Tired. Very tired.

I haven't been blogging lately, basically because the third trimester is exhausting. I guess I'm having a relatively easy pregnancy compared to many other women, but I can't help feeling exhausted and cranky after just a couple of errands.

I'll be 8 months along on New Year's Day, and that astonishes me. Baby? Here? In a month? Impossible! There's still a lot to do. I don't really have a place to put her clothes. The apartment is not baby-proofed, to say the least. It has a lot of work to be done. I wish I had more close friends that I could call and ask to help me with housework.

Ok, I've got to go figure out what's for dinner...

John and I went to Florida for 4 days, which was great. It was a family reunion for John. We left on Friday and came back Tuesday. For the first 3 nights, we stayed at a hotel in Bonita Springs -- Which was beautiful, by the way, I recommend it if you're staying nearby (The Hyatt Regency Coconut Point). We hung out at John's cousin's house on Friday & Saturday, and then Sunday was spent lounging around the pool (and I got a mani-pedi). Monday, we checked out of the hotel and had lunch with lots of family, and then Doug (John's brother) drove us to his home in the East part of Florida. The drive was nice, we went through the Everglades and saw a whole bunch of alligators! We spent the final night at Doug's house and then went home on Tuesday. The weather was SO nice in Florida, high 70's - low 80's, and windy. Luckily when we got home on Tuesday, the NYC weather was relatively mild, so it wasn't too big of a shock.

I brought my camera to Florida but completely failed to take a single picture. I am bad.

John took the whole week off so we could get some work done on the apartment -- Get it ready for the baby by getting things organized, putting shelves up, etc. WELL... Not a lot has been accomplished. Yesterday, nothing was done. Today, work started around noon, and I helped him a little with mounting shelves. Unfortunately, before much was accomplished, the level fell on my head. SMACK in the middle of my forehead. It hurt like hell and that was it for me. I got a little weepy and wasn't about to keep working. After John comforted me a bit, he finished the task at hand and then stopped. So his office and the hallway are now cluttered because everything's in mid-project. It's not looking like we will get much accomplished, because this weekend will be devoted to birthing classes.

February baby

So I went to my new midwife yesterday, and she changed my due date -- It's February 1. I suppose now that I have a February baby, I should make the "February Baby" sweater! Maybe I'll wait and see if she comes on time...

This is me yesterday. As of today, I am now exactly 25 weeks along.



I still have to finish off the purple & white striped cardigan for Gwen. It shouldn't be taking me so long, it's not as if it's difficult or anything... I just keep putting off the finishing. All I have to do now is make the second button band, and then get buttons for it! I think I'll make a date with Abby to go to M&J Trimmings together for the buttons, so I have a deadline.

Kung-Fu Baby!

Gwen has been kicking up a storm tonight. Right now she's kicking me like crazy. It's not like any other feeling, I don't know how I would explain it to someone who's never been pregnant.

I can't really believe I'm already 5 months pregnant. It seems like it's been flying by. I suppose that by 8 months along, I might not feel the same way! But right now I'm enjoying being pregnant, other than being tired a lot of the time. It's exciting to feel her kick, and I like watching my belly grow (although the stretch marks aren't attractive). I'm still enjoying the novelty of all of it!

I love that it's getting cool out, and I've been wearing a cozy sweater for the past couple days. It has a faux fur hood that is great to snuggle against.

You know it's time for knitting when I say it's knitting time!

So, I'm happy to say that the Brooklyn Birthing Center seemed really nice. I went on a tour there yesterday, and I was pleasantly surprised at how homey it was. I have my first appointment there 2 weeks from Friday.

I'm almost done knitting the turtle that I started 2 months ago. I stopped working on it for a while, because I started to hate the i-cord edging that I had to do. But I picked it up the other day and it was like "What's the big deal?" It was easy. So now I just need to attach the legs and embroider some eyes onto it, and voila! I will have a Sheldon for Gwendolyn. I'm sure she'll come up with a cute name for him.

Then I'll work on the little cardigan for Gwen. It's so cute and simple, I don't know why I've been procrastinating working on it. It's purple & white striped. I can't wait to pick out some adorable buttons for it...

Feeling depressed

I am so frustrated, trying to find a good doctor or midwife. I attempted to switch to a different place today, recommended by an internet buddy, and I wasn't very happy. I really should have done more research on the place first. First of all, the practice has 4 doctors, and 3 of them are men. I should have THOUGHT about this and realized that I'm not comfortable with a male doctor. I've never had one before, and I just felt funny having one touch me.

The appointment wasn't bad per se, it just didn't leave me feeling confident or compatible with the doctor. And since any of the 4 doctors could show up at my delivery, it's impossible to know what it will be like.

F@$%ing pregnancy hormones are getting me so emotional about this. I cried after leaving the appointment. There are SO many choices involved in having a baby. Which doctor, which crib, which baby carrier, which birthing method, midwife or doctor, the pacifier debate, etcetera, etcera. And since I have no job or anything else (other than knitting) to focus on, I feel extra overwhelmed. I NEED SOMETHING ELSE TO FOCUS ON!

