2 years ago today...

Here's what the first day of summer means at our house:

2005:
2006:

And now 2007:
We'll have a party on Saturday at Grammy and Boppa's house. But today's the big day...

Happy Birthday Catie!

Am I being fickle?

I have a new love interest. Yes...I'm contemplating cheating on knitting and spinning with a few hobby. Here's a hint:
Lately I've been enamored with sewing. Or at least the idea of sewing. Granted, I haven't actually SEWN anything yet, but I went shopping today. I went to the local quilt shop here in Caldwell. Cindy's Quilt Shop. What beautiful fabric and colors. I was overwhelmed. Kind of like the first time I went into a yarn store. I walked around for probably 30 minutes before I decided on these 2 fabrics.

I bought a yard of each fabric, and think I'll start with a tote bag. Way back in the day, I took home-ec in 4-H, and I had a brief stint with quilting a few years ago, but it's been awhile since I've even taken the sewing machine out of the case. I am on this kick where I want to make the kids' clothes. Yeah. Right between my 12 hour days and 14 hour call nights.

Basically, what this is coming down to is I think I want a lifestyle change. I love my job most days, but I would love being home with my kids more. I want to be home to fix them lunch and dinner and bake cookies with them. There's no way I could quit working, but I would love to scale back and be a "homemaker/mom" type. 8 or 10 years ago, I would have died if I could hear myself saying this. And now my priorities have shifted more than I ever though possible. Mommy guilt? Reminiscing for the the "good ol' days" when I was a kid? I don't know. I just know that I wish things could be different right now. Any advice from working moms out there?

Since I finished the socks last week, I didn't cast on anything for several days. I finally decided on one of the hand towels from Mason Dixon Knitting. It's in white Euroflax yarn. I'm a whopping 10 rows of so into it...not enough for a decent picture. It called for size 5 needles. I had some Addi Turbo Lace needles sitting around that I hadn't used yet. Dang, those things are sharp!! I definitely need to find a good lace project to put them to use.

I've been spinning more lately. I've been spinning up some Targhee wool that was dyed by Mountain Colors. I bought it last summer when we were in Montana. I've only had it on the wheel for 10 months. Sheesh. I'm horrible, aren't I?

And in kid news, Jack is now over 14 pounds. At 3 months old. He's 27 inches long. Well over the 100th percentile for length. The problem is that he's now over the recommended maximum length for our car seat. So we're gonna have to go fork out some bucks for a new convertible car seat. Check him out...doesn't he look so serious?










We went to a wedding Friday night. Here's the pair of them all dressed up and ready to go:


and here's Catie looking up the church steps. It's her movie star look, I think.




Doesn't it make you sick how crazy proud I am of my kids?

Belated yarn purchases

I think I go through blogging spurts. Obviously this is a spurt, as there's an unprecedented 2 posts in 2 days. I never got around to posting pics from vacation...So 6 weeks ago, right before I went back to work, we went to Portland and the Oregon Coast. We spent several days in Depoe Bay, a little town between Lincoln City and Newport. One day, we went shopping in Lincoln City. G went to the kite and toy shop, and I went to
Nestucca Bay Yarns across the street. When I'm on vacation, I try to buy stuff I can't find at home. So I bought several skeins of 2 ply from Imperial Stock Ranch, in Kingfisher Blue.

My plan is to make the Neck Down Jacket from Knitting Pure and Simple. Yes, yet another pattern from them. I swear I'm going to branch out, but I keep coming back to their patterns. Simple and easy to follow directions.

The same day, we also visited Yarn for all Seasons in Newport. There, I picked up a couple of skeins of Socks that Rock in Downpour.

Vacation was wonderful, and I hated to come home. My sister and her little boy came from Portland to spend a few days at the beach with us. Here are Catie and Danny enjoying the weather and the beach.
















Next trip, we're pondering it being a "grown-up only" trip, and leaving the kids at home to stay here. But which room to choose from??

Time flies. I think it hasn't been too long since I posted, and I look back and it's been 3 weeks. I just finished a week from hell. We rotate a week at a time working in the hospital, and it was my week. My first since coming back from maternity leave. Lots and lots of patients and admissions every day. I'd come home and my mind would be racing for a couple of hours. So I'd try and knit (when the kids cooperated), just to try and settle down.

Goldfinger was sheared this week. Unfortunately, I was at work, and so couldn't get any pictures during the process. But since it's over 90 degrees, this week, I'm sure he appreciates the haircut. I'll get some pictures of him with his new haircut soon.

