Tiny Purls

Baby Knits

Although I'm holding off on knitting any cute little sweaters until Little A is actually here (and hopefully some knitting will still continue after his arrival), I have been working on two projects for him while my putting my legs up each evening.

This is the Alphabet Blanket by Debbie Bliss from her book, The Baby Knits Book.  As of last night, I'm just about halfway finished - which has taken me a bit less than 3 weeks. 

The yarn is a soft, organic cotton - Plymouth Earth Oceanside Organic - in a real neutral color called "Drift."  I had the idea this past weekend to thread a narrow, navy, satin ribbon through the outer border to add some color, but still keeping its simplicity.

I'm OK if this project doesn't get finished before he arrives.  It's still a special project that I will have worked on during my pregnancy and then into the beginning of his life.

The second project has all the knitting done, but still needs blocking and finishing.  This is the Personalized Baby Pillow from Simple Knits for Cherished Babies by Erica Knight.

Instead of knitting the entire pillow, I just did the pillow face and plan on finding some nice fabric for the back.  We'll see if that ever happens since sewing typically isn't on the top of my to-do list.  Yarn is Rowan Handknit Cotton in Bleached.

Trying things out

We did some assembling this weekend.  Mainly because I wanted to get the boxes out of the house and I like having things "together."

Oh dear...

2/3 to go...

A week ago we celebrated Ben's 30th birthday.  So he's officially 30 and flirty....or 30 and nerdy...or 30 and...whatever.  He's finally joined me in the 30+ club. 

 
He made me promise that there would be no surprise party or any party at all, but finally agreed that a family dinner would be acceptable.  So we went out to Petit Louis last Thursday for some good french bistro cuisine and the returned to our house for some cake and presents. 

I made his favorite cakes - these come from opposite sides of the fat-free vs. full fat spectrum - Angel Food Cake and Gooey Butter Cake.  I probably don't need to tell you which cake we ate more of...

We also had this discussion that when you turn 30 you're entering the second third of your life (based on a life expectancy of 90 years old.)   I think that this second third is going to be a wild ride and I can't wait to share the whole second third with him.  xoxo

35 Weeks (The Home Stretch!)

Only five weeks left.  But if Little A decided he was ready to come 2-3 weeks early, I'd be totally cool with that.  Please excuse the blurry photo.  I just couldn't keep my hands still this morning.

Some random notes I wanted to jot down for myself and for Little A:

1) Apparently you LOVE peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as you go crazy after I eat one (preferably with whole wheat bread, Reduced Skippy and raspberry jam.)  Good taste!

2) At this point I am outgrowing my maternity clothes (but the shirt in the photo is just plain H&M!)  How is my skin stretching this much?  No stretch marks so far...

3) It used to take me 7-8 minutes to walk from my parked car to my office at work.  It now takes me 12-15 minutes - especially at the end of the day when the walk is mainly uphill.

4) Tonight you'll be going to your first MLB baseball game (Orioles vs. Mets - though it might get rained out and you won't really know that you're there).  Hopefully you'll grow into a little boy who loves the O's.  But if you end up liking the Mets like your dad, I'll be OK with that...  I guess.  However, liking baseball is a prerequisite in our family.

5) My fingernails are currently super long which is quite abnormal for me.  Finally all those vitamins have kicked in!

6) I bought your dad a video camera for his birthday last week.  Can't wait to test it out on you.

7) All of the stuff we bought for you has been tested and approved by our cats.  Calvin has tested out your glider, Moses Basket and changing pad.  He gave them the seal of comfort approval.  Sadie tested out your car seat.  She liked it.  Both of them like playing with the mobile hanging over your crib.  Lola follows me around the house and cuddles next to me whenever I sit down.  She knows you're on your way. 

I don't think Camden will understand what's going on until we bring you home.

8) All of your clothes and other soft things are washed, folded, sorted and put away.  It's all ready for you and won't ever be this organized ever again.

9) I'm still craving watermelon all the time.  But it must be cold.  I can eat a whole watermelon, by myself, in less than two days.  Good thing your dad doesn't like it because sometimes I don't like to share my food.

