Cable Knitting

 

I learned how to cable knit last night. I've been knitting for a little while, but I never got around to knitting cables because I thought it was going to be really hard to do. To my surprise, it is quite easy to do! I spent a few hours last night on various websites as well as youtube.com to get better acquainted with this style of knitting. I first started off by cabling every row and ended up with a big bunch of knots. Later, I realized that I only needed to cable after every few rows. Once I figured this out, it was smooth sailing. I started with this swatch of 12 stitches and worked my way into the evening. This morning, I learned how to add stitches to my work. So now I have successfully added on 7 stiches to my beautiful cable swatch. My plans are to make a scarf with this new skill of mine. Don't they look like those twisted donuts? Twisted donuts with glazed sugar are pretty much my favorite type of donuts.

 

On another note, I tried to put my ring on...just to see how well it fit me. The last time I tried, I could get it in, but it was a rather tight fit. This is as far as it goes as of last night.

 



 

This ring used to fit so loosely on my finger that I was afraid that it would fall out when I washed my hands. Sigh...but this is a sacrifice that I am happy to make for our little Stompie. Hopefully my fingers will go back to normal soon after Stompie comes out. What a pretty ring that I can't even wear out these days.

 

Finally, this is Julian...sleeping soundly after long and hot day. As you can see, he is quite possessive about his toys...but I thought it was cute.

Almost 34 weeks

So I'm a couple days from becoming 34 weeks pregnant. That's about 8.5 months along. I feel more and more like a big balloon, waddling my way here and there. Brian says that these days my waddle has gotten quite prominent, especially in the mornings. As I waddle into the kitchen to get some water in the morning, Brian says "waddle waddle waddle." I went shopping yesterday, thinking that I would be fine walking around a mall for 3 hours. I was being passed left and right by walkers who I normally would have passed with ease before pregnancy. I bought 4 maxi dresses because I figure that it's too hot for pants and since I can't fit into my prego jeans anymore, why not opt for some nice flowy dresses! I went to Macy's to start my search for these dresses. I found a really pretty dress that was black and purple, but it was a petite size and came above my ankles. I was really debating whether I should just get the dress and deal with the shortness of it. Luckily I kept walking and came across the Plus size section and there it was! The same dress, but in bigger sizes! I picked the smallest size which was a 0X and it fit perfectly! The dress came down to my ankles so it was an easy decision to purchase it. The retail price for the dress was $99.50. I thought it was funny because it was $10 more than the petite dress. I imagine they take into account the extra fabric it takes to make the dress... who knows... Anywhoo, I went up to buy the dress and the cashier lady told me that the dress was $35 dollars!! Apparently the dress was on sale for 65% off! I checked the petite and the normal sized dresses and those were NOT on sale! I was pretty glad that I checked the Plus size section cuz I ended up with a bargain!

The only bad thing was that I went to the Motherhood store afterwards and bought two more maxi dresses.

 

 I didn't like the orange rope that came with the dress so I found a black sash I had lying around from another maternity top and used that instead. Then I found this other dress that was on sale...so I had to buy it as well....

Mind you, I won't be wearing any of these cute shoes that the lovely models have on with their dresses. I will be wearing my trusty flip flops. I literally can't fit in anything besides my flip flops. Well, I exaggerate. I can fit into my tennis shoes, but only because I have let out the laces. When I have it on, I look at my feet and to be honest, they don't look like my feet. They look like a fat woman's feet, or even a fat man's feet! sigh.

So, after my three hours at the mall, my feet were in quite a bit of pain. I found brief relief while driving home, but that soon ended as we went to the Food Truck Night thing at Mira Mesa High School. That was another hour and half of standing. Food was good, but definitely not nutritious. I blame my SUPER bloatedness to yesterday's bbq pork and mac and cheese sandwhich as well as the creamy crabcake sandwich and roasted garlic fries. I can hardly make a fist with either hand.

6 more weeks!! Ugh...the last 2 weeks went by sooooo slowly. How will I wait 6 more weeks!?!?!

Here is a video of the alien in my belly!!! It's ALIIIIIVE!!!!

Not nesting but Knitting

As of Monday morning, I started knitting. This red and green newborn knit hat is my first project. Brian thinks it's pretty hilarious how it fits so perfectly on the koala's head. I was actually quite surprised too, but it does look like the size of a newborn's head. After I finished, I realized that the color was a little too dark for a newborn so I drove myself to Joann's to look for some baby colors. I ended up buying close to $40 worth of yarn! I bought yellow, lanvender, white, minty green, orange and black (for halloween), and a couple multicolored ones. I am currently working on a yellow and lavender knit hat. The brim is yellow and the top is lavendar. I almost gave myself a headache while knitting it, but I stopped in time last night. I either keep Julie and Julia or one of the Harry Potter movies on in the background when I am knitting. I believe that I've watched Julie and Julia probably over 100 times by now. But for some reason, it never gets old! I can always count on that movie to pick me back up again. It used to be You've Got Mail or Sleepless in Seattle, but these days, this movie is by far my most favorite. A close second is the movie "It's Complicated", but that's only because Meryl Streep is in it. I think she is my favorite female actor out there. I think I like her as Julia Child better than the actual Julia Child. I find myself watching actual episodes of The French Chef and getting a little bored. I am more amused to watch Ina Garten who is now my favorite chef over Giada. I can watch that lady cook every day! Now only if my DVR will function properly today so I can get in some good Barefoot Contessa today...

