Two Purls

Feed me a pattern

I need a pattern for a Christmas stocking - for little X. I know, I'm not the fastest knitter out there, but I am *determined* to knit him one before the 24th is upon us. Any pattern or book recommendations for a must-knit festive Christmas stocking?

My grandmother knit me a Christmas stocking back in 1974 and, 31 years later, it is by far my favorite part of Christmas. The years that I have not returned to CA for Christmas and in which Dave has asked me what I would like for a present, all I ever ask for is a stocking. It doesn't have to be stuffed with anything great - I freak out and gush over little packets of Kleenex wrapped in tissue paper - but there is something magical about taking down the stocking, and pulling out little present after little present. I can always count on a pair of socks  - and there were years when the socks had little pom poms on the heels, or music boxes that played Christmas carols on the cuffs. There is inevitably a box of breath mints, a bar of nice soap, and a stick of deodorant - to which, of course, everyone laughs about how Santa's giving us a hint that better hygiene is a must for the new year. I also always find 5 lottery tickets or so stuffed in the toe, along with chap stick. Because even gazillionaire lottery winners get chapped lips. Don't forget the esoteric, too - one year it's a tiny nutmeg grater, another year it could be a paperweight. And then there's usually something a little special - an heirloom of some sort, like the time my sister and I each received one of the twin platinum and pearl rings that had belonged to my grandmother.

The stocking is a literal treasure trove of practicalities, novelties, and specialties. It really is the best part of Christmas.

So it's understandable why I need to knit one for my son. Even in his mostly-oblivious state, he should not be deprived of the Christmas stocking experience. The stocking that my grandmother knit is gorgeous - it has my name fair-isle'd across the top, a super soft fuzzy white yarn for Santa's beard, jingle bells all around, and (most importantly?) the sucker stretches to at least twice its unstuffed-size! I swear, every December 24th I see my stocking hanging and looking so little next to the others along the mantle. But come the morning of December 25th my little knit stocking has been stretched beyond belief, easily overpowering the other (non-knit, albeit bigger) stockings that surround it.

That brings me to the need for a pattern. If I can't find one by the weekend, I may just do what comes naturally and wing it - enlarge a sock pattern, gather up my holiday-colored yarn, dig out the 16" circs, look up some letter-charts online, and just go for it. But any advice you have is kindly appreciated.

Pampered babies...

get lots of presents. They keep arriving on the doorstep of Chez G! Vicki of Knitorious fame has sent the most adorable baby gowns. These are extremely popular not only with Xavier (who will fit into them soon with all the growing he's doing), but also with his parents who love the ease of nighttime diaper changes when there are not buttons or snaps to fool around with.

Ann of Portable Knitting sent little X two beautiful handknit hats - one to fit him now and one that will fit later this winter. I'm not sure of the yarn (Ann??) but I suspect Rowan.

Did someone ask for pictures? ;)

Here he is at bathtime this week, first naked against his mama's chest and then warming up in one of Ann's hats. I swear he's already smiling - check out the happy face on that last photo.

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Thanksgiving this year was such a treat. My parents and sister flew out from the Left Coast to the Right Coast to celebrate their first grandchild and nephew. Dave and I celebrated not only a healthy baby, but also the house renovation completion and first full holiday, making it a real home.

Once again we cooked Thanksgiving dinner, one of the highlights of our year. This is the 7th Thanksgiving that I have cooked and it keeps getting better. The turkey was supreme, stuffed with oranges and brined in an apple cider, ginger, and clove mixture that cannot be beat. The recipe is adapted from one I found last year in Cooking Light magazine, although my adaptations would make it more appropriate for Cooking Heavy. Hey, it's Thanksgiving.

We finished off the night helping ourselves to the fruits from a secret family cake recipe involving four layers of an almond meringue, three layers of chocolate ganache, and a topping of homemade not-too-sweet whipped cream. It's the cake my grandmother made for my mother for her birthday (it's today, happy birthday Mom) and which I have taken over the duties since her passing in 1999. My mother really appreciated it and my sister enjoyed learning the ropes of meringue-making, even if it did take us two tries as the first meringue fell as soon as we added the almonds.

I'm two days late on the well wishes, but Happy Thanksgiving everyone - I hope that your Day of Thanks was as blessed as ours.

Home sweet home

Yes, Xavier is home and he's the sweetest baby I've ever met. He exudes this serene peacefulness that is absolutely addictive. We are truly blessed to have had such a relaxing babymoon. He's doing really well - we're getting the hang of nursing and he gained three ounces in his first three days home. So phooey on those NICU nurses who were convinced that we would be back there with a dehydrated baby due to my persistence in nursing him instead of giving him bottles. Every time Xavier latches well (and we are talking about 10 times a day!) I give us both a silent cheer for successful perserverence. :)

No pictures at the moment - our internet connection has been wonky and uploading photos is impossible, as checking e-mail is now taking hours on a good day. We are working on fixing the problem, lest all my family members decide to jump on a plane from the left coast to the right coast instead of wait on more internet photos. To everyone who has left such sweet comments, I apologize for the non-response and (fingers crossed) we will be up and running smoothly again soon.