I am so frustrated with my own lack of ambition. I'll think "Okay, I'll join a chorus" or "I'll take a photography class" or various other possibilities, and I never follow through. On the rare occasion that I do follow through, I usually do a half-assed job. God... I worry I'm not going to be a good mom with this attitude.

Oops.

I kind of forgot about my blog for a while there! A lot has happened in the past few months. We moved. I got laid off. But between those two events...



We're having a baby! I am now 19 weeks and 3 days along. It's a girl (SQUEEE!) and her name shall be Gwendolyn Mae. She's due January 30th, and I can't wait.

When we first found out, we were a little freaked out (John especially), since she wasn't planned, and we're living in a pretty small apartment... But after a few weeks, it got more exciting, and it's brought us closer together. I actually feel like we're falling more in love (as corny as that sounds), now that we're going to have a family. It's so incredible. I'm very happy.

Feeling like crap. Not enough time/room to explain. Can't I just get paid to knit for a living? BLEH.

This is a test. I'm trying to blog from my cell. I'll be very happy if this works. I haven't blogged much lately, mostly due to the new job. Trying to squeeze in knitting, socializing, and (ugh) packing when I can! More later!

Ow... OW!

Well, when my cat hurts, I hurt. Literally. I'm not 100% sure what just happened because it happened so fast, but I think Tasty Paws must have been sitting right behind me, and I didn't see him, because I stepped on his tail (or maybe his paw, I didn't even see him there) and suddenly lots of claws were sunk into my calf. I hollered some curses and he went running at top speed in the back room. Once I got over the initial pain, I followed him, and he immediately tore down to the basement. Now he's hiding and I can't even see if he's okay until he decides to show his face. Little freak! I hope he's okay...

Also, we have another new cat living in our bathroom. She'll need a new home by the end of the month, because we're MOVING!!! We sign the lease tomorrow! It's a very pretty 2 1/2 bedroom in Sunset Park. I'll post pictures when we move in May.

Ch-ch-ch-changes...

Things have been very busy for me lately. I got a job about 3 weeks ago (I started March 17, I think) and now I have very little time to blog and go on Ravelry and worst yet, knit. I don't know how I'm going to get my grandmother's shawl done for her birthday. I guess I'll keep plugging away and try to to work on it more than I'm working on my swap gift -- Which is due a week or so after Grandma's birthday. But it's a much simpler pattern, and it's fun for subway knitting.

John and I are apartment hunting again, this time much more seriously. I think we may have found our new place. I'm going to look at one more apartment tomorrow after work, and then unless it's a real contender, I think we'll take this place in Sunset Park that's a short walk to my job!

Good Ears

I guess I have good hearing... I'm turning 27 soon but I passed this test (supposedly only people under 25 can hear it). I guess the real test is to try it again in 5-10 years!

Created by Train Horns

(Warning: If you can hear it, it's about as teeth-grinding as nails on a chalkboard... To me, anyway)...

Achy breaky head...

My head is killing me. A nice woman from my knitting group (Hi Penelope!) drove me to the subway station after the group let out, and as I was getting out of her car, I bashed my head on the top of the car. It still hurts, 2 hours later. That's not so good. I mean, it's not bad enough to be a concussion, but I kind of feel like I lost a few IQ points.

We found a home for Ralph, the new cat from the street! My mom's friend Ellen is taking him in on Friday for a "trial run", but I think it's likely that she'll keep him permanently. He's a pretty sweet little cat.

Go, go, gooooo team!

I've been feeling oddly motivated lately. I finally worked out on the Wii Fit yesterday (first time in you don't want to know how long) for an hour, and my biceps are killing me today from the boxing! I'll do it again today but I'll probably lay off the boxing, or at least do very, very little.

Guess what? John and I took in ANOTHER cat last night! Yup, this is what now... the 4th time? Well, the 4th time we've taken a cat in from the street to stay with us for a while until we find it a home. There have been a good 6-7 cats that we've rehomed, but some were ours for a while... John took in Opal off the street almost 2 years ago, and then she gave birth to 4 little kittens, and we found homes for 3 of them. And Opal belongs to John's Mom now. But we still have the 4th kitten, Tasty Paws! Anyway -- This is a picture of the new cat. He's still pretty dirty but he's been cleaning himself up.



He's VERY affectionate.

Organizing My Yarn

Yesterday I realized that my yarn is getting out of control. 5 good-sized boxes and I don't know where a lot of stuff is! Once Michael's stuff is gone, I'm going to use the closet in his old room to really organize my yarn in an attractive way. But for now, I'll settle for having it organized within the boxes.



I have these 4 boxes, plus a cardboard one in another room. See how the balls of yarn are loose inside the boxes, not within bags or anything? It was chaos.

