Growing Like a Weed...

She's absolutely getting too big too fast! We took her in for her 4 month check up yesterday and she has grown quite a bit. She weighs 12 lbs and 5 ounces and is 24 1/2 inches tall now! I can't hardly believe it. Unfortunately she had to get her immunizations and the poor baby was wiped out for the rest of the day. We spent all afternoon just sitting in the rocking chair, which is very unusual for this super active little girl. She just didn't feel up to doing much at all. She went to bed last night at 6:30pm! She just couldn't stay up any longer. Hopefully she will be feeling more like herself today since we're going on our first trip to the zoo on Saturday!

Look What Just Arrived At My Office!

I was sure surprised when the delivery person said they were for me. She actually thought it was pretty funny that I was so shocked! These arrived with a note saying "I hope you are feeling better". Turns out this is what happens when you secretly think mean things about your dh because mommy doesn't get to have a sick day like everyone else. Don't you hate when you have to eat your words, well thoughts anyway? Definitely some major brownie points here.

Baby Break

I'm taking a break to brag a little. Last night the baby was in her bouncy seat and I was straightening up the living room when all of a sudden I heard music. Turns out she decided she wanted the mobile over her seat to play so she just reached up and pulled the handle herself! I was so excited for her. She always played with the things hanging on the mobile but never showed much interest in them except for batting them around. So I went about my cleaning all the while watching her and once the music stopped she reached up and pulled it again! Yea! She did this several more times. She also learned that she can pull the butterfly off (velcro) and play with it too. But that didn't last long and when she got tired of it she threw it across the room! I know this might sound silly but I was so proud of her. She is growing like a little weed and is learning so quickly. It's truly amazing to watch.

My first baby toy!

Well I have been trying to fix the picture in this post and it just erased the entire thing. I'm not really sure why this one doesn't want to work. Hopefully I'll figure it out soon.

Anyway, this caterpillar is the first little toy that I have made for dd. Mostly she loves to chew on the antenna, but I'll take that to mean that she likes it! I can't wait to make her more toys. The 5 point starghan I was working on has been put on hold for now. Dh discovered a mistake I had made early on and it had started to compromise the design (otherwise I probably would have left it, shhh). I had to frog it and needless to say I'm not looking forward to starting over again. I have to finish the kitchen set that I am making for dh's grandmother. Her birthday is Sunday and I still have a long way to go on it.

Finally Finished!

This is one project that I am more than happy to be done with. I used Caron Simply Soft Brites and a 2.5mm hook and it took ages to complete this baby blanket. I will definitely use a larger hook next time. I'm pleased with the way it turned out though, and I love the watermelon color. This was the first blanket I've completed for Project Linus, and I will be more than happy when I hand it over to them. Now its on to the 5 point star afghan I've been putting off.

Everything Happens for a Reason Right?

Do you believe there is a reason for everything? I have always been a big believer in the idea that there is a reason for everything that happens, even the things that seem like a disaster. Sometimes that reason is obvious and readily available, but sometimes that reason takes a bit longer to figure out. Of course there are still events in my life I have yet to understand the reasoning behind. Aren't those always fun?

I'm currently sitting right in the middle of all of these wonderings. As most of you know dh and I have a new baby. Well, she's nearly four months old now but I still consider this the honeymoon of parenthood. I was lucky enough to be able to stay home with her for the first two months of her life. It was a blessing for all of us and a time I wouldn't trade for anything in the world, not even a for a full nights sleep! Unfortunately the time came when I had to return to the real world and not so merrily off to work I went. Luckily for us between my husband, mother-in-law and my own mother, we have not had to put our little pumpkin into a day care situation. Unfortunately our luck has ran out and we have been faced with making that dreaded decision.

