the 4th

Sooo - since my last post...

Well I think I mentioned I was suppossed to work Thur, Fri, and Sun nights this past weekend, right? Well the magic low-census fairy (in our little unit "low" means NO babies!) came down and sprinkled her cancellation dust on me Thursday so I got the night off! Too bad I'd napped all day though, because I was up for the better part of the night. Ugh!

Although I did use the time to tackle some little projects I'd been wanting to get done. First - cradle bedding.



I had a lady off eBay make this for me when I was pregnant with Knox, and although it's awfully cute, I'd been contemplating something a little more foofy for this time around. Well - the deal was sealed when I ran in to the PERFECT fabric last week. The new sheet is made and I've been fiddling with recovering the bumpers off and on. Hopefully I'll have a finished project to share in a few days...



[I had to throw this one in there because isn't he just the cutest?! And only a NICU nurse could appreciate my swaddling job ;)]

I've also been searching high and low for months for a very basic A-line dress pattern for 0-12 months. No frills. Just clean lines and double buttons at the shoulders. Have you ever looked? They are NO WHERE to be found for infants. So in all my time awake Thursday night, I dug through some of Miss Hadley's things and found a little 3-6 month Gymboree dress that had the shape I was wanting and traced and tweeked until I came up with a pattern from it. And since I had to use whatever fabric I had on hand - I dug out these red dots and made her a little dress for Christmas...



(And a matching bow no doubt!) I really like how it turned out and my next goal is to size it up and down a few times so I'll have a pattern for that whole first year. These are just too easy and cute!

Thursday morning I had a doctor's appointment and all is well and boring still :) I'll go back in 2 weeks and will get a sono to share. (Yeah!) Oh and we also DID go ahead and register with CBR, and just to pass the word along - nurses get a discount! A really good one at that. Like $750 off. And then we go an extra $400-something for completing a tutorial and creating a gift registry which ended up decreasing our total costs by like %60. At that price we went ahead and did the cord blood and tissue banking.

Since our unit was still empty when I checked on Friday at noon I decided the chances of me working were pretty slim and forewent my nap. Well that was stupid because OF COURSE right after I checked they got an unforseen patient and yep - I had to go in to work! (Cancelled when I sleep, called in when I don't. Isn't that always how it works?!?) Well, needless to say it was a loooong night and I think once I got home I slept til about 2pm.

Plans were to catch a fireworks show Saturday night since I'd be working the 4th, but seeing as how it was off-and-on showers all day we decided to stay in just grill out some steaks instead. Sunday we had the privilage of a attending an awe-inspiring 4th of July service with a wonderful message about how America was founded on God-given freedom and somehow we've taken and twisted that to mean "freedoms of the flesh." Aka : If it feels good or it's the choice you feel like making, then by all means - go right ahead! It made too much sense and was accompanied by a touching little slide show of infamous quotes, clips, and images. And yes - it nearly brought me to tears. I feel SO blessed to have been born here and for the opportunity to raise my children here. I pray that my kids and grandkids get to inherit a nation as strong and wonderful as I did. And with all the economical, environmental, and political mess going on these days, I'm praying a little harder... Only two defining forces have ever offered to die for you - Jesus Christ and the American Soldier. One died for your soul, the other for your freedom.
But anyway I definitely got my nap in Sunday and headed in to work again that night. I felt bad that we were going to miss the fireworks this year, but as it turns out I had a great view of our local show from our unit window and James said he and Knox were able to watch them from our playroom window upstairs. Knox apparently insists on calling them "fireflies" so ever since he's been telling me all about the "fireflies" and how they go "BOOM!" He's too funny these days with all his new words. I love getting a little glimpse in to his head as he uses his little vocabulary to form his thoughts in to sentances. He cracks me up :)  Oh and I took advantage of the 4th of July sales Sunday night and ordered me some maternity things. (30% off and free shipping. THANK YOU Gap!)



I can still wear a few pairs of my pants and shorts so I mainly just needed a few shirts and dresses to get me throguh these next few weeks. Can't wait for them to get here so I can start wearing normal people (cute) clothes again without having to tug at my shirts every five seconds.

Yesterday was a day of rest :) And today we're heading up back up to 'school' for our Tuesday Music in Motion program. I'm banking on it wearing Knox out again and him taking a good nap. I'm a full weekend plus behind on cleaning/laundry/etc.

Oh yeah - and I was reminded yesterday it was exactly a year ago that Knox learned to walk. On July 4th! Made me go back a relive this video I posted. SO cute! Where has my little chunky baby gone?!? I need to pull some recent videos from my Flip on to here...