ewelala

2008-08-28T01:18:00.002-05:00

Well, I ran 5.03 miles on Monday night! My longest run to date! WOOHOO!!!! Now I know I'll have NO problem with my 5 mile race on Saturday morning! YAY!!!! It wasn't fast, but, it also wasn't slow. BUT, it was 5 miles! ALL IN A ROW!!!! I'll run 3-4 tomorrow night and then take Friday off before the race.

2008-08-23T23:58:00.003-05:00

ran a mile this morning with the kids and then ran 3.1 tonight at the gym. I also signed up for this run for next Saturday. Yes, it's a 5 miler. It should be FANTASTIC! I'm sooo excited!

2008-08-23T00:30:00.001-05:00

Freaking fabulous 3.11! Just wonderful! I re-joined the local 24-hour gym down the street from the house and ran a quick (ha!) 3 miler. I am sweaty and feeling re-energized! WOOHOO!!!!!

2008-08-16T13:15:00.002-05:00

Running....glorious running! I ran just about 4 miles today. It was FABULOUS!!! I was pushing the running stroller w/Megan in it and Molly rode her 2 wheeler. What a good run! We made 3 stops. Once at the gas station for gum and more ice for the water bottle. Then we stopped at McDonald's for lunch. Then we stopped at the grocery store for a some groceries. Yeah, that was super smart. 3 miles in and I decide to add 25 MORE pounds to the stroller already pushing a 27lb 2 year old. Yeah. Fun last mile. LOTS of sweating and a bit of cussing. BUT, I'm home now and my quads feel fab and so do my shins. I was really worried how my legs would handle today. So far, so good! It was HOT and humid outside, too!

Well....I better go put crabby Megan down for a nap.

2008-08-12T10:22:00.002-05:00

Oh, man...almost 4 months. Wow!!! Finally back to running. I think my badly sprained ankle can FINALLY handle it. It really sucked. I sprained it at the beginning of May and it's been a LONG LONG road to get to finally run again. I lost almost the ENTIRE summer of races I wanted to run in. I can't run the 1/2 marathon I wanted to. I have NO BASE at all right now. I ran almost 2 miles last night pushing my new running stroller and it SUCKED. Probably the hardest part was I had all 3 kids with me. Molly is 6 and just got rid of her training wheels. She did GREAT on her 2 wheeler the whole time! Now, Seth on the other hand...oh, man....I see why animals eat their young!!! He can ride on 2 wheels better than Molly, but, he refused to ride anything other than Molly's old bike with training wheels. THEN he would just take off and go crazy-fast down the street. He was 2 blocks ahead of me at one time. I was yelling for him and running pushing the running stroller as fast as I could. I wanted to ring his neck! I will NOT be taking him on a run/bike ride for a while. What a turd. My quads are killing me today, but, tomorrow they'll be better. I'm hoping to get out tomorrow during the day with the kids and do a little ride/run, but, Molly has a dentist appointment in the middle of the day for a filling, and I work tomorrow night, so I'm not sure it'll happen then. I'm off Thursday without a single thing planned, so maybe then.

21 days....just 21 GLORIOUS days until both Molly AND Seth go to school! WOOHOO!!!!!

2008-04-22T00:07:00.002-05:00

7 years ago yesterday (April 21st) my 18 year old sister Julie died in a car accident. I miss her so much. She would be 25 now. There are so many things I wish I could share with her....I wish she could be a part of my kids' lives and not just in stories I tell them about her. I wish she could cheer me on when I run in the 1/2 marathon. I wish she could be there when Molly has her Kindergarten graduation. Man....it just sucks to have birthdays for the kids and not have her there. Sunday was tough having Megan's 2nd birthday without her auntie Julie. Life really hurts sometimes......

2008-04-17T11:27:00.003-05:00

Wow...I pretty much suck at blogging lately. Molly turned 6 on the 1st of April. Wow. SIX!!!! Just crazy! Megan is going to be 2 on Sunday. It just boggles the mind that I have a 6 year old, 4 year old and a (almost) 2 year old. Just crazy......

I'll be running this race on October 4th. How fun!!!! I'll be running the 1/2 marathon for sure. I'm 2 weeks into my training. For the next 6 weeks the training for 1/2 marathon and full marathon is exactly the same, so, at that time, I'll switch to the full marathon training. IF I can do it without killing myself, I'll be running the full marathon. I'll be registering for the 1/2 next week. I can change the registration to the full within 3 weeks of the race without penalty, so, I'll be fine either way. As a family we'll be doing a family vacation at the same time. I still have to reserve the hotel room, but, it's off-season in the Black Hills during the race, so, we should have no problem making the reservations.

2007-11-02T19:18:00.000-05:00

so.....here's the VERY VERY VERY overdue knitting updates. It's only taken me 2 months to upload all my pics from my camera.

Seth's sweater. He LOVES it!!! It started as the LTK raglan in the round. Then I had to rip out the bottom and knit longer and add ribbing. Then I had to rip the sleeves and add ribbing. THEN I had to rip the neck and make bigger.

I made Molly & me matching earbands and Megan matching thumbless mitts. Gotta love the cheesy grin!

stash-busting hats. blueish striped one is just a ribbed hat with no pattern. Grayish one is earwarmer hat from LTK.

Megans new favorite hat. she won't take it off! BUT, she's sleeping, so I made Seth model it....this is LTK giving pixie.

And here's my girls on Halloween!

Seth refused to let me take any pictures of him...he was a cute Spiderman, though!

And just 'cuz she's the cutest duck ever!!

But, even ducks have bad days...

2007-11-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

Dear Walgreens down the street,

You can kiss my ass. My children's pediatrician called in a prescription BEFORE 2PM and I show up at 4:45 and wait 15 minutes to even TALK to a pharmacy employee only to be told, "gee, looks like we haven't even started it." That is not acceptable. Your only response to me was, "we'll probably have it done in a few hours." EXCUSE ME?????? Probably????? When I call you back at 8:30 to see if it's FINALLY done and you (the same incompetent pile of crap) tell me, "oh, that was done HOURS ago" do NOT try to correct me when I tell you, no, it was NOT done hours ago. What is your policy on filling called in prescriptions? "30 minutes, but, it's flu shot day, so you need to wait a little longer than 30 minutes" Really.....so that is why it took more than 3 HOURS to fill a prescription for my daughter. AND when my FIL goes to pick it up it's STILL NOT MIXED!!!!! You made us wait over 7 1/2 hours from the time it was filled to get a dose into my daughter. You suck and I will never shop with you again.

Sincerely,
Jessica

raging mom who will never step foot in your store and am blogging to warn the blogosphere about your incompetence

2007-10-23T22:37:00.000-05:00

I'm back to running! I went to the gym and ran on the treadmill for 30 minutes and I feel FABULOUS!!!! No pain AT ALL!!!!! But, not even 2 minutes into running, 2 stupid teens set off the emergency exit alarm. So....for 28 minutes the damn alarm went off. I kept turning my mp3 player up to try to drown out the noise. What stupid teens.

2007-10-15T13:31:00.000-05:00

Molly & Seth both have pneumonia. Yuck.

2007-10-15T10:25:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to me!!! Today is the big 30! Woohoo!!!!!

To celebrate, my kids are all sick. Yup. all 3 of them are coughing like crazy and throwing up here and there, too. Hopefully they'll be feeling better by Thursday when we go up to the cabin for the weekend. Otherwise it will be a BAAAAADDDDD weekend!

I'm now down 33 pounds! My goal was 35 by today, but, 33 is awesome! Sure can't complain about that!

I ran on Friday night, too! No pain! I took Saturday off and we went roller skating yesterday. FUN FUN FUN!!! I need to get pics uploaded. Even Megan was skating! She's only 18 months old, but, she can't let Molly & Seth do anything SHE can't do!

My parents got me this fabulous toy for my birthday!!!!! I wanted to take it out for its inaugural run last night, but, all the kids are sick. Tonight I'm working until 10 and I'm working Tuesday and Wednesday, too. We'll be at the cabin all weekend, though. I'll definitely give it a workout up there! We'll be in the middle of nowhere with trails and roads everywhere! I just need to remember to pack mittens and a hat. It'll be a low of 32 and a high of 44 all weekend. Chilly but refreshing for some running! I'll add pics of yesterday soon.

