You can't see the colors very well. But here, finally, is a picture of my Dulaan contribution for 2007. (Don't worry, I didn't ship Heather off with the hats and mittens. :-)
1 - I've had a few blog posts floating around in my head, but I've lacked the concentration to actually commit them onto the screen.
2 - My Dulaan box is finally in the mail. The picture I wanted to post last week was of my 10 knitted items and Heather. The photos never arrived in my inbox. I've tried sending one of them again, and R has moved the photos from my phone to the server...so hopefully you'll see it before too long.
3 - I don't think there is going to be much knitting content here for a bit. It's too hot to work on my pair of wool socks. Also, I have three friends who are pregnant, I know of two who are trying and three are in the process of adopting. And I believe that all of them read this blog. :-) So there will be no photos of any baby knitting until presents have been given. Which is too bad because I've nearly finished the first item...but you will all have to wait a bit. (It is possible that I will knit something for Heather in between all of these presents, and if I do you'll definitely see it!)
4 - It would be nice if people would read. I sent an email to a sales rep - letting her know that I would be in the office all day, but that I generally step away from my desk at 10, 1 and 4 for about 20 minutes. She replied a few minutes later that she'd be here at 1pm sharp to see me. Yes, you read that right. Clearly she didn't.
5 - We visited family and friends in Ohio over the weekend. It was lovely to see everybody and everyone who came to my shower was very generous
6 - Heather has slept through the night for the past three nights. Although the last two she has been very difficult, and impossible to get into her crib before 11 or 11:30. When you consider that my alarm goes off at 5:45, you quickly realize that I'm not getting caught up on sleep. So I continue to feel like I'm operating in a fog, just like I have for the past few weeks. When I see friends, I know I have things to ask them...but the questions escape me. And I just really feel like I'm awful at making conversation right now. Hopefully Heather has surpassed her need to wake up and practice rolling overnight, and somehow I can catch up on sleep enough to feel human again.
7 - It's hot and humid. And it isn't cooling off much overnight. It's so hot I didn't even consider that I needed to bring an extra layer to work with me to counteract the A/C at work.
8 - I feel like it's been too long since I've been in touch with my friends and I owe email to a number of people.
9 - I started Harry Potter #6 last weekend for my second reading. It is a sadder read this time, knowing how it is going to end.
10 - I'm anxious for the Harry Potter movie coming out next month. R and I plan to ask someone to babysit. It will be our second "date" since Heather's birth. :-)
So when I grabbed my yogurt, I thought I'd take a quick mental break and post my pictures. Well, my yogurt is eaten and I'm still waiting for the photos to show up in my inbox.
*tap, tap, tap*
I guess if they show up by lunchtime you'll get to see them today.
P.S. For anyone who is going to scold me and tell me I should be doing this at home in the evening...I'll just let you know that I've barely had time to eat dinner and go to the bathroom in the evening, and when I do get more time than that there are dishes and laundry to be done. And, if I could get Heather to bed before 10:30, I would be going to bed earlier, too...cause I'm POOPED!
I have a little more perspective this afternoon. It seems that a work problem was causing me more anxiety than I realized, and not only worsened my mood but was also probably the reason I slept so poorly last night while Heather was sleeping. That issue has been resolved and the world is less gloomy. :-)
The past week has involved:
- Getting up extra early for work related reasons
- Getting to bed late for work related reasons
- Not being able to sleep well for no clear reason
- Heather waking up over night - sometimes to eat and sometimes for unclear reasons that may or may not include being congested, being hot, wanting to practice rolling over, wanting to be with us to make up for time in daycare, being on a wacky sleep schedule because of her first week in daycare
I'd say I've been averaging about 5 hours a night, and I have too much to do at work to consider taking a day off.
I don't want to be a depressing blogger, so I'm probably going to stay away until I get some more sleep and my mood improves. The good news is that my leg continues to feel better, Heather has been very smiley and happy lately (when she's not crying at 3am) and my Dulaan items are done and ready to be shipped.
So I went home last night assuming I was going to have to pump in our non-locking interior finish library today.
The building manager came to my rescue and is allowing me to use a small unrented office where she has some desks and chairs stored. The nice thing is that I get to hang onto the key full time since this isn't a room anyone else in our office uses (at least until my coworker comes back from maternity leave).
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I haven't really mentioned the fact that Heather started at daycare on Monday. She seems to be doing fine, and even though Monday seemed like an EXTREMELY long day to me, I'm doing fine now, too. :-) It's hard not talking to her teachers on a daily basis, but R and I have come up with a few strategies that will allow me to get there from time to time. And I totally trust him to let me know what's going on...but it's just a bit difficult not being part of the process myself.
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And on one more random note, my leg pain seems to be improving. I skipped the motrin yesterday morning before my doctor's appointment, and I was surprised at how good my leg felt. It's still not totally back to normal, but there seems to be some definite improvement, despite the fact that no one really knows what is causing the pain. ;-) My uneducated guess is that my attempts to undo the turmoil that was causing my back pain from the pregnancy changed my spine/posture/walk/muscles too drastically and too quickly, which through something else out of whack. Hopefully once this pain issue is resolved I will have my body back (with the exception of my boobs, of course)!
