24 for 30

I didn't do so bad with NaBloPoMo.  I posted 24 out of 30 days.  I must say, that's really good for me.  I think I went from posting a few times a month to most days of the month.  Now, let's just see if I can keep it up through the holidays.  

Landon is feeling better.  He's still not 100%, but he ran around today and didn't nap so we might be almost back on track.  I'm just praying that I don't get whatever he had, because he had something really icky.  He's never been that sick before.  I'm not sure exactly what it was that he had/has, but I really don't want it.  Of course, pregnancy insomnia has gotten bad lately so that coupled with a sick little boy means I haven't exactly been getting a ton of sleep lately.  And when I don't get enough sleep I get sick, so maybe I should be asking everyone out there to keep their fingers crossed for me.  

Today we spent most of the morning getting out all our Christmas decorations and putting up our tree.  Landon had a lot of fun going through the ornaments and looking at the tree once it was done.  He was also quite excited that putting up the tree meant moving furniture.  Who knew that would be one of the highlights.  Our house looks pretty Christmasy, especially considering that I didn't even get out all of our holiday things.  I took pictures, to be posted later.  I love Christmas time!  

Tomorrow we are starting our Advent celebrations, even though today was technically the first day of Advent.  I'll put more details about that in the post with the decorating pictures.   For now, I am going to relax and knit and then go to bed.  Maybe I will get more than a few hours of sleep tonight.  

Here we go again . . .

Here we go again with being sick.  Landon came down with something yesterday (yup, on Thankgiving, poor kid) and spent all day today feeling really icky too.  He took a three hour nap this afternoon, and still went to bed early.  I'm hoping it's short-lived.  I really don't want to spend the whole winter fighting off one bug after another, especially once we have a baby in the house.  I'm just hoping I don't catch it this time, too.  

Thanksgiving was great, though, despite the illness.  We got up and went with Tyson to the Turkey Trot in a nearby park, where he ran the course and Landon and I walked some of it and watched the massive crowds of people.  We came home to shower and change, then we headed up to my Mom's house to eat and hang out.  We watched a lot of football, lazed around her house, and then ate a fabulous Thankgiving dinner.  Since Landon didn't feel well, we pretty much left right after we ate.  Then we came home, put Landon in bed, and watched a movie.  I love all the food on Thanksgiving and just the general feeling of celebration.  It was also really nice to be around our families.  

Today we took turns staying home with our sick baby while the other one went out shopping, so we got in our requisite Black Friday consumerism.  Tomorrow or Sunday we are planning on getting out the Christmas decorations.  Christmas is in less than a month!  I need to get going on putting together our Advent activities for this year.  I have some neat stuff planned, but I need to finalize it all before Sunday!  

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was great, and a little bit less filled with a sick baby than ours was.  

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving!  Oh so many things to be thankful for this year.  But right now I am feeling very very thankful for being so close to all my family.  We get to spend this holiday seeing and celebrating with everyone, and it didn't even involve a six hour car trip with a toddler and a huge pregnant belly!  We are so blessed to have so many wonderful people in our lives - friends, family, and each other.  I hope your lives are filled with just as many amazing blessings today and always!

one more knitting project (for now)

I got the last picture from yesterday to upload.  I'm not entirely sure what the problem was, but I think it might have been lack of patience on my part.  Anyway, I knit this sweater and hat combo for Landon for his birthday.  I saw the pattern for the sweater probably a year ago and the model in the photo looked so much like Landon that I knew I had to knit it for him.  I even used the same color of yarn and everything.  It's bulky yarn, so it was a very quick knit and I'm hoping it can double as a coat as long as it isn't too cold.  It's a little big on Landon, but I'm hoping he will be able to wear it next year too.  I love how it turned out!  

I should have a few more projects done in the next week or so.  I am hoping to get lots of knitting done this weekend, and I have a few projects that are close enough to being finished that I might have more to show off soon.  

Happy Thanksgiving-Eve, everyone!  I hope you have wonderful things planned for tomorrow!

