Archive for November, 2009

November 15, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

Fabric.com has some yarn on sale, up to $2 cheaper a ball on rowan yarn then I have seen any place in the US before, with loads of color options. Go get some!

November 7, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

The last month has been crazy. BG was in daycare part time until 2:30 every day. I basically would just focus on the baby and did little else in our “alone time”.

Some time during the past month she developed bad congestion and a cough. All subsequent doctor visits revealed nothing wrong. I remember this with BG, escalation is bad. Everyone said she was fine too, but she was not and now she’s labeled “asthmatic” because no one listened to me in the beginning. So she was having trouble breathing late one night due to her congestion and we took her to the ER, which was useless and so was the doctor but this prompted my pediatrician to try some Zantac. She was even going horse. It was acid reflux as DH and I suspected. The horse sounding voice went away within 3 days. Her cough persisted and I took her back. A short course on a very mild anti-biotic and she’s been great sense. I hope the reflux does not get worse as I know it can, but it’s supposed to be the worst between 2 thru 4 months so I am crossing my fingers she can be off the meds soon.

So she’s great now and we are all much happier for it. It’s easier to get her to sleep again, though sense the reflux started she no longer fall asleep on her own while lying down like she used too. Such a laid back little baby!

Now she’s big enough that BG can help, with a little less concern aside from constantly having to say “Don’t lean on her!” and “leave her hands alone” etc. BG loves to cover her with a blanket, put the paci in her mouth and “tickle” her.

Last week I went to my sisters for a week. I didn’t want to go, I didn’t want DH to go out of town. Which is why I went to stay at my sisters. I was happy for the time with my sister but felt it was too soon. I had no idea the mental or emotional affect staying at my sisters would have on me. It grounded me. She has two boys, I started to say well if she can do it, I can do it. Her husband is a detective and often is not home until 11:30pm at night, leaving her alone with her two boys. So when I came home from that fun (but exhausting!) week with my sister I totally re-arranged our furniture and I am on mission “re-organize” the house. I plan to turn out dinning room into a home office for myself and the husband, with a bit of “toys” thrown in for good measure. DH does not work from home, but we both like a space for the evenings and weekends to do our little side projects.

Once BG got older I wanted to get all the toys OUT of the living room, to claim it back as mine. Now I have LG and I will just have to give it up for a while longer, probably the next 2 years. I’ll take pics once I finish, we still need an area rug, new curtains and some new photos to hang on the walls. It might be a while, need some bling bling to get it done!

So once we came home from the trip up north at my sisters, I had pulled BG out of daycare. #1 issue, germs. #2 issue, money. It was really nice to have that break while it lasted though, to spend those precious first months with a bit of extra time with her. Now I am able to mentally handle both of them, and BG is less of a physical threat to the baby and accidently hurting her. The baby LOVES to laugh at her big sister, coo’s and smiles at her. It’s so sweet. I am SO looking forward to when they can play together.

This photo above shows exactly the expression on her face 90% of the time. The chilled out “whats up” expression as we call it. She is very alert and aware but somehow always looks like she just woke up. It’s so cute.

Just like BG she’s a bit of pain to put down at night, in fact she’s worse then her big sister. She wasn’t hard to put down until like 3.5 months old. We think it’s the reflux making it worse at night. Sometimes we walk her around for 3 hours on and off in between taking “shifts” or her possibly falling asleep for 30 short minutes. Bed time is any time between 7 and 9pm with the fussing starting at 6 and an occasional bad night taking until 10pm. I keep reminding myself it won’t be like this forever but I remember using ferber on BG at 6 months and I don’t see how we are any place near to that point. 3 months away from solids, from sitting up? Yikes, it doesn’t seem possible! As ever, everyone tells you to cherish it and indeed I do, but it’s sort of hard when you are sleep deprived and very tired! I love it though, love her sweet little self and her blossoming personality.

Daddy is of course ever present and helpful.

She loved her little playgym I got as an early Channukah/Xmas gift. Keeps her very amused. Here she is watching herself in the mirror:

Bamboletta Cardigan

November 2, 2009 · Filed under Pixie Purls Patterns, Uncategorized | Comments (4)

Many months ago I ordered a Bamboletta Doll for BG to have as a gift for when we came home with the new baby. Christina Platt makes these wonderful dolls with the utmost care and attention to detail. The dolls are a work of art. When I ordered the doll I put in a little note that it was a gift for my soon to be “big sister” and knowing nothing about me, my blog or even that I knit she sent along an extra newborn doll with a note that it was for the new baby.

