Insert witty post title here.

Thank you for all the congratulations on the previous post. As you can guess, we're all over the moon about it. Bug thinks Noob is the bestest thing ever, and wants to kiss him and pet him every five minutes or so. Even tried to help me feed, but since I'm breastfeeding I didn't really need him to hold my boob for me. (Add that one to the therapy list.)

What the heck day is this, anyway? I can't even tell, they're kinda all blurring together. I can tell you, though, that compared to last week, Christmas is a bit...anticlimactic.
However, SOME PEOPLE are accusing me [winkwink] of having a baby just to get out of finishing my Christmas knitting, and here I have photographic proof that it didn't happen that way. (As a matter of fact, I removed the blocking wires and unpinned the second Aunt scarf after my water broke, before I went off to the birth center. I know where my priorities lie.)



Stats on Ravelry, here (for the green one) and here (for the other one).

Hmm, what else? Oh yeah, proof that it isn't only Christmas-knitters who procrastinate.



Does that look like a newly installed laminate floor and a new full-sized bed to you? Don't worry, the DH has, like, 47 whole hours to get it taken care of. o.0

Amaryllis watch...



I have a few more pictures of the Noob. (Yeah, like you're going to get away without looking at more pictures.)

Grampa came to see him:



The rest of the time he does this:



Unless it's 2am and then he's wide awake. You will forgive me for not having pictures of that. o.0

Now, I must brave the crowds for some last minute shopping. [weep]

Sorry I'm Late

I was finishing my best FO ever.



I'm pleased to introduce The Noob (aka Jack Michael).



Size: 19.5"
Weight: 7lb 6oz (DK, I'd say)
Pattern: my own
Finished: 12:20pm 12/14/08
Fit: Perfect.

Come to the Dark Side. We have cookies.

Or brownies, as the case may be.

Today, I gotsa whole lotta nuthin'. My hormones are kicking in, full force, and it forces me to alternate between weepiness and hating everyone and everything. Mostly I feel the hate. I also feel the urge to bake. I don't know if the two are related.

Also, I have truly gone over to the dark side. I bought crocs. I kindof love them so long as I don't actually LOOK at them.


(BTW, the color in this photo is not good - my skin is not terribly sallow, I am wearing bright lime green socks. Yes, I really am. With blue shoes, and brown pants. And a pink shirt. If Bug has taught me one thing, it's that "matched" is relative.)

They make good preggo clogs - I can wear socks and have a more enclosed shoe, they're loose enough that they won't cut off circulation if my ankles swell, and they didn't cost me a gajillion dollars. Keep your Louboutins; I have blue rubber mary janes. Bug wanted to buy some too, but since he has many pairs already, I told him no. When we got home, he immediately kicked off his (croc) flip-flops and put on his blue (croc) clogs, and said proudly, "Look, I have blue shoes too!" The kid is a (croc) fiend.

Knitting-wise, I am making progress on both Linden and Faina. I would like very much to start knitting on the Sea Silk which came over the weekend but Faina is taking up my size 4 tips, and my size 3 circ hasn't arrived from Knitpicks yet. (I know it has been mentioned before, but how on earth is it that I can order from Knitpicks, and two days later I order from The Loopy Ewe, and Loopy's package gets to me before I even get a shipping notice from Knitpicks? Is Loopy that good, or is Knitpicks that ridiculous, or both? I swear Kelly has a spot in the warehouse where people put things to "marinate" or something before they officially get mailed.) Anyway, I'm going to have to ration the sea silk a little or I'll never want to finish the horribly scratchy alpaca Faina (cuz seriously? everything is scratchy next to sea silk). We won't even talk about the Beaverslide - it's yummy, but y'all, it's no sea silk.

Also, I am sad. I ordered Nancy Bush's new Estonian Lace book several months ago, thinking it would be a lovely present to myself near my birthday. Today I got news that it's going to be a month late at least. Alas. (Not that I have TIME to knit any Estonian lace these days, but STILL.)

And in a Whose Kid Is This moment, here is some kid:



Sitting happily on my couch, watching my TV, surrounded by my son's books and colors and paper. He's not my kid though - he wouldn't eat the caramel apple unless I took the caramel off. The weirdo.

Saturday at last...

First, if you're inclined in this heinous economy, consider sending a few dollars to fund the project of a teacher in a low-income area. And just maybe Alice will remake the Love is a Battlefield video.
I made it through the week, surprisingly. I finished my heinous deadline (the one that, had I missed, I likely would have been sacked for), made good progress on the next one and even learned a trick to work from home that allows me to finish things without having to jump through hoops, so my next deadline should be okay too.
I saw the midwife yesterday and was happy to see that even though the Noob is measuring big, I haven't gained any more weight (I gained too quickly in the second trimester and they suggested I "slow it down" - don't worry LynnM, I'm eating PLENTY) and my blood pressure is great. I'm pretty thrilled about that stuff.
I even went to City Court AGAIN to get ANOTHER copy of my speeding ticket so I could take care of driving class. (DH threw it away while cleaning out my car. I'd be mad if he weren't already doing me a favor, and if I had taken care of it when I got it, or better yet when I got the ticket originally, it wouldn't have been an issue.)
Nora told me to take it easy and stop nesting for the weekend. I wish I could. I washed walls today. I washed THE SOAP DISPENSER, people. I clearly have a problem.
Knitting-wise, I made some progress on Linden whilst sitting in City Court. Aran-weight yarn makes for quick knitting. :-D It also makes for sore wrists, so I've been alternating Linden with Faina. Size 4 needles after size 9 needles feel awfully strange, but it's nice alternating the different textures of the super soft alpaca and the chunky, tweedy wool, too.
Some graphic proof that I purl looser than I knit, even when I'm making a conscious effort to tighten up... I manually tightened the last six stitches in a row of purls on Linden and got this:



Two extra inches of yarn from six purls.

