Finally over...

I am so glad that April 28th is finally over! What a terrible day from start to finish... It was just nutso at work with crazy deliveries and terrible looking strips that just make my stomach ache thinking about them. Plus we've had all this scheduling cr*p that is so wearing I was about ready to quit. According to management we are adequately staffed but the feeling among those of us that work here night after night is a little different. Today was the first day that I seriously considered looking for a new job! But it's April 29th now, the babies are all here safetly, and it's a new day so here's hoping today is brighter and better than yesterday. Plus I get to watch the Royal Wedding so there's some nice happy fluff to lift my spirits!

Yarn Along

Not much knitting going on this week I'm sad to say! This is all I have accomplished on the hat to match the blue sweater (which I finally finished and posted about here). My plan was whip it out but then I had to work all weekend and we were very busy at work so I had no chance to knit at all on my breaks. Then Monday and Tuesday things just totally got away from me and tonight I have to work again...so again not much knitting going on! I want to get this hat finished so I can start on Xander's birthday present. I figure I still have a month before his birthday but it might take me that long to get it done! Reading-wise I am trying to get going on studying for the IBCLC exam. July 25th is the date and I only get reimbursed if I pass- so I need to get cracking on the studying. Plus it will be great to have my certification.

Monday I managed to get my closet cleaned out and that is about it! I fell asleep with Xander at 8:00- but seeing as I worked Sun night and only slept about 4 hours I figure that isn't such a bad thing. Tuesday I was just tired all day. Connor and my Mom came for a visit so the boys had a blast playing with him. We tired out the sidewalk chalk and I finally broke into the paints that I got them. I am SO glad that we waited for that to be an outside activity when there were 3 adults present b/c boy was that a mess! Fun but extremely messy. I think James had more paint on him than the paper. We had a lovely dinner of homegrown steak and then we went out for ice cream. It was once we got back that things went downhill! Xander had locked James' room and then shut the door- luckily while no one was in the room b/c we don't have a key to that room. Frank thought he could jimmy the lock open but then couldn't and he finally had to take the door frame off to get the lock open. Needless to say that took awhile so I tried to get James to sleep in our room but he would not fall asleep. Finally at midnight I just tossed him in his crib and said good-night. I don't know how long he cried for but he finally fell asleep. Then at 4:30am he was up again. I put him back down but he was up again at 5:30-6ish. Frank got him to go back down then but we were both pretty wiped. Then as Frank as getting ready for work he let the dogs in the house only to find out that Cassie got into a fight with a rat (who lost BTW..) but in the process got her ear sliced open at the tip so she bled all over the front step and the sun room. We got her washed up and bandaged and she promptly shook the bandage right off her ear and bled all over the couch! So that meant a trip to the vet who glued her ear and bandaged her up and gave her a rabies booster. Of course she had that bandage off before we even got home and then bled all over my car! I re bandaged her once we got home and now that we have been at home she has kept that one on. Hopefully we can keep it on her long enough to get her ear to stop bleeding every time she shakes her head. So needless to say I didn't get much sleep today- we'll see how tonight at work goes!

Happy Easter!

Or should I say Happy White Easter b/c yesterday it decided to snow at our house! I was driving home from work yesterday morning and it was really cold and gloomy and rainy and as I drove up the hill to the house the rain turned to snow! It was kinda wild. It snowed all morning and then turned back to rain in the afternoon but when I left for work we had snow at home still but there was nothing in Keene at all. Weird...

