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I am tired and am going to bed now.

Lucas 6 Weeks

Lucas came to visit yesterday and I still had my (stolen) photography backdrops available so guess what.....photo shoot!  He came complete with some fall outfits, and a new bib from Uncle Bry and myself.  Then he and I watched The Office 5th Season and hung out.  He has evidently been a little stinker lately about sleeping so we had a talk about that too.  He has sure plumped up a bit from where he was - there's a double chin there and everything!

Click on the Flickr! photos to the right or watch the display at the top of this blog to see more.  It's back to the grindstone for me, then dinner with some Aunts who are visiting.  And yes, there is only 3 more days until NICU starts.....don't remind me.

Day Off

Here's my Vikings Baby Hat Creation on it's first owner!

Today is a long awaited day off.  I was in the ED for the past week and while I enjoyed it not much got done around here while I was gone.  I also didn't really get to see Bry very much.  So today I slept in until 5 minutes ago and am going to clean up, do laundry and get things in order.  Friday marks my first day on the Neuro ICU and I am NOT ready for that at all!  September went by way too fast and now October is just ahead. 

The time in the ED has gone really well.  I have had some pretty sick patients this week.  I had to intubate my first patient (in residency) and it went well and the pt is doing well too.  I had a lot of serious diagnoses such as DVT, hyperkalemia, strokes, pneumonias, broken bones, it goes on and on.  I also got to do an ultrasound and show a lady her baby -moving and kicking and a beating heart.  That was pretty neat.  Of course there were some frustrating patients too and with them I practiced my "nice voice" and my "poker face".  

Hopefully I get a lot accomplished today.  Wish me luck!

New Appearance and 90 days

BTW - hope you like the new fall appearance of polzinblog. Also, I was looking back at old posts and saw the one about Bry's seizure.  That reminded me that it has been 90 days since his seizure and he is clear to drive now!  Today is his first day back in Watertown and he is more than pumped to get back to his old schedule, co-workers and job site.  If you didn't hear about his seizure you can read about it HERE.

Photos, Knitting, Visitors

Emily came to visit from Texas.  She is in Law School at Texas Wesleyan Law School in Fort Worth, TX.  She came up to meet Lucas on Thursday and stayed with us until Sunday.  We had a fun day shopping on Saturday.  Mom and Dad decided to come over to see Emily too so we had a party on Sunday afternoon.

We were joined by my friend, Alecia, and her daughter, Meredith.  Happy First Birthday, Meredith!  We took a ton of photos and got some super cute shots of this beauty.  Alecia is a ballerina and had an awesome tutu made for Meredith.  (Alecia's mom is a terrific sewer and did an awesome job on this pink amazingness!)

Here are a few favorites:

She is such a cutie and had a great time playing with my flower props.  I realized I needed to get some more props though.  Today I borrowed the backdrops from a friend - complete with this amazing set-up of poles that provided a great photo studio right in my loft.  They are called "Autopole"s and they worked really well, even with our cathedral ceilings.

Finally I got some knitting done this week.  I was able to complete a number of items:

  Vikings Baby Hat

The long-awaited Vikings hat - my own creation.

This was fun to design and I'm currently working on a duplicate for Lucas.

Teal/Brown Sweater

This is a gift for Riley Danger.  I FINALLY finished it and it will be in the mail this week.  It turned out super cute - I finished it with some handmade cloth-covered buttons.  Hope you like it, Alex!  Alecia was gracious enough to provide a model for me - and she requested one just like it too!

Pink Cotton Baby Hat

This is a pattern out of Last-Minute Knitted Gifts - I made it in just a few hours and LOVE how it turned out.  It will be a gift for a friend who is expecting a baby anytime now - he's 60% sure it's a girl so I'm also working on a boy hat.  

My Cabobble mittens are are bout 40% done.  These will be a gift for a friend for her birthday so I'm going to avoid photos until she's received them.

