Getting things done!

You've been a busy girl Dannielle. I've been trying to get to framing three little hummingbirds. Lady across the street was having a yard sale and had two gold metal frames - each with three little *holes* for a picture - I got them specifically for the hummers. The whole project is on my table but I can't seem to find time to sit down and do it. Supposed to rain the next three days - hmmmm, maybe I'll make a little progress then. :-)

Sharon (N.B.)

Hi Danielle,

Congrats on getting all your projects finished up! I don't think I've hit this 'nesting period' yet - I've had no inclination to do anything the last month! But then, I'm only in my 18th week and am getting over a pretty bad cold and case of laryingitis (not sure of the spelling on that). Anyway, I was just curious as to what, if any, baby-related projects you were doing? I'm still working on an alphabet afghan and researching car seats and such in my spare time. I don't know when I'll ever have chance to get to anything else!

Nadia

Dannielle wrote:

Hey, at least my experience was that the early months with a baby weren't too bad for getting things done. They're not mobile so they can't get into your stuff and they take lots of naps. Once they get mobile, though, it's more challenging. Then they get bigger and you have to move to portable projects you can work on while schlepping them all over creation ;-) Which reminds me...gotta get something I can work on in case they're successful at auditions and I'm spending a lot of time twiddling my thumbs during rehearsals....

Best wishes, Ericka

Hi Ericka,

Yes ....I guess you're right. I'm estimating that the time between about 1 year old and 8 years old will be the most difficult. Is that about right? I have some nieces in the 7-9 year old range that have now come to the point where they are mainly settled into their routines and can get things done without too much babying by their parents. Although, I imagine they're on the mature side since they have younger siblings they are responsible for as well.

Nadia

Ericka Kammerer wrote:

Some do, some don't. I had one extremely fussy one, she took an hour and a half over every feeding and she ate five times a day. That was a 7.5 hour day just feeding the baby, without feeding Daddy and the three year old. You've heard the old saying "If the second one had been the first, there never would have been a second".

So, don't sweat and don't fret. Some babies are easy and some aren't, and neither of it is your fault or credit. Eventually, they grow up and go away and then you can do what YOU want.

Olwyn Mary in New Orleans.

Amen to that. I've seen people I considered dreadful parent material who were blessed with good children and people who'd already parented one (or more) well-behaved child(ren) cursed with a little monster next time around.

That's the best bit of advice I've received so far!

Nadia

Olwyn Mary wrote:

Nadia,

I wasn't nesting at week 18 either. However, now that I am at week 27, and I am constantly busy with my 2yo DD, I am in that mode of getting things ready for DK (dear kid) #2!!!

I'm not doing anything baby related right now. I haven't finished DD's birth sampler yet, not even sure where it is since I still have a large amount of stuff packed in boxes from our move in October. I will eventually pick a birth sampler for DK#2, but haven't even thought about it yet.

I spent quite a bit of time researching strollers, bottles and all of that stuff with DD. The car seat was given to me, so I didn't think twice about that one. However, when I moved her up from the infant seat to a "big girl" car seat, I spent weeks figuring out what was best and what would suit my needs. It can be very educational! I think I did spend nearly a month just picking out a crib and chest of drawers too!

I also haven't managed to do much of anything in the way of stitching since she was born. I know I didn't stitch for the first year at least, and I've only been doing occasional small stitching or things that just need a bit to finish up since then. I have been doing quite a bit of other sewing though, as I feel I can get up from those and do whatever she needs and then go back to it. When I am stitching, I don't want to move for hours on end and get easily agitated when I am interrupted!

Good luck!

Dannielle

Nadia Abbasi wrote:

I'm looking forward to the school day activities that allow me to stitch while waiting for children to finish up. I had tons of opporunities to stitch when DD was a baby, I just preferred to hold her and cuddle her all the time instead! Or I was on the sewing machine or doing other crafty things!

I try to keep a small something in my purse for all the times I'm sitting waiting for doctor visits during this pregnancy. One good thing about being high risk is that I have time to myself at the doctors offices waiting rooms to sit and stitch while I'm waiting! I have to leave DD with a friend for all of my appointments, so I get my alone time in during those visits!

Dannielle

Actually, I found things got quite a bit better for me by the time they were 4 years old or so. By that time, there was time for stitching in the evenings after they went to bed, and they were good about staying out of my stuff. Even now, with a 2yo in the house it's not too bad as long as I confine most of my work until naptime and after bedtime, as long as I put my stuff away. My advice: if you want stitching time, cultivate a good bedtime ;-)

Best wishes, Ericka

We've been promised rain for a couple of days and have yet to see any of it here in the DC metro area! Just stick to it and you'll get those little hummers all framed up in no time!

