Another Friend for Togglebuttons

Posted on August 2, 2011 by Ali

I made another little friend for Togglebuttons! It’s a pattern I’ve used before, and thought he was kind of fun, so I thought I’d make him again.

Although, there is something not quite right about his face. I always struggle with the faces…

But I think I am done working on him, because I don’t feel like working on it anymore. And I’ve got other projects to attend to.

Although, his green color does coordinate nicely with the baby’s bedding.

Yep- I think he’ll fit in nicely with the locals.

Also, guys, I totally finished that tie I was working on. And it rules. Seriously, I’ll show you pictures on Thursday. It’s the best, ever. I am really pleased with it.

Ok- see you all tomorrow with your “You Knit What?!” Wednesday!

Hold On, Baby.

Posted on July 28, 2011 by Ali

We had a bit of a scare yesterday- and just so you know going into the story that everything is good and Togglebuttons is still baking away in my belly. So, on Tuesday night I had gone out with some girlfriends and stayed out way past my bedtime. I started having some pretty bad lower back pain, but didn’t think too much of it because, well, I’m almost 35 weeks pregnant, and because back pain has just sort of become a daily occurrence for me since my spinal fusion in 2002. So, I get home and take my concoction of vitamins and things that help me sleep, but by this point my back is hurting extremely bad, so I take a warm bath to see if that helps. It did get me nice and relaxed, but as soon as I got out of the water the pain started right back up again and wouldn’t lighten up – I tried icing, heating pads, elevating my feet, laying on my right side, laying on my left side, etc, etc, I just couldn’t get the pain to let up. And I wasn’t getting any sleep. At all.

I was feeling a lot of tightness in my belly, but it was about 4:00 am at this point and wasn’t exactly what you would call ‘with it’. (Not thinking enough about it at that point to time them or figure out how long they were lasting) I called the L&D ward at the hospital and the nurse said to drink three big glasses of water and see if the tightness lightens up, I drank all that water, and my belly did loosen up. Finally around 6:30 am on Wednesday morning I managed to find a somewhat comfortable position sleeping sitting up, propped up by pillows on all sides and I slept for about two hours. Paul left for work and I just sort of kept moving around all morning to try to get into a comfortable position, but I was feeling mighty grumpy at this point. Fast forward to around 1:00- Paul had just left to go back to work (he was home on his lunch break) and a few minutes after he left I started feeling really bad- like, really, really bad. I started timing the contractions and they were only 4 minutes apart and were lasting between 60-90 seconds each time. So, I called my doctor and they told me to come in and get on the monitor for a little bit to see what was going on. They had me monitored for about 15 minutes before they realized that this was, in fact, labor.

They gave me a shot of Terbutaline, which gave me the shakes awfully bad. They checked my cervix and I was starting to dilate, so it was good that I came in when I did. They watched me for a few hours and then sent me home, on modified bed rest, which basically means that I don’t really have to stay in bed, but I shouldn’t be running around doing too much, and that I just have to take it really easy for the next few weeks. No heavy lifting, no long walks, nothing that could potentially kick-start my labor again. I also get to take this fun medication that makes me all lightheaded and dizzy, and I get to take it every four hours for the next seven days. They’re not sure what caused me to go into pre-term labor, but I sure am glad that they’ve got ways of stopping it once it starts! The GOOD news is that he is still measuring bigger than average, so even if he does decide that he’s ready to come before he’s supposed to, things are looking pretty good. We’re hoping he decides to stay in there until at least 37 weeks, if not longer. Hopefully this was a one time deal and he won’t try to escape again until we’re good and ready for him!

Barefoot and Pregnant in the Kitchen

Posted on July 8, 2011 by Ali

Fridays are one of those days where I always want the house to be at least tidied by the end of the day… there’s just something so nice about going into the weekend with a clean house. Anyway, today I’ve been cleaning and baking. Yep, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen making cookies.

Gotta at least taste the cookie dough. Soo tasty.

