One of the nice things about being pregnant is getting to slow down and turn to activities I normally have little time for. I've been spending a lot of time with yarn and crochet because it isn't demanding so I've been getting through projects much faster than normal. Here are 2 photos in my Craft album

The gingham is a baby/toddler blanket I recently completed this month out of leftover blues from last year's Xmas afghan I gave to Whit. I just wanted to use up the yarn and try a new pattern. It's from "Best Baby Afghans" from Leisure Arts but if you know how to do a basic granny square you really don't need the pattern book and you really aren't limited to the size of the blanket.

You just make as many squares as you feel like, whipstitch into strips, then whipstitch the strips into a blanket. Go around the edge in single crochet and then again in doubles or trebles to make it ruffly. Weave all the loose ends in.

(If you want to print all those crochet terms out with pictures so you can attempt this blanket or see what the hell I'm talking about, here they are in one page.)

Choose your overall color (ex: blue) and then get yarn in a light, medium, and dark version of it. I used Red Heart worsted weight with an "I" hook. Then decide how long the blanket will be. In my case it was 9 strips of 11 squares each.

I started the first strip with a light blue square and then alternated it with the medium blue. On the next strip, I started with the medium blue and alternated with the navy. The rest of the strips follow the same strip patterns so when laid side by side the illusion of a gingham check is created. Piece o' cake!

This other photo is a detail of the start of the "Fair Isle Fancy" in the back of Mosaic Magic: Afghans Made Easy.

By using long double crochet stitches/front post stitches and others you can create textures on crochet work and this is one of the best books I've seen doing this.

I'm making this in the suggested red-grey-white for this years' Xmas afghan and I haven't yet decided who it is for -- a friend or my FIL. I finally got the foundation to come out right and now it's working up quickly since the pattern is already established. But man... getting that one started was making me crazy! It look sos good that I wanted to take photos as it works up and now I'm kicking myself for not taking photos of Xmas afghans past before giving them away. Sigh.

I'm in love with Ruth Atkinson's coat designs in Fair Isle crochet . Something to dream about.

With some of my birthday money I ordered 2 new crochet pattern books so I'm excited for them to get here!

And I forgot... las tnight I had to unravel and restart ANOTHER 3 times with the fair isle afghan from Mosaic Magic. Why?! Why?! Why can I not get this foundation started? Once I get past that the rest is a snap. Preggo brain. I swear.

Random thoughts while I wake up enough and wait my hour after Levoxyl so I can eat breakfast.

Very tired yesterday after doing the mall (again, no pedometer. What's the matter with me? Why don't I just stick that sucker ON?!) but we got all the birthday shopping done for his brother and sister.

Paul asked me if I thought it was a girl or a boy and lately I've been thinking girl. He'd been thinking girl almost the whole time while I was flip flopping. I don't know how much of an influence his guess is on mine, but we'll know by Thanksgiving. Deborah, Paul's coworker finds out this month at their ultrasound appt and they are 4 weeks behind us calendar wise. Paul told me it was kind of funny they got pregnant after but are finding out sooner. But that's just they way things went -- the 12 week one we had was a wee bit too early and Cletus-the-fetus wasn't showing his/her goodies even once. So no chance to find out then.

Mom called and said: How's my baby?

Me: Which one do you mean? Me? Karen? Or my pregnancy?

Mom: Not YOU. I don't want to talk about you. My baby! How is it?

Paul and I both found this very amusing -- my mom is getting some serious grandma urges.

I've got two places to check for prenatal yoga classes, and 5 or 6 for prenatal massage. So some time this week I need to figure that out. I've got 4 for doulas, but I want to wait til I next see my OB to see if they have a list of doulas they work with before I get all involved with that.

I'm not big on a lot of group classes but I miss water aerobics and I need something geared toward pregnancy.

Paul asked me how I was feeling yesterday when we were in the car on the way to the mall and I told him better re: my cold but overall still grumpy that so far everythign has been a lie. Morning sickness, while it did improve, did NOT end with first trimester, and here I am closing in on the end of 2nd trimester and I'm still struggling with fatigue. Where's the mthical energy burst I was supposed to have?

