It's over!!!!!

My IBCLE is finally behind me- whooo! I celebrated this morning by going to a chocolate factory- he he he! It went fairly well. It wasn't as hard as I was expecting and while I by no means aced it I think I did ok. I won't find out whether I passed or not till the end of October so for the time being I am just putting it behind me!

I did finish up a bit early yesterday afternoon so I went to the Vermont Teddy Bear Company. I took the factory tour which was interesting despite the absolutely terrible tour guide. Then I splurged and got the boys each a bear. They have a lifetime warranty so they can trash the heck out of them! Xander got a honey bear with blue eyes and a blue bow tie and James got a black bear with brown eyes and a red bow tie. I may save them for their Christmas presents though- or maybe James' birthday.... Then I met Frank back at the hotel and we headed over to Sam Mazza's for a picnic dinner with people from Frank's conference. It was fun- good food and good conversation what more could you want!

This morning I slept in a bit- till 8:30! and then I went to the Lake Champlain Chocolate Factory Store. This stuff was to die for. It is really good chocolate and b/c I went on the factory tour I got plenty of free samples!!!! What a nice way to start the day. Now I am back at the hotel getting some stuff together so I can meet up with one of my fellow divas. So I better get my stuff together before she gets here!!!

Freaking out!

So I am taking my IBCLE examination tomorrow. I was totally freaking out, even had terrible nightmares lasr night, but I have done a bunch of practice questions today and I am feeling more confident now. We drove up to Burlington today and Frank registered for his conference. We attended the welcome reception and then I made Frank drive the route to the parking lot for the exam and walk up to the exam building with me so I know exactly where I am going. I got a salad to take with me for lunch and I ordered a room service breakfast- so at least my brain will be well fed. I should probably not drink too much coffee though or I;ll have to pee every 5 minutes! And now I am going to bed to get a good night's sleep. Wish me luck.... we'll find out if I passed in OCTOBER- ugh!

Yarn Along

Only two weeks left to go until I sit for my IBCLC examination. I have no idea where the last month went but I know that I sadly lacked in the studying department. I am making every effort to start cramming as much knowledge of the biologic and immunologic factors of human breastmilk into my brain but I am afraid I am woefully underprepared. I'd so much rather be knitting than studying (and so I have been....). Anyway I must really crack down on the studying the next two weeks... the countdown to July 25th has truly begun.

Even amongst the studying I have been knitting. I finished the bloomers that I was making and now need to find time to make the matching leg warmers (maybe after the 25th). I have also been working on the blanket that I started a while back but there are times when that project leads me straight to knitting hell! I cannot do anything else while working on it b/c then I make a mistake and it takes me hours to fix it! Ugh.. at least now I know that I need to really pay attention to what I am doing. I started on a pair of baby socks just because but I have only knit 2 rows so I have a way to go there... hopefully I will have time to either finish the socks or the blanket before the fair. Deadline for fair submissions is August 1st!

It's going to be a busy few weeks.

Edited to add: the bloomers are from Carina Spencer's convertible baby bloomers. You can find the pattern here and my rav notes here. I made the bloomers to go with the owlie vest and hat from last week's yarn along.

Yarn Along

 So the knitting continues.... I finished up the Nb milo vest and made a hat to match using this pattern. It's actually a slightly different owl cable from the vest but I haven't decided which one I like better yet.  They aren't really wildly different.  I also started on a pair of booties from this pattern. These are the cutest things in the world.  I actually started them last week but then I ran out of yarn so I had to get some more....shucks an excuse to buy more yarn! The dye lots weren't the same b/c it's malabrigo but you'd never be able to tell that I changed yarn in the middle. I think these booties go very well with the milo b/c of the garter stitch but they are way too bog for a nb, then again so is the hat really so really the whole outfit is coming out more of the 3 month variety. I got some yarn to make some longies so that is next on the list and I started a baby blanket that will probably cause me to tear out a lot of my hair.  It's a lace pattern and while none of the stitches are hard to do keeping track of where you are in the pattern is a full time job!

These are the first projects that I have made that aren't really "for" someone so it's kind of a weird feeling.  People keep asking me who they are for and look at me slightly strangely when I say I don't know! So I guess I'll say they are for me! They are patterns that I wanted to try out and looking cute and fun and I'll figure out someone to give them to eventually. Maybe this is selfish of me but I only like to give handmade gifts to people who I know are going to actually appreciate the time and energy and thought that I put into making them.  And who will actually use it!

I worked all weekend and it was not a crazy madhouse so that was a welcome change from the previous 2 weeks.  We'll see what this week brings as I have to work again tonight and tomorrow and we had 3 c-sections scheduled. So I missed most of the 4th celebrations- didn't get to see any fireworks this year.  Frank took the boys to the big neighborhood bash and Xander told me many stories of the bouncy house and eating snow cones and Monday night asked to go to the party again so it must have been a hit! No pictures though b/c well...it's Frank. I didn't work the night of the 4th so we putz around the house, worked in the garden (trying to get it in a shape to plant something in....), and started digging post holes for the berry/grape trellises we have had planned for years.  We got one post dug and set and then it really looked like rain so we decided not to dig the next hole b/c it seemed silly to dig a hole just to have it fill up with water. So not your average 4th but a very enjoyable evening in all.

Yesterday I took the boys to the beach again.  My co-worker J and her daughter B who is 6 days older than James came and met us and so did my mother. And Frank came and had lunch with us. Unfortunately I didn't realize until Frank came that the loaf of bread that I brought had a good portion of mold on it so he didn't really get the nicest lunch ever! Somehow I manged to get slightly sunburned on my back again.... but despite that it was a lovely lazy day.  The boys played and swam and even took naps right there on the beach. We had PB&J and played on the playground and swam some more.  When it was all said and done we went to Longhorn for dinner- yum!  We were there from about 10:30 in the morning till about 5pm.  I always think about going to the beach in the morning but we have may have to go sometime in the afternoon after nap time.  I forget that the sun is up till 9 pm these days so there is plenty of time to do things after napping!  Again no pictures but this time b/c I forgot to even bring the camera! We have no plans for the weekend so we'll probably send some more lazy days around the house and at the beach- well there is too much work to be done around the house for it to truly be lazy but maybe peaceful is a better way to describe it.