this angle, if you prefer:



That's all for today though, 'cause it kills my back to lean and cut on my dining room table. One of these Christmases or birthdays I will get a cutting table of the appropriate height. Hopefully tomorrow I can cut the muslin and start piecing the strips together. I don't know though - it's supposed to rain and when it's really gray and dark out I can't seem to get my butt in gear. I tend to just go back to bed when Daughter takes her naps and I don't even shower till late afternoon. So I'm hoping for sunshine. It makes me much more productive.

sigh

I'm kind of down today.

It's my dad's birthday, which is neato. That's not the downer part.

Tomorrow is Hub's 30th birthday. A few days ago we decided we'd have his parents, bro, and bro's girlfriend over for a little cookout type of thing, with hot dogs, burgers, salads, etc., and an ice cream cake (Hub's favorite which we always have for his bday). So I went to the supermarket on Friday and got all kinds of grillable meats and whatnot, fresh rolls, blah blah blah, and we invited everyone for tonight (Sunday).

Hub's mom was all weird and listless on the phone when we called but said they would be here. Apparently she has to have some kind of female-parts test done tomorrow and she's nervous about it. I can't describe what hypochondriacs my in-laws are, or how many events they have ruined with their crying wolf and histrionics. So when Hub said his mom wasn't feeling well the other night, I jokingly said, "watch, they won't even come on Sunday."

This morning I got up and dragged my huge pregnant self around the house for hours, scrubbing and mopping and vacuuming and dusting. I finally got in the shower at 3 pm so I could be presentable and also so I could run out and pick up the ice cream cake. When I got out of the shower Hub asked, "so what's your dad doing today?" And I said I didn't know, I should really call him. Then Hub suggested maybe we should go see him for his birthday. I asked what he was talking about...people were coming to our house in 3 hours..............

You can see where this is going, can't you?

Yep, while I was in the shower the in-laws called and said they weren't coming. And since Daughter was safely tucked away for a nap, I let loose some 4-letter words. My mother-in-law couldn't manage to come to her son's 30th birthday party, wear a smile for an hour, eat some cake, and go home. Because she has to have some sort of test done tomorrow. Her doctor doesn't even think there's anything actually wrong with her, it's just a simple test. So I worked all day to make a nice birthday party for my husband, and it was a waste of time. We called his bro and told him not to bother coming over, since we'll have to make up the party at a later time anyway.

Sigh.

At least the house is clean. And tomorrow, Daughter and I will go to the ice cream place that makes the really good cakes and get one, because darn it, it's still his birthday and we love him. And he should have a cake.

Stay tuned for the final items of Daughter's summer wardrobe tomorrow...I sewed like a maniac on Saturday night before packing up all my stuff for the party we were supposed to have...

somebody stop me...

Help me...I can't stop making cute outfits...

So I was wrong! The shorts I made the other day are totally fixable! Thank goodness when I pitched them I only put them into the little garbage bag I keep next to my sewing table. Turns out the seam I frigged up was the side seam, not the (reinforced with double stitching) crotch seam. I merely had to spend an irritating half hour with the seam ripper, picking out the 4 incorrect seams.

The problem is, I have no visualization skills. I cannot - can not - visualize how pants and/or shorts come together. So I have to really take my time and think carefully about what gets pinned where and how the seams should be sewn. Last night I took another crack at it and sat studying the pattern diagrams and the cut pieces for a loooooooooong time, trying to understand where I went wrong the day before. And it finally clicked. I know I sound so moronic, but I really struggle with this! I'm glad I did it though, because I rescued those other two pairs and now Daughter's summer wardrobe will be complete. I didn't finish re-stitching them yet (no time, no time) but I got this outfit done:



The color is much richer in real life. My camera sucks.

Pattern: It's so easy it's Simplicity #4142 (size A, 1/2-4)
Size: 1/2
Fabric: Calico from Joann Fabrics big wall o' stuff

This pattern is awesome. And cheapy-cheap at Walmarteroonie. I think the whole thing, from cutting to sewing to finishing, took about 2 hours. I broke out the serger for this one, so I didn't have to turn any hems twice, and it made things so very quick. My serger is really old and clunky, and only works when it wants to, so it's been banished to a trunk in the family room for ages, but today I guess it was in the mood to help me. Anyway, Daughter will wear this outfit for her Daddy's birthday party tomorrow. Sweet!

