2011, In Review

Every year I do a "short" Year-In-Review post, recapping what happened over the last 12 months, mostly in photos. It was a pretty big year, to say the least. Just to warn you, it's pretty baby-heavy.

January
We spent New Year's Eve in Minnesota after Troy and Becky's wedding. I have to say, Central Time New Year's is pretty lame. We watched the Ball drop at 11pm, Chicago's lame-attempt at a countdown, and were in bed pretty soon after that.

When we got back to New York, I organized a little birthday celebration for myself with my favorite people and my favorite food, CHEESE!

Chris even found a giant Swiss Cake Roll for my birthday cake!

The Belly grew and grew . . .

24 weeks

26 weeks

And we started working on the Baby room!

I also spent two weekends taking a Doula training course. After some upsetting changes at work, I decided to take the next step. I've been thinking about becoming a Doula for a long time, and I felt like I was ready to try to make it happen. After the training was over, I was probably the most prepared pregnant lady ever to give birth, but I also knew I wasn't quite ready to make the Doula thing a reality just yet. I have a few years to get certified for my class to still count, so talk to me again next year and we'll see where I am.

February

The Belly started taking over!

28 Weeks

29 Weeks

30 weeks

31 weeks

Beth came down and we painted the Baby room! It came out so good!

March
Belly-Tastic!

32 weeks

33 weeks

34 weeks

35 weeks

Something I've always wanted to do, a maternity photo shoot. Janna from Capture Our Moments Photography was awesome!

Baby Shower #1 at my Mom's

Baby Shower #2 at my apartment

We also worked out the practical things for this child!

April
The last few belly shots!

36 weeks

37 weeks (and in labor, btw)

I went into labor on Sunday April 10. Rowan was born on April 11, 2011, 3:54am at St. Luke's Roosevelt Hospital's Birthing Center.

6 pounds, 4 ounces

19 inches long

Go here to read the entire Birth Story.

After that, pretty much everything was about the baby.

Happy Easter!

May
Had my first Mother's Day breakfast in bed.

At the end of May we make our first trip up to Massachusetts with the baby.

Great Nana

Happy Memorial Day!

June

Chris had his first Father's Day. His gift -- sleeping in!

I went back to work at the end of June, which means Rowan started day care.

First Day of School!

Everyone was glad to see me back at the office!

July

July 2 was Gipper's 2nd birthday with us (8 years old!)

Happy Birthday Gipper!

On the 4th, we celebrated America's birthday!

Happy 4th of July!

And also Daddy's Birthday!

August

At the end of August, New York City experienced it first real hurricane in a long time, Hurricane Irene. We bought lots of bottled water (and froze a big jug in the freezer to keep the breastmilk cold in case the power went out!) and hunkered down in our apartment.

Watching the rain start!

The worst of it in our neighborhood

Tropical Storm Rowan!

September
We headed up to Massachusetts for Nana's annual Labor Day party.

October
We welcomed Fall at the local farm museum! Pumpkin patches and apple pie!

We headed up to MA again for Beth's Halloween party. Unfortunately, we got stuck in a Snowstorm instead! We ended up camping out at Chris's parents' house and never got to the Halloween party.

Snow and Foliage!

Baby got his first sled right, and his first taste of snow.

When we got back home, of course the snow was gone. On Halloween Day, the daycare had a Halloween party and parade.

That night, the dog park had a party too!

Baby dressed as a football and the whole family joined in.

November

Baby's first Thanksgiving!

Chris and I also went to our 10 year High School Reunion!

December

Everyone was so excited for Baby's first Christmas! Gramma Jan sent us home with a bag full of Advent presents.

We wasted no time getting a Christmas Tree.

Chris gave me my present a little early -- a date night and The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center!

I took about 187 pictures of the baby under the Christmas Tree. It took that many, plus a little photoshopping, to get this year's Holiday Card.

We spent Christmas Eve at Mom and Dad Chamberland's.

And we spent Christmas Morning at Mom and Dad Hartford's. 

Plans for New Year's Eve include takeout hamburgers, milkshakes, a Big Bang Theory marathon, and MAYBE staying up to see the ball drop.

Happy New Year!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Baby was the most popular turkey at the table!

Baby-Wearing Coat Extender

Baby-wearing coats, with special removable panels to make the coat fit around the baby in the front or on your back, are a little too expensive for my taste. Like everything else in life, I simply said, "I could make that." And this time I was actually successful!

Problem: My coat doesn't fit around the baby.

Solution: A cozy knitted panel attached to the outside which keeps me and the baby warm.

One drawback: I still can't button/zip the coat on the top, so my chest and neck are exposed. However, a properly wrapped scarf should suffice until it starts snowing.

Best part? It's super easy. I finished it in approximately 4 subway rides.

Materials:
Super Bulky Yarn. I used "Lionbrand Wool-East Thick and Quick."
Size 15 needles
4 or 6 buttons

(I used 4 buttons, but you can also do 6 for a more secure panel).

Measurements:
Put on your carrier with your baby (or a stuffed animal/pillow surrogate the matches the shape and height of your baby in the carrier) and your coat. Measure across the widest part (probably baby's bottom) and from baby's neck to wherever you want the bottom to sit (either to match your coat length, or to just below baby's legs and bottom, it's your choice). I zipped the bottom of my coat like in picture #1 above to help determine where the buttons should go, and made sure I measured the width with enough room on each side for the buttons. Mine ended up measuring about 15" wide X 19" tall.