2007-10-12T00:19:00.000-05:00

I ran 1.53 miles tonight with NO PAIN!!! WOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-10-09T09:41:00.000-05:00

Well, the whole family went out last night. Molly & Seth rode their bikes while Dan & I took turns pushing Megan in the jogging stroller. I stretched really well and was able to run about 6 blocks! WOOHOO!!! They were kinda tight feeling when I was running, but, today there is NO PAIN AT ALL!!! ROCK ON!! I'm going to the gym tonight after work and going to do the eliptical for a bit and try to run 1/2 mile tonight. Maybe more. If there's pain, I'll stop, but, hopefully they'll feel ok!

2007-10-07T23:14:00.000-05:00

I took a walk for about a mile today pushing Megan in the stroller while Seth rode his bike. My shins felt great! Until I tried to jog a block. Um, not cool. I guess I can't try to run yet. Crap.

2007-10-03T07:40:00.000-05:00

CRAP!!! Diagnosis....stress fractures in my left shin, shin splints on my right. Minimum of 3wks with no running/walking other than at work. Lovely. Just lovely. Guess the 5K on the 14th is out. I was really looking forward to running it on the last day I would be 29. That would make me the oldest in my age bracket. Guess the 10K on the 28th is REALLY out. That would only give me ONE WEEK to be ready to run 6.2miles. Not happening. I'm sure I could run a 5K that day, but, it's not the same!

On a positive note, Seth's sweater is DONE! Well, done, tore out neckline since it was too tight, re-knit that, done, tore out bottom that rolled up 6" and re-done, done, tore out sleeves that were too tight and Seth didn't like,Finally DONE!!! I'll try to pull out the camera today and get some good pics.

2007-09-25T22:57:00.000-05:00

I FINALLY have knitting news!!!! Seth wants a sweater with a car on the front. I started it yesterday. I'm using the Raglan in the Round pattern from Little Turtle Knits. He LOVES the progress so far! Hopefully I'll have it done by the end of this weekend.

Ran 2.05 miles. My left shin HURTS, though. Yuck.

2007-09-23T08:27:00.001-05:00

3.1 miles. 34 minutes even. even sweeter!!!

2007-09-20T23:29:00.000-05:00

2.5 miles. 30 minutes including warm-up and cool-down. Sweet.

2007-09-19T13:43:00.000-05:00

39:14. Blah. We had timing chips, but, no mat to cross at the start. So it was just "gun time". I started at the WAY BACK of 297 runners. I did not see the actual start line until I crossed it. I probably lost 30+seconds just getting TO the start. I sooooo wanted to see the chip time and have a tangible PR. Once I get this I'll have my actual times if there's no real chip timing. I KNOW it's just a #, but, it's still disappointing. I ran a good race. That's what REALLY matters. I need to stop being a whiny baby.

On a positive note, the last 2 nights' runs have been my easiest yet! I ran 2miles yesterday on the treadmill with incline every other minute and had to keep upping the speed! It just felt fab! I could have kept running for another 2 miles no problem! Tonight the goal is 3miles. My long run will be Saturday night after work. I'm going for 4 easy miles. I HAVE to get up to 5 miles in 3 weeks.

Tomorrow Seth, Megan & I are going to go trout fishing here. I can't wait! Seth just LOVES fishing! And I love trout. YUMMY!

Molly is sick right now with pneumonia (again) and an ear infection. She stayed home sick yesterday. She's had 2 sick days in the last week. Seth has a nasty nasty double ear infection, too. They're both on Cefprozil. I've been dosing them both up good with probiotics as well. Seth woke up this morning with SOOOOO much energy! After being asleep for pretty much 36 hours, he sure was perky when he woke up. Now he's fading quickly, though. If he'd actually EAT he'd have a little energy. I got Megan weighed yesterday and that little stinker is just 22lbs at 17 months! She LOST a pound since she turned 1. She just runs ALL DAY LONG. Has to keep up with Molly and Seth, you know! Here's a few pics of the last few months....

Molly's first day of school

Woodbury Country Mile 5K. The kids have their medals from the kids' fun run!

Molly running at the front of the pack!

the fair

2007-08-27T21:28:00.000-05:00

Just looked up my "chip time" from yesterday. The gun time was 39:14, but the chip time was 38:55. Only 19 seconds more than the last 5K! I still paced 12:32. Better than I thought! Now to shave about 10 seconds off each mile. I KNOW I can do that in the next 2 weeks. By the 5K in October, I REALLY REALLY REALLY want to make it in 60 minutes or less. That's shaving 32 seconds off my mile time. I guess I have a little work to do, huh?

2007-08-26T10:50:00.001-05:00

5K #3 done. WOOHOO!!! I am tired......the last 1/4 mile of it was ALL UP HILL! Are they TRYING to kill us????? I actually came in about 30 seconds behind last 5K time, but, these hills were pretty nasty. I need to rest up for a day or 2 and then start some slow runs and keep upping my long run a little. I have another 5K in 14 short days. I really want to beat today's time at that one. Then it'll be on to training for the 5 mile on October 20th.

Down 31#. Rock on! Go me!!!!

2007-08-19T00:21:00.000-05:00

30 pounds. THIRTY POUNDS!!!!!! I am now down 30 pounds since January 3rd. Amazing! All this hard work is paying off! I'm getting in shape and I'm now 6lbs less than when Dan met me. I'm BELOW my weight I was when I got pregnant with Molly. I really would like to lose another 20. Maybe 30. I'll keep taking it a pound at a time.

On the exercise front, I'm running this race in Eau Claire on September 9th. I need to beat my last 5k time of 38:36. That was my 2nd 5k. I paced 12:25. My goal for the Sept. 9th one is to pace 12:00. I know I can do it. For someone who hasn't exercised in over a decade, and has only been running since January, this is pretty exciting!!! It's pretty hilly, but, I've been working at it. I'm also planning on running this race on October 20th. Just days after I turn 30. For some dumb reason I thought this was a 5K. Nope. 5 MILES. since I was planning on just the 3.1miles, this 5 will kick my butt if I don't start making my long run a little longer each week.

Oh, my goal for the next year is to lose the weight I want to lose and start training to run a 10K (6.2miles) by May. THEN, I will run a half-marathon by next September. Yup. 13.2 miles. all at once. I can do it!!!!!

ta ta for now!!!!

2007-06-10T08:46:00.000-05:00

We did have chicken pox here last week. Both Molly & Megan had it. It sure wasn't a horrible experience like I've been led to believe. Not by a LONG shot!!! Megan was crabby for a few days, started to get the spots, blisters, and then crusted over all within about 4 days. Less than 6 days from the beginning, she was completely back to normal. We've had worse colds in our house. Molly was fine through the whole experience. She slept more than normal and wasn't hungry, but that was it. Now if only Seth would get it......

2007-05-30T15:45:00.001-05:00

I think we have chicken pox.

It's about time! I've intentionally exposed Molly & Seth at least 3 times each. Now Megan is just 13 months, but somehow we got it! I have a dr. appt at 9am to verify, but, it sure seems like that's what's going on. She started with a couple red dots on her arm, face, chin, chest this morning and as the day has progressed, they've been spreading and getting more blistery looking. She's also been sleeping for almost 3 hours. She really doesn't sleep like that. Hopefully Molly & Seth will start to break out soon.

2007-05-22T09:35:00.000-05:00

22.5 lbs gone!!!!

2007-05-19T00:23:00.000-05:00

Bold for stuff you've done, italics for stuff you plan to do one day, and normal for stuff you're not planning on doing.

