hailey's dress

i finally finished the little purple dress for my niece hailey jade. i am so excited!!!! i can't wait until she is big enough to fit in it. look at it... isn't it cute???

there are a couple things i would change... now that it's all said and done. i would go in and learn how to actually tie in my loose ends because mine look ridiculous. they create a bit of a bump on the inside which annoys me, but my mother is trying to convince me that no one will notice. and i know they won't, but it's like a cross-stitch... having a pretty back just feels good.

i would also change the button placement. i followed the pattern, but i think it would look better if the second button was lower down... or if i added a third one. i got these from my mama's stash so i couldn't go buy a third, thus the two tiny buttons that look unevenly placed. again, mom said no one would really notice. i think they will notice, but most probably won't care. i'm a bit of a perfectionist though so whenever i look at this little thing i am going to wish i had moved the buttons down. oh well, there's nothing i can do about it now.

but look at my knitting. i am going to take about 5 seconds to brag. it is so even and it looks so good (except for my little blip on the back). i'm pretty proud of it.

and here... this is one of the new stitches i learned that makes a pretty little corner. i think i like it.  i also love the color. i was talking to my sister-in-law and she said it is next to impossible to find clothing without pink in it (she hates pink) so i'm glad we went with the purple. it is going to be so adorable on little hailey.

and here is one last picture... just because i think it's so cute.

ps. i met my niece yesterday and man oh man is she ever cute!!! i love love love her. i didn't know faces were made so tiny and so perfect. absolutely lovely. pictures to come...

Cousins

I love my family. I love spending time with both my immediate and extended family. When I was driving back from dropping Erik off in Stanwood I stopped at my Aunt and Uncle's house for the night. I often make a pit stop there to see their kids. I lived with them a couple summers ago while I was working in Abbotsford so I have developed quite a special relationship with each of them. They are all wonderful! I was even in the habit of writing them letters... that fizzled out a while ago, but I still intend to keep it up.

I can't even begin to tell you why I love them so much. But I do. So much. They are each lovely individuals and I love watching them grow and learn. Each one of them gives me hugs and kisses when I come over (and the oldest is 18) and they make me laugh the entire time I am with them.

Erik and I adore this family. We have often talked about what we want our family to be like when we have one, and we have decided we want it to be just like theirs. We admire my Aunt and Uncle's marriage. We love their family. We love how they live their life and the priorities they have. We love where they live and, more importantly, how they live. They are fabulous.

One more thing... my aunt and uncle took the family across Canada and the States for 6 months a couple years ago. How fun would that be??? So very much fun. 

When I was at their house, the kiddies and I went to the barn to see the kittens they have. Then we played around outside with the camera, which we always do when I see them. They especially love the jumping pictures and silly faces. They set up each of the following photos. When the pictures were done we came inside for tea and a game of uno. There are six kids in the family, but the oldest two were out for the evening so I didn't see them until much later.

jumping. not very well timed.

silly faces.

and again.

aren't we cute?

i think they each picked one of the poses we did... i don't remember who came up with this idea, but they were all pretty pumped about it. 

i think this was the boys idea.

yup. i love them.

Erik does 99% of the dishes at our house. I always appreciate this and I very much miss it in his absence. I hate doing dishes. 

37 Week Belly

When I came home from Stanwood, Milena and I decided to go and take some pictures of her growing belly. Little Trogdor is getting bigger, moving lots, and keeping Mama up at night. There are three weeks until d-day and we are all getting very excited (especially S and M).

Three weeks. Does that ring a bell?? Remember this?? I wrote a blog three weeks before Sawyer's due date... and she decided to make her grand entrance seven days later. Wouldn't that be nice?

Back to Trogdor. Here are some pictures we took last Friday, just for kicks. We had to trek up a hill to get here... which is quite the feat for a pregnant woman (don't worry, she didn't carry the chair).

She's growing.

Look how much Sawyer has grown!

Three weeks old.

Two months old.

 And she has developed this super cute birth mark on her back. Aww.

And I have this little thing to look forward to in the next few weeks. Due July 14, but mama is really hoping for an early delivery.

Did you know that Erik was the Prom King? True Story. I married the Prom King. Holla.

Alaskan Adventures

Erik is off again on his Alaskan Adventures. He has been doing commercial fishing since... I think it has been 9 years now. He goes for just over three weeks every summer. Which means I am home alone for a month. We have no way of communicating while he is in Alaska and I think this makes things easier for us. I don't have to wait up for calls, or wonder if I missed him, or incessantly check my email. I don't worry because I won't hear from him until at least July 12.

We went down to Stanwood on Tuesday. It was wonderful! I was only there for two days, but it was very relaxing for me. For both of us. 

Did you know that Erik hates putting Tupperware containers away? He does.

An Announcment

I would like to announce the arrival of my niece, Hailey Jade.  She was born via cesarean section at 9:10am this morning weighing a whopping 6lb 3oz. So so tiny!!

I get to meet her in 11 days and I am more than excited!

bean

Sawyer's little piglet bum. Super cute.

Sawyer was baptized yesterday at our church, The Well. Our church has been around for... three years(?) and she is the first baby to be baptized there. Sawyer looked so cute in her new dress.

 For some reason it won't let me rotate this picture. I love this picture of her. That's all for now. I just got back from work so I'm going to bed.

Incessantly Knitting

This is what happens when you knit for three days without stopping.

I think the knuckles on my right hand hate me now. Only two more inches to go!

Knitting Progress

I knit for a couple hours yesterday while watching The Bachelorette. Yes, I am a little ashamed, but I have to admit that I do enjoy the show. I loved Ali last season so I had to watch this season :). Feel free to judge me... I probably deserve it.

