Best invention ever...

I have been meaning to share about this product. It is the best body pillow ever, whether you are pregnant or not. I looked and looked for a body pillow but the regular ones that were cheap were too puffy to support my back. This is small enough you can get it under your belly and behind your back. Works perfectly! I absolutely love it. I plan to use it even after having the baby.

"Maternity Full Body Pillow - Snoogle -" Ivory
Other products by LeachCo

Esta es una almohada de todo el cuerpo que me compré. Busqué y busqué hasta que encontré esta. Era un poco cara pero valió la pena la inversión ya que me permite dormir super bien. Es dificil dormir de espaldas con la panza porque el peso del bebé no te deja respirar, si duermes de lado poniendo el peso en la panza el bebé se siente estrujado y se mueve demasiado, osea que la única forma es mantener como el equilibrio en el medio sin apretar al bebé de lado lo cual es imposible, con esta almohada uno puede darle apoyo a la espalda y a la panza sin apretujar al bebé... y a dormir... ha sido la mejor inversión que he hecho y pienso seguirla usando incluso después de que nazca el bebé.

Six months belly

And here is how the belly looks like at 6 months. I have already gained 20 pounds! So I better watch out!

Y aquí esta la pancita a los 6 meses. Ya aumenté 20 libras así que mejor me pongo viva! Esta semana hemos tenido algunos problemas personales y para variar con la escuela de R, pero la verdad es que estoy tan feliz con mi pancita y la llegada de mi bebé que ahorita no voy a dejar que nada me arruine este momento. La verdad es que no disfruté ninguno de mis otros dos embarazos tanto como este, qué irónico porque esta vez ni siquiera planeaba embarazarme. En verdad que Dios sabe lo que hace y cuándo y cómo hace las cosas...

Click on the picture to enlarge- Has click en la foto para aumentarla

Baby Ian at 6 months

This is baby Ian in the womb at six months. Of course is not as clear as a picture but I am still amaze at the 3D ultrasound technology. You can see his nose and his left eye. Right in front of his mouth is the umbilical cord and hugging the umbilical cord is his chubby little hand. The fuzzy parts around him is the placenta.

Este es el bebé a los seis meses dentro del vientre. Claro que no es tan claro como una foto pero aun así me parece maravillosa la tecnología del ultrasonido de tercera dimension. Se ve claramente la cabecita del bebé como de lado, la nariz y el ojito izquierdo. En frente de la boquita está el cordón umbilical y abrazando el cordón umbilical se ve la manita derecha. Las partes borrozas alrededor son la placenta.

Today's wheater

This is a picture from my little office window. I am not sure if you can see the layer of dust. It was so windy today that I went for some groceries and ended up turning around. Here were I live, there is a horrible condition called "Valley Fever" that you get from spores that you breath in when the wind blows the dust like this. So, since I am pregnant, I decided not to risk it and went back home without the groceries. I can't imagine how horrible it would be to get the valley fever while been pregnant, but I assure you I don't want to find out.
Esta es una foto desde mi oficinita de arriba. No se si se nota la capa de polvo que hay. El viento era tan fuerte que levantaba una capa de polvo e impedía la visibilidad a una cierta distancia. Yo salí por unas compras y me devolví porque me dio miedo. Aquí donde yo vivo hay una enfermedad horrible llamada la Fiebre del Valle que da precisamente por inhalar el polvo que contiene las esporas que producen la infección respiratoria. No me quiero ni imaginar lo horrible que sería contraer esta enfermedad estando embarazada... así que me devolví para la casa y me quedé aquí todo el día.

The curse of the sheep sweater

Here are the front and back of the sheep sweater. I already finished one sleeve too, but I can't take it anymore... I need a brake! I have considered ripping this off many many times. I am so bored! Maybe I can use the yarn in other projects... I don't know. Right now I am very scared because the sleeve looks huuuge! and even though this is an over sized sweater... I wonder if it is going to look OK. The original sweater is only sized for 4 and 6 years old. I made the changes for a size 12-14, which is why I have no idea if my changes are going to come out OK or if I have exaggerated on the final size. I think I am going to temporarily sew the sleeve that I have and the front and back and try to try it on R. To be honest right now it looks big enough to fit me... So I don't know at this point what is going to happen. If I don't like the fitting session I am pretty sure I will end up ripping it. I am not planning to waste $100 in yarn on a sweater that is never going to be worn. I rather rip it and be able to use the yarn in summer items since it is a very nice cotton from Classic Elite.

