07.31.10

Last night we did bake that Challah bread (350F for 30 minutes). It was delicious. Especially wit butter on the plain challah. The kids devoured the chocolate challah with sprinkles.

Mack, really loves his bunny. He doesn't go anywhere without it.

Today we got this idea to go mini putting. The first place we tried, said it was open, but there was no one at all there to let us pay and five us putts and golf balls. We then did some research and found this place that we did end up at. Great place. The kids had a great time, and I even got 2 hole-in-ones!

It was so hot outside, so our next stop was at Dairy Queen. Yum!

Sean enjoyed a slushie.

And Mack didn’t have anything at all. He doesn’t like anything cold. (No ice cream, no freezies, no popsicles). Not sure why he doesn’t – but he’s not a fan. Maybe one day he’ll like them. For now, he doesn’t eat anything (ice) cold.

Since it was still piping hot out – our next destination was my parent’s pool.

It was a beautiful day not to be outside!

So we stayed outside until it was time to go home for dinner. The boys ate with Jamie while I took a quick nap (I was forming a headache – and the little nap did some good). After the kids were in bed, I had something quick to eat. Jamie had hockey tonight, so I just watched some mindless TV – and as I am on a bit of a knitting break (I’ve been knitting cute girly things, and now I’m at a loss as to what I want to knit – if that makes any sense – so I decided that I would take a break from knitting this weekend), I played around on Baby Name Genie and as well as some other baby name sites. We so far still can’t come up with a single name we both love/agree on. We still have plenty of time, but everything that we both like, is already used by a family member, or nice names remind us of people we don’t like. Here is our “NO” list:

Sean Edward (dear son #1 first & middle name)
Mackenzie Riley (dear son #2 & middle name)
Corey (brother)
Jason (brother's middle name & a cousin)
Aaron (cousin)
Michael (cousin)
Jamie (husband's name)
Mitchell (husband's middle name, uncle's name)
Aidan (cousin)
Liam (cousin)
Zachary (a few cousins with this name)
Jordan (girl cousin Jordyn)
Jeremy (cousin)
Joshua (cousin)
Colin (cousin)
Harris (cousin)
William (nephew, great-uncle)
Merlyn (nephew)
Donald (step-brother-in-law)
David (step-cousin)
Mark (sister's boyfriend, husband's step-brother-in-law)
Logan (sister's nephew, don't want her to have 2 nephews named Logan)
Oliver (cousin)
Spencer (cousin)
Henri (cousin)
Jakob (cousin) (or Jacob)
Marvin (father-in-law)
Steve (hubby's uncle, sister-in-law's boyfriend)
Hymie (hubby's uncle & my grandmother's other son)
Evan (cousin)
Philip (cousin)
Cass (cousin)
Matthew (Cousin)
Eric (dated 2 Eric's, and will never use that name)
Daniel(cousin & hubby's best friend)
Marc, Adam (hubby's best friends)
Andrew (hubby's cousin)
Dylan (Know a few people who have this name for their son, and one of which I dont really want to be reminded of right now)
Tyler (Know a few people who have this name for their son, and one of which I dont really want to be reminded of right now)
Morty/Mordechai (my father’s name)
Abe/Abraham (my grandfather’s name)
Peter (great-uncle)
Matthew (cousin)
Billy (cousin)
Clifford (2 cousins with this name on the same side of the family)

- The name cannot be biblical (like Moses or Ezra), and can’t be anything of the Christ (like Christian, Christopher, etc…) since we’re Jewish (even if we’re non-practicing). We also don’t want anything like Enzo, Enrico. Maurizio, Darius, Marius, – it has to be English sounding and not Italian, Russian, Polish or Greek. We’re looking for a very “North American or even British” name.

07.30.10

This morning I got to see my baby again!
(After a VERY long wait in a dark waiting room)

However, it turns out, it’s actually not a girl. It’s a BOY!
(White arrow above is the hospital’s printout of dangly bits).
(View is from the bum of the baby)

I couldn’t believe it. I also told her that I’d like proof, because I told her that I didn’t think my husband would believe it. She couldn’t get all the measurements she needed, and was given an appointment in 3 weeks. At this point, I hadn’t met my new doctor, so just in case, I took the appointment.

