Craftiness

I was very crafty this Christmas.  I guess it was all the time I sat at home with nowhere to go.  I am not very crafty at all, I get totally stressed and never like the finished projects, which is why I give most of them away, so here are some of the things I am actually proud of.  I think I am turning into a crafty stay at home mom, only in thought, not in practice yet.

I made Aubrey a baby blanket that took all summer long.  I bought the material in Boise, but just couldn’t figure out what I wanted so it turned into just another thing we had to pack.  After we moved, I finally picked a pattern and got started.  My OCD kicks in when I start organizing and it takes me weeks of rearranging the pieces on the floor until I am satisfied, which is never 100%.  Ask me sometime and I can tell you what is wrong with every quilt I have made.  I sent my mom tons of pictures of the different choices and she was very nice to help, but I don’t think she could tell the difference.  I am pretty happy with the result.

I made 4 crafty items for Christmas.  I was dreading making Aubrey a stocking for Christmas after the trauma of making mine and Bob’s the first year we were married.  (Here is the post on that adventure.)  It took me two years to find a stocking that was similar to ours, lots of digging in my mom’s craft drawers and many trips to the store during Thanksgiving to make sure I had everything before returning to the sticks.  As usual, it took many days of arranging, cutting, fixing, and doubting, before I could commit with glue and thread.  Every time I look at it, I see something I want to change, but it’s done.

I wanted to make Aubrey something handmade, so I made a tag toy.  I should have been simple, but that’s not how I work.  Again I ransacked my mom’s craft supplies for ribbon and spent 3 days just looking at them deciding which to use and 3 more days figuring out where they should go so the pink ribbons weren’t together and the polka dot ribbons weren’t too close and that each side was different enough from the others so that it didn’t look like I tried to make a pattern.  And what fabric to use because I only have bright colored thread that will clash with most colors, and I don’t want it too girly, and not something that is the same as a ribbon…  Lots of brain power goes into these little things.  Is your brain tired yet?  All I had to do was sew two pieces of material right sides together with the ribbon pinned in between and a plastic bag pinned on one side, but not that side that is against the sewing machine foot because that  will make it slide all over, so it will be in the middle when it is flipped inside out.  Of course, remember that the ribbons have to sewn pointing in so they will point out when flipped.  This took more than one try obviously.  Here is the result – one blue side with pink stitching, and one red side with green stitching.

My next project was a hollow book for my dad.  Bob’s brother-in-law made a couple of these last year and I was pretty impressed.  Again, very easy instructions, but not an easy process.  I found a book at the DI called “Deadly Pleasures”, a collection of mysteries.  I filled it with chocolate and an ITunes gift card, two of my dad’s pleasures.  It took much longer than expected to cut over 1,000 pages with a dull Exacto knife.  The blisters and the cramped fingers replaced the mental exertion for this project.

My last project was a little gift to the grandparents from Aubrey.  She made “Mistle-toes” for them with a bag of kisses.  Shouldn't be too hard, right? Paint, stamp, paint, stamp...  Then I real half way through that it would make more sense not to have the paint on the other side of the table and running back and forth.  And then baby kicked the plate off the table with clean foot, which was now not clean, and rubbed her feet together and on the table as I reached down for the plate with one hand trying to hold her and her feet with the other.  Then she made “extra” leaves while stamping and tried to see how far she could smear her foot before I lift it up. The other foot was easier since I reorganized and was now proficient.  Add a few thumb berries, glue on a title to hide the “extra” leaves, and Ta Da!

Good thing Christmas only comes once a year.  I better start planning now.

The last 4 months

This post is mostly pictures of Aubrey because she has changed so much in the last four months.  She has started to giggle, but she is quite picky about when and who she laughs for.  Usually it’s when she is playing by herself.  She rolled over once the week of Thanksgiving, but we are still waiting for it to happen again.  She loves to spit and blow bubbles and will go to anybody as long as they give her attention.  She is a pretty content baby, but makes sure you know when she is not happy.  It looks like she will be a thumb sucker.  She was recently found her toes, but hasn’t quite figured out where they came from or what to do with them.  She has slept through the night since she was 2 months old and hopefully that will continue.  She has always been a very sleepy baby.  Here a bunch of pictures so you can enjoy Aubrey as much as we do.

My sister took some newborn pictures, but Aubrey slept the whole time.

 1 month old

 First smile caught with camera

 Brr it was a cold day for running errands.

 2 months old

 Daddy loves my Monkey hat and jammies.  He makes me wear them all the time.

 Halloween Costumes

 Pretty in purple, and wet from blowing bubbles

 Pumpkin picking with cousins

 3 months old

 She gives me the eyebrow many times a day.