Afghan
I-cord
Garter stitch
Knitting with metal wire
Shawl
Stockinette stitch
Socks: top-down
Socks: toe-up
Knitting with camel yarn
Mittens: Cuff-up
Mittens: Tip-down
Hat
Knitting with silk
Moebius band knitting
Participating in a KAL
Sweater
Drop stitch patterns
Knitting with recycled/secondhand yarn
Slip stitch patterns
Knitting with bananafiber yarn
Domino knitting (=modular knitting)
Twisted stitch patterns
Knitting with bamboo yarn
Two end knitting
Charity knitting
Knitting with soy yarn
Cardigan
Toy/doll clothing
Knitting with circular needles
Baby items
Knitting with your own handspun yarn
Slippers
Graffitti knitting (knitting items on, or to be left on the street)
Continental knitting
Designing knitted garments
Cable stitch patterns (incl. Aran)
Lace patterns
Publishing a knitting book
Scarf
Teaching a child to knit
American/English knitting (as opposed to continental)
Knitting to make money
Button holes
Knitting with alpaca
Fair Isle knitting
Norwegian knitting
Dyeing with plant colours
Knitting items for a wedding
Household items (dishcloths, washcloths, tea cosies...)
Knitting socks (or other small tubular items)on two circulars
Olympic knitting
Knitting with someone elses handspun yarn
Knitting with dpns
Holiday related knitting
Teaching a male how to knit
Bobbles
Knitting for a living
Knitting with cotton
Knitting smocking
Dyeing yarn
Steeks
Knitting art
Knitting two socks (or other small tubular items) on two circulars simultaneously
Fulling/felting
Knitting with wool
Textured knitting
Kitchener BO
Purses/bags
Knitting with beads
Swatching
Long Tail CO
Entrelac Knitting and purling backwards
Machine knitting
Knitting with selfpatterning/selfstriping/variegating yarn
Stuffed toys
Knitting with cashmere
Darning
Jewelry
Knitting with synthetic yarn
Writing a pattern
Gloves
Intarsia
Knitting with linen
Knitting for preemies
Tubular CO
Freeform knitting
Short rows
Cuffs/fingerless mits/armwarmers
Pillows
Knitting a pattern from an online knitting magazine
Rug
Knitting on a loom
Thrummed knitting
Knitting a gift
Knitting for pets
Shrug/bolero/poncho
Knitting with dog/cat hair
Hair accessories
Knitting in public
Magic Loop

Whew....seeing it all like that sure makes me realize how much I've actually been knitting!!!

2007-05-09T08:52:00.000-05:00

First 20lbs gone!!! I've been maintaining the 20lb loss for 6 weeks now and I've started on my 2nd 20lbs yesterday!!!! I know I can do this! Today the kids and I are heading to Beaver Lake park and I'll be jogging w/Megan in the jogging stroller while Molly & Seth ride their bikes around the lake! They are sooooo excited to go on a bike ride! Hopefully I can get their bikes and the jogging stroller in the van without too much cussing.

This Saturday and Sunday is the local Sheep and Wool festival. for some reason Dan has NO DESIRE whatsoever to join me. Can't imagine why. hee...hee...hee... You should have SEEN the look of horror that came over his face when I told him it was going on this weekend! He is gladly taking care of all 3 munchkins that day!!! He's even giving me $$ so I don't complain that I didn't have enough to buy all the yarn I want! What a good man!!!

Gotta run....we all need baths or showers before we head to the park!

2007-05-03T15:40:00.000-05:00

Farmer's market season has officially started here in Minnesota. The kids & I spent Saturday morning roaming the aisles of beautiful flowers and cheeses and all kinds of delicious pastries!!!!

Here's the kids munching on super fresh kettle corn. Even Megan was loving it!

We brought home a pound of delicious organic breakfast sausage, fabulous basil tomato ghouda, garlic cheese, that yummy kettle corn and a loaf of the yummiest cinnamon swirl bread. We munched on a fabulous raspberry croissant there, too. I can't wait until this weekend! There should be some peas or asparagus coming any day. YUMMMMY!!

I've finished some knitting lately, too.

shorties for Megan

matching pants for her doll

I knit the longies shown in this thread
http://www.diaperpin.com/forum04/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=154140

Megan turned 1 last week and we had a fabulous dinner at a mexican restaurant close by.

obviously she LOVES guacamole!

The mariachi band came over and sang to us for about 10 minutes

And she obviously thinks cake is pretty fabulous, too!

We went to my parents' house that weekend as well. Apparently Megan loves to ride Seth's 4-wheeler with him!

and sliding

and falling (she went down the slide by herself and ate a bit of dirt!)

We also went to the transportation museum and got to ride a train

Molly took this picture. I guess we spend a lot of time nursing!

Here's a few pictures of us riding on the roundtable

It sure has been a fun few weeks!!!

2007-04-20T09:20:00.000-05:00

Happy 1st birthday, Megan!!! Here's the story of how you came to us!

Alright....here it is! If you want to skip to just the labor/delivery part, I labeled it 3/4 of the way down. To preface it all, most of you probably saw the post about unassisted childbirth and my very brief crabby reply. Well, the reason that I felt forced to go that route is because of Group B Strep. I've tested positive with each of the kids now. When I became pregnant with Megan I was determined NOT to test positive and if I DID test positive, I'd decline the antibiotics. Well, 34wks into this pregnancy I had been taking probiotics daily, upped the garlic, upped the vitamin c and been practicing meticulous genital cleaning. Went to my midwife appt and did the stupid test. I told my midwife how I thought that the test was very skewed to be positive since they do a vaginal AND A RECTAL swab and how the bacteria lives in the digestive tract. I was not happy. Fast forward 2 weeks. I had my weekly midwife appointment. Declined an internal. I do those myself, thank you very much. Well, RIGHT when I got there, I was brought back to the room, stepped on the scale (gained a total of 22lbs. Whoop de doo.)THEN the nurse told me my Group B Strep culture came back positive. "no big deal. You'll just have 2 rounds of iv antibiotics before delivery. nothing to worry about." Nurse's words NOT MINE!!! I'm livid!!! She takes my blood pressure (which OF COURSE is rising as she's taking my pressure). I normally chat with her and ask questions. Find out what my blood pressure is and so forth. I am so frustrated I just want to cry. She brings me back to my room to wait for the midwife. There she says, "do you want an internal?" I think she saw the look on my face...not pleasant. "I didn't think you would". I'm probably one of the LEAST intervention-happy patients there. We don't take prescription drugs, I question EVERYTHING and I KNOW WHAT I WANT OUT OF THIS PREGNANCY AND DELIVERY!!!!! Midwife comes in and tells me again "your Group B Strep was positive" She could SEE how frustrated I am. She tells me, too, that as long as I take the iv antibiotics I've covered my butt and can leave the hospital without going "against medical advice" at the 8 hours postpartum like I wanted. This started the whole story about WHY I DON'T WANT ANTIBIOTICS!!! I blindly did them with both Molly and Seth during labor. Every 3-4 hours they hung a new bag of abx on the iv and I just accepted it like a blind sheep. With Molly she showed no signs (externally) of being affected by the abx. Now I see how messed up her digestion is (allergies and all) and KNOW that every dose of abx before and after delivery along with all the vax's she got just destroyed her. It's being fixed now, but, that doesn't fix everything. Seth on the other hand...oh, man......He battled the worst yeast problems our pediatrician had ever seen. I had a raging vaginal yeast infection for over a month, we passed thrush back and forth for 3 months and that doesn't even begin to cover all the issues. He had toxic poop for almost 2 months. He couldn't digest any solid foods for almost 8 months. None at all. I know that's not too far out of the realm of "normal" but, any solid foods he would instantly throw up with tons of mucous. He had the most screwed up digestive tract. The only thing going for him is that at 4 months I stopped vaxing. He only had 2 shots up til then and that 2nd one about destroyed his kidneys. Anyways....she tells me that there are other abx out there other than the 2 I was given with Molly and Seth that cause LESS yeast issues. Yeah, right....let's inject it directly into our bloodstreams, destroy ALL the healthy bacteria in both of our digestive tracts. Not to mention now the healthy bacteria in my vagina will be gone. She tells me I can always start the probiotics now and just "mega dose" through delivery and the week afterwards. I ALREADY TAKE THEM!!! I've tried so hard this pregnancy to PROTECT this little baby from crap like this and now I'm virtually being FORCED to wreck it!!! Oh, the abx that she says is "less" toxic than the others? Here's some info on it: http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/medmaster/a682399.html

Sure doesn't sound "gentle" does it????

So, I continued talking with her. Mind you, she was a HOMEBIRTH MIDWIFE for TWENTY YEARS!! She didn't test for Group B Strep during her h/b practice and now she's forced to in order to be covered by insurance and have hospital privileges. She's not pro-abx by any means, HOWEVER, she is covering her own butt. I can understand that, just makes me mad.