For right now, I am taking a brake to make the baby booties from Debbie Bliss book "Quick Baby Knits" that I got from the library. After that, I will make a decision about this sweater. What do you think? Should I rip it?

Sale at Michael's !!!

Hello everyone, just a quick note to let you know that Michael's has a yarn sale. Everything is 30% off. I got some amazing yarns and saved up a lot of money. I had some projects in mind that I wanted to get yarn for but have been waiting for a sale like this. Mainly, I got Patons yarns, Shetland Chunky for a couple of sweaters I have in mind and some Patons Grace for some baby items I want to knit. Patons Grace is a great substitute for baby yarns that knit at 25 st/4 inches, such as Rowan Glace Cotton and Debbie Bliss Baby Cashmerino.

Of course I have been doing a lot of thinking and since I am having my baby in April, I decided I am not going to make baby sweaters since my baby is going to be born right before the summer and I am sure he won't get to use any. So, I am going to make booties and cottons pants basically. By the next winter I don't even have a clue of how big he will be (some babies were 18 month clothes at 6 months...) so I wouldn't even be able to tell how big to make a sweater at this point. My guess is that a size 12-18 will for sure fit by then, but right now I just want to concentrate in cotton items that are practical for the spring and summer time.

Here is what I have in mind to start with:Aren't these adorable?

Merry Christmas!

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

Porque un niño nos es nacido, hijo nos es dado; y el principado sobre su hombro: y llamaráse su nombre Admirable, Consejero, Dios fuerte, Padre eterno, Príncipe de paz. Isaías 9:6

JESUS

He is the reason for the season…

El es la verdadera razón para celebrar…

As we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus, we are so thankful this year to also be able to celebrate the gift of our son Ian Patrick Donahue who will be born God willing in April 2008!

Al celebrar que un hijo nos fue dado en la persona de Jesucristo,

Este año estamos muy agradecidos de poder también celebrar el regalo de nuestro hijo Ian Patrick Donahue que nacerá Dios mediante en abril de 2008!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Feliz Navidad y Año Nuevo! te desean:

James, Marlen, Mariel, Rachel & Ian

Last minute X-Mas present

I am making this tube scarf for a last minute present. It takes two balls of LION BRAND Landscape (I am using a different shade though). This is my first time working with this yarn and I love it! It is very spongy and elastic. Perfect to make really warm winter items. I was able to knit up half of the scarf (1 ball) in about 2 hours, so I am hoping I can finish it tomorrow to be able to mail it to the recipient. I am not going to say who it is for to keep the suspense, all I am going to say is that it is for a person that I love dearly and that I haven't been able to knit anything for before. In fact, this is the only X-Mas present that I actually made this year due to the terrible period of knitting-vacation/laziness that overcame me at the beginning of the pregnancy. I love this project because it is soooo easy and it knits up in a snap. I highly recommend it as a last minute present, that is, if you resist the temptation to keep it for yourself. Pattern is free at: http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/kls-tubeScarf.html?noImages=

Esta es una bufanda tubo que empecé ayer. Se lleva dos bolas de Lion Brand Landscapes, ya use una osea que en un día hice la mitad. Es el único regalo de Navidad que tejí este año pues estuve super vaga desde que empecé con el embarazo. Espero terminarla mañana para enviarla por correo. Es un proyecto muy fácil y me encanta la lana ya que es gruesa y esponjada y se teje rápido. El acabado final también es muy lindo . El patrón se obtiene gratis en :
http://cache.lionbrand.com/patterns/kls-tubeScarf.html?noImages=

My knitting power is back!

I was afraid my knitting power was gone. I lost interest and I haven't knitted for a long time, except for a few rows here and there. But now I think my interest is coming back it came back to me with the Christmas smell... I think the problem I was having was the lack of motivation I have with my current project. The intarsia sheep sweater that I am making. It is soooo boring...

