Back To Work

Maternity leave is officially over.

I think we're all sad about this.  It means that Hannah is getting older - we've lost our little 3 lb wonder and struggle to carry around a 9 lb behemoth.  She has also been much more alert and awake - looking at toys, occasionally smiling, grabbing things put near her and paying attention when we read her stories.  This part is fun.  The crabby-after-8-pm part is not as fun, but this is followed by the sleeping-for-up-to-5-hours part which Abi thinks is fun.

It also means that Abi is back to work.  Funny how you forget so much when all you know is bottles, diapers, pumping and nursing! The first few days were a little rough.  This month I'm at a new hospital so not only do I have to re-learn everything but I have a new computer system, new people, new nurses.....it's been an adjustment.  As usual I'm settling in now, about 1/2 way through the month.  This week is my longest work week yet but I've got a light at the end of the tunnel with a fun 3 day weekend coming up.

Knitting And Crochet Blog Week 2011

This will be held from March 28 - April 3 this year.  As I was not as avid a blogger last year this will be my first year participating.  I am hoping to be able to keep up with this, but I just checked my schedule and it's going to be a busy time......
For More Information click here.

Sweater update:
I have been pleasantly surprised how fast this little Easter sweater is going together. I have the back done and the two fronts are almost finished and blocked. ( I am not an expert in blocking at all.  But these tiny front pieces were curling so much I thought I'd better block the pieces first.  Anybody have any blocking tips or websites to suggest?)

This is a scarf that I mentioned in my last post.  My friend, Abby, came to visit from Michigan last weekend and happened to be near a local yarn store that I had never been to.  Ruhama's is located in Whitefish Bay, WI, near another local favorite - Kopp's Custard stand.  Well this yarn store BLEW MY MIND.  I loved how it was organized, super friendly and helpful staff, terrific selection and a group of knitters sitting right in the store.  As I was accompanied by people who did not exactly share my passion for knitting, I refrained from joining in.  But Abby fell for yarn too, and we had a great time choosing a yarn for a scarf for her.  I agreed to make it - who wouldn't agree to work with some lovely Manos Maxima for free? 

Pattern: Big Lace Scarf

by Joelle Halverson

Yarn: Manos del Uruguay Maxima -Merino Wool

Needles:  Using size US 10 to make the lace bigger as the yarn is a little less chunky.

March hat Preview:

I've been working on making 12 hats for my niece during her first year.  I think she probably will have a total of 12, but I skipped January this year.  I was considering making her a Leprauchaun hat for March, but I was afraid her father would have her wear it year-round.  So we're going with the never fail Susan B Anderson pattern.

Pattern: Upside Down Daisy

by Susan B Anderson

Yarn: Arucania Pomaire Solid in Purple, Green and Undyed - cotton

Needles: Size US 7.

So there is my knitting update.

In life news, I'm in the Pediatric Emergency Room this month.  What a change from Labor and Delivery!  Yesterday was CRAZY - at least 30 people in the waiting room all night long.  This means that all the sick kids get brought in first - and I had a few sick little peanuts last night.  It is a rare event that a child gets intubated (breathing tube) - and I had to intubate within the first 3 hours of my shift.  Poor nuggets - I had a lot of long chats with parents about not-so-good diagnoses.  Lots to learn for me too this month.  On top of that I was in a different hospital with a different computer system, new nurses, new rules and patients that can't really talk............. I am hopeful that tonight will go better.

Catching up

Abi, Alex, Riley, Beth

To start off I found this picture this morning and it made me smile.  I miss Alex and Beth a lot - and wish they didn't leave me here in Milwaukee all by myself.  This was taken Thanksgiving weekend when we stopped at Alex's house in St. Paul.

Next, have you ever seen a more un-smiley lion?  Kyle refused to smile for any pictures - not sure why.  He insisted on dressing up while I was visiting with Amy the other day.  It was a well needed visit with my local Wisconsin friends Amy and Katie.  Katie's little boy, Jonah, didn't stand still for 2 seconds, much less for a photo, so this is the only one from the day.

Lastly I wanted to showcase my lovely new flowers.  These beauties were on sale at Target for $2.50.  They were just ugly bulbs and they have really taken off - this is only 2 weeks of growing!

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In anticipation of the vacation coming up I'm trying to plan ahead for what knitting to take a long.  You may be surprised to learn that I have not bought ONE SINGLE SKEIN of yarn this month (or this year, in fact!).  Bry probably thinks this is a good thing.

1. Mom's Mittens: Seen above - these are from the new book I got for Christmas - Knitting New Mittens and Gloves by Robin Melanson.  These are my progress photos:

I'm making it with some Wisconsin grown Alpaca that I bought from an ICU nurse where I work.  She raises alpacas on her farm. Windy Meadows is the name of their farm.  This yarn is amazingly soft and I love the natural colors.  The contrasting color will be natural off white from another of their alpacas.

2. Sweater.  This is my second Bergere de France undertaking.  I'm using ShiBui Knits that I bought at Knit Purl in Portland.  Loving their yarn and the color way.  The pattern looks terrific and the pooling (the way the colors group together) is turning out better than I could have hoped.

3.  Another hat.  This is the Jared Flood pattern Habitat and I'm using Jared Flood's yarn Shelter in nice purple color.  I really want to buy some more of this yarn to make some mittens out of.  Bry has the same hat in grey and I steal it to wear it all the time.

I may take some other projects along too - we'll see.  I'm not sure how well knitting is going to go with sand and sun though...... so I'll be bringing some new books along too.  Check out the countdown on the side - we're getting close!

OCTOBER IS OVER!