This is the other pair of shorts I made over last weekend:



Limey! She insisted on wearing the hat. By the way, this is what 90th percentile for height and 5th percentile for weight look like. Tall and skinny with chicken legs. It's no wonder she's only just now starting to walk.

adventures in sewing (and bad photography)

I always mean to post more regularly, but then I get sucked into the pregnancy/motherhood/housewife vortex and I just disappear for a few days. It's an odd sensation, that. Disappearing. Poof.

Anyway, I did not end up making anything patriotic for Daughter to wear on the 4th. The reasons are threefold: first, I hated all the patriotic fabric carried at our Joann Fabrics this year (and $9.99/yard? really? come on); second, my back was super owie after sewing a lot last week (mental note...must get a cutting table of correct height one of these days); third, we didn't do squat for the holiday anyway so there was no real reason she needed anything special to wear.

I did make one cutie-patootie pair of shorts for her, but they are in the wash right now. I'll take some photos and talk pattern specs another day. I started 2 more pairs yesterday only to sew the crotch seam incorrectly so those were ruined and I was VERY VERY FRUSTRATED. They went straight into the garbage as they were unsalvagable. Grrrr.

I did, however, experience some success in the sewing/knitting arena over the past week or so. Besides the one pair of wee shorts, I managed to finish the 2 quilt tops I owe the shop:



It is actually quite a sunny day but for some reason I cannot take a quality photo. Anyway, you can see there are 2 tops there, right? Tedious work making those borders, let me tell you. Freaking half-square bias triangles. Invented by sadists, I'm sure. But they are done and I am happy. Now I will spend the afternoon snipping bazillions of threads from the embroidery sections so these can be turned in tomorrow and I can GET PAID!! That's happy, because I want to buy more fabrics to go with these:



Whoa, how 'bout that segue? These are a small collection of little prints I've been, well, collecting. For many years now. There are actually more hidden away somewhere in one of my closets or cabinets, and I have to go spelunking to find them. These have been displayed in a basket lately so they were handy to photograph. I'm planning to use them (along with the bleached 200 count muslin underneath) for the new babe's quilt. I figure I ought to get going on it, considering she's due in just over 13 weeks...aaaaagh! Ok, must not think of the timeframe. Breathe. Breeeeeeeeathe.

The pattern will be a simple 9 patch, and will hopefully have an "old" look to it when I'm done. I'm not planning a border, just alternating white squares with 9 patch squares to the edges, and then a binding made of strips of each fabric used in the top. I think it will be super cute. I plan to make one block of each fabric to take shopping with me so I can pick out a few more teeny prints to coordinate. Hopefully my paycheck will arrive just in time for the hy-ooge Joann Fabrics coupon sale that starts the 16th.

And finally, we have news on the knitting front. I finished the front of the wee dress for baby #2:



My word, this is tough to photograph. For some reason the stockinette portion comes out all freaky-looking. The bodice portion is really sweet:



I don't know why it looks so washed-out in the picture. The garter ribs are a lilac color and look adorable in real life. This is such a nice, simple pattern. I've been plodding away at it while we watch movies at night because other than making sure I click my row counter, I don't have to think. Once the back is done the shoulder seams get sewn and then the sleeves are knit down from the bodice...happy, happy day! That's 2 fewer seams to sew. Rock on.

And then, of course, once that's done I have twelve billion more things in mind to make.....

100 days and counting

My little baby ticker thingy says there are 100 days to go. That sort of sounds like a lot, but it so isn't. Daughter arrived 2 weeks early, and since this wee babe seems determined to trump the first in every way, I wouldn't put it past her to show up early too. Yikes.

Dilemma

Hi everyone, it's me, begging you for help and advice again. It's just that I have not found this one in the parenting books and I don't know what exactly I should do.

Daughter is about 14.5 months old now. She has been merrily taking 2 naps each day, at approximately 10 am and 2:30 pm since forever. Usually these last anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours, allowing me to get a break, take a shower, eat something, clean, sew, etc. Of late she is not so much falling asleep in the afternoon. She sleeps for at least a good hour in the morning, which is cool, but then just plays and sings and talks in her crib for as long as I leave her in the pm.

Last night by 5:00 she was literally careening into furniture, crying for no reason, smacking me, throwing books and toys, and just generally being miserable. So I stuck her in her bed to rest until Hub came home, figuring we'd grill burgers and cook and then wake her to eat. She fell asleep in 2 seconds and slept soundly until at least 6:30. But then she was awake until after 10. Gaaaahhh!

