We're Back!

We drove to Indiana to spend Christmas with my family. I have lots to blog about and plenty of pictures to share. Now if I could only find the time ...

The Times They Are A Changin'

For the past four years (almost to the day), I have been either pregnant, nursing a baby, or both. As of last week, unless something unexpected occurs, that phase of my life is over. (And by unexpected I mean the obvious as well as me changing my mind. A woman always has the right to change her mind.)

I've thought about this a lot this past week. In some ways I'm very happy and excited about this new phase ... and in some ways it also makes me very sad. I really enjoyed nursing my boys. There's nothing in life that compares to the bond of a mother and her nursing baby.

I'm a survivor though so I shall chug along accepting the change and will embrace the new phase I find myself in. My life is completely fulfilled with my boys and hubby and new job and I don't feel there's anything at all missing. I'm totally okay with never having another child. (Sometimes I feel like there's not enough of me to go around as it it.) And all those people who told me I would miss being pregnant .... not sure what they were thinking because I can promise you that I have not for a minute missed being pregnant.

And speaking of new phases, Brody also slept in his bedroom for the first time last night. All night long too! I actually had to go wake him up around eight. (we got a late start this morning) Brett and I actually had the bed all to ourselves ... well except for two or three dogs. :)

My Cousin Donny

Everyone please pray, send some well wishes or whatever it is you do ... for my cousin Donny. He got hit by a car while riding his motorcycle yesterday and was air lifted to a hospital in tampa. He is going to be okay but has a long recovery ahead of him. He had surgery on his leg yesterday and will be in the hospital for a while. Click on the title of this post to view another post from earlier this year that has a picture of me with some of my cousins (i have a ton of them) including Donny.

Houston Sings His ABC's

Fetching Update

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Originally uploaded by celenam

I finished the left glove and have cast on for the right one. I love this pattern/yarn combo so much that i'm just going to have to knit some for myself. Either that or the intended recipient just might never receive these. Hee hee.

Swaps!

I recenlty participated in two knitting swaps and received both of my packages this week. I've already thanked my swap pals through the associated blogs/ravelry but wanted to show off what I got to everyone else.

The first package was from Heather who was my swap pal in The Hand Dyed Yarn Swap. She dyed some very pretty yarn for me in a pinkish-purple color that is just gorgeous. Can't wait to see how it knits up! She also included some other fun goodies. I used the Hello Kitty pen at work this week and it made me smile every time I looked at it. I'm always having to switch between pen colors for the work that I do and now I have a pen that has all the colors I need in one. Sweet! And the calendar is the perfect size to hang up by my desk with really pretty lighthouse pictures on it. Thanks again Heather!



The next package was from the Caffeine Addicts Swap on Ravelry. My spoiler was John from California and boy did he spoil me rotten! He sent me the coolest coffee mug ever, some great Christmas Blend coffee from Starbucks, some chocolate for the boys (so sweet of him), some coffee liquer (yum) and the softest yarn I think i've ever laid my hands on ... Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk DK. I can't stop petting it ... now I just have to figure out what is worthy of being knit with it. :) Thanks again John!

Christmas Update

So I just got back from Christmas shopping Gainesville. I have everything for the boys and almost everything for Brett so i'm doing pretty good. I ended up getting the boys a vsmile video game system which i'm pretty excited about. I was debating this one for a while ... on one hand I thought that maybe I shouldn't get them something that encourages them to sit on their hineys inside but then I thought about how computer oriented our society is and how it will probably be good for them to figure this stuff out early. And it's an educational game system ... no grand theft auto here! And as I was looking at them in Toys 'R Us, I ran into someone I work with and they were going on and on about how great it is with their 3-year-old and then someone else nearby chimed in and before I knew it there was a group of vsmile loving parents talking about how great this thing is. So I took that as a sign and put one in my buggy ... along with an extra joystick (for brody) and an ac power adapter (sick of batteries already) and a couple of games. And here's where you all come in ... anyone looking for something to get the boys can get them another game. I bought the Elmo and Go Diego Go games. There are several others in the 3-5 range that would be great. The boys are big fans of Cars and Nemo and they have those games too but the age range is 4-6 so I thought i'd start them off with the 3-5. There's still Noddy, Bob the Builder, and The Backyardigans that I wouldn't mind getting.

Next I went to Best Buy where I found about ten different computer programs I wanted to get Houston for his computer. I'm already at my budgeted amount for the boys so instead of buying any of these programs, I came home and added them to our Wists list. Look the the right in the sidebar to find our list. I've done some updating of the Wist list for Christmas anyway so if you are looking for ideas go check it out. Yes I know, there is the possibility that you will buy something from there that somebody else has decided to buy but I really don't see a way around that unless you want to tell me what you are buying so I can take it off the list. This time of year I get about ten different phone calls from people wanting to know what to get the boys. I've been ahead of the game this year and have been adding items to the list as I think of them. The list is much larger now so the odds of you picking the same thing as someone else should be a little smaller. And hey ... there's always that thing called exchanging. :)

Whhheeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Go look HERE now. :)

Love, Love, Love ....

Fetching

Thanks Hanks!

I went to G'ville with the intention of going to Stitch 'n Bitch for a little while and then heading to the mall to do some Christmas shopping. Well I made it to SnB ... and, um, sorta ... stayed there all day. Well for about five hours anyway. Last week was a rough one for me and I didn't realize just how little time I have had to just sit and relax (whether knitting or not) so once I got comfy at Hanks I completely lost my motivation to go out shopping. Friends, knitting, no kids, yummy coffee and treats ... did I mention no kids? And knitting? And not only that but they bought all the sock yarn I brought with me and it is now on display (and for sale) in Gainesville's Newest Yarn Shop! How freakin' cool is that? :) And of course, I had to take some pictures. Unfortunately my camera did some strange yellow color thingy ... I probably had it on some strange setting.