And a sure sign of fall:

Apparently random is all I got.

As I am primarily a lazy human being and I can't be bothered to think of anything coherent.
The Bug is potty training. He was doing okay with #1, though #2 required vigilance and the ability to recognize impending doom. Suddenly, none of it was good (at home - at school he's fine) unless he's entirely pants-free. Apparently, crapping on Thomas the Train is okay, but crapping on the carpet is not. They're going to LOVE him at school tomorrow.
I am making progress on The Socks That Ate My Summer.



I don't know if I'm worried about packing, or if I'm nesting already, but the last couple of weekends have found me cleaning out and ruthlessly purging stuff from closets. Last weekend it was the coat closet, from whence I removed probably 15 coats and sweaters, a broken toy from 7 years ago that we never got around to exchanging, about 40 gift bags and 2 or 3 pounds of dog hair. This weekend it was the armoire and my bathroom. The armoire is an entertainment style one, so instead of having nice useful shelves it had space for a giant TV, and it had become a catch-all. I cleaned it out, folded up some stuff and stored it nicely in there, purged a whole bunch of makeup that had been hiding under all the junk, and collected another bag for Goodwill. The DH is not truly as impressed as he should be.

In an effort to tidy up, and also, to keep the DH and the Bug from ripping my needles out of my knitting again, I put my SIPs (that's Socks In Progress) in the cool black and white box from Sephora.



It holds two SIPs comfortably, plus some notions and a few extra things. I am thrilled to find a use for the box, partly because it keeps my knitting mostly safe, and partly because DH has stopped threatening to throw the box away. (I am genetically incapable of disposing of boxes.) I say "mostly safe" because



the Bug likes boxes as much as I do.

Reading up on fleece, I came across the opinion that a dirty fleece attracts bugs more readily than a clean one. The general consensus was that fleeces should be stored relatively clean, in cotton rather than plastic, in a light location if possible. This is bad news for the dirty fleece in the closet in the plastic bag, so I planned to wash it this weekend. Then I read that dirty fleece has a slim chance of being contaminated with toxoplasmosis, which is Not Good for pregnant chicks. Fortunately, I read that a stay in a standard domestic freezer will kill off the little buggers. And so...



Five pounds of corriedale are currently sharing space with the chocolate and the chicken. I expect to wash it in smallish batches in the next several days.

GAWD I miss coffee.

The Bug thinks his fighter jets make good phones. He had a whole conversation with Daddy about Thomas the Tank Engine with those things pressed to his ears.



I'm super proud of the kid, though - he came in the other day while I was watching Star Wars (ANH) and he was enthralled. The next morning when he woke up, before he even opened his eyes, he said, "I wanna watch space ships." A chip off the ol' nerdy block. I love it.

I ordered my new diaper bag from The Loopy Ewe the other day. I was all excited about having a unique bag until Notorious Norma mentioned that all the cool kids going to Rhinebeck had one. Oh well, if I can't be unique, at least I got in on the Hot New Thing while it was still Hot and New. Anyway, that purchase made me an official Loopy Groupie (which I am thrilled about, for some reason) and got me to a $25 credit. I have quite a bit of sock yarn and want to knit what I have, so I'm thinking lace. Maybe lace for Christmas presents. What is your favorite laceweight (that TLE carries)?

K is for (I'm skipping J)...

Knocked up!



Yup, it's true. All that whining, pissing and moaning I've been doing about being tired and having no mojo? It's all being sucked into the Noob. Now I can be more specific, whining about no mojo, no energy, morning sickness nausea all freaking day long, etc. (A side note: how does anyone ever become bulimic? It's nuts. I've lost 5 pounds so far and IT. SUCKS.)
Today we had the first ultrasound (known to us old hags as the Nuchal Translucency test, part of the barrage of genetic shit they try to make you take because you're an old bat if you're going to be north of 35 when the baby is born, most of which I'm ignoring) and the wee beastie wiggled all over the damn place and forced the tech to swirl around and around trying to get just the right angle. It took forever, which was cool because I got to watch Noob wiggle and flop and flutter, but she kept trying to make him/her roll over just a little, by forcibly jabbing the wand into my belly. Not a fan of that particular aspect, but still! Much activity, much wiggling, tiny hands, tiny feet, some hiccups, and that crazy little fluttering heart. I heart the heart.
(Incidentally, the Christmas counter is not actually for Christmas - this noob is due on 12/25.)

A little facial profile for your viewing pleasure.