What's Up

9 days since my last post. That's shorter than I thought.

On the knitting front: Wiggles and Waves is still on the needles if you can believe that. I've reached the point of seaming the shoulders but I don't think I have enough yarn to knit 2 long sleeves! This may be a spring/summer cardigan for Karalyn instead of winter/spring. I also started the Neck Down Shaped Cardigan (#241) by Knitting Pure and Simple. It uses DK weight yarn so the knitting is quite slow. I like it, though. Very easy, rather mindless. Something I'm not in a hurry to do.

I have to confess I went on a terrible yarn buying spree last month. Drat the knitswap and knitting-forsale Yahoo groups. I felt like a yarn addict - on a high when I was shopping but suffered guilt when the high wore off. I have sworn off buying any more yarn the rest of the year and just shop my stash. Caitlyn said her yarn is boring and I kind of feel the same way. I keep thinking I should have a sale or at least another swap to have different yarn to look at. Anyone wanna swap?

On the motherhood front: Lori asked me what advanced things my baby girl has learned to do since she started daycare. Well, she can roll over! Both ways: back-to-front and front-to-back. It sounds simple enough but these are some of the development milestones that parents anxiously watch out for. I'm really relieved Karalyn can roll front-to-back because she's a tummy sleeper. New mothers are constantly being told to put their babies to sleep on their backs to avoid SIDS. Karalyn, however, doesn't like to sleep that way. During her colicky period she would cry and cry before I finally gave in and laid her down on her stomach. Now that she can roll over to her back, I feel better about the way she sleeps.

She is also learning how to sit up, crawl by doing the inchworm, and eats a whopping 8oz every 4 hours. Not bad for a preemie! Her daycare teachers and other mothers are amazed she can eat so much. I didn't think anything of it...wasn't I supposed to teach her how much to eat and when? But apparently her eating schedule is something to be envied. I have to say, it's rather convenient because we can feed her at the same times we eat our meals.

On the work front: I survived the latest round of company layoffs. I may have told some of you that while I was on maternity leave, my department decided it was too difficult to maintain the software products I was managing. When I returned to work I found out my job was essentially being transitioned to another group. And guess who has to do the transitioning? Yepper. I don't know what I will be doing after this but I am still employed.

On the personal front: lately my private time has been few and far between. Seems like the only time I'm by myself is when I'm in the bathroom(!) or when I run an errand. As I drove to pick up some dinner the other day, I thought about what I would've been doing or been preoccupied by if I hadn't had a baby. A lot of things that I previously thought were important no longer seemed so. In fact, many seemed frivolous. With a shock, I realized how much my priorities have shifted. The basics - the health, happiness and love of my family - matter to me most right now. Not to say that I've lost my identity or given up things I like to do. Just that the focus isn't on me anymore. And that's nice.

One last thing...a shout out to Allison, my PC Pal. My company volunteers and raises funds at various schools in the area. One way to do this is by employees having elementary school pen pals via email. Allison is my pal - she plays soccer for the #1 team in the league, loves math and spelling and has a cat named Trapper. She asked me to mention PC Pals on my blog so here it is!

Have a great weekend everybody....