Finally, some knitting pics!

I know I promised some knitting pics forever ago, but at least I finally did it.  Here are some of my recent (and a couple no-so-recent) projects that I have finished.  There are a few more, but they are gifts or the pictures turned out really badly.  Enjoy! 

The hat I made Tyson.  There are matching fingerless gloves, but he has them at work with him today so I didn't get pictures of them.  

Booties for the baby.  I'm hoping to make another pair.  They knit up so fast!

This might be my most favorite things I've ever made.  It's tiny and so so cute.  The picture does not do it justice at all.  
 

This sweater turned out so cute, but way too big.  I wanted a newborn size sweater, but ended up using larger needles and yarn than the pattern called for.  So, it's about a nine month size.  You know, just what the baby will need in August.  At least it's cotton!

This is another one of my favorite things I have made for the baby.  The color turned out icky in the photos, but it's really a lovely blue green color.  

There's one more thing I made that I wanted to share, but for some reason the picture isn't uploading right now.  I will post it later. 

Easygoing afternoon

This picture sums up our afternoon.  Naked (Landon, not me:) ), playing with cars, working on potty training, getting into all kinds of fun stuff (notice the legs covered in purple volleyball stamps), and generally having a good time.  We had a really good weekend, and now Tyson is home safely from San Diego so all is well.  

sleep, where are you?

I was so proud of myself last night - I went to bed early.  Landon had gone to bed at 6:20 p.m. and I had such big plans of going to bed early too, and catching up on some much-needed sleep, since Tyson is out of town and all.  So, I crawled in bed around 9 p.m., feeling really good about it.  And then I tossed and turned, and maybe dozed a little until I fell asleep around midnight.  Only to be woken up about 20 minutes later by Landon, crying in his sleep.   Of course, I didn't know it was in his sleep so I got out of bed to go check on him only to find him peacefully snoozing away.  I get back in bed and toss and turn for another 30 or 40 minutes, fall asleep, and one of the cats starts scratching at the blinds about 20 minutes later.  Grrrrr.   Then Landon wakes up and calls for me.  At this point, I bring Landon into our bed so I don't have to keep getting out of it to check on him, toss both the cats outside, and try to get back to sleep.  I finally fell asleep and slept fitfully until Landon decided to wake up for the days at about 6:30 a.m.  I think I got maybe five hours of sleep.  So much for my big plan to get all this extra, great sleep.  Although, I do think I will try again tonight.  Especially because I really feel like I need it now.  

Luckily, Landon and I drove out to my mom's house for the day today, and she played with Landon all day while I sat in their recliner and read a book.  It was quite relaxing, and it was nice to read more than a couple pages at a time in my book.  Landon has such as blast out there that he doesn't even bat an eye at the fact that I'm not devoting any of my attention to him as he plays happily with my mom.  Love it.  

I'm going to go read more of that book.  Maybe I can even finish it.  Wouldn't that be something?

comments

I just wanted to let you all know that I found where to change the settings for the comments, so you can leave comments even if you're not a registered user.  I didn't realize that was the default setting.  So if you've been waiting to comment, feel free now!  

Birthday Photos

Birth Day


One Year Old


Two Years Old


Happy Birthday, little boy! We love you!

Birthday-Eve

Two years ago on this day I was 4o minutes away from having my water break and about an hour away from having contractions start, signaling the beginning of my labor with Landon.  I don't think I'll ever forget the feeling of nervous anticipation that came over me then, knowing that in a matter of hours we would finally get to meet the little one we'd been waiting for.  Now, here we are two years later, on his birthday-eve, and I'm so glad he is a part of our lives.  He astounds me everyday with his intelligence, sense of humor, delight in the world, and love for us.  He is such an amazing little boy, and he has taught me so much about myself.  I am eagerly anticipating our future, but I am also looking back fondly on where we have been and all we have already done together.  We are so blessed!  We love you, little boy, and wish you a most happy second birthday!  