Running late, I ran to my doctor’s appointment with my new doctor. They actually have a ultrasound machine on the facility. (Pretty cool). My new doctor wanted her tech to do a quick Ultrasound to confirm due date, and while there, (not telling her that the U/S this morning told me it was another boy), I asked her if she had a minute and if she could take a look between the legs. I wanted a 2nd opinion, since I was lucky enough to get the chance. She asked me if this was my first, and i told her, that I had 2 boys at home. She also told me that it was another boy, and I told her that my husband wasn’t going to believe it. She also printed me out proof (below).

Definitely dangly bits (I added in the red arrow for you to see).
(Also another bum shot).

I am still in shock that it’s actually a boy.
At least I have everything!
And he’s healthy.

However, I was diagnosed this morning with full Placenta Previa.

I'm more concerned about my placenta previa, than the fact that its a boy.

I will be re-assessed on the 18th of august. If it hasn't moved (not sure what the chances are for FULL previa) then I'll be high risk, maybe bed rest as most likely after 20-24 weeks, it could cause bleeding. I'm almost 19 weeks now.

Placenta Previa means that my placenta is covering my cervix. So basically 'blocking' the birth canal. That part is fine, because I was having a scheduled Csection anyhow as I have no interest in Vbac (vaginal birth after Csection) since Mack was an (emergency) Csection. I’m getting another ultrasound done on the 18th of August, and I’ll know more then.

So now, that it’s a boy, we don’t have a name. Nor can we come up with anything we like. What are your fave boys names? I like unique, but not odd. I don’t want anything ‘top 10’. Has to be an English sounding name. I also don’t like anything too biblical. Hit me with ideas! I’d love to hear. There is a good chance this baby won’t be named until after he’s born.

The rest of my day was a blur. My in-laws came for dinner, after my mom helped me pick up Mackenzie from daycare (since we were in her car) and dropped us all off at home. I brought Sean along with me today, as I thought he’d get a kick out of the Ultrasound. I’m not sure how he enjoyed it – as I was instantly distracted with all this information they were giving me about the previa.

I leave you today with this video. It’s too funny. I needed this little chuckle.

07.29.10 :: 110 weeks old

Mack is 110 weeks old today.

This early evening we met up with my friend and her 2 daughters to make some Challah (bread). There is a local Chabbad community center that has this program for kids, so we went to check it out. It took my boys a few minutes to get rid of their initial shyness, but after that, they had a really good time.

Rollin’ the dough!

Mack with his finished Challah.

Sean with his finished Challah.

The 4 Challah’s we made.
The ones with sprinkles on it have chocolate chips hidden inside too!
I need to bake them tomorrow before dinner in the oven.
I cannot wait to taste how they come out!

They even served the kids dinner tonight at the Challah making night.
Isn’t it so cute the way they put the plates together!?
Of course my boys eat a lot and ended up eating more than what was on their plate.
I swear, my boys will eat my fridge clean when they are teens.

I finished Zoe’s Girl Cap:

SPECS:
Pattern: Girl's cap sleeved spring shirt by shellee floyd (My Ravelry Project)
For: Zoe due December 2010
Yarn: 1 skein of Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash in Strawberry Pink
Needles: US 6 - 4.0 mm, US 8 - 5.0 mm and US 10 - 6.0 mm
Size: 3T
Timeline: July 17-27, 2010
Modifications: Knit pattern as written to desired length of shirt.
Opinion: I love it. I can’t wait for Zoe to grow big enough to fit into it!

And I started another Girl’s Cap. Yes, I really do love this pattern! This time, I’m using Woodchick’s modifications for newborn size. I really do recommend this pattern. It’s great. I just love it. And a very quick knit too. There are people on ravelry whom have knit in in like a day or two. I wish I could knit that fast or have that much time in a day or two to actually knit, but I don’t. But anyhow, it’s a super fast knit.

