Fingerless Mittens

I never got around to posting a picture of these mittens. The free pattern is here: Dashing

Yarn: Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Maple.

The yarn is pilling a bit. I wouldn't use Wool of the Andes for this type of project again. Maybe I'm just hard on my hands. I'm making a new pair of fingerless mittens for dh with Cascade 220, so we'll see how that goes as far as pilling goes.

Oh, picture was taken by 10-yr old :)

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Celebrate 2

I'm 2!

Not quite sure what to do with those candles. At least he didn't cry this time :)

This was a delicious spice apple cake from LeLeche League cookbook. It uses whole wheat flour (no all purpose flour), apples, raisins, walnuts. So good and so moist. Of course the freshly whipped cream on top makes it perfect.

I don't know about that cake, but I could sure eat that 2-yr old!

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Two Years Ago Today

Midwife checking fetal heart tones.

Trying to get comfortable in birthing tub

Midwife helping me focus during contractions

Baby born! My first water birth.

We weighed the baby several times because we couldn't believe he was over 13 pounds!

Two doting sisters

Midwife snuggling her biggest baby


Bunny could not keep his hands off his new baby brother. His face was bruised because he was born posterior. He was quite swollen for a couple weeks.

This was really sweet. These are our kids plus 2 extra visitors who had never seen a baby's cord cut. Our midwife was wonderful and explained the whole process.

Bunny was very concerned that baby would get hurt while she cut the cord. So sweet!

Our first family picture with seven children.

We love you, Jonathan. You have stolen our hearts and we are so sorry about those calloused cheeks. You are too irresistible.

If you read this far, I have written a birth a detailed birth story with pictures. Send me an e-mail at homejewel @ gmail dot com and I'll send you the link. For privacy purposes, I do not want to post it publicly.

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Playing With Our Baby

I've never done this before. Hope it works. You can hear Tall Dude (17 yrs) and Pearly (13 yrs) playing with the flipvideo camera and our baby. We need to lose the pacifiers - ugh - we've never had a baby hooked on pacifiers before.

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Wicked Good

When I had my ACL surgery a couple months ago, a friend gave me these from Trader Joe's:

I was not sure they would match up to my all-time favorite: cocoa covered almonds from Trader Joe's (roasted almonds dipped in milk chocolate and then dipped in unsweetened cocoa powder).

But, being a gracious recipient, I did the right thing by opening the container and sampled a few. I wasn't immediately convinced, but then I noticed one more was needed to make sure they were as good as the previous one. I was and am completely hooked on these things. I do not want them in my house anymore because I lose all sense of self-control. Something about the turbinado sugar on the outside and the little bit of sea salt combined with the dark chocolate and roasted almond - oh my - it is a wicked good taste. Be forewarned.

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Snow Day

I'm almost embarrassed to post this. The local schools in our area were canceled due to snow. It may have snowed one inch or a tiny bit more, but that's all that is needed to cancel school around here. I'm sure many people in other states familiar with the white stuff are scratching their heads. We used to live in Maine where there was real snow. In Maine, as soon as snow was predicted, the crews would be ready to plow away the snow immediately. In our neck of the woods, we aren't nearly as prepared, don't have the amount of equipment, etc. Not only that, the people here do not know how to drive in snow, so in that sense, canceling school is understandable. Nonetheless, today was snow day in our neighborhoods and lots of kids were outside finding hills to go down. The two oldest kids were sick in bed, so I told the four remaining children to go have fun outside. This doesn't come very often, and they took full advantage of it.

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Fried Chicken

When your 17-yr old son comes to you saying that he wants to make fried chicken for dinner soon, you simply don't ignore that comment. You go out of your way to make it happen. It doesn't matter if the kitchen gets trashed in the process when magical things are happening in the kitchen. When you take one bite of that meal, it will automatically be good because you didn't have to prepare it. Every mother knows that. What matters the most about this deal is that you've got a nearly grown (nearly 6'7") almost-adult teen who will one day not only be able to cook for himself, but also for his future wife. All those many years of praising the cooking attempts have resulted in a really decent cook. I no longer need to cook fried chicken. The baton has been passed. woohoo!
Baby taste-testing the mashed potatoes.