Darn, how did I miss yesterday?  I totally thought I made a blog post, but nope.  I was apparently thinking of the one I did on Saturday instead.  Ah well.  I still feel I am doing much, much better posting to my blog than I ever have in the past.  

There is sickness in our house again.  Landon has a cold that came on last night.  We slept awful, and the poor boy didn't look particularly good today.  He's stuffy and has a runny nose.  I think he also had a sore throat last night and today he kept touching his face and saying "owie" so I think his sinuses hurt.  I am praying that I don't get it because I just really don't want to be sick again too.  Colds are just not fun.  At least he napped today because of it, and I was able to lay down with him for a while too.  

Despite that, I am tired and think I will head to bed soon.  Goodnight!

Party time!

We had Landon's birthday party today, and it was a huge success. All of our family came and Landon, of course, made out like a bandit in the gift department. His favorite gift? A miniature Harley Davidson motorcycle that makes revving noises and drives by itself. He also likes that the small stuffed Gonzaga Bulldogs mascot he got can ride it. The next best toys were probably his tool set and the huge toy truck full of matchbox cars. He loved hearing everyone sing "Happy Birthday" to him and was thrilled that I put lots of candles on his cupcake for him. He was exhausted by the end of the evening, but I know he had a ton of fun. Here's some of the best shots from the day.

Also, for all those of you wondering how huge my pregnant belly is getting, here's a belly shot from last week.

I am 29.5 weeks pregnant, and starting to feel like I am getting really big. Everyone says I don't look huge, but I feel like it. I was looking at belly pics from my pregnancy with Landon, though, and I know I will get even bigger before this is all said and done. Our little guy in there sure is a kicker, especially when I get in bed at night. You can actually see my belly jump a lot of the time. Landon has starting talking more about "baby brother" (pronounced more like "babeee brudder"), even though I don't think he completely gets the whole concept yet. I'm looking forward to him being able to actually meet his little brother in about two months.

Off to make something for my Holiday Swap partner (hi, Sarah!).

Friday

Ahhh, Friday at last.  This evening is all about . . . 

 . . . putting Landon to bed early (still no nap).

 . . . much anticipated relaxing time. 

 . . . take-out Thai food.

 . . . watching a movie.

 . . . finishing a knitting project. 

 . . . getting a back rub.  

 . . . looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.  

Tomorrow is Landon's birthday party!  I'm sure much excitement is to come. 

I miss Landon's nap.  A lot.  I really just want to check out for a while and I also wouldn't mind two free seconds to tidy up the house.  Oh well.  Such is life with a two year old, I suppose.  Oops, gotta go stop him from dismantling his closet.  

early night

No knitting pics today, sorry, because there was no nap for Landon today either.  He went to sleep at 6:30 pm, though, which is nice.  Too bad the lighting in our house is horrible and I can't take decent pics tonight.  I might try anyway, we'll see.  

The CMAs are on tonight.  I don't usually watch shows like that, but it sounds like fun tonight.  So, I went to Wendy's and got Frosties for me and Tyson (yep, so healthy, I know) and he is even going to watch it with me.  I'm so lucky.  

I am almost done knitting some fingerless mitts for Tyson to go with the hat I finished for him on Sunday.  If they turn out nicely, I might make a few more pairs just to have around the house.  Of course, I still have a knitting/crafting to-do list a mile long, so the extra pairs of fingerless mitts might have to wait until all the more important stuff is done.  I am just such a fan of little, quick projects that fingerless mitts seem just perfect.  Anyway, I'm off to knit, watch TV, and eat junk food.  

late night

It was a bit of a late night here.  Landon just went to bed, and I was a little surprised that he went down when he did.  We went to his Gram's house today, and he played so hard all day.  There was no nap there, of course, but he fell asleep on the car ride home and then kept right on sleeping once we got here.  He woke up from his nap at about 5:45 p.m., just in time to be my helper in making dinner.  Then he ran around the house like a mad man for a while, and we finally convinced him to give bed a try.  A part of me is glad he got in the nap because we could have had  a very rough evening without it, but it's also nice to have a little bit of time in the evenings to do something besides just get in bed myself.  Oh well.  Maybe tomorrow we can try to get back on a regular schedule, including a regular nap and a normal bedtime.  

