Welcome Sarah Helen Moore

I keep thinking I'm going to have time to write this post--and here it is a week after Sarah was born and it is still sitting in the draft folder. Sorry for the delay--but you know--new baby=no sleep and choices like, should I eat or shower today? Today I chose eating instead of showering. It was a good decision.

So! Sarah! She's beautiful. She was born at 8:55 am on Friday September 25th via C-section. I had to have a C-section because of multiple previous surgeries--the doctors feared I'd have a lot of scar tissue that would cause problems. When they got in there they discovered that it was fine, in fact there was very minimal scaring. They did joke about installing a zipper, though.

I'd like to avoid any more surgeries if I can--this one was eventful because the spinal didn't take properly and when they started to cut me open, I could feel it--it was very strange. It wasn't like the last time, where I could feel my body moving, but really couldn't feel any sensations below my chest. This time, while it wasn't painful, I could feel instruments moving against my skin, my skin relaxing as it fell open, and things being moved around inside. It was very, very uncomfortable. They decided that they had to put me under completely. I was very sad because it meant that I couldn't see Sarah right away--but there was nothing to be done about it. I was tensing my abdominal muscles and it was making it hard for the surgeon to do her work. They said it went very smoothly once they put me under.

Sarah weighed 8 lbs, 6 oz at birth, measured 20 1/2 inches long and has a 14-inch head. She has a head of dark hair (that her sister Hannah can't stop touching), and blue eyes that will most likely change to hazel like Hannah's when she's a bit older. She has a powerful cry--at times I worry about our ear drums. Fortunately, she doesn't cry much.


We have had an issue with weight loss this week--sadly hers, not mine. She's lost 16% of her birth weight (she got as low as 7 lbs, and is now back up to 7lbs, 3 oz) and that is cause for concern. She looks healthy--so one theory is that she gained superficial weight right before the surgery because they loaded me up with fluids (3 bags full). But we still need to work on getting her body weight up. My milk is slow coming in--so I'm working closely with a lactation nurse at the hospital (she's absolutely wonderful) who is helping me increase my milk supply and also we're supplementing with formula until I'm producing enough milk to feed Sarah adequately. It is hard work--this mommy business!



I've decided not to attend SOAR this year because of the risk of traveling with a very small baby during such a bad flu season. I'm very sorry and will very much miss seeing everyone. I'll look forward to hearing the stories and seeing photos.

I'll post more photos and stories soon.

This is it!

We're headed to the hospital today for a C-section at 7:30 am. Can't wait to set eyes on our little baby Sarah!
Here's a photo of me and Hannah in the girl's newly redecorated room. The Raggedy Ann Curtains are from my childhood--my mom made them for the room my sister and I shared in Ann Arbor, Michigan when we lived in married student housing while my parents went to school at the University of Michigan. We're standing right next to where the built in desk used to be. It was a good decision to remove the desk--there is a lot more room in the room and more flexibility for arranging all the furniture.



I finished the blanket for Lindsay--but haven't taken photos of it. I'll do that and get them posted.
Okay--gotta go! I'll let you know how it all goes.

Nose, roof, and deconstruction, oh my!

Hannah's nose is all better (here she is a few days after the accident, and here she is two weeks later)--in fact we found out later it didn't actually break--only because her nose hasn't fully matured yet--so there really aren't bones to break. I'm still having dreams about Hannah getting hurt, though. Last night I dreamed that we were hanging pictures and a really big framed painting fell down and grazed her nose. I thank our lucky stars that this is our biggest trauma since she was born (that was traumatic).

We have a new roof since the July 21st hailstorm. My garden is still a pale shade of what it was before the storm, but it will be fine next year and I'll actually be able to bend down and do work in it--which I'm not able to do right now.


And now we're deconstructing Hannah's room--well, Kelly is, that is. Here he is taking out the built in desk that was taking up too much room and not allowing for enough flexibility in the room.

We're getting the room ready for Hannah's sister--due September 27th. Here's her pudgy, little face. I'm looking forward to meeting her.
That's what's going on with us right now. I'm working on finishing the blanket for my sister's baby--it is nearly done and I haven't been able to do much beading this summer because the pregnancy has been difficult and I've had to spend a lot more time than I like lying down. I suppose that's to be expected when you're forty(!) and having a baby! Anyway--there will be plenty of time for beading later and I'm so looking forward to welcoming little Sarah to our family.

