Knitting: A Story of WIPs

I'm still knitting, though not nearly as much as when Joey was small enough to sit there and stare at the ceiling. He is getting into everything which makes knitting while he's awake somewhat difficult. I try and fit some in during my lunch break at work (I have a new full time job now!), but that doesn't always happen. I'd love to stay up and knit after Joey goes down for the night but truth be told, 9 times out of 10, I fall asleep when he does too. Technically, I have 4 WIPs right now, though one is only in the swatching phase. I LOVE the pattern (one I actually paid for) and it requires a lot of yarn (1100yds!), I decided that I really wanted to buy local and support my LYS (Local Yarn Store), especially since one opened up super close by last fall! I stopped there yesterday on my way home just to see what they had. Disappointingly, they didn't have the brand and weight I wanted, but I did get two hanks of a close yarn in a color I liked. I also got new needles because the pattern calls for size 15 :) Got home, swatched, and was not 100% sold on the yarn for the project. It's a lovely yarn, and it's currently being used in a WIP I started this morning, but it's just not right for the big project. So, I ordered the yarn called for in the pattern online and once it gets here we'll see if I like that better.

In the meantime, I was browsing patterns while Joey was napping and came across this:

OMG! So cute! I haven't actually finished knitting anything for Joey (there's a blanket in hibernation that's likely to stay there) and this looked fun and easy. So far, it's been interesting. I'm still on the spiral part of the shell, and achieving that spiral is something new to me, but it's definitely looking like it's going to be a reasonably quick project. Joey really has enough toys, but I hope he likes this one. If he doesn't, I'm totally keeping it!

This is one of my other WIPs. It's on hold while I wait for more yarn. I spent enough on yarn this paycheck, so I'm waiting until the next one (or possibly the one after that, depending on how the Big Project is going). It's much farther along than this picture shows, but it's the only picture I have and I looooove the colors, so I wanted to share. It's going to be an open-front cardigan that I'll probably keep at work for when the AC gets chilly. The sleeves are little cap sleeves and are actually as done as they're going to get in this picture, unless I decided to crochet a border on them or something. There will be 3 buttons in the brown part, then no more all down the front, which means I'll still be able to wear it even when my belly is huge. :)

Let's Compare: 9 weeks vs. 18 weeks

This is my belly at 9 weeks with new baby. Not really a whole lot going on that wasn't there already, as far as size and shape goes. Those are still pre-preggo pants, although I've been using a belly band for a while because it's more comfortable than a belt. At 9 weeks my uterus was still tipped way far back and I wasn't feeling a whole lot of anything. I didn't even get to hear the baby's heart beat until the 16 week checkup because of how far back my uterus was. The midwives said I could have another ultrasound if I wanted some reassurance that the baby was ok (this was prior to the 16 week appointment and hearing it), since there's not a history of miscarriage in my family (and I didn't feel like holding my bladder AGAIN), I was fine with waiting until my elective gender ultrasound. Morning sickness was still in full swing as was the exhaustion, I was counting down the days until Trimester 2 when the symptoms would subside.

Fast forward to today: 18 weeks and 1 day. For the most part I am symptom-free, the only ones that really get me are occasionally I do need a mid-day nap, AND I do not respond well to heat at all. For a while I thought the morning sickness was sticking around well into the second trimester, then I noticed a pattern: I was only getting sick on days I worked, and even then, I was only getting sick after my shower. Eventually I figured out that combining the empty stomach (on days I work breakfast comes after shower) with the humidity and heat of the shower was making me sick. I also realized that my shower gets hotter as time goes on, especially if I'm not paying attention, which exacerbated the situation. Now that I've been keeping an eye on the water temp, I've felt MUCH better in the morning. After the 16 week checkup, I didn't have to go back for another 6 weeks, so around 22 weeks I'll be back. We did finally hear the baby's heartbeat, a nice, steady 150 range. I also went and had the gender ultrasound as a present for Dan for Father's Day. And we're having....

Another BOY!