So this morning I tried keeping her awake from when she got up (about 8) until after lunch. By 11:30 she was obviously tired, and by 12:30 she was unbearable. Wretched, even. She was so tired she could barely eat her lunch and much of it ended up in the dog's stomach rather than her own. So I washed her up as best I could what with all the smacking and crying she was doing, and plunked her in the crib. She's zonked now, of course, and will probably sleep for a good 3 hours.

My question for all you more experienced moms is this: when did your kids drop a nap? How did you handle this? Was there misery throughout the land, like we have here? I don't think my poor kid can survive the whole morning with zero rest, but she also can't make it from lunchtime to bedtime with no rest either. Help me, please.

in which i complain about my hair and you sort of get to see what i look like

My energy is flagging at this point in the week...sooooooooooooo tired. Plus it has been on-and-off sunny and rainy (often several times in the same day) so that's kind of draining. Thank goodness there is leftover pizza for lunch 'cause I don't think I could rustle up much more than that on my own.

So, since there is nothing to really write about (I have done only paid sewing for the past 2 days), I thought I'd complain about my hair a little. I am Italian and I have some seriously Italian hair. It's very thick, very dark - not black, but not far from it - and it's naturally quite wavy and somewhat coarse. During the summer the humidity gets it and it turns into a freaking 'fro. I cannot justify even blowing it dry, especially when it's hot 'cause that's uncomfortable enough, but also because it just curls and whirls anyway, even if I blow it straight. With product. The hair, it has a mind of its own. I don't have a current photo of it, but it's hitting pretty much between chin and shoulder length right now (depending on the amount of curl). Also, with pregnancy has come much more curliness. I totally don't get that because the hair is technically dead, right? So how can it curl more because of the hormones in my body?? Makes no sense.

Oh and plus, I haven't seen the inside of a hair salon in 11 months. Seriously. The last time I had it cut was the week before Daughter's christening last July. Hang on, I think there's a photo of that cut on my laptop somewhere...

Oh yes. Here you go:



Yes, my nose is Italian too. Shut up. And there are only 2 people in this photo, but 4 total chins. Hmmmm.

Anyway, that is how I prefer my hair to be cut. Why is it no longer cut that way? (Or cut any way at all?) Well, I lost a bet with my husband last summer. He sold a Stratocaster (sp?) to buy a gym membership right around the time this photo was taken. I totally didn't believe he had the dedication to go continuously and actually lose weight. So I said if he lost 20 lbs I'd grow my hair. I thought I was safe. Turns out he lost the stupid 20 lbs. And now I have to deal with this crazy mop o' hair on my sweaty little head.

That was a totally boring story, huh? Sorry, I'll be back with something interesting soon...

more sewing cuteness

Wow, where did the past 5 days go?

I feel like a lot has been going on, and yet I couldn't really tell you what the heck we've been doing. Friday was "stay home and scrub the filthy bathroom" day but that ended with me being stir-crazy and dragging Daughter to JoAnn Fabrics, ostensibly for some new machine needles, but really I wanted to browse. She picked out some fabric (seriously, we walk along the calico wall and she points to the ones she likes), so we got a few cuts to make some more sundresses.

Saturday we did a couple errands, and then I spent the entire evening constructing a new outfit for Daughter:


cherries jubliee!


look at the matchy-matchy cherry buttons!

Friends, I am having so much fun making these little outfits. I'm going to need a 12-step program to get over this. Once again, here is the info:

Dress pattern: New Look Kids #6578, size 1/2 but adjusted to length of the size 2
Bloomers pattern: Easy Stitch 'n Save by McCall's #M5079, size large

The cherry buttons were also from JoAnn, and I swear I think they cost almost as much as the fabric. But you have to admit it was worth it, no?

There was a question last week in the comments regarding how to determine the length of the elastic in the bloomers. Since I have the kid right here, I measured her thighs and added about 1". I also double checked against some store-bought outfits to make sure that would work. If possible, I would suggest taking a loose leg measurement, or asking the mom to measure if the baby isn't with you.