But I DO have pictures to show. I actually finished something. For real!! There hasn't been a lot of serious knitting time since Jack came along. But here we have it:


Vital stats:
Pattern: Bed Socks from Knitting Vintage Socks
Yarn: Socks that Rock in Red Rock Canyon (lightweight)
Needles: Size 2

It was a fun and easy pattern, once I looked up a better way to knit 3 together. Trying to actually knit 3 together was killing my hands, and I seriously thought about giving up on the pattern. I googled "knit 3 together". I can't find the link now, but basically you knit two together, slip it back to the left needle, lift the 2nd stitch on the left needle over the one you just slid back, then slip the stitch back onto your right needle.

And in other news, Jack is getting more and more fun. The smiling and giggling and cooing is just too damn cute for words. Well, except maybe these words:

I found this shirt on etsy and HAD to buy it. I actually bought 2 of them...one black and one white. Makes me smile every time I see it on him. Both because it's funny and because I'm proud of nursing him into one chunky healthy boy.

Happy Mother's Day!

This is my second mother's day as a mom. Last year I got pearl earrings. This year, we loaded up the truck, rented a 2-horse trailer, and headed north to Yakima, WA. Catie thought she'd try and drive. Unfortunately, she couldn't quite reach the pedals, so G was forced to drive. And I was forced to knit. The horror.

Anyway, Yakima is where G's mom and step dad live. And their friend Diane, with her herd of...

ALPACAS!

Yes...we have entered the world of alpaca farmers. Diane made us an offer we couldn't refuse. We'd never get a deal like this again. So without further ado, meet the boys.

First we have "Handsome"
And then "Goldfinger"
And "Thunder Bear"
And last, but not least, "Imperial Gold"
Here they all are in the trailer before we took off.

We all survived the trip home in one piece. The alpacas are settling into the pasture nicely tonight. The sheep are a little freaked out, but they'll survive. I think G and I are more freaked, though. We've been thinking about doing this for a year or more, and now that we've gone and bought them, I'm nervous. Noy true buyers' remorse. Just nervous about the unknown. There'll be a steep learning curve, but it'll be worth it. Just think of all that lucsious fiber.

Happy Mother's Day (what's left of it) to all you moms out there.

Brief updates

It's been about a month since I've posted. Sorry, but life intervenes.

I've been back to work for just over a week. Blech. It sure is hard leaving Catie and Jack every morning, but we're incredibly fortunate that G can stay home with them and be Mr. Mom. I think he probably has to do more adjusting than anyone. Work is going well, and he brings Jack every day at lunch so I can nurse him. So I still get to see the kids quite a bit.

We had a great time at the coast 3 weeks ago. We went to the Newport Aquarium, had fun on the beach, and bought some great yarn. I'll try and post some pics over the next week.

This weekend, I have this afternoon off. So we're headed to visit G's mom and stepdad in Yakima, WA. But that's not all we're doing. Check back on Sunday/Monday for the full update. Lets just say...the sheep will have some company in the pasture. Kim and Heidi know, but noone else does. Hmmm....

More kiddie pics

I haven't been knitting much at all. But tomorrow we're headed out on vacation, first to G's mom and stepdad's in Yakima, WA, then to the Oregon coast and Portland. G drives and I knit. It's quite the arrangement we have worked out. So I wound up some new STR to start a new pair of socks on the road tomorrow. I've lined up a couple of stores to hit while we're at the coast. Plus we'll head to Powells (the best bookstore EVER...I swear). I'm really looking forward to this trip.

But in (sort of) knitting-related news, Catie has "learned" to knit. It basically consists of her sticking needles into the ball of yarn, but it was too damned cute to not take pictures.

And in Jack news, he's continuing to eat . And eat. We're now up to just over 11 pounds.

Doesn't look like he's missed too many meals, eh? If only he would figure out he ought to eat more during daylight hours, and use those night time hours to let mom and dad get some sleep. He's still a little backwards of the sleep schedule, but we're getting there. That's what I'm telling myself anyway.

Another fun-filled Saturday

The Continental knitting is progressing. At least the knit stitch is, anyway. I'm getting much better at it, though am still having problems with tension and getting the yarn to slide through my left hand easily, but not with too much slack. The purl stitch, though, is a whole other story. I'm continuing to struggle with that one. When does it "click"...both with my fingers AND my brain?

Today G taught his Boot Camp for New Dads class and took Jack with him, so Catie and I had a "girls day". Well, a couple hours at least. We went to McDonald's for lunch. I know, I know...but I thought she could play on the playground, which I thought was indoors. It wasn't, and it was a little chilly. She proceeded to drink apple juice and suck the ketchup off her french fries. I don't think she took a single bite of food. From there, we headed to Barnes and Noble. Where we split a chocolate chip cookie. Well, I ate most of the cookie and she picked out the chocolate chips and would only eat those. Is this going to be a trend? Then we looked at books. I wanted to buy this, but they didn't have it in stock. The website LIED! So we headed home after a bit, and are spending yet another Saturday night knitting and reading. Exciting life we lead, eh?

