Feeding Frenzy

I can’t believe how much happier I am now that my Little Mister is out rather than in. Let’s just say that I was a less-than-chipper-Gege during the last few months of my pregnancy. Even with the current lack of sleep, loads of dirty diapers and clothes, and the first few days of the Breastfeeding Olympics, the change in my attitude- heck, even my outlook on life- has been tremendous. I no longer want to cold clock total strangers for being idiots anymore. (Well….sometimes….)  My legs and feet actually look like legs and feet rather than tree trunks and boat paddles. I’m not sitting all day long at work thinking how much my tail and pubic bones hurt anymore. And, most importantly, I don’t resent My Mister for “doing this to me” nor my baby for refusing to be born.  (Seriously- I begged and pleaded with him to come out only to hear, “Not gonna do it,” in his best Dana Carvey/Bush Senior impression.)

I’m happy to report that I no longer have to contort myself in order to get him latched on.  For the first few days, I had to use a breast shield to assist with latching. While in the hospital, the only way I could get him fed was with the help of the lactation consultant who calmed him down by jiggling him and sticking her fingers in his mouth.  My Little Mister would go from insanely cute sleeping little baby to head spinning psycho child in a flash, screaming at the top of his lungs, “I AM AWAKE! WHY IS THERE NO BOOBIE IN MY MOUTH?!?” 

At home, I was so frustrated since the breast shield made the whole process take longer which made the screaming go on and on.  If only he would CLOSE HIS MOUTH, he would get some food.  My eyes twitched while my arms jiggled him from side to side as I wrapped him around my back in a standing football hold, trying to dance with him futilely trying to get him to calm down, all while biting my tongue so I wouldn’t yell, “THE FOOD IS RIGHT THERE- JUST CLOSE YOUR MOUTH SCREAMING LITTLE BABY! GAH!!!!”

My Mister, who is super supportive of breastfeeding, would finally tell me to just give him a bottle (he could see how frustrated and tired I was and he wanted to help, plus I had pumped milk at the ready) but I was too stubborn absolutely determined to make breastfeeding work.  I prayed that the Lord would let just this one thing go well for me since my whole pregnancy (while a healthy one, which I’m thankful for) and delivery did not go the way I had planned- just PLEASE let this one thing go well for me.  Well, thankfully, after a few days home, I no longer thought we should have kidnapped the lactation consultant to be our indentured servant when we had the chance.  With a little bait and switch with the bottle (I’d let him suck about 5 times on the bottle- just enough to take the edge off- before switching it for the real deal), we were able to conquer breastfeeding.  Whoohoo!!!!

The great thing about this whole ordeal is that I have yet another area of expertise where I am able to practice what I preach. Something I always tell my clients is that, “From the feedback I get from other women, once you get over the first couple weeks or so, you have it made.  While breastfeeding is one of the most natural things to do, it’s not always the easiest thing to do- especially as a first time mom with no experience.”  As I struggled in that first week, I kept reminding myself that this was normal- all I had to do was get past the first couple weeks and we’d be golden.  Now when I counsel my clients, I can tell them, “From my EXPERIENCE…..” and that is a wonderful feeling.

Ok....I've got so many things I need to catch up on blog wise. Hopefully I'll be able to utilize my maternity leave effectively and get some of them out there. Lots of pictures, stories, new projects I've made, and more baby stuff, too. Peace out, homies.

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.”