july eleven :: 80 weeks old

This morning just before 9 am a friend of mine came over for a visit. Her son is just over 2 years old and her daughter is 6 months old now. We've been friends for over 10 years now, and she married another friend of mine, though when they got married we had lost touch for a bit, so we weren't at each other's weddings. Though, since having kids, we've gotten back in touch with each other. We've been pretty much slowly rekindling since the week that her son was born. She's a morning person, I am not. I was still in my pyjamas when she arrived and Sean was still sleeping! I had just gotten up and had changed Mack's diaper. He hadn't eaten yet. She helped me out a bit with getting Mack to latch, as I was having a problem on my left side. For some reason I think I'm getting cracked again on that side. My right side, I'm okay. I'm wondering if it's because I'm right handed that I'm having a problem on my left side? I'm still composing my breastfeeding thoughts - so please come back and check out my opinion probably over the weekend. I wanted to do a post about it already, but hey... life with a newborn & a very active toddler! Anyhow, it was great to see my old friend, and they stayed for about 2 hours. I think she was very excited to go home with a Boston lettuce! I gave her one before they get over grown in my garden. (One is already over grown). She also convinced me to do a Usborne book party in August, so I'll be inviting all my friends to a book party (children's books). I hope all my Montreal mom friends will attend, because these books are truly gorgeous. One of Sean's fave books at my mom's house is an Usborne book. I don't think I own any yet in my house. (My friend is an Usborne book rep). I just love children's books and want Sean to be a reader/raised a reader. I'm a huge reader, though my husband is not, and I want my children too be. (Jamie does read his hockey magazine he gets monthly in the mail, as well as the newspaper every morning). Sean already loves books, so that is a great start.

Sean is 80 weeks old today, and we spent the later part of the afternoon in my parents pool. I hadn't been in since my 27th birthday on June 16th (when my water broke!) It felt sooo good to get back into the water!


My parents pool was like a bath today though, at 90.1 degrees F. My mom likes it warm.


At lunch though, I went to get a drink from our fridge in the basement, and when I got back, Sean had taken his plate off the kitchen table and was eating from it nicely. I should have taken it away from him though...

Because as you can see, the floor enjoyed my homemade Halishkes too. For those of you wondering, Halishkes is Polish for Cabbage Rolls. (Same thing though!) (Maybe just a different sauce it cooks in, but exact same ingredients in the rolls (meat & rice). The recipe I use is in the Second Helpings Please (Jewish) cookbook.

As you can also see, Sean doesn't like the high chair anymore, so we've upgraded to the Booster. I'm going to have to buy another one as the one he's in now is usually taken with us when we go to restaurants or to someone's house, and has been living in the trunk of my car. They are so inexpensive, I think I'm going to get another one to be permanently in our kitchen. Sean just wants to be at the table with us. Does anyone have a good one to recommend? The one we're using now at restaurants is not bad, but maybe there's another one that is better?

I just had to share this really cute picture of Sean today. I just love this guy. He's such a big boy now, but he'll always be my "baby". He's my firstborn after all!

Today while in the pool, Mack got to try out for the very first time, the On the Go Lounger. I had picked it up a while ago at Winners (TJ Maxx for you Americans) and I swear, this is the best thing I've ever gotten. I wish I had one for Sean when he was under 22 lbs. (It can only take up to 22 lbs). It is sooooo practical to take with you! It folds up tiny into a "camping chair" style bag and is lightweight and easy to take with! How many times are you somewhere and you wish you had somewhere to put your child down in, and not back into the car carrier. I wouldn't want to sit in a car carrier all day either! It even comes with 2 hanging toys on it! It's great. It's my new fave baby accessory!


And I had to share with you Mack's toes. I just love baby toes. Especially newborn toes. They're just so precious. I want to eat them up!

I got some mail from my friend Lauren. THANK YOU SO MUCH LAUREN! She sent some "R" post it notes, a biodegradable pen (how cool is that?), a headband and a really cool purse clip for your keys. Thank you so much Lauren! I love getting unexpected mail! (Look out in your mailbox soon too!)

Today I picked out all the ripe Lincoln Peas in my garden. I was eating them right off the plant! Oh my - they are sooo good. This garden idea was such a good one! I'm really happy we went ahead with it!


I have 700 emails in my inbox. I hope to answer each & every one back. I will be slowly getting to them. I swear, I need an afternoon just to sit and do them! I also have some other work to take care of, I'm thinking of hiring a babysitter for an entire day (or find someone to take Sean out for the day) so that I can get some work done, and catch up on my emails. Any email that requires more than a sentence has been hard for me to sit down and answer back. It's crazy that I make the time to blog at the end of each day (though, I find it therapeutic to blog and get my day down in text). (I've been journaling since the 6th grade, so this comes naturally to me).

This evening Jamie & I went out for dinner with his dad & step-mom and then Jamie took off to his baseball game. My in-laws & I took Sean (and Mack) to the park, but we left when we started getting eaten alive. (I hate mosquitoes)!

Tomorrow we're having some visitors and just chilling around the house. We'll also do some gardening. I need to pull out weeds & stuff! Not sure yet what's on tap for Sunday, but Jamie has a ball game Sunday afternoon that I want to take the boys to. I haven't been to many of his ball games this year, as a lot of his games are 9pm games. (Which is too late to go with Sean). So I plan on taking them Sunday if it doesn't rain. (Right now they are calling for a chance of rain).