Waiting game...

We're currently in a waiting game about numbers and percents about the houses we looked at. We're not locked into anything just yet, it's all informative at this point. It still freaks me out, though.

I submitted my site info to be inducted into the Fiber ROAK, hence the new link and button. I know it's closed and there's a backlog, so I'm not expecting to be admitted any time soon. But there's nothing wrong with wishful thinking!

On the weight loss front, I'm down 26 pounds in 8 weeks! I'm pretty darn excited about that.

In great news, Mr. Grant's mom sent photos of him sporting his new hat on his way home from the hospital. She has given me permission to post them here. He's much too cute not too share with the world!

Not much to report..

We're still in limbo about the houses we looked at. Nothing new there. Such a huge step, makes me pretty nervous. I tend to be overly nervous about such things, though.

I went to a baby shower that was 2 hours away on Sunday. On the way there, I knit up a pair of booties to go along with the gift. No photos but they were cute and well received. Nothing like waiting until the last minute, huh?

I'm still working on the Cottontots sweater. I added additional stitches to the sleeves and I'm not super keen as to how they turned out. Kind of looks like I'm making it for Popeye's kid. I'll have to revisit where to place them next time I guess. It's still super cute, though.

That's about it from here. They're saying the weather should break tonight with the thunderstorms that are supposed to roll through...keep your fingers crossed!

Home sweet home?

Family and I went to look at two potential homes today. Verdict is still out on them. We're still in the "fact finding"/"number crunching" phase. I loved one over another. Is it bad that I looked at the island in the kitchen with the overhead skylight and thought, "That'd be an awesome spot to photograph FOs?" Seriously something wrong with me....

Baby Grant took his first car ride yesterday to finally go home to be with is family!! From what I've heard, mom was up all night "checking on him". Sounds like a typical mom to me! Congrats to Baby Grant for graduating the NICU. Yeah!!

Sleepy, sleep...

Ahhh vacation. Today was a definite vacation day. Peanut and I are in the same clothes we started the day in. Nothing wrong with that. Ahhh...jammies and no place to be. Funny thing about vacations in our family, though...they're not always relaxing. Yesterday was spent at the Art Fair. Proud to say I stayed on budget and didn't really see much that grabbed me anyway. I could definitely tell I was 22 lbs lighter in the 90 degree heat and crowds. That's inspiration to keep on.

I don't think I mentioned this, but I started a new baby sweater on Sunday. It's my same ol'pattern in cotton tots sunshine. Ahhh, sunshine. Somehow seems fitting considering the currently in utero recipient lives in Florida. I'm halfway through the second sleeve, hoping to finish it this weekend. If I do before Sunday, it may be gifted...and another cast on for the new little Floridian. We'll see what happens.

I've found that I cannot stop watching Being Bobby Brown. Seriously, it's like a car wreck. It's really something else. Just goes to show that money doesn't solve every problem nor does it make a perfect family.

Peanut and I are running errands tomorrow. Might even try to schedule her very first haircut. Bangs are getting a little too long. From what their website says, there's a Tuesday Morning store just a few miles away. I've heard rumors of Cottonease being stowed away there for cheap. We're going to have to investigate. I love the cottontots, I can only imagine how I'm going to feel about the cottonease...especially since it's been discontinued. Ah, such is life.

Oh and for those of you who might be wondering...Baby Grant, the proud little Texan who received the previously posted blue velvety booties and hat, may be making his first trip home with his mama, papa and older brothers. Word from the mama is that the loot fit him well. No photos as of yet. Keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers please.

Identity Crisis

I doubt there will be any knitting content in this post...I did post the preemie bootie pattern separately for ease of printing and such. See that below for a fiber content fix.

Ok, I graduated from college in May '99. I thought I was pretty cool at that time. Music was my life. I had several thousand dollars (estimated 6 - 8) tied up in my CD collection. Just as much in my concert ticket stubs, plus the memories that came along with them. I never missed BNL when they came through town. I paid $100 to see Madonna from nose bleed seats and didn't bat an eye at the price...and recently, I've been thinking "where the heck did that Janette go?" Would I trade in Mister and Peanut for that life back...um, no..but I hate feeling like my life only began when the gold band hit my left hand. Maybe it's just part of getting older and moving into another chapter of my life, but it's kind of sad. I used to have a reputation for being the fastest drinker of all of my friends...and in an odd way, I was proud of that. In the last year, I've had maybe 3 drinks. Mister has never seen me inebriated. That just blows my mind. I spent so many of my nights in college laughing and being stupid drunk...and it's like a distant faded memory. Now...I'm a wife. I'm a mom. I'm a computer support associate. And I just keep thinking, what happened to me?? My awesome SIL was talking to me about how so many women lose themselves once they become mothers. I totally identify with that. Now, this doesn't mean I want to be silly drunk at a rock concert every weekend...but once a year might be nice. I'm not one to feel sorry for myself and that's not what this is...it just feels like the old me is like a good friend that's moved across the country and is now a distant acquaintance. There's gotta be a way to combine the new life with the old. I think I may start by replacing the Kids Sing Along tape in the car with my favorite Beatles mix tape. Peanut's musical education needs to expand beyond the Kidstown Singers and the Teddybear's Picnic. Every journey begins with a first step....

