My Baby is here, Christmas Preparations, and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I had my baby boy on November 30th, 2022. We have named him Evan. It has been a busy few weeks with him and adjusting to his schedule. I have been so busy with feedings lately and we haven't been sleeping well because he wakes up very often and prefers to snuggle with us. I am up every 2-3 hours during the night with him at this point. He is so adorable and we love him so much. 

Photo below is of Evan and I at the hospital before we left to go home for the first time with him. Very exciting time and there was a really nice tree in the lobby to take a photo in front of. 

Millie is getting used to him being around. She sniffs his head and sometimes goes up to him. But she runs away when he starts crying.

My Arches baby blanket is coming along and I have knitted more of it.  The pattern is by LJM Designs and I found it on Ravelry. I noticed some issues in the knitting last week so I frogged some of it. It is a nice pattern so far but I have to keep track of the row I am on because it is a 16 row repeat and each even row is different. I hope to finish this blanket for Evan early in the New Year to use during the Winter. I am still reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry. In the past few days I have been reading more while Evan naps and during feedings. I would like to finish reading it before the New Year. 

We are in the middle of a winter storm in Toronto and it has began to snow. Unfortunately with this storm and some illnesses in my family, we had to postpone our Christmas Eve plans because it will be pretty bad out there with a lot of snow and slippery roads. Hopefully next week no more sicknesses and the roads are clear we can plan for a day to do our gift exchange and dinner. It has really felt like such a different Christmas this year and has flown by. I have been getting ready for Christmas this week. Really up to this point I haven't done a lot of decorating. I have been ordering a lot of gifts this year because I am not going out with Evan and still healing and can't drive at this point. I am doing well with healing from a c section and feeling less pain lately. 

I have put up a little tree this year in the corner by the window that is usually in our office area. It works this year because last year Millie climbed it a lot and we just wanted something easy this year as we had Evan and knew we didn't need any extra stress. She has knocked this one down a few times already.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I can't believe that today is Christmas Eve Eve. Today I watched some of Elf and wrapped more gifts and did some laundry. I hope that you are enjoying the holiday season! Happy Holidays to you and your family!

Knitting Baby Blanket and Reading On

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I am well and I am on my maternity leave now. This week I have kept busy with getting things ready for baby's arrival. I have been washing baby's clothes, swaddles, and blankets. We will put together the crib and bassinet this weekend and almost done putting the change table together. I am 37 weeks now and feeling lots of baby movements. I have had a bit of pain in my left side by my ribs so have been taking it easy to heal this week as well.

I started knitting a baby blanket for our baby. I am using the Arches Baby Blanket pattern on Ravelry by LJM Design. I am knitting it on size 4 mm circular needles for the length and using the Snuggly Wuggly yarn by Loops & Threads in the colorway pale blue.  I have only knitted 8 rows of knit stitch so far then will start the pattern after a couple more rows of garter stitch.  I am looking forward to starting to knit the arches in the pattern. Millie was interested in the needles in my project bag and what I was doing. She is a very curious kitty!

I am going to be listening to The Happiest Baby on the Block by Harvey Karp. I am looking forward to listening to this in the next week and learning more about keeping my baby happy and comfortable after he is born. I am continuing to read Book Lovers by Emily Henry.

Photo source

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I am excited it is getting closer to Christmas now. I haven't decorated much at this point, I have only put the Christmas wreath up on our front door. I will probably put our Christmas tree up next weekend. I won't be participating in Blogmas this year unfortunately because our baby is due very soon and I will be so busy. I look forward to participating in Blogmas next year and reading other's posts this year.  I will still post some of my favourite Blogmas posts each week but it won't be daily. You can check out my past year's posts by going to the pages tab at the top of screen and selecting blogmas.

Have a great day!

Finished Knitting IONA Baby Hat

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I am doing well and it is now getting closer to our baby's arrival. I am 36 weeks and 4 days today. Tomorrow is my last day at work before I start my maternity leave. This week I have been wrapping things up with work and preparing for a new stage of life.

I have finished knitting the IONA baby hat by Marianna Mel. I am loving how it turned out. I think of how sweet it will be to see our baby boy wearing it.

Pattern notes:

Pattern: IONA baby hat by Marianna Mel

Needles: US 6 4.0 mm

Yarn: Snuggly Wuggly yarn by Loops & Threads in the colorway pale blue.

Notes: Ravelry notes

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I hope you are having a great week so far and have a good weekend.  It is so special to share these steps along the way with you as we prepare for baby. In the coming weeks we will be getting ready for baby's arrival and I will probably be knitting more baby things and share them with you soon!

Have a great day!

Baby Shower, Progress on Knitting Baby Hat, and Halloween

 Hi Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I had my baby shower on October 2nd. I loved the décor and the food my mother in law set up. My sister and mom worked on and carried out the games. I received so many wonderful gifts. I am so excited as I am moving along in the pregnancy, but also getting a bit nervous. I am 35 weeks now and feeling bigger each day. We still have some things to get for the nursery to set it up I will share once we have it complete hopefully by the end of the month. I am so excited to be going on maternity leave in a week and a half! My last day of work is next Friday.

These cupcakes were so cute and also very delicious!

This was one of the games at the shower my sister put together. People had to guess what baby item were in the bags under each letter. 

Loved the food they put out and this fruit plate was so pretty.

