A change of scene

I got bored with my old template for this blog, so I decided to change it. But I did something pretty stupid, and forgot to back up my old changes, and I had to redo them all again. Grrrrr. Darn it anyway! And I thought I was being so efficient!

On a brighter note, Alana is home from the hospital and doing very well. Her bilirubin count had dropped 4 points in one day (which is amazing I am told), so Amy and Max were able to leave the hospital this morning. I rushed home at lunch long enough to kiss her and change her diaper. Life is good!

Snow has been predicted for Western Washington tonight. A rare happening for us, especially in November. I sort of hope that we get some, I love the beauty, but I hate to have to drive to work in it.

So, what do you think of this template? If I change it again, I have learned my lesson about saving my changes to another file!!! LOL!

Being a grandma is fun...but

it sure pulls at the heart when things don't go exactly right. Alana is back in the hospital dealing with lethargy/dehydration/jaundice, which is all a vicious catch-22 cycle. Her weight dropped to about 5.75 pounds. Its been rough on everyone having her back in the hospital, especially Amy. We did not think that she would tolerate laying in a bed all day long as she seemed to only sleep well when being held, but she has cooperated very well. Her bilirubin count is coming down and she is eating more each feeding. I hope that the count will be low enough today that she will be released tomorrow.

I know that it is probably grandma prejudice, but both Amy and I are marvelling how as she looses that newborn battered look she gets prettier every day.

On the stitching front, I am really excited about the baby sampler that Amy and I are working on. Amy finished all the kloster blocks and smyrna stitches I had given her to do and did a marvelous job for a first timer. I am really proud of her. I started doing some pulled thread stitches inside the kloster hearts, and then haven't been able to pick it up since Monday. Seems like holding my granddaughter is more fun right now. Who woulda thought?

She's arrived!

Announcing the birth of Alana Jo Rheinhardt, November 21st, 8:40 pm, 6 pounds, 7.5 ounces, 19 inches long. Lots and and lots of LONG black hair. Mom and Baby are doing great. She is a beauty!!! More soon!

Teaching Hardanger

Amy was here spending the night with us Friday night and I showed her a small piece that I had designed last summer called My Heart's Garden with hardanger, pulled thread and ribbon flowers. She absolutely loved it and asked if we could take the same idea and design and stitch a birth sampler for Alana (due to be born November 21st). I said sure, so we sat down with the sketch book and drew up some things she wanted in the sampler. Amy said she would like to help stitch, so I pulled out some hardanger instructions and began to teach her how to do kloster blocks. She caught on very well, and after charting the first couple rows of the new baby sampler on the computer, I gave her the fabric and thread and got her started stitching the hardanger hearts...this will be a special sampler with both Mom and Grandma stitching and designing! I think the name should be something along the lines of My Child's Garden. Wish I had thought to take a picture of Amy stitching away on it!!!

They are going to induce Amy tomorrow, Monday the 21st. We are all so excited to finally see Alana!

Quiet Rainy weekend

A friend gently reminded me that I had not updated my blog this weekend. So I am here to update. Thank you Von.

This has been a very quiet weekend. No baby has been born yet, so we are still hoping it will be very soon. I actually pulled out a WIP yesterday, and got a little done on it...A is for Angel now has a couple more rows done. I had stitched the little A's over one in the armadillo row, and took them out again. The thread Thea used did not show up on my darker fabric, I could hardly see the little stitches to make sure they were crossed! I need something darker that will show up well on the dark fabric, but haven't made a final decision what to use. Dark green maybe.

I've spent a lot of time in front of the TV this weekend stitching and watching DVD's. I feel rested and ready for work this week. My direct supervisor has quit and moved to San Diego, (to be nearer his family) so I am going to apply for his job. I hope that I get this promotion, I am ready for more responsibility. I was asked to function as "lead" while they are going through the decision process. I hope that is a good sign!!!

We have had rainy cold weather here in the Pacific Northwest all weekend. I am wishing I could just bop over to Maui for a few hours to get warmed up again. John and I both realized how much less our bodies hurt while we were there...I think that we may end up being snow birds in about 14 years from now. If we can feel it at our ages now, I can only imagine how it will affect us in the future!!!

A quiet weekend

This was a nice quiet weekend which I enjoyed very much. I purposely tried to do as little as possible. I even got some stitching done. I EVEN finished the piece I was stitching on!!! Not that it was anything huge or involved but just the fact that I finished a piece was extremely gratifying! I had been promising my new son-in-law that I would finally put his name on his Christmas stocking, so that has been done! Yippee!! As I was stitching tho, I realized that my soon to be born granddaughter will be here for Christmas too. I guess I better keep going! Next Friday is Veteran's Day, and the office is closed, so I hope to relax and stitch that day also, if we aren't in the midst of seeing Alana being born!