Cletus and I have been playing hide-and-go-seek a lot. I've gotten to feel him outside my body 3 times so far. Unfortunately he quits bopping around whenever Paul tries to feel. Had anew swoshy feeling recently -- I'm assuming that's rolling over. It just felt different than the usual boppy feeling associate with kicks or punches.

So I turned 28 years old yesterday. (Sat.) We were up late watching Star Wars so soon after midnight I got birthday kisses and Paul surprised me with a pair of garnet earrings. He doesn't typically give me jewlery because he has such a hard time picking it out but he told me he was determined to surprise me for once and he did.

Unfortunately we have to go exchange them later today because while he tried to get me a pair with a hook back rather than a post back since he knows I like those better, they are a wee bit too small to fit me earlobes comfortably on one side. My piercings are slighty uneven.

If I knew for sure we were having a little girl I'd save them for her, but since I don't know I asked him if he minded if i changed them for a garnet pair with post backs instead. He said to go ahead and change the backs if I wanted or change the stone or whatever I liked best because he saved the receipt just for that reason. I was surprised by the garnet -- so I asked him what made him pick that. He told me originally he was thinking of sapphires but then he decided I have that already so he wanted something different.

He made me laugh when he said, "You are out of luck, babe, on diamonds or emeralds because when I looked it was just waaaay too expensive for me!"

Mom and Dad took us out for dim sum and gave me a card with lucky money in it.

Paul and I spent the rest of the day at the Orlando Science Center. Pulse was excellent. I had some problems going up the steps to our seats in the cinedome though because we stayed for 3 movies and each time it was up and down those steep stairs twice. The feeling of vertigo was def. there! He was pushing me up the stairs a few times and telling me not to look down. A lot of neat exhibits and things to playwith. It's not as big as the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa but it is nice.

The occasional clear drop of fluid from one nipple has now changed to daily chronic leaking from BOTH nipples. It's now clear at first and changes to white as more comes out. My shirts are a mess. Paul saw me from across the room and said, "Babe, you are leaking again." It's that obvious now -- large damp spots on my shirts if I'm going around braless.

Isn't this too early for this kind of thing? I can actually hand express a little bit for goodness sake.

On the bright side, they don't hurt any more. They just "drool." Guess I'm better prepared for breastfeeding than I thought!

I usually try to eat a snack before I go tto bed so I will feel ok when I get up in the morning. Well, I slept late today because I felt so dang tired and too many hours without food passed. So I had a bad retching episode. Sigh.

The happy part is that Cletus-the-fetus was very active last night so I got to feel him squirming around and a few times I felt him on the OUTSIDE. I have to get Paul to hold my stomach tonight and see if he can feel the flutters. They feel really cool.

Got my new glasses from Lenscrafters so I can take my Visionworks pair back to be fixed (grr!) without being blind for 2 weeks. After this I don't think I'm ever doing Visionworks again -- we've done better with Lenscrafters.

Did I mention the OB nurse called and said my hemoglobin A1C came back normal? Thank goodness!

Somebody from the hospital called also to tell me if I want to do weekly Lamaze classes, it starts in Dec. and goes for 5 weeks and if I want to do it on weekends it starts in Jan. and goes for 4 weeks. I haven't heard about Bradley, a hospital tour, nor a doula. I feel like I spend my life on the phone.

I've been thinking about delivery and post-baby a lot. I want to breast-feed and I don't want to get pregnant again too fast by accident. So I have to ask the RE at my next appointment what I'm do to to keep my PCOS symptoms under control and if my meds will come out in breast milk or what. Paul and I talked about it and we're probably going back to condoms for a while as the easiest solution to the BC problem. And what about passing PCOS on to my daughter if it is a girl? And how does it affect a son? And what about my hypothyroid?

Haven't found too much on any of these thoughts in on-line PCOS pregnancy journals about this... most seem to deal with TTC problems. I have to see if I get any answers out of my PCOS books.

21 weeks along. 52% of the way there. And I feel soooo icky. Apart from feling sick I woke up with this mystery pain in my belly button. Does this mean it is going to pop out soon? What's going on there?

One of the pregnant mice is being a freak near my desk -- jumping straight up in the tank and climbing upside down on the screen. I don't blame her one bit. If I could jump up on to my ceiling and crawl around there for a while I would!