I have to run and try getting some work done. I don't think I've shared this yet, but my 14-month old child just up and decided IT IS NOW TIME TO WALK. So we spend all our waking hours cruising furniture, taking daredevil steps from table to couch to tv stand, and attempting to climb the family room steps. People, my back? It is killing me. The poor kid isn't really very stable yet so she threatens to fall all the time. I have to scootch around the floor, hovering behind her, trying to avoid the face-smashing into furniture fall, or the head bouncing off the floor fall...it is strenuous. The point is, she is now sleeping and this is my break. I was given this project for the quilt shop back in April, I am ashamed to say, and it still is not finished:


It's hard to see in this crummy photo (sorry, it is dark, dark, dark and pouring rain today), but the big squares have embroidery in them. With all the issues going on in my life over the last few months I just haven't been able to finish this paid work. But we could sure use the dough so I'm buckling down. I have to finish this and its twin, hopefully this week. Thankfully this one is almost there.

Also? It is twelve thousand percent humidity today and everything feels damp. Eew. Makes for some clammy sewing...

just my opinion...

You know what really frosts my cookies? When you go into the grocery store in summer, which is always chilled to a subarctic temperature, and you see all these babies with barely any clothes on. Damn, people, babies get cold! A lot faster than we do! And they are not walking around to generate any warmth to their extremities!

Please, put some socks on your teeny baby, and a little cotton sweater, or at least lay a light receiving blanket over the child. My daughter runs on the warm side, which she gets from Hub, but she still gets chilly in the freezing cold market. She always has socks and a little lightweight cotton shirt over her sundress.

Last summer when she was only a couple of months old, Daughter and I were shopping and an older lady stopped me to say she was happy to see socks on my baby. I thought to myself, "duh, of course she has socks on, it's freaking cold in here." I couldn't understand who wouldn't put socks on a tiny baby. Alas. Now I see.

**edit: I am talking here about teeny weeny babies...newborns especially. Babies cannot regulate their body temps until they are around 1 year old. The toddler set is another story. Today at the store my kiddo had on a sundress so her legs were bare, but she had socks and a little long sleeve knit cotton shirt over top (just for the store; the car was hot, hot, hot). Mostly I just can't deal with the newborns being exposed (in the sun too, but wow, that's another whole issue).

sew cute

On my list today are: mop kitchen floor, clean bathroom, pay bills. So as soon as Daughter went down for her morning nap I immediately pulled out my sewing machine. I'm a rebel.

Remember the little blue dress I made for Daughter a couple weeks ago? What, you don't have my blog memorized? Sheesh. Ok, here you go:

now with bloomers!

Yep, instead of doing boring old chores, I sat down and sewed up the little bloomers that go under the dress. Since it's quite a shorty little thing these are definitely necessary, or else her diaper is just hanging out. Not fond of that look. Anyway, I am so impressed at how easy these are...they only took about an hour, and now that I know what I'm doing I can probably do the next ones faster (oh yes, these are so cute & easy I want to make a bazillion).

Closeup:

so yummy I might eat them for lunch

And a little closeup of the inside of the leg casing, which I think is constructed in a very cool way:


Oh my gosh, that is a terrible photo - my apologies. I must have had the settings wrong on the camera or something. Yikes. Anyway, if you can get past the blur, check out the neato way you use bias tape to make a (hopefully) comfy little casing for the leg elastic. You use 1/2" bias tape, stitch it to the right side, turn to the wrong side, stitch that down, then insert the elastic and slip stitch closed. Brilliant! Usually I hate bias tape but this was a breeze.

The thing that actually takes the most time with these little pants is adjusting the elastic over and over to get it right. Other than that, a fast and awesome little project.

I cut out several more little dresses and bloomers before going into the hospital last week, and lo, major thunderstorms are rolling in as I type. Guess what I'm doing during afternoon naptime today?

no rest for the wicked

Oy vey. All I want to do is chill out and take a nap but do you think I can do it? Of course not. Damn type A personality.

So Daughter had a fever over the weekend. I tried in vain to take her temperature. Apparently the thermometer shot pain rays into her armpit from the way she reacted. The best I could tell was that it was around 100. Nothing too serious, I figured. We loaded her up with good old Tylenol and she slept (fitfully) through the night. The fever seemed to be gone by Sunday night so meh, whatev. Then yesterday she broke out in a nas-tay rash all over her face and torso. Swell! We 'observed' her overnight, and she slept well, but this morning it was still yucky and she was rubbing and rubbing at her forehead and eyes. It looked worse and extended all the way past her waist. So we called the doctor and made our first ever early morning dash to the office. I guess it's lucky we hadn't had to do that yet. Unfortunately that meant no time to shower and since the surgeon took the tape off my neck yesterday I have tape residue and iodine showing, to go along with my huge nasty healing scar. Sooooooooo pretty!