Because I have no knitting pics for you, unless you want to look at my Continental knitting swatch, here's a couple of kiddie pics for you.

Catie in the bath: and Jack snoozing after a long night of nursing. NON-STOP. Exhausting. For both of us.

When did I grow so many thumbs?

Tonight my mom and I took a Fair Isle knitting class at Drop A Stitch in Boise. I'm decidedly an English knitter. So for me, it was a lesson in Continental knitting as well as Fair Isle. And apparently I hold the yarn all weird in my right hand too. So tonight I'm trying to learn:

1) a new way of holding the needles and yarn that's in my right hand
2) to knit Continental
3) to work with 2 colors at once, all the while...
4) doing all this using both hands at the same time.

Good Lord! I haven't felt that uncoordinated in years. Hence the "thumb" title above.

After 2 hours, I had this


And a close up.I started out with a pattern, but couldn't even master the technique. So I simply proceeded to alternating back and forth between the two colors...every other stitch one row, every two stitches the next, etc.

I think I might like knitting Continental. I've decided to try and master that first, then move on to more than one strand. But it was fun. This is going to open up a whole new world of knitting for me!!!

Shearing Day

We're all well at home. Jack is growing by leaps and bounds, and probably weighs close to 10 lbs. already. He's gaining a pound a week. Outfits that were way too big on him when he came home now fit almost perfectly. Catie is being a great big sister (most of the time anyway). I'm having a great time staying home with them. If only maternity leave could last forever...

On Friday, the sheep shearer came. I wasn't sure how it would go. We have a big open pasture, with no smaller pen to put them in. So we brought the sheep into the back yard. He simply walked up to a sheep, grabbed it, and got to work. This is Aran getting her haircut:and Lacey getting hers:

Oh..this feels so much better. Now I have 2 garbage bags full of wool, anxiously awaiting a date with the bath and carder. Time to get busy and start spinning all this up.

And finally, a couple of mother/daughter and father son pics...awwww

New bathroom pics

We're settling in nicely at home. Jack is doing great. He had his check up today...he's gained an amazing 9 ounces in 3 days!! Further proof he's a little piggy, and I'm a cow. Just call me Bessie.

So our bathroom is 98% done. We're waiting for a part to extend the showerhead, so we can't use the shower yet, but everything else is pretty much done.

The pedestal sink, new lighting, and new medicine cabinet...

And the best part...the clawfoot tub (made in 1894, and salvaged from my grandparents' house in southern Oregon), and new tile floor. The contractors tried hard to talk us out of tile, but I've had my heart set on this type of tile since I bought the house 5 years ago. More costly, but it's what I wanted. Unfortunately, the subflooring was all rotten, so replacing that was a pretty extensive (i.e. expensive) project, but now, we have an incredibly stable new floor. And I can soak in the bathtub every night after work.

Now it's back to Jack...he's waking up. Eat. Sleep. Poop. Repeat. But I wouldn't have it any other way.

Home at Last

So I fully anticipated staying at the hospital until Saturday. This morning we got a great surprise when the doc said we could go home today instead. So G, Jack, and I loaded up and headed to my parents to pick up Catie. They didn't know Jack had been discharged, so were surprised, to say the least, when we showed up with the baby. Then after a little "adjustment" time between Catie and the new baby (alternating periods of her kissing the baby and then crying because she wanted to sit on someone's lap, but Jack was there), we headed home.

I haven't been home for about 5 weeks. So I got to come home to a nice clean house with a brand new bathroom and brand new baby. I got to take a nap in my own bed. I got to sit on my own couch and nurse Jack. Splendid!

So without further ado, let me introduce you to Jack Edward Decker.


After he was first born:Our first together shot before he was whisked off to the nursery:
I love this picture of G's and Jack's hands:
Holding Jack for the first time in 4 days...2 tubes out, 3 to go.

All snuggled up and ready to head home:


Catie meeting and kissing her brother for the first time:

Life is good.

It's a...BABY. Okay...a BOY!!

Well, it's been a rough past few weeks. As you may have read (though I don't have too many readers, I'm so sporadic at posting) the preeclampsia set in the beginning of February. So I spent one night in the hospital, and then got to go home on bedrest. The just after my last post, the blood pressure shot up again, so I spent a week in the hospital. Where I did manage to get a whole lot of knitting done.