So, twice this week, Mack has fallen out of his bed by the end of the bed. I decided he’s not going back into the crib. I need the nursery at the end of the year. I decided, for now, to get a 2nd bed rail for the foot of his bed. So I went on craigslist last night. I found one for 10$. Emailed the person. Get an email this morning, and it says “Hi Robyn, it’s T, you can have it for free, when do you want to meet up?!” We laughed about this for about 10 minutes. T and I have re-connected (thank you facebook) and have been trying to make plans for like 2 months to get the kids together to play. We haven't seen each other since the end of grade 9. (I switched high schools). Her son Tyler is turning 5 next month, and her son Dylan will be 3 in the fall. We stopped there tonight after making Challah. The Challah class got out a lot earlier than I expected.The 4 boys tonight played VERY well together. And they don’t live far from us at all. It was nice to reconnect with her. And I’m glad our boys all play nicely together.

Funny how things work out sometimes. (In a good way!)

No de-clutter progress today. I didn’t have the energy today to go through anything. I’ve got a super busy day tomorrow, so if I take another small break tomorrow, then I’ll make up for it on the weekend. Promise.

07.28.10 :: 43 months old

Sean is 43 months old today.

When taking my self portrait with Sean, Mack asked to have his photo taken too. “Me, too mommy” he asked. “Cheese”, he continued. So cute. (Damn, how’d I get the Toronto Maple Leafs part of his Canadian hockey team bead spread in the photo? Grrr!)

I finally cracked down and made an excel spreadsheet of all the novels I own. (Read and un-read). I’ve discovered in all this, that I have 11 books that are duplicates. This was the purpose of this list, so that I don't continued to buy duplicate books when purchasing books, whether it be brand new, or from the used book center. (I tend to get gift cards to Chapters for mother’s day/my birthday/chanukah/xmas, etc – which I am totally fine with). But I also love supporting the “little guy” used book store. I think now when I go in, I will take my spreadsheet, and if I find a book, I’ll consult with my list (by author), to see if I already have that book or not. I’m a huge reader and I can’t always remember if I’ve read a book or not.

I’ve started having a dance party in my belly. I love it. When I’m on the go all day long, I don't really feel her, unless I do a swift move and she doesn’t like it. I mainly feel her when I’m hanging out on the couch or in bed, lying down. I love feeling her. That was one of the things I missed most about being pregnant after having the 2 boys. I know that I’ll get baby fever again after this one, but I only wanted 3. (Jamie wanted 2 children. I won.) The baby fever usually starts after 6 months after I've given birth. (We got pregnant with Mack when Sean was about 9 months old (They’re 17.5 months apart). Mack will be 2 and a half when his sister is born, and Sean will be just about 4.

I think it’s the year of the girl! A few people I know due at the end of the year are all having girls. Very excited about this. Zoe will have some little friends to play with. It’s so much fun! When I had Sean & Mack, I swear, most people I knew, were having boys. Now it’s girls. The girl in my pre-natal yoga class (Which I didn't have today, because our yoga instructor is on vacation) is having a girl. Another girl in my pre-natal aqua class is having a girl. (The other girl that I talk to doesn’t know yet the sex of her baby). The girl I met this week in Mack’s swim class, is having a girl in September. And a few other people I know due this fall are due with girls as well. Something in the water! (I do know a few people having boys… but those are rare this year!)

Mack now has fallen out of his bed (by the food of his bed) twice this week. I am not on the hunt for a 2nd hand bed rail for the foot of his bed. (He has one on the side of the his bed. I never had this issue with Sean. I am going to have to literally “box” Mack into his big boy bed. We still can’t figure out how both himself and his comforter (and once his pillow too) ended up on the floor by the foot of his bed. I’m waiting to hear back from someone who is selling theirs bed rail, if not, I’ve got to do something as soon as possible about this. He’s been in his big boy bed now since July the 4th. I didn’t have this issue with him falling out of his bed until this week. I hope it doesn’t happen again.