So...I ask her, if I decline the abx during delivery, when will baby be discharged from hospital? After a MINUMUM of 48 hours and they will admit her into either the Special Care Nursery OR NICU depending on the pediatrician on call. They will then start direct IV abx on her until she's a minimum of 48 hours old and they will be running blood cultures on her every 6-8 hrs until discharge. STUPID!!! The stupid part is 40% of women are postive for GBS. Of those, WHETHER YOU DO THE ABX OR NOT approximately 10% of those babies will accumulate GBS. OF THOSE, only a fraction of those babies will be sick. So...let's just prophylactically cover ALL GBS positive mothers just in case you are one of only a handful babies born in the US in each year that will become sick with GBS. If that happens, ABX fix it!! Why treat before? Why not just wait for symptoms? Another kicker? Unless your water is broken for a prolonged period before delivery, mother runs a fever during labor, or you have a prolonged pushing stage and baby stays in the lower 1/3 of your vagina for an extended period of time, there is virtually NO RISK AT ALL!!! Ok, this is my 3rd baby...Molly was pushed out in less than 20 minutes. Almost 10 pounds and positioned wrong and it only took 20 minutes. Seth came out without pushing. Umm....don't see the risk YET.....

We continued through our options. I could also take the abx and just be discharged at 8 hours knowing I've now damaged baby's digestive system and done damage to me. Just to play by the rules, OR I could show up very close to delivery and "maybe" get a full dose of abx in me before delivery and hope the peds think "at least she got SOME in her" hoping it's close enough to delivery that baby gets very little. I would still be held for 24 hrs minimum at that point.

I asked the m/w what happens if I decline and sign baby out Against Medical Advice at 8 hrs like I want. She said (this is a direct quote)."If you do, do NOT come anywhere near a clinic or hospital for at LEAST 3-4 days. Leave town if you can. Social services WILL come and look for you. Especially since you are on Medical Assistance. They will think you are endangering your child's life"

SO....my hands are tied. Great, huh? Stupid stupid stupid. I sat and cried on the phone with Dan for 45 minutes yesterday and he knows how much I HATE abx. HATE HATE HATE. I don't give them to us as adults, or the kids, WHY WOULD I DO THIS TO AN UNBORN BABY?????

I asked her if we could re-test next week....we COULD but the ped will only take the positive result and react accordingly. Also, ready for this???? GBS is CYCLICAL. Meaning, you could test negative for it one day and if you have pooped, you WILL test positive for it the next day. GBS lives in the digestive tract and they test for it, not just vaginally, but, they swab the rectal area for it, too!! They are just setting people up for testing positive!!!

I'm just mad. Now my only REAL option was to "oops" deliver at home. And then avoid the hospital and clinic for a few weeks. I called the Department of Health and have a home-birth birth certificate application form here. I can apply for the birth certificate a few weeks after delivery and fly under the radar.
Dan is NOT happy. I was fine going into the stupid hospital and playing by their rules for 8-12 hours after delivery if it meant not being "flagged" as a non-compliant parent by social services.

I still would be fine delivering here at home. We can't afford at this point to pay for a home birth midwife in the "just in case". I've been saving this whole pregnancy to take a little time off of work. I'll only be home 2 months as it is. Paying for a home birth midwife would wipe that out. Now, I can deliver here at home and if there ARE emergencies, I guess we'll deal with it at that point and get to the hospital. OR I can go to the hospital and decline abx and just ride the wave. The m/w did tell me that I am not a prisoner at the hospital and I CAN decline ANYTHING. Well, DUH! But, then I face the wrath of big brother. I already was declining everything. NO Vit K, No Hep B, No eye ointment, No PKU at the hospital. I was all set up with my ped to do the PKU later on. Now I had this to deal with.

[blue]LABOR/DELIVERY[/blue]
I skipped the next 2 weeks of prenatals. I was too upset to show up. I finally went in at 39wks and a day shy of 40wks (April 19) just to cover my butt. I NEVER thought I'd still be pregnant to my due date (April 20), but, there I was. Unfortunately, the next day, April 21 is the 5 year anniversary of the day my sister died. My mom is EXTREMELY mentally unstable and it would not be in the baby's best interest to have the same birthday as that. Not at all. My mom would CONSTANTLY be comparing baby to my sister anyways. She does with Molly and it's not fair. I'm already dilated to almost 5 at this point and I go into my appointment and start crying. I'm trying so hard to not break down, but, here I am sobbing. I BEG BEG BEG my midwife to just break my water that day and let me have this baby so she doesn't have to share that day w/my sister. This ENTIRE pregnancy I have been SOOOOOO anti-intervention and my midwife knows it. This is NOT what she was expecting to hear out of me. We sit and talk for about an hour. She does an internal. Yup. Still almost 5cms and about 50% effaced. Baby at -2. She doesn't want to break my water since baby is not FULLY engaged, but, tells me she can try to get me in to the hospital that night to either have prostglandin gel inserted to get me more effaced and the next morning she could break my water. Ok.

My plan at that point was to be gelled and GO HOME AND LABOR and have baby there. She has no clue that I plan on that, but, I went ahead and drove myself to the hospital and got gelled. Well, I instantly was put into hard labor from it. There goes my plan to go home. There was NO WAY I could drive or even hide the contractions from the nurse long enough to get discharged. I call Dan and have him call his parents to watch the kids until my parents could drive 90 minutes to stay with them. I was only on the stupid fetal monitoring for the 1st hour of labor and the rest of the labor I was literally left to be laboring my own way in our room or walking the halls or in the tub or bouncing on the yoga ball. The nurse came in once an hour to just listen to baby's heart beat for 2 minutes. She used a doppler turned so quiet it was at her ear so the sound wouldn't distract the laboring. She was the most FABULOUS nurse we could have had!!! At 2:30am the nurse came in and we talked about the whole GBS thing. I told her WHY I didn't want them. The whole story. Sat and cried a little. She also was told how Molly is allergic to a few of them and how I was soooo mad that my hands really were tied about it. She left for a while and came back. She talked to a pharmacist and between the two of them (and my midwife) they found a very mild obscure antibiotic that was not a broad-spectrum antibiotic, but, very specific to only a certain type of bacteria. Best part, it was ONLY given every 8 hours versus every 3-4. The chance that I (or baby) would be building up a tolerance to that specific antibiotic was sooo slim that I took it. I ended up with only 1 dose of the antibiotic. I was only checked when *I* asked to be. I made NO PROGRESS until 4am. Obviously I was trying to mentally work through the loss of my "planned labor/delivery" My body did not start working WITH the contractions until I came to terms with what my delivery was becoming. Just hard labor and then at about 5 am I started crying. I do NOT cry during labor. EVER!!! Dan knew things were going to be a rockin' soon at that point! I paged the nurse begged to be checked and was 7. She got this big smile on her face and said she was calling the midwife and going to start filling the birth tub. I was in the birthing tub at 5:30, started pushing involuntarily with contractions and at about 5:50 my water broke in the tub. It was AWESOME!!! That's when Dan got in. Started really pushing then and she was OUT at 6:07am!!! She was 9lbs and 21 inches long and PERFECT!!! I pulled her out of the water myself!!! I could feel her cord pulsing so fast! It pulsed as fast as her heart and was the most incredible feeling in the whole world!!!! I didn't have a single tear, rip, or any issues at all! I got out of the tub at about 6:20 and delivered the placenta and just felt awesome!!!! The nurse and midwife asked me if I had ever thought about a home birth....um, yeah, just couldn't afford it this time! Even Dan was amazed how wonderfully everything went! I wanted a virtually intervention-free delivery and I got it! Even in a hospital!!!! I declined the vitamin k, eye ointment, and the stupid hep b and wasn't even questioned about it! I was so afraid of the confrontation, but, it was never even an issue. The nurse just brought me the refusal forms to sign. By 7am we were back in our own room and I already had my discharge papers! Called my pediatrician at 8am and BEGGED for the early discharge even though we only got the one dose of abx. As long as I promised to take her temps every 1-2 hours until she was 48 hours old and call her if she had any sort of temperature, we were free to go!!! We walked out of the hospital a bit before 5pm (just 11 hours after delivery!) We came back to the pediatrician Monday morning and she was just 6oz less than her birth weight of 9lbs. We did Megan's PKU and newborn screening blood work then. What a fabulous, unexpected experience!!!!! Not what I was planning at all (other than the water birth part!!!), but, I couldn't have written a better plan! I was able to decline virtually everything without being held hostage as a result!

2007-04-17T08:22:00.001-05:00

And here's Easter:

2007-04-17T08:10:00.000-05:00

I am now down 19 pounds and 6 1/2 inches on my waist, 1 1/2 on each arm, 2 1/4 on each thigh, and 5 on my hips!!! That's a whopping 19 inches total! WOOHOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's Molly on her 5th b-day:

2007-03-28T18:16:00.000-05:00

Molly has pneumonia and a double ear infection. Blech. I really hope the sickies leave this family soon!!!! Her birthday's Sunday (5 years old!!!) and I really hope she's feeling better by then. Poor baby!