So, I decided to go ahead and start looking for a challenge that would bring my knitting power back. Here is what I found; a god's nectar drop of inspiration for knitters:


His name is "Douglas", you can find him in Rowan RYC Book #22, Classic Travel - This is new for Fall 2007 and features sixteen designs by Martin Storey. Isn't he gorgeous? ah... and the model is not so bad is it?

Just what I needed to recover my knitting mojo... LOL

Finally a sweater that has the potential to become my next Christmas present for J. For the next Christmas of course... This year I am just hating my current project and I have not make anything for anyone...
:-(

Anniversary

Last Oct 20 was our 9th Anniversary . We went to eat out. We had a good time and celebrated in an especial way this year because of the baby. This has been a year full of blessings. However this week, my birthday started out in a bad way, somebody for some reason is trying to make our lives harder, we have received different attacks coming from different ways and really feel we need to stand up and fight in prayer. Please pray for all of us, but specially for R.

El 20 de Octubre pasado fue nuestro Aniversario N. 9. Salimos a comer y la pasamos super bien celebrando adicionalmente la venida del bebé. Este año ha sido de mucha bendición en general aunque esta semana empecé mi cumpleaños con malas noticias y recibiendo ataques de chismes entre otras cosas. Por favor oren por nosotros y en especial por R.

I am back!

I am sorry I have been gone for so long... I do feel more tired at times because of the pregnancy but I am also busier as I am going every morning to school with R. She was not getting her work done during "individual work time" so I am going in there to help her and also help in the class. I am really enjoying it, although I won't be able to do it for too long...

My knitting is just not going at all and I have been wondering why? I thought that maybe I am loosing interest in knitting like I have seen it happen with some people I know that all of the sudden they just drop it forever. I thought this would never happen to me but the truth is, I am finding knitting very tedious lately. Then I realized that maybe I just an exited project to spice it up a little! See? My current project is sooooo boring. I have no interest whatsoever in it. It sounds terrible but it is true. It is a sweater for R that now I am not even sure I can finish in time for Christmas. I have completed the front and started casting on the back. But that is all. It has been sitting on my basket for 2 weeks now. The only reason started it in the first place is because I had purchase the yarn about a year ago and it has cost so much (over $100) that I did not want to waste it. The yarn is of various colors so it was not easy to sell on Ebay. No body wouldn't want it unless they wanted to make this exact sweater and if I sold the yarn by skein I would have lost a lot of money, so I went ahead and started the project with very little motivation. My guess is that very quickly I ran out of gas, and since I don't allow myself to start new projects until the one I am working on is finished, I would rather not knit at all.

I am starting to feel a little desperate to knit something else, and I have been even consider braking the "knit from my stash 2007 rule" and buy some yarn just get me even more exited! I don't know. On the other hand, I know for a fact that if I don't finish this sweater now, I won't ever do it. I really need to make myself finish it!

Here is the belly...

Here is picture of the belly al naturale with no make up... HA HA
I took this picture really fast one morning with the automatic shutter of my camera to send it to my mom in C.R. so I didn't really prep for it, but I guess what they want to see is my belly not my face... LOL
Yesterday I saw the doctor and we were able to hear the baby's heart beat. Everything is looking great with my pregnancy thanks God and I feel the presence of the Lord and his blessing in this pregnancy. I know He is with me and we all feel very blessed...

Aquí tienen una foto de la pancita, me la tomé el otro día sin maquillaje ni nada a la carrera para mandársela a mi mamá con el disparador automático de la cámara. No es mi mejor foto pero lo que interesa no es mi cara sino la pancita que es lo que todo mundo quiere ver allá en C.R. Oficialmente cumplí 3 meses ayer y fui donde el doctor y dice que todo está muy bien e incluso le oímos el corazón al bebé... Asíque todo va bien y tengo mucha paz de Dios de que El me esta cuidando y que este bebé será sano y una gran bendición para todos en la familia.

FUN FAIR

Today we went to the County Fair. We had fun. R loved to pet this snake so I decided to buy her the picture. As you can see, she is not afraid at all. Her mom watched from the distance though. I still don't understand what was going through God's mind when he created this one...

