The Handmade Dress

I LOVE THIS!!! We have been having the best time the last few days! It's so much fun! Last night we went window shopping at the mall and ate Cindy's Cinnamon Rolls. I've been able to get out of the house almost everyday. Friday night we went grocery shopping, who knew that could be so much fun?! But more fun even than getting out of the house is the anticipation! The knowing that any day we could get our BIG surprise! It's not a worried anticipation, like I'm used to, it's the blissed out, we are finally here kind. I've never felt this way before! It's so much fun! We have about one million conversations a day about when the baby will come, what the baby will be, who will be the most surprised. I've done some nesting on my own and that has been fun too. :)  We went to Target the other night to get Claire some long sleeved t-shirts and she begged for this skirt! She just held it up to her and said over and over "My! My! My!" I for...

The crazy pregnant lady voted yesterday JUST LIKE THIS! Ha! Ben snapped this picture just after I came out. :) We were running a bit late to take our time because I had to get to the doctor. I had just blow dried my hair and thrown it up into my "volumizing velcro rollers" as we left the house.  (Those things barely even work! Why do I keep trying?)  Our small community poll (in a little old empty house) nobody even seemed to care! The ladies working there are the same ones that work at the little gas station, so they just wanted to know about the babe. Oh the joys of living in a little country town! No lines, workers that know you by name and ask about the kids, and you can go looking like a freak-show and they love you anyhow. :)  Doctor day went well! I have dilated more, but I only have to make it THREE more days!! THREE people! That's huge!! I'm HUGE! I have had a pretty miserable week but yesterday and today I have felt fairly good. I'm not on any ...

This last week I have been so still. SO STILL. There were days that I didn't even see my kitchen! I mean I didn't MOVE. Yesterday was doctor day, and guess what? NO CHANGE!!!! Holla! Woot woot! My doctor said, and I quote "Alright hippie mama, you  just migh t make it to 37 weeks!" If I could have done a happy dance I would have, but I'm not moving! The kids always ask Claire "Can I get a holla?!" and she says "Holla! Then they ask "Can I get a woot woot!?" and she raises her little hands and says "Woot! Woot!" That's what mama is doing today! I'm just starting to feel so free and the stress of this pregnancy is melting off as we move forward one day at a time. The NICU is becoming a smaller possibility every minute! My doctor had a labor and delivery nurse shadowing him yesterday and as she listened in I said "Ahhh! If I can just get to 36 weeks and 3 days I will be happy. The difference in the babies are like n...

(Ravelry notes HERE )  Look how tiny! EEEEK! Now I need some booties to match! I'll start on that right away! I have a go-to bootie pattern (that is free) that I have worked out to fit a newborn perfectly. This vest was super fast and easy, but not at all boring. I did change the pattern up a bit because when I first cast on it looked more like a preemie pattern to me. With the changes, compared to a newborn t-shirt it looks like it will just fit. The Cascade yarn I used is as soft as butter!! It's kind of sheddy (Yeah, that's my made up word for it) but oh my it's so soft.  This is all of my woolen knitted baby things so far, I hope to add at least two more things to this layette (because that would mean being pregnant for longer!). If it were not for knitting I might have gone crazy by now! But I'm powering through! Knit, knit, knit..... xo, Sam

(Ravelry notes HERE , the pattern is free!) I started on the little vest, oh my it's so tiny! It looks like the start of a hat! I worked on it yesterday in the doctors office as we waited.....it doesn't look like we will be waiting much longer though. My stats as of yesterday were 34 weeks and 4 days, 2 cm dilated, 70% thinned out, baby is locked and loaded, and mama is still contracting. I've found that with the mix of medicines that I've been juggling I can only keep the contractions at 10-15 minutes apart now (most of the time, at night they get a little worse).   My body and this baby are in God's hands, I'm done worrying about it and I can't do more than what I'm doing now. It's nice to finally be able to be at peace with that. So my doctor says that he hopes we can "eek out another week", and I say "Lord, if it's your will, let me make it to 36 weeks!"  My earliest baby came today. I was at this exact stage ...

(You can find my Ravelry notes and the free pattern HERE ) The soaker (diaper cover) turned out so cute! I can't wait to see a newborn tooshie in it! I decided that it would make the sweetest picture ever, so I also started on a matching hat . :) The soaker matches up to my size 1 diaper covers perfectly except for the waist, the waistband is a little big because it doesn't have elastic, so I think I may weave in some elastic thread to make up the difference. I have a feeling that the elastic may help with holding in newborn explosions too. I should have the hat finished today and then I was thinking about maybe a vest? I don't know. I have some really pretty, off-white Cascade wool that would compliment the green nicely. I kinda want a sweater, but I'm not really in the mood for knitting sleeves right now so a vest sounded good, but then maybe I could find a flat sleeve pattern? Know of any?  I couldn't sign off today without saying thank you to all of ...