Tomorrow I babysit for Lucas and then head back to work for nights.  I need to get out of vacation mode and get into work/learning mode.  This will be a bit of a challenge.  I'm really enjoying all of my projects right now and having a good time being creative.  

Bry and my dad are in football mode.  They have subjected me to countless hours of football today and it doesn't look like I'll get the remote any time soon.  Oh yeah, if you want to see some more pics of my niece you should check out my Sister-in-Law's blog over at The Filzens.

Have a terrific Sunday night and a not-as-bad-as-it-could-be Monday.

Tie Dye Madness

Tie Dying went pretty well tonight - and we've got the purple hands to prove it!  We had 4 color choices of boiling hot dye in ice cream pails, garbage bag smocks and 6 eager dyers.  P remarked "I'm being a garbage can!" and didn't really get the whole thing.  M made a solid blue hat and then left the fun.  The middle girls stuck it out.  Of course, L was in the thick of it and has dye up to her elbows which I'll have to explain to the Pre-K teacher tomorrow morning.  What am I going to do on Thursday when I don't have to worry about homework and getting ready for school and changing diapers and potty training?

The rest of the day was pretty fun.  We went to the Library for Story Time in the morning.  I, of course, perused the knitting section and walked away with a lovely book, Last Minute Knitted Gifts.  I was able to knit one of the 2 hour hats already today and can't wait to take pictures of it in the morning and post them.  It turned out super cute.  The whole book looks like lots of fun and I honestly want to make everything in it.

I've been thinking about how many projects I'm dedicated to right now.  I will definately need a trip to a yarn store but first I'm going to organize my thoughts/plans.  What if I could stay home all the time and just knit?  Lovely thought.

Have a good night.  Let me know if you need some tie-dyed socks!

Budding Knitters

I LOVE the whole biting the lip in concentration thing!

This is H and E learning how to knit.  Today while they're at school I'll be working on making some progress on their projects.  I'm also working on a Spiderman hat for A.

In other news - L tried to cleverly disguise THIS outfit with a pink sweater and wear it to school:

Having been around the block a time or two, I recognized this from the costume box and did NOT let her wear it.  She asked "how do you know EVERYTHING?".  I told her to get used to it.

M tried a similar move in wearing a complete CAMO outfit to school.  He told me that's what he wore in Canada on a bear hunting trip.  I said that while Canadians MAY wear outfits like that to school, we had good dentition and a vocabulary that would prevent such an outfit.  He was allowed to wear ONE item of CAMO to school.

Today is reading time at the library and I will be perusing the knitting book selection.  I discovered a few knitting shops in the Milwaukee area that I will be trying out when I get back.  I have so many requests right now that I will have to break my "No Yarn Until December" rule - for a good cause.

Tonight is Tie-Dying and Pizza Party.  I'll post photos tomorrow.

Day 1

Well it's day ONE and I'm still alive.  So are all the kids and the stupid dog too.  In fact, it's naptime and I've got a whole hour before the big kids get home.  Everyone was at school on time, dressed, hair combed, breakfasted and prepared - actually I'm not sure they were all prepared but they all had backpacks.

P and A and I spent the morning playing in the backyard after chasing Stupid Dog 3 blocks when they let him out the door.  Arrgh.  Thanks to the neighbor for watching the kids while I tackled the dog.

I've been knitting too.  Heide will be mad that I'm not scrapbooking for her, but I've finished one item for today already: Lucas's Christmas Vest.

I realized that I made the arm holes a little too small, but I still think it will be cute with a white button-down shirt underneath.

I love the cabled sides - at first I thought cables were too fussy but I LOVE how they look and this easy cable turned out to go really quickly.

I like to play with necklines and this one turned out pretty cute.

I am going to work on the yarn I've brought with me to get some other projects done too.

Only 40 minutes until school gets out.......