Every year I swear to myself that I am not going to go overboard on Easter Baskets for the kids b/c Easter isn't really about the Easter Bunny - you know like Christmas isn't really about presents under the tree- it's about celebrating the life of Christ, the joy of his sacrifice for mankind and the miracle of his resurrection. Heck we've spent the last 40 days of Lent preparing for this moment and yet somehow I always go overboard on the baskets. Easter has really snuck up on me this year. I don't feel like I have truly and properly used this Lenten season as it is meant to be used, i.e self-denial. And somehow I managed to have to work Thur-Sun of Holy Week so this Holy Week has been a bit strange for our family. Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are 2 of my favorite masses of the year. I did make it to Ash Wednesday this year but somehow I feel like I have been cheated out of some of the joy of the Easter Season by my being unable to attend a single mass of Holy Week- well we did go to Palm Sunday mass (another favorite) but somehow that one never really seems to be part of Holy Week in my mind. Frank took the boys to Good Friday Mass and told me all about it. Normally during weekly mass we have developed this tradition after communion of taking a small side trip into the chapel to "visit with Jesus". Our church has a chapel off the altar with a statue of Jesus lying after he has been taken down from the Cross following his Crucifixion. Since he was old enough to walk Xander likes to go into this chapel and stand on the knee rail and "visit" Jesus. So we go and visit after communion on Sundays. So during the Good Friday mass and veneration of the cross, Frank asked Xander if he wanted to kiss Jesus and he did! Frank showed him how he did it and Xander went ahead and kissed the cross and I missed it! I was so sad that I missed it but I'm happy that Xander is showing such an interest. I keep hoping if he is more interest in the ritual of the mass he will sit slightly more still during mass!


Anyway back to where I began- going overboard on Easter Baskets- somehow I think that this year it happened b/c I was feeling sad and guilty about not being able to take part in Holy Week with Frank and the boys. So I played Easter bunny instead! We'll open their baskets when I get home from work and in their baskets this year they have several books about Easter from their Grandma and Grandpa and Godparents so we'll be able to read those and I got them some new Bible coloring books to hopefully keep them occupied during mass but they are also getting plenty of new toys and even a little candy. Every Easter Basket needs a chocolate bunny after all! Frank's basket is strictly cansy so I guess I will need to keep myself away from that or else I won't be happy with my weigh-in this week. I had some other things too that I figured I will save for Xander's birthday...now I just have to save myself from going overboard on that! I guess I need to pray for self-control...

Weight Watchers update

So despite Longhorn and a birthday party this weekend I actually lost .8lbs this week! I am so excited that I didn't gain. Lessons learned this week: this is going to be harder than I thought! I was so good the first week that I thought- I am going to do this and it's going work and it's not going to be that hard. WRONG! It was hard this week. I really fell back into poor eating habits frighteningly easily. I really have to keep track of every single thing that goes into my mouth. I really need to look up points before I eat something b/c you'd be amazed how bad somethings are for you. I mean cake, ice cream, etc ok I get it but did you know that 1 oz of sunflower seeds is 7 points?!?!??! That's whole meal- for sunflower seeds! realize now that I actually do better at work than at home. I guess b/c at work I am very consious of what goes into my lunch box and I am really good about drinking tons of water but at home it's just me and the boys. They eat ALL day long and i find myself snacking along with them- not good. So I ahve to fight this battle of wanting them to eat but not being able to eat along with them. I guess they need to be eating healthy snacks so we can just have healthy snacks together but boy do those graham crackers look good! Total weight lost- 4lbs in 2 weeks.

Videos from Playtown

The Great Race- these little cars held James' attention for quite awhile back and forth and back and forth. Xander wasn't quite as interested but we got them together long enough for a race!

After his 100th or so time down the slide Xander discovered he could literally fling himself off the edge at the top and then tumble the rest of the way down without getting hurt! This isn't the best video but you get the idea! It was pretty hilarious. Getting him off the slide was less so...

Again I am not sure who was having more fun- Frank or the boys. All in all it was great fun!

It's finished!!!!!!!

So first off please excuse the messiness in the background- too much knitting, not enough cleaning! Second off please excuse the lack of pants- I'm only fighting one battle at a time in regards to clothing my almost 3 yr old. Third off please excuse the insane number of pictures but I am so excited to finally have finished this sweater! And guess what- It fits PERFECTLY! It's not a great sweater for layering over many other items b/c it fits pretty close but it will be perfect for the summer over a bathing suit or t-shirt when he gets cold. The sleeves are a bit snug so I would make them wider if I made this sweater again. Xander has skinny arms so it isn't a big deal for him but even with his skinniness this wouldn't fit well over a long sleeve shirt b/c the sleeves are so narrow. Then again it is a lightweight cotton sweater so it isn't really designed to be worn with long sleeves. I like the narrow sleeves to a point because then they don't drag in his food at dinner but you could only wear this as a shirt or over a short sleeved shirt. The yarn is so soft that Xander is wearing it as a shirt right now and loving it. He said, "I like that!" He also likes the dump truck buttons! In fact I tried to get him to try it on before I sewed the buttons on and he was not having any of it but as soon as I whipped at the truck buttons boy did his tune change! It's amazing how 3 buttons can totally change a sweater's wearability factor for a 3 yr old! And mommy likes the fact that she got those buttons on a whim (with no project in mind) from the dollar bin at the yarn shop and they are perfect for this sweater.

