Family, Christmas travel and my knitting projects.

Of course family is contacting me at the last minute to buy Christmas presents. I did the rest of my shopping in pain yesterday while O was at daycare. Since then 2 of my siblings have contacted me to get something for them. I´m leaving for Iceland with my toddler at the end of the week. I´m also getting a house ready for Christmas and I´m SOOOOO pregnant. My poor husband is now being sent out to get these things even though he is not feeling so well. It would have been no problem to get these things if they would have contacted me a week ago. Then I would have had more than 2 days to do this shopping.
My house is not at it´s Christmas best this year. I´m winding down from my last day doing grad school work which was Friday. I´m still in a daze from that. Then just keeping up with the trail of destruction that my 20 month old leaves behind him and the day to day stuff of dishes and pots and pans and laundry and packing for our trip to Iceland and shopping all the things that I have been asked to buy for everyone in Iceland and DH and O are now getting over their cold that was pretty bad last week and this weekend. I wish I could enjoy this Christmas. The other day I was just sitting with O while he was waking up slowly from his nap and I realized that these are the last days that me and him will have just the 2 of us with out the craziness of being surrounded by family or having a new baby around. I wish we had more time, just me and him at home with out the stress of school or anything else before this baby is born. I´m not ready to leave but will have to no matter if I´m ready or not. This is sad to me. I love my family but living in the same house as my parents, my sister and her family and having to fit me my husband and my newborn into one room where there is constant traffic is making me very stressed. I know I will get a lot of help in Iceland from family after the baby is born but my personal time and space will be non and everybody that knows me knows that that makes for a very unhappy Olof. Last time I was in Iceland to have O I had the apartment in the garage to escape to. It wasn´t complete privacy because mom and dad had to come through the apartment to get to the garage and the laundry and all that. The walk throughs are frequent. But i had my own TV and couch and a place to nurse in peace and quite and a nice bed and just a place to escape. Non of that this time and I´m wondering how I am going to manage. I´m wondering if I am strong enough. I don´t want my second birth to be a horrible experience. The first was hard enough with having all of that. I don´t want my mom to think that I don´t appreciate everything that she is doing to accommodate us. I know this is very stressful on her and dad. I know they would do anything for us. Dad is even coming to New York to pick us up and help me with O on the way home. I couldn´t ask for better parents. I just wish that for once I could come home to have a baby and that be the only thing going on in my family. I have this dread about this trip and I don´t want to. God help me be a better person and just be thankful for what I have and not wish for so much more.

On another note. I started and have finished knitting the stroller jacket. Now I´m doing the embroidery and then I need to line it with fleece and put a zipper on it. I did heavily modify it. I knitted it in one peace instead of in peaces that need to be sewn together. I like it a lot. I might make my own pattern from it since it is so heavily modified. Anybody know how much modification you have to do to make a pattern your own?

Can't wait to start on this project.

I founds my self a project for the baby that I am about to have in Jan. I hope to be finished with it by the time he is born. It's a blanket, a coat and a toy bunny from itty bitty nursery by Susan B. Anderson. I love so many things in that book. I'm making it out of cotton from knit picks. I wish I could make it with the yarn that it asks for but the cost was just way to high. I'm really looking forward to starting this project. I want to make so many other things from the book as well but I will start on this.
I'm hoping to get itty bitty toys for Christmas for my hubby and son. There are several toys in there that I'm looking forward to make.

Free Stuff!

I just started a blog for my business and I'm starting it with a bang. I'm doing a giveaway to people that post a comment about the sales site and what they think of it and what would make it better. There is also a discount code in the blog post for those of you that are shopping. Good luck everyone!

Assessment, Family Therapy and Sleepless Nights.

So I´m at Panera Bread again trying to cram in some info for a finale tomorrow. I´m in a group of people that decided to tackle the study guide together. I´m so glad I did because otherwise I would be up poo creek with out a paddle. I´m finishing up my part which is summarizing 20 pages down to 3-4 pages of material in assessment and I haven´t even started on the study guide for family therapy but I believe that to be a little easier.
My assessment teacher returned my MMPI-2 report with more of her writing on it than mine explaining how I wrote it wrong and that I needed to redo it so that I can get a grade for it. Apparently that happened to half of the class which makes you wonder if it is the class or the teacher that is the problem.
It was my turn to sleep in today and I couldn´t do it. Of course DH had to use the restroom before taking O downstairs with him and in that time O wanted attention. I thought that I was tired enough to pass out after they went downstairs but as soon as DH came back and took O my bellydweller started to do his morning arobics and then 20 min later of trying to pass out my stomach started growling. I was mad. This is the second weekend in a row that I do not get my morning of sleep and DH got both of his because he has no problem falling asleep again no matter what is going on. Next weekend I´m spending the night in the guest bedroom and they can duke it out. I can´t keep missing out on my sleep and be tired all the time. O still has a problem sleeping through the night and I´m the one that gets up to him at night and in the morning while DH gets to sleep at night and sleep in in the mornings while I (the pregnant wife) gets one morning a week and have not gotten that the last 2 weeks because of her stupid body and brain.
Lets just say that lately I have really been craving some wine. Not just a half a glass but a half a bottle. I don´t drink while pregnant but man the craving is still there. I only got 2 months of being able to drink and eat what ever I wanted before getting pregnant again. I had 2 months were I was not breastfeeding nor pregnant. I did not use those 2 months well enough and I have learned that next time I will enjoy it better.

Did it!