Busting out of my apron… Yep. I’ll be 32 weeks on Sunday. 8 more weeks! Eek. It’s getting really, really close. TWO MONTHS AWAY! Well, two months if he decides to come on time. Two hot months. Two really, really hot months. I spent the last two afternoons at the pool, sitting in the shallow end letting the water just splash over me. Whenever I get in the water little Togglebuttons goes nuts and just starts moving around and going crazy. He’s still super active, moving around all the time and trying to kick his way out through the top of my belly. (Yay, this means he is still head down, so that’s awesome!) But I am getting anxious to meet my little boy. I think we’re pretty much prepared, or at least as prepared as I can be at this point, you know? I guess we will find out when he comes!

Ok. Also, on a completely unrelated note, has anyone ever tried the “No Shampoo” deal? I am kind of curious to try it because it seems like pretty much all shampoo dries out my hair really badly, even though I use plenty of conditioner- and it doesn’t seem to depend on the expensiveness of the shampoo, either. So, I might give it a try (maybe after the baby is born and I’m going to be staying at home alot, so if I end up with greasy hair no one will see….) So, if you’ve tried it, let me know how it worked for you.

A Little Too Much Sun.

Posted on July 7, 2011 by Ali

My sister warned me this was going to happen….

Ah, the first burn of the summer! It’s actually not too painful, which is weird, because I always burn, and it always hurts. But this one, so far, doesn’t hurt. I did rub aloe on it right when I got home an had the fan blowing on me all evening so maybe that was the trick. Don’t worry, I drank plenty of water and made sure to stay super-hydrated all day though. I didn’t want a repeat of Tuesday.

Man, being pregnant is so much fun, guys! On Tuesday I was just too dehydrated after a hot 3 day weekend, plus the last time I went to the doctor they said my iron levels were getting really low, anyhow, I was at work on Tuesday morning and all of the sudden I started to feel really nauseated and got some tunnel vision and next thing you know I woke up to my face smacking the desk. I had passed out cold. I called Paul and he came and took me to the doctors and they hooked me up to the monitor and did a non-stress test and everything looked okay, I was just not drinking enough water or getting enough iron. So I’ve been chugging water constantly and trying to remember to eat iron rich foods. And I’ll try to remember to reapply my sunscreen…

31 Weeks, 2 days

Posted on July 4, 2011 by Ali

61 days until my due date. Whoa, that kind of snuck up on me.

31 weeks! He’s about 3 and a half pounds now, and I’ve gained a total of 9 pounds. Feeling pretty huge these days, and it’s getting really hot here.Getting lots of Braxton Hicks contractions and now a lot of back pain. Not like I didn’t expect the back pain part, but hey, it held out pretty well for the first 30 weeks!

This is my 4th of July outfit. I’ve got the red, white and blue represented, although I didn’t really have any red clothes (at least none that fit right now), but I did have a red button bobby-pin for my hair. I wish I was at Aunt Marilyn and Uncle Tom’s today with the rest of my extended family enjoying the water and fireworks, but I guess Northern Idaho is ok, too. There is a fireworks show in Pullman this evening that we might try to hit up, if I don’t fall asleep before they start.

Today I washed a load of baby clothes. Oh my WORD. I can’t believe that I’m washing baby clothes already! I got a big garbage bag full of baby boy clothes at a garage sale for FREE! (woo!) and a bag of clothes from my mom, a bag of clothes from my sister, plus several hand-me-down outfits from friends already, so this little boy already has more clothes than he needs for the first six months of his life. Plus, we’ve already got a swing, crib, a stroller, carseat AND another awesome thing that I got at the garage sale (also free) was a stroller, but without the seat in it, but you can click your regular carseat in it, so that will be super helpful for the first few months so I won’t have to wake him up and get him out of the carseat if I want to use the stroller. I’m going to try to get the crib set up today, just because I am anxious to see how it all looks in the bedroom.

Hope you all have a happy Independence Day!

Baby Boy Blue Hat

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Ali

I had little scraps of leftover yarn from the baby blanket I was making for Togglebuttons and decided to make a little striped hat for him.

I just hope my kid doesn’t have a huge head, because this hat isn’t that large.

I’d like it to be his ‘coming-home-from-the-hospital’ hat.

That whole hospital thing is starting to get pretty close… and I’m starting to get a little nervous. I know it doesn’t do me any good to be nervous, I’ve been through tougher things than childbirth, but even so, I’d definitely be lying if I said I wasn’t a little scared. Also it probably doesn’t help that I’ve read some scary birth stories lately.. I should probably just stay off the internet until the baby is born… I’d probably get a lot more knitting done that way!

