First Bites

Here she is eating her first bowl of cereal, which she gobbled down like she's been eating solid foods from a spoon for ages.  I hope it's a sign that she'll be a good eater! 

Life Lessons

My mother comments regularly on how sewing and knitting abilities skipped her generation and jumped from my grandmother to me.  I just think it's unfortunate that I haven't been able to learn from my grandmother because we live so far apart.  So instead, I seek out and pay for classes or beg them off of kind, patient friends.  As a mother now myself, I hope to be able to pass along as much know-how as possible to my daugher, which I hope she continues to nurture.  I find so much joy in creating things, but my biggest frustration is how hard I struggle to find information and learn. 

Two months ago, I took a sewing lesson, and she watched patiently from her stroller.  Yesterday, I took another lesson, but my little girl was not interested in watching.  At four-months old, she's very interested in being involved.  So, the only sewing I completed during my lesson, I completed with her on my lap.  Sweet angel!  I won't complain.  I love her so much and hope she learns to appreciate the simple things in life, and I hope to teach her.

Bring on the Heat!

She's ready for the sun in her adorable Gymboree seersucker outfit. 

Her baptism gown was a little less comfy in our unairconditioned church. The day was perfect though. Thank you, Grandparents, for coming and helping make it such a special day! We love you!

12 Weeks of THIS!

I'm the luckiest mommy ever! She's 12-weeks old today, and I can honestly say that these have been the best 12 weeks of my life.

Video Post

I saw this video today and just had to share it with you.

And It's Only the Beginning

Seven weeks have past since she arrived, and in some ways it seems like she can't possibly be that old, but in other ways, it seems she's been here all along. Her personality and sense of humor are becoming more apparent every day.

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Last week, she started smiling at us. This week, she's discovered her mobile, and squeals with delight as she stares at it endlessly. I definitely know the feeling!

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A Little Late

She finally came on March 1st, and I'm finally posting some pictures of her first two weeks. I'll write about her birth later.
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Due Today. Probably Not Here Tomorrow.

Our little girl is technically due today. But, she's shown no indication of being interested in departing the cozy and warm confines of my belly. We're not terribly surprised. First time moms don't typically deliver early, and we also know that the doctors backed up my due date from 2/27 to 2/20 based on an ultrasound early in the pregnancy. Our doctor told us this week that they'll give her until the 28th before they'll want to induce.

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In the meantime, I've finished her blanket. First, I added a lace edge because I gave up on the cabled edge after countless attempts to follow the pattern. Unfortunately, the lace edge gathers on the corners like a fitted sheet, which is a little discouraging. I should have accounted for that and picked up twice as many stitches on the corners.

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Next, I purchased some fabric to cover the back of the blanket from City Quilter in NYC, which is where I purchased the fabric for Baby Girl's quilt. It's a wonderful fabric store, and I'm dying to take some of their classes.

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Finally, I brought the fabric back to Hoboken and went to our local sewing/crafting store, M. Avery Designs. I took a private lesson yesterday with Megan Avery herself. Together, we hand-sewed the fabric to the back and added the yarn ties to secure the fabric to the knitted blanket even more tightly. Megan is just a delightful person, and I'm definitely going to be frequenting her store for more sewing instruction in the future. I'd love to be able to sew Baby many fun things on my unused sewing machine. She suggested starting with Martha Stewart's baby kimono pattern, which I think is a definite possibility. I'm also determined to make Baby Girl's first Halloween costume with my own two hands - maybe something involving intermediate to advanced-level knitting and sewing! Your suggestions are welcome!
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Now that the blanket is finished, I'm finally able to guiltlessly pursue other projects. I made this little cocoon pea pod (Ravelry Link to Pattern) for her, which will photograph much better with her in it. It was so rewarding to start and complete this project in only a few hours! Baby blankets take so long. I honestly wondered toward the end whether I would ever finish her blanket.

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I've also started the first of several elephants that I'm planning to make for a mobile for her crib, and then let her play with once the mobile comes down. I'm a little obsessed with elephants, for some strange reason. This pattern from Jelly Bums (Ravelry Link to Pattern) includes legs that are not shown on the cover. I've also casted on Ysolda's pattern for Elijah, but he's too big for a crib mobile.