Aaah!  I can't believe it!  I've finally made it to the end of October.  Gone are the days of 12-20 hour shifts, strokes, sad family meetings, drama and a whole lot of work.  Well, almost, seeing as I have to work this weekend as well.  I'm very bitter about working this weekend since this is the ONLY weekend that I requested off when I put in for requests over 2 months ago.  And now my parents are here and I DON'T WANT TO WORK.  As much as I loved last weekend and my amazing Date Day, I would have traded it for this weekend off. 

Done with the complaining.

So tomorrow I will be at work at 6:00 and will work until Sunday.  I HAVE to be done by Noon but am hoping to be done earlier. 

Currently I am catching up on the finale of Project Runway while working on knitting a pair of mittens.  I'm not sure I'm cut out to knit mittens, as much as I love love love the finished products. 

In other creativity we had a group project last night with re-doing a cedar chest that I recently got.  My dad brought over a very nice cedar chest that he had recently painted black for me.  The ornate woodwork on the piece scared me away from really re-finishing it.  Then my mom and I went to pick out some fabric at Joann Fabrics.  Of course, I fell in love with the ONLY fabric NOT on sale at Joann's.  I knew that I wouldn't be happy with anything else though so we went ahead and got it.  Then my mom and I cut the 4" foam that I had bought (who knew that was soooo expensive???!!) and since I lacked other tools we used my ....hmmm....bread knife!  It worked well and the pieces actually matched up perfectly.  Then my dad got out the staple gun and we all worked together to re-upholster the cushion top.  Even Bry helped with screwing the top on and pounding in the staples.

Beep.....Beep.....Beep....Beep....

That's the sound that runs through my head day and night.  Working in an ICU is filled with things that beep - ventilators, IV poles, dialysis machines, pulse oximeters....everything makes noise.  Then I go home and can still hear the beeping in my dreams!
I had a very rough first week.  My first night of call was miserable.  I had a very hard experience with the death of a younger patient, and dealing with his family broke my heart.  I don't remember crying about a patient before - I may have, but for this guy I bawled.  All day on Tuesday I was heartbroken.  A week later and I still think about his wife and kids and what they're going through.  There have been other sad happenings on my service too - but just recently I had some "miracle" outcomes - not sure what I did right!  I have learned a lot though and have had some good experience managing some really sick patients.  When I am on call I am responsible for up to 19 (hopefully less!) ICU patients.  Our census has finally slimmed down a bit and my second night of call I got to sleep for over 1 hour!  Pretty good.

This weekend Grandpa S came to visit.  A year ago he and I were in Europe - which is when this whole blog thing started.  I've gone back to look at the blogs I posted then.  Good times - wish I could go back.  I remember being in Stockholm and just how CLEAN it felt.  Then going to Germany and eating my year's worth of schnitzel, wonderful cheese, terrific pastries and desserts.....plus beer and wine!  He and I had such a great time.  He loves his trips back north and I'm glad he feels comfortable staying with us.  Bry and I were worried that we'd be too boring for this 80-year-old!  We apologized for our 9 o'clock bedtime and our simple evening of watching TV and sitting with our respective laptops.  Grandpa S joined right in and sat with his own laptop.

LIZA

Alright, back to knitting - my first forays with Susan B Anderson's pumpkin hats were a success!  Both nephew and niece got one - although there is yet to be a photo of either of them smiling in it!

LUCAS

Today Bry and I had a terrific date day.  We went to brunch, a movie, two malls and out to dinner.  It was my first day off since the 2nd!  We had a great time re-connecting and can't wait until next weekend when I have the whole weekend off.  We came super close to buying a sectional couch....which we may go and get next weekend.  We'll see. 

I'm back to the grind tomorrow.  Hopefully I will have some downtime and be able to get some knitting done too.  I'm almost done with a scarf I'm working on....then I will FOCUS on the 3 pairs of mittens that I HAVE to get finished here.

Have a great weekend!

Hats and Photo Edits

Had the first two days in the Neuro ICU.  It's going to be a looong haul this month.  And since Saturday was already my first day (of 4) off for the month I won't be getting much relief any time soon.  It's an emotional month too - strokes are so sudden and such a surprise to patients and families that it's hard to deal with.  Then there's my favorite trauma patients that I can't seem to get rid of.....  It has been kind of interesting though learning a few things to take back to my ED work.

Today we had a Packer Party for people aged 21-35 at our Church.  It was a small get together but pretty fun.  Unfortunately we ate a bunch of junk food and I'm not feeling too well.  I'll be eating a lot like a 5 year old this week since Lunchables were on sale for $1.  Combined with baby carrots and a 100 calorie snack pack and I'm just hoping no big bully steals my lunch!

This afternoon I had time to edit some photos - something I've been learning how to do.  I am not quite sure what kind of looks I'm going for - the aged, grungy, deep colors.....not sure yet.  I just realized that one of them didn't upload very crisply - ignore that. 

 

In other news I had a model at the party for a sneak peak of my Elephant Hat in action.  I've shown the hat before, but was pretty impressed with how cute it was actually on!  Addison looks great!  Can't wait to add the tuft of hair for Lucas.

 

Bry's Update

Bry would like to provide the following update:  Work is going well.  He is back to driving.  He is enjoying catching up on video games when Abi is on call.  He has been looking forward to this week's episode of Family Guy ALL WEEK long and is loving the Rush Limbaugh cameo. His other love is the start of the Fall TV season.  Big Bang Theory has been laugh-out-loud funny.  He's even managed to work "I'll have to make a virtual reality device" into conversation at least once per day.

Football has also been nice again, although the Packers are somewhat distracting from the Twins post-season.  Go Twinkies!