I Wish...

No, I haven't really accepted The 30 Day Journal Challenge that's going on over at Run With Scissors but I wish I could.  That is, I wish I could draw so that I could accept the challenge.  Granted, I only heard about it a few minutes ago and it started on June 14th but if I could draw I wouldn't let that stop me.  I'd just start the first prompt today and make my own thirty days of drawing and doodling fun. 

Alas, no.

My inability to draw, though, doesn't stop me from having a mini collection of moleskines.  I love moleskines and one of my favorite "I Have Nothing to Do" things to do is to click around the moleskine groups on Flickr: 

• Moleskinerie 


• Moleskine: One Page at a Time


• My Moleskine


• Sketchbook

There is so much talent there...it's amazing.  And more than a little capable of inducing extreme jealousy!

I am thinking about signing up for an Online Amigurumi Design Class with Brigette Read of Roman Sock.  I've always wanted to make up my very own amigurumi patterns and maybe a class with someone as talented as Brigette would give me a little inspiration.   

And finally, in baby news, I ate an entire frozen pizza for dinner tonight.  Unfortunately, 'll pay for it with heartburn and acid reflux at about three or four in the morning.... 

What I Did On My Summer Vacation

The piles started small but once you get started it's nearly impossible to stop!  Unfortunately I waited until the night before we left when things had to be packed into vacuum bags and then into a suitcase to take a photo instead of picking one of the other half dozen days when the sun was shining in the back door. 

 

Not only does our little acorn have his very own Buddy doll but he also has a Dayton Dragons (our minor league baseball team) t-shirt and ball cap!  Oddly enough, the BBC was at the game the following night filming the world's oldest living conjoined twins. 

We bought lots of lots of things that say "Mommy" on them (one of my favorites says "Mommy's Snugglesaurus") as everything here says "Mummy."  I'd like to be called Mommy or Mom but I doubt it'll work out that way.  

I know it seems crazy to cart this much baby stuff from the US to the UK but it was well worth paying $50/£35 for the extra suitcase since the dollar is a bit weaker than the pound and you just can't find sales and clearance racks of baby stuff (or at least I haven't had any luck) in England like you can in the US.  Plus I really wanted to shop for baby things with my mom and I know she was really looking forward to it, too.  It was loads of fun and I think it'll also give us the kick in the pants we need to start clearing out the baby's room. 

And, of course, I also bought yarn but probably not the kind of yarn you would expect a person to buy when traveling to another country.

 

Our second suitcase was also full of cheap yarn!  I bought some Vanna to knit a Bedtime Stocking Cap (my plan is to knit almost all of the hats - minus the girly girl ones - in this book - it's fantastic).  I based my color choices on the little helicopter onesie you can see second pile from the bottom on the left in the baby clothes photo.  I would have never picked these colors on my own but they work surprisingly well together.  And I bought some good old Sugar & Cream cotton for a dollar a skein (67p!) because I want to knit more Baby Genius Burp Cloths and Baby Bandana Bibs.  I knitted one of the bibs on the flight over and - eep! - they are so cute!  I picked up two skeins of Stitch Nation Alpaca Love just because it was on sale and I wanted to give it a try.  I think I might knit a Chocqua baby hat with it.  The Patons Wool I bought just because I use it a lot for amigurumi and only have a little bit of my last skein left and the Lion Brand Thick & Quick is for a Nathaniel Pillow (thanks for the idea, Sarah!) for the baby's room.  Honestly, the equivalent dollar amount in Malabrigo (which wouldn't be much, really) couldn't have made me happier than this cheap yarn.  It's practical for baby things and it can't be found around here.  

So I guess that's really what my summer vacation was all about: buying, doing and eating things that can't be found here in the UK.  I had a Wendy's cheeseburger at the Detroit airport during our layover on the way to Dayton and I swear it was best cheeseburger I've ever had!  I'm sure I packed a couple of pounds on during my visit but it was well worth it.  Unfortunately, I realized as we were on the way to the airport for our flight home that I'd forgotten to restock my stash of microwave mac and cheese.  Thank goodness we didn't stop because about five minutes later I remembered something I'd forgotten that was a million times more important: my pregnancy notes (they have you carry your own records here)!  Since I have a scan on Friday (yay!) we definitely had to go back to get them.  

Speaking of our scan on Friday...it's ridiculous how much we're looking forward to seeing him again!  It's also hard to believe that, most likely, the next time we see him will be in person, hopefully happy, squirming and making a lot of noise.  He's certainly been squirmy today.  I feel him several times a day anyway but today I think he must have decided that sleep is overrated because it's almost nonstop.  Not that I'm complaining! So far I'm not a huge fan of being pregnant but feeling him kick makes it all worth it.  :)

I Love the Lambs, Not the Sheep*

I've kind of lost my knitting mojo recently but I was able to pull out a crochet hook and crochet up a couple of sheep for Ginny's baby shower last Sunday.  First we have Sheldon, a super soft sheep made with some of my mother-in-law's alpaca yarn.  Due to a slower than usual breakfast at Young's Dairy I was scrambling to make it to the shower on time and only had a few minutes to take photos hence the glaring whiteness of this little guy.  He turned out really cute, though, and was easy and quick to crochet.

