Neglectful Blogger Is Back

Yeah, so I pretty much ignored my blog through the entire holiday season. I didn't have my camera cord with me, and I had very few moments to sit down at the computer. We were out of town for about a week, with the first half in Portland and the second half in Spokane. It was wonderful to see everyone and have a little time away. The trip included a viewing of Juno, a nice afternoon in downtown Portland, great dinners at Jake's in Portland and Gordy's in Spokane (I must have my dumplings!), breakfast at Rockwood Bakery, the discovery of the perfect fabric for the nursery, and, of course, great times with family and friends. Our drive back to Tacoma from Spokane wasn't as great, what with a chain requirement over the pass and our hopelessly tangled chains that took quite a while to get on. My poor husband had to handle the entire thing as I sat in the warm car with my swollen feet elevated on the dashboard.

On the knitting front, I finished most but not all of my models for my classes. Pictured here are the Baby J Jacket (knit out of Socks That Rock Heavyweight), the Peapod Sweater (knit out of Sirdar Baby Bamboo), and the Felted Diaper Bag (knit out of Cascade Pastaza). I finished the Four Corners Hat out of Debbie Bliss Rialto the day after we returned and then mailed it to Spokane without taking a picture of it. Now I'm just finishing up the matching hat to go with the Peapod Sweater (some fatigue and the late hour led to some maddening ripping out last night). I should get that done today. Also on the knitting front, Mom knit our little one a wonderful Baby Surprise Jacket out of Cascade Sierra. It's red, black, and white and matches a darling little pair of Robeez. The only picture I have of it yet is one with Andrew holding it, and my guess is he would prefer his picture not be posted. So I'll have to take another one and post it this week.

Speaking of the little one, we are having a boy. We are very excited and now have more direction in the planning of things (hence the selection of a fabric for the nursery). Andrew gave me a precious little outfit of green overalls with an orange shirt (he bought it before I said that I wanted a lot of orange and green in the nursery--we have this weird pregnancy telepathy thing going on right now). Also, Mom and Dad gave us an adorable coat with little Robeez boots (see photo with coat covering expanding belly). And on both sides we received the beginnings of the little guy's library. Back to the belly. Suddenly I really and truly look pregnant. One of these days I'm even going to get the guts to park in the "Expectant Mothers Only" spot at the Metropolitan Market in our neighborhood. I've been tempted to park there on cold nights, but I felt like I was still in the "is she or isn't she?" stage. And I didn't want anyone scowling at me. He's kicking pretty regularly, enough so now that you can sometimes actually see my belly move. Weird. I had been feeling absolutely great (I guess this is the glorious second trimester time), but our last night in Spokane my feet and ankles swelled up like balloons. And then the day after we got home, I had a crazy spell of seeing stars and feeling faint (a Boehm's chocolate saved the day). So now the nurse told me I need to have my feet elevated as much as possible and make sure I have protein at least every two hours. Hard-boiled eggs have become my bosom buddies. And with that in mind, I better go make some lunch and put my feet up.