Nesting...I hope

I am starting to get an overwhelming feeling that there's SO MUCH to do before the baby is born. I am glad I have a decent amount of energy and my back has been feeling pretty well. I finally feel like I got the hang of making newborn sized diapers! Then I ran out of elastic and velcro. Argh. Going to the store tonight to get some more. I am really ready for this project to be over so that I can move on to the next thing.

That's the first 4 I got done. I have one more white/bears done, and have 4 more almost done. I should finish them tonight once I get my supplies.

THEN....I have some shirts on their way to me which I want to dye. Then I have some small prefolds (diapers) coming which I am thinking about converting to prefitteds (cutting them into a different shape so I won't have to fold them every time and adding elastic to the legs) and/or dyeing those. I am hoping to get some yarn from a co-op right before the baby is born which will be enough for 4 pairs of longies that I'd like to have done before the baby arrives. Who knows when/if I'll have time to knit after the baby arrives. I also found a pattern on how to make a fitted sheet for our co-sleeper. I actually bought flannel to make a sheet when Mary was little and never got around to it. let's see, oh, the hutch is almost done. The doors are on, and I am working on painting them. And I want to make a window covering for the kitchen windows. I have fabric I think I can use and we have a spare curtain rod. What else??? Oh, a knitted rug that nearly killed me and I only finished 2/3 of it. Surely there's more. And how many days left? 59!!!

A gift!

These shorties are going out to a friend of mine who just had a baby girl (and also uses cloth diapers). I had this yarn left over from a pair of longies that I made Mary last fall. I hope she likes them:).

a quick picture

Not the best pic, but it's what I could get this AM while Mary watched Sesame Street.

Overheard today

Mary :" I want a banana."
me: "okay, honey, you'll have to wait 2 minutes."
Mary: "okay"

three minutes later...

me: "mary, still want that banana?"
Mary: "what did you say?"
Me: "DO YOU WANT A BANANA???"
Mary: "what's that??"

In other news, I am knitting something pretty cool this week. It should be done tomorrow:).

Mmmmm, Pie

Yesterday morning I walked out to pick mulberries for a pie. As soon as I stepped off the deck, I could smell the berries. The tree is completely covered in them. I had no problem picking the 6 cups I need.
I think I am going to go out today and pick more. I want to freeze them. I wasn't planning on doing that this year, but there are so many that I just can't let them go to waste. There are ripe ones right now, and red ones too that will hopefully be ripe in the next week or so.

I got a lot of painting done on the hutch this weekend. I have one more coat to put on it. I am waiting until John finishes the doors to paint them. I do have a couple coats on the drawers. I really need to find new hardware for them. I am thinking something black. I just had to see what it is going to look like with my Fiesta in it, so I took a couple pieces out to the garage.

I think it's going to look great! I can't wait to see it finished and with all the Fiesta in it. I think Mary and I might try to get the last coat of paint on it today. I swear this hutch was white 25 years ago before Mom had it refinished. Every time I look at it I start to have a memory of looking into a white painted hutch or cabinet. I really wish I knew what I was remembering.

I got the brown/blue/green/purple yarn knitted up. I made it into a diaper wrap instead of a soaker. The buttons still need to be put on (if I even end up using those) sometime. I made this little soaker this week too. That's it for soakers. I am working on one pair of longies today and then I MUST make diapers.
When I was out on the deck, Mary saw me and asked me to take her picture. I was in a hurry, but it actually came out pretty well. She loves playing in that down spout! Hours of fun! Then she finds some dirt and makes mud.

I hope you had a good weekend too. Sorry there's no picture of the pie! We ate it all last night:). John's Mom and Step-Dad helped us with it (Mary just ate ice cream). And they gave us 3 starts off their red raspberry bush, so hopefully in a few years we'll have raspberries too.