10) I'm super excited for your arrival.  It's practically all I think about (well, other than watermelon.)

xoxo

Showered

It's been almost six weeks since I was showered with lots of well wishes and generous gifts at my baby shower.  It was such a fun weekend and the shower itself was beautiful. 

Laura was kind enough to host my shower - but even with the best laid plans, sometimes things don't turn out as you expect.  In her case, her little one showed up four weeks early!  So her mother and my mother gracefully stepped in and coordinated the day (which was easy for them since Laura had everything planned out so well!)

Here are some of my memories...

Rebecca and my cousin Heather came into town for the weekend - it was great to see both of them in addition to my mother-in-law and my aunt Barbara.  On Saturday evening the whole family got together for some crab-goodness at Bo Brooks.  However, only first-time crab pickers wear the plastic bibs...

The shower was held at Miss Irene's which is a really cute restaurant in Fells Point and right on the water.  We had the whole second floor to ourselves.  Unfortunately it was pouring that day, but once inside it was cozy and welcoming.

Laura had so many creative ideas, including artfully wrapped packets of flower seeds for the favors and pretty flowers in ribbon wrapped vases.

Most of my friends from high school and from Baltimore were able to attend and some of my college friends came in from out of town (one drove in from upstate New York!) 

The menu was great - especially the Croque Madame.  I could seriously eat that sandwich for dinner every night.

After many requests from my out-of-town friends, Ben hesitantly agreed to stop by for a bit.  Unfortunately he got pulled into opening some presents and sitting in the seat of honor.

 He was not especially happy, but he was pretty darn cute.

 
Some of my amazing friends. 

All-in-all, it was a great weekend.  Thanks to everyone who made it perfect.

This is my sister-in-law

My sister-in-law, for a couple of years, has been seriously dating a really nice guy named Eli. 

And he climbs rocks (on every continent except Antarctica!) and now owns his own rock climbing school in Bar Harbor, ME - the Atlantic Climbing School.

Here she is scaling some rocks on the coast of Maine.  Crazy, right?!

It only took us 27 months...

We just bought a couch for our living room.  It's been 27 months since we moved into this house and our living room has been almost completely empty - with the exception of the baby grand piano and the two chairs (that desperately need slipcovers) and a console table.  But I'm picky and indecisive.

But now we have a couch on the way.  It's the one in the photo and has washable slipcovers in a twill fabric - the color is different than the photo.  We selected "Stone" which is quite similar to the wall color.  A light enough color to keep the room light and airy, but dark enough to hide some stains and pet hair.

I'm envisioning some colorful pillows that I can change with the seasons.  Now we just have to wait for its arrival!

Elijah the Elephant

 I actually finished a knitted item this week!

"Astonishing" -  you might say. 

This cute little guy, "Elijah," was a fun knit and my first second stuffed toy pattern (the first one was this.)  The pattern consists of knitting the head and trunk and then picking up stitches for the body, legs, arms and ears and then stuffing as you go. 

So no seaming and finishing!  And weaving in the ends was easy as you just pull them through the stuffing.  My kind of pattern.

Pattern: Elijah by Ysolda Teague (Ravelry link)
Yarn: Rowan RYC Cashsoft Baby DK
Colorway: 805 Cloud
Needles: US #3 dpns
Mods: Instead of french knots for the eyes, I did flat stitches.

The snuggliest place in the house

My cat Calvin is pretty smart.  Looks like he found the best new place in the house to take his naps.  It's soft, cushioned and has a nice velour cover.  Not quite sure how this is going to work once Little A has moved into the room.

But if I could hang around the house all day and take naps, I think I just might sleep here too.

New Kid on the Block

Here's the newest  little one on our block (and the first in a line of expected babies this year!) who made a big arrival four weeks early and after only four hours of labor.  I always knew Laura was a champ!

I was lucky to get to visit last night.  I've never held a baby with my popped out pregnant belly and had to sort of sit him on top of it - which made Little A squirm around a bit (I don't think he quite understood that it was his best-friend-to-be who was squishing him.) 

It was very touching to see my friends transformed into devoted parents who are completely and utterly in love with their new son.  In fact, I just might have cried in the hospital hallway while walking back to my car.

Mom and Dad and Charlie are all doing well.  Can't wait to have this new family back home on the block.

If you want to see more photos (that aren't grainy like this one from my iPhone, click here and here.)