2007-03-27T11:44:00.000-05:00

Down 17 1/2 pounds!!!! WOOHOO!!!!!!!!

2007-02-12T10:36:00.000-06:00

8 inches, BABY!!!!

All my hard work has taken 8 inches off of me!!!! 1 1/4 on each thigh, 1 on my waist, 1 on each arm and 3!!!! on my hips!!!!

WOOHOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

2007-02-02T16:33:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year....well, February anyways!!!!!

It's been a long time since I posted last, so, I'll just jump right back in. I joined the gym up the street 2 weeks ago. I'm going every day for at least 30 minutes, but, shooting for 45 or 60. My goal for February is 1000 minutes total. Just at the gym. I CAN DO THIS!!!!! You see, it struck me that I am going to be 30 in just 8 short months. In those 8 short months I WILL be at least 3 pants sizes smaller. I am not going to starve myself, but, I am eating healthy, working out and I stopped drinking pop a month ago. This is NOT a new year's resolution, this is a lifestyle change. I want to start the next decade of my life looking and feeling FABULOUS!!!! It's not fair to my kids not to have the healthiest mommy I can be. So, I'll be adding my exercise ticker. Feel free to kick my butt if you don't see any progress, ok????

I measured my arms, waist, hips and thighs last week. I've lost 1/2" on each thigh and 1" off my waist. I didn't re-measure my arms or hips yet. Megan was trying to climb up me, so, I had to put the tape away.

Well, gotta run...Dan's snowmobiling, Molly & Seth are at my parents' house, and Megan's sleeping. I need a nap!

2006-11-17T00:55:00.000-06:00

BLOCKING!!!!

final measurements 60 inches wide and 25 inches long. I LOVE it!!!

ignore the disgustingly yucky table. knitting is SOOOO much more important, doncha know?

2006-11-17T00:30:00.000-06:00

12:17am and it is DONE!!!!! Here it is in its unblocked glory!

Right now it's taking a little sudsy bath and I'll be up pinning the darn thing for at least an hour. It will hopefully be dry before the kids wake up or it may be in danger!

2006-11-16T23:34:00.000-06:00

I'm casting off Kiri! WOOHOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6" done....about 100000 more to go LOL! I'll post when it's finally all cast-off. It's officially 11:26pm. My prediction is that it will take until at least midnight....let's see how close to accurate I am!

2006-11-02T08:37:00.000-06:00

Happy Halloween!!!

Grumpy Bear

Silly witch and her crazy Burger King guy daddy

All of us

Our pumpkins

What a fun day!

On the knitting front:

that is the beginning of this absolutely fabulous shawl for my MIL. I HAVE to finish it in 13 days. She leaves for her cruise and I need it done by the 15th so I can wash and block it. She is going to LOVE it!!!! It's being knit out of Kid Seta. YUMMY!!!!

Megan's sweater is pretty much done! I do want to put a hood on it, but, I'm out of yarn. I'll get some in the next week or two and put one on then. I have buttons to sew on and I'll finish those tonight.

check out the mattress stitch seaming!!! ROCK ON!!

2006-10-26T09:26:00.000-05:00

What a week!!!! Let's not repeat this one again, OK???? PLEASE??????

My little guy is THREE!!!!!!!

Here's to a *hopefully* less stressful year than last year, ok, buddy? We went shopping as promised for his birthday. He picked out two pairs of shoes. He was so cute at the store. He put his Scooby-Doo ones on and put his old shoes in the shoe box, put them in the cart and told G'pa..."Let's go. I'm getting THESE ones!" We never even prompted him to do anything with his old ones or anything. He also got a pair of Spiderman ones. He REALLY REALLY wanted the pink tinkerbell ones, but, Daddy freaked, so no Tinkerbell. Then on to Sears we went for the flashlight hunt. this is the one he picked out. Of COURSE he wanted the $35 rechargable one. What 3 year old DOESN'T want the biggest, most YELLOW flashlight???? Well, G'pa's a softy and got it for him. He LOVES it sooooo much. If you see us around town, chances are he'll have that darn thing in his little hand all proud as can be! Then we headed to Chuck E. Cheese for pizza and 3 hours of games. I think Dan and the G'pas had the most fun! We went through over 200 tokens. Thank goodness for coupons!

It was my birthday the day of his party and my parents bought me stuff that day as well. I picked out this in magenta *of course*. LOVE IT!!!! It keeps me sooooo toasty warm! YUMMY! I also got a new nursing bra. All in all a good day....now the rest of the week was NOT so wonderful.

The transmission on my van is being very naughty. If any of you have any good *ju-ju* you can pass on for that...please do!

Dan went duck hunting on Saturday. He was up at 3 am to get there in time. Well, between he and his buddy they got ONE duck. They walked back to his buddy's truck and some idiot broke into his truck!!!!!! Nothing was stolen other than Dan's 12-pack of pop, but, what an idiot to break the windows of his truck! Dan finally got home and I HAD to wash diapers. I had about 3 days worth of Megan's diapers just piling up. Put them in the washer and as soon as it filled and started spinning water came POURING out of the bottom. REALLY POURING!!!! I grabbed a huge pile of towels and a few blankets that were nearby. Still pouring out. Damn it!!!! It took all but 3 of my towels to sop it up. WAHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! Thank goodness the washer is under warranty at Sears!!! Called them up and she says to me (with the most sincere voice OF COURSE!) Oh, ma'am....we'll get someone right out there to fix that. How does Wednesday between 9-5 sound?
ME:Um, 5 DAYS from now???? We're a family of FIVE with one in diapers. Did I fail to mention that the load that leaked everywhere was DIAPERS? Ya know, pee and poop filled diapers? Now I have a huge pile of pee-soaked blanekts and towels as well????
HER: That's our earliest appointment. I'm sure it's not as bad as you're describing. If there's any cancellations we'll call you right away.
ME:Really, it IS as bad as I'm describing! Could YOU go 5 DAYS without washing laundry? Just for you?
HER:Ma'am. We'll call you if there's any cancellations. Have a nice day. click
ME:#$%^*&(*)&)_(+)*(&%$#@&*()

I was beyond frustrated. We had planned to go up north the next Day to Dan's parents' cabin (5 hours away) and stay until Monday so he could fix his deer stand. So we went. What a craptastic couple days that was. It was cold and snowy the whole time and all 3 kids were sick. Neither Molly or Seth wanted to go out and play so they stayed in the TINY TINY TINY 10X15 cabin for 48 hours straight. Did I mention the *NO RUNNING WATER* part????? OR NO INDOOR PLUMBING PART????? Well, we finally got ready to leave and I got my period of course. Fell asleep in the van in my last pair of clean jeans(with a pad firmly in place). When I woke up there was a huge 4" across blood puddle in the back of my jeans. This is MONDAY! I still have TWO DAYS until washer is getting fixed. I have to work on Tuesday. I wear jeans to work OF COURSE!

Well Tuesday comes and the kids and I run to Target to get toilet paper for the first time in almost 2 years(since I can't wash the family cloth wipes we always use) and a few other things. While there Molly & Seth decide (amongst themselves with obviously NO input from me) that the best thing to do at Target is for Molly to make Seth go absolutely NUTS anytime she goes near him. I mean screaming like a banshee and reaching over and pulling things off the shelf and THROWING THEM!!!!!! I am just telling Molly to quit pissing her brother off when we turn a corner and there's a 40'ish year old woman standing there laughing silently with tears rolling down her face. She says "I am SOOOO sorry! You really sound like you have your hands full today!" ME: TODAY???? They're ALWAYS LIKE THIS!!!! That makes her laugh sooo hard and cry some more. I'm sure she talked about us all day to everyone she saw! When I finally get home and make the two of them go to their room to play and an angel calls me at 2:36pm. I was dripping wet, naked from the shower.
HER: Ma'am? Is this Jessica?
ME: Yes...
HER: This is **** from Sears. We had a cancellation and were wondering if we could come by this afternoon to fix your washer?
ME: OF COURSE!!! OH, thank you!!!!~
HER: The service technician is in your area and will call you between now and 5.
ME: THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!!!
HER: Thank you for calling Sears. Have a nice day.