We're very excited (though I was hoping for a girl this time, I still love my boys) and I'm glad that we don't have to get a whole new wardrobe. I'm not going to believe it 100% until the anatomy scan in a couple weeks (around 20 weeks) because at 16 weeks everything was really smalls. Dan and the tech were quite sure about #2's gender, and I can totally see this being a boy, I'm just not all the way convinced until 20 weeks when everything has had a chance to grow ;)

So this pregnancy I will actually have had the same amount of ultrasounds as last time (unless, God-forbid, something changes and I become high-risk). I had one at 10 weeks, one at 16 (earlier than the first elective u/s last time), one around 20, and I'll get another 3D late one because it's such a good deal and I don't like going the whole second half of the pregnancy without seeing the baby.

My parents finally opened the pool and the water warmed up enough to go swimming! I'm so happy to be able to go swimming all summer long instead of having to wait until getting the OK from my doc like last summer (6 week post partum wait). Joey likes the pool too! We've been swimming twice so far and both times he was in the water for over an hour. I know in the weeks to come I'll be very glad for the near-weightlessness offered by the water and the pressure on my hips increases. I only went swimming once while pregnant with Joey and it was very late in the game, but felt oh-so-good!

And just for fun, here's my 18 week picture from being pregnant with Joey:

Super Update!

It has been way too long since I've posted! Joey does not let me get too much done on the computer, that's for sure! Right now he's distracted by some pizza crust so I think I bought myself some time ;)

I'll start in April seeing as that's the month I completely neglected. In mid-April we went public with some very exciting news: I'm pregnant again! I'm due in November and we've known since March but kept it quiet for as long as we could mostly because I still had to wait until April to be able to get an ultrasound. I've decided to get my pre-natal care at a local birthing center with midwives as well as deliver there if possible. During my first visit, I expressed my concern to the (male) midwife about possibly having another cyst develop on my only remaining ovary. I wanted to at least KNOW if there was one there early enough even if we couldn't do anything about it until after the delivery (there's a concern of pre-term labor with some procedures during pregnancy). The MW was very sympathetic and wrote me an order for an ultrasound so we could check.

10 Weeks :)

About a week later I had my appointment and was very excited. It was too early at my first MW appointment to hear the baby heartbeat with the doppler and they don't have an in-house ultrasound machine like my other OB had. So I drink my 16oz of fluid and fill my bladder and head over for one of my favorite perks of pregnancy. The tech was very nice and when she asked if we were dating the pregnancy or checking viability I told her about my cyst history and she made sure to check "both" ovaries. I noticed that she hovered over where my right one used to be and made a note about it being gone (specifically she put "oophorectomy" which is the name of the type of surgery I had). When she checked out the left one, she said, "There it is, nice and small and normal!" I was soooo relieved. I mean, we want to adopt eventually anyway, but the fact that I won't have to have any extra procedures is awesome.

That pretty much brings us back to the J-man. Even though he's not quite walking yet, it's pretty safe to call him a Toddler. He's full of energy, into everything, and loves loves loves to climb. My milk supply started to go down because of the pregnancy and so we decided to start solids around 11 months instead of after his first birthday. I wasn't disappointed we couldn't go exclusive for a full year (ok, maybe a little bit) because I learned a while back not to make plans when it comes to kids. Set goals and if you meet them great, if you come close that's pretty good, and if you don't make them at all set new ones and start over. We came pretty close and I'm proud of how far we made it. Downside is that Joey didn't take to solids as quickly as I had hoped for an older baby so we also had to start supplementing with formula because of how low my milk dwindled. Supplementing just reinforces my goal of exclusively BFing with the next one if possible because formula is just so expensive. Thankfully now that Joey is over one year we can start giving him whole cow's milk. Between the cow's milk and the solids he's eating more of we were able to cut back a little bit on how much formula he drinks but we won't be cutting it out completely for a little while. He's still nursing when I'm home, still nurses to sleep at night and all through the night (though thankfully less now than before we started him on formula), but I can typically go an entire work shift not pumping and not be uncomfortable. I still pump at work so Dan can give Joey SOMETHING while I'm gone, but I'm not as stressed about it because it's not longer Joey's sole source of nutrition.

