One Month

I can’t believe Carter is now one month old!

The time has just flown by and he is already so much bigger.

His arms, legs, and tummy are filling out.  He is loosing his crop of hair, though only on his forehead!  It makes for an interesting hairline 😉  He is sleeping a lot less and eating a lot more.  He loves being held, stroller rides, car rides, the rocking chair, and grunting loudly.  He hates bath time, being dressed, and having his diaper changed.  He also seems to be developing a dislike for napping.  Two days this week, he didn’t nap more than a half hour the whole day.  Then he fell asleep at 5:00 and slept the rest of the night, other than waking up to eat.  Today he is napping a bit more, so each day is a bit different and I haven’t settled into a routine with him yet.  I’m not sure at what age that happens . . . .

He was a little more interactive than usual today, so I took these pictures.  Then I tried to push my luck by dressing him in a sweater and the picture session quickly ended.  It is really fun that he is interacting and smiling more!

A couple of days later, I tried a few more shots . . .

In these next shots, he was so sound asleep that I could have changed his diaper, dressed him in a frilly pink dress, ran cold water over him and strapped him to a galloping horse and he wouldn’t have woken up.  It makes for a great time to rearrange him in different poses and he stays that way until I get the shot!

 

 

 

For those of you who have asked for more Carter pictures, hopefully this will tide you over until I get a chance to do a little more photography!  In my last post, I said I would be back shortly with pictures of a quilt, but the quilt will have to wait until the next time!

Vonica

Today I have a finished knitting project to share with you – And no I didn’t just finish this since having the baby.  In fact it was finished the week before he was born and I have just finally gotten a few pictures taken!  Carter is almost 4 weeks now, so that is pretty bad.  But, it’s also been way too hot in MN to even think about donning a sweater.  The temps are down into the 80’s now, so it’s a little better now.

The sweater is called Vonica.  It was designed by Bonnie Marie Burns of Chic Knits.

The construction of the sweater was really interested.  It’s a top town pattern and there are no seams – Not even to attach the collar or sleeves.  Bonnie has a unique way of setting in the sleeve that I think is really clever.  I haven’t seen the technique used in any of the other patterns I have knit.

This shot kind of shows you how the collar wraps neatly around the back of the neck. You have to know how to do a provisional cast-on to be able to do it, but that isn’t hard and is well worth knowing to be able to do the construction seamlessly as written.

The yarn is 100 % bamboo so it has wonderful weight and drapes beautifully.  I have noticed that it is pretty stretchy and I am curious to see if that will be a problem with this open lace pattern.  I seem to remember hearing that bamboo does stretch quite a bit, so that might become a problem (I have heard that bamboo blends are much better).  I have knit with this yarn before and it didn’t seem to be a problem, so we will have to wait and see.  The name of the yarn is Eden by Madil.

You can find my Ravelry link here.

That’s all for now.  I’ll be back shortly with a finished quilt!

 

Friday Finish in Seaside Cottage

Happy Friday Everyone!

I finished up a few sewing projects this week – can you believe it?   I was worried that this was turning into a baby blog, so I am happy to have some quilting done to show.

Actually, I can’t take all the credit, as my Mom did most of the sewing and I just tried to get them quilted and bound.  It took me a couple of days, as I haven’t figured out yet how to feed the baby and machine quilt at the same time!

The fabrics are from my Seaside Cottage line, which will be in stores shortly.  I couldn’t decide which fabric combination to use, so I decided to make a couple of toppers.

My favorite is probably the red and aqua

There is also a pink and green option:

and a grey and aqua option.

The pattern is my Diamond Diva pattern.  It’s a pattern that I have made several times, as they are quick and easy to make (much easier than they look), they require just a few fat quarters (which I always have lying around), and they are small enough that they are easy to decorate with (throw one on an end table, on a nightstand, over the back of a chair, etc).

I made this one a while ago using my Artful Home fabric.  It moves around my living room as needed.  I’ve made a few more too, but can’t seem to locate the pictures just right now.

Before I go, I have just a quick question  –  Do I get to count this as my first smile, or is 16 days old too early for a smile?  Everyone attributes those early smiles to things like gas, but he did seem pretty happy at the time.

So, does anyone remember when their babies first smiled?  (and btw – it won’t hurt my feelings if you tell me it is just way to early to be a real smile.  Either way, I had a good excuse to share this cute picture!)