january thirty-one

Today I gave Sean his first pair of scissors. I have no idea if he’s used scissors at daycare, but he’s never used them at home. I got him a kiddie pair, that are super safe, so I wasn’t worried. I let him hack away at some paper. He had fun.

Mack’s out of the high chair now (since we’ve been back from Florida – Jamie put it in storage while we were away). He’s getting to be such a big boy now, 19 and a half months old. He’s growing up too fast for my liking.

I spent some time this afternoon doing Mack & Sean’s Valentine’s Day cards for school. They’re so cute. Their party will be on the 12th of February (the Friday before V-day) and I have to go through their wardrobe to make sure I have red outfits for them to wear. I’m not a big Valentine’s Day lover, but it’s fun for the kids.

This afternoon I was 50% done my Spring Beret. I managed to finish it this evening while watching tv. Details will follow tomorrow! I will tell you all about it then. It’s not as “beret-y” as I would have liked – but it’s cute nonetheless. Also – it’s a super fast knit. Took me about a day and a half, not even.

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I can’t believe it’s February already tomorrow. I’ve been working on a collaborative project with 3 other lovely ladies. Each month we’ll be giving you free desktop calendars. I hope you enjoy them and use them. If you do use one, please leave me a comment to let me know which one you liked best and set as your desktop. From left to right and top to bottom you can choose from the pink floral one, the heart one, the yellow floral one, or the black paris one. Once you open the link of the one you like, just right click on the image and set it as your desktop wallpaper.

The four of us behind these are:

Carol: www.carolbrowne.com
Robyn (Me!): knitpurlknitpearl.blogspot.com
Scout: www.scoutj.com
Cynthia: www.biggirlfeet.ca

Every month we’ll be taking photos and my dear friend Cyn will add the design and calendars.
Help yourselves – they’re free!!
I’m so happy to be apart of this project.

january thirty

Today I made a batch of oatmeal cookies. They’re delicious.

I finally unpacked my suitcase and pulled out the table cloth I got for my round table.

It’s like a shower cap for the table. Pretty neat idea.

This afternoon Jamie took Sean out. It’s Hockey Day in Canada. Jamie is good buddies with a card store owner in our area. The owner was handing out hockey cards today in honor of Hockey Day in Canada, so he took Sean to go get some hockey cards. He also took Sean out for lunch, and to pick up a goalie mask. It was the last item missing for Sean’s attire. Now he’s set. (Well, he needs a proper goalie stick now, but for now, his regular stick will do).

While they were out and Mack was napping, I spent my afternoon with some friends. Coffee was drank, jokes were made, cookies were eaten, yarn was fondled, and I worked on my Spring Beret. I stupidly misread the instructions in the pattern and thought rows 1-3 in the lace were knit, but it turns out it’s rows 1 & 3 not 1 through 3, so I had to rip back to row 2 and re-start from there.

This evening Jamie played hockey, so I took a self-night. I worked on the Guild’s Newsletter (I’m editor) and then sat in front of the couch and watched some stuff that I had on my PVR. I continued working on my Spring Beret. I’m about half way done the beret. It’s a really fast knit. I’ll show you progress tomorrow. (Too dark out now to take pictures as I prefer natural light). It was so nice to have an evening to myself once the kids were in bed. I am hoping I have time tomorrow to finish the Beret as I’m sure I’ll be staying in tomorrow. It’s so darn cold out there, today it was -18°C (0.4°F) which apparently according to the Weather Network felt like -25°C (13°F). Brr! I heard it’s only supposed to warm up by Friday. Can I just hibernate at home until the spring? Or until it’s at least 0°C (32°F)?

january twenty-nine

I went into work early today, so that I could leave early. I wanted to come home, run a bubble bath (watermelon to be specific) and indulge in the book that I’m currently reading. I picked it up at Waldenbooks while in the USA at a huge discount as the Waldenbooks store was closing up shop, and so far, I’m enjoying it. It’s “email style”, which I like. My mom in the bookstore saw me pick up the book and said “Yeah, I thought that was more your style book” (as she’d already picked it up and put it back). Even though it’s almost 700 pages, I’ll get through it pretty quickly I think. I was in the bath for less than an hour and read over 60 pages. So far, so good.

