We are now at 38 weeks

Thank you to everyone for the encouraging words and supportive comments. It helps.
Okay, I had breakfast at Soda Fountain Square with Toni and Alan today, then Alan and I went back to the house and played Katamari Damacy for a while. I love that game. Alan loves the part where the winner of the round gets to drop bottlecaps on the loser's head.
I attended the ARRG board meeting and left with my derby bag literally and figuratively empty. I am very confident that everything will be taken care of while I am out of commission. Now I just need to have the actual baby so I can get on with my life.
My sister has informed me that she will be coming to town next weekend for three days. I am so happy that Annie will be here, I almost don't care if the kid comes before or after her visit.
Kate will be arriving tomorrow night. I really feel like everything is falling into place.
I am almost finished with the Socks That Rock socks for me and plan to start immediately on the baby version as soon as they are done. I will put up pictures of the socks tomorrow.
Okay. I will now attempt, once again, to sleep.
Et, voila! For your derby enjoyment, the ARRG Season 2 Schedule!

Updates.

Since this is actually a knitting blog, or at least that's what I intended when I started it way back in 2005, here is the latest knitting progress. What you see here is my fourth completed segment of Lizard Ridge, and the skein of Kureyon I will begin on tonight. I am loving knitting this blanket. I had to take a hiatus for a few weeks while I recovered from the nasty abraded (abraised? braised?) cornea, but I am back on track and moving right along. I don't know if the blanket will be finished for the Sprout's arrival, but I am optimistic.
I am so glad that my eye has healed. My doctor ended up putting a contact lens in my left eye and leaving it in for five days. This helped the abrasion to heal (Doctor actually used the words "tissue knitting together") and protected the scratch from becoming irritated by my incessant blinking. I still have to put non-medicated drops in my eye three times a day to prevent this from happening again. I hope none of you ever has to go through something like this, and if you do, you have my sympathies. Tearing a ligament in my ankle was less painful and less of a pain in the behind. I am once again fully capable of reading, knitting, driving and emerging from the house during daylight hours.

Here's a new shot of Sweet V, with her Mama. They came to visit this week. V is laughing and smiling all the time now.
I cannot believe she is almost 4 months old. The changes she has made and growing she has done in such a short time is incredible. People always say "Oh, they grow so fast!" but it is true. I know the Sprout will be the same way once he or she gets here.

Speaking of Sprout, I wanted to share with you the adorable burp cloths Miss Enya Nightmare had made for me. Aren't they cute? I love that she had them trimmed in the league colors too. This baby is going to be such a spoiled derby baby.

And speaking of Derby Babies, here we have Prima Basherina and her daughter G. I've known Prima for years, all the way back to when she was a Ballerina, not a Basherina, and was called Bean. When she told me she was joining up I was so excited to have her back in my life I almost squeaked. I am so happy she is a part of the league and I love the fact that she brings her daughter to practice. We seem to be growing an entire crop of next-generation derby girls already. If you go to my myspace page and look under comments for the one Shortkick left on February 14th, you can read how she feels about the famous Hel-Kat. I love that our league is somewhere the skaters feel comfortable bringing their children and that the kids I know have the chance to see female athletes in such a positive and supportive environment.

Okay, that's it for now. I need to take a nap. Sprout kept me up half the night with the rolling and kicking and playing bongos on my bladder. Maybe this kid will be a drummer like his or her Nonna. Only 6 1/2 weeks to go!

New Sprout pictures!

We had our last ultrasound today, everything is fine. The baby is healthy and big and has a normal heartbeat and everything. Wanna See?
Check out the schnoz on that sucker! Definitely takes after Daddy in the nose department.

Last but not least, here's the "3-D" picture. The reason the baby's skin looks all wavy is because the texture of the interior of my uterus is showing up. Sorry. I couldn't help it.
That's all for now. Exterior photos will be featured in 8-10 weeks.

Knitting content only

To avoid jinxing the league, I will refrain from discussing my hopes and fears for our upcoming bout in Chicago.
To avoid grossing you out, gentle reader, I will avoid mentioning my continuing battle with eye disorders.
Because I am constantly being kicked from within, you all will understand that the sprout is healthy and growing.

On to knitting progress.

This is block #3 of Lizard Ridge in its finished glory. I started it at Knit Night at Knitorious. I had a great time, met some nice folks and plan on going back next week. Shanghai Lily and Gypsi Curse came with me, and maybe we can get Strawberry Shortkick to join us next week. If we can, I think we'll have all the knitters in the league with us. Rachel's head may explode.


Here is Lizard Ridge block #4, just started last night. This is the final ball of Kureyon I have in my possession. I may look for some other colors while I am in Chicago. There are two yarn stores I'd like to check out, but I'm reluctant to venture into uncharted territory, since I will be running the risk of encountering strange and beautiful new yarns that will want me to buy them and take them home with me. I am on a strict budget for this trip, and I really do not want to risk it.


Just for kicks and giggles, here are three small, plain hats all knit from one skein of Kara soysilk. I bought this yarn to make a new hat for Sweet V, but ended up with enough for V, her new cousin C and a tiny one for the sprout! What a good deal. Hats will be handed out soon to V and C.

Now back to the regularly scheduled laundry change outs and baggage packing routine.

Why me?