Anyway. The point isn't what I was watching but what I was doing while watching. And I was knitting. I made some progress on the little dress I am knitting for my most-likely-niece.  I would have done more, but I got stuck. I am heading to my yarn store (yes I am possessive) this morning for some assistance. The thing is starting to take shape though and I am pretty excited.

This is a view from the top. I had to cast off a bunch of stitches to make the arm holes. That was intimidating for me and took a bit of faith, but I think it worked out the way it should.

View from the bottom... all my loose ends.

And this is how it looks when properly held up. Kinda cute, eh? I have to put some buttons on the shoulder there to hold it together. That's to make room for the baby's over-sized head. I am now in the process of working the from and back separately for a couple rows and then I have to get them back together. This is where I need help because I feel some of the directions are backwards. The pattern is saying knit (if I am reading it correctly), but I feel as though I have to purl. I may have left off at the wrong spot, but that is what my friends at Art of Yarn will clear up for me later this morning.

I need to work on this a lot today because I work for the next four days and then Erik and I are driving to Stanwood. He is Alaska-bound next week. Oh, and baby is due next Friday! Crazy! I am hoping to have it done by then, but I think that may be wishful thinking. I'll keep you posted. 

This is where I live!

Erik and I went on a "hike" yesterday. It was more of a walk with a hill in the middle. And delicious sandwiches. I took these pictures while we were out and while the pictures themselves are nothing fancy, this is where I live. I often forget that it is so beautiful, but it really is amazing. I am pretty lucky.

This is who I live with. Rockin the pony. Yes, I am lucky.

And that this girl is thrown in on occasion makes me even luckier.

I'd say it's pretty awesome.

For a Special Someone

**There's another new post below**

Remember when I told you that my sister-in-law was pregnant? Her little one is due in just under two weeks and I just started knitting this little dress for my most-likely niece. I say most-likely because baby seems to be a bit of a prude. Plenty of time to talk about baby later, for now I'll stick to the dress.

The only non-square things I've ever knit were those hats I made a couple weeks ago and they required no shaping at all. I just knit in a circle until the end and then decreased a little and pulled the string through to close the hole. This dress is much different. I have already been to the knitting store three times for assistance. I have learned three new stitches and I have had to pull out three entire rounds. I am hoping to have it done by the time the rug-rat arrives, but things aren't looking good. The dress is for a 3 month old anyway so there really is no rush, but my friend Milena's baby is due three weeks after Jenn's and I am making a blanket for him/her. Also, 35 degree weather is not conducive to holding yarn and squeezing your armpits shut.

Here is the progress I have made thus far.

This is the progress after knitting day 1... before I went to the yarn store and was told I had to pull it out because I did it wrong. Knitting with such fine yarn is a little more difficult than I expected. I have to watch what I am doing the whole time, which is a bit of a pain. The yarn feels wonderful though and thinking of my little niece dressed up in this dress makes it all worth it. 

This is after knitting day 3. Stitches corrected. Starting to look like what it's supposed to. Very exciting.

This is one of the mistakes I cannot get rid of. I missed one of the four little threads that make up the yarn. Woops. I don't know how to fix it... and it's on the outside.

I am excited to see how the dress turns out. I'm told this is an easy pattern. If it is easy than I may have to make a couple more. We'll see. 

Erik's Birthday Present

For Erik's birthday we (friends, family and myself) got him a tent! Well... I rounded up the money and took him out to pick out a tent. None of the stores had the one he wanted so we ordered it online and it finally came in! Erik was so very excited. We have no yard so he set it up in the living room.

 I don't know much about the tent he chose. He told me about it once or twice, but I was in school mode so I was only retaining information pertinent to papers or exams. It's a Marmot Limelight 2 and it's great (I'm hoping). Erik liked it because there are two roomy vestibules on either side.

It is a really easy set-up. Erik did it all by himself :). As you can see, the poles are all connected. They are light weight and... I don't remember what they're made out of.

I was actually surprised at how roomy it was inside the tent. You could definitely squeeze three of you into it. You know, in case of an emergency.

Thumbs up!

The only downside of the tent is that you have to reach way out of the tent to close the fly. But, as Erik says, you don't frequently go in and out of your tent. There were other things Erik liked about this particular tent. I'll have to ask him about that later. I'm just excited to go camping!!!

Night One in Respiratory

Awful.

The beginning of the night was good. I did all my assessments and was really enjoying the team I was on... and then the bells began.

We had one patient sleep. At all. And she thankfully slept undisturbed through the night.

The other ten patients were on their call bells like nobodies business. It was exhausting! All I did all night was run around answering bells. Requests were usually little things like refilling water, rubbing lotion on someone's legs, looking for something a patient misplaced, or redirecting a confused patient. Which are all fine... unless you have ten people asking you multiple times a night.

Then we also have people who need help to the commode, those who think they don't need help when they really do, and those who use their commode without any bucket to catch their excrement.

Not to mention those who need a Care Aide sitting with them 1:1, but don't so they climb out of bed, over their four side rails and pull out their IV in the process and then are found slumped in a chair.. or worse... on the floor. 

Two 45 minute breaks are not enough to get me through that night unscathed. I think I hardly sat down unless I was on break.

And that was only Team 3... my team. The other teams had wonderful patients who slept through the night. Bah!

Back at it tonight.. with the same patients. Let's hope they didn't sleep all day.

First Day

It's my first day. Again. I am starting on a medical floor tonight - respiratory. Man, am I nervous. The only lung sounds I have ever had to document are "decreased air entry to the bases" and "crackles throughout". This is going to be a whole new world. And a whole new language. Not to mention all new staff. I work with a different nurse every set or every two shifts or as schedules allow.

Wish me luck.