It's Snowing! Also, I'm Knitting!

Just before 1pm today, my husband came downstairs with very important, it can't wait, news for me: it was snowing. Only just barely, the kind of snow where one could count each and every snowflake as it drifted slowly from the heavens but finally, finally, at long last, it was snowing! It took about 15 minutes to build up to a snowfall worthy of the verb and has been snowing at a steady if not heavy clip ever since. I have spent the afternoon doing figurative cartwheels. Over breakfast this morning (after my final prenatal physiotherapy class, though there is a class for both partners next week) I'd asked if it was okay to complain about several days of bellow-freezing weather without snow. I think the frost is lovely, but if it's going to be -8C/17F there bloody well should be snow on the ground. The universe seems to agree with my argument as we finally have snow! I honestly didn't think we'd get any before Christmas. The sun set (at 3:30) without my having taken a picture, so I'll show you this one from last April:

There actually is knitting news this week as I have finally finished the only knitting I really need to have done before Christmas: a pair of mitts for Aged Parent. As you may recall, he was the perfect knitting gift recipient last year , thrilled and touched and bragging to everyone he met about the hat I knit him. The man deserves more hand-knit things. I bought another skein of yarn, really soft wool to last year's camel hair, from the same Scottish yarn company, Shilasdair. I picked Dashing Mitts from Knitty, a pattern I had previously used for my husband and knew would work well. They're quite snug on me, but my FiL lost a fair bit of weight last year with tummy problems that have recently been diagnosed and, he says, cleared up, so hopefully they'll fit him nicely with a bit of room as he regains weight.

That leaves my purple orkney tam which I'm thinking I may give to my mother for Christmas, the self-striping socks I'm definitely knitting for her (I'm past the heel turn and working my way up the leg on the first sock), neither of which need to be finished until she arrives mid-January; the Shetland baby blanket/shawl for Little Djinn with pretty much the same due date; a few small projects for Secret Santa type gifts; an inch or two of a pair of socks that were tight before I got pregnant and my feet expanded; and the pullover I started for my husband. I don't think I've mentioned his sweater since I selected the pattern back in December as part of my New Year's Resolution, beyond a mention that the yarn had arrived. My 2012 has been very different from what it looked to be like from 2011 - which is fine, that's what living is all about - and while his sweater has mostly languished, I did make a fair bit of progress on the (less than interesting) stockinette body before I got pregnant and just tonight split for the armholes, to be followed shortly after finishing this post by casting on sleeves. The most awkward thing has been knitting a 37" sweater on 40" needles, the only ones I have in this size. I don't even have a pair of DPNs in 3.0mm, these are my only needles. This has periodically proven irritating as I've wanted to knit something else on 3.0mm and chosen to table it or go with a slightly different needle size instead. I'm not entirely sure why I haven't purchased another pair of needles except that there aren't any options locally and for whatever reason I haven't gotten around to ordering a pair. So I've been doing an awkward version of Magic Loop with a couple of inches of cord. Fortunately I'll not be dealing with as many stitches from here on out so the going should be less awkward and thus faster.

Those are the things I currently have permission to work on and I gotta say, I'm ready to cast on about 20 new things. I finally used the gift card Tonnvane gave me for my birthday (back in May) to buy two knitting books: Contemporary Irish Knits by Carol Feller from which I am itching to knit the matching cowl and mitts with some Old Maiden Aunt Alpaca/Merino I have in stash - I figure the sweaters will have to wait till post-Djinn and the completion of the current Husband Sweater; and Essential Knits for Babies by Debbie Bliss who makes one of the best commercially available yarn for babies out there. I figured the book had been on my wish list long before I knew I was pregnant and, while I'd knit things for Little Djinn, knitting is something I do for me so it counts as a present for me rather than a present for baby.