Now, I am not trying to say anything negative about daycare nor am I trying to offend anyone who has their children in one. They are often a wonderful place and are most definitely a necessity for a lot of families. That being said the idea of a stranger taking care of my precious baby was enough to send me into a panic. Not to mention the fact that the cost of daycare in my area could be quite taxing. This is where my dilemma came to light. When I factored in the cost of daycare and the cost of fuel for driving the two hour round-trip distance to and from work everyday I found myself looking at a less than desireable salary. With these two expenses alone I would be making much less than minimum wage for my 40 hour week. That realization was staggering. How could I possibly justify only seeing my baby for 3 hours a day to make such a small amount of money? However, I also couldn't justify walking away from my income because we all know that every little bit helps.

This dilemma pulled at me for weeks on end until I came up with what I thought was a reasonable solution. The majority of my work is on the computer, in fact I am afraid to even count the amount of time I spend sitting in front of mine in a week. There was no reason, or so I thought, that I couldn't do my job from the comfort of my own home. What a brilliant idea right? Monday of this week I went in and sat down with the company CFO and proposed my very well thought out plan and gave my explanation for it. She understood where I was coming from and thought my idea had definite possibility. The real test was whether or not the directors would see things our way. Unfortunately they did not and I have effectively talked myself out of a very nice job. Can anyone say panic attack?

Truthfully I was afraid that this might be the outcome. I knew going into the meeting that one of two things would happen. I would either come out of it a happy working from home employee or an unhappy unemployed person. Needless to say I was leaning towards the first option. Definitely a case where things don't work out quite as well as you had planned.

This brings me back to my original question. Is there a reason for everything? I know you are probably thinking of course there is, but what I really mean is there a good reason for everything. Is there a reason that when it comes to light you say "Okay now I understand and I'm glad that things didn't go the way I had hoped before"? I often find that to be the case when you look back on things that have happened in life. However, there are still those situations that I have yet to figure out. I am hoping this is not going to turn out to be another one of those. I am hoping that it didn't happen just because I stuck my big foot in my mouth. I am hoping that there is a good reason for this. Maybe this is just the push I need to make myself pursue some of the business ideas I have been toying with in my head for more years than I can count. Could that be the case? Only time will truly tell...

Another year older...

Yep that's right, I'm another year older now. Do I feel it? Well if you ask first thing in the morning then the answer is yes. However, it really surprises me sometimes to think about my actual age. Time seems to just fly by and really its hard to believe.

I had a great birthday weekend though. We decided to go out and celebrate on Saturday since more things would be open than if we waited until Sunday. MIL watched the baby so we could spend the day out. We went to Red Lobster for lunch so I could finally have some crab legs. I have been wanting them literally since we came home from Hawaii so it was great to get them. Then we went shopping and dh bought me entirely too much craft stuff. I got new yarn, hooks, stitch markers, knitting looms and a bunch of other things. Then we went and had dessert while we were waiting for the movie showtime. We watched Fool's Gold and it was hilarious. Definitely a movie I would watch over and over. Sunday dh got up and fixed breakfast for me and I got to just stay home, relax and work on some of my many projects. I actually managed to finish one...

I made this poncho on my knitting loom out of Lionbrand Homespun in Lemonade. It worked up really quickly and is very soft. She doesn't look too enthusiastic to be modeling it for me though! Dh informed me that it was silly for a baby to wear a poncho, which I agree with but I really wanted to try to make one anyway. So really this project was more for me than her. But its still cute, of course the adorable model doesn't hurt any!

It's Valentine's Day

Happy Hearts Day! I hope everyone is having a great day. The weather is beautiful here but it's a workday so I'm not getting to enjoy it. But it looks really nice outside my window. I felt like I wasn't contributing by not making anything for Valentine's Day so I whipped up some little crochet hearts in honor of the holiday. Nothing fancy but at least they are red!

The larger heart I found on this blog and the pattern was super easy to make. Of course mine aren't nearly as nice as her's are but I think they are okay considering I'm just now teaching myself to read patterns. We don't have any big Valentine plans here tonight. Dh is still out of town so the baby and I are just going to hang out around the house. Hopefully we'll have some great plans this weekend since somebody is having a birthday! Care to guess who?