Pattern:
Cast on 40 stitches.

*[S1, K5, K1P1, rib 28, K5, P1]
(for the remainder of the project, slip the first stitch knit-wise and purl the last stitch of every row. This makes a nice flat edge up the side).
Repeat from * for about 1.5 inches.

Button Hole Row: S1, K2, yo, K2tog, K2, K1P1 rib 28, K2, yo, K2tog, K2, P1.

*[S1, K5, K4P4 rib until the last 6 stitches, K5, P1].
Repeat from * until the pieces measures about 1.5 inches less than your desired height.
(Insert a button hole row in the middle of the piece if desired.)

2nd Button Hole Row: S1, K2, yo, K2tog, K2, K1P1 rib 28, K2, yo, K2tog, K2, P1.

[K6, K1P1 rib 28, K5, P1] for about 1.5 inches.

Bind off.

Sew the buttons onto the outside of your coat. Tip: Sew the top buttons first and try it on with your baby or baby-type lump in your carrier. Use this to pinpoint where the bottom buttons should go (I had to move the top ones twice, and I STILL have to adjust the bottom ones).

Note: this thick yarn and large needles creates very large button holes. If your buttons are too small, use an extra piece of yarn and sew part of the hole shut to make it smaller.

Put on your baby and head out into the cold!

Santa Pants

Santa Pants

CHANDLER: Your pants!

PHOEBE: Oh, yeah! You like ‘em? I went to a used clothes store and got a bunch of maternity stuff. These are so comfortable! 

JOEY: Uhh, Pheebs, those are Santa pants.

PHOEBE: What? 

CHANDLER: Santa pants ... Santa Claus’s pants.

Santa has the best pants. Clearly, they are the most comfortable pants ever. What baby doesn't deserve some Santa Pants, especially for their first Christmas?

Goal: to make Santa Pants for the baby, perhaps with a jacket and hat . . . though, my focus will be on the pants.

Pattern: I am going to modify the overall pattern I used for his Camouflage Overalls, which I found here. I just won't do the bib, and I'll extend the suspenders so they go all the way to the belt.

Colors/Yarn:

Red, of course.

Will need to pick up more next weekend.

White, fuzzy. I have a few choices for this. 

This is nice and fuzzy, but a very thin (better for adding some "fur" to the edge of something, but maybe not for knitting a whole cuff)

This is very soft and thicker than the Devine, but is it too thick?

This is a worsted boucle, so it's the same weight as my main color, and it's got some texture. I also have a TON of it and would love to use it up. Might not be white though.

Black and Yellow, for the belt.

I would love to get it done before taking our Christmas card photo, but we'll see.

Too many projects

I have a problem. I have combined Pinterest and New Mom Brain.

Pinterest = so many fantastic ideas!!!

New Mom Brain = the inability to remember anything, like all the fantastic ideas on my list, therefore I add more. I have to update my Knitting Calendar!

**** Also, I've updated this two or three times after publishing. Seriously, mommy brain ***

Ok, projects, in "due date" chronological order ...

1) Hat for knitting group "Hat Swap"

Hat swap is due tomorrowtoday, so I have to get cracking and finish it and I just finished it last night. I've frogged it like 4 times already!

2) Winter hat for myself

 

(not actual photo, just haven't taken one of the finished product yet). Done. I made draft 1 of the Hat Swap hat but hated it, so I tried again with this one. Much better.

3) Thanksgiving Hat for Baby

Due for Thanksgiving of course. I think I have the yarn that will work, and he's got a small head, so it shouldn't take long.

4) Baby Wearing Coat extender

Due ASAP. My coat doesn't fit around the baby when I wear him in front. This is an easy extender for a coat -- just sew some buttons onto the coat (or use the existing buttons on a double-breasted coat) and knit a cozy panel with button holes. Might add a little hood too.

5) Gift for Emily

I need more yarn. It's gonna be awesome, but I need more yarn. Next weekend is Mommy & Baby's day out, so I'll pick up some then.

6) Gift for Stephanie

Same as Emily's.

7) Baby's Christmas Stocking.

Haven't decided what I want it to look like, but he definitely needs one! (my mom is big on stocking stuffers)

8) Santa Pants for Baby

Not like this exactly, maybe some overall type with a black "belt" like santa.

9) Sock Monkey pants for Baby

I LOVE LOVE LOVE these! But they're going to have to wait until everything else, Boo!!!

One fun discovery -- if I have a great knitting project to do on the train, it keeps me from going to Dunkin Donuts in the morning, since I can't hold my coffee and knit at the same time. So every day, knitting saves me like $3.00!

Baby Pants!

It's getting cold, and I've had such a great response to my Camoulfllage Overalls, I think I want to make some more pants for the bebe!

I came across these and almost died!

Sock Monkey Pants!!!

  

Time for a trip to Michaels!!!

Vanna has some fun varigated colors, like

 Oatmeal

 Grey Marble

 Silver Heather also has some strands of varied greys.

I've got a little Red and a little White left. I think I might put removable red suspenders on it!