6 week madness and pics

Apparently the 6 week mark is one of great change and fussiness. Oz turned 6 weeks on Tuesday, and with it has come some intense parenting challenges and fussiness. But we also have had some great moments, like real grins and happy arms and legs. And he's growing so fast! He's already growing out of some 3 month size sleepers since he's so long!

My view these days (sling - only thing that calms him and lets him sleep)





Superman sleeps! (blankie by Amy)




Astronaut Oz (socks by Kristi)


These grins make up for any sleeplessness and fussy baby times

Baby Oz!

baby James Oz Campbell arrived, Sept 1st, coming in at 7lbs 2oz and 20.5in. We're thrilled to have such a wonderful baby and watching him change and grow is so wonderful


Parenthood has been a wonderful challenge so far, but it feels like I'm slowly getting the hang of it. Right now Oz is taking his morning nap (yay!), and a routine for the days is slowly forming. Odd to now have a schedule and eat dinner at 5-6pm, instead of the 8-9pm we did only a few short months ago. But with all the fun and craziness, i wanted to post a quick update with a list of a few things we have found indispensable as new parents:

1) Happiest Baby on the Block DVD - even after reading the book, some things didn't really click. Watching this made us realize that swaddling wasn't something all babies like at first, but does help them overall. Thanks to this, Oz is less overtired during the day and he gets better sleep at night, meaning we do as well

2) Circo brand Swaddling blankets - At 42" x 42", these blankets are nice for long babies. Also being a tad heavier than the standard receiving blanket, they're nice for colder nights.

3) Cradle - Very nice to have Oz next to us at night, so we don't worry about him. Also, the ability to just lean a bit over out of bed and touch or rock him for soothing makes sleep much easier to come by for all 3 of us

4) DIY Diaper Sprayer - From this tutorial online, it not only is great for diaper washing days, but the pressure is perfect for those pesky spit-up stains that can be a pain to wash out. Speaking of cloth diapers, I'm finding they really aren't much work at all, and diaper changes take about the same as with disposables. Says a lot, since we went with the prefold/fitted cover options, the cheaper but more time-consuming route of cloth diapering. Throwing in a load of laundry now and then also is no big deal, as babies tend to create more laundry anyway, with all the outfit changing and spit-up and other fluids, always right after you've gotten dressed or changed your own bedding, much less their clothes and bedding.

5) The Best Help of All - My wonderful hubby and the new dad

ETA: Also forgot (new mom, duh!) how much I love these two things as well:
6) Waterproof pads - awesome for placing in cradle, on changing table, in pack-n-play, etc. Just buy a few of these instead of a whole bunch of specialty sized ones, since baby is only so big at first and can't roll around anyway

7) Microwave steam sterilizer - Use it a ton, mostly to sterilize my breast pump (Avent Isis) parts. Great for the everyday use, but the steam bags will be nice for traveling, I imagine

Crafting crazy

Only about a week away from baby coming, and I've been pre-cooking and knitting and sewing a lot to get ready for our little guy. Last night we hung up the framed panels of Calvin and Hobbes in the baby room, and thanks to my mom's help, all the stuff is organized in a way that (hopefully) will make it easier for a sleep deprived mom like I soon will be.

A few weeks ago, the wonderful ladies of my knitting group held a combined baby shower for me, Carrie, and Kristi, and it was a blast! There was lots of yummy brunch foods, virgin peach bellinis, and tons of fun. We also painted some onesies and bibs with fabric paint, which was a lot of fun, and of course had fun opening gifts, all 3 of us together. So many adorable things and such talented knitting friends!



(From left to right, top to bottom: Knitted blanket from Amy, Avery sweater from Amy, Knitted hat from Debbie, Quilted blanket from Carrie; Sleeper, bib and tiny baby socks from Becky, Puppy Barley-appliqued onesie and knitted socks from Kristi, Knitted bear with removable clothes from Lara, Snuggle bunny from Leslie; Mitered blanket from Linda, Kimono from Michelle, painted bibs and onesies from shower, Cabled baby cardi from Celeste)

The amazing talent and love put into each of these is just fantastic! Our little guy is going to be so well-attired, and he'll grow up loving knitting, I just know it :) And of course, I was finally able to share what I had been making for Carrie and Kristi.



(Top row: gifts for Kristi; Bottom row: gifts for Carrie)

As you can see, I've been enjoying using my sewing machine, and I have been sewing little baby things like a madwoman. Between cute little pants for our guy and kimono tops (from tutorial here, a wonderful blog to browse through as well) with a few modifications. For the little pants, I have just used purchased baby pants to get the outline for a pattern, and sewn from there. The adorable pinafore dress and bloomers is from Simple Sewing for Baby by Lotta Jansdotter. All are very easy to do, and it's been fun learning how to use binding and even making my own for the finishing on the kimono tops. Been sewing much more as well, way too much to mention each here (but in my flickr photos), but it really has been a lot of fun. I guess this counts as nesting?

Teaching and Learning

Since posting last, much knitting has been accomplished, and the belly is even big enough to rest stuff on top while I knit or eat. Amazing how fast baby-belly has grown in just a month! As to the knitting, I taught an Intro to Knitting class at the Hudson Public Library in the beginning of June for the tween/teen age group, which went really well. I designed and wrote up a quick project (cell phone/mp3 cozy) and made up some handouts to show them the basics, then attempted to teach several kids around 5th grade level or so how to cast-on, knit, and generally how to hold yarn. It went pretty well, and hopefully a few of them will stick with it and try something new.

