After 25 minutes of painful external, and then internal, and then more external poking and prodding, we got confirmation that we have a boy. Although I have to tell you, she was never completely convincing, because she kept looking, but whatever. It’s a boy.

So unless he comes out with a sign on his head saying, “my name is such-and-such”, or comes out lacking certain things we SWEAR we saw yesterday, we’re finally getting our Clark! And our Clark is going to be decked in Superman knits.

Can’t help it.

Nate is way into comic books, both super-hero and otherwise, and I’ve always had a thing for Superman. Can you blame me?

He’s divine.

So my yarn store shopping is going to consist of red, blue, and yellow for awhile. And I’m first going to look for red, and blue koigu. I already have a great yellow. And somewhere in there, I’m going to knit myself a pair of socks for the hospital. Not Superman socks, just a pretty pair of socks to deliver in. It’s a tradition for me to deliver my babies wearing pretty socks, although this will be the first time they’ll be hand knitted pretty socks, and I’m looking forward to it. For some reason, when I’m laying in the hospital bed completely lack of dignity in that wretched hospital gown, I enjoy looking down and seeing my pretty socks.

It’s the little things.

We’re getting our second ultrasound today. Yee-haw!

Sorry, my sis’ has been living in Texas for close to a year, and she’s started throwing around all sorts of Texas-talk. I love it, quite frankly. It’s fun. But a single email from her gets me drawlin’.

Ok, so, we’re gonna take another look and see if the baby will give up the goods. Even though we already have a good idea that it’s a boy. I’d just as soon know for sure.

As for baby knit-alongs… I was thinking about a Superman knit-along. Mainly because if it is a boy, I’m going to be knitting baby stuff with superman logos on it. I don’t imagine this knit-along will be very popular, but it could be fun. (And of course, my witty husband said it should be a KAL-el). We talked here awhile ago about a Baby in Koigu knit-along. I’m still open to that, because that’s the other thing I intend to knit for the little one. Koigu hats, mainly. Koigu’s expensive.

What do you think? (Those of you who expressed an interest).

Now, for the Interlocking Balloons Scarf.

It’s about as long as the railing on my front stairs. And it’s luscious, no? The weird thing is that when I touch it with my hands, there is nothing softer on the planet. And when I wrap it around my neck, it itches. What’s up with that? It doesn’t itch bad, I’ll still be happy to wear it, but I find it very strange indeed.

If you want to see another, slightly bigger photo….

I was “tagged” a week or so ago by Lynn, and I’m afraid time got away from me. So, I’m finally getting to it. I haven’t spent a lot of time on this, so this is in no way in order of importance.

1. I love animals, and have owned almost everything at one point.

2. Considering the above, I can say honestly that I hate cats.

3. I LOVE the Beatles. And like SOME people I know, I too scoffed and scorned until I actually heard them. Of course, I was still a teenager at the time.

4. I continue to be hopelessly in love with my husband, and I still get giddy when I hear his voice on the phone.

5. I am Mormon.

6. The actual name of my church is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

7. My gorgeous and talented sister is in Texas pursuing her music career. When she is famous, it will amuse me not to tell you her name. Besides, if I ‘fessed up, it’d crash my server.

8. I used to be horribly shy. I’m not afraid of people anymore, but I still have some ingrained physical responses that frustrate me when I’m speaking in front of people. Mainly I talk too fast and don’t take time to breathe.

9. However, I still have some insecurities. Like, I tend to think that people I barely know but have to interact with are mad at me. It makes no sense.

10. I met Nate when I was 15.

11. His parents had no idea who I was until a month before we were engaged, when I was 18. They completely flipped out. My mother-in-law started to cry, and my father-in-law went into a lecture about how you can always “get out of it” until you’re actually married. They have been completely horrified by their behavior ever since, and have apologized.

12. I absolutely adore my in-laws.

13. I love gardening, and totally suck at it.

14. As I’m typing this, I’m finding that I’m not very interesting.

15. I love to entertain and throw parties.

16. Playing with my kids doesn’t come natural to me. I have to try really hard. I’ve learned a lot from my girlfriends about parenting.

17. I didn’t know until my 3rd child that babies like to be swaddled. Now I’m thinking that Abby didn’t in fact have colic, but would have stopped crying if I’d bundled her. This annoys me.

18. I am sad that my girls can’t help me in the kitchen because it is too small. They ask to help all the time.

19. I used to have no hobbies at all. Then I had tons and tons of them. Then I started knitting and the rest fell by the way.

20. I worry that I’ll go blind someday.

Hmmm. I think this post is long enough. I have some festive photos to show you of the Interlocking Balloons Scarf. I’m 10 rows into the 8th repeat, and am still paranoid that it isn’t going to block nicely. But that can wait ’til tomorrow.