I left the doctors office yesterday so disappointed, and defeated, and hormone charged.  It's a hard thing to explain really, disappointment. It's not like grief, it's not because something is over or final, it's that it isn't the way you hoped or planned. It's that it isn't the easiest way, but a harder road than you thought you would be taking. Disappointment mixed with bad past experiences can be even worse. I cried on the way home as I remembered sitting next to an incubator with glass between me and my baby. I remembered all of those feelings that I felt when Timothy was taken from me as a baby, and how my arms literally ached to hold him. I remembered how A SONG came on while I was getting a snack in the gift shop one morning after visiting hours and I completely lost it. I stood there, my mind delirious from no sleep, completely worn out emotionally from what had just taken place with Timothy and the week before with Molly (she was diagnosed with ...

We had our first hospital run this weekend. Baby Caffee tried to make an appearance Friday afternoon. By the time we made it to the hospital I was contracting every 4 minutes, after a Brethine shot and another type of pill, they were every 2 minutes. I was scared. At one point my heart rate was in the 140's, I was seeing stars, I had a pounding headache, I was contracting almost constantly, and they couldn't give me anymore labor medicines. They tried one last thing, Demerol & Phenergan to just knock me out. Thank God it worked! They started spacing out and by early morning they had me pretty calm. I need 3 1/2 more weeks to make it to my goal of 37 weeks, it's going to be hard! I'm dilated, thinned out, and I don't have the pump as back up this time. Another thing I run into around this time of pregnancy is that sometimes the risk of the medicines to baby outweigh the benefit in the case that they come early anyhow, so if I go in and I need help, and it doesn...

I started a wool soaker (diaper cover) for the new babe. This is such an adorable pattern, and it's free! It so interesting with the alternating stockinette, seed stitch and ribbed legs. You can see all of the pattern and yarn details HERE . This green yarn is perfect for a boy or girl. I think I my make a wee hat with the left over yarn. Now won't that be an adorable newborn picture? EEEEK!  I added this picture because it just has so many good things in it..... the yarn I bought with my birthday money from my Mom and Dad, my absolute favorite knitting needles, the new birthday pajamas from my mother-in-law, the recliner that I now LIVE in, my sweet baby that will be here soon, and my newest henna design. It's not very often that that many good things are crammed into a picture! Oh, I just can't wait to see this little soaker finished! xo, Sam

Since Molly was up so late doing my belly henna last night, we froze the left over and I did her's tonight. We have discovered that frozen henna works very well. It seems a little thinner for the second application, but for designs like this (where you need to drag and blend) it works even better! It's much faster to be able to make bigger batches and freeze them in smaller batches. The stain looks just as good with the frozen henna too! (I need to add this to our henna recipe post HERE ) Maddie and Tim got henna last night too but I forgot to get pictures before they fell asleep. The doctor was pretty impressed with her work today! She was proud of that. :)  I had to move up to the brethine today at my visit. I am currently juggling three different preterm labor medications (depending on the kind of day I'm having). It stinks but I'm sooooo close! The brethine pump is not an option this time (it has recently been taken off the market! EEK!) so I have NOTHING to fal...

A girl after my own little hippie heart. She did belly henna and painted m toenails for my doctor visit in the morning. I love her. She makes my heart happy. :) xo, Sam PS We have our henna recipe posted  HERE  if you want to mix some up too. :)

In the last two or three days I'm feeling like myself again! Woot woot! I can't say that things have really turned around much, but I've definitely adjusted to our new normal for now, and I'm happy! It's actually been a crazy week but we were able to roll with the punches. I went to the doctor this week and baby is doing great, but mama is struggling. I was hoping to get better news, but I knew something was different. I'm dilated now so I've got to be extra extra careful. I'm shooting for 6 more weeks and I'm praying I make it! I had to take my sweet little man, Timothy, to the doctor yesterday. Poor boy, he has struggled with a really junky cough for almost two weeks now and Tuesday he started running a fever and acting tired. You know what it means when an eight year old boy wants to take a nap! They are SICK! He had a nasty respiratory infection and had to get a couple of shots. We also had to drag his old nebulizer machine out of the attic...

I want to say that we have had such a great week! But It'd be a total lie! So, I'll just give you the highlights in that "if you don't laugh you'll cry" way that I'm so good at. ;) * I'm in labor. Fo real, like if I get up to just walk to the bathroom I have 2 contractions, kinda labor. I'm as-big-as-all-outside too so the doctor is thinking that we may have my dates off! Yes! Not that I'm on a hurry to get this baby here, but it makes me feel better to have some wiggle room ya know? It's a good thing to measure two weeks ahead when you are struggling this much, this early. *My oven went out in a blaze (or really a poof) of glory Monday-ish. I was sitting at the table cutting up potatoes when I hear this electrical/fire type *poof*. The kids start yelling that they saw a flash of fire! I get up to look and sure enough, the stove and oven both are dead. I checked the breaker and it wasn't tripped. When Ben got home he did manage to ...