Anyhoo, it seems to be just a viral rash. Nothing serious. I gave her some benadryl and hopefully she'll have a nice long nap. Of course we didn't have any benadryl, so we had to stop at everyone's favorite low class mecca of consumerism, la Mart de Wal. We probably picked up 5 more viruses just walking in there.

So. Unfortunately all this resting I'm trying to do isn't resulting in much cleaning/cooking/laundry/etc. being done. I know, I know, it's not that important, let it go, blah blah blah. But hub needs clothes to wear to work and I can't let my kid crawl around on filthy floors. And we really can't afford to order takeout every night (nor is that very healthy). So work I must, and then I can do fun things like nap and...well, nap.

I'm off to fold a mountain of laundry.

surgery recap

So, here I am. Recovering fairly well considering a) my body has just been sliced into, b) pregnancy, and c) it is 90 degrees outside.

Wanna see my bandage? Ok:


pretty!

That's a big piece of surgical tape held down by many little pieces of surgical tape. And you all know what happens when you have a cut that starts to heal, right? Can you say ITCHY?!?

So it's a pretty big incision. On the left side of the photo you can see the little vampire-bite marks where the drain was after the procedure. Boy was THAT gross. Hurt coming out, I can tell you that much. Eew.

The procedure went well. The day (Weds) went sort of like this:

Woke up at 5 am dreaming of bacon and eggs. Finally fell back into crappy sleep until about 8.

Got up, fed Daughter breakfast, stared longingly at Cheerios.

Showered, dressed, etc., made sure bags were packed, bundled everyone into car, went to my mom's to drop Daughter off.

Zoomed to hospital as we were running a bit late, as is our usual M.O.

Waited.

Were finally called in so I could change into a sex-ay gown and have a fetal heart check. Amazingly, my BP was normal the whole time. Soooooooooooo hungry.

Led us to recliners to wait some more. Saw dead person covered head to toe by a sheet in one of the recliners. Very uncool and non-confidence inducing.

Finally called to go to pre-op, and told to surrender glasses to Husband. Flying blind from here on out.

Hung out in pre-op, answered questions, spoke to the surgeon, met the surgical team, got my IV.

Wheeled into operating room on time. Freezing in there. Covered in warm blankets, pillow placed under knees for support, oxygen mask placed on face. Saw anesthesiologist stick needle in IV and heard, "have a nice dream, we'll take good care of you."

Woke up. Vomited. Passed back out. Repeated for 12 hours.

So that was about it. Yes, general anesthesia makes me VERY sick. The combo of having had a breathing tube during the procedure and barfing all night really did a number on the inside of my throat. The pain was pretty rough for the first couple of days. Then the surgeon wasn't going to let me go home because my calcium levels were too low (my face and hands were tingling, which of course only happens to like 1 in 10 patients). But I begged because I just couldn't get any rest in the stupid hospital. So I got to leave with prescriptions for massive amounts of calcium and vitamin D. Which are fun to swallow! Feels great!

I think if I'd had this procedure while not pregnant it would have been a breeze because I could have had all kinds of good painkillers and whatnot. As it stands I didn't even take a Tylenol until I was already home and trying to sleep flat in my bed. Ow.

And I'm so annoyed that I can't take a shower. I mean, thank goodness for the shower massage thingy that comes down from the wall, because I can at least wash up and shampoo my hair over the side of the tub, but it's just not the same as a real shower. I'm going to beg Hub to go to the store and get me some waterproof surgical tape today so I can tape plastic over the suture line (the tape is supposed to stay on till I see the doctor on Wednesday). Then maybe I can try showering.

The baby came through great. Her heart rate did drop a bit after the anesthesia (to about 128 bpm) but it stayed in the normal range. It went right back up to the 150s though, and she has been kicking the *@&#^ out of me ever since. So I am assuming no harm was done and she will be fine and dandy at birth.

As you all know, I was so frightened in the weeks leading up to this. Again, I want to sincerely thank all of you (both commenters and lurkers) who offered prayer and support. I truly believe you all helped pull me through.

Well, I'm off to try and keep cool. I'm resting as much as possible right now, so if you don't hear a lot from me this week don't worry. I'm definitely anxious to get back to sewing and knitting for my babes, and will be doing so as soon as I feel a little more energetic. Watch this space!

home

Thank you so much for all the prayers and positive energy.

