Stash Avalanche

Not me!

Phew, having a new baby is pretty time consuming - been trying to post this for about a week now! Hopefully Baby Stash will snooze just long enough for me to get this post out...

When  I told my mother I was pregnant she offered to do some knitting for me (probably unsurprisingly) so I sent her some patterns and told her to do as she pleased. She's a great one for using up oddments of yarn that have been sitting in her cupboard for 20 years so I was half anxious and half curious to see what she would come up with.

Well, through the post have come two great little items, both in green cotton (so she much have a lot of this to use up!). Strangely I remember hating this yarn when she originally bought it, but now I find it quite cheerful, so you see, with age comes wisdom!

These hilariously groovy trousers are from ymymmytm (yes, that really is the name of a blog!) and are called Kanoko Pants. You knit them all in one piece from the waist down and they seem to be pretty quick to knit up. They also look very variation-able - you could knit them in just plain stocking stitch or add patterns as you like. When I have some time (aha, ha, ah, ha...) I shall knit a pair myself.

And this little cardi is the Baby Raglan from Carole's Baby Knits and again, is knitted in one piece from the top down.  I originally saved this pattern because it looks like a good introduction to knitting from the top down (I have a couple of adult cardi patterns I want to knit but I feel I need some 'safe' practice first) but again I have yet to get to it.

Please be reassured that I am pathalogically opposed to matching outfits so Baby Stash will not be wearing the two items together! Actually he'll have a bit more growing to do before he is big enough for the trousers but seeing as he weighed in at 5.4kg last week it won't take long!

OK foof! Back to the mad world of babies!

ps. please excuse me if I don't reply to comments as faithfully as previously, it's madness getting 5 minutes to myself sometimes so I will try to do my best...

 

More bump links

Well, he's not a bump any more, but just to let you know I've added a couple more links to the baby page.

I'm slowly unearthing the house from its state of Armageddon and even the sewing machine might see some action over the weekend, so there may be a proper craft post appearing in the next couple of days. How's that for optimism?!

I'm still here!

Thought I'd better holler a brief hello in between feeds, just so that you know I haven't completely disappeared under a sea of nappies!

This week seems to be a lot busier than last week, or perhaps I should say, this week there has been less time to do things, mostly because I've been trying to sleep more. You can only function on adrenaline and muesli for so long!

There has been no time for crafting - the cat net is still unfinished (but fortunately the cat is too freaked out by Baby S to even think about a snooze on his head!) as is a cardigan I haven't even mentioned here yet and the footmuff which, I'm embarrassed to say, has been lying on the kitchen table with the sewing machine for nearly a month now. It probably only needs another half an hour spent on it but I haven't found that yet, let alone any time for tidying!

I have been trying to get out to take some photos of all the blossom that has sneaked out whilst I've been busy but yesterday the sky was a very unphotogenic grey and today, coming back from the doctor (a routine check up for Baby S where he was pronounced cute, enormous and very healthy),  feeding time was somewhat more urgent. So. Perhaps tomorrow...

Today's accomplishment is a stew, requested by Mr G who was complaining that he feels like all he's eaten for the past 2 weeks is sandwiches. I know how he feels!

Baby S has been keeping us up with 2 feeds during the night but the doctor suggested cluster feeding in the evenings (rather like cluster bombing but with milk) in order to get him to sleep through better. If this works, I'll hopefully be back on the knitting, crocheting and blogging with a bit more frequency, and there'll be less of the falling asleep in front of CSI. Fingers crossed!

ps. If everyone could stop blogging for about a month I'b be very grateful - there are over 600 posts in my feed reader and I'm managing to read about 3 a day!

 

Just while I'm passing...

Goodness, it's amazing how much time can be taken up by something (someone) who sleeps most of the time!

A massive thank you to everyone who left such lovely comments after my big announcement. Baby Stash has turned out to be a very calm and quiet child so far which is a great bonus, although a hungry baby at 3am is still a hungry baby at 3am!

And a special thank you  to Andrea at Apples and Pears, who made a special mention of Baby Stash's arrival on her blog and also needs some congratulations of her own as she became the proud aunt to a new great niece the week before Baby Stash arrived.

We're just post-feed so he's sleeping (and simultaneously making cute squeaky noises) on my lap whilst I try to type one handed. We had our first outing yesterday to the registration office to get his birth certificate. Everything went well (he slept nearly the whole way through) but coming home was a bit fraught - our timing was bad so we ended up on the train at rush hour in a carriage packed full of Italian language school students who spent the whole time pushing up and down past the buggy whilst they talked to their friends. Not to be recommended!

So, a few random thoughts before Baby Stash goes off to his crib for a proper snore...

I put on 'real' clothes yesterday for the first time in months. Ok, I still had a maternity skirt on but I felt like my old (pre-pregnant) self and it was surprisingly liberating.

Oh and proper shoes! I don't have the feet of an elephant anymore. Double hurrah!

Baby Stash has developed baby acne on his cheeks and forehead. It's perfectly normal and will go away by itself but I am struggling not to squeeze; something The Girl will probably appreciate...

I was 100.4kg before the birth and 88.4kg when I came back from hospital, so that shows how much things change. I still have a belly of course, but it looks very comical  - like a mini beer gut grafted on 4 inches too low!

I phoned the British Embassy yesterday to ask about photos for a passport (there doesn't appear to be anything on their website about this). I got a recorded message saying that forms are available on-line and if I want to know anything else I can either phone another local number which will cost me €1.75 per minute or a UK number which will cost £1.75 per minute and is only available for use with a credit card! How's that for helping foreigners abroad!

Ok, that's it. Time for a nap.

By the way, if anyone wants a post on how the birth plan went out of the window, I'm happy to oblige, I just don't want to bombard you with potentially off-putting detail without thorough warning!

Happy Saturday :¬)

ps. Mr Neighbour, now is not the time to be crushing cans on your patio, thank you very much.