When I picked up the kids from daycare today, I was informed that Sean went to the toilet twice while at school today. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon. I asked if he asked to go or if he was asked if he wanted to go, and his teacher said that she was taking a few of them to the bathroom and asked him if he wanted to go and he agreed, and went. I am so proud of him. Since he needs diapers for daycare, as he was running low, she asked me to bring some more diapers, as well as some pull-ups, so we can try those out during the day. I really hope that this is the start to getting him finally potty trained. However, when I asked if she was finding him drier during the day, she said he was still constantly wet. So I don’t know how far this will get right now, because even though he’s going to the potty, he still has no control over his bladder. Anyhow, baby steps. We’ll see where this goes. I do find him dryer in the mornings. He hasn’t woken up soaked since before our vacation. So that’s a good start as well.

My in-laws came for dinner tonight, bringing Poor-Man’s Lasagna (spaghetti lasagna). Oh she’s the best. I love Friday nights when they come over, as they bring dinner. It’s my one night off during the week when I don’t have to plan or think about dinner. I do have to say, my step-mother-in-law rocks. I wonder how many people actually love their mother-in-law?

After dinner a poker game started and some people came by. I did my own thing and watched some tv, and started a new knitting project.

I wound a ball of Malabrigo Worsted in Verde Adriana.

And cast on a Spring Beret.

I’ve wanted a Beret for a while now. We’ll see if it looks good on me when done.

january twenty-eight :: 37 months old

Sean is 37 months old today.

Here are some new squares I’ve made for Babette.
I’ve been chugging away at these squares. I’m loving how they’re turning out.

This is my beloved bath sponge.

It’s old. I can’t even tell you how old it is, but I know I got it after moving out of my parents house (2003) from a Yves Rocher order. I would love to find another one like this (doesn’t have to be a star, just the way the soaping pad on the back is).

But I haven’t been able to find anything similar. I did find this sponge at Target while in Florida. I tried it out today. I like it. It’ll do for now. The tag said to replace this sponge every 3 months. Uhm, I don’t have a target here… what am I going to do? And this was the last one at the Super Target in Deerfield Beach, Florida, so I can’t even ask my grandmother to bring another one home for me. (Unless they re-stock that is).

Today was very snowy. It was blowing everywhere. By the time I picked up the kids from daycare, it was getting thicker and thicker out there and you couldn’t see where the icy patches were. I am glad that my plans tonight got re-scheduled, because the roads were terrible just going the 3 streets to pick up the kids from daycare.

The kids were off the wall tonight. I caught them jumping on the foot rest bench in the den. They’re monkeys.

Jamie and I did a 24 marathon tonight. We’re trying to catch up. We have 1 hour left before Monday night’s new episode. Not sure yet what to think of this new season. I worked on a few more squares for Babette. I’m up to 36 squares done. I am not sure how many squares I will need, as I don’t know how large I want this to be, but I know that I am blocking them to 4”x4” so once I figure out the size I want it, I’ll divide it by 4” and figure out how many squares I need. I know I have no where near enough squares right now, so I will keep plugging away at them. I hope I don’t run out of solid/semi-solid/tonal leftovers, or I won’t be able to finish it. Right now I still have some solid/semi-solid/tonals left, but I will soon run out and then I’ll have to figure out what to do next.

Off to go crawl into bed and start the new book I’m reading, Holly’s Inbox, which I picked up while in Florida.

january twenty-seven :: 84 weeks old

Mack is 84 weeks old today.

I worked in the office today since I flew home yesterday, and I usually go into the office on Tuesdays (and Fridays). They’ve been doing some re-arranging in the back where I work and I am so happy things are starting to become more organized back there. I see some great changes to come this year, and possibly some renovations (that are being talked about). I wouldn’t mind a new desk/desk area, where no one but me used my computer. (Too many times I come in and my items/things/computer) has been touched/tampered with. We’ll see what this year brings.