Several of you have asked about pregnant pictures of me. I promise I'll get to it this weekend when we go out to the museum for my birthday. Apart from trying out the new Pentax, I know I'll be really sad later if I never get around to taking real, non-digital photos of myself.

Earlier this month when I was at 19 weeks, one of the relatives asked if I was showing "a little pot" yet or not so for a joke we e-mailed him a papa pot, an mama pot, and a baby pot. Cletus-the-fetus is 12 weeks old in the ultrasound. Pot Pix

I got a card from Lara yesterday which was nice. She's talking about TTC as soon as Dean settles into post-doc life.

I called the OB's office to see what came of that messed up 3 HR GTT and the hemoglobin A1C. I assumed since nobody called me back it was fine but Paul wanted to know so I rang them up. Now I'm waiting to hear back...

My head hurts. Paul stayed home from work today. I've given him my cold so now we're both sickies. Too depressing. :P

Yesterday we went to diner with Nancy and Dave who were down from Jax. Afterwards we spent some time walking around Downtown Disney (and I forgot my pedometer again, oops!).

We haven't seen them since Feb. so it was a lot of fun to catch up. Nancy had a conference at the Gaylord so they were staying there. Paul and I thought it was very pretty -- the environmental design was great. They have this atrium space in the center and some of the rooms have balconies facing into it. Very lush with all that foliage. I meant to get the menu for the Cayon Ranch spa but I forgot all about it. I'll have to try to find it online.

As a baby surprise they gave us a baby swing -- Cletus' third gift. It was really sweet of them to do and totally unexpected.

Today we went looking for a body pillow for me but I didn't like any of the ones I saw. It's getting annoying to sleep on my side without a pillow propping up my stomach but the smaller pillows get lost as I toss and turn in the night. I can feel my uterus over my belly button and I'm starting to really bounce when I'm walking. I feel so ROUND!

Wendy asked about exercise in pregnancy.

If I don't report it here somewhere, I haven't done it. So the last time I took a measured short walk was.... um... 8/30 so that's 19 days ago. Unless you count more mall walking, but I forgot to wear my pedometer the last couple times so I don't count it.

My annual pool pass expires next month and I don't plan on renewing until after baby. What few times I want to go to the outdoor pool between here and there I'll just fork over the $2. The weather hasn't been cooperative and I don't have many warm pool days left after October. So water aerobics through winter like last year is out. (Pregnant people aren't supposed to swim in cooler than 84 deg water.) I also have to freeze my gym membership beause that's just going to waste.

This lack of consistant exercise bothers me a little because it is one of the few things where my expectations about pregnancy were wrong.

Emotionally and mentally -- I've been right on. The whole time we were TTC, after we got the doc's confirmation, up to now -- it's been what I expected.

I expected to get bored/tired of sex during TTC so when it happened, it wasn't a big deal. I expected it to take a lot longer than the 12 mos we were at it so that was kind of a surprise but not unpleasant. I was excited and crying when I got home from the doc's and they had confirmed that I was pregnant. The spotting episode was a bit worrisome but not too worrisome -- I knew it wasn't unusual to have. The detachment in first trimester when morning sickness was really bad and the start of baby bonding in 2nd? No problem. Paul's commented several times how weird it is that we're so calm even though we're expecting the first baby.

On the exercise, I had expected workouts to have to change as I changed shape but I didn't expect them to disappear.

I did not expect morning sickness to wipe me out so bad nor to continue into 2nd trimester. I mean, I knew there might be morning sickness, I just didn't expect it to this degree! I knew I might feel tired, but I didn't expect it to be sooooo tired I can't make it through a trip for groceries without a 3 hour nap afterwards! I expected to be struggling with shortness of breath and getting up out of bed in third trimester, but not before 20 weeks! I keep having labor dreams. I want relief! Didn't expect to start with that until closer to my due date. I didn't expect carpal tunnel to bother me so bad. I'm convinced I'm getting swollen feet but Paul says I have hobbit looking feet all the time any way so he can't verify whether they really are swelling or not.