So it is official, I have pinkeye. It is itchy and gross. I'm a bit perplexed as to where it came from, no one I know has been infected recently, and I haven't been around any small children in a while. This just may be the way the winter cold that is going around has decided to manifest itself in me. If that's the case I'll just deal with it. I guess it could be worse, I could have the cough and sinus stuff that everyone else seems to have. My doctor recommend a boric acid wash and that seems to be helping. The itching goes down when I rinse, but I am still contagious. I am trying to get someone to work for me tonight. Okay, enough nasty health stuff. On to the good news.

I saw my obstetrician today, everything is fine with the sprout. Sprout has a strong heartbeat, is very active and kicked for the doctor, which is more than s/he will do for Daddy. Poor Matt, whenever he tries to feel the baby kick, sprout freezes and refuses to move until Matt takes his and away. It's almost comical. I'm sticking with the whole "You have such a calming effect on the baby!" line. I'm trying to be patient with this kid, but I'm sure it's even more frustrating for Matt. Oh well. What can you do?

Now for knitting content.

Here is my first Lizard Ridge square, rectangle, whatever. I'm using Kureyon color #40 for this one. I have fondled Noro yarns in the store before, I've even considered making a cardigan from one of their pattern books, but this is the first time I'm actually knitting with this yarn. I totally understand why everyone is so in love with it. The colors are amazing, the yarn is soft but not delicate feeling, and I think I actually knit faster because I am so excited to see which color is coming next.



The pattern calls for you to switch back and forth from the outside of the ball to the inside, which helps create those awesome color changes. I can't wait to see how this ends up, I'm pretty sure that each square is going to be a surprise.

As promised, photos galore!

Okay, lets get back on track, shall we? First , let's do Christmas.
It was a great year yarnwise for me. I got cash and gift certificates to Knitorious, my LYS. Take a look. Let's start with this Noro Kureyon. I bought three skiens for my beginning of Lizard Ridge, which I have been wanting to make for the sprout since I first saw it. I plan to get a skein or two at a time, and have the blanket finished before sprout's arrival. Let's see how that works out. I may be setting myself up for a crash and burn, but oh well. If I don't finish it before the sprout gets here I'll have something to work on during all those sleepless nights I'll be having.

Here is a skein of trekking xxl color 109. I'm calling it smoky heather, since trekking only numbers their colors. It is much more purply-grey than it looks on my monitor. This yarn is intended for socks for Mom. She picked it out, I just have to choose a pattern. I am open to suggestions. I was thinking something along the lines of Broadripple or the ubiqutious Jaywalkers. You know. Lacy, but not too lacy. She plans to wear them with her clogs and jeans. I love that my mom is planning an outfit around the potential of hand knit socks. I love that she is as excited about having hand knit socks as I am about making them. Mom, you are the kind of person a knitter loves to have around. I promise to make your socks by your birthday. (That gives me about five months, which I think is a fair goal, considering that in three months I'll be all busy with the whole breastfeeding routine.)

Here are two skiens of sock yarn, the blue colorway is Cherry Tree Hill's "Green Mountain Madness," the purple colorway is Bearfoot Mountain Colors (my favorite sock yarn) in "Wildflower." These are seen here posing with two of my other Christmas presents. I'm loving "I like you: Hospitality under the influence" by Amy Sedaris. I've been itching to try some of the recipes in this book, "Lemon Chess Tarts" in particular. The teapot belonged to my great grandmother. Aunt Darlene gave me the teapot, along with the family highchair for Christmas. I do not have a photo of the highchair. My mom is refinishing it. I am very excited about having this highchair. My Grandfather built the highchair before my Uncle Marty was born. By the time the sprout uses it, it will be seventy years old and have held, at least 17 children in the family, and countless others who stopped in for a bite. The teapot is considerably older, it sat on my great grandmother's kitchen table for as long as anyone can remember. I am lucky to have it. It will sit on my kitchen table now.

Here's my haul of knitting books from Christmas. I have been on a hat kick as of late, and quite a few friends and family members got either a hat or gloves or a set of hat and gloves from me. I am thrilled with the "Folk Hats" book and I actually plan to make the crazy Samurai Kabuto as soon as I can get Mattie to agree to wear it. When asked, he said "Um, oh wow. I'd wear it at some point." The itty-bitty hats book is chock full of cute baby hats, most of which I will be making asap. I figure between the sprout and all the other babies I know, there will be no cold heads in St. Louis next winter.
The Domiknitrix book was from the Ingley clan. Alan has asked for the mohawk hat already and there is a beautiful "Mod Coat" that I am really wanting to make, but I am balking at the prospect of shelling out the cash for 35 skeins of bulky weight merino yarn. I mean, it's the middle of January already and by the time I finished a merino coat, it would probably be August. I'm being realistic. Please understand that I still may make this coat. I did vow to refuse to go on a yarn diet in a public forum not too long ago.

Here's the sprout's haul from Christmas.
A super soft blanket from Grandma and Grandpa Thenhaus; the much coveted sushi outfit from Psychobaby, courtsey of Princess Anne; The Night Before Christmas with classic illustrations from Aunt Patti; finger puppets form Nonna and Buck; and a stuffed dog from the Hel-Kat. Not too shabby for someone who hasn't even been born yet. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of haul this kid is going to get once it is born. I realize that I am in for one spoiled child.

This is Penny the peanut, or, the dog formerly known as Dolly.
She is the same pug seen on the blog before, but now she is all plumped up. Annie is in love, and Miss Penny has managed to charm the entire family with her cuteness and snuggly tendencies. We were all sad to see her go when Annie took her back to Chicago. The reports I 've been getting state that she had become the ultimate city dog. I am working on a sweater for this city dog.
So that's all for now. Hope it can hold you over until I have more time.