 

This little cutie from Tamie Snow's Tiny Yarn Animals book was really hard to part with!  I'm definitely going to crochet one of these for myself. 

Now it's time to start thinking about hooks and little woodland creatures.  Thank goodness for Ravelry!  I've already found several patterns that should keep me busy for at least a little while....

*so says French diplomat Roger Peyrefitte anyway

Woodland Stitched Awesomeness

Thanks for all the anniversary and baby boy wishes!  We've been doing a lot of baby shopping over the past few days and the dining room table is currently heaped with cute little outfits covered in puppies and monkeys.  We have quite a few things in blue but brown is really popular now, too, which I love.  We might have even already found our "coming home outfit".  :)

But today I wanted to show you my favorite gift so far: little woodland creatures by Chris that are perfect for our woodland theme nursery!

Look!  A squirrel!

How cool is he?!  Check out his tail!

 

And here's his little friend the turtle...

I love the print choices.  They're perfect for the shell and skin.

I can already tell our little boy likes them as he's been kicking me like crazy as I've been playing around with these photos.  :)

And there's more!  Chris also made these gorgeous, colorful bibs.

 

Note the hippo down there in the right hand corner!  For some reason all of these remind me of going to the beach.  Maybe because it's so hot here that a dip in some cool water sounds like the best thing in the world....

Thanks again, Chris!!

On This Day Last Year

I said, "I will," and became the luckiest girl in the world.

Quick Acorn Update!

Our little acorn is [probably] a little boy!

The sonographer is pretty sure it's a little boy but we're going for another scan in three weeks because they'd like to get a better look at the baby's heart and we should get another, hopefully, better look at "the goods".  :) 

More a bit later - hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Big, Important Things!

Oh how I love the internet!  Yesterday I opened a new page to begin a post and found that the text editing tool section on Typepad was coming up wonky which meant I couldn't post photos or format any text so I decided to give it a day and see if the problem resolved itself.  Unfortunately, it didn't so I looked it up on Google and - lo and behold! - a solution that worked.  As simple as opening a new page and pressing Crtl+f5.

On to more important things....

The next 48 hours are super exciting!  Tomorrow morning we go for our 20 week scan and will - hopefully! - find out if our little acorn is a boy or a girl.  As I've mentioned before, my first instinct was that he or she is a boy while Matt thinks girl but lately we've both been referring to her as a girl without much thought.  I'll definitely make a little announcement here but we're waiting to tell my parents (that is, if the baby cooperates) in person so I probably won't get to post it until late Thursday/early Friday Ohio time. 

Speaking of Thursday...we leave for Ohio Thursday morning!  We have to get up at the ridiculous hour of four to get to the airport on time but the fact that it's, seriously, already getting light at that hour should help a but.  I woke up the other morning to bright sunlight streaming though the window and thought for sure it must have been at least eight but when I looked at the clock it was only five-thirty!  So yesterday I looked up a sunrise chart and found that sunrise here currently is at about 4:45 (and sunset is at 9:15).  I don't think I've ever lived anywhere where the sun was so bright so early. 

Anyway, this time Thursday night we'll we touching down in Dayton.  Hooray!  The house needs a little bit more straightening and there's one more load of laundry to do but I think we'll be ready to go by the time we crawl into bed tomorrow night.  Thankfully, Matt's sister is going to stay here to look after the house and, more importantly, take care of the cats.  Mina, our black cat, has become somewhat neurotic and has licked all of the fur off her belly and is now working on doing the same to her back legs so she needs to be watched and fed on a regular basis because we think her neurosis has to do with food.  She runs to the food bowls (we have one upstairs and one down) whenever we get close to it in case we're going to feed her and she tends to start chowing down when she senses that we're getting ready leave.  Like she's thinking, "They're never coming back.  I'd better eat all this food before Lucy [our other cat] does!"  

I'm off to veg in front of the tv for a little bit.  This has been a terrible allergy day.  Better today than tomorrow, though!

Perching Pigeons

Have you seen the latest free pattern from Mochimochi Land?  The Perching Pigeons? 

SO much cuter than the real thing!  I do not like pigeons and agree that they are rats with wings.  We share a wall with our neighbor but there's an open space on the second floor where the pigeons like to roost and where there's also a nest every year.   The loud cooing 24/7 is extremely annoying.  

These pigeons, though, are like, um, kittens with wings - they're that cute. 

A Quiet Canal Boat Ride

We took a canal boat trip for Matt's sisters (the twins) birthday on the Lady Lena on Tuesday. 

 

Unfortunately, it rained just about up until we got on the boat then there was a tiny break and...more rain. These photos of the boat were taken after the trip - hence the piles of snuggly lap blankets.  Despite the rain, it was a smooth relaxing trip complete with champagne.  Well, sips of champagne for me anyway. 

 

 

After the boat ride we went into Bath for lunch and cake at Ruth's flat.  Tippy top floor.  After walking the hilly streets of Bath from the carpark.  Havoc on a the pregnant. 

But there were Ben's Cookies to be had - the coconut ones are my favorites - and a quick stop at Lush for my favorite bubble bar: Karma and both of those things make the hike worth it!