A Few Sheep Shy of a Farm

and we’re still working on getting settled into our new routine.  Things are basically going well; Caterina is an easy baby – sleeps well and nurses right on schedule (rather than the 14x a day her brother did!) and she can even sleep through “Hurricane Mimmo” when he’s on a tear!

Here are a few pictures of the new arrival and the rest of us . . .

Hi everyone, M here.

Margaret called me about 40 minutes ago…Caterina arrived at approximately 5:15 a.m. this morning! 6 pounds 15 ounces, 19 inches long, 13 inch head circumference, Apgar scores were 9.

Mom and baby are doing well, Caterina was nursing when we talked, I’ll be heading down later today to take a picture and spend the next two nights with them. They will be coming home on Monday.

I’ll take a picture of the two and give you an update when I return from the hospital tomorrow morning.

Knowing that we are going in to be inducted first thing tomorrow morning I decided there were a variety of things that needed to be done today and a few things that I really wanted to get done.

This morning the three of us went out to breakfast together – for pancakes at ouf favorite little local diner.  Its something that Dom and I used to do frequently together before Mimmo came along and its something that the three of us have done together something like weekly since he arrived.  Today was strange, knowing it would be the last time that it was just the three of us going out together.  By the next time we go we’ll be 4.

When we got home we did a variety of the usual things and I worked hard on my “to do” list – things like making sure the laundry is all done – washed, dried, folded and put away and empty hampers and baskets; like toping off the waterer and feeder in the chicken coop; like making sure there were diapers and wipes for both children stocked near the changing table.  I wanted to be sure that anything that really needed to be done had been . . . after lunch (homemade pizza – YUM!) and a short nap while watching Peter Pan, the little guy went off with Nonna for a bit and while Dom got ready for work – one last shift before he’s out for the next 10 days – I left for a final bit of down time.

I got in the car and drove away from reality, responsibility for a couple of hours.  I went to the Barnes and Noble down the road, got an iced tea/lemonade drink and picked out a stack of knitting books to browse through.  I found a comfy chair and just sat leafing through the books and enjoying the peace and quiet of being able to sit for that long and basically do nothing. 

I even got a special treat for myself – a copy of “A fine fleece” which I’ve been eyeing since someone brought a copy to knitting one night.  I don’t really buy many knitting books anymore, partly because I have so many already, partly because of a tightening budget and partly because, truth-be-told there haven’t been all that many that interest me lately.  This book I had to have.  Its the first “pattern book” I’ve seen come out in a long while that had many patterns I feel I would actually knit.  I think, over time, its possible I would knit more than half of the patterns in this book, and that doesn’t happen often.

When I came home after my little break I got to do a bunch of fun things like sweeping, moping and vaccuming, more laundry, making beds up with clean sheets and picking up seemingly endless toys.  Now the house is clean. . . or at least as clean as its going to get before the baby arrives.  There is no laundry in the hamper, all the floors are clean and the dishes and kitchen are cleaned up.  It will be interesting to see if the others can manage to keep it that way over the next ten days or so.

We had another Drs apt. today . . . including an ultrasound.  Everything is fine, fluid levels are good and she got a perfect score on all her tests.  They estimate she weighs just under 7 lbs at this point – a whole pound lighter than her big brother – but he’s such a little tank that I’m not really surprised.

I’m no closer to delivering than I was last week – unless something changes drastically in the next few hours . . .  and so we are scheduled for an induction on Friday morning, early.  We could have had a later morning apt. but I’m concerned that the later we go in the more likely they’ll have had enough “walk-ins” that we get bumped to another day or a much later time or something . . . not only that, but the earlier we start the better shot I have that she will actually arrive on Friday . . . if she does I might be home by Mother’s day on Sunday which would be nice, otherwise I could be there until Monday . . .

I’m still knitting away on things like baby socks and little hats – and Mimmo’s sweater from time to time.  I may even take it with me to keep busy while I’m at the hospital waiting.  Afterall, once they start the induction they will likely hook me to enough wiring that I can’t go anywhere. 

We’ve set things up so that M can post an update here once the little one has arrived and I’ll post again sometime after we get home.  I can’t wait to be able to post baby pics!

C’s “February Shawl” Blanket, started March 25th, 2008, finished April 28, 2008
Pattern: EZ’s February Shawl from Knitter’s Almanac
Yarn: Misti Alpaca: Suri Silk
Needles: Size 6 Addi’s
Dimensions: Unblocked: 36″ Square; Blocked: 37″ Square
Pattern Notes: I added a knit on border with Faggoting stitches and a garter stitch “binding” – it was pretty easy and went quickly.
Would I knit it again? Yes! This was a great, quick baby blanket pattern and could be done in almost any yarn – using a luxury yarn with a simple pattern makes for a very fancy feeling blanket that is still a quick knit.  I’d definately do this is washable wool as a gift blanket . . .