So I made some other alterations to make this fit Xander better- the sleeves are a good 2 in longer than the pattern called for and I increased the length also by at least 2 inches but adding several extras rows of pattern. I also added 4 rows of garter stitch at the left shoulder on the back side to give me more room to place the buttons and to make more of an overlapping panel. I had to do that darn buttonhole row probably 4 times before I got it right and then I ripped it out again to make the front longer after ripping about about half the back. The joys though of making it yourself! I used Knitpicks Comfy worsted, which is just the softest stuff ever, in celestial and the color is simply amazing on Xander. I knew it was going to be a great color for him and really bring out the blue in his eyes but it looks just awesome. I almost went with a darker, more muted blue and I am so glad that I didn't because the celestial is perfect. I knit the whole thing with almost exactly 3 skeins. If I hadn't gone ahead and made it a bit bigger I would have been able to make ti out of three but I am glad I hate the extra because I still have plenty for the hat and maybe even enough for a hat for James too. Overall, despite more frogging and re-knitting that I would like to discuss, I am really pleased with how this turned out. Now onto the hat...

Yarn Along

So I continue to Yarn Along with Ginny at Small Things. This week has been focused on finishing the blue sweater. Well actually I pit stopped by the Bel Cloche for Reba which came out super cute! I had some toruble with the increases at the crown it ended up size wise between a lg and an XL, which I didn't think was going to be excessively problematic until I blocked it and it blocked out HUGE! Well bigger than I would like but still wearable...although when I do this pattern again (b/c I will it was cute, cute, cute...) I will be sure to get the correct number of increases and only make a Lg size. I also ended up goofing a little on the length of the hat overall- apparently I was having a hard time following directions on this one despite it being very nicely written- well really I should have made better use of the row counter but I was being lazy. I kept thinking it was going to be too small so I figured I'd add some extra length and with the slightly larger # of stitches it would all work out...and then it ended up being a bit big.... oh well. Lessons learned! I was really surprised though at how much bigger it seemed once I blocked it?!?!?!?

Back to the blue sweater I did end up frogging all of the patterned section on the back and redoing it. I just knew it would bug me forever that the pattern was reversed. Also it allowed me to add some length by adding some extra sections of pattern, which meant that I had to rip out some of the front too to add more pattern to match but now all the frogging and reknitting is done and all that is left is the seaming. I seamed the right side already. I have never seamed a whole garment before-even a toddler size one and boy am I not enjoying it. I think I will stick with knitting in the round as much as possible! So then as I started to seam the left side I realized that I really needed to add some extra length to the back shoulder to give me a place to put the buttons on. Otherwise I feel like it will pull excessively on that side. So I am adding on a few rows there and then I will get the rest of the seaming done and then I can start on the hat!!!! I really need to learn to knit quicker!

As for reading I have been catching up on my parenting magazine for this month and the knitting book was so I could learn how to seam. I actually love this book b/c it has tons and tons of pictures of all differnet techniques and different kinds of stitches. I am a really visual person so having the photo to look at really helps me figure out how my stitches are supposed to be. This book and KnittingHelp.com have been my saving graces. My weight watchers journey continues with the cook book. I realized this week how easy it was to fall back into bad eating patterns. I was so bad this weekend without even realizing it. I thought I was being good and I'd look up the food values afterwards and discover that the foods I thought were ok really have a lot of hidden sugars and fats. Did you know that Chocolate Stampede from Longhorn has over 2000 calories in what they call 2 servings? uugh- good thing we brought it home and it took me 4 days to eat my half. I don't expect to lose any weight this week but hopefully I won't gain too much and now I just have to focus on keeping on track.