Every night before bed I make the next's days "To Do" list. Stuff I don't complete gets carried over to the next day. Somewhere on my list of things for today between cleaning the green bathroom and making dinner I have a 15 min walk penciled in. I don't know if I will make it that far but I keep trying... and I'm getting really tired of carrying that one over!

For reader Maggie -- congrats on your pregnancy! 32 weeks! You must be thrilled as you close in on your due date. :) No heart burn here (yet?) but I certainly symptahize with yours.

I just got home from the grocery store and I want to hide. It is amazing how wiped out I get doing normal, every day things. Even with an abbreviated shopping list I want to just lie down smack in the middle of the shampoo aisle because I couldn't face going on without a nap. A nice lady bagger person helped me out to the car with my stuff and asked me if I was feeling nauseated or mostly good with this pregnancy and I told her overall it's mostly been good, just very, very tiring.

The funniest thing she asked me was if my husband was supportive and helpful. Paul is truly an angel and I love everything he's done/is doing to help me along and try to make me as comfortable as possible. I just found it odd that she asked because I can't imagine having a spouse who was NOT interested in his baby.

But still. I am tired. And I keep wishing I felt more energetic. There's so much to do and I feel overwhelmed. This chronic befuddled state is bizarre... I forget things, I stop and and have to sit down or lay down often, I have trouble getting up over bending over... it's like an old age preview!

Cletus-the-fetus is energetic enough for the both of us I suppose. Certainly very active!

Can't sleep. Having pains right behind my bellybutton. Not sure if it is Braxton-Hicks, general digestive upset, or what. It all feels firm to me -- I can't tell where the top of my uterus is any more.

Back from the OB appt this morning. Here's the summary:

1) Baby's heartbeat is strong and we also heard it moving. So s/he's fine. Took a bit to locate with the Doppler -- seems very active today.

2) My blood pressure is normal and weight is fine.

3) My iron is 11.7. Last time was 11.9. So not a big difference but they want me to try to get it to 12 and because if it gets down to 11, then I have to take a supplement. (Anemia is common in the later part of pregnancy).

4) The 3 Hr GTT results for the 2 draws they could get yesterday before I puked has not come in. I had a hemoglobin A1C done (ie: another blood draw! Gah!). Depending on those two results, then Dr. G. will decide what the next step is. He told me that the A1C will not show anything if I do have gestational diabetes with sugar levels in control but will show if my sugar is out of range and since that what is more what they are worried over, it should be good enough. He apologized over my feeling sick/throwing up after both GTTs and he said he knows it tastes terrible.

5) My AFP and triple screen test from last visit was returned normal. So no neural tube defects, Down's Syndrome, Turner's, placenta problems, etc. to be fretting over.

6) Had a throat culture because I had mentioned a sore throat and strange chills and he wanted to rule out any infection. I'm to take plain Robitussin or plain Tylenol if I need it for this cold I seem to be getting.

Now I'm tired and I want to eat something and nap so I can make some more blood for the vampire lab nazi's to take out of me at my next lab appoinment in two weeks. Thrills!

Very grumpy. My parents drove me to my 3 hr. GTT and just like in the 1 HR one, I started feeling funky a little over an hour after I chugged that foul glucola. Last time I managed to drive home and lay down, this time I didn't make it. I tried laying down in my parent's van but no dice. I just puked it all up into the parking lot.

So my test was discontinued,they sent me home, and at my OB appt. tomorrow Dr. G. will tell me if he wants to try it again or what.

I prefer they just assume I have GD, give me the GD diet, and give me some other kind of test to see if I will require insulin shots. Or send me somewhere where I can take this damn test eating jellybeans rather than suffering with glucola. Because I already know I'm insulin resistant from PCOS, so what's the bloody point?!

And today's 2nd lab nazi commented that I have a bruise on my arm and asked if I bruise easily and I looked her in the eye and told her no, it was from LAST week when I came to have blood drawn and I do not bruise easily. I have to give her credit -- her stick is not bruised... the 1st lab nazi did bruise me a bit though. You'd think with all the people they have to draw blood from they'd get good at it faster. Sigh.

