October 15th, 2009 § 0
Today is Mommy & Daddy’s third anniversary. Daddy had a big present waiting for him at home.
Yay for presents!
Inside was a case of Old Doc’s Dublin Dr. Pepper, made with real sugar at the world’s oldest Dr. Pepper bottling plant. Mommy got a gift certificate for a spa day (haircut, manicure, etc.). Me, I got to wear my first tie-dye onesie, made especially for me by Nana.
Groovy
Happy anniversary!
August 14th, 2009 § 0
I’m four weeks old today, and boy have they flown by. Just ask Mommy and Daddy. Grandma sent some pictures that she took while she was visiting, so you get four pictures today!
Me with Poppy on my birthday
How cute am I with my little baby hat? The nurse used a second hat to make a bow for me.
Me with Grandma the day I came home
Grandma was too busy holding me or the camera at the hospital to get any pictures of us together, so we had to wait until I came home.
All the kids
Here I am with all of my siblings. We’re a good looking bunch (and almost enough for a basketball team)!
Baby girl - home at last
And finally, me with Mommy and Daddy. If it looks like we’re all sleeping, it’s because we were (or wanted to be). That last day at the hospital was exhausting!
August 14th, 2009 § 0
and no knitting for the new mom, either. Seriously, I’ve spent maybe 20 minutes knitting in the last four weeks, and those non-consecutively. I have yet to master the fine art of knitting and breastfeeding at the same time. And since Charlie is hungry roughly 12 times a day, time for knitting is approximately 0.
So I spent my day dreaming about yarn. Really. Ravelry hosted a yarn dyeing competition in conjunction with Sock Summit (a convention for sock knitters), and the entries were phenomenal. I especially like Georgia Peach from Three Irish Girls. Yarnista has a great blog, too.
I browsed a couple of online vendors, and set up wishlists at The Loopy Ewe and Eat.Sleep.Knit.
I watched the first episode of a new knitting videocast by alcariel, formerly of Lime’N'Violet. She’s a nurse who lives somewhere near Omaha, NE, and just returned from Sock Summit.
NOTE: The audio is a bit choppy, but it’s a decent first effort.
And I ran across a tutorial on how to do Kitchener stitch, a necessary skill when grafting the toes of socks, and timely, because Kaity is working on her first pair of (Harry Potter themed, naturally) socks.
Almost time to go pick up the kids. I think I’ll take my knitting in the car.
July 17th, 2009 § 0
40 weeks 6 days
Yesterday was the final day of pregnancy. We checked into the hospital at 7pm, after a celebratory dinner at Olive Garden, and got settled in for a night of little sleep and lots of baby monitoring.
Preparation
This morning, the induction started at 7am, and the contractions I’d had overnight quickly became productive (and painful).
They started getting serious around 9am, and I asked for an epidural at 10. After that, things went very quickly. The midwife broke my water around 10:30 and the epidural was administered. By 11am, I had dilated from a 3 to a 7, and by noon was ready to push. The baby arrived at 12:35pm, with roughly 15 minutes of actual pushing. She’s a doll, and we’re all completely smitten.
Our baby girl
July 10th, 2009 § 1
Campus at night
We’ve officially hit the due date, even though Poohpah had convinced himself the baby was due on Tuesday. Not much happening. I woke up with contractions Wednesday, but they went away after an hour or so. We went for a long walk on campus last night, and I woke up with contractions again, but still nothing.
Insert watermelon smuggling joke here
Statistics say 85% of babies don’t come on their due date, but if I haven’t gone into labor by Tuesday, they’re planning an induction. I’d like to avoid that if possible, having done it once before. Any suggestions (besides castor oil)? I refuse to ingest anything that’s going to make me sick. Labor is difficult enough.
July 9th, 2009 § 0
Kaity checked this out from the library a couple of weeks ago, after I suggested she listen to Stardust, which she really liked. Neverwhere is Neil Gaiman’s first novel, based on a BBC series of the same name (available from Netflix). I’ve seen it classified as an “urban fantasy,” and it has many of the elements of Stardust. It’s a kind of faerie tale, though more in the Grimm tradition, dark, scary, and dangerous.
The main character is a regular guy leading a regular life in London; decent job, fiancee, apartment. On the way to dinner one night, an act of kindness brings his life crashing down around him, and he finds himself in London Below where magic is real and the people from London Above who “slip through the cracks” end up.
This is the first fiction I’ve read in a while (rather than listened to), probably since I finished the last Harry Potter book. It was nice to take the time to sit down and actually read a book. I’ve never really been into reading science fiction to fantasy, but I enjoyed Neverwhere, and am looking forward to reading American Gods when Kaity finishes it.
July 5th, 2009 § 1
7…6…5. Almost there, which is good, because I’m starting to get tired and slow. It’s still a little hard for me to believe that we’ve already gone from this:
6 weeks
to this:
39 Weeks
But, the bag is (nearly) packed, Callista will be here on Tuesday, and we’re all done but the waiting.
(Almost) ready to go
July 2nd, 2009 § 0
The mods of the Makin’ Cookies ravelry group decided to take a small hiatus for June, so we’re starting the second pattern from Sock Innovation in July. Blog readers chose Louet Gems Sport in Teal for this project.
Option 2: Louet Gems - Teal
In celebration of my successful dissertation defense, I bought myself a yarn swift (a great deal from KnitPicks) to go with the ball winder I got for Mother’s Day.
Yarn swift in action
It makes quick work of winding skeins into center pull cakes, and Kaity is grateful to no longer be my yarn holder while trying to wind balls by hand.
All wound and ready to go!
I also purchased a handmade sock-knitting bag from Slipped Stitched Studios on Etsy. I had been using a drawstring plastic bag to carry my sock knitting around, but my needles kept poking through.
Not your grandma's knitting bag
Here’s the progress on Eunice, which I’m thinking will be a gift. The leg is a little short for my taste, but just right for another family member who had never had a pair of handknit socks.
Almost through one leg repeat
I’m liking the pattern so far, and the yarn has a tight twist making for great stitch definition. The only modification I’ve made is to go down a needle size (to 2.0 mm, US 0) because I’m using a slightly heavier weight yarn. I think these will be a quick knit, and maybe I can finish them before the baby makes her debut.
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Other cool knitting, or why I don’t call myself a “fiber artist.”
June 28th, 2009 § 0
T-minus 2 weeks…. The baby has dropped, judging by the shape of my belly and the fact that it is now easier to breathe, but less comfortable to sit.
38 weeks
It feels like I could balance a stack of books on top of it and not have to worry about them falling off. Not much going on otherwise though. The midwife says I have some time left, which is good. Brandon has a big project at work that they’re rolling out over the holiday weekend (and how did July 4th get here already?!?), so I “have to make it to the due date.” Tell that to the baby.
June 25th, 2009 § 0
…now that I’m officially a doctor.
Current and former members of the LBA in attendance at the presentation of the Higuchi Research Achievement Award to Dr. Crawford in 2006
From the left, front row, we have Rohina (PhD 2007), Anne, Dr. Crawford, Kristie, Geetha, Chris, and Norberto. Back row: Jay (defending his dissertation on July 16), me (PhD #30), and Marion. Not pictured are our two most recent graduates:
Phil & Mark - Dr. Crawford's 28th and 29th PhDs - Spring 2009
What Kaity will miss most, now that I’m graduating:
Primate fossils - the big one on the bottom is a cast of a gorilla skull
Neandertal fossil casts
I had to take her into the teaching lab before I turned in my keys, so she could say goodbye to the fossils.
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Image credits: Higuchi Award photo – LBA website, recent Docs – Mark’s Facebook profile