Oh the swollen feet~



This is a picture of me lying down on my bed, staring at my belly with my camera and another of me in the bathroom. These days I wake up in the morning with my fingers stuck open. I try to make a fist and my fingers almost spring back open! There is so much fluid around my joints that it is quite difficult to move my fingers as well as I used to. It hurts even to pull the covers over me...not that I have to often since it's so hot these days. I must be overheating because Brian, the one who is always complaining that it's too hot, actually sleeps with the blanket on without a complaint. I sit there in awe that he is not dying from overheating under the heavy blanket, but apparently I am the only one truly suffering in this heat. My feet are the size of elephant feet. I push the tops of my feet in with my finger and I get about a 2+ pitting edema score. I feel like a marshmallow. I can tell very much when I am swollen because I can't even fit into my pants or my shoes. I have resorted to wearing loose-fitting pants or spandex. I can't wait until I deliver and can shed this unnecessary water weight.

I saw Jill Elder the other day. She is about 1 week less pregnant than I am. She is having a boy and I can tell that she is carrying her baby much differently than I am. She is carrying it all in front. We were sitting at a table and she barely had any room between her belly and the table whereas I had a good amount of space still available. Her belly looked pointier and more round than mine. So this makes me think that I may be carrying a girl instead of a boy like everyone else is thinking. I actually had a dream about having a baby the other night. I had a dream that I had a girl. It was interesting because the baby was already a few months old in my dream...but I definitely remember feeling that sense of responsibility for this child. Funny how other people have been dreaming that I would have a boy and I end up having a dream about a girl. I think it would be more fun to have a girl, so I can dress her up in cute little outfits. Jill said she already picked out a halloween costume for her baby boy. He is to be a little skeleton this year. I think I will make mine into a pumpkin if I decide to get a costume. It should make a cute announcement photo.

Can it be Fall already!!??!

The weather these days is so hot!! Being pregnant is not helping my situation either. I get hot at the snap of a finger! One flight of stairs and I am huffing and puffing. (sounds kinda like heart failure actually...hmmm) Well anyways...I can do the stationary bike and I can walk for an hour just fine so I imagine I am ok. I was vacuuming this morning and I broke out into a serious sweat! I was quite satisfying when I looked at the full canister at the end of it though...the damn dog are shedding like crazy! I wish it was 65 degrees right now. I sometimes wish that I got pregnant in May or something so it would be January right now. But my parents tell me that it's better this way because it will be better for the baby to be born in the fall since it won't have issues with the heat. But what about me!!??? Sigh. I am officially 32 weeks pregnant. The baby is supposed to be a little under 4 lbs and apparently the size of a jicama or a pineapple. The baby is kicking a lot these days. It practices its karate moves on me. My mom saw the baby move this past weekend and she told me that it has to be a boy. She told my dad later that day that she saw my belly jiggle because the baby kicked so hard. haha.

My mom is very worried about my swollen feet. She stands there and gives me the look of worry. I can feel her worrisome eyes pierce the back of my head as I stand to walk to the bathroom. I told her that I can sense her looking at me with pity. I actually cut my stay at home short so I wouldn't be there for her to look at and worry over. But alas...she is a clever woman who will still figure out a way to worry about me. She called me 4 times in a row while I was eating dinner the other night and then had my dad call me as well. I told her that the swelling has gone down a little and then she started to give me a list of foods that I should be eating, including tomatoes, carrots, and something that I can only translate into english as "elderly pumpkin". I told her that I would try those things and I left her feeling a little bit better. But I'm sure I will get more worried calls in the next few days. I love you mommy!!!

Yesterday I went to go get some Hawaiian Shave Ice with Stephanie over in the Scripps Poway area. Now that I think about it, I should have taken a picture of it like every other person who writes on a blog. Imagine an 8 oz cup/bowl with a scoop of ice cream at the bottom and a HUGE mound of shaved ice on top of it. Drizzle on your favorite syrup and you have Hawaiian Shaved Ice. It was a very nice way to cool off. Too bad it only lasted like 10 minutes. The ice is so soft that you end up eating it faster than you think you can. Next time I will get the 16 oz.

Today is my monthly OB appointment. Brian will be joining me today. He actually woke up early today to get to work early. I thought it was so cute that he set his alarm to 6:10 am!!! Unthinkable!!! But he ended up waking up close to 6:45 am...haha. But still! He tried...and I appreciate it. After today's appointment, I am going to have to see my OBGYN every two weeks. I have a lot of questions to ask her. I am most worried about my blood pressure and the swelling that I have in my hands and feet. I also worry about gestational diabetes. I got the okay that I don't have it when I was around 24 weeks along, but I've grown so big in the last few months that I don't know. Hopefully all will go well today.

almost 32 weeks

I'm almost 32 weeks pregnant and I have discovered that I have stretch marks!!! I wasn't actually paying attention to them because they are on the lower portion of my abdomen. I can't see that part of my belly unless I tilt it up. But today, I took a mirror and looked...and there they were...tens of little red stretch marks on my belly!!! Nooooooooooooooo!! I read that women cry when they get their first stretch mark. I didn't cry, but I am sad. I still have 8 more weeks to go and I imagine that I am gonna get much bigger in the next few weeks. Sigh. I think I really need to work out more and eat less. I can't believe that I've gained 40 lbs. I think it all happened while I was working at Tri-City. I was working much different hours than I was used to and I was eating at 8 or 8:30 pm and going to bed at 10 pm. 2 months of that and I guess I shouldn't be so surprised that I gained all this weight. I gained about 30 lbs in less than 3 months!! What's worse is that I've been slathering my belly with honey butter religiously every since I was 4 months pregnant!! I guess my family genes win. My mom has stretch marks on her belly but didn't put any lotions on her belly for any of her pregnancies. I am just hoping that they don't get much worse than they are now. PLEEEEEASE!!! I am gonna gym it and eat healthier starting today!! >.<