Dad called to tell me my Miami cousins showed up so we had to go over there to visit for a bit -- one of them hadn't seen me since I was 9 yrs old. Kind of screwed up my plans for getting new glasses so we gave up on trying to do any errands and just took the day off. Today we have to go deal with the glasses and the rest of the errands. After we ate, Cletus-the-fetus started kicking up a storm! We sat in the car for a bit after pulling into the driveway and Paul felt my stomach. He said he's not sure but he thinks he felt something and that it felt weird. We'll try again later.

I slept soooooo good! New twin bed feels great -- nice and firm and nothing poking me in the back. So until we get the pets moved and I can go back to the queen with Paul, I feel better sleeping on the twin. If all goes well we can get this cage going and move the iguanas before the end of the month.

Kind of anxious about the 3 hr GTT. Not a whole lot I can do about it but I'm anxious any way.

19 Weeks. I'm getting used to waking up with my shirt all crusty from nipple leak but I keep wondering why it all happens on the left side and not the right?

Cletus-the-fetus has been very active since last night's trip to Wal-mart for more yarn. I keep wondering when Paul will be able to feel these movements because to me they get stronger and stronger. It was weird walking too -- my stomach has gotten big enough so that I feel it swaying slightly when I walk. Cletus should be creeping up on 10 oz in weight and 10 inches in length soon -- no wonder! I heard this clicking noise in my back when I was walking around yesterday too -- that was a bit alarming. My posture is going to pot and I REALLY want to book a massage. Paul told me he's going to tie one of my dumbells to my neck to hand behind me to counterbalance Cletus so I'll stand straight. Weirdo.

I had leftover yarn from a Xmas present blanket I made last year and I felt I had just enough to make a gingham baby blanket from the rest. Granny square motifs but you arrange the squares so it looks like a gingham check pattern. Came really close and one more roll would wrap it up -- only guess which color is not in stock at the moment? That's right -- the blue that I need!

I picked up knitting needles and other yarn for a baby sweater instead. I haven't knitted since my 2nd year in college so it took me a while to remember how to cast on. I gave it a whirl, got impatient and switched back to crochet direction for the sweater -- it's just so much quicker!

Got the chills agian in the shower -- Paul tried to warm me up and made me go write this down in my baby notebook so the next time we see the OB (next week) we can ask about this. It's starting to disturb him when I start shaking like that and cannot stop.

Sore throat bugging me still -- hate to be sick. Drinking water like crazy!

Mom wanted an inventory of baby clothes so she can figure out what is "missing" and what not to buy. So I counted everything and I think I'm about done from 0-6 mos. What few things I need more of -- socks, bibs, I'll pick up along the way. I plan to tell baby shower people if they get clothes to go 6-12 mos because there's no point in having MORE 0-6! Here's the totals:

• 14 Nightgown/sleeping bags
  
• 3 Hats
  
• 3 Union suit no feet
  
• 8 Union suit with feet
  
• 30 Onesies/bodysuit
  
• 4 T-sirt l/s
  
• 2 T-shirt s/s
  
• 1 pants
  
• 1 overalls
  
• 1 cardigan
  
• 2 prs. socks
  
• 3 prs booties
  
• a dozen prefolds and a mess of diaper covers
  

The score? $202 in baby clothes, $196 in clothes for me. Is it any surprise when Mom asked me what I wanted for my birthday I told her cash or gift cards for maternity wear?

Overall though, I think we're doing well... I was trying to stay near $500 for duds for both of us and I've got another $100 to work with but most likely we'll go another $100 beyond that. I have to get me a maternity holiday dress and more underwear and baby needs more diaper stuff.

Still feeling blah -- my back hurts, my hips hurt, my boobs hurt and leak, baby is beating me up from within -- all I want is some decent sleep! Left message at lab to make appt. form 3 HR GTT -- Paul or mom will take me to it. I always forget how Sept. - January gets with birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc. and now that it is starting up already I'm getting quite tired just thinking of it all!

Nrgh. Got a call this morning from the OB -- I've failed the 1 hr and have to go back for the 3 hr. Bah!

Just got home from the glucose tolerance test. I hope I pass and don't have to do a 3hr one. I already probably have to do another 1 hr later on because this one is an early one the endoc wanted and I know the OB wanted one somewhere around 25 weeks.