FO pictures are coming of Zoe’s Girl Cap tomorrow. Also – I started a new project tonight, stay tuned for pictures tomorrow of that as well.

Today's de-clutter progress is here. Small de-clutter today. Will try harder tomorrow.

Don't forget if you want to enter my contest to win a copy of Two Years, No Rain, you must leave a comment on this post before the end of the day July 31, 2010 EST.

FREE MAGAZINE :: TODAY ONLY!

For my cooking blog readers: I saw this offer! Today ONLY you can get a year's subscription to Rachel Ray's magazine for $3.99. Go to this link, and use discount code FOOD at checkout to get $20 off. USA ONLY unfortunately.

07.27.10 :: 18 weeks pregnant

Today I am 18 weeks pregnant.

This morning, I went to get a drink in the kitchen. I went to grab some ice, and discovered this. My ice… melted up? How is that even possible? It’s one of those mysteries of the world. It really had Jamie & I baffled this morning. It’s not even touching the ceiling of the fridge. Very very odd.

I finished reading Suddenly Frugal by Leah Ingram. I think it’s nice to see frugality becoming acceptable in our society when before people would just think you were ‘cheap’. While I do know some really cheap people, there is a difference between being frugal and being cheap. I found this book very well organized in layout with information. There are great websites that have information on free stuff, on saving money and coupons, etc. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who needs the nudge to save money. I found though that a lot of the information in this book is readily available for free on the internet but it is nice to have it in one place in a book for reference. There was a lot of odd things in there, to do, to save money. Some of them don’t even apply to the way I live, or to the type of appliances I have in my home. Like the cover reads, that you can save up to 25$K in one year, but I highly doubt it – unless you made some really drastic changes, didn’t have children in diapers and pull-ups, with a newborn on the way. I did find the info on composting very interesting. This is my 3rd summer with a vegetable garden, and I have not yet started to compost. Maybe next summer will be the summer I start. If you have been living an extremely extravagant lifestyle and all of a sudden you want to change your ways, then this might be the book for you, however, if you’re somewhere in the middle-class like me that and you want to find more ways to save money, maybe there are better books out there for us.

I am now reading Two Years, No Rain by Shawn Klomparens. I’m reviewing it as well. I was given as extra copy to give away to one of my lucky readers! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post only from now until August 15, 2010 midnight EST. I will pick a winner on August 16th, 2010. I am only a chapter in and I am loving this book so far!

I’ve finished Zoe’s Girl Cap tonight. Pictures to come. Just have some ends to weave in. They’re also calling for rain tomorrow, so I am not sure what the photography situation outside with natural light will be.

Have you seen this video? I have enough trouble getting my kids to stay put for the weekly self-portraits I take with them… imagine daily shots like this?! Totally neat video though!

I’ve got some more free Huggies Reward Codes:

BHSGSWKLGQRQPGB – 5 pts
BGJRJLNWQBHNPGB – 1 pt

Today’s de-clutter progress is here. All the toy room crap… gone!

07.26.10 :: 186 weeks old

Sean is 186 weeks old today.

Here is the update on Zoe's Girl Cap Sleeved Spring Shirt. Almost there, literally.

I don't have much more to knit - compared to Bekah's shirt that I made - and now have to wrap up Bekah's for her birthday. (Once I'm done knitting Zoe's for length reference - though I can't knit much more than the yarn I have - it literally uses up one skein - and I'm not going to crack open another skein - the length after 1 skein is perfect).

Sean asked me this morning in the locker room at swimming lessons, how Zoe will be born. It's a good thing that I am having a C-section, because I didn't feel like getting into the details of a natural birth with him this morning. He still thinks "I have a (word for wee wee that is 5 letters starts with a pen and ends with an is) and daddy has a (word for wee wee that is 5 letters starts with a pen and ends with an is) and mommy wears underwear". For now, I don't want to have to get into the birds & bees with my three and a half year old. It's a good thing he didn't ask me how Zoe got into my belly...! I did tell him that I will go to the hospital and have an operation and the doctor is going to cut me open and take Zoe out. I then said the doctor will stitch me up, and then he asked "With skin like this?" (pointing to the skin on my arm). "Yep, my skin will look just the same afterwards, buddy", I replied. Gosh! I think I'll be bringing him to my next ultrasound. I think he might enjoy seeing his sister live on the screen. Mack won't get it, I don't think, or probably won't care either way/be interested in it - so I think I might just bring Sean along.

