New Development, the annoying kind

I have to say, this second pregnancy is much more difficult than the first one.  Ironically, this time around, getting pregnant was actually easy, unlike with my little boy, but I seem to be having all kinds of hormone induced health problems.

We can start with going to the doctor in  December for a cold and she making me wear a heart halter monitor for 24 hours and then sending me for an EKG because I had 9% extra and skipped beats.  The conclusion....no caffeine, but all the extra blood volume has my heart doing the jig...all right...

Abdominal muscle separation...no one seems to mention this much, but holy moly is it uncomfortable.  Apparently, all the "stuff" inside me is pushing against my ab muscles, forcing them to part in the middle.  This causes me to have almost a constant ripping/burning sensation across the top of my stomach area.  The only solution, literally, is lying down.

And finally, I failed my glucose tolerance test, and proceeded to fail the 3 hour fasting glucose tolerance test by a hair and now I'm watching all my carbs and checking my blood sugar 4 times a day.  I know things could be worse, etc etc, but seriously...annoying.  It's kind of hard to balance all this stuff while working all day and caring for a toddler at night.  It's only for 3 more weeks, then work is over for a while until the baby gets here.

Ok, griping over.  I am really happy to be having another baby but sometimes I want to complain about it

Here I am....all 32 weeks (this week is 33) of pregnancy glory.

Photo Friday

(first spring crocus)

WiP Wednesday - Home Stretch

Almost there, just a quarter of that final skein left and then this thing is ready for blocking and end-weaving.  Once it's blocked, I'll decide if I want to add the border that I chose.  It just depends on if the edges looks hinky or not.

Here she is in all her almost-finished glory:

Ten Fingers

Mr. LIH and I brought our son in for surgery to remove his poly dactyl thumb on his left hand.

Now it's almost three weeks later and he's been a champ.  He has a hard cast from mid-bicep that extends down to cover is tiny little hand.  *graphic warning*  The cast is large and must be very firm to protect the thumb itself, as the surgeon had to insert a steel pin in through the top of the thumb to help stabilize it while his tendons and ligaments are healing.

His surgery was a lot less complicated, once they were in and so his recovery time is shorter, as well as the hope that he will not need additional surgeries to bring his thumb into the correct alignment.

I really think that this might have been harder on my husband and I.  My son didn't seem to notice anything was happening and despite being groggy and maybe somewhat disoriented after the surgery, was in good spirits.  He was up and running around in the recovery room, ready to head home.

Although the recovery is looking to be quite lengthy, I'm glad that we went through with it.  It will save him on social pressures and ridicule, as well as give him better mobility with his thumb.  He could use it ok before, but now his thumb will be functioning properly.

In another week or so we will be bringing him in to remove the pin and the cast in exchange for a "soft" cast (whatever that is) that will be on him for an additional 4 weeks, I believe.  After that, he starts physical therapy to rebuild strength in his arm and hand, with which he will have a "cast" that goes on at night for another 6 weeks.

Despite the cast, he gets along better than I feared.  He uses that arm as sort a lever to get himself into all kinds of trouble.  The only time I feel guilty is when he can't do simple things that he was able to do before.  Flipping through books has become somewhat of a challenge, taking apart his Legos after he builds them, and eating.  It seems my son might be left-handed and so he has some major challenges to use a fork with his right hand and just gets frustrated.  Otherwise, he handles the whole one-handed thing well.

I will update as we go through this process, but wish us luck.  I have a new baby coming in about 8 weeks (hopefully) and my husband starts a new job soon, so life is very much in flux right now.

Photo Friday

(tiny green strawberry)

WiP Wednesday

I didn't take a picture this week because, even I am sick of seeing the slow progress of that thing.  I will say that I've managed to get the last stripe started, so I'm hoping to finish that by this weekend and start on the edging.

I've decided to do this edging.  I'll just do it in the yellow color before I block the whole thing and weave in my ends.  I really want this thing done.  I'm kind of tired of it.

I have this huge list of baby girl things I want to make AND the baby blanket for my own little lady to finish....

