Stocking and Show off

August 1st Stocking!! - August brings new goodies to Poopy Pants. There are fresh new hand dyed colourways in a range of yarns, some custom crochet goodies (courtesy of Croc o' Stitch) up for offer and a lovely selection of Flip 'n' Go's and Roll 'n' Sit Highchairs. Stocking at 12pm GMT. www.poopypants.co.uk

Also, a lovely photographer in the Gold Coast region of Australia did a wonderful shoot on a gorgeous 4 day old little man, with some props I knitted for her. They look wonderful, and the baby is just divine. If you are in the area and are looking for an attentive and talented photographer please contact Caroline at www.mihajaphotography.com and if you're a photographer looking for yarny props, give me a holler (contact @ poopypants.co.uk), they are my own design and a joy to knit.

Alive and Kicking

Woah how long since the last blog... too long!! Well I am still alive (just) and the baby bean has started kicking!

Its been a whirlwind of madness in this house the last couple of months, sickness and visitors and crazy afternoons.

Huds got chicken pox, which is fine, except I've never had it. So I was sent pronto to hospital to get needled to check my immunity, seems I have a natural immunity which is awesome and means I wont get a wonky baby (well not a chicken pox related one, we cant do anything about the parents being weird). Then Dan got swine flu, OMG its like the worst ever man flu x 1,000,000 he thought he was dying, I thought I was going to kill him. Neither me nor the Hud caught it (go the super awesome immune system).

Dans mum and step dad arrived from Aussie for 3 weeks to sta with us, which was great, they brought me yarn and dyes :D. S (Dans step dad) made me a shelf for my crafty area (which Hudson helped make)
and I'm all organised and in love...

Its lush and gorgeous and makes me feel inspired. I have done lots of dyeing and lots of sewing ready for a store stocking on the 1st August. Lots of yarn types and new colourways. I am planning a music themed stocking next month, its been very fun.

What else, hmmm, well, me and Dan had our 6th (yes 6th) year wedding anniversary on the 13th July, we had our baby scan in the morning...

its a real live baby in there!!! My dates were spot on and I am due January 30th 2010. We then went to London for the day with Hudson and Dans parents, brother and his bros girlfriend. We went to the Natural History Museum

which was awesome, we made a deal not to get gifts or cards this year, as we are broke and cards are a waste of money that end up in the bin, instead we got each othera £5 gift from the gift shop of the museums we visited, and the traditional gift for 6 years is candy, so we got each other a sweetie too. So, from the NHM I got Dan a DinoMagic dinosaur..
Then we went on to the Science Museum and Dan bought me a Robotic Hand...

I think i got the better gift!

All in all its been a fun and interesting few months, and it seems summer finally arrived...

Three Little Words

BIG




FAT




POSITIVE

Crafty Muddy Funster

I've been in a sewing mood since I got my new machine (which I am totally in love with by the way). So have been making some nappies, some newborn ones for TBC baby and Hudson.

TBC babes - cotton terry with sewn in soaker of cotton terry and microfibre, with a snap down for umbilical cord.





Hudsons nappy, fleece outer with hidden PUL, full layer of bamboo and 5 layers of bamboo in the soakers. He's in love.









I have also been doing a bit of pattern designing, and have come up with a gorgeous little dress. I am looking for testers for sizing if there is any interest? It has an open back to show off little cloth bums in the coming summer months. I think I might change the shoulders, the ties might get in the way for a newb, so might change it to snaps or buttons.









In other news, I have found out that my wheel can be sorted, so I will be sending it off to be refurbished soon - woot!!!

My diet is going all guns, I have lost 5lb in the last 4 weeks. To celebrate Dan bought me a Wii and Wii Fit. I'm ecstatic. I don't get time to do real exercise, I cant get to a gym without finding a sitter for Hudson, so this is the best alternative. I have done 2 days of it, and am loving it, it makes me feel the burn. I have set up a regime and am aiming to do 30mins a day 6 days a week. As it stands I have a long term goal of about 3 1/2 stone to loose, but obviously if a baby comes along I wont get there as quickly, but I will still hopefully loose a bit even when pregnant as long as I'm sensible.

What A Whole Lotta Love

Its been package crazy here the last few days. I have received numerous parcels of fabric, and a lovely knit from the MM swap.

I bought a sewing machine last week off ebay, its kitsch, quirky, and in absolutely brand spanking new condition, all for £30 - bargainous. No picture of it as yet though, it's still at mums. I let her keep hold of it to get it all oiled up for me and have a little play, she said its wonderful and will last me the next 50 years!! Lets hope, it's my last machine (and yes I possibly said that 2 machines ago, but I'm a bit addicted). I cant wait to get it going this weekend and sew up a storm!