I got quite a bit of knitting done at my mom's house today.  Maybe sometime (when Landon starts napping again, probably) I will actually take some pictures of my recently completed projects and post them.  I am so behind in doing that.  I have made some really neat stuff lately too.  So, hopefully I will be back tomorrow with some pictures.  If they aren't of knitting I will find something else.  

bye-bye nap?

I think Landon may have given up his nap.  He has gone three days in a row without it now, and I really miss it.  Of course he may start taking one again, which would be great, but for now I guess I will just resign myself to the fact that I get no break all day.  Luckily, he is starting to get old enough that he can play by himself a little while I sit nearby and knit or play on the internet.  He goes to bed nice and early without the nap so Tyson and I have a long evening together, but I really appreciated some time in the middle of the day to unwind a little and regroup.  I have my fingers crossed that the nap will make a reappearance soon.  

missed a couple days

Oops, so I missed a couple days there. Sorry. It was mostly spent recovering from being sick. Nothing exciting.

This afternoon, though, was spent dealing with the last of the apples we bought at a local orchard a few weeks back. We bought three boxes, and apparently I didn't realize how many apples that is. I have made and canned so much applesauce in the last couple weeks I think we will be eating it forever. I bake with it as an alternative to oil, though, and it makes a great healthy snack eaten plain so I am hoping we go through it all before this time next year. I also froze some apple slices to try to use in pies and other baked things. I have never frozen apple slices before, and I hope they do ok. I am glad to have all those apples out of the way. I was starting to worry I would never get anything done with them. Here are some photos of the process.

I really got on a kick this year of buying local foods in season and preserving them in some way to use all winter. It was a great concept, and I will do it again, but we have so much frozen and canned food! I had never done that before, though, and just didn't know what quantities to get. So, I need to figure out what to do with all of it. I'm sure I will find something yummy.

Landon went to bed early and I have a craft to-do list about a mile long that needs some work, so I'm off to play with my sewing machine to make newborn pants. I will post photos when they are all done.

yup, I'm sick

Sure enough, I got the flu that Landon had.  I was up a lot of the night for various sick-related reasons.  I finally got in a good couple hours of sleep after I got out of bed and drank peppermint tea and pet the cat for a while.   Tea was the only thing that would stay down, and it made me feel so much better.  But this morning, I was achy and tired and very low on patience.  I think both Landon and I barely survived until lunch.  Thank goodness Tyson came home after lunch and took Landon to his parents' house for the afternoon.  I am planning some knitting and napping and general laziness while I try to let myself get well.  Of course, I just keep thinking how much I could get done around the house without Landon here.  But I have created a laziness spot on the couch and I am hoping to not have to move.  Ugh.  I hate being sick, and I hate being sick and trying to have patience.  It makes me feel really bad for my poor little boy.  Oh well, we survived and now he gets to play with his Papa all afternoon.  Sigh.  Time for a nap.  

tired

Today was a long one.  Landon woke up at 5:45 this morning and insisted we get up too.  Tyson was able to take him and let me go back to sleep for a while, but after a rough couple nights and early mornings this week I am just beat.  Plus, I have been feeling kind of icky tonight and I'm worried that I'm getting sick.  Landon had a 24 hour flu last week and I am really hoping that I did not catch it.  I think I just need to stop playing on the internet and go to bed.  Luckily, my first ever acupuncture treatment was tonight and made me feel totally relaxed.   Ahhhh.  Goodnight!

Election Day

It is election day. I'm glad it will be over soon. I am looking forward to seeing how it all turns out, and I think it will turn out the way I am hoping. That's all I have to say on that.