Hannah's broken nose

We had an exciting night last night—and not the kind you want. Hannah and I did our normal nighttime routine, pjs, brush teeth, and read two books in bed with me and we both fell asleep. Kelly usually comes up a little bit later and takes Hannah back to her bed. At about 10 pm, Hannah who was asleep in the middle of the bed next to me, suddenly turned and pitched off the bed face first in an acrobatic move we can only imagine. She landed face first on the hardwood floor. I can’t remember how I got by her side, but I woke up pretty quickly and even saw her feet going over the side of the bed. Kelly came rushing upstairs to see what the commotion was, almost falling himself in his hurry and stocking feet. I lifted Hannah off the floor—she was crying instantly-- and I saw that both her lips were bleeding, right after that her nose started bleeding.

Kelly took her to the bathroom while I went to get ice. By the time I got back upstairs, it was clear that her nose was probably broken (it was swollen to twice its normal size and an odd shape). Kelly called the doctor, I tried to get ice on her nose (we were never successful with the ice or icepacks, though eventually we were able to put a wet wash cloth on her nose)—and held her while we waited for the on-call service at the doctor’s office to call us back. It seemed like an eternity, but it was only ten minutes, and they told us to take her to the ER.

Hannah did a good job of calming down (our brave little girl) as much as possible (as did I and Kelly—we both had our moments of needing to pull it together). She cried the whole time, but was not hysterical.

At the ER, the thing that she did not like the most was when they tried to take her pulse and oxygen with the little thing that goes on your finger. She did like the bracelet they put on her arm for identification (and didn’t want to take it off when we got home). After that, she did a good job of letting them look at her lips and throat and nose, and in her eyes to make sure she didn’t have concussion. We had the option for a CAT scan, but they said it would only be if we wanted to do cosmetic surgery in the future and wouldn’t change her care for the night—and it would expose her to a lot of radiation—so we opted out of the CAT scan.

They gave her Tylenol with codeine and Motrin to help her sleep and reduce the swelling. We got home a little after midnight. On the drive home, she was a bit loopy from the medication and talking and talking about all the strange things she was seeing driving home at midnight. She slept well. Both Kelly and I got up several times to check on her and I had nightmares all night about Hannah getting injured.

She woke up cheerful and ready to tell everyone the story of the adventure from the night before. She helped me get the blood out of her pjs with hydrogen peroxide this morning. The swelling has gone down but, I expect she’ll have two black eyes soon. We’ll see how her nose heals—the doctor at the ER said that we’d have to wait for the swelling to go down to determine if it was broken (he thought it would be three days or so). Little kids don’t have a lot of cartilage in their noses, so with luck, it’ll be fine.

We'll revise our bed time routine--even though I think this was a freak accident as she's never fallen out of bed before and mostly sleeps in one spot all night long--I don't want to take the chance of it happening again.

Shredded garden

Last night we had an intense hail storm. So, here are the before photos of my garden shot on July 10th.







And here are photos from 6:30 am this morning--several hours after the 11 pm storm last night.







I'm sure some of the garden will bounce back--but there is a lot that won't be back this season. I held Hannah during the storm--it was so intense and I worried that the hail was going to break our windows, it was blasting our house so hard. The power was out for two hours, but everything else seems to be okay--no big branches in the yard or power lines down as far as I can tell. After it was over she told me that she never wanted it to hail like that again. We have leaves plastered to the second story window, and the trees are stripped of their leaves. I have a feeling it is not going to be so nice and cool in our house for the rest of the summer. I'm sad to see my garden so decimated, but I know that it will bounce back eventually.

I'm still here--really

I didn't mean to disappear on you like that--sorry! This spring just got so busy--too busy to post updates. Thanks to nearly daily rain for what seems like months--my garden is glorious--the iris are just finishing up and the lilies are starting in (none are blooming yet, but they promise to, soon). Daily rain--that's just not a phrase we utter much in Colorado--and certainly not with the words months. I guess it is further evidence of global warming--disturbing as that is--it sure has been nice.

For those of you who participated in my brother's auction to raise money for his film, Id and Emma--thank you! The editing is going well--here is a trailer.

Hannah turned four--can you believe it? I can't. On her birthday, I went into her room to wake her up and she was still groggy, but said, "Momma! I've got a surprise for you!" And I said, "Oh! What is it?" And she stuck her feet out from under her covers and said, "Look, my foots is bigger!"

Art auction

My brother Ben and his friend D.W. Alexander are working on raising money for their next film production, Id and Emma, which they will begin shooting in April. They have asked artists that they know to donate artwork for the auction and we’ve listed them on ebay (see the links below).

They are also donating 20% of the money raised from the auction for the Colorado Sickle Cell Foundation to honor a friend who is fighting the disease.


