Updates

It's been about two weeks, but I had another doctor's appointment.  This time we got to hear the baby's heartbeat!  That is such a reassuring sound.  Since I found out I was pregnant, I had to just assume that everything was/is going okay.  That assumption isn't confirmed until you hear the baby's heart beat, and the doctor says, "That's a good sound!"  (Yes, it is!)  Next appointment will be the first ultrasound.  They will measure the baby's length and based on that measurement, they can determine the accuracy of the due date they've given me.  It's also the time where they can tell if the baby is a "he" or a "she."  I've been telling people that this time we are going to find out about the baby's gender.  Pat does not care if we find out or not.  Finding out would help all the name planning, the clothing planning, even the room planning.  But all of a sudden, as I'm coming within range of finding out, finding out feels like cheating!!

My recent Thumper preparations involve: making a baby sleep sack out of an old shirt I had.

I also knitted a baby kimono.

I thought that it would be more neutral looking, but I'm afraid it's kind of girly, despite the abundance of blue.  Thoughts?  There are more pictures and details about their construction on my other blog www.handmadebabyclothes.org, as well as other baby clothes projects I've done in case you are interested.

I've made a big push on finishing up my pool wall, and I'm really close!  We had almost a week of unseasonably cool weather, which was perfect for getting some stone stacking done!  Also I've finally planted my corsican mint in the cracks of the pool deck.  I had some help from Clara, and whether or not all of it will survive as a result is debatable.  I may have found a way to kill "unkillable mint."  Just add 1 year old baby.  (Hypothesis testing in progress.)  I still have a lot of area unplanted -- my little plugs only planted about 1/3 of the cracks that I needed to plant.  I'll include pictures next post for you!

The Wall

My last post talked about how I've been working on my quilt (still am!).  The other project to finish in preparation for the new baby is a stone wall by our pool.  This is a project that was started last summer.  I saw on the internet how to build a stone wall without mortar.  I said, "I can do that.  It probably won't take me more than a day or two."  Huh, huh, huh. My dad came down to help me.  He was here for 5 days.  We finished about 1/4 of it.  To put it mildly, I miscalculated. 

This is my pool/patio/wall inspiration:

Not quite a year later, it is still unfinished.  But I have not given up.  Since I learned of my due date, I've been working on my wall a little at a time, about 30 minutes to an hour each day.  I'd say I'm 2/3 of the way done now.  I'll post some pictures soon so you can see the progress.  Actually, I think I'm going to go out and work right now while someone is sleeping!