On my way home from work today it was snowing. It was really pretty snow too. It wasn’t even that cold. Mild out, in my opinion and the snow was falling so softly. Both kids were excellent today at daycare, which I had feared all day. You never know after being away for an entire week how they’ll react in school the first day back. Mack cried for a few minutes this morning, and by the time I got Sean in his sneakers and into his classroom, I heard Mack’s crying stop. Phew. Sean went into his class no problems, and was already babbling away to his friends about the snake he petted at the zoo and showing off his new GI Joe sneakers. Ah, the life of a child. Sometimes I wish I could trade places and go to daycare for the day and have a 3 hour nap… don’t you just wish?

Mack said 2 new words today – Hockey and Car. I really think he’s opened up a new can of worms and will be saying this more and more lately. He started singing Do Re Mi (that’s all he knows are those 3) during the trip to Florida. He now says my mom’s name “Bubbie” which is yiddish for Grandmother. And while we were away he said “I want cookie”, learned a not-so-nice word “c-a-c-a”, and named his bunny “Nunnee”. He also knows my brother’s name, and calls my sister “A-eee”. He can’t say her full name yet. And from before he said “book”, “ball”, “hi” and “uh oh”. He’s on a roll. He’ll get it. I’ve heard him once say “bye”. Sometimes you can catch him saying “Abc”. Even though I’m glad he’s talking, I’m not looking forward to him having a full vocabulary. If he’s anything like his brother, he won’t stop talking.

Off to go watch some tv with Jamie and crochet some more squares for Babette. I am loving the way it’s coming out.

january twenty-six

Today we flew home. I safely managed to get some hockey packages for Sean without him seeing me buy them, so that he would have hockey packs to open on the airplane. He collects goalies only, so the others I have no idea what to do with since Mack has no interest in them yet. If there had been a little boy on the airplane Sean’s age or older, I’d have given them to him. There were other kids on the airplane, but not in that category.


After a lot of fighting sleep, Mack finally fell asleep for an hour on the flight. He napped on my mom. Our flight was delayed as the flight that left Montreal to come here to get us to take us back was delayed by about half an hour.

However, we made up time on the way home because of the winds. Instead of it being a 3 hour and 30 minute flight we made it home in 2 hours and 48 minutes bringing us home only 15 minutes later than we were supposed to land.

I worked on my Babette on the flight. I had no issues at security with my aluminum crochet hook. They didn’t even go into my bag after it went through the x-ray machine.

Of course Sean fell asleep as the plane was descending into Montreal. Funny kid. He slept through landing (with that bump, I’m not sure how it didn’t wake him up) and I finally woke him up after most people had cleared off the plane. We had to wait until everyone was off the plane until we could get off as we had to wait for them to deliver my stroller to the gate.

Speaking of the stroller… They broke a part on it. It’s not even my stroller. It was borrowed. I felt soooo bad that they broke one of the buttons (to open it). I was given the name of the repair company and a claim number from Westjet to get it fixed. Usually they take care of it, but it could take up to 3 weeks. Because I have it, they will probably get it done faster, and I will get the stroller back to the person I borrowed it from faster. It’s the button to open the stroller up that they broke. It’s not 100% broken off, but it’s hanging. I don’t think I’ll ever borrow anything ever again when I’m flying. Maybe if I am traveling by car, but you cannot rely on the airline to safely take care of your items. As we were walking off the plane we saw luggage falling off the conveyer belt off the airplane onto the floor. The guy who was unloading wasn’t doing it fast enough and luggage was falling down. I am glad I had nothing breakable in my suitcase. Anyhow, I will call the repair company tomorrow to find out exactly where they are located (they’re off the island of Montreal on my way to work) and what hours they operate and how long it will take to fix). I am glad that I will be able to get it fixed though. That’s the most important. Westjet told me that if they can’t fix it, they’ll replace the stroller. Either way, I just want to get the person I borrowed the stroller from, back her stroller in working condition.

Going through customs was a breeze. The guy barely asked any questions. Actually, he made an observation and said “He surely was a birthday gift” in regards to Mack. I responded “Well actually I missed my birthday dinner as my water broke just before we were about to get ready to leave, and he was almost born on my birthday”. He chuckled. Glad he was in a good mood. I am shocked that a man actually paid attention! Usually men and birthdays don’t mix…! I always have to remind Jamie of birthdays. I thought it was cute/funny that he noticed that.