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Blue Skies

It's unseasonably cold for us here in the Pacific NW. But - - strangely enough, it's also dry and that means outside play time for boys. Jonathan is slowly venturing out trying new words and it was very clear what "side" meant = outside.

As soon as he was bundled up and went outside, he climbed into the jogging stroller and yelled, "GO, GO" to anyone who would listen.

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Changes

We now have six children at home. Our eldest moved out. She says she needed to stretch her wings and experience the real world. Evidently, this was in the works for many months, but we found out only a couple short weeks before she moved out. Even her friends did not have a clue until everything was all set in place. Looking back, she has always been like this. Whenever we would go for family hikes, she would go way ahead of us - sometimes so far that we couldn't see her. We would tell her to stick with us and she would for a while, but then would venture off again. This has been the pattern of her life. We should have known. Fly free, Hannah-bird, I hope you land on solid ground. We love you!

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A Little Help from a Giraffe

Ramen noodles can be a challenge for even adults to eat. This is how my Jonathan attempted to eat his.

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Christmas Crafts

We spent some time crafting last week. The kids love to paint ornaments and it's fun for all ages. The Ipod serenaded us with beautiful Christmas music and we drank hot apple cider as we painted. Great fun!




Well, it's 1:30 a.m. Dh has the crepe batter ready our Christmas breakfast. The breakfast table is set with fine china and Christmas decor. The stockings are filled and overflowing, the presents are all wrapped and under the tree, and the little ones are fast asleep and will be awake in no time. I better catch some ZZZZZs.

Hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

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Done!

I finally attached the hanger to the snowman stocking I made last year and completed a new moose stocking this year for Brown Eyes. It sure looks better after being blocked. I love this pattern and will make another one next year for little caboose. The kit was purchased here.


Now if I can find some time to get to the store and purchase all of the stocking stuffers. Does anyone want to take that job for me for 7 children? lol ACK!!!

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Blue Sky

Sorry - no pictures, my battery charger is dead and a new one is in the mail. We've been inundated with rain these past few days. It's been kind of scary considering the flood we dealt with last year. People at the coast will be without power for a few days. I was listening to the news, and at that time, there was no cell phone coverage, no land line phone service, no power, no gas stations open, no grocery stores open, and no way to drive out of the area due to thousands of downed trees blocking the roads (hurricane-force winds = 100+ mph). Talk about isolation!

Vernonia, the town with stranded people mentioned here Stranded People in Vernonia
is within an hour of us.

Don't you wish there was a way to pipe this excess water to SE parts of the States who are suffering drout conditions? Crazy weather!

We are also saddened about this little bit of history that is no more: Largest Sitka Spruce Topples and Pre-Storm Pics. We just visited the site a few months ago and saw its majestic beauty.

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Two Weeks Later

It's been 2 weeks since my ACL reconstruction surgery. Life is challenging at the moment. My mobility and range of motion is "miraculous" according to my physical therapist. I've gone 4 times and each time as she measured my bent knee and straight leg to see the range of motion, she has been amazed and said I should be a poster child for having physical therapy before surgery. I'm so thankful for that! Unfortunately, the mobility and good range of motion does not take away the never-ending pain. Yes, it does take a while for bones to feel better when they've been drilled and "screwed". Thank goodness for pain meds.

The schooling has been minimal. Everything is down to basics now. The kids have taken the initiative to get the Christmas decorations out. They love traditions and that is one load off my mind.

In the meantime, I've had time to work on this moose stocking for Brown Eyes. He has wanted this since I made Bunny his snowman stocking last year. This is a pretty quick knit with Size 8 needles. Once again, I love Annie's Woolen's kits and love, love, the Barlettyarns that give these the traditional rustic look.