She's clearly been trying to roll over while on her back, but she just doesn't have the momentum for it yet. So I decided to put her on her tummy last night and within 10 minutes she rolled over. And, smart girl, she waited until her daddy was in the room so we both got to see it!
She did it a second time, so we got the video camera out and got the third and fourth rolls on tape. ;-)
So, seven interesting things about me. I know I have readers who have known me for decades and some that have only known me for a couple of years. I'll try to make this interesting for most of you.
1 - I grew up an avid reader. I remember frequent visits to the library, especially over the summer, and bring home stacks of books to read. Every time I signed up for a "frequent reader" program I'd always need multiple forms to write down all the titles I read. I remember having multiple books in progress at once when I was in high school. And then I went to college. There was no time to read during the semester and too much that I *had* to read that I didn't really want to read when I had free time anyway. Since college I've only felt like an avid reader again a couple of times. One was while I was in Spain and had tons of time on my hands (and missed English) and I also noticed it while reading the Harry Potter books and Wicked. I think it's a combination of not knowing what to read and not wanting reading to cut into my knitting time. :-)
2 - I play the cello. I haven't played a lot since I graduated from high school, unfortunately. But before that I played *a lot*. Barely a day went by that I didn't have a rehearsal, a private lesson or take the time to practice. Despite my abilities I never felt like professional musician material, although I am (or was) a great asset to an orchestra's cello section. I didn't have an orchestra to play with in college and haven't played a lot since. I've pulled the cello out from time to time for a little practice. I'd love to play with an orchestra again someday. The group effort was one of the best parts about playing music for me.
3 - You all may or may not believe it, but I'm impatient. I think I'm pretty good at hiding it and/or holding myself back and not allowing my impatient tendencies to show themselves. And there are certainly efforts in which I have quite a bit of patience - taking care of Heather, teaching someone else a skill, painting. But as soon as there is a deadline hanging over my head or any kind of time limit, I have little patience for someone doing something slower than I would do it. I also have a few strong internal desire to finish people's sentences when they are speaking slowly. When I was a tour guide in college, I really had to fight to keep from finishing my partners statements.
4 - I love show tunes. I'm not going to try to hide it. I know many people think my love is strange or undesirable...but it is what it is. It stems from my love of theater and it is the music that makes me melt. Most of my favorite songs are from shows I've seen, although there are certainly exceptions. In pretty much every case I at least know the story even if I haven't seen the show. Understanding the story is the key to the beauty of the music, in my opinion. I can listen to slower songs while I exercise because I know the story behind them and they give a little extra oomph to my step.
Hmmm...this is harder than I thought...
5 - I studied abroad in Spain for a semester in college. I couldn't find a group to go with, so I sort of made my own program through SUNY Albany. Through them I was able to enroll at UPV in Valencia and take architecture classes. I was the only person I knew at the time to go to a foreign country totally alone. It was completely scary and one of the hardest things I've ever done. It was also one of the best and biggest character-building things I've ever done. Because I did it I know I can do anything I set my mind to. I had a little breakdown when I had been there for a couple of months without meeting any other American students. But after a coupling of outings with my new found friends from Oklahoma and finding a couple of students from my university (that no one told me were there), I was just fine.
6 - I have packrat in my blood, but I love getting rid of things. I understand the great feeling of relief that comes from releasing things that you don't need, but I also have the desire to "be prepared" for anything. I hate getting rid of things that could be useful in the future or that I could fix to suit my needs. But I'm slowly realizing that I just don't have the time to do everything I "could" do and I need to start letting go of more stuff.
What can I say? I am a strange and complex creature. :-) My husband makes fun of how full my room is and yet he has a quarter of the guest room taken up with his "archives".
7 - I dislike coupons. I know this may seem silly. I understand the value of coupons and the benefits, but I really just see them as time. On a regular basis, I'm not willing to spend time in order to save money. I love saving money when I buy things on sale, but I won't go to three different stores to find what I want at the best price. (I might consider making a few phone calls, but that's about it). When I buy things on sale, it is because the store I visited when I needed something happened to have the item marked down. If I use a coupon, it's because I happen to have it in my purse and I remember to use it. (For example, I've used a few diaper coupons recently because they fell out of diaper packages and I remembered to stick them in my purse and redeem them). Unless I get really bored or really strapped for cash at some point in the future (maybe in retirement?), I don't ever see myself cutting coupons from the Sunday paper. I also really like shopping at Whole Foods - I feel like I get good value for our money and good quality food. And I'm not going to give up that quality in order to save money on our grocery bill.
That was harder than I thought, but it was a nice break between tasks today...since Heather's first day at daycare went very slowly for me!
Let's see - I tag Amanda, Annie, Jen, Cara, Melissa, Katie F and Katie L to do this next! (I'll add the links later)
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