Arrrrrrrrrrgh…..Why is There a Monkey on My Head??

I’m so very pleased to let y’all know that our little bundle of joy has finally made his appearance. He’s been a long time coming (an almost interminable time in pregnancy years), but I now have a new Little Mister in my life.  I'm so very blown away at how much and how quickly I could fall so totally and completely in love with such a perfect, tiny little human.  He makes us laugh at all his cute little faces and it never gets old when he decides to poop on my Mister just as he's changing his diaper. 

My labor and delivery was exactly like my pregnancy- nothing went the way I thought it would.  A word from the wise- just because you may have a “perfect” birth plan in place and take all the right classes and watch all the right videos, the reality of birth overrides the best of intentions.

I’ve been really busy with feeding the little guy.  I never thought something so small could consume so much all throughout the day.  I also now nominate breastfeeding as a new Olympic sport.  Let’s just say I’ve had to get creative in order to get him to latch well.  However, once he does latch, boy-howdy! Can that little guy go to town!  At this rate, I’ll definitely lose all the pregnancy weight and then some- he’s sucking me dry!

Ok- I don’t have much time before we have to go train for the Booby Olympics again, so I have to wrap this up.  Without further ado, here’s my Little Mister in his Sock Monkey hat I made him. 

A little monkey for our little monkey

ACK! Have you ever seen anything so cute in your life?????  (I’m, of course, not in any way biased at all. Cuteness Spotting is my secondary Olympic sport, after Breastfeeding.)

The following picture is from the first time I tried the hat on him- I didn’t stretch it out* before forcing it onto his cute little noggin.

Arrrrrrrrrrgh…..Why is There a Monkey on My Head??

I laughed so hard I was crying. I am definitely going to have fun with this little child o'mine. :)

* Alterations made to the Sock Monkey Hat pattern: I used Aunt Lydia's Fashion Crochet Cotton size 3 in white, red, black and a dark brown. (Sorry for the non-specific colors...I'll update when I have time.) I held the thread doubled for the hat but single for the eyes and mouth.  I used a Susan Bates size G hook, which is slightly smaller than a Boye size G. (I like using Susan Bates for cotton but will normally use Boye for everything else.) I made the first 3 rows according to the pattern. Then I did a red row with increases.  I then did the brown rows without increasing. Because I had fewer stitches per round than the pattern indicated, my second ear flap location does not follow the pattern's count- just figure out the center and place it there. For the mouth, I chained 12 instead of 15. Since it's cotton, be sure to stretch it out prior to forcing it on a newborn's skull, otherwise you'll have a pretty cranky (if not insanely adorable) little one on your hands. :)

I'm here! Baby is not....

Why hello out there!  Happy Independence Day!! (Ok- I started writing this yesterday but didn’t get it finished. Boo me.)  I’ve wanted to do an update for a while now but, in addition to not having the time and energy after work, the words just didn’t seem to want to come for me.  Mainly because I’m STILL pregnant and most of the words that would come are along the lines of, “I’M SO MISERABLE! When is this baby ever going to get here?  My butt hurts sooooo bad!”  

Yeah…..lot’s of complaining and, as much as being a sullen-still-pregnant woman has become my reality, it really doesn’t lead to a very entertaining read, ya know? (But seriously, if I turn into a 42 weeker, I may quite literally go insane.) 

I do want to say thank you to all of you who have been asking about me!  I've got lots of emails, Ravmails, and comments to respond to. Thank you so very much- I really do appreciate it. :)

As of last week, I am officially on maternity leave. Can I get a HALLELUJER out there??  Since I’ve been off, I’ve been able to just rest, keep my feet up (or “flippers” as my Mister now calls them. He offered to buy me some clown shoes for comfort.  After the impulse to smack him upside the head subsided, I almost took him up on the offer), and even get in a little crochet. Woot!

I’ve designed and crocheted something I’ve wanted to do for a long time- a Mobius wrap.  Here’s a pic of it on my sis. 

More pics- and the entire story, including the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival, AND the pattern- are coming soon.  (Yay! I actually have time to spend on the internets now!  Unless the little one comes tonight….then….well, the next post will not be about crochet.)