Dannielle

I have to say that, from birth of #1 until #2 was about 3-1/2 (they're

15 months apart), I didn't stitch at all. Then I took it up and have continued since, much to my husband's occasional consternation!

We closed on a house when I was at week 33 and moved in at week 36. By the time I had the baby, my whole house was unpacked and put together.

But I don't chalk that up to nesting. That was just my OCD having its way with me.

Yeah, I could see that! The whole house in 3 weeks! Wow! I have been here since October and still don't have everything where I want it. However, I am still in the process of figuring out what I want to do with things and how!

Did you do a nesting phase? Wash all of the baby's clothes and clean the baby's room several times before labor and delivery?

Dannielle

lizard-gumbo wrote:

Well, I only did what I had to do. My husband and I have a huge captain's bed with drawers that are 18" tall and 24" deep and 24" wide. For the first kid, we didn't have a crib and didn't have a place to put one anyway, so I got some foam and ripstop nylon and made a "mattress" to put in that drawer along with bumpers made out of foam and old sheets. Then I cut down a mattress pad to fit and sheets to fit, so there's a little bed in the drawer. The first kid lasted 3 months in it before we were forced to get her a proper crib and cram it in an inconvenient place.

Anyhoo, the only thing I did to prepare for kid #2 was prepare the drawer. I work for myself and between being pregnant (was a difficult pregnancy for many reasons), moving, running a business, and herding a toddler, the proper "nesting" just didn't kick in.

The first kid also got a quilt (more detailed pix of it if you look at the whole album) that was very carefully planned and executed, and kid #2 got squat (he got a passing thought, really) on that score. I'm figuring, since he's a dude, he may not really care about that.

Wow - but that's quite brilliant to set up the drawer as a make-shift crib! I would have never thought of it....My Hubby's more the creative one between the two of us. We live in a house but don't have huge amounts of furniture.....we buy as we go/need. So when I was working several nights in a row to finish up the Bailey Bear from Stoney Creek that I was making for my sister's high school grad a year and a half back, he made me a makeshift cross-stitching seat in front of my Ikea chair out of the laundry hamper, a thick piece of cardboard, and a very bright floor lamp. Believe it or not, it was the most comfortable stitching ever!

I just picked up my new car last night - it's so exciting! I still feel as if I have a rental and will have to give it back but I'm sure that will pass. When we had moved into our house, I kept thinking the actual owners were going to come home and ask us to leave any minute - for the first six months! I'm just silly like that - I just get so overwhelmed when a huge blessing comes my way. :o)

I finally set up my baby registry - at Target.com. I went through all the reviews of this and that and figured that most of the higher rated products will always have a few haters that just can't figure how to make things work. So I decided not to spend too much worry-time over it. I just hope I can make things work once the baby comes along as far as giving the baby quality time and taking care of him/her well. This is going to be my first. The one thing I did discover is that, beyond the basic universal baby items such as monitors, bottle warmers, and car seats, it's very difficult to choose things if you don't know the gender of the baby. Even the neutral stuff is kinda girly - has anyone else noticed this? I finally ended up choosing a sage green and dull/dark pinkish combination for the crib set and got everything else in different muted/dull colors or tried to stick with the sage green theme.

Nadia

lizard-gumbo wrote:

"Nadia Abbasi" ,in rec.crafts.textiles.needleworkwrote: and entertained us with

Yes, catch them quick! Three months on the breast gives your baby a good start.

I didn't know the gender of my first either. I decided that Blue Jean Teddy Bear was quite neutral and that's what I got! I also got some miscellaneous things like Classic Pooh that were quite neutral. However, that was a little over two years ago.

I have been trying to find something semi-neutral for this baby, even though I do know the gender this time around, and I am finding it quite difficult to get things as neutral as I would like. Although I have been told the gender, I prefer to wait and see for myself for actual verification!

My philosophy, blue never hurt a girl and pink never hurt a boy!

Dannielle

I had to return to work when my baby was just 4 months old! I didn't have a pump and tried my best to keep her on the breast as long as possible. We did continue for morning and nighttime feedings until she was a bit over 8 months old. At that point, she had lots of teeth and bit me one night. Not hard, but not comfortable...and I decided that was her way of telling me that she was done!

She had already grown accustomed to formula as a part of her nutritional intake, so it was easy to switch her over completely!

I can't wait to meet the next bundle of joy and see how long we can keep him on the breast! I shouldn't have to go back to work this time around!

Dannielle