The Glucola tastes just like orange soda but who on earth wants to be chugging a glass of that at 7:30 AM after fasting overnight? Not a tasty breakfast and I kept burping it while waiting my hour in the reception area. Ugh.

I'm feeling tired so back to bed. Cletus-the-fetus is NOT tired and wants to dance around.

Wore maternity jeans for the first time today -- it wasn't too bad. I have to get used to the panel thing but overall it was comfortable. I asked Paul if he thought they made me look more pregnant of if it was just me that was looking super pregnant today. He said a bit of both. Then I discovered that when I was at the bookstore, sitting on the ground is no longer a good idea. I was reading something and when I was done I put it back on the shelf and wanted to get up again only I had serious problems getting back up off the floor! I was wondering if I was going to have to wait for Paul to come find me or what. Eventually I figured it out with the help of a shelf but jeez! Not doing that again any time soon. Felt very awkward... I'm in horrors over how fast my range of motion is getting compromised.

Mom and Dad are home from the funeral and called to tell me it was a nice send off. Mom said she was glad I wasn't there -- it was just too exhausting with the 100+ people who came and sitting there for 6 hours was draining. Mom's never viewed and open casket before -- not even with other relatives who have passed on but she said this time she braved it and was very impressed with how nice they made her look -- very natural. Dad is handling it fine.

She asked me how I was doing and other than this annoying headache and my nipple gone mad with itching I'm fine. Mom was surprised when I told I'd started leaking out of the left side because she wouldn't have expected that til later on but she told me when it happened to her that she used some gauze in her bra. It's not enough of a leak to merit a real breast pad but it does leave little damp dots on my shirts so that's a bit annoying. She made me laugh when she told me to be sure it was real gauze and not Kleenex or something because it would fall apart and I told her I wasn't much keen on picking paper off my nipples.

18 weeks, 45% of the way there. I'm starting to get excited! :)

Cletus-the-fetus woke me up today with either hiccups or movement... having trouble distinguishing between the two. I feel tired even though I slept a lot and I have a snotty nose and a cough. Not sure if it's a cold or if it is allergies because the landscapers were all through here yesterday mowing everyone's lawns.

Have a bit of a headache... hope it stops soon because I want to take a quick walk.

I woke up this morning with little marks on my shirt -- so now BOTH nipples are leaking! That explains the boob pain I was having this week.

And another weird thing -- when we went to shower the other night I could not stop shaking and I could not get warm despite the fact that the water was hot and we were doing everything like we always do when we shower -- it's not like I had the AC going super high or anything.

Talked to Nancy last night and they're doing fine. Jacob is 8 mos along and starting to get into things and explore. She made me laugh when she said to be sure and call her when I was in labor. That's still so far ahead I'm not ready to think too hard about it.

Just talked to mom... turned out Aunt Jean had sudden a heart attack out of nowhere and died at the hospital. It was a surprise for everybody. The viewing/cremation/funeral is set for tomorrow from 6 PM to midnight. She thinks I should stay home because I'm pregnant and the long car drive plus the emotional aspects of the funeral and how long it is would just be too much. Mom's waiting for Dad to decide if they want to leave tonight or really early in the morning.

I love, love, love how soft BonBebe clothes are! Even more so sometimes than Carter's. I was out shopping today at Ross for myself (maternity jeans quest) and baby clothes (promised to hold off til Labor Day) and I had a nice time.

I'm waiting to hear from Dad though... my cousin Ricky e-mailed that his mom (my Aunt Jean) passed away last night. I don't know all the details yet...

I wish I could find the tape measure. When I took a bath today I noticed I'm getting some stretch marks on my belly. Felt bad last night and again this morning -- cramps and this heavy feeling in my womb. Add Cletus-the-Fetus tap dancing in there and I didn't get the greatest sleep ever. I wish I could find a way to be more comfortable.

Yesterday we went to Rooms To Go Kids to look at cribs (none we liked) and to Rooms To Go for bedroom suites for us (two we liked). We hit a few other places looking for the Hoover Floormax but never found it so I ended up ordering it from JCPenney's catalog. Felt kind of sick last night so turned in early and skipped my walk. Slightly pukey, and crampy -- not esp. fun. :P