It was also good we started Joey on solids early because at first he didn't quite know what to do with food, so had we waited until his birthday, he wouldn't have eaten any cake at all. I knew going in to giving him cake that he wasn't going to be happy, so far he has not enjoyed having messy food all over his hands and the icing on the cake was no different. It's all over his face because after it was all over his hands, he got mad and rubbed his eyes and then proceeded to wipe it all over his stomach. Once he started licking his fingers he realized that he liked the cake and wanted more so I cut some pieces without frosting and he was ok with those, still unsure though about how he liked the texture. After we were done with the cake I took him into the bathroom to "hose" him off and he was not a happy camper. We were at my parents' house so their bathroom wasn't our bathroom and he was scared to death of both the shower head AND the loofahs that were hanging in the shower. Poor thing screamed and screamed until we were finally done and dried him off. After all the screaming and crying, he slept pretty well that night, thankfully. Foods he currently eats regularly are: garlic Triscuits, goldfish crackers, pizza crust, chicken nuggets, bacon, and french fries. We're attempting to get healthy food in him too but so far it's no dice.

March Update

 Not too much has changed since I last posted, not much besides Joey anyway. He's definitely taller and MUCH more talkative. He is getting really good at his syllables, especially "ma ma" and he uses that in reference to me which, of course, makes me melt every time. Dan said that the other day while I was at work, Joey spent the whole time "looking" for me and saying "ma ma" asking where I was. He kept wanting to look in the bedroom (where I'll take a nap sometimes) or in the kitchen (where I'll hide when HE needs to nap and Daddy rocks him), so he's also getting pretty smart. He's got 8 teeth, all in front, and likes to use his mouth as a 3rd hand to help him when he's attempting to climb. He is really good at pulling himself up to standing now, and cruises the furniture with ease, so we're definitely not far from actually walking. Yesterday, I put him in his pack 'n play while I got some things done in the kitchen, and when I looked in to check on him, I found him pulling himself to standing, then letting go and seeing how long he could stand without help! One day he's just going to take off running and we'll just have to try and keep up ;)

He LOVES bath time and his current favorite toy is the shampoo bottle. No idea why, but it has been for the last week or so. I can't wait until summer because I know he is just going to adore being in the pool! I'm excited for the pool too because last year I had to wait until basically July before I could swim because of the 6-week-wait after Joey's delivery. I was so impatient, half the time I had my feet in the pool or I'd walk around on the steps just trying to cool off! This time I'll be able to fully enjoy the pool all summer and I'm happy for it :)

Exclusively Nursing a 9 Month Old

Seeing as it's been a month since I've posted anything, I wanted to talk about SOMETHING so I decided to write a post based on a couple conversations I've had at work with other moms. Joey is still being fed exclusively by breastmilk. I do have to work, so he doesn't get it exclusively from the tap but it is the only nourishment he's received since my surgery last June (when I didn't have a stash built up and we had to supplement with formula). He hasn't had any formula since then and the only other thing besides breastmilk that he's had has been water. He started sucking on his washcloths in the bathtub so there really wasn't much I could to do stop him, so when we got new sippy cups for him to try, we put water in them so a) we wouldn't waste milk and b) he couldn't make a huge mess with milk if they leaked. He also knows how to get water out of our Camelbak bottles which I find hilariously cute. Anyway...

For a couple of weeks now, Joey has been especially mobile, he's figured out crawling for the most part and loves to pull himself up to standing. Because of all this activity, he mostly nurses at night even on days that I don't have to work. He's too busy to stop playing/exploring to nurse quietly for more than a minute or two. Sometimes he does forget that he's hungry and get fussy until he's gorged himself, but even then, at 9 months, that takes like 10-15 minutes max. When he does nurse during the day, it can be pretty hilarious. For one thing, he's been a little nursing acrobat for months now--pretty much once he figured out how to control his own legs. He loves sticking one of his legs up on the other boob or his new favorite is crossing them and pulling them in like he's a little baby. He's almost constantly moving, even when nursing, if it's not his legs then it's his wandering hands (of they're playing if he's got a toy or I'm wearing an interesting shirt).

When Joey is feeling especially mobile but still wants to nurse, he spends the session attempting to get up on all fours while still latched on. He's done this successfully several times now! If we're sitting on the floor and I've got him in my lap with my legs crossed, he'll wiggle his way completely onto the floor. If we're lying down, he likes to climb all over me and see how many different ways he can latch on--including being completely on my stomach directly over my boob (that one didn't work so well)!

Most of the time I find all of this funny and adorable, but occasionally when I want a nap or when I need him to nap, it can be frustrating. Sometimes I do miss when he was a month old and would just lie there and nurse then fall asleep and unlatch himself because he passed out. He doesn't do the "milk drunk" smile anymore, instead he unlatches, smiles at me then gargles his milk. He only falls asleep while nursing now if it's bedtime--and sometimes not even then (we're getting more consistent with our bedtime routine and that's helping).