My sister is suddenly my new best friend... check out what she found for me...


HELL YES!!!! my very own spinning wheel. Yes I know its in bad shape and missing the flyer etc, but, it was a bargain, and I am on the hunt for a flyer/maidens to fit it as I type. Excitement muchly.

I've started buying newbie cloth. Perhaps a bad idea, but another bargain (haha I'm full of them this week) and once I do get UTD I wont need to spend so much on nappies will I. They are SO teeny, look at it next to Hudsons massive nappy (and my face reflecting in the glass haha).


Finally here are some knits I've done over the last couple of weeks, the poncho is for the MM swap, and the soaker is just a play knit I did, its lovely, so small and squishy. Got to love newborn fluff!!


I went away at the weekend, with Dan, Huds and my parents. It was lovely. I spent 5 entire days with Dan which was lovely, although I was hormonal and stroppy the entire time, I did secretly enjoy being with him. I am on a diet, and honestly, it nearly killed me this weekend, everywhere I looked there was cake. But I was good, I didn't cheat once, and I feel very proud of myself for it. I'm determined to loose some weight this summer, and try get into shape for the next baby, I don't want to be a scummy mummy, I don't even want to be a yummy mummy (I despise that phrase), I just want to be a normal weight range almost verging on pretty woman who happens to have a kid... one day, one day.

I also REALLY want to go to the cinema and see Let The Right One In it looks amazing.

Further Down The Spiral

Could today get much worse? I hope not.

The day started with POAS... BFN even though I'm now day 36 (37??) of my cycle. No idea why its so late if I'm not UTD. Just desperate for AF now so we can get trying again. (haha how many acronyms in that one paragraph!)

Then, I am in the shower just putting the last of the shampoo on my hair, Hudson comes wandering in saying 'yuck, uh oh' and he is covered in dark purple nail varnish - this is the second time in as many weeks he has found my nail varnish and opened it (he turned the bin upside down and climbed up for todays one). Not only has he got it on his brand new shorts (his main shorts for the summer) but also his new tee from his nanna, and more importantly all over our cream bedroom carpet and bedside cabinet. I'm livid and want to cry.

And finally, Fletcher got bitten by another cat last week and has an infected foot, we took him to the vet on Saturday who prescribed him a course of anti-b's (£50 later - noice). So I'm trying to give him his AB's this morning and he keeps filtering it out from the ham and spitting it on the floor. He cracks the pill and its all over my floor and skirt... great! no anti-b's for him today. Mum has since told me I can open the pill and put the powder in the meat without the plastic outer.

Anyhow, its 11.30am what else is in store for me today? AF I hope.

Real Nappy Week

In celebration of Real Nappy Week 2009 - Poopy Pants has some great offers available including 10% off everything!! Click Here for more details

Live and kicking

Poopy Pants has gone live!!!

Finally after nearly 3 months its up with product ready to go. It's still quite basic, with lots of products to sell in the coming months, but I did it, practically all on my own too, I even learnt a tiny bit of html for it too.

So, go visit it and buy something :D (post is free!!!)

www.poopypants.co.uk

Deuces Are Wild

It feels like ages since I posted last. It's not.

The weekend brought sunshine and spring, made everything bright and fabulous. I finished my custom order, and am SO pleased with it, here it is all finished.



The girl I did them for loves them, and they look great on her little girl. She now wants 3 more pairs of the shoes!

On a different note...

Hudson had his surgery yesterday. He was a trooper... It went like this..

We got there and chatted to the consultant about what was happening. Then he let the nurse put the magic cream on his hands and then she put cling film over it, and he was walking around with 'funky gloves' on. then for the cannula he sat on my knee and put his arm behind my back so the anaesthetist did it all behind us, I laid him on the bed and gave him his bear and donkey and she put the stuff in and within 2 seconds his eyes rolled back and he was asleep.

We went back down to wait and we're called back up an hour later. He was sobbing when we got there, but his eyes were still closed, so hadn't woken properly. I was made to sit in a wheelchair cuddling him so they could wheel us back to the ward *insert super embarrassment here*. Then HURRAY for mummy milk, he wouldn't stop crying so I boobed him and he fell back to sleep and woke with a start and screamed again. i gave him the other side and he calmed a bit. I think the cannula was hurting him as he moved his arm and cried again. Dan distracted him by drawing loads of pictures until Huds grabbed at the cannula bandage and tried ripping it off. I said he had to leave it alone and he totally cracked it. The nurse came over and said he could actually have it out if he wanted, so she took it out and he calmed instantly (although he didn't want me holding the cotton wool on it and got a bit of blood spurting) and after 10 mins or so ate a 2 slice jam sandwich, a banana, yoghurt and half a cup of water.