Good morning. The sun is out, it’s looking to be a beautiful autumn day. We are heading off to the store to get food for the big diet change. I’m hoping to start having legitimate Health Group posts again, as opposed to the recently common list of excuses. Like this one…

Well, I didn’t exercise this week. I’m hoping that next week will be better, but I’m taking steps. This diet change is supposed to help me feel better and have more energy, so I should be able to exercise more.

And the pregnant weigh-in this morning? 232.5. I’m happy with that. I was up at 234 earlier in the week.

How are you doing?

I started and finished the Manly Hayden yesterday.

It’s such a great pattern. I love it.

Today, I’m once again working on the Interlocking Balloons Scarf. It’s going much faster now that I’m familiar with the wretched chart, but I’m still anxious to be done.

The VCC is creeping back into my thoughts. I need to weave in a few more ends and buy and install a zipper to complete it.

And……. It looks like there’s some Esther activity happening out there! Malle has started hers, and it looks really good so far!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I finished the latest Esther Williams yesterday.

It takes me about 5 hours start to finish, provided I timed it right. I had to get up and down a lot, so I might have miscounted at some point.

This morning, I started a masculine Hayden.

Who’s it for? Not telling.

It’s really nice to have my patterns written out. I must say that’s the main reason I do it. So I can have them to knit again. I haven’t made a Hayden in about a year, and I honestly had to print up the directions and follow them to make it. I had completely forgotten how to do it.

Again, a very happy Thanksgiving, to those of you who celebrate it. I am so grateful for my life and my family. I was an extremely insecure child and was convinced, until I met Nate, that no one would ever want to marry me, and that I’d be alone my whole life.

I had no idea what was in store for me. I am grateful everyday.

Insert big hyper-tension-something-or-other-medical-term-here.

So, I’m fine I guess. They took some blood to test for blood sugar issues, anemia, and thyroid function, but the doctor said that I’m fine. He suggests getting up as much as I can, gradually, because staying down will only exacerbate the situation. He wants me to make sure I’m getting enough fluids, and he wants me to do a dietary change.

Which I expected.

But when I asked if he had any flyers or lists of recommended meals, he suggested looking at the South Beach Diet and the Weight Watchers programs with the intent to balance out proteins and good carbs.

Now don’t freak out. He hasn’t said a word about losing weight, and he isn’t putting me on a diet. He’s talking about balancing out blood sugar spikes. He said it will help me to be more resilient to being vertical.

I didn’t know much about the South Beach diet. I had heard it was similar to Atkins, without being as radical. Nate bought the book for me on the way home from work last night, and I spent a few hours reading it. The interesting thing is that with very few exceptions, and avoiding the extremes, it falls right into place with my dietary philosophy already.

That made me happy.

The nice thing is that the book gives a lot of variety and practical application in following that philosophy, which I didn’t have before.

It also spent a lot of time trying to convince me of things I already knew based on personal experience, which I discussed rather extensively in the first year of Health Group posts, if I’m remembering accurately.

So, off to modify the South Beach diet to be appropriate for pregnancy I am. And I’m pretty happy. I think the baby is, too, because he’s been kicking the heck out of me all last night and this morning.

We got to hear the heartbeat yesterday. It was Nate’s first time with this baby, and it was neat.

I’m planning on keeping a food journal, just to make sure the doctor approves of my implementation. I’ve been so infused with “Don’t Diet While Pregnant” from every book, magazine, and person with an opinion for so many years, that I want to make sure I’m being smart.

But I’m not too worried.

Thank you all for your comments and concern. Some of you made mention of my delusion about being on bed rest. My neighbor gave me what-for (in her politic and polite way) last night, and told me that while I am certainly doing considerably less than I normally do, it is her opinion that I am still doing a whole lot more than I realize.

Well, fine. I guess I am. But I’m still laying on the couch most of the time and neglecting personal hygiene. That seemed like a form of bed rest to me.

However, I’ve been told now to avoid laying down all the time if I can help it. So there we are.

I didn’t get any knitting done yesterday, what with the chiropractor, shuttling kids, the doctor appointment, and reading about how to eat.

Shut up. I’m aware that yesterday wasn’t a bed rest day.

Oh, and Abby took a spill last night and mangled her glasses as much as she possibly could have without breaking them. In fact, the woman trying to bend them back into shape at Lens Crafters was amazed she didn’t break them, and studied Abby’s face intently to see how she managed to pull through with both eyeballs still in their sockets.

Quite frankly, I think she was also trying to see if there was any sign of mishandling on our part, if you know what I mean.