Then it was back home for a week and a half. And through all this, we've been staying at my parents' house because the bathroom remodel wasn't done. I was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, Feb 28. But Tuesday night, I went into labor on my own. So I was up all night contracting. We went in to the hospital Wednesday morning, and I was 4 to 5 centimeters. My doc broke my water, and off I went.

Jack Edward Decker was born at 5:05 pm on Wednesday the 28th. He looks a lot like his daddy, and is so much darker complected than compared to Catie. He was 3 weeks and 2 days early. But still managed to come in at a hefty 7 lb 4oz. Had I gone all the way to his due date, he probably would have been 9 lb. Ouch. Unfortunately, he had some respiratory issues, which we hoped would resolve. But they didn't, so at about midnight, he was transferred to the NICU in Boise. He was intubated before they left our hospital, and stayed on the ventilator until Saturday morning.

So Saturday morning, they took out his breathing tube. Today they took out one of the IVs from his belly button. And this afternoon we got to hold him for the first time since the first couple of minutes he was born. I was quite teary. Hopefully I can actually start to nurse him tomorrow, and I'm crossing my fingers we can go home by Wednesday or Thursday depending on how he does.

The bathroom will be done tomorrow. I hear it looks great, but since I haven't been home in a month, I can't say. But boy does that clawfoot tub sound good right about now.

We're staying at the hospital, and I'm using the terminal in the waiting room to post this. I have no way to get pics on here, but will as soon as I get home. Take my word for it though, Jack is pretty damn cute.

Knitting and Pregnancy Updates

Well, bed rest is still fairly yucky. The monitoring has all been good so far. BPs are up and down. My next non-stress test and ultrasound is Monday. But boy, I'm tired of daytime TV. Even HGTV and Law and Order are getting old. But the knitting is coming along nicely.

Catie's sweater came out great. I made a 24 month size. Other than being a little long, it fits her great.

And now, on the adorable model. Do you know how hard it was to get her to stand still to try and take a picture? I couldn't get a decent forward facing shot...she kept moving and/or trying to grab the camera.

My current project is the Birch shawl from Rowan. I started it last summer for The Amazing Lace, but obviously didn't get too far. Now I'm about 10 or 12 repeats done, and am quite proud of how it's turning out. Catie's block wanted to be in the picture too.

Other than that, not much else is up in my world. George is timing how long I've been on the computer...giving me dirty looks that it's time to get back on the couch or something. If this bedrest thing doesn't kill me first, it may kill him. Or maybe it'll just be me that kills him. Either way, isn't this pregnancy thing all his fault anyway???

Forced Knitting Time

Just the other day I was thinking I'd like to start maternity leave. You know...spend some time sleeping in, knitting, getting ready for the baby. Well, be careful what you wish for.

Sunday morning, G checked his blood pressure (he's on BP meds). I thought I'd check mine just for the fun of it. Well, my 157/94 reading wasn't really what I was looking for. So I checked it a few more times over the next hour, and it stayed up. I called my doc and headed into L&D. Where it was still up. So I had some blood work and got sent home to collect a 24 hour urine. Ain't nothing like saving your pee for a whole day. Well, Sunday night I had two horribly high BPs. 196/102 and 173/112. And the results from my 24 hour urine came back with too much protein. So all this prompted a referral to the high risk doc in Boise. Where I then got admitted overnight for observation and steroids. "Just in case"...to help mature baby's lungs should he/she have to born early. So now I'm on bed rest. No work. Nothing but bed, recliner, or couch, with the occasional brief stint on the computer. When maternity leave is forced on you and you have no choice but to sit on your butt, it really sucks. I had pre-eclampsia when I was pregnant with Catie as well, so it wasn't entirely unexpected that this might happen. Though I kept telling myself it's more common in the first pregnancy, and then not as likely later on. But I'm living proof it can (and sometimes will) happen again. This time, though, I'm 33 weeks instead of 35. That makes a big difference.

But I did finish knitting Catie's sweater. I still have to sew up the hood and weave in the ends, but other than that it's done. Tonight, I'm planning on getting reacquainted with my old friend Birch. With how much time I'm now able to devote to the needles, it ought to be done within a few days as well. So I'll have a few pics to post coming up soon.

Weekend update

Well, the bathroom remodel officially started yesterday. We have no shower, so we're showering at my parents' house. But YAY!!!! I'm so excited. I'll try and get pictures on here this weekend of the "Before".

