I made a wool preemie size bow beanie for little Alice Schoolland. I hadnt made a bow before so that was kind of fun!
And some pictures of Sam and I, just for fun.
Author Archives: Ali
Fox Hat
I had an idea on Wednesday for a hat… I wasn’t entirely sure how it was going to work out, but I had a very specific idea in my head about what I wanted.
Apparently foxes need to wear hats as well!
I think it needs a bit of work. Mainly, it needs to be a bit longer, and I think the yarn I used would be a better fit with a smaller needle size (I did this on size 10’s), I think a size 7 might be a bit better. And also some matching buttons might have improved the look of the eyes. They were similar but not exactly the same size. But hopefully I’ll make another prototype and have a free pattern for you guys in the near future! I’m very excited about it!
New van, yay!
….And just because i made a point in my last post to say that February had been nice so far… we got snow today. Luckily it is pretty much melted and it didnt amount to much, but we had a busy day otherwise. After work we bought a new minivan! (well, new to us!)
And this isn’t a recent picture, but Carlie (Sam’s bff’s mom and his babysitter) took this picture, I cracked up. I think he’s trying to give himself a root canal.
Also, I am getting a new laptop. WOO! Mine is being held together with packing tape right now and the screen flashes off and on and turns purple. It’s weird and looks possessed.
Great use of a tax return, in my opinion!
Pictures of February.
February is dreary in Idaho, normally. This has been a very unusual February. We’ve had hardly any snow, and it’s been actually SUNNY a few days this month so far!
Sam has been especially photogenic lately, so here you go.
Oh yeah, and Sam finally got hair! Whoop whoop!
Sam, 17 Months.
I did a knitting trade with someone, I knitted her some hats and she did a photo shoot with Sam! I love, love, LOVE how they turned out. I am so floored by these pictures, I think they turned out so great! Sorry for the huge photo-bomb, but I couldnt pick a
favorite!
He was so proud of this block tower. He built it himself!!!
He’s still currently around 20lbs, we can’t seem to get any heavier than that! But he is getting taller, so that’s good. He still doesn’t eat very well, but we’re getting better about trying new foods. He is getting really, really vocal and will tell you when he wants something by asking please and by saying thank you once you give it to him! It’s really, really cute. He is a climbing master and can get up onto tables and such without too much trouble. It’s a little scary, but I guess that’s just life with a toddler! He’s been doing really well with the babysitter while I am at work, but has been pretty clingy in the evenings, understandably. He is just so much fun to watch learn and grow- he never stops surprising me!!
Pixie Hats
I did a trade with a local photographer (Gina Jo Photography) for some newborn pixie hats and she did a photo shoot with Sam! We had a blast and I am supposed to pick up the photos tomorrow. There are some sneak-peeks on her Facebook page (linked above) of the photo shoot- I can’t wait to see the rest of them!
Thank you for all of your kind words and encouragement on my last post. I must say, the response has been somewhat overwhelming, so thank you all so much. I realize it’s a bit more personal than I normally get here on The Knittybutton, but it was something that’s been on my heart for a while and I finally got up the courage to post about it- I did feel a little nervous laying myself out there like that- but now Im definitely glad I did!
Due date.
(Warning: This post may contain some ‘triggers’ for people who have suffered losses)
I should be 40 weeks pregnant today- I should be waddling- I should be full with child – I should be getting the crib set up and washing and folding newborn clothes. But I’m not. I’m not going to meet my baby soon, but my arms are not empty, far from it. I have a wonderful husband, an adorable son and a kind and loving family and amazing friends, but it still hurts deeply.
My friend Stephanie bought me this beautiful bracelet with three perfect little pearls on it, one for each of my perfect little babies.
She also brought me these lovely flowers.
I’ve been dreading today for months. I knew it would sneak up on me, and I had been feeling pretty ‘at peace’ with everything until yesterday- I know God has a plan for me and for my babies. But I am still far from being ‘over it’, I don’t think it’s something you really get over, no matter how long it’s been.
I will be relieved once today is over, I wish I could stop replaying July 20th’s events over and over again, wondering if I could have done anything different, wondering if I could have stopped it. Two days prior to Gabriel’s birth, during our huge and amazing family reunion I started spotting. I was told it could be pretty common, but either way I should take it easy, so I did. We left the next day to go to Portland to visit some friends, and after we got there the spotting got worse and I began cramping. I went to bed because it started to be pretty painful and I thought maybe sleeping could help. I laid down for an hour or so then told Paul I think we needed to go to the hospital because it was starting to feel like labor pains. We went downstairs and woke up our friends and the wife drove us to the hospital (since we didn’t know where it was). They checked me out and said that nothing was nothing they could really do, my cervix was still closed, I hadn’t lost the baby yet, but cramping is a bad sign. They sent us back ‘home’ (to the friends house). We hadn’t been back to their house for more than an hour when I started hemorrhaging and we rushed back to the hospital just in time to deliver baby Gabriel, he was 12 weeks gestation when we lost him.