I can tell you that a flight at noon is a lot easier than flying at 7 am with 2 young children. I will never ever again fly at that hour of the morning with 2 young children. Getting up at 3:30 am to make a 7:40 am flight will only happen if the kids are staying back at home. And after being away for a week with both kids without Jamie, I now feel like I need a (small is okay) vacation from my vacation. I’m burned out. Totally exhausted. I need the next couple of days to just cool down, chill out and veg.

This evening that’s just what we did. After supper we put the kids to bed, and I think they were extremely happy to see their own rooms again (Mack squealed when he saw his crib/dream screen). Jamie & I vegged out on the couch and watched some tv that our PVR recorded while I was away and I worked on some more squares for Babette. One of these days we’ll have to catch up on the 5 hours of 24 we’ve got. It started the Sunday night before I left with a 2 hour premiere, then 2 hours the night before I left, and then 1 hour last night. I’m very excited that we have a few shows to start watching again together, as there hasn’t been much on tv for a while. With 24 starting, Lost starting next week, Chuck started again… and a new season of Survivor starting up in February, we’ve finally got stuff to watch! (This equals knitting or crochet time for me!) Multi-tasking is the only way to go with watching tv or a movie.

I am glad to be home. I missed Jamie. I missed my own bed. I missed my own things. I missed my own space. It’s great to be home. Home sweet home.

january twenty-five :: 160 weeks old

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This morning I finished my mom’s cowl.

SPECS:
Pattern: A Neck Warmer for Coreen (My Ravelry Project)
For: My mom
Yarn: Knitpicks Cadena in Coal (2 skeins held double stranded)
Needles: US 11/ 8.0mm
Size: 29” x 6.5”
Timeline: January 23-25, 2010
Modifications: Knit pattern as I wrote it to the length my mother requested it to be.
Opinion: I like it in black. My mom loves it too.

This morning Amy & my mother took Sean to the beach, so I took Mack for a walk. We walked for a long time, I paused for a bit to use my computer at the picnic benches by the clubhouse, and then continued to walk until they got back from the beach. It was nice hanging out with Mack alone.

How you can resist this smile?

Sean & my mom at the beach. I got to see what went on while I wasn’t there from Amy’s photos.

Sean’s sea shells.

When we got back, we hung around the condo for a while. Everyone had something to do, so we just chilled and watched some tv, I worked on some squares for my babette. Almost anything entertains Mack, and he spent quite a while trying on and walking in my mom’s shoes.

When we finally left the condo, I asked to stop by the Deerfield Beach tower (not sure what else to call it?). I wanted to take a picture near it, with a copy of Simply Knitting. I want to send it in to their “Knitting Around the World” Column, to see if I can get in. Cheesy, I know. If I can get in, I can win a knitting kit that they give out. Not sure what it entails, but I’ll try. No harm in trying.

We went to Target. Ahh, now I’ve been fulfilled on this trip. I’ve gotten my Olive Garden fix, my Ruby Tuesdays fix, my Michael’s fix and now finally my Target fix. These are 2 restaurants & 2 stores I wish we had in Quebec, or even Canada. The rest of Canada (in some provinces) have Michaels, but that’s about it. On the last day of our trip (tomorrow is travel day, so it’s not counted as a day in my opinion), I finally found a size 3 bathing suit at a decent price for Sean. They didn’t have 2 matching sets, or I would have bought him a 2nd set. For now I’ll deal with just one set in his size. This entire trip he’s used his old 24 month size swim suit, which he still kind of fits into. I’ll keep looking at home in late Spring when it’s finally “Swim suit” time, when the new collection comes out. I picked up a few other things that I needed from Target.

Mack took a nap while in Target.

The poor guy’s naps have not been regular since we left from home.
I am hoping his naps go back to normal once we’re back home.

Sean is 160 weeks old today.
Tonight we went to Nestor’s for dinner.
It’s a kosher deli restaurant.
It was really good.

The kids got to color their place mats for a free lollipop if the handed it in to the waiter. Sean enjoyed his lollipop in the car on the way back to the condo.