I did a wonderful naked happy dance!!!!!!! Then the phone rings again. It's the service guy. He'll be there in 10 minutes. In those 10 minutes I got dressed, put pants on Molly and Seth, cleaned the living room, vacuumed it, swept the kitchen and switched over the dishwasher just as he pulled up. In less than 15 minutes the miracle worker was done. I had blown a hole in the pump and he just happened to have the right one in the van. YAY!!!!!! I threw my bloody jeans in the washer along with some towels, since at this point it is 3pm and I have to leave for work at 4:15. They were washed and dried by exactly 4:15!

In the past 36 hours I have now washed/dryed:
***FOUR*** load of diapers alone
4 loads of towels/blankets
3 loads of darks
2 whites

I still have to wash 2 loads of Dan's work clothes, 1 load of towels and 2 loads of sheets. I'm so glad my washer is fixed!

ON THE KNITTING FRONT:
I decided to start a cute Debbie Bliss Cable and Moss Stitch Jacket for Megan. I get a whole whopping TWO ROWS into the pattern and think I made some crazy mistake and tear the damn thing out. Do those 2 rows AGAIN and do the same mistake!!! Tear it out AGAIN! Double check the math on the pattern and it's wrong. Finally decide to google for Debbie bliss pattern erratta. OMG!!! The pattern I'm working on has 12 errors that repeat about 300X. Plus there's a whole section of the pattern that was OMITTED at the time of printing !#^&$%!@#$@#$^&%&^*&%*&*$&##%%#@!#%!@%#
Why, oh, WHY aren't these pattern better proofread and test knit before printing?????

Finally I get the front 2 panels knit and bound-off and the back all finished and bound-off. I go to seam the damn thing up and I hate the shoulders! I then tore out the bind-off on all 3 panels and did 3-needle bind off. MUCH BETTER! It's time to start the stupid sleeves now. I really dislike seaming, so I re-worked the pattern a little bit and ended up just picking up stitches for the sleeves and working it in the round. First sleeve almost done. Once the sleeves are finished I just have to seam-up 7" of stockinette on each side and put buttons on and a hood. The pattern calls for a collar, but, I really don't like the look of collars AT ALL!
Here I am now on it:

Obviously it still needs to be blocked.

This last week I also started and finished mittens for Molly, Seth, Megan and myself. Here they all are!

Mine are out of Latvian Lavendar Peace Fleece. Seth and Molly FREAKED OUT when we went to one of the local yarn stores. I was going to get Malabrigo for their mittens, but, NOOOOO they wanted blaze orange Lamb's Pride Bulky. Fine. Whatever. They LOVE their mittens, though! I knit Megan's little mitts out of Cascade Eco. The sweater is the same yarn as is this hat I knit for her 2 weeks ago.

I also finally finished Megan's baby blanket:

I guess I've been busier than I thought this last few weeks, huh? Once I finish the sweater, I'll be knitting a shawl for my MIL for her cruise in 4 weeks. Um, I'm nuts. The yarn still hasn't gotten here for it yet. I have the pattern and needles, though. I'll post a pic once I get started on it. I hope the yarn comes today!!!!

Well, I better run. Megan is dripping boogers on my hand. BYE!

2006-10-15T09:07:00.000-05:00

Happy birthday to me!!!!!! I'm 29 today. What's on the agenda for this lovely day you ask? Well, since Seth's 3rd birthday is Thursday we're celebrating his b-day today. My parents are driving over from Wisconsin and we're taking Seth shopping to help pick out his birthday gifts. He needs shoes, pants and he desperately wants a new flashlight. He is positively OBSESSED with them!!! THEN we're headed to Chuck E. Cheese for some games and kid craziness. BUT before I can do any of that, I HAVE to clean the house. HAVE TO! It is like an explosion took place. Sounds like fun, huh???? Just how I wanted to spend my birthday.

2006-10-10T16:26:00.000-05:00

Alrighty....there are so many of you visiting my blog. Come on and comment!!! Tell me where you're from! I would love to hear more about you! Share your blogs with me and I'll link to them!!!

2006-10-05T13:54:00.000-05:00

He's lucky he's cute....

The little evil almost-3 year old has completely used up every ounce of patience I have today!!!! Started at 5am. It's now 1:47pm and he is in a "mommy-dictated" nap. He WILL sleep or I will tie him to that bed until Daddy gets home and then I will run away for the night. The final two things to push me right over the sanity edge was seeing him PEE in the bathroom garbage can. I *KNEW* it stunk like pee, but, would he admit it, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! THEN the little rugrat grabbed a bottle of my EXPENSIVE perfume and shoved it down THIS:

THAT is a HOLE in their bedroom wall. It's been there for about 6 months and it gets bigger every day. It started the size of a nail hole. NOW it's the size of a baseball. He puts things in there when he's mad at me. He has disposed of knitting needles, hotdogs, pencils, crochet hooks, and now MY PERFUME!!!! I can just leave it there OR rip out the whole damn wall there and take it out and then re-sheetrock the wall. I guess I'll be saying my "good-byes" to my perfume. Damn it.

Here's more of what he (and his *angelic* 4 1/2 year old sister) has done to the room. They admit to NONE of this, of course!

notice the whiny boy, the popper toy HANGING there and all the wonderful graffiti.

See all the beautiful artwork???? On the WALL AND MIRROR????

That used to have trim and sheetrock paper on it! Lovely, huh? It's their windowsill.

apparently they think THIS is a suitable canvas for their artwork.

Here's a few pics of the only child in a good mood today.

They are ALL sleeping now. THANK GOD!!!!! I need a drink.

2006-09-16T09:47:00.000-05:00

I'm so ashamed...it's been almost a MONTH since I've updated!!!! Can I blame it on the fact that I have *THREE* kids 4 and under? Can I blame it on the fact that I've been out of town 3 of the last 4 weekends? Can I blame it on the sheer volume of knitting I've been doing? Well, 3 out of 4 ain't bad! I haven't really gotten much knitting done. Cold weather is coming here in Minnesota and I'm playing dumb about it. If I don't knit the kids hats, mittens and scarves it won't snow, right?! C'mon ladies....help me out here!!! It's got to be true, right? If not, my poor kids might have to wear **gasp** STORE-BOUGHT!! OH NO!!!!!! Guess I better finish up this custom order of two wool pants I have here and get it mailed out. First pair DONE! Second pair. Well, it WILL be done by Tuesday if I have to be up all night to do it.

What's been going on here for the last month? I'll start with the most recent and go back in time....follow me on the journey!!!

Just last week Seth, my almost 3 year old, went to the dentist for the FIRST TIME!!!

YAY SETH!!! Molly was in full big-sister mode. She showed him how to do EVERYTHING! She showed him how to go to the desk and tell the gal her name and that she has an appointment, how to sit in the big chair, how to do EVERYTHING!!! What a great big sister! Seth can't wait until he gets to go again.

Megan is almost full-out crawling now. She's not even 5 months old and has been doing this for the last 2 weeks. I can't believe how FAST she's growing up!!!!

I went to Eau Claire and saw the Yarn Harlot. It was great!!! She is just hilarious. I know, what an oxymoron. A woman talking about *knitting* is hilarious?! Well, I sure thought so! And so did about 200+ men AND women!!!!

I sat next to some super nice ladies from Marshfield/Wausau. I am drawing a complete blank at your names, so if you read this, post a comment and I'll add your names if you'd like!!! Megan was kept entertained by these ladies for most of the time we were there.

Then she spent the rest of the time like this in my Pea In a Pod Pouch.

She was just soooo tired! I wanted to head back to the yarn store for the book signing, but, with Megan sleeping and the massive headache I had, I just went back to my parents' house for the night.

The Tuesday before that I woke up to hear a crazy racket outside. I had forgotten we were getting our little tiny driveway re-asphalted that day. Seth was entranced for the entire 90minutes or so that they were outside. He will probably talk about that for the next 10 years of his life!!! Here's some pics from our steps:

Before that was Labor Day weekend and we camped at my parents' house. There were 42 of us at one point. Did I mention I *stupidly* offered to cook for EVERYONE ALL WEEKEND???? Yup. Thank goodness I'm a good cook who chose to cook simple meals. Here's how Megan spent a lot of the weekend.

She's in the Amby Jump-Jump that is an accessory to her Amby bed. This bed is incredible!!!! Megan can be laid in there awake and happy with her nuk and a blanket and is asleep in minutes!!!! No fussing, no crying, just sweet slumber! I even had the mosquito net with to put on the outside of her bed so she could take all her naps in there over the 4-day weekend. She just slept outside in her bed during the day and in the tent on the airmattress at night.