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Thanksgiving

We had such a nice Thanksgiving with my parents and brother and his family. I was especially happy to see that the sweater I just completed still fits this little chubbers nephew who is not yet one year old (pattern is for Size 2). The consensus was that the sweater was probably going to be too small and I was mentally preparing to have to make a new sweater. Thankfully, despite his cute rolls, Gage's sweater fits perfectly (with a little growing room).

Hope your Thanksgiving was a good one!


Stats: Child’s Placket-Neck Pullover from Last Minute Knitted Gifts by Joelle Hoverson. Be sure to get the errata on this pattern. Yarn is Blue Moon Fiber Arts Worsted Wear in the Bronze colorway. I will definitely use this yarn again. It is wonderful!

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* * warning * * Post-op Photos * * - not too bad, though

Well, here it is. It is now 2 days after surgery and I was able to change the dressing (with quite an audience in the room). I was surprised at how small the main incision was (about 2 inches long). I can't believe the doctor was able to go in, slice a piece of hamstring and then make a new ACL for me with only those small incisions. Modern technology is incredible. Oh, notice the "yes" printed on my leg. It is always reassuring to know they are going to do surgery on the correct leg!

The surgery itself went quite well the doctor said. I was a nervous wreck beforehand when the nurse told me that I probably wouldn't be able to nurse my little guy for days, if not a week. Later, I found out that someone called OB for me and they said I could start nursing within 24-48 hours after surgery because the other meds were fine (the general anesthesia was the problem). He's a happy camper now :)

Going under wasn't so bad, it was waking up that was difficult. It felt like a combination of feeling the most tired I've ever felt, with nausea and dizziness. It took about 3 hours for me in recovery - they had said it would probably only take an hour.

I'm able to put weight on my knee and have already been doing some of the exercises I first started after the accident. I am so glad that I've already done physical therapy - it has definitely made a difference.

And this is the view that I see from my bed. Someone loaned me a big wedge to elevate my leg and pillows are placed on top of that to ensure that my heel is above my heart to prevent blood clots. Over on the dresser is a gorgeous bouquet from Stacy, my sweet online buddy of about 6 yrs! There's proof for you, Ms. Cinderelli. I took these 2 pics and battery went dead. I wanted to get a better shot of the flowers.

There you have it :)

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Young Musicians

I was so happy to get this picture in my e-mail box this morning from someone at church. Last Sunday, the children and I played the offertory at church and I never thought of bringing my camera. This is a treasure. Okay, ignore the head in the way, but you get the idea.

And Brown Eyes on the left has surprised me recently. Two days in a row, he has asked, even begged for me to play violin with him. He says he wants to get better. This is a new thing for him. It's usually the other way around. Oh joy, this mama is happy!

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Volleyball

Volleyball season has ended. It was great to see how the girls improved over the season. Pearly towered over her teammates and it was a reminder of what I look like next to my friends!! Am I really THAT tall? lol

And last, but not least: my new sock:
Yarn:

Sock it to Me! Collection Harlequin
Magic Loop 2.25 mm, co 90 sts

PS - I wish Stacy would come to my house and explain to me how I messed up my camera settings! I am clueless.

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Blog Post

How's that for a title? lol The lighting was horrible on this picture, but I loved the sweetness of it. Sepia was a good improvement.

Time is ticking for my knee surgery and I'm trying to tie up loose ends, stock up on meals and make apple pies and sweet potato casserole to be put in the freezer for Thanksgiving. I don't know how long I will be out of commission. That thought is a bit scary.

I've heard lots of scary stories about complications from general anesthesia and the surgery itself. Why do people feel the need to share horror stories right before you are about to go into surgery? I heard similar types of stories when I was pregnant about to delivery a baby. What's all of that about, anyway?

I'm getting knitting projects ready for the 4 days I have to keep my knee elevated above my heart. Have you knit in that position before? I can't imagine being idle for that period of time. I sure hope I can accomplish something.

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