After dinner we came back to my grandmother’s condo to organize our suitcases to leave. We have to have the rental car back to the airport for a certain time, so we have to get up at a decent time. Thankfully we do not have to get up at 3:30 am like we had to when we left for this trip. I don’t think I’ll ever leave on a flight that early with the kids ever again. It’s not fun at that hour.

january twenty-four :: Palm Beach Zoo

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This afternoon we made it to the Palm Beach Zoo.

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I can’t even begin to explain how cool it was there.

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Mack had a good time, and was all smiles for the most part of today.

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And Sean had the most amazing time ever. He was so intrigued by a lot of the animals, and was just really excited to keep seeing more animals. He even got to pet a snake (2nd to last picture on your right above).

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We went on a carousel ride, I rode with Mack and Amy rode with Sean. We had a great afternoon. We wanted to let the kids run around a fountain area in their bathing suits, however by the time we got to the end, it had already closed. Our map of the zoo said it closed at 4:30pm and it was 4:10pm when we got there. There was a new sign up stating that it now closed at 4pm. If we would have realized, we would have let the kids run in the fountain earlier, and then finished the last section of the zoo afterwards as the zoo was opened until 5pm. Bummer!

If you want to see the photos in larger, you can click on any of the “View Full Album” links. This is my first time trying out this feature, so I hope it works. If thought this would be a better way of displaying the images as I had so many I wanted to post.

And of course, the long day the boys had, they were out cold in the car on the way back. We tried to find the beach, but couldn’t find where to park. We decided we’ll try to find the beach tomorrow (weather providing). We stopped for dinner at Muddy Waters, which is around the corner from my grandmother’s condo. We ate there last year, but feel that their menu changed a bit, and prices were definitely inflated since last year. The boys shared a kid’s meal as Mack hasn’t been eating his full meals lately and food has gone either to the garbage or sitting in the fridge here. There isn’t too many days left on this trip for the kids to eat the leftovers, so I figured tonight they could share, and it’s a good thing they did.

This evening was the first evening that I had problems putting Mack to sleep. He just didn’t want to go to bed. At first he wanted to play. He was climbing all over me on the air mattress. Then he heard my mother’s voice, so we went out of the room for a bit, since he got out of bed himself. We put him in the booster seat we brought for him for a while, and he had a tiny snack and then my mom & I tried to put him to bed together. It took both of us lying on either side of him to get him to sleep tonight. What a little bugger. He’s sleeping soundly next to me right now, and is beyond adorable.

I’ve been working on my mom’s cowl, and should have it done tomorrow. I’ve been working on it whenever I have either my hands free in the condo, or we’re driving in the car (when the kids are strapped in and have no where to go), otherwise I don’t get any knitting time. I am making my mom’s cowl a little longer than the normal size A Neck Warmer for Coreen should be, but that’s because it’s my mother’s request for length. I picked up 2 buttons for it while here in Florida. I really hope that it works out nicely with the Cadena yarn.

Alright, I can no longer keep my eyes open tonight, I am off to bed.

january twenty-four :: the morning

This morning, while I stayed back at my grandmother’s condo, doing load number 4 of this trip (the laundry seriously never ends), Sean went out for a walk with my mother & sister.

He got to climb in trees, which he found very cool.

I stayed back and gave Mack a bath. Since he’s still tiny, he got it in the sink again, just like last year. Though, this year’s trip, will most likely be the last time he’ll be getting a bath in the sink.

It took us forever to get out of the condo today, as my grandmother was doing some laundry as well. I had to do a load unfortunately, because Mack woke up in the middle of the night this morning (somewhere around 3:30 am or so) soaking wet. I changed him (clothes & diaper) and had to put down a towel under us, so that we could go to bed. If it were morning, I would have been able to take off the sheet and do laundry, but not this morning. There was still plenty of time to sleep before morning. I’m glad I was able to get him back to sleep without having to make him another bottle. I am also really happy that the way he was when he woke up soaked didn’t get any of the blankets wet. If those got wet, there was no more blankets for us to use, as they were all being used up in the condo.