Yesterday Catie got her first haircut. She was sitting on her little booster seat at the salon. She wasn't a big fan of the cape. But I got all sad as I was watching her get her hair trimmed. She didn't even get that much cut off...just trimmed. She had shaggy bangs and a mullet-type thing going on. More proof that she's growing up. Afterward, it was incredibly apparent she is DEFINITELY not a baby anymore, and has morphed into this little girl. Somehow we went from
THIS:

TO:


It's weird. I just looked at her yesterday and saw nothing resembling a baby. But I guess we're starting all over again in a few weeks.

And now I'm off to get ready for the pre-natal massage. MMMM.

Mostly Catie pictures

I switched to the "new" Blogger...whatever the hell that means. Hopefully this post will come out as planned.

There's been some knitting going on here. I started one of the felted boxes from the Mason-Dixon Knitting book, but the gauge off...it's too tight and is hurting my hands to knit it. I initially figured, "Hey, I'm gonna felt it anyway," and thought I'd press on, but it's not even fun to knit. I guess I'll have to tear it out and start over. I finished the body of the tunic sweater. It's now onto the hood and sleeves. Then I figure I better start working on something for the new baby. We're on countdown to D-day (7 weeks to go--time flies). I think the skin on my belly might explode or split open or something by then.

Along those lines, we're trying to organize Catie's room. It's amazing. I bought this house right out of residency, when I was still single and right before I met G. I thought 1200 square feet and 2 bedrooms was HUGE. Now we're climbing all over each other. I finally got C's bookcase painted and put the books in it over the weekend. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. But now that she has her own "big girl bookcase", I'm surprised. I thought she'd have more books to fill it up.
We're starting the bathroom this week. We've bought new light fixtures and a new medicine cabinet. I can't wait for that clawfoot tub. So we'll be spending a few nights at my parents when we have no usable toilet or shower here. For 5 years, I've been wanting to get the bathroom done, and finally, we're actually doing it.

And now...just a couple of cute Catie pictures. She was very into the piano tonight and spent a good 20 minutes just banging away on it. Not so good for the headache, but cuter than heck.










And she's very into teeth right now...brushing them, saying "teeth". Pointing out mom and dad's teeth. So...for your viewing pleasure...here she is, showing them off to the world.

YAY!! We can take pictures again.

So why is it that when you don't have a camera available, kids do really cute stuff that just asks for a picture to be taken? The dogs got new beds for X-mas. While our camera was broken, Catie discovered that they're pretty cool places to sit. So we got our new camera a couple of days ago. Luckily, Catie still likes to sit in the dog beds.

I'm a little freaked out by the fact that she doesn't look like a baby at all any more. She's a little girl. It's sad, and cool all at the same time. She still doesn't "get" the idea that there's going to be a new baby soon. I'm not quite sure how that's going to go. For that matter, I'm not sure G and I will manage this whole 2 kid thing, but I guess we'll all figure out a way.

In knitting news, here's a picture of the new sweater I'm working on for C. It's a V-neck sweater with a hood, knit in the round. I'm through the top part, and am to the point where I divide for the sleeves. So for a while, it's just plain ol' boring knitting in the round. I like the Knitting Pure and Simple patterns because they're just that--pure and simple, though sometimes a little boring. I guess it's time to branch out and try some more challenging patterns. But in the meantime...

A productive weekend...sans photos

Well, it's been a pretty good weekend. I started a new sweater for Catie on Thursday night. It's the baby tunic here. It's in a light blue, that's pretty close to the same blue as her eyes. I'd show you a picture of the WIP, but alas, George dropped the camera a couple of nights ago. Now, I've dropped the camera more than once, but apparently when it's dropped from a height of 5 feet, it's less detrimental that when dropped from the height of 6 feet. That extra foot did something bad...the ring around the lens broke, and the camera makes a very ugly sound when you try to turn it on. So, who knows? We may end up with a new camera out of the deal.

I worked some more on her bookcase as well. I've gotten 2 coats of paint on, and now am just waiting for that to dry so I can seal it. Then maybe we can get some of her bazillion books coralled. I try not to buy her tons of stuff, but that's where I'm weak...I figure an excess of reading material (and puzzles) is a whole lot better than an excess of other random toys. I hope that's not just bad justification on my part. Again, hopefully, if the camera is fixable, I'll have a couple pictures up in a few days.

What else happened this weekend? I delivered a baby. Had lunch with a couple of friends. Started putting info into Quicken (one of my New Year's Resolultions is to pay off credit card debt and be more organized--hopefully this will help). We ordered new tile for the bathroom floor. It's a 1 inch hexagon pattern...black and white. Very "old" looking. We're hoping to get started in a week or two on the actual remodeling. Yay!! Soon I will be soaking in a hundred year old claw foot tub after the end of a hard day!!!