I wrote her a thank you and mentioned I would be knitting the doll some sweaters and she replied back that she had been looking for someone to create a pattern for her to give as a gift to her wonderful customers. Next thing you know we had started a dialogue and I jumped at the chance to collaborate with her, everything about her aesthetic and style just resonates with me from her site design, to the way she dresses her dolls, even down to the wonderful packaging she puts together. How could I not want to be involved with such a talented women?

So here is the pattern I knit on while pregnant, and finished when LG was 2 months old. It took me far too long to complete with so much going on, but I could not be more pleased with how it turned out, so it was worth the wait!

Without further ado I give you, The Bamboletta Cardigan. Available free from the Bamboletta.com website.

Cloth Diapers

November 2, 2009 · Filed under Uncategorized | Leave a Comment

I wanted to cloth diaper BG, I tried “Bum Genius” but hated them. They didn’t fit a young baby well, I knew very little about cloth diapering (aka CD) and I didn’t like the fabric or the pocket concept. I sold them after trying them maybe 3 times.

I have a friend IRL who uses prefolds and covers. I was determined with LG I would use prefolds. So I went to Green Mountain Diapers and got some of their popular prefolds in the two smallest sizes and some covers.

LG hated them, cried when I put them on. She’s a big baby and they seemed difficult to put on. I was not a dan. She has a sensitive tushy and I think the rash from her disposables made the cotton too harsh on her skin. So I decided to try a fitted, I read about all the rage of Goodmama diapers and thought well things are often popular because they are good (as I learned with Wollmeise yarn) so why not try it.

I ordered 2 of them, and I now am utterly hooked. I used to think “tsk tsk” to the moms posting photos of their stashes, why spend so much money on them? Now I understand why. They are worth every penny, and while I do feel they are a bit over-priced I am still going to save loads of money in the long run, and help out the environment a little bit or at-least keep some poop out of our landfills. It’s really nice not having to buy diapers at the grocery store.

I learned a few things along this journey to being a “CD Momma” and I am in a very good place and proud I’ve been able to CD nearly full time (I put on disposables aka ‘sposies when I leave the house, and at night, but I am working on using cloth those times as well). I have learned that if you breast-feed then it’s super easy to clean them. I just pop them into the washer and I’m good (I use Nellie’s). No weird stuff or toilets or anything else involved. I’ve learned about ‘Dryer Balls‘ which really come in handy when washing bath towels if you want them to be super absorbent, everyone should own a pair. I’ve thought more about how I consume energy, about how a cloths line shouldn’t be perceived as a sign of poverty.

I even have cloth wipes, and those really blow my mind because they could be thrown in with the normal wash. Why are people wasting gobs loads of money on purchased ones (tho sometimes I think the disposables ones are as good as a magic eraser) because wow the cloth ones are super easy to use and oddly seem more effective then the wet kind. It’s made me think about waste in all aspects of my life, like paper towels in kitchens and how often families in our current culture use them to do things as simple as dry their hands daily. An amazing amount of waste.

I now have a nice little stash of 29 diapers. With a young baby I do sometimes go through a dozen a day, or almost half my stash so that’s two days of diapers before laundry is due. It’s amazingly easy to wash them and I actually enjoy putting them away because of the cute prints. I waited for a sale to get many of them, and even bought a few used. Goodmama now has some really neat diapers called “Goodmama Ones” which have a built in waterproof layer so they don’t need a cover and these are now my favorite. They are minky on the outside and velour organic bamboo on the inside and its pretty much the fanciest thing you have ever seen for a baby bum. They are also trim enough that I can get normal clothing over them. I’ve found some of the “prints” fit better then others, and now that I have Ones I don’t know why anyone buys anything else but I guess it’s all about the cute prints and I bought a bunch of those before I knew about the One. Women and their shoes, purses, yarn and their cloth diaper prints. It’s a good analogy, because there are so many styles it can become addictive.

I’ve made a promise to myself to stop here, to knit my own longies (aside from the 1 pair I purchased, and the wonderful up-cycled Woolybottoms that I occasionally grab – fantastic prices too). One fun thing about CD’s that is a bit odd is the resale value is pretty high. So you can sell a used diaper for nearly what you purchased it for and get a new print. I sold one just today on Hyena Cart’s Spots which is apparently a very popular site with CD momma’s, it’s like the Craig’s List of Cloth Diapers.

I’m even knitting my first pair of longies (wonder pants pattern):

So I’ve come full circle with CD’s and I am so happy to actually be “doing it” full time like I wanted too. It gives me a great excuse to knit some cute pants for my little girl. If you are thinking about using cloth diapers and have any questions please feel free to ask away! I’ve learned a lot the last few months.