Preemie Bootie Pattern

My heartfelt thanks to Sandy Miner for allowing me to post my version of her Warm the Baby bootie pattern. I'm working on other size variations before officially rolling it out to the Preemie Project.

Light worsted weight yarn
US 6 needles
Makes a med preemie bootie - 2 3/4" sole
Cast on 30 stitches
Work 8 rows of garter stitch (4 ridges)
K13 K2 tog, K2 tog K13
K12 K2 tog, K2 tog K12
K11 K2 tog, K2 tog K11
K10 K2 tog, K2 tog K10
K9 K2 tog, K2 tog K9
You'll be left with 20 stitches.

Insert needle in first stitch as to knit. Wrap the yarn around needle twice, and then complete the stitch. Continue in same way in each stitch across the row.

Knit across pulling off but not working the extra loop of each stitch.
This makes long stitches to weave the tie through. You could also also do an eyelet (YO K2tog) row.

Work in K1, P1 ribbing for 6 rows.
Bind off.
Sew back and bottom seam.
Crochet a chain about 18 inches long to weave thru eyelet row or use about 18 inches of ribbon.
Tie in bow at center front

Let's talk about delicious...

Before anything else, I have to rave about something I found at our local Meijer. Philly Swirl Sugar Free Swirl Stix just may be one of the greatest ice cream treats I've ever come across. For those of us low carbing, it has zero net carbs. Yep, zero! I can't tell you how delicious these are. Philly Swirl is a small company that deserves a second look at their product. If you want a yummy summer treat, try and find a box of these!

Speaking of Meijer...they've finally gotten on the yarn band wagon! Peanut and I made a trip there last week and we went to visit the yarn. With our newly imposed budgeting, that's all I'm allowed to do now. Prior to last week, the yarn and notions selection at Meijer was sad to say the least. Wow, have they ever gotten their act together. They've gone the few colors of many route, but it's nice to have a variety. They now carry a Patons 100% wool yarn. This is especially exciting because the only place I could get 100% wool yarn in colors was my overpriced LYS. They also have a good selection of baby yarns. They have Caron's Bliss. Man oh man...if you want something soft, grab a skein of this. It's not cheap, but it's worth the softness.

In other news, The Preemie Project is really picking up. Laura's doing a great job with this. She's on vacation this week, so I'm stepping in as moderator of the group. Let's hope I can live up to the expectation set! Laura left big shoes to fill. For any of the group that frequent my blog, have some patience with me guys.

We didn't plan this, but I'll be on vacation next week too. Difference being my vacations mean just not going to work! I'll take that for now. When our family isn't so new and more established, we'll actually go somewhere. Peanut's day care is shut down for the week, so she's home with momma. Monday, I have to go in to work so she'll be spending the day with her great Aunt Jack and Great Grandma. I'm more concerned about them than her. On Wednesday, she'll be back with them again so that I can attend the Ann Arbor Art Fair. I've gone every year except for the year I was pregnant...since 1988. Just couldn't do it while battling pre-eclampsia and 50 lbs of water weight. I'm hoping my recent 21 lb (YES! 21 pounds!) will make the trip a bit more enjoyable. It's like mixing power shopping, an art exhibit, crowd surfing and 90 degree heat. Not for the faint of heart.

In crafty news, I created *yet another* baby blanket. This time I'm just playing with a simple double crochet and a skein of Homespun Baby. I figure I'll just go until I run out of yarn, then pick it up again when I acquire another skein of the homespun in a coordinating color. I think I needed an unstructured project to just chill out with. The Mister keeps telling me my hobby is stressing me out and it's not going to be fun. He even offered to buy me the new Harry Potter book to take a break with. There are days when I do just adore that man!!