Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
my new son is absolutely amazing. He’s 2 weeks old and a few days. Instead of being a complete zombie, like I was when my first son was born, I’m well-rested and totally in love. He’s an awesome baby.
You wanna know what else is awesome? my BREAST MILK. In 2 weeks, my little guy has gained 1 lb and 3 oz. At his 2-wk checkup yesterday, he weighed a nice 10 lbs 7.5 oz. There’s no doubt he’s getting enough to eat.
He’s also been staying awake for longer periods of time:
There has been no crafting lately, but perhaps I’ll get some motivation soon..
Wednesday, May 28th, 2008
A few hours after my last entry, at 2:41 AM, my water broke! I labored at home until after 6am when I couldn’t take it anymore and we left to the birth center. I felt the urge to push IN THE CAR, but Jason’s amazing coaching helped me deal (though not so gracefully–I roared through the contractions that came one on top of the other) and we got to the birthing center. When we got there, my midwife was waiting outside because she didn’t have a key! I ended up giving birth on the sidewalk only about what felt like 2 minutes after we got there. It was absolutely wonderful. we were at home in bed less than 5 hours later.
Andrew Roark
born at 6:39am, 4 hours after my water broke
9lbs 4.5oz, 21.5″ long
Monday, May 19th, 2008
Well, my due date came and went. It was the 17th of May and it is now the 20th (or will be in a few short minutes). I just got home from a night of bowling. I had maybe one painful contraction, but man my hips are so sore! There’s a full moon out tonight, so we’re hopeful *something* will happen. I have a midwife appointment, tomorrow afternoon. I was ~3 cm dilated, 50% effaced and his head was at -2 station, last Thursday. I’m hoping he’s made some progress in his descent to my birth canal. I don’t really have any faith that dilation means anything, though, so if she says I’m 4 cm, I’ll probably just shrug it off. I want him to be lower (I think he is) and I sort of want to get some more painful contractions. Come on, uterus, squeeze this kid out! I probably won’t be updating much in the next few weeks, but I’ll be sure to announce my son’s arrival eventually. Please send some good vibes/prayers to us. Be safe, everyone!
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
I watched the demonstration by Anna Maria Horner on Martha Stewart about making painted fabric silhouettes and was inspired to make some as Mother’s Day gifts (and also one for myself!). However, I decided to tweak her process a little.
Materials (specifics I used):
fabric (some fat quarters I had)
canvases (one 12″x12″, two 10″x10″)
mod podge (gloss-lustre)
x-acto knife
freezer paper
iron
foam brushes
staple gun
First, I searched through the hundreds of photos of my son for a good profile shot. Since all my photos are digital, I used Photoshop to make the silhouette/outline. I used the vector tool and basically just traced his profile. I printed it out and set it aside.
I stapled my fabric to the canvases, as in the demo on Martha. Make sure you get the fabric nice and tight, to avoid any puckering from painting. there are a few air bubbles in mine, but I kind of like them.
Since I did these a little differently, I didn’t go straight to mod-podging the fabric. Instead, I grabbed my printouts and used my x-acto knife to cut out stencils with freezer paper (just tape the printout to freezer paper and cut out carefully).
I kept both parts of the stencil, the shape and the “outline.” I then layed the stencil, waxy side down, and ironed it to my fabric using a hot [DRY] iron. Once I was certain all parts were stuck down, I started painting until I was happy with the evenness of the color and whatnot. After it had a little time to dry, I gently unstuck the stencil and voila! I had my silhouette on the canvas. For the blue and brown silhouette, I ironed down the “outside” of the stencil, and for the other two, I ironed down just the actual face and painted around it. you can do whichever you like.
After the paint completely dried, I used Mod Podge to “seal” it and give it a nice sheen. that’s it! the longest part of it all was cutting out my stencils. Also, I had to put quite a few coats of the lime green paint onto the brown fabric. you can still see some un-evenness, but my husband says that makes it look “awesome.” How nice.
Tuesday, April 29th, 2008
I started a new knitting project–for myself! I received an early Mother’s Day gift in the form of a HiyaHIya 9″ circular. I decided to finally wind up the orange sock yarn seen in my header and start knitting some socks. They’ll be a mother’s day gift to myself.
I wanted a simple, yet interesting pattern. My due date is in less than 2 weeks, so I want to be sure I have something easy to put down and pick up. I decided on Twisted Tweed from schrodinger knits. it’s a beautifully easy pattern!