We are home, all is well. Very tired and sore. More to come...

ready

All that baloney from yesterday has blown over. My mom (saint!) has invited my mother-in-law over tomorrow afternoon for a cup of tea and a visit. Things are fine. I'm over it.

Remarkably, I'm feeling pretty calm right now. I had a regular OB checkup this afternoon and my BP was normal. The baby looks good and I'm measuring 22 cm at 23 weeks. All good. I think maybe I've gotten all the worrying out over the last month and now I just want to get this over with. Both the surgeon's office and the hospital called today to remind me to come to the hospital tomorrow. That's good 'cause I probably would have forgotten otherwise.

Well, I have about 3 hours to eat whatever I want. Better go snack! Please send the positive vibes my way tomorrow. I'll be back in a few days.

Rant

So I'm kind of mad today.

I have this interesting relationship with my husband's parents. It's not that I actively dislike them, but I can honestly say I don't trust them at all. This stems from many, many things, not the least of which being major problems with money (they have always had enough, just mismanaged it so badly they had to ask Hub for money at many points), major problems with prescription drugs (use your imagination), my father-in-law's chain smoking and diabetes issues (I don't blame him for the diabetes of course, but I do blame him for not managing it and instead eating chocolate cake and drinking pepsi), and several other things. During the first year of our marriage Hub and I spent more time worrying about/taking care of their issues than our own, and it is amazing that we survived. Here is a fun thing: they offered to give us our honeymoon, which was to be a beautiful carribbean cruise, and initially we said no, that would be too much money, but they insisted. And then two weeks before we were to leave they told us they were sorry, but something had happened with the deposit check and we wouldn't be able to go. Unless of course we wanted to put it on our credit card and they would pay us back. Mmmm-hmmm. Right. In the end they worked it out and we did go on the cruise, but it was quite a circus. When we had been married just over a year I got pregnant with Daughter, and 9 weeks after that my brother-in-law rolled my father-in-law's car 7 times and broke his neck*. Earlier that day he'd found a loaded gun under the seat of the car.

I could tell you so much more but it would be the never-ending blog entry from hell and I don't want to go there. Suffice it to say they DRIVE US NUTS. Though they have managed to get it together to some degree over the past year or so, they still haven't rebuilt our trust.

Anyway, a few months ago when I initially found out I would be having this surgery, I gently informed my mother-in-law that Daughter would be staying with my parents when the time came for me to be in the hospital. I used excuses like the fact that they have the exact same crib we have so Daughter would be familiar with it, and that I felt being with my mother would be the most like being with me. I tried to stress that I don't want Daughter to be too disrupted (which is true). She was very agreeable and said she totally understood, though she has continued to mention how happy she would be to help out ever since then.

Fast forward to last night.

My mom sends me an email informing me that my mother-in-law called her to tell her that she would be happy to come to the house (my mom's house) and stay with Daughter so my mom could come to the hospital. Apparently she was quite pushy about it and made my mom uncomfortable. This is after Hub talked to her and let her know that we would be fine and really didn't need any more help that day. Ummm, excuse me?? Since when is it ok for her to just go right over our heads and decide what she is going to do with our child?? Thankfully my mom, who is the queen of tact, held her off. I was able to get Hub in on the situation and he let her know her assistance would not be needed on Wednesday - my mom never intended to come to the hospital anyway. The whole point of having my mom watch Daughter was to reduce my stress level. If she is with my mother I know exactly what her day and night will be like.

And seriously! What the hell?!? What is with doing that without checking with us?!? She has decided that we are "trying to be strong" but we're really scared and I probably want my mom with me at the hospital. No, not really, thanks. I want my husband at the hospital, and I want to know the most precious thing in my life is in good care at home with my mom. Cripes!

Dude. It probably doesn't sound like such a big deal when you read it here. But it is a big deal to me. Especially with all the BS they've put us through in the past. Dammit. I am so frustrated. I told Hub to call her and tell her she can come over on Friday and spend the day. He can visit with her and she can play with Daughter and I can rest. Really I'd like to tell her to F-off. But I'm sure that's just the anxiety and stress talking.