I am working on knitting the IONA baby hat by Marianna Mel. It is such a fun knit on straight needles. I have been excited to knit this project. Just thinking of my baby wearing it one day is so exciting, and makes me want to be knitting it all the time. Knitting baby knits is the cutest. I have knitted most of the hat and next is to start knitting the top and decreasing. Below are photos of the hat folded and how it will look and then just flat the way it looks as I am knitting it.

For Halloween this year, I bought this cute pumpkin maternity shirt on Amazon and I handed out chocolates and candies. We got a lot of children this year! we had around 50 in the first hour and had to take down our decorations way earlier than I thought. 

Last year I bought Millie Bat wings for her first Halloween, but she was spayed and had stitches, so I didn't try to put them on. This year she really was fighting it, so I didn't push too hard. It would have been so cute if she wore them for awhile for a photo!

Joining along with Unraveled Wednesday over at As Kat Knits a weekly yarn along to see what others are working on :).

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I hope that you had a fun Halloween and have a good rest of your week.

Knitting for Baby and Updates

Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. It has been so long since I have posted on here. I have missed this space. I have just been so preoccupied with getting things ready for our baby due in December it is getting so close now and we still have some things to do to prepare the nursery and to buy for baby's arrival. I had a wonderful baby shower at the beginning of October and I will share photos soon. We received so many clothes, books, bath items, and essentials for baby it was great. This month we started painting the nursery, we ordered the baby crib, change table, stroller, and car seat. 

I started knitting a baby hat for baby and it is nice to be finally working on a knitting project for him. I found such a cute baby hat pattern on Ravelry called IONA Baby Hat by Marianna Mel. It is knitted on straight needles. I started knitting it in the round and noticed the pattern was off, so I switched to knitting on the needles instead of in the round. I am liking the pattern of the hat so far it looks nice. I chose the baby blue color for our baby boy I bought Snuggly Wuggly baby yarn by Loops & Threads in the colorway pal blue and knitting on 4 mm circular needles.

I am slow in the reading department jumping around from reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry to some other pregnancy books. I will try to pick up my reading again soon and hopefully once I am on maternity leave starting November 11th I can have more time to relax, read, and knit.

Millie has been doing well. We have moved her toys and litter out of the second bedroom now to start working on the nursery. She still has a lot of places to go but I have noticed she seems a bit out of sorts sometimes, but there has been a lot of change and big boxes of furniture and things coming in.

I am now 34 weeks pregnant. This week I really started to feel big and pressure in my belly. Baby is doing well in there and we are only 6 weeks away now! Time is flying by and we are so excited to become parents.

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! I hope you have a great rest of your week.

Vacation, Updates, and Knitting Socks,

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. I forgot to update on another trip we took in August to Grand Bend with Liam's parents. There was a nice beach there and we stayed at a cute cottage. It was a nice time away one weekend. I really liked our cottage trips this Summer with family a chance to be outside more and enjoy the weather. 

I have been knitting the first sock using the perfect pair pattern that the yarn Loops & Threads came with on the label. It is reminding me how much I love knitting socks. Yesterday I spent a lot of my afternoon working on knitting and turning the heel, and now I am knitting the foot. I am looking forward to being done the first sock, and then working on the second sock. Then I will turn my focus to knitting cute baby knits. I am due in early December, so I better get knitting! 

Last weekend we celebrated my sister's birthday and went to a nice restaurant by the lake. It was a beautiful day outside and nice to go out to a restaurant for dinner and sit on the patio. We went for a walk with my family after dinner and enjoyed the beautiful view of the lake. 

I am 26 weeks pregnant as I am posting this, and 27 weeks tomorrow. Time is flying by! I am planning the nursery now, adding things to our baby registry, and thinking of baby shower plans. Baby is doing well, we are having a boy! He is moving a lot lately and kicking lots.

Thank you for visiting my blog today! It has been a great Summer with family cottage trips and moments spending time outside. I am so ready for fall now though. I love the chillier mornings and the holidays to look forward to. This fall also means getting prepared for baby and lots of fun things to start doing and planning for. 

Have a great weekend!

Cottage trip

 Hello Friends,

I hope you are doing well. Last week I took a trip up north with my family to a cottage. My sister found the place on vrbo. It was such a cozy rustic cottage and it was so fun being there spending quality time with my parents, sister, brother in law, nephew, and my husband Liam. We stayed for a few nights and had pretty good weather except for Wednesday when it rained in the afternoon and evening. 

There was a canoe provided at the cottage and my sister rented a couple of life jackets. Most of us took turns out in the canoe during our trip. I went out canoeing with my dad once and it was so peaceful being out on the water.

My dad made fires a couple of the nights and roasted marshmallows and made s'mores. It was fun listening to music and chatting by the fire.

I did some reading of book lovers but not too much. The afternoon I was reading on the dock I felt the sun's warmth on my legs and the sound of the water from the lake. It was so perfect.

On Thursday night the lighting was so beautiful on the trees.

On our last day at the cottage I did a bit of knitting by the lake. This was so peaceful and relaxing. It was a sunny perfect morning and I didn't want to leave. 

This week I took a bump picture at 23 weeks. I am feeling bigger now and pretty good. I am feeling baby moving around a lot and they are pretty active in there. 

Joining along with As Kat Knits for Unraveled Wednesday.

Thank you for visiting my blog today as I shared a special trip to me. I can't wait now for our next family trip to the cottage maybe with a baby next time which is surreal. 

Have a great day!