Tonight, I took a little break from knitting and made 2 cards for 2 people who are having baby girls. One is having her baby shower this Saturday and the other is having her shower in June. I wanted to make sure I had these done before the newborn arrives. i can certainly knit and nurse, but it would be hard to wield scissors and/or an x-acto knife while nursing.
I just need to figure out what sort of envelopements to use. they measure 6″x6″ so I may just have to make something.
Friday, April 25th, 2008
Forgive me for my absence! I had a lot going on. I made 27–27!!– little rice packs as thank yous for the attendees of my baby shower. no, there were not 27 people there, but I made extras, just in case. Those took about 3 separate evenings to make. they were little 3″ x 6″ rectangular packs. I think everyone liked ‘em.
Since then, the household has been a little on edge preparing for our new arrival. I’m currently 37 weeks pregnant! full-term! huzzah! I finished the ripple blanket for my baby and a poofy girly blanket for my cousin’s fetus. I also finished preparing the birth announcements (I made a layout in photoshop and just need photo/s and info; I also made the envelopes), but I’m not quite sure they’re done FOR SURE. I’m being really weird about them for some reason. they look fine as is, but something in my brain says “keep working on them!” maybe a stamp or something will bring it all together.
This brings me to today. While the husband went to a meeting with a prospective employer, I put on a movie for the toddler and went to town making a pair of cloth baby shoes using the Stardust shoes pattern. They were a pain in the butt to make (mainly attaching the back to the sole) but I think they’re ADORABLE!
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
shorts–
Pattern: basic shorties with a roll-down waist in 1×1 rib
Yarn: Paton’s Classic Wool Merino in “denim marl”
Needles: US 6
booties–
Pattern: Saarjte’s booties in the round
Yarn: Paton’s Classic Wool Merino in “worn denim”
Needles: US 4
Hat–
Pattern: spiral striped hat (no pattern. just cast-on half in blue, half in gray and then spiral the colors up)
Yarn: Paton’s classic Wool Merino in “worn denim” and “dark gray”
Needles: US 6
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
Bonnet–
Pattern: Feather & Fan baby bonnet
Yarn: leftover Araucania Nature Wool
Needles: US 6
Slippers–
Pattern: improvised crocheted baby slipper with criss-cross straps
Yarn: leftover Araucania Nature Wool
Hook: H/8 (5.00mm)
Tuesday, April 15th, 2008
here’s my updated list of to-do’s before Andrew gets here:
- finish his blanket (90% done–see sidebar!)
- make some rice or flax packs for labor (I’ve sewn a few circular ones and even the long skinny one I mentioned in a previous post)
- finish the next pair of knit shorties (80-90% done–just need one more leg!)
- make a boppy or other nursing pillow. I bought a used, but sanitized “Brest-friend” pillow at the thrift store for $3!
- knit the second arm on the gown & i-cord ties.
- sew some nursing pads
- get my birth announcements ready (so all I have to do is insert a photo/s, info, and print them)
- relax.
so, in the past 5 days, I’ve only finished the shorts and made progress on the blanket. However, I’ve also made 2 pairs booties, a hat, and a bonnet (for another baby). that’s 4 things that weren’t even on my list! The offer was made on the house we were looking at, yesterday, so I suspect I’m going to be knitting, crocheting, and sewing a TON this week and next. I am SO nervous.
Thursday, April 10th, 2008
I’ve made some pretty good progress on my projects the past couple of days. See, we’re in the process of buying a house. We found one we love, but there has been set back after set back and that produced a ton of anxiety and general “OMG WHAT TO DO” in my head. to keep my mind occupied, I tackled my list and even started [and finished!] other little projects.
here’s my updated list of to-do’s before Andrew gets here:
- finish his blanket (50% done–see sidebar!)
- make some rice or flax packs made for labor (I’ve seen a few circular ones and even the long skinny one I mentioned in a previous post)
- finish the next pair of knit shorties (80-90% done–just need one more leg!)
- make a boppy or other nursing pillow. I bought a used, but sanitized “Brest-friend” pillow at the thrift store for $3!
- knit the second arm on the gown & i-cord ties.
- sew some nursing pads
- get my birth announcements ready (so all I have to do is inset a photo/s, info, and print them)
- relax.
#s 5-8 are still not done. I need some more double-sided tape for the announcements and I need some old receiving blankets or other flannel for the nursing pads. I can’t relax. nope!