Something that I wish I was able to show you right now is my Geekling’s blanket.  Unfortunately, I’ve not finished it since I had other things on my plate. Now, however, that will change and I hope to work on it this week.  (Again, unless he decides to show up tonight.  I’m hoping if I say it enough times, he’ll get the hint and finally make his debut.)  I’ve not stressed too much about not having it done since it’s about 500 degrees outside and I’ll definitely not be able to use it as a receiving blanket.  That being said, I felt bad about not having a blanket made to bring him home in.  As much as I really appreciate all of the blankets I’ve received from my baby showers (Yes! Plural!  I had 3 showers- I’ve got the best family, friends, and coworkers in the whole world!), I just felt like a bad crocheting mom by not having something handmade for him.  So, last week I whipped up this little number.

What looks like a simple dark blue/light blue ripple blanket is actually a nerdy math blanket that is also cute.  The stripe pattern is the Fibonacci sequence and is something I’ve wanted to do FOR-EVAH!  One of my favorite TV shows growing up was Square One- it was a math themed show on PBS.  I learned so much about math with that show!  One of the highlights was the show-within-a-show called Mathnet.  It was a math based spoof on Dragnet and was both educational and very entertaining.  Each weekday they'd have a little piece of the math-based mystery revealed until the grand finale on Friday. 

Well, one of my ultimate favorite episodes had to do with the Fibonacci sequence.  A rich man died leaving a fortune and one of the clues was his parrot who would say, "1, 1, 2, 3. FIVE! Eureka!!"  It has always stuck in my head and I've been thinking of different ways to incorporate it into my crochet.  This blanket was a perfect opportunity! 

Pattern is the Easy Ripple Afghan with the Fibonacci stripe pattern starting with 8 (8, 5, 3, 2, 1, 1).

Until next time- enjoy some Mathnet!

Checking In

Hey y'all! Just wanted to do a quick check in. Everything here is going well. I've just been kept pretty busy with work, purse orders, birthdays, baby showers, pattern writing, and a little bit of book escapism (I've read 5 books in the last 2 weeks...I've been burrowing deep in escapism). All of it has added up to not being able to finish a very pic heavy blog post I started last week. So, hopefully this week I'll be able to get all those pics in a very huge blog dump. (thanks , Kuddles for asking about me- no need to worry!)

Anywho- thinking about starting book #6 tonight but may end up crashing soon since my Mister and I just got back from a 45 minute walk. Well, he walked. I kinda waddled along beside him. Now to waddle off to bed. May end up dreaming of a large, slightly bloated, crime fighting duck tonight. (Crimefighting due to a discussion we had during our walk that had to do with unknown people following us and ended with me saying I'd do a Kung Fu Panda "skadoosh" on them with the Geekling kicking at the same time to intensify our attack. My Mister just shook his head and changed the subject.)

'night y'all.

A Whale of a Dream

I’m so very proud to report that I did indeed exercise last night. I warmed up on my treadmill for a quarter mile. I then popped in my new Prenatal Yoga DVD (finally) and found that, not only am I still pretty limber, but also when I jokingly called it “Downwind Farting Dog” pose, I was being prophetic.  That being said, that particular stretch actually really helped with my tailbone- by extending the stretch and pushing my derriere even farther into the air like a stink beetle actually did help. Huh.  Who knew? 

I finished off my workout by walking an additional mile. So, I walked a total of 30 minutes plus 30 minutes of yoga stretching- SOOOOO proud of myself!

Now, I don’t know if it was the exercise that triggered my weird dreams, or if it’s just the fact that I have a wild imagination anyway and it is now hopped up on dangerous levels of progesterone and estrogen, but man-oh-man did I wake up this morning with my heart a-thumpin’.

I have always had pretty vivid dreams and usually always let my Mister know what crazy adventures I’ve had during the night. I’m much more of a chipper morning person than he is and will very easily take advantage of his morning groggies and download my crazies on him.  He will then heavily sigh, sleepily moan, “Urrrgh…notagain…you’recrazy,” and then try to get away from my incessant chattering.