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Otherwise, the pregnancy continues to be going smoothly, and I can only hope that labor and delivery will follow the same path. The only frustration I'm beginning to experience is the seemingly unending negativity and "just you wait" comments from other parents. I've found that surrounding myself with positive people during pregnancy has been invaluable in promoting and creating the positive experience I've had. I have a team of people including a few very warm, caring friends and family members as well as some carefully chosen professionals who are providing me the love and support I need. One of these people has been our super-positive and experienced doula, Julie, who will be with us through labor and delivery. Between my loving husband, who so sweetly nurtured me through some sudden nausea I experienced last night, and just knowing that Julie will be there with us is enough for me to keep those Debbie Downers and "just you wait" comments about labor and delivery from sticking to me.

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One day at a time is all I'm tackling right now. Planning beyond that just isn't possible. So, for now I'm going back to knitting on the elephants, watching a little HGTV, and eating some tomato soup, which I'll follow with a cup of overly-sweet hot cocoa. The overly-sweet hot cocoa is super fun because it gives Baby Girl a hyper case of the wiggles, and probably is partially to blame for her super chubby cheeks that we saw during our ultrasound this week.

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Progress! Baby and Her Blanket

I completed the chart portion of the intarsia baby blanket and have started on the cabled edge. Unfortunately, that isn't going so well just yet, in spite of several attempts. I'll try a few more times, but might have to resort to another edge option.
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This is my first cable project, and as you can see, there were some serious issues that I didn't realize in time.

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It was also my first intarsia project, which proved to be a quite challenging technique on this project as well. All in all, I'm disappointed by the mistakes but am overally just happy to have completed the chart portion. Once the blocking and edging are complete, I plan to sew on a fabric backing to cover the countless strands that hang from the back. I've considered knitting another blanket to attach to the back, but I'm not sure that's a realistic option, since Baby Girl is due in less than a month.

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Our still-unnamed baby girl is growing quite well, and consequently, I'm expanding too. During this morning's ultrasound, they estimated her weight at 6 pounds and 9 ounces, where three weeks ago, they estimated her at 4 pounds and 10 ounces. The sweet ultrasound tech stopped my husband who was speculating on her birth weight by saying, "Oh Dad, don't do the math." I would have hugged her had I not been covered in blue goo.

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We also saw this morning that she has hair, which came as a relief to me since I've had excessive hiccups and heartburn since the beginning of the pregnancy, which "they" say can indicate that the baby is going to have lots of hair. I've been hoping for something to come from all the hiccuping and heartburn. Honestly, though, those are really my only complaints. I feel fantastic and still often forget that I'm even pregnant, though that's become less often these past few weeks as she has been growing so much (and so have I!).

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Mother in Training

I took a quilting class yesterday and made my first quilt. It's far from perfect, but I love the fabric. So girly! ...and hopelessly matchy-matchy!

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Here is the back - the rabbits are a bit out of focus. I'm struggling to focus with the lens I currently have for the camera, and my manual focus on this particular photo left much to be desired.

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.I'm still chugging along with my knitted blanket, but I just realized that I need to rip out the last section that I worked. I must have completely spaced out not to have noticed sooner that I flipped the last section upside down on the blanket. Even a 5-year old knows "V" doesn't come after "C" and "D" doesn't come after "U". I'm quite good at making negative progress on projects. Ugh! At least I can look to the quilt now as a finished object.

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In my other attempts to train and become a good mother, I'm baking (cooking?) my first ham right now. I read somewhere once that "good mothers" have casseroles and soups in the freezer for when baby comes home, so I'm testing a few casseroles and soups over the next three months to find some suitable for freezing. The ham will be used in a variety of these. I had no idea cooking a ham was such a process, but I feel like a good mother for doing it, and that's the important thing right now. A false sense of assurance in my ability to mother is still a sense of assurance, so I'm going with what I have for now, even if it comes from recalling a 1950s Good Housekeeping article.


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