I know it has been a week since I posted, but I just haven't had much to write about. We did have market last weekend, but I didn't do anything to get ready for it. Ben took my big green cushy chair, I came late, left early, and just sat the whole time. It was fun, but it wasn't the same, I didn't even get to decorate my booth. :( Ben did a great job of getting it all done by himself, and I was really proud of him, but it bummed me out a little to not get to do it. To be honest I've pretty much been bummed out the whole stinkin' week. They had to change my medicine again because the procardia just wasn't working at night. AT ALL. The new medicine is something that I have never tried before, and it's making me sooooooo sleepy all day long. I don't feel like doing anything crafty because I'm so foggy, and I think that is one thing bugging me, not being productive. Another major thing is not being able to take care of my family like I'm used to...

  I have had a major case of cabin fever. Knitting is just not happening as much as my brain wants it to, because it's just too hot and humid here, it gives me sticky fingers and sticky yarn. No fun. So the knitting has been put aside for the last few weeks. Yesterday I was desperate for a creative outlet. Desperate I tell you! I CAN'T just sit, I feel like I'm wasting my life away. It's more relaxing for me to have a little project to play at, then I feel productive, and just happier in general. Yesterday I was going a little nutty, so my very dear husband told me to get in the car, and in minutes we were headed to Target. I slapped on some mascara in the car and I was ready. He wheeled me around Target in a wheel chair and I bought knee socks for $2.50. *Joy* And then the knee socks turned into leg warmers/ baby legs! (If you want to know how to do this g00g1e images will be your best friend. There are about 4000 tutorials on different ways to accomplish this. S...

I took this picture this morning while drinking my coffee. If I wasn't on bed rest right now, I would probably call this a mess! But since I am, and this place is a little outdoor getaway with a comfy hammock chair, I'm going to call this "signs of life". It has that lived in look that my living room gets on those cold winter days when everyone sticks close to the wood stove. Right now the signs of life include skates a skate board and orange cones for an obstacle course, a laundry basket from a little diaper laundry that I folded earlier, a pencil and pieces of construction paper from a craft project Maddie was working on, a baby doll for Claire to love up on and tell "no no" (sometimes all at the same time), and the just outside the picture but ever present bug that is being watched/studied for today. Yes, this place, though a little messy, is definitely full of life and all it's lovely signs. Just the way I imagined it would be years ago, when B...

Vintage floral nails brought to you by preterm labor. This is the sort of thing that you have time for when you are sitting 90% of everyday growing a baby. I took this picture just so that I can remember having cute nails after this baby gets here and I'm dealing with more important things, like THIS . :) I'm officially down for the count. I'm taking medicine (procardia) every eight hours now, and I'm off my feet except for very short periods of time. Preterm labor has come and now it's time to hunker down and finish strong! 37 weeks or bust!! I'm telling ya, I'm determined to be able to say that I have JUST ONCE been able to carry a baby FULL term. If I make it, I may even get one of those bragging stickers for my car...You know the ones that say "honor student" or "all stars baseball" and things like that? Mine will say "Full Term Infant On Board!" Woot woot! Okay so maybe I won't go that far, but seriously it may be on m...

All I have left to knit is the body and the sleeve bands! I'm thinking it looks more like a Spring Leaves Cardigan, or Winter Pink, this version doesn't really say autumn at all. I chose the softest pink that I could find it almost doesn't look pink unless it's next to white. I also added a cream colored band to the neckline that is just barely noticeable, but will go really well with the pearl buttons that I plan to use. I can't wait to see this blocked!! (You can find my Ravelry notes HERE .) This will be a baby gift for a very dear friend who has waited a very long time for a baby. We are actually due a week or so apart which is going to be a lot of fun! I'm trying to get all of my baby gifts caught up before I have to start my shaky medicine (brethine). I waited too late last time and I didn't get much done. I shake so bad on the brethine that I can't even write my name, much less knit. This time I'm planning ahead a little better....

  Isn't my new niece going to be sweet snuggled up in this?! I can't wait! She should be here in a couple of months! I made a few modifications to this pattern, but they were VERY easy to execute. You can see my notes HERE . I'm still a beginner so I can't venture too far from a pattern just yet. :) These few easy modifications made this a completely different cardigan! It was a fast knit, I could have finished in one day pretty easily. I made this sweet little fabric and tulle flower to finish it off. I really, really, REALLY wanted to make a dress to go under this, but my body said NO! If I'm going to make it to 37 weeks with this babe I've just got to listen, even when it keeps me from doing the things I love. I have had a couple of tricky days so I'm just going to sit and see if it passes. Maybe it will and I will still get a chance to sew! xo, Sam

I'm needing a lot more sit down time lately, I can still be active for about half the day, but if I do more than that I pay for it at night. I think of it like this, I have a certain amount of steps everyday, and I just have to spend them wisely. :) I'm fighting for 37 weeks this time friends! I want to be able to say that I carried at least one child full term. And just one pregnancy without Mag Sulfate or a Brethine pump would be nice too, but I'm not going to push it, I will do whatever I have to just to make it to 37 weeks. So with the extra sit down time comes extra knitting! No big deal! With this extra knitting time everyday I am over half way finished with my boy blanket. Woot woot! I love it, it's so soft and pretty. I'm thinking about knitting a girl one like this now too....maybe. It's not too late to change my mind and frog the other one. I'll have to think on that. :) xo, Sam PS. I have wanted to tell you guys this for a while but I...