Otherwise, it turns out that 2 other women in my knitting group are also expecting, one in October, one in December, so I've been pretty busy knitting for their bellies as well as mine. And since one of the babies is for sure a girl, it's giving me a chance to try out some fun things to make for her that would not work for our little guy. I do love knitting baby stuff though, something so satisfying about making tiny garments and still trying out new techniques and patterns without a huge project undertaking. Right now I am working on the cutest little baby knit for our boy, the Little Bubbles kit from Knitpicks. Even though it's on size 2 1/2 needles, the Comfy sport is so soft to work with and it's going pretty fast. I have the yoke done, and I'm just getting ready to split for the sleeves. I'm trying to make a fair amount of baby clothes in the one year range, so that he'll get a little more wear out of it than just a few moments.


Mostly I've been all about getting things ready for baby and spinning and knitting when I can. My mom made me (and I helped!) some wonderful burp cloths out of some cute flannel we picked out at Joann's, and they turned out so well! I need to get around to sewing up the cloth wipes soon, now that I finally cut them out, but as I've been finding my zen in knitting lately, that's been the priority. And of course, I went up to the Estes Park Wool Market this year with some great girls from knitting (pic on Amy's blog), and even though I had no intention, I bought a lovely steel gray CVM fleece for play and learning on :). It's about 4.25 lbs unwashed with an approx. 2.5 to 3 inch staple with very nice crimp. Washed up a bit and kept lock formation, spun a few locks flick carded, and it is wonderful to spin. Think I'll try drum carding though to blend all the grays together into a heathered effect, and I can try spinning a few different ways. But I definitely have lots to play with and do, even before the baby comes!

First knit

Lots of knitting going on here, especially of the baby variety, for not just my belly but for the many, many friends who are expecting. Here's a pic of the first completed baby item for our little munchkin.

Otherwise, we've been doing a fair amount of yard work, trying to get the sprinkler system going and the mowing on a reasonable schedule, along with some tree trimming and weed pulling. We still have a lot I'd like to get slowly done over the next few years (like a good garden plot and compost pile), but this year's main project is getting rid of a sucker elm only inches from the house and fixing our gate and fence section. My wonderful parents are coming out tomorrow, chainsaw in hand, to help cut down the tree, which will later be mulched. It will be such a relief to have it down before our main event this fall. And as to the horrid amount of mint, while most of it (and another pernicious runner-based plant) has been removed, there are a few things to the raised garden bed that need to be changed to keep this from happening in the future. So that goes on the project list for sometime in fall or spring next year. Hopefully in time to do a proper garden next year, but we'll see.

Big (and little) news

So I was please to find out a few months ago that I would have a whole to new reason to cook and knit for another person..one of my own making! Yup, my hubby and I are expecting a wonderful baby boy this fall, and we couldn't be more thrilled. I wanted to wait until I had pics to show, and while he was a little shy the first time around, we were finally able to tell that it's a boy in the ultrasound today. I can't wait to start making lots of little baby knits and things for our own little guy, instead of just passing around the love to friends.

And speaking of activities and baby-having friends, I've been quite busy keeping up with the mini baby boom sweeping through all our friends recently with some baby knits. The red vest below is a modification of the Boy-O-Boy pattern from this book, which is a great thing to have around to get ideas for almost any project. I've also been doing some spinning and dyeing lately, with approx 400 yd of luscious handdyed BFL at sockweight, and some fun corriedale roving in nice, spring colors. Also wanted to post a pic of some socks I made for my MIL, a variation of this pattern but changed a bit to make the socks more gothic looking and keep the ribbing and heel detail matching with the pattern.

Otherwise, I've been enjoying the lovely spring/summer weather around lovely Colorado, and we even celebrated by doing some much needed yardwork! There were many weeds to be pulled, trees to trim, and very long grass to mow. I still have a lot of work left, mostly revolving around digging up and garden plot and planting something drought-resistant in the front yard, not to mention dealing with a hefty mint infestation in our backyard (anyone want some spearmint? Note to the wise for others: never plant in ground, as it will TAKE OVER your whole garden and it's a pain to remove, something the previous owners didn't know), but I can't wait to plant some lovely flowers and herbs in the garden

October/November

Looks like about once a month is all I can manage to post. Want to do a quick-ish recap though, about events lately (and there have been a lot!):

1. Homeowners, yup, new to the clan. Home Depot here we come.
2. Went to Edinburgh for work, and had way more fun than should be allowed. Kyle went with, and at some point I'll get around to posting pics on my Flickr, but until then, some key phrases: cold & windy, wonderful friendly people, whisky (yumm!), chips with curry sauce (double yumm!). Totally love the curry sauce on fries, now ranks up there with green chile cheese fries :)
3. Painting..a lovely blue to distract me from the cleaning needed in the house
4. Need glasses now. Hubby assures me I look adorable, but they still feel really odd. Never wearing glasses means I have to continuously resist the urge to swat them off my face like hair. Also, frames in the vision feel weird!
5. Been spinning a lot more lately, but not knitting too much. Made some fun navajo-plied superwash merino, about dk weight. Pretty lofty, which is nice
6. Taking Maggie Casey's Spinning 1 class at Shuttles, which is so awesome, as I am learning a ton! At some point I hope to do a brief summary of what I've learned, but so far I've gotten to try different wheels and types, worked with gorgeous fleece, and made my best spinning ever.

Been crazy busy lately, or maybe it just feels like it. Lots of changes/events in the last month, all of which have really gotten the creative side of me out. Hopefully I'll get my butt in gear and upload some pics of Barley running around in some of the snow we've been having around here, not to mention updating for December too :)