This morning I decided to keep him captive in our morning snuggle since my dream had to do with him and I trying to get away from killer whales in the Caribbean after being gifted with a mama and baby seal.  Yeah.  I don’t know, either.

Some lady I’ve never met in real life but looked like a mix of Susan Clark’s “Ma’am” from Webster and Carol Burnett as Mrs. Hannigan from Annie, was taking us for a surprise trip in the middle of the ocean and happily gave us the seals. I was enjoying the private boat ride and was watching them play when the lady told me, “Why haven’t you gone in yet? It’s weird to not enjoy playing with your new toys.” Yes- she implied I was weird and then called the seals toys.

I, feeling foolish for not knowing I was weird, hastily started putting on my scuba gear and jumped in before putting on my fins and ensuring my O-ring was dry and sealed. My Mister and I do scuba dive in real life and I was starting to panic for reals at this point in the dream because I was rushing to get into the water but was worried that I wasn’t really prepared.  The familiar sensation of being in the water and rapid breathing through my regulator had me quickly and shallowly breathing in my sleep and I started feeling my heart race. I knew I was dreaming but was still not able to come out of the dream.

As I was pulling on my fins, my Mister, who was in the boat which was now about 30 feet away from me, jumped into the water but without his scuba gear. He was just going to swim. We seemed to be by some huge trees/a grove of some sort (how it switched to that from being in the middle of the ocean, I have no idea) and there was a large WW2 boat that was wrecked nearby. The strange thing (because everything up to now has been perfectly normal) was that the trees were kinda just floating there. It wasn’t an island- their roots just dangled in the water.

 I was still at the surface as he jumped in and I smiled at him- or at least as well as I could with my goggles and regulator on. Then I started panicking.  As he was swimming, I noticed a large black shadow coming closer and closer to him. I tried warning him and Ma’am Hannigan but, with my regulator on it just came out like a muffled, “mmmrrrrgghRRRhgmm.”  At first it looked like a blue whale face getting closer to the surface but it seemed too small and I think my semi conscious brain kicked in and said, “Blue whales are much larger than that and, besides, they wouldn’t be in the Caribbean.” So, naturally it turned into a killer whale. “Much more realistic,” said my brain.  Then more shadows started showing up as his family decided to come around, too.

We started trying to swim away and thought we could escape in the trees since the whales would get tangled up and wouldn’t be able to get to us. The mama and baby seal were around the WW2 boat somewhere and my Mister and I were slapping at the water as the whales kept surfacing by us for air, blowing a watery PUFFFFT in our direction, and slowly slinking back into the water while eyeing us- watching and waiting. 

I didn’t want to find out what they were waiting and watching us for. I could feel that I was breathing rapidly and my heart was thumping hard in my chest and my mind was screaming, “WAKE UP BEFORE THEY EAT YOU!” so I forced myself awake and tried slowing down my respiration and calm my palpitations.  It was about 6:45am and I turned around and held my Mister in a, “Don’t ever leave me to get eaten by killer whales” death grip. His alarm goes off at 7:00, he hits snooze like normal and we have our normal 7 minutes of snuggle time before he gets up. However, I kept him a little longer since I was still trying to keep him safe from Willy. 

He ended up running late for work this morning, so he skipped breakfast which makes him grumpy.

Mister: “Urrgh...We snuggled too long and now I don’t get to have my cereal.” 

Me: “But you were almost eaten by a killer whale and there were seals and I love you!”

Mister:  “Urrrgh…notagain…you’recrazy.”

The One Where I Talk About Fiber

Whew! Got to come home "early" today. Had an actual 8 hour work day rather than my normal 9-10 and I really didn't know what to do with myself when I came home. Do I clean out my car and find out what that funky smell is? Should I scoop the cat liter and get rid of that funky smell emanating from the liter box room (AKA the bathroom)? Should I clean out the fridge and find where that funky smell is coming from?  Oh look! There's food in the fridge! It must be time to eat!  What's that funky smell?

So, I cleaned out my car and fridge and rid the vicinity of the funky smell.  Ha! No I didn't! You guys are so gullible. Of course I ate. While wearing nose plugs.