Which brings us to Little Djinn and my progressing pregnancy. I will be 35 weeks tomorrow with 5 weeks left to go. I've started occasionally suggesting to Little Djinn that the outside world is a beautiful place (now with snow!) and wouldn't you like to see it, which Chris objects to but I don't want to shock Little Djinn by saying "stay inside where it's safe and warm!" for 9 months and then suddenly saying, "it's eviction day! Get out!". Also, I'm ready to be done even if Little Djinn isn't. This week is fine, the week between Christmas and New Year's is problematic, but then any time is good for me, though the sooner the better. I think it's useful to communicate this, along with encouragement to be a 7lbs baby.

I have an ultra-sound and an as-yet unscheduled appointment with my midwife next week and that Friday is my last day at work. I am so ready to be done with work, though if I accept my limitations and spend most of my shift sitting on a stool behind the till it's okay. I had to buy larger boots (up a size and in wide) to accommodate my growing and sometimes swelling feet, especially in winter-thick socks. As it is, I'm just about to the point where Chris will have to do my shoes and socks for me as attempts to reach my feet are awkward and trigger heartburn. Not fun. Other not fun things include bending over last week to get something off the bottom shelf at the grocery store and feeling my epigastrum split apart. I asked the physiotherapist about it today as it's still sore and she said it's a soft-tissue injury common to pregnancy (which I knew) and all I can do is rest it, which I also knew but I made the mistake of googling it to reassure my husband and came up with the possibility of epigastric hernia. But even if it is herniated, there's nothing to do until after Little Djinn arrives, and it's nice to hear a medical professional be unconcerned.

The nursery still needs the decals stuck to the walls, though the bed is in place and fully made-up for my mother. I even put a blanket over the duvet to keep Oliver and Libby from shedding it, though it's the fake-fur one that they like to knead and purr on, so I'm probably just teaching them to love the bed. But on nights when my pregnancy-blamed snoring keeps Chris awake he'll be able to relocate to the nursery and actually get some sleep.

All of the Christmas decorations that are going up are up. I finally bought lights for the tree and put the one-off decorations up and a small handful of my plastic icicles. The baubles, fake candy canes, and rest of the icicles can stay off as one less thing to deal with come January. I got our North American Christmas cards posted, though the UK ones need to be signed and assembled.

Yesterday would have been my father's 72nd birthday. I don't think I have an emotional response to that, though I was a fair bit crabby. I think the crabbiness was more to do with having a new Assistant Manager at work and, subconsciously, resenting the fact that I have to take direction from someone I don't trust. Once I came home I was fine, even being up to hoovering and (electric) mopping upstairs and spending an hour making dinner. Though after that I was completely exhausted physically and even took another awkward bath. Did I mention that, as much as I love feeling Little Djinn growing inside me, I'm ready to be the sole occupier of my body again?

December is Upon Us

First and most importantly: it snowed! overnight so I didn't get to see it, but we woke up yesterday to a light dusting of white over almost everything. Chris poo-poo'd it, saying it wasn't even the first snow of the year (which I missed as I was at work the whole time, and it didn't stick) but I make my own happy and this time of year snow is at the top of that list. Truth be told, the deep frost over everything on Sunday was prettier and lasted longer, making everything sparkle but don't tell snow that.

My Christmas decorations are going up slowly, the icicle lights in the lounge went up the day after Thanksgiving because they're beautiful and the sun sets well before 4pm this time of year and the extra light makes a big difference. We finally got the outside porch light fixed and even though it's not necessary - we did just fine without it for the three previous winters I've been here and who knows how many Chris spent without it as there's a street light just outside our house - it makes a psychological difference to come home and see it waiting for us. Also, yesterday, it let our neighbour know we were home and she could drop off the amazon boxes that had been left with her. Not that we'd got a "while you were out card" or that we'd, in fact, been out. Or at least Chris hadn't. I ran a few errands in the afternoon but he was home all day.