I made a new friend today in swimming class. She missed the first 3 swimming lessons, and I missed the 2 after that. We were both there today. She lives in my neighborhood, her son is 15 and a half months old and she's due in September with number 2 (a girl). She seems really nice, and it'll be nice for Zoe to have a friend (a few months older) to play with. We tried playing Jewish geography but couldn't come up with anyone the we both knew. Only after we added each other to facebook did we see that we had 7 mutual friends. The "Jewish" community really is that small. Especially in Montreal.

Tonight we had a cousins playdate. I met up with Jenn at a local Mcdonalds for dinner & for the kids to play. The always have such a good time playing together, we should really do this more often.

Keeping them in one place is always hard.

And all together for a group shot?! Forget about it!
They're 4 active boys!
(Ranging from 18 months to just over 3 and a half)
(December 2006, May 2007, June 2008 & January 2009)

Today's de-clutter progress is here. I did a huge clean up in the playroom today. I still have to go through what I threw into the garbage bag, I didn't have time to do that this afternoon. I am still looking for those Spiderman Sandals. I have faith that the might just show up. I keep asking Mack where he stashed them... he looks at me and then gets his other sandals that he has. Nope buddy... the black ones... you know, that light up.

07.25.10

Zeus is unfortunately getting too old to run away from the kids. Sean gets in a LOT of hugs these days. Poor kitty. The kids like to chase after him. We really have no idea how old he is. Maybe 15 now? Not quite 16, as we know he was younger than Jazz, who was 16 and a half when he passed away May of 2009. So Zeus is probably somewhere between 15 and 16. That’s my guess. Recently, our last fish passed away. He was the oldest fish too – from our first apartment that Jamie & I shared. (A clown fish). All other fish after him didn’t last as long as he did. We decided that closer to the end of the summer, we may get the boys some goldfish (maybe 3 or 4) though, after Zeus does pass away, we’re not going to be getting any more pets for a while. With Mack still in diapers and another child coming in diapers, I have no interest in cleaning up after a dog. For now, I am not interested in getting another cat either. Cats are a 15-20 year commitment. Maybe later on. We'll see.

This afternoon we had a birthday party at a local gym type place.

Sean was pretty good at the gymnastics part.
I think I might have to enroll him in the fall for classes.
We’ll see what his hockey schedule will be.

The next fave thing is the ball pit!

My two boys playing with the birthday girl.

Mack walked around the party with these 2 green balls. He likes to carry things around. He tends to be very possessive with items like that. I have a hard time sometimes taking things out of his hands. We’re working on it.

And of course there was cake. Mack was not to be disturbed. He loves his cake. Lots of it too. I wish I had a way to bake meat and veggies into cake. That would be fantastic…! Don’t you think? I should check out my copy of Deceptively Delicious and see if there is anything in there that I can use for meals that could work for Mack.

Today I had a good de-clutter day. I am still looking for Mack’s black Spiderman sandals. They went missing a few weeks ago. He wore them when he came to work with me when he was home sick with that cough. He fell asleep in the car. I stayed in my driveway keeping busy until Mack woke up (with the car on for the A/C as it was wicked hot out). We came inside the house. Sean was picked up that day from daycare by my mom so I didn't have to take Mack out again. So we didn’t leave the house again after coming in. Mack’s sandals were last seen upon entering the house. He took them off himself. Where? We’re not sure. So today I tackled the basement. Mack plays in there. Maybe he stashed them somewhere? Not in the toy bin. Not under any of the 3 couches. I did manage to find stuff to chuck. Today’s de-clutter progress is here. Well, the basement is cleaned up, and I can’t seem to figure out where he could have stashed the shoes. Next place to clean up is the playroom, but after a quick analysis over the last few weeks, I don't think it’s in there either. The only thing I can think of – is if he put them in the kitchen trash. Then they’re gone for good. But it’s really bothering me that they’ve disappeared. I’m baffled. (And don’t worry, he does have other sandals). It’s just that he loved those light-up Spiderman ones.