My super healthy and well balanced dinner consisted of Fiber One Carmel Delight or, as I like to call it, Cereal Crack.  It really wakes you up and gets you going in the morning. I LOVE this stuff. It is soooo good!  I honestly think it's because I've not been eating it for breakfast for the past few days that I am now suffering some backup of the intestinal kind. Because there's a backup, new food has a hard time going down which is bringing back my epic belching episodes that I was hoping were finished over a month ago.  I also wonder if my little Geekling is just chilling on my colon thus putting a kink in the hose and making me MIS-ER-ABLE. (I did eat before my Mister got home because 1) he was running late 2) we had leftovers from last night he could eat and 3) I am truly unable to eat a large meal since NOTHING IS COMING OUT. Well, little rabbit turds, but seriously, those do not count.)

Now, as a nutritionist who counsels pregnant women all the time, I know what I'd tell my clients. Increase your fiber intake, increase your fluid intake, and try to move around as much as you can. Well, I really do try to practice what I preach as much as I can. Instead of my Fiber One Cereal Crack, I've been eating Kashi Go Lean Crunch Honey Almond cereal with sliced banana in it. It's high fiber, high protein, and I've needed the potassium from the banana since I've been retaining water a lot lately. (I'm actually pretty sodium sensitive- I eat a little bit of salt and turn into Spongebob Squarepants slightly lumpier older sister: SpongeGege Hugeboobs. Seriously, within 30 minutes of eating a salty meal my pants will feel tight on my waistband and thighs. Not.Comfortable.Captain.)

Nutrition Tidbit: Eating a banana or other potassium rich food will help your body regulate the excess sodium and will help relieve you of the water retention bloat.

I also eat fruit, veggies, high fiber bread for my lunch sandwiches, and drink 80+ oz non-caffeinated fluid per day.  I've even been taking Metamucil pills at night which usually brings sweet relief the next morning. The only thing I've not been able to do is be as active as I would like. I've been getting home, making dinner, eating dinner in front of my TV and then zoning out in front of the internetz for an hour or so, taking a shower and going to bed. Yes, my Mister and I do eat dinner in front of the TV. It's a favorite past time and is going to be a very difficult habit to break once our Geekling is here and we try to instill good family habits and start eating at the dinner table. However, since for the first six months my Geekling's dinner table is going to be Jupiter and Saturn, AKA my boobs, we can continue our nightly routine for the next 9 months or so.

Nutrition Tidbit: there are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber is the one that can help lower cholesterol (e.g. oat bran) where insoluble fiber helps gets things moving through the intestines (e.g. whole wheat).

I used to be able to finish my dinner and then go work out from about 8-10pm. I used to really enjoy doing that and, truth be told, feel really guilty that I'm not doing that now. However, now I'm just so freaking exhausted and am letting the lazies take over. There's only so much you can do during the day and sometimes I choose to blog rather than exercise.  So, it's all y'alls fault that I'm constipated.  I hope you're happy with yourselves.

Ok, ok. So my own bad habits might have a little something to do with it. I do think that my lack of exercise in the evening is part of the reason my tailbone has been killing me lately.  (Btw: I received my coccyx pillow this weekend but it was not the miracle worker I was hoping it was going to be. *sadface*). So, my goal for the rest of the week is to get in at least 30 minutes of walking during the evening. Knowing me, once I get on my treadmill and get a movie going, that 30 minutes will easily become an hour, which would be awesome.  I know I can handle it- we spent 3 hours walking in DC this weekend and, apart from having to walk slower than normal, I did much better than I thought I was going to- yay me!

So, I'm hoping to finish up this blog post early and get my patootie on my treadmill- the Tenth Kingdom awaits. (Nicey Nice!) Hopefully things will get moving in the right direction for me soon, which will help alleviate a lot of issues, including my water retention issue.  And, quite possibly eliminate that funky smell that seems to follow me everywhere I go.

PS: Because Kuddles requested them in the comments. :)

26 weeks- finally have a bump!

Errr....3 bumps....