Hoy fuimos a la Feria del condado. Fue divertido, a R le gustó tocar esta culebra. Como ví que no le tenía miedo, le pregunté si quería que le tomaran una foto. Ella posó sin ningún problema. Yo encambio me quedé bien lejos... Todavía no entiendo en qué estaba pensando Dios cuando se le ocurrió crear este animal... Qué horror!

Baby colors...

Of course I have been thinking about new projects for the baby. I have been giving a lot of thinking to the fact that most baby items are knitted in yellow, an ugly hospital green, baby blue or baby pink. Since I don't like the two typical "neutral" colors (yellow and green), I have been thinking in other options that are also neutral and more cheerful like RED, TURQUOISE, APPLE GREEN, WINE, PURPLE, ETC. Why does everything has to be either pink or baby blue? Debbie Bliss was one of the first knitting designers to make baby items in very no-traditional colors like brown, Grey, wine, and even black. Why not? It gives babies a grown up look that is very cute. Don't you think? Since I still don't know the sex of my baby, I would have to stick to the neutrals. I have a project in turquoise and another one in red., but I won't start until R's sheep sweater is ready. My one project at a time rule... remember? This is not very promising because of my morning sickness (which by the way last all day not just the morning) which includes a desire NOT TO KNIT. I just want to lie down all day. The nausea is starting to go away so my knitting might pickup anytime... I hope...

Por supuesto que ya estoy planeando tejer algo para el bebé, pero esto me hace pensar en que quiero usar colores no tradicionales. Por qué todo tiene que ser celeste o rosado o amarillo pollito? Hay diseñadoras como Debbie Bliss que han introducido colores muy de adulto en los diseños infantiles tales como café, gris, vino, verde oliva y hasta negro. Por qué no? Hace que los chiquitines se vean como adultos enanos y para mí eso es adorable... Así que como no se el sexo del bebé todavía empezaré con colores no tradiciones neutrales, como rojo y turqueza. Aunque no pienso empezar hasta que termine el sueter de ovejas de R. Ojala que sea pronto porque con los achaques no me han dado ganas de tejer para nada y ando un poco atrasada con ese proyecto.

The Ostrich Farm

Solvaing has become our favorite vacation spot. We went there again for Labor Day weekend to scape from the heat. Surprisingly it was just as hot there, but we did have a lot of fun visiting the Ostrich farm. Initially, the plan was to raise the birds for their meat and eggs but the FDA only approved the breast for human consumption, therefore, if only that part of the bird was to be commercialized that meant the price of the meat was going to be really high. So the investors walked away the project and the farm owners decided to keep the farm as a zoo. It was very fun to be able to feed the ostrich and watch them. No one enjoyed it more than J who was for some reason, completely fascinated. I had to remind him several times to give R the opportunity to feed the birds too.

Can you see my belly already growing in the pic? Yeah, I think the older you are the quicker the belly shows up... I am not even two months pregnant and I already started getting maternity clothes because my pants won't close all the way. Wow! I remember with my first girl, I did not need maternity clothes until I was 5 months... LOL!

El pueblito de Solvaing se ha convertido en nuestro lugar favorito para ir a pasear. El fin de semana parasado fuimos tratando de escapar del calor y para nuestra sorpresa estaba igual de caliente que aquí, lo cual no es normal. Sin embargo, la pasamos muy bien en la finca de avestruces. El plan era criarlas para vender la carne y los huevos, pero el FDA solo aprobó las pechugas para el consumo humano lo cual encareció el precio de venta de la carne y los inversionistas decidieron no seguir con el proyecto. Los dueños de la finca decidieron quedarse con las avestruces y abrir un zoológico y gracias a Dios les ha ido bien. Es muy bonito ir y darles de comer y verlas de cerca. Al que más le gustó fue a J por su puesto... él estaba fascinado con los benditos pájaros gigantes... ni dejaba que R también les diera de comer...

No se si notan en la foto que ya tengo pancita... Uno a los casi 40 ya no lo esconde. No tengo ni dos meses y ya tuve que empezar a comprar ropa maternal, qué barbaridad! Me acuerdo que cuando tuve a mi primera hija no me salió la panza hasta que tenía 5 meses... Ya uno seguro se va poniendo todo suavecito por dentro... JA JA JA