I also switched to snow flake napkin rings, which we can actually use again as Chris finally (it was supposed to be my job but he gave up on me taking care of it) called a local charity and arranged for the boxes and bags stacked on the kitchen table to Go Away and hopefully be useful, freeing up the table for crazy things like eating off of. I know, right? I hung our advent calendar, a clothes line with alternating red stockings and green mittens, on the wall going up the stairs and filled it with little Green & Black chocolate bars and every morning we split one over tea and coffee. And, by special request (sometime in mid-November) I switched out usual small thistle rhombus quilt for the Christmas wall hanging with the cute little nativity vignettes. Chris wants one for year-round with happy little figures and barnyard animals. I was joking we could get one that shows the story of our relationship but camels, cows, and Bethlehem aside, it kinda does.

Yesterday I suggested that we order a Christmas tree. I want, at some point, to get a fake tree but we haven't found the right one yet (which is fair as we've not put much effort in looking) so for the fourth year in a row we ordered one from a local tree farm that delivers. The first year we left it too late and got a tiny little 4-foot tree and had to put it on an end table to keep it from looking excessively tiny with out lofted ceiling. This had the added advantage of making it really easy to fit presents under it and, if you have a household where nothing will bump or jostle the tree, I highly recommend it. By the next Christmas we'd acquired kittens and they spent that first year chewing the lights (Libby), climbing the tree (both of them) and knocking it over (suspected team effort). Fortunately last year they limited themselves to drinking out of the water bowl and trying to catch the ornaments. I figure this is our one good year where the tree will be safe before we have to buy a baby gate to protect it from Little Djinn. Which is a round-about way of explaining why we ordered a Christmas tree on the third of December and, as they have a new shopping cart this year that doesn't allow one to specify delivery date, we left a "message for seller" requesting it be delivered on or after the 14th. It was waiting for us (under the porch light) when we got home from our penultimate ante-natal class. I don't think this one will last until Epiphany. But the poinsettia I picked up yesterday looks very happy with the company.

Still to do is decorating the tree, putting tinsel around the bannisters, putting up the Christmas Card organizer (our first Christmas card arrived this morning!), and sending out or own Christmas Cards. Oh, and acquiring a 2012 ornament and stockings. We have a fireplace for the second Christmas - we really should have stockings and not my normal trick of buying Chris a pair of socks, stuffing one in the other, and filling the rest with candy. My mother implied that Little Djinn already has a stocking.

Speaking of Little Djinn, I started preliminary placement for the "woodland" scene decals (two trees and a bunch of cute little animals) in the nursery. They're just masking taped to the wall for now until Chris has time to verify that everything is straight and balanced visually. This is slightly more challenging than it might sound as we're currently imagining the furniture as well. I also had my 32 week midwife check-up(yes, I'm 33 weeks along) and all health markers for Momma and Baby were "perfect", including her review of my previous appointment with her substitute. It's nice having confirmation that Little Djinn has Assumed the Position, head down in my pelvis, even if there's still lots of time to turn breech.

Sunday night I had my first real moment of "Get out! Get Out! I want my body back!" as I tried to take a bath and easy my tired muscles (all of them) and mostly just got heartburn and an inability to move. I'm pretty sure I could live with the increasing physical awkwardness if the impediment to my movements wasn't reinforced by waves of acid reflux. Blech. I bought another bottle of Tums so I can have one upstairs, downstairs, and in my bag.

Speaking of bags, I started packing my labour bag and realizing how few things they recommend that I actually have. For some reason I thought I had more, I'd just not assembled it in one place. But I picked up some extra bits and bobs while I was in town and that's more the thing. Now I need to pack one for Little Djinn, but I'm waiting for the dresser to arrive before washing all the little outfits so I can put them Away From Cats. Chris had a mild panic attack the other night that, because we put together a baby registry instead of just buying everything we might need, that Little Djinn would show up and we'd have nothing. I pulled out "Ready, Steady, Baby", the NHS's guide to pregnancy and the first year and went through a checklist of what we have (most of it) and what we need (a few things) for a newborn and he's feeling a lot better. It helps that with amazon prime if we decide there's something we need but don't have it can usually be here the next day.