Then he asked to get down and play, the nurse said if he still had the anaesthetic running through him his legs wouldn't work, but he got down and played fine, walking and trying to climb!!! The nurse said he seemed fine and could go home if we wanted to. This was just an hour after getting back from surgery (the other 2 kids on the ward had to wait 4 hours to leave, but they were older - about 8).

Just as we were getting ready to leave the surgeon came to see us and told us how it went - he managed to pull it right down, but its very small, so will hopefully catch up with the other soon enough. I changed his nappy and the stitches were fine. Hudson showed him his new tractor that Dan got him, and then the surgeon asked him if he wanted to jump on the bed, and bounced him on the bed about 10 times, Huds thought it was great, and the surgeon said yep he's definitely fine to go home, as that didn't upset him at all!!!

So yep an all round success. Today he has been fine, climbing over stuff and everything, he slept great last night as well. no pain medication needed or anything. I'm just glad its over and I don't need to stress anymore.

Then to give me a little lift, today a lovely packet arrived from Allison with a melancholy inducing letter and tons of kool-aid!!!! Yey - go Allison!!! I have already got 2 in the pan cooking away, the smell is to die for. The colour seems to go a long way, and I had quite a bit of of it left after dyeing. I did almost contemplate mixing the left over bits together, adding a bit of sugar and downing it, but then I looked at my hands and saw the horrific staining that they had left, so it went down the sink.



These are the selections of colours for the 2 lots currently cooking..

Aprils Playlist

I've decided to make a play list each month of songs I am listening to. This month was a list we made up on the iPod on the way home from the hospital last night. It was to keep Hudson singing and cheerful on the drive back, they are all songs he loves to dance to and some of them he picks out words and sings along. Enjoy!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Black Tongue
White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl
Smashing Pumpkins - Disarm
Smashing Pumpkins - Ava Adore
The Ramones - Blitzkreig Bop (Hudsons favourite song)
Missy Elliot - Get Your Freak On
Marilyn Manson - Beautiful People
Kelis - Milkshake
Kate Nash - Foundations
Empire Of The Sun - Walking On A Dream
Electric Six - Gay Bar
The Dresden Dolls - Girl Anachronism
David Bowie - Starman
Danzig - Twist Of Cain
The Cure - Boys Don't Cry
Bob Dylan - Subterranean Homesick Blues (Hudsons video version)

Hospital Woes

Hudson has his pre-op today. I'm dreading it. He has to have blood taken and all sorts. I know it will be fine and things could be a lot worse, but its scary to contemplate what could go wrong. His actual operation is on Tuesday.

On an awesome note, I got a tax rebate £320 worth, thank you very much. Brilliant, it means we can actually sort our lounge out and get our heads in gear a bit.

I also finished the 'spiral yarn' I love it!!! Its wound into a tiny cake now and looks so cute!!

Yarny days

I am taking part in a dye-a-long competition. It's so exciting - my first comp. The rules are that you have to spiral dye, which is something you do with fibre to get one continual gradient colour with no repeats, or a selection of colours with no repeats. Obviously, you cant do that with yarn, so instead I made 5 mini skeins all connected and dyed each skein a different colour. I was going to do a gradient, but couldn't decide what colour to do. The colours didn't come out exactly as planned, I had no green, so had to mix it myself, which didn't go great - I can never get a strong green, its always a bit yellow (and yes I've tried adding more blue), so that affected the blue as well, as I needed to make the turquoise from scratch. Anyway, I'm still pretty happy with it, and I think perhaps I will do a gradient like this for a hat for Hudson next winter, its a pretty cool method.

The colours I wanted to achieve


Mini skeins (so cute)


Mixed colour


In the pan ready to cook


Finished, just drying


I don't know what to make with it, its 50g so maybe a calorimetry or maybe it'll just go in my store lol.

Blueberry breakfast yumminess

I made up the yummiest breakfast, which the whole family loves. It is rather healthy too.

Blueberry infused oaty yoghurt.

Ingredients
1 cup jumbo oats
1 handful of jumbo oats
1 punnet blueberries (about 50)
1kilo tub natural yoghurt
fresh pressed apple juice

Put your 1 cup of oats in a bowl and cover in apple juice. soak over night.

take 3/4 of your punnet of blueberries and crush/whizz until smooth. stir into yoghurt. Drain any excess apple juice off oats (keep juice) and pour oats into yoghurt, stir through. Add the remaining blueberries and unsoaked oats and stir through along with a bit of the juice you drained, just to thin it down a bit.