 4 months old

 

Thanksgiving turkey

   

 All ready for Christmas

 First visit with Santa

She loves sitting in the Bumbo and watching

Introducing Aubrey Lynn

Here is some of the story leading up to meeting our little girl.  I had to find a new doctor 5 weeks before my due date in a place I had never been to.  I went from a female doctor in an all female OBGYN women’s center to a small clinic with only male family doctors, which is the only clinic in the county.  I don’t have a preference whether my doctor is a man or woman, but the change was a total opposite.  I first made an appointment with the only OBGYN in Nephi because there wasn’t one in Delta, but found out he didn’t take my insurance.  I called the clinic and asked for any doctor that was accepting new patients.  I wanted to get into him as soon as I could because I didn’t know how the end of my pregnancy would go.  I only had 3 appointments with this doctor so we got to know each other pretty quick.  Each week, he would say, “Let’s make an appointment for next week, but I don’t think you will make it that far.” Or “You will probably have her this weekend, but I will be at Youth Conference.”  And each week I would return feeling quite uncomfortable and anxious.  It was hard to know I was full term, but nothing was happening.

At my 40 week appointment, my doctor asked if I wanted to be induced and I was fine with it because I really didn’t want to wait any longer.  Lots of people have said that contractions are much worse when you are induced, but I didn’t have anything to compare it to.  We were scheduled to be at the hospital at 5:00 Monday morning, Aug 6, so they could start the Pitocin.  That meant getting up at 4:00 to have a good breakfast since it would be the only time I could eat that day and leaving by 4:30.  That was the beginning of the sleep deprived nights.  Once I was settled in, I tried to get a little sleep with all the monitors attached, but it didn’t happen.  Bob slept quite soundly for a few hours until he was needed.

The doctor came in about 7:30 when my contractions were starting to get intense.  He said he would order the epidural, even though I was still managing pretty well.  The nurses kept commenting that I was smiling the whole time, unlike most women, but it was really my coping strategy for dealing with emotion.  My fake calm self comes out when I have to share my feelings, give a talk, or deal with pain.  The doctor and anesthesiologist came in about 9:00, soon after my water broke, and found out that I was too far along to get an epidural.   You should have seen the big fake smile on my face then pretending that I was ok with it.

About an hour later, 9:56 AM, Aubrey was born, with a little help from the suction cup.  She was 8 lbs. 5 oz. and 20 inches long.  She had lots of dark hair.  She also has quite the set of lungs, which she is continually using.  She had her days and nights mixed up the first couple weeks, but now she sleeps pretty soundly, only waking up once or twice.  I had a lot of time to myself during that time because she was asleep all day and I really had to adjust once she needed my attention during the day.  

Here is a bunch of pictures taken during her first month.  We are excited for what the future will bring.

It is quite difficult to keep a blog up when I don’t have internet.  Since the last post, here are some things that happened, not including baby because she gets her own post.  Bob graduated with his Masters Degree.  He started a tradition of eating a full rack of ribs after each semester and his parents were generous enough to give into him.  Here he is with Wilbur, the Famous Daves mascot.  We thought it was a little gruesome for Bob to have a picture taken with a pig and then eat its cousin.

We started praying that he would find a job in May because my subbing income definitely did not cover our needs and it was going to end with the school year.  The last week of May, he had two interviews, one in Montpelier and one in Delta.  The Central Utah Counseling Center called and offered him a job on May 31.  Our prayer was answered.  Bob didn’t start work until the middle of July because he had to wait for his background check to clear.  Bob is now the main social worker for Millard County.  He is enjoying it most of the time, but it can get overwhelming.

Neither of us had any obligations for a month and a half and we enjoyed sleeping in and having lazy days.  Bob tried to get in lots of fishing because he knew opportunities would be slim with work and a baby in the future.  We made some trips to Utah to see family.  On one trip we went to the zoo with Bob’s family because his sister and family were in town from Wyoming.  I have had a pretty easy pregnancy with my main complaint was that my feet looked and felt like water balloons, so I thought I could handle it.  Now I know to never take an eight month pregnant woman to the zoo.  At one point I had to sit and rest with my feet up and a woman walked past and said, “It’s worth it, I promise.”  I never thought I would be that pregnant woman that looked that miserable.  I enjoyed the zoo and the company, but I came home very tired and grumpy.

We are now renting a trailer in Fool Creek, which is about 25 miles east of Delta.  It is not a town, just a cluster of houses.  Our landlords are a couple in their eighties that have lived there their whole married life.  They are very friendly and have taken us under their wing.  Before Aubrey was born I spent most days unpacking and organizing.  I think I organized the baby room every week just for fun.  I also took trips “to town” to find internet and do shopping.  Most days were highlighted with a trip to Oak City, 8 miles away, to check the mail.

I think that brings you up to baby, so wait a few days, or months which seems to be my habit, I will introduce you to our little bundle of joy.