My hands are starting to get awfully tired from all this typing, so I'll leave you with a couple cute baby pictures!

I'll try to update a knitting post tomorrow!

2006-08-21T00:29:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long since I've posted! Here's what I've been working on!

My 2nd pair of socks!!! The first pair were just a little too small for Megan so I mailed them to my online friend Kelly. I hope she posts pictures so I can link to them here. I have to remind myself to take pictures BEFORE I SHIP things!!!

Here's the socks FOR ME!!!!

I used this page to do them. The pair I had made for Megan had regular turned heel and shaped toes. These socks for me have short-row toes and heels. I have to say the short-row toes and heels really make a fabulous fit!!! I have enough sock yarn for one more pair for me and then I'll be splurging on some Opal sock yarn and then some Trekking sock yarn.

Next up was Megan's Pinwheel Sweater. I went to one of my local yarn shops and asked the ladies to pick my yarn out for me. I needed to step out of my normal comfort zone of purples and pinks for her. I gave them complete control! They picked out the softest Misti Alpaca yarn. YUMMY!!! This is seriously the softest yummiest yarn I've knit with in a LONG LONG time! Here's two views of the completed sweater. I'll try to take pictures on Megan when she's awake.

These pictures really don't do the sweater justice. It is almost 1am and I'm taking these pictures under fluorescent light. In real life the sweater is just fabulous!!

I'm knitting the same sweater for Molly but out of Katia Mexico yarn. This is a wool/acrylic blend, but, single ply instead of multi-ply. I really like the cushy softness of this yarn. It's not a plastic-feeling acrylic/wool blend. I am just about 3/4 of the way done with this. Here's a little shot of what it looks like. The picture isn't the best. I have this on a 32" circular needle and I really need about a 60". But, here's the picture:

I hope to finish this in the next week or two.

Here's that to do list from last post.....
--hat to match the scarf for me
--mittens for me
--hat/mittens for Seth, Molly and Megan
--scarf for Molly
--hat and scarf for Dan for hunting out of blaze orange yarn I'm having Nada and Brad dye for me. They're my favorite dyers anywhere!!!!
--felted crowns for Molly and Seth

I was able to take the sweater for Megan off the list since I'm now done with it. Haven't done a darn thing else on the list. Oh well...I now have SOCKS!!!

Bye for now!!!

2006-07-31T21:17:00.000-05:00

What a HOT HOT HOT weekend!!! Sunday was a busy birthday party day. First party was my old sitter Kim's middle child Tana's 3rd birthday party. Molly and Seth played in the little wading pool to help stay cool while all of us adults just sat around chatting. Kim's hubby Brian hooked up a little water hose to the fan to help mist water on us. It was FABULOUS!!!! Megan spent the whole time there sleeping on a blanket in the shade. We stayed there for about 90 minutes and then scooted over to Nick's house for his oldest child Laine's 6th birthday. He had a little above-ground pool that is just 2 1/2 feet deep. Molly and Seth spent almost 6 HOURS swimming! I finally went in with Megan and it was wonderful! We stayed in about 45 minutes and she LOVED IT SO MUCH!!! Our friend John took this picture on his camera phone of Megan in the pool.

Today the kids and I went to Lake Elmo Park Reserve again and went swimming. Probably spent 2 hours just splashing around enjoying the cool water.

After that we came home and I put the kids' train set together (AGAIN!!!) They've broken that darn set apart and completely trashed every attempt I've made to set up the tracks. Today I brought out my trusty glue gun and glued every one of those darn tracks down!!! No destroying it now! Seth has been playing with it virtually non-stop since about 4pm. 5 hours of play....YAY!!!!

On the knitting..........

22" knit only 58" left!!!!! This is such an addicting pattern! I really want to get Megan's blanket finished and I'm forcing myself to just knit 4 rows of the blanket and then I get to knit more on the scarf. At this rate the scarf will probably be done by the weekend. That and the blanket!

Next up are 2 pairs of knit pants for an internet friend. Just waiting on a couple measurements. Those will FLY once I get the measurements!

Once those are done I have a list a mile long of what I want and what I NEED to knit:
--hat to match the scarf for me
--mittens for me
--hat/mittens for Seth, Molly and Megan
--scarf for Molly
--hat and scarf for Dan for hunting out of blaze orange yarn I'm having Nada and Brad dye for me. They're my favorite dyers anywhere!!!!
--this sweater for Megan. Just have to decide on the yarn!
--felted crowns for Molly and Seth

I'm going to consider this my "master list" and keep updating it in each blog entry from here on out with amount of progress I've made.

Gotta run...the kids are crazy!

2006-07-28T08:41:00.000-05:00

Oh, the scarf is just lovely already!!! It's a 26 row repeat pattern that is repeated 19 times. Lots of cabling and shaping and loveliness! It's addicting to knit as well. I knit it until 1am last night. My hands were cramping from all the cabling and I HAD to put it away. Here it is 1 1/2 repeats into the pattern. Oh, I can't WAIT for this to be done!!!

I think I want to do something like this coronet hat, but, I think I'll do the same cabling as the scarf, but, with a wider, plain straight edge on one side. Then I'll pick up stitches for the main part of the hat. Oh, it'll be gorgeous!!! I need more yarn, yes, indeedy I do!

I have a friend coming from Eau Claire today and we plan on heading to the beach to keep cool. It's going to be about 99degrees with a heat index of 103 (at least!) The UV index is supposed to be 9 so we'll be FRIED if we don't slather on the sunscreen. It'll be great to see her! Haven't seen B.J. since 4th of July and the kids miss her as well!

I'll hopefully post pics later on scarf progress and pictures from today's adventures.

2006-07-27T19:09:00.000-05:00

Oh, man...I have some FUN stuff on the needles right now!!! First is this blanket for Megan

close-up of the pattern

I'm about 1/2 way done with this. I just LOVE it!!!! I should be done with it this week.

Next is this scarf: double knot scarf I'm making one just like the white one. What a cool cabling!!! I'm only 12 rows into it, but, wow!!!

I'm knitting the blanket in Plymouth Encore (wool/acrylic blend) and I like it for a washable wool blend. It'll be really nice to not have to hand-wash this in the event of puke, poop, and other various bodily fluids.

The scarf is being knit out of malabrigo. YUMMY!!!!! What a fluffy cloud of love this scarf will be. FOR ME!!! This is the first thing I've knit FOR ME!!!!!

Well, gotta knit! Talk to you later!!!!

2006-07-22T09:03:00.000-05:00

I hate money. No, I don't really hate money, I hate not having ENOUGH money. Not for frivilous things....just for bills, gas and food. I'm about as frugal as they come, but, when you don't have enough, it really bites. I haven't knit for anyone for $$ since before Megan was born, but, I HAVE to now. I can only waitress so many hours a week and there still isn't enough $$. It's not that I don't like knitting for other people, I really do!! I love to see the pictures of your little ones wearing one of my creations and see their excitement getting the package! I love that!!! I just haven't had any time since the new baby and it seems like I'm out of the "loop" of mamas on the Pin who knit for $$. I'm not one of the first people that are thought of when people need woolies. If you're reading this and need wool, LET ME KNOW!!! I can whip up a pair of shorts or pants in a few days to a week TOPS! I have tons of yummy wool here. If you know anyone looking for wool, send them my way!!!!!

2006-07-20T00:12:00.000-05:00

FINALLY I finished those stupid purple shorties. LOVE them now that they're done. I'm not sure WHAT the problem was with me not wanting to knit them, but, it's almost as if there was bad "ju-ju" with them for some reason. THANK GOODNESS THEY'RE DONE!!!!!

I realized that Megan's now 3 months old and I had filled out NOTHING in her baby book. Not a single thing. I wrote a few things in there tonight and my goal is to spend just 5-10 minutes a day until it's caught up. Hopefully I'll find that time tomorrow.....

What else is going on here? Molly is growing like a weed! Since the beginning of the summer she's grown at least 2 inches! Just crazy how much she changes weekly. Here's my new favorite picture of her

She was just talking to a bug or something and it just makes me melt! I'm not sure exactly what it is that I love about this picture, it's just her!

