Halloween!

Happy Halloween! We always spend the holiday at my parents' house, which is a little different this year, since Dad is sick, but still festive.

It's been a busy time, but somehow between a wedding, traveling, traveling some more, spending time with my dad, cooking for my mom, refereeing volleyball districts, planning a birthday party for 2 3-year-olds, and fully nursing a newborn, I've been able to find time to make some amazing hats for my little people. 

I found all of these patterns on Ravelry or Pinterest, and knew they would be fun for my boys to dress up in. I didn't know how much they would love wearing them all the time! I'm so pleased with how they all turned out.

The twins had a jungle-themed birthday party, so they got to wear them all day Saturday for their grandparents and aunts and uncles too. We're getting a lot of mileage out of them this week! The best part is, I didn't spend a dime to buy any more yarn or supplies for these! They were all made of yarn I already had in my stash.

The giraffe is pretty much exactly like the pattern, except I made crochet eyes instead of using buttons (I did this on all the hats because I had plenty of yarn), and I used colors I had and wanted to use. I made it the largest size that wasn't listed as "adult" and it still fits snugly on Teeny's head. My children either have huge heads or my gauge was off.

The elephant was based on this pattern, but I'm not totally in love with how the trunk came out. I followed the pattern for it first, but I thought it was too short, so I doubled the length. I also wish the ears were a little bigger, but the pattern was written for a newborn, which would not have fit my infant, who also has an oversized head. I used the giraffe pattern and made it to fit a child/toddler. It's a little big for him but he'll be able to wear it when he's older and can play with his brothers.

The monkey was the first hat I completed, and I wasn't planning to do ear flaps for the others at the time, or I would have put them on this as well so it would match. It went to my nephew, who has a relatively small head (smaller than average), but I still made it the same size as the twins' so he can wear it for a while. I should have put the ears down lower because I think it looks more like a bear than a monkey with them up high, but it still turned out cute. I didn't plan to make the half-smile, but I ran out of yarn on my needle at that point, and thought it looked super-cute, so I left it.

The lion is my favorite out of all the hats. I pretty much made the pattern from a composite of several different designs. I couldn't find one that was a beanie style with ear flaps, so I wasn't sure how to do the mane and left it off for a week or so while I debated how to do it. It looked like young Simba from The Lion King, which made my son happy, but I also thought it looked like a lioness, so I wanted to finish it. I finally decided to just try the knotted technique that I eventually used, and after finishing it, I think it looks fantastic! I might make one for myself, I like it so much...

The last hat I made was for my best friend, who is having a baby this spring after trying for over 10 years! I am so happy for her, and thought I would make something very personal. She has a horse that is almost as old as she is, and has put so much love, time, money, sweat, and tears into keeping him that I immediately knew I had to make a hat that looks like him. I used some photos of him to design it, and since she is not finding out what she's expecting, I left off any embellishments, like bows or trim. I think it turned out beautifully, and used the zebra pattern and the muzzle from the giraffe to complete it. I can't wait to see her face when she opens it.

Photo by Sarah Dickerson

Time to tell...

I wish it weren't always 10 pm when I have time to myself to collect my thoughts and write. Unfortunately, this seems to be the only time I have to get anything done that isn't laundry, dishes, nursing the baby, taking a shower, bathing the twins, or breaking up arguments between them. By the time I get to this point in the day, it's always a battle over the things I know I should do (spending time with my hubby, reading and praying, sleeping) and the things I want to do, like putting my thoughts down in print.

I have a little time tonight, so I thought I would share what's been going on that is consuming most of my mental and emotional energy right now.

My dad has always been a big guy. Not just tall (he's 6' 2" or so), but large. He's always been over 200, and in the past 10 years since his parents died, his brother died suddenly, and he had two major injuries that kept him from working for months at a time, he has put on many more pounds. He got up to just under 500 last summer and injured his back from carrying all that weight around.

Last October, after he had lost about 15 pounds preparing for his surgery

We prayed, prayed, and prayed some more that he would seek help for his weight problem, because they refused to do anything to help his back due to how heavy he was. He couldn't stand to be on his feet, which is what his job requires him to do every day for 8 hours, so as soon as he got home he would plant himself on the couch and only get up to go to the bathroom and bed. He couldn't play with his grandchildren because he hurt so badly.

I had mentioned to my mom several times about bariatric surgery because I knew at least 4 people who had undergone the procedure and had amazing results. Finally, my husband and I got up the courage to talk to Dad about it, and even brought over some brochures to share with him from one of my friends. He was thinking about it, as a last resort, and decided to look into it.

Praise God, in February (the day after our first ultrasound for Samuel), he had gastric bypass surgery and everything seemed to go great. He lost over 200 pounds between last summer when he went to the informational meeting and started making changes and when we moved in July. Then he started having trouble keeping food down.

He had a minor procedure done to stretch his muscles, which is somewhat common after bariatric surgery, but after the 2nd time having it done, he was still having the same problems. It got so bad that he would vomit even after having just water to drink. This went on far too long (nearly a month) and he was becoming dehydrated, so he finally admitted himself to the ER at the beginning of October. After a week of being on IV fluids and running a few tests, they started looking for other causes of his vomiting and found his white blood cell count was high.

We learned a few days later that he has stage 4 stomach cancer, which is apparently treatable but not curable or operable. He started chemo yesterday and is going every 2 weeks for 6 months to fight it.

This has been heartbreaking, especially after all that he's gone through to live healthier. He looked so good this summer, better than I can remember him looking since I was little. He had energy, he walked with his head held high for the first time in many years, not shrinking back because of his weight. He played with his 3 grandsons and most importantly, was not in pain. After the month of failed attempts at rectifying the issues, now he looks almost eerily thin, his muscles are weak and deteriorating and his skin just hangs off him.

One year later, just after learning about his cancer

My mom is barely hanging on. She is so strong, because she has to be, but I know it's killing her inside to see him go through this. She is a Christian, so she has her faith to help her through, but we are still not sure whether Dad is truly saved or not. We have presented the Gospel to him many times, have prayed with him and for him to know and have an eternal relationship with the One True God, but we have never gotten reassurance that he is in fact saved.

If you are the praying type, please say a prayer for my family. For my dad, for complete healing and for his spirit not to be broken, and for his salvation; for my mom, that she has the energy to keep encouraging him and to help him get through this. Thank you so much and God bless.

I will post about the boys' birthday soon, but I just had to get this out there. Thanks for reading.

New projects on the horizon...

I love fall. I love the crispness of a chill in the air, the smells of pumpkin, cinnamon, and nutmeg wafting from the oven, the colors of the leaves before they fall off the trees. One thing I don't enjoy about fall, though, is the rush to get all things "holiday" completed.

I love my kiddos, and planning for their birthday is fun for me, but between making Halloween costumes, planning a birthday party for two toddlers, baking fall goodies, and making handmade Christmas gifts for much of my family, it is a hectic time.

This year, I decided to do a jungle theme for their birthday, and to give them something they can appreciate for a while after the balloons deflate, I decided to make them animal hats. We had a giraffe themed nursery for them (Sam's is elephants), so I thought I would crochet a giraffe, an elephant, a lion, and a monkey (the extra one is for their cousin, who always comes to the party). When am I going to have time to do this? I still have a sweater to finish, 6 Christmas gifts to start and complete, an infant horse hat to make, a stuffed elephant I started for Sam, and a baby sweater to knit, all before January! In my "free time," I suppose.

I will try to post photos of everything as I complete it, but for now, I need to dig through my yarn collection and get my hooks busy! After all that, hopefully I will get to utilize my beautiful craft area to work on the boys' quiet books.

Wish me luck!