Plastic vs. reusable bags (again)

So, after my initial investment of 99 cents on a reusable bag, I have finally gotten enough 5 cent credits to "pay" for it. I think I probably could have done it a lot quicker, but I forgot to remind the cashier a couple times. And I think I forgot to put the credit in my spreadsheet a couple times too. But it finally paid for itself last week and this week I bought an additional one. (I also have one I got for free). When I reminded the cashier this week, she gave me my 15 cents off (5 cents per bag) and then hit the double coupon button! Woohoo! 30 cents off this week, and only 69 cents to go to pay off this bag. I think that 4 or 5 bags will be enough to get all my weekly groceries. Until then, we will reuse or recycle the plastic bags I do get from the store.

I think that for Christmas I will ask for some reusable produce bags. I currently don't use them if I am only buying a few of a certain item. But this week I bought 10 nectarines, so I got a bag for that. I'd rather just have reusable ones though. I've seen a few on Etsy when I looked quickly, but need to study up before I buy anything.

Nothing else going on with us. The weather has cooled off a bit (THANK GOODNESS!) so we've been outside a lot. I've been busy knitting for the baby too, but don't have anything to show off yet.

DIY and a busy weekend

One of the good things about crafting items yourself is that you can fix them if they don't turn out exactly right. I made these longies for the baby a while back:

I looked online several places to see what a small inseam should be. Then as I was making the cuffs, I realized that they were too short. I have no idea why I started the cuffs before they were long enough. I stuck them in the re-do pile and finally got back to them yesterday. Here's one leg redone and the other one still short.

Here they are done, almost 2 inches longer than they were before. I thought I had plenty of yarn to finish them, but by the last few rows I was pretty nervous. When I was done, there was only about 4 feet of yarn left.


The yarn I dyed up a couple weeks ago (pictured below) turned into a beautiful little soaker. I was going to trim the legs in orange, but didn't have enough left to do that so I did it in the body color.

This is what yarn looks like right after it's dyed. This will be either a soaker or shorties for Firecracker. It should be dry tomorrow.

So, that's what I've been up to since Thursday. I also got a little bit more done on the hutch. John's working on the shelves and had to re-do the parts where the drawers slide in and the thingy that holds them up. Yesterday we worked outside on landscaping. This afternoon we went swimming which made Mary very happy! Then we had a cookout which was tasty. For dessert, I picked these mulberries off the tree right outside the back of the house.



That's a 6 cup container almost half way full. I picked those in probably 5 minutes. I like them plain, but I think tomorrow I'll buy some vanilla ice cream and pick another 3-4 cups of them. Yum!

Gifts!

It really is true that I rarely make anything for myself. A friend of mine just moved for the millionth time, and I thought she might like a little housewarming gift. She told me her favorite colors are brown and green. So here's what I came up with:
These little dishcloths did not want to be photographed! I tried outside, inside, flash on, and flash off. But they are done and going out today.

Next on the needles will be a soaker for Firecracker.
I hope it is enough yarn! I weighed it out, but it sure doesn't look like much. I have no idea what those rocks are doing on the deck ledge. I think they are some project of Mary's. I also made another diaper for Firecracker yesterday. I am still working on perfecting the design. I am not the world's best seamstress. But if they work, I'll be happy. It's so much cheaper than buying them (and THAT is so much cheaper than using disposables).

I'm off to the doctor this morning for a prenatal checkup. Same old stuff. I'm 29 weeks today. We need to name this kid! I wish I could just peek inside quickly and see if the baby is a boy or girl!

A Good Day, a Long Day, a Sad Day

Yesterday was such a great day with Mary. We got up, did our morning stuff, and then went to Meijer. It was a long trip, because I needed to look for several things we don't usually need. Plus we got a late start, and I knew Mary was getting tired and hungry. But she was so good for me! We made funny little humming noises as we shopped, we laughed, and we chatted. We came home, ate lunch and then it was nap time.