We've been spending tons and tons of time outside this summer. We've been to Lake Elmo Park Reserve's man-made swimming hole and it's just the perfect place to spend a sunny day. Lots of clean sandy beach with a nice swimming area. Not too deep. In the middle it's not above Molly's armpits. We also went to my friend Kim's new house and swam in her pool. Here's a few pics from that day:

This one is my friend Kim, her son Ben, Molly, Seth and Megan:

This is where Megan spent most of her day snoozing in her little sunshade:

The kids and I went and picked blueberries last Friday. It was soooooo hot that day! Temperature was right around 99, but, the humidity was AWFUL!!! We picked for about 70 minutes and didn't even fill an entire 5-qt pail. The blueberries were soooo yummy right off the bushes! We ate blueberry pancakes, blueberry oatmeal, blueberry bread and muffins, and bowls of just blueberries. In less than 5 days Molly, Seth & I polished off every one of those blueberries. I love summer!!! Here's Molly and Seth with their buckets. Yes, Seth has pen all over his face. He was trying to draw whiskers.

We also went to the Ramsey Co. fair last Friday. It's one of the last free county fairs in the country and we had a great time! Molly and Seth rode all the different rides w/Dan. Dan's dad came and bought unlimited ride wrist-bands for the kids and Dan so they spent almost 2 hours straight going from ride to ride just having a BLAST!!! Molly and Seth both said the Ferris Wheel was their favorite. They were laughing for hours and just exhausted when we came home. Can't wait until the Minnesota State fair in just a month or so!!!

Dan & Molly

Megan and Seth

Molly must have spent 20 minutes feeding this cow. She was scared last year to do it, but, she sure loved it this year!

I think that's it for now...I probably should head to bed...I'll hopefully post more tomorrow!

2006-06-21T11:04:00.000-05:00

Has it already been over a week since I last posted??? WOW!!!! I've been sick and just generally sooo busy with the 3 kids that I haven't had a chance to update here. Here's a quick recap of the last week:

--I got really really sick and am just starting to feel better.
--I waitress and had to waitress Saturday night and a 10 1/2 hour shift on Sunday all while I had virtually no voice. Not fun.
--I completely shrunk the little cream soaker from 2 posts below. I put it in the washer to spin out the water after washing and forgot to take it out before I went to work. Came home and put diapers in the washer and remembered during the HOT WASH that the soaker was in there. When I pulled it out it is so small it doesn't even fit a cabbage patch. I immediately ordered more BFL to replace it, but, poor soaker....this was the perfect fit to go under dresses and it matches the little apron top! I'll be reknitting it as soon as the wool gets here.

Oh, there was more, much more, but, here's a little recap of just Sunday night. I was working that awful 10 1/2 hour waitressing shift and Dan was home with all 3 kids. called home before I was ready to come home and asked him if he wanted me to bring home food
No, just come home.
You're not hungry?
No, just get home.
What's wrong?
Nothing.
What's wrong??
NOTHING. Just get home.
What is going on?
Molly and Seth destroyed their room and drew all over their walls, windows, bunkbed, mirrors and there are toys EVERYWHERE. Plus, the kitchen sink pipe blew and there is a flood in the kitchen. JUST GET HOME!!!
Oh, see you soon.

Once I got home and got Molly & Seth to sleep and fed Megan and started to help him fix the sink he said "I can't WAIT to go to work tomorrow". I guess now he knows why I get a little frustrated when he's late coming home from work and doesn't call. Welcome to my world Dan.

Now you see why I've been absent. Just pretty crazy around here!

On the knitting front
--I started and finished an Everlasting Wonder Soaker
it fits great. A little big, but, the Mini Wonder Soakers I knit for her are getting too small. Lots of grow room! I'll post pictures of her in it later.
--still haven't knit any more on those purple shorties. I need to just get my rear in gear and finish the darn things. I don't like having projects just sitting there.

Don't know what's up next, other than recreating that dead soaker.

Have a great Wednesday everyone!!!

2006-06-12T16:13:00.000-05:00

It's Monday and Seth slept in until 9:45!!!! Molly slept until 11am!!! WOW!!!! What a great way to start a morning! Now they're happily playing quietly in Molly's room and Megan is just chillin' in her swing. Here's a pic of the new soaker I just finished for her. I used the Dandelion Dreamers knit soaker pattern. GREAT pattern!!! The funny face on Megan is because she loves her swing sooooo much that she can't stop staring and gooing at the mirror above her head!! I just can't get her to even LOOK at any of us when she's in her swing.

Once Dan gets home today I'm heading to the grocery store with Molly & Megan. We've been trying to empty out our pantry and freezer and by golly, we're pretty much empty! Used the last of the oatmeal today. No more flour, salt, cereal, raisins, vegetables (other than a lonely can of green beans), dish soap, milk, cheese, and butter. Used up tons more, but, you get the picture. It'll be nice to be able to make a meal without having to be TOO creative.

On the knitting front.....

On the needles
--that same darn purple pair of shorties for Megan. STILL haven't knit any more on them. Probably since she already HAS 3 gorgeous pairs of shorts that fit really well, I don't really have much motivation to work on them.

I plan on starting another apron top for Megan tonight or tomorrow and probably casting on another soaker from the same Dandelion Dreamers pattern that the purple one is made from. Did I mention I *LOVE* that pattern?! I did 1X1 ribbing on the purple pair, but, I plan on doing a 2X1 or 2X2 ribbing and learning the sewn-cast-off with them. I use the wonderful cast off w/the 1X1 that's like kitchener and invisible, just have to try new things. Either that or I'll do a rolled cuff, but, I don't really LIKE rolled cuffs.

I really want to do another curly purly soaker (or THREE!!!) but, I only want to knit those with BFL, so, until I order more of that, I'll be doing the DD with Peace Fleece. I do have something like um.....well, let's suffice it to say I won't be running out ANYTIME in the next 6 months.

Toodleloo!

2006-06-10T10:50:00.000-05:00

Here's the little diva in her new LTK apron top and curly purly soaker. Love the yarn! The cream is natural BFL and I ran out so I had to use HPY in that cool purple for the top. I never would have planned it that way, but LOVE how it turned out! Also some cute pics of all 3 munchkins!!!

on the knitting front....
--ready to start the legs on the DD soaker. hope to have it done tomorrow
--haven't knit a single stitch more on Megan's shorties

next:
--crazy scarf using ends of all my HPY for Molly
--another apron top

2006-06-09T11:43:00.000-05:00

Not going outside today. Too wet and it'll just end up raining all day. The kids are happy playing in Molly's room, so, I think we'll be alright! Here's the felted mocs all done!
pre-felting

all felted!

Yup, they're pretty fuzzy, but, that's the mohair in the peace fleece. It definitely mellows out with time! Now to get them off of Seth's feet.....

Now on the needles:
--those purple shorties are still there....about 1/2 way done with the body.
--this soaker: http://hyenacart.com/DandelionDreamersPatternStore/index.php?c=9&p=9
Megan's will be light purple with darker purple peace fleece.

I'll put up pics of the LTK apron top I finished last night as soon as it's dry. I peeked on it a few minutes ago and it's still wet. Megan will put on a little fashion show this afternoon like the diva that she is!

Ta-ta for now!

2006-06-09T01:42:00.000-05:00

Is it impossible for me to go to bed before 2am this week?????? Damn postpartum hormones regulating themselves. WAYYYYYY too much hormones this week! Poor Dan. Anyways....I finished Seth's felted mocs and they're drying right now and I also knit up a little apron top for Megan, too. 1/2 way done with the purple shorties for Megan. I'll probably finish those by Saturday. I'll post pics of everything after it's dry. The apron top needed blocking BADLY before being photo worthy LOL!!!

Tomorrow (well, actually later today) I hope to get the kids outside for a few hours to play in their little plastic pool. Molly just LOVES that thing! Seth would rather drive his little motorized 4-wheeler around the yard for hours, though. Megan is happy to just sleep if she's outside. She wakes up every couple hours frantic for boob, however. Hopefully I'll also get to Peapods to pick up this: Megan just LOVES her nukky for in the car and this way she won't keep spewing it across the car. Molly can just reach over and help pop it back in. We have a different paci strap, but, it just falls off and I LOVE LOVE LOVE the wooden beads on this!!! Off to sleep....

2006-06-07T10:55:00.000-05:00

Alrighty, then. This is my first blog post ever! What a new world this opens up for me....

On the knitting needles right now is:
felted mocs for Seth. One is done (obviously not felted yet) 2nd will only take me maybe 90 minutes to finish. Just need to pick them up and finish!!!

wool shorties for Megan. I may end up frogging these since I'm only on the waistband. I really want to use some of the new fab yarn I just got in the mail!!!

I HAVE to get these off the needles so I can get boogying on some more stuff!!!!