28 (and a half) Weeks

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Ali

Today’s post will be brief- and not crafty- sorry about that. Today I’m working all morning, am doing a knitting group with some close friends this afternoon and then today is also Paul’s birthday (his 30th!), so it makes for a busy day. But I wanted to show you guys a picture from this weekend to show you how much my belly has popped out. It’s ridiculous-this kid is getting huge (and so am I).

Still feeling pretty good, although I am noticing that after about 20 minutes of any activity I get completely worn out and feel like I need a nap, but I’ve been getting a lot done around the house, I think that the nesting phase has started. Yesterday I deep cleaned the whole downstairs and now it’s sparkling clean and it makes me so happy to be in my house when it’s so clean- it makes such a huge difference in my mood! We still have to organize and set up nursery stuff, though. We’ve got most of the stuff (crib, swing, dresser, etc) but we just have to actually get it all in place and put together. Well, the crib and swing are still in the back of our car because we don’t have a place to put them yet- so I gotta get my crafting stuff organized so we can get all that done. I’ll be sure to post pictures of the progress on the baby’s room/craft room/Paul’s study.. the poor kid is only going to get a corner of a room instead of a whole room. Maybe when we move next year he’ll get a real room, but I am sure he won’t mind as long as he’s got a warm bed, a full tummy and a clean diaper, right?

Slouchy Hats

Posted on June 6, 2011 by Ali

I made two more slouchy hats.

Forgive the crappy pictures, it’s been one of those days.

The lovely self portrait.

And now they are on their way to a lovely girl in Portland.

I think it’s nice that my knit things are going all over the Northwest.

Taking pictures of the back of your head is kind of difficult… hah.

It’s been pouring down rain all day. Which is weird, since yesterday it was 76 degrees and extremely sunny and warm. And of course it has to rain on the day after our car window gets broken and I have to drive to Pullman for my prenatal appointment in the rain with the water flying inside the car… that was fun. But the appointment went well, everything is looking good and baby Togglebuttons is as healthy as can be (also, he’s still very big.) I’ve been doing fairly well. I haven’t gotten really sick in about a month, so that’s been a huge blessing. Still dealing with the evening sickness, but I’ve managed to put on 3 pounds now, so that’s good. I think I’ll have to do a baby stuff post soon, because as of today I just got a BUNCH more baby stuff, so excited!

More Weekend Adventures

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Ali

So we went exploring again this weekend. It was super awesome.

Paul and I definitely both have this fascination with graveyards. The more rural and old, the better.

And it was also pretty much the nicest day so far this year, so it was a great day to go driving all around Troy, Genesee and Deary.

75 and sunny! It was absolutely perfect weather.

And weird bugs. There are weird bugs in the Palouse.

But there are always pretty flowers.

And pretty trees.

And random little antique stores tucked away in the countryside.

And sad little broken headstones.

And lots of great views of the wonderful Palouse. Seriously, there are few places as beautiful as the Palouse in the springtime. Really, really beautiful. (also, isn’t my husband cute?)

Hope I didn’t overload you too much with pictures. But hey, it’s my blog so I can do what I want, right? Oh, also I’ve finished up a few hats since I blogged last, so I’ll be back early next week to show you those!

Memorial Day Fun

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Ali

Paul and I went on a hike on Memorial Day, because it was surprisingly nice out! (It was supposed to be yucky out, so that was a pleasant surprise!)

We went to the old University of Idaho Arboretum, which was in FULL bloom!

I was a bit unprepared for how hard hiking is when you’re in your last trimester, though.

So we spent a lot of time resting on logs and taking a breather.

We did get plenty of bug bites during the walk though… I always forget about the bugs…

But even with the bugs, it was still really pretty. I definitely recommend that all you Moscowvites should go check out the old UI Arboretum. If I could hike it while big and pregnant, (and in flipflops, nonetheless) well then you can do it to.

But we had a great time. And then we went out for my belated Birthday lunch, since we were out of town for my actual birthday.

The waitress brought out this ginormous piece of cake as a surprise. Seriously, between Paul and I we only ate about 1/3 of it. It was a very, very large cake.