In this photo, D.W. is filming from the tower at East High School in Denver, Colorado, which will be a location in Id and Emma.

Please take a look at these items for auction, bid on ones you like, and forward this link to your friends and family. We really appreciate your support!

Updated 04-14-09--thanks everyone! So far, Ben and D.W. have earned $220.00 as well as $60 for the Colorado Sickle Cell Foundation.

These paintings are still available and have been relisted on eBay:


El Pueblo by Patricia Barr Clarke.


Rainbow Shell #8 by Tanya L. Hayes.


The Reading Room by Benjamin Sherif Clarke


Figure Study by Benjamin Sherif Clarke


Not Just One or the Other by Laura Brady


Stirling Castle by Noell Custer

Books by Mark A. Clarke, Barbara Dobson, and Sandra Silberstein

One copy of the 5th edition of
Reader's Choice


Choice Readings

Books by Mark A. Clarke


A Place to Stand


Common Ground, Contested Territory

Too big, too small...what about just right?

I decided to full the hat--it is still a bit big, but wearable. Here it is before and after fulling.


I also started one for Hannah. The first one I cast on, I over compensated and made it too small, so I had to frog it and start over. The second one fits her pretty well--though it doesn't cover her ears completely. I'd show you a photo on her, but I'm not quick enough to photograph it before she whips it off her head. She does say she likes it and will wear it when it is cold out . . . we'll see. We got some lovely snow last night, so we'll have an opportunity this morning to try out our new hats in cold weather.

This is what I get for feeling so clever

As a reward for finally finishing my dad's sweater, I'm making myself a hat. I chose this one. I read on Ravelry that some versions were coming out a little bigger than expected--so I followed the gauge for a smaller hat. I do have a head that measures on the larger side of things. Yep, 22 1/2 inches--this is usually the last size on hat charts for women.


I spun one singles from this lovely Bluefaced Leicester from Dragonfibers on etsy and the other singles from Bonkers Handmade Originals Tencel/Merino that I bought at the Estes Park Wool Market this summer.

I was feeling clever because I had not only figured out how to do entrelac, but I was also knitting backwards to make it go faster. All weekend I was wishing that someone who knew a thing or two about knitting would stop by and notice that I was knitting backwards. But sadly, no one noticed. And even when I pointed it out, they didn't seem too impressed.
And, since I was knitting from singles, I had devised a portable lazy kate to hold a single bobbin. This is apparently too much cleverness for one person.


So this is what I get for feeling so clever.

Options at this point:
1. Start over.
2. Keep going and finish, then full it until it is the right size.
3. Make it into a bag.

Project completed!

Yes, it is true. This is a photo of my dad wearing his sweater, started in November of 1996, completed this weekend and delivered to my dad on Sunday. He and my mom are taking turns reading books to Hannah, doted-upon-grandchild-that-she-is.

Dad asked to have me holding the knitting needles in the photo--I've already cast-on a hat for myself as a "you-did-it!" reward.

I was worried that the sweater was going to be too large, but it turned out to be the kind of sweater that looked good on several people of different body types who tried it on and it fits my dad perfectly. He said he's never going to take it off now that he has it. We're a bit prone to exaggeration in my family--but I like that he liked it so much to say something like that. I wonder if I could, like, fit the word like into that sentence one more time. Like, that would be really funny.

Seaming the 10- (ahem 12-) year cardigan

I'm nearly done seaming my Dad's sweater. I really shouldn't be talking about it until it is blocked and on his back as every time it seems like I'm close to finishing I discover things--like that the back was 2-inches longer than the fronts, or that I had run out of yarn (fortunately, remedied when I frogged the back!). I guess there are reasons why it is a 12-year sweater.

More ornaments

First off--Happy New Year everyone!
I'm still in an ornament making frenzy. My Aunt Lise gave us the cutest Christmas tree wall hanging a few years ago with a little pocket for each day of December until Christmas--to count off the days. It came with candy--one candy in each pocket, one piece of candy for each day until Christmas. That's a lot of candy for a baby (or anyone for that matter)--so this year I placed a small ornament in each pocket and Hannah and I had great fun counting the days and putting an ornament on the tree each day.



But I had an idea--and for next year I'm making 25 ornaments (well, now I have 30+), each with a photo of our family and friends on a star shaped ornament (I used a toy cookie cutter)--and we'll decorate the tree with their wonderful faces.



This idea meant that I needed to buy more polymer clay.


Hannah made ornaments, too. They are portraits--the yellow one is Hannah, the green one is of me.