I do love the interaction now, he likes to touch my face or hair, play with my shirt or his foot. He's not a bystander in the feeding process, he is an active participant! Nursing now (most of the time) is a wordless conversation, he's learning and growing so fast that it's hard for me to keep up, and stopping to nurse reminds me to stop and just breathe in his babyhood and enjoy the moment we're sharing.

Although, sometimes I am just feeding the kid, one hand holding my boob and the other typing or texting (or playing Fruit Ninja!). It's not always an intimate, beautiful moment, but it is a special relationship that I will always treasure.

Teeth and Sleep

Joey cut his 6th tooth yesterday (5th was late last week) and Dan's pretty sure that 7 and 8 are on their way through. 5 and 6 are on either side of his top front teeth, not sure where 7 and 8 are, he won't let me see ;) This kid does not give us any indication he's teething or cutting a tooth other than chewing on absolutely everything. But he does that constantly and I know that's totally common for babies his age, so either it means that he's constantly teething or he just chews on everything. He doesn't drool like a faucet and he's really only extra cranky when he needs a nap. He doesn't give us any indication that he's in pain (yay) so when another tooth pops through we're like, "Wow, another one!" Last week, Joey gave me a night where he only woke up a few times (3 or less, I can't remember because I try not to wake up all the way when I feed him), it was AWESOME. Then, last night and the night before, he was nursing almost constantly. When the tooth 6 and 7 cut through, it made sense. I'm eager for this teething thing to be over, but I know that he won't finish until his molars come through when he's 2 or 3 years old.

He sleeps great when he's not teething. The kid loves sleeping, he totally has that in common with us. I began reading The No Cry Sleep Solution to see if I could pick up some times to help him sleep. While Elizabeth Pantley gives lots of really great ideas and suggestions to parents of all sleep arrangements (co-sleeping, bottle feeding, baby in his/her own room, breastfeeding, etc.), she does mention that no matter what rhythm you end up in with your baby and how much sleep you're getting, things like illness, teething, and vacationing can affect even the best infant sleeper. So I have the book and will definitely use some of the ideas when it seems like the teething has slowed down, but what we're doing is mostly working at this point, so I'm not going to mess with it and change what we're doing. Granted, I'm waking up constantly at night but Joey and I go to bed so early that eventually I get the sleep I need to function during the day--even if I have to work (though that's a good night if he doesn't wake up before I leave).

March For Life 2012

I was undecided about going to the March For Life this year because it meant taking Joey with me. I knew that he would be good, he typically is too interested in what's going on around him to act up or be fussy, I was worried about the logistics of having a baby with me--especially once we started marching. Originally, I was going to play it by ear and decide to go with Holy Trinity last minute based on weather and if they had space on their bus (which eventually turned into buses!). Then my mom called and said that St. Jane's had extra tickets to the Rally/Mass before the March and would I be interested in going with their small group of high school girls? I checked the weather and it didn't look too cold so I agreed to go! Going to the Rally and using the Marc train were nice because I knew that I would have a decent place to sit and nurse as well as bathrooms with changing stations easily accessible.

I fed Joey several times while we were at the Verizon Center and changed his diaper before we headed out to the March. He even slept a for a couple of short naps before the March, thankfully. He stayed awake almost the entire time we were outside, whether it was due to the cold rain that was coming down (he stayed warm and dry under my jacket) or the fact that there was just so much to see I'm not sure. Eventually, he fell asleep and stayed asleep for almost an hour, so he had close to a normal nap schedule that he would have had at home. I got to change his diaper again at the Marc station and fed him on the train going home, so all was good and nothing was postponed for him because we were in a crowd or outside.

The Rally and March were amazing as always! I'm so glad that Joey and I got to go! I LOVE having Mass at the Verizon Center, how often do you get to celebrate Mass with 17,000 people??? Despite the weather, there was an awesome turnout for the March as well, I can't even begin to estimate how many people were there, but it was well over the tens-of-thousands and possibly even in the hundred-thousands. I'm proud to be part of the Pro Life Generation. Last year I marched while I was pregnant, and this year I marched with Joey. We marched because my generation is here (mostly, an estimated 1/3 of my generation has been aborted), it's his generation being killed now.