So now, I organized all the yarn into bags as follows:

Green Fabric Box:
All needles, accessories, etc. (Everything that’s not yarn), plus Araucania Ranco Solid in purple (to be used for Grandma's shawl)

Medium Plastic Box:
Bag #1: SWTC, Rowan, Debbie Bliss, Plymouth, Sunshine Yarns, Brooks Farm
Bag #2: Lion Brand Cotton-Ease
Bag #3: All other Lion Brand, All Lily dishcloth cotton
Bag #4: All sock yarn - Lorna’s Laces, Lulubeans, etc

Large Plastic Box #1:
All Cascade (except destash)
All Brown Sheep
All Patons
Bag of unknown partial skeins (I think most are Knitpicks WotA)

Large Plastic Box #2:
Bottom bags: All DESTASH (For Trade/Sell)
Top bags: Weird Lithuanian yarn, ALL ALPACA bag

Cardboard box:
Yarn that still needs to be photographed
Bag #5: Malabrigo Worsted & Lace, Jaggerspun Lace, Blue Moon lace, Jojoland Harmony, GGH Magica & Bel Air
Bag X (small): Noro Kureyon, Berroco Jasper, Araucania Pomaire in teal
Araucania Bag: Araucania Pomaire in pink/orange (sweater quantity)

It's all back in the boxes, but it's much more organized now. And I have all my stash on Ravelry marked where it is! Now it will be a million times more easy to remember where all my yarn is!

Word play

Stolen from WendyKnits:

Use the first letter of your name to find a word for each of the following:

Your Name - Lulu
Four letter word - Luck
Boy name - Lawrence
Girl name - Linda
Occupation - Lyricist
Color - Lilac
Beverage - Lemonade
Something found in a bathroom - Loo
A Place - Las Vegas
Reason for being late - Lost on the way
Food - Limes
Something you shout - Look behind you!

Lazybones

I'm in that mellow, laaaazy state where I know I should be running errands, but I really don't want to go back out into the cold. I really should get juice and seltzer before John gets home, and I should also bring his coat back to the tailor's, because when they sewed a button back on, they sewed right through the pocket. Morons.

But instead, I'm sitting here being lazy. Forget the coat, I'll deal with it tomorrow. Ughhh... Don't wanna go into the cold again. But I know John will get all grumpy if he gets home and there's nothing to drink.

Ok, ok, here I go.

"Care for a little necrophilia?"

Poor John has been sick for days. It looks like strep throat or something along those lines, but his ears are also filled with fluid. He got antibiotics yesterday but he took today off, and I'm sure he'll take tomorrow off, too. It's a bit of a shame since tomorrow he'd get time & a half for MLK Jr. Day. Oh well.

I finally organized my circular needles today! I've been planning on it for months. I got these expanding file pockets in... October, I think!



The insides:




...Now I just have to tackle my yarn stash. That's a MUCH bigger job, and Michael's closet has to be emptied first. Stupid boy hasn't moved all of his stuff out yet, and he's impossible to get a hold of. Hopefully next weekend, John and I will go to Long Island, and then we can just drag it all out to him. Even though he should really do it himself, I'm anxious to have that closet free, so we'll just have to cram all his stuff in the car for him! Oh well.

Happy Anniversary

Today is the 3rd anniversary of John's and my first date. (I know that's wrong grammatically but I'm not sure how to correct it). We went out on a nice dinner last night since he won't be able to go out tonight. It was fun, we went to one of our favorite restaurants, Chez Oskar. The only downside was that his veal was too salty and a lot of my mussels were missing their meat! But it was okay, they comped his veal and gave us a free dessert.

I was just reading about Nikola Tesla, this bizarre physicist from the late 19th century/early 20th century. I couldn't remember what a Tesla Coil was, so I Wiki'ed it... And now I'm fascinated by this guy. He was a crazy genius. I never took Physics in high school or college, but I understand the basic concepts, and I find it really fascinating when I read about it.

Hmm... Another possible idea of what to study if/when I go back to school. John told me about this college in London called Huron University that takes lots of transfer students that he went to for a semester in high school. It might be a fun opportunity to visit London and try to go back to college. MAYBE.....

Project 365

I've got a new blog over on Wordpress for Project 365. It's exclusively for photos, so it doesn't mean I won't post here anymore. Here is my Project 365 blog: luluproject365.wordpress.com.

For more information on what Project 365 is, check this site out.

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year, everyone!

New Year's Eve was a really fun, crazed night. I paid the consequences the next day for too much drinking fun, though... Ooof, I'm never doing that again.

I'm in Long Island for the week, cat-sitting for Brenda. I'm getting a lot of knitting done. Today I nearly finished this piece of cherry pie! I can't completely finish it, though, because the toy stuffing is back at home, and I have to stuff it before I finish sewing it up. Here's a picture of it nearly complete, though:



I also started on a scarf for myself, Midwest Moonlight (Ravelry link) from the book Scarf Style. At first I was cranky with all the careful row counting, but I'm starting to like the look of it.