Growing

It is spring again here in Missouri and while I see everything in nature growing around me I am very aware that it isn't the only things growing! My son, Alex is now taller than both of his parents and he is only 13, and our youngest, Abby has a bigger pile of pants that are too short than ones that fit!

I have been trying to walk our dogs every day but there are always some bumps in the road but experience tells me that those bumps make the rest of the ride worth while! In sad news we had to put Mellow our beautiful dog to sleep but it then opened our hearts to Neo who has quickly become Klaus's partner in crime. They play every day together and I know they are both very happy.















Hannah started high school this year which was a huge jump for all of us and it has been wonderful seeing her blossom in front of our eyes!

At the beginning of the year I celebrated (although quietly) my one year anniversary of working at Knit and Caboodle! It has been such an awesome experience for me and has made me feel much more confident in my knitting and my ability to help those around me! I have been teaching beginning knitting for almost 2 years and have just started my first sock class. It is so wonderful to see everyone and their desire to learn new things!

All in all life is in full swing and I am loving most moments with all my heart and trying to remember every day, those that haven't made it this far. We have lost a close, close friend and watch a few others battle with all their hearts. I have reconnected with family that I feared for a long time didn't want to know me. I feel blessed with this life and have every intention of living it up to the fullest. :)

A week and a half in under 5 days!

So on weekends I work at my favorite yarn shop, Knit and Caboodle and on Sunday that is where I was when I received a text message that about stopped my heart. It was my oldest daughter, Hannah who said, "there are bees in my room." She was absolutely panicked which is understandable considering how allergic she is. So her dad decided it was time to set a bug bomb off in her room and presto they would be gone... She slept upstairs Sunday night as it smelled awful and was dirty in her room. Monday morning she crept downstairs to find something before school and found two more bees in there. Sigh. So, I went down to investigate, and found them definitely in her room and upon further looking around I heard them...In Alex's ceiling. I came upstairs and was feeling a little nervous myself, not just because I didn't want to get stung, but I knew one of our kids is allergic (the other two have never gotten stung). So, Keith and I called in the big guns. We called the pros. And were told that they wouldn't be able to come until Tuesday between 8 and 2 (and that appointment time always drives me nuts). We did feel a little better for a little while because we had a plan.

What we didn't count on was that others had plans too.

By Monday evening, the bees had made it into the laundry room which made me decide I was not going in there. And we found two upstairs. Killed them I did, killed them dead.

So, with Alex camping out on the couch, all 8 guinea pigs upstairs, Hannah camping out in Abby's room with her we went to bed.
Oh how I would have stayed in bed if I had known what was about to happen.

Bright and early Tuesday morning we got a call from Boeing saying that my mother in law was being taken to the ER because after having a very low blood pressure all week, it had spiked crazy high. Keith still had to go to work which would strand me here with no way to go get Lin if she got released. And then the bug guy showed up in the middle of that stress to tell us yes, you have honey bees but have no fear, I will save the day! So, feeling a little more steady myself I called Lin's boss to figure out if there was a way to get her car off the Boeing property so we could use it (see after 9/11 you can no longer just drive up to defense plants like you use to without clearance). He was more than happy to help us but needed to figure out the best plan of action. So, Keith finished getting ready for work, and the rest of us got ready to run out the door with him. We showed up at Boeing with keys in hand and received her car, and went our separate ways (Keith to work, me home to wait on any news from the hospital).

In the end Lin ended up spending the night and came home yesterday basically all because her doctor didn't look at her meds and took her word for what she was on instead of what was in her file. So a change of meds happened and now she is feeling good.

Last night I got to meet my new group of beginner knitters! And after a little talking to one of them, I found that one of the ladies is my husbands kindergarten teacher! How cool is that? Talk about full circle. Teaching a former teacher. Fills my heart with happiness!

And tonight, is probably one of the proudest nights a parent can experience. Our oldest daughter, Hannah, is graduating 8th grade is the valedictorian of her class and is giving a speech (which I am sure will be awesome and a little jaw dropping for some). So while the week certain has been full of bumps everyone is safe, healthy, and happy. Good way to end the week.

Happy New Year

This year brings with it so many chances and many wishes to be made and granted.

Last year was a hard one. I lost one of my best friends ever after a long battle with cancer at the young age of 31. Doesn't seem fair still that her husband and two young kids are without their wife and mom. Then I lost a wonderful lady that I adopted as an extra Grandma. Grandma Sweetser encouraged me to sing in the choir even though everyone picked on me about it and gave me hugs that I was missing sometimes. And then to top it all off I lost my Grammie, my last living grandparent. She taught me so much, to cook like her and mom, to knit and how to embrace the Yankee that I am. These three women were some of the toughest ladies I know and every day I miss them.

With the new year comes so many possiblities...I promise myself to put myself first more, cook healthier for my family, knit more complicated patterns, make myself a sweater, and embrace life more fully. With this new year also comes with the chance to be a foster mom to angora rabbits! Here is the first little dude, Mr. F as we call him.

It is almost tomorrow.

Tomorrow is my son's 12th birthday and as we sit on the edge of his becoming a teen I am trying to figure out this new roll. As nice as it would be for things to stay the same, I do understand the need to become a man and do more with his dad and less with me. However, he has always been my little man and thus makes it a little more of a stab in this moms heart. I have never been a mom to a boy before or since so this has been all new every step of the way.

