Waiting for baby...

So I've been on maternity leave for the past 2 weeks, and yet haven't found the time energy to post even once. Things have been pretty quiet around here; most of my days are spent taking it easy, doing some simple household chores (washing the dishes mostly), and wondering how much longer it will be before Emily decides to make her appearance. We have now passed the due date and still no sings of impending birth.

38 Weeks                                                        40 Weeks

My aunt and uncle came by a couple of weeks ago to drop off my old bedroom set from when I was a kid. It spent a few years stored in their barn, so it needs a bit of work before it will move into the baby's room (paint, minor repairs). That will be one of our projects once mother nature tires of this whole winter thing and starts to move into spring/summer. In the meantime, we re-arranged the room (again) and moved the large bookcase back down to the basement (trying to make room for the furniture I was hoping would be able to go into her room). On the plus side, we've made a nice play/reading area at the back of the downstairs living room!

In an attempt to be productive, I have managed to churn the cutest little baby sweater (although I may be biased). It's worked in Malabrigo lace with the cutest eyelet pattern. It only took 4 days from beginning to end, and we can't wait to see her in it! 

The christening gown has been put on hold for the moment - the pattern, though beautiful, takes a little more thought than I'm able to deal with at this point, but I should have until April or May to get it done... plenty of time! =)

Knitting update

A few days ago I mentioned I was knitting a shawl. Well, here it is, all done! I have no idea when or where I'll wear it, but at least it's done!

Knitting... and Coyotes

For the past few days I have been doing a lot of knitting. I think its the weather lately that has inspired it. Although the thermometer says 20-25C, it feels much cooler in the house. Maybe that's why I've had the impulse to knit a shawl (Malabrigo lace, Citron shawl), and a shrug knit from 100% alpaca. Unfortunately, I ran out of the alpaca yarn last night, so that project is on hold until I can get some more. Next up on the needles: baby gifts.

As for the coyotes: David and I were in the office the other night, I was browsing Ravelry and David was playing a game, when I thought I heard something from outside. It kind of sounded like a dog, but it was coming from an odd direction. One of our neighbours has a dog that likes to bark, but they live across the road and down a little ways... this barking sound was coming from the property bordering our backyard property line. I went to the back deck to see if it was what I thought it was. Although it was very dark and no moon, I knew what I was hearing was a coyote (you may remember that we saw a pair crossing the back field earlier this year). It sounded like it was communicating with another pack on the other side of the highway. 

I think the sound half way through might be a cat

going through the cat door...

It's oh, so quiet

Not much has been happening around here lately. Temperatures have been dropping since my last post, including snow, hail and freezing rain on Saturday. Add to that the crazy high winds we get here... we've just been keeping our fingers crossed that we don't lose any trees! 

We had some family & friends over on Saturday to help celebrate my birthday (or as David put's it "another lap around the sun"). We had a great time despite the weather! After years of my cousin (who's more like a sister) trying to blow out my birthday candles, a tradition that has been going on since my 2nd birthday, I decided that we should give up all pretenses and she should just help (especially seeing as the number of candles on the cake will only get larger, right?).

On the crafting front, not much has been going on. The knitting needles were quiet for a quite a while as I recovered from last year's intense knitting (2 stoles for my wedding - maid of honour & bridesmaid; 1 baby blanket that took FOREVER to finish; 2 baby sweaters and a hat (blogged about it here) and that had me knitting until the wee hours of the morning to finish). Well, with 3 more babies expected later this year, needless to say the knitting has recommenced. No photos yet - those will have to wait until another day ;)

Hopefully, with the warmer weather forecast for the weekend, there will be more happening around here!

Catching up...

We've been pretty busy these past few days...

Saturday morning we decided to head back to the store to pick up a new duvet cover we saw while curtain shopping. Next on the list will be some new paint for the walls, but that probably won't be until spring at the very earliest. New curtains and blinds are also on that shoppings list. The duvet cover wasn't on the bed long before Caesar decided it was time for a nap.

The guy who clears our driveway also came by, even though there wasn't too much snow. Usually we get up in the morning to a clean driveway, so it was nice to actually witness the snow clearing.

There was also some furious knitting on Saturday that lasted well into the wee hours of Sunday morning as I was trying to finish some knitwear for my cousin's baby shower Sunday afternoon. I've resisted posting any pictures earlier just in case!

We all had a great time at her shower! But, of course, I once again forgot the camera... that's one of my new years' resolutions... be sure to have always have the camera for those spontaneous (and those "it's been on the calendar for months!") photo ops!

We started back to work at the college yesterday and we've been busy getting everything ready for the beginning of the semester. Fortunately, we won't see students for another 2 weeks so there's still plenty of time to prepare. After work we spent the evening with my parents for my mom's birthday... it was a great evening!

So far today has been more of the same... cleaning, organizing, getting ready for labs to begin!