I know miscarriage can be a bit of a taboo topic. People don’t really like to talk about death, it can be easier to just suffer in silence and grieve on your own, but I’ve tried to be really open about our losses, and tried to help people on how they should treat someone who has had a loss (Don’t ask them when they’re planning on having another baby, for instance, or telling them “At least you have Sam!” or “Good thing you know you can at least have more kids”), but it’s still something that isn’t really discussed a whole lot. I have several close friends (and family members) who have all suffered losses at varying stages of pregnancy and it seems as though many are somewhat relieved to find someone else who has suffered the same way, someone who has felt that dagger through the heart so that they have someone to talk to about it. I think it’s very sad that a lot of women hide their pregnancies til they are in the ‘safe zone’ so that if they do miscarry then no one, save close family or a few select friends, will know. Now, I’m not saying that you need to announce the day you get a positive pregnancy test, it’s a very personal decision to decide when and how to announce a pregnancy, but I don’t want anyone to suffer alone if they don’t want to. Some want to be alone to grieve, and I can respect that, some women need help. I, for one, was so SO thankful for everyone that helped out with Sam, people bringing me meals, coming over to make sure I am coping , etc. There’s a lot to be said for a large network of wonderful women who are looking out for you and bringing you as much chocolate as your heart desires.
I know it will get easier as time goes on, and I covet your prayers. Thanks for listening to my rambling about missing my babies.
Flowered Stripes
A hat for a little Jane Sparrow. My hat model is much too big for this tiny little hat.
But it fit on his bear!
Congratulations on your new beautiful little girl, Abby!
Life lately.
Life, man. Sometimes it takes over and it’s all you can do to keep your head above water. That’s been January for us. My car is totaled and we need to wait until we get our tax return to buy a new one, and turns out the door of our other car is going to cost almost a thousand dollars to fix instead of like 200, like we initially thought. Luckily a friend from work is able to give me a ride to and from work every day- which is amazing and super helpful and Pauls dad is letting us borrow his car until we get our other car back from the shop.
It’s hard being away from Sam so much. I’m really not used to it yet, and it seems very strange to me that I have to spend so much of my day without him, especially since he goes to bed early in the evenings still. But I know he has a blast with his babysitter and her son who is the same age as Sam. He’s gotten a lot less clingy since he’s started going to the sitters, which has been nice for all of us! His health problems seem to be winding down as well. No phantom fevers in two months (YAY) and only a few minor rashes, all of which have been fairly easy to clear up! He is still sleeping poorly, but we’re not sure if he’s teething or a growth spurt or what, but he hasn’t been a happy camper at night recently.
Work is going well. I’m in final testing, which means that I take electrical relays and I hook them up to computers and run tests on them to make sure they are running the way they are supposed to. It’s pretty interesting work and I can listen to my iPod while I work which is great. It was a bit hard after the accident because it’s all standing, which was kind of hard when my ankle looked like this.
Most of my bruising is gone now, but the lovely green and yellowish tinge on both of my shins and my hip. It’s kind of gross looking- but feels a lot better than it did a week ago! I’ve been seeing a chiropractor as well, which has helped unlock my neck, but my hips are still pretty out of whack. Luckily my rods didn’t break and there was no real damage to my spinal fusion. Unfortunately the top two vertebrae (the only two of the top that aren’t fused) took the brunt of the movement and locked up pretty badly. It’s going to take a bit more chiropractic work to get them back in position, as well as possibly some physical therapy for my hips.
I’ve got a few more projects Im working on that will get their way onto the blog sometime this week. Mostly just hats, but also working on a baby blanket for a darling little baby Hugh! Hopefully I’ll get into the swing of life again in February and posting won’t be too sporadic and maybe I’ll get some actual knitting done!
Bad week to be my car…
So, long story short, I crashed my van last night. Slid on some ice into oncoming traffic and hit a Ford F-250 head on. I was the only one in my car, and the person I hit was completely unharmed and walked away fine. I spent the evening at the hospital being x-ray’d because my hand was pretty badly swollen and I had a lot of swelling in my legs and some bad bruises. Turns out, no fractures (yay!) and just some deep bone bruises on both of my shins, my left hip, my left forearm and a bad sprain of my left hand and pinky finger. I am on “light duty” for now (ie no picking up Sam until Monday at the earliest) and trying to lay low until I have to go back to work on Monday.
My beautiful new van is completely totaled. But I guess we know where our tax return is going to… But I am in pretty sad shape right now, pretty banged up and lots of bad bruises, but after seeing the car (and the bank that I slide down) I am very lucky to be walking right now. If the car had gone another two feet farther down I would have been underwater in a lake!
Then later this evening Paul’s window broke in his car, so now we have two undriveable cars (mine is already at the scrap yard now) and we dont know when we can get that fixed..hopefully this week. But that was just the cherry on the top of today.
But we have been so blessed already, we’ve had lots of people bringing meals and even some fun little visitors today who helped out with Sam since I couldn’t lift him. Jessi and Carlie came over with their little ones and changed diapers, dressed Sam, made us both food and cleaned my house for me! Doesn’t get much better than that, being waited on hand and foot! So now I am just relaxing and resting and having a Harry Potter Marathon with Paul. Couldnt think of a better way to spend my weekend anyhow!
Knittybutton 