Tada! It is SO tasty, and really really filling! Hudson normally has 2 slices of toast and fruit for brekkie, but today he had one small bowl of this and ate a tiny banana after and was stuffed.

Here it comes

I feel it seeping through my pores, flowing through my veins.  It's back.  

My sister told me this morning she thinks she is pregnant.  She took 2 tests, both are positive.  She is pregnant.  I'm happy for her, they were wanting to start trying this year for number 3.  But I am so insanely jealous it's not funny.  It's taking all my might not to burst into tears.  Why her and not me?  

Unless you have either wanted a baby and not fallen right away or wanted a baby and not been in the position to get pregnant, I don't think you'd understand that tug right in your gut, that makes you feel physically nauseous all the time and that ebbing of pure vile jealousy when you see someone with a bump or newborn.  Whether you have a child or not, doesn't stop it happening.

I don't want to get out of bed in the morning, I just want to sleep and never wake up.  The pang of needing to be pregnant is taking over my life.  I remember being like this last time, my friend text me to tell me she had given birth and I burst into tears at work and I couldn't work all day, the feeling got worse and worse.  I was pleased for her, it was lovely to see her being a mum and I know how much she wanted that baby, but omg, it just tears you apart.  

I am piling on the pounds, I cant stop myself.  I feel terrible, so I eat.  It makes me feel worse, but I don't want to stop.  It's like I'm on a quest to make my life more miserable than I already feel.  Is that why I'm not pregnant?  Because I'm fat?  I don't think so, lots of fat people get pregnant.  Is it because I'm still breastfeeding?  I don't think so, lots of people who are still nursing fall pregnant.  There is no reason for it, I just am not getting pregnant.  It doesn't help that I have such self loathing that I can't bare to even look at my naked body.  I feel nothing attractive about myself.  My hair is suffering, and I'm losing loads of it.  I'm starting to take a vitamin supplement for that, I've always had loads of hair, but even my mum commented on how thin and dead it looks recently.  

I just want to crawl into a hole and never come out - well until I have another baby growing in my body anyway.  I lay there at night remembering Hudson in utero, how I'd be laying there and feel his tiny body moving inside, how it made me feel so special to have that tiny person rely totally on me to protect it and help it grow.  Maybe that is why I'm still breastfeeding, it still gives me that control, that ability to help him grow and be strong and love me.  Is that a bad thing?  

I am going to see my sister tonight for a girls night, and I have to sit there all night keeping her secret from everyone else, all the while being a happy go lucky girl, hiding the black hole that is burrowing its way deeper into my soul.  Great.

Pretty in Punk

I've finished the skirty. I'm pretty happy with it. The baby I've made for has chunka thighs so I decided against putting a cuff on the leg holes as it would make it too tight. I might change the drawstring. I dyed the length of yarn after I dyed the main yarn and its come out a slightly darker pink. I'm not sure - opinions?

Anyway, I like the way the colour blocked in the main body and then varigated nicely on the skirt. All in all I'm pleased with it, but SO glad its done. Just the shoes to make tonight and then I can post it all off.

Front

Underneath

Back

LAAAAUUUURRRRAAAAAA MAIL!!!!

HURRAH!!!!!!!!!! I got my Inner Stitch Yarn Club march slot today. It's gorgeous! I got the boy colourway, and it's just stunning. I got 200g of the colour and then a 50g contrast. I think I may knit a vest for Hudson out of it.

Look how beautifully it was packaged...


Out the packaging


The little free gift


Then I got some bad mail..


It's Hudsons appointment for his surgery. It's on April 7th, at 7.30am. I'm REALLY cross. I specifically asked not to go that hospital, it's an hours drive away, and the surgeon works at the hospital 20mins away. I guess there is not much I can do about it, but it means I need to get Hudson up so ultra early and he's not allowed anything to eat or drink once he wakes and will have to sit in the car for an hour before all the pre-surgery and stuff. I'm not even worried about the surgery, its a 10minute op, which has a maximum blood loss of 5ml so that is fine. I need to ring the hospital to ask about breastfeeding. The letter says for babies under 1 can have formula until midnight and breastfed babies can have bm until 5am. They just said Hudson cant have any food after midnight and only water until 6am, I guess they wouldn't expect a 2yo to still be breastfeeding.

On another note, I am ALMOST finished the skirty. literally on my last row and then just need to do the leg cuffs. phew, it's taken me forever!!! Well, 3 weeks for a dress and skirt, but it's much longer than things normally take me, I think because I'm on a schedule I cant knit fast enough ha.

sneak peak..