Busy Day

Today has been kind of tiring, so just a few pictures.

Nicholas Daniel Pearson

Nicholas was born at home Monday morning. Labor and birth weren't easy, but there was nothing really unexpected, except his size. We weighed him at the pediatrician later that morning and he weighed in at 9 lbs 14 oz. I could tell he was bigger than his brother was (8lbs 6oz) as soon as I picked him up. At least now I know why I was having so much trouble walking at the end of pregnancy. He is a very calm baby so far. He usually has a couple of times during the day while he is contented to just look around and take in his world ending with a little fussiness. Otherwise, there has been a lot of eating and sleeping. Thanks to my parents we were able to have a restful first few days and we are starting to ease our way back into our routine. My parents left this morning, Tim went back to work, and I get to take Andrew to preschool by myself tomorrow. Andrew loves school, and is looking forward to showing off his new brother. Andrew seems to be adjusting well. He has been a little antsy with the excitement, but he has been very helpful too, like Wednesday on the way to preschool. Nicholas started crying and Andrew gave him his pacifier and sang him rock a bye baby and the abcs. By the time we reached school, Nicholas was fast asleep. I will post pictures tomorrow, but for now you can check out our website.

You can go now

Tonight we visited Andrew's preschool. I was sitting on the floor and playing with him when he looked up and told me "you can go now". I explained that tonight we were just visiting and I would be dropping him off on Monday and leaving then. He was pretty disappointed. He also didn't like it that we only stayed for about 30 minutes, since he has been looking forward to school all summer. We would have stayed longer, but just standing and watching the kids play got kind of uncomfortable. I have no doubts that he is ready for school.

I finally got the snaps on the newborn diapers I was making. I now have six newborn diapers to go with the previously mentioned stash. They are all knits, so maybe they will stretch enough to get a couple weeks of use out of them.

After applying the snaps I noticed something.

Obviously, although the file cabinet is a very convenient place to apply snaps, being right next to my sewing machine and serger, it isn't quite up to the task. I don't feel too bad since the cabinet already has a drawer that doesn't work too well, and I could probably push the dent back out. I guess I need to find another place for my snap press. While I was at my sewing area I turned a bunch of fabric scraps into wipes. I spent about an hour a few days ago cutting scraps from diaper fabric into 8 by 8 squares and about 30 minutes tonight making those squares into 16 wipes. With the five we already have, we should have plenty wipes. I just think it is cool to be able to make something useful from fabric that would otherwise have been thrown away.

I also have been doing some knitting. I have a pair of socks for Andrew that are close to done. I do have more yarn. It is left over from socks I made my mom. With the other ball I have, I could probably finish these socks and make socks for the baby. Once again, a chance to use up leftovers, especially with projects that go quickly. Andrew loves hand knit socks too. After I finished the first I gave it to him and he immediately took of his socks and put the wool one on. He ran around with one wool sock and one bare foot for a while. Eventually, he put one of his other socks on the bare foot and wore unmatching socks for the rest of the day. I am also working on the Faux Russian Stole from A Gathering of Lace, but unfortunately not getting very far. I seem to be having difficulties with counting, as well as reading and following directions.

Finally, a couple fun pictures. Andrew wanted his picture taken, but didn't. So, peek-a-boo!

30,000 - 50,000 Scoville Units

Just how hot is a cayenne pepper? Why don't you ask Andrew. When we were weeding and working out in the yard yesterday we picked some peppers from the garden. Some happened to be cayenne peppers. I warned him that they were very spicy. After that, he decided to ask Daddy if he wanted to try a pepper. Daddy said no, so he decided to try it. He took a bite, spit it out and told us he needed some water. Tim said that water wouldn't help much and Andrew got pretty worried. They went inside and after some juice, bread, and chocolate covered blueberries he was feeling much better.

Now for promised pictures of finished projects.

3-6 month Cardigan in Galway. Knit top down with cables at the raglan increases and seed stitch borders.

A close up of the buttons

Soaker pants knit almost to match. Unfortunately, I have the cables twisted in the opposite way from the sweater. The pants are knit from my own pattern with short rows in the back and a gusset in the crotch.

Blue Garter knit sweater with little bear buttons. The button hole spacing is a little funky, but not a big deal. Stay-on booties knit match. I altered the bootie pattern to use worsted weight yarn instead of the called for sport weight. The hat was knit in the round with an i-cord top.

Finally, finished newborn crawling booties.