She has a little welt on her cheek, and thankfully, that’s all. I wasn’t sure the glasses would be fixable, neither was the lady working on them. One of the lenses was half popped out, both nose pad things were flattened, and everything else was going off in unnatural directions.

But all is well.

As for crescent rolls…. My neighbor suggested calling Pete, since he knows how to do it, and asking for his assistance if I absolutely HAVE to make them. But she more strongly recommends buying dinner rolls at a store and even went so far as to make phone calls to local bakeries on my behalf.

I’m so loved.

I was talking with one of Olivia’s classmate’s moms yesterday… and I wasn’t even saying that much, but we were talking about how I’m doing, and how I’m basically on self-imposed bed rest, and I guess something I said sounded bad. So, she asked when Nate was getting home, what my doctor had said about it, and that I was scaring her.

Well, I hadn’t talked to my doctor about it, but after hanging up the phone with the mom, I decided that calling him wouldn’t be a bad idea. So I did. They told me to go to the ER, and I said no. I’ve been this way for months, I didn’t think the ER was warranted. So I have an appointment with my doctor today.

The thing is, that although I haven’t had this experience in a pregnancy before, it still is somewhat common for pregnant moms to feel dizzy, blackout sometimes, have difficulty breathing, pounding heartbeats, etc.

Stop that, it is.

Plus, this is my 4th pregnancy. And while it’s different than my others, by the 4th time, you just don’t freak out about things like you do with the first one. It’s like, I’ve been here, DONE this, and I’m just biding my time.

Well, the nurse and nurse practitioner said that if I’m blacking out, my brain isn’t getting enough oxygen. Hence, neither is the baby.

Hadn’t thought of that.

They are going to check a bunch of stuff out today, and she said something about prescribing bed rest.

To which I responded that I’ve been on bed rest (for the most part) since I was 9 weeks.

Anyway, I’m going to the doctor today. I don’t exactly know what to expect, but I am surprised that they’re making a biggish kind of deal out of this. However, I haven’t talked to my doctor yet. So far, it’s been the nurses only.

I’m kind of expecting to be put on a strict diet. I’ve always felt that my symptoms were blood sugar related, but I haven’t been able to figure out what to eat to help myself. I’m hoping that they’ll enlighten me.

It remains to be seen whether or not I’ll be allowed to make a zillion crescent rolls for Thanksgiving dinner, as I have for the last 6 years. It’s come to be expected, particularly with some of Nate’s siblings. Everybody loves the crescent rolls.

In fact, Pete emailed me from Italy on his first Thanksgiving there, and asked for a detailed recipe and “how to” for crescent rolls. Apparently, they were a big hit, and he spent quite a few afternoons in various italian kitchens, showing women how to make them. The funny thing is that the italians kept trying to change the recipe, mainly adding oil instead of butter, and were surprised when they didn’t turn out the same.

Anyway, back to Thanksgiving, I’m guessing the gingerbread turkeys are out of the question.

I started an Esther Williams yesterday, and I’m timing myself. It’s another red one, and I’m 2 hours into it.

Anyone else start theirs yet?

Somebody got to my site by Googling that. And I’d like to take this opportunity to say…

I’m a self-proclaimed Finch! If someone wants to care for me while I’m pregnant, I’d be happy to let them!

That cracked me up.

Last weekend was extremely busy. The jewelry/Christmas party was very fun and very well attended. The peppermint brittle was divine, however there is a modification I’d make in the future, mainly adding more rice crispies.

I am very tired, and my stomach isn’t being nice to me. I threw up yesterday morning, and that hasn’t happened in quite awhile. I’m not feeling so great right now either. I wonder what I could eat that WOULDN’T make me sick.

As for knitting… I was too busy to touch anything over the weekend. I picked up my Interlocking Balloons scarf this morning, and I don’t think there’s the slightest chance of getting it done by Thanksgiving, which was my goal. So instead, I might just make a bunch of Esther Williams Hats.

The list of people that want one is growing rapidly. My sisters-in-law that are Cookie Lee consultants are giving me jewelry to make their hats. So they move up on the list. :-).

I promised that today I would announce the start and end date of the knitalong, Synchronized Knitting.

Link the button (another of Nate’s fab creations) to Friday’s post please, so I don’t get a ton of emails asking where to find the pattern.

Well, how ’bout we start today, and end December 16th? That’s almost 4 weeks. Sounds good to me. Let me know if you’re in. As of now, I have-

Jennifer

Ginger

Darra

Judith Rosa

Danielle

Malle

That is my list so far. If you want to be added, either comment here or send an email (see sidebar). As with my other knitalongs, our official update day on the blog will be Fridays, however you can email me with comments or pictures anytime.