We’re on our way shortly to the zoo. Finally we’re doing something “touristy”! Maybe we’ll even get to the beach before we leave, if there is time. We’re thinking either today after the zoo, or tomorrow.

january twenty-three

This morning while we were waiting for everyone to get their stuff together to leave, Sean had my grandmother play some bowling with him. My grandmother’s arm is doing a lot better. It’s not stinging her anymore, which is really good. And I’m so glad she’s not mad at me for Mack spilling the coffee on her, as it was a complete accident.

When we finally had our act together, we piled in the car. Since it was supposed to rain today (and it actually looked like rain), we decided to take care of some errands, and get them over with. Our first stop was Michaels. We don’t have Michaels in Montreal. I picked up a few things there to bring back home with me, as I just love some of the stuff they had there. And no, I didn’t buy any yarn (Michaels doesn’t have much stuff that doesn’t have acrylic in it anyhow). I did touch the Lion Brand Thick & Quick, as I was curious as to how acrylic-y it felt, but since it’s 80% acrylic, it felt a little too “plastic-y” to me. I did pick up the latest Vogue Magazine, which I didn’t have yet.

After Michaels, I sat in the car with the boys while some errand were done that I didn’t want to go and do.

Mack showed off his beautiful smile.

Then he decided to see if he could get his feet above his head.

Then Sean tried to do the same too.

This woman walked by us. My mouth dropped on how she was wearing her baby in the carrier. Her baby was bouncing up and down around her crotch area. I am not a babywearing expert, but I can tell you that I own a few different slings and baby carriers, and you do NOT wear your child down by your crotch area. I swear, I thought her baby was going to fall to the ground.

I cast on my mom’s cowl while we were in the car.

I am knitting another Neck Warmer for Coreen, in Knitpicks Cadena in Coal (Blank). I’m knitting it double stranded, as Cadena is a bulky weight and my pattern calls for a super bulky. It’s knitting up quite nicely double stranded. I’ll take a progress picture tomorrow, so you can see it better.

We came back to my grandmother’s condo for lunch. After a quick bite, Amy & I took the kids out back to let them run around for a bit. They have had a lot of excess energy on this trip. Giving them time to run around is a good thing.

They played soccer for a bit.

They soaked up some sun.

They were just too cute together.

I love it.

Late afternoon we went back to the flea market as my mom had an exchange to do, and I had something I was looking for. I did find, it, and bought it. It’s a table cloth, for a round table, that hugs the table like a shower cap. This is a genius idea, and we’d heard a lady talking about it as we were leaving the flea market yesterday. This is great for my glass table in my kitchen, no more dirty finger prints, nor my children pulling the table cloth off the table. The one I got fits tables 36” to 48” wide, so I’m hoping that it’ll fit my table without me being there to measure it. Though, the lady showed me the maximum size of the table that is fits on, and I’m pretty sure my table it that size or a tad smaller. She asked me how many it seated (4 people) and said that I shouldn’t have a problem with it. My grandmother bought one for her table at home as well. If I like it, they have a website, so I could always order myself another one. But just in case, I only bought one. (Or my grandmother is in Florida until the spring, so I could always get her to pick up another one for me when she goes back to the Flea Market again, if I really wanted/needed). What a neat idea! I’ve never heard of these before.

Florida may be making my hair frizzy and not so easy to style, but the weather has completely healed my hands. No more cracked skin. I love it. I don’t want to return back home to the cold so that I don’t have to get cracked fingers again… I wish! Too bad I have to get back to work.

This evening we went to Olive Garden for dinner, and I got my fix. I love the Olive Garden, another restaurant that we don’t have at home. I love the Olive Garden. Their unlimited salad is awesome and tonight I tried their Ziti pasta dish, and it was so delicious. It’s really too bad we don’t have this restaurant in Montreal. Yum!

By the time we got back to the condo it was way past both the kids bedtimes, so I put Mack to sleep first, as I’ve been doing every night, and then finally got Sean into bed. Both of them have been quite active, but regardless, they’ve been pretty good. I again really hope that my grandmother isn’t mad at me for Mackenzie’s accident with spilling the hot coffee. I really truly feel horrible. I hope her arm heels fast.