In the afternoon, we went outside to goof off. Mary saw a white butterfly and said "Oh, a beautiful white butterfly! The most amazing thing I ever saw!" (where does this kid learn to talk this way??). We walked around looking for ripe mulberries and wild strawberries in the yard and ate them. Then we were running out of things to do. We were sitting in the garage, and there was the hutch, staring at me. I'm starting to wonder if we are ever going to get it painted (my responsibility) and get it back in the house. So, what the heck, I grabbed the primer and two paint brushes and we went to work! Mary had fun AND did a great job. We almost got it primed inside and out. She lasted an hour at it without getting bored or making a mess! She only painted the hutch (not the floor, the walls, or anything else out there). And she was funny! "oh, this part is brown. I have to paint it white so the bugs don't hurt it!" Huh? We don't have termites:). "oh! More brown (wood). I have to paint this part!" Yeah, it was all brown. And yes, we are going to paint the entire thing.......soon.

For dinner, we went down to see Grandma and ate pizza with Mary's aunt and cousins. Then we went swimming! Mary loved it, and it was fun for her to watch her older cousins. Mary wanted to learn to go all the way under water, but she never actually did it. John was trying to tell her to hold her nose, shut her mouth, and shut her eyes. She just couldn't do it all at once. But she moved on and found other things to do. Like dumping a bucket of water over my head which was really great considering I didn't want to get my hair wet. Oh well, there are worse things. Once it was time to go, Mary melted down. She didn't want to leave. Poor thing. I knew she was tired. We got her home and powered through a shortened bedtime routine.

But wait!! She wasn't ready for bed. She wasn't tired. She didn't want to sleep! We told her it was bedtime and put her in bed. She actually told John she didn't want to nurse which she's said before. I figured as soon as he left, we'd do the usual stuff. Nursing, stories and back rubs until I fall asleep before she does (usually). But she didn't nurse! She just flopped around. We didn't do stories or anything. She worked on her blankets, her pillow and got comfortable about 30 times. And then she was asleep. I was amazed! And broken hearted. In the first time in 28 1/2 months, I didn't nurse Mary at bedtime. Wow. I actually stayed in there and thought if she woke in the next hour and asked to nurse I'd let her (she's nightweaned and has been for months). But she didn't. It's now 2am and I am enjoying some great pregnancy induced insomnia. I hope she nurses in the morning. She's already almost cut out her after nap session. So we are down to like 2-3 times a day. As much as I would love to keep nursing her after the baby is born, I'd also love to just nurse the baby if that's going to be less work. Some days I look down at her when I am rocking and nursing her to sleep and think she's "too big" to be nursing anymore, but in my heart I know it is what's best for her for as long as she wants to do it. I guess I've never really thought about how or when it will end.


"Wean Me Gently"

I know I look so big to you,

Maybe I seem too big for the needs I have.

But no matter how big we get,

We still have needs that are important to us.

I know that our relationship is growing and changing,

But I still need you. I need your warmth and closeness,

Especially at the end of the day

When we snuggle up in bed.

Please don't get too busy for us to nurse.

I know you think I can be patient,

Or find something to take the place of a nursing;

A book, a glass of something,

But nothing can take your place when I need you.

Sometimes just cuddling with you,

Having you near me is enough.

I guess I am growing and becoming independent,

But please be there.

This bond we have is so strong and so important to me,

Please don't break it abruptly.

Wean me gently,

Because I am your mother,

And my heart is tender.

--Cathy Cardall

Thanks, Mom!

My Mom came over for a visit on Saturday. We had a nice chat, some good turkey sandwiches for lunch, and she got to see Mary drum and dance while I read nursery rhymes:). Before she left, she gave me some belated Mother's Day cash--wooohoo! She told me to spend it on myself. Huh. I never spend money on myself. I buy yarn and make things for Mary or to give as gifts. I guess those things are gifts for me in a way, because I love knitting so much. But then the end product goes off to someone else. So I spent the rest of the afternoon thinking about what I would buy. Then I had a great thought! I could use the money to make a clothespin apron! So after some quick Googling, I had some free instructions from this blog.

Here's my new apron! I am going to do laundry tomorrow just so I can use it when I hang things out on the line. I got 100 new wooden clothes pins too! (I always run out of pins before I run out of line OR clothes) And I have four dollars left over.