But some really good knitting news - my hands and arms are pretty much back to normal after all the pregnancy swelling and nerve problems. I should be clicking away regularly by this week. So, how hard is it to nurse and knit at the same time?!?

Dining in Koigu

Cara's Koigu hat is perfect evening wear for Xavier as he settles in to a nice dinner on Thursday:

A closer look at a sweet sleeping baby in his finest handknit:

Xavier is doing so well. I'll be staying at the hospital most of the weekend and his doctor thinks he will come home to us on Monday. Good times...

Sweet sweet joy...

Yesterday (Thursday) Xavier was freed for the day from both the CPAP machine and his IV! It was sweet, sweet joy.  Not too much time to post, but pictures are in the album on the sidebar.

Hopefully his lungs stay strong and he can stay off the CPAP for good, but we will be taking it day by day. He has continued tube feedings of my milk and digests enough to disconnect the IV.  Yesterday we started learning how to nurse and will be practicing more today. As we get closer to him coming home sometime next week I will be staying overnight at the hospital so we can work on establishing a strong nursing relationship.

The Name Game

After a marathon session on Sunday of the name game, which ended in a lightening speed round at about 11:55 pm, we chose...

Xavier Joseph

Xavier was my great-grandfather's name and Joseph is after Dave's father's confirmation name. It's good to put a name to the face. The funny thing is that I have been thinking that he looks like my grandmother Lucie (my mom's mom, who passed away in 1999). Lucie's father was Xavier, the french pastry chef (I told you he looked French!). We called my parents on Sunday night and asked if they had any old photos to scan in and send us of the original Xavier, just to see if there was a resemblence. We had tentatively decided on Xavier Joseph as a name at that point, but decided to sleep on it. In the a.m. when we checked the e-mail and saw that our little Xavier looks strikingly similar to his great-great-grandfather, well, it was a done deal. :)

Health update: Xavier is doing better. His CPAP machine (the one that helps him with breathing by providing O2 and pressure to inflate his lungs) was turned down today from 30% oxygen to 21% oxygen, which is the equivalent to room air. When we saw him he was maintaining good blood oxygen levels and just using the CPAP for pressure to help maintain pressure in the lungs. Tonight at 7 pm they will give him another trial run off the CPAP completely to see how he does. Dave and I are due back there at 8 pm and if he does well breathing on his own then we will get to hold him.

The NICU advocates "kangaroo care", which is the close skin-to-skin contact of mother/father with the baby. The two times I have been able to hold Xavier against my chest he has done very well - his heartrate and blood oxygen levels are good, and his breathing slows and deepens. Hopefully tonight is the same. The only other thing keeping him in the isolette so much are the lights they have him under for the jaundice. But we found out today that his bilirubin levels dropped since yesterday, so hopefully he will be able to go off the lights in the next day or so if this continues.

Other good news - he had his first feeding today. They gave him about 5 ccs of my expressed breast milk/colostrum through a tube directly into his stomach. If he tolerates that well (we will find out tonight) and digested it, he will get more and more on a 3-hour schedule. I am pumping around the clock and my milk came in early this morning, so it feels productive not only to see something come from the work, but also to see something go into the little guy. Once he has his breathing figured out we can move onto having him learn to nurse at the breast.

His weight hasn't really changed - he was born at 2085 grams (about 4lb, 9 oz) and today he was 2110 grams, so he has gone up about a half an ounce. But his weight really isn't an issue - there is no weight limit before he can come home - it's more a matter of him learning to breathe on his own, treating the jaundice, and then figuring out nursing.

We found out his length, finally. At birth they measured him at 16 3/4 inches. He looks longer to me so we measured him again and he seems to be closer to 17 1/2 inches. Lastly, his blood cultures came back negative for any infections, so he was taken off the antibiotics last night. Say a prayer that everything goes well tonight with the breathing.

People have asked how I am doing. My post-partum time has gone extremely well and I literally bounced back from the birth and felt great within about 6 hours - it was kind of ridiculous, really. The only major residual effect is the Halloween look on my face since I blew out the blood vessels behind my eyes during the pushing, and the blood leaked up from the back of my eyeballs to the the fronts of my eyes. It isn't painful for me, but it is a bit painful for people who have to look at me. This should heal up in the next 10 days or so, though. I couldn't have asked for a better recovery. So now we hope that Xavier bounces back with the same strength soon.

More pictures in the photo album on the sidebar to be added momentarily.