*Amazingly he walked out of the hospital less than a week later...with 2 cadaver bones and a plate in his neck, a broken wrist, and a bunch of stitches in his ear where the seatbelt had almost cut it off. Yep, he was one lucky dude.

wild mood swings

Between pregnancy and stressing out about surgery this week, I've been having the wildest of mood and energy swings. Please pardon my attitude for the next few days if I bore/offend/irritate you with my whiny-ness. I am hoping to return to relative normalcy in about a week. And I know you all will be happy to stop reading about thyroid surgery, no? I'll be happy to stop writing and thinking about it, that's for sure.

I got over my slump yesterday and went all sew-crazy. I had spent the morning carefully tracing and cutting patterns and pieces for some wee sundresses, and decided to get off my butt and sew one. Also, I didn't want to cut any more fabric if the size I'd chosen to make for Daughter wasn't right. She is tall but very skinny, so I was already adjusting the pattern for that. Here's what I came up with (sorry for the crapitude of the pics...our 2 megapixel camera isn't so great on a super sunny day):


Pattern: New Look for Kids #6578
Size: 1/2 (smallest the pattern makes) with length adjustment for the size 2
Fabric: Hand-dyed batik print from the shop where I used to work (those are sunflowers if you can't tell)
Fit: Perfect

I am quite proud of this little dress. You can't see in the photo, but this is constructed using lined facings (rather than being self-lined like the blue dress I made last week). This makes the project slow-going but if you take your time it's worth it. And I really did...there are only 4 (!) pieces involved in this dress and it took a solid 2 hours to sew, counting all the fusing of the interfacing, the edge finishing, the pinning, and layering the seams/clipping curves.

I must recommend that any of you who sew garments (especially wee garments) invest a few bucks in either a sleeve press, or a tailor's ham. I can't express to you the difference it makes when pressing small curves. Joann carries both of these and they are cheap...this I say unto you: get to a Joann Fabrics with your 40% off coupon and buy one of these pressing tools! It will change your life.

And I'm so glad I traced the pattern onto Pattern Ease in the size I wanted. This step is a huge pain, especially if you're impatient like I am, but it's SO worth doing. I made the smallest size and would have lost the ability to make the other 4 sizes included in the pattern had I just hacked into it. I plan to make this pattern multiple times as my kids grow, and hope to experiment with corduroy, velour and denim this winter (a shirt will easily fit underneath, especially on my skinny little one). Here's a question for the sewers - if I made this out of a heavier material, what material could I use for the facings to reduce bulk?

And on the knitting front...lookee what I finished!!


Pattern: Secret Garden from The Childrens' Collection (Alice Starmore)
Size: 2-3 years
Yarn: Knitpicks Wool of the Andes in Fern (approx. 7 skeins but I cut into 8 while constructing all the different parts)
Button: gorgeous antique-finish silver shank button with celtic knot design. 2 megapixel camera cannot do justice here, so I didn't even try.
Needles: US size 7 (4.5 mm) - I used a Susan Bates metal circular for the body and sleeves, and then my Denise needles for the collar portion. You need 3 needles at one time to knit the collar on, so the Denise kit came in really handy here.

I LOVE this sweater. I am SO pleased with how it came out. It blocked to the correct measurements, but it's hee-yooge and won't fit Daughter until at least mid-winter. Since it's the 2-3 year size I am hopeful she will get 2 winters out of it. Plus Daughter #2 should be able to wear it in the future. Definitely worth making, and I would do it again. The color in the photo is totally wrong - the Fern yarn is much greener in real life (not so gray like in the pic). Also, the sleeve seams need a press, and the front bands need blocking, I know. So it's technically not completely finished, but I was excited to show it.

I was totally thinking of entering this in the County Fair, but there are just a couple of little mistakes at the beginning. :(

Well, I'd best grab a shower before Daughter wakes up from her nap. Hope you're all having a beautiful weekend!

tired

I am having a real problem with inertia today. An object at rest wants to stay at rest, and my butt is at serious rest on the couch right now.

The child is sleeping and I would really love to sit out on the porch drinking tea and maybe knitting a little, but Hub hasn't mowed the lawn in awhile and it looks kind of bad. Ok, make that really bad. Plus we haven't brought in our trash can from garbage day yesterday. And the neighbors across the street are all outside doing stuff, so I'd feel all funny about the lawn and the trash can and whatnot...it's a bummer though, because it's nice and cool (low 60s) but blazingly sunny. I'd love to drag myself out there.

A little bird keeps flying into the picture window in our family room, right behind my head. It makes a funny sound.

I'm so tired.

uncomfortable

Gah...baby girl is standing on my bladder.