Here are a few new Huggies Enjoy the Ride Rewards Codes to add to your account. If you don’t have one, get one now!
5 point codes:

• BHSQJQKKMLFTPGB
• BHJXFWSCMRQSPGB
• BFZJXQLFCXQLPGB

Today’s de-clutter progress is here. Today I tackled the basement (toys). I am sure once I finish cleaning up the kids stuff, I can go back through the stuff we have and find more to de-clutter. The playroom is one of the next rooms that is on my list to tackle.

07.24.10

This morning I hung out with Mr. Mack.
He likes to watch tv chillin’ in his Frog chair.


Sean got some ice time with Jamie this morning.
They have a lot of work to do before he’ll be playing for the NHL.

While they were out, I baked some buttermilk blueberry muffins.
The house smells delicious now. Yum!


This afternoon we worked on some puzzles.
(And did the never ending laundry).

We checked the status of the strawberries this afternoon. A few more have emerged. And there’s more green growing on the other side of the strawberry planter. I can’t wait to see how many strawberries we’ll actually get before the cold weather comes. If we lived somewhere warmed, we’d have strawberries all year round, as they are “Quatre Saison” (4 Season) strawberries. (They’ll grow again next year too).

Tonight I watched the movie Away We Go. Maggie Gyllenhaal is in it, as is (main character) Maya Rudolph (from Saturday Night Live). Allison Janney is briefly in it too. I really enjoyed it. There was even a part of the movie that took place in Montreal, hwoever, it wasn’t filmed in Montreal, after having researched the movie. I hadn’t even heard of the movie before, until I saw it on a commercial during an old episode (that was recorded just over a year ago) of In Plain Sight, that I had on my PVR that I was watching the other day. I recommend this movie. I really enjoyed it. I worked on Zoe’s Cap Sleeved Spring Shirt while watching the movie. I’m about 3/4’s done knitting it. Just need to add a bit more length, and it’s done.

Since I spent most of my day doing (the never ending) laundry, I have a sad attempt to de-clutter today. I did manage to chuck 4 items. I’ll try harder tomorrow.

Let’s hope I can finish my book tonight, without falling asleep.

07.23.10

Today’s garden loot was quite large!

We even found under the plant leaves a HUGE zucchini.

Sean was even shocked at it’s size!
What’s your guess on how much it weighs?
I’ll tell you later – let’s see who guesses closest!

Our cucumber plant (one of them) seems to be making it’s way almost to the roof of our house. It keeps climbing and climbing. And there are cucumber flowers budding from it. I can so see us soon needing a ladder to pick some cucumbers.

A friend has told me that this spaghetti squash is ready to pick. It’s size and shape is perfect. However, it’s been shaded by it’s own plants leaves. So it should be yellow already. I am going to try to prune the plant a bit – so it gets sun to see if it’ll turn yellow. And then I’ll pick it.

I can’t believe what a big boy Mack is already. Looking at him tonight while he was eating his corn on the cob – I was amazed. It blows my mind how quickly time passes. My baby’s eating corn on the cob already… with the corn picks and everything. Crazy.

Here is my current progress on Zoe’s Girl Cap Sleeved Spring Shirt. It’s coming along nicely. I’ve knit more on it since taking this picture earlier today. I’m hoping to have it done before the end of the weekend. So much I want to knit – so little time.

There comes a time in life, when you walk away from all the pointless drama and people who create it, and surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus on the good. Life is too short to be anything but happy. I feel great after all the changes I’ve made in my life recently. It’s freeing – really.

Today’s small de-clutter progress is here.