Today Landon and I spent a lot of time playing inside, which is very unusual for us. It was rainy and cold and Landon, my outdoor boy, only wanted to go outside once and didn't fight me about coming back into the warm house. We moved the coffee table out of the middle of the living room and pulled the cushions off the couches. He spent a lot of time jumping off the couches and playing in the cushions. He also discovered his set of wooden blocks, and spent a lot of time building things throughout the day. He has had those blocks for over a year, and just now decided they were worth playing with. I'm always just amazed at how his mind works. Why were the blocks fun today, and they've never been fun before? Also, why does he all of a sudden want to spend a good deal of time reading books when even two weeks ago he just wasn't into it? It's so intriguing. He grows and changes so quickly and I am so thankful that I get to be here with him all the time to watch all the little things take place as he discovers his world.

Also, we spent time really working on using the potty today. Landon spent most of the first part of the day naked and then spent the afternoon wearing his training pants. He used the potty most of the day, and I was surprised at how well he did. He seems really ready for using the potty, and I have high hopes that he will be potty trained within the month. Of course, now that I've said that he won't want anything to do with it, but I can still hope.

I will leave you with a great picture of him playing today, talking to his blocks, being naked, and wearing his helmet. The helmet was a remnant of "riding" the edge of the bathtub like it was a 4-wheeler. Yeah, I don't get it either.

the sweater

I have been knitting a sweater since July, and I am about eight rows from having it finished.  So, tonight's post is going to be short and sweet because I really, really, really want this sweater done.  Mainly so I can focus on baby knitting :).  It's my first adult-sized sweater and there is definitely a reason I mostly knit for babies and toddlers.  Apparently my attention span with knitted items is quite short.  Despite that, though, I am planning on knitting a sweater for myself after the holidays (the one that is almost finished is not for me).  I have two patterns picked out and I haven't yet decided which one to actually make.  I may post links to the patterns in the future and let you all help me decide.  Anyway, I am off to knit a few rows a rejoice that this huge item is finally done!  I leave you with a cute picture from a couple weeks ago when we went to the orchard and pumpkin patch.  

P.S. Did I mention that I am attempting to do NaBloPoMo?  I figured if anyone needed to get into the habit of posting every day it was me.  

Not so funny to you, maybe

I started a post about the cute things Landon has said today, and when I read through them I realized that maybe they wouldn't be so cute to everyone else. There's something about being able to see his face and hear his adorable little voice that really adds to the whole element of cuteness. So, I deleted that post and will just leave you with an assurance that Landon is really getting into using words lately, can repeat almost anything we say (which can be a bad thing, too), and has started saying two word sentences. I, as his adoring mother, think he is the cutest, smartest child ever but maybe not everyone would feel that way. So I will try not to regale you with quotes.

So, election day. This week. Thank goodness. I am so sick of political ads. I am planning on filling out my mail-in ballot tonight and just being done with the whole thing. I am interested to see how it all turns out, both in this state and in the nation, but I am very much looking forward to it all being over.

Ok, I have to go eat dinner with my family.

November already

It's November already.  Wow.  Where did the past few months go?  Apparently they were consumed by moving, getting settled, being pregnant, and just life in general.  Halloween always feels like the start of the holiday season to me, so with that out of the way I guess we are heading full speed toward the holidays.  How exciting!

Landon had a blast trick-or-treating last night.  As suspected, he was a bit shy about actually saying anything to the people who opened doors but he did exclaim joyfully after most houses, "Candies!" while peering into his bucket to see his new loot.  He didn't get too much candy, which was great by us, and seemed to prefer suckers over most other things.  Now we just need to keep him from trying to go around the neighborhood every day asking for candy.  

Tyson let me sleep in this morning until 9:30 am (whoohoo!) and I am hoping to go knit today at a knit group too.  I have a sweater for Landon I need to finish, but I am not sure how to go about some of the seams.  Surely a yarn store owner can help, right?  All in all, it should be a great day.  I am going to go get ready now, before the calm house is disrupted by my guys coming home from Grammy and Papa's house.