The day Alex was born was a beautiful one, aside from my husband looking into my eyes (knowing all the messed up pregnancy dreams I had had) and said, "Look honey, you had a lizard!" My boy was a big baby weighing in at 9 lbs and 14 ozs and 22.75 inches long. But I didn't see any of that, all I could see was this beautiful baby with the bluest and biggest eyes I had ever seen. The nurses were all talking about how it looked like he was actually taking it all in, not to mention he was holding his head up in the delivery room! So we named him with a name that may be a blessing, it may be a curse, but Alexander Nicodemus Merseal he has become. So on this day, I vow to try to be the best I can for him to turn a great young man into the world. Happy Birthday. I have loved you since before I could see you, and love you more each day since.

What have I done?

Okay, so my friend Terri was here the other night and very innocently said something to the effect that I was a good knitter because I only do one project at a time... This caused me to look at my toes... I guess I have every one fooled! So I will air openly what I have on the needles right now...

First there is Shipwreck, I am doing this in a beautiful Mountain Colors Winter Lace, color Crazy Woman. Kind of at a stand still as I need beads.

Second, I have the awesome Sunbells socks and am almost halfway done with the second sock!

Then there is Painted Elly, which I am doing in Jojoland Melody. This is cool looking but I am dragging my feet because I am not sure if it will be long enough... sigh...

Then there is a pair of argyle socks which need my love badly... that makes four...

and the Elizabeth Zimmerman sweater that my brain and body can't agree on...that's 5....

which wouldn't be so bad if I didn't want to cast on for the Vernal Equinox right now! Oh well. Now I have admitted guilt... I feel better.

Tomorrow

So, tomorrow is Hannah's 13th birthday. Aside from the fact that I don't feel old enough to have a teenage daughter, the day always makes me think of a different time. Hannah was 2.5 weeks late, and I didn't know any better and didn't question my doctors opinion of letting me go a little longer. I lost 27 lbs. when I was pregnant with her as morning sickness was morning, noon and night. The day before she was born I cleaned out the kitchen cupboards and packed up the things we would not need because we were also getting ready to move, and for dinner I decided to make pizza. After dinner I remember not feeling so well so I laid down on the couch and fell asleep. Some time around midnight I woke up feeling the wave that is nausea and ran to the bathroom. As I sat on the edge of the tub for the millionth time in the last 9 months, I became aware that I had a terrible backache. So I thought maybe a shower would help.... I bounced back and forth between the nausea and the pain for another hour before I decided to wake Keith up. I was getting scared because the pain felt like someone jabbing me with a knife.

Well he got up and watched me for a few and decided it was time to call the doctors office. The nurse actually laughed at us when we said that my back pains were happening about every 5 minutes. Looking back I know now that I was having back labor, but really nothing I had read prepared me for this!

So, after they decided that I better get to the hospital, Keith called our friend Jasper for a ride. See being poor college students we had no car. So at 3 am. after I had scooted down the stairs on my bum, Jasper roared up in the "bumblebee" truck and took us on a high speed trip down the highway. We got to the hospital and the emergency enterance was locked...really. So, I had to walk around to another door.

Once we got to the hospital things started to blur together. At first they didn't know whether I was in real labor or not (hour 4 folks) and then they decided to give me demerol (which I found out I was allergic to). I don't remember much between then and the actual delivery room, except my husband pacing. They kept coming in the room and watching the monitors and making notes, they acted worried but didn't tell us anything was wrong. At some point a nurse went to leave the room and looking over her shoulder says, "if the baby comes before I get back remember to support the head" I don't know much but, probably a couple with their first baby on the way, completely scared as we were, she should have been a little understanding.

Finally they told me they wanted me to give them a trial push. The next thing I know the doctor is standing there telling me to stop while she got her gown on the rest of the way! A couple of pushes later Hannah was born at 11:35 am. I thought then and I know now that everything that followed was not normal for a healthy baby. I wasn't allowed to touch her even, she was blue, she had her cord around her neck twice, and she was limp. No crying. except for my tears there were none. The immediately gave her oxygen, started rubbing her, and within seconds she started to fuss. The whole room let a sigh of relief. I touched her for just a second, not registering the words the nurse was saying about lack of oxygen, limp, observation. Then the focus turned back to me... I couldn't stop my teeth from chattering, my temp was up to 104.5 and my blood pressure fell so low they were having issues finding it. Why? We still don't know, could be the reaction to Demerol, the stress, anything.

It was 7 that night before I was even allowed near her again, I had a mask on, and she had all kinds of tubes hooked up to her. We found out later that she had hypoglycemia (still does) and had broken her collar bone. She spent the first 6 days of her life in neonatal and the first morning she woke up at home was Mothers Day.

Today, she is a healthy, smart, funny, young lady. I love her to pieces and some day I hope she realizes the scares that she gave us her very first week. So, Happy Birthday Hannah. 13 times around the sun, something once we didn't think you would get to. I love you.

Okay who stole my time?

Appalled am I that it has been 2 years since I even tried to sit and write. So much has happened and yet so much is still the same.
We are still in St. Louis (although the day can be seen where that might not be the case), Keith and I are still going to school (Keith graduates in a couple of weeks!), the kids continue to grow faster than I can keep up.
In the time since I wrote I have finished a bunch of projects ranging from hats, shawls, socks, mittens. At the moment I have way more projects on the needles than neccessary. I will work on posting new pictures I promise.
So before I leave anyone who might see this I promise I will be back, I feel a recipe coming on again!