My Ravelry Pattern Page

Stuff I Bake

I have been a busy lady lately...with baking and cooking, that is.  I'm not sure what has come over me, but I just want to try new recipes, and I've been pretty lucky so far.  Only a few duds (which could be user error).  Unfortunately, now that I've been diagnosed with gestational diabetes, my baking will reduce greatly as I severely cut carbs and sugar from my diet (at least the less healthy versions).

Donuts - I made these with a simple chocolate glaze instead of the red velvet version, but the basic recipe is great.  Super tasty.  I advise, if you bake them in the oven, bake them at the lower end of the time....they should stay nice and moist that way.  This lady's site has some great recipes and there are some other donut recipes that I really want to try.

Chocolate Cupcakes w. Diet Soda - There are a bunch of recipes floating around the internet for this type of thing.  I used Pillsbury Sugar Free Double Chocolate Chip Quick Bread & Muffin Mix and added one 12oz can of Caffeine-free Coke Zero.  Baked according to directions on the box for muffins.  Even though I have made these about 4 times in the past month or so, I have not taken a single picture.
I don't frost them, when I want to eat one, I take Cool Whip Free (sugar and fat free), cut the muffin in half, dollop of whip on each side and enjoy.  It's about 3 points per muffin.  So good.

Cheesecake Bars - These were awesome.  So easy to make and worth every second of the little time I spent.  I used smart balance instead of butter, no difference in taste.  I also had to use a bit more fat to hold the cracker crumbs together (I used coconut oil).  I also baked them just a little bit longer than the recipe called for, but that's easy enough to judge yourself...once they are set, they are done.  Mr. LIH said that they had a slight bitter aftertaste, but some guests we had over didn't complain and ate more than one bar.  Although the size of the bars looks small, they are fairly rich, and the size winds up being plenty for a serving.  Check out her site as well, Mmmmm....

WiP Wednesday - Baby Blanket

I'm almost half way through now.  I think I like it.  I also think that I will love it once I add a yellow border to tie in the colors better together.

It's so simple to crochet, that it's mindless, unfortunately, I have a really hard time keeping sticky, little toddler hands off of it and so I can only work on it when the little man goes to sleep.

Ravelry Project Page

Girlie baby stuff....

Although I have no time, I have lots of ambition...it's ironic and also a common predicament amongst us crafters.  I have two baby blankets to finish by May/June and another one to start and finish by July, but all I want to do is make baby girl stuff for my little lady or...shawls...yes...I feel like I never have enough.  I've also been baking like a mad woman, something my husband certainly appreciates.

I made these and holy moly they are delicious....and only 3 points per bar...not too shabby.

Now, more baby stuff that I want to make.

Mermaid Dress

This dress is really cute and since it's raglan it will be really easy to knit.  It's not free, but I might be willing to acquire such a pattern for the sake of cuteness everywhere.

Sweet Pea Sweater

This pattern seems great, my only issue is the price.  It seems a somewhat simple construction and they are charging quite a bit more than I would like to pay for a design like this.  It's so cute and appears easy to make, so it's definitely on my wish list for now.

Peachy Ensemble

I can't believe this pattern is free.  It's awesome.  It has matching booties, puffy sleeves, and bloomers.  This is a must make for me.

I will probably have to do another post of my baking escapades, a "round up" if you will, of yumm-e-ness.  If you can't wait for that, head over to my pinboard.  I try to comment on the recipes that I've made, including any modifications or things I didn't like.

If I can get some decent pictures of my blanket, I'll be back on Wednesday with a post of my progress...If not, maybe I can rehash the past few days of my little man and his hand surgery....such gripping blog fodder...I know.

Photo Friday

(bell)

WiP Wednesday - Simply Soft Blanket

I like working on this blanket, but I'm not sure yet how it will look.  Once I finish the yellow stripe and start with the ombre again, I think I will like it better...we'll see.  I haven't worked on the blanket for my little lady at all.  I've barely had time to crochet.  Too many social things going on and then working on the house to get it ready for the baby is keeping us busy.

Tomorrow my son goes in for surgery to remove his poly dactyl thumb...my heart is a little broken over it and the fact that he has to wear a cast on his entire, little baby arm for 4 weeks is awful.  Wish us luck.

Ravelry Page

Monthly Menagerie - February 2014

February 2014