Vacation

Friday night started vacation #1 for me this year.  I don't have to work again until Saturday.  Friday was also the start of our resident's retreat in Kohler, WI.  We all went camping on Friday night and then spent some quality time mucking around in the woods on a rainy, cold Saturday.  It was fun to get to talk to everyone, but the bummer was my semi-runny nose is now a full blown URI and I've got a big week ahead:

BABYSITTING FOR SIX KIDS FOR THREE DAYS.

So you ask yourself, Why?  I'm doing it for my cousin - his birthday is tomorrow and he and his wife are going out of town.  I've taken care of the kids before.  They are M-age 10, H-soon to be 8, E- 6, L- 5, A-4 and P-3.  This will be the longest stretch and I'll be solo.  Thank God that school has started so many of them will be in school all day.  The younger ones I can handle ok.  I've got some projects planned including H-dog learning how to knit.  I'll post pictures of her and her progress.  I want to get her a knitting kit of her own but not sure if I'll have time.  I'll get some other projects together for the younger ones too.

Bry will be able to take me there tonight and come pick me up on Wednesday.

I'll try to give some updates along the way - if I can find the time.  Wish me luck!

Labor Day

We had a terrific Labor Day celebration with friends Amy, Mark, Kyle and Andrew, and Katie, Jon and Jonah.  I hadn't seen Jonah since he was born so the 15 month old was quite a bit changed!  We had a terrific day/evening with good food, catching up and even a bonfire.  It was an awesome day.

I managed to finish Andrew's hat in about 2 hours.  It was another terrific pattern from Itty Bitty Hats - and super easy.  I even managed to crochet the edging all by myself!  It was just so cute and he looked great - when he kept it on.  Kyle liked the Christmas Hat I'd made for him although it was a bit big on him.  He'll grow into it though and he seemed to really like it.

We also had time to do a photo shoot with the whole Nolte family.  We got some great shots.

Today I am relaxing, watching documentaries and knitting.  Bry will come home and we'll head to the gym.  Today's documentary is The Cove - about dolphin hunting in Taji, Japan.

Kyle in his Christmas Hat

Andrew in his new hat

The Nolte Family Labor Day 2010

Back to Life

Ahh.  I feel healthier.  I feel whole.  For the most part, I feel better.
The main change?  I'm DONE with trauma surgery.

While I enjoyed the rotation I did not enjoy the person I became whilst on said rotation.  I'm sure Bry would agree.  As of yesterday I have been BACK to the gym, BACK on a diet, BACK to knitting and BACK to shopping.

First off, knitting:

Tea Pot - or the beginnings of a tea pot.  From Itty Bitty Nursery

I don't know how to crochet so I'm a bit stuck right now.  Hoping that my mom can help me get the top finished so I can complete the project.  Then to figure out which other accessories are going to go with the tea pot.....

Flower Cardigan also from Itty Bitty Nursery.

Yarn is Cascade 220 Superwash

I already made one of these sweaters and I really liked it.  Sweater backs are easy to take along with me since they require a lot of just plain stockinette stitch that I don't have to think about or measure during a lecture.  Today I worked on Lucas' sweater vest but I left it in the car so no photo.

I'm getting an itch to work on mittens in advance of cooler weather.  I've got to work on a pair for Lindsey and I'm also hoping to make another set for myself.  This may require a trip to the Library to borrow another mitten book.

I also went shopping at the JC Penney outlet store.  I got a new set of curtains for our bedroom and also a new couch cover.  Bry is currently working on a kitchen island that I've been wanting for a while and I finally bought.  He's already started over on it once so I'm just leaving him alone to put it together.  It might be done before Christmas.......

I will update photos later on the bedroom.  I may have to spray paint my $7 curtain rods from Walmart so they are silver instead of black before it's all said and done.

My parents should be here any time now.  I guess I could clean up my house a bit.  I've got a ton of laundry to fold before I can get into my bed to sleep and after 2 Spotted Cows I'm feeling ready for bed right now!