April 2010 – jennifer's blog

countdown to stitches

April 13, 2010

Well, the boy’s playground is up and in action. The only things missing are the rock wall bits and the tic-tac-toe game in the clubhouse. He’s already a master at climbing the ladder and really seems to like it.

It’s a Gorilla Playset Congo Outing from Costco Online. It’s very similar to the Congo Outing III, but has a glider and some different clubhouse toys and no rope ladder arm. We replaced the belt swing with a toddler swing for now. B also added two boards to make a clubhouse wall above the rock wall. It was just too much wide open space for my nerves. When Liam is a little bigger and less likely to walk off the platform without looking we can take them down. B had this put together in about 10 hours, mostly piecemeal – on Sunday afternoon and an hour or two after work for a few days. It’s a really nice playset. The cedar is great, the pieces were well labeled, and the instructions clear.

I took Liam an afternoon to figure out how to climb the ladder unassisted. It’s unnerving to watch and I hope the mulch provides good impact absorption. I’m trying not to hover…

liam gregor — he likes it, he really likes it.

Easter duds

April 8, 2010

Here are the stats of the big guy’s easter outfit.

The pants are made with cotton seersucker purchased at Hancock’s Fabrics, using Burda Magazine 11/2003, pattern 149. There’s a full review of the pattern on patternreview.com. It took me more time than it should have (surprise!) because I was a madwoman hell-bent on matching the horizontal stripes at every seam. Otherwise a very simple and cute pattern.

liam's easter hat — easter hat the second

The hat was made using the same fabric and cut from Butterick 3632 (size small). Evidently this pattern is now out of print. The pattern calls for double layer of fleece throughout, so my hat fabric was much, much thinner – and I didn’t line the crown, so the small fit Liam’s large melon. I sewed two of the seams wrong sides together so that they’d be frayed on the outside. The fraying probably took longer to do than the actual sewing. Again, there’s a full review on patternreview.com.

Liam’s hat was actually Easter Hat #2. I made the first using Wild Things! free software. Unfortunately, I cut for a 19″ circumference which turned out too small. The software was nice and the hat cute. The brim was much more circular and less bucket-like than the Butterick. Fortunately, it fits Liam’s best girl Regan. And, unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic. Anywho, since the Butterick was a bit larger, I decided to use it for the second attempt.

Last, but not least, Liam’s shirt is a Garanimals long sleeve tee with a cute little chick from lazymay embroidered on it. Super quick and actually relaxing little project.

new baby update

April 7, 2010

So, the big ultrasound was yesterday. All is well. New baby is weighing in at 9 ounces and measuring appropriately for 19 weeks. All fingers and toes are accounted for and bits are gender appropriate. Which gender remains a mystery to all but the ultrasound tech. (Confession: I regularly refer to new baby as “she”. As I am wrong about most things, “she’s” most likely a “he” who will wear flowers and pink for a while. )

check out the button nose

B and I are relieved and thrilled that all looks as it should. Suddenly it occurs to me that we’re not just pregnant, but actually having another baby. Yikes!

We’ll have another 3D ultrasound at the end of the month, so stay tuned…

PS. If you’d like to stroll down memory lane, here’s Liam’s 18 week ultrasound – https://jenniferhoel.wordpress.com/2008/07/10/hi-everybody/.

boing, boing

April 6, 2010

Spring has sprung and our boy has a major case of spring fever to show for it. See if you can figure out the symptoms…

Liam’s energy is boundless. It’s incredible and exhausting. He just runs and yells and runs some more. Very funny to watch, though the neighbors may not find the screaming as cute as we do. As you can see, the new sprinklers are worth their weight in gold. They both entertain and contain the boy for minutes at a stretch. Plus, they are much cleaner than the alternative.

We all had a lovely weekend and an especially nice Easter. Liam found all the eggs that the Easter Bunny hid, each one containing a shiny new matchbox car. And we had peanut butter cups and Cadbury eggs for breakfast. What could be better?