Finished 5 papers in 2 days. I can´t believe it. I also have done 3 loads of laundry and run the dishwasher twice. I´m even planing on making goulash for dinner. I guess I´m out of my funck. I do have study guides to do and I have to re write my MMPI-2 report. The teacher turned it back to me with more writing on it than I wrote telling me how I did it wrong. I guess it´s back to the drawing board.
Me and O went out to play in the cold today. it´s below freezing and he will not wear a hat. We were outside for about 20 min when he just started getting fussy about everything because he wasn´t allowed to play in the street. So we went back inside. He is now having a snack and watching Toy Story. He loves Buzz. He has a Buzz shirt and sweater and when he wears it (which he is right now) he keeps pointing at Buzz and saying Bus Bus.It´s very cute.
About my knitting progress. I have finished 3 x-mas presents and am well on my way on 2 more. I´m also making a new hat for DH. I´m finishing it tonight since it is soooo cold here. It was in the single digits this morning here in Tulsa. I´ll post some pics of these projects soon.

Peace out!
Olof

End of Semester Mess.

So it's the end of the semester and finals are quickly approaching. I have 5 reaction papers due tomorrow and I am having a hard time starting anything. Because of my anxiety of having so much to do I even have a hard time keeping up with housework. It is normal at this house for the house to go to pot when finals or final projects are almost due. It's like the project is so great that I have to do for school that I can't even think about unloading or loading the dishwasher but it's not like I'm doing homework in stead. I'm probably just sitting on the couch with my laptop in hand doing what I am doing right now or stuck on Facebook dreading the fact that I have to do all of this work that I am honestly too tired to do after not getting a full nights sleep in years.
All I need to do is get started and chip at these 5 reaction papers one at a time but all I see is 5 reaction papers that are all due tomorrow and I haven't started. It becomes so grand that my brain goes on overload and crashes and turns me into this zombie that just sits on the couch and does nothing even though there are plenty of things to do. Am I alone in this process of waiting till the last min to get everything done and then when it comes down to it it's finished and then I can get back to my life? My home literally goes from being a pigsty to being nice in about a week after finals.
I know I am doing way too many things at once most of the time and I guess that is why I get so overwhelmed. I'm knitting X-mas presents, keeping a home, taking care of my toddler, I threw a dinner party on Sunday, getting ready for the holidays, studying for finals,32 weeks pregnant, running my own business, getting ready to go back to Iceland to have this baby and doing 11 hours in grad school. I just don't know where to stop if I want to get to where I want to be. Is it greedy of me to want to finish grad school now so that I can enjoy my children better later with a better income?

Anyway, Peace out I need ot start my 1 of 5 papers for Dr. Coopers

Giving Thanks During this Holiday Season.

I wanted to post a posting that shows the things that I am thankful for. I know Thanksgiving was a week ago but I was busy with a house full of guests and a final project that I needed to finish.

I am thankful for:
My wonderful life.
My beautiful son that taught me how much I could love because before having him I thought I knew what unconditional love was but I had no idea how drunk in love you could get with your child. My child could do anything and I would still love him.
My great husband that works so hard to provide and take care of his ever growing family. He is my best friend and the first love of my life. He is the one that taught me to slow down and face what ever comes my way. He is also so very supportive of my decisions on going to school and the best dad for my son that I could have asked for.
My amazing body that is growing a healthy baby boy that is due January 29th of 2010. I still watch my belly in awe when it starts moving all on its own and I think wow, there is a human being in there that is alive and thinking but doesn´t need air because I supply him with oxygen with my body.
My home that I have owned for the last 4 and a half years and my son has spent his first years of life.
My POS car that I have owned for over 8 years now and amazes me that it still runs. I´m thankful for every time it starts and gets me from point A to point B. It is its last winter though and it won´t make it through another summer. A new car is on the to do list.
My brain. It has gotten me this far in my masters degree and helped my adapt to the countries that I have lived in.
My parents. They are a god´s send. They have raised me and helped me get to where I am. I would never have become the person I am with out their support and guidance. It´s their unconditional love and support that is making it possible for me to go back to Iceland to have this baby. They are also always ready to let my husband and I go out for a date when they come to visit and we never have to ask.
My large family that is always there for me no matter how long I have been away. I´ve lived in a foreign country now for 10 years and have only gone home to Iceland for visits that have not lasted longer than 3 months at a time.
My in-laws for being so kind to my son and help my husband with the things that need to be done around the house.
My friends that have stuck by me through the years. I have a few that have been there for me through thick and thin.
My Icelandic citizenship and all that that entails. I´m getting great student loans and even though I´m going to school I still get my 6 months of maternity leave.
My abilities to knit. I am thankful for my grandmother teaching me to knit when I was very young and now I can take a ball of yarn and some needles and make almost anything cloth like. It helps that I come from a very creative family.
My business www.clothdiaperhut.com and the extra income it brings in for my family. (we ship everywhere in the world by the way)
How cheap it is to live in Tulsa. Would never be able to go to grad school and own a home like I do if the cost of living wasn´t as cheap as it is here.
The ability to be at home with my son during the day and watch him grow and develop from being a baby to a toddler.
O´s daycare that takes good care of him 3 days a week from 2pm-5:30pm making it possible for me to go to school and have a day to get errands done with out having a toddler in tow.
My Roomba vacuum that makes life just a little easier.
Healthy frozen meals that you can buy at the grocery store that has saved me and my family from too much fast food and saved us so much money.
My husbands ability to make great wine and beer that we can give to friends and family at x-mas and that one day I will be able to enjoy when I quit being pregnant and breastfeeding. One day he will make a business of this ability of his.
That my cats are now outside cats and are not bringing in fleas and cat hair. And no more cat litter being carried all over the house.

That is it for now I need to get back to my nesting in my house. I´ve had the urge to rearrange everything and get ready for baby which can make a mess.

With love,
Olof