Finally Some Stitching

Despite being quite enthralled and busy with the munchkin, I have had some time to do a little bit of stitching. I have made some amazing progress on my German Garden. I am about 3/4 finished now. I am hoping I will have a finish shortly after the new year.

I have also been working on Butterfly Rest and have finished the two small pages with the exception of the second blue triangle. I will take a picture of it once I get a better handle on using the new camera we got since our old camera has started to flake out on us.

As for the new year, I do plan on making a no guilt start on New Year’s Day. I know I really shouldn’t, but it wouldn’t feel like a new year without a new start. I think I will be starting Alchemical Romance by Ink Circles. I figure it is one of those pieces where I can try and do a symbol or two every week and make good progress. If I remember correctly I have even put some fabric aside for this piece already. I will have to check tomorrow and pull out some threads.

And for some goals for 2008…
1. Finish Mystery 9
2. Finish Bordeaux Mystery
3. Finish Baby Sampler
4. Finish 17th Century German Garden
5. Finish Butterfly Rest
6. Finish half of Olde World Map
7. Continue Neighborhood RR
8. Stitch 2 LHN coffee or tea pieces
9. Start Alchemical Romance

I really hope to have some good finishes this year:)

Merry Christmas

It is hard to believe, but my little booger is now almost three weeks old. Overall he continues to be a good natured little guy, but last weekend decided that he didn’t want to sleep well at night any more. We are not sure if it is reflux or just him being generally irritable, but for the last week, he has refused to sleep much in his bassinet when it is time for adults to be sleeping. Of course last night when his Nana came to visit and he was a perfect gentleman while he slept in her room so Allen and I could get a full night’s sleep. We will see what tonight brings:) It is also hard to believe that Nathaniel has gained an additional pound since reattaining his birthweight. He is now almost 9 pounds! One of Allen’s favorite games with him now is to have Nathaniel make muscle man arms and then growls “beefcake!, beefcake!” It is quite amusing!

Well, speaking of Nathaniel, he is looking for some cuddles so I must be off. I leave you with a picture of the Beefcake and wishes for a wonderful holiday!

He’s Here!

So on the morning of December 5, 2007 Allen and I packed up all our gear and headed to the hospital in the hopes of finally meeting our little boy. He continued to be stubborn and was needing a little push out the door so we had an induction scheduled for that day. We woke up to find a light snow falling and a dusting on the ground. It was actually quite pretty. I ended up running into a coworker who was supposed to have been induced on the fourth, but had been asked to come back because the labor center was too full. I was quite glad to hear that things were on schedule for our induction. I was admitted and by 8:30 was started on an IV pitocin drip. The next four hours were pretty boring. Not much happened and I did not experience a whole lot of discomfort. I read a book while Allen played his DS. At 12:30 my doctor came in and broke my water. My discomfort went from 0-100 in a matter of minutes. Unfortunately I was number 6 on the wait list for an epidural. I am pretty sure that was the longest hour of my life:) Allen too really good care of me and I survived. After the epidural my labor apparently went into overdrive. After about an hour, I was pretty sure the epidural had worn off, but it turned out that baby was ready to make his way into the world. Despite my best efforts he was still lost and refusing to ask for directions two hours later so off we went to the OR for a c-section. Surgery went smoothly and at 7:06 pm on December 5 Nathaniel Mark made his way screaming into the world.

Nathaniel weighed 7 pounds 15.8 ounces (I am still not sure why they couldn’t round) and was just under 20 inches long. He has beautiful dark gray eyes and a head full of dark hair. He is absolutely beautiful and we have all fallen madly in love with him. Nathaniel has also been a really good baby so far. The only frustration is that he started to refuse breast feeding the last day we were in the hospital. It has been frustrating, but we will be meeting with a lactation consultant tomorrow to try and work things out.

So now we are all home. My mom has come down a couple of times to give Allen and I nap breaks which has been wonderful, but things in general have gone smoothly. Right now we are all hanging out together in the basement…me surfing the web, Allen working on his homework and Nathaniel, Cooper and Zoe all snoozing peacefully. It is quite nice. I am also glad to say that the kittens have not gotten their noses too out of joint over the new arrival. Cooper has spent a fair amount of time trying to sniff Nathaniel and Zoe has actually become a bit bolder with all the guests in the house. The biggest issue is that they are not allowed in the bedroom with us at night until my incision is healed a bit more and we feel more comfortable with Nathaniel being in another room with the door shut.

And no for some adorable pictures.
On mommy’s lap

Nathaniel and Allen(Daddy)

Some lovely person hand knit this cute hat for the hospital and Nathaniel became the proud owner. It has an adorable puff ball on top